Nationals 6 Mets 2

The Mets’ recipe for winning: one part starting pitching, one part defense, one part timely hitting, and a dash of relief, was missing the two most important ingredients.

Orlando Hernandez had his monthly bad outing, and the Mets RBI men were unable to come up with key hits.

After two outstanding performances against the Cardinals and the Braves, El Duque was flat for the Nationals, allowing a lineup made of mostly AAA players look like All-Stars for a day.

But this is part of the deal with throwing El Duque once every five days. One day, he looks magnificent, another, he looks like he needs to retire. In that way, Hernandez is similar to Oliver Perez — another mind-boggling enigma. This is the frustration that Mets fans must come to terms with: it is unlikely that Hernandez and Perez will compete for the Cy Young Award, but both will occasionally pitch games where you wonder how anyone can beat them.

In truth, El Duque didn’t pitch an awful game, and should have had a better chance to win with the Mets’ lineup supporting him. His breaking pitches were flat and rarely in the strike zone, and when hitters can tee off on his pedestrian fastball, it’s difficult for him to be effective — even against a minor league lineup. Meantime, Nats starter Shawn Hill was surprising in keeping the Mets bats at bay — though he didn’t seem to have fantastic stuff. Rather, the Mets batters were a bit over-aggressive, falling away from their early-season approach of getting into deep counts and seeing good pitches to hit.

For example, Jose Reyes — who until today had shown to be remarkably patient — twice swung at the first pitch he saw, despite there being no one on base and the Mets behind on the scoreboard. He and several other Mets batters looked like they might be guessing early in counts, and guessed wrong, putting themselves into 0-1 or 1-2 holes. Maybe it had something to do with it being an afternoon game, as lapses in concentration can be caused by fatigue. Or perhaps the patience of Jose Reyes and Paul LoDuca set the tone for the rest of the hitters (LoDuca sat out and Endy Chavez batted second). In the end, the Mets managed only one walk in seven innings against Hill, a guy who will never be compared with Brad Radke.

Wright Robbed – Again

David Wright continues to get robbed by great catches on hard-hit balls, as Nats centerfielder Ryan Church stole a homerun from him in the bottom of the eighth. The two Carloses were on base, and the homer would have changed the momentum in the game and brought the Mets within one. Instead, Church snatched the ball over the top edge of the wall, and Shawn Green bounced into a double play a few pitches later. Had that ball not been caught, Chad Cordero’s struggles in the ninth could have been more critical. If I’m David Wright, I might consider seeing a soothsayer or voo-doo expert to see if someone has put some kind of curse on him.

Doctor Visit for Beltran?

Further, if I’m Carlos Beltran, I’m getting myself to see an optometrist. Through these first eleven games, Beltran has struck out 12 times, and at least half those times it’s been looking. As announcer Gary Cohen pointed out, Beltran has been arguing strike calls frequently, and from my comfy living room chair, he hasn’t yet had a beef. Most of the time, it’s occurring when batting from the left side of the plate, which could mean something — or it could just be because he hits more often from that side.

One of three things is happening: 1. Carlos is standing in a different position, or at a different angle in the batter’s box, than normal, and therefore misinterpreting the strike zone; 2. both of his eyes are not tracking the ball all the way into the catcher’s glove — for example, perhaps he’s turning his head slightly and his left eye is losing the ball; or 3. his vision is deteriorating, and needs glasses / contact lenses. Number three can be determined or eliminated in about 20 minutes by seeing a doctor, and should be the first possibility to investigate.

Although the starting pitching was far from stellar, the Mets’ bullpen was outstanding. Ambiorix Burgos, Scott Schoeneweis, and Joe Smith combined for four innings of hitless relief, striking out eight. Burgos’ velocity is increasing as the season wears on, as he threw a few riding fastballs that had to pass the 95-MPH mark. Smith’s ERA remains three goose eggs.

