4 posts tagged “joe smith”

It all comes down to this. Game 162 of the regular season. Potentially the last game ever played at Shea Stadium.

Game 161 of the 2008 Mets season was quite similar to Game 161 of the 2007 Mets Season. Johan Santana pitched a 2-0 CG SHO over the Marlins to keep the playoff hopes alive. Last year, John Maine flirted with a no-hitter for 7.2 innings against the Marlins while the Met bats scored 13 runs in a decimation, also keeping the playoff hopes alive.

It was the final game of the 2007 season which ended things for the New York Mets. While a lot is made of the abysmal pitching performance of Tom Glavine in that game, who managed to get one man out in the first inning while giving up 7 earned runs, one wonders how the Mets were going to win that game having scored a total of 1 run.

So for the second year in a row, it all comes down to the final game.

The New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers come into this game with identical records of 89-72 competing for the National League wild card. It'll take at least 90 wins to grab the Wild Card this season.

Both teams ultimately control their own fates. If both teams win or lose their respective games today (Mets against Marlins, Brewers against Cubs), the Mets and Brewers will face each other on Monday at Shea Stadium in a one-game playoff to determine the NL Wild Card winner.

If one team loses and one team wins today, the winner gets the NL Wild Card. If it's the Mets, they will face the Cubs in the NLDS. If it's the Brewers, they will face Philadelphia in the NLDS.

Today's Mets-Marlins game pits two leftys against each other. Oliver Perez against Scott Olsen.

Marlins starter Scott Olsen is 1-5, 4.89 ERA over his career against the Mets. That should bode well for the Mets except their offense desperately needs to come alive. 1 run on Friday, 2 runs Saturday, that's not gonna cut it, especially with the superwonky Mets bullpen and Oliver Perez having pitched terribly in September.

The rain in NYC has pushed back the start time of today's game from 1:05pm ET to at least 2:05pm ET, but baseball will happen at Shea Stadium today. That much is certain.

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ALL TIMES PACIFIC

Top of 1st inning:

11:01am: First pitch. Oliver Perez gets ahead of Cameron Maybin with a 1-2 count, and this Shea crowd is super pumped.

11:02am: Perez throws a slider by Maybin for strike 3. 1 out.

11:03am: John Baker flies out to LF Nick Evans. 2 outs.

11:04am: Jorge Cantu grounds the first pitch from Perez to SS Jose Reyes. 6-3. 3 out.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

11:06am: TBS announcer Harold Reynolds notes as I have, that Scott Olsen is not having a good year, and even less so against the Mets.

11:07am: Scott Olsen goes full count on Jose Reyes before inducing a flyout to CF Cameron Maybin. 1 out.

11:09am: Carlos Beltran has a career .444 BA against Scott Olsen.

11:11am: Carlos Beltran hits a hard grounder directly at 2B Dan Uggla. 4-3. 2 out.

11:12am: With "the shift" on, Carlos Delgado singles to leftfield.

11:14am: David Wright is up having a career year with 33 HRs and 124 RBIs. Yet it is well-known that Wright's numbers with RISP and 2 outs are very poor this year. However, Delgado isn't in scoring position this time.

11:15am: David Wright lines out to CF Cameron Maybin. 3 out.

Top of 2nd Inning:

11:18am: Mike Jacobs lines a rocket into the falling/diving glove of 1B Carlos Delgado. 1 out.

11:20am: Dan Uggla hits a hard shot towards Oliver Perez who deflects it off his pitching hand and the ball deadens before 2B Ramon Martinez can grab the ball. Uggla with the infield single and there is concern from the Mets trainer along with manager Jerry Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen. Hopefully no issues will occur out of this. Perez is ok for now.

11:21am: Josh Willingham skies a flyout to shallow right-center, caught by 2B Ramon Martinez. 2 outs.

11:22am: The dangerous Cody Ross is up, and he hits very well against Oliver Perez. Oliver throws 3 straight balls to Ross.

11:23am: Cody Ross walks on 4 straight. Dan Uggla to 2nd base.

