Mets Chat Room: Maine, Church lead Mets
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- May
- 13
Arguably the two most consistent Mets this season have been Ryan Church and John Maine. Both brought their “A’’ games in beating Washington tonight.
The Mets are now 3-2 on this homestand, with two more to play before the series at Yankee Stadium this weekend. They still aren’t clicking on all cylinders, but they’ve lost games like this before.
IN A NUTSHELL (Mets 6, Washington 3)
Maine gave up two runs on two hits in six innings and Church drove in four runs.
IN THE CLUBHOUSE
Maine on hitting Felipe Lopez with the game’s first pitch: “It slipped,’’ he said with a smile.
Ryan Church on his approach: “I’m trying to stay back as long as I can, especially when they are throwing breaking balls.’’
Carlos Delgado on his bunt for a hit: “Maybe I’m selling myself short. Maybe I’m a great bunter.’’
ANALYSIS: I liked that Delgado bunted. We talked about that during the game, and Willie Randolph actually said it was a good thing and something he should have done more of earlier. … Where are the Mets without Church? Definitely below .500, and maybe in last place.
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on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 6:53 pm by John Delcos.
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They best not lose again. Playing the Nats is akin to playing a Little League team for crying out loud. C’mon Mets—Get fired up!
Don’t you mean, a girls softball team?-JD
Gimme a “D”
D!
Gimme an “F”
F!
Gimme an “A”!
A!
Nelson Figueroa, what does that spell?
“DFA!”
One more time!
“DFA!”
That’s his ticket off the roster.
Instead of using his anger to chide the Nationals for their unorthodox display of team spirit, Nelson should’ve shut them up by shutting them down, not walking, plunking or serving tasty meatballs to every other hitter.
Nice guy, but as I said on this board a month ago, Nelson Figueroa is not Major League material.
Neither is Jorge Sosa and now both are outta here. We can’t do any worse with Claudio Vargas.
tonight they swat the Gnats. however we still have a HOLE in the lineup.
You are a funny man, JD. Of course I did.
See little Metsies… I didn’t tease you at all yesterday. I am not mean like little Metsies are. Gil how nasty to a guy who must got the axe…Maybe someday you will feel the sameway and some outsied will make fun of you. That would be sweet, wouldn’t it!
But since you little mean Metsie want to make fun of Poor Figgy, I heard that Dukes asked the front office to claim him so they can help him with cheers…. Plus the ball girls want him to coach their softball team…..
Is Maine picking a fight with these guys by plunking Lopez?
I would have to think that first pitch that hit Lopez had a purpose behind it.-JD
I love it, way to go Johnny Maine!!! Would love to see this start a brawl and maybe this will be the turnaround for the Mets. LET’S GO METS!!!!
DC9er, your handle is cool, your shout out to the old McDonnell-Douglas jets. Clever.
Maine wants to be a real pitcher like the guys from 60’s through 80’s. it was intentional.
good for HIM!
JD: But if Maine’s gonna plunk someone, why not Dukes? He’s in the lineup after all. Body like a linebacker and the mind of a ticking time bomb, though.
he’ll strand the guy he hit too.
watch him do it! :-)
if he duke. they would get the warning. this way he tells the team. i am not a punk. and i am smarter than you …
Gil—
You have to send the message right away and not wait for the guy to get up. I think though as long as no one from the Nats tries to hit a Mets player, then we may just see Dukes get plunked as well. This of course is all pending the umps warning both benches.
Well I’m glad you like it. You are now an ex mean little Metsie…....
(Hello seemed so old and DC so short….)
Wow – Finally the armchair GMs were matched by the real GM. Good moves. You cannot send Smith down and keep SOSO!!! Just based upon performance you cannot hamstring Willie that way.
I was wondering about Vargas. I mean if he wasn’t signed for times like this what was he signed for? And Figgy? You cannot complain like a girl and you cannot get another team riled up.
