Long after I went to sleep, Angel Pagan hit a game-winning single up the middle, scoring Jose Reyes to give the Mets a 4-3 victory in the 12th at about 11:10 PM EDT (less than an hour from the morning). Jorge Sosa vultured the win, finishing up the top of the 12th for Scott Schoeneweis. Scotty finally contributed positively, getting Chase Utley to ground into a DP to end the 11th. Starter John Maine went six plus strong innings, leaving in the 7th after a Pedro Feliz homer was followed by a Chris Coste double.
It looks like the Mets caught a break on the game-winning play, as Reyes may have been tagged out after a strong throw by mid-game replacement centerfielder Jayson Werth. I haven't seen it yet. Who cares? The call was made, so let's move on. We could use some breaks against the Phils, who suddenly started getting all the bounces last year after Jimmy Rollins proclaimed them the team to beat.
New York built a 3-0 lead, on a two-run single by Ryan Church in the 4th and an RBI single by Carlos Beltran in the 6th, both off starter Adam Eaton. After Feliz's homer, Pedro Feliciano finished the seventh, and then Aaron Heilman entered in his customary 8th inning slot. Don't get too comfy, Aaron. For the third time this season, Heilman surrendered two runs in an appearance, starting with a frightening blast by Ryan Howard, followed by a walk to Pat Burrell, a Geoff Jenkins single, and a So Taguchi RBI grounder.
Billy Wagner came in to pitch the ninth, and I'm a bit concerned about his velocity. It's April, only his second appearance, he's pitching from the full windup, and he was still only able to hit 95 on his fastball. That could be down to 92 by Summer, and maybe in the 80's by September. The slider looked great, but he tends to get wilder with that pitch as the season progresses. In this outing, the only blemish was a two-out walk to Utley, but if both the fastball and slider decline even a little bit off what they were last night, the hits might not stop coming.
At 4-4, we're still a game and a half behind Florida. Hey, Marlins, play some real teams, already! The Braves were snowed out in Colorado, which allowed them to avoid a four game sweep. Nelson Figueroa makes his first start in the bigs since 2004 tonight vs. the Brewers and Manny Parra. As I've been saying in the comments, Figueroa figures to be a replacement-level starter. Anything better will be a bonus, and we start finding out tonight if he can provide it.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
PHINALLY
We beat the Phillies! It only took nine games and one division title, but the Mets for once outscored their surly neighbors 90 miles to the southwest, 8-2. Mike Pelfrey was solid, allowing two runs in five innings, and the bullpen, bolstered by the now-present Pedro Feliciano, held the Phils scoreless. Feliciano had been away attending to a "family emergency", which contributed to Tuesday's late game collapse.
The game was a laugher in more ways than one, owing mostly to the Phillies ineptitude with the glove, and Kyle Kendrick's inability to throw a strike after getting the count to 0-2. Jimmy Rollins was on the bench with a sore ankle, forcing Eric Bruntlett to play short, and that was where most of the hilarity ensued. The Mets scored in the first inning on what was apparently a poorly scored error by Chase Utley on a hard-hit grounder by David Wright (I was standing outside a Coldwater Creek waiting for my wife to spend more money at the time). The Phils tied it up in the second after Jose Reyes botched a sure inning-ending double play grounder, tossing it behind second baseman Damion Easley and off his fingertips. Pelfrey stayed remarkably calm after that play, allowing a Carlos Ruiz single, but getting pitcher Kendrick and the Flyin' Hawaiian Shane Victorino to ground out.
Kendrick walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, accounting for three of the six walks by the alliterative young righty, but wriggled out of that jam by getting Carlos Beltran to tap weekly to Utley. In the third, the Mets did regain the lead on a double by Delgado, who looks very Delgado-like again, and singles by Ryan Church and Easley. After Brian Schneider lined out, Pelfrey attempted a bunt and nearly interfered with Ruiz, who nudged Pelfrey out of way, grabbed the ball, and threw wide to third off Pedro Feliz' glove to load the bases. Bruntlett then literally booted a possible double-play grounder by Reyes, scoring Church. Angel Pagan followed with a double just inside the bag at third, to make it 5-1, and then after Chad Durbin relieved the frustrated Kendrick, Wright hit a sharp grounder that Bruntlett completely whiffed trying to backhand for his second error of the inning and the Phillies third. Reyes scored on that play to
make it 6-1, and Durbin then bounced a sinker off the front of the plate to the backstop to score Pagan to make it 7-1.
