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The Mets lost to the Phillies by the score of 5 to 4 in Citizen’s Bank Park tonight.
For a recap and boxscore, go to SNY.tv.
…Mike Pelfrey just didn’t have it tonight, unable to keep the ball down…i don’t know, maybe it was the cold weather, lack of execution, who knows…that said, he fought through it and kept his team in the game as best he could…he allowed 12 base runners…however, if not for Chase Utley, pelfrey would have been find through the first five innings, before being removed in relief…so, while he was not at his best, he did his best with what he had…and that is nice to see…finally…
…Endy Chavez and his gold chain made an impressive throw to second base, on a ball hit off the left-field wall by Pat Burrell, which Jose Reyes relayed to second to peg burrell legging out an ill-advised double…it was a nice, fundamentally sound play…
…why is the Philly Pahantic green, when the team’s colors are red…and why is he so mean to people…
…Ryan Church has been playing some serious defense of late…he covers so much more ground than i ever thought he could…and he’s so casual about it, i take it a bit for granted…
…church was bumped from the second spot in the lineup, moved down to sixth behind Carlos Delgado, while Luis Castillo returned to the top of the order…church was 1 for 4…i know some fans will believe this is why the Mets lost tonight, but church drove in a run and the team lost…yesterday, he hit second, didn’t drive in a run and the Mets won…so, it’s going to take a lot more than this to prove to me that batting orders matter, because i will always feel they are way, way down on the reason why a team loses than people want to give them credit for…that said, it would have been nice to have him up in the ninth against Brad Lidge…
…nice job by the Mets to rally and tie the game in a long sixth inning, thanks to a single by castillo, a double by David Wright, another single by Carlos Beltran, who stole second, a single by church, who didn’t seem to be traumatized batting sixth at this specific moment in the game…
…the thing is, the bats all shut off after that…it was like, they were napping, woke up, scored some runs, then went back to bed…
…in the seventh, Pedro Feliciano let up a home run to pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz, which was the difference in the game…
…a sweep would have been nice, especially with Jimmy Rollins out of action, and i bet the Mets are disappointed to have wasted the opportunity…that said, i’m glad to see them take the series, as things still feel like they’re moving in the right direction…
The Mets will next face the Cubs on Monday in Wrigley Field in Chicago with John Maine squaring off against Carlos Zambrano.
It was a clean loss…if that makes sense
Yeah, they didn’t beat themselves..um…Pedro gave up a HR to Pedro, who was due..it all evens out. Win every series and the Mets are in the playoffs!!! Here comes a “One Game At A Time” rewply…wait for it…wait for it…
I totally know what you meant, especially if we win tonight in Chicago.
And Matt, I totally disagree with you that the importance of a lineup. Reyes recent resurgence has much to do with Church hitting behind him (as well as Betran’s talk).
Reyes sees more fastball and better pitches. Depending in the situation, I would definitely pitch around Reyes to get to Castillo. He just doesn’t drive the ball enough.
Betran is experiencing the same thing. Pitchers are just not giving in to him with Delgado hitting behind him. When Aloe comes back and if he hits behind Beltran, you will see a spike in Beltran’s production.
Will you then concede that lineups do matter in determing a team’s wins and losses? lol.
They won 5 in a row with Judy hitting 8th. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
the pitches reyes is getting has nothing to do with who is behind him. Do you honestly think a team will pitch around reyes with Castillo up next because Castillo can’t hit the ball out of the park? You walk reyes and he’ll be on 2nd and maybe even 3rd before Castillo has to swing. Castillo is a 300 hitter, yes he’s started out slow but so has alot of players around the league. I would not pitch around Reyes to get to castillo who can get on base in so many ways, (bunt, slap infield hit, walk, etc) and then your faced with 2 on against wright! The way to have a big inning is single after single after single!
that logic doesn’t work when Reyes went 2 for 5 last night with a triple. I don’t buy the whole “protection” thing usually, especially when Wright and Beltran loom.. you walk Reyes, get an out, you still have to deal with the big boys.
Besides, noone wants Reyes on first, regardless who’s in the #2 spot, because they know Reyes on first quickly becomes Reyes on 2nd.
I don’t feel too bad about this loss.
Eric Bruntlett gave us two games, and now he takes one.
All’s fair in love and baseball.
Talking of batting orders, for what it’s worth, in the 9th inning with runners on first and second, it was ideal for Castillo to come up because he’s the team’s best bunter. He couldn’t execute and you move on. I don’t think you can sit here and say “well Church would have gotten that bunt down.”
