The Mets completed their three game series with the Yankees on Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win behind Oliver Perez.  The Mets finished 4-2 against the Yankees this season and are the winners of the Subway Series. 

This win was all possible thanks to Oliver Perez.  Yep, you read that right, I said Oliver Perez.  Perez was amazing, I don’t think I have ever seen him pitch that well; he has been working with new pitching coach Dan Warthen and yesterday’s performance showed how much his work has paid off.  Perez has a new delivery and has changed his position from the third base side of the rubber to the middle; as a result Perez’s new delivery allows him to use his legs more and give him more force as he propels his body to the plate.  That force was apparent yesterday as Perez had good speed on his fastball yesterday being clocked in the 94mph range with consistency.  In his 7 innings of work, Perez allowed just three hits, while recording 8 strikeouts.  The one earned run came off a homer to Wilson Betemit in the seventh inning.  Here is the big stat, Perez did NOT walk anyone, he threw 106 pitches yesterday 72 of those were strikes.  In four starts against the Yankees Perez is now 4-0 with 1.54 era.  After the game, Perez said that that performance was the “Real Ollie” let’s hope so!

I must admit that when Billy Wagner gave up the single to Derek Jeter, I thought the Mets were in trouble.  I was having flashbacks to the three consecutive blown saves in early June, especially when it looked like ARod was going to tie the game with one swing of his bat, however, Endy Chavez made the catch on the warning track and Wagner went on to ritire the next two batters he faced and notched his 18th save of the season.

The offense did just enough to get by yesterday.  The Mets scored first in the bottom of the second on a bases loaded infield hit by Luis Castillo, and then added another run in the third when Carlos Delgado hit a bomb to straight away center, his third homerun of the series and his 14^th of the season.  The third run came off a sac fly by David Wright in the bottom of the seventh.  However, again the Mets had a chance to really stick it to Darrell Rasner early on; in both the first and second innings the Mets loaded the bases and scored just one run.  In total they left 11 guys on base and didn’t really get a big hit when they needed one.  David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Fernando Tatis all had 0-fors yesterday.  However, the guys did make some hard outs and while they didn’t score as many runs as you’d like but they did win.

So glad to see Ryan Church back out there yesterday.  In his return Church was 2-4.  Having his bat back in the line up can only be a good thing for the Mets!  I am keeping my fingers crossed that there is truth to the rumor that Moises Alou could rejoin the team in Philly!   

Also, what is up with Jose Reyes?  For those of you who missed it yesterday, Reyes made a play on a grounder by Melky Cabrera, Reyes’ throw sailed over Delgado’s glove and Cabrera ended up on second.  Yeah, we’d all like Delgado to field a little better but if Reyes was throwing his glove in disgust at Delgado, I would not have wanted to be in the clubhouse after that little temper tantrum.  I can understand Reyes’ frustration, and I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt and I sincerely hope that his reaction was because of his own bad throw, however Reyes should realize while Delgado should have made the play, he didn’t make an especially good throw either.  The Mets have to pull together as a team; this is not a time to fall apart.  I know a lot is being made of remarks by Johan Santana after his start against the Yankees.  He said something to the affect that he is doing his job, and that basically the other guys need to do their jobs too.  I know that you aren’t supposed to “call out” your teammates like that, but I get where Santana is coming from.  He should be mad; he isn’t getting the run support he needs, and has been the victim of some shoddy defense as well.  I have said that Santana hasn’t been as good as I thought he would be, and I realize that my expectations are unreasonable.  Santana has pitched very well, especially for a team that has given him little or no run support. The Mets offense didn’t even show up for Saturday’s game, and that has been the case when Santana has pitched.  If the Mets offense was doing its job he could easily be 11-3 on the season.

The Mets have eight games left going into the all star break.  In these next few games we are going to learn a lot about the Mets.  They play four with the Cardinals who are 47-36 and sit 2.5 games behind the Cubs.  The Mets then head to Philly for four, the Phillies have seen their 7 game lead in the division dwindle to one as they haven’t exactly been playing the best baseball themselves.  The Mets must have a great road trip.  I can’t even predict what will happen.  I’d love for them to go 6-2 but I have a feeling that 4-4 is more realistic.  Then again, with this team, anything is possible (and I mean that both in a good and bad way).

John Maine will pitch for the Mets tonight and the Cardinal have Kyle Lohse on the mound.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. 

