Wednesday, July 30, 2008

No surprises

Yep, that game played out just the way you would have thought. Joe Smith gave up a 2 run homer to Uggla, just to depress me even more. The Mets got the winning run to the plate in the ninth but Reyes made the final out. The Phillies went on to win, so the Mets are a game out of first again. Looks like an old timey pennant race! Especially since the Mets are letting the Marlins back in it too - very accommodating of them.

Even Pelfreys Gets the Blues

Great, now even Mike Pelfrey got knocked out - is there no god? He gave up 5 in the 4th. Muniz came on and pitched two good innings (4 Ks). It's the bottom of the 7th. The Mets have come back on a 3 run shot by Easley - they are back in it but still trailing 5-4. Meanwhile, the Phils are comfortably in front of the Nationals. Goodbye first place?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

A day with solid pitching

The Mets defeated the Marlins 4-1 on a day when Oliver Perez, Aaron Heilman, and Billy Wagner all pitched effectively. Delgado (2 run homer), Wright, and Beltran drove in the Mets runs.

The Mets led off the game with 3 straight doubles, but netted only 1 run, a feat accomplished when Reyes was thrown out while trying to stretch his double into a triple. Why he was trying to do this with none out, I can't say.

Monday, July 28, 2008

It's the Bullpen, Stupid

Jerry Manuel was sitting in the dugout, looking disgusted, as this time Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis were the Designated Hittees, blowing a 3-2 lead and John Maine's solid 7 innings by allowing a 5 run 8th and a 7-3 loss to the Marlins. I think Manuel will be hoping that the Mets can deal for one legitimate pitcher to ease this problem, but this hasn't even been rumored. There are rumblings about Ramirez and other hitters possibly coming over, but nothing to ease the one in-your-face weakness that the Mets have. And from what I have read, none of their minor league arms are going to step in and do it.

My Neighborhood Team

I grew up in Flushing, New York, about 10 minutes from Shea Stadium. Maybe this is part of the reason I love(d) the Mets so much. They really were my neighbors. That stadium seemed even larger as a kid, like one of the 7 wonders of the world or something.

First they changed the name to Sh***tiField, and now they are going to close it down altogether. Why is that again? If you demolish it, they will come? Something like that.

Anyway, I'm sure the new park will be great, although frankly I don't care and have taken no interest in what it is going to look like. I'll still be a Mets fan. It won't affect that, but some of the familiar shapes, dimensions, and memories will fade, and that can't be a good thing.

But they will still be my neighborhood team.

Good morning!

Since I'm on the other side of the world, day games in New York happen while I am asleep. So my morning gift was well-appreciated: a comprehensive 9-1 win for the Mets. Santana pitched a complete game five-hitter, the Mets first complete game since 2006. Wright, Tatis, and Castro homered, but the highlight might have been Carlos Beltran's running straight back to the wall and robbing Ludwick of a home run. Watching Beltran run is a thing of beauty, and he had to time the leap perfectly.

This was a 'complete' game in more ways than one; power and clutch hitting, great pitching, amazing fielding.

Even with all that, it was only one win, and the Phils won too, so the Mets hold on first place is just one game.

I still can't believe they are in first, not with the way they were playing for the first 3 months of the season. Thank goodness for the length of baseball seasons - although that proved to be a burden last year, if I recall.

Click here for a link to the wrap of the Mets 9-1 win over the Phils on July 27th, 2008

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Same old weakness (pitching)

I suppose the Mets got what they expected from Brandon Knight. He gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, not exactly settng the world on fire, but probably as good as you would expect from a guy who has only been able to get a handful of major league innings in his 10 year career. Despite the mediocre effort, the Mets bats, led by Delgado and Tatis, still managed to tie it after 9. But this time, Aaron Heilman gave up the winning runs. Has Heilman ever been effective? Sorry, I don't have the knowledge of recent Mets history on a day to day basis like some of you people.

I'm being lazy; I'll look up his stats on baseball-reference.com.

Okay. It looks like Heilman is having an off year (1-4 won-loss, and ERA at 4.70) after 3 straight years when his ERA was 3 and change.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Another win and only one suspect area

The Mets rolled again today, with the usual suspects performing well. Jose Reyes tripled to drive in two. Delgado cracked a home run, and newcomer Argenis Reyes hit his first major league homer (a solo shot in the eighth) and drove in another run earlier, with a two-out, two-strike single. The Mets dugout gave Reyes a brief silent

The only suspect area remains the Mets bullpen. Almost everyone except Joe Smith looks like an easybeat, or at least hittable. Joe Smith pitched the eighth and gave up a double and a walk, but worked out of trouble. In the ninth, Duaner Sanchez gave up 2 singles and a walk to load the bases. Aaron Heilman came in and got out of it with only 1 run scoring, so perhaps I'm being harsh on the pen. Only Sanchez was miserable.

Over in Georgia, I was pleased to see the Braves score 7 runs in the top of the ninth to pummel the Phillies 8-2. So the Mets are 2 games in first now!

Brandon Knight to pitch Saturday night

With Pedro Martinez taking time out to deal with the loss of his father, the Mets have named perennial minor league Brandon Knight to take his place on Saturday night. Knight, a 32 year old right-hander, had a brief stint in the majors in 2001 and 2002 for the Yankees, where he pitched 19 plus innings for a 10.71 ERA. Obviously, the Mets are hoping for at least a 50% improvement on those numbers. They are hoping he pitches more like he has been doing this year in the minors, where ha has assembled a 5-1 record, a 1.60 ERA, and has fanned 49 in his 39 innings. My question is: what was Brandon doing in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007? There are no records (minor or major) for his during these years.

First place!

