Happy Recap: Mets 7 Cubs 6

Oh the angst of being a Mets fan. After the most disheartening loss of the season, comes the most exhilirating win.

I know there are a lot of complaints about Carlos Beltran but say what you want, add this to a growing list of incredibly clutch base hits he's gotten during his career with the Mets. He'll forever be dogged by the strikeout against Adam Wainwright in the 2006 NLCS, but this was a hit, a run, a game, the Mets absolutely had to have -- and he delivered it.

Meanwhile David Wright struck out again. This time he did it with Reyes on first, but another big situation where he couldn't even put bat to ball. At least he got a sacrifice fly in the first inning.

I'd love to know what was going on with Daniel Murphy there. Did he miss signs, was Manuel giving the swing away motion to trick the Cubs? Either way he never should have been bunting in the first place. The play isn't beneficial to run production even with a good bunter at bat and pparently he's never had a sac bunt in pro baseball. I understand Reyes couldn't steal because it was muddy, but Murphy has a great chance of getting Reyes over by reaching base himself, without using an out. And once he looked so clueless they should have yelled "swing away" to make sure he took his hacks.

Ryan Church was awesome in this game, but his three hits were the least of his contributions. His amazing adroitness to avoid the tag when he scored the tying run was really the key (other than Beltran's hit) to winning this game.





The Mets also got amazing contributions from Robinson Cancel and Ramon Martinez. I think Manuel has to play Martinez, even if it's only three more good games, that's all they need.



Of course Pedro sucked as he has done so often this year. But after he allowed a run to leadoff the 3rd, he buckled down and gave up only 2 hits, one walk over the next four innings, while striking out 6. He showed some guts which will eventually separate him from the other Hall of Famer whose last Mets start was an absolute disaster.

Stokes, Schoeneweis and Smith all did their jobs to keep the Cubs at 6 long enough for the Mets to stage a comeback. No reliever is blameless in this season but it's no accident that Joe Smith is 6-3 while Aaron Heilman is 3-8.

It should be noted that this monumental win came against a Cubs team that sat its five best offensive players, all of whom hit more than 20 homers this year. And still, someone named Micah Hoffpauir went 5 for 5 with 2 homers and 5 RBI.

But anyway you slice this team has a habit of lifting fans up, then letting them down with a thud. But for now the Mets are tied with the wild card, a game behind the Phillies and looking to make the playoffs, or crash once again.

Unhappy Recap: Cubs 9 Mets 6

Of all the hard losses, and all the monumental disasters and all the unhappy recaps, this has got to be the worst.

And I don't want to hear one thing about Luis Ayala, or even Oliver Perez. The Mets offense is completely to blame for this loss.

Five guys made outs with a man on third and fewer than 2 outs and none were able to hit a deep fly ball to get a run in. That's disgraceful.

First it was Daniel Murphy in the 7th who hit the ball hard but lined into a double play. That was bad luck.
In the 8th inning Ryan Church struck out (make contact, please) and Ramon Castro hit a weak grounder to third.
And in the 9th it was David Wright striking out (how many times have I written that?) and Ryan Church again with a weak grounder.

But let's be fair here, there is plenty of blame to go around. Oliver Perez sucked. I'm not ready to give up on him as a big game pitcher (and I hope this is not his last start as a Met, I don't want him going out in infamy like Tom Glavine) but he did allow 11 base runners in 4 1/3 innnings. You can only walk the tightrope for so long.

And Luis Ayala did give up three runs, but the hit to Lee was an opposite field dunker and it was in his second inning of work, on his third straight day of pitching.

Daniel Murphy's triple was an attempt to atone for an earlier mistake when he misplayed a single to allow the tying run to score. But another hit did come after that, meaning the run would have scored anyway.

I love Ramon Castro but not only did he ground out with 2nd and 3rd and one out in the 8th, he struck out with the bases loaded in the 9th. He's batting .150 in his last 40 at bats, which covers all of August and September.

And let's not leave the coaching staff out of this, they need to be more aggressive. Reyes should have been running in the 7th. Even if Murphy's line drive were still caught, it probably wouldn't have been a double play if Reyes had already been on second base.

And Luis Aguayo needs to be a little more aggressive also. We've seen it several times this year, he holds a runner with no outs, assuming the Mets could get him home, but they can't.

The Mets blew a golden opportunity here to regain control of their destiny. Now they are almost definitely out of the division race, and in a tie with Brewers and fighting for their lives to fend off a second collapse.

But as we've seen so many times before this team always has a little bit left to reel you in again, usually just so they can break your heart one more time.

