18 posts tagged “john maine”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The indisputable facts are this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go Angels.

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

So turning things around isn't impossible.

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

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

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

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

Today's plethora of roster moves:

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

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

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

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

Tampa Bay Rays 2008 Starting Rotation:
James Shields 14-8 3.56 ERA, 215 IP, 40 BB, 160 K
Andy Sonnanstine 13-9 4.38 ERA, 193.1 IP, 37 BB, 124 K
Matt Garza 11-9 3.70 ERA, 184.2 IP, 59 BB, 128 K
Edwin Jackson 14-11 4.42 ERA, 183.1 IP, 77 BB, 108 K
Scott Kazmir 12-8 3.49 ERA, 152.1 IP, 70 BB, 166 K

- James Shields, drafted by Tampa in 2000.
- Andy Sonnantine, drafted by Tampa in 2004.
- Matt Garza, acquired in a 2007 trade along with SS Jason Bartlett with the Minnesota Twins.
- Edwin Jackson, acquired in a 2006 trade with the Dodgers. Jackson was TERRIBLE with the 2007 Rays, going 5-15 with a 5.76 ERA. Jackson was traded to Detroit for OF Matt Joyce after the 2008 season.
- Scott Kazmir... we know.

At this point in time last year, the Rays were 35-24.

Now we look at the 2009 starting rotation for the Tampa Bay Rays and how they're performing so far...

Tampa Bay Rays 2009 Starting Rotation:
James Shields 4-4 3.53 ERA, 74 IP, 20 BB, 52 K
Matt Garza 4-4 3.67 ERA, 73.2 IP, 28 BB, 66 K
Andy Sonnanstine 4-5 7.07 ERA, 56.0 IP, 16 BB, 32 K
Jeff Niemann 5-4 3.77 ERA, 59.2 IP, 24 BB, 39 K
Scott Kazmir 4-4 7.69 ERA, 45.2 IP, 29 BB, 35 K

And since Kazmir is now on the DL, and the Rays FINALLY called up top draft pick David Price...

David Price 1-0 3.00 ERA, 9 IP, 7 BB, 17 K

So from examining the starting rotations based on the available stats, the only major issues are the falloff of Andy Sonnanstine and the injury to Kazmir. Kazmir will come back later this month. 

Ideally, the Rays would best be suited to have Price and Kazmir healthy and in the rotation, and find another role for Sonnanstine, who likely peaked in 2008.

The offense for the Rays is primarily the same as it was last year with the major changes being Pat Burrell at DH instead of Cliff Floyd.

So despite having a very similar roster to the 2008 team, this is a .500 team at 28-28 on June 3, 2009. 

Every team has injuries:
But the Rays suffered a big blow with 2B Akinori Iwamura tearing his ACL and he's gone for the season.

SS Jason Bartlett is currently on the 15-day DL with a sprained left ankle.

DH Pat Burrell is on the 15-day DL with a neck strain, though expected to return in late June.

3B Evan Longoria has a sore left hamstring right now, but SHOULD be ready to play by the weekend. Losing Longoria for any period of time would be extremely devastating to Tampa.

Closer Troy Percival, who had a huge comeback season in 2008, has had a disappointing 2009 and may be gone for the year with shoulder tendinitis, if not his career.

So yes, you can have a great farm system and develop quality players like Longoria, Shields, Price, etc.

But the Rays also have their share of veterans. Some are extremely productive stars (Carl Crawford) or underrated veterans (Carlos Pena), others are filling up roster space (Gabe Kapler, Jason Isringhausen).

And despite having a very similar team to a year ago, they're not playing the way they were. They could potentially have a strong second half and make a run at the AL East, but with Boston and New York having strengthened their rosters in the off-season, that's going to be a tough going.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I really wanted to watch the Mets-Marlins game today, but I could not.
I really wanted to watch the Northwestern-Michigan game today, but I could not.
Neither of them were on TV in Southern California.

So I settled this morning for the NHL season opener from Hockeytown UK! That's right, the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played at the O2 arena in London, England to open the regular season. The Kings won 4-1 in the debut of Kings 19-year old rookie goaltender Jonathan Bernier who was very impressive in goal. The defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks, without retired Teemu Selanne and probably-retired-but-he-can't-decide Scott Niedermayer, didn't look all that together, but it's reallllly early in the season, and tomorrow is another day. Another day in which the teams will play in the O2 arena, this time with the Ducks on "home ice."

