The Mets were stellar in the first three games against the Giants, they stole a ton of bases (7 in one game), they hit with runners in scoring position and they even played defense.  Even though Carlos Delgado was placed on the DL (he is expected to be out until July at the earliest), they had plenty offense and were able to win the first three of a four game series. However, the Mets lost the final game of the series and as of last night, were swept three straight by the Dodgers.

The losses against the Dodgers may not have been so bad if the Mets had not played so bad. The Mets looked like buffoons; in game one alone the Mets committed five errors. It was also in that game that we got some insight into the true relationship between Ryan Church and Jerry Manual. Church made the biggest base running blunder of the season when he completely missed third base the Mets would have taken the lead in the top of the 11^th and would have handed the ball off to Frankie Rodriguez, but instead the Dodgers appealed at third and Church was called out. Manual totally threw Church under the bus, he didn’t bother to even argue the call, instead he literally turned his back on him. I for one like Church, but now I feel he probably has to move on considering the relationship between he and the manager.

Lets be honest though, the Mets didn’t just lose that game and the series because Church missed third, the Mets committed a ton of errors and have failed to hit a home run in 60 innings. In the Dodger series the Mets left 26 men on base and were 3-27 with RISP. Suddenly the bats are dead. Not only did the Mets not hit, they also didn’t play defense well either-the committed seven errors in the series, five in one game.

The Mets are in trouble. Manya has said that they will not go out to trade for a first baseman and feels that that position can be filled by who they have on the team right now, but after watching Jeremy Reed there, it is nearly impossible to believe that Omar is watching the same team we are because as FANS we can see that this little experiment isn’t going to work. Daniel Murphy had the opportunity to play first and actually didn’t look as bad there as he does in the outfield, but suddenly this guy’s bat has been very cold.

Not only is first base a concern but so is Sean Green and JJ Putz. Putz gave up the winning run in the last game of the Dodger series. I really don’t want to hear about adrenaline or lack thereof, you are being paid to do a job and if you are asked to pitch in the second or the eighth you better do what you are supposed to do, short of the fact that you arm is falling off, I don’t want to hear excuses. On that note, Sean Green stinks and I think the Mets need to chuck him, he is a nightmare out there, he can’t get anyone out. Look, I love the Putz and Green deal, for nothing more than it got Aaron Heilman out of town but if they can’t get anyone out, they’ll get the Heilman reception from the crowd.

If the Mets are going to throw in the towel, then do so. Let Murphy play first, bring up Fernando Martinez, add one of the young pitchers from Triple A, and play out the season, but don’t feed us a line of bull and try to make us believe that the Mets can win now with what they’ve got, because they can’t. Now…not only is Delgado on the DL, Jose Reyes seems headed there too with a calf injury. Also, I’m not making excuses for the Mets because of injuries, every team has injuries; I’m just questioning who is going to step it up. I do think it is interesting that with Delgado departing, David Wright heated up…

The Mets will wrap up their road trip with three in Boston over the weekend. Interestingly, this weekend the Mets and Yankees have the opportunity to help each other out this weekend as the Yankees will host the Phillies for three…wow, I might have to root for the Yankees (ugh!)

Mets Blog

Game 1: Braves 8 Mets 3 After a three game sweep against the Pirates, the Mets faltered against the Braves.  It is no secret that the Mets have always struggled against the Braves and I was hoping the would not lose momentum especially in the first match up between Johan Santana and Derek Lowe.  The game was a nightmare.  Pitching, outside of Santana was terrible, the bats were dead and the defense was dreadful.  I know that when Santana is on the mound the Mets don’t score a lot of runs, I don’t know why that is; but I do think it is worth noting that when Santana is on the mound the Mets face the other team’s ace as well. Plus, it seems that everyone steps it up a notch against Santana, of the two runs that scored with Santana on the mound, none were earned; actually of the eight runs the Braves scored, only three of them were earned. David Wright and Jose Reyes have got to step up their defense-they have had periods of times where they have played well, but too often they make errors in big spots they have caused the Mets some games. The Mets were without Carlos Delgado who sat because of a sore hip. 