It saddens me that I wrote this entire post and didn't even think about mentioning Delgado's grand slam, which at the time it was hit, may have been the biggest moment of the season.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Cubs 2

Midway through this game it was looking like my worst nightmare, the Mets weren't hitting and Johan Santana was getting clobbered. Then all of the sudden, one lucky bounce completely reversed the course of the game, and possibly the season.

With one out and Nick Evans on first Johan Santana hit what should have been a 1-6-3 doubleplay, but the magic bat not only distracted the pitcher, it ricocheted the ball away from the shortstop, giving Santana an infield hit.

After Reyes struck out an even bigger miracle occurred. Luis Castillo made his first contribution in weeks, working out a walk. Then David Wright ripped a single to left to tie the game. Wright came into that at bat with a .188 batting average with the bases loaded.



It was around this time in the game when Johan Santana started to turn it around. Through four innings he gave up 2 runs, 6 hits and 4 doubles. Then he retired the side in the 5th inning on 6 pitches and allowed only 1 hit over the next four innings. Santana once again earned his money, won his 8th straight decision, and hasn't lost in 16 straight starts and he set a new career high in pitches with 125.



The third piece of our triumverate to build around for the next 6 years came through with his own big hit in the 6th inning. After another lucky break (an infield single for Castro and an error to score Delgado) Jose Reyes came up with the bases loaded. He was only 2 for 19 with the bases loaded so far this season, but he ripped one down the line for the bases clearing triple, and enough runs to let the Mets cruise to the victory.

Unhappy Recap: Cubs 9 Mets 5

This game doesn't make me angry. This was a game the Mets were supposed to lose, it was Jon Niese on the mound, against the Cubs, and they got their asses kicked. That happens sometimes. But it just makes all those other games, the ones where one play, one hit, one out could have made a difference, seem even more important.

It does add a little insult to injury that the Mets were done in by Jason Marquis. A grand slam by a pitcher? The last three times a pitcher hit a grand slam were all against the Mets. There was Dontrelle Willis back in 2006, and Felix Hernandez earlier this year.

Even despite that grand slam the Mets did have a lot of chances, going 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

Even though they got blown out, they had several chances, to come back or at least cut into the lead. In the 4th and 6th they got the first two men on -- and promptly hit into double plays.

It's so frustrating to watch Luis Castillo because he can't even hit the ball out of the infield. And he is signed for 3 more years. I hope Omar can dump him during the offseason (even if he has to eat 90% of his contract) and move Daniel Murphy there next year (assuming he goes to winter ball and becomes proficient enough at the position).

Once again the Mets are putting all their eggs in Johan Santana's basket.

Unhappy Recap: Cubs 8 Mets 1

As it turns out this was an exactly replay of the first game against the Cubs. Decent starting pitching, no offense at all and a bullpen that blew the game open.

The Mets have to do something with Carlos Delgado. He is absolutely killing them right now. If I were in charge I would bench him. Permanently. I'm not kidding. I knew at the beginning of the season he would be terrible and he's actually been worse than that. Teams are pitching around Beltran (even with 1st and 2nd) because they know, not think, know, that they can get Delgado out. And it's not going to get any better. He'll improve a little, but not substantially. He's old, washed up and teams know how to get him out. And his defense is horrible too. He made three bad plays in this one including a crucial mistake in the 4th. I have no idea what he was doing on that ball, he had no chance to field it and was out of position to take the throw from Easley.

I love Nelson Figueroa. I loved the way he got out of a bases loaded jam in the second. Bases loaded no outs, yet he didn't get flustered he just got the strikeout and then the double play ball. If some of the other Mets pitchers who have much more talent had as much mental toughness, they could win Cy Young Awards.

He should have gotten out of the 4th with only one run. On a better hitting team Figueroa would be an excellent pitcher because he keeps his team in the game.

Right now the Mets have a major problem because they cannot hit. You might recall that last year the Mets got off to a hot start then played .500 ball for 100 games or so. Well, they are once again a .500 team. Their offense is so bad right now. There is only one player on the team hitting.

The Mets need to bat Church second and Pagan 5th.
The Mets are 5-0 when Church bats second, 3-1 when Pagan does and 2-8 with Castillo in the 2 hole. This was the first game they lost when Castillo didn't bat second. That's not a coincidence. This team is built around Reyes, Wright and Beltran. The bottom of the order sucks, so putting Castillo in the middle of the strong part of the order kills them.

The Mets are 7-0 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 3-9 Saturday through Tuesday.

