On Tuesday, the Mets and D'Backs were in a race with a huge weather system bearing down on Shea, and each team scored early. Arizona got a run in the top of the first off John Maine, and the Mets answered with three runs off Micah Owings. David Wright hit a two-run homer deep into the left-field bleachers in the 2nd, and with Maine settled down, it looked like possibly a successful and quick night as the skies gradually darkened. Maine kept throwing more pitches than he would have like, though, and by the end of the 5th, with score now 5-3, he was over 100 pitches and needed to sit down. No problem, right? It's an official game, and the rain is coming any second.
Yup, here it comes. Any second now. Meanwhile, the D'Backs rallied for two runs to tie it in the sixth off Claudio "I Belong in New Orleans" Vargas. Of course, now it finally rained. I went to bed, disgusted at the Mets for blowing an easy rain-shortened win, so I missed the rest of it. Apparently. the rain subsided quickly, and Chris Snyder belted a home run off Joe Smith in the 8th to make it 6-5. Duaner Sanchez was brought in for the ninth but could not keep the game close, yielding dingers to Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson for a 9-5 final. Same old Mets.
The weather was better on Wednesday as Mike Pelfrey made another attempt to stay in the rotation. I was stuck in my bedroom and couldn't watch because my wife was using the so-called Man Cave for her book club. The Mets picked up three runs in the fourth off D'Backs ace Brandon Webb. Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo led off with singles, with Reyes advancing to third on a throwing error by Webb, and after Wright moved Castillo over with a groundout, Carlos Beltran drove home a pair with a base hit to right center. Carlos Delgado reached on an infield hit, and then Marlon Anderson, playing for the (surprise!) injured Moises Alou, grounded into a fielder's choice to pick up an RBI. Webb's pitch count in the 4th inning was 28, and he left after five still trailing 3-0.
Pelfrey, meanwhile, was uncharacteristically brilliant, averaging a strikeout per inning and generally baffling the D'Backs' hitters. Willie was prepared to let Pelfrey try for the shutout, but after Drew led off the 9th with a single, in came Billy Wagner. Again, no problem, right? Billy's pretty reliable. Down went Orlando Hudson on strikes, and things are looking good. Uh-oh, double by Conor Jackson, tying run at the plate, Chad Tracy up. Tracy K'd, and now the D'Backs were down to their last out, with Mark Reynolds up. Reynolds bats right and leads the team in HR's. I don't like where this is going. And where this is going is way up in the left-field bleachers on a 3-2 pitch. Two strikes on him, even! Tie game, 3-3, and Mike Pelfrey goes from a shutout to an ND in record time. Thanks, Bill.
I finally was able to tune in on MLB.TV in the bottom of the 9th just in time to see Brian Schneider hit a can of corn to center with two on to send the game to extras. It looked like another dispiriting loss was on the way, and it was only a question of when. The innings dragged on with neither team threatening. Feliciano relieved Wagner, who gave way to Heilman (ugh) and then Vargas (double ugh), but the Snakes couldn't take advantage. We did nothing against Chad Qualls, and then Edgar Gonzalez, the very dregs of the Arizona bullpen, came in and pitched a scoreless 12th. Just as it seemed the game might last until well past my bedtime, Castillo hit a harmless grounder to third that Reynolds botched. After Wright popped out for what should have been the third out, Beltran stepped up and on a 2-2 count, hit a screamer toward the scoreboard in right. "IT'S OUTTA HERE!! IT'S OUTTA HERE!! AND THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME!" bellowed Gary Cohen through my PC speakers. 5-3 in 13. We NEEDED that one.
The Johan battles the other Diamondbacks ace, Danny Haren, today. Moises is limping, Church is on the DL, and some guy named Chris Aguila is wearing #29. We're six and a half out, and two games under .500. This season is rapidly disintegrating, but at least for one night, it was fun to be a Mets fan. I guess I'll stick with it.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Sunday, June 08, 2008
QUICK ONE
Since last time...
Padres 2, Mets 1
Padres 2, Mets 1
Padres 8, Mets 6
The Mets stink. That is all.
Padres 2, Mets 1
Padres 2, Mets 1
Padres 8, Mets 6
The Mets stink. That is all.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
KEEP GETTING HIT WITH BASEBALLS, SAN DIEGO
Ok, enough with the "Anchorman" references. I promise. Until the next one.
The Padres beat the Mets last night 2-1 on...get ready...you'll love this...a bases-loaded walk-off hit by pitch. Seriously. Scotty Schoeneweis, rapidly reverting to his past suckitude, walked the sacks full in the 9th inning of a 1-1 game (why not try Master William here? You can't win it in the 10th if you give up a run in the 9th, Willie...Baseball 101). The first two unintentional walks both came after 0-2 counts. Nibbling much, Scotty? I missed it of course because I was sawing z's in my Central Time Zone abode, but someday I might have a look at the lowlights on MLB.TV. Adrian Gonzalez grounded out to the mound, but it acted like a sac bunt because Scotty could only get the out at first. Kevin Kouzmanoff was then intentionally passed to set up a force at any base. We got the force, but it was a force-in, not a force-out. Paul McAnulty (real name, once again, withheld) was the plunkee, and you can put this one in the loss
column for the Dumbass Mets.
Kouzmanoff factored in one of those rare plays you don't see often (I didn't see it either, but then again, I don't see much when they play on the West Coast and I'm not there with them) in the 7th inning. The Kouz smacked a hot grounder toward short which struck Tadahito Iguchi in the leg, giving Kouzmanoff a hit and the Mets the final out of the inning. As Crash Davis might say, if you can ricochet only one ball a week of your teammates, it's the difference between .250 and .300. Then again, Iguchi fell on his shoulder trying to avoid the ball and will be out for at least a month, so this may not be such a good strategy.
The loss wasted another decent effort by Mike Pelfrey, who lasted six innings and gave up eight hits, three walks and only the one run. Another who-dat named Josh Banks matched Pelfrey with an almost equal line of 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER. Padres skipper Bud Black, himself an ex-pitcher, did not make Willie's mistake and used his future Hall-of-Fame closer Trevor Hoffman in the top of the 9th for one scoreless inning.
Ho-hum, the Phillies won again, this time with pitching (three-hit shutout by Cole Hamels). The Braves once again beat the Marlins, putting us back in fourth for the moment as we watch the Fish slide back into the depths. The Johan takes on former Phil and current umpire little brother Randy Wolf tonight. Hopefully, Jim is not working the plate. Of course, if Schoeneweis comes in, it wouldn't matter.
