Searching for the Truth
June 21, 2009 at 5:15 am · Filed under First thoughts
Hate to lose a Santana start, especially when he pitches well.
Hate to miss a game on national TV, especially when I don’t have MLB Network right now and the ace is on the mound.
It was the type of baseball game I love, but I was with people I “love” more.
Either way, it’s clear this team is just trying to tread water until something happens. Whether that is Reyes coming back, Perez returning as a dominant force in the rotation or Minaya making a trade is still to be determined.
The schedule and rotation determines that Mike Pelfrey goes today in hopes of capturing a series for the first time in over a week. That’s important to me on Father’s Day.
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Now playing: Snicka Feat. Mary J Blige - Be Happy Snicka Remix
via FoxyTunes
June 19, 2009 at 9:39 pm · Filed under First thoughts
A good solid win, simple and plain.
Another quality start from Fernando Nieve. It’s still early, but we might have found a replacement until John Maine and/or Oliver Perez get healthy. Just like Livan, I’m not looking for Satchel Paige every time out, but six innings plus with less than three runs will get to the pen, which is another story…
With the injury to Putz and the revelation that Bobby Parnell and his 98 MPH fastball are actually human has put this pen into flux, to say the least.
Tonight, Parnell allowed two runners in the seventh, then Feliciano allowed a two-run double to allow Tampa to get close. Sean Green allowed runners in the eighth, but with two on, he struck out the next two to get out of the jam.
Frankie returned to Hollywood in the ninth and I almost forgot about Ryan Church’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to plate the extra run. Similar to David Wright’s double in the third to plate another run. It’s the ones like that that win ball games and get teams within two games of first.
This division is wide open right now. The Flithies are struggling because their lack of starting pitching is finally catching up to them. The Marlins will probably turn it on come August, but right now they are barely treading water. And I’m not even going to respect the Braves enough to finish…
This is our chance to jump up and get some right now. Which means the Saturday start by Johan on Fox Saturday baseball is a big one. It’s a game that I would really like to see us win for more than just the win. It would give us the series, it would put the pressure on the Flithies and with just 98 games left you can’t give away anything.
June 18, 2009 at 10:02 pm · Filed under First thoughts
Frankie finally blew one.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Just a shame it had to take place today with the Flithies getting swept by the Jays and a chance to move just two games back…
Nevertheless, couple of good things. Ryan Church with a big hit and Daniel Murphy with a clutch double to score a run late and give them the lead.
Shame to see David Wright struggle like he did, but he was also white-hot for about two weeks so there was eventually gonna be a cooling off period.
Another quality start from Livan, who reached the seventh inning and is giving nothing but innings from the bottom of the rotation…
I haven’t mentioned anything about Sammy Sosa cuz I’m still trying to formulate my thoughts, but I do know that I’m sick and tired of “leaked” information. It’s just annoying and that’s coming from a journalist.
I don’t fault them. I fault the lawyers that gave up the goods and I hope they all get disbarred and outcast from the profession. But something tells me that’s not gonna happen.
Something tells me that Fernando Nieve won’t pitch as well as he did last time out against the Yankees, but you never know and I can only hope for the best…
June 17, 2009 at 8:26 pm · Filed under First thoughts
I don’t like putting the blame on the manager for any one loss, not with 25 guys that are actually between the lines playing the game…
However…
This one, and I hope at least the beat writers beat on this point for the Thursday edition, should fall completely at the feet of Jerry Manuel.
Let me start by saying that he seems to have this team on his side and deals with the media well, both very important things when coaching in New York.
Howevr, he’s been harped on about being a bad game manager and tonight was proof positive.
The Mets were down 4-2 when they loaded the bases with one out. Alex Cora walked to force in a run and due up was rookie Fernando Martinez.
I don’t care what he’s done in the past game, past couple of weeks, none of that matters. With one out and the bases loaded, what’s the one thing that can kill a rally dead?
Martinez is a young hitter and he might have struck out in that spot, but with his speed it was gonna be tough to double him up. Plus, if he does K, Beltran is behind him in the lineup and you have one more shot.
Needless to say, Manuel turned to a different Fernando. Tatis, that is who promptly grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Now, you have killed your rally AND weakened your defense by putting a career infielder into left field, replacing a guy who if he’s up for anything it’s for speed and outfield defense.
All in all, it’s a crappy move. I’m sure you could argue that Tatis is better equipped to make contact or drive the ball to the outfield to plate at least one run, but he’s also prone to get doubled up. All in all, it was just a real stupid move and it backfired.
And with Scott Richmond (on my fantasy team, by the way) shutting down the Flithies, we squandered an opportunity to move within two games of the top of the division.
