Marlins 7 Mets 3

Everyone on the planet — save Omar Minaya and Mr. Willie — knew that this game was being conceded the minute Jose Lima was announced as the starting pitcher. In fact, even Jose Lima himself knew there was no chance of winning the game. It was kind of like watching a Disney movie: emotional and predictable.

Knowing Lima was the starter made this loss easier to swallow; after all, expectations were slightly below whale shit, especially considering that the opposing hurler was D-Train. The fact that Jose was able to hold the AAA Marlin lineup to single digits was enough of an accomplishment to incite excitement. And, if nothing else, Lima showed that he can really throw excellent BP. Maybe D-Wright can bring him to Pittsburgh to be his personal Homerun Derby pitcher.

Thankfully, it appears that the LimaTime! experiment is finally over, as Lima was DFA’s for the second time this year. It’s time for him to pitch in an independent league and reinvent himself as a minor league clown / crowd-pleaser.

Hmmm … bright spots … well, Xavier Nady was 2-4 with a dinger, so that’s encouraging. On the other hand, Julio Franco all night looked like a 47-year-old trying to catch up to 92+ MPH heat. Darren Oliver was sparkling with the mop, and we did get to see Henry Owens’ debut, so that was cool. It took Owens 18 pitches to get through the ninth, but it was a perfect ninth and he did strike out one. I’m guessing he had some butterflies, and he’ll be even better the next time around. I for one am hoping there IS another appearance, as he looks to have an electric fastball and some potentially filthy stuff.

Big news tomorrow is the long-awaited debut of Mike Pelfrey. I’m not sure there’s been this much anticipation since Tom Seaver; even Doc Gooden’s debut was somewhat tempered, and didn’t have enough time for a buildup (he began the ’84 season on the roster and started game four on April 7, just a week after spring training broke). Hopefully Pelfrey will stay calm and show us a glimpse of what he’s capable of. It should be a fun and exciting game. John Maine is penciled in to start the other game, and I will be rooting hard for him as well. It would be great to see Maine throw well and earn himself another start, if for no other reason than he seems like a good kid.

Mets 7 Pirates 5

After a frightening, blowout loss to the Pirates in the opening game, the Mets went on to take the next three games and the series.

Guess who returned to the spotlight? None other than David Wright, who had two hits, two RBI, and scored two runs. His two hits were a homerun and a double. He is definitely out of his mini-slump.

Jose Reyes and Cliff Floyd both went 1-3 with two RBI, and Reyes stole another two bases. Now at a steady .300 with an adequate 30 walks, Reyes is making excellent strides as a leadoff hitter — and proving to be a one-man scoring machine in the vein of a young Rickey Henderson or Willie Wilson.

Steve Trachsel pitched another adequate game to earn his fifth straight win; miraculously, Mr. Willie allowed him to throw 118 pitches. Billy Wagner is now in mid-season form, and likely would have pitched a perfect inning if not for a misplayed fly ball by Eli Marrero. On the other hand, Aaron Heilman had another un-Heilmanlike outing, taking almost 40 pitches in an inning and two-thirds and giving up a run. Maybe the Mets brass should re-evaluate his role in the bullpen; it’s possible that he’s just not built to pitch 3-5 times per week.

Notes

Marrero gave Carlos Beltran a well-deserved day off in center field, and well … let’s just say he likely won’t be making any more appearances in center. Shouldn’t be a big deal, as we normally have Endy Chavez to back up, and there’s always Lastings Milledge. Better to find out now that Marrero is ill-suited for the position, rather than in the third game of the NL Championship series.

Trax was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the sixth, and immediately the umpires warned both benches. Why? Who knows. I wish that MLB would eliminate this “warning” crap; all it does is take the inside part of the plate away from the pitcher, and make the batters more comfortable in the box. A little fear in the batter’s mind worked out fine in the first 140 years of baseball.

Pedro was put on the disabled list, and Henry Owens was brought up to take his place on the roster. In AA, Owens has struck out 51 batters in 25 innings, giving up eight hits and eight walks, garnering a sparkling 1.08 ERA. If he can do a K-Rod-like job in the second half, he’d be a great addition to the bullpen. One wonders if this is the intention, and part of a grand plan to push Heilman into the starting rotation (hey, I can dream!).

