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  Mets 7 Phillies 4 The Mets took an early lead on a Daniel Murphy HR in the first and never looked back. Chan Ho Park started for Phillies and looked like he should have retired four years ago.  The real story was Mike Pelfrey who pitched better than his line indicated.  He only went 5 1/3 giving up 3 earned but it’s deceiving.  He had a minor meltdown in the 3^rd giving up all 3 runs but threw the ball well otherwise.  What you need to look for with Pelfrey is groundballs. His groundball to flyball ratio tonite was 2-1.  10 grounders to 5 balls in the air.  That shows you he’s got good stuff that particular game.  Mike also knocked in 2 runs with a sac fly and a single.

Game 2  Phillies 6 Mets 5 (10 innings) This is a game the Mets could have/should have won. In spite of the dreadful performance by Ollie Perez the Mets had a one run lead in the sixth but the Phils tied it on a HR by Raul Ibanez. This guys hitting like he’s Ty Cobb re-incarnate.  Pedro Feliciano gave up HR’s to Ibanez and Utley in the two games. Now Pedro’s job is to get lefty’s out, if he’s not doing that, well…. In fairness to Feliciano, giving up a HR in this bandbox is not hard to do.  Murphy hit two HR’s here, if that don’t tell you something, I don’t what will.  MLB should look into what a joke this place is.  No wonder the Phillies have three MVP candidates, all stats are inflated playing 81 games in this whiffle ball stadium.  The Mets battled today though. After Perez had them behind the eight ball early I thought they were in trouble with Jamie Moyer on the hill for Philadelphia.  But the Mets chipped away and went ahead in the sixth on back to back HR’s by Murphy and Castro and a single from Castillo which scored Alex Cora.  Let me take a moment to say how impressed I am with Cora.  What a heady, fundamentally sound player. A great addition.  The Phils tied it on the aforementioned HR by Ibanez in the bottom of the inning.  The Mets almost took the lead back in the eighth but Jason Werth threw out Omir Santos at the plate.  JJ Putz looked as good as I’ve seen him so far tossing a scoreless eighth and ninth.  Sean Green came in for the tenth (Was Rodriguez unavailable?) and promptly became the pitching version of Rick Ankiel.  A slow roller down to third for an infield hit seemed to unnerve Green.  Two walks and a hit batter and it was the Mets walking off losers of a game they could have taken.

Game 3 Rained Out..No make up announced yet. 

What to do with Ollie Perez?  On Saturday after his brutal performance (9.97 ERA for the season) Ollie said he was embarrassed and would accept a minor league assignment to work on his pitching or lack thereof.  By Sunday he had though better of this and had cooled to the idea.  But now, all of a sudden, according to him his knee hurts and has been hurting since spring training.  Hmmmm.  Can you say DL?  Kinda like Wang of the crosstown evil empire.  He went on the DL and is working it out in the Yanks minor league facility in Tampa.  Ollie is only 1/3 as bad as Wang was.  Wang’s ERA is, like, 34.50 or something.  Ollie’s giving up 24 less runs per game than that.  But what’s the difference if you accept a minor league assignment or go on the DL and go work out at the minor league facility? Perception?  Whatever lets these high strung prima donnas sleep at night I guess.

Game1 Mets 7 Marlins 1 The Mets got 6 in the first off Anibel Sanchez and that was the ballgame. Omir Santos, starting over Castro, again, slugged a grand slam for his first career homer. John Maine was able to over come the dropped routine fly to left by Gary Sheffield in the first inning going on to pitch his best game of the year.  Sheffield reemed himself in the bottom of the first hitting an RBI single to tie the game.  Maine looked sharp and was able to put hitters away when he got ahead. Six strong innings, allowing only one hit. Nice job John. Also, hitting Hanley Ramirez on the hand in the first? Knocking him out for the remainder of the series? That WAS an accident, right?

What is it with LF in Citifield? We already know about Murphy’s misadventures out there and now Sheff drops a can of corn. And Hermida almost let one get over his head too. Lights? Wind currents? Ghosts of leftfielders past? Stay tuned. 

Game 2 Marlins 7 Mets 4 Mets had 3-0 and 4-2 leads before Sean Green came in to pour gasoline on the fire, giving up 4 runs in the 7^th. Green is now sportin’ a stellar 8.49 ERA. Nice. This makes four games so far where the Mets have had leads of at least 3 runs and lost the game. Not only was the bullpen to blame, remember the 4-0 lead over the cards that Ollie gave up? Sheesh. On the positive side, nobody can get Beltran out right now. I hope he keeps it up. And how about Bobby Parnell? Looking very good. Maybe he needs an increased role in the grand scheme of things.

