Where They Are Now: Yusmeiro Petit
Remember Yusmeiro Petit? About 4-5 years ago, he was ranked as highly as #2 among the Mets prospects by Baseball America, who were impressed by his ability to throw 4 pitches over the plate. As a 21-year-old, Petit whipped through AA, posting a 9-3 record and 2.92 ERA for the Binghamton Mets — striking out 130 batters in 118 innings, walking only 18, and holding opposing hitters to a .209 AVG. He was a sure-fire back-end starter at worst, and some believed he’d eventually develop into a #2 or #3. Read more
Mets Game 156: Win Over Marlins
Mets 4 Marlins 0
Payback’s a beach …
It wasn’t quite as dramatic as the Marlins’ extinguishing of the Mets’ playoff chances at the end of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, but this game more or less put the kibosh on Florida’s shot at the Wild Card.
Patrick Misch used magic, voodoo, smoke, and mirrors to get through the first five frames, in which he allowed 11 baserunners — yet not one scored. After that, though, he set the Fish down in order, finishing his second MLB win, first shutout, and first complete game.
Meanwhile, the Mets scored four despite the absence of the cavalry — David Wright and Carlos Beltran both had the day off, and well, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes still aren’t back. So Jeff Francoeur picked up the slack, blasting his 14th homerun of the season (9th as a Met), and Anderson Hernandez of all people hitting a solo shot. Those two dingers and a sac fly by Josh Thole accounted for the day’s scoring.
Notes
Francoeur also reached over the rightfield wall to snare a fly ball off the bat of Chris Coghlan to prevent a homerun and preserve the shutout.
Wilson Valdez had three hits and played fine defense at shortstop.
Ronny Paulino drives me nuts; he might be one of the most athletic and skilled catchers in the National League, but his lapses in focus and bouts of laziness make him an enigma. He reminds me of Javier Lopez in a non-contract year.
The Marlins have so much good young pitching, but those youngsters can’t seem to put it together. I wonder if they would benefit from a veteran backstop like Pudge Rodriguez, or a different pitching coach / manager. There seems to be a lot of untapped potential on the Miami mound.
Next Mets Game
The Mets move on to Washington, DC to face the Nationals on Monday night. Nelson Figueroa faces Ross Detwiler in a 7:05 PM start.
Mets Game 155: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 9 Mets 6
A ninth-inning rally closed the gap, but the game really wasn’t that close.
John Maine was OK through the first four frames, then the wheels came off in the fifth. By the time he exited, his line was: 4 2/3 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 K.
We’ll just go straight to the notes.
Notes
Jorge Cantu had another big game against the Mets — he went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored, and an RBI. The double in the fifth opened up the floodgates. His average is only .270 vs. the Mets this year, but he seems to have huge games against them — to the point where his performances were so memorable, my wife thought he PLAYED for the Mets (in the past – she knows he’s not on the team now).
My wife also thinks MLB should use the mercy rule. Not the worst idea I’ve heard.
David Wright’s timing is all screwed up. And he admitted to thinking about that inside pitch. I’ve said it before here, and I’ll say it again: the biggest difference between the “modern” era and 25-30 years ago is not steroids as much as the zero-tolerance policy for inside pitches / hit batters. It doesn’t matter how strong you are — if you have one bit of fear, the pitcher has the advantage. Goose Gossage calls today’s game “home run derby” because hitters no longer are concerned about being hit by a pitch.
Sometimes Keith Hernandez says the darnedest things …. for example, in the midst of John Maine’s control issues in the bottom of the fourth, Keith quips, “I like the way John Maine is pitching” — in reference to his hitting Cody Ross with a pitch and proceeding to miss in and up on his next few pitches before hitting John Baker minutes later. Keith seemed to think that Maine was purposely throwing the ball inside, but the truth is that Maine had no clue where the ball was going, and was missing his target on nearly every pitch that inning. There’s nothing good about lack of command. Maine’s terrible mechanics make it very difficult for him to throw the ball anywhere other than up and in to RH hitters, as we’ve covered here on several occasions. (But don’t take it from me — watch his pitches, and count how many run in toward RHs / away from LHs.)
