Daily Archives: May 4, 2009
The Mets (11–13) defeated the Braves (11–14) by the score of 6 to 4 at Turner Field in Atlanta tonight.
For a full recap and boxscore, go here.
The least you should know…
- John Maine struggled early, but rebounded to pitch six innings, during which he allowed three runs.
- Carlos Beltran hit two two-run home runs, and David Wright hit another home run for the team’s six runs.
- Robert Parnell pitched a scoreless seventh, followed by J.J. Putz, who let up a home run to Chipper Jones, after which Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Other Observations…
- The Mets bench looked and sounded alive all night. Maine even pointed this out during his post-game talk with reporters, saying ‘everyone was up today… It was a good vibe.’
- Maine did not look right early, walking lots of batters, but he clearly made an adjustment or two, fought through his struggles, found extra zip on his fastball and looked strong, getting swings and misses on his slider.
- I can’t believe Braves fans are still doing the Tomahawk Chop.
- Wright looked better in most of his at bats, while hitting a double to left-center, then a home run to right-center.
- Ryan Church made a nice play in the first inning, making a running grab on the warning track, while looking directly in to the sun.
- Beltran has a 15–game hitting streak.
- I like how things such as ‘edge,’ ‘heart,’ and ‘passion,’ do not dominate the discussion when the team actually pitches, catches, throws and hits the ball well.
Key moments…
- In the sixth inning, after the Mets took a one-run lead, the Braves looked to be mounting a rally with runners on second and third and two outs, but Maine struck out Jordan Schafer with a 94–mph fastball to end the inning.
Game Ball…
- Tonight’s game ball goes to Beltran, who hit two two-run home runs, and who is looking absolutely locked-in at the plate.
The Mets complete their two-game series with the Braves when Livan Hernandez pitches on Tuesday at 7 pm in Atlanta.
Tonight’s Game:
The Mets (10-12, 4-6 Road) begin a quick two-game series versus the Braves (11-13, 5-7 Home) tonight at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia, starting at 7:10 p.m. EDT.
On the Mound:
- RHP John Maine (1-2, 9.31 ERA) will start for the Mets.
- RHP Javier Vazquez (3-1, 5.09 ERA) will pitch for the Braves.
At the Plate:
- Jose Reyes, SS
- Daniel Murphy, LF
- Carlos Beltran, CF
- Carlos Delgado, 1B
- David Wright, 3B
- Ryan Church, RF
- Ramon Castro, C
- Luis Castillo, 2B
- John Maine, RHP
Tonight’s Broadcast:
- Tonight’s game will be broadcast on SNY and WFAN.
Enjoy, and as always, Let’s Go Mets!
Prior to today’s game, Jerry Manuel told reporters Oliver Perez will temporarily move to the bullpen and be used as a left-handed reliever.
Manuel said the team did not ask Perez to accept a minor league assignment.
Manuel said he will use Perez against left-handed batters in situational spots, in addition to working multiple innings.
The 40–year-old Ken Takahashi will start Friday against the Pirates.
…like i said earlier, i believe perez’s issues are confidence and mental, and since i do not know him, nor know how best to treat his ego and psyche, i trust the Mets did what they believe to be the best way to get him through this…
…that said, basically, the Mets now have the most expensive left-handed reliever in baseball… just a thought, but, maybe the better solution would have been to pay Randy Wolf and Joe Biemel a combined $7 million, instead of $13 million for perez and takahashi… like i said, just a thought…
Tagged Oliver Perez |
Mets Fans Forever held a Q&A with the Daily News’ Adam Rubin, covering topics such as trades, Omir Santos, and Daniel Murphy.
Over at Psychology Today, they refer to the 1986 Mets as “winners”, saying, “the thin line between victory and defeat is one composed not of muscle but mentality.”
Never Forget 69 says the current Mets have a losing mentality.
…gotta love the psychoanalysis everyone is giving these days…the more i hear about the current Mets not having “edge”, the more the 1986 Mets come up as being the antithesis of them…as much fun as that era was, the fact that we keep talking about a team that won a championship over two decades ago as being the standard of what a team should be, shows how long the Mets haven’t met our expectations…i wish we could sort of let that go, but i understand since i still hold on to memories of 2006, and they didn’t even reach the series…
…the bottom line is that if the Mets win, all the comparisons will finally end…
Uni Watch notices that Mike Pelfrey has been missing the “Mets” patch from his jersey.
…i’d guess that’s by design, as pitchers have more leeway with how their jersey is created…
Lastly, The 700 Level depicts an image of how tense the Mets-Phillies rivalry has become.
…whatever happened to the days of going to a baseball game to relax and have fun…
Carlos Delgado will start at first base tonight.
Jose Reyes will bat leadoff, followed in order by Daniel Murphy in left field, Carlos Beltran, Delgado, David Wright, Ryan Church in right, Ramon Castro, Luis Castillo at second and John Maine on the mound.
Here is today’s edition of New York Baseball Today, during which Howard Megdal from SNY.tv and Ted Berg talk about pitches-per-plate appearance and how it relates to the pitching match ups for tonight’s Mets and Yankees games.
To watch today’s NYBT, click play below:
Tagged SNY |On Saturday, with the game tied at 
five in the eighth inning, and runners on first and second with no outs, Jose Reyes failed twice to get a sacrifice bunt down, after which he struck out swinging.
