Mets Game 162: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 8 Mets 1
The worst collapse in Major League Baseball history is complete. The Mets couldn’t find the “on” switch (not surprisingly — it was a very dark room with no windows).
What a waste of a beautiful fall afternoon. I should have listened to my wife and gone for a ride, went to the park, the beach, wherever, and enjoyed one of the few last gorgeous days of the year. But no, I had to sit inside and watch the 162nd, and most crucial, Mets game of the year.
Of course, the season should not have come down to this, the last game of the year. But we’ll discuss that over the next few days.
It was Tuesday night all over again. Before anyone could settle down in their seat with their hot dog and beer, Tom Glavine allowed four runs … and then Jorge Sosa allowed Glavine’s other three baserunners to score as well, giving the Marlins a 7-0 lead before the Mets came to bat.
The Mets had HUGE opportunities in both the first and second innings to get back in a hurry, but both were squandered, taking the Fish off the hook. From that point on, it was slow torture.
Notes
Tom Glavine’s MLB career may have ended with the worst outing of his life. Will that motivate him to return, or convince him to hang ‘em up?
Paul LoDuca’s career as a Met may have ended with a weak check-swing grounder back to the pitcher with the bases loaded. Though, it was a damn tough full-count pitch — a nasty slider that likely would have been called strike three.
Shawn Green’s career as a Met ended with him sitting on the bench, despite batting .407 in the month of September. Not sure what Willie was saving him for.
Jeff Conine’s career ended with a weak fly ball to centerfield in the eighth. Quiet golf clap for a guy who played the game right and enjoyed a fine, if unspectacular, 17 years in MLB.
Jose Reyes is popping up mainly because of his pitch selection. He’s going after pitches above his hands, and over-reaching for pitches off the outside part of the plate and low. It’s next to impossible to get on top of a high pitch, and when a batter reaches, the bat goes to more of a 45-degree angle and the barrel drops, causing the ball to go in the air (same concept as bunting low pitches — keep the bat level).
No help from the Nationals today. That same team that was so fired up to be spoilers at Shea laid down for the Phillies this afternoon. I witnessed two Nats jogging leisurely down the first base line on double play grounders. Thanks for the effort, guys.
Though it’s really painful to see the Phillies as NL East champs, it’s excruciating due to Jimmy Rollins’ preseason boasts. Yes, he backed it up, but he had no basis to shoot off his mouth in March. If you make proclamations AFTER winning something, then fine — you’ve earned that right. This “new school” crap of strutting your stuff before winning anything nauseates the hell out of me (part of the reason it’s been hard for me to like LMillz).
I hope the Phillies and their fans really enjoy their day today … it’s going to be a quick exit for them in the NLDS.
On the bright side, we get all our money back from the Wilpons for the postseason tickets. Hopefully it’ll come back in time for Christmas gifts.
Next Game
… will be sometime in 2008. However there will be plenty to blog and argue about over the next 5-6 months.
Mets Game 161: Win Over Marlins
Hey guys, where the heck was that yesterday? Or the last two weeks?
John Maine chose his most important start of the year to pitch the game of his life, becoming another in a long line of Mets hurlers to come very close to a no-hitter but falling just short. He pitched 7 2/3 innings, struck out 14, and allowed one dinky hit, two walks, and zero runs.
Stealing some of the thunder of that performance was the Mets offense, which exploded for over a dozen runs.
Jose Reyes remained absent early in the game, but two-hitter Luis Castillo took ownership of sparking the offense from the top of the order.
The Mets’ next-best table setter followed a first-inning Reyes flyout with a drive off the top of the left-center wall for a double. David Wright hit a single to right to chase Castillo to third, and after Carlos Beltran ripped a hot liner into the glove of Miguel Cabrera, Moises Alou picked him up with a base hit into center to drive in Castillo with the first run of the game and send Wright to third. But the Mets weren’t done, as Carlos Delgado also singled up the middle to score Wright.
