Daily Archives: August 7, 2007

The Mets (63–49) lost to the Braves (60–53) by the score of 7 to 3 in Shea Stadium tonight.

For a recap and boxscore check out Yahoo! Sports.

…what year is it…

…just checking…

…fact is, a) Oliver Perez just did not have his best stuff tonight and b) the Braves had a game plan against him, as they swung it early and they were aggressive…clearly, they learned form past mistakes…i mean, that’s the game…it’s gonna happen…perez is not going to be perfect every time out, it just stinks that he stumbled against the Braves…then again, he’s dominated them every other outing this season…

…i’d like to add comments about enjoying the dual-leadoff hitter thing going on with Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo, or note Moises Alou’s nice catch, and comment on how Kelly Johnson looks like Ryan Klesko, but, what’s the point…i mean, the Mets only left three runners on base, so it’s not even like there were a ton of wasted opportunities…ugh…

…fact is, this was the game i expected them to win…but, what’s done is done, and tomorrow, at this point, becomes quite the big game against John Smoltz…

…sleep tight, gentlemen, you’ve got your work cut out for you tomorrow…i mean, even Chipper Jones called it a ‘war,’ on SNY after tonight’s game…

The Press & Sun-Bulletin is reporting that Binghamton Mets center fielder Fernando Martinez will miss the rest of the season
with a hand injury.

Martinez has been on the disabled list since June 27 with a right hand contusion and hit .271 in 60 games this season.

…i knew if i didn’t write his first name in the subject line people would panic, but this is still bad news for the promising young prospect…he has a lot of time to heal so hopefully he makes the best of it…

…the b-mets had 26 games left this season…

Tagged Regis Courtemanche |

The Game:

The first-place Mets (63-48) kick off the first of three with the Braves (59-53) at Shea Stadium tonight, starting at 7:10 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 Oliver Perez.

The Pitchers:

LHP Oliver Perez (10-7, 3.00 ERA) starts for the Mets. He turned in an uneven performance in last start vs. the Brewers, allowing five runs, four of them earned, on five hits over 6 IP while striking out a season high eleven. After Perez allowed five runs over the first two innings, he shut out the Brewers over the next four innings. He has a .212 batting average against him this season. In four starts since the All-Star break, Perez is 3-1 with a 2.49 ERA. He is 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA (3 ER in 20.2 IP) in three starts vs. the Braves this season. He is responsible for the only three Mets wins vs. the Braves this season.

RHP Buddy Carlyle (6-3, 4.20 ERA) takes the hill for the Braves. Carlyle got the win in his last start vs. the Astros, allowing two runs on five hits over 5 IP. Carlyle has won four out of his last five decisions. He has allowed 10 HR in 70.2 IP this season. He has a 46/16 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Lefites are hitting .333 vs. Carlyle this season. Carlyle has never faced the Mets.

The Notes:

The Mets are 3-6 vs. the Braves this season.

3B Chipper Jones is 6-for-15 (.400) with a homer and six walks vs. Perez lifetime.

3B David Wright is 14-for-29 (.482) with five RBI over his last eight games.

1B Mark Teixeira has three homers and seven RBI in five games since joining the Braves.

For more insight on the Braves, check out today’s 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.

…enjoy…and as always, let’s go mets…

Major League Baseball announced today Mets LHP Billy Wagner was named DHL Delivery Man of the Month for July.

The award is given every month to the league’s best closer.

In the month of July, Wagner was perfect in saves situations going
8-for-8 allowing only two hits in nine innings pitched and lowered his
ERA to 1.39 this season.

Wagner has not allowed a runner to score in 20 straight appearances.

and …wags has been terrific this year…it’s nice not having to
worry about your closer…almost makes me forget the nightmarish saves
situations John Franco and Armando Benitez put me through…

…keep it up wags…

Tagged Mike Nichols |

Two week ago you, the readers of MetsBlog.com, voted for the starting
catcher and left fielder on  MetsBlog’s All-Time Mets 25-Man Roster.
The voting for those positions is now closed.

This week the vote is for the center and right field positions. Below
you will find the poll, along with a short bio of each of the nominees.
If you don’t want to vote for any of the players nominated then please
use the space provided for your write-in choice. Please do send in your
response or write-in votes via the tip box in sidebar or email as these
will not be counted in the voting process. Also please be serious with
the names you write-in.

Voting for these positions ends at 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, August 12.

First up, it’s the center field position. Look for the right field poll
later today.

All of us at MetsBlog thank you in advance for participating.
Tagged Mike Nichols |

On Wednesday, August 8, prior to the Mets-Braves game at Shea Stadium, SNY will distribute 35,000 baseball cards – in partnership with Upper Deck – featuring the network’s Mets on-air team of Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez, Gary Cohen, Lee Mazzilli, Ralph Kiner, Kevin Burkhardt, Matt Yallof and Julie Donaldson.

