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 Mets 6 Braves 4  John Maine evened his record at 2-2 as the Mets edged the Braves 6-4.  Maine pitched fairly well as he only had a one inning meltdown, much like Pelfrey did two nights ago against the Phils.  Maine imploded in the second giving up three runs on three walks and an error by Luis Castillo.  John threw much better afterward seemingly relying more on his fastball.  Maine had to be grateful for Jordan Schafer though; the rookie CF for Atlanta leads the league in K’s so far and every time Maine needed a big out, guess who was up?  Maine struck out Schafer swinging twice in big spots to keep the Mets in it.  The Mets trailed 3-0 going into the sixth when Carlos Beltran and David Wright each hit two run HR’s to give the Mets the lead.  Beltran added another two run shot in the seventh.  Javier Vazquez had only given up one HR so far this year before giving up three tonite.  Bobby Parnell, JJ Putz and Frankie Rodriguez closed it out.  Parnell has been awesome so far. Putz gave up a HR to Chipper, what else is new? It’s only his 40^th HR against the Mets.  And Rodriguez notched his 6^th save in 6 chances.  

Game 2  Mets 4 Braves 3  Livian Hernandez tossed 6 1/3 strong innings to pace the Mets.  Ramon Castro had three hits while Carlos Delgado, David Wright and Carlos Beltran had two each. Beltran is now hitting .404.  Please keep it up there Carlos.  The game was closer than it had to be.  The Mets took a 4-1 lead into the ninth with Rodriguez on the hill but a dropped pop up by Delgado lead to two unearned runs. K-Rod refocused to close it out to preserve the win.  Kenshin Kawakami started for Atlanta and definitely caught Keith’s attention in the booth. Everything Kawakami threw was outside.  One after another. Outside, outside, outside. Keith was explaining that the players should be watching this from the bench and adjusting as they went to the plate.  Castro seemed to do this as his three hits were to the opposite field.  At one point Keith even was counting how many pitches were outside as opposed to inside.  When a graphic appeared onscreen stating Kawakami had thrown 89 pitches to that point, keith exclaimed..” and I bet 81 of them have been outside!”.  I miss Keith when he’s not there.  

Mets begin a set with the Phillies at Citifield with another segment of must see TV because Santana will be on the mound against Chan Ho Park.

Mets Blog

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 Mets 4 Nationals Johan Santana was great again. Santana gave up only a 6^th inning HR to Nick Johnson while striking out 10. Mets scored single runs in the 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th and 8^th innings to get Johan his third win. Jesus Flores homered in the ninth off K-Rod to make it close. Uh..with our stellar catchers, how did we let Flores get away? 

Game 2  Mets 8 Nationals 2 Three errors and five walks by the visitors helped the Mets win going away.  Carlos Beltran had three hits and Ryan Church knocked in three to pace the Amazin’s attack. Mike Pelfrey was much better in his return from tendonitis in his forearm. I knew only one other guy who developed tendonitis in his forearm but that was from…uh, nevermind.

Game 3 Nationals 8  Mets 1 Oliver Perez reverts to form giving up 7 earned in 4 1/3. Manuel says Perez will get one more start in the Phillie series before a decision is made on his immediate future. Ollie is now sportin’ a 9.31 ERA. Nice work if you can get it for $12 million per. Jesus Flores homered again. He was 5 for 8, 3 runs scored, 5 RBI and 2 HR’s in the two games he played. Think he might get up a little more against the team that let him go?

Mets Blog

Game 1: Mets 5 Brewers 4 Highlighted by Gary Sheffield’s 500^th HR the Mets were able to come from behind to edge the Brewers. Livian Hernandez looked good thru 5 innings but lost it in the 6^th. You could see it coming too. Jerry Manuel left Livian in there a bit too long and he surrendered a 3 run homer to Ryan Braun leaving the Mets on the short side of a 4-3 deficit. Sheffield took care of that with a pinch hit HR to tie it in the 7^th. It was a good AB by Sheff too. Fouled off quite a few pitches before getting one on the inside half that he deposited in the left field stands. The Mets won it in the bottom of the ninth when an infield hit from Castillo scored Carlos Delgado from third. 

Game 2: Mets 1 Brewers 0 This is what is going to be known as a “chalkboard” game from here on out. As in “this is how we draw it up on the chalkboard”. Santana goes 7 strong (more on Johan later), Putz in the 8^th and Frankie Rodriguez in the 9^th for the save. This is how we envisioned it isn’t it? The Mets scored the only run of the game in the 7^th on a walk to Castro, an error by Weeks trying to take the throw at first on a sac bunt by Cora, and a hot shot by Reyes. And I mean a HOT SHOT. After Omir Santos made it to third on the error (he was pinch running for Castro. How often do you see a catcher pinch run? But I could run faster than Castro.) But back to Reyes, he knocked the glove off Villanueva’s hand. Seriously. I’m not kidding. He hit a liner back to the box that ripped the glove of his hand. The Brewers got a force at second but the only run of the game had already scored. Santana has now given up one, that’s right, one earned run in three starts. ERA…0.46. Yet, he’s only 2-1. But when Johan is on the mound its must see T.V.

Game 3: Brewers 4  Mets 2 The Mets were like 2 for a million with runners in scoring position leaving a thousand guys on base. Suppan pitched well enough to win and Todd Coffey got an eight out save. Don’t see that too often anymore. Coffey was able to wiggle out of bases loaded, one out, jams in the 7^th and 8^th. He got double plays both times. Both on hard hit shots by Delgado and Santos. Sometimes you hit ‘em right at ‘em. This leaves the Mets hitting .236 with RISP so far this year. Twelve games is not a lot so far but this seems to be a continuation from last year. Let’s hope not. 

But are twelve games enough to get a read? Let’s see, 6-6. Hitting? Eh. Bullpen? Great, lowest ERA in the majors so far. Starters? Santana and Hernandez are good; Maine, Pelfrey and Ollie are erratic. Didn’t we know that already?

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

Thursday: Mets 6 Reds 8  Oliver Perez took the loss, he worked just four and a third, allowing eight earned runs; he walked five and struck out seven.  And here is what I don’t get-really I don’t get it, he looked dominant early, he did strike out seven but then suddenly he just stinks-how does that happen?  And how is it that a guy who is as talented as he is just loses it in the middle of a game?  Every time he pitches like this-we, as Mets fans are going to be thinking about how we dropped the ball (so to speak) with Lowe.  The bullpen really kept the Mets in the game once Ollie was pulled, but the offense just didn’t come back.  The Mets scored first putting a three spot on the board in the third to take the lead and although the Mets didn’t throw in the towel after Ollie gave up eight, scoring one run in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, in the end they fell short. 

There was a Gary Sheffield sighting, he struck out as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning of yesterday’s game.  I’m not sure that Ryan Church has a lot to worry about at this point, his defense is outstanding-did you catch that play on Monday?  On top of that Church is hitting .455 with two doubles and two RBI.  I’m rooting for Church!  

Clearly, the Mets rotation is going to be a topic of conversation. They did little in the off season to address that situation. Pelfrey had a tough outing as did Perez. We know that they both have talent, but do they have guts? We’ll see what happens with Maine tonight. Obviously there are no worries with Santana. Hernandez is a work horse and has looked good this spring. Who cares how good the bullpen might be if our starters are going out there and giving up five or six runs a start. 

The Mets will fly east to Miami to start a three game series with the Marlins. John Maine will face off against Anibal Sanchez, game time is 7:10 p.m. 

Our thoughts go out to the family of Nick Adenhart and the Los Angles Angels of Anaheim. 

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