Then to boot, between Wright’s flyball and Bruntlett’s great play on Beltran’s ball up the middle, you almost just have to shrug your shoulders and say it wasn’t meant to be tonight. Now they just have to go into Chicago and not go flat.
That was some play by Bruntlett. He was positioned perfectly and made a great stab.
As far as Castillo goes, yeah he didn’t execute. I don’t think it’s a matter of playing crystal ball and saying someone else would have. You have to admit that seeing him not execute in that spot really hurts though. That’s what he is expected to do … bunt and move the runners. That is the spot of the game where he makes his money. He HAS to execute there if he’s going to play that role.
Not to mention he made a nice strong throw as they just got Carlos by a step
It’s not exactly easy to bunt high-90s gas.
There is no excuse. If he’s hitting 2nd, he has to get the bunt down. He gets no pass.
OK, answer me this…
How many successful bunts have other teams laid down against Wagner?
I can remember a few attempts, but can’t off the top of my head think of any successes.
but if you had someone who could hit the ball out of the infield than maybe you dont’ have to bunt. I’d much rather have a chance for 3 of my 4 best hitters (church beltran and wright) to get one hit and tie the game than bunt them over and add an out and just let 2 of them try for a hit.
I guess what im saying is im opposed to bunting in that situation, but when you have castillo up it’s not like you have a choice.
You have to bunt in that situation to get the tying run on 3rd base with less than 2 outs. If Church is up and he hits into a double play then everyone would be asking for willies head because he didn’t bunt and now you have 1 chance to get him in from 3rd with 2 outs. You bunt get the tying run and winning run into scoring position and then you let your 3 and 4 hitters have 2 shots at getting them in!
If Castillo provides anything even remotely resembling a productive at-bat in the 9th, we got ourselves a tie game. Grrrr……
Absolutely. I mean if Mr. Slap or Bunt at everything can’t get a bunt down in a big spot, then why is he even playing??
Not to beat a dead horse, but I can’t believe he’s around for three more years after this one.
i really do hope that santana considered having castillo here one of the reasons why he wanted to play for us…i guess we may never know for sure but it makes me feel a little bit better about the situation…god if you go position by position the phils have it way over us at 2nd….
I’m sure Santana considered it. Not only are they friends and played together, but Santana is smart enough to realize Castillo has been a very good player over his CAREER and is not going to judge him on three weeks worth of at bats at the beginning of the season.
As far as Utley goes, yeah, he’s much better than Castillo. And much better than just about every second baseman in baseball. This guy is probably one of the top ten players in the game — regardless of position. Just because he’s awesome doesn’t make Castillo bad.
Agreed. He did have a big RBI single against Eaton earlier, but that basic failure to execute kind of spoiled a pretty good game for me. If he gets that bunt down, they walk Wright, and now you’ve got Beltran up with the bases loaded — totally different situation, obviously, and a flyball ties it. ARRRGH! So frustrating. . .
Or even if he just hits the ball to the right side, we’d still have easley at third and 1 out.
A sweep would have been nice, but 2 of 3 isn’t bad. of course, with Rollins being out, Philly fans have the ready made excuse of losing the series without their MVP.
It’s amazing how much equity a 5 game win streak can provide a team. It was nice to se the fight the team showed after falling behind 4-0, where 2-3 weeks ago we would have thought the game was over in the 5th. And i thought they showed grit in the 9th while trying to rally as well. Beltran hit the ball crisp and in a good spot, but they had the defense positioned perfectly and Bruntlett made a good play….nothing you can do but tip your hat.
Unrelated topic, but am I the only one who had to watch the game on Mute? I could deal with the fox announcers on Sunday, but i find Morgan and Miller on Espn un-listenable. HORRIBLE! Ad we have them again tonight? I also watched 2 yankee games this weekend and got sick at how Michael Kay makes the most routine play sound like Willie Mays saving a homerun. It really makes you appreciate the great job SNY does.
I did the same thing. I just could not stand all the constant love toward the Phillies going on. Utley Utley Utley….Rollins interview, SHowing the Phantic during D Wrights at bat with a man on, etc, etc.
Funny you did the same thing. I hate the national feed games since they seem so perpetually anti met.
Whatever I guess it means little in the end. Plus they were pumping how terrific Wright was in between showering the Phillies players with love.
I was very impressed with Pelfrey last night….specifically because he did not have the sink on his ball and yet still navigated their lineup pretty well with the exception of Utley.
