|
|
|
The Mets will use the following starting lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Marlins, who will have the left-handed Mark Hendrickson on the mound:
SS Jose Reyes will bat leadoff, followed by 2B Luis Castillo, 3B David Wright, CF Carlos Beltran, 1B Carlos Delgado, LF Angel Pagan, RF Ryan Church, C Brian Schneider and LHP Johan Santana.
…so pagan, who’ll likely bat righty, will hit between delgado and church, who will bat from the left side…fair enough…it’s the lineup i hope to see all season long, with Moises Alou eventually replacing pagan in the same spot in the order…
wow, Pagan as high a 6th. I mean yea, he’s the hottest but you have to figure Church will be better than him given more AB’s. But for now that’s fine…..now let’ just hope Delgado gives us some LH production.
I think it has everything to do with splitting up the left-handed bats, and is no disrespect to Church or over-valuing Pagan.
who is the hottest? Pagan has been in a significant slump the second half of ST. And he is lesser from the right side.
I’m shocked to see him in the lineup against a lefty. Why is Clark in this team again?
Clark is a RH hitting OF who has hit Lefties well in the past.
Isn’t that what everybody is looking outside the organization for?
that’s my point, if Clark isnt going to play LF against a lefty starter then what is his purpose?
He can still pinch hit. It’s opening day, you play your starters on opening day regardless.
Pagan isn’t the Mets starter, Alou is, without Alou in the lineup you play whatever bench guy matches up best, that would be Clark because he hits lefties.
Still not too happy with Pagan, B Clark,
and even Church. Surely Alou will return
and like Clifff Floyd before him be back on the DL
faster than you can say Paper Cut.
With Delgado still showing signs that he is george
fosterizing.fossilizing, I wish Omar could have found
a more potent player than Church, or Pagan,
Clark..darn I’d take Sean Green off the bench over any of them.
oh well as da man says…”let the games begin”
Church is a starter.. and hes gonna get better, Shea will be more a ‘hitter’s park’ for him than RFK was.. Pagan is still young as well.. I’d take them over a late-30’s guy who would not be much of a spark off the bench anyday
Given the circumstances he’s a pretty good fill in. Would you rather Bonds or Sosa? Pagan will fill in just nicely till Alou returns by May.. Just sit tight..
I’m fine with Pagan, I’m even ok with Clark. But if you are going to go with Pagan as the LF against lefty starters then Clark is strickly a PH and not the righty hitting LF that we are looking for…
It just seems less than optimal in utilizing your bench spots. Its small issues, but I’ll be able to say I pointed them out on March 30th when they cost the team a game…
Seems like the backup catcher and Easley will be saved for defense, and Clark / Anderson will be doing all the PH ing.
I’d rather Bonds, yes.
since we have nothing to trade, you may see a late season signing of him come deadline.
Also remember baseball is a game of failure and a game of streaks.. EVERY player from Jose Reyes (As we’re all fully aware of) to David Ortiz hits a slump or two during the season…
Thanks, the winter was so long I had forgotten all about that…
;)
I hope to see plenty of castro in the lineup once hes healthy.
I like pagan’s speed and ability to make plays in the 6th spot. True, Delgado is slow, but Pagan can extend an inning by dropping that surprise bunt down or scrappy single/double to get on base with a slugger like Church behind him.
what was that site that allowed us to chat during the game?
To all fellow Mets fans, here’s a toast to an exciting season,
Clink.
I think this opening day is more about who is pitching rather than who is hitting where.
whats the mets slogan in 2008?
There here will be no official slogans in 2008.
2008 New York Mets
“There are no words.”
new york magazine wrote last week that the mets have a promotional flyer out that says “it’s time for a little revenge.”
hopefully the entire organization learned the heimlich manoeuvre during the offseason :)
They are using a “payback” slogan in their subway & phone booth ads.
Click on my screen name to see my blog entry about it.
Slogan : We finally got an Ace.
lol. I like that one.
