Unhappy Recap: Pirates 5 Mets 2

After a 6-game winning streak the Mets returned to their old formula of poor clutch hitting and worse relief pitching.

Let's start in the first inning where the Mets got 2nd and 3rd with nobody out and David Wright struck out, again. Beltran got a run in with an out (I don't complain about that) and Delgado left a runner stranded.

The Mets did get an unlucky break in the 3rd when Joe West ruled Argenis Reyes turned towards second. I guess he did by the strictest letter of the rule, but only much more egregious cases than that get called.

In the fourth it was once again 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Then Delgado hit a weak tapper to first (like he did every at bat for the first 3 months of the season) and after Tatis walked, Easley grounded into a doubleplay.

Easley also grounded into a doubleplay in the 7th, the 4th one he hit into in the past 2 games. He has 13 this season, more than anyone else on the team. He grounds into a double play once every 22 plate appearances, an almost impossible ratio.

Nick Evans led off the 6th with a double and after Wright flied out Beltran struck out (I guess he already reached his productive out quota for the game. And once again Delgado stranded a runner on third.

But he wasn't through, the most disappointing of all the disappointing innings came in the 8th when the Mets could have bounced back to take the lead, only to see Delgado make out again. And of course there's no way Endy should have been bunting on a 2-1 count to lead off that inning. He has no confidence in himself to reach base any other way.

And even though Jerry Manuel got ejected I still think it was his call to take out Maine after 5 innings. I know he had thrown 96 pitches, and gotten through a tough 5th (after a single on a pitchout) but when will they learn that the bullpen will ALWAYS blow these games. I'd rather lose by stretching the starter than asking the bullpen for four innings.

Almost immediately Brian Stokes blew the lead, but got through the inning, and then the 7th with help from Schoeneweis.

Here's where Alomar/Manuel made the biggest tactical error of the game. When Schoeneweis came in he should have double-switched in Jose Reyes and tried to stretch Schoeneweis. This is another huge problem with the Mets, it's as if they are trying to use every reliever in every game. They have so many guys, and they all suck, so when a guy comes in and gets 2 outs, stick with him.

They didn't, Feliciano gave up a hit and then Duaner Sanchez imploded. Something is definitely wrong with him as he nothing like the pitcher he was two years ago before the injury.

We can't complain about a 6-1 road trip except for the fact that it should have been an 8-game winning streak. It seems the only way the Mets can win is if the starters don't give up any runs, because the offense doesn't score enough and the bullpen blows every lead.

Happy Recap: Mets 4 Pirates 0

Now that's the Johan Santana we've been waiting to see. Clearly his best performance as a Met. He's been very good, and today he was great. He's always been a second half pitcher, and he's starting to live up to that this season as well.

Through the end of June, he made 17 starts (half of what he'll probably get) and he was 7-7 with a 3.01 ERA, with 103 Ks in 113 2/3 innings.
Since then, in 9 starts, he's 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA. But his strikeout rate is down with only 45 in 63 1/3. Just a great performance by Santana, and he didn't make that same mistake (nor did Manuel let him) of pitching only 8 innings. This bullpen still needs their rest.

Brian Schneider is starting to hit. He had 2 homers through 100 games, and now he has 2 this week. Either he is getting motivated by Ramon Castro or the extra time off is helping him produce better.

Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez had some funny moments on this road trip. There was Keith complaining that the hotel bed hurt his back. Then Gary was explaining different kinds of pierogies, and Keith saying he would prefer cabbage. Gary said "eat that on a day when you're not working with me." And Keith replied "I save the black bean soup for you." To which Gary answered "you're a real gentleman."

Over the last 5 games, one time through the rotation with all 5 starters healthy, the Mets have allowed 0 runs in the first 6 innings of a game. There were 2 shutouts, and in the other games Perez allowed 3 in the 7th, and Pedro allowed 1. And the bullpen allowed 3 in Pedro's start and 1 in Pelfrey's start. So zero runs in 30 innings and 8 runs in 15 innings. The Mets still need to shore up their late game pitching.

But this is a very successful road trip. I said before it started that this 8 game stretch against these two awful teams needed to be no worse than 5-3, but 6-2 would be great. Now 6-2 is a minimum and if not for that collapse at home, they could be going for an 8-game winning streak.