Game 2: Mets 4 Braves 3 (10 innings) Mike Pelfrey pitched seven strong innings, he allowed just two runs on six hits, he walked only one.  JJ Putz came into the game in the eight and stunk up the joint-he allowed one run on one hit while walking two.  Amazingly, after saying in spring training that he had no problem being the set up man Putz has changed his tune; apparently, he has admitted that he is having trouble getting excited to pitch the eighth inning-the adrenaline isn’t there! This is the kind of crap that annoys me to all hell.  Seriously, just shut up and do your job-by the way-I think it is worth noting that when you did have some adrenaline last year in Seattle you still weren’t all that great.  He claims that he is healthy but that, I believe will remain to be seen.  This was a great extra innings game; the Mets had not scored a run until they scored two in the bottom of the eighth off a Jose Reyes double-too bad Reyes was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.  In the ninth, the Mets tied the game, Carlos Beltran hit a double and with one out stole third-Chipper Jones was very unhappy with the call-but early in the game David Wright thrown out at second on stolen base attempt earlier in the game (and he was clearly safe) so I guess the game sometime hinges on bad calls, Chipper.  Oh and by the way, he was safe.  Anyway, Beltran scored on a sac fly by Luis Castillo.  In the bottom of the 10^th the Mets loaded the bases on a single by Reyes who stole second, Alex Cora was intentionally walked, Ramon Castro walked to load the based. Carlos Beltran came to bat with the bases loaded, Braves reliever Jeff Bennett walked him which scored the winning run.  For a second straight night, Delgado was not in the lineup.   

Game 3: Braves 8 Mets 7 (12 innings) This was a classic Mets Braves battle. The Mets had Jonathan Niese on the mound and lets just say, he didn’t pitch as well as the Mets would have liked. The Braves put up a two spot in the top of the first, but, the Mets came back and scored two in the bottom of the inning. The Braves would take the lead to make it 4-2 but in the bottom of fourth, Fernando Tatis hit a Grand Slam to put the Mets ahead 6-4. The Braves scored the go ahead run in the top of the eighth but the Mets fought back and tied the game in the bottom of the eighth on a homerun by Gary Sheffield.  The game went into extra innings but in the end the Mets couldn’t pull it off.  Ken Takahashi gave up a solo homer to Martin Prado to lead of the 12^th.  The Mets had a chance, Reyes lead off with a double and Castillo moved him over with a sac bunt, but with a guy on third, both Beltran and Sheffield stuck out to end the game.

The worst part about dropping two of three to the Braves is that the Mets could have won all three of these games. I think Jose Reyes had the worst series of his life. His defense, his base running, his show boating…this kid needs to get his head on straight.

Also worth nothing, for a third straight game, the Mets were without Carlos Delgado. The Mets have come out and said that if Delgado isn’t feeling better by Friday they will put him on the DL. This could spell trouble for the Mets. Delgado’s power can’t be replaced by a platoon at first; as much as I like Tatis, I would be remiss to believe that he could take over for Delgado.

Mets Blog

Game 1 Mets 1 Phillies 0  The Johan Show continues.  A masterful 7 inning, 3 hit, O run, 10 K performance. Don’t mess with the Johan. (sidebar: “Don’t Mess with the Zohan” was one of the most horrible pieces of cinematic crap ever put to film. Even my 10 yr old nephew turned it off. Couldn’t take it.) Santana was matched pitch for pitch by Chan Ho Park, who tossed 6 scoreless.  Wasn’t it me who stated last week that Park looked like he should have retired four years ago?  It’s amazing what a little motivation will do for you as Park had been told this may well be his last appearance unless he looked better.  VOILA!! Transformed into Chan Ho Park circa 2000. ( He was 18-10 with LA that year for you noobs )

