Daily Archives: August 27, 2008
According to Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal, the Red Sox will play a two-game series against the Mets next season at Citi Field, in the final exhibition series before opening day.
…hat tip to The ‘Ropolitans for the link…
McAdam believes the series will take place on April 3–4.
In a report previous for Newsday, David Lennon wrote, “With Minaya’s five-year, $4-million contract set to expire after 2009, it’s a safe bet that he will be signed to an extension at the end of this season, and why not?”
This morning, in a report for the Daily News, citing ‘team 
insiders,’ Adam Rubin writes that Omar Minaya will be GM of the Mets through at least 2009, if not longer.
…the sense i get is that, as long as the Wilpons feel he did everything possible, as a general manager, to get this team in to the post-season, regardless of whether the team gets there or not, minaya be back next season…
Rubin also reports on the future of Jerry Manuel, who is signed through the end of this season.
Tagged Omar Minaya |Ramon Castro left last night’s game in the fifth inning with what the team described as ‘a right quadriceps strain.’
According to SNY, Castro will travel to New York today for an MRI.
…from what i understand, Robinson Cancel will leave New Orleans for Philadelphia this morning, just to be safe…in all likelihood, cancel would have been added to the roster on September 1, regardless of castro’s injury…
By the way, Castro played in just 14 games during August and September last season, and just 11 games during August and September in 2006.
He is batting .242 in 43 games this season for the Mets, while throwing out just 29 percent of runners attempting to steal a base.
Tagged Ramon Castro |
Tonight, Wednesday, August 27, for Game 2 of the Mets-
Phillies series, I’ll be hosting a MetsBlog Night at Butterfield 8 in Manhattan, located at 5 E. 38th Street, between Fifth and Madison.
Butterfield 8 will be offering a $30 drink special, which includes an open bar including beer, wine and house mix drinks, from first to last pitch.
…i’ll be sitting at the table near the front door with some friends, so please stop by and say hello…
The Mets blew a seven-run lead with 17 outs left to play last night, as MetsBlog reader James H pointed out to me in an e-mail.
…if this sounds familiar, it’s because the Mets blew a seven-game lead in the standings last season, with 17 games to play in the season, to lose the division…
Jerry Manuel, following the game, said:
“Yeah, we blew a seven-run lead. You know, they played good baseball. They cough the baseball, they turned the double plays when they had to, we couldn’t add on, they got hits at the right time, and we were one
out away and couldn’t get it done. I mean, that’s baseball. I think you’re gonna get a hard-fought game and hard-fought battles all the way through, and that’s the way it’s gonna be…We’ve had some tough losses all year. The sun will come up tomorrow, and we’ll play again. That’s the way baseball is, and we’ll be okay.”
Pedro Martinez, who let up two two-run home runs in the fifth inning, speaking to reporters after the game, said:
“In this stadium, with this team, you just never know – five runs, seven runs, it’s never enough. I’ve seen it before, it’s not the first time. (The Phillies) never give up, especially playing here. This band-box here is a perfect place for them to play, and they know how to play in this field too, they take advantage of the fans and everything that goes around…It’s pretty bad that we lost the game, but we battled and both teams battled hard to win this game. Today they won, tomorrow hopefully we’ll return the favor and everything will be back to normal.”
David Wright, regarding the loss, while speaking to reporters following last night’s loss, said:
“Obviously this stings, but we’ve been very good at recovering next day…The last time we were here we had a tough loss and then we bounced back and won three straight from them.”
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Tagged Pedro Martinez |To watch 
‘s exclusive Post Game Extra, hosted by Gary, Keith and Ron, including highlights and quotes from last night’s loss to the Phillies, click below:
The Mets (73–60) lost to the Phillies (73–59) by the score of 8 to 7 in Citizen’s Bank Park.
For a recap, boxscore, stats, etc., go to SNY.tv.
Despite the result, this was, without a doubt, the most entertaining baseball game of the season, and one of the best games I have seen in years.
Actually, it was like watching three separate games.
In the first game, from the first inning through the fourth, the Mets dominated, jumping out to a seven-run lead, thanks to home runs from Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis, and early success from Pedro Martinez, who struck out Pat Burrell to end the third with a runner on second.
In the second game, from the fifth inning through the ninth, the Phillies dominated, thanks to home runs from Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, all while shutting down New York’s offense, which went scoreless through much of the second-half of the game, per usual. Meanwhile, the Phillies, who were one strike away from losing the game twice, scored in the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
In the final game, from the ninth inning on, during which I officially chewed off all of my finger nails, both teams played outstanding defense, especially David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Ryan Howard, who came up with stellar grabs to end innings, all while Aaron 
Heilman, who is clearly doing his best to kill me with a heart-attack, pitched three – yes, three - scoreless, long, stressful, laborious innings, during the last of which he struck out Chase Utley and Howard to end the inning.
However, Shane Victorino, who had not reached base in his previous six plate appearances in the game, started the bottom of the 13th inning with a triple against Scott Schoeneweis – helped out by Delgado not playing the line. The Mets and Schoeneweis then chose to walk the bases loaded with no outs. Brett Myers took five pitches, three for strikes, for one out, but Chris Coste ripped a fly ball deep to center to bring home the winning run.
With the win, the Phillies move back in to first place in the NL East – with 29 games left to play.
Also, it’s worth noting that Martinez coughed up five runs in two innings, in the fourth and fifth inning, when the Mets had a seven-run lead, which is very, very disappointing, to say the least – and it’s worth repeating, again, the Mets did not score a run in the final nine innings of tonight’s game, continuing a trend that will have to change if they intend on winning this division.
The Mets conclude their two-game series with the Phillies tomorrow night in Philadelphia, with Johan Santana (12-7, 2.64 ERA) taking on Kyle Kendrick (11-7, 4.87 ERA).
Time to earn your money, Johan. Sleep tight.
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