We should be three games ahead. We should be three games ahead. We should be three games ahead!
Sorry, I can't get that thought out of my brain. I realize that this is self-defeating and not helpful in any way, but still, WE SHOULD BE THREE GAMES AHEAD! Ok, never mind.
The Mets won game three against the Wife Beaters with a clutch two-out, two-run double in the 8th from my new best friend, Carlos Delgado. Dude is raking. Yeah, I know, I called him an embarrassment and washed up. It was just my motivational techniques! Well, it would be if he read this. The Good Oliver Perez showed up as well yesterday afternoon, yielding a solo homer by Jayson Werth as his only major blemish in seven and two-thirds innings. Wags was sharp again to get his 26th save in a 3-1 final.
The Cards come to Shea for three games starting tonight. Their pitching staff is looking pretty ratty, and they just fell behind the Brewers in the wild-card race. It's as good a time as any to see them, although they will have Phat Albert. They'll throw Kyle Lohse on Sunday, who the Mets couldn't touch the last time they faced him. This will make tonight's and Saturday's games critical. We have some guy named Brandon Knight (another Baseball Witness Protection Program player?) pitching on Saturday. He was torched pretty good while he was with the Yankees back in 2001 and 2002, but he has a 1.60 ERA this season with the Zephyrs. I'm not sure why he is a better option than Tony Armas, Jr., but Jerry Manuel has a 14-3 record in his last 17 games, so I suppose we should trust him.
And, also, we should be three games ahead. Really.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
TGIW
As in Thank God It's Wagner, and not the rest of the Gang Who Can't Get Anybody Out When It Counts (GWCGAOWIC?). I feel somewhat better this morning, although I can't help but think we should by all rights be two games ahead right now and gunning for a sweep.
Jose Reyes did the major damage with a well-timed three-run homer off Ryan Madson in the 6th that broke a 3-3 tie. The Chief Wife Beater himself, Brett Myers, started and was wild, walking five and hitting Carlos Delgado. Maddeningly, the Mets kept letting him off the hook, scoring only two in the first even though Myers had walked the bases loaded and then walked in a run. The Phils answered immediately in the 2nd with back-to-back solo homers off starter John Maine by Shane "Annoyin' Hawaiian" Victorino and Geoff Jenkins. The Mets wasted a great opportunity in the 3rd when they loaded the bases with one out, but could only score one after Marlon Anderson struck out. They were lucky to get that one when Jimmy Rollins bobbled a grounder by Damion Easley that might have been the third out. Maine lasted seven and pitched well, staying around long enough to get the W after Reyes' homer.
I can't completely excoriate the Non-Wagners (much easier acronym), since Scottie Schoeneweis and Joe Smith were spotless in the 8th, aside from a prudent walk to Pat Burrell. Billy looked completely healthy in getting three quick outs in the ninth. I'm assuming he's available for this afternoon's game. Oliver "Two-Face" Perez takes on the Methusalah of the Delaware Valley, Jamie Moyer, to decide who walks away in the lead. It's probably best that I will be following this on my BlackBerry, although it may not be good that my BlackBerry is so easy to throw.
Jose Reyes did the major damage with a well-timed three-run homer off Ryan Madson in the 6th that broke a 3-3 tie. The Chief Wife Beater himself, Brett Myers, started and was wild, walking five and hitting Carlos Delgado. Maddeningly, the Mets kept letting him off the hook, scoring only two in the first even though Myers had walked the bases loaded and then walked in a run. The Phils answered immediately in the 2nd with back-to-back solo homers off starter John Maine by Shane "Annoyin' Hawaiian" Victorino and Geoff Jenkins. The Mets wasted a great opportunity in the 3rd when they loaded the bases with one out, but could only score one after Marlon Anderson struck out. They were lucky to get that one when Jimmy Rollins bobbled a grounder by Damion Easley that might have been the third out. Maine lasted seven and pitched well, staying around long enough to get the W after Reyes' homer.
I can't completely excoriate the Non-Wagners (much easier acronym), since Scottie Schoeneweis and Joe Smith were spotless in the 8th, aside from a prudent walk to Pat Burrell. Billy looked completely healthy in getting three quick outs in the ninth. I'm assuming he's available for this afternoon's game. Oliver "Two-Face" Perez takes on the Methusalah of the Delaware Valley, Jamie Moyer, to decide who walks away in the lead. It's probably best that I will be following this on my BlackBerry, although it may not be good that my BlackBerry is so easy to throw.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
TIN METS
Why, oh, why, Lord, am I doomed to root for a team with no heart?
