Be vewy, vewy qwiet
The New York Mets offense against the Florida Marlins tonight was about as successful as Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits, as in not very. Detroit Tigers castoff Nate Robertson, he of the lifetime 51-69 record and career 4.92 ERA, must’ve had the Met batters singing “we’re gonna have roast Marlin” before the game. But he started for Florida and tossed a wascawee awway of pitches toward Met batters whose bats, much like Fudd’s shotgun, didn’t do much damage and the Marlins beat the Mets 3-1.
"Bwast!"
Robertson (1-0) befuddled (yeah I said it) the Mets holding them to 1 run on 6 hits over 5 innings. The only Mets run came in the 4th inning. Jason Bay led off with a single and scored on a double by Jeff Francoeur. Frenchy’s double was the Mets only extra base hit, otherwise they managed only 6 harmwess singoos off of Robertson and relievers Burke Badenhop and Leo Nunez.
James couldn't beat Florida, neither could the Mets
Jonathon Niese (0-1) made his first start of the season for the Mets. He worked his way into and out of trouble throughout his appearance, ultimately finishing having allowed 3 runs on 2 walks and 8 hits over 6 innings. The Mets bullpen acquitted itself well, allowing no runs on only 1 hit and 2 walks over the final 3 innings but the offense never woke up after Bugs Bunny, er I mean the Marlins pitchers, put them to sleep. Among the Mets relievers to perform well was Ryota Igarashi who threw a scoreless inning in his major league debut.
Marlin season! Nat season!
The Mets concluded their first series of the season 1-2. Up next the Washington Nationals, who’ve allowed 24 runs so far in 3 games, visit Citi Field. “West and wewaxation, huh? Wubbish!”
30 comments
asod75
4/8/2010-10:13pm at 10:13 pm (UTC -4)
Pathetic offensive performance tonight. No other way to say it.
Kingman 26
4/8/2010-10:14pm at 10:14 pm (UTC -4)
I cannot believe you got me laughing and smiling so quickly after this dispiriting, terrible, lackluster loss.
John Amos and Good Times!
Thanks for being you Grave.
We better win 2 over the weekend…..
gipperpdx
4/8/2010-10:24pm at 10:24 pm (UTC -4)
Ugh. Not a fun series to lose. Grave, as always, cheers us up! Oh well, one series closer to the end of the Manuel era! Some bright spots this series: Frenchy, Bay, Iggy, Niese, the comeback last night.
njstuckintx
4/8/2010-10:26pm at 10:26 pm (UTC -4)
Funny stuff Grave. I’m not ready to throw in the towel. With Jose coming back, Murph looking for a 19th or 20th of April return (hopefully) I’m sure the offense will show something sooner than later.
The pitching still scares me. I like what Niese showed. I’ll give it until 2 turns through the rotation until I freakout, but I’m still waiting to see if the BP or the SP is the bigger problem.
metsfan4decades
4/8/2010-10:29pm at 10:29 pm (UTC -4)
Love the theme with the graphics!
I’m way less annoyed over tonight’s loss than last night.
I was duly impressed with Niese’s first start. Here’s hoping he continues to get a little sharper with each start.
Offense non existent. It happens. Out pitched, no doubt about it. Not all that surprising given the fact we’ve got 3 position players on the DL. On that note, Reyes on his way back to NY tomorrow and will play Saturday – so says post game wrap up. Yippie!
metsfan4decades
4/8/2010-10:32pm at 10:32 pm (UTC -4)
Oh, and it’s Bobby O’s opinion tonight on Post game that the Mets cannot afford to wait long on Ike being called up. He went 3 for 3 with a couple of extra base hits tonight. Said Murph = Wally Pip. It is what it is.
So….who thinks Ike might be here even before Murph returns? They said Murph progressing better than expected so on the low side of that 4-6 week prediction.
And…Beltran – they said good chance he makes it back mid May, baring any setbacks.
Couldn’t ask for better news tonight all the way around.
Other observations: I would have to think Maine is on a very short leash – or as some put it ‘noose’. I can’t see him getting much more than 3 starts here to put up or else.
metsfan4decades
4/8/2010-10:37pm at 10:37 pm (UTC -4)
to continue…
Castillo has a calf bothering him so he won’t play tomorrow. It’ll be Cora and Tejada.
Also: Sunday matchup is Johan vs. Livan H.
njstuckintx
4/8/2010-10:37pm at 10:37 pm (UTC -4)
Definitely good news on Ike and Beltran. Murph I’d say would be bench material, but who keeps an only a 1B on the bench? Do they put him in the minors to start being DeRosa? Who knows…
As for Maine, yeah, they can keep him on a short leash, but who, pray tell, do they replace him with? Nieve? (harang, arroyo, etc.?)
stickguy
4/8/2010-10:40pm at 10:40 pm (UTC -4)
they were willing to keep jacobs on the bench. and he isn’t hardly even a 1B!
Murphy can be a LH bat (good PH last year), spare 1, and OF or even 3B in a pinch. Hell, he has actually played 2B, so if he had to, it could be done.
He adds moe to the bench than Jacobs I think.
njstuckintx
4/8/2010-10:43pm at 10:43 pm (UTC -4)
We have to take Jacobs out of the equation. He’s really not much of a good anything at this point.
And knowing we can put Murph in the OF if necessary and he can PH, yeah, I’m willing to have him on the bench. I honestly think with every ball Ike strokes Murphs days as a Met are fading away. At the least, I hope he plays and hits for a little while. Add some trade value. (& I wanted Murph to succeed.
.)
stickguy
4/8/2010-10:46pm at 10:46 pm (UTC -4)
I think Jacobs is safe even when Murphy comes back. With Cat going (no big lose there), unoess they are worried about the positional versatility.
Of course, if Jacobs is still below the mendoza line for his OBP, and leading the league in Ks, it shouldn’t be a hard decision!
Now, if they want to activate Murphy and call up ike, with cat and Jacobs going, I am all for it.
njstuckintx
4/8/2010-10:51pm at 10:51 pm (UTC -4)
You’ll get no complaints from me on that.
+Murphy, Ike, Reyes,
- Cat, Jacobs, Tejada
I can live with that.
stickguy
4/8/2010-10:38pm at 10:38 pm (UTC -4)
well, I could live with Davis up, jacobs out, and murphy on the bench. Makes the team better, even without the “theoretical” loss of jacobs “theoretical” HR power!
ANd fine to say about Maine, but the problem is, who replaces him? Unless Omar swings a trade, and I don’t expect one that soon, who do you want (now that Figgy is off the table!). Taka? Misch? Stoner?
hopefully he rounds into a bit better shape and his pitches sharpen up (along with his control). He wasn’t good, but also not terrible.
But right now, I could see him going either way.
gategem
4/9/2010-2:41am at 2:41 am (UTC -4)
Maine was never a pitcher that relied on outstanding command, pin-point location of his pitches, change of speeds, etc. He was not a right handed version of Jamie Moyer. Maine had a mid-nineties, moving fastball and with it’s electric late movement was downright nasty. So let’s not rationalize this. Maine will be fine if and when he rediscovers that fastball.
Meanwhile your mission if