Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.After blowing another lead in the ninth inning against the Pirates Monday, the Mets appeared to be at their breaking point when they arrived in Washington for a three-game series with the Nationals. Things were so bad manager Jerry Manuel talked about using starting pitchers Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine in the ninth during his pre-game meeting with reporters.
Fast forward nine innings and reliever Pedro Feliciano, the savior of the moment after a pitching a perfect ninth to nail down a 4-3 win, was joking with reporters about how "scary" the save situation was for him.
Such is life in a desperate pennant race in the middle of August with three teams battling for just one spot in the postseason. "Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust," as Ray Liotta's character from the movie Blow would say.
Chances are the New York media will paint this win as a watershed moment for the Mets, a moment spurred by the motivational tactics of Manuel and a closed-door bullpen meeting led by veterans Scott Schoeneweis and Duaner Sanchez.
