What To Do Without Delgado

Posted on May 19, 2009 by Joe Janish

If you haven’t heard, Carlos Delgado is having hip surgery and will be out at least two months.

First of all, if his injury is so severe it requires surgery, what in the world was the thought process in keeping him off the disabled list for a week? How do you go from a day-to-day injury to requiring surgery in a matter of hours? Only the Mets …

More importantly, who will play first base in Delgado’s absence? Someone on the current 25-man roster? A player inside the farm system? Someone outside the organization?

Here is a short list of possibilities … Continue reading →

Posted in Mets Injuries | Tagged | 9 Comments

Mets Game 38: Loss to Dodgers

Posted on May 19, 2009 by Joe Janish

Dodgers 3 Mets 2

A comedy of errors.

The Mets and Dodgers locked horns for 10 innings, tied up at two apiece, until Angel Pagan drove a ball deep to the outfield wall to drive home Ryan Church with the go-ahead run.

Except, Church missed third base. And everyone saw it.

The Dodgers appealed the play, Church was punched out, and the top of the 11th was over, with the game remaining tied.

In the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers quickly put runners on second and third with none out, thanks to a walk and a missed fly ball by Carlos Beltran in centerfield. The Mets then intentionally loaded the bases and brought Beltran in to play short-field. Brian Stokes induced a short flyout to left from Rafael Furcal, then got a grounder to first base from Orlando Hudson — but Jeremy Reed threw the ball way wide of Omir Santos, allowing the winning run to score.

All in all, the Mets committed five errors in the field, a few more on the basepaths, and wasted a strong effort by Tim Redding.

After a rough start, Redding settled down to pitch surprisingly well in his 2009 debut. After allowing two runs in the first frame, he didn’t allow another as he cruised through the sixth, expending 92 pitches. However, Randy Wolf hung just as tough, allowing only the Mets two runs through 7 2/3 and 96 pitches. Despite their impressive performances, neither pitcher was still around when the winning run crossed the plate.

Notes

Redding held the NL’s top-hitting team to only two hits in his six innings of work.

In the starting lineup as the leadoff hitter, Angel Pagan responded as well as one could hope, going 4-for-6 with a run scored and almost the game-winning hit.

David Wright remains unconscious. He was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two walks and a run scored.

As usual, some strange things from the Mets side. For example, Luis Castillo attempting to bunt Pagan to third base with none out in the 8th and the Mets down by one. It appeared as though it was Castillo’s idea. Whosever it was, it was a bad one. What made it worse was that Castillo popped up back to the pitcher. Pagan eventually scored, but nonetheless the out was given away.

Yet again, a Met did not slide when he should have. Ryan Church did not slide back into first on a pickoff attempt by Russell Martin, and was tagged out. Luckily for the Mets, the umpire missed it and called him safe. Still, no excuse for not sliding. Is Charlie Samuels on the players’ cases for getting their uniforms dirty?

Luis Castillo saved the game by stopping an errant throw to first by Sean Green in the bottom of the ninth, holding Juan Pierre at third base. Had Castillo not been backing up, the ball would’ve rolled into right field and Pierre would’ve scored the winning run easily. And Mets fans would’ve had another big reason to call for Green’s head on talk radio on Tuesday.

I can’t believe Fernando Tatis is 3-for-24 with RISP this year.

Reed was looking pretty good with the glove at first base, until that bad throw. Can you expect him to make a good throw in that situation, with a grand total of 16 professional innings at the position under his belt? I doubt he’s had much time to practice such a play — most likely he’s spent most of his time with footwork around the bag, fielding grounders, and digging out low throws. There are only so many hours in the day.

Church seemed to be hobbling after the non-score / missing third base in the 11th. Just what the Mets need — another injury.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Dodgers face each other again on Tuesday night at 10:10 PM EST. John Maine faces Chad Billingsley.

Posted in Mets 2009 Games | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Why Steve Phillips is Right About Beltran

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Joe Janish

steve-phillips-metsSo much to-do over a few little comments by Steve Phillips …

Yes, I also watched the game last night on ESPN, and for part of the time did not use the mute button. Yes, I agree that Joe Morgan, Steve Phillips, and Jon Miller are not the best broadcast team. No, I don’t understand anything Morgan says. Yes, I disagree with 99% of what Phillips says.

