Phillies Prevail in Extras Again; Mets May Shake Up Bullpen

On the strength of yet another Raul Ibanez home run, the Philadelphia Phillies took down the New York Mets on Thursday night for the second-straight game. It also marked the second night in a row that righty reliever Bobby Parnell took the loss.

In a postgame press conference, Mets manager Jerry Manuel pleaded with General Manager Omar Minaya to make some drastic changes to the bullpen, either by cutting or designating all relief pitchers for assignment, with the exception of Francisco Rodriguez.

"He's been the only guy worth a damn out there late in the game. Putz has been nothing but a putz all year, and now he's hurt. We'd be better off if we had Shawn Green, the former outfielder, pitching for us instead of Sean Green the pitcher. And you knew it was only a matter of time before Bobby got touched up. He's really not that good and that's all there is to it."

You can't blame Manuel for being a little incensed. K-Rod pitched two scoreless innings on Wednesday and another on Tuesday, but the Mets only won one of those games. Late-inning meltdowns by pitchers not named Rodriguez effectively cost the Mets this series.

I guess the weight of 24 other men is a lot to carry on one set of shoulders. Don't get me wrong, K-Rod is a strong man. I just think his back will blow out eventually, probably sometime around Sept. 1. He has already been telling trainers that he experiences spasms from time to time.

Johan Santana echoed K-Rod's sentiments and has decided to sew shoulder pads into his jerseys to reduce the stress on his bones from the added weight. He has also reportedly been talking with Sammy Sosa about the finer points of corking bats in an effort to boost his run support.

No word on whether any roster changes will occur, but the trade deadline is looming less than two months away. When asked about his thoughts on that, Minaya responded, "I never got interested in stocks. Wall Street is on the other side of the river."