Unhappy Recap: Cubs 7 Mets 1

This game was a lot closer than the final score indicates.

John Maine pitched pretty well, but I think he allowed the single to Lee to stay in his head when Ramirez came up. That home run came on the first pitch, a pitch right down the middle.

The Mets offense produced absolutely nothing, but there's a reason Carlos Zambrano is one of the best pitchers in the majors.

The turning point of this game was when Reyes grounded into that double play in the 6th. It went from 1st and 3rd and none out to 2 outs bases empty. That was a killer.

As was Reyes's error in the 8th which opened the floodgates for a Heilman meltdown and a Sosa door-slammer.

But if the bullpen has to give up 5 runs in an inning I would rather it be in a game the Mets are losing, instead of one they're winning.

Happy Recap: Mets 8 Cubs 3

Tom Glavine gets his 300th win!

The Mets got the victory with good pitching from Glavine, good hitting from Glavine and some aggressive baserunning.

It started in the second with Lastings Milledge. With two outs and Glavine up, Milledge stole second. It's a risky play because if you are thrown out you don't "clear the pitcher" and the team is hampered in the next inning by most likely starting with one out. In his in-game interview on ESPN Willie Randolph said Milledge "wasn't thinking," but added that he trusted his guys. If Milledge felt he could definitely be safe, then he made the right play, and it created a run, when Glavine singled. Milledge also had 2 other hits in this game.

Milledge also threw out a runner to end the third, as Soriano came up lame rounding second base. I think Milledge might have gotten him anyway, but it was a bad break for the Cubs to lose their best player that way. And it hurt them in the outfield because DeRosa moved to right and misplayed a couple of balls.

Luis Castillo had his best game as a Met with four hits before leaving the game with heat exhaustion. The big thing for me was that instead of blooping everything the other (like his double in the first) way he also hit the ball hard up the middle. That's how he started the 5th inning rally, then Delgado and Green doubled to make it 3-0.

But my favorite thing about Castillo in this game was, twice on deep fly balls by Wright he took an extra base. I've never understood why players go halfway on balls that are definitely going to be caught instead of trying to take an extra base. Castillo didn't score the first time he did it, he would have scored anyway the other time, but I love to see that aggressive baserunning especially because the Mets have become an old slow team at times this year.

In the 5th Milledge led off with a double, then Reyes and Castillo singled and did a double steal (more aggressive baserunning). Wright was walked to load the bases, Delgado drove in a run on a groundout, Alou was walked to load them up again, but Green made out. But at this point the score was 5-0 and Glavine must have felt pretty confident.

Glavine gave up a run in the bottom of the 6th but Willie showed confidence in him, letting him bat in the top of the 7th. But after he gave up a one out double Willie yanked him. And that's when Glavine must have gotten a little nervous. Mota came in and allowed a single to the only batter he faced. Then came Felciano who got the ground ball and the run for out trade which was acceptable, but after that he allowed a double to Fontenot which brought the tying run to the plate. That's when Willie went to Heilman who ended the inning.

But the Mets got those runs right back and put the game away. Castillo started it off again, singling, going to second on Wright's single and stealing third. For some reason Wright didn't follow him for a double steal (it would have given him 26 steals in 28 attempts). Delgado doubled in Castillo then Alou was walked (again) to load the bases and Green struck out. LoDuca singled in a run but Milledge finally made out. The Mets added another run in the 9th (off whipping boy Ryan Dempster) after a good 8th inning by Jorge Sosa.

Then Wagner came in to close this one down and present Tom Glavine with the game ball for his 300th win.

Delgado had an RBI in four consecutive plate appearances in this game, two hits, a groundout and a sac fly.

Unhappy Recap: Cubs 6 Mets 2

This game turned on one play, a bad call by first base umpire Marty Foster.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the third inning Ryan Theriot (pronounced Terry-o, not the riot), was ruled safe when replays showed that Reyes's throw just beat him. That scored a run and opened the floodgates. Maine couldn't get anyone out after that, walking the bases loaded, then walking in a run, and hitting a batter to force in a run. Two more hits later and it was 6-0 and the Mets were done.

The call wasn't the only reason the Mets lost, there was Maine's subsequent breakdown and the lack of offense against Ted Lilly.

The only runs came from solo homers by Moises Alou.

One bright spot was the bullpen (Sele, Sosa and Schoeneweis) which has sucked recently did a pretty good job holding the Cubs to only 6 runs.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Cubs 2

The Mets overcame Tom Glavine Disease contracted by El Duque, fought through a bunch of stranded bases runners and won the game in the 9th thanks to their old friend Ryan Dempster.

