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The Game:
The first place Mets (72-58) continue their four game against the Astros (65-64) today at Shea Stadium, starting at 1:10 pm.
The Lineup:
- SS Jose Reyes
- LF Nick Evans
- 3B David Wright
- CF Carlos Beltran
- 1B Carlos Delgado
- RF Fernando Tatis
- 2B Damion Easley
- C Ramon Castro
- P Oliver Perez
How To Catch It:
Today’s game can be seen locally on CW11 and heard on WFAN.
The Bleachers:
For a live chat, head over to The Hot Foot Bleachers.
…enjoy, and as always, Let’s Go Mets…
Nice. Ollie got out of that jam. Not like the old days…..
With 5-6 posters on this blog, is it really that hard to get the pregame posted on the weekends?
While I guess I see your point, I also don’t lose any sleep over it. It’s not like we’re paying big bucks to subscribe to this site, so I’ll take what I can get. :)
Come on man, it is a free 24/7/365 source for anyone who wants it—-and it is Sunday and it is summer—unlike so many of the message board folks, maybe Matt and Mike and the others actually have a life??
Where is everyone today?
Out scouting for a better manager?
Are you seriously complaining about Manuel already?
Already? He’s not exactly new..(or overly competant)
God, some people never learn. Two questions.
1) What has he done wrong
2) Who would you want to replace him
Never learn? yeah..
What has he done right? I wouldn’t have ditched him for one, or replaced him with a valid, long term manager. I’m sure the organization considered Obkerfeld a ‘heir’ of sorts, so they should’ve gone right to him if they felt that way, rather then keep a guy who was part of the supposed problem.
The highest winning percentage in baseball history for managers that qualify is .615 by Joe McCarthy.
Jerry Manuel has won .623 with the Mets. The jury is still out but I think those that want to complain should hold their tongue for just a little while and maybe start complaining about how the weather stinks. You wait and see, it will rain in a few days.
And Manuel was not part of the supposed the problem. Willie Randolph was the problem. Case is closed on that one. But there will always be detractors, even to the most blatant truths.
Pre-game thread posted late. Most of us were on the previous thread for awhile.
Keith inserts foot once again. I wonder what he could have meant by his “not in this town” statement.
I don’t there there was anything untoward there. He meant that with such a large Jewish population in NY, Gary couldn’t slip anything in that wouldn’t be widely understood.
Oliver Perez spelled in Hebrew on the scoreboard is actually really funny.
Lets Go Jewish Mets!
How come its dosent say Oy Mets on their jerseys? LOL
I agree!!
It had Los Mets Friday night!
Gefilte Fish is being served instead of hot dogs today.
Good thing they werent playing the Dodgers, we wouldnt have known if they were playing the Dodgers or the Angels.
Need some runs here. Where’s the offense been this series?
Oh, Boo…..
Up to you now, Delgado.
NICE. great at-bat tatis.
easley, not so much. 2-0 and he swings at a low and away fastball. wtf, no approach?
Dang. Nice catch.
Stay on mic Keith.
Are Ralph and Keith losing thier minds or am I inventing the Astros WS appearance a couple years ago against the White Sox?
2005 was a crazy time… i mean if you can remember 2005 you didn’t experience it.
You are correct.
…and they were in the NLCS the previous year as well when the Cardinals lost to the Red Sox… right?
Yup. 2005.
Is there any reason this team can’t handle the f**king Astros?
The Stros are on fire, right now. Aren’t they like 18-8 recently?
btw, with a combo of Luis Castillo and Easley manning 2nd base we would, statistically, have the two worst defensive 2B in baseball platooning.
That’s a flat out lie..unless you mean Easley/Reyes.
Castillo theroetically has healed knees now. It was probably a mistake not to activiate him, but I wouldnt’ mind a clear reason why and what he’s doing at the moment.
umm..its not a lie. Look at their RZR.
they both have the same phone? neat?
Castillo was still recovering from surgery earlier this season. hasn’t been activated yet, and maybe he’s not quite as good as Reyes defensively, but he’s probably twice as good offensively.
Grrr… stats… numbers… grrr!
I don’t care what their RZR or their ROOPERZ or ZRPLFLOYLK is, All I care is what I see with my eyes! They never lie!
Also, did you know that Argenis Reyes is in the middle of every rally that we have when he plays?
/sarcasm
You know..I didn’t even say that I didn’t want Castillo out there or he sucks. I just pointed out the fact that a platoon of Easley and Castillo would be a platoon of the two worst defensive 2B in baseball, statistically.
I think Castillo is the 2nd worst and Easley is the worst in all of baseball, but I have to check again.
I don’t know about fielding but I can tell you that Easley and Reyes rank in the bottom 3 of OBP for 2B.
Yea, I was just talking defensively. If it was possible I would have liked to use Argenis in an Endy role.
Castillo’s ZR is .766
Easley’s is .742
Argenis is at .898
I can understand the Endy role but can we really afford to carry another no hit guy on our bench?
