9 posts tagged “scott schoeneweis”

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 New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by a final score of 5-4 in 10 innings. This was one of the most exciting ballgames I've seen this season, not just by the Mets either.

There were a lot of highs and lows, depending which team you were cheering for. And not one, but two improbable comebacks by the Mets late in the game. This is not a team known for high-drama comebacks this season. All the more reason why it was one of the best Met victories of 2008.

Here are the key points:

• Jose Reyes led off the game with a single, stole 2nd, and went to 3rd on the high throw by Angel catcher Jeff Mathis. Marlon Anderson popped out to shallow left, which didn't allow Reyes to score. But David Wright grounded out 4-3, to allow Reyes to score. This was the third consecutive game in which the Mets scored first, in the first inning.

• In the 3rd inning, Jose Reyes just missed a HR to right-center that caromed near the top of the wall. He ended up with a triple instead. Marlon Anderson hit a sac fly to left which scored Reyes, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.

• Carlos Delgado led off the 4th inning with a 400+-ft line drive HR just to the right of straight-away centerfield. THAT is the Delgado we know and love. He needs to show up more often. The Mets were now up 3-0.

• Oliver Perez was great for the first 3 innings of the game. In the 4th, the Angels tagged him for a run, but no biggie.

• Until the bottom of the 5th inning.The Angels started to hit Perez, scoring 3 runs off of a string of Angel hits, which put the team up 4-3.

• The play that got Oliver Perez out of the 5th inning was a combination of solid Met defense, and a huge baserunning mistake by Torii Hunter.  With Hunter on 1st and Vladimir Guerrero on 3rd, 1B Robb Quinlan hit a groundball to David Wright at 3B. Wright threw home to catcher Ramon Castro who made the tag on Guerrero for the out, since he was running on contact.

• Then, Torii Hunter was caught napping. Seemingly thinking that Vlad was the 3rd out, Hunter began slowly jogging from 2nd base towards the Angel dugout. However, Ramon Castro wasn't napping and threw down to 2nd base where the Mets caught Hunter in a rundown for the 3rd out. 5-2-4-6-5 on the scorecard. Torii Hunter's gaffe with 2 out while he was still in scoring position, was a foolish mistake, which in some ways, cost the Angels the game.

• The 6th, 7th and 8th innings were relatively uneventful. For the Mets, Perez finished up pitching in the 6th, Joe Smith pitched the 7th, Scott Schoeneweis pitched the 8th. For the Angels, Garland finished up pitching the 6th, Darren Oliver pitched to 1 batter in the 7th before he was then successfully relieved by Jose Arredondo, Scot Sheilds pitched the 8th. No runs were scored during these three innings.

• The 9th inning, is where things got extremely interesting. The Angels bullpen is known to be superb, one of the best, if not the best in the Majors right now. Not just because of ace closer Frankie "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who had been 28 for 29 in saves this season. Also because of premiere setup man Scot Shields, and very good pitching from ex-Met Darren Oliver, and rookie Jose Arredondo.

• K-Rod doesn't blow many saves. He's only blown one in 2008 so far, and that happened on April 7 against Cleveland, a game which the Angels won anyways. And the Mets weren't exactly hitting up a storm against Jon Garland or the rest of the Angel bullpen. K-Rod got leadoff batter Ramon Castro to pop out. Jose Reyes, already with a single and a triple in the game and 2 runs scored, poked a single just over the head of 2B Howie Kendrick into rightfield. With Fernando Tatis at the plate, one kept expecting Jose Reyes to steal 2nd, but it never happened. Tatis struck out swinging, and there were now 2 out with David Wright at the plate.

• During the at-bat, Frankie threw a wild pitch which catcher Jeff Mathis let get away from him, so Reyes took 2nd on the pitch. In the clutch moment of the game, David Wright golfed a single into leftfield which scored Reyes from 2nd, tying up the game 4-4. Angel fans were stunned. Their closer doesn't do this. But tonight, he did. Even Met fans were stunned. After all, in the 9th inning this season, David Wright was 1-for-20. Rodriguez then managed to get Carlos Beltran to ground out, and we went to the bottom of the 9th.

