Daily Archives: August 5, 2007
Mets 2B Luis Castillo left tonight’s game after suffering from heat exhaustion.
…d’wright should get him some Vitamin Water…
The Mets (63–48) defeated the Cubs (58–52) by the score of 8 to 3 in Wrigley Field tonight.
For a recap, and boxscore, check out Yahoo! Sports.
…congratulations, Tom Glavine, who won for the 
300th time in his career tonight, joining only 22 other players in the history of baseball to do so…
…now, let’s win the NL East…
…as for the game…
…Lastings Milledge stole second base, with two outs in the second, and Tom Glavine at the plate…why…why would he do this…oh, so when glavine rips a single up the middle, like he did, and the center fielder bobbles the pick up, like he did, milledge could score, like he did…i see…turns out, according to willie’s mid-game interview with espn, milledge went on his own without a sign from his manager…jeez…l’millz really is the president…
…i tried to keep track of Joe Morgan’s and John Miller’s irrelevant, inaccurate and silly comments, but i lost count…i mean, if half of what they say is true i’d be shocked…it sounds like they’re just rambling…
…David Wright’s defense has improved a lot this season, especially when fielding those hot grounders to his right…
…i bet glavine’s wife has had nightmares involving Guillermo Mota…
…with two outs, and glavine looking a bit shaky, Alfonso Soriano rounded second, but calm up lame with what appeared to be a pulled quad, he was tagged out and the inning ended…he would have bee safe, i think, which would have put runners at second and third, two outs, and Derrek Lee at the plate…instead, the inning ended…
…hat’s off to the Cubs fans at Wrigley Field, who gave glavine a nice cheer as he left the field…
…Jorge Sosa looks strong from the bullpen…
…heads up move by Luis Castillo, who tagged up from first and took second on a deep fly-ball to center…he then scored on a double by Carlos Delgado…actually, the Mets hammered the ivy in right field throughout this series, which was nice to see…
…speaking of castillo, gotta love the double steal from him and Jose Reyes…
…unfortunately, castillo was forced to leave the game with heat exhaustion, which was probably soriano’s problem, so to speak, as well…
…the Mets had 23 base runners tonight and scored eight runs…hi, beltran…
…of everything that transpired tonight, i was most happy about the team scoring two runs in the eighth, after the Cubs had pulled to within two over the previous innings…this is a good sign…
…so, the Mets went 4–2 on the mini-road trip, against the top two teams in the central…they’re 15–9 since the all-star break, glavine’s 300th win is behind them, they lead the division by five game and the Braves are coming to town…in other words, your season has come…now, seriously, it’s finally here…
The Game:
Tom Glavine makes his second attempt at his 300th career win as the Mets (62-48) look for the victory in the rubber game vs. the Cubs (58-51) at Wrigley Field tonight, starting at 8:05 pm EDT.
The Lineup:
SS Jose Reyes leads off, followed in order by 2B Luis Castillo, 3B David Wright, 1B Carlos Delgado, LF Moises Alou, RF Shawn Green, C Paul Lo Duca, CF Lastings Milledge and starting pitcher Tom Glavine.
The Pitchers:
LHP Tom Glavine (9-6, 4.38 ERA) looks to make history for the Mets. Glavine turned in a magnificant performance in his first attempt for 300 vs. the Brewers, allowing just one run on two hits over six-plus innings, but the bullpen failed to hold the lead. He is 0-4 with an 8.66 ERA in his last seven road starts. Glavine took a no-decision in a start vs. the Cubs on May 14th of this season at Shea, allowing four runs on six hits over 6 IP. He lost his last start at Wrigley Field (June 14th, 2006) allowing three runs on four hits over 5 IP. In 15 career starts at Wrigley Field, Glavine is 6-5 with a 3.43 ERA. He is 14-13 vs. the Cubs overall.
RHP Jason Marquis (8-6, 4.22 ERA) starts for the Cubs. Marquis won his last start vs. the Phillies, allowing three runs on eight hits over 6 IP. It was only his third win in his last 15 starts. In 12 starts at home this season, Marquis is 6-2 with a 3.79 ERA. The Cubs are 10-2 in games Marquis has started at home. Marquis has allowed 12 HR in his last 11 starts. Since the All-Star break, Marquis is 2-1 with a 6.75 ERA (17 earned runs on 25 hits, including five home runs over 22.2 IP). Marquis took a no-decision in his prior matchup against the Mets this season (May 14th), allowing four runs on five hits over 5 IP.
The Notes:
3B Aramis Ramirez is 11-for-22 with three homers and six RBI vs. Glavine.