Well when the left side of your IF has the worst range in baseball, I think its important to have a defensive specialist to make up for the 2Bs lack of range as well as Delgado. I don’t know who would have to be dropped off the roster though. Tough decision as everyone has been playing well.
How is it that every time the Mets load the bases and then leave them all on (with the exception this time being the walk to Tatis), the other team then goes on a tear? I guess it is just momentum, but it sure is aggravating.
That happens quite often with every team.
Yeah, but I guess because the Mets load the bases so much (and leave them that way), it seems like it happens to them the most
Jose getting thrown out in the first is going to bite us in the rear!
i bet u get bitten in the rear every night
The Astros hitters are so annoying.
YES !!
Too bad they intentially walked him and he didn’t bat two innings ago with 2 on base…..
Since this blog has decided not to mention Pelfrey’s limited workload going forward this year, lets discuss what the Mets should do the rest of the way with the lack of full Pelfrey, Maine, and Jon Niese who like Pelfrey is closing in on workload limits.
I guess I would use Stokes with Santana, Pedro, and Perez with Pelfrey and Maine alternating starts. Or something close to that.
I think I agree. Of course if Maine is out, you kind of have to force Niese somewhere in there.
Niese should be in the pen in AAA limiting his innings. Any update on the Claudio Vargas injury? I have not checked out AAA to see if there could be a spot starter there besides stokes.
Nope and Armas is injured. Add to that Figueroa’s 4.5 era. Although I hate bringing up guys so young, I think you have to bring up Niese if Maine is out for a long period of time.
Vargas hasnt appeared anywhere since his injury.
Niese is already more extended than Pelfrey and is likely going to be shut down for the year after two more AAA starts.
Not sure why Niese and Parnell aren’t pitching in relief now, they are going to be needed more in relief in Sept, imo.
Lugo and Collazo would seem to be the other starting candidates, although I wouldnt want either on the mound other than in a mop up role..
Well, there was a time when Niese was being strongly considered as a starting option but I strongly believe Parnell should be a RP. He has a great fastball, with not many secondary pitches and his numbers haven’t been good as a starter.
With Maine injured, I think they need to rethink limiting Pelfrey’s innings – unless we’re eliminated.
Can’t then you may have only 3 SP instead of 4. I think the key is to get Maine out of the rotation for a while. Maybe it’s time for Heilman? We have Reyes and Ayala now.
Heilman would need at least 2 or 3 weeks to build up stamina to start.
Enough to go 5 innings?
Yup, you saw how it was with Joba. They mention this every time a reliever is moved to the rotation.
Using one example of how it works badly is not really a good way. I know that there have been many other relievers who have made spot starts during the season.
Not just one example, every MRP who become a starter needs time to build up stamina. Such as Looper and Smoltz. I doubt you can find a MRP who didn’t.
Again, there are plenty of examples of relievers making spot starts during the season. I am not saying permanent but there is no reason that Heilman can’t build up that strength while starting. You would have Stokes ready to go in.
Oh my god, are there really still people out there on the “Heilman for Starter” bandwagon? Have you listened to ANYTHING this team has said for the last 3 seasons?
MAKE IT STOP.
Hopefully this is the beginning of a huge tear for Beltran. Our offense has been good this year, but we could really use Beltran getting his power stroke back up to at least his career norms.
belTRON
Watching Ollie bat against a lefty is quite amusing.
Now please,, 3 more innings of zeros for the Stors, OK? And a few more runs from the Mets would be nice too!
Nice start by Ollie. Wish he could’ve gone another inning or so, but I’ll take it.
Its Pepto time!!
ugh
Here come the boos.
uhhhhhhhhhhh boy
I HATE Hielman!!
Anyone want to tell me why Tatis played that so casually?
Can always count on Heilman to strand inherited runners.
C’mon Newhan, do what you do best.
NICE PLAY!
great throw by Tatis at least
Heilman is so bad
Way to hold the lead Aaron. It’s f*king David Newhan!!!!
The Astros have some serious baserunning issues.
If Michael Bourn gets a hit in this situation against a lefty, the apocalypse can’t be too far off…
Pepto? Why bother.
Aaron Heilman in the longest running comedy on the air.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. He only pitches well enough to earn the trust to be put in a big spot he can crap his pants in.
Just a pathetic loser. Maybe we’ll learn in year 4.
Counting on Heilman is always a crap shoot. One that didn’t work out today.
Not really. A “Crap shoot” is a situation that can go either way.
The only crap shoot involved with Aaron Heilman is the one in his pants when he has to protect a lead.
Aside from LaTroy Hawkins and BY Kim, there has not been a worse pitcher over the past decade that teams are stupid enough to trust time and again no matter how many times they blow games.
Of course Maine is hurt and Pelfrey is on a pitch count. We can’t be lucky enough to have Heilman tweak his neck whirling around to watch a bomb off one of his batting-practice fastballs to take the option of losing him away.
This is fun though…it’s been almost a week since this pen gave a game away. Guess we’re due.
