Mets Fans Forever

Video: Kid Falls Over Home Run Fence

Author: Will Sommer (owner)

Quite a fall their. Glad he's all right. Good job Pelfrey for being aware and helping him.

Mets Win 6-3 Back in First

Author: Will Hernandez

The New York Mets (74-60) beat the Philadelphia Phillies (73-60) 6-3 Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Ballpark.

Two months ago, it was very hard for Mets fans to believe Carlos Delgado would eventually snap out of his long funk. He was booed every at-bat. Talk radio was crucifying him. And fans wanted to know why Mike Carp wasn’t with the big club. But Delgado resurrected his season and perhaps his career with a nine RBI-game against the Yankees at The Stadium in late June. The turnaround has been so surprising, picking up his option for next year doesn’t seem do far fetched.

Delgado was a big reason why the Mets are back in first place. As the rest of the lineup struggled against Kyle Kendrick, the first baseman drove in the Mets first three runs, including two solo homers, the latter of which tied the game 3-3 in the eighth inning.

A lot of Mets fans have visions of Mark Teixeira playing first base at Citi Field. But with the way the rotation is shaking out for next year, the Mets would be better off trying to after a pitcher like C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets or any other impact pitchers on the free agent market. The Mets should gamble and pick up Delgado’s option. He deserves it at this point.

I know I was one of the few people who believe Delgado would eventually figure it out. Veterans make adjustments and figure things out. Plus, his on-field and clubhouse presence can’t be denied. Though I believe he led the players’ charge against Willie Randolph, Delgado is quick to offer words of encouragement to a pitcher on the mound and undoubtedly has a presence in the clubhouse, though we may not often hear from him.

No one expected Daniel Murphy to hit .400 for the rest of the season. The league has started to figure him, but he seems like someone who will not stay in a slump very long and he broke out of a 0-for-16 funk in a big way Wednesday. Facing Brad Lidge in the top of the eight inning, Murphy snapped a 3-3 tie with an RBI double down the right field line to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Then, Brian Schneider dumped a bloop single over the head of third baseman Pedro Feliz. The bloop plated Ryan Church and Murphy to make it 6-3.

Johan Santana did what he needed to do in this game. He labored through six innings, allowing three runs, all earned, on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks. He allowed home runs to Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth. Had Santana had more run support in this game, no doubt he would have came away with the win. He should easily have 17 wins right now and that’s probably got to be frustrating for him right now.

The Mets bullpen did the job tonight as Brian Stokes, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith and Luis Ayala pitched three scoreless innings. Ayala picked up his second save of the season.

The Mets have proven over and over again they can come back after devastating losses. And the Mets have had some bad losses. Terrible ones, actually, but they’ve always found a way to come back. You can’t say that enough. But the Mets have to stay focused now. They play a struggling Marlins team this weekend while the Phils are on the road against the Cubs. Then the Mets go to Milwaukee for three tough games against the wild card leaders. Mets need to go at least 4-2 over the next six games.

Before I go, let’s talk about the Mets third baseman for a second. David Wright has done a fantastic job at third base this year. He caught a lot of heat last year when he won the Gold Glove despite committing 21 errors with a .954 fielding percentage. So far this year, he has 13 errors and a .963 fielding percentage. Wright still has some problems throwing to first base, but he does a great job of making the fantastic play look easy.

Roster Moves

Author: Will Sommer (owner)

The Mets have put Ramon Castro on the fifteen day DL with a hamstring pull, and have promoted Robinson Cancel to take his place.

Also the Mets have demoted Argenis Reyes to make room for Nelson Figueroa who will be the long man in the bullpen.

Well, see you in a week Argenis, and Ramon what is it with you continuing to get hurt in August and September. Let us hope that it's nothing serious. But every Met fan knows that we won't see you until the last week of the season.

Santana Must Go The Distance Tonight

Author: Will Sommer (owner)

As we all know by now the Mets had a brutal loss last night against the Phillies. They blew a 7-0 lead, and lost 8-7 in thirteen innings (surprise! Mets bullpen blew it) because of that loss they are a half game back of the Phillies. If they lose tonight they are a game and a half back of the Phillies which no Met fans want.

