Daily Archives: June 30, 2005
Following today’s win, the Mets demoted Victor Diaz to Norfolk to
make room for the return of Miguel cairo from the disabled list…
…bring a first baseman’s mitt when you go to norfolk, vic…
To listen to Willie Randolph’s post-game comments from the Shea Stadium clubhouse, click the play bottom below…
…the audio file runs roughly two minutes…
…pedro is just mesmerizing…but he’s received a ton of ink this year, so here are a few other thoughts…
…when
I think back to the sloppy play of the last few seasons, it makes me
sick…today, however, we witnessed smart baseball…and it was a treat to
simply watch the game the way it should be played…
…give
credit to marlon anderson, who when rounding third and heading home on
chris woodward’s single in the second, was wise enough to adjust his
running pattern upon seeing where mike leiberthal was set-up to receive
the centerfielder’s throw, prompting anderson to cut towards the field,
slide on the inside part of the plate giving the catcher no shot at
tagging him…
…with two strikes, bobby abreu at the plate
and the tying run at second, give credit to pedro martinez for stopping
the game, calling mike piazza out to the mound and telling him
privately that he planned to buzz a fastball by abreu so not to let his
catcher give a sign, risking that the runner may relay it to the
batter…he then struck out abreu…
…give credit to cliff
floyd, and possibly willie randolph, for bunting to third while the
phillies had a shift on against him…and while the announcers groaned
that they’d prefer to see floyd swing away in that spot, hoping he’d
get a double, floyd stole second…
…give credit to many
acta, who’s been a bit shaky this season coaching third, for holding up
david wright at third on chris woodward’s double with no outs and pedro
martinez than the top of the order coming to bat…
…other thoughts…
…it’s
nice to see carlos beltran take second and third on back-to-back
straight steals, which got the crowd cheering in a 6-3 game…
…it’s
not nice to see mike cameron swinging and missing at outside
breaking-balls that he was taking for balls a few weeks ago…this is not
a good sign…
…speaking of beltran and cameron, do you
think it bothers mike to watch carlos come up lame on balls hit towards
center that he knows he would get to…I do…
…not sure when or where this image is from, but it has to be posted…
The Game…
The Mets (38–39) close out a three-game set with the Phillies (40–38) this afternoon at Shea Stadium…
The Pitchers…
RHP Pedro Martinez (8–2, 2.72) starts for the Mets … Martinez leads the N.L. in strikeouts with 117 … Opponents are hitting just .174 against him this season … Against the Phillies earlier this season, Martinez allowed one run over seven innings…
RHP Jon Leiber (8–7, 4.93) starts for the Phillies … Leiber has lost his last three starts … He’s walked just five batters in his last seven starts … Against the Mets earlier this season, Leiber allowed one run over six innings … Carlos Beltran is 4–for-8 with a walk against Leiber for his career … Cliff Floyd is 15–for-45 lifetime against Leiber…
The Notes…
Cliff Floyd has hit five home runs against the Phillies this season, Mike Piazza has four … Jose Reyes is now second in the N.L. with 23 stolen bases … the Mets are 26–17 when they hit a home run … Reyes is hitless in the first two games of this series … the Phillies are batting .283 during the day, best in the N.L. … Bobby Abreu is batting .347 with 14 home runs in his last 48 games …
The Reminder…
Cliff Floyd will host this week’s episode of This Week in Baseball, which will air on FOX before the Mets-Marlins game this Saturday, July 2, at 12:30 PM EDT…
The Chat…
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…
The Phillies have an all-lefty lineup starting, except for Todd Pratt, to face Pedro Martinez today…
My buddy JohnnyG emailed in the following, regarding Texas LHP Kenny Rogers, who is facing charges after shoving a cameramen on Wednesday…
JG writes…
“Hopefully Kenny Rogers anger issues stem from the 1999 NLCS when he ended the Mets season with a walk to Andruw Jones…
I know I’m still angry about it.”…
…who isn’t…
…i can’t have a single baseball discussion with my father, it seems, in which he doesn’t bring up kenny’s walk to andruw…
…ugh…and i hate chipper, too…
From his most recent Inside Dish column at the Sporting News, Ken Rosenthal writes, “The Reds will trade outfielder Adam Dunn only if they receive a top young pitcher in return.”…
Rosenthal describes the ‘top young pitcher’ as being ‘a potential Josh Beckett or Kerry Wood.’…
…here’s the thing fans…i know you’re gonna throw out aaron heilman, brian bannister or yusmiero petit, maybe even phil humber or the new-guy mike pelfrey, but if the mets had a future beckett or wood in their farm system, he’d probably be considered untouchable by the team’s fans…right?…
…we’re talking about one of the elite, young power-hitters in the game…
The type of young-talent that Rosenthal lists as most-likely to be sought out by the Reds include, Cubs prospects Sergio Mitre and Todd Wellemeyer, O’s prospects Daniel Cabrera and Hayden Penn and Dodgers prospect Chad Billingsley…
…however, talking with two well-respected experts who cover the minor leagues quite extensively, both feel the pitchers listed by rosenthal are far from a potential beckett or wood…in fact, both believe bannister and petit are on the same level as rosenthal’s suggestions…
…the difference, it appears, is major league readiness…the consensus amongst scouts and experts is that the jury is still out on petit, while bannister is warranting more believers of late…
WFAN reports that there is a proposed deal on the table between the Yankees and Marlins that would swap Gary Sheffield for Juan Encarnacion and A.J. Burnett…
…for what it’s worth, i talked to a few yankees reporters this weekend who mentioned a deal like this could be in the works, as well…
…imagine a lineup card that reads pierre, castillo, sheffield,cabrera, delgado and lowell…yikes…
Mets 2B Miguel Cairo began a rehab assignment with Class A St. Lucie last night and was 1–for-4 as the team’s DH…
He will play with St. Lucie again tonight and could rejoin the team tomorrow, according to several reports…
