About Last Night
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- August
- 16
I know this isn’t college football where neatness counts and lopsided wins mean something, but when you’re up by six against the Pirates you have to put them away. You must develop a killer instinct against the weaker teams.
I’m also not buying the party line John Maine had such a great night. The Mets say 34 foul balls meant his ball was moving. Maine said if a few more of those were put in play his pitch count would have gone down.
The assumption being, of course, if those balls would have been outs. What if they were hits? Let’s face it, 117 pitches is too many for five innings no matter what kind of spin they put on it.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 11:05 am by John Delcos.
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Now I'm convinced that Feliciano is being rested for the stretch run and we've been playing with a six-man bullpen recently. Feliciano's IP high was last year at 60, which doesn't include the postseason. It isn't even all that high, but I feel like this year he has been used for full innings more often. August 9 was his last appearance, and the last time he pitched a full inning before that was July 27. He has been giving up more hits recently, and taken out early even whenhe has not. As long as the others perform well enough, he is not so needed.
Also, about the announcers, I was listening to the Pirates radio once while driving through PA, and they were sooooo boring. I don't know if the TV guys could top them. And turning on the Braves game is only good if you want to take a nap.
An awfully negative post. Pitch count was high by El Duque and Maine. So what. What would you want the manager to say maybe something like "boy did my boy John suck today or what." That would give you all something to write about wouldn't it. What if…what if… what if. What if the Pirate starter would have had a good first inning…. We would have lost… What ifs are for losers…..
Spider…the Pirate TV announcers almost sound like they wish they were elsewhere. I watched the game with the sound off…I live in Miami and have Directv Extra Innings.
John, you don't understand "spin". The Mets aren't spinning anything, what would you expect them to do? Willie say, well, John wasn't good tonight, all those pitches, he is really struggling? No you give the kid, and remember, he is a kid, pitching this late into a season for the FIRST TIME EVER, some confidence, you say he did well, so hopefully he take sthat into his next start and improves and gets back on track. And its not like those foul balls were smacked deep and just past the foul pole, they were int eh seats, barely somtimes, poped up…and you're saying those could be hits? Fact is, the team battled Maine, they wanted to get contact, that was the plan, and it worked, HOWEVER, maine kept us in the game, it was Sele who f'ed up. I know you have to criticize everything and find some little nuance to gripe about, but c'mon man, give it up. Where's the props for ANYONE? EVER?
There was a story on MLB over the weekend, "a win is a win no matter how you slice it" and it just bothered me, the whole sentiment. maybe in may, not in august when the phillies and the braves are nipping at the mets' heels.
your statement "You must develop a killer instinct against the weaker teams" is true but also interesting that you said "develop". The Mets should already have a killer instinct against the weaker teams. This is not a team of rookies in a rebuilding year. Everyone on the Mets should look at the schedule and be thinking, okay, we're playing the Pirates and then the Nationals, we gotta take 4 out of 6 here and let's not be sloppy. When I saw that first inning last night I started to think, maybe they've woken up and realized this is how they played and won last year, and know that every game counts right now.
...and then the rest of the game i watched in fast-forward until that 9th inning.
They should have won 10-4. Inexcusible to have let them get four more runs.
I agree about "killer instinct" and "putting teams away," but I don't think it has anything to do with the ninth inning after the Mets went up by six runs. The four runs they gave up were 100% attributable to Sele having nothing. That's a problem with Sele, not the team as a whole. What is a problem is the Mets sleepwalking through innings 2-8. After putting up a five spot in the first inning they should have been attacking Morris for more. I give Milledge a lot of credit for sparking the team in the ninth inning.
A few points:
JDs criticism of the Mets for patting Maine on the back is just sad. Its been said twice above correctly, the manager can't blast his guy, nor should we want him to.
The 4 runs in the 9th would be a concern if Wagner, Heilman, Feliciano started the inning, but Sele!
The guys who wanted Sele to come in last night in the 3rd or 4th or 5th inning. I guess you'd have lost the game last night, but please please don't give Willie any credit for sticking with Maine as long as he could…...
Killer instinct…. This year's club doesn't have it. The team isn't good enough to have it. The longest winning streak is 4 games. That proves it right there. So a win is a win. Because you need them any way you can get them this year.
To Metgrrl: You're right, they should already have that instinct. They had it last year, but it is lacking this season. To me they are clearly better than Florida and Washington, but are 2-4 to the Marlins at home and 5-4 vs. Nationals overall. Maybe I expect too much from them, but I don't think I am expecting any more than they are from themselves.-JD