Mets win again, Pen is Revived

Two wins in a row on the road and we can make the following observations:



1. Niese is not ready for prime time just yet. First batter he faced homered - no crime there Santana and Pedro love the early gopher ball. But the subsequent meltdown in the 4th was more Annie than ace. In another season or two he could be another Pelf but as Jerry rightly noted:

"This situation that we're in is not a time to be grooming or looking at people for the years to come. We're in a pennant race, and we're going to put the best people out there - day-in and day-out - to start the game. If he performs well, obviously you give him another shot."


2. Bullpen appears, for the moment anyway, to have silenced their critics with 13 straight scoreless innings.

3. Milwaukee's bullpen, by contrast, has blown both games against the Mets.

4. Given the above, conceivably the Mets could breeze to the NLCS if the Brewers ended up being their first round playoff opponent. They aren't patient enough to win in the post season.

5. Why isn't Brian Stokes, who has surrendered only 2 runs in 16 innings of relief for the Mets, the closer? Not enough melodrama?

6. Umps in this series, getting in Beltran's way at home on Monday nearly injuring him and then in Ricky Week's way last night makes me wonder if they aren't more fit as circus clowns than umps.



7. Is Beltran finally backing up his Spring Training bravado now hitting .400 with 5 homers and 13 RBI sin the last 9 games?

Comments

katherine said…
Brian Stokes seems to be good as a multiple innings reliever. Whereas Luis Ayala has that certain "je ne sais quoi" - that quality of toughness needed for a closer, you know? And he WANTS IT SO BAD, you get the feeling he would walk over his grandmother to be the closer.

Luis has had, since joining the Mets, 7 good outings and 2 bad outings. That is pretty good, a better percentage, I bet, than Billy. And in one of the bad outings, he actually did get the save, so maybe I shouldn't even count that as bad.
10:52 PM
Anonymous said…
Cannot argue with thhe results, but he doesn't seem to have any reaql sink on his ball. Or bite in his slider. However, this is not a complaint. Bullly had great stuff and does some awful things.
3:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Cannot argue with the results, but he doesn't seem to have any reaql sink on his ball. Or bite in his slider. However, this is not a complaint. Bullly had great stuff and does some awful things.
3:03 AM
Jaap said…
well, Stokes has converted 1 of 2 save opportunities, Ayala 5 of 10, Heilman, for comedic value, 3 of 7and the Hillbilly 27 of 34. So it's all pretty much a crapshoot I reckon, Katherine.
7:27 AM
katherine said…
At the risk of sounding like the president of the Luis Ayala fan club, I will tell you that I spent 20 minutes of my day off, trying to understand your stat of Luis having converted 5 of 10 save opportunities. As far as I can see he has only appeared in 9 games for the Mets so far. I am not ELIAS sports bureau but here is how I interpret them

1 blown save
5 saves
1 win
2 appearances with no decision, but also with no hits, no earned runs and no walks in them

sorry if I sound argumentative.
3:17 PM
Jaap said…
katherine, no worries, apoogies for not clarifying - they are 2008 stats not only with the Mets
5:44 PM
katherine said…
Incredible as it may seem, some pitchers, when they do not get the role they want, pitch badly to make the point.

Whether this is conscious or subconscious, I don't know. Apparently Ayala did this in Washington, which explains his turnaround, and both Aaron and Billy seem guilty of this at times in NY.
9:00 PM
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