41 posts tagged “carlos beltran”

LIVEBLOGGING - Game 2 of Doubleheader - New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies - 9-13-09

Sep 13, 2009
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After losing the first game of the doubleheader earlier today by a final score of 5-4, the Mets look for a split of the doubleheader as well as a split of this 4-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the final game between the two teams of the season, which is likely why it was scheduled as ESPN's Sunday Night game. ESPN of course, can't be thrilled that this game has zero postseason implications, but that's what happens when you schedule certain things prior to the season.

Depending upon the result of this game, the Mets will have finished their season series against the Phillies with a final record of either 7-11, or 6-12.

Game 2 of the matchup pits Tim Redding (2-5) 5.78 ERA against Pedro Martinez (4-0) 3.64 ERA in 6 starts. Pedro's worst start of the season came on August 23 against the Mets in which he gave up 4 ER in 6 IP, but still got the W due to Philly's offense handing him a 9-7 victory.

What's been extremely impressive this season with Pedro is that he has only walked 4 batters in 29.2 IP. With 27 K over that timespan, Pedro has exceeded all reasonable expectations so far. But can his arm make it into October?

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(All times Pacific)

Top of 1st Inning:
5:09pm: Luis Castillo slaps a liner into left-center field for a leadoff single. ESPN announcers Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and Steve Phillips argue about the description of Castillo's hit. Is it a flare? A slap? A solid hit?

5:12pm: Cory Sullivan flies out to CF Shane Victorino. Castillo cannot advance. 1 out.

5:14pm: David Wright strikes out swinging at a high and outside fastball. 2 outs.

5:15pm: Steve Phillips points out what most rational people already know. No team could survive the number of injuries the Mets have had to their major players (Reyes, Beltran, Delgado) and still compete. Of the big 3 injuries, only Beltran has returned, and it's too late. Many other players have also gone down with injury as we well know (ie: Johan Santana, Alex Cora, Oliver Perez, Fernando Nieve, Jonathon Niese, etc.)

5:16pm: Carlos Beltran walks. Luis Castillo moves to 2nd base.

5:19pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging at a wicked curveball from Pedro Martinez. 3 outs.

Bottom of 1st Inning:
5:23pm: Tim Redding gives up a leadoff walk to Jimmy Rollins on a 3-1 count.

5:25pm: Shane Victorino lines a single into leftfield. Jimmy Rollins moves to 2nd base on the hit.

5:30pm: Chase Utley smashes a long flyball off the top of the LF wall just beyond the reach of Fernando Tatis for a long long single since Jimmy Rollins thought the ball might be caught by Tatis and held up at 2nd base before scoring. Carlos Beltran retrieved the ball in left-center. Shane Victorino moves up to 2nd base on the play. 1-0 Phillies.

5:33pm: Ryan Howard hits a soft liner right at 2B Luis Castillo for the out. Castillo shuffles the ball to Anderson Hernandez at 2nd base hoping to double off Shane Victorino but he's back safe. 1 out.

5:36pm: Raul Ibanez hits a high flyball to CF Carlos Beltran. 2 outs.

5:41pm: Jayson Werth strikes out swinging at a 3-2 curveball and Tim Redding escapes the jam giving up only 1 earned run, although it took him 33 pitches to get through the inning. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:
5:44pm: Fernando Tatis never took the bat off his shoulder in this AB, watching 5 pitches go by, 3 of them for strikes. 1 out.

5:45pm: Brian Schneider ropes a first-pitch into rightfield for a single.

5:46pm: ESPN cameras are showing Tatis in the Mets tunnel with trainer Ray Ramirez checking out his left hand/arm which he may have injured in the 1st inning when he leaped into the wall on Utley's long single that just missed clearing the fence. He may be out for the rest of the game.

5:47pm: Anderson Hernandez lines a single past 1B Ryan Howard into rightfield. Brian Schneider makes it to 3rd base on the hit.

5:48pm: Tim Redding lays down a sac bunt to the 1st base side of the diamond. The ball is fielded by Pedro Martinez who throws down to Chase Utley covering 1st base for the out. 1-4. 2 outs. Anderson Hernandez moves to 2nd base on the sac bunt.

5:49pm: Luis Castillo gets drilled in the right elbow by a Pedro Martinez pitch and he's hopping around in immense pain before falling to the ground. Mets trainers along with manager Jerry Manuel are out to check on Luis.

5:51pm: While Castillo tries to recover, we're shown a stat that the Mets have had players spend 1,007 days on the DL, more than any other team in baseball by a wide margin. Luis Castillo is ok, and finally gets to 1B. The bases are loaded with 2 outs for Daniel Murphy.

5:53pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to LF Raul Ibanez. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:
5:56pm: Jeremy Reed is in LF to replace Fernando Tatis.

5:57pm: Pedro Feliz pounds the ball onto the left-centerfield warning track for a leadoff double. ESPN announcers Jon Miller and Joe Morgan think Tim Redding got screwed by the home plate ump on the previous pitch that should've been called a strike instead of a ball. They're right.

5:59pm: Redding attempts a pickoff of Feliz at 2B but no dice.

6:00pm: Carlos Ruiz hits a weak grounder to 3B David Wright who makes a clean throw to 1B Daniel Murphy for the out. Feliz does not advance on the play. 5-3. 1 out.

6:01pm: Pedro Martinez grounds out to SS Anderson Hernandez, 6-3. Feliz moves to 3rd base on the play. 2 outs.

6:03pm: Jimmy Rollins flies out to LF Jeremy Reed. 3 outs.

Top of 3rd Inning:
6:05pm: David Wright is at the plate against Pedro Martinez for the first time ever. Well, that would make sense considering they've been teammates since 2005 up until this year, and David was on the DL the last time Pedro faced the Mets on August 23.

6:06pm: Pedro wins that battle getting Wright swinging at a full count 91 MPH fastball that is tipped but caught by catcher Carlos Ruiz. 1 out.

6:08pm: Carlos Beltran grounds out hard right to 1B Ryan Howard, who runs to the bag himself to get the out. 2 outs.

6:09pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to SS Jimmy Rollins in short leftfield. 3 up, 3 down.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:
6:12pm: Shane Victorino hits a weak chopper back to the mound. Tim Redding fields it and throws to Murphy at 1B for the out. 1-3. 1 out.

6:14pm: Chase Utley strikes out swinging at the high heat. 2 outs.

6:17pm: Tim Redding gets Ryan Howard to strike out swinging at the high heat on a full count. 3 outs.

Top of 4th Inning:
6:20pm: Jon Miller reports that the injury to Fernando Tatis was a sprained index finger on his left hand.

6:21pm: Jeremy Reed strikes out swinging at a fastball. 1 out.

6:22pm: Brian Schneider hits a hard grounder right to 1B Ryan Howard. He takes the ball to the bag for the out. 2 outs.

6:24pm: Anderson Hernandez flies out to SS Jimmy Rollins in shallow leftfield. 3 outs. Pedro is starting to cruise along in this game with 5 Ks in 4 IP.

Bottom of 4th Inning:
6:27pm: Raul Ibanez skies out to CF Carlos Beltran in right-centerfield. 1 out.

6:29pm: Jayson Werth smokes a ball right into the mitt of SS Anderson Hernandez. 2 outs.

6:30pm: Pedro Feliz grounds out to 3B David Wright. 5-3. 3 outs. That was 9 pitches for Redding, who has definitely settled in. Problem is, so has Pedro, and Tim Redding is usually garbage after 5 IP.

Top of 5th Inning:
6:33pm: Tim Redding grounds out to SS Jimmy Rollins. 6-3. 1 out. That makes 8 Met batters in a row retired by Pedro Martinez.

6:34pm: Luis Castillo is up with a little padding above his right elbow. However, he lines out to 2B Chase Utley. 2 outs.

6:35pm: Cory Sullivan tries to check his swing at a low pitch but he makes contact. The ball goes right back to Pedro Martinez on the ground, he throws to first. 1-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

6:39pm: Carlos Ruiz hits a shot to deep rightfield but it's tracked down by RF Cory Sullivan. 1 out.

6:41pm: Pedro Martinez lines out to Cory Sullivan in short rightfield. 2 outs.

6:43pm: Jimmy Rollins hits a popup on the infield which comes back towards the pitching mound. 1B Daniel Murphy makes the catch. 3 outs.

Top of 6th Inning:

6:46pm: David Wright belts a shot into deep left-center which he thinks may go out of the ballpark, but it hits off the wall and he has to speed up out of his home run trot and slide into 2nd for a double ahead of the throw.

6:51pm: Carlos Beltran strikes out swinging at an outside changeup. 1 out.

6:55pm: Daniel Murphy lines a 3-2 fastball right down the 1B line but it's JUUUST foul.

6:56pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to RF Jayson Werth. Wright can't advance on the play. 2 outs.

6:57pm: Jeremy Reed flies out to CF Shane Victorino. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

7:00pm: Tim Redding has thrown 88 pitches through 5 innings. This will likely be his final inning.

7:01pm: Shane Victorino flies out to CF Carlos Beltran. 1 out.

7:02pm: Chase Utley belts the ball to the centerfield warning track but Carlos Beltran catches it without a problem at around 390 feet. 2 outs.

7:05pm: Ryan Howard takes a full count walk. He, along with Jimmy Rollins, have never had a hit against Tim Redding.

7:06pm: Raul Ibanez grounds out to 2B Luis Castillo. 4-3. 3 outs. Gotta give a lot of credit to Tim Redding for his performance tonight. I wonder if Jerry will let him go some more?

Top of 7th Inning:

7:09pm: Pedro is definitely still pitching for the Phillies, considering the 4-hit shutout he's throwing along with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk.

