San Diego Padres (43-69 Road: 18-35) at New York Mets (58-53 Home: 32-20) 7:10pm
Chris Young (4-4 4.12) vs. Mike Pelfrey (9-7 3.91)
What to watch: The only thing I can say about this is that the Mets owe the Padres a major beating for sweeping a four game series in June in California. Remember the three 2-1 games that the Mets lost there? It’s payback time.
Tues. Aug. 5 7:10pm Chris Young (4-4 4.12) vs. Mike Pelfrey (9-7 3.91)
Wed. Aug. 6 7:10pm Cha Seung Baek (3-6 5.22) vs. Pedro Martinez (3-2 6.16)
Thurs. Aug. 7 12:10 pm Josh Banks (3-4 3.65) vs. Johan Santana (9-7 2.86)
What to watch: The Padres are in last place in the worst division in baseball. Only the Mariners and Nationals have worse records this season. The Padres swept the Mets in a four game series in San Diego during the first week of June. So the Mets owe them a beating. Anything less than a sweep will be a failure in my mind.
The Mets rotation is unaffected by John Maine’s injury for this series. So there are no excuses not to clobber a bad team like the Padres.
There’s been some talk about whether Trevor Hoffman should still be closing game for the Padres. He took the loss Friday night when he gave up a run in the 10th inning against the Giants. He’s converted 23 of 26 save opportunities this season but he’s 1-6 with a 4.59 ERA. Not very closer-like numbers.
Several Mets players are in the news today as they finish the fourth game of their series against the San Diego Padres.
New York Mets (30-31) at San Diego Padres (27-37) 4:05pm
Pedro Martinez (1-0 6.75) vs. Wil Ledezma (0-2 4.43)
TV: CW11 Radio: WFAN
What to watch: The Mets try to avoid a four game sweep in San Diego today. The Mets are now 2-4 on this road trip and one game under .500. If the Mets get swept today, the coaching staff may not be the same when they resume play against the D-Backs on Tuesday.
Oliver Perez improved greatly over his last start in San Francisco but it wasn’t enough to beat the lowly Padres. For the third consecutive game the Padres beat the Mets by a score of 2-1. This time it was in ten innings on a home run by Scott Hairston off Pedro Feliciano.
The Padres only other run in the game was also a solo homer by Michael Barrett in the fifth inning off Perez.
The Mets left 11 men on base and just can’t seem to come up with a big hit in this series despite missing Greg Maddox, Jake Peavey, and Chris Young the Padres three best pitchers.
Surprisingly, Carlos Delgado went 3 for 4 in the game to raise his average to .237 for the season.
Ryan Church is out of the lineup again tonight against the San Deigo Padres. It’s the third game in the last four that he hasn’t played. Last night there was an obvious opportunity for him to pinch hit in the ninth. Instead Carlos Delgado got the nod. After the game Church told reporters that he couldn’t play and got annoyed at the line of questioning.
Church has been the most consistent offensive force on the Mets this season. He’s also played a Gold Glove caliber right field. I can see why the Mets are hesitant to put him on the disabled list and lose him for two weeks. It’s not like the Mets have someone in the minors that can come up and rake at the big league level. That’s obvious by the brief callup’s of Raul Casanova and Nick Evans. If it’s a couple of days off that he needs, keep him on the active roster and deal with it.
Last night Johan Santana was hit in the left shoulder by a Randy Wolf pitch. He went down to the ground and stayed there for a minute before recovering and continuing the at-bat. He pitched the bottom of the sixth inning after being hit and told reporters after the game that he didn’t think that it affected his pitching.
Anybody that’s played baseball and been hit by a pitch knows that it’s usually more surprising than it is painful. Unless you take one in the back, knee, or face it’s not a big deal. The only concern here is that it’s his pitching shoulder and might bruise up. I haven’t seen any injury reports on Santana today so I don’t think this will affect his next start.
New York Mets (30-30) at San Diego Padres (26-37) 10:05pm
Oliver Perez (4-4 5.70) vs. Cha Seung Baek (1-2 5.60)
What to watch: Both starting pitchers are struggling this season. So if there ever was a game that we might see some offense at Petco Park, this is it. The Mets need to win both remaining games in the series against the Padres just to go home even. Unfortunately, they have to rely on Perez tonight. He only went .1 innings in his last start in San Francisco but you never know what you’ll get from him.
The Mets Report 