The Padres beat the Mets last night 2-1 on...get ready...you'll love this...a bases-loaded walk-off hit by pitch. Seriously. Scotty Schoeneweis, rapidly reverting to his past suckitude, walked the sacks full in the 9th inning of a 1-1 game (why not try Master William here? You can't win it in the 10th if you give up a run in the 9th, Willie...Baseball 101). The first two unintentional walks both came after 0-2 counts. Nibbling much, Scotty? I missed it of course because I was sawing z's in my Central Time Zone abode, but someday I might have a look at the lowlights on MLB.TV. Adrian Gonzalez grounded out to the mound, but it acted like a sac bunt because Scotty could only get the out at first. Kevin Kouzmanoff was then intentionally passed to set up a force at any base. We got the force, but it was a force-in, not a force-out. Paul McAnulty (real name, once again, withheld) was the plunkee, and you can put this one in the loss
column for the Dumbass Mets.
Kouzmanoff factored in one of those rare plays you don't see often (I didn't see it either, but then again, I don't see much when they play on the West Coast and I'm not there with them) in the 7th inning. The Kouz smacked a hot grounder toward short which struck Tadahito Iguchi in the leg, giving Kouzmanoff a hit and the Mets the final out of the inning. As Crash Davis might say, if you can ricochet only one ball a week of your teammates, it's the difference between .250 and .300. Then again, Iguchi fell on his shoulder trying to avoid the ball and will be out for at least a month, so this may not be such a good strategy.
The loss wasted another decent effort by Mike Pelfrey, who lasted six innings and gave up eight hits, three walks and only the one run. Another who-dat named Josh Banks matched Pelfrey with an almost equal line of 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER. Padres skipper Bud Black, himself an ex-pitcher, did not make Willie's mistake and used his future Hall-of-Fame closer Trevor Hoffman in the top of the 9th for one scoreless inning.
Ho-hum, the Phillies won again, this time with pitching (three-hit shutout by Cole Hamels). The Braves once again beat the Marlins, putting us back in fourth for the moment as we watch the Fish slide back into the depths. The Johan takes on former Phil and current umpire little brother Randy Wolf tonight. Hopefully, Jim is not working the plate. Of course, if Schoeneweis comes in, it wouldn't matter.
WORKADAY WIN
I was still at work when the Mets took a quick 3-0 lead on the Giants in the first inning of their getaway early afternoon game Wednesday. Doubles by Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran bracketed a hit-by-pitch of David Wright. Reyes and Wright scored on Beltran's two-bagger, and Carlos Delgado singled in Beltran. All this damage came off Giants youngster Matt Cain, who, today, was not able.
John Maine gave up an unearned run in the 3rd after a Jose Reyes error and a wild pitch. Jose Castillo singled home Fred Lewis (once again, I think these names are made up) to make it 3-1. Reyes hit a two-run homer in the 4th to give the Mets a 5-1 lead, which they held onto despite Duaner Sanchez's best efforts to blow it in the 8th. Sir William picked up another save, his 13th.
The MLB draft is today, with the Mets picking 18th and 22nd in the first round, plus a sandwich pick at #33. The estimable John Sickels is projecting that they will take catcher Jason Castro from Stanford at #18, and Andrew Cashner, a relief pitcher from TCU at #22. I don't put much stock in predictions after that point, since the permutations of who might be available get completely absurd. The important thing is that he thinks the Mets will draft from the college ranks, which makes sense because the farm system is decimated and needs a shot of near-ready talent immediately. Of course, Omar will probably trade it all away for Latino guys in their 40's as soon as possible, but at least they made an effort.
Braves closer-for-now Manny Acosta badly blew a save against the Marlins yesterday afternoon, which allowed the Marlins to stay in second and for us to tie the Braves for third. The Phillies ran into the Edinson Volquez Experience and lost 2-0, for what that's worth. Hopefully, it will screw up their bats for a while. We head down to San Diego, who ended the Cubs nine game winning streak behind Old Man Greg Maddux. Luckily, we won't have to see him, or Jake Peavy, who is hurt.
In other news, Hillary Clinton, having conceded the Democratic nomination, is vowing to fight on in her marriage, despite having to wait for Gina Gershon to get out of the bathroom so she could take her shower this morning.
John Maine gave up an unearned run in the 3rd after a Jose Reyes error and a wild pitch. Jose Castillo singled home Fred Lewis (once again, I think these names are made up) to make it 3-1. Reyes hit a two-run homer in the 4th to give the Mets a 5-1 lead, which they held onto despite Duaner Sanchez's best efforts to blow it in the 8th. Sir William picked up another save, his 13th.
The MLB draft is today, with the Mets picking 18th and 22nd in the first round, plus a sandwich pick at #33. The estimable John Sickels is projecting that they will take catcher Jason Castro from Stanford at #18, and Andrew Cashner, a relief pitcher from TCU at #22. I don't put much stock in predictions after that point, since the permutations of who might be available get completely absurd. The important thing is that he thinks the Mets will draft from the college ranks, which makes sense because the farm system is decimated and needs a shot of near-ready talent immediately. Of course, Omar will probably trade it all away for Latino guys in their 40's as soon as possible, but at least they made an effort.
Braves closer-for-now Manny Acosta badly blew a save against the Marlins yesterday afternoon, which allowed the Marlins to stay in second and for us to tie the Braves for third. The Phillies ran into the Edinson Volquez Experience and lost 2-0, for what that's worth. Hopefully, it will screw up their bats for a while. We head down to San Diego, who ended the Cubs nine game winning streak behind Old Man Greg Maddux. Luckily, we won't have to see him, or Jake Peavy, who is hurt.
In other news, Hillary Clinton, having conceded the Democratic nomination, is vowing to fight on in her marriage, despite having to wait for Gina Gershon to get out of the bathroom so she could take her shower this morning.
OLIVER WITHOUT THE TWIST
Oliver Perez was lit up again on Monday night, this time by the lowly San Francisco Giants, who pounded him for six runs, two home runs, and two doubles to go with two walks in less than one inning. I guess he didn't get much sleep on the cross-country flight that took off at 3 am. The ignominious final was 10-2. Carlos Muniz gave up four runs in relief as a parting gift on his way back to New Orleans. Thanks, Carlos!
Muniz' departure brought in the man of the hour, the man of our dreams, Sweet Pete Martinez. Pedro was activated Tuesday morning, and made his second start of the year Tuesday night. Petey not only made it out of the first inning, but went six strong as the Mets stumbled to a 9-6 victory. The 5th inning was a bit of a sticky wicket for $126 million dollar man Barry Zito and the Giants. To wit: Walk, Single, Double, Sac Fly, Walk, Single. Vinnie Chulk came in and gave up Single, Single (Pedro's second hit of the night), Error, Double and the final two outs. It was 9-1 when it mercifully ended. The Giants battled back for five more runs, three off Scotty Schoeneweis on a Travis "Who Dat" Denker home run in the 9th to make it 9-6. Billy The Aging Kid was required for his 12th save.