Mets Blog

I hate LOSING to the Yankees!  I just hate it.  I am going to have to listen to their fans call Mike and the Mad Dog all week.  I hate that the Mets are playing crappy baseball.  I hate the fact that the Mets don’t have good at bats.  I hate the fact that when they are not leading in a game, it almost always seems like you know they won’t come from behind to win.  I hate the fact that they have very little fire, I loved what we saw out of Manual/Beltran earlier in the week, but that didn’t carry over.  There is no one on this team to carry them.  Delgado had nine RBI in the afternoon game Friday, but hasn’t done squat in the other two games of the series.  It just gets old, day after day watching the Mets play like this.  There is no more saying it is still early, they’ve fired their manager, they should fire their hitting coach-especially if jobs are based on performance or how those you are coaching are performing. 

The Mets scored their two runs on homers by Ramon Castro and David Wright.  They left five guys on base and both Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran were 0-4 on the day.  Beltran stuck out four times today, it was only the second time in his carreer that he struck out four times in one game.  The last time that happened to him was when he was with the Royals and it was in a game against the Yankees.   

The Mets have got to play better!  Wright was very nonchalant as he fielded a ball that Alex Rodriquez hit in the top of the eighth; Wright’s throw pulled Delgado off the bag, as a result he was charged with an error.  However, looking at the replay it looked like ARod was actually out.  It wasn’t just that, Jose Reyes got picked off by Andy Pettitte just before the rain delay.  I know that Jerry Manual wants the guys to play more aggressive, but Reyes should have done a better job there. 

Johan Santana pitched well, if it wasn’t for the rain delay, maybe he would have gone deeper in the game, in his six innings of work he gave up three runs on four hits, allowing four walks, one intentional, while recording 8 strikeouts.  Two of those walks came in the top of the fourth, and both of those runners would score.  I do think it is worth mentioning that Santana was squeezed by the home plate umpire in that inning, both Jerry Manual and Santana expressed displeasure with the umps strike zone that at times was minuscule. 

The Mets should have Ryan Church back tomorrow.  The Mets have been without him for a month and his bat has been sorely missed.  Church was arguably the MVP of the team when he went down in that game against Atlanta, he has missed an entire month of baseball and it is all because the Mets didn’t handle his situation well.  When Church got hurt, he was hitting .300 with 10 homeruns and 35 RBI.  The Mets have really missed his bat.  Speaking of guys on the DL, Manual said today in his pregame radio interview that Moises Alou just might be back for the Philadelphia series.  Of course, they are going to take it slow with Alou, they don’t want to push it. 

Sunday’s game is scheduled for a 1:10 start.  Mets fans might be in for a long day.  Oliver Perez is on the mound, he didn’t fare too well in his last outing against the Mariners when he gave up 5 earned runs in his 5 innings of work.  I have to say, I feel bad always picking on Oliver because he really doesn’t seem like a bad guy.  He is always really great in his postgame interviews.  He really has not handled the pressure of pitching for a contract.  Anyway, Perez seems to find a way to pitch well for the Mets when they face stellar opposition in big games so I guess we’ll see what happens. 

Mets Blog

I give up, not on the Mets per se, but I give up on trying to figure out this team.  This is pretty much where they are going to be all season.  Friday’s night cap was pathetic as the Yankees beat the Mets 9-0.  I know it is very difficult for sweep a double header, but how about keeping yourselves in the game? 

The Mets scored 15 runs in the first game and 0 in the second.  It isn’t like the Mets didn’t have their chance, they had Sidney Ponson on the ropes several times, they just did not get a big hit.  The Mets got two on in the first inning and didn’t score, they loaded the bases in the bottom of the second and the bottom of the third and couldn’t get a run home.

Pedro Martinez was terrible again.  The first four innings were ok, but the fifth inning was where most of the damage happened much like what happened to him in Colorado in his last start.  Pedro, allowed six runs on six hits and five walks, while striking out four.   Carlos Delgado suggested to Pedro that maybe he is tipping his pitches, whatever it is; Pedro is not getting it done.  Who cares that he can throw in the 90’s?  If they are hitting it all over the park, then velocity hardly matters.  I think Ron Darling said it last night, it is not about velocity, it is about location.  It wasn’t just that Pedro gave up five runs Scott Schoeneweis was awful, he allowed one inherited runner to score, and in his 2/3 of an inning he gave up three runs on four hits, two walks and a homerun.  Two of Schoeneweis’ runs scored when Joe Smith entered the game. 

As Bill Parcells’ says, you are what your record says you are.  So, the Mets scored more runs in the first game than they did in any other game this season but, instead of building on that, they went in the tank in the second game.  They didn’t hit, they didn’t get good pitching.  It is just frustrating to watch them play like this.  I can’t even imagine what the next two games hold in store for the Mets.

