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September 1, 2005
The Morning After: Phillies 8, Mets 2
Pedro’s got a meatball, who knew? The concern on this Thursday morning should be all about Petey. Is he a six inning pitcher now, or just a lot of bad luck? The home runs that were hit off of him (sans maybe Howard’s) were all on pitches across the middle of the plate. Pedro lost the all-important ability to change speeds in the sixth and he just got smacked around. Castro with two hits again, Cairo still sucks, Beltran looks locked in, Floyd should not swing at 3-0 pitches, Jacobs is not dead and Heath got rained on — unfairly. Rosters expand today and the Mets should benefit greatly from increased flexibility. Players need to be on the 40 man roster in order to be called up. The Mets stand at 38 right now and could pull an FRod by recalling someone like Lino Urdaneta and placing him on the 60 day disabled list. Ron Calloway is a candidate to be removed from the roster entirely. They may also move Cameron to the 60 day DL to free up a spot. Players I’d like to see called up and why include: Brian Daubach (Lefty bat) That’s ten spots. You can never callup too many players while in a playoff race. I assume the Mets will go with five tomorrow: Hamulack, Takatsu, Daubach, Ring, Pagan. Chin up, matinee baseball in a few hours. Barring a natural disaster or an act of God, Glavine gets his option today around 1:10. First postscript (12:34 am): The Mets have called up Ishii, Takatsu and Hamulack. All three will be at Shea this afternoon. Hopefully more will join them. 22 Responses to “The Morning After: Phillies 8, Mets 2”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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The Mets will overcome! Pedro 17-6 to finish the year!
I think Pedro was a 6-inning pitcher tonight, but I don’t think it’s necessarily accurate to draw the conclusion just from tonight that he’s a 6-inning pitcher. After all, he recently pitched 8 excellent innings against the Dodgers (admittedly, they’re a crappy team, but still …)and didn’t deserve to lose that game.
Anyway, through 6IP tonight, here was Pedro’s line: 2R, 2ER, 4H, 3BB (one probably semi-intentional to Abreu in the 1st), 5K, 2HR. Not spectacular, but certainly very good, especially given the hot, humid conditions, and he’s conceded he’s more beat up than in previous seasons. It’s amazing what he can do pitching at, say, 80-90% compared to what most can do at 100%.
At any rate, after 6 innings, what was most important at that point, to me anyway, was that the game was still tied. It looked to me that Pedro had emptied his tank in the 6th inning, and I was hoping someone else would be pitching the 7th. No such luck. I don’t know if we could have managed to pull off a win, especially with Willie’s ridiculous lineup having Cairo bat 2nd, but when Pedro gives up the lead, especially in the 7th inning, the Mets looked like they’d been sucker punched. There are different expectations out there, obviously, when Pedro is pitching.
So, what to do? Willie says he’s not going to go with a 6-man rotation, so I see no point in discussing that. Do you skip one of Pedro’s starts and go with Trax? I say “yes.” Pedro is weary. Give him some extra rest. After that, do you automatically take Pedro out after 6 innings? I say, “no.” You have to look at each game individually. But still, I’d be very careful with him.
What I want to know is this: If we the fans could see that Pedro was gassed after 6, why couldn’t Willie and Rick Peterson?
Personally, considering the 8, 9 and 1 spots were coming up, I thought leaving Pedro in for the 7th wasn’t a bad move. I would have left him in there.
It was a tough game to lose, no doubt. But I think I saw it coming. I mean, after Lofton made those two catches, I knew we were going to lose.
Remember that Norfolk is in the playoffs and that the organization would probably (just kidding) like to see the team win it all. So, half of those players listed need to be left at Norfolk for the present moment and some may be better off left permanently in any case (Santiago, etc.). Mets called up three after last night’s game - Hamulak, Takatsu & Ishii - and I hear that Menky is on the way as well for late inning defense.
That said, I doubt the Mets would install Hernandez at 2B in the middle of a pennant race, but we may see him (or Pagan &/or Lydon) in a pinch runner role. I suspect the Mets will wait to put Hernandez on the 40 man until this winter.
It would be nice to see a centerfielder besides Ice, but I guess that the organization will prefer to lean on his experience. He must be something like 60 years old in baseball years by now!
So, maybe Daubach or Valent and one of the speedsters will eventually get the call in September; otherwise I’d be surprised if the Mets call anyone else up. They seem to have soured on Ring and Koo may even be designated for assignment to open up another spot on the 40 man.
