Mets Today

Cardinals 8 Mets 7

Win. Lose. Win. Lose. Win. Lose. The pattern continues …

This game was dramatic, full of emotional highs and lows. Pedro Martinez was pelted early, but hung in there for five innings, and just when it seemed like the Mets were “calling it in”, they came back to tie the game. Then they were tied. Then they went ahead. Then they were tied.

And then, in true Vince Lombardi fashion, the Mets didn’t really lose the game — they simply ran out of time.

That’s not entirely true, actually. In truth, the Mets lost this game several times, and even after going ahead 7-5, it “felt” like they were about to relinquish the lead again. And they did. Quickly.

Pedro was once again awful. We don’t know if he was tipping pitches (as he claimed in his last start) or was simply ineffective. But the bottom line was, he gave up four runs in the first inning to put the Mets into a deep hole right away.

But the Mets found a way back, buoyed perhaps by a 45-minute rain delay that seemed to wipe the slate clean. They scored three runs in the third on a two-run double by Carlos Beltran and a single by Damion Easley, then tied the game the next inning when a Jose Reyes triple was followed by an Endy Chavez sac fly. The Cardinals, however, battled back themselves, untying things in the fifth on a solo homer by Rick Ankiel. Pedro was removed after that frame, and Joe Smith kept St. Louis scoreless in the sixth.

In the seventh, the Mets jumped all over Mark Mulder in his second career relief appearance, exploding for three runs via every way imaginable — walks, singles, hit by pitches, sacrifice flies, you name it. But still, the two-run lead felt kind of … fragile.

So when the Cardinals came back with two runs of their own in the eighth, it wasn’t much of a surprise. Remarkably, Aaron Heilman held them in the seventh, but was brought out to start the 8th and began the frame by plunking Ryan Ludwick. Pedro Feliciano came on in relief and promptly gave up a two-run homer to pinch-hitter Chris Duncan to once again tie the game. At that point, it was clear that this game would not be a storybook ending for the Mets — it was only a matter of time before they found a way to lose it.

And lose it they did indeed in the ninth — nearly twice, in fact. With Carlos Muniz on the mound, Ankiel very nearly hit his second homerun of the game, blasting a fly to centerfield that dropped just inches from the fence. However, Troy Glaus — who had hit a three-run bomb in the first frame — DID hit his second homer of the game, having the sense to send his fly to the shorter porch in left field to win the game for the Redbirds.

Sigh.

Notes

The Mets wasted 3-for-4 days by both David Wright and Damion Easley. Easley drove in three runs and Wright scored two. Jose Reyes also had three hits, though in five ABs, and Ryan Church went 2-for-5.

Wright, by the way, is 24-for-58 (.414) in his last 16 games, and is creeping toward .300 for the season.

Carlos Muniz was unceremoniously optioned back to New Orleans immediately after the game. While I admit I clamored for his promotion, he did absolutely nothing to prove he could be effective in an impactful role at this point in time. Too bad, as the Mets could really use a 7th / 8th inning guy right now. My guess is Muniz’s issue is more to do with confidence than anything else, because his stuff isn’t all that bad.

No word yet on who will replace Muniz on the roster. Nelson Figueroa?

Next Game

The final game of this four-game set takes place at 8:15 pm EST, with Mike Pelfrey going to the mound against rookie Mitchell Boggs, who is 3-0. If the Mets follow their current pattern, they should win the game. Win one, lose one, etc., etc.

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Mets First Half Analysis: The Good The Bad, and The Ugly

I’m a game or two late on this, but herewith my synopsis of the first half of the Mets’ 2008 season. Individual analyses will come over the All-Star break, when news tends to be slow and we as rabid Mets fans will be chomping at the bit for any kind of information NOT related to the last season in Yankee Stadium.

The Good (il buono)

Tough to find the good here. Ryan Church had a remarkable start to the season, then was felled by a concussion. Billy Wagner is having an outstanding season statistically, but has already blown five saves. David Wright is on pace to drive in almost 130 runs, but is not hitting nearly as well as we expected (amazing, isn’t it?). The overall “good” is that this season is not yet lost, and is looking like it could possibly be a repeat of 1973, when the Mets won the NL East with an 82-80 record.

