Welcome back to Mets Chat Room.
There’s certainly a lot on the table tonight. I have a new poll up on who should be Saturday’s starter. Pedro Martinez is not an option so he is not included. … Amby Burgos is undergoing Tommy John this afternoon. … Endy Chavez is back, so the outfield rotation is a topic.
And, of course, there’s the game. Time for Tom Glavine to step up. If you’re the Mets you don’t want the Phillies to even think they have a chance.
You’re up. Talk with you throughout the game.
179 Comments
I’m with you JL. I agree. I don’t understand why people are trying to blame Willie. I think he’s made his point with Mota though…he is done.
JK: True, you have to figure that the game could go a few extra innings so one would hope that Mota or another bullpen guy could at least throw for six outs.
I’m not a big Randolph fan (never was even last year)but this one is not on him.
Wonder if we find that silver lining and Minaya makes the move to either send him down or (if they get to the playoffs)leaves him off the playoff roster.
JD- do you get the feeling in the clubhouse that the team hates mota? how could they not?
Remember it takes poor pitching AND hitting to lose a game. The Mets had two or three chances with runners on to open up a bigger lead and never did after Delgado’s 2 run homer.
Maybe Reyes should be given a night off. He hasn’t missed a game all season…he’s 0 for the trip and is looking a little slower at in the field.
Jeff & JR: This may sound far-fetched but I do think Willie is sending a message to Omar. Didn’t Torre do this all the time with pitchers he wanted off the team? It’s like he was saying “OK Cashman, this is the crap you gave me, this is what you get back.” Willie learned from Torre so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s doing the same thing. This is just speculation.
I’m praying Mota isn’t on the postseason roster.
One question no one has yet asked: Why didn’t Willie let Glavine go out to pitch the 8th?
And as far as our team going anywhere IF we make the post-season, people said the same thing about last year’s St. Louis Cardinals and we know the rest.
But the odds are very much against us.
We better pray that our starters either start going eight innings each outing, or the offense stakes the starters to insurmountable leads.
JK: Interesting point. Postseason? Well if we don’t start to win against the Phils and with the Braves to follow…not sure we’re ready to talk about a postseason yet. Whoah Nellie!
Glavine usually tells Willie when he’s done. Same with El Duque. Willie leaves it up to them. It might be a little much to ask Glavine at 41 to pitch an 8th inning. Right after he threw 116 pitches at Washington he had a terrible game.
bowling stinks im coming back to baseball :)
I do believe that Randolph talked to Glavine after the 7th and asked him what he had left. I’m sure if Glavine could have gone out for another out or two in the 8th, he would have…he’s all about the team!
Randolph did what he had to do. Feliciano made a bad pitch, Heilman held on and Mota…well you know the rest!
NOTES FROM A VERY QUIET CLUBHOUSE
GLAVINE AND PITCHING THE EIGHTH: His words: ``I was done.’’ Glavine pitched out of trouble in three innings and said that takes a lot out of a pitcher.
WRIGHT ON THE SLOW ROLLER UP THE THIRD BASE LINE: ``Ninety-nine percent of the time those go foul.’’
MOTA ON LOSING IT IN HIS SECOND INNING: Believe it or not he said he wasn’t really aware of that. He said he hung a change-up to Howard.
RANDOLPH ON THE SLOW ROLLER: ``You set yourself up for that when you don’t pick up the ducks.’’ Meaning, if the Mets took advantage of their opportunities it never would have come to that.
WRIGHT SUMMARIZED THE GAME IN ONE SENTENCE: ``Two runs, with as great as Tommy was and with as much confidence as we have in our bullpen, isn’t going to get the job done.’’
I hope this answers some of your questions.-JD
Perfect JD….great job and thanks!
Yeah, thanks John. Your timely info is much appreciated.
The offense over the last two games has been a huge disappointment. They need to show up for the rest of this series.
thanks john. hopefully we could pick up these next 2 and leave w/ what we came
At least the Marlins beat the Braves. With a split (the Mets win the next two games) the Phillies would end up back where they started the series.
