Month: July 2008

Reyes HR Lifts Mets Over Phillies 6-3

Mets starting pitcher John Maine made a big leap forward, going seven innings for the win for the first time since May in Los Angeles. Maine only had 104 pitches in the start which had been the problem for him over the past couple of months. Too many pitches over too few innings caused him to be on the bench early.

Damion Easley was 3 for 5 with 1 R and 1 RBI, and Brian Schneider was 2 for 4 with 1 R. But the biggest hit by far was Jose Reyes going deep off Ryan Madson in the sixth inning for a three run homer that un-tied the game. And it turned out to be the winner.

Billy Wagner was back from his one game injury. He shut the door on the ninth inning where the rest of the Mets bullpen had failed the night before.

The Mets move back into a tie with the Phillies for first place in the NL East, with the Florida Marlins one game back.

Box score

On Deck- July 23- Phillies at Mets Game 2

Philadelphia Phillies (54-46 Road: 27-23) at New York Mets (53-47 Home: 28-19) 7:10pm

Brett Myers (3-9 5.84) vs. John Maine (8-7 4.22)

TV: SNY Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets need to pick themselves up from the floor and go after the next two games to win this series. Myers is back from a minor league stint attempting to re-gain his form. Maine needs to keep his walks down along with his pitch count. He hasn’t won a game in nearly a month, since June 25.

Stop by the Mets Report Live Game Chat room during the game by clicking the link above or by clicking here.

Mets Lose To Phillies In 9th 8-6

This was an incredibly demoralizing loss. The Mets led 5-2 going into the ninth inning, coming off an excellent eight inning effort by Johan Santana. The bullpen imploded before our eyes in the ninth. Duaner Sanchez, the default closer due to Billy Wagner being unavailable, gave up three straight hits before being pulled. Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano, and Aaron Heilman threw gas on the fire allowing the Phillies to take a three run lead after scoring six in the ninth. Unbelievable!

Ramon Castro and Carlos Delgado both homered in the game but shockingly it turned out not to be enough.

Endy Chavez was thrown out twice at home in the game. That’s right, I said twice. Luis Aguayo’s judgement to send him was seriously in question because Chavez was thrown out by a mile on both plays.

The bottom line is that it’s another wasted good start by Santana and the Phillies take sole possession of first place. Those amazin’ Mets. Unbelievable…

Box score

Video Highlights

On Deck- July 22- Phillies at Mets Game 1

Philadelphia Phillies (53-46 Road: 26-23) at New York Mets (53-46 Home: 28-18) 7:10pm

Joe Blanton (5-12 4.96) vs. Johan Santana (8-7 3.10)

TV: SNY Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Phils and Mets start a three game series tonight with identical 53-46 records. Blanton is making his debut for the Phils tonight against Santana. I’m sure he’ll be geeked up to show what he can do for the Phillies. Santana got bombed in Cincy five days ago for five runs in four innings. I’m sure he’ll be looking to turn that around quickly. Billy Wagner may be available but I’m sure that Jerry Manuel will only use him if absolutely necessary.

Lunch Links- Mex, Billy Martin, MLB Network, and More

While I’m here getting pumped up for the Phillies series, I decided to put some links out today. Some of them I’ve had for a while now but I think you’ll like. Anyway, onto the links…

  • This one is from July 7th but I thought you’d want to see it anyway. David Pinto wrote a piece for Yahoo Sports about the parallels between the Yankees 1978 firing of Billy Martin and the Mets firing of Willie Randolph.
  • David Peters, a PhD professor of engineering from the Washington University of St. Louis wrote a tremendous piece about how lefties have an advantage in baseball. It’s really compelling information and got picked up by Sporting News.
  • Cyril Morong, writer of the excellent blog Cybermetrics, writes that fast players such as Jose Reyes aren’t “blocked” from hitting doubles and triples with slower runners on base in front of them.
  • ESPN’s Jayson Stark picks the Phillies to win the NL East in his “That’s Debatable” column.
  • John Donovan tries to make sense of the NL East in his column for Sports Illustrated.
  • Awful Announcing has some good information on the upcoming MLB Network. Included is the rumor that they’re considering adding analyst Harold Reynolds from SNY to the network.
  • SI’s Jon Heyman gets into the latest trade rumors including the Mets interest in Seattle Raul Ibanez and Cleveland’s Casey Blake. He says that Omar Minaya especially likes Blake.
  • SNY analyst Keith Hernandez talks to WFAN’s Boomer & Carton about the Mets and his reported dispute with Jose Reyes. Listen here.