Happy Recap: Mets 7 Pirates 4

Once again the Mets bullpen had to make this one exciting. I guess this will end talk that Eddie Kunz should be the closer. I think this is the way Manuel has to do it, rely on matchups.

Another good start by Pedro Martinez, definitely his best of the year. In his last 6 starts Pedro is 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA, not allowing more than 3 runs in any of them. I think he is once again getting back to being a finesse pitcher, throwing more curveballs than fastballs.

The worst moment of the game for Pedro was when he almost got run down by Jose Reyes. Reyes homered in the first and tripled in the second, scoring both times. Right now Reyes has better numbers across the board in the average categories then he did in his breakout season of 2006. He won't do as well in the counting categories of runs and RBI because the team isn't as good. But after one bad month last season, the Mets really have nothing to worry about with him, he's awesome.

Of course, I have to mention Ramon Castro who seems to do something every time he plays.

I know these are bad teams the Mets are playing but winning 5 in a row is winning 5 in a row. The Mets are scoring first, pitching well and avoiding disasters by the bullpen.

Happy Recap: Mets 2 Pirates 1

It's never easy, is it?

What a play by Argenis Reyes after Delgado whiffed on that ball in the 9th inning. With Aaron Heilman's weak mental state and fear of throwing strikes, he saved the game with that play.

The Mets also got another huge defensive play from Carlos Beltran, gunning down a Adam LaRoche at home to preserve the 2-0 lead in the 7th inning.

Good defense also helped Pelfrey in the second inning, and in the 6th it was his good play that nailed Nate McLouth at third.

Why do the Mets score so many runs in the first inning (Gary Cohen said second most in the league) and so few after that? We've seen them take an early lead so many times and fail to build on it, only to have the bullpen blow it.

That almost repeated itself here after Duaner Sanchez allowed a homer, but Pedro Feliciano came in close down the 8th.

And a gutsy move by Manuel to give Heilman one more chance as a closer, and this time he got it done. I still have no confidence in him but he can't blow every single game, even though it seems that way.

Unhappy Recap: Pirates 7 Mets 5

Another unmitigated disaster as the Mets continue to try the same thing, expecting different results. These relief pitchers, in these roles, are not working. Something has to be done beyond crossing our fingers and hoping Aaron Heilman figures it out.

Aaron Heilman sucks. There's no surprise he's lost 7 games each of the past 2 years. He's terrible, especially in the clutch. He should be a mop-up guy and nothing more, ever.

Joe Smith faded at the end of last year and is fading again now. He can't get anyone out and they might need to demote him to make room for someone else.

Pedro Feliciano also sucks, but Manuel doesn't give him a chance, only giving him one batter at a time.

Their ERAs since the All-Star break, Heilman 11.66, Smith 12.91 and Feliciano 7.56. You can't win like that. The Mets need to try something different to get this bullpen, the most obvious of which would be making Eddie Kunz the closer and seeing how he does while Wagner is injured.

Pedro Martinez deserved better. He pitched really well but unfortunately he threw 99 pitches and obviously Jerry Manuel thought his bullpen could hold a 4-run lead, even though they've proven so many times they can't.

The offense produced 5 runs, which should have been enough, but it never is with this bullpen. Which is why the offense needs to pick up the slack and score even more runs.

In the fourth inning, Evans doubled and Wright and Beltran stranded him.
In the seventh, Wright go to third with one out and Tatis couldn't hit a sacrifice fly.
And in the eighth, Wright struck out with two men on.

This is just the latest example of why this team is going nowhere this season. Digusting.

Unhappy Recap: Pirates 13 Mets 1

Mama said there'd be days like this.

In every season, every team has a few games like this. It happens. Generally it's not time to panic but there are a couple of things here worth pointing out.

Oliver Perez is now a major key to the season. If he's lost his control and can't get it back and devolves into the pitcher the Pirates dumped in the Nady trade, then the Mets are in big trouble. But in Perez's second start last season he walked 7 in 2 2/3 innings but rebounded nicely to have a good season.

Perez is also a major part of the team's future. If he has a bad year and is not worth resigning then the Mets enter the offseason with 2, maybe 3 (if Pelfrey comes around) solid starting pitchers.

