In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Mets took a 5-4 lead off three run homer from the unlikeliest of sources. Catcher Brian Schneider, not one of my favorites, cranked a three run bomb to give the Mets a lead late in the game.

In the top of the seventh, noted Met killer Pat Burrell opened with a base hit. What followed was Bobby Parnell deftly turning a one-run lead in to a two-run deficit before recording an out. What followed that was the rest of the bullpen giving up another two earned runs as the offense, as per normal, folded up shop and went home in the eighth and ninth inning as it only took seven batters for the Rays reliever to record six outs. I didn’t see this because after the Bobby Parnell debacle, I decided it would be more fun and less frustrating to watch golf than it would be to watch this game. In fact, I didn’t even know there had been a rain delay until I checked the box score.

The team is unwatchable. They don’t come from behind. I think in two months of Citi Field they have had 2 walk off wins. One was April 17th. The other was a walk off walk at the hands of the vaunted Braves bullpen. Discounting K-Rod, they have exactly one reliever who can consistently get outs. And, unfortunately, he can only get lefties out. Also, as it turns out, he can’t pitch every day. Pedro Feliciano has appeared in 40 of the Mets 67. I can’t even be upset that one of the last games was on his shoulders, because he’s done his job more times than not this year. Against Philadelphia and the Yankees, he gave the Mets a free pass through the tough lefty parts of their line-ups in late innings. In neither case could the team come back. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. He finally took a loss (his 2nd of the year — in 40 appearances, mind you) in Baltimore.

As I might have mentioned earlier in the season, this team’s only problem was not the bullpen. It was a chronic inability to hit baseballs late in games. This has not changed. They no longer have the bullpen as an excuse to fall back on for being .500. Through Sunday’s game, the bullpen has posted a better ERA (3.59 to 4.61), a better WHIP (1.41 to 1.39), a better K/9 (7.3 to 6.4), and a better K/BB ratio (1.84 to 1.78) then the starters. Yet they’ve taken 16 losses as compared to the starters’ 17. The bullpen works under an insane amount of stress considering if they give a up a run, the team loses.

I’m curious — what is the new excuse when the bullpen is no longer the boogeyman?