New York Mets: The Pen Is Mightier in 2009

Prior to the start of the 2008 season, Carlos Beltran declared his ballclub the "team to beat" following their epic collapse at the end of the 2007 season, when his Mets coughed up a seven-game lead with 17 games to play. Well, Carlos was right. The Mets were the team to beat, which is exactly what happened to them down the stretch for a second-consecutive season. They were beat.  Again, and again, and again. Among the reasons the Mets failed to qualify for the postseason were the 29 blown saves their bullpen gave up, in large part due to the season- and potentially career-ending elbow injury suffered by Billy Wagner, which forced interim manager Jerry Manuel to rely on the arms of Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, Joe Smith, and Luis Ayala to figure out ways to nail down victories. Despite the valiant effort of Johan Santana, the bullpen failed to come through, and the Mets faced another early offseason, leaving general manager Omar Minaya to figure out a way to get his team over ... (link)