7:10pm: Brian Schneider grounds out to 1B Ryan Howard who takes it himself. 1 out. Just saw that Tim Redding has thrown 103 pitches through 6 innings. Add to that the pitcher spot coming up, he'll definitely be pinch-hit for.

7:11pm: Anderson Hernandez lines a shot into left-centerfield that is cut off by LF Raul Ibanez which prevents Hernandez from stretching that out into a double.

7:12pm: Lefty hitting Josh Thole is in to pinch-hit for Tim Redding. This will be the first meeting between rookie Thole and veteran Pedro Martinez. Righty arm Sean Green is warming up in the Mets bullpen.

7:13pm: Josh Thole lines out to LF Raul Ibanez. 2 outs.

7:15pm: Sensing this is Pedro's final inning, the Philadelphia phaithful are giving him a huge cheer as he tries to get Luis Castillo out on the 2-2 count. Apparently the fans are also doing the wave. So I don't know which they're cheering for.

7:17pm: On the next pitch, Anderson Hernandez takes off for 2nd base. The throw from Ruiz bounces and hits Hernandez in the back, but the harder collision is from Utley's left hip knocking him in the head. Hernandez seems to be okay though.

7:18pm: Luis Castillo takes a 3-2 inside 92 MPH fastball for a walk.

7:19pm: Cory Sullivan flies out to LF Raul Ibanez. 3 outs. What a performance from Pedro Martinez. FUCK!

Bottom of 7th Inning:

7:23pm: Sean Green is pitching in relief of Tim Redding. Redding went 6 IP giving up 1 run on 3 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts.

7:25pm: A ball gets away from Sean Green which hits Jayson Werth on the right leg. Clearly unintentional. The Phillies trainer is checking with Werth at first base to make sure his wheels are ok. He jogs up and down the line a bit to make sure, and he's good to go.

7:27pm: Pedro Feliz hits the first pitch he sees from Sean Green to 3B David Wright who starts the 5-4-3 double play. 2 outs.

7:28pm: Carlos Ruiz also hits the first pitch he sees from Sean Green but that goes right back to SS Anderson Hernandez. 6-3. 3 outs.

Top of 8th Inning:

7:30pm: Pedro is still pitching in the 8th inning. This is his longest outing of the season, having thrown 107 pitches in 7 innings. Hopefully this decision by Charlie Manuel will prove to be foolish, but somehow with the Mets, I doubt it.

7:32pm: David Wright strikes out swinging at an outside fastball which Wright laid off of the previous pitch. Both were outside. 1 out.

7:33pm: Steve Phillips thinks sending him out for the 8th was a mistake because he could mess up his arm in the process. Morgan and Miller seem to agree. It's the issue of gaining the win today in the short-term, potentially sacrificing Pedro and his brittle arm in the long-term. Time will tell.

7:34pm: Carlos Beltran grounds out to 2B Chase Utley on the full count curveball. 2 outs. 119 pitches thrown by Martinez in this game.

7:35pm: A huge "LET'S GO PEDRO" chant breaks out among the fans.

7:36pm: Pedro gets ahead of Daniel Murphy 1-2. The fans rise to their feet. There's no way in hell Pedro Martinez pitches the 9th inning... or is there?

7:37pm: The last time Pedro went 8 innings in a start was against the Diamondbacks on May 30, 2006 while pitching with the Mets.

7:38pm: Daniel Murphy rips a fastball into the rightfield corner for a double. And that's going to be it for Pedro Martinez as Phillies manager Charlie Manuel walks to the mound to take him out of the game after 128 pitches.

7:39pm: Well, he's not taking him out after all. And the fans go nuts. Jon Miller made a reference to Grady Little in the 2003 postseason and how the decision to keep him in against the Yankees came back to bite the Red Sox in the ALCS.

7:40pm: An 0-1 pitch to Jeremy Reed bounces in the dirt and gets away just a little from catcher Carlos Ruiz, but Daniel Murphy breaks for 3rd base. Ruiz throws down to Pedro Feliz and Murphy is out trying to steal 3rd. 3 outs. I understand the need to score runs, but that ball needed to get a lot further from Ruiz for Murphy to attempt that steal.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

7:44pm: Pedro Martinez threw 130 pitches in 8 innings. He's DEFINITELY done. The most pitches in a start he's thrown since May 1, 2001.

7:45pm: Lefty Matt Stairs was announced as a pinch-hitter to begin the inning. This prompted Mets manager Jerry Manuel to make a pitching change and go with lefty Pedro Feliciano instead. The Phillies counter by swapping out Matt Stairs with righty hitter Ben Francisco.

7:47pm: Pedro Feliciano throws a slider right down the heart of the plate for strike 3. Ben Francisco dares to question that pitch? Is he joking? 1 out.

7:48pm: Jimmy Rollins hits a weak grounder to SS Anderson Hernandez. 6-3. 2 outs.

7:50pm: Shane Victorino pops out to Daniel Murphy in short rightfield. 3 outs.

Top of 9th Inning:

7:51pm: Ryan Madson comes in from the bullpen to close out the 1-0 game for Philadelphia. But we know the Mets CAN beat him, if they can't beat Pedro.

7:53pm: Jeremy Reed grounds out to 1B Ryan Howard who bobbles the ball, catches it, then throws onto Ryan Madson at 1B to make the out. 3-1. 1 out.

7:55pm: Brian Schneider belts a high fastball in the zone into right-centerfield for a single. Wilson Valdez is brought into pinch-run for Brian Schneider. Omir Santos would go behind the plate if the Mets tie or go ahead.

7:57pm: Jeff Francoeur is pinch-hitting for Anderson Hernandez.

7:58pm: Jeff Francoeur strikes out swinging at a high heat fastball on an 0-2 count. Ugh. 2 outs.

7:59pm: Angel Pagan is in to pinch-hit for Pedro Feliciano.

8:00pm: Angel Pagan lines out to 3B Pedro Feliz. 3 outs. Game over.

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Phillies win 1-0 thanks to Pedro Martinez blanking the Mets through 8 innings and 130 pitches. Pedro gave up 3 hits, 1 walk while striking out 7 along the way. Ryan Madson gets his 8th save.

Tim Redding is the hard-luck loser going to 2-6, although he pitched extremely well for the Mets today, giving up 1 run on 3 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts through 6 innings.

So the Mets fall to 6-12 against the Phillies in 2009, and 63-81 overall.

I believe that was the last nationally televised Mets game of 2009, which means I won't get to see them play again this year. That's probably beneficial for my sanity.

However, the Angels are going to be in the postseason, so there will be some ray of light in all of this.

The quest for mediocrity.

Aug 6, 2009
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If you believed in hexes or curses, one could certainly understand the troubled case of the 2009 New York Mets.

A team where only 1 everyday starter has been healthy all season, who has lost his power swing to the point he's on pace for a career low in HRs, a career high in his number of strikeouts, and yet still has hit over .300 all season.

But the team has been without 3 of 8 everyday players for the majority of the season. Shortstop Jose Reyes, first baseman Carlos Delgado, and centerfielder Carlos Beltran.

The team was also without starting catcher Brian Schneider for half of April and almost all of May, who means a lot more to the team behind the plate than he does batting at it.

Ex-rightfielder Ryan Church also spent some time on the DL. As have Gary Sheffield, Angel Pagan, Alex Cora, Ramon Martinez and Fernando Martinez.

But we haven't even gotten to the pitching staff yet. Only two of the club's 5 pitchers in the starting rotation have remained healthy all year. Those two being Johan Santana and Livan Hernandez.

Oliver Perez spent some time rehabbing a sore knee, which at first was thought to be a phantom injury that the Mets came up with when he pitched so poorly to begin the 2009 season, but if one believes the Mets PR staff, and honestly, who knows these days... MRI results revealed that the injury was apparently real.

John Maine has had more shoulder problems this season, which is a thematic thing with him to the point the club can't possibly leave him in the 2010 rotation because his arm has never proven to stand up to the rigors of a full season. Despite his attempts at rehabbing the shoulder, things are not going well.

Tim Redding started the season on the DL, and the way he's pitched most of the time, one kinda wishes he had stayed there. There were even rumblings not too long ago that the club might release him outright, but additional injuries to the already-decimated pitching staff allowed him to stay on the club as a reliever.

Top setup reliever JJ Putz's elbow problems re-surfaced in 2009 to the point he needed surgery and may or may not return in September.

"Miracle" waiver pickup Fernando Nieve, who pitched very well in 3 of his 5 starts this season, with the 6th start being the one where he hurt his leg running out a grounder to first base, is also on the DL.

"But wait, there's more!" - Billy Mays

Today we added starting pitcher and one of the club's top prospects Jonathon Niese to the injury list, as he tore his right hamstring tendon off the bone while trying to make a fielding play at first base. Niese did an involuntary gymnastic-like split which his legs aren't quite made for, and suffered this season-ending injury as a result.

That makes it 9 players currently on the Mets' DL, and second baseman Luis Castillo just recently sprained his ankle while walking down the dugout steps, making him day-to-day.

When your starters go down, and your pitchers go down, and then your backups go down, and then your backups' backups go down... London Bridge can't be far behind.

It's early August, and the Mets are realistically, though not mathematically, eliminated from the postseason.

Not because of ownership. Not because of GM Omar Minaya. Not because of manager Jerry Manuel.

Because injuries are the great unequalizer in the world of sports, and they've turned a $149-million club into a team that can't produce.

If the Pittsburgh Penguins lost Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Petr Sykora, Kris Letang, Miro Satan, and Ruslan Fedotenko, would they have won the Stanley Cup this year? Would they even have made the playoffs? Certainly no Cup for a team without those players, and a very doubtful playoff position either.

