Daily Archives: September 3, 2007

The Mets (77–60) defeated the Reds (62–76) by the score of 10 to 4 in Cincinnati this afternoon.

For a recap and boxscore, go to Yahoo! Sports.

…this was fun, as it felt like a second opening day, with Pedro Martinez making his first start this season…

…he looked good…not great, but good…or, at least good enough…most important, he looks to have solid command, hitting his corners and throwing early strikes…sure, his breaking pitches feel flat, and he allowed a lot of hard hit balls, one by Ken Griffey was caught at the furthest foot of the wall, and he did not use the old looping, sharp, lolly-pop curve ball…but, he did what he needed to do, pitching around key batters, he kept the innings in check, got ground balls and jam-shot pop ups when needed, hit 91 mph on the gun, and 61 mph with his change-up, and ended the day allowing just three runs through five complete innings…

…i am very, very happy…

…speaking of pitchers, Aaron Harang looks good, but he doesn’t look that good…

…i get e-mail from time to time, as does SNY, that claim Gary Cohen is a jinx…in that, every time cohen cites a stat in favor of a player, the opposite tends to happen, as if gary posses these magical powers, which he chooses only to use for broadcasting baseball games…anyway, today he says, “Moises Alou has had ridiculous numbers against Harang,” and on the next pitch alou ripped a second-tier home run…so, i guess gary isn’t magical after all…

…again, David Wright keeps rolling, going 3-for-5 with two RBI…he’s batting .320…

…Carlos Delgado has 12 RBI in his last nine games…

…i can’t believe Mike Stanton is still in baseball…

…great job by SNY, who provided a ton of additional commentary about pedro from Matt Yalloff and Ron Darling from their New York studios…

…hat’s off to Shawn Green and Ruben Gotay, who knocked in the start of a many insurance runs, which put the game out of reach…

…hmmm, did Paul Lo Duca get hit on purpose in the top of the ninth, with two outs, and the Reds down seven runs…

…Endy Chavez collided with Jose Reyes on a pop up in shallow left field, with jose flipping over endy…they got up and laughed…thank god…

…i love how loud the Lets-Go-Mets chant is, even in Cincinnati…we’re everywhere…

…by the way, the Phillies lost to the Braves, which means that after all that transpired last week, after all the turmoil and panic, the Mets are still in first place by five games with just 25 left to play, with the best record in the National League…

The Game:

The
first-place Mets (76-60) welcome Pedro Martinez back into the fold as they kick off a three-game series against the Reds (62-75) this afternoon at Great American Ballpark, starting at 1:05 pm EDT.

The Lineup:

SS Jose Reyes leads off, followed in order by 2B Luis Castillo, 3B David Wright, CF Carlos Beltran, 1B Carlos Delgado, LF Moises Alou, RF Shawn Green, C Paul Lo Duca and starting pitcher Pedro Martinez.

The Pitchers:

RHP Pedro Martinez makes his long-awaited return for the Mets. He is scheduled to adhere to a 75 pitch limit and/or no more than 35 pitches in a single inning. He went 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA in four total rehab starts with the St. Lucie Mets and GCL Mets. This is his first major league start since September 27th, 2006 vs. the Braves. Martinez had surgery on a torn rotator cuff on October 5, 2006. His first start as a Met came in Great American Ballpark. He starts today’s game just two strikeouts away from 3000 for his career. He would be the 15th pitcher in major league history to reach that plateau.

RHP Aaron Harang (14-3, 3.51 ERA) takes the hill for the Reds. Harang hurled a complete game two-hitter in his last start vs. the Pirates — his ninth complete game this season. He is 9-1 with a 2.90 ERA in his last 17 starts. He is second in the NL with 190 IP this season. He has pitched seven innings or more on 15 occassions this season. The Reds have won 14 out of his last 15 starts. Harang faced the Mets back on July 13th, allowing three runs on seven hits over 6 IP for the win.

The Notes:

The Reds are 31-24 since Pete Mackanin took over as skipper — the best mark in the NL Central during that stretch.

