Braves 12 Mets 0

For one night, it was as if the Mets were the victims of a time machine, making the year, perhaps, 2003. John Smoltz cruised all game, barely breaking a sweat, while the Mets looked inept at bat, on the mound, and in the field.

In the first inning, the Braves showed why they won the division 14 years in a row, while the Mets exhibited the incompetence that made them also-rans during that streak.

The Mets started off the game with men on first and third and no outs, with their 3-4-5 batters stepping up to the plate. Carlos Beltran struck out, not even coming close to a ball. Carlos Delgado did the same, though he nearly poked a single to left field before whiffing. David Wright completed the disgraceful performance by popping up to centerfield.

In the bottom of the inning, the Braves’ leadoff batter Willy Aybar hit a weak popup to leftfield that was so grossly misplayed by Mr. Achilles, Cliff Floyd, it became a standup double. Pesky Marcus Giles followed with a bunt past the pitcher toward second base that became an infield hit. So, the Braves had the same first-and-third start with the meat of the lineup coming up. The difference, of course, is that their #3 guy, Edgar Renteria, did his job by making CONTACT, and thus drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. The next batter, Andruw Jones, lived up to his status as the cleanup hitter by blasting a pitch into the leftfield seats. In the end, both teams put themselves into identical situations, and the result was Braves 3 Mets 0.

Granted, it doesn’t matter — at least not as far as the 2006 regular season. But, it is a glaring example of the Mets’ sudden inability to drive home runs that should and must be driven in. It’s an issue that must not be an issue come playoff time, when the Mets lineup might have to face the likes of Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt, Jake Peavy, or Brad Penny — guys who shut down big hitters and rarely allow more than a few hits per game. Against those types of pitchers, a lineup has to attack as a team, making sure that every out is productive. Though you will occasionally see Paul LoDuca make a productive out by advancing a runner or driving home a run simply by makng contact, his skills are rare indeed among the homer-happy Mets. Too often, you’ll see Cliff Floyd or Carlos Beltran overswing at a pitch when all that is needed is a simple base hit or a well-placed grounder. This has been happening all year, but was buried because of the sheer firepower of the Met lineup.

Oliver Perez had a hard time in this game, as he was bit especially by the home run ball. Interestingly, the homers were on first-pitch fastballs, with the batters swinging so hard it looked like they were about to jump out of their shoes. Can anyone say “scouting report”? Here’s a whisper to Ollie: can you say “chin music” ? If Perez would occasionally buzz one inside to the sluggers, they wouldn’t be so eager to dig in and swing from their heels. It would also help if he could mix up his first pitches a bit.

The problem, I think, is that Oliver never really got any kind of rhythm. Other than the moon shots, he did a pretty good job of placing his pitches, getting ahead, and causing batters to swing and miss. There’s no doubt he has the kind of talent that can make a manager or GM salivate; the question is whether he’ll ever be able to put it together.

Notes

Royce Ring was one of the few bright spots of the evening, coming in to retire two lefty batters in the bottom of the sixth with a man on second. This was his third consecutive impressive performance, and you really have to wonder if he’ll get even a moment of consideration for the postseason roster, especially if he strings together a few more great outings.

Heath Bell also had a solid, if unspectacular outing, despite allowing runs in two innings of work. I say “solid” because his first inning and a third were good, but he clearly ran out of gas after that. Naturally, Willie left him out there to die, forcing him to throw over 40 pitches in the eighth inning. Randolph is a cruel, vicious, scumbag for that move. Some please explain how Bell is the only guy who can pitch when you have a 40-man roster? Dave Williams was not available? Philip Humber? Mike Pelfrey? Are these guys around merely to experience the joy of having their bags carried for them? That was a shit move, Willie.

Which begs the question, are the Mets interested in using Heath Bell next year, or are they displaying him as trade bait? Or do they simply not care at all about him, and have decided he’s the janitor? It would seem to me that Bell’s ultimate value to a team is as a one-inning setup guy, and he’s been trained as such, yet Willie Randolph continually uses him as a two- and three-inning mopup reliever. It’s like Randolph is giving him opportunities to fail — and he’s been doing it for two years now. What in god’s name does Mr. Willie have against this guy?

