MVN - Most Valuable Network

Hands Down: Fizzled Sparks Edition

When you look at the pitching matchups, there are some games where it seems as though winning would be an absolute steal (Nelson Figueroa vs. John Smoltz back in April is about as perfect an example as I can think of) and others that are “must-wins,” not in the sense that the season is over if you don’t win but in the sense that it’s a game the team should be able to bank on winning. Tonight was one of those “must-win” games for the Mets, making the fact that they did not win rather frustrating. Johan Santana vs. J.A. Happ (whose only prior major-league outing was a shellacking at the hands of the Mets a little over a year ago) is the sort of game that you have to take care of, and on a rainy night in Philadelphia, the Mets couldn’t do it. While it wasn’t officially over until Shane Victorino delivered a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth, in my opinion this game was lost when Chad Durbin came in with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth and proceeded to strike out six of the seven batters he faced. In the end, it was yet another instance of the Mets not being able to win a start by their ace, and those losses hurt more than most precisely because they’re the games you’re supposed to win.

Thumb: Santana allowed just two runs in eight innings against one of the best offenses in the league at their hitter-friendly home park. It’s exactly the sort of performance the Mets were looking for when they traded for him over the winter. Ramon Castro contributed two of the Mets’ four hits, including the only one to go for extra bases.

Pointer Finger: It took Santana just 95 pitches to get through those eight innings. Happ threw 96 pitches and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning.

Middle Finger: Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado each went 0-for-4, with Beltran’s bases-loaded strikeout to end the fifth being particularly damaging. I’d also like to flip the bird at the decision to pinch hit for Castro in the ninth - again, the team had a grand total of four hits, and two of them belonged to him! I really don’t get it - letting Castro bat and then having Ryan Church pinch-hit for Chris Aguila would have made much more sense.

Ring Finger: The Phillies have enough Met-killers and plain old everyone-killers that I never really looked at Victorino in that light, but he’s a prime candidate for the next edition of the All Met-Killer team. Before tonight’s game, Victorino was a career .300/.351/.500 hitter against the Mets in 133 plate appearances.

Pinky Finger: Okay, who wants to set the odds on Keith confusing Jerry Manuel and Charlie Manuel at least once this weekend?

Game 86 Open Thread: Mets at Phillies

After splitting 4 games with both the Yankees and Cardinals in back-to-back series, the Mets kick off their 3rd straight 4-game set, this time against division rival and first place Philadelphia.

This is the 1st time the 2 heated rivals are playing each other since April 20, when the Mets lost 5-4 to fall to 10-7. The Phillies were 2 games behind the Amazins back then, but now things are much different. The Phils have been in 1st for most of the games since the end of April, and the Mets are 4.5 games behind today in 3rd place.

Pitching Matchup: Johan Santana (7-7, 3.01 ERA) vs. J.A. Happ (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

This is a game where the Mets have a clear advantage on paper. They send their ace lefty Johan Santana to the hill, who has 100 career wins and 1422 1/3 innings logged over 9 seasons. He has 2 Cy Young Awards and is widely considered one of, if not the best starting pitcher in the game.

Opposing him is J.A. Happ, a 25-year old righty with 1 career start, 0 career wins, and an ERA over 11. He gets his 1st start of the season after Brett Myers was sent down to the minors. Clearly Santana has the edge in this battle, but that’s why they play the games, folks…anything can happen.

Rizzi’s Rant:

I am about to head out to my 4th of July festivities in the rain, but obviously this is a big game and I hope the Mets come out on top. My hope for today is that the Mets are baseball’s version of Joey Chestnut, and the Phillies are Kobayashi.

Yes, that’s right. For the 2nd straight year I was in Coney Island for the Hot Dog competition, and if tonight’s Mets/Phils game is anything like that classic head-to-head eat-off, this 4th of July will officially go down as one of the best in New York sports history.

Happy 4th of July everyone, and LET’S GO METS!!!

The Opposing Viewpoint: Philadelphia Phillies (Part 3)

Welcome back to The Opposing Viewpoint, the place to learn more about the Mets’ opponents from the bloggers who write about them. After splitting a four-game series in St. Louis, the Mets will spend the Fourth of July weekend just a short distance from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell as they face another NL East team for the first time in over a month. Today, we have two special guests - Corey Seidman of MVN’s Phanatic Phollow Up and his brother Eric, who writes for MVN’s Statistically Speaking, Fangraphs, Baseball Prospectus, and probably two or three other sites I’m forgetting about at the moment. (Eric is also the author of Bridging the Statistical Gap, a guide to sabermetrics for the average fan.) Read on to see what the Seidman brothers have to say about two Phillies players who are struggling and one part of the team that is excelling:

Read the rest of this entry »

Hands Down: Pouring Runs Edition

The start of tonight’s game was delayed a bit by more rain (does lousy weather just follow the Mets everywhere they go?), but the game was well worth the wait. Early on, it was the infield dribblers working in the Mets’ favor (when it usually seems like that sort of thing only benefits the other team). Then it was the offense hitting the ball hard with even better results, which gave way to the appreciation of a young pitcher’s continued development, some much-needed rest for the bullpen, and a Reyes-Reyes double play to put it in the books. For the third night in a row, the Mets scored at least seven runs, the offense clicking just in time for a crucial trip to Philly. This has been a year of ups and downs, and after the down of last night, this up was just what we all needed.

