Mets 6 Braves 4

I was actually in Atlanta at Turner Field to watch this game. Lucky me, it was the largest crowd in Turner Field history and the best I could do were standing room only tickets. It figures: the Braves can’t sell out a World Series game, but the Mets are in first and Pedro’s pitching and it’s fireworks night and suddenly fans are coming out of the woodwork.

Anyway, who cares about me? The Mets pulled out yet another come-from-behind victory, “Chipping” away at the Braves over the course of the game. After Jose Reyes led off the game with a home run and the Mets handed a 2-0 lead to Pedro in the first, it looked like it might be easy sailing. Then Pedro gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning and it was a minor miracle the total was only four. It looked seriously like it was going to be a very long, double-digit scoring game, and the Mets would need a ninth-inning field goal to win it.

Instead, Pedro settled down and didn’t give up another run, and the bullpen followed suit. The Stache hit a sac fly in the third to put the Mets ahead for good. A nice win to start off the series.

Mets 1 Cubs 0

Ahh … back to the winning ways …

Could John Maine be the answer? He pitched beautifully through the first five innings, and when faced with a challenge in the sixth, responded in spectacular fashion.

After Mark Prior struck out to lead off the inning, Juan Pierre reached on a swinging bunt. Maine was too preoccupied with Pierre on first, and ended up walking Todd Walker — though in defense, a few of the pitches were borderline. Still, Maine was clearly concerned with Pierre, possibly because Mark Prior was throwing a no-hitter on the other side; he may have felt that one run would mean the game. Mr. Willie made a rare appearance for a quick chat, and Maine proceeded to strike out Africa-hot Aramis Ramirez and get Jacque Jones to bounce out weakly to second base to end the inning. Whatever Willie said seemed to unleash the monster within Maine, as he immediately relaxed and turned it up a notch by adding a few MPH to his fastball.

If that wasn’t enough to impress anyone, he came back in the seventh and struck out the side.

All game he was consistently hitting good spots; even the balls were around the strike zone or well-placed. His only issue seemed to be the breaking ball, which was occasionally wild.

Watching him pitch, and with his lean build, he reminds me a lot of, ironically, Kris Benson. Think about it: he relies heavily on a well-spotted, moving yet not overpowering fastball, mixes in an inconsistent curve, and occasionally shows a nice change-up. If Maine can give the Mets Benson-like performance, at the ML minimum salary, we may well have found our #3 starter.

Too bad he went over the 100-pitch limit (118). It would have been nice to see him pitch the 8th and 9th and possibly finish with a second consecutive shutout.

The Mets batters had a difficult time, getting no-hit through six innings. It took a Jose Valentin popup lost in the sun to fall just beyond the reach of shortstop Ronny Cedeno to put an H on the board. That’s about all the Mets were doing on this sunny afternoon: popping up. Prior induced 7 fly balls, I’d guess all or most of them were popups. Reason? Not sure, but maybe the early 12:10 start had something to do with it. Perhaps the Mets are not used to hitting so early, and/or tired from the night before and were simply lazy with the bat. It’s a valid argument, considering that the Cubs batters looked just as groggy.

After walking the leadoff batter and then giving up a sacrifice and a fluke infield single to Ronny Cedeno, it looked like Aaron Heilman was going to give up the lead in the top of the tenth. However, he bore down and squeaked out of danger by inducing two 3-2 popups. Had he given up a hit there, you could blame him for the leadoff walk, but the single was really a potential double-play grounder that somehow caused David Wright to fall flat on his kiester.

In the bottom of the tenth, with two outs, the Mets bats finally woke up. Carlos Beltran hit a single, Carlos Delgado chopped an opposite-field double, and David Wright was intetionally walked. Jose Valentin hit a solid single to drive in the winning run and give the Mets their first win in four days.

No, the Mets are not trading Aaron Heilman for Aaron Harang (I don’t think). Pass on this post if you’re tired of my ranting about putting Aaron Heilman into the rotation. But I need to vent.