This isn't making excuses. It's the unfortunate and stark reality of the situation that this ballclub is in.

So now what?

The Mets are now embarking on a 7-game West Coast swing against San Diego and Arizona. The good news is that San Diego is awful now. Except they were also awful last season, and the Padres swept the Mets in a 4-game set last June of 2008. Three of those wins by a score of 2-1, and that was with a lot more healthy Mets on the club.

As for Arizona, the good news is that the Mets have always done extremely well in games played in Phoenix. The bad news is that the Mets lost 3 of 4 just last week to the Diamondbacks at CitiField.

The postseason isn't the reality anymore. Now it's a quest for mediocrity.

Can this ballclub finish the 2009 season with a record over .500? With a record of 51-56 through 107 games, and 55 games remaining in the season, a realistic projection for this team puts them at 77-85. That most closely resembles the record of the 1991 Mets that finished 77-84.

Can they win 82 games, finishing a game over .500? The team will need to go 31-24 over the rest of the season to achieve that. Is that the greatest accomplishment this team can hope to achieve with less than 2 months to go? Sadly, the answer is yes.

Why doing nothing at the July 31 deadline was the smartest choice for the Mets.

Aug 1, 2009
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On July 7, I wrote that the Mets 2009 season was pretty much over, as far as any chances the team had at making the postseason. And to illustrate that, I made a series of predictions as to how the team would fare over the rest of July.

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.

Correct.

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.

Correct.

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.

Correct.

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.

100% correct. Now that I'm done patting myself on the back, the problem is, being right isn't good here because the Mets are still in this problematic situation of having to win 40+ games over the next two months.

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.

Since I wrote that, none of the major names have returned, and several others have joined the ranks of the injured including Gary Sheffield and Fernando Nieve.

In fact, we're now learning that it's likely none of the major players will return until late August, with question marks still surrounding the returns of John Maine, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes. It seems that the only major players who have a fairly certain chance of returning to the ballclub are Billy Wagner and JJ Putz. Shoring up the bullpen is certainly a positive if your team is in the race, trying to make it into the postseason. Except this team isn't.

On August 1, the Mets stand 10.5 games behind the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies, and 6.5 behind the Wild Card spot. There are 6 other teams in front of the Mets in the Wild Card race.

There's no realistic scenario in which the Mets can somehow get into the postseason unless all of the other teams ahead of them lose, and the Mets end up on a 2-month tear. Without the major players, this is exceedingly unlikely if not impossible.

That takes us to the July 31 trade deadline in which the Mets made no trades. But how could they? Mets GM Omar Minaya has to know that they couldn't REALLY be buyers, despite his public statements during July that they would be, and that any potential players they could sell, were already injured. Under normal circumstances, the Mets could easily have traded either JJ Putz or Billy Wagner to a contending team before the July 31 trade deadline, had either of them been healthy. Alas, both are still rehabbing their arms. They're not exactly much use to anyone at the MLB level right now.

For all of the rumors about Roy Halladay, and the belief that the Mets, Angels, Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, along with 15 other teams, just HAD to get him, the Blue Jays didn't trade him to anyone. But sticking with the Mets for a second, they would've had to further deplete their already-bare farm system in order to obtain Roy Halladay for a year and a half, plus try and work out a new contract with Doc for after 2010 which would likely cost a team more money than Johan Santana got in 2008.

It's not that moving prospects is a bad thing, it's that you need to pull the trigger at the right time under the right circumstances on the right people. And in this case, none of those came to light for the Mets.

There seems to be a large number of baseball fans who believe that if you don't make a significant move by the July 31 deadline, that you are either dead in the postseason, or won't make it. We've seen countless examples to the contrary over the years, but that doesn't prevent fans from exhibiting their irrational knee-jerk responses when they don't get their way.

The Mets need to look towards 2010, and figure out what players are going to be on the ballclub then, and what holes they need to fill. What will they do with 1B? Are they going to stick with Daniel Murphy there over the long-term or perhaps re-sign Carlos Delgado to another season if he can come back and still play in 2009?

What will the Mets do at catcher? Do they go into 2010 with Santos and Cancel as the backstops, and let Brian Schneider go? Or are there other legitimate options the club has either in the minors or via free agency?

What will they do with the perennially problematic corner outfield spots? The Mets desperately need a full-time leftfielder. Will that be Fernando Martinez? What about Jeff Francoeur? Do you give him a new contract to play RF?

There are a lot of questions to be answered over the next two months, and only by playing the games will we find them out.

But one question which already has an answer is, "Will the Mets make the 2009 postseason?"

"No."

RIP 2009 New York Mets

Jul 7, 2009
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After a 3-game sweep at the hands of NL East rivals and current division leaders Philadelphia Phillies over the July 4 weekend, it's time to call it. The season for the 2009 New York Mets is basically over.

Understand that unlike a lot of Met fans, I'm not the whining complaining blame & flame-throwing type. I don't fault any one person for the failure of the 2009 New York Mets. I don't beat drums about firing everyone in the front office, or demanding that they trade away part of "the core." I'm generally pretty optimistic when it comes to all things baseball. But I'm also realistic.

And the reality has finally set in for this team. It's not Jerry Manuel's fault. It's not Omar Minaya's fault. It's not Fred and Jeff Wilpon's fault.

It's the fault of overwhelming injuries to a multitude of players.

Injuries are the great unequalizer in sports. It's what makes fantasy sports such a tough game to win. You can draft the best players in any fantasy sports league, but if your #1, #2 and #3 picks go down for an extended period of time, you're going to have a very tough time of winning your fantasy league. Now translate that to REAL sports, and you've got a serious problem.

The 2009 New York Mets have lost a lot of players this season to injury. Some minor, many major. Oliver Perez was first to fall. To some, that's not a big deal. But then Carlos Delgado went down with a hip injury. Then Jose Reyes's calf and hamstring. Then JJ Putz with his elbow. Then the oft-injured starting pitcher John Maine and his shoulder.

But the biggest loss on top of all of the others that had already accumulated, was Carlos Beltran and the debilitating and painful bone bruise on his right knee.

There were periods of time in which the Mets were also without starters Ryan Church (RF), Brian Schneider (C), and backup utility man Alex Cora (SS/2B). There's a revolving door/platoon in LF once the Daniel Murphy outfield experiment ended. Fernando Tatis is not hitting at even close to the pace he was in 2008, and the backup players (Alex Cora, Gary Sheffield) are being worn down by playing nearly every day.

David Wright has become a very streaky and inconsistent hitter who has lost his power swing. Despite being the only major Met starter to remain healthy all season, he is going to have a career year in most strikeouts at his current pace, and his final BA could end up being .260 or .350, depending on what streak he ends the 2009 season on. But even assuming the best for David Wright, he's one player. Even Albert Pujols has a superior supporting cast surrounding him.

There are some Met fans who want to blame GM Omar Minaya for not providing a better set of backup players, forgetting that backup players are just that. Backups.

They're the guys who alternate in to give the others rest on a Sunday day game after a Saturday night game, and occasionally a couple of them can fill in for extended periods of time over the course of a season when needed. But when your backup players get hurt, and then you're calling up minor league players to fill-in for THEM before they are ready to produce at an MLB level a la Fernando (K-Mart) Martinez, Nick Evans, Argenis Reyes, etc. it's an unplanned recipe for disaster.

There are some Met fans who want to blame GM Omar Minaya for not having already traded for another offensive player, like an Aubrey Huff, Mark DeRosa or Matt Holliday. The three major problems with these concepts is that one player alone isn't going to turn the Mets around. The second is that despite the simplistic belief of many a baseball fan no matter which team they support, other GMs have to actually agree to the trades. The third is that Minaya has gone on record stating he wasn't willing to mortgage the future prospects of the franchise for short-term solutions. A very wise decision. However, the pill of potentially giving up on 2009 to have a shot at legitimately competing in 2010 and 2011 is proving to be a tough one to swallow.

The indisputable facts are this:

Through 81 games, the halfway-point of a MLB season, the New York Mets have gone 39-42. They are 3 games under .500, and 4.5 games behind the Phillies.
Last year, the 2008 Mets were 40-41 at the halfway point, 3 games behind the Phillies. They went 59-32 over the 2nd half of the season, which was still a game short of the NL wild card. And that's a team that didn't have nearly the number of injury problems that the 2009 team has endured.
There are SEVEN teams currently ahead of them (Giants, Rockies, Brewers, Cubs, Marlins, Reds, Astros) in the wild card race, with Atlanta just a half-game behind the Mets in both the NL East and wild card race.The Mets are 5.5 games behind current wild card leading San Francisco Giants.
Since June 1, the team has went 11-21, which would only be slightly palatable had they not gone 9-12 in April. Even though the team went 19-9 in May, things started to slide when June came, and went to hell in a handbasket once Beltran went on the DL (5-9 since June 22), including series sweeps against the Yankees and Phillies.

Here's where it becomes a matter of predicting the future, but there's a pretty good indicator based on the past month on how the Mets will fare against teams over the rest of July.

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.

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.

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.

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.

For the New York Mets to actually have a reasonable shot of winning the NL East or even the wildcard, they'd have to amass at least 88-90 wins by season's end at the bare minimum.

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.

Whether the Mets should be buyers, sellers, or neither at the end of July will ultimately be determined how the team plays their next 21 games. Will they still be in the race? Will they be completely out of it? Will they barely be hanging on? And can GM Omar Minaya afford to publicly wave the white flag at the risk of lost ticket sales and other revenues at Met home games in August and September, and depending on what moves he makes, 2010?

