Getting swept sucks.
Getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers sucks beyond belief. And the fact that it's happened twice in 3 years now at Dodger Stadium (2007 and 2009)? The ignominy of getting swept by a ballclub that has the world's worst and most classless repugnant fans makes it all the more miserable.
The New York Mets started this road trip by beating the San Francisco Giants in AT&T Park 3 out of 4 games, and the loss on Sunday was at least a good game. They accomplished all that without the help of stars Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado, who is now going to be out until late July at the earliest. They scored 24 runs in those 3 wins, and none of the runs were on homers. The last time the Mets had a homerun,
Things turned really bad when the team got to Los Angeles. Alex Cora was placed on the 15-day DL when he injured this thumb sliding into second base the night before in San Francisco. Ramon Martinez, an emergency call-up whose natural position is 2B and not SS, was part of the error parade on Monday night. And more problematic, Martinez has been dreadful at the plate so far in his 3 games, going 0 for 12 with 1 RBI and 3 Ks to start off.
First, concentrating on the final game of the 3-game series...
Like Monday night, this was another unexpected pitcher's duel between Livan Hernandez and Jeff Weaver. Hernandez has been brilliant against NL East rivals Atlanta and Florida so far, and pretty bad against everyone else. Tonight, Hernandez was brilliant, going 7 IP, scattering 7 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2.
Livan continues to prove to be 2008 version of Oliver Perez by either being fantastic or dreadful, with little in-between, and no real explanation as to why. Hernandez had a shaky 1st inning, as the Dodgers scored in the 1st inning in all 3 games against New York.
Juan Pierre led off the inning with a swinging bunt that Hernandez fielded and threw to first but Pierre just beat it out. Rafael Furcal singled to rightfield. Orlando Hudson grounded out to 1B Daniel Murphy, moving the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. Andre Ethier hit a sac fly to RF Ryan Church which scored Pierre from 3rd and Furcal took 3rd base safely on the play. The inning ended when Russell Martin flied out to rightfield.
And after that, Hernandez was pretty damn good. Any time he got into trouble over the course of the game, he got out of it with ease.
The problem is that Jeff Weaver was just as stingy. While he only went 5 innings due to him being used primarily as a long reliever this season, the Mets were only able to score once off him in the 2nd inning when Carlos Beltran doubled in Luis Castillo from 1st base.
After Jose Reyes grounded deep out into the 2B hole to lead off the 3rd inning, he re-injured his right calf which has caused him to be on the bench during most of the road trip. Word is that now Reyes is going back to NY to get looked at, and won't play against Boston over the weekend. With Reyes having calf problems and Alex Cora on the DL, the Mets are in deep shit when it comes to having someone competent play shortstop, which has been one of my biggest fears over the last 4 seasons, as there was never a truly suitable backup for Jose Reyes. And this year now that they have one in Alex Cora, he's hurt too.
In any case, the Dodgers bullpen shut the Mets down for the rest of the game. Ramon Troncoso pitched the 6th and 7th innings without incident. Ronald Belsiario walked Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran to lead off the 8th inning. David Wright flied out to deep center which allowed both runners to tag up. At this point, Joe Torre went to lefthanded rookie Brent "No relation to Terry" Leach. With the infield in and Daniel Murphy up in a big spot, he grounded out to 1B James Loney, who promptly stepped on first for the 2nd out, and the runners could not advance.
At this point, Fernando Tatis was put in to pinch-hit for Ryan Church, who doesn't have strong numbers against lefty hitters. Sadly, Tatis grounded out to SS Rafael Furcal to end the top half of the frame.
In the bottom of the 8th, J,J, Putz was brought in a 1-1 game to keep it that way. But he failed.
Putz started the inning by getting Rafael Furcal to strike out swinging, but then gave up a single to Orlando Hudson, a walk to the slumping Andre Ethier, and a single to Russell Martin that scored Hudson from 2nd. David Wright intercepted the throw home from LF Jeremy Reed and threw out Andre Ethier trying to take 3rd base. Ramon Martinez, who was covering 3rd, made the tag on Ethier.