The Mets and Yankees meet again this afternoon, first pitch is scheduled for 3:55 p.m.  Johan Santana will face Andy Pettitte.    

Mets Blog

The Mets scored 15 runs as they swept the last series they will ever play at Yankee Stadium.  The Mets took the first two games when they played in May, the last game of that series was postponed due to rain and rescheduled as part of a  twilight two stadium double header.  The Mets finished out the sweep of three games with a 15-6 in the first game on Friday afternoon. 

Mike Pelfrey started for the Mets and got the win.  In his six innings of work he gave up four runs on eight hits, walked four and struck out five.  His numbers don’t really tell the story if you go strictly by the box score.  He was able to pitch out of trouble and over come the lack of defense he got early on.  Pelfrey actually faced batters 15 times with runners in scoring position and only gave up four runs.  And while you can say “ONLY?” the fact is, he did what he has to do and has grown as a pitcher.  He seems as if he is starting to grow into his role. 

Luis Castillo scored five runs, but the big offensive production came from the heart of the order.  All 15 RBI came from three players, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado.  It is has been a long time since the heart of the order were hot all at the same time.  David Wright was 4-5 with three RBI, Carlos Beltran was 1-4 with a homerun, three RBI, a walk, and four runs scored.  The real offensive output came from Carlos Delgado who snapped an 0-16 skid when he hit a go ahead RBI double in the top of the fifth.  In the top of the sixth Delgado added to the lead, hitting a grand slam, his 12^th homer of the season.  However, Delgado was not done there, he hit his 13^th homerun of the season, his second of the game to add three more RBI bringing his grand total to 9.  Delgado now holds the Mets record for the most RBI in a game, his 9 RBI in one game beats the prior record of 8 set by Dave Kingman in 1976.

Great job by the Met’s offense today.  They really came through and it was a lot of fun to watch.  Good job too by Pelfrey, he pitched out of trouble and kept the Mets in the game.  The Mets defense was less than stellar, they had three errors in the game.  But, a win ins a win, adn this is one we’ll take.   

I love to beat the Yankees!  But, I must admit I always worry when the Mets score a lot of runs in a game, I figure they won’t have much offense left for the rest of the series.

Mets Blog

Mets won 8-2 on Wednesday night salvaging the last game of their interleague series against the Seattle Mariners.  Hopefully this win can propel them into a productive series against the Yankees this coming weekend. 

After the poor offensive output on Tuesday, Jerry Manual said that lineup changes might be in store for his team.  However, Wednesday night’s line up looked pretty much the same, the only changes were Marlon Anderson in left field and Fernando Tatis in right field.  The Mets scored eight runs on five hits, and all of those coming in the first three innings.  Jose Reyes was 1-3 hitting a three run homer in the bottom of the third; he also walked once and stole a base.  David Wright had a big night as he was 2-3 hitting two homeruns, three RBI and two runs scored.  Wright sat out on Tuesday night, missing his first start of the season and it seems that the day off did him some good. 

 The Mets are 17-8 when John Maine starts after a loss and Maine has a 13-6 record in those games.  On Wednesday Maine earned his 8^th win of the season, pitching well for the Mets when, according to catcher Brian Schneider they were faced with a “Must win” situation.  Having an early lead had to help, and Maine admitted as much in the post game interview.  Over six innings of work he allowed two runs on two hits, walked two and recorded three strikeouts.  The bullpen looked good, Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, and Duaner Sanchez all pitched scoreless innings in relief.   

Better game for the Mets on Wednesday night.  You had to figure they would play better than they did the night before, than again with the Mets you never know because it seems that the one knack this team does have, is finding ways to lose ballgames.  I know, this is going to sound like I am hard to please, but it is frustrating that the Mets always seem to coast.  For example, the Mets jumped out to an early lead, chased starter Miguel Bautista from the game after just 2 2/3 innings, and granted they scored 8 runs early, but they didn’t have another base runner past the third inning.  It seems like they get ahead and then just go through the motions for the rest of the game.  And forget it when they fall behind it is like the game stops there for them, they just can’t wait for it to be over; they don’t really fight their way back.  This season has been strange and unlike any other season I’ve seen from them before.  It is one thing when your team is just horrible, but this team doesn’t really have an identity other than underachieving. 