Speaking of illogical thought processes, Ron Darling mentioned that he spoke to Dan Warthen about Maine and asked if there was anything about Maine’s mechanics that would alert him as to whether he was hurting himself. Warthen told Darling that he has a “simple” method of: if he sees Maine’s ball tailing in to the RH hitter, then “he knows that there’s a problem with his arm slot”. Huh? Again, Maine’s usual mechanics cause his pitches to “naturally” ride in to the RH hitter — it has very little, if anything, to do with arm slot, and everything to do with the over-rotation of his hips. Furthermore, Maine’s physical problem is with his shoulder. A low arm slot would put more pressure on his elbow and actually take pressure OFF his shoulder. So again, I’m not getting the logic behind Warthen’s analytics.
Awesome doubletalk by Jerry Manuel during the postgame. David Lennon opened a question to him saying that Maine looked uncomfortable and asked if he was physically OK. Manuel responded that Maine’s “healthy, physically fine”, then closed the answer mentioning “a dead arm” and saying “with Maine health is a big issue”.
The Mets were sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. And they’ve been so, since Opening Day — as Bobby Ojeda also stated during the postgame. I stand behind my belief that the awful fundies would have done in the Mets regardless of the injuries. Under Jerry Manuel, the Mets play bad baseball — it matters not who is on the field.
Ojeda WENT OFF on the Mets’ lack of fundamentals all year. At one point he said, “all this talk about the return of the cavalry, blah blah blah — it doesn’t matter!”. I love you, Bobby.
Ojeda was also convinced that Maine was having a physical issue on this evening. This may have been Ojeda’s best postgame ever.
Two BIG mistakes by David Wright in the fifth inning, on the same play. With two outs and Wright on second base, Jeff Francoeur hit a liner to the outfield. Wright held up at first — apparently, he did not know there were two outs or he would’ve been sprinting at the crack of the bat. Then, he slowed down to a brisk jog about 20 feet before he reached home plate — and Francoeur was tagged out at second base moments before Wright touched the plate. Therefore, the run did not count. In that situation, the manager has to pull the player from the game — I don’t care if it’s David Wright or Babe Ruth.
And as long as we’re talking about poor fundamentals, Omir Santos allowed two balls to get “through the wickets” for wild pitches. In both cases, he was trying to “field” the ball with his glove up off the ground. Young catchers, pay attention: you always, always get the glove on the ground FIRST, and leave it there, and block the ball with your body. In addition, when your knees go down, your feet should go IN together and touch each other behind you. This way, if the ball does get under your glove / through your legs, it will be stopped by your feet and not roll to the backstop. I have seen very few MLB catchers execute this proper technique — mainly because it’s not taught at any level. (But if you live in the NY-Metro area you can learn from me!)
Next Mets Game
The final game of the series begins at 1:10 PM on Sunday afternoon. Pat Misch pitches against Josh Johnson.
Game 154: Win Over Marlins
Mets 6 Marlins 5
If this were 1960, the season would be over — and the Mets would have finished on a high note.
Instead, we have eight more games to muddle through, and can only hope our favorite team can keep the excitement quotient at this level.
Through the first four frames, it looked like the Mets might cruise to a victory. Tim Redding was throwing shutout ball and a three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur in the second gave the Mets a comfy three-run lead.
Then came the fifth, when Redding surrendered a three-run dinger himself — to the NL’s leading hitter Hanley Ramirez.
Redding remained on the mound as the bottom of the seventh began, but didn’t last long thereafter. He walked the leadoff man and was immediately replaced by Perpetual Pedro Feliciano, who got a quick popup but then threw a wild pitch to send the runner to second base. He struck out Nick Johnson, but then intentionally walked Ramirez and yielded to setup man / ROOGY / this year’s Heilman Sean Green. Green promptly allowed a double to Jorge Cantu that put the Fish up by two.
However, the Mets answered with a run in the eighth — scored on a strike three wild pitch to David Wright. Bobby Parnell held the fort in the bottom of the frame, and the Mets went ahead in the top of the ninth, thanks to a pinch-hit, two-run single by Cory Sullivan.
Frankie Fantastik pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 34th save.
