The "Wright" stuff

Looks like wright may be clawing his way out of slump. Last two games have looked pretty solid.

In response to an earlier comment by fredo, i can always revert to my usual modest screen name of "good2Bme". Now go get your shinebox!

Another start for Perez, more time off for Pedro, Floyd back soon

From Mets.com:

Rotation set: Randolph determined his rotation for the next five days and confirmed that both Dave Williams and Oliver Perez would get starts again. Randolph also said that Tom Glavine will most likely make the start in Friday's game against the Astros in Houston.

Williams, who will make his third start with the Mets on Wednesday, won in the Mets' 6-2 victory against the Cardinals on Thursday. The 27-year-old lefty allowed seven hits and two earned runs with one walk and four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

Perez, who will pitch on Thursday in Colorado, gets his second start since being recalled last week from the Minors. The 6-foot-3 left-hander had a no-decision in the Mets' 11-5 comeback win over the Phillies on Saturday. Perez had a no-hitter for 4 1/3 innings before allowing two hits and five runs -- four of which came on a grand slam by Ryan Howard.

If the announced schedule holds, Orlando Hernandez won't start again until Saturday at the earliest. Hernandez hasn't pitched since his 2-0 win against the Rockies at home on Aug. 20 in which he threw six scoreless innings of five-hit ball.

El Duque threw long toss on Sunday and did so again on Monday for about 30 minutes. He'll throw more long toss and some bullpen sessions in Colorado and Houston before Randolph makes a decision when to start the 36-year-old righty.

"We just want him to get as much rest as he needs," said Randolph, who reiterated Hernandez has no serious physical problems. "We'll see how he is over the next few days and let him get acclimated to pitching again. We'd be rushing him if we did it any sooner."

The return of Floyd: After saying he planned make a rehab appearance for Class A St. Luice on Monday, Cliff Floyd decided to make his return Tuesday. He is still expected to fly out to Colorado or Houston sometime later this week. The Mets announced that Floyd's left Achilles' tendon is well enough for him to return to the club, and he is expected to be back when the rosters expand on Sept. 1.

Also, Pedro is apparently just being rested at this point. He's going to Florida for some "rehab" and will come back for 3 to 4 big-league starts as prep for the playoffs.

My Maine Man

Another day, another solid outing for Maine. Guy looks to be legit.

It's been a long time since I've seen the Mets (or any team) have this many players batting this well. Between Reyes, Lo Duca, Beltran, Delgado, Chavez, and now possibly Green, that's a lot of tough outs in the lineup. Once Wright shakes out it will be scary. Let's hope it carries into post-season and doesn't dry up.

Friday's notes

Delgado's officially on a tear. He has 6 HR's in his last 7 games.

Dave Williams chipped in solid innings for his second straight start. He's not part of the future, and probably won't be on the post-season roster, but he's evidence of how Omar's little moves at the margins, the kind that go unnoticed by the papers, bear fruit over the course of a long season. When we acquired him early in the season he was viewed as just spare parts. But now, with Duque, Pedro, and Glavine all missing starts, AAA starters have to fill the void and save the bullpen from getting taxed. Williams has filled in admirably. Unlike Lima-time, which costs you the game and puts your pen behind the 8-ball for a week, this guy has pitched well enough to stake the Mets to leads. If not for his leg cramps, hewould have pitched deep into both starts.

Brian Bannister starts tonight. It's the final step in the long road back from his April injury. I loved the kid's guts and his success when he was up here early in the year. After the injury, he had to rehab his leg in Florida in virtual solitude, and watch the spot in the rotation he'd waited for his whole life for go to someone else. There was the setback of his aborted AAA rehab start when it became clear the injury was serious, and the thoughts of "will I ever be the same" must have been creeping in. The nerve in his leg apparently still kicks off pain, but he fought through it, had a bunch of minor league rehab starts over the past 3-4 weeks, and has shown consistent improvement. Now he's getting his shot with the big club again.

Bannister always refers to this season as his "rookie year" in the papers, which is hard to agree with since he'll probably qualify as a rookie again next year, given his limited number of '06 appearances. But still, he's had his (would be) rookie season robbed from him and showed tremendous resiliency. I hope Mets fans give him a warm welcome tonight.

I'd love to see this guy coach T.O.

I know it's a different sport, but still, you've got to love this quote:

"I don't want to blame anyone except myself. I was the one who trusted some players but they didn't execute well and didn't play well."

Lithuanian Coach Antanas Sirieka, after Turkey's 76-74 victory over Lithuania

Hat tip: Duke Basketball Report

A Great Day

Talk about a day that the Mets can remember if things go well in October:

1) Glavine will be back, and only miss one start.

