« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »

April 30, 2008

While you were sleeping .....

Here's a look at last night's Mets game and a few random facts picked up during the game:

Johan Santana’s bid for his first win at Shea Stadium as a member of the Mets came up short again Tuesday night, but the Mets prevailed 5-4 in 11 innings.
Santana made it through almost six innings, but a “Jekyll and Hyde” pen combined to squander a two-run lead against the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of 46,982 fans at Shea.
Instead of Santana’s first home win, the Mets’ faithful that remained into the 11th inning had to settle for a David Wright walk-off single to win.
In typical Santana fashion after the game, he said he was just happy the team won.
“It wasn’t the way people wanted but we won the game and that’s all that matters,” he said.
Santana tossed 52/3 innings, allowing two runs and two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. He threw 114 pitches, with 75 reaching for strikes, and departed the sixth inning to a round of applause – he was booed in his last home start - despite leaving the bases loaded. Manager Willie Randolph estimated about 40 of those pitches were foul balls.
With the cooler temperatures, Santana had some trouble gripping the ball during the game.
“The grip wasn’t feeling to good, it was kind of slippery, but it’s not an excuse or anything,” he said. “It’s part of the game and you have to adjust to those kinds of things.”
For the second time this season, Santana allowed more than one homer in a game, and both performances have come at Shea. The Milwaukee Brewers hit three off the southpaw on April 12, prompting some fans to boo Santana.
This time around, the Pirates scored two of their runs on long balls. Nate McLouth, who homered for the third straight game, crushed a 1-0 Santana offering over the right-field wall in the top of the first to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
Jason Bay added a solo shot in the top of the third to extend the Pirates’ lead to 2-0.
On the season, five of the seven homers Santana has allowed have been at Shea.
“It’s part of the game,” he said. “You got to execute it.”

If Carlos Delgado thinks he has it bad being booed by the fans at Shea, he might want to consider his teammates in the bullpen. Outside of Pedro Feliciano’s one-out-and-done performance Tuesday, several other members of the pen heard their share of boos from the fans. The two leaders in the Shea booing power ranks have to be Aaron Heilman – I think they Mets even boo him when he takes a breathe - and Scott Schoeneweis.

One month into the season and Mets fans have to be impressed with right fielder Ryan Church. Even though there were questions marks about whether he could be an everyday player, Church plays hard every time he steps on the field. He also appears to have a little fire in his belly – Tuesday night he leaped in the air after striking out on a called third strike and then had a few words for the home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.

Stratford’s Jeff Cavaliere is in his second season with the Mets as their physical therapist. Cavaliere had a busy off-season getting married and then moving to Norwalk, the latter was done to make his life easier commuting to Shea every day.

Lastly, spoke with Nelson Figueroa before Tuesday’s game and he’s a real nice guy. Figueroa also knows his Bridgeport Bluefish pretty well. He only grabbed a cup of coffee in the Atlantic League, but he was able to list of the Bluefish’s starting staff from two years ago. Since our resident Fish expert Rich Elliott was not around to confirm this said rotation, I gave Nelson the benefit of the doubt. When it comes to our Bluefish, things haven’t been the same for me since Peanut Williams left the team.

Posted by Bill on 1:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 29, 2008

Cheers and jeers

The fans at Shea seem to have swung back to Johan Santana's side tonight, but they still hate Aaron Heilman.
Santana, the staff ace, left in the sixth inning after throwing 114 pitches and the Mets leading 4-2. He did depart after leaving a bit of a mess by walking two batters and hitting Xavier Nady to load the bases.Pedro Feliciano came in to bail him out, though, getting Adam LaRoche to pop up to shortstop Jose Reyes for the third out.
Santana threw 114 pitches in 52/3 innings, allowing two hits, two runs, two walks and striking out seven.