For a guy who pitched a great game Game 7 I'm surprised at how weak mentally Perez is sometimes. After Castillo blew what should have been an inning-ending double play, Perez's meltdown got even worse and he couldn't even make it through the inning.

I still have no idea why they signed Castillo for 4 years.

For the second time in 5 games the Mets got 2-hit. On the bright side, Delgado got one of the hits.

Aaron Heilman pitched two good innings, confirming that he might be best suited to being a mop-up guy.

The start of the game was delayed 40 minutes because construction workers on CitiField accidentally broke a water main. Shea Stadium had no running water and they almost had to postpone the game rather than bring fans into a stadium with faucets that didn't work and toilets that didn't flush.

Happy Recap: Mets 5 Pirates 4

In every close game, especially one-run games that go to 11 innings, there are several key plays and the team that makes one more of them wins.

The first key play was the error on Freddy Sanchez on what should have been an inning ending double play in the 5th. At first I thought the Mets got a break because usually they at least call the guy out at second and say the ball was dropped on the transfer (even if it wasn't) but that didn't matter because Church struck out with the bases loaded and Delgado left them full.

The next big play, the key play in the whole game perhaps came when Schoeneweis cleaned up Heilman's mess by making a great play to get Bautista on a very close play at home after the ball got away from Casanova. Casanova also made a great throw.

Then things started to work against the Mets, their two best relief pitchers, Sanchez and Wagner gave it up. I thought it was a good idea for Sanchez to walk Nady to face LaRoche because Nady was batting .320 and LaRoche was batting .160. Little did I know Sanchez would walk them both. That was just terrible. Walking in a run is bad enough, walking the worst hitter in the majors with the bases loaded is even worse. Thankfully he got out of it.

Billy Wagner wasn't quite as lucky. But this was not his fault. A nonchalant play by Reyes and a bad throw cost him the run here. Reyes did not charge the ball then had to rush his throw and he bounced it over there. Just a terrible play. And unfortunately for Wagner he gave up another hit (his second all year) and it might have been caught had Beltran been playing a little shallower. So Wagner got his first blown save of the year but it was really Reyes's fault.

Wagner did bounce back to pitch another good inning which was encouraging because he often struggles in his second inning of work.

Then in the bottom of the 11th Endy came through with a hit and moved to second on a balk. The balk becoming another one of those huge plays in this game because everything that came it after it was drastically different. Anderson's sac bunt, instead of becoming a waste of an out became a key strategical advantage. Then they had to walk Reyes to face Castillo who is probably incapable of hitting a ball deep enough to be a sacrifice fly. Somehow Van Benschoten walked him, setting the stage for Wright.

Wright, despite his hot start has had his troubles with men on base but all he needed here was solid contact and he got it to win the game.

Santana gives up entirely too many home runs. Especially at Shea Stadium which is a pitchers' park. Some say the wind has been blowing out, some say the ball will fly even farther once it gets hot, we'll see. He's given up 5 homers in 12 1/3 innings at home and 2 in 28 innings on the road. If he keeps up this pace over 200 innings he'll allow 35 homers, a little more than what he gave up last year.

Carlos Delgado carried the momentum from his huge 2-home run game...and went 0 for 5. There is no momentum, there is no breakthrough, he's a bad player but he's still good enough to have the occassional good game. He did get mildly booed by some idiots before his first at bat, but most people cheered. But as he kept making outs, more boo birds came out.

Jose Reyes was on base 6 times (3 hits, 3 walks) raising his on-base 40 points to .312. If you told me Reyes would be on base 6 times I would say the Mets would win by 11, not in 11. But the guys behind him keep failing to come through.

Except Church, he's been awesome. Although he did strike out with the bases loaded in this game.

Aaron Heilman is digging himself a hole he may never come out of. Sosa pitched well in this game and the Mets other relievers, while they've all blown games, for the most part have been good. Heilman is clearly the worst the Mets have.

Unhappy Recap: Pirates 10 Mets 7

A horrible, terrible, deflating loss. Although it comes off a 3-game winning streak the Mets really need to start pounding these horrible teams, .500 is not enough. But they cannot seem to do the things they need to do to build a long winning streak and put the Braves and Phillies away.

Even more troubling is that now the offense is finally starting to click but the starting pitching has been awful, the bullpen has been awful and overworked and the defense and baserunning has sucked.

