Cards Glaus Walks Off Against Mets 8-7

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Video Highlights

There were a lot of good things that happened for the Mets offense. The same Mets offense that’s struggled for consistent production all season. But for all of the good that the Mets did on offense, it was undone by bad pitching.

Pedro Martinez was bad again. Tonight was his third consecutive bad start and it raised his ERA to a whopping 7.39. It’s time to be concerned about his long term viability as a starter. His line tonight was 5 IP | 7 H | 5 R | 5 ER| 1 BB| 4 K| 2 HR. Pedro did come back after a rain delay in the fourth inning. But the damage was done by giving up four in the first inning on an RBI single by Rick Ankiel and a three run bomb by Troy Glaus. More on Glaus later.

In the eighth inning Aaron Heilman hit Ryan Ludwick with his first pitch of the inning. Then Chris Duncan hit a two run bomb off Pedro Feliciano on his first pitch to tie the game at seven. Troy Glaus hit his second homer of the game off Carlos Muniz in the ninth. Muniz is clearly overmatched by big league hitters. He’ll probably be sent back to Triple-A New Orleans after tonight’s game.

The Mets had some great offense tonight that went for naught. Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Damion Easley all had three hits in the game. Easley also had 3 RBI’s in his second consecutive start at second base. He may become the starting second baseman as there’s talk of Luis Castillo going on the disabled list.

Tough game tonight.

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On Deck: July 2- Mets At Cards (Game 3)

New York Mets (41-42 Road: 19-24) at St. Louis Cardinals (48-37 Home: 24-18)  8:15pm

Pedro Martinez (2-2 7.12) vs. Joel Pineiro (2-4 4.33)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: Pedro is toting that ugly ERA and there’s been some stories about how he’s been tipping his pitches. I’m not sure that I buy that, but we’ll see tonight. I like that Pedro’s velocity has been in the low 90’s and expected more from him than we’ve seen. Pedro’s next couple of starts will be telling about the Mets need to find an alternative for the rotation before the trading deadline.

Another Reason To Despise National Announcers

I’ll tell you where I’m coming from on the issue of national announcers right off the bat. I can’t stand when Fox or ESPN blow into town for one game to cover the Mets on a national TV game. It’s terrible…

The Mets have one of the best, if not THE best, broadcast crews around with SNY. They are invested in the Mets and know exactly what they’re talking about. So anything else is a major drop off.

When the national guys come to town, whether it’s Fox or ESPN, the announcers are constantly trying to prove that they know what’s going on with the team by throwing out tidbits that their producers put in their ears. They mispronounce players names among other misinterpretations of the team. It’s just the worst.

I saw this at Awful Announcing this morning, and this has to take the cake. Joe Buck was on ESPN Radio with the equally awful Colin Cowherd. Buck goes on to say that he doesn’t watch sports because he’s too wrapped up in “The Bachelorette”. He says that baseball requires too much time because there are so many meaningless games played every day. And this is the guy getting paid the big bucks (pun) to cover baseball for Fox? Watch below and you’ll most likely be as flabbergasted as I was.

Mets In The News July 2- Pedro, Kazmir, And More

There are several Mets related news items today coming off the rare offensive outburst in St. Louis last night. Tony Armas sure wasn’t fooling many Cardinals and doesn’t have the velocity to instill much confidence in the Mets’ fan base that he can capture a permanent spot in the Mets rotation. But he did a nice job for one start. I think he was more lucky than good.

Onto the news for Wednesday July 2:

  • Even though I dislike Newsday’s Ken Davidoff columns generally, he has a good point today about the Mets. He writes that the Mets shouldn’t give up on the 2008 season. I’ve heard the sentiment from Mets fans to start breaking down the team and prepare for next year. I couldn’t disagree more.
  • Christina Kahrl has an extremely well written column for the New York Sun. She contrasts the Atlanta Braves ability to make a deal for a veteran rental with the Mets. She writes that the Mets farm system doesn’t give the Mets much flexibility to bring in non-waiver deadline deals that will impact the 2008 season. By the way, if you don’t read the sports writers at the New York Sun, you’re missing out. Their writers are without equal when it comes to covering the Mets in longer form columns.
  • AP put out a story picked up by just about every sports news outlet that Jerry Manuel is keeping Pedro Martinez on his regular rest today and giving Mike Pelfrey an extra day between starts.
  • Ben Shipgel of the NY Times has a couple of nuggets in his column about the Mets seducing fans into believing that the “turnaround” is beginning after games like last night in St. Louis. Perhaps the biggest news is that Orlando Hernandez is about a week away from making his first rehab start and may re-join the Mets by the end of July.
  • The NY Post Mets Blog has some interesting information about Pedro Martinez. Pitching coach Dan Warthen says that he thinks that Pedro looks terrific right now and resolved his problem of tipping pitches with the help of the Mets hitters. And Jerry Manuel isn’t babying Pedro like Willie Randolph did. Manuel is pushing Pedro harder and says that he’ll go easy on him after “three or four shutouts”.
  • Adam Rubin at the Daily News has several interesting topics today. Moises Alou went 2 for 3 with a homer and 2 RBI’s in his rehab game last night. Jerry Manuel is trying to get Jose Reyes to be more prepared in the field. Willie Randolph will skip the All-Star game this year. Jerry Manuel continues his tweaking of Luis Castillo in the media.
  • David Lennon of Newsday has a good column on Carlos Delgado’s statistics when hitting at night versus day games. He’s a much better hitter during the day. And Delgado didn’t know about the difference when it was brought up to him. Delgado actually said that he likes hitting at night better because there aren’t shadows to contend with.
  • Roger Rubin of the Daily News talks about Scott Kazmir’s shock and sadness when he found out that he was traded by the Mets to the Rays. Now he’s thrilled to be in first place and hoping for post season baseball in Tampa.

Video: Post Game July1- Manuel And Armas

SNY’s post game video from Mets manager Jerry Manuel and spot starter Tony Armas, Jr.

Also, I posted an audio clip from WFAN’s Steve Somers speaking to Duaner Sanchez after the game last night. He talked about the line drive off his knee. You can see that post here.

Analysis: Brett Myers Situation From Phillies Perspective

While the Mets were busy ripping the ball all over Busch Stadium last night, I was looking toward the Mets next series in Philly. I wanted to find out what’s going on with Brett Myers from someone that watches the Phillies every day. I turned to phanatic74 from U.B.L. for the answers. This is what he had to say about the Myers situation and where the Phillies rotation will go from here:

I think that Myers being moved to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs was the best move for him and the team.  I have no doubt that he will return to Philly some time in the 2nd half of the season.  Brett still has good stuff, he just forgot how to use it.  They discussed putting him in the bullpen, but he would not get enough playing time to work out his issues.  The Phillies will need to call on him again, but I am not sure as in what type of a capacity whether the bullpen or starting rotation.  He is a good option to keep open in case of someone going on the DL.  Jamie Moyer is not prepared to go down to a 4 man rotation at his age.  My feelings are that they are going to bring up J.A. Happ from "AAA" in Lehigh Valley.  If he falls apart like last year’s trial then they will go to Carlos Carrasco from the Reading "AA" ball club.  Of course both of these pitchers are temporary until they can acquire someone from outside of the organization.  The Phillies are very lean on quality pitchers in their farm system.  Myers length of service with the Iron Pigs depends on how cooperative he will be with the recovery.  However, he has received comments on ways to improve his pitching such as getting the ball out of his mitt sooner prior to the delivery.  He also needs keep more of his foot on the rubber.  There is no definitive time for Myers, but he will pitch again in the city of brotherly love.

It sounds like the Phillies might need to look outside of the organization as the trade deadline nears to shore up their rotation. There are a couple of ex-Phillies that are available now in Freddy Garcia and Vicente Padilla. Maybe they’ll go that route since both are known quantities in Philly. Garcia is supposed to be ready to pitch again, after recovering from shoulder surgery, in August. He’s a free agent so it wouldn’t cost any prospects to obtain his services for the rest of the season.

Thanks to phanatic74 from U.B.L. for the analysis!