After what could be termed an embarrassing loss in the first game of the Phillies series, the Mets did exactly what they had to do: they won the next two games in convincing style, taking the series 2-1 and plunking themselves in sole possession of first place for the first time since April 19th. They did it with solid starting pitching (Maine and Perez), clutch hitting (Wright and Delgado) and their one dependable bullpen ace, Billy Wagner.

I don't think the Mets are currently one of the better teams in baseball - they are going to have to play a lot better for the remainder of the season to change my mind about that - but they do have me reasonably convinced that they can be the best of the mediocre selection available in the National League East.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Did he really say that?

Somewhere back in 2006, in the recesses of my mind, I seem to recall a quote from Omar Minyana saying that good hitting beats good pitching. Sacrilege! Did he really say that? It would explain why the Mets seemed to have stacked their batting order, but also seem a little lacking in true gems on the mound. That came back to haunt them today. Minyana did well to get Johan Santana, and Santana pitched well. (And, in retrospect, I'm sure Jerry Manual wishes he had let the 105 pitch Santana continue into the 9th inning). But instead, the Mets bullpen, without the resting Billy Wagner, blew a three run lead. Now the Mets are a game out of first again. Needless to say, they must win the next two games of this homestand or risk propelling the Phillies back into good form.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Tied for the Top

The Mets scrounged out a 7-5 extra inning win against the Reds to put them back into a first-place tie with the Phillies. Those same slumping Phils are coming to Shea on Tuesday for a crucial three game series.

On a negative note, Mike Pelfrey gave up a couple of long balls and joined the lengthening list of starters who have not been able to recreate their pre-allstar form. click to view the Mets game summary

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Early Memories of a Mets Player with a Lanky Build

1967 Topps #91 - Johnny Lewis - Courtesy of CheckOutMyCards.com
One of my earliest memories of being a Mets fan was watching Johnny Lewis on TV. Johnny was the New York Mets outfielder from 1965 to 1967. For some reason, the incident that sticks in my mind is on Johnny stepping up to the plate, and the announcer saying, "Johnny Lewis: the fans like his lanky build." Over the years, I've thought this could have sounded condescending, but in 1965, this would have merely been looking on the bright side.

Johnny never really got the bat going. He was a lifetime .227 hitter, but in 1965, he had a career year, hitting .245 with 15 homers and 45 RBIs. I assume that, on some other team, he might have had about 70 RBIs, but I don't think the Mets were putting a lot of guys on base in front of him in 1965. Johnny's other claim to fame in 1965 was that he homered in the 11th inning to break up Jim Maloney's no-hitter and win the game for the Mets, 1-0. With wins rare at the time, this must have been a euphoric thrill for the fans.

Johnny was also an excellent fielder who was third in assists in 1965.

Johnny, thanks for providing some nice memories for this Mets fan!

Johnny Lewis - full stats at the Baseball Almanac

Say NO to All Star Games

I'm probably not the only Mets fans who wishes there was no such thing as an all-star game - and an all-star break.

When the Mets were sailing before the break, I wondered if they would be able to continue their run afterward. Why change anything when things are going well? Well, they did manage to win one more game after the break, but even in that one, big cracks were beginning to show in their starting and relieving pitching. Sure enough, now they have lost two in a row, in a style that suggests that they may have fallen back into familiar, negative patterns.

Once again today, the pitchers were ineffective (although Oliver Perez pitched 6 solid innings. But Aaron Heilman, who said before the break that the ball was leaving his hand beautifully, was unable to close the door, and a big Reds inning became bigger. And now the bats have become silent.

Hopefully, this is only a blip, and the Mets can turn it around quickly. The Phillies helped out by losing, so the Mets are still only 1 game out.

Here's a link to an article on today's game

Friday, July 18, 2008

yep, it's over

Well, the streak is over. The Mets finally got done in by two sub-standard starting performances in a row. The Reds win 5-2, and the Mets streak has ended at 10 games.

Down in Florida, the Phillies are leading the Marlins 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth. If they hold on for the win, The Mets brief visit to first place will also end.

Not again

It's the bottom of the seventh inning in game 2 of the Mets / Reds series, and, once again, the Mets are trailing deep into a ballgame. Their starter (this time, John Maine) was knocked out in the 5th, almost exactly like yesterday, when Santana was knocked out in the 4th. Yesterday, the Mets came back from nowhere. That was exhilarating. But you can't consistently win games like that. The streak is really in jeopardy now...and the Reds have now loaded the bases with 2 out...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Was it really 39 years ago?

During the Mets current streak, one article mentioned that the Mets pitchers were pitching '...like they did 39 years ago.' Was it really that long ago? The memories, or, more accurately, the warm feelings of joy - are still intense.

39 years ago, it was 1969. I was 11 years old, and the Mets were a little younger than me: just a child of a team. They had struggled through 7 unimpressive years of some wins and many more losses. As a child, I didn't care. I loved that team. So did their many fans. I loved them as losers, which made loving them as winners that much more enjoyable. A baseball miracle happened in 1969; the perennial cellar dwellers came from nowhere to win the World Series. For many children, it was a dream come true - to have the team you love win everything. It made you think that anything was possible. A man walking on the moon? Easy. The Mets winning the World Series? Why not!

So thanks to the 2008 Mets, who wear the same uniforms as their predecessors did 39 years ago, and, now...they can say that they are pitching the same way too.

10 in a row!

The Mets ace pitcher got clobbered and knocked out in the bottom of the fourth. The Mets bullpen surrendered the lead and had their long scoreless innings streak broken. But somehow, the Mets still found a way to retake the lead by scoring four runs in the top of the ninth inning. Then Billy Wagner came in for the bottom of the ninth, threw 8 fastballs, and it was over. The Mets had somehow, despite the heartaches, extended their winning streak to 10 games.