With the trade deadline less than a week away, the pickings are slim. The ludicrous Dontrelle Willis rumors were without sense and foundation and seem to have finally died down. Barry Zito is still a possibility, though it’s difficult to imagine him going anywhere while the A’s hold a slim first-place lead and will be without Rich Harden for an indeterminate period. GM Billy Beane needs Zito now, and knows he’ll need him even more come playoff time. It would take a remarkable offer to see him go. Similarly, the Giants’ Jason Schmidt is staying put. San Francisco is tied for second place in a weak but competitive NL West. You don’t trade away an ace while in that position.

The only other top-of-the-rotation arms that might be available would require big bats to pry them away; we’re talking the White Sox and Angels, both of whom might trade an arm for a middle-of-the-order masher. In that case, the Mets could offer, say, Cliff Floyd, but is there really a possibility of that happening? I’m thinking no. Had Lastings Milledge set the world on fire, or if Victor Diaz were doing something in AAA, it might be a different story. But the Mets most likely are relying on Uncle Cliffy to provide punch down the stretch and through the playoffs.

All that said, the Mets’ possible targets include some of the following: Gil Meche, Rodrigo Lopez, Livan Hernandez, Cory Lidle, Jon Lieber, Greg Maddux, Paul Byrd, or Jamie Moyer. Meche is probably the most desirable of that group, though he’ll never be more than a decent #3. I might take a flyer on Maddux, since he has extensive playoff experience, but would he be much of an upgrade over Orlando Hernandez? The rest of the bunch may or may not outperform Steve Trachsel, and none would be the answer for the #2 or #3 starter come playoff time.

In other words, unless the Mets can somehow pull off a Barry Zito-type deal, they’re better off standing pat. Which brings us back to the internal issue of having a bucketload of #5 starters but no true #3. Other than the ’01 Diamondbacks (who had Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson) and the ’87 Twins (who couldn’t lose in the Metrodome), there haven’t been too many World Series teams lacking a legit #3 starter. True, not every WS team had a Schilling-Johnson type combo, and not all had Cy Young candidates, but they all had at least three solid, 15-win-type starters. We have Pedro, we hope Glavine turns things around, and then things get murky. You can’t tell me, with a straight face, that Steve Trachsel is a legit #3; he’s a career .469 pitcher who has reached 15 wins twice in 13 years. The only reason he’s still in the rotation is the combination of run support and the lack of quality on the roster. In a short series, such as the playoffs, I’m not even convinced he’s a #4 guy.

So who else is there? If John Maine can pitch all the time like he did in his last start, it’s a no-brainer. Unfortunately, I doubt he can keep that pace. He’s more a #4/#5. Mike Pelfrey may one day be a #1, but this year, I don’t see him starting a playoff game. He would have to make remarkable strides over the next two months to reach that level. He could, however, be valuable out of the ‘pen, for 2-4 innings, in a playoff series.

Some may point to Brian Bannister, but even at the beginning of the season he was penciled in as a #5. The few games he did pitch, he looked adequate, not great. And he’s missed most of the season — time essential to his development. Maybe he’ll turn into a #3 in the coming years, but, like Pelfrey, I don’t see it in 2006.

Then there’s El Duque, the legendary big-game competitor. Problem is, if he continues the current cycle — one good game, one awful game, one mediocre game — he won’t put together a strong enough record to justify being a #3 playoff starter. We can only hope that he’s toying with us now, saving his strength, so that he can catch fire and win his last seven starts in September, thereby earning him a spot.

Outside of an El Duque epiphany, or sudden spectacular development by Bannister/Maine/Pelfrey, the Mets will go into the playoffs with a very shaky starting rotation.

