Cowher = Jets

Cowher is looking like a strong possibility for next Jets coach. He wants to coach in NY area, be near his daughter (Princeton), and Jets are willing to shift Tannenbaum to accommodate his request to have his own personnel manager.

Good move I say.

And DC, we could end up taking Parcells as well...

Andruw to the Mets?

According to this report, it's a possibility. He's an awesome fielder, but I find him to be a bit of a d-bag. Also, not sure whether his bat has fallen off a cliff or he just sucked in LA for some reason.

The Brett is Dead

Long live the Chad!!!

Whoo-hoo!!!

Go Fins!!!

That's about right

Season on the line, destiny in their own hands, a game against a far inferior opponent, and... a loss. Of course. Except it wasn't the Mets stinking it up yesterday, it was the Jests.

For a team that has the most pro-bowl players in the NFL they surely are making a mockery of that accolade.

My thoughts. First, Matt Cassell better be a NYJ next year. The Jets will not be able to draft or trade for a better QB, so grab the free agent. He will not want to be a backup to Brady, he is EASY pickins'. Second, Jets better draft a good linebacker and receiver with speed. Third, offensive coordinator Schottenheimer better be gone by the Jets tee time next Monday the 29th. This guy's play calls have baffled me for two straight years. Fourth, if the Jets make the playoffs I'd say give Mangini another year to prove himself. If they don't, he's out.

Rotation, Schmotation

Courtesy of mlbtraderumors.com:

"Ken Davidoff of Newsday lays out the Mets' plans for their starting rotation. For Oliver Perez's slot, the Mets want to either re-sign Perez or sign Derek Lowe.  Randy Wolf, Jon Garland, and possibly Tim Redding are the backup plans to these two.

The fifth starter job has sparked an internal debate - it could be given to Jon Niese, or the Mets could bring in competition with pitchers like Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, or Eric Milton.  This decision will not be made this month."

Personally, I'd like to see Ollie or Lowe (I doubt we've got the cash for both--that would be 1st choice) and Redding. I've seen him pitch a few times and he's got some good stuff. I'm not crazy about Wolf and I think we'd have to trade to get Garland.

Colon, Garcia, and Milton are trash-heap guys and we all witnessed how well that's worked the last few seasons. Niese should get a shot but I'd rather have a bit more experience there this year...

The Dream of Many a Met Fan Has Finally Come True

The Scho has been traded for a Dunkin Donuts #3 combo.

I guess Omar finally owned up to a bad signing--he obviously views this trade as addition by subtraction.

Mets are "choke artists"

So says Cole Hamels.

Dude is dead nuts on, can't disagree.

And the Moves Just Keep on Comin'

This is why I looooove the Hot Stove League (and especially the Winter Meetings)!!!

3 teams--12 players

Basically, the Mets get JJ Putz (our new set-up man), OF Jeremy Reed, and RHP Sean Green (no, not that one..).

We gave up Heilman, Endy, Joe Smith, and Mike Carp.

I like this deal--I love Endy but you can't hold up a deal over a 4th or 5th outfielder, we get rid of Heilman, Smith became a wreck down the stretch, and as good as he did last year, Carp is pretty easily replaceable. We got Delgado for another year and you can always find a bat for 1B.

I think there's more on the horizon--Omar's been looking at Juan Pierre and I've seen talk about Michael Young. Could we be sending Reyes to Texas? Young can play 2B or SS, Pierre would step into the leadoff spot, and we'd have a full-time LF...
I guess Murph would then go to 2B unless he was part of the package.

I'd like to see us get Lowe and it sounds like Ollie may be back for 5/$70, or there about.

That would give us a rotation of Johan, Pelf, Maine, Lowe, and Ollie. Sounds good to me...

Bullpen has gone from an Achilles heel to a dominant strength (I guess we'll fill out w/Feliciano, Stokes, Schoenwies, and Knight?).

Only real questions left would be a finalization of 2B and LF and those may be addressed as above--stay tuned...

DC out

Mets sign K Rod

At a reasonable 3 yr, $12M per rate. Way down from his initial asking price.

Yet again, Omar targets a high profile FA, and manages to land him.

I know there is some mixed opinion as to his strategy, but his execution continues to be solid.

Breaking news

The Jets are driving me crazy.

The Pats blow, they have 8 or so starters injured, we should be 2 games up on them, and yet...

How's this, DC?

Looks like something is happening:

The New York Mets are reportedly closing in on a three-year deal for free-agent reliever Francisco Rodriguez.

Sports Illustrated, the New York Post and Newsday reported that the team has offered K-Rod a three-year deal. It is a one-year increase over the two years and $24 million the team is said to have initially offered Rodriguez, who broke the major league single-season saves record last season with 62.

Sports Illustrated and Newsday reported that the deal is worth about $37 million. "It's going to get done,'' a person familiar with the talks said, according to SI.com.

Rodriguez's agent, Paul Kinzer, said, "I am more optimistic than I have ever been" about finalizing a deal between K-Rod and the Mets, according to the Post. "We will know more in the next 24 hours, but so far everything has been positive."

Winter Meetings Round-Up--Day 1

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

BORING!!!

DO SOMETHING!!!

SOMEBODY!!!

So close, yet so far...

Apparently, we had a chance to unload Heilman on the Cubbies.

Omar was approached with an offer to send Heilman to Chicago and in return the Mets would get Jason Marquis, with the Cubs picking up about $4 mil of the $9.675m or so he's owed for next season.

I really don't understand this--turning down a chance to get rid of dead wood and pick up a solid back-of-the-rotation arm? Marquis is one of only 6 pitchers or so to record 10 or more wins in each of the last 6 seasons (or so they said on the FAN during the game he tripled and killed the Mets--didn't seem right to me, but what do I know?).

Anyways, I'm hearing noise that Omar may be packaging Heilman and Feliciano to the Rockies for Huston Street, who will either serve as a set-up man to K-Rod or Fuentes, or split closer responsibilities with Trevor Hoffman (a move that seems to be picking up steam).

Heilman

So Heilman's agent says he either wants to be a starter or be traded.

I have only one thing to say to that: don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Arizona Fall League stats

Here are our boys with the Peoria Saguaros:

Daniel Murphy (2B) .397 avg, .487 OBP, .619 SLG
Eddie Kunz (RP) 1-2, 10.95 ERA, .368 BAA, 12.1 IP, 9 BB, 11 K
Bobby Parnell (SP) 3-1, 2.81 ERA, .246 BAA, 16 IP, 8 BB, 17 K

Did Jerry & Omar absolutely kill Kunz' confidence this past year or what? Dump him into a failing bullpen, right in the middle of the pennant race, name him the closer and then refuse to pitch him in closing situations, and bail on the kid after his first 2 or 3 rocky appearances (total garbage time for him after that) in favor of Luis friggin' Ayala.

I'm Hearin' Tings...

1) According to Minaya, Luis Castillo will be our starting 2B next season. Hoo-f'ing-ray...
Hopefully this is just talk to help distract other suitors from knowing we're seriously in the hunt for Orlando Hudson.

2) Apparently the Mets are willing to go as high as 12M to bring back Ollie but Boras wants more. The word "high" here holds specific importance with regards to both parties...

3) An angle that I had forgotten about: the Mets are super-focused on Lowe because of his experience as a closer. Hmmm, interesting...

4) We may have found 2 potential suckers, I mean suitors. Seems that both the D-backs and Rays have interest in Heilman. Tampa has parts we're targeting (Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnenstine) but are not as high on Aaron as Zona is. Looks like we'll be building a package...

Delgado's option exercised by Mets

Or so it says here.

2 Free Agent targets

According to this article, the Mets are planning on pursuing Derek Lowe (who has been reliable but is 35) and closer Brian Fuentes.

Hey, SHK--

Have you come in from your ledge yet?

Gues you can finally get some sleep--Sox are done, Brady's on the shelf, J-E-T-S S-U-C-K...oops, looks like you've still got issues to gripe about.

Oh, well.

Next time I'll be paying attention to baseball will be once the Hot Stove League starts (the best time of year for baseball--the anticipation of what could be always trumps what actually happens...).

You have got to be kidding me

GRRRRRR...

I had figured the Rays would be immune to this type of stupidity, but apparently not. How do you blow a 7-0 lead in the 7th, up 3 games to 1, about to close out the series? By giving up the greatest comeback since 1929 apparently.

Great.

I'm just saying

If the BlowSox come back down 3-1 to win the ALCS, like they did against Cleveland last year, and like they did down 3-0 to Yanks in '04, I am going to lose it. I'm just saying.

Why the Rays might win the ALCS

No, the reasons aren't Kazmir, Garza, and Sonnestine. The Angels had Lackey, Santana, and Saunders, and that didn't matter. The reason the Rays might beat the Sox is because they are too young to know that when they play the almighty Red Sox they are apparently supposed to completely forget all baseball fundamentals they performed perfectly in the regular season, and instead fold meekly in the playoffs.

Hey Fredo

I'd like to go ahead and go in on those playoff tickets you won.

I only know one thing

Every year I hear about how THIS is the year that the angels or indians are for real. This is the year they are going to move ahead in the playoffs and beat the Sox.

And it never happens.

Bring back Bobby V?

Hmmm....

Would you make this trade?

Jose Reyes for Scott Kazmir, straight up. Reyes is our lowest-paid, high-impact player, so his salary would probably be tolerable to the Rays. Also, they are very weak at SS, so it's a great fit for them. Can you imagine a 1-2-3 of Santana - Kazmir - Pelfrey?

What Are Our Options?