2) Shawn Green's coming to Flushing, and they only had to give up one prospect to get him (Evan MacLane). I've heard MacLane's name before, but never in the "blue-chip prospect" category, so this looks like a no-brainer for a team that's got a chance to win now.

[just checked the AAA #"s for MacLane this year: 9-8, 3.86, 1.41 WHIP, .285 BAA, 67 K, 35 BB, 121.1 IP. His bio: 23 year old lefty]

3) Delgado goes yard 2x for his 400th career HR, and he looks to be back.

4) Mets give the suppossed "other" best team in the NL a crushing loss with a Beltran walk-off homer, and get in their heads a bit before we face them in the post-season.

Up and coming

Read about exciting Mets prospect Jeremy Barfield here.

Billy billy billy

So I happened to check the league leaders in Saves in the NL, and it turns out Wagner's tied w/ Hoffman for the league lead with 31. Of those with 10 or more saves (15 pitchers), he's also 3rd in ERA (trailing only Hoffman and Saito).

Glavine done for the year?

A real possibility.

Pedro/Duque/Trachsel/Maine as your playoff starters? Ouch. The AL must be breathing a sigh of relief today. Guess Bannister's getting his spot back.

Maine-iac on the floor

Gotta love this kid.

The middle of the order busted out today too. Delgado had 11 total bases in 4 ABs and Beltran went 4 for 5 with a HR and a double.

Wright's the only one who seems truly mired. He took another collar, going 0-for-4 with 3 K's. Even the radio announcers picked up the cue from the TV guys last night: David looks tired. The kid needs a couple of games off here or there to refresh him for the post-season.

It also makes you wonder if the home-run derby is unhealthy for these guys. Abreu's power never returned after his outburst in '05. This year Wright went off in the first round, but you have to wonder if he just beat his obliques into submission swinging for the fences 50 times in a row. It's a bit like asking a pitcher to throw his fastest pitch 200 times in a row just for the sake of wowing the crowd.

Broom

If the Mets get 4-game-swept by the phillies, that's inexcusable. Regardless of the fact that it makes no impact in the standings and has no impact on their near-guaranteed playoff spot, it is still a poor reflection on their focus, effort, and energy level.

Kho-say, kho-say, kho-say

Another night of no offense. How lucky are the few Mets fans who, in blissful ignorance, view these games as mere box scores. Those who don't have to watch each and every bad swing, taken strike, and zero-intensity response to failure.

Luckily, it looked like the Mets might string together a late game rally in the 8th, with one on, two-outs, and the top of the order coming up. A hit or a walk would bring the tying run to the plate with the heart of the order waiting in the wings. Instead, leadoff hitter, all-star, and nominal OBP expert Jose Reyes grounded out meekly. This capped his 0-for-4 effort and sunk the last real opportunity to get something going. In a close game where each AB could have changed the scope of the game, it made for an interesting counterpoint to the previous night, where after his first AB they were all essentially meaningless, so he padded his stats like Xavier Nady.

If there is any kind of upside to this third straight loss, it's the fact that Glavine had downright nasty stuff through 7 IP. For his second straight start, he's been very effective but has not gotten a W.

Pedro to the 15 day Dee-El

Haven't heard details about the injury. It was characterized on SNY's pregame as a "mild calf strain". Hardly seems the type of injury to put a playoff team's ace on the shelf. Guess the Mets are being ultra-cautious. Or Pedro just wanted another two-week vacation. We'll se how it plays out.

Ron Darling was saying he thinks the two possibilities to replace him in the rotation for a start or two are Brian Bannister and Oliver Perez. Bannister has made 5 rehab starts and two at AAA. The first was a mess, in the last he pitched 8 scoreless.

Jose Jose Jose

Nice to see the Mets decided giving it up like candy last night wasn't enough, needed a repeat performance tonight. At least jose remembered the mets are allowed to score runs too.

Ho Duca

Maybe Bill Clinton should start hanging out with Lo Duca, get some pointers.

Ewww. Gross.

Wow that sucked. Guess they had to get it all out of their system in one night. Here's what I remember of the first inning:

Woodward tossing Rollins leadoff grounder over Delgado's head,
Milledge taking circuitous routes on every ball hit to right,
Beltran misplaying a liner right by him (turning a single into a triple),
Pedro balking with the bases loaded,
Pedro with 2 HBP's (one forcing in a run),
Delgado letting a ball one step to his right fly under his glove.

There's probably more, but I forget.

Then, moving ahead to later in the game, Willie let Oliver hang out to dry long after his tank was empty. Darren had pitched two of the last three nights and Willie tries to get 4 innings out of him to save the rest of the pen. I felt so bad for him in the 5th when guys were hitting his 80 MPH fastball out like batting practice.

