Daily Archives: June 24, 2005
The Game…
The Mets (35–37) head to
the Bronx to take on the Yankees (37–35) for the first of a three-game
series starting tonight … the Mets are 10–12–2 in series play this
season…
The Pitchers…
RHP Pedro
Martinez (7–2, 2.76) starts for the Mets … Pedro Martinez leads the
National League with 114 strike outs … opponents are batting just .172
against him … roughly a month ago, Martinez faced the Yankees at Shea
and allowed one run on four hits while striking out six over seven
innings pitched …
RHP Mike Mussina (8–4, 3.82) starts for the
Yankees … Righties are batting .292 against Mussina this season … He
has a 2.66 ERA at home … In two starts against the Mets last season,
Mussina allowed nine runs in 11 innings … Marlon Anderson is 5–for11
lifetime against Mussina, while Mike Cameron, Carlos Beltran and Mike
Piazza have hit a collective .301…
The Notes…
Mike
Piazza is batting .320 for his career as a DH … Jose Reyes is second in
the National League with 22 stolen bases … the Mets bullpen remains
tops in the National League when it comes to stranding inherited
runners … the Yankees have not won a game when scoring less than three
runs … Mike Cameron is batting just .268 against right-handed pitchers
and is just 7–for-26 with runners in scoring position … Doug
Mientkiewicz hit .273 with two home runs, three walks and four RBI
during the Mets recent road trip …
Fungoes pens a nice poem, inspired by everyone’s favorite pitching coach and mullet, Rick Peterson, titled To Cut a Fastball and Hair…
…funny stuff…
…the poem, not the hair…
…actually…they’re both pretty funny now that i think about it…
Mets GM Omar Minaya phoned in to WFAN’s Mike and the Maddog a few moments ago…
The
two hosts peppered Minaya with several questions about his approach to
the trade deadline. Minaya talked for a long time, but the bottom
line is basically this…
The Mets have no designs on cashing in on this season…
If they make a move, it will not break-up the team’s core and will help build towards next season, as well as this season…
Mike Cameron is part of the core, and the Mets plan to keep him for years to come…
Because they feel pitching will be the reason they win, Tom Glavine is not going any place…
Minaya has no interest in trading young players just to catch-up in the standings…
The team’s top priority is bringing in veteran help for the bullpen and adding to the team’s offense, most likely at first base…
…to listen to all of minaya’s interview, keep checking the archive section at wfan.com…
At MinorLeagueBall.com, John Sickels writes that Mets RHP prospect Philip Humber is fine, regardless of what his overall stat-line may say…
“So
my message to paranoid Mets fans is this: don’t panic,” Sickles
writes. “Concentrate on his K/IP and K/BB. And hope that
the Devil Rays don’t make a trade offer.”…
…hey, that’s my lamar joke, sickles…
John Donovan at Sports Illustrated lists the players most likely to get moved before the trading deadline…
Of
note to Mets fans, Donovan writes, assuming they’re available, the Mets
could be in the market for Tampa Bay RHP Danys Baez, Toronto RHP Miguel
Batista, Yankees RHP Tom Gordon, Rockies LHP Joe
Kennedy, Pirates LHP Mark Redman, Giants RHP Jason Schmidt, A’s LHP
Barry Zito and Brewers 1B Lyle Overbay…
Note that all seven
pitchers that Donovan lists the Mets could have interest in,
he also writes the Braves could have interest in, as well…
…for what it’s worth, again, assuming they are available, i’m all for going after overbay, zito or baez…
Jim Baubach quotes a source in Newsday as saying the Yankees prefer Mets OF Mike Cameron to all other center fielders they’re trying to acquire…
…i know the first thing mets fans want to do here is trade cameron for robinson cano…
…for starters, the yankees aren’t trading cano…they’ll sooner move womack, then bring in an outfielder and leave cano at second…
…second, do the mets really want to trade cameron right now…
…the more i look at this, the more i wonder if trading him is actually their best play…from the sounds of it, there are more outfielders to be acquired than there are teams looking to acquire them…and remember, cameron has a lot of value beyond the baseball diamond, as his spirit and smile seem to have positive effects on the team as a whole…if the mets think they’re contenders, they can’t sacrifice that…
…the better move might be to hold on to cameron, wait until the last possible minute to see how the outfield market shapes up, and if the mets feel they can’t contend this season, weigh the value of cameron now against his projected value in the off-season, when teams typically pay more for position players…
…it may make more sense to hang on to him now, and trade him in november, assuming the mets want to move him, as the free-agent outfield market is very, very thin this coming off-season…
…willie randolph is going to get a lot of flack in the years to come, because his true talent as a manager seems to come out not in the dugout, but in the clubhouse, behind closed doors when the cameras aren’t on and the fans and reporters can’t see him…
Peter Abraham writes in the Journal News about Randolph’s ability to build relationships with players…
…this is an excellent article with great quotes…
…abraham not only talks to randolph, but also gets the insights of his past students and teachers…
…nice job, peter…good stuff…
The Star-Ledger’s Don Burke spent a solid amount of time with Willie Randolph talking about the manager’s comments that compared Jose Reyes to Derek Jeter…
“Jeter had a jump start on Jose because he was around people who understood what it takes to win. And then he went into (his rookie season) and won,” Randolph told Burke of Jeter. “Jose needs to win, find out what it takes, the sacrifices, the work, the feeling of what it means to be in a winning environment, a winning situation and learn how to handle that.”…
According to the New York Times, RHP Manny Aybar cleared waivers and will report to Class AAA Norfolk…
…i’m sure you are all relieved…
Following Binghamton’s loss to New Britain last night, 2B-SS Anderson Hernandez was promoted from AA to AAA-Norfolk…
Hernandez was acquired from the Tigers for Vance Wilson during the off-season. He can over to Norfolk as a shortstop, but has recently been starting at second base. However, he’s likely been promoted to Norfolk to take over second base in place of the injured Jeff Keppinger, while Aarom Baldiris continues his shift from third base to second at Norfolk…
…no need to groom shortstops, i suppose, with reyes at shea…wise move…
…for more thoughts on anderson hernandez, check out my recent posts from monday and wednesday night’s games in new britain…
Hernandez was batting .325 with seven home runs and 24 RBI in 65 games for Binghamton…
Tagged Minors |