Found a site that lists all upcoming free agents by position and includes their current ages:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/12/2009-mlb-free-a.html

So far, I'm hearing a lot of interesting rumors.
The Mets will not pursue Sheets, Sabathia, Burnett, Perez, or Martinez.
They are leery of offering big money to K-Rod after the Wagner debacle: $44 mil+ for 96 IP.
Despite sending Murphy to winter ball to learn 2B, they will pursue Orlando Hudson.
Schoenweis, Heilman, and Castillo will be traded with the Mets eating most of his remaining contract.
They will pursue back-end starters, specifically Derek Lowe and Jason Marquis.
Delgado's option will be picked up (cost to cut ties is $4 mil, cost to pick up is $12 mil so it only really costs $8 mil...). If they trade him from there is anyone's guess.

As per SHK's request for gritty, gutty players I perused the FA list and saw a few guys that fit the bill.
Mark Millar--OK glove, decent bat, huge fire. One of the real soul guys for the Sox in their comeback.
David Eckstein--doesn't fit a position as of now unless we move Reyes, leave Murph in LF, and abandon further 2B pursuits.
Ryan Dempster--probably high cost after this season but is reknowned for being one of the funniest men in baseball and a clubhouse leader.
Sean Casey--to paraphrase TR, "speak constantly and carry a small stick." Called the Mayor for a reason. Beloved by everyone, great defender, minimal O. Would need to get a thumper in LF to compensate.
OF prospects are pretty similar--no outstanding character guys. Quite a few quiet producers though...
Tons of middle men but who knows what you ever get there.
Closers are kinda sparse but I think they're overrated as big names. Find someone with good stuff and give him a chance rather than overpay on what amounts to a gamble.

Anyone see anything real attractive here? I'm typing this on my Blackberry so it's kinda tough to do major analysis right now.

And what are our REALISTIC trade moves? I heard Reyes+ for Doc Halladay but I think you need a ton more to land him.

There's only one question left to answer

Which is a bigger meltdown: the financial markets today, or the Metties?

Well, there is one thing we do know

Today's action was a sweet catharsis, and vindication, for Willie. At least he won't have to go through any of these press conferences any more, and can just laugh at his back-stabbing replacement.

That's about right

Same team. Same season. Same meltdown. Same inability to hold a lead, score runs when needed, or come from behind. Different year.

On the plus side, I'll have more free time this week.

Chip Caray of TBS

Most annoying douche announcer ever.

'Nuff Said

Since July 4, Santana is 9-0 with a 2.09 ERA in 17 starts. He threw his third complete game this season, and it was the sixth of his impressive career. The last Mets pitcher to throw a shutout on three days' rest was Dwight Gooden on Sept. 16, 1987.

First in the NL in ERA and IP, and up to 16 wins. Unlike Lincecum or Webb, Johan's kept his team in the playoff hunt down to the last day of the season. Cy Young?

So this is where we are

We're down to Johan possibly pitching on 3 days rest after a 125-pitch marathon outing. There's most likely 2 ways this goes: (1) Johan can only go 5 or 6 innings, after which the bullpen blows whatever good work he did, or (2) he goes 7-8 innings, but is now exhausted for possible Wed playoff game. I hope Johan has the arm strength to pull this off down the stretch, but it's definitely a reach.

I am a "Second Chance" NLDS ticket raffle winner

Meaning that the first set of winners said, "ain't no way we're making a deposit in the Bank of Shea, only to not get our money back for three months."

Bought four seats.

Shea Hey Kids contributors get first dibs if they'd like to come. SHK? DC? Tix are $67 each, Loge Reserved.

Now THAT's a box score

This is why Johan is the best.

IP: 8.0
H: 7
ER: 2
BB: 2
SO: 10
HR: 0
PC-ST: 125-86
ERA: 2.64

Omar re-upped

Omar on the verge of getting signed for 4 more years. Hmmm, so I guess when Wilpon said at the end of last year that it was Omar's decision on whether to retain Willie and he would "sink or swim" with him, he wasn't worried about sinking with Manuel?

At the end of the day someone has got to be held accountable for relying heavily on old and/or injured players with questionable futures (Alou, El Duque, Pedro, Sanchez, Valentin, and Castillo, to name a few). And that someone is Omar if we don't advance in the playoffs this year, especially given the payroll.

Let's be honest: while Omar has made some good trades, I think there are a lot of GMs who could step into his situation and do a good job. His situation being that he's given the largest payroll in NL (and consistently top 5 in all of baseball), and only needs to put together a 90-win team to make the playoffs each year.

Maine ready to go?

Simulated a 5 batter inning, with no ill effects. The plan is to have him in the pen pitching 1 inning per outing, maximum.

Please, please, please, get activated soon.

End of an era

Obviously, there are no major Yankee sympathizers on this blog. But yesterday was an important day in baseball history.

Yankee stadium's beginnings, in the early '20's, marked the period of time when baseball began to pass boxing and horseracing as our most popular sport. A greater collection of superstars played in the Bronx than any other stadium, and the number of chamionships speak for themselves.

Many current and former Yankee players are obviously classy guys, and it was good seeing Whitey, Yogi, Goose and Willie getting to revel in one last spin around the diamond.

That said, it's nice to think back to the beginning of the Yankee stadium era. The senior circuit team in NY, the Giants, had been the dominant squad in the first two decades of the century, had more titles and, in John McGraw, the greatest manager in the game at the time (and some would say of all time). With the rise of Ruth and Bronx Bombers, McGraw banished the Yankees from the Polo Grounds, causing the need for Yankee stadium. This was a turning of the tide in NY (and US) sports history.

I don't want to deny the greatness of the things the Yankees accomplished at Yankee stadium, nor the importance of the venue. But perhaps 2008 will ultimately be remembered for another turning of the tide, and the balance of power in NY will shift back to the senior circuit. And maybe in 80 years, when Citi Field is being replaced, people will think back on David Wright as a latter day Gehrig, and a dozen stars we don't even know about yet will get a similar and fitting tribute.

Hmmmm

That's strange, I could've sworn that I told Minaya at the end of last year to dump Blowenweis. Even if I didn't, surely he couldn't have been dumb enough to keep a guy who can't pitch to more than one batter, and even that one batter is iffy. So surely it wasn't "The Show" in there blowing another game today. Surely it was someone else.

And surely Minaya went out of his way in the offseason and before the trading deadline this year to beef up our bullpen, so we're not stuck with the same bunch of losers down the stretch this year as in '07. Never mind, what am I saying? We got rid of mota, how silly of me to forget.

Rejected

Well, I got my official form rejection email today from the Mets for NLDS tix. With some slight modifications we have this rejection for the Mets themselves:

2008 POSTSEASON TICKET OPPORTUNITY
-- Thank You for Participating
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Mets Fan Player:

Thank you for participating in the online random drawing for
the opportunity to purchase tickets for potential 2008 Mets
postseason games scheduled to be played at Shea Stadium regular season.

While Since your entry was not selected to purchase tickets for
potential play in the National League Division Series games, YOU DO NOT REMAIN REGISTERED for random drawings for talent-based opportunities to purchase tickets for potential play in the 2008 National League Championship Series and World Series games most likely not scheduled to be played at Shea, should since the Mets will almost certainly not participate, and for any additional Division Series drawings post-season games.

Thank you again for your participation meekly folding.


The New York Mets MLB and Mets Fans.

When will he listen

Omar, if you want to turn the Mets into a team worthy of their enormous payroll next year, BEEF UP THE BULLPEN. I'm not sure how many times we need to make the point for him to listen, but with all the blown saves they've had this year, especially the ones where we gave up 3 or more runs to blow the lead, it is time to fix it. There's going to be a lot of spots to replace, since Sanchez, Wagner, Heilman, Feliciano and Smith all are useless. But that's what it's going to take. A wholesale replacement.

Which Mets Starter should become the closer?

Maine

Overall OPS: .694
1st inning OPS: .633
High Leverage OPS: .924


Perez

Overall OPS: .722
1st inning OPS: .814
High Leverage OPS: .631


Pedro

Overall OPS: .857
1st inning OPS: 1.053
High Leverage OPS: .750


Pelfrey

Overall OPS: .731
1st inning OPS: .737
High Leverage OPS: .656

And I thought Ayala was the answer.

No, not really. I'm just kidding.

I sure hope Maine comes back soon, and goes straight to the pen.

Remember this one?

Willie Randolph=Stay classy
Jerry Manuel=I'll cut you

The bottom line with Manuel is that he's a douchebag that sold out the manager that brought him here to get his shot. And he doesn't have half Willie's class.

If Manuel goes on to be a hall of fame manager (I'd bet the farm against that one) for the Mets and win 6 titles, I'll still think he's a douchebag.

I'll be happy for the Mets in spite of their manager, not because of him.

Manuel vs. Randolph

"Jerry has a different style and temperament," David Wright told The Post two weeks ago. "Willie was all business. Jerry likes to joke around a lot and keep everyone relaxed. There aren't as many rules about stuff off the field, like dress codes on the plane and music in the clubhouse.

"I'm not saying one style is better than the other, but there's definitely a difference."

Perhaps he meant to say: Under one manager we were losing, under the other we're winning. I'm not saying winning is better than losing, but there's definitely a difference.

Now THAT'S a good sign

Tonight I saw something on gamecast i haven't seen in a long, long time:

C. Delgado intentionally walked

What a change from the beginning of the year!

Ummm.....

From Newsday:

Burgos arrested

Ambiorix Burgos, the reliever whose career has been derailed by injuries, was arrested and charged with assault and harassment early Tuesday morning.

A spokesman for the New York Police Department said that officers responded to a call at 114th Street involving what appeared to be a domestic dispute. Police said the woman who filed the complaint was punched and kicked.

In a statement, the Mets said: "We're very disturbed by the allegations that led to the arrest Tuesday night. He was in New York for reasons unrelated to the New York Mets. We will closely monitor the situation."