You have to think the starters are at least somewhat pissed at the relievers.
Well… the run that scored was Ollie’s, wasn’t it? I think it was.
Anyway… this is baseball. It happens. I think these guys are probably pretty professional about it.
They shouldn’t be any more pissed than anyone else on the team.
Considering it effects the dollars they receive when their contract is up it certainly does affect the starters more. After all this is professional sports and they do it for a living.
People with that mindset play golf, or tennis, or some other individual sport.
People who play team sports should be playing to win. If anyone’s primary concern is their personal win total when a reliever blows a lead, they have no business playing a team sport.
Heilmans one of hte best relievers in mlb
What solar system is this planet “mlb’ you speak of in? What color is the sky there? Because on Earth Aaron Heilman is a a complete joke.
omg…lets not walk Bourn
schoene-CHRIST ALMIGHTY
wow….what the hell…
HOW THE F*)%#*)%*)%%)*%*)$%*CK can you walk Michael Bourn?
You have got to be kidding. Scott walked him ????
How hard is it to get an out here?
Walking Bourn there is far more unforgivable than anything Heilman did today…
If Show gets an out here, all will be forgiven.
Schoe him him the door!!!!
close play at first – delgado thought he was safe and almost threw home
good call, i thought maybe he forgot how many outs there were.. but maybe he was making sure. I’ll err on the side of giving him credit.
Well, that could’ve been much worse.
We need some production now.
Well, that was not pretty. Not very unexpected though. The BP just can’t seem to get it done if they have to make an appearance before the 8th inning….
thanks to the bullpen the Mets are going to have the greatest starting rotation of all time to have no 15 game winner…
Yeah, pretty sad….
Please get Heilman out of a Met uniform next year!!
Why wait? If we cut him we might luck out and have the Phillies grab him!
and then he’ll post a sub 2 era while pitching 4 no hitters, all in spot starts against the mets
Right, because Aaron Heilman is a Cy Young starter waiting to happen…and what is SO frustrating is that a bunch of metsblog couch potatoes KNOW it while the Mets legion of coaches and talent evaluators is blind to it!
Also, the Mets and Phillies have 5 games left – I don’t think any one person can start 4 of them. Not even the great Aaron Heilman.
Heilman is so great he could start 6 of the 5 games we have left.
Newhan continues to screw the Mets (when plays against them or for them).
With all those LHs on the Astros bench waiting to pinch hit why was OP lifted. Actually OP was in a good groove. Why remove him just because of a tough walk?
Heilman continues to be an enigma which makes him totally undependable.
The Central Division is where it’s at in the NL. The Cubs, Brewers and Cardinals would be in first place in the NL East or West and the Astros would be battling for the top spot in those divisions.
Perez had thrown 111 pitches, I think he had reached the end of his rope.
Maybe they should have gone straight to Schoeneweis to keep the lefty bats on the bench.
That could have been much much worse.
we need to get the run back with the top of our lineup due
osiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
I cannot believe this team cannot handle the Houston Lastros of all people.
they’re not that bad of a team, but I have faith we’ll beat them.
Well, at least they didn’t blow the game out of reach for us.
Nick Evans walks on to “Mary Jane’s Last Dance?”
And he walks back to the dug out after one ptich.
This is a loss. We can’t beat this team. Our lineup will just roll over and die while the pen will cough up another run in the eighth then Valverde will save it. The Phillies are red hot too. What a shame. Always so close, yet so far away as a Mets fan.
wow…..
sometimes I really feel that way too, but the way they have been playing lately gives me hope and makes me feel really positive about the club in situations like these
Remind me never to be in a foxhole with you
Oh well. It appears no one is going to beat the Cubs in the NL this year anyway.
You can’t play baseball on paper. Do you not remember the ‘06 Cardinals?
Remember it? I live down here with it. It just seems that the minute the Mets start making headway something else blows up. Not anyones fault, just seems to be happening this season. I completely agree you can’t play games on paper, but I get to see alot of the Cubs games and they really are that good. I don’t think anyone in the NL can beat them in a sever game series.
I didn’t mean to imply the Cubs were not good. I’m just saying, anything can happen…..
Not saying you were. I’m just frustrated in the injuries and “other” problems that have happened this season. Incidently, since you’ve been a fan for about 20 years longet than I have (became a fan in 1984) would you keep Manuel at the helm?
Schoeneweis still in the game. Living life dangerously.
LOL.
Well, now that my Giants just had their season gutted, I’d really appreciate it if the Mets bullpen could come up big here and pull out a victory.
Gutted? What do you mean?
Osi out for the season
psh, the Giants relish being underdogs. Superbowl repeat
Yes, but it’s one thing to be perceived as underdogs and than to actually BE underdogs
This is what happens to defending Champions…the bad breaks have started already.
Just remember a flag flies forever….
osiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
way to go joe!
Nice to see somebody beat Wiggington.
