SB Nation - Pat Misch

Different Venue, Same Result: Braves 11, Mets 3

Eric Simon — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:05:00 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

"Now I remember: I'm nonentity Pat Misch." (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

The good news: Daniel Murphy hit his eleventh homerun of the season, inching closer to John Stearns, John Milner, and Steve Henderson of the 1977 Mets, who each hit twelve homeruns that season, the lowest team-leading mark in franchise history. So, yay for that.

The bad news: Pat Misch was terrible again, but that can't really come as a surprise to anyone who has either watched Misch this season or for that matter has watched Misch ever. Misch faced twelve batters in all, retiring four and allowing the other eight to score. It was the fifth time in franchise history that a starting pitcher allowed at least that many runs while recording four outs or fewer.

7/4/1989 - Bob Ojeda allowed eight runs on six hits in two-thirds of an inning against Mike Scott and the Astros. One of the two outs to his credit was a strikeout of Scott. Houston racked up five singles, a double, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch to drive Ojeda from the game. Kevin Tapani came on in relief and balked in Billy Hatcher, who was on third when Ojeda departed. The Astros would go on to win 10-3.

9/17/1997 - Bobby Jones allowed eight runs -- four earned -- on three hits and four walks against the Braves. Jones failed to retire a single batter and even tossed in a throwing error for good measure. Atlanta won the game 10-2; a Butch Huskey solo shot was the only highlight for the Mets.

8/9/1984 - Bruce Berenyi lasted just 1.1 innings against the Pirates, surrendering nine runs on five hits, four walks, and a wild pitch. Pittsburgh won the game 11-0 behind a two-hit, ten-strikeout performance by Rick Rhoden.

7/19/1988 - Ron Darling coughed up nine runs -- five earned -- on five hits and three walks, two homeruns, and a wild pitch in two-thirds of an inning. Howard Johnson got things started with a throwing error and it all fell apart from there. The Mets lost the game 11-2.

Haiku by Howard Megdal

Can we at last say
That mediocre Misch ain't
Glavine or Moyer?

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Talking Chop Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Luis Castillo, +2.2% WPA, Daniel Murphy, +1.8% WPA
Big losers: Pat Misch, -42.6% WPA, Carlos Beltran, -3.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Castillo single in first, +2.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Anderson two-run homerun, -14.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -44.6% WPA
Total batter WPA: -5.4% WPA
GWRBI!: Garret Anderson

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by fxcarden; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	fxcarden	32
2	Michkin	18
3	Syler	17
4	Jadden Hopkins	16
5	MetsFan4Decades	15
6	metsguy234	14
7	MetsKnicksRutgers	14
8	David G	6
9	firejerrynow	5
10	TheBigStapler	2

Reyes Applesauce - Reyes joins Met photo, Brooklyn loses, Gooden an exec

Joe Budd — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:45:38 -0000

Maybe Pat Misch is not the next Tom Glavine, but he'll still do until they get someone better for the next few weeks.

Meet the Mets

Jose Reyes made an appearance at Citi Field for a team photograph during which he made some headlines by insisting that he would play if he could.

Gerry Fraley argues that Citi Field is partly responsible for the Mets this year.

Hardball Times puts together a list of top Met prospects. F! still sits atop the list.

Where did Kirk Nieuwenhuis come from? If I thought it was hard to learn how to spell Francoeur, it's going to be a nightmare season if Nieuwenhuis becomes something.

That Brooklyn postsseason run may be very short lived.

We found David Wright's batting helmet.

Fangraphs weighs in on blowing up the Mets.

Doc Gooden has joined the Newark Bear front office. They have let him sign every wall in the stadium.

Around the NL East

Charlie Manuel went with Ryan Madson to close out another victory over Washington.

The Atlanta bullpen squandered another quality start from Tommy Hanson.

Around MLB

Tommy Lasorda was not good for young arms.

Here's a great story about the recovered Cal Ripken, Jr. tribute which was stolen from Camden Yards.

The Cardinals are good even when Matt Holliday isn't.

Congratulations to Derek Jeter, the all-time Yankee hit king. He's still no Ed Kranepool.

Pat Misch Runs Out Of Tricks: Marlins 6, Mets 3

Eric Simon — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:58:20 -0000

The Mets managed just four hits and three walks against Ricky Nolasco & Co. on Wednesday night as the Marlins took the second game of the series at Citi Field, 6-3. Two double-plays meant the Mets sent to the plate just five batters more than the absolute minimum required to complete a nine-inning game. After two good starts, Pat Misch remembered that he was Pat Misch and allowed five runs on six hits in six innings, including a back-breaking three-run homerun by Cody Ross in the first and a solo shot to Dan Uggla in the sixth.

