Pitching Matchups for Marlins Series
Monday – Anibal Sanchez (1-1, 2.50) vs. John Maine (0-2, 7.47), 7:10 p.m., SNY.
Tuesday – Ricky Nolasco (1-2, 6.86) vs. Livan Hernandez (1-1, 7.31), 7:10 p.m., SNY.
Wednesday – Josh Johnson (2-0, 2.20) vs. Johan Santana (3-1, 0.70), 1:10 p.m., SNY.
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Book Review: Darling’s The Complete Game
When I first started to be a Mets fan in the late seventies the team sucked. As I grew into my teens the organization was acquiring the talent that would lead to 1986 world series champions. Just as I was getting more heavily into my fandom players like Keith Hernandez and George Foster were being acquired. Players like Dwight Gooden and Len Dykstra were coming up from the minors. Just as I was coming into my own as a baseball fan the Mets were coming into their own as the dominant baseball team that they would be for the rest of the decade of the ’80s. The timing of my interest in baseball was such that as the team developed I was developing with them. For that reason the Mets teams of the mid to late ’80 (1982 to 1989) were my teams.
A large component of those teams was the starting pitching. And one of the better starting pitchers on those teams that had so many good starters was Ron Darling. So when the opportunity presented itself to review Darling’s new book, The Complete Game: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching, and Life on the Mound, I jumped at it. And I wasn’t disappointed by what I read.
The aim of the book is not to chronicle Darling’s career but to get the reader inside the head of the pitcher at different points of a game. To do this Darling presents the book in such a way that each chapter represents a different inning of a game (9 innings plus a chapter about extra innings) with some introductory and post script text before and after. Most of the games are games that he played in (the first inning of his first major league start, the ninth inning of the division clincher in 1988) but a couple of them were games he was in the booth for (seventh inning of a Mets-Dodgers game in 2008).
Each chapter is concise and self contained. Darling tells how the game developed to the point of the highlighted inning and goes off on relevant tangents about related stories that contributed to his (or the pitcher in questions) frame of mind during the inning. Each chapter teaches you something else about the mental part of the pitchers job.
Great stories are sprinkled throughout the book. Stories about post game rides to Manhattan in the back of Rusty Staub’s van, becoming teammates with Frank Viola years after the he hooked up with Viola in one of the greatest college matchups of all time, Dave Duncan trying to redefine him as a pitcher at the tail end of his career, the poignant tale of the day he retired from playing and much much more.
Overall the book is educational, entertaining and enjoyable. Too many similar books seem as if they are lecturing to you. Darling’s writing makes you feel like he’s conversing with you. When reading this book I felt like a rookie getting valuable advice from a veteran instead of getting tobacco juice spit on my leg (as Darling explains Ron Hodges did to him on hist first day with the team).
On a scale of 1 to 5 (strikeout, single, double, triple, home run) this book is a home run (5).
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Feel Better, Mets Fans
In these troubling times for the Mets it’s nice to remember the good old days and take hear that things will get better. Just take it from these guys:
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This Weekend’s Pitching Matchups
Friday – Scott Olsen (0-2, 9.00) vs. Johan Santana (2-1, 0.46), 7:10 p.m., SNY.
Saturday – Daniel Cabrera (0-1, 4.50) vs. Mike Pelfrey (1-0, 8.10), 1:10 p.m., SNY.
Sunday – Jordan Zimmerman (1-0, 3.00) vs. Oliver Perez (1-1, 7.80), 1:10 p.m., PIX-11.
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JFro: Fire Jerry Manuel
John Frascella, aka JFro, of FanNation argues for Mets manager Jerry Manuel to be fired. I agree with most of what he has to say except for his last argument that Daniel Murphy should have been lifted for a defensive replacement in the 8th inning of a tied game (in St. Louis on 4/21). You don’t make a defensive switch in a tie game. You make a defensive replacement when you have a lead.
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Umpire Knocked Out
Every so often someone may kid about wanting to knock out an umpire. I don’t think this is what they had in mind.
