Daily Archives: August 27, 2007
The Mets (73–57) lost to the Phillies (68–62) by the score of 9 to 2 in Philadelphia tonight.
For a recap and boxscore, go to Yahoo! Sports.
…Brian Lawrence is an average pitcher at best…he allowed five runs on 10 hits tonight pitching in to the fifth inning, and, frankly, that’s what i expect from him…
…Paul Lo Duca drove in a run with a bloop single, and the crowd cheered him on by yelling ‘Duke.’…i love the traveling-Mets fan…
…with two runners on, and JD Durbin on the ropes, and the Mets having closed the lead to within one, Jose Reyes ended a rally with a line drive out…
…so the Mets bring it to within one in the fifth, but then Chase Utley hit a solo home run in the philly’s next at-bat, which was followed by two more runs while lawrence was still on the mound…the Mets could never catch up…
…down four runs in both the sixth and seventh, the Mets had runners on base but never scored…
…in the first, Luis Castillo made an outstanding grab on a ground ball hit deep in the hole, and while falling to the ground he made a great throw to Carlos Delgado, who stretched far for the out…however, in review, the runner was actually safe, but got called out…bad call…as such, Charlie Manuel got ejected on the first play of the game for arguing…this had to be the fastest i have ever seen a skipper get tossed…
…later in the game, David Wright struck out looking on a super high fastball, that should have been called a ball, but wasn’t…wright was not happy, standing in the ump’s face, pointing, jawing at him, but never getting tossed…
…give a game ball to the red-headed Phillies fan who saved a babies life by catching a flying baseball bat heading towards the stands, let go of by Chris Coste during an at-bat…nice catch, man…
…also, give a game ball to every Mets fan, including Mr. Met, who had to do the walk of shame through Citizen’s Bank Park in what became a blow-out tonight…i respect the hell out of you, guys…that could not have been easy…
…blah, loss…the Mets, who looked a bit passive tonight, making strange mental errors, bad pitches, not covering bases, etc, were stymied by durbin early on, they fell behind, could not get in to a rhythm, missed an opportunity or two, then fell way behind, and the clock ran out…
…actually, i think the following says it all…
…so, after looking as though they had sleep-walked through this game, i think tomorrow is some what important now…
The Game:
The first-place Mets (73-56) take on the second-place Phillies (67-62) tonight in Citizen’s Bank Park, starting at 7:10 pm EDT.
The Lineup:
Jose Reyes leads off, followed in order by
Luis Castillo,
David Wright,
Carlos Beltran,
Moises Alou,
Carlos Delgado, Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green and Brian Lawrence.
The Pitchers:
Brian Lawrence (1-1, 5.57 ERA) will start for New York. He is 0-3 with 5.09 ERA in his last three starts against the Phillies. Chase Utley, who returns from the DL tonight, is 0-for-6 with three strikeouts against Lawrence.
J.D. Durbin (5-3, 5.44) pitches for the Phillies. On June 29, Durbin allowed six runs and eight hits over through five inning against the Mets. Prior to losing his last start, he had been 5-0 with with a 3.12 ERA in eight appearances since the All-Star break.
The Notes:
For more insight on the Dodgers, read DJ. Short’s Blogger Beat with Jason Weitzel from Beerleaguer.
For other on-field, pre-game notes, check out John Delcos and his blog for the Journal News.
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…
Tonight, Mets RHP Pedro Martinez will start for Single-A St. Lucie.
Mets OF Carlos Gomez will also play for St. Lucie, in his first minor-league rehab game since breaking a bone in his hand.
According to a recent poll at ESPN.com, ESPN readers believe that Jose Reyes is the 
Face of the Franchise for the Mets.
Now, a poll at ESPN.com is asking fans to rank each team’s Face to determine the Face of MLB.
…for whatever reason, people keep e-mailing me demanding that i defend myself for nominating Willie Randolph among the initial candidates for ESPN’s Face of the Franchise…for what it’s worth, i actually clicked on David Wright when voting, but when asked by ESPN to contribute i nominated willie because a) i wanted to write about something other than wright and reyes, to be a bit different, and b) i wanted to use this national platform to push the idea of how much this organization has changed over the last few years, and thought using willie accomplished this more than any other character…
Last week on The MetsBlog Podcast, Anthony and I 
answered questions about who the Mets should fear most in October, what to do with Carlos Delgado and Guillermo Mota, and the value of Endy Chavez, among others.
