Mets 7 Rockies 4

After looking so helpless in their first three games against the Phillies, the Mets have quickly righted the ship, much to the pleasure of short-tempered, impatient, paranoid Mets fans such as myself.

Before the game, it appeared the Mets would have a tough ballgame ahead of them. Dave Williams — who was traded away by the pitching-thin Pirates and released by the arm-needy Reds — was summoned from Norfolk to replace Pedro’s turn in the rotation versus Jeff Francis, who is arguably the Rockies’ top starter right now. For five innings, however, Williams nearly matched Francis, blanking Colorado batters save a solo homer by Yorvit Torrealba. In fact, it looked as though the lefty would continue to stymie the Rockies, getting two quick outs after a leadoff single. However, he gave up a single to Matt Holliday and then mysteriously left the game. My theory is that Mr. Willie implanted a timed device inside of his calf that would go off at precisely the 95-pitch mark (the device was similar to the one implanted in Snake Plisskin in Escape From New York). The device enabled Randolph to nap in the dugout and not need to be awakened by the more archaic alarm clock that normally goes off a few tosses before the 100-pitch limit. Williams, however — perhaps it was the adrenalin of being back in the Bigs — pitched all the way to 99 before yielding to the pain of the device, and handed the game to Roberto Hernandez with two runners on. Bert promptly gave up an opposite-field homer to Garret Atkins to give the Rockies a four-zip lead.

Luckily, the home run broke the dam for both sides, as Jeff Francis became more human in his third go-around against the Mets lineup. Four hits, four walks, two errors, and a passed ball later, the Mets had a 6-4 lead and Francis was out of the game.

Notes

Roberto Hernandez pitched so poorly that the official scorer awarded the win to Aaron Heilman, who pitched two scoreless innings and looked good doing it.

Carlos Delgado remained hot, going two for four. But no one was as hot as Lastings Milledge, who went 3-3 with two runs scored, two RBI, and an insurance solo homer in the eighth.

Dr. Duque or Mr. Hernandez vs. Jason Jennings on Sunday. Come one, come all, to see which pitcher suits up for the Mets: the beguiling, dominating Duque who appears to succeed with a slow curve and witchcraft, or the listless, vulnerable Hernandez whose smoke and mirrors act is quickly revealed and is in turn battered like a BP pitcher.

Mets 6 Rockies 3

Just a few days ago it seemed as though the Mets batters had gone away on vacation. It appears they have returned.

David Wright is the latest batsman to pull out of a slump, as he went 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Carlos Beltran also continued his breakout, going 2-3 with a double, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. His partner in slump-breaking, Carlos Delgado, had one hit and two walks. It’s good to see Delgado taking walks again, rather than waving at poor pitches.

Steve Trachsel won again, and actually pitched a game worthy of a win. The vulcan went a surprising seven full innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks; he also struck out six in one of his strongest performances of the year.

Mets 7 Phillies 2

Leave it to new Mets stopper John Maine to restore order and avoid a four-game sweep.

The newly anointed ace pitched another marvelous game, allowing only two earned runs on eight hits with no walks in six strong innings of work. He likely could have pitched further into the seventh, but had already hit the 100-pitch barrier that Met pitchers are generally not allowed to cross. His only mistake — if you want to call it that — was allowing man-child Ryan Howard to reach an outside fastball that was deposited into the leftfield stands. In reality, it was a pretty good pitch to just about any other lefthanded power hitter on the planet. However, Howard just happens to enjoy mashing balls to the opposite field.

Marvy Maine was supported by the sudden outburst of Carlos Delgado, who had shown flashes of breaking out of his slump yesterday in his ill-fated single to the wall. Today, Carlos was a one-man wrecking crew, going 3-4 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. And as the ad says, we get two Carloses for the price of one. Carlos Beltran was just as impressive, going 4-5 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Jose Reyes returned to form, with two hits and his 50th stolen base, and Jose Valentin was on his way to a great game before straining his hamstring. Even Mike DeFelice went 1-3 with a run and RBI as the Met lineup rebounded from the forgettable three games prior.

Notes

With Valentin hurting, I wonder if the Mets will send him immediately to the DL and promote Edgardo Alfonzo to see if he’s worth keeping around for the stretch run and playoffs. It certainly does not make sense to push Valentin with a 13-game lead, especially considering his age. Fonzie is doing OK — batting around .270 — and he might be a good veteran bat to have on the bench. As much as I love Julio Franco and Chris Woodward, we must be realists and see that neither is doing anything of consequence as pinch-hitters. Alfonzo is also an excellent all-around player (minus his wheels), and has the kind of winning attitude you like to see rubbing off on others.

