Daily Archives: May 12, 2006
The Game…
The Mets (22–12) head to Miller Park to take on the Brewers (17–18) for the first of a weekend series in Milwaukee tonight starting at 8 pm EDT…
The Pitchers…
RHP Jose Lima (0–1, 9.00 ERA) starts for the Mets … In his only start for the Mets this season, Lima allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings to the Braves … Brewers OF Geoff Jenkins is batting .286 in 21 at-bats against Lima, while Carlos Lee is 6–for-13 with no HR and two RBI…
RHP Dave Bush (2–4, 4.13 ERA) starts for the Brewers … At Miller Park this season, Bush is 2–1 with 1.13 ERA in three starts … This is Bush’s first career starts against the Mets … the Brewers are 2–5 in games when Bush has started … Endy Chavez is the only player on the Mets to ever face Bush, and he is 0–for-3…
The Notes…
The Mets have the third most wins on the road in the NL with 10…
The Mets won two of three in Miller Park last season…
The Brewers have lose seven of their last 10 games…
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…
…on behalf of Toby Watcher…
Looking over the usual online articles this afternoon, I came across a picture of Jose Lima with his head down, looking distraught and disappointed. It took my eyes a split second to register the full photo, and I quickly felt a sharp sense of sickness…
He was wearing No. 17…
Quite frankly, this is an injustice on so many levels, and I know I’m not the only Mets fan in the world who thinks so…
For so long, the Mets have struggled to create their own identity in this city. Our team was created from the long gone ghosts of the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, and is constantly overshadowed by the heartless monolith in the Bronx. If the Mets psyche went to a therapist, the running question would probably be, “Who am I?” With the answer being rather obvious, the shrink’s reply would be, “You know who you are, and you don’t want to acknowledge it.”…
As fans, we can see past that perspective. We know what this team is all about: lovable losers, under-achieving with high salaries, over-achieving with young kids, historic wins that seem too crazy to be real, pitching, defense, the roar of 747 planes and a sometimes shameful past complete with firecrackers and cocaine…
Jose Lima wearing our captain’s number on Sunday was the perfect example of complete and 
utter denial of identity. The sad part is, this year seemed like the perfect time to bring everything full circle. We’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of 1986, and the team is running away with the division. Yet, even twenty years later, it seems that management doesn’t want to acknowledge the achievements of that team due to the partying and drugs. If there’s another explanation as to why No. 17 and No. 18 aren’t in left field next to Casey, Gil, Tom and Jackie, I’d like to hear it…
I live in San Diego now, and watching the Padres-Mets game a few weeks back, the local announcers were stunned that Jose Valentin was wearing Strawberry’s number…
The Mets owe this respect to Keith and Straw. More importantly, they owe it to the fans…
The Mets organization may not know what this team is all about, but we do. And we’d like to see our heroes given the proper respect so that we can go to the ballpark, point at those numbers in left field and talk about how great those players were…
As a Mets fan, I’m used to seeing a guy like Lima on our team. That will never make me feel ashamed. Plenty of washed up players have passed through town, and worn the orange and blue, but they should never wear No. 17…
Toby Wachter is a Mets fan currently living in San Diego….