How do they create "home ice" in London? Well, it's based on graphics, and the production you would get at the local arena. For example, when the Kings scored a goal, you got to hear Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." Tomorrow when the Ducks score a goal, you will hear the huge foghorn and maybe even the Pennywise theme song during the intros.

But enough about hockey, for now.

Oh yeah, Northwestern made things interesting in the game against Michigan, leading 16-7 going into the half, but then the Wildcats couldn't score again, ultimately losing 28-16.

And then, baseball.

The great news is that the Mets won. John Maine pitched the game of his fucking life, taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning before having it broken up by an infield squibber down the third-base line. It was the only hit of the game for the Marlins. Meanwhile, the Mets brutalized the opposition 13-0 on 19 hits.

And still no Mets pitcher has ever thrown a no-no in franchise history. So many come close, but none have succeeded.

So then, the FOX affiliate in L.A. showed us the Cubs vs Reds gamea. Now, I am a Cubs fan, I am very happy to see them in the postseason. But this game had absolutely zero bearing on anything in the postseason. The Cubs have already won their division, they're just playing to play. The Reds, LOL. So I'm screaming a tirade of profanity and anger at my TV, wondering why they aren't showing the Phillies-Nationals game, a game with HUGE playoff implications. After maybe a half-inning, someone at FOX must have realized that they should switch to a game that actually matters, and they went to Philadelphia.

After about 4-5 innings of that game, they then switched us over to the Milwaukee Brewers vs San Diego Padres game, which I could at least understand, even if I wasn't happy about it. After all, San Diego is in the playoff picture, they're on the West Coast, and they're fighting for a playoff spot as well. Plus it was a pretty good game.

The Brewers, down 3-2 in the 9th inning with 2 out and a man on 2nd, had to face all-time saves leader and future HOFer Trevor Hoffman. In perhaps a nice twist of irony, Hoffman was facing Tony Gwynn Jr. If the Padres won the game, they were guaranteed the wild card and no one could take it from them.

Gwynn Jr. tripled down the rightfield line to tie the game 3-3. They game went into extra innings, and the Brewers ultimately won the game 4-3 in 11 innings.

And in the most important news of the day, the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2, which put the Mets and Phillies in a tie for first place of the NL East with identical records of 88-73.

It all comes down to Sunday, and someone is going to choke, even if it goes to Monday.

If the Mets win and the Phillies lose, the Mets win the NL East.
If the Mets lose and the Phillies win, the Phillies win the NL East.
If both teams win OR both teams lose, there will be a one-game tiebreaker played on Monday between the two teams in Philadelphia. Considering the ass-whupping that the Phils have put on the Metropolitans over the course of the 2006 regular season, this is an extremely undesirable outcome. But at least the Mets will have a chance. Plus they do play better on the road.

One thing is for certain, Sunday is going to be super-dramatic. And fuck FOX for putting NFL games on instead of MAJOR baseball games with dire consequences.

I really should be a little better at updating this blog, as it's the first entry since the Mets-Dodgers series at Beaner Ravine back in July.

Now it's the final game between the two teams this season, with the Mets currently leading the Dodgers 5 games to 4, for those who keep track. The Mets got swept 3 games in June by Los Dodgers, took 3 of 4 from them in July, and have now won 2 of the first 3 games at Shea Stadium.

This entry will be updated in real-time, as the game is on ESPN on a Sunday night, and that means I CAN ACTUALLY WATCH THE METS!!!

TOP 1
5:11pm: Rafael Furcal leads off the game with a double to left-center. Furcal reaches 2nd base and then does this goofy cross-on-his-chest shit thanking Jesus. I've always marveled at the lunacy of athletes who think "God" had anything to do with their base-hit, touchdown, or three-point jumper.

5:13pm: Juan Pierre is trying to bunt Furcal to 3rd, but fouls two away. He then swings at the next two and fouls them off. Pierre swings and grounds out to 2nd, Furcal goes to third on the play. 1 out.

5:14pm: John Maine is the most non-descript lanky 6'4" white guy you'll ever see.

5:15pm: Matt Kemp strikes out looking. He seems disappointed at the 3rd called strike but that was definitely low in the zone. 2 out.

