Mets Bullpen Loses Another One
There’s nothing positive to take from yesterday’s game except that at least the bullpen is treating other starters the same way they treat Johan Santana. Yesterday’s victim was Pedro Martinez who pitched 6 innings of 3 hit ball only to be undone by the bullpen who collectively allowed 5 hits and 6 runs over 3 innings. Great work guys.
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Mets Win
The Mets ended up pulling off a win after the lousy bullpen blew another Johan Santana win. It took a walk off homer by David Wright to get it done but at least they won.
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This Bullpen Sucks
Right around now you know what Johan Santana is thinking: “You’ve got to be kidding me!” For the sixth time this season Santana left the game with a lead that was lost by the bullpen. The game isn’t over yet (it’s still in the top of the 9th) but you know Santana has to be fuming about now. He seemed upset about leaving the game when he did and has seemed that way the last few times manager Jerry Manuel has taken him out. You can tell he has no confidence in this bullpen to finish what he started. And frankly neither do I.
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Tonight’s Lineup and Notes
| # | Name | Position | ||||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | SS | ||||
| 28 | Daniel Murphy | LF | ||||
| 5 | David Wright | 3B | ||||
| 21 | Carlos Delgado | 1B | ||||
| 15 | Carlos Beltran | CF | ||||
| 17 | Fernando Tatis | RF | ||||
| 3 | Damion Easley | 2B | ||||
| 23 | Brian Schneider | C | ||||
| 34 | Mike Pelfrey | P | ||||
Notes: The Mets placed Billy Wagner on the DL today with a strained left forearm. Though it could have been worse (it could have been his elbow) the Mets will have to endure 2 weeks of Duaner Sanchez, Aaron Heilman and Eddie Kunz in the late innings. I’m already shivering.
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10 Game Win Streak Undone
The ten game win streak the Mets experienced around the All Star break rocketed them strongly into first place. At the time of the streak they were playing like world beaters. But now they’ve lost 4 in a row, 6 of their last 8 and are 6-9 since the streak ended. Instead of having a 2 game lead in the NL East they are 3 games out of first and are in third place. As far as I’m concerned the 10 game win streak, while a lot of fun, is now officially not the turning point of the season that will catapult this team to the next level. In fact it’s almost as if it never happened.
Worse than that two pitcher are now listed on the injury report. John Maine was put on the DL with what the team is calling a mild strain of his right rotator cuff. It seems like the move to the DL is more precautionary than anything else but it still raises concerns.
More important than Maine’s trip to the DL is the status of closer Billy Wagner. Wagner had an MRI a couple of weeks ago that proved negative. He was held out of a game and the bullpen promptly imploded, blowing a game the Mets should have won. Wagner has continued to experience pain in his elbow and will have another MRI on Tuesday (though some reports I’ve read have said it will be today).
I’ve said a few times that Wagner is a key to this team (together with Jose Reyes). That’s not rocket science nor is it a unique opinion (many people have said the same thing). This underscores the Mets inability to make a deal at the deadline to bolster the bullpen. Hopefully something will come over the waiver wire because if Wagner is out for any period of time you can stop watching the scoreboard and start watching the Jets.
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Take the 7 Train on the Trade Deadline
Jessica Bader at Take the 7 Train posted a good primer to the trade deadline. It includes an explanation of how waiver trades work after the deadline and what the Mets and other NL East teams are looking for at the deadline.
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Hometown Heroes
The bullpen implosion in the first game of the series on Tuesday not withstanding this has been a great series for the Mets. They took two out of three games from the Phillies (though they should have swept). Carlos Delgado continues his hot hitting and Jose Reyes delivered some timely power (in game 2).
On the pitching side the Mets could not have asked for much more from their starters. Johan Santana, John Maine and Oliver Perez. They combined for 21 IP with an ERA of 3.00 over the 3 games.
The team still seems to be clicking as they prepare to host a tough St. Louis Cardinals team for a weekend series. One has to ask themselves if the Mets they are seeing now is the true identity of this team. I think not. I think enough bit players are doing well right now to cover up some gaping holes in the outfield and bullpen and that general manager Omar Minaya still has to make a move or two if this team is going to build on it’s current 1 game lead in the division and perhaps contend in the playoffs.
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Mets Today on John Maine
Great post on Mets Today yesterday on John Maine entitled “I Can Fix Maine in 10 Minutes“. Love the reference.
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Mahorn Knocks Down Leslie
I never thought I’d blog about a WNBA game but….
In last night’s game between the Detroit Shock and Los Angeles Sparks a brawl broke out with just seconds to go in the game. During the fracas Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn knocked LA forward Lisa Leslie to the floor.
I wasn’t watching the game (I never have watched a WNBA game) but I was annoyed at the way the highlight of the knockdown was treated on ESPN’s SportsCenter. They were making it seem like Mahorn was a villain and on the surface I can understand why someone would think that. However anyone who saw the highlights and has half a brain in their head can understand that Mahorn was simply trying to keep the fight from escalating further by pushing players away from it. The other coaches were trying to do the same thing. I don’t think Mahorn even realized that it was Leslie when he pushed her but he did have the presence of mind to hold out his hand to help her up afterward.
Leslie obviously didn’t accept his hand. She may not have even noticed it was there. And judging from her post game comments she didn’t understand what Mahorn was really trying to do. But she was in the heat of the moment and I’m sure when she sees the footage later she’ll realize that it was simply an accident that happened at a bad time.
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Mets Miss Wagner In Loss
I said yesterday that the Mets need Billy Wagner healthy. Last night was why.
Manager Jerry Manuel was informed before the game that Wagner needed the night off to give his shoulder some rest and allow the spasms he’s ben diagnosed with to subside. Due to a very good start by Johan Santana in which Santana pitched 8 innings the Mets didn’t need to go to the bullpen until the 9th with a 5-2 lead. Four pitchers and eleven batters later the Mets went to the bottom of the 8th with an 8-5 deficit that they could not recover from.
Though this was just one game and it could easily have turned out better it serves as an example of how important a good closer like Wagner is for a team. If Wagner needed last night off so he could get healthier and be ready for the stretch run that’s fine. It’s wiser for him to sacrifice a game in July so he can be ready for August and September than it is for him to pitch and risk hurting himself further. But the other members of the bullpen, who have really been pitching well lately, need to be able to pick up the slack on nights that Wagner is unavailable.
The obvious question last night was why didn’t Santana pitch the 9th inning? I was watching the game and saw how Santana was pitching in the 8th inning. Through most of the inning I was thinking he should come back for the 9th. But after Pat Burrell hit a two out double I wasn’t so sure. Santana got the next batter, Ryan Howard, to fly out to center so the Burrell hit didn’t mean much. I still would have liked to see Santana pitch the 9th but I wasn’t so sure it would have been the wisest decision. So I don’t blame Manuel for going to the bullpen at that point.
However after the game Santana said that after the 8th Manuel told him they’d be going to the bullpen for the 9th. The way Santana said it was that Manuel had made the decision and he wasn’t going to go against it. It seems like Santana was very passive about this decision. I’d like to know if he lobbied at all to pitch the 9th. For all the money he’s making and the ace billing he’s getting I’d like to see that he at least tried to talk Manuel into letting him complete the game.
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