Actually, Joe Smith’s stats as a reliever as compared to the rest are better than I thought. Only allowed 9 out of 40 something inherited runners to score. 8th in the league….
Just seems like this season, ya just can’t trust anyone coming out of that bullpen to be consistently lights out…..
Smiths problems have been putting inherited runners on for the other relievers to allow to score.
He has been good coming in and getting out of others people’s messes, but too many times he’ll start an inning with a hit and a walk and leave his mess to Feliciano…
Point taken.
Come on – get a run or two now , bring Ayala out for the 9th, call it a day….
do you think a player like Beltran knows the stat that Gary keeps saying (”no player has ever hit 3 hr at shea stadium”)?
Yeah, no pressure or anything, Carlos, but Gary wants you to make history. But, you know, no pressure.
“What’s your opinion of Kingmans performance” LOL
Here comes the Tatis bomb!!!
Yeah, he bombed, all right. ;)
…and by bomb I meant slow roller to 3rd.
man, the Mets are really tempting fate with this guy
Yeah, but do you have a better idea? So far, so good with Ayala, until he joins the ranks of the rest of that pen.
Or maybe he’ll be the biggest surprise going downt he stretch and won’t….
Good point. Not sure about the biggest suprise. I’m not sure he can rescue this but you’re right, it seems to be him or nothing.
I loved Hunter Pence in Goonies.
“Rooocky Roaaadd?”
just got back from stupid clothes shopping with my wife…how have they looked today?
Mets brought in Heilman with a one run lead in the 7th, I’m sure you can figure out the rest.
heilman pitched a perfect inning, but the umpires gave the stros 2 runs because of an obscure 2 free runs rule?
Yes, they actually announced before the game that starting in the 7th they’d be enforcing ‘Rock & Jock’ rules. That’s why we blew the lead.
stupid mtv…they ruin everything
The 25-run HR is coming up.
lol…nice
I’m sure you both look fabulous. LOL The team has look fair.
she does…i look like hell as usual…thanks though
Blum is a Met killer.
Can they PLEASE end this.
Billy who??
Dan Murphy gets the game winning hit
I’m in.
I can only dream…..
Only if we played in Philly
Nope going down 1 2 3.
has anyone here been to Mets at the movies and if so how was it?
Murphy for Castro? Strange.
Does Schneider then bat for Ayala? Hey, maybe he’ll keep his HR streak going…
murphy uses the dropkick murphy’s for his walkup music…1 million red sox fans are ready to fight
Were done. Stokes, Feliciano and Sanchez left.
LaTroy Hawkins? Really? He’s the only reliever in baseball worse than Aaron Heilman.
Apparently not when facing the Mets – so far….
C’mon, Ryan. Let’s have a welcome back party at the plate.
What a dud….this team won’t be happy til they roll into Philadelphia in 2nd place.
Unfortunately Stokes pitched 2 innings yesterday
We’re back to this great clutch hitting. I agree with Stokes, Feliciano and Sanchez in the pen this ones looks to be a wash.
Thought that was a waste of a player. Now they put Schneider in (a left-handed batter) who has been swinging a hot bat. WHy not just hit him for Castro?
I just threw up on the computer screen when they showed Duaner Sanchez warming up
that sucks
&#$%$#@$&^^$%$&^$%(*^%&^*(*&%!!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that’s pretty stunning
Jeez….snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again
3 outs from 1-5 against HOUSTON.
Are you kidding me?
game over.
Yep. The easter division title is a pipe dream I’m afraid. Not saying the Phillies are going anywhere either, they’ll get killed in the first round. Disappointing but when you had crap for a pen last year and you do nothing about it this is what happens. Great job Omar.
easteren division, sorry
jesus, the Mets really pick the winners to give up their soul crushing homers to
Feliciano is awful….can’t give up a HR to Ausmus. Bad enough Mets give up one to 36 lb weakling Newhan yesterday, but Ausmus? Jeez…
awful against righties at least
True…but ask Duncan of the Cardinals about Feliciano’s “dominance” vs. lefties. He is 2-2 vs. him, with 2 HRs, one of those during the 2006 NLCS.
Same thing as always.
Everyone in this pen is a specialist. Ayala’s looking good, though.
And Duaner gets hit by both sides.
this has been one of the shttiest 24 hours of sports that I can remember
What else happened?
I’m now in Colorado, not really in the NY sports loop.
Osi out for the season
Oh, damn, that sucks.
I have a strange feeling the Stros will tack on a couple more here.
good call
I knew it.
brad ausmus…wow
wow….
come on! jesus christ!
even if he was in our bullpen theyd still be pretty bad
You have got to be kidding me…….
singlehandedly losing the Mets the game
i hate this bullpen
seriously…why take Feliciano out now?
So Sanchez can face Tejada. Yeah, good plan.
All I can say at this point is…
Go Dodgers!
Okay. Giving up a homerun to Darin Erstad is grounds for an immediate DFA.
