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."
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wright does right
From espn:
I'm sure Beltran, Delgado and Reyes were doing el mismo.
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
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.
On another note, interview with Dan Murphy.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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.
Friday, August 15, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
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.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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:
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.
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.
Monday, August 11, 2008
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:
Since those obstacles do exist, it looks like our kid from double A is gonna have to grow up quick:
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."
Saturday, August 09, 2008
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...
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...
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...
Friday, August 08, 2008
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!"
"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!"
Thursday, August 07, 2008
A nice win. Santana must feel cursed.
From the AP via ESPN:
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!
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!
Sunday, August 03, 2008
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