Mostly Mets

Blogging mostly about the New York Mets since 2004.

Leiter Injured?

It’s been reported locally that Al Leiter is pitching with a sore shoulder. He refuses to get it looked at because at this point in his career he wouldn’t have surgery anyway. I respect his decision of not wanting surgery but if this is going to cost him innings and/or effectiveness then he owes it to his teammates to get it checked out and see what the issue is and learn how to deal with it. That’s part of being a team player and a team leader. I can’t say this for sure but maybe that’s another ingredient missing from this club.

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How(e)’s That?

I’ve seen some negative things written about Art Howe lately in the media as well as other blogs. I tend to be a bit on the patient side before jumping on the bandwagon especially early in the season. But it seems like now may be as good a time as any to saddle up. Why now? Because I think he may be losing the clubhouse.

Last week Jason Phillips questioned Howe’s faith in him when Phillips was benched in favor of Todd Zeille. Mark Hale presents a few things in his articles in today’s New York Post that supports my theory that Howe is losing his grip on the clubhouse. (At Least They Weren’t No Hit & Met’s Notes). Hale reports the following:

“The situation got so embarrassing yesterday that with Al Leiter having thrown 79 pitches through five innings and throwing pretty well, Howe pinch-hit for him with one out and nobody on in the sixth. The manager said he was looking for offense, but Leiter seemed surprised at the move. “It’s his decision,” Leiter said, adding, “I’ve got a job to do. He’s got a job to do.”” A player of Leiter’s experience knows not to question his manager to the media. But when he says something like that one can easily imagine what’s going through his head.

“(Mike) Cameron was not exactly thrilled with sitting out (it was his first game off this year) and while he didn’t want to make waves, he did note that in Seattle, Lou Piniella would tell his players the day before if he were going to give them a day off. Asked if he would have preferred Howe do the same, Cameron replied, “I think it would have been better, but I’ve got no control over that. I guess I don’t have a problem with it.” It’s not a good sign when a player publicly compares his manager unfavorably to one of his former manager.

“Duquette declined to address the status of the coaches”. This generally means that there is something in the works behind the scenes. This isn’t evidence that Howe is losing his grip or that his coaches are in trouble but it indicates that management may be thinking about replacements.

Does this mean that Howe has lost the clubhouse? No but it indicates that if he hasn’t yet then he may soon. Look out, Mets fans. It’s going to be an interesting next few weeks as this unfolds.

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Groundhog Day

Another weekend, another three game sweep (on the losing end). I’m beginning to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Same story different day. Good starting pitching, a bullpen that seems to be holding it’s own, decent (but occasionally balky) defense & lousy hitting. If not for the DL there’d be nothing new to talk about. Oh, that’s right. There’s really nothing new to report there either.

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Wigginton Has Ulcer

The AP is reporting that Ty Wigginton has been diagnosed with an ulcer. He’ll be released from the hospital this weekend and will play in some rehab games while on the DL.

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NY Post’s Andrew Marchand Getting Feisty

NY Post reporter Andrew Marchand is getting a bit feisty in his Mets reports. In today’s recap article of yesterday’s game he said the following of Steve Trachsel’s game:
“Trachsel was aided by an Expos lineup that features such hitting luminaries as Matt Cepicky, Ron Calloway and Terrmel Sledge. Montreal has scored a grand total of 26 runs in 16 games. ” Gotta love the use of the term “hitting luminaries”.

And in his Mets Notes he says the following of Danny Garcia:
“Garcia, a former Brooklyn Cyclone, should fit on the big club since he was hitting .222 at Norfolk.” More of an indictment of the Mets than Garcia.

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Met’s Almost Blow Split In Series With Expos

The Mets almost blew yesterday’s game with 2 errors in the 9th but Braden Looper managed to hold it together and save the game. Steve Trachsel had a good outing allowing 8 hits, 1 walk and 1 earned run in 8 innings. Mike Piazza hit 2 doubles and knocked in 2 runs and Mike Cameron redeemed himself with an RBI double with 2 outs in the 7th after making the third out with the bases loaded in the 1st and 5th innings.

Other notes:

Tonight’s pitching matchup against the Cubs at Wrigley: Jae Seo vs. Greg Maddux. Good luck, Jae.

Ty Wigginton was placed on the DL after a fainting episode and dizzy spells. Danny Garcia was recalled from Norfolk to take his place on the roster. Ricky Gutierrez started at third yesterday and committed 1 of the Mets 2 errors in the 9th inning. Shane Spencer committed the other.

I’m not going to comment on the status of Jose Reyes and Cliff Floyd today. For Reyes, every day is something else. One day the new is good, the next it’s bad and the day after that it’s good again. As for Floyd, I’ve read varying reports in the media in the last two days. Some say he’ll be back for LA next week, others say it will be later than that and still others say it is a complete unknown when he’ll return. I’ll hold off on more comments on him until I see something more reliable on both of these players.

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Mets Win!

Not only did they win but they scored 3 runs too. That’s not a lot of runs but with an offense as bad as the Mets offense has been lately it’s still cause for celebration. With 2 errors in the 9th inning it looked as though they would blow it but when it was all over the Mets had a 3-2 victory. I’ll have more on this when I’ve had a chance to process today’s events.

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Mets Finally Hit With Runner In Scoring Position

It’s as if they read my last post.

Shane Spencer was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. Mike Piazza hit a double to move Spencer to third. Jason Phillips hit a single to score Spencer. It’s just one run but they did a couple of things right to score it. Firstly, they took advantage of the opponents slip up (hitting the batter). Secondly, they string together a couple of hits to move the runner over and push him home. Now if only they could do that a little more.

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Mets Can’t Score in 1st

The Mets were gift wrapped a first inning scoring situation today and messed it up big time.

Kaz Matsui reached first on a throwing error by Expos third baseman Tony Batista.
Karim Garcia walked, moving Matsui to second. Then Shane Spencer was hit by a John Patterson pitch to load up the bases with no outs. The stage is set for a big inning, right?

Wrong. Just as quickly as it started, it ended. Mike Piazza struck out, Jason Phillips flied out and Mike Cameron struck out, of course.

Not that I was expecting much anyway. I mean, these are the Mets after all. They didn’t even earn their way on to base to begin with. If these guys want to be taken seriously they’re going to need to capitalize on situations like this where the opposition gift wraps runs for you.

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Ty Wigginton Taken To Hospital

Ty Wigginton has been taken to the hospital after fainting at home. He’s probably headed for the DL. Time to put baseball aside for a second and wish Ty a speedy recovery.

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