The kid is growing up and getting better. He throws 93-94mph with a moving fastball, his slider goes 83 – 84 with bite. A couple of times he got the good fastball going and sliding away from lefties but just missed the corner of the plate. Maybe a bit squeezed but still…he stayed composed. Even after giving up the second bomb to Utley.
the only thing I would have done differently would be to pump a fastball or two inside and high to Utley after his first bomb. The guy is clearly scorching hot right now. Either pitch around him or buzz him to make sure he is a little less comfortable.
In the end…..nice series win, good comback effort and almost pulled out the win in the 9th…..On to Chicago. The boys look pretty good
hahaha…well if you had it on mute, then you missed this gem from Joe Morgan:
“Hanley Ramirez is the best all-around player in the NL..He can hit for average, hit for power, he can run, and HE IS A GREAT DEFENDER”
I don’t even know where to begin. The fact that Morgan acknowledges that Ramirez is the best all around hitter shows that Morgan actually pays attention to VORP, in which Hanley led the league. However, to call Hanley a great defender? Thats the old Joe
I cannot stand the “bootstrapping” of defense. When a guy is a whiz in the field but hits .220 (ahem, Rey-Rey?), you never hear “what an all-around player — amazing defense, great arm, good speed, hits well.” Yet, announcers just add “great defense” as a matter of course when talking about virtually any solid hitter who doesn’t play first or catcher. Having Uggla, Ramirez and Cabrera all standing in cement out there is a prime reason the Marlins’ young pitching couldn’t do a lick last year.
BTW, am I the only one that thinks Pelfrey would’ve gone much deeper in the game if he had Eaton’s strike zone?
Seemed like every marginal call went against Pelfrey, and for Eaton.
And the second last pitch of the game being called strike as well just cemented that impression.
** deal with fox announcers on Saturday**
The one thing that bugged me is that Randolph replaced Sosa in the 7th with Feliciano. Aside from the fact that I think he’s overrated (he almost always falls behind the first batter he faces) I think Sosa looked really sharp yesterday. Considering he was the only pitcher that Randolph didn’t put in the game on Saturday and the Mets don’t get a day off until May 1st, why not let him pitch another inning?
That’s probably my biggest beef about Randolph. He gets way too much into matchups and ends up burning out the bullpen.
I think you’re in the minority in thinking that Sosa facing Dobbs, Utley and Howard would go well for Sosa.
Maybe give him Dobbs to keep Feliz on the bench, but you could make a case that Feliciano against Feliz is the better matchup for the Mets. It just didnt work.
Bringing in Feliciano to face those guys was absolutely the right move.
can’t blame yesterday on randolph. he made the right move, it just came down to manuel doing the expected and putting in a righty who did the job against pedro.
what killed the game for the mets was castillo not getting a bunt down. if he did, the phillies would have had to bring the infield in and making the situation more palatable for wright and beltran to follow.
how ironic that the guy most likely to bunt can’t get it down when it counts.
In fairness, with one out, maybe Wright could do something more productive than foul out. That said, Wright’s AB falls more under the category of expected failure — hitters fail most of the time. Castillo’s was a failure to execute. Different.
Again, I’m not going to criticize a guy for failing to bunt against high-90s heat.
The wind worked twice in the Phillies’ favor last night – keeping the 3-run shot fair, and keeping Wright’s pop out of the stands. Oh well, stuff happens in a 162-game season. Sweep would’ve been nice, but as long as we keep winning series, all will be good :)
Chavez is a nice player for his role but is this team a little better served by finding a natural trading partner for him when Alou returns?
I mean certainly Clark should go down and will. But having Chavez and Pagan is kind of redundant except that Pagan is slightly less gifted in the field and more flexible as a hitter in that he switch hits. Chavez hits lefties well so that is not a big issue but I think 2 extra outfielders of this quality is redundant. If one can be swapped for some 2nd base depth in the minor league system….we should consider a move.
Plus, I want to make room for Tatis who is scorching hot himself in AAA. If he can play acceptable D from 3rd, 1st, and even possibly second occassionally, we should use him for his current hot bat when Clark goes down and alou comes back.
Managing a roster through injuries is very difficult. Because to the options deal and then cant send certain guys back down.
But with Wise and Pedro and Alou all coming back, things are going to get shaken up quite a bit soon.