In the second frame, Lastings Milledge led off by working the count full against starter Chris Seddon, then ripped a single to left. He was sacrificed to second by John Maine, and took third on a lazy groundout to the right side by Reyes. Castillo singled Milledge in for the third run of the game, and Wright walked to put men on first and second. Beltran belted another ball, but this time it found a hole, scoring Castillo, chasing Wright to third and sending Seddon to the showers. Reliever Ross Wolf was greeted with another single by Moises Alou to make the score 5-0.
Wolf wasn’t any better the next inning, giving up a leadoff single to Ramon Castro and a two-run homer to Milledge. Maine walked, and Reyes chopped a ball off the plate that catcher Miguel Olivo fielded in fair territory — but Reyes inexplicably stood at the plate, and Olivo made an easy throw to first for the first out. Castillo followed with a double down the leftfield line to score Maine, making the score 8-0 and sending another Fish pitcher to the frying pan.
Milledge jumped all over another fastball in the fifth and sent it to nearly the same spot as his last blast, making the score 9-zip. After Maine struck out and Reyes doubled, Marlins pitcher Harvey Garcia threw two pitches behind Castillo, nearly causing a brawl. Order was restored and Castillo walked, but while Fish manager Fredi Gonzalez was pulling a double-switch, Miguel Olivo charged Reyes at third base and all hell broke loose.
The entire Mets team rushed onto the field, and looked like a massive offensive line pushing against the Marlins. Mike DiFelice was cracking heads all over the place, and it took five Fish to hold him back. Even the mild mannered Carlos Delgado was in the middle of the rhubarb, pushing and shoving like a hardened rush-hour commuter on the #7 train. By the time it was all over, Olivo was tossed, Reyes remained in the game, and LMillz hadn’t capped anyone.
When play presumed, Wright singled in Reyes for the Mets’ tenth run of the game.
A few minutes later, John Maine took the mound after a long, long break, and would have been excused if he wasn’t sharp. However, there was nothing to be concerned about — he blew through three Fish, striking out the first two and nearly striking out the third.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets tacked on another run, thanks to a (surprise) a solo homer by Ramon Castro. They added yet another when Delgado drove in Wright with a single in the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, John Maine set down the first two Fish (one by strikeout) before backup catcher Paul Hoover — who had replaced the ejected Olivo — hit a slow bouncer about thirty feet down the third base line that Wright could do nothing with. The infield single broke up the no-hitter and took Maine out of the game — who had thrown 115 pitches.
Willie Collazo came on to get the third out.
But the Mets still weren’t done … they scored another run in the bottom of the 8th on a double by David Newhan, who pinch-hit for Wright.
Carlos Muniz pitched a perfect ninth to end the most exciting game of the last two months.
Notes
I think I’ve figured out John Maine’s inconsistency. He’s over-rotating just slightly when he lifts his leg, which is turning his shoulder about 2-3 inches too much toward second base, and because for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, it is causing that same shoulder to fly open toward home plate too early. That’s why his right arm is dragging across and his release point is up, and the pitches are going up and away to lefties. It’s a slight mechanical error, and he doesn’t do it every pitch, but it’s enough to mess with his control. It’s also going to cause his slider to flatten out. I don’t know that it is something that can be corrected in-game — you don’t really want a pitcher to be thinking about mechanics while in competition. But if he can correct it over the winter / during spring training, he should get back to being the pitcher he was in the first few months of 2007.
And yes, I did see that he struck out 14 Fish and nearly threw a no-no. However, he did not have great command of his fastball, and was helped a bit by the Marlins swinging at pitches out of the zone.
Reyes is completely burnt. Someone needs to beat him over the head and scream “RUN! every time you hit the ball, don’t look, just turn toward first and RUN!” The kid is a mess. However, his emotional outburst during the fifth-inning fracas may have been helpful — I think he’s had a lot of bottled up, negative emotion over the past month or so, and needed to get some of it out.
A few innings after Reyes didn’t run out of the box, Lastings Milledge stood on second base on a popup, unaware that there were two outs. It was reminiscent of watching a high school JV game. Although Maine’s performance and the offense overshadowed these actions, these fundamental brain farts remain alarming, and part of the reason the Mets don’t have 90-93 wins right now. If I’m Willie I’m getting right into both of these kids’ faces after the game. (Yeah, easy for me to say … how do you motivate a 23-year-old who is making millions more than the manager? It’s not like Willie can affect them with a $1000 fine or something.)
