NY Sports Dog is putting Jerry Manuel on notice. Interesting timing, right before the first West Coast road trip …
Matt Pignataro thinks Jose Reyes should be benched
Bob Klapisch says the Mets are playing with fool’s gold
It’s Mets For Me details “My Night with Darryl Strawberry“. A quick review of Darryl’s book is an added bonus.
Some quick news bites for the New York Mets …
Jonathan Niese has been optioned back down to AAA Buffalo after a tough 4-inning start against the Braves.
Nelson Figueroa replaces Niese on the 25-man roster, and, presumably, in the starting rotation.
Carlos Delgado is traveling cross-country with a bad hip. Delgado and the team will decide once they get to California whether or not he’ll be put on the disabled list. The thinking behind this? Just curious.
No word on whether the Mets can legally perform a labotomy on Jose Reyes to treat his recent baserunning idiocy, difficulty with routine grounders, and lack of hustle. Shock therapy may be an alternative.
According to Binghamton manager Mako Oliveras, the Mets brass called him and told him not to start Michael Antonini yesterday. That usually means one of four things: he’s going to be promoted, demoted, traded, or disciplined for comments posted on his Facebook page. My guess is he’ll be promoted to Buffalo to make Nelson Figueroa’s next start.
Javier Valentin has been added to the Buffalo Bisons roster. His brother Jose is no longer in the organization (and neither is Livan Hernandez’s brother Orlando, nor Sandy Alomar’s brother Roberto).
Speaking of former Mets, anyone heard hide or hair of Marlon Anderson?
You can’t say the Mets didn’t fight back.
They erased three leads by Braves during the ballgame, but couldn’t convert a fourth, as Atlanta outlasted the Mets in a dozen innings.
The Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first frame, but the Mets tied it up in the bottom half. Then the Braves scored another pair in the third, but the Mets answered in the fourth with a Fernando Tatis grand slam to go up by two. The Braves scratched out one run in three of the next four innings to take the lead again, but the Mets came right back and tied it up in the bottom of the eighth. The games stayed that way until the 12th inning, when Martin Prado blasted a solo homer off losing pitcher Ken Takahashi. Unfortunately, the Mets were out of comeback juice for the day and thus the final score.
The Mets did rally in the bottom of the 12th, as Jose Reyes hit a leadoff double and was sacrificed to third by Luis Castillo. However, he was left stranded there as both Carlos Beltran and Gary Sheffield whiffed.
In a mysterious move, Bobby Cox removed starting pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes in the fourth inning with no outs, the bases loaded, and a two-run lead. Reyes wasn’t injured and had thrown 56 pitches. I guess Cox was just tired of seeing him out there. Even more curious was the choice of his replacement, Buddy Carlyle, who came into the game with a 1.80 WHIP. Why would you bring into a bases-loaded situation, a reliever who allows almost two baserunners an inning? As it was, Tatis sent Carlyle’s second pitch into dead center, just barely clearing the wall. Even the homerun apple was stunned by the series of decisions, as it stayed parked underneath and didn’t pop out to celebrate the grand salami.
Tatis was red-hot in this game, with three hits. Reyes had three hits of his own and a walk. Gary Sheffield also blistered the ball a few times, with one of his rockets going over the left field wall for his second homer of the season.
Jonathan Niese started the game and looked good. Unfortunately, looking good and performing well did not go hand-in-hand. At times, he appeared to have the Braves off-balance, but in the end he couldn’t get his big curveball into the strike zone, and was inconsistent with his change-up, so the Braves were sitting on his fastball. I don’t doubt he’ll be a decent pitcher some day, but he has a long way to go toward honing his craft. He’ll be best served in AAA, learning to perfect his secondary pitches. No need to demolish his confidence in MLB once Tim Redding comes off the DL.
Chipper Jones was intentionally walked twice, but that didn’t stop the man behind him — Garret Anderson — from driving in three runs on three hits and a sac fly.
J.J. Putz struck out two in the eighth, but also gave up two doubles and the tying run. Despite his claim that he’s been feeling “fatigued”, Jerry Manuel said on WFAN yesterday that Putz is “fine” and that “no one is being overused”. Perhaps Putz’s fatigue is due to an airborne illness or something else completely unrelated to his game participation.
The Mets begin a long West Coast swing tomorrow night in San Francisco. John Maine goes against Jonathan Sanchez in a 10:15 PM EST start.
Though it wasn’t quite as impressive as the first seven innings of the opener, game two also delivered an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel.
Mike Pelfrey and Jair Jurrjens set down batters like bowling pins for the bulk of the game, and by the time both exited their numbers were similar. Jurrjens allowed two earned runs on seven hits and one walk through 7 2/3 innings, and Pelfrey nearly matched that performance — two earned runs on six hits and a walk in 7 innings. He had three two-inning outings in 2006.
However, after the starters exited, the contest became a battle of the bullpens. And in the end, it was awful pitching that decided the game.
