Mets 5 Dodgers 2

You know it’s a good win when you can’t decide who is more deserving of the proverbial “game ball”.

David Wright did it with his bat, legs, and glove, and Oliver Perez did it with his arm as the Mets dropped the Dodgers on Fiesta Latina Night at Shea.

As requested in our “quick preview”, Oliver Perez came out with his dominating stuff, throwing up zeroes over seven innings. He allowed just three hits and struck out six, the one negative being five walks. However, the Dodgers only threatened in the first and third frames, and Ollie pitched out of trouble both times. It was exactly the kind of performance he needed to boost his confidence.

Meantime, Wright went 2-for-3 with a walk, a homerun, a run scored, and two RBI, and he made two outstanding plays in the field during the sixth to deny Dodger hits. He’s now lifted his average to .314 and showing no signs of slowing down.

Ruben Gotay — a surprise starter at second base — also went 2-for-3, and drove in Jose Reyes with a double down the rightfield line for the first run of the game in the first inning. Reyes had walked and stolen second to start things off against Los Angeles loser Brad Penny. Reyes scored again in the third, after hitting a double of his own and being driven in by Wright on a single up the middle. Two innings later, Wright smashed his 23rd homer of the year — a line drive the opposite way that barely skimmed over the 338 mark in right — to put the Mets up three-zip.

The Dodgers finally scored in the eighth, mounting a rally against Jorge Sosa. After Sosa retired leadoff batter Matt Kemp, LA loaded the bases on a Jeff Kent single, a ground-rule double by Andre Ethier, and a walk to Russell Martin. At that point Willie Randolph summoned Pedro Feliciano from the ‘pen, who got a quick groundout that scored a run, and induced Shea Hillenbrand to hit a hot liner right at Wright to end the threat.

However, the Mets piled on two more runs in the bottom of the inning. With Scott Proctor on the mound in relief, Carlos Beltran walked to open the inning and Moises Alou followed with a single. Predictably, Carlos Delgado did his best impression of a spinning top and struck out, but Lastings Milledge ripped a single to left to score Beltran. After a Mike DiFelice single pushed Alou to third, pinch-hitter extraordinaire Marlon Anderson lifted a sacrifice fly to score Alou.

The Dodgers put together a feeble rally in the ninth, scoring a second run, but Billy Wagner hung on to finish the game without further incident.

Notes

DiFelice went 3-for-3 and is now batting .281. Where did that come from?

Will Ruben Gotay ever stop hitting? His average is now back at .340, the same place it’s been all year. But, as Willie says, it’s not all about the numbers. (What the hell IS it about, then???)

Penny didn’t pitch poorly — he gave up three runs in six innings of work — but he was far from the dominating beast he’s been this season. Like ERA leader Chris Young on Tuesday, he looked rather ordinary — nothing special. Is it something about pitching in New York?

Should you start panicking over Wagner giving up another run? Not really. It looks like he’s a little run down — his fastball was around 93-94, only touching 95 once or twice. That’s still pretty damn hard, but when Billy is dominating he’s north of 95, and nearing 98. Call it exhaustion or a dead arm period or what have you — the point is, it’s better that he goes through it now, rather in October. In a few weeks, if the Mets can pull ahead by a few more games, Wagner can rest and let the September callups take some of those late innings, so he can be fresh for the postseason.

Delgado had another oh-fer, with one strikeout, batting in the sixth spot in the order. I’m not sure why Willie didn’t give him a day off, and let Shawn Green start against Penny — on the argument that Green has a lifetime .419 average against the big righthander (seriously, someone explain why Green wasn’t in there? oh yeah, it’s not only about the numbers). It would have been an ideal way to buy Carlos a breather, without hurting his pride.

Next Game

Orlando Hernandez goes against Eric Stults in a made-for-FOX starting time of 3:55 PM. I strongly suggest you hit the mute button on your TV remote, or better yet, listen to the game on WFAN.

