2008 Mets!!! LETS GO METS!!!

Nice to see the offense bail Santana out and get him an ND instead of the L he deserved. Of course, that's now, what, 5 Ws he should have had, against 1 L he should have had?

 

BTW, don't look now, but Carlos Delgado has a 1.121 OPS in July. Maybe he's not as washed up as we first thought. I heard from someone (Joe Morgan?) that he didn't think Delgado's bat speed was gone, but it was that he was struggling with an abdominal injury and trying to play through it, and was finally fully healed. Maybe there's something to that.

 

The stats dont do him justice on how bad he is. Thats why your manager tells you to take your time healing from an injury. I really hope Manuel has the sack to continue playing the red hot Damion Easley at 2B the rest of the way. You can play Castillo on day games after night games. But hes awful. Watch the games, he'll come through in a game when you up 7-1. Its amazing how Damion Easley has a 320 OBP .45 points lower then Castillo but we can reel off 10 in a row with him starting. Im not ignoring the stats bro, Ive just never felt as strongly as you do about OBP. OPS is a much more important stat to me and 695 is pretty damn bad. I would much rather have a guy looking to get hits not walks in the lineup and thats the difference between Easley and Castillo right now.

 

I figured you guys would beat up on the Rockies and maybe the Reds....better win all you can against the Little Sisters of the Poor before you play the Phightins. I wasn't too upset yesterday, as I have D. Wright as my fantasy league 3B, so I hope he has a lot of 4 for 5 games and lotsa HR's/RBI's, just as long as my Phillies stay tied or ahead.

Blanton, can't be any worse than Myers/Eaton....he will eat up a lot of innings. The NL should be easier for him than the AL.

 

I'm getting a little tried of Santana, the guy has an excuse everytime he doesn't pitch well. This time it was because there was a Billy Joel concert at Shea so he couldn't throw a bullpen for the last 3 days, like there isn't any other baseball fields in NY. He just seems like a baby. Of course if he wins ball games and his ERA is under 3.50, I'm sure Met fans could care less and if I were a Met fan I wouldn't care either. Just seems like a guy with his talent and skills shouldn't make excuses day in and day out.

 

Pagan may be done for the year as he seems to need labrum surgery. Duque isnt due back soon as his bunion is still acting up. Castillo should be in minor league games by the end of next week (and if we're lucky hes traded or stays there), and Pedro looks to be good for a start early next week. Hopefully Pedro picks up where he left off after giving us 4 scoreless before the break vs colorado.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2008/07/team-doc-pagan-needs-surgery.html

 

My Phightins are back in first.

Anyone want to make any side bets on the Phils-Mets series next week?

 

nice to see we're back in early season form playing like complete poop tonight. 1 out based loaded...wright and beltran both k looking. Can we at least go down swinging? Wasted a reasonably good outing from ollie....

 

My Phillies are really pissing me off. We are the ones playing like poop.

Cole Hamels throws a beautiful 3 or 4 hitter today, but two of the hits were home runs....so as usual he pitches 8 innings and gets no decision, and then the Phillies lose in the 11th to the Marlins. The Marlins have to be the luckiest team ever in late inning games. The Phillies never like having a lead, they always have to play like idiots and give games away. Nobody is a crappier manager than Charlie Manuel. NOBODY. He keeps taking Pat Burrell out late in the game and then we go into extra innings and get beat.

 

Looks like Delgado is getting his groove back...up to 256 and another couple RBI today getting the job done where wright and beltran did not.

Jose Reyes looked great today and I think could be poised for a huge second half. He was hitting rockets everywhere today and broke Mookie Wilson's all time Met record with his 63rd triple.

Bad news or good news (depending on how much you like wagner): Hes getting an MRI as they think he hurt himself warming up in the pen and was grimacing while closing out the 10th.

Sanchez improved to 5-1 and is starting to look like the Dirty Sanchez we know and love

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3497909

Caught a break there. When I heard "Wagner needs an MRI", I got worried.

 

Pat Burrell loves Wags. I can't believe a guy his size (under 6 feet tall) can throw it 100 mph.....that has to really wear on your arm/shoulder over the years. The other pitcher who throws ridiculously hard for his size is Lincecum of the Giants....he looks like a high schooler until he throws the ball. Looks like the Rockies are right back in it....7 or so games out. The NL West blows.

 

Actually when Wagner was coming through the Astros system, he was a starter. It was because of his style they converted him to closer. While I dont think Lincecum and Kazmir will suffer the same fate at some point I wouldnt be surprised if they altered their styles to avoid serious injury. Especially Lincecum since his is so unique.

 

Mets (Santana) versus Phillies (Blanton) 7 PM EST... I can't wait.

Should be a good series.

The Phillies were rumored to have offered the Rockies Shane Victorino and a couple top prospects for Matt Holliday. Hopefully the Phils can make a move like this, but I am not sure Pat Gillick will open the wallet up just yet.