After the Mets fired Willie Randolph, I questioned why they would name Jerry Manual the “Interim Manager” thinking that if they were searching for a change of coaching philosophy, why would they go with Randolph’s right hand man?   But, Manual is growing on me a little bit.  However, I’d like it if his record as manager was a little better.  But  I guess what I like is that he is just a little more animated and fiery than Randolph.  No matter what the situation was, Randolph always put up the same face, and in some situations that is probably a really good thing, but I think when a team was struggling as much as the Mets were, it would have been nice to hear Willie say something that somehow made the fans feel like he was as frustrated as the fans were.  Manual, at least for right now, is saying the right things.

The Mets have an off day on Thursday and return Friday, playing a twilight doubleheader against the Yankees.  Game one is at Yankee Stadium scheduled to start at 2:05 p.m. with Mike Pelfrey will pitch game one for the Mets and Dan Giese for the Yankees.  Pedro Martinez and Sidney Ponson will start the night cap at Shea Stadium will begin at 8:05. 

Mets Blog

The Mets were pummeled 11-0 by the Seattle Mariners for a second straight game.  The Mariners jumped out to an early lead scoring early and often.  The Mets have lost the first two games by a combined score of 16-2.

The offense flatlined pretty much the entire game; Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Carlos Delgado, Trot Nixon, Endy Chavez, all had O-fer’s.  The team stranded 9 players on base and hit into two double plays.  However, in the fourth inning we saw something we haven’t seen since Bobby V donned the orange and blue- a manager argued so vociferous that he was ejected from the game (it was Manual’s first as manager, and his second on the season).  Not only did Jerry Manual have words with home plate umpire Brian Runge but so did Carlos Beltran and both of them ended up being ejected from the game in the bottom of the fourth.  Beltran made some remarks to Runge regarding his strike zone-and I will comment that his strike zone was all over the place, anyway, Runge didn’t take too kindly and made sure Beltran knew it.  Runge actually took off his mask and basically stopped the game and really baited Beltran, and to his credit, Beltran did not bite.  It was when Runge got out of line that Manual came out of the dugout to protect Carlos.  Runge got into a short exchange with Manual and chest bumped him-Manual went crazy, he was thrown form the game, and Beltran, after seeing what happened to Manual, got into with the umpire and made sure that he heard all he had to say before he left the game as well.  

Good job by Jerry Manual and Carlos Beltran.  Something has happened in the past few days or the past week that has lead to a renewal of Beltran we’re seeing a fire in him that he hasn’t show the NY fans since he go there.  Maybe he really didn’t see eye to eye with Randolph, maybe he is just tired of losing, but this is the hardest I have seen him play and he has stepped up as a leader and showing some intensity.  I hope we see more of this Carlos! 

Oliver Perez was awful; he was in trouble from the start.  In his 5 innings of work he gave up 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits, one walk, one hit batsman, two strikeouts.  In his post game remarks Jerry Manual address Oliver Perez’s and mentioned that it is a concern and that it is going to have to be addressed.  Perez is 1-5 and his era is almost 8 when facing sub par teams (think back to his starts against the Pirates, Giants, and now the Mariners)

All I can say is that I hope Ryan Church is ready to come back to the lineup, and I hope he can pick up where he left off in a hurry.  Trot Nixon, I understand was a move the Mets had to make and it didn’t cost them anything, but, I’m sick of Chavez, Easley, and Nixon, they need Chruch back and the better figure out who is going to replace Alou and what they are going to do with Carlos Delgado.  Also, as much as I love him, David Wright is killing us, right now he is hitting at .272, I know that he leads the team in RBI but the Mets need more consistency out of him.   I know there is a lot of pressure considering that they started out the season trying to make up for what happened last year, and then have fallen into this cycle where they just haven’t been good any aspect of the game.  It is just hard to believe that with the coaching changes that HoJo is still with the club.  I don’t know how much the hitting coach actually helps, but is appears he hasn’t done much to help Wright. 

The Mets will send John Maine to the mound looking to salvage the last game of the series.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. 

Mets Blog

The New York Mets lost to the Seattle Mariners 5-2 when Johan Santana gave up a grand slam to Mariners’ pitcher Felix Hernandez in the second inning and the Mets never recovered.  That of course was the first homerun ever hit by a Mariners pitcher and it was the 14^th homerun Santana has given up so far this season.

This is getting old.  The Mets stink and I’m tired of watching it.  Comments after the game by Mets’ players basically said that Hernandez’s homerun was a fluke, and it was, but it cost the Mets the game.  The Mets keep finding ways to lose; they are a team that no one is afraid of.  Basically if your team jumps out to a lead, you’ll win, the Mets give up pretty early on if they are down by more than a run or two.  But even still, if you don’t score early then just wait for the bullpen, someone there is likely to serve one up.  This team is a mess. 