Putz then intentionally walked James Loney and then struck out pinch-hitter Mark Loretta to end the 8th, but the damage was already done.
Big Jonathan Broxton came in to close out the 9th, and as luck would have it again, like the night before, he was facing the bottom of the Mets order which was hardly going to be a formidable opponent for Broxton. Angel Pagan did manage a base hit with 1 out, but Jeremy Reed foul popped out to 1B James Loney, Angel Pagan took 2nd base uncontested, and then Ramon Martinez grounded out to Casey Blake to end the game.
Some Met fans will question why manager Jerry Manuel didn't pinch-hit for Ramon Martinez in this spot with either Gary Sheffield or backup catcher Omir Santos. But Manuel could not make that move because someone needed to still play shortstop in the bottom of the 9th inning had the Mets been able to tie the game. Even a double-switch of positions was not possible since Reyes had gone down with injury and Fernando Tatis had been used as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning. It was Ramon Martinez or bust, and well, he's a bust with the bat.
So that was the ballgame, and the series. The Dodgers completed their 3-game sweep of the Mets, and what began as an encouraging road trip in San Francisco, has turned 180 degrees with the Mets now 3-4 on this trip, and another 3 games against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park to go. Like the Dodgers, Boston doesn't lose at home (15-4).
So now what?
Good news:
The Daniel Murphy at 1B experiment has begun! While he failed twice tonight at the plate in big spots with RISP, he looked perfectly fine at first base, making a couple of nice plays and no mistakes nor errors. Granted, it's only one game, so we'll have to see how things progress. If he's going to become any sort of legitimate fill-in for the injured Carlos Delgado, he's going to need to find his swing again, even if he doesn't hit for power.
Livan Hernandez pitched his best start as a Met, but I already went over that.
Johan Santana pitches against Daisuke Matsuzaka on Friday, so at least the Mets have a fighting chance against the Sawx behind Santana. But if this offense continues to struggle in Boston like they did against the Dodgers.. yikes.
The team is still 21-19, two games above .500 and 1 game behind Philadelphia. No need to panic.
Bad news:
With Jose Reyes hurting again and Cora still injured, WE'S GOT A PROBLEM! Ramon Martinez is a natural 2B, not a SS. So the team is either going to have to use Fernando Tatis at SS for a while, which is not his best position by a longshot, or find someone in the minors at Buffalo or Binghamton to promote in the meanwhile. But there isn't anyone on either of those teams good enough to fill in. Martinez also can't hit, which isn't helping matters, so they may be stuck with him for a bit.
The Mets are back to their old problems hitting with RISP, going 0 for 10 tonight, and 3 for 27 (.111 team BA) in the 3-game series.
No Delgado, no Reyes, no Cora, no Schneider. Only Beltran and Wright are hitting with any consistency now but neither are doing it with the longball.
The Dodgers are now 17-3 through 20 home games, which ties a modern MLB mark set by the 1998 Yankees, also managed by Joe Torre. With the Angels coming in for interleague play Friday-Sunday, and I'm an Angels fan in addition to being a Mets fan, I'm not thrilled with the prospects of watching the Dodgers win even more games while I'm at Dodger Stadium (aka: The Unhappiest Place on Earth) this weekend.
The summary for this New York Mets loss to the L.A. Dodgers is a LOT simpler than the debacle on Monday night in the 11th inning.
Chad Billingsley was shaky early on, throwing a plethora of pitches through 4 innings but was able to right himself after giving up 3 earned runs to the Mets. Billingsley also helped his cause with a walk and two base hits off John Maine, one of which was a double that scored Casey Blake.
John Maine was a little iffy at start, although he wasn't helped out by another Daniel Murphy error in leftfield. Juan Pierre hit a sinking line drive to the opposite field, and while Murphy tracked it down, it went off his glove and Juan Pierre made it to second base with ease. He eventually scored to give the Dodgers the early 1-0 lead.
In the top of the 1st inning, Daniel Murphy got picked off of 1st base in one of those baserunning mistakes that shouldn't happen, as he broke for 2nd far too soon.
The Mets got the lead back in the 2nd inning thanks to a surprising bases loaded hit up the middle from John Maine that scored David Wright and Jeremy Reed.
