Daily Archives: July 23, 2008
Following tonight’s game, Jerry Manuel told reporters that Pedro Martinez’s father died – and so Martinez left during the game to fly home and be with his family.
As such, Martinez will not make his scheduled start on Saturday.
…Carlos Muniz last pitched on June 19, and so he could probably make the spot start, but my guess is that the team will instead recall some one from Triple-A to fill in…
Tagged Pedro Martinez |
The Mets (54–47) defeated the Phillies (54–47) by the score of 6 to 3 in Shea Stadium tonight.
The Mets and Phillies are once again tied for first place in the NL East, with 61 games left in the season.
For a recap, boxscore, stats, etc., from tonight’s game, check out SNY.tv.
- If you only watched John Maine’s facial expressions tonight, you would have thought he allowed 10 runs on 10 pitches in 10 minutes. Instead, he let up three runs on six hits, while walking two and striking out five, in exactly seven innings of work. Maine let up back-to-back home runs to Shawn Victorini and Geoff Jenkins. In fact, the ball Jenkins hit may have landed on the roof of Home Depot. It was a bomb. Otherwise, though Maine labored at times at times, and should be thankful for the range of his outfielders, and though he looked like he was aiming the ball quite often, he was successful and that’s what matters. Especially in a game like this, following a game like last night.
- According to ESPN, the Maine is 6–1 in starts that follow a loss, which, I think, is the definition of a ‘stopper.’
- In the bottom of the first, with the bases loaded, one out and a full count, Carlos Beltran wanted to swing at inside curve ball, but he restrained himself for an RBI walk. Usually, he swings over and misses this pitch, so I am impressed by his patience.
- Question: How many Mets need to be hit or nearly decapitated by the Phillies before they fight back?
- In the third, with the bases loaded, Damion Easley hit a ball like a thread through a needle, placing it perfectly through the shortstop and third basemen, bring home a run. Prior to his at bat I thought, ‘Ugh, Easley,’ but, “Boy I should have know by now,” Easley duz it.
- With the game tied, two on and no outs, John Maine botched a sac-bunt attempt to strike out. No worries, though, as Jose Reyes clobbered a first-pitch change up from Ryan Madsen, which landed at the foot of the scoreboard, to put the Mets up by three.
- The Mets left the bases loaded in the seventh.
- Scott Schoeneweis and Joe Smith teams up to pitch a scoreless eighth inning.
- Billy Wagner did not ‘need a day,’ amd set down the Phillies in order in the ninth inning for the save. By the way, despite so much talk about his health, shoulder, etc., Wagner has not allowed a hit or run in the last six innings he has pitched.
Nice job, gentlemen.
This was a Charles Oakley-style rebound tonight.
The Mets end their three-game series with the Phillies tomorrow at Shea Stadium, starting at 12:10 pm, with Jaime Moyer (9-6, 3.90 ERA) taking on Oliver Perez (6-6, 4.36 ERA).
The Game:
The Mets (53-47) continue their three-game series against the Phillies (54-46) tonight at Shea Stadium, starting at 7:10 pm.
The Lineup:
- SS Jose Reyes
- RF Endy Chavez
- 3B David Wright
- 1B Carlos Delgado
- CF Carlos Beltran
- LF Marlon Anderson
- 2B Damion Easley
- C Brian Schneider
- P John Maine
The Pitchers:
RHP John Maine (8-7, 4.22 ERA) starts for the Mets.
RHP Brett Myers (3-9, 5.84 ERA) starts for the Phillies.
How To Catch It:
Tonight’s game can be seen locally on SNY and heard locally on WFAN.
The Bleachers:
For a live chat, head over to The Hot Foot Bleachers.
…i’ll be interested to see how this team responds to their devastating loss last night…they cannot afford to sulk and must put the game behind, so it does not snowball into a losing streak…
…enjoy, and as always, Let’s Go Mets…
Tagged Mike Nichols |
Mets manager Jerry Manuel made his weekly appearance on WFAN’s Mike and The Mad Dog earlier today.
Here is a quick recap of Manuel’s appearance:
Manuel said he would have let Johan Santana pitch the ninth inning if Santana asked him and was ‘adamant’ about it. However, Manuel said he comfortable with his decision.- He knew Billy Wagner was not available to pitch before yesterday’s game and is unsure if he can pitch tonight, but expects him to be available.
- He was ‘OK’ with Endy Chavez‘s outfield depth in the ninth inning, as Manuel thought So Taguchi was swinging defensively.
- Manuel did not mind Luis Agauyo sending Chavez in the third inning, but sending him the seventh was poor judgement.
- The team was disappointed with the loss. Manuel is interested to see how the team responds, but expects a ‘blow out.’
- Delgado is managing the strike zone well and has moved him to the clean-up spot for tonight’s game, while moving Carlos Beltran down to fifth in the lineup
- Expects a good outing from Maine, as his bullpens have been solid.
To soon listen to Manuel’s entire interview, go to WFAN.com.
…it was a pretty good, if informal interview, and Jerry seemed pretty unconcerned with the loss, and with Billy Wagner‘s tender arm… let’s hope that helps the team stay loose and bounce back against the Phils tonight...