5:17pm: Jeff Kent to the plate and he pops up to Ruben Gotay at 2nd base for the third out.

BOTTOM 1
5:18pm: Pitching for L.A. tonight, is David Boomer Wells. Jose Reyes scalds the first pitch he sees right to third baseman Shea Hillenbrand, who easily throws Reyes out at first. 1 out.

5:20pm: Lastings Milledge singles up the middle. ESPN commentator Jon Miller tells us that Milledge had the flu recently and lost 10 pounds. I think I need to get the flu too.

5:22pm : David Wright doubles to leftfield. Strange baserunning situation with Lastings Milledge rounding 3rd too much and getting caught in a rundown. David Wright however, manages to get to 3rd on the play. Willie Randolph looks less than pleased.

5:23pm: Carlos Beltran batting from the right side. He's known to be better from the left side, but no matter, Wells walks him on 4 straight pitches.

5:24pm: Moises Alou grounds out to shortstop Rafael Furcal, who flips to Kent at 2B for the 3rd out. Both teams get a runner to 3rd base in the 1st inning but fail to score.

TOP 2:
5:27pm: Joe Morgan makes his first gaffe of the night calling Shea Hillenbrand "Shawn." And he does it a second time before he stops mid-sentence, pauses, and corrects himself. Clearly an ESPN producer was in his ear on that.

5:28pm: Andre Ethier whiffs at a high fastball for strike 3. 1 out.

5:29pm: ESPN is analyzing the Milledge play from the previous inning. It seems that Milledge thought he had a legit chance at scoring, but 3rd-base coach Sandy Alomar held up the stop sign, and by the time Milledge was able to stop, he was too far off 3rd and got caught.

5:30pm: Shea Hillenbrand lines out to Carlos Beltran for the 2nd out.

5:31pm: James Loney hits one deep to leftfield, but Moises Alou catches it at the edge of the warning track. 3 out.

BOTTOM 2:
5:33pm: Jeff Conine grounds out to short for the first out. Did you know that Jeff Conine is supergood at racquetball?

5:34pm: Joe Morgan makes his 2nd gaffe of the night, talking about the pickups that Mets GM Omar Minaya has made over the season. Apparently the Mets got Marlon Byrd, but clearly Joe MEANT Marlon Anderson.

5:35pm: Ruben Gotay grounds out to short for the second out.

5:37pm: Mike DiFelice skies out to Juan Pierre in centerfield for the third out.

TOP 3:
5:39pm: Peter Gammons interviewing Dodger ace Brad Penny. What can Los Angeles do to catch Arizona in the NL West or San Diego for the wild card? Trust me Brad, you guys suck. Dodgers have NO shot at winning the division. They still have a shot at the wild card, but not based on the way they are playing lately. Thankfully. Fuck L.A.

5:40pm: Mike Lieberthal grounds out to shortstop Jose Reyes for the first out.

5:41pm: David Wells strikes out. He looks as comfortable with a bat as I do with a tampon. 2 out.

5:43pm: Rafael Furcal walks.

5:44pm: Juan Pierre lines one down the rightfield line for a triple. Milledge was expecting the ball to continue down the line but it a railing so Milledge had to charge in for the ball. Furcal scores easily, Dodgers lead 1-0.

5:45pm: Matt Kemp grounds out to Jose Reyes for the third out.

BOTTOM 3:
5:48pm: John Maine singles to centerfield. Jon Miller jokingly says, "Man that guy is a good hitter," just seconds after telling us that Maine is not a good hitter, which is true.

5:49pm: The Josayyyyyyyyyy Josayyyyy Josayyyyy Josayyyyy, Josayyyyyyy Josayyyyy chants ring out at Shea. Jose Reyes bloops a single to centerfield.

5:50pm: L-Millz up at the plate. Dodgers play in for the bunt, but Milledge is swinging so far. 0-2 after fouling off the first two pitches.

5:51pm: Wells throw the John Maine specialty, which is the high heat, and gets Milledge to strikeout. 1 out.

5:52pm: David Wright doubles to left-center. John Maine scores easily from 2nd. Reyes draws a throw home as he scores, but the throw was off and a tad late. Mets up 2-1.

5:54pm: David Wright is picked off of 2nd base. Wright started to steal 3rd but Wells stepped off and the Dodgers caught Wright in a rundown. 2 out.