The problem with Misch is that he isn't particularly good at anything. He doesn't generate swinging strikes or called strikes with any useful frequency. His control isn't fantastic. He's not a groundball pitcher and gives up plenty of homeruns. I'm not a talent evaluator and I no lobby for anyone's job here, but Misch is not a future anything as far as I can discern. He'll make some starts this month and eat up some of those really important September innings for a team well out of the playoff race. You could have worse players filling up space on your Triple-A team, but if Misch is in the rotation picture for 2010 the Mets will be in big trouble.

Bobby Parnell takes on Sean West in the series finale at 7:10pm on Thursday.

Haiku by Howard Megdal

Misch suffers slow start
Mets rally in the middle
But limp to finish

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Fish Stripes Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Cory Sullivan, +5.1% WPA, Sean Green, +1.7% WPA
Big losers: Pat Misch, -23.7% WPA, David Wright, -10.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Murphy two-run double in seventh, +5.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Ross three-run homerun in first, -21.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -22.3% WPA
Total batter WPA: -27.7% WPA
GWRBI!: Cody Ross

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by fxcarden; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	fxcarden	77
2	KeithsMoustache	55
3	Jadden Hopkins	24
4	firejerrynow	17
5	Michkin	9
6	Syler	8
7	MetsFan4Decades	8
8	firejerrymanuel	7
9	GenJackRipper	6
10	keepcoolbutcare	4

Rockies pop-up a treat for Mets on getaway day, lose 8-3

Rox Girl — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:11:18 -0000

More photos » by John Amis - AP

Psst... it doesn't matter because those Rockies hitters have no clue how to hit me anyway! Ha!

Browse more photos »

Starting pitching was bad. Relief pitching was bad. Hitting was mostly bad. Oddly enough, with that combination of forces at work, the Rockies lost to Pat Misch and the Mets anyway. Yeah, surprising to me too, you would think these things had an inverse relationship or something and the worse your team played, the more likely they were to win a game, but apparently it doesn't work that way in real life.

Alright, so where does this latest loss leave the Rockies with 28 games left to play? If you're an optimisitic fan of Atlanta or San Francisco or a pessimistic fan of the Rockies, you're likely seeing it as part of an eight game pattern in which Colorado has gone 2-6 and seen its once daunting wild card lead evaporate. Extrapolating that out to the end of the season means that the Rockies finish the season at only 81-81 and well back of whoever ultimately wins the playoff spot. If you're a Rox optimist and/or a pessimist for those other two teams, the picture you take away is that the team lost a winnable game today but won the series, and continuing to win series the rest of the way should be enough to get them into the postseason.

I guess as an optimist you would also take away Chris Iannetta's two late hits, one a solo home run, one a triple, as a positive sign that his slump may at last be coming to an end. The pessimists will look at Jim Tracy's micromanagement and inexplicable reliance on Clint Barmes in the second spot of the lineup as troubled waters we'll have to get around still. Barmes vindicated Tracy somewhat by hitting his twelfth home run of the second half of the season. Barmes is 28 for 162 (.173) since the All-Star break, with half his hits going for extra bases. CDI is in the same club, 20 for 96 (.208), ten extra base hits. That whole Jason Marquis autumn slump demon seems to be rearing its head as well. Finally, of course, as the title is meant to indicate, the Rockies recent habit of getting underneath or uppercutting just about any pitch thrown to them is getting annoying really fast.

Ultimately, however, it's just one game whether you take a pessimistic or optimistic slant, and attempting to draw bigger meaning out of it will be largely futile, let's just hope the Phillies can come up with some offense tonight to take the sting out a little bit. And if that fails to materialize, well, winning against the Diamondbacks always cures a lot of ills.

74 - 60

Wild card lead: 0.5

Streak: Lost 1

Games Left: 28

via www.fangraphs.com

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Pat Misch Is Our Savior?: Mets 8, Rockies 3

Eric Simon — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:04:46 -0000

All aboard the Pat Misch bandwagon! Two starts, two solid outings. Misch grinded his way through seven innings against the Rockies, allowing just two runs on four hits and two walks. Both runs and half of the hits came on solo homeruns by Chris Ianetta and Ian Stewart in the seventh inning. Apart from that, Misch dominated a decent Rockies lineup in a tough place to pitch. He only struck out three, though his swinging strike rate of 7.4% wasn't terrible. Let's not kid ourselves, though. Stuff-wise, Misch is a fringe major leaguer, though his appearance on the mound smacks a bit of Tom Glavine; he looks quite smooth and effortless out there. Two starts don't make a successful pitcher, and Misch figures to get knocked around sooner rather than later, but he's young-ish and has a working arm so he'll keep getting starts until he begins to eff up royally.

