Reflection on last night's game

Well, I said I would sleep on it and I did. Just like I thought I would, I still feel awesome about last night's game. If the Mets can pull together and show the grit that they showed last night over the course of an entire season... well, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

In case you haven't seen it yet, this is the Reyes play here. I watched the SNY feed, and I could have sworn even watching it live that Reyes' hand never came off the bag. I remember watching for the possibility of it occurring pretty intently, and I wanted to go just about as ballistic as Reyes did when he saw the call. The replays only reinforced what I originally saw. I've seen a bunch of pictures like the one on the right. CRAZY. And rightly so. I found it interesting watching the above video. The play-by-play guys from both telecasts described Reyes extremely similarly.

It's undeniable that Reyes' show of emotion ignited this ballclub. It just seemed like the Mets decided to bear down right after that. Especially in Murphy's at-bat, you couldn't really even say the Mets looked to anxious up there. It was almsot like the Nats were the ones playing on their heels. The Mets were working counts against the National relievers and it seemed like every at-bat after Reyes was called out was a quality one.

That being said, I think what Jose Reyes did last night has to send a message to the guys in the Mets front office. Jose Reyes is IRREPLACEABLE. Not just because of the numbers. Not just because the fans love him. Not even just because of the talent. He makes the team BETTER. He energizes the team. When he's energetic, even if he's going off like he did last night, the Mets feed off of that and Terry Collins and the rest of the Mets agree (so says the Daily News). So let's throw out the fact that he's approaching 30 years old. Let's throw out the fact that he doesn't have a great OBP for a leadoff hitter. He makes the team so much better.

Oh yeah, and Murphy apparently has got the Mets shooting for 100 wins this season. That's right, one-zero-zero. (Link)

***EPIC GAME ALERT*** Game 24 Reaction: Mets 6, Nationals 3

One of the best wins I've ever seen. The Mets overcame one-run leads in the 8th and the 9th even after the umps looked like they wanted them to lose. Daniel Murphy may be the most clutch player in the universe now. They played with heart and emotion, aspects that I haven't seen from this team in years. They're now on a season-high 6-game win streak and have moved out of last in the NL East.

Murph tied the game in the 8th with a pinch-hit solo home run in a tremendous at-bat against National reliever Tyler Clippard immediately after third base umpire Marvin Hudson made one of the worst calls I've ever seen. Jose Reyes hit what appeared to be a triple with one out against Clippard, but Hudson contended that Reyes overslid the third base bag (replays CLEARLY showed he did not). Reyes looked enraged and emphatically argued the call. Terry Collins came out to defend him and did the same, even making contact with Hudson as he tried to get between him and Reyes. Interestingly, Hudson ejected neither Reyes nor Collins although their reactions definitely warranted ejections, calling into question whether knew he made a bad call or not. More on this later on, as well as the clutch Murph homer afterwards.

Although the Nats scored an unearned run against Pedro Beato in the 8th to regain the lead, the Mets rallied against Sean Burnett, who blew the save, giving up 4 runs and taking the loss. That rally was capped by yet another big hit by Murphy, who added on insurance with a 2-run double with two out against the lefty Burnett, giving the Mets the score they would win by, 6-3.

More good things: Murphy had 3 RBI total in the game despite not starting. Justin Turner got the start against the lefty Tom Gorzelanny and went 1-for-3 with an RBI before being lifted for Murph in the 8th.  Jason Bay and Ike Davis continued their hot hitting, as each had a pair of hits. Both of them scored runs in the eventful 9th inning. Chin-lung Hu finally made an impact offensively, driving in the tying run in the 9th with a sac fly. Then Josh Thole added his 4th RBI of the series with a run-scoring groundout. Beato got the win as a result of the Mets' 9th inning rally, and overall the Met bullpen went 2.1 innings without allowing an earned run. R.A. Dickey wasn't great, looking very hittable at times, and finished allowing 8 hits and walking one. But he gutted it out for 6.2 innings, giving up only 2 runs, and he definitely deserved a win, but the run support wouldn't come until after he left.