The only difference between last night and tonight is that the Mets have a pitcher named Johan Santana, who has thrown 16 scoreless innings. First it was the complete game shutout against the Pirates, then it was the 7 inning no run start against the Astros. Ever since the All-Star break Mr. Santana has been money. The Mets need him to be golden tonight. The Mets bullpen is horrendous, they blew another game last night (with the exception of Aaron Heilman, who was fantastic) and to make matters worse they are all tired. No one trusts the Mets bullpen period even when they're not fatigued. So Mr. Santana, I know the met offense doesn't score any runs after the second inning, but if they give you two, or three runs hopefully more do you think you can go the distance by going all nine, so no Met fan has to turn pale when the bullpen comes in. (Side Note: Pedro Feliciano how hard is it to get a right handed batter out? You're aging every Met fan 10 years when your entering a game, you're that bad) Again, Johan go nine you've been lights out, no one can touch you, so keep it going. I'm not asking for a shut out, all I'm asking is for you to have a complete game while only giving up 2-4 runs. Also it would be nice if Santana hit Jimmy Rollins with a fastball, I hate that man.

Mets Lose 7-6

Author: Will Hernandez

The New York Mets (73-60) lost their slim grip on first place Tuesday with an 8-7 loss in 13 innings to the Philadelphia Phillies (73-59) at Citizen’s Bank Ballpark.

On Monday, I wrote a blog post on my site about the things that could prevent the Mets from reaching the postseason. All those things happened tonight and now the Mets are one half game behind the Phillies in the NL East.

The Mets wasted a lot of good performances tonight. Damian Easley finished a double short of the cycle with two RBI. Aaron Heilman gave a gutty, gritty performance with three innings of scoreless relief. But a leadoff triple by Shane Victorino in the bottom of the 13^th inning sealed the Mets fate. Victorino hit a line drive down the right field line off Scott Schoeneweis, the eighth Mets pitcher of the night. Why Carlos Delgado was not playing on the line is anyone’s guess, but it cost the Mets in that situation. The Mets were forced to intentionally walk the next two batters and Schoeneweis got an easy strikeout on pinch hitter Brett Myers. But with the outfield playing shallow, Chris Coste easily hit a game-winning single over the head of Carlos Beltran.

One thing we’ve seen the Mets do well this season is build a big lead, then stand still as the other team creeps back into the game and eventually wins. As Gary Cohen said tonight, this game was all you need to know about the Mets season.

This year’s version of the Mets is much like what we saw in 2006: this team scores early and often. But the big difference this year is that the Mets are not adding on to their lead in the latter innings and putting their fate in the hands of a shaky bullpen. The Mets had a great chance to knock out the ageless Jamie Moyer in the first inning. Sure the Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but they should have scored more. Jose Reyes hit his fourth first-inning triple this year to start the game and scored on a Damien Easley single. Fernando Tatis also hit an RBI single that scored Easley, but Ryan Church popped out to Moyer for the second out, followed by Ramon Castro’s groundout.

The key out in the inning involved Carlos Beltran, who flied out to left for the first out of the inning. Beltran looked frustrated throughout the at-bat as he didn’t agree a couple of calls by the home plate umpire. But the 2-1 offering from Moyer  was a good pitch that Beltran  did nothing with.

Pedro Martinez almost let this game get away from him in the bottom of the fifth as the Phillies hit two, two-run homer to cut the Mets lead to 7-5. Jimmy Rollins broke out of his slump in a big way Tuesday, including the first two-run homer of the inning. Ryan Howard  hit a two-run homer three batters later and essentially finished Martinez’s night. Martinez  was somewhat cruising until that fifth inning and finished the game with a season-high eight strikeouts. He threw too many pitches early and tired as quickly. Never a good combination. Martinez allowed five runs, all earned, on seven hits with two walks.

Gary Cohen was on target in the ninth: Luis Ayala found a pennant race and the pennant race found Luis Ayala in the ninth inning. After retiring the first two batters, Ayala allowed a single to Jayson Werth, who then scored on a double to the gap by pinch hitter Eric Bruntlett. Damian Easley’s relay throw almost got Werth at the plate, but the ball skipped under Brian Schneider’s mitt. The run tied the game 7-7 and the Mets had their 10^th blown save of the season.