Booo.. How bout Less dancing and more winning…
howz about “slogans!!!???!!! we dun’t need no steenkin slogans!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I see why people think Pagan down when Alou is back and Clark stays
Does Clark have to get released if he is sent to the minors now?……..or since he made the team under a minor league contract then he can go down ………………
either way this is a stop gap for when Alou gets back and I tink they will continue to look for a 1B/RF Righty bat
Jay Gibbons got released to today..too bad he doesnt bat Righty………..he should go to SD
I believe Clark can be optioned down without passing waivers, assuming he accepts such an assignment. He’s on a minor league contract. It’s usually guys who are out of options (Gotay, Stokes), or people who are Rule 5 (Register) who need to clear waivers.
And yeah, Gibbons doesn’t really fit because of A) Mitchell Report, I don’t think they want another Mota and B) He’s a Lefty.
Clark is a veteran, he has rights and no options. See my post below.
i think if clark gets sent down he will refuse the assignment and become a free agent
The minor league contract that Clark signed is no longer relivent as he was added to the roster and given a big league contract. At the least Clark would have to clear waivers. But he likey has the right to refuse the assignment and elect free agency if he does clear waivers.
Pagan has options, and isnt any better than Clark or Endy as a bench OF once Alou retakes the job. So its quite logical that he would go to AAA. Plus it will likely become apparent that he really isnt that good in spite of his hot start to ST.
He certainly as the right to refuse assignment, and from the noises he was making in camp, likely would do so.
I like keeping Pagan between Delgado and Church (even if it’s just to face lefties). Obviously it breaks up the string of lefties in the order, but it also adds a little speed into the equation.
If Church does what he did best last year, hit tons of doubles, then having Pagan potentially on base in front of him will result in a few extra runs here and there.
you also gotta think Church is going to turn some of those Doubles into homeruns, considering he’ll be playing in a kinder ball park
shea might not be as big as rfk was but its still not a homerun hitters paradise!! i think church will hit at least 20 – 25 homers though since he should be getting more playing time
A number of Church’s doubles last year were high off the wall at RFK, and likely would have gone out at Shea, especially since the large scoreboard at Shea lessened the strength of the winds blowing flyballs back into play.
The paper games are finally over.. Now lets see these guys do what theyre capable of on the field… Hold on, kids.. Its gonna be a summer to remember…
Nice….but I hope we’ll be seeing Castro starting against lefties once he’s back in action.
Book it, Dan-o
yup, I would much prefer Castro’s bat hitting 6th against lefties to Pagan or Clark. Maybe even 5th if Delgado struggles…
i second that nate
thsnk goodness no tatis
on another note ne1 know whats doin with the partial plans next year?? and i can’t believe n.y water taxi isn’t goin to shea i nowhave to drink 6 beers instead of my usual 8
hey matt just noticed u changed the banner. i guess its like if u put a bunch of monkeys in a room full of typewriters one of em will bang out the lyrics to get metsmerized lol
hahahaha “1 team, 1 million GM’s” , classic.
hello why are my posts not making it??
It must be all the blither blather you write.
ahh there we go i guess i can’t utter the name fmm so here we go
if fmm is considered a gm i should be allowed to work the homerun apple
by the way guys if delgado does falter this year we do have a option in the minors abreu is getting healthy and he did impress (at least he impressed me) b4 he got hurt
I don’t know how long Abreu will stick around. He probably has an opt-out so he can try his luck at sticking on another team’s 25-man.
baltimore released jay gibbons. mets don’t need another lefty bat or an hgh guy, but might be interesting for consideration in case anyone goes down. he’s better than clark or pagan.
wasnt gibbons implicated in the mitchell report?
that’s why i wrote hgh guy.
sorry zen i didn’t read your whole entry until i finished with mine all apologies
——————-2007 OPS Versus LH Pitchers
SS Jose Reyes——–.795
2B Luis Castillo—–.778
3B David Wright—–1.106
CF Carlos Beltran—-.940
1B Carlos Delgado—-.704
LF Angel Pagan——-.755
RF Ryan Church——-.655
C Brian Schneider===.636
yikes!
That’s an average of .798 for the 8 – which is pretty respectable. I like the top four, especially known that Castillo’s .778 is mostly on-base coming before the big guns.
The lower half is a little scary for us, but the top 4 will have lefty pitchers trembling on the mound.
With that OPS against lefties a manager must be crazy to let DW hit against a lefty reliever. Man that is crushing the ball.