Feliciano owns lefties, and non-power hitters in general. He should hang his head in shame. Meanwhile, Phils play their 130th home game of the season tonight….guess we’re down to 1/2 game…
Mets played their 65th home game today.
Phils will play their 65th home game tonight.
Phils aren’t all that great at CBP anyway.
Oh good, Sanchez come in. When will this inning end????
This team is going noplace with this bullpen. End of story.
Damn that ball was crushed. Good news is that I don’t feel this game is over though, which is totally different from the beginning of the season. Lets hold them here……
And just as I type that Darren Erstad (who used to be a punter, you know) just crushed another home run. Nevermind.
Great, here comes Mr. Batting Practice
its funny how people always say when you play certain teams with certain good hitters you are supposed to make the lesser hitters beat you….well the mets always find a way for those guys (ex: ausmus) to beat them.
YES Sanchez coming in. We’re saved!!! This season can not get over with soon enough.
Here’s hoping for a Heilman/Feliciano-less 2009.
i couldn’t agree more!
on the bright side, if anyone gets on in the bottom of the inning, Beltran will be due up (wow I cannot believe I am saying that), who has 2 HR already today.
okay, Gary Cohen…..
this inning would’ve been perfect if Newhan also came up and went deep.
shame that feliciano is without a doubt the worst pitcher in our bullpen. i’d rather have anyone on the mound over this guy. if he’s not walking someone, he’s giving up homeruns to turds with ZERO power. what a joke!
The Mets have gotten to Valverde before. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Well… we DO have the top of the order up. There is some cause for hope.
true…not ready to give up yet. pray that phillies lose tonight and it’ll be a wash.
Just like when they came up in the 7th?
Can someone tell me why Feliciano and Sanchez aren’t sent down to New Orleans? Can it really get any worse with two new guys in the pen?
I’ll take them over Muniz.
Barely.
We are being done in by “grinders.” This, to me, looks like a postseason preview, if we manage to get there. Here are your So Taguchi types, lashing the Mets’ Pink Backpack Brigade. I really don’t want to get used to this, but. . . .
lol..pink backpack
“Hello Kitty Crew” seemed too cruel.
Wolf and Backe, can the Mets pick shttier pitchers to have their number?
Worst BP in baseball, But I guess we all know that already.
Funny how the only reliable releiver we have now is Ayala. No coincidence he’s not part of the “Original” BP disaster.
I’m not pleased with the pen’s recent performance either, but do you realize how many city’s fans believe they have the worst bullpens in baseball?
just take here Reyes
Enough with the showing bunt Jose, just get a fking hit!
damn
This is pathetic. I said it before. Anytime there is a BP sighting before the 8th inning, it’s a recipe for disaster.
We should not be losing this game here.
Offense isn’t winning any awards this series, either, but point taken.
This is the weekend the Mets choked the division away.
At the end of this stretch this team needed to have a few game lead.
Instead, after tonight they’ll be a puny 1/2 game ahead, with the bats cold, the bullpen cruddy, the rotation needing rest and medical treatment.
And Philly salivating next stop.
There’s absolutely zero way these chokers can win this division.
These 2 days destroyed their chances.
Drop dead Heilman.
There is no possible way you are a Mets fan. YOU are licking your chops. You’re so wrapped up in criticizing this team that you’re actually pulling for them to lose.
I agree. Hard to be a fan of THIS team.
I’d rather see the pen go out for “latin food” at 2AM than cheer this crew.
Believe me, we’re not in agreement.
you do know that the mets have owned the phils this year, right?
Meaningless.
It’s all about who’s gonna own who the last 5.
I recall the Mets had a good record vs Philly last year before they lost 8 in a row
yeah those wins against the phillies are meaningless. it’s not why we’re winning the division against them or anything.
dude, i don’t know if you’re trolling or not. for your sake, i really hope you are, because if you’re not…you’re in the top 5 stupidest people i’ve ever come into contact with on the internet.
How many times have you proclaimed the season over this year?
I’ve lost count.
And you have absolutely no idea if the Phillies will win tonight.
every time they lose a series…notice he didn’t show up at all in the past week
Really? If you go through the archives and see I posted, can I get an apology?
oh yeah, i forgot the mets lost in the past week…hence your post
i’m sure you were talking like this when we swept the nats and the braves.
what a tool.
Then don’t bother watching. I believe you are the same commenter who said the season was over when they were down three games with 51 to play.
You are definitely of the bandwagon variety. What would be known as a “Sunshine Patriot”
That is correct. I pull for winners. I do not go ga-ga over losers, unlike yourself.
Sorry if I have better standards.
Definition of a true ‘front runner’…….
“I pull for winners” = “I am am a cowardly front-running bandwagoneer.” Shouldn’t you be buying sh*tty cars from Derek Jeter?
So?
good. the mets are winning the division. you should be pulling for them.
they’re not going to win every game. stop acting like an idiotic yankee fan.
Nope.
After last season, they cannot get the benefit of the doubt from me.
lol, bandwagon jumping piece of shit.