11:24am: After another ball is thrown, this time to Alfredo Amezaga, pitching coach Dan Warthen comes out to the mound to make sure Perez is ok. Amezaga is 0-for-12 lifetime against Oliver Perez.

11:25am: Oliver Perez now gets ahead of Amezaga with a 1-2 count.

11:26am: Alfredo Amezaga lines out to CF Carlos Beltran. 3 out.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:

11:29am: Nick Evans leads off the inning by lining out to CF Cameron Maybin. 1 out.

11:30am: Ramon Martinez grounds out to SS Alfredo Amezaga. 6-3. 2 out.

11:31am: Ryan Church strikes out. The fans cheer mid at-bat because the Cubs just went up on the Brewers 1-0.  3 out.

Top of 3rd Inning:

11:35am: Scott Olsen strikes out swinging. 1 out.

11:37am: Cameron Maybin walks. He has amazing speed so Perez is gonna have to be careful.

11:40am: John Baker chases a down-and-away breaking ball way out of the zone and strikes out. 2 out.

11:41am: Jorge Cantu skies a ball to RF Ryan Church. 3 out.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:

11:44am: Ramon Castro hammers a leadoff single into LF.

11:45am: Oliver Perez lays down a bunt but it's too close to the plate, so the charging 3B Jorge Cantu grabs the ball and throws down to 2nd base to get the slow Ramon Castro out at 2B. Oliver Perez barely beats the throw to 1st. 1 out.

11:47am: Jose Reyes strikes out on a 3-2 changeup. 2 out. Unfortunately, Scott Olsen is looking pretty good so far.

11:49am: Carlos Beltran flies out to RF Cody Ross who tracks the ball down just in foul territory. 3 out.

Top of 4th Inning:

11:52am: Oliver Perez gets Mike Jacobs out on 3 pitches. Two sliders in the zone that Jacobs lays off of. A third away that Jacobs swings and misses at. 1 out.

11:53am: Dan Uggla grounds out to SS Jose Reyes. Carlos Delgado makes a very nice play at 1B fielding a weak Reyes throw in the dirt. 6-3. 2 outs.

11:55am: Josh Willingham flies out to CF Carlos Beltran on a 3-1 pitch. 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:

11:58am: Carlos Delgado leads off the inning. He is 2 shy of 40 HRs this season. Can he work his moonshot magic today with the sun out?

11:59am: Nope. Delgado lines out to LF Josh Willingham. 1 out.

12:00pm: David Wright flies out to CF Cameron Maybin. 2 outs.

12:01pm: Nick Evans hits a grounder past Scott Olsen but is easily fielded by SS Alfredo Amezaga. 6-3. 3 outs. I love me a great pitching duel, but not today please!

Top of 5th Inning:

12:03pm: Cody Ross hits a 1-2 curveball on the ground to SS Jose Reyes. 6-3. 1 out.

12:04pm: The rain has returned to Shea Stadium. Fans around the ballpark begin to cover up.

12:05pm: Alfredo Amezaga strikes out swinging. 2 outs. I think I see Matt Dillon in the seats behind home plate.

12:07pm: Scott Olsen goes down swinging. 3 outs. Mets need offense now. Badly.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

12:09pm: Ramon Martinez hits a weak groundball to 2B Dan Uggla. 4-3. 1 out.

12:11pm: Ryan Church strikes out again. 2 outs.

12:13pm: Ramon Castro flies out to CF Cameron Maybin. 3 outs.

Top of 6th Inning:

12:17pm: Cameron Maybin hits a ground-rule double to leftfield. Maybin can easily score on a single anywhere.

12:19pm: John Baker is up to bunt Maybin over to 3rd.

12:20pm: Baker can't lay the bunt down and falls to 1-2, but Baker then strokes a single into CF that scores Cameron Maybin easily. Marlins go up 1-0.

12:22pm: Jorge Cantu singles to CF. John Baker to 2nd base. Pitching coach Dan Warthen takes the trip to the mound to chat with Oliver Perez. Joe Smith begins to warm in the Mets bullpen.

12:24pm: Mike Jacobs flies out to Nick Evans in deep LF but both runners tag up. The announcers get on Nick Evans for throwing to David Wright at 3B instead of to 2B. 1 out.