So, what if Billy Wagner is hurt? Come on, Duaner, show some nutsack and get the 5-6-7 hitters for the Phillies out for crying out loud! Instead, each one of them singles, and then Joe Smith gets a slow grounder from Pedro Feliz that Jose Reyes apparently wasn't thinking could ever possibly be hit to him, and he forgets that Shane "Flyin' Hawaiian" Victorino is on first. Reyes stops to think for a few seconds, straining his pea brain, then steps on second base well after Victorino has arrived, so now nobody is out. YOU'VE GOT TO GET ONE OUT! Then, So Taguchi, who is on the Phillies roster for one reason only, to torment the Mets, gets his first pinch hit of the entire season (thanks for pointing that out in advance, Gary Cohen), by driving a Pedro Feliciano pitch over Endy Chavez' head to tie the game. Endy, he's facing a lefty who lives on the outside of the plate, don't you think maybe he might want to go to right? So why are you playing right behind second base? I see the Phils added three more after that. I turned it off in disgust before that inevitability occurred.
Oh, this was a team effort all right. Endy Chavez has to be blamed for a lot of it, but he wasn't the only one. Chavez ran the Mets out of at least two runs on two separate bone-head plays. The second one was much worse than the first one. On the first one, with none out in the 3rd, Endy had singled to move Reyes to second. David Wright then hit a double that Chavez had almost no chance to score from first on, but he was waved around by Luis Aguayo and was out by ten feet. You can kind of chalk that one up to aggressiveness, because it was early in the game, but he should have stayed at third. In the second episode, in the 7th and again with none out, Endy hit what should have been an easy triple but missed Aguayo waving him to third and ended up with a double. Wright then hit a sharp single to right field, and Endy once again had zero chance of scoring, but as if to try to make up for his earlier two blunders, he and Aguayo gave it another try, and this time he was out by about 15 feet. You knew those two runs would be significant, and they were.
We suck. And we don't even have as much will to win, fire in our belly, intestinal fortitude, call it what you will, as a bunch of wife beaters. Have fun in the Playoffs, Philly. You want it more, so you can have it.
So, what if Billy Wagner is hurt? Come on, Duaner, show some nutsack and get the 5-6-7 hitters for the Phillies out for crying out loud! Instead, each one of them singles, and then Joe Smith gets a slow grounder from Pedro Feliz that Jose Reyes apparently wasn't thinking could ever possibly be hit to him, and he forgets that Shane "Flyin' Hawaiian" Victorino is on first. Reyes stops to think for a few seconds, straining his pea brain, then steps on second base well after Victorino has arrived, so now nobody is out. YOU'VE GOT TO GET ONE OUT! Then, So Taguchi, who is on the Phillies roster for one reason only, to torment the Mets, gets his first pinch hit of the entire season (thanks for pointing that out in advance, Gary Cohen), by driving a Pedro Feliciano pitch over Endy Chavez' head to tie the game. Endy, he's facing a lefty who lives on the outside of the plate, don't you think maybe he might want to go to right? So why are you playing right behind second base? I see the Phils added three more after that. I turned it off in disgust before that inevitability occurred.
Oh, this was a team effort all right. Endy Chavez has to be blamed for a lot of it, but he wasn't the only one. Chavez ran the Mets out of at least two runs on two separate bone-head plays. The second one was much worse than the first one. On the first one, with none out in the 3rd, Endy had singled to move Reyes to second. David Wright then hit a double that Chavez had almost no chance to score from first on, but he was waved around by Luis Aguayo and was out by ten feet. You can kind of chalk that one up to aggressiveness, because it was early in the game, but he should have stayed at third. In the second episode, in the 7th and again with none out, Endy hit what should have been an easy triple but missed Aguayo waving him to third and ended up with a double. Wright then hit a sharp single to right field, and Endy once again had zero chance of scoring, but as if to try to make up for his earlier two blunders, he and Aguayo gave it another try, and this time he was out by about 15 feet. You knew those two runs would be significant, and they were.
We suck. And we don't even have as much will to win, fire in our belly, intestinal fortitude, call it what you will, as a bunch of wife beaters. Have fun in the Playoffs, Philly. You want it more, so you can have it.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
SPLIT-CINNATI
The Mets went 2-2 in southern Ohio this weekend, which was good enough to stay in a first place tie with the Wife Beaters. Here's a quick recap of the weekend's games:
Friday: John Maine gave up four runs on two hits, three walks and a hit batsman in the 5th, and the Mets couldn't solve Bronson Arroyo for the second time this season, as they fell 5-2.