In addition, Mike Pelfrey was brought up, and will start one of the games against the Marlins in the Saturday doubleheader. At worst, he’ll be nervous and implode, getting knocked out in the first inning. At best, he’ll throw 6-7 innings of shutout ball and earn himself a second start. I’ll be happy to see something in between. Facing the Marlins is a good entry, as they were closer to a AAA team than MLB earlier this year, and though they are in second place, the lineup is mostly youngsters, so Pelfrey shouldn’t be too overmatched; it will be kind of like him facing a AAA All-Star team that has a ringer (Miguel Cabrera). The reports from the minors say Pelfrey throws in the mid- to upper-90s, relies very heavily on the fastball, and throws only an adequate breaking pitch and changeup. If those reports are accurate, I could see him challenging hitters and throwing a lot of strikes, but perhaps giving up a few long balls. In any case, it will be exciting to see him pitch on Saturday.

OK, now the bad news: Friday night is LimaTime ! Why? No one’s quite sure. One blogger suggests that he has incriminating photos of Omar Minaya and/or Willie Randolph. I’m inclined to believe it. The only shining light is that I was merciless on Jose Valentin early in the year, and he’s turned out to be a productive starter at 2B; so I could be wrong about Jose Lima.

Mets 5 Pirates 0

OK, I’ll admit it: my itchy finger was hovering on the panic button.

After getting swept by the Bosox, losing two of three from the Yanks, blown out by the lowly Pirates, and then barely beating the Pirates, the true Met fan inside of me started spewing doubt.

This game pushed the doubt aside … for now.

El Duque was brilliant, allowing four hits, two walks, and striking out seven. It was the type of performance we hope to see in October, as our #3 playoff starter. He could have easily finished the game and picked up a shutout, but Mr. Willie’s alarm clock went off at 100 pitches, and removed him after the snooze button alarmed him to 107.

The theory is that you need to “save” the pitcher so that he won’t be tired at the end of the season. Of course, this is nonsense: the less you do something, the less you’ll be able to do it in the future. It is absolutely baffling that pitching in baseball is the only action in all of sport where the professionals are limited in their repetition. Every other athlete in every other sport uses a conditioning program of “building up” their endurance, so that they can go further, and stronger, later in the season. The dope-smoking pitching coaches are the only ones who choose to do the opposite. And the arm injuries and surgeries have gone UP in the last 20 years. Imagine that?

Anyway, I digress …

As stated, Orlando Hernandez was marvelous, Chad Bradford perfect in his “bounceback” appearance, and Dirty Sanchez was his usual filthy self.

The only issue, if there was one, was the fact that the Mets did not get a hit after the first inning. Luckily, they scored five runs in the first, but were held hitless the rest of the way by Kip Wells — who is having an awful season so far — and some scrub with a 5+ ERA named John Grabow. WTF?

Notes

A clean-head-shaven Jose Lima was spotted “getting his work in” in the bullpen at the end of the game. Frightening.

Word is that there is an outside chance that Mike Pelfrey will get a start on Saturday if Pedro can’t go. Or, it’s LimaTime! Ugh.

David Wright took a well-deserved day off. He should come out like gangbusters in the next game.

Trax vs. some guy named Gorze-something. You know what that means … the Mets never saw him, therefore they’ll make him look like Sandy Koufax. Maybe we can pull out a 1-0 victory.

Mets 7 Pirates 6

Whew! The Mets very nearly blew this game, very nearly lost the series to the Pitts.

In fact, the game was all but lost had it not been for Endy Chavez, currently the only Mets player outside of Jose Reyes with a heartbeat lately.

Chavez was not even supposed to be in the game, but a concussion knocked out Cliff Floyd. With the Mets down 6-4 in the bottom of the 8th with D-Wright on first and Carlos Delgado on second, Chavez hit a ball far enough to score Delgado, which meant it was far enough to put himself on 2B and D-Wright on 3B. Chavez then scored the winning run on a single by Xavier Nady, using a remarkable slide to get under the tag of catcher Ronny Paulino.

Billy Wagner did what he was supposed to in the ninth, earning career save #300.

Notes

Nady FINALLY got a big hit. About friggin’ time!

Tom Glavine was awful. Let’s just forget this outing, please.

Aaron Heilman pitched two innings and gave up another run. His ERA now stands in the mid-fours. He is un-valuable enough to be thrown into the rotation? The Mets could really use a starting pitcher …

Jose Reyes collected another three hits and two stolen bases. He’s a man on fire again.

While no one was looking, the Mets optioned Heath Bell to Norfolk and brought up (gasp!) Jose Lima. Dear God…

Pirates 11 Mets 1

Um … just what the heck is going on?

After taking two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays, the Mets have had a meltdown. OK, I can understand being intimidated by the Bosox and Fenway and getting swept. I can sort of (but not really) understand losing two of three from the Crankees. But after dealing with the AL Beasts, you’d think the lowly Pirates (yes, they’re still in the league) would be a cakewalk.

