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LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. San Francisco Giants - 8-15-09

As the Mets continue to become more irrelevant in the postseason picture, that means the less games that FOX and ESPN are going to be televising with them involved.


However, the San Francisco Giants are 1.5 games out of the Wild Card hunt behind the Colorado Rockies, and 6.5 games behind the NL West-leading Dodgers, who have gone 13-15 since the All-Star Break.

Therefore, Giants in the playoff hunt on a Saturday afternoon gets FOX to air this game in the Los Angeles market. Works for me!

Despite the Mets woes of 2009, primarily due to overwhelming injury, fans still want to see them do well. It's more about "just win." Just get to the .500 mark now, and just plan for 2010. 

Today's pitching matchup is a dandy. Johan Santana (13-8, 3.00 ERA) vs. Matt Cain (12-4, 2.44 ERA).

Johan Santana's last start was Sunday at PETCO Park against the San Diego Padres. He went 8 innings, giving up 1 ER, and went 2 for 3 at the plate with an RBI. He got the W in the 5-1 victory that prevented a 4-game sweep at the hands of the Padres.

The last time the Mets saw Matt Cain, it was on the losing end of a 2-0 shutout at AT&T Park in San Francisco on May 17. That was the game where Mike Pelfrey balked 321 times in a game. True story! (ok, it was more like 3, but that's still a lot!)

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(ALL TIMES PACIFIC)
Top of 1st Inning:
1:11pm: I'm getting my first look at the old-school inspired-"New York Giants" cream-colored uniforms that the Mets are wearing this  There's a big N on the right side of the jersey, a big Y on the left side. It's pretty awful. Player names are not on the back either. But yeah, these unis kinda suck.

1:12pm: Eugenio Velez hits a pop foul into shallow rightfield which Francoeur, Murphy and Castillo all chase. Luis Castillo is the closest and gets his glove on it after a long run, but it falls out. The umpire ruled it a foul ball but the Mets may have caught a break cause it kinda looked fair. The official scorer ruled it an Error on Castillo.

1:13pm: No worries. Johan Santana gets Velez to strike out at the high heat. 1 out.

1:14pm: Freddy Sanchez hits a ball that almost tangles up 3B David Wright but he is able to field it and throw meekly to 1B Daniel Murphy who picks the throw out of the dirt for the out. 2 outs.

1:17pm: "Kung Fu Panda" Pablo Sandoval takes a walk on an inside fastball.

1:19pm: Johan Santana pulls the string on the 2-2 changeup which gets Bengie Molina desperately swinging and a missing for the K. 3 outs.

Bottom of 1st Inning:
1:22pm: Cory Sullivan smacks a curveball right to 2B Freddy Sanchez who throws onto 1B Ryan Garko for the out. 4-3. 1 out.

1:24pm: Luis Castillo slaps a single into LF to get on base. Castillo's BA just went over .300. I'm very pleased to see him having a rebound season.

1:25pm: David Wright flies out to CF Aaron Rowand. 2 outs.

1:26pm: Gary Sheffield looks foolish against Matt Cain, swinging through strikes 2 and 3. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:
1:29pm: Ryan Garko hits a broken bat grounder at SS Anderson Hernandez. 6-3. 1 out.

1:31pm: Aaron Rowand strikes out swinging at the famed Johan Santana changeup over the outside corner. 2 outs.

1:33pm: Nate Schierholtz hits a short bloop right into the glove of 3B David Wright. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:
1:36pm: Daniel Murphy lines a shot into LF but Eugenio Velez running in towards the ball makes a fine catch before diving. Usually you have to dive to make a catch but I guess this was more about balance. Either way, 1 out.

1:37pm: Jeff Francoeur flies out to RF Nate Schierholtz in foul territory. 2 outs.

1:38pm: FOX announcers Thom Brennaman and Mark Grace continue to talk about the Giants lack of offense, but tremendous pitching staff that has been keeping them in the playoff hunt. The Giants have the 2nd fewest number of homers in the NL (the Mets have the fewest) but are a winning team. It's not always about the longball, but the Giants hitting as of late has started to dwindle as they fail to score runs at all. Lincecum and Cain can only do so much.

1:40pm: Brian Schneider skies out to RF Nate Schierholtz. 3 up, 3 down. 3 out.

Top of 3rd Inning:
1:44pm: Edgar Renteria flies out to 1B Daniel Murphy who tracks it down running away from the plate before having a slight but harmless collision with 2B Luis Castillo, who was also chasing the ball. 1 out.

1:46pm: Matt Cain grounds out to SS Anderson Hernandez. 6-3. 2 outs.

1:47pm: Eugenio Velez hits a grounder just past the glove of Johan Santana on the mound but SS Anderson Hernandez is able to field it and throw onto first for the out. 3 outs.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:
1:50pm: Anderson Hernandez hits the first pitch he sees right back to Matt Cain, who fields it and throws onto first for the out. 1 out.

1:52pm: Johan Santana hits the ball hard but right at 2B Freddy Sanchez. 4-3. 2 outs.

1:53pm: Cory Sullivan flies out to LF Eugenio Velez. 3 outs. Mark Grace says we have a pitcher's duel here. Well DUH!

Top of 4th Inning:
1:56pm: Aaron Rowand swings at the first pitch from Santana, and flies out to CF Cory Sullivan. 1 out.

1:57pm: We're already in the 4th inning and it's not even been an hour .Grace and Brennaman note that the pitchers have been cruising at a very fast pace. Santana has spent only 16 mins on the mound so far, and Matt Cain has spent 14. 

1:58pm: Pablo Sandoval scorches a ball into centerfield for a single. First hit of the game for the Giants.

1:59pm: Bengie Molina lines a ball into LF for a single. Pablo Sandoval moves to 2nd on the hit. I hope the wheels ain't coming off of Johan. 

2:01pm: Ryan Garko flies out to CF Cory Sullivan. Pablo Sandoval tags up to 3rd base. 2 outs.

2:04pm: Aaron Rowand flies out to shallow rightfield, but 2B Luis Castillo makes a TWO-HANDED CATCH on the ball. 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:
2:07pm: Luis Castillo slaps a chopper over the mound and a charging Edgar Renteria at shortstop can't get a good grip on the ball to get "Mr. Infield Hit" Luis Castillo. And the BA keeps rising for Castillo, as he has both Met hits so far.

2:10pm: David Wright just got hit in the helmet by a Matt Cain fastball that seems to have knocked him out. Cain looks quite concerned and there's no question that was an unintentional pitch on an 0-2 count. The trainers are out immediately to check on him. He is clearly loopy and out of it, and he may think he's ok, but he HAS to be taken out of the game and make sure there's no concussion, or worse.

2:12pm: David Wright is up and walking, but he's out of the game. Fernando Tatis is the replacement at 3B. Since Wright was hit by the pitch, Tatis now on 1st base, Castillo moves over to 2nd. 

2:15pm: Gary Sheffield may have gotten away with looking at strike 3, although the ump called it ball 3 instead. And then he swings at a high ball 4. Yeesh. Still a full count.

2:17pm: Gary Sheffield hits a long flyball into the left-center power alley, but Aaron Rowand tracks it down just in front of the warning track. Luis Castillo tags up to 3rd base. 1 out.

2:18pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to Nate Schierholtz in shallow rightfield. Luis Castillo tags up from 3rd base and slides around Bengie Molina to tag the plate and score the first Met run of the game. Fernando Tatis tags up to 2nd base. 2 outs, Mets go up 1-0.

2:20pm: Jeff Francoeur grounds out to 2B Freddy Sanchez. 4-3. 3 outs.

Top of 5th Inning:
2:23pm: Nate Schierholtz crushes a ball off  the centerfield wall for a leadoff double.

2:25pm: Edgar Renteria strikes out swinging at the Johan Santana changeup inside. 1 out.

2:26pm: Matt Cain is up to bat and the fans boo him since he killed David.

2:29pm: Matt Cain strikes out swinging at the high heat. 2 outs. 

2:30pm: Edgar Renteria hits a check-swing grounder just past Johan Santana on the mound but 3B Fernando Tatis charges the ball and throws onto first for the out. 3 outs. No harm from the leadoff double. 

Bottom of 5th Inning:
2:32pm: Brian Schneider hits a weak grounder the opposite way towards 3B Pablo Sandoval. Sandoval fields it nicely and throws to first to get the slow Schneider. 1 out.

2:35pm: Anderson Hernandez grounds out to 1B Ryan Garko, who tosses over to Matt Cain covering 1st for the out. 2 away.

2:36pm: Johan Santana grounds out to 2B Freddy Sanchez, 4-3. 3 outs.

Top of 6th Inning:
2:39pm: Freddy Sanchez lines a ball past a diving Daniel Murphy for a leadoff single.

2:40pm: Pablo Sandoval lines a ball into leftfield for a single. Freddy Sanchez moves over to 2nd base.