At Metsville.com, Vinny provides an audio link to Mike Piazza’s appearance on Breuer Unleashed, a talk show hosted by Jim Breuer…
…well done, vinny…
In the interview, Piazza talks with Breuer and his guest, Eddie Trunk, a friend of Mike’s, about his experience at a Guns ‘n’ Roses concert in New York City a few years back…
…if you’re like me, and get a kick out of the heavy metal version of piazza, you have to check this out…
Brian Moritz covers the Binghamton Mets for the Press & Sun Bulletin, and he was kind enough to spend a few minutes with to talk about the recent injury to Henry Owens, the progress of Mike Pelfrey and Alay Soler, and the potential of Carlos Gomez…
…to listen to this 7 minute 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, 
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Moritz had the following to say regarding…
…RHP Henry Owens, who was recently diagnosed with an elbow injury, and is 1–1 with a 1.23 ERA with 33 strike outs in 14 innings for Binghamton…
“Well what happened was, he last pitched on April 5…got the save…and the next day…he said woke up the next day and had some tightness in his forearm. There was no pain. No soreness. Nothing like that. It just felt tight. And he’s had elbow sprains before, in the past – I think he told me in 2002…
“He got examined by the doctors down in New York on Tuesday and they found what’s a very, very small tear in the UCL…now, that’s the Tommy John ligament, but the tear is so small that it’s just basically a sprain. So, it’s not anything very serious. He started throwing yesterday. He told me it felt good after throwing – again, still no pain, no soreness…the tightness is starting to go away…
“There’s no timetable for him to get back on the mound and start pitching as of yet, but I think its a good sign that he’s able to at least throw, even if it’s just playing soft-toss and he’s able to throw without much pain.”…
…RHP Mike Pelfrey, who has a 3.78 in three starts at Double-A…
“Pelfrey is absolutely the real deal. Is he major-league ready right now? I don’t know. He’s still needs to get more confidence and command of his off-speed pitches, and he acknowledged that himself…
“His fastball is everything you’ve heard it to be. He was hitting 96–mph in the seventh inning the other day. And he’s got great poise. That’s what a lot of the coaches in the Mets system, that I’ve talked, to love about him – not just his stuff, but he’s got great poise on the mound and off the mound he handles himself very well…
“He’s one of those guys who you watch and know it’s only a matter of time before he’s in the big leagues.”…
…RHP Alay Soler, who allowed just one run in 6.2 innings in his one start for Binghamton…
“He’s not the power pitchers that Pelfrey is, but he’s got a good repertoire of about three of four pitches. He throws a great slider…
…LHP Willy Collazo, whose name is pronounced Coy-Ah-Zo, and is 3–2 with 2.28 ERA, with 31 strike outs to four walks, in 43.1 innings spanning seven starts…
“Since April, Collazo has been very, very good. He’s almost the epitome of the crafty lefty. I mean, he’s got good delivery. He’s got a very good change-up and curve ball and just really moves the ball around the strikezone well…and he’s got really good command…
…Offensive players who are hot…
“Michel Abreu has been hitting the ball really well. I think he’s got a hit in all but one game…
“Brett Harper was hitting the ball well, for average – he didn’t have much power. But, he’s back down in Port St. Lucie. He injured his shoulder…and he’s back down in extended spring training. But, while he was here, he didn’t have the power that he had last year…
…OF Carlos Gomez, who is batting just .228 in 123 at-bats this season, but with 12 stolen bases in 31 games…
“Gomez had an outstanding, outstanding spring training and Juan Samuel, the manager, just fell in love with him. You gotta remember with Gomez, he’s only 20–years-old. You can see the tools in him…
“He’s quick as anything. He’s got a strong arm, he covers center field well…you can see the tools, but he’s still, definitely, learning the game. He’s a leadoff guy…but he doesn’t draw many walks. A lot of times it’s almost like he’s a little bit too aggressive for his own good…
“Gomez does have the ability and the potential to be a very, very good player.”…
Mets OF Cliff Floyd hit from the second slot in the batting order last night, the first time he’s hit higher than third since joining the Mets in 2003…
Appearing on SNY, while addressing the media prior to the game, Floyd had the following to say regarding his manager’s decision…
“I think it’s something just to get me going, hopefully. You know, it’s not like something gigantic, because, you know, you only go through a lineup once – in terms of position wise in the lineup. You know, you’ve got your lineup that starts the game and then after the first inning, or after the first time through it doesn’t matter where you hit…
“I’m not gonna worry…we don’t get caught up in all these stuff…I just want some hits…
“I just haven’t been involved. I’ve been so caught up in what I’m doing personally, I haven’t been involved in a game…
“I remember an at-bat last week with bases loaded the guy had thrown eight pitches and I swung at the first pitch of the next at-bat. So, again, you just get caught up in…your own personal stuff and you lose track of what’s going on in the game.”…
More from Floyd, as quoted by the Journal News…
“I need some hits…
“I might not even play next year. If I keep playing like this, do you think I’ll get a job? If you were a GM would you sign me the way I’m going now?”
