Mets Game 25: Loss to Phillies
Phillies 10 Mets 5
So much for momentum.
If it wasn’t for that 9-1 homestand, I might have the feeling that nothing changed with the Mets from the last three years.
Game Notes
Johan Santana was terrible. Absolutely terrible. He allowed 10 earned runs on 8 hits and 2 walks — including 4 homeruns — in 3 2/3 innings. He threw too many pitches up in the zone and over the heart of the plate, and the Phillies didn’t let him get away with it. Though it could be argued that balls regularly fly out of Citizens Bank Park, at least three of those homers would’ve been out of just about any park, and CBP is no excuse for the other four hits — nor the bases-loaded walk to Jamie Moyer that forced in a run. Santana’s velocity was also a little worrisome, as it hovered around 89.
In contrast, Moyer barely broke 78 MPH, but kept the Mets off-balance, “holding” them to “only” 5 runs through 6 innings. The Mets pretty much threw in the towel after Santana left the mound.
Fernando Tatis hit a double, justifying his start over Ike Davis (not).
Gary Matthews, Jr. was 0-for-4 in the leadoff spot. He’s now hitting .139 on the season with a .244 OBP.
Jose Reyes was 1-for-13 with an RBI this weekend against the Phillies hitting in the three-hole.
David Wright hit a 3-run homer to give the Mets a 3-0 lead in the first frame. Santana, however, gave the Phillies two runs back in the bottom of the initial inning.
Rod Barajas went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer in the fourth that gave the Mets their second 3-run lead of the game. Santana, however, let that lead get away in the bottom of that inning as well.
Jeff Francoeur stole his second base of the season and threw out Moyer trying to score. He also was hit by another pitch, though he didn’t make any attempt whatsoever to get out of the way of Moyer’s 74-MPH changeup.
Fernando Nieve, who had not appeared in a game all month, finally got some work in, pitching a perfect seventh inning. He is on pace to appear in 97 games this season. No kidding — do the math.
Next Mets Game
The Mets will try to shake off the last two drubbings on Monday in Cincinnati. Oliver Perez faces Reds rookie Mike Leake at 7:10 PM.
I don’t think Santana finishes the season with anything better than a 4.50 ERA. His stuff is awful. He has no command. No velocity. I predict Jon Niese will win more games this year than Johan.
So what else have we learned over the past week? We learned Pelfrey and Johan will get spanked against teams with good offenses. Maine and Perez still need 100 pitches to get through 4 innings against weak offenses. The bullpen is still overworked. The offense shuts down after the opposition opens up a big lead. And Jerry Manuel is still a clueless manager. In summation:
– poor starting pitching
– a bullpen that will burn out by June
– an offense that can’t make up for the poor pitching
– bad management
– bad roster composition
Add these components together and we get 2 things:
1. A fanbase that got WAY ahead of itself thinking the Mets were back as a contending team
2. A LAST PLACE TEAM
This game was awful.
However, let’s not forget what we saw on the home stand, or for the rest of the season for that matter.
Time to move Reyes back to lead off to get him going.
Santana will turn it around. Even if he is not the ace we expect, he won’t give up ten runs every start.
The one thing I will say is Jerry needs to stop resting starters against division rivals.
The last I checked, the Mets were 8-2, which is good enough to call them the hottest team in baseball over the last 10 games. Sure, it’s a small sample but I’ll take it.
Obviously, some of us fans tend to look at things quite differently. I prefer to view sports as entertainment. And the last couple of weeks were quite entertaining for Met fans. Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself.
All things considered, the season has just entered its second month, there’s positive news on Carlos Beltran and my team’s 1/2 game out of first. I’ll take that too.
Dude; I don’t disagree with some of your points. Overall, I believe this team has performed better than expected. The Nats are a year or two away, the Marlins are about to can Fredi, the Braves are a mess and the Phil’s pen will be their downfall. I don’t believe it’s time to sound the abandon ship call.
After all, we could be Cubs fans. 🙂
gary s, I’m calling you out to defend why Reyes’ speed is “wasted” in the 3 hole. He is still fast. He can still score from first on a double by Bay (which is way more likely than Castillo doing that). He can still steal bases. I think the idea that he has to bat leadoff is flawed. I still hold that the all OBP and nothing else Castillo should bat leadoff and Reyes should bat second followed by Bay and then Wright then Davis then Francoeur then Pagan then Barajas. That lineup balances so it is not top heavy and has the nice lefty righty thing going on. But whatever gary, I know you and everyone else only cares about a meaningless stat that does not directly result in runs called the steal. I think it is useful and can make things happen (and I love that the Mets are aggressive) but Reyes batting leadoff for the sole purpose of stealing is just baseball fans stuck in an old way of thinking. Like that the 2nd hitter should be able to play hit and run. When was the last time the Mets even did that? It’s not why this team can’t score some nights.
However, if Jerry wants to do that, he should just go ahead and do it and stop giving Pagan/GMJ extra at-bats. He should just go ahead and bump everyone in the order from #2 to #9 up one spot, and then put Pagan/GMJ 9th. The ordering would remain the same every time through the order except the 1st (and the 1st time through would be an improvement), and you stop giving extra at-bats to backup outfielders.
So, ordering-wise, I’m almost okay with all of this. My bigger concern is that Reyes has been flat out awful since being moved to the 3-spot. Everyone else in the lineup has been doing better but I have to think that that’s more coincidence than as a direct result of Reyes batting #3. The real issue with Reyes is that he’s simply not producing.
Jason: I’ve had patience for 3+ years now. I’ve been rewarded with September collapses, incompetent managerial decisions, awful roster management, a plethora of injuries, and lots of late night headaches and nausea. Safe to say my patience has run quite thin.
Catchdog: 8-2 is terrific, but, to me, I see that type of success as more the exception than the rule. And to be that successful they needed an 0.69 ERA from Pelfrey, virtually flawless work from the bullpen, and some crazy beneficial breaks. When those things disappear, we get what we saw over the past 2 games: a team that loses to above-average competition by a combined score of 21-5.
In the end, I agree that baseball should be entertaining. Heck, I don’t see a dime if they succeed so I certainly have no vested interest if they win or lose. But, honestly, is losing 10-0 entertaining? Is watching your two best pitchers get slaughtered entertaining? Is watching the Phillies destroy your favorite team entertaining? In the end, the entertainment value of a club is tied into their success rate. If they aren’t successful, they aren’t entertaining. And the way I am forecasting the future, I don’t see the Mets being successful or entertaining for long stretches of this season.
Regarding the rest of the NL East: I think the Nats deserve more credit than you give them, the Marlins always have the Mets’ number, the Braves have just won 3 in a row, and the Phils’ bullpen was supposed to be their downfall the last 2 years, but hasn’t been. I envy your optimism, but I’m seriously not seeing the Mets stacking up with their rivals in 2010, and I’ve been saying that since January so the last 2 games have had little to do with my current mentality.
Mike: Again, I can’t be overreacting because I’ve been calling the Mets a last place team for months now. Let’s just say I decided to be more vocal about my feelings after watching the Mets get crushed on Saturday and Sunday.
Regarding Johan, again call me the eternal pessimist but I think his offseason surgery has little to do with his decline in velocity. His average speed per pitch has been in steady decline since he was traded from Minnesota, and is likely to continue to decline as he ages. It’s called getting old. You can’t remove his old elbow and give him that of a 24 year old. Surgery alleviates pain but does nothing to recover lost velocity. Not to mention further recovery won’t help him throw strikes to the opposing pitcher, or stop him from missing his target and throwing meatballs over the heart of the plate. He’ll continue to will his way through many games this season, and probably take advantage of some over-aggressive lineups in the process, but his best days are behind him now. What other team’s ace gives up 10 runs before the 4th inning is over? What other team’s ace maxes out at 90 MPH? What other team’s ace walks the pitcher with the bases loaded?