2:41pm: Bengie Molina just misses a homerun off the first pitch he sees from Johan Santana, pounding the ball off the #14 sign in leftfield for a double. Sanchez scores the Giants' first run. Sandoval is over to 3rd base on the play, and Molina just makes it into 2nd base ahead of the tag. Tie game 1-1.

2:46pm: Ryan Garko lines a shot into centerfield that scores Pablo Sandoval to give the Giants a 2-1 lead. Bengie Molina moves to 3rd on the play. Still no out. The wheels seem to be coming off Santana. Tim Redding is now warming up in the bullpen.

2:49pm: Aaron Rowand grounds a ball up the middle past Santana, but SS Anderson Hernandez runs the ball down. He has a bit of trouble getting the ball out of the glove before shuffling it off to 2B Castillo at the last second to get the force on Garko at 2nd base. Bengie Molina scores, so it's now 3-1 Giants. 1 out.

2:51pm: Nate Schierholtz grounds to 2B Luis Castillo, who throws onto SS Anderson Hernandez at 2nd base to get the force on Aaron Rowand. 2 outs.

2:52pm: Edgar Renteria singles to leftfield. Schierholtz to 2nd on the play.

2:53pm: PItching coach Dan Warthen takes a trip to the mound to see why Johan Santana has fallen apart this inning.

2:54pm: Matt Cain strikes out swinging. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:
2:58pm: FOX has footage of David Wright walking into the ambulance outside the ballpark. Good to see he's moving around, but he's obviously going to go through some tests at the hospital to make sure everything is good upstairs.

2:59pm: Cory Sullivan grounds out to 2B Freddy Sanchez. 4-3. 1 out. 

3:00pm: Luis Castillo slaps another base hit to centerfield. 3 for 3 today, and the only guy on the team who is hitting Matt Cain today.

3:01pm; Fernando Tatis strikes out looking at a fastball that just catches the outside corner. 2 outs.

3:03pm: Gary Sheffield grounds out sharply to 3B Pablo Sandoval. 5-4 for the forceout at 2nd base. 3 outs.

Top of 7th Inning: 
3:07pm: Eugenio Velez grounds out to SS Anderson Hernandez. 6-3. 1 out.

3:08pm: Freddy Sanchez skies out to CF Cory Sullivan in left-centerfield. 2 outs.

3:09pm: Well, it looks like Johan finally went for some payback. Santana throws way behind Pablo Sandoval, and the umpire issues warnings to both benches. That's a silly pitch considering Cain didn't intentionally go after Wright's head at all. Plus the ball didn't even hit Sandoval in the first place.

3:10pm: And then Kung Fu Panda Sandoval crushes a homer off the leftfield facade.  Giants go up 4-1.

3:12pm: Bengie Molina gets hit on an inside pitch from Johan Santana, but it was off the elbow. Giants manager Bruce Bochy is out to argue that since the warnings were issued, Molina should've been ejected. Jerry Manuel has a conference on the mound while Bochy argues with Brian O'Nora. Doesn't matter much, as Jerry is making a pitching change now.

3:15pm: Sean Green now on in relief of Santana, pitching to Ryan Garko. Garko hits a shot into the leftfield corner but it's high enough that Gary Sheffield tracks it down.  3 outs.

Bottom of 7th Inning:
3:19pm: Daniel Murphy leads off the 7th with a single to centerfield. Travis Ishikawa is in at 1B in place of Ryan Garko.

3:21pm: Jeff Francoeur flies out to deep CF, but Aaron Rowand tracks it down. 1 out.

3:22pm: Brian Schneider grounds into a 3-6-4 double play. Ishikawa to Renteria to Sanchez covering first. 3 outs.

Top of 8th Inning:
3:24pm: Aaron Rowand strikes out swinging. 1 out.

3:25pm: Nate Schierholtz grounds a ball past a diving Luis Castillo at 2B for a single.

3:26pm: Edgar Renteria grounds out to SS Anderson Hernandez. They try and turn a double play but only get Schierholtz at 2nd. 6-4. 2 outs.

3:27pm: Edgar Renteria takes 2nd on a Sean Green wild pitch. Matt Cain is still in the game for the Giants, considering how well he is pitching.

3:28pm: Matt Cain strikes out swinging. 3 outs.

Bottom of 8th Inning: 
3:31pm: Jeremy Affeldt warming up in the Giants bullpen, Nelson Figueroa warming up in the Mets bullpen.

3:32pm: Anderson Hernandez lines a ball into left-center field for a leadoff single.

3:33pm: Jeremy Reed is in to pinch-hit for Sean Green.

3:34pm: Jeremy Reed grounds to 1B Travis Ishikawa who looks at 2nd base before shuffling the ball back to Matt Cain at first base for the sure out. Anderson Hernandez moves to 2nd. 1 out.

3:35pm: Cory Sullivan ropes a ball to RF for a base hit that scores Anderson Hernandez from 2nd base. The throw from Schierholtz to the plate is way off the line, backed up by Matt Cain on the 3rd base side, and Cory Sullivan takes 2nd base on the play. 4-2 Giants.

3:36pm: Matt Cain is done for the day and booed by the CitiField fans. Jeremy Affeldt is coming in to pitch in relief for the Giants.

3:39pm: Luis Castillo is now batting from the right side against lefty Jeremy Affeldt. 

3:40pm: Luis Castillo takes two ball 4's for a walk. Although one of them was called a strike. And that's it for Affeldt as Bruce Bochy takes a trip to the mound to go to the bullpen. 

3:44pm: Closer Brian Wilson is on in the 8th inning to try and save things for the Giants. He goes ahead 0-2 on Fernando Tatis.

3:46pm: Fernando Tatis shoots a sinking liner into RF for a single that scores Cory Sullivan from 2nd base. Luis Castillo moves to 3rd on the play. The Mets are fighting back, and are now down 4-3.

3:47pm: Gary Sheffield flies out to RF Nate Schierholtz. Luis Castillo tags from 3rd again and scores a lot easier on this sac fly. Schierholtz's throw to the plate is on the fly so Molina has to jump and get it. Gary Sheffield takes 2nd on the throw home. 2 outs. Tie ballgame 4-4. Despite Matt Cain's performance today, he won't get the W today.

3:49pm: Daniel Murphy is taking the intentional walk with a base open.

3:50pm: Jeff Francoeur skies out to RF Nate Schierholtz. 3 outs.

Top of 9th Inning: 
3:53pm: Jeremy Reed is in LF in place of Gary Sheffield as a defensive replacement. Frankie Rodriguez is in to pitch the 9th inning to keep the Giants down.

3:54pm: Eugenio Velez swings the bat, makes contact, but the ball drops right in front of Brian Schneider who picks it up and throws onto 1st for the out. 2-3. 1 out.

3:55pm: Freddy Sanchez hits a weak groundball towards 3B but Fernando Tatis makes a very nce play on the ball, throwing to first for the out. 2 away.

3:57pm: Pablo Sandoval grounds out meekly to Luis Castillo. 4-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 9th Inning:
4:01pm: Brian Schneider grounds out to 1B Travis Ishikawa, who tosses on to Brian Wilson covering at first. 3-1. 1 out.

4:03pm: Anderson Hernandez strikes out swinging. 2 outs.

4:05pm: Jeremy Reed grounds out to 2B Freddy Sanchez. 4-3. 3 outs. We're going extra innings.

Top of 10th Inning:
4:08pm: Bengie Molina takes a K-Rod fastball deeeeep and into the LF seats. Giants go up 5-4. I thought Frankie was back in the 9th. Guess not.

4:10pm: Travis Ishikawa flies out to LF Jeremy Reed in shallow leftfield. 1 out.

4:12pm: Aaron Rowand flies out to 1B Daniel Murphy. 2 outs.

4:14pm: Nate Schierholtz grounds out to 1B Daniel Murphy who takes it to the bag himself. 3 outs.

Bottom of 10th Inning: 
4:17pm: Giants closer Brian Wilson is still on the mound, which could be risky as he'll need to go 2.2 IP to lock it all down.

4:18pm: Cory Sullivan grounds out to 2B Freddy Sanchez. 4-3. 1 out.

4:20pm: Luis Castillo strikes out looking at a 99 MPH fastball on the outside corner. 2 outs.

4:21pm: Fernando Tatis flies out to Nate Schierholtz in RF to end the game. 3 outs.  Mets lose it in 10 by a final score of 5-4.

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A valiant but unsuccessful comeback for the Mets who were down 4-1 in the 8th before tying it up and taking the W away from Matt Cain. However, Frankie couldn't hold the lead in his 2nd inning pitched, giving up a kaboomer to Bengie Molina and that was the ballgame.

The big story out of the game is David Wright getting hit in the head by a Matt Cain 94mph fastball. Wright was taken out of the game and to the hospital via ambulance to undergo medical tests. Hopefully he's ok, but I have to imagine he'll be kept out of the lineup tomorrow as well just to give the noggin a little healing time, even if he's cleared by doctors and there are no serious injuries to DW.