But one thing I do agree with Phillips on, sort of, is the Carlos Beltran issue. If I were the Mets GM, I would absolutely consider trading Carlos Beltran at the end of this season. Not because he’s lacking edge (even if he is) or clutchness (ditto), not because he’s imperfect (aren’t we all?), not because he lacks leadership skills (there are at least 20 other Mets guilty of the same), and not because he’s an airhead (he is, you just don’t notice it when he’s hitting .400). Rather, following are my reasons why it would make sense to explore the possibility of dealing Beltran next winter. Continue reading →

Posted in Shea What? | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Quick Preview: Mets vs. Dodgers

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Joe Janish

dodgers-logoAfter nearly sweeping the Giants, the Mets have positioned themselves among the NL elite. For the next three days they face another of the “elite”, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

However, the Mannyless Dodgers are 5-5, though they remain in first place in the NL West. (BTW, did you know that Manny didn’t actually fail the drug test? Interesting story here.) The Mets are Delgadoless, and have been Reyesless (and Putzless for two days), yet it hasn’t had an effect on their win-loss record. In fact, the team is 3-1 without Reyes and 4-3 since Delgado’s last game. Reyes is expected to return for the LA series, while Delgado is on the DL. Let’s look at the pitching matchups.

Game one: Tim Redding (0-0) vs. Randy Wolf (2-1, 2.77 ERA)
Hard to say what Tim Redding will do. When he wasn’t injured during spring training, he was awful. So awful, in fact, that the nearly as awful Freddy Garcia appeared to have a shot at making the roster (before Livan Hernandez came to the rescue). Redding made two starts for AAA Buffalo, pitching 13 innings, allowing 13 hits, 2 walks, 1 HR, 4 runs, striking out 9. Wolf’s record thus far looks great, but the Dodgers are 4-4 in his 8 starts. Over the last three years, he’s 5-0 against the Mets with a 3.60 ERA. Luis Castillo is hitting .409 lifetime vs. Wolf over 49 at-bats, Carlos Beltran rips him to the tune of .379.

Game two: John Maine (3-2, 4.20 ERA) vs. Chad Billingsley(5-1, 2.30 ERA)
This is not exactly the matchup the Mets would want, but the way Maine has been pitching lately, it’s hard to say the Dodgers have an edge. Maine has won three of his last four starts and gone 6 innings or more in each of them. Meanwhile, Billingsley has assumed the role of ace, pitching 7 or more innings in 6 of his 8 starts, striking out 56 in 54 innings, holding opposing batters to a .206 average and posting a 1.12 WHIP. Interestingly, three of the Mets who have hit him well are on the DL (Brian Schneider, .300; Carlos Delgado, .400) or in the minors (Cory Sullivan, 5-for-8 with a HR).

Game three: Livan Hernandez (3-1, 5.59 ERA) vs. Eric Stults (4-1, 3.82 ERA)
This matchup looks pretty even, on paper … in fact, the Mets may have the edge. Hernandez has had a few bad outings, but all in all, has given the Mets better than decent performance for a #5 starter. Personally, I feel like the Mets have a chance to win when he’s on the mound. Similarly, Stults is providing decent performance as a back-end starter for the Dodgers, though he rarely gets past the fifth inning. He had one outstanding, 4-hit shutout against the Giants, but has otherwise been just good enough to give his team a chance to win — LA is 6-1 in his starts. It should be noted that Stults sprained his thumb on May 17th, and could miss this start; if so, Jeff Weaver will take his place (stop salivating).

Closing Thoughts

Even without Manny, the Dodgers would, from this perspective, appear to be a stronger team than the Giants. That’s not to say the Mets can’t win this series, but at minimum LA should put up a better fight. The starting pitching matchups are fairly even, and the bullpens are comparable — though assuming J.J. Putz is healthy, the Mets should have an edge in the final two innings. The Dodgers have a lot of “character” or “gritty” guys that I like — Casey Blake, Russell Martin, Blake DeWitt, Mark Loretta, and Orlando Hudson for example — but they have to prove they can win without Manny, who was the lynchpin of their success. Similarly, the Mets will have to learn to win without Delgado — though he was hardly missed over the last week. Because Manny’s not around, I wouldn’t qualify this series as a “test”, though it is an appropriate “pre-test” for the one coming up in Boston.

