Sanchez Activated, Reyes Still Sits
In injury news the Mets have activated Duaner Sanchez and optioned Frankie, I mean, Carlos Muniz. And Jose Reyes ran today but as of now is not in tonight’s lineup.
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Pedro Could Be Out 8 Weeks
Thought an off day would bring no bad news? Then don’t continue reading.
Omar Minaya said yesterday that Pedro Martinez will take a little longer to return to action. The original timetable of 4-6 weeks will actually end up being more like 6-8 weeks. That means more time with Nelson Figueroa and Mike Pelfrey in the rotation.
Pedro’s injury is till being called a mild strain. But at 36 years old the team feels that they want to give the hammy a little extra time to heal. I imagine that if this was September there would be more urgency to get Martinez out there but in April the GM is electing to stay cautious with him and remain optimistic about his team’s ability to overcome this problem. I appreciate the don’t panic public face Minaya is putting on but hope he’s got something going on in the background.
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Who’s to Blame: Perez or Willie?
I wrote in a post just before yesterday’s game that Oliver Perez was due for a bad outing. As I watched Gabe Kapler‘s first inning homer I felt my opinion was validated. The Mets offense almost proved me wrong when they provided Perez with a 4 run lead. But Perez bowed to my expectations and surrendered the lead and the Mets eventually lost 9-7.
I’m curious how much this has to do with Willie Randolph who criticized Perez after throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the Phillies in his last outing. It’s probably pretty easy to get inside the head of a guy like Perez and tough love is not exactly what works there.
The loss also wasted David Wright‘s 100th career home run.
Anyway, as yesterday’s game approached I realized that I was going to have a rare opportunity to watch a game live and decided to live blog the game. The result is my last post. It was my first attempt ever at live blogging a game and I know I should have timestamped every entry to the post but I didn’t think of it at the time. If I ever live blog again I’ll be sure to timestamp it.
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In Game Notes
Gabe Kapler took Oliver Perez deep for 2 runs in the top of the first inning. David Wright got 1 of those runs back in the bottom of the first. The Brewers lead the Mets 2-1 after the first inning.
The Brewers had runners on second and third with one out in the second but Perez struck out Kapler to get out of the jam with no runs scored against him.
The Mets had a rally of their own in the bottom of the second. They had Carlos Delgado on third and Ryan Church on second with no outs. Delgado scored on a Damion Easley ground out to second. Church scored on a Brian Schneider single. The inning ended with the Mets up 3-2.
Luis Castillo scored on a Carlos Beltran single to put the Mets up 4-2. They’re still threatening with the bases loaded and 2 outs.
Schneider plates 2 more runs with a single. The Mets now lead 6-2.
Brewers look like they’re starting something in the fourth inning getting the first two hitters on and then moving them over to have runners on second and third with no outs.
Both Brewers runner scored on a Jason Kendall single. It’s now 6-4 in the top of the fourth inning.
The Brewers tied it on a Kepler single that cored 2 runs. I warned in my previous post about Perez having a bad day today and now he’s blown a 4 run lead.
The Mets are threatening with runners on the corners. Wright just hit a fly ball to right field for the first out but not deep enough to score Angel Pagan from third base.
Beltran hit a liner to Prince Fielder at first base for a double play. End of threat. Game tied at 6 after 4 innings.
Perez has been removed from the game with 1 out and 2 on in the top of the 4th. Jorge Sosa comes on in relief.
Sosa got the Mets out of the jam.
Rickie Weeks hit a homer off Sosa in the top of the sixth. Sosa is looking shaky right now. Looks like Joe Smith will come in after Sosa intentionally walk this batter.
Sosa’s still in the game so either the coaches think he’s turned a corner or Smith isn’t ready.
The Mets are threatening in the bottom of the 6th with Pagan and Castillo on base and Wright coming up.
Wright grounded out to end the inning so the Mets go into the 7th inning down 8-6.
Smith coming in to replace Scott Schoeneweis who go the only batter he faced out.
Mets threatening with runners on first and second and one out.
Schneider hits into a double play to end the inning but the Mets score one and go to the eighth inning down by 2.
After a double switch Aaron Heilman is pitching and Brady Clark is playing right field.
Guillermo Mota got soundly booed when he was introduced as Milwaukee’s pitcher to start the 8th inning. Clark tagged him for a base hit as his first batter.
Clark steals second base to put a runner in scoring position. Odd play considering the Mets need 2 runs and not 1.
Pagan hits a bloop single to left just out of reach of the shortstop. Mets now have runners on first and third with no outs. Pagan represents the potential tying run.
Castillo hit into a 3-2 double play and the Mets are left with a runner on second with 2 outs.
