What More Can Be Said????

I barely slept last night...and who can blame me? After Willie lifted Vargas (strike one), who had pitched 6 1/3 beautiful innings, throwing 97 pitches, giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits, striking out 6 while walking 4, his replacement, Aaron Heilman (strike two) proceeded to give up 3 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. If YOU can figure out why Willie left him in (strike three) after Felipe Lopez knocked in the Nats' 3rd run, please let me know!!!!

If Vargas had been left in for the 7th, the game would have been shortened for the bullpen, and Feliciano and Smith could have closed things out. Granted, Vargas looked a bit winded, but the 29 year old seemed capable of making it through the inning, and I would rather have Vargas give up an additional run or two then to see Heilman come in and blow it. There are 2 schools of thought here; the first is that Heilman has to get a chance to right things and if Willie doesn't give him a chance to work through things, why have him taking up a spot on the roster; the second, which is in line with where my thoughts are right now, is that we needed the "kill" in this series, which, at best, will be tied 2-2, and Heilman should only be seeing mop-up duty right now rather than coming in at a vital time in a game that we need to win IF we are ever going to start a run going! Vargas showed guts, recovering from yet another home run (the bane of his existence as a pitcher) and a lot of walks to keep us in the game, which is EXACTLY what we need from our fifth starter.

The GOOD NEWS? Part one- Vargas might prove to be a good 5th starter candidate. Part two- Pedro pitched a simulated game yesterday, taking one more step towards a June return (I pray!). Part three- David Wright made yet another great, bare-handed play.

The BAD NEWS? We lost....we lost to the Nats...we lost another game due to the bullpen blowing it...we lost to the Nationals, a team we need to dominate IF we are going to stay in the pennant race all season long...after almost 4 years, neither Willie nor "the jacket" has control over the bullpen...Aaron Heilman is not showing that he belongs in the pen and perhaps a change of scenery is in order...and, yet again, we are a barely over .500 team.

Admittedly, I have said all along that firing a manager too early in the season might have little to no effect, especially in light of the injuries this club, in particular, has had to put up with so far this season. However, as the Phils struggle, the Braves await 3 arms returning to their bullpen and the Marlins remain in first place with smoke and mirrors, NOW is the time when we MUST begin winning games, and I DON'T buy into that garbage that games don't count this early in the season- then why, if they don't, are we even PLAYING THEM?! Of course they count- if we had won 2 more games earlier in the season last year, even WITH our collapse, we would have remained in first place!! We can't afford to lose any more "gimmes" that teams like the Nats should provide us with; therefore, if we can't at least win 2 of 3 from the hated Yankees this weekend, I think that Willie's time with is must be over! What do you think??? Would Jose Reyes' game pick up? Would the pitching changes make more sense? Is there someone out there (Buck Showalter, Tom Kelly, Wally Backman, Gary Carter, Ken Oberkfell) who can do better? The BOTTOM LINE: We've stunk for over a year, and for that, and that alone, Willie's time is up...and I'm sorry to have to say it, because I really DO love Willie, the man...but right now, it's only about wins and losses, and right now, we're just NOT looking like a winner, and THAT is the BOTTOM LINE!!!

Today's game is an early one- at least I'll have a better chance of sleeping tonite...

ONE LAST THOUGHT...Would it have killed Willie to rush to Alou's defense last night, when he had his little "blow-up?" Finally, we're showing some EMOTION!!! The night before, Maine's "purpose pitch"...last night, Alou's burst of anger- and replays showed that he was right- is it too much to ask for Willie to get in on the action??? And DON'T say that he wouldn't have been able to manage the game if he had gotten thrown out- he just would have managed it from the clubhouse instead of the bench! FIRE!!!! SHOW IT!!!! NO ONE will fault anyone on the team for showing emotion!!!! Let it out- and maybe, just maybe, the team will develop a bit more on-field FIRE!!!!