Posted in Series Previews | 5 Comments

Mets Game 37: Loss to Giants

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Joe Janish

Giants 2 Mets 0

You can’t win ’em all.

It looked as though the Mets would sweep the Giants in San Francisco, and after their many come-from-behind wins over the past week, I have to admit I had a smidgen of hope when the ninth inning began — particularly with Brian Wilson on the mound. However, it was not to be.

Matt Cain shut out the Mets in his six innings of work, and stroked an RBI single to help himself, to earn his fourth victory of the season. Cain didn’t look particularly dominating, and in fact had trouble with his command at several points — but the Mets were unable to take advantage. Twice the Mets hit into inning-ending double plays with the bases loaded.

Meantime Mike Pelfrey pitched very well through his six frames, allowing only two runs on six hits and two walks. Good, but not good enough on this day. Tough one for Big Pelf, who deserved better.

Notes

Alex Cora left the game in the third inning with a jammed thumb, suffered when he inexplicably slid head-first into second on a double when there was no play on him. (The right play is to go feet-first, ideally a “popup slide”, so that you can quickly get on your feet in the event the ball is overthrown. The only reasons you would slide head-first is to get to the base more quickly, or to avoid a tag.) Fernando Tatis took Cora’s place at short and filled in admirably.

Also doing a nice job as a fill-in was Jeremy Reed, who once again started at first base and played it like Doug Mientkiewicz. Reed and Cora accounted for two of the Mets’ five hits.

With two outs and two strikes on Gary Sheffield in the third inning, Carlos Beltran attempted to steal third. This is the umpteenth time I’ve seen Beltran display such stupidity; it’s as if he made it to the Major League level without someone explaining to him that it’s a low percentage, unhelpful play. Not to mention the fact that he likely was distracting Sheff.

Mike Pelfrey had a bad case of the balks in this game — he balked three times in the first six innings, and it nearly became a mental block. The balks appeared to be due to problems with the signals from catcher Omir Santos. I’m guessing he wasn’t seeing Omir’s fingers, maybe due to the shadows. Or, Santos may have been flashing them too quickly, or in sequences that didn’t make sense to Pelfrey, for whatever reason.

Though I was happy to see Angel Pagan return and get an at-bat (he took the disabled Carlos Delgado’s spot on the roster), I was a little surprised to see him pinch-hit for Danny Murphy with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth against lefthander Jeremy Affeldt (he hit into an inning-ending DP). Yes, from a “by the book” standpoint, you put in a RH hitter against a LH pitcher. HOWEVER, lefthanded hitters are mashing Affeldt to the tune of .391 this year, and Murphy is hitting .357 vs. lefties. Manuel’s postgame excuse was that Murphy is not hitting well “lately”. Well, Murph has had only six at-bats in the last five days and he does have “only” one hit over that span — a pinch-hit RBI single off Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. Generally speaking, people who come off the bench cold and rip a single off Lincecum are swinging the bat “OK”, at the least. Another case of Jerry Manuel over-managing, so that he can’t be fried in the press for making a bad move … or, as we like to call it, “Manuel being Manuel”.

Did anyone else notice that Ramon Castro JOGGED to first base on his groundout to end the game? Yeah, I’m a nitpicker, but that kind of stuff wouldn’t fly on my team. Castro’s so slow that sometimes it’s hard to tell when he’s running hard and when he’s not, but he was clearly taking it easy down the first base line. I know he’s never been Charlie Hustle, but I wonder if being in Jerry Manuel’s doghouse is a factor.

Honestly, you can’t get too upset about this loss. If, on Thursday, someone told you the Mets would split the series, you’d probably be happy. If you were told they’d win three, you’d be ecstatic. A sweep would’ve been wonderful, sure, but we can’t get too greedy.

Next Game

Mets travel down to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers for a three-game series. Tim Redding makes his first start of the year against Randy Wolf. Game time is 10:10 PM EST.

