Alou DLed, Vargas Recalled
As expected the Mets put Moises Alou on the DL with a pulled left quad and recalled Jason Vargas to start tonight’s game. This isn’t exactly a surprise as it had been speculated since Alou hurt himself on Saturday. But some had thought that rookie outfielder Carlos Gomez, batting .444 (4 for 9) with 2 doubles, 2 RBI and 1 SB, may be sent down to make room for Vargas.
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Urdaneta: First Down, Now Out
This week has gone from bad to worse for Lino Urdaneta. On Monday the Mets optioned the right handed reliever to Triple A New Orleans. Today rumor has it that Urdaneta will be suspended for 50 games for a steroids violation. with penalties like this out there and the known long term affects steroids has on you body you have to wonder why an athlete would risk his whole career and the trust of his teammates over them. Sad.
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Pelfrey Out, Gómez In
The Mets finally demoted Mike Pelfrey yesterday. The move was made to make room on the roster for highly touted rookie outfield prospect Carlos Gomez who was brought in as outfield insurance after Moises Alou pulled a quad on Saturday. Though no decision was immediately made it looks like Alou is headed to the DL in the very near future. When that happens the Mets will promote another starting pitcher who will likely have one start before Orlando Hernandez returns from the DL. Early speculation has that starter being Jason Vargas.
Pelfrey was 0-5 in 6 starts since being recalled from New Orleans to be the fifth starter. His performance was clearly not major league and he’ll go back down to triple a, find his stuff and prepare to be called up again some time later this year.
Gomez, meanwhile, had a great debut yesterday going 2 for 4 with a double, a stolen base and 2 runs scored. He also made a great catch in right field. A sign of things to come? Most people in the Mets organization seem to think so. We’ll see.
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Post: To Hell and Backman
Today’s New York Post has a two page spread by Brian Costello on the trials of former Mets second baseman Wallly Backman. You may remember that Backman was fired after just 4 days as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the off season a couple of years ago. He’s trying to work his way back now.
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Clemens and the Yankees
The Yankees certainly have a flair for the dramatic. Roger Clemens announced yesterday from the owners box at Yankee Stadium that he will be returning to pitch for the Yankees. You can’t get much more dramatic than that when it comes to a signing. And when the player is as big as Clemens then why not?
Though I didn’t write about it at the time I was very critical of Clemens when he by choice didn’t start playing until June 22. Baseball is a team sport and that was not a very team oriented thing to do. It’s likely to take Clemens several weeks to get into major league condition so we’re looking at a similar timetable this year.
Clemens said yesterday that has come back to the Yankees to win. I believe this to be true. But if his commitment to winning was so strong then why didn’t he commit to it from day one like all the other players?
The answer is that Clemens is simply one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game. And as such he can more or less do whatever he wants. The Yankees are not likely to let him take off on days when he’s not scheduled to pitch (as the Astros did last year) but when you have a chance to land one of the best ever you do it!
The Yankees are lucky to have him. He’ll be a real shot in the arm for their ailing rotation, will make them a better team and will make games against the Red Sox (& Mets) much more interesting.
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Pelfrey In Trouble?
It’s a little early to speculate but it’s possible that Mike Pelfrey‘s spot in the rotation could be lost to Jorge Sosa once Orlando Hernandez comes back from the disabled list. After a positive outing against Florida last week Pelfrey turned in another poor performance yesterday against Arizona. The Diamondbacks only managed 3 hits against Pelfrey but drew 4 walks in 5 1/3 innings. Pelfrey also hit two batters to force in a run.
In the meantime Sosa made his first appearance for the Mets on Saturday and allowed 2 runs on 6 1/3 innings. Sosa will get at least one more start before El Duque returns. It is still unknown when exactly Hernandez will be ready to come off the DL.
Since Sosa has only had one start so far it’s hard to tell if Pelfrey will lose his spot in the rotation in favor of Sosa. But after yesterday’s start the Mets have to be considering pulling Pelfrey from the rotation until he has shown, either as a reliever or AAA starter, that he has regained his control.
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Easley Plays Long Ball
The Mets offense got a boost from an unlikely source yesterday when Damion Easley hit a 3 run homer off of Arizona closer Jose Valverde to cap a Mets rally in the ninth and give New York a 9-4 victory over the Diamondbacks in the opener of a four game weekend series. David Wright also went deep for the Mets who came back from a 4-3 deficit in the ninth.
Easley was in there as a replacement for Jose Valentin who is on the DL with a partially torn ACL. Valentin has opted to rehab the ACL instead of surgery. His thinking is that if he has surgery he will be out the rest of this season and that’ll give him problems getting a job in 2006 should the Mets not exercise his option. On the other hand the rehab route should see him playing again in June provided there are no setbacks. The knee may not be fully healed but it will be strong enough to play and for him to show the Mets and other clubs that he can still play.