Game 3 Marlins 4 Mets Another installment of the Johan show. After giving up two in the first on a triple by Maybin and a homer by Cantu, Johan shut the Fish down for the rest of the day. The Mets chipped away and went ahead in the 6^th on Fernando Tatis’ first HR of the year. In fact, the first video review for Citifield. And lo and behold, the umps had it right the whole time. And remember when we diagrammed the so called “chalkboard game”? Well, JJ Putz busted the chalkboard over his head blowing the lead in the 8^th after walking the first two hitters he faced. Are you kidding me?? It kills me when relievers come in and walk guys like that. Kills me.

I’m sure Johan ain’t feelin’ it either. Mets should have swept this series and now are 9-12. Uh-oh.  David Wright had a particularly tough day. Struck out in the first with a runner at second, two out. Grounded into DP with runners on first and third and one out in the 3^rd. Struck out, looking, with two on in the ninth. And, oh yeah, an error in the 4^th after which Johan had to pitch his ass off to get out of the jam. And speaking of asses, Wright better get his head outta his.  

Side note. Have you ever seen more triples in your life?   There’s, like, two a game. Gonna tire out these guys.

Mets Blog

Game 1: Cardinals 6 Mets 4  Another poor outting by the overpaid Oliver Perez.  Perez pitched 4.2 innings allowing four earned runs on six hits.  He walked five and stuck out four.  I know that Perez has good numbers against the Phillies, Braves and Yankees, and yes, those are big games for the Mets-games the fans really want to win, but if Perez can’t pitch to the teams in between those series, then he is useless to the Mets.  Really though, the Mets had this one and again, scored early and the bats died late.  Also, I’d like to stop hearing how the Mets should have signed Derek Lowe-I really believe that he didn’t want to pitch in New York; the only problem now is that the Mets will have to contend with him in their division-and it seems that Lowe is the only good thing the Braves have going for them at this point in the season.  This is also a game that Daniel Murphy would like to forget; terrible base running and even worse fielding did not really make this one of Dan’s best days.  I know the kid is playing out of position and at the beginning of the season, I felt the Mets were hoping that Castillo would get off to a good start so that they might have the possibility of moving him by or before the trade deadline and actually moving Murphy to second base, there is no indication that the Mets are going to do that it is merely wishful thinking on my part!  You can now point to two games that poor defense by Murphy has cost the Mets a win-I’d like to not have to hold my breath every time a ball is hit in his direction, it has become quite an adventure out there in left these days! 

Game 2: Cardinals 5 Mets 2 Oh look, more of the same.  Putrid pitching by John Maine put the Mets in a hole early, Maine gave up one in the first, two in the third and two in the fourth inning.  Maine walked five while only striking out two.  Again, the Mets left 11 guys on base;  Carlos Beltran continued to swing a hot bat, but David Wright seems to night be able to do anything at the plate when there is a guy on base-if the Mets are going to do anything, Wright has got to pick it up at the plate.

Game 3: Cardinals 12 Mets 8  Guess what happend in this game?  Oh-right, more awful pitching, more guys left on base, 20 to be exact.  Albert Pujols punished mets pitchers by hitting two homers (but what Cardinal didn’t get a hit?).  Not only did Livian struggle but Sean Green, who has been less than impressive stunk too.  The best thing about this game is, it was the last of the three game series which means the Mets return home to start a three game series with the Nationals.  Not that that will be a given for the Mets as they’ve had trouble with the Nats in recent years. 

Mike Pelfrey will return to the rotation on Saturday after resting a strained forearm-I can’t even predict what we’ll see.  There is talk that Mike Pelfrey (and possibly Oliver Perez) could be sent down if they don’t perfom well.  I’m sure it is just talk because what other options do they have? 

Mets Blog

The mets dropped another series, this time to the Pods, to start the season at 4-5. 

Game 1 – Padres 6 Mets 5 Mike Pelfrey looked shaky (Now we know it’s forearm tendonitis) again.  David Wright brought the Amazins’ back with a three blast but bad outfield “D’ costs the mets for second game in a row. After Daniel Murphy staggered around like a drunk under a fly ball in Miami, Ryan Church turned the wrong way and had a long drive go off his glove for a three base error.  It was hardly a routine play but this IS the majors after all.  This proved to be the deciding play as this runner scored the go ahead run.  I know the guys are still getting use to their new surroundings, but as a team they have made eight errors.  Jerry Manual mentioned that he would like for the Mets to play better defense.  Gee..thanks Skip!

