Here’s the SNY video from the post game wrap of the Mets 10-9 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. I’m disappointed that they didn’t include the video of Carlos Beltran telling MLB.com’s reporter that he’s not a baseball player. That was the best! I think it was Jon Blau but it was hard to tell from the video. I like that Carlos is starting to show some emotion this season. Anyway, here are the videos:
Tag: Jerry Manuel
Manuel Ejected As Mets Beat Phils 10-9
The Mets had a 10-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning and the bullpen did the best they could to give the game up. Jerry Manuel was ejected for arguing a disputed home run call in the seventh inning. But the Mets end up taking three of four games from the Phillies on the road for a huge win. They also go over .500 for the first time in more than a month.
Pedro Martinez pitched pretty well tonight which was a nice change from his previous three starts. He ended up going 5.1 innings giving up two runs. He threw 105 pitches though, way too many for five innings. He still needs to get sharper.
David Wright was the offensive star going 2 for 5 with 4 RBI’s and his 17th home run. Damion Easley, Endy Chavez, and Fernando Tatis had three hits apiece. Interesting that these bench guys are going hard for more playing time. Jerry Manuel’s “reward system” is definitely having an impact on the team.
Tony Armas, Aaron Heilman, and Billy Wagner were all giving up runs at an alarming rate after Pedro left the game. Notably Wagner had his second shaky outing in a row. He needs to get his game together. He already has six blown saves and almost added another tonight.
Mets In The News: Beltran, Reyes, El Duque, And More
Image via WikipediaAs the Mets prepare to face the Phillies today at 1:35pm, there are several stories circulating the newswire:
- Mets manager Jerry Manuel told the press that he’s thinking of moving Carlos Beltran to second in the batting order so he sees more fastballs. I’m in complete agreement. Even moving him to third would be better.
- El Duque is going to start his rehab work in Port St. Lucie this week.
- Moises Alou is working out in NYC now. He’s expected to play a few rehab games with Brooklyn or Binghamton before returning to the Mets from his calf strain injury.
- John Maine feels fine after experiencing cramping in his left forearm last night. He’ll be doing his regular workouts between starts.
- A fan has filed notice to the City of New York that he intends to sue for $5.5 million after being hit in the face last August by a piece of Luis Castillo’s bat that shattered.
- David Wright will not participate in the All-Star game home run derby.
- Mike Lupica writes at the Daily News that Jose Reyes is the best shortstop in New York this season and gets picked on too much for the things he does on the field.
Pulling Santana After Eighth Was The Right Decision
The analysis of Jerry Manuel’s move last night to pull Johan Santana seems to have come down on the side of leaving Santana in to pitch the ninth inning. Hindsight is 20/20 but I would’ve made the same decision as Manuel.
There’s no need to leave Santana in a tie game for the bottom of the ninth inning. All he can do is hold or lose the game, he’s not going to win it for the Mets. Although he had thrown just 95 pitches Santana is going to be here for six more years so that has to be kept in mind. There’s no need to max him out in a game that he can’t win. If the Mets were up by one or two runs, I would’ve left Santana in there to close it out.
The only thing that I might have done would’ve been to pull the plug on Duaner Sanchez after Pedro Feliz doubled off him. Shane Victorino is a much better left handed hitter. So Manuel could have used Scott Schoenweiss or Pedro Feliciano to turn him around. Victorino hits .213 against lefties versus .289 versus righties.
Sanchez hasn’t given up a run since June 10th. That’s ten appearances since the last run he’s given up. He’s earned his spot at the end of the bullpen. So I don’t have a problem with him coming in for Santana in the ninth.
There’s no point in having your best pitcher, whether its Santana or Billy Wagner, pitch the ninth inning of a tie game. I’ve written about that before here. Santana or Wagner should be used to lock down a win at the end of a game not hold it for someone else.
Mets Roster Moves: Castillo to DL, Aguila Recalled, Reyes Called Up
No, not that Reyes! Argenis Reyes is a second baseman at Triple-A New Orleans. He’s being called up to fill Luis Castillo’s spot in the roster. Castillo is going on the disabled list with a strained left hip flexor.
Outfielder Chris Aguila is coming back from New Orleans for his second tour of duty with the Mets this season. He’ll replace Carlos Muniz on the roster. He might even get a start in St. Louis tonight. Jerry Manuel plans to rest Carlos Beltran tonight.
Read the full story from Adam Rubin of the Daily News here.
Mets Roster Move: Carlos Muniz Sent Down
The Mets sent overmatched relief pitcher Carlos Muniz back to Triple-A New Orleans last night. He was optioned back to the minors minutes after taking the loss in last night’s game on a walk off home run by Troy Glaus. We don’t know who will replace Muniz on the roster yet but Jerry Manuel told reporters that he would like to have a position player for today’s game. Manuel has given hints that he’s going to rest Carlos Beltran today, so he could use some outfield help.
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.
The Mets Report 