It was deja vu all over again for the Poor Man’s Tom Glavine.

At the tail end of 2009, with the Mets’ pitching staff ravaged by injuries, Misch came up from AAA to admirably fill in a spot at the back end of the rotation – including tossing a complete-game shutout in Game 156.

His strong work down the stretch wasn’t enough to earn him a rotation spot in 2010, however – not with future All-Stars such as John Maine and Oliver Perez on the roster – and so it was back to Buffalo for the soft-tossing lefty.

Fast-forward to September 2010, and once again Pat Misch was promoted to make spot starts in a rotation that was beset by injuries. While Misch didn’t pitch quite as well as he did 12 months previous – nor as regularly – he did pitch about as well as one could expect from a back-end starter.

Misch started 6 games in 2010, going 0-4 with a 4.28 ERA and 1.28 WHIP, striking out 21 and walking only 4 in 33 innings. His best outing came against the Nationals in Game 160, when he allowed 3 hits and one run in 8 innings, striking out 10 in a no-decision. He’s not the most exciting or dominating pitcher, and he doesn’t miss a lot of bats, but he does throw a ton of strikes – his strategy is the currently unfashionable “pitch to contact” (which worked well for a few starters up in Minnesota).

As he did in 2009, manager Jerry Manuel felt compelled to use Pat Misch occasionally as a “matchup” guy out of the bullpen in lefty-lefty situations – despite the fact that Misch has been significantly worse against left-handed batters.

2011 Projection

As with last year’s evaluation, it’s hard to believe that Misch’s September performance was enough to earn a guaranteed MLB contract in 2011 – but, again, I think it behooves the Mets to try to re-sign him to a AAA deal. I don’t believe he’ll turn into the next Glavine or Jamie Moyer, but you have to like his strike-throwing ability – which holds more value in a cavernous pitcher’s park such as Citi Field. While he won’t ever win a Cy Young, it’s plausible that he could fill a back-end spot over an extended period and not embarrass himself. The Mets need all the pitching depth they can find, and Misch’s presence in Buffalo won’t stunt the development of any rising prospects.

Click here to read the 2009 Analysis of Pat Misch

Mets 8 Phillies 0

Maybe the Mets were stealing the Phillies’ signs.

The suddenly high-powered Mets offense pounded Jamie Moyer for four runs in five innings, and added another four against the Philadelphia bullpen, to propel the team to their third straight win and fourth in their last five games.

Meantime, the Phillies were phlummoxed by phloaters phlipped phrom the phingers oph R.A. Dickey. Dickey’s knuckleball shut them down cold as he recorded his first MLB win since April 10, 2009.

Game Notes

R.A. Dickey fluttered his way through 6 strong innings, shutting out the mighty Phillies while spreading around 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 7. He was drilled in the left (non-pitching) elbow by a line drive off the bat of Ryan Howard early in the game, but toughed it out. His elbow swelled significantly and was x-rayed in the clubhouse between innings but no broken bones were found.

While they had the x-ray machine warmed up, Oliver Perez‘s head was scanned. Nothing was found.

Rod Barajas was using an oversized, pancake-shaped catcher’s glove owned by Dickey to aid his attempt at stopping the knuckleball. To me it looks like a softball catcher’s glove, which is kind of like a cross between a catcher’s and first baseman’s glove.

When I caught Jim Bouton’s knuckler (back in the 1990s), he had an oversized catcher’s glove as well, but it was old-school — thick and more like a big pillow than the pancake-shaped one Dickey has. Personally, I didn’t like using the big mitt because it was heavy — and with the last-moment, unpredictable break of the knuckler, I found it more effective to use my own mitt, or one that was lighter and smaller, so I could move my hands quickly. I have no idea if Dickey’s “pancake” glove is lighter in weight, but Barajas seemed to do OK with it, despite a few pitches deflecting off here and there — believe me, it ain’t easy.

Jamie Moyer and R.A. Dickey combined to throw 144 pitches clocked under 80 MPH. Moyer’s fastball was clocked as slow as 77 MPH — and a few of Dickey’s knucklers reached 78 MPH.

Raul Valdez spun a three-inning save (his first as a Major Leaguer) and blasted an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth. I still can’t figure out how the heck he’s doing it.

