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.

One Step Forward, One Back

The Mets made a shocking, although proper move in releasing Livan Hernandez to make room for Billy Wagner. Apparently Livan was not very happy about it. Look at your performance over the past couple of months.

Then there is the story of Gary Sheffield. Apparently the Mets had a taker, but they pulled him back. So Sheff requests an extension of all things, gets denied, cries about it and decides to have a seat on the bench. That's the Sheff we all knew and feared when he was signed back in the spring. Sheff, go follow Livan out of town please. You sure fooled us being the good soldier all season.

Nice to see Billy Wagner back. Although SNY showed the replay when they returned from break, it was a poor job by them going to commercial just as he was coming out of the bullpen. You can't make up for that ad space somewhere else in the broadcast? Speaking of ads, why is it we have to hear that "your family is safe and secure" insurance spot MULTIPLE times in one half inning on the radio broadcast.

Wags looked vintage and put K-Rod, who pitched the next inning, to shame. A run was not given up, but oh those walks. Watching the 8th inning really made you had to wonder what if- what if Putz, K-Rod and Wagner were all healthy and the Mets were in contention? Hmm, let's see lefties coming up in the 7th? Call Wags. A few righties instead? Call J.J. and we'll have the other one pitch the 8th. As it is, hopefully Wagner gets enough chances to prove his worth to a contender in the next few days and we can get as much as we can for him.

Oh yeah, the Mets lost the game.

Game? What Game?

You know things are bad when at the 1pm hour you get all the reports of what the Mets lineup is going to be for their afternoon game, continue on at your job, get to your car at around 6pm, turn on the radio to listen to some sports talk and be surprised that you are listening to Wayne Hagin calling the 7th inning at Arizona- I completely forgot about this one.

The Mets won and Ollie pitched like crap once again. Yet, he gets the win, so he will get a pass from Mets brass.

I did manage to record the game but only got through an inning. What I did see was Oejaka or whatever his name is make yet another amazing play. What I also saw was Gary Sheffield typically hitting a groundball that he had to hustle to beat out in his first at bat back from a hamstring injury. I'm surprised he didn't tear the thing.

The boxscore shows Cory Sullivan sparking things from the leadoff spot and hitting a Jose Reyes-like two triples. Before we get too excited let's not forget how we were going ga-ga over Angel Pagan just a couple of weeks ago and now he finds himself on the bench.

If David Wright had to be pulled from this one because of that apparent leg injury that would've been icing on the cake. Carlos Delgado injures himself while he's still injured. You can't make this stuff up.

Camp Day Fun

Too bad that was the last one. The Mets seem inspired to play in front of such vibrant colors representing the various camps in the stands. However, they are still brittle as they are any game this season. Down goes Jon Niese, down goes Gary Sheffield. There's no comment on this right now. It was past ridiculous when Luis Castillo went down the stairs.

David Wright is just not going to charge the mound. At least he could've said something to the pitcher who just missed his head, a retaliation for Pujols getting hit earlier in the game. Maybe it was the presence of so many kids. Doubt it. David is Mr. Nice Guy. He'll make friends with everyone who reaches third base, and against the Mets, that's a lot of players who reach third base.

The DVR will be in full swing this week as the team goes West. It's not worth staying up. Hell, they should be honored I'm recording the rest of the game to watch it the next morning.

Flash in the Pan

No, I'm not talking about Jon Niese, who pitched well last night. Niese had been on a roll in his last several triple A starts and was ready for a promotion to the big leagues this time around. This kind of pitching could be something we should get used to seeing, unlike that of remove-the-S-and-place-a-V Nieve. I'm talking about the Mets offense.

10 runs? Three homers? David Wright finally has come to the realization that Omir Santos passed him in the homerun department and does something about it. Can we see more of that please? Also that play late in the game where he made a nice pickup on the backhand- and then actually fired the ball to first with authority instead of lazily flinging it over. More of that, please.

Despite pitching in a non-save situation, an issue with most closers, K-Rod's ERA has now climbed over 2.00. It's only going to get higher folks.

A win overshadowed the decision to put Gary Sheffield on the DL, when he insisted he was fine. The Mets now have 13 pitchers to 12 batters on their roster. The insanity continues.

"Let's Go Beat the Mets"

Boy, they sure did. Maddux gets what he wants just by saying something, even in a retirement ceremony.

Is this game a final yet? This post is coming with the score 11-0 in the 9th. The only question is whether it will be yet another shutout.

Mike Pelfrey was absolutely smacked around today and was left in there to suffer some more growing pains. Is there going to be any more growth? Have we seen the best of Big Pelf?

Gary Sheffield looked like he pulled a hammy in the outfield, but the Mets say it's only cramps in his leg. He'll be out four to six weeks.

Enjoy the stellar Fox and ESPN broadcasts while I get out for a few days and head up to Scott Gomez's new digs in Montreal. Is there anybody currently on that team other than Carey Price who was there last season? Assuming the wireless in my hotel works, I'll be checking in with my first blog posts from outside NYC.

Nice at bat here by Jeremy Reed, staying alive despite being down 11 runs. Never mind. Ground out. Game over.

Felicianono

Huff giveth, Huff taketh away. Pedro Feliciano was brought in the perfect spot. Markakis and Huff, two lefties coming up. Don't criticize for wanting to keep Parnell in there. It was simply a case of the right move gone wrong. I say Huff ain't nothing to write home about the day before and the next day he hits what eventually is the game-winning homerun.

Fernando Martinez hit a nice looking double. However, I'm tired of seeing the kid struggle up here (he was all twisted on that early homerun by that other hot shot prospect who was going all season without an rbi) and he needs to go down and get some confidence as soon as National League ball returns this Friday.

A painful 0 for 5 for David Wright, with three of those at-bats coming with runners in scoring position. I wonder if David was trying too hard to go yard there as the tying run in the 9th inning. It's amazing the guy is on pace for about ten homers on the year. Sure, you'll take the .357, but you'd like some pop when the team desperately needs it.

At least Gary Sheffield went yard again and has caught fire. The question is will it keep up now that he has to resume playing the field on Friday.

Shake It Off

Some carryover effect. Go figure. They say momentum is as good as your next day's starting pitcher, and there's no better example than today's game.

Luis Castillo had a couple of hits and even fielded some balls today. It seemed like everyone had at least a couple of hits. On the subject of one-handed popups, it's a matter of time before David Wright drops one of them gimmes. Just look at where his body is and where the ball is on EVERY popup.

Speaking of Wright, I can't forget to mention the big hit off Rivera in that game to forget, which was a "clutch situation." I've been complaining that seemingly all of his hits during this hot streak have come with the bases empty.

The story of this one was Fernando Nieve. For an unheralded starter, his stuff looked pretty good.

No lead is safe in this park. It's Mile High Stadium and pre-humidifier Coors Field all over again. A nice place to boost your offensive numbers. Is there any fly ball to left field that does not reach the warning track?

Safe to say Gary Sheffield is benefiting from the DH; a homer for the second straight day. Four more games in AL parks. Nice.

Fernando Martinez should still go to AAA when the Mets return from Baltimore. Unless Sheffield, who's scheduled for an MRI, is diagnosed with something that puts him on the DL.

Guaranteed Loss

The lineup, with starting pitcher in the 9-hole:

A Pagan LF
F Martinez RF
C Beltran CF
F Tatis 3B
D Murphy 1B
R Martinez 2B
B Schneider C
W Valdez SS
T Redding P

You have what resulted in a 7-3 loss in a lifeless Citi Field today, on such a beautiful spring day.

This was an absolute throw-away game. For a team that missed out on a playoff spot by one game in each of the last two seasons, you can't have any of these. Do both David Wright AND Gary Sheffield need a rest on the same day? Sheffield is going to be treated like a catcher rest-wise. There's one problem. He's not a catcher. He's a 40+ year old outfielder who we need (who'd a though when we signed him) out there as much as possible. He can rest when he retires. If he asks out and says he needs a break, fine. If he can go, he has to play. Same goes for David.

Which leads to the 5th starter situation. Tim Redding should pitch only when he has to. If there's a day off in the schedule- take Monday, June 8th for example- you have to avoid that spot in the rotation at anytime possible. Redding is slated to start Thursday the 4th. With the day off on the 8th, do you want him pitching in that three game series vs Philly as he is scheduled to do so if they stick with a strict 5-man rotation? Enough of this giving the starting pitchers as much rest as they can get business.

Baseball players do strange things. Licking a bat?

Remember this game at the end of the season. Make today worse for a better tomorrow? I'm sorry Gary, I disagree.

Complete Game

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.

Home Sweet Reviewable Home

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.

One out of Five?

It's not good enough. Johan pitched yesterday. How many errors did he have to fight through for yet another start? There were another two from Ramon Martinez. Which leads us to the injury situation.

Jose Reyes continues to be out. Then last night, Carlos Beltran has some knee issues, giving us the adventures of Gary Sheffield in left field instead of DH. At least we did not lose much with Jeremy Reed in center field (who would have played left). He mad a nice play late in the game, bouncing himself off the big wall in left center after making a running catch.

