Daily Archives: June 28, 2005
…oh, man…here we go…thirteen of the next sixteen games are against the national league east…
…buckle up…
The Game…
The Mets (37–38) return home after a 12–game road trip to take on the Phillies (39–37) at Shea Stadium tonight … the Mets are 11–12–2 in series play this season…
The Pitchers…
RHP Victor ‘Houdini’ Zambrano (3–6, 3.97) starts for the Mets … Zambrano is 2–3 with a 3.02 ERA in his last eight starts … He’s allowed three runs or fewer in 12 of his 13 starts this season … Zambrano faced the Phillies last week and allowed two runs on six hits over six innings …
RHP Robinson Tejeda (1–0, 2.03) starts for the Phillies … Against the Mets in Philadelphia last week, Tejeda allowed one run, a solo shot to Cliff Floyd, over six innings while striking out four…
The Notes…
The Mets have hit 11 home runs in their last seven games … the Mets are 4–5 following an off-day … the Mets are 21–15 when they don’t make an error … Carlos Beltran is batting just .245 against right-handed pitchers … Mike Piazza hit .292 with two home runs during the Mets recent road trip … Jose Reyes has not hit a home run since April 19 against the Phillies … Chris Woodward is batting .368 with three doubles in his last 19 at-bats … Braden Looper has retired just 17 of the 29 first batters he has faced … the Phillies have made the fewest errors of any team in the National League…
Tonight is Starlight-Starbright Childrens Foundation night at Shea … So far this season, Mike Cameron has donated $4800 to the foundation … During the game, Mets players will be wearing orange ‘Lets Go Mets’ wrist bands, which can be ordered online at Starstruck.com or by calling 1–800–Pro-Team, with proceeds benefiting the foundation…
The Chatter…
To chat during the game, go to MetsBlog’s Bleachers…or, to access the chat room through IRC, go to server name irc.echo34.com and channel #metsblog…
…enjoy…
Over at MinorLeagueBall.com, John Sickles looks back at his, Bill James’s, Baseball Prospectus’ and Baseball Forecaster’s pre-projections for David Wright…
According to Sickles, each expert under-estimated Wright, mostly due to his unexpected high walk total…
…wright truly is the chosen one…
Gail, from Mets Fan, recently asked me the following question in an email exchange…
“Have the Mets ever offered Keith Hernandez a coaching job? If so, has he turned them down? Why? If they haven’t, then why do you suppose they’d pass on a potential opportunity to get him back in the Mets dugout?”…
…gail, i asked this question of matt loughlin, who works alongside hernandez while broadcasting mets game for fox sports and msg, earlier this off-season…
“I think he enjoys his connection to the sport, but I don’t think he wants it to be a 162–game regular season and six weeks down in Florida,” Loughlin explained. “I don’t think that time commitment is something that appeals to him. I think the connection he has now is perfect, though I think he’d like to do a few more games, as his schedule would certainly accommodate that.”…
…i don’t think the mets have ever offered hernandez an official roll with the club…he has served as an instructor for them during spring training…in fact, if memory serves me right, he worked with mike piazza two springs ago when piazza was transitioning to first base…
…since msg continually ignores my request to talk with hernandez, i can only assume loughlin and those in the mets organization with whom i’ve talked with are correct when they say keith enjoys his life as is, and has no interest in taking on baseball from a coaching stand-point any time soon…
…though, it should be noted that everyone i’ve ever talked with about this always seems to leave it open-ended, as if one day he’ll come around…
Gotham Baseball’s Mike McGann has made his interview with Mets RHP prospect Gaby Hernandez available for download in mp3 format…
Hernandez is 6–1 with a 2.61 ERA, 87 strikeouts and 29 walks in 82.2 innings pitchers over 16 starts for the Class-A Hagerstown Suns…
…for what it’s worth, flushingsfuture.com loves hernandez, who they ranked as the fourth best prospect in the mets farm system prior to this season…
Tagged Minors |Inside Pitch Magazine’s Bryan Hoch spends a few minutes with Mets LHP Royce Ring in a quick q-n-a for premium subscribers at InsidePitchMagazine.com…
…interesting that ring is holding righties to a .154 average, while walking less righties per plate appearance then lefties, as well…
…truthfully, i just haven’t seen enough of ring to have an opinion…i’m sure rick petereson loves having another guy with a mullet on the team, though…
Reading into the future’s market that develops at the trade deadline, Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com takes a look at each team’s most valuable young talent…
From the Mets farm system, Mayo writes that both Brian Bannister and Yusmeiro Petit should draw interest from other clubs, noting that the Mets may not be convinced that Petit can repeat his success at a higher level…
At first base, Mayo believes that Phillies 1B Ryan Howard and Rangers 1B Adrian Gonzalez are likely to be moved, because they are both blocked by better players on their respective teams at the Major Leagues…
…in talking with a few people out of texas, it appear gonzalez can be had, but it will most likely be in a deal for a left-handed starting pitcher…though they’re said to have interest in jason jennings out of colorado…this could all change, however, if the rangers continue to slip in the playoff race…
At the Sporting News, Ken Rosenthal suggests that the Mets commit to being sellers, stockpiling young talent in deals for Tom Glavine, Mike Piazza and one of either Cliff Floyd or Mike Cameron…
…it’s too early for this type of talk, ken, and you know it…
…stop inciting my readers, man…
…if you’ve yet to do so, be sure and vote for this week’s confidence rating in the poll featured in the left-hand sidebar…
…thanks…
…somehow i missed this story from a few days ago…though i think one of you emailed it to my attention, i must have deleted it accidentally…sorry about that…
Jerry Crasnick at ESPN Insider pens detailed column on David Wright…
…much of this we’ve all read before, courtesy of our local beat writers…however, crasnick offers up a few interesting tidbits…
“My main thing is, I don’t let David use ‘I’m young’ as an excuse,” Crasnick quotes Doug Mientkiewicz as saying about Wright. “That doesn’t fly with me. He has more talent than a lot of guys in the big leagues. I don’t care what your age is. I’m not letting you use that as a crutch.”…
…excellent approach…
Crasnick also notes that, as a rite of passage, Wright is forced to carry Cliff Floyd’s luggage during road trips. In exchange, Crasnick adds, “Floyd buys him suits and takes him to dinner.”…
…why suits…
“He’s into the pastel colors,” Mientkiewicz explains. “He says he can pull it off, and he’s right. But I don’t like to see him walking around in a pink Polo shirt. It gets to me a little bit.”…
…great column…
The Star-Ledger’s Eli Gelman returns to action with a column on, my man, B-Mets RHP Brian Bannister, who is 9–1 with a 1.73 ERA in 15 starts at Binghamton…
…in case you missed it, i wrote a bit on bannister last week, after catching him in action while he pitched at new britain…
Gelman also reminds us that Bannister is an accomplished photographer…
“You have to study both, both take a ton of practice and investment and knowledge,” Bannister tells Gelman of photography and pitching. “I’m definitely better in baseball right now, but photography I can do for the rest of life after baseball.”…
…check out this story…gelman gets some great quotes from bannister, which truly get across this kid’s work ethic…
…hmm…speaking of photographers, i need one for my wedding next summer in connecticut…so if anyone knows of a someone, let me know…
Tagged Minors |