5:55pm: Carlos Beltran reaches at an outside pitch and flies out to centerfield. 3 out.

TOP 4:
5:59pm: Jeff Kent takes a John Maine ball to the helmet. Ouch. But hey, he's a Dodger so fuck him. He doesn't go down though. Clearly unintentional and Kent seems to be ok, but he's removed from the game.

6:01pm: Ramon Martinez takes over for Jeff Kent and jogs out to 1st base.

6:04pm: After a long at-bat, Andre Ethier grounds a ball up the middle past both John Maine and Ruben Gotay for a single. Martinez gets to 3rd base on the pitch. 1st and 3rd, with 0 out.

6:07pm: Hillenbrand lines a hard shot to 2B Gotay who gloves it for the first out. Gotay throws to Conine at 1B hoping to double off Ethier but he's back safe.

6:09pm: James Loney is up. Jon Miller talks about the ridiculous difference in BA for Loney when he's on the road (very high) and when he's at Dodger Stadium (around .235 BA).

6:10pm: John Maine gets Loney swinging at a low changeup for the well-needed K. 2 out.

6:11pm: Another troubling stat for the Mets, John Maine in particular, is how awesome he was the first half (sub 3-ERA) and how bleh he has been since the All-Star Break (6.10 ERA).

6:12pm: Maine gets ahead 0-2 on Mike Lieberthal, who is not a great hitter to begin with. Lieberthal swings through strike 3 and Maine gets himself out of the jam quite impressively. 3 out.

BOTTOM 4:
6:14pm: Moises Alou leads off the inning singling to left.

6:16pm: Jeff Conine hits a flyball to rightfield for the first out.

6:18pm: Ruben Gotay hits a ball hard but right at leftfielder Andre Ethier. 2 out.

6:19pm: Mike DiFelice flies out to centerfielder Juan Pierre. 3 out.

TOP 5:
6:22pm: David Wells shocks the world in a play sure to be a WebGem tonight, by laying down a bunt for a leadoff single. Wright made a play on it but couldn't throw Wells out in time, and Boomer is hardly a speedy guy.

6:24pm: Rafael Furcal hits a chopper just past 1B Jeff Conine for a basehit. 1st and 2nd, 0 out. Maine getting himself into another jam.

6:25pm: Juan Pierre hits a grounder to 2B Ruben Gotay who gets handcuffed a bit but is able to shuffle the ball to Jose Reyes at second for the sure out. Pierre at 1st, Wells at 3rd. Pierre can easily steal 2nd too as he's the second speediest guy in the NL.

6:27pm: John Maine fakes to 3rd, Juan Pierre is almost fooled but get back to first just under John Maine's throw to Conine.

6:28pm: Matt Kemp bloops a single to rightfield, driving in David Wells to tie the game 2-2. Juan Pierre to 3rd.

6:30pm: Ramon Martinez hits a shot to right-center that goes to the wall. Matt Kemp, running on the pitch, should have scored on the play but once he reached 2nd, didn't know where the ball was and didn't want to get doubled off, so he hesitated until he figured out what happened. Kemp to third base, Martinez at 2nd with a double. Pierre DID score, so it's 3-2 Dodgers.

6:32pm: With Andre Ethier batting, Matt Kemp makes another baserunning blunder as he gets picked off 3rd by Mets catcher Mike DiFelice, who throws down to David Wright for the tag. 2 outs.

6:33pm: Andre Ethier flies out to centerfielder Carlos Beltran. 3 outs.

BOTTOM 5:
6:36pm: John Maine grounds out to first baseman James Loney, who tosses to David Wells for the out.

6:37pm: Jose Reyes grounds out to Rafael Furcal, 6-3 on the scorecard. 2 out.

6:39pm: Lastings Milledge grounds to Rafael Furcal. Furcal makes a hurried throw to first, Milledge slides headfirst and is safe, even though the throw goes past Loney. Milledge however, cannot advance as the ball bounces back fast.

6:41pm: Joe Morgan informs us that David Wright has reached base safely in 17 of his last 21 plate appearances. That's pretty damn impressive. Since August 14, David Wright is hitting .475. Beltran hitting .405.

6:42pm: David Wright walks. Dodger pitching coach Rick Honeycutt visits Boomer on the mound.