Ron Darling spoke about Bell going into a “caveman mentality”, explaining that Heath tends to quicken his tempo and throw harder after he gives up a few runs. Well, if Ronny were paying attention, he’d understand that Heath is no fool; Bell knows that if he’s pitching more than one inning, in a game where the team is down by five or more, he’s the sacrificial lamb. It’s kind of hard to, 1) remain motivated when you know the manager doesn’t give a crap about you; and 2) pitch effectively when you’re dog-tired. Here’s the deal, Ron: the Mets trained Bell to be a late-inning reliever, having Norfolk use him as their closer most of the year. For five months, he was told to pitch his heart out for one inning, then come back and do the same thing the next night. Since he throws a lot of strikes, he had a lot of 10- and 15-pitch outings. When the human body gets used to throwing 15 pitches, all out, a few times a week, it can be very difficult to suddenly throw 40 to 60 pitches once every two weeks. It’s kind of like asking Billy Wagner to be the playoff #1 starter, and expect him to pitch seven innings. No one would ever expect Wagner to be effective after the third inning, right? So why must people expect Heath Bell to suddenly become the righthanded Darren Oliver? His crucifixion is completely unwarranted, and a disgrace to Mets’ management.

What’s up with Willy Aybar? What does he have against the Mets? Chipper Jones must have brought him into that Friday night poker game with Pat Burrell and Dontrelle Willis, and found out all the tips for killing the Mets. I think the guy is hitting .078 against the rest of the NL, but .990 against the Mets.

Pedro tries again tomorrow, facing Tim Hudson. We’ll guess that John Maine will be ready as the long man? It would be nice to see how Maine does out of the bullpen, since the numnut Mets management is hell-bent on using Steve Trachsel as a playoff starter. Wednesday should be a good opportunity for a long relief appearance, as it’s doubtful Martinez will go more than three or four innings in his second attempt to completely destroy his calf muscle.

Nationals 7 Mets 3

Tom Glavine can really look frightening sometimes. While Glavine often glides through innings effortlessly, it’s those innings he doesn’t that make the playoff-conscious concerned. For example, the third inning, when Tommy appeared to be doing an impersonation of Steve Trachsel.

The problem is that Tom Glavine is glaringly susceptible to righthanded batters who are focused on going to right field. Jose Vidro is a prime example: a professional, veteran hitter who knows that the best way to beat Glavine is to go the other way (by the way, wouldn’t Vidro be a nice player to have around in ’07?). While Tommy will bust a guy inside every once in a while, a smart batter can let those go by and wait for the floater on the outside corner. If the Mets face a lineup in the postseason that has the benefit of either a good veteran like Vidro or good scouting report, and if enough guys in that lineup are willing to lose their ego and go the other way, Glavine will be in big trouble. But then I guess that’s where you have to have a quick hook and John Maine ready. But would Willie be willing to pull a respected veteran such as Glavine in, say, the third inning of a playoff game? Hopefully we’ll never find out the answer.

Notes

Jose Reyes remains hot, and is making a bid to finish with a .300 average while breaking the Mets’ single-season stolen base record (currently 66, held by Roger Cedeno). One wonders if Omar took Jose aside and said something to the effect, “hey, kid … we HAVE to erase the memory of Cedeno completely … so just run like a wild man this last week and break that damn record!”.

Guillermo Mota was human again, giving up a two-inherited-run single on the first pitch he threw, then throwing a wild pitch. That’s OK … better to push out the poisons now. Let’s consider this last week a detox for everyone.

Shawn Green is looking good at the plate. In addition to his solo homer, he hit a second blast that was just a few feet short of a second homerun. He’s waiting well on pitches, letting the bad ones go by, and looking to go the other way. Perhaps the New Year will be sweet for him.

The other big lefty bat, Cliff Floyd, banged an impressive opposite-field double in the 8th. He’s doing the same correct things (waiting, seeing, going the opposite way). These two guys are getting their bats going at the exact right time.

David Wright legged out an infield hit in the 8th, and all I could think was “oh crap, don’t pull a hammy”. At this point of the year, I’d be happy to see Chris Woodward and Anderson Hernandez replacing Wright and Reyes in the late innings of games we’re down by four or five.

So, Pedro looks shaky, Glavine looks shaky, Trachsel is still awful, and El Duque looks to be the only saving grace among the playoff starters. On Tuesday we’ll open up the bottle again with Oliver Perez and see if lightning bursts out. If it does, do we make him the #4 ?

I think there’s a better shot of Willie Randolph platooning with Jose Valentin at second base (hey, that might not be such a bad idea …).

Nationals 5 Mets 1

Steve Trachsel gave up only three runs, but it seemed like a lot more. Trax labored through his usual five innings, adding fodder to the mirage some paid sportswriters call “gutsy” and “keeping his team in the game”. That’s OK, the rest of us know better. The frightening thing, though, is that Willie Randolph buys into this baloney…

Well, Trax didn’t win, as the Mets irregulars could muster only five hits against Tony Armas, Jr. and three nondescript relievers (including former Met phenom Billy Traber). Jose Valentin was the only potency in the lineup, blasting his 18th homer, a solo shot.

