Manuel Ejected As Mets Beat Phils 10-9

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Video Highlights

The Mets had a 10-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning and the bullpen did the best they could to give the game up. Jerry Manuel was ejected for arguing a disputed home run call in the seventh inning. But the Mets end up taking three of four games from the Phillies on the road for a huge win. They also go over .500 for the first time in more than a month.

Pedro Martinez pitched pretty well tonight which was a nice change from his previous three starts. He ended up going 5.1 innings giving up two runs. He threw 105 pitches though, way too many for five innings. He still needs to get sharper.

David Wright was the offensive star going 2 for 5 with 4 RBI’s and his 17th home run. Damion Easley, Endy Chavez, and Fernando Tatis had three hits apiece. Interesting that these bench guys are going hard for more playing time. Jerry Manuel’s “reward system” is definitely having an impact on the team.

Tony Armas, Aaron Heilman, and Billy Wagner were all giving up runs at an alarming rate after Pedro left the game. Notably Wagner had his second shaky outing in a row. He needs to get his game together. He already has six blown saves and almost added another tonight.

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Must Read: Milton Bradley On All-Star Game

OAKLAND, CA - MAY 02: Milton Bradley #21 of th...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I have to admit that I was shocked to see that Texas Rangers outfielder Milton Bradley had authored a column for the esteemed New York Times about his first selection to the All-Star game. Probably not unlike yourself, I had an opinion on Milton Bradley… He’s crazy. He’s always fighting with somebody, etc.

I read this column and it completely changed my mind. It’s so well written  and conveys his feelings so well. I’m thoroughly impressed. Terrific job by the Times to get Bradley to do this.

Check it out here.

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Minaya Confirms Mets Tepid Interest In Sabathia

SAN FRANCISCO - JULY 10: American League All-...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The NY Post Mets Blog confirms that Mets GM Omar Minaya spoke to Cleveland Indians GM Mark Shapiro about trading for C.C. Sabathia. Minaya says that the Mets had the prospects that the Indians were looking for. But the Mets remain undecided how aggressive they’ll be prior to the non-waiver trading deadline.

Bringing Sabathia in for a load of prospects would have been absolutely ridiculous for the Mets. They just traded four top prospects for Johan Santana this off-season. Doing it again for a team with a record hovering around .500 wouldn’t make sense at all. It’s good to see that Minaya kept his head on that one.

Sometimes the best trades are the ones that aren’t made.

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On Deck: July 7- Mets At Phillies (Game 4)

New York Mets (44-44 Road: 22-26) at Philadelphia Phillies (48-41 Home: 23-20) 7:05pm

Pedro Martinez (2-2 7.39) vs. Adam Eaton (3-6 4.79)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets are coming off a huge 12th inning homer for the win by Fernando Tatis. Look for Tatis to be in the starting lineup tonight. Pedro has been really bad since coming back from the disabled list. He needs to be on his game if the Mets are going anywhere this year. Eaton is 1-3 in his last four games. But the only game that he really got bombed in was on June 20th against the Los Angeles Angels.

Audio: July 7- Eddie Coleman Beat Report

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WFAN beat reporter Eddie Coleman calls into the Joe & Evan show with his daily Mets news. The studio hosts make this especially difficult to listen to today. Resident meat-head Joe Benigno starts out the interview by telling Coleman that Billy Wagner is no better than Armando Benitez. Unfortunately, that’s the type of moronic banter that we Mets fans have to suffer through to get the report from Eddie Coleman. Ugh. Our burden to bear…

Consider yourself lucky that this is an audio clip and you don’t have to see Benigno. Occasionally, he’s on SNY and looks like a skeleton with a suit and tie on. It’s truly frightening.

The topics include Ryan Church, Moises Alou, Billy Wagner (of course), and the Phillies series concluding tonight.

WFAN Audio

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Video: Ryan Church Explains Migraine Problems

This video is from the post game on Saturday when Ryan Church left the game against the Phillies after three at-bats with dizziness. I’m not so sure that I buy the migraine explanation after Church has had two concussions this season. I think there may be more to it than that. The video from SNY isn’t that great. There’s way too much camera time for the fat guy behind Church in the locker room, but listen to what he has to say anyway.

Link: The Demise of Johan Santana

FLUSHING, NY - FEBRUARY 06: (L to R) New York ...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Peter Bendix of Beyond the Box Score wrote an in-depth look at the premature demise of Johan Santana. Bendix’ post goes into great depth comparing his 2008 statistics versus prior years. There are several problems that I have with the analysis though:

  1. The author compares his current season performance averages versus complete prior year averages. Specifically, his strikeout rate and walk rate are compared to complete prior seasons. Santana is a notorious second half pitcher. Bendix’ comparisons should be made to the first 18 starts of past seasons or first 121 innings of past seasons for a more relative conclusion.
  2. Velocity of fastball and changeup are compared to prior seasons. The importance of velocity is debatable in my mind. As long as a relative difference in velocity is maintained between fastball and changeup, that’s what’s important. In the post-steroid era pitchers should be expected to lose velocity as they near 30 years old and beyond. The Mets knew they weren’t getting the 25 year old Santana with 265 K’s when they traded for him.

If you’ve read this blog in the past you know that I’m not down on Santana like some Mets fans are. Remember Carlos Beltran’s first season with the Mets in 2005? His line was: .266 BA| 16 HR| 78 RBI| 17 SB. We were all questioning 7 year/$119 million contract and whether he was a “New York guy”. Well, he responded in 2006 with this line: .275 BA| 41 HR| 116 RBI| 18 SB. That’s a “New York guy” in my book.

Bendix does a deep dive into Santana’s stats nicely but he fails to mention a few stats that would contradict his theory. Santana is on pace to give up fewer home runs than last season, has a lower ERA than his career average, and his 2008 WHIP of 1.192 is barely higher than his career WHIP of 1.103.

The point is that evaluating someone on half a season that’s been playing for nine years may not be the best sample size to utilize. Sure, his record is 7-7 but that’s hardly the best statistic to use to evaluate a pitcher’s performance as some Mets fans have. Give it time, Santana will be more than fine. He’ll be here until 2013 (or club option for 2014) so he has plenty of time to prove his worth.

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