El Duque Tossed

In the sixth inning, Orlando Hernandez plunked opposing pitcher Shawn Hill after giving up a solo homer to Ryan Church and a two-run homerun to Chris Snelling. The decision was preposterous, considering that El Duque’s release point was inconsistent all day, and with his struggles, the last guy he’d want to put on base would be the one guaranteed out in the lineup. Shame on home plate umpire Mike Winters and more shame on Bud Selig for giving the umpires carte blanche to toss pitchers in such situations. If someone with influence doesn’t call out Selig on this insanity, baseball will soon return to its early days, when the batters told the pitchers where they wanted the ball thrown.

Next Game?

Sunday’s game was rained out, and the nor’easter may well knock out the 7:05PM start against the Phillies in Philadelphia on Monday night. Going by the calendar, it is Oliver Perez’s day to start on Monday, but I’d be surprised to see John Maine’s turn skipped. If they both miss their turns, I wonder if they’d consider a combination game — starting Perez, letting him go only 3-4 innings, then bringing in Maine for one time through the lineup, then using Pelfrey for an inning or two. It’s doubtful, but with the rainouts it might be worth thinking about a way to work at least two of them in one game. A Maine-Pelfrey combination would seem to be a recipe for almost guaranteed success. Who knows, ten years from now we might see teams scheduling two starting pitchers, with each expected to go four innings. No one in 1985 would have believed that a six-inning starter would command a $60M salary.

Dog Day at Shea

On another note, next Saturday April 21st is Dog Day at Shea. Humans pay $32, dogs $5, and all dogs get to parade around the warning track prior to the game against the Braves. A portion of the proceeds go the North Shore Animal League, and if you want to bring Fido, you need to buy the tickets through their website. I will be there with my Italian Greyhound if you’d like to meet me; I’ll post reminder later in the week.

Mets 3 Nationals 2

Mike Pelfrey did not have his best stuff, pitched inefficiently, but was nonetheless impressive.

What made the outing impressive was the fact that he battled, despite lack of command, and worked his way through four walks and six hits in five and two-thirds innings, and managed to allow just two runs. The 97-pitch effort began well, as Pelfrey zipped through an easy 1-2-3 first inning. The second inning was not quite cruise control, as the Nationals loaded the bases with a single and two walks before an out was made. Behind the sinker, Pelfrey somehow escaped the inning by giving up only two runs. He breezed through a 1-2-3 third inning, and had a quick fourth and fifth thanks to the pitcher’s best friend, the double-play.
In the sixth, he struggled a bit, and might have been able to get through, but being so close to the century mark, Willie Randolph made the right decision and removed Pelfrey from the game. Pedro Feliciano worked out of the jam to close out the inning, then retired the first two batters in the seventh before Ronny Belliard punched an infield single. Aaron Heilman was summoned immediately stifle the Nationals, and his one-batter, 7-pitch performance was all he needed to earn the victory.

Scott Schoeneweis came on to pitch a perfect eighth — throwing only eight pitches — in notching his fourth hold of the year. Billy Wagner closed things out without incident in gaining his third save of the season.

On the offensive side, the Mets continue to struggle. Not sure if it is the cold weather, difficulty in finding their timing, or some other issue, but the Mets’ bats match the Shea breezes: icy cold. Carlos Delgado finally hit the ball hard, flying out deep to center and mashing a long single off the leftfield wall (he was thrown out at second trying to make it a double). David Wright had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 20 games (10 at the end of last year, 10 this year), and Jose Reyes remained hot, going 1-3 with another walk and another stolen base. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Jose Reyes will walk at least 85 times this year. No one else in the starting lineup had a base hit, though Shawn Green hit the ball both long and far on two occasions. He’s really seeing the ball well and getting good swings. Julio Franco had the Mets’ only other hit, a clutch pinch single up the middle that scored David Wright with the game-winning run.

Tomorrow’s afternoon game begins at 1:10 PM, and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez takes the hill against, um, Shawn Hill.