Notes
I know Hanley Ramirez is the top hitter in the NL, and had already hit a homerun, but I’ll never, ever, ever understand the “strategy” of intentionally placing a runner on base in a tie ballgame. (In fact, I find very few situations that warrant an intentional walk.) For every time Ramirez hits safely, he’s going to fail at least twice. Further, he was 5 for his last 20 coming into the game. The argument that “you don’t let the big bat beat you” has never and will never make sense to me. How is it better to let the “lesser” bat beat you, after you’ve handed over a free base? The mamby-pamby approach of walking hitters intentionally and creating “favorable matchups” is one of the reasons pitching gets worse every year — pitchers are taught that they can’t get certain hitters out and are not given the chance to learn how to do so. Managers whine and moan that they can’t find any “crossover” pitchers who can get lefties AND righties out, yet they perpetuate their problem every game. A never-ending, vicious cycle that’s about as effective as a dog chasing its own tail.
Here’s a thought: intentional walks are like compound interest — they mysteriously pay immense dividends over the long haul.
But hey, the Mets won this one, so let’s accentuate the positive. Jeff Francoeur, Daniel Murphy, and Angel Pagan all had 2-for-4 days. Bobby Parnell earned his first win out of the bullpen since the summer solstice (actually, a month before then). Tim Redding had another decent outing to raise the bidding for his services in the offseason. Both Jeremy Reed and Cory Sullivan came through as pinch-hitters in the ninth — proving that a) they are NOT the same person and b) they’ll help someone off the bench in 2010.
David Wright has 4 hits in his last 22 at-bats and has seen his batting average plummet 20 points in 22 days.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Marlins do it again at 7:10 PM on Saturday night. John Maine goes to the mound against Sean West.
Mets Game 140: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 13 Mets 4
The sweepless series streak comes to an end — at the fins of the Fish, no less.
Bobby Parnell struggled from the get-go, yet hung around long enough to allow 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits and 5 walks in 5 innings. He did strike out 6, so there’s that. The bullpen did no better, giving up another 7 runs over the final four frames.
Oh heck, let’s just go straight to the notes.
Notes
Major League pitchers — and by that I mean pitchers who belong in MLB, as opposed to those who are simply in MLB — will generally miss their target by a few inches, when they miss. Home plate, after all, is only 17 inches wide, and the strike zone is at most 24 inches tall. So if one misses by more than 4-5 inches, that’s significant. Bobby Parnell, however, was consistently missing his target by FEET. Low, high, outside, inside — he was all over the place, looking more like a high-A ball pitcher than a Major Leaguer. It’s always a bad sign when you are regularly seeing the number on the catcher’s back from the centerfield camera view. Omir Santos was constantly reaching, blocking, and jabbing at balls that were nowhere near the intended target.
And while it’s true Bobby Parnell needs to develop his “secondary stuff”, that wasn’t the issue on this particular evening. He was missing by feet with his fastball. At some points, it appeared as though he was trying to aim the ball, and others, he needed to groove the ball over the heart of the plate after falling behind. Bad night all around.
The first inning was a killer for Parnell, and he could’ve gotten out of it if Anderson Hernandez had not muffed a routine DP grounder. But, AHern was likely on his heels because of all the balls being thrown and walks being given prior to that play. In addition, though you could say Parnell was “unlucky” because of that error, you could also say he was incredibly lucky that Dan Uggla chose not to focus in his first-inning at-bat with the bases loaded. Uggla had a horrendous plate appearance, swinging wildly at the first pitch he saw, which was a foot above the top of the strike zone, and the last pitch he breezed at, which bounced a good two feet in front of the plate. This came immediately after a four-pitch walk. Bad baseball by Uggla, but a break for Parnell.
Despite this and other bad outings, I like Parnell’s tools. His sinking fastball has good downward run and is nicely complemented by the hard 96+ MPH heater up in the zone. But he’s really raw, and needs time to polish up his game. At 25 years old, you’d hope he’d be further along, and I wonder if the decision to make him a one-inning reliever has stunted his development.
Tobi Stoner made his big league debut, and spun a scoreless sixth. I’m not sure he has MLB stuff — he telegraphs that curve and doesn’t have much on the fastball — but how can you not root for a guy who found his way here from Germany and really has no business at this level? Typically you don’t see a guy with his mediocre arsenal getting to the bigs after only 500 minor league innings. But his ability to stay healthy, get the job done, and take advantage of an incredibly poor minor league system has been rewarded with a Major League paycheck. He’s a survivor, and I hope he can find a way to stick around.
