Note: It’s Going to Rain on Saturday

September 5, 2008 at 13:27 pm · 68 comments

by Matthew Cerrone

The weather report for Saturday does not look good.

I’m no meteorologist, but, if you go to any weather-related website, all you’ll see is lots and lots of rain every minute, all day, all night, coupled with 20 mph winds.

From what I can gather, if Saturday’s game is rained out, which seems highly probable, it will most likely be replayed on Sunday at 1 pm.

This means, the Mets could realistically be looking at a day-night double header with the Phillies on Sunday, during what could very well be the single-most important series of the season.

As of now, Pedro Martinez is scheduled to start on Saturday.  If Saturday’s game is rained out, I wonder if the Mets will use this opportunity to skip him in the rotation, again, allowing him more time to work on his ‘flexibility.’ 

{ 68 comments }

Steve in DC September 5, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Let him get as ‘flexible’ as he needs. I don’t like Petey facing the Phils. Who’ll replace him, though?

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 1:33 pm

It would have to be Niese. You figure he will be better his next time out after getting over the nerves, and he is lefthanded, which would be a good thing when facing Utley and Howard. It would still be risky though, throwing a rookie out there in such an important game.

reyesnwright September 5, 2008 at 1:35 pm

That’s the thing. I would love Perez to pitch against them considering he’s given up 1 run in 4 starts against them, but he would still be on 3 days rest. The only other option is Niese and you would have to be crazy to want him to pitch instead of Pedro.

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 1:39 pm

One thing to consider. The Phils have seen Pedro. They know what he throws. They know he leaves a lot of 87MPH fastballs over the plate, and they hit him hard last time. I highly doubt Pedro will be fooling them. As for Niese, they never seen him. He’s a lefty. He matches up better against that lineup. The only problem is that we don’t know how he will react under the pressure.

bkfitz September 5, 2008 at 2:43 pm

The Brewers hadn’t seen Niese. Who won that matchup?

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 2:53 pm

We did. 6-5.

RodKanehl September 5, 2008 at 5:16 pm

Can you explain how the game, that will not be played on Saturday, will be “replayed” on Sunday. the lack of intelligence by the author’s on this blogsite is amazing. Hey guys, do you know you are in New York, not Cheyenne Wyoming?

kevinz September 5, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Hahaha, okay, that was actually pretty funny.

PaulInNC September 5, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Nobody… they will essentially have an off-day. No replacement needed.

Gland September 5, 2008 at 1:33 pm

They won’t skip him. That would put Niese in line to pitch game one, and I can’t imagine that’s a good idea.

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 1:35 pm

If there is a doubleheader on Sunday, it is not essentially an off day. They will need a starter for game 1.

ravi3 September 5, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Oliver Perez vs. the Phillies 2008:

4GS, 1-0, 0.35ERA!!, 26IP, 17H, 1R, 1HR, 27K, 11BB, .181BAA

Oliver’s regular day to pitch would be Monday, an off-day. He could be moved up one day, and Niese could be slotted in Tuesday vs. Washington, which for him, would be far less intimidating than facing the Brewers in Milwaukee. Otherwise you can go to Figgy, or Brandon Knight.

DK September 5, 2008 at 1:35 pm

what’s OP done this year on 4 games rest?

mrose September 5, 2008 at 1:39 pm

that would be NORMAL i’m sure his stats ARE his 4 days rest stats

cval September 5, 2008 at 2:50 pm

It’s not 4 days rest, since he pitched on weds. so he would be a day short.

ravi3 September 5, 2008 at 1:51 pm

I did look up his stats on short rest on baseball-reference, but they only have stats for 4,5, and 6+ days rest, leading me to believe that he hasn’t gone on short rest this year. In fact, in his career, Ollie has gone on 3 days rest just once, and none while he was a Met

DK September 5, 2008 at 1:59 pm

0.35ERA is just insane though… role the dice. lets bury them.

ravi3 September 5, 2008 at 2:14 pm

I agree…thats why I said “0.35ERA!!!”

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 2:23 pm

He went on 3 days rest in game 7 of the NLCS.

gameball September 5, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Ollie pitched on Wednesday. Pitching on Sunday would be on three days rest, not four.

If Pedro’s ready physically, he has to start against the Phills, whether on Saturday or on Sunday. It doesnt matter what they’ve seen of him so far, it all comes down to Pedro. If his location is on and his pitches are moving, he’ll be OK. That goes for any game he starts, not just against Philly.

chicagometfan September 5, 2008 at 1:34 pm

If we win tonight send Santanna out for the first game on Sunday. If he wins then give Pedro extra time.

