Disgruntled Mets Fan

Bobby Parnell, for lack of a better word, is awesome.  Jerry Manuel, let Bobby start a game.  What’s the worst that could happen?  Give him a shot to give you 6 strong.  Feliciano has been great, especially with his fastball, and can pitch the 7th inning for you.  I know that Parnell has been a valuable part of the successful equation that makes the bullpen so good, but we need another arm in the rotation.  Redding is not going to cut it.  If it doesn’t work, send him back to the pen.  It might be easier to trade for a decent middle reliever than a starting pitcher effective enough to earn a spot in the rotation.  I think it’s worth a shot.

The Mets salvaged the weekend series, winning 3-2 in the rubber match against Florida, and keeping pace with the Phillies.  Much Like Jerry Manuel, I’m throwing in the towel on Saturday’s game and will not discuss it at all other than saying Tim Redding should not get another start on this team unless he shaves his goatee.  He looks ridiculous.

Today’s win was a very good win, with quality pitching and timely hitting coming together to give the Mets a 3-0 lead going into the 8th inning, a situation that the Mets will win on most occasions.  Today’s game got a little more interesting because JJ Putz forgot how to throw strikes again, or wasn’t pumped up enough to do so, giving up a walk and 2 hits en route to 2 earned runs in a third of an inning.  Maybe someone should get JJ an iPod with the Rocky Soundtrack on it.  Maybe he could put it on around the top half of the 7th to get the adrenaline building that he’s claimed he has a hard time finding coming out in the 8th.  Maybe he’s just hinting that he wants to be traded to a team that will use him as a closer.  Is that such a bad idea?

I’m sure by now anyone reading this knows that Angel Pagan, who was doing a great job playing all the outfield positions and hitting lead off, left the game with what’s being called a groin discomfort.  That’s bad news if Carlos Beltran isn’t ready to go soon, although I think Jeremy Reed will do a good job filling in where necessary.  Fernando Tatis can also play outfield so that’s not an issue for this team.  If Pagan’s injury becomes serious enough for some time on the DL, perhaps Emil Brown will make an appearance on the 25 man roster.

David Wright is having a rough time at the plate again.  He got his one hit today, a single with two out and no one on, but failed to have any productive at bats with men on base all day.  Pagan drove in the first run, but it was the bottom half of the order, Fernando Martinez and Omir Santos, that drove in the runs that would be the difference on back to back doubles in the 7th inning.  Martinez showed all the signs of his five-toolness today, making a strong throw from right field to third base, keeping a runner from advancing in addition to showing some plate discipline and the ability to hit the ball to the opposite field.  “Omir Being Omir” is the new fan favorite on this team.  He gets the stadium buzzing every time he gets up and his clutch hitting and great attitude are part of the reason the Mets have been able to survive all the injuries, and flu viruses, taking toll on the roster.

Mets head to Pittsburgh for 4 to start next week.  I love watching games when the Mets are in Pittsburgh.  PNC Park looks like a great place to watch a game, and it’s a stadium I plan on visiting soon.

The score tonight at the end of 11 innings tonight was Omir Santos 2 – Florida Marlins 1.  Santos knocked in both of the Mets runs in the extra inning victory, en route to their 4th win in a row.  The first came on a solo home run in the 5th to tie the game at 1, the 2nd on a single in the bottom of the 11th that scored Gary Sheffield who led off the inning with a single, and then forced a bad throw trying to steal second leaving him at 3rd as the winning run with 1 out.  Fernando Tatis was hit by a pitch and Santos delivered to end the game.  This was a statement for Omir, cementing his spot as the 25th man on the roster with Brian Schneider returning to the team tomorrow.  The Mets rewarded him for his tremendous effort after the game, by immediately trading Ramon Castro to the White Sox.