Mets 5 Phillies 3

Number 292 for Tom Glavine.

Tommy didn’t have his great stuff, but was sharp enough to get by. If Jimmy Rollins had sat out, it would have been a much better game for Glavine.

Carlos Delgado looked absolutely awful against Jamie Moyer, a guy who he owns. My wife had an excellent theory: perhaps he is not getting any sleep with the new baby at home. She might have something there.

The Mets had a chance to break the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth, when Shawn Green led off with a line drive double down the right field line and was expertly advanced to third base by Damion Easley — who had an excellent at-bat. However, Willie Randolph pulled a head-scratcher, sending Lastings Milledge up to face cagey veteran Jamie Moyer. 99% of the time, I’m begging Willie to pick anyone other than Julio Franco to pinch-hit. However, in this instance, it seemed to be a scene written for Franco: the smart old hitter against the smart old pitcher. The problem I have with old man Franco is his lack of bat speed, and inability to hit the ball anywhere other than to right field. Against the soft-tossing Moyer, however, his approach is perfectly suited. In fact, the last person you want to see facing Moyer is a young, over-aggressive, over-anxious hitter such as Lastings Milledge. Everyone in the park knew that Milledge was going to get eaten alive by Moyer’s assortment of puss balls. As it was, Moyer didn’t need his assortment — Milledge popped up weakly on the first pitch.

That’s no indictment on Milledge; more toward Willie. Lastings knew very well that this would likely be his last Major League at-bat for a while, and that only heightened his already anxious state. Milledge is a young, aggressive hitter, had been riding the pine for two weeks, and was itching for the chance to swing the bat. That’s a great state of mind to face many pitchers — especially power pitchers who are usually around the plate (John Smoltz, Roy Oswalt) but is easy fodder for a guy like Moyer, who rarely breaks 80 MPH and preys on youngsters such as Milledge. Bad move on Willie’s part; if he wanted to give Lastings a “last” at-bat, wait until later in the game, against someone who can break a pane of glass with a fastball.

After Milledge’s popup, the Mets managed to load the bases for Carlos Beltran, and Moyer was left in while rookie Francisco Rosario remained in the bullpen. The stage was set for Beltran to blow the game open. However, it turned out to be a good move by manager Charlie Manuel, as Moyer unbelievably struck out Beltran on a 3-2 fastball.

In the seventh, the Mets managed to add an insurance run on a leadoff triple by David Wright and an RBI single by Moises Alou. Wright has now hit in all nine games this year.

Though Tommy didn’t have his best stuff, and made two glaring mistakes against Rollins, he otherwise toughed it out and worked his way through six unremarkable innings. His pitch count was way high, bloated in part by Chase Utley and Shane Victorino, both of whom seemed to foul off a dozen pitches in every at-bat. Glavine would quickly get to two strikes, but was unable to put them away.

In relief, Mighty Joe Smith continues to be a groundball machine. He pitched yet another scoreless inning, inducing a double play and earning a strikeout on a crazy slider that looked more like a gyroball than anything Daisuke Matsuzaka has thrown. Scott Schoeneweiss followed Smith’s cue, getting a double-play grounder in the 8th. Billy Wagner did his usual “let’s keep things interesting” routine, but managed to notch his 326th career save.

Random Notes

The Mets made something of a mitzvah, as Shawn Green started, Scott Schoeneweis pitched a scoreless inning, and David Newhan pinch-hit for Schoeneweis.

Moises Alou had a great day, going 3-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He’s batting .343 on the season, completely erasing the awful numbers of March.

Jose Reyes also remains hot, as he went 2-3 with two RBI and a run, and was walked intentionally in the sixth. He’s hitting .361.

Happy 35th birthday to Paul LoDuca.

Friday night’s matchup has Mike Pelfrey making his much-anticipated 2007 debut against Washington Nationals’ ace John Patterson. Game time is 7:10 PM.

Phillies 5 Mets 2

What a frustrating, disgusting loss.

