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May 27, 2009

Meet the new Mets

Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes are on the DL. Carlos Beltran stayed in the dugout, and Ryan Church might not wear a Mets' uniform again.
Who needs them?
Six walks from Johan Santana and four strikeouts by David Wright - and these Mets still win!
Maybe the patchwork Mets are just better than the big-money ball club that broke camp at the end of March.
Sweeping the worst team in baseball is hardly something to boast about, but it was a nice way for the Mets to cap off a 13-games-in-14-days run that leaves them in first place in the National League West after Wednesday night's 7-4 victory.
The 26-20 Mets get a day of rest before the Marlins come to Citi Field for a three-game weekend stay. Florida's 6-2 win over Philly gave the Mets a half-game cushion lead in the division.

MURPH RECLAIMS HIS TURF - Daniel Murphy limped into Wednesday night's game with only nine hits and five RBIs in his last 22 games. He doubled that RBI production against the Nats with a 3-for-4 night with one controversial homer (maybe Murph can get a Subway gig after that long ball), a career-high five RBIs and a pair of extra base hits.

DON''T MESS WITH THE JOHAN - Usually Mr. Santana is the one to pick up his Mets teammates, but this time around the mates were the ones lending a hand.
Santana did earn his seventh win with six innings of work, allowing three hits, three runs and six walks while striking out 11.
Gary Sheffield drove in a pair and Murph did the rest at the plate. Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano and J.J. Putz combined for two scoreless innings before K-Rod struggled a bit to finish the job in the ninth.
Amazing that Frankie Rodriguez is even on the mound after Saturday's back pain sent him to the hospital in Boston. Apparently modern medicine can work wonders!

HOME NOT SO SWEET - Perhaps David Wright just doesn't like the new Citi Field. How else can you explain the difference between his home and road numbers this season?
Wright is hitting .405 with nine doubles, one homer and 20 RBIs. At home, Wright was .293 with two homers and 10 RBIs going into Wednesday's game before he went 0-for-4 - with all four outs coming on strikeouts.

FERNANDO MANIA CAN WAIT - Prized rookie outfielder Fernando Martinez went 0-for-4 in his second day with the Mets and is still waiting for his first hit.

Posted by Bill on 10:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 12, 2009

Kid glove treatment for starters and other stuff

The New York Mets continued their babying of ace Johan Santana on Monday night when they pulled the southpaw after 108 pitches with one out in the seventh inning.
Not to just single out the Mets here, but can anyone go more than 100 pitches these days? Everyone gets treated like a delicate genius and organizations are fearful to just let their guys stay out there and pitch.
Santana is making $137.5 million for his six-year deal with the Mets - let him earn it.
I mean who else would you rather have out their for Mets?

NO. 29 and Counting - One of the better young players - who basically plays in the Russian Front of baseball known as the Washington Nationals - extended his hitting streak to 29 games Monday night.
Can you name him?
On a team going no where this season, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been one of the few bright spots, going 4-for-5 with four RBIs in an 11-7 loss to the Giants on Monday.
If the Nats can figure out a way to clone Zimmerman and pitcher Shairon Martis, who is 4-0, than maybe they can challenge in the NL East some day ...... just not now.

FAR-WEATHER BIRDS? - After trucking along for 44 games, the Blue Jays get a little taste of the AL East this week with the Yankees in town for three games. Tonight's game has the potential to be a pitching gem with Doc Halladay (6-1, 3.29 ERA) starting for the Jays against former teammate and current Yankee A.J. Burnett (2-0, 5.26).
The rest of the month we should find out a little more about the Jays with three game against the Yanks and six with the Red Sox.

Posted by Bill on 1:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 7, 2009

Nothing's shocking!

Gasp! Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for violating MLB's drug policy.
Oh no!
Pardon my ho-hum attitude to Thursday's news of baseball's latest slugger gone bad but these days it seems like no one is above suspicion when it comes to using PEDs in the game.
OK, I take that back.
Two names would shock me for positive tests - Don Zimmer
and the Philly Phanatic.
Though judging by the company the Phanatic is keeping there, we should drug test him, too. I think we might find out what's become of Dick Chaney in the process.
Manny being Manny is just the latest example of a chemistry experiment gone bad in the Major League Baseball. Since somewhere around the time baseball returned to work from the 1994 stoppage it seems like PEDs have become has as commonplace in the game as the seventh-inning stretch, peanuts and Cracker Jack.
Bud Selig all the way on down to the bat boys turned a blind eye to what was going on over a decade-long span while fannies fill up the seats at ballparks everywhere and everyone involved in the game got rich.
Stinking rich.
Poor Manny wants us to believe an innocent trip to see Dr. Van Nostrand somehow led to him being given a drug that is banned by baseball and that it's not his fault he took it before testing positive.
While it is conceivable that Manny would be dumb enough to take a woman's fertility drug, does anybody really buy his excuse? It's better than the A-Rod dumb cousin one, but not by much.
The sad thing is these big-name stars being busted are so rich that it really doesn't matter that they have been outed. They've earned millions of dollars over the years and a little vacation from the game - doesn't Manny take one mid-season every year anyways? - is hardly a fitting punishment for their crimes.
About the only time we might get some justice is on Hall of Fame day when many of these cheaters are going to be denied entry into baseball's hallowed hall.
We'll see how much sympathy Roger, Barry, A-Rod and Manny get when that time comes.
Until then, I won't waste my time getting worked up over some other jerk cheating on the baseball diamond.

Posted by Bill on 11:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack