So we should not feel so bad. By the way, have the Yankees lost a home game since that series?
Late post on this one as I took the drive back home from Montreal today. A GPS is a must for anyone driving. Make a wrong turn, no problem. "Recalculating," says the handy device, and an alternate route is computed for you. Keep making wrong turns. Explore the countryside. You'll always be headed where you need to go. Just avoid starting the car while it's plugged into the cigarette charger. Had a scare a few weeks ago when I thought I fried it, but it just needed a hard reset.
That's all I got on this game. Which is nothing. I got back to the room and fired up gameday audio in the 9th inning and it was not long after 9:00. Just saw a note in the boxscore that Luis Castillo was ejected in the second inning. The Mets sure know how to make these stinkers quick, which is a good thing.
Got tickets to four of the ten games on the homestand next week. Should be good times at Citi.
John Lannan has now won three straight vs teams from New York, going into the 9th each time. Two of those games he went the distance in which he gave up 0 earned runs. Can you take a guess which games were against the Mets and which were against the Yankees?
Oliver Perez was...ugh. Instead of Bad Ollie or Good Ollie, let's just say we're seeing Typical Ollie. Six innings, six more walks. He has walked 8.84 batters per nine innings this season!
Despite getting a hit, David Wright is falling into one of those slumps again. When that happens, the Mets put up zeroes. He should have had a couple of hits today though, as Nyjer Morgan made a nice play to take away an extra base hit.
Newsflash: Bobby Parnell faced three batters and retired all of them.
Ranger players report to training camp for physicals on September 12.
If you're not a fan of bacon in every meal, avoid St. Hubert's in Montreal.
I heard the score was 5-0 after a couple of innings. Livan was on his way out of the rotation. But no, it was the Mets who were ahead. And they held on for the win.
Biggest play of the game was the double play ball hit by Adam Dunn, who was the tying run in the 8th. Great play by Daniel Murphy, who as we see, can pick it at first. With him it's just a matter of instincts and a little more flexibility to stretch. Pedro Feliciano was stretching indeed, looking like a natural first baseman on the return throw by Alex Cora to complete the twin killing.
When ordering coffee from Tim Horton's here in Montreal, when they ask you if you want cream and sugar, you say yes, then they go 1 and 1, they mean 1 cream and 1 sugar. The cashier during the AM rush hour seemed quite annoyed at my lack of understanding. It's probably because I spoke English.
Yes, a Mets game was airing in Canada! And it was in French no less. Had flashbacks of watching the Montreal Expos. They were using the ESPN video feed, but play by play and analysis was done in the native language. I guess I timed the trip here pretty well, seeing that RDS airs the Sunday night game of the week.
What was there to see anyway? Fernando Nieve, yet another replacement, has been added to the walking wounded. You can't make this stuff up. Tim Redding was Tim Redding. Everyone else gave up some runs. Even Bobby Parnell brought up some agita by walking two batters after retiring the first two in a game where the outcome was set.
Now comes the series we have all been waiting for. The last time the Mets played the Washington Nationals, we said "no more softies"- the schedule was going to be tough for the next month and half, and boy was it ever. This upcoming three game series with the Nats is going to reveal a lot. It's already a hopeless situation, but this matchup could be the final nail in the coffin.
I don't mean El Duq- er, Livan's pitches. I'm talking about the schedule. A nice first inning to start off the game, before Livan even threw a pitch, was just what the doctor ordered in the final game before the big battle in the coming month against some tough teams. He now has a 3.88 ERA. One who was fighting for the 5th starter job in spring training.
As nice as it was to pad the schedule, I'm sick of seeing the Washington Nationals. It's time to see what the Mets are made of.
David Wright kills lefties, but has done most of damage recently on the road. Three Philly lefties facing the Mets at Citi- something's gotta give.
Welcome back Ryan Church; two hits in his return from the DL. I hope they don't jerk him around again. Play the guy. If he can do some hitting vs the Philly lefties, it could springboard into better things the rest of the season and ease the blow of not having Reyes and Delgado during this tough stretch. It was really nice to see him patrol right field again.
Daniel Murphy hitting would be nice as well. He also had two hits today. He and Fernando Tatis have to come up big.
The Mets hit into a double play in seemingly every inning. You even had double plays of the comical variety, such as Luis Castillo running back to first without seeing Emil Brown, the batter, passing him on the basepaths, a no-no. And why is Emil Brown batting second anyway? That about sums it up.
John Maine is what he is. An average fourth starter. If he does not have his stuff, as he did last night, we're screwed. Great pitchers battle their way through times they don't have they're best. Last night was batting practice.
Jerry continues to cool off players by sitting them. See Gary Sheffield.
If Fernando Martinez is here to play everyday then why has he sat in two games already since his callup?
Are we going to wait to lose five of six to the Phillies and Yankees this week before some kind of outside help? The problem is the Mets have no chips to make a big acquisition. We're going to have to suffer until some of these guys on the DL come back. Unfortunately by then, it might be too late.
***
How sweet was it to see the Penguins absolutely unravel last night? Evgeny Malkin should be suspended a game. The guy is as dirty and cheap as any fourth line goon out there.
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.
Citi Field will lead the league in homeruns needing the aid of instant replay. For the second time in this homestand, the Mets benefited. Both times they were awarded homeruns for just missing them. In Citi Field, almost is good enough. Maybe the umps feel pity for the Mets and their paltry homerun totals.
Following the questionable homer, Ramon Castro hit one that fooled Gary Cohen, getting an “it’s outta here!” while harmlessly falling into the left field corner. That was the exact same ball he hit in Fenway the other night that just got out over the monster. Only in Fenway Park.
Adam Dunn is a monster. Anyone know where that ball he hit landed?
Gary Sheffield continues to look like the Sheffield we were hoping for.
You just knew Fernando Martinez was in trouble when he was still standing at home plate while the catcher was waiting for that popup to come down. Were you screaming “run!” as I was before it fell in play? Inexcusable no matter what your experience level is.
What’s another J.J. Putz appearance without a leadoff walk? Never mind the fact that he will break his right hand reaching out for a comebacker one of these days.
Enough of the negatives- nice job sweeping the lowly Nats. Good to see Daniel Murphy break out. Of course you almost forget that Johan Santana got the win tonight in a very un-Santana like performance, with 6 walks. Bring on those pesky Marlins.
Does freakin’ Versus HD ever work? I swear, that thing is out half the time. Speaking of hockey, a fellow Mets and Rangers fan from Queens, Howie Rose, recalls a great night 15 years ago.
First off, thankfully we did not have to see the Mets in those red hats.
We got to see a throwback tonight. A complete game by Livan Hernandez. It's not exactly a no-hitter, but for the Mets it almost seems as rare.
Gary Sheffield hit a homerun for real this time. Yes, the one yesterday counted, but you know it would not have gone out had the fan not reached out and touched it. What was great about tonight's homer was how he reached for that low pitch and managed to hit it hard. I will be the first to admit I was against the signing. Dead wrong. Unlike my NHL playoff predictions (Detroit is one win away from setting up the rematch in which Pittsburgh will win this time around. Ugh).
We got to see the debut of Fernando Martinez. It was time, seeing how the Mets were dropping like flies and he was already hot at AAA. With Carlos Beltran declared out for the next three days, Jose Reyes and Ryan Church were placed on the DL, at long last. Fernando did not do too much, but what do you expect? For all the hype he has not exactly dominated the minor league level. He had a great May thus far. Show me more the rest of the way. He'll get his chance with the big club for the next week or so.
The Mets tried their best to give the Nationals a chance to come back and win the game, an affair in which the final three innings took longer to complete than the first six. It started with a video review and continued with a load of walks.
Gary Sheffield was saved by the lack of a camera in the left field corner that could show the trajectory of his homerun as it came down and eventually would have struck the wall below the orange line (barely) had a fan not interfered. The inconclusive replay was not enough to overturn the original call on the field, which was a homerun.
