Ballapeño's Bullpen: Mets Ride Dickey To Victory

¡Buenos dias, señoras y señores!  Please allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Ballapeño Sanchez.  It's not my full name, but I thought Ballapeño Pepe Sanchez Gomez del Chapulín Colorado would be far too long for my writing debut.  In case I look familiar to you, it's because I'm the mascot of the San Antonio Missions, the Double-A affiliate of los Padres de San Diego.  Either that or because you've seen me on Twitter in photographs such as this one, taken at Citi Field.

Anyway, I'd like to wish you all a happy belated Cinco de Mayo.  As you can see from the photo to the left, I was having a fiesta with some Mets-themed bebidas last night, but I didn't have too many.  After all, I had to write my thoughts on the Mets' recently-completed series against Arizona.

As you should already know, the Mets defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks today by the score of 3-1.  With the victoria, the Mets were able to take the series from the D-Backs and improved their record to 15-13.

The star of the game was R.A. Dickey, who when not teaching my colleague how to throw a knuckleball, also found the time to take the Diamondbacks' hitters to school.  Dickey became the first starting pitcher to take the mound in the ninth inning for the Mets this year, before needing help from Señor Tim Byrdak and Señor Frank Francisco.

All in all, it was a very good series for the Mets.  If not for a bullpen meltdown in Friday night's loss, the Mets could very well have swept the series from Arizona.  But beggars can't be choosers, you can't win 'em all, and all those other cliches peloteros tend to say during post-game interviews.

Now it's time for the good part of Ballapeño's Bullpen!  This is where I dispense my three nuggets on the Mets, otherwise known as my Peos of Wisdom.  For those of you who don't know what peos are, just go to your nearest Del Taco (or any other taqueria will do), order a dozen tacos or burritos, enjoy, and then your neighbor will be able to tell you exactly what a peo is.

If I have enough of these, I bet I can come up more than three Peos of Wisdom!

Peos of Wisdom #1: R.A. Dickey

What more can be said about R.A. Dickey other than he's el hombre on the Mets' pitching staff.  With apologies to Johan Santana, Dickey has been absolutely outstanding game in and game out, save for that rainy day in Atlanta back on April 18.  Since becoming a Met in 2010, Dickey has made 63 starts.  He's pitched at least six innings in 54 of them.

I'm not very good with math (I do know that 6 tacos + 6 burritos = 1 fiesta pack at Del Taco), but when a pitcher gives his bullpen as much rest as Dickey has over the past three seasons, in his case, 54 out of 63 times, that must be a good thing, right?  Speaking of the bullpen, that brings me to Peo Numero Dos.



Peos of Wisdom #2: Frank Francisco

It's no question that Frank Francisco is the doppelgang ... doppelga ... that Frank Francisco looks a lot like former Mets' closer Armando Benitez.  (Hey, I'm bilingual, but one of those languages isn't German, so get off my espalda already!)  But does he have to pitch like him as well?

On Saturday, Francisco got the save despite allowing the tying run to reach base and get into scoring position.  Today, he didn't allow anyone to reach base, but he caused a tense moment at Citi Field when he allowed Miguel Montero to fly out to the right field warning track to end the game.  One of these days, Francisco will have a relatively easy save.  Unfortunately, one of these days needs to happen one of these months.  My tacos give me enough indigestion.  I don't need Frank Francisco to make it worse.



Peos of Wisdom #3: Jason Bay

Last, but not least, I wanted to discuss Jason Bay.  No, he didn't have anything to do with this game (or the series with Arizona), but he did pop up in the news.  You see, Jason Bay's bruised ribs are still bruised, two weeks after the injury originally occurred.  The injury couldn't have come at a worse time for Bay, who was finally starting to get caliente (if you want to call a .290 batting average over his final nine games before the injury "caliente").  Even if Bay's boo boo had allowed for him to begin resuming baseball activities, he would still not be able to.  Why?

Jason Bay has the flu.

How does a guy in recovery get another sickness?  Was he watching the hockey game too close to the TV and caught a cold that way?  ¡Ay, Dios mío!  I'm telling you, Jason Bay is more fragile than a piñata at Jose Canseco's steroid parties.  Maybe one year, he will stay on the field long enough to get 500 at-bats in a season.  With any luck, it will happen for a team other than the Mets.



Well, that's it, fanáticos de los Mets.  I hope you enjoyed the first edition of Ballapeño's Bullpen.  If there is a positive response to my writing debut, I will write more of these for you.  Of course, you will get some ripe Peos of Wisdom as quickly as I can produce them.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe it is time for my siesta.  After a night of Cinco de Mayo festivities and a weekend full of Mets baseball, I think it's time I took a break, no?  Don't worry.  I'll wake up in time for tomorrow's series opener against los Filis de Filadelfia.  That's a promise, or my name isn't Ballapeño Pepe Sanchez Gomez del Chapulín Colorado.

¡Buenas noches a todos!

Z?  Z?  Z?  Sí, sí, sí.