Only time will tell, but you can put this one in the books. The 2009 Mets will not make the postseason because they've gone too many games without their horses. By the time the cavalry comes back, it will be too late.

I really hope to be proven wrong, but this time, I highly doubt it.

Go Angels.

New York Mets are falling down, falling down, just like last year.

Jun 29, 2009
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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.

My All-Star Ballot

Jun 27, 2009
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Every year, MLB begins their All-Star game balloting near the end of April, which is far too early. I advocate for voting only after June 1, as you simply cannot elect players to the All-Star game based on less than one month of baseball.

This usually leads to uninformed voting by the baseball fans as it pertains to which players are elected as starters. While most players elected as starters are deserving, that's not always the case. Luckily the players and managers get to choose the pitchers and reserves.

Now that it's June 27, definitely late in the game, here's my rundown of the All-Star ballots and current voting totals:

American League: (vote totals as of June 21)

1st Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Mark Teixeira	Yankees	1,561,292
2.	Kevin Youkilis	Red Sox	1,525,660
3.	Justin Morneau	Twins	1,275,694
4.	Miguel Cabrera	Tigers	944,855
5.	Chris Davis	Rangers	632,895

Interesting numbers overall. Miguel Cabrera should probably be higher up in the vote totals than Kevin Youkilis, but any of these 4 choices are very respectable picks. Seattle's Russell Branyan is having a remarkable year and isn't in the top 5. He's certainly more deserving than Chris Davis. Tampa's Carlos Pena is a home run machine but his BA is too low.

My pick: Mark Teixeira (Yankees). Defense matters too, and Mark is the best defensive 1B in the game.

2nd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Ian Kinsler	Rangers	1,791,177
2.	Dustin Pedroia	Red Sox	1,732,787
3.	Robinson Cano	Yankees	1,062,863
4.	Aaron Hill	Blue Jays	775,200
5.	Placido Polanco	Tigers	660,693

The small-market playing Aaron Hill should be higher up in this race as well, though Ian Kinsler is certainly a respectable pick. Boston's Dustin Pedroia is not worthy of starting, and I'm not even sure he belongs on the team as a reserve either.

Tampa's Ben Zobrist is not on the list at all, probably because he wasn't on the original ballot. Since he's taken over for the injured-for-the-season Akinori Iwamura, Zobrist is having a phenomenal season and is just as deserving as anyone.

Robinson Cano doesn't deserve the nod this year. He's good, but not an All-Star in 2009. There's ZERO justification for Placido Polanco being in the top 5.

My pick: Ben Zobrist (Tampa Bay) as a write-in. I would also be fine with picking Aaron Hill or Ian Kinsler.

3rd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Evan Longoria	Rays	2,488,076
2.	Alex Rodriguez	Yankees	1,165,243
3.	Michael Young	Rangers	933,630
4.	Mike Lowell	Red Sox	890,138
5.	Brandon Inge	Tigers	535,226

Not surprisingly, this is a two-man race between A-Rod and Longoria, but the one player who isn't on this list who certainly deserves consideration, is the Angels' Chone Figgins. Figgins is currently 2nd in BA among all AL 3B, has 23 SB and is a fantastic leadoff guy. But Figgins has no power, which is why he'll never make the team as a starter.

So back to reality... A-Rod isn't hitting at a level worthy of election and he missed 6 weeks of the season. For him to be #2 on this list is a complete joke.

My Vote: Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay). I'm not even sure you can justify voting for anyone else above Longoria as a starter. Plenty of other good options for reserves (Figgins, Rolen, Lowell, Young) but Longoria is clearly heads and shoulders the best pick.

Shortstop
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Derek Jeter	Yankees	2,563,093
2.	Jason Bartlett	Rays	1,148,988
3.	Elvis Andrus	Rangers	844,349
4.	Marco Scutaro	Blue Jays	684,883
5.	Jed Lowrie	Red Sox	459,732

I think this shows how poor the AL depth is at SS this season, especially when you compare the depth at the position in the NL. Derek Jeter is the leader, and it's tough to argue against him this year, although Tampa's Jason Bartlett with just over 200 ABs, is hitting .363 and is outpacing Jeter in all other categories.

Elvis Andrus is really mediocre, while Toronto's Marco Scutaro is being overlooked. Jed Lowrie is clearly a joke pick by the Boston fans.

My Pick: Jason Bartlett (Tampa Bay). Can't ignore the numbers, but I can't say Jeter is a bad option for once.

Catcher
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Joe Mauer	Twins	2,298,544
2.	Jason Varitek	Red Sox	1,108,054
3.	Jorge Posada	Yankees	947,887
4.	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	Rangers	827,063
5.	Victor Martinez	Indians	754,571

This should really be a two-player race, period. Any other options are complete jokes, especially Jason Varitek. Oh those hilarious Boston fans, always trying to elect goof picks to the game.

There are only two options here. Joe Mauer, and Victor Martinez. There's no rationale for anyone else.

My Pick: Joe Mauer (Minnesota). The premiere catcher in baseball. While both Mauer and Martinez have 14 HRs as of today, Mauer has done it with a lot less ABs and is hitting JUUUUUST a smidge under .400.

RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Jason Bay	Red Sox	2,077,504
2.	Ichiro Suzuki	Mariners	1,455,266
3.	Josh Hamilton	Rangers	1,385,212
4.	Torii Hunter	Angels	1,186,097
5.	Carl Crawford	Rays	1,172,241
6.	Jacoby Ellsbury	Red Sox	1,051,270
7.	Johnny Damon	Yankees	1,021,394
8.	Ken Griffey Jr.	Mariners	1,009,584
9.	Nelson Cruz	Rangers	956,294
10.	Adam Jones	Orioles	894,664
11.	J.D. Drew	Red Sox	818,459
12.	Nick Markakis	Orioles	756,316
13.	Curtis Granderson	Tigers	641,102
14.	Grady Sizemore	Indians	626,014
15.	Bobby Abreu	Angels	614,244

Picking outfielders for the All-Star game can sometimes be tricky cause you're not voting for LF, CF, RF. You're voting for the 3 outfielders who have been the best in the game, and sometimes centerfielders aren't an option. That's not the case this year.

First, examining the fan voting so far... Josh Hamilton wasn't exactly having a great year to begin with, has been on the DL twice, and that's where he is currently. Even if he makes it to the team, I don't think he's healthy enough to play.

How Ken Griffey Jr. can be on this list, well, fans are fucking dumb. Granted it's only #8, but Chicago's Jermaine Dye doesn't even make the list?

My picks: Jason Bay (Boston), Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle), Torii Hunter (Los Angeles) Since Hamilton won't play, it looks like my top choices will actually be in line with the fan totals.

Now, to the pitching staffs, which are not chosen by the fans, but I'll list my 12 picks anyways.

Starting Pitchers:

Zack Greinke (Kansas City) - STARTER

Roy Halladay (Toronto)

Edwin Jackson (Detroit)

Kevin Millwood (Texas)
Jered Weaver (Los Angeles)

Felix Hernandez (Seattle)

Relief Pitchers:

Jonathan Papelbon (Boston)

Mariano Rivera (New York)

Joe Nathan (Minnesota)

David Aardsma (Seattle)

George Sherrill (Baltimore)
Brian Fuentes (Los Angeles)

National League: (vote totals as of June 22)

1st Base
RANK PLAYER NAME NL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Albert Pujols Cardinals 2,934,794
2. Ryan Howard Phillies 1,393,546
3. Prince Fielder Brewers 1,155,529
4. Adrian Gonzalez Padres 894,600
5. Lance Berkman Astros 512,879

If you vote for anyone other than Albert Pujols, you should probably be punched in the face until you are dead. But if you MUST vote for someone other than Prince Albert, then the only real other options are Prince Fielder and Adrian Gonzales. Ryan Howard whiffs far too often and doesn't have the BA to warrant the vote.

My Pick: Albert Pujols (St. Louis). DUH!

2nd Base
RANK PLAYER NAME NL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Chase Utley Phillies 2,922,796
2. Orlando Hudson Dodgers 1,082,248
3. Rickie Weeks Brewers 832,870
4. Skip Schumaker Cardinals 729,722
5. Dan Uggla Marlins 475,372
If you vote for anyone other than Chase Utley, you should probably be punched in the face until you are dead. What I'm trying to say is that at 1B and 2B, the NL starters are no-brainers. There's Chase Utley, and then there's everyone else.

However, the one person not making the top 5 who probably should, is Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez. especially since Rickie Weeks is out for the year. Skip Schumaker is obviously getting a hometown vote, but he's not really deserving. Dan Uggla has become a feast-or-famine power guy. So his HR totals are up with Utley's, but the rest of his hitting is not.

My pick: Chase Utley (Philadelphia)

3rd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	NL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	David Wright	Mets	1,698,366
2.	Ryan Zimmerman	Nationals	1,148,054
3.	Chipper Jones	Braves	1,104,485
4.	Pedro Feliz	Phillies	954,945
5.	Bill Hall	Brewers	842,295

It's tough to pick against David Wright here, as he leads the entire NL in BA, and also leads all 3B in stolen bases. His power numbers are down, his strikeout numbers are up.

Probably the most surprising thing about the current vote tallies for this position is that there are a bunch of players deserving of votes who aren't in the top 5. Casey Blake of the Dodgers, Mark Reynolds of Arizona, Pablo Sandoval of San Francisco. It's probably not a coincidence that all 3 of them are in the NL West, but all 3 are certainly more deserving of a spot than Bill Hall or Pedro Feliz.