The Mets got off to another good start with a home run by Beltran in the first inning for a 2-0 lead. In the second Reyes singled, stole second and scored on a hit by Castillo, all with two outs.

In the third inning they loaded the bases with no one out but Anderson grounded out (force at home), DiFelice popped up but Lawrence helped himself by driving a run home. That was followed by a Reyes walk which forced in another run and the Mets had a 5-0 lead again.

But it didn't last long as Lawrence's first hit allowed was a 2-run homer to Adam LaRoche.

Lawrence got another big hit in the 5th to give the Mets a 7-3 lead, and put him in position for another win.

But Lawrence allowed another run then turned it over to Mota who gave up a run for the second straight night thanks to some horrible outfield defense, this time it was Marlon Anderson who butchered a flyball, which cut the lead to two.

And then everything went to shit. Willie made a mistake here. He should have given one inning each to Mota, Feliciano, Heilman and Wagner. Instead he tried to stretch Mota who gave up a walk to start the 7th. Then Willie took him out and brought Feliciano to face the Pirates' only lefty. LaRoche singled and then Willie went to Heilman. Without Sosa that meant Heilman had to pitch two innings. Either Willie should have use Schoeneweis to try to get the lefty, or stayed with Feliciano, his best pitcher.

But really you can't blame Willie for what happened next because so many plays were just complete fuckups, and a manager has no control over that. After Heilman gave up a hit to cut the lead to one he fielded a sac bunt and for some unknown reason looked towards third base, he had no play, and by the time he looked to first it was too late and the bases were loaded with nobody out. The next batter got a hit to tie the game but amazingly Heilman got a strikeout and double play to keep the game tied. For now.

And it's hard to blame Heilman for what happened next. He had two outs and two chances to get out of the inning unscathed. First Wright made a horrible throw to first on a slow grounder. It was a tough play to get the out, but his errant throw put the runner on second. Then Heilman allowed a single to right and Anderson made a great throw home and had Freddy Sanchez dead at home, but Mike DiFelice dropped the ball.




Heilman allowed two more hits to make it 10-7. Heilman pitched 2 innings, allowed 6 hits, 5 runners scored while he was in the game but none were charged to his ERA, two were inherited and three were unearned.

Very tough loss, but to put it in perspective, it's not a disaster. The Mets did get 2 of 3 on the road. Brian Lawrence started this game and you can't expect to win his starts. And the bats have come alive. If the Mets take 2 of 3 in Washington this will have been a very successful road trip.

And I still feel a little confident about the bullpen should the Mets make it to the playoffs because Mota won't be there and Heilman will be the 5th reliever after Wagner, Feliciano, Sosa and El Duque.

One interesting side note, the Mets had won 133 consecutive games in which they had a 5 run lead, the longest active streak in the majors. The last time they lost a game in which they had a 5 run lead was April 30, 2004, against the Padres who used Brian Lawrence as their starting pitcher that night.

Happy Recap: Mets 10 Pirates 8

If you missed the first six batters of this game you missed 5 runs. The Mets got out to a hot start with Reyes and Castillo on, then doubles by Wright and Delgado and the inning was punctuated by another big hit, a home run, by Moises Alou. He has 7 homers in his last 41 at bats.

But that was the end of the Mets offense, they got nothing for the next 7 innings.

And a struggling John Maine slowly gave the lead back.

It started with a solo homer to lead off the second inning. Then he walked 8th hitter Jack Wilson after a 10 pitch at bat and with two outs gave up an RBI double to the pitcher. And in the 4th he gave up another solo homer to Nate McClouth, which came right after a beautiful diving catch of a bunt by Delgado that he turned into a double play. Maine didn't pitch badly but he definitely didn't have the same stuff he had earlier in the year. He did have 8 strikeouts in 5 innings but he also threw 117 pitches, and a high number of those were foul balls late in the count. He seems the Pirates were able to fight him off.

Maine turned a 2-run over to Gulliermo Mota in the 6th when the Mets poor defense cost him a run. Mota hit Jack Wilson, then Matt Kata pinch hit and blooped one in front of Alou. Any other outfielder might have caught it, but Alou had no chance. But instead of playing it on a bounce Alou dove or slid, and it went past him and brought the run home, to cut the lead to one.