Frustrating to see Marcos Carvajal pitching for the Fish. It wasn’t bad enough that Florida turned Matt Lindstrom and Henry Owens into MLB relievers, but they had to claim Carvajal — another guy who throws north of 95 MPH — as well. Granted, in a million years Willie would never have trusted any of the three, but it still stings to see these electric arms throwing pitches in big league games — especially when the Mets dropped Carvajal to make room for the likes of Brian Lawrence, Sandy Alomar, and Aaron Sele. Why they didn’t simply put Easley or Valentin on the 60-day, no one knows.
Next Game
The last game of the regular season takes place at 1:10 PM at Shea. Tom Glavine goes against Dontrelle Willis in what could be the most important game of the season — unfortunately, it will all depend on what happens with the Phillies tonight and tomorrow.
Mets Game 160: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 7 Mets 4
The Mr. Hyde alter-ego of Oliver Perez took the mound, and with it, the ballgame. From the first inning, it was apparent that Ollie didn’t have his command, but it appeared as though he was going to grit his way through. Unfortunately, he couldn’t deal without his command and the bit of adversity that struck him in the top of the third.
Just minutes after rapping an unlikely, two-out, RBI hit to drive in the first Mets run, Perez gave up a similarly unlikely bloop base hit to opposing pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim — he of the .033 batting average. It was pure, sheer luck — a Texas Leaguer in the Bermuda Triangle between Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, and Luis Castillo. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. The next batter Hanley Ramirez got ahead 2-0, but Ollie came back to even it up 2-2. Ramirez fought off a few good potential strike-three pitches, then got sawed off by another great pitch on his hands. However, the ball flew a few dozen feet past his barrel, over David Wright’s head and into the no man’s land exactly opposite of Kim’s hit. Perez then hit Dan Uggla to load the bases, but got Jeremy Hermida to ground to Wright, who went for the forceout at home. LoDuca fired back to third to nail Ramirez for the DP, but Wright flaked and tried to tag Ramirez instead of simply stepping on the bag. Perez then pulled off the dramatic, striking out slugger Miguel Cabrera, and it appeared he’d get out of the mess. With the crowd behind him, and the momentum of retiring the Marlins’ best hitter, Mr. Hyde reappeared, and hit the next two batters, driving in two runs.
In the bottom of the inning, the Mets fought back, with Luis Castillo singling and stealing second, then jogging home on a 450-foot homer by Carlos Beltran, getting the Mets as close as they’d get all night: 4-3.
It looked like all would be OK when Ollie started off the fourth with two quick outs. Unfortunately, the opposition making two outs has been the kiss of death for the Mets lately, as the Fish hit an infield single, a legit single, drew a walk, then hit another infield single — and scored two more runs. Watching it all unravel was mind-boggling. Other than the walk, Perez didn’t make bad pitches. Maybe he needs to read The Secret.
And that was the ballgame, because the Mets offense shut down after Beltran’s blast (unless you want to count a crappy RBI groundout by Wright that scored Castillo in the fifth. It’s amazing — the Marlins can score two runs riding two infield singles, and the Mets couldn’t muster much of anything with a dozen base hits of their own. Of course, it doesn’t help when your opponent draws four bases on balls and three HBPs in key situations and you only reach base with hits (oh, and one lousy walk — though NONE against Kim, who walks around five for every nine innings).
Notes
Luis Castillo was 3-for-5, Carlos Delgado poked two useless hits in the hole vacated by Cabrera during the shift, and Shawn Green rapped two singles up the middle. All those singles and Beltran’s homer was pretty much the extent of the excitement on the offense.
In case you missed it, the Phillies won (surprise, surprise), giving the Mets sole possession of second place.
Next Game
John Maine faces Chris Seddon at 1:10 PM. It’s do or die — and now that the Phils are one up, destiny is out of the Mets’ control. Bravo, boys, and best of luck. Let’s hope the young Marlins decide to hit the NYC club scene all night long, and show up with a collective hangover — the Mets need every edge they can get at this point.
