I don’t really have anything I want to write about Osama Bin Laden, and I am especially not interested in vaguely conflating his death with the Mets’ victory last night, even if the news was big enough to have affected the crowd at Citizens Bank Park and the players and manager in post-game interviews.

Baseball: The Mets won a 14-inning thriller last night, with strong pitching compensating for a series of offensive failures and missed opportunities. Cliff Lee appeared human — a nice reminder to Mets fans that great pitchers do occasionally falter — and Chris Young managed to flummox the Phillies for seven efficient innings.

Jason Isringhausen struggled and Tim Byrdak failed to get Ryan Howard out, which is pretty much the main thing Byrdak is supposed to be doing on the Mets. But the rest of the bullpen was excellent. With three solid frames, Pedro Beato extended to 17 innings his career-opening stretch of innings without an earned run. Taylor Buchholz, who has been quietly dominant all year, earned the win with two perfect innings to end the game.

Francisco Rodriguez, I should note, has a 1.727 WHIP with a 1.64 ERA. He has always allowed a lot of baserunners, but not like this. He’s going to have to start getting hitters out more often or he can expect a swift and violent regression.

As for the offense: Terry Collins seems married to the idea that lefties must only pinch-hit against righties and vice versa. Last night, with two on and two out in the eighth inning of a tie game, Collins called on Chin-Lung Hu to pinch-hit against Phillies left-hander Antonio Bastardo.

Hu bats right-handed. He also entered the game 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts on the season, including 1-for-9 with six K’s against southpaws. It’s a miniscule sample, sure, but… man. He strikes out more often than he puts the ball in play. How is it possible he’s a better option in that spot than lefty-hitting Daniel Murphy, who can actually hit?

I guess part of the thing about running platoons at two or three spots in the lineup is it’s going to leave your bench heavily right- or left-handed, depending on the day. But that doesn’t seem like a great excuse to use Chin-Lung Hu in important pinch-hitting spots.

Luckily, whenever Ronny Paulino isn’t playing he should be available for pinch hitting against lefties. If first impressions mean anything, Paulino should run for mayor. That was awesome. He had one fewer hit last night than Scott Hairston has all season. Bear hugs for Ronny Paulino: