Tag: Carlos Delgado

Perez Dominates Phillies As Mets Win 3-1

The Mets claimed first place in the NL East with a 3-1 win over the Phillies today. The story of the game was Oliver Perez. Perez went 7.2 innings giving up only six hits and one intentional walk. He struck out 12 in the game including three apiece for Chase Utley and Ryan Howard.

Carlos Delgado came through in the clutch with a huge two-run double in the bottom of the eighth that broke the tie and led the Mets to victory.

Jimmy Rollins was scratched right before the game started and Eric Bruntlett took his place at shortstop for the Phillies. Rollins didn’t appear to be injured, and even pinch hit in the ninth inning. There was no word on why Rollins didn’t start.

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Mets Lose To Phillies In 9th 8-6

This was an incredibly demoralizing loss. The Mets led 5-2 going into the ninth inning, coming off an excellent eight inning effort by Johan Santana. The bullpen imploded before our eyes in the ninth. Duaner Sanchez, the default closer due to Billy Wagner being unavailable, gave up three straight hits before being pulled. Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano, and Aaron Heilman threw gas on the fire allowing the Phillies to take a three run lead after scoring six in the ninth. Unbelievable!

Ramon Castro and Carlos Delgado both homered in the game but shockingly it turned out not to be enough.

Endy Chavez was thrown out twice at home in the game. That’s right, I said twice. Luis Aguayo’s judgement to send him was seriously in question because Chavez was thrown out by a mile on both plays.

The bottom line is that it’s another wasted good start by Santana and the Phillies take sole possession of first place. Those amazin’ Mets. Unbelievable…

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Delgado’s Resurgence In Option Year

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 30: Carlos Delgado #21 of...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The New York Mets have an option for Carlos Delgado to come back next year. The option can vest for $16 million if Delgado achieves a specific ranking in MVP voting which isn’t going to happen. Delgado’s not even on the radar for National League MVP. The option will be mutual if it doesn’t vest for $12 million or a $4 million buyout.

Delgado though has begun to pick up his offensive game over the last month (.333/ .431/ .656 over the last 28 days). Don’t be fooled! Delgado’s always been a streaky hitter. His batting average and slugging go up and down like a roller coaster during the season.

I’m not surprised that this offensive outburst comes in the second half of his option year. He wants to play his way into the $12 million for next season. Sure, he’s made over $140 million during his career. But why not take home another twelve if it’s right there?

In my opinion, Delgado quit on the Mets and Willie Randolph in the first two months of this season. He’s got no game other than power hitting and he isn’t very good at that anymore. He’s got no glove, no arm, no speed, and can’t hit for average. He’s a one dimensional player in decline.

I don’t want to watch him again next year. Don’t join the Delgado bandwagon… I know that I won’t.

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Mets Split Series With Reds With Extras Win

Mike Pelfrey came back to Earth a bit today, but he was still pretty good. He went seven innings and gave up five runs. Although he only threw 89 pitches in the game, which is a good sign. He did give up three big home runs today though which is odd for Pelfrey.

The Mets got huge offensive games from Jose Reyes (4 for 6, 3 R, 3B, SB), Ramon Castro (2 for 5, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR), and Carlos Delgado (3 for 4, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR). Delgado has raised his average to a respectable .261 for the season. That’s not far below his .279 career average.

Robinson Cancel had a clutch double in the tenth inning that started a rally in which the Mets scored two runs to take the lead for good. Billy Wagner locked down the tenth inning for the save to secure a 2-2 series split with the Reds. Wagner struck out the side for those of us getting concerned about his shaky outings recently.

The Mets come home for an off day tomorrow and start a big three game series with the Phillies at Shea on Tuesday. With the win today and a Phillies loss, the Mets are tied with the Phils for the lead in the NL East and .5 games up on the Florida Marlins.

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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.

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Mets Take 9 Game Win Streak Into Second Half

PHOENIX, AZ - May 6: Mike Pelfrey #34 of the ...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Mets go into the traditional second half of the season tonight with a nine game winning streak, confidence, and swagger. The last two weeks have seen Mike Pelfrey dominate all competition like the next coming of Roy Halladay. His recent performances have symbolized the Mets turnaround from the most lifeless team that money could buy to a team of united players that are achieving, if not exceeding, their potential.

As the Mets series in Cincinnati begins tonight, there will still be questions about Ryan Church’s foggy head, Carlos Delgado’s resurgent bat, Pedro Martinez’ ability to stabilize his spot in the rotation, and Billy Wagner’s ability to close “the big game”, and the crater in left field that Moises Alou left behind.

But there won’t be questions about the Mets desire to win and intestinal fortitude. There were plenty of those questions during the first two months of this season. That has miraculously changed under the direction of manager Jerry Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen.

It’s difficult to quantify how much the managerial and coaching changes have changed the Mets. I haven’t seen Dan Warthen throwing seven shutout innings but I have seen that from Oliver Perez and Pelfrey. I haven’t seen Jerry Manuel have a 9 RBI game but I did see that from Delgado. But something clearly changed on this team when the manager/coaching purge occurred. The Met took a little time to stabilize… Then caught fire!!!

The biggest change for me, as a fan, is that I like watching this team over the last month. I didn’t for the first two months of the season. It wasn’t fun or enjoyable. I understand that the Mets winning streak won’t carry into September, that’s not what I’m talking about. What I like about this team is their resiliency, their ability to mount a comeback, and the appearance that they want to win as badly as I want them to. That’s the kind of team that I’ll pay to watch.

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Mets Sweep Rockies With 7-0 Win

The Mets won their ninth game in a row tonight, the longest winning streak in eight years as they head into the All-Star break. Mike Pelfrey was dominant again, going eight shutout innings and getting a curtain call by the Shea crowd. He gave up six hits and no walks along with five strikeouts.

Carlos Beltran got the party started with a three run homer in the first inning. He finished the game going 3 for 4. Carlos Delgado hit a monster shot off the scoreboard that was estimated at over 500 feet.

But the story of the night was Pelfrey continuing his run of complete domination and five wins in his last five starts. Incredible.

The Mets don’t gain any ground on the Phillies today but go into the break as baseball’s hottest team and only a half game out of the NL East lead.

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