Daily Archives: June 17, 2005
The Game…
The Mets (33–33) begin a three-game series with the Mariners (28–36) tonight in Seattle…
LHP
Kaz Ishii (1–5, 5.48) starts for the Mets…left-handed batters are
5–for-39 against Ishii…he has a 7.25 road ERA…he struck out a season
high nine batters against the Angels in his last start…this is his
first career appearance against the Mariners…Ishii is batting .357…maybe he should be the DH…
LHP
Jamie Moyer (4–2, 4.80) starts for the Mariners…Moyer has not lost at
home in six starts…he’s tossed a quality start in each of his last four
appearances…
The Good…
The Mets
are 12–10 and have a .298 team batting average against left-handed
pitchers…Mike Piazza is batting .370 in 46 at-bats against lefties with
two homers and seven RBI…
The Bad…
The
Mets 9–11–2 in series play this season…Victor Diaz is hitless on the
team’s current road trip…Jose Reyes has not hit a home run since April
19 in Philadelphia, when he hit two…
The Last Word…
…i
hate to say it, but it’s true…the mets have to win two of three
here…it’s a must…i know it’s june, but the thought of going to
philadelphia under .500 bringing up the rear in the division is not a
position this team can afford to be in…
…also, if
secretively the mets are leaving ishii in the rotation to keep his
value up as a starter, i can live with that…if that is not the case,
and he looks awful tonight, there will no longer be an excuse to start
him over aaron heilman…
Eric Mack writes the following in his recent column at CBS Sportsline…
“Speaking
of Devil Rays pitching, the Mets are still complaining about the Scott
Kazmir trade for Victor Zambrano with assistant GM Jim Duquette
reportedly saying information on Zambrano’s elbow was withheld or not
fully reported…If the Mets can leverage their complaint to make a
compensatory deal, they have Aaron Heilman and Jae Seo who could
immediately step into the Devil Rays’ rotation, and they have a
distinct need for a slugging first baseman like Huff…Just something to
keep an eye on.”…
…interesting…doubtful, but interesting never-the-less…
…thanks to brian margolies for the link…
As the Mets head to Washington to take on the Mariners for a
three-game series starting in Seattle tonight, I called John Hickey,
who covers the M’s for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and sounds
exactly like Al Franken, to get a quick run down on the Mets
competition…
…to listen to my conversation with john, click the play button below…
…the
conversation will run roughly three and a half minutes…note that if you
hit refresh or try to post a comment, the audio will stop…
Hickey
feels the Mariners are playing better. However, while their
starting pitching has come around, their bats have not. Ichiro
and Bret Boone have struggled compared to expectations, and Adrian
Beltre has missed the last few games with a sore left hamstring.
Hickey believes Beltre should be back over the weekend against the
Mets, though the team has yet to give a clear indication of the third
baseman’s health…
According to Hickey, Ryan Franklin, who the
Mets will face tomorrow, has been the M’s hard-luck pitcher, seemingly
always having to face the opposing team’s ace. Therefore, though
he’s 2-8 on the season, Hickey notes, Franklin has pitched competitive
in nearly all of his starts this season…
As for how the Mariners
approach the trade deadline, Hickey feels the team is still in a wait
and see mode. If, however, the M’s feel they’re out of it, he
says, expect them to dump Eddie Guardado, Bret Boone and Shigetoshi
Hasegawa…
…thanks, john…
ZXtreme31 tells me via email…
“I
know you’re not gonna want to hear this, but you got to let the Scott
Kazmir trade go. Almost every day i read you write something
about Petit or Pelfrey, and then write some comment about Tampa GM
Chuck Lamar…it’s not helping, it’s hurting.
We all know
what happened in the past, and get mad about it. Why not look at
something in the present to be upbeat about?”…
For
what it’s worth, I actually have no ill-will towards that trade.
