Niese
First up is Jon Niese. Jon gave the Astros more than they could handle with his 7 innings of one run ball. THIS WAS NOT THE SAME PITCHER THAT EVER PITCHED FOR THE METS. Jon had a confidence about him tonight that i have never seen before, 70 of his 106 pitches for the night were for strikes. Not to mention his stuff that he had tonight. In one pitching sequence, Niese threw a 94 MPH fastball and then threw a 73 MPH hook that just completely confused the hitter at the plate. Now the cynic in me says that Niese just upped his trade value BIG TIME with this outing. The Met fan in me just saw our newest “hot hand” and we should ride it out for as long as we can. Congrats on your first win in the majors this year.
Frenchy
Next up is Jeff “Frenchy” Francoeur. What a shot by Frenchy last night as he connected for a 3 run home run(the first since Brian Schneider did it to the Tampa Bay Rays) that put the nail on the coffin..along with his 4 RBI for the night. Alot of talk has been made regarding the Frenchy/Church trade but so far the Mets have been the early winners. Frenchy in 11 games(45ab) is hitting .333 with 2 HR and 12(yes 12)RBI. Church on the other hand in 12 games (30 ab) is hitting .200 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. While Jeff was made to look like a “pansy” last night trying to take out pudge, he more than made up for it with his stick tonight. With the news that Gary Sheffield is joining the DL all star Met team, Frenchy will be a very important piece in this cog.
Luis Castillo and Angel Pagan
Lol…my apologies to Mr North Jersey(the han solo of graphic art) for my crude stab at this with Microsoft Paint. Last up are Luis Castillo and Angel Pagan for giving the Mets a 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup. Angel went 2-5 tonight and accounted for 2 runs while his tag team partner Luis went 2-4, also accounting for 2 runs and had an RBI. Angel Pagan is hitting .315 for the year and has played such an great outfield, he is dubbed “Mini Beltran”. Luis Castillo is batting .299 on the season and most importantly HAS PLAYED IN 81 games this season! Luis also in this series has gone 5-8 with 2 RBI’s. With Jose Reyes reportedly ready to come off the DL in a few weeks, im not sure what they intend to do with the lineup but these two have done a great job at the top of the order this year. Well done.
Honorable Mentions
David Wright and Omir Santos keep up with each other in their HR totals with each one hitting a HR tonight, bringing their season total to a whooping 6!
Daniel Murphy for going 2-4 with the Mets first RBI in the game. Not bad for his first day batting cleanup
3 comments
metsfan4decades
7/26/2009-12:35pm at 12:35 pm (UTC -4)
It’s too bad we didn’t have both Nieve and Niese in this rotation rest of this year. Give us a chance to see what we’ve got for the 2010 rotation.
I wasn’t totally keen on the Church for Francoeur trade, other than the upside of age. However, maybe a change in scenery really is a good thing for Frenchy. I can’t imagine it being the magic of Hojo’s coaching. Here’s hoping he keeps it up. If he does, what steal that would be….
gategem
7/26/2009-1:24pm at 1:24 pm (UTC -4)
He still swings at everything thrown up there no matter where the location so it’s too early to make a call. Back in the old days they would have called Frenchy a bible hitter, “thou shalt not pass.â€
metsfan4decades
7/26/2009-1:48pm at 1:48 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed. If you do swing at everything, you’re going to get lucky once in a while. If someone can get through to him about being more disciplined at the plate, with his capabilities, he could become quite the hitter.