Speaking of people hurting, will we see Oliver Perez or Dave Williams on Saturday in Pedro’s place? In a perfect world, Perez will come up on Friday, spend ten minutes in the bullpen with the Jacket, and suddenly find the skills that made him the most dominating young lefty in the NL just two years ago. How great would that be?

Just what are the Mets thinking about in the Shawn Green almost-deal? Is there any question whatsoever that they will need another bat for the postseason? Are we really to believe that Julio Franco will serve as the DH should the Mets find themselves in the World Series? Do we really think Lastings Milledge / Ricky Ledee / Michael Mother Tucker are the ideal situation in RF? Does Omar really believe he’s got Arizona shaking? Enough already … tell the D’backs we’ll swallow the salary, and they’ll get a subpar nonprospect in return. Done deal.

Phillies 3 Mets 0

The only silver lining in this atrocious series vs. the Phils is that, if Philadelphia completes the sweep on Thursday afternoon, they’ll STILL be 11 games behind.

Journeyman Lieber shut out the Mets on five hits, in easily his best performance in four years.

Tom Glavine continued his winless streak; after looking like he might be a Cy Young candidate in mid-June, he’s since won a total of three games in two months. Remarkably, he’s still in the running — his dozen wins are the secondmost in the NL (three pitchers have 13). There’s a distinct possibility the that NL will be without a 20-game winner in a non-strike season for the first time since 1987 (when Rick Sutcliffe won 18 games).

Is anyone else concerned that the Mets’ lineup has been completely shut down by Jon Lieber, Randy Wolf, and Cole Hamels? Sure, Hamels has a bright future, Lieber once won 20, and Wolf once had a year comparable to the best Shawn Estes could do, but this year, these three are not much more than ordinary. Certainly not dominating … and especially not skilled enough to manhandle a lineup crammed with the talent of the 2006 Mets. Heck, these guys would have trouble dominating the 1973 Mets.

To really put this lack of hitting in perspective, consider this: if Jose Reyes doesn’t play on Tuesday, the Phillies shut out the Mets in three straight games, and limit the Mets to four hits in two of the games, five in the other, and allow just ONE extra-base hit. If this is not a cause for concern, I don’t know what is.

Sure, the Mets are still 12 games ahead. However, the issue between now and October is not whether the Mets will get to the playoffs, but what they will do in the playoffs. The state of the pitching staff is borderline disaster. However, we have held out hope that if the starters can somehow get through 4-5 innings, and the overused, burned-out relief pitchers can take some HGH and manage to pitch four perfect innings, then the Mets’ offense can handle the rest.

The problem now, however, is that the Mets no longer have an offense. Yes, the bats will wake up at some point in the next six weeks, but the frightening thing is that they all seem to hit together, or not hit together. When Beltran is hot, so is Wright and Delgado and Valentin. If one of them is not hot, they’re all cold. It’s almost like watching a sorority house or an all-female office; after a while all the girls go on the same cycle. Similarly, it seems like all the Mets hitters do their hot and cold streaks together.

If you watch the games closely, you can pinpoint the issue: patience. In the last three games, few Mets batters have taken a pitch or two; there’s been a lot of first-pitch swinging. The argument in Wednesday’s game, of course, is that Jon Lieber is a control pitcher and throws a lot of strikes. Well you know what? He throws a lot of strikes when you don’t give him an opportunity to throw a ball. Then there’s the bunk that “you have to swing early in the count, because it might be the best pitch you see.” C’mon, fellas, this is Jon Lieber — circa 2006 — and not the 1965 version of Sandy Koufax. Lieber barely touches 89 MPH on a good day, so it’s not like he’s going to overpower anyone. His whole MO is to get batters to beat themselves. Case in point: Carlos Delgado, at-bat number two, in the fourth inning. He swings wildly at the first pitch, an awful slider that nearly hits him in the foot. He then takes a meatball over the middle of the plate for strike two. Strike three is a so-so curveball that freezes Delgado, because he’s still thinking about that first-pitch slider and ticked off about letting strike two go through his kitchen. Had he taken that first pitch, it would be 1-0 in his favor and an entirely different at-bat.

Delgado, by the way, was a real disappointment in this game. Besides striking out and grounding out to the pitcher fifteen times, he mashed a ball to the right field fence, but was thrown out at second. It should have been an easy double, but he watched the ball from the batter’s box, and lightly jogged to first base. It was not until striding past first that he began to run. I love Delgado, but this was him at his worst. Hopefully it will be the last time we see the “dog” in him, as it is completely out of character and not the type of thing you want to see from someone who supposedly leads by example.