Unless Pedro is injured and cannot go, he needs to take the ball every fifth day. You cannot spot start Trachsel in his place during a playoff race.
OFF - generically, leaving Pedro in would have been the right move. Last night, though, he had to struggle mightily to get out of the 6th. He gave up a lead-off homer, then a double. After that, he did what Pedro does, including throwing his only 90mph fast-ball of the night, and wiggled out of the inning with the game tied at 2. My feeling was that he had given absolutely everything that he had, and taking him out at that point (double switching, replacing Pedro and Cairo with Matsui and Hernandez) would have been a reward for Pedro, saying “job well done”. Pedro is not a 6-inning pitcher - just a weary and banged up pitcher.
WHY NOT PLAY A YOUNGSTER AT 2nd?? is it really possible that he could do WORSE?? Just who is beltran,floyd and wright supposed to drive in when there is no one on base? Does anyone think that maybe castros RBI totals lately are because HE has some runners to drive in?
Everybody knew Pedro’s arm was a little iffy when we signed him. There’s 3 more years on his contract and 6 able starters on the staff. Give Pedro an extra day! It did wonders out of the all star break. I’m concerned they’re running him into the ground when we will (hopefully!) have meaningfull games in each of the following Septembers to come. And what if we do pull it off in ‘05?
As for the Cairo thing, I never thought I’d say it but i’m in the start Matsui camp as well. In the end though, we just got beat last night. It’s not anyone’s fault–sometimes the other team plays better…
Today is officially the Must Win of the season. We need Glavine to step up big time. With all the lefties on Phillie, Beltran’s mysterious daytime hitting surge, I have a good feeling we’ll take 2 of 3 which ain’t to shabby
Why is not Woodward playing second base? Both Cairo and Matzui have been terrible
Amen on Woodward… even Cohen & Rose don’t discuss him when lamenting the 2B disaster. Have people forgotten he’s not a 1B/OF?
I think Pedro just hit the wall last night, and the Phillies were looking for fastball and hit them. I’ll worry about Pedro if it happens again. Also 2b needs to be addressed, Cairo is the biggest rally killer since Rey Ordonez. Bat him 9th today, Glavine is a better hitter. Willie can be loyal to a fault and this has gone way beyond that.
I think the “new” high 80’s Pedro is going to get smacked around once in a while. His fastball just doesn’t have the giddyup it used to and he has to rely even more on changing speeds. And he did have the extra day’s rest this time, since they were off Monday. Hot night, humid. The occassional meatball is going to happen. Plus, give the Phils credit, they have a good hitting lineup and adjusted.
This isn’t a comment on Pedro’s effort or heart, but if his velocity keeps dipping at this rate, he may have a hard time finding work in a slow pitch softball league by the end of his contract. As for Willie not wanting to put too much pressure on Hernandez, one wonders if the Marlins still win the ‘03 series if they had been worried about putting too much pressure on Miguel Cabrera.
One more thing…why was (is) everyone on Heath Bell’s jock? To me he looks like a chubby version of Danny “The Human White Flag” Graves.
Hey, at least football season’s starting soon :)
He gave up a HR and a single. Abreu stole 2nd. He then proceeded to strikeout Burell, Howard and induce a pop out from David Bell. Perhaps you are right and he had given all he had right there, but we just simply don’t know.
How does Bell look like Danny Graves? The former has a 90+ mph fastball and throws strikes. The latter has a BP fastball and pretty crappy control. Yes, Bell has struggled at times, but come on. Here are their 2005 stats:
Heath Bell
44.1 IP 50 hits 12/39 bb/so 3 HRs
17/3 inherited runners/inherited runners that scored
Danny Graves
36.2 IP 57 hits 18/18 bb/so 8 HRs
20/11 inherited runners/inherited runners that scored
Needless to say, the two are not comparable at all. Like I mentioned, Bell has struggled at times, but Danny Graves is quite possibly the worst reliever to pitch in the major leagues this year. As to why did I like and continue to like Bell? Well, because of what you see above. His peripherals are pretty damn good. While you can point out to his abuse of the fastball as to a reason why he’s struggled, I also think he’s been a bit unlucky. His BABIP is ridiculous. I expect him to be a quality reliever next year.
