New York Mets (15-13) at Arizona Diamond Backs (21-9) 4:10pm
Johan Santana (3-2) vs. Dan Haren (4-1)
What to watch: The Mets really want to get this rubber game of the series. It’s always an aces pitching match up when Santana pitches, and this game is no different. Haren is a really good pitcher in his own right. I’d like to see Santana get through at least the seventh inning today to give the bullpen a break.
I never thought that the Mets would go into Arizona and sweep the D-Backs. They’re playing so well this season, it would seem almost impossible to win all three games there. So if the Mets were going to take two out of three, I figured that they wouldn’t be able to Brandon Webb. And they didn’t.
Webb didn’t pitch that well, so it’s a shame that the Mets couldn’t take advantage of a rare off day for him to get a win. Blame it on Mike Pelfrey, the bullpen, Carlos Beltran’s .208 average, or Endy Chavez’ non-existent bat. Blame it on all of them.
I’m just not seeing the tremendous upside of Mike Pelfrey that the Mets management does. The minor leagues are littered with guys who have great “stuff” but keep hitting bats and can’t throw strikes consistently. That’s what I see in Pelfrey. He was below average again today. His ERA is up to 5.27 now and that’s unacceptable in the rotation. He walked four and struck out one… that’s completely unacceptable!
Pedro Feliciano was pretty bad too, but his ERA was hurt by Scott Schoenweiss coming in and throwing a first pitch meatball to Augie Ojeda with the bases loaded. Ojeda hit it into the corner in right for a double for his 6th RBI of the game. How do you let a number 8 hitter beat you with six RBI’s?
The bullpen has been taxed far too much so far this season. The Mets really need the starters to get deeper into games badly. They can’t keep leaning on the bullpen to cover four or more innings in almost every game. There’s going to be a breaking point.
The Mets still have a chance to win the series tomorrow. Hopefully, they’ll be able to take this series before moving on to Los Angeles on Monday.
Photo displayed from Flickr-Jake Hall
Here are some links that I’ve found to public galleries of Citi Field pictures:
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New York Mets catcher Brian Schneider does his weekly radio spot with WFAN’s Joe & Evan. Audio from Friday May 2, 2008.
The Baseball Tonight crew talks about the challenges that the Mets will face going up against Brandon Webb today.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3379577
New York Mets (15-12) at Arizona Diamond Backs (20-9) 3:45pm
Mike Pelfrey (2-1) vs. Brandon Webb (6-0)
TV: Fox Radio: WFAN
What to watch: Going against Webb is a really tough draw for the Mets. He won the Cy Young Award two years ago, and looks like he’s on his way to doing it again this year. If Carlos Beltran can wake up offensively the Mets will have a much better chance against Webb.
The Mets Report 