This. Is. Pitiful.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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Well, THAT was Stupid.

I should be fine with 3 out of 4 from the Dodgers, and 4 out of 5 in general. I really should. I even gave myself 18 hours to let the grossness of that loss dissipate. But it lingers. That 8-3 loss lingers. And thank god we all have a day off to recharge our fandom as the players recharge themselves.

They play such crisp baseball behind RA and Johan. You just wished it would transfer over to the other starters more often than it does. And if Ronny Cedeno is there for his right-handed bat and his defense, why is he swinging at the 1st pitch against Clayton? And why is he bobbling the force-out? It's funny that Daniel Murphy, who has been red-hot with the bat, also turned some fantastic double-plays with Ruben the last few games. They've been looking real in sync. And here's this guy (who, if DFA'd, I could care less), bobblin' the ball and helping to hand that game over to the Dodgers. And if the Mets are indeed buyers at the deadline, how 'bout we get a real back-up catcher who might hit but can CERTAINLY play defense. I have never been wowed by Mike Nickeas' defense, which is essentially what he's here for. Also, I appreciate everybody being aggressive on the basepaths against a pitcher like that, but don't be stupid. "Hey, Clayton? Would you like 2 outs in the 1st inning? Here you go." The bad defense, bonehead plays and the bad bullpen are the difference between being 6 games over, 3.5 games back and a cute 1st half story, to being 15 games over, in 1st place and an AMAZIN' 1st half story. I hope they take off in the 2nd half like we all know they can.

I hate it when teams play who can screw up the least.

Props to Dee Gordon, however, for bouncing back from that early inning debacle.

Big games between the last place Phils and the last place Cubs. They looked exhausted as far back as the 1st 2 games of the Cubs series, so I'm glad this day off was scheduled to let everybody recharge before making sure they win these last 2 series, if not sweep at least 1 of them.

Tomorrow night at 7:10PM, Jon Niese welcomes the just swept Phillies into town. Vance Worley will take the mound for the Phils.

Come on home and dominate, Metsies.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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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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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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Dance, Knuckleball, Dance.

RA Dickey wasn't sure whether he would get his 6th win of the season when Terry Collins pinch hit for him in the top of the 8th. The Mets, however, were able to pick him up with some timely hitting, sending themselves to their hotels with a 3-2 W.

The ball was dancing out of the knuckleballer's hands all night, and outside of a few times of solid contact The Pirates mostly failed to do so, leading to RA's career-high 11 strikeouts. The knuckleball was a beautiful thing to watch yesterday evening.

Mike Nickeas cannot hit for the most part. He seems to, however, have a knack for waiting on breaking pitches and going with them while a runner is in scoring position. You have to give him credit where credit is due. He has also caught RA solidly since Josh Thole went down, and easing into the role of knuckleball backstop is no easy feat. Overall, he has done a solid job since Thole got injured. I can't wait, however, for Josh to arrive from the Port. He has made strides behind that plate, and his bat keeps the lineup more potent close to the bottom.

On a evening where David Wright was off at the plate (0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts, 3 left on base), Lucas Duda did a fantastic job picking his Captain up with an RBI single through the hole between 1st and 2nd, off the glove of the diving 1st baseman. Wright had just struck out, and Lucas came up with 2 on and 2 out. Big time hit by The Duda. Glad we got that extra run as well on Daniel Murphy's grounder that got booted by Pedro Alvarez.

How awesome can Tim Byrdak be? Night after night, he keeps getting his 1 batter. After a double off Jon Rauch in the bottom of the inning, it looked as if we might get out of it unscathed when Murph tried to make the over the shoulder grab off Andrew McCutchen's blooper. It was just too much of a Willie Mays play for the young 2nd baseman to handle, however, and he gave that 1 run right back. In came Byrdak to face the lefty Pedro Alvarez, and man, I loved his pitching sequence. By the end of it, Alvarez was expecting that down and outside slider, but Byrdak flung a upstairs fastball and Pedro swung right through it. Awesome.

Glad to see Frank Francisco back on the upswing. Well-pitched 9th, albeit against the weakest hitting team in baseball. But hey, they burned us the night before so let's give credit where credit is due to Frankie. Keep up the good work.

The Mets look to take the series today at 12:35PM. Jon Niese will take on Charlie Morton. Let's come home series winners, Metsies.

LET'S. GO. METS.


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An Amazin' Home Run to Walk In On

Last night, I sat at work listening to Jon Niese give the Phillies an early 2-0 lead, and against Roy Halladay no less. I chatted with my co-worker while the Mets in the background went down inning after inning to that frustratingly great pitcher. Though Niese settled down, I figured we were on our way to getting shut out by one of pitching's finest. Nothing to fret about. Happens to the best of them.

Then Andres Torres walked with 2 out in the 6th.

Then Cap'n Kirk got a hit.