Notes

After a great day on Tuesday, Jose Reyes went 0-4. But what was particularly annoying was Reyes’ at-bat in the 8th. With two outs, down three, Endy Chavez on first base, and ahead with a 2-0 count, Reyes chased a bad slider. The next pitch, he weakly grounded out to Lieber to end the inning. Are you kidding me? What in god’s name is he doing swinging at the 2-0 pitch? You’re down three, so even a home run will leave you back one. And to swing at a slider in the dirt? It might not have been so awful, except that the very next pitch — still ahead on the count at 2-1 — he meekly grounds back to the pitcher. When you’re ahead on the count, late in the game, and losing, the plan is to take unless something comes that you can drive to the wall. That’s not theory, it’s not something somebody learns from experience — that’s baseball. I don’t care if Jose Reyes is only 23 years old; this is simple, ordinary baseball that one learns in little league. If Nolan Ryan is out there throwing 100-MPH fastballs that are darting every which way, I might be able to forgive a batter for such a poor at-bat. But this is Jon friggin’ Lieber! There’s no blazing fastball, no Guidry-like slider, no hocus-pocus — just a lot of rinky dink junk and a flat straight ball with a little sink. Very similar to Tom Glavine in fact, only without the command and without the ability to change speeds well.

So where’s the problem? Is the Mets themselves, just going through a mass slump? Do the batters watch each other struggle early in the game, then this becomes a mental problem? Do they overanalyze the pitcher, and give him too much credit? Is Rick Down doing anything at all to help the situation? Does Mr. Willie need to wake up from his mid-game nap and tell Manny Acta to put on the “take” sign, since these “professional” hitters cannot be trusted to make intelligent decisions on their own?

Keith Hernandez brought up a great point during the aforementioned Delgado at-bat, harking back to a golden drop of wisdom bestowed upon him by the great Lou Brock. Brock said, you stay with your strengths, and look for pitches you want to hit, rather than be worried about the pitcher attacking your weakness. If you’re focused on your weakness, the pitcher will beat you on pitches in your strength zone. In essence, he’s beating you in both places. And that does seem to be a problem lately for many Met batters, not just Delgado.

When there is such an epidemic of poor hitting, you can’t help but put some responsibility on the team’s batting coach. Although I understand that Rick Down is the typical MLB hitting coach — hands off, let the guys do their thing — I don’t necessarily agree that it’s a great way to coach Big Leaguers. Back in the 1970s and 80s, there was a nontraditional batting coach named Charley Lau who rewrote the definition of his title. While it’s true that Lau was overly hands-on, and he taught some mechanicals that not everyone can agree on, he also introduced the concept of team hitting. (OK, team hitting has been around since the 1890s, so maybe I should say he “reintroduced” it.). It baffles me that more teams have not insisted on hitting as a team, and having an offensive plan. Offhand, the Braves and the A’s are about the only teams that teach AND enforce team hitting strategy. It makes a lot of sense to attack a pitcher with a plan, yet almost no one seems to do it, the Mets included. I guess it’s because baseball is filled with the throwback batting coach types like Rick Down, who are completely reactive (as opposed to proactive), and just kind of hang around until someone’s in a slump, at which point you meet him early to do some soft toss. The only other thing Down does, likely, is hand out the scouting reports and remind the batters how great the opposing starting pitcher is. This laissez-faire attitude in coaching hitters is rampant at the ML level, and likely won’t change anytime soon (the argument is that these are the best hitters in the world, so the best you can do is stay out of their way). Makes you scratch your head, don’t it?

Thursday afternoon pits John Maine vs. Scott Mathieson. Maine might have to start another scoreless innings streak to give the Mets a chance to win the game.

Phillies 11 Jose Reyes 4

Ugh, again.

I wish Jay Horwitz would have mentioned that this would be the week that the Mets’ starting pitchers would be replaced by the winners of the “Pros vs. Joes” show. I would have made plans to be out of the country.

The least they could have done was put the Joes’ real names on the back, instead of letting them wear the jerseys of their favorite players. I really thought it was Pedro and El Duque when they took their warmup pitches before the games.

What a bummer for Jose Reyes … how happy can you be about a three-homer, four-RBI game when your team loses by seven runs?

Oh, by the way … if Reyes isn’t playing, it’s another 4-hit shutout.

Wednesday’s matchup will have Joe vs. Jon Lieber. I presume Joe will be wearing a Tom Glavine jersey.

Phillies 13 Mets 0

Ugh.