The big news of the day was that it officially marked the beginning of the Josh Thole Era. The Mets' young catcher went 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base. He also saw 22 pitches in five trips to the plate, so whatever nerves he might've had didn't lead to any obvious jumpiness at the plate. Unfortunately, given the Mets' love affair with Omir Santos we probably won't see Thole again for another week.

Overall, the Mets' offense exploded for eight runs and 16 hits in one game, with Angel Pagan and Dark Helmet picking up three hits apiece and Wright knocking in three runs. Daniel Murphy hit his eight homerun of the year in the ninth inning, a two-run blast off of Joe Beimel. Anderson Hernandez reached base three times; Wilson Valdez twice. Jeff Francoeur drew an unintentional walk. It was a big day, indeed.

The Mets head home for a three-game series with the Cubs beginning Friday. Bobby Parnell takes on Carlos Zambrano.

Haiku by Howard Megdal

Mighty Misch, Thole times
two, three ribbies for Wright, and
Murphy four-bagger

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Purple Row Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Pat Misch, +27.1% WPA, David Wright, +15.3% WPA
Big losers: Jeff Francoeur, -2.8% WPA, Daniel Murphy, -1.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright two-run double in fifth, +12.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Misch GIDP in second, -13.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +29.0% WPA
Total batter WPA: +21.0% WPA
GWRBI!: David Wright

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by aparkermarshall; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	aparkermarshall	54
2	David G	43
3	firejerrynow	28
4	Jadden Hopkins	27
5	MetsFan4Decades	23
6	KeithsMoustache	21
7	Michkin	21
8	TheBigStapler	17
9	HotChipWillBreakYourLegs	11
10	Mr. Bananagrabber	10

Mets should provide stepping stone for bounceback

Poseidon's Fist — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:45:10 -0000

More photos » by Alan Diaz - AP

The Mets might actually be better off if all their players just fell asleep. At least then, no one would get hurt.

Browse more photos »

"Redemption can be found in hell itself if that's where you happen to be." --LIN JENSEN, Bad Dog!

Okay, so we're not exactly in hell, though some of us may have felt like it after losing five straight. Whatever low funk the Rockies are in though, it is time for redemption. The Rockies ought to be really mad. Last week was terrible and Colorado is primed to take out their frustrations on a lowly opponent. It doesn't help the Mets' sake that they embarrassed the Rockies in July. It's payback time, doubletime.

Since the Mets won that series six weeks ago, New York has come crashing to earth. That series against the Rockies marks the last time the Mets won three games in a row or even won a series. They have lost 9 of 11 and just finished a 10-19 August.

Their season has been nothing short of a tire fire. They ought to bench their first baseman, because his Law has completely governed their season. The rotation has entireely fallen apart - Nelson Figueroa and reliever Pedro Feliciano led the team with two August wins, and Jerry Manuel saw three left-handed starters (Niese, Perez and Santana, all of whom pitched against the Rockies last time) go down for the rest of the season with injuries. Overall, thirteen players are on the disabled list today, more than the Rockies have had all season.

Only four teams have more road losses than the "Amazin's," and since taking a series at Fenway in May, New York has lost 10 of 11 road series. Amazin Avenue had a well-recieved fanpost last Thursday begging Omar Minaya to replace the guy they were using as their cleanup hitter with Matt Murton. Man, this is brutal. I won't continue. It hurts.

Quite frankly, losing this series would be embarrassing. We need a sweep.

Check out Amazin Avenue if you want to see hurting Mets fans. I almost feel bad for them.

New York Mets (59-72, W2, 4th, 17.5 GB Div)

Tuesday-Thursday: 3-game series at Coors Field

The Bats: D

One might think that a lineup riddled with injuries and replacement players would experience great turnover. However, Jerry Manuel's lineup looks very much the same as it did when we last saw them - the only change is an underwhelming one in the 8-hole/shortstop. Francouer and Hernandez are both performing two levels higher with the Mets than their previous clubs, but it's not enough to make the lineup fierce. Wright should come off the DL in time for tonight's game - if not, Fernando Tatis will be starting at third.

