Marlins 4, Mets 3

The Mets need to bench Roger Cedeno. Not next month. Not next week. Tomorrow and for a very long time afterwards. His lack of offense is one thing, but he can't be entirely blamed for the Mets' lack of scoring, as there are a number of people in the lineup who aren't hitting. But when his defense starts costing the Mets wins, as it did tonight, it's time to end the "Cedeno in center" experiment and go with the guys who have actually shown an ability to play the position, namely Timo Perez and Tsuyoshi Shinjo. The Mets held a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth thanks to six shutout innings from Tom Glavine and one by David Weathers. Cliff Floyd had just hit a solo home run in the top of the inning, adding to the lead built by Ty Wigginton's second home run of the season and Perez's RBI single. In the bottom of the eighth, Andy Fox led off the inning with a line drive to center. Cedeno, being Cedeno, got near the ball just in time to attempt a diving catch. Of course, the ball got under his glove and rolled to the wall, allowing Fox to make it to third with a triple. Fox scored on an infield hit by Juan Pierre. Pierre made it to second when alleged defensive replacement Jay Bell couldn't handle Weathers' attempted pickoff throw and then to third on a groudout by Luis Castillo. Bell moved over to third when a double switch put Tony Clark at first and Armando Benitez on the mound. Ivan Rodriguez drove in Pierre on a groundout before Benitez could get the third out, leaving the score at a considerably tighter 3-2. Art Howe had already used Shinjo as a pinch hitter earlier in the game, so he wasn't available to be used as a defensive replacement, but he could have always brought in Jeromy Burnitz, who didn't start, in right field and moved Perez into center.

In the ninth, Benitez, who was pitching more than one inning for the first time this season, loaded the bases with a single, double and intentional walk, before getting anyone out. He got Alex Gonzalez to ground into a fielder's choice for the first out and popped up pinch hitter Brian Banks for the second. But Pierre came up again and hit the ball just fair down the right field line to score two runs and win the game. Certainly Benitez deserves some blame for the loss for not being able to get people out in the ninth, but maybe he wouldn't have been in such a tight situation if the Mets had someone competent out in center.

Offensively, Cedeno got to lead off again and went 1 for 5 to raise his average to .161. Perez, in his first start of the season, was stuck batting in Burnitz's seventh spot and went 2 for 4 with an RBI. I don't understand the rationale behind benching the guy who just hit a home run last night while leaving in the guy who went 0 for 4. Obviously Howe wanted to get Perez a start, and he's still letting Cedeno try to show that he deserves to be the starting centerfielder, but with the Mets' offense struggling the way it is, it seems silly to continue to give Cedeno the benefit of the doubt at the expense of both offense and defense. When the Mets are scoring eight runs a game and winning comfortably, maybe you can give Cedeno another shot to prove he can start, but right now the Mets simply can't afford it.

The offensive star of the game for the Mets was once again Wigginton, who went two for three with the aforementioned home run as well as a walk. he's now hitting .357/.500/.750, leading Met regulars in all three categories.

Glavine's wasted start consisted of giving up five hits and two walks with three strikeouts over six innings on just 88 pitches.

Tomorrow, the Mets play the first game in San Juan, Puerto Rico against the Expos, with David Cone taking on Tomo Ohka. Maybe the allegedly tiny San Juan stadium can get the Mets' lethargic offense going. Or maybe Art Howe can let one of the guys who knows how to play center and get on base in the leadoff spot do so. Right now, I'm not holding my breath on either of those, so hopefully Cone's got another great start full of ground ball outs in him.  ¶ joe | 11:06 PM |