Padres 9 Mets 8

It was a tough loss, but it was a good loss — if there is such a thing. The Mets of June and July — the team that appeared to give up after the score seemed insurmountable — are long gone. Enter the hungry, fighting, never-say-die New York Mets.

Tom Glavine had an awful day, but the offense said, “we got your back”. The bats battled back from a 6-1 deficit, scoring six runs in the sixth inning to take the lead. Billy Wagner had a bad day, and again the offense said, “we got your back”. Unfortunately, there was no charm the third time around — but the Mets didn’t go down without a fight.

The first rally, in the sixth, started with a seemingly harmless single by Luis Castillo, who reached second when David Wright’s grounder to third was mishandled by Kevin Kouzmanoff. Carlos Beltran walked to load the bases. Cla Meredith was brought in to relieve starter Justin Germano at that point, and he induced a popout from Carlos Delgado but walked Moises Alou, forcing in Castillo with the Mets’ second run of the game. Shawn Green followed by ripping a line drive single into right to drive in two, and Sandy Alomar hit a hard line drive himself, but right at second baseman Marcus Giles for the second out. Giles nearly doubled Alou off second on the play, but was a hair late — which proved costly. Because the next hitter was Marlon “Superman” Anderson, who blasted a sinker into the loge level over the rightfield fence to put the Mets ahead 7-6.

Just as important as the offensive outburst were a handful of web gems turned in by the defense. In the second inning, Moises Alou charged a base hit, made a perfect throw to cutoff man Jose Reyes, who made an on-time throw to Sandy Alomar, who reached up to catch the throw and blocked the plate with his log of a left leg to prevent Milton Bradley from scoring. In the seventh, Castillo made an amazing diving play on a grounder for the first out, then teamed with Reyes to turn a key double play to end the inning. In the eighth, David Wright made a leaping grab to spear a line drive to retire Mike Cameron.

Pedro Feliciano came on in the top of the seventh and pitched two hitless innings to secure the lead for Billy Wagner. However, Wagner gave up a leadoff double to Khalil Greene. Pinch-hitter Terrmel Sledge failed to drop a sacrifice bunt and fell behind 1-2, but then fisted a cheap bloop double just over the head of David Wright, scoring Greene and tying the game seven-all. Josh Bard fell behind 0-2, but stroked a single up the middle on the next pitch to score Sledge with the go-ahead run. Marcus Giles followed with a walk, but Wagner struck out the next two batters to end the inning — leaving the mound to a chorus of boos from the Shea Stadium crowd.

Jeff Conine led off the bottom of the ninth with a blast to right-center that was held up by the thick and humid Shea air for the first out, but Reyes followed with a single to left-center to get things going. Luis Castillo flared a two-strike changeup into shallow left, bringing up David Wright. With the count 1-1, Reyes and Castillo pulled a double steal — with no throw from catcher Josh Bard. Wright lifted the next pitch to deep center to score Reyes easily. Carlos Beltran was intentionally walked, and Carlos Delgado followed with another walk to load the bases for Moises Alou. Alou worked the count 2-2 before grounding out to second to end the inning.

In the top of the tenth, Milton Bradley attempted to get on via a bunt, but Aaron Heilman fielded it flawlessly for the first out. Heilman then got ahead of Adrian Gonzalez 0-2, and appeared to have struck him out on at least two of the next three pitches, but all were called balls. Gonzalez drove a foul ball into the rightfield stands, then drove the next pitch over the rightfield fence to put the Padres ahead … again. Heilman retired the next two batters, but became the second Mets relief pitcher booed while walking off the mound in as many innings.

The Mets didn’t go down easily, getting base hits from Sandy Alomar and Jose Reyes in the bottom of the tenth, but didn’t have enough to muster another comeback. Former Met Heath Bell earned his first Major League save by pitching the scoreless tenth.

