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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 …

RIP 2009 New York Mets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The indisputable facts are this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go Angels.


Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, atlanta braves, new york mets, houston astros, david wright, cincinnati reds, los angeles angels …

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

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.

Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york mets, david wright, k-mart, oliver perez, john maine, carlos delgado …

The Mets are in trouble.

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.

Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york yankees, st. louis cardinals, new york mets, oliver perez, john maine, carlos delgado …

Great baseball farm systems are nice, but they're no guarantee of anything.

Every MLB team wants to develop their own talent. After all, it's much cheaper to develop an 18-year old high school phenom and have him in your organization for a while before they reach their free agent years than it is to sign a top free agent to a multi-million dollar contract later in his career.

But no matter how great your farm system is, developing talent is not an exact science. It involves a lot of player development, trial and error, and hard work. You can have the best farm system in the land, and it doesn't mean you'll win the World Series once, never mind multiple times.

Let's take a quick look at the Tampa Bay Rays of 2008.

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.


Going back to the 2009 Mets for a second...
Their starting rotation is made up of...

1. The best pitcher in the NL
2. Mike Pelfrey, a homegrown Met farm system product who has finally begun to reach his potential.
3. John Maine, a minor league scrub in the Orioles organization who actually became a decent major league pitcher with the Mets.
4. Livan Hernandez, a one-year low-salary journeyman who has been far better than anyone had a right to expect this year, ESPECIALLY against NL East rivals.
5. Oliver Perez, an overpaid free agent who has had an awful start to the 2009 season, but his knee tendinitis is no b.s., and there is still a fair amount of upside to him if he can regain his prior form.
6. Tim Redding. 3 starts in 2009. 1 great, 2 stunk. Not exactly a fair sample to judge by.

Other Met players on the 2009 team who have come up through the Mets farm system?
Jose Reyes, David Wright, Bobby Parnell, Daniel Murphy, Fernando Martinez (and it looks like he ain't ready, but circumstances dictated a callup.)

What about our CAN'T MISS TOP PROSPECT Lastings Milledge who Minaya so insanely foolishly (dripping with sarcasm) traded to Washington?

After a very mediocre 2008, Milledge had a terrible 2009 start at the plate, lost all plate discipline, somehow played worse defense in the OF than Daniel Murphy, pissed off Nationals management (fairly or unfairly, but either way he certainly wasn't producing). As a result, Milledge was optioned to AAA Syracuse, and then broke his finger while trying to bunt.

The point about Lastings Milledge is the same point about Alex Escobar is the same point about Carlos Gomez is the same point about Aaron Heilman.

There's no perfect nor exact science to drafting players. Pitchers that put up great numbers in college may translate to the majors, or they may be total busts. There's zero way to know for sure.

The Nationals are obviously going to draft Stephen Strasburg later this month. Will he be the best pitcher in the game in 2012? Or is he going to be another bust of a top can't-miss prospect? I'd certainly rather have him on the Mets than not, but no one in their right mind is recommending trading Johan Santana for that kid either. 

Post a comment Tags: baseball, washington nationals, mlb, new york mets, david wright, world series, scott kazmir, matt garza …

The Mets' West Coast road trip gone south.

Getting swept sucks.

Getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers sucks beyond belief. And the fact that it's happened twice in 3 years now at Dodger Stadium (2007 and 2009)? The ignominy of getting swept by a ballclub that has the world's worst and most classless repugnant fans makes it all the more miserable.

The New York Mets started this road trip by beating the San Francisco Giants in AT&T Park 3 out of 4 games, and the loss on Sunday was at least a good game. They accomplished all that without the help of stars Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado, who is now going to be out until late July at the earliest. They scored 24 runs in those 3 wins, and none of the runs were on homers. The last time the Mets had a homerun,

Things turned really bad when the team got to Los Angeles. Alex Cora was placed on the 15-day DL when he injured this thumb sliding into second base the night before in San Francisco. Ramon Martinez, an emergency call-up whose natural position is 2B and not SS, was part of the error parade on Monday night. And more problematic, Martinez has been dreadful at the plate so far in his 3 games, going 0 for 12 with 1 RBI and 3 Ks to start off.

First, concentrating on the final game of the 3-game series...
Like Monday night, this was another unexpected pitcher's duel between Livan Hernandez and Jeff Weaver. Hernandez has been brilliant against NL East rivals Atlanta and Florida so far, and pretty bad against everyone else. Tonight, Hernandez was brilliant, going 7 IP, scattering 7 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2.

Livan continues to prove to be 2008 version of Oliver Perez by either being fantastic or dreadful, with little in-between, and no real explanation as to why. Hernandez had a shaky 1st inning, as the Dodgers scored in the 1st inning in all 3 games against New York.