Big win

Ollie spit the bit, but the team kept fighting back. This was a big one tonight. A character gaining, "refuse to lose," type win.

Glad I put in my entry for those tix.

Think positive thoughts

Time to register for your '08 playoff tix here.

Catching up with Mike Carp

Nice to see Carp finished up strong. In August, he had an OPS over .1000, including 16 extra base hits (and 5 HRs). In his first full season at AA at the young age of 22, Carp hit .299 with 17 HRs and 72 RBIs. At the same time, he showed a nice eye, and had an OBP over .400.

It will be interesting to see if the Mets plan to give him a shot next year (either on his own or platooning with Evans) or if they decide to bring in a bopper at 1B.

How quickly we forget

In the pre-steroid era, even the thought of 660 HR's was impossible. That's probably why the original Say Hey Kid was so revered. That, and the fact that he was the greatest CF to ever field the position.

Well, at least one of the Mets who came up in the '70's knew enought to pay his respects.

Coles stays classy

I don't know the "right" way to handle it, when your best friend gets uncermoniously dumped by the team, but you could do a lot worse than what Coles has done here. Both in honoring his friend while not becoming a distraction to the team.

Laveranues Coles, who was upset at Chad Pennington being released, yesterday ended his media boycott.

"I just kind of kept to myself and I wanted to wait until this day to finally let it pass us and let it be something that's in the rearview mirror," Coles, who had one catch for five yards, said. "Now it's come and gone and I can return to being me."

Coles said he was the first person Pennington spoke to when he learned he was being released.

"When you develop a special relationship like I had with Chad, of course it's something you take kind of personal," Coles said.

Coles made it clear he has never had a problem with Favre, saying, "There's been no quarrels between Brett and I at all. There has never been since day one."

Huh?

Check out this quote from Jerry Manuel on the news that Wagner is almost certainly gone for the year:

"It's bittersweet," Manuel said. "Bitter in the sense that we lost Billy Wagner probably for the remainder of the year."

Uh-huh, and sweet in the sense that...? (insert crickets chirping here) ....

I can only assume he meant sweet that they had just beaten the philthies 6-3, but still. Strange choice of words with no explanation..

PPD: Day-Night tomorrow with the Phils

So Schmidtty called us out.

And Myers shut us out.

God rained us out.

The Phils are only two out.

The offense better break out.

Funny stuff

According to Pelf, Marlins CF Cody Ross' mouth is writing checks his ass can't cash.

Though it was obvious Pelfrey wasn't throwing at him intentionally, Ross slammed a piece of his batting equipment as he walked toward first base, then turned toward Pelfrey and called him "the p-word," as Pelfrey said later.

The benches emptied but no blows were exchanged, which was just as Pelfrey said he expected after watching Ross issue a similarly lame challenge when Pelfrey hit him three weeks ago at Shea Stadium.

"I told him I was right here, so if he wanted to come out . . ." Pelfrey said. "He just kept talking. It seemed like he got a little more fired up when 24 [teammates] were behind him. I wasn't going to go anywhere."

Wright does right

From espn:

Despite the gut-wrenching loss Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Mets All-Star 3B David Wright stopped to sign autographs at 1:35 a.m. for a group of fans who were waiting outside the ballpark.

I'm sure Beltran, Delgado and Reyes were doing el mismo.

A Nice Bounce Back

A late inning comeback against the Phils pen. Boy, did the Metties need that one.

Stokes, Feliciano, Smith and Ayala combined for 3 scoreless innings in relief of Johan, who gave up 3 in 6 tough innings. And that 6th inning was gutty. Already near 100 pitches, with 2 on and no outs, he managed to pitch out of a jam without giving up a run. The 3rd out was striking out Feliz, on two nasty changeups in a row.

Delgado is swinging a wicked hot stick right now, no way around it. That home run off of Seanez is going to leave a philthy taste in their mouth for weeks.

Getting to Lidge was a nice added bonus. Hope he's a little less confident next time we face him.

The bigs

Looks like Niese may be getting called up to the show with Maine possibly out for the season.

There is really going to be a lot of pressure on Santana, Pelf, Perez and Pedro to go at least 7 innings in every outing down the stretch, and 8 where possible.

Time to hang it up

When you're Luis Castillo, and you recognize the Mets are better without you and even you believe you will only make things worse by re-joining the lineup, I say it's time to hang it up.

On another note, interview with Dan Murphy.

Shutout for Los Mets

Bullpen: 6 up, 6 down.

Santana: 7 scoreless

Jerseys: Retarded

Since June 1

Pelf is 10-2, with an ERA of 3.21.

Not bad, but it ain't Jorge Sosa, either.

Buster Olney on the Mets Pen

Ben (Brooklyn, NY): The Mets just traded for Luis Ayala in their desperate attempt to shore up their bullpen, but can he actually help? This year he has been awful, with an ERA over 5. Is there anyone else they can trade for/pick up for some more consistency?

Buster Olney: Ben: I just think he's depth, and as we've seen with relievers, they can get hot or cold very suddenly, and without explanation. There really aren't any quality relievers to be had, and presumably, they won't be in position to pick up Brian Fuentes when he comes through waivers; presumably, the Dodgers and the D-Backs will both place claims. Let's face it: The Mets' bullpen will be as good, in the next six weeks, as Aaron Heilman is.

Back in 1st

Well, if the Philthies and Fish are intent on helping us out, we might as well take advantage.

Nice 7IP shutout performance from Pelf tonight. But I did notice his fastball was 2-3 MPH slower than it has been most of the season. Whether this is just an anomaly or a sign that he's "hitting the wall", I guess we'll have to keep an eye on it.

Tough luck, Murph

You go 3-for-6, with a HR, and 3 RBI, but you needed the one you didn't get. That smoked line drive to left with the bases loaded had to fall in if it was really going to be a productive night. Now you're still stuck under 50% at .467. More likely to fail than succeed. Typical Mets.

That's about right

If this isn't the face of a baseball player, I don't know what is.

Maine showing the right attitude

The first pitcher Manuel mentioned Monday as a candidate to close, Maine said he's open to doing "whatever they need" to help the struggling bullpen. He said he threw a couple of "slop innings" in Baltimore when he first came up, but never any pressure situations.

Maine said he thinks the biggest adjustment to the bullpen would be getting ready on the fly instead of knowing well in advance that he would be pitching, as he would were he starting. Still, the right-hander was open to the possible switch.

"Of course," Maine said with a smile. "I'd love to get a couple of saves."

Let's revisit an earlier conversation

Back in mid-May, SHK had this to say:

What's different from '06?

...One answer seems to be...luck: we won 6 more games than our pythagorean expected based on runs scored/given up.

My guess is this "luck" had more to do with a solid bullpen preserving leads. At the end of the day I think the reason we won slightly more games than expected in '06 and we're not doing it in '08 (or end of '07) is due to Darren Oliver, Duaner Sanchez, Guillermo Mota, Chad Bradford, Heilman, Feliciano, and Roberto Hernandez. Those guys were all lights out, and except for Feliciano they are no longer with us or not doing well this year.

So, the upshot is that if Omar wants to squeeze more wins out of this team, he better focus on bolstering the bullpen with some in-season acquisitions or trades.

In the comments, I agreed with SHK's reasoning, but I think a somewhat expanded discussion of this required. Because Omar, who was the architect of the '06 pen, didn't go from genius to idiot in two years (if some dementia diagnosis comes out in the press, I'll retract), what made the '06 pen so great (it was) and the '08 pen so bad (it is)?

After all, more than half of the pen is made up of the same dang guys: Wagner, Heilman, Feliciano, Sanchez. So let's start with those guys. Heading into this season, when Omar was putting together his '08 pen, should he have evaluated any of those players differently than he did in '06?

Wagner is getting up there in age, but he hasn't shown any precipitous drop off. After last year, despite fading down the stretch, his season numbers were still good. For his critics, who feel like Wags blows every big game, they probably hate him just as much now as in '06, but the velocity is still there and the numbers out of '07 looked comparable.

Feliciano and Heilman are both guys who have weaknesses, but guys who Omar though highly of. Particularly Heilman, who I always thought Omar thought too highly of. Nevertheless, despite spotty performance at times, their numbers heading into this season were still better-than-average for middle relievers, and both are still in their prime and--one would expect--still improving.

Sanchez was a complete wild card heading into this season, so you had to figure we were going to need to do something to replace the production he'd given us in '06. Omar was going to try and work in Sanchez, but he couldn't rely on him to be an 8th inning guy, as he became back in'06.

Bradford, Oliver and Mota are what make this an interesting case study. All 3 significantly outperformed their pre-Mets recent career history in '06. And this, of course, was the source of all the Mets depth. It seemed like 5 inning starts were the norm in '06, and you felt like a one run lead in the sixth inning was likely to stand up. Now a 2 run lead in the 8th is suspect.

Mota had an ERA of 4.70 in 56 games with the Marlins in '05. Then an ERA of 6.21 in 34 games with Cleveland in '06. And yet, he ended up filling the void left by Duaner Sanchez after his injury. With Mota's dreadful stats, who could have imagined he'd become the bridge to Wags in the best bullpen in the majors? And he posted an ERA of 1.00 over 18 games with the Mets down the stretch, after he cleared waivers b/c no one wanted to touch his contract with a 10 foot pole.

Likewise, the illustrious Chad Bradford was coming off an '05 season in which he was hurt, spent much of the season in minor league rehab, and was ultimately designated for assingment. In his limited 23 IP for the year the numbers were decent, but unfortunately for the BoSox, he put up a dreadful 7.50 ERA in the month of September (after being hurt), right as the Sox were coming down the stretch and battling for playoff position.