• Duaner Sanchez pitched a 1-2-3 inning against the Angels. In a move one could (and I do) question that Mike Scioscia did not make, with 2 out and no one on base, he let switch-hitting LF Reggie Willits face Sanchez. Except Willits was 0-for-2 on the day with 2 BB, and does not have HR power at all. This would've been a smart spot for lefty Garrett Anderson to take over since he does have HR power and could win it with a walkoff. Reggie Willits was not going to be able to bunt the ball over the rightfield fence. Sure, you could say that Willits was hitting there so he could get on base and score the winning run with his speed. But he would have to count on the batters behind him to drive him in. With G.A. up at that point, one swing could win the game. And if he failed, Anderson then plays his normal position of LF. Ultimately it was obviously Scioscia's decision to make, and it wasn't a terrible one, just a questionable one. Maybe Garrett Anderson was unavailable and this move couldn't have been made in the first place.

• Onto the Top 10th, Justin Speier was now pitching for the Angels. He retired Carlos Delgado and Trot Nixon. With 2 out, former Angel Damion Easley was at the plate. In one of the most unbelievable moments, Damion Easley hit a solo blast into the LF bullpen to put the Mets ahead 5-4. This was made only more unbelievable because as Easley came up to the plate, an Angel fan behind us said, "Easley is going to hit a homerun," and I looked at him like he was crazy. I replied, "You're calling an Easley homer? I'd be surprised if he gets a base hit here." And low and behold, the man behind us was dead-on. In fact, he was in shock at his own HR call. Not even Damion Easley's own mother would've predicted that to happen.

• Understand that it's made even MORE unbelievable because over the past 3 years, when the Angels lead in the 8th inning or later, they have a record of 201-2. That's a testament to their bullpen and then some. That record now stands at 201-3.

• The Bottom 10 was Billy time. Howie Kendrick hit a chopper to 3rd base that was bare-handed by David Wright, who threw down to Tatis at 1st just in time to get Kendrick. Vladdy flied out to Endy Chavez in RF, and Torii Hunter struck out swinging for the big big big Met come-from-behind victory against one of the best teams in baseball.

• This was also, Jerry Manuel's first victory in the manager's role.
  

The team's march towards .500 continues...

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

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

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

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

Here's how it went down:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After losing Thursday and Friday's games by a score of 2-1 to the Padres, the Mets offense desperately needed to come through.

Saturday night pitted erratic Mets lefty Oliver Perez against 5th starter Cha Seung Baek. Oliver Perez rebounded very well from his implosion against San Francisco on June 2, going 5.1 IP, giving up 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 ER which was a solo HR from Padre catcher Michael Barrett in the 5th inning.

The Mets were able to score their lone run in the 2nd after Endy Chavez hit a sac fly to leftfield with bases loaded. Beltran scored on the play, and the runners advanced on the throwing error courtesy of Padres leftfielder Justin Huber which was wayyyyyy up the 1st base line.

And the problem is, that's the only run the Mets scored. Three nights in a row, they scored 1 run. Is it any surprise they don't win these games?

The Mets had many other chances to take advantage of Padres pitching, but failed to deliver.

2nd inning: After Chavez's sac fly, catcher Brian Schneider was intentionally walked since 1st base was empty in order to get to pitcher Oliver Perez. He fouled out to 3B Kevin Kooooooozmanoff, and Jose Reyes grounded out. Only 1 run scored in the inning.

The team also had runners in scoring position during the 3rd and 5th innings, though both times with 2 out. They could not convert the runs.