The Mets tacked on another run in the 3rd when David Wright singled in Carlos Beltran, although Wright got caught trying to take 2nd base on the throw into the infield from CF Matt Kemp.
That's all the Met offense was able to muster as far as runs in this game. The Dodgers got back a run in the 4th when Billingsley hit the aforementioned double.
But the big blow came on Pitch #101. With two men (Loney and Kemp) on base and one man out in the bottom of the 6th, Casey Blake blasted a home run into the leftfield bleachers to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead which they held onto for the W.
The Mets' best chance to fight back came in the top of the 8th against reliever Cory Wade. Beltran led off the inning with a single, and David Wright then walked. Ryan Church flied out to leftfield. At this point, 2B Ramon Martinez was up at the plate. While it was only his 2nd game, Martinez had already struck out three times (all against Billingsley) and was probably not the best guy to be hitting in this position. So of course, I wondered why Jerry Manuel wasn't using Luis Castillo in this spot as a pinch-hitter. It's possible Castillo was unavailable, but I don't know. There's of course, no guarantee that Castillo is able to do the job in this spot, but he does have very good RISP numbers this season, and he's certainly a better hitter than Ramon Martinez.
Martinez ended up grounding into a 4-3 double play.
Big John Broxton pitched an easy 9th inning against the bottom of the order for the Mets (Reed, Santos, Pagan) and that was the ballgame.
Any bright spots for the Mets? Sure. The bullpen didn't let the game get out of hand once Maine left. Ken Takahashi gave up a Juan Pierre single before getting Furcal to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to get the Mets out of the 6th inning. Sean Green pitched a perfect 7th, and Frankie Rodriguez pitched a perfect 8th.
At the plate, David Wright and Carlos Beltran continue to hit extremely well. The problem is, they're currently the only ones doing so, but neither are doing it with the longball.
While the New York Mets curently lead the majors in hitting with a .291 BA, they also have the 4th fewest home runs as a team, with 26 total. While you can definitely win games without the longball, the lack of Delgado's power bat in the lineup is going to start becoming more and more noticeable if no one else (Tatis, Sheffield) is able to step up in the SLG department.
And all it took was one game at Dodger Stadium on a chilly night at Chavez Ravine. It was not the game I expected to see, and the ending was one I never hoped to EVER see.
Every team goes through that old cliche. You win some, you lose some. There's nothing wrong with losing.
But the way the New York Mets lost this game on May 18, 2009 against the Los Angeles Fucking Dodgers was just fucking pitiful.
It's two hours after the game now, and I'm STILL FUCKING PISSED. I can't remember being this pissed off in the longest time.
In fact, I WAS going to write stuff up about yesterday's Giants-Mets game that I went to in San Francisco, but that's ancient history at this point in time. They lost 2-0 in a very well-pitched game, save for three Mike Pelfrey balks. Can't win 'em all.
But this game.... FUCK! (at the top of my lungs)
Let's start from the beginning... with the Mets taking Batting Practice.
So then we move to the actual game itself. Tim Redding vs. Randy Wolf.
You wouldn't really expect this game to be a pitcher's duel, but that's pretty much what it was for a good portion of the game.
Redding, pitching his 1st start as a New York Met since being activated from the 15-day DL (right shoulder tendinitis before the season began), had a slightly rough 1st inning, and pitched far better than anyone had the right to expect the rest of the night.
In the aforementioned shaky first inning, Redding walked Juan Pierre (who walked 3 times this game, and this is not a guy who knows how to take walks), gave up a single to Rafael Furcal, sending Pierre to 3rd.
Next batter Orlando Hudson grounds a weak chopper to 1B Fernando Tatis, who instead of throwing down to 2nd or taking the sure out at 1st, decides to make a throw home to catcher Ramon Castro in order to get the speedy Pierre. Except Tatis' throw was to the right side of homeplate, making it virtually impossible for Castro to take the throw on that side and then rotate left to tag Pierre out. A perfect throw in the right spot MIGHT have gotten Pierre, but the sure out would've been the right play. Tatis didn't make that play. Dodgers go up 1-0.