Indeed, it seemed it would go that way. For the first four innings, last-minute replacement John Maine struck out six and walked none, shutting out the Pirates.

Then came the fifth.

According to the US Navy: “… terrible explosion on board Maine shattered the stillness in Havana Harbor. Later investigations revealed that more than five tons of powder charges for the vessel’s six and ten-inch guns ignited, virtually obliterating the forward third of the ship. The remaining wreckage rapidly settled to the bottom of the harbor. Most of Maine’s crew were sleeping or resting in the enlisted quarters in the forward part of the ship when the explosion occurred.”

Oops, that was the USS Maine, circa 1898. It was a second-class battleship sitting outside Cuba during the Spanish-American War whose gundpowder magazines exploded, thereby destroying itself (imploding). However, the report otherwise fits pretty succinctly.

John Maine imploded in the fifth, much like the USS Maine of 1898. After getting the first two outs of the fifth, all of a sudden he was walking people left and right, including the opposing pitcher. Somehow, he managed to escape the inning (and the game) giving up only three runs. The Mets, however, much like the USS Maine’s crew, continued to sleep or rest in the enlisted quarters for the remainder of the game.

Things got ugly in the seventh, when the usually lights-out Chad Bradford allowed five runs to cross the plate. His LOOGY buddy, Pedro Feliciano, must have felt bad for Chad, and gave up three runs himself, including back-to-back homers by some guys named Paulino and McLouth (or was it McMillan and Wife?).

Notes

For a while there, it looked like John Maine might be the answer for the #5 spot in the rotation. Maybe not.

Alay Soler was optioned to Norfolk to make room for Maine. Maine is likely to stay on for another start on Saturday, while Soler simmers in the minors.

Cliff Floyd had two hits, a walk, and a stolen base.

Jose Reyes looks hot again, as he stroked three hits, stole a base, and scored the Mets’ lone run.

Yankees 16 Mets 7

I was not impressed with the Yankees offense tonight. After scoring 16 runs in the first five innings, I was sure they’d end the game with 20 (or 18 at the least). Instead, the mighty Yanks were completely shut down over the last three innings by the ROOGY-LOOGY tandem of Chad Bradford and Pedro Feliciano. In fact, had the game started in the sixth inning, the Beltrans would have won the game two-zip.

Unfortunately, the game started at the regular interval, the first inning, after an hour and a half rain delay. The Mets jumped ahead four-zip quickly, and looked like they might trounce the Yankees and make this game a laugher, as they chased starter Jaret Wright from the game in the third. Well, the Mets did make this game a laugher all right.

Alay Soler was awful, again. In eight big league starts, he’s been brilliant, so-so, and godawful. Though he has shown that he can pitch well against good teams at this level, he has an extreme problem competing. In other words, he is an excellent pitcher when things are going well, but when things are not so great, he’s unable to compete; to adjust, and rise to the challenge. As has occurred in other games this year, Soler had a different interpretation of the strike zone than the home plate umpire. This is a serious problem for a starting pitcher (ask Tom Glavine). While it’s true a pitcher needs to pitch his game, he also must understand that there is a man standing behind the catcher, and not because he’s purchased a really expensive ticket. That man decides what is and isn’t a strike, and if he is deciding that your pitches are not strikes, then you must make an adjustment. Instead, Soler gyrates, makes faces, and generally acts like a 12-year-old. Further, he allows these calls and other outside influences to affect his focus and overall game. I like Soler, and I want him to do well. However, he needs to mature, very quickly, if he is to stay in the Major Leagues.

Lost in this debacle was a 4-5, two-homer performance by Carlos Beltran, who after chilling for a few games is once again red-hot as the season hits its midpoint.

Notes

Julio Franco went 2-4 and both scored and drove in a run. One must wonder why teams don’t apply some kind of reverse shift on him, as nearly every one of his hits goes to right field.

Xavier Nady, who is now playing with a broken bone in his hand, dropped a fly ball that led to four Yankee runs in the fourth. He also went 0-3, dropping his average to below .260. Not sure if his hand is affecting his play, but I won’t be surprised to see Eli Marrero getting some starts in RF.

Paul LoDuca had some choice words for Alex Rodriguez after A-Rod’s grand slam in the third. I’ll presume that LoDuca’s issue was with A-Rod’s obnoxious posture at home plate as he watched the ball clear the RF fence. Kudos to Paulie for setting him straight. Interestingly, juiceboy Jason Giambi made a move toward LoDuca after the exchange, and our Paulie did not back down. As it was, nothing happened, but I would have loved to see Brooklyn boy LoDuca duke it out with steroid-surfer dude Giambi. Juiceambi’s girth notwithstanding, I’ll take LoDuca in three rounds.

