SaberMets.com: Weekend Notes

June 13, 2004

Weekend Notes

THURSDAY

I couldn't bring myself to write something about the Mets loss last Thursday against the Twins, so I didn't. I'll only mention it briefly now for the sake of completeness. The Mets lost that game to the Twins 3-2 in fifteen innings, which was six innings more than I needed to watch. When Matthew LeCroy scored in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score, thanks in part to Mike Cameron's air-mail job over two cutoff men, I said aloud, "This game is over." My girlfriend insisted otherwise, and, based on the Mets recent history of come-from-behind dramatic victories, I thought it might be possible.

The Mets spent the next six innings proving my initial instinct correct. The loss wrapped up a three-game sweep at the hands of the Twinkies, and left my beloved Mets three games under .500 and their precious season teetering in the balance.

FRIDAY

Friday after work, me and my lady drove down to Ocean City, NJ, to see some friends at my buddy's beach house. We listened to the first half of that night's game against the last-place Royals. With the score 3-2, I hit the "CD" button on my car stereo and enjoyed the soothing sounds of the new Slipknot record, "Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)". If you're a fan of Slipknot or of hard rock in general, definitely give this album a listen. After a few songs, I switched the game back on and the Mets were losing 7-2. I promptly switched back to Slipknot, and eventually arrived at Ocean City (exit 30 on the Parkway, if you were wondering, a long ways from my exit 160).

It turns out the Mets lost that one, 7-5. Jae Seo, in an effort to solidify his spot in the starting rotation, laid an egg, allowing nine baserunners in 4.2 innings and five earned runs (six total runs) in picking up the loss. The Mets left six runners in scoring position with two outs and left 13 total for the game, and once again couldn't get the big hit when they needed it. With his rocky start, Seo might be in AAA Norfolk before you know it, with the Mets seemingly determined to bring up Scott Erickson as soon as he is ready.

SATURDAY

I didn't see an inning of this game. I was on the beach, where it was sunny but a bit windy for my liking. By nature, I'm not much of a beach person. I'm of the belief that the beach would be much better if it were a pool. The sand ruins most of the enjoyment of the beach by blowing onto your stuff, sticking to you, and getting all over your house and shower when you return. The ocean, also, not really that much fun. It's pretty dirty, not great to swim in, and not really particularly useful to me for anything.

If there's one good thing I can say about the beach, thugh, it's that it allowed me to miss the misery of the Mets 3-2 loss to the Royals on Saturday. Suffice it to say, the Mets once again did not:

a) Get the job done with runners in scoring position
b) Get good pitching from David Weathers
c) Avoid getting the normally-stoic Art Howe so fumed that he actually threw garbage cans at the clubhouse door

Good for Art. He and hitting coach Denny Walling might be out the door before long, but at least fans in Houston might be getting a more animated manager than we did. I haven't even seen any replays of the game, but from what I've been able to ascertain from newspaper articles and today's radio broadcast, the Mets problems on Saturday were largely a result of these facts:

1) The Mets, on the whole, aren't any good at hitting
2) More to the point, they aren't good at hitting in the clutch
3) The Mets bullpen is old
4) As such, the bullpen at large isn't very good at getting opposing batters to make outs
5) The Mets defense is pedestrian at best, a comedy of errors at worst.
6) Art Howe is, by most measures, a crummy strategic manager

Much the way the planeteers' powers combined to make Captain Planet, the Mets powers combined to produce the skidmark that was Saturday night's mess. Art Howe threw some garbage cans, and yelled at his players in hope that they will turn this thing around. Which brings us to:

SUNDAY

I guess they listened to some of what Art Howe had to say. The Mets pulled out a 5-2 win over the Royals on Sunday, much to Kaz Matsui's chagrin, who tried mightily to give the game away. Tom Glavine pitched another gem, allowing two unearned runs and only five baserunners (four hits, one walk) in 7.2 innings. With the score 5-2 and two outs in the eighth, Art Howe pulled Glavine from the game. He must have had a brain fart, because he brought in Ricky Bottalico. Not Mike Stanton. Not David Weathers. Not John Franco. Bottalico struck out the only batter he faced, and Braden Looper pitched a scoreless ninth for his 12th save.

The Mets committed three errors in the game, two by the aforementioned Kaz Matsui. Both were throwing errors, and both pulled a Met first-baseman off the bag. Mets brass have apparently taken notice. In his article today, Jon Heyman thinks Reyes will be back at shortstop in 2005:

Jose Reyes will be among the first to regain his position while hurt. He'll replace Kaz Matsui as shortstop in 2005, assuming Reyes is healthy.

The Mets are now four games under .500 at 29-33, and are 5.5 games behind first-place Florida. A week ago they looked like buyers in the free agent market. Now they may be sellers. The Mets will NOTtrade David Wright in any deal, though may be interested in rekindling talks with Texas for Alfonso Soriano. I don't think he's a good fit, particularly in right field. He's a fine-hitting second-baseman, but we don't need one of those. He's only an adequate offensive outfielder, and the potential cost in dollars and prospects is not worth the return.

David Wright was finally promoted to AAA Norfolk. He was hitting .363/.467/.619 with 37 XBH (10 homeruns), a 39/41 K/BB ratio, and 20/26 in stolen bases.

Prentice Redman was also called up to AAA Norfolk. .297/.375/.585 with 41 XBH (12 homeruns) and 9/11 in stolen bases.

Terrific article in the NY Times today about Rick Peterson and how he came to be a pitching guru. Definitely a must-read.

Eric | June 13, 2004 - 10:54 PM EST | TrackBack: 1
Category: Mets Game Notes

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