The Bad (il brutto)

Carlos Delgado is having the worst season of his career, and on most nights drags the team down — at the plate, in the field, on the basepaths, and with his attitude. Aaron Heilman has been terrible when summoned into games with runners on base. Johan Santana has a .500 record. John Maine and Oliver Perez have been wildly inconsistent. Moises Alou and Orlando Hernandez have been MIA most of the season (as in, Missing In Action and/or in Miami — no one’s certain). Pedro Martinez has been awful. The fifth starter has been a revolving door of ineptitude.The defense has made 57 errors. The pitching staff is leading the league in hit batsmen and is third in wild pitches.

The Ugly (il cattivo)

In classic Robert Irsay fashion, the Mets fired Willie Randolph just before 3 am EST to keep the news out of the New York tabloids. Eventually, we found out the firing was the culmination of a two-year project by pit bull Tony Bernazard, who undermined the former manager at every turn. The Mets’ front office has shown weak leadership, poor planning, and little class in personnel decisions and public displays. The farm system other than Fernando Martinez is devoid of anything resembling a bonafide prospect. With Randolph gone, GM Omar Minaya is next on the chopping block. The Mets as an organization appears to be going backward, yet ticket prices went up 25% and promise to increase again with the move into Citi Field. Need I go on?

Conclusion

Despite all the turmoil and an under-.500 record, the Mets by some small miracle find themselves in the thick of the pennant race. No matter how poorly they play, they remain in the fight while the rest of the NL East swims just above or below mediocrity. If the Mets can simply stay around .500 through the next two months, there’s a very real possibility they can take the division by stealing a page from the 2007 Phillies’ play book and getting hot in September.

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Mets 7 Cardinals 4

Since the .500 Mets lost the first game in their series against the Cardinals, they were bound to win the second. It’s the little things that make us happy these days — things like counting on your team to pull out a win half the time.

Newly promoted Tony Armas Jr. was less than spectacular, but kept the Mets in the game long enough to earn a win. Armas pitched six innings — two more than John Maine did the night before — and allowed 4 runs on 8 hits and only 1 walk, striking out three.

Meantime, the Mets offense woke up after a short slumber, coming back from a 3-1 deficit by scoring six runs over the three middle innings against starter Todd Wellemeyer and reliever Brad Thompson.

Red-hot David Wright led the way with a 3-for-4 day including a solo homer, scoring twice and driving in one, and Ramon Castro drove in three runs on a double and a single. Ryan Church and Damion Easley also drove in runs, and Carlos Delgado went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored.

The bullpen was nearly perfect, as Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez, and Billy Wagner combined to allow one hit and no runs over the final three innings. Wagner notched his 19th save in finishing the game.

Notes

Endy Chavez remained hot, getting two hits for the third straight game. He hit in the second spot while Luis Castillo rested his legs in favor of Damion Easley.

Despite Delgado’s 3-for-3 day, he’s still hitting only .236. Talk about trying to climb out of a hole. At least he’s hitting the garbage pitchers. If he can continue to perform against the fourth and fifth starters and mop up relievers of the world, he should provide almost enough offense to overcome his iron glove and lead feet.

Jose Reyes was thrown out attempting to steal for the ninth time this season.

Fernando Tatis was once again inserted at first base as a late-inning “defensive replacement”. Scary, considering he’s appeared in only 10 pro games at the position.

Next Game

Pedro Martinez goes against Joel Pineiro in a EST start. Was a time when a Mets fan felt very good about a Pedro vs. Pineiro matchup. These days, though, it’s more of an uneasy feeling. Let’s hope Pedro’s recent struggles really were due to tipping pitches, and further, let’s hope he can keep from doing so in Wednesday’s game.

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Cardinals 7 Mets 1

Win one, lose one. Win one, lose one. This, my friends, is the pattern of a .500 team.

After splitting a four-game series with the Yankees, the Mets dropped the opener of another four-game set to the Cardinals in St. Louis.

John Maine was just awful, allowing five runs — three earned — on 7 hits and 3 walks in only 4 innings. Yes, two of those runs were unearned, but he pitched only four frames! One day after seeing Oliver Perez make a transformation for the better, the generally reliable John Maine seemed to make one for the worse.