12:25pm: With 1st base empty, Dan Uggla gets the intentional pass.

12:26pm: With righty Josh Willingham coming up with bases jacked, manager Jerry Manuel goes to the mound and that's it for Perez. Joe Smith is coming in.

12:29pm: Joe Smith commits the unforgivable sin of walking Josh Willingham with the bases loaded. John Baker scores. Marlins now up 2-0.

12:31pm: Cody Ross fouls out to 3B David Wright. 2 outs.

12:32pm: Pitching coach Dan Warthen comes to the mound to make sure the defense and pitching is in sync. Alfredo Amezaga turns to the left side, and Joe Smith is not good against lefty hitters.

12:34pm: Amezaga grounds out back to Joe Smith, who runs towards 1st and tosses it to Delgado for the 3rd out.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

12:37pm: Robinson Cancel is pinch-hitting for Joe Smith.

12:39pm: Scott Olsen issues a leadoff walk to pumpkinhead Cancel.

12:41pm: Jose Reyes flies out to RF Cody Ross. 1 out.

12:42pm: Carlos Beltran goes SLAMMALAMMADINGDONG with a 2-run bomb to LF. Mets tie it up 2-2 and the crowd is electric for Carlos Delgado to slam another one.

12:44pm: Delgado strikes out swinging at ball 4. 2 outs.

12:47pm: David Wright grounds out meekly to SS Alfredo Amezaga, 6-3. 3 outs. Brand new ballgame.

Top of 7th Inning:

12:50pm: Brian Stokes is in to pitch for the Mets. Luis Gonzalez pinch-hitting for Scott Olsen. He grounds out to 2B Ramon Martinez. 4-3. 1 out.

12:52pm: Cameron Maybin smokes a ball to LF that hits the bottom of the wall. With Endy Chavez in the outfield, Maybin can't make it to 2nd base. Long long single.

12:54pm: Brian Stokes is ahead of John Baker 0-2, but Baker fights/fouls some pitches off.

12:55pm: Even on a pitchout, Cameron Maybin steals 2nd base easily. Partially due to a bad throw from Stokes, and Castro not throwing it to Reyes' target.

12:56pm: John Baker can't lay off the high heat and strikes out swinging. 2 outs.

12:57pm: Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen goes out to the mound to talk with Brian Stokes. Jorge Cantu up at the plate.

12:58pm: Scott Schoeneweis is warming up in the bullpen, and Brian Stokes throws 3 straight balls to Cantu. Schoeneweis will likely be pitching to Mike Jacobs if Stokes can't get Cantu out.

1:00pm: Jorge Cantu smokes a ball to deep LF but Endy Chavez makes a fantastic catch running back towards the warning track to get a ball that would have scored 2 runs otherwise. 3 outs and the Mets squeak out of a jam.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

1:04pm: Your hero and mine, Endy Chavez, leads off against Marlins reliever Joe Nelson.

1:05pm: Brewers just tied things up in Milwaukee 1-1 thanks to a Michael Wuertz-bases loaded walk to Craig Counsell.

1:06pm: Endy Chavez flies out to RF Cody Ross. 1 out.

1:09pm: Ramon Martinez strikes out swinging on a full count. 2 outs.

1:11pm: Ryan Church strikes out again. 3rd time today. 6th in a row. 3 outs.

Top of 8th Inning:

1:14pm: Lefty Scott Schoeneweis is pitching for the Mets. Righty Wes Helms pinch-hitting for lefty Mike Jacobs.

1:15pm: Wes Helms golfs a low pitch out of the zone and into the LF bleachers. Marlins go up 3-2 and that's all for Scott Schoeneweis.

1:18pm: Double-switch. Argenis Reyes is into play 2B and Luis Ayala is on to pitch.

1:20pm: On a 3-2 count, Luis Ayala serves up a golden ball to Dan Uggla to pound into the LF bleachers as well. Marlins now up 4-2 off the back-to-back jacks.

1:22pm: Josh Willingham flies out to CF Carlos Beltran. 1 out.