Tagged WFAN |…SNY.tv has rolled out a daily, two-minute-or-so video segment titled The Nooner, hosted by the quite-attractive Brittany Umar, which essentially is a recap of the previous night’s action in New York sports, all with a snarky twist…
…also, TheNoonerBlog.com features commentary, other jokes, opinions, and outtakes from the show…
Today, in addition to jokes about the Jets and Brett Favre, Kyle Farnsworth and others, The Nooner takes a few shots at the Mets, thanks to their loss to the Phillies last night, including this remark from Umar:
“We’ve lined up Endy Chavez to be a guest on The Nooner to talk about the Mets tough loss…wait, hold on, my producer just informed me that Endy will not be here in time because third-base coach Luis Aguayo gave him directions to the YES studios instead of SNY.”
To watch today’s edition of The Nooner, which debuts each day at 12 pm on SNY.tv and at TheNoonerBlog.com, click play:
Tagged SNY |Yesterday at FoxSports.com, Ken Rosenthal wrote of a rumor noting talks between the Rockies and Phillies involving Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes, as well as three Phillies prospects and OF Shane Victorino.
However, Victorino is quoted as saying he wants to stay with the Phillies, according to a new post on MLB.com, which also 
states that a Fuentes-Holliday deal is off the table, “and won’t be revisited.”
…as long as we’re talking about victorino, i’d like to point out that this guy has rocketed up my Most-Despised Baseball Players List…
…last night, when he scored the tying run, he stood flat footed on home plate for a good three seconds, clapped aggressively towards the Mets dugout and then pointed to the sky…
…frankly, the only thing i like about victorino is the way WFAN’s Chris Russo mangles his name, calling him Shawn Victorini…
…also, as long as we’re talking about victorino, and shady play, is it me, or were the Phillies throwing a bit too inside last night, nearly decapatating Johan Santana on three different pitches and then drilling Damion Easley with a fastball to the gut…
Here’s the latest in the series “Mike Hampton is ready to return to the majors.” Believe it when you see him on the mound.
Andrew Miller will undergo shockwave treatment on his knee to try to speed healing.
With the Nationals trading away Jon Rauch, Joel Hanrahan takes over as the closer. Joel has the strikeouts to be a closer, with 65 K in 59 1/3 innings this season.
Brett Myers returns to the Phillies rotation against the Mets tonight. He allowed nine earned runs in 27 minor league innings. He only allowed one home run, which was his big problem in the majors this season.
For more real-time information, news, links and stats from around MLB, check out Baseball Musings.
As some of you know, my wife and I spent the last week traveling up the coast of California while on vacation.
While walking on a street in Beverly Hills, a man stepped in front of me, smoking a cigarette, pacing and swearing while ranting and raving on his cell phone.
I turned to my wife and said, “Wait, that’s Giuseppe Franco.” Sure enough, we happened to be walking in front of his ‘famed Beverly Hills salon,’ as the repetitive commercial says.
For those who do not watch SNY, Franco is an owner of a hair salon and spokesman for Procede, a company which he does not own – in fact, he doesn’t own anything about it. However, in the span of a nine-inning broadcast, you will see his face and the commercial for Procede roughly a dozen times per night.
My wife insisted I stop him and take a picture, figuring MetsBlog’s readers would get a kick out of it. I tried. We waited for five minutes, but the man was pacing and swearing and 
smoking and yelling in to his cell phone, while wearing a black t-shirt, slick-back hair and leather wrist bands.
Honestly, it was the best Andrew Dice Clay impersonation I have even seen.
On at least 10 occasions he repeated the phrase, ‘Well, tell him to go F**k himself,” all with the same Euro-Jersey accent he speaks with in the infamous ad for Procede.
Eventually, it became quite clear that, even if he did make himself available, this was not a man I should be standing next to asking for a photograph, especially with my smart-ass way of speaking – and so my wife and I took off, but not before she snapped a photo of him in action.
For more on Franco, check out this YouTube clip.
In his most recent report for FoxSports.com, Ken Rosenthal writes that suitors for OF Xavier Nady, such as the Yankees, Rays and Phillies, “continue to balk at the Pirates asking price.”
Earlier this week in the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette, Dejan Kovacevic listed the Braves and Mets as having interest in Nady as well.
Last week, Kovacevic wrote that the Mets and Braves went so far as to recently conduct a conference call with the Pirates to discuss Nady.
…the problem, as i see it, is that the Pirates are rumored to be seeking your team’s two best prospects…also, for what it’s worth, there are few players for whom the Mets will trade Fernando Martinez, and nady is not one of them…
…and so, from what i can gather, for the Mets to have a shot at snagging nady - without giving up martinez - the Phillies, Rays and Braves need to turn their attention elsewhere, or at least get bogged down in talks for other players involving the prospects who Pittsburgh is seeking…this could happen if the Rockies start honestly shopping Matt Holliday…
…if this happens, my sense is that if the Mets give up at least their two best pitching prospects, in the eye’s of the Pirates, and the Phillies and Braves back off, nady could end up back in Queens…but that’s a lot of if’s…
By the way, Rosenthal also reports on rumors involving the Yankees, Bronson Arroyo and Jarrod Washburn, as well as Oakland’s interest in Bay.
Tagged Xavier Nady |
Over the last week or so, Mike Nichols and Regis Courtemanche, as well as Brandon Eddy, Jordan Zakarin and Ted Berg, each stepped up to keep content flowing on MetsBlog.com, all while I took a much needed vacation.
Mike, Regis, Jordan, Brandon and Ted are an integral part of MetsBlog, and, though I do not say it as often as I should, I am so thankful for their dedication, passion and hard work.
Tagged Mike Nichols, Regis Courtemanche, Ted Berg | ← Older posts
