In-game: Mets vs. Braves, Game 2
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- August
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UPDATE, 7:14 p.m.: I’ll have updates here throughout the game. Consider this your in-game thread…
UPDATE, 7:47 p.m.: Greg Norton is listed as an outfield on my roster and you just saw why. I know neither of those errors were charged to him but, geez, did he have a terrible inning trying to knock down those throws.
For anyone who worried about Mike Pelfrey’s sharpness, he looks pretty darn good. Six up, six down, and he’s been in the mid-90s on the gun here at Shea.
UPDATE, 7:51 p.m.: OK, here’s the deal on Al Reyes. He’ll be eligible for the postseason roster. Anyone in the organization by Aug. 31 is eligible. You can replace someone already on the roster who happens to be on the DL, like El Duque, Alou, etc. (Thanks to Pete Abraham for that.)
UPDATE, 8:24 p.m.: For those who are interested, the B-Mets are hosting New Hampshire tonight. Ryan Church is 0 for 2 so far and Luis Castillo is 1 for 2 with an RBI in his final rehab game. … Fernando Martinez, who is slowly beginning to flash some power, has already drove home two runs and has two hits. … If you’re interested in keeping tabs on Church and co., you can check out the box score here.
UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: Despite a near-disaster there, Mike Pelfrey did what he needed to do, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam with two runs allowed and a 6-3 lead.
It did make me wonder what Manuel and co. were thinking there considering what Manuel said about Pelfrey before the game. He gave up two straight walks with a five-run lead, but ended up finding the zone when he needed to.
For what it’s worth, he is only at 83 pitches and will come to bat here in the bottom of the sixth.
UPDATE, 8:49 p.m.: Mets are now 2 for 16 with a walk since the first inning. They just do not tack on.
UPDATE, 9:05 p.m.: Bobby Cox, a man known as a baseball genius, made a curious move there. I mean honestly, what happened the last time Willy Loman…err, Ohman…pitched to Delgado?
Of course, it worked so Cox is the genius. Those of us who questioned the moves are the fools.
One more inning here out of Pelfrey, who’s at 89 pitches. No one is warming in the ‘pen.
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on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 7:14 pm by Josh Thomson.
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Oh, how sweet this is!
Hey Gil there you are i was wondering when I was going to see some action. Well anytime starting pitcher gets an AB in the first it should be a good night.
I would love to see the offense tack on throughout this game instead of it being 5-3 in the 7th like it’s been all year.
David—It’s even better when a player (Reyes in this instance) goes 0 for 2 in an inning.
Throw strikes, Big Pelf! Attack these hitters and get 7 more innings under your belt.
Something’s wrong with the in-game thread. I can’t see my own comments, or anyone else’s. I’m flying blind. I saw your shout-out, David. What’s up, my friend? I’ll be at Shea tomorrow night!
There we go. Now I can see…
How come Gil doesn’t post anymore?
JohnM: I’ve had a busy summer, dude.
I’ve been watching the games, but when I was helping take care of my visiting 10-year-old nephew, I was DVR-ing the games to watch later.
Then I was out of the country for a couple of weeks for work and off the mainland U.S. for another week. I was keeping up on mlb.com.
I damn near missed a flight out of Miami watching a Mets-Giants game on mlb.com in the airport far away from my departure gate…
Well looks like jurrjens has settled kids been ridiculously solid in his first full season so i figured he would. Hopefully Pelfrey can continue putting up 0’s.
Man its looking more and more like the Mets will have to seep the braves if they dont want to lose any ground to the phillies as the Nats are just awful.
David: I really like the signing of Al Reyes. Wayne Hagin was just talking about how Reyes, when he’s right, has a nasty slider—and a closer’s mentality. He was 26 for 30 in save ops last year, before he got kicked to the curb by Troy Percival’s arrival.
I’m not saying he’s the savior, but his stats bear out that he’s a strikeout pitcher, the NL has never seen him, which should give him an advantage.
Plus, since Al Reyes was released, he’s basically a free rental. Best case scenario, he’s an effective closer while Wagner’s out, then an effective setup guy for Wagner, who comes back as an effective closer.
David…How can you possibly call a team who brings in Anderson Hernandez and immediately starts him at 2B awful???
You gotta love baseball norton couldnt catch anything in the first inning and now here Murphy ropes a line drive and he turns into a DP. I guess it was hit so hard he didnt have time to move the wrong way.
Gil –
I like the magic of a baseball radio broadcast – both of us, at opposite ends of the East Coast (I’m in CT) are listening to Wayne and Howie who are simply wonderful.
Not sure what is spurring this team on, but I’m all for it.
Wow well this game can change really quickly here.
Well this is where you need to manage a game as a pitcher. Up 6-1 bases loaded 0 outs. You need to simply mitigate the damage and not let the inning/game get away from you.
Annie: I’m not completely crazy about Wayne. Sounds a little TOO polished for my taste, that borders on phony.
I was actually working the sound board at the Rockies’ Albuquerque radio affiliate back in ‘95 when Hagin made the call of the Rockies recording the out that put them in the playoffs.
Well the wild pitch hurts after the DP. But he did manage the inning and did not let it get out of hand.
