Another brutal loss for the Mets as they are suddenly going in the opposite direction. The Phillies lost tonight so the Mets remain a half game out but still, not a good game especially considering you have Met killer Bronson Arroyo pitching tomorrow.
– Oliver Perez’s line wasn’t half bad. He went 6 innings throwing 108 pitches, 68 for strikes (63%), with 4 K’s, 4 BB’s, 2 ER. Ollie was cruising after giving up a first inning lead off homerun. But then in the 5th inning, he hit a wall and drove up a pitch count that up to that point had stayed moderately low giving me and fellow Met fans the brief feeling that he might go 7, maybe 8. He got out of the 5th just giving up an earned run. Not bad considering the starting pitching the Mets got last night.* Perez is a project and an unknown commodity and can have days where he’s absolutely unhittable and can hold line ups in band box stadiums to one or two runs for 6 innings but there are those maddening afternoons where he has absolutely no control over his pitches. His highest speed was 92 but he threw in the high 80’s with his fastball changing eye angles when he was going well and I credit that to the catchers that are coaching him out there. They’ve been such a calming influence to guys who can be a bit crazy. But a good point was brought up a few days ago: when is it not a good thing for pitchers to get dependent on having a certain catcher there every game? Especially a guy who’s not established and a guy who the team is grooming to be a top flight starter like Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey has only pitched to Hank White aka Henry Blanco this season and how good is it to his development?
– Continuing that discussion a suggestion was made that perhaps Johan Santana should go to having Henry Blanco back there, the catcher he won a Cy Young award with. Having a specific catcher for a pitcher of Johan’s caliber (yesterday doesn’t count) would be sad because it speaks to Johan’s lack of confidence which would further the fueling debate about whether Johan’s best days are behind him.
-Whatever the case may be, the Johan Santana debate was the talk of sports radio here in NY. But a good point was made today that I hadn’t thought of and that of course fell on Jerry Manuel’s lap. After he gave up the home run to Victorino, why wasn’t he taken out of the game? If anything, after he walked the pitcher it should’ve dawned on Jerry to get someone warmed up. Only after Utley hit the two run home run to make it 10-5 did Jerry have Takahashi warming up. That’s just Jerry not having a grasp of what everyone else understood when Johan walked Moyer: he was done. I don’t blame him for leaving him out there with Victorino because he needed one out and you have to trust your ace in that situation with the team still with the lead, but two pitches later, it was a grandslam and by then the game was on its way to getting out of hand. I’m not going to guess about what Johan’s major problem was, whether the crowd got to him or not or perhaps mechanically he isn’t back, whatever it is, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he will get it fixed.
– Returning to today’s action, I was happy with Jose Reyes who went 1 for 13 in this last series with the Phillies. He was attacking first pitches yesterday and the entire weekend but was topping pitches and not getting enough of the barrel on the bat. Today Jose came in and went 2 for 5 and was in the middle of their first run. His emergence is necessary. Ike Davis had some very nice hits off his old teammate Mike Leake, who by the way is the kid who went straight from the draft to the big leagues, having never played a minor league game ever. Last guy to do that? Xavier Nady. Yeah, that Xavier Nady. As for the bats, another day in which it was mostly quiet. I dont know what it is, but these soft tossers who have an assortment of pitches the Mets seem to have a hard time locating a pitch. I feel as though it comes from how they approach each at-bat. They go looking for a specific pitch and if they don’t get it, they will swing wildly at bad pitches. Its tough to watch out there and can make your team look silly. Again, I blame Howard Johnson who I feel has done a terrible job. I feel like the Mets are getting by on their own skill, and not because any of Ho-Jo’s advice is coming thru. Its tough to see this team scuffle around sometimes knowing that they could have 9 run innings.
– Again, the Mets got 5 innings of stellar relief that got undone by one hanging slider handed out by Manny Acosta. Its another curious decision that will get debated by multiple people who felt as though K-Rod should’ve came out considering he didn’t get any work the last few days and not to mention that it was a tie game. A TIE GAME JERRY. GAME MANAGEMENT. YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. Again, I’m not screaming for his head like some Met fans but I do agree that some of these calls are now beginning to piss me off.
– Tomorrow is Bronson Arroyo pitching and he’s won 5 straight against the Mets. He’s another pitcher that gives them trouble with his mixing of speeds and the Mets are hoping John Maine can stop the bleeding. Given that Ollie gave the Mets a chance to win, you can’t be too down having Maine out there. Who knows what happens out there.
THE SEASON: 14-12
MY PREDICTION: 14-12 (2nd place- 2 days)
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The Lazy Eye of Sports 