Now I’ve got to pin my hopes on Livan Hernandez (5-1, 4.33 ERA) to make sure we don’t lose our third straight series.
June 17, 2009 at 4:42 am · Filed under First thoughts
Did you know that David Wright is leading the league in hitting, batting about .360?
Did you also know that he’s adjusted his swing to aim towards the gaps due to the depth of Citi Field?
How about the fact that Fernando Martinez is likely gonna stay up with the big club for the rest of the year?
That would mean that between Martinez and Bobby Parnell, we’ve pretty much drained our minor league system of any big-league ready talent…
That’s a sad state, but I’ve got to hope that the lower levels are stacked. But then again, the majority of those players are a crap shoot anyway. Just like anyone that not in the big leagues…
As for the game, gotta love Frankie in the ninth, that Pelfrey (there’s another young prospect up and playing right now) was able to pick up a win despite not getting out of the sixth and with the Flithies loss to the Blue Jays, we’re only three games out…
But if you want to listen to reports that the sky is falling, be my guest.
Me, I’ll just hope that Tim Redding, who did go seven strong last time out, can outpitch the O’s Japanese import.
June 14, 2009 at 10:33 pm · Filed under First thoughts
Believe what you want to, but I tuned out of this game in about the fourth inning…
That was after Johan Santana proved to be mortal, or remembered that it wasn’t the second half of the season so he couldn’t spot his fastball well enough to set up the change…
It was 4-0 and the Mets, to their credit, came right back and loaded the bases against an erratic A.J. Burnett, who also couldn’t spot his fastball. Then Alex Cora got up and held his swing on a wicked slider, but the third base ump punched him out.
I screamed and my wife came to comfort me, but I knew that was the beginning of the end. Burnett remembered that his slider was absolutely disgusting today and used it to strike out Castillo, then Beltran lined out to short and the inning was over.
An inning where they should have scored at least once, if not twice, ended with another blank slate and I was done.
It reminded me what I wrote after Friday night’s game, that I can’t wait for the NFL season to begin if I’m gonna have to go through this for the rest of the summer…
I could look on the bright side - the fact that despite a 2-4 week against two of the best teams in all of baseball we’re only four games behind the Flithies, but there’s not much to hold onto there…
How about it’s another year of woulda, coulda, shoulda…We shoulda won two of three from the Flithies, we coulda taken two of three from the Yankess, we woulda been about a game out headed into an offday and a trip to Baltimore…
But that’s the problem, dealing every year with all these things that didn’t and don’t happen. And this just isn’t the past two seasons. You could go back to 2006, when they did win the NL East and went through the dramatics of that NLCS…
I could go back a decade to the Bobby Valentine years and missing the playoffs by a couple of games in 1998 by losing five straight to close the season including a three-game sweep in the ATL…
Wow, I had totally forgot that.
I’m gonna go to bed now, a little more sad that I really needed to be.
June 13, 2009 at 7:06 pm · Filed under First thoughts
This is the standard this season, huh?
They have a horrible loss, one that would decimate any other team, is washed away. David Wright has a couple of clutch hits, adding to his league-leading batting average. Gary Sheffield proves his bat speed is still there with a no-doubt blast…
And we ride three Fernando’s to a gut-check win in the Table Tennis field in the Bronx.
And if Johan Santana goes out tomorrow, like he is Johan Santana, and we pull out a victory over the Bombers…
Well, that would be a 3-3 split against the Flithies and the Yanks with a decimated roster. That would be a good sign since they’re headed for rougher waters and would be something for Mets fans nationwide to hold their head up high about…
Then again, if the Yanks pound Santana into the dirt like a punk, I;lll be left to cry myself to sleep.
June 12, 2009 at 9:22 pm · Filed under First thoughts
I thought I was bad after yesterday’s loss. Now I’m just sick to my stomach.
I sent out a text moments after watching the high (or low) lights on ESPN, the same one I’ll see replayed over and over on Fox for Saturday’s game and on TBS for Sunday’s game and mentioned in every columnists article in tomorrow’s papers across the Tri-State area and probably brought back up in a couple of weeks when they’re either close to the Phillies after this long stretch of tough games or when they’re 12 back after facing this gauntlet of a schedule…
It’s losses like this that make me want to forget about the baseball season entirely and just wait for NFL training camps to open up. That make me look forward to serving as a freelancer covering high school football games and tossing my Friday nights out the window for $75 a shot.
It’s pathetic and there’s very little that can be said. Frankie did his job, the team did their job and David Wright, who’s batting over .360 right now by the way, came through in a clutch situation against one of the best closers in the game, in a tight spot like the same one Met fans like myself have been critiquing him about for the past two seasons…
Note: Mo Riveria is the greatest closer of all time, but right now in 2009 he’s just one of the best. No longer the hands down best and there’s really no argument about this.