Andre Ethier flied out. That's the 1st out of the inning. Russell Martin got hit by the very first pitch he saw, which loaded the bases. James Loney hit a sac fly to CF Carlos Beltran, who made a very strong throw to the plate but Furcal was too quick and he scored. 2-0 Dodgers.
Redding then got Matt Kemp to ground out to 3B David Wright, who made a nice pick on the play and a less-than-nice throw on to 1st tha 1B Fernando Tatis was able to hang onto for 3 outs.
The Mets scored a run in the top 2nd when David Wright hit a leadoff double down the leftfield line. Tatis grounded out to 2nd which moved Wright over to 3rd. Ramon Martinez then grounded out to SS Rafael Furcal, which scored David Wright and the Mets had their run on the board.
And then, nothing. Great pitching from both Randy Wolf and Tim Redding.
Tim Redding pitched 5 of 6 strong innings (the 1st, not so good. The rest, great!) giving up only 2 hits and 2 runs on 4 walks, striking out 4.
Randy Wolf's final line, which got him a very deserved standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium fans who were still left when manager Joe Torre lifted him in the 8th inning, was 7.2 IP, scattering 6 hits, walking 2, striking out 2, and was charged with 2 earned runs, though when he left the game, he was in line for the win with a 2-1 lead. Wolf was also extremely efficient, finishing up with 96 pitches in the 8th inning.
In a move that Dodger fans were pissed about, especially after the move didn't go their way, with a runner on 2nd (Angel Pagan led off the top 8 with a double) and 2 out, instead of having closer Jonathan Broxton pitch a 4-out save, which he likely would have gotten, Joe Torre went with righty pitcher Cory Wade to face righty hitter Gary Sheffield.
Right-handed hitters were only batting .200 against Wade, so the decision certainly made sense, but Broxton would probably have done the job that Wade ultimately didn't.
Gary Sheffield, the biggest target of Dodger fan booing and catcalls by far, hit a ball through into the hole between 1st and 2nd which 2B Orlando Hudson ran down. Pagan was running from 2nd and just beat the throw to the plate from Hudson in shallow rightfield. This tied the game at 2. Wade then ended up walking David Wright, and getting Fernando Tatis to foul out to catcher Russell Martin to end the inning.
JJ Putz pitched the bottom 8 for the Mets. Ramon Martinez committed his 2nd error of the ballgame at shortstop, which like his 1st error, ended up being inconsequential in the grand scheme of this game. Although clearly, this team can't get Jose Reyes back playing regularly soon enough.
After the 8th inning, this is what the stands in Dodger Stadium looked like. This, during a 2-2 tie game. This "fans leaving early" stuff happens everywhere, but Dodger fans are known for being the absolute worst when it comes to leaving games before they're over. It's a well-deserved reputation for the world's worst fans.
It thinned out even more as the game went on.
Big John Broxton pitched the 9th for the Dodgers, retiring them with ease even after a Ryan Church base hit with 2 out. That was only the 2nd hit by a lefty off Broxton all season long.
Curiously, Jerry Manuel had Sean Green pitch the bottom 9 for the Mets, which was one of those decisions you had to question somewhat because we all know that Green is pretty rotten lately on the mound. Green got pinch-hitter Xavier Paul to ground out to 2B Luis Castillo. Then he walked Juan Pierre, which is never a good idea. Green struck out Rafael Furcal, and then got Orlando Hudson to hit a squibber on the 3rd base side of the mound. Green fielded it, threw wide of 1st, and Hudson was easily safe at 1st. Pierre ran to 3rd on the Mets' third error of the game.
With the winning run at 3rd, and a man on 1st, and lefty hitter Andre Ethier at the plate, Jerry Manuel went to the bullpen to have LOOGY Pedro Feliciano pitch against Ethier with the game on the line. Ironically, had the Dodgers won the game at this point, it would've been a perfectly acceptable loss. The better team would have won.
Luckily, or perhaps not, based on the way it all ended, Feliciano got Ethier to ground back to him, and tossed the ball over to 1B Fernando Tatis.
And onto extra frames we went.
Nothing much happened in the 10th inning, but everything that could go wrong for the Mets, occurred in the 11th inning.
