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The Mets (87–70) defeated the Cubs (95–61) by the score of 6 to 2 in Shea Stadium tonight.
For a recap, boxscore, and stats, click here.
Johan Santana, Jose Reyes and David Wright 
are arguably the three biggest stars on the Mets, they are the three men who we expect to carry this ball club during times of struggle, and tonight they pushed their team to a much, much-needed win.
Santana pitched eight innings, struck out 10 of the 33 batters he faced, let up seven hits and just two runs, while throwing 125 pitches. He even got a hit in the fifth inning, on a broken-bat single that could have been an inning-ending double play, until the ball ricocheted off the end of the broken bat and slipped by the shortstop letting the inning continue.
The Mets are 10–3 in Johan Santana’s 13 starts in the second half of this season, during which he is 6–0 with 2.38 ERA.
Later in the inning, with Mets down two runs, and with two outs and the bases loaded, Wright shortened his swing, pulled the ball for a single and tied the game. I’m no professional statistician, but I call believe this is known as ‘clutch.’
Lastly, after Santana ran hard out of the box to beat out a potential double play, Reyes hit a bases-clearing triple to give the team a lead it would never relinquish. Reyes let out a series of claps, points and fist pumps as he pulled up in to third base.
By the way, the Phillies lost tonight – meaning the Mets are just one loss back of first place in the NL East with five games left in the season. Hey, Ya Gotta Believe.
Okay, exhale. This is a big win, there is no getting around it.
I look forward to a long night of sleep.
I think we have all earned it.
The Mets continue their four-game series against the Cubs tomorrow night, starting at 7 pm, with Oliver Perez (10–7, 4.10 ERA) taking on Carlos Zambrano (14–6, 3.77 ERA).
BELIEVE
Omar needs to go??? Wasn’t he the one who traded for tonight’s winning pitcher, some Santana guy??? Yeah, face it he’ll be here for the next 4 seasons and i’m glad. More Latin players on the way!
I will say this as a ticket holder, if the Mets DO NOT make the playoffs and the Wilpons still give Omar Minaya a contract extension. On the last game of the season I am going to have a petition for all Met fans to sign to have Omar FIRED!! I think it would be a SCAM to have this guys contract extended after this team has collapsed after two consecutive years. It is nothing short of all these corporate fat cats that make millions of dollars while their companies are being bailed out by the tax payers. We as fans should continue to buy and pay the salaries of Omar Minaya where the team he pieced together falls apart in the clutch?
After the petitions are signed I am going to mail it to the Wilpons and if they still give Omar the extension I think as “genuine” Met fans we should NOT buy any tickets to the new stadium and let the only ones that attend being the corporations. Considering the Wilpons think that we are STUPID and will still watch this club after collapses in two consecutive years and Omar get rewarded with FOUR year extension? WILPONS you have got to be kidding
YEAH Lets go OMAR LETS SIGN some more LATIN PLAYERS like a broken down forty year old left fielder, and more SELFISH STUPID relief pitchers that care more about finding a DOMINCAN restaurant at 2AM and screw up their shoulder, and more broken down second basemen to a FOUR year contract. Yeah we need more players like that
TRADE THEM ALL!!
In all seriousness, great win. Keep it going tomorrow guys.
omar needs to go …
great job by stantana
… omar needs to go
Good luck with that…
Big Game Ollie Perez on the hill tomorrow.
LET’S GO PIRATES tonight
LET’S GO METS always
LET’S GO PIRATES tonight, tomorrow and thursday
LET’S GO BRAVES tomorrow
Did typing that make you a little sick?
Sick with joy–yes.
It’s all over except the crying, boys. This is the kinda night that the METS will break our hearts. We gained a game in the Division on a amazin win ane we have momentum, but, Ollie will pitch one of “those games” and th epen will step in after th 4th inning and all the good cheer and hope of last night will be lost. PLEASE, prove me wrong. I want to hear all the “I told you so” from you guys. I am just waiting for the hammer to fall.
Big hit AGAIN by Murphy, that kept the ining going with no outs, that was key. Love that kid. 2009 Mets 2nd baseman.