Pedro gives up six runs in the first inning, Darren Oliver does one better in a hair under four innings of relief, and the Mets offense garners a lousy four hits (three singles) against a 22-year-old.

What’s worse, is Pedro left the game due to a “tight” calf. So now we have shoulder, back, hip, and calf issues to be concerned with in regard to our ace pitcher and Game One Playoff Starter.

Surely there’s a silver lining in this debacle of a game, somewhere …

Ah yes, Royce Ring threw two competent innings of relief, and Roberto Hernandez pitched a nearly perfect eighth. And the previously slumping Lastings Milledge produced half of the Mets’ total offensive output — against the young phenom Cole Hamels no less.

Notes

Not much to say … other than continue to root for a Shawn Green trade. Maybe the Mets will get Green, pick up Preston Wilson for nothing, and have a great RF platoon for the playoffs. If those two guys can play like they were 28 years old again, we could really have something. Then again, if they just continue to do what they’re doing at their current age, it should still be better than the potential Milledge/Tucker/Ledee combination.

In fact, picking up either Green or Wilson would be a great idea. Consider that both of these players were considered the centerpiece of their respective lineups over the last 5-6 years; the #3 or cleanup hitter. While both are well past their peak, either is capable of going on the type of hot streak that can carry a team. Sure, it may not happen, but it COULD. In contrast, no matter how hot Michael Tucker gets, I don’t see him putting the Mets on his shoulders and carrying them anywhere. With the Mets’ current pitching situation, I think it’s key to get as much offense into 1-8 as possible. Unless Houston makes the playoffs, the Mets are unlikely to see more than one “shutdown” pitcher in a series. So, if they can just stay in games and let the offense pound away, there’s a good chance of getting through to the World Series. How do you think a guy like Jason Marquis or Derek Lowe will fare against a Mets lineup that buries the bat of Shawn Green in the eight hole?

Here’s a terrible tidbit … Anyone remember the Mets’ pinch-hitters last year? They led the NL with a .287 average, .355 OBP, and a .734 OPS. This year? DEAD LAST in the NL in every possible category (except RBI; they’re tied for second-to-last), highlighted by an atrocious .193 average, .244 OBP, and .519 OPS. That’s right, the Mets’ 2006 PH’ers are about as dangerous as Doug Flynn.

El Duque tonight vs. Randy Wolf.

Mets 3 Nationals 1

Yesterday, a Mets’ relief pitcher vultured an undeserving win. Today, a Mets’ relief pitcher rightfully earned a well-deserved win.

Chad Bradford came on with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning of a 1-1 game, and retired the Nats’ best hitter and most dangerous hitter — Alfonso Soriano — on a harmless ground ball. OK, that’s not entirely fair … Jose Valentin made a really nice play on Soriano’s scorcher, so ChadBrad could easily have been the goat. But in the boxscore it looks pretty harmless: groundout to 2B.

Recent star Michael Tucker made the most of the positive momentum by blasting a go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth to seal the victory.

Notes

At the beginning of the season, it was believed that Carlos Delgado was going to be an albatross on the right side of the diamond, so much so that Mr. Willie and Omar insisted that defense was most important from their second baseman. If anyone, on April first, were to foretell the combo of Delgado and Valentin manning the right side, nearly everyone would laugh and assume that ground balls would leak through to right field like hydrochloric acid through cheesecloth. Instead, both players have been more than adequate on defense, with some parts of their respective games bordering on excellent. Delgado, for one, has done an outstanding job of picking throws in the dirt. Sure, his range is nothing to write home about, and he has somewhat clunky hands on most ground balls. However, he rarely allows a low throw to get by, and also does a very good job on high throws and wild throws that take him off the base. And he made a nice play on the final out of the game.

The Stache, meanwhile, has been surprisingly excellent on the double-play pivot, and seems to extend his range by the day. It’s remarkable that this guy, a natural shortstop who has played more third base and outfield over the last few years, could step in so easily and quickly and turn double plays like he’s been doing it on that side of the base all his life. And even if you don’t agree that his range is above average, you have to admit that he rarely, if ever, botches the routine play. That doesn’t seem like a big deal until you think back to when Anderson Hernandez went down, Kaz Matsui crumbled, and people were thinking that a very similarly-tooled defensive player — Mark Grudzielanek — might be the answer. There’s no way on God’s green earth that Grudzielanek is a better defender than Valentin right now, and I’ll take Jose’s born-again offense over the aforementioned punch-and-judy batter any day.

