The score was 5-3, Braves.

Bottom 7th: Atlanta
- J. Sosa relieved S. Schoeneweis
- M. Teixeira struck out swinging
- B. McCann doubled to right center
- J. Francoeur singled to left, B. McCann to third
- M. Diaz struck out swinging
- M. Prado walked, J. Francoeur to second
- K. Johnson hit for P. Moylan
- K. Johnson homered to deep right, J. Francoeur, B. McCann and M. Prado scored
- Y. Escobar flied out to deep right

4 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors

You are down two runs. After the Jeff Francoeur single, Sosa struck Matt Diaz out swinging. Automatically, you should deem Prado as the last batter Jorge Sosa will face no matter what with the lefty to follow. Sure enough, Sosa walks Martin Prado to load the bases. The left-handed Kelly Johnson comes to the plate and cranks one deep over the wall. Where was Pedro Feliciano to pitch to the lefty? He hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, so it’s not like he would be unavailable for that reason.

Vintage Willie in this respect. Failure to use the bullpen correctly.

It appears that Joe Smith will have to prove he deserves to be part of the Mets bullpen last year after he struggled through a dead arm period in the later part of last season. On Mets.com, Mary Noble discusses Joe Smith’s chances of starting the season with the big league club.

Noble talks about how new Met Ryan Church had firsthand experience with Smiths late season decline.

Their shared experience began — and ended — in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 17. A 1-1 pitch from Smith in the seventh inning became a pinch-hit two-run home run by Church and another unsightly episode in the Mets’ slippery-slope September slide.

Smith had faced the Nationals three times previously, faced eight batters, struck out four and allowed one to reach base. Those appearances happened in April, and the difference between April and Sept. 17, according to Church was “about six or seven miles an hour.”

Smith will have a tougher time making the team with Duaner Sanchez and Matt Wise in the mix. Sanchez, Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, Pedro Feliciano and Jorge Sosa are are all most likely penciled in already. Smith, Wise, Ruddy Lugo, Juan Padilla, Brian Stokes and Tony Armas Jr. will fight it out for the likely seventh and final spot.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, the Mets will give relief pitcher Pedro Feliciano, $1.025 million for the upcoming season.

In 78 appearances last year, Feliciano went 2-2 with a 3.09 ERA. He also recorded 2 saves.

The importance of middle relievers in baseball has increased in recent years, as the trend of starting pitchers failing to go deep into ballgames continues. The Hardball Times provides a graph of the decline in the number of innings pitched by starters over the past hundred years.

With this increased importance, comes a price. In the New York Times, Murray Chase points out that relievers had an average salary of $1,433,992 in 2006 up from $1,316,384 in 2005.

The Mets currently have Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and Mike Pelfrey tentatively penciled into their rotation for 2008, with a fifth pitcher likely to come from free agency or via trade this winter. The uncertainty of the Mets rotation makes the need a quality bullpen even greater. The inconsistency of the Mets rotation last season caused the Mets starters to fail to get deep into ballgames, and put a great degree of pressure on an overworked Mets bullpen.

The Mets enter 2008 with a bullpen consisting of Billy Wagner, Scott Schoeneweis, Duaner Sanchez, Jorge Sosa, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith, Juan Padilla and possibly Orlando Hernandez.

The Mets will likely use Aaron Heilman as a trading chip to acquire a front line starter.

As we scan the free agent landscape this off season, there are quite a few quality arms available to upgrade with. Two big name closers are on the market, Francisco Cordero and Eric Gange, but will want to close so would be of no use to the Mets.

Ron Mahay, Jeremy Affledt, David Riske, LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Linebrink, Octavio Dotel, and Byung-Hyun Kim are some of the other arms who might be worth a look as middle relievers. Chad Cordero is a longshot, as the Nationals have asked for Carlos Gomez in return and Cordero is also likely to perfer a closing role.

Mahay was 3-0 last year, with a 2.55 ERA and 1.33 WHIP over 67 innings for the Braves. He is considered the best of the middle relievers on the market and has attracted the Yankees interest.

David Riske was 1-4 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over 69.7 innings for the Royals. Riske hasn’t had an ERA over 4 since 2002.

Matthew Cerrone on Mets Blog relays information from Mike Pagliarulo who advises the Yankees, who Mark Feinsand of the Daily News said has interest, to steer clear of Linebrink, whose stats indicate a ‘structural decline.’

Octavio Dotel was traded to the Braves from Kansas City at the trade deadline and compiled a 4.11 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP. He spent time on the disabled list with a shoulder strain in August.

The Orioles could look to move Chad Bradford, who is signed to a three year, $10.5 million contract. He compiled a 3.34 ERA with a 1.43 WHIP.

Marty Noble over at mets.com is reporting that Smith and Sele will both be joining Chan Ho Park in the bullpen on the 25 man roster. The rest of the bullpen would then consist of Wagner, Heilman, The Show, and Feliciano.

While the article claims that nothing is set in stone, the fact that its appearing on the official team page as news, one would assume that barring any major problems or injuries (or a Sele or Park temper tantrum) thats the bullpen. This at least answers some questions, though still no word on if they plan on going with four starters for the first stretch, and if they do if they'll carry an extra arm in the bullpen (perhaps Sosa) or an extra bat on the bench.  Speaking of which, while its generally assumed Newhan is getting that last bench spot, still no official word there either.

Regardless, it seems that much like of the readers and posters here, the Mets brass believes Burgos needs more time in AAA.

Pedro Feliciano's 1.82 ERA, if it holds up, will rank among the
all-time top 50 for NL lefties working at least 60 innings in a season.