A Little Hiccup But We Duke it Out

Well, Dillon Gee was as good as any starter in our rotation until he hung what looked to be a cutter to Wilson Betemit in the 8th inning, and all of a sudden the Orioles sprung to life. Bobby P. had to weather a storm and Francisco had to weather a hurricane, but miraculously the Mets sweep the Orange Birds with a final score of 4-3.

That might have been the best I've ever seen from Dillon Gee. He was working every corner with every pitch in his arsenal. He  hit a wall later in the game when his pitch count was certainly low enough to go the complete game shutout. Unfortunately he couldn't battle through, but the bullpen, albeit in a scary fashion, came through for the Mets and the 7th Letter in the Alphabet. Swung a nice bat tonight, too, scoring on Wright's huge double.

Mike Nickeas just keeps on getting big hits. About a week ago, I wrote about The Nick's .155 average, and how long the Mets could live with it. I made the point, however, that he has gotten a lot of hits that have broken us through in certain games. Last night, SNY showed that Mike has a .333 average with runners in scoring position right before he made contact and tailed the ball away from a diving Adam Jones in right-center, who, if he had made the play, would have made a spectacular diving play. The bottom line, it seems, is that with runners on, The Nick makes contact and has been huge for this club. Nickeas profiles as an unlikely hero when the time to shine is right, and regardless of his stats, I agree with keeping him around as backup catcher.

There ain't no lefty Scottie can't rake.

Frank Francisco early on in the 9th inning was doing a great job of painting the corners. His strategy seemed to change as different hitters came up, and that hurt him. He lost complete control at one point when he walked free swinging Mark Reynolds to load the bases and bring up Steve Pearce...who he walked in 4 low pitches to force in a run and bring up contact hitter Brian Roberts. But give Francisco credit. The game could still be won, and he did a great job of getting Roberts to ground out to Jordany at 2nd.

Who would have thought 2 years ago we'd be discussing the roster problem the Mets have because of depth? Right now, Valdespin keeps hitting and will stay in the lineup if he does so. Murphy is struggling with the bat but you don't expect them to send him down. Baxter will come back at some point and will need to take a spot. Meanwhile, Vinny Rottino keeps doing the hard-nosed type of stuff it takes to win ballgames. In the 4th, after Scott Hairston doubled,  the righty Rottino waited back on a pitch and  made sure to hit it to the right side of the infield, moving Hairston over to 3rd with 1 out. Scottie eventually scored the 1st run of the ballgame. In the 5th, with Hairston and David Wright on 2nd and 3rd, respectively, Rottino was intentionally walked to get to the lefty Ike Davis. Ike grounded the ball slowly the other way to the shortstop, who tossed it to the 2nd baseman for the force out. The 2nd baseman turned just as Vinny was sliding perfectly into 2nd to trip the fielder up. The extra run scored, and it turned out we really needed it. As long as these guys continue to perform, those roster decisions get harder and harder to deal with. I love it.

The Mets will take a day before the much-anticipated Subway Series gets underway (Ain't it funny how every time somebody says these games are getting boring, a weekend comes along like this to spice things up again?) A rematch of the southpaws is slated for Friday Night at 7:10PM, with Jon Niese taking on Andy Pettitte.

Chris Young against Ivan Nova.

Dickey. Sabathia.

RA has created a buzz around this one Subway Series game that I haven't seen since the late 90's, early 2000's. We will be there Sunday when this all goes down. What a pitching matchup. The night is gonna be a lot of fun.

We can handle the Yankees.

Bring on the Pinstripes (in the grey aways.)

LET'S. GO. METS.

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The BB’s Will Bite You

The Mets fought. They battled. They came from behind twice to tie the game with 2 2-run home runs. But it wasn’t enough. The walks burned, some opportunities were missed, and at the end of the day, the Phillies prevailed, 4-8, on a warm, sunny Memorial Day at the Citi.

Where to begin with this one…Well, with all the men in uniform scattered throughout the stadium on Memorial Day, Jon Niese labored from the beginning. It took him over 30 pitches to get out of the 1st, receiving no help from the men behind him with 2 errors by David Wright and Daniel Murphy. While no runs scored, it was clear by the 3rd he wasn’t his sharpest self. He walked a pair in the inning after getting the first 2 out, and that led to a Ty Wigginton 2-run double. He had 105 pitches going into the 6th inning, and one could argue he could have been pinch-hit for in the 5th with a rally going. Who could fault Terry, however, for wanting to avoid his bullpen for 1 more inning? It wasn’t meant to be, with 1 more walk and a John Mayberry, Jr. home run. Regroup and get ‘em next time, Jonny.