Thumb: Not only did Mike Pelfrey deliver a strong outing, allowing just one run and striking out six over seven innings, he also contributed at the plate with an RBI single in the six-run third inning. While Pelfrey will not pitch in Philadelphia this weekend, his bullpen-saving start could have a significant impact on that series.

Pointer Finger: Carlos Beltran, who has been in a bit of a slump over the past week or so (two hits and nine strikeouts in his last 22 plate appearances) got the night off. If Beltran responds to the rest the way that David Wright has, that would make the last few series before the All-Star Break quite fun to watch.

Middle Finger: It’s tough to come up with one of these when everyone in the starting lineup reaches base at least once, so I have to go with something that was referenced on the broadcast. At some point in the middle innings, Keith mentioned that he was craving some nachos. Now, I’ve never been to St. Louis, but at every ballpark I’ve ever gone to, the nachos were horrible, with some nasty neon-yellow glop that passes for cheese. So tonight, with the Mets winning big and putting the game away early, standard-issue ballpark nachos get the middle finger. Now, nachos with fresh cheese and good salsa and just enough peppers for some added flavor, those are another story entirely.

Ring Finger: It’s been over a month since the Mets played against a division rival, the last such matchup coming at the end of May against the Marlins. At the conclusion of that series, the Mets were a game below .500 and four and a half games out of first place - exactly where they are right now after playing .500 ball over the last 34 games. The Marlins have gone 14-19 over that time to fall out of first, the Braves have gone on a 12-21 nosedive, and the Phillies have gone just 16-15 over the same timespan, but that has been enough to hold on to first place.

Pinky Finger: So, what has our old friend Guillermo Mota been up to lately? Apparently, something a lot like what he specialized in last year.

Game 85 Open Thread: Mets at Cardinals

The Mets finish their 4-game series at Busch Stadium II Thursday night, hoping to salvage a split and get back to within 1 game of .500. The Amazins are coming off a heartbreaking 8-7 loss than they led 7-5 in the 8th inning. Not that it’s that important at this point considering where the Mets are right now, but New York is currently 7 games behind the Cardinals in the Wild Card race, with the Brewers and Marlins also ahead of them.

Pitching Matchup: Mike Pelfrey (5-6, 4.47 ERA) vs. Mitchell Boggs (3-0, 4.37 ERA)

Mike Pelfrey is currently riding a career-high 3 game winning streak, and is looking to extend it to 4 in a row. After another sub-par start to the season, Big Pelf is in the best stretch of his career and looks like he might finally be blossoming into the 1st round pick the Mets thought they drafted. His last start was in the Bronx on June 27, and while his numbers weren’t superb (5 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks, 5 Ks), he pitched well enough to win a 15-6 game. Thursday night will not have the excitement of a Subway Series game, but it is arguably much more important.

Facing Pelfrey will be Mitchell Boggs, a rookie and former 5th round pick out of Georgia. Boggs has yet to lose a Major League game in 5 appearances and 4 starts, but his numbers aren’t too scary. In 22 2/3 innings he has walked 11 batters and struck out only 10. He has already given up 11 earned runs and 3 homers, and has gotten the benefit of some big run support. The Cardinals have scored 7 or more runs in 3 out of the 4 starts, and in the other one they scored 5. His last outing was his best, however. He got the win in Kansas City, going 6 innings and giving up just 1 run. The 24-year old will be making just his 2nd career home start.

The Lineup:

1- Jose Reyes, SS

2- Endy Chavez, CF

3- David Wright, 3b

4- Ryan Church, RF

5- Carlos Delgado, 1b

6- Damion Easley, 2b

7- Marlon Anderson, LF

8- Ramon Castro, C

9- Mike Pelfrey, P

Rizzi’s Rant:

Since I am not recapping the game tonight I might take it a little easy and not watch the whole thing. We will see, since I tend to get sucked in, but I think I need a little bit of a night or two off from this frustrating freakin’ franchise.

I am certainly interested in seeing Pelfrey pitch though, as he continues to mature into a bonafide big leaguer. This will be a real test for the big guy, as he is going against a patient, well-disciplined team who will wait for a good pitch to hit. Pelf will need to be hitting his spots, and has to have control of his pitches.

Notice no Carlos Beltran in the lineup. Jerry Manuel said he was going to give his stars off days on the road, so here ya go…

Other than that it is up to our offense to get to this Boggs kid early and not let him think he is going to throw a gem tonight. Someone needs to tell him that the last name Boggs is reserved for great hitters only, not pitchers.