I knew they would win because I had Papa John’s for dinner.
You better order papa Johns from here on out till Sunday. And then again once we make the playoffs!
Wow, now THAT would be a sacrifice.
If you survive, well, wow…
well i still have leftovers so i am definitely eating it tomorrow
the delivery guy probably has geico!
and uses procede from gisupee franco
And uses Just For Men for his mustache, just like Keith.
You mean Just For Men Gel. “Looks so natural, no one can tell. It’s Just For Men Gel! (Just For Men Gel…)
Can Johan pitch every day?!!! Holy Christ is that guy good or what??
great game today…they were clutch gamers out there tonight…
GO BUCS!
oh yeah, i had my son doing a tomahawk chop in the living room today, but then i told him that he can only do it when dad lets him, otherwise santa won’t come…my wife says i’m going to h***
Lol – shame on you, Dad.
I thought I was bad teaching my 8 year daughter to make the loser -L shape sign on her forehead every time Castillo comes to bat. You got me beat! LOL
We need more fans like you.
Mets WIN. Phils lose. Yankees eliminated. Pirates winning….
Only way it gets better than this is if Pirates win.
Johan is the man.
Well, 3 outta 4 ain’t bad.
Santana worth every single penny.
How could Reyes hit a bases-clearing triple with the game tied to give the Mets a 4-run lead?
Ha! Yeah, that would be a neat trick, wouldn’t it??
Easy, the balls gets by the infield and Reyes scores the forth run but it is ruled a tripple because of the eror. I don’t know, sounds good to me. LOL
But that didn’t happen.
I know, just playing devil’s advocate.
Delgado had scored run number 3, and if you add the 3 Reyes RBIs and subtract the 2 Cub runs, you get 4.
Wow, Santana is unbelievable. I actually met him in March and he is just an amazing guy. I believe that when he is on the mound he is the leader of this team.
Damn, Brewers have men on first and third with one out, cmon double play.
Watching this on MLB.tv. Our old friend Mike Cameron is up. That’s good for a K or DP, right?
Ugh. Bases clearing double.
I’ll shut up, now.
Brewers tied it, dang
Nevermind, took the lead
mets fans need some breathing room. let’s go pirates.
I’m no professional statistician, but I call believe this is known as ‘clutch.’
Great line.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PIRATESSSSSSSSSSS ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
santana just has a confidence……
on a sour note, the brewers just took the lead….
It’s alright. We all know these Brewers can’t hold on. The Phillies loss was big. We’re only one loss back in the loss column. Maybe it’ll rain. Maybe Pedro won’t have to pitch. Maybe Ollie will get 2 more starts this year – perhaps on Monday if the rain is bad enough. Johan is out there too. And so is Pelfrey.
I will never pray for rain more than I’ll pray on Thursday.
It’s the Santana broken black bat, I swear.
Pitt winning to knock 2 of the Brewers elimination number would be sweet.
Of course the Mets do control their own destiny (you are my density…) but heck, take all the help from them you can.
I think FLA has now been eliminated from the WC by losing tonight, haven’t they (I think they lost, or at least are losing big).
Pretty much down to the Mets and Brewers, 2 of the 3 teams that choked away the playoffs last year (the Padres being the other), alhtough you only ever here about one of them in the media!
They’re not as “Sexy” as the Mets.
Can we PLEASE sign Manny in the offseason…..please
It’s not the money. They got a lot coming off the books. It’s how many years he’ll command, what other competition there may be such as the Dodgers particularly and what to do with our OF situation.
Hypothetically if Manny were a Met next season, what do we do? Where does Murphy and Evans play? Murphy at second is an idea worth considering and Evans can back up LF and 1B, so that’s an idea. So we got it alright for a year. Than what happened when F-Mart is ready? Trade Beltran? Church? Wait for Manny to become an overpaid washed up dude on a 5 year contract?
We have a good offense. Please buy me a bullpen. Please go back in the past and sign Octavio Dotel lol Trade this garbage bullpen away, acquire a new one and sign K-Rod. Or trade for Huston Street.
Doug Mientkiewicz will have the game winning hit for the Pirates guys!