As for the ninth, you had to know that Derek Jeter would get a hit. That was without question cuz that’s what he does against us. But the intentional walk to Tex was surprising. Then again, all the hate all you Yankee fans have for A-Rod only helped any Met fans resolve about the final outcome.
See, if Castillo catches the ball, the columns would remind the reader how much of a choke A-Rod is in big games and how the Yankees are slipping right now. They might have even remembered that Joba didn’t make it to the fifth inning on a night when the bullpen really needed a rest.
Instead, they’ll all write about how the Mets are finding new ways to lose and with Fernando Nieve on the mound, on national television no less, how Omar needs to go and find a new starter. How this team was horribly made up and what is this guy doing on the mound in such a pressure situation.
I’m sure someone will mention how they needed rookies like Johnathon Niese and Brandon Knight down the stretch last year and what’s the problem with the team’s minor leagues that the best they could come up with is a former relief pitcher they picked up for nothing after the Astros decided they didn’t need him to help them be four games under .500…
I don’t even know if I’ll try to make the time to watch tomorrow’s game after this. And even as I type this, I know I’ll be looking for an empty TV set around 4 p.m. because I love the pain.
Maybe my wife should find a paddle and one of those straps with the ball for my mouth.
June 11, 2009 at 10:23 pm · Filed under First thoughts
I’m just disappointed right now.
Mets found a way to lose. In extra innings, no doubt. Even with Tim Redding going seven strong innings no less…
Then I stayed up and instead of reading my library book, The Watchmen, I watched the Magic figure out a way to give up another game and end the NBA Finals with another overtime loss.
At least I can hang my happy hat on the fact that today, I used a company vehicle to complete a task that was just for me…
So maybe this was my punishment. Maybe I had to suffer, that the worry the rest of the trip about me losing my job wasn’t enough.
Life sucks that way and something tells me that the Yankees are gonna make life suck for John Maine in that matchbox of a stadium in the Bronx.
June 10, 2009 at 9:41 pm · Filed under First thoughts
First and foremost, what a game…
I really felt I could start again with that, especially since I feel about the opposite. They managed to leave 15 men on base, including 88 in the final four innings.
OK, it felt like 88 but it was just eight.
Painful to listen to, but I did.
And now I’m tired. And scared I have to depend on Tim Redding in the rubber game of this series.
Tim Redding. Jeez…
June 9, 2009 at 9:14 pm · Filed under First thoughts
First and foremost, what a game.
I was lucky enough to get a clear signal on my XM and listened to a large majority of it and all I can say is, what a game.
The scary thing is the amount of runs the Mets left on the board. Ryan Church failed to bring home a runner from third with one out. There were others who had similar at-bats and it took a RBI double from Johan Santana to put them back up…
Granted, that was after Santana had given up a couple of home runs to give up the lead, the killer was a two-run bomb by Jimmy Rollins.
There were seven home runs in the game, a new Citi Field record. What that really says is when you pull the ball, you can hit it out. It’s the gappers that will hold. what that says about Church’s homer in the seventh, I’ll soon see on Baseball Tonight…
After I put Naomi down…
And now, I’ve sat down in front of a Magic lead in the fourth quarter of game three, so I’ll leave it with this - In this series, we have to win at least two of the three games.
One down, Pelfrey has to pitch better today and we’ll go from there.
June 7, 2009 at 5:44 pm · Filed under First thoughts
So the Mets end a 12-game run against the “lower end” of the National League with a 7-5 record. After winning 5-of-6 at home, the Pirates swept them at PNC and they took 2-of-3 from the gNats…
Speaking of which, with a 5-1 record and a 3.88 ERA to date with 67 innings pitched in the No. 5 hole, how great of a signing for next to nothing was Livan Hernandez? He’s not the next coming of Tom Terrific (Mr. Seaver to the rest of you) but he’s doing nothing but getting the job done and providing innings, especially when he’s against the “lower end”…
They socred five in the first against the immortal John Stammen and just held on. Could have increased the lead a couple of times, but what’s done is done and now they get an off-day before the mid-season stretch that will likely determine how much of a player Omar will need to be before the trade deadline.
The biggest thing is not the Subway Series. In fact, I think with that Wiffle Ball Bronx home, it means even less. No, the biggest series to date will start Tuesday when Johan Santana defends the Citi against JA Happ (4-0, 2.66 ERA). The 26-year old has pitched well, but this is a must-win for the Boys in Blue and Orange.
On Wednesday night, everybody’s All-American soft tosser Cole Hamels will face Mike Pelfrey, who was lit up like a Christmas tree last time out. Before that, he was throwing lights out.