LF Moises Alou is 7-for-15 (.467) with four homers and seven RBI vs. Harang lifetime.

3B David Wright is 8-for-19 (.421) with two homers over his last five games. He’s batting .366 with a .477 OBP since the All-Star break.

The Mets are 29-15 in the first game of a series — the best mark in the majors.

The Reds are 37-36 against teams with a record of .500 or better.

The Mets took three out of four from the Reds at Shea Stadium earlier this season (July 12-15).


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 your holiday…and as always, let’s go mets…

John Delcos reports on his blog for The Journal News that Orlando Hernandez said he’s feeling “much better,’’ but he will still
miss his start on Saturday.

Mike Pelfrey will start Friday, with Tom Glavine going on
Saturday on an extra day of rest, and  if all goes well, Pedro Martinez would be in line to make his second start
on Sunday.

…tag, you’re it pedro…just as we suspect, when pedro returns, el duque goes on vacation…get yourself well el duque, i want you fresh for when we will need you most…

Dave Studeman at The Hardball Times
has updated Win Shares statistics through yesterday’s games and there is now a clear leader in the National League.

David
Wright is leading the NL with 29 Win Shares, three ahead of Albert Pujols
and Eric Byrnes.

He also leads the league in Runs Created with 114.

Studeman comments…

…start the chatter…mvp…mvp…mvp…

…the following video comes courtesy of PressPassTV.com, which follows David Wright as he visits with Ryan Matthews, as part of the Make a Wish Foundation…

…thanks to alex for the link…great stuff…

…during SNY’s broadcast of Sunday’s game between the Mets and Braves, Ron Darling made an interesting comment about the team’s bullpen from this season compared to last year’s bullpen…

…essentially, darling said, to this team’s credit, it’s a lot easier to be a great bullpen like last year’s staff when your team is 15 games in first place and winning with such a commanding fashion…compared to this season, which has been much more of high-wire, high-pressure season, making each inning and each pitch far more tense…

…he was by no means saying this year’s bullpen is better, simply because of this season’s tighter scenarios, he’s just saying this added layer of pressure should be considered when comparing the two bullpens and two seasons…

…thanks for the insight, ronnie…duly noted…

…because a few of you asked, hair you go…

Following the game on Monday, May 7, David Wright shaved his head Marine-style, with the help of his friend, bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello, in an effort to kill his early-season slump.

Prior to shaving his head, Wright hit .246, while averaging one extra base per week.

After shaving his head, Wright is hitting .340, while averaging one extra base hit every other day.

…go bald, young man…

In the Press & Sun Bulletin, B’Mets beat-reporter Brian Moritz profiles Mets 21–year-old 1B Mike Carp, who, in his adjustment to Double-A, “had to deal with slumps, a mid-season injury and the heartbreak of an unexpected death of a close family member.”

The left-handed Carp is hitting .251 with 11 HR and 47 RBI in 96 games for Double-A Binghamton this season, during which he hit .173 against left-handed pitchers and .286 against righties.

Carp, as quoted by Moritz…

“I’ve had my ups and downs.  I’ve learned how to deal with a lot of the mental aspects of the game.”

Carp was selected by the Mets in the ninth round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, and was named the organization’s minor-league player of the year last season.

At Hot Foot, Sidd Finch is back with yet another edition of Sidd Speak, in which he tosses around random, but always relevant, statements about the Mets, such as…

“It would be really nice for the Mets to make the playoffs in a year the Yankees did not…

“Is there anything we can do to help the Mariners?”

…actually, assuming the Mets are destine to win a World Series this season, there is a part of me that wants the Yankees to be there, because i would love another crack at Joe Torre, Derek Jeter, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, The Boss and Mariano Rivera, among others…

…that Subway Series never sat well with me, and even though we don’t talk about it much, i still hate that it ever happened…and it did happen, and they know it…back then, the Yankees were the better team, which is why they won …this time, though, i believe the Mets are better and i would love another swing at these guys before the band breaks up…

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