21 posts tagged “billy wagner”

Thanks MLB, for scheduling this 3rd game between the Angels and Red Sox at 9 in the fucking morning on a friggin Sunday. 

Watching the Angels on TV dominate the Boston Red Sox by a final score of 5-0 was something to behold. John Lackey pitching 7.1 IP of shutout ball against the potent Red Sox offense.  Torii Hunter was the hero of the game with a 3-run BOMB off of Jon Lester into the centerfield rockpile which would end up being all the offense the Angels needed to win the game, though they managed to tack on another 2 runs off reliever Takashi Saito in the bottom of the 7th. Darren Oliver pitched the final 1.2 IP to loooock it up for the Halos.

But watching Game 2 at Angel Stadium, with 40,000+ fans, with not nearly as many Boston fans as you'd think (maybe because they were a lot quieter?) was an awesome experience.

• We had a fantastic pitcher's duel between one of the best postseason pitchers of the decade in Josh Beckett, and Jered Weaver, a solid #2-#3 pitcher in the Angels rotation who managed to keep Boston at bay the entire game.

• Boston struck first in the 4th inning when Jacoby Ellsbury led off the inning with a triple to deep centerfield, one of the few balls that Torii Hunter could not track down. 2 batters later, Victor Martinez singled him home. That was all the runs the Red Sox would muster.

ALDSAngelsSox_2

• The Angels struck back in the bottom of the 4th when Bobby Abreu got to 1st with a leadoff single. Torii Hunter then hit a bullet towards the left side but it was caught by a diving Mike Lowell, making a fantastic play.

ALDSAngelsSox_3

• The next batter, Vladimir Guerrero singled to rightfield while Abreu took off for 2nd, allowing the Angels to do what they do best. Run from first to third. Angels slugger Kendry Morales was next at the plate, hitting a line shot to J.D. Drew in rightfield, far enough for Bobby Abreu to tag up from 3rd and tie the game at 1.

• Weaver and Beckett continued to duel, with Beckett's pitch count more efficient, but Weaver was matching him on overall results. Weaver only gave up 2 hits in the entire game, both in the 4th inning. The only other baserunners allowed by Weaver were 2 scattered inconsequential walks to J.D. Drew and Jason Bay.

• The Angels finally chipped away at Josh Beckett in the bottom of the 7th when Vladimir Guerrero took, of all things, a leadoff walk on 5 pitches to start the inning. In a key managerial decision, Angels skip Mike Scioscia chose to pinch-run for his cleanup-hitting DH with Howie Kendrick, as the Angels had yet to run the bases on Jason Varitek as had been rumored to occur any time he was catching. It's a decision that paid off in spades. Kendrick successfully stole 2nd base after the first out had been made by Kendry Morales flying out to centerfield

• Juan Rivera couldn't get Kendrick home though, as he then grounded out to 3B Mike Lowell. Next batter Maicer Izturis, a .370 career BA against Josh Beckett, and a .327 hitter with runners in scoring position, got the job done. Mighty Maicer hit a shot up the middle into shallow centerfield that scored Howie Kendrick to give the Angels the 2-1 lead.

• But the Angels weren't done. Izturis then stole 2nd base, easily beating the throw from Varitek. Mike Napoli would get hit in the shoulder by a Josh Beckett pitch and took 1st base. Beckett thought Napoli didn't make an effort to get out of the way, but home plate CB Bucknor felt otherwise.

• By the way, as horrible as his Boston-screwing calls were at first base in Game 1, CB Bucknor didn't have any major problems behind the plate, giving all pitchers a consistent and somewhat liberal strike zone.

• With Izturis on 2nd, and Napoli on 1st, and still 2 out, Erick Aybar came to the plate. This would've probably been the time for Boston manager Terry Francona to go to the bullpen, but he stuck with Josh Beckett one batter too many. Erick Aybar launched a shot into deep centerfield for a triple, scoring Izturis and Napoli and giving the Angels the 4-1 lead.

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• At this point in the game, Terry Francona had seen enough from Josh Beckett and brought in ex-Met closer Billy Wagner to stop the Angels' rally. He did so, getting Chone Figgins turned around to bat righty, striking him out.

• Despite a pitch count over 100, Jered Weaver came out for the 8th inning, promptly striking out J.D. Drew before it was time for his standing ovation from the Angels fans. Mike Scioscia went to the bullpen, bringing in lefty Darren Oliver for his 2nd straight game. Oliver struck out pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie but gave up a single to Jacoby Ellsbury.

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• Scioscia went to the pen again, this time to righty Kevin Jepsen to face Dustin Pedroia. Jepsen induced a weak chopper short of the mound on the third base side. Jepsen made a nice fielding play and threw out Pedroia to end the 8th inning.