I think Johan started that incident with Kevin Youkilis after hitting him in the elbow. Youk's elbow was clearly above home plate; the pitch was not even inside, it was just high. Johan was peeved and let him know it, which was good for him because he took that anger and shut everyone down the rest of the way. I still can't hate Youkilis. Must be that thing with the Yankees.

I'm with Gary on his opinion of the Yankees-Phillies series. I could not care less because it's May. Part of me was happy the Yanks finally lost after how many games already. But then there were the Phillies, who slugged their way to another victory. They hit some bombs in that park last night.

Late Night Stinker

The game was not even worth a morning DVR review upon finding out the score on the news this morning.

With Carlos Delgado out for ten weeks, the offensive is suddenly falling asleep, as if it was not asleep already. Two of the three runs last night was a result of a John Maine bases loaded single.

Why is Ramon Martinez playing second base last night? Three strikeouts and a GIDP, a night after committing two errors. Is Jerry trying to recapture some late-September magic from last season? Oh wait, that didn't turn out so magical...

Outrage over Gary Sheffield not playing left field last night was subsided by the fact that he was a bit under the weather. Now is the time where he has to play every day to see what's left and platoon the former left field platoon of Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy at first base instead. Jeremy Reed can go back to being a defensive replacement in the outfield.

I'm starting to see John Maine as just your average 4th/5th starter who will finish with an ERA in the high 4's, nothing like the Maine we saw in 2007, which we were hoping for this season.

Late Night Steal

The Mets took a backseat in the first few innings for game 7 of the Hurricanes-Bruins. If you're a diehard of both sports and have a choice of innings 1-3 of Mets in May or a game 7 playoff overtime, you watch the hockey. The 'Canes kept my final four intact. They will go on to lose to Pittsburgh, while Detroit beats Chicago to set up the Stanley Cup Final rematch. Back to the Mets...

The Mets set a franchise record with seven stolen bases in the game. Jose Reyes was not in the lineup, but not for the reasons I wanted him out for this evening, which makes the record even more amazing. David Wright, with four steals, felt like he needed to pick him up in that department and did he ever. Let's not forget Wright's clutch hit in the 9th inning. Maybe everyone complaining about his clutch hitting can relax now. The guy is now at .331 with an on base of .417. We just need the HRs to come around.

Gary Sheffield actually had a couple of hits for the second game in a row. This could be the start of something. It will be interesting to see if Daniel Murphy gets some time at first base, as he's been the odd man out since Delgado went down and Sheffield's power bat was needed in the lineup.

We saw a chink in the Bobby Parnell armor as he was shifted to the eight inning and struggled a bit.

The start John Maine had reminded me of the fiasco last season, also against Jonathan Sanchez, but Maine settled down quite nicely.

Getaway Entertainment

These getaway days at Shea- now Citi- never cease to amaze. Make it 0-6 in weekday home games I have attended since last season. It's not just that they have lost all of these games, it's how they lose them.

Today they waste a Fernando Tatis grandslam and a game tying homerun by Gary Sheffield. Defense let them down again. David Wright, another costly error. JJ Putz gave up double after double, although somehow got out of it by allowing only one run. The Braves hit seven doubles!

Jose Reyes needs to sit tomorrow. Send a message. I'm sick of his act. Talent can only get you so far. On Tuesday, he gets thrown out by a mile at third base, greedy for a triple in a situation where he has to stay in scoring position with one out. Today, on second base, he gets thrown out by a mile at third base on a ground ball hit to shortstop, right in front of him. He did not even slide. Then, leading off the 12th, he admires a ball he hit, thinking it's out for a game-tying homer, only to go off the top of the high wall for a double that should have been an easy triple. Instead we have to waste an out to get him over to third.

Gary Sheffield is either a walk, a strikeout, or a hard groundout, with the occasional homer mixed in. If he does not produce with Delgado likely being moved to the DL it's time to cut ties.

Why is Ramon Castro being pinch hit for in the 11th? Is Jeremy Reed going to do that much better? The move forced the pitcher in the lineup to bat 7th in the order, since Omir Santos was the only option available to hit in the 9th spot in the 11th, and then had to stay in the game. It did not much matter anyway, lineup-wise, but you could see how that would've burned Jerry if the Mets tied it in the 12th and Tatis came up with a base open.

These midweek day games don't sell at all. I have no choice but to go to them and I look forward to breaking my six-game losing streak on June 25 vs St. Louis. Maybe it will rain.