More bad things: Mike Nickeas and Thole both had passed balls today, although one could argue that Nickeas' should have been ruled a wild pitch. Thole's passed ball was his 6th of year and led to Beato allowing his unearned run. Thole, by far, leads the NL in passed balls. John Buck of the Marlins is second with 3. After Murph's clutch homer in the 8th, he also factored into the Nats' go-ahead run scoring in the bottom of the frame after failing to cover the second base bag after Bay muffed a sliding catch attempt, allowing slow-footed Adam LaRoche to reach with a double. Murphy merely watched Bay's play unfold, and appeared not to think of the possibility of LaRoche reaching second before it was too late. It appeared on the replays that had Murphy been at the bag to receive the throw on time, he may have been able to tag out LaRoche.

Final reaction: The BEST win of the season to this point. A few bad things, but many more good things. If this doesn't jump-start some kind of bigger run for the Mets, then nothing will. This was a game where quite a few things went against the Mets, most notably that blown call at third in the 8th. But they held together and pulled out one of the more memorable wins in recent memory. Hopefully, this game from Murph will cement him as the starting second baseman from here on out. His hit against Burnett in the 9th gave him a .300 average on the year against left-handers, so the fact that he's left-handed should no longer be held against him. His defense and lack of experience should continue to hurt him, but in the long run, putting him out there should only help him going forward. (Then again, I said that when he was the starting LF. -_-)  That call in the 8th was possibly the worst I've ever seen. If you didn't see it, go to mets.com and watch it. I'll put up a link a little later if I can. The ump, Marvin Hudson, probably knew he made a bad call. Just watch the reactions of Reyes and Collins. Reyes THREW his helmet. That, in my book, warrants an immediate ejection. Collins bumped Hudson while trying to get between him and Reyes. Again, should be an automatic ejection and then a suspension on top of that. But nothing happened. Regardless, each and every one of the Mets showed some heart and fortitude tonight, most notably Murphy, but it was everybody. I know it was the now-last-place Nationals, but this was something I haven't seen since maybe '06. I'll sleep on it, and I know I'll feel the same way when I wake up tomorrow morning. Epic win. Go Mets.

Up next: Tomorrow night the Mets will look to extend their win streak to seven games and sweep the Nats in their home ballpark. Chris Capuano will oppose Livan Hernandez. Expect my man, Daniel Murphy, to start at second.

Game 23 Reaction: Mets 6, Nationals 4

The Mets extended their season-high win streak to five games with a 6-4 victory in the series opener against the Nationals yesterday.

Josh Thole snapped a 1-for-18 stretch at the plate with a go-ahead 2-run double against lefty Doug Slaten in the top of the 6th that broke a 3-3 tie. He drove in the first run of the game with an RBI groundout in the 2nd, giving him 3 RBI on the day and 7 for the year.

Chris Young went 4.2 innings and gave up 3 runs, earning a no-decision in his first start since coming off of the DL. The coaching staff had intended on limiting his pitch count. The 3 runs allowed by Young were all off of solo home runs, one by Jayson Werth and two by Wilson Ramos. He allowed only one other hit in the game while striking out 3 and walking 2.

Other good things: After Young walked two in the fifth inning, putting runners on first and second with the game tied 3-3, Terry Collins elected to have Ryota Igarashi enter the game in relief with two outs. Igarashi responded by striking out Werth to retire the side. After Thole's hit snapped the tie in the following half-inning, the Met bullpen contingent of Taylor Buccholz, Jason Isringhausen, and Francisco Rodriguez combined to give up only one run in the following four innings to seal the victory for Igarashi. Jason Bay continues to look strong since his return from the DL, going 2-for-4 and scoring 2 runs. Ike Davis upped his team-high batting average to .338 after going 3-for-4 with a double and 2 runs scored. He scored on a bunt by Young in the 2nd. It was a heads-up play by Davis, as Young acknowledged after the game that there was no squeeze play, as he had only intended on sacrificing Jason Pridie over to second on the play. Carlos Beltran had an RBI double and looked good running the basepaths as he went to third on the play after an error by Werth. Pridie and Daniel Murphy each had two hits and a run scored.

