Daily Archives: May 9, 2006
The Game…
The Mets (21–10) head to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies (17–14), winners of eight in a row, for the start of a three game series starting tonight at 7:05 pm EDT…
The Pitchers…
RHP Pedro Martinez (5–0, 2.72 ERA) starts for the Mets … Martinez is tied with 12 pitchers for the Major League lead with five wins … He has allowed two runs or less in four of his six starts … In three starts against the Phillies last season, Martinez was 2–1 with 3.60 ERA in 20 innings pitched … Pat Burrell is hitless in 13 at-bats against Martinez…
RHP Brett Myers (2–1, 3.11 ERA) starts for the Phillies … Myers has made four straight quality starts, and has not allowed more than three earned runs in any outing this season … He struck out 28 batters in his 24 innings against the Mets last season … Carlos Beltran is 7–for-18 against Myers, Cliff Floyd is 9–for-27 and Paul Lo Duca is 8–for-23, while david Wright is 3–for-13…
The Notes…
The Mets have the second best ERA, 3.73, among all starting rotations in baseball…
Carlos Beltran has four HR and nine walks in his last 36 plate appearances…he has a home run in each of his last three games…
Though he has just four hits in his last 25 at-bats, Cliff Floyd has an RBI in each is his last three games…
Julio Franco is hitless in his last seven at-bats…Jose Valentin is two for his last six with an RBI…
Kaz Matsui hit .192 in 26 at-bats during the team’s most recent homestand…
Jose Reyes has four runs scored, two doubles, a triple, an RBI and two walks in his last three games…he has not hit a home run since April 7…
The Mets are 14–2 when they score first…the Phillies are 11–5 when they score first…
The Bleachers…
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…
WFAN’s Ed Coleman is reporting that RHP Jeremi Gonzalez will start for the Mets on Friday against the Brewers, followed by RHP Jose Lima on Saturday…
…as i mentioned earlier, gonzo has a few supporters within the mets, who feel he looked good during spring training…so, here’s his shot to prove them right…
According to Coleman, the team has yet to commit to Gonzalez or Lima past their starts this weekend. Therefore, the Mets will decide who picks up the final start in St. Louis on May 18, and the Saturday game against the Yankees on May, 20, when they absolutely have to…
Meaning, it breaks down as follows…
May 9 at PHI: Pedro Martinez
May 10 at PHI: Tom Glavine
May 11 at PHI: Steve Trachsel
May 12: at MIL: Jeremi Gonzalez
May 13 at MIL: Jose Lima
May 14 at MIL: Pedro Martinez
May 15: off day
May 16 at STL: Tom Glavine
May 17 at STL: Steve Trachsel
May 18 at STL: question mark
May 19 vs. NYY: Pedro Martinez
May 20 vs. NYY: Brian Bannister (see below)
May 21 vs. NYY: Tom Glavine
May 22: off day
This morning, in the Daily News, Adam Rubin wrote that the team expects RHP Brian Bannister to be ready for the Saturday game against the Yankees…
…just so i can save a little face for my earlier slip up this afternoon, the team’s game notes at MLB.com, as well as the transaction page at ESPN.com, both say that the mets demoted Pedro Feliciano, not Bartolome Fortunato, as well, which i corrected on the original post a few hours ago…
…for what it’s worth, i have been informed by two different people that it is, in fact, Bartolome Fortunato that has been sent down…
…also, adam rubin is writing the same thing at his blog for the daily news…clearly, somebody goofed along the communication chain-gang…oh well…no harm, no foul…
Mets C Paul Lo Duca talked with WFAN 660 AM in New York this morning, and had the following to say regarding…
…Angel Hernandez, the home plate umpire from Sunday’s loss to the Braves…
“It was a very important game. We were trying to sweep the Braves, we know with John Smoltz on the mound it was going to be tough, and it was just everything building up in me. It was the balk call, which was, to me, that’s just a chicken – you know – call…and then there were some question pitches that inning, that didn’t go our away. It just built up, you know, and then the play at the plate and the guy’s out, plain and simple, and I blew up. I obviously overreacted, but…I wanted to win the ball game, and it seemed to me the way things were going that it was going to be a long, long day…