My pick: David Wright (New York)

Shortstop
RANK	PLAYER NAME	NL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Hanley Ramirez	Marlins	1,648,482
2.	Jimmy Rollins	Phillies	1,494,466
3.	J.J. Hardy	Brewers	1,051,309
4.	Miguel Tejada	Astros	834,754
5.	Jose Reyes	Mets	754,579

You can't justify voting for Jose Reyes anymore since he's been on the DL for a good portion of the season and no one knows when he's coming back. It definitely won't be in time for the All-Star game.

Nor can you justify voting for Jimmy Rollins here, who is having an abysmal season hitting .211 as of today. The fact that he's getting any votes is truly sad. JJ Hardy is just as bad. Washington's Cristian Guzman should be in the top 5 instead.

This vote really comes down to two players. Hanley Ramirez, and Miguel Tejada.

My Pick: Hanley Ramirez (Florida). The power numbers are overwhelming, although Tejada should certainly make the team as a reserve.

Catcher
RANK	PLAYER NAME	NL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Yadier Molina	Cardinals	1,496,285
2.	Brian McCann	Braves	1,180,312
3.	Ivan Rodriguez	Astros	1,002,882
4.	Jason Kendall	Brewers	995,633
5.	Carlos Ruiz	Phillies	980,164

Clearly the weakest position in all of the NL. Yadier Molina is the best defensive catcher of the bunch, but Brian McCann has the bat which Yadier does not. The other Molina brother, Bengie, should certainly be in the top 5. How the hell can anyone vote for Jason Kendall or Carlos Ruiz?

My pick: Brian McCann (Atlanta)

Outfield
RANK PLAYER NAME NL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Raul Ibanez Phillies 2,465,539
2. Ryan Braun Brewers 2,178,144
3. Carlos Beltran Mets 1,779,344
4. Alfonso Soriano Cubs 1,639,664
5. Shane Victorino Phillies 1,371,362
6. Manny Ramirez Dodgers 1,162,507
7. Mike Cameron Brewers 1,140,167
8. Rick Ankiel Cardinals 1,011,527
9. Jayson Werth Phillies 1,008,256
10. Corey Hart Brewers 959,614
11. Ryan Ludwick Cardinals 950,662
12. Adam Dunn Nationals 742,515
13. Matt Kemp Dodgers 673,979
14. Andre Ethier Dodgers 642,983
15. Justin Upton D-backs 594,185

This is interesting. While Carlos Beltran should definitely make the All-Star team, he's not going to be healthy enough to play, as he went on the DL just a week ago.

Raul Ibanez is also on the DL but he'll be back shortly. He's a no-brainer as far as the voting goes. Ryan Braun is an excellent second choice, so now who would the third best option be? Definitely not Alfonso Soriano. If I'm strictly picking a backup CF, either Michael Bourne of the Houston Astros or Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies would be my choices. Matt Kemp of the Dodgers isn't a bad pick for CF but he does whiff a lot.

However, I'm looking to elect the best 3 outfielders, period. And somehow my third pick isn't even in the top 15, which is completely absurd considering who DID make the list and shouldn't have.

My picks: Raul Ibanez (Philadelphia), Ryan Braun (Milwaukee), Brad Hawpe (Colorado).

And now to the 12 pitching choices, though again, it's not up to the fans.

Starting Pitchers:

Tim Lincecum (San Francisco) - STARTER

Dan Haren (Arizona)

Matt Cain (San Francisco)

Javier Vasquez (Atlanta)

Josh Johnson (Florida)

Yovani Gallardo (Milwaukee)

Relief Pitchers:

Frankie Rodriguez (New York)

Heath Bell (San Diego)

Trevor Hoffman (Milwaukee)

Ryan Franklin (St. Louis)
Jonathan Broxton (Los Angeles)

Francisco Cordero (Cincinnati)

Now, it should be said that a lot can change in a week from now. Players can get injured. Someone may end up being more well-deserving that was overlooked, so I may do another ballot in a week from now if things change drastically.

The Mets are in trouble.

Jun 22, 2009
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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.

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. Tampa Bay Rays - 6/20/09

Jun 20, 2009
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It's a LIVEBLOG doubleheader today, at least, that's the plan if the rain doesn't ruin things in New York. It certainly won't ruin anything in Southern California, since we barely have rain to begin with. That's sometimes a problem, but not when it comes to baseball.

It's the return of Johan Santana (8-4, 3.29 ERA) for the New York Mets, who had the worst start of his career last Sunday at Yankee Stadium when he gave up 9 earned runs in 3 innings. The Yankees slaughtered the Mets by a final score of 15-0 when it was all said and done. Santana has not been the same pitcher over the last 6 starts (6.50 ERA) he was in his first 7 starts (0.78 ERA) of the season.

Mets ace Santana will be facing Tampa's ace James Shields (5-5, 3.52 ERA). While Shields does possess a 3-to-1 K/BB ratio this season, teams are hitting .282 off of him this season. The Mets have a very good offense, just not with bases loaded, and they're still in the midst of a team power outage with a total of 42 homeruns on the season. That's only one more than the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants.

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(All times Pacific)

Top of 1st Inning:

1:12pm: BJ Upton hits the first pitch from Santana hard but right at 3B David Wright for a 5-3 groundball out. 1 out.

1:13pm: Carl Crawford grounds out to 2B Luis Castillo. 4-3. 2 outs.

1:14pm: Evan Longoria hits a grounder up the middle but SS Alex Cora makes a nice play to grab the ball and throw onto Daniel Murphy at first for the out. 3 outs.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

1:19pm: Alex Cora watches a breaking ball go right down Broadway for strike 3, and he knew it. Cora had a nice at bat fouling off a bunch of pitches but froze on the curve. 1 out.

1:20pm: Daniel Murphy grounds out to 2B Ben Zobrist. 4-3. 2 outs.

1:22pm: Carlos Beltran flies out to LF Carl Crawford. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:

1:25pm: FOX shows a scary stat. Carlos Pena has 21 HRs this season. The Mets starting lineup today? A total of 22.

Part of the Mets' power problems is due to CitiField's huge dimensions, but they ain't hitting dingers on the road either.

1:26pm: Carlos Pena takes a leadoff walk on a full count.

1:28pm: Ben Zobrist hits a check-swing grounder to 1B Daniel Murphy who turns a beautiful 3-6-3 double play with SS Alex Cora. 2 outs.

1:29pm: Jason Bartlett grounds out to 3B David Wright. 5-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:

1:32pm: David Wright grounds out to 3B Evan Longoria. 5-3. 1 out.

1:33pm: FOXSports' Ken Rosenthal notes that while David Wright is leading the NL in batting average, he's on pace for a record low in homeruns (10, he currently has 4), and a career high in K's of 160. He's also on pace to steal a career high of 48 bases. Of course, paces generally don't mean shit when the season is over and the numbers never match.

Even Tim McCarver knows tat.

1:34pm: Ryan Church lines a changeup for a double down the rightfield line.

1:35pm: Jeremy Reed tries to bunt his way on but fouls it off. Tim McCarver doesn't like the play here. Neither do I.

1:36pm: On the next pitch, Jeremy Reed grounds out to 2B Ben Zobrist. 4-3. 2 outs. Ryan Church moves over to 3rd base on the grounder. Same result as the bunt basically, but at least he was trying to hit.

1:37pm: Omir Santos lines a ball into rightfield for a double that scores Ryan Church. Mets go up 1-0.

1:38pm: Luis Castillo grounds out to SS Jason Bartlett. 6-3. 3 outs.

Top of 3rd Inning:

1:41pm: FOXNews' Greta Van Susteren threw out today's first pitch and now is in the broadcast booth. She throws just as poorly as Baba Booey. But at least she's a woman and has an excuse to throw that badly.

1:42pm: Gabe Kapler flies out to RF Ryan Church. 1 out.

1:43pm: Michel Hernandez hits a nice linedrive into the left-centerfield gap which is caught by LF Jeremy Reed. I really wish Reed would start more games for the Mets. 2 outs.

1:45pm: James Shields takes a walk thanks to Johan. He's pitching better today than last Sunday (so far), but walking the pitcher is never a good thing.

1:46pm: It's starting to rain hard again in Queens. BJ Upton strikes out swinging. 3 outs.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:

1:48pm: Today's Trivia Question. Who was the youngest player ever to lead in All-Star voting? I'd have to guess Alex Rodriguez when he was playing for Seattle?

1:49pm: Johan Santana hits a flyball to deep LF but it's caught easily by Carl Crawford. 1 out.

1:50pm: Random observation. Typically, Yahoo! Sports and other feeds are very far behind real-time, but for some reason today, they're not more than 30 seconds behind real-time. Go figure.

1:51pm: Alex Cora lines a double down the rightfield line. Hitting down that line seems to be working out well for the Mets today. 3 hits, 3 doubles, all to rightfield.

1:52pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to LF Carl Crawford. 2 outs.

1:53pm: Carlos Beltran grounds out to SS Jason Bartlett. 6-3. 3 outs.

Top of 4th Inning:

1:57pm: Carl Crawford flies out to LF Jeremy Reed. 1 out.

1:58pm: Evan Longoria flies out to CF Carlos Beltran. Announcer Thom Brennaman says it was smoked. It was not. 2 outs.

2:00pm: It sure looks like it's pouring in Flushing. Lots of umbrellas in the stands although the peeps behind home plate don't seem to mind getting wet.

2:01pm: The answer to the trivia question as to who was the youngest player to ever lead in All-Star voting? Ken Griffey Jr. That was my 2nd guess! :-)

2:02pm: Carlos Pena flies out to RF Ryan Church, who doesn't make the catch with 2 hands. GRRRRR. 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:

2:04pm: David Wright grounds out to 3B Evan Longoria. 5-3. 1 out.

2:07pm: Ryan Church strikes out swinging. 2 outs.