Reyes is on pace to hit just .258, steal 25 bases, hit seven home runs, and drive in 55 runs this year with a .336 OBP.
Reyes has only scored nine runs this season.
David Wright is being booed often in Citi Field, while Reyes, who has been criticized a lot in the past, seems to be going unnoticed.
I think what has been most disappointing is that Jerry Manuel worked a lot with Reyes in spring training to try and elevate his game, and encouraging him to be a leader on the team and essentially become the captain of the infield.
He has started slow before, and ended up with a tremendous stat line, so I believe he, like so many others, will turn it around.
The short-term problem, though, is that he is failing at ‘the little things,’ such as not getting down the bunt on Saturday, or hitting weak pops with runners on base.
According to David Lennon at Newsday, Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon, are headed to Atlanta to discuss the future of Oliver Perez.
Lennon writes, “As much as everyone wants to dismiss Olllie and dump him in the minors, remember this is a three-year, $36-million business investment… The Mets have to tread carefully with Perez, and not just for the short-term benefit of this season. They can’t just wash their hands of him.”
Added to by Matthew Cerrone:
This is a tough situation, because Perez is an emotional guy. People can psychoanalyze him all they want, but the reality is he is an unknown, and how to deal with him is an unknown.
Rick Peterson had a great impact on Perez, then he didn’t.
Dan Warthen took over, Perez was awesome and now he isn’t.
From the Mets point of view, they need to decide what is the best way to get across to him, and get him through whatever is troubling him. They can ask to send him to the minor leagues, but that can be demoralizing, but at the same time effective, though he would be under the eyes of a different set of coaches and away from the major league club, which could be good, but could also be bad.
Or, is it smarter to keep him with the big league club, so he can work directly with Warthen and Johan Santana, who is done his best to mentor Perez – in that sense, maybe the bullpen does make sense.
The point is, this isn’t as simple as, ‘Send him to the minors.’ There are contracts, egos, the Player’s Union, coaches, money, etc., involved here.
I think it’s impossible to say what the best scenario is, because I do not think we’re talking about a physical ailment, I think it’s a mental issue – and I do not know Oliver Perez, I’ve only talked with him once, so I couldn’t begin to offer real advice on how to deal with his psyche.
In the end, I still believe he’ll either end up in the bullpen, with Ken Takahashi taking his start, or he’ll end up on the disabled list, while allow the team to call up a player from Triple-A.
Tagged Oliver Perez, Omar Minaya, Regis Courtemanche |Jon Heyman of SI.com talked to Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, who said he is not 
actively shopping RHP Roy Halladay.
However, Ricciardi adds, “If we ever did get to that point, we’d want a boatload… But obviously, we’re not at that point.”
Halladay, who is eligible to be a free agent at the end of 2010, is 5–1 with 3.68 ERA in six starts for Toronto.
Meanwhile, in a second report for SI.com, Heyman believes it is not crazy to think the Indians will trade Cliff Lee this season, noting how well things turned out for both the Indians and Brewers last season when dealing CC Sabathia.
Lee is 1–4 with a 3.92 ERA in six starts for the Indians, during which opponents are hitting .309 against him.
Lee is eligible to be a free agent at the end of this season.
Heyman also reports on the latest allegations against Alex Rodriguez; the development of Matt Kemp; the Marlins bullpen; the Nationals young pitching; and the Mets catching situation; among other things.
Tagged News |
The Atlanta Braves got off to a quick start Friday night in their series against the Houston Astros but promptly dropped the next two games on Saturday and Sunday.
Derek Lowe threw another solid game on Friday against former Met and Brave, Mike Hampton. Unfortunately, rain on Saturday limited Jair Jurrjens to just 2 innings, and Jo-Jo Reyes ran out of gas on Sunday, allowing the Astros to take 2 of 3 games.
…Fortunately for the Mets, they’ll now miss Lowe and Jurrjens and face Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami in this week’s short series.
After staging a major comeback to beat the Cubs on Thursday night, the Marlins pitching staff didn’t quite live up to its lofty early season expectations, losing games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday by scores of 8-6, 6-1, and 6-4.
The Cubs offense used 5 home runs to rack up 20 runs and take the final 3 games of the series from Florida, who have now lost 7 of their last 10.
In one bit of good news for the Marlins, shortstop Hanley Ramirez returned to action on Friday night after missing the previous three days with a sore wrist.
After knocking around the Nats “closer” Julian Tavarez Thursday night, St. Louis came right back and launched 4 home runs Friday on the way to handing rookie Jordan Zimmerman his first loss of the year.
On Saturday, Shairon Martis tossed a complete game 5-hitter to help the Nationals salvage a game against the Cardinals, 6-1, before the two teams got washed out on Sunday.
Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman ran his hitting streak to 21 games, and Adam Dunn hit his 7th home run of the season.
Up next for the NL East this week…The Nationals play host to the Astros, the Phillies are in St. Louis, the Marlins are at home to take on the Reds, and of course, the Mets travel to Atlanta.
Braves catcher Brian McCann has opted to try to wear glasses since contact lenses provided no relief for his blurry vision.
And it appears that Phillies ace Cole Hamels continues to have problems with his sprained left ankle. His scheduled Tuesday start has now been pushed back to Friday.
For more news, notes, analysis and statistics from around Major League Baseball, be sure to visit Baseball Daily Digest.
Tagged MetsBlog, News | ← Older posts