Jeff Francoeur and Angel Pagan both went 3-for-4. That was the extent of the excitement on offense.
Next Mets Game
The Mets begin a three-game series on Friday against the first-place Phillies. Nelson Figueroa faces Cole Hamels in a matchup of aces that begins at 7:10 PM.
Mets Game 139: Loss to Marlins
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.
Mets Game 138: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 4 Mets 2
Tim Redding is trending back to the mean.
Redding followed up two straight stellar, near-seven-inning starts with a more typical 5-inning, 100-pitch, four-run effort against the Fish. In other words, an average outing for the Rochester righthander.
Two two-run homers — one by Hanley Ramirez and the other by Cameron Maybin — were the death knell for Redding’s evening. The Mets were unable to respond to potato power, save for two runs scratched out in the fourth and fifth.
Notes
Angel Pagan belted his 9th triple of the season, which was nearly an inside-the-park quadruple. He has the second-most triples in the NL, despite only 254 at-bats. If Jose Reyes ever plays a full season at Citi Field, he might set a new record for triples.
Not a good night for David Wright. He went 0-for-4 with an error (his 14th) and two Ks, including a strikeout in a big spot with the bases loaded in the seventh.
It was a good night for Luis Castillo, who had three hits and an RBI.
The Marlins nearly had a fifth run, when Jeff Francoeur’s throw home bounced over Josh Thole, prompting Dan Uggla to race to the plate from third base. However, the ball was recoved quickly by Elmer Dessens — who technically was in the incorrect backup position — and Dessens was able to get the ball to Thole as Uggla slid in. It should also be noted that Dan Murphy was improperly positioned for Francoeur’s cutoff; that’s been an issue Murphy needs to address if his future will be at first base.
SNY gave us a “silent” sixth inning for reasons unknown. I might have enjoyed it if not for award-winning director Bill Webb, whose incessant camera switches made me nauseous. Are the attention spans of TV-viewing Mets fans really that short, that a new view needs to be shown every two seconds? Does Bill Webb really believe we are interested in seeing an ice cream vendor, a fan working a crossword, the back of Razor Shines’ head, a close-up of a Blackberry, and Jerry Manuel stroking his chin — all in the course of eight seconds? I have an idea: how about, for one inning, SNY sets the TV camera behind home plate and leaves it there? No camera switches to close-ups of Carlos Beltran’s mole or some kid eating cotton candy — just leave the camera in one spot, for one inning. If I want a silent inning, I’ll press mute. Give me something you don’t ordinarily offer, that may make the game experience more enjoyable.
Jerry Manuel mentioned Buddy Bell during the SNY postgame interview while describing Tim Redding’s performance. Then I realized he said “but he battled”, not “Buddy Bell”. I always liked Buddy Bell … he was a solid hitter who hit in the clutch and was an excellent defender at the hot corner. Not much of a manger, though. Ah, I digress … can you blame me, considering where the Mets stand right now?
Also in the postgame, Bobby Ojeda mentioned that he likes the way Josh Thole “sticks” pitches. In other words, he catches the ball when it’s a strike and holds it there. I like that too. It always drove me nuts to watch Ramon Castro try to “frame” every single pitch into the strike zone. All that does is annoy the umpire, and cause him to ignore the catcher’s glove completely. Hopefully Sandy Alomar, Jr., won’t be teaching Thole any similarly asinine “framing” “techniques”.
Though, I disagree completely with Ojeda’s assessment of John Maine’s delivery as “effortless”. We’ve discussed Maine’s terrible, damaging mechanical flaw before, and it is anything but effortless. (Note to Rex Gary: I’m available to work with your client this winter.)
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Marlins do it again at 7:10 PM on Wednesday night. Pat Misch will face Ricky Nolasco. Josh Thole will once again be behind the plate.
Mets Game 128: Win Over Marlins
Mets 10 Marlins 3
Wow … where did that come from?
Just when you thought the dilapidated Mets couldn’t buy a win, the offense erupts for ten runs and Tim Redding holds the Fish to three runs in six and two-third innings of admirable work. Read more
Mets Game 127: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 5 Mets 3
Late summer depression has set in: the days getting shorter, Mets games growing longer.