As long as auditions are being held now, why not give Aaron Heilman an opportunity? Admittedly, there’s no reason to assume that he’s the answer. However, he showed enough in his seven starts last year to at least beg the question. He also pitched very well in winter league (which seemed to matter for Endy Chavez and Jose Valentin, but didn’t matter with Heilman), and was the Mets’ top starter in spring training. There are those that will argue that Heilman was inconsistent as a starter, and didn’t show much, but let’s remember the circumstances. He had just returned to his natural arm slot only a week or two before the end of spring training, and was readjusting to the motion. In addition, he wasn’t really a member of the rotation, and not going through the routine of preparing for a start every five days. At his best, he threw a complete-game shutout and a seven-inning two-hitter. At his worst, he was shelled for seven runs in four innings. As the season progressed, he became more comfortable and consistent with his mechanics, and evolved into an outstanding pitcher.

Notice I said “pitcher” and not “reliever”. This bunk about him being unable to go through a lineup more than once, needing another pitch, and other weak statements are exactly that: bunk. There is an outcry on the bloglines stating that his current woes are due to the league catching up with him, and that he can’t survive as a two-pitch pitcher. More bunk. My theory? He’s overworked, was not conditioned for relief pitching, and is not truly “wired” nor physically built for relief pitching.

Let’s look at the numbers. In 2005, Heilman pitched back-to-back days five times. He pitched in a total of 53 games the entire year. He never pitched more than 11 times in one month, and averaged about 8 appearances per month. In the first 100 games of 2006, he’s already pitched back-to-back 7 times. He’s already appeared in 45 games. He’s averaging over 11 games per month. Considering that he’s been a starter his entire life until last year, he’d conditioned himself to starting from October of last year through April 1 of this year, and he’s never been used with this frequency before in his life … isn’t it within reason to consider that perhaps his current slump has something to do with being used too often? A starting pitcher has four days to physically and mentally prepare himself for a game; a reliever must be “up” — physically and mentally — every single day. Maybe Aaron Heilman just isn’t built for this. Maybe the reason he was so good last year was due to Randolph using him sparingly — once or twice a week, in specific situations — and gave him plenty of rest between outings. This year, he was leaned on from the get-go, after spending all of spring training preparing for a starter pitcher routine. From game one on, Mr. Willie made it absolutely clear that Aaron Heilman would be pitching the seventh and/or eighth inning in every game where the Mets had an opportunity to win. Some pitchers — Turk Wendell comes to mind — thrive in that role. Others do not. Perhaps Heilman does not have the mental / emotional ability to be “up” for every single game, over the course of a full season. It’s not an unreasonable possibility, and it’s not something that should be held against Heilman, if it’s true.

Look at the way he was used in April and May, and you will see why he’s falling apart in July. His poor outings of late are due to mental and/or physical fatigue, and I’ll point directly to the May Yankee series as the beginning of his issues — when Mr. Willie used him for three innings and then brought him back with one day’s rest for another. Randolph burned him out in two months.

Why should we care? Why shouldn’t we just force the issue, until Heilman does build the mental toughness to be an everyday pitcher?

Several reasons. First, he’s established that he can be a dominating pitcher. Shut up about “… only as a reliever …”. A guy who throws lights out the way he did last year, and continued to do so up until June of this year, is a Big League Talent. When on, he makes minced meat of opposing batters, using his moving, sinking fastball and his change-up. He throws a slider but rarely needs it (for those who think he’s a two-pitch pitcher). When he’s off, it’s due to his loss of command, which is the first sign of fatigue (read: overuse) for any pitcher. As a starter, he’ll use that devastating fastball-change-slider combo to do just as well as anyone else in the rotation, and have the potential to do 2-3 innings better, once he’s reconditioned and “stretched out” for starting. So, a dominating pitcher who might be able to get through the seventh inning … isn’t that #3 quality?

Second, he’s always been, and in the future will be, a starter. This was why he was drafted not once, but three times, and twice in the first round: he was seen as a potential ace starter. If Mr. Willie doesn’t blow out his arm and end his career (can anyone say Grant Roberts?), Heilman will be a starter within the next two years, be it here or somewhere else. And he will succeed, and be a solid 14-16-game winning workhorse. While we have him here, now, and are in need of a starter, why not find out if he can be that starter — now?