Willie decided to bring in Heilman in the seventh and the Mets' reliever was greeted with a round of boos. As a matter of fact everything he did seem to bring a sea of negativity from the faithful in attendance.
He was booed after allowing a lead-off single to Jose Bautista and booed after walking Ronny Paulino. He was booed again when he left the mound after retiring pinch-hitter Nyjer Morgan.
Aaron don't feel bad - they booed your replacement Scott Schoeneweis, too.

Posted by Bill on 9:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pirates in town

After being rained out Monday, the Mets and Pirates are back to work tonight at Shea Stadium. Staff ace Johan Santana is on the hill for the hometown team, and after allowing a lead-off home run to Nate McLouth, appears to have settled in with three strikeouts through two innings.

There were no boos for Santana during pregame introductions, but there were a few of them for Carlos Delgado mixed in with the cheers. There were no boos when he just ground out to the pitcher.

On the injury front, Moises Alou worked out with the team today and appears ready to rejoin the club - probably Friday. An MRI on Alou's left ankle turned out to be OK. GM Omar Minaya called him "day-to-day."

Posted by Bill on 7:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 24, 2008

Fenway by day

Ventured up to Boston Thursday afternoon to watch the Red Sox take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It was my first trip to Fenway of the season and I was also attending as a fan, so that meant no pressbox perks for this guy.

One quick thing to mention about weekday games at Fenway - either arrive early or take the T in from outside the city. With workers in town and Boston U. in session, the area around the ballpark was more than the normal zoo before game time. We ended up having to park about 10 miles from the ballpark and take the T in since every lot was full - and this was an hour before the game. With parking prices ranging from $20-35, the T is much cheaper, too.

I remember when I first started going to Fenway back in the late 1980s. Tickets were cheap and it was easy to move around the ballpark. As most of you have attended games there in the past five years know, that's not the case anymore. With 39,000 squeezed into a stadium that held 32,000 uncomfortably, it can make for difficult travel through the ballpark. ... The other problems is everything costs a small fortune. One Fenway Frank and a small bottle of water set me back about $9.
Oh yeah, don't forget to bring plenty of money for souvenirs, too. A metal Sox license plate frame now goes for $20, while World Series T-shirts can set you back $25-plus.

Usually on my first trip of the year I wander around during a few innings and check out the new features. One nice perk that has been add are small TVs out in the upper grandstand in sections 1-5. With a tough view of the field and none of the scoreboard, it's great to be able to catch a few replays during the game.

There's been a few adjustments to the standing room only sections and for some reason everyone seems to enjoy flocking to the sections on the third base side. Must be the expensive food - a Remy Dog goes for $8 - and beer available around the corner.

As for the game, rookie Justin Masterson made his Red Sox debut and held his own for six innings, leaving with a 3-1 lead. The gas cans of the Sox bullpen failed to protect the lead as Javy Lopez and Manny Declarmen helped the Angels put up a four-run seventh inning. The Angel ended up winning 7-5 despite a Big Papi two-run blast in the ninth.

Posted by Bill on 7:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 16, 2008

Here we go

It's never a bad thing when the Yankees and Red Sox meet, but this idea for a two-game mid-week series has serious issues. The biggest problem is these two teams are unable to play a timely under three hour game, so expect plenty of tired office workers the next two mornings.
The other gripe is when they end up splitting the two-game series, how do we get a resolution? A two-game Sox-Yanks series - especially when they split - is like the Sopranos finale. You get nothing.
Tonight's contest is a rematch from last Friday with the rook Clay Buchholz (1-0) meeting up with Chien-Ming Wang (3-0). Of course Buchholz was not the problem for the Sox last time out. The Wangster built a strong early case for the AL Cy Young with his two-hit masterpiece in Boston. I swear he could have thrown a few more innings in last Saturday's game with his efficient outing.

Thursday's game is also a rematch of pitchers with Josh Beckett (1-1) vs Mike Mussina (1-2).

Joba Chamberlain figures to miss the series with his father seriously ill

Posted by Bill on 12:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack