Perez during a rehab start in 2009
Earlier this afternoon, I posted a link to an interview with minor league pitching coach Jeff Andrews. Andrews was the minor league pitching coordinator with the Padres when Oliver Perez was in the organization. He obviously knows Ollie better than most.
Quote of the day:
“I don’t know that there’s many outside things that can cure him,” he said. “It’s very rare that he’ll take a cue from someone else.” – Jeff Andrews in The Wall Street Journal (June 7, 2010)
ESPN New York – Adam Rubin is reporting that Jesus Feliciano is not in tonight’s starting lineup for Buffalo. Does that mean the Feliciano Era will begin tomorrow night?
New York Times – Jerry Manuel is indicating the Mets may bring John Maine back as a reliever. We may have to implement a 3-week rule on anything Jerry says. If it still seems plausible after 3 weeks, then it can be published.
Wall Street Journal – A fascinating interviw with Jeff Andrews. Mr. Andrews was the minor league pitching coordinator for the San Diego Padres when Ollie Perez was signed as a 16-year old.
MetsBlog – The Brewers have released Jeff Suppan. Could the Suppan Era be right around the corner? He could be the poor man’s Kevin Millwood (aka the poor man’s Cliff Lee)… Stay tuned!
Seven Train to Shea – Steve Sidoti looks at what caliber of player the Mets could be drafting with the #7 pick. Tulowitski, Kershaw and Pelfrey. Oh my.
Amazin’ Avenue – James Kannengieser says the Mets are swinging at too many pitches out of the strike zone.
OnTheBlack – Should the Mets trade for Cliff Lee? Kerel Cooper breaks it down. My money is on Kevin Millwood.
Brooklyn Met Fan – Adam has a recap of yesterday’s win.
The Daily Stache – Scott Ilowite thinks Alex Cora is a waste of money. I have to respectfully disagree with this line of thinking. Cora is the closest thing the Mets have to Keith Hernandez, intangibly speaking.
The Mets Police – Shannon Shark is feeling good about the Mets these days – the franchise as a whole, not just the team on the field.
And in case you never heard it, here is “Get Metsmerized.” This is for commenter Isuzudude, who said he was “mildly disappointed” by Darryl Strawberry’s solo rap song. Maybe he will enjoy the work Darryl did within the group dynamic. Sometimes being in a group brings out the best in a musician. Just ask Paul McCartney.
NOTE: This is a report from MetsToday’s official sabermetrician and minor league correspondent Matt Himelfarb. Enjoy.
Wilmer Flores has come a long way since Summer 2008 in Kingsport.
Photo of Wilmer Flores by Tom Priddy
Two years ago, Flores, just 16 years old, was assigned to the Kingsport Mets of the Rookie level Appalachian League. At that age, any semblance of production- any semblance of playing time, for that matter- warrants some attention. Yet, Flores took the league by storm, hitting .310/.351/.490 in 265 plate-appearances before a late-season promotion to Brooklyn.
Of course, there were some growing pains along the way.
A little over a month into the season, the Princeton Rays came into town for a three-game set. Tim Beckham, the number one overall pick that June, was there as well, setting the stage for quite a spectacle. For three nights, Hunter Wright Stadium, capacity 2,500, would boast the two best prospects in the league.
“All of a sudden you got probably the best two players in the league”, than Kingsport manager and current Sand Gnats skipper Pedro Lopez says, “and everybody wants to know who’s the best? Who’s the better shortstop in the league? And I saw this kid is really nice, really polite. Its unbelievable.”
Than came his first interview with a reporter from New York, with Lopez acting as translator. Most of it went something like this: Continue reading
DO YOU BELIEVE IN COMEBACKS ????!!!!!!!!!
The Mets were down 1-0 in the fourth, then fell behind 5-0 as they came to bat in the sixth. It was looking like one of those lazy Sunday losses. Then, out of nowhere, the Mets offense woke from their slumber and scored seven runs over the final three innings to come back and win the ballgame — and sweep their weekend series against the Marlins.
Sorry for the late postgame. I missed the live broadcast of the game to attend my (not so) little brother’s high school graduation from Seton Hall Prep. Christopher Janish sung the Star-Spangled Banner to start the commencement exercises and sang “The Prep” alma mater to end the ceremonies. Yeah, I’m proud of him — it’s OK to be proud of my younger brother, right, Mr. Francesa?
Ken Hisanori Takahashi zipped through the Marlins lineup once, then struggled afterward, beginning with Dan Uggla’s solo homer in the fourth frame. Tak shook it off but then allowed four more runs in the sixth inning — the highlight being a three-run homer by Cody Ross. His final line was 5 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR.
We shouldn’t really be surprised that the league is starting to figure out Takahashi after his hot start. After all, he tops out at 90 MPH, but usually is around 87 with his fastball, and as a result can be very hittable if his control isn’t absolutely pinpoint — he doesn’t have much margin for error. I think the mystery of being unknown was partly the reason for his great beginning, and he’s now struggling because NL hitters are more familiar with him and the scouts are building reports on him. We’ll see if he can adjust to the league now that the league has adjusted to him. Though, my guess is the “unknown factor” will work in his favor when the Mets enter interleague play next week.
All of the Marlins runs came off of Japanese imports; their sixth score came off of Ryota Igarashi, who continues to exhibit lackluster body language and questionable command. He’s been a completely different pitcher since returning from the DL, so you must wonder if he’s still hurting.
David Wright was 3-for-5 with a double but scored only once and had no RBI.