Carlos Zambrano walked 7 guys and allowed two hits in his 5 innings of work, but the only run off him was a solo shot by the incredible Ramon Castro to start the 6th inning. After that Zambrano was taken out, having thrown 93 pitches.

Let's look how crazy Zambrano's start was:
1st inning: 2 walks, struck out Anderson with two on to end the inning
2nd inning: 1 walk, got El Duque out with Gotay on
3rd inning: 1-2-3
4th inning: 2 walks, struck out Gotay with runners on 1st and 3rd
5th inning: 2 walks and a single, struck out Anderson with the bases loaded
6th inning: leadoff homer to Castro

He walked 6 guys in 4 1/3 inning before he gave up his first hit.

But once Castro gave El Duque the lead, he gave it back by allowing a solo homer to Derrek Lee.

But the Mets bounced back in the 7th and put another run on the board, when Marlon Anderson singled home David Newhan. Remember Anderson already struck out twice in this game with men on and two outs.

But El Duque gave that run right back as well.

Shawn Green and Ruben Gotay started the 8th inning with back to back 10 pitch at bats, but even though Gotay doubled, the Mets couldn't bring him around.

Mota got through the bottom of the 8th and the Cubs went to Ryan Dempster. Back on May 17th at Shea the Mets were losing 5-1 when they got 5 runs off Dempster. This time it was four different RBI hits, one each from Delgado, Green, Gotay and Reyes.

Dempster is now 0-2 with a 48.60 ERA against the Mets this year.

Wagner got through the 9th, not a save, to preserve the victory.

A brief word about Ramon Castro. I think he is awesome. A lot of people think he will be "exposed" if he plays everyday. I'm not sure how that works exactly, do pitchers pitch him differently when he played the night before? The fact is the guy can hit. He does so in big situations and he's having a much better year than LoDuca. Not playing him everyday (or 4 days a week) because you expect him to decline is foolish. Even if you KNOW he'll fall off (which he will) he should still be playing everyday until that happens. Now I know that he is only 3-19 in the last four games (all four of which he started) and he left a lot of runners on base, but he also hit 2 home runs in that span, both of which gave the Mets an early lead. The Mets are 18-11 when he starts. He should be the new starting catcher.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Cubs 5

The second walkoff win in four games, both on RBI by Carlos Delgado.

Let's just go through the 9th inning play-by-play before we get to the rest of the issues surrounding this game.

David Newhan singled
Ramon Castro lined out
Carlos Gomez singled, advanced to second on defensive indifference
Carlos Beltran walked
Endy Chavez walked with bases loaded
Ruben Gotay singled in a run
David Wright singled in a run
Carlos Delgado singled in two runs, Mets win!

Willie Randolph had no intentions on winning this game.
He rested LoDuca (of course) and Easley (no big deal), but he also gave Reyes (injury), Beltran and Wright the day off as well. Should have had Wright in the lineup.
That meant Newhan played second, Gotay played short, and Franco played third.
The only regulars that started were the lefties, Green and Delgado.
But the biggest proof that he didn't care about this game was when Gotay came up with the bases loaded and the score 5-2, he let him hit. He could have used Wright or Reyes, but he left Gotay in. It worked out, but only due to sheer luck.

And remember, all of this happened on a day Jason Vargas was pitching, so the Mets were hamstrung from the start. Vargas didn't pitch badly. He pitched 5 good innings then got hammered in the 6th but stayed on through 7. Then Willie brought in Ambiorix "White Flag" Burgos. But he pitched two good innings and got the win.

Ryan Dempster didn't pitch as well. He was charged with 5 runs in a third of an inning. He threw 26 pitches before we was taken out for Scott Eyre who threw three. The last two resulted in singles which drove in 3 runs.

The Mets are a perfect 4-0 on Thursdays.

So the Mets go into the Yankees series having won 7 of 9 and 11 of 15. And with the bullpen and the starting players well rested.

Happy Recap: Mets 8 Cubs 1

Breathe easy, Mets fans, Jose Reyes is ok. He felt a cramp in his hamstring in the 8th inning and was taken out for a pinch runner after he got a single. But after the game he was asking Willie to play him in Thursday's game. I bet he gets the day off the prepare for the Yankees series.

The game started at 10:17pm, after a 3 hour and 7 minute rain delay which was longer than the game took (2:36).

So with that out of the way we can appreciate the third straight great start by Jorge Sosa. He gave up only one hit but was tagged with a run when Joe Smith allowed a runner Sosa walked to score in the 8th. Randolph wanted Sosa to pitch as long as he could but he clearly ran out of gas and even looked relieved when Willie came to get him.