Somebody tell me about the purpose pitch that Maine sent? Up and in? And how do we know there was purpose behind it?
Good point, Jimmy Dean.
But Maine also has to bat tonight and I don’t want him or Jose Reyes or David Wright plunked. Wouldn’t it be just our luck that in beanball war or a brawl, we’d sustain more injuries to key players?
Again, I wish Fugueroa had shut up the Nats’ bench with effective pitching, rather than whining to the press, then having that material turned against him, as Dukes did, after Figueroa was DFA’d.
Gil: Hit the first guy to let them know you mean business. No sense hitting a punk like Dukes who is liable to charge the mound and dislocate Maine’s shoulder.-JD
DC9er: I LOVE DC. I lived there for many years as a kid, after moving from White Plains. Nationals park is right down the street from where I loved in DC. But you’ll surely hate me for this (and props to you Giants fans out there): I’m also a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan!
Lastings Milledge comes to the plate to the sound of boos. It’s safe to say he’s not missed.-JD
Gil: Well, then you should have the skinny on Romo and Jessica.-JD
If the Mets want to make a statement, beat the nats and the rest of the national league. Hitting someone doesn’t impress me. The Mets are still a dead team.
JD: Dukes could still charge the mound regardless. You saw what that nut case Richie Sexson of the Mariners did last week after taking a pitch nowhere close to him.
Lucky for us Felipe Lopez (who from what I can tell had nothing to do with the cheer squad) didn’t barrel into second spikes high and try to hurt Damion Easley in retaliation.
If Maine and the Mets have a problem with Dukes, take it up with him. It’s as if six years ago, when Roger Clemens batted, Mets pitchers went after other players. And no, I still haven’t forgiven that jellyfish Shawn Estes for not only missing the target on Clemens’s bat, but for dining with him that very evening.
Maine is really looking like he has a purpose tonight. Did the Nats piss off the entire team last and only Fig was stupid enough to say something. I didn’t see that in the papers today.
“Lastings Milledge comes to the plate to the sound of boos. It’s safe to say he’s not missed.-JD”
Does that mean the Met fans miss Delgado, Heilman, Sosa, Santana?
Sorry, I meant the target on Clemens’s back, not bat.
Tomg: You lost me. How are those comments related?-JD
sorry, I was being a wise a@@. I guess I meant I guess the met fans don’t miss the players mentioned since they have been booed also. It seems to be the theme at shea to boo.
tomg: I got the joke. You weren’t being a wise ass. You’re right on. Every opposing team’s TV announcers have mentioned how they’ve never seen as much venom directed at Mets players by their own fans.
Booing Lastings shows how sad it must be to be a little Metsie. If he’s nearly as bad as you all claim why would you boo him? You should have done what we did when church came to DC. absolutely nothing….
I will give it to delgado. that was the smartest and best at bat i have seen from him in a year.
:-)
Mr. DC 9er,
I agree, these people who are going to shea and do nothing but boo are making met fans like myself look bad. I don’t like to look bad. Those fans cannot be true met fans. Maybe there philty fans disguised as met fans.
DC9er: I got the sense Mets fans booed Lastings more for his not realizing his potential as a Met more than his being a National.
If you wanna hear some booing of an ex-Met, wait ‘til Tom Glavine takes the mound at Shea in a Braves’ uni.
you tell ‘em Gil. The metsie fans are the laughingstock of the baseball world. And why do I care who you rrot for in football. I was a NY person too. I lived south of you in hideous Co-op City. Now i live in a real place in Virginia. You didn’t live in the Navy Yard did you????
Just teasing little Metsie…...
Booing Lastings is fine. he aint a met anymore. Booing your own team. inexcusable.
Tomg – I realize that was a typo but I think you’re onto something there. Just add an “h” and you got it when it comes to the Phillie fans. They’re Philthy.
Watching the game on TV. In case you didn’t realize, Willie was muttering angrily when Delgado squared to bunt on the first pitch. I believe Wright was also squinting on the bench, as if he didn’t approve.
