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Willie, Willie, Willie. After last night's frustrating loss, I am finally beginning to feel some of Chill's oft-mentioned frustration (here, here, here, here, and here) with Met manager Willie Randolph. I can forgive the crazy double-switches because Willie is an AL guy who is too eager to show he can play the NL game. It's his misplaced faith in his unproven players that drives me nuts, especially his pitchers.

Last night he used Heath Bell in the 11th who immediately lost the game by giving up hits to four of the five batters he faced which resulted in three runs. It wasn't until the damage was done that Willie brought in Aaron Heilman, who is fast becoming the Mets' best reliever (and hasn't given up a run in 9 2/3 innings since switching to the bullpen).

Willie seems to look at his players the opposite of the way I do (and I think most fans too). He starts out by having absolute faith in some of the more unproven players rather than having them earn his faith through performance. Only through repeated failure do they lose his faith. Players like Mike DeJean, Heath Bell, Victor Zambrano, Kaz Ishii, Dae Sung Koo, and Kaz Matsui may appreciate Willie's confidence, but as a fan it drives me bonkers. These guys have shown nothing all season but Willie keeps trotting them out there in big spots where they seems to repeatedly fail to do the job. And waiting in the wings are players like Aaron Heilman, Royce Ring, Miguel Cairo, and Jae Seo who are waiting for Willie to have faith in them. C'mon Willie, make them earn it. The NL East is too close this year to be giving away games like last night.