Other bad things: Jose Reyes was picked off of first in the top of the 5th after leading off the inning with a single. He was very upset with the call afterwards, arguing for a short time with first base umpire Kerwin Danley before Collins and first base coach Mookie Wilson intervened. Collins then argued with Danley for a short time. Neither were ejected from the game, and replays did appear to confirm that the call was correct. Isringhausen allowed a leadoff hit to Rick Ankiel in the 8th. Ankiel stole second and went to third on a groundout before scoring on a two-out single by Ramos. It was the first run that Izzy allowed in three appearances, raising his ERA to 2.70 on the year, although he did get of the inning with allowing any further damage, earning his 4th hold of the year. Thole has continued to have trouble throwing out basestealers. It was his 16th steal allowed in 17 starts, and he has only caught baserunners stealing 3 times.

Overall reaction: The lineup has continued to thrive since the return of Bay to the lineup. For a change, the Mets got some much-needed help from Thole with his 3 RBI. The bottom of the order was pretty productive overall, with the two hits from Pridie and the sacrifice and RBI from Young. The pitching once again was very impressive today. Before Izzy ran into trouble in the 8th, the Nats never really threatened, as the 3 runs that were not scored in the 8th all came on solo homers against Young. Young, who usually generates a high number of fly balls, missed with location on all three occasions and paid for it dearly. The fact that he didn't go deep into the game has been a recurring theme for him over his career and may continue to be as the year goes on. And how great has Davis been? He's 13-for-28 over an 8-game hitting streak. With Bay back in the lineup, the Mets should have a very productive offense, barring any future injuries. If Thole can keep hitting the way he hit today and if Pagan hits when he gets back, the Mets should be solid 1-8. If the pitching can hold up, they should at least be able to work their way out of the NL East cellar.

Up next: Game 2 of the series at Nationals Park tonight with R.A. Dickey (1-3, 4.10 ERA) toeing the rubber facing Tom Gorzelanny (0-2, 4.96 ERA), who gave up 5 runs in a loss to the Mets the first time he faced them this year.

Box score

This cold streak's been taking on toll on Thole, but he came through big time with 3 RBI.

Upcoming series: Mets at Nationals

The 9-13 New York Mets will be set to square off against the 10-11 Washington Nationals at Nationals Park at 7 pm tonight in an inter-division three-game set.

Pitching matchups:

Game 1 (7 pm tonight): Chris Young (1-0, 1.46 ERA) vs. Jordan Zimmermann (1-3, 3.70 ERA)
Game 2 (7 pm tomorrow): R.A. Dickey (1-3, 4.10 ERA) vs. Tom Gorzelanny (0-2, 4.96 ERA)
Game 3 (7 pm Thursday): Chris Capuano (2-1, 5.95 ERA) vs. Livan Hernandez (2-1, 2.88 ERA)

Series Notes:

• The Nats won the last series that these two teams played. The Nats won the opener of the series (the Mets' home opener) followed by a Met win where Carlos Beltran hit two homers. The Mets were in position to win the rubber game after a fine start from Chris Young, but the Nats rallied against the Met bullpen to win in extras.
• The Mets will send out the same three pitchers in this series that they sent out in the last series that these two teams met, albeit in a different order. Dickey pitched the opener in that game followed by Capuano and then Young. The Nats have the same two guys pitching the first two games of the series, Zimmermann and Gorzelanny, but instead of Jason Marquis pitching the third game, the former Met Livan Hernandez will have a go.
• The Mets come in freshly off a 3-game sweep of the D'backs. They've won their last 4 in a row overall. The Nats come in having lost 4 of their last 5 games, including a makeup game last night where they lost to the Pirates 4-2.
• Washington is now in 3rd place in the NL East, moving half a game in front of the Braves after Atlanta lost to the Giants last night in extras. The Mets are in last.
• The Nats are on an incredible streak of quality starting pitching. In all 21 of their games this year, National starters have gone at least 5 innings. John Lannan continued the streak on Sunday night, going 5.2 innings although he took the loss. They own a 3.64 ERA on the year, which is slightly better than the league average.
• Former Phillie and 126 million-dollar man Jayson Werth has hit better over the last week, hitting .261 with a homer and 3 RBI in 6 games. However, Werth overall has still struggled mightily in his new role with the Nats, hitting .218 with a .704 OPS to start the year.