And all of a sudden, Howie Rose enthusiastically described David Wright's double down the line, plating both Torres and Kirk to tie the game at 2. In the midst of whatever us workers were talking about, I stopped and opened my ears wide, pleasantly surprised to hear of the tie score. This team, however, battles so much that the surprised feeling is most certainly fading.

The overtime at my office provides us a car ride home, and this time we had 4 people in the same vehicle, leading to an extra-long journey through Queens. We first dropped off somebody in Long Island City, around the time Bobby Parnell was getting in and out of a 7th inning jam with a blatant Shane Victorino interference call at 2nd base, giving us a huge double-play to send us into the 8th. We dropped somebody off in Sunnyside around the time Lucas Duda was grounding into his own inning-ending double play. As we headed to Jackson Heights, another Phillie rally was brewing, with Parnell getting tied up on a weak grounder in front of the mound, doing a split and falling on his backside. After a sacrifice bunt by Placido Polanco, moving two runners over to 2nd and 3rd, I listened as Howie described to me a comebacker to Parnell, who threw to Josh Thole to tag out old friend Ty Wigginton. Wigginton's shoulder, Howie described, hit Josh's head hard and he laid out across home plate. Thole was taken out for concussion testing and Mike Nickeas entered the game. We turned onto Roosevelt Avenue under the 7 train as Tim Byrdak came in to pitch. I pumped my fist as Byrdak struck out Erik Kratz (who?) to end the threat, and we got out from under the elevated to drop off the last co-worker of the evening.

We headed to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway as Daniel Murphy fought off Jonathan Papelbon only to strike out after the umpteenth pitch. Ike Davis drew a fantastic walk but Justin Turner struck out as well. Up strolled recently inserted Nickeas. He fought off some pitches and then turned on one, sending it into left field for a double as the car pulled up to my building, with Ike Davis stopping at 3rd. I ran inside, turned on the TV, and the wide-shot of the baseball diamond was a welcome sight to my eyes. Ten seconds after the unit was ignited, the rookie Jordany Valdespin crushed a low-hanging breaking pitch into the right-field stands (his first Major League hit), giving Gary Cohen quite the play to call, and leading the Mets to as big a 5-2 win as you can have in May.

What an amazin' home run to walk in on.

And all 5 runs were scored with 2 out. Awesomeness incarnate.

The Mets continue their series against the Phillies tonight at 7:05PM, sending "The Handyman" Miguel Batista out to face "Officer" Joe Blanton.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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A 1-run Win from the Opposite End of the Seating Chart

Yesterday, on a whim, I woke up, stretched, and said to myself, “I want a Tom Seaver Bobblehead today.” After doing a little writing, I threw my Mets gear on and headed to the Citi for what turned out to be a fantastic 4-3 win by our Metropolitans, giving Johan Santana the first W next to his name since September 2010.

 

Of course, when you look at this game, the first things that pop out at you are Johan Santana gritting it out for a 7-inning, 3 run day, and Daniel Murphy going 4-4 at the plate. Then there is Andres Torres, who has an RBI in every game he has played in since arriving back with the team, including 2 yesterday. And of course, Cap’n Kirk Nieuwenhuis keeps doing exactly what we need for wins, getting on base 3 times and tapping home once. The man who got the scoring started, however, is Mike Nickeas, who plated Murphy and Justin Turner on a single in the 4^th inning. I mark this as the turning point of the game. The Diamondbacks have a 1-run lead. The bases are loaded with 1-out and the bottom end of our line-up is on its way to the plate. The Dbacks, I am sure, are very confident they can get out of this unscathed. Nickeas had been hitting .188 in his limited playing time, and was made to look foolish swinging at 2 change-ups in a row to start the at-bat. He took a fastball inside, and then turned on an offspeed pitch outside, lining a single the other way into right field. With that the Mets had a lead the would not relinquish. I give him a lot of credit for adjusting and putting a great swing on the ball, and maybe, just maybe, this is a turning point for him up at the plate.

 

What a breath of fresh air it was to see the bullpen finally lock one down for Johan. Bobby Parnell has really turned the corner, and it is so much fun to watch him pitch. Frank Francisco had a great bounce-back game, and after a tiny scare with a runner on 2nd and Justin Upton at the plate with 2 out, what a thrill for myself and the rest of the crowd to see the slugger swing and miss to end the game.

 

Also, I want to correct something I said yesterday. It might look to a fan like me that Ike Davis didn't put much effort into the play where he failed to grab the grounder, resulting in a loss on friday, but this is a really hard game to play. After reading his explanation (and taking ownership of the loss) I decided that I am in no position to say whether or not the full effort was there. Had he made the play, it would have been because he's really, really good at baseball, and did something most of us cannot do, which is consistently grab a baseball coming at you really fast and slicing and curving and what not all different kinds of ways. And he makes those plays 9 times out of 10 (and really 99 times out of 100.)

 

RA Dickey and the Mets will try to take series today at 1:10PM against the right-hander Trevor Cahill. Let's miss some bats, Robert Allen.

 

LET'S. GO. METS.

 

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