Well, that was some game tonight, with the Mets coming up on the wrong end. They just have to put their heads down and win tomorrow with Johan Santana on the mound. The Mets have had bad losses like this before and they’ve always been able to bounce back. I expect nothing different on Wednesday. A couple of notes from tonight: David Wright  became the first player in Mets history to have four straight 100-RBI seasons. His groundout in the fourth accomplished the feat …How Carlos Delgado made that pick up in extra innings is beyond comprehension . . . There were more than 400 pitches thrown tonight.

Luis Castillo Do Not Come Back?

Author: Will Sommer (owner)

As you all have heard Luis Castillo was supposed to come off the DL before yesterday's game, but ended staying put on the injury shelf. He basically said he didn't want to mess with a winning team. Jerry Manuel said Castillo would come off the DL before September 1, which would mean the Mets would have to demote someone to AAA. I'm not sure why everyone is saying "don't remove Castillo from the DL Argenis Reyes, and Nick Evans deserve to stay put in the majors." Well people I don't like Castillo, I don't want him at 2B, I don't want him on the Mets, but if he's removed from the DL in the upcoming days, Evans, or Reyes will only be in the minors for a couple of days. Six games at the most because it looks like the New Orleans Zephyrs won't make the playoffs and their season ends September 1st. The Mets are a good enough team that they don't need Evans, or Reyes for less than a week. As much as I dislike Castillo he's making $25 million he should at least try to earn that money. Now during the off-season do I want Castillo gone? That's a different topic for the winter.

Bottom line September 1st is right around the corner it wouldn't hurt having Castillo for the last week of August even if it means getting rid of Evans, or A. Reyes for less than a week.

The Olympics

Author: Clare Lafferty

As I sat and watched beach volleyball and judo at the Olympics this week, a TV announcer mentioned that the US Baseball team had won a game with our own Brandon Knight pitching. I thought that Knight was fine when he came up in that emergency start a few weeks ago.

      It got me thinking – how many players associated with the Mets have played in the Olympic baseball tournament? I did some digging and here are the names that I found : Michael Tucker, Kris Benson, Braden Looper, Mike Kinkade and Doug Mientkiewicz. And the manager of this year’s team is our own Davey Johnson.

      I know that they are not having baseball in the next Olympics. I hope that it does return eventually. As we know, people play baseball worldwide and it is a popular sport in many nations. Does anyone know if Michael Phelps is interested in trading the pool for the diamond?

Al Reyes the Newest Met

Author: Will Sommer (owner)

According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post the Mets have signed 38 year old RHP Al Reyes who has a 4.37 ERA in 22.2 inning this years with the Rays. Reyes was the closer last year for the Rays so I suspect he'll get his chances to save some games with the Mets. Good signing for the Mets. Hopefully he can improve this bullpen.

Update: Reyes will be sent to the minors for conditioning since he has not pitched since Aug.5

Some Bad Injury News

Author: Will Sommer (owner)

Billy Wagner was examined today in New York by team doctors, and he continues to have pain in his elbow. Here is the Mets statement:

Billy Wagner was re-evaluated today at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery. He continues to have swelling and pain in his elbow. He will need additional rest before he can resume throwing.

This is not good news. Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus wrote that this is a big setback for Wagner and that he may require season ending surgery. " It was a big setback for Wagner, and one that could end his season. Instead of forearm stiffness, he has an elbow issue"

Even if Wagner comes back in September, and that's a big if the Mets have to act like he's not coming back. The bullpen is doing a horrendous job as of right now. At this point you have to hope that the Mets have a huge offensive night because I don't think anybody in New York trusts anyone in the Mets bullpen to close games. Should the Mets recall Kunz again? I say why not, as long as Jerry Manuel puts him in games more often, and maybe when the game is on the line & see how he does. But if I were Omar Minaya I would be on the phone right now with the Colorado Rockies, and seeing if Brian Fuentes is available, and can clear waivers. Fuentes would be a huge addition to the bullpen, and can obviously be their closer. He's only blown four saves this year, and has a 3.02 ERA. I'll say it again Fuentes would be a HUGE  addition to a struggling Mets bullpen. I know it's an outside shot, but people were saying Favre to New York was a long shot, and looked what happened.