The Mets' .321 team wOBA ranks 6th worst in the NL, not surprisingly placing them sixth from the bottom in runs scored. You won't see this team swinging for the fences - they rank dead last in HR in MLB with 76, a whole 18 less than the 29th ranked Giants. New York also has accumulated the lowest number of strikeouts in the league, helping them lead the NL in BB/K. They are largely a dink and dunk team. Basically, throw the ball over the plate - they can't hurt you too badly.

LINEUP	Avg	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	wOBA
Angel Pagan - CF	.294	6	26	.340	.489	.352
Luis Castillo - 2B	.312	1	34	.402	.362	.348
David Wright - 3B	.324	8	55	.414	.467	.387
Daniel Murphy - 1B	.260	7	46	.315	.390	.307
Jeff Francoeur - RF	.271	11	64	.300	.406	.301
Cory Sullivan - LF	.258	0	9	.320	.360	.311
Brian Schneider - C	.189	3	24	.272	.318	.304
Anderson Hernandez - SS	.258	1	30	.319	.332	.288

By wOBA metrics, the lineup features one All-Star caliber player (Wright), two solidly above average hitters (Pagan and Castillo), four very below average hitters (Murphy, Francoeur, Sullivan and Schneider), and one flat terrible hitter (Hernandez). Just like last time, I can say the only legitimate threats are the top three in the lineup, but we know how much that can mean sometimes.

Jeremy Reed (.244, 0, 7), Nick Evans (.229, 1, 6) and Gary Sheffield (.279, 10, 43) are the backup outfielders while Fernando Tatis (.263, 7, 36) can play IF and OF. Wilson Valdez (.244, 0, 4) is on the bench as an IF, and Omir Santos (.267, 6, 37) is the platoon catcher. Rookie catcher Josh Thole got a callup today. Wright still needs to be activated from the DL if he is to play in tonight's game, though he will.

Hop after the jump for the scouting report on the arms, the D, the pitching matchups and the hot/cold players.

The Arms: D-

Rotation: This isn't how Omar Minaya pictured his rotation in September. There's no reason why a New York team should be playing a series with Mike Pelfrey (ERA+ of 88) as their best starter. Redding and Misch have been given up on as starters by poor teams and have been forced into the rotation based on injuries to Johan Santana and Oliver Perez. Basically, the 4th worst NL rotation by ERA got worse. Every member of the current rotation is below MLB average, and their season tRA is a troubling 5.14.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Francisco Rodriguez	3-4	58	0	0	0	28	5	59.0	43	25	20	6	33	61	3.05	1.29

Bullpen: K-Rod is fine as the closer, but there's no real help otherwise. Manuel still has two lefties in the bullpen with Pedro Feliciano and Ken Takahashi. Joining closer Francisco Rodriguez are righties Sean Green, Elmer Dessens, Lance Broadway and Brian Stokes. Feliciano, Green and K-Rod are worth worrying about, but the others are not.

The D: D-

New York has made 80 errors, good for 10th-most in MLB. However, by UZR, they have the worst range in the majors, which fangraphs takes into account to claim the Mets are MLB's worst defense. There might be some UZR issues at Citi Field though, as Wright, Castillo and Sullivan are all listed as below average defenders. Pertinent for any Coors series, CF Angel Pagan is listed as the only positive fielder.

Probable Pitchers:

Tonight, 6:40 pm MDT

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Mike Pelfrey 9-9 25 25 0 0 0 0 146.1 167 84 78 10 55 84 4.80 1.52

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Mike Pelfrey	9-9	25	25	0	0	0	0	146.1	167	84	78	10	55	84	4.80	1.52

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jorge De La Rosa	12-9	26	25	0	0	0	0	148.2	148	82	78	19	62	152	4.72	1.41

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Jorge De La Rosa 12-9 26 25 0 0 0 0 148.2 148 82 78 19 62 152 4.72 1.41

Pelfrey has only two starts in 25 this season where he was not scored upon, and one came against the Rockies in July. Since that game, he has gone 1-3 with a 5.10 ERA. He has a very poor 1.53 K/BB rate, which plays right into the Rockies' hands if they remain patient. The big difference from 2008 is Pelfrey's fastball, which has dropped from a stout 21.9 rating to -5.9 this year. Jorge de la Rosa has a dizzying streak of 18 straight starts that he's earned a decision in, having lost in his last start for just the second time in 12 outings. He has scuffled a bit lately but remains the better pitcher in the matchup hands down. Still, if the Mets hope to win a game in the series, this one is the most likely. Favors: ROCKIES moderately