First, Oliver Perez crapped his pants. Then, the Mets offense can only muster four hits in eight innings against journeyman slop thrower Adam Eaton and Antonio Alfonseca, whose only remarkable attribute is the fact that he has eleven fingers.

You can’t put the entire blame on Perez for the loss, as bad as he was, because the Mets should have been able to score at least five runs against the scrubs on the mound. Although, it’s possible that Ollie’s tiresome meltdown put the entire team into a listless coma.

This is the enigma that is Perez — one game, he looks unhittable, the next, an absolute disaster.

Perez lost his confidence immediately after giving up a hit to Chase Utley. Out of nowhere, his confidence level went from medium-high to below-low. He was afraid to throw a strike to Ryan Howard, picking around and outside the strike zone, and in turn completely destroyed his mechanics. He changed his arm slot and release point out of fear, and those bad habits spilled over in the at-bat to Pat Burrell. Again, Perez felt and showed fear with Burrell at the plate, and the snowball of fear gained momentum. By the time Wes Helms strode to the plate, Oliver Perez had lost his release point, velocity, and confidence. He was like Steve Sax trying to throw to first base, or Mackey Sasser returning a ball to the pitcher. At that point, there was no chance of Perez returning to form, but the Mets had no one warming up to take his place. As a result, Willie Randolph had to watch another walk and hit by pitch before removing Perez from the game.

The frightenting thing is, Oliver Perez is like a ticking bomb sitting in the bay of a B-52, and no one knows if it’s going to detonate on its intended target or while it’s sitting in the plane. Worse, no one is sure what exactly sets it off. It could be a little bit of turbulence, a stiff wind, or someone accidentally bumping into it … and then all of a sudden, boom! Game over.

Aaron Sele debuted in the Darren Oliver role and did so-so, allowing two runs over four innings — not really keeping the Mets in the game (despite what Ron Darling’s comment that he did “a good job”). More like, he kept them within striking distance. Pedro Feliciano managed to pitch a scoreless two-thirds of an inning, but it took him 35 pitches to do it, and he left the game with the bases loaded. Thankfully, Mighty Joe Smith was able to throw a low strike to get Wes Helms to end the top of the 8th with a groundout. Smith continued to throw strikes in the ninth and finished with a strong 1 1/3 innings, with one walk and one strikeout on 14 pitches (ten for strikes). It’s only a matter of time before Smith is used as the 8th inning guy in games where the Mets need to hold a lead.

Jose Reyes was the only Met to show an interest in hitting the ball, as he went 2-3 with a walk, an RBI, and a stolen base. Carlos Beltran hit a double in the fourth, but otherwise teamed with the other Carlos to create a big useless hole in the middle of the lineup. Two things in particular disappointed me with Beltran. First, he was struck out twice. No big deal the first time, as it came in the first inning and Eaton threw a nice sequence of pitches. Big deal the second time, however, as Eaton replicated the first-inning pattern pitch-for-pitch, and froze Beltran for the second time on the same exact pitch to strike him out looking. Does Beltran need to take a pill for short-term memory loss? I’m sorry, but if you put your hand into a pan of hot grease, and burn it, do you stick your hand back in there? Of course not. The second disappointment came in the eighth. With two outs, Beltran swung on the first pitch thrown by El Pulpo, which resulted in a weak, broken-bat groundout. Excuse me, but just what in god’s name are you doing swinging at the first pitch when you’re three runs down? This is something you learn in little league.

I’m too critical, I know. But this loss was a tough pill to swallow — it’s so frustrating to watch the Mets beat themselves and give up a game like this to an inferior team. It’s games like this that will be forgotten in September, but could prove costly in the final standings; it will be a tight race this year. If the Phillies won via better performance, fine, but on this evening the Mets as a whole lost their focus, put out a lackluster effort, and gave the game away.

Rubber match on Thursday at 7:10 PM has Tommy “T-Rex” Glavine vs. Jamie “Stegosaurus” Moyer in a Jurassic battle of ancient lefthanders.