Notes

One very disappointing moment that glared above Wagner’s blown save and beyond Heilman’s gopher ball was Delgado’s at-bat in the ninth. With men on second and third, the game already tied, and an opportunity to redeem himself with a base hit, Delgado worked the count to 3-0. Trevor Hoffman threw a BP fastball over the middle of the plate, and Delgado took it all the way. If the game were not yet tied, I can see taking that pitch. But with a chance to end the game, Delgado didn’t even consider taking the bat off his shoulder. The next pitch was fairly close as well, falling off the outside corner at the last moment, but again Delgado showed no interest in swinging at the pitch. On the one hand, it was good discipline on Delgado’s part, but on the other hand, the look on his face said “I hope he walks me”. In other words, he didn’t want the bat. I understand he had a terrible series, and a terrible game, and his confidence is at a low point, but that is a situation where you can pull yourself out in a big way. Hoffman served him a pitch to hit on a silver platter, and Delgado wouldn’t even sniff it. To me, that right there was the game — not the 10th inning homer by Gonzalez.

Carlos Beltran — who else — drove in Wright with the Mets first run in the first inning on a ground-rule double. Wright was 2-for-3 with an RBI, two stolen bases, and two runs scored. Castillo was 3-for-6 with a run and a stolen base.

Tommy Glavine had a really rough time with the strike zone, and I’m not so sure it was all about the home plate umpire. At least part of it is Sandy Alomar’s catching style, and his inexperience catching Glavine’s pitches. Yes, Alomar was a Gold Glove caliber catcher in his prime, and 99.999% of MLB players, coaches, and executives will tell you he catches a great game. But from the comfort of my living room, watching on TV, I see a guy who tries to pull (and jerk) too many pitches into the zone, and catches many pitches in a way that can make a strike appear to be a ball. If he — and the vast majority of catchers — would simply learn to catch the ball when it’s a strike (a.k.a., “beat the ball to the spot”) and hold it there, rather than try to “frame” every pitch (a.k.a. attempt to fool the umpire by moving the glove over the plate after catching the ball), pitchers would likely get more strike calls on close pitches.

The Padres came into the series as the worst-hitting team in MLB, with the third-lowest total of runs scored in the NL. And they scored 22 runs on 40 hits in the three-game series. So much for using numbers as a predictor of future performance, eh, statheads?

Next Game

The Dodgers come to Shea to play the Mets on Latino Night. Oliver Perez goes against Los Angeles ace Brad Penny in a 7:10 PM start.

Padres 7 Mets 5

Sometimes it’s simply not your night.

Jake Peavy gave up only two runs in six innings, and struck out 11, but he wasn’t entirely dominating. The Mets reached him for two runs on five walks and two hits, and nearly busted the game open in the third, loading the bases with one out. However, Peavy whiffed hot-hitting Carlos Beltran and got Carlos Delgado to pop a harmless fly to left to end the inning. I’m still not sure how he snuck a fastball over the middle of the plate past Beltran for strike one — it was exactly the type of pitch ‘los has been putting over fences. Getting out of that mess was the turning point in the game, giving both the Padres and Peavy confidence, momentum, and a positive mindset to take through the next six innings.

Brian Lawrence did not pitch nearly as poorly as the stat line suggests. He was victimized by an evil official scorer, bad bounces, a few defensive lapses, and at least one bad umpire call (the one that sticks out is Moises Alou nailing Milton Bradley at home by a foot, but the play called safe — that should have been out number two in the fifth).

The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates — the Padres had a two-run lead from the fifth inning, and extended it to a five-run lead in the seventh inning. Only a comedy of errors and bloopers gave the Mets an unlikely three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth — which ended when automatic out Carlos Delgado struck out swinging, to no one’s surprise.

Notes

On a positive note, Jose Reyes stole three bases, reaching 67 for the season and breaking the club record of 66 previously held by Roger Cedeno.

David Wright walked four times.

Jeff Conine drove in Marlon Anderson (who led off the ninth with a double) with a single up the middle in his first at-bat as a Met. He was pinch-hitting for the pitcher.