…Hernandez’s alleged comments about Jose Lima not being John Smoltz…
“He said it to Lima. He said, ‘I’m gonna give you corners here and there, but I’m not gonna give you four or five inches…you’re not John Smoltz.’ You know, to me, that’s unbelievable. We’re all on a fair playing field, and that’s the bottom line. We’re all fighting for a job here, we’re all trying to win. And we should be on an equal playing field.”…
…Jose Lima…
“I know he’s struggling a little bit, but once he gets out of that first inning it’s a different story. I caught him in LA and I think he’s fine. He’s gonna give you some innings, he’s gonna throw strikes, I know he’s struggling a little with his control, but he’s solid and he’s gonna keep you in the game. I think he’s perfect for this team…and I think he’ll be just fine.”…
…Billy Wagner, and whether fans should be concerned about his recent struggles…
“I think his stuff is better than it was at the beginning of the year…I think it’s just one of things where they hit mistakes. He’s one of those guys that can make mistakes and still not give up hits. But he hasn’t, and he’s made mistakes and he’s paid for him. I don’t think there is any concern. I think he’s gonna be just fine.”…
…spanning his last two appearances on wfan, lo duca has referred to five consecutive players as being fine…
To listen to Lo Duca’s entire interview, in which he also discusses the important of winning last Friday against the Braves, as well as the significance of the team’s coming stretch, go to WFAN.com…
Lastly, for more on the situation with Hernandez and Lo Duca and Lima, check this column in the Star-Ledger written by Dan Graziano, who quotes Mike Port, MLB’s Vice President in charge of umpiring, as saying of Hernandez, “Is discipline possible? Yes it is. But if it’s worth looking into, it’s something we would handle in-house.”…
At his blog for ESPN.com, Peter Gammons wonders if tonight marks the beginning of a great Mets-Phillies rivalry “lights up the Northeast Corridor” from now until the rest of the season…
In addition to the games being played on the field, Gammons foresees a brewing rivalry between Mets GM Omar Minaya and Phillies GM Pat Gillick, to see who can trade for the better starting pitcher and who can promote the better pitching prospect, in either RHP Cole Hamels or RHP Mike Pelfrey, before the season ends…
Gammons writes…
“We may come to regret the last time they are scheduled to meet is August 14-17 at CBP, but what baseball may still embrace is that that could be one of the best weeks in New Jersey Turnpike history.”…
…in the 22 years i have been watching the mets, the phillies have never really felt like a big rival, despite playing in the same division the entire time…when you look back over the last two decades, the two teams have completed with one another more for last place, such as in the early and mid-to-late 90s, then they have for the division title, for as one was winning, the other was always losing…yet, because of the short distance between the two cities, i suppose, it has felt like a rivalry, even though i’m not sure it technically is…
…it would be nice to begin a little something here, in what could make for a pretty interesting battle along I-95…
You most likely recall Scott Lauber from his days covering the Binghamton Mets for the Press & Sun Bulletin. However, these days he is covering the Phillies for the News Journal, and was kind enough to take a few minutes to talk with me about the current state of the Phillies, as well as situation between the team and Mets LHP Billy Wagner…
…to listen to this interview, click the play button below…
This and all future Conversations at MetsBlog are available as a podcast, which you can subscribe to by either entering the following feed, 
, into your download software, such as iTunes or Yahoo! Music, or by simply searching MetsBlog on iTunes…
…you may also download an mp3 of this interview by using the link below
Matthew Cerrone, of MetsBlog.com…
Give me the scoop on what you’re feeling is with this club?
