18.5.09

Giddy Streak Grinds To A Halt

An emotional Giants team, pumped up to try and avoid a first-ever four game sweep at home to the Mets held the Mets to their first shut out of the season just to make sure.

On the bright side, the Mets won three of four on the first leg of their West Coast trip and showed signs of being an offensive juggernaut.


Pelf balked his way to defeat

On the not-so-bright side, the winning streak came to a halt, Big Pelf made a fool of himself with a bizarre psychological National television audience meltdown, balking three times, once nearly tripping over and falling down and being removed for a pinch hitter finally, mercifully, after only 78 pitches in the 7th inning.

You could say that Matt Cain, one of the better pitchers on the Giants staff and now 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA, was simply a superior pitcher waiting to cool the Mets off.


The haunted look in David Wright's eyes returned...

But that wouldn't fully explain why the Mets hit into double plays twice with the bases loaded, first time in the 2nd inning when Cain walked three batters in the inning to load them with none out.

In essence, that was the Mets big chance to break the game open early and finish their sweep of the Giants but instead, Jeremy Reed grounded into a double play and Big Pelf grounded out to end the inning.

Nor does it explain why the Giants bullpen, humiliated for the last three days, were suddenly capable of throwing three shut out inning and preserving the slim two run margin.

Nor does it fully explain why the only recently healthy Angel Pagan pinch hit for The Magical Murph with the bases loaded in the 8th. "I don't think Murphy is swinging quite as well right now," Jerry tried to explain. No shit Jerry, he's made an idiot of himself in the outfield and no looks to have been benched for a 40 year old only to get sporadic starts. Of course he isn't swinging well, he isn't playing enough and his confidence is getting punctured at every turn. Pinch hitting for him in a key situation isn't going to help him either.

The temptation to raise one's hands up to the heavens and moan about a lack of clutch hitting is somewhat tempered by the previous three games when the Mets were exploding runs out of every orifice.

A four game sweep of the Giants in San Francisco is a tall order and even though Pelf made a fool of himself on national television he still pitched decently enough to win most games. Just not yesterday. Yesterday was not the Mets' day.

Not only did they lose but Alex Cora, the successor to Jose Reyes, still suffering from the mysterious "calf" ailment, jammed his thumb sliding into second base leaving Jerry Manual to move Fernando Tatis to shortstop for the first time since 1998 and Jeremy Reed to first base.

After stealing stealing stealing for three games, the Go Go Mets were held without a steal and their lone attempt, by David Wright in the 7th, ended up in an out.

So really just a rubbish game all around.

Delgado looks like he might have to be put down like a horse with that dodgy hip, Reyes' benching calf injury lingers on mysteriously (the Army theory is that once the point had been proved by Jerry, Reyes played a little game of his own called Sulk and screw the Manager by saying that if his calf was allegedly injured it was still injured, even after Jerry said it was ok to end his benching/injury). Reyes will probably suck the rest of the season now. Remember how much he sucked after getting benched by Willie? Pouting and sulking are two of Reyes' strengths. That and showing the baseball acumen of an 8 year old.

Now Cora, who batted lead off yesterday instead of Castillo (why? why ruin a good thing? if it ain't broke don't fix it) isn't available, The Magical Murph's confidence is shattered after a prolonged absence, Sheffield looked his age yesterday at the plate and about the only good thing you could say was despite these defensive musical chairs the Mets managed to get through a game without making any stupid errors - any errors at all in fact which is, for these fielding buffoons, nothing short of a miracle.

So now, after the inevitable blip following a near-sweep, the Mets move down to LA and give Nats reject Tim Redding his first start of the season. Redding of course, was the "insurance" in case Omar failed to sign either Ollie Perez or Randy Wolf during the offseason.

We all know Ollie has a "knee injury", is psychologically unstable and pitches as if he were just learning case declinations in Latin instead of just throwing a bloody baseball.

But Wolf? Why he's starting for the Dodgers on Monday, of course. And unlike Ollie, Wolf actually looks like a pitcher. He has given up just 10 hits and three runs over his last three starts and 17 1/3 innings.

So brace yourselves for another of those ironic little twists of the knife as the feel good vibe fades further.

7 comments:

jdon said...

Now the papers are saying Reyes is claiming tendinitis in his knee. He says he saw a doctor about it. And he got this how? Playing with himself on the bench? I agree with you, Jaap. This situation smells. And I do not mind a team getting shut out--it happens. But leaving 12 men on base while you are doing it? That does NOT happen. It is symptomatic. A good pitcher shuts you down, fine. Everybody and their brother fails at the same time? Uh-uh. Finally, Jerry is starting to make some really dumb decisions. Angel Pagan SUCKS. He should not even be here. I am tired of recycling guys like Pagan and Figueroa. You cannot bat a stiff like Pagan for Murphy, and give such a lame explanation. Murphy got a hit the other night pinch hitting. And we all know switch hitters almost invariable suck right handed. Murphy is just a way better hitter, and way more disciplined with the bases loaded, than this bozo. And finally finally, bunting in the first inning? His team has been scoring runs and he sends a message like that. Must make Castillo feel all warm and fuzzy. Jerry is getting dumber by the game.

Ticket Rut said...

Watching that game makes you realize how bad the Mets need a healthy Reyes in the lineup. Plus, how I'm going to pick up Cain in my fantasy league.

Jaap said...

well jdon, let's hope that magical little spell hasn't run it's course for the Metsies already. Still, the frightening thing about that hot spell is that they were fucking up on the field so badly. Teams that play terrifically bad defence like the Mets don't get very far. But I'll give them a pass on this one. Maybe it's a game or two or maybe all the hits they squeezed out in the first few days is the end of it. It's always hard to tell with this lot.

Jaap said...

Ticket Rut, I dunno that the Mets need Reyes in the lineup all that badly. They did fine without him the last several days. Fine without dodgy fielding skills, fine without over aggression on basepaths, stupid, thoughtless baseball propelled by speed and a smile but little baseball intuition. You sometimes think he's only just started playing the game.

jdon said...

I know---he has been around 6 years. He is not immature any more. He is just stupid. What this team needs is a clutch hitter, another starter, and a steady shortstop who behaves like an adult. I am tired of hearing how exciting Reyes is. Who cares? Where are the big wins he brings us? Where are the playoffs he guarantees us? Fact is, it is very hard for one man to guarantee anything. Unless he is stupid enough to make every team in our division hate us and play above their heads against us.

katherine said...

I thought I had been watching all the games but I think I must have missed something. Jaap, why do you suggest that Jose was benched? What did he do to deserve that? Was it all the errors that he made?

Jaap said...

hi katherine - welcome back - the benching is pure speculation - as you know the allegation is an injury, dodgy calf, maybe even tendinitis in his leg, who knows.
Point is, one night, Reyes is in the lineup making base-running blunders and walking to first base when he'd thought it hit a home run which turned out to hit the wall instead, next morning, it's announced he's injured and needs to sit out. Pure coincidence? Very hard to imagine. Let's not forget the Mets front office is full of propagandists who struggle with the truth so it's rather difficult to take what they say as credible.