Injury Report:

For the Nationals:

• Ryan Zimmerman will not be activated from the 15-day DL for this series. He was placed on the DL because of an abdominal strain that will likely keep him out until early May.
• The former Yankee Chien-Ming Wang may return for the Nats in May as he recovers from shoulder surgery. He pitched an extended Spring Training game on April 20th.
• Elvin Ramirez, who was picked from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, is expected to suit up for the Nats sometime in May. He has been suffering from shoulder issues and received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder last week. As a Rule 5 pick, the Nats must keep him on the major league roster for the whole year or they must offer him back to the Mets. Also, if Ramirez isn't active for at least 90 days this year the Nats must do so into next year to fully gain his rights.

For the Mets:

• Chris Young has been activated from the DL and will start tonight's game. He was suffering from tendinitis in his right biceps, so we'll see if that affects him. D.J. Carrasco was sent down to Triple-A Buffalo as a result, and Dillon Gee will serve as the long man for the time being.
• Ronny Paulino could be activated from the DL as soon as tomorrow. He was suffering from anemia, but appears to be okay as he's been playing in minor league games. Mike Nickeas is expected to be sent down when Paulino is activated.
• Angel Pagan and Bobby Parnell were both placed on the DL in the past five days. There is not yet a clear timetable for their returns. Pagan is suffering from an oblique strain that occurred in Thursday's win over the Astros. Parnell is suffering from a blood clot in his right middle finger, but aside from that, there is nothing too serious about his injury.

Off day: Thoughts on Bay, Gee, Paulino

So Jason Bay has come back and immediately the Mets have won four games in a row. Coincidence? Let's check out the facts first:

• Bay has hit 5th in the lineup each of the four games, between Beltran and Davis.

• He's hitting a torrid .333/.412/.667 with a homer, 3 runs, and 3 RBI. His strikeout-to-walk ratio has not been pretty at 2:7.

• His defense has been adequate, and there's no reason to expect anything less than what he gave last year out in left. He's a downgrade from Harris, but an upgrade from Hairston and Duda.

• He's shown no ill effects of the rib injury he suffered this spring. Much more importantly, he hasn't shown any signs of the post-concussion syndrome that kept him sidelined for almost the entire second half last year.

Obviously those slash stats won't hold up, but if Bay can stay anywhere close to his career averages (.278/ .374/.509) he'll hold up well in the 5-hole for the Mets. Maybe they can get something out of his enormous contract after all. Before Bay came around, the rest of the team was hitting .222 in the 5-spot with only 1 HR and 10 RBI. Davis had the most plate appearances in that spot, followed by Pagan. Bay hitting between Beltran and Davis should strengthen and stretch out this lineup, giving the Mets a formidable 1-6 in the order, assuming Pagan hits second and hits well when he returns. Murphy and Thole could round out the rest of what should be a solid lineup (which ironically, was a lineup they could have used last year).

In other news, I'm sure all Met fans are excited that Dillon Gee has remained on the roster, at least for the time being. GM Sandy Alderson has said this will probably be only for a week or so, but you have to love what he and the rest of the big-club's management have been trying to do to change the way this ballclub has been run the last couple of years. Under Minaya, the Mets always tried to keep the "under-contract" guys on the roster no matter what, with Perez and Castillo being the best examples. Alderson signed D.J. Carrasco to the only multi-year contract that the Mets agreed upon with any free agent this offseason. He hasn't performed, so now he's in the minors. It's great that even though expectations for this team are low, Alderson is showing to us fans that winning is the priority even now.