But the Mets got hitless innings out of Jorge Sosa and Aaron Heilman. And then added to their lead in the 9th.

Milledge singled then Reyes sacrificed him to second. I don't mind a bunt here because one run can be crucial, but ahead of Castillo it's maybe not the best move because he can't hit a deep flyball. Milledge stole third, and then Castillo hit a chopper back to the pitcher who tried to get Milledge but threw it away. Milledge scored, then Wright singled, Beltran doubled, Easley doubled and Alou once again finished off a 5-run inning.



But just when you thought it was going to be easy Aaron Sele came in and gave up two singles and a hit batsman. All three of those runs came in and Willie had to go to Billy Wagner in what was now a save situation. Sele did his job as a setup man. Wagner got out of the mess and the Mets got the win.

One side note to this game, there were 6 hit batters:
Nate McClouth by Maine in the 2nd.
Mike DiFelice by Morris in the 3rd.
David Wright by Morris in the 4th.
Jack Wilson by Mota in the 6th.
Shawn Green by Marte in the 9th.
Freddy Sanchez by Sele in the 9th.



The only one that seemed intentional was Green by Marte in 9th. It came right after the Mets had scored 5 runs in the inning and with no one on base (Alou was thrown out at second), and he drilled him right in the back.
After that both teams were warned, but Sele was not ejected when he hit Sanchez in the bottom of the inning because it was a curveball and there were two men on. It will be worth watching to see if the this escalates into a beanball war in the last game these two teams will play against each other until next year.

Happy Recap: Mets 5 Pirates 4

The Mets were lucky to win this one because they played poorly, got behind early, left runners on base and ran the bases foolishly. But thanks to El Duque's toughness and some key they escaped with a victory.

The game started with El Duque throwing the first 6 pitches for balls, giving up a walk, a double, an RBI single, and after two huge strikeouts he gave up another double, but passivity on the base paths cost the Pirates a chance to get more.

More of the same in the third inning, as an infield single, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out, but he got out of it.

He allowed a home run and two walks in the fourth, but thankfully in that order.

Here's some numbers on El Duque:
130 pitches (tied for the most in the majors this season)
60 balls & 70 strikes
5 hits, 5 walks, 1 HBP - 10 of those 11 batters were started with a ball
In his last 7 starts, he is 3-0 with a 2.97 ERA. He has 4 no decisions, but the Mets have won all 7 of his games.
His 3.12 ERA is 7th best in the NL.

The Mets got one run back in the third as Milledge and DiFelice doubled. They should have had more but Reyes couldn't drive home the run from third with one out, then Castillo struck out.

Beltran homered to briefly tie the game, his second homer in 10 at bats (sandwiched by 8 outs). And after the McClouth homer an RBI by Beltran tied the game again, but the Mets should have had more. With first and third and one out Beltran hit a grounder to second base which scored Castillo, but the throw to second was dropped by Wilson leading to an awkward crawling and groping for the bag by Wright, but he was called out anyway. Then Beltran failed to score on a long single by Delgado and Alou stranded the runners.



The Mets had another chance in the 7th after another hit by DiFelice, followed by a double by Gotay. DiFelice should have scored when the ball was mishandled in the outfield but he had already slowed down to a jog and taken his eye off Sandy Alomar. Earlier in the game when heading to third base he couldn't decide whether to slide or stand up and he fell flat on his face. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out in a tie game Reyes once again failed to get the run home. Both times he hit hard ground balls right at someone. He hits the ball in the air so often, except when we need him to. Castillo tapped the ball in front of home plate and didn't even run, that ended the inning.

Jorge Sosa pitched a good 7th and was given the lead in the 8th.

Wright singled, Beltran ripped a double that Wright might have tried to score on, but not with none out in the 8th inning of a tie game. Delgado walked to load the bases. Alou came through with another big hit, singling home two runs, but Milledge grounded into a fielder's choice and DiFelice into a double play so the Mets got no more runs, but they almost needed more.

Sosa barely hung on in the 8th inning. Two straight singles led off the inning then the next two batters moved the runners over. So there was a run in and a man on third with two outs. Josh Phelps hit a deep fly ball to right field (off Schoeneweis) that Milledge misplayed but he recovered in time to make the catch.