Mets Game 159: Loss to Cardinals
Cardinals 3 Mets 0
Pedro did his job, holding the Cardinals to just three runs and pushing through seven full innings. However, the offense — which had been averaging about seven runs per game lately — did not show up to work.
Joel Pineiro — the guy who had a 6.36 ERA last year, and was dumped by the Red Sox (and who I clamored for both over the winter and after he was DFA’s) — pitched the game of his life, allowing only three hits and no runs over eight innings. You can’t really fault the Mets offense for this one — Pineiro was marvelous, with pinpoint command of every pitch in his repertoire. Oh, and the Cardinals defense collected about fourteen web gems (can’t decide who I loathe more, David Eckstein or Miguel Cairo).
Meantime, Rod Serling showed up in Citizen’s Bank Park to narrate the Braves-Phillies matchup. John Smoltz — a.k.a., Mr. Stupendous — pitched an awful four innings before being knocked out. Gold Glover Mark Teixeira made a critical error (as did Smoltz). When it was all over, the Phillies breezed to a 6-4 victory (it wasn’t nearly as close as the final score), and the phabulous Phillie phans were waving towels in jubilation at their team’s entrance into first place for the first time all year.
Notes
The Mets have zero passion, and are devoid of intestinal fortitude. Feel free to make plans for October — there won’t be any games to miss.
Keith Hernandez reminded me today of why I hated his announcing when he first came on board as a color man a few years ago. He started commentating when the Mets stunk, and he’s more of a bandwagon jumper than a homer — pointing out all the great things that the winning team is doing and criticizing the losing team’s shortfalls in any particular game. And often, the criticism is baseless or illogical. For example, he was getting on the Mets in the later innings for not being aggressive and swinging at first-pitch strikes. Hello? Keith? Have you watched the first 158 games of the season? If you paid attention, you may have noticed that the Mets were the most over-aggressive team in MLB, and routinely swung at first pitches regardless of the score. It was just their dumb luck that it took them 158 games to finally take a sound fundamental approach, and they happen to run into a guy who’s pitching the best game of his career.
Next Game
Does it matter? Oliver Perez will lose tomorrow against Byung-Hyun Kim in a 7:10 PM start at Shea. I will be in the Loge Level, Section 20, two-fisting adult beverages until I can’t see. Please feel free to stop by and swat me over the head with a toy bat.
Cardinals – A Reminder
The Mets play the Cardinals today in a long-overdue makeup game from June 28th. The teams had split the first two games, so this is the “rubber match”. In case you hadn’t heard, Pedro Martinez starts against Joel Pineiro. Not that it matters — because, when, after all, was the last time the starting pitcher of a game had a remote effect on the final score?
On the one hand, the fact the Mets are playing a game today instead of getting a much-needed day off really stinks. The team as a whole is in a tatters — completely exhausted, though more emotionally and mentally than physically. Right now the best thing would probably be a day off to let the pain of the last two weeks fade away. A recharge — like a refreshing nap you take in the late afternoon to get your motor running for a long evening on the town.
But the Mets are not afforded that luxury, so we’ll have to take an optimistic view. Maybe seeing the Cardinals for this one time will remind the Mets of their dominance from the first week in the season. Perhaps in turn it will spark a pang of confidence — truly, the most vital thing this totally demoralized team needs.
Further, perhaps by seeing the Cardinals uniforms, they’ll be reminded of The St. Louis Story of 2006 — and be inspired. If you’ve forgotten, allow me to refresh your memory, and provide some comparisons.
What’s today? September 27th. OK. A little more than one week ago — on September 19th — the Mets had allowed their 7-game lead to drop to 2.5 games. It was a 7-game lead as late as one week before — September 12th.
Now, rewind one year, to September 19th, 2006. On that day, the first-place Cardinals enjoyed a 7-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds, and an 8.5-game lead over the Houston Astros (wow, what a difference a year makes; those two teams are fighting for the cellar right now). This is what the standings looked like on that day:
Cardinals 80-69
Reds 74-77
Astros 72-78
There was somewhere between 10-13 games left to play, depending on the team.
