Daily Archives: June 10, 2005
The Game…
The Mets (31–29) begin a bout of ‘Interleague Play’ starting with a three-game series against Angels (34–25) tonight at Shea Stadium…
LHP Kaz Ishii (1–4, 5.14) starts for the Mets…only one left-handed hitter has had a base hit against Ishii this season…lefties are batting .036 against Ishii…while he has a 7.25 ERA on the road, he posts a 2.75 ERA at Shea…Ishii’s on a bizarre odd-even trend, having given up no fewer than five runs in his last four even starts, but one run or less in his last three odd starts…for what it’s worth, he’s due to allow one run or less, according to this trend…against the Angels last season, he allowed 10 earned runs over nine innings spanning two starts…Ishii is 5–for-13 at the plate this season, with two RBI and a sacrifice bunt…
RHP Bartolo Colon (7–3, 3.10) starts for the Angels…Colon has allowed nine runs in his last 13.2 innings pitched, against the Royals and Red Sox…Carlos Beltran is 12–for-35 lifetime against Colon, while Mike Cameron is just 2–for-23…
The Good…
The Mets are 28–16 when their starter goes more than six innings…Jose Reyes turns 22–years-old tomorrow…David Wright leads the Mets with 19 multi-hit games…the Angels have lost their last four games against left-handed starters and are 7–10 overall against southpaws…
The Bad…
Mike Cameron is just 7–for-31 on this current homestand…Ramon Castro will start in place of Mike Piazza and has just one hit in his last 10 at-bats, and is batting .161 against right-handed pitchers…the Angels bullpen has allowed only nine inherited runners to score this season, tops in baseball…
The Very Bad…
Vladimir Guerrero will be in the Angels lineup tonight…
…part of the problem with doing this metsblog is that i have little time to watch other teams, such as the angels, who come to town for a three-game series starting tonight at shea…to compensate, i guess, i’m fortunate that i can call someone like mark saxon from the o.c. register to help bring me up to speed…
To listen to my talk with Mark Saxon, Angels beat writer for the O.C. Register, about the state of the Angels, click the play button below…
…the interview runs roughly five and a half minutes…
According to Saxon, Vladimir Guerrero should be activated from the disabled tonight. If not, then no later than Sunday. “So,” he jabs, “it looks like the Mets will have a chance to see what they could’ve had.”…
…very funny…
As for the Angels pitching, Saxon adds, Bartolo Colon has pitched extremely consistent this season, hitting 93– to 94–mph with his fastball deep into games. However, the team has given him very little run support. Game two’s starter, Jarrod Washburn, Saxon notes, has been just solid, not spectacular, while John Lackey, who will start Sunday, had an awful April, but has pitched very good since…
Fortunately for the Mets, the Angels bullpen has hit a rough stretch, having had Brendan Donnelly and Scott Shields recently implode last weekend in Boston. However, Saxon adds, it is still the team’s biggest asset, noting, “[the Mets will need to] get to the starters, or their pitchers are gonna have to pitch really well.”…
…so, basically, the mets have to score early, or else…
Lastly, because I had to ask, he believes the Angels will push very hard to acquire Mike Sweeney from the Royals, though he feels the Royals will ask far too much in return than what the Angels are comfortable parting with…
…thanks, mark…
His coaches have him on a throwing schedule, a name plate hangs above his locker with a jersey sporting No. 32 hanging from a hook, yet, Danny Graves is still not officially a member of the Mets…
…word around the blue-n-orange campfire is that graves will be officially on-board by saturday or sunday…it appears, as i speculated yesterday, that the delay stems from a ton of confusion over whom will get the boot from the big-league club…
Manny Aybar would need to pass through waivers before being demoted to the team’s minor league system, while Mike DeJean would need to be released entirely, with the Mets eating his $1.15 million salary. Both Heath Bell and Aaron Heilman could be demoted with ease as they each have options remaining, while Royce Ring is their only active left-handed reliever…
Who would you remove from the roster, to make room for Graves…
…earlier today, i noticed the following on the the trade report…
…hmm, well, the mets are rumored to be shopping kaz matsui, so maybe there is a smoke or fire around the mets being interested in spivey…
…while doing a little research, this crosses the wire…
According to the Associated Press, the Washington Nationals have acquired 2B Junior Spivey from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for RHP Tomo Ohka…
…so much for researching that…
Also, the Nationals claimed Ryan Drese off waivers from the Texas Rangers. Drese started opening day for the Rangers, but has gone 4-6 with a 6.46 ERA. Last season, he went 14-10 with a 4.20 ERA…
…wow…it’s acquisition time in the n.l. east…
…all aboard…
If you recall, last weekend, Tom Glavine and Al Leiter teamed up with OperationAC to contribute items for a charity looking to save Ali, an Iraqi boy with congenital cyanotic heart disease, whom U.S. troops found in March during a combat patrol…
For those interested, I recently talked with Frankie Mayo, the man in charge of the Save Ali Fund, and he says, “We got the ok from the hospital to get him moved here and we are working with the military and government to make it happen. Ali needs oxygen and he really can’t take a commercial flight so we are working on a medevac situation…We are really close.”