The Phils mounted a few minor challenges, including loading the bases off Feliciano in the 8th, but could not get closer than five runs the rest of the way. The win makes us 3-4, still a game and a half back of the Marlins, and in third place. The Braves were hammered by the Rockies, and go for four straight losses to Colorado this afternoon.
MLB.TV gave me a non-full screen picture for about the first six innings last night, and then somebody at MLB headquarters flipped a switch and I got the full screen video. I have no idea what they are doing with this product. It seems like nobody really cares that much about customer service, but they are all over the idea that if they can't figure out a way to derive revenue off the commercials, you aren't getting them! I'm assuming somebody stands by each feed and manually cuts it over to the white "MLB.TV" logo screen between innings and during pitching changes. If that's the case, why isn't somebody checking the feed to make sure we're getting full-screen video? I gave the Microsoft Silverlight video player another shot last night, but even at 800 KB it's jumpy and looks terrible. The 1.2 MB feed is a complete mess. I might just go ahead and get Extra Innings, because MLB.TV is not getting any better, and if you call their customer service line, all you get is some dope with a New Yawk accent who basically tells you to go screw yourself. If I didn't travel so much, I never would have bought it in the first place. I might also invest in a Slingbox, which can broadcast your cable signal to any PC over the web.
The game was a laugher in more ways than one, owing mostly to the Phillies ineptitude with the glove, and Kyle Kendrick's inability to throw a strike after getting the count to 0-2. Jimmy Rollins was on the bench with a sore ankle, forcing Eric Bruntlett to play short, and that was where most of the hilarity ensued. The Mets scored in the first inning on what was apparently a poorly scored error by Chase Utley on a hard-hit grounder by David Wright (I was standing outside a Coldwater Creek waiting for my wife to spend more money at the time). The Phils tied it up in the second after Jose Reyes botched a sure inning-ending double play grounder, tossing it behind second baseman Damion Easley and off his fingertips. Pelfrey stayed remarkably calm after that play, allowing a Carlos Ruiz single, but getting pitcher Kendrick and the Flyin' Hawaiian Shane Victorino to ground out.
Kendrick walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, accounting for three of the six walks by the alliterative young righty, but wriggled out of that jam by getting Carlos Beltran to tap weekly to Utley. In the third, the Mets did regain the lead on a double by Delgado, who looks very Delgado-like again, and singles by Ryan Church and Easley. After Brian Schneider lined out, Pelfrey attempted a bunt and nearly interfered with Ruiz, who nudged Pelfrey out of way, grabbed the ball, and threw wide to third off Pedro Feliz' glove to load the bases. Bruntlett then literally booted a possible double-play grounder by Reyes, scoring Church. Angel Pagan followed with a double just inside the bag at third, to make it 5-1, and then after Chad Durbin relieved the frustrated Kendrick, Wright hit a sharp grounder that Bruntlett completely whiffed trying to backhand for his second error of the inning and the Phillies third. Reyes scored on that play to
make it 6-1, and Durbin then bounced a sinker off the front of the plate to the backstop to score Pagan to make it 7-1.
The Phils mounted a few minor challenges, including loading the bases off Feliciano in the 8th, but could not get closer than five runs the rest of the way. The win makes us 3-4, still a game and a half back of the Marlins, and in third place. The Braves were hammered by the Rockies, and go for four straight losses to Colorado this afternoon.
MLB.TV gave me a non-full screen picture for about the first six innings last night, and then somebody at MLB headquarters flipped a switch and I got the full screen video. I have no idea what they are doing with this product. It seems like nobody really cares that much about customer service, but they are all over the idea that if they can't figure out a way to derive revenue off the commercials, you aren't getting them! I'm assuming somebody stands by each feed and manually cuts it over to the white "MLB.TV" logo screen between innings and during pitching changes. If that's the case, why isn't somebody checking the feed to make sure we're getting full-screen video? I gave the Microsoft Silverlight video player another shot last night, but even at 800 KB it's jumpy and looks terrible. The 1.2 MB feed is a complete mess. I might just go ahead and get Extra Innings, because MLB.TV is not getting any better, and if you call their customer service line, all you get is some dope with a New Yawk accent who basically tells you to go screw yourself. If I didn't travel so much, I never would have bought it in the first place. I might also invest in a Slingbox, which can broadcast your cable signal to any PC over the web.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
HOME MOPE-ENER
I missed the last Shea home opener because I work for the Man. Several Men, and a few Women, actually, who do not allow streaming video on the company wires. I didn't miss much, as the Mets dropped another one, this time to the hateable Phillies, 5-2.