A few days ago, I mentioned that this is Michael Tucker’s golden — and possibly last — opportunity to stay in the big leagues. Unquestionably, he’s motivated, and making a strong case to stay on the roster when Uncle Cliffy returns (at least, so far). He’s been doing the all-important little things — playing solid defense, making the most of at-bats — and today did one of the big things: blast a go-ahead home run. If he keeps this up the Mets might forget about trading for Shawn Green … though I would really, really, like to see Green in a Met uniform this year.

While ChadBrad, Billy the Kid, and Darren Oliver all pitched well out of the ‘pen, it was another underwhelming outing from Royce Ring. It would figure. In yesterday’s post I mentioned that Mr. Willie might want to call on Ring in LOOGY situations, with Pedro Feliciano’s ineffectiveness against first batters and inherited runners. So, what do you know, Ring is called on to face pinch-hitter Daryle Ward and what does he do? Walks him on four pitches. It was bad enough that Ring wasn’t perfect in his first outing; he’s now completely botched any future opportunities in meaningful situations till at least 2007. Personally, I’d give Ring a few more chances (and I’d also have Heath Bell up here), but Mr. Willie is from the Joe Torre school of bullpen management, where there are two rules: 1. go with the one guy who gets outs, every single day, until his arm falls off; and 2. if you try somebody new, and he isn’t perfect the first time out, nor the second, never use him again unless there is a six-run difference in the score. My guess is we’ll see Ring sent back to Norfolk, and some schlep such as Dave Williams take his place. It’s really a shame, because there’s no doubt in my mind that Ring and Bell would develop into top-flight middle relievers, if only Mr. Willie would give them more than a six-inch leash on a spiked choker collar. Both guys are aware that they have to be perfect to get another chance, and that’s no way to be thinking when you’re trying to get big-league hitters out. I guarantee that we’ll see one or both of them pitching lights out for somebody else next year … very similar to what happened with Dan Wheeler and Tom Martin a few seasons ago.

Pedro tomorrow vs. the Phillies and rookie flamethrower Cole Hamels. I wonder if we’ll see Chris Woodward in LF ?

OK, I’m starting to “harp” on this subject … but if you’re a regular reader then you know I have a tendency to really beat dead horses even after they’ve been turned to glue … so … I’d really like to see Shawn Green come to the Mets this year … how about Steve Schmoll and we’ll assume the rest of the contract?

Mets 6 Nationals 4

Last night, the Mets lost but it was a positive game because Tom Glavine pitched so well. Tonight, the Mets won but it was a somewhat negative game because John Maine fell down to earth.

Maine’s chase of Don Drysdale’s consecutive scoreless innings record fell woefully short … he didn’t even get halfway to the Don’s 59. However, he didn’t pitch a horrible game. It was, in fact, very Traxlike: 5 1/3 innings, 4 runs, 4 hits, 6 Ks. The only thing that made it less Traxlike — for 2006 anyway — was that he left the game with a no-decision.

As it was, he did a commendable fifth-starter’s job of keeping the game within winning distance before handing it over to the bullpen. Which is fine, but we were really hoping he’d continue to pitch like a playoff-worthy third or fourth starter. Of course, there are still quite a few games left, but it was kind of sad to see young John become human again.

The Mets bullpen did their usual outstanding job, with perfect innings thrown by Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and Billy Wagner. Well, almost. Feliciano, who was awarded the win, actually allowed the fourth Nats run to score. Since the runner was put on by Maine, it went against John’s ERA, and since it was a tying run, Maine was left with the no-decision. Felicano has now allowed 8 of 14 inherited runners to score … which is pretty damn crappy. He also allows his first batter to reach base nearly 40% of the time … that’s pretty crappy too, and especially significant considering that he is by and large a LOOGY (Lefthanded One-Out GuY), and therefore summoned to retire his first and sometimes only batter. One would hope that Mr. Willie will start to use Royce Ring in more of the LOOGY situations; unfortunately, Ring’s 2006 debut was less than outstanding, so he’s likely already been tossed to the side a’ la Heath Bell.

MVP candidate Carlos Beltran nearly did it all for the Mets, going 3 for 5 with a double, a triple, a single, an RBI, and a run scored. Jose Reyes also tripled, and both scored a run and drove one in. Jose Valentin drove in the go-ahead run in the 7th, plating Beltran after his double. Newcomer Michael Tucker made the most of his plate appearances, with two walks and a sac fly in the seventh that provided an insurance run. Nearly everyone in the lineup contributed to this win, as the RBI and runs scored were sprinkled up and down; six different Mets drove in a run and only David Wright (who had no RBI) scored more than once. A great team effort.