Here in San Diego land
The New York Mets decided to stop monkeying around with the San Diego Padres. They reminded themselves that they had their ace on the mound, and that despite having eleventy-million people on the disabled list, they should still take at least 1 of 4 from the lowly Padres, so they did just that behind 8 strong innings from Johan Santana (13-8), beating the Padres 5-1.
It was a day at the beach for the Metsees
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning when Anderson Hernandez singled to drive in Jeff Francoeur. In the 6th Santana helped his own cause. With 2 outs he singled to drive in Francoeur, then Omir Santos and Santana both scored on a fielding error by Padre second baseman Oscar Salazar giving the Mets a 4-0 lead after 5 1/2 innings.
"It's 'Headley!'"
The Padres got their only run in the bottom of the 6th when Hedy Lamarr Hedley Lamarr Chase Headley singled to drive in alliteration king Kevin Kouzmanoff. The Mets tacked an add-on run to the board in the top of the 9th when Daniel Murphy drove in Angel Pagan with a single, freeing closer Francisco Rodriguez from the opportunity to blow his 3rd consecutive save.
Let's not get carried away
Please visit yahoo.com for the box score.
15 comments
Kingman 26
8/9/2009-7:31pm at 7:31 pm (UTC -4)
Well, that was a welcome and well-crafted addition (and most certainly very appropriately demonic picture) of Harvey Korman to this here fine blog!
Nice work!
steveo
8/9/2009-7:35pm at 7:35 pm (UTC -4)
Nice Game, nice postgame grave, nice weather, a nice way to see a game even the petco pad crowd were nice
prismo
8/9/2009-7:59pm at 7:59 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t want to put a damper on anyone’s parade…but was I the only one lacking the usual post-win excitement once the game ended? Now don’t get me wrong, it was better than the feeling I still have after a loss, but it was a very neutral reaction. Probably what it feels like when a Pirates fan sees their team win a game.
metsfan4decades
8/9/2009-10:12pm at 10:12 pm (UTC -4)
I think I understand the sentiment.
For me, it wasn’t a different feeling when we won, it was a different feeling in the 9th. Some apparently didn’t want KRod coming in at all to try and close it out. It’s like they’ve lost all faith whatsoever in his ability to close the door.
Me? I wanted him to start the 9th. Wanted him to get back on the horse, fix what ever is wrong, prove he’s still one of the elite closers in the game. I wanted to see him come out and do that even if there was a chance he could put the game in jeopardy.
Thankfully, he looked a whole lot better than the last two games he pitched in…
steveo
8/9/2009-8:19pm at 8:19 pm (UTC -4)
Prismo I traveled some 350 miles to see this game don’t rain on my parade
prismo
8/9/2009-8:23pm at 8:23 pm (UTC -4)
Haha, sorry!
steveo
8/9/2009-8:30pm at 8:30 pm (UTC -4)
What’s worse is that I stll have tommorow and tuesdays games to go to in phoenix and another 400 miles talk about getting exited to. early in the season huh
sabermetrician
8/9/2009-8:47pm at 8:47 pm (UTC -4)
Go Fish. While our season is in a shambles the Fish are trying to catch the Philths. They probably won’t make it, but hey it would feel great if it were the Philths who crumbled.
It has been six years since the Fish won the WS, they’re due.
rustyjr
8/9/2009-9:16pm at 9:16 pm (UTC -4)
uh guys just want to put it out there – just got this from joel sherman in the ny post http://www.nypost.com/seven/08092009/sports/moresports/cost_friendly_ways_mets_can_deepen_their_183734.html
pretty much saying mets will be cutting payroll and whoever is the gm will have to be very creative
rustyjr
8/9/2009-9:22pm at 9:22 pm (UTC -4)
go to the http://www.nypost.com and find shermans blog for some reason the link i provided didnt work anyway here are some points he made
. No rebuilding. So you cannot, for example, investigate what Johan Santana might fetch in a trade. The Wilpons have too much invested in their new stadium and TV network, and now their only steady source of income is their baseball team. So they are not breaking anything down.
2. Nevertheless, you probably will be operating with far lower payroll. Fred and Jeff Wilpon can deny, deny, deny, but the combination of Bernie Madoff and a failing real estate market, in particular, has eaten severely into the family’s cash reserves.
The Mets have roughly $40 million in salary coming off the books and $10 million in raises due. But nobody should expect the general manager to be given $30 million to address catcher, first base, left field, a front-end starter and bullpen needs.
3. The Mets must protect their thin prospect base. They need an inexpensive feeder system. So no more four youngsters for Santana or depth-crushing seven pieces for J.J. Putz and spare parts.
So let’s recap: You must build a contender next year. You must do it with a reduction in payroll.
You cannot trade pieces of your prospect base to do it. Well, that should be easy, like climbing Everest in just a pair of boxer shorts.
Wait, here is one other item: You must create better 25- and 40-man roster depth. Why? Well, the common theme to explain how the Mets faltered in September 2007 and 2008 was lack of character. Maybe. But it was more about lack of talent. It is the same reason that 2009 has gone awry. The skill level beyond the elite players has been horrendous.
By September your frontline players are exhausted and need strong support. The Mets have not had it. In 2009, many frontline players have been injured and the backups have been jokes, which reflected terribly on how the Mets stocked not just their major league roster, but their 40-man roster and their minors in general.
“You have to be strong 11-to-30 on your roster or 11-to-40 on your roster,” a rival NL executive said. “The Phillies are. The Mets aren’t.”
metsfan4decades
8/9/2009-10:25pm at 10:25 pm (UTC -4)
That last paragraph doesn’t make any sense. The Phillies have one of the worst benches in the ML. Some of their so called depth (non prospects) that have been called up to get a look see or to replace someone on the DL have been horrible, or demoted or released (I believe).
They might have some prospects who aren’t quite ready yet, but their bench and AAA depth? –Not good at all.
I wonder who that ‘rival NL executive’ was. His point is a good one, but his facts comparing the Phils is just wrong…
stickguy
8/9/2009-10:28pm at 10:28 pm (UTC -4)
sherman is, for the most part, an idiot.
that being said, playing GM is a fun exercise.
But, he is guessing to think the payrol lwill be cut that much. But, his article, so his rules!
The big issue I have though is with his conclusions, and 1 premise. The faulty premise is that they trade no prospects. That is silly. Sure, you can try to protect certain core guys, but you have to trade some of them.
The conclusion that getting Derosa and Figgins (for the prices he mentioned) is plain silly. Nice enough players, but essentially back ups. Not a starting LF for sure. Maybe if Chone was eplacing Castillo, but even then, not that big of an upgrade.
trs86
8/10/2009-12:40am at 12:40 am (UTC -4)
It’s all in balance but no Derosa and Figgins as the only upgrades won’t work.
rustyjr
8/9/2009-9:22pm at 9:22 pm (UTC -4)
btw where is dirty and the cheesecake?
Mr North Jersey
8/9/2009-10:32pm at 10:32 pm (UTC -4)
cheesecake???