Darren Oliver had put up two dreadful seasons in '03 and '04: ERAs of 5.04 and 5.95. He had then retired and missed the entire '05 season. You had to figure this was a guy with absolutely zero left. Yet he pitched a great '06 (and has had good years in '07 and '08 fot the Angels as well).

What does all this tell me? The approach that went into constructing the '06 pen was this: shell out for a solid closer. Trade for a guy who is an up an coming closer who can be a solid 8th inning guy (Duaner). Have some young, live arms who are cheap and under organizational control as middle relief guys. Pick a few guys up on the cheap off of the scrap heap and see if they pan out to provide some depth.

Guess what? Omar rolled sevens on every single element of the pen in '06. Duaner exceeded expectations, and Mota took the role over nicely against all probability after Sanchez went down. Heliman did the job in the 7th. Feliciano and Bradford were splitting 6th inning duties and both had their best years to that point. Oliver remarkably came out of retirment to eat a lot of innings, and do it well, in long relief.

Well, when ALL the guys you pick off the scrap heap put together the best years of their respective careers, it makes planning pretty easy.

In order to PLAN on getting '06-like results, you can't rely on things breaking the way they did in '06. You'd have to take a very un-'06 like approach to building a pen. You'd have to be willing to invest in proven commodities who are near the best in the league in their given roles in each of those areas: set-up, long relief, etc., because that's the type of production we got out of the pen in '06.

Problem is, the guys who are the best middle relievers are usually tough to come by. Think the Pods would trade Bell back to us? At what cost?

When you look at the '08 pen, Omar undoubtedly penned Wagner (9th) and Feliciano (7th) into the same rolls they had in '06 and '07. With Scho and Wise around, he had just as much paper talent (as measured by pre-Mets performance) around as he did with Oliver and Bradford. The main difference: he was expecting Heilman to be able to take a step forward and absorb the 8th inning role that Sanchez had occupied, while hoping Sanchez could come back into the league and take Heilman's middle relief role--neither being more of a stretch than expecting a retired, washed up starter like Oliver to make an effective reliever, or expecting a middle reliever with arm problems who'd been battered in the pennant run from doing a complete 180.

Every single member of the pen outperformed expectations in 06, and every single piece (save maybe Feliciano and Smith) have underperformed expectation in 08. That's the major difference between '06 and '08, not that Omar cared about the pen then and didn't now. If you want to insist that Omar's underprioritizing the pen, then you would've needed to criticize the acquisitions of Bradford and Oliver pre '06 because there was no conceivable way to pencil them in as reliable performances.

To sum up: one can criticize how Omar puts his pen together, but that criticism would need to focus on a lack of big-name or high dollar acquisitions--the type that would be more predictably effective, but also use up resources that would otherwise go into getting starters and every day players.

I knew the pen chewed, but...

does this ever take it to a new level.

The Pirates looked they wanted to roll over and die, and every single reliever got in on the act to sabotage the team and give up 6 runs in the last 3 innings.

I'm sorry, but a starter is going to have to get sent to the pen ASAP. Either Maine or Pedro, IMHO. It needs to happen. Now.

Since the All Star break, the pen's era is 6.30. After this game, it's much higher.

Maine handing off to Wagner might be enough to get us through if Ollie, Johan, and Pelf/Pedro can go 7. That's the best we can hope for right now, b/c there aren't any slam-dunk answers out there to trade for that are going to clear waivers.

UPDATE:

Guess the gangsta and me think alike:

The disabled list and the turn of the pitching rotation stand in the way of what Jerry Manuel now swears he would do if those obstacles didn't exist -- use John Maine as the Mets' closer until Billy Wagner returns.

Since those obstacles do exist, it looks like our kid from double A is gonna have to grow up quick:

...when the Mets play the Nationals in Washington on Tuesday night, Eddie Kunz will be cast in the role rendered vacant by Wagner's strained left forearm. So disturbed by the inability of his more veteran relievers to throw strikes and achieve outs, Manuel will turn to a rookie to close...

I have to give him a shot -- I have to see what he looks like," Manuel said. "I didn't want to put him in that situation, but he's got to feel like he's got to be considered to do that. I have to go and get everything I can with the people we have here. ... We've got to fix this. We can't continue to perform this way late in the game. I have to find a way, a pitcher who will step up and fill that role."

Dan Murphy

A star is born. 20-some at bats in, and the kid's hitting .500. I like a lot of what I see from this kid. He has a hole in his swing up, but he's fairly disciplined for a rook, and seem to lay off the high cheddar.

I know the guy's a career infielder, so I can't get too on him for the erratic outfielding. I think he played third in the minors--can't we put him at second? One problem solved...

Jon Heyman Sucks!

During yesterday's pre-game he stated that the Mets should now re-sign Perez because Warthen seems to have him turned around and pitching consistently well.

This is fine and I concur. My problem is that Heyman suggested that Perez will be worth 12 mil+ per season--knock it off, dude! Stop giving them ideas!!! Are you a Yankee fan? Or a Phillie Phan? Why would you try to sabotage the Mets attempt at re-signing Ollie for a reasonable price?

Jerk...

Schoenweis Motivational Products

Blowenweis

Scho's in the wrong industry - he should design motivational posters for the workplace. Look at his most recent gem:

"I don't know how many teams if their closer went down wouldn't struggle," Schoeneweis said. "If you think this bullpen is bad, go follow some other teams and see what they come up with."

Who needs tired cliches like "We're #1!" when you can have "We're not the worst!"

A nice win. Santana must feel cursed.

From the AP via ESPN:

Santana, just 9-7 in his first season with the Mets, left with a 3-1 lead in the eighth. It was the sixth time in 24 starts this season that Santana came out with a lead and failed to win, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and in six of those the collapse came in the ninth inning. He has seven no-decisions, and in six of those allowed three runs or fewer.

What?! Friggin ridculous.

Anyway, D Wright redeemed after his atrocious outing yesterday.

And the ribs in today's game came from Murphy, Nick Evans, and Wright. Home grown run production, folks!

Farv-eh-ruh

So, Brett's a Jet. Good move, although Chad is getting a bad shake being released from Jets. Yes, he had a lot of injuries, but at the same time part of that was because he was constantly being sacked behind a pathetic line the last two seasons. When he had a solid line in early 2000s, much like Jets should have in '08, he was very good. In any case I have somewhat mixed feelings about Favre. He is obviously a great QB and unlikely to be injured, but he's old and has always thrown a ton of INTs. Furthermore, the Jets made a LOT of personnel changes in offseason, so it will be interesting to see if Mangini can actually get them all on the same page to work together productively this season. No matter what though, they have to be better than 4-12 this year!

SHK sums up the bullpen problems

They suck.

Marty Noble sums up the bullpen problems

The need for another setup reliever appears to increase with each passing game. Aaron Heilman has pitched three and two innings in his two most recent appearances. Extending that level of workload would render him useless -- or at least ineffective -- before Sept. 1.

Joe Smith appears to have hit a wall of late. His three most recent appearances have produced six hits, three walks, five runs and five outs. Pedro Feliciano and Scott Schoeneweis are limited in what they can do effectively -- face left-handed batters; Sanchez has been removed from the eighth-inning role that had been his, partially by default; and Carlos Muniz is miscast in long relief.

Trade deadline looms

I've heard we might be looking at Raul Ibanez and Jason Bay. Ibanez does very little to help us, unless we get him for Kyle Farnsworth or less.

Bay intrigues me, but realistically, with the way Tatis is hitting, I'm not sure it's an immediate upgrade (Bay could still have several good seasons in front of him, so it's not necessarily a bad idea). Whether that substantively improves our chances this is year is an open question. With F Mart only a season or two away from the bigs, I'm not sure we need another OF at this junction, unless we've determined that Church is done.

The one area where we could clearly use help is in the bullpen. Unfortunately, ditto that for just about every contending team. With the exception of Wagner, is there anyone you have confidence in to get the big out?

P.S. A great story on the danger of deadline trades, here. Only one Met entry. I would've expected worse.

Uh-oh

Maine's shoulder problem is a "mild strain" of the rotator cuff. I don't care what adjective the team uses, a rotator cuff problem is never good.

Now that's a win

If Johan's complete game (1st of the season for the Mets) wasn't enough to help you get over the hangover from Saturday's game, this should help even more. Beltran shows off "The Catch, part Deux".

Ooooofff!!!

Wow.

Just got up after attending last night's debacle.

Showed up a little late after having to park at the marina clubhouse so when I got in Knight was down 1-0, bases loaded, 1 out--ouch. Panic immediately sets in. Final tally: 4 ER, 5 hits, 1 HBP. It's gonna be a loong night (boy, was I right...)

Metties come back strong with 2 in the bottom of the first (Wright get RBI but kills rally with another run-scoring groundout--this has to stop!)

Knight settles down nicely--goes 5 IP, holds Cards to 2 more hits over his next 4, racks up a few nice K's, shows the composure you expect from the elderly...

Delgado--FREAKIN' HUGE. 2 more dingers. Jose adds one that outdistances either of Carlos's shots. Mets get lead, things looking better...until the bullpen steps in...

Muniz gacks another one, bullpen stinks for an inning (as usual), fans killing Sanchez--at least he recorded 1 out tonight (Jerry must hate us to subject the fans to the nightly dose of Load-'em-up Duaner), Cards tack on another 4-spot. Feast or famine for the Redbirds offense.

Metties claw back again, a bit at a time. Tatis once again is clutch (although Ankiel just missed pulling an Endy).

Wags is a rock (guess we're not playing an important game)--2 perfect innings and was dominant.

After 16 innings and 16 runs, both O's go to sleep. Mets load bases in x-tree innings, don't score, leave runners left and right. Cards aren't even threatening--I've got a bad feeling about this...