Realistic, not “bandwagon”
If I was bandwagon, I would be posting on whatever the Yanks blog is.
Until I see otherwise, I expect bad things from this team
Right, because winning 10 of 11 isn’t “otherwise”?
otherwise…like a 7 game winning streak?
and you’re not being realistic. stop trying to justify your bullshit with that word, because you’re misusing it.
You are the Italian Army of sports fans. Just switch to the winning side at the drop of hat. You must own a ton of caps for each team you’ve rooted for a day or two.
WHAT A F##### LOSER YOU ARE!!!!!!
You are a true front runner.
tmu beat me to it. i like how you’re thinking haha.
I wonder if he’s “AngryFan” on like, 20 different teams’ sites. “Garciaparra is AWFUL!! Matt Kemp is an overrated POS!! The D’Backs are salivating!!”
Couldn’t care less. After that choke, the only thing that will ever change my viewpoint on them is a good postseason
Great, see you then!
Yes, you will.
blah, blah, blah
Not to get all Art Howe on us, but I liked the way Evans battled. Good sign.
I for one am excited about next season with these young guys. I understand that the entire bullpen save for maybe Smith and hopefully Wagner will have to be let go. There is going to have to be some serious considerations made during the off season.
Yeah — hate to say it, but if the Mets trade for bullpen help, Evans is first in line to go. Niese and Murphy aren’t going anywhere.
It will be interesting to watch, in part because you’ll have Kunz and Burgos(!) competing for jobs in Spring Training, in all likelihood.
But, let’s hope we don’t need to start thinking ‘09 already. They’ve bounced back before. Losing a tough series at home to the Astros is discouraging, but hardly a death knell.
Let’s hope. We can always do that.
totally agree…i’m loving these kids….
Put it in the books, then throw the books away.
HaHa, touche….well, anyway, this weekend was a bust, see you guys and girls in a couple of hours where we root, root, root for the dod-gers…
Well, at least we can be sure of one thing (especially since the Brewers apparently only play shtty teams now) it’s division or bust.
it’s been that way for a while, i think. this is going to be a gut-wrenching race.
tough loss…bullpen sucks…the stros own the mets…seasons not over…just harder
Aaron Heilman, YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pedro Feliciano, YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pink backpackers. Anybody for a ceremonial tossing of a Hello Kitty backpack, perhaps stuffed with Braves and Phillies baseball cards, into the East River?
horrible loss….i never bought into feliciano. always gives up a lead-off walk or hit. just not that good. mets will win the NL east in spite of this insufferable bullpen.
of course…mets could’ve gotten a few more hits today…whatever…
Just one more game with the Astros. They can’t get out of town fast enough. You really have to be scared of the up-coming series with the Brew Crew. They are flat out better than the Mets.
The optimists point out the good performances by some of the relievers while the pessimists point out the bad things. The optimists won’t like what I have to say but when you are a contending team and as many bad things as good things can be pointed out about some of your bullpen members than the bullpen is unreliable and needs an overhaul in the off season. And not like the so called overhaul we saw in the off-season just past.
okay, who do you suggest we bring in? keep in mind it’s not feasible to have a bullpen with wagner, k-rod, joe nathan and mariano.
Stop resorting to exaggerations to feebly make your point. Apparently that’s the only way for you to win your arguments. It’s the same as “We can’t go 162-0” nonsense.
Are you telling me no one was available via FA or trades during the past off-season? I can Google all the FA’s but it would be a waste of time and I make my living as a Electronic Engineer not a baseball GM so I am not privy to all the players that were available by trade in the past off-season. After the way the Mets bullpen finished last season it was in need of a rebuild. Give me a break.
I agree. Ron Mahay is one guy who was available. Just as Willie needed to go after the Collapse, so did the proximate cause — the ‘pen. Unfortunately, however, the market was unfavorable, and fortunately, we were focused on getting Santana. Remember also that the working theory was that (1) the bullpen had been overworked by poor starting pitching and (2) Sanchez was going to give us a solid option down there.
“we can’t go 162-0″ is nonsense? i’m befuddled.
anyway, the bullpen is a crapshoot most of the time. apart from the elite closers, who have maybe only 5 bad appearances in 60, you’re going to get bad innings from relief pitchers. you know why they’re relief pitchers? because they’re not good enough to start. and if they’re bad pitchers, they’re going to have bad outings. and their performance from season to season is going to be wildly inconsistent (see: feliciano, duaner) from season to season.
and please don’t hide behind your job as a reason why you can’t offer any solutions. we all have jobs/school, etc. and are able to keep up with it.
The bullpen you mentioned in your exaggeration where you implied that I would not be satisfied with anything less than “wagner, k-rod, joe nathan and mariano” is silly and compares with the 162-0 nonsense.
I’m sorry but asking whether or not you want fries with your burger doesn’t take as much upkeep as some other jobs. But I don’t hide behind my job although a PhD in Engineering is worth hiding behind. It’s just impossible to be as knowledgeable of these situations as people that do it for a living unless you are totally obsessed with this. I might point out to you that there are other aspects of people’s lives that some people enjoy. Why don’t you prove to us that no one was available? BTW this is a typical Mike Francesca type question to callers.