A loss at this point is no big deal … the game means zilch.

Notes

Chad Bradford got two outs via one strikeout and 7 pitches, six for strikes. Talk about efficiency.

Darren Oliver got rocked for the second time in as many appearances. I wonder if Willie Randolph is reconsidering his leftiness for the postseason roster.

Speaking of lefties, Royce Ring through another shutout inning, his second positive outing in as many appearances. It took him only 13 pitches — 8 for strikes — to set down the Nats in the eighth. Included were two strikeouts. Maybe it isn’t too late to make the postseason roster.

Philip Humber made his big-league debut, and looked a little nervous — which is to be expected. Luckily, Jose Reyes and Cliff Floyd made fantastic plays to get the two outs, making his debut that much easier. If not for those web gems, it could have been a long inning. Instead, it turned out to be an impressive performance. I can’t wait to see this kid without the jitters, as he looks to have perfect mechanics and a potentially nasty 12-6 curveball.

Mets 12 Nationals 6

If this were 1960, the season would be over … instead, we have eight more tune-up games.

John Maine looked so-so in his five innings, giving up five walks, three hits, and four runs. Unfortunately, this performance is making it easier for Mr. Willie to choose Trachsel as the potential fourth playoff starter. Maine did, however, strike out seven, and Randolph likes to see that sort of thing. Hopefully, Maine hasn’t pitched himself off the postseason roster; I’d like to see him come in relief of Trax in, say, the fourth inning.

Maine, actually, is starting to round out as a typical, but solid, #5 starter. He’s not spectacular, but he throws a lot of strikes, and even on bad days, doesn’t get demolished (unlike Trachsel). He manages to keep his team in the game, and when struggling, chooses to throw more strikes rather than pick at the corners and hope for people to chase. His biggest issue is the same as Heath Bell’s: he needs a good out pitch, to use 5-10 times a game, to strike hitters out. Maine gets most hurt when facing a batter with a short stroke who can battle with two strikes, fouling off ball after ball. If Maine could drop in a surprise split-finger or slider, just a few times a game, his numbers would be much more impressive. It appears he’s working on a forkball, so maybe that will be the thing that transforms him from a young Steve Trachsel to a Mike Scott circa 1986.

Enough of Maine; the story today was the hitting (finally!). Jose Reyes — who has been blistering the ball for a few weeks now — went 3-3 with two walks, his 30th double, and 3 RBI in bringing his average back up to .300.

Remarkably, the only position player in the starting lineup without a multi-hit game was the previously red-hot Endy Chavez, though even his lone hit produced both a run and an RBI. David Wright had three hits and three RBI, including his 25th homer and fifth triple of the season. Shawn Green looked good, too, going 2-4 with a walk and his 30th double, a deep blast to dead-center. He seems to be waiting better, and seeing the ball better, and his timing couldn’t be more perfect; how nice would it be for both Green and Floyd to catch fire in say, a week from now?

Lastings Milledge had a 2-5 day with two RBI and a double, cementing his spot on the postseason roster. Make no mistake, Omar and Willie will forcefeed him into the playoffs … which is fine, considering the alternative is Ricky Ledee.

Notes

Lost in all the excitement was the performance of Royce Ring, who threw one inning, 15 pitches, and gave up just one hit. More importantly, he looked very confident, and threw a good amount of strikes (10). It’s too late to make the playoff roster, but this last week is a great time to build a foundation for next year. He still has a chance to develop into a decent LOOGY.

Guillermo Mota finally gave up another run, but still struck out two in his one inning. It was kind of a relief, because you had to figure he’d give up a run eventually, and we don’t want it to be in October.

Aaron Heilman, on the other hand, remains perfect. I’ll now be rooting for him to allow a run before the end of the season, as, again, we don’t want the inevitable happening two weeks from now.

Billy Wagner did his part, giving up three hits and his last earned run of 2006.

Nationals 3 Mets 2

The Mets have lost three in a row very few times this year — maybe three times? — so this was a rare occurence indeed.

Luckily, these last games mean nothing in the grand scheme of Planet Mets; all we really care about at this point is getting the starters tuned up and getting people like Chris Woodward some extra at-bats, just in case we need them for postseason pinch-hitting.

Orlando Hernandez certainly looked tuned, mowing down the Nats for seven solid innings, allowing only three runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out eight. Hopefully he’s not peaking, because right now he looks like the one “sure thing” among the potential playoff starters.