…oh boy…here we go, again…come on, cliffy, chin up, man…
In the New York Times, Ira Berkow makes a trip up to Binghamton to profile Mets RHP Mike Pelfrey, who tossed seven innings allowing one run while striking out 10 during a game on Tuesday, which followed his first rough outing of the year on the previous Thursday…
Mets GM Omar Minaya, as quoted by Birkow…
“He came off a bad outing and we wanted to see how he’d handle it. In the minors, it’s important to see kids fail and then have them ask why, so as not to repeat it…
“Mike obviously asked himself some questions, and came away with impressive results. We’re monitoring him closely. You’d have to say he’s learning.”…
Although the Bergen Record’s Jane McManus is celebrating that SportsNet New York can finally be seen on most every television, a fan from the Mets.com message board is not so happy…
The fan pens a letter to Fred Wilpon, which concludes by saying…
“You don’t grow a fan base when all of your competitors’ games are televised and yours are not. The worm could turn and the Mets could become the dominant team in New York for years to come but you will never make a dent in CT because the next generation of baseball fans will be cutting their teeth on Jeter and Big Papi playing on TV on a nightly basis. Mets fans don’t grow on trees. People don’t spontaneously switch their allegiance from their favorite team. They need to turn on a Mets game, SEE a great product on the field and be enticed to stay, watch and return another night. “Take a lesson from the Japanese and now the Koreans. How do you think that they have come to dominate the auto and electronics markets? They undercut the competition until they made a name for themselves and grabbed market share. “Your SNY website proclaims CT as SNY Territory. Well, it is not even available in six of the eight counties in CT and thanks to the FCC we can’t even watch games on MLB Extra Innings or MLB.com. This is no way to run a franchise. “George’s Yankees are worth a cool Billion. Unless you do something about this, you will always own the third rate team in CT.”… …my father, a long-time mets fan, who lives in shelton, and has no choice but to subscribe to adelphia, agrees… …thanks to our buddy luke for the link…
In Newsday, David Lennon spends a few words on how umpires have been treating the Mets this season…
As Lennon notes, over the last 11 days three Mets have been ejected from the game, and after each one the team let their views on the matter be heard publicly…
…for a reminder, check out Julio Franco’s tirade from the other night…
…i don’t know, man…i have a hard time believing that the league’s umps have a bias towards the mets…but it certainly does seem that way…more than anything, this younger generation of umpires seem to enjoy making their presence known…they have their masks off a lot, they argue more and it seemingly takes a lot less to get tossed these days…maybe i am just paying closer attention, but the relationship between baseball and the umpiring crews seems a tad different than when i was younger…
Speaking of umpires…
Mets OF Cliff Floyd, regarding last night’s rain-shortened loss to the Phillies, as quoted by Journal News…
“Why did they even bother to start it? They canceled the game in Pittsburgh before it even started. I never liked that rule. We should come back and finish it some other time. If you start a game you should finish it.”…
…well, the idea of stopping a game in may, only to pick it up in july always seemed less fair to me…i mean, let’s say the did that…then, come july, for instance, the mets may have a hot-hitting Lastings Milledge in their outfield or the phillies could toss a scorching Cole Hamels, etc, all situations that were not possible when the game began in may, making it a disjointed boxscore in a way…
…regardless, i agree with cliff that they should never have started it, though…especially since everyone with access to the weather channel knew the game was doomed from the outset…i mean, come on, it’s get-away day, you know it’s gonna rain all night, both teams are heading west, just call it, let them get a good night’s sleep and play a double-header later in the year…it’s not like this was a inter-league game…these guys will play one another a ton between now and september…let them handle business the right way, over nine innings…