Why doesn’t Delgado do that every time? It’s a great baseball debate.
DV no way you were a NYer. because you wouldnt stop being one. I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. I moved 8 years ago. if someone asks me where i am from. one answer. Brooklyn.
where do i live. thats another story.
DC no way you were a NYer. because you wouldnt stop being one. I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. I moved 8 years ago. if someone asks me where i am from. one answer. Brooklyn.
where do i live. thats another story.
I hate to make you sad Gil but I enjoy hearing the metsie fans being the laughingstock of all of baseball and boo their own guys….....
PS: I bet you Metise wish that the SS batting there was Hanley Ramirez vice Jose poty boy Reyes.
Mr. DC 9er,
“The metsie fans are the laughingstock of the baseball world.”
that’s true, Seinfeld is a met fan and he is one of the funniest people in the world, very observant.
Easley’s a terrible 2nd baseman…
In that situation it was the smartest thing to do. no one was on third. I approve of that bunt. Delgado is no longer your all power hitter. if he plays this msart the rest of the year. I’ll shut up about losing him. if he goes back to being an idiot. well there ya go.
Ha! Ha! No, DC9er, I didn’t live in the Navy Yard. More toward Fort McNair. I thought you were a DC person and by extension a Washington NFL fan. I’m with tomg in more so-called fans at Shea are treating their own players more like chess pieces than human beings.
Boo the opposition, but keep it clean – unless of course, it’s Roger Clemens.
Josh?! huh are you kidding. one bad play. he has made many many more better plays. I always give a player 1 or 2.
Even Delgado last year i was blind until it was persistent.
tomg: I prefer Mets fan Chris Rock as the official comic of the Mets.
As it just so happens I have one TV on the Mets vs Gnats game and the other on ESPN2 for the delayed broadcast of Michigan vs US Woman’s softball game. Unfortunately Mrs Casey Daigle (i.e Jennie Finch) is not pitching.
ouch. that hurt. ok maine. shake it off ;-)
Gnats will be annoying that way. hey JD did you bring the RAID?
Steve C.- Not as annoying as our own minor league Sand Gnats here in Savannah, a Mets Single A affiliate!
K on Millege. woohoo.
really. i thought mets were the cyclones in Brooklyn.
now who was it that didnt like church. right over millege. woohoo.
Thats the team saying to maine. after that beanball we will win for you..
Rip Omar if you must—and I won’t—but landing Ryan Church and Brian Schneider is looking as smart a deal as I said it would at the time it was made last winter.
Kevin: Thanks for bringing that up. I didn’t see the camera shot on Willie, but if he didn’t like the play by Delgado then he’s an idiot. The idea is to get on base any way possible. Now that Delgado has done it, people will expect it all the time. And, they should.-JD
Maybe Jennie is having more babies…
Hey Metsies, If Perez gave up that HR you would all be screaming about him bad things, but Maine does after an error not a word… Why is that little Metsies…
JD: I hope you ask Willie in the post-game news conference if he indeed disapproved of Delgado’s bunt. To be fair, though, we can’t conclusively know what exactly appeared to peeve both Willie and D-Wright.
Now, here’s a deserved boo. On the Guess that Year segment between innings, when it came to name the season the Mets first won the World Series, he picked 1968.-JD
What game are you watching Steve C. Any decent team would have 5-7 runs already…. I think Figgy was talking about your offense in the clutch when he was talking about girl softball….
Nice catch by Easley. I don’t think Castillo gets to that.-JD
ok Josh. did easley show you how that was a one-off miss?
John,
I get into arguments with people all the time about this. I personally can’t really decide if it’s the best thing to do every single time or not. Occasionally, yes.
The people I speak to all vehemently contest that Jason Giambi, Delgado, Thome, Ryan Howard, etc. are completely wrong for not bunting in every at-bat, if only to get teams to stop shifting.
