The Mets blew out the Dodgers 12-1 on getaway day, smacking Brad Penny around in the 2nd and 5th innings and saddling him with 10 earned runs by the time he was mercifully pulled. He had a 3.19 ERA coming in, and 4.79 going out. John Maine, conversely, lowered his ERA from 3.48 to 3.00, tossing 8 and a third innings before being relieved by Duaner Sanchez. Ryan Church hit his 6th homer, and second in the series (we won't mention the one he allowed by sitting on his ass on the warning track - oh, I guess we will).
Everybody else but the Nats won in the NL East, so nothing changed in the standings. The Reds bring their 4.59 team ERA to Shea for the weekend. We get Matt Belisle, Bronson Arroyo, and rookie Johnny Cueto, three of their least effective starters. Time to muscle up.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
A.B.B. - 189
REPUBLICANS - TCP calls the North Carolina and Indiana primaries for John McCain. I love going out on a limb like that. What an adrenaline rush! Ok, so Johnny Mac is waiting for his coronation in Minneapolis in September. He's been out making some speeches in mostly Democratic areas, like New Orleans and Memphis, screwing up the difference between Sunnis and Shi'ites, endorsing a gas tax holiday that everyone with any sense is excoriating, and denying affairs with lobbyists. Other than that, his campaign is catching fire. Well, he is pulling even with Obama and Clinton, but one gets the feeling this is because we still don't know who he's running against. Once that gets sorted out, those polls should probably drift back to the 8-10 point spread we had been seeing. I think in the end, he'll get trounced in the popular vote, by 10% or more, but narrowly lose or maybe even win the Electoral College. That should be interesting.
DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama - Everybody is saying he clinched it last night, so I will too. It's like chicken soup; it couldn't hurt. I pretty much just want this to be over, and since I can't see Obama conceding, that means I want Obama to win. I think he's earned it in a lot of ways, with pledged delegates, popular votes, grace under the fire of 100 million hits on Jeremiah Wright YouTube videos, etc. As I mentioned above, though, he'll be hard-pressed to sway any tossup or weak Republican states to his side. Hillary may be right that he can't win the Electoral College while she can.
Hillary Clinton - She might as well fight to the end. The Senate is not doing anything of substance other than contemplating more tax rebates during Bush's lame duck year, and she might even win. It would only take about 80 superdelegates to switch allegiances to turn the count around to her favor. She and Bill must have at least that many with skeletons in their closets.
DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama - Everybody is saying he clinched it last night, so I will too. It's like chicken soup; it couldn't hurt. I pretty much just want this to be over, and since I can't see Obama conceding, that means I want Obama to win. I think he's earned it in a lot of ways, with pledged delegates, popular votes, grace under the fire of 100 million hits on Jeremiah Wright YouTube videos, etc. As I mentioned above, though, he'll be hard-pressed to sway any tossup or weak Republican states to his side. Hillary may be right that he can't win the Electoral College while she can.
Hillary Clinton - She might as well fight to the end. The Senate is not doing anything of substance other than contemplating more tax rebates during Bush's lame duck year, and she might even win. It would only take about 80 superdelegates to switch allegiances to turn the count around to her favor. She and Bill must have at least that many with skeletons in their closets.
MMM, MMM, BAD
I went to bed at 7 pm last night due to an ailing stomach from eating bad Campbell's soup I bought at Wal-Mart (I hope Google gets all of that). Needless to say, I didn't watch MTV reality star Blake DeWitt's lumber around the bases while Ryan Church sat stunned on the warning track. I also missed Moises Alou stealing home. What, did he go in with his hands waving and Russell Martin didn't want to get urine all over himself? I'll have to check that one on video later. The Mets smacked around Hiroki Kuroda but couldn't touch Hong Chi-Kuoh or Takaishi Saito (the Dodgers will soon be known as the Los Angeles Toyota Four-Runner Dodgers). The final score was 5-4 thanks to DeWitt's inside-the-park job. If MTV had filmed that play, it would have been less exciting than most scenes in "The Hills", it took so long. Nelson Figueroa's ERA is settling out at replacement level, just as I suspected it would.
The Phillies lost, keeping the margin at 1-1/2 games, but the Mets record is now 16-15, and we are in fourth place, tied with Atlanta. We do have seven games with the Reds and Nats, though, and we need to get healthy in that stretch. Interleague starts after that with the Yankees at the Stadium, followed by Atlanta and Colorado on the road, then Florida and the Dodgers at home, and then another West Coast trip. The Mets have to make three separate California trips before the All-Star break because of the Angels being on the schedule. I'm only making two this year, and I don't have to exert myself, other than to eat vendor dinners. Hey, it's not easy downing a dessert after beer, appetizers, and a complete entree, you know! That has nothing to do with my stomach ache, yesterday, of course. That was all Campbell's and Wal-Mart (one more shot, Google, don't let me down).