The Mets bullpen has a 2.15 ERA over the last 25 games.
LF Moises Alou is 7-for-14 with a double, four walks, four runs scored, two homers and four RBI on the roadtrip.
3B David Wright is 8-for-18 (.444) with a double, seven walks, six runs scored, a homer and two RBI on the roadtrip.
The Cubs are vulnerable to lefites with a .247 team batting average and 10-16 record against them.
For more insight on the Cubs, check out Blogger Beat.
The Bleachers:
To chat during the game, head over to The Hot Foot Bleachers. If you
are IRC savvy, log on to irc.echo34.com and enter channel #metsblog.
At his blog for Newsday, David Lennon reveals a very 
frustrated, and seemingly healthy Paul Lo Duca, who would like to be playing, especially tonight while Tom Glavine attempts to win his 300th game.
Prior to yesterday’s game, Willie Randolph told reporters that Lo Duca will be re-evaluated on Tuesday, adding that, while he appreciates his catcher’s enthusiasm and passion, it would be foolish to risk further injury just because Lo Duca disagrees.
Lo Duca has missed the last six games with a sore right hamstring, during which Ramon Castro is batting .250 in 20 at-bats with three home runs and six RBI.
In the Journal News, Peter Abraham takes a closer look at 
the aggressive deadline approach from Braves GM John Schuerholz, who traded for 1B Mark Teixeira and RHP Octavio Dotel.
Chipper Jones, as quoted by Abraham…
“It’s all set up. Now we just have to take care of business between the lines.”
…bring it on, larry…
Meanwhile, at MLB Trade Rumors, Tim does a trade-by-trade break down of Omar Minaya’s history since joining the Mets in 2004, while concluding…
“Minaya had a fine run making trades from November ’05 to August of ’06. He’s in a bit of a slump, though, and the results of his Mets tenure have been a mixed bag overall.”
…he’s far from perfect, don’t get me wrong, but, minaya took over a team that had finished 
below .500 for three straight seasons and since they’re 242–192, won a division, got to the NLCS, they’re currently the best team in the national league and no player he has traded has gone on to be a super-star elsewhere, so it’s hard for me to complain, at least right now…so, today, if this makes me an apologist, as some will most certainly label me, so be it…but i am just too patient and big picture oriented to lose site of how i felt as a fan just three years ago, and how i feel now…
In the Star-Ledger, Dan Graziano breaks down the three-team race to win the NL East, while speaking with a scout about each team’s strengths and weaknesses…
The scout, on the Mets, as quoted by Graziano…
“I still think they’re the team. Their pitching is the best of the three, top to bottom. And when you look at what they could be if everybody got healthy, put it together and started hitting at the same time…they just have more weapons than anybody else.
“If they have two weeks where they play the way they can, they’ll run away with it.”
…i hope we’re looking at it, because a streak like that would need to occur now, and through the next week or so, while playing the Braves…the clock is ticking…personally, i would like to see at least six or seven game lead in the loss column by the start of septemeber, otherwise i will be a nervous wreck…it’s five now…so that is totally realistic, i believe…
In a report for the Associated Press, Verena Dobnik writes about the future of Shea Stadium’s Home-Run Apple.
The website SaveTheApple.com has been circulating an online petition to keep the current apple, and move it from Shea Stadium to the team’s new stadium, Citi Field.
…back on June 4, i wrote that the buzz from new york suggested that the Mets may end up building a new, more elaborate Home-Run Apple for Citi Field, which will be featured prominently beyond the home run wall and the below center-field scoreboard, because a) new stadium, new apple, and b) the old apple is so old it may not make the trip…
…the last time i checked in on this, the plan had been to auction off the old apple for charity, though i’m not sure what a person would do with that huge piece of memorabilia…hey kids, go out back and play on the apple…seems weird…
…either way, keep checking in with Save the Apple, and if you have yet to do so, sign the petition…
On Tuesday night the Mets start an important three-game series against the Braves at Shea Stadium.
According to MLB.com, the following are the probable pitchers for the series:
Wed: RHP Brian Lawrence (1-0, 5.40) vs. John Smoltz (10-6, 3.04)
Thur: RHP Orlando Hernandez (7-4, 3.00) vs. Tim Hudson (12-5, 2.95)
…doesn’t make much sense to have lawrence pitch in this series…with the off day on monday, the willie and company could move up el duque on normal rest to pitch wednesday and have John Maine pitch on his normal rest on thursday…
Lawrence is 1-3 with a 4.85 ERA in five starts versus the Braves in his career.
Maine has never faced the Braves.
