SB Nation - Cory Sullivan

Stop Saying Omar Minaya Only Goes After Latino Players

James Kannengieser — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:30:14 -0000

The "Omar Minaya only pursues Latino players" topic has appeared again this offseason and the propagators of this myth are out in full force. Perhaps it was brought on by the signings of Alex Cora, Henry Blanco and Elmer Dessens. Maybe embarrassing rubbish like this post is promoting it. Even the mainstream media has been involved, as Bill Madden of the Daily News, ~~deserving~~ winner of this year's J.G. Taylor Spink Award for excellence in baseball journalism, wrote the following in a recent column, only to have the word "Latin" later removed:

Mets? Did somebody say the Mets? They won't spend the money for Holliday, Bay or Lackey and apparently, they're only interested in signing low-budget Latin players...

It's sad that this topic still needs to be addressed. Looking at the racial makeup of the Mets 40-man roster, as provided by a comment from Mark last week, the Mets had 15 Latinos out of 39 players, or 38%. About 29% of MLB players are Latino, meaning the Mets have four more Latin American players on their roster than average. Wow, stop the presses! How many Latinos are presently on the World Champion Yankees' roster? Answer: 19 out of 37, good for 51%. This is irrefutable evidence that Brian Cashman only goes after Latino players. Let the Yankee fan outrage begin. Former Mariners GM Bill Bavasi signed Raul Ibanez, Carlos Silva and Adrian Beltre to free agent contracts in his short tenure, and traded for Miguel Olivo and Horacio Ramirez - he too must have only gone after Latinos!

There's more research to be done here I suppose, analyzing the racial breakdown of Mets trades, free agent contracts and the minor leagues under Omar. However, it's not worth mine or anyone's time indulging the uninformed masses who think a general manager would choose 1.5 WAR* Player A over 3.5 WAR Player B because Player A shares the same heritage.

* - If you like, substitute any metric or evaluator you think Omar and co. might use in lieu of WAR. The point remains the same.

Last winter, Omar's Mets were part of a blockbuster three team trade which included Mariners and Indians. In the biggest trade of his reign, at least in terms of player volume, he gave up four Latino players and received (gasp!) three white players in return. It had nothing to do with race. Omar wanted to upgrade the bullpen at seemingly any cost and he got his guy, J.J. Putz. Flawed evaluation of players? Almost certainly. Racial bias motivating a transaction? No, sorry. It's curious how transactions like this are conveniently ignored once the Omar racism watchdogs come out of their holes to spout absurdity. Usually, Oliver Perez, Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez and Luis Castillo are brought up with nary a mention of Tim Redding, Scott Schoeneweis, Darren Oliver or Gary Sheffield.

If you think Omar Minaya only goes after "certain players" it's because you want to believe the poorly performing GM of your favorite baseball team favors one race over another. It's because you want to believe he has some sort of scheme to decrease the number of non-Latinos in baseball, or to increase money paid out to Latinos in this country. Criticizing his moves in the strict baseball context is not enough for you - it has to become personal, an assault on Omar's character. As always, you're free to have these beliefs, but you're flat-out wrong.

2009 Mets Transaction Register, Part 1

Eric Simon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:01:02 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

Who is he thanking: Poseiden or Ra? (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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The wretched 2009 season is over, so enter a glut of retrospectives, commentary, and analyses chronicling the whole mess. We'll kick things off by taking a look back at the moves -- trades and signings -- the Mets made since the 2008 season ended unceremoniously (for the Mets, anyway). There's a lot to wade through, so we're going to break this into at least two parts.

November 18, 2008

Signed Andy Green: Andy saw just five plate appearances with the Mets in 2009, spending most of the season with Triple-A Buffalo, where he hit .259./.330/.379 with a .326 wOBA and .5 hWAR. This now qualifies as the most anyone has ever written about Andy Green.

December 3, 1998

Signed Nelson Figueroa: Figgy had a 3.07 tRA in 112 innings pitched with Buffalo and a 5.06 tRA in 58 innings with the Mets. He made the league minimum (less if you consider the time spent on a minor league deal), and has generally been pretty mediocre in his two seasons since returning to the states. He's a useful guy to keep around Triple-A to make the occasional emergency start, and might even be passable as a swingman/mop jockey.

December 9, 2008

Signed Francisco Rodriguez for 3 years/$37 million plus vesting 2012 option worth $17.5 million: We've already covered this. The guaranteed money is probably too much for a good reliever with diminishing velocity, declining strikeout rates, and spotty control, but the overlooked option makes this a brutal deal for the Mets. It seemed like a good idea at the time, ubt unless Frankie's arm falls off the Mets will be on the hook for $46 million over the next three seasons, the mere thought of which just made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Rodriguez is hardly a bad pitcher, he's just not a great pitcher, and the Mets are paying him to be brilliant. They might be able to swap him for someone else's bad contract -- Milton Bradley's name continues to come up -- but I don't think the Mets are down on Rodriguez at all, let alone as nauseated as we are.

December 11, 2008

Drafted Darren O'Day from the Angels in the Rule 5 draft: This looked like a pretty good move for the Mets at the time, though O'Day only pitched three innings before being waived to make room for Figueroa to make a start in Mike Pelfrey's absence. Few tears were cried over O'Day's departure, until he went on to strike out 54 in 55.2 innings with the Rangers while posting a 2.83 tRA, 11.8% swinging strike rate and a sub-1.00 WHIP. His .244 BABIP might be unsustainably low, but the Mets' loss was the Rangers' gain.

Traded Endy Chavez, Aaron Heilman, Mike Carp, Jason Vargas, Joe Smith, Ezequiel Carrera, and Maikel Cleto in a three-team deal with the Mariners and Indians, getting back J.J. Putz, Sean Green, and Jeremy Reed: Ugh. This one looks worse with each passing day. Green is probably the best player going to the Mets in this deal. Putz was spotty and then injured, and his outlook for 2010 is questionable. He'll pitch, I assume, but the Mets hold an $8.6 million club option with a $1 million buyout, and his return to Queens is hardly guaranteed. Reed was worth -.7 WAR with the Mets in 2009, and is apparently terrible at everything. Endy got hurt but he's Endy which just makes this trade worse for reasons both rational (his leather-flashing puts Rob Halford to shame) and irrational (he's Endy!). Joe Smith was so-so with the Indians; he's a younger, slighty shabbier Sean Green. Carp had a decent season with Triple-A Tacoma and hit .315/.415/.463 in 65 plate appearances with the Mariners. Vargas was nothing special, and managed to allow 16 homeruns in 91.2 innings. Heilman was traded in a separate deal from Seattle to the Cubs, and was about what you'd expect (good strikeouts, too many walks, mirthless scowl). Carrera had a .408 wOBA with Double-A West Tenn. Cleto made eight starts with Single-A Clinton, striking out 24 and walking eleven in 25.1 innings. If Putz had stayed healthy and effective things would look a whole lot different, but as it stands this deal gets worse with each passing day.

December 23, 2008

Signed Omir Santos: We rag on Santos here a lot, mostly because he's bad, but also because the Mets think he's actually good. The truth is that he's pretty bad, at hitting at least, but the Mets paid him nothing and he was worth almost half a win with his bat, and he might be pretty good with the glove, too. The truth is that the Mets could do worse than Santos in a backup role next year, but the frightening reality is that he may be more than that.