Stupid vendors stopped coming around about 5 innings ago--starving and dehydrating...where are those neon-yellow/green shirts?!? No way am I leaving until this is over...

Never a good sign when you're there for the 7th inning stretch redeux (as an aside, during the 1st stretch a lovely lady sang "God Bless America." When are we going to make this a normal part of the stretch--almost every other team already does...)

My boy, Heilman, is entering his 3rd inning and looking solid(since we used everone in the 6th--again). Anyways, looks like my suffering is about to end--Pujols hit a ball so hard into the bleachers it tossed people aside when it landed. Oh, and there was a guy on, too--where did he come from? Had I nodded off? Oh, well...damn that Heilman--he stinks!

Wondering which would be worse, going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 14th or plating 2 and continuing my agony...wow--before I can even come to a decision in my mind it's over. Top of the order goes down peacefully. Someone probably pointed out today's game (at this point it is well into Sunday) is a 1:10 start and sleep was needed by all.

Aargh--now I've gotta walk about 1 1/2 miles to go sit in traffic to get outta here.

Need sleep--review game in morning...zzzzz

Pick 'em

Which is more amazing: the sharp transition in pelf's game from bad to great; the tremendous resurgence of delgado; or sanchez falling off a cliff?

One thing not surprising to me: with Alou permanently out of the way, allowing Chavez to get into rhythm, he is batting far more productively. Players like Alou and Castillo are killers because their on-again-off-again pattern never allows the backups to get into a comfortable groove.

In last night's AA action,

F Mart had 2 hits (he's at .293), Carp hit a 3 run HR, and Niese threw 7 shutout innings.

Holt riding high

Looks like this year's 1st round pick is off to a dominating start in A ball:

Brad Holt is living up to his first-round pick expectations, much to the frustration of basically everyone not in a Brooklyn uniform this summer.
Holt (3-2) struck out a career-high 14 and allowed just two hits over six innings in his seventh career start to help the Brooklyn Cyclones rout the visiting Vermont Lake Monsters on Thursday, 8-1.

"Usually I don't [try for strikeouts], but there were a couple in a row and you start to realize it," said Holt, who struck out the side in each of his final three innings.

The Mets prospect walked two and hit a batter in the most dominating start of his professional career. He lowered his ERA to 1.57, fifth-best in the New York-Penn League.

From our very own baseball sage,

the Dark Commenteer.

it's never easy to get through the bottom of an order without giving up 6 runs. That's why it happens all the time and all pitchers have an ERA around 54.

Good thing our starting position players average about 1000 rbi's each, or we'd be in trouble.

All these stats about absurd run scoring have me wondering, why didn't Vince McMahon create XLB, instead of XFL? Think of the possibities:

Catchers can attempt to tackle hitters once they leave the batters box.

Hitters are awarded first base if hit by the pitch, awarded second base if hit in the head, but are automatically out if hit in the solarplexus (First or third base ump have to make the call).

The batting team gets a "safety" who roams the outfield and is allowed to interfere with outfielders trying to play the ball.

Running out of the baseline is completely acceptable. If a baserunner wants to take the long way, be my guest. Slow infielders are just screwed.

Hitters are allowed to drop the bat and catch the pitch with their bare hands. If they pick it clean, they get first base automatically. If they don't catch it clean, they're automatically out. Even knuckleballers will have to fire one in their every now and then to keep the hitters off balance.

In bench clearing brawls, any player who gets his shoes removed is out of the game, even if it only leaves 5 guys to play the field. If a team doesn't have a lot of skilled players, but can goad the opponent into brawls, advantage to the enforcers. Think the bottom of a fumble pile gets rough in the NFL? Imagine what could've been in '86: Kevin Mitchell trying to restrain Eric Davis, so he doesn't get Carter's shoes off.

Managers are allowed two "challenges" per game, if they disagree with an umps call. Instead of the challenge going to the replay room, the outcome is determined on the field: if the manager is able to completely cover home plate with dirt before the four umpires are able to physically restrain him, the call gets overturned. Oh yeah, and the first base and third base coaches get to run interference.

On a Home run, the ball is still live. The batter gets to keep circling the bases for additional runs until the ball is returned to the field of play. Fielders need to hop the fence and go into the stands (that 'll put some teeth back into the green monster--do they get to have grappling hooks and rope?). If fans touch the ball, the umpire can award extra runs based on his own discretion.

Oh, and of course, 3 balls is a walk. Stop nibbling, pitchers. We have some four-platers to enjoy.

Jose Jose Jose

Clutch time for Mr. Reyes. I'm never thrilled with Jose when he's been hitting as many fly balls as he has recently, but every once in a while it works out. This time, very much so.

Speaking of which, I've been having a radical thought about our lineup. Tell me what you guys think of this:

1 A Reyes
2 Beltran
3 Reyes
4 Wright
5 Delgado
6 Tatis
7 Chavez
8 Schneider/Castro

I was just thinking, I'm so tired of being frustrated that Reyes doesn't hit like a prototypical lead off guy, showing a good eye and plate discipline. Instead, he's a free swinger who goes through long hot and cold streaks, which is more typical of a power/RBI guy. What if we had a high OBP guy at the top of the lineup, and dropped Reyes down to three hole. Hey, he's going to hit as many dingers this year as Mex did in a typical season in the Mets 3-hole. And while he's at 80 dingers in the lead off spot, that could easily be 90's or 100's in the 3 hole. In the 3 hole, he still wouldn't sacrifice that many AB's, but would be in the position to plate a lot more runners. With his good gap power and average HR power, along with his high BA, he could be an excellent 3 hitter, with the speed just being a big plus.

Beltran always said he was most comfortable in the 2-hole, and certainly loves to bunt guys over. And anyways, we need to get the guy back on track, and getting him up in the lineup for some extra AB's and less pressure-packed RBI spots could be good. And Carlos has the speed for the two hole.

The only real drawback is, do we really have a high OBP guy who could leadoff in lieu of Jose? Argenis is just up there b/c I couldn't think of anyone else. But there's got to be someone out there we could get relatively cheap. It seems like there are plenty of high average/low power 2B's in the league. I can't really think of one off the top of my head, but...oh wait--I can think of one: Jeff Keppinger. Wonder what he'd look like in a Mets uniform?

Keppinger
Beltran
Reyes
Wright
Delgado
Tatis
Chavez/F Mart
Schneider/Castro

I like it.

Fredo reads the MetsGeek open thread

so you don't have to. And there were some gems. First, right as duaner was melting down in the 9th:

Comment posted by 7up17togo on July 22, 2008 at 9:50 pm (#775915)
Monday morning quarterbacking but why was Santana taken out?

Comment posted by wallace on July 22, 2008 at 9:50 pm (#775916)
Manuel needs to pull DS here. This is ridiculous.

Comment posted by Dep on July 22, 2008 at 9:50 pm (#775917)
i’m taking bong hits for this game right now n smitty

After So Taguchi's double off of Feliciano:

Comment posted by Mak on July 22, 2008 at 10:00 pm (#775983)

epic fail.

I hope Santana resigns tomorrow after taking a gigantic dump in the bullpen.

In the game's aftermath:

Comment posted by 7up17togo on July 22, 2008 at 10:37 pm (#776225)

“Let him loose Louie”, is “still learning” as a 3rd base coach. Let him learn in Binghamton

No joke. Way to get Chavez thrown out at the plate *twice* last night. But we were up by 3 in the 9th, so those runs couldn't have been important.

Comment posted by Bob Loblaw on July 22, 2008 at 10:38 pm (#776230)

OMG THIS IS WORSE THAN A TESTICULAR RUPTURE FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER TESTICULAR RUPTURE!

Comment posted by Mak on July 22, 2008 at 10:40 pm (#776241)

How about a Kaz Matsui style Anal Fissure?

I wasn’t gonna drink tonight, but I feel like shotgunning a 12-pack after witnessing that bs in the 9th.

TO THE BODEGA.

Comment posted by bcuster on July 22, 2008 at 10:40 pm (#776238)

we’ll we have gone ahead and given the philthes the confidence boost they needed. as “ronnie” would have said; waggerdoodles should have manned up & charged out there.

he is a sissy boy llama farker.

Llamas? Really?

Comment posted by rye jones on July 22, 2008 at 10:04 pm (#776018)

I want to die.

Finally, from the, "it's never as bad as it seems" camp:

Comment posted by Dep on July 22, 2008 at 10:53 pm (#776283)

i just ate so much food and smoked so much pot lol

i bring good news geeks!

FIRE MANUEL!!!!!!

Hey, I hear Lee Mazzilli is available...

Bring it

Tonight is the exact reason we went after Santana: a critical game, tied for first, we need to set the tone for this series starting with tonight's game. Johan needs to shut down the Phils, despite playing in a little league park.

Jayson Stark calls the NL East

Here's his synopsis:

If I line up the Mets and Phillies, I'm hard-pressed to find an area in which I think the Mets are substantially better. The Phillies have outscored them, outpitched them and outfielded them. And you can look that up. I'd take the Phillies' lineup and bullpen over the Mets' lineup and 'pen. And while the Mets may have better starting pitching, the Blanton trade and those never-ending Pedro Martinez questions have narrowed that margin considerably. The Phillies haven't played well for a month now. But the Mets have enough age, health and chemistry issues that I'm still picking the Phillies to win the East.

Wags

"We've been taking such a beating all year long for how we play the game and what we've done wrong and what little we've done right," Mets closer Billy Wagner said. "I love seeing guys who told us two weeks ago how bad we stunk, and now they're going, 'Well, you're in first place.' Yeah."

Yeah.

D Wright!

Yeah gritty gutty dinger man.

Are you kidding me?

I'm so disgusted right now.