One would have to be encouraged by Pedro's fine outing. That said, it was the Giants, and it was only one game. Give me about 15 more or those against some actual competition, and then we'll talk.
The Mets finish up in San Fran today, and then head south to Stay Classy San Diego. The Phils have sprinted out to a 2 and 1/2 game lead, and look unstoppable at the plate at least. The Marlins have lost six out of seven and are starting to resemble the Marlins again. The Braves keep treading water along with us, except they just lost one of their best pitchers for the year (John Smoltz) and we just got one of ours back. At least for one game, anyway.
Muniz' departure brought in the man of the hour, the man of our dreams, Sweet Pete Martinez. Pedro was activated Tuesday morning, and made his second start of the year Tuesday night. Petey not only made it out of the first inning, but went six strong as the Mets stumbled to a 9-6 victory. The 5th inning was a bit of a sticky wicket for $126 million dollar man Barry Zito and the Giants. To wit: Walk, Single, Double, Sac Fly, Walk, Single. Vinnie Chulk came in and gave up Single, Single (Pedro's second hit of the night), Error, Double and the final two outs. It was 9-1 when it mercifully ended. The Giants battled back for five more runs, three off Scotty Schoeneweis on a Travis "Who Dat" Denker home run in the 9th to make it 9-6. Billy The Aging Kid was required for his 12th save.
One would have to be encouraged by Pedro's fine outing. That said, it was the Giants, and it was only one game. Give me about 15 more or those against some actual competition, and then we'll talk.
The Mets finish up in San Fran today, and then head south to Stay Classy San Diego. The Phils have sprinted out to a 2 and 1/2 game lead, and look unstoppable at the plate at least. The Marlins have lost six out of seven and are starting to resemble the Marlins again. The Braves keep treading water along with us, except they just lost one of their best pitchers for the year (John Smoltz) and we just got one of ours back. At least for one game, anyway.
WHO ARE THESE GUYS?
Ok, where did I leave off? I had disparaged Oliver Perez' command of the strike zone, and Luis Castillo's power. Oh, yeah, right. They kind of shoved that back in my face on Wednesday. Well, only kind of. Perez walked four and gave up five runs in six innings, but Castillo did hit a first-inning homer. It was actually a great game, especially for the Mets. Endy Chavez tied it up in the bottom of the 9th off Marlins closer Kevin Gregg with his first home run of the season, and after super-pest Alfredo Amezaga hit a solo shot in the top of the 12th, the Mets rallied for two runs in the bottom to win it 7-6. Fernando Tatis continued his return from the void with the game-winning double, scoring David Wright and Carlos Beltran. You can thank my Strat team for this one, as the losing pitcher was Justin Miller, one of my many one-year wonder bullpen bums.
On Thursday, Wright took care of the Dodgers with a pair of two-run blasts, finally putting a Met in double-digits in that category, as the Mets backed up emergency starter Claudio Vargas with eight runs in an 8-4 pasting of LA. Vargas managed to nearly squander a 6-0 lead, but Carlos Muniz bailed out an ineffective Pedro Feliciano in the 6th with two on and the score 6-4 and got Matt Kemp swinging to end the threat. I was at Ala Moana Center again during this game. They have another Starbucks, in the Barnes & Noble! It only took me half an hour to find that one.
Friday brought another Aaron Heilman disaster. I was back home watching this in the Man Cave on the Big Vizio via MLB.TV. The Mets led 5-4 in the 8th when Pedro Feliciano yielded a cheap hit to Juan (only playing because Andruw Jones got hurt) Pierre. Willie wheeled in Heilman, who completely imploded, again. Kemp doubled, and Jeff Kent, James Loney, and Russell Martin all singled before Willie finally brought in Scott Schoenweis. Scottie gave up a wild pitch and another hit, making the final 9-5. Heilman's ERA is now 6.67, and I'm sure his peripheral stats aren't much better. I'm assuming he's out of options, and they'd have to put him through waivers to send him to New Orleans. That might not be such a bad idea. His confidence is shot, and a change of team may help him. He ain't helping us at all.
The Mets returned the 8th inning favor on Saturday in front of a national television audience on FOX, at least when Ken Griffey, Jr, wasn't going for his 600th homer (Leo Mazzone is doing color commentary? With that ridiculous Brooklyn accent? Really?) My man Chad Billingsley was dominant for seven innings, allowing only four feeble Mets hits and no runs. Mike Pelfrey didn't pitch too badly, except for the first and fourth innings when he gave up single runs each time and the Dodgers botched up what could have been much bigger innings. In the 8th, Joe Torre brought in his normal 8th inning guy, Jonathan Broxton, who ended up looking like a fatter Heilman. Wright started off with a ringing double off the right field wall, and then Beltran tied the game with a huge homer in almost the same area that one-hopped the scoreboard. Carlos Delgado got a rare single, and his pinch-runner, Nick Evans was bunted to second by Damion Easley. After an
intentional pass to Brian Schneider, The Missing One, Tatis, did it again, smacking a base hit up the middle to give the Mets the lead and send Broxton to the post-game spread. Billy Wagner struck out the side in the 9th for his 11th save.
Sunday was Johan Santana time. After a quick run in the first on a Pierre double and Kemp single, Johan was very much the ace, going 7 and 2/3 before being unable to escape a mini-jam in the 8th. The Mets clobbered Hiroki Kuroda again for the second time in less than a month, and held on this time for a 6-1 win. Ryan Church returned from post-concussion syndrome to hit his 10th home run.
This morning, the Mets flew out to San Francisco and will play the Giants tonight. They'll miss Tim Lincecum and get Jonathan Sanchez, one of my Strat team punching bags, and Barry Zito, everyone's punching bag. Aside from the jet lag, this should be a good stretch. They'll head down to San Diego, a team in free-fall, and then come back home to play the slumping Arizona D'Backs and the (equally, to be fair) mediocre Texas Rangers. We're 3 and 1/2 games behind Philadelphia, who has been crushing the ball lately. I think we'll be settling in here for the next few weeks, with Florida zooming past us on their way to fourth place and Atlanta hanging around with us in second or third. If St. Louis finally hits their predicted collapse, we could be in range for the wild card, provided nobody else of importance gets hurt.
Petey's back on Tuesday! Yaaaaayyy!!!
