Happy Recap: Mets 6 Padres 5
This sure doesn't feel like a happy recap. But maybe there is a bright side (in addition to winning), the Aaron Heilman as closer experiment ended before it started, and without costing the team a single victory.
Obviously Aaron Heilman sucks and there's nothing that's going to fix him. He's allowed runs in four of his last five outings and been the losing pitcher in four of his last seven. He did have a string of 10 scoreless appearances in late June, so he can be effective but right now he's just awful. He's allowed 9 homers in 60 innings but I agree with Jerry Manuel that his big problem last night was the leadoff walk. He had to have known that with a 4-run deficit the first batter would be taking a strike. Yet he didn't throw a fastball and got himself in a hole.
I know there were other things affecting him, the dropped popup, the missed double play (though Wright was right to take his time) but he gave up the walk, and the home run, and it falls on him.
But thanks to two other players, the Mets won this game. Mike Pelfrey bounced back from a rough outing with another good performance. He did give up a lot of hits, but always managed to avoid major trouble. That's the key to his growth as a pitcher, being able to work out of jams instead of imploding during them.
And of course there's Fernando Tatis. What amazes me is people still want to get another corner outfielder. How could we get someone better than him? The guy has been absolutely incredible, shows almost no signs of slowing down and almost every home run he hits comes in a key spot.
He has 9 homers this season, let's look at the situations:
5/23 vs. Colorado: 6th inning, Mets leading 3-2, solo homer to make it 4-2, but Mets later lost.
7/6 vs. Philadelphia: 12th inning, tied 2-2, 2-run homer gives Mets 4-2 win in the game Billy Wagner blew.
7/8 vs. San Francisco: 8th inning, Mets leading 6-0, solo homer made it 7-0.
7/10 vs. San Francisco: 7th inning, tied 3-3, 2-run homer gives Mets 5-3 lead, they win 7-3.
7/17 vs. Cincinnati: 6th inning, Mets losing 5-4, 2-run homer gives Mets 6-5 lead, they win 10-8 but not before blowing lead and reclaiming it.
7/26 vs. St. Louis: 9th inning, Mets losing 8-7, solo homer tied the game and sent it to extra innings, where the Mets lost.
7/27 vs. St. Louis: 6th inning, Mets winning 3-0, 2-run homer gave Mets 5-0 lead in game they'd win 9-1.
8/5 vs. San Diego: 4th inning, Mets losing 1-0, solo homer ties game.
8/5 vs. San Diego: 6th inning, Mets losing 2-1, 3-run homer gives Mets 4-2 lead in game they'd win 6-5.
Only one of his homers came before the 6th inning. 4 of his homers gave the Mets the lead, 2 tied games, and 2 were in games they were winning. 2 of them were absolutely huge in addition to some other huge hits he's had. Of all the problems this team has, Fernando Tatis is last on the list. I love Fernando-mania.
Obviously Aaron Heilman sucks and there's nothing that's going to fix him. He's allowed runs in four of his last five outings and been the losing pitcher in four of his last seven. He did have a string of 10 scoreless appearances in late June, so he can be effective but right now he's just awful. He's allowed 9 homers in 60 innings but I agree with Jerry Manuel that his big problem last night was the leadoff walk. He had to have known that with a 4-run deficit the first batter would be taking a strike. Yet he didn't throw a fastball and got himself in a hole.
I know there were other things affecting him, the dropped popup, the missed double play (though Wright was right to take his time) but he gave up the walk, and the home run, and it falls on him.
But thanks to two other players, the Mets won this game. Mike Pelfrey bounced back from a rough outing with another good performance. He did give up a lot of hits, but always managed to avoid major trouble. That's the key to his growth as a pitcher, being able to work out of jams instead of imploding during them.
And of course there's Fernando Tatis. What amazes me is people still want to get another corner outfielder. How could we get someone better than him? The guy has been absolutely incredible, shows almost no signs of slowing down and almost every home run he hits comes in a key spot.
He has 9 homers this season, let's look at the situations:
5/23 vs. Colorado: 6th inning, Mets leading 3-2, solo homer to make it 4-2, but Mets later lost.
7/6 vs. Philadelphia: 12th inning, tied 2-2, 2-run homer gives Mets 4-2 win in the game Billy Wagner blew.
7/8 vs. San Francisco: 8th inning, Mets leading 6-0, solo homer made it 7-0.
7/10 vs. San Francisco: 7th inning, tied 3-3, 2-run homer gives Mets 5-3 lead, they win 7-3.
7/17 vs. Cincinnati: 6th inning, Mets losing 5-4, 2-run homer gives Mets 6-5 lead, they win 10-8 but not before blowing lead and reclaiming it.
7/26 vs. St. Louis: 9th inning, Mets losing 8-7, solo homer tied the game and sent it to extra innings, where the Mets lost.
7/27 vs. St. Louis: 6th inning, Mets winning 3-0, 2-run homer gave Mets 5-0 lead in game they'd win 9-1.
8/5 vs. San Diego: 4th inning, Mets losing 1-0, solo homer ties game.
8/5 vs. San Diego: 6th inning, Mets losing 2-1, 3-run homer gives Mets 4-2 lead in game they'd win 6-5.
Only one of his homers came before the 6th inning. 4 of his homers gave the Mets the lead, 2 tied games, and 2 were in games they were winning. 2 of them were absolutely huge in addition to some other huge hits he's had. Of all the problems this team has, Fernando Tatis is last on the list. I love Fernando-mania.
Labels: happy recap, padres, pelfrey
posted by Paul at 4:59 AM
1 Comments:
I like how he quietly goes about his business with almost no celebration after a big hit.
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