Wednesday, September 2, 6:40 pm MDT

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Tim Redding 2-4 24 11 0 0 0 0 83.1 93 58 55 14 36 54 5.94 1.55

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Tim Redding	2-4	24	11	0	0	0	0	83.1	93	58	55	14	36	54	5.94	1.55

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Ubaldo Jimenez	12-10	27	27	1	0	0	0	181.1	153	69	67	10	69	158	3.33	1.22

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Ubaldo Jimenez 12-10 27 27 1 0 0 0 181.1 153 69 67 10 69 158 3.33 1.22

After losing his rotation slot in July after four bad starts, Redding is back thanks to injuries to his teammates. This will be his third start since returning, and he allowed just 3 runs on 6 hits in 11.1 IP in the first two starts. However, he gives up plenty of home runs, has a worse K/BB than Pelfrey, and has a season FIP and tRA in the 5's to support that ERA - he's having a bad year. Ubaldo Jimenez keeps building on the franchise record of 6+ IP starts. He threw 8.0 IP in four of his six starts, allowing no more than 2 ER in all six games. The Rockies' only loss in those starts was to Lincecum last Friday. As long as U-ball doesn't pull a Letdown After the Timmy Showdown, this is a no-brainer. Favors: ROCKIES extremely strongly

Thursday, September 3, 1:10 pm MDT

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Pat Misch 0-1 20 1 0 0 0 1 29.0 30 11 11 1 15 15 3.41 1.55

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Pat Misch	0-1	20	1	0	0	0	1	29.0	30	11	11	1	15	15	3.41	1.55

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jason Marquis	14-9	29	26	2	1	0	0	177.1	172	77	71	12	55	86	3.60	1.28

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Jason Marquis 14-9 29 26 2 1 0 0 177.1 172 77 71 12 55 86 3.60 1.28

Misch, a former Giant, will be making his second start of the season. He did decently in the bullpen and allowed 1 ER in 7 innings at Wrigley Field in his first start, but I'd be remiss not to note he was facing the Cubs. He has very poor K and BB rates, albeit in a fairly small sample. The lefty's slider and fastball come in at about the same speed, but his stuff won't overpower you. Marquis is coming off his worst start since June at the Angels but allowed 2 ER over 17.0 IP in his last two starts at Coors Field. He has the chance to pull within one win of the NL lead in wins with Adam Wainright. Favors: ROCKIES strongly

My take

On paper, this series should be a sweep clincher on par with both Nationals series. Of course, actually pulling off a sweep is tricky business, and if good Pelfrey shows up tonight, we could have issues. Otherwise, this is a prime opportunity to take a stranglehold on the wild card again with the Giants in Philly. I would panic more from losing this series than having been swept by the Giants, and even winning just two games would leave a bit of an empty feeling. Go kill some Mets, please.

Luis Castillo, David Wright, Fernando Tatis, Angel Pagan, and Jeff Francoeur each hit over .300 with an .800+ OPS in August. Pagan hit all six of his home runs this season in the month, while Francoeur had 3 bombs and 10 doubles himself. K-Rod blew two straight saves in early August, permitting 7 ER in 1.0 IP over the two appearances, yet he has converted 4 straight opportunities and has 5 straight scoreless appearances.

Brian Schneider had only 4 singles, 3 doubles, one walk and 11 Ks in 48 August PAs. Gary Sheffield hasn't homered since June 28 and had a .670 OPS in August. Jeremy Reed has only 6 TB's in his last 28 ABs.

The Mets injury list is dizzying:

New York Mets Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Carlos Delgado	hip	05/11/2009
Jose Reyes	hamstring	05/21/2009
John Maine	shoulder	06/07/2009
Carlos Beltran	knee	06/22/2009
Fernando Martinez	knee	07/04/2009
Fernando Nieve	thigh	07/20/2009
David Wright	concussion	08/16/2009
Johan Santana	elbow	08/21/2009
Oliver Perez	knee	08/24/2009
Alex Cora	thumb	08/13/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Ramon Martinez	fingers	06/03/2009
Jonathon Niese	hamstring	08/06/2009
J.J. Putz	elbow	06/05/2009

Poll

Just how bad ARE the Mets?

They are really terrible. They're worse than the Nationals. Easy sweep.

47 votes

They are really terrible, but they will manage to win one game in the series.

73 votes

They are really terrible, but the Rockies suck right now, and we'll lose this series.

22 votes

They are really terrible, but the Rockies iz doomd to b swept.