We can all dream, right?
Unless the Mets fly to Milwaukee and finish the game for the Brewers, that’s probably not happening.
Mota is coming in.
Maybe dreams can come true?
YESSSS
MOTA
I LOVE YOU!!1
I’ve never heard THAT from a Met fan before!!!
We needed tonight to be a good day. This momentum has to carry on.
Everyone take a look at this though.
In the last 10, the Mets loset 3, won 3, lost 3 and now won one. So are we due for another 2 wins? I hope. It’d be big. I just hope it wouldn’t lead to another 3 game skid – but we may be able to clinch with those 2 wins if the Pirates win tonight.
pirates are losing dude and have the bottom of their lineup due up
ryan church (1st half):
205ab .307avg .370obs 10d 1t 10hr 36rbi 1sb
lastings milledge (2nd half):
204ab .301avg .365obs 8d 2t 7hr 28rbi 11sb
Interesting.
Let’s not forget Lastings also suffered 2 less concussions than Church and lacks what is commonly referred to as “defense”.
i love church. just saw that lastings had 3 hits tonight so i checked out his numbers for the year.
the kid can hit. should be playing rightfield, but he can hit.
Milledge is coming along. We did get Schneider in the deal too though. If we signed Torrealba, we would have lost some draft picks. Plus he’s a righty hitter and mixing and matching with Castro wouldn’t work as well.
Lastings Milledge is not the guy you want in your clubhouse. He just doesn’t have the mentality to play the game. Plus, Church is a better corner OF and a lefty hitter.
Milledge will be alright, but he’s much better suited for the Nationals. They take on trouble makers. They’re not competitive. They like youth. They’ll let him play CF. The guy the Mets lost who they needed was Carlos Gomez – but it was justified. I’m happy they didn’t use Milledge to acquire Zito in 06′ because they probably would have re-signed him and never would have ended up with Johan. So all worked out well in my mind.
FYI: Jose Reyes will be on Baseball Tonight in the next 30 minutes
He’s on right now.
Motoids walks Mienkitwecz on 4 pitches to begin the 8th
Go Pirates!!
Kruk just said the Mets are in and that they ‘turned a corner tonight’.’
MOTA STRIKES AGAIN!!
STEVEN PEARCE 2 RUN HR!! Pirates take the lead!!
HAHAHAHA!
holy SH.IT…MOTA helping out the mets, gave up a 2 run HR. woo hoo, bucs up!
THE CURSE OF MOTAAA!!!!! FINALLY BITES FOR THE METS
YES! 2 run HR Pirates off Mota
woo hoo Mota finally helps the Mets!
pirates up 5-4 thanks mota
And who told me that the Pirates bottom half was coming up? lol
Mota just gave up a 2 run home run to the pirates!
Sweet.
mota strikes!!!! pirates lead!!
I’m kidding with you, but I’m very happy with that… I hate Mota so much
I liked his entrance song last year at shea
pirates!
mota gave up a bomb!!!!!!!!!!!
YEAH PIRATES!
Finally , Mota helping out the Mets AND without steroids
HA!!! thats GREAT!!!!
WOW – Now I know what it feels like to have an actual ace down the stretch of a pennant race – instead whatever you would call glavine last year.
- I hope Glavine and Smoltz build a nice home together and can tell stories to their children how they knew the first time they met eachother that they would spend the rest of their lives together – aww.
<3 <3 <3 MOTA <3 <3 <3
Hypothetical situation that could become a reality.
Going into Sunday’s game, the Mets have clinched a postseason spot but are tied with the Phils for first. Do you still start Santana knowing that you lose him for Game 1 of the NLDS and will only have him for one start in the NLDS or do you sit him and let someone like Figueroa start and take your chances and thus allow Santana to start Game 1 in the NLDS and be available for two starts in the NLDS?
Mota finally pays dividends for the Mets.
I’m not sure. When does the NLDS begin?
Wednesday
I’m leaning towards go with Johan. Avoiding the cubs in the first round would be real nice.