Off topic, but…
Who are we rooting for TONIGHT? Braves or Nats?
Seems like a pretty rhetorical question, but it’s just the first game of the season, and they’re both in our division. Not to mention the fact that the Nats have Lo Duca and Milledge, and are improved from last year, meaning they could pose something of a threat.
All that being said, I’m rooting for the Nationals.
I’m certainly rooting for the Nats. I suspect that goes for most of us!
ill go with the nats
guys under over that lastings goes 0 for 4 with the golden sombrero??
Uhhh… Over?
ooops sorry i wanted to know if there was anyone out there that thought lastings might do an ofor tonite
I’ll root for LMillz as long as he playing against a team not named Mets.
he’ll probably go 4-5 wit a couple of homers…..did i say probably, i meant definitely.
thrilledge is smoking some good weed. I expect Milledge to go 0-4 with 2 strikeouts on curves in the dirt.
It’ll be interesting to see. It is possible that he’s learned to lay off that pitch. It’s not like he’s 29 or 30.
paulie walnuts almost blew the game for the poor nats with that passed ball in the 9th, luckily zim came through in the bottom…milledge’s night was not a stellar debut to say the least.
against the braves and phils every game they play. when they play each other the one with the worse record.
i’m hoping milledge does very well and shows maturity. i think he’s a good kid. read a bunch about him. with his first contract he bought his parents a camper to follow his team and watch the games
hope lo duca doesn well too since he apologized for using hgh. probably a b.s. apology, but he plays hard and admitted use of hgh
zen i wish i could root for loduca but he was a pusher man i mean if he just did it for himself hey thats one thing but he turned other guys on to ramdowski
that’s fair.
trust me man it kills me im a sheepshead bay boy originally and thats the part of brooklyn that he and maz are from i wish him well but i can’t cheer for him when he comes back to shea
I’m also rooting for the Nats but, I beleive the Phillies open up against the Nats tomorrow so If we root for the Nats tonight AND against the Phillies, they would start the season 4-0. With that being said.
Let’s go Nats!
Wait, if the Phils play the Nats tomorrow, then the Nats-Braves play just a one game series tonight? That’s a little strange.
Thats the schedule, Nats opening Sunday then going on the road while the Orioles get the opening week at home.
I think they will do the same thing next year with the two new ballparks in NY.
I believe that is why the Mets were against opening the park even through they were the Nats top choice.
I’m rooting for a plane to crash on the field with the Braves on defense and Lo Duca at the plate. Well not literally, but you get the idea.
that sounds about right to me. at the ver least larry falls down some stairs and breaks his jaw.
go nats.
That was the perfect case scenario right there. The Braves get an L, and we see that the Nats bullpen is shaky. Looks like the new ballpark might help out that anemic offense a little bit. Combine the dimensions with the way the ball carries with the right wind pattern and it should definitely be an upgrade from the cavernous RFK.
I’m just so glad this moment has come. To see Santana on the bump for an Opening Day start is out of this world. LET’S GO METS!
This is a great roster, imagine wen Sanchez and Alou are back.
it will be killer moses – i can’t wait for chris “fruitloops” russo to eat his words when the mets trounce the division – i almost choked when i heard mike fatcesspool predict the mets the win the n.l
guys just to go slightly off topic- but i for one don’t understand the whole hubbub about gotay being put onwaivers i mean he was good in the limited capacity that he played – decent hitter but i went to a couple of games where his glove ( or lack of glove) cost us the game i mean he was only a spare part – its not like he was a backman, canoe or a kent!!! we have a strong team this year and we heard omar and jeff say that there is room payroll wise for the right player . we might not run away with the division like ‘06 but mark my words we will be in the promisedland come october !!! who here is with me??!!!!
The ‘hubbub’ from me is for one reason. They werent out of roster spots right now. Send Pagan to AAA and keep Gotay on the bench, then you keep all of them… His talent level isnt really the issue, and he will not be missed more than a little bit because his skill set and talent are easily replacable. But he was one of a few Mets who had nice moments last season, so I can understand others here having an attachment to him.