Mike Pelfrey put in his best effort of the season to date.  He went 7 2/3 innings only giving up 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 6 for the 2nd consecutive game.  Pelfrey has seemed to find some comfort throwing his secondary pitches, and it’s made him noticeably more effective, especially when it comes to striking out batters.  Bobby Parnell finished off the 8th, Frankie Rodriguez pitched the 9th, JJ Putz pitched the 10th and 2/3 of the 11th, and Pedro Feliciano came in to get the last out the Mets would need picking up the win.

David Wright struggled at the plate again tonight, striking out in a key moment in the 8th that could have kept the game out of extra innings, when he came up with 1 out and the bases loaded.  Wright has now struck out in 11 of his last 25 plate appearances, so it seems that he’s cooled off considerably from where he was on the last road trip.  Maybe the Mets should fly him out to the West Coast where he seems to have left his swing.

Gary Sheffield was in the middle of everything again tonight, somewhere Gary has been finding himself a lot in recent times.  I owe Shef a written apology and he’ll get it soon enough.  Until he shows me differently, I’m going to credit him as being one of the most valuable players the Mets have on their roster this year, and they got him for chump change.  Maybe with my apology, I will start a charity for Gary, to get his salary up to something more in line with his production for the team.

John Maine looks to follow up on his last strong effort tomorrow.  Brian Schneider will likely get the start in the day game after a night game.  Hopefully Daniel Murphy will get the start too.  I don’t understand Jerry Manuel’s logic for not starting him tonight after his break out game on Wednesday night.  That would be number 8275 on the list of things I haven’t understood when it comes to Jerry Manuel, but it’s hard to argue with the manager of a first place team using reserves to get through every game.

Let’s Go Mets!

Because the Phillies are playing the Nationals… That’s why!

With the Mets a half game ahead in the division and the 2nd place Phillies playing the worst team in baseball, the Amazins will need to put in a strong effort to stay ahead.  Sure it’s early in the season, and staying ahead isn’t the number one priority, but not falling too far behind a team as strong as Philadelphia should always be a priority.  If the Mets fall too far, it will be tough to come back, even at full strength.

As injury depleted as the Mets roster has been so far this season, using 35 different players to date, they have been lucky enough to catch a stretch in the schedule where they play lower tier teams, and have been able to pull out some victories so far.  The sloppy baseball they’re playing against these teams will not get the job done when they start playing the better teams in the league.  Mets Today does a very good job of discussing the bad fundamentals shown by the team, so I’ll just share what they said.

A small portion includes:

Which brings up another thing: if you don’t have the opportunity to watch this team in person, then you only see about 10% of the game — the 10% that Emmy Award Winning producer Bill Webb thinks you should be seeing. You therefore miss:

- every time an outfielder misses a cutoff man;
- every time a pitcher fails to back up a base;
- every time a position player fails to back up a base;
- every time a batter watches the ball in flight off his bat, instead of busting it out of the box;
- outfielders not re-positioning themselves from batter to batter
- infielders not re-positioning themselves from pitch to pitch
- cutoff men who are out of position, or not in position at all
- runners who get poor leads
- runners who get poor secondary leads
- runners who do not pay attention to their base coaches
- runners who do not properly read an outfielder’s route to the ball, and don’t take an extra base
- on-deck hitters who do not clear bats and do not tell the incoming runner whether and where to slide

There are other “little” things that you may or may not see on your TV, but if you never played baseball then you may have no idea why I’m making a “big” deal out of these “little” things. And you’re excused for your ignorance, because from the focus of the centerfield camera, you’re led to believe that the most important things are homeruns and strikeouts.

If the Mets continue to play the type of baseball they’re playing now, they’re going to find themselves losing ground on Philadelphia before they know it.

We all know how poorly the Mets have played down the stretch in recent years.  I know as well as anyone, having the luxury of spending the final day of the past two seasons at Shea watching the Marlins dismantle the Mets to keep them out of the playoffs.  Maybe coming from behind will light a fire that’s clearly been missing in September.  Chasing instead of being chased has done a lot for the Phillies in recent times.