Billy Wagner pitched a 1-2-3 9th for the save and the Mets got the first game of the road trip.

Prior to this game the Mets had lost 7 of 8 in Pittsburgh including the 3 game series sweep last year right before the Mets came home and clinched the division.

Unhappy Recap: Pirates 8 Mets 4

This is the second time this year that Perez was good for a few innings and then got lit up in one bad inning thanks to some poor defense. The first time it wasn't his fault, but this time it was his error that opened the floodgates for a 5-run 6th for the Pirates.

In the 7th Schoeneweis put two guys on and Willie went to Joe Smith to get out of the inning. Three hits later the game was over and so was Joe Smith's tenure in the big leagues, at least for now. Smith allowed three straight hits and was sent down after the game.

Joe Smith started the season with a 1.37 ERA, 19 hits, 10 walks and 29 Ks in 26 1/3 innings in 29 games.
Since June 10 in Detroit, he has a 6.57 ERA, 21 hits, 9 walks and 7 Ks in 12 1/3 innings in 17 games.
He was 2-0 with 8 holds in the first 29 games and 0-1 with 2 holds in the next 17.
I'm not sure if the league figured him out or if he got tired or if he just needs more experience, but he certainly wasn't the same picture over the past two months as he was over the first two.

Milledge and Reyes both homered in this one.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Pirates 3

We begin with our Keith Hernandez recap. Tonight, Keith revealed that he changed gloves every three months. He also told viewers they are lucky for the commercial breaks, because that's when the stadium blasts the music too loud. He even stopped talking at one point because the soundbite encouraging people to chant "let's go Mets!" was so loud. But the most revealing nugget is that A-Rod collects gold gloves, actually calling other players and asking for a mitt or two for his collection. Gary Cohen rightly asked if Keith charged him, because, A-Rod can afford it.

Lastings Milledge played center tonight (Beltran has a strained core. What the hell is that?) and continued to hit the ball well. Lo Duca also looks like he's breaking out of it, with 2 clutch doubles. He must be banging a teenager again. For an ace, Gorzelanny looked like crap tonight. Every thing was a meatball over the middle. Finally, he was pulled under pretense of an injury.

But the big story is that the Mets gave Glavine a big lead, and he didn't blow it. He wasn't great, but good enough to get win #299. He'll go for #300 in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

More Keith hilarity. He lost it in the 4th inning recounting Caddyshack lines. We now know that Keith considers it the funniest movie ever. And if Keith says it, it must be true. He also started texting his wife during the game, and revealed that he's too lazy to drive back out to Long Island, so he's staying in the city for the next couple of nights because the Mets are playing day games. That means he will be away from his dog Duncan for a couple of nights, which is bad. He's really starting to achieve a Phil Rizzuto level of nuttiness, which I love.

Happy Recap: Mets 8 Pirates 4

Now that is how you start a homestand. The King of Crocs, Keith Hernandez (he has 12 pairs you know) says you need to beat up on these second division teams, and that's just what the Mets did tonight.

This game was all John Maine, who's first extra base hit ever was a big one, crushing a 2-run homer over the left field wall in the 4th inning to put the game out of reach. He also whiffed seven in seven innings, and looked like the John Maine of the first half again.



Lastings Milledge had a strong game, going 3-3 with a 2-run homer... and Ruben Gotay continues to contribute. Willie basically said during the game that Gotay is the man, so I am curious to see if he can keep up this offensive pace. He is also working hard on defense, so that he doesn't get pulled at the end of games.



Milledge, though, irritated Keith when he clearly leaned into a fastball while wearing the arm guard. I agree, it is ridiculous. He made no attempt to get out of the way, and took it off the protective padding. I thought that stuff was going to be banned?

Ex-Met Xavier Nady has to be the most unlucky guy on earth. A freak injury to Duaner Sanchez gets him traded in a rush last year, going from the best team to the worst, now he's being forced to play centerfield for an awful team, and not doing a very good job of it.

Also of note, Gary Cohen's wife texted him in the booth to make fun of Keith Hernandez's fuzzy math. Ron Darling also went on the record as saying Keith will not be able to make it through Saturday's day-night doubleheader against the Nationals. He said he'd be fine, as long as the producers let him wear bermuda shorts and his crocs. We shall see.