On Thursday, Wright took care of the Dodgers with a pair of two-run blasts, finally putting a Met in double-digits in that category, as the Mets backed up emergency starter Claudio Vargas with eight runs in an 8-4 pasting of LA. Vargas managed to nearly squander a 6-0 lead, but Carlos Muniz bailed out an ineffective Pedro Feliciano in the 6th with two on and the score 6-4 and got Matt Kemp swinging to end the threat. I was at Ala Moana Center again during this game. They have another Starbucks, in the Barnes & Noble! It only took me half an hour to find that one.
Friday brought another Aaron Heilman disaster. I was back home watching this in the Man Cave on the Big Vizio via MLB.TV. The Mets led 5-4 in the 8th when Pedro Feliciano yielded a cheap hit to Juan (only playing because Andruw Jones got hurt) Pierre. Willie wheeled in Heilman, who completely imploded, again. Kemp doubled, and Jeff Kent, James Loney, and Russell Martin all singled before Willie finally brought in Scott Schoenweis. Scottie gave up a wild pitch and another hit, making the final 9-5. Heilman's ERA is now 6.67, and I'm sure his peripheral stats aren't much better. I'm assuming he's out of options, and they'd have to put him through waivers to send him to New Orleans. That might not be such a bad idea. His confidence is shot, and a change of team may help him. He ain't helping us at all.
The Mets returned the 8th inning favor on Saturday in front of a national television audience on FOX, at least when Ken Griffey, Jr, wasn't going for his 600th homer (Leo Mazzone is doing color commentary? With that ridiculous Brooklyn accent? Really?) My man Chad Billingsley was dominant for seven innings, allowing only four feeble Mets hits and no runs. Mike Pelfrey didn't pitch too badly, except for the first and fourth innings when he gave up single runs each time and the Dodgers botched up what could have been much bigger innings. In the 8th, Joe Torre brought in his normal 8th inning guy, Jonathan Broxton, who ended up looking like a fatter Heilman. Wright started off with a ringing double off the right field wall, and then Beltran tied the game with a huge homer in almost the same area that one-hopped the scoreboard. Carlos Delgado got a rare single, and his pinch-runner, Nick Evans was bunted to second by Damion Easley. After an
intentional pass to Brian Schneider, The Missing One, Tatis, did it again, smacking a base hit up the middle to give the Mets the lead and send Broxton to the post-game spread. Billy Wagner struck out the side in the 9th for his 11th save.
Sunday was Johan Santana time. After a quick run in the first on a Pierre double and Kemp single, Johan was very much the ace, going 7 and 2/3 before being unable to escape a mini-jam in the 8th. The Mets clobbered Hiroki Kuroda again for the second time in less than a month, and held on this time for a 6-1 win. Ryan Church returned from post-concussion syndrome to hit his 10th home run.
This morning, the Mets flew out to San Francisco and will play the Giants tonight. They'll miss Tim Lincecum and get Jonathan Sanchez, one of my Strat team punching bags, and Barry Zito, everyone's punching bag. Aside from the jet lag, this should be a good stretch. They'll head down to San Diego, a team in free-fall, and then come back home to play the slumping Arizona D'Backs and the (equally, to be fair) mediocre Texas Rangers. We're 3 and 1/2 games behind Philadelphia, who has been crushing the ball lately. I think we'll be settling in here for the next few weeks, with Florida zooming past us on their way to fourth place and Atlanta hanging around with us in second or third. If St. Louis finally hits their predicted collapse, we could be in range for the wild card, provided nobody else of importance gets hurt.
Petey's back on Tuesday! Yaaaaayyy!!!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
ONE AND ONE, AS USUAL
The Mets split the first two games of their series with the Marlins so far. Mike Pelfrey was hit around for six runs in four innings, and despite two straight homers from Jose Reyes in successive innings, the Marlins won easily 7-3. I was defiling the Ewa Beach Golf Club at the time, thankfully, and was not able to watch and be angry (at least not at the Mets - just at my short game).
On Tuesday, Johan Santana went seven shaky innings, but the Mets were fortunate enough to face one of my Strat team pitchers, Andrew Miller, who gave up three runs in the first inning. Two of the runs were driven in on two-out singles by Fernando Tatis and Ramon Castro. The Mets never trailed after that point, and won 5-3. Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner finished the game with two scoreless innings.
Today, Oliver Perez will test our patience against Marlins ace Scott Olsen. Looks like we're dropping another game back of the Fish after this series!
On Tuesday, Johan Santana went seven shaky innings, but the Mets were fortunate enough to face one of my Strat team pitchers, Andrew Miller, who gave up three runs in the first inning. Two of the runs were driven in on two-out singles by Fernando Tatis and Ramon Castro. The Mets never trailed after that point, and won 5-3. Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner finished the game with two scoreless innings.
Today, Oliver Perez will test our patience against Marlins ace Scott Olsen. Looks like we're dropping another game back of the Fish after this series!
Monday, May 26, 2008
ROCKIE BOTTOM
Ho-hum, the Mets lost again. Aaron Cook went the route, and some guy named Seth Smith, which I don't think is his real name, hit a three-run homer off John Maine as the Rocks won 4-1. Yeah, call me when I care. If the Mets aren't going to give a rat's ass, why should I?
We're back in Shea to play the first-place Marlins, who have a payroll of about $22 million dollars. There are homes out here in Oahu that cost more. That $22 million figure counts the $6.3 million that Jacque Jones was making when he was a Tiger, which the Tigers are actually paying. The Marlins signed him to a minor league contract, which means they are paying the minimum. This means that the actually payroll that Jeff Loria is paying is about $16 million. The Mets payroll? It's $137 million. Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Johan Santana are each making the same or more than the Marlins are spending for their whole team. Luis Castillo is making $6 million! That's a bunch for guy who can barely hit it out of the infield and has a .675 OPS. Let's bat him second!
Fuck it, I'm playing golf again today. I'll check back to survey the carnage when it's over.
We're back in Shea to play the first-place Marlins, who have a payroll of about $22 million dollars. There are homes out here in Oahu that cost more. That $22 million figure counts the $6.3 million that Jacque Jones was making when he was a Tiger, which the Tigers are actually paying. The Marlins signed him to a minor league contract, which means they are paying the minimum. This means that the actually payroll that Jeff Loria is paying is about $16 million. The Mets payroll? It's $137 million. Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Johan Santana are each making the same or more than the Marlins are spending for their whole team. Luis Castillo is making $6 million! That's a bunch for guy who can barely hit it out of the infield and has a .675 OPS. Let's bat him second!