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 1:36 pm

What if we win tonight and Santana loses game 1 on Sunday?

therealsince86 September 5, 2008 at 1:39 pm

Too late to make a change then. I would think they will stick with Pedro unless he is a late scratch after winning the first 2.

dave27 September 5, 2008 at 1:44 pm

I wasn’t aware that we could clinch the division by game 1 on Sunday and thus start skipping guys that could otherwise start.

Let’s not overthink this. If Pedro can pitch, Pedro does pitch. If not we’ll need a fill-in rainout or no rainout.

DjDeF September 5, 2008 at 2:22 pm

I say if we win tonight you can give Pedro the time off. If not I would rather Pedro against a lefty dominated line-up then a lefty making his 2nd start and being in a pennant race.

dave27 September 5, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Huh?

hi5wright September 5, 2008 at 2:24 pm

I have tickets to the Sunday night game so I’m hoping they keep the rotation as is. Pedro, I love ya, but I’d rather see Johan. Sorry.

BernazardSucks September 5, 2008 at 4:54 pm

ditto here.

dave27 September 5, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Right….how is this an opportunity to skip him in the rotation?

I know they would never do anything proactive based on a weather forecast, but everyone has seen this storm coming and both teams had an off day yesterday.

Drobstad September 5, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Wow… What a wonderful day that would make Sunday… I must attend both games

therealsince86 September 5, 2008 at 1:38 pm

I think you let Santana pitch the first one and then hopefully be playing on house money in the 2nd. Let Pedro start and hopefully have a rested pen ready to come in early.

backinbusiness September 5, 2008 at 1:39 pm

If Saturday’s game is moved to Sunday at 1pm, does anyone know if we can still use the Mets Ticket Transfer feature, for example, to move the original Sat PM tickets on Saturday night or Sunday morning?

If the game is moved, I will be interested in trading my now-Sun 1pm tickets for Sat 8pm tickets — remember all those folks who wanted to go to Sun 1pm in the first place?

Also, if anyone else is home today like me, Wilmer Flores and the Cyclones from last night are being replayed on SNY right now, they are talking a ton about Flores.

backinbusiness September 5, 2008 at 1:40 pm

Sun 8pm that is, obviously

starz31 September 5, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Sat’s game is 3:55…SUndays game is 8pm not 1.

mrose September 5, 2008 at 1:44 pm

ummm he was being hypothetical at the sat game now being sunday at 1

backinbusiness September 5, 2008 at 1:45 pm

Right, my point (poorly stated) is if the Sat 4pm becomes Sun 1pm (day night DH)

dave27 September 5, 2008 at 1:47 pm

The ticket transfer feature is to electronically send tickets to someone else…not to ‘trade in’ tickets for one game to tickets for another.

You’d need to sell your Saturday tickets and buy Sunday tickets in two seperate transactions.

backinbusiness September 5, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Sorry. My question was whether I will be able to sell my Sat tickets ON Sunday — that is, does ticket transfer understand rain outs?

bigchart333 September 5, 2008 at 1:42 pm

all i know is i was planning a BIG ARS tailgate starting at 10 am with literally about 25 people in the ghetto lot across roosevelt ave….but we cancelled cuz we’re all sure it’s gonna rain like WHOA all day…so, if i have to have something i been lookin forward to for months now, ANDDDDDD a great mets phils game cancelled, the ufc card on ppv that nite BETTER be more amazing than it already looks…cuz i planned on just bein a big fat guy all day, eating, watching sports, and sluggin down a few brews…now it’s probably half taken from me…depressing

Boscov September 5, 2008 at 2:42 pm

sounds depressing indeed. I’d consider educating yourself so you come to realize that the UFC is such utter trash you can surely save some money.

Justin4383 September 5, 2008 at 1:44 pm

They can start by comittee. Have a left or righty start the gam and everytime they have an opposite hitterup (except the pitcher) do a pitching change. Each Pitcher can take 1-3 batters. pitch counts will be minimal. We can use every pitcher we have even the starters

RockfordMetsFan September 5, 2008 at 1:45 pm

Having attended the 3 games in Milwaukee this past week (we’re 4 for 4 in games we’ve attended at Miller Park in the last 13 months), it was nice to have a retractable roof since Tuesday’s weather was questionable. I really wish the Mets would have designed CitiField with a retractable roof so we don’t have to mess with rainouts.

dave27 September 5, 2008 at 1:48 pm

Nice work…I’ve been to one game in Milwaukee, and we started Jose Lima who could not get out of the 5th leading to a rout of a loss.

I find the retractable roof cool and intriguing, but that’s not NY baseball. Rain, cold, wind…that’s all part of the deal.

RockfordMetsFan September 5, 2008 at 1:54 pm

I know what you mean about the weather. That’s why I hated the weather when I lived in L.A., and couldn’t wait to get back to the seasonal climate in the North (we now live in Rockford, IL after having grown up in NY/NJ).

