2011 New York Mets Season Ends Jose Reyes Wins Controversial Batting Title
Posted by admin in Jose Reyes, New York Mets on September 29th, 2011
The 2011 New York Mets baseball season came to an end with one of the oldest pitcher’s in the game Miguel Batista shutting out the Cincinnati Reds 3-0. Its was an impressive 2 hit, 5 strikeout performance for the pitcher who turned back the clocks for the final game at CitiField in 2011.
The Mets finished the 2011 season 77-85 which is a rather disappointment for what will be a transition period for the Mets as Carlos Beltran is gone and Jose Reyes will likely find a new home as a free agent.
Speaking of Jose Reyes, he won the batting title for the first time in the Mets history, an amazing accomplishment edging out MVP seasons from Matt Kemp and Ryan Braun. However, no player in the history of baseball has ever received more slack for winning a batting title than Jose Reyes. Some say his classless act on the final day of the season was selfish and made his personality flaws more apparent. After leading off the game with a bunt single, the Mets manager immediately put in a pinch runner for Jose Reyes effectively taking him out of the game so that he may stay pat on his seemingly comfortable batting title lead over Ryan Braun. By going 1 for 1, Jose Reyes made it so the Brewers Ryan Braun would have to go 3 for 4 or better to overtake Reyes in the batting average percentages. Reyes said afterwards it was his idea, and he told his manager before the game to pull him out of the game if he got a hit in his first at bat.
The greatest hitter of all time, Ted Williams was the last to bat .400. On the final day the Red Sox had a double header, and Williams had a batting average a fraction of a percent under .400, a number which would be rounded up to .400. Ted Williams was given the option to sit out the double header, but he wanted to play because he is a competitive ballplayer and realized that if he was going to be a .400 hitter he was going to do so because he made it happen on the field. The beauty of this story is that he went 6 for 8, and finished the season with a .406 batting average which is something incredible and may take a very long time to match. The Jose Reyes incident happened on the anniversary day of Ted Williams .400 season.
Personally, I am happy Jose Reyes got the batting title award. He has had an up and down time with the Mets. A cornerstone of a generation of Mets teams that had a couple of good runs, but more often than not came up short of being spectacular and were often overshadowed by the Phillies and Braves in the division. Often injured, when in the game he was often the best player on the field and extremely exciting to watch play. Jose Reyes had a great smile and his playful personality made him popular to his teammates and to fans who he interacted with in a great way at home and on the road. Overall, Jose Reyes had many great memorable moments for Mets fans but injuries over the past few years really hurt the Mets chances of success.
I am giving him a ‘pass’ on this icky situation with respect to the batting title. I kinda understand why he did it, he is competitive in his own way and with the Mets out of contention he has been focused on winning the batting title for sometime. He earned the right to be in the drivers seat going into the last day by taking a couple percentage points lead the night before. He chose to sit on that lead if he could increase it by a small amount with a hit, therefore forcing Braun to have a difficult to achieve multi-hit performance. From a team perspective this was certainly a weak move by Jose Reyes, but seeing the Mets had little to play for except for the fans in attendance on the last day of the season it should not be considered to be over the top egregious. Especially considering those fans were lucky to see him at all, because during his stint with the Mets there were seemingly hundreds of games fans would not get to see him at all due to his hamstring, calf etc. Reyes did earn his spot in the record books wearing a Mets uniform, something Mets fans will appreciate overtime once the initial shock of the move wears off.
The Mets off-season should be interesting, and no doubt entertaining with issues and news about to be created throughout all levels of the organization. Best of luck in the off-season and here’s hoping the Mets 2012 opening day roster is something to get excited about all over again.
Mets 2011 Season Nearly Over
Posted by admin in Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis Mets 1st Baseman, Johan Santana, K-Rod, New York Mets on September 8th, 2011
As the leaves begin to change color and kids go back to school, the New York Mets 2011 season is just about over.