However, I also respond with this: “Honestly, do you think you know more baseball than Joe Torre? Or Joe Girardi? Or Randolph? Or Ozzie Guillen or Charlie Manuel? Or all their coaches? Of course not. So then why do you think YOU know more than they do?”
If bunting in that situation was SO obvious, why haven’t teams been doing it already? Everybody wants to win, right?
I don’t have an answer.
DC9er: Same reason why in many of our eyes, David Wright can do no wrong. If he doesn’t produce in the clutch when others are guilty of the same offense, it’s others who are skewered. Definitely not fair.
How quick fans forget about Delgado’s 38 bombs and monster post-season in ‘06. And how quick fans turned on Beltran in the beginning of ‘06 after he played most of the year on a bad quad, which sapped his back leg strength and nearly got his brains scrambled after a head-on collision with Mike Cameron.
I’m proud to be a native New Yorker, but I wonder sometimes why—besides the piles of money—players want to play in New York and put up with so much crap.
nice hit by maine.
Gil: Delgado hasnt been clutch in a very very long time. he made a very smart at bat with the bunt.
Kevin: a hitter should take advantage of a full shift like that..
Whoever has kidnapped Jose Reyes and installed an impostor in his place needs to be caught and brought to justice.
Reyes does not deserve to hit lead off anymore…
Kevin: Every single time? Probably not. But, if they are giving you the base, why not take it? If the hitter does it often enough, the defense will lessen its use of the shift. It’s like a quarterback. If the secondary is giving you the five-year out pattern to the sideline, keep on taking it.-JD
Jose reyes sucks, plain and simple. I remember listening to Mike and the Mad dog the day after Reyes signed a contract extension and how the mets got off cheap with reyes. I actually think the Mets got ripped off.
Steve C: I agree on Delgado. But before this year is out, he’ll get his share of clutch hits. And I’ll take solace in the fact that I stuck with him in bad times instead of booing.
If booing Delgado or any other Met improve his performance, I’d roar myself hoarse. But I can’t think of anytime when a player was booed by his own fans and it improved his performance.
Reyes’ bat gets cold usually after a homerun or a hit more than a double. its his ego wanting him to do more. when he settles down he;s a good player plus he’s fast and has a glove. But yes it gets frustrating has hell when the well dries up.
Gil: I have never boo-ed delgado. I get angry at him but while he is a met i will never ever boo him. ask anyone that knows me.
When do you metsies start booing Jose? I guess we won’t be singing the Jose song will we… Why do you guys think you’re any good. Your only good player are 3B and CF, and one good pitcher and a horrible bullpen. That means for all your big money you have only 3 goodplayers more than we do….
To this Kevin guy: Don’t you know that these little Metsie are smarter than any baseball career man? Just ask em….
John,
Absolutely… so then why hasn’t Howard Johnson been telling Delgado that? Why hasn’t given Kevin Long told Giambi? They’re smart baseball people. There’s got to be a reason why there are about 15-20 guys in baseball who get a shift put on against them, yet NONE of them consistently bunt.
If I were a manager against a guy like Delgado, I’d shift my shortstop just to the other side of second, move my second baseman back 5 steps into the outfield and have my third baseman got 5 steps to the left. Once there were two strikes (and bunting was presumably out of the equation), I’d make the shift more extreme.
did schneider catch for pelfry yet? i dont think so. i think we will see a different pelfry with schneider catching. I really have to think that there’s a failure to communicate with the other catchers.
Steve C: You don’t boo Delgado because you’re a true fan.
Steve C.,
reyes is a lead off hitter who doesn’t work out walks who has a bad OBP and batting average. That adds to a terrible lead off hitter. Reyes is over rated in my view.
Wow, Delgado just got robbed…
Damn! Delgado nearly had such a clutch hit. Props to Milledge for making that play.
Fricken Millege. sigh
tomg: please look at Reyes obp last 2 years and even this year. the entire team is having issues getting. on. But i agree he hasnt been the same. its the HRs and the extra base balls. it gets to his head.