Go with Johan. It’s a tough question. It depends how the rain plays out on Thursday. I would go with Johan though. The Mets and Phillies both play at the same time. The division is what we truly want. Not the wild card, but we’re happy with either. We are not greedy.
I think I would sit him. If we clinched a playoff spot, it’s more important to rest him for game 1 and get him 2 starts in the NLDS
It’s all about who you want to face. We’re talking about if the Mets win the NL East, they get home field against the Dodgers or D’Backs. That versus being away against the Cubs. It’s a catch 22 really. I’d say go by how Johan’s arm is feeling on Sunday after throwing 124 pitches. Lets just win our games the next few days and not think too far ahead.
exactly win tomorrow and nothing else matters like metallica would say
no way, you save johan for the postseason where it REALLY counts! as long as our ticket is punch we will need santana for as many games as he can pitch in the playoffs!
You take a chance with someone else on Sunday and let Santana potentially have more post season starts–especially when you take our bullpen in consideration.
When would the playoffs start though? If it weren’t until Thursday for the Mets, you’d have Johan back for Thursday. You can use Johan in a potential game 2 and 5.
It’d depend though. If the Mets had the same record as the Phillies with both clinched, you have to throw Johan out there because we can win the division. If the Mets were down one game and it depended on the Phillies losing too, I’d throw someone else out there than.
If the Pirates hold on here it would be as Fatcessa would say huuuuuuuge
a .230 home run hits a 2 run home run off Guillermo Mota… And who says David Newham getting a hit off the Mets means bad karma? lol
Gotta watch out for Steve Pearce. He’s the one that had the go-ahead hit in one of the games the Mets pen blew to the Pirates.
I was in a bar watching the game, and a guy comes in and looks up at the screen. All of a sudden he starts screaming, “it’s steve!”
Apparently he went to high school with Steve Pearce, and wouldn’t shut up after he delivered the go-ahead hit.
He’s from Florida… Are you in a bar in Florida? Hey he can scream as loud as he wants. Even louder if the Pirates win
I was actually in Florida, yeah.
And good for him and his friend. I was just pretty bitter, what with the mets losing.
Oh, and Pearce is forgiven, obviously.
BRING IN GAGNE FOR SOME INSURANCE RUNS!!!!
he already pitched
damn, sorry, just tuned into the game when i read about the 2 run dinger.
The Brewers may actully have a worse bullpen than us
wouldnt go that far but it is close
uh oh hardy got a hit… what a horrible name to have lol
GUILLERMO MOTA IS APPARENTLY STILL PITCHING FOR THE METS!!!! WHO KNEW?!?!?!
was that a met pitcher that threw an 0-2 pitch that the batter could get his bat on??? hmmmm.
see, even the brews will bunt to move the batter over. yet when crapillo gets up he doesn’t bunt. bad move.
brewers have man on 2nd with 1 out
two out
what a waste of money…WHY DID WE GET THIS GUY..geez what a bust………
5-5
tie game
damnit
BREWERS TIED IT! DAMN!!!!!!!!
if they don’t trade nady, he makes that catch, the mets go up 2 and make it to the playoffs…
Watching the Yankees lose some prospects and get nothing out of it is a nice consolation.
very true
tie game into the 9th
This small part of me wants the last game of the season to be a win-and-in situation where the mets use all 5 starting pitchers with the game closed by Santana.
runner on 1st no outs for the bucs
come on pirates come on!!!!!!!!!! we need the brewers to lose NOW, it would be so huge!
man on 2nd 1 out
1st and 2nd 1 out
mota, gagne, and torres.
great bullpen…in 2003
breweres get out of the inning
Damn.
damnit! the brewers don’t deserve to go to the playoffs i’m sorry they got swept by us and the phils…..
Brewers freakin win!
nothing ever goes our way, damnit!
Mets win, Phils lose. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Don’t forget the Yankees getting eliminated!!!
Brewers win. Oh, well.
Ah, damn Pirates.
Wait…I mean ARGH!!
F–k
Fat@ss Fielder hits a walkoff 2 run hr, and the Brewers win
we’re right in the 1 middle of this 1 up of the brews 1 down of the phils
Pirates are terrible. The Mets have to win out. The Brewers won’t lose 2
Now why on earth would you even pitch to him.
