Tom Glavine’s gets another no-decision. Too bad. He deserved better.
Keeping things in perspective, there’s still a game to win, but it’s not going to happen when the offense plays like this. First and second and no outs, and noted run-producer Moises Alou grounds into a double play.
Brutal.
The perspective is these guys aren’t getting it done in crunch time.
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For an entry titled, “Keeping things in perspective,” I don’t find much perspective. How many games has Alou had to get any rhythm back? The guy was out for months.
John, it’s baseball. These things are going to happen.
Given the 4 inch wide strike zone its amazing that Glavine wasn’t routed. The Brewers lack of patience really cost them a chance to rough up the Mets staff tonight.
Newhan and DiFelice need to go for some more relief pitching, Heilman and Feliciano are overworked, and Mota and the road Show dont get the job done often enough.
Any word on what the rotation will look like the next three days? Perez-Sosa-Duque-Maine is the natural order, but given the use of Sosa tonight (and the short game by Maine) I would expect that to change.
To Simon (RE: Perspective)
Yes, these things happen, but it has been happening all year. It’s not just Alou, and I’m not pinning it all on him. Hell, we could be here for another two hours and he just might win it. As a group, they’ve had more than enough chances to win tonight.-JD
A caller on WFAN said that Humber was pulled from his start for New Orleans today, so were the Mets planning all along to move Sosa to the bullpen and use Humber on Thursday? That looks to be it now, especially since Sosa came in before Sele. At least now the Brewers have to use a different pitcher tomorrow.
Using Newhan as a pinch-hitter before Gotay says volumes about Willie’s attitude toward using good young players over veteran has-beens and never-weres.
Is a slight upgrade on defense worth sixty games of 1-4 with a weak single?
I can’t think so.
Banjo Castillo is a lateral move, at best.
Humber recently had a bout with food poisoning. If by ‘pulled,’ you mean ‘scratched,’ I’d bet it might have been associated with that. If he was removed during the game…I don’t know … John?
Alou has the worst situational stats on the whole team. Worse than Green. Worse than Gotay. Worse than Milledge. His defense is poor too. Sorry, but he’s a waste of roster space.
And Mota is a disgrace. Why did Omar ever sign this cheating clown?
Before I tear into Willie Randolph’s VERY questionable on-field decisions tonight, I must nominate Damion Easley for the worst at-bat of the year award for his performance in the top of the 13th.
Ahead in the count, 2-1, he swings at ball three on a pitch where Moises Alou would’ve easily stolen second. Then on 3-2, he swings at ball four, which would’ve put men on first and second with no outs. That was the game right there.
Or was it in the top of the 10th?
Moises Alou ahead 3-1 in the count, men on first and second, none out and instead of taking a second strike, he plays into a sinkerballer’s hands and rolls into a rally-killing DP.
Or was it in the bottom om of the 13th?
Why in the hell did Willie not opt for one of the following options:
1) Walk Geoff Jenkins intentionally with the winning run on second?
2) Bring in Scott Schoeneweis to pitch to Jenkins?
Or, maybe the game was really lost in the bottom onf the 8th with the Mets ahead 2-1. Why not call on Billy Wagner, instead of Pedro Feliciano to pitch to Prince Fielder? Think about it: Wagner gets through that unscathed and then has lesser hitters facing him in the 9th. What’s wrong with occasionally using your closer to get a more than one-inning save? isn’t that why he’s called a closer?
Also, will someone explain why Jorge Sosa was used in relief, when he’s scheduled – not anymore, apparently, to pitch Thursday? Does it not defy logic that with the Mets operating a man short on the pitching side, they used BOTH Sosa and Sele?
HoJo needs to talk to these guys again about being selective. The first-pitch bunt for a hit in the 12th by Castillo I understand. But the rest of that inning was TWO pitches – Wright’s lineout to right and Delgado’s rolling into a double play.
And on a day which saw us not successfully land any relief help, Feliciano and Mota couldn’t get it done.
Disappointing loss.
Why walk Jenkins intentionally? You’re just going to face more difficult batters in Hart, Hardy, and Braun and leave less room for error if Sele is wild.
Why bring in Schoeneweis when there’d be two difficult righties following Jenkins? If Willie did that and one of those righties got the winning hit, you’d probably be criticizing Willie nonetheless.
Why bring in Wagner with only 1 out in the 8th if it may mean he’s unavailable tonight? The rest of the bullpen was rested. If Wllie can’t count on the rest of them, then there’s a roster problem there.
Maybe the game wasn’t lost on any of those hindsight guesses but in the failure of Omar to address the bullpen adequately at the trade deadline. Maybe it was lost because the Mets are simply lousy situational hitters this year.
Most of the time it isn’t the managers fault. Like last night.
JK: Here’s why I’d have walked Jenkins:
1)the righty-lefty matchup favored Jenkins
2))Jenkins is a known, proven hitter who lashed a single when he pinch-hit in his previous at-bat
3)His run meant nothing by putting him on first
4)Putting him on first would’ve set up forces at first, second and third, so even if Hart had sacrificed, the runner at second could’ve been forced at third, if needed
5) The old adage “Don’t let (fill in the blank) beat you.” Corey Hart doesn’t have Jenkins’s pedigree as a hitter.
As for “hindsight,” no, I was asking myself while watching, “why not bring in Wagner now?” Why not go with your best defense against their best offense? And no, Willie didn’t lose the game – that was a TOTAL team effort.
Gil, I agree with you about bringing in Wagner in the 8th. He’s not on the team to accrue as many saves as possible, he’s there to help the team win as many games as possible. They are not the same. So if he saves this one and can’t pitch tomorrow so what? I thought briefly about it while watching but Feliciano has been so good this year I didn’t really question it. The truth is though that Feliciano is not nearly as good as Billy Wagner.
Taylor, you said it yourself. Wagner is there to win as many games as possible. If you pitch him for 5 outs yesterday, there’s a good chance he’s not available today. But if Feliciano or Mota do their job, then he can close out last night’s game and can save today’s. That’s two games he can save versus one.
Gil, what if after walking Jenkins, Sele ends up walking Hart too? Then the bases are loaded with no one out. Sele already has walked a lot of hitters this year. He doesn’t have great control. I think Willie did the right thing.
Willie didn’t lose the game. The hitters and Mota/Feliciano didn’t do their jobs