CASTRO…PLEASE FIND A WAY TO STRETCH AND GET HEALTHY….I MISS YOUR THUNDER IN THAT BAT
Yea Willie likes going with the matchup and especially when Feliciano can face a lefty because he usually eats them up. What got me the most was that we couldn’t even advance the runners in the ninth inning. Castillo, okay he took a horrible swing at the ball, but even if he grounds out to second, we have 2nd and 3rd one out and Wright takes a different approach up there. That wind was killing us taking away some sure foul balls that became outs. Happy with the series but this win would have felt great. Now we just have to walk Derrek Lee every time hes in a big spot because he has been killing the ball lately. Last week he hit .400 with 8 rbi’s and 3 hrs.
good meeting you on saturday, matt
I’d have to say the one thing that really burned me was seeing a mental breakdown/lazy play in the 9th again. It is inexcusable that Easley did not get to third on Wright’s foul pop. Not only was Howard lumbering away from the field when he caught it, he then started joking and laughing without looking at the runners. Easley could have walked there, and it’s a whole different game with a man on third.
Just disappointing to see after such a good stretch such a bad play of the sort that wins or costs you big games every time.
Wouldn’t have been that different. Beltran still makes the third out. Now Castillo getting runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out and them intentionally walking Wright, which they definitely would have done, makes it a different game.
Pedro Feliciano has looked terrible lately, unable to throw strikes early in the count and then either walking the batter (which he should have done with Utley and gone after Howard, who is still in a slump) or throwing a fat pitch.
Pelfry was not bad last night. He was getting seriously squeezed early by the umpire, and even had words with him after the second inning. It seemed Eaton was getting called strikes that Pelfry was not getting.
I don’t get why Willie on occasion puts together line-ups like these. Okay, Schneider is down, fine, but then leave Pagan in the lineup since Endy’s not near as nice a hitter. And Pagan’s been hot. These makeshift line-ups (patched up by putting Castillo back in the two hole–ugh–instead of having 6-9 being Castillo, casanova, endy, pelfrey) are frsutrating, especially when we should be playing to bury the Phillies early.
Castillo is a bust as a hitter right now; nothing more to say.
I thiink Church has to be considered soon for the 5 spot in the order, at least until Alou gets back. Delgado needs to take a different approach at the plate and that might help him settle down.
Did anyone catch Ron Darling doing color for the Braves game yesterday?! I was aghast, and googled about that and found he’s their color guy for every sunday game during the season. It was really wierd listening to him promoting the Braves players!!
Castillo did drive in a run yesterday. He’ll get his act together. I don’t hear anybody trying to run Beltran out of the cleanup role because he’s batting .237 with 1 HR.
I do agree with batting Church 5th though. I think Delgado looks a little better than last year so far, but until he can prove he can hit for a decent average with power then he shouldn’t be batting 5th.
I think we are in big trouble at first base. Even after Delgado’s relatively hot start hes now at .200/.312/.292 for the season. I don’t know how much he has left after his 0-12 this weekend.
Can the big Hurt still play any First Base?
That’s a “have you stopped beating your wife?” question. He never could play first. Signing the Big Hurt to play first would be grounds for firing Omar on the spot.
I just do not understand giving Utley anything to hit right now. Howard couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn right now. Pitch Utley tough and see if he will chase and than go after Howard who has a grand canyon size hole his swing.
Pelfrey pitched well the first two innings – the Utley home run the only blemish on his line. But after that he walked two, including the pitcher, in the third, and he gave up three hits in the fourth. I don’t know how he managed to scrape through those innings without giving up any runs, but the wheels came off in the fifth with single, single, and Utley home run (the wind may have helped to keep it fair). I wonder if Cassanova behind the plate impacted Pelfrey’s performance; Schneider just seems to call games well, and Pelfrey has shown so much confidence in following Schneider’s game plan.
I was thinking the same thing last night regarding Casanova behind the plate impacting Pelfrey.
agree with the ‘nova thoughts. Pelf should work with one catcher in the bigs that being Mr. Schneider.
Yup, Schneider would probably have helped last night, he sets up his glove where the ball should start out not where it should end up, and that would definitely help Pelf find the zone better.
Also, getting any help at all from the umpire would’ve been good – especially as Eaton was getting calls.
Did anyone else hear those sirens going on throughout the early part of the game? Was that something inside or outside the stadium? I mean I know Philly is not in the best shape as far as crime right now but that was a lot of sirens.
Yeah, the sirens were wierd, going off all weekend. I had to mute the TV a few times to see if it was in my neighorhood or not. I noticed they had it on between pitches and would turn it off during the pitch itself, so it seems it’s a crowd-pleasing tactic, or one designed to get udner the skins of opposing players (since Phillies players get used to it).