I’d rather have the division. Why make things easy now, anyway? Nothing’s been easy this season.
This is why tonights win was important. If we didn’t, we would have lost 4 in a row and been tied in the Wild Card with no momentum. These Brewers still have 3 games against the Cubs. Thank god we only have 2.
We’re dead.
Huge, momentum-shifting win by the Brews.
We have Pedro on Thurs and ??? on Sat (and tomorrow isn’t a gimme either)
We’re dead.
Rain is coming… Relax. Momentum? We’re ahead of the Brewers, aren’t we? Even if they did us the game is at Shea with big game Ollie.
just win, baby.
no backing into this. I was at the game tonight. The energy is there. If this team can’t get hot, what’s the use?
can’t just enjoy the win can you….I suggest trying some prescription meds
Boohoo!
Go cry about a game the Mets have no control over.
CC pitches tomorrow
Mets backs against the wall already
go to sleep you have school tomorrow. Suppan goes a-hat
Dude. Backs against the walls yet they lead the WC?
If you flipped the Mets and the Brewers in the standings and the Mets beat the Pirates in the same fashion tonight to stay 1 game back in the Wild Card you would be saying “big deal, they will still choke, backs against the walls, etc etc” The Brewers, by the way, have been waaay more putrid then the Mets this month and you’re expecting me to believe that a walk off against the Pirates gives them all the momentum in the world?
I’m not going to be convinced the Mets make the playoffs until they DO make the playoffs either. But just enjoy a win damn it.
Just out of curiosity: have you had your mental disorder checked out by an accredited psychiatrist? If not, please do. If so, up the dosage.
Hey Fursio go stick your head inside your fathers dirty underwear you BUM!!!!
Pirates are a bunch of girls.. Brewers win… Just disgusting
it would have been nice to have a 2 game lead on the brewers….they don’t deserve to win the WC after getting swept by us and the Phils.
They’re a better team than the Phillies though. I’d rather they made it.
Who’d think the Phillies could lose to the Braves tonight? The Pirates are a weak team. The Brewers are still 6-15 in September and like 3 out of their last 11 I believe. I’d expect a split with them and the Pirates the rest of this week and lose 2 out of 3 to the Cubs. We need to approach it as if they are capable of winning there games so we keep ourselves motivated.
This was always going down to the last weekend, last day or two for the Mets, anyway. That’s this team’s MO.
Wow. Prince Fielder is huge. HUGE.
tomorrow Is a must win we have to keep the pressure on the brewers it looks like they have turned a corner
they won one game against the Pirates. I don’t know if that counts as “turning the corner”
Remember Maine’s 1-hitter against the Marlins last year? Momentum’s only as strong as your next day’s pitcher.
Actually, they’ve won 2 in a row….which is 1 more in a row than the Mets at current
maybe suppan will stink tomorrow……uggh it was set up perfectly for the brewers to lose.
Good baseball Pirates, 2 unearned runs, misplay on the game tieing double by Kendall and not walking or having a lefty face Fielder. Tomorrow is big they have Suppan who’s been bad, then Sabathia after that.
CC goes on short rest
i didnt see the game, what was the misplay?
Kudoa tonight to Mike Hampton and Mike Gonzales of the Braves for giving us a little help tonight – finally.
I’ll never make any more comments about the Colorado school system or about Gonzales’ funny little dance.
“Kudos”
Quit saying “must win” guys. NO KIDDING THERE ARE 5 GAMES LEFT AND THEY ARE NOT GUARANTEED A PLAYOFF SPOT YET.
My apologies. I had to get that out.
Ha. People were calling games “must win” games a solid month ago…last season the only “must win” game was the one Glavine pitched at the end. Ah well…
You guys should go over and troll on Beerleaguer.com. Those Phillies fans and getting a little tight around the collar. Fun reading.
Now, let’s go get ‘em.
man my good feeling from tonight died with that brewers win…..they truly do not deserve to make the playoffs……i was feeling kinda bad for them, but not anymore. eff em.
