Upcoming series an important one for Mets
Every series is an important one, but this one has a few different meanings if the Mets are able to take this series from the Yankees.
If the Mets win this series, it would mean that the Mets are at least temporarily finished with their struggles in four-game series as of late. Also, to knock the Yankees off would mean they would gain some confidence in the New York writers, something that the Mets have not been able to do recently.
Finally, it would give a much-needed boost to the record of the team, which currently sits at a disappointing 38-39, one game under .500. The bright side to this team is that they are only 3.5 games out of first, meaning there is a slight chance they could be in first place by the end of the weekend.
How would that be for a shocking twist?
Classless Mets organization fires Randolph and Co.
As today’s game approaches, I find myself scratching my head at the news I heard this morning. Willie Randolph was fired as manager of the New York Mets, along with base coach Tom Nieto and pitching coach Rick Peterson.
The decision was made by the General Manager, Omar Minaya, who was told by the Wilpons (owners) to make the decision on Randolph himself. Omar decided to fly out to California where the team was, and fire the manager face-to-face.
What I don’t understand here is that the reason the team is underachieving quite obviously stems from the decisions of the general manager. Some fault should lay with Randolph, but not a significant enough amount to end up firing him, and end up firing him without firing the general manager first. So instead of firing him themselves, they essentially told the GM that he can do what he wants, which sounds a lot to me like the GM’s job was by no means in jeopardy.
Second of all, this team fired a manager in the middle of the night? Sure, it was around 10 pm where they were, but it was 3 am where the team is from, New York. Was that the punishment to the writers for the big stir-up they started in the first place?
Third of all, I can see that the team may have thought about this for awhile and may have already made a decision before the last two games, but seeing a manager get fired after a win, and the second win in a row, is very surprising.
Finally, fourth of all, they made the manager and his coaches fly 3,000 miles to get fired? That’s disgusting.
Mets drop 2 of 3 to Arizona at Shea
Wagner ruins a great start yet again
It was a perfect day in Flushing, New York. The negativity was gone, the prized ace was dominating the game, and the Mets were actually winning. Don’t get too comfortable with that photograph you have pictured in your head.
The Mets were up 4-0 in the eighth inning after Johan Santana went seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits altogether.
Joe Smith quickly allowed two runs following Johan’s departure, but still setup a multiple-run lead for Billy Wagner. Unbelievably, Wagner blew another multiple-run save, his fifth of the season. He allowed two runs to extend the game at least to the bottom of the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets showed signs of life that you wouldn’t expect from a team who just got a save blown. With two outs and bases loaded and Carlos Delgado on first, a ground ball to the shortstop JUST beat the step of Carlos Delgado to record the out and go to extra innings. Had the Mets maybe pinch-ran for Endy Chavez in that situation, the game may have turned out differently.
Unreliable Aaron Heilman then lost the game in the tenth inning, a game that the Mets desperately needed to stop, or at least slow down, these talks of a Willie Randolph firing.
Mets forced to settle for a walk-off
With all the negativity surrounding manager Willie Randolph recently, the Mets players needed a big game to regain some positive energy.
Although Billy Wagner blew a two-run lead in the ninth, the Mets stayed in the game just long enough for Beltran to launch one to right field in the bottom of the thirteenth inning. If you watch these Mets games and you happen to look away from the TV, you know something huge happened if Gary Cohen SCREAMS "Outta here" multiple times in one play. It is an obvious sign that the Mets just hit a huge homer.
It’s too bad that Billy had to blow the best performance by young Mike Pelfrey in his life. Pelfrey went eight inning and gave up only one run in the process. It isn’t too often when you see a pitcher go eight innings, but four other pitchers end up following him in that game when they win the game.
Mets lose first of three to D-Backs
David Wright hit his twelfth home run of the year, but the Mets couldn’t hold on to win the game. Moises Alou had a two-run single in his first game back from the DL. However, the sad news is that he ended up back on the DL just days after returning.