1. The NL is a joke of a league. A complete farce. They are owned by AL in every way, whether interleague play, All-Star game (12 in a row now), or World Series.

2. Billy Wagner is a joke. I only watched the first few innings of this game but I KNEW he would blow it for NL, just like last year. Who voted him in anyway? You just knew, with 100% certainty, that he was going to come up in a big spot in the game where he could shut it down and he would choke. Total. Complete. Choke.

3. All-star game continues to prove what our recent winning streak also proves and we've known all along: good pitching trumps good hitting. You had the absolute best batters last night, for contact and power, yet the run production was non-existent. So to Omar I continue to say: pitching, pitching, pitching. Our ERA over recent win streak is 0.67, that's why we're winning. Any move he considers should look to bolster pitching.

An intriguing comment by Manuel

On Pelfrey,

"Before this season's over," Manuel said, "he's got a chance to leapfrog over some people on our staff."

That sounds like a big warning shot to Pedro, Ollie, and Maine.

Needling his players via the press. Interesting to see how that one 'll play out.

Pelfreyized

While the numbers speak for themselves, I had to like this quote from today's NY Post article:

"The few guys that made it to first [base] said this guy's absolutely nasty," Carlos Delgado said with a smile.

Heh.

Manuel

Who knows how this season will end; hopefully the Metties continue their recent tear and go all the way. I don't know if Manuel's a better manager than Willie or a product of an inevitable run of good luck, but I can say he does at least two things differently that I think are important. First, he argues a lot more and shows a lot more life. Where Willie was a lamb and completely unwilling to ever go toe-to-toe with umps, Manuel's already been tossed twice. The players definitely notice and appreciate this support.

Second, he is clearly very cautious about player health and energy. He pulled Jose in that first game, Pedro yesterday, and immediately moved to get some rest for Wright early on. I think this is critical, and it definitely irritated me that Wright and Reyes got so overworked in previous seasons under Willie.

All in all, so far I give positive marks to Manuel. He has definitely addressed many of my criticisms of Willie.

Hey Fredo,

what do you say to a round of cornhole? You know, just like the kids at shea play.

A Strictly Positive Mets Post

Everyone's picked it up in our shiny new Manuel-mobile.

Lets take stock of everyone who is doing his job well:

1) Pelfrey: First he found his four-seamer, and then he found his confidence. Now he's gone 8 starts without a loss, has won five straight, has an ERA under 4.00, has gone 7 IP his last two, has outdueled one of the NL's best in Lincecum his last time out, is #2 in the league in fewest HR's allowed, and has gone more starts w/o giving up a HR than any Met starter since El Sid. This kid's now looking like the 1st round pick he was, and it only took him 26 mediocre starts (4 in '06, 13 in '07, and 9 this year) to get him there. That's basically 3/4 of a season.

Pelf will probably hit the wall around 175 IP, as so many pitchers do the first time they get there in the majors, but he's a piece of the puzzle that you can have confidence in now for the long term. And from the GM's perspective, he's locked up and cheap, as any home-grown talent is. And let us not forget, Pelf got turned around when Petersen was still here. A nice good-by kiss from Rick P to the Mets from a classy guy and good coach.

2) Beltran: Even though over the past 9 his July average is kind of soft, he's still plated 50 ribeyes since May 1. That's about a 128 RBI per year pace. Plus, he's pulled up his RISP to a respectable .280, which is a huge improvement over where it was earlier this year.

3) Wright: Currently tied for 3rd in the league with 70 RBI. That's pretty respectable and speaks for itself, despite the fact it's been a quiet year and he's probably capable of a lot more.

4) Reyes: .316 in May, .305 in June, and .364 so far in July. Jose Jose Jose has turned it on, and he's scoring runs by the bushel. He's back to being the straw that stirs the drink.

5) Chavez: After a much improved .286 in June, he's hitting .351 so far in July. The two hole agrees with him, and with his patient contact hitting and bunting prowess it's not hard to see why. As always "everyday" Endy seems to come through when the team really needs him.

6) Tatis: I'm eating crow on this one for now. Tatis has been everything you can ask from a fill-in player who you've got out of position. He's played a respectable LF, can spell Delgado at first, is hitting over .300, and has multiple game winning hits. Every winning team needs a b-tier player to step up with some timely big hits, and F Tat's been doing that so far this year.

7) Santana: OK, one could've expected the guy to be better. But let's face it, he's doing his job well. His ERA is under 3 and the Mets still can't buy the guy a win. The run support totals have been embarrasing. He leads the starters in ERA, WHIP, and innings (saving the pen), as an ace should.

Nice sweep

After brooming the New York Gothams San Francisco Giants out of town, the Mets are now at 4 over .500. That matches their high-water mark of the season under Willie.

I think this is an important moment for the squad. You only get the "new manager bounce" for about a month or two, before the "new car smell" goes away. We need to take advantage of it while it's here, and break out of the "around .500 level" we've been at.

Win the series against the Rox, and we're at a new high-water mark for the year, and Manuel's clearly got the team sailing in the right direction at the break. Lose the series against the Rox, and we're still in the same range of win % that we had with Willie, and we'll go into the break feeling trapped in the never-ending game of one step forward, two steps back.

Notice to the squad: keep your focus. Don't start imagining your vacations or golf outings just yet. Keep the mo' going, and beat a team you should beat at home.

These are challenging circumstances for a manager, so Jerry 'll have his hands full the next 3 days to keep the team on point.

No Gnus is Good Gnus

Several days have ellapsed since the last post. That can only mean one thing:

winning streak, baby!

Lets all just maintain blogging silence and maybe we'll continue to close on the Philthies.

Something to chew on

At the All-Star break we're only 3.5 games back. Not bad, but more a product of how poor the NL East is. Consider this: if we were in the AL Central we'd be 7 games back; in the NL Central or AL West we'd be ~9 games back; and in the AL East a whopping 11.5 games back.

At the same time, we'd be in first place by 0.5 game in the NL West. That division is a disgrace.

Mets-Phils, game 3, Liveblogged!

You know you wanted it. Liveblog baby!

An Interesting 1st:

Perez kicks things off in typical Ollie fashion, walking the leadoff hitter.

Luckily, he made up for it by picking Werth off 1st base. Too bad Delgado couldn't get the ball out of his mitt and Werth took 2nd anyway.

Then you have Wright and Reyes staring each other down after Wright caught Utley's infield pop. What the heck was that about? Will this team every be able to get in order with Jose and Wright both with a claim to the "franchise player?"

Schneider tries to throw behind Werth at 3rd base allowing Rollins to move into scoring position. Odd play.

Perez then comes back to K Howard. Perez is so good at getting into and getting out of trouble, that it's tough to figure whether Burrell will knock in the two ducks on the pond.

Ollie gets ahead 0-2. Nice work.

Ollie gets it done, inducing Burrell to foul out to Delgado. Nice work by Ollie to gut through some bad fielding, and Rollins shot off of his calf.

Top 2:

Delgado blows. Easley, Anderson, and Schneider get 3 straight hits to load the bases. Pitcher pops to 3rd.

Jose Jose Jose with one of those game-chaning early game at bats. Do Mets give their pitcher a nice 2 or 3 run lead to start the game with?

3 ducks on the pond, c'mon Jose.

Meek fly out. Nice work.

Bottom 2:

Ollie needed 29 pitches to get through the 1st. Guess the pen better be ready, as usual.

More atrocious fielding. Marlon Anderson just flat missed a fly ball to left-center. Good thing he waved off Beltran. 2-base error to kick things off, putting Feliz in scoring position. What the heck is going on today?

Nice play by Jose to run down a fly ball a good ways down the left field line. One down.

Ump's got a weird strike zone.

HOLY COW! What a crazy catch Endy Chavez just made in right. Run saver, lead saver, maybe a game saver (if any 2nd inning play can qualify as such).

K to end the inning. Once again, Ollie works around a RISP.

BTW, anyone else wondering what happened to Angel Pagan? Just b/c he wasn't the everyday solution for LF, I'd rather have him fielding out there than career infielders like Easley or Anderson, or Chris "Who?" Aguila?

Top 3:

Endy goes quietly, 4-to-3. Wright just gets under one, and pops to left.

Beltran sends a line drive rocket over the fence for a lead. Key. Way to get out in front.

Delgado works a single. Nice to see the team still pushing for a rally and not being satisfied after taking the lead.

Easley goes to a full count, after the 3-0 pitch looked high for ball four, just like Chavez earlier this inning. Easley smokes one to center but it hangs up for Victorino.

Those navy blue stars-and-stripes hats the Metties have been wearing this series have really grown on me.

Hey, looks like the Wimbledon final is turning into a real barn burner. Federer comes back from 2 sets down, by way of two tiebreakers, to force a 5th and deciding set. Might have to flip for the next few minutes.

Top 4:

Ollie seems to have settled in. Easy bottom half last inning. Nice what a lead can do.

Marlon grounds out.

4 pitch walk to Schneider.

Nice work by Ollie bunting Schneider to 2nd.

Reyes up with RISP and 2 outs. Line single to left. Nice work. Unfortunately, too hard hit for lumbering Brian Schneider to come in. He's held at 3rd.

Big spot for Endy.

And...

a dribbler back to the pitcher. 3rd time in three innings we've stranded RISP.

In the words of Teddy K, "Hanging around, hanging around."

Bottom 4:

Once again the Phils have a RISP. Burrell got on with a broken bat liner, and a WP moved him to second with 1 out.

Ollie just dialed it up to 97 MPH to K Feliz. In the word of Ben Stein, "wow."

Jumped ahead 0-2 on Victorino, pegging the outside corner and then the inside corner with ole #1. Cohen says Ollie's "dealing." Is that going to be a problem with management?