1:23pm: Cody Ross flies out to deep RF but Ryan Church makes the catch. 2 outs.

1:24pm: Alfredo Amezaga flies out to LF Endy Chavez. 3 outs. Mets are in deep shit as the Brewers just went ahead on the Cubs 3-1 thanks to a 2-run HR from Ryan Braun.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

1:27pm: Marlins closer Kevin Gregg is in to pitch, and perhaps early? Jorge Cantu moves over to 1B as Wes Helms plays 3B. Dan Murphy is in to pinch-hit in Ramon Castro's spot but strikes out swinging. 1 out.

1:28pm: Marlon Anderson is in to pinch-hit for 2B Argenis Reyes' spot. I imagine Murphy will go to 2B.

1:30pm: TBS announcers point out that you can blame the bullpen all you want, but the Mets have scored only 2 runs today. And yesterday. Team no hit, team no win.

1:31pm: Marlon Anderson hits a grounder back to Kevin Gregg which deflects off his glove but to 2B Dan Uggla who makes a nice throw to just get Marlon Anderson at first. 2 outs.

1:32pm: Jose Reyes golfs a ball into death valley in right-center. CF Cameron Maybin dives but can't make the catch as the ball hops over the wall for a ground-rule double. Lucky for the Marlins or Reyes would have tripled easily, if not scored on an inside-the-park HR.

1:34pm: Kevin Gregg walks Carlos Beltran, and that's it for Gregg as Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez goes to lefty specialist Arthur Rhodes in the bullpen to face potential lefty Met hero Carlos Delgado.

1:35pm: The Milwaukee Brewers just won their game 3-1 behind CC Sabathia's CG. Can the Mets come back right now? They're gonna have to.

1:37pm: Carlos Delgado flies out to deep LF but Josh Willingham makes the catch. 3 outs.

Top of 9th Inning:

1:40pm: Luis Ayala is still pitching for the Mets, and Jeremy Hermida is in to pinch-hit for Arthur Rhodes.

1:41pm: Jeremy Hermida hits a leadoff single to RF.

1:42pm: Cameron Maybin goes down swinging. 1 out.

1:43pm: Luis Ayala is done as Jerry Manuel is going to the bullpen so lefty Pedro Feliciano can face lefty John Baker.

1:46pm: After falling behind 3-1 to John Baker, Pedro Feliciano strikes out John Baker.

1:48pm: That's it for LOOGY Pedro Feliciano. Jerry Manuel, much like his predecessor Willie Randolph, is forced to play the lefty/righty matchups with his bullpen. Righty Bobby Parnell is in to pitch against righty Jorge Cantu.

1:51pm: Jorge Cantu flies out to CF Carlos Beltran. 3 outs. It's now or never. Literally.

Bottom of 9th Inning:

1:54pm: Former Met prospect Matt Lindstrom is in relief for Florida to rub it in. David Wright leads off.

1:58pm: After a long at-bat, David Wright pops out to 2B Dan Uggla in shallow rightfield. 1 out.

2:00pm: Endy Chavez hits a hard grounder right back to pitcher Matt Lindstrom. 1-3. 2 outs.

2:01pm: Damion Easley is in to pinch-hit for Bobby Parnell.

2:03pm: Damion Easley works the count full before taking a walk. Unfortunately, the non-hitting Ryan Church is up now. Now is his chance to atone for his 6 Ks.

2:05pm: Ryan Church flies out to deep center, but Cameron Maybin makes the catch for the final out. Marlina win 4-2, Mets are eliminated from the postseason as the Marlins celebrate their win on the field.

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While the bullpen has blown many games this season, and were the big-picture problem, this entire Florida series came down to the Mets offense not doing anything. 1 run on Friday, 2 runs on Saturday behind Johan Santana, 2 runs today.

Even more disheartening when you consider that Marlins starter Scott Olsen is not someone who historically does well against the Mets. And yet, this offense absolutely and collectively DIED against the Florida Marlins.

Of all the permutations that could have occurred today, this is the one that should never have happened.

The Mets miss the postseason again.

Go Angels and Go Cubs!!!!!