Jeff Francoeur busted out of his slump, with a single, a double, 2 RBI, and a run scored. Even his two outs were hard-hit.

The Mets have reached Omar Minaya’s goal of .500, but remain in last place. Though, they’re only 4 games out of first.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Phillies do it again on Wednesday night at 7:10 PM. Hisanori Takahashi goes to the mound against Joe Blanton.

Phillies 10 Mets 5

So much for momentum.

If it wasn’t for that 9-1 homestand, I might have the feeling that nothing changed with the Mets from the last three years.

Game Notes

Johan Santana was terrible. Absolutely terrible. He allowed 10 earned runs on 8 hits and 2 walks — including 4 homeruns — in 3 2/3 innings. He threw too many pitches up in the zone and over the heart of the plate, and the Phillies didn’t let him get away with it. Though it could be argued that balls regularly fly out of Citizens Bank Park, at least three of those homers would’ve been out of just about any park, and CBP is no excuse for the other four hits — nor the bases-loaded walk to Jamie Moyer that forced in a run. Santana’s velocity was also a little worrisome, as it hovered around 89.

In contrast, Moyer barely broke 78 MPH, but kept the Mets off-balance, “holding” them to “only” 5 runs through 6 innings. The Mets pretty much threw in the towel after Santana left the mound.

Fernando Tatis hit a double, justifying his start over Ike Davis (not).

Gary Matthews, Jr. was 0-for-4 in the leadoff spot. He’s now hitting .139 on the season with a .244 OBP.

Jose Reyes was 1-for-13 with an RBI this weekend against the Phillies hitting in the three-hole.

David Wright hit a 3-run homer to give the Mets a 3-0 lead in the first frame. Santana, however, gave the Phillies two runs back in the bottom of the initial inning.

Rod Barajas went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer in the fourth that gave the Mets their second 3-run lead of the game. Santana, however, let that lead get away in the bottom of that inning as well.

Jeff Francoeur stole his second base of the season and threw out Moyer trying to score. He also was hit by another pitch, though he didn’t make any attempt whatsoever to get out of the way of Moyer’s 74-MPH changeup.

Fernando Nieve, who had not appeared in a game all month, finally got some work in, pitching a perfect seventh inning. He is on pace to appear in 97 games this season. No kidding — do the math.

Next Mets Game

The Mets will try to shake off the last two drubbings on Monday in Cincinnati. Oliver Perez faces Reds rookie Mike Leake at 7:10 PM.

Mets 10 Phillies 9

David Wright, homerun slugger, finally re-emerged.

Wright saved the day with two two-run homers in the final two innings, and drove in six runs on the day, to lead the Mets over the Phillies. Wright’s second dinger in the top of the ninth overshadowed an awful outing by Mike Pelfrey, who pilfered a four-run advantage handed to him after the first frame.

Big Pelf proceeded to allow 8 runs in 6 innings on 10 hits — including 3 homeruns — before Ken Takahashi came in to give the Phillies another run. However, it would be their last, and the Mets made their move in the final third of the contest.

Frankie Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth to notch his 31st save. Pedro Feliciano was credited with the win.

Notes

Lost in Wright’s heroics was Dan Murphy’s role in comeback. In the seventh, Murphy hit a ball that was misplayed on the wet ground into a double, then stole third when Jamie Moyer ignored him. He scored on a Wilson Valdez groundout. Then in the eighth, Murphy singled home Carlos Beltran to put the Mets within a run and set up Wright’s winning blast.

Just when you think Mike Pelfrey has taken a step forward, he takes two steps back. Though he walked only one, Pelfrey was often behind on the count — only 65 of his 110 pitches made it into the strike zone.

Thirteen runs scored in the ballgame before a pitching change was made.

Wright’s taters were his first since August 5th.

Howie Rose provided the play by play, which was a nice surprise. Unfortunately Tim McCarver babbled the color commentary for the FOX broadcast.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Phillies play a day / night doubleheader on Sunday. Game one begins at 1:05 PM, will be televised on ESPN, and pits Tim Redding against Kyle Kendrick. The nightcap starts at 8:05 PM, with John Maine making his first start since June 6th and facing the undefeated Pedro Martinez.