Popped him up to foul ground, chased down by Delgado. Ollie's on a roll.

Top 5:

Wright lines a single. Beltran hits into a FC. One out, one on.

Delgado takes the count full. Nice K for Car-lost. Beltran swipes 2nd on the K. So RISP with two outs. Here we go again. Easley up. He's smoked two so far today. One more would be nice.

Beltran swipes 3rd without a throw. Interesting. Easley gets ahead in the count, 3-1. This guy keeps trying to nibble. Outside corner coming here, no doubt. Indeed it was. But he missed low. 1st and 2nd, 2 outs.

OK, Marlon, two ducks on the pond. Beltran at 3rd, Easley at 1st. Lets make up for your embarrasing play in the 2nd. Nibble, nibble, nibble. Kendrick ties up Marlon on an inside slider. Then goes back to well and misses inside. Now he misses off the inside corner with a fastball. This guy is scard to challenge. Two seamer drops down low. OK, Marlon, you're in the catbird seat now, 3-1. Here comes the inside corner fastball. Nope. He goes outside corner, and Marlon turns it over gently to Utley at second. 4-to-3.

Hanging around. Hanging around.

Bottom 5:

Ollie looking to strand a runner at 1st with 2 outs and Utley up. Be nice to face Howard next inning as a lead-off guy, no one on base.

Induces the ground out off his hands to first.

Looks like we're getting the Olde-New-Old-Ollie today, the dominant one. I like this one much better than the New-Old-Ollie.

He's in line for the W as of now.

Top 6

Schneider lines a rope to Howard at first for an out. He's had a few hard hit balls today. I've like what I've seen with Manuel going to more of a platoon behind the plate to get the best hitting matchups for his catchers.

With one out in the 6th and the pitcher up for the Mets, the Phils have the first bullpen activity of the day. Odd.

Perez strikes out, missing on a fastball that was way high and out of the strike zone. Would've been ball four. BTW, button your uniform Ollie! You look horrible.

Kendrick back to nibbling away with Jose up. 2-0.

Drops a little slider at the knees down the middle. Jose's just looking. 2--1.

Good eye. Kendrick nibbles inside and misses. A little homer coming up?

Nope. Just a tapper foul. Full count.

Jose protects, fouling off a low fastball. Probably a ball but you can't take it with this ump calling low strikes.

Nice! Jose stings a grounder over the 3rd base bag for a stand-up double.

Guess what? RISP with 2 outs, just like every inning but one (the 3rd, IIRC). We've yet to convert. Here's Endy's chance.

1-1. Why were they warming up if they're letting Kendrick stay in here? There's that quirky strike zone. Pitch looked low AND inside, but they call it strike 2.

Bounces a breaking pitch in the dirt. 2-2.

Fastball away? Yup. Endy fouls it off, staying alive.

Kendrick comes back in, and Chavez rolls it over to Howard at first, who takes it to the bag himself. 5 times in this game we've stranded runners in scoring position, and we've yet to drive any runners in.

Top 7:

Guess what? RISP with two outs. Easley up again. Beltran on second.

Chopper to Utley. Makes it 6 out of 7 innings we've stranded a RISP.

Bottom 7:

Tremendous play up the middle by Jose to get Victorino at first. Keeping the leadoff hitter off the bases, and a speedy runner at that, definitely huge.

Perez holds 'em scoreless through 7. That's just tremendous.

8th:

Can we hold on? Looks like we're entering pen time.

Tatis PH's for Marlon and grounds out. Same for Schneider, who was looking fastball and topped Romero's slider out to second. Two outs.

Well, the upside of a 1-2-3 inning is that we won't strand any runners. With Chris "who?" aguila pinch hitting, I'm guessing 1-2-3 looks pretty likely.

Full count. Romero out of the stretch. Lost the fastball outside. Aguila walks. One on, two out, Jose coming up.

Romero picks "who" off of first base. Nice work, big guy.

Well, no one got stranded in the 8th!

I guess we'll get Duaner, who will be looking to make amends for Friday night.

8th:

Sanchez gets one of three hitters he faces. 1st and 2nd, one out, Feliciano coming in to face Howard, and we're on rain delay.

This live blog is over, but this game ain't. Will all the missed chances cost the Metties?

Not Too Shabby

Last night was an interesting game to watch for a few reasons. The Mets seem to have addressed most of their shortcomings in one game.

Not scoring early runs? Notched one in the first (despite Davey's rally-killer dp).

Giving up after losing said lead? Not last night. Rally enforced.

Giving the opposing defense a break by not punishing them for their mistakes? No breaks here--the Phills paid for their errors.

Lame offense with ducks on the pond? Again, last night they came through.

Terrified when the bullpen gets the call? Solid, if not spectacular.

Now don't get me wrong--I'm not saying that they're gonna go on a tear and win the Series but they did pretty much everything right last night (especially after doing something wrong...). They took an early lead, not by being solid but by taking advantage of miscues. Maine was outstanding, with the exception of one pitch to Howard (how he can can throw 103 pitches in 5 2/3 and only give up one hit and two walks still confounds me--never seen so many foul balls). After giving up the lead, the immediately came back. And best of all, they didn't seem to be content with just getting a one-run lead back--they stepped on the Phills collective throats and choked the life outta them.

This game was a morale-crusher for Philly. They looked helpless in the late innings and clearly wanted to just go home (for which the weather was also a factor, I'm sure). We've seen this from our own squad waaaay too many times this season so it's easy to recognize.

It'll be interesting to see how both teams respond today. The early start after a late finish could be a big factor--will the Phills have a chance to clear their heads? Will the Mets carry momentum for once? Can Ollie beat down anyone other than the Yanks?

I know one thing--I'll be watching the CW at 1p to find out (or tuned in to the FAN if I've gotta go out--but you get the point...).

Let's turn this ship around!!!

Phils 3, Mutts 2

I tuned into this gem right after the Mets took the 2-0 lead, so I saw zero Mets offense. And when I say zero, I mean less than zero.

Durbin comes into the game, relieving the immortal J.A. Happ (who, BTW, blanked us through 4), and gets 7 in a row, with 6 K's. Madsen pitches a scoreless 8th. Lidge gets 'em 1-2-3 in the 9th on a grand total of 5 pitches. 5 effin pitches. With some legendeary efforts like Church popping to the pitching mound and Marlon Anderson rolling a swinging bunt to Howard standing on the bag at first.

So the O was just pitiful.

Then there was the D.

I witnessed the Phillies rally in the 6th. A couple of clutch rbi singles for Howard (through the hole vacated by the shift) and Burrell, but let's be honest--the inning only happened because Chris Aguila (who? who-the-ef is this guy that Manuel started in LF against the Phillies in a crucial game?) decided not to take two steps in to field Werth's lazy liner to left. Nope. Playing it on a hop was effort enough, thank you very much. And not for nothing, but the same scrub should have been able to make the play close on Utley (the tying run) at the plate--he fielded the ball before Utley had even gotten to third. And Utley scored easily.

Well, at least I saw Santana pitch a dominant game. No joke. Aside for a couple of punch singles that ignited a rally, he was retiring everyone and making them look silly. Before that 6th inning rally, he had a 1-2-3 fifth. He came back from that 6th inning rally to retire the next 7. He pitched 8 inning, 2 run ball, in only 95 pitches. That's under 12 pitches an inning, and that's despite throwing well over 20 in the 6th.

Which leads me to the big WTF question of the night. Why not pitch Santana in the 9th? He didn't come to bat in the 8th, wasn't pinch hit for. At 12 pitches per inning, what was Manuel scared Johan's pitch count would get up to 107? Santana had retired 7 in a row when they pulled him, and had been absolutely dominant all game but for one inning. Let your ace do his job, and give him a chance to win the game.

Instead, we come back with Duaner, who pukes it up immediately. And BTW, this ain't Monday Morning QB'ing. I was annoyed the minute I saw Sanchez on the mound, as was everyone else--SNY ran a text message poll if pulling Santana was the right move: 84% said no.

Well, it's a darn good thing we got rid Randolph. Now we get to have our cake and eat it too: the .471 baseball we crave, AND a "gangsta" running the club.

One up, one down

One up: is it possible that Pedro's suck-itude this year is because of tipped pitches? Possibly:

As he suspected, Pedro Martinez determined he was tipping his pitches in his past two starts - both lopsided losses.

Martinez makes his first start tonight since getting tagged by the Yankees last Friday, and new pitching coach Dan Warthen is predicting a Pedro rebirth.

"His stuff is better than it has been in two years," Warthen said yesterday. "He's in the low 90s, and all of his pitches are in order. He still has pinpoint control. I'm telling you, he's about to take off."

I'll see it when I believe it, but it would be good to sort out whether he's stunk this year due to (a) residual injury he's not disclosing, (b) just getting old and no longer good, or (c) tipped pitches.

One down: After causing alarms to go off Monday by citing "dead arm" as a reason for his awful showing in a 7-1 loss to the Cardinals, John Maine wondered yesterday what all fuss was about.

"It's no big deal," he said. "It's just a little fatigue."

Hmmm, no big deal? If Maine were older and/or had pitched more innings, I'd agree, it's expected and no big deal. When you're only 27 and have thrown as few innings as he has this year (only 98 so far, 29th in NL, averaging just under 6 IP per outing), I'd say fatigue showing up this early IS a concern.

Something to think about

When a career .276 batter comes back after suffering two concussions in the same season, hasn't played in weeks, and is STILL a better batter than you, it might be time to step back and wonder why you suck so hard. Or maybe you could just ponder Ryan Church's awesomeness. Either way.

Another game...

...another loss.

Another pathetic fielding effort.

Another pathetic pitching effort.

Another pathetic batting effort.

