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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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Not to be lost in all of this, are two things. #1 Although Knight’s performance wasn’t stellar, he did his part and #2, whether it was just his quote or his actual sentiments, he genuinely seemed to be more concerned about his team ending their slide than himself finally, at the age of 32, getting his first ML win. We need to see more of that in sports. Congratulations Brandon Knight and Good Luck NY Mets!
I hope you are wrong and Knight pitches game 162, slightly hungover.
indeed! But for that to happen they would have to go 3 games better than the Phillies and/or Brewers in the next 9 games. Thats probably unrealistic.
No reason they cant try and win them all of course. :)
Yes, but they actually only need to outdo the Brewers by one game and win the extra game in hand — if the Mets go 7-3 and the Brewers go 5-4, the Mets clinch Saturday and won’t pitch Johan even if the division is on the line.
Maybe I’m looking into this too much, but I think that the way the pitchers were reacting to the outs is exactly the problem with the team right now. The fact that they were exhaling after each out says to me that they are playing very tight. Those guys need to be loose out there.
This BP has zero confidence and can’t get anyone out anymore…with a pen in this bad of shape, and with the state of 2B and the outfield most of the year, I am amazed that this team was up by 3.5 games at one point. Lot of heart in this team and I credit Manuel for being flexible, trying new things, and making sure htis team has an edge at all times. It’s obvious they had some post-Braves hangover after those two terrible losses last weekend.
One saving grace right now is Sheets going down…that is going to kill whatever hopes the Brewers have left.
How would anyone like to be a ‘Stros fan right now? Ike wiped out their pennant hopes.
I wonder if Manuel’s quick hook is creating part of the problem.
On the one side he wants to quickly move on to the next pitcher and avoid the big implosion by any single pitcher, and he describes it as “matchups”…
Be he is also creating a “one mess up” (meaning one hit or walk and you are coming out) mentality, which squeezes the pitchers.
Sure, they are suppose to come in and get their batter out always, but I think Manuel may uninentionally be creating even more pressure on his pitchers.
One more thing, where is Dan Wurthan and what is he doing? How come no one interviews him and asks him what is wrong and what HE is doing to fix it. He is the pitching coach after all.
I think you’re right about manuel’s quick hook reinforcing a lack of confidence, but we were in trouble in the 8th yesterday and the quick hook to heilman and bringing in scho saved the inning, so also let’s give credit where credit is due. Manuel hasn’t always had the quick hook, and it’s burned us, but yesterday he did it when he needed to and it worked out.
Agree about Warthen, he’s not taking any heat for this bullpen. Really only the bullpen is taking heat for the bullpen, which may be somewhat justified. Manuel often gets credit for juggling an awful bullpen into contention.
and with 12 bullpen arms..he can afford to do a quick hook
Yeah, it seems inevitable that would happen with the cloud dropped over them by the media off the losing streak. Not undeserved, but tough to deal with. They are human. That first win to get them off the mat was not going to be easy.
Nice win, but they did nearly blow a 7-1 lead. My predictions remain:
1-The Mets will not win the division.
2-The Mets will not win the wildcard.
3-The Mets will be eliminated from both before their final series begins Sept. 26.
4-The Mets will not win more than 88 games in 2008.
You are a TERRIBLE Mets fan
Change
You are a terrible
Metsfan.well fortunately Steve Henderson predictions is just that…a prediction.
If that comes true steve, can you predict all week 3 NFL scores so i can make nice fast cash
prediction – win wild card, not division
LGM
Ok, if you feel that way, stop watching and stop coming to this blog…
at least people that have no confidence in this team typically give them a shot….
Yes, but yesterday they were undeniable facts, so his position is softening by the day.
Funny…the only wins by this team over the past week were by Niese and Knight.
Let’s pitch Figgy tonight!
I love the figster.
He is one of my favorites.
Actually if that meant that some how we could skip Pedro’s start then I say go for it.
