Daily Archives: May 18, 2006
…the mets blogosphere is quiet this morning, featuring a lot of mellow rants about pitching duels…in short, there’s a lot of sincere hat tipping going on, and, as such, not a lot of linking being done here…
…except to the following…
At Metstradamus, John wonders if Cliff Floyd’s recent struggles are due to his body breaking down, writing, “You can only put your car through so much before it stops running. And Cliffy it seems has taken his Dodge Dart of a body on too many cross country trips, which have included a few ill advised spinouts on major highways, and too many sideswipes on cross streets.”…
…nice metaphor…
…he does lumber around out in left field, i will say that…just watching him thump to a ball in the corner actually makes my knees hurt…
…however, i don’t think that’s what has him in a slump…again, i keep pointing to the fact that he isn’t striking out nearly as much as he once did…he’s seeing the ball well, and making contact…he just isn’t driving the ball through the box…he’s hitting the top of the ball a lot it seems…the thing is, i’m not a batting coach, so i have no idea how a professional hitter with his track record fixes something like this…my guess is that he just needs to keep going at it and work his way through…
Brian Bannister will make a rehab start for Triple-A Norfolk this afternoon at 12:15 pm EDT…
To listen to today’s game between the Norfolk Tides and the Toledo Mud Hens, go here…
…the buzz from shea is that the bannister’s target date to return to the mets rotation is next wednesday at home against the phillies, though that could easily change depending on how he feels after today’s start…
In two games, the Mets have held Albert Pujols hitless in seven at-bats. He was walked last night, and scored the game’s only run on a double by Scott Rolen…
Pujols is batting .316 this season with 19 HR, 40 runs scored and 48 RBI in 40 games…
Cliff Floyd was hitless in four at-bats during last night’s loss to the Cardinals. The Journal News and Daily News each point out that Floyd was in the lineup against the left-handed Mark Mulder, despite being 2–for-21 against lefties this season…
By the way, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Kaz Matsui and Xavier Nady were all hitless, as well…
Willie Randolph, as quoted by David Lennon in Newsday…
“What do you think, I’m platooning him now? He plays every day. He’s one of my big guys…
“He got a couple hits [Tuesday] and looked pretty good. If he struck out four times it might have been different. Valentin is one of my backup guys. I’m not going to play him at the expense of Cliff, who could carry me for a month and a half.”…
…platoons are a tough business…there is a mental side to it that i just don’t think you want to put floyd in…if you want him strong, physically and mentally, for a potential playoff run, you can’t wreck his confidence in may…i may be blowing that out of proportion…but if i know anything about baseball it’s that so much of it is about confidence, and a guy with floyd’s status will have his confidence broke if he is a platooned…
…i understand the argument…especially given how well Endy Chavez and Jose Valentin have hit against lefties, batting .557 and .500 respectively, though in a very, very small number of at-bats…
…i just think you have to ask yourself what is gained in the overall big picture of performance, for the entire team, of which floyd is part of, over the course of 162 games, and specifically in september when you need your leaders to be healthy and confident…
…i’m not saying a platoon should be off the table, but it’s way too early to pull the trigger on a move like that…
Appearing on SNY, while addressing the media following last night’s loss to the Cardinals, the team’s manager, Willie Randolph, had the following to say 
regarding…
…Steve Trachsel, who allowed one run over seven innings yet suffered the loss…
“Trax needs to get on track like he can, you know, and he’s been pitching well for us, so…it’s a big game, little bit wasted because, again, you gotta capitalize when a guy pitches well like that. But, again, we’ll be back at them again tomorrow…
…why was Trachsel so effective tonight, compared to his last few starts when he has struggled…
“He’s been pretty much pitching the same way for the most part. Like I said, there’s no secret to what he’s gonna do. He’s gonna hit his spots, he’s gonna change location, and that’s pretty much what he’s all about. He pitched pretty well last time around, too, so pretty much the same thing.”…
…whether or not he’d rather have any else but David Wright up at bat, as he did, in the ninth with the bases loaded…
“No, he’s been great all year. Sometimes you try a little too hard sometimes, but I’ll take my shot with him again.”…
…Mark Mulder, who allowed no runs in 8.1 innings…
“Well, I’ve watched Mark for a long time and obviously he’s location and he’s changing speeds is the most important thing for him. Same thing with Trachsel. There both kind of finesse pitchers who need to locate their pitches and throw good change-ups at the right time and seems like he kept a lot of guys off stride with that.”…
…whether he thought Jose Reyes would go for a triple in the ninth, instead of holding up for a double as he did…
“You don’t wanna take a chance in a situation like that with nobody out, and he’s in scoring position…in thats situation you’ve gotta play it safe.”…
…what he hoped to see from Kaz Matsui, who popped out with runners at first and third and one out in the fifth…
“Well, you;d like to see him hit the ball the other way. With his speed he can probably beat out a double play, even if you hit it on the ground. Obviously, you don’t wanna hit the ball in the air like that. I mean, like I said earlier, Mulder was mixing his change-up really well, and, I guess, Kaz was looking for a fastball and he threw him a change-up and he got out in front. You know, you like hitters in that situation to try and stay through the middle and hit the ball the other way, this way you have a chance to stay on the ball, this way you’re not vulnerable to a change-up and in that case he was vulnerable because he got out in front too quick.”…
With 112 pitches, Steve Trachsel allowed just one run over seven innings in a loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis last night…
Appearing on SNY, while addressing the media following last night’s loss, Trachsel had the following to say regarding…
…the pitcher’s duel between him and Mark Mulder, who allowed one less run than Trachsel…
“It was a classic, old style baseball game, and we came up a little short.”…
…whether he was excited to see the team potentially come from behind to win it in the ninth…
“Well, we had the opportunity. Izzy did a great job, and he made some really clutch pitches. i wish it would’ve worked out different, but it didn’t.”…
…the large number of batters who popped out against him during the game…
“It was the weirdest thing. I don’t know how many infield pop-ups I had. We were throwing some fastballs in, but we got some pop-ups on splits down and, I think, the only real one mistake I had I hung a back-up slider to Encarnacion and he popped up. Damn, it was kind of odd.”…
…the pitch to Scott Rolen, who hit a double to score the game’s only run…
“Good pitch, good pitch – I saw it on the replay and it was even better than I thought it was. He’s a good RBI guy. Tip your hat to him. It was a good pitch, and a real good piece of hitting, too.”…
…whether this was the most effective he has felt all season…
“Nah, I’ve been feeling good for three or four starts now in a row.”…