Kerwin Danley, the umpire in this video, should be alright. But this is scary, nonetheless.
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Today’s Crazy Lineup
Jerry Manuel is trying so hard to keep Luis Castillo out of the two hole in the batting order. Today’s lineup is mostly a crap shoot with the jackpot being to break out of the slump the team is in. So why not move the hot hitting Castillo to the two hole for just one game?
With that prologue here is today’s lineup:
| # | Name | Position | ||||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | SS | ||||
| 3 | Alex Cora | 2B | ||||
| 15 | Carlos Beltran | CF | ||||
| 21 | Carlos Delgado | 1B | ||||
| 5 | David Wright | 3B | ||||
| 10 | Gary Sheffield | LF | ||||
| 19 | Ryan Church | RF | ||||
| 9 | Omir Santos | C | ||||
| 61 | Livan Hernandez | P | ||||
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The Sad Case of Nelson Figueroa
On Sunday Nelson Figueroa started for the Mets in place of Mike Pelfrey. He pitched pretty well allowing 5 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings. Many, including me, thought that the Mets would keep him on in a long relief role at least until Tim Redding was able to return. We thought wrong. On Monday Figueroa was designated for assignment in an effort to send him back down to Buffalo.
I’m not going to argue whether or not this was the right move. Maybe having another lefty in the pen (Casey Fossum) was the smarter decision. (Side note – I find it surprising that the Mets came north with just one lefty in the pen to begin with but this was probably not the right time to make that change. The Cardinals have mostly righty bats.) I gave credit to general manager Omar Minaya for being smarter than me, knowing the market and knowing what he was doing.
Word came yesterday that Figueroa cleared waivers. That means that no other team was willing to pick him up and the Mets retained his rights and sent him to Buffalo.
Overall the move makes sense from the Mets angle. Figueroa would have required a couple of days rest after pitching 6 innings on Sunday and the way the Mets starters have been going it paid to have a fresh pitcher in the bullpen. That pitcher, Fossum, has been used in the first two games against the Cardinals. These are games that Figueroa would not have been available for. So let’s forget which of these two pitchers you’d rather have on the team. This was a situational move that made perfect sense.
Anyway, it appears that Figueroa was very upset about this move. His wife supposedly made a post to the family blog saying as much. I understand his desire to stay on the club. He’s been working his behind off and pitched well enough to keep the team in the game on Sunday so he feels he deserved to stay on the team. He’s not wrong for feeling that way.
Apparently Figueroa is so upset that he’s making the questionable move of turning down the minor league assignment and opting for free agency. If this is the case I wish him the best of luck. He’s a good pitcher who will find another job. He just needs to realize that this move was not personal. It was made to have another arm available in the bullpen immediately instead of having to wait a few days for that arm to get ready to go. The team will always do what it feels is best for the team. At some point during the season he’d have another chance with the Mets. The timing just isn’t right now. And if he opts for free agency the timing will probably never be right for him and the Mets again.
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This Day in Mets History
1962—After an 0-9 start, the expansion New York Mets won their first game beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 behind Jay Hook.
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Is It Time For Castillo To Move Back To The Two Slot?
One of the questions being asked about the Mets right now is whether manager Jerry Manuel should move second baseman Luis Castillo back to the number two hole in the order. While Daniel Murphy has batted well in that position of the order (.320 AVG, .795 OPS) there is speculation of if he should be playing left field every day for the team. The fact that Castillo is hitting .400 with a .942 OPS adds to the argument that the team may be better off sending Murphy to Buffalo to learn his position better and moving Castillo to the 2 hole.
The question is why is Castillo hitting so well right now? Does his slot in the order have something to do with it? He’s certainly not getting any better pitches with the pitcher following him than he would with David Wright behind him. But maybe batting in the relative low pressure position of 8th in the order is why he’s doing so well right now. If batting 8th was supposed to get his mojo working then maybe it’s still too early in the to move him down to number 2. Maybe the move would kill his momentum because he’d be pitched to differently with Jose Reyes on base than he would be pitched to with the catcher on base.
What do you think? Leave comments.
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