Oliver Perez had another stellar outing, giving up only three hits and three walks in five innings. The bullpen failed to hold another lead, though, with Schoeneweis and Heilman (sounds like one of those personal injury law firms that advertise on the outer cable channels) doing their worst. The Mets got an early couple of runs off Old Man Jamie Moyer, but that was all they could muster for the day, as Chad Durbin, JC Romero, and the previously combustible Tom Gordon shut them out.
The good news is, Wright, Delgado and Beltran are all hitting, Pagan, Church and Schneider aren't embarrassing themselves, yet, and at least Perez and Santana look sharp. The bad news is the bullpen, which could be a disaster this year, especially since they will be overtaxed having to mop up for Mike Pelfrey and Nelson Figueroa. Of course, Pelfrey and Figueroa pitching in the first place is the real bad news. El Duque will have to miss a rehab start while he continues to recover from his foot ailment, and there's no telling when Petey will be back.
The loss drops the Mets to 2-4, a game and a half behind the Marlins, who have been getting fat on Pittsburgh and Washington. The Braves lost again to the Rockies, a team that was hitting under .200 coming into that series. The NL East looks historically awful right now.
Oliver Perez had another stellar outing, giving up only three hits and three walks in five innings. The bullpen failed to hold another lead, though, with Schoeneweis and Heilman (sounds like one of those personal injury law firms that advertise on the outer cable channels) doing their worst. The Mets got an early couple of runs off Old Man Jamie Moyer, but that was all they could muster for the day, as Chad Durbin, JC Romero, and the previously combustible Tom Gordon shut them out.
The good news is, Wright, Delgado and Beltran are all hitting, Pagan, Church and Schneider aren't embarrassing themselves, yet, and at least Perez and Santana look sharp. The bad news is the bullpen, which could be a disaster this year, especially since they will be overtaxed having to mop up for Mike Pelfrey and Nelson Figueroa. Of course, Pelfrey and Figueroa pitching in the first place is the real bad news. El Duque will have to miss a rehab start while he continues to recover from his foot ailment, and there's no telling when Petey will be back.
The loss drops the Mets to 2-4, a game and a half behind the Marlins, who have been getting fat on Pittsburgh and Washington. The Braves lost again to the Rockies, a team that was hitting under .200 coming into that series. The NL East looks historically awful right now.
Monday, April 07, 2008
FORGET THE MAINE - AND THE SOSA TOO
The Mets/Braves game was washed out on Friday, which turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for the New Yorkers.
Saturday's game started out fairly well, with the Mets tying the game at 1-1 in the second on an Angel "Godless" Pagan fielder's choice. The game proceeded squarely downhill after that, and never recovered. John Maine nearly wriggled out of a jam in the 3rd, but then gave up a two-out two-run single to Matt Diaz. He yielded another two-out RBI hit in the 4th, this time to Mark Teixeira, to make it 4-1.
The Mets briefly made a comeback, getting to within one run at 4-3 on a RBI single by Reyes and a run-scoring groundout by Castillo. Maine gave way to Joe Smith, who along with Scott Schoeneweis gave up another run in the 6th to make it 5-3. It looked like the Mets might do some damage off reliever Pete Moylan when Brian Schneider and pinch-hitter Endy Chavez both reached base in the 7th, but the top of the order fizzled out the rally, and Jorge Sosa came in to pitch the bottom of the 7th.
Since Sosa had a nice outing last time, I was pretty much prepared for the worst this time, and the worst pretty much occurred. It wasn't all Sosa's fault, only mostly. Brian McCann hit a double up the gap with one out, and then Jeff Francoeur popped up to short right for what should have been out number two. Reyes went back on it, Pagan came in, and Pagan failed to call off Reyes, who turned his back to the field and completely lost the ball. It fell in for a single, moving McCann to third. Fill-in second basemen Martin Prado drew an unconscionable walk, and was followed by pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson, the real second baseman. Johnson showed why he is the regular, hitting a pinch-hit grand slam deep into the right field stands, effectively ending the game. It did for me, anyway, as I turned it off and got on with my life. The Mets added a couple of runs off of Royce Ring, and the Braves followed with a couple off of Nelson Figueroa to make the final 11-5.
