Daily Archives: July 12, 2009
Argenis Reyes has been demoted to Triple-A Buffalo.
No replacement for Reyes has been announced.
The Mets beat the Reds, 9-7, today at Citi Field.
For a complete recap, box score and stats, click here.
The Least You Should Know:
- The Mets tallied 16 hits against Aaron Harang and the Reds’ bullpen. Every position player in the lineup except Angel Pagan got on base at least twice.
- Mike Pelfrey was very Mike Pelfreyish. He cruised through the first four innings then struggled, balked and allowed three runs in the fifth before settling in for the sixth and seventh. He allowed only five hits and two walks on the day and yielded a lot of ground balls.
- The Mets’ bullpen, spearheaded by Sean Green let the Reds make it a game with a three-run eighth. Cincy threatened again and scored one in the ninth, but Francisco Rodriguez put out his own fire to earn the save.
Other Observations and Notes:
- Jeff Francoeur had his first two convincing hits in a Mets uniform, a line-drive single to center and a line-drive double in the gap.
- Ralph Kiner is awesome at 87. It seems like he’s now a little more boastful (rightfully) about his playing career than he was when he was broadcasting everyday, and it suits him.
- Daniel Murphy had a couple of hard hits to right field and made another excellent defensive play, leaning over a railing along the first-base line for a foul pop-up. It looked like he made a Superman pose on the rail, too.
- Gary Sheffield was supposed to have the day off but asked into the lineup and drove in three runs on two hits.
- After Brian Schneider and Fernando Tatis homered in the seventh, the home-run apple malfunctioned. The fans chanted for it for the remainder of the frame and it eventually it did its thing after the inning ended.
The Game Ball:
- Goes to Murphy. It’s too bad he’ll have to sit for a few days after a good game, but he’s probably used to it by now.
The Mets close out their three game series today against the Reds at Citi Field.
Angel Pagan will once again lead off and be in center field, followed in order with Luis Castillo, David Wright, Gary Sheffield, Jeff Francoeur, Daniel Murphy, Brian Schneider, and Alex Cora.
Mike Pelfrey (6-4, 4,52 ERA) will start for the Mets. Pelfrey is coming off a poor start on Tuesday against the Dodgers and he will be looking to return to the form that earned him a victory in Milwaukee when he pitched 7 2/3 innings of six-hit ball. In his last ten starts, Pelfrey is 2-4 with a 4.34 ERA.
Aaron Harang (5-8, 3.89 ERA) will start for the Reds. In his last ten starts, the Reds are 6-4 although he is 2-4 over that span. On Opening Day he threw five innings against the Mets and allowed a run on seven hits and was on the short end of a 2-1 duel against Johan Santana.
Adam Rubin of the Daily News discusses the current state of the Mets, their medical staff, and their farm system.
Rubin notes that prior to their victory against the Reds last night it was the first time the “New Mets” had been five games under .500 since the five game losing streak to start the 2005 season.
For more, check out Rubin’s article.
Tagged News |Update, 12:07 pm
Bart Hubbuch, in a post to Twitter, reports that Carlos Delgado was in the cage for the first time since hip surgery today,
In addition, Jose Reyes ran without any noticeable limp.
…light at the end of the tunnel
Update, 10:04 am:
Joel Sherman, in a post to Twitter, is reporting that Delgado is on the field now with Jose Reyes doing agility work.
Original Post:
Prior to
last night’s game, Carlos Delgado was on the field taking groundballs, and reported no pain.
After the workout, Delgado told reporters:
“Its kind of like going week by week,” Delgado said. “I think I’d be kind of unfair to myself because if things didn’t go how I wanted, I’d be kind of frustrated. But everything’s been very positive so far.”
…How Delgado feels today is probably a key to his progress, but I think it is safe to say his return could not come soon enough although he still has a long way to go…he has yet to take live batting practice, and he has to be able to move laterally and run, which he has yet to do…
Greg 
at Faith and Fear in Flushing believes that Jeff Francoeur is the best thing since “the butcher and the baker and the people down the street gathered to make an appointment to get acquainted with the Mets of New York town.”
Meanwhile, Metstradamus agrees that Francoeur had a good debut for the Mets, but so did Mike Bordick.
Finally, Joe at Mets Today reminds everyone that with Francoeur on the Mets, the team is now a perfect 1-0 and they don’t have a perfect record with Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes.
…
The Mets will have two prospects in this afternoon’s All Star Futures Game in St. Louis.
RHP pitcher Jenrry Mejia, who has recently been clocked at 102 mph during a Double-A game, will be one of the prospects playing for Team World.
Mejia was 4-1 with a 1.97 ERA for St. Lucie, and is 0-3 with a 3.74 ERA since his promotion to Binghamton.
In addition, 17 year old Wilmer Flores will also represent Team World.
Flores is hitting a respectable .280 for Single-A Savanah but his on-base percentage is just .319.
…he is only 17 and there is plenty of time for Flores to mature before he ever puts on a Major League Uniform..from what we saw in Spring Training this year, I think there is a lot to be excited about with this kid and I am looking forward to watching him and Mejia in today’s game…
Tagged Wilmer Flores |Following last night’s victory over the Reds, Jerry Manuel told reporters:
“Things really worked out well for us early. Angel Pagan…set the table for us. He was able to do some things, made a big play…and it at least got the pitch count up along with…scoring some runs, so if we can continue to do that and…getting hits with men in scoring position…maybe do a better job of reading balls off the bat…those types of things…”
Manuel was then asked about Jeff Francoeur and him getting off to a good start and fighting off a pitch to hit it the other way, to which he said:
“He has done that to us many-a-times…it’s just that competitive nature he brings with him.”
…i know it wasn’t a pretty hit, but the key was that it was good situational hitting…he hit the ball the other way…
With regards to Santana possibly being surprised to get run support:
“I don’t think he gets caught up in whether or not he’s getting runs or not…He usually faces, being a number one, a pretty competitive pitcher anyway.”
Johan Santana, when asked the same question by reporters, said:
“Well it’s good, not just for me but for the whole team; to be able to score those runs against a good pitcher, right from the beginning of the game, I think it gives everyone confidence and we definitely play a better game…that’s what you want to see – you want to put pressure on the opponent right away, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Regarding Francoeur and getting a fresh face possibly helping the team’s mood, Santana said:
“Yeah, definitely.”