2:08pm: Jeremy Reed grounds out to SS Jason Bartlett. 3 outs. This game is moving along fairly quickly. 4 innings in less than an hour.

Top of 5th Inning:

2:11pm: Johan Santana throws a beautiful changeup on the outside part of the plate. Ben Zobrist swings and misses and that's strike 3. 1 out.

2:12pm: So much for Johan's no-no. Jason Bartlett doubles down the leftfield line for Tampa's first hit of the game.

2:14pm: Gabe Kapler lines a shot down the rightfield line for a double. Zobrist scores to tie up the game 1-1. All 5 hits in this game have been doubles.

2:16pm: Michel Hernandez flies out to 2B Luis Castillo in short rightfield. And the dumbfuck uses 1 hand. The crowd cheers him facetiously for making the catch. They should be on him for not using both hands. 2 outs.

2:19pm: James Shields strikes out swinging. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

2:22pm: FOX broadcaster Tim McCarver thinks Omir Santos has a slight resemblance to former Met catcher Paul LoDuca. I guess I can see that but he's hardly a dead ringer or anything. Santos flies out to RF Gabe Kapler. 1 out.

2:24pm: Luis Castillo grounds out to 1B Carlos Pena. 2 outs.

2:25pm: Johan Santana strikes out swinging at a James Shields changeup. 3 outs.

Top of 6th Inning:

2:31pm: BJ Upton is having a pretty good at bat against Johan Santana. 3-2 count and Upton keeps fouling off pitches. Santana has now thrown 77 pitches, and walks Upton.

2:32pm: The rain has stopped. Or slowed a lot to the point it's no longer viewable on TV.

2:33pm: Carl Crawford shoots a grounder towards 3B David Wright. Wright throws onto Castillo at 2nd for the force on Upton but they can't complete the double play on the speedy Crawford. 1 out.

2:35pm: Thom Brenneman and Tim McCarver make the point that since Jerry Manuel took over as Mets manager, the team is 89-69. You'd think that would quiet the ignorant fools who think Jerry is going to be fired this season, but that would make sense, so...

2:36pm: Carl Crawford gets too big of a start trying to steal 2nd base and Santana picks him off by throwing to 1st. Daniel Murphy throws down to SS Alex Cora who makes the tag. Carl Crawford actually might have been safe but the ump called him out. 2 outs.

2:37pm: Evan Longoria flies out to LF Jeremy Reed. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

2:40pm: FOX replay seems to show that Crawford didn't get his foot on the bag cause Alex Cora was blocking it with his own. Still somewhat inconclusive since they only showed that image as a still and not in movement

2:41pm: Alex Cora flies out to LF Carl Crawford. 1 out.

2:42pm: Daniel Murphy hits a liner to deep RF but it's caught by Gabe Kapler. 2 outs.

2:44pm: Carlos Beltran looks at strike 3 on the outside corner. 3 outs.

2:45pm: This is a heckuva pitcher’s duel. Shields looks to be more on than Santana, as he hasn’t walked anyone yet.

Top of 7th Inning:

2:48pm: Carlos Pena crushes a bomb into right-centerfield to put the Rays up 2-1. Deepest part of the park too, over the 415-foot sign by a couple of feet. Throwing the ball back onto the field is still stupid.

2:49pm: Ben Zobrist grounds out to SS Alex Cora. 6-3. 1 out.

2:50pm: Jason Bartlett grounds out to 3B David Wright. 5-3. 2 outs.

2:51pm: Gabe Kapler flies out to LF Jeremy Reed. 3 outs.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

2:55pm: David Wright flies out to RF Gabe Kapler. 1 out.

2:56pm: It's raining again. We never have these rain problems in Los Angeles. For baseball, that's a good thing. For droughts and general water shortages in the state, that's a bad thing.

2:57pm: Ryan Church grounds out to 1B Carlos Pena. 2 outs.

2:58pm: Jeremy Reed hits a short grounder just past James Shields but it's fielded by 2B Ben Zobrist who throws to 1st to just get Reed. 3 outs. Shields has retired 15 Mets in a row. They haven't had a hit since Cora's double in the 3rd inning and Shields' pitch count is at 87. He could easily pitch all 9 innings at this pace.

Top of 8th Inning:

2:59pm: Now it's absolutely pouring at Flushing. They may have to call a rain delay cause now it's just ridiculous.

3:00pm: Michel Hernandez flies out to RF Ryan Church who is clearly annoyed by the rain in his face. 1 out.

3:01pm: And it's time for a rain delay. They had to stop it.

3:02pm: Most fans are headed towards the exits figuring this game is over. It's certainly an official game, but hopefully the Mets will get their chances to fight back down 2-1. FOX is moving on to the Detroit-Milwaukee game, which means I will temporarily stop the liveblog until the Mets game resumes.

4:09pm: The rain delay is ending, the tarp is off the field, and they'll be finishing the game very soon.

4:11pm: Bobby Parnell is in the game now in relief of Johan Santana. Parnell has been terrible lately. Not sure why.

4:13pm: Pat Burrell is in to pinch-hit for James Shields. Good thing the Mets won't be facing Shields anymore. His line for the game, 7 innings, 3 hits (all doubles), 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K.

4:15pm: Parnell walks Pat Burrell. Yeesh.

4:16pm: Pedro Feliciano is warming up in the bullpen. BJ Upton lines the first pitch he sees from Parnell into centerfield for a base hit. Burrell to 2nd base. With lefty Crawford at the plate, this should be the time for Feliciano to come in. Sure enough, here comes Jerry Manuel, presumably to make the pitching change.

4:18pm: Pedro Feliciano is in to hopefully get the Mets out of this jam. For Jerry Manuel to go to a struggling Bobby Parnell when the Mets are down by a score of 2-1, when he could've gone to Sean Green or Brian Stokes, is very puzzling.

4:19pm: It's raining again. Tim McCarver thinks Jeremy Reed is playing WAY too deep in LF, and he might be right.

4:20pm: Wow. Slightly wacky play. Carl Crawford grounds out to Pedro Feliciano, who turns around, throws to SS Alex Cora at 2nd, who throws onto 1st to just nail Crawford. First base ump Jerry Crawford signals safe at first but quickly switches to an out call. Tampa manager Joe Maddon comes out to find out why he called him safe first. Looks like Jerry just had a brain fart. Replays show that Carl Crawford was barely out, so it's the right call by the umpire. 3 outs.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

4:24pm: Dan Wheeler is in to pitch for the Mets. This is the best chance the Mets are going to have to score some runs. Omir Santos leads off the inning. Could certainly use a clutch dinger right about now.

4:25pm: Omir Santos swings at strike 3. Catcher Michel Hernandez drops it so Santos runs to 1st but he's thrown out, 2-3. 1 out.

4:26pm: Thom Brennaman notes what I wrote earlier. The Mets haven't had a baserunner since the 3rd inning. Shields didn't walk anyone. Luis Castillo needs to get his ass on base. Frankie Rodriguez and Sean Green are warming up in the bullpen.

4:28pm: Luis Castillo hits a chopper right back to pitcher Dan Wheeler who jumps and fields it. 1-3. 2 outs.

4:29pm: Gary Sheffield is in to pinch hit for Pedro Feliciano.

4:30pm: Gary Sheffield grounds out to SS Jason Bartlett. 6-3. 3 outs.

Top of 9th Inning:

4:31pm: Sean Green comes on to pitch in relief. He has not given up a run in his last 15 outings, spanning 15.2 IP. I believe Green and Parnell switched bodies.

4:32pm: Evan Longoria grounds out meekly to 3B David Wright. 1 out.

4:34pm: Carlos Pena grounds out to 2B Luis Castillo, 4-3. 2 outs.

4:35pm: So much for Sean Green's scoreless streak. Ben Zobrist lines a shot down the RF line and over the fence for a homer. 3-1 Tampa.

4:37pm: Jason Bartlett flies out to LF Jeremy Reed. 3 outs.

Bottom of 9th Inning:

4:38pm: Last chance for the Mets, but at least it's the top of the order. Cora and Murphy need to set the table, and Beltran/Wright need to be clutch motherfuckers.

4:40pm: JP Howell is in to close for the Rays. He CAN be beat but the Mets need to make something happen. Alex Cora is the man to do it. Righty hitter Fernando Tatis is going to pinch-hit for Daniel Murphy to face the lefty Howell.

4:43pm: Alex Cora can't make it happen as he grounds out to 2B Ben Zobrist. 4-3. 1 out.

4:44pm: Fernando Tatis pinch-hitting for Daniel Murphy.

4:45pm: Fernando Tatis flies out to RF Gabe Kapler. 2 outs.

4:46pm: Tim McCarver thinks Carlos Beltran may think about bunting to get on base cause he's a very good bunter. That may be true Timmy, but Beltran also knows how to take walks, and he can hit, and frankly, a bunt ain't the best call in this situation.

4:47pm: Carlos Beltran ropes a shot into left-centerfield for a single. Can David Wright boom one right now?

4:48pm: Tampa pitching coach Jim Hickey holds a conference on the mound.

4:49pm: David Wright swings at a terrible pitch in the dirt putting him behind 0-2.

4:50pm: And he swings at another shit pitch to strikeout and end the game. 3 outs.

Game over. The Mets lose 2-1 to the Rays.

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Story of the game? Pretty easy. Tampa's pitching was extremely effective today. James Shields outpitched Johan Santana. The Tampa bullpen of Dan Wheeler and JP Howell did not falter at all. The only baserunner the Mets had after the 3rd inning was Carlos Beltran in the 9th.

Carlos Pena's blast off Johan Santana in the 7th was the ultimate difference maker, and Ben Zobrist's HR off of Green in the 8th made it that much harder for the Mets to come back.

