Daily Archives: May 5, 2009
The Mets (12–13) defeated the Braves (11–15) by the score of 4 to 3 at Turner Field in Atlanta tonight.
For a full recap and boxscore, go here.
The least you should know…
- Carlos Beltran had two singles tonight, setting a career-high 16-game hitting streak.
- Ramon Castro went 3-4 (2 2B) with one RBI.
- The game was broken open in the top of the 9th with a BASES LOADED two-run single by Carlos Delgado.
- Livan Hernandez earned the win tonight with two strikeouts, two walks and one earned run in 6.1 IP.
Other Observations…
- Seriously, other than the sun, is there anything hotter right now than Beltran is at the plate.
- As Matt and I discussed tonight, it is amazing what happens when you take the right approach to the plate and execute. The Mets batters adjusted to Kenshin Kawakami pitching outside and they started hitting to the opposite field.
- However, Mets hitters still found ways to miss scoring opportunities through the first five innings.
- The defense came up huge behind Hernandez, who turned three double plays and made some nice plays in the outfield.
- And speaking of defense, thank you to Luis Castillo and Delgado for my heartburn tonight.
Key moments…
- In the eighth inning, after a Luis Castillo error, J.J. Putz rebounded nicely by recording the next two outs to end the inning. The Mets went on to put away the Braves with two runs in the 9th inning, thanks to a Chipper Jones throwing error.
Game Ball…
- Goes to Ryan Church for catching the ball with two-hands to end the game.
Johan Santana takes the hill for the Mets tomorrow night as they start a two-game series with the Phillies at Citi Field.
During tonight’s game broadcast on SNY, Gary Cohen said Brian Schneider will not play in a rehab game until next Monday, meaning it will be at least another 10 to 14 days before he is activated from the disabled list.
Schneider originally went on the 15–day disabled list with a back injury, but then injured his calf during his rehab.
Tonight’s Game:
The Mets (11-13, 5-6 Road) look to sweep their brief two-game series versus the Braves (11-14, 5-8 Home) tonight at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia, starting at 7:10 p.m. EDT.
On the Mound:
- RHP Livan Hernandez (1-21 6.75 ERA) will start for the Mets.
- RHP Kenshin Kawakami (1-3, 7.06 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!
In today’s edition of New York Baseball Today, Matt and Dan Graziano discuss WHIP and how it pertains to the starting pitchers in tonight’s Mets-Braves and Yankees-Red Sox games.
To watch today’s NYBT, click play below:
Tagged News |The Mets announced Johan Santana has been named National League Pitcher of the Month for April.
Santana, who also won the award in Septemeber of 2008, was 3-1 with a 1.10 ERA, allowing four earned runs on 22 hits and nine walks, while striking out 44 batters in 32.1 innings pitched in April.
Tagged Mike Nichols |
In a post to his Twitter page, Newsday’s David Lennon mentions Daniel Murphy and Jeremy Reed are both taking ground balls at first base, prior to today’s game in Atlanta.
According to Lennon, ‘Murphy looks 100 percent more comfortable at first than in left field.’
Like I have been saying, as well as so many others, I believe the Mets see Murphy as a their first baseman of the future.
So, with Carlos Delgado recent hip issues, which will require rest on and off all season, it looks like the Mets are slowly looking at their future now.
Tagged News |Yesterday, the Mets put Oliver Perez in the bullpen, and replaced him in the rotation with Ken Takahashi, who start Friday against the Pirates.
Jerry Manuel explained to reporters:
“He’ll be in the bullpen until we rebuild him, get him back right… It’s something that I’ve done before with starters: Jon Garland, James Baldwin, those guys. You have three or four bad outings, you try to find a spot that you could get him back and get some confidence. Have some success first, then confidence, and then go from there.”
…i have seen no evidence the Mets asked perez to go to the minor leagues, though that has not stopped people from assuming this must have been the case, and thus assuming perez is selfish for declining… i don’t sense he had the opportunity to decline… maybe the Mets were made aware of this, and so they never asked… who knows… personally, i like to think the team just knows perez better than we do, and figured it made more 
sense to keep with under Dan Warthen’s wing…
“I feel pretty good Ollie is going to turn it around,” Omar Minaya told reporters, from the dugout in Turner Field. “He’s working hard, trying to do the best that he can to get back. He has the support of the organization, support of the players. It’s a course of action that I think will get him back on the right track.”
