Mets Win on the Road!
Click here for a recap of last night’s game.
Just when you think it’s safe to turn your attention away from the Mets they go ahead and actually win a game on the road. Yesterday they beat the Cardinals by producing some runs to back a solid outing by Pedro Martinez.
Does this mean they’re still in the wild card race? At 5 1/2 games back with 19 games to go they certainly have not been mathematically eliminated but it would take a minor miracle for them to get the wild card after a horrible 2-9 road trip. The team begins a 9 game homestand tomorrow that has them playing 3 games each against the Nationals, Braves and Marlins. After that they hit the road for 3 games each in Washington and Philadelphia before closing the season against Colorado. Playing so many games against so many teams that are ahead of them in the race may give them an opportunity to move up but more likely it will only allow them to play spoiler to one or two of those teams but only if they can pick themselves up. Otherwise these could be the longest 19 games of the year.
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Same Old Jets
Football season starts at the perfect time of year to take my mind off of whatever depressing situation the Mets find temselves in in September. Of course as a Jets fan it just means transferring my frustrations from one team to another. This year was no different.
I sat down to watch the Jets play the Kansas City Chiefs to get my mind off of the Mets and found out I’d have had a better time watching the Mets win 7-2 against St. Louis than watching the Jets get their bells significantly rung 27-7. I’d love to be able to blame this loss on one or two of the players or pinpoint a few key plays that didn’t go the Jets way but the team played so poorly as a whole you can’t do that. The lousy play was on both sides of the ball and both the offensive and defensive coordinators have their work cut out for them as the Jets move on to play the Miami Dolphins in their first divisional game of the season. I know it’s early in the season and the offense may take a few weeks to begin clicking under a new offensive coordinator but I’d have to say that next weeks game is the first must win game of the season. In a 16 game season you can’t wait too long to get on track.
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Metscentric: Mets Trade for Staub in ’72
Metscentric has a nice post about the original trade that brought Rusty Staub to the Mets in 1972. I thought it was worth pointing out to the many Staub fans out there.
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Willie’s Take on Looper
Willie Randolph went on the defensive yesterday about Braden Looper‘s status on the team. Here’s what Randolph responded to the question of if he would use someone else as the closer.
At this point in the season, no. He’s my closer. He’s been my closer. He’s got the most saves of anybody on my team. So right now he’s my closer.
Let’s forget the obvious point about Looper having the most saves (as the closer he has been in the most save situations) and hit on something else. Willie is saying what he has to say. He must support Looper publicly because Looper is his only option for the closer role right now. To voice anything other than support for Looper would be counter productive. He can’t say anything that may bring Looper down menatally.
That being said I find the first part of Willie’s reply to be very telling. “At this point in the season, no.” Sounds to me like Willie doesn’t really have that much confidence in Looper and that if it was earlier in the season (as opposed to the stretch run) he would entertain the thought of using another member of his bullpen in the closer role or perhaps even trading for another closer.
Willie is smart enough to know that this is not the time of the year to be experimenting. He’s also smart enough to know that he can’t be knocking the only option he has at any position. That is why Looper will remain in the closers role for at least as long as the Mets are mathematically in the race.
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Parting Shot at Lloyd McClendon
I didn’t have time to gloat about this when it happened last week but Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon is no former Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon. Regular readers may remember my criticism of McClendon in the wake of the latest chapter of his war of words with former Pirate and current Met pitcher Kris Benson. The New York Daily News then joined me on the McClendon bashing bandwagon the next day.
I don’t know if it was some of the stupid things he said about Benson (and possibly other former Pirates players) or just the fact that he put together a spectacular string of 5 consecutive losing seasons in Pittsburgh that did him in. I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter but when the latter is true there is no justification for the former. Start winning a little bit, Lloyd. Then maybe people would be inclined to consider your words a little more seriously.
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Quote of the Day
We should have won the game. I stunk it up.
– Mets closer Braden Looper after giving away last night’s game against the Braves. In addition to whatever else we’re calling Looper these days we can add ‘Mr. Obvious’ to the arsenal.
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Congratulations, Kid!
Congratulation to rookie Gulf Coast League Mets Manager (and former Mets hero) Gary Carter on being named the GCL’s Manager of the Year. Carter guided his rookie league team a 37-16 record and an Eastern Division title.
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Braden Loser
Click here for a recap of last night’s game.
I haven’t written much lately but today is the day I get back into even if the Mets are falling out of it.
I’ve written many times about my displeasure with Braden Looper. Last night’s game is promting me to do it again. Looper came in to pitch the ninth inning blew the game. Six blown saves doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s not a championship quality number. But as if that wasn’t enough Willie Randolph decided to keep Looper in to pitch the 10th inning. Though by that point the Mets had the lead and could possibly give Looper the win it was obviously not Looper’s night and he should have been lifted for the 10th. Instead, Looper loaded the bases with no outs before being lifted for Shingo Takatsu, a man so reliable he was released by the White Sox earlier this season. Needless to say Takatsu could stop the bleeding and Looper took the loss. I wouldn’t blame Takatsu for the loss since he was brought on in a tight jam. I shouldn’t blame Looper either since it was obvious after the 9th that he didn’t have it. Randolph just stuck with his guy too long. He should have known better.
Now the team is in dire straits. With the loss last night the Mets are now 5 games out of the wild card and begin a tough 4 game series in St. Louis against the toughest team in the National League. This is make it or break it time and I don’t think anyone expects them to make it. Now is the time to rise to the occassion. We should know by the end of this series if the Mets still have a shot at the wild card.
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Trachsel to the Pen?
I said last week that I didn’t think the Mets 6 man rotation would last too long. It seems like it’s going to end sooner than even I thought it would. Several reports have Steve Trachsel moving to the bullpen since the team has scheduled VÃctor Zambrano to start Friday in Florida. Very odd timing considering Trachsel’s 8 inning 2 hitter this past Friday night.
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Where Are All These Runs Coming From?
Click here for a recap of last night’s game.
In the last two games the Mets have scored 32 runs. That’s the most runs they have scored since 1990. Pretty cool but I’d gladly trade a few of those runs for 1 or 2 where they would count more. Like the time Pedro Martinez pitched a great game and lost 1-0.
At the same time it’s great to see that they are capable of bigger things offensively. And it’s even nicer to see the younger players involved. Jose Reyes, David Wright and Mike Jacobs have all had their share of hightlights in these games. Even Kazuo Matsui had a great play when he stayed in a run down long enough for two runs to score last night.
Not all of the highlights were on offense. Jae Seo (7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER) had another good outing. He’s won all four of his starts since being recalled on August 6. In that span he’s allowed 20 hits, 3 earned runs and walked only 4 in 30.1 innings. For those who don’t want to do the math that’s a 0.89 ERA. That’s a real shot in the arm for this pitching staff.
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