To leave a voice mail message with a comment or question for this week’s MetsBlog Podcast, go here, or dial (641) 715-0101 and enter *4490751.
The Associated Press reports that the Astros have fired manager Phil Garner and GM Tim Purpura.
Bench coach Cecil Cooper was appointed interim manager and team president
Tal Smith will serve as interim general manager.
A person who works for ESPN, ‘familiar with Jon Miller’s broadcasting,’ sent in the following e-mail…
“My understanding is that, at least for Latin American players, Jon will pronounce the name the way it is said in the player’s native homeland – in other words, he utilizes the accent marks that come with the names…
“He takes pride in getting his pronunciations right. Did you know the correct pronouncer on Alou is “Aloh,” which Jon used in San Francisco until it became too confusing.”
…i guess i should be more clear…actually, i like that he pronounces each name as accurate as possible…what makes me laugh is how he over-pronounces the final syllable in each name, regardless of their native homeland…like, Bar-BONDS, who plays for the Giants…it actually gives me a headache because i begin to focus on it so much…
…anyway, enough about miller…
…though it should be noted that a reader in a previous post suggested that a good solution might be to select one local broadcaster from each team to paired up for the ESPN broadcast, instead of miller and Joe Morgan…that’s actually a great idea, except that these games mark a great opportunity for the local broadcasters to get a night off…
Today, on The MetsBlog Podcast, I talked with Phillies beat-writer Scott Lauber, of the News-Journal, for roughly 15 minutes about the recent locker-room shouting match from Brett Myers; the return 
of Chase Utley; the difference between Phillies fans and Mets fans; and whether Citizen’s Bank Park hurts the Phillies.
To listen to this interview, use the audio player in the site’s left-hand column.
Be sure to check out Scott’s blog about covering the Phillies at DelawareOnline.com.
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.
This season, at the beginning of each series, MetsBlog
will attempt to get the perspective of the opposition and their fans. From this,
we hope to be better educated on the opposition going into a series. It also
gives us a fine opportunity to highlight
some of our favorite team
blogs.
As the Mets take on the division-rival Phillies, we revisit Jason Weitzel from Beerleaguer.
How big of a loss was Chase Utley to this lineup? Is there a one-to-one correlation between his absence and Ryan Howard‘s struggles?
A player of Utley’s enormity is impossible to replace offensively. Before he went down, he was on pace to break the all-time single-season mark for extra base hits. He probably would have finished with 66 doubles and 27 homers. We’re talking about a legitimate MVP candidate who’s still in the running despite missing all this time.
Since July 27 when Utley went down with the broken hand, the Phillies have survived because Utley’s replacement, Tadahito Iguchi, has fit in well, Pat Burrell has stayed hot and the guys at the bottom of the lineup have contributed here and there. They went on a short-lived run, but the tank is getting dry, particularly the last two series with the Dodgers and Padres, both 1-2 losses, games when they struggled to mount a consistent attack, excluding yesterday’s 14-2 rout.
With Utley out, it’s one less dangerous hitter surrounding Ryan Howard, so pitchers are less likely to stay honest with the big guy. The main issue with Howard is that’s he’s swinging at slop and getting himself out. He’ll finish August with about 40 strikeouts and challenge Adam Dunn’s all-time season record. I don’t know whether he’s trying to do too much with Utley out or that he’s simply lost. When he stays patient and gets his pitch, all he has to do is stay on the ball and drop the bat head on it. I’m inclined to say Howard’s struggles are Howard’s fault.
Is the plan to put Iguchi at third base when Utley comes back?
Management has dismissed it, citing he’s never played the position and the club can’t afford to experiment this late in the season. But I’d love to find out. They have an opportunity to extend Iguchi after the season and third base is an area they need to upgrade. Utley is due back tonight, so Iguchi’s formidable presence goes on the bench. With Shane Victorino out with a calf injury, Iguchi has been a nice fit in the No. 2 hole.
Explain the turnaround of Pat Burrell.
