Tag: Pedro Martinez

Cards Glaus Walks Off Against Mets 8-7

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Video Highlights

There were a lot of good things that happened for the Mets offense. The same Mets offense that’s struggled for consistent production all season. But for all of the good that the Mets did on offense, it was undone by bad pitching.

Pedro Martinez was bad again. Tonight was his third consecutive bad start and it raised his ERA to a whopping 7.39. It’s time to be concerned about his long term viability as a starter. His line tonight was 5 IP | 7 H | 5 R | 5 ER| 1 BB| 4 K| 2 HR. Pedro did come back after a rain delay in the fourth inning. But the damage was done by giving up four in the first inning on an RBI single by Rick Ankiel and a three run bomb by Troy Glaus. More on Glaus later.

In the eighth inning Aaron Heilman hit Ryan Ludwick with his first pitch of the inning. Then Chris Duncan hit a two run bomb off Pedro Feliciano on his first pitch to tie the game at seven. Troy Glaus hit his second homer of the game off Carlos Muniz in the ninth. Muniz is clearly overmatched by big league hitters. He’ll probably be sent back to Triple-A New Orleans after tonight’s game.

The Mets had some great offense tonight that went for naught. Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Damion Easley all had three hits in the game. Easley also had 3 RBI’s in his second consecutive start at second base. He may become the starting second baseman as there’s talk of Luis Castillo going on the disabled list.

Tough game tonight.

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On Deck: July 2- Mets At Cards (Game 3)

New York Mets (41-42 Road: 19-24) at St. Louis Cardinals (48-37 Home: 24-18)  8:15pm

Pedro Martinez (2-2 7.12) vs. Joel Pineiro (2-4 4.33)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: Pedro is toting that ugly ERA and there’s been some stories about how he’s been tipping his pitches. I’m not sure that I buy that, but we’ll see tonight. I like that Pedro’s velocity has been in the low 90’s and expected more from him than we’ve seen. Pedro’s next couple of starts will be telling about the Mets need to find an alternative for the rotation before the trading deadline.

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.

Pedro Horrible As Mets Lose 9-0 To Yankees

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Box score

Video Highlights 

This is the second consecutive awful start for Pedro Martinez. He gave up six runs before being chased from the game after 5.2 innings. He gave up six hits and five walks in that span to allow the Yankees to put the game completely out of reach.

Sidney Ponson was on cruise control against the Mets offense. Apparently, the Mets didn’t keep anything for the second game of the double header after scoring 15 runs in the first game.

It was an ugly game but not completely unexpected. Most double headers are split anyway.

On Deck: June 27- Yankees At Mets (Game 2)

New York Yankees (42-37 Road: 20-19) at New York Mets (39-39 Home: 21-16)  8:05pm

Sidney Ponson (4-1 3.88) vs. Pedro Martinez (2-1 6.57)

TV: YES, WPIX    Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets go for the split stadium double header sweep tonight. Ponson is making his first start for the Yankees this season after being released by the Rangers. Pedro gets his first start at Shea Stadium since his win versus Texas on June 15. Hopefully, the Mets crowd will lay off Carlos Delgado for one game after he went berserk in the Bronx.

Link: The Hall Nearly Devoid Of Latin Players

Juan Marichal, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame since 1983

Image via Wikipedia

I was shocked to read the Baseball Analysts post today that there’s only one player born in the Dominican Republic in the Hall of Fame, Juan Marichal and he was inducted in 1983. It’s also notable that there are only five Latin players in the Hall of Fame: Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Luis Aparicio, and Tony Perez.

The post notes that the 2008 opening day rosters contained 22.1% of foreign born players. There are several notable Latin players that will be Hall eligible over the next ten years, likely including our own Pedro Martinez. I can’t see him playing much more than a couple more years. We’ll also have some statistically deserving but questionable players like Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero.

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