8 votes

150 votes | Poll has closed

Pat Misch Impresses, Brian Stokes Doesn't: Cubs 5, Mets 2

Eric Simon — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 06:04:26 -0000

A well-pitched game by Pat Misch, who didn't do anything spectacularly well but generally kept the Cubs off the basepaths and the scoreboard. He struck out just two Cubbies (Ted Lilly once), but walked only two and allowed just six hits -- five singles and a double -- over seven innings. He's earned himself at least another start now that Oliver Perez is gone for the season; it's not as if the Mets have better options.

Jerry Manuel made two bad decisions in this game; one worked out, one didn't. In the top of the eighth with Angel Pagan on second and none out, the game tied 1-1, Manuel cued Luis Castillo, his best hitter, to sacrifice Pagan to third. While this is probably a better move in the eighth inning than in the first, it's still a dumb call. Based on 2009 data, the win expectancy for the visiting team in a tied game, top of the eighth inning:

Runner on second, none out: 54.17%
Runner on third, one out: 50.00%

The heart of the Mets' order was coming up, but this isn't exactly Murderer's Row we're talking about here. This is Daniel Murphy, Jeff Francoeur and Fernando Tatis, three replacement-level bats. Bunting with a position player is almost always a bad idea, including this time, though it sort of worked out for the Mets as Murphy walked, Francoeur struck out and Tatis doubled home Pagan. Though we can't assume the events would have unfolded in the same fashion had Castillo swung away, if we could then Pagan would have scored on Tatis's hit anyway so it's not like the bunt really bought the Mets anything.

The other bad decision was Manuel's call to bring the infield in with Milton Bradley on third with one out in the bottom of the eighth. I generally hate bringing the infield in, unless you have to cut the winning run down at the plate. In this case, Bradley was the tying run, and a routine grounder probably doesn't score him from third. Aramis Ramirez hit that routine grounder, but it scuttled past a drawn-in Wilson Valdez to bring in Bradley and knot the game at two. Now we have a tied game and a runner on first with one out; with the infield at regular depth we might still have a tied game (might not, though), but at least there would be two out and no runners on. The rest of the inning unfolded poorly for the Mets, as Brian Stokes walked Jeff Baker and then hung a meatball that Alfonso Soriano crushed for a three-run homerun. Maybe Stokes still coughs up the lead if we go back and reconstruct the inning without the infield in, but maybe it doesn't.

The Mets picked up a game on Arizona, Cincinnati, San Diego and Baltimore and are now just five games behind the Orioles for the third overall pick in next June's draft. I'm not the rah-rah type, but I think the Mets can really do this. Gooooo team!

Bobby Parnell takes on Ryan Dempster at 4:10pm EDT on Saturday.

Haiku by Howard Megdal

Mastery by Misch
Momentary; Sori socks
Substandard slider

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Bleed Cubbie Blue Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Pat Misch, +35.1% WPA, Fernando Tatis, +26.7% WPA
Big losers: Brian Stokes, -65.5% WPA, Cory Sullivan, -16.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play:
Teh sux0rest play:
Total pitcher WPA: -29.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: -20.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Alfonso Soriano

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by firejerrynow; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	firejerrynow	70
2	KeithsMoustache	52
3	itsmetsforme	36
4	Jadden Hopkins	25
5	fxcarden	23
6	David G	21
7	Syler	18
8	dcrockett17	16
9	Michkin	16
10	metsguy234	13

Hello, Old Friends: Cubs vs. Mets Preview, Friday 8/28, 1:20 CT

Al — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:00:30 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

This oughta be good: tell the rest of us what Lou and Ted were saying to each other yesterday.

Browse more photos »

Let's push controversy aside for a while, shall we, and try to just enjoy a baseball game this afternoon?

The last time the Mets visited Wrigley Field was more than 16 months ago, on April 22, 2008. That isn't that long ago in baseball terms, but of the eight starting Cubs that day, four are no longer with the team and one is on the DL. Five other Cubs who appeared in the game are elsewhere as well. As for the Mets, four of their starting eight from that game won't appear due to injury and three others have departed.

Ronny Cedeno hit a grand slam in that game, just to remind you of blasts from the past. It's still his only slam. (That's just about the time we started calling him ONEDEC.)

Two very different teams will take the field at Wrigley this afternoon from that long-ago day in 2008 (the Cubs did face the Mets last September, still almost a year ago, when the Mets were desperately trying to win a playoff spot, which they lost on the last day of the season). The Mets have been decimated by injuries, both to their starting lineup and pitching rotation -- the three Mets probable starters in this series, Pat Misch, Bobby Parnell and Nelson Figueroa, were definitely not the pitchers Jerry Manuel envisioned in his rotation in April.

