Update, 11:34 am:
Both John Maine and Oliver Perez are scheduled to start for the Cyclones this weekend, with Maine pitching in Aberdeen on Saturday and Perez pitching in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Original Post:
Alex Cora will be leading off once again this afternoon, followed by Luis Castillo, David Wright, Ryan Church, Fernando Tatis will be in left field, followed by Fernando Martinez in center field, Nick Evans at first base, Omir Santos and Johan Santana.
Santana (8-5, 3.22 ERA) will start today for the Mets. Despite the loss in his last outing against Tampa Bay, Santana rebounded well off of his outing against the Yankees in which he gave up 9 earned runs in 3 innings – the most earned runs he has ever given up. He did not face the Cardinals when the Mets were in St. Louis at the end of April.
Chris Carpenter (5-1, 1.53 ERA) will start today for the Cardinals. Carpenter is 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA in seven starts since returning from the disabled list. He has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his starts this season and has pitched atleast six innings in all but two of his starts.
{ 138 comments }
Fix Tatis’ swing first, then play him. Until then, play Reed.
I have a feeling after scoring 11 last night they will put up no more than 2 runs but will have at least 2 men on in the 9th with a chance to win and have Wright up and he will strikeout to lose. It seems everytime the Mets play a day game, they are losing but have a chance to win in the end (tease the fans) and fail.
If they are in that position, it wouldn’t end the way you speculated. Instead, Wright will hit a bullet into the gap, and Rick Ankiel will come out of nowhere to make a diving backhanded snowconed catch to end the game.
Let me go on record as saying if the Mets don’t score a lot of runs today, i will scream, not because they failed but the hordes of Santana pity partyers who think that he’s an innocent victim.
Wright is obviously playing injured so give him a break already, he smoked the ball 4 times last night.
Playing Tatis over Murphy with a right-handed pitcher on the mound? Guess Jerry really is playing the hot hand!
TEASERS!!!
Bases loaded, 1 out, can’t score and put game away. Guess who was up.
I don’t know, maybe bring a lefty off of the bench to hit for Tatis. Why does Manuel stick with him? How many chances does he get? Church and Murphy didn’t get this many chances before being benched.
Does anyone know what the Mets record in weekday day games is this year? I think it’s pretty bad
Well, if Willie were still managing, Wright and Church would be resting today.
and Murphy sits again *sigh*
yea i was hoping evans would play LF and murph 1B today because even tho tatis had 3 RBIs yesterday…he still looks like an automatic out
Good idea to start Tatis against another sinker ball pitcher lol… Correct me if I’m wrong but sinker ball pitchers create ground balls and what has been Fernandos problem lately??? Ground balls and double plays??? lol…I agree I feel Murphy should be playing first today. Hope Tatis proves me wrong though.
Lets go Mets
Aboslutely agree that Murph should be at 1st and Evans in left. Jerry’s love affair with the Human DP machine is unconscionable and indefensible. I guess 4 DP’s in this series wasn’t enough, eh?
what was Evans playing in AA?
Why can’t we put him in LF and Murph at 1B.
Murph needs to be playing more than Tatis. The guy has a great week and then sits two straight games? com’n
In 25 AA starts, here’s Evans’ breakdown
1B: 14 starts
RF: 7 starts
LF: 3 starts
DH 1 start
There is no reason I am aware of that he should not be out in LF today.
Additionally, 8 of his last 13 AA starts were in the OF.
Daniel Murphy better have the flu or something, because there’s no other reason he should not be starting at 1B today. Nick Evans should be in LF and Fernando Tatis should be on the bench. I just can’t figure out Jerry Manuel’s logic here. Murphy was hitting early in the season when he was playing every day. Then, when you started playing him 1-3 times a week, he stopped producing. Then, when you committed to him as your everyday 1B, he rewarded you not only with good defense, but also with the bat. So what’s the response? Let’s start sitting him again. Does he owe Tatis money or something? Or am I on some kind of hidden camera game show and Jerry gets points for making steam come out my ears?
I’m holding out hope that this is a typo in the pre-game lineup post.
nope, lennon has the same lineup on his blog
Well, as nice as the 11-0 win was last night, I can’t get excited about it, to much. If they can pull off a win today behind Santana, then, perhaps, we are over the hump. I think that the decision goes to Carpenter. The METS don’t score run for Santana, andm he has lost his last 3 starts. This will be a good test for the team to overcome. It would be great to have the Yankees come in, with us a nice winning streak, and, to win a series, after, loosing the last three. LETS GO METS !!!
god is tatis hitting terrible… under normal conditions he’d have hit into a ground ball out on almost all of his at bats except 1 yesterday. but somehow he had 3 rbi’s and is high in the order again. WTF?!?!