January 9, 2009

Signed Tim Redding for 1 year/$2.25 million: Looked like a decent deal for an average starting pitcher. Then he missed the beginning of the season with a shoulder problem. Then he was below average for 120 innings with the Mets. Whatever. I'm not losing any sleep over this one. It was a pretty good one-year gamble.

January 13, 2009

Signed Alex Cora for 1 year/$2 million: A .291 wOBA and -3.7 UZR in 82 games, the best thing you can say about him is that he had the good sense to get hurt and not further hamper the Mets with his sub-replacement ballplaying.

January 16, 2009

Signed Casey Fossum: Appeared in two games for Buffalo and three for the Mets, doing little of anything worth mentioning. Spent most of the season with Triple-A Iowa in the Cubs' system.

January 20, 2009

Signed Cory Sullivan for 1 year/$600k: Posted a semi-respectable .332 wOBA in 156 plate appearances with the Mets, but was unspectacular in the outfield. FanGraphs has him worth $400k, so this signing was hardly a disaster. Nothing to get too excited about either, I suppose.

WAR Lords of the Diamond: Greatest. Rockies. Ever.

Jabberwocky — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:30:19 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Todd Helton features prominently in any conversation about the greatest Rockies ever.

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Previous Sessions in the WAR Lords Series:

C I 1B I 2B I 3B I SS I LF I CF I RF I RP I SP

Now that I've discussed the greatest Rockies ever by position according to WAR, I'll summarize my data and reveal my All-Time Rockies squad. In all, 224 Rockies have been weighed, measured, and (mostly) been found wanting in this quest, yet some have clearly risen above the rest.

Of course, due to the fact that the Rockies' history is only 17 years old, there isn't exactly a deep pool of players to choose from in this study. Therefore, I will be ranking all players who produced a career WAR of over 3 wins at a position for the Rockies or was a significant player for the team.

Here was my methodology:

1. I only used stats accumulated when they played for the Rockies.

2. The categories used were: career with Rockies, best three consecutive years with Rockies (establishes average production), and best single year with the Rockies (establishes peak production).

3. If the players spent less than three years with the Rockies, their career total was used in the other metrics as well. If the player was at different positions for different years, the player would be considered for the position in which he had the most starts (or greatest impact, at my discretion) for the Rockies.

4. The players were ranked in each category. Those ranks were added and averaged out--the lowest average rank was the most valuable Rockie.

5. The data used was only for seasons that were completed (e.g. not 2009).

Remember, I'm using Sean Smith's historical WAR database (not Fangraphs) to compile these numbers (with a big assist to the fantastic Baseball Reference; here is the glossary of the terms Smith uses and an explanation of WAR's calculation for position players and pitchers. Note: the calculation that Smith uses is different than the one used in my article, so the numbers at Fangraphs will be slightly different than the ones I present in these articles.

After the jump I'll outline the greatest (and worst) Rockies squad as found using my methodology, as well as the best single year performances.

The All-Time Greats

Remember, this ranking takes into account best career WAR, best consecutive 3-year WAR period, and best single WAR year to accurately capture a player's greatness and to mitigate somewhat the fact that WAR is a counting stat and is heavily influenced by longevity. Slash stats are (Career WAR / 3 Year WAR / 1 Year WAR).

Starting Lineup

C: Jeff Reed (1996-1999) (4.3 / 4.6 / 1.8)
1B: Todd Helton (1997-2008) (53.9 / 21.7 / 8.8)
2B: Eric Young (1993-1997) (9.5 / 7.3 / 3.8)
3B: Garrett Atkins (2003-2008) (11.1 / 10.8 / 6.4)
SS: Troy Tulowitzki (2006-2008) (6.2 / 6.2 / 5.6)
LF: Matt Holliday (2004-2008) (16.9 / 15.9 / 7.3)
CF: Juan Pierre (2000-2002) (3.0 / 3.0 / 2.4)
RF: Larry Walker (1995-2004) (44.1 / 18.3 / 9.0)

Bench

Vinny Castilla (1993-1999, 2004, 2006) (15.1 / 10.1 / 4.5)
Ellis Burks (1994-1998) (10.8 / 10 / 7.6)
Andres Galarraga (1993-1997) (11.3 / 6.3 / 3.6)
Jamey Carroll (2006-2007) (5.1 / 5.1 / 4.3)
Chris Iannetta (2006-2008) (3.2 / 3.2 / 2.7)

Batting Order

1. Eric Young
2. Troy Tulowitzki
3. Larry Walker
4. Todd Helton
5. Matt Holliday
6. Garrett Atkins
7. Juan Pierre
8. Jeff Reed

Starting Rotation:

SP1: Pedro Astacio (1997-2001) (9.9 / 9.3 / 5.3)
SP2: Aaron Cook (2002-2008) (10.3 / 7.3 / 3.4)
SP3: Jason Jennings (2001-2006) (9.1 / 6.6 / 4.2)
SP4: Kevin Ritz (1994-1998) (6.6 / 6.5 / 3.9)
SP5: Armando Reynoso (1993-1996) (7.6 / 5.0 / 3.1)

Bullpen (in order of importance):

Steve Reed (1993-1997, 2003-2004) (9.2 / 5.6 / 3.1)
Brian Fuentes (2002-2008) (8.8 / 5.2 / 2.7)
Curtis Leskanic (1993-1999) (5.2 / 3.2 / 3.1)
Bruce Ruffin (1993-1997) (5.7 / 4.6 / 1.9)
Jerry Dipoto (1997-2000) (4.7 / 4.4 / 2.1)
Jose Jimenez (2000-2003) (4.2 / 4.2 / 2.3)
Darren Holmes (1993-1997) ( (3.8 / 3.6 / 2.3)

Analysis

The construction of this team historically tells us that in the last few years the Rockies have played several of the best position players in team history (three of them are on this squad). After 2009 is completed Chris Iannetta will supplant Jeff Reed at starting catcher while several other players shoot up the leader boards.

From a pitching standpoint, the bullpen is heavily comprised of guys that were in the 1997 bullpen (five of them!). After this year not much will change as far as relievers go, but Ubaldo Jimenez's stellar 2009 will place him in the rotation as the second-ranked starting pitcher. It should be noted that Ellis Burks would probably supplant Juan Pierre in center field.

The team that is best by my metrics is by and large the best team by Career and 3 Year WAR totals too, but there are definitely some interesting outlier seasons by others that shake up the best single year roster.

The Greatest Single Season Performances

Collected below is an unholy amalgamation of the best individual seasons by position in Rockies history. If these players had all produced at this level in the same year, they would have produced 67.2 batting WAR (20.4 off the bench), 19.2 relief WAR, and 22.1 starting pitching WAR for a total of 88.1 WAR. This team should statistically win 136.7 games out of 162 (a replacement level team would win 48.6, or 30% of its games).