The year was similar to 2010, in which early in the season the Mets outplayed expectations but fell apart right after the All Star Break. 2011 was no different as Jose Reyes and resurgent Carlos Beltran got the Mets off to a fairly good start and kept them within striking distance of a wild-card birth during the first half of the season. Then it all slowly went downhill, Reyes got injured and re-injured, Beltran and K-Rod were traded away, Ike Davis hurt his foot and was out for most of the season. Still no sign of Johan Santana, but he is supposed to make a couple starts before the season ends.
No 90 win team. No playoffs. Nope, another year of watching the Phillies and Yankees tear-up the playoffs, while Mets fans ask themselves the same questions over and over. When will this change?
Hopefully, 2012!
New York Mets Win Baseball Game by HBP
Posted by admin in David Wright, Dillon Gee, Jason Bay, Jose Reyes, Justin Turner on June 23rd, 2011
The exciting extra inning game against the Oakland Athletics in which the bases were loaded, with two outs and the New York Mets batting in the bottom of the thirteenth inning something really special happened…
The A’s had chosen to intentionally walk Jose Reyes to load the bases and put all the pressure on the Mets batter Justin Turner who would be facing a situation in which there was two out, bases loaded, tie game, bottom of the inning walk-off potential, extra inning game, at home in front of 38,000 screaming New York fans, and then…Justin Turner got hit by a pitch, a HBP, essentially walking to first and ‘batting in’ the game winning run. A walk-off…. no a hit-by-pitch-off game ending shocking and unusual ending to a game. Crazy, and the 36-38 New York Mets are remaining around .500 meaning they are in the wild card picture still. Several new New York Met players have really stepped up including Justin Turner and pitcher Dillon Gee. The first 10 starts for Gee were VICTORIES for the Mets, an awesome accomplishment. Gee is the real deal.
Jose Reyes is possibly, and in many many people’s minds, the best player on the planet right now. This is because he is leading the league in batting average, and doing so with top numbers in runs scored and stolen bases. Plenty of doubles and a boat load of triples makes Jose Reyes one of the most electrifying players in baseball.
Jose Reyes might be gone soon. Whether it is at the trade deadline, or more likely after the season, Jose Reyes is gonna cash in on his skills and the Mets might be outbid for his future services. Mets fans have to accept this, because it is the likely scenario. It makes me sad, obviously he is such a fun personality and an awesome talent. I wish we find a way to keep Jose Reyes in a Mets uniform for many, many years. I sure hope so.
David Wright has been injured for some time with a broken back, Jason Bay is working through an extremely extended slump in which he forgot how to hit home runs, and Ike Davis is hopefully going to stay healthy for the rest of the season. K-Rod is locking it down in the Mets bullpen, while in general our pitching has been fairly good and our overall defense has been solid. The Mets have a pretty good looking lineup when they get Wright and Davis back and will be capable of scoring 10 runs in a game once in awhile.
The Bottom Line is this. This game tonight is the start of a nice run of games for the Mets in which they blast past .500 and start sweeping some serious series. Let’s Go Mets!
Mets April Monthly Report
Posted by admin in April 2011 Report, Monthly Report on April 24th, 2011
The Mets month of April has pretty much been a feeling things out period for the team which has lots of new parts. New management, new coach, new players and new legal issues have made for a very highly watched soap opera unfold in Queens, New York New York.
Well as far as Mets Mets sees it, the Mets have made strides, at least when playing bad teams like Arizona. For the most part there offense has been respectable, but the glaring weakness is the Mets pitching which just doesn’t stack up well without Johan Santana. With Johan recovering from surgery and out for several more months, the Mets need to lessen the number of runs on average they give up each day.
The Mets are at this moment 8-13, and in the midst of a three game winning streak. This is obviously not the start they were hoping for, but it is not all that bad considering if they use this momentum they have going right now they could be close to .500 by the end of April.
