Mostly Mets

The Mets took out the brooms yesterday and swept away the Brewers to complete a thoroughly satisfying road trip. Now they come home to play a crucial weekend set with the Phillies while trying to protect a 2 game lead in the division.

The bats came out early as the Mets scored 6 runs in the first inning which including a grand slam by Ryan Church. It was Church’s first homer since returning from the disabled list on August 22. The bullpen made that lead stand up by pitching 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Tags: Game Comments, Ryan Church

Who would have thought the bullpen would come to the rescue of a young rookie having a not so goo debut. That happened last night when Jonathon Niese suffered the worst start of his major league career. After being staked to a 5-1 lead Niese allowed Milwaukee to tie the game up before being lifted with no outs in the fourth inning. The bullpen then came in and pitched 7 innings of 5 hit, no run ball.

Carlos Beltran showed no ill affects of the knee he bruised on Monday when he hit his 22nd homer in the 3rd inning or when he fielded a ball and threw a perfect strike to Robinson Cancel to nail J.J. Hardy at home plate to keep the game tied at 5.

Tags: Carlos Beltran, Game Comments, J.J. Hardy, Jonathon Niese, Robinson Cancel

The Mets are on a 3 game win streak after winning the last two games in Florida over the weekend and one in Milwaukee yesterday (Labor Day). They have a 2 game lead on second place Philadelphia and a 7 game lead on third place Florida. The magic number stands at 23 but there’s a long way to go.

Yesterday’s game included heroics by unlikely source Nelson Figueroa and new hero Carlos Delgado.

I refer to Delgado as a new hero but he’s really a reborn hero. His first season for the Mets (2006) he had 38 home runs, 114 RBIs and 89 runs scored. His numbers dipped dramatically last year as he slumped most of the season. But he still managed 24 home runs and 87 RBIs. This yea he was giving more of the same until around the all star break. That’s when he began to turn it round. He currently has 31 home runs and 95 RBIs and has been mentioned as an MVP candidate. His 8th inning homer yesterday keyed a 3 run 8th inning that gave the Mets the win.

Also in the 8th inning Carlos Beltran hurt his knee sliding into home plate umpire Ed Rapuano, who was out of position at home plate when Beltran scored a run. The doctors have said that the knee is bruised and there is no tendon damage. Beltran is listed as day to day.

Tags: Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Ed Rapuano, Game Comments, Nelson Figueroa

What a change of fortunes for this team between the Friday and Saturday games. Friday night’s game was won on a Carlos Beltran grand slam in the 9th inning. Saturday’s game was lost when Aaron Heilman walked in the winning run after intentionally walking two batters to load the bases. Talk about inconsistency!

These guys are going to have to learn how to build a lead and maintain it if they’re going to have a chance of doing anything in the post season. You can’t depend on a 9th inning hit to win a game. You also can’t be giving up a lead in the 8th and giving the game away walking in the winning run in the 9th.

Tags: Aaron Heilman, Carlos Beltran, Game Comments

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday but felt I should write something about Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia.

Carlos Delgado hit two home runs and Daniel Murphy had a key double to knock in an insurance run as the Mets scored 4 runs in the 8th inning to recover from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Phillies 6-3. This was a great shot in the arm following the sad 13 inning loss on Tuesday. A loss in this game could have sent the team into a tailspin. But instead they got up, brushed themselves off and didn’t give up.

Now, onto Florida for a tough 3 game weekend series with the Marlins followed by a trip to Milwaukee for a 3 game set against the Brewers before hosting the Phillies at Shea next weekend. A really tough stretch in the schedule that could determine if the Mets win the division.

Tags: Carlos Delgado, Daniel Murphy, Game Comments

Over at On the Mets Beat, his blog for Newsday, David Lennon has written about why Mets general manager Omar Minaya could be around for a while.

Tags: David Lennon, Mets in the News, Newsday, Omar Minaya, On the Mets Beat

I remember one game when a Met pitcher was losing his stuff. I said to Casey, “This guy’s getting clobbered,” and Casey said, “I know, I want him to go nine innings so I can get rid of him tomorrow.”
- Wes Westrum

You almost get the feeling that Mets manager Jerry Manuel feels similarly about his bullpen. Or if he would feel similarly if there was a chance in hell of getting any new arms of moderate quality to replace what he’s got now.

Last night in Philadeplphia the Mets blew a 7-0 lead. The bullpen lost the game in the 13 inning. But the bullpen wasn’t the only unit to fail last night. The offense didn’t score a run after the fourth inning. This is a problem the team has been having but hasn’t been discussed so often because of the bullpen issues. Both problems need to be addressed if this team is to take it to the next level.

Tags: Casey Stengel, Commentary, Jerry Manuel, Wes Westrum

There are reports that the Mets will recall Jon Niese to replace John Maine in the rotation. Niese is 5-1 with a 3.65 ERA in six starts at AAA New Orleans. I’m pretty sure this will happen after rosters expand in September so Niese ill not be available in the post season.

Oliver Perez is probably going to start in Florida on Friday. That would have been Maine’s spot int he rotation.

Tags: John Maine, Jon Niese, Oliver Perez, Rotation

I wrote a post last August regarding a column that Kevin Kernan had written in the New York Post on Sunday August 26. At the time the Mets had a 6 game lead on the Phillies with 34 games left to play. The Mets were playing good baseball and had what appeared to be a commanding lead. But I warned that with a magic number of 28 it was just too early to call the race won. Especially since the Mets were about to open a 4 game series in Philadelphia that could redefine the race. The Phillies ended up sweeping all 4 games of that series and the collapse was on.

This morning, one year ago to the day since the above column was published, Kernan makes a comment in his column that would seem to ignore his statements of a year ago. Kernan writes about how the Mets must be tough and overcome the loss of John Maine, possibly for the remainder of the year, due to bone spurs in his shoulder. In doing so Kernan makes the following statement:

“Last year at this time the Mets were in their dream world, thinking the division belonged to them. They learned the hard way.”

I don’t think I ever heard a Mets player claim ownership of the division at this early date last year. All I heard was Kernan claiming it.

The statement isn’t entirely untrue as the Mets were doing so well at the time that nobody in the baseball world thought they would blow it. But somehow they did and must learn a lesson from it. But it seems as if Kernan is disregarding his own comment when making a statement like that.

Tags: Commentary, John Maine, Kevin Kernan, Mets Media, New York Post

John Maine has been placed on the DL with bone spurs in his right shoulder. This is not good news for the Mets who need every arm they can get. There is no word yet weather this is the end of Maine’s season or not.

Tags: Injuries, John Maine, Rotation