The Phillies lost, keeping the margin at 1-1/2 games, but the Mets record is now 16-15, and we are in fourth place, tied with Atlanta. We do have seven games with the Reds and Nats, though, and we need to get healthy in that stretch. Interleague starts after that with the Yankees at the Stadium, followed by Atlanta and Colorado on the road, then Florida and the Dodgers at home, and then another West Coast trip. The Mets have to make three separate California trips before the All-Star break because of the Angels being on the schedule. I'm only making two this year, and I don't have to exert myself, other than to eat vendor dinners. Hey, it's not easy downing a dessert after beer, appetizers, and a complete entree, you know! That has nothing to do with my stomach ache, yesterday, of course. That was all Campbell's and Wal-Mart (one more shot, Google, don't let me down).
THE RAVINES
That sure wasn't worth staying up for. And I didn't. The Mets fell 5-1 at Dodger Stadium last night well after I was in bed. Oliver Perez eschewed the walk for the long ball, surrendering homers to Rafael Furcal, Matt Kemp, and some guy named Blake DeWitt, who sounds like he is starring on one of those faux reality shows on MTV in his spare time. The Amazins managed a run on five hits and four walks off the guy that I watched live, Chad Billingsley. Billingsley struck out 12 the night I was there, but only managed four K's last night. They aren't giving out any free pizza in either case, just so you know.
The Phillies manhandled the D-Backs and are now 1-1/2 games clear. We temporarily dropped behind the Marlins, who didn't play. Tonight, Blake DeWitt and his girlfriend Carly Haverford hang out at a restaurant and exchange monosyllabic conversation punctuated by awkward silences while eating spinach fettucine. Riveting television!
The Phillies manhandled the D-Backs and are now 1-1/2 games clear. We temporarily dropped behind the Marlins, who didn't play. Tonight, Blake DeWitt and his girlfriend Carly Haverford hang out at a restaurant and exchange monosyllabic conversation punctuated by awkward silences while eating spinach fettucine. Riveting television!
PLANE CRAZY
Well, maybe we'll school them. It was a pretty good weekend in the desert, as the Mets took two of three from the young and formidable Snakes. Game 1 was pretty much a laugher from the outset. Jose Reyes led off with a triple, and everything went downhill from there for would-be Rick Ankiel impersonator Micah Owings. The D-Backs got two runs back off John Maine in the second, but that was all they could muster for the whole game. Maine went six strong, and Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez were scoreless in the final three for a 7-2 final. I was in the Minneapolis Airport until about the 7th when my plane finally took off (my 7:11 pm flight left at 11 pm CDT!) I had to shut down my laptop at about 10 pm to make sure I didn't miss the boarding announcements. They bumped me to first class, so I officially cannot complain. I think that's in my frequent flyer contract somewhere, near where it says, "This airline makes no promises of actual transportation whatsoever."
Game 2 was a laugher in the other direction. The guffawing started as soon as Duaner Sanchez entered the game in the 8th with the Mets trailing 5-4. At least for once it wasn't Heilman! Carlos Delgado had only recently hit a three-run homer off Arizona ace Brandon Webb to put the Mets within hailing distance, but the usually reliable Sanchez had a major meltdown, giving up five singles, a walk, and a wild pitch in 1/3 of an inning before Scotty Schoeneweis finished the inning and allowed three more runners to score to give Arizona a 10-4 victory. I missed this entire game because of those wonderful MLB.TV blackout rules. They read like the frequent flyer contract; "MLB.TV makes no promise of actual entertainment delivered whatsoever." Well, I only would have been able to watch it on Fox on a tiny TV screen at Retama Park, where I was betting on (and losing my shirt on) the Kentucky Derby. Stupid chalk. RIP Eight Belles, you ran a hell of a race.
The rubber game (starring Royce Ring - that's an old joke from my Phillies blog a couple of years ago) featured Johan Santana and Danny Haren. The D-Backs have two aces, plus Randy Johnson, so we were bound to get at least one if not two of them. David Wright wasn't too impressed, hitting a massive homer to left to make it 2-0 in the 4th. Catcher Chris Snyder hit a (literally) ringing triple off the top of the fence in left to make the score 2-1, and then after a bases-loaded escape by Santana in the 6th, Joe Smith immediately surrendered the lead on a hit, a walk, and a broken-bat dunker by Mark Reynolds. I joined the game in progress right as Santana was getting out of the 6th, after buying some sweet new cross-trainers with the money I didn't win at the track.