The sirens are from service vehicles inside the stadium not from police or security. They use the sirens to clear the walkways of people as they try to get around the concorse. It is annoying and stupid.
Typical mets. They had a chance to put the hammer down on the phils and willie puts in his watered down lineup! He gives away too many games in series when they win the first two. If Castillo bunted the two runners over in the 9th, they would have walked D Wright and Beltran’s grounder would have scored Easley to tie the game. No question Castillo lost this game for us. He sucks…there will be no where to hide him if he keeps stinking it up….This will go down as one of the worst contracts in mets history, right up there with Mo Vaughn. No way Castillo’s knees make it beyond next year….Omar got carried away with that contract…..
Perhaps you haven’t watched too many Mets games, Willie always mails in the Sunday games. Regardless of the situation.
That’s true…willie always mails in the Sunday games…I guess he hasn’t learned anything from the september collapse. Bench players should play defense later in games or pinch hit. They should only start due to a starter’s injury. No reason why Endy played instead of pagan yesterday. By the way, Endy and Marlon Anderson have sucked thus far….Our bench is pretty bad……..
The reason Endy has “sucked” thus far was because he has seen so little action..Its not that easy to just go in, pick up a bat, and hit a major league pitcher. Pagan will be back in tomorrow.
i was unimpressed with that lineup also, especially on Sunday Night Baseball when the nation is watching. IT could have been a great chance to show everyone, its a new season and the Mets are going for kills. I agree if Schneider is out, Pagan must be in. IT was a great game, but it would have been nice to comeback and execute in the 9th.
umm, how did willie mail in the game? alou’s hurt, schneider’s hurt and endy’s got to play sometime because you know he is on the team and all. if you’ve also noticed, pagan’s been scuffling a little bit and let’s not get into his day in the field on saturday.
the phillies won the game, fair and square. relax.
Thanks to some generous Phillie friends, I got to go to CBP last night. Once again, a ton of Met fans, and a lot of squabbles.
Some of my observations from the game:
- total sellout, and until Utley’s 2nd HR, that was the first thing the Phillie fans had a reason to cheer all weekend!
- I was sitting in the bleacher section under the huge scoreboard in left, and there were big packs of Met fans really laying into Phils fans. Lots of trash-talk, but it was fun! ALso in looking around and walking around, there were a lot more scuffles between fans that on Friday night….probably because people were tailgating several hrs before the game.
- Pelf was throwing mid-90’s, but they seemed to be on a lot of his pitches and he wasn’t fooling a lot of batters and you could see it was just a matter of time before they got 3 in the 5th.
- The wind was fierce blowing right to left, and that wind played a key role in:
1. Holding up the fly ball that Chirch caught at the wall. On any other day at this place, that ball was gone.
2. Utleys’s 3-R HR job…I was standing in concource behind home, and the ball was actually going to hook foul, but be got so much lift on it that the wind straightened it out just enough to hit the foul pole screen.
- out in the bleacher section called “Harry the K’, you can buy an order of wings for $24.00. Unreal…
I love the park, I like jabbing with my friends in the stands, but man, I still think they hate us a lot more than we hate them. The only guy I hear respect for is DW and Johan.
I know Met trainers have been criticized for things in the past, but someone should get fired from the Phils staff for the way they handled Rollin’s ankle injury. There is no excuse for not resting him, letting him pinch hit for 2 weeks, and THEN putting him on DL. With Victorino, he was immediately placed on DL, but I think they let J-Hole dictate the situation and let him continue trying to come back.
Pelfrey’s gotta work on going straight to the plate. As a pitcher all your motion should be forward, this helps with both velocity and control. Pelfrey is not just falling towards first base, he seems to be whipping around and spinning towards first base. This is not good. It was the same thing with Ollie (except towards third) when we first got him from the Pirates so hopefully Rick will pick up on this and fix it as well.
Other than that the guy has excellent mechanics. But he’s wasting it all until he fixes this problem. It’ll also help him keep the ball down, which we all know is hugely important for Pelfrey.
“was” the problem with ollie? he still does it every time. i’ve never seen somebody do it as drastically as he does. it’s awful.
So done with Luis Castillo, lol.
I would’ve liked to have won this game but I’m glad we came back so quickly down 4-0. We kind of always suck on Sunday Night Baseball haha.
I really do believe if Church was hitting after Reyes in the 9th inning w/ 2 outs it would’ve been Lidges first blown save.
But we look good. And we play good defense.