Tag: Damion Easley

Braves Sweep Mets Again With 4-2 Win

The Mets fell below .500 after being swept in a four game series by the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are now 6-0 against the Mets in Atlanta.

Johan Santana takes the loss after going seven innings and giving up four runs (three earned) on 12 hits. That’s more hits than Santana has ever given up in a start during his career.

Things were looking good for the Mets when Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado hit back to back homers in the second inning. But that was all of the offense that the Mets could muster. Tim Hudson was able to shut down the Mets after that going eight strong innings.

Damion Easley wasn’t with the team tonight. He was in Arizona attending his son’s high school graduation. The Mets travel to Colorado tonight to begin a three game series against the Rockies this weekend.

Box score

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Mets Have Problems, I Have Solutions

The first two months of the season have proven that the New York Mets have an average record with above average talent. That’s on the manager. Beyond managerial problems, the Mets have several issues on their roster. Not every problem can be solved easily but there are some quick, inexpensive solutions.

Problems:

  1. Manager– Willie Randolph briefly lost his mind while speaking to Ian O’Connor of the Bergen Record on Sunday. If Randolph can’t keep it together better than that he shouldn’t be leading this team. It’s as simple as that.
  2. First base– Carlos Delgado has turned into an automatic out. But even during losing streaks and blowout loses he continues to smile and yuk it up at first base with the opposing team.
  3. Left field– Moises Alou is a natural-born hitting machine. He’s also chronically on the disabled list.
  4. Second base– Luis Castillo was just signed to a four year contract prior to this season, as hard as that is to believe. His legs look like they could give out at any moment. His game depends on speed and range in the field and now he doesn’t have either.
  5. Bullpen– Aaron Heilman can’t figure out how to get hitters out this season. He swings back and forth between walking batters and giving up home runs. That’s a bad combination.
  6. Starting pitching– Pedro Martinez and El Duque on the disabled list since the beginning of the season has hurt the Mets badly. The gaping holes in the rotation have exposed Mike Pelfrey, Nelson Figueroa, and Claudio Vargas.

Wow, that’s a big list of problems! Although the list appears to be insurmountable, it’s not. Continue reading “Mets Have Problems, I Have Solutions”

Links: Jose Reyes and Oliver Perez

Jose Reyes– Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports writes about Reyes growing up in New York with the Mets. It’s a well written piece focusing on quotes from Reyes and Damion Easley. Despite the way that last season ended, particularly for Reyes, I’m convinced that he’s got a huge career ahead of him. He’ll be known as one of the best leadoff hitters ever by the time he’s finished playing.

Oliver Perez– Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes about Oliver Perez from the angle of his contentious arbitration hearing and impending free agency. The column contains plenty of Perez directed fluff from his agent, Scott Boras. Determining Perez’ value in free agency should be interesting because he’s such a wild card, no pun intended. He’s brilliant at moments and dreadful the next moment. I suppose Perez’ value will really depend on what other pitchers get on the free agent market in this coming off-season. Certainly, C.C. Sabbathia will be the big fish in the pond of free agency. Even though he’s had a tough start to this season, he’s got potential to be the #1 starter on most teams. After he signs, that will play a big part in determining how much value Perez has.

Mets Use Six Pitchers To Beat Atlanta Braves 4-3

John Maine went five innings and got the win today to go to 2-2 on the season. Five other pitchers from the bullpen combined to hold the Braves down over the last four innings. The only scare was Aaron Heilman giving up two hits and a run in the sixth. Heilman was heartily booed by the crowd of 51,000.

The Mets offense seemed to start waking up today too. Willie Randolph canceled batting practice this morning and told the players they could show up late at 11:30am. He’s pulling out all of the tricks in his book to try to get the Mets back on track. Yesterday he made the team take fielding practice before the game which is a rarity these days.

Reportedly Jeff Wilpon visited Willie in his office before the game. yesterday Maybe Willie is starting to get a little desperate and pushing every button he can think of. If it works, that’s great. If not, it comes across as grabbing at straws.

David Wright and Damion Easley both had two hits in the game. Ryan Church hit a triple off Tim Hudson, and Angel Pagan had a pinch hit triple off reliever Jeff Bennett.

Carlos Delgado took another “O-fer” and heard about it from the crowd in every at-bat. They’ve got to move him down to seventh or eighth in the lineup. He’s got nothing at the plate right now. He’s still hitting sixth on his reputation from a few years ago but it’s hurting the team. Willie needs to come to grips with that.

Box score

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Delgado Is Dead Weight And I’m Mad!

New York Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado before a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.Image via Wikipedia

Question: How do you get rid of $16 million worth of dead weight?

Answer: I have no idea.

I’m exasperated watching Carlos Delgado. He’s completely lost it. If he had any respect for himself he would return most of the money the Mets have paid him last season and so far this season and retire. He’s hurting the team. That’s what it comes down to.

The problem for the Mets is that there’s no solution to this problem. There isn’t another player on the team or in the minors that can play first base every day. I know about Mike Carp. He’s not going to play every day for this team. So, forget it.

There’s no way to get rid of Delgado without releasing him and paying him. It’s been done before. Damion Easley got released by the Tigers and they owed him $14 million. So that’s a possibility.

Delgado can’t be traded… Nobody would take him. I can’t even blame Omar Minaya for bringing him here. I went back and looked at his numbers. His last year with the Marlins was excellent. He was a .300 hitter. Since the 2006 season his skills seem to have just dropped off a cliff. He’s barely a .200 hitter now.

It’s also really bothering me that Willie won’t move him down from fifth in the lineup out of respect for Delgado. Forget respect, Willie! We’re trying to win games here. Delgado should be hitting sixth or seventh. Based on his performance, there’s no denying that.

The mainstream media is all over the topic too with columns here, here, and here.

What would you do with Delgado and first base after he’s gone?

Easley’s Run Completes Sweep of Nats

Damion Easley scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 14th inning to win a 4 hour and 45 minute game. Jorge Sosa got the win pitching the last two innings for the Mets. The final score was 3-2.

It looked like Nelson Figueroa might take the loss despite pitching another excellent game. He went seven innings giving up only two runs. Ronnie Belliard made an error in the eighth inning and Carlos Delgado made the Nationals pay for it with a bloop single to right field that tied the game and forced extra innings.

Nationals pitcher John Lannan, from Long Island, was terrific pitching 6 innings giving up only one run with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

Carlos Beltran didn’t play due to having a stiff neck.

Box score

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