• Billy Wagner began the 8th inning for Boston by giving up a leadoff single to Bobby Abreu, and Tito had to keep the Angels from getting going again. So he brought in closer Jonathan Papelbon to stop things. Torii Hunter flied out to Ellsbury in CF. The Sox then pitched out first pitch to Howie Kendrick, throwing out Bobby Abreu trying to take 2nd base. Kendrick then struck out and we moved to the bottom of the 9th.

• Jepsen remained in the game to start the bottom of the 9th with the Angels' 3-run lead intact. Victor Martinez led off by flying out to Torii Hunter in centerfield for the first out. Kevin Youkilis hit a double into the left-centerfield gap, and then it was time for Angels' manager Mike Scioscia to bring in closer Brian Fuentes to face lefty David Ortiz.

• Though Fuentes has been very shaky this season despite a MLB-leading 48 saves, he's at his best when facing lefty hitters. Ortiz lined out to LF Juan Rivera for the 2nd out. Fuentes got ahead of Jason Bay on a 1-2 count before losing him to a walk With runners on 1st and 2nd, the tying run came up to the plate in the form of Mike Lowell.

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• With fans of both teams on edge, Mike Lowell hit a flyball to deep centerfield, but not deep enough. Torii Hunter caught it with ease and the Angels won Game 2 of the ALDS by a final score of 4-1. Just another Halo victory!

This was Josh Beckett's first postseason loss since Game 3 of the 2003 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Through the first two games, the Angels' starters have given up a total of 1 earned run on 6 hits with a 0.61 ERA. The scary Angels bullpen? A 0.00 ERA.

If there's any team capable of coming back in the postseason, it's Boston. They were on the winning side of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees (aka: the biggest collapse in baseball history) when they came back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4 straight games and win the ALCS before sweeping the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. The Red Sox were also down 3 games to 1 against the Cleveland Indians in the 2007 ALCS before taking the next 3 of that series and then sweeping the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series.

Boston has also been down 2-0 in the ALDS 4 times before. And twice, they came back to win 3-2. They did so against the Cleveland Indians in 1999, and the Oakland A's in 2003. The other two times? They were swept in 3 games by the Chicago White Sox in 2005, and the Cleveland Indians in 1995.

The odds still do heavily favor the Angels at this point though. Since the current playoff format was implemented in 1995, teams going up 2-0 in the Division Series have won it 31 of 35 times.

These were the first two consecutive postseason wins for the Halos since Games 2 and 3 of the 2005 ALDS against the Yankees.

Considering the Angels already faced the best starters on Boston's staff in the first two games, the advantage should shift even moreso to the Angels with Scott Kazmir starting against Clay Buchholz. 

Buchholz has looked stellar for Boston during the regular season except for the last two starts of the season in which he got destroyed by both Toronto and Cleveland.  Buchholz has never pitched in the postseason.

Since coming to the Angels just prior to the August 31 trade deadline, Scott Kazmir has posted a 1.73 ERA in 6 starts for the Angels, going 2-2 with the club. He went 10-9 on the year with a 4.89 ERA, although he was pitching injured for much of 2009 and spent some time on the DL as well.

More importantly, Kazmir has been very successful throughout his career pitching against Boston. During the regular season, he has an 8-7 record with a 3.59 ERA over 130.1 IP in 23 starts. His career record at Fenway Park is equally impressive, going 6-4 with a 3.05 ERA over 73.2 IP in 13 starts.

In the 2008 ALCS against Boston while pitching with Tampa, Kazmir made 2 starts against the Red Sox. The first in Game 2 at Tropicana Field did not go so well, as he gave up 5 earned runs in 4.1IP, 2 of them solo homers by Dustin Pedroia, and another solo blast by Kevin Youkilis.  However, opponent Josh Beckett also lasted just 4.1 IP, and he gave up 8 earned runs in that game. Neither Beckett nor Kazmir were involved in the decision in that game which was won by Tampa in 11 innings by a final score of 9-8.

Kazmir's 2nd start in the 2008 ALCS went a lot better as he pitched Game 5 in Fenway Park. Kazmir pitched 6 innings of shutout ball on 2 hits, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. Tampa's bullpen blew that game and the Rays lost by a final of 8-7. Kazmir did not get the decision but was in line for the win until he left the game.

If the first two games of this 2009 ALDS favored Boston because of the starting pitching which didn't pan out, then Game 3 of the series certainly favors the Angels if Kazmir can outduel Buchholz and whoever else Francona throws out there, as all hands will be on deck for the Boston pitching staff for the remainder of this series.

Here's hoping that Kazmir does so, sweeps the Red Sox, and the Angels move onto the ALCS to likely face the New York Yankees.

Written July 7:
The Mets have their next 6 at home going into the All-Star Break. 3 against the Dodgers, owners of the best record in baseball, and the Cincinnati Reds. Figure the Mets go 3-3 over that span, losing the series to the Dodgers, winning the series against the Reds.