I watched the Marlins yesterday, and they are horrible against breakin ball pitchers. They either hit a homer or strike out. The Braves are still in it, but their offense and pitching is too inconsistent.

 

Ill take Blake bt it better be in addition to Ibanez. Casey Blake isnt bad and has played some in RF but I think hes an ideal 4th OF who can play LF or RF in case Church gets hurt/stays hurt or be a power bat off the bench.

 

OMG! SICKENINGHow don't you let Santana come out for the ninth??? Baseball has turned into such a by the book numbers game that it sickens me. How did all those pitchers years ago do it??? Was it some kind of magic?? A complete game??? NO..lets use 4-5 pitchers to get 3 outs..3 OUTS!!!!!..and it can't be done. 100 pitches...this guy only pitches the eighth inning...this guy only comes in with a lead...this guy can't hit lefties...when did this game get so damn complicated that you can't close out a 3 run lead with 3 outs to go???.. and not even come close to protecting the lead. Tony Larussa syndrome..manage a game into the ground.

 

OK we got a little bit lucky tonight

BUT, there is no way Delgado should have gotten a home run to make it a 3-1in the 3rd, when he clearly struck out on the check swing on the previous pitch. Reyes gave us that one in the 9th, when he couldn't find second base. I have seen the Phillies lose a lot of games like this.....it evens out over 162. Where was Billy?....he kept saying he was ready to play??? Sorry Boik, Greg.

 

Can we never put Feliciano in a game with runners on base since first batters hit 415 off him this year?

Why did we take Smith out when the one batter he faced he got the necessary grounder out of him and reyes just misplayed it? At that point the guy to bring in was Heilman since you needed K's. Cant believe I just said that.

And I like aggressive baserunning but Chavez was atrocious tonight. twice thrown out at home. He was playing shallow on Iguchi's fly ball in the ninth or he would have made the catch.


And did I mention Feliciano is a dog! Without peterson hes been awful. Absolutely Catillo-esque awful!

 

Oh please, Delgado didnt come close to going around on that pitch. On the replay you could see his wrists never cracked so to speak and thats how they judge.

Wagner apparently couldnt go, havent heard a reason why...

 

Tough loss for you guys last night. Saw today that Johan has only 6 complete games in his career?!

Thats surprisingly low for a power pitcher of Santana's calibur. Greg Maddux has 109 CG for his career, for comparison

 

Even if Billy would have been ready to go whats the difference? The guy is a poster child for the Heimlich Maneuver in a big spot.

I was surprised Sanchez was so bad after hes been so good lately. But I agree on the santana point and keeping him in. I would have flat out lied to Santana about his pitch count. Mazzone used to do it in Atlanta all the time.

 

The Phils were not getting too many good swings on Santana.....Manuel should have kept him in all 9 innings. The Phils usually leave Hamels in for all 9 innings if he has a low pitch count. The big difference for us has been Lidge and Romero in the 8th and 9th inning. Looks like a good three way race with the Phils, Mets and Marlins.

 

I lack the words to describe last night's debacle in detail. I'm just going to move on.

Re: Santana and complete games, it amazes me that he's had just 6. However, given his relatively slight build, managers have probably opted to err on the side of caution in avoiding huge pitch counts. If true, this shows a level of foresight that I didn't know most MLB managers possessed. (Or maybe Ron Gardenhire is the exception that proves the rule.)

I'd have left him in too...but that's a whole lot easier to say after the fact.

 

1-2-3 9th for wags (that never happens!). We actually held a 3 run lead. Nice job by Maine actually getting deep in to a game after a rough start early in the game. And a big game by Reyes with the GW 3 run HR.

FYI some interesting stuff on Maine from Howie Rose:
5-0 lifetime vs Philly
This was on the 2nd time this year he went 7. Hopefully its a spring board to better things hes capable of as hes admitted in interviews hes been overthinking stuff.

Career we're 39-11in games Reyes homers. Not sure what to make of that.

Ollie vs Moyer tomorrow 1210 start should be good

 

I sure am glad Myers was called back up from AAA. I would put him back in the bullpen with Adam Eaton where they can do less damage. Only use them if the Phils have a 7+ run lead late. The sad part is Myers actually started getting his pitches down and then Charlie Manuel takes him out and Madson gives up a 3 run homer to Reyes. Oh well....rubber match tomorrow....good to see the Marlins got beat. I think Chipper Jones re-injured himself in that Braves-Marlins game??

 

Chipper strained him hammy (get well soon my fantasy team could use him) and Hudson left with a sore elbow.

 

Ollie was dominant with 7-2/3rds with 12k's. 26+IP vs philly this year and 1 ER. Nice job by ollie.


Delgado with big 2 run double in the bottom of the 8th to snap the 1-1 game.

 

Alone in 1st for the 1st time since april 19th.

 

They need to fire Charlie Manuel now!!!