Marlins 6 Mets 3

The carriage that transported Pat Misch from Buffalo to Flushing turned into a pumpkin.

Misch allowed four runs in the first frame, and five runs total in six innings, to trounce the sugar-plum dreams of Mets fans who thought he might be the next Jamie Moyer. Though, he does resemble this season’s, 46-year-old, underperforming version of Moyer.

With that quick deficit, it was hard to get anything going against Ricky Nolasco, who mowed down the Mets for a full six innings before finally cracking in the seventh. Though the home team plated three, it was too little, too late, as Nolasco earned his eleventh win of the year.

Notes

The Mets collected a grand total of four hits in the ballgame, and leadoff batter Angel Pagan had half of them.

This game was the Gary Cohenless broadcast — Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez called the game sans the regular play-by-play man. Personally, I thought it went fine, though I’m the type who prefers less noise. As long as the camera is following the ball, the play-by-play description is less vital. I did, however, get this vague feeling that something was missing — and I generally do enjoy Gary Cohen’s input.

Josh Thole caught another solid game behind the plate, save for a few feeble attempts at framing pitches that were nowhere near the strike zone. Stick to sticking it, Josh! The main thing to take away is that he looks comfortable back there — no jerking or jabbing the glove to get to balls, no getting handcuffed or fooled on pitches. He does look a little mechanical, but so did Gary Carter, so who cares? Of course, it was Thole’s second game with Misch, so there was the familiarity factor. I like that the Mets are easing him into the bigs this way — gaining confidence is key to success.

The first Mets run came on a double by Dan Murphy, who hit a poorly located change-up (which was also a poor pitch selection for that moment). This is the main difference between Murphy and a slugger — Murphy hits mistakes for bleeders, bloops, and occasional doubles, while a slugger hits mistakes over the fence. Not a problem, as long as Murphy whacks enough mistakes to drive in 75-80 runs and hit in the .300-.310 area over the course of 550 – 600 at-bats.

Next Mets Game

The series finale occurs on Thursday at 7:10 PM. Bobby Parnell faces Sean West. West stymied the Mets in his start against them on August 25th (1 run in 6 IP) but was blasted for 5 runs on 7 hits on September 4th against the Nationals.

Phillies 4 Mets 1

So much for taking over first place this weekend.

Fernando Nieve was decent, if unspectacular, allowing 3 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of work. But, he allowed six hits and walked another six, so every inning was a struggle. About what you might expect from a fill-in fifth starter facing the Phillies.

Meanwhile, the Mets offense was nonexistent. Jamie Moyer and four Phillies relievers held the lineup to six hits, one walk, and one run. Not even Brad Lidge could blow the game; he threw a perfect ninth to earn his 15th save.

Notes

The ghost of Marv Throneberry rode again in this game. We witnessed dropped popups, missed cutoff men, overthrows, improper backup alignment, and myriad other mistakes.

What’s important to note, however, is that few if any of these mistakes would have been avoided if the “cavalry” was on the field. We’ve been discussing the fundamental flaws of this team for two years now. The only difference is that with Beltran, Reyes, Delgado, etc., there is a better chance of the Mets erasing their snafus with scoring.

Alex Cora had three of the Mets’ six hits.

Fernando Nieve drove in the only Mets run with a bloop single.

Jimmy Rollins is in the midst of the worst year of his career, hitting only .216. But, he’s hitting more than 40 points higher than that vs. the Mets, and has more RBI (7) against them than any other opponent.

Next Mets Game

The phinale with the Phillies begins at 1:35 PM on Sunday afternoon. Johan Santana pitches against Joe Blanton.

The phireworks will be on the phield in Philadelphia this weekend, as the second-place Mets take on the phirst-place Phillies in a series that could be a turning point in the season for both teams.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Phillies are not alone at the top of the division — the Florida Marlins have crept in to share the top seed thanks to an offensive resurgence and solid starting pitching. At the same time, the Phils have been stumbling mightily, losing their last three in a row and seven of their last ten ballgames.