Tomorrow's Sunday matinee will pit Jonathan Sanchez against the ever-failing Mike Pelfrey, so things don't exactly look promising for tomorrow's game. 

Post a comment Tags: baseball, fox, mlb, new york mets, mark grace, david wright, brian wilson, shea stadium …

The quest for mediocrity.

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.

1 comment Tags: injuries, baseball, phoenix, mlb, san diego padres, hockey, nhl, new york mets …

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

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."

1 comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york mets, philadelphia phillies, carlos delgado, jose reyes, carlos beltran, billy wagner …

Mets GM Omar Minaya does the right thing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4366267

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Mets general manager Omar Minaya said Thursday that he has apologized to a beat reporter for his critical comments during a bizarre news conference earlier in the week.

Minaya said he met with New York Daily News reporter Adam Rubin on Wednesday. But the GM was unclear when asked Thursday if he stood by his statements that questioned Rubin's motives and credibility for a series of articles about former player development executive Tony Bernazard.

Minaya has been sharply criticized since he said Rubin had "lobbied" him and Bernazard for a job in player development. Rubin denied he asked Minaya for a job and insisted he had merely sought career advice.

Minaya says he believes Rubin accepted his apology.

Good. That's what should have occurred after Monday's debacle of a press conference where Minaya seemingly lost his cool, if not his mind entirely.

Now to the interesting question... It's one day before the trading deadline, and the Mets are pretty much doing exactly what I predicted here. Though there are still 3 games left to play in July, so we'll have to see how those games end out.

The issue is this. The Mets haven't died a horrible death over the last month, and the current 4-game win streak they are riding is helping things. But they're still a long ways out of the wild card race with 6 teams in front of them, and currently 10 games behind the Phillies in the NL East.

The Mets can't really sell any players, because the few options they do have to trade, they either need for next year (Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green) or are on the DL (Gary Sheffield, JJ Putz).

At the same time, expecting the club to make a play for a major impact player at this point in time, is going to cost a significant amout of prospects out of an already-depleted farm system.

So it seems the best thing for the Mets to do before the trading deadline, is really nothing. That's not to say you don't have conversations with other GMs about trade ideas, but there just doesn't seem to be any major actions to take right now except hope that the injured players begin to come back as soon as humanly possible.

There isn't a great free agent class for the 2010 season, but that's likely where the Mets will have to focus their attention. Perhaps there will be offseason trades to be made that will allow the club to improve in areas they need to, instead of making desperation trades right now for a postseason berth that isn't realistic.

Right now, put out a good product, have a winning season, don't do anything stupid, and plan for 2010.


Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york mets, daily news, pedro feliciano, gary sheffield, omar minaya, jeff wilpon …

Fernando Martinez. They call him F-Mart, I'll call him K-Mart.

Mets' manager Jerry Manuel Plays the Cards He Has, Such as They Are

F-Mart (or K-Mart as I will be calling him the rest of the year) is clearly in a situation he's not ready for. 

He can play the outfield just fine and dandy, and he did manage an RBI double during tonight's game against the Yankees. But in two key situations facing lefty Phil Coke and righty Brian Bruney, he not only struck out, but swung at pitches that were at the level of his neck or even higher up.

But it's not just these two ABs that have shown just how overmatched K-Mart is at the MLB level. He may very well be the next big thing in the Mets organization, but now that we've seen him play, it's clear that it won't be until 2010 at the earliest as to when he's truly ready for the bigs. It may even be longer than that.

Unfortunately, with no Carlos Beltran to play CF and the Mets organization refuses to believe Jeremy Reed is capable of being a full-time fill-in centerfielder, they're stuck with K-Mart until further notice.

I understand that Jerry Manuel doesn't want to overuse Gary Sheffield in the OF, and Ryan Church runs hot and cold, mostly cold against lefty pitching. And Fernando Tatis is on pace to win this season's "GO THE HELL AWAY" award after winning "Comeback Player" award last season, and Nick Evans has yet to prove he's any better than K-Mart, what can an MLB manager do with such unenviable options?

The NY Times article speaks of K-Mart's inexperience and youth working against him, but perhaps it's simply that his hitting skills have not fully developed at a level necessary when playing Major League Baseball. While he made a fantastic sliding catch in centerfield off a sinking liner from Chien-Ming Wang in today's 4-2 loss, he makes too many unnecessary one-handed catches, and doesn't consistently position himself properly on sac fly balls.

The Mets have hyped up Fernando Martinez as THE guy as the future of the franchise, but so far, the future looks bleak.

Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york yankees, new york mets, k-mart, gary sheffield, ryan church, omar minaya …

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. New York Yankees - 6/28/09

I'm not gonna lie.

This is going to be a pivotal game for the New York Mets in numerous ways. They've already lost the season series against the Yankees, having lost 4 out of 5 games so far. Will tonight be 5 of 6? Or can they escape with a 2-4 season record against the Skanks? If the Mets lose tonight, they'll have been swept at home by the Yankees.

The first Mets-Yankees game this year in which 2B Luis Castillo dropped what should have been the final out and put the Mets up 1-0 in the series, is looming larger than it has in a long while.

But it's more than the Yankees now. If the Mets win, they're going to fall to a record of 37-37, and 3 games behind the NL East-leading Phillies. Falling to .500 at this point in the season is only slightly palatable because the rest of the NL East (not including Washington) are all within 5 games of each other.

This is a Mets offense riddled with injury, and the reserves are not holding it together they way they need to. David Wright may lead the NL in BA, but his power numbers have dropped so far down, that he can't carry the team anymore.

The minor league callups like Argenis Reyes (2B) and Fernando Martinez (CF) have been perfectly fine in the field, and absolutely dreadful at the plate. The middle relief has become a little burnt out, and the minor league callups like Jon Switzer and veteran Elmer Dessens haven't helped any.

The key to the Mets winning games is that the "everyday players" need to step things up at the plate and begin to manufacture runs. You don't have to hit longballs to win games, but you do have to execute when runners are in scoring position. For a team to be 1-hit by AJ Burnett and shutout by the Yankees last night is discouraging. But the Mets only amassed 3 hits and 1 run on Friday night. So they've been outscored 14-1 by the Yankees in 2 games, and
40-15 over the 5 games played so far. Disgusting.

Tonight's pitching matchup pits Chien-Ming Wang (0-6, 11.20 ERA) aginst Livan Hernandez (5-2, 4.05 ERA). While Wang is winless this season, and hasn't won a game since June 15, 2008, he IS looking better than he did in the beginning of the season. He gave up 3 ER in 5 IP in each of his last two starts (Washington, Atlanta), and while that's nothing great, it's a lot better than the way he was pitching to begin the 2009 season.

Livan has become a solid #2 for the Mets. In his last two starts, he pitched 7 innings each game, giving up 2 earned runs each time out. However, he was the starting pitcher against the Yankees in the first game between these two ballclubs in 2009 in what is forever going to be known as "The Castillo game," and he got rocked hard in that outing for 6 ER in 5.1 IP.

The trick to Livan's success tends to be fiddling around a wider strike zone, and taking advantage of relatively inexperienced hitters who aren't easily fooled by his 80 MPH fastballs and 60 MPH curveballs. Livan has been enormously successful for the Mets against other NL East opponents this season, less so against the crosstown rival Yankees. We'll see if he can save this team from sinking tonight.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(All times Pacific)
Top of 1st Inning:
5:11pm: Not a good way for the Mets to start a ballgame. Derek Jeter pounds a shot to deep left-center field which bounces off the wall for a leadoff double.

5:13pm: Nick Swisher grounds a ball to 1B Daniel Murphy who is playing in a little. Murphy seems to have a little trouble getting the ball out of his glove. He throws to 3B David Wright to get Derek Jeter at 3rd base, but Jeter makes it in safely. I don't fault Murphy for trying to make the play, but the sure out at 1st was probably more wise. Swisher safe at 1st.

5:16pm: Mark Teixeira strokes a double down the leftfield line scoring Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher. 2 runs across so far. Yankees up 2-0 and still nobody out.

5:18pm: Alex Rodriguez walks. Livan Hernandez is looking pretty bad through 4 batters. He may end up settling down but he's gotta limit the damage ASAP.

5:21pm: Robinson Cano grounds into 2B Luis Castillo, who throws to SS Alex Cora, and then onto 1B Daniel Murphy for the double play. However, Daniel Murphy drops the ball out of his glove, and his foot was moving off the bag anyways, so it looks like Cano woulda made it safely to first base no matter what. Daniel Murphy can't afford any more mental mistake at 1B. Mark Teixeira to 3rd base. 1 out.

5:24pm: Livan Hernandez almost picks off Robinson Cano at 1st but he dives back in just ahead of the tag.

5:25pm: Jorge Posada hits a sac fly to CF Fernando Martinez. He finally makes a two-handed catch and makes a nice throw home to catcher Brian Schneider, but Teixeira is safe without a problem. Yankees up 3-0. 2 outs.