Bobby Parnell needs to figure his shit out soon. He has been terrible this month, posting a 9.53 ERA. Good thing Feliciano bailed him out of the 8th inning with the 1-6-3 DP.

Now I have an hour break before the next LIVEBLOG begins, which will be the Dodgers vs. Angels out at Angel Stadium.

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. New York Yankees - 6/14/09

Jun 14, 2009
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It's an afternoon matinee (or on the West Coast, morning baseball) between the Mets and Yankees. The rubber game between the injury-riddled Mets and the steroid-riddled Yankees. These two teams will meet again in less than 2 weeks, next time at CitiField, the very antithesis of the home run launching pad that is the new Yankee Stadium.

Today's pitching matchup features Mets ace Johan Santana, 4-1 in 7 starts with a 3.15 lifetime ERA against the Yankees. Opposing him will be AJ Burnett, 2-6 in 16 starts, 3.83 lifetime ERA against the Mets. Most of those starts came while with Burnett was with the Florida Marlins between 1999-2005.

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(All times Pacific)

Top of 1st Inning:

10:11am: Nick Swisher makes a fantastic running catch in RF to prevent a leadoff double from Alex Cora. While stopping his momentum at the RF wall, he jumps on top of a pad above a scoreboard, knocking it off the wall, and the "Mets' scoreboard sign there goes off-kilter as well. That'll certainly be highlight fodder if the Mets should lose this game. 1 out.

10:12am: Fernando Martinez hits a soft line drive into CF which is easily caught by Melky Cabrera. 2 outs.

10:14am: Carlos Beltran strikes out looking against AJ Burnett. 3 up, 3 down.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

10:17am: Derek Jeter plunks the first pitch he sees from Santana into RF for a leadoff single.

10:20am: Johnny Damon strikes out swinging at a 2-2 changeup which also happens to be a beautiful strike, swung on or not. 1 out. That's the 92nd K for Johan this season.

10:22am: Mark Teixeira skies out to 2B Luis Castillo, who uses BOTH hands to squeeze the catch. The Bronx crowd makes a lotta noise to distract him, but Castillo makes the catch to the disappointment of the Yankee scumbags. 2 outs.

10:23am: Alex Rodriguez lines out to SS Alex Cora. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:

10:27am: David Wright watches a 2-2 curveball go right by him and he knew he struck out before the ump called it. 1 out.

10:28am: Ryan Church grounds a ball right up the middle past the mound but Derek Jeter, slightly shifted over towards 2nd base for Church, fields it easily and throws to 1st for the out. 2 outs.

10:29am: Gary Sheffield strikes out check-swinging at a pitch way outside. Terrible AB by Sheffield. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:

10:33am: Robinson Cano hits a leadoff double into the left-centerfield gap.

10:36am: Nick Swisher skies out to CF Carlos Beltran, but Cano tags up to 3rd base easily, especially since Beltran's throw is so off-target, and SS Alex Cora has to make the stop north of the 3rd base bag. 1 out.

10:37am: The Mets infield is playing in against lefty Hideki Matsui hoping to prevent Cano from scoring.

10:39am: Johan Santana walks Hideki Matsui on a 3-1 count. It didn't look like he was giving him much to swing at to begin with. This does set up the double play if he can induce Melky Cabrera.

10:41am: Johan is not looking as sharp as normal. Cabrera is hitting some balls hard but foul, and some of his pitches are looking too high in the zone.

10:42am: Johan goes full count on Melky Cabrera.

10:43am: Johan strikes out Melky Cabrera swinging at a 3-2 inside changeup which was ball 4, but looked good enough. 2 outs.

10:45am: Francisco Cervelli bloops a low outside pitch for a single into RF that scores Robinson Cano and moves Matsui over to 2nd base. Yankees up 1-0.

10:48am: Derek Jeter cranks a 3-2 pitch into LF for a single. Fernando Martinez in LF makes a terrible throw to the plate which misses the mark up the first base line and Santana has to back it up. Cervelli to 3rd. Jeter to 2nd on the throw, but there's no error charged as he's going to 2nd base either way. Yankees up 2-0.

10:50am: Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen has a little conference on the mound with Santana.

10:52am: Johnny Damon singles into LF scoring both Francisco Cervelli and Derek Jeter. Fernando Martinez throws towards home but the throw is cut off by David Wright at the mound who throws to Alex Cora in order to get Johnny Damon at 2nd. Damon gets caught in the rundown. Cora throws back to Murphy, Murphy throws back to Cora who drops the ball because Johnny Damon pulled an A-Roid glove swat which means he's out. I was about to throw a fucking fit when I saw Cora drop the ball but then saw on replay that Damon's left arm was responsible for Cora dropping the ball. Yankees do score 2 runs on the play, so it's 4-0 Yankees. 3 outs.

10:53am: Johan is looking worse and worse with each pitch. He's gotta settle down fast.

Top of 3rd Inning:

10:57am: Daniel Murphy works out a leadoff walk out of AJ Burnett.

10:58am: Yankees pitching coach Dave Allen has a conference on the mound since Burnett is now behind on Brian Schneider with a 2-0 count.

10:59am: Brian Schneider hits a nice seeing-eye grounder past a diving Mark Teixeira into RF. Daniel Murphy goes 1st to 3rd on the play. Luis Castillo is up now and a double play is not an acceptable outcome, even with no out.

11:02am: AJ Burnett goes full count on Luis Castillo before walking him. Bases now loaded for the Mets with 0 outs.

Normally that's a good thing, but for the Mets, bases loaded situations is kryptonite.

11:06am: Alex Cora checks his swing at a shit low inside pitch but the 3rd-base ump calls him out. Replay shows he did not go. Jerry Manuel isn't happy with that call. Nor should he be. 1 out.

11:08am: Fernando Martinez strikes out swinging. This guy is not ready for the bigs by any stretch.

11:10am: The Mets continue to be completely futile with bases loaded. Carlos Beltran lines out to Derek Jeter to end the inning. Absolutely ridiculous. 3 outs.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:

11:13am: Mark Teixeira lines out to CF Carlos Beltran. 1 out.

11:14am: Dan Warthen is talking with TBS announcers Chip Caray and Buck Martinez. Warthen doesn't think Johan is looking too good so far. Lack of command, high pitch count, etc. Well, at least he knows what we all can see. This isn't the best of Santana by any stretch.

11:15am: Alex Rodriguez strikes out swinging. 2 outs.

11:16am: Robinson Cano grounds out meekly to 1B Daniel Murphy. Santana finally gets a 1-2-3 inning. 3 outs.

Top of 4th Inning:

11:19am: David Wright hits a seeing-eye grounder on the right side into RF for a leadoff single.

11:22am: Burnett gets Ryan Church to strike out at a wicked curveball that Buck Martinez says was a slider. Sure dropped like a curve to me. 1 out.

11:24am: With Gary Sheffield at the plate, AJ Burnett throws a wild pitch in the dirt that gets away from Yankee catcher Francisco Cervelli. David Wright take 2nd base on the WP. Sheffield should be taking as much as he can considering most of Burnett's pitches LOOK appetizing but still have a lot of drop to them.

11:25am: On a 3-2 count, AJ Burnett throws an inside fastball that Gary Sheffield lays off of and takes a walk. Burnett's fastball is still mid-90's velocity but it's probably the best pitch to hit. Unfortunately not a lot of Met hitters can catch up to it.

11:27am: Daniel Murphy does exactly what he shouldn't do by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play. Sheffield with a nice hard slide at Derek Jeter but Jeter leaps and still makes the throw to complete the play. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:

11:31am: Nick Swisher takes a leadoff walk from Johan Santana.

11:32am: Hideki Matsui blasts a pitch up in the zone into the RF bleachers for a 2-run homer. Yankees up 6-0.

11:35am: Melky Cabrera doubles into the right-centerfield gap. CF Carlos Beltran makes a weak throw to 2nd base.

11:36am: TBS shows a graphic of Johan's first 7 starts in which he posted a 0.78 ERA. Next 6 starts? A 5.75 ERA, and it's gonna go higher after today's game.

11:37am: Francisco Cervelli hits a grounder on the right side which is fielder by 1B Daniel Murphy, but Murphy's throw to Santana is a very high lob which Santana catches but Cervelli beats the throw. Cabrera moves over to 3rd base without a problem.

11:39am: Derek Jeter hits a hard line shot at SS Alex Cora who can't come up with the ball and it goes into short LF. Cora grabs the ball, and Cabrera scores easily. Cervelli goes to 2nd base on the play. Yankees now up 7-0 and that's all for Johan Santana, who looked absolutely awful today.

11:43am: Brian Stokes is into relieve Johan Santana. Unfortunately the Yankee hit parade continues as Johnny Damon hits a double down the leftfield line that scores Francisco Cervelli easily. Yankees now up 8-0. Still 0 out. This game has quickly gotten repugnant.

11:44am: Mark Teixeira hits a swinging tapper back at the 3rd base side of the mound which Brian Stokes fields cleanly, looks Jeter back to 3rd but slips. He still throws to 1st but Tex is safe at 1st, and Murphy has to play hockey goalie in stopping the ball. And now A-Roid is up. Great.

11:46am: A-Rod lines out to SS Alex Cora who nearly turns a triple play. The ball bounces in front of Cora, who tags out Johnny Damon right off 2nd base. Cora then steps on 2nd base and throws onto 1st base, but A-Rod made it safely. Double play though Jeter scores. Yankees now up 9-0 in the 4th. 2 outs.

11:48am: Robinson Cano goes yard with a 2-run bomb to RF. Yankees now up 11-0.

