Tag: Ryan Church

Padres Over Mets 6-5 April 13, 2009

Heath BellThe San Diego Padres managed to spoil the Mets grand opening of Citi Field by winning a close one 6-5. Mike Pelfrey definitely didn’t have it for the second start in a row. He went 5 innings giving up five runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. Jody Gerut led off the game with a home run to right field and we knew that we could be in for a long night.

The Mets did manage to put together a four run rally in the fifth inning capped by a 3-run homer by David Wright. But it wasn’t enough.

In the top of the sixth Ryan Church misplayed a fly ball off his glove. The runner, Luis Rodriguez, ended up scoring on a balk of all things by Pedro Feliciano. The Mets are finding new ways to lose in the early going this season.

The Padres win their fifth straight game as the Mets drop to 3-4. Heath Bell ended up getting his wish, he got the first save at Citi Field.

Box score

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js

Sheffield To Start Against Padres

PORT ST LUCIE, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Manager Jerr...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Mets manager Jerry Manuel told reporters before last night’s game that Gary Sheffield likely won’t get a start in the outfield until Wednesday at home against the Padres. Manuel had been planning on starting Sheffield on Sunday against the Marlins.

The Mets have been working Sheffield in the outfield before each game getting him ready to play defensively. He hasn’t played the outfield regularly since 2005. There have even been reports that Sheffield believes that he needs to lose weight to be an effective outfielder.

The Mets don’t need to rush Sheffield because Ryan Church is hitting the cover off the ball so far this season. Through the first four games he’s hitting .533/ .588/ .733.

Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js

Marlins Over Mets 5-4 In Walkoff April 10, 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - FEBRUARY 25: Daniel Murp...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The good news for the Mets tonight is that John Maine looked pretty good. He went five innings giving up two runs, both on solo homers from Hanely Ramirez and Dan Uggla. He threw 83 pitches and 54 strikes. That’s a nice game for Maine who struggled at times during spring training.

The Mets offense came from Daniel Murphy, Carlos Beltran, and Ryan Church who had three hits each tonight. But as a team the Mets were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position. That’s been plaguing the team throughout the early season. Beltran had a solo homer in the sixth to put the Mets on the board and an RBI ground out in the seventh.

Jeremy Reed came through with a huge pinch-hit single in the ninth to tie the game. But it wasn’t enough as Pedro Feliciano and Darren O’Day coughed up the lead in the bottom of the frame. Jorge Cantu singled in the winning run in the form of Emilio Bonifacio. Bonifacio looks like he’s going to be a good player. He’s got blazing speed.

The Marlins are still undefeated at 4-0 while the Mets drop to 2-2.

Box score

Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js

Mets News Top Stories- April 8, 2009

NEW YORK - APRIL 08: Ryan Church #19 of the N...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Mets endured one of the dreaded road days off yesterday in Cincinnati. If you’ve ever been there you know that its not one of the most exciting cities in the United States. The reports were that the most entertaining thing that the Mets could find to do yesterday was go to the movies. Apparently, the city is so boring that they decided to do a double feature and kill the whole day at the movies. If that’s not an indictment of a boring city, I don’t know what is. The Mets chance to enjoy the entertaining city of Cincinnati comes to an end today when they go back to work against the Reds.

Onto today’s top stories:

The Sporting News is reporting that Bronson Arroyo will start for the Reds against the Mets tomorrow. He’s been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome but he had a cortisone shot and is feeling good enough to pitch. Micah Owings was going to take his place in the Reds rotation.

Ben Shipgel of The New York Times recounts the whole Ryan Church concussion saga from last season. He talks about how the Gary Sheffield signing will impact Church’s playing time.  Shipgel says he can’t understand why the Mets are pushing Church so hard this season. It’s simple… They expect more from him than what they’re getting. The Mets think Church is capable of doing more than he’s shown.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post talks about the Mets bullpen and how Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church both played well on Monday. The Sheffield signing could push both of them to step up their games or lose playing time.

Saturday’s game against the Marlins won’t be televised for the first hour of the game. It’s scheduled to start at 6:10 pm because there’s a concert by rap star Flo Rida after the game. SNY is scheduled to broadcast the game but Fox has exclusive rights on Saturday’s until 7:05 pm.