Third, he’s lost his confidence and effectiveness as a reliever. Whether you believe my theory (burned out) or have some other reason, the plain fact of the matter is that Heilman cannot be counted on to bridge the gap to Wagner anymore. He’s too inconsistent. Omar and Willie’s stupifying comment that “he’s too valuable in the bullpen” no longer applies. Heilman is quickly taking the role that Jorge Julio left behind. We already have Darren Oliver and Heath Bell filling in quite nicely, and Henry Owens looks close to ready to contribute. Why take up a roster spot with another mopup man?

Finally, and maybe most importantly, he wants to start. He’s aching to start. It’s all he thinks about. And by the way, I’ve seen a lot of blog commentors stating that he should stop pouting and just keep quiet and be happy. To set those of you straight: he has never pouted, and other than offering to start twice, has kept quiet. The only remarks about him wanting to start have come from us blowhard bloggers and other pundits. Under the surface, though, we all know that what he wants. If given the opportunity, there’s an excellent chance that he would be highly motivated to show the world he belongs in a Major League rotation, much the same way he needed to prove he belonged in MLB last year. In fact I think a big part of his effectiveness as a reliever last year was due to being motivated to quiet anyone who questioned his ability. This guy is a bulldog, a tough son-of-a-gun, an Orel Hershiser type that you want on the mound in a playoff or World Series game.

Considering the above, would it hurt the Mets to at least consider the possibility, and give him one or two starts between now and the end of September? It could be done without disrupting the team, especially considering his current lack of value out of the ‘pen. He could immediately begin a throwing schedule similar to what he did in spring training, gradually working up to 75-100 pitches once every five days. In fact, I would even consider sending him to Norfolk to get ready, and replace him with Henry Owens, at least until Brian Bannister comes back. With Pedro coming off the DL, there is already a surplus of starters, so someone will go to the pen anyway. Make Pelfrey or El Duque the new long man, and use Darren Oliver and Heath Bell in the situations where Heilman would be used. ChadBrad has proved effective and resilient enough to handle Heilman’s previous role, so there’s no impact on that precious bullpen. Spend the month of August getting Heilman ready to start, and bring him up right before the rosters are expanded. At worst, you’ll have another long man to help Oliver clean up after the five-inning specialists, and at best, you might have the #3 starter you so desperately need.

What do the Mets have to lose ?

Cubs 8 Mets 6

Well at least they’re making their losses exciting …

A last-inning rally chased Cubs closer Ryan Dempster and pushed the Mets within striking distance, but once again it was too little, too late. Paul LoDuca stranded the bases loaded with a weak popup to second baes to end the game. You can’t fault Paulie, though, as replacement closer Bobby Howry started him off with two very tough strikes; LoDuca fought off several more pitches before the popup.

This is the second time this year the headline has been ” : Loss” three posts in a row.

This is also the first time in a while that the Mets have given up eight runs in three straight games.

Tom Glavine was awful, struggling with his command from the get-go. Still, the Mets gave him an early 4-2 lead, which he quickly blundered and turned into a 6-4 deficit. It all started with a leadoff walk to Juan Pierre in the third. Even though Glavine had a two-run lead, and is a veteran, that was the point where Mr. Willie should have strode to the mound and signaled for Darren Oliver. Pierre was not going to go a yard against Glavine, so with a two-run lead, you absolutely cannot walk him. If Mike Pelfrey walks him in that situation, you chalk it up to inexperience. If Tom Glavine walks him, there is a major problem that must be rectified immediately. It started innocently enough, but by the time the inning was over, the Cubs had scored four runs.