Game 2- Mets 7 Padres 2 Shoddy play by the Friars led to a victory by the home team. The Mets scored 4 runs in the 7^th to break open a close game. This may have been the WORST inning I’ve seen a big league team play in quite some time.  Four runs on no hits. Yeah, I know, Luis Castillo was credited with a hit.  Really?  Bitch, please.  Walks, errant throws around the bases, wild pitches.  Jose Reyes scored from first and he was only tryin’  to steal second.  Solid game for Ollie.  Good job by Manual for getting him outta there on a high note. 

Game 3—Padres 6 Mets 5 John Maine was bad. End of story.  After being staked to a 3 run lead on a long (449ft) HR by Carlos Delgado in the first, maine gave up 5 in the third and one more in the fifth.  Time after time Maine gets a guy down 0-2 or 1-2 and can’t put him away. He’s GOT to develop another pitch.  Fastball up and slider low and away is not cutting it anymore. SD’s LF Headley went 4-4 and was down in the count each time. The difference between elite pitchers and journeymen was on display clearly last night.  Jake Peavy gave up Delgado’s HR then shut the door.  Time after time the Mets had runners in scoring position but Peavy got big outs when it counted.  This is something I’ve noticed Santana does as well. Buckle down with runners on and get out of it.

I think what is most frustrating is the Mets let guys like Heath Bell and Duaner Sanchez shut them out like that.  I know the Mets as a team have said all kinds of stuff about last season and growing as a team and moving on; but really the Mets didn’t have much life in these three games and I do think we are getting close to the point where we might have to start to worry.  The staring pitching has stunk early (with the exception of Johan) and the Mets are still lacking those big hits with runners in scoring position.  The Brewers come to town for three-maybe that will spark something in the Mets when they get to see their old friend Willie Randolph.

On a side note, when Heath Bell came in to close the Mets down I couldn’t help but think how much he lookes like one of my favorite comics: 

Mets Blog

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

How is it that the 2008 season ended just like the 2007 season?  The Marlins spit in their eye two years in a row and laughed about it. The Mets?  Instead of fighting, instead of taking a cue from Johan Santana (who it turns out was pitching on a bum knee)-the Mets laid down and died.  This Mets’ team has no guts. How is it that nobody stood up and punched Hanley Ramirez in the mouth (figuratively speaking of course)? As much as I hate to say it, and I REALLY hate to say it, Shane Victorino (doesn’t he sound like a grade “B” gangster, Vic Torino, polyester suit and all) would not take this BS from anybody. And that’s basically what’s wrong with the Mets.

After Santana went out there on Saturday and pitched his guts out on one leg the Mets did almost nothing on Sunday. That’s why your leader can’t be a pitcher; he’s only out there every five days. The Mets need a fiery everyday player. The Mets need Keith Hernandez again. In the ’86 playoff against the Astros the Mets HAD to win game 6. There was no way they were winning a game 7 that year against Mike Scott. He was in their heads. So when the Mets had the lead in the ninth and Orosco on the mound, the story goes Keith went to Orosco on the mound and told him” If you throw any fastballs, anything but a slider, I’m going to kick your ass right here on the mound”. Is this true? Who knows? No one would admit it now. Not pc enough for the Pollyanna’s in the game today (of which Keith makes mention of almost every game…”It’s become such a gentlemen’s game” said with much disdain.) But this is exactly what they need, a kick ass, ask for names later leader.  Where to get one? I don’t know. And it’s hard to admit that. I don’t know who they need or what they need to give up to get this mystery leader.  

I can tell you that Scott Schoeneweis..GONE. Aaron Heilman…GONE, he can go pout about being a starter somewhere else. Can’t you just hear him? (whiney voice..”But I want to be a starter…”)  Luis Castillo…Gone Baby Gone!  Duaner Sanchez-Gone, go get arroz con pollo at 2am with someone else.  Moises Alou…can still hit, older than Ty Cobb…Gone. Marlon Anderson…gone pleeeese. Pedro Martinez..thanks for the memories (of Takin’ the money, not for big wins. By the way Pedro’s 32 wins as a Mets cost $1,611,424.00 each. Nice work if you can get it. ).  Ollie…probably gone with Boras as his agent.  We all know that we won’t see Billy Wagner as a Met again.