It seems as though Ronny Paulino will be activated sometime this week, which will be bad news for Mike Nickeas, who seems to be the likely candidate for getting sent down. Nickeas has been showing signs of life with the bat and has continued to be a solid defensive option behind the plate. He seems to be calling good games as well, as the staff's ERA when he is behind the plate is 3.50 as opposed to the 4.94 mark that they're posting when Thole is behind the plate. Sending down Nickeas will thus be leaving the Mets with two defensively-challenged catchers on the rosters. I've always thought that Thole had upside defensively, as he's been learning on the job, but he seems to have taken a step backwards this year. He hasn't been hitting either, which have made his contributions to the club minimal. At least Paulino can hit, but the good feelings caused from this nice four-game winning streak have been a result of improved pitching. The Mets may be taking a step backwards here.

Game 22 Reaction: Mets 8, Diamondbacks 4

The Mets extended their win streak to four games, a new season high.

Jon Niese continued this string of good starting pitching for the Mets, going 7 innings and giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3 and lowered his ERA to 5.10 in earning his first win of the season, improving to 1-3.

David Wright went 2-4 with 2 home runs and a walk, driving in 3 runs and scoring 3 more. He also stole a base, his 5th of the year. He's now batting .262 with 5 HR's, 18 R, and 14 RBI.

Other good things: Jason Pridie broke the game open early with a 3-run homer in the 3rd off Arizona starter Armando Galarraga, who took the loss, only going 3 innings and giving up 6 runs (2 earned). It was the first homer of Pridie's career and it made the score 6-0 Mets at the time. He got it a day after he got his first career hit. Carlos Beltran continued his hot hitting with 2 hits, including a double, and 2 runs scored. Ike Davis reached base four times with a double, a single, and two walks, scoring one run and driving in another. His slash stats stand at .316/.407/.579 on the year. Tim Byrdak was credited with an inning of scoreless relief, and Ryota Igarashi was credited with two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief. Igarashi finished the game and not Francisco Rodriguez even though the Met lead was only at four in the 9th.

Bad things: Josh Thole had another o-fer, going 0-for-3, although he added a sac fly to drive in a run. Thole's defense also continues to regress, as he allowed his 5th passed ball of the season with Niese pitching. D.J. Carrasco again was unimpressive, giving up a run and recording only one out in relief of Niese. He gave up back-to-back doubles to Justin Upton and Stephen Drew to begin his outing before getting the D'back's Chris Young to pop out. The Mets were only 2-10 with RISP.

Aftermath: Fortunately, Carrasco was demoted to Triple-A Buffalo after the game. He'll start games in Buffalo as Dillon Gee will take on a long relief role in the Met bullpen. K-Rod stands at 6 games finished on the year. He's on pace to finish with 46 games finished, which would leave him short of the 55 that he needs for the option for next year on his contract to vest. Terry Collins tried to stay away from Jason Isringhausen today, as he pitched in the first two games of the series.

Overall reaction: A solid win for the Mets and a series sweep! They're starting to gain some momentum as they embark on what should be an important early NL East road trip with stops in Washington and Philly. Niese was really attacking hitters. He pitched better earlier in the game than later, as he started to get hit hard starting with the 4th inning. Despite this, he was able to hold the D'backs to one run each in the 4th, 6th, and 7th innings although Arizona was able to get multiple baserunners to reach in each inning. Wright said he thought he was getting some good at-bats in during his 0-for-20 slump and that he hasn't changed much since then. That's a great sign to me considering his performance today. Thole is really starting to worry me. His average is down, his strikeouts are up, and most importantly, since he is a catcher, his defense has seemed to have gotten worse from last year. He gave up his 5th passed ball on what seemed to be a cross-up between him and Niese. Otherwise, the Mets played solid defense today, committing no errors and rebounding from their one error performance yesterday.