Nobody hit worth a darn.

Hopefully the Phils enjoyed today, anyway.

Today's updates

1) GambleGate (tm)

So Jim Rich at the Daily News wasn't able to dig up anything new. Instead, he reprints the old allegation about a bookie confronting LoDuca from the stands at Shea. Rather than obtaining actual evidence supporting this alleged incident, he just repeats it. Then he tells the long tale of some random dude with a gambling problem that got his pinky broken by his bookie. The moral of the story: since someone has a problem with gambling, LoDuca probably does too. And it's easier than to smear someone with guilt by (very, very loose) association than it is to actually prove the charge. What a scumbag.

Mike Lupica, aka "D-bag", also writes a full column saying "I know LoDuca's guilty but can't tell about my 'multiple sources', so you'll just have to trust me. While you wait, I'll wax on about all the trouble LoDuca should be in..."

2) Long term plans

Joel Sherman wrote this (scroll down) intriguing bit about Omar's future plans:

DOWN THE LINE

Omar Minaya's vision is to assemble five highly skilled, prime-aged, everyday players to build around. He believes that will all but assure long-term success for the Mets and make it easier to be judicious and non-pressured to make decisions on the trade and free-agent markets. Minaya said he thinks three pieces already are in place with Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and David Wright, all of whom are now signed through, at least, 2010.

Minaya believes the next two pieces very well could be Lastings Milledge and Carlos Gomez to flank Beltran and give the Mets the majors' most athletic outfield. Gomez has gone from overmatched before July 1 at Double-A (.221 BA) to hitting .370 since despite being just 20 years old and jumping from low Single-A ball. Minaya said Gomez "is faster than Reyes."

3) More on Carlos Gomez

Kevin Kernan on the budding phenom.

4) John Maine
Continues to show excellent stuff. Had the guts to challenge Soriano and paid the price last night, but that'll happen against one of the league's best. As long as he's willing to get back on the horse. And, as always, the kid displays the right attitude. From Mark Hale at the Post:

Maine, who tossed 25 scoreless as a starter and one scoreless before that as a reliever, has the record for Mets rookie starters - topping Dwight Gooden's mark of 23 in 1984, according to Elias.

The latter didn't impress Maine.

"I don't really care about it too much," he said. "I just want to be here to help the team win."

5) ...And speaking of Soriano:

Dave Lennon has some more idle speculation about the Mets chasing him. Randolph blows some smoke about Soriano's defense to butter him up for Omar's offer, I guess.

6) The Mets magic number is 34

Trade rumors are back!

OK, so there's only one, but it would be pretty meaningful for the Mets. Here's the word from David Lennon at Newday:

The Mets have asked about Arizona's Shawn Green, a baseball official confirmed Friday night, but any deal could be held up by the fact that the outfielder has a no-trade clause that includes New York.

...Green has cleared waivers, thereby making him eligible to be traded to any team.

A person familiar with the situation said Friday that the Mets would want Arizona to pay half of Green's $9.5-million salary for next season and also pick up his $2-million buyout for 2008. The Mets might need another outfielder for the remainder of this season because of Cliff Floyd's health issues. He's currently on the DL with a sore Achilles.

Here's a link to Green's stats. He was in his prime from 1998-2002, and his production is nowhere near that level. But he's basically leveled off over the past 4 years as a .280 BA/.350 OBP type hitter. His power numbers are down this year, with only 10 HR's. He had been a 20+ HR guy the past few seasons.

Green is a veteran and a tough out. He'd certainly look good in the 6 spot in the lineup giving Wright some protection. Since he's being compensated for his peak production (.297/42/125 in 2002), he's being overpayed right now, which is the D-backs incentive to move him. If all we have to do is chew up $4.75 Mil next year and trade some C-level talent, I'd be happy to help the D-Backs dump some salary. Maybe we could give them Trashel too.

More young pitching on the rise

From Newsday:

The Mets announced the signing of their top pick, Kevin Mulvey, before Wednesday's game, and it looks like he already could be on the fast track.

The plan is for Mulvey, 22, to join Mike Pelfrey at Double-A Binghamton after a short conditioning session in Port St. Lucie, and like Pelfrey, his college experience may significantly shorten his time in the minors.

Mulvey didn't have the eye-popping numbers of Pelfrey, who was the ninth overall pick in 2005. In three seasons at Villanova, Mulvey was 14-16 with a 4.43 ERA in 41 starts, and he went 3-8 with a 3.61 ERA this year as a junior, with 88 strikeouts in 92 1/3 innings, before the Mets selected him in the second round (62nd overall).