First, the top of the 11th, where the Mets pretty much won the game, but still ROYALLY fucked up.
With 2 outs, the Mets were facing Dodger reliever Ramon Troncoso. Ryan Church managed to single to leftfield.
On a 2-2 pitch, Angel Pagan hit a long flyball to the base of the right-centerfield wall which seemingly scored Ryan Church, and Pagan ended up with a triple. Met fans in Dodger Stadium were going crazy. We just took the fucking lead in the game, Frankie would've come in to pitch the bottom of the 11th and likely get the 3 outs. Well, with this defense, who knows.
But the boxscore says... "- A. Pagan singled to deep right center, R. Church out at third."
Why?
BECAUSE MOTHERFUCKING RYAN CHURCH MISSED 3RD BASE! 3B Mark Loretta noticed that, and the Dodgers appealed to the umpire, tagged 3rd with a confused Angel Pagan standing on it, and the appeal was successful. Dodger fans roared. Met fans were confused as hell, as were other Dodger fans nearby. Did Pagan miss a base? Did he get picked off on a trick play of some sort? The 3rd run was up on the scoreboard, so what the fuckity fuck happened?
Once the run was taken off the scoreboard, we realized the horror of Ryan Church's blunder. The Mets didn't have the lead after all, the inning was over, and the Mets had just blown it big time. Namely Ryan Church. Whiel at the stadium, one could only figure that Church really must have missed it by a lot because no one from the Mets dugout bothered to argue. Shades of Marv Throneberry.
After now having seen the TV replay with Vin Scully's overrated nasally monotone whine dripping with laughter over the play, it was clear that Church definitely missed 3rd base.
So the anger is palpable at this point, because the Mets had finally taken the lead, until they didn't.
Moving to the Bottom of the 11th, reliever Brian Stokes was onto pitch his 2nd inning. He walked Mark Loretta. Then Xavier Paul hit a flyball to the left-centerfield gap which both LF Angel Pagan and RF Carlos Beltran converged upon, but the ball was missed by both. Both Pagan and Beltran were calling for the ball, and presumably once Pagan was too close to Beltran, it spooked him and it was a two-base error on Carlos Beltran.
Un
fucking
real.
Juan Pierre got the intentional pass to load up the bases with 0 out. And Brian Stokes was now having to pitch himself out of the most awful jam imaginable. Tie game in extra innings. Winning run on 3rd base. Bases loaded. 0 outs.
Jerry Manuel then went to the mound for an infield conference to set up the defense. Carlos Beltran was called in to play a 5th infielder, playing up the middle. Pagan and Church were then playing short left-center and short right-center.
On a 3-2 count, with the game on the line and my heart in my throat, Brian Stokes got Rafael Furcal to fly out to Angel Pagan for the first out. Not nearly deep enough to score the sac fly. Pagan threw a one-hopper to Castro which would've gotten Loretta easily had he decided to run.
Then, what might've been the absolute best possible outcome for the Mets, turned into the Hindenberg of losses.
Brian Stokes, on a 2-2 count, managed to get Orlando Hudson to hit a weak grounder back to 1B Jeremy Reed, who had replaced Fernando Tatis there during a double-switch in the 9th inning. This was a tailor-made forceout at home, if not a 3-2-4 double play with Luis Castillo moving to cover 1st on the play.
But Jeremy Reed threw the fucking ball way wide of catcher Ramon Castro, sailing to the backstop. This was the 5th error of the ballgame (at least, of the ones that were scored as errors), and Mark Loretta scored. Dodgers win by a final score of 3-2.
Dodger dinosaur announcer Vin Scully said it might've been the worst game the Mets have played since the days of Casey Stengel. Well, there's no question the 11th inning was the worst single inning I've ever seen a team have in an MLB game.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry after a Met loss. I'm sure Brian Stokes isn't much happier about it either. He was credited with the loss, despite inducing Orlando Hudson's junkball grounder to Reed which could've ended the inning and allowed the Mets to fight on in the 12th. Saying the defense let him down would be the understatement of this young milennium.
The Dodgers had 5 hits the whole game, whch is the same number of errors as the Mets had in this shameful loss.