On September 27th, 2006 — a year ago today, the NL Central standings looked like this:
Cardinals 81-76
Astros 80-78
Reds 78-80
Whoa. In a matter of eight games, the Cards went 1-7, and the Astros went 8-0. A day later, after the Cards dropped another one, it looked like this:
Cardinals 81-77
Astros 81-78
Reds 79-80
So, after having a 7-game lead as late as September 19th, the Cardinals had gone 1-8 and allowed the Astros to get within a half-game of first place, with only three games left in the season (the Cards actually had a fourth makeup game that never needed to be made up). This is how it panned out at the end of 162 games:
Cardinals 83-78
Astros 82-80
Reds 80-82
You know the rest of the story — all too well. The Cards limped into the playoffs, everyone wrote them off, they got hot at exactly the right time, and became World Champs.
Mets Game 158: Phillies Beat Braves
Phillies 5 Braves 2
The Mets’ strategy of waiting for the Phillies to lose backfired, as the Braves fell to Philadelphia 5-2. Tim Hudson’s solid outing was marred by a crucial Chipper Jones error (way to go, Larry — even when you’re playing against other teams, you kill the Mets), and the Braves bats were no match for the mighty Kyle Lohse — a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer of the future.
Nationals 9 Mets 6
Meantime, the Mets held the Nationals to less than ten runs for only the third time this month, but couldn’t get their passing game going after the fourth inning. After jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first four, the offense stopped. You can’t really blame them, though — the guys coming out of the Washington ‘pen resembled Koufax, Gibson, and Feller. When you have lights-out arms like that coming at you, combined with Brooks Robinson at third base, you may as well pack it in and call it a night.
Philip Humber — the first true starting pitcher in history to make his first MLB start for a team in the midst of a pennant race in the last week of the season — pitched much better than his 4-inning, 5-run stat line would indicate. Truth was, he pitched well through the first three, then completely forgot how to throw a fastball — which can be detrimental against big league hitters. He left the game with a 6-3 lead, but also with runners on second and third. Joe Smith did an outstanding job of making sure those runners made it all the way home, and exited the game without recording an out. Because he also left a couple runners on, the next reliever, Pedro Feliciano, felt obliged to jack up Smith’s ERA the same way he did Humber’s. Eventually, Feliciano found a way to record three outs before the Nationals could score an eighth run.
The Nats batters were so tired from all that swinging and running around the bases, they chose to take a nap the next three innings, as Scott Schoeneweis, Orlando Hernandez, and Aaron Heilman tossed up zeroes. However, the nap was a refreshing one, as they battered closer Billy Wagner for another two. But Wags would not allow a tenth run to cross the plate — he was too proud, and reached way down inside of himself to limit the Nats to single digits. A most valiant effort.
Notes
Carlos Beltran clubbed two homers from the right side, and drove in three runs. Moises Alou extended his hitting streak to 30 games, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. No one else in the lineup did anything of consequence.
As if it weren’t bad enough that the Phillies are now one measly game behind, putting the Mets’ postseason hopes in jeopardy, the lovely Yankees clinched a playoff berth. Yee ha.
At this point, it’s hard to point the finger at Willie Randolph. It doesn’t matter who he sends to the mound, they give up walks, hits, and runs by the bushelful. No manager in the history of baseball — not LaRussa, not Stengel, not Lasorda, not McGraw — no one can lead a team to victory when you’re giving up seven to ten runs a game. And that’s exactly what the Mets have done over the past two weeks.
It’s getting harder every day to even LIKE this Mets team. Looking at their long, beaten faces, tensed-up bodies, and fearful play is depressing.
Next Game
The Braves send John Smoltz to the mound against Adam Eaton in a last-ditch effort to reduce the Mets’ magic number to three. Luckily, the only team that can’t score against Eaton is the Mets, so the Braves have half a chance.
