They need big time innings from Oliver Perez today because their bullpen is drained. Perez threw six innings in his last start at Florida. Perez has gone at least six in each of his last six starts, and has only given up seven runs in that span.
METS
SS Jose Reyes
CF Carlos Beltran
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
RF Fernando Tatis
2B Damion Easley
LF Nick Evans
C Robinson Cancel
P Oliver Perez
HOUSTON ASTROS
2B Kaz Matsui
SS Miguel Tejada
1B Lance Berkman
LF Carlos Lee
3B Ty Wigginton
RF Hunter Pence
CF Darin Erstad
C Humberto Quintero
P Randy Wolf
34 Comments
The pen being “drained” is not necessarily the proper term. Rested or not, the pen simply sucks. The fact that we have to now name a freshly called up rookie the closer for today says it all.
I also want to add, that it’s becoming more and more clear that the big streak the team had going into the break was due in large part to the fact that the starters were all throwing almost 7+ innings. That means less innings for the trash in the pen and thus higher odds of a win.
Maybe Kunz can be some sort of savior, BUT at the same time, there was probably a reason this guy was in AA most of the year and not in AAA yet.
RMK,
I’m just happy to see Kunz up. I’m sure im in the minority but I’m happier to see the team try to win with their young guys rather than making a dumb move for an old guy who wouldn’t of put them in the world series anyhow.
One of these days someone will have to explain the benefits of stealing 3rd base with 2 outs to me.
David: There is none. Just a dumb play.-JD
That AB by tatis epitomizes the mets problem lately 1st & 2nd 0 outs and the best you do is a pop up to right field on a 3-1 pitch no less. Let’s see if the young kid Evans can do in a big spot
Well its nice to see Evans follow the example of his older teammates.
I missed the trade deadline non activity, as I was busy moving. Maybe Omar was right to not trade his few chips for a player who probably will not get them over the top. This team does not look like they can go deep in the playoffs without a whole bullpen makeover. That is on Omar, who brought back the entire bullpen that coughed it up last year, except for Mota. Whats the use of spending all that money on Santana when the pen regularly blows his starts?
Ray,
You’re absolutely right and that is why I dont get the outrage over not making a deadline move, is Raul Ibanez going to take you into deep october to me winning the division and getting knocked out in the 1st round is the same as not making the playoffs so whats the point of making a move and giving up on younger guys. As i said earlier I’d rather try to win with the younger guys to see what you may have, and then in the offseason realize that a bullpen makeover is in order.
If the team had a pen that didn’t suck, then I think getting into the playoffs becomes a given and we can actually legitimately think about a title…the fact of the matter is that the pen has blown a number of crucial games and after sometime you can only bounce back so much before the other facets of the game become effected
Only the desire to see Kunz keeps me watching this lousy game, It looks like the jerry effect has worn off.
kunz throwing a dp pitch to get out of the inning a good sign. gotta take your bright spots where can find them.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you our 2008 third place mets at 150 million dollars. Oh wait, it gets better, wait until next year when the cheapest ticket will be over a 100 dollars, suckers.
Manuel’s magic has worn off. Not to mention Oberkfell’s magic at 1B. Bring back Willie!!!!! and Nieto!!!
Ray,
Right on about Kunz good to see him get a scoreless inning. Once again this team is what it is so lets win or lose with the young guys. The young guys are what will keep me watching. Sad part is a good homestand can get this team back in first place easily.
I don’t know how anybody else feels about the mets but it’s time to rid our selves of the martinez’s, el duke’s, alou’s, delgado’s, tatis’s, easley’s, anderson’s, scheider’s, castro’s, heilman’s, Feliciano’s, Schoenweis’s, Castillo’s, sanchez’s, Wagner’s and even maybe the Minaya’s of the world and rebuild by getting younger where the franchise has an oppurtunity to make the playoffs almost every year. This team had it’s chance in 2006 and that boat has sailed. it’s time to move on and get rid of the dead wood.
Tomg,
Ive screamed that 3 or 4 times today. I’d much rather win or lose down the stretch with the Murphy’s, Kunz, Evans, Niese, etc.
Another thing I just realized about your comment before about the 3rd place 150 million dollar payroll, you realize the top 3 payrolls in baseball are all 3rd place teams. (Mets, Yankees, Tigers)
This team is 2.5 or 1.5 games out of 1st place after today. This is not the time to get rid of all the players that stand the best chance of getting this team to the playoffs. Sometimes the pessimism on this board reaches truly absurd levels.