6:43pm: Wells HAS been pitching pretty well so far. If he gets out of this inning unscathed, this will have to be considered a success. I doubt Wells will be pitching the 6th either way. Action in the Dodger bullpen from Rudy Seanez.

6:44pm: Carlos Beltran walks. Bases loaded for the Mets with 2 out. Moises Alou coming to the plate.

6:46pm: Moises Alou loves to swing first-pitch, and he fouls off a curveball for strike 1. Alou fouls off another curveball, 0-2.

6:47pm: Wells throws another beautiful curveball that drops low, Alou swings and misses, 3 out.

TOP 6:
6:50pm: Shea Hillenbrand grounds out to David Wright, 1 out.

6:51pm: James Loney grounds a ball hard off of 1B Jeff Conine, the ball bounces towards Ruben Gotay who rushes a throw to John Maine covering first, but the ball gets thrown away. Really 2 errors on one play, but an E gets charged to Conine since the ball wasn't that tough to field.

6:53pm: Mike Lieberthal strikes out again. 2 out.

6:54pm: Luis Gonzalez is up, pinch-hitting for David Wells. Boomer did pretty well tonight. 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.

6:58pm: After an 11-pitch AB, Luis Gonzalez hits a long long single off the rightfield wall which scores Loney. Dodgers up 4-2.

7:00pm: Rafael Furcal singles up the middle, and that's it for John Maine. With Juan Pierre coming up, Willie is going to Scott Schoeneweis in the bullpen.

7:04pm: Juan Pierre singles to rightfield, driving in Luis Gonzalez. Furcal to 3rd. All of this with 2 out. 5-2 Dodgers.

7:05pm: ESPN shows us an interesting stat about Schoeneweis. He pitches terribly at Shea, but extremely well on the road.

7:06pm: Matt Kemp squibs an infield single down the third base line, looking almost like a bunt. David Wright had no play on it. Furcal scores on the play, Juan Pierre to 2nd. 6-2 Dodgers. Can't blame Schoeneweis for that one.

7:08pm: Furcal and Pierre do the double steal. DiFelice throws to Wright at 3rd but Pierre is easily safe, and the ball gets away from Wright. However, not far enough for Pierre to score.

7:10pm: Ramon Martinez grounds out to shortstop, 6-3. 3 out. Dodgers now lead 6-2.

BOTTOM 6:
7:13pm: Rudy Seanez is now pitching for the Dodgers. Jeff Conine grounds out to shortstop for the first out.

7:15pm: Ruben Gotay grounds out to 2nd base. 2 out. Guillermo Mota is warming up in the bullpen, and he is gonna get the shit booed out of him if and when he comes in. He's absolutely terrible.

7:16pm: Mike DiFelice flies out to leftfield. 3 out. Seanez made quick work out of the bottom of the Mets order.

TOP 7:
7:18pm: Schoeneweis still pitching for the Mets. Andre Ethier grounds out to 1B Jeff Conine, who runs the ball to first himself for the first out.

7:20pm: Shea Hillenbrand grounds out to Jose Reyes. 2 out.

7:21pm: James Loney slaps a ball to leftfield for a single.

7:23pm: Mike Lieberthal singles to left. Olmedo Saenz pinch-hitting for Rudy Seanez.

7:24pm: Saenz flies out to Moises Alou for the third out. Schoeneweis gets out of the jam.

BOTTOM 7:
7:29pm: Joe Beimel is now pitching for the Dodgers. Shawn Green pinch-hitting for Scott Schoeneweis. With the Mets down 4 runs, this might be the one time I can stomach Guillermo Mota pitching, unless the Mets can score some runs in this inning.

7:31pm: Shawn Green strikes out. Not a way to start off. 1 out.

7:33pm: Jose Reyes hits a slow groundball towards 3B Shea Hillenbrand who barehands the ball and then throws it way wide of 1B. Jose Reyes gets to 2nd on the error. Reyes is given a single, as he was likely safe either way.

7:34pm: Jose Reyes steals 3rd base without even a throw. Huge jump.

7:35pm: Lastings Milledge walks. Grady Little yanks Beimel and goes to right-handed fireballer Jonathan Broxton an inning early.

7:40pm: David Wright watches a picture-perfect slider go by for strike 3 on a full count. Milledge steals 2nd uncontested. 2 out.

7:42pm: Carlos Beltran grounds to 2B Carlos Martinez. 4-3 putout. 3 outs.  No rally this inning. I expect Mota to pitch the 8th and give up at least 1 run.

