Mets Game 108: Win Over Padres
Mets 6 Padres 2
Mets pound Padres and creep closer to the .500 mark.
Mets Game Notes
I missed this game, choosing instead to attend a wedding. Thanks to DVR, I’ll watch it eventually, but in the meantime please post your observations and reactions in the comments.
Next Mets Game
The Mets play one more in San Diego before heading home. Sunday’s game begins at 4:05 p.m. EST and pits Matt Harvey and Jason Marquis.
About the Author
Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers.
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I’ll buy a hit with a man on base for $100, Alex.
Hefner pitches well for a #7 starter again.
Baxter walks five times.
FF gets one of the easiest saves one can imagine.
The usual Parnell 9th inning freak out.
Tejada isn’t walking much because teams don’t seem to be afraid to throw it down the middle to him.
Valdespin is a dead pull hitter, and may lose some singles once teams start shifting on him.
Wright’s opening up and spinning, missing pitches on the outside edge by 2 feet.
Ike looked a lot better than he has lately; both singles were rockets.
Murphy looks like hot Murphy instead of cold Murphy. We’ll see if it occurs to anyone to stop pitching him away all the time.
Thole looks like cold Thole. The exact same pitches Murphy was lining to left, Thole was fouling off, way late.
I like that Hefner doesn’t walk guys. 2 starts ago, he was throwing weak stuff where he wanted. Last start, his stuff was way sharper, and his location was way worse. This start, kinda in between?
Edgin’s motion looked different after 4 days off. His arm and body both seemed to be getting lower. His fastball was 91-92 instead of 92-94, and his slider had less sharp bite. He seemed to be hitting his spots, though.
Parnell’s “emphasis on location” seems to mean “try to make every pitch a perfect pitch, and if you miss, it’s a ball”. Bobby still hasn’t found the happy medium between spotting it and just throwing it as hard as he can in a general area. He also threw one curve, it slipped, and he didn’t try another one.
Wright definitely changed his swing, as of a few weeks ago. Seems like he’s “muscling up” the way he was in 2010.
I’m going to keep an eye on Edgin. Those symptoms sound like someone experiencing fatigue, which one wouldn’t expect after so much rest. Hmm … maybe that extra rest was for a reason?
Wright is diving after the low and away sliders instead of taking them. They’re getting him out without throwing him strikes. If he’s going to be a mistake hitter the rest of the way, it’s going to be a long 8 weeks.
A weird one. Murphy 4-4 with a walk is a nice detail; Baxter 0-0 with 5 walks an interesting one. But the prize goes to Torres for his 0-4, 3K, 11 LOB — albeit it’s more a statistical anomaly than futility, but is regardless one of most dreadful performances in memory. If Torres didn’t sacrifice with 2 on in the 7th, I bet he breaks the LOB record of 12. Maybe not quite Joe Torre hitting into 4 DPs, but definitely one for the books.
And if anyone cares, Pagan’s line last night was 4 for 6 with a homer. Had he done that in Torres’ slot last night, he’d have driven about 9 runs.
OUTSTANDING comments all around – many thanks!