Looming threats

The Mets, by all rights, are headed to the World Series. That said, there are threats out there that could prevent the seemingly inevitable from happening. Luckily for the Mets, the NL is so weak that the threats are not named the Dodgers, Giants, D-Backs, Rockies, Reds, or Cards. So what could go wrong for the Mets in the final third of the season? Lets explore:

1) Beltran's knee gets worse.

The tendonitis in his knee that has been bothering him for a month now may account for some of his cooling off. Then again, he simply couldn't keep up the pace he set right after the break. But the question is this: should the Mets 15-day DL him now, and give the inflammation a chance to go down? Does having him play on the sore knee risk something worse happening?

2) Floyd's injuries are season ending.

If Cliff can't come back, Wright loses a lot of protection. Even though Floyd's numbers this year have been terrible, opposing managers still give him more respect than Valentin. You saw this yesterday with Delgado being walked to get to Valentin. The same will be happening to Wright if Valentin's hitting 6th. Endy Chavez has also been doing a great job filling in, but since Milledge doesn't appear major-league ready, he's going to be spending a lot of time in RF, especially once the post-season hits.

3) LoDuca GambleGate heats up.

First he was betting on ponies. Then he was playing high stakes poker on team trips. Then he made some casino trips. Today we're reading about how he had bookies seeking payments for his debts, first calling the Marlins front office (!), then showing up at Shea during batting practice to confront Paul from the stands. If it turns out that MLB digs up evidence that LoDuca's been betting illegally (which seems certain), or worse, that he has bet on baseball, we will most probably lose him for the season and longer. He can't be replaced in our lineup.

4) Wagner's recent struggles continue

Recent struggles you say? He had 4 blown saves in the first half, but only one in the second half, going 8 for 9. He's been at his best recently, right? Well forget about save %. Completely unimportant right now. What I'm concerned with is the batting average against. Opponents were hitting .190 against Billy before the break. They're hitting him at a .250 clip since. And so far in August, the BAA is .368. He's getting saves by hook or by crook, but his stuff is too good for that. He should be blowing batters away, as he was in the first half.

Pitchers, like hitters, go through hot streaks and cold streaks, so the past 3 weeks could just be a lull for Billy. But if we go into late September and his second half BAA is over .300, that doesn't bode well.


I guess the noteworthy positive is that the starting rotation doesn't make the "worry list." Pedro looks healthy and strong. Glavine's not been at his best, but he's a professional, and I trust he'll get to where he needs to be for the post season. Duque and Trashel are doing what they do when they're going well, and Duque in particular looks like he'll be ready to throw some good innings in October.

And speaking of Duque, that Benson trade's looking pretty great right now, huh? We turned him into Duque (via Jorge Julio) and John Maine. Duque's arguably as good as Benson now, and has more post-season experience, which this team needs. And Maine looks like he could be a solid long term addition.

News from the Dee El

From Mark Hale and the NY Post:

Brian Bannister (strained right hamstring) was set to pitch last night in Triple-A in his fourth rehab outing...

Mike Pelfry, the Mets' top pitching prospect, is on the seven-day DL with a right lat muscle strain. Pelfry is currently at at Triple-A Norfolk.

And following the Lo Duca story of the other day, and my comment about "echoes of '86," comes this from Bob Raissman and the NY Daily News:

Still, anyone who has spent time following the Mets, from the Polo Grounds to Shea, knows the current spate of Lo Duca stories seems like tofu on white bread compared to the flat-out Mets debauchery of the 1980's and early '90s.

Stories of sex (including bullpen masturbating), drugs, bar fights (sometimes among teammates) and other assorted deviant behavior all appeared in front of the newspaper and led TV/radio newscasts. Back then, covering the exploits of Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry was a full-time job.

Up, up, and away

Nice to see Mets bats clicking as a team. BA and OBP values are rising throughout the lineup, which is really critical. The more runners we get on base, and the deeper we get into pitch counts, the more chances we have for each inning to be a big inning.

I'm surprised Milledge still is batting so poorly... I was hoping his bases-loaded hit the other night that prolonged the inning and led to Jose Jose Jose GS would break him out, but I guess not.

NY Pizza

Nice little game last night: piazza gets two taters in his old stomping grounds plus a curtain call, but metties still win and pedro looks strong.

Also nice to see Wright and Reyes continuing their solid play.. A lot of other guys also continuing to improve, including chavez and valentin.

And just because I can...

Boom! goes the dynamite.

It never gets old

Lotsa Mets News

1) LoDuca is front page news. Divorce from his Playboy bunny wife. Lots of gambling. Shades of '86. I love it.