Fuck it, I'm playing golf again today. I'll check back to survey the carnage when it's over.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
OH, RIGHT, THEY PLAY EVERY DAY
I'm still in Hawaii, whiling away the Memorial Day weekend by myself in a luxury hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean, trying to manufacture things to do. I chugged all over the Ala Moana Center today looking for a Starbucks. They have two of them, and it still took me an hour to find one. Magellan I'm not.
Oh, and the Mets played! What do you know? This Mets blogging is more painful than Phillies blogging ever was, because I had such low expectations of the Phillies. Plus, I was only a guest in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, while New York is my birth place.
I'm also pretty time-zone challenged here in the 50th state, and I had no idea the Mets were playing a day game in the Mountain time zone today. I also was unmotivated to watch after last night's painful episode. Billy Wagner blew a 5-4 lead by giving up a Coors Field Special homer to Matt Holliday with one out in the 9th. Naturally, the Mets folded on themselves like so many mollusks in extra innings, and eventually Aaron Heilman gave up the game-winning hit, again struck by Holliday (good timing for the upcoming weekend), in the 13th.
Today's game wasn't quite as angst-filled, probably because I didn't watch it. The Mets jumped all over former Rockies wunderkind Jeff Francis for six early runs and won going away, 9-2. David Wright and Carlos Delgado homered, meaning that maybe, just maybe, a Met will reach double figures in long balls this season. Claudio Vargas got the win, amazingly.
Ryan Church missed another game with post-concussion symptoms, which doesn't sound very promising. With Church and Alou out, the Mets are fielding an outfield of Fernando Tatis, Carlos Beltran, and Nick Evans, a guy who even he himself wouldn't be able to identify in a police lineup.
Willie Randolph remains "embattled", and "under evaluation", with his manager's "support". Hey, sounds like me! Oops.
Oh, and the Mets played! What do you know? This Mets blogging is more painful than Phillies blogging ever was, because I had such low expectations of the Phillies. Plus, I was only a guest in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, while New York is my birth place.
I'm also pretty time-zone challenged here in the 50th state, and I had no idea the Mets were playing a day game in the Mountain time zone today. I also was unmotivated to watch after last night's painful episode. Billy Wagner blew a 5-4 lead by giving up a Coors Field Special homer to Matt Holliday with one out in the 9th. Naturally, the Mets folded on themselves like so many mollusks in extra innings, and eventually Aaron Heilman gave up the game-winning hit, again struck by Holliday (good timing for the upcoming weekend), in the 13th.
Today's game wasn't quite as angst-filled, probably because I didn't watch it. The Mets jumped all over former Rockies wunderkind Jeff Francis for six early runs and won going away, 9-2. David Wright and Carlos Delgado homered, meaning that maybe, just maybe, a Met will reach double figures in long balls this season. Claudio Vargas got the win, amazingly.
Ryan Church missed another game with post-concussion symptoms, which doesn't sound very promising. With Church and Alou out, the Mets are fielding an outfield of Fernando Tatis, Carlos Beltran, and Nick Evans, a guy who even he himself wouldn't be able to identify in a police lineup.
Willie Randolph remains "embattled", and "under evaluation", with his manager's "support". Hey, sounds like me! Oops.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
FREE WILLIE
This isn't looking too good. The Braves completed their four-game sweep of the Mets tonight, or today, or whenever in God's time zone it was, 4-2. Even Johan Santana was not immune to the Turner Field mojo. The Mets had a 2-1 lead entering the 7th, but the Braves rallied for three run off The Johan, slapping five hits off him before he got an inning-ending double-play grounder from Jeff Franc(aeiou)r. The Mets managed to hit into two double-plays in their final two at-bats off starter Tim Hudson and closer Manny Acosta. The Braves improved their home record to an astounding 20-5 (still a half game worse than the Red Sox at Fenway - that's a lot of happy fans singing "Sweet Caroline").
Does it matter any more where we stand? We suck. Willie Randolph is about to get shit-canned, and for his sake, I hope he does. This team is morose, moribund, somnambulent, and not coincidentally, old and slow. Carlos Delgado is a husk of his former self. Carlos Beltran, while still a great centerfielder, looks lost at the plate, despite his homer today. David Wright cannot hit righties any more. Luis Castillo is HORRIBLE, and should be fired immediately. Jose Reyes is inconsistent and doesn't seem to really care that much. Only Ryan Church and Brian Schneider are playing up to or beyond what we thought they were capable of. Outside of John Maine, Johan Santana, and Billy Wagner, the pitchers are unreliable and more often maddeningly wild and awful. And none of this can be solved. Omar traded away every decent farm-hand aside from Fernando Martinez, and he isn't anywhere near ready to contribute. We're going to be this way all year - one three-game winning streak followed by four or five games where we can't score, can't pitch, or make bone-head plays.
Vaya con Dios, Willie. Let someone else take charge of this morass. You'd be much better off unemployed.
Does it matter any more where we stand? We suck. Willie Randolph is about to get shit-canned, and for his sake, I hope he does. This team is morose, moribund, somnambulent, and not coincidentally, old and slow. Carlos Delgado is a husk of his former self. Carlos Beltran, while still a great centerfielder, looks lost at the plate, despite his homer today. David Wright cannot hit righties any more. Luis Castillo is HORRIBLE, and should be fired immediately. Jose Reyes is inconsistent and doesn't seem to really care that much. Only Ryan Church and Brian Schneider are playing up to or beyond what we thought they were capable of. Outside of John Maine, Johan Santana, and Billy Wagner, the pitchers are unreliable and more often maddeningly wild and awful. And none of this can be solved. Omar traded away every decent farm-hand aside from Fernando Martinez, and he isn't anywhere near ready to contribute. We're going to be this way all year - one three-game winning streak followed by four or five games where we can't score, can't pitch, or make bone-head plays.
Vaya con Dios, Willie. Let someone else take charge of this morass. You'd be much better off unemployed.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
THE HELLSCAPE THAT IS ATLANTA
I'm in Hawaii. Why? Because it's what I do.
Yesterday, the Mets played the role of Anna Kournikova (only not as hot) in an early '90's WTA tennis match, while the Braves were Monica Seles, with the Braves winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. We could go over the details, but it would depress me. Tom Glavine won game 1, to give you an idea of just how depressing it was. That's as far as we need to go.
Today, while I was luxuriating on board an 8 hour flight to Honolulu (well, luxuriating is a bit far, but they do give you hot fudge sundaes in BusinessFirst, so it wasn't bad), the Mets were getting pounded by Atlanta again, 11-4. As before, details would only serve as downers.