The bright spots in the month of April for the New York Mets baseball team:
Ike Davis, who managed to deliver many clutch hits and leads the team in RBI’s with 17. To begin the season, Ike Davis had at least one RBI in 9 out of the team’s first 10 games… a new Mets record!
Players still look silly swinging against the knuckler thrown by R.A. Dickey.
K-Rod is locking down games for the Mets, but in general the bullpen has not been a strength.
Jose Reyes is healthy and scoring runs, leads the team with 16 runs scored and 8 stolen bases.
Carlos Beltran is playing well, though his 0 stolen base attempts shows the focus to keep him healthy.
Jason Bay has only played a few games, but has shown flashes of power.
The not so bright spots.
Angel Pagan broke out last year, but his 2011 statistics are nothing near his 2010 numbers.
The Mets pitcher with the lowest WHIP is Niese, but his WHIP is at a very high 1.57. ERA is led by Dickey’s 4.10, but that is nothing special.
Atlanta, Florida, Washington and Philadelphia are all ahead of the Mets. The bottom line is this team needs to win games. Most experts have the National League East set as the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia will be fighting it out for the top spot in the division, and the other three will be battling it out for a distant third place finish in the division.
I don’t necessarily agree with that assessment, I wouldn’t be suprised if one – or two – of the bottom three end up mixing it up with the predicted division winners Philadelphia or Atlanta. I think the Mets, if they can improve some and get Johan Santana back at some point, the Mets could keep themselves in the picture.
2011 New York Mets Predictions
Posted by admin in New York Mets on April 11th, 2011
Let’s Go Mets in 2011 and with that spirit I give you my 2011 New York Mets predictions.
First off, the 2011 NY Mets are under new management and a new coaching staff. This is good news. The ownership is still the same, though the financial situation of the ownership is certainly not. These are obvious pluses and minuses going into the season. Gotta love new management and the coaching change is certainly welcome. The trouble the owner Wilpon is in is the predominant question in the air surrounding the team. In my mind the Dodgers owner situation, pending legal preceding determining percentage ownership of the team with his ex, pails in comparison to the whole Bernie Madoff victims lawsuit situation the Mets owner finds himself in. The fact is he is one of the few people who actually profited from the scheme, and though he definitely could have been oblivious to the whole thing, the fact remains the people who lost money have hired expensive lawyers to get back some of what they lost from anyone who profited. Hopefully, these off the field distractions will not make a difference on the field, but really that is just being hopeful, because in this day and age the questions surrounding the uncertainty of the team’s future are going to be ever-present.
Secondly, the product on the field for the 2011 New York Mets is much improved potentially and hopefully much healthier. Carlos Beltran is back, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez is gone, enough said for most Mets fans. Disappointingly, Johan Santana is going to be out most or all of the season following arm surgery. David Wright looks ready to go and Ike Davis has had some experience now so he should improve upon his middle-of-the-lineup bat that will be vital for RBI’s. Jose Reyes is in a contract year so I doubt he will get hurt this year so expect big numbers from him once he gets going. The pitching staff has some guys looking for bounce back years and a few surprises from last year. It should be enough to keep us in games and could really be pretty good if Johan Santana comes back and everyone drops a spot in the rotation. Our bullpen has to be our surprise strength this year because for us to compete, we can not be blowing up in the bullpen like we did last night against the Washington Nationals.
Lastly, our competition this year is very, very good. A lot of people have been quietly talking about the Florida Marlins this year as a sleeper. The Washington Nationals could be slightly improved, but will still have trouble against every other team in the division. The Atlanta Braves are a popular pick with their solid lineup and above average pitching. Finally, the Philadelphia Phillies have what some have deemed the best starting rotation in history…please they have Joe Blanton in that rotation. However, if none of their arms fall off this season their top four pitchers are insanely talented and have at one point in their career been the best pitcher in baseball. By pure talent alone I would rank the teams: Phillies, Braves, Mets, Marlins and Nationals. I think that is a fair evaluation, but the gap between the Mets, Marlins and Nationals is a lot closer than the gap between the Braves and Mets…or so the ‘so-called experts’ would like you to believe. I dunno, I hope the Mets obviously win the division, catch lightning in a bottle and just click on all cylinders.