The Mets had the lead in this one, but an hour of rain put the Mets on hold and shut down the bullpen, as Arizona went on to win, 9-5. Joe Smith and Duaner Sanchez combined for four runs.
Starting pitcher Micah Owings for the Diamondbacks, who is such a great hitter that the team uses him to pinch hit sometimes, couldn’t even finish pitch past the fifth inning. He did, however, managed to get one hit.
Mets swept out of San Diego in low-scoring games
The first three games of this series were extremely low-scoring, with a grand total of 9 runs in as many games. The final game, however, took a twist. The Mets lost, but the score was 8-6, while the rest of the games had a final score of 2-1.
In the opener, the Mets were hoping for extra innings until reliever Scott Schoeneweis pegged the winning run with bases loaded, causing a WALK-OFF HIT BATSMEN. Disgusting.
A no-decision for Mike Pelfrey looked like a definite win when he was in the game, as he went six innings and only allowed one run.
In the second game of the series, the game was a defensive one throughout. The teams finally broke silence in the sixth, when the Mets took a 1-0 lead. The Padres answered back with two runs of their own to take the lead and never looked back.
AGAIN, the Mets took a 1-0 lead in the following game, then blew it AGAIN with another walk-off. Pedro Feliciano was the one to point the finger at in this game, as he gave up a walk-off homer to Scott Hairston.
In the final game, both team’s bats came alive, but the Mets again fell on the losing side. And yes, the Mets did take an early lead AGAIN. They scored three runs in the top of the first, but you’ll neevverr guess what the Padres did after that. Answered back with three runs of their own.
Billy Wagner then blew his third save of the season when he had a two-run lead to work with. He allowed four runs in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Mets’ offense little time for a comeback.
SF Giants threaten late, but Mets come out victorious
The Mets took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, winning 5-3.
Hitting from the left side, Carlos Beltran hit a two-run double in the first inning, while Jose Reyes had three hits including a home run in the fourth. Carlos Delgado had two hits to bring his average up to .232, but other sluggers such as David Wright went 0-4 on the day.
John Maine pitched a solid six innings, allowing only two runs and seven hits. Duaner Sanchez pitched two innings, but just had to gave up a run. Billy Wagner notched his thirteenth save of the season, giving up only one hit. His ERA currently sits at an unbelievable .36.
Not often do you see the Mets lose when Reyes does well, and this was a perfect example. When Reyes plays well, you will know for sure the Mets will win. Not only did he have three hits, including a double and a home run, but he also had a stolen base.
Pedro, Mets come out on top vs. San Fran
With the game tied at 1 in what had been a pitchers duel throughout, the Mets put up eight runs in the top of the fifth, as Pedro Martinez recorded his first victory of the season.
You’d thing an eight running inning would be able to seal the deal quite easily, but that’s not how it ended up. The Giants scored two runs in the bottom of that same inning, then threatened with three more in the bottom of the ninth before they ran out of outs.
Barry Zito fell to 1-9 for the Giants. In a rare occasion, the Mets won while Jose Reyes performed badly, going 0-5 on the night. It’s almost certainly a loss for this team when Reyes does bad.
Damion Easley filled in for the not-so-durable Luis Castillo, who has been taking days off due to his sore knee. Castillo said it would eventually return to it’s normal self, but that has not been the case.
Mets blown out by Giants in opener
It wasn’t really the entire team that was blown out in the opening game of a three-game series in San Francisco. It really was Oliver Perez.
A pitcher who can, at times, pitch lights out in clutch games such as game 7 of an NLCS, but can’t even finish half of an inning other times, lasted only 1/3 of an inning, while getting charged with six runs. Claudio Vargas was magnificent in sudden relief, allowing no runs while pitching all the way into the fifth inning.
The six-run first inning all but shot down any inkling that the Mets would come back in this game. The offense did manage to score two runs in the early innings, but the bats were essentially dead before they even tried to wake up.
The only offense consisted of Carlos Delgado’s eighth double of the year, RBIs by Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo, and some other scattered singles. Nobody even had more than one hit.