…good luck, frankie…
According to Marty Noble of MLB.com, the Mets have interest in Pirates RHP Jose Mesa and, as Noble puts it, “other Pirates pitchers of less reknown.”…
Noble adds that bringing on Danny Graves will not preclude the Mets from trading for another reliever…
…interestingly, the same thing appeared at the trade report last night…i have no idea who the blog’s author is…however, he seems to be on point…maybe it’s gammons, moonlighting as a blogger…though it reads a lot like a hybrid of me and ken rosenthal…too weird…
…i don’t know what the ultimate writing aspirations are of lee jenkins, but my guess is that he will not be writing just sports for long…his ability to capture the subtle emotional connection between sports, life and society, is truly impressive…
…i hope others enjoy his work as much as i do…
In today’s New York Times, Jenkins takes us on a journey with Willy Randolph back to the manager’s old high school, where students and faculty mourn the loss of 22-year-old basketball star, Tafare Berryman, “a lesser-known alumnus who made no less an impact,” as Jenkins writes…
…this is a great read…
According to several sources who’ve spoken with Gotham Baseball, the Mets and Giants are in talks about swapping Kaz Matsui for Edgardo Alfonzo…
…a reader emailed this suggestion to me a few weeks ago…i hadn’t had a chance to research it…at shea on tuesday night, with a woman wearing an old alfonzo jersey sitting in front me, i got to thinking about the logistics of a deal like this and it does make some sense for both sides…
…in speaking with a few people myself, i can add the following to this idea…
For starters, Matsui is due $6.7 million next season, potentially $8 million. Alfonzo’s deal is virtually the same. The Giants would like to promote Todd Linden to their outfield, but can’t do so until Pedro Feliz can slot in fulltime at third. Moving Alfonzo allows them to do this…
Also, the Giants have zero interest in taking on additional salary. Therefore, the Mets would most certainly need to part with a prospect, most likely a pitcher, as Gotham Baseball suggests…
Alfonzo has lost a lot on his range in the field. He’s far from the player we remember. In fact, he has balked at moving back to second on a number of occasions while playing in San Francisco, because his agility has weakened since leaving Shea…
However, Alfonzo misses New York so much, as one person told me, “he’d probably put on catcher’s gear if the Mets asked him.”…
…i would love to bring fonzi back to shea…he’d be a fantastic partner and role model for jose reyes on the infield…at his worst, he’s a more sound hitter than matsui…
…in talking with several sources out of san francisco, it sounds there is a lot of talk about this ‘idea’ floating around pnc park, as well…
…i like it…
…stay tuned…
Will Barry Zito be traded this season? “No,” writes Ken Rosenthal of the Sporting News…
Rosenthal also adds that Pirates RHP Kip Wells is unlikely to moved any time soon, as well…
Appearing on WFAN’s Mike and the Maddog
yesterday, ESPN’s Peter Gammons made a similar remark, stating that
Zito will not be traded unless Oakland is absolutely overwhelmed with
an offer. Gammons feels that the A’s are excited to see how the
team plays down the stretch upon the return of their young talent…
Gammons
also acknowledged that Reds 1B Sean Casey will likely be available in
exchange for top young pitching prospects. Though, he adds, the
Reds will be hesitant to trade him since Casey is such a fan favorite…
…this
makes sense, about zito…think of how beane handled the situation with
mulder and hudson, waiting until the off-season when he could shop to
every team, not just a select few contenders, most of which have
depleted farm systems…
…for what it’s worth, i was
recently told by an american league team’s general manager that if
anyone is looking to acquire a top pitcher, they shouldn’t hold their
breath…
In this morning’s Daily News, Lisa Olsen writes that the Mets sold 2.3 million tickets before Memorial Day this season, which is more than they sold all of last season…
…good for you, team wilpon…you’ve finally learned this isn’t real estate, it’s entertainment…it’s not about investment and value, it’s about product and fun…way to finally take your cues from hollywood, and not john and greg rice…
…congratulations, gentlemen…