If by the end of the year its more of the same i will agree with you on him needing to be shifted.
Note on Reyes: Since his 4-for-5 night in Arizona a couple of weeks ago, he’s gone 8-for-37 (.216).
Any of you guys old enough to remember Gil Hodges saying screw the infield shift and playing 4 outfielders sometimes with Willie McCovey batting?
Reyes has been doing this for over a year now, I don’t see any changes. In 2006 he was good, don’t know what happened but it is what it is.
I’m no fan of a military draft, but Keith Hernandez gets the line of the night award: He sees a kid with a bright orange, spiky mohawk and goattee in the stands and he says: “Too bad there’s no longer a volunteer army.”
I do remember Sloppy, I was 10 years old in 1968. Gil Hodges was the best manager in Mets history.
Whoops! I mean, Keith said: “Too bad the army’s volunteer only.” Or something to that effect. My bad.
yeah that was funny./ no clue what happened to my draft card. good riddance actually.
Great catch by Milledge holding on to that ball. Thankfully these walls are padded now..I remember Fred Lynn hurting his back at Fenway in 1975 hitting part of the wall that hadn’t been padded yet.
Did Delgado not hustle out of the box when he hit that? Hard to tell with the replay but he appeared to get out slowly.
I can’t think of too many pull hitters “bunting against the shift” very often. Joe Garagiola used to make jokes on how he tied a record getting getting four hits in a world series games and the headlines the next day were “Ted Bunts!” about one of Williams rare attempts. It’s like why do so many basketball players not shoot free throws underhand, especially the bad ones like Shaquille O’Neal. Not macho? Bush league like celebrating on a bench?
I stand by my statement about Easley…
I really wonder if Gotay would have made that play?
4 outfielders, that’s creative…. Did the Metsie fans boo him for doing it? Did they call it unprofessional?
tomg. i learned to like Gotay after awhile. I like easley as well. he plays a decent first. 2 bad plays so far. doesnt bode well. but his bat has been good. sigh we shall see how the rest of the night pans out.
I’d let Maine pitch one more inning.
willie did not just take maine out. no fricken way.
dont even tell me his pitch count was at 100.
MY KINGDOM FOR A JOSE REYES RBI HIT.
He was up 3rd in the inning….
Valentine crashed into a wall and ruined his career didn’t he?
DCDope: Met fans wouldn’t dream of booing Hodges. As a matter of fact when he played for Brooklyn and went into a terrible slump instead of booing him the entire Borough of Brooklyn prayed for him…...
Steve C: Come on! Didn’t you get the memo issued to all MLB managers? A pitcher’s arm automatically drops off after 100 pitches.
DC9er: Didn’t take Mets fans long to start booing Jose Reyes, did it?
RYAN CHURCH IS THE MAN!!!!!!
Its time to go to CHURCH!
Where would this team be without Ryan Church???
Gil: yeah tell me. it makes me sick.
Josh: without a clutch hitter. though schneider has been ok ..
all our guys are slumping. feels like the 90’s all over again .
sigh
no heart. he should’ve bunted.
Showing emotion can be a good thing, but I have to say seeing Moises Alou throwing his bat all over the place after every time he makes an out (and even last night when his fly ball dropped in and he hustled to second for a double) is getting annoying.
Moises, you’re not gonna bat .800, dude. No one has and no one will.
he throws his bat because he;s upset with himeself. ya know. i like to see that they know they screwed up.
unlike reyes. rolling his eyes with the oh well attitude.
Millege would do it too. i dont like it.
be upset you effed up something you should have hit.
Steve C: Yeah, but even if Moises hits .341 again, like last year, it means that he’ll have “screwed up” 65.8 percent of the time. If he tosses his bat after every out he makes he’ll throw his arm out.
Sanchez was another over-rated pitcher…
they took maine out for this???
Gil: LMAO i hear ya buddy. i hear ya..