That puts our Metsies at 22-22, or .500 if you are math-challenged. We are squarely in fourth place, holding off the Nats by only four games. We aren't good. Even if by some chance Petey comes back, we're still not that good. Hey, what do you know, we're playing the Braves again tomorrow! Thank goodness I'll be at work while that happens.
Yesterday, the Mets played the role of Anna Kournikova (only not as hot) in an early '90's WTA tennis match, while the Braves were Monica Seles, with the Braves winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. We could go over the details, but it would depress me. Tom Glavine won game 1, to give you an idea of just how depressing it was. That's as far as we need to go.
Today, while I was luxuriating on board an 8 hour flight to Honolulu (well, luxuriating is a bit far, but they do give you hot fudge sundaes in BusinessFirst, so it wasn't bad), the Mets were getting pounded by Atlanta again, 11-4. As before, details would only serve as downers.
That puts our Metsies at 22-22, or .500 if you are math-challenged. We are squarely in fourth place, holding off the Nats by only four games. We aren't good. Even if by some chance Petey comes back, we're still not that good. Hey, what do you know, we're playing the Braves again tomorrow! Thank goodness I'll be at work while that happens.
Monday, May 19, 2008
DID I MISS ANYTHING?
I'm back from LA and Saratoga Springs. We had a wonderful time losing money at both the harness races and the Preakness, and regaling each other with stories about my late Uncle Joe, whose remains were interred at the Saratoga National Cemetery (he was a Navy man).
The Mets lost 3 of 4 to the pesky (G)Nats while I was away, which prompted a much-celebrated and profane diatribe from our closer, Mr. William Wagner. After the Mets 1-0 defeat in game four of the series, in which Billy did not appear, he was asked to comment on the team's fortunes. He mused on why he was being interrogated, since he didn't even play. He then asked, rhetorically, "Why don't you ask those guys?", pointing to the lockers of Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, and Luis Castillo, who had already left the stadium. "Oh, they aren't there," said Billy. "Big fucking surprise."
This led to a round of navel-gazing from the larger New York media about Latin players forming cliques and ducking interviews, using their limited knowledge of English as an excuse, which led to more introspection about racism and group dynamics and calling out one's teammates, which eventually resulted in the solving of everyone's problems and a peaceful, productive world. Ha! Well, at least we beat the fucking Yankees two out of two, so who cares about the rest of it?
I saw part of Game 1 at The Stadium Cafe in downtown Saratoga Springs. This was actually the scheduled Game 2, because Game 1 had been rained out. I believe they will end up playing Game 1 as part of a two-stadium, day-night doubleheader in June. Johan Santana started the game against Andy Pettitte, and was touched up for a Derek Jeter (Peter Eater) two-run homer in the first. Pettitte held the Mets scoreless until the 4th, when Ryan Church, Beltran, and David Wright all singled to start the inning, and then Brian Schneider walked home a run and Castillo hit one of his patented infield singles to give the Mets a lead they would not relinquish.
Jose Reyes and Wright hit Yankee Stadium short-porch homers in the 7th off million-dollar-arm-ten-cent-head reliever Kyle Farnsworth to make it 6-2, and then Santana gave up two more homers, to Giambi and Abreu before Wagner finished the game with a four-out save and a 7-4 final. So, how do you like him, now, NY media?
Game 2 was a Sunday night ESPN affair, which is probably why they didn't play a doubleheader yesterday. Gotta keep ESPN happy with well-rested players! I only caught the first couple innings, having just returned from New York State after an interminable 5 hour layover at Newark Liberty (oh, the irony) Airport. It was 0-0 at that point, with Chien Ming Wang looking unhittable and Joe Morgan prattling on that it was better to walk a guy with two outs than with none out (really, Joe? That's an amazing insight. You would think that Baseball Prospectus hadn't figured out the run expectancy of every possible baserunner/out situation and calculated that a man on first with none out resulted in an average of 0.783 runs while a runner on first with two outs resulted in an average of 0.209 runs, but they have in fact done that, and we all know that, so nice try!) I decided to catch up on my DVR recordings, and by the time I got back, the Mets led 4-2, with a couple of clutch two-out singles by Moises Alou and Delgado in the 4th. Oliver Perez immediately surrendered a two-run jack by Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the inning, but again, the Mets never trailed, as Ryan Church homered in the 6th and the Mets teed off on some guy who will be heading back to Scranton-Wilkes-Barre soon named Ross Ohlendorf for the final four runs of a six-run 8th to post an 11-2 drubbing of the last-place Yankees. "Last-place Yankees". Mmm, it sounds so sweet.
The Mets are now a game back of the Marlins, tied with the Phillies for second place in the NL East. The Fish are starting to return to at least near-Earth orbit, having lost five of six to the likes of the Reds and Royals. They move on to play the D-Backs and the Giants at home before traveling to play us and the Phillies. I suspect their grip on first place will relent by the weekend, and now it's up to us and the Phillies as to who will take over. We have a pretty tough schedule coming up, starting with the Braves in Atlanta followed by the Rockies in Denver, and then the Marlins and Dodgers at home. The Phillies have it easier, with Washington there, the Astros at Minute Maid, and then home for the Rockies and Marlins.
Can I say it again? "Laaaast-plaaaaace Yaaaaankeeeeeees." Gotta savor it!
The Mets lost 3 of 4 to the pesky (G)Nats while I was away, which prompted a much-celebrated and profane diatribe from our closer, Mr. William Wagner. After the Mets 1-0 defeat in game four of the series, in which Billy did not appear, he was asked to comment on the team's fortunes. He mused on why he was being interrogated, since he didn't even play. He then asked, rhetorically, "Why don't you ask those guys?", pointing to the lockers of Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, and Luis Castillo, who had already left the stadium. "Oh, they aren't there," said Billy. "Big fucking surprise."
This led to a round of navel-gazing from the larger New York media about Latin players forming cliques and ducking interviews, using their limited knowledge of English as an excuse, which led to more introspection about racism and group dynamics and calling out one's teammates, which eventually resulted in the solving of everyone's problems and a peaceful, productive world. Ha! Well, at least we beat the fucking Yankees two out of two, so who cares about the rest of it?
I saw part of Game 1 at The Stadium Cafe in downtown Saratoga Springs. This was actually the scheduled Game 2, because Game 1 had been rained out. I believe they will end up playing Game 1 as part of a two-stadium, day-night doubleheader in June. Johan Santana started the game against Andy Pettitte, and was touched up for a Derek Jeter (Peter Eater) two-run homer in the first. Pettitte held the Mets scoreless until the 4th, when Ryan Church, Beltran, and David Wright all singled to start the inning, and then Brian Schneider walked home a run and Castillo hit one of his patented infield singles to give the Mets a lead they would not relinquish.