Starting Lineup

C: Chris Iannetta (2008) 2.7
1B: Todd Helton (2000) 8.8
2B: Jamey Carroll (2006) 4.3
3B: Garrett Atkins (2006) 6.4
SS: Troy Tulowitzki (2007) 5.6
LF: Ellis Burks (1996) 7.6
CF: Juan Pierre (2001) 2.4
RF: Larry Walker (1997) 9.0

Bench

Matt Holliday (2007) 7.3
Vinny Castilla (1998) 4.5
Kazuo Matsui (2007) 4.1
Eric Young (1996) 2.7
Jeff Reed (1998) 1.8

Batting Order

1. Jamey Carroll
2. Ellis Burks
3. Larry Walker
4. Todd Helton
5. Garrett Atkins
6. Troy Tulowitzki
7. Chris Iannetta
8. Juan Pierre

Starting Rotation:

SP1: Pedro Astacio (1999) 5.3
SP2: Joe Kennedy (2004) 4.7
SP3: Jason Jennings (2006) 4.2
SP4: Marvin Freeman (1994) 4.0
SP5: Kevin Ritz (1995) 3.9

Bullpen (in order of importance):

Gabe White (2000) 3.3
Steve Reed (1997) 3.1
Curtis Leskanic (1995) 3.1
Brian Fuentes (2005) 2.7
Manuel Corpas (2007) 2.4
Jose Jimenez (2000) 2.3
Darren Holmes (1995) 2.3

Analysis

Obviously I'd play Holliday in left field and shift Burks to center, improving the lineup (and overall WAR) immensely, but those were the best players by WAR at their position in one season. From this year's team, Carlos Gonzalez is close to surpassing Juan Pierre, while Ubaldo Jimenez will jump atop the starting rotation, where he will perhaps be joined by Jason Marquis (depending on how his last start turns out). I'll talk more about this next week.

Rockies fans have been privileged enough to witness in the last couple of years some of the greatest seasons ever--Smith's WAR calculations are park-adjusted, so when Coors Field changed due to the humidor's implementation so did the formula for calculating WAR. As a result, early pitchers get a large boost (and hitters a large detraction) relative to today's players because of the pitcher's hell that was early Coors Field/Mile High.

And finally...

Single Season Goats

This would be the worst single-season lineup the Rockies could put on the field (worst players starting). The sad thing is that many of them did play a large role for the Rockies. The damage: -15.9 hitting WAR (-11.2 from the starting lineup), -7.5 relief WAR, and -8.5 SP WAR for a total of -31.9 wins above replacement. This team should statistically win 16.7 games out of 162.

Starting Lineup

C: Kirt Manwaring (1997) -2.1
1B: John Vander Wal (1997) -0.7
2B: Luis A. Gonzalez (2006) -1.0
3B: Vinny Castilla (1993) -0.5 [soon to be supplanted by Garrett Atkins, 2009 (-0.9)]
SS: Neifi Perez (1998) -1.2 (and yes, he played all 162 games)
LF: Dante Bichette (1999) -2.8
CF: Choo Freeman (2004) -1.2
RF: Brad Hawpe (2008) -1.7

Bench

Cory Sullivan (2006) -1.1
Steve Finley (2007) -1.1
Jason Bates (1996) -0.9
Jeff Baker (2007) -0.7
Gary Bennett (2002) -0.9

Batting Order

1. Neifi Perez
2. Choo Freeman
3. Vinny Castilla
4. Dante Bichette
5. Brad Hawpe
6. John Vander Wal
7. Kirt Manwaring
8. Luis A. Gonzalez

Starting Rotation:

SP1: Dennis Stark (2004) -1.9
SP2: Joe Kennedy (2005) -1.9
SP3: Brian Rekar (1996) -1.6
SP4: Andy Ashby (1993) -1.6
SP5: Mike Hampton (2002) -1.5

Bullpen (in order of suckitude):

Shawn Chacon (2004) -1.7
Todd Jones (2003) -1.4
Mike Dejean (1999) -1
Darren Holmes (1994) -0.9
Jose Acevedo (2005) -0.9
Jeremy Affeldt (2006) -0.8
Javier Lopez (2004) -0.8

Analysis

This team is horrible, but some of the names on the list were just having a statistical anomaly of a bad season or were getting their first look at major league hitting/pitching. In fact, several went on to have nice careers. Several of them did not, and for good reason.

Next week, I'll look at how the 2009 Rockies performed individually and as a team from a value standpoint.

Elijah Dukes Will Run Through Walls. Washington Nationals 4, New York Mets 3.

Ed Chigliak — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:20:27 -0000

More photos » by Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP

2 months ago: Washington Nationals' starter J.D. Martin, pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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We've learned two things about Elijah Dukes this year:

1) You don't run on Dukes.

2) Elijah Dukes will run through walls.

If David Wright didn't know that second one already he found out as he came around first and watched Elijah Dukes run full speed into the out-of-town scoreboard in right to rob Wright of a potentially game-tying extra base hit with two out in the top of the ninth tonight in DC's 4-3 win over New York. Dukes' catch gave Mike MacDougal his 18th save in 19 opportunities a half-inning after Washington took the lead with the help of two errors from NY's middle infielders. The Nationals take their second straight over the Mets and set themselves up for the sweep in the last home game of 2009 tomorrow afternoon. (ed. note - "And I'm telling you right now...Teddy Roosevelt will win tomorrow, buy your tickets so you can say you were there...") (ed. note - "The previous opinion is in no way based on facts, just gut feelings, like Riggleman!!")

BACKPAGE:

• Martin v Pelfrey.
• Elijah SSSSSUPER DUKESSSSS!!!! F.O.D.&D. Rejoice! Desmond Does It Too!!!
• Adam Dunn Gets The Beyond The Box Score Treatment.

• Miss The Game? The DC Faithful Were Watching...

• Check Out the SB Nation's NY Mets Blog: Amazin' Avenue OpenThread.

• LINK: Game 157: Enjoy 2B Next Year, Guz..." - Doghouse.

• For The Completists, Full Game Report After The JUMP...

Nationals now 54-103. (Countdown To 100 Losses, Over For Days Now).

BACKPAGE:

• Martin v Pelfrey. J.D. Martin gets himself in trouble early, giving up a leadoff double to Angel Pagan and letting Luis Castillo reach base on a sac bunt attempt. David Wright walks to loaded the bases and Carlos Beltran walks too to force in the first run. 1-0 NY. Martin gets a line drive to short, a fly ball to short center and an out at second to escape further damage, but he gets right back in trouble in the second. Wilson Valdez doubles to start the frame, moves to second on a sac bunt by the Mets' starter and scores on an Angel Pagan single for a 2-0 lead. David Wright doubles Pagan in, 3-0 Mets.

• Mike Pelfrey retires the first eight batters he faces before allowing a bloop single to the opposing pitcher in the bottom of the third. The Mets' right-hander throws four scoreless for NY, holding DC to just a walk and a single, but the fifth starts with "Pinch Hittin'" Pete Orr singling on an 0-2 fastball up and out over the plate. Ian Desmond's up next and the Nationals' rookie shortstop gets a 1-2 fastball from Pelfrey that doesn't quite make it inside, Desmond explodes on it, launches it to left and GONE!! Two-run HR, 3-2 NY. Two outs later, still in the fifth, Willie Harris and Elijah Dukes hit back-to-back singles and Mr. Gold Glove Himself, the one and only Ryan Zimmerman gets two straight and I mean "straight" fastballs inside, the second of which is lined to left for Zim's 103rd RBI and the 3-3 tie.

• J.D. Martin ends up throwing four scoreless after the rough start, and leaves after 6.0 IP, having given up 7 hits, 3 ER and 2 walks, but the win ends up going to DC reliever Tyler Clippard who throws 2.0 scoreless, the second of which I still can't believe he escaped. Clippard gave up back to back singles to Carlos Beltran and Daniel Murphy, then walked Jeff Francoeur to load the bases with no outs and the score tied at 3-3 tie in the eighth. Former Nationals' catcher Brian Schneider (Call us, Brian?) does Washington a solid by popping out unproductively and pinch hitter Jeremy Reed lines to second, Alberto Gonzalez catches it, throws to first, Francoeur's out, (where was he going?) DOUBLE PLAY!! Clippard's one lucky reliever...