Unfortunately, the Mets will also have to show up on the field for a contest of their own, a makeup game against the Cardinals. Pedro “The Savior” Martinez goes against Joel Pineiro — a guy the Mets didn’t bother picking up off the scrap heap because their pitching was too deep and high quality to warrant such a gamble. Game time is 7:10 PM; heavy drinking of copious amounts of the strongest alcoholic beverages available begins at 5:05 PM (except for those under the age of 21, of course). Go Braves.
Mets Game 157: Phillies Lose to Braves
Braves 10 Phillies 6
Starter Chuck James surrendered four runs before finishing four innings, but the bullpen kept the team in the game the rest of the way as the Braves came charging back and eventually pushed past the Phillies. Andruw Jones had a three-hit day, Mark Teixeira hit a three-run homer and Chipper Jones had a two-run shot to help boost the Braves.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said, “Our team knows what they have to do.”
Braves manager Bobby Cox was more complete, saying, “We know what we have to do. We have to win.”
Fascinating stuff, guys!
(Nationals 10 Mets 9)
Meantime, in Flushing, Tom Glavine was terrible, Aaron Sele proved his worthlessness, and the Mets played like a bunch of sloppy zombies until there was one out in the bottom of the ninth, at which point they exploded for six runs before manager Willie Randolph informed the team that the Phillies had already lost and there was no need to strain themselves. Jose Reyes was 3-for-5 with two homers and 4 RBI in the losing cause.
Notes
This is a really unorthodox strategy of winning a division (waiting for the second-place team to lose), but if it works, I guess it’s okay. I’m having a really hard time, though, rooting for Chipper and the Braves (to the point where, I refuse to disrespect him by calling him “Larry”).
Moises Alou remains red-hot, going 4-for-5 with 3 RBI — all the RBI coming on his ninth-inning, bases-clearing double.
Shawn Green was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. He had a fantastic at-bat in the second, in which he worked the count full and then fouled off seven pitches before stroking an RBI single up the middle. He received a standing ovation upon reaching first base. After collecting his 2000th career hit in the sixth, I thought he was getting another standing O, then realized everyone was actually standing up for the Pepsi T-shirt toss.
Willie Randolph stunned everyone by bringing in Carlos Muniz for his MLB debut with the Mets down by only three in the sixth. Didn’t he say you can’t force-feed the babies into the pennant race? (Personally, I was so overjoyed I nearly fell out of my seat.)
After the eighth inning, instead of playing “Sweet Caroline” (ugh), the Shea Stadium organist broke into — of all things — a jazzy rendition of “Crocodile Rock”. I turned to my friend and said, “Why the heck are they playing Crocodile Rock?” To which he answered, “Because he can play whatever he wants — who’s gonna stop him?” It was true. At the time, the Mets were down by 6 runs, Aaron Sele was on the mound, the bottom of the lineup was due up for the home team for last licks, and everyone was leaving the stadium — the organist could have been playing Dueling Banjos and no one would have cared. (And yeah, we were among the tens of thousands of fans who were on the #7 train during the ninth-inning rally.)
Next Game
Tim Hudson goes to the hill against Kyle Lohse in a 7:05 PM start in Citizens Bank Park. Another win by the Braves will make the Mets magic number three.
If it matters, Philip Humber makes his first Major League start for the Mets in the finale against the Nationals, who will send former Met and current soft-tosser Mike Bacsik to the mound. Game time is 7:10 PM.
Mets Game 156: Loss to Nationals
Nationals 13 Mets 4
Yikes.
I’m not sure what’s more disconcerting — the fact the Mets could manage only three runs against Matt Chico and Saul Rivera, or that the worst offensive team in MLB has now scored nine or more runs in a game against them in three of their last four meetings.
It’s OK if the Nats have a blowout against the Mets once or twice … it’s called an anomaly. But to pound out nearly 40 runs in four games? That’s called a red flag.
Mike Pelfrey cruised through three, then unraveled. The suddenly slugging Nats scored two in the fourth, three in the fifth, and two in the sixth — Pelfrey charged with all seven runs (though Joe Smith didn’t help, allowing two inherited runners to score on a double).