Jose Reyes and Wright hit Yankee Stadium short-porch homers in the 7th off million-dollar-arm-ten-cent-head reliever Kyle Farnsworth to make it 6-2, and then Santana gave up two more homers, to Giambi and Abreu before Wagner finished the game with a four-out save and a 7-4 final. So, how do you like him, now, NY media?
Game 2 was a Sunday night ESPN affair, which is probably why they didn't play a doubleheader yesterday. Gotta keep ESPN happy with well-rested players! I only caught the first couple innings, having just returned from New York State after an interminable 5 hour layover at Newark Liberty (oh, the irony) Airport. It was 0-0 at that point, with Chien Ming Wang looking unhittable and Joe Morgan prattling on that it was better to walk a guy with two outs than with none out (really, Joe? That's an amazing insight. You would think that Baseball Prospectus hadn't figured out the run expectancy of every possible baserunner/out situation and calculated that a man on first with none out resulted in an average of 0.783 runs while a runner on first with two outs resulted in an average of 0.209 runs, but they have in fact done that, and we all know that, so nice try!) I decided to catch up on my DVR recordings, and by the time I got back, the Mets led 4-2, with a couple of clutch two-out singles by Moises Alou and Delgado in the 4th. Oliver Perez immediately surrendered a two-run jack by Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the inning, but again, the Mets never trailed, as Ryan Church homered in the 6th and the Mets teed off on some guy who will be heading back to Scranton-Wilkes-Barre soon named Ross Ohlendorf for the final four runs of a six-run 8th to post an 11-2 drubbing of the last-place Yankees. "Last-place Yankees". Mmm, it sounds so sweet.
The Mets are now a game back of the Marlins, tied with the Phillies for second place in the NL East. The Fish are starting to return to at least near-Earth orbit, having lost five of six to the likes of the Reds and Royals. They move on to play the D-Backs and the Giants at home before traveling to play us and the Phillies. I suspect their grip on first place will relent by the weekend, and now it's up to us and the Phillies as to who will take over. We have a pretty tough schedule coming up, starting with the Braves in Atlanta followed by the Rockies in Denver, and then the Marlins and Dodgers at home. The Phillies have it easier, with Washington there, the Astros at Minute Maid, and then home for the Rockies and Marlins.
Can I say it again? "Laaaast-plaaaaace Yaaaaankeeeeeees." Gotta savor it!
Monday, May 12, 2008
WHO'S UP, DUSTY?
I'm typing this on my BlackBerry while waiting for my LA flight. I have first class on this trip, which on an Embraer is indistiguishable from coach on a large jet, and I only paid 15,000 miles! Hey, it didn't cost me personally anything, so why not?
Needless to say, I will be dispensing with any exhaustive recaps on this weekend's games. The Mets won the day half of a day/night doubleheader on Saturday against the Reds behind a largely ineffective Johan Santana, who labored through six shaky innings. The Mets clubbed around Reds starter Matt Belisle and pretty much anybody else they brought in to win by a final of 12-6.
The night game wasn't as kind to the New Yorkers. The formerly hittable Bronson Arroyo, perhaps better known as the front man of The Bronson Arroyo Band, stymied the Mets with a nasty drop-down slider, and Mike Pelfrey, though better than usual, still wasn't good enough. Billy Wagner had his worst outing of the year, yielding three unearned runs in the 9th following an error by David Wright. The final was 7-1.
On Sunday, both teams broke out the newly-traditional pink bats (and less-traditional pink sweatbands) in honor of Mother's Day and breast cancer awareness. Pink or not, the ones the Mets got had plenty of life in them, as Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church went deep off Reds rookie Johnny Cueto. The Reds climbed back to make it 6-3 at one point before the Mets tacked on two insurance runs for the 8-3 final.
The notable part of this game involved the Reds batting out of order in the 9th inning. How does this happen in 2008? Reds skipper Dusty Baker double-switched a few too many times, confusing himself and his players, though not Willie Randolph or the umpires. I missed this whole debacle because I had to go to my rec league soccer game (more on that particular debacle later), but evidently, David Ross was supposed to be in the 9 hole and Corey Patterson was supposed to be hitting 8th. Ross led off the inning with Patterson on deck, and lined out. Patterson then came up, and as soon as he took a pitch, Willie came out of the dugout and pointed out the error, making Patterson out. Since Ross was batting out of order to start the inning, he had to bat again in his actual spot, and he singled. Ryan Freel and Joey Votto then finished the inning and the game with two groundouts. That inning more or less cemented the idea in Reds fans minds that their team is not merely dreadful, but a pathetic joke as well. The "Fire Dusty" web sites should be chewing up a lot of bandwidth this week.
Now on to rec league soccer. I checked the league web site several times on Sunday to make sure the game wasn't canceled for Cinco De Mayo, or winded out, or some other such nonsense, and as far as I could tell, it was still on. My wife and I showed up early, at about 3 pm for a 3:30 game. I looked around, but didn't see anybody familiar. We took a seat in our folding chairs along a random sideline until the team captain showed up. 3:15 passed by, then 3:20, then 3:25, still nobody. We saw the opponents arrive and start setting on the opposite sideline from where we were, so that looked encouraging. Finally, the ref asked me if I' m the captain, I say, "Uh, no." Now it's 3:30, and ABSOLUTELY NOBODY ELSE from my team is there. The ref asks, "Are you in the Army? Because you're an Army of one!" Since the ref's kid is on the other team, he decided that we would have a scrimmage. Oh great, six-on-six, on a full regulation soccer field, for 90 minutes. My life was flashing before my eyes. I'm hard-pressed to finish an 11-on-11 game with ample substitutions.
It wasn't that bad, since nobody tried very hard, and they were all pretty cool. I even scored a goal and got to play goalie for a while. Still, NOT ONE of my so-called teammates bothers to show up? What the hell is that? I mean, if they all decided to forfeit, why didn't they tell the league organizer, so she could update the web site, or tell me, or at least tell the other team so they could choose to show up or not. Bastards. Well, I'll be on a plane while next Sunday's game is going on, so they can drag their asses up and down the pitch without my help.
Needless to say, I will be dispensing with any exhaustive recaps on this weekend's games. The Mets won the day half of a day/night doubleheader on Saturday against the Reds behind a largely ineffective Johan Santana, who labored through six shaky innings. The Mets clubbed around Reds starter Matt Belisle and pretty much anybody else they brought in to win by a final of 12-6.