The Phillies’ slide has been congruent with the absence of Raul Ibanez, who has been on the DL since June 18 with a groin strain. He was scheduled to return this evening in time for the Mets, but Philly has decided to play it cautious and hold him back a few days (what a novel concept!). Philadelphia has also been affected by injuries to their pitching staff — LOOGY Scott Eyre, middle man Clay Condrey, and rookie Antonio Bastardo are all on the DL, and Brad Lidge just came off a few days ago (Eyre might be activated this weekend). Additionally, Jimmy Rollins’ season-long slump continues, Cole Hamels has allowed 17 hits and 11 runs in his last 9 innings, and Lidge cannot be trusted to close games.

Game 1: Livan Hernandez(5-3, 4.04 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Lopez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

You read that right — Rodrigo Lopez is alive and well and starting Friday night for the Phillies. Lopez, who hasn’t been relevant since 2005, and not thrown an MLB pitch in two years, was chosen to make this start instead of top prospect Carlos Carrasco (among others). The 33-year-old was 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA in his last three starts at Class AAA Lehigh Valley. From what I understand he still throws junk. Facing Lopez will be Livan Hernandez, who continues to do exactly what the Mets need him to do — eat innings and keep the team in ballgames. Keep on keeping on, Livan!

Game 2: Fernando Nieve (3-1, 2.25 ERA) vs. Jamie Moyer (6-6, 6.05 ERA)

Talk about a contrast in starters — one, a young flamethrower on the rise, the other, an old junkballer at his demise. Fernandomania suffered a setback a few days ago, but even Jorge Sosa wasn’t perfect through his first four starts (ironically, Sosa also lost his fourth start as a Met — an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Braves). If Nieve keeps his fastball down the way he did in his first three starts, he should be OK. What Moyer brings to the table is anyone’s guess — he’s been consistently inconsistent (though pretty impressive for someone collecting Social Security checks).

Game 3: Johan Santana (9-6, 3.34 ERA ) vs. Joe Blanton (4-4, 5.08 ERA)

Santana is still among the top thee starters in all of baseball, but his month of June was the worst of his career. One can only hope that a new month changes that pattern. Blanton has been up and down, and lately down — the Phillies have lost all of his last five starts. He’s been pushed far beyond the 100-pitch count several times this year, so don’t be surprised to see him lingering if the game is close in the late innings.

Final Thoughts

The Mets might take two out of three, or even sweep. They could just as easily get swept — that’s the way this season is playing out for everyone in the NL East. Find a comfy chair, crack open a cold one, sit back, and enjoy the ballgames.

Or, if this rollercoaster ride is too much, distract yourself by attempting to grill the perfect burger this weekend — at least that goal is within your control.

Phillies 6 Mets 3

Based on the starting pitching matchup, we thought for sure this game would be a high-scoring, barn-burner. Instead, Tim Redding and Jamie Moyer produced the best-pitched outings of the series.

Redding lived up to his billing as a Phillies killer, going seven strong innings, allowing only three runs on six hits and no walks, striking out six. Jamie Moyer was nearly as good, allowing three runs on eight hits in six innings.

However, neither starter figured in the outcome, as the game remained deadlocked until the tenth inning, when Raul Ibanez pulled out his nine-iron and lifted a Ken Takahashi sinker over the right-field wall to put the Phillies ahead for the first time in the game.

Notes

Bobby Parnell was charged with the loss, as he allowed a single to Shane Victorino before being lifted for Takahashi. Somehow that doesn’t seem fair.

Though Parnell didn’t give up any runs while on the mound, he did give up another very deep fly ball — one that would’ve been out of any other park other than maybe San Diego’s Petco. That makes four big flies saved by the cavernous Citi Field in two days if I’m counting right. I shudder to think what his immediate future holds on the road — particularly in the Bronx’s “Coors Field East”.

Fernando Martinez: 20 years on planet Earth. Jamie Moyer: 22 years in MLB.

Luis Castillo had three hits and three runs scored from the leadoff spot. Carlos Beltran drove him in all three times, twice with productive outs.

David Wright went 3-for-4. He’s now leading the NL with a .362 average and 17 for his last 26. Note: that’s hot.

Next Mets Game

The Mets take the #4 train to the Bronx to face the mighty Yankees. Livan Hernandez faces Joba Chamberlain. First pitch is 7:05 PM. Buckle up.