11:49am: The Yankees have now batted around with Nick Swisher at the plate.

11:50am: Brian Stokes isn't looking any better than Santana. He gives Nick Swisher a free pass to 1st base.

11:51am: Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen holds a conference on the mound.

11:52am: Brian Stokes gives another free pass, this one to Hideki Matsui on 4 straight balls.

11:53am: And then Melky Cabrera hits a shot that bounces off the RF-wall for a double that scores another 2 runs. Cabrera tried to make it a triple but gets thrown out. 3 outs. Yankees now up 13-0. Someone shoot me?

11:55am: Final line for Johan Santana today: 3 Innings, 9 ER, 9 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts. His ERA jumps up to 3.29. One has to wonder if he's still worthy of making the NL All-Star team the way he's been pitching lately.

Top of 5th Inning:

11:58am: Brian Schneider grounds out meekly to 1B Mark Teixeira. 1 out.

11:59am: Luis Castillo slaps a ball at 3B Alex Rodriguez who throws to 1st for the out. 2 outs.

12:00pm: Alex Cora checks a swing at strike 3 and is called out. The ball gets away from Cervelli. Cora is busy arguing so Cervelli gets the ball, tags out Cora who doesn't run. Normally one would be all over Cora for not running to 1st, but down 13-0... he might as well argue. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

12:04pm: Francisco Cervelli leads off with a single to leftfield.

12:05pm: Derek Jeter ropes a single to centerfield. No more Stokes please?

12:08pm: Brian Stokes strikes out Johnny Damon with a questionable but consistently called low strike. 1 out.

12:10pm: Brian Stokes strikes out Mark Teixeira. 2 outs. Maybe Stokes finally settled down?

12:11pm: Alex Rodriguez launches a deep flyball to CF Carlos Beltran, who makes the catch for the 3rd out. Thankfully.

Top of 6th Inning:

12:15pm: Fernando Martinez lines out to LF Johnny Damon. 1 out.

12:16pm: Carlos Beltran lines a ball into CF for a single. Hooray offense?

12:19pm: David Wright thinks he's taking a 3-2 walk to 1st but the umpire calls the consistent low strike 3. David Wright argues a bit, and he rarely argues. 2 outs. Mets manager Jerry Manuel comes out seeing how pissed David Wright is, and he's rarely pissed. Home plate ump throws Jerry out of the game.

12:20pm: Ryan Church hits a flyball to CF Melky Cabrera. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

12:23pm: Jon Switzer is on in relief of Brian Stokes. Wilson Valdez replaces Luis Castillo at 2nd base. Fernando Tatis is in at 3rd base in place of David Wright. Jeremy Reed is now in CF in place of Carlos Beltran.

12:24pm: Robinson Cano hits a shot to centerfield that bounces up against the CF wall for a leadoff double. This is now just a game of bullpen experimentation for the Mets considering the anal raping they're experiencing. Which reliever will suck the least?

12:27pm: Nick Swisher skies out to LF Fernando Martinez who just can't seem to be bothered using two hands for pop flies. 2 outs.

12:29pm: Hideki Matsui sharply grounds out to Daniel Murphy, who tosses onto Switzer at first for the out. Robinson Cano moves to 3rd on the play. 2 outs.

12:30pm: Melky Cabrera hits a swinging bunt right back to pitcher Jon Switzer, 1-3 for the easy out. 3 outs.

Top of 7th Inning:

12:34pm: Defensive changes for the Skanks. Brett Gardner in at CF, Melky Cabrera moves over to RF, Nick Swisher moves over to 1B, so Mark Teixeira takes the rest of the game off. Angel Berroa replaces Alex Rodriguez at 3B and Ramiro Pena replaces Derek Jeter at SS.

12:35pm: Gary Sheffield hits a chopper off the plate which is fielded on the 3rd base side of the mound by AJ Burnett, but he throws the ball past 1B Nick Swisher, so Sheffield takes 2nd base. That SHOULD be scored an E1 on the throw.

12:36pm: It's scored a hit for Sheffield AND an error on Burnett since Sheffield went to 2nd on the errant throw.

12:37pm: Daniel Murphy takes a walk. 1st and 2nd for the Mets, 0 out. Brian Schneider up.

12:39pm: Brian Schneider hits a high fly ball into RF, but into the glove of RF Melky Cabrera. 1 out.

12:40pm: Jeremy Reed grounds up the middle but it's fielded by SS Ramiro Pena who makes a pretty flip to 2B Robinson Cano and throws to 1B Nick Swisher to complete the 6-4-3 DP. 3 outs.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

12:45pm: The sun has come out in the Bronx, and Yankee Stadium is a whole shade brighter.

12:46pm: Francisco Cervelli flies out to RF Ryan Church who makes a nice running catch. 1 out.

12:48pm: Angel Berroa is hit by a pitch and takes 1st base.

12:49pm: An announced crowd of 47,943. I believe that's 3 straight NON-sellouts for this series. Still very large crowds at this ballpark though.

12:50pm: Johnny Damon walks. Angel Berroa moves to 2nd base.

12:52pm: Brett Gardner takes a walk too, and Switzer is looking pretty bad after looking good for 1 inning. Bases loaded now, and Ken Takahashi is warming up in the bullpen. At some point, maybe Daniel Murphy should pitch.

12:53pm: Ramiro Pena scalds one up the middle which actually deflects off of 2nd base towards SS Alex Cora for an infield hit that scores Angel Berroa. Yankees now up 14-0. Acting manager Sandy Alomar Jr. has seen enough from Switzer, and it's Takahashi time. Unfortunately, bases are still loaded for the Skanks.

12:57pm: Robinson Cano hits a deep shot to the right-center warning track. CF Jeremy Reed catches the ball but Johnny Damon scores on the sac fly. 15-0 Yankees. 2 outs.

1:00pm: Nick Swisher grounds out to SS Alex Cora. 6-3. 3 outs.

Top of 8th Inning:

1:03pm: David Robertson is in to relieve AJ Burnett.

1:04pm: SS Alex Cora pops out to 3B Angel Berroa. 1 out.

1:05pm: Final line for Yankee starter AJ Burnett, in line for his 2nd home win of the season... 7 Innings, 4 hits, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K.

1:06pm: Fernando Martinez strikes out looking. The Mets HAVE to send Martinez back to Buffalo after the series against Baltimore. It's so obvious that the guy isn't ready for the bigs, and he refuses to use two hands in the outfield when making catches on pop flies. 2 outs.

1:08pm: Fernando Tatis strikes out swinging. 1-2-3 inning for David Robertson. 3 outs. Mets suck.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

1:11pm: Ken Takahashi strikes out Hideki Matsui on an 89 MPH fastball that Gojira can't make contact with. 1 out.

1:12pm: Melky Cabrera takes a free pass walk to first.

1:14pm: Francisco Cervelli grounds out to Ken Takahashi, 1-3 for the out. Cabrera to 2nd on the play.

1:16pm: Angel Berroa flies out to CF Jeremy Reed. Reed uses BOTH HANDS to make the catch. Fernando Martinez might learn something. 3 outs.

Top of 9th Inning:

1:17pm: RALLY TIME METS!!!! Maybe not, Phil Hughes is on to pitch the 9th for the Skanks.

1:18pm: Wilson Valdez lines a single into CF for a leadoff hit. Let the rally begin!!!!

1:22pm: Ryan Church strikes out looking. 1 out.

1:23pm: Gary Sheffield hits a grounder to 3B Angel Berroa, who seems to cut off SS Ramiro Pena on the play. He throws onto 2nd base but Valdez makes it in safely.

1:26pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging. 2 outs.

1:28pm: Brian Schneider foul pops out to catcher Francisco Cervelli. 3 outs.

Game over. Yankees win 15-0.

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What did we learn today kids?

For all of the emotion that Frankie showed in his little on-field confrontation with Brian Bruney today, it didn't mean shit when it came to the Mets playing the game. Further proof that "grit and fire and toughness and emotion and BLAH BLAH BLAH" is completely overrated bullshit. It doesn't matter how gritty and tough you are. Can you beat the other team or not? Some games you will, some games you won't. End of story.

Fernando Martinez HAS to go back to Buffalo soon. He can't hit, he can't or refuses to make two-handed catches.

Johan Santana had the worst start of his entire career. He didn't have good command of his fastball, and he was leaving pitches up in the zone. Some say his velocity is down. Santana's ERA over his last 7 starts is above 6 now. It's terrible.

Was this game worse than the Luis Castillo game on Friday? To me, it's apples and oranges.

Losing 15-0 to anyone, sucks.
Losing 15-0 to the Yankees, sucks more.
Losing 15-0 when Johan Santana has the worst start of his entire career, sucks the most.

Castillo's dropped fly ball should've ended the game, but instead it lost it in embarrassing fashion. But Johan Santana lost the game just by stepping onto the mound today. I know some might say that the Yankees didn't so much win Friday as the Mets LOST big time, but when your ace gives up 9 earned runs in 3 innings, it's pretty much the same.

In any case, one hopes that the upcoming road series against the lowly Baltimore Orioles gives this team a chance to turn their fortunes around before things get out of hand. A team that isn't contending by the end of June is usually in deep shit.

New York Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers - 5/19/09

May 20, 2009
2 comments

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.

LIVEBLOGGING - Game 2 of Doubleheader - New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies - 9-13-09

The quest for mediocrity.

Why doing nothing at the July 31 deadline was the smartest choice for the Mets.

RIP 2009 New York Mets

New York Mets are falling down, falling down, just like last year.

My All-Star Ballot

The Mets are in trouble.

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. Tampa Bay Rays - 6/20/09

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. New York Yankees - 6/14/09

New York Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers - 5/19/09

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