OK, I suppose I can't resist a couple of links and comments regarding the current Milton Bradley situation. Phil Rogers says the Cubs should just cut him, which would cost north of $20 million and I think is a ridiculous idea, but Rogers also offer some suggestions of other teams' bad contracts that could result in a trade:

The only way to trade Bradley, according to executives with other clubs, is to up your ante to take on someone else's bad contract. You know the names -- the Blue Jays' Vernon Wells, owed $98.5 million over five years; the Giants' Barry Zito, $83 million over four years; the Astros' Carlos Lee, $55.5 million over three years, maybe the Giants' Aaron Rowand, $36 million over three years.

The best of those scenarios involves the Rangers' five-year, $80-million deal with Michael Young, who at 32 is a productive player. He's owed $16 million a year for four more seasons.

In a cost-cutting mode because of ownership problems, Texas might consider a Bradley-for-Young trade. But it wouldn't do it during its ongoing playoff race and it's going to be increasingly awkward for them to try to wade through a hugely problematic trade.

As Rogers says, Texas is in a playoff race and probably wouldn't do it now. So are the Giants with Zito, who has actually pitched very well since the All-Star break. The Vernon Wells deal would be more palatable to the Cubs if it didn't have five years and nearly as much money as Alfonso Soriano's. But I'd do it. Wells is virtually the same age as Bradley (about eight months younger) and, though he's had a couple of tough years since he signed his monster deal, at least he does have proven power numbers from the past, and could play CF, allowing Kosuke Fukudome to move back to RF next season (with Reed Johnson retained to back them both up).

And strangely enough, the best local media words on this situation come from the Tribune's Steve Rosenbloom, who I almost never agree with and who often writes ridiculous bombast. But today he nails it, in a column titled Bradley's response ought to anger those who take on racism seriously:

Racism is serious. If you are concerned or angry enough to put that in the public discussion, then you seemingly should be motivated to explain when and where this happened. How else do you take a step toward keeping it from happening again?

But when Bradley offers only cynicism and sarcasm, he diminishes the severity of the issue. Moreover, he does a disservice to those suffering abuse but who are willing to fight the fight head on.

...

Under no circumstances does anyone deserve to be abused racially. Underachieving baseball player and racial epithets are dots that should never connect.

But Bradley’s history and now his dismissive response to questions following his serious charges invite the suggestion that he’s looking for ways to shield himself from his problems, self-inflicted or otherwise.

One hundred percent correct, Mr. Rosenbloom. Bravo.

Try to enjoy today's game.

Today's Starting Pitchers


Ted Lilly Cubs	vs.	Pat Misch Mets

9-8	W-L	0-1
3.40	ERA	4.09
116	SO	13
27	BB	13
21	HR	1
vs. NY	--	vs. Cubs

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Ted Lilly	9-8	21	21	0	0	0	0	135.0	123	56	51	21	27	116	3.40	1.11

Pat Misch's stats below are with the Mets only; see the pitcher box for his full-season stats.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Pat Misch	0-1	15	0	0	0	0	1	18.2	18	6	6	1	10	13	2.89	1.50

There's no profile photo of Pat Misch in a Mets cap available (at least not in that size), so you get one of him with his former team, the Giants. The Mets acquired Misch on waivers in July and he's spent the last couple of months shuttling between Buffalo and New York, making 15 relief appearances with the Mets (after four with the Giants). He is a Chicago-area native who graduated from Glenbrook North HS in Northbrook in 1999 and has made three career relief appearances vs. the Cubs, all in 2007. This will be his first start as a Met. Only one current Cub has a hit off him -- Koyie Hill (1-for-2), but that's covering only eight total at-bats from all current Cubs.

Ted Lilly is 2-1, 3.86 in five career appearances (four starts) vs. the Mets. His last two starts against them, one in 2007 and one in 2008, were both wins, the last one in the April 22, 2008 game mentioned above. The current Met who has the most AB against Ted is Gary Sheffield; Sheffield is only 5-for-28 against him.