• Mike "Danger" Morse walks with one down in the Nationals' eighth, Justin Maxwell takes over on the basepaths, and pinch hitter Cristian Guzman follows with what should be a double play, but Anderson Hernandez fields at short and tosses one low to Luis Castillo, and right by second, both runners safe. Ian Desmond follows with another DP grounder, Anderson Hernandez gets to it behind second, tosses to Castillo, Castillo fires wide of first and out of Daniel Murphy's reach, Desmond's safe. Maxwell scores from second, 4-3 DC!!

• Top Of Ninth...Mike MacDougal comes on to close it. Cory Sullivan K's swinging. Angel Pagan...singles, (3 for 5), but MacDougal paints the outside corner to get Luis Castillo looking with Pagan still at first. David Wright, works the count full and destroys a 96 mph MacDougal heater. Wright drives it to right, Elijah Dukes sprints toward the wall, and runs into the out-of-town scoreboard as he makes the grab, Dukes bounces of the wall, falls back and rolls to his feet, then jumps up pounding his chest!!! SSSSSUPER DUKESSSS Runs through walls! Nationals win, 4-3 final.

LINK:

• Adam Dunn Gets The Beyond The Box Score Treatment.

Walter Fulbright has an article up at Beyond The Boxscore, the SB Nation's "Saber-Slanted" blog, entitled, "The Two Sides Of Adam Dunn: Graph Of The Day", in which Mr. Fullbright determines that Adam Dunn is, "...still a superstar, just playing out of position because he no longer has one," and recommends that fans, "...start a letter writing campaign to see if we can find the Nationals an American League trading partner." Dunn ranks dead last on Mr. Fulbright's league-wide UZR chart and the BtB writer's description of the nation's capital's favorite first baseman is at odds with most of what I've heard from the DC Faithful:

"Adam Dunn can't hide his failings at the cold corner. Whatever advantage he has for reaching to balls above his head (a pretty low percentage play anyway) are absolutely obliterated by his inability to scoop balls in the dirt, either from throws or from ground balls. He's so completely top heavy that he has an inherent disadvantage to those born with the virtue of just being closer to the ground. This is a pretty definite trend, he has roughly the same power off the bat as when he was 23, only with 60-70 more pounds packed on, his defense has gone from pretty bad to awful to absolutely unacceptable."

Check out Mr. Fulbright's article HERE or in the title link above to see how he reached his conclusions. Let him know what you've seen from Dunn...

GAME REPORT:

New York Mets At Washington Nationals. Game 157 Of 162.

DC right-hander J.D. Martin takes a deep breath, stretching his jaw as he does, then he exhales and fires the first pitch home to Angel Pagan. Pagan ends up doubling to right off the out-of-town scoreboard to start the game with a runner on second. Luis Castillo bunts to third and J.D. Martin cuts Ryan Zimmerman off to field and not throw to first. First and third for David Wright. J.D. Martin walks the bases loaded and goes 3-0 to Carlos Beltran, hitting the outside corner for 3-1 and getting a foul for another full count. Then Martin walks Beltran and walks in a run, 1-0 New York. Daniel Murphy lines toward short, Ian Desmond catches and holds it. Jeff Francoeur flies out to short center, and Willie Harris catches it coming in to hold Castillo at third. Brian Schneider lines to Pete Orr to end the threat with just the walked in run scoring...Willie Harris pops out to left to start the bottom of the first. Mets’ righty Mike Pelfrey gets a weak grounder to third from Elijah Dukes. Ryan Zimmerman grounds out to short.

Wilson Valdez doubles over short to start the second. Mike Pelfrey bunts to Adam Dunn, who can only throw to first. Angel Pagan singles to score Valdez and it’s 2-0 New York with one out in the second. Luis Castillo pops out to left. David Wright doubles off the base of the wall in left, Pagan scores from first, 3-0 Mets. Carlos Beltran grounds out to first, Adam Dunn fields it and hustles to first...Dunn leads off DC’s second with a swinging K on a bender off the plate. Mike Morse grounds out to Wilson Valdez at short. Pete Orr grounds to Castillo at second and it’s 3-0 NY after three.

Willie Harris has to run way into left to catch a line drive off Daniel Murphy’s bat. Francoeur flies out to Elijah Dukes in right. Brian Schneider grounds out to first and Dunn tosses to Martin to end the Mets’ third...Ian Desmond flies out to right field. Mike Pelfrey gets off the mound quickly to field a dribbler toward third and throws a strike to Daniel Murphy at first to get WIl Nieves. J.D. Martin sends a bloop single to center for the Nationals’ first hit. Willie Harris walks. Elijah Dukes rolls the third out to short.

Wilson Valdez grounds out to Pete Orr. Mike Pelfrey’s groundout rolls over the first base bag to Dunn. Angel Pagan sends Mike Morse sprinting back to make an overhead catch for the final out of the Mets’ fourth...Ryan Zimmerman grounds to short, Wilson Valdez double-pumps and throws to first. Adam Dunn flies out to deep center. Mike Morse grounds out to short, Pelfrey’s got four scoreless.

Willie Harris takes two steps back and catches a line drive off Luis Castillo’s bat. David Wright pulls a bender over third and into left for a one-out double. Carlos Beltran grounds weakly to second. Daniel Murphy flies out to Mike Morse and it’s 3-0 NY after four and a half...Pete Orr smacks a single through short. Ian Desmond goes deeeep to left on a high inside fastball and it’s GONE!!! Two-run HR, 3-2 NY. Wil Nieves grounds out to WIlson Valdez at short. J.D. Martin K’s swinging over a two-strike sinker. Willie Harris sneaks a grounder under a diving Luis Castillo at second. Elijah Dukes singles to center, but Willie Harris holds up at second. Ryan Zimmerman gets a fastball before it gets inside and singles to center to score Harris. 3-3. Adam Dunn grounds out to first, tied after five.

Jeff Francoeur lines to left, Morse misjudges it but hustles back to make a leaping catch. Brian Schneider throws his bat at a fastball and singles to center. Wilson Valdez sends a fluttering line drive out to Willie Harris. MIke Pelfrey flies out to right...Mike Morse grounds out to third. Pete Orr grounds to Daniel Murphy at first. Ian Desmond slides in safe at second on a one-hopper to third that gets by David Wright and rolls out to left. Wil Nieves lines out to right.

Tyler Clippard starts Angel Pagan with three balls and then blows Pagan away. Ian Desmond throws out Luis Castillo. Clippard gets Wright on a called strike three, 3-3 in the seventh...Alberto Gonzalez grounds to Murphy at first. Willie Harris flies out to center. Elijah Dukes grounds one through Pelfrey’s legs for a two-out single. Ryan Zimmerman flies out to right, 3-3 after seven.

Carlos Beltran singles to center to start NY's eighth. Daniel Murphy rips a grounder by Dunn at first, Beltran takes third. Jeff Francouer walks to load the bases for Schneider. Brian Schneider pops out foul of third. Pinch hitter Jeremy Reed hits a broken bat liner to second, Frenchy gets doubled up!!...Adam Dunn K’s and Pedro Feliciano’s out after one batter. Mike Morse vs Sean Green. Morse walks, Justin Maxwell on to run. Cristian Guzman will hit. Guzman grounds to second, Anderson Hernandez tosses it but Castillo at second, both runners safe. Ian Desmond grounds to second, Anderson Hernandez knocks it down, tosses to second, Castillo....throws it wide of first, Maxell scores, Desmond's safe. 4-3 NY. Francisco Rodriguez comes on. Desmond takes third without a throw. Angel Pagan makes an underhand catch on a line out by Alberto Gonzalez.