The Mets got just four hits last night and scored two runs, but the first run didn’t come until the fifth inning when the Mets were down 5-0.  That first run was a result of a lead off double by Carlos Beltran, he stole third and then scored on a wild pitch by Hernandez.  It was an exciting play at the plate, as Beltran never hesitated and the ball didn’t get far from the catcher.  Felix Hernandez was hurt on that play; he was standing on home plate when Beltran slid in and would leave the game with a sprained ankle.  Good job by Beltran there ( his aggressive play that is, not that he took Hernandez out of the game because that didn’t actually help the Mets) I’d like to see more of that from him, his aggressiveness on the base path was something that has been missing from his game for a long time. 

In the ninth inning the Mets looked as if they might have a little something going, Jose Reyes singled to center to lead off the inning but, Luis Castillo singled to short and Reyes was erased at second, Castillo would advance to second on a walk issued to David Wright.  Carlos Beltran who has been in a good groove hit a single to center scoring Castillo and moving Wright to second.  Carlos Delgado stuck out swinging and Damion Easley would be out on a called third strike.

So it has been a week since Willie Randolph was fired and the talk is still there.  Of course, the Mets haven’t exactly helped themselves by losing the way they did in Colorado on Saturday and again last night.  And in fact, unless the Mets start winning and really winning, the talk won’t fade.  And it doesn’t help matters that Jerry Manual called the Mets fans fertilizer (although that is a new one) or that her referred to Jose Reyes as a woman.  But hey, if you are Manual why not do what you want to do, what’s the worst that can happen? 

Last night the Mets had a chance to help themselves.  The Phillies’ lead has dwindled to one game; the Mets were sitting in third place three back, with Atlanta a game behind them.  Both the Marlins and Phillies were off last night and the Braves lost.  But instead of gaining ground, today the Mets are four back and one game under .500.   

The Mets are headed into a very tough place in their schedule.  When they wrap up the series with the Mariners they play four against the Yankees, they then go to St. Louis for three, are in Philadelphia for four before returning home to play the Giants and Rockies before the All Star break.  I don’t even want to think about what can happen in that stretch. 

First pitch for Tuesday night is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.  Oliver Perez will go for the Mets and the Mariners will counter with R.A. Dickey. 

Mets Blog

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Now there is a win that the New York Mets can really build off of.  They battled back and scored one run in the ninth inning and then another one in the tenth inning as they beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 in ten innings of action.  Huge win for the team and hopefully it will give them some good confidence.

Damion Easley hit the game winning home run in the top of the tenth inning to give the Mets the lead.  Prior to the home run, David Wright singled in Jose Reyes to tie the game at 4-4 in the top of the ninth inning.  Wright and Easley came up huge for the Mets!

Wright led the Mets at the plate with two rbi while Easley, Marlon Anderson, and Carlos Delgado all had one rbi each.  Delgado’s rbi came off a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Duaner Sanchez ended up getting the victory and is now 3-0 on the season.  Billy Wagner shut the door on the Angles in the bottom of the tenth inning to record his 16th save of the season.  Mets starting pitcher Oliver Perez pitched six inning while allowing nine his and four runs to get the no decision.

The Mets and Angels will play once again on Thursday.  The winner will win the series and it could be a huge step for the Mets if they can come away with the victory.

Mets Blog

A new manager, the same outcome that most Mets fans have come accustomed to this season.  Jerry Manuel’s first game as interim manager of the Mets didn’t go as he had hoped as the Mets were beaten by the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 on Tuesday night.  It was supposed to be a big pitchers duel between John Lackey and Johan Santana but Lackey got the best of the Mets while Santana gave up three early runs.

Santana gave up three runs in the first inning as the Mets fell behind early in the game.  An error in the first by Carlos Delgado helped the Angels in the first inning but Santana was still having problems without that error.  Santana ended up throwing six innings and giving up eight hits and five runs (four earned).  Jeff Mathis took Santana deep in the sixth inning as well.

Aaron Heilman and Claudio Vargas both pitched one inning in relief. Heilman pitched a scoreless seventh inning but Vargas gave up a run in the eighth inning on a infield single.

The one run for the Mets came in the first inning when David Wright grounded into a double play that scored Damion Easley.  Easley was pitch running for Jose Reyes who left the game in the first inning with some tightness in his left hamstring.  Hopefully Reyes won’t be out too long but you never know with a hammy.

Mets Blog