According to the SNY press release…

Each card contains information and fun facts about SNY’s announcers such as favorite ballpark to visit, favorite all-time New York Mets player, favorite personal sports moment and favorite NYC restaurant.  

Earlier today, Mets C Paul Lo Duca talked with WFAN, and had the following to say regarding…

…reports that suggest he bullied his way in to the lineup on Sunday, after having injured his hamstring five days earlier, and the idea that he put himself first ahead of the team, despite what his manager wanted…

“I seriously don’t know where they get this stuff…I ran earlier that day and tested myself…It was me, Willie, Jerry Manuel and the two strength coaches…so, I don’t know if they had a microphone on a ghost, because, of course, they have to write me saying a cuss word in the paper, and there was no one out there.  It’s really, really, really, really unbelievable.  It wasn’t heated up like that at all.  Me and Willie were just talking about it, like two grown adults and Willie was just trying to protect me…He told me to put myself in his shoes, and I finally said, ‘well, put yourself in my shoes,’ and he finally agreed to let me play…

“I was joking (with the ‘I will punch him’ comment), I told him, I said, ‘If I don’t play today I’m gonna fill this room with upper cuts,’ and he started laughing, and said, ‘Well, go ahead,’ and he stuck his chin out, and that’s when we started talking…

“It was never heated at all.  It’s really just absolutely comical what goes on, because, literally, it was us five out there and unless somebody was hiding underneath the bench I didn’t see anybody else.”

…tonight’s series against the Braves…

“This is a big series.  This is a make or break series.  We could walk out of here with a seven-game lead, or we could walk out of this series with a one game lead.  So, this is key, especially in August.”

Last week on ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike in the Morning, the show’s host, Mike Greenberg, named ESPN.com’s Peter Gammons the Godfather of Baseball Writers, in other words Gammons is Don Corleone.

According to Greenberg, this means that Tim Kurkjian is Sonny Corleone, while Buster Olney is Fredo and Jasyon Stark is Michael, or, ‘next in line to be boss.’

…i could not stop laughing at the image of these four men sitting around a table, ala the Godfather…too funny…

…seriously, though, these guys do great work, especially around the trade deadline, as do so many other columnists, like in-the-know Dan Graziano of the Star-Ledger; Ken Davidoff from Newsday; Jon Heyman, Tim Verducci and John Donovan at SI.com; Bob Klapisch at the Bergen Record; Joel Sherman of the New York Post; Bill Madden at the Daily News; and, of course, Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, who either runs on batteries or never sleeps…

According to the Arizona Republic, the D’Backs have signed OF Eric Byrnes to a three-year, $30 million contract extension.

In 113 games for Arizona, Byrnes is batting .303 with 17 HR, 64 RBI, 21 doubles and 28 stole bases.

…i recall a person telling me, around the time of the trade deadline, that byrnes was being viewed around the league, from a financial stand point, as being the next Gary Matthews Jr, who had one great season, and signed a five-year deal with the Angels last off-season…and so the market for his serves, considering the cost, would not be as great as byrnes would hope…instead, he ups with his own team for three…fair enough…

…i think a lot of Mets fans would liked to have seen byrnes in new york…he’s a colorful personality, to say the least, and a hard-nosed player, who we would have enjoyed watching, but he’s clearly a west-coast guy, and i’m not sure how much of a chance the Mets would have had in an open market anyways…

Meanwhile, in the report, Nick Piecoro writes…

“The extension almost certainly means outfielder Carlos Quentin’s days in Arizona are numbered. The club was shopping Quentin prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.”

…from what i understand, the D’Backs were shopping quentin for a pitcher, and found themselves involved with the Mets and Nationals regarding Aaron Heilman, Philip Humber and Chad Cordero…so, if nothing else, this is something to think about for the Hot Stove…

Today, on The MetsBlog Podcast, I talked with David O’Brien, who covers the Braves for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as John Delcos, who covers the Mets for the Journal News, each for roughly seven minutes or so.

To listen to these interviews, use the audio player in this site’s left-hand column.

O’Brien and I discussed how important this series is within Atlanta’s clubhouse, as well the impact of acquiring 1B Mark Teixeira, while Delcos and I talked about New York’s clubhouse, their thoughts on Atlanta, and Willie Randolph’s influence within the locker room.

Be sure to check out Delcos’s blog for the Journal News, as well as David’s blog for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

To subscribe to The MetsBlog Podcast, and receive new and old editions directly to your iPod, use this url, or simply search MetsBlog on iTunes and click subscribe

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