In fact, if names/reputations and seniority were not considerations, and it were up to me, El Duque would be my #1 starter come playoff time. If Pedro could show he was healthy, that wouldn’t be my choice, but considering Pedro’s health and Tom Glavine’s frequent vincibility, I’ll put the best horse forward. Of course, that won’t be the case … but at least we’ll have a kickass #3.

How the Mets were unable to score more than two off of Pedro Astacio is beyond comprehension. Everyday Endy was one of the few who figured him out, going 3-5 and continuing to build a case for the postseason starting lineup. However, Cliff Floyd also swung the bat well, going 2-4, and we can only put one leftfielder out there at a time.

Notes

Ricky Ledee homered while pinch-hitting for El Duque to put the Mets within one. It was the first above-inadequate thing he’s done since joining the Mets. However I still don’t see him as a better option than Michael Tucker.

Guillermo Mota and Aaron Heilman continue to be perfect. These guys don’t shut the door, they slam it so hard it comes loose from the hinges.

Marlins 5 Mets 2

The Mets lost, but that was hardly the point. This was another tune-up for Pedro Martinez.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the old Petey on the mound. Though his numbers were okay, and Mr. Willie said he was very happy with the performance, to most spectators it looked a little scary.

First off, Pedro was topping out at about 83 MPH on his fastball. After the ballgame, Randolph was very defensive about this point, claiming that he doesn’t look at the radar numbers, and that it didn’t matter because Pedro’s offspeed pitches were significantly slower. While that may be true, it’s very disconcerting to think that our #1 postseason starter — who normally heats up around 93 MPH — might be throwing his fastball the speed of his changeup. While top velocity isn’t everything, it can help a helluva lot. More importantly, it’s hard to believe that a guy who has peaked at a particular velocity all year, will suddenly — in a matter of two weeks — be able to complete adjust his repertoire and game plan. Of course, that’s assuming that Pedro doesn’t find those extra ten miles per hour.

As expected, Martinez ran out of gas around the fourth inning, somewhere around the 60-70-pitch mark. If this game meant anything at all, I’m sure Willie Randolph would have pulled him, but this game was more about stretching Pedro out and getting him prepared for October, so he stayed in an extra inning … and that turned out to be the difference in the ballgame.

Notes

Carlos Delgado was three-for-three. Now is a GREAT time for him to start warming up.

Endy Chavez went 2-4 with a run and an RBI, batting in the two-hole. He has been absolutely amazing this year, and if there was an award similar to the NBA’s “sixth man”, he’d have to be the winner.

Marlins 6 Mets 3

Though it means nothing, it was a tough game to lose, considering that baby fat boy himself, Miguel Cabrera, poked his head into the pregame interview with Willie Randolph and yelled “we’re gonna win today!”.

Mr. Willie was awesome, responding, “You’re going to win today? That’s good. It doesn’t matter much.” Then, after porky left, Randolph said: ‘I like his confidence. We’re going to win today, huh? So what? A little too late.”

Priceless.

Cabrera is so young, so talented, and such a rockhead. He’s lucky to be hidden on the non-market Marlins; if he were in a big market like Boston, Chicago, or New York, he’d get eaten alive. His antics over the last few months have been so immature, foundlessly cocksure, and stupid, that I’ve come to enjoy Andruw Jones and his annoying smirk. As great a player as he is, Cabrera could ultimately be to the Marlins what Bobby Abreu was to the Phillies: an enigmatic roadblock.

Anyway, on to the game …

This loss was also tough for Oliver Perez, who pitched, well, OK, not great. However, considering his struggles this year, it was a pretty decent performance: five innings, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks. And in his defense, two of those runs might not have been charged against him, had a Major League leftfielder been on the field (rather than Lastings the rodeo clown), or if David Wright had thrown home instead of first for the second out of the sixth inning.

Clearly, Perez threw too many pitches (109), and walked too many in his short stint, but there were some positives. First, his velocity is still up in the mid-90s, which is where he should be. Second, he displayed dominance, striking out six with his hard low heater and wicked slider. As Ron Darling mentioned on the SNY telecast, his big issue is his mechanics: they’re all over the place. Of utmost concern is the landing of his front leg: he plants his foot pointing toward first base, which closes up his front and forces his arm to whip across his body. This allows the wicked movement on his slider and fastball, but does considerable harm on his elbow and shoulder. The only guy I can think of who succeeded with a similar style for a long period was Steve Carlton, but even his mechanics weren’t this prounounced. It will be interesting to see if the Mets try to change his stride, which would actually add to his velocity (he’ll get more power from his lower body and legs) and improve his control, but might take away from his movement. I hope the Mets do try to improve his mechanics, and further, I hope Ollie can respond positively to changes. Otherwise, he’ll eventually blow out his arm, and never be more than an inconsistent guy who looks great one game and gets blasted the next.