Carlos Delgado looks absolutely awful, both in the field and at bat. Currently, no one has any confidence in his ability to hit the baseball — he’s waving weakly under balls that are a foot inside or bouncing in the dirt. Worse, his atrocious fielding has reached an all-time low. Not sure if it’s due to his knee, or not being in games for a week, but he looks both lost and frightened in the field. There was one ball that went through his legs (in the fifth), and Luis Castillo might have still thrown the batter out — but Delgado couldn’t make it to the bag in time (and where was Brian Lawrence, by the way?). When Delgado finally did make it to first, he was nearly upended by Adrian Gonzalez, and fell flat on his face. It’s like watching an eleven-year-old outfielder play his first little league game in the infield. Hopefully, he’ll continue to slump until the last week of September, and then burst out with a season’s worth of pent-up frustration just in time for the postseason.

Gary Cohen took the words right out of my keyboard in the top of the fifth, when, with the Padres up 4-0 to support Jake Peavy, and Brian Lawrence in trouble, Jorge Sosa was warming up in the bullpen instead of Aaron “Phantom” Sele. As Cohen quipped, if that’s not a situation for Sele, what is? The Mets may as well give Sele his unconditional release, and bring up Joe Smith, Carlos Muniz, or some other arm if Willie is never going to give him the ball in suitable situations. The Mets stopped wasting roster spots with the release of Julio Franco. (Sele did finally make it into the game — but not until the eighth.)

How much did Doug Brocail pay Todd Helton for that goatee?

The Padres’ road uniform color is really awful. They call it “sand”, but the players look like they all returned from a golden shower, rather than the beach.

Guillermo Mota’s confidence is shot — and I’m not sure how that can be fixed. His stuff still has the potential to dominate, but he’s a head case. If Sele remains forgotten, maybe he should be released and Mota put into the mopup role with the hopes that he can somehow get his confidence back. When his head is right, he’s phenomenal — and that is enough justification for trying to help him get back “there”.

With Lastings Milledge starting against Chris Young and again against Jake Peavy, it’s pretty clear that Willie has handed LMillz the rightfielder job. On the one hand — and despite my strange love for Shawn Green — I like the move. On the other, I’m a bit miffed and annoyed at Randolph. First, because late last week he stated that Milledge and Green would share time, when in fact Milledge was being given the job. Second, why does Milledge win a job over Green, while Gotay doesn’t win a job over Damion Easley? I realize the Mets now have Luis Castillo, and that Castillo has turned out to be a fantastic addition. However, pre-Castillo, Gotay was given the runaround over and over, despite sparking the team, outplaying all other second base candidates, and hitting .340. You can’t say it’s because Milledge had experience from last year, because Gotay had 130 MLB games under his belt prior to this season. It’s simply another example of one player having organizational support, while the other has no one in his corner. Amazing that a guy can be such an extreme overachiever, keep his mouth shut, do everything “right”, but because no one predicted his success or otherwise “fell in love” with him, he sits. Again, I wholeheartedly agree with Milledge winning a starting spot. My frustration is with the double standard held against Gotay. In other words, it’s all about the hype, and not necessarily about the production.

By the way, Milledge went 0-for-4, striking out four times. Interestingly, Shawn Green has a career .306 average against Jake Peavy.

Next Game

The finale has Tom Glavine going against Justin Germano, in another 7:10 PM start.

Mets 7 Padres 6

Ladies and gentlemen, Carlos Beltran has entered the building.

Continuing the hot hitting on the road that made him the NL player of the week, Beltran was a one-man wrecking crew, driving in five runs with three hits, including a laser-beam double and an opposite-field homerun, to lead the Mets over the Padres.