Gil: As for Reyes I’m all for the move. They didnt give up anything for him. He is a guy who has closed in the majors so thats a plus. Ultimately they have nothing to lose. One thing though he did pitch in the NL with the Cards…
OK, fans, the two million dollar questions of the night, so far…
1. With Pelfrey due up third in the inning, unless it’s an obvious sacrifice situation, fo you bat for him?
2. If you do, with the always shaky state of our bullpen, who do you bring in against Norton (L), Francoeur® and Johnson (L) next inning?
C’mon Gil, you know I want pitchers to stay in as long as possible, so no, I let him hit. I’m with you and Nolan Ryan on this.
I admit that I liked Tom McCarthy better than Wayne, but the booth that I wish for is Howie and Eddie Coleman.
David: You are correct sir, on Al Reyes.
And I would’ve hit for Pelfrey, who seems to be running out of gas.
Gil: I can see both sides on Pelfrey there. He’s at 83 pitches so he should have enough to get through the bottom of the lineup. However he did seem erratic there although he made the big pitch to McCann when he needed.
Annie: I agree with your booth wish. Tom McCarthy’s a worm. The minute he goes back to Philly and gets on their TV broadcasts, everything is “us” and “we” when talking about the Phillies. Guess he knows who signs his paychecks.
I wish the Mets would find a way to rotate the TV color guys so Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez could do some radio with Howie.
Good job by Pelf. Now with the top of the lineup coming up in the 8th I would probably get him out of there. Maybe I’m crazy.
The Braves hitters just helped Pelfrey and the Mets out enormously by swinging early in counts. If the Mets had an offensive inning like that, I’d be furious. Down three runs, needing baserunners and the hitters go out on six pitches?
But hey, I’m not complaining when another team takes such a bad approach to hitting!
Gil – I saw a lot of Ron and Keith on the field in the ‘80s when my niece and I made several trips to Shea each year. She was 9 when we started and we always sat in what she called ‘Heaven’ (Upper Deck behind the plate). People were always surprised to see this little kid bring out her scorecard and keep score!
I’m a retired Yale Administrator and think the world of Ron. I even saw that Viola/Darling game in the Bowl. Keith was the best 1st baseman the Mets ever had and the most effective Captain as well. I would love to be able to see and hear them call the games (no SNY here and Channel 11/NY carries games on Sundays only.
Much as I love our Mets, Atlanta has given us the game so far, with two costly walks and two errors with two outs and three different innings at the plate in which their hitters swinging early let Big Pelf finish with under 10 pitches thrown.
The Braves, thankfully, are a shadow of their former selves. If Teixeira were still around and if Smoltz and Hudson were healthy, it would’ve been a huge struggle down the stretch against these guys.
Annie: Would you be blacked out of Mets games if you got the Extra Innings package through your cable provider? It’s criminal that I’ve had more TV access to the Mets in San Diego, then in Savannah than you and fellow Connecticut Mets fans have.
As for Ronnie, I also can attest that he’s a class guy. His former fiancee’s younger sister went to the same Washington, DC high school I did and in the winter of ‘83, he actually came to our baseball field to get some winter throwing in to one of our catchers. I was introduced to him and he was great to me.
I saw him a few months later when my dad took me down to St. Petersburg, Fla. to see the Mets in Spring Training and he was just as friendly.
He even gave me some pitching tips, too, which helped me have a pretty fair high school pitching career.
Haven’t seen Ronnie since, but I’m going to try to contact him.
Gil:Something’s wrong with the in-game thread. I can’t see my own comments, or anyone else’s.
I was just playing with you.
Where is Jesse Orosco?
JohnM: LOL!
Complete this BIG PELF.
Right Gil?!!
Well looks like they are going to give Pelf the chance to finish what he started. 3 lefties coming up so we’ll see what happens.
Big Pelf’s been proving me wrong all year.
I’m a convert now.
Seal the deal!
wow larry can grab some bench. and gil- i just added pelf to my fantasy team so i’m a convert too lol
That AB By Jones showed me quite a bit from Pelf he was 3-0 and he said, hey chip heres my fastball hit it. I wish more relievers would have that mentality.
Wow.
Just goes to show you what a crazy game this is that we love.
If you told me in March, Mike Pelfrey would be leading the team in wins and kids I’d never heard of playing second base and left field and a resurrected veteran in right and Wagner out and we’d be leading the NL East and 13 games over .500, I’d have thought you were on crack.
What a great reality.
Howie’s just put this game in “The Book” – and it’s meaning ful to Mike Pelfrey – his first complete game.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow – it’s Pedro on the mound.
win #70
Gil – this game called baseball will always surprise you – it’s been doing it to me for years.
I live in a condo community and have Cox Cable – no options for anything else now. But I have Howie.
G’Night everyone.
Thank you again Annie…love the trademark!!!! Let’s sweep the bravos tomorrow.
70 wins. 20 more for 90. 20-15 the rest of the way is very doable.
12-4 in those 21 games I stated they need to go 14-7. Again, they ought to be able to go at least 2-3 the rest of this homestand. Win today and 5-2 is a lock.
You know what I like about this team? They have alot of role players doing their jobs. It kinda reminds me a bit of 86 when you had platoons at 2b and CF and LF and everyone did their jobs and did them well. The starting staffs compare favorably. Yeah, I know the pen is a problem but that will have to somehow take care of itself.