To Tommy’s credit, he managed to squeak by the next few innings, before allowing a home run to pitcher Carlos Zambrano in the top of the seventh. He then allowed a double to Juan Pierre and a groundout to Todd Walker before Mr. Willie realized Glavine was over the 100-pitch limit, and replaced him with Chad Bradford. ChadBrad allowed a hit to the red-hot Aramis Ramirez, scoring Pierre, but gave up no further damage.

After scoring four quick runs in the first three innings, then adding another in the fifth, the Met batters did nothing until the ninth, when they mounted their rally against shaky closer Dempster. It was nice to see the Mets show some gumption, and for a moment it looked like they might harken back to the late-inning magic of the mid-1980s Mets. In the end, though, this was a tough loss. The NL-leading Mets have no business losing a series to the fast-fading Cubs.

Notes

Aaron Heilman finally threw a decent inning, giving up one hit and no runs on six pitchers. I still say it’s time to move him to the rotation, especially with the Mets starters having a hard time getting through five innings without giving up 5-8 runs.

Endy Chavez was outstanding, going 2-3 with a three-run homer and making several good plays in RF. This Chavez/Nady platoon is working out quite nicely.

Tom Glavine was not only awful on the mound, but he was poor in the field — throwing wildly high on a bunt — and at bat, as he twice executed poor bunts in the same at-bat (the first was ruled foul, the second turned into a DP). Is this a guy that needs his greenies?

Once again, Glavine did not use his fastball inside, something he was doing earlier in the year (when he was successful). This hurt him, as the Cubs seemed to be zoning in on the outside half of the plate. Even pitcher Carlos Zambrano had fun with the outside pitch, swatting it over the RF stands. Could he be overanalyzing the scouting reports, and pitching to teams’ weaknesses rather than establishing his game? Has he lost some velocity and therefore also lost confidence in coming inside? Whatever the case, he needs to use both sides of the plate, and mix in the curve, which was also used sparsely.

Delgado was quiet and Uncle Cliffy struck out three times. Those are two bats the Mets need participating if they are to score 9+ runs in a game.

Jose Valentin continues to sparkle both at bat and in the field. I think it’s safe to assume there won’t be any deadline deals for a second sacker, especially with Tony Graffanino moving to the Brewers earlier in the day. I don’t see the Mets bothering with Mark Grudzielanek, as he’s not necessarily an upgrade, and it’s doubtful Julio Lugo could be had for anything resembling a fair deal. Which is good, because this leaves Omar to concentrate on getting a top-notch arm.

Speaking of, I really hope Omar doesn’t make any deals for dopes such as Rodrigo Lopez or Corey Lidle. If he can’t get a potential #3 or better, such as Barry Zito or Jason Schmidt, then he may as well stand pat. I’d prefer to move Heilman to the rotation or pray that El Duque has a few good playoff games left than overpay for another #5 starter.

John Maine vs. the shell of Mark Prior tomorrow at 12:10. If posed the question in April, who would believe that nearly every Mets fan would be excited to see what John Maine could do in this start, and expect him to win against Priordigy?

Cubs 8 Mets 7

So close … it looked as though the cardiac kids might pull out another late-inning win, but they fell just short.

Steve Trachsel, who had put together a string of seven straight wins, looked more like himself in giving up three walks, ten hits, and eight runs in four and two-thirds innings. He refused to throw his fastball, and missed with his split and curveball. By “miss”, I don’t mean he missed the strike zone; rather, he hung his split consistently, and the batters feasted on the enticing, chest-high floaters. At one point in the game, after giving up a homer to Aramis Ramirez, Jacque Jones literally ran to the batter’s box and jumped in to face Trax, perhaps fearing that the pitcher would be taken out before he had a chance to swat at his batting-practice tosses. Instead, Trachsel stayed in, and proceeded to give up another homer to Jones. I swear Jones did it without his shoes on.