The Mets kept giving the fucking game right to the Dodgers.
Walking out of Dodger Stadium after a Met loss isn't anything new. Leaving that shithole stadium after a shit loss like that with those shit fans gloating like jackasses, is something I never want to experience ever again.
Wow, what a fuckin game!
The Ducks, faced with elimination down 3 games to 2 against the Detroit Red Wings, played the way they needed to play after looking terrible in games 4 and 5.
The Ducks were careful about not taking too many penalties (each team had 4 on the game until after the game, where tons of penalties were handed out), finishing through with some superb hits, and playing a strong defense in front of goaltender Jonas Hiller. Hiller didn't let any goals through until a late power play goal by the evil Johan Franzen at 17:35 of the 3rd period.
At that point, the score was 2-1, and the Ducks had to hold on for dear life for the final 3 and a half minutes. And they did just that, with Jonas Hiller making a desperation save off Pavel Datsyuk at 19:57.
The Ducks have improved their "elimination" game record with the Game 6 win,
Best Record in Elimination Games (All-Time)
Team Record Win Percentage
Minnesota 7-3 .700
Anaheim 8-5 .615
NY Islanders 26-17 .605 (WOO-HOO!)
Colorado 9-18 .514
So now the Ducks are going to play their 4th postseason Game 7 in franchise history. They are 2-1 so far, with the 1 loss coming in the 2002-2003 Stanley Cup Finals to the New Jersey Devils in East Rutherford. The two wins? The 1997 Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Phoenix Coyotes, and the 2006 Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Calgary Flames.
The Ducks are absolutely unquestionably capable of beating the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. But they've gotta play smart, not allow the Red Wings to dictate the pace of the puck nor game, and pressure Osgood. They don't have to outshoot Detroit, but they can't get completely outshot by Detroit either. Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller has to be a wall and not let Detroit get the first goal. Bobby Ryan has got to find a way to step up and produce. He hasn't scored a goal since Game 4 of the San Jose series and he has been -4 during the series with two assists.
If that Ducks team shows up in Michigan on Thursday, they'll be meeting the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals.
Angels vs. Royals.
The undefeated wunderkind Zach Greinke (6-0) vs. the underrated de facto ace Joe Saunders (5-1).
What promised to be a pitcher's duel, turned out to be one of the better MLB games all season.
A game in which BOTH pitchers pitched 9 inning complete games, But
While you would think a final score of 1-0 would go to the Royals, because of Greinke's sheer dominance this season, you would be incorrect. It was the Angels that needed only one run behind the brilliant pitching of Joe Saunders.
The Angels scored their lone run in the 3rd inning. Gary Matthews Jr. led off the inning with a double down the rightfield line. Erick Aybar sac bunted him over to third. Chone Figgins hit a sac fly to rightfield to score Matthews. Producing runs National League style in the American League, but that's Angel baseball for you, courtesy of manager Mike Scioscia.
The biggest threat from Kansas City came in the 8th inning when Willie Bloomquist led off the inning by grounding to SS Erick Aybar, whose high throw onto first took 1B Kendry Morales off the bag. Next batter Miguel Olivo singled to leftfield, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.
Mike Aviles lays down a perfectly deadened sac bunt down the third base line to move the runners over, but Joe Saunders makes an outstanding fielding play to throw out Aviles at 1st just in time for the first out.
Then Coco Crisp grounds into a fielder's choice to 3B Chone Figgins, who alertly tags out Miguel Olivo on the basepaths before throwing onto 1st, attempting to get the double play, but Crisp was safe. So now it's 1st and 3rd with 2 out, and David DeJesus at the bat.
DeJesus, a lefty hitter, lines a shot down the third base line but it's stabbed and fielded by Chone Figgins who makes a great stop and a strong throw to 1st to get the 3rd out. Saunders was pumped and the Angel fans in attendance were excited as well.
What made this such a great game was the pitching. By giving up the 1 earned run in this game, the third of the season, Zach Greinke's ERA "balloons" from 0.40 to 0.51, still the lowest in the majors.
Joe Saunders pitched the first CG SHO of his career, and his ERA went from 3.29 to 2.66.
