Part of his mental issues with the game have pretty clearly always been part of his unrealistic belief that he would help the Mets more as a starter than as the middle-reliever that they need.

Have you noticed how he always seems to do worst out of the pen when the #5 starter role is up in the air and he starts getting twitchy about it being "his time"?

I sure have.

The more he realizes he's never gonna start as a Met, the more that reality is effectively beaten into his head, the less that his desire to start will distract him from his real job.

Guess I'll watch in peace…..

I think those are the only two options as I can't see him turning it around this year as a reliever.

The only opportunity the Mets blew was the opportunity to get some value for Heilmann. It would have taken a shrink to tell them he couldn't handle NY any more. I go back to my other post. Denial about last year may work for Willie/Omar but not for apparently, most of last year's squad. I expect this team to totally implode soon. You are now seeing even Wright underperform and even big mouth Wagner gives up runs after every error.

Herein lies my entire problem with Randolph.

He has absolutely no feel for his bullpen and continually goes to "wrong" pitchers in the "wrong" spots. Last night is a perfect example. Whether you feel Vargas should have been lifted or not, Heilman was NOT the answer. You don’t go to a struggling pitcher in a close game in a series where you are already down one game.

Which is more important, fixing Heilman or winning the game ?

And by the way, the way to fix Heilman is not to keep throwing him out there in situations where his margin for error is razor thin. You know the kid is a poor 1st half performer and you have plenty of good arms in the bullpen. You don't NEED to goto Heilman there. So why do it?

Willie's logic rarely makes sense to me when it comes to his pitching changes in critical spots. We all talk about how really the Manager has little impact on the overall scope of the game. And as far as lineups, defense and hitting I do think that's fairly true.

But with relief you need to know what you're doing.

You need to have a "feel" for situations. Willie doesn't try to do that. He speaks of "challenging" pitchers to step up in certain situations. Well Willie, this isn’t the instructional league. And, guess what?!?!? We have plenty of good bullpen arms then most teams. So why not use them!? Why not go with the pitcher that has the best chance to succeed rather then the pitcher you want to "challenge"? I'm sorry I don't get it. Maybe someone can explain to me what I'm missing with Willie's management strategy when it comes to pitching.

-The Mets have lost more than a few games based on making pitch-count decisions. That's script managing and it stinks.

-My suggestion was made on fixing Heilman on the major league level.

-Heilman might be done in New York, but the Mets probably blew that opportunity. Heilman could be approaching Guillermo Mota-status in New York.

-I don't think The Jacket has the answers on this one.-JD

JD: Is Rick Waits still in the organization? If so, Heilman should be sent down to work with him. It helped Bobby Jones, it also helped Trachsel. Heilman has clearly not been the same pitcher since the Molina homer in the NLCS

Heilman should have an option left. He has under five years of baseball service which means that his option years extend into his fourth season, sometime into this season he will accumulate the required 172 games which will put him over five years and out of options. why not send him down to fix his mechanics his confidence can't be any lower so you can't say its a blow to his ego. If he goes down and gets it together with a low ERA we either have a reliever to plug in or he's regained his trade value…

It also gives the team a chance to see what they have in other guys….

If you are going to give him a salvation start, I'd suggest doing it on a road trip.