Wright Stache for Milledge
The Wright Stache is hopping on the bandwagon to make Lastings Milledge an All Star. Welcome aboard!
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Scheduled Starters Vs. Atlanta
Tonight – Derek Lowe (4-1, 3.98 ERA) vs. Johan Santana (4-1, 0.91 ERA), 7:10 p.m., SNY
Tuesday – Jair Jurrjens (3-2, 2.01 ERA) vs. Mike Pelfrey (4-0, 5.46 ERA), 7:10 p.m., SNY
Wednesday – Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2, 5.48 ERA) vs. Jonathon Niese (0-0, 3.00 ERA), 1:10 p.m., SNY
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Tonight’s Lineup Vs. The Phils 5/7/2009
| # | Name | Position | ||||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | SS | ||||
| 1 | Luis Castillo | 2B | ||||
| 15 | Carlos Beltran | CF | ||||
| 21 | Carlos Delgado | 1B | ||||
| 5 | David Wright | 3B | ||||
| 10 | Gary Sheffield | RF | ||||
| 17 | Fernando Tatis | LF | ||||
| 11 | Ramon Castro | C | ||||
| 34 | Mike Pelfrey | P | ||||
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Poll Results: What To Do With Ollie?
Last week’s poll question was: What’s the best move to make with Oliver Perez?
67% of you thought he should go to the minors.
25% thought he should go to the bullpen.
8% thought he should go on the DL.
There’s a new poll up now: In light of his PED suspension should Manny Ramirez be eligible for the Hall of Fame? Vote in the Poll section of the sidebar.
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Manny Suspended for PEDs
According to the L.A. Times Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for use of performance enhancing drugs. Scott Boras, Ramirez’s agent, told ESPN’s Peter Gammons that Ramirez was taking a prescribed drug for a medical condition as opposed to steroids. There is no word as to what substance Ramirez was taking. Major League Baseball has confirmed the suspension. Ramirez will be eligible to return on July 3.
Omar Minaya and Mets fans everywhere wanted to sign Manny to patrol left field for the Mets this season. It seemed like it would be a great move at the time but the Wilpons didn’t want to spend the money it would take to get him.
I was calling Oliver Perez selfish for opposing a minor league assignment earlier this week. But this is perhaps the ultimate selfish act. Sacrificing your teams standing for your own. It’s a shame. But thankfully it’s a Dodger that has been suspended and not a Met.
Here’s some Manny quotes on the issue:
“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me,” Ramirez said. “Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now.
“I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner Frank] McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [manager Joe] Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”
Manny has waived his right to appeal the suspension which will cost him nearly $8 million. The suspension begins immediately.
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Perez to DL, Niese to Start
The Mets made an interesting roster move last night when they placed Oliver Perez on the 15 day disabled list after an MRI on Wednesday showed patella tendinitis in his ailing right knee. This helps the team tremendously as they can now send him to the minors under the guise of a rehab assignment as opposed to a demotion. Perez would have to accept a demotion but would not have to approve a rehab assignment.
Though the Mets never officially announced a replacement for Perez in the rotation it was looking as if Ken Takahashi would move in from the bullpen. But with Perez going on the DL a roster spot has opened up so the Mets will recall Jonathon Niese to make Friday’s start.
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Santana Amazes, Delgado Races
What an interesting game last night. Johan Santana was his regular, spectacular self allowing only two hits and striking out 10 with three walks over 7 innings. Santana lowered his ERA to 0.91. Opponents are batting .048 against him with runners in scoring position.
But the Mets bats could not wake up, scoring only one run when Pedro Feliz made an ill advised throw to first on a weakly hit ball by Fernando Tatis with Carlos Delgado, who had reached base on a walk, racing from first base. Tatis was clearly going to beat the throw but Feliz rushed a toss anyway. In doing so the ball went into right field where Jayson Werth triple pumped the ball on the way to delivering it to the plate. All the while Delgado was running and beat Werth’s throw home. It took a mistake by the third baseman, a throwing error and a triple pump on the throw to the plate for the Mets to score their only run of the night.
