Daily Archives: August 26, 2007
The Mets (73–56) lost to the Dodgers (67–63) by the score of 6 to 2 in Shea Stadium tonight.
For a recap and boxscore go to Yahoo! Sports.
…John Maine allowed two runs to score on mostly dinks and dunks, but then Andre Ethier ripped a double in the gap, which scored Juan Pierre, to give the Dodgers the lead, and which should have also scored Matt Kemp, who, for some reason, stopped at third…he was then picked off third by Mike DiFelice…maine allowed more runners on later in the game, which Scott Schoeneweis allowed to score, and that was pretty much all the Dodgers would need…
…in the fifth, with the bases loaded and two outs, Moises Alou fouled back a meaty curve-ball that was hung out over the plate…that was his pitch…he ended up striking out, stranding all three runs…big moment…
…in the seventh, with two on and one out, David Wright struck out and Carlos Beltran grounded out to end the inning, stranding both runners…damn…
…John Maine scored from second on a double by David Wright, and right behind maine was Jose Reyes, who scored from first, but had it been a race to the dugout i believe reyes would have won…
…wright was picked off of by the pitcher, David Wells, while trying to steal third from second…how many times has wright been picked off the bases by the opposing team’s pitchers…i don’t know either, i too have lost count…no risk, no reward, i guess…
…so, the ESPN guys are talking so proudly about knowing how maine practices throwing down and in to right-handed hitters by rehearsing with his eyes shut…on the next pitch, he throws up and in and klunks a ball off of Jeff Kent’s helmet, knocking kent out of the game…
…of course, kent was sure to give maine a nice little stare while walking off the field towards the dugout…
…during the game, Peter Gammons relayed a story noting how Pedro Martinez called Guy Conti a few days ago to point out how Guillermo Mota has been under-striding in his delivery, thus killing mota’s change-up…sure enough, mota looked great tonight, retiring all six batters that he faced…
…Lastings Milledge was totally confused by wells, both on the bases and at the plate…
…i can’t believe all the Red Bull cans in both dugouts…i guess they ban one stimulant, so another emerges…
…hey, John Miller, when did his name become Car-LOS Bel-TRON…
…why do these broadcasts always insist on giving out the Player of the Game Award before the actual game is over…i always find this to be very presumptuous…
…all in all, it was a 3–3 home stand for the Mets, during which they picked up one full game in the standings…
…so, on to Philly and Atlanta…in other words, here’s your pennant, guys…go get it…
During Sunday night’s game, while talking to ESPN, Willie Randolph said that Pedro Martinez will likely get two more minor-league rehab starts and re-join the team during the first week of September.
The Game:
The first-place Mets (73-55) look for a sweep of the Dodgers (66-63) this evening, starting at 8:05 pm EDT.
The Lineup:
SS Jose Reyes
RF Lastings Milledge
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran
LF Moises Alou
1B Jeff Conine
2B Ruben Gotay
C Mike DiFelice
For other on-field, pre-game notes, check out John Delcos and his blog for the Journal News.
The Pitchers:
RHP John Maine (13-7, 3.64 ERA) starts for the Mets. He was effective over the first five innings of his last start vs. the Padres, but unraveled in the sixth inning. He finished allowing three runs on six hits (including one home run) while walking four as part of a no-decision. Maine has walked at least three batters in each of his last four starts. He hasn’t made it out of the sixth inning since July 24th. Maine took the loss vs. the Dodgers on June 12th yielding four runs on seven hits over 5.1 IP.
LHP David Wells (5-8, 5.54 ERA) makes his debut for the Dodgers. Wells hasn’t pitched since August 6th. He hasn’t won a start since July 16th, vs. the Mets, when he allowed one run over six innings. Wells signed with the Dodgers on Friday.
The Notes:
The Mets have won nine out of their last 12 games.
SS Jose Reyes has 14 stolen bases in his last 10 games.
The Mets are 18-9 in one-run games this season.
CF Juan Pierre carries a 13-game hitting streak into tonight’s game.
For more insight on the Dodgers, check out
Blogger Beat featuring Jon Weisman of
Dodger Thoughts.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…
Last night in Philadelphia, Phillies RHP Brett Myers allowed two runs to score in the ninth on route to a 4 to 3 loss.
At PhillyBurbs.com, reporter Randy Miller notes of a ‘screaming match’ between Myers and a fellow reporter in the locker room after the game, writing…
“The Phillies blew a late lead Saturday night and fell 4-3 to the San Diego Padres, then things really became ugly when Myers and Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Sam Carchidi nearly came to blows…
“At one point, reporter and pitcher were nose-to-nose yelling and pointing before Shane Victorino and Antonio Alfonseca pulled Carchidi away and Pat Burrell whisked Myers into a back room to cool off.”
Unfortunately, Carchidi does not mention the altercation in his post-game report for the Inquirer.
…from what i can gather, myers made light of the blown save, carchidi challenged him on it, myers took issue with the reporter not being a regular locker-room reporter, myers called him ‘retarded,’ carchidi asked if myers could even spell retarded, and it got rather heated from there, to say the least…
…what’s the word i am looking for…oh, right, implosion…
…Update…7:30 pm…
To listen to Myers tirade, go to Hot Foot.
…hilarious…glad to see those anger management classes helped from last summer…
Mets OF Endy Chavez will play for Double-A Binghamton today in Trenton, NJ.
Mets 3B David Wright is the only player in the National League hitting over .300, with at least 80 runs scored, 80 RBI, 20 stolen bases and 20 home runs.
On May 1, Wright was hitting .244 with no home runs and six RBI after 90 at-bats.
He is batting .403 in 77 at-bats in August, and .373 with a .489 OBP since the All-Star break.
He has reached base in 15 of his last 19 plate appearances.
The Mets lead the second-place Phillies by seven games in the loss column.
If the Mets go 14–20 during their remaining 34 games, the Phillies must go 21–13 just to tie the Mets for first place in the National League East.
In this morning’s New York Post, Kevin Kernan writes…
“Yes, it’s still the dog days of August and the Mets have to travel to beautiful Philadelphia tomorrow, but the NL East race is over. Though the Yankees are fighting for their playoff souls, the Mets are merrily on their way to another October.”
…no comment…heads down, keep winning…
According to multiple reports, Billy Wagner made himself unavailable for yesterday’s game, telling the team he has a ‘dead arm,’ and would need a day or two off.
He has allowed three runs in his last three outings.
Wagner told reporters that this happens to him at least once every season.
In Newsday, Jim Baumbach explains how Wagner had hoped to couple his announcement with a practical joke.
…from what i can gather, this happens to most pitchers at some point during the year…after like 10 pitches or so, the forearm feels achy, and though the pain goes away it is just hard to grip the ball with any sort of command, it’s like your arm is just weak…a pitcher can work through it, but he’ll be less effective…
…honestly, to me, this is not the worst thing in the world, given the Mets lead in the division…if it were closer, i’d be worried, but, in this case, wagner gets some rest, gets fresh, and Aaron Heilman can be given a bit more responsibility, which seemed to serve him well towards the end of last season…
Last night, Heilman earned a save in a win against the Dodgers by retiring three of four batters in the ninth.