As mentioned in the last entry, we stayed down in San Diego for the weekend to see the Mets play the Padres on Saturday night and Sunday day at PETCO park for the final 2 games of the 4-game series.

I decided to stay at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for a night, which is also where the New York Mets team stays when in San Diego. It's about a 15-minute walk to PETCO park, and I was told (whether true or not, who knows) that David Wright had walked to the ballpark himself without any entourage on Saturday.

I'm not an autograph hound nor a groupie, and I don't bother pro athletes, or even Hollywood celebrities, and lord knows I've worked with many through the years. But I thought it would be fun to, on the off chance, hang out with millionaires in a hotel bar as well as other Met fans. And well, we didn't really "hang out" with them, but did see a lot of the team after the 2-1 loss on Saturday night at the hotel.

If you're looking for crazy gossip or wild tales of 1986 Mets-like partying, you will be disappointed.

Here's how it went down:

The 10-inning game ended at about 10:15pm. Got back to the hotel around 10:35pm, and hung out in the hotel bar area for a while.

Some other Met fans were there as well, trying to get autographs and pictures. One guy was in town from NY for a conference, and was very eager to get autographed baseballs for his daughter back on Long Island. Speaking of Long Island, his accent made me want to plug my ears with shot glasses.

There were a few other fans milling about, but not a lot by any stretch.

Moises Alou was the first person we saw, just meandering about the hotel lobby before the team bus came by. He apparently told some other fan, who later told me, that he'd be back playing on Tuesday against Arizona. We'll see...

Then we saw Keith Hernandez and some other SNY folk who I'm not really familiar with since I don't get SNY in L.A. I imagine Gary Cohen was one of them.

I then saw Brian Schneider with his parents. I also saw Oliver Perez walking through the lobby with cellphone attached to ear. I told him, "Good pitching tonight!" and he thanked me but kept walking.

Then the team bus came in at around 11:15pm-ish? It was a lot of the team including Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Raul Casanova, Ramon Castro, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley, Carlos Beltran, etc. I imagine there were others but we either didn't see them, or simply didn't recognize them.

I think every player who got off the bus went into the elevators up to their rooms. I can't say with certainty they didn't go out later, but we didn't see them leave, and didn't hear reports from any other people that they were seen again.

I heard later on that David Wright showed up and was apparently one of the few who was willing to sign things for a couple of fans. The other players didn't stop, although to be fair, I didn't see anyone try and stop them either. The aforementioned Long Islander showed me an autographed baseball that was made out to his daughter personally by David. Not something you can sell on Ebay, so his heart was in the right place. Success!

After the players contingent, we then saw Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel and Sandy Alomar walk through the lobby together. A couple of fans told Willie "We'll get 'em tomorrow!" and of course Willie could only agree. I told him "No friggin sweeps!" and he chuckled.

They also went off to the elevators, presumably up to the rooms, never seen again that night.

At the hotel bar, the following Mets personnel...

• Carlos Delgado was at a table with his parents. Papa Delgado is morbidly obese in his mid 60's. I hope Carlos doesn't follow down the same path. Pedro Feliciano later joined the table and remained after Carlos had left. Feliciano ended up talking to Papa Delgado for a bit, and later spoke with Scott Schoeneweis before calling it a night.
• Brian Schneider was at a table with his parents.
• Hitting Coach Howard Johnson and his wife were sitting at a table with a bunch of people. I'm not positive, but I think Mets media director Jay Horowitz was among them.
  
• Scott Schoeneweis was at a table with his parents. One Met fan was talking to them because she grew up in the same town of Medford, NJ that Scott did. I think she may have talked to his parents more than Scott, but they were all very nice from what I heard.
  
• Oliver Perez was at a table with a bunch of people no one recognized, presumably people he knew from his days of playing with the Padres. I remember glancing at their table at one point and saw a lot of empty beer bottles all around. But hey, he pitched well and deserved a little relaxation time.
• Duaner Sanchez provided the closest thing to "gossip" that night, as he was talking up this very attractive Latina at the bar as he was drinking white wine. We couldn't figure out if she was his girlfriend, or he had just met her. It was funny because just like real life for the rest of us poor people, when talking to a hot broad, you still have to deal with her ugly friends. Poor Duaner. No idea if Dirty did the deed.