2) Return of Piazza. Glad he got a nice ovation. The man gave the franchise a lot, but he was all talent and no personality. Greatly respected, but not loved. Of course, had 2000 worked out differently, so might have his reputation...

3) Acquisition of Ledee.

4) Maine extends scorless streak, looks like he could have a promising career in front of him.

5) Pelfrey and Bannister still waiting in the wings. I'm sure Pelfrey will be up in September, and Bannister only has a couple of weeks left until his rehab assignment ends. Young pitching in abundance at Shea.

Comments, comments, comments.

The Metties strike back

Enter Ricky Ledee.

Sure, George, you can have your Gooden and your Strawberry, put championship rings on their fingers, watch Gooden throw a no-hitter for your boys, etc.

But now we have Ricky Ledee. Rickey effin Ledee.

That's right Yankee fans. The end is nigh.

Maine Symptoms

For Maine to shut down Philly's big guns last night, while battling the flu, is insane. He could be our solid #3 in playoff rotation, even ahead of el duque.

From espn.com: Maine (2-3), who last pitched on July 26, gave up three hits in six shutout innings. He could have gone longer, but had been battling flu-like symptoms over the last few days.

While you're at it, check out cover of post today...

Around the Horn

Wright and Reyes showing yet again today why they are the toast of the town, with tremendous defensive plays all game. I believe that's the second time this season that wright has saved wagner's ass. Their offensive and defensive production is outstanding.

Now if only some of that could rub off on milledge...

One up, one down

Looks like Pedro's back, what a solid outing... Too bad it was wasted.

Unfortunately, he can't pitch 9 innings which means we have to go to the bullpen, and that meant another chance for Heilman to 'shine'. The mets need to give him a shot in starting rotation or get rid of him, because he clearly has no interest in being a professional and simply playing his role as a reliever, and that's really dragging the team down.

Jose, jose, jo$e

Reyes' stock just keeps going up in my book. Instead of waiting until end of season, going to arbitration, and likely getting more $, he decided to take a reasonable deal and preserve team chemistry.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2538668

No-lasco

Never mind about my comments about Nolasco below - apparently he already plays for the Mets!

Shea Hey Kids: Shea Hey Kids

Will someone please buy Milledge a pair of sunglasses? How many balls is he going to misplay and blame on the sun? It's 3 now by my count.

Shea Hey Kids

Well, Wagner managed BS #5 tonight. Well played.

Is Paul Lo Duca having the most quiet .314 season ever? Completely overlooked in the lineup by the big name superstars, but it's night-in, night-out hits by players like him that give a team consistency.

Beltran is unconscious.

Pelfrey is taking longer to develop than I had hoped. A lot of other rookie pitchers have come on a lot stronger this season than him (lester of red sox, liriano, verlander, nolasco, etc.).. I keep hoping that his next outing is the one where he either gets through 7+ innings, or clearly has more K than BB, but guess we'll have to keep waiting for that breakthrough performance.

Nice to see Milledge draw 3 BB tonight, per my earlier post.

NL MVP

Who is the Mets (and probably NL) MVP: Wright or Beltran?

Up until right before all-star break it was hands-down Wright. Now I'm leaning strongly towards Beltran.

Who's more clutch? Again, without looking closely at the stats I get the sense that Wright had more clutch hits earlier in the season than Beltran, but that's been reversed now..

Will the real Tom Glavine please step up?

I'd have to say I'm a little worried about Glavine.. I'd like to think he's a solid #1 or 2 heading into post-season, but he's just had too many inconsistent games lately. He's had at least 4 or 5 starts now with at least 4-6 runs given up in as many innings, which is worrisome.

Is it a sign of old age setting in, and at best he'll be hit or miss in playoffs? Or is it just a patch of bad luck? More importantly, if it is old age, will he be able to pull it together through the playoffs to pitch the necessary gems to get us WS trophy? Mets are going to need solid performances from #1-3 starters to lock it up this year, since our 'prolific' offense has the brutal tendency to dry up every time we face decent pitching, which will clearly be what we face in WS.

The trade that never was

The NY Post is reporting that the Mets were close to obtaining Roy Oswalt from the Astros late Sunday in a 3 way deal that also involved Miguel Tejada of the Orioles. Apparently the chances of the trade being consummated were already waning when Omar Minaya got word of Sanchez' injury, which changed the Mets priorities completely.

It's a shame Sanchez got hurt. Oswalt, Pedro, Glavine and El Duque would have given the Mets a chance to win the Series. But, as I said yesterday, it's also good Sanchez didn't get hurt today. With Hernandez in the mix, I like our chances to get to the Series.