Daily Archives: May 19, 2006
…for those who continue to stump for the promotion of Double-A RHP Mike Pelfrey, keep in mind the following…
Towards the end of last summer, ESPN and Sports Illustrated could not get enough of M’s RHP Felix Hernandez, who went 4–4 with 2.67 ERA with 77 strike outs in 84.1 innings during his rookie season…
The 20–year-old was being referred to as “King Felix,” and M’s fans appeared ecstatic, referring to him as the greatest pitcher in 35 years…
In eight starts this season, however, Hernandez is 2–5 with 5.19 ERA, having allowed 54 hits and 18 walks in 43 innings pitched…
The drums have begun to beat over whether or not Hernandez should be returned to the minor leagues. The prevailing wisdom in Seattle seems to be that the youngster should be allowed to work through his troubles at the major-league level, since, as the team’s GM put it, “you don’t learn everything at the (minor league) level.”…
…this is true…and for seattle, who is 17–25, hernandez should probably stay up…however, in new york, in a pennant race, this would be a tough pill to swallow…
…i’m all for bringing pelfrey into the fold, when the time is right…however, now is not the time…
…the buzz around the minor leagues is that pelfrey looks good, not great…he waivers late in games and has struggled to keep his command…he’s skilled enough to muscle through it, but in the big-leagues that will not work…the team clearly wants to see him adjust to double-a before giving him the responsibility of adjusting to the best hitters in the world…
…from what i understand, the team’s plan is to wait for pelfrey to come to them, they’re not going to dip down and bring up pelfrey…
Though he recognizes it is not quite the same, MSG’s Fran Healy makes the case that the Subway Series can be as big of a rivalry as the one between the Yankees and Red Sox…
…which is nonsense…
…what makes the yankees and red sox so compelling is that the players care about beating the opposing team…it’s not only a rivalry between fans, it is also a rivalry between the players, owners, media and their respective histories…
…with yankees-mets, only the fans care…that’s it…and that care is mostly fueled from a fear of embarrassment, as no fan base wants to be the loser…seriously, in yankees-red sox, the whole group wants to defeat the other group because it typically means advancing to the playoffs, to the world series, to first place, etc…with the subway series, however, the fans from each team seem more preoccupied with not losing, for fear of being mocked by their neighbor, than they care about actually winning for the sake of winning…
…oh, and, can-o-corn…just had to get that in there for fran…
Carlos Delgado, regarding the Subway Series, as quoted by the Journal News and the New York Post…
“I don’t want to say it’s just another three games, because it’s not just another three games…but at the end of the day, it’s just another three games…
“I’m not concerned about where we stand against the Yankees. I’m more concerned where we stand in our own division…
“I know this could be a prelude to a World Series, but we can’t think about that. We just have to think that if we take care of our own business, we’ll be all right…
“I think the fans are going to go crazy. And I think it’s a great show for the fans. Don’t take it wrong. I think it’s pretty awesome. But as a player, it’s a pain in the ass. You’ve got like around twice as many media, twice as many requests. It’s just the same game. You’ve got to play 27 outs.”…
…easier said than done…this is probably the closest experience delgado will have ever had to a playoff-charged atmosphere…he’s right, the games mean no more than any other, but the fans will be louder, the media is busier, the flash-bulbs pop brighter and the energy is much higher…
David Wright, regarding the Subway Series, as quoted by the Journal News…
“We have to put things into perspective: It’s important for us to play well, but we can’t make too much of this…
“We don’t want to become emotionally drained from this stretch…
“We don’t look at the Yankees as the team we measure ourselves by. We haven’t played well lately, and we’ve lost a few series in a row…
“I think this stretch, and playing the Yankees, will help push us to get better.”…
…he’s right…the mets are measured against the other teams in the national league east…the yankees are irrelevant…
…wright makes a good point, though…the crowd and hoards of media will weigh on the ball players, and i can see where this will mentally drain them after dealing with it for three days…in this regard, too many losses can have a more significant impact than just on the standings…wins, on the other hand, while great, could still not matter, in that team could end up leaving tired regardless of the results…
In the New York Times, Murray Chass takes a look at why the American League has won seven of the last 10 World Series, and 14 of the last 17 All-Star Games…
Chass theorizes that money is a factor, noting that the American League sports four of the five highest team payrolls in the league, with the rest of the AL spending to play catch-up as 11 of their 14 payrolls went up last season…
…as i see it, it’s the money, but that is an off-shoot of two other factors…
….first, the national league is returning to a small ball game, which is less expensive, while promoting a lot of young players to take on more significant roles, just see the mets who have three zero-to-three guys in its starting lineup while playing in the the world’s largest media market…