Scott Lauber, of the News Journal…
I think they’re good enough to hang with the Mets this season. Obviously, the key for them is pitching. They’re only going to go as far as these five starters and this bullpen can take them. They can obviously hit, so I’m not worries about the scoring runs. But, you know, are Jon Lieber, Brett Myers, Cory Lidle, Gavin Floyd and Ryan Madson enough in the starting rotation, and is Tom Gordon really the guy who’s been unhittable so far or is he the guy who, I think, a lot of people had some doubts when the season started…
Matthew Cerrone, of MetsBlog.com…
We’ve all seen the reports the last couple of days…with Billy Wagner and the Phillies. What’s your take on this, and what’s the buzz in Philadelphia, not just among the team but with the fans, as well…
Scott Lauber, of the News Journal…
I think he’s gonna get a pretty rude reception…
I was a little bit surprised. I know he’s outspoken, but I was kind of surprised with just how outspoken he was with the Inquirer. I think that it caught a lot of the Phillies by surprise, also. Cory Lidle said to me that he really didn’t understand where it was coming from. He said, because last year everyone was, sort of, in the same boat, everyone wanted to make the playoffs. They knew they needed Billy Wagner to make the playoffs and there was nobody who was sitting there rooting against him in the ninth inning. Cory Lidle kind of thought that was absurd, and maybe something that Billy has invented in his mind a little bit…
But I don’t think there is any question that when he came out at the end of June, early July, and said this team is not gonna make the playoffs because they don’t have the heart and they don’t have the guts and they don’t have the desire – and he said that in the newspapers – I don’t think there was any question that there were players on the team that said where does he get off airing this dirty laundry in the newspapers…
So, I’m not quite sure what Billy Wagner expected from his teammates after he said that. I’m sure he wasn’t the most popular guy in the clubhouse I’m sure he wasn’t the most popular guy in the clubhouse the last two months of the season, and for him to be surprised that he wasn’t I think is a little bit na
Comments Off
From Beerleageur.com, an outstanding blog about the Philadelphia Phillies…
“If Billy Wagner believes the Phillies are still too soft, he should take it up with Aaron Rowand or Tom Gordon, actual winners, not pretenders living in a dream world. Tell us, Billy, how did it feel when you struck out Biggio?…
“God, I’m fired up! I hate the Mets, loathe Wagner, and I’m fighting the urge to tear down my cubicle walls.”…
…it’s interesting…if you read through the comments section at the referenced post at beerleaguer, it appears the philly fans have no real ill-will towards wagner for saying that the team lacked heart last summer…they do, however, despise him for leaving for the mets, and for bringing this all up again, while no longer on the team…now, the outrage is, well, outrageous…
Comments OffAt Mets Walk-offs, Mark points to a story out of St. Lucie regarding former-Mets SS Kurt Abbott, who recently saved two lives from a burning house while serving as a deputy sheriff in Florida…
Comments OffLast summer, while pitching for the Phillies, Billy Wagner told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his team lacked the focus and heart to win the National League East. According to Wagner’s comments in this week’s Inquirer, the remarks made him the most unpopular man in the clubhouse…
Now, as his new team heads to Philadelphia for a three-game set with his former club, Wagner expects to be boo’d quite heavily by the team’s fans, according to a variety of morning reports…
In the Star-Ledger, Don Burke quotes Wagner on his feelings towards the team’s fans, and how they initially treated him when he was first acquired to replace Jose Mesa…
In Newsday, Anthony Rieber writes that Wagner hopes to pitch in every game of the series, during which they can boo him all they want…
…listen, not for nothing, but these are the same screwballs who boo’d Santa Claus, Mike Schmidt and told wagner he sucked in his second game as a philly…if he wants to start trouble, i say go for it – as long as he gets the job done…i like drama…who doesn’t…and if this helps him get pumped up a bit, great…either way, do your job this week and new york will be cool with whatever you have to say, billy…
Wagner, as quoted by the New York Post, on what he’ll do if the fans throw money at him, as the Red Sox fans did to Johnny Damon upon returning to Boston earlier this season…
“If they throw me money, I’m keeping it. If they think I’m stupid enough to let them throw money and not pick it up, they are crazy.”…
…hahaha…great answer…
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, as quoted by Joe Gergen in Newsday…
“Bring on Billy boy.”…
…looks like wagner and the fans are not the only ones excited for him to take the mound…
Comments OffWriting in the Bergen Record, Bob Klapisch feels that the Mets should get into the race for free-agent RHP Roger Clemens…
Klapisch writes…
“The Mets have no intention of surrendering [Lastings] Milledge, since they’ve already projected him as their opening day left fielder in 2007…
“As long as Omar Minaya holds onto Milledge, Mike Pelfrey and Aaron Heilman, they can forget about significant help via a trade. But Clemens would cost the Mets nothing except money - albeit a prohibitive amount.”…
A senior Mets official tells Klapisch that the team has the money to spend, which for Clemens, at this point, could need to be as much as $3.5 million per month, according to the Boston Globe…
According to Adam Rubin in the Daily News, however, “the Mets need not waste their time.” Rubin quotes Clemens’s agent, Randy Hendricks, as saying that Clemens will only pitch for the Astros, Yankees, Red Sox and Rangers…
Appearing on WFAN Sports Radio 660 in New York this afternoon, Ken Rosenthal of the Sporting News said he believes Clemens will undoubtably end up back in Houston, if for no other reason then he prefers to pitch in the National League…
…the mets do play in the national league, by the way…however, think about it…if clemens will not go to the yankees or red sox, as the rumor has it, because he doesn’t want to ruin his good standing with the two sets of fans, going to the mets will not help in this matter, either…plus, how will clemens only pitch at home, in houston, while he plays in the northeast…
…all signs point to houston…
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