Mike MacDougal vs Cory Sullivan. Angel Pagan lines off Zimmerman’s glove and into left. Luis Castillo takes a called strike three for out No. 2!!! David Wright flies to deeeep right, Elijah Dukes tracks it and catches it as he hits the wall at full speeeeed. SSSSSUPER DUKESSSSSS!!!!!!!! Sets up the sweeeep!!!!

Nationals now 53-104.

Ross Detwiler Claims First MLB Win, 2-1 Over The Lowly New York Mets.

Ed Chigliak — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:55:33 -0000

More photos » by Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP

2 months ago: Washington Nationals' starter Ross Detwiler pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 28, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Browse more photos »

• Ross Detwiler's First MLB Win...The Mets' SNY announce team of Gary Cohen, former Nationals' announcer and Mets' pitcher Ron Darling and Seinfeld star Keith Hernandez criticized Ross Detwiler at one point, claiming that he should still be pitching in the minors as raw as he was, and on any team other than the Mets or Nationals he probably would be, but Ross Detwiler, (the 6th overall pick and the 3rd pitcher taken in the '07 Draft behind #1 overall David Price and left-hander Daniel Moskos, who went 4th overall to the Pirates), was able to beat the Mets tonight, so...Enjoy the rebuild Citi Field season ticket holders!!!

Detwiler goes 6.0 IP and allows just 7 hits, 1 walk and 1 ER as he earns his first MLB W...Here's How It Happened...

• Miss The Game? The DC Faithful Are Still Watching...

• Check Out The SB Nation's New York Mets Blog: Amazin' Avenue GameThread.

• "Revenge of the softball girls" - by Doghouse.

FULL GAME REPORT AFTER THE JUMP...

• A productive groundout by Ian Desmond moves Justin Maxwell from second to third after a leadoff hit off NY Mets' right-hander Nelson Figueroa in the first inning tonight, and Ryan Zimmerman follows with an RBI flyout to short right that scores Maxwell on a close play at home, and that’s all the Nationals need for Washington’s first run...oh, that and an error on a backhand attempt by David "Gold Glove" Wright who turns an infield hit into a runner on second to start the game and Ryan Zimmerman’s 102nd RBI.

• After two quick frames, Ross Detwiler gives up a two-out walk to Angel Pagan. A hard-hit grounder by Luis Castilla gets by third when Ryan Zimmerman tries a Zimmermanesque sidestep stab. David Wright steps in with two and two out...Ross Detwiler gets D. Wright looking to end the Mets’ first threat...Still 0-0 after four, Detwiler gives up a leadoff single to Anderson Hernandez in the Mets' fifth, and Nelson Figueroa reaches first safely on a sac attempt when Josh Bard throws late to second, so Angel Pagan’s bunt, which follows Figueroa's, moves two runners into scoring postition with one down. Detwiler gets a line drive out to Ian Desmond at short from Luis Castillo and gets a groundout to short from David Wright. 5.0 scoreless for Detwiler in what is probably his last start of ‘09.

• The Mets get on the board in the sixth. Detwiler gives up a single to center by Carlos Beltran, who takes second on a wild pitch and scores one out later when Fernando Tatis singles to right. 1-1 ballgame. Another wild pitch puts two runners in scoring position with Nelson Figueroa at bat, but Detwiler gets the opposing pitcher swinging to end the top of the frame.

• Mike Morse gives DC back their lead!! Solo shot to right to start the Nationals’ sixth, 2-1 DC. 3 HR’s in 3-straight games for Morse who’s now matched his career total coming into the season...Justin Maxwell singles to start the Nationals’ seventh, and moves to second on a sac bunt by Desmond, but then Zimmerman grounds to short, and J-Max runs anyway and gets thrown out at third...Dunn flies out, DC will have to settle for a one-run lead.

• Jason Bergmann walks the first batter he faces in the seventh but gets out of the frame with the lead when he K’s Jeff Francoeur, throwing a high heater outside by Frenchy with two on and two out. Bergmann comes back in the eighth and retires the side in order, to put the Nationals three outs away from their 53rd win and Ross Detwiler’s first.

• MacDougal Will Do It...After allowing 4 hits and 5 runs in his last two outings, Mike MacDougal...for the first time in 6 trips to the hill...was able to pitch a scoreless frame as he converted the 16th of 17 save opportunities this season and closed out Ross Detwiler's first Major League win...

Nationals win, 2-1 final.

For The Completists, Full Game Report Starts....NOW!!!

New York Mets At Washington Nationals. Game 156 Of 162.

GAME REPORT:

Angel Pagan lines a little too hard to right where Mike Morse takes an awkard leap to catch the first out. Luis Castillo flies weakly to Morse. David Wright lines over first for a two-out double off DC lefty Ross Detwiler. Ian Desmond fields and fires to first to get Carlos Beltran and end the top of the first...Nelson Figueroa gives up a leadoff hit to Justin Maxwell on a high chopper to third that David Wright can’t backhand. Ian Desmond’s groundout to second moves J-Max to third. Ryan Zimmerman flies to short right, Maxwell tags up and breaks for home as Jeff Francoeur throws in and up the line, 1-0 as Maxwell avoids the tag. Adam Dunn K’s swinging to end the first.

Mike Morse hustles back and catches the first out of the second at the wall off Jeff Francoeur’s bat. Ian Desmond throws out Fernado Tatis. Omir Santos flies out just left of center to Justin Maxwell...Josh Willingham hangs one up in the air for Carlos Beltran to catch. Mike Morse rips one to the hole at short, and Anderson Hernandez just knocks it down. Josh Bard pops up the first pitch he sees. Alberto Gonzalez grounds into a force to end the DC second.

Anderson Hernandez grounds out to Ian Desmond. Nelson Figueroa grounds out to third. Ross Detwiler walks Angel Pagan with two down. Luis Castillo gets knocked down but not hit by a fastball inside and ends up singling by Ryan Zimmerman at third when he tries to snatch it instead of getting in front of it. First and third for Wright. Detwiler hits the inside corner with a two-strike fastball for a backwards K...Detwiler gets called out on strikes. Justin Maxwell flies out to the wall in right center. Ian Desmond rrrips a two-out triple off the out-of-town scoreboard. Ryan Zimmerman walks with two down. Adam Dunn grounds to Luis Castillo at second to end the third.

Ian Desmond throws out Carlos Beltran. Jeff Francoeur grounds out to Dunn at first. Fernando Tatis’ double falls in fair down the line in right. Omir Santos flies to center to end the Mets’ fourth...Josh Willingham chases a slider into the left-hand batter’s box. Mike Morse grounds sharply to short, Anderson Hernandez gets there but throws it by first. Morse to second. Josh Bard grounds out to first to advance Morse to third. Alberto Gonzalez gets the intentionals to set Detwiler up with two on and two out. Detwiler K’s to end the fourth.

