Oh!

Did anyone see that awesome baseball game?

In the first Mike Pelfrey lets up three runs without really even allowing a hard-hit ball, and it’s like, “oh that sucks, but that’s baseball, I guess.” Only then in the second, Pelfrey lets up three more runs on a bunch of hard-hit balls, and now it’s all, “OK, between the Mets’ offense and bullpen this one’s going to get ugly.”

Only the Mets also have Carlos Beltran on their team, and Carlos Beltran is totally sweet. So he hits a three-run home run in the bottom of the third and everyone gets to thinking how maybe at least it won’t be a total blowout if the Mets’ recently crappy bullpen can not suck for once.

Then — then! — in the bottom of the sixth, Beltran doubles off the top of the wall and Jason Bay figures out a way to get to first base, so the Mets wind up with runners on second and third with one out after Ronny Paulino taps out to the pitcher. Now Nick Evans — who always walks up to bat to Tom Petty music — comes up, and he’s taking this laid-back approach at the plate like he doesn’t want to swing at all, just chillin’, mentally listening to some Tom Petty, but Paul Maholm walks him on a full count.

Next Ruben Tejada, who’s 21 but doesn’t look a day older than 12, rips a single to right and two runs score and all of a sudden whoa, too bad the Mets bullpen stinks or else they might really have something here. And then Terry Collins throws strategy to the wind and puts in left-handed Daniel Murphy to pinch-hit against lefty Paul Maholm instead of going with a righty bat like Dillon Gee or Jason Isringhausen, and Murphy rewards his manager’s unconventional thinking by lifting a single to left that scores another run.

Now the Pirates are playing really terribly, and after an error and a passed ball, Tejada scampers home and everyone’s thinking, “man how crazy they tied this thing up, shame about that bullpen thing.”

But oh!

A little bit later, Paulino singles to lead off the eighth and Collins uses Willie Harris to pinch-run for Paulino and Chris Capuano to pinch-hit for Jason Isringhausen. This seems like it might be a pretty crummy thing to do to any position player, even Harris, but Collins says Capuano’s the best bunter on the team and he’s in there to get Harris over to second.

Only he doesn’t need to. In a very confusing sequence of events, Jose Veras balks on what looks like the second strike of the at-bat. So everyone’s all confused as to how and why Harris is suddenly standing on second and Josh Thole’s coming in to pinch-hit with a 1-2 count, and things get even worse when Thole takes a called strike and everyone figures he’s out but he’s still standing there. And by the time everything’s cleared up, Harris is on third on a wild pitch.

Long story short, Veras struggles from there and the Mets score two and now it’s like, “OMG I think they’re really going to pull this one out, what a comeback!” But obviously the first guy up in the ninth hits a triple off Francisco Rodriguez and it’s all, “Oh so this is how it’s going to be K-Rod?”

Only no! That guy scored but no one else did, and the Mets won 9-8. A bunch of other cool stuff happened too.

It was sweet.

I don’t know how to describe (the 7th inning). I’m sick of trying to describe 7th innings.

– Terry Collins.

Another brutal loss for the Mets last night, and Collins sounded about at his wit’s end afterward — promising change but failing to provide specifics.

So here’s an idea, one that likely won’t change much but will at least shake things up a bit and give the club a bit of much-needed lefty power: How about get Lucas Duda on the team?

Duda went 3-for-3 with two home runs, a double and a pair of walks in Buffalo last night, so this might sound a bit reactive. But if you’ve been reading this blog with any regularity you know I’ve been on this for a while. Some might argue Duda should be playing every day somewhere since he’s young and presumably still developing. But Duda is 25 — hardly a baby — and now has 100 games’ worth of absolutely raking Triple-A pitching on his resume.

Collins can find Duda some at-bats at first base and, until someone figures out what has happened to Jason Bay, in left field. And since Duda may never turn out to be a Major League regular, it behooves the Mets to determine how he can succeed in part-time duty in the big leagues anyway.

Willie Harris has been on the team all season because, we assume, he hits left-handed and is a versatile defender. But Harris has a miserable .539 OPS against right-handed pitchers in 2011. Small samples still abound, of course, but it’s not like Harris’ career .688 mark in that split is enough to hang on to him with confidence he’ll start mashing right-handers soon.

Plus, though Harris’ versatility has come in handy these last few days with Jose Reyes out, the Mets have plenty of guys to play every position Harris handles. Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans can play third. Ruben Tejada, Turner and Murphy can play second. Angel Pagan, Scott Hairston and Jason Pridie can play center.

And Harris is 33 and unlikely to play a meaningful role in the Mets’ future. With this season looking increasingly like one best served for assessing future contributors, the Mets might as well take the opportunity to see how Duda’s mighty Triple-A bat plays when given ample Major League chances. When he is in the lineup, he will provide them some much-needed power. When he’s on the bench, he’ll serve as the credible lefty pinch-hitter they’ve lacked for most of the season.

Du it.

(Sorry.)

The Mets, you may have heard, have gone 10 straight games without a home run, their longest such drought since disco.

It’s mostly randomness. The Mets, a collection of Major League hitters not even hitting poorly, have not suddenly lost the ability to put the ball over the fence. It will happen eventually, and probably pretty soon.

Some factors that don’t help: They’ve played a bunch of games at cold Wrigley and big Citi Field. And their lineup, with David Wright and Ike Davis out, contains a bunch of guys that don’t hit many home runs.

Really the only power hitters the Mets are starting with any regularity are Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay, and it’s pretty much laughable to consider Bay a power hitter right now. And that’s, ahh, that’s worrisome. Man… Jason Bay.

So in other words, I guess, this is all Carlos Beltran’s fault.

When first told that Einhorn is a poker player, Pelfrey, an avid card player himself, said, “Tell him to come to the back of the plane—bring his wallet.”

But a few seconds later, when told Einhorn finished 18th in the 2006 World Series of Poker, Pelfrey had second thoughts, saying, “He can play with [shortstop Jose] Reyes then.”

– Brian Costa, Wall Street Journal.

Turns out Mike Pelfrey’s a pretty funny dude. Of course, next time he gets hit hard someone will find some way to spin this to explain why he’s crazy or something.