Cole Hamels was dealing from the get-go. He was much more efficient than Niese, which is what made the bottom of the 3rd so frustrating. After Ike Davis grounded out, Rob Johnson, who has had much more offense than any of us could have expected, singled to left. Jon Niese bunted him over nicely, and a pure hitter in Justin Turner strolled to the plate with a runner in scoring position, looking to at least cut the 2-0 deficit in half. He hit a single to right field, and Rob Johnson took a big turn around 3rd. It was clear he would be thrown out so Tim Teufel stopped him, at least a third of the way home, if not more. The throw came into the catcher, Carlos Ruiz, who cut it off between the mound and the plate. Turner had taken too wide a turn at 1st, thinking about going to 2nd, and the catcher threw to 1st, pegging Justin by a mile. He started the rundown, and Rob Johnson hopped back and forth, not sure where to go. I watched, as many did in the ballpark and on TV, with frustration in my eyes, wanting Johnson to take off while the Phils concerned themselves with Turner. He broke way too late for the run to score, and Turner went into 1st spraining his ankle. None of that had to occur, and I appreciate everyone being a little aggressive against a great pitcher and all, but that was one of the most frustrating plays I have witnessed all year and it cost us our back-up infielder for a few weeks, who is as clutch as anyone on the team.

I can't stress enough how awesome the home runs to tie the games were. Firstly, since Vinny Rottino had come up in the 2nd inning, I kept saying it would be awesome to see another Buffalo Bison 1st baseman smash a home run off Hamels, eluding to last September 24 when Val Pascucci hit a game-tying solo shot off the right-hander. When Vinny hit the game-tying 2-run bomb in the bottom of the 5th, I was absolutely ecstatic. Scott Hairston's was just as awesome from a game perspective, but Rottino's just felt a little more sweet for me. Hairston, however, continues to prove me wrong when it comes to putting him in the clean-up spot, and while he is not even close to the ideal 4-hitter, he could be if he keeps hitting bombs like this. he won't, though, and I'll revert back to old form when he grounds into a double play with 2 on and 1 out.

It really is a shame Bobby Parnell could not hold the tie. Yes, we suffered from having David Wright at short on what could have been a double play in the 7th (he had moved over there when Turner went down), but once again walks killed us (Bobby issued one to Hunter Pence.) I also believe Parnell made the incorrect pitch to Ty Wigginton on the 2-strike, 2-out count with Jimmy Rollins on 3rd. He had thrown fastball after fastball to Ty, and a change-up in that situation would have been ideal. Oh, well. Bobby has made such strides this year, and these kinds of outings have been rare.

Daniel Murphy was the key to the 8th inning. Andres Torres, who has been slumping, showed the hustle we got him for when he single to left-center to open the inning and turned that into a double. Kirk Nieuwenhuis grounded out to 2nd, moving Torres to 3rd. There aren't many people I would rather have up there with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out that Daniel Murphy. With the Phillies' infield in, Murph got a little over-anxious, swinging at the 1st pitch and grounding it to 2nd. Very uncharacteristic of Murph, but another sign of many signs throughout this game that it just wasn't meant to be for the Metsies.

Fantasic diving catch, though, Murph.

You know what? With the many roster moves that have to be made because of the injuries to both Ronny Cedeno and Justin Turner, including 40-man issues, I do not fault Terry for bringing Manny Acosta into a 1-run game. He has been struggling (which is an understatement), and decisions have to be made. Here's your last chance to see if you belong in the Major Leagues, Manny. And you blew it. Good luck out there in the baseball world.

The Mets aim to tie up the series tonight at 7:10PM. Jeremy Hefner tries again, facing Officer Joe Blanton. Let's get back to 6 over.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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Bye-bye, Manny.