Frankly, and you can go back in the archives and see for yourself, I
never thought much of Kazmir and still don’t. I probably would’ve
traded him, too. Albeit for more than Zambrano, but trade him I
would have. But, I see your point…
The thing is, the
comments about Chuck Lamar, which are mostly what I believe you are
referring to, is just a long-running joke. To me, it’s
funny. It’s getting old, but it still makes me laugh…
You’re point is well taken, though…
I’ll keep the Lamar comments to a minimum…
But,
when our guard is down, and he comes and steals David Wright from us in
the middle of the night, it’ll be all your fault, ZXtreme31…your fault
indeed…
Walkoff’s Mark Simon caught up with former-Mets OF Ron Swoboda to talk about his club record four walkoff homers…
…it’s
nice that someone has taken the blog medium and done something a bit
more unique than just write post-game re-caps…nice job, mark, and
thanks…
According to Gotham Baseball, Jose Offerman will report to Norfolk to fill the vacant spot made by Brian Daubach’s recent promotion…
Many speculated that B-Mets C-1B Mike Jacobs would go to Norfolk, instead…
“[Jacobs is] going to start catching a lot more,” an unnamed team official told Gotham…
Gotham infers that Offerman is in camp to showcase whether he can be a right-handed hitting option for Willie Randolph at first base…
…good lord i hope not…
…if this season gets to the point that i have to watch jose offerman start at first base for the mets, my head may explode…you mean to tell me that this guy is the best they can do…really…come on…
Vinny posted the following comment to Henry’s editorial, writing…
“It’s been less than a year since [Philip Humber] signed his contract so he can’t be traded.”…
…i got a few emails instantly asking if this was correct…
…yes, vinny is correct…
A team cannot trade a newly drafted player within the first year of his signing of a contract. So, Humber can’t be traded until January of next year…
Lastings Milledge, however, is fair game…
…thanks to kevin at baseball america for helping me with this rule…i had never heard of this before…
Tom Heitz sent in the following email…
One of the more overlooked reasons for the Mets struggles of late is the fact the pitchers continue to give up leadoff walks late in the game…
Consider what’s happened over the past month…
- May 14 @ St. Louis…Mets lead 6-5 in bottom of eighth…Roberto Hernandez walks Abraham Nunez leading off the inning…Cards scores two runs and win, 7-6…
- June 5 vs. SF…Tied, 1-1 in top of sixth…Kaz Ishii walks Lance Niekro leading off the inning. Giants score five runs and win, 6-3…
- June 8th vs. Houston…Tied, 1-1 in top of fifth…Victor Zambrano walks Todd Self leading off the inning. Astros scored two runs and win, 4-1…
- June 12th vs. LAA…Tied, 3-3 in top of ninth…Brandon Looper walks Casey Kotchman leading off the inning. Angels score one run and win, 4-3…
- Tuesday night in Oakland…Tied, 2-2 in bottom of ninth…Royce Ring walks Bobby Kiely leading off the inning. A’s scores one run and win, 3-2
The Mets have lost four games in the past 11 days because a pitcher has issued a lead off walk. Think about that for a minute…
Four losses in 10 games as a direct result of a lead off walk. That’s hard to do…
Maybe the Mets’ pitchers are so used to watching their own teammates swing at ANYTHING, that they feel other teams will do the same…
…funny…
nice stats, tom…
…thanks…
This is a stressful time for most Mets fans, as their team’s general
managers have a history of pounding the life out of the panic button in
the Mets control room, often making deals that do not actually improve
the team over the long haul. The Scott Kazmir trade paid immediate
dividends when Victor Zambrano went directly to the disabled list
without passing ‘Go’ or ‘collecting $200.’ One trade, however,
does not a history make…
The Mets put Justin Huber on a plane in
order to sign Kris Benson to pitch in a meaningless second half.
Ironically, Benson declared himself a free agent anyway and signed with
the Mets in the off-season for a king’s ransom. Benson was pretty
much a lock to be a Met in 2005 no matter what happened in 2004 – Anna,
his wife, and Kris were both hell-bent on Manhattan all along…
So
how is Huber doing these days? Well, now that he’s been converted
to being a full-time first baseman with soft hands, he’s rubbing it in
our faces by hitting .329 at AA Wichita with 9 HR, 49 runs, 48 RBI and
a robust .420 on-base percentage – and all of that despite a slow
start. Say, how do we look at first base right now anyway?…
The
trade deadline is not the only time the Mets have made these
ill-advised knee-jerk decisions. Earlier this Spring, the Mets
saw Steve Trachsel go down with an injury. The panic button was
once pressed by trading a cheap young catcher, Jason Phillips, to the
Dodgers for an enigma, Kaz Ishii. Ishii was so bad that the
Dodgers were willing to trade him away along with half his salary to
whoever would get him out of their rotation – despite their need for
starting pitching at the time. They were more than happy to take
Jason Phillips ‘off of the Mets hands,’ only to watch him become one of
the more productive catchers in the National League while making the
league minimum. How nice would be to have a solid hitting catcher
like Phillips to back up Mike Piazza right now?…
How often do these ‘moves’ really help a ball club long-term?…
The
most important thing to remember is that the Mets are and will continue
to be a .500 team. They’re one Jose Reyes hamstring or a torn
Cliff Floyd ACL away from disaster. With a pitching staff loaded
with guys like Ishii, Zambrano and Tom Glavine, we aren’t expecting a
whole lot of mileage in the second half anyway…
So what prospects
are the Mets going to send away this time? Yusmeiro Petit?
Lastings Milledge? Jeff Keppinger? Philip Humber?
Will the inevitable move really be worth it? If you think it will
be, remember how easy it was to attain Kris Benson in the off-season,
or how easy it would’ve been to get Zambrano for lesser talent in the
winter and remember how good Justin Huber is doing at a position the
Mets are desperately trying to fill…
Be afraid…
Be very afraid…
Prior to being demoted to Norfolk on May 15, in 28 games, Victor Diaz hit .294 while walking roughly once every six plate appearances…
Since his recall on May 28, in eight games, he’s batting .125 and has walked roughly once every eight plate appearances…
Tagged Stats |