Though starter John Maine struggled with his command, he left the game with two outs in the sixth with a 4-3 lead, preserved brilliantly by Scott Schoeneweis. The Show struck out Brian Giles looking to end the inning, stranding the other Giles (Marcus) on third. However, the bullpen gave away the lead in the seventh. After getting two groundouts to start the inning, Schoeneweis allowed a single to Adrian Gonzalez, who trotted into second base after his grounder skipped under the legs of Lastings Milledge in rightfield. At that point, The Show was removed in favor of righthander Jorge Sosa to face the righty hitting Mike Cameron. The strategy did not pay off, however, as Cameron doubled to drive in Gonzalez with the tying run. Sosa then gave up a single to Khalil Greene, scoring Cameron with the go-ahead, before striking out Kevin Kouzmanoff to end the inning.

The score remained 5-4 Padres until the bottom of the eighth, when former Met Heath Bell came on to set up Trevor Hoffman — but failed in his mission. You just knew things wouldn’t go well for Heath when Jose Reyes led off with an infield single off the glove of Greene. Within minutes, Reyes had stolen second and was advanced to third on a groundout by small-ball master Luis Castillo. David Wright walked, bringing up Beltran — who had already driven in all four of the Mets runs. Suffice to say, he singled in the fifth as well, stroking a 1-2 pitch into left.

Billy Wagner came on to preserve the tie, but his command was off as well — perhaps due to the wet weather. He allowed a leadoff single to Milton Bradley, struck out Gonzalez, but then walked Cameron on four pitches and hit Greene to load the bases. Kouzmanoff then lifted a fly to shallow rightfield that scored Bradley and put the Padres up 6-5. Wagner then settled down to strike out Josh Bard to end the ninth.

However, it was a bad night for both closers. Trevor Hoffman came in to save the game, but like his predecessor Bell, failed to fulfill his assignment. Second-half sparkplug Lastings Milledge started things off with a single to left, and was sacrificed to second by Mike DiFelice. Pinch-hitter Marlon “Mr. Clutch” Anderson then rapped a base hit up the middle to score Milledge with the tying run. Hoffman then got ahead of Reyes 0-2, but Jose dropped a flare in front of Cameron to put runners on first and second. Castillo then jumped on the first pitch he saw and dumped a 22-bouncer into center, and Anderson beat the throw home from Cameron to score the winning run.

Notes

John Maine had more issues with pitch count, tallying 118 pitches in his five and two-thirds. He seemed to go full count on every other batter — though some of it could have been attributed to the combined factors of the wet weather and Angel Hernandez’s tight strike zone.

Speaking of the wetness, what in the world is Carlos Delgado doing on the field in his first game back from a hyperextended knee? I was at Shea for the game, and can say for certain that the infield was slick. I’m not sure what the logic was behind getting Delgado out there on wet ground with a bum knee — why not wait one more day, and play Shawn Green at first? Luckily, Delgado didn’t further damage the joint, but that was mostly due to his refusal to move. There was one ground ball toward him, in the third inning, that looked like it might be a routine double play. Instead the ball skipped about a foot past Delgado, who I believe was downloading new ringtones on his cell phone rather than reaching over to make a swipe at the ball. Instead of a double play, Milton Bradley had himself an RBI single.

As much as we like to denigrate The Show, he pitched pretty well — despite being charged with one run in one inning of work. His strikeout to end the sixth was key, and there’s a chance his runner in the seventh — Gonzalez — doesn’t score from first on the Cameron double. However, the Milledge error put him on second, and he thus scored easily.

I was quite surprised to see David Wells enter the game in the bottom of the eighth, as I thought he had been released by the Padres a few weeks ago. I was even more surprised to see him pitching with his right rather than left hand — but figured he couldn’t do any worse than he’d been doing previously. Then I realized it was not Wells on the mound but “Boomer” Bell. Hey Heath, either lay off the Big Macs, or talk to the equipment manager about a more billowy uniform — your weekly increase in girth is publicly embarrassing.

Next Game

Brian Lawrence faces Jake Peavy in another 7:10 PM start at Shea. Let’s hope Lawrence has a bit more black magic left in his travel bag from his time in N’Awlins.