You’re right, and I was speaking from anger, but I still think the jury’s very much out on Bell. He is good with inherited runners, and the stuff is there, it just seems like he gives up a run everytime he pitches.
a couple bad games and petey is a 6 inning pitcher. im not giving up
on him yet. maybe they should go to a 6 man rotation with trachsel.
maybe they should set zambrano on fire. that being said however, i
think starting pitching killed the mets in these last two games
against the phils. glavine and petey just didnt have it, despite the
fact that lately the starting pitching has been doing quite well. but
you can’t blame these losses on the bats, beltran, willie or omar.
remember that scene in revenge of the nerds where the japanese nerd
“hair pie!”….”looks like tossed salad”….does a competition where
you have to drink lots of alcohol and ride a kiddie bike and while
he does it they play a hokey, cheezy yoshi song. well they should
play that everytime matsui bats. including during pitches.
I was at Shea last night and Pedro’s fastball was ringing in at 83 all night. It was flat and slow… so slow that the scoreboard guys didn’t know what pitch to label it as. After a 73 mph curveball, the scoreboard would just read 83… I’m perplexed.
I think that we should use Trachsel and give Pedro an entire turn off. This 6 inning stuff is ridiculous. I’d rather give us a great chance to win with a rested Pedro and a good chance to win with Trachsel, rather than 95 pitches of Pedro in both starts.
PS check out the wishful headline on Fanball:
Mets: Glavine gets the win
by Fanball Staff - Fanball.com
Thursday, September 1, 2005
News
Mets starter Tom Glavine saw his record fall to 10-12 on Thursday afternoon with a loss to the Phillies. He allowed two runs on three hits over seven innings and recorded six strikeouts.
Views
Glavine has suffered a loss in each of his last two starts and in five of his last eight.
Updated on Thursday, Sep 1, 2005 7:04 pm EDT
Guys, I hate to type this, but I think we’re all beating around the bush here:
Pedro’s hurt.
For the first two months, we watched Petey DOMINATE with a 90-94 MPH fastball, which was complemented by his other terrific stuff. In only one start - which was against the Cardinals at Shea - do I remember him failing to hit 90 MPH. He lost, but IIRC, he went on to win the next start.
Towards later June, through most of July and early August, Pedro lost a little pop on his fastball. Alright, it was still 87-90 MPH. With that, he can still set down a line up along with that nasty breaking ball and circle change.
But now look at his last two starts alone: in Arizona, he git 90 MPH, but lacked the dominating command that usually goes with his pitches. I was at the Phillies game, and I can back up Brian’s analysis: Pedro was hitting 83 MPH all night, with the exception of a few pitches which hit 87. Heck, it was the same way during the Nationals’ game where Danny Gravedigger gave up the lead, except Pedro had an 8-0 lead and so he could’ve been holding back in order to conserve energy.
83 MPH, folks. That can’t just be Petey’s hurt foot or just fatigue- it’s his arm (possibly shoulder). True, it could be that his arm is tired and, if that’s the case, Willie needs to give him extra rest down the stretch. I’f rather have Pedro pitching less frequently but with dominance as opposed to watching him throw meatballs all night long. But I’d keep my eye on him during the next start. If Pedro can’t comfortably hit at least 86-87 MPH, then there definitely is something wrong. I’m hoping he can prove me wrong…
I also agree about the website, and just came back from vacation for a week and opened the site. Was quite saddened by it, because the site has become my friend and now I feel like I lost it a little. And the lack of links as well is tough.
Can we go back to the way things were?
As far as the Mets go, I hate bringing it up again, but we all have to look at the source of our recent problems. As usual, its Willie Randolph. Here is just a few reasons why:
1- Still batting Beltran third, just freaking amazing.
2- Still batting Matsui/cairo second. Freaking stupidity.
3- Still going with Jacobs everyday while he continues to go 0 for 4. SImply ludicrous.
4- Still batting jacobs ahead of diaz and castro. SImply off the wall.
5- Leaving in defelice to bat, as the game went into the 8th, on thurs. Crazy.
6- bringing in looper yesterday in the 9th. Not normal.
7-having floyd steal second on a strike two count, which made wright have to swing at a outside pitch for strike 3.
8- Leaving in Pedro too long on Wed. Not giving him extra day off. Simply blind.
9- Not wanting to try hernandez at second. Stupid loyalty to his’ guys’.
10- Calling up Koo. Off the charts lunacy.
11- Messing up Traschel and the whole starters situation, instead of just MAKING A NORMAL DECISION, and put Zambrano in the bullpen, or have pedro skip a start. Just so inept.
12- still favoring cairo over matsui or better woodward or anderson. A complete moron.
and of course, other usual assortment of stupid moves or non moves.
Its all so painful to watch.