Jeff Francoeur was more or less the star of the game for the Mets, hitting a double and a three-run homer that tied the game 6-6.
Chris Carter — remember him? — drove in the Mets’ first run, scoring Wright with a bloop single off Ricky Nolasco in the sixth. He’s now 4-for-13 (.307) as a pinch-hitter.
Remarkably, Nolasco was removed immediately after that lucky bloop, having thrown only 82 pitches. He left the game with the bases loaded, and Tim Wood allowed two of those runners to score (on a laser up the middle by Angel Pagan) — as well as another three of his own when Frenchy went yard. Not sure what Fredi Gonzalez was thinking, because Nolasco was throwing fairly well and Wood has to be one of the worst pitchers on his staff. Thanks Fredi!
Pagan was — you guessed it — 2-for-4, with a stolen base. Where have I seen that before? He’s now hitting .291.
The Mets have a day off at home on Monday night, then stay in Flushing to host the Padres (didn’t the Mets just get back from San Diego?). Tuesday night’s game begins at 7:10 PM, and pits Mike Pelfrey vs. Clayton Richard.
The Mets (29-27) look for a series sweep over the visiting Marlins (28-29) at Citi Field. Hisanori Takahashi (4-2, 3.21) looks to right himself after an awful outing in San Diego. He will be opposed by Ricky Nolasco (5-4, 4.57).
The Mets lineup, courtesy of the team’s media relations department:
7 Jose Reyes – SS
16 Angel Pagan – CF
44 Jason Bay – LF
29 Ike Davis – 1B
5 David Wright – 3B
21 Rod Barajas – C
12 Jeff Francoeur – RF
13 Alex Cora – 2B
47 Hisanori Takahashi – LHP
By the way, I won’t have time to post Mets links today… If you see any interesting links out there, post them in the comments section and I will take a look for tomorrow morning’s link post.
Gametime is at 1:10pm….
DISCUSS!
It was a shining afternoon both for the fans due to the sun, and for the Mets front office due to the fact that Mets farmhands led the way toward victory.
Homegrown Jon Niese pitched 7 innings for the win, fellow farmhand Jennry Mejia threw a perfect 8th, #1 draft pick Ike Davis went 4-for-4, supplemental first-round pick David Wright blasted his 10th homer of the year, and international free agent signee Ruben Tejada had an RBI double. Heck, you could even throw in Angel Pagan’s fine day — he did, after all, spend his entire minor league career in the Mets’ system.
Jon Niese shut out the Marlins through six, before finally allowing a run in the 7th. In all, he spun 7 stellar innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 6.
As good as Niese was, at least part of his success was due to the over-aggressiveness of the Marlins hitters, who expanded the strike zone both horizontally and vertically. Niese was wild high all afternoon, but the Fish kept swinging through the high pitches, so it worked out great. Additionally, Niese had a good, tight, 11-5 curve working well most of the day, which kept the Marlins from sitting on the fastball. Still, though, his arm action, angle, and release point change when he throws the deuce, so you have to wonder if other teams will pick up on that. Additionally, I don’t like the way Niese tends to drop his arm angle and release with the fingers to the side — instead of on top of — the ball. I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating: when the fingers slide to the side, or under, the ball at release, fastballs tend to flatten and stay high, and it’s difficult if not impossible to get downward sink on pitches (it also puts considerable strain on the elbow). In this game, against the Marlins hitters, it worked to his advantage — and it will likely work against many other teams. However I’d prefer to see him stay more over the top to get more downward movement and protect that elbow, which already gets strained when throwing the curve.
Fernando Nieve pitched a perfect ninth, but to me he didn’t look good at all. You’re probably thinking, “gee, Joe, why so negative? The Mets won after all!”. But the process is as important as the result, and what I saw from Nieve was slightly concerning. First, he threw almost all curveballs — and we know he is essentially a fastball pitcher. Maybe he was working on the curve in the hopes of showing he has enough of an arsenal to be a starter, since he’s made it clear he doesn’t enjoy relief. But he was also opening up his front side very early and short-arming his pitches — I’m not sure if it’s something he has to do in order to get good spin on the curve or if his shoulder is bothering him. The third “yellow” flag for me was his body language, particularly after the last out was recorded. You never would’ve guessed the Mets just won the game — he looked indifferent, bordering on miserable. Was it because of pain? Was he unhappy to be coming out of the ‘pen? Something else?
Ike Davis’ perfect day included two doubles, three runs scored, and an RBI. It’s safe to say he has become a fan favorite in Flushing.
David Wright’s 10th homer was a monster shot off the restaurant glass high in left field. He also had a single and a walk and drove in three, scored twice. He’s now hitting .270 and based on his approach and huge swings, am going to go on a limb and say that he has turned himself into a “go for the downs” slugger in the style of Mark Reynolds. Which is too bad, because although he may help him hit 30 HRs instead of 20-25, he may no longer be a .300 hitter and therefore not a 100-run guy. We’ll see, though, I could be wrong.
Jeff Francoeur had two more hits — though one was a cheap swinging bunt that Jorge Cantu hoped would go foul — and an RBI. When Francoeur is hot, he’s red hot. His hot streak has been a boon to my fantasy team as well.
The third and final game of this weekend series takes place at 1:10 PM. Hisanori Takahashi takes the hill against Ricky Nolasco.
The Mets (28-27) take on the Marlins (28-28) at 4:10pm at Citi Field. Jon Niese (1-2, 4.79) returns from the disabled list to start for the Mets. He will be opposed by Nate Robertson (4-4, 4.30).
Discuss…