The game stayed tied 2-2 until the 9th, and I was figuring the Mets bullpen would come up with another way to lose, especially after Chad Qualls and his 0.00 ERA made his appearance. Carlos Beltran and Moises Alou (looking pretty good for an old man) greeted Qualls with singles, and as Delgado was coming up, everyone in the known universe was thinking double play. Carlos tapped a roller to 1st, and Conor Jackson wheeled to throw to second. I was thinking, well, it was probably hit too slowly for a DP, so the worst we'll get is 1st and 3rd. How about 1st and 2nd and a run in? Jackson's throw zoomed over the head of Augie Ojeda into left field, scoring Beltran and sending about 10,000 people out into the 110 degree heat of their parked cars. Brian Schneider moved the runners up with a sac bunt, and then Bob Melvin elected to walk Luis Castillo to load the bases for another possible DP. Marlon Anderson would have none of it, smashing a first-pitch pinch-hit single (#67 of his career) to right for the fourth run, and Jose Reyes followed with a a sac fly for the final score of 5-2. Chad Qualls new ERA: 0.51.
With the Phillies and Marlins winning, the Phils maintained their half-game lead over us and Florida. The Braves are 11-4 at home, and 4-11 on the road! The Phils have to go in to Chase Field and try to beat these guys now, while we head off to LA, in between my trips there. A bunch of co-workers are going to the Tuesday game with tickets I bought for them. So cruel.
Game 2 was a laugher in the other direction. The guffawing started as soon as Duaner Sanchez entered the game in the 8th with the Mets trailing 5-4. At least for once it wasn't Heilman! Carlos Delgado had only recently hit a three-run homer off Arizona ace Brandon Webb to put the Mets within hailing distance, but the usually reliable Sanchez had a major meltdown, giving up five singles, a walk, and a wild pitch in 1/3 of an inning before Scotty Schoeneweis finished the inning and allowed three more runners to score to give Arizona a 10-4 victory. I missed this entire game because of those wonderful MLB.TV blackout rules. They read like the frequent flyer contract; "MLB.TV makes no promise of actual entertainment delivered whatsoever." Well, I only would have been able to watch it on Fox on a tiny TV screen at Retama Park, where I was betting on (and losing my shirt on) the Kentucky Derby. Stupid chalk. RIP Eight Belles, you ran a hell of a race.
The rubber game (starring Royce Ring - that's an old joke from my Phillies blog a couple of years ago) featured Johan Santana and Danny Haren. The D-Backs have two aces, plus Randy Johnson, so we were bound to get at least one if not two of them. David Wright wasn't too impressed, hitting a massive homer to left to make it 2-0 in the 4th. Catcher Chris Snyder hit a (literally) ringing triple off the top of the fence in left to make the score 2-1, and then after a bases-loaded escape by Santana in the 6th, Joe Smith immediately surrendered the lead on a hit, a walk, and a broken-bat dunker by Mark Reynolds. I joined the game in progress right as Santana was getting out of the 6th, after buying some sweet new cross-trainers with the money I didn't win at the track.
The game stayed tied 2-2 until the 9th, and I was figuring the Mets bullpen would come up with another way to lose, especially after Chad Qualls and his 0.00 ERA made his appearance. Carlos Beltran and Moises Alou (looking pretty good for an old man) greeted Qualls with singles, and as Delgado was coming up, everyone in the known universe was thinking double play. Carlos tapped a roller to 1st, and Conor Jackson wheeled to throw to second. I was thinking, well, it was probably hit too slowly for a DP, so the worst we'll get is 1st and 3rd. How about 1st and 2nd and a run in? Jackson's throw zoomed over the head of Augie Ojeda into left field, scoring Beltran and sending about 10,000 people out into the 110 degree heat of their parked cars. Brian Schneider moved the runners up with a sac bunt, and then Bob Melvin elected to walk Luis Castillo to load the bases for another possible DP. Marlon Anderson would have none of it, smashing a first-pitch pinch-hit single (#67 of his career) to right for the fourth run, and Jose Reyes followed with a a sac fly for the final score of 5-2. Chad Qualls new ERA: 0.51.
With the Phillies and Marlins winning, the Phils maintained their half-game lead over us and Florida. The Braves are 11-4 at home, and 4-11 on the road! The Phils have to go in to Chase Field and try to beat these guys now, while we head off to LA, in between my trips there. A bunch of co-workers are going to the Tuesday game with tickets I bought for them. So cruel.
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