Daily Archives: May 17, 2006
The Mets lost to the Cardinals by a score of 1 to 0 in St. Louis tonight…
For a recap, check out the fast-acting Associated Press…
…a few thoughts…
…tough loss…but, this is one of those games where you just tip your cap to the opposing pitcher, who was outstanding…
…Steve Trachsel was no slouch, either, allowing just one run over seven innings while striking out just two…for the first time since his initial start this season, he had his curve ball snapping and he was hitting his spots…when he’s in command, he can lull a team to sleep, as they take bad swing after bad swing, which he appeared to be doing tonight…welcome back, trax…
…with Yadier Molina’s arm, and Mark Mulder’s pick-off move and sinker, it’s no wonder the duo induces so many double plays…what a tremendous combo…
…talk about your huge outs…in the third inning, with runners on first and second, two outs and John Rodriguez at the plate, and Albert Pujols on deck, trachsel got ahead of the count and struck out rodriguez on an outside fastball…situation contained…well done…sure, they lost the game, but something like this should still be acknowledged…
…also, in the ninth, molina called for a low, low fastball to Jose Reyes…mulder missed high, and left the ball out over the plate, which reyes knocked in to the gap for a double…subsequently, he motored around second as though he wanted a triple, and though he didn’t pick up his base coach, he did stop himself from taking the extra bag, which he would have been out, to lead off the inning, had he tried…so, hat’s off to the young, and often out-of-control, reyes for showing a little timely restraint…
…at the end of the day, i just can’t get that worked up over this loss…mulder was just that good…he kept the ball down for nearly the entire night, and the mets just couldn’t get a solid swing off of him…so, shake it off, boys, and take solace knowing it will not be mulder on the hill tomorrow afternoon…
The Game…
The Mets (24–14) take on the Cardinals (24–15) in the second game of a two game series in St. Louis tonight starting at 8:10 pm EDT…
The Mets have the best record in the National League…
The Pitchers…
RHP Steve Trachsel (2–3, 4.91 ERA) starts for the Mets … Left-handed hitters are batting .333 against Trachsel, while right-handed batters are hitting .282 … Though he is 2–3 on the season, the Mets are 4–3 when he pitches … Though Albert Pujols is 4–for-9 against Trachsel, with no home runs, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen are a combined 10–for-45…
LHP Mark Mulder (4–1, 4.27 ERA) starts for the Cardinals … The Cardinals are 7–1 during games that Mulder has pitched this season … He induced the most double plays, 11, in the National League … Mulder is 4–for-16 at the plate this season … Carlos Beltran is batting just .171 in 35 at-bats against Mulder, while Carlos Delgado is 6–for-17 and Xavier Nady is 3–for-3…
The Notes…
In his last three games, Cliff Floyd is 4–for-9 with a double and a walk…
Paul Lo Duca has a hit in 13 of his last 14 games, during which he is batting .290 with nine RBI…
On the team’s current road trip, Xavier Nady is hitting .304 with one HR and five RBI…
David Wright is batting .381 over his last 42 at-bats, including nine walks…
Cards OF Jim Edmonds has a 14–game hitting streak, during which he’s batting .444…
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…
At his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin calls up a collection of special assistants and scouts for teams not in the National League East to ask them who each feels will win the National League East…
Six picked the Mets, one picked the Phillies and nobody picked the Braves. Marlins or Nationals…
…i wonder how different these opinions will be in a month from now…
…as interesting as that is, i found the comments that each person provided to be more interesting…such as…
A rep for an NL West team tells Rubin, “Watching Norfolk, [Evan] MacLane could help…Anderson Hernandez looks healthy. [Lastings] Milledge is not ready, and getting himself out at the plate chasing sliders and curveballs off the plate.”…
Lastly, the rep for a team in the NL Central tells Rubin, “(the Mets) will make a move for a starter, most likely for Milledge.”…
Rubin’s post provides a variety of other comments, so be sure and check it out…
The creative gang at ProgressiveBoink.com have put together a career retrospective for Julio Franco, accompanied by video game still shots from the years being referenced…
…hat tip to both always amazin and deadspin for the link…
In the Miami Herald, Barry Jackson cites a National League GM as saying the Marlins have yet to make LHP Dontrelle Willis available in trades…
…the buzz from miami is that when willis hits the market, and he will, the fish are looking to acquire, at minimum, a young, affordable, major-league ready pitcher, be it a front-end starter, like a Matt Cain, or a guy who can slot in as a closer, such as a Joel Zumaya…
The St. Louis Cardinals have not won a World Series since 1982, or since they traded Keith Hernandez to the Mets in 1983…
As such, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan O’Neill believes it is the Curse of Keith that can be 
As O’Neill points out…
“If you scramble the names of the people involved in the trade – Rick Wayne Ownbey, Neil Patrick Allen and Keith Hernandez, you can spell “Won’t Win Any,” or “Won’t Catch Any Break.””