Juan Pierre led off the inning with a swinging bunt that Hernandez fielded and threw to first but Pierre just beat it out. Rafael Furcal singled to rightfield. Orlando Hudson grounded out to 1B Daniel Murphy, moving the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. Andre Ethier hit a sac fly to RF Ryan Church which scored Pierre from 3rd and Furcal took 3rd base safely on the play. The inning ended when Russell Martin flied out to rightfield.

And after that, Hernandez was pretty damn good. Any time he got into trouble over the course of the game, he got out of it with ease.

The problem is that Jeff Weaver was just as stingy. While he only went 5 innings due to him being used primarily as a long reliever this season, the Mets were only able to score once off him in the 2nd inning when Carlos Beltran doubled in Luis Castillo from 1st base.

After Jose Reyes grounded deep out into the 2B hole to lead off the 3rd inning, he re-injured his right calf which has caused him to be on the bench during most of the road trip. Word is that now Reyes is going back to NY to get looked at, and won't play against Boston over the weekend. With Reyes having calf problems and Alex Cora on the DL, the Mets are in deep shit when it comes to having someone competent play shortstop, which has been one of my biggest fears over the last 4 seasons, as there was never a truly suitable backup for Jose Reyes. And this year now that they have one in Alex Cora, he's hurt too.

In any case, the Dodgers bullpen shut the Mets down for the rest of the game. Ramon Troncoso pitched the 6th and 7th innings without incident. Ronald Belsiario walked Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran to lead off the 8th inning. David Wright flied out to deep center which allowed both runners to tag up. At this point, Joe Torre went to lefthanded rookie Brent "No relation to Terry" Leach. With the infield in and Daniel Murphy up in a big spot, he grounded out to 1B James Loney, who promptly stepped on first for the 2nd out, and the runners could not advance.

At this point, Fernando Tatis was put in to pinch-hit for Ryan Church, who doesn't have strong numbers against lefty hitters. Sadly, Tatis grounded out to SS Rafael Furcal to end the top half of the frame.

In the bottom of the 8th, J,J, Putz was brought in a 1-1 game to keep it that way. But he failed.

Putz started the inning by getting Rafael Furcal to strike out swinging, but then gave up a single to Orlando Hudson, a walk to the slumping Andre Ethier, and a single to Russell Martin that scored Hudson from 2nd. David Wright intercepted the throw home from LF Jeremy Reed and threw out Andre Ethier trying to take 3rd base. Ramon Martinez, who was covering 3rd, made the tag on Ethier.

Putz then intentionally walked James Loney and then struck out pinch-hitter Mark Loretta to end the 8th, but the damage was already done.

Big Jonathan Broxton came in to close out the 9th, and as luck would have it again, like the night before, he was facing the bottom of the Mets order which was hardly going to be a formidable opponent for Broxton. Angel Pagan did manage a base hit with 1 out, but Jeremy Reed foul popped out to 1B James Loney, Angel Pagan took 2nd base uncontested, and then Ramon Martinez grounded out to Casey Blake to end the game.

Some Met fans will question why manager Jerry Manuel didn't pinch-hit for Ramon Martinez in this spot with either Gary Sheffield or backup catcher Omir Santos. But Manuel could not make that move because someone needed to still play shortstop in the bottom of the 9th inning had the Mets been able to tie the game. Even a double-switch of positions was not possible since Reyes had gone down with injury and Fernando Tatis had been used as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning. It was Ramon Martinez or bust, and well, he's a bust with the bat.

So that was the ballgame, and the series. The Dodgers completed their 3-game sweep of the Mets, and what began as an encouraging road trip in San Francisco, has turned 180 degrees with the Mets now 3-4 on this trip, and another 3 games against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park to go. Like the Dodgers, Boston doesn't lose at home (15-4).

So now what?

Good news:
The Daniel Murphy at 1B experiment has begun! While he failed twice tonight at the plate in big spots with RISP, he looked perfectly fine at first base, making a couple of nice plays and no mistakes nor errors. Granted, it's only one game, so we'll have to see how things progress. If he's going to become any sort of legitimate fill-in for the injured Carlos Delgado, he's going to need to find his swing again, even if he doesn't hit for power.

Livan Hernandez pitched his best start as a Met, but I already went over that.

Johan Santana pitches against Daisuke Matsuzaka on Friday, so at least the Mets have a fighting chance against the Sawx behind Santana. But if this offense continues to struggle in Boston like they did against the Dodgers.. yikes.

The team is still 21-19, two games above .500 and 1 game behind Philadelphia. No need to panic.

Bad news:
With Jose Reyes hurting again and Cora still injured, WE'S GOT A PROBLEM! Ramon Martinez is a natural 2B, not a SS. So the team is either going to have to use Fernando Tatis at SS for a while, which is not his best position by a longshot, or find someone in the minors at Buffalo or Binghamton to promote in the meanwhile. But there isn't anyone on either of those teams good enough to fill in. Martinez also can't hit, which isn't helping matters, so they may be stuck with him for a bit.