5:26pm: Robinson Cano is caught stealing by Brian Schneider who throws onto Alex Cora, getting Cano easily. 3 outs.  Livan has GOT to settle down, and no more fucking errors from the Mets defense.

Bottom of 1st Inning:
5:29pm: Daniel Murphy leads off and flies out to CF Brett Gardner. 1 out.

5:30pm: They just showed footage of Livan Hernandez in the Mets dugout after the top of the 1st. Schneider told him he did well, and then Livan gave Castillo a pat on the back for his nice play in the inning. Livan then went into the clubhouse to vomit.

5:31pm: Alex Cora gets hit by a pitch from Chien-Ming Wang and takes his pass to 1st base.

5:34pm: David Wright strikes out at a slider in the dirt. Lovely. 2 outs.

5:36pm: Gary Sheffield singles up the middle, sending Alex Cora to 3rd base.

5:37pm: Fernando Tatis flies out to RF Nick Swisher. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:
5:42pm: ESPN shows an interesting stat about Livan Hernandez. During the 1st inning this season, Livan has posted a 6.00 ERA. The rest of the game? A far more manageable 3.90 ERA.

5:43pm: Melky Cabrera strikes out swinging. 1 out.

5:44pm: Brett Gardner flies out to SS Alex Cora in shallow leftfield. Cora uses two hands baby. 2 outs.

5:45pm: Fernando Martinez may suck with the bat, but he makes a superb diving catch in centerfield to grab a sinking liner off the bat of pitcher Chien-Ming Wang. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:
5:50pm: Fernando Martinez grounds out to 3B Alex Rodriguez who is perfectly positioned in the 3B-SS hole, away from the line, makes a short dive to his left and throws to 1B Mark Teixeira for the easy out. 1 away.

5:51pm: ESPN shows a replay of A-Rod on the last play wincing a bit after the throw. Did he just hurt his hip a little? I FUCKING HOPE SO!!!!

5:53pm: Brian Schneider takes a 3-2 pitch low for a walk.

5:55pm: Luis Castillo grounds into a 4-6 forceout. 2B Robinson Cano to SS Derek Jeter to get Schneider. Castillo is safe at first as there was no throw from Jeter since Luis can still move.

5:56pm: Livan Hernandez swings at the first pitch he sees from Wang, grounding it to SS Derek Jeter who tosses to 2B Robinson Cano for the force. 6-4. 3 outs.

Top of 3rd Inning:
5:59pm: Derek Jeter hits a solid and hard line drive into the glove of CF Fernando Martinez. 1 out.

6:01pm: Nick Swisher crushes a ball off the FOXBusiness.com sign just on the foul side of the rightfield foul pole.

6:02pm: Swisher hits a line drive on the next pitch into the glove of RF Fernando Tatis. 2 outs.

6:03pm: Mark Teixeira lines out to LF Gary Sheffield. 3 outs. Livan looks like he settled down. But this Mets offense needs to come alive and not allow Chien-Ming Wang to get his shit straight today of all days.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:
6:06pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging at a low pitch in the dirt. Posada drops it so Murphy runs but Posada completes the strikeout by throwing down to 1st. 1 out.

6:09pm: Alex Cora works out a walk.

6:10pm: David Wright hits into a 6-4-3 motherfucking double play. 3 outs. Wang can walk everyone he wants as long as the Mets keep grounding into these fucking DPs.

Top of 4th Inning:
6:14pm: Alex Rodriguez rips a ball into CF for a single. That makes him 12 for 20 off of Livan Hernandez.

6:15pm: Robinson Cano hits into a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play. Castillo to Cora to Murphy. 2 outs. Whew!

6:16pm: Jorge Posada grounds out to 2B Luis Castillo. 4-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:
6:22pm: Gary Sheffield takes a leadoff walk.


6:24pm: King of the Double Play Fernando Tatis hits a chopper to 3B Alex Rodriguez,  but with Sheffield running to 2nd base, Rodriguez throws on to 1B for the sure out. 1 out, Sheffield at 2nd base.

6:28pm: Fernando Martinez hits a fly ball the opposite way to deep leftfield which goes over the head of LF Melky Cabrera. The ball takes a carom towards centerfield, so it's tracked down by CF Brett Gardner. Martinez is into 2nd with the double, Sheffield scores. Mets finally score a run!!!! But they're down 3-1.

6:30pm: Brian Schneider grounds to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. Fernando Martinez to 3rd on the play. 2 outs.

6:32pm: Luis Castillo slaps a shot down the 3rd base line to score Fernando Martinez. Mets down 3-2 now.

6:33pm: Luis Castillo steals 2nd base although he doesn't really slide but rather, he kinda flops down at the last second. Maybe he thought that either the throw wasn't coming, or the throw was going into centerfield? Strange, but he's safe...

6:34pm: Livan Hernandez grounds out to SS Derek Jeter. 6-3. 3 outs. Finally some offense against Wang!

Top of 5th Inning:
6:37pm: Melky Cabrera crushes a 3-2 pitch to one of the deepest parts of right-centerfield, but Gary Sheffield makes a nice catch on a 400-ft flyball. 1 out. 

6:38pm: Brett Gardner takes a walk to 1st.

6:40pm: Chien-Ming Wang tries to lay down a bunt but it goes up in the air about 15 feet, leaving Brett Gardner unsure of whether to run or not. Livan lets it drop on the 1st base side of the mound, fields it cleanly, throws to SS Alex Cora at second base, who throws onto Luis Castillo covering 1st to complete the double play. Excellent job by the Mets defense for once. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:
6:43pm: On the replay of the double play that ended the 5th, you can see Wang is slowed down by Livan Hernandez's body that is in his way as he throws onto 2nd base. Wang can't legally run into him while Livan is fielding the ball, but he could have maybe bumped him immediately afterwards while the throw was being made. Still, I can't imagine Wang wants to run into any collisions.

6:45pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging again. 1 out.

6:46pm: Alex Cora grounds out to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 2 outs.

6:47pm: David Wright hits a soft grounder to 3B Alex Rodriguez which is fielded very nicely by A-Roid, who throws onto 1B Mark Teixeira to get the third out. David Wright is 0 for 11 this series.

Top of 6th Inning:
6:52pm: Derek Jeter takes a leadoff walk. Leadoff walks are never a good thing, and Nick Swisher has been hitting the ball hard tonight against Livan Hernandez.

6:56pm: Livan Hernandez walks Nick Swisher as well. Derek Jeter to 2nd base. Mark Teixeira is up and we's in trouble folks.

6:57pm: Bobby Parnell is warming up in the bullpen. Well that's not gonna help things...

6:58pm: Mark Teixeira skies out to Fernando Martinez in deep CF just short of the warning track. Both Jeter and Swisher tag up to 3rd and 2nd base respectively. 1 out.

6:59pm: With Alex Rodriguez up at the plate, 1 out, and an empty base, they may choose to walk A-Rod and face Robinson Cano, hoping to induce another double play out of Cano. Tough choice, but with A-Rod's numbers against Livan, I would probably give A-Rod the intentional pass.

7:00pm: Jerry Manuel makes the call to give A-Rod the intentional walk and load the bases. Robinson Cano has hit into two double plays tonight so far, although only one of them was successfully completed.

7:01pm: Robinson Cano is more unclutch than David Wright lately. Another tailor-made double play induced. Cano grounds up the middle to SS Alex Cora, who steps on 2nd and throws onto 1st to complete the 6-3 double play. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:
7:04pm: Gary Sheffield hits a chopper up the middle which pitcher Chien-Ming Wang tries to leap and grab but it deflects off his glove towards 3rd base. Sheffield gets an infield single for his troubles. 

7:07pm: Fernando Tatis lays down a bunt in front of the plate which is fielded by pitcher Chien-Ming Wang. Wang makes a slightly high throw to first base but Mark Teixeira makes the catch. Sheffield over to 2nd base. ESPN announcers Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and Steve Phillips are wondering about that play, theorizing that maybe Tatis missed a sign and it was supposed to be a hit and run instead of a sac bunt. I kinda doubt that. Tatis isn't good enough of a contact hitter to execute the hit and run, and with his luck it'd STILL be a double play. 1 out.

7:09pm: Lefty reliever Phil Coke is in the ballgame to pitch for Chien-Ming Wang. He'll be facing lefties Fernando Martinez and Brian Schneider, and also turn Luis Castillo around to the right side if it gets that far.

7:10pm: I don't like this matchup. Fernando Martinez can't hit lefty pitching this year unless it's Andy Pettite. 

7:12pm: Sure enough, Fernando Martinez not only strikes out, but swings at a pitch which was at the level of his face.

7:13pm: Omir Santos is announced as the right-handed pinch-hitter to replace Brian Schneider, so Yankees manager Joe Girardi is making a double-switch of his own. Johnny Damon is in to play leftfield, Melky Cabrera moves over from leftfield to rightfield. Philip Hughes relieves Phil Coke, and Nick Swisher is out of the game.