Anderson "Elvis" Hernandez singles to center, Justin Maxwell charges in to field it on the curly-W in the grass. Figueroa drops a bunt in front of home, Bard throws to second too late, and Desmond holds it at second while Figueroa slowly runs to first. Angel Pagan bunts both runners into scoring position. Luis Castillo lines out to short. David Wright grounds out to short to end the fifth...Justin Maxwell pops out to right. Ian Desmond drops a bunt toward third, Wright barehands and throws behind the runner and past Tatis behind first. Desmond takes second. Ryan Zimmerman gets a two-strike slider inside that’s called strike three. Adam Dunn gets the intentionals. Josh WIllingham grounds into a force at second to end the fifth.

Carlos Beltran singles to center to start the sixth. Jeff Francoeur’s up, Detwiler throws a fastball by home, Beltran to second. Francoeur K’s chasing a high two-strike fastball outside. Fernando Tatis lines to center, Beltran scores and it’s tied at 1-1. Omir Santos flies out to center. Anderson Hernandez grounds to second and reaches safely when Alberto Gonzalez’s throw is late. Another wild pitch moves both runners up. Nelson Figueroa K’s swinging to end the frame...Mike Morse goes the other way with a high fly ball to right and GONE!!!! HR for Morse, 2-1 DC!! Josh Bard pops out. Alberto Gonzalez flies out to left. Jorge Padilla lines out to end the sixth.

Jason Bergmann tries to hold the lead for Detwiler. Leadoff walk to Angel Pagan is not a good start. Luis Castilla’s sac bunt moves Pagan to second. David Wright grounds out to Desmond at short for the second out. Carlos Beltran gets two balls and then gets the intentionals. Jeff Francoeur K’s chasing a curve in the dirt!!! Called strike three!!!!...Justin Maxwell vs Sean Green. J-Max shoots a low-liner to right. Ian Desmond bunts J-Max over. Ryan Zimmerman grounds to short, Maxwell breaks for third and gets thrown out. Figueroa out for Pedro Feliciano. Adam Dunn flies out to left to end the seventh.

Fernando Tatis flies to right and Mike Morse has to make a basket catch to avoid Justin Maxwell as he cuts in front of the right fielder. Jason Bergmann gets a line-drive out to center from Omir Santos. Daniel Murphy pops out to third to end the Mets’ eighth...Bobby Parnell vs Willingham to start the Nationals’ eighth. Elijah Dukes in on to run. Mike Morse K’s swinging. Josh Bard grounds into an inning ending DP...Wait for it...

Mike MacDougal vs Cory Sullivan. Sullivan grounds to first, ONE!! Angel Pagan grounds to Desmond, TWO! Luis Castillo grounds to short, Desmond to first, Ballgame!!! Nationals win, 2-1 final. Ross Detwiler gets his first career W. Congrats, Mr. Detwiler!!!!

Nationals now 53-103.

Another Game, Another Loss: Phillies 4, Mets 2

Eric Simon — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:56:18 -0000

Carlos Beltran got the night off again, presumably for weather-related reasons (ed. note: he's afraid of the rain). In a striking display of solidarity in support of their terrified centerfielder, the rest of the Mets' offense took the night off, too. I guess that's not entirely fair; they managed nine hits including seven off Cole Hamels, but they plated just one run in the first eight innings. In the ninth, Omir Santos led off with a double and Jeremy Reed's pinch-hit single sent Santos to third. Cory Sullivan then grounded into a rally-killing double play, chasing home Santos with the second run but also providing the Phillies with two important outs. Angel Pagan grounded out to second to end the game.

The loss was the Mets' fourth in a row and seventh in their last ten and it moved them to the precipice of mathematical playoff elimination. They were unofficially eliminated a couple of months ago, but we do like our statistical numbers here and those tell us it's almost officially time to move on.

The Mets' latest stretch of unwatchable futility has vaulted them over the A's, Padres, and Reds into seventh place overall, just a half-game behind sixth-place Arizona and a game-and-a-half behind fifth-place Cleveland. The real dregs of the league are at least another few games behind that, but a top-five overall pick would be a silver lining in this lost season.

Mike Pelfrey takes on Jamie Moyer at 4:05pm Saturday on FOX.

Haiku by Howard Megdal

Phils are struggling
But Mets can't take advantage
Oh what might have been

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: Jeremy Reed, +9.2% WPA, Jeff Francoeur, +7.9% WPA
Big losers: Fernando Tatis, -15.6% WPA, David Wright, -15.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Sullivan single in seventh, +9.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Sullivan GIDP in ninth, -16.0% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -6.6% WPA
Total batter WPA: -43.4% WPA
GWRBI!: Carlos Ruiz

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by sj10689; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	sj10689	59
2	Jadden Hopkins	22
3	MetsFan4Decades	21
4	EtSuKe	17
5	Syler	14
6	David G	10
7	blueandorange4life	8
8	fxcarden	8
9	nelsonc	5
10	firejerrynow	5

Swing And Miss: Cubs 5, Mets 3

Eric Simon — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:10:23 -0000

.368 Cory Sullivan's on-base percentage

66 Percentage of Rich Harden's outs recorded via strikeout

26 Mets games remaining in 2009

23 Percentage of swinging strikes induced by Rich Harden

18 Nelson Figueroa strikeouts in last two starts (13 innings)

17 Nelson Figueroa strikeouts in previous nine appearances (25 innings)

15 Percentage of swinging strikes induced by Nelson Figueroa

10 Mets left on base

9 Combined strikeouts by Mets' first three hitters

4 Hits by Josh Thole in his first nine big league at-bats

Haiku by Howard Megdal

Sullivan's new show
is home runs; Lee's pair shows us
Classic never dies

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: Cory Sullivan, +16.9% WPA, Jeremy Reed, +7.1% WPA
Big losers: Nelson Figueroa, -19.8% WPA, Daniel Murphy, -15.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Pagan RBI single in seventh, +12.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Lee two-run homerun in fifth, -25.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -22.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: -27.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Derrek Lee

Game Thread Roll Call

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

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	KeithsMoustache	54
2	blueandorange4life	41
3	metsguy234	29
4	fxcarden	28
5	Jadden Hopkins	27
6	MetsFan4Decades	26
7	Syler	21
8	James Kannengieser	8
9	Kevin H	7
10	clip	4

Welcome To The World, Dylan Lee. Thanks For Sending Your Dad Back; Derrek Lee Homers Twice In 5-3 Cubs Win

Al — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:00:21 -0000

by Frank Franklin II - AP

Two homers for your new son. Nice game, D-Lee!

View full size photo »

NEW YORK -- Bet you didn't realize exactly how much the Cubs missed Derrek Lee the last two days while he was away for the birth of his second child, and first son, named Dylan.

The Cubs welcomed him back and D-Lee sent two homers into the upper reaches of Citi Field -- two of the longer homers hit there, according to my "Cubs By The Numbers" co-author Matt Silverman, who I met for the first time today (we did the entire book by email and phone calls. And yes, that link above is a shameless hint to you to get your copy of the book if you haven't already). Matt provided the ticket, for which I thank him, and D-Lee provided the offense, going 3-for-4 with the pair of dingers and 3 RBI. That leaves Lee one homer short of his fourth 30-HR season (second with the Cubs) and with seven more RBI, he'll have his second 100-RBI year.

Lee's fine offensive year -- in a season when many Cubs fans (not me, though) were clamoring for him to be replaced by Micah Hoffpauir -- may go for naught; unless the Cubs start a long winning streak with this victory and the four teams in front of them start losing, the Cubs will have to settle for wins like this one, 5-3 over the Mets, as moral victories as they look forward to retooling for 2010. Lee was hitting .198 on May 16; since then in 92 games he's hitting .327/.405/.636 with 26 HR and 77 RBI. Sound like a guy in decline? Hardly. If only the rest of the offense had contributed in the same way all year.