With all that said, I feel the mets who are right this second, 4 wins and 5 losses and currently in a tied ballgame, 4-4, against the Colorado Rockies in the top of the 8th inning could be potentially a surprise team. We can win some close games and get timely hitting all season long – we are way overdue for this – and get some better than expected pitching all season long and win 90 games, make the playoffs and it would be a great season. I hope my 2011 New York Mets prediction of 90 wins and 72 losses is right on the money, but we have to be clicking on all cylinders to make this happen. Let’s Go Mets!.
Petition to Sell the Mets
Posted by admin in Petition to Sell the Mets on March 5th, 2011
We fans of the New York Mets might not be the most successful fans, as only two championships can attest to in a 50 year history while our fellow city dwellers piled them up, but we always brought the passion through thick and thin.
It is really an embarrassing time to be part of the Mets organization, no matter how you look at it this whole Bernie Madoff mess is shameful.
Regardless if the Mets ownership knew or did not know about the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme that cost investors 50 billion of dollars, many losing their entire life fortune, but the sad fact is that while $50,000,000,000 was lost the Mets were connected with dozens of accounts that profited serious money. To add insult to injury, the reality is that the Mets seemed to have been pushing the envelope too much when it comes to the money needed to run the team.
There is real pressure for the owners to sell the majority share of the team, though they contend to want to only sell a minority stake in order to raise money.
In a day and age when the New Jersey Nets owner is a billionaire and Donald Trump is rumored to be interested in owning the team, it seems that real money needed to compete against our cross-town rivals for championships this century is out there in someone’s bank account.
Thank you Wilpon’s for guiding our team for many decades. But please, sell the Mets to new ownership that can uplift this storied franchise and once again make Mets fans proud.
Terry Collins the Newest New York Mets Manager
Posted by admin in Terry Collins on November 22nd, 2010
Terry Collins has been chosen by the Mets powers that be, that being Wilpon, to lead the Mets into the beginning of the next decade and hopefully a new chapter in Mets history. The immediate reaction is, who is Terry Collins? But the truth is, he seems to be a great choice once you get to know a little bit about him.
Terry Collins has major league managing experience, which was back in the 1990′s.
Terry Collins has Japanese managing experience -Orix Buffaloes in 2007 and 2008-, which I am not sure is overly relevant but it does add a worldly flair.
Terry Collins has been on the Mets radar for awhile, interviewing and being a finalist for the manager job when Minaya chose Will Randolph.
Terry Collins has a lot of work to do. The Mets faded after the All Star break last year and finished below .500 with a 79-83 record. The ace Johan Santana had off season surgery and isn’t gonna be the same Johan for awhile, and certainly won’t be ready to pitch at the beginning of the season. The $130 million dollar payroll for next year you would think would buy you a great team, but unfortunately a lot of bad contracts leftover from the Minaya management regime has left the team with a lot of over-payed under-performing players who just aren’t that good.
Anyway, the truth is we all do not know that much about Terry Collins, but we all hope he is the right choice and the right man for this difficult job. The Mets need to be competing in the National League and hopefully he can get this club turned around soon.
Terry Collins, the absolute Best of Luck from all New York Mets fans everywhere.
Mets Fire General Manager Omar Minaya and Manager Jerrry Manuel
Posted by admin in Jerry Manuel, Omar Minaya on October 6th, 2010
Mets fans got what they wanted, a clean house. Owner Jeff Wilpon took full responsibility for the struggling team that hasn’t made the playoffs in way too long (4 years). By taking full responsibility, Wilpon decided that it was his decision to hire General Manager Omar Minaya and Manager Jerry Manuel that were the big mistakes and so he fixed those mistakes by firing both of them immediately after the Mets finished the season, with a losing record.
