Tag: David Wright

Mets Pitcher Billy Wagner: Bully Or Team Leader?

The biggest story with the New York Mets over the last week has been closer Billy Wagner ripping Oliver Perez after Perez’ dreadful start against the Pirates on Wednesday. It’s raised many questions about the Mets as a team.

Do the Mets need a team captain?– They could probably use a team captain but I don’t know who would be the logical candidate. They would want someone that’s going to be around for several years like Jose Reyes, David Wright, Johan Santana, or Carlos Beltran. I doubt that it would be Santana. Typically, captains are position players. Wright and Reyes are pretty young to captain a team of veterans. Beltran is usually so quiet that it’s hard to picture him as the team leader. I don’t think that Billy Wagner would even enter the discussion on this topic. Continue reading “Mets Pitcher Billy Wagner: Bully Or Team Leader?”

Reyes, Mets Rock First Place D-Backs 7-2

Sorry for the late post but I was too tired to start writing last night. These West coast night games are tough.

John Maine, once again, didn’t have a great game although his velocity was up from his previous starts. You never know if it’s the radar gun in the particular stadium though. The radar gun at Chase Park had Maine throwing his fastball as high as 95-96, which is unusually high for him. But he has had some “dead arm” periods over the last couple of years.

Jose Reyes put on a show offensively going 4 for 5 with 3 runs and a stolen base. He also had an incredible diving stop and throw at shortstop. He was on fire last night. Two of his hits were triples and one was a double. In one triple he was thrown out at home going for an inside the park homer. Reyes is the most exciting player in baseball right now… period!

David Wright looked good at the plate. He was right on the ball last night. He went 3 for 5 with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s, including one double. Even Carlos Delgado got in on the act going 2 for 4 with two singles.

It was great to see Moises Alou back in left field. He’s still turning on inside pitches and ripping line drives into the outfield. He adds a huge force in the middle of the lineup.

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Pirates Drub Mets 13-1

Oliver Perez had one of his occasional terrible starts only going 1.2 innings giving up seven runs but only two were earned. The defense was horrible with errors by David Wright, Luis Castillo, and Angel Pagan.

Nelson Figueroa did a nice job of eating some innings in a bad game. He just pitched on Sunday but came in to throw 3.1 innings giving up one run.

This was just one of those bad, bad games that can happen on once in a while. I wouldn’t take too much from it. It’s over and the Mets have a day off tomorrow before leaving for their West coast swing.

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Wright’s Big Hit Beats Pirates 5-4 in 11 Innings

David Wright was the hero tonight in the eleventh inning. He hit a bases loaded shot to the wall in right field to win it. Jose Reyes had a big night at the plate going 3 for 3 and a stolen base (6). Although Reyes did have a costly throwing error in the ninth inning that helped the Pirates to tie the game. It’s all good because the Mets ended up winning, but it was a great sign to see Reyes hitting again.

Once again, Johan Santana didn’t look like he had his best stuff but it was better than most pitchers. He didn’t make it through the sixth tonight. He also had the crowd worried when Nate McClouth led off the game with a homer.

Billy Wagner pitched two innings tonight so I doubt that he’ll be available to pitch tomorrow. He actually gave up his first run of the year although it was unearned.

Aaron Heilman struggled again through .1 innings giving up one hit and a walk. Scott Schoenweiss came in to finish the inning and made a huge play tagging Ronny Paulino on a wild pitch play at the plate in the seventh.

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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.

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Video Highlights

Phillies, Utley Take Third Game 5-4

Chase Utley hit two homers off Mike Pelfrey and had four RBI’s. Pelfrey was just terrible pitching five innings and giving up 10 hits, two walks and four earned runs. Pedro Feliciano wasn’t much better in the seventh giving up two hits a walk and a run in .2 innings.

Jose Reyes 2 for 5 and David Wright 2 for 3 continued their hot hitting but it wasn’t enough to overcome Pelfrey’s poor start. The Mets had two men on base in the ninth against Brad Lidge but Luis Castillo couldn’t get a bunt down, Wright popped out, and Beltran hit a hard grounder up the middle that Eric Bruntlett made a great diving play on.

The Mets still took two out of three in the series so as long as they keep winning series they’ll be fine. They fly to Chicago tonight to play to against the Cubs.

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