Written July 7:
After the All-Star break, the Mets go on the road for 4 against Atlanta, 3 against Washington, 3 against Houston. If this were truly the 2009 Mets with all their healthy starters in the lineup, it would not be absurd to expect them to win 8-9 of those 10 games.

But without those starting players in the lineup and the team's inability to score runs at a consistent pace, the more likely outcome of that 10-game roadtrip is 4-6.

Written July 7:
The Mets will finish up July with a 4-game set at home against the Colorado Rockies, and a 4-game set that extends into August (1 game in July) against the dying Arizona Diamondbacks. Over those 5 games, I'll give the Mets a 3-2 record.

Written July 7:
Taking into account all the series remaining in the month, that would bring the Mets to a July finish of 12-14, and a total record of 49-53 through 102 games played.

Written July 7:
In a perfect world, you get back all your healthy players PLUS Billy Wagner in the bullpen by August 1, 2009. Maybe you already have some of then back already. But the Mets would then need to go around 39-14 over the rest of the season, and pray that other teams in the NL East encounter troubles of their own. While that's not impossible, it's certainly not very probable. Keep in mind that this is also assuming that the team doesn't suffer any additional injuries to major players.

Through 75 games, the 2008 and 2009 teams went 37-38. They were 4 games behind Philly at this point last year. And the Mets mostly hovered at the .500 level all of June, often falling 3 games under .500 before the 10-game win streak in early through mid July which propelled them above .500, back into the NL East race.

So turning things around isn't impossible.

But the major difference between last year's team and this year's team through 75 games?

Carlos Delgado was a week away from the beginning of his resurgence.
Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran were healthy.
Oliver Perez was starting to improve.
John Maine was still pitching well and his ERA was under 4.
K-Mart wasn't on the team.
Neither was Argenis Reyes.
David Wright had 12 HRs.

The biggest injury problems the team had were Ryan Church, Pedro Martinez (for the 83rd time), losing Billy Wagner in early August, and the revolving door of leftfielders filling in for Moises Alou.

For all of the fans who think things will be fine and dandy when (or if) Delgado, Reyes, Beltran, etc. come back? Remember that this team went 9-12 in April. So as is the case with baseball, there's no guarantees that their returns will change the team's fortunes, but you'd certainly like to have the opportunity to try and play games with your best players, win or lose.

Today's plethora of roster moves:

- Carlos Beltran to the 15-day DL.
- Fernando Martinez is back WAY too soon out of necessity, again.
- Lefty reliever Ken Takahashi optioned to Buffalo.
- Lefty reliever Pat Misch promoted from Buffalo to Mets.
- Utility man Wilson Valdez DFA'd.
- Reliever Elmer Dessens promoted from Buffalo to Mets.
- Minor league outfielder Wily Mo Pena released from Buffalo Bisons.
- Minor league outfielder Bobby Kielty released from Buffalo Bisons.
- Minor league catcher/infielder Javier Valentin released from Buffalo Bisons.

Mets' Current Disabled List (both 15 and 60 days):
Major Names: Billy Wagner, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, John Maine, Oliver Perez, JJ Putz.
Minor Names: Angel Pagan, Ramon Martinez.

The Mets are 6-12 for the month of June, which is a big big problem.

With the Mets playing the Cardinals and Yankees over the next 7 at CitiField, this schedule is not getting any easier and with more players getting hurt and certain members of the bullpen temporarily losing whatever talent they once had (Parnell, Takahashi), this team is limping badly, figuratively and literally.

Here are the current contract numbers for the 2009 season:
(all numbers from Cot's contracts: http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2004/12/new-york-mets.html)

Note that the 2009 MLB minimum salary is $400K. 

It's the last MLB game before the All-Star break, pitting the surging New York Mets against the hapless Colorado Rockies. The Mets are on a 8-game winning streak, having taken 3 out of 4 from Philadelphia at Citizen's Bank Park, then sweeping the San Francisco Giants at Shea Stadium in 3 games, and have won the last two from Colorado at Shea as well.

If the Mets win today, they will finish up a half-game behind Philadelphia at the All-Star break, a place where very few people thought the Mets could end up just a month ago. Part of the Mets surge is thanks to the Phillies' own record over the last month or so.

Since Jerry Manuel took over the New York Mets on June 17, 2008 while in Anaheim, the Mets have a 16-9 record. Over that same period of time, the Phillies are 10-14. It didn't help Philadelphia's cause losing that series to the Mets recently.

In the month of July, the Mets are an impressive 10-2, and tonight, they look to go into the All-Star break sweeping another joke of an NL West team, the way they should have done a couple of times earlier in the season.

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5:05pm: ESPN just did a piece on Matt Holliday set to very somber music. Did he die or something?

Top of 1st Inning:

5:10pm: Scott Podsednik hits a ball up the middle into centerfield for a leadoff single.