The pressure is squarely on the Met’s bats.
I’m glad we have Ollie and El Duque tomorrow and Thursday.
Quiet clubhouse?
Maybe that’s the problem.
Where’s the fire?
Where’s the intensity?
Where’s the raw anger and outrage about a loss like that?
Where’s the will to finish the damn job?
Where’s the refusal to go out like suckers?
Championship teams have those qualities.
Luis Castillo has got o block LoDuca’s shitty throw that is his only job once he sees that is a low thrwo… Watch the replay he jumped out of the way and just waved at the ball. That play cost the Mets the game not the slow roller
So supposing you’re Willie, what do you do about it? I can’t watch the games here (except for the highlights) so I can’t get a real feel for what’s going on with this team—except Mota, of course.
My impression is that this is a group of guys who are pretty low key. When things start to go bad, instead of getting fired up they go quiet cuz they don’t want to blame anybody in the clubhouse. I suppose that could be a good thing sometimes. They maintain a sense of harmony, but, yeah, they seems to lack that fire. Very disappointing…
I love this team, but if they’re gonna continue to play like this I hope that Philly and Atlanta keep this a close race. If the Mets are just gonna coast the rest of the way, I don’t want a division title.
To Viking Coach: You’re right. If you had to take one play away, it would have been that one. Even had Lo Duca just given him the steal they might have gotten out of it. Then again, throw in another hit or two and none of that matters.-JD
John,
Every Mets fan worth his salt knows that Mota is a 1 inning pitcher at best. Why has no one challenged Willie on this over the past year? He continues to misuse his bullpen over and over again. Can you please ask him why he keeps sending Mota out for a second inning when his history in such outings is downright awful.
Lo Duca throwing error? Castillo letting the throw to 2nd scoot into CF? The ‘swinging bunt’ RBI? Mets getting only 6 hits—2 from Glavine? You could cut this pie any way you like, but the crumbs are still going to spell METS BULLPEN STILL LACKING.
John –
Thanks for the ‘notes from a very quiet clubhouse’.
Unfortunately I think that Mota in the clubhouse is creating a lot of problems – both with the team and with the fans. With everything else going on in sports today, having a known steroid user in their midst is not good for the Mets.
Tommy gave the game everything he could, but Mota took it all away.
JD
Thanks for the quotes.
To all who blame this on the pen or Willie or whomever
2-for-32 (.063)
those are the numbers for 1-4 in our lineup.
The offense has to do better than 2 runs in a bandbox. Mota stinks but there are bigger goats available. This one hurts.
You know from all that I posted elsewhere, that I think this bullpen is horrible. However, I find it hard to blame anyone else but the offense for this one. Two runs in two straight games in CB Park is awful. Time for Ollie to pitch a huge game and for these bats to wake back up.
Mets lost tonite because the top of the lineup went 0 for infinity. Not a single hit from 1 thru 5. Should have blown the Phillies out. Two runs doesn’t cut it. All other comments are superfluous.
For those who lament Lastings sitting last night, I hope you saw Endy play the field. He is the best OF we have on the team.
The best OF we have had possibly ever.
He made a play on a ball coming in right center which saved a run. He was farther away than Carlos and still beat him by a mile to the ball.
We miss him terribly. Our pitchers miss him.
I like Lastings, but he has a lot to learn both at the plate and in the field.
I am not saying he should start every day. That won’t happen, but he should play every day. He should be part of a double switch or just a defensive replacement starting in the 7th. The days of Marlon playing CF are done.
Dave
August 28th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
JK sez: >
It may sound far fetched but I think there might be sonething to what you say, JK. Why else would Willie keep shoving Mota in there? It can’t be because he thinks he’s good, right? Or is he trying to appease Martinez to see if his ‘training’ of Mota passes the litmus test? Either way, it’s a helluva time to play musical bullpen, and I too hope these shenanigans with Mota aren’t EVEN on the post-season radar.
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