Kevin Hagen for New York Daily News
Daniel Murphy is pumped about scoring, high-fiving catcher Mike Nickeas during the Mets victory.
The questions and storylines could have been so much brighter, on this first day home from a road trip.
“Can the miracle Mets keep it up?†for example. Or perhaps, “Do the consecutive sweeps in Philadelphia and Miami mean that the Mets are for real?"
Instead, before the team won the first of it its two-game miniseries against Milwaukee at Citi Field on Monday, 3-1, the only real issue for Terry Collins to address was a dreary one:
“Is Frank Francisco still your closer?"
The pregame answer was yes - so, naturally, the manager’s decision was tested mere hours later. After Miguel Batista contributed seven scoreless innings, and Tim Byrdak and Bobby Parnell kept it up in the eighth, there was Francisco, protecting a 3-0 lead, against the middle of the Milwaukee order.
This appearance began with a Ryan Braun single, boos at Citi Field, and a Braun steal of second base. Braun remained there when Aramis Ramirez grounded out, but scored on Corey Hart’s single.
Jon Rauch began warming in the bullpen then, as Francisco set to walking Tyler Green, then striking out Brooks Conrad. One out to go in the difficult ninth: Pinch-hitter George Kottaras. Francisco induced a flyout to right, and the save - however stressful - was achieved.
The big man with the big ERA - 8.56 after Sunday’s blown save, which he followed with a tirade against home plate umpire Todd Tichenor, and 8.59 after Monday -- combined with a few of his bullpen buddies to change the subject last weekend from team success to reliever struggles.
Francisco was the losing pitcher on Sunday, as he was on Friday. Those were the Mets’ only two losses of the six-game trip, but the manager did not think it wise to demote Francisco - yet.
“We had a couple conversations about that (Monday),†Collins said. “Frankie Francisco was brought here to be the closer...We’re going to see if it works because as of right now he is the best option we have I think."
One of those topics was the tipping of pitches, which the Mets believed after watching game video that Francisco was doing.
For a team becoming known for late-inning comebacks, a weak bullpen can demoralize. “I don’t think it will ever impede the ability (to come back),†Collins said, before adding that “what it does is, you bring down the entire emotion of the ballclub."
Knowing this, Collins and his staff mulled many options, including using a committee of pitchers in the ninth inning instead of a single closer. But he counteracted those urges with a desire not to overreact to a few blown saves, ugly as they were.
Addressing a question of whether Bobby Parnell should be the closer, Collins offered a rationale for his reluctance to make a dramatic move Monday.
“If he goes out and has a bad outing, well all of a sudden he’s not the answer," he said. “You put in Jon Rauch tonight and he gives up a single or a double, then he’s not the answer. So all you’re doing is creating a bigger mess than what you really have. Let’s just see if we can fix the problem first."
That was as strong as his endorsement for Francisco became. The message: I have patience, but not infinite patience.
“It’s ‘look, I trust you. I believe in you,'' Collins said. “Let’s see if this works with what we talked about today, and we’ll make decisions as we go."
Monday’s decision was to to leave the bullpen as is, and hope the offense would provide enough support. The Mets led 2-0 after sixth, courtesy of Daniel Murphy’s run-scoring single in the first, and Ronny Cedeno’s squeeze bunt in the sixth that scored Murphy.
The Mets added a run in the eighth against old friend Francisco Rodriguez, when David Wright escaped a rundown to score, because Ramirez dropped the ball.
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