The way I see it, this season can play out in 2 different ways.

• 1.  The Mets reserves can pull their weight, keeping the team within striking range of first place.  The injuries heal and everyone comes back at full strength.  The roster is infused with new life and goes on a run for the ages.  The pitching staff is strengthened, either from an outside source, or from carrying the weight of the team on their backs.  The starters give you 6, the bullpen gives you 3 and the offense produces it’s runs.  It’s a simple formula that this team is built for, and should have no problem fulfilling.
• 2.  The Mets fall hard and fast in June when they find the quality of team they play significantly higher with series against Philly, the Yankees, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, The Cards, The Yankees again, and then Milwaukee to round out the month.  The nagging injuries plaguing people like Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Church and JJ Putz become more serious as some or all of them spend significant time on the DL.  Carlos Delgado does not return to full strength after his surgery and never plays another game as a Met.  The playoffs are not a possibility.

Presenting the best case/worst case scenario shows how a few variables can change the whole outcome of a season.  Which of these is more likely to resemble what actually happens this season?  Only time will tell.

Big Pelf tonight.  Let’s go Mets!

Johan Santana was not at his best last night, although it may have been due to a strike zone that seemed to shrink with every pitch.  The thing is, as the Nationals found out last night, Johan not at his best is still better than most people.  I’m not sure how many major league pitchers would have come out and thrown 2 effective innings after a 4th inning like Santana threw.  I’m not sure how many pitchers would have been given the chance to.  It was a gutsy performance, and Johan was rewarded for his guts when Daniel Murphy hit the go ahead 2-run home run in the bottom half of the 6th that put Santana in line for his National League leading 7th win of the season.  Santana’s walk total would normally be the biggest news of the night, but not last night.  Last night belonged to Daniel Murphy.

Murphy put a career night at the plate, going 3-4 with 5 RBI and the forementioned go ahead home run.  The homer to right, initially ruled a double, was reviewed and overturned much to the joy of the Citi Faithful.  Sitting on the first base side, it didn’t look like it hit the sign to me, but watching the replay on one of the many wonderful TVs placed around the 300 level, it seemed clear that the trajectory of the ball changed.  His last 2 RBI came in the bottom of the 7th when he smacked a ball the other way into the gap, a hit that put the game out of reach.  Murphy had been struggling, but played the type of game that busts slumps.  Hopefully he’ll get to play a few nights in a row after this performance, and Jerry Manuel won’t shuffle the line up around too much keeping him on the bench til the end of the weekend.

Couple last night’s win with Philadelphia’s loss, and the Mets find themselves in first place again.  They’ve won 3 in a row and 5 out of their last 6.  They have a day off today where they will get to rest their bones before taking on Florida for the weekend series.  Florida comes to town losers of 6 of their last 10 and 5 games behind the Mets.  The Marlins are the type of team that gives the Mets trouble no matter how bad they’re playing, so this series will not be a cakewalk by any means.  Mike Pelfrey and John Maine will open the series, but as far as who will pitch Sunday, your guess is as good as mine.  Tim Redding is in line, but struggled in his last performance, so he may not get another shot.  Oliver Perez is scheduled to make another rehab start that day, maybe he gets called up?  Only time will tell.

With all that said, it’s time for some disgruntled-ness

Fernando Martinez…  If I were Jerry Manuel, not only would Martinez not have stepped back on to the field after not running out a pop up last night, he would get benched through the weekend.  I know he’s a kid, and you have to baby him, but come on!  If you don’t know how to play the game, you should sit for a few days and watch how it’s done.  If you can’t catch on after that, maybe you need to go back down to the minors.  Now, my seats were not good enough to see into the dugout, but I found myself wondering if any of the Mets veterans went over and gave Martinez a little talking to (ahem David Wright).  I’m sure it’s not the type of behavior that we will see out of Martinez regularly, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t go unpunished.  If not by the coach, then by the older guys on your team.

Now that the disgruntled-ness is over, let’s be happy.  First place!