I don’t agree with you that relievers are failed starters. This is old school thinking and no longer is generally applicable. Relievers generally have “rubber” arms, a specific baseball personality and intestinal fortitude and in some cases a quirk or talent that makes them effective in short term situations. As the “X-Man” points out (and I have in past posts) this bullpen is comprised of too many specialists forced to work out of their area of effectiveness. It is a poor build and gets back to my statement of a rebuild being necessary. And you don’t need every great reliever in the history of baseball in your bullpen to be effective. And they don’t have to be effective 162 times.
congrats, you managed to say absolutely nothing in 3 huge paragraphs.
At least it was an order of magnitude above whatever you have contributed to these posts. But I defer to you since obviously you know more than any GM in baseball with your extraordinary knowledge about the game.
Didn’t think it was over when they were down by three games. Didn’t think it was over when they were up by 2 1/2 games. Thought all along that this thing would go back and forth the remainder of the season because, lets face it, neither the Mets or the Phillies are great teams. Both are good teams capable of hot streaks followed by lulls in their play. The Phils had a lull last week on the West Coast and the Mets are going through one now. The thing is to cut it off now and get back on the upswing.
this is what every mets fan should be thinking. good post. no one was going to run away with the division this year.
I couldn’t agree more. Both teams are deeply flawed in totally different ways. I don’t trust philly’s rotation as far as I can throw them, aside from hamels, and they even went cold offensively last week. We know what’s wrong with the mets, so I won’t bother mentioning it.
brad ausmus and darin erstad? really? can’t keep the ball in the park against ausmus and erstad? I think I got those guys out last week
Other than Ayala (and he’s a newcomer), This BP is made up of specialists, nibblers and No Heart. Trust me, word is out around the league. Opposing hitters lick their chops when the Mets BP comes in. Hitting is allot to do with confidence and opposing hitters go up there to the plate “Expecting” to hit the ball hard with no fear what’s so ever.
i agree – too much finesse not enough fear of god.
At least Ayala (who wasn’t expected to be great) goes after the hitters, you have to like that about him. He comes right after you ands says, “here it is, hit it if you can”. That so far has been so refreshing compared to what we’ve been seeing from the rest of the BP. Like I said before, we don’t have ‘true” releivers, we have a bunch of specialist ande like you said ‘Finesse” pitcher that are scared to hit the strike zone. Tired of seeing 3-1 and 3-2 counts, speeding up the batter’s bat because they know you have to come in with a “Cookie” pitch. Or else a walk! Pathetic.
wait a minute. pretty sure the “here it is, hit it if you can” approach isn’t too effective. i mean, feliciano put it there twice, and apparently the astros can hit it. don’t reduce the art of pitching to one simplistic (and incorrect) thought process.
Exactly right. These guys are losing the battle of wills. I’m thinking Heilman is given a chance to audition as a starter next year, but he has to earn it in NO. I think he’d agree to that, actually.
Meanwhile, Sanchez just lacks work ethic. Schoeneweis seems weak. And who knew Feliciano was such a ninny? Pink. Backpack. Perfect symbol for this group.
show and smith were the only ones that didn’t screw up today, and show’s been excellent against lefties this year (which is exactly what he was brought in to do)
True, Schoe has been better, but he, like Heilman, seems like a starter in relievers’ clothing . . . not that either of them would be successful as starters, but. . . .
Anyway, I wouldn’t have bet on Schoeneweis in the 10th, would you?
the 10th was a crazy inning…what do you think the odds are that brad ausmus and darin erstad would hit back to back homers?
Low, but there were other ways to lose. My point is that when the pressure is on, I don’t trust any of these guys to step up. I just can’t see anyone shutting down an opponent in the postseason, which is what seemingly every single successful postseason team can do — shut you down from the 7th through the 9th.
true, we don’t have an okajima-paps or a shields/arredondo-k-rod combo. pitching is what wins in the playoffs, and that’s something we lack sorely.
it sucks because the starters for the most part have been great lately. going 6+ innings most of the time (except for maine, who is clearly injured). the offense has, up until these past couple games, been fine. but that’s to be expected, because hitters are all very streaky. the pitching has to be consistent, and obviously it hasn’t been.
I guess we can always hope we get some Suppan-like superhuman hot streaks (bullpen version), but I’d rather have something we can count on.
Curious about your comment that Sanchez lacks work ethic. On what basis do you make that claim? (I’m not disputing it, just haven’t seen any particular reason to think so.)
One, he’s heavy. Two, there have been reports (take them for what they’re worth,) that he didn’t adhere closely to his rehab plan, and didn’t work very hard during Spring Training.
OK, hadn’t heard the reports from spring training. As to being heavy… well… unless he starts to look like Prince Fielder, I’m not going to get on him for that. I mean, he may have a pound or two on some of his teammates, but he’s certainly not one of those guys who you look at and think “man, he’s fat.”