He did have a couple of RBI hits yesterday. To be honest, most of the DPs I’ve seen him hit into, he hit the ball pretty hard — just right at an infielder. Sometimes your hard grounders don’t find holes, and that’s when double plays happen.
the first one came on a ground out. the second came with the situation he was in. he hit a ground ball past the SS with the infield drawn in. later he actually hit one up the middle though. but not overly hard.
Those aren’t the at bats I’m watching. I could see if he was smoking a one hopper right at the 2nd baseman, but they are just pounding him away and instead of going the other way he is yanking everything to the shortstop for an easy DP. These are not good at bats.
Santana’s only career start vs. St. Louis was a complete-game six-hitter. Let me be the first to order up another one.
let me second that man our guys better work counts on carpentar and get him out of the game if they can’t hit him, it would be really great to win this game especially to make it johan’s ninth win. I def. don’t want johan to have to take a loss
I agree with what’s been written above.
Murphy should be playing 1B with Evans in LF.
Back to Back righties and Tatis plays over Murphy. Unbelievable. And tomorrow they face a lefty so he’ll sit that game too. Did Tatis put up Pujols numbers last year and I missed it? Why is he getting superstar in a slump treatment? Murph is finally getting his swing back and he sits against righties? I just don’t understand and I wish one of these “journalists” would ask Jerry this question
Murphy should be playing come on, he is finally hot and jerry sits him thats stupid. I understand Evans had a big game but he should be in LF and Tatis should be sitting, he did ground into a double play and I believe either a force out or another double play where the run scored, he finally got a hit after David stole third but it was in the same spot as all his rally killing double plays. I hope Tatis gets it together but where are they planning on playing him? Will it be he and Evans in LF when Pagan comes back? It seems stupid to start sitting Murphy, we need guys like that to step it up and Murphy has responded in the last few games. I understand Evans had the HR last night but Murphy had the HR in the first game of the series and then sat for these last two games.
not to mention if you REALLY want to start Tatis, then you sit Fernando who has done nothing. why would you sit Murphy??? And dont tell me because Fernando can play center, just put church in center.
Gimme a break. Like I say later in tis blog…I have refarined from bashing jerry’s decisions because some work out some dont. Its baseball. But its these “Willie” like moves that baffle me!
Now Tatis will go 3 for 4 today and make Jerry look smart but its still the wrong move right now.
I also don’t really bash jerry’s desicions because he goes with his gut or whatever and sometimes they work out and he’ll look so smart (like the game he started pagan in i don’t remember it too well but i remember nobody wanted pagan starting, well very few people) but murphy should be playing and f-mart is overmatched. F-mart will be sent down soon enough when Pagan is ready but stillll.
I too hope Tatis proves me wrong today
While it’s true that Church could handle CF, who then would you have play RF? Sheff is on the shelf, U want to sit F-mart, They need Jeremy Reed to come off the bench in the late innings. Tatis clearly doesn’t have the range for RF in CITIFIELD. So that leaves Evans, do you really want a rookie starting his first game in the outfield at Citifield in RF with all that comes with that position? I wouldn’t think so. Evans should start in LF, MUrphy starts at 1B where he belongs and Fernando GBDP Tatis rides the pines and pinch hits which is supposed to be his role in the first place!
I thought that maybe Tatis had great career numbers against Carpenter. So I checked, and he is hitting a whopping .000 in 8 at bats.
thanks for that info man i was wondering the same thing. It does not bode well although he has to have his first hit sometime (right?
if tatis doesnt produce today evans better be in LF and murph at 1B for CC tomorrow…jerry has been trying to get tatis going all year…maybe theres a reason he wasnt playing him…it was a nice story last year but theres a reason he was out of baseball for a few years…
This makes no sense. Tatis had 3 RBIS yesterday 1 was on a ground out another was on a ground ball with infield in which would have been an out. Why would you start Tatis who is right handed against one of the better RH pitchers in the league and sit Murphy who has been hitting the ball well.
I have not bashed Jerry but its getting harder and harder every day.
I still can’t get over this. LOL. this is such a Willie move to start Tatis and Fernando over murphy. Especially Tatis. The only thing I can think is they think Tatis adds a “power threat” but where do you see this?