Saturday: This was a close, back-and-forth affair until the 7th, when Pedro Feliciano got pounded by Jay Bruce, Jeff Keppinger and Adam Dunn, and Aaron Heilman chipped in by allowing a crushing triple to Joey Votto. The Reds won easily 7-2.
Sunday: The Mets got out to a 4-1 lead in the 4th, and with Mike Pelfrey on the mound I was feeling pretty good. Then in the bottom of the 4th, Marlon Anderson let Ken Griffey Jr.'s pop fly drop in for a ground-rule double, Brandon Phillips singled in Griffey, Ramon Castro threw one into center field on a steal attempt to allow Phillips to go to third, Dunn hit a sac fly, and Edwin Encarnacion jacked one into the left field seats, and it was 4-4. Just like that. Both teams added a run, with the Reds' tally coming on an impressive upper-tanker by Phillips, also off Pelfrey. The game went to extras, and Reds reliever Bill Bray, which sort of rhymes with "Bad Day", had one. He gave up an instant double to start the inning to pinch-hitter Robinson Cancel. Jose Reyes tried to bunt him to third, and catcher Javier Valentin almost collided with Encarnacion trying to field it, allowing Reyes to beat it out easily. It looked like the Reds were going to
get a break when Argenis Reyes hit a sharp grounder right to Encarnacion. Since Cancel had to hold at third, Encarnacion decided to try for the force at second, but threw the ball away into right field, scoring Cancel and sending Jose Reyes to third. After a David Wright intentional pass, Carlos Beltran hit a fast-dropping liner to right that Griffey caught but that left him in no position to make a throw as Jose scored. Daddy Wags struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th for a 7-5 Mets final.
Both the Mets and Wife Beaters now have identical records of 53-46, with Florida a half game back at 52-46. Florida has a remarkable -25 in run differential, compared to our +35 and Philly's +75. We play Philly for three at Shea starting Tuesday, then host the Cards. Philly hosts Atlanta after us, and the Marlins host Atlanta but then have to travel to Wrigley to play the NL leading Cubs for four games. This week is a critical chance to establish some separation from our rivals, but given the way the rest of the season has progressed, I'll be content with a tie or a lead of any kind when it is over.
Friday: John Maine gave up four runs on two hits, three walks and a hit batsman in the 5th, and the Mets couldn't solve Bronson Arroyo for the second time this season, as they fell 5-2.
Saturday: This was a close, back-and-forth affair until the 7th, when Pedro Feliciano got pounded by Jay Bruce, Jeff Keppinger and Adam Dunn, and Aaron Heilman chipped in by allowing a crushing triple to Joey Votto. The Reds won easily 7-2.
Sunday: The Mets got out to a 4-1 lead in the 4th, and with Mike Pelfrey on the mound I was feeling pretty good. Then in the bottom of the 4th, Marlon Anderson let Ken Griffey Jr.'s pop fly drop in for a ground-rule double, Brandon Phillips singled in Griffey, Ramon Castro threw one into center field on a steal attempt to allow Phillips to go to third, Dunn hit a sac fly, and Edwin Encarnacion jacked one into the left field seats, and it was 4-4. Just like that. Both teams added a run, with the Reds' tally coming on an impressive upper-tanker by Phillips, also off Pelfrey. The game went to extras, and Reds reliever Bill Bray, which sort of rhymes with "Bad Day", had one. He gave up an instant double to start the inning to pinch-hitter Robinson Cancel. Jose Reyes tried to bunt him to third, and catcher Javier Valentin almost collided with Encarnacion trying to field it, allowing Reyes to beat it out easily. It looked like the Reds were going to
get a break when Argenis Reyes hit a sharp grounder right to Encarnacion. Since Cancel had to hold at third, Encarnacion decided to try for the force at second, but threw the ball away into right field, scoring Cancel and sending Jose Reyes to third. After a David Wright intentional pass, Carlos Beltran hit a fast-dropping liner to right that Griffey caught but that left him in no position to make a throw as Jose scored. Daddy Wags struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th for a 7-5 Mets final.
Both the Mets and Wife Beaters now have identical records of 53-46, with Florida a half game back at 52-46. Florida has a remarkable -25 in run differential, compared to our +35 and Philly's +75. We play Philly for three at Shea starting Tuesday, then host the Cards. Philly hosts Atlanta after us, and the Marlins host Atlanta but then have to travel to Wrigley to play the NL leading Cubs for four games. This week is a critical chance to establish some separation from our rivals, but given the way the rest of the season has progressed, I'll be content with a tie or a lead of any kind when it is over.
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