I think in the end it won’t matter where he is hitting… as long as he is hitting. He needs to get going because it is obvious that this team needs to hit to succeed and a great year from Jose is a must to have that.
Not that I like to be a topper but add all of your 3 1/2 year issues the fact that I actually live outside of Philly and we are getting close to my nightmare.
The last time we were in a must win situation, Glavin chose to have his worst day(and last in a Mets uniform). It was like he was showing all the fans that he was really only here for the money so it didn’t matter that much to him. Now I know that last night was not a ‘must win’ however if there was a game to announce to the rest of the NL that we are here and will stick around for a bit it was last night with our ‘ace’ on the mound. Johan can now be added to the list of Mets who are not ‘clutch players’… this list seems to have more players in it than our ‘gamers’ list…and that, as a fan of this team, is disheartening.
Santana proved his worth in 2008 and I have no doubt he will be great again this year, like he does every year, mid-season through September.
– I saw a Javy Vazquez rumor floated too…Would they take GMJ? Dont laugh too loudly I-Dude.
– Ditto Reyes and Pagan should alternate (Righty-lefty) in the 1&3 slots
and I just continue to believe Mets fans are drawing conclusions on Santana that should not be made just yet. He has started slow every year as a Met. why should this year be any different? And by slow I mean he still throws a few gems but may get knocked around a few times before he really hits his stride.
Pedro needs to stay far away from this team. The idea that he and his likely 5 innings of work would be good for the Mets is ignorant.
Gary, think bigger. Why settle for Reed or Sullivan? One of those guys might be OK if he defense was elite, but neither of them are at that level. The Mets bench should be Carter, Felipe Lopez, and Xavior Nady to start. Add a defensive specialist for the outfield of your choice and the Mets are much better than they are today. None of those guys would have been hard to get and Nady is probably the biggest risk. But he can play multiple positions and once he gets going will be pretty good this year.
Regarding Johan, I agree his reputation is that of a 2nd half pitcher. However, please take a look at his gamelog from last season.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?n1=santajo02&t=p&year=2009
He came out of the gate smoking hot and then cooled off, so obviously he has not “started slow every year as a Met.” Much of his dropoff last year can be attributed to injury, but the point is that Johan is not a 2nd half pitcher BY TRADE; meaning, you should not just assume he’s going to recover lost velocity and start pitching like a true ace again as the calendar turns to July. The guy is 31 years old, which some may argue is the new 36. He has a lot of miles on that left arm of his and it would not surprise me in the least if his slow and steady decline to mediocrity has already begun. And maybe I’m an alarmist, but pardon me for being concerned when our $137 million man is topping out at 90 MPH and is missing his location like an Ollie Perez clone.
Regarding who the Mets should have on their bench, during the offseason I lobbied for the Mets to sign Ryan Garko and Willie Taveras/Reed Johnson in lieu of Tatis and GMJ. Jury is still out on which choices have panned out better, but I’m sticking to my guns. I also agree Carter should have Catalanotto’s roster spot. Felipe Lopez would have been a nice upgrade over Cora, but the Mets signed Cora way early in the offseason (for way too much money) and thus weren’t likely to seek Lopez’ services. Plus, I gotta think Lopez preferred going to St Louis over the circus at CitiField, where he’s guaranteed a better chance to win and a better chance to play regularly. I completely disagree on Xavier Nady. He’s not hitting a lick for Chicago and he has absolutely no arm. He would be relegated to backup 1B duty and pinch hitting, which is not worth his $3.3 million pricetag.
And, by the way, if the Yankees accept a Vazquez-for-GMJ deal, then I’m sure I’ll see pigs fly by my bedroom window.
Ok maybe not GMJ, but Pagan/GMJ/Murphy and ?