The night game wasn't as kind to the New Yorkers. The formerly hittable Bronson Arroyo, perhaps better known as the front man of The Bronson Arroyo Band, stymied the Mets with a nasty drop-down slider, and Mike Pelfrey, though better than usual, still wasn't good enough. Billy Wagner had his worst outing of the year, yielding three unearned runs in the 9th following an error by David Wright. The final was 7-1.
On Sunday, both teams broke out the newly-traditional pink bats (and less-traditional pink sweatbands) in honor of Mother's Day and breast cancer awareness. Pink or not, the ones the Mets got had plenty of life in them, as Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church went deep off Reds rookie Johnny Cueto. The Reds climbed back to make it 6-3 at one point before the Mets tacked on two insurance runs for the 8-3 final.
The notable part of this game involved the Reds batting out of order in the 9th inning. How does this happen in 2008? Reds skipper Dusty Baker double-switched a few too many times, confusing himself and his players, though not Willie Randolph or the umpires. I missed this whole debacle because I had to go to my rec league soccer game (more on that particular debacle later), but evidently, David Ross was supposed to be in the 9 hole and Corey Patterson was supposed to be hitting 8th. Ross led off the inning with Patterson on deck, and lined out. Patterson then came up, and as soon as he took a pitch, Willie came out of the dugout and pointed out the error, making Patterson out. Since Ross was batting out of order to start the inning, he had to bat again in his actual spot, and he singled. Ryan Freel and Joey Votto then finished the inning and the game with two groundouts. That inning more or less cemented the idea in Reds fans minds that their team is not merely dreadful, but a pathetic joke as well. The "Fire Dusty" web sites should be chewing up a lot of bandwidth this week.
Now on to rec league soccer. I checked the league web site several times on Sunday to make sure the game wasn't canceled for Cinco De Mayo, or winded out, or some other such nonsense, and as far as I could tell, it was still on. My wife and I showed up early, at about 3 pm for a 3:30 game. I looked around, but didn't see anybody familiar. We took a seat in our folding chairs along a random sideline until the team captain showed up. 3:15 passed by, then 3:20, then 3:25, still nobody. We saw the opponents arrive and start setting on the opposite sideline from where we were, so that looked encouraging. Finally, the ref asked me if I' m the captain, I say, "Uh, no." Now it's 3:30, and ABSOLUTELY NOBODY ELSE from my team is there. The ref asks, "Are you in the Army? Because you're an Army of one!" Since the ref's kid is on the other team, he decided that we would have a scrimmage. Oh great, six-on-six, on a full regulation soccer field, for 90 minutes. My life was flashing before my eyes. I'm hard-pressed to finish an 11-on-11 game with ample substitutions.
It wasn't that bad, since nobody tried very hard, and they were all pretty cool. I even scored a goal and got to play goalie for a while. Still, NOT ONE of my so-called teammates bothers to show up? What the hell is that? I mean, if they all decided to forfeit, why didn't they tell the league organizer, so she could update the web site, or tell me, or at least tell the other team so they could choose to show up or not. Bastards. Well, I'll be on a plane while next Sunday's game is going on, so they can drag their asses up and down the pitch without my help.
Friday, May 09, 2008
A PENNY BURNED
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.
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.
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.
Friday, May 02, 2008
SO MUCH FOR THAT IDEA
Yeah, "make it snappy". I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass.
I'm here in Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, or MSP as we cool kids call it. I may never leave again. The flight home was supposed to depart at 7:11. Then it was 8:33. Then it was 9:33. Then it was 9:43. Now it is 10:15. The last time I checked anyway. It's probably now being scheduled for sometime in 2012 (at 11:17 - love the exact minutes). At some point, Northwest needs to just come clean and admit that they were planning to abscond with the fares and jet off to Rio. On any other airline.
The Mets are about to get schooled by the blazing-hot Arizona Diamondbacks, a far superior team with several pitchers that are hitting better than Carlos Delgado. I'm hoping I don't get to watch much of it, but I could probably grab a flight to Arizona, catch the ending, fly back to MSP and make my flight home.
I'm paying $7.95 for this blog entry, so how about you reader(s) send me some cash? I take PayPal.
I'm here in Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, or MSP as we cool kids call it. I may never leave again. The flight home was supposed to depart at 7:11. Then it was 8:33. Then it was 9:33. Then it was 9:43. Now it is 10:15. The last time I checked anyway. It's probably now being scheduled for sometime in 2012 (at 11:17 - love the exact minutes). At some point, Northwest needs to just come clean and admit that they were planning to abscond with the fares and jet off to Rio. On any other airline.
The Mets are about to get schooled by the blazing-hot Arizona Diamondbacks, a far superior team with several pitchers that are hitting better than Carlos Delgado. I'm hoping I don't get to watch much of it, but I could probably grab a flight to Arizona, catch the ending, fly back to MSP and make my flight home.
I'm paying $7.95 for this blog entry, so how about you reader(s) send me some cash? I take PayPal.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
SHORT STOP
I'm heading home a day early! I have to catch a 6:40 am flight tomorrow morning, so I am no mood to write much. The Mets split with the Buc-os, winning a 5-4 game in 11 innings, and then losing an error-plagued Oliver Perez wild-o-thon 13-1. The second game was so bad, they had to use two starting pitchers. Nelson Figueroa came in to bail out Perez in the second and allowed two more of his runs to score, and then allowed another of his own before Jorge Sosa really put it out reach.
The Mets are still only a half-game behind the Phillies, who took over first place from the Marlins after Florida was swept by the Dodgers. This is looking like the order that we might be seeing for quite a while. The Nats plain old stink, and Atlanta's bullpen has been decimated; they are losing a ton of 1-run games on the road. The Marlins will probably settle out to fourth place eventually, unless we beat them there. We look pretty mediocre. We're a .500 team, and probably will be unless Petey gets healthy and contributes. Maybe Pagan can play first when Alou returns, because Delgado looks like he's lost it completely. I don't know. We look like the US economy, barely staying above water but with not much in the way of future prospects.
Home, Northwest, and make it snappy!
The Mets are still only a half-game behind the Phillies, who took over first place from the Marlins after Florida was swept by the Dodgers. This is looking like the order that we might be seeing for quite a while. The Nats plain old stink, and Atlanta's bullpen has been decimated; they are losing a ton of 1-run games on the road. The Marlins will probably settle out to fourth place eventually, unless we beat them there. We look pretty mediocre. We're a .500 team, and probably will be unless Petey gets healthy and contributes. Maybe Pagan can play first when Alou returns, because Delgado looks like he's lost it completely. I don't know. We look like the US economy, barely staying above water but with not much in the way of future prospects.
Home, Northwest, and make it snappy!
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