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In his first major-league appearance in 21 months, Duaner Sanchez pitched one scoreless, pain-free inning last night for the Mets, while striking out one batter.
Prior to the game, Sanchez told reporters, “It feels like my first 
day in the big leagues.” He made a similar comment after the game, while speaking to SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt.
For more on player reaction regarding Sanchez’s return, including quotes from John Maine and others, go to MLB.com, where David Wright says, “Having Duaner back makes us feel whole.”
…there is truth to this, in that just saying, “Sanchez, Heilman and Wagner,” makes me feel a bit better about the bullpen, despite heilman’s temporary struggle and sanchez’s recent return…obviously, they need to execute, but, for the time being, i’m just happy to have them all together again…
For more on Sanchez, read the New York Post and Newsday.
I’m not the sentimental type when it comes to sports but I was very excited by the return of Duaner; more so than the illusion of Pedro’s return. That was a very nice quote by David too. Here’s to Duaner being a big piece of the Mets puzzle.
Anyone read that someone died last night at Shea… felll from an escalotor after the game.
Yeah saw that on ESPN this morning…. his daughter was with him at the game, and his wife was at home.. she’s pregnant with their second child. Very Sad.
My condolence to his family and friends
I’m pumped that Duaner is back, and ready to contribute. The pieces are falling into place . . . I wish they were falling into place a tad faster, but I’ll take it.
I was at the game last night and the ovation that the fans gave Duaner was great. You could tell he was pumped and he came through. Nice to have him back.
I was there too. I felt really good for him. It was also cool that they played “Wild Thing” when he came running in from the bullpen.
“Wild Thing ……… I think I love you!”
It was nice to see. It was also the first Met game for my 2 kids. What a game for them…Pelfrey-shoutout, Wright-Homerun 5 rbi’s, Reyes-4 hits. It was very cool for them.
Nice! Perfect first game for your kids to see in person.
Was at the game too. Splurged for seats behind home plate for the first time (quite a shift from wtaching the ’80s Mets from the Upper Deck). Great game, execellent seats, and spent the game listening to some scouts behind me talking about Pelfry. They weren’t impressed, amazingly enough. Said his slider wasn’t anywhere near the strike zone (down low all night) and a good hitting team would sit on his fastball and drive that because of a lack of movement. They were also very amazed that Heilman got booed for giving up a lead off double. I talked to them about that, about how the atmosphere was poisonous because of the september collapse. Still, they couldn’t believe that 12 games into the new season they would be that much animosity, especially in a game that was 6-0. Welcome to NYC, in the wake (perfect word) of last september…
Glad to have Sanchez back. I actually wish that he would be stable enough that we could trade one of Sosa, Show, Heilman. I like having the youth of Muniz and Smith in the pen. I would assume Heilman would bring back the most but also the most risky to trade.
I brought up yesterday that when Alou comes back I would trade Endy. It’s not like he is getting starts or AB’s with Alou out much less when he comes back.
Maybe a package of Endy and Heilman could get you a decent player in return.
I was thinking the same about Endy. I think it is a combination of how well Pagan is playing and that we really haven’t seen Endy do anything in awhile.
I dunno, it’s a tough call, that’s why I’m not the GM and will never complain about the GM when we have a team that is expected to make the playoffs.
problem is that they have the starting 8 covered, so it would need to be a pitcher. Its not enough to get a league average quality starter, imo and who is a ‘proven’ upgrade over Heilman in the pen. But its a start on something, without losing any of the core of the team.
Maybe it could be a prospect that would help us next year with pitching spots and LF/1B open. Example although the Angels do not need Endy but a guy like Kendry Morales? If we could do with out Heilman maybe a Heilman for Morales swap? Morales could take 1B and Fmart LF. Think of the money we would have to go after 2/3 pitchers. We could actually afford CC :)
nice, a poster with a real plan!
I could certainly deal with something like that.
I like the idea of having all of those relievers at the disposal of the club this year, no one should get overworked in Sept if Willie has 5-8 relievers he is confident in going to.
What about the other Morales in Minnesota. He is a blocked catching prospect that has unbelievable minor league numbers.
yes, I looked him up when the Santana deal was in the works. When it looked like the Twins wanted 5 players I suggested him as a 5 for 2 swap.
Would be a good fit with Castro basically useless most of the time, and Schneider getting up in years.
Would it create a 3 catcher log jam next season?
I am sure that Castro could be traded. It’s not like he is every around anyway and has a very reasonable contract. Let him go back to the Marlins.
Matt,
Actually it was Heilman (7th), Sanchez (8th) and Wagner (9th), which actually makes me feel better too. Hopefully he will provide some spark to that ‘pen and turn this thing around.
I would figure that until Sanchez shows he can still pitch at the same level, it will stay Sanchez, Heilman, Wagner.
It would also be nice if Heilman could still pitch at the same level as ‘06 too.