;-)
DS really likes ot cut it close. frustrating to watch. at least he doesnt fall apart like other pitchers. Just glad he pulled it off
Steve C: We’ve been in agreement all night—until your comment about Duaner. I swear he was our MVP in ‘06. He was the bext set-up guy we had since Turk Wendell.
Granted, he’s not the same as he was since THE ACCIDENT, but give him time and he’ll come around. It was good to see him hitting 90 on the gun in the last inning.
sloppy: dude just ignore the Gnat fan. talk to the rest of us.. he isnt worth it. booing hodges he probably doesnt even know where the bowling lane is located.. ;-]
If Dukes had put away his pom-poms, maybe he could’ve thrown out Schneider at second.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE LORDS OF KOBOL, PLEASE GET A HIT, JOSE. I’M FRIGGIN’ BEGGING YOU!!!!!!
i miss Turk so effin much dude!
and yeah it isnt DS’ fault .. them damned cabbies. :-(
YES!!!!!!!!!!
Jose redeems himself… and Milledge continues to suck!
Josh, like i said. its the extra base hits. it gets to his head. if he can learn to shrug off the go boost he would be great!
Anybody else out there like me and DVR-ing ESPN2’s NYU student-produced documentary on Bobby Valentine right now?
just 2 more outs.
Love how the ex-Yankee Aaron Boone gets extra boos at Shea!
You metsies were very lucky tonite…..
and thats all she wrote. good night all.
Good win for the mets. Maine looked good…of course I thought he could have went further than 6. Thank you Omar for Church…Wagner is nasty. Lets keep it rolling!
and the cherry on top: Barry Bonds up on 14 counts of perjury. .
Take away John’s first start:
5-1 2.25 ERA
Ace like.
2 more wins needed for 5-2 homestand against these butt ugly teams.
Glad to see Maine toss one on Nats eventhough Figgy should not have let the softball cheers get to him.
Do Mets lead league in runs allowed in the oponents next at bat after they score? A sign of being very tight to me.
You can tell w/Reyes that he is very tight in those rbi situations. He must lead the league in least # of picthes per at bat w/runners in scoring position; swinging at everything.
I think every player is tight as a drum in those situations except Church (b/c he was not here last yr). I’m now convinced that last yr is still in their heads (tight in rbi situations). Maybe a good series against Yanks will knock them loose.
Now 18-1 when leading after 7, but 0-16 when losing after 7.
One of the Mets biggest faults is that when they fall behind in the middle innings, the pen can’t hold the lead and lets the game get away.
The Mets were down by 3 in the 5th but then Sosa gave up 4 and they were quickly down by 7.
John, you seriously think we’d be worse then the Nats right now without Church? I mean, really? He’s been a huge help, but I don’t think we’d be that bad.
“Where are the Mets without Church?”
Where are any of us without church? Down in the muck and mire, baby. Repent, I tell you!!
Tonite the latest installment of LimaTime….let’s hope not.
does anyone know david wright’s at bat music?
I know one is breath by fabolous
what about the other 3?
The Good Life by Kayne West is another he walks up to
Now for the real breaking news of the evening … David Wright’s batter’s box song selections, always among the most talked about on Surfing the Mets, are in. The tunes are:
Kanye West – Good Life
Beastie Boys – In 3’s
Roy Jones Jr. – Can’t be Touched
Fabulous – Breathe
Clipse – Grindin’
As for some other Mets …
Carlos Beltran says he plans to stick with David and Abraham’s Christian-themed Él Está AquÃ, noting with a laugh: “I’m boring.â€
Ryan Church will go with Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train, plus a selection from Korn’s new CD.
Carlos Delgado is waiting for his personal DJ, Jose Reyes, to make his selections.
Oliver Perez plans for “something Mexican.â€
Brian Schneider plans on letting the Shea DJ have his choice.
Angel Pagan said: “Maybe a salsa†… and then salsa-ed as he walked away.
And, finally, Reyes says his staple “Chacarron†is staying, with some new tunes mixed in.