The Mets are back to their old problems hitting with RISP, going 0 for 10 tonight, and 3 for 27 (.111 team BA) in the 3-game series.

No Delgado, no Reyes, no Cora, no Schneider. Only Beltran and Wright are hitting with any consistency now but neither are doing it with the longball.

The Dodgers are now 17-3 through 20 home games, which ties a modern MLB mark set by the 1998 Yankees, also managed by Joe Torre. With the Angels coming in for interleague play Friday-Sunday, and I'm an Angels fan in addition to being a Mets fan, I'm not thrilled with the prospects of watching the Dodgers win even more games while I'm at Dodger Stadium (aka: The Unhappiest Place on Earth) this weekend.


Post a comment Tags: new york yankees, new york mets, david wright, andre ethier, los angeles dodgers, jose reyes, dodgers suck, joe torre …

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(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.







Post a comment Tags: baseball, mlb, new york yankees, new york mets, david wright, liveblogging, philadelphia phillies, oliver perez …

There are runs, and then there is run.

There are runs. There were 26 of them at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, but only 4 of them belonged to the Yankees.

If Thursday's home opener at Yankee Stadium was an assraping, then today's 22-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians was a pubic scalping. Someone oughtta let the Tribe know that the Home Run Derby isn't until July.

Just when you thought, "Hey, Chien-Ming Wang can't get any worse than his last two starts," he managed to show you "Oh yes I can!" Wang's ERA ballooned to a whopping 34.50.

But then, even knowing full well that Wang might be a problem today, the Yankees brought up AAA pitcher Anthony "Rhymes with" Claggett just in case. And he pitched just as badly as Wang did. Maybe worse.

Wang's line today was 1.1 IP, 8 hits, 8 runs (all earned), 0 walks (silver lining!), 1 strikeout, 1 home run.
Claggett's line? 1.2 IP, 9 hits, 8 runs (all earned), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 2 home runs.

Claggett's ERA is now 43.20. Welcome to the bigs, kid.

The rest of the Yankee bullpen wasn't much better. Between Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras and Damaso Marte, the three relievers managed to let another 6 runs score before the game was finally over. Only Veras could really be considered to have done a good job during the game, with his only mistake being a solo blast given up to Travis Hafner over the course of 3 innings.

But what was truly record-setting about this game, is that the Indians scored 14 runs in the 2nd inning. That is the highest number of runs ever given up in one inning in all of Yankees franchise history. It's also the first time in MLB history that any team has scored 14 runs in the 2nd inning of any MLB game.

The Yankees HAVE however, given up 22 runs before. 22-0 to the Cleveland Indians on August 31, 2004.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090418&content_id=4330040&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle

There is no truth to the rumor though, that any time the Indians score more than 20 runs against the Yankees, that all fans in attendance receive a free smallpox blanket.

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And then there was a run.

The one run that belonged to the New York Mets. Johan Santana can't get no run support, but he's definitely getting the bullpen support.

Johan Santana pitched 7 innings of shutout ball against the Milwaukee Brewers, scattering 5 hits, seven strikeouts, and didn't walk a soul.

Unfortunately, Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo pitched 6 innings of shutout ball against the Mets, and it wasn't until the bottom of the 7th when a Jose Reyes liner that ricocheted off of reliever Carlos Villanueva's glove, knocking the glove off his hand, scored backup catcher/pinch-runner Omir Santos from 3rd base.

And that's all the runs the Mets needed, although Johan really could use some more in future starts. In 3 starts this season, he's given up a total of one earned run in 19.2 innings pitched, and that one run was from a Brandon Phillips sacrifice fly in the season opener against Cincinnati in which the Mets held on 2-1 for the win. That translates to a 0.46 ERA out of the gate.

Once the Mets got their one run, it was time for the bullpen to do their job. With Santana going 7, there was no need for Sean Green or Pedro Feliciano in this game. It was Putz for the 8th, and Frankie for the 9th.

No Brewer made it past 1st base all game. Ryan Braun was thrown out trying to steal 2nd base for the final out of the game by Santos.

That's the template the Mets want for all close games that the Mets have the lead in. Starter goes 6, Green/Feliciano in the 7th, Putz in the 8th, Frankie in the 9th. So far only Santana has been able to deliver each time out.

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So the New York Mets now stand 6-5, having remained competetive in all of their 5 losses. Losing 4 of them by 1 run, 1 by 2 runs.

The New York Yankees now stand 6-6, having been absolutely blown the fuck out in 3 losses, losing convincingly in the season opener to the Orioles, only remaining competetive in 2 of the other losses in which they lost by 2 runs.


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