We had kent, he didn’t seem like a great player then we got rid of him and hows he been since. I think it was way to early to predict Gotay’s future. But its about winning right now and he wouldn’t have helped much this year.
i was upset when we traded kent for baerga just like i was stunned when the mets traded cone for kent and ryan ( where is he now) thompson
After bouncing around for a few years and accomplishing nothing of note, Gotay has one third of a season of okay hitting and bad fielding, and now he’s the next Jeff Kent?
Kent was so highly regarded that he was traded straight-up for David Cone; and he actually hit very well (just not Hall of Fame well) for four full years with with Mets. Then we traded him away at age 28 and he finally blossoms into a superstar.
Bad break, but not really a close comparison.
anais i never said he was jeff kent. i said ruben was all bat no glove no disrespect to u
Kent had a TON of promise before he came to the Mets. That’s why we got him in the Cone deal. He was a bona-fide prospect. Much more so than Reuben Gotay.
That being said, I just hate how the Mets jettison youth for veterans all the time. That practice makes building for the future incredibly difficult.
Cerrone says Pelfrey will be pitching on Saturday, but there’s a day off on Wednesday, the third. What the heck? I thought fifth pitchers aren’t used until the second half of April… I’m concerned, reason being that I have tickets to Friday and Saturday, hopefully to see Johnny and Johan… Dammit.
jd don’t does it really matter lol a win is a win is a win (and i don’t mean randy winn lol) btw j is that metal bar still there outside of atlanta??
Cerrone, you made a boo boo, Johan is a LHP not RHP :)
Unless he’s a switch pitcher lol
Has anyone else noticed that virtually everyone on ESPN has picked the Braves to win the NL EAST. Jayson Stark even picked them to win the World Series. What is with ESPNs constant hard-on with that team?
espn are owned by time warner which owns abc also which at one time was owned by turner who used to own the braves(which hence is owned by t/w) so there is just a teeny bit of bias there doncha think??
Isn’t ESPN owned by Disney?
sorry wolvie my bad i had a senior moment at 36- sorry guys for the error – it will happen many times in the future lol
That’s ok, if Time Warner did own ESPN I wouldn’t put it past their writers to pander to them
espn – the fox news of the sports world complete with their own bill o’reilley (john “nutrasystem kruk)
by the way who’s goin to the first sat game of the year at shea? we should have a tailgate!
BTW your “buddy” O’Reilly is a major Mets fan.
ESPnis is a lot like sports talk radio, in that the more people they piss off the more ratings they generate. As I’m sure you know, there are a lot more people to piss off in NY than there are in Hotlanta.
Forget ESPN, go with what the oddsmakers in Vegas say. For example, the Mets, BoSox, Tigers and Yanks have the highest over/under for most wins in 2008 at 93.5
What do ou guys say…over or under?
damn i wish i was going to the opening day party tomorrow. like the put the faces to the screennames
Can Bobby Kielty play 1B?……….he can play OF………….just wondering since he is out there……………….but whatever I am cool with Clark too and actually they are a similar player
vitto i posted earlier we still have abreu in the minors he can hit the piss out of the ball and has power if carlos goes down i believe he comes up
I think Kielty has a bit more pop than B. Clark, plus he generally has really good numbers against LH pitchers.
one question – how and why did the confidence poll dip under 80%??!!! we are the team to beat yeah we have a couple of question marks but i think the holes the philthys and the bravos got are a bit more glaring than ours!!! i mean just because of gotay??!! come on the hitting will come jeez even delgado hit the ball out of the infeild yeasterday for a ground rule double guys we should be at least near 90% ALL I KNOW IS THAT I AM DAMN PROUD TO BE A MET FAN – NO RETREAT!! NO SURRENDER!!!
the last ranking there was a lot more 7’s than anything else. I was a bit surprised it dropped the last two times, as I have put in the same 8 that I have been putting in since last year and think that there is very little reason for people’s votes to change with no games being played…
I can only guess that the optimists are being scared off by all the nonsencicle pessimism…
While I still think the Mets are the best team in the division, people still have (and rightly so) doubts about the offense. Delgado is a HUGE question mark, and his horrible bat will be made worse by the fact that Willie will wait too long, as always, to move him out of his batting position if he does struggle. Who knows when Alou comes back and if/when he does if he gets hurt again. Can Castillo play 145+ games with his knees? Will Church be an effective hitter? Can the Mets handle a potential black hole at the bottom of their lineup with Scheider and Alou’s backup? These are all very valid concerns for Mets fans to have. This is also without even mentioning the potential bullpen issues…
Wolverine-Ur analysis of our Offensive concerns were right onthe mark. Very well stated, not pessimism but honest evaluation
But none of that changed in the past 2 months.
