Bobblehead Night

The Mets lost, but all anyone wants to talk about is David Wright's helmet. If you missed it, it looks a little something like this:

He will indeed be the butt of all jokes until this new gear is mandatory everywhere. Aside from the bobblehead, it was nice to see David back.

Mike Pelfrey was awful. Sean Green was his usual awful self in a short stint later in the game. Angel Pagan continues to prove he is not a starting player. Stop thinking about him for left field next season. He's a fourth or fifth outfielder at best, and always will be with his baseball instincts. There's a reason why there's a mental side of the game.

Just Pitch 'Em 'Till They Drop

Nelson Figueroa had a pitch limit of about 80. I wonder if anybody bothered to ask him how he was feeling after the 5th inning and giving up only four hits and one earned run. I'm sure he could have gone out there. Why hold him back? A Parnell or a Niese I can understand. But Figgy? Just let him pitch.

One person Jerry did let pitch was Sean Green. He said it was a positive sign that he pitched two scoreless innings. Excuse me, but what the hell is positive about a guy throwing 50 pitches in two innings with runners in scoring position each inning?

Gary Sheffield was taken out of the game because of injury. Just give this guy his release already so he can sign with whatever team he wants and still be eligible for the postseason. I would rather watch Nick Evans play left field the rest of the way.

David Wright Just Broke His Ankle Getting Out of a Cab

OK, just kidding. But would you be surprised? This season is very similar to the 1992-93 Ranger hockey season, when Brian Leetch did just that. Everything went wrong.

Last night was the lowest of the low. It started with Jose Reyes suffering what was called a major setback as he had to come back to New York and be examined the crack New York Met medical staff. After going back and forth in a pretty entertaining ballgame where they actually knocked around Joel Pineiro (I probably misspelled the name in previous posts, whatever), Luis Castillo out of nowhere slips down the dugout steps and turns his ankle. He's done for the season, I don't care if they're going to call it a cramp later today. After the fall, the rest of the team fell on the field. A 7-4 lead turned into a 12-7 defeat in 10 innings, with the go-ahead run coming in on a Sean Green hit batsman. We might as well trade this guy for Aaron Heilman, the deal would be a wash.

Yadier Molina has not stopped smiling in Flushing since October of 2006. What the hell are the Mets thinking running on this guy?

As for Reyes, this guy needs to determine right now if surgery fixes his problem and if it does, get it done.

We can only hope that next season follows the pattern of the season following the 92-93 Ranger debacle. One in which we will have our own "one more hill to climb, baby" moment if we reach the World Series.

Off to Citi to see what thrills await me on another Camp Day game.

Scoreboard Watching

When you're hot, you're hot- all things go your way. I could've called Luis Castillo out from the Promenade Level. What was Razor Shines thinking when you are up 3-0 with no one out in the 8th inning? Sure enough, Francoeur struck out and Tatis popped up in the following at bats, so maybe Razor knew something we all didn't.

It didn't matter in the end. Sean Green did his best to prevent us from catching the 10:17 out of Woodside, but failed. You gotta love that 7 express with 61st as the next stop. If you can get from your seat in the Promenade at 10:00 and be on a train at 10:17 (in addition to having a little luck on your side), you know traffic flow leaving the park has greatly improved at Citi.

One thing that was not an improvement was the second scoreboard in right field. Gone were the lineups and pitch count. At least the pitch count could be found on one of the auxiliary scoreboards. If you didn't keep a scorecard, your only hope for knowing the lineup was memory or checking who's in the on-deck circle. Instead they made the second scoreboard in right a stretched out copy of the left. I know they are trying to satisfy the fans with obstructed views down in the left field reserved, but having two giant scoreboards almost side by side showing the exact same thing is a waste of resources.

Thankfully, the second board went out in the third inning. Zap. It was gone. Not sure if it was intentional, or a malfunction, but I'm glad it happened. I'm sure many others in the park would appreciate the return of the lineups. Don't you miss that giant Shea board now?

In order to please those who can't see Citivision is it too much to ask for that feed to be piped into all those TVs down there instead of the SNY broadcast? I'm sure they can make that happen. Leave the SNY broadcast on the TVs in all of the concessions, and have Citivision run on all the screens for the audience in the lower levels. Now everyone can watch the Kiss Cam. And we can have our lineups back.