After allowing Trachsel his obligatory 100 pitches, manager extraordinaire Mr. Willie gave the ball to the Mets bullpen, who shut down the Cubs effortlessly the rest of the way. Unfortunately, a three-run outburst in the seventh was all the Mets could muster after a fourth-inning RBI double by Xavier Nady, so the Metropolitans had to settle for a one-run loss.

Notes

Carlos Delgado is still hot, going 2-3, but he can’t carry the Mets all by himself. If Mets starters are going to continue to give up lots of runs early, the batters will have to produce ten or more runs per game. Is it time to cork the bats?

Heath Bell threw two strong innings, and is continuing to impress in his limited mopup role. Who he’s impressing, no one’s quite sure. We know that Mr. Willie can’t stand him, for reasons unknown, perhaps because Omar Minaya hasn’t gotten around to telling him that Bell is talented. Perhaps he’s impressing the many scouts in the stands looking for apples to pick from the Mets’ tree in a deadline deal. Couldn’t you just see a package of Bell, Aaron Heilman, Steve Trachsel, and Lastings Milledge going to Oakland for Barry Zito?

Astros 8 Mets 4

It could’ve been a sweep …

After beating the ‘stros in the first two games, and coming out like gangbusters against ace Roy Oswalt with three runs in the first, it looked as though the Mets might be playing janitor on the Houstoners.

But it was not to be.

Rookie Mike Pelfrey struggled with his command, giving up five runs and the lead before leaving the game. The Astros’ bullpen silenced the Mets bats the rest of the way, and that was all she wrote.

Notes

Carlos Delgado is officially hot. He went two-for-two with another home run and lately, even his outs have been smashes. Thank goodness.

Aaron Heilman, however, is still slumping. He gave up five hits and two more runs in an inning and two-thirds. One run scored as a result of his laziness in getting to first base with two out. I think it’s time to question whether Heilman is truly built for the bullpen. Sure, he did wonderfully last year, but it could have been due to his motivation to show the world how good he is. It’s possible that much of what he did in 2005 was part emotional, part adrenalin, and part greenies. He may be physically and mentally fatigued from pitching three or four times a week, and simply isn’t wired for that kind of repetition. I still say he’s the #3 starter the Mets are desperately looking for.

Mets 4 Astros 3

It looked like it was going to be another ugly El Duque outing, as Orlando Hernandez gave up three quick runs in the first inning. However, he immediately righted the ship and ended up pitching seven strong innings, giving up only those three runs and four hits total wit eight strikeouts.

Helping him was Xavier Nady, whose three-run homer in the fourth topped a Carlos Delgado sac fly in the second to make the difference in the ballgame. El Duque and the solid Mets bullpen cruised the rest of the way, pushing the Mets to their 59th victory.

Mets 7 Astros 0

Wow … what more can you say about John Maine, who threw a four-hit, complete-game shutout.

OK, we enjoyed it, it was beautiful, kudos to John … now let’s fall back to earth and look at this in perspective.

The Astros have been struggling at the plate of late. In addition, they’ve never seen John Maine, and since he’s only pitched a few times, there’s little or no scouting report. So let’s not expect Maine to suddenly turn into Francisco Liriano.

At the same time, let’s also give credit where credit is due. John Maine threw an outstanding ballgame, consistently getting ahead of batters and pounding the zone with lots of strikes. So, putting the game in perspective, if this is the best that Maine can do, and his July 1 start vs. the Pirates the worst he can do, then the guy in middle should shape up to be a nice #4 or #5 starter.

Unfortunately, the Mets staff is riddled with back-end of the rotation guys. But maybe Maine’s emergence makes Steve Trachsel available in a package that could bring us a guy like Barry Zito (fingers crossed).

Maine was the “main” attraction in this game, but there were other stars. Chief among them was Jose Valentin, who has become something of a practitioner of the grand slam. His four-run blast in the second gave Maine a comfortable lead, and Carlos Delgado accentuated it with his 24th bomb of the year. Delgado looks to be out of his mid-year slump, and will hopefully start bombing away without recourse.