All the players had wrapped up their socializing by around 1am, and called it a night since they had to be at the ballpark by 10am the next morning. I've since read that Ramon Castro didn't make it there on time and was benched for sleeping late.

From what we witnessed at the hotel bar, fans were very respectful of the players and didn't bother any of them.

We did not see Billy Wagner, Mike Pelfrey, Joe Smith or Aaron Heilman at any point in the hotel. Actually, if I haven't mentioned their name already, I didn't see them nor hear that anyone else did. Or maybe simply didn't recognize them.

We were told by other fans that they got autographs from Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana prior to them leaving for the ballpark on Saturday.

All in all, it was a nice experience, which would've been a lot nicer had the Mets swept the Padres, and not vice versa.

Game 2 of this 4-game series in Los Angeles (aka: Beaner Ravine), was pretty much what we were expecting... yesterday. A pitcher's duel between Tom Glavine and Derek Lowe, which turned into a game of all offense and no pitching.

So with Oliver Perez vs Brett Tomko, you'd figure that THIS would be the game of all offense, moreso because of Brett Tomko.

But that didn't happen. Both starters pitched very solid ball. When the Mets scored in the first inning, that run wasn't even charged to Tomko since outfielders Luis Gonzales and Juan Pierre couldn't decide who should catch Marlon Anderson's fly ball. Marlon ended up on 2nd base. David Wright singled him in after Carlos Beltran struck out.

Dodgers strike back in the 2nd inning when Nomar Garciaparra lines the first pitch he sees from Oliver Perez over the centerfield fence.

And then, solid pitching from both guys. Far more surprising a performance from Tomko because he always sucks. Oliver Perez sometimes sucks, and can sometime be brilliant. I'd say a line of 7.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, is on the side of brilliant. In fact, this is the 5th time this season that Perez had allowed one earned run or less, and the 11th of 17th starts in which he gave up 3 or less earned runs.

Although I will note, I think every single Met (except the outfielders) was on the mound trying to calm him down or talk to him at various points during the game. And I figured it was only a matter of time before Carlos Beltran would join the fray. But hey, it worked.

The Dodgers couldn't do much against Perez, who pitched out of every jam he was faced with. It was only when former Met/Pirate/Indian/probably 10 other MLB teams Roberto Hernandez faced his former team, and they hit him. Reyes leadoff double, Marlon Anderson tries bunting Reyes over to 3rd, but Hernandez fields the ball and throws it away, allowing Reyes to score and Anderson safe at first. Carlos Beltran BOOMSHAKKALAKKA to right-center, and the Mets took the 4-1 lead in the 8th.

The bottom 8 was pretty nerve-wracking as well. Perez got Juan Pierre to ground out, but then gave up a single to Russell Martin, the fastest catcher in the West. At this point, it was time to play the bullpen matchups. Righty Joe Smith faced righty Jeff Kent, who singled to center. With lefty Luis Gonzalez up, Pedro Feliciano came in and got the next two outs, despite having 2 men on base and the Dodger fans in a frenzy.

After this potential rally was quelled, the place emptied out like crazy. What, was this a school night? Nope, just Dodger "fans."

What might qualify as bad news to some, might be good to others. Jose Valentin fouled a ball off his leg, and apparently suffered a fractured tibia as a result. Ouch!
This will probably keep Valentin out of action for 6-8 weeks, which puts us in September before he might come back. Valentin had already been on the DL this season with a torn ligament in his right knee, and while he's been pretty good defensively at 2B, he has struggled at the plate in 2007. I expect this means Ruben Gotay will now be a permanent fixture, with Marlon Anderson being able to help out at 2B.

Tomorrow is a rematch from June 13, Brad Penny vs Jorge Sosa. That game didn't bode well for the Mets at all, as the Dodgers completed a 3-game sweep of the Mets by pounding them 9-1.

The Mets have won 2 in a row against the Dodgers, after dropping 2 of 3 to the Padres. Can they make it 3? As long as Brad Penny is pitching, I think that might be a bit difficult.