A Dose of Power and Johan the Great

I gave Terry Collins crap before the game yesterday for the lineup he put out there against the lefty Clayton Richard, and boy, did I look foolish quickly. The Mets had their first multi-homer inning of the year in the 1st, when Scott Hairston hit a 3-run one and Vinny Rottino hit a solo shot, his first as a Major Leaguer. Johan overpowered the Padres lineup and got his first shutout since August 12, 2010, as the Mets won 9-0.

I do not like Scott Hairston in the clean-up spot. Ever. My qualm with it is that while he has a lot of power, he can also be a double-play machine. Yesterday, however, was exactly why you put him there. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Richard balked and they moved over to 2nd and 3rd, making me stop worrying in the moment about that dreadful double-play. With a 3-2 count, Clayton had to throw a strike, and Hairston took advantage. Sweetness. Later in the inning, when Rottino hit his just left of center, I was very surprised to hear it was his first Major League dinger. I figured he had been around the block, but I guess that block was in a Minor League town. Congratulations to him.

That 8th inning came out of nowhere. Firstly, I was very proud of the ovation we all gave Ike Davis when he walked up to the plate to pinch-hit. We are standing by our young 1st baseman, and while I was on the side of sending him down a few days ago, I understand the decision to let him work through the slump up here, and he has taken full advantage of it. It was a good sign to see him hit singles, but it is an even better sign to see him driving the ball the other way for a double to plate the 5th run of the game. Awesome. Secondly,  Mike Nickeas hitting a Grand Slam was an extremely surprising treat. I cannot come close to remembering the last time I saw one in person, so thank you, Mike Nickeas, for that.

Johan. Santana. What else can you say? Before any of us knew it, we were in the 8th inning and his pitch count was somewhere in the eighties. An extremely efficient day, and you see him getting more and more comfortable every start. I was extremely hopeful that Terry was going to send him back out there with such a low pitch-count, and let's face it. There was no way Johan would let anybody else pitch the 9th. I was extremely pumped to see him in the on-deck circle after Nickeas' Slam. I am looking forward to his awesomeness throughout the summer.

The Mets aim to take the series on Banner Day at 1:10PM. Our favorite Knuckleballer, RA Dickey, will face Edinson Volquez. Let's lock this one down before the Phillies come to town.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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Double-Dip Dud

It's no secret that when your starting pitching is bad and your run producers are not...well...producing runs, you are going to lose ball games. On the 50th Anniversary of the first win in franchise history, the Mets lost two ball games to their deserting ancestors, the first 1-6 and the second 2-7.

The worst of it, outside of the starting pitching and the general lack of offense from the middle of the order, might have been Ike Davis. He had as awful of a day as you could imagine, going 0-5 between the two games. Of the 20 men the Mets left on base, 11 of those were left out there by Ike. He looks as frustrated as one could look right now, and while I feel one day he will dramatically emerge from that dark tunnel, something drastic might have to be done between now and that day.

Before the first game, the Mets placed Ronny Cedeno on the DL and "taxied" in two players, infielder Jordany Valdespin and pitcher Jeremy Hefner as part of the revamped collective bargaining agreement (there are much better explanations out there about this whole "taxi squad" thing than I could ever give, so, here, read that.) After Miguel Batista gave up six runs in 3.2 innings, Hefner came in to make his Major League debut, pitching 3 innings of scoreless baseball. I figured with the way Batista has been pitching lately, he would be designated for assignment to make room for Jordany, keeping Jeremy on the roster. Valdespin, however, replaced Hefner's spot instead and the pitcher made his way back to Buffalo. I can understand valuing Batista's versatility (I have coined him "The Handyman" in the past) but the elderly statesmen has not looked good as of late, and if the results don't improve, something will have to be done.

Two quick thoughts: 

• Mike Baxter plays hard and battles, but Vinny Rottino might be a better fit for this bench.
• It was quite the anti-climatic Major League debut for Jordany Valdespin, popping up on the first pitch he saw with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 8th inning of the second game, down 5 runs. Have a little more patience next time, Jordany. You can rake it, bro.

Clearly, this is not the kind of baseball we want to be playing going into a series with a divisional rival, much less the revamped Marlins with our former shortstop gunning to beat us. Adversity can make a team stronger, and I am sure the Mets will be pumped to beat Miami, especially with Johan on the mound and with that fiery shortstop now on the other side.