After a wild pitch that let Pagan advance to third Mota walked Wright. The Mets have runners on first and third with 2 outs and Beltran coming up.
Mota walked Beltran to load the bases. Delgado coming up.
Delgado popped out to right field to kill the rally.
Mets are down to their last out.
Schneider makes the last out. Mets lose 9-7.
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Perez Starts Today
Oliver Perez goes for the Mets today. In 2 starts covering 11 2/3 innings this season Perez has not allowed any runs (earned or unearned). That means he’s due so look out. It may be a tough one to watch today.
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Father/Daughter Who’s On First?
Here’s a video of a father trying to do the classic Abbot & Costello routine Who’s On First? with his infant. Very cute.
The Two Act from Merlin Mann on Vimeo.
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Heilman Blows It, Pagan Wins it
Every season has it’s share of character building games. The Mets had their first one last night against their bitter rivals the Phillies. After Aaron Heilman blew a 3-0 lead the Mets managed to pull off a 12 inning 4-3 victory.
Angel Pagan was the hero with 3 hits and the game winning RBI. Jose Reyes scored the game winning run showing signs that he may be breaking out of his early season slump.
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Mets Sign Claudio Vargas
The Mets have signed Claudio Vargas to a minor league deal. Vargas will report to extended spring training in Port St. Lucie before going to AAA New Orleans.
Given the state of the Mets rotation this is a good move. Depending on how long it takes Pedro Martinez to return and Orlando Hernandez to do whatever it is that he’s going to do we’ll probably see Vargas in the Mets rotation before too long. I mean let’s not kid ourselves. It’s a minor league contract but this is clearly a signing that was done because of issues at the major league level. As such it’s most probable that it was done having in mind that unless the unlikely best case scenario occurs (Martinez and Hernandez recover quickly, stay healthy and are effective the rest of the season) this player will see significant time at the major league level.
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Phils Give One To Mets
The Mets won 8-2 last night. They beat the Phillies. Forgive me for not being more enthusiastic but Philadelphia was without their spark plug, Jimmy Rollins and committed 4 errors in the game which led to 6 unearned runs. This wasn’t so much the Mets winning as it was the Phillies losing. But as I often say there’s no column for ugly.
On the plus side we don’t have to keep hearing about the Phillies win streak over the Mets which died at 9 games.
Also on the plus side Mike Pelfrey pitched a good game allowing 5 hits and 2 ER while walking 2 and striking out 3 in 5 innings. Not a Cy Young caliber performance but a much needed boost considering he may be on the team a little longer than the Mets had originally planned.
With Pedro Martinez on the DL the Mets got discouraging news about their other starter who is on the DL. Orlando Hernandez was diagnosed with a strained tendon in his right foot. El Duque is wearing a protective boot on the foot and will continue to do so for at least 2 weeks. He is out indefinitely.
Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com is reporting that in response to the El Duque news the Mets are close to signing Claudio Vargas. This is something that probably should have been done two weeks ago but better late than never.
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Shea Opener A Bust
Can somebody please tell me why Scott Schoeneweis is still pitching for the Mets? He blew another game yesterday. It was his first loss of the year but since he’s been with the team he has gone 0-3 with a 5.04 ERA. The obvious answer is that he’s under contract. But for what team? The Mets or Phillies?
Yesterday’s failure came at the expense of Oliver Perez, who pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings. It wasn’t perfect ball by Perez but he kept a tough offense from scoring while giving his team a chance to win against Jamie Moyer (another pitcher that has me wondering how he still has a job). Perez walked 3 batters and was coming unglued when he was removed from the game on a day when the Mets needed their starter to go deep into the game to cover for a bullpen depleted due to Matt Wise being put on the DL and Pedro Feliciano‘s flight was canceled on his way back from taking care of family issues in Puerto Rico on Monday’s off day. (Feliciano showed up at Shea during the 7th inning.) Wise’s replacement, Carlos Muniz, pitched a perfect ninth inning but it was too little, too late for an offense that hadn’t scored since the 4th inning and lost a regular in the 5th.
That regular was Luis Castillo, who’s surgically repaired knees were given a 4 year deal during the offseason. Castillo said he felt pain in his right knee after going for a foul ball. This may mean a trip to the DL and will definitely result in more playing time for Damion Easley than anyone wants to see.
There was other pregame injury news in addition to Wise going on the DL. Apparently Orlando Hernandez is feeling more pain in his foot and will undergo an MRI. I think it’s time for him to retire so the Mets can move on to the next project.
All in all the state of the Mets is in complete disarray and it probably won’t be straightened out by tonight’s game.
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