Month: May 2008

Mets Drop Third Game To Nats 1-0

Mike Pelfrey took a no hitter into the seventh inning and was terrific for his second start in a row. However, the Nationals Jason Bergmann was better. Pelfrey only gave up one run but Bergmann gave up none.

The Nationals made several great plays in the field including a diving catch in left field by Willie Harris, and Christian Guzman tagging Jose Reyes out trying to take an extra base going to third.

The Mets end their home stand against two last place teams at 3-4. Losing three out of four to the Nationals at home may just cost Willie Randolph his job when all is said and done. The Mets are playing well below their talent level and that’s the manager’s problem. Don’t be surprised to see Willie go in the near future.

Box score

Video Highlights

Bloggers Unite For Human Rights On May 15

Shi Tao - Yahoo! I'm in jailImage by King Dumb via Flickr

Every once in a while I diverge from the New York Mets. This is one of those posts. BlogCatalog is coordinating today as an awareness day of human rights issues.

While we’re enjoying the Mets games (usually) there are people in parts of the world that are unable to enjoy the same freedoms that we have in the US. When I was asked to participate in this action I did some reading at the links that BlogCatalog sent to me. I was particularly moved by Shi Tao’s story. Shi is serving a ten year prison sentence in China for divulging state secrets to foreign entities by sending an email. Continue reading “Bloggers Unite For Human Rights On May 15”

On Deck: Thursday May 15, 2008 Mets-Nats

Washington Nationals (17-24) at New York Mets (20-18) 1:10pm

Jason Bergmann (0-1) vs. Mike Pelfrey (2-3)

TV: SNY Radio: WFAN

What to watch: This is another must-win game for the Mets. It’s not an option to lose three out of four games at home to the Nationals. Something like that might cost Willie Randolph his job considering the mediocre start to this season. Mike Pelfrey had a nice start last time out so let’s hope that he can keep that up.

Mets Lose Another Game To Nats 5-3

Pitching was the story of this game. Claudio Vargas had a terrific first start for the Mets going 6.1 innings and gave up only only two runs. That was much more than the Mets expected from the journeyman pitcher just up from Triple-A New Orleans.

On the other end of the spectrum, Aaron Heilman was horrible again. I was dumbfounded when Willie Randolph brought in Heilman in the seventh with one out, one runner on base, and a tie game. Randolph said after the game that Scott Schoenweiss and Matt Wise were unavailable. Wise because he just pitched two days in a row, and Schoenweiss was sick.

Heilman threw gallons of gas on the fire by pitching .1 innings and gave up three runs plus let the inherited runner from Vargas score. He was booed mercilessly by the crowd throughout the inning. Randolph heard a lot of booing from the crowd too.

Earlier in the game Moises Alou was ejected for slamming his bat after being called out on strikes.

I feel like we’re watching this job slip away from Randolph before our eyes. The best that the Mets can do now is a split of a four game home series with the last place Nationals. There doesn’t seem to be any spark with this team. It’s becoming a problem.

Box score

Video Highlights

Mets Should Pay John Maine Now

Mets pitcher John Maine before a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.Image via Wikipedia

The New York Mets should continue the recent trend in baseball by locking up their young talent with long term contracts. The Mets have already done that with Jose Reyes and David Wright. So this practice wouldn’t be out of character for the team. Other teams have started getting in on this as well. Last month the Rays signed Evan Longoria to a six year deal.

John Maine deserves a long term deal now. The benefit is avoiding a contentious arbitration hearing where the team is forced into a antagonistic role of pointing out the players faults. The Mets have done a great job of avoiding that until this season when Oliver Perez beat the Mets in arbitration to earn $6.5 million this season. Continue reading “Mets Should Pay John Maine Now”