Is Willie back to managing this team? LOL
Sabathia is pitching tomorrow so Murphy won’t start against a Lefty you know that. I’m not at all a Jerry basher, but I just can’t stand the obsession with Tatis
Good idea to start Tatis against another sinker ball pitcher lol… Correct me if I’m wrong but sinker ball pitchers create ground balls and what has been Fernandos problem lately??? Ground balls and double plays??? lol…I agree I feel Murphy should be playing first today. Hope Tatis proves me wrong though.
Lets go Mets
could somebody tell me what is going on with wright – i keep reading that he is “playing injured” but i have gotten no information about that
Here is exerpt from last night’s recap on Mets site:
NEW YORK — Late in the seventh inning Wednesday night, Mets general manager Omar Minaya called the dugout to inquire about the condition of David Wright. Minaya had noticed Wright take an awkward, perhaps compromised, step when he crossed first base on an infield hit and saw his third baseman downshift as he approached third base on an ensuing double. In this Mets season of pulls and pains and tears and strains, it only was proper for Minaya to cross his fingers, dial the trainer and hold his breath.
An hour later, after the Mets had thoroughly steamrolled the Cardinals, Wright himself responded to other inquiries about his body. He promised to be in the lineup Thursday afternoon when the Mets and Cardinals engage each other for the fourth time in four days, which of course didn’t answer the question of “Did you hurt your leg?” All we know for certain is that he didn’t hurt himself sidestepping the questions.
thanks for the info. not really sure what to think about this but david has been playing great lately so not too worried
No problem, all that i’ve heard is that its some kind of thigh injury that’s been bugging him for about 2 weeks.
I have noticed that he has been limping on and off and bending over with hands on knees and stretching out after doubles, etc.
He’s been sliding feetfirst more than usual and i’ve observed that his left leg which is bent under him when sliding seems to be getting dragged and strained.
Good Pitchin’, beats good hittin’.
Argo; I for one look forward to another beautiful day in The Citi.
Let’s Go Metropolitans!
One additional thought on Tatis still in the lineup today….maybe he’s got good history against Carpenter and that’s what Jerry was thinking, right?
Wrong.
Lifetime vs. Carpenter he is 0 for 8 with 3 K’s. But at least he didn’t hit into ay DP’s in those 8 AB’s.
Also…why doesnt someone fix Tatis’s batting stance? Last yeah when he was good I think his bat head was pointed up now its parallel to his shoulder……….
just saying………
Listening Jerry on the pre-game he is still taking about “getting Tatis going like he was last year”. He just won’t stop this silliness and he really believes it. He keeps talking about Tatis as one of those big RBI men. Do not expect to see Tatis out of the lineup for a good while. He must be under the illusion that Tatis is going to give us what Beltran did.
I’ve officially crossed over in my opinion of Jerry. I was a believer for a long time and loved his jovial, upbeat style. I’m over it now. Hate to be harsh but to me he’s become basically just a clown.
So…look at this:
“During Friday night’s game, Keith Hernandez noted that Tatis’ swing is different this year than last year. He’s not holding his bat up straight, but rather pointing it more towards the dugout than perpendicular to the ground (that’s right McCarver PER-PIN-DIC-ULAR, not parallel you moron) like he was last year. This causing his bat to be slower to get through the hitting zone and why he’s having trouble catching up to fastballs.”
UMM?!?!?! Whats up with this? Are they sleeping at the wheel???
one thing about jerrys pregame that made no sense is…he said “with the way we are going, people who perform are going to play, its not that im benching anyone, just people who perform will play”…something along those lines
The thing that doesnt make any sense is..murphy was performing now hes out…evans hit so he gets a 2nd game…tatis still cant hit his way out of a paper bag yet he keeps getting thrown out there….i dont get jerry sometimes
I understand that Nieve took Johan aside before today’s game and gave him some pointers. Hopefully, Johan will implement Nieve’s advice.
lol, funny
LETS GO METS !!!!!!
Geez, it might be a long day boys bases loaded…PUjos up…UGH
NM, Santana got it done! He seems all over the place today, but it’stough to tell from gameday.
yea santana is all over the place, doesnt have much command it seems…on the other hand carpenters breaking balls are just making every mets hitter look silly
Yeah Carpenter looks like his usual nasty self….UGh They are just going to start laying off the breaking stuff if they can.
This is not looking all that promising, Carpenter is just looking nasty and Johan is all over the place. That one run might be all CC needs at this point. Lets hope they can scratch out a few and Johan gets into a groove at some point
So, this season it’s all Tatis’ fault. Last season, it was all Castillo’s fault. I’m glad you’ve all settled on your scapegoat for the season.