…second, because of this, there has been a large rotation of free-agent pitchers coming to the national league, while its best hitters are fleeing to the american league…as such, when these pitchers face off against the american league teams, again, they must contend with big-time bats throughout the entire lineup, including at the designated hitter…
…frankly, i could care less…i like pitching, defense and speed, so the american league can do whatever it wants…makes no difference to me…
…there is a variety of unique writing in today’s papers and blogs in advance of tonight’s game between the Mets and Yankees…
…such as…
In the Journal News, Peter Abraham takes out his crystal ball and predicts what a 2006 World Series will look like between the Mets and Yankees, such as, during Game Six, when, “In a surprise move, Mets owner Fred Wilpon fires Willie Randolph and returns Bobby Valentine to his former post. “We hadn’t fired anybody in two years,” Wilpon says. “It was time.” The first pitch is delayed by Valentine’s pregame press conference, which is conducted in Japanese. Then the Mets win 10-4 as Benny Agbayani drives in four runs and Pedro throws a gem. “It’s like I once said to Miller Huggins, it’s all about leadership,” Valentine says.”…
…buh, buh, buh, benny and the mets…i miss those days, actually…
Also in the Journal News, John Delcos reviews the Top 10 Moments in Subway Series history, in which he lists the duo’s double-header from July 8, 2000, tops on the list…
…i agree…that was a pretty cool day…i’m not a fan of this extravaganza, but that was pretty crazy…damn you, Roger Clemens…
Michael at MetsGeek.com goes back to June 16, 1997, to revisit the first ever regular season match-up between the two teams…
…viva Mlicki…
At Newsday, Ken Davidoff spends time on the trivial task of comparing each element of the two teams, such as Best Icons, Best High-Priced Talent, Best Young Blood, Best Network and Best Engineer, which he calls a tie between Omar Minaya and Brian Cashman…
…if only a team got wins for having the best icon…oh well…
According to the New York Post, Al Leiter is pushing for a new playoff system in Major League Baseball… Leiter’s plan… Each league will be split into two divisions, a West and East… Each division winner will get a bye in the first round of the playoffs… Meanwhile, four wild card teams from each league will advance to the post-season to play a best-of-three series with no days off… Leiter is a member of the Bud Selig’s Commissioner Initiative for the 21st Century, and has stated publicly that he feels this this plan will eventually come to fruition… …i like it…it’s like the old school divisions, with the new wild card format…the thing is, there can be no interleague play with this system, because it puts a ton of significance on each game against the team’s in your division…and i’m all for anything that kills interleague play… “I think it is just a matter of time,” the Post quotes Leiter as saying about his plan…
The Twins have sent RHP Kyle Lohse to Triple-A. However, he has yet to show up. If he does not do so within 72–hours of the assignment, he will forfeit his $3.95 million salary and become a free agent…
According to the Star-Tribune, “the Mets are known to have at least marginal interest in trading for Lohse.”…
In eight starts this season for the Twins, Lohse, 27, is 2–4 with an 8.92 ERA allowing 19 walks and 57 hits in 38.1 innings pitched…
In 2002 and 2003, Lohse was a combined 27–19 with a 4.44 ERA…
…the buzz on lohse is that his velocity is fine, he is just struggling to paint the corners, in that when he does manage to throw a strike it is right down broadway…
…what’s worse, it seems, he thinks he can get out of trouble by over-powering hitters, but his fastball is not that good, and he tends to be a bit arrogant, shaking off the catcher and refusing to make suggested adjustments…he’s said to be a bulldog, a tough kid, and if a team could get hold of him, and control him and get him to tap into this attitude in a positive way, he could easily return to his 2003, 2004 form…
The Minnesota report writes…
“Among scouts, Lohse is viewed as a pitcher who might benefit from a change of scenery, and the Mets could make him a project for pitching coach Rick Peterson.”…
Prior to his demotion, he was criticized publicly by his team’s coaches for leaving the dugout before the inning he was taken out of was over. As such, he left the clubhouse without talking to reporters and has yet to return to the team. Lohse had a similar run-in with his manager towards the end of last season, as well…
…if he becomes a free-agent, and will sign a minor-league deal, like Danny Graves did for the mets last season, he could be worth working with considering the state of this team’s rotation…ultimately, though, i’m not sure he’s that much better than Jeremi Gonzalez, or even Alay Soler…this type of move would need to occur only if these other in-house options provide little hope…
…by the way, his last name is pronounced Lowsh, not Low-See, as Mike Francesa loves to say…
2B Anderson Hernandez, who is rehabbing a bulging disk, is batting .419 in 31 at-bats spanning eight rehab games for Triple-A Norfolk…
…the buzz around shea is that Kaz Matsui will start tonight, not Jose Valentin, who was 7–for-14 on the team’s most recent road trip…from what i can gather, there is no indication as to what the team’s intentions are for hernandez…
Mets RHP John Maine is currently on the disabled list with an inflamed finger…
He threw a simulated game at the team’s training complex in Port St. Lucie earlier this week…
…the buzz from florida is that maine will most likely need an extended start next week in port. st. lucie, followed by a minor league rehab start, as well…this is all subject, of course, to the swelling in his finger coming down…if all goes well, he could be back to the mets by early june…