On the pitching side of things, the Mets bullpen kept them in the ballgame, as did San Diego's. Manager Willie Randolph used his bullpen as effectively as possible, making the right decisions every time. He removed Perez in the 6th inning after Perez had put two runners by hitting them with a pitch. With 1 out in the inning, Joe Smith came in to undo the damage, but even he ended up hitting SS Khalil Greene with a pitch to load the bases.

Smith got pinch-hitter Tony Clark to ground to Carlos Delgado, who threw home to Brian Schneider for the forceout. Smith then got Michael Barrett to strike out swinging to end the inning.

Met relievers Scott Schoeneweis and Duaner Sanchez combined to pitch 3 scoreless innings before Pedro Feliciano threw 1 pitch to Scott Hairston in the 10th inning which ended up landing in the left-centerfield bleachers to win the game.

The part of the game where the Mets COMPLETELY blew it, was in the 10th inning.

With Padres reliever Mike Adams on the mound, Luis Castillo took a leadoff walk. Those usually come back to get a lot of pitchers.

David Wright had the chance to move Castillo over, or even in. But David struck out.

Castillo got himself to 2nd base by stealing it himself.

Carlos Beltran struck out.

Carlos Delgado was given an intentional pass, and pinch-hitting was the "threat to no one with a bat," Raul Casanova. It was at this stage that lefty Ryan Church would've been a perfect pinch-hitter, but the fact that he wasn't, spoke volumes about his current medical condition.

Casanova of course, grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

What Pedro Feliciano did afterwards, was practically inconsequential. When you're the home team in extra innings, you have the advantage. And at least in this game, unlike Thursday night when Scott Schoeneweis gave the ballgame away by hitting a batter, Feliciano got beat by a Hairston HR swing. And in that situation, you tip your cap to Hairston.

But the Mets should have scored more than once.

Even more frustrating, was that not only did I get to "witness history" in that the Padres became the first team in MLB history to win 4 consecutive games by a 2-1 score (one against the Cubs, 3 against the Mets), but they got solid starting pitching performances from Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana, and Oliver Perez.

Jose Reyes was 0-for-5. Carlos Beltran and David Wright each had a single, but both struck out once, in the aforementioned 10th inning with go-ahead runner Luis Castillo on base.

The only bright spot in the game? Carlos Delgado continues to hit, as he went 3-for-4 with 2 singles, a double, a K and an IBB. If only he can find that power swing that made him a force to be reckoned with.

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Sunday's game had to be better. After all, Pedro Martinez would be pitching! It was funny how a few people at the hotel kept saying, "Well we'll win tomorrow cause Pedro will save us." And I responded, "Have you seen the games lately? Starting pitching isn't exactly the issue right now."

As long as the team didn't lose another 2-1 game, things had to look up. They just had to.

And for a while, they did.

Pedro Martinez was staked to a 3-0 lead in the 1st. While Jose Reyes couldn't get on base, Padres starter Wil Ledezma walked Luis Castillo and David Wright. What did Carlos Beltran do in this situation? Oh he flied out for the second out.

Damion Easley singled to centerfield to score Luis Castillo. And then Carlos Delgado roped a TRIPLE to rightfield which scored Wright and Easley. Yes, Carlos Delgado, triple. You read that right.

But then the Padres struck back with 3 of their own. One of those runs came off a bases loaded BALK from Pedro, which I think all the umpires simultaneously called. A nearby fan told us they saw Pedro's hands go together and then come apart without him stepping off. Why Pedro flinched in this situation, who knows.

I should mention that Endy Chavez nailed Edgar Gonzalez with a perfect throw to David Wright, as Gonzalez tried to take third base after Brian Giles' single. The damage could've been even worse for Pedro if not for that play.

In the 2nd inning, the Mets showed some aggressiveness on the basepaths when Endy Chavez and Jose Reyes did the double steal of destiny, taking 3rd and 2nd respectively with 1 out. Luis Castillo's sac fly scored Chavez. David Wright failed in the clutch again as he flied to centerfield for the 3rd out.

