Daily Archives: June 21, 2008
At his blog for the Journal News, John Delcos reports Jose Valentin will miss the remainder of the season, as he is not progressing with his rehab.
Delcos’ report also provides injury updates on Moises Alou, Ryan Church and Fernando Martinez.
Tagged Mike Nichols, Moises Alou, Ryan Church |The Game:
The Mets (36-36) continue their three-game series versus the Rockies (31-43) tonight at Coors Field in Denver, starting 8:05 pm EST.
The Lineup:
- SS Jose Reyes
- 2B Luis Castillo
- 3B David Wright
- CF Carlos Beltran
- 1B Carlos Delgado
- LF Trot Nixon
- RF Endy Chavez
- C Brian Schneider
- P Pedro Martinez
The Pitchers:
RHP Pedro Martinez (2-0, 5.31 ERA) starts for the Mets. Martinez is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 8 career games, six starts versus the Rockies.
RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (1-7, ERA) starts for the Rockies. This is Jimenez first career start versus the Mets.
How To Catch It:
Tonight’s game can be seen locally on
and heard locally on WFAN.
The Bleachers:
For a live chat, head over to The Hot Foot Bleachers.
…enjoy, and as always, Let’s Go Mets…
Tagged Mike Nichols |
Damion Easley got the start at second base last night instead of Luis Castillo.
Jerry Manuel on starting Easley :
“He hit a game-winning home run, I ain’t going to take him out. You’ve got to perform. This is a business of performing, and if you’re performing and doing the things that we want you to do, it’s important that you be rewarded. I like a little something to push a player. I like that little competition. Fire them up a little a little bit, get him going. It’s all good.”
…i love this mentality…few things are more frustrating to me than benching a player who has been hot…the manager should field the players that give him the best chance to win, period, regardless of his salary or reputation…
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |In order to make batting practice more efficient, Jerry Manuel has implemented earlier sessions in order to focus more on quality swings. He has also supervised a couple of extra sessions for players as well.
Manuel on the new regimen:
“That was something that we’re trying to do as often as possible to get the bats going and I really think if we can get it going offensively, I really believe that we will appear to be playing better. Hitting is a thing — if a guy hits, he looks a little better defensively, as well.”
According to David Lennon at Newsday, Manuel has been trimming the regular BP sessions by more than half, from eight rounds to as few as two.
Lennon also notes that Ryan Church will take batting practice with the team on Monday in hopes of a return later in the week.
…so far so good…a little change is nice to shake things up…
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |After struggling a bit in the first inning, John Maine settled in during last night’s win despite developing a blister on his pitching hand.
Maine on his blister:
“I don’t care about it, it’s no big deal.”
David Wright, on Maine’s determination to stay in the game:
“I love that bulldog mentality. He wants to win.”
…it was as if maine set a pregame goal to pitch seven innings and didn’t want to fall short no matter what…he then stayed on the mound to hand Joe Smith the ball which you rarely see anymore…classy move maine you bulldog…
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |The Mets (36-36) defeated the Rockies (31-43) by a score of 7 to 2 tonight in Denver tonight.
For a complete recap, boxscore, stats, etc., go to SNY.tv.
However, in case you missed it, know that:
- John Maine settled down after a rocky first inning in which he allowed a two-run homerun to Jeff Baker to pitch 6.2 IP, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out six. Maine continues to run up high pitch counts that do not allow him to go farther into a game and looked visable upset being taken out in the seventh after walking Baker with two outs.
- Joe Smith followed Maine to get the Mets out of a two on-two out jam by getting the first batter he faced to line out to left. Smith has now retired the first batter he faces 30 of 34 times.
- Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Heilman each followed Smith to pitch a scoreless inning.
- The Mets took full advantage of mistakes by Aaron Cook in the second inning by scoring five runs, two on a Carlos Delgado homerun and the remaining three on consecituve RBI singles from Jose Reyes, Endy Chavez and David Wright. Good to see the Mets string hit together, especially those of the RBI verision. Those types of innings have been few and far between this season.
- The Mets had a base runner on in every inning, except the first.
- Trot Nixon also hit his first homerun as Met with a deep shot to right in the third inning.
- Tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of the season for the Mets, as they start from scratch after reaching the .500 mark for the first time since June 6.
- Since losing 5 straight games the Mets have won 5 of their last 8 and have cut the Phillies lead to 3 in the loss column.
The Mets continue their three-game series versus the Rockies tomorrow with Pedro Martinez taking the hill, starting at 8:05 pm.