After showing some METtle and fighting back to tie the game, the Mets won the game in the tenth inning on a walk-off walk with the bases loaded.
Braves reliever Jeff Bennett got two very quick outs before Jose Reyes hustled out an infield single. Then, concerned with the speedy Reyes at first, Bennett made the mistake of using the slide-step for his first two pitches to Alex Cora, and fell behind 2-0. On the third pitch, he used his regular motion and got a strike, but that was the one Reyes chose to steal on and took second base easily. (Note to the kids: scrap the slide step — it almost never works). Already down in the count 2-1 and Reyes standing on second, Bobby Cox made the next nonsensical but universally accepted move of intentionally walking Cora to create a force. As if on cue, Bennett then walked Ramon Castro, creating zero room for error, and proceeded to walk Carlos Beltran on six pitches to force in Reyes and give the game to the Mets.
Bad decisions, bad baseball, but the in the end the Mets take the game. Five years ago it would’ve been the Mets walking three straight batters with two outs and giving the game to the Braves.
Francisco Rodriguez collected the win with a two-inning effort.
Can anyone explain why Mike Pelfrey was removed from the game prior to the 8th inning after 95 pitches and his spot in the order nowhere close to coming up? Despite the two runs scratched out by the Braves, Big Pelf was hurling a brilliant game, and seemed to be more dominant as the game went on. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
K-Rod hadn’t pitched more than one inning in any regular-season MLB game since 2007. He pitched four outs or more eight times that year, and two full innings four times.
K-Rod and J.J. Putz combined for 49 pitches in the game. I imagine that neither will be available for Wednesday afternoon’s game.
Alex Cora was moved to first base in the tenth inning — a position he’s played only one other time in his MLB career — and used a fielder’s glove rather than a first baseman’s mitt.
Jerry Manuel stunned Bobby Cox by pinch-hitting Gary Sheffield for Danny Murphy after Cox brought in LOOGY Eric O’Flaherty in the eighth. Cox obviously read the scouting reports detailing Manuel and the Mets’ over the top opinion of the young lefthanded hitter. Sheffield was equally shocked — so shocked that he forgot to run to first on the grounder he hit to Casey Kotchman.
The Mets did not put a leadoff batter on base until the eighth inning, when Jeremy Reed ripped a single up the middle.
Speaking of Reed, how can you keep him out of the lineup? His defense is stellar (other than a poorly played line drive off the bat of Yunel Escobar) and he’s hitting the ball all over the place — just as he did in spring training. He does everything — fields, throws, hits, and runs — yet the Mets insist on making sure the one-dimensional Danny Murphy plays as often as possible. Go figure.
And speaking of Escobar, had he run hard out of the box on that line drive, he would’ve had a standup triple. If I’m Bobby Cox, I’m ripping into him in the clubhouse after the game and sitting him down for a game.
And speaking of Wednesday’s game, I’ll be there with my dad, a combination birthday/father’s day present. If you are also attending, send me an email and maybe we can meet at the Big Apple Beers stand for a beverage.
The Mets close out the series and their homestand with an afternoon game that begins at 1:10 PM. Jonathan Niese pitches against Jo-Jo Reyes.
Some of you may have heard of “Where’s Waldo?”. Similarly, we’re going to start a “Where’s Ollie?” game here on MetsToday.com. If you spot Ollie Perez, let us know … and if you don’t, KEEP LOOKING !!!
Today, our loyal reader “Walnutz” seems to have spotted Ollie … but don’t look in the same place, because Ollie has already moved on. We’ll wait on Ollie to provide us a dispatch soon … in the meantime, keep looking!
MLB details the surplus of quality arms in the Mets bullpen. Oops … guess that one doesn’t apply after last night.
Deadspin covers Lou Merloni’s report that the Boston Red Sox had a doctor instruct players on steroids. The Boston GM at the time, Dan Duquette, admitted there was such a meeting but that it was about educating the players on steroids, rather than condoning its use.
For the young pitchers out there, Zoe Rice has a close-up shot of Johan Santana’s change-up grip. Coming soon, a close-up shot of Santana’s grip on the necks of his poor-fielding, poor-hitting teammates.
TheRopolitans posts the results of the Twitter poll “Who’s to blame” for last night’s loss.
Last week, MiLB had a nice article on Wily Mo Pena‘s “return” to the Mets organization. Unfortunately, Pena went down with a calf injury the other day.
And here is Gary Dell’Abate (aka Baba Booey from the Howard Stern Show) throwing out the first pitch at Citi Field over the weekend:
Start a new streak tomorrow.
The Mets’ seven-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of Derek Lowe and the Braves, though you couldn’t fault Johan Santana. For the second time this season, the Mets lost a game in which Santana allowed ZERO earned runs. Ouch.
It was a classic pitcher’s duel through the first six frames, with each team scratching out a run. In the seventh, though, Johan blinked, Kelly Johnson singled, and next thing you know Bobby Parnell is on the mound. A few minutes, two more pitching changes, and a Jose Reyes error later, and the Mets were down 5-1. Poof.