Pedro didn't pitch too well today, going 5 IP, giving up 10 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. Not a Pedro-like outing. But despite his pitching, the offense was doing something they hadn't been doing the last 3 games. They were scoring runs.

Claudio Vargas and Scott Schoeneweis each pitched an inning of scoreless relief.

The Mets scored their 6th run when Carlos Delgado scored from 3rd base on an Endy Chavez bunt single with 2 out. The Mets were doing everything right. Bullpen? Check. Aggressive on the basepaths? Check. Delgado a homerun short of the cycle? Check!

But then the 8th inning came... and everything changed for the worse. A lot worse.

Met Reliever Duaner Sanchez gave up a leadoff double to rookie callup Craig Stansberry. He then struck out righty Khalil Greene, walked switch-hitting backup backup catcher Luke Carlin (who was hitting lefty in the AB), and struck out righty Scott Hairston, denying Hairston the opportunity to be a hero two games in a row.

Willie Randolph went to the bullpen to closer Billy Wagner, to face lefty Jody Gerut. Wagner has been great this season, only giving up 1 ER so far. Surely with 2 out, and Wagner on the hill, this 6-4 lead was safe.

Except Jody Gerut singled to right-center to score Craig Stansberry. The score was now 6-5.

Padre manager then went to his bench, using switch-hitter Tony Clark. Over the past 3 seasons, Clark has been absolutely terrible when hitting from the right side. His power comes from his left side, so Wagner was clearly going to dominate this matchup and hold onto the 1-run lead.

Ex-Met, Ex-Yankee, Ex-Diamondback, Ex-Tiger, Ex-Red Sox... Tony Clark. Even Padre fans around us didn't care for him, as he's been pretty bad for them all season so far.

Except on Sunday, Tony Clark was the hero. He took Wagner's 96 MPH fastball and belted a 414-ft blast to straight-away centerfield, putting the Padres ahead 8-6.

And what can you do but shake your head and scream in anger? The normally dominant-closer lost a battle to someone he shouldn't have. Tony Clark is not Albert Pujols. He's not even Adrian Gonzalez.

But on Sunday, Tony Clark was the man. Billy Wagner was not.

I'm sure as angry as I was, Willie Randolph was probably even more pissed off. The team was finally hitting, the bullpen was doing a decent job, and the Mets looked like they were going to at least leave San Diego with one win before the trip home.

It didn't happen. "Hells Bells" closer Trevor Hoffman came in for the 1-2-3 9th and recorded his 14th save of the year.

The Mets got swept. They lost 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, and 8-6. And strangely, the 8-6 loss hurt the most, because it occurred in the most improbable fashion to a team that had no business winning the series, nevermind sweeping it.

This team clearly has problems:

• Ryan Church is a complete unknown at this point.
  
• Endy Chavez is great on defense, not so great on offense, although he did hit well in the San Diego series, going 5-for-14 with 2 RBIs.
  
• Fernando Tatis had a couple of clutch hits during the Marlins series weeks back. But he's been terrible since.
• David Wright and Carlos Beltran are supposed to be the power of the team, and they're not providing it. Especially Beltran, who struck out three fucking times on Sunday. Both went hitless, but at least Wright drew two walks.
• On a more macro scale, when they pitch well, they don't hit. When they hit, they don't pitch well. And that was the exact story of the Padres series. Now spread that over the season, and you have a team that is now two games under .500.
  

This was my third trip in 5 seasons to see the Mets play the Padres at PETCO Park. Though this is the first time we stayed overnight. For most people in Los Angeles, it's about a 2.5-hour trip down when you factor in traffic.

Unlike other places (ahem, Dodger Stadium), the fans are by and large very friendly. Lots of families, lots of older people, and even some younger ones too. It's a good crowd, perhaps in some ways uninterested and apathetic, but I've never had a bad experience there as a fan of the opposition.