A split was not the ideal scenario, but it will keep the callers from going crazy on WFAN tonight. Losing 3 out of 4 might send all of Queens to their phones so they can complain to Steve Somers all night. Let’s Go Mets!!!!

Recap: Troy Glaus Walk-Off Beats Mets in 9th

The Mets squandered a 2-run lead in the 8th inning, and then in the 9th Troy Glaus broke the tie with a 2-out solo homerun off Carlos Muniz to win the game and earn at least a split of the four game series between the Mets and Cardinals.

Pedro Martinez started for the Mets and was ineffective for the 3rd consecutive start. He got rocked in the 1st inning for 4 runs, highlighted by the 1st of Glaus’ 2 homeruns, a 3-run bomb to dead center field. After that Pedro settled in, and ended up giving up 5 runs in 5 innings, with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.

Because of Martinez’s dreadful 1st inning the Mets had to claw back to get into the game, and they did a good job. Carlos Beltran had an RBI hit in the 3rd to get the Amazins on the board, and Damion Easley followed with a huge 2-out single that scored 2 runs and cut the St. Louis lead to 4-3. Easley had a big day, going 3-4 with 3 RBI, and is making a case to become the starting 2b over Luis Castillo.

Pedro Martinez left the game down 5-4, but he did not get the loss, which would have put him at 2-3. Had that occurred, it would have been the 1st time since 1994 that Pedro had a losing record in any season at any point. Let that stat soak in for a minute…wow…

St. Louis was up 5-4 in the 7th when the Mets appeared to take control of the game for good. With 1 out and David Wright on 1st, Mark Mulder came in for just his 2nd relief appearance after 202 consecutive starts. Ryan Church singled to start Mulder’s night, and after a wild pitch the runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd. Then Carlos Delgado came through with a big RBI single that was scorched up the middle to tie the game. Delgado is starting to come out of his slump; he is 4 for his last 7 and has been hitting the ball consistently hard the last 2 nights.

The Mets took the lead on an Easley sac fly, and added another run when Fernando Tatis had a pinch hit blooper that was just out of the reach of a diving Ryan Ludwick. By the time the 7th inning stretch came it was 7-5 Mets, and it was all up to the bullpen to get the Amazins back to .500.

But they could not get it done. Aaron Heilman worked a 1-2-3 7th inning in his 3rd consecutive game, getting the heart of the Cardinals order out. He then started the 8th, but hit Ludwick on the 1st pitch of the inning. Heilman’s night was done, and in came Pedro Feliciano to save the day…or at least that was the plan. It did not work out though, as Feliciano’s 1st pitch to pinch hitter Chris Duncan was pulled deep into the right field stands for a game-tying 2-run homer. it seems like every night the Mets hit a batter and it comes back to haunt them, and once again it happened Wednesday night. By the way, the Mets lead all of baseball with 47 hit batters.

In the 9th inning Carlos Muniz was asked to get the heart of the order and force extra innings, and he came about 6 inches from doing so. Muniz got Albert Pujols to foul out leading off, and then Rick Ankiel flied out deep to center field, missing a walk-off homerun by less than 2 feet, as Beltran had his back against the wall when he caught it. But Ankiel’s teammate Troy Glaus picked him up. Glaus hit his 2nd homerun of the game on a 3-2 pitch, a walk off homerun to left that just got over the jumping glove of Endy Chavez. The Cardinals handed the Mets a crushing 8-7 loss, and once again New York failed to get back to .500.

Rizzi’s Rant:

Three weeks ago this loss would have hurt a lot more. It was another heart breaker, but now that my expectations have lowered I have come to expect these losses. I mean, the lead is still only 4.5 games for the Phillies so the season is far from over. If we get on a roll and somehow make the playoffs then great. But despite the standings I just don’t see it from this team, so I am not getting too crushed by these losses.

Still, a very tough one to swallow. David Wright led off the 8th inning with a triple, but no one picked him up and he was stranded on 3rd. At the time it didn’t seem too big of a deal, but boy oh boy would the Mets like to redo that inning.

As soon as Glaus put one in the stands I shut the TV off in dusgust and went to bed, angry that I stayed up through a rain delay until 12:45 to see this debacle. However, when I woke up and watched the highlights I saw for the first time I noticed just how close Endy came to robbing Glaus of a homerun…which made me think of the greatest catch I have ever seen, also against the Cardinals.

So Pedro has now given up 17 earned runs in his last 3 starts. I loved him when he was an Expo, and a Red Sox, and of course now with the Mets. He is the most dominant pitcher in his prime I have ever seen along with Greg Maddux, and he has entertained me for more than 15 years. But maybe, just maybe Pedro is done. My gut tells me he still has something left in his tank and will get into a groove at some point this year. But I can’t ever remember seeing Petey struggle like this, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried he had nothing left.

Another bad loss for the Mets in what has been a bad season. All we can do is keep moving forward and hope. Thank God the Giants won the Super Bowl…