Daily Archives: July 17, 2009
The Mets lost to the Braves 11-0 tonight in Atlanta.
For a complete recap, box score and stats, click here.
The Least You Should Know:
- Mike Pelfrey was extremely ineffective tonight. Pelf went four plus innings, and allowed nine runs and two homers. Not much more needs to be said, as the Mets were out of this one early.
- Taking nothing away form Jair Jurrjens and the Braves bullpen, but the Mets made them look untouchable as they have done with many a pitching staff this season. Jurrjens went six innings, allowing just two hits.
- Gary Sheffield left the game after injuring his leg running down a fly ball. The medical report is not out yet, but like Baron said, it looked to me like he hurt his hamstring. Another one bites the dust.
Other Observations and Notes:
- I don’t like seeing Ryan Church in a Braves jersey.
- Two hits…really?
Johan Santana attempts to right the ship tomorrow afternoon against Kenshin Kawakami at 4:10 p.m.
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |
The Mets (42-46) will play the second game of their four game series against the Braves (44-45) tonight at 7:35 PM EDT at Turner Field, with a pre-game ceremony to retire Greg Maddux’s number.
Angel Pagan will lead off, followed by Luis Castillo, David Wright, Gary Sheffield, Jeff Francoeur, Daniel Murphy, Alex Cora, and Omir Santos.
Mike Pelfrey (7-4, 4.47 ERA) will start for the Mets. Pelfrey is 2-3 with a 5.08 ERA lifetime against the Braves and is seeking to build upon his last start against the Reds when he hurled seven innings and allowed three runs on five hits.
Jair Jurrjens (7-7, 2.91 ERA) will start for the Braves. Jurrjens won his last start in Colorado and his ERA is seventh best in the National League. He is 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA lifetime against the Mets.
Tomorrow night at 7:30 PM EDT, SNY will air Game 1 of the 1969 World Series which the Mets lost 4-1 to the Baltimore Orioles.
According to Neil Best from Newsday, SNY will be making “New York TV history as the first baseball-team-owned local channel to show its team lose a ‘classic’ game.”
Tagged News |
It seems as though as each day passes, we are hit with bad news, worsening news, or something that is incredibly vague or bizarre.
But despite loss after loss mounting and even though time is short, I am still trying to have faith and believe that this club can work together and be productive.
It is still too early for me to say the season is over as a five-game winning streak would put the Mets right back in the races with plenty of time to at least make things interesting.
I have to believe that this club has enough guile to get on such a streak as even this current group is better than what we have seen over the past six weeks.
In addition, the later the season gets and the longer Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado are out, the less the healthy and active players have to lose, which one would hope is enough to relax this team and play loose and winning baseball.
In 2001, the Mets were 54-68 by the middle of August but managed to win 27 of their final 39 games and made things interesting down the stretch.
In 1973, the Mets were in last place throughout much of the summer only to rally and fall just short in the World Series.
So why can’t the Mets of 2009 make things interesting?
Miracles do happen, especially to the Mets.
Tagged Michael Baron |
Adam Rubin, in a post to his blog in the Daily News, thinks that it would be irresponsible of the Mets if they were to make a trade this month.
…hard to argue with that right now…
Jay Schreiber, in his blog on the New York Times website, ressurects “Banner Day” for the Mets and has posted his list of winners submitted by readers.
Meanwhile, Ed at Mets Merized Online draws comparisons to the 1987 club and feels that this year’s team is “not dead yet”.
Kevin from Metsopolis finds a silver lining during this season which has not gone as planned.
Finally, check out Brooklyn Met Fan and Mets Today for more on last night’s game.
In case you missed it, here is a recap of Omar Minaya’s conference call with reporters from yesterday:
- Fernando Martinez had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and will miss six to eight weeks.
- Carlos Beltran has not resumed baseball activities and he had another MRI during the All-Star Break which showed the same bone bruise in his knee.
- Jose Reyes has been showing improvement as he actually has no pain at the moment in his injured hamstring tendon, but there is no timetable for him to start playing in a rehabiliation assigment although he is working out in Port St. Lucie and took batting practice against John Maine yesterday.
- Speaking of Maine, he is expected to start a rehabilitation assignment in about a week.
- Carlos Delgado is fielding ground balls and swinging the bat in Port St. Lucie – which is what he was doing in New York prior to the All-Star Game.
…as Ted said yesterday, Minaya was very vague and my opinion is that he is not optimisitic about the return of most, if any of these key players…and what the Mets would get out of them, assuming any of them return, is another big question…
After last night’s loss to the Braves, David Wright told reporters:
“It doesn’t matter what the Phillies do if we don’t take care of our own business. It’s not even important to watch what those guys do. We have to make our own pushes.”
…I appreciate Wright and his candid remarks and completely agree – no loss is a good one at this point whether they hold their ground in the division or Wild Card or not…
Oliver Perez, on the loss last night, told reporters:
“This is a really tough loss for us…Right now, the most important thing is the ‘W.’ We’re not winning, and people feel sad.”
…At least the players themselves recognize the fact that ‘wins” are the most important thing right now, of course it would be nice if that notion would translate into something positive and consistent on the field…
The Mets did have chances, and Jerry Manuel had this to say about those chances:
“We had some shots to do some damage, but we didn’t get it done…I can’t say that we didn’t play well. We didn’t actually beat ourselves. We had a chance tonight, and we just didn’t get it done.”
…I agree, it was not an awful game, but the fact of the matter is that good teams take advantage of all or most of their opportunities…
…I do believe that the Mets are better than what we have seen even with all of the injuries only because, like I have said so many times, it doesn’t take a superstar to get a bunt down, or hit the ball the other way, or catch and throw the ball and those are the things, generally, that this team has not done consistently even with their top players in the lineup…
The Braves defeated the Mets by the score of 5-3 last night.
For a full recap and box score, click here.
The Least You Should Know:
Oliver Perez was up and down once again against the Braves but he did get into the sixth inning, even though he walked four.
Perez allowed back to back home runs in the second inning to Yunel Escobar and Garrett Anderson, and the outs prior to those home runs were loud as well.
The Mets put together a solid fourth inning with RBI’s from Gary Sheffield, Jeff Francoeur, and Daniel Murphy, but really did not have a good opportunity to score after that.
Other Observations and Notes:
Although Perez got into the sixth inning, it was not the performance the club was looking for – a big performance in a big spot to set the tone for the series and to start a positive and winning trend.
The bullpen also slipped and ultimately decided the game, but then again, the offense could only put together one scoring inning, and that is not a recipe for success.
Luis Castillo is in the midst of a seven game hitting streak, and is hitting .391 over that span.
Alex Cora, on the other hand, is 7 for his last 39 over the last ten games.
Ryan Church was not in the lineup against the lefty Perez, but I have a feeling he will be in the lineup tonight.
The Mets continue their series against the Braves tonight at 7:30 pm with Mike Pelfrey facing Jair Jurrjens.