The bullpen wasn’t much better. Carlos Muniz had another ineffective outing, giving up a two-run homer to Chris Duncan in his two innings of work. Scott Schoeneweis allowed three baserunners in his one frame, yet somehow managed to escape unscathed. Aaron Heilman was the final reliever for the Mets, and he also struggled through a scoreless inning. So much for the young starters pitching deeper into games and the relievers having specific roles, eh? Maybe Willie Randolph was smart to keep his mouth shut about such brilliant ideas.

Meantime, the offense was paralyzed by Kyle “Koufax” Lohse, who allowed just one unearned run in 7 innings. Ron Villone — a guy who I once took deep in high school (and therefore tells you more about his age than his ability) — pitched a scoreless eighth and Mark Mulder tossed a scoreless ninth in the first relief appearance of his career. It was also the first time Mulder appeared in a MLB game since Bill Clinton was President. OK, maybe not that long.

The only run scored by the Mets came in the fifth, when Andy Phillips rapped a single pinch-hitting for Maine, raced to third on a single by Luis Castillo, and scored when Rick Ankiel thought he was on the mound again and air-mailed an unnecessary throw over the third baseman’s head.

Notes

This was the fourth time this season that John Maine went only four innings. And we thought Oliver Perez was the guy we needed to worry about. Here’s an interesting fact: while Perez has pitched less than two innings twice this year, he otherwise has always pitched more than four.

Andy Phillips was DFA’d after the game to make room for Tony Armas, Jr., who will start tomorrow’s game vs. Todd Wellemeyer. Glad the Mets came to their senses about Phillips, who was redundant with Fernando Tatis around. Also about time they came to their senses about Armas, who had a 2.50 ERA in the PCL — a notorious hitter’s league.

Endy Chavez had another two hits, the only Met with more than one. Ryan Church, Carlos Beltran, and Castillo all went 1-for-3. That was the extent of the excitement.

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Mets 3 Yankees 1

If only we could get Dr. Perez show up more often than Mr. Hyde.

Oliver Perez was masterful, tossing seven innings of three-hit ball, walking none, striking out 8, and allowing just one run. He couldn’t have been any better, and was the pitcher we saw only one other time in his last seven starts. Ollie got into a rhythm early and totally dominated the vaunted Bronx Bombers lineup.

And it was a good thing, too, because the Mets offense was unable to plate runs despite piling people on the basepaths. The Mets collected 12 hits and 3 walks, but scored only three runs. One came on a bases-loaded infield hit by Luis Castillo, another on a solo homer by Carlos Delgado, and the last on a sacrifice fly by David Wright. It wasn’t like the Yankees had great pitching, either. Darrel Rasner struggled through most of his five innings of work, and reliever David Robertson was far from impressive in his two frames.

Notes

The Mets finish the first half of their season 40-41. Interestingly, although they are one game under .500, and the first-place Phillies are five games over .500, the two teams are closer than their records would indicate — because the Mets have only two more losses than the Phillies’ 39.

Who the heck was this particular Perez today? He was pitching like a man possessed, a fearless, nasty S-O-B going right after Alex Rodriguez with 96 MPH heat on the hands. It wasn’t just the velocity, but the ferocity on his face and the confidence that was oozing from every inch of his body. I would love to see more of this psychopath against teams other than the Yankees. Can we safely surmise that Ollie is a guy who gets “up” for certain teams / special games? If he could drop everything from his mind and focus on being a madman against everyone, he’d be a 20-game winner, easy. In fact I would take a focused and intimidating Perez over Johan Santana most days of the week. He was downright scary.

Endy Chavez was 3-for-4 starting in left field. Ryan Church, in his first game back from the DL, picked up where he left off, going 2-for-4. Castillo had three hits and Jose Reyes two.

Billy Wagner made us all toss Tums down our throats en route to his 18th save of the year. Wagner allowed a leadoff single to Derek Jeter, move him to second on a wild pitch, then gave up an A-bomb to A-Rod which luckily fell just short of the left field fence and safely into the glove of Chavez. However, Wagns then settled down to retire Jorge Posada on a popup and struck out Wilson Betemit to end the game.

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Yankees 3 Mets 2

For the third straight time, Johan Santana has lost with Jerry Manuel as his manager.

It’s probably just a coincidence, but Santana has yet to win under the new leadership. The latest was a bit of a heartbreaker, as Johan didn’t pitch all that bad. Not great, not a Cy Young performance, but not that bad.