Not much to say. Johan Santana was very good, once again, but couldn’t stay in the game long enough to win. The Mets’ offense was impotent against the sinkerballing Derek Lowe, against whom they’ve historically hit well. Maybe it’s the uniform.
Why wasn’t Gary Sheffield in the starting lineup? He’s pasted Lowe in his career, to the tune of .471 AVG. and 1.415 OPS. By himself he may not have made a difference … but maybe, just maybe, he would’ve driven in a run early in the game — which could have drastically changed the way the 7th inning was handled.
I did like seeing Jeremy Reed get a start, though, in right field. Reed went 2-for-3 with a walk and is hitting .353 in limited duty this season — not far off from the big numbers he put up during spring training.
Fernando Tatis also had two hits, scored twice, and drove in a run, filling in for the injured Carlos Delgado. He’s hitting .356.
The other two runs were driven in by Omir Santos, who refuses to fall down to Earth and is now hitting .302.
With Tatis and Reed in the lineup, where would you have put Sheffield? How about left field? How about not worrying about the lefty-righty thing for once and just going with the raw numbers?
By the way, it’s possible that Delgado is out until the weekend, or goes on the DL. His hip is barking.
The Mets were sloppy on the field, a carryover from the Pittsburgh series that wasn’t noticeable while scoring 7-10 runs a game against the Buccos. Both David Wright and Jose Reyes committed key errors, and the cutoff man was overthrown by Carlos Beltran and Danny Murphy.
The Braves used regular setup man Rafael Soriano in the 8th, but did not burn through their closer. In lieu of Mike Gonzalez, Bobby Cox had Buddy Carlyle finish the game.
The Mets and Braves do it again at 7:10 PM. Mike Pelfrey faces Jair Jurrjens.
Don’t look now, but the Mets who couldn’t get out of their own way a little over a week ago have ripped off seven straight wins and eight of their last ten. They’re 11-6 at home and one game in front of the Phillies as the NL East leaders. Meanwhile, the Braves oftentimes resemble a minor league team, and struggling to win 50% of thei ballgames. This three-game set should establish a wide chasm between these two clubs that has not existed since the late 1980s.
Game one: Johan Santana (4-1, 0.91 ERA) vs. Derek Lowe (4-1, 3.98 ERA)
We all wanted Derek Lowe in orange and blue this year, but the Braves stole him away to be their ace. However, this matchup of “aces” is a no-contest. Santana is not having just a Cy Young year so far, he’s making a case for MVP. Yeah, it’s early, but Santana has been outstanding. If only he had the chutzpah to pitch past the seventh inning, we might consider mentioning him in the same breath with Tom Terrific. But hey, who needs to pitch past the seventh when you have J.J. Putz and K-Rod closing games for you (oops).
If there’s any concern for the Mets in this game, it is the fact that Chipper Jones (.455), Brian McCann (.385), and Kelly Johnson (.429) all historically hit well against Santana. But, Jones is not 100%, McCann just came off the DL with eye issues, and Johnson has been slumping all year.
On the flip side, Carlos Delgado is .308 lifetime against Lowe, and Gary Sheffield is a scorching 8-for-17 (.471) with a 1.415 OPS lifetime vs. Lowe. He best be in the lineup tonight.
Game two: Mike Pelfrey (4-0, 5.46 ERA) vs. Jair Jurrjens (3-2, 2.01 ERA)
I like this matchup in that it pits two young pitchers who are going well right now, throw a lot of strikes, and are at similar points in their career. On any given day, either Pelfrey or Jurrjens can throw an absolute gem … and each seems to have matured to the point where you’re almost guaranteed to see a quality start at minimum. Though Big Pelf’s ERA is twice that of Jurrjens’, he’s pitched very well in his last three starts, and appears to be getting better as the season progresses. I don’t see him having a problem with the Braves’ unusually undisciplined lineup.
Game three: Jonathan Niese (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2, 5.48 ERA)
Niese looked good in his first MLB start of 2009, but it was against a very bad Pittsburgh Pirates lineup — one that may not have been any better than he’d faced in AAA. Reyes is evovling into an eternal enigma, a hard-throwing lefty with great stuff who can be effectively wild (can you say “Oliver Perez”?). This game is an absolute tossup — Reyes could no-hit the Mets through 8, or he could be out of the game by the 8th hitter he faces. Conversely, Niese should be able to give the Mets at least five decent innings, and if his curveball is on, could give the Braves’ lefty-heavy lineup fits.
Closing Thoughts
Brian McCann and Garrett Anderson are back from the DL, but Chipper Jones may be out a game or two with a hyperextended elbow, so Bobby Cox may not have his full lineup. When these two teams squared away last week, Atlanta looked like an underwhelming ballclub with weak fundamentals that might struggle to win 80 games this year. Assuming that remains the case, the Mets should plow through them once again and take at least two. Who knows, they may just sweep them.