One of the highest payrolls in the Major Leagues, the New York Mets managed to win 79 games and lose 83 games this season. What is really hard to digest as a Mets fan was the early promise this season showed, with the Mets clearly in the hunt until the dreadful play following the All Star Break. At the end of the season, the Mets had way more questions than answers.
What do you do with Carlos Beltran? He only has one more year left on his contract.
What do you do with the pitching staff? Johan Santana is getting surgery, and pretty much everyone else is just not that good, though I really like R.A. Dickey knuckleball style that embarrasses hitter after hitter.
K-Rod is obviously not stable, and messing up his pitching hand punching his girlfriend’s father is just plain stupid. Equally stupid is violating a court order to not communicate with her and then go and send her 50 something text messages.
Who is this Jason Bay guy? Did we really spend all that money on a power hitter who couldn’t even come close to hitting 10 home runs this season.
There are dozens, literally dozens of other questions about the product the Mets are putting on the field.
Can Bobby Valentine fix all this? That seems to be the popular pick amongst fans as the next General Manager. But don’t count on the popular pick being the one chosen by an organization who has failed time and again at bringing in the right coach, general manager or player.
New York Mets 2010
Posted by admin in 2010 Season, Ike Davis Mets 1st Baseman on April 19th, 2010
The I Like Ike Davis Pulse of the 2010 New York Mets Baseball Season
Mets Crushing All Inter-League Foes
Mets were sweeping, winning and just outright destroying their interleague schedule. Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles got worked over by the surging Mets pitching staff. The Twins didn’t fair much better and only the Yankees managed to play .500 with the Mets.
Jose Reyes has been on a tear, mashing homers and triples at a crazy pace and has demonstrated his wheels with his return to prominence on the base paths by routinely stealing bases and scoring runs.
David Wright has returned to form, belting his 14th home run and driving in RBI’s to the tune of most RBI’s in the National League. Mr. Clutch is back and he no doubt is benefiting from having Ike Davis hitting behind him.
Speaking of Ike Davis, this guy is a rookie and has not only played a stellar first base for the Mets, but he has jacked 9 home runs and is really starting to drive in runs for the offense consistently.
Carlos Beltran is coming back, he is playing for Port St. Lucie including some work in center field. A healthy Beltran returning to his old school form would make the Mets lineups one of the better ones in all of baseball. Even with Frenchy playing some good baseball, a Carlos Beltran caliber player would be a huge upgrade. Frenchy will make a great bat off the bench and a solid 4th outfielder.
Jason Bay and Angel Pagan are key pieces. Jason Bay obviously signed that huge deal, and hopefully the warmer weather ahead will get him back to his knack for being an RBI machine. Angel Pagan has played great, timely hitting and solid defense. Pagan’s speed has been a second coming of Jose Reyes and his impact scoring runs has been big reason the Mets fans have been patiently waiting for Carlos Beltran’s return.
Pitching is all about R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi replacing John Maine and Oliver Perez. The two immediate upgrades have solidified the rotation and giving confidence to the ball club that they can win everyday, as evidenced by a couple of long winning streaks. R.A. Dickey has won his first six decisions, making him the first New York Met in history to accomplish that feat. I fully expect Dickey to be the first Mets pitcher to throw a no-hitter. Johan Santana has given up some big innings, and at the moment appears to be the weak link in the Mets rotation. Johan is too good to let this continue, I expect him to turn it around and return to being the Ace of our staff. Mike Pelfrey has become an absolute winner. Love what he has done all season. Props off to Fernando Nieve as well, this guy has been terrific as the Mets 5th starter, even throwing a one-hit masterpiece.