He needs to get out there and start working, though, that’s for sure. And if he’s not able (or willing) do do it here, then he should be doing it in New Orleans.
You know what we’re missing?
We need some old guy to yell “Ladies and Gentlemen, Let’s Begin!” in Dutch at the beginning of each game.
That would get our bats going.
Yeah. Our new motto should be “Vava haleema hanana calayyyyyyyyyyyyy!”
LOL – best post of the day….
This has just been a bad year. The record is alot better than I thought it was going to be, but it’s been a bad year. It started with the whole managerial situation and alot of guys that should have been gone at the beginning but for what ever reason were not. There have been more injuries than I can count and the bullpen has totally collapsed. Maybe as fans we should all be happy that the team is in the spot their in.
Come on guys, we only have 21 blown saves, Washington (23), Seattle (23), Texas (24), and St. Louis (27) are worse!
We only have the 24th (!) worst reliever ERA, also.
Oy.
that’s certainly a sign of a poor bullpen…but blown saves can happen in the 6th inning…how many 8th/9th inning leads have we given up?
the next week is going to be very difficult. honestly, could be a make/break week with philly, florida and milwaukee. These are must-win series.
Tough week, if the starters don’t go deep, those line-up will FEAST on the Mets BP no matter how many runs the Mets might be up by.
next week will be break week ,honestly this team sucks when they win or lose this pen is a joke offense is still inconsistant , if they get into the playoffs it will be due to philly blowning it ,both teams are 1st round losers
I do recall that back in ‘69 when the Mets won it all and 100 games in the regular seasn, they did lose 11 of 12 to the Astros that season. There is just something about that franchise with the Mets.
I’ve been going to Mets games since 1989.
I remember as a little kid, we’d win unless we were facing the Pirates or Astros.
Yeah, like in ‘86 when they . . . um. . .
Well, they did give us a heck of a series, I suppose.
They did lose 3 of 4 to the Astros in late July of ‘86 though.
Other than the Dodgers, the Mets worse all time winning percentage is against the Astros.
Was it not against Houston that Hodges made that walk out left field to remove Jones from the ballgame?
History question for you guys:
When is the last time this franchise won the division in a close race?
Who cares?
They’re playing baseball NOW, in this division race NOW, in this year NOW.
By your way of thinking, they shouldn’t even bother to field a team going down the wire unless they’re 20 games up…..
You know, like the Cubs should not even bother trying to get to post season this year b/c they’ll never win a WS.
There IS something to be said for history when it comes to large trends. And losing close races is a historic, franchise trend.
These NLE is a toss up, the Mets don’t have BP, the Phills don’t have a good starting rotation, whoever hits more, they are the ones, Mets are not hitting right now, that is the main reason they had lost these two games, I think in three games, they have been retired 20 hitters in the first game, 14 in the second and the last 15 today, you can’t win like that, you score 1 or 2 runs in the first inning, and then you don’t get a hit or a baserunner for the rest of the game, you are asking for trouble, I don’t care who you are playing against.
The slugishness of the offense has been the concern the last three games. I believe the Astro bullpen has shutdown the Mets the whole season. Haven’t done anything against them which is remarkable.
Don’t think the Mets starting rotation superiority over the Phils rotation makes up for the huge gap in the performance of the two bullpens.
Plus if Maine and Pelfrey miss starts then all bets are off.
No there isn’t anything to be said about history when you talk about a franchise. It would only be the case if the players, managers, and front office were the same throughout history.
That isn’t the case, except for last year.
What happened 10 years ago (or whatever time frame) has no bearing on how this team performs as the players involved are completely different.
Performance history doesn’t carry through with an inanimate object name.
It is amazing how two losses after winning 10 of 11 brings out the “comments of doom” from Met fans. The thing is Philly fans are the same way.
anyone else just watch the Rays get the major league screw job by Doug Eddings and his partners in umpiring?
Yup, that was pathetic.
What happened?
we cant go into a little funk now, especially with john maine out
Bad loss today, not a bad game though. The bullpen wasn’t good and the Mets could have put this one away when the bases were loaded. It always seems as if they only score with the bases loaded via a walk, never a hit.
But this is bad because Houstons sucks and now we’re looking for a split at best. And now Maine is probably done for the year. Not good.
Well, we’ve always had trouble with Houston. Let’s hope for a tie in the series and move on. We have done a pretty good job at stepping up to the tough competition this year, so perhaps that will continue.
And yes, I am worried about Maine, but we actually have some depth in the starting pitcher department, plus some kids down in AAA who could be great (or not — but there’s only one way to find out). Maybe we’ll make some lemonade out of these lemons. It could happen.
Although we’d all rather the Mets ran away with the division, we all knew it was not going to be easy. We’ve got a month of baseball left, and (as we saw last year), anything can happen. Let’s hope we’re on the happy side of that anything this time…