7:16pm: Omir Santos flies out to RF Melky Cabrera. 3 outs.

Top of 7th Inning:
7:21pm: Jorge Posada slices a linedrive into leftfield but Fernando Tatis tracks it down. 1 out.

7:23pm: Melky Cabrera skies out to LF Fernando Tatis. 2 outs.

7:25pm: Brett Gardner pop flies out 2B Luis Castillo. The fans give him a sarcastic cheer. Although who knows if it's the Mets or Yankee fans doing that. Maybe both? 3 outs.

Bottom of 7th Inning:
7:31pm: Luis Castillo takes a leadoff walk.

7:32pm: Argenis Reyes is in to pinch-hit for Livan Hernandez. He's there to bunt Castillo over.

7:33pm: Argenis Reyes lays down a bunt towards the charging Alex Rodriguez who makes the throw to SS Derek Jeter to barely get Luis Castillo out at second base. Reyes should've been bunting towards 1st instead. Reyes now on 1st. 1 out.

7:34pm: With Argenis Reyes running on the pitch, Daniel Murphy grounds to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 2 outs. Reyes at 2nd base.

7:38pm: Alex Cora watches a 1-2 fastball go right over the plate and I have no idea why, but he definitely looked overmatched by Hughes' 95 MPH fastballs. 3 outs. 

Top of 8th Inning:
7:40pm: Lefty Pedro Feliciano is in to pitch for Livan Hernandez.

7:41pm: Johnny Damon grounds out to 1B Daniel Murphy who tosses onto Feliciano covering first base for the out. 1 out. 

7:42pm: Brian Bruney is warming up in the Yankees bullpen.

7:44pm: Derek Jeter works out a walk.

7:45pm: Sean Green is warming up in the Mets bullpen.

7:46pm: Lefty hitter Hideki Matsui is in to pinch-hit for Phil Hughes. He grounds out to Pedro Feliciano. 1-3. Jeter to 2nd base. 2 outs.

7:48pm: After falling behind 2-1 to Teixeira, they make the call to give him the intentional pass. Probably a good idea.

7:49pm: Righty Sean Green is in to pitch for Pedro Feliciano. He's gonna face righty Alex Rodriguez.

7:53pm: With a 3-2 count, Sean Green walks Alex Rodriguez to load the bases. Jerry Manuel looks ticked off.

7:54pm: A lot of back and forth "LETS GO YANKEES" and "YANKEES SUCK" call and response chants. Unfortunately it's the Mets sucking big-time in this series.

7:55pm: Robinson Cano is up with the bases loaded and 2 out.

7:56pm: Robinson Cano grounds sharply to Luis Castillo's left. Castillo makes it looks easy with the pick and throw to 1st base for the 3rd out. That would've been another double play for Cano had there been less than 2 outs. 

Bottom of 8th Inning:
7:58pm: Brian Bruney is on in relief of Phil Hughes to pitch the 8th and bridge the gap to Mariano Rivera. He'll be facing the slumping heart of the Mets lineup, beginning with David Wright.

8:00pm: David Wright takes a 4-pitch leadoff walk. I woulda preferred a homerun, but Bruney wasn't exactly giving Wright anything in the zone to swing at.

8:01pm: Alfredo Aceves is warming up in the Yankees bullpen.

8:02pm: Gary Sheffield skies out to SS Derek Jeter in shallow leftfield. 1 out.

8:03pm: Fernando Tatis is up, and I'm scared of the double play...

8:04pm: Bruney didn't give Tatis anything much to put in play, so he takes a walk too. Wright to 2nd base.

8:05pm: Fernando Martinez is in, and this is his chance of redemption. 2 men on, and he's facing a right-hander. He can't press here. A basehit to the outfield will likely tie the game.

8:06pm: Fernando Martinez swings at another high pitch around his neck level, and K's. Fucking crap. 2 outs.

8:07pm: Enter Sandman. It's time for a 4-out save from Mariano Rivera who will be facing Omir Santos.

8:08pm: Mariano Rivera comes in to pitch in relief of Brian Bruney. Bruney is responsible for the runners on 1st and 2nd.

8:12pm: Santos is putting together a nice AB against Rivera, and he just gave everyone a thrill by punching a nice liner down the rightfield line but landed on the railing in foul territory.

8:14pm: David Wright steals 3rd base without a throw.

8:15pm: Mariano throws an inside cutter that crosses the inside corner. Santos doesn't like the call, but it was a strike. 3 outs. *sigh*

Top of 9th Inning:
8:17pm: Jeremy Reed is into play RF, Gary Sheffield moves from LF to RF. Frankie Rodriguez is on to pitch the 9th and hopefully maintain the 1-run deficit.

8:18pm: Jorge Posada pops one into the Bermuda Triangle in short centerfield. Alex Cora thinks Luis Castillo has it, Castillo thinks Cora has it, so both momentarily look at each other. Cora dives for the ball but can't make the play. Probably scored as a hit. 

8:20pm: It is scored as a hit, the first since the 4th inning. Although earlier Joe Morgan said they hadn't had a hit since the 1st inning. WTF ESPN?!

8:21pm: Melky Cabrera grounds to 3B David Wright. He throws to 2B Luis Castillo, who throws to 1B but Cabrera is too fast to double off in this spot. 5-4 forceout. 1 out.

8;23pm: Melky Cabrera steals 2nd base. Santos makes a nice throw to Cora who makes a nice tag, but Cabrera beat it. Nice?

8:25pm: Brett Gardner takes a 3-2 pitch high and outside for a walk. Yankees with runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

8:30pm: Johnny Damon smokes a liner into RF but it's a damn good thing Jeremy Reed is there cause he's right on it for the out. Runners do not advance. 2 outs.

8:31pm: The situation is simple. 2 outs, runners on 1st and 2nd. Derek Jeter is up. If you walk Jeter, Mariano Rivera is going to bat, and... he doesn't bat. So either you walk Jeter and force Girardi to pinch-hit, or you just face Jeter. Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips think that facing Jeter is a huge mistake. I do too. They should force Girardi to do something with Rivera.

8:34pm: They're pitching to Jeter?! WTF?! Even Jeter doesn't get it. Frankie goes 2-1 before the IBB is called. That was a waste of 3 pitches.

8:35pm: Mariano Rivera is batting with bases loaded and 2 outs. Frankie can't fuck this up, can he?

8:36pm: Frankie goes 2-0 before catching up 2-2 on the count. Mariano has his bat on his shoulders all the way so far. Rivera swings and fouls one off.

8:37pm: Holy fuck. Frankie walks Mariano Rivera and Melky Cabrera scores from 3rd base. Yankees up 4-2. Unfuckingreal.

8:40pm: On a 3-2 count, Mark Teixeira checks his swing and thinks he's walking, but the 3rd base umpire says he swung and that's it. 3 outs. Yankees up 4-2.

Bottom of 9th Inning:
8:43pm: Mariano Rivera is still pitching, now facing the bottom of the order with Luis Castillo, Jeremy Reed and Daniel Murphy.

8:45pm: Luis Castillo grounds out to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 1 out.

8:47pm: Jeremy Reed strikes out looking. He was clearly overmatched by Mariano. 2 outs.

8:48pm: Daniel Murphy fists a base hit to LF to prolong the agony a little more. Alex Cora is up next, with David Wright after him. I hope Cora can somehow take a walk here.

8:49pm: Nope. He swung first pitch and grounded right to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 3 outs. Fucking unreal.

GAME OVER - Yankees win 4-2

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What an absolute nightmare. Swept by the Yankees in 3 games in their own ballpark. Mariano Rivera gets his 500th career save along with his first RBI EVER. Chien-Ming Wang finally wins a fucking game.

Plenty of blame to go around tonight.

    • Daniel Murphy's fumfering in the 1st inning. He attempted to get Derek Jeter at 3rd base on a groundball, and it was close. But it was the wrong play. I won't kill him on that only because it was close, and it would've been great had he nailed him. However, dropping the ball on the Cano double play AND having your foot off the bag when neither of those things should have occurred.
    • Manager Jerry Manuel. Despite needing to make a couple of moves, having lefty Fernando Martinez face lefty Phil Coke in the 6th inning was a bad call. Martinez can't hit lefty pitching, and looked like a fucking joke doing so in this AB where he struck out at a ball at eye level. The right move was pinch-hitting for him using Nick Evans, and then either moving him into CF, or then putting Jeremy Reed into CF instead. I can understand not wanting to sub in 2 bench guys for one, but it had to be done, and Jerry didn't. 

The other ridiculous managerial call was pitching to Derek Jeter in the 9th with Mariano Rivera on deck. Even Jeter thought this was retarded. Seriously! While ultimately the Mets lose the game either way, the fact that Jerry didn't call for the intentional pass to Jeter immediately was one of those huge "Is this guy for real?" moments. The only defense I can imagine Jerry Manuel might have for not walking Jeter initially was a reluctance to put Melky Cabrera on 3rd base, capable of scoring on any wild pitch or passed ball that got away from catcher Omir Santos. 