Brewers Win 2 of 3
That is about par for the year on games played away from the vast coziness of Citi Field. Onto San Diego, where surprisingly good pitching and not surprisingly bad hitting (save Adrian Gonzalez) has the Padres winning most of the close games and leading the NL west.
Replacing Oliver Perez and John Maine in the lineup with R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi have Mets Fans feeling much more comfortable. With those guys, we feel we have an actual chance to win. Dickey is 2-0 in his 3 starts and Takahashi’s crazy leg motion has befuddled the powerful Phillies and Yankees lineups.
Omar Minaya has been taken a beating in the media, but it appears the discoveries of R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi were brilliant and he deserves some applause for that. Now, he needs to figure out what to do with Oliver Perez.
Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day! Fireworks will be going off after the game at PetCo Park in San Diego. Let’s go Mets!
SUPER BROOM Mets Sweep Phillies
Mets embarrass Phillies 3 Straight SHOUTOUTS!
Mets fans finally have something on our hated rival. Mets just made history with three consecutive shutouts in a 3 game series. That all powerful Philly lineup just got blasted by a journeyman knuckleballer, a thirty something year old Japanese rookie and Mike Pelfrey who redeemed himself against the team he had his one bad outing of the season against. No Chase Utley. No Jayson Werth. No Jimmy Rollins.
Mets now only 2 games out. Big series against the Brewers and that means Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Let’s just hope we can continue what we’ve gotten going against the Yankees and Phillies.
Mets Take 2 of 3 from Yankees
Citi Field was rocking all series long, but a historical Citi Field moment was born. The crowd was on its feet – moments from a hopeful eruption – and with a full count, two out in the ninth inning, with the Mets hanging to a two run lead, and the juiced home run king A-Rod facing fireball closer K-Rod, and the Mets delivered. Struck’em out with a nasty pitch. This was awesome, Johan Santana out dueling C.C. Sabathia and Jason Bay ripping two off the Yankees star pitcher.
I Like Ike Davis is now batting cleanup. Amazing for a rookie, but he gives us the best chance for success. Reyes’ experiment at batting third did not work, he is back leading off. Angel Pagan has moved back. Beltran is still awhile away.
Mets Starting Pitching 0 Wins in Month of May
Monday, May 17 2010 to date in the month of May the Mets starting pitching has yet to get a single win, but managed quite a few losses. Early in the season we had some pitchers putting up W’s but lately they have been putting up lollipops losing in ugly ways.
Mets now have a losing record and are really falling behind Philadelphia, and that after being in first just a couple weeks ago.
Pelfrey on the mound tonight, and currently has a lead 3-2 lead over Atlanta through 8 in the game with Barajas knocking in two of the Mets three RBIs. If we can hold, Pelfrey will have righted the ship and can put up a W for the beleaguered starting pitching staff.
Mets Losing 1 Run Games, 3 this Week
Obviously this sports blog is relatively positive, well at least as much as possible but sometimes I am just gonna tell it like it is. The Mets offense has shown some bright flashes, but overall its still pretty anemic. Wright is showing some pop and improvement from last year, but the middle of our order is just not getting runs batted in consistently. That is where hopefully Carlos Beltran comes in. This guy is one of the best in the game when healthy, add him to our lineup and drop off some of the dead weight and hopefully we can see us with an offense that is more like Milwaukee’s and less like Atlanta’s.
1 out in the ninth, the Marlins score the game winning run… on a wild pitch. Why does it come down to this, lets get Johan Santana more than 1 run of offense.
Nationals Own Us
Take 2 of 3.
2 of 3 from San Francisco Big Series with Nationals Ahead
The only thing I know is that the Nationals are better than expected. It seems its about time, as even a bad team comes together every once in awhile with a good season, save the Pittsburgh Pirates (17 years of consecutive losing seasons). Except, that the Nationals have an ace up their sleeve. Steven Strasburg is gonna dominate and its only a matter of when.