Talk all you want about the Mets taking advantage of an opponents mistakes. They certainly did last night and it was good to see. But you can’t rely on the mistakes of your opponents to score your runs. The Mets bats need to wake up, especially when they’re facing a pitcher like Chan Ho Park, who, like Oliver Perez, was one start away from being banished from the starting rotation. He’s a guy the Mets hit last week in Philadelphia. And he’s a guy they needed to beat up on last night. But they could only manage one hit against him and two the whole game.
While it’s true that if you could pick a night for your bats to be cold it would be when Santana’s pitching (since you know he’ll need little run support to win a game) it still does not bode well for the team. As bad as the starting pitching has been for the Mets it has shown signs lately that it’s turning around. But you’ll know when this team is beginning to take off when they start knocking in some runs. That time has not yet come.
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Tonight’s Lineup Vs. The Phils 5/6/2009
| # | Name | Position | ||||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | SS | ||||
| 3 | Alex Cora | 2B | ||||
| 15 | Carlos Beltran | CF | ||||
| 21 | Carlos Delgado | 1B | ||||
| 5 | David Wright | 3B | ||||
| 28 | Daniel Murphy | LF | ||||
| 18 | Jeremy Reed | RF | ||||
| 9 | Omir Santos | C | ||||
| 57 | Johan Santana | P | ||||
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Lastings Milledge: All Star? Let’s Make It Happen!
Someone in the Sons of Sam Horn forum called Wade Boggs Hair had an interesting idea:
As good citizens of NatsTown, I think we need to get as many Natinals on the All-Star team as possible.
Specifically, Lastings Milledge is on the NL All-Star ballot. He needs to make the team. Nothing would be more NatsTown than having the Natinals’ (lone?) All-Star game representative be a AAA player for whom the organization has no plan.
How can we make this happen?
What an interesting way to send a message to the management of a couple of teams.
(I know Milledge had his problems when he was with the Mets but he may be the spark plug that this team needs. The Mets are obviously committed to Daniel Murphy in left this year but what about next year when Carlos Delgado will likely be gone and Murphy moves to first base? Worth thinking about.)
Let’s not read too much into his .167 average. According to Matt Gelb of The Washington Post in an articleon Monday the Nationals coaches were trying to change his approach at the plate in order to make him a leadoff hitter. I’m all for players being patient at the plate and seeing more pitches. But here’s a guy who was a rising star coming off his first full season and blossoming into a good hitter. He may not turn into the 3rd or 4th place hitter you want but he was quickly becoming a player who could be a threat at the plate.
So what does Manny Acta do? He pulls Milledge aside and says we’re going to change what you do so you can become a leadoff guy. Next thing you know he’s at AAA trying to unlearn what he was just taught in an effort to prove he should be at the major league level.
It’s possible, in my mind, that Milledge may already be done in Washington. Not because of his immaturity, as we all expected to be the case, but because the team has mishandled him. Once his swing is back in order (he’s batting .263 with 4 doubles) the only incentive he has to return to the Nats lineup (if/when they recall him) is to try to revive his trade value so he can get out of there.
What could be a better way to show up the Nationals, who are mismanaging this potential slugger, and the Mets, who traded him away, than Milledge being voted to the All Star game by the fans? What do you think?
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Pitching Matchups Vs. Phillies
Chase Utley has been held out of two of the last three games for the Phillies and apparently is day to day with a hip injury. When Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was asked about Utley’s availability against the Mets tonight he said “We’ll have to wait and see.”
Tonight – Chan Ho Park (0-1, 8.57) vs. Johan Santana (3-1, 1.10), 7:10 p.m., SNY.
Thursday – Jamie Moyer (3-1, 5.65) vs. Mike Pelfrey (3-0, 6.00), 7:10 p.m., SNY.
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