Let me be clear! It’s not all Tatis’s fault……….Jerry Manuel has a fair amount to do with some of the losses this year as well, like wise with the numerous injuries the team has sustained!
Gameday says that Santana is throwing his fb at 82mph….they are confusing it for the changeup, right?
They gotta be, no way he only give up one run with a 82 mph heater! NOt against this team.
How many times has Santana walked the opposing pitcher this year? Seems like it happens almost every start.
Ah, well, it’s only been five times total. Which still seems like a hell of a lot.
-Chan Ho Park x2
-Jordan Zimmermann
-James Shields
-Chris Carpenter.
Either way it’s “Cardinal sin” if you’ll pardon the pun! lol
What is Santana doing? I can only watch the game with MLB computer graphics. It looks like he is right on the zone and isn’t getting calls. I see he has thrown 74 pitches in 4 innings so either he is getting squeezed or their little box is off.
As far as Tatis playing, if this was Church, would we see someone else in RF? Think so. Tatis is not a great defensive player and if he isn’t hitting then either Reed or Evans should be in there.
OH NO, Human DP is up with 1st and 3rd. Why God Why?
for some reason everytime i read this i laugh
Umm…never mind.
Nicky the Kid does it again
It says he doubled to deep right. Was it off the wall?
it wasn’t off the wall it flew by the right fielder
Fernando Tatis is my hero & Jerry is a genius!
haha
Easy now Andrew, lets give Tatis the credit, not Jerry…he hasn’t earned it yet. lol
how many of us were sure that was going to be a dp and yay for nick evans and tatis, santana seems to be getting it together let’s hope we can hold this two run lead it would be so nice to take the series
Lets hope so! Although a small accomplishment, how about Martinez grounding to the right side to advance the runners so Nick could drive them in! Good for Nick for not trying to do too much and just get a hit.
thats true every little thing counts this is the way the team has to play without really any pop in the lineup and especially now that we are against an ace
its nice to see the guys pick up johan
suck that molina
Santana throws up a Zero! Ah now that’s the Santana we know and love!
ugh 3-2 we better get some more runs, heart of the lineup comming up so that will be our chance and we have to work more counts and get to the bullpen
ya know what sucks one of these runs was the result of catcher’s interference which was such a stupid call
LGM,LGM,LGM!!!
let’s see santana put up a zero here
so far one thing that is good is…even tho church has a run scored and wright has an infield single is the two “big bats” if thats what u want to call them have been kept quiet and other guys have come through…which is how this team is going to have to play for a while
it was great to see the church/wright magic yesterday but we need the whole team to contribute (which they did yesterday) for us to win especially missing beltran and delgado
let’s just be happy that was a single and not a hr
one more, c’mon johan
okay can we please get some more runs, one run leads make me nervous especially playing against pujols
Nice come back by Santana to 7 after the start he had! 7 innings 2 Runs on 7 hits…not bad, not bad at all!
Only 1 earned run…
Can someone please explain to me what the approach at the plate was for the Mets???? Good lord, make him work to get the outs don’t give at bats away!
Look Murph got a hit off a lefty. Hope you weren’t in the clubhouse for that one Jerry
C’mon Church!
damn i thought church was gunna come through there
Did he swing at ball 4?
yes he did!…………..twice!
UGH!, NOw it’s up to Tatis. ………….C’mon K-rod!
Bases loaded, 1 out, middle of the order up… our Achilles heel. How did they know?!?
great job with the bases loaded!
i see church is back to his old self
I just have absolutely little to no confidence in Fernando Tatis. I understand they’re trying to get him going, but he shouldn’t be batting 4th or 5th. Even if means a hitter like Nick Evans hitting 5th. I don’t care. He’s not coming through. I know he had a couple of hits yesterday. But with Sheffield coming back, the platoon should to go Murph and Evans at 1B.
Ryan Church worked a good count. On 3-0 it was right down the middle. But you are supposed to take there. I wouldn’t have swung at 3-1 either. He swung at two balls than. He looked over matched. The last pitch was a ball. The breaker I can see swinging at because he hadn’t seen that. But it really didn’t look that close going up stairs. As long as Frankie can close this out nicely though, it’s okay. Otherwise, we’ll be looking back on that.
It’s not like Omir Santos hasn’t been hitting either. When we get Sheff back, you put Wright 3rd, Gary 4th, Santos 5th, Church 6th, Evans or Murph 7th, F-Mart or Reed 8th.
IF I’m Jerry I gotta hold up the four fingers here!