In other news the team DFAed Chan Ho Park who had a bad start in place of Orlando Hernandez the other day. Hernandez is on the DL and is expected to return next Thursday. That leaves at least one start and possibly two that will need to be covered until he gets back. The first of those starts is tomorrow and the rumors are that it will go to either reliever Aaron Sele or minor leaguer Jorge Sosa. Sosa had a lousy year last year going 3-11 with a 5.42 ERA while splitting time with Atlanta and St. Louis but is enjoying a fantastic start at triple A New Orleans this year. I think it’ll be Sosa as the Mets will try to ride his streak but I’d feel more comfortable with Sele.
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Pythagorean Standings
I didn’t realize that it’s been a week since my last post. In that time the Mets have gone 4-1 with 2 rainouts. That puts them in second place, a half game behind Atlanta. It’s interesting to see how good a start the Braves are getting off to this year. In the spring I thought they would be better than last year but not a powerhouse.
I also thought, along with all the pundits, that Philadelphia would be doing better. They’re a good team with a scary offense. You have to believe that they will eventually get their act together. You have to hope to put as much distance between you and them because once they heat up they’ll be a threat. And they will heat up. That’s for sure.
Looking at these teams had me thinking about how they would fair in Pythagorean terms. I’ve written before about Pythagorean Method, the Bill James creation that tries to predict winning percentage based on runs scored and allowed. I find it to be a nice tool to identify teams that are underachieving and those that are overachieving. So let’s see how these teams are doing. Here are the NL East standings as of this morning:
Team W L Pct. GB Atlanta 10 4 .714 – Mets 9 4 .692 0.5 Florida 6 8 .429 4 Washington 5 10 .333 5.5 Philadelphia 3 10 .231 6.5
Now let’s look at the standings in Pythagorean terms:
Team Runs
ScoredRuns
AllowedPyth.
PctMets 76 35 .825 Atlanta 68 60 .562 Florida 70 71 .493 Philadelphia 58 77 .362 Washington 45 77 .255
This shows us that the Mets have been playing the best all around baseball in the division. They lead it in runs scored and have allowed the fewest as well. Atlanta, while in first place in the division, is nearly 300 percentage points behind them and have scored only 8 runs more than their opponents. They are clearly overachieving in terms of wins and losses when you look at these numbers.
Even more interesting is what we learn about the Phillies when all 30 teams are taken into account. The Phillies have the worst record in baseball and are 27th in Pythagorean percentage. By comparison the Mets have the second best record in baseball and are first in Pythagorean percentage. and the Braves have the best record and rank 8th in Pythagorean percentage. Pythagorean Method tells us that the Phillies should be winning more when you consider their run production and prevention but only slightly more.
Anyway, at this point in the season the team is playing well and has good position in the standings. If they keep playing this well they will be a lot of fun to watch and should be playing ‘meaningful games’ in September.
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Some random number I picked up this morning.
- The Mets are 9-0 when leading after 8 innings and 0-4 when trailing after 8 innings.
- 8-1 when leading after 7 innings and 1-3 when trailing after 7 innings.
- 7-1 when leading after 6 innings, 1-3 when trailing after 6 innings and 1-0 when tied after 6 innings.
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The Oliver Pérez Conundrum
Click here for a recap of Wednesday’s game.
I’m not one to panic. Especially this early in the season. But last night’s game brings a question to mind that the Mets will need to answer sooner or later. How long is too long to wait for potential to turn into consistent performance?
I’m talking, of course, about Oliver Perez who last week pitched a gem of a game against Atlanta (7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6K) then faltered last night against the Phillies (2.2 IP, 1H, 3 ER, 7 BB, 2 K). Perez has made a career out of pitching brilliantly one start then lousy the next. When the Pirates had the opportunity to ship him out for Xavier Nady last August they jumped at the opportunity. And though it is early in the season right now the Mets will have to ask themselves at some point whether or not they can afford to keep Perez around or whether his inconsistency will cost them a trip the the promised land.
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A Loss and a Win
Click here for a recap of Sunday’s game.
Click here for a recap of Monday’s game.
Sunday’s game didn’t work out as I planned. I was feeling like the game was going to turn during Orlando Hernandez‘s last inning of work. I felt like he was running out of steam. But it was the bullpen that ultimately lost the game.
On the plus side the Mets won their home opener against the Phillies. They won 11-5 despite getting just 1 extra base hit (a double by David Wright in the 8th inning). The Mets take on the Phils at Shea again tonight and tomorrow night.
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