So its not a factor in the rating going from 89 to 79 over that time period.
You’re right, none of that has changed, you’ve answered your own question.
Wasn’t the previous poll before the start of ST? I.e. before Alou’s hernia, Duque’s bunion and Delgado’s hip impingement. We knew already not to expect too much from those three, but to have the worst come to pass before the season started does justify a dip in confidence.
Also, on this board, the second half of ST was dominated by discussions of the teams weak points – people thinking the world was going to end because we didn’t have an ace for the 5th pitcher or a hall of famer to fill out the bench.
Pfui. Beltran needs to hit BEFORE Wright–he’ll get better pitches to hit, which he’ll need, as his avg demonstrates. What’s the incentive to pitch to Beltran with Delgado right behind him?
Because Beltran’s become the typical #4 hitter (but with speed) and Wright is the teams best hitter, which is who you bat 3rd.
Not convinced. Dogma belongs in the pound, ma.
Maybe cause the numbers they had batting Beltran 3rd and Wright 4th were not as good as they have now with Wright 3rd and Beltran 4th. They’re both hitting very well in those spots and if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
Sounds better, if the pattern continues to hold.
The incentive to pitch to Beltran is the guys on base in front of him.
Delgado’s shown this spring that he can take pitches that miss inside and hit pitches that stray over the outer half of the plate. That makes it dangerous to intentionally put runners on base in front of him, because there’s not much margin of error.
Oh yeah, and…
If there’s no incentive to pitch to Beltran in front of Delgado, there’s equally no incentive to pitch to Wright in front of Delgado.
Beltran’s more of a power hitter, Wright’s a better hitter for average – Wright’s a classic 3 hitter, and Beltran’s better suited to hit 4th than 3rd.
Plus, look at the numbers last year. Both players performed better when Wright hit in front of Beltran than the other way round.
Delgado is a streaky player………for the record most guys will take 24 hrs and 87 rbis and that is considered a crap yr for Delgado
He can bounce back…………….give him a chance before worrying about it
If there was ever a case where numbers don’t tell the whole story, those 24 homers and 87 rbis are it.
huh? then what story does the 24HRs and 87RBIs tell? or what story doesn’t it tell? I’m confused.
Those numbers were mostly compiled in bunches when the Mets didn’t need them. No one personified the Mets struggles of driving in runs in clutch spots last year as much as Delgado. It seemed like every game he came up in a crucial spot and struck out.
Career ‘clutch’ numbers are relatively meaningless because of small sample sizes. This is vastly more true of single-season clutch numbers.
The 87 RBI shows he was capable of driving in runs. If there’s a tale it doesn’t tell, it’s about how Delgado’s poor production coincided with him recovering from injuries.
Delgado’s OPS last year was .781 versus his career OPS of .935. This year we will see if the deterioration was age related. According to CBS Sportsline last year he was rated as the 14th best 1st baseman in the game. He is not in there for his glove. His offensive numbers have to improve if this lineup is to be intimidating and he earns his enormous salary.
Thank God Wright is batting 3, that’s all I can say. I expected it fully, but all these braindead national analysts incessantly calling him the 5 hitter started to get me nervous…
I’ll be watching the opener from Atlanta of all places, visting family, but decided to extend the trip to the end of this wee so I can go antagonize at Turner Field all next weekend.
looking at the lineup just re-confirms how critical alou is to the lineup. having a big threat batting sixth makes such a huge difference in the national league
“If they get anything from Mike Hampton the Braves will win the division easily” – John Kruk
He picked the Braves because of thier pitching. The Mets have 4 starters better than the Braves 3rd and 4th starter, yet it seems all of espn has this logic…
Since Kruk has already been on record as saying that analysts on Baseball Tonight are assigned opinions to defend on the show, I wouldn’t put much into what he says.
Is that why Kruk seems like a player stooge?