Up next: The Mets start their series with the Nationals in Washington on Tuesday. Chris Young (1-0, 1.46 ERA) will go for the Mets and oppose Jordan Zimmermann (1-3, 3.70) of the Nats.

Box score

Feelings on 2011 season so far

So as it stands now, our New York Metropolitans are 9-13, last place in NL East. There have been some nice things on this little four-game win streak we've got going. Let's keep in mind, though, those two teams were the Astros and the D'backs. And they lost the series to the Astros.

The Mets have a new manager/GM combination this season in Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson. I like what Alderson has done with the team so far, especially given the fact he hasn't had much room to work with. From what I've seen of Collins, I've questioned his decision-making early on in the season, and for a guy that has been characterized as "fiery", I haven't seen a lot of that yet, except for his ejection on Thursday. Hopefully, that's just a case of Collins not knowing the team too well yet.

As we Met fans know well, this could be a big year for roster changes. Reyes and Beltran are both looking like they're going to get traded at the end of the year, which really is eating at me because I love them both. I was praying that the Mets would somehow, someway be competitive this year so they could keep them both, but they haven't gotten off to a good start with that. In spite of his antics and his occasional bouts with immaturity, Reyes has been my favorite Met ever since he was called up in '03. I think we Met fans tend to give Beltran a lot of crap for his lack of production over the length of this seven-year contract, and rightly so for the most part, but as we've seen early on in this season, he can still be one of the more productive hitters in the game when healthy. I guess I just have to be resigned to the fact that these trades are inevitable, but hopefully the Mets can get a good haul in return for them. The Mets need some young aces for their rotation and hopefully trading Reyes and Beltran for a fwe pitching prospects can solve that problem. It's the only way they've ever won over the course of their history, with dominant starting pitching.

All in all, I feel that the Met offense has exceeded expectations for the most part. Pagan and Thole have been weak links so far and so was Emaus while he was still around. Putting Murphy in the two-hole, though, seems to have helped, as has Bay's return. Reyes has gone back to being the dominant table-setter that he was from 2006-08 although he has sucked with RISP. Wright had that huge 0-for-20, but with the weekend he just had, that seems like it happened so long ago. As I said before, Beltran has proven he can still swing the stick. And Davis has quietly been super-productive.

The pitching from top to bottom, though, has been terrible, especially considering this was an above-average staff last year that seemed to only get better this year. Pelf just looked gutless up there until this weekend. Great signs from the "ace", or so we call him. I have not been confident in Niese like I was the first half of last year. Young has been great when he's pitched and Capuano has been serviceable as the fifth starter. Dickey, though, seems to have regressed. He was one of the few guys last year who showed any signs of knwoing how to throw strikes. The bullpen has been better as everybody's roles have been figured out, but before that...ouch. I'm liking the Beato-Isringhausen-K-Rod combo for the 7th, 8th, and 9th, but everybody else is a question mark. One positive from the bullpen is that Carrasco has been sent down. He reminds me too much of Perez, especially with the way he randomly decides to change arm angles. Gee will hopefully be the staff-saver for a while, but I'd like him to be a starter somewhere, even if it has to be the minors. Byrdak, I suppose has been serviceable as a LOOGY. And I have never trusted Igarashi, and I'm feeling the same way about Buchholz.

The bench has also been a huge weakness aside from maybe Harris. Hairston seems like he won't ever be able to play defense at Citi Field. Hu can't hit. I need to see more from Turner. Nickeas has shown signs of life with the bat and seems to know what he's doing behind the plate. Not that it matters since it seems like everybody has their heart set on Paulino eventually replacing him. I personally am hoping that the Mets will roll with three catchers once Paulino is ready. They don't need Hairston, they can get rid of him.

At 9-13, the Amazin's have gotten off to a rough start, but let's be positive: the '69 Mets started with the same record through 22 games as well. Go Mets!