5:12pm: ESPN broadcaster Jon Miller brings up the remarkable pitching the Mets have had over the last 5 games, setting a modern era record, giving up less than 3 hits in 5 consecutive games.

5:13pm: Clint Barmes grounds into a 6-4-3 doubleplay. 2 out.

5:14pm: Ramon Castro takes a life-shortening foulball off the bat of Matt Holliday into his mask which stuns him for a bit.

5:15pm: Mike Pelfrey gets Matt Holliday swinging and missing at the next two pitches for Pelfrey's first K of the game. 3 out.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

5:18pm: It's a crying shame that the Mets bench is so short that they have to use minor-leaguer-that-can't-hit-MLB-pitching-Nick Evans in LF. That's a situation GM Omar Minaya is going to have to solve over the next couple of weeks.

5:19pm: Jose Reyes hits a hard liner right to 1B Joe Koshansky for the first out.

5:20pm: Of course as soon as I take a knock at Nick Evans, he hits the first pitch he sees into centerfield for a single. Granted, it's off of Rockies pitcher Mark Redman, who hasn't been all that good since 2003 while with the championship Florida Marlins.

5:21pm: David Wright takes a walk. Nick Evans over to 2nd.

5:24pm: Carlos Beltran goes BOOM with a looooong 3-run blast into the leftfield bullpen. Mets go up 3-0.

5:25pm: Damion Easley lines a grounder into 2B Omar Quintanilla, 4-3. 2 out.

5:26pm: Jon Miller says Beltran's HR went an estimated 415 feet.

5:27pm: Carlos Delgado pops out to shallow left-centerfield and the ball almost drops until SS Clint Barmes is able to run it down. 3 out.

Top of 2nd Inning:

5:30pm: Brad Hawpe grounds out, 4-3. 1 out.

5:31pm: Garrett Atkins keeps Damion Easley busy by also grounding out to him. 4-3. 2 out.

5:32pm: Mike Pelfrey strikes out Joe Koshansky with a sinker. 3 out. A very economical 10-pitch inning for Pelfrey.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:

5:35pm: Fernando Tatis hits the weakest grounder ever back to pitcher Mark Redman, though not weak enough to make it look like a swinging bunt. 1-3. 1 out.

5:36pm: Ramon Castro lines a ball into centerfield for a single. Mike Pelfrey will surely be up to bunt.

5:37pm: Mike Pelfrey hits a nice sac bunt on the first pitch back to pitcher Mark Redman. 1-3. 2 out. Castro to 2nd.

5:39pm: Jose Reyes hits a chopper over the middle just over Mark Redman and through the middle infield that scores Ramon Castro from 2nd. Mets up 4-0.

5:43pm: Nick Evans goes the other way by hitting a single to right-centerfield. Jose Reyes to 3rd. You know Mark Redman really sucks when he's allowing Nick Evans to tee off on him.

5:44pm: David Wright hits the first pitch he sees hard at 2B Omar Quintanilla who fields it and tosses to SS Clint Barmes at 2nd for the 3rd out. 4-6.

Top of 3rd Inning:

5:48pm: Pelfrey gets ahead of Yorvit Torrealba with a 1-2 count and gets him swinging at the high heat for a K. 1 out.

5:52pm: Omar Quintanilla has a great AB against Mike Pelfrey, fouling off a ton of pitches before he smashes a 400-ft ground-rule double over the centerfield fence. The Mets are lucky it bounced over or it would have been a triple.

5:53pm: Mark Redman hits a sac bunt back to Pelfrey, 1-3. 2 out. Quintanilla to 3rd.

5:55pm: Scott Podsednik gets jammed and hits a weak grounder towards 3B David Wright who charges and throws the speedy Podsednik out at 1B. 5-3. 3 out.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:

5:59pm: Carlos Beltran hits a hard line drive past the glove of pitcher Mark Redman that goes up the middle for a leadoff single.

6:00pm: Damion Easley hits the ball right back to Mark Redman who hesitates a second before throwing to 2nd for the out, which may have eliminated the double play, since Easley is called safe at 1st on the throw. Replays show that Easley was out but it was very very close. 1-6. 1 out.

6:02pm: Carlos Delgado grounds into a double play, 5-6-3. 3 out.

Top of 4th Inning:

6:07pm: Clint Barmes goes down swinging. 1 out.

6:08pm: Matt Holliday hits a ball like a swinging bunt that goes towards 3B. David Wright charges and fields but has no play on Holliday.

6:10pm: Brad Hawpe singles into left-centerfield with Holliday running on the 3-2 pitch.  Holliday to 3rd.

6:12pm: Garrett Atkins hits a grounder to David Wright. Wright throws in the dirt to 2B Damion Easley, who somehow fields it cleanly and still manages to throw to Delgado at 1B without being affected by the sliding Brad Hawpe. 5-4-3 doubleplay. 3 out.