With the Mets and Nationals tied in the standings at 17-14 and trailing Philadelphia by 2 games, it would be nice if the Mets were to take 2 out of 3 in the series. The games are at Citi Field where the Mets have been incredible, so a sweep of the Nationals is not out of the question. They are the Nationals, remember.
Rod Barajas Walk-Off Home Run
Rod Barajas and I Like Ike Davis Smash Two Home Runs Each
This epic Mets win was one of those games you wish you were there in person. Close your eyes and imagine being at CitiField in the bottom of the ninth inning, watching as the heroic Barajas rips a rising line drive to the right of the left-field flag pole. Now open your eyes, and remember that this Barajas guy was just sitting around in the offseason, lets give some credit to the Mets front office for finding a nice piece to the puzzle. We have already gotten about a zillion times more production out of Barajas than we got all last year. 9 home runs including a jaw-dropping 3 multi-home run games.
Off topic: Way to belatedly celebrate Cinco De Mayo Barajas, you the man rocking Mexico’s sports pages and pleasing one of the largest Mets fan bases outside the United States. For all you futbol fans, the initial rosters must be submitted later this week for the World Cup. The Mexican soccer team I think may surprise the world at this year’s upcoming World Cup in South Africa by advancing not only out of their difficult group of South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay & France, but I boldly predict they make it to the semifinals. Of course I also think the United States has a realistic chance of winning the whole World Cup thing, we do have great goalies and offense which can be a great combination if we can get reasonable play at of our defense… Ahh, forget defense, just score goals this time around.
Back to Ike Davis. This guy is seemingly gonna be the next great Mets first baseman as he is young and has improving power. Some say I Like Ike Davis is a lot like John Olerud. That is great and all, we all loved John Olerud. But I hope he is more, I hope he grows into something more powerful as a player a la Albert Pujols or Ryan Braun. As a team, the Mets seem to have success so far in nearly every game that Ike Davis contributes. It will be pleasurable watching this guy transform into a true leader on the team, the type of hitting by example leadership that you love in a first baseman.
Almost forgot to mention, I Like Ike Davis plays defense too. His acrobatic lunge into the dugout for a foul ball was the big out saving K-Rod in the top of the 9th inning.
Mets miss Citi Field
The Cincinnati Reds hit a back breaking walk-off homer in extra innings to beat the Mets. Moments before, I Like Ike Davis had one of those dream moments you have as a kid, go ahead runner on 2nd and two outs, extra innings in a hostile environment (well, Reds fans are more docile than hostile) and I thought he was gonna have a big moment that Mets fans would remember for the rest of his career. I Like Ike Davis looked at a couple curve balls for strikes and then struck out. The hair raising moment was one of many for the Mets, as it so nice to see them playing meaningful baseball. Davis looks comfortable at the plate, his clutch hit moments ala Benny Agbayani are gonna come.
Pelfrey and Santana Blasted by Philadelphia
The Mets lead in the NL east is over. On Saturday Mike Pelfrey getting outdueled by the best pitcher in baseball was almost to be expected. On Sunday Johan Santana getting outdueled by the oldest pitcher in baseball was certainly not expected.
David Wright and Rod Barajas jacked homers to put the Mets up 3-0 and then 5-2, both leads seemingly safe with Santana on the mound. But then came one of those total brain-farts when Johan walked a hitter with the bases loaded…and two outs. That hitter, was none other than 47 year old pitcher Jamie Moyer. Shane Victorino should never have had a chance to bat that inning, instead he immediately takes Johan out of the ballpark, the third home run off Santana in just a few innings of work.
Though it was a long shot, the walk to the pitcher and subsequent grand slam pretty much ends any chance for Santana to win this years Cy Young award. Hopefully he can forget it and concentrate on at least getting us some wins.
Home Run Party in Philly
Jonathon Niese was brilliant, his best outing of his career in a high pressure situation. Going into Citizens Bank Park and facing the two time defending National League champs is no easy task, but Niese got the job done. Mets win 9-1.