Also, besides history why should Pedro start over Knight? I love Pedro but I am very tired of the act and ready to move on with life without Pedro. We made our last run in 2006 without Pedro and we can again this season.
10 innings, 6er in his two starts combined. Pedro has never gone less than 5 innings all year. Even if the stats are a wash you go with history.
It ain’t about the starting pitcher — it’s about whether the offense decides to play (they did last night), and whether the bullpen blows it (they almost did last night).
Otherwise Johan and Pelf would have won the great games they pitched, too…
Knight looked average…but by god, he looked a lot better than Pedro has this year.
Umm, actually they pitched virtually the exact same game, the difference the Mets were shut down offensively in Pedros start and tonight they put up numbers.
No ill will to Knight, he did what the Mets needed. I might have tried to sneak one more out of him, but this one is in the books no point in recapping it much more.
Actually there starts were similar only that Jerry did try and push an extra inning out of Pedro. He can’t be affraid to go get Pedro in the 4th inning with runners on base.
It’s the Nationals!
Hmm? Are those the same Nats that took 2/3 from the Phillies in Philly last week?
And the same Nats the Mets lost 5 out of 6 from down the stretch last year? A win is a win.
Just another reason why this is a different team than last year. Last year, Brian Lawrence would have gotten the start last night and would have given up 6 runs in 3 innings.
…last year Knight himself would have given up 6 runs in 3 innings.
It’s hard to tell how well a guy is dealing from the stands – particularly the top row of the upper deck – but Knight got the job done. That’s probably been one of the big differences between this year and last – the spot starters have come through, for the most part.
As for the bullpen, Heilman is shot. I don’t want to see him in anything other than mop-up duties the rest of the way. You might as well see what Reyes and Parnell can offer, because they can’t be worse than Aaron. Feliciano, Show and Smith have been basically fine, and I’ll live with Ayala. The bp makes me nervous, but somehow a little bit less so than last year.
Niese has already thrown 41 more innings than last year, and he’s going to get two more starts?
I guess its already likely that he’ll need tommy john in the next few years, might as well pitch him as much as possible…
Considering Pelfrey’s IP increase, and Pedro’s recent inabilities, who would actually start in the postseason if the Mets make it? Santana and Perez every other day?
already likely? sure….that ALWAYS happens as someone ups their innings…
Always and likely are two completely different things.
You might want to look into that. :)
It happens more often when you increase it as much as we have for Niese this year.
can’t lose em’ all huh…I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they score more runs for these minor leaguers than the established starters atleast since they started this tailspin…just look at the games over the past week…scored runs for niese and knight and basically no one else…i think they get too comfortable with guys like pelfrey and johan on the mound bc they’ve been so good…or maybe its just a coincidence…we will see tonight i guess
so tonight the phillies face Jo-Jo Reyes whom I believe hasn’t had a win since June…….
Plus the Braves morph into the ‘28 Yankees whenever they play us, particularly at the Ted
Ah, the mystical 28 yankees. ?
really can’t care at all about the Phillies and who they play and how and when.
If the Phillies are to win all their remaining 11 games, tip of that.
The Mets can only focus on beating a hapless Nationals team that seems to be taking much more emotion and pride in playing the Mets than anyone else. The Mets need to be irritated by that and bury this team tonight.
suit yourself
i’m gonna also pay attention to the teams surrounding us
I’m going to pay attention to the other teams if we win, but not if we lose. Or vice-versa, I can’t decide.
actually, ESPN.com is saying that Mike Hampton goes for the Braves
why not replace pedro with batman (the dark KNIGHT)?
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
because in the postseason we will be going with pedro and not brandon knight. Thats my theory anyway….
Actually my hope is that we go with a 3 man rotation in the playoffs. Johan, Pelfrey, Perez. Can’t afford to have a start by Glavamartinez.
Pedro is outstanding for the first few innings. Perhaps he’d be an ideal middle reliever…