With Jose Reyes and Ryan Church finally placed on the DL yesterday, the Mets now have a whopping 7 players listed.  The team is without 4 every day starters, an invaluable utility player, a starting pitcher, and a former closer destined for the 7th inning if he returns.  Pair that with Carlos Beltran’s absence until at least Friday, and you get the Mets Lite.

Compare yesterday’s lineup with that of opening day, and you wouldn’t even know you were watching the same team.

Opening Day – Yesterday
1. Jose Reyes, SS                 1. Angel Pagan, CF
2. Daniel Murphy, LF              2. Luis Castillo, 2B
3. David Wright, 3B                3. David Wright, 3B
4. Carlos Delgado, 1B            4. Gary Sheffield, LF
5. Carlos Beltran, CF              5. Fernando Tatis, 1B
6. Ryan Church, RF                6. Fernando Martinez, RF
7. Brian Schneider, C             7. Omir Santos, C
8. Luis Castillo, 2B                  8. Ramon Martinez, SS
9. Pitcher’s Spot                     9. Pitcher Spot

Only 2 of the starters from opening day played last night, only 2!!!!!

That being said, when injuries are depleting your team’s line up, your pitching needs to respond.  Livan Hernandez responded last night.  He threw the Mets first complete game of the season so far, giving up 9 hits and 1 earned run with 6 strike outs in a solid effort.  His only mistake was a pitch to Ryan Dunn in the top of the 7th.  Hernandez improved to 4-1 on the year in 9 starts.  He brought his ERA down to 4.28.

Gary Sheffield made the game a little less interesting in the bottom of the 7th, golfing a line drive 3-run home run, his 2nd in 2 days, into the left field seats.  I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong, and so far Gary Sheffield is proving me wrong.  I said earlier in the season that he was washed up, but in his 22 starts in May he’s hitting a fiery .357 with 4 HRs and 13 RBIs.  It truly seems like the more he plays, the hotter he gets.

Mets Phenom Fernando Martinez made his first start of the season last night in right field.  He will surely be tested defensively playing the hardest position to play in Citi Field, but he has a natural talent that the Mets organization hopes will flourish in the majors.  Martinez was hitting very well in the minors so far this season, but struggled at the plate last night, going 0-3 with 2 Ks.  He did pick up his first RBI of the year on a fielder’s choice in the third.

Martinez and Livan Hernandez were the only Mets in the line up not to notch a hit against the National’s pitching corp, with David Wright, Gary Sheffield, and Angel Pagan each picking up 2.  Wright continues to be on fire at the plate, hitting .417 in May to bring his overall average up to .349.  He’s got 22 of his 30 RBI since the beginning of the month.  Looks like his slow start was just that, and it’s over now.  Angel Pagan has been a pleasant semi-surprise filling in all over the outfield.  I say semi-surprise because Pagan had played very well up until his injury last year, so his performance is not unheard of.  It’s just nice to see him bouncing back the way he has.  He’s batting .296 with a .406 OBP so far, and he’s 4 for 4 stealing bases.  He’s not the dynamic threat leading off that Jose Reyes can be, but he keeps a solid bat and threatening speed at the top of the line up.

Alex Cora has decided to put off surgery until the off season, and will try and play through a thumb injury.  He can come off the DL as early as Tuesday and says he plans to do so.  He doesn’t think he can be an every day player with the injury, but will be able to fill in whenever needed.  Cora will be a huge part of the Mets success if he can fill in at SS and 2B to give Luis Castillo a break every now and then and help in a platoon role at SS until Jose Reyes is ready to return.

Lastly,
Metsblog.com reports that Oliver Perez pitched 4.1 innings last night allowing a run on 3 hits and striking out 5.  True to Perez’s form, he walked 5.

I’m hoping to get to go to the Mets game tonight to see Johan complete the sweep against the Nationals.  Let’s hope the rain doesn’t come.

Let’s Go Mets!