Somehow, this 2-hour and 40-minute contest felt more like 4-5 hours of Chinese water torture … don’t ask me why.
Mike Pelfrey squandered an early 2-0 lead, eventually allowing 5 runs on 11 hits and 5 walks in 5 2/3 innings, expending 118 pitches.
Josh Johnson scattered 9 hits over 6 innings to beat the Mets for the seventh time against no losses in his career. Former Met Matt Lindstrom threw another dominating innng in setup relief.
Notes
There was some talk in the postgame suggesting that Luis Castillo’s lack of execution on a few plays didn’t help Pelfrey (strangely, no mention of Dan Murphy not helping Castillo with a routine scoop on a low throw at the back end of a DP relay). Maybe Castillo’s poor night did compound a situation or two, but Pelfrey still allowed 16 baserunners through less than 6 innings.
Jerry Manuel thought Pelfrey “was OK”. Huh. Not the descriptor I would’ve used.
Manuel also suggested that had the Mets executed defensively, they would’ve had a better chance to win. No sh**, Sherlock? News flash to the Master of the Obvious: your team has had a problem executing defensively, and fundamentally, since you took over from Willie Randolph. It’s not a coincidence.
Though Murphy was awful in the field on this particular evening, he did collect two hits, including a double that moved Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen to compare him to Pete Rose and Wade Boggs. Stop. It. Now. This is the exact insanity at the this exact time last year that caused the Mets to pencil in Murphy as the team’s starting leftfielder in February. When Murph gets his average over .270 and his OBP to .320, we can start including him in sentences with everyday MLBers (though, still not HOFers).
Don’t get me wrong, I like Dan Murphy, I really do. But I find it obscenely offensive to compare him to people like Pete Rose and Wade Boggs at this point in his career — it’s an insult to my intelligence, and akin to comparing Omir Santos to Johnny Bench. Let’s see the kid achieve the level of “Major League Average Everyday Ballplayer” (or as the geeks say, “replacement level player“) before comparing him to Hall of Famers, OK?
Fernando Tatis paralleled the weather with a hot night, going 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored — moving Ron Darling to quip in the postgame, “Tatis is not part of the problem, he’s part of the solution”. Dear lord … if a 34-year-old .250 hitter is part of the solution, maybe I’ve misunderstood the problem.
On a positive note, Cory Sullivan made an awesome throw from left field to nail Dan Uggla attempting to stretch a single into a double. He made another impressive throw to home plate later in the game (though there was no play). See, I’m not completely negative.
Next Mets Game
The series finale begins at 1:10 PM on Thursday afternoon. Tim Redding goes against Anibal Sanchez.
Mets Game 126: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 2 Mess 1
After a whirlwind of news, moves, and another appearance by Mushmouth, the Mets game against the Marlins was something of a denouement. What the Mets needed was a deus ex machina.
(Why all the literary references? Why not? If the Mets can’t provide any entertainment, at least we can provide some education … the kiddies will be on their way back to school shortly, after all.)
Nelson Figueroa did a workmanlike, respectable job in the ace’s hole, allowing one earned run on four hits in five innings. About the best as could be expected, considering that he’d thrown 6 innings in the previous seven days and was sent to the mound on short notice. However, his best wasn’t good enough on this evening, as the Mets offense could muster only one run against the Fish.
Two key moments of the game: Dan Murphy’s two errors on one play in the fourth that led to the Marlins’ tying run, and the Mets’ inability to score any runs in the top of the fifth, despite loading the bases and having Jeff Francoeur at the plate with a 3-0 count. Francoeur eventually popped out, and Fernando Tatis followed with a strikeout to end the inning and the only semblance of a rally for the Mets on the evening.
Notes
Sean Green threw 50 pitches over two innings of scoreless relief; he allowed five baserunners but none crossed the plate.
Francoeur was the only Met to collect more hits than Nelson Figueroa.
Dan Murphy’s ten-game hitting streak came to an end; he was 0-for-4, seeing 10 pitches in his four plate appearances.
Former Met Matt Lindstrom made an appearance, striking out one and looking dominating with a 98-MPH fastball. Good thing the Mets traded that guy.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Marlins do it again at 7:10 PM on Wednesday night. Mike Pelfrey faces Josh Johnson in a battle of giants.
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