You don’t want to mess with Albert in a hitter’s count…
He can’t win the game though, only tie it. Putting him on base is risky too.
I thought he was pitching around him. He probably was and than lost command to Ludwick. In that situation, I’d pitch around Pujols too… Go away on everything. I see you’re point though.
It’s a moot point now, but it just opens up more opportunities. For example, that dropped popup would have been less damaging if Krod hadn’t put Texeira on base to get to ARod.
Even though Ludwick has the homer off of us, he hasn’t been that great lately.
Hopefully you didn’t just jinx it.
Told you I didn’t lol
Guess this confirms to me that you are not Gary Cohen lol
I know Murph has been improving, but Evans is impressing me… He’s young, has more pop and can probably play an even better 1B than Murph. Anyone remember that double play he turned against Pitts last August?
I didn’t… Come on Krod…
This is typical krod
He’s not any better @ 1B, BUt LF would be great for Evans with Tatis sitting.
You can thank the two losers Tatis and Church for making life extra stressful
9 in a row
i dont trust evans much more than murph out in LF. He just doesnt look comfortable out there
ump blew a call come on
Thank you K-Rod! I feel as stressed as I do with Heilman out there, but don’t have to barf at the end of the inning
That was easy. Phew!!
Did you see that? Pujols was laying on his butt like he was on the beach when Castillo tagged him? I guess that 3B ump can’t help out on that. Pure laze… These base umps are really making me care less about major league baseball every game.
K-Rod does it again! Mets win! 3 of 4 from the Cards! Who knew?
Come on how can you compare the feeling with KROD with Heilman, that’s crazy. Every closer gives up some baserunners but most of the time he’s been clean in the ninth. There has not been that many of these type of games
There haven’t been as many of these as there have been with the Angels. The thing that makes it more stressful is I trust our defense so much less this year than last year. I can’t trust my fielders to catch a lazy pop up. He has been sensational though. I don’t think you could compare anything to Heilman. There was no logic for even putting him into games. That was one thing at least Jerry gave up on that Willie couldn’t with Mota.
I agree, with Heilman the tums and the double scotch are on standby! With K-rod I don’t even open the liquor cabinet except to celebrate!
OMG pujols was out!!! it works out okay because we win with the man on the mound but he was out!!!
What happened? Did he try to steal?
No. He was leading far. K-Rod tried picking him off. The ball didn’t really beat him to the bag, but Castillo blocked him from getting in. The second base umpire was on the other side of the bag though so he couldn’t see that. Pujols was laying off the bag by at least a foot. Than Wright was jumping up and down pointing lol
No he was picked off second he didn’t have a hand on second base and castillo had his glove on him for like 4 seconds and the umpire was blocked and didn’t see it. Wright was jumping up and down going nuts trying to get the third base ump to make the call
I’m amazed..
Just when you thought they were out of it, they sneak back in…
There’s a song in there somewhere.
Come to think of it, the Mets are a country song.
Yeah. It’s a shame too to know that if Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran caught their respective catches (or Wright didn’t boot that ball) they dropped in those games, they’d be up 2 games in the division right now. The one against the Phillies was a two game swing… That’s not even counting Ryan Church’s non-touch of 3B, but there was no guarantee K-Rod would get that save (especially with the defense that night).
I don’t like thinking about those games since what is done is done, but it irritates me that I have a feeling that they’ll be at least another 3 games lost like this… Easily enough to decide the division. It’s too bad our stupid manager couldn’t do intense defense drills like he did with his opposite field hitting drill (which is working)
I’m sure the phils are thing the same thing right about now.
It all evens out in the end.
Tatis drives in a run and makes us all look dumb. LOL
Well every dog has its day. He didn’t exactly rip it. It was a bloop that wouldn’t have scored the run if the outfielder caught it. And he did pop up in the 8th with the bases jacked but on the positive side no DP’s
Just ’cause it worked doesn’t mean it was the right move. If I take my rent check to Foxwoods and put it on black 22 and I hit, do I look smart?
Oh I agree. Its still stupid…but he did drive the run in. Personally, no way I would have had him in the lineup.
He should only occasionally start. With Murphy and Evans holding their own though, it’s not necessary. Sheffield will be back. Church is doing well and we need his glove out in RF too. If Tatis does start though, the middle of the order is not where he belongs.
It’d be pretty nice to see the Rays take care of the Phillies tonight too…
It looks like the Twins were watching too much video of Mets defense
Why all the Tatis haters?
I thought he turned the corner between yesterday and today.
And isn’t Church hitting better too?
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