Now, if you want to go with that defense, fine. Well, not fine, but... I get it. But then on a 2-1 pitch, he changes his mind and gives Jeter ball 4. 


    • Frankie Rodriguez. Despite Cora and Castillo not figuring out who should make the catch on Jorge Posada's flyball into the Bermuda Triangle, he's given leadoff hits before and gotten out of jams. However, walking Brett Gardner couldn't happen here, and walking Mariano Rivera was unforgivable.  The only saving grace was that they were already losing the game 3-2, so what's another run at that point?!! Still, tough to take.
So what now?

The team drops to 37-37, 3 games behind Philadelphia and further down into the murkiness of the wildcard race. Granted neither of those things really mean too much right now, but this team isn't even treading water anymore.

They're at .500, still sinking and it's June 28. July doesn't get any easier for this decimated team, as they go on the road to play 3 in Milwaukee, one make-up game in Pittsburgh, and then 3 in Philly which they HAVE to win by any means necessary or this season is over before they get to the All-Star break. Even if all the regular players (Delgado, Reyes, Beltran) make it back by August 1, they're likely going to have to win over 40 games in August-September, which is asking a helluva lot from any team.

The month of June isn't over yet, but despite the team's 19-9 turnaround in May, which honestly should've been closer to 22-6, the best the Mets can now hope for is to take the next two games against the Brewers and go up to a 11-16 record for the month of June. They went 9-12 in April.

The thing is, with so many key people out, making a deal for one player, even someone like an Adam Dunn for example (which won't happen, but for the sake of my point...) doesn't address the other needs the team has. So for the front office to go ahead and deal for players, it has to be significant, and that's going to likely require moving some valuable prospects in a deal. The Mets don't want to mortgage their future, nor should they.

But part of their future is hurting them right now, namely Fernando Martinez, who clearly isn't ready for the bigs, and maybe AAA isn't right for him either yet. But with no Carlos Beltran for a while, the team is in a pickle and then some.

I don't envy GM Omar Minaya right now, because you're truly in a bind right now. The team finally hit the .500 mark, there's no quick fix, you have no real idea who is coming back when. This makes for a strong possibility that the Mets would become sellers at the July 31 deadline, instead of buyers, depending on the way things go over the course of July. Then that begs the question, who would the Mets trade AWAY at that point? Well, if that happens, I'll address it in 30 days from now. Hopefully that doesn't come to be.


Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york yankees, espn, alex rodriguez, new york mets, david wright, derek jeter …

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

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.





Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york yankees, tbs, new york mets, david wright, derek jeter, nick swisher …

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

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.

2 comments Tags: baseball, mlb, new york mets, david wright, dodger stadium, los angeles dodgers, john maine, jose reyes …

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies, 5/2/09

I've been watching the Yankees-Angels game this morning, and what a fantastic pitcher's duel between CC Sabathia for New York, and Matt Palmer for the Angels. I linked a NYTimes.com profile of Palmer in a post earlier this morning.


And the Angels just went up on the Yankees 5-1, with Palmer pitching 3-hit ball into the 7th inning. I'm just concerned about the Angels' bullpen having another implosion like yesterday, but Palmer ain't going all nine.

In a couple of mins, I'll be switching over to the FOX broadcast of the Mets-Phillies game for all the liveblogging fun, maybe checking the Angels-Yankees during commercial breaks.

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(All times Pacific)

Top of 1st Inning:
12:40pm: Jose Reyes shatters his bat on the first pitch by grounding out to Jimmy Rollins at SS. 6-3. 1 out.
Joe Buck talking about Jamie's age of a tender sweet young 46.

12:41pm: Luis Castillo is back batting 2nd where he belongs. Also back in the lineup after minor back problems/spasms. 

12:42pm: Luis Castillo grounds a 1-2 pitch right at SS Jimmy Rollins who throws to 1st for the out. 6-3. 2 outs.

12:43pm: Carlos Beltran is currently hitting an obscene .390 to lead the NL. A quick FOX stat reminds us that no Met has ever finished a season leading the league in batting average. Carlos still needs to increase the power output, but I'm sure that will come soon enough.

12:45pm: Beltran takes a called strike 3 on a full count. 3 out.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

12:47pm: Oliver Perez is pitching, and that 9.31 ERA looks absolutely awful. But this is a game against Philadelphia, who he dominated last season with a 0.35 ERA in 4 starts, 3-1 record. Plus any game against Philly qualifies as "pressure," so this SHOULD tip the scales in Ollie's favor.

12:50pm: Shane Victorino lines a ball into left-center field for a triple. Daniel Murphy tries diving at it and makes a pretty good attempt but can't come up with it. Eric Karros is complaining that Carlos Beltran is nowhere around to help back up Murph.

12:51pm: Raul Ibanez hits a sac fly to LF Daniel Murphy. Phillies go up 1-0. 1 out.

12:53pm: Perez walks Jayson Werth.

12:55pm: Even with "the shift" in play, Ryan Howard finds a hole between Castillo (or Delgado, as Eric Karros calls him) and Jose Reyes for a base hit. Jayson Werth moves from 1st to 3rd on the hit. 

12:56pm: Pitching coach Dan Warthen visits the mound to ask Ollie "what the fuck?" Although in fairness, that was one of those lucky grounders for Howard. The trick is making sure that Jimmy Rollins can't do any further damage.

12:58pm: Rollins lines a grounder past 3B David Wright for a single into LF. Ryan Howard to 2nd. Jayson Werth scores. Phillies go up 2-0.

12:59pm: Pedro Feliz flies out to shallow rightfield, where Luis Castillo has to run out to to make the catch since Sheffield is a tad on the slow side. 2 out.

1:00pm: Eric Bruntlett walks. Bases now loaded. Philadelphia rakes with the bases loaded, so this is scary. .

1:04pm: Carlos Ruiz pops out to 2B Luis Castillo to end the inning of too many pitches. If Oliver can settle down after this mess, I'll be happy. If the struggles continue, we gots problems.

Top of 2nd Inning:
1:08pm: Gary Sheffield takes a leadoff walk.

1:10pm: David Wright also takes a walk. This is one of those spots the Mets need to cash in on. Runners in scoring position for Fernando Tatis. A homer would be fantastic.

1:12pm: Fernando Tatis grounds out weakly to SS Jimmy Rollins who throws over to 2B Eric Bruntlett for the forceout at 2nd. David Wright out, Gary Sheffield moves to 3rd. 1 out.

1:13pm: Daniel Murphy hits a sac fly out to CF Shane Victorino which scores Gary Sheffield and gets the Mets on the board. Phillies now with a 2-1 lead. 2 out.

1:14pm: Ramon Castro lines a single to LF. Fernando Tatis moves to 2nd. Unfortunately, Oliver Perez is not a good hitting pitcher. Heck, he's not all that good of a pitching pitcher at this point in the season.

1:15pm: Shiver me timbers! Oliver Perez hits a hard ground ball down the 1st base line which Ryan Howard is able to knock down but he can't throw out Perez. Bases loaded for Jose Reyes. This team still needs some runs.

1:16pm: Jose Reyes pops out to 1B Ryan Howard. 3 out. 

Bottom of 2nd Inning:
1:20pm: Jamie Moyer strikes out. 1 out.

1:21pm: Shane Victorino lines a double down the LF line. Oy.

1:23pm: Oliver Perez seems to find Raul Ibanez' weak spot by throwing high heat at him which he looks at with salivating eyes. However, Ibanez strikes out swinging. 2 out.

1:25pm: Jayson Werth scorches a flyball into deep CF that Carlos Beltran can't catch up to. Werth with a double, scores Victorino giving Philadelphia a 3-1 lead.

1:27pm: Ryan Howard grounds out to Luis Castillo deep at 2B. 4-3. 3 out. Perez has GOT to settle down fast.

Top of 3rd Inning:
1:32pm: Luis Castillo draws a leadoff walk from Jamie Moyer.

1:33pm: Carlos Beltran swings first-pitch and pops it up to SS Jimmy Rollins. 1 out.

1:36pm: Gary Sheffield scalds a ball down the leftfield line for a double. Luis Castillo to 3rd.

1:38pm: David Wright gets an unconventional sac fly into foul territory that 1B Ryan Howard catches, but Luis Castillo has enough speed from 3rd to score. Gary Sheffield also tags up and moves to 3rd. 2 out. Phillies still up 3-2.

1:40pm: Fernando Tatis flies out to CF Shane Victorino. 3 out.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:
1:43pm: Here we go again. Oliver Perez gives a leadoff walk to Jimmy Rollins.

1:45pm: Pedro Feliz skies out to CF Carlos Beltran. 1 out.

1:46pm: Mets manager Jerry Manuel was interviewed in-between innings and he thinks Perez is looking slightly better than in the past, but still struggling with the release point. 