Rod Barajas went yard twice while Frenchy and David both rocked the Phillies pitchers for four baggers. The beat down included a blasting of Brad Lidge, who coming off an injury spell will certainly leave some unhappy phone calls to the sports talk shows in Philadelphia.
Jason Bay, mad props for that ridiculously nice at-the-wall catch, web gem plays like that are always welcome.
Up Next, Roy Halladay Saturday and Johan Santana Sunday.
Mets Sweep Dodgers
Hot hitting Ike Davis goes 2-4 with an RBI and helps the Mets to an incredible 9-1 homestand.
6 in a row and now in 1st place
Yes, that is right, the Mets have a 1/2 game lead on the Phillies after taking a doubleheader from the Dodgers. Johan Santana was ridiculous in the first game in front of 27 fans at Citi Field. In the more heavily attended nightcap, the Mets demolished the Dodgers with the big money bats exploding and the bullpen’s Japanese relief sensation again coming through and probably earning him a spot in the rotation soon, very soon. Sorry Maine.
Ike Davis brilliant
2-5 on the day with 2 doubles driving in 3 runs and walking twice. I know everyone is falling in love with I Like Ike especially the fact that his emergence has coincided with the best baseball the Mets have played in a long time.
Jason Bay got his first homer today and has several extra base hits lately. With plenty of space at Citi Field it was only a matter of time till some of his drives found some open space to land.
Maine showed me after my knock on him last post. Maine impresses with 9 strikeouts pitching into the 7th inning. Possibly a coincidence, but on a very windy day, Main’es pitches were moving all over the place all day totally baffling the well payed Dodgers lineup.
Mets Sweep Atlanta
With the call-up of I Like Ike Davis and Reyes returning to the lineup – batting third – the Mets find themselves over .500 and only 1.5 games behind Philadelphia who shot out of the gate with the League’s highest scoring offense. The NL East is tight so far as the Mets are now tied with wild card hopeful Florida and upstart Washington. Washington has had the worst record in Major League Baseball the past two seasons but the whole Steven Strasburg is tearing up the minor leagues has the Nationals playing inspired baseball. Atlanta 3 games back and playing embarrassingly bad. I especially liked how Pelfrey made Chipper Jones look silly with runners in scoring position… 3 times.
Midway through the Mets going for the four game sweep against Atlanta, Mike Pelfrey has pitched 25 consecutive scoreless innings.
This is a tremendous performance by the young pitcher. It must be getting close to a Mets team record. 1-0 Mets winning through 5 innings, appears Pelfrey is done for the day as he had a high pitch count working out of a jam seemingly every inning.
Mets at 9-9 are back to .500
This is promising as through the early going strong pitching by Mike Pelfrey and the bullpen has really carried this team and the offense seems to have gotten a little spark from the Ike Davis call up from AAA.
I Like Ike
The buzz in New York is building, and that is because the Mets first baseman of the future, Ike Davis, has arrived. His first home run was a game-tying blast en route to a win over Atlanta.
Ike Davis Major League Debut Brilliant in Mets Win
Ike Davis went 2-4 with an RBI in his major league debut helping the Mets to a 6-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. This guy is gonna be a monster at 1st Base for the Mets. We needed a real 1st Baseman and we now have a batter who has been on an absolute tear in AAA and has continued that into hist first career Major League Baseball Game.
Mets Win Marathon Game
The Mets started slow but have now created a buzz following a dynamic 20 inning marathon win that didn’t see a run score until the 19th inning. KRod got the win, Pelfrey got the save and a position player on the St. Louis Cardinals was the losing pitcher. This game was an instant classic. Jose Reyes went 0-7 but his sacrifice fly in the 20th gave the Mets the 2-1 lead and Pelfrey slammed the door for his first career save. This was a game the Mets seemingly needed to win and was managed that way
