7,438: Same as it ever was … same as it ever was

There’s nothing worse than turning on the TV hoping to watch a new show only to find out that the network is airing a rerun.

Monday afternoon’s TV listing for “Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets” should have been proceeded by an (R), because the 7-5 loss was essentially a rerun of … well … name your 2008 game – Solid starting pitching. Enough offensive support to win. Horrendous bullpen.

Can’t blame this one on Pedro Martinez, who gave up just 1 earned run, 3 hits, 4 walks and 3 strikeouts before leaving after 6 innings with a 5-1 lead. (Martinez, by the way, lost his no-hitter in the third inning when Scott Pearce doubled to left. The count’s now at 7,438.)

And you can’t blame it on the Mets’ bats – 5 runs and 11 hits, including a first-inning three-run round-tripper by David Wright.

So let’s take a look at our bullpen, which partitioned its breakdown into two parts.

Part 1 began in the seventh inning when Joe Smith relieved Martinez and gave up a walk and an RBI double before handing the ball off to Pedro Feliciano, who yielded a sacrifice, a double to right, and an RBI sacrifice fly.

Breakdown Part 2 came in the top of the ninth with the Mets clinging to a 5-4 lead. After striking out the leadoff hitter, Aaron Heilman gave up a single, a walk and an RBI single before getting yanked after hitting a batter. Scott Schoenweis came in to try to clean up the mess and got Brian Moss to hit into a fielder’s choice to get the second out at home.

Could we at least escape this game tied? Nope. Steve Pearce singled home two runs and the Pirates had a 7-5 lead. That’s how it would end.

I’ve always been a huge Talking Heads fan, so it’s not odd to some lyrics from an old Heads song to sneak into my brain from time to time.

Today it’s the repeated bridge lyrics from “Once In A Lifetime,” in which David Byrne sings, “Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was …”