Mets 11 Phillies 5
Big Mouth Rollins Boots the Ball

It was Jimmy Rollins who shot off his mouth early in spring training, claiming that his Phillies were the “team to beat” in the NL East.

And, it was Jimmy Rollins who botched a routine double-play ball in the bottom of the 8th to allow the tying run to score.

Though the Mets entered the inning down 5-4, the game became a laugher within about ten minutes. The Phillies — and Geoff Geary in particular — lost their sh*t in that 8th inning, succumbing to the pressure that is New York. With runners on first and second and one out, Geary walked Julio Franco on four pitches — the fourth a 3-0 curveball. With the bases loaded, Rollins misplayed a Jose Reyes grounder to allow the tying run to score. Then Geary uncorked a wild pitch to Paul LoDuca to score the go-ahead run. LoDuca eventually walked and Geary was finally replaced by Jon Lieber, who proceeded to give up a sac fly to Carlos Beltran, a walk to Delgado, a monstrous double to David Wright, and a single to Moises Alou. By the time the inning ended, eleven batters came to the plate and the Mets were up 11-5.

As with the Mets’ first four wins, though, the final score was not representative of the closeness of the ballgame`

John Maine started well but struggled with his control as the game wore on. He threw 104 pitches in only four and two-thirds innings of work. Maine cruised through the first and second innings, offering mixed array of speeds, locations, and pitches — change-up and breaking ball are much improved, great command of change-up. After that, though, he struggled.

Johnny showed gumption, fighting out of a bases loaded, no-out situation in the third inning with chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Pat Burrell coming up. Maine narrowly escaped a potentially monstrous inning, allowing only one run on an Utley sacrifice fly, striking out Howard, and inducing Burrell to popup to LoDuca on 3-2 pitch.

In the top of the fourth, Maine struggled again, to the point where the bullpen became busy. However, he continued to fight and induced an inning-ending double play to thwart the threat. He hit the ninth of his lives in the fifth inning, when he gave up an Utley homerun and couldn’t finish the inning. Ambiorix Burgos came in with two out and the bases loaded and coolly eliminated Abraham Nunez on a ground ball to end the threat and the inning.

Burgos ran into some trouble himself in the sixth, as he hit Jimmy Rollins and then allowed a single to Shane Victorino. Victorino stole second and so Chase Utley was at the plate with runners on second and third and one out. Burgos managed to strike out Utley in a 12-pitch at-bat, and seemed about to get out of the inning as he had Ryan Howard behind 1-2. However, Paul LoDuca fell in love with the forkball, and when Burgos hung one, Howard sat on it and deposited it deep beyond the right-field fence.

Two glaring questions. First, why did Burgos face Howard when Pedro Feliciano and Scott Schoeneweis were both available? Aren’t guys like Howard and Utley the specific reason we gave Schoeneweis 3 years and many millions of dollars? I do realize he pitched in the previous two ballgames, but it was only 1 1/3 innings and the Mets have Tuesday off. He only would have faced one batter and left the game. Secondly, after seeing Howard sit back and foul off two forkballs, why not come inside with the heater? Isn’t Burgos the guy who hits triple digits? And isn’t it the overpowering fastball that makes him so valuable? Sheesh.

Joe Smith had an appropriately quiet Shea Stadium debut: three batters, three outs (one strikeout and two ground balls), 12 pitches (8 for strikes). Pedro Feliciano pitched a nearly perfect 8th inning to earn the win.

On the Offensive

Carlos Delgado took a page out of Rod Carew’s book by ending his slump with a well-placed bunt into the third base hole vacated as a result of “the shift”. Nice to see him finally take advantage of the overshift, and hope to see more bunts from him in the future — it’s like a free single. Delgado had another base hit in his next time up, a legitimate line drive into the outfield, and eventually scored on a remarkably creative head-first slide into home plate.