I don’t have a problem with instant replay on homerun calls. The problem is seats that allow a fan to reach over and interfere with a fair ball, especially homerun balls. You would think something like this would be remedied with new parks, but it has only gotten worse. There’s a simple fix for Citi Field. Get rid of the high wall in left. The park is deep enough already. Simply put an additional fence, about half the height of the current left field one, and put it a few feet in front of where the current one stands. No more controversial homerun calls in left field and half-hour delays in getting the call right.
Marquis Grissom has let it go since retirement. You wouldn’t have thought this guy was once a threat on the bases for the Expos back in the day.
John Lannan is a Ranger fan, but was also a Yankee fan. Boo.
Bobby Parnell had to know he hit 100 on the gun the other night. The fastball tonight was a. nowhere near the strike zone and b. not close to 100. You wonder if it affected him even a little bit.
Apparently a road trip of over a week is still not enough time for someone to install a camera in the visitor’s bullpen so SNY can give you a decent shot of whoever is warming up.
We’re still waiting for J.J. Putz version 2007. We’ll continue to wait if he keeps walking the leadoff hitter.
Flashback to 1992. The Rangers were up 2 games to 1 in the second round of the playoffs vs the Pittsburgh Penguins. Up by a score of 3-1 in the second period, Mike Richter lets in an awful goal by Ron Francis from beyond the blue line. We know what happened after that. The goal that gave the Caps a 2-0 lead in game 5 last night gave me the same feeling. It can only go downhill from here.
The game itself was a disgrace. Without Sean Avery in the lineup (a move I actually did not have a problem with), the Rangers rolled over, gave up, and showed no grit and toughness whatsoever. The play that was a microcosm of the whole game was when Erskine was pushing around Callahan and laughing at him, while Cally gave a few token gloves-in-the-face, nothing more. At that spot you just drop them and go. I don't know what he was afraid of- you're not getting suspended for fighting in that situation. At least Torts showed some fire.
Cally is obviously not the problem however. Paging Gomez, Drury, Antropov, and Zherdev! Simeon Varlamov has made the saves he had to make, but he has not faced any sustained pressure at any point since starting game 2. Three goals in the last four games! Lundqvist has won three games for the Rangers, games that easily could have gone the other way. The Caps, on the other hand, have destroyed the Rangers in their two victories. I don't think there ever was this much a pessimistic feeling for a team that had a 3 games to 2 series lead going home for a game 6.
Henrik, please steal us one more tomorrow. I have more confidence against Boston than against the beast that is Alexander Ovechkin.
The other team in D.C. however, is a disgrace. Who the hell is in charge of the Washington Nationals? Let's put together an ensemble of hotheads Scott Olsen, Elijah Dukes and Julian Tavarez. Ryan Zimmerman must love his new ballpark or something, signing a five-year extension. I guess you gotta give the guy credit for being loyal. I'd be looking for free agency as soon as possible.
Johan Santana is locked in and is worth every penny. Four game losing streak? Let me start out by striking out the first six batters I face, to give the team a little boost.
I like Bobby Parnell. Throws hard and throws strikes. Parnell, Putz, and K-Rod, nothing but strikeouts. Total 180 from last year's bullpen, post-Wagner.
Nats, thanks for handing us game 2 of the series this afternoon. Eight runs given up, five of them unearned. Good bounce back game for Mike Pelfrey. He was not spectacular, but all the ground balls he gave up were a good sign. Even most of the base hits he gave up were singles that found holes. No problem with that. He'll just induce a double play.
Washington's baseball team needs a general manager fast, someone who will break up this bunch. Jim Bowden should have been fired a while ago, never mind this scandal that forced his resignation. Just how many starting outfielders are on this team? Did I mention Julian Tavarez already? The guy who admits he signed with them only because no one else wanted him?
The Mets are 0-5 in the last game of a series. The Rangers are home with a chance to advance in the playoffs. Let's lay Washington to rest tomorrow afternoon.