Meanwhile, Rich Harden was striking out batters left and right through the first five innings -- that is, when he wasn't allowing a HR to Cory Sullivan, who hadn't homered all season until last night. Sullivan has to be happy to see Cubs pitchers, even if they don't return the favor. Harden had to be lifted after five innings after throwing 102 pitches; the bullpen did a decent job, except for Aaron Heilman, who was back to his old ways of not hitting his spots. He didn't walk anyone, but was charged with the Mets' third run. He was roundly booed when introduced and then again when he was taken out for John Grabow -- I thought, "Why are Mets fans booing him? He just gave them a run, they should be cheering and wanting him to stay in the game!"

Carlos Marmol was summoned with the tying runs on base in the eighth inning. He immediately walked pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed, provoking the "uh-oh" that's been the case with Marmol much of the year. But he got Angel Pagan to fly to center and dispatched the Mets quickly in the ninth, including a pair of K's, for his ninth save. If he can keep this up, that's hope for him to be a solid closer next season.

I walked all the way around the lower level of Citi Field today; parts of it, particularly a large food court in center field, reminded me of Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. In fact, the food has been the best part of the ballpark; today's tickets were part of the "Ebbets Club", a semi-fancy enclosed area where you don't have to dress up (as you do for the other private clubs at Citi Field); they have sandwiches and other well-made food there that's a bit above the usual ballpark fare. All of the food, including the chicken quesadilla from last night, has been outstanding. The rest of the park seems kind of generic; Mets fans, as I noted yesterday, were very upset that the huge rotunda was turned into a Brooklyn Dodger/Jackie Robinson memorial with no Mets mentions at all. I do understand the rationale behind honoring Robinson -- but after all, it's a Mets ballpark, and the Dodgers are more than 50 years gone from New York.

One thing that the Mets don't do that almost every other team -- including the Cubs -- do is play some sort of "guess the attendance" game, or, for that matter, even announce the paid crowd. Maybe that's because there are so many no-shows; of the 38,759 that the boxscore says paid today, maybe 20,000-22,000 were in the house. At the prices the Mets are charging (fortunately, I didn't have to pay today), they'll have to do some serious changing in the offseason, or lower ticket prices, or they're going to have a huge attendance decline next year.

Credit to Mets fans, who were universally friendly -- maybe because their team is so far out of the race that they can afford to be -- and Mets employees and New York people in general, whether it be on the street or in the subway. I've never had a bad time here, and a win tomorrow to take this series will make it an even better trip. Randy Wells will take the mound Sunday afternoon -- keep up the good work, and who knows? Maybe a Cubs miracle is still possible.

2009 Season In Microcosm: Cubs Lose Ugly 6-2 Game To Mets

Al — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:00:51 -0000

by Frank Franklin II - AP

You deserved better, Z.

View full size photo »

NEW YORK -- I drove all the way from Chicago for that?

The Cubs' fading playoff hopes dimmed further Friday night in a 6-2 loss to the Mets that both teams tried really hard to lose. The Cubs were more successful in that losing effort.

The game featured three errors, at least two easily catchable fly balls that were dropped, the Cubs leaving the bases loaded three times (including with nobody out in the seventh) and scoring only one run through all those bases-loaded situations (naturally, when it didn't really mean anything any more). The Mets put up five runs in the eighth inning when Ryan Theriot couldn't throw out the admittedly fast Luis Castillo on a routine ground ball to short, and later in the inning a two-run single got past a pulled-in infield with the score still a manageable 3-1. Had the infield been at normal depth, the ball would have likely been hit right at Aramis Ramirez for a double play. Yes, one run would have scored -- unless A-Ram would have been able to throw to the plate, and I know that's a contact play, but still.

Still is right. The Cubs should have blown the game open in the seventh inning, when it was 1-0 and they loaded the bases with nobody out. I really don't know what to say -- the Cubs left 12 men on base in all and it was, as the headline said, an ugly, ugly game, leaving the Cubs seven games out of the wild-card lead with 29 to go.

Lou again said in his postgame press conference, "I don't know what to do." Well, here's what you can do, Lou. How about leaving Angel Guzman in to throw another inning? Guzman had thrown only 10 pitches in efficiently dispatching the Mets in the seventh, keeping the score at 1-0. There was no particular reason to take him out -- his batting order spot wasn't coming up till the 8th. Lou seems to have an aversion to using a relief pitcher for more than an inning -- unless, of course, the reliever has already thrown a huge number of pitches in the first inning he throws, making it almost certain he'll blow up in the second one.

Kevin Gregg and John Grabow didn't have it last night -- Gregg wasn't really a surprise, but Grabow was -- and maybe Guzman would have kept the score close.

With Derrek Lee still out of the lineup due to the birth of his second child on Thursday, Micah Hoffpauir got the start at 1B. Hoffpauir was returning to New York for the first time since he had his best major league day last September 25, when he went 5-for-5 with a pair of homers. Unfortunately, the site of that game is now a parking lot; Hoffpauir went 0-for-4 and Lou sent Jake Fox up to PH for him in the 9th (Fox struck out to end it).

All of this ruined an outstanding outing from Carlos Zambrano, who threw six really good innings and only allowed a handful of balls out of the infield. One of those balls, unfortunately, was Cory Sullivan's home run off the RF upper-deck facade, making the score 1-0 in the second inning. There it stood till the Cubs managed to tie it up in the 8th on a bizarre play where three Mets fielders let Milton Bradley's popup drop between them; Bradley hustled into second and eventually scored on Jeff Baker's single. After the horrible bottom of the 8th, the Cubs got a consolation run on an error and loaded the bases again in the 9th, but then the Mets summoned K-Rod. Francisco Rodriguez hasn't been lights-out as he was last year for the Angels, when he set the ML save record, but he was good enough to finish off a dispirited Cubs team.

I didn't get a chance to fully walk around Citi Field last night, but my first impression is: kinda generic. There's nothing that screams "New York" about the place, and I understand Mets fans were extremely unhappy about the entry rotunda, which is supposed to evoke the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field. That's all well and good, but there's apparently absolutely no Mets history or Mets logos (except for one on top of the dugout) anywhere in the place. They're working on changing that, from what I hear, after numerous (justifiable, it seems) complaints from Mets fans. The sightlines were decent from my seat halfway down the RF line, but one thing that isn't good: the out-of-town scoreboard. Hard to read and tucked away far above the LF seats, it finally gave up on trying to show AL scores last night.

Mets fans didn't give me too much grief last night, nor did I hear any dissing of Cubs fans; I think their own bad season had them commiserating with us. I would, at least, like to see a strong finish to this year. A win today would be a nice start on that. The game preview thread will post at 10:30 am CDT.

Cranky Friday Hodgepodge

James Kannengieser — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:00:36 -0000

None of the following items warranted a full post so I put them together. Here goes:

1. Brian Stokes entered the game Wednesday vs. the Rockies in the 8th inning with the score tied 2-2. He proceeded to give up 3 runs and Francisco Rodriguez came in to mop things up. Anything seem backwards here? The team's best reliever, Frankie, was only brought into a game after another reliever imploded. Why not bring him in to start the inning? The Mets' offense stinks, so keeping the game scoreless at that juncture was quite important. Frankie was obviously available to pitch and should have been brought in to a high leverage spot. Seems pretty simple.