Zambrano pitched that no hitter on 9/14 versus the Astros but other than that he really hasn’t pitch all that great lately. He got rocked last start and the two starts before the no hitter weren’t all that good.
Kendall hit a 2 out double at 5-4 Pirates and it looked like Pearce went in and it went just over his head. he didn’t get a good read on it
Let’s drop a rock on them to make them dead while they are alive.
I know the Cubs will be resting a lot more guys when they go up against the Brewers this weekend, but I would not discount the Cubs from making it somewhat tough for them. The teams have some bad blood and it would only take one instance of Braun or Fielder gawking at a home run too long or something similar to get them fired up to play and perhaps try to spoil their playoff hopes.
Yes, bad blood. Very bad blood. However, speaking of “bad blood,” we get to go up against the Marlins. Remember the Marlins? …. 1/3 inning, 7 runs?????
Yes. Why? I wasn’t inferring the Mets need not be wary of playing the Marlins who are eliminated.
we need to win and sabathia IS starting 2morrow……another must win…..
how about we sit castillo, and win out? we haven’t won four games in a row with him playing, so let’s just end the rut and get him out.
With the pen we have, and you find a way to blame Luis? C’mon now….
Sabathia might be getting to the end of his rope, too much use!
I agree…We is getting used up big time. Hopefully the Pirates will be able to take advantage of it tomorrow.
I guess they are throwing him on short rest tomorrow so he gets another start on Sunday. Barring a completely awful start tomorrow, he is going to exceed his inning totals from last season (when he led the league in IP) and remember how bad he was in the playoffs last season? Who knows if that was because of pressure of the playoffs or the work load. But other than last seasons playoffs he hasn’t really pitched in high pressure situations (the Indians won the division last season by 8 games).
EXCELENTE, CHICOS!!! That damn fat @$$ on the Brewers had to ruin this. Egh.
Did you see hime untuck his shirt?
He sounds like Mike Tyson when he is interviewed!
The mets are done the pirates stink and will hand the brewers the next 2 the mets are not going to win the next 2 games against the cubswake up The brewers are going to get the wildcard wake up people the mets are done I know I sound like a wet blanket but reality must set in .Plus in the weekend series against the cubs there will be no zambrano or harden due to rest for the playoffs great news for the breweres yip e!!!
We are stuck with omar for four more years of bad decisions great future for this team
Well thought out and intelligent!!
and with superior punctuation.
No offense, and I seriously mean no offense.. but
You have the IQ of a doorknob. Or a waffle maker. Or any other inanimate object.
What I’m trying to say is… your stupidity level is so intense, that it’s actually making people around you stupider.
Yip e!
Don’t insult waffle makers. Waffles are wonderful, and waffle makers are excellent gifts.
Whereas that post was just ridiculous…
Are you a Met fan? If so, are you sure? Be honest with yourself now.
I want a 16 game win streak!!!!! Hey, I can dream.
“Ya gotta believe” belongs to “Tug” McGraw and the 1973 Mets. That team was 44-57 on 7/31/1973 and came back to win the division with a 82-79 record. But the most important thing that is often overlooked is that the club went 19-8 in the month of September. They beat the Big Red Machine in the playoffs and took the great A’s team to a 7th game in the WS. If Rusty Staub doesn’t get injured in the playoffs I believe the Mets would have won it all.
Let the 2008 Mets write their own script.
…and come up with their own catchphrase. We should come up with some candidates, and Matt can run a poll.
I think “Ya Gotta Believe” is this organizations mantra. Although, last year it didn’t too much.
I’m sure someone brought this up at some point, but in the event of a 3-way tie between Mets-Phils-Brews, is the first tiebreaker for Eastern Division title and Mets get in by virtue of better head-to-head with Phils? Or is there a 3-way playoff?
I would think a 3-way playoff if it were for one playoff spot, but in this case, my guess would be that they settle division first.
In this event, it would get complicated but there obviously would be a chance for each of these teams to play. The Brewers are only capable of winning the wild card, so you’d imagine they only deserve one game to win it. The loser of the game would than play the Mets or Phillies.