I waited to deal with the so-called “Core” players: Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado. There is a lot of talk here in NY of breaking up them up. I don’t think Reyes, Wright or Beltran are goin’ anywhere.  Carlos Delgado is a different story.  The Mets picked up his $12 million option. It would have cost $4 million to buy him out, so an outlay of $8 million.  There has been rumblings that they would move him if they could create a package with Delgado and assorted other pieces. Remember he didn’t want to come here anyway. He signed with the Marlins. 

Now the others:

Joe Smith-can be useful. Stays.  Pedro Feliciano…gotta get a couple a’ righty’s out once in awhile there Pedro. Stays.  Luis Ayala…looked good at times. Don’t think he can be full time closer but valuable. Stays  Ramon Castro…useful back-up-then again, he has to stay health-the past two years he’s missed significant playing time, he stays.  Nick Evans…young OF. Stays-Omar has said they think he can hit for power-I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  Ryan Church… him before concussions. Stays.  Brian Schneider…ok, can we upgrade?  Stays- But, rumor has been that Pudge is an idea for the upgrade-NO THANKS!  Daniel Murphy, you can hit, can you play second? Stays.  Argenis Reyes…like him. Hit .283 in AAA, how about here? Stays.  Fernando Tatis…came back to MLB to build church in hometown. Now that it’s built, will God still be smiling on him?  Stays.  Endy Chavez…was he still on the team after Manuel took over? Stays.  Damion Easley…like him, wants to be a gamer, hurt too much, old.  Probably stays if healthy.  Mike Pelfry…Duh!  Johan Santana …Like there is a question about this.  John Maine…Serious John though, can you put a guy away after getting two strikes and not let him foul off 30 pitches? Stays.  

So, where does that leave the Mets?  The Mets are in need of a left fielder, a second baseman, a starter and a closer. I think Derek Lowe is a gamer and Orlando Hudson would be a welcome addition at second. Can Evans and Murphy split left?  Did you see some of those fielding adventures they had out there?  Can you say Arizona Instructional League?  Will the Mets try to make Maine the closer?  He has the stuff. Can he pitch multiple days in a week?  He seems to get frustrated easily; can he handle the mental aspects of closing?  Uh…I guess there are a few questions the Mets need to answer right now. 

Here is my best guess:

Starting Rotation: Santana, Pelfry, Lowe, Maine and Niese.  Relievers: Smith, Feliciano, Kunz, Stokes, Ayala, and…your guess is as good as mine.  Infield: C Schneider and Castro, 1B Delgado, 2B Hudson, SS Reyes, 3B Wright Outfield: LF Evans /Murphy, CF Beltran, RF Church 

Mets Blog

Our Mets were able to muster a win last night against the Chicago “scrubs”. Did you recognize any of those guys? Ok, Edmonds…what’s he? A thousand years old now. I remember him with the angels when I was a kid and I’m old now. One name the Mets know for sure is Micah Hoffpauir. WHO? He only went 5 for 5 with 5 RBI. Wanna guess what his lucky number is?

Pedro Martinez started and as is his habit gave up a couple in the first. Some met fans here in NY want Pedro to close. How clueless can you be? Pedro has trouble getting loose and routinely gives up runs in his first inning. JUST what you need from your closer. Good call, losers.

Mets fell behind 6-3 and give them credit they scratched out runs in the 7^th, 8^th and 9th to win it. They got RBI singles from Robinson Cancel and Ramon Martinez (I still don’t know who this guy is) in the eighth and a very creative slide from Ryan Church. The ball beat him to the plate but he was able to avoid the tag by slipping around the catcher, running past the plate and diving back. He showed better moves than a contortionist.

The Mets began the ninth with a Jose Reyes single.  Daniel Murphy struck out trying to bunt him over. How come nobody in the major leagues can bunt? Also, the bunt sign was taken off after two strikes and Murphy tried again anyway. Listen, kid, don’t think too much, you may hurt yourself. Wright struck out in a big spot for the second straight night and for the umpteenth time in September. Reyes stole second so the Cubs walked Carlos Delgado to pitch to Carlos Beltran. Carlos came through with an RBI single to win it.

The Phillies were off so the Mets pick up a half game and are 1 game back with three to play. As for the Brewers, did you think the Pirates would really win? C’mon, be serious. The Brewers used 37 pitchers (not really only seemed like it) to hold Pitt to a single run. Milwaukee won it on a grand slam in the 10^th. They remain tied with the Mets as the cubs go Milwaukee for the final three games.

The Mets welcome the fish to Shea tonight. Stay tuned.

Mets Blog