1:47pm: Perez walks Eric Bruntlett too. The constant walks have GOT to stop. If you're gonna get beat on hitting, that's one thing, but you can't continually put guys on base. 

1:49pm: Perez has a 3-1 count to Carlos Ruiz of all hitters. If he walks the bases loaded, I might throw something. And it'll probably be a strike!

1:50pm: *looks for relatively harmless object to throw*  - Perez delivers 3 consecutive walks to load the bases. Ridiculous.

1:51pm: Even with Jamie Moyer up, Perez still can't find the plate. If he walks the pitcher, I'm going to murder a puppy. Ken Takahashi is throwing in the bullpen.

1:52pm: With a 3-2 count, Dan Warthen is on the phone, and Ramon Castro is on the mound. 4 straight walks is simply unacceptable. Moyer has to hold the bat on his shoulder to boot.

1:53pm: Moyer does, and that's 4 straight walks. Rollins scores. TIME FOR THE FUCKING HOOK! Phillies up 4-2 now.

1:54pm: That's it for Perez. What a disaster. They're going to Takahashi in the bullpen. I hope he can somehow get out of this disastrous inning without any further damage, though it's gonna be extremely difficult.

1:55pm: Perez threw 77 pitches in 2.1 IP, with 6 walks. That's just retarded, especially for a guy who was supposed to at least be competitive against a team he's dominated in the past.

1:56pm: Wow. A slightly bizarre inning-ending double play that I'm more than happy to take. Shane Victorino lines the ball off of Takahashi's stomach, the ball goes to the ground. Takahashi picks it up, throws to Castro at home plate for the out, and then Castro throws down to Jose Reyes at second base to get Jamie Moyer out by a mile. 3 out. Crisis averted, but we'll need Takahashi to go at least 4 innings now and shut the Phillies down.

Top of 4th Inning:
1:59pm: Ahh, they just showed a different camera angle on that play, where Jamie Moyer slips on the basepaths trying to determine if the ball was caught or not, and by the time he starts moving towards 2nd base, it's too late. Score that play 1-2-6.

2:00pm: Jamie Moyer gives up walk #4 of the game. This time to Daniel Murphy.

2:02pm: Ramon Castro grounds into a 6-4-3 Double Play. 2 out.

2:03pm: Ken Takahashi strikes out in his MLB hitting debut. No shock there. 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:
2:05pm: Raul Ibanez slaps a double down the leftfield line. Takahashi is apparently the only pitcher the Mets have at AAA right now who was showing ANY semblance of decent pitching.

2:07pm: Jayson Werth grounds out to SS Jose Reyes, 6-3. Ibanez goes to 3rd on the play. 1 out.

2:09pm: Takahashi strikes out Ryan Howard swinging. 2 out.

2:13pm: Jimmy Rollins pops one high on the right side of the pitcher's mound, caught by 1B Jimmy Rollins. 3 out.

Top of 5th Inning:
2:15pm: Jose Reyes hits a hard line drive right at 3B Pedro Feliz. 1 out.

2:16pm: Luis Castillo tries to get on base with a slap bunt in front of the plate, but Carlos Ruiz is able to field it and throw Castillo out. 2-3. 2 out.

2:17pm: Carlos Beltran singles a grounder in-between first and second.

2:22pm: After slamming a ball deep but foul, Gary Sheffield ends up grounding out to 3B Pedro Feliz. 5-3. 3 out.

Bottom of 5th Inning:
2:25pm: Pedro Feliz grounds out to SS Jose Reyes. 6-3. 1 out.

2:26pm: Eric Bruntlett hits a weak groundball back at Takahashi. 1-3. 2 out.

2:28pm: Carlos Ruiz draws a walk.

2:30pm: Jamie Moyer gets a 3-2 count and is able to foul off some pitches. Takahashi is throwing mostly in the 80's but at least finding the plate.

2:32pm: Jamie Moyer flies out to LF Daniel Murphy. 3 out.

Top of 6th Inning:

2:34pm: David Wright flies out to CF Shane Victorino. 1 out.

2:37pm: Fernando Tatis grounds out to SS Jose Reyes. 6-3. 2 out.

2:39pm: Finally the Mets get a little offense. Daniel Murphy hits a solo blast to the RF seats. Now it's 4-3 Phillies.

2:40pm: BACK TO BACK JACKS!!!! Ramon Castro hits a 412-foot blast to straight-away center to tie this mother up. 4-4 and it's a brand new game.

2:42pm: Alex Cora pinch-hitting for Ken Takahashi. Carlos Delgado sighting in the dugout.

2:43pm: Alex Cora triples to deep right-center field, just missing a homerun by very little.  All of this with 2 out, mind you.

2:44pm: That's it for Jamie Moyer. Scott Eyre is coming in for relief. Can Jose Reyes get Cora to score?

2:47pm: Nope, because Eyre walks Jose Reyes on 4 straight pitches.

2:51pm: Luis Castillo shoots a single through on the right side past a diving Ryan Howard scoring Alex Cora. Jose Reyes gets to 3rd. All of this with 2 outs. Can we get a coup de gras BOOM SHAKKA LAKKA from Carlos Beltran? JoseMets go up 5-4.

2:53pm: Carlos Beltran is hit on the top of his shoe by a pitch, so the bases are now loaded for Gary Sheffield.

2:56pm: Chad Condrey is on in relief of Scott Eyre, who couldn't do the job. See? It happens to other teams!

2:58pm: On a full count to Gary Sheffield.... Sheffield hits a chopper towards 2B Eric Bruntlett, who throws to 1st for the 3rd out. Mets now up 5-4 and Oliver Perez won't get the Loss, even though he should, regardless of the final outcome.

Bottom of 6th Inning:
3:01pm: Double switch going on. Alex Cora stays in the game to play 2B in place of Luis Castillo, Pedro Feliciano relieves Ken Takahashi, who didn't give up any runs, and will no doubt be expected to do this EVERY game without fail.

3:03pm: Shane Victorino grounds out to David Wright, who throws onto 1B to get out the speedy CF. 1 out.

3:04pm: Raul Ibanez crushes a solo shot into the RF stands. Game now tied at 5. Oh Pedro...

3:05pm: Jayson Werth hits a rocket to RF and Gary Sheffield almost misplays it but is able to make a leaping catch. 2 out.

3:07pm: Ryan Howard goes down swinging. 3 out.

Top of 7th Innning:

3:10pm: David Wright grounds out to SS Jimmy Rollins. 6-3. 1 out.

3:11pm: Fernando Tatis hits a sinking line drive to LF Raul Ibanez who catches it on a slide. No defensive liability there. 2 out.

3:12pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to LF Raul Ibanez. 3 out. Quick work of the Mets by Clay Condrey.

Bottom of 7th Inning:
3:14pm: Bobby Parnell is on in relief to pitch the 7th. First righty pitcher the Phillies have seen today after Perez, Takahashi and Feliciano.

3:16pm: Jimmy Rollins fouls out to 3B David Wright. 1 out.

3:18pm: Pedro Feliz hits a squibber down the third-base line which rolled and rolled but never went foul, so that's an infield single.

3:20pm: Joe Buck thinks Chase Utley should be pinch-hitting right now for Eric Bruntlett. Eric Karros disagrees with him. Looks like Buck may have been right, as Bruntlett grounds into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. 3 outs.

Top of the 8th Inning:
3:23pm: Ryan Madson is in to pitch for the Phillies.

3:24pm: Ramon Castro walks, and that pitch must've fooled the chyron people at FOX since the "0 out" briefly went to "1 out" before reverting back to "0 out." 

3:25pm: Omir Santos is in to pinch-run and replace Ramon Castro.

3:26pm: Alex Cora gets down the bunt on the 1st-base side, moving Castro over to 2nd. 1 out.

3:28pm: Jose Reyes strikes out swinging. 2 out.

3:29pm: Carlos Delgado is in to pinch-hit for Bobby Parnell's spot in the order. Delgado still has a sore right hip which he's gonna have to work through for a while. No DL'ing of Delgado to be had.

3:31pm: Carlos Delgado takes the walk on a full count. Pitcher John Maine is in to pinch-run for Delgado. 

3:33pm: Carlos Beltran singles to RF Jayson Werth. Omir Santos attempts to score but Werth guns him down. Carlos Ruiz applies the tag in a very close play, but Santos is definitely out. Can't argue with the decision to send him. In a tie game on the road and with 2 out, you have to force the defense to make the play. 3 outs.

Bottom of 8th Inning:
3:36pm: JJ Putz is on to pitch in relief. 

3:37pm: Carlos Ruiz foul pops out to 1B Fernando Tatis. 1 out.

3:38pm: Chase Utley is in to pinch-hit for Ryan Madson's spot. Utley lines out to RF Gary Sheffield. 2 outs.

3:39pm: Shane Victorino grounds out to 2B Alex Cora. 4-3. 3 outs. Putz made extremely quick and easy work of this inning. 

