What to watch: Nieve gets another chance in the rotation because of injuries. But he got lit up by the Brewers for 11 hits and 3 runs in 3.1 innings in his last start. He may not get another start if he gets bombed like that again today on national TV. Moyer has been pitching a little better lately after an awful start to the season. The Phillies have won three of the last four games that Moyer started.
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The story of this game is that Livan Hernandez got lit up by the Phillies for 7 runs in 3 innings. When that happens, the game is usually over. And it was in this case. The bullpen came in and threw five shutout innings, only giving up one hit.
On offense, Ryan Church was 3 for 4 and raised his season average to . 300. He’s looked so good lately going the other way. His swing has always been the classic lefty pull hitter swing, but he’s really driving the ball to left field now and he played a pretty decent center field tonight.
There were two defensive bloopers by the Mets tonight that looked awful. It had absolutely no impact on the game because the Mets were out of the game so early. But Fernando Tatis didn’t cover second on a single up the middle and allowed Jimmy Rollins to walk into second base. And Daniel Murphy missed an easy throw at his chest from David Wright. The ball got by him and he and Brian Schneider both stood around while Shane Victorino walked to second base. Both plays were really ugly. Tatis isn’t normally a second baseman and Murphy doesn’t seem to be able to play anywhere capably in the field.
What to watch: The Mets take their two game winning streak into Philly tonight. The Phils just got swept in Atlanta and have lost six of their last eight games. Hernandez hasn’t pitched badly but the Mets have lost the last four games that he started. Lopez is making his season debut for the Phils tonight. He made 14 starts for Colorado last year and was 5-4 with a 4.42 ERA.
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This was a rain-delayed wild one. For starters, Tim Redding was terrible giving up 5 runs in 2.1 innings. When that happens you start to think the game is a lost cause but they came right back scoring in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to take an 8-5 lead.
The Mets got big offensive games from Fernando Tatis and Ryan Church getting 3 hits apiece. Daniel Murphy had a big pinch-hit single that scored two runs in the fourth inning that got the scoring started for the Mets.
Everything was looking good with the Mets leading 8-6 going into the bottom of the ninth. But Francisco Rodriguez didn’t have it at all. He gave up a pinch-hit single to Freddy Sanchez and then a homer to Adam LaRoche to tie the game.
Church had a game winning hit for the second straight day. He scored Tatis with the winning run in the tenth inning. Rodriguez pitched another inning in the tenth, which I was surprised to see. But Jerry Manuel didn’t have too many options in the bullpen. He used six relievers in the game because Redding got bombed so early.
The Mets win their second straight heading into Philly. But don’t plan on seeing K-Rod tomorrow. He threw 46 pitches in this one.
What to watch: The Mets have a one-game stop in Pittsburgh for a make up game before they head to Philly. The Pirates have won two of their last three series’, so don’t take them too lightly. Maholm is really inconsistent and got ripped by the Mets for 7 runs in 5 innings on May 9 at Citi Field. The Mets have lost three of the last four games that Redding started. With Oliver Perez and John Maine coming off the disabled list this month likely, Redding needs to pick up his game to stay in the rotation.
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Former Mets closer Johnny Franco called out David Wright and the Mets for lacking leadership from the players. Franco said he’s spoken to Wright about taking a more active role as a leader on the team but it hasn’t worked.
The interview was on Sirius XM Radio and covered the current state of the Mets as well as other topics. But Franco’s comments about the lack of leadership on the team, and Wright specifically are garnering national media attention.
“I tried talking to him and tell him to come forward and be that guy, but I think David feels that being that he’s such a young player and you have the [Carlos] Delgados and [Gary] Sheffields and veteran guys like that, he’s afraid that they’ll look at him like, ‘Be quiet and sit down.'”
Wright told reporters that he’s unconcerned about what anyone outside of the Mets organization says.
“With all due respect to Johnny, he doesn’t know what’s going on in this clubhouse,” Wright said Wednesday, after the Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 to stop a five-game losing streak. “I don’t feel the need to have to defend myself as a leader. If these guys in here respect me and think of me as a leader, that’s what I need.”
“I don’t worry myself about outside people saying what they’re going to say,” Wright said. “It doesn’t matter. What matters to me are these 24 guys in here and the coaching staff. Whatever anybody else wants to say, they can say whatever.”
This isn’t a new line of discussion. Every one of us that listens to sports talk radio in New York has heard this before. I’m a little surprised that Franco would come out publicly with this line of discussion after doing some work for the Mets this spring. I guess he doesn’t plan on doing any further work for them in the future.
My take on this is that if I was a 35 or 40 year old player on the Mets, I wouldn’t necessarily look at Wright as a leader on the team either. Sheffield has 500 home runs and Delgado is knocking on the door. Even Livan Hernandez was a World Series MVP. Beltran is a 4-time All Star, Rookie of the Year, with three Gold Gloves, and two Silver Sluggers. This just isn’t a team that every player is going to look up to Wright at this point in his career.
On a team with a different makeup, I could see Wright being a leader. On a younger team like the Pirates or Rays, I’m sure he would be a leader. But the Mets are a team with some veterans that have serious resumes. Franco should recognize that fact too because he was a veteran with a serious resume at one point himself.
New York Mets (39-40 Road: 17-23) at Philadelphia Phillies (40-37 Home: 14-22) 4:10 pm
New York Mets (39-39 Road: 17-22) at Philadelphia Phillies (39-37 Home: 13-22) 7:05 pm
New York Mets (38-39 Road: 16-22) at Pittsburgh Pirates (36-42 Home: 22-16) 12:35 pm
The Mets Report 