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated writes another column about how Mike Pelfrey and other young pitchers are at risk of injury or regression in performance because of their increased innings pitched at a young age. At this point, Verducci is pretty much making a living off of this theory of his that most major league teams don’t subscribe to. I’m not saying that Verducci is wrong about this. But he needs to find another topic to write about. He’s beating a dead horse now. We all know about his grand theory about young pitchers. Move on now Tom.

Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js

Wright Call Lands Sheffield For Mets

David WrightThe newest Met, Gary Sheffield, spoke to the media today after the last exhibition game of the season against the Red Sox. Sheffield talked about how his uncle, Dwight Gooden, had spoken to him over the years about signing with the Mets. But it never quite worked out, until now.

One interesting fact that came out during the press conference was that David Wright called Sheffield urging him to sign with the Mets. Jimmy Rollins from the Philadelphia Phillies and Dusty Baker from the Cincinnati Reds had also put calls into Sheffield.It seems that Sheffield was most impressed that Wright made the effort to get in touch with him about signing with the Mets.

From ESPN:

“When you have the face of the franchise making a call to you, that means a lot,” said Sheffield, who’s one home run shy of 500. “You never want to tell other people you’re going the other way, but when he made that call I made my decision.”

Apparently, David Wright really has some clout around baseball now. That’s great for a young guy that hasn’t been around that long to have established himself. We’ll see how much Marlon Anderson, Ryan Church, and Daniel Murphy appreciate Wright’s call to Sheffield. They’re the ones that stand to lose the most by Sheffield’s presence on the team.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Gary Sheffield, Mets Agree On Contract

gary-sheffieldMike Francesa is reporting on WFAN that the Mets have agreed to a contract with Detroit Tigers castoff Gary Sheffield. Its a good low risk, high reward move that could play a big part in the 2009 season for the Mets. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reported that two Mets scouts met with Sheffield in Tampa on Wednesday for a workout at a college field. They wanted to see what Sheffield could do in the outfield. He hasn’t played the outfield regularly since 2005 when he played 131 games in right field for the Yankees.

This move may spell the end of Marlon Anderson‘s tenure with the Mets. Anderson’s contract was a mistake. The Mets shouldn’t have given him a 2-year deal before the 2008 season. The Mets will have to eat the $1.15 million that they owe him for 2009.

Sheffield shores up the possibility that Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church can’t handle playing the corner outfield spots every day. It also relieves the Mets of their lefty heavy lineup that’s been a concern for Mets fans throughout the offseason.

The other teams that were reported to be interested in Shef were the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Philles. A point that I haven’t heard anyone address to this point is that signing Sheffield keeps him away from the Phillies. The Mets haven’t engaged in that type of activity much in recent years but its not a bad idea. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have been doing this to each other for years. There’s no reason that the Mets shouldn’t try to keep useful players like Sheffield away from the Phillies.

Overall, I think its a good move that will pay dividends for the Mets. The key is to make sure that Sheffield gets enough at-bats in the outfield to keep him happy. If he’s not happy with his playing time, he can cause real problems for this team.

Verducci: 2009 Mets Have Several Key Questions

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/Javascripts/PisV3.jshttp://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/javascripts/DataV3.ashx?ImageId=687643&PublisherId=1326MLB: FEB 26 Spring Training - Marlins at Mets

SI’s Tom Verducci addressed the Mets in his “Spring Training Post Cards” series today. I really like Verducci and he nailed the Mets first couple of weeks of spring training perfectly. Here’s a quick summary of the issues he addressed:

  1. Jerry Manuel has brought a looser feel to the team this season than Willie Randolph had in the past.
  2. Jose Reyes batting third is an interesting experiment and meant to push Luis Castillo, not Reyes. He suggests that Castillo may be best served batting ninth in the order.
  3. The Mets outfielders don’t have a lot of high-ceiling guys. And they don’t know what to expect out of Ryan Church after he couldn’t get it together after his second concussion.
  4. Livan Hernandez could really help the Mets if he can get about 15 starts in this season.
  5. The daily roller coaster of Johan Santana’s health is hanging over the team like a cloud right now.

I’m surprised that he didn’t mention Carlos Beltran in his discussion of the Mets outfielders. Beltran gives the Mets a lot of flexibility to play guys that don’t have outfield experience. He covers a ton of ground in the outfield and leads the other players positioning.

I’m also surprised that he didn’t mention what a bust that Freddy Garcia is turning out to be. Livan Hernandez is fine, but the Mets need to find someone that solidify the number five spot in the rotation.

Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js