Speaking of the Giambino, he’s looking awfully puffy lately. I wonder what undetectable designer ‘roid he’s using now? HGH ?

Baseball has definitely changed over the last 15-20 years. I don’t think, in 1986, you’d see a team score 16 runs without SOMEONE getting knocked down. I thought for sure Heath Bell would dust A-Rod, but instead served him a gopher ball on a silver platter. As Goose Gossage has said, this is no longer a game so much as nine innings of BP.

Soler better get his emotions in check. I’m guessing his leash is about three starts long. If he continues allowing his hot temper to affect his game, the Mets must turn to John Maine and/or Evan MacLane as they wait for Brian Bannister to return. As much as I’d like to see Mike Pelfrey come up, I think the Mets will wait till August, and see if he can pitch well enough to help them in the playoffs. The California Angels did something similar with a young phenom in 2002; today they call that phenom “K-Rod”. I’m not sure Pelfrey’s ready to be a #3 starter come playoff time, but there’s a really good chance he’ll be effective as a one- or two-inning guy to even further shorten a game.

I HATE having to watch the Mets on ESPN. Joe Morgan is a blithering idiot. For three innings he hemmed and hawed about Mr. Willie leaving Soler in the game to give up eight runs, while Joe Torre pulled Jaret Wright immediately to stop the bleeding during the Mets’ four-run second. Morgan couldn’t understand why Darren Oliver wasn’t coming into the game, and admonished Willie for not “playing for today”. Well gee Joe Moron, there’s a reason you’re in the broadcast booth and Willie’s in the dugout. If Morgan ever watched three consecutive Mets games, instead of once a month, he’d know that Mr. Willie plays every game like it’s the seventh game of the World Series, to the point where he’s nearly burned out his bullpen at the All-Star break. And secondly, Oliver is needed to start tomorrow in place of tub-slipping, bad hipping Pedro. If Oliver comes in to save the day, who’s the starter tomorrow? Chad Bradford? Somebody, PLEASE, fire Joe Morgan!

Mets 8 Yankees 3

What the Mets couldn’t do against five Yankee pitchers the night before, they managed to accomplish against one of the greatest lefthanders in baseball history.

The Metsies erupted for seven runs in the first four innings against Randy Johnson, then tacked on an eighth run in the sixth inning, finally chasing dandy Randy from the game.

Helping to snap the four-game losing streak was Mets new DH Paul LoDuca, who went 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI. D-Wright also had 2 RBI, as did Ramon Castro. Jose Reyes had two hits and two runs scored, and it’s getting more and more clear that he is the real MVP of the Mets. When Reyes gets on, the Mets usually win. When he doesn’t get on base, they usually lose.

Steve Trachsel enjoyed another adequate outing, giving up only two runs in six innings. However, he did allow eleven baserunners.

Notes

The Mets won with Eli Marrero starting in LF, Chris Woodward at 2B, Julio Franco at 1B and Ramon Castro behind the plate. No Carlos Delgado, no Clifford Floyd.

Mr. Willie tried to blow the game by bringing in Billy Wagner with a five-run lead, but Wagner was able to strike out two and retire all three batters faced. He did, however, nearly blow out his ankle covering first on the game-ending play. So although Randolph couldn’t find a way to lose the game, he nearly succeeded in losing his closer.

Aaron Heilman was a little off in this game, and he seemed to be dropping too low again. Not all the time, just a pitch here and there. He’s got to figure out a checkpoint of some sort that will keep his release point consistent.

Yankees 2 Mets 0

The Mets finally lost three games in a row … so what the heck, why not make it four!

And they lost in grand fashion, managing one lousy hit against five Yankee pitchers. The only hit was a single by Endy Chavez, who promptly was picked off first only moments later. The Mets managed one other baserunner — Jose Valentin on a walk — but he, also, was quickly erased on a steal attempt.

The Mets’ ineptness at the plate wasted an excellent performance by Orlando Hernandez, who pitched seven strong innings. El Duque allowed only two runs on seven hits and a walk.

One must wonder why the Mets hitters continually do poorly against pitchers they’ve never seen before. Clearly there must be an issue either with the advance scouting or the pregame preparation. You could dismiss games like this as blips on the radar if it didn’t happen so consistently, and if the hitters didn’t look so completely awful. This has been a thorn in the Mets’ side going back at least 2-3 years, which makes you wonder how/why the issue has been addressed.