What I’m thinking is we’d see a division one series game between the Phillies and Mets at Citizens Bank. Than the loser plays the Brewers at home on Tuesday.
no way mlb makes a team play 2 extra games then, if they make it, the playoffs. completely screws there rotation. i think in a three way tie since the division is between us and the phils we would get it by virtue of our better record against the phils this season and the phils and brews duke it out for the wildcard. keeps it down to one deciding game intstead of two.
Nope, that’s not how it works. In a 3 way tie, we would play the Phillies for the division, and the loser plays Milwaukee for the wild card. If the Brewers fall out of the wild card, then the Mets and Phillies don’t need to play a game and it will be determined by the head to head records.
DelGODo for MVP 08
Castillo for scapegoat 08
I was at the game tonight and i swear everyone was so pumped about cheering for everyone except castillo. it seemed just as natural to cheer for jose’s 200th hit as it was to boo castillo’s at bats
Well, I was there too, and people weren’t booing Castillo’s at bats so much as they were booing his strikeouts, groundouts, etc. I mean, at least they weren’t preemptively booing him.
But yeah, I think it’s safe to say Luis Castillo is not a fan favorite.
Comment by backinbusiness
2008-09-23 15:09:58
I am not actually this optimistic (read: insane), but the following is not wildly beyond the realm of comprehension:
Tonight: Mets win, Phillies lose, Mets 1.5GB
Tomorrow: Mets and Phillies do same thing, Mets 1.5GB
Thursday: Mets win; Phillies idle; Mets 1GB
Anything can happen in that 3 days series — anything.
And that’s completely without help from the Brewers.
Believe time. Gotta fake it til you make it.
–
STEP 1: CHECK.
I wouldn’t disagree with that, but that may not be such a bad thing. What I am hoping for is rain on Thursday so this team gets a day off – unless they suddenly get hot of course. The good thing about rain is it will allow us to skip over on Thursday and it’ll postpone that Cubs game until Monday. This will allow us to skip over Pedro. Or allow us to only have to choose one of Pedro, Brandon Knight, Nelson Figueroa and Jon Niese for Saturday. I’d prefer Knight.
We’re in command of the NL Wild Card so I don’t see an excuse why we can’t do it. The Mets have lost enough games in their last 10 – six to be exact to owe us 5 consecutive wins. We all know they’re capable of it. And we all know it won’t be easy for the Brewers with the Cubs in town this weekend.
My prediction is:
Wednesday: Mets win, Brewers lose, Phillies win
Mets down 2.0 in NL East, up 1.0 in Wild Card.
Thursday: Mets get rained out, Brewers win, Phillies idle
Mets remain down 1.5 in NL East, up 1.5 in wild card.
Friday: Mets win, Brewers lose, Phillies win
Mets down down 1.5 in NL East, up 2.5 in Wild Card.
Saturday: Mets lose, Brewers win, Phillies lose
Mets down 1.5 in NL East, up 1.5 in Wild Card.
Sunday: Mets win, Brewers lose, Phillies win.
Mets down 1.5 in NL East , clinch the NL Wild card with a lead of 1.5 and major league baseball will say the Mets will not have to play the 162nd game because it can’t impact the standings. If there is a game, enjoy the last day of Shea.
Overall Records in last 5 games:
Mets: 3-1
Phillies : 3-1
Brewers: 2-3
This rain could have alleviated us. I know there’s a lot of people who are thinking that if we threw Pelfrey on Monday which would push him to Saturday it’d cause Knight or Niese and Pedro to go back to back. This probably wouldn’t turn out to be true.
With that being said, they’ll be a tough choice of who to throw out on Saturday. If there’s rain, my guess is they’ll turn to Pedro even though it’s not a good choice. Johan can’t throw on 3 days rest off of 125 pitches and Ollie will have to pitch deep tomorrow so that’s not an option. I would maybe consider the option of Bobby Parnell though.
What I meant to say was down 1.5 in NL East on Wednesday and get up to 2.0 in the Wild Card lead by the end of tomorrow.