Manuel told reporters Takahashi will make at least two starts, while Perez is used as in specific spots as a situational lefty.
To learn more about Takahashi, read Brian Costa’s report for the Star Ledger, and Adam Rubin’s report for the Daily News.
Tagged Oliver Perez |
Yesterday, the Boston Globe a simple sentence in a notes column that read, “The Mets removed New York newspapers from the clubhouse to get rid of negative vibes.”
Today, Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post adds, “The Mets consider their players’ psyches so fragile that they no longer provide copies of The Post or the other New York tabloid in their Citi Field clubhouse.”
According to Hubbuch, “A source said team management didn’t want the players exposed to the ‘bad vibes’ from the tabloids.’
…well, maybe if they stopped referring to themselves as ‘tabloids,’ this would not have been a problem…
…anyway… from what i can gather, this isn’t for home games, but for road games, because only certain newspapers are available nationally… and so not to play favorites, having some papers in the clubhouse and not others, the team pulled them all – except for USA Today…
…this does sound fishy… but, frankly, who cares… the team and players can choose to read what they want to read, or not read what they don’t want to read… if the players don’t care, why should i care…
…so long as they have computers to log on to MetsBlog.com, of course…
Tagged News |
Joe Blanton allowed one run on 4 hits over 6 innings, and Ryan Howard blasted a 5th inning grand slam as the Phillies went on to beat the Cardinals, 6-1.
Jayson Werth also hit his 3rd home run of the season. The two teams play the second and final game of their series tonight at 8:15 PM ET.
Josh Johnson pitched 7+ strong innings, Hanley Ramirez homered, and the Florida Marlins scratched out a 14th inning run on a Cincinnati error to edge the Reds, 3-2.
Johnson gave up 2 tuns and struck out 6 without walking a batter. Tonight the Marlins send Chris Volstad to the mound to oppose Cincinnati’s Edinson Volquez.
Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 22 games by going 4-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored to rally the Nationals to a 9-7 win over the Astros.
Joel Hanrahan and Garrett Mock finally gave Washington some solid bullpen work, combining to pitch 3 scoreless innings.
In a Tuesday matinee at Nationals Park, Scott Olsen takes the ball for Washinton while Roy Oswalt will toe the rubber for the Astros. Game time is 12:35 PM ET.
In player news…Jorge Cantu took home player of the week honors after hitting .346 with 4 home runs and 14 RBI last week.
And as if it were a surprise to anyone, an anonymous source has confirmed that the Nationals will select San Diego St. starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg in the June First Year Player Draft.
For more news, notes, analysis and statistics from around Major League Baseball, be sure to visit Baseball Daily Digest.
Tagged MetsBlog, News |The Mets trailed the Braves 3–0 last night after the second inning, but came from behind to win the game 6 to 4.
“Everyone was up today,” John Maine explained to reporters, following the game. “You know, after that second inning, by me throwing two scoreless frames in the third and fourth, there was just kind of a good vibe, a different vibe. You know, we all battled, we did a great job, we didn’t take anything for granted and we expected to win that game.”
…if you didn’t see him answer this on air, it was pretty funny… maine just wanted to talk about his start, it seemed… he mentioned the vibe on the bench, and the reporters just kept asking and asking him more and more questions about it, and no matter how hard he tried to spin it back in to his performance, the next question was about the bench… i don’t blame either side…
Carlos Beltran later added, “Today we played with a lot of passion, and it was great to see that.”
… i did a few interviews yesterday, and in each one i kept saying, while i agree with the idea that this team can get down on itself and cave in to the pressure i think, and so questions about heart, pride and intensity are valid, i believe, instead, if they throw strikes, make plays on defense, move runners over, etc., do ‘the little things,’ then suddenly talk of heart, pride and intensity will resolve itself, because winning and playing better baseball cures all… this team needs to play better, win, get a on roll, start believing in itself, so we can start believing in them, and then from that there will be attitude, from that we’ll see an edge…
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