That’s a terrible remark from Kruk, but Hudson/Hampton/Smoltz/ Glavine/? has the potential to be devastating if the first four pitch up to the high end of their reps…I’d LOVE to see a season where at least three teams in each div play to the high end of their potential…how great would that be to watch?
If the Mets 1-4 pitching performs to the top of their ability, it’d still be at least as good as the Braves 1-4 doing the same.
However, Smoltz and Glavine are both at the tail end of their careers (esp. Glavine), and Hudson and Hampton both are major injury questionmarks (esp. Hampton).
Compare that with the Mets 1-4, where Pedro is the only injury questionmark and the only one even close to retirement.
yeah but the Braves offense is far superior to the Mets
I don’t believe they have QuesTek in Atlanta and when you couple that with Cox’s incessant bitching on ball/strike calls Glavine should get a much more generous strike zone than he did in NY. This should improve his performance. But even so people are deluding themselves into believing that Glavine is the pitcher he used to be and didn’t follow him closely last year. You also have to question what Hampton has left after all the injuries and inactivity. You can easily say that if El Dugue straightens out his bunion problems and he and Pedro remain healthy the Mets rotation 1-5 is incredible without a weak link.
But the Braves offense is strong throughout their lineup which takes some of the pressure off their pitching.
Unfortunately I think Glavine’s at the end of his rope and Hampton’s iffy coming off of an injury and hasn’t pitched in over 2 years. The Braves top 4 looks great on paper if the pitchers pitched the way they were in their prime but the likelihood of that happening isn’t very good.
Joe Morgan just announced that Matty Alou is on the DL for the Mets, but not to worry; they have Will Clark and Jose Pagan to hold down the fort until he returns…..
hello? Hello? anyone ta home?
hahaha priceless
Did Morgan mean “Moises” instead of “Matty,” or did you? If Joe, heh heh heh
He also said that Odalis Perez was in the Mets starting rotation yesterday during the Civil Rights Game. The man is useless or there’s something wrong with his mind as it seems to be slipping year to year. In fairness they have him in Memphis yesterday, Washington today and then Minnesota tomorrow. ESPN might just be burning him out.
Will Clark was great in his prime; he could probably still hit better than Delgado now, I’ll take him….
i know beltran can be extremly productive. but i just think that he should bat 3rd. i know he has more power than wright, wich is pretty much the textbook choice, wright also hits for a higher average and better balanced as a hitter. so i think beltran should bat 3rd so he gets alot of good pitches to hit b/c pitchers dont want wright up there, especially w/ runners on base. u can go ahead and look up how many walks both of them get but if watch them up at bat enough, u would know that beltran swings at more bad pitches than wright does. beltran would get plenty of fastballs in the 3rd hole. in the 4th spot, wright might not get alot of pitches to hit either b/c some pitchers may rather pitch to delgado but if they throw him bad pitches and gets ahead in the count they’ll still most likeley pitch a few stikes in wich wright hits better ahead in the count.(also great from behind fouling off pitches/ going the other way). but to rap this up i know if u would describe a beltran type hitter and a wright type hitter or show their stats someone knowledgeable of baseball would automaticly say beltran bats 4th but when u look at the little things, they will tell u to bat wright 4th and beltran 3rd
By your own admission, Wright is the better hitter.
So, by your logic, you’re taking the better hitter and putting him in the place less likely to see pitches.
That’s obviously a bad idea.
That sounds horrible actually. You bat your best hitter 3rd and your best power guy 4th.
Along with everyone else, we’re in first place, let’s not relinquish it this year. Best rotation in baseball whether it’s Pelfrey of El Duque in the fifth spot.
It will be relinquished as soon as the Braves/Nats game tonight ends, no? Best rotation in baseball? You must be looking at a different team than I am. Opie gets spooked far too easily, & I think you’re forgetting the MP’s first half, last year.
Still, LGM.
Here’s to a great season!
*cue cowbell*
Lets Go METS! Lets Go METS!
Hey, lets wait till at least the first game is over to freak out who is in the lineup. Its way too early! Lets not start this season like we ended last season. This is the year for the Mets, just like it was for the G-men! Two parades this year. Lets go Mets!
My little guy has a stomach virus but I feel that the 6-9 slot in this lineup is going to make me hurl