And what's more, there were plenty of Met fans around to support their team. A lot of people we spoke with over the weekend said that PETCO and AT&T Park (San Francisco) are the nicest ballparks in the bigs. While I have yet to go to places like Camden Yards, Nationals Park, Turner Field, (it's a long list now that so many older parks I've been to are gone), the Padres organization and the city of San Diego really put together an excellent stadium. The prices are right, the atmosphere is good, and they've even put a competitive team on the field the last couple of seasons.

Although I did have a pretzel there with the most awful mustard ever known to mankind.

I'll always hold a fondness for Wrigley Field, but PETCO and AT&T Parks are excellent places to catch a baseball game, no matter who is playing.

Random thoughts from tonight's game.

- As often as it is noted that Oliver Perez can be erratic, the same goes for Chad Billingsley. Unfortunately for the Mets, the good Chad Billingsley showed up, so did the crappy Oliver Perez.

- What's the story of the game? Furcal HR, Dewitt's first MLB HR, Kemp's HR. Perez sucked, Billingsley was great. I suppose the silver lining was that Perez didn't leave in the 2nd inning like last time?

- How great was Billingsley? He threw 1 ball in the first inning, and was hammering the 1-2-3 batters with fastballs. I THINK he threw 12 total pitches that inning, 11 strikes. He only got in one real jam the whole game, and got out of it easily. He also K'd Wright twice.

- The Mets biggest threat was in the 2nd when they had Delgado on 2nd and Beltran on 3rd with 1 out. Billingsley got Schneider to K, and Castillo to ground out weakly to 3rd. This was also probably the early turning point in the game for the Dodgers as the Mets never had any runners reach 3rd again until Beltran's triple in the 6th.

- From my view, Brian Schneider was having a lot of trouble throwing guys out at 2B. 2 balls went into CF, one of them charged as an Error since Russell Martin was able to take 3rd as well.

- Andruw Jones is beyond awful, but this is known even to scumbag Dodger fans, who (deservingly) boo him at every AB. This team is lucky to have 4 out of 5 OFs who can hit.

- Conversely, all this talk about the best SS in the NL. Whether it's Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes, OH NO. Wrong Wrong Wrong!
The correct answer right now is Rafael Furcal, who is hitting up a crazy storm, and his arm for a SS is second-to-none.

- Beltran probably would have scored safely on his triple, had he went for the inside-the-park HR. But when you're down 5-0 in the 6th inning with 0 out, why risk it? It wasn't a sure thing that he'd be safe, and holding him up at 3rd was the right call. If it had been 2 out instead, you send him and hope for the best. Good thing Alou got his first RBI this season and broke the shutout. You think I wanted to leave that dump being shutout?

- Speaking of Alou, is it me or is he not hitting the way we had hoped? I know it's VERY early to judge him, but he's 2-for-11 so far, and those 2 hits were singles up the middle. He hasn't hit the ball HARD yet. Maybe he'll bang Kuroda around tomorrow.

- Dodgers bullpen was lights out. Beimel the 7th, Big John Broxton the 8th, Takashi Saito the 9th. Their pen has been very impressive over the last two seasons. It's their starting pitching past Penny, and I guess Billingsley on occasion, and lack of power bats (though you wouldn't know it tonight) which are their weaknesses.

- I thought it was... odd that Sosa pitched an inning tonight instead of Aaron Heilman. Sosa pitched Sunday against Arizona and got the club-leading 4th win. Heilman did not pitch. Either way, Sosa was fine, so I can only guess that Willie is hoping to use Aaron in Tuesday's game in the 7th or 8th, which I do believe is a game the Mets will win.

- Tuesday night's game pits Nelson Figueroa vs Hiroki Kuroda.
Kuroda has been mediocre for L.A. so far, Figueroa has been good enough for the Mets this season, although I am still of the opinion that once teams develop a book on him, he's going to fall off sharply come June if not sooner.

Won't be seeing this one in person, but I'll record it on the DVR and maybe end up watching it at some point riding the FF button. Although if they lose, will I really want to?