Nothing has changed more since the last time these teams met than the resurgence of Pat the Bat, who’s upped his numbers to .904 OPS, 20 homers, 70 RBIs. Some believe this is the first time Burrell has been truly healthy in years. He’s been slowed by a nagging foot problem for several seasons.
Whether that’s it or not, Burrell is in a good groove: Real loose at the plate; attacking pitches he would have been taking two months ago; staying on the ball. Yesterday he smashed a deep double to dead-away center, reaching down and tagging one down in the zone. He’s had some gorgeous, fluid swings lately.
Could Cole Hamels have went down at a worse time?
No. It screwed up some nice pitching matchups for the Dodgers series and the Mets will also avoid him. This is a pivotal homestand, which includes games against the division leader and Wild Card leader. Not the time to lose your No. 1. Some people were thinking the Phils had an opportunity for a sweep of LA and instead saw J.D.Durbin replace Hamels against Derek Lowe, then go with 22-year-old Fabio Castro in the rubber match against Chad Billingsley. Hamels didn’t impact the Padres series, which they blew despite missing Chris Young and Jake Peavy.
The latest report says Hamels will return from the 15-day DL on schedule and has no structural damage in his elbow.
On a scale of 1 to 10, what’s your level of confidence in the abilities of the bullpen to close out games?
About a 1 or a 2. The Phillies are 2-33 in games in which they score three runs or fewer, according to ESPN.com. The bullpen has too many marginal players and veteran burnouts. We use the term “Value Village” on Beerleaguer because the Phillies have turned to the waiver wire, kicked over large rocks and explored dark caves for their pitching. They’ve all been exposed. Tom Gordon is cooked. He doesn’t have a curveball anymore. Jose Mesa was cooked before he arrived. J.C. Romero is exposed. You can’t stay consistent with a bullpen of stiffs and marginal players with no stuff and no command.
With the recent losing streak, is there a bit of frustration that recent Phillies teams seem to follow a similar narrative annually?
You might be surprised there’s actually less frustration this season and more understanding that the players are playing their asses off. There’s even a growing legion of people who think Charlie Manuel should be manager of the year. They were dealt a bad hand, not only with injuries, but management hasn’t given them the best opportunity to win. There’s no better way to illustrate this than the opening day bullpen. I can’t stress the issue enough. Along with Gordon, who was to be the closer, the back of the bullpen started as Geoff Geary, who’s been demoted twice, Ryan Madson, who’s hurt, and left-hander Matt Smith, who you never heard of because he was demoted in May and is out with Tommy John surgery. These were the four pitchers who were originally slated to close out games and help win a World Series, a group so bad the manager had to convert his No. 1 starter a reliever to help stop the bleeding.
Which Met would you rather see at-bat in a close and late situation: Jose Reyes or Carlos Beltran?
They’re both dangerous; I’m fans of both of them. I’m always very impressed with Reyes. You probably have the better insight on this one about “close and late.” I said earlier in the year that Reyes was the most impressive player I’ve seen all season, but his numbers have been tailing since then. Beltran gives you a better chance to change a game with one swing. I have no read either way.
…thanks again, jason…
John Miller and Joe Morgan called the Mets-Dodgers game last night for ESPN…
As such, Bobby K sent in the following e-mail, after taking notes throughout the game…
Hey Matt – as per ESPN’s premier baseball broadcast team, did you know that….
- Marlon Byrd was a great pickup by the Mets from the Dodgers.
- Shawn Hillenbrand made a great relay to gun down Milledge.
- Roberto Alomar stopped Milledge too late as he was rounding third.
- Andre Ether was a hot rookie prospect.
- It’s a good thing Jeff Kent was wearing a face guard where he got hit.
- The Mets have a new Latin American player on their team: Mike DeFeliz.
- Carlos Bel-TRON and Ru-BEN Go-TUY were both on fire.
- Lasting Milledge, while on first and Wright at bat, “may take off- or he may not take off.”
…the only addition i can offer is how, according to morgan, Carlos Delgado did not want to ‘sign with the Mets’ until Pedro Martinez signed as a free-agent…
…i understand that Joel Morgan and Joan Miller are not local broadcasters, hip to what is taking place on a daily basis in each team’s specific market, but this borders on unprofessional at times…get it together, guys…please…
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