Sunday's game matched aces John Smoltz and Johan Santana. The two pitchers posted zeroes until the bottom of the third, when Yunel Escobar doubled in Mark Kotsay to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. Smoltz was finished after 5 shutout innings, and once again I had some hopes that the Mets could have some fun with the Braves bullpen, but it wasn't to be. Blaine Boyer, Pete Moylan, and Will Ohman, not exactly names to be feared, held the Mets scoreless for three innings. Meanwhile, Aaron Heilman relieved a valiant Santana and gave up a two-run bomb to Teixeira in the 8th to put the game out of reach. Braves closer Rafael Soriano allowed a meaningless two-out run in the 9th for the 3-1 final. Luckily, I missed the ending because I attended a San Antonio Missions game with another owner in my Strat league who, moved here last year. They also lost, but I would recommend picking up Dexter Fowler from the Rockies' organization in your next draft.
The losses dropped the Mets to 2-3, a half-game back of the Braves and Marlins. The Phillies did not distinguish themselves over the weekend either, losing two of three to Cincinnati. We get the Phils at home tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday after an off-day today. Mike Pelfrey gets the Tuesday start, and thank goodness it's not at Citizen's Bank Park. ESPN has Figueroa starting against Milwaukee on Friday night. Wow, this is not looking very pleasant. I'm starting to resign myself to a .500 season if Pedro stays on the DL or is as ineffective as he was for the three-plus innings he did pitch. And I'm also thinking that .500 might be good enough to make the playoffs in this very poor division.
Saturday's game started out fairly well, with the Mets tying the game at 1-1 in the second on an Angel "Godless" Pagan fielder's choice. The game proceeded squarely downhill after that, and never recovered. John Maine nearly wriggled out of a jam in the 3rd, but then gave up a two-out two-run single to Matt Diaz. He yielded another two-out RBI hit in the 4th, this time to Mark Teixeira, to make it 4-1.
The Mets briefly made a comeback, getting to within one run at 4-3 on a RBI single by Reyes and a run-scoring groundout by Castillo. Maine gave way to Joe Smith, who along with Scott Schoeneweis gave up another run in the 6th to make it 5-3. It looked like the Mets might do some damage off reliever Pete Moylan when Brian Schneider and pinch-hitter Endy Chavez both reached base in the 7th, but the top of the order fizzled out the rally, and Jorge Sosa came in to pitch the bottom of the 7th.
Since Sosa had a nice outing last time, I was pretty much prepared for the worst this time, and the worst pretty much occurred. It wasn't all Sosa's fault, only mostly. Brian McCann hit a double up the gap with one out, and then Jeff Francoeur popped up to short right for what should have been out number two. Reyes went back on it, Pagan came in, and Pagan failed to call off Reyes, who turned his back to the field and completely lost the ball. It fell in for a single, moving McCann to third. Fill-in second basemen Martin Prado drew an unconscionable walk, and was followed by pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson, the real second baseman. Johnson showed why he is the regular, hitting a pinch-hit grand slam deep into the right field stands, effectively ending the game. It did for me, anyway, as I turned it off and got on with my life. The Mets added a couple of runs off of Royce Ring, and the Braves followed with a couple off of Nelson Figueroa to make the final 11-5.
Sunday's game matched aces John Smoltz and Johan Santana. The two pitchers posted zeroes until the bottom of the third, when Yunel Escobar doubled in Mark Kotsay to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. Smoltz was finished after 5 shutout innings, and once again I had some hopes that the Mets could have some fun with the Braves bullpen, but it wasn't to be. Blaine Boyer, Pete Moylan, and Will Ohman, not exactly names to be feared, held the Mets scoreless for three innings. Meanwhile, Aaron Heilman relieved a valiant Santana and gave up a two-run bomb to Teixeira in the 8th to put the game out of reach. Braves closer Rafael Soriano allowed a meaningless two-out run in the 9th for the 3-1 final. Luckily, I missed the ending because I attended a San Antonio Missions game with another owner in my Strat league who, moved here last year. They also lost, but I would recommend picking up Dexter Fowler from the Rockies' organization in your next draft.
The losses dropped the Mets to 2-3, a half-game back of the Braves and Marlins. The Phillies did not distinguish themselves over the weekend either, losing two of three to Cincinnati. We get the Phils at home tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday after an off-day today. Mike Pelfrey gets the Tuesday start, and thank goodness it's not at Citizen's Bank Park. ESPN has Figueroa starting against Milwaukee on Friday night. Wow, this is not looking very pleasant. I'm starting to resign myself to a .500 season if Pedro stays on the DL or is as ineffective as he was for the three-plus innings he did pitch. And I'm also thinking that .500 might be good enough to make the playoffs in this very poor division.
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