Four in a row with Johan up next. Maybe there's some hope.

Big Apple Circus

The trick is to put the apple up for the seventh inning stretch. By doing that the Mets get homerun happy and start hitting them. OK, not quite- as far as I know the apple is always up for the seventh inning stretch. Sure enough, it was the focal point on the telecast this time, and then two of the next three Mets at bat hit homeruns to bring up the apple when it counts. However, it did not go up the for the second homerun, hit by Fernando Tatis. It takes 45 seconds to "recharge." No support for back to back homeruns (and this pair was not even back to back)? What kind of contraption is this thing? The old apple probably would have went up and down with no problem. Get that thing out the bullpen plaza and bring it back where it belongs.

Enough about fruit. What looked to be a laugher was anything but. A win is a win, and all of a sudden the Mets have a two game winning streak. Daniel Murphy is even figuring out how to stretch for balls at first base. Alex Cora looks comfortable in the 8-hole. The Mets pounded out 16 hits!

David Wright looked like he wanted to rip Mike Pelfrey a new you know what when he had that conference with him in the 5th.

That Joey Votto ejection was just waiting to happen. He's been hosed with the strike zone and was very respectful in not showing up the umpire when making his thoughts known the previous two games. Today he had enough.

Just when Sean Green had his ERA go down to a decent 4.9 he allows the first and only three batters he faces to get on. They all eventually come around to score. ERA now up to 5.54.

John Who?

Fernando Nieve continues to roll. John Maine, take your time coming back. Fine, I've been a little hard on Maine the past few days, but he spoiled us in 2007 with that good season. Our expectations were for him to at least repeat or better that season. He simply has not been doing that the last year and a half. Right now, he's just another 5th starter. Until he starts popping high fastballs in the 90s again, there no sense to get excited about a possible return anytime soon.

Brian Schneider just might be getting hot at the right time. He needs to take the catcher job and run with it. Leave Omir on the bench for that big pinch hit late in the game. It seems like it's the only time he gets hits on a consistent basis.

Good move in calling up Nick Evans for Fernando Martinez. Evans could have easily made the team out of spring training, but struggled mightily when sent down. He was not even an option earlier in the season. In the last month, he's been tearing up AA, so it was finally time. In addition, unlike with F-Mart, he does not have to play every day.

Sean Green, your new 8th inning man. Although you can't help but wonder if Putz and Wagner can find their pre-surgery selves and return to action for September. Another lefty in the pen would be nice. Can we win a game without stress so we don't have to run Feliciano out there for the 15th straight game?

Giftwrapped

The Orioles allowed three earned runs and scored four. That was the difference. Aubrey Huff dropped a pop up, although this one was a little tougher than the one Castillo had to handle. His name is circulating in trade rumors involving the Mets. I don't know, looking at his numbers and his defensive play, is he something we really need right now?

After retiring 11 straight, Mike Pelfrey lost the perfect game/no hitter in the 4th. Yes, it was one of those you had to intently watch and not do anything else until he gave up that first hit. But how easily the Big Pelf gets unraveled? Settle down young man! If you haven't listened to Boomer and Carton on WFAN in the morning of Pelfrey's starts, then look for the clips here that contain songs about Pelfrey. A must listen. Also lookup the clip titled "Manuel Mouthful" from 6/1, another classic.

Sean Green! Lights out. And Pedro Feliciano continues to dominate, making lefties look foolish. Bobby Parnell, on the other hand, has been quite the opposite. Since hitting 100 on the radar gun in Boston, going into yesterday's game he's 0-2, and ERA of 4.50, a batting average against of .333 and on base against of .438. Add two more earned runs with 0 innings pitched. The ERA is slowly rising to match his batting average against, which is not good.

We'll Take It

It was not pretty, but it will end the streak, thank you very much.

Was there a full moon tonight? What the hell was going on with players and umpires in the first couple of innings alone? Carlos Beltran gets thrown at third with two out (I know, how positive of me, in a Met win, to post an image of that), David Wright does the same (except he was called safe by the umpire), Cristian Guzman does not go after a popup, and Fernando Tatis is called out on a play at first in which he was clearly safe. Everyone was having a rough go of it.