Pedro Feliciano pitched a scoreless seventh, but the Nats jumped all over Guillermo Mota and Dave Williams in the final two innings, adding another three in each frame. The scoring was capped by a three-run, pinch-hit homer by Ryan Langerhans — he of perhaps the worst offensive output of any position player this year.
Notes
Moises Alou extended his hitting streak to 28 games with a double in the sixth. David Wright was 3-for-5 with a double of his own — his 41st of the season. Carlos Delgado his his 30th double of the year, and went 2-for-5.
If there was one positive in the game, ironically, it was the negative performance by Dave Williams. It sounds crazy, I know, but consider this: there’s no way Willie Randolph can lose sleep over the decision to allow Humber pitch on Wednesday after seeing Williams pitch the ninth. In fact, it’s mind-blogging that there was even a question between the two. As Omar Minaya stated about Humer, “he’s our best available option.”
Anyone notice that Ronny Belliard gets REALLY up for the Mets? He’s batting over .300 against the Mets, with 11 RBI (one-fifth of his total output). Is it possible the Bronx native was miffed that the Mets wouldn’t give him a look to fill their second base position last winter?
The last 11 runs scored by the Nats came on two-out hits. Ouch.
Tomorrow, we as Mets fans must root for Chuck James and the Atlanta Braves. I think I may be sick.
Next Game
Tom Glavine takes the ball in an absolute must-win against Jason Bergmann. Not to put any pressure on you, though, Tommy. Game time is 7:10 PM. I’ll be biting my nails in the Loge, section 20. Please stop by and share several adult beverages with me if you attend the game.
Mets Game 155: Win Over Marlins
Mets 7 Marlins 6
John Maine was downright dominating, but couldn’t hang around long enough to pitch the team to victory. Riding a hard (94-95 MPH) fastball with a lot of life and movement, Maine struck out nine and allowed three runs through five, but all those strikeouts took a toll on his pitch count, and he was out after the fifth.
Remarkably, Pedro Feliciano, Jorge Sosa, and yes Guillermo Mota combined for TWO scoreless innings to keep the Mets in the game.
Meantime, the ghost of Wandy Rodriguez was living in young lefty Chris Seddon, who despite a near-nine ERA against everyone else, was able to hold the Mets to a measly two runs on three hits in five innings. Those two runs came on a Paul LoDuca two-run homer to left in the fourth.
Seddon was removed from the game after five frames and 74 pitches, and the Marlins bullpen held the Mets scoreless for two more innings.
With the Mets down by one, David Wright drew a walk leading off the eighth. Marlon Anderson followed with ANOTHER pinch-hit, chasing Wright to third. Moises Alou then drove in Wright and simultaneously extended his hitting streak to 27 games with a game-tying single.
Then Carlos Delgado reminded everyone why he’s in the lineup.
Delgado sent a pitch to the moon (though it eventually dropped into the stands behind the right-center fence) — a three-run blast to make the score 6-3.
However, Aaron Heilman couldn’t make it easy. With a three-run lead, Heilman walked the first two batters and then gave up a two-run double to Todd Linden. He threw two straight balls to Miguel “I’ll Swing If I Can Reach It” Olivo before inducing a harmless groundout. Heilman was insistent on blowing the game, however, and allowed a base hit to the next batter, nearly blowing the lead — except Alou threw out Linden at the plate for the second out.
Billy Wagner must have taken his Doan’s pills, because he came on in the ninth. Unfortunately, Dan Uggla was sitting on a full-count fastball and may have busted a seat in the upper deck stands above left field to tie the game. He finished the inning without further incident, taking the game into extra innings.
Alou and Delgado led off the tenth with singles, and LoDuca dropped a beauty of a bunt to move them (interesting call, I would have let Dukey hit). Carlos Gomez then popped up the first pitch to him into short right field, and Alou had to stay on third. Endy Chavez flied out to center to end the top of the tenth.
Joe Smith pitched a perfect bottom of the frame to send the game to the eleventh.