Too bad for Ollie, the Mets were not prepared to score many runs, and the bullpen was due to give up a few runs. Only Paul LoDuca and Jose Reyes were interested in hitting the ball where they weren’t, and the top two accounted for nearly all of the offensive output. Chad Bradford finally gave up runs in relief, and Roberto Hernandez continued to struggle, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk in one inning. The Mets cut the game to 4-3 at one point, but Bert imploded, and batters 3 through 8 weren’t much help.

And then there was the matter of Dontrelle Willis. It was the D-Train’s night, both on the mound and at bat … but let’s not go there. It was like watching a high school game, where the stud athlete on the team is on the mound dominating everyone and is also the cleanup hitter. When Dontrelle was taken out of the game, I half-expected him to switch places with the shortstop or centerfielder.

Notes

Dontrelle Willis has three home runs this year, all against the Mets, all at Shea Stadium. He’s batting .364 with the three dingers and seven RBI at Shea. Rumor has it that he, Chipper Jones, and Pat Burrell play poker together and tend to share secrets.

Anyone notice Dontrelle bringing the heat inside? Reminds one of Roger Clemens, and the old days of when batters occasionally had fear in their heart. Not enough pitchers do that anymore.

Also, did anyone notice how similar the motions of Dontrelle and Oliver Perez are? Willis has far from perfect mechanics, and he seems to land awkwardly and throw across his body much the same way Perez does. However, D-Train has more control and balance when he lands, which is the difference between the two. Who knows, maybe if Dontrelle Willis can make sense of his wacky motion, there is hope for Ollie.

Since the Mets were down by three in the ninth, Heath Bell was allowed to pitch. He threw a heckuva lot of pitches (28), but most were strikes (21). He is the victim of an extraordinary number of foul balls, leading one to believe that he should be working on a nasty strikeout pitch. If Heath can master a filthy split-finger, or slider, or changeup, or something that drops away from the strike zone, he could be devastating — along the lines of Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman. That’s no bull … usually when a successful AAA pitcher has trouble busting out in MLB, it’s because he can’t throw strikes, but in the case of Bell, it’s the opposite. Rivera had similar troubles until he developed that cutter, and Hoffman was similar to Bell while with the Marlins — then honed his legendary changeup with the Padres.

Mets 3 Marlins 2

For a while there, it looked like Tom Glavine might be the burro as the hungover Mets irregulars had a hard time scoring runs against the Marlins. Glavine has been bitten by enough bad luck in his time with the Mets; he certainly didn’t need to lose another chance toward 300 due to post-clinching syndrome.

Glavine was determined to get his 289th career win, and put forth a competitive, eight-inning effort; the kind that made him famous in Atlanta. Luckily, the Mets rallied in the eighth to come from behind and topple the Marlins. Also lucky for Glavine, he has Billy Wagner pitching at peak performance; Billy came in and struck out the side en route to his NL-leading (actually, he’s tied with the Padres’ Trevor Hoffman) 39th save.

Other than giving up a two-run homer to Wes Helms in the second, Glavine was lights-out, shutting down the Marlins the rest of the way. He allowed just four hits and two runs over his eight innings, working so many portions of the strike zone he might have found some new ones.

Remarkably, Mets’ leadoff (!!) hitter Anderson Hernandez was one of the offensive heroes, scoring two of the Mets’ three runs. He blasted his first career MLB home run (and first career RBI) in the third. Later, he scored the tying run in the 8th on a single by Lastings Milledge. Mets first baseman (!) Michael Tucker drove in the go-ahead run to seal the victory.

Notes

AHern’s homer was no chip shot; he seemed to be sitting on the pitch and absolutely smoked it far over the left-field fence, probably over 400 feet. He must have been guessing; maybe someone on the bench told him to guess fastball and take a rip. For a guy who hadn’t put a ball out of the infield in his MLB career (OK, he might have bounced a few out), he was a little too smooth: he watched the ball for a moment, then slipped into a loping, Reggie Jackson trot toward first. Was this the shot he needed to finally break out and be something more than Mario Mendoza?

How silly was the Mets lineup? You already know Anderson Hernandez was the leadoff batter, but it gets better. Julio Franco played third base and batted cleanup … and he was INTENTIONALLY WALKED so that the Marlins could face his protection in the lineup, first baseman Michael Tucker.

Wednesday night pits the two best young lefthanders of 2004: Oliver Perez vs. Dontrelle Willis. If Perez can shake that bottle of lightning again, this could be a really interesting game to watch.