2. Cory Sullivan has been not-terrible for the Mets this season but let's get real - he has no future with the big club except as an emergency injury fill-in. He's a 30 year-old below average hitter only capable of playing non-premium corner outfield positions. There is no intelligent reason to continue depriving Nick Evans of major league playing time in favor of Sullivan. Evans has displayed potential to be a decent major league hitter, especially against left-handed pitching. As BlueAndOrange.net noted recently, he has spent some more time in the outfield this season. Even if his future with the Mets is as a bench player, he could provide some decent value as a masher of lefthanded pitching in lieu of paying the Julio Francos of the world $1-$2 million. Play Evans in September.

3. I'm late to this party, but Dave Cameron at Fangraphs wrote that he couldn't care less about who wins the individual postseason awards, specifically the AL MVP. Some AA readers agreed but I don't. In a vacuum, I agree that the Cy Young and MVP voting don't really mean much. But when reading every offseason that BBWAA Hall of Fame voters base their choices on previous Cy Young and MVP voting, I start to care. The Hall of Fame is important, much moreso than postseason awards. For the foreseeable future, the BBWAA will be voting on both accolades. So when I read Sean McAdam's rationalization for exluding Bert Blyleven from his Hall of Fame ballot, I am annoyed:

For a guy who pitched 22 seasons, he received Cy Young votes in four years. Put another way, only once every five years, Blyleven was considered one of his league's 10 best pitchers. Sorry, but that doesn't exactly scream "all-time great" to me.

Why should past buffoonery by voters preclude a player from induction into the Hall of Fame? In 20 years when Joe Mauer is Hall eligible, and hasn't won any MVPs despite deserving like 7 (meanwhile Mark Teixeira and Ryan Howard have 4 apiece), how fair will Jon Heyman's Mauer-less ballot be ("he didn't win any MVPs, hence wasn't dominant")? Why not judge players by their on-field accomplishments rather than the subjective opinions of men who didn't have a clue 30 years ago? I understand some of the backlash against the FJM type snark in the Internet baseball community. Sometimes enough is enough. However, this doesn't mean faulty reasoning and poorly constructed arguments, especially by voting members of the BBWAA, should be given a free pass by people who know better.

4. Back to the Mets. Matt at Metsblog ran a piece this week about Jose Reyes. The key words:

is he [Reyes] ‘that player,’ you know, the guy who shows signs of greatness, who i believe is a super star, but who then drifts in to struggle, then back to greatness, then back to struggle, all interspersed with the occasional injury, talk of immaturity and a magazine cover…["snip", credit Rob Neyer]…in other words, i know jose can be great… my question is, will he be great… or, like olney says, will he end up being the team’s great white whale…

Before I comment any further, some Reyes facts/opinions:

Reyes is 26 years old.
At worst, Reyes is one of the top 5 most valuable shortstops in baseball. At best, he is only behind King Hanley Ramirez in terms of awesomeness.
He is almost certainly the best shortstop in Mets history.
Yeah, he dances. This pisses off Phillies fans and announcers, who have bestowed upon themselves the job of determining what constitutes acceptable celebration.

Let's get one thing straight. Jose Reyes is a superstar, 2009 injury or not. He is one of the top 25 most valuable position players in baseball and is signed through next season at a major discount. In case anyone has forgotten, there are only 30 teams in baseball, meaning Reyes is good enough to be the best player on at least 1 team (nevermind that David Wright and Carlos Beltran also fit this criteria, but stay tuned for item #5). Jose Reyes is great. You do not trade him for Matt Cain. Yet for some reason, I can already sense the offseason "let's trade Reyes" calls from Mets bloggers and fans. Nonsense. His value is actually pretty low because of injury, as commenters noted on this thread, and even so it would be almost impossible to receive equal value in return for our homegrown shortstop. I was happy to see Matt follow up to his original Reyes post, providing some clarification:

To be honest, the bitter tone in my post from yesterday, here, was probably the result of me being frustrated with this overall season, while missing Jose’s energy and attitude on the field… frankly, the Mets don’t feel the same and are far less entertaining without him.

There's a difference between wanting to see better performance from Reyes and labeling him a disappointment. Heck, I want to see more from Albert Pujols, I think he's even better than his numbers dictate. At the same time, I don't think I'll ever say that Pujols or a 5-6 WAR Mets shortstop is a disappointment or not a superstar. To paraphrase a smart Mets fan, let's not crap on our laudable players, while lauding our crap players.

5. Jayson "Worth The Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies" Stark's Mets Ether made the rounds yesterday, resulting in a concise and effective FanShot by johnmac7512. The money quote from Stark's piece:

What do the Mets need? We heard terms like "gamers" and "blue-collar players" over and over. To be a truly great team, said one scout, "you need grinders, not stars. And the Mets have been All-Stars and no grinders."

What, Daniel Murphy isn't blue collar enough? Boy, I would do anything to become one of the infamous "anonymous scouts". It would be fun to throw a wrench into the standard drivel being spouted by these "credible" sources. To quote Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan in The Departed, "Qui gives a sh*t" if a guy is a "gamer", as long as he is a valuable player. Marty Noble's latest ~~comedy act~~ mailbag also touched on this no-longer-infuriating-because-I-am-so-used-to-it nonsense:

My sense of the division race then was that the Phillies had several players -- Shane Victorino, Werth, Rollins and Raul Ibanez -- who enjoyed every moment on the field and didn't want to leave it until they had buried their opponent. And they had dominating talent in Howard and Utley.

I didn't see those characteristics in comparable quantities with the Mets. I thought too many Mets players were too easily satisfied and that not enough of the players with dominating talent delivered in critical situations. The 2009 Mets, more than Mets teams of the three previous seasons, were fundamentally flawed and tended to make grand mistakes.

Define "grand mistake." How about foolishly raising your arms to signify ground-rule double as an opposing team's hitter legs out an inside-the-park home run? Or dropping a routine pop-up then throwing the ball away, allowing the batter to make it all the way home? What about failing to cover 2nd base after an opposing player draws a walk, allowing him to sprint to 2nd? Yep, these are all flawed accomplishments of the ~~New York Mets~~ Philadelphia Phillies in 2009! (and these 3 plays are just off the top of my head) All teams make boneheaded mistakes. There are no "perfect" players (sorry Steve Phillips). Yes, it seems the Mets' mistakes this season came at unopportune times and maybe Ryan Church should have touched 3rd base, but these things don't only happen to the team in Flushing. Stuff happens.

I worry about stories like this because of the negative impact they have on the legacies of David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran. These are 3 potential Hall of Fame players, yet I can see New York sportswriters and fans unfairly remembering them as chokers. As players who failed to live up to their ability. And that really sucks. Short of bringing fake blood capsules onto the field and exploding them on their faces after crashing into the outfield wall or diving into the stands, I don't know what else the core trio can do to truly become "grinders." I've been inspired to write an alternate reality short story, where the 2007 collapse didn't happen, the Mets won a World Series, and Wright, Reyes, and Beltran are paraded around New York City like conquering heroes. Stay tuned for that, at some point.

6. Josh Thole means business. It's been said. Now let's not say it again and just observe the development of the organization's top catching prospect.

7. Hey Brian Bruney - maybe you should learn how to throw a strike before you run your mouth.

8. First and last time I'll post this. Follow me on Twitter, if you want to read more cantankerous ramblings about the Mets and pop culture.