I still see mixed responses on here, but I understand them. Let’s take a step back here though. Yesterday, we were angry. We were upset. We just wanted to see a win and we got it. I am not saying we should let than anguish go until it’s justified. What I’m saying is that we still need to be intense. It’s only natural to be nervous. I am still not happy. I am happy with this win, but I know how quick the tides can turn. I can not allow one game to convince me that everything has changed. I will say the Phillies loss gave me a bit of confidence in the NL East though.
We can’t have the mentality every time the Mets lose a game, the world ends. And every time them win one game, the world is restored. This isn’t how things work. I know this is how it may seem when there are 5 games left, but if we go into these games clear headed and giving it out all I really do believe we can win like 3 or 4 of these remaining 5.
It’s nice that we’re hanging on, and I’m thrilled to see the team showing signs of life, but we’ve got a lot more work to do here.
There is one, and only one way to ensure we make it into the postseason, and that is to win. A lot. Forget what Philadelphia and Milwaukee do; we were fortunate that the Phils lost today, but we can’t count on that, nor can we count on the Brewers losing a lot. Both are worthy adversaries and both are as good as we are, possibly even better (actually, I’d say both teams are probably better in some areas, worse in others).
IIn any case, neither the Phils nor the Brewers are going to lay down and die. They both have a lot of fight left in them. We cannot count on them losing; we must win.
Tuesday’s win was huge and yes, it was uplifting. But it’s still the first game we’ve won in four games. A .250 record from here on out is not going to do it. I want to see Jerry and company pulling out all the stops here. We are way past “business as usual” now. We need to see some creativity. And a lot of wins.
It seems sill to say it, but a lot of people lose sight of the trees with all that forest around. We (and by “we” I actually mean the Mets players and managemen) have to remember that there is one and only one sure path to the playoffs: Winning. We should play like each game from here on out is the most important game of the year, because… well, because it is.
So… deep breaths, everyone. And let’s soldier on.
Sorry for the typos above. It’s late, and my keyboard is apparently in need of replacing …again. You get the idea, though.
zambrano has owned the mets….this is going to be a tough one…lets hope we see zambrano from his last start where he couldnt get out of the first couple of innings and not see the one one where he threw a no hitter…..
BELIEVE
wouldn’t quite call it owned…. 4-1 with a 2.92 ERA is very good..but he has walked 20 in 37 innings and given up 14 runs (12 er) ….with almost 1 HR per start…we can hit him
FIRE OMAR … good win last night …
Are you going to start every post for the next 4 years with “Fire Omar?” That ship has reportedly sailed, whether you like it or not. Can we let it go and concentrate on the positive?
I love how this team doesn’t have to count on one star every day. Lately it’s been Delgado or Beltran. Last night it was Reyes and Wright. What a luxury it is to have those four guys in the same lineup every day.
It is! Plus Murphy, plus Evans is looking promising, plus eventually we’ll hopefully see a return to form for Church, and Tatis will be back… Maybe not ’til next year on both of these but if we’ve got everyone healthy, we’ve got a formidable lineup. Even without everyone healthy, we STILL have a formidable lineup.
I was looking at the leader boards in various stats last night, and it’s really interesting to see how many Mets are represented in the top 10 in each category. Look at the NL RBI board in particular. Yes, Ryan Howard leads that category with 141, which is impressive, but search the top 50 for more Phillies players and you find Utley (#10 with 100) and Burrell (#28 with 85). That’s a total of 326 RBIs for the Phil’s top 3 run producers.
Now look at the Mets. They have slots #2 (Wright, 122), #4 (Delgado, 110) and #5 (Beltran, 109). Total? 341. As a team, our regulars produce more runs (though it’s close), but even more importantly, it’s better distributed.
You can find the same kinds of things in the Hits category, in the Runs category. I guess we don’t have that one breakout star (MVP, anyone?) like the Phils do, but offensively, we’ve got more depth by far.
It’s funny because if you would’ve asked most fans what the team’s strenght was, they’d say Starting Pitching. But the teams offense can’t be overlooked.
LOL. Doesn’t really trip off the tongue, though.
Won’t fit on a sign someone holds over their head on TV, either.
mr.gee21 just made my day