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.

First and foremost, I don't know if this happens at other ballparks across America, but I assume it does...
PARENTS! DO NOT BRING YOUR NEWBORN INFANTS TO BASEBALL GAMES OR ANY OTHER SPORTING EVENTS FOR THAT MATTER!!!

I counted 4 newborn infants (6 months or younger) in the immediate area, and it was 85 degrees and sunny at Dodger Stadium. If not for the shade of the stadium, we would've had 4 cooked infants to go with our Dodger Dogs. Mmmmm mustard on sun-dried baby.

The other ridiculous thing, was the announced paid attendance. Again, this happens all over America where the announced attendance is always based on how many tickets SOLD, never how many people are actually in the ballpark. In any case, paid attendance for Saturday's game was announced at 49,124. It's been a long long time since I've seen so many empty seats at Dodger Stadium during the entire game. A more reasonable estimate of the ACTUAL attendance was probably 35,000. A lot of people simply decided not to show up for whatever reason.

Ok, onto the game recap...

Brad Penny proved mortal for once, giving up four runs (three earned) by the 3rd inning, two of those thanks to a David Wright 2-run blast to deep right-centerfield. But that was as mortal as he would get during the game, as the Mets didn't have another hit until the 7th inning.

Jorge Sosa on the other hand pitched quite well for the first 3 innings, although I was a bit concerned with some of the deep flyball outs. Apparently that was a valid concern, because when the Dodgers hit in the bottom 4, the Mets gave up their largest lead of the season. Up 4-1 at this point, Sosa just fell apart. He got leadoff hitter Jeff Kent to fly out, but then 3 straight singles scored a run making it 4-2. And then Matt Kemp hit a 3-run blast to deep left-center to rally the Dodgers ahead 5-4.

But the damage wasn't over. Rafael Furcal hit what should've been a triple down the rightfield line, but some retard Dodger fan interfered and it was ruled a double. No matter, because Juan Pierre then slaps a double down the leftfield line, scoring Furcal. A 5-run 4th inning which Sosa was lucky to get out of.

By this point, Penny had settled down, the Mets were hopeless at the plate.

The dreadful Scott Schoeneweis pitched a harmless 5th inning, but then the Dodgers threatened again in the 6th. Schoeneweis ended up loading the bases for Russell Martin. In a smart move, Willie went to righty Joe Smith to face Martin, and the strategy would've worked perfectly. Martin hit a grounder to David Wright, beginning what should have been an easy 5-4-3 threat/inning-ended double play. Except Ruben Gotay threw the ball to a photographer instead of Carlos Delgado, and the Dodgers score two runs on the throwing error.

This defensive gaffe (one which for all of Valentin's offensive woes, is an error he does not make) proved to be the turning point in the game for New York, as Carlos Beltran would later hit his 3rd HR in as many games off of Dodger reliever Joe Beimel, getting the Mets closer by 2. What should have then hypothetically been a 6-6 tie, was an 8-6 Dodger lead.

But then it was time for Jonathan Broxton to come in, who along with day-to-day injured closer Takashi Saito, have shut down the Mets completely every time they've faced the pair.
It doesn't help things that Broxton has improved greatly since his 2005 rookie season to the point he may very well become Gagne 2.0 for L.A.

So the Mets are .500 on this West Coast swing at 3-3. Sunday's game will either allow them to win the series with the Dodgers, or split, as well as whether this is a successful road trip, or a failed one. El Douche Orlando Hernandez will be pitching for the Mets, with the Dodgers using lefty Eric Stults. Stults is making his first start of the season for L.A., but the Mets don't particularly hit lefty starters well. Additionally, the only win of Stults' career came September 10, 2006 against the Mets at Shea.

Dodger Stadium. Where else can you see more painted-on eyebrows than the circus?

Dodger Stadium. The only place where in your very row, you'll find more guys named Carlos than in the Mets lineup.