The Mets started another rally in the 11th, beginning with a leadoff walk by Jose Reyes. Strangely, Reyes didn’t attempt to steal second — and it appeared that Luis Castillo may have purposely taken a perfect strike two thinking he’d be running. No matter, he slapped the next pitch into leftfield to set the table for the meat of the order. David Wright responded with a two-strike basehit to left to score Reyes and send Castillo to third. David Newhan worked the count full before striking out, but Wright took second on strike three. Alou then ripped a shot right at Miguel Cabrera, who stepped on third for a quick double play.
Aaron Sele entered the game in the bottom of the inning, looking for his first career save. Hanley Ramirez helped him out by swinging at the first pitch he saw — a fastball at his eyes — and tomahawking it to Reyes for the first out. Endy Chavez made a nice running catch on a liner by Uggla for the second out, and it looked as though Sele might just notch career save #1. But, Willie Randolph decided to bring in Scott Schoeneweis to face hot-hitting lefty Jeremy Hermida. The Show earned his dough (and got the save), getting Hermida to ground out to Delgado to end the game.
Notes
The Marlins’ organist played Green Acres, The Mexican Hat Dance, and the theme to the Addams Family (among other ditties) — none of which have anything to do with baseball.
I’d like someone to check out Heilman’s career numbers when pitching in the latter of back-to-back games. My eyes over the last three years have told me he’s not effective on that second day, but would like to see the numbers supporting that “hunch”.
I am SO SO tired of the ridiculousness of Willie, Keith Hernandez, and every other baseball fogey who thinks it’s smarter to leave in a veteran pitcher who is obviously having a terrible day, and has no command, rather than bring in a rookie pitcher because the rookie “hasn’t been in this situation before”. It’s absolute nonsense — and even more ludicrous playing in front of a stadium crowd of barely four digits. Heilman (and Randolph) was damn lucky to get out of that 8th inning situation down by only one run. And in the end, they had to go to Smith anyway, in the tenth. It boggles the mind as to why a three-run lead has to be protected by Heilman — he should never have even began the inning.
Luis Castillo’s wheels are really trudging these days. He’s pretty tough, though, witnessed by his attempting a bunt for a hit in the ninth. His range, however, is greatly diminished, as evidenced by a grounder in the eighth that got past him but probably would have been eaten up a couple years ago.
Gratefully, the Nationals were able to hold on and beat the Phillies.
Next Game
The Mets begin a three-game series against the Nationals at Shea, to start their last regular-season homestand. Mike Pelfrey takes the hill against Matt Chico.
Mets Game 154: Win Over Marlins
Mets 7 Marlins 2
The Mets allowed Byung-Hyun Kim to pitch five innings, but battered him around enough to make it an easy game for Oliver Perez.
The New York offense pounded Kim for five runs on three hits and two walks, then scored two more against the Florida bullpen to provide Perez with a significant cushion — key considering that Billy Wagner was unavailable once again with back spasms.
Ollie went 8 innings, allowing only one earned run on six hits. He walked none and struck out 8 in a very strong performance. Aaron Heilman played closer for a day and threw 24 pitches, but allowed no runs to finish up.
Meantime, David Wright and Ramon Castro provided most of the firepower for the orange and blue, combining for five hits, four RBI, and four runs scored. Castro blasted a two-out, three-run homer in the fourth to put the Mets up 5-0 and more or less finish the Fish for the afternoon. The Marlins managed two runs over the next five innings but had rolled over after the homer.
Notes
Wright went 3-for-5 to lift his average to .320. Castro’s dinger was his tenth of the season — in only 133 at-bats. His one homer every 13 at-bats is one at-bat more frequently than Barry Bonds.
Marcos Carvajal, who spent the entire year pitching for the AA Binghamtom Mets and was DFA’d to make room for Carlos Gomez (instead of, say, Brian Lawrence or Aaron Sele), pitched the ninth inning for the Fish. He struck out one, allowed a single to Moises Alou (who has now hit in 26 straight games) and walked Shawn Green.
Next Game
The Mets will try to win the series with John Maine on the hill, who will be going for victory number fifteen against some young lefty named Chris Seddon. The Wandy Rodriguez Phenomenon will be in full effect.
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