I would toss Feliciano in that group. He was brought in as a LOOGY, but he’s evolved into way more than that. He’s nails in tough situations, and to be honest, he’s probably the guy I trust the most out of that pen.
He’s been little used so far this year, and now with Dauner back he seems to be less of an inning guy and more of a LOOGY. I love his ability to get righties out so much better than Schoe, hopefully Willie gives Pedro F more of those situations.
If Feliciano gets an earlier inning that is lefty heavy, are we comfortable with Schoe coming in to face a big lefty in a tight spot in the 8th inning. I guess thats what Feliciano has been saved for at times this year.
I really don’t have a problem with Schoe facing any lefty, up to and including the best in the game. He’s excellent against lefties…12 extra base hits in the last 294 abs against him.
It was great to see Duaner back, maybe it will give the lift that our bullpen needs.
I had to watch the game on direct tv MLB package that was not a great thing. The Nationals announcers are terrible. They were saying on a previous telecast that the Nationals have not reached any agreements with a corporate sponsor for their new stadium. Maybe they should try Jenny Craig, did anyone see the size of the Nationals last night?
yea i did notice that, especially johnny estrada. what happened to him i remember when he was a lean athletic catcher now he looks like artie lange.
Well I would hope that would show all those people who said we could have kept Estrada just to keep Milledge, how bad that would have been. To those Milledge fans out there, relax, I’m only talking about the Estrada side of it here. The guy’s a backup to our former catcher, he’s big, slow, and has no arm left to throw anybody out. As much as I hate losing a guy with such upside as Milledge, we got back just as good in return with two solid starting players, including a catcher that will work wonders with our pitching staff.
I have DIrectv extra innings package as well and so far this year 90% of the time including last night they had both feeds going. SO I got Gary and Keith and the Nationals announcers You should check to see if they are both on.
I have the Superfan with the HD for 50 bucks more but I don’t think it should affect it. If so it might be worth 50 bucks to get Gary all year.
I was looking at Beltran’s stats. It is clear based on the stats and the games I have watched that teams are clearly pitching around Beltran. He has a .444 OBP but a .286 AVG. I know that Delgado is doing better but teams would just rather face Delgado with Beltran on 1st than to have to pitch to him.
I don’t really know how to ajust the lineup so that does not happen. Beltran is our RBI guy so you can’t just move hiim out of the #4 spot. Obviously Wright took off last year in the #3 spot and should stay there as he is our best hitter. Hopefully Alou can come back and slot in behind Beltran. I know Pagan has done well but I am sure teams don’t fear him enough to pitch to Beltran.
I am guessing that Delgado has to stay in the 5 spot just to keep the order balanced even when Alou returns so there are not 3 LH in a row.
Any solutions?
Reyes, Church, Wright, Beltran, Alou, Delgado, Schnieder, Castillo?
Breaks up the LHH? But a bottom 3 of Delgado, Schnieder, Castillo could be good or horrible at times.
I could just see with that one, Delgado with one out hits a single, Schnieder hits and moves Delgado all the way to 3rd and then its up to Castillo and the pitcher to get a run in. :(
Even keeping Delgado in front of Alou will force teams to pitch to Beltran more. Only in two out situations will they go after Delgado. And having Alou 6th breaks up the lefties at the bottom. Delgado is doing ok so far, and having protection like Alou might get him on a tear or two throughout the year.
Basically, the lineup needs to have a chance to work with Delgado 5th as it is the most balance and most potentially explosive arrangement they could have. If it doesnt work for a bit then adjust to other ideas, imo.
I really think that is going to change if Delgado keeps improving. You are right though I think they would much rather face Delgado than Beltran. The whole dynamic is going to change if an effective Alou comes back. Also i think as delgado improves going to left with his hits makes him a much more dangerous hitter.
Maybe having Duaner back will conjure up ghosts from 2006……..friendly ones i mean….the ones around before game 7
Very solid win last night for the Mets and good to see Duaner back in there…especially hitting 91 on the gun, and movement on the breaking ball.
Being a glass half empty guy (by nature with this team), I’m going to point out a couple things I took out of last nights game.
A) While the bottom of our order is weaker with Castillo down there, it give me much more confidence at the top with Church in the 2 hole (or even Pagan for that matter). Castillo continues to hit dribblers and pop up to the infield. This will continue all year folks. His average will hover the medoza line because he has no speed to beat out infield hits anymore. This was a terrible, terrible contract on Omar’s part. You will never see an outfield RBI hit from Luis Castillo this year…ever.
B) While Duaner just got here and he needs more innings under his belt to prove himself….bottom line is, if hes healthy hes the 8th inning man…and hes a gamer. His stuff is very good, and he needs that role back. Aaron Heilman can hopefully be traded this summer, or moved into a less important role. He’s simply not very good. He never gets through innings easily, and again last night…lets up a big double and a walk (to a team with a woeful offense).