Delgado, in fact, broke out in a big way. In addition to the push bunt, he hit a hard line-drive single in the fourth, a deep sacrifice fly to center that scored Jose Reyes with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth, and another line-drive RBI single in the seventh to score Paul LoDuca.

Watch Your Wallet

David Wright needs to check his back pocket, because he’s been getting robbed quite a bit lately. With two out and two on in the seventh, Wright stroked a line drive to right field that would have scored the tying run, but Shane Victorino made a fabulous, diving grab to end the inning. Wright — who had some struggles hitting the ball hard early on — was the victim of similar defensive web gems in the Atlanta series. Ever since he started swinging the bat well, the opposition has turned its defensive game up a notch.

Showing Chutzpah

One of the few things I liked seeing from John Maine in this contest was his going up and in to a few Phillie batters. For a guy who usually is around the plate, it’s a good idea to buzz a chin here and there to keep batters from getting too comfortable.

Next Game

The Mets have the day off on Tuesday, and will come back with Oliver Perez on Wednesday in a 7:10pm ballgame. Adam Eaton starts for the Phillies.

Braves 3 Mets 2

In 2006, it took three months for the Mets to lose a three-game series. This year, a very different story — perhaps indicative of the fact that 2007 will be no cakewalk for the Mets.

Though Aaron Heilman was officially charged with the loss, the Mets really lost the game in the first inning.

Jose Reyes led off the game with a walk, was balked to second, and made it to third base on a ground ball by Jose Valentin. With one out, Reyes on third, and the two Carloses due up, the Mets should have been up one-zip by the time El Duque took the mound in the bottom of the initial frame. Instead, both Beltran and Delgado failed in their job as RBI men and stranded Reyes on third.

Then leadoff batter Kelly Johnson jumped on the first pitch by Orlando Hernandez and put it into the right-field stands to put the Braves up 1-0.

Yes, it’s true that the Mets came back to take the lead via back-to-back solo homers by Shawn Green and Ramon Castro, but if not for those two blasts, the Mets would have been shut out. Their inability to move runners beyond second base — much less drive them in — was main reason for their loss to the Braves. Two innings ended with Reyes standing on third — and that’s too many times for one game. With the way teams shift their defense for Carlos Delgado, it’s mind-boggling to NOT see Reyes attempt a steal of home. With the third baseman playing in the shortstop position, he would get at least a 25-foot lead — which should be plenty of head start distance to beat the pitch to the plate.

Speaking of Delgado, he is having a terrible time getting his bat started so far. He seems behind on all pitches, evidenced by the high number of pitches he’s foul-tipping. Without his big bat in the middle of the lineup, and David Wright still struggling, the Mets are going to have trouble scoring runs.

By the way, is it me or does Moises Alou either swing at, or check swing on, every pitch?

Green’s solo blast was his first of the year, and he’s so far doing a fine job filling the seventh spot in the order. He seems to be on one of his hot streaks, as he’s seeing pitches well (better than the home plate umpires, in fact), and laying off the breaking pitches he was waving at during August and September of last year. He’ll need to stay hot and drive in runs while Delgado fights out of his slump.

While it was incredibly disappointing to see the Mets lose their first series against the Braves, I’m not terribly concerned. First, the Braves’ bullpen still looks pretty damn shaky — Mike Gonzalez in particular looks nothing like the dominating force he was with the Pirates last year — and second, their defense and fundamentals are not as solid as in previous years. Finally, if the Mets’ starters continue to pitch as well as they have — and remain healthy — our Flushing heroes should win at least 92-95 games and separate themselves from the rest of the division. Whatever happens, 2007 promises to be a much closer, and more exciting season than last year.

On Monday the Mets face the Phillies in their home opener. The Phils’ have so far fulfilled their preseason prediction that they were the team to beat — everybody’s beating them. John Maine takes his turn to beat the Phillies at 1:10 pm. Second-year phenom Cole Hamels starts for the Phils.