Bullpen Greater Than Expected

David Lennon at Newsday, writes about the Mets Bullpen and how they appear better than anyone thought:

Willie Randolph still is going through a feeling-out process with the new pieces to his bullpen. Ambiorix Burgos and Aaron Sele each pitched a scoreless inning in last night's 10-0 win over the Cardinals. Wagner, Heilman and Pedro Feliciano already have performed as expected, and that's one of the most comforting parts of the Mets' 3-0 start.

But in these first two games, it has all come back to Heilman, and Wagner realizes how important he is as the bridge to the closer. Twice already Heilman has bailed out the manager, too. When Randolph made the questionable call to use Smith in the opener, it was Heilman who made sure he wasn't second-guessed afterward. On Tuesday, Randolph went with Schoeneweis initially until it was obvious he needed Heilman in the eighth anyway.

At this rate, Randolph must hope that Heilman's elbow can handle the heavy workload that he is sure to be carrying this season.