I missed the entire Mets series, but apparently much of it was painful to watch anyway.

Yesterday's loss was especially frustrating, I imagine: 17 baserunners = 2 runs?? No intentional walk to Piazza in the 9th? A waste of a dominant start by Clemens?

Bah.

But to everyone who wants Dotel demoted and Lidge made closer: Calm down.

Octavio Dotel is a better pitcher than Brad Lidge.

He's off to a slow start, has given up 4 HR's in 20 innings when he gave up 9 all of last year, and his control is a bit spotty....

But he has been the best non-Gagne reliever in baseball over the past 3 years. He is dominant, regularly unhittable, and he got beat by the best-hitting catcher in history (easily) last night. It happens. Get over it.

We'll probably lose Dotel next year, and then Lidge will get his chance. That's it. End of story.

We have to get more runs with 17 baserunners. That's the key.

Tonight: Wade Miller at Dontrelle Willis.

This is a big game, for several reasons:

1. Is Wade Miller healthy? There were rumors that he had been hiding an injury last year, and he's looked a little different from start to start this year.

2. Can we figure out Dontrelle Willis? Last year he dominated the league until teams saw him for the 2nd time. From then on he got hammered. Let's see if we can do the same.