Top of 9th Inning:
3:41pm: Closer Brad Lidge is on to pitch the 9th. Not a save situation, but one he's trying to hold for the Phillies so they can get the walk-off in the bottom of the frame.

3:42pm: Gary Sheffield flies out to RF Jayson Werth. 1 out.

3:43pm: David Wright could certainly use a clutch HR right about now, but Lidge is hardly going to make it easy for him.

3:44pm: David Wright take a 4-pitch walk from Brad Lidge. 

3:45pm: Frankie Rodriguez is warming up in the bullpen for the Mets. David Wright has tried stealing 2nd on a couple of pitches but Tatis fouls off the pitches.

3:46pm: Running on the pitch again, David Wright tries to steal 2nd but Tatis flies out to shallow left into the glove of LF Raul Ibanez. Wright gets back to 1st safely. 2 outs.

3:47pm: David Wright easily steals 2nd base on the first pitch, which is in the dirt anyways.

3:48pm: As a result of the stolen base, Daniel Murphy gets 3 out of 4 intentional balls and they give him 1st base in order to pitch to Omir Santos.

3:49pm: Santos hits one into shallow rightfield but 2B Eric Bruntlett chases it down. 3 outs.

Bottom of 9th Inning:

3:52pm: JJ Putz is still pitching since the Mets don't have the lead, and he SHOULD be able to go 2 innings considering how quick and efficient his 8th inning was.

3:53pm: Raul Ibanez hits one into deep left-center field to the warning track, but it's caught by defensive replacement Jeremy Reed out in LF.

3:55pm: Jayson Werth watches strike 3 paint the outside corner. 2 outs.

3:57pm: Ryan Howard goes down swinging yet again. JJ Putz looked phenomenal these 2 innings. I wonder if he can go a 3rd? Not likely. However, 3 outs and we're going into extra frames.

Top of 10th Inning:
4:00pm: Lefty Jack Taschner is on in relief for the Phillies now. 

4:01pm: Cora ropes a ball up the middle for a leadoff single. 

4:03pm: Jose Reyes, now hitting on the right side fouls off two bunts. Not good. Just lay it down stupid.

4:05pm: Jose Reyes swings and misses, striking out. Reyes has been awful at the plate today. 2 outs.

4:06pm: The last man on the bench remaining, is Ryan Church. It kinda sucks that Jerry Manuel keeps putting in Jeremy Reed for Daniel Murphy in LF as a defensive replacement. Necessary evil but it depletes the bench.

4:08pm: Ryan Church smacks a line drive up the middle into CF. Alex Cora goes 1st to 3rd on contact and is there safely. 

4:09pm: Carlos Beltran is up. Now is the time for him for a big clutch hit. Can he deliver?

4:10pm: Nope. Just the opposite. Beltran grounds into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. 3 outs. FUCK!!!!

Bottom of 10th Inning:
4:12pm: Sean Green is on in relief now for the Mets. I fear that this is the inning where Philadelphia takes it. They had their chance in the top of the 10th and totally failed. 

4:13pm: Jimmy Rollins grounds out to 1B Fernando Tatis, who flips to Sean Green covering. 3-1. 1 out.

4:14pm: Pedro Feliz  hits a weak chopper deadened on the infield grass towards 3B. David Wright scoops it but there's no throw to be made as Feliz makes it to first safely.

4:15pm: Big Matt Stairs is in to pinch-hit for Eric Bruntlett.

4:17pm: Sean Green hits Matt Stairs with a pitch on the left ankle, sending Feliz to 2nd and Stairs to 1st.

4:18pm: The depth of the Phillie bench is on display as Greg Dobbs is now up to pinch-hit for Carlos Ruiz. I don't know how the Phillies are going to adjust if this game goes another inning, but then that's a high-class problem for them to have when the winning run is on 2nd base.

4:19pm: Greg Dobbs flies out to LF Jeremy Reed. 2 outs.

4:20pm: Chris Coste is in to pinch-hit for Jack Taschner's spot. Coste would replace Ruiz behind the plate if the game keeps going. Coste is not a very good hitter, so Green needs to make this one count.

4:21pm: You gotta be fucking kidding me. Green loses Coste and walks him. Bases loaded with 2 out for Shane Victorino. All they need is the 1 run for the win.

4:21pm: Green throw two straight balls before Santos has a quick meeting on the mound. Victorino is clearly waiting for a strike. Green finally throws one.

4:23pm: Unbelievable. Green walks Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz scores the winning run from 3rd by taking a walk home. Phillies win 6-5.

------------------------------------------------

Considering the terrible start that Oliver Perez had today, it's a miracle that the Mets were in this game till the very end. And when you go to extra innings, the home team has the advantage.

But for fuck's sake, walking in the winning run? REALLY?! If Shane Victorino hit the ball, then he hits it and you lose. Fine, I can live with that.

But walking in runs can't happen. That's like the first rule of baseball, and of course it'll still happen, but you just can't. Especially when you put one guy on base by hitting him with a pitch, and you walk a backup catcher who is hitting .180-something. And then you walk Victorino to end the game.

Just ridiculous.







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Random baseball musings at the 10-game mark.

Let's start with the New York Mets.

They're 5-5. Not a great start, but it's still .500 ball. What is overlooked is that unlike another team in New York, the Mets have been in every single one of their losses until the very last pitch of the game.

They're not getting obliterated (like the Yankees were 15-5 by Tampa Bay when Nick Swisher had to pitch.)

Nor are they getting completely embarrassed (like the Yankees were at their home opener once CC Sabathia left the game and the bullpen gave up NINE RUNS in the 7th inning, leading to a 10-2 Yankee Stadium opening destruction.)

Of the Mets 5 losses in this early 2009 season, the Mets lost 4 of those 5 games by 1 run, 1 of them by 2 runs. You often have to judge teams not only by their wins, but by their losses. Are they in the game until the end? Are they playing exciting baseball? Is the game over in the 9th inning or the 5th? Teams that play until the final out are going to allow themselves a greater chance of success and comebacks, and so far the Mets are doing just that. Of course, it'd be much nicer for them to win more of those close games, but there are 152 games left to play.

Tonight's game against Milwaukee was another nailbiter for the Metropolitans that saw Gary Sheffield get his 500th career HR in a key situation with the team down by a run, tying the game and allowing the solid bullpen to keep them in the game until Luis Castillo became the hero in the bottom 9 by hitting an infield single with 2 out that scored Carlos Delgado from 3rd for the CitiField walkoff victory.

Of course had the Mets lost tonight, fans would somehow find a way to blame Willie Randolph again.

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It's still very early in the season, and most teams seem to have their fair share of problems right now except perhaps for the Florida Marlins. The Red Sox are in the AL East cellar, and a lot of the standings 10-11 games in, are a tad lopsided. But fans and media pundits alike have to remember that what happens in April rarely reflects the final results at the end of September.

Both the Marlins and Padres are off to very hot starts. Are both going to win their division? Not likely with the Marlins, and no way in hell with the Padres. Is Toronto going to win the AL East? Not a chance. But it always leads to a never-ending string of panic from each team's fanbase that "drastic actions" must be taken in order to right the ship immediately!!!!

Maybe these same people forget how hot the 2008 Arizona Diamondbacks were for most of the season, only to fade away when August (and Manny Ramirez) came around.

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One team that's already had enough problems both on and off the field, are my 2nd favorite team, the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim).

Three of their top starters in their pitching rotation began the season on the DL: John Lackey, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar.

While Lackey began last season the DL as well (and Escobar spent the entire season on the DL),  Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana stepped up to hold the team together along with Jered Weaver and Jon Garland, until mid-May when ace Lackey came back.

This season, it's even rougher, certainly off the field. The tragedy that all of baseball suffered with the loss of Nick Adenhart, which has affected both the team and fanbase on multiple levels.

Add to that the injury to slugger Vladimir Guerrero, who will be out for at least a month with a pectoral muscle tear injury. There's hope that Vlad can heal without the need for surgery, but losing the team's power bat for any length of time is never a positive, and could potentially shake things up in the AL West. As it is, the Angels are off to a slow start, and Seattle is on fire.

The Angels opened a 3-game series tonight in Minnesota at the MetroDome, and pretty much every one of their pitchers did horribly tonight with the exception of Justin Speier, who ironically enough, usually is terrible out of the bullpen. He pitched 2 IP, 4 Ks, no hits. Everyone else, an utter disaster.

That was capped off by a Jason Kubel grandslam in the bottom of the 8th off of Angel reliever Jason Bulger which took the Twins from down 9-7, to an 11-9 victory taking the opener.

The Angels' bullpen, usually one of their greatest strengths, has not been too strong this season ever since Frankie Rodriguez went to New York. Jose Arredondo and Scot Shields, normally rocks of this team's 7th and 8th innings, currently have 7.20 ERAs on the season. I'm confident things will normalize over the course of the next couple of months, but it does raise an eyebrow or two.

Post a comment Tags: baseball, seattle mariners, mlb, san diego padres, new york yankees, espn, minnesota twins, new york mets …