David went on to get thrown out at third for what seemed to be the rest of his at bats. I understand the one with one out. But trying to steal third with no one out after scoring a couple with the douple?? You can score on two outs, let alone a ball that finds a hole!

Keith's description of Guzman letting Adam Dunn go after that popup: "Shortstop's gotta know that's a strat-o-matic 4 out there". Or a ptp D. Whatever your flavor of tabletop, those games are addictive. I'm still shaking my head over Jose Rijo letting me down in a recent 1993 league.

With no J.J. Putz out for at least three months, we can only hope Bobby Parnell continues to pitch well. Even Sean Green looked like the Sean Green we were hoping for in the offseason, a very good sign. Yes, these are the Natioanls, but you have to remember, they are fourth in the N.L. in runs per game.

Tim Redding was solid I guess. I still don't expect much when he gets out there. Thanks to the rainout, we have Johan for the Phillies and Yankees, very important. The schedule overall is looking rough in the month ahead.

Mets 8, Pirates 4

Livan Hernandez did not have his best stuff early, and this looked to be an all-too-familiar third game of a series where the Mets fail to put the hammer down. But this is the Pirates we are talking about.

In the 4th, Carlos Delgado his another bomb, although this one off the wall, and the Mets started to chip away. Omir Santos had another key opposite field hit, scoring two. Brian Schneider, take your time returning. You couldn't ask for anything better than what your getting from Castro and Santos.

You would've liked to see David Wright bust open that game in the 7th. Bases loaded, two out and he struck out again.

Sean Green will be continued to be used in mop-up duty.

Rare mistake by Gary Cohen, who not once, but twice said that Eric Hinske, the fifth batter of the game, was the first batter who Livan did not fall behind 2-0. Two batters earlier, Nate McLouth hit a sac fly behind 1-2 in the count. It's OK Gary, we forgive you.

Walk- Phillies 6, Mets 5

August 30, 2008 and May 2, 2009, Aaron Heilman or Sean Green, the result the same. The Mets lose on a walkoff walk.

Awful performances by the pitching staff at the start and finish overshadowed what was an impressive effort in the middle by the bullpen, with the exception of a Pedro Feliciano pitch to Raul Ibanez. It was the second straight night our lefty specialist gave up a homerun to a lefty. Oliver Perez was a disaster again. Ken Takahashi was great as a long, going 2.2 scoreless. He could be making the next Perez-scheduled start on Thursday. Bobby Parnell and JJ Putz pitched three scoreless. Green was awful, loading the bases, then walking in the winning run in the 10th and that was it.

Just when it looked like the Mets were going to go another game without solving Jamie Moyer, Daniel Murphy and Ramon Castro hit back to back homeruns to tie the game in the 6th.

Jose Reyes is mired in a deep slump. After Alex Cora led off the 10th with a single, Reyes could not even get a bunt down. How long before we see Cora spot Reyes a game at short?

Luis Castillo made his return to the lineup and was removed in a double-switch in the 6th. If he keeps sliding like he slid into home in the 3rd, we're going to see a lot less of him. That was a tumble that looked like nothing but hurt for the 33-year old who looks like he's 43.

The Sportsync radio worked like a charm today. Fox's HD-feed was 8 seconds slower than the radio call, just enough to delay the handy radio to the max 8 seconds and be able to watch while listening to Howie on the Fan.

Mets 9, Reds 7

There we go, that's more like the stuff we're used to. A good old, sweat it out, load the bases in the 9th and hold on for the victory save. K-Rod decided to walk everybody, then get out of the bases loaded one out jam. That error on Delgado, a questionable call by the first base umpire for leaving the bag too early on the throw to first did not help matters.

Scary first inning for Mike Pelfrey, but he bounced back nicely.

Here's to more of the Carlos Delgado from the second half of last season. Nice to see that homerun out of the way early in the season.

Damn, JJ Putz gave up a run in the 8th. Sean Green allowed an inherited runner to score the inning before that. It's not supposed to be this way.

Why is David Wright sliding head first into home?

Let's erase the demons of 2005 by sweeping the opening series in the matinee today. Damn afternoon workday games.