TOP 8:
7:46pm: Guillermo Mota pitching. Rafael Furcal leads off the inning and for the first time this evening, does NOT get on base, as he lines out to leftfielder Moises Alou. 1 out.

7:47pm: Juan Pierre flies out to leftfield, 2 out.

7:48pm: Matt Kemp flies out to centerfield. 3 out. Quick work by Mota, surprise!

BOTTOM 8:
7:50pm: Jonathan Broxton still pitching, being asked to go 1.2 IP tonight. Moises Alou lines out to 2B Ramon Martinez.

7:51pm: Jeff Conine singles a ball into rightfield. If this was a closer game, someone would be pinch-running for Conine.

7:54pm: Is it just me, or does Dodger catcher Russel Martin bear more than just a passing resemblance to Entourage star Jerry Ferrara (Turtle)?

7:55pm: Ruben Gotay pops out to shortshop Rafael Furcal. 2 out.

7:56pm: Mike DiFelice strikes out. 3 out.

TOP 9:
8:00pm: Guillermo Mota pitching the 9th, understandably with the Mets down by 4 runs.

8:01pm: Ramon Martinez grounds out to 2B Ruben Gotay. 1 out.

8:02pm: Andre Ethier grounds out to 1B Jeff Conine. 2 out.

8:04pm: Shea Hillenbrand strikes out. 3 out. The fans seem to cheer Mota for not blowing the game open.

BOTTOM 9:
8:06pm: Dodger closer Takashi Saito is in for the 9th in a non-save situation. However, Saito hasn't had a reason to pitch lately, so this will allow him to get in some work. Saito has 34 saves and a 1.44 ERA.

8:07pm: Marlon Anderson is pinch-hitting for Mota. Anderson pops out to shortstop. 1 out.

8:10pm: Jose Reyes strikes out. 2 out.

8:12pm: Milledge also strikes out, 3 out, game over.

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So the Mets take 2 out of 3 from the Dodgers, going 5-5 during the regular season against the fading boys in blue. David Wells pitched quite well, and the Dodgers bullpen didn't fall apart, despite shaky action form lefty Joe Beimel.

Next up for the Mets is a series in Philadelphia against the Phillies in which the Mets need to win 2 out of 3 in order to move towards locking up the NL East once and for all. Then they have the Braves in Atlanta, the team the Mets simply do not do well against. If the Mets can win 2 of 3 in Atlanta, that will be considered a success. If the Mets lose ground to either team, it will make September a little more dramatic than we want it to be.

I thought for sure that the Mets would be able to beat the Dodgers in game 2. After all, Hong-Chih Kuo isn't that good of a pitcher, and John Maine is great on the road.

Well, silly me.

What else can be said but... back-to-back-to-back jacks. But not just any 3 solo shots.
3 solo shots for the bottom of the Dodger order.
3 solo shots on 3 straight pitches.
3 solo shots, each going over 400 feet.
3 solo shots, and the final one was to Hong-Chih Kuo, making him the first Taiwanese MLB player to hit a HR.

The 4th run was inconsequential.

And then there's the Mets hitting, or lack thereof. How is it that everyone slumps simultaneously? Remember when there was that excitement about Delgado breaking out of his slump? I'm pretty sure he's gonna suck all season, and only have these accidental spurts of power. He should examine that journal of his a lot more because he's hitting terribly now.

Hong-Chih Kuo may be a shitty pitcher, but his two MLB wins are against the Mets, and against John Maine.

Right now, this team is absolutely terrible. 2-9 in the month, lost 4 in a row, and have lost their 4th straight series. Tomorrow it's a matter of avoiding the sweep, and if this team can't hit Hong-Chih Kuo, how the fuckity fuck fuck are they gonna do against Brad Penny, even if Jorge Sosa is pitching?

The Mets are starting to concern me greatly. There's no good reason why they're playing this poorly when they have 7 of their 8 regulars playing, and unable to produce runs. And the one time they do score runs (against Detroit), their pitching sucks too.

The turnaround has to happen tomorrow. You can't get swept by the Dodgers, and the Yankees are playing a lot better lately, having won 7 in a row, and are now a .500 team.
It also doesn't help matters that the team has a 17-16 home record, and that road record is starting to look worse with each game.