Unfortunately, Andy Pettitte was better.

The Mets could muster only five hits and two earned runs in Pettitte’s six innings, and had only one baserunner after he exited. Two solo homers — one by Ramon Castro, the other by David Wright — was the sum total of their offensive production.

Santana went six innings, walked an unusual 4 batters, allowed 4 hits, and struck out 8. But, he gave up three earned runs and that was the difference in the ballgame.

Notes

Wright and Damion Easley were the only Mets to draw walks in the game; Easley had two.

Andy Phillips started in left field. I’m not sure what else to say about that, except, you know your team is in deep doo-doo when Andy Phillips is your starting left fielder. I’m still trying to figure out that pickup, and drawing blanks. It’s on par with the “well we couldn’t sign Carlos Delgado so let’s trade for Doug Mientkiewicz to play first base.

Next Game

If the Mets lose on Sunday, it would be akin to a sweep since all three games were at Shea Stadium. Oliver Perez (or Mr. Hyde) goes against Darrell Rasner in a 1:10 pm start.

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Yankees 9 Mets 0

Talk about a day of opposites.

Hours after the Mets embarrassed the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, the Yanks spanked the Mets in Shea. Even steven.

Strangely enough, each team scored 15 runs by the end of the day. Go figure.

Pedro Martinez was awful, allowing 6 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks in 5 2/3 innings. Scott Schoeneweis didn’t do much to help the situation, giving up another three in his two-third of an inning. However, it didn’t matter, because whatever the Mets hitters were doing in the first game, they didn’t do it in the nightcap, managing only 6 hits — though they did draw 6 walks.

Notes

David Wright remained hot, going 2-for-4. Carlos Delgado did not, going 0-for-2, but he did walk twice. Jose Reyes was the only other Met with two hits, and Carlos Beltran hit a double.

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Mets 15 Yankees 6

Wow. Where to start?

Carlos “MetsToday Can Kiss My Butt” Delgado virtually doubled his run production for the month of June in one day, driving in a club-record 9 runs on three hits, including a double, a three-run homer, and a grand slam. That was more than the Mets would need, but David Wright and Carlos Beltran combined for another 6 RBI. Beltran scored four runs and Luis Castillo crossed the plate five times.

The lengthy lead was helpful to Mike Pelfrey, who struggled in nearly all of his five innings, allowing 8 hits, 4 walks, 4 earned runs and striking out 5. Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and Carlos Muniz finished up the last four innings.

Notes

Wright was 4-for-5, all singles. Beltran also hit a homerun, his 12th of the year.

Heilman was the only pitcher on either team who did not give up a run; he worked one inning.

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Yesterday I caught wind of changes blowing in Shea, and wrote about it on MetsBlog. Already some of the moves have occurred, but I have to say I’m scratching my head.

For example, the DFA of Claudio Vargas. Yes, we found out why the Brewers let him go — he’s an eternal enigma, a guy with good stuff who may never get it together. However, he’s not on the Oliver Perez level, and in fact outpitched Ollie. Before sending him packing, you’d think Perez would get moved to the long man role and Vargas given a shot to start in his spot. In the four games he started, Vargas pitched into the seventh twice, once into the sixth, and the other only five. He wasn’t great, but he put up fairly solid numbers for a #5 guy.

Instead of flipping Vargas and Perez, Vargas has been DFA’d and Carlos Muniz has been recalled. I do like the move in that I’m assuming Muniz will be given the opportunity to take over the old Aaron Heilman role of 7th inning fireman. I’d like it even more if Heilman were moved into the long man role, with an eye toward pushing him back into the rotation eventually — even if eventually means 2009. It’s clear that Heilman is a much better pitcher when he starts “clean” innings (in other words, no inherited runners).

The second strange move was the acquisition of Andy Phillips, once the fourth-string first baseman for the Yankees (back when the Mets kept 5-6 second basemen on their roster, the Yankees did likewise with first sackers). Phillips doesn’t hit much for average, doesn’t have much power, isn’t too swift on the bases, and, ironically, hits righties better than lefties. What he has going for him is a good glove and versatility — he can play 1B, 3B, and 2B in a pinch. In other words, he’s a lighter-hitting version of Fernando Tatis.