Damion Easley hit another home run, his 6th, which gave the Mets a 4-0 lead.

The game was actually close until the 7th, when the Mets scored 3, including one on a double by the still hot David Wright.

Carlos Gomez played his second major league game and had to more hits including an RBI double in the 7th and an RBI single in the second for the first Mets run. After the game he did a silly little dance with Gotay.



I hope Willie gives Reyes Thursday off and bats Gomez leadoff.

Sosa became the 5th Mets pitcher to win his first 3 starts for the Mets. Sid Fernandez, Bob Ojeda, Pedro Astacio and someone I forgot from the 60s are the other four.

Keith Hernandez was getting a little punchy in the late innings.
He was eating a pretzel and holding it up saying the remaining part could be a "C" or a "U."
Then Gary made fun of his tie which Hernandez said was chartreuse.
In his strangest moment, he said Cayla's favorite cheer "Everybody Clap Your Hands," is not his preferred rallying cry.

Jason Vargas takes Pelfrey's spot as the Mets try to take 3 of 4 from the Cubs before battles with the Yankees and Braves.

Unhappy Recap: Cubs 10 Mets 1

John Maine is starting to slow down off his Cy Young pace. He walked two guys in the first inning for the second straight start and it came back to bite him. Daryle Ward dropped a ground rule double in between Chavez and Beltran to drive home two. The second run shouldn't have scored though, because LoDuca allowed Soriano to tag up and go to second on a foul pop.

The Mets had some chances to get back into it in the bottom of the second. Delgado singled but Wright hit into a double play. Then Green doubled but was thrown out at home on LoDuca's single. They had to send him and it was a close play. Soriano made a perfect throw and Barrett blocked the plate perfectly. Three hits and no runs, though.

After Shawn Green's homer in the fifth the Mets had two on for Reyes and Endy but they couldn't get the job done.

Then Schoeneweis blew the game open by giving up a grand slam to Ramirez.

This is the second time the bullpen has shot a close game to shit.

Maine gets his first loss of the season and his second straight bad start.

Happy Recap: Mets 5 Cubs 4

A walk off walk off Wuertz. Awesome, though not as fun as if it had come off this guy.

The game didn't start off great for Glavine. He gave up four runs in the first two innings on four plays that could have been made.
1) With Soriano on second in the first, Ramirez blooped one that basically landed on Beltran's glove. Had he been a little quicker to it, or been playing shallower (though I can't complain with Ramirez up), he would have easily made the play.



2) In the second inning, Angel Pagan blooped one into left that Endy couldn't reach.



3) With two on, Jason Marquis hit a weak ground ball that Easley couldn't get to turning it into a 2-run single.

4) Cesar Izturis hit a pop up to right but Green and Easley didn't communicate, they almost collided, Green slid and the ball bounced off Easley's glove bringing home the Cubs fourth run.

The Mets started their comeback with a 2-run homer by the suddenly scorching David Wright.

Then in the 6th inning Delgado and Wright singled and Lou gave Jason Marquis the quick hook. Marquis was 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA and he'd only thrown 88 pitches. And the Cubs bullpen stinks. Lefty Will Ohman blew away Shawn Green but Piniella went to the pen again and LoDuca doubled off Rocky Cherry. Easley's sac fly tied the game. This was a huge at bat because the Mets have failed so many times with runners on third and fewer than two outs, and that probably would have been the ball game.




Marquis who is also an excellent hitter, had two hits in the game.

The Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano of old came out to pitch 2 and 2/3 shutout innings but when Feliciano allowed a 2 out double in the 9th Aaron Heilman came in to get the last out and vulture another victory, his fourth of the year, tying him with Perez and Glavine.

Jose Reyes really was responsible for the 9th inning. With two outs he singled and stole second. By that point it was 2-0 on Chavez, who walked. Then after Wuertz couldn't get it over against Beltran they decided to go after Delgado. Delgado wasted a bunch of good pitches and on the 11th pitch of the at bat he got his walk off walk.

The Mets now have two walkoff wins this year, neither time did they hit the ball as far as the infield dirt.

Tom Glavine is stuck on win #295. I didn't get a good look at what kind of haircut he got but it didn't look as short as the rest of the guys.

Erin Andrews was wearing a trench coat. Awesome! She reported that Jose Reyes only gets his hair cut once a year, and that when he got snipped his hat size went down two sizes. I assume each 1/8 in the measurement is considered one size.