The mighty Greinke's record finally has a blemish in the loss column, but with performances like tonight's, even in defeat, he has no reason to hang his head. And Joe Saunders has every reason to raise his head high.
What's more, the Angels have really rebounded from their slow start of 7-11, going 8-3 over their last 11 games, and are now a game over .500 at 15-14, and a mere half-game behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West. The once-hot Seattle Mariners have fallen off lately, having become almost the exact opposite of the Angels in terms of their first 18 games and what they've done over the past 11. (12-6 start, 3-10 since) and the Angels are likely to overtake the Rangers in the division before long.
The team still has its share of problems, notably the bullpen which has not been very good this season considering Jose Arredondo, Scott Shields and Brian Fuentes, the anchors of the Angels' pen, all currently have ERAs over 5. Shields' is over 9!
The team still needs to get back John Lackey and Ervin Santana in the worst way, as pitchers like Anthony Ortega do not seem up to MLB standards, and Dustin Moseley and Shane Loux are trying their best to keep the team in games, but they're also not the best arms the team has. Loux has potential, but he's not there quite yet.
Still, it's only May, and anything can happen between now and September. But things are looking a lot better for the Halos right now.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4148907
Today's awesome news story involves Manny Ramirez violating MLB's drug policy by testing positive for what is being reported as HCG, a female fertility drug typically taken by steroid users to restart their testosterone production. Testosterone levels are depleted when a person is taking anabolic steroids.
As a result, Manny is suspended for 50 games and won't be eligible to return until July 3. Manny isn't even contesting the suspension, which shows you just how guilty he really is. And stupid.
As I loathe everything about the Dodgers, this story has made my frrrrrriggin day!
I know this is likely to be temporary, but I don't know that I'd want to bring in a reliever with a (current) propensity for being unable to find the plate. Sean Green already fits that bill at times, so if Oliver Perez is doing the exact same thing by throwing tons of balls and allowing hitters to hold the bat on their shoulder until he can throw a strike, then what's the real advantage of moving him to the bullpen? Are they so afraid that a demotion to the minors is going to "psychologically destroy him?" If so, he's in the wrong sport.
The only way Jerry Manuel has a reason to bring Oliver Perez into a game, is if the Mets are down by a significant number of runs early in the game. It's that "inning eating" role that was originally intended for someone like Livan Hernandez when the team is already in a deep hole, the kind of situation that the Yankees have found themselves in a couple of games this season to the point where manager Joe Girardi allowed rightfielder/first baseman Nick Swisher to pitch.
I believe Oliver Perez is going to turn things around at some point, although realistically, it might not be for months. In the meanwhile, Tim Redding can't come back soon enough. It's not that he's an ace or anything of the sort, but he SHOULD be able to at least find the strike zone with a little more velocity than Ken Takahashi, who is probably going to be successful only for a couple of starts before teams put together a book on him and figure out how to rake on him.
Got this statistic from ESPN's SportsCenter....
In the modern NL, there have been 4 teams since 1900 that started their season with a 10-0 record at home.
They are:
1918 Giants. Finished 71-53. Did not make the playoffs.
1970 Cubs. Finished 84-78. Did not make the playoffs.
1983 Braves. Finished 88-74. Did not make the playoffs.
The 2009 Dodgers have won their first 10 home games of the season by sweeping the San Francisco Giants (3), Colorado Rockies (3) and San Diego Padres (4).
If history can please repeat itself, I will be super duper happy.
I've been watching the Yankees-Angels game this morning, and what a fantastic pitcher's duel between CC Sabathia for New York, and Matt Palmer for the Angels. I linked a NYTimes.com profile of Palmer in a post earlier this morning.
And the Angels just went up on the Yankees 5-1, with Palmer pitching 3-hit ball into the 7th inning. I'm just concerned about the Angels' bullpen having another implosion like yesterday, but Palmer ain't going all nine.
Here's a nice profile of Angels pitcher Matt Palmer, a perennial minor leaguer in the San Francisco Giants organization with good, but not great stuff. He almost decided to quit baseball, but kept at it when he started to finally move up in the minors after many years.