The Phillips move wouldn’t bother me so much except I get the very bad feeling that his presence means the jettison of Trot Nixon — as Ryan Church will be returning this weekend and the Mets don’t need all these lefthanded-hitting outfielders. Now I realize Nixon hasn’t set the world on fire offensively, but he’s only had 27 at-bats and has been an absolute “charlie hustle” all over the field. If you’re going to bring in someone with some swat, OK, I don’t have a problem releasing Nixon. But Andy Phillips? Please. I’ll take Trot’s hardnosed play and all-out hustle over Phillips’s “good glove” any day of the week. The Mets have needed a guy like Nixon to show them how to win for some time, and I think it’s too early to cut bait with him. Let his hustle rub off on some guys first.

But, the writing is on the wall, if the start of Marlon Anderson last night is any indication. I love Marlon and HIS hustle, but his overly aggressive approach at the plate (3 walks in 86 ABs) is disconcerting — particularly for a guy at the Mendoza Line. Nixon has almost twice as many walks in only 25 at-bats. It’s these little things that can make a big difference. And no I’m not campaigning to cut Marlon instead … rather, I’d like to see both Anderson and Nixon stay on the roster for another week or so. The lefty-righty thing means nothing to me — especially when you’re bringing in Phillips, who as a righty is no better against lefties than any LH hitter. You want to cut a lefthanded hitter? Consider the cement-footed guy lumbering around first base. Institute a platoon of Marlon Anderson and Fernando Tatis at first and give Nixon a shot at left field.

Perhaps more confounding is the Mets’ continuing to ignore Val Pascucci, who has a 1.000 OPS in AAA, and Tony Armas, whose 2.50 ERA is a miracle in the PCL. Pascucci might have holes in his swing, and an iron glove, but he might also give the Mets a mild boost. We won’t know until he’s given a fair shot. Again, Andy Phillips instead of this guy? I don’t get it.

More moves had better be on the way. Andy Phillips ain’t exactly what I’d been looking for when I asked Omar Minaya to be “creative”. Get me Nelson Cruz, who is hitting .357 with 23 homers in 250 at-bats, a .437 OBP, and .714 SLG in AAA. Offer the Rangers Claudio Vargas, who can step right in to their starting rotation. Then I’ll feel like the Mets are trying to do something, rather than just spinning their wheels.

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Mets 8 Mariners 2

I’ll take another serving of that, thank you …

The Mets broke out for eight runs on only five hits — which to some might seem unusual. To me, and likely to you, the intelligent Mets fan, it makes perfect sense. For once, the Mets were patient, forcing a mediocre pitcher to put the ball over the plate. Novelist Miguel Batista could not do that consistently, walking five batters in 2 2/3 innings. It all began with Jose Reyes, who finally did his job as a leadoff hitter and worked the count in the first at-bat of the game. That six-pitch sequence, which culminated in Reyes strolling down to first base, set the tone for the game. Every batter afterward followed his cue and sat back, waiting for Batista to prove he could toss at least two strikes in a single at-bat.

That formula worked perfectly for David Wright, who hit a first-inning solo homer to put the Mets ahead 2-0, then slammed a two-run shot in the second to make it 4-0. After that second dinger, we wondered if he might hit nine before the night was over.

The offense continued to pile on the runs in the third frame, taking advantage of more free passes and defensive miscues to double the lead to 8-0. From there on it was up to John Maine to hold it up, and he breezed through six innings of five-hit ball, allowing two earned runs on the way to his eighth win of the season.

Notes

In addition to Wright’s two homers and three RBI, Reyes popped a three-run homer of his own. The other two runs were driven in by Luis Castillo and Marlon Anderson.

Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, and Duaner Sanchez pitched the last three scoreless frames, allowing only one hit and two walks.

I attended the game at Shea as a guest of SNY — watched from their suite, in fact. Pretty cool, I have to say. Many thanks to Joe Pospisil for hosting me.

Here are some photos from my evening:

[Show as slideshow]

Next Game

The Mets have a day off and then host the crosstown Yankees for a four-game set, beginning with a day/night doubleheader. It should be an interesting litmus test for the born-again Mets. Pedro Martinez goes against Dan Giese in the opener at 2:05 pm, and Mike Pelfrey is scheduled to go against Darrel Rasner in the nightcap. Unfortunately I’m heading up to Cape Cod to hang out with the Hit Man, so the postgame recaps may come later than usual.

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