Mets 7 Pirates 6

I'm just going to bite my tongue and say it... maybe we shouldn't be so hard on Jim Tracy. In the past couple weeks I've complained about a lot of things that Tracy does while managing, namely that he doesn't have a quick enough hook with his pitching staff and he rarely goes to bat for his players on the field, often sitting on the bench twiddling his thumbs when umpires make obviously bad and game influencing calls. Today he yanked Zach Duke after 5 and 1/3 with a two run lead after one walk, changing the flow of the game and bringing Matt Capps in to induce an inning ending double play on only one pitch. Then, in the eighth inning Tracy came charging out of the dugout to argue what appeared to be a bad call at the plate, with Endy Chavez being called safe (as the Mets fifth run) even though Nate McLouth's throw beat him pretty handily to the plate. Tracy got tossed, as he probably should've, but to no avail as Roberto Hernandez then immediately served up the go ahead hit. Maybe bringing Torres out for a second inning was a questionable move (as it usually is) and maybe using Hernandez for the fifth time in six games was a mistake, but all in all, Tracy did two things that he usually doesn't do that people bitch about, the Pirates still found a way to lose. We certainly are good at that.