Daily Archives: September 18, 2008
Last night, in a win against the Nationals, Carlos Beltran hit two home, drew a walk, and made an 
outstanding catch on the warning track, with the bases loaded, to end the eighth inning.
“Well, as soon as he hit it I thought it was gonna be over my head, because it sounded good off the bat. I just put my head down and went back to the wall and I was thinking I have to do something to try to cut this ball. but it stopped and I was able to make the catch. It was good, because, you know, if it would have been over my head it would have been a different story. But, thank God I was able to get to it.”
Beltran is hitting .282 with 26 HR, 106 RBI, 110 runs scored, 21 stolen bases, 38 doubles and will most likely win a Gold Glove Award for his defense this season.
He has a .373 batting average in 51 at bats this September, with five HR and and just seven strike outs in 14 games.
The following poll is a vague, but that’s sort of the point:
[poll id="174"]
Last night, according to the Daily News, ‘Jerry Manuel matched a franchise record for pitchers used in a nine-inning game with eight.’
The eighth and ninth inning looked more like a parade than a baseball game, during which Manuel used five different pitchers to get six outs against 10 batters.
In the game’s final batter, the Nationals sent up Luke Montz to pinch hit for the pitcher, so Manuel called upon Luis Ayala to pitch to Montz, who was then replaced by Roger Bernadina, who made the game’s final out.
In the end, Ayala was able to lock down his eighth save in 10 chances with a strike out to end the game.
Beltran, after the game, speaking about the bullpen, said:
“It would have been better if we had won, you know, like, with a good lead, but things happen…The most important thing is that we were able to hold the lead and win…It takes a lot out of the players, because, you know, you score two and you say, ‘Now we have the nice lead, let’s try to get 1–2–3, 1–2–3,’ and then all of a sudden they try to get back in the game and you wonder what’s going on with us. At the same time, we have to find a way to go out and shut them down…I know they’re trying, but it’s hard to believe it’s happening.”
First off, I have no idea what Beltran is really saying here. I think he’s essentially saying, ‘We’re doing our job on offense and defense, but the bullpen is leaving us no room for error,’ which I would agree with. He could also be saying, ‘It’s not their fault, they’re doing the best they can, we need to do better at the plate, and the other team is playing well, too.’ Or, maybe he is saying both. I’m not 100 percent sure.
Second, Aaron Heilman should no longer be allowed to pitch. Last night, in just his third appearance this month, he let up a leadoff double to Wil Nieves and a single to Aaron Boone to start the eighth inning. He’s a mess right now, he may be injured, and this is not Spring Training. It’s nothing against Heilman, but it’s Go Time here, this is it, and the Mets cannot afford to let him figure things out on the fly at this point. The Mets can fix his ego in the off-season, or next spring, assuming he is still on the team.
By the way, at Amazin’ Avenue, Eric Simon takes a month-by-month look at the team’s bullpen, who, oddly enough, are putting up their best ERA of the year in September.
Last night in DC, 32-year-old Mets RHP Brandon Knight got his first major-league victory, while letting up two runs in five innings against the Nationals, who left the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
Knight, on watching the game from the 
clubhouse, and seeing seven relief pitchers trot in to lock down the win, said:
“I was thinking, ‘Is this really happening right now.’ We were all in here, all of us who pitched, just kind of taking deep breaths saying, ‘Everything’s gonna be fine.’ To get that final out, it wasn’t that, ‘Yes!,’ it was more, ‘Good.’ Get it out of the way, and get back to business tomorrow where we have Johan going, which, we feel pretty good about that.”
Knight told reporters he was sent text messages from family and friends, and former players from Somerset, the Independent League team where he started this season.
This will most likely be Knight’s final start of the season, since the five-man rotation, including Pedro Martinez and Jon Niese, should stay on turn through the end of the year.
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