The news is out today that the Mets players are holding a players only meeting to hash out the problems that were brought to a head yesterday. In addition, it’s being reported that Billy Wagner has apologized to Carlos Delgado today and didn’t mean to single him out. Watch his post game comments below and the reaction from reporters Adam Rubin and Kevin Kernan.
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WFAN’s Ed Coleman talks to Mike and the Mad Dog after the game. Billy Wagner has the same beef that Paul LoDuca had last season. Some players disappear after the game and won’t talk to the press. The issue specifically today was that Carlos Delgado left quickly after the game without talking to the media. Listen to the full story at the WFAN link below. Wagner also spoke his mind to ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay after the game. Read David Lennon’s account of the interview at Newsday.
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The New York Mets should continue the recent trend in baseball by locking up their young talent with long term contracts. The Mets have already done that with Jose Reyes and David Wright. So this practice wouldn’t be out of character for the team. Other teams have started getting in on this as well. Last month the Rays signed Evan Longoria to a six year deal.
John Maine deserves a long term deal now. The benefit is avoiding a contentious arbitration hearing where the team is forced into a antagonistic role of pointing out the players faults. The Mets have done a great job of avoiding that until this season when Oliver Perez beat the Mets in arbitration to earn $6.5 million this season. Continue reading “Mets Should Pay John Maine Now”
John Maine had another great game tonight going six strong innings and giving up two runs on two hits. One of those hits was a home run by Ryan Zimmerman. The other highlight for the Nats was an outstanding catch by Lastings Milledge on a deep fly to center by Carlos Delgado. Milledge made a running catch on the warning track and hit the wall but managed to hang onto the ball.
I know that this sounds like a broken record but Ryan Church had another big game offensively. He was 2 for 4 with 4 RBI’s and his eighth home run. This guy is making a contribution every night.
Maine hit Felipe Lopez with the first pitch of the game sending a clear message about last nights game. Apparently Maine didn’t like the Nationals dugout antics last night. I’m surprised that there wasn’t any retaliation from Nationals pitcher John Lannan. He may have to answer to his teammates for that.
Nelson Figueroa didn’t solidify his position on the team tonight at all. He was wild giving up five walks and made a costly throwing error with the bases loaded. Figueroa gave up six runs, four were earned after his own error and a sloppy fielding error by Carlos Delgado.
Jorge Sosa came into the game in the sixth inning and threw some gas on the fire. He was just as awful as he’s been all season long, giving up four runs in the inning. Joe Smith struck out the side in the eighth making it more difficult to send him to the minors when Matt Wise comes back. The SNY team reported that Wise was sent back to Florida even though he’s healthy and ready to pitch.
The Washington Nationals were hitting everything from Figueroa and Sosa. When they weren’t hitting, they were taking walks. It was an ugly game for the Mets to lose to the lowly Nats. Odalis Perez, the pitcher, went 3 for 3. That’s how bad the Mets pitchers were tonight. Need I say more?
I have to comment on Elijah Dukes chanting in the dugout when the Nats were batting. I haven’t seen anything like that since Little League. I was hoping Billy Wagner would put one in his rib cage when he pinch hit in the ninth inning. That was completely Bush League.
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Carlos Beltran is back! He continued to hit the Reds hard again on Mother’s Day going 2 for 5 with 2 RBI’s and his third home run of the season. Beltran was ice cold going into Los Angeles this week and started to show signs of life. Against Cincinnati he showed that he’s right on the ball.
Oliver Perez was serviceable going six innings for the win. He looked great until the sixth inning when things started to fall apart and he gave up three runs. This was his best start since April 19th in Philly.
Ryan Church continued his dream season making a fantastic catch against the wall in right field, and hitting a homer which was back to back with Beltran.
Carlos Delgado looks pretty comfortable in the seventh spot in the order. I hope Willie keeps him there until he proves that he deserves to move up.
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It wasn’t Johan Santana’s best performance but it’s typical for him this season. He can get into trouble, giving up 10 hits and a walk today, but he can work his way out. Santana got his fourth win of the season against an outmanned Cincinnati team.
There was a lot of offense on display for the Mets in the first game of today’s double header. Particulary, Carlos Delgado had three hits including a home run. He batted seventh in the order for the first time since 1995. Mets fans have been calling for him to be dropped in the order for weeks and Willie Randolph finally came to same conclusion. It seems like Willie is always the last one to figure these things out.
Brian Schneider also homered today. Surprisingly it was his first extra base hit of the season. I would guess that we’ll see Ramon Castro catching for the first time this season in the second game today.
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