…and i can’t believe he took the time to figure that out…
At Profile Weekly, Jake Denton pens a 3,300 word column about Mets OF Lastings Milledge, which includes a variety of quotes from Milledge, Tides manager Tony Tijerina and batting coach Howard Johnson…
…to read about milledge, jump roughly 1,000 words into the column…the author spends the first third of the report talking about why he is a mets fan…
Howard Johnson, as quoted by Denton…
“I think he’s in the (David Wright) category. One of the great things about David was that with him you would tell him something between at-bats and he would go out and execute it right away. Whatever I would tell him, he understood it and he was able to put it into practice. And Lastings does the same thing…
“Lastings is on the same track as David was – the fast track. He’s going to be able to help in New York at some point – soon.”…
…hat tip to the metropolitans for the link…
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Braves RHP Kyle Davies has been placed on the 15–day disabled list with a groin injury…
The report suggests that Davies could be out anywhere between three week to six months…
Davies is 2–3 with a 6.12 ERA for the Braves. Both wins are against the Mets…
In the post below that references Robin Ventura, a reader asked if anyone had a clip of the infamous Grand Slam Single…
…here you go…
…this is still my favorite baseball game of all time…my buddy, johnny g, and i were in attendance and i can still the feeling of the stands bobbing and swaying from the cheers and utter amazement from the fans…talk about your goose-bumps…
Pedro Martinez, on the Yankees and Mets, as quoted by the Star-Ledger…
“Right now, it seems like we’re getting a lot more publicity than before. I can’t tell you that we overtook (them) because we haven’t done anything. The championships that they have won are obviously irreplaceable…
“But popularity, without a doubt, I think has shifted a little bit. Not totally. You have to give the Yankees credit. They’re the No. 1 team in probably baseball, but popularity with us is on the way up.”…
…i can only speak from my own little experience in the small, coastal town of milford, ct, where i live…this is clearly a yankee town…around christmas time, i noticed how it was nearly impossible to find a mets hat or jersey in a local sporting goods store in this town, which is located roughly an hour from shea stadium…
…these days, however, i see a lot more people sporting the blue and orange…at the gym this morning, i saw a guy with an tattered No. 4, Robin Ventura t-shirt…and get this, Rock You Like a Hurricane by Scorpions was actually playing from the gym’s speakers…i kid you not…how weird is that…
…for those who don’t remember, that was ventura’s classic at-bat song…anyway…
…it appears that this club’s popularity is up…to me, this was evident by all the babble coming out of the mouthes of yankee fans at the start of this season…there team was 0–and-whatever, and the mets were on fire…suddenly, i was getting totally unprovoked, and irrational rants by guys in yankee hats, telling me the mets stink, as if i cared what they had to say about the national league…mind your business, boys…
…as i wrote then, this stunk of paranoia to me, and i suspect it will only get worse for them…or better, if you wear a mets cap…
