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.
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Or give up a 2-out grand slam to the opposing team's PITCHER.
Either way though.
Well, at least Manuel is willing to call it like it is. The question is, will he get results?
The Mets also managed only four hits, even with Hernandez leaving in the fifth due to a sprained ankle from a collision at home plate with Carlos Beltran. Afterwards, Manuel said the Mets need to make philosophical changes to their offense.
"I think that's where we are going to have to have our focus, is on our offense," Manuel said. "We swung at some balls outside of the strike zone. We haven't managed that very well. We've just got to find a way to have a better attack.
"We have to probably sit down with [hitting coach Howard Johnson], have a different plan of attack than we've had."
Indeed, after the game, Manuel, Johnson and assistant GM Tony Bernazard all met in Manuel's office.
Unlike Wilpon, who either still has his head in the sand or is a filthy liar:
Wilpon also defended Omar Minaya, ... and said the Mets' minor-league system - portrayed in the press as barren -is "in much better shape than is being reported."
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