However, having to make up games lost to rain earlier in the season really creates a problem for the players. They lose rest days, and then the players and the pitching rotation takes a beating during the time of year when players are starting to break down.

backinbusiness September 5, 2008 at 1:48 pm

Where’s the meteorologist met fan….prismo is it?

The map on weather.com looks like Hannah won’t get to NY until late Sat PM/early Sun AM. Do the effects come ahead of the storm?

RodKanehl September 5, 2008 at 5:20 pm

Are you really that obivious to everything in the world?

Stems September 5, 2008 at 2:05 pm

This makes tonight’s game almost a must win.

Although with the Mets recent depth, I like our chances in a DH.

HOFMets57 September 5, 2008 at 2:10 pm

Agreed.

It helps that Myers is finally coming back down to earth. Although the ERA doesn’t show it, he’s getting hit harder and allowing more baserunners. Let’s hope the trend continues.

kistics September 5, 2008 at 2:27 pm

Last 3 outings he gave up 9,9, and 11 hits. Granted that one of them was a complete game shutout, I don’t think he’ll be as dominant as his ERA says

But then he also recorded 9,8,8, SOs.. So it’ll be an interesting match up

Joe Bacci September 5, 2008 at 2:16 pm

OFF TOPIC – Does anyone know why Darth Vador is on the Mets schedule on Sept 16th?

QueenOfQueens September 5, 2008 at 2:26 pm

There is some Star Wars promo at the Nationals game. You can click on DV for info…

Joe Bacci September 5, 2008 at 2:35 pm

thanks

kistics September 5, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Aren’t the Yankees the Evil Empire?

Joe Bacci September 5, 2008 at 2:36 pm

The Yankees are responsible for climate change.

CaseStreet September 5, 2008 at 2:18 pm

Isn’t Saturday, September 6th, the day that the Phils Fans were going to “Take Over Shea”? I guess there’ll be no red invasion.

mrose September 5, 2008 at 2:26 pm

haha thats the best part of all this….although I was curious how many of them really would have shown up

kistics September 5, 2008 at 2:29 pm

I think I was at one of those last year when the Mets got swept by the Phillies in 4 game series in September. It was a dog house with fights breaking out everywhere.

GW September 5, 2008 at 2:19 pm

Darth Vader is pitching that day?

metsrbest September 5, 2008 at 2:32 pm

Who the hell do you want him to be replaced with? Rudy Stein?

El Chupacabra September 5, 2008 at 2:36 pm

I just noticed the same thing.. Its just an ad for new video game that comes out that day. Kind of sad how nowadays you cant even check the schedule for your baseball team without being forcefed ads/commercials.

patrick September 5, 2008 at 4:11 pm

Couple of things, the Phillies did not “light up” pedro he threw two poor pitches one to Rollins and one to Howard and paid for it.

Perez on three days rest after throwing 120 pitches on Wednesday is real risky business.

Pitcher no matter who they are nearly 3 of 4 times fail on three days rest.

hotfoot86 September 5, 2008 at 5:42 pm

Matt — Mike Francesca reported that he “has a hunch” that the Mets and Phillies would play a day-night doubleheader Sunday. Which in all likely hood, would be perfectly fine with me. Saturday’s rainout would give Pedro another days rest. Seeing how he likes to pitch afternoon games — if I remember, SNY showed a stat that Pedro is 11-1 in day games since joining the Mets? I could be off with that number — so a 1 p.m. game sounds much better than a 3:55 p.m. game. I definitely wouldn’t skip him in the rotation. Petey needs to get into a groove, because he’s going to be needed badly – as is every Mets starter this month.

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 2:39 pm

That could be a possibility, but only if Pedro is truly adamant about not being ready to pitch. If he feels he could go, then they’ll let him go on extra rest.

Boscov September 5, 2008 at 2:43 pm

I don’t want to send Perez out there on 3 days rest though, which is what they’d be doing. Man I can’t stop thinking about this series I’m pumped to watch some good baseball, take 2 out of 3 from these goofs

Chan Ho Parking Lot September 5, 2008 at 2:56 pm

I don’t know about you, but I thought it was torture waiting since Wednesday afternoon for this series to start.

rogasm September 5, 2008 at 3:01 pm

No way they pitch Niese on Sunday, especially on ESPN.

Flushing_is_Burning September 5, 2008 at 3:30 pm

just saw above, Ollie’s ERA against the phillies this season is insane… 0.35 in 4 games, it’s too good to not even consider it.

patrick September 5, 2008 at 4:10 pm

Unless the Mets win tonight and Pelfrey tosses another complete game there is almost no way the Mets skip Pedro weather or not.

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