Brush dem shoulders off, Metropolitans. You gotta gut some fish tomorrow.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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The Southpaw Chronicles, Pt. 3: Tigers Challenge Santana, Beat Mets 9-0; And What's THIS guy doin?

(I am a little behind on my Met games. I know the Mets just played the Braves in their St. Patty's Day best, and I will have a write-up on it sometime around Midnight.) The picture is pretty blurry, but the hat the man is wearing is a St. Patty's Mets hat. He sat right behind home plate during the Mets 0-9 loss to the Tigers yesterday. So...if you're keeping score at home...this man is such a loyal Reyes fan that he rushed to a Florida sports store or the internet or whatever, and grabbed a Marlins Reyes T-shirt. So everyone is clear, however, he tossed on the Mets hat so we know he is not dumping the Mets.........Hmmmmmm.

As readers are well aware, I am a very optimistic Mets fan, but there was such sloppy play during this game (and has been for most of the spring) that it is hard to see the light right now. I know Terry Collins, Sandy Alderson and the entire coaching staff are most likely more appalled than any of us are, so there is that.

Johan Santana started his 3rd game of the spring, and his limit was increased to 60 pitches. The second I saw that he would be taking on the Tigers I knew this would be his biggest challenge yet. And I was dead on. The Tigers worked Santana through all of his 60 pitches, and he only made it to 2 outs into the 3rd. His velocity was mostly where it has been (and sometimes his fastball hit 92) but his change-up was about 4-5 mph faster than the 78 it has been, and that led to more well-rounded swings by the Tigers.  As he got to 50 on the count, his pitches started traveling up in the zone, and this is understandable coming off of major shoulder surgery. There is naturally a lull for most pitchers during spring training as they build up their stamina, and our concerns shouldn't fall on the runs given up, but rather how he feels going forward. According to his post-game interview, his shoulder feels great. Here's to that continuing all the way through... October.

Yeah, I said it, and even with the ugly 3rd inning on the base paths by the Mets (I gotta keep up some optimism, right?) First off, Thole read Andres Torres' single incorrectly and started back to 2nd base before heading to 3rd. This loaded the bases for Murphy. He hit a ball that was traveling to the 2nd baseman when Torres crossed in front of it, knocking it away from the fielder and receiving an interference call. Everyone knows you hold up there. The run couldn't score and the Mets, as we've seen many times over the last few years, Left Men On Base. LOB and sloppy play have been the death of this team, and hopefully they are getting it out of their system in the middle of March.

Here are some other takeaways from the game:

• Thole has really improved at blocking breaking balls. He is getting in front of the ball every single time, whereas last year he would incessantly backhand the ball. He is a hard worker, and truly a player you enjoy rooting for.
• At the plate, it seems Torres will work the count. He has a good eye and will foul pitches off. Now, try not to make too many more base-running blunders. That's why we shipped Pagan outta here.
• Despite the error he made that everyone will focus on, Murphy is getting better at 2nd base. He back-handed a ball up the middle solidly early on in the game. He is also beginning to adjust on the pick-off play and the steal play, where he finally got his legs on each side of the base instead of inexplicably putting his knee down to block it as if he were a catcher (leading to his last knee injury). He also had a great pivot on a double-play ball, doing a fantastic job of getting out of the runners way on his throw to first. We need this man's bat and energy in the line-up.
• Duda. "The Lumberjack" as I have coined him. You expect the man to have a long swing, but he seems to know when to shorten it. He is a smart hitter who can go with a breaking pitch and take it the other way. He has quickly become one of my favorite players. Duda.
• Bobby Parnell had a great slider going, and was not overthrowing his fastball. Could Bobby Parnell finally be turning into a pitcher?
• The three we brought in to tighten up the bullpen (Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch and Ramon Ramirez) have not bee tight themselves lately. All have good stuff, and hopefully these are early spring woes.
• Josh Edgin, a southpaw who lit up A-ball last year, has a shot to make the team because of Byrdak's injury. He looked good in his one inning of work. He has sharp stuff, good location and a nice big stride. I'm rooting for him.
• I like this Vinny Rottino. He can hit and has good versatility. With Scott Hairston and his oblique injury up in the air, might Vinny make the bench?
• The Tigers were in their orange grays but their home caps. Weird.
• Omir. Santos. That guy.