After last night’s humiliating 11-0 loss to the Mariners, the Mets designated Claudio Vargas for assignment. To fill his roster spot the Mets recalled Carlos Muniz from Triple-A New Orleans.
Vargas was 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA. He had been working as the long man in the bullpen.
The big news of the night was that Carlos Beltran and Jerry Manuel were both ejected from the game in the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes. But umpire Brian Runge is the one that really started it. Beltran said something under his breath about a strike call, and Runge basically got in his face. Manuel came out to defend Beltran and both were tossed.
As for the game itself, Oliver Perez was putrid allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits (three home runs) and one walk. Apparently, new pitching coach Dan Warthen hasn’t been able to have an immediate positive impact on Perez. He looks the same as he has for most of this season… bad.
The only Mets hint of offense came from Brian Schneider and Fernando Tatis. They both went 3 for 4 in the game. The most difficult thing to believe about that is they were facing a knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey who’s been in and out of the minors.
It was probably the worst game of a disappointing season. Now the Mets have to try to avoid a sweep at home from the worst team in baseball tomorrow night. That’s ugly.
New York Mets Director of Corporate Sales Jim Plummer died today at New York Univ. Medical Center. He was 56 years old. He had a liver and kidney transplant last week and died of a heart attack. The Mets released the following statement:
"Plum was a friend who helped me get adjusted to New York," former Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden said in a statement released by the team. "He was there for me whenever I needed something."
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated is reporting that the Mets and Ike Davis agreed to a deal giving Davis a signing bonus in the range of $1.5 million. A physical is still pending. Davis was selected 18th overall and plays first base for Arizona State University.
Chris Russo uses his monologue to debunk rumors of the WFAN Mike and The Mad Dog show ending. He talks about their relationship having some turmoil over the last few months but that they’ve worked out their problems.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel talks about Felix Hernandez’ grand slam and the Mets offensive inconsistency. Johan Santana evaluates his performance against the Mariners.
This morning the local papers are filled with stories about the Mets new manager Jerry Manuel and the changes afoot at Shea Stadium. During last night’s SNY broadcast the announcers Gary, Ron, and Keith praised the new Mets’ attitude.
There really isn’t all that much that a new manager can do with a team. It’s essentially up to the players to perform better, we know that. But there have been a few things that I’ve liked from the team in the first week of Jerry Manuel’s tenure with the Mets:
All of these changes are great to talk about but they need to translate into wins and that isn’t happening yet. Manuel is 3-3 as the Mets manager, a small sample, but .500 isn’t going to get it done. Manuel can’t speed up Carlos Delgado’s slow bat and severely declined skills. He can’t fix Luis Castillo’s brittle knees. But maybe he can create a positive atmosphere and energetic brand of baseball that the fans can enjoy.
Stories in the news:
Dan Graziano of the Star-Ledger writes about Manuel having a chance to succeed here
George Vecsey of the Times writes about the “new dawn of the Mets”
Mike Fitzpatrick of the AP writes about Manuel having the power of the lineup card
Bill Eichenberger of Sporting News writes about Manuel’s touch with the players
Bob Raissman of the Daily News writes about Manuel’s media skills
Vic Ziegel of the Daily News writes about the lighter atmosphere
The Mets Report 