I will explain the potential benefits of stealing 3rd base with 2 outs :
1) you can score on an infield hit from 3rd base but not from 2nd base
2) you can score on a wild pitch or a passed ball from 3rd base but not from 2nd base
3) you can score on an infied error from 3rd base but not from 2nd base
4) with runners on 1st and 3rd as opposed to 1st and 2nd with 2 outs the defense cannot make the 3rd out on a force play to 3rd base. There are instances when the ball is hit into the hole between SS and the third baseman, where the only play is the force at third base. That is if the SS fields the ball moving to his right.
Of course those are relatively uncommon instances. In most cases, with 2 outs, you can score from 2nd base or 3rd base and in most cases on out will be an out either way. So the gain is small. It is real but it is small.
Cancel thought he would catch them sleeping and get an easy steal of 3rd base at little risk. He was wrong. It was stupid but not as stupid as it sounds if you say there is absolutely nothing to be gained by advancing the runner to 3rd base. There isn’t much to be gained though.
Actually there is 1 more not totally insignifcant advantage to being on 3rd base with 2 outs as opposed to 2nd base. If the batter hits a hard line drive on one hop to an outfielder who has a strong throwing arm the runnner on 2nd either may be held up at third or often thrown out at the plate if the outfielder makes a good throw.
So we lost three games in Houston to a sub .500 team. Now Maine is on the DL with what the Mets say is a “mild rotator cuff strain” that originally had him making the Friday start against the Marlins. And our ace closer who is signed through next year is having “tightness”. This just gets better and better as the hero of “The Mummy” says.
Sign Barry Bonds! He will play for the minimum. The Mets have nothing to lose. It will be a media circus but oh well.
Chris,
About the only thing we can come back with when the yank me fans brag is that our team is not filled with roiders. Signing Barroid would cause us to lose our best argument. Tomg is back in fine form I see.
Heres one thing to nibble on, for those of you who are ready to blow up the whole team, you know who you are. In the wonderful year of 1973, The Mets got contributions from such illuminous callups as George Theodore, Ron Hodges, and Harry Parker to take them to game 7 against the Mighty Athletics led by Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, and many other great stars. If you make it to the Playoffs anything can happen. 3 games out is not time to blow up the whole team. Maybe Kunz and company can take us to the promised land. Ya Gotta Believe, by God.
People, people , people. Ididn’t say to blow up the team now which is impossible to do. I am saying to replace the players I mentioned in the “OFF SEASON”. I
I have been saying this all along… It dosn’t matter if Willie is managing, Jerry is managing or Casey Stengal is managing. If you pitch and hit you win. If you don’t you lose. It was nice to see the great ovation Willie got from the yankee fans at old timers day. Maybe they know something the Met fans don’t
It’s a long season guys. The team has plenty of flaws, there is nothing new that is going on that we didn’t know about at the beginning of the season. We always knew the bullpen was shaky, and that it was hard to trust Wagner in a big spot. We also knew that counting on Alou to be a big part of the lineup was a mistake and it has come back to bite them, no matter how well Tatis is playing now. But there have been plenty of surprises too, from Pelfrey to Delgado to Church to Tatis. It’s the beginning of August. The Mets are three games out of first and contending for the NL East. I don’t know exactly what else anyone expected from them.
Im glad willie got his nice ovation at yank-me stadium. As they say “once a yankee, always a yankee. Jerrys hiring gave a nice lift. However, a manager who has a bad bullpen and 3 infielders sharing 2 outfield spots is going hit a wall sooner or later, especially when the one real outfielder is having a sub par season.
I agree 100% with Sadecki, except your opinion of ‘73 is biased because you were on that team. Besides the three playing now don’t forget the other infielders put in the outfield, Easley, Anderson, were there more? What is the record for infielders playing outfield?
Ray: I was going to comment on Beltran being a disappointment until I saw that his OPS now is higher than it was last year at this time. I think he just hasn’t had that big breakthrough week like he has had in the past.
Beltran’s OPS is higher, but his slg% is significantly lower. That’s a problem for a #4 or #5 hitter.
Hopefully the move to the #2 spot helps get him right.
He did heat up around this time last yr, once he came off the DL on 8/10. Once 8/16 hit, he made it to a 500 SLG, and it never got lower for the rest of the season.
Hello my name is JOE I live in Moca Puerto Rico I have 9 years old my favorite team are the Mets and my favorite player is CARLOS BELTRAN
What happend to the Mets
Let’s Go Mets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well good bye se ya