The series finale will pit the ageless Jamie Moyer, who we’ve seen twice and tagged for a total of 12 runs in 12 innings, against the great Tim Redding, who can’t be expected to last through the fifth inning as far as I’m concerned…
Sad to say, but we really could have used Oli here. He usually picked up his game when the spotlight was turned on.
Then at the Broxn, then to Camden Yards and back home to face the AL champion Rays. Maybe they’ll throw Kazmir and we Met fans can all imagine what he would have looked like wearing white.
St. Louis, Yankees again, to Brewersville for three before facing the Flithies again, then the Dodgers come to their home away from home and Cincinati to close out the first half of the season.
While it could be argued that we don’t need starting pitching, I don’t know where you put another bat in the lineup. I mean, I know you would likely send Church to whoever to clear a corner outfield spot but what does that do to Gary Sheffield’s playing time?
I know, I know, I’m leaving out first base as an open trade option for a bat but that’s because it just doesn’t make sense. You leave Murphy there for two reasons: 1) to see if the kid can hit and field at this position for next year and B) what do you do if you trade for Nick Johnson and Delgado returns in the final two months of the season? With Murphy, at least, you could sit him down, platoon him or send him down. Now you can’t do that with an Aubrey Huff, can you?
OK, since we started this with a schedule discussion, let’s close it with a similar one. The looks of the cooks is that this roster will be loaded for August and September with all the healthy bodies back and don’t let Billy Wagner come around for the final 45 games…
Imagine this: John Maine struggles early, but grits his way through 5.2 innings against the Flithies on Friday, Sept. 11. (Just a date I picked at random). Pedro Feliciano comes on to strike out Ryan Howard to get out of the sixth and there’s nine outs left. Jerry Manuel thinks “Do I go with Bobby Parnell now or use Wagner for this frame, then Parnell and then Frankie?”
It’s something to rest happily on, Mets fans, I can say that with pride. I just hope it’s a decision made with the team still in contention.
June 6, 2009 at 9:02 pm · Filed under First thoughts
I just don’t know what to say.
I was eating dinner and didn’t get to my XM and when I did, the score was already 7-0.
I checked out GameCast and saw they hit into four double plays in the first five innings. That’s call a rally killer folks, no need for any funny words to add to the facts…
So, what else is in the news?
Red Wings are up 3-2 after blowing out the Pens before a packed house and 17 people watching at home.
Thanks to the Dodgers, we’re only three games back of the first-place Flithies, who head to Shea to start next week and will see a rested Johan Santana on the hill. Can’t wait for that…
I’m watching one of the final episodes of Pushing Daises, a great show that was asked to put up great ratings. I really don’t know what it was losing to, but clearly intelligence isn’t important on network TV…
I’ve got to hope that the Magic show up tomorrow night against the Lakers. They can’t go to Orlando down 2-0 and expect to head back to LA, yet alone head back up 3-2…
OK, I’m gonna watch “The Wrestler” now, with hopes that Livan Hernandez gives another come from nowhere performance like Mickey Rourke supposedly did.
June 5, 2009 at 10:01 pm · Filed under First thoughts
I just knew that Tim Redding would pick it up against his old team.
I just knew that this team would find ways to put numerous runners on base, most in scoring position and only score one run early on a groundout by Fernando Tatis.
But good to see Wright win the game, especially after a couple of balls dropped in for a very productive 4-for-5 evening and any blast to right center field usually means he’s seeing the ball and being patient at the plate.
OK, I don’t have much more and the dose of NyQuil (see Walmart version) is starting to kick in. I was happy to see that the rainout forces Santan to get an early start against them and still have something for the Yankees in that band box next weekend.
If I’ve got it right, he’ll pitch the first game against the Flithies next week and the finale in the Bronx.
Needless to say, John Maine goes tonight and has been pitching well as of late. let’s hope that trend continues…
June 4, 2009 at 9:35 pm · Filed under First thoughts
It’s raining frogs.
It’s raining frogs.
What can I say? Back to you.
I could change that to…
Mets get blown out.
Magic get blown out.
What can I say? Back to you.
It would be even better if I complained about no flying cars, but wha to think about when I’ve got little to deal with on this day, the day of your daughter’s first funeral or wedding.
OK, what can I really say? I missed this game outright. I was watching the NBA Finals and the Magic were up, I turned away and when I came back they were down. Each time I went back to the game, they trailed by more.
At least Jameer Nelson came back and played well. I wish I could say the same about a lot of other things…
I wish I didn’t have to look to Tim Redding to stop the bleeding. Jeez, at least he should have some motivation going against his former mates.
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