Cost to own and operate a 40-42 team in 3rd place that is a perennial underperformer: $137 M.
Cost to own and operate a 50-32 team with the best record in baseball: $43 M.

So we split 4 with the Jankees.

Whadya know, that makes for a .500 win percentage.

Sounds about right.

Double Header goodies

This was nice to see--

Pelf was dealing with base runners all night, but that's not too surprising: 7 lefties (or switch) in the Yankee lineup. He got the big outs he needed.

D Wright was 4-for-5 with RISP in Game 1.

Delgado's peformance was ridiculous. Maybe he'll figure he's done it all and can retire now?

Castillo blows. It's good he scored 5 runs in game 1 because he cost us almost as many in the field. Then he took the o-fer in game 2, leaving 6 on base.

Pedro didn't get it done. Must've been the pressure of squaring off against Ponson.

Blowenweis made a return appearance. Hadn't seen him since last year.

In the crucial AB's in game 2, here's what we got:

2nd inning
Reyes up, bases loaded, 1 out: meek infield pop
Castillo up, bases loaded, 2 outs: groundout

3rd inning
Castro up, bases loaded, 1 out: GIDP

I don't know if he'll get anywhere...

...but at least he's saying the right words. I've been complaining for a long time that the Mets are a miserable batting team, with no sense of game rhythm, and no sense of in-at-bat adjustments. They also typically seem to give up with 2 outs in an inning, effectively wasting 9 outs (or 1/3rd) of every game. Contrast that with Mariners who have scored a ton of their runs against us this series with 2 outs. Whether Manuel gets through to these players is unknown, but at least he's laid the issue right out there.

"Our approach trying to get the players to understand there is a flow and rhythm to the game and to try to get their best at-bat when it is somewhat critical to the outcome of the game," Manuel said before last night's rout. "There's going to be a lot of talking about changing the flow and rhythm with two-out RBI hits.

"We have a lot of work to do on our offense, period."

"We have to understand what pitchers are doing to get us out in different situations," Manuel said. "I'm talking about the context of what brings winning baseball."

As for the double ejection...

if you didn't catch the video you can see it here.

Beetz and I were discussing this while it happened, and Gary Cohen's call was right on--the ump was baiting Beltran. Sure, Beltran shouldn't have faced the ump when arguing the initial call, but he never left the batters box and quickly turned his focus towards the pitcher. The ump is the one who walks out in front of the plate to make a spectacle of the whole situation. Then the ump is the one that initiates the contact/bump with Manuel. And tossing Beltran (which you don't see b/c it happens while the camera is following Manuel back to the dugout) at that point is just gratuitous. The Mets probably should have protested the game.

As Beltran points out, any manager or player would be disciplined for making contact with an ump, I wonder if the league will discipline Rungee?

BTW, I didn't notice it in live time, but check out the dugout, and particularly D Wright, when the camera is following Manuel back to the dugout. When Beltran is ejected, they go NUTS.

Stymied by talent

So the Mets couldn't get it done tonight against Dickey. When you face the best, you can't expect to win. After all, as Gary Cohen just said, here are Dickey's numbers in his last 18 starts:
1-11 8.94 ERA

The Mets have 0 runs through 6 1/3 right now. What more could you reasonably expect?

Do the Wright thing

So tonight Wright is not starting a game for the first time this season. I complained all last year that Willie was overplaying both Jose and Wright, and they really should sit out at least 5-10 games during the season.

Curiously, the Post had this to say: Right or wrong, the Mets will be without David Wright tonight against the Mariners. The debatable decision by Jerry Manuel is part of the manager's plan to rest the starters in order to freshen them up for the long haul.

I'm not sure why that's a debatable decision; the guy has played in every game this year, and all at 3B except for one as DH. Of course you need to rest him; the numbers support that. The above plot shows season OPS averages for Wright, Reyes, and the scorching-hot Chipper Jones. Whereas Reyes' #s have been increasing and Chipper's roughly held steady, Wright's #s are steadily declining, screaming out for a breather.

How will the chips fall?

Tonight's game at Shea is very interesting on many levels. You have two teams that have drastically underperformed; both have new managers as of last week; and both have their aces on the mound tonight. It's also Manuel's first home game as the new manager, and it will be interesting to see how the crowd responds to him.

Here are some interesting points to consider. In favor of the Mets: Santana is 6-0 with a 2.42 ERA in his last eight starts versus the Mariners, and 7-1 with a 2.92 ERA in nine starts and seven relief appearances all-time against them. Seattle has the worst record in MLB, and the 3rd worst offense (in terms of runs) in MLB (worst in AL).

On the other hand, New York, though, has lost each of Santana's last three starts. The left-hander is 1-1 with a 5.27 ERA in two interleague starts this season.

Seattle will counter with Felix Hernandez (6-5, 2.87), who has posted a 0.95 ERA and a .184 opponents batting average en route to winning four straight starts. We've never faced Hernandez and the Mets generally stink against pitchers they've never seen before - even horrific ones - so this doesn't bode well.

It will indeed be interesting to see how it plays out. Now would be a great time for Johan to have his first truly dominant performance of the season, a complete game with under 2 runs.

Stay classy, New York

From the NY Post:

Angry Mets manager Jerry Manuel ripped Shea Stadium fans yesterday, comparing them to cow manure for booing beleaguered reliever Aaron Heilman.

ht: Drudge

Now that's just funny

So Manuel's only been on the job a week and already he's made several 'notable' comments. This one is just plain funny:

Manuel also invoked NFL coach Bill Parcells' infamous reference to then-Patriot receiver Terry Glenn as "she" instead of "he" by using the same term for Reyes.

"She acted up with me, and she had a day off," Manuel said of Reyes.

Talk about making it clear who's running the team! I like it, I'm glad someone is willing to lay down the law with Reyes. It's a necessary action for his continued growth and improvement, and I've been calling for it for a long time now.

Pelf

SHK and I had a conversation about Pelfrey about a week ago, and the same things I was saying still apply.

The kid is clearly a serviceable part of big league rotation right now. Doesn't mean every start will be great, but more often than not, he's keeping you in the game.

The transformation that this guy has had, from a body language standpoint, is unbelievable. I don't know if it correlates to the stats. I haven't taken the time to look at a game log. But I will tell you this--if you look at his first 3 starts of the year, and his most recent 3 starts, he looks like a different pitcher. He seemed so nervous and, frankly, afraid to challenge opposing hitters before. He seems content to drill a 95 MPH 4 seamer into the zone now and let the chips fall where they may. That's an amazing amount of progress, and my guess is, it would reflect in his stats.

The exciting part about Pelf is you get the sense he's about to have a surge in confidence. With his arm you know he still has plenty of room to improve still.

You can't be serious, part 2

Wow. All I can say is, wow.

About what, you may ask? About our new pitching coach. The other day after being canned Peterson had a hilarious quote claiming that he [Peterson] was like a hardwood floor that was being ripped out to upgrade to Tuscan tile. All I can say after reviewing the data is that if Peterson is a hardwood floor, Warthen is the equivalent of a pothole-plagued dirt road covered with horse manure. Well played Omar/Wilpon, well played.

You can't be serious

Better get to know Tony Bernazard a little better, because according to the Daily News he might be our next GM.

Let's right this ship

The question Mets players have to ask themselves now that Willie-watch is over is, do you want to keep sucking and making excuses, or do you want to play?

Let's look at two teams: Team A is 46-29 and sits in first place, while Team B is 35-36 and sits 5.5 games back in 3rd place.

Team A's ace has a 3.87 ERA with 89 Ks while Team B's ace is even better with a 3.04 ERA and 91 Ks. Team A's #2 starter is essentially out all season on the DL, and their #3 starter has recently missed several weeks on the DL. Team B's #2 starter has been on and off the DL, but their #3 guy is sporting a 3.87 ERA with 70 Ks.

Team A's closer has 21 saves with 3 blown saves, a 1.95 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and 41 Ks. Team B's closer has 16 saves with 5 blown saves, 2.10 ERA and 0.97 WHIP with 35 Ks. Edge to Team A, but not huge.

Team A has 2 sluggers, one of which is currently on the DL and has had a sub-par year, with only .252/13/43 (BA/HR/RBI). Their other slugger is also having a down year by his career #s, with .295/15/49. Team A's leadoff batter is .281/.363/51/23/34 (BA/OBP/R/RBI/SB).

Team B has 3 sluggers, all of which are down this year, but two best are .278/12/54 and .270/10/48, roughly the same as Team A. Team B's leadoff batter is .297/.359/52/29/26, better than Team A.

So why are the Red Sox blowing us out of the water???

Yup, looks like the Mets finally got the right guy for the job

From today's Daily Spew:

No, Jerry Manuel wasn't glad he had to make a point about his authority as manager one batter into his first game at the helm.

Manuel met resistance from a helmet-tossing Jose Reyes on Tuesday night, when the shortstop's left hamstring tightened and he didn't want to leave the game. Reyes eventually headed for the showers, and shortly afterward apologized to Manuel for the well-intentioned insubordination.

"I told him next time he does that I'm going to get my blade out and cut him. I'm a gangster. You go gangster on me, I'm going to have to get you. You do that again, I'm going to cut you right on the field," quipped Manuel

You need to have players and manager sharing a common world view. I see good things happening.

ht: Drudge (!)

Jose Reyes by the numbers

A look at Jose's monthly BA and OBP over the last 3 years. Talk about fluctuations.

Willie reax, part deux

So Willie has come right out and disputed Omar's version of events. According to Willie he was under the impression from Omar's comments on Sunday that he was safe for now but two of his coaches were going to get axed. He says he was stunned he was cut and he deserved better.

I wish the Mets had a real front office instead of a bunch of no-talent ass clowns.

I'm guessing the Metties might need a new PR guy...