My husband said to me as it was scoreless into the sixth ..”don’t you feel as if the Mets will do something dumb in the field to cost them the game?”  HA! WRONG!  For it was the Phils who made the crucial mistake.  With Carlos Delgado on first via a walk, Fernando Tatis pinch hit for Jeremy Reed.  Durbin, now pitching for Philly, broke Tatis’ bat resulting in a slow roller down third.  Pedro Feliz scooped it up and tried to throw on the run. Uh..bad job. The throw was so wide of first that Elastic Man from the Fantastic 4 couldn’t have made the play.  Delgado kept running as the throw rolled into right field.  As Delgado rounded third, Jayson Werth picked up the errant throw and promptly had brain freeze. Werth held the ball, triple pumped and finally let go as Delgado scored the only run of the game.

You know, you hear guys are good all the time but until you see them everyday, you don’t realize just HOW good they really are. And that’s the story with Santana. This guy is the GOODS. I would find it hard to believe that Halladay is better. A great pitcher, no doubt, but better?  No way!  Against Santana, batters are hitting, I believe, .048 with runners in scoring position that is 1 for 21; he really bears down with runners on and THAT is what makes a great pitcher. 

Mets Blog

Game 1 Marlins 5 Mets 4. The Mets wasted a great pitching effort by John Maine. Maine who hadn’t pitched since the end of August, was great in his return.  In five innings he allowed two runs on two hits (both homers) walked one and stuck out five, retiring 12 of the last 13 hitters he faced.  In all, the Mets stranded 14 base runners. It was a ninth inning pinch hit single by Jeremy Reed that tied the game at four; when Reed came to the plate, the Mets had gone 0-10 with runners in scoring position.  In all, the Mets would strand 14 runners finishing the game 1-12 with runners in scoring position.  Luis Castillo was a nightmare, at the end of the game, he was hitting .100 and had stranded six runners. While we can say all we want about it being early in the season; this is a problem of not hitting with runners in scoring postion (both for Castillo and the rest of the Mets) dates back to last season. The bullpen didn’t actually hold up their end of the bargain either. Sean Green, Bobby Parnell each allowed a run, and Darren O’Day allowed an inherited run to score (a guy Pedro Felicano left on base). 

Game 2 Mets 8 Marlins 4. This game was closer than it needed to be.  Livan Hernandez made his Mets debut, he looked good. Hernandez pitched six and two thirds innings allowing two runs on six hits, he walked three and struck out four.  Darren O’Day worked a scoreless eight inning but ran into some trouble when David Wright made a throwing error in the bottom of the ninth, O’Day faced one more hitter before Frankie Rodriguez came in to finish out the game.  I don’t know what is up with David Wright; we’ve seen him do some nice work with the glove but for whatever reason he can’t seem to throw to first.  As far as offense goes, Jose Reyes was 2-5 with an RBI double and a two run homer.  What is even more amazing, Luis Castillo was 4-4 with one RBI and three runs scored, he started the night hitting .100 at the end of the game his average went up to .375 (gotta love what the early season can do for the batting average).  Jerry Manual told Castillo that he needs to be more aggressive at the plate and for at least one night that worked.  Oh-David Wright did have an RBI in the game, but it was off the brick that Dan Uggla uses as a glove, and it came when the game was 6-2. 

Game 3 Mets 1 Marlins 2. Not much to tell here.  Johan pitched his ass off; but Josh Johnson pitched better.  Johnson owns the Mets and now has a 5-0 record against the Mets.  The hitters couldn’t get much going; they finally scored a run in the top of the ninth inning but fell short when Ryan Church flied out to end the game.  The bigger part of all of this is that Daniel Murphy dropped a fly ball with two out in the second; one run to scored and then Ronnie Paulino hit a single to drive in the second unearned run.  The New York press is making a big deal because Johan commented after the game that the differences in the game was the error.  There has been a lot of back and forth about what Johan said, personally I read the quotes in the paper and watch the post game interview and my opinion is…his comments weren’t a big deal. 

The Padres come to town for three games and the opening of Citi Field. The Mets will have Pelfrey, Perez and Maine pitching against the Padres.

Mets Blog