Daily News beat reporter Adam Rubin appeared on ESPN’s First Take by phone to talk about the Mets surge into a tie for first place with the Phillies. He’s got some good information, as usual, about the player reaction to their come from behind win last night.
Audio- Eddie Coleman And Baseball Today
The news of the Mets tying the Phillies for first place in the NL East has been all over the mainstream media and the blogs today. It’s thrilling to have the team, that was thought to be dead in the water a month ago, back in first place and looking stronger than at any point this season.
Here are a couple of audio links for you this afternoon on the topic of the Mets. Mets beat reporter checks in with WFAN’s Joe & Evan. And ESPN’s Baseball Today covers all of the top stories in baseball including the Mets shaking up the NL East. Peter Pascarelli and Steve Phillips discuss the events of the day.
On Deck- Mets At Reds Game 2
New York Mets (52-44 Road: 24-26) at Cincinnati Reds (46-51 Home:26-20) 7:10pm
John Maine (8-6 3.99) vs. Bronson Arroyo (7-7 5.97)
TV: SNY Radio: WFAN
What to watch: The Mets take their ten game winning streak into tonight’s game. Maine hasn’t won a game since June 25th (his last win) and hasn’t pitched more than six innings since June 20th. He’s got something to prove tonight. Maine’s a high ball pitcher though, which can be dangerous in the small park in Cincy.
Phils Acquire Blanton From A’s
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThe Phillies pulled the trigger on a three for one deal with the Oakland A’s to acquire Joe Blanton to take over a spot in their starting rotation. It’s certainly appropriate that the Phils brought in some help on the day that the Mets entered a tie with Philly for first place in the NL East.
Blanton is a big right-hander that consistently pitches a lot of innings. He’s having a down year this season but he’s only 27 years old and he’s under contract through 2010.
His 162 game career average is: 13-13 | 215 IP | 229 H | 108 R | 57 BB | 122 K | 4.25 ERA | 1.330 WHIP.
It’s a nice pick up for the Phils and I assume that he’ll take Adam Eaton’s spot in the rotation. It amazes me how Billy Beane keeps trading away good young pitcher in Oakland. But his “reverse” philosophy seems to be working out for the A’s. They’ve done as well as you could expect with limited resources.
Mets Injury Updates: Pedro, Pagan, El Duque, Church
It’s a good thing that the Mets are playing so well right now because the injury news isn’t very good.
- El Duque- He left his start in Binghamton after one inning because of some pain in his foot. It’s the same foot that’s been bothering him because of a bunion and toe ligament problem.
- Angel Pagan- He had pain in his left shoulder during a game in Brooklyn. That’s the shoulder that he injured in May in Los Angeles.
- Pedro Martinez- He got a cortisone shot in his hip and will have his next start pushed back. Mike Pelfrey will move up to take his start. So Pedro should start on Tuesday.
- Ryan Church- He wants to come off the disabled list on Tuesday when he’s eligible. But Jerry Manuel told reporters that the team will be cautious and Church probably won’t be back that quickly.
Mets Streak To 10 With Win Over Reds 10-8
It wasn’t pretty but the Mets got a win, mostly due to some late inning heroics by David Wright & Co. They needed some late inning help because Johan Santana didn’t give them any help early in the game. He only pitched four innings and gave up five runs. Cincinnati is a tough park to pitch in, but he needs to do better than that. Call me a Santana apologist but it had been eight days since he pitched in a game. The Mets should have tried to work him into a relief outing before the All-Star break. Hindsight is 20/20.
The Mets kept coming from behind to tie and take the lead in this one. That’s a great sign about this team! It’s still hard to believe that this is the same team that played the first couple months of the season.
Carlos Delgado, Fernando Tatis, and Wright all had huge home runs. Especially Wright with a two run job to tie the game in the ninth off Cincy closer Francisco Cordero. Then the hits kept coming in the ninth inning.
That’s a great way to win a game for the Mets. They would certainly like to see more from Santana and the bullpen seemed to backslide. But they’ve been so good leading up to the break it would be impossible to maintain the same level of performance. So having the offense take the load in this game was fantastic. Winning streak goes to ten games, the longest since 1991.
On Deck- Mets At Reds Game 1
New York Mets (51-44 Road: 23-26) at Cincinnati Reds (46-50 Home:26-19) 7:10pm
Johan Santana (8-7 2.84) vs. Johnny Cueto (7-9 4.67)
TV: SNY Radio: WFAN
What to watch: The Mets, baseball’s hottest team, roll into Cincy for a four game weekend series beginning tonight. A nice pitching match-up kicks off the series with Santana going up against young gun Cueto. The Mets are looking to extend their winning streak to ten games tonight.
The Mets Report 