Posted in Mets 2009 Games | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Mets Game 36: Win Over Giants

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Joe Janish

Mets 9 Giants 6

Johan Santana finally figured out how to earn a victory — by pitching like a journeyman instead of a Cy Young candidate.

Santana, who had allowed only four earned runs in his first seven starts combined, equaled that amount in seven innings of one game in San Francisco. But for once, the Mets supported their ace with offensive production.

In those previous seven starts, the otherwise potent Mets offense could manage only 2 runs a game and a .245 batting average. That changed on Saturday, as the lineup supplied 9 runs on 16 hits, including 11 off future HOFer Randy Johnson in the first four frames.

The meat of the order — Carlos Beltran, Gary Sheffield, and David Wright — led the way with a combined 6 runs scored, 6 RBI, and 9 hits in 14 at-bats. Not one of those three batters left a runner stranded on base the entire game.

Santana, meanwhile, had the type of game you’d expect to see from a mere mortal, rather than an extraterrestrial species who holds a sub-one ERA. Johan allowed six runs — 4 earned — on 11 hits in 7 innings. He picked a great day to have a bad day.

As per the daily script, the Mets jumped out to an early lead, scoring three in the first off Johnson. The San Francisco bats tied it up with one score in the third and another in the fourth, but the Mets immediately responded with a 4-run fifth that knocked Johnson out of the game. The Giants chipped away with three runs over the 6th and 7th, making the score a tight 7-6, but the Mets added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth (remarkably, NOT against Brian Wilson). Talk about scoring runs in bunches.

J.J. Putz, fresh off a cortisone shot and two days’ rest, pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season. Thirteen pitches, eleven for strikes.

Notes

Johnson remains stuck on 298 wins. Judging by how he looked today, he may be stuck there for a while. Can you say ‘Steve Carlton’ ?

Can you hear that low-pitched mumbling sound? It’s the sound of all the Gary Sheffield detractors, trying to explain how he’s 9-for-18 over the last four games, despite being “finished”. His average has jumped to .270 and his OBP to .410, after spending most of the season below the Mendoza Line. Would you believe me if I told you he already has three more walks than Danny Murphy, despite coming to the plate 40 less times? Look it up.

Could it be that Santana’s fall from the stratosphere took pressure off the Mets? Perhaps after seeing that he is indeed made of flesh and bone, and puts his pants on one leg at a time, they were able to loosen the noose around their necks in their effort to play up to his level. Now, if they can just repeat that loosening in September.

But maybe they won’t need to worry about pressure in September. Consider: the Mets entered the series without Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider, and J.J. Putz; add to that the fact that Danny Murphy has been on the bench. When the series began, they and the Giants had identical records, with the Giants owning a strong winning record at home. Despite all this, the Mets are on the verge of sweeping the Giants in San Francisco. Which means it’s safe to say that the Mets are among the elite teams in the National League and will likely wrap up the NL East in early September, much like they did in 2006. Slam dunk. It’s almost not fair, seeing how much better the Mets are in comparison to the rest of the National League. Bud Selig may have to do another “restructuring” and send them to the AL West next year.

Next Mets Game

The Mets finish off the Giants on Sunday night at 8 PM EST. Mike Pelfrey takes the hill against Matt Cain. The game will be televised on ESPN.

Posted in Mets 2009 Games | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Baconnaise

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Joe Janish

baconnaise
This has nothing to do with the Mets … though, you can put it on your sandwich or in the deviled eggs you may be eating while you’re watching the game … but this product is so remarkable I just had to share it with you. Consider it a MetsToday “amazing discovery”.

And it is as amazing as you might imagine … kind of like having two closers available to finish off a ballgame — only better. Put it on … anything. Everything. It’s mayonnaise, and bacon, both of which make everything better.

If you can’t find it in your local supermarket, you can buy it from Amazon — just click below or on the image.

J&D’s Baconnaise Bacon Flavored Spread, Regular, 15-Ounce Jar (Pack of 3)

(don’t be put off by the price tag — you get THREE jars for that cost)

Posted in Shea What? | Tagged | 1 Comment

Mets Game 35: Win Over Giants

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Joe Janish

Mets 8 Giants 6

Good to see that Johan Santana is not the only elite pitcher in baseball who has trouble collecting victories.