C) While I’m sure this went unnoticed by many because of the 6-0 game….there was one moment in particular that defined this team as of late (excluding last night). Jose Reyes gets a leadoff triple and fails to score witih the 2-5 spots up. Simply inexcusable. Disgusting really. If the Mets were to lose that game 3-2, there would be hell this morning. Furthermore, the Mets are going to be in situations like that in the future, in tight ballgames. If they can’t get the job done with Reyes on 2nd or 3rd and no outs….that is a serious, serious problem.
Crisp win none the less, its the Nationals so I’m not going nuts. Sweep the series now, and go get Philly.
That run is not going to score everytime, so I wouldn’t call it inexcusable. It happens. No to mention Wright hit an absolute bullet with 1 out that Zimmerman made a great play on. Sometimes the other team has something to do with the Mets not getting it done.
I just don’t see how a guy who hit .300 last year with a .370 OBP struggles to get to the mendoza line. His legs are no worse than last season and perhaps even better than they were.
Give him time. I see a case at this point for Church to be in the 2 spot, but I still think that Castillo in the 2 spot makes our lineup much deeper. As long as Reyes is getting on base :)
It’s not just the LOB after a leadoff triple — he didn’t score after leading off three innings with hits. Astounding.
Apart from Church’s K, however (why he was swinging from the heels is beyond me — a groundout could have done the trick — no need for a fly ball), Wright hit the ball hard — Zimmerman is just a vacuum cleaner over there — and Pagan had a decent AB. It happens. It was solid strategy pitching around Beltran.
at least we get heilman out of that 8th inning role now so he can just get booed in the 7th instead
Well it gives us another at-bat to come back after he blows it.
sad but true…
I think he’ll come around, though I do recall that when Dauner went down in ‘06 that was when Heilman stepped up and became the dominant reliever that he was for most of ‘07 as well.
I wonder if having Dauner back in the 8th inning role would motivate Heilman or if he’ll slip back into early ‘06 form.
Great to have dirty back. I was watching the game on Extra innings and im glad it got the SNY broadcast. Its funny i tend to forget this team really isnt whole and is just getting by with what it has. Having sanchez back i think is going to pay off well. He looked great on the mound, as if he didnt miss a beat. I think with more time out there, it will take the pressure off heilman and he will preform better. Its exciting to think that we may have the 1-2 punch from 05-06. I know its too early to say that but if it is i think the bullpen issue has been solved. Little by little the team that is supposed to play is coming together. Anyone know what is going on with padilla?
Nice to see Duaner return. As he told Burkhardt he’s glad to be back in baseball. KUDOS! Hope to see more of him down the line.
As a Mets fan of 40+ years, Met fans make me crazy. We win a 6-0 shutout, and people are complaining. I was at the game last night. Duaner got a big hand–standing ovation. When he went 2-0 on the first hitter, some guy booed. I think he was kidding (a bunch of people laughed), but it’s typical of the “one million GMs”. If the Mets score 15 runs, somebody is going to criticize the fact that we left some men on base. Baseball is a game of failure–the best players make outs around 7 of 10 times. Some fans just don’t get it. Beltran is not raking now, because people are pitching around him. Delgado is making them pay, to some extent. (He went the other way with a line drive that required a nice running catch in left field last night, and seems to have a good approach to the overshift.) Schneider is bonding well with the pitchers and calling good games, and threw out MIlledge stealing. Wright is terrific, and Reyes is coming around. Church has been fine. I’ll admit I’m not sold on Castillo, who can’t seem to hit the ball more than 100 feet in any direction, but I’ll give him time. Met fans were booing Heilman last night. He’s an important part of the staff; we need him to win. The guy behind me was bitching about bringing him in with a 4-0 lead. I told him Pelfrey had already thrown 98 pitchers, and it was a good spot to get Heilman some work and get him untracked. I was told that was dumb. Though it wasn’t pretty, Heilman didn’t give up a run. Sheesh.
What astounds me isn’t nitpicking after a win, it’s the complete bipolarity of the fans — all positive posts after a win, and all negative after a loss — and the depth of the negativity is impressive — doom, doom, and gloom. People — the best teams of any given year will only win 60% of their games. Just a fact. I hope they finish April a few games above .500 just to calm everyone down.
That said, I have my concerns, generally, and I worry that if the team is scuffling along in mid-May, they may want to think about a shake-up. I’ll be cautiously optimistic, the true Way of the Met Fan.
my wife, who’s relatively new to NY, thinks mets fans are fickle idiots. And when I disagree, she’ll just point to the screen when Heilman gets showered with boos because he gives up a leadoff hit. “Do they know anything about baseball?”
Sure, but they don’t get to read about themselves the next day if they don’t boo.
Your wife is a wise woman. You are blessed.
so she keeps telling me :-)