Bottom of 4th Inning:

6:17pm: Fernando Tatis hits a 2-2 pitch up the middle through the rickets of Mark Redman and past a diving Omar Quintanilla for a single.

6:18pom: Ramon Castro singles to RF Brad Hawpe. Fernando Tatis races to 3rd on the play and slides in safe.

6:20pm: Mike Pelfrey bunts up the 1st base line, moving up Castro to 2nd base. 1B Koshansky fields the ball and throws to 2B Omar Quintanilla at first. 3-4. 1 out.

6:21pm: Jose Reyes gets the intentional pass to load up the bases and pitch to the weak Nick Evans. Except that Evans already has 2 singles off Redman today.

6:22pm: That's all for Mark Redman, who pitched terribly against the Mets today. 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR.
6'7" righty Ryan Speier comes in for relief with the bases loaded, 1 out. Not an easy jam to get out of, even with Nick Evans up.

6:24pm: Nick Evans hits a shot into CF but Scott Podsednik tracks it down. Sac fly for Evans, with Tatis scoring easily. 2 out. Castro tags up to 3rd. Mets up 5-0.

6:25pm: David Wright swings at the first pitch he sees, hitting a hard grounder but right at 3B Garrett Atkins. 5-3. 3 out.

Top of 5th Inning:

6:29pm: Joe Koshansky singles into CF.

6:30pm: Yorvit Torrealba grounds into a routine doubleplay. 6-4-3. 2 out.

6:32pm: Omar Quintanilla grounds to Carlos Delgado's right, but Delgado is able to field it and throw to Pelfrey covering first for the out. 3-1. 3 out.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

6:36pm: Carlos Beltran bloops a single into leftfield for his 3rd hit of the day.

6:37pm: Damion Easley grounds out to 1B Joe Koshansky. 3-6. They try and complete the 3-6-3 double play but Easley beats the throw back to 1st.

6:38pm: Carlos Delgado hits a low inside fastball for one of his patented moonshot blasts that goes a mile in the air before coming down just short of the giant scoreboard. A gigantor Delgado HR, Mets up 7-0.

6:39pm: Fernando Tatis grounds out to SS Clint Barmes. 6-3. 2 out.

6:40pm: Ramon Castro skies out to LF Matt Holliday. 3 out.

Top of 6th Inning:

6:44pm: Seth Smith pinch-hits for Ryan Speier. Smith grounds out, 4-3. 1 out.

6:45pm: Scott Podsednik lines a ball off of Mike Pelfrey's left foot which deflects towards 2B Damion Easley, who throws to Delgado at 1B. Score that 1-4-3. 2 out.

6:46pm: Clint Barmes flies out to shallow center just beyond the lip of the grass. 2B Damion Easley brings it down for the 3rd out. Jon Miller notes that's the first flyball out the Rockies have hit all game.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

6:48pm: Matt Herges is on in relief for the Colorado Rockies. Mike Pelfrey at the plate in a non-sacrifice situation, so he'll be attempting to swing away.

6:49pm: Mike Pelfrey strokes a 2-1 curveball into LF for a leadoff single.

6:50pm: Jose Reyes grounds into a 4-6-3 doubleplay. Quintanilla to Barmes to Koshansky. 2 out.

6:52pm: Nick Evans hits a soft line drive bloop into shallow rightfield which is caught by 2B Omar Quintanilla in a nice grab. 3 out.

Top of 7th Inning:

6:56pm: Matt Holiday strikes out looking. 1 out.

6:57pm: Brad Hawpe grounds out to SS Jose Reyes. 6-3. 2 out.

6:58pm: Garret Atkins lines out softly to 2B Damion Easley. 3 out.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

7:04pm: Luis Vizcaino is now pitching in relief for the Rockies. David Wright hits a high flyball to CF Scott Podsednik. 1 out.

7:07pm: Carlos Beltran strikes out looking. 2 out.

7:09pm: Jon Miller notes that the Mets improved play coincided with the DL trip of Luis Castillo and the resurgence of Damion Easley. I think it's not just Easley, but a combination of the bullpen, starting pitching, and the bench guys finally performing at the level they should be.

7:10pm: Damion Easley strikes out. 3 out.

Top of 8th Inning:

7:14pm: Joe Koshanky grounds out to 2B Damion Easley. 4-3. 1 out.

7:16pm: Mike Pelfrey hits Yorvit Torrealba with a pitch on the elbow which sends Torrealba walking for a while, gritting out the pain before finally going to 1st base.

7:18pm: Omar Quintanilla is fighting off a lot of pitches again. The last time this happened, he hit a ground rule double.

7:19pm: This time Quintanilla fouls out to David Wright, who catches the ball right in front of Peter Gammons. 2 out.

7:20pm: Jayson Nix is in to pinch-hit for Luis Vizcaino's spot.

7:21pm: Big "Pelfrey" chant among the fans at Shea. Pelfrey is ahead 0-2 on Nix.

