Submitted by Randy, Sep 28, 2007 11:59

Tim,

You are letting Willie Randolph off the hook way too easily. As bad as the pen has been, Randolph's handling of the pen has been worse. He continues to insist on bringing Mota in to pitch high leverage innings. Yet, last Saturday, with the Mets up by 5 in the 9th, he brought in Heilman for the 4th time in 5 days. Heilman closed it out, but the next day, pitching for the 5th time in 6 days, he turned in the performance you noted in your article. Why didn't Heilman get the day off on Saturday? Certainly, the Mets didn't need their second best relief pitcher to start the 9th with a 5 run lead. THAT is the situation for Mota. Even he is not in the habit of allowing 5 runs an inning. Better yet, Perez only threw 102 pitches through 8 efective innings. Why not send Perez out to finish it up and give the entire bullpen a break?

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