Cable-only today in Chicago (CSN) and New York (SNY). For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin' Avenue.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 2:15 pm, 3:15 pm and 4 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Schwing And A Misch: Phillies 4, Mets 1

Eric Simon — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:36:09 -0000

Tim Redding started a game the Mets ultimately lost, and for once the loss had nothing to do with him. Redding surprised everyone in attendance by stymiying the Phillies for five innings, allowing just a Chase Utley single in the third to sully his mini no-hit bid. He also walked three and struck out four, recording most of his outs in the air and inducing swinging strikes on 7.4% of his pitches. Since we're on the topic of pitches, Redding was only allowed to throw 81 of them tonight, presumably because he's been a swing man for a while now and Jerry Manuel likely didn't want to push him too far. This seems like a stretch to me, as I would venture to guess that Redding could have come out for at least another inning. Instead, he was relieved by Pat Misch, who is terrible and isn't afraid to show it. Misch allowed a two-run homerun to Utley in the sixth to turn a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit.

Misch was only allowed to embarrass himself and his family for a third of an inning, and he was promptly (though not promptly enough, apparently) relieved by Sean Green, who allowed a pair of doubles to Raul Ibanez and Pedro Feliz, the cumulative result of which was the Phillies' third run of the game. Four relievers combined to pitch the final three innings for the Mets, allowing one run on three hits and four walks while striking out just one.

The Mets managed to do very little of consequence against J.A. Happ, who allowed just one run on eight hits in seven innings. Ryan Madsen and Brad Lidge each whiffed two batters in an inning of relief, with Lidge lowering his ERA to 7.05. Omir Santos was the offensive star of the game for the Mets, knocking in their only run with a second inning single and drawing an unintentional walk to bring his on-base percentage up to .306. Jeff Francoeur went 1-for-4 but kept his OBP a hair above .300. Still, Santos widened his lead so Francoeur has to pull the stone of shame again tonight. Angel Pagan and Luis Castillo picked up two hits apiece while Gary Sheffield continued his downward spiral into uselessness by going 0-for-4. Wilson Valdez went 0-for-3 to the astonishment of no one.

Oliver Perez takes on Pedro Martinez at 1:10pm on Sunday.

Haiku by Howard Megdal

Uncommon Redding
Can't overcome the same old
Utley and J.A. Happ

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* The Good Phight Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Tim Redding, +29.3% WPA, Omir Santos, +4.7% WPA
Big losers: Pat Misch, -28.8% WPA, Gary Sheffield, -15.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Santos RBI single in second, +9.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Utley two-run homerun in sixth, -25.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -10.3% WPA
Total batter WPA: -39.7% WPA
GWRBI!: Chase Utley

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by painiac; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	painiac	125
2	Jadden Hopkins	121
3	fxcarden	92
4	lstorie1971	92
5	KeithsMoustache	90
6	Schmidtxc	65
7	MetsFan4Decades	57
8	Evan_S	43
9	metsguy234	42
10	TKFJ	36

My Video Game Is Smarter Than The Mets' Front Office

Sam Page — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:00:19 -0000

Yesterday I was playing the game Out of the Park Baseball, a hyper-realistic baseball simulator, as the San Diego Padres. This particular franchise began with a fantasy draft, a draft of all players in baseball; and to prove how realistic this game is, it took ~250 rounds. (I was the Padres because I wanted to make the perfect "PETCO team.") The roster pack I was using had very accurate "ratings" on nearly every major and minor leaguer, including some players who had been retired for years. So after a year of play, the computer had shuffled all the players in baseball to all the levels they should be based on talent. Knowing that, during my first offseason, I began looking-up players who have played either for the Mets or the Bisons this year. The results are extremely funny, yet depressing.

Livan Hernandez: Ace of the single-A Quad City River Bandits (Cardinals). Strikeouts left something to be desired.
Oliver Perez: Mariner's fifth starter.
Fernando Nieve: AAA
Tim Redding: AAA
Elmer Dessens: retired after a somewhat productive season in AA
Casey Fossum: A
Pat Misch: bounced between AA and AAA
Jon Switzer: Rookie League
Marlon Anderson: AAA
Angel Berroa: A
Omir Santos: AA
Alex Cora: AA
Jeff Francoeur: AAA Omaha Royals (perfect)
Nick Evans: Starting LFer for the A's (hmm)
Cory Sullivan: A
Wilson Valdez: AA (bench player)

and some bonus Bisons:

Something else I noticed going through these names is that many of the regular Bisons who have really sabotaged that team were on the B-Mets last year and didn't really deserve a promotion. Seems like a pretty illogical way to build a AAA team. Of course, with the injuries and all, this post's title is tongue-in-cheek...sort of. It says something when a computer game cannot foresee a situation in which Cory Sullivan should be promoted over Nick Evans.