7:22pm: Jayson Nix hits a 95 MPH fastball on the ground in-between Wright and Reyes for a single.

7:23pm: Pelfrey has thrown 114 pitches at this point, and pitching coach Dan Warthen had initially said that he didn't want Pelfrey to go more than 100 pitches tonight. Warthen visits the mound to check on his pitcher, and he'll stay in the game for now. Now the fans chant "LETS GO PELFREY!"

7:26pm: Scott Podsednik fouls out to 3B David Wright. 3 out. The fans go nuts for Pelfrey, who is done for the night.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

7:29pm: During the commercial break, Pelfrey gave the fans a curtain call hat tip.

7:31pm: Brian Fuentes, now on in relief for Colorado, strikes out Carlos Delgado. 1 out.

7:34pm: Fernando Tatis flies out to RF Brad Hawpe. 2 out.

7:36pm: Ramon Castro strikes out. 3 out.

Top of 9th Inning:

7:40pm: Joe Smith is on to pitch the 9th for the Mets.

7:41pm: Clint Barmes grounds out to 3B David Wright. 5-3. 1 out.

7:42pm: A fan in the crowd shows his broom to the camera, indicative of sweeping the Rockies. You can't bring brooms into Dodger Stadium because it could be used as a weapon, or it might actually be used to sweep up the trash there, made up mostly of Dodger fans.

7:43pm: Matt Holliday grounds out to Damion Easley, 4-3. 2 out.

7:44pm: Brad Hawpe singles to CF. That's the 7th Rocky hit of the game. Hawpe steals 2nd uncontested on the first pitch strike to Garrett Atkins.

7:45pm: Garrett Atkins hits a liner right to David Wright at 3B. 3 out. Game Over. Mets win 7-0.

This is the 9th win in a row for the Mets, the 4th shutout in the last 6 games. Granted, it helps to pitch against the shit teams of the NL West when you want to fatten up.

Keys to the Mets win:

• Lights-out pitching from Mike Pelfrey, who is easily the #2 pitcher on the team right now, and some might even say the best. His line tonight: 8 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
• Pelfrey has been amazing since May 31 against Los Angeles. Even his bad starts (June 16 vs. Angels and Yankees) are games the Mets won.
• Carlos Beltran's 3-run HR in the 1st gave Pelfrey all the runs he needed.
• Carlos Delgado's ridiculous HR moonshot off Ryan Speier may have hit a jet before it fell.
• Joe Smith allows a baserunner in the 9th, but who cares? The Mets bullpen is also firing on all cylinders.

There's still a lot more baseball left to play, and one hopes the All-Star Break doesn't stop the Mets winning momentum.

After the break, the Mets go on the road for a 4-game series at Cincinnati before returning to Shea to face the Phillies and Cardinals in 3-game sets.

The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by a final score of 5-4 in 10 innings. This was one of the most exciting ballgames I've seen this season, not just by the Mets either.

There were a lot of highs and lows, depending which team you were cheering for. And not one, but two improbable comebacks by the Mets late in the game. This is not a team known for high-drama comebacks this season. All the more reason why it was one of the best Met victories of 2008.

Here are the key points:

• Jose Reyes led off the game with a single, stole 2nd, and went to 3rd on the high throw by Angel catcher Jeff Mathis. Marlon Anderson popped out to shallow left, which didn't allow Reyes to score. But David Wright grounded out 4-3, to allow Reyes to score. This was the third consecutive game in which the Mets scored first, in the first inning.

• In the 3rd inning, Jose Reyes just missed a HR to right-center that caromed near the top of the wall. He ended up with a triple instead. Marlon Anderson hit a sac fly to left which scored Reyes, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.

• Carlos Delgado led off the 4th inning with a 400+-ft line drive HR just to the right of straight-away centerfield. THAT is the Delgado we know and love. He needs to show up more often. The Mets were now up 3-0.

• Oliver Perez was great for the first 3 innings of the game. In the 4th, the Angels tagged him for a run, but no biggie.

• Until the bottom of the 5th inning.The Angels started to hit Perez, scoring 3 runs off of a string of Angel hits, which put the team up 4-3.

• The play that got Oliver Perez out of the 5th inning was a combination of solid Met defense, and a huge baserunning mistake by Torii Hunter.  With Hunter on 1st and Vladimir Guerrero on 3rd, 1B Robb Quinlan hit a groundball to David Wright at 3B. Wright threw home to catcher Ramon Castro who made the tag on Guerrero for the out, since he was running on contact.

• Then, Torii Hunter was caught napping. Seemingly thinking that Vlad was the 3rd out, Hunter began slowly jogging from 2nd base towards the Angel dugout. However, Ramon Castro wasn't napping and threw down to 2nd base where the Mets caught Hunter in a rundown for the 3rd out. 5-2-4-6-5 on the scorecard. Torii Hunter's gaffe with 2 out while he was still in scoring position, was a foolish mistake, which in some ways, cost the Angels the game.

• The 6th, 7th and 8th innings were relatively uneventful. For the Mets, Perez finished up pitching in the 6th, Joe Smith pitched the 7th, Scott Schoeneweis pitched the 8th. For the Angels, Garland finished up pitching the 6th, Darren Oliver pitched to 1 batter in the 7th before he was then successfully relieved by Jose Arredondo, Scot Sheilds pitched the 8th. No runs were scored during these three innings.

• The 9th inning, is where things got extremely interesting. The Angels bullpen is known to be superb, one of the best, if not the best in the Majors right now. Not just because of ace closer Frankie "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who had been 28 for 29 in saves this season. Also because of premiere setup man Scot Shields, and very good pitching from ex-Met Darren Oliver, and rookie Jose Arredondo.

• K-Rod doesn't blow many saves. He's only blown one in 2008 so far, and that happened on April 7 against Cleveland, a game which the Angels won anyways. And the Mets weren't exactly hitting up a storm against Jon Garland or the rest of the Angel bullpen. K-Rod got leadoff batter Ramon Castro to pop out. Jose Reyes, already with a single and a triple in the game and 2 runs scored, poked a single just over the head of 2B Howie Kendrick into rightfield. With Fernando Tatis at the plate, one kept expecting Jose Reyes to steal 2nd, but it never happened. Tatis struck out swinging, and there were now 2 out with David Wright at the plate.

• During the at-bat, Frankie threw a wild pitch which catcher Jeff Mathis let get away from him, so Reyes took 2nd on the pitch. In the clutch moment of the game, David Wright golfed a single into leftfield which scored Reyes from 2nd, tying up the game 4-4. Angel fans were stunned. Their closer doesn't do this. But tonight, he did. Even Met fans were stunned. After all, in the 9th inning this season, David Wright was 1-for-20. Rodriguez then managed to get Carlos Beltran to ground out, and we went to the bottom of the 9th.

• Duaner Sanchez pitched a 1-2-3 inning against the Angels. In a move one could (and I do) question that Mike Scioscia did not make, with 2 out and no one on base, he let switch-hitting LF Reggie Willits face Sanchez. Except Willits was 0-for-2 on the day with 2 BB, and does not have HR power at all. This would've been a smart spot for lefty Garrett Anderson to take over since he does have HR power and could win it with a walkoff. Reggie Willits was not going to be able to bunt the ball over the rightfield fence. Sure, you could say that Willits was hitting there so he could get on base and score the winning run with his speed. But he would have to count on the batters behind him to drive him in. With G.A. up at that point, one swing could win the game. And if he failed, Anderson then plays his normal position of LF. Ultimately it was obviously Scioscia's decision to make, and it wasn't a terrible one, just a questionable one. Maybe Garrett Anderson was unavailable and this move couldn't have been made in the first place.

• Onto the Top 10th, Justin Speier was now pitching for the Angels. He retired Carlos Delgado and Trot Nixon. With 2 out, former Angel Damion Easley was at the plate. In one of the most unbelievable moments, Damion Easley hit a solo blast into the LF bullpen to put the Mets ahead 5-4. This was made only more unbelievable because as Easley came up to the plate, an Angel fan behind us said, "Easley is going to hit a homerun," and I looked at him like he was crazy. I replied, "You're calling an Easley homer? I'd be surprised if he gets a base hit here." And low and behold, the man behind us was dead-on. In fact, he was in shock at his own HR call. Not even Damion Easley's own mother would've predicted that to happen.

• Understand that it's made even MORE unbelievable because over the past 3 years, when the Angels lead in the 8th inning or later, they have a record of 201-2. That's a testament to their bullpen and then some. That record now stands at 201-3.

• The Bottom 10 was Billy time. Howie Kendrick hit a chopper to 3rd base that was bare-handed by David Wright, who threw down to Tatis at 1st just in time to get Kendrick. Vladdy flied out to Endy Chavez in RF, and Torii Hunter struck out swinging for the big big big Met come-from-behind victory against one of the best teams in baseball.

• This was also, Jerry Manuel's first victory in the manager's role.
  

The team's march towards .500 continues...

The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday, 6/16/08 by a final score of 9-6.

A very exciting offensive-based game from start to finish with a lot of edge-of-your-seat moments, here are the key reasons why the Mets were able to take the first game from the Angels:

• Staked Mike Pelfrey to a 2-run lead in the first, and tacked another run each in the 2nd and 3rd innings to go up 4-1 after 3 innings. One of those runs was a Jose Reyes creation. He ledoff the game with a walk, moved over to 2nd after Castillo grounded out, stole 3rd base with ease and ran home on the errant throw by catcher Jeff Mathis that went into leftfield.