Following the script, the Mets jumped ahead in the first frame, but by the time they batted again, a win seemed a distinct impossibility.

After all, Livan Hernandez immediately gave up the one run lead, and four runs total, and San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum was hurling hellacious stuff.

The Giants extended the lead to 5-1 by the time the second inning ended, and Lincecum was looking downright nasty, so the picture grew bleaker.

However, Hernandez managed to keep the San Francisco bats at bay for three innings, and the Mets chipped away with a two spot in the top of the sixth. Reliever Sean Green gave one of them back in the bottom of the inning, but the Mets came charging back in the top of the seventh, rallying against a suddenly tired Lincecum. They put two runners on and Merkin Valdez (who?) was trotted in from the bullpen to put out the fire. A poor choice by SF manager Bruce Bochy, since the red-hot David Wright blasted a double to clear the bases and the game. Bochy came to his senses and immediately replaced Valdez with lefty Jeremy Affeldt, who struck out three of the next four batters to stop the bleeding.

The game remained tied until the top of the ninth, when “closer” Brian Wilson entered the game for the Giants and proceeded to melt down. He allowed back-to-back singles to Gary Sheffield and David Wright to start the inning, bringing up Ryan Church. Despite the fact that Church already had two hits, was swinging the bat well, and two RH hitters from the bottom of the order were up next, Church was asked to bunt. The ball was bunted hard right back to Wilson, and Sheffield would’ve been out at third by ten feet — but Wilson threw the ball into left field, allowing Sheff to score the go-ahead run and Wright to move to third. Omir Santos followed with his trademark sacrifice fly to make it 8-6 Mets. Wilson gave up a double to Fernando Tatis before he was finally, and mercifully, removed from the game.

Francisco Rodriguez came on in the ninth and notched his 11th save, completing a 1-2-3 inning for the first time since little league.

Notes

Pretty cool to see Lincecum not only drive in a run with an opposite-field base hit, but to also see him try to stretch it into a double (he was thrown out by Gary Sheffield). How often do you see a pitcher — much less a franchise ace — try to do that?

Keith Hernandez was a little silly during this broadcast. At one point, he referred to Ryan Church as “fleet of foot”.

Though several regular sticks in the Mets’ lineup were absent, the upside of the situation was that Jerry Manuel had several bullets to choose from in the late innings. Danny Murphy came through with a pinch-hit RBI single in the sixth, but Jose Reyes failed in his pinch-hitting appearance in the seventh.

Bruce Bochy was tossed from the game after Pablo Sandoval was called out on strikes in the bottom of the seventh. Sandoval made a check swing on a full-count pitch from Pedro Feliciano, and the pitch hit him. Originally, the home plate umpire Doug Eddings clearly made the signal for Sandoval to take first base, then asked first base umpire Hunter Wendelstadt for help on the swing call. Wendelstadt called swing and Eddings reversed his original call. Very poor execution by the umpires — not only was it a bad move to ask for help AFTER sending the batter to first, but Wendelstadt also got the call wrong; Sandoval definitely didn’t swing.

Not to be outdone, Mets manager Jerry Manuel got himself tossed by Eddings less than ten minutes later, arguing a strike three call on Carlos Beltran.

David Wright had three hits. Ryan Church, Gary Sheffield, and Jeremy Reed all collected two hits apiece. Reed started at first base for the first time in his MLB career, and the first time since college.

Bengie Molina threw out Church attempting to steal second in the ninth. It was the Mets’ first failure a dozen attempts in the series.

Seeing the lack of offense and dearth of skill in their bullpen, it’s amazing the Giants won 18 times this year. I’m beginning to think the entire National League is awful. It’s either time to contract the league by a few teams or end PEDs testing, because the talent pool we’ve been seeing lately is below “Major League”.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Giants lock horns again at 4:10 PM EST on Saturday afternoon. Johan Santana faces Randy Johnson, though we’re learning that the starting pitchers really don’t matter so much.

Posted in Mets 2009 Games | Tagged , , | 3 Comments