Dodger Stadium. Where the fans have less class than high school dropouts.

Dodger Stadium. The place where when they win a game, they celebrate like they won a playoff series or something. Maybe Mexico won a soccer game. It's VERY hard to tell.

Except that hasn't happened in 19 years, and won't likely be happening again anytime soon.

But lets focus on Game 1 of the Mets-Dodgers series, their first meeting since the SWEEEEEP of Los(er) Dodgers in the 2006 NLDS.

The Mets got off to a good start, scoring 2 runs off a somewhat shaky Randy Wolf and a shakier Russell Martin, who committed a throwing error and passed ball in the 1st inning to help contribute to the Mets scoring 2 runs. It was almost as if the Bad News Bears had replaced the Bitches in Blue.

But that was all the Mets could do until the 4th inning, when they tacked on one more run to make the score 3-0. But Randy Wolf had settled down by this point, and Orlando Hernandez, brilliant in his last 3 starts with a 0.82 ERA over that span and pitched solid for 3 innings tonight, started to look bad. His velocity was down, the Dodgers were able to read his pitches, and they were able to put together 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th to tie it up.

It was very clear by the 5th inning that El Douche was done, but Willie let him pitch the 6th, perhaps a bad decision. Although the Mets' long relievers (Sele, Schoeneweis, Mota) have been quite bad lately, it's not like the options were all that great. Ironically, Schoeneweis and Mota DID pitch afterwards, and did their jobs without allowing the Dodgers to blow the game wide open.

The bottom 6 was a combination of poor pitching, and poor defense. Carlos Beltran nor Carlos Gomez were able to track down a James Loney double into deep left-centerfield. Gomez crashed into the wall, and Beltran couldn't pick up the ball, which allowed Loney to get to third on the error.

Dodgers third-baseman Tony Abreu tried a suicide squeeze play bunt, which resulted in Lo Duca tagging out Loney before he got to the plate, but then as Pauly tried to throw Abreu out at first, the ball sailed into rightfield, and Abreu ran all the way to 3rd on the error. Abreu later scored on a Wilson Betemit pinch-hit, and the Dodgers expanded the lead to 5-3.

The Mets couldn't do anything against the very solid Dodgers bullpen. Chad Billingsley retired them in the 7th, Jonathan Broxton blew away the Mets in the 8th, and closer Takashi Saito shut the Mets down in the 9th. I heard a stat after the game on the radio that when the Dodgers lead after 6 innings, their record is something like 26-1. Now that's a bullpen.

Tomorrow's matchup of John Maine vs Hong-Chih Kuo looks to be a little better off for the Mets, as Kuo is quite bad. Then again, in 5 starts last season, his lone win was a brilliantly pitched game against the Mets at Shea in which the Dodgers won 5-0. His opponent that game? John Maine.

What is quite troublesome is that the team is now 2-8 in June, the team ERA has ballooned to 5.10, Moises Alou isn't coming back anytime soon, Endy Chavez is out for a month, and Scott Schoeneweis is absolutely terrible. At this time a year ago, the Mets were on a tear, having a fantastic June. They took 2 of 3 from Los Angeles, swept 4 against the DBacks and swept 3 against the Phillies. By the end of the month, had built a 10.5-game lead up on the Atlanta Braves and had locked up the NL East by July 1.

As of June 11, 2007, the Mets have a scant 2-game lead on the Atlanta Braves, and the team is in a serious downward spiral that doesn't seem to be showing any signs of a turnaround.

The thing is, it WILL turnaround. This is mostly the same team they had in 2006 (except for Alou), and a worse bullpen. (They didn't sign Darren Oliver, but took Scott Schoeneweis? Ugh!)

One would think that since the team has played so well on the road over the first two months, that the games against Detroit, Los Angeles and the Skankees would do them some good. So far, 1-3.

Can the team rebound and have a winning record this month, if not the road trip? We'll soon see.