• Carlos Beltran finally hitting the longball. 2 of them. As I've said a bajillion times, Carlos Beltran is the key to the success or failure of the 2008 Mets. If he puts up 2005 numbers, this team is going to do poorly. If he puts up 2006 numbers, there is much hope for the postseason. But he needs to turn things around over the course of the season. Let's hope that tonight was the beginning of that.

• Offense as a whole. Jered Weaver looked very average tonight, not the way he's pitched over the past 5 starts at all. The Mets' offense had to take advantage of that, and they did.

• Pelfrey didn't pitch great, but he left the game with the 4-3 lead, and didn't choke in clutch situations. Pedro Feliciano's shoddy relief ended up charging runs to Pelfrey in the 7th. But hey, for once Pelfrey got the W!!!

• Top 7, the Mets scored 4 very important runs off the Angels. Weaver left the game with baserunners on 2nd and 3rd. He was relieved by Jose Arredondo, who has been extremely effective for the Angels this year with a 0.69 ERA coming into the game. That ERA almost doubled to 1.32 after Arredondo couldn't stop the Mets. 2 runs charged to Weaver, 2 to Arredondo (though only 1 earned).

• In what had to be the most important part of the entire game, with runners on 1st and 3rd in the bottom of the 7th inning, and Pedro Feliciano failing to record Angel outs, Aaron Heilman was brought into the game to face two right-handed All-star bats in Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter. Despite the ginormous lump in the collective throats of Met fans, with 1 out and only up  by 2 runs, Heilman may have made his best appearance in the 2008 season by not only striking out Vlad, but also striking out Hunter. VERY clutch performance from Aaron Heilman, a guy who needs to make these kind of performances the rule, not the exception.

• After the scary bottom 7th inning, the Mets tacked on another insurance run in the 9th thanks to a Jose Reyes leadoff double. This was actually a single in which Reyes deked RF Gary Matthews into making a throw to 1B when Reyes was already in-between the bases, and went to 2nd on the throw. Very smart baserunning by Reyes. Then a Luis Castillo sac bunt that moved Reyes over to 3rd, and a David Wright sac fly that put the Mets up 9-6.

• Duaner Sanchez pitched a perfect 8th. Billy Wagner wasn't lights out, and did allow 2 baserunners with 1 out in the bottom 9, giving the Rally Monkey a chance to make a difference for the Angels, but Wagner got Garrett Anderson to hit the ball hard at SS Jose Reyes, who promptly doubled off Chone Figgins at 2nd base to end the game.

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Since the Arizona Diamondback series at Shea Stadium in which the Mets lost 2 of 3 thanks to Billy Wagner blown saves, and the "Willie Watch" which picked up steam as a result, the Mets have since won 3 out of their last 4 ballgames.

One wonders if it's a coincidence that whenever the Willie Randolph firing rumors boil up, the Mets win more ballgames. After the initial May 26 meeting that Willie had with the Wilpons and Omar Minaya, the Mets took 3 straight series (Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco) before then losing 6 of 7 to San Diego and Arizona.

It's still too early to tell, but it's a curious pattern to take note of. Maybe this team requires consequences in order for them to play better baseball.

Game 2 of the 3-game series is tomorrow with a battle of top aces Johan Santana vs John Lackey.   I highly doubt the final score will be something resembling 9-6.   

The Texas Rangers are the ultimate in polar opposites, making for a .500 record of 34-34.

They are the best hitting team in MLB (Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Milton Bradley).
And they also have the worst pitching in MLB. (Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla (default ace), Scott Feldman, Kason Gabbard).

They even have a manager in Ron Washington who weathered an early headhunting this season as many were calling for his firing.

The good news is that the Mets starting pitching has been ranged anywhere from adequate (Maine, Pedro) to good (Perez) to fantastic (Pelfrey, Santana) over the past 9 games.

The bad news is the Mets' bullpen. A 4.14 bullpen ERA is 13th in the NL. In losing six of their last seven, the relievers have a 7.43 ERA, and Wagner is 0-1 with a 23.14 ERA in his last three appearances.

The Mets are 4-7 in June going into the series against the Rangers, and they're in desperate need of series wins. After winning series against Florida, Los Angeles and San Francisco, going 7-3 over those games, the team then lost 6 out of 7 games, losing 4 straight to San Diego and dropping 2 out of 3 to Arizona.

The pitching matchups definitely favor the Mets, even with the shaky bullpen that has reared its head over the past week. The problem is offense. The Mets bats are wildly inconsistent and sputter to score runs and there's no rhyme nor reason as to when/why their bats will heat up or cool down. Texas doesn't have that problem.

It goes without saying that the Mets must win this series before they go back on the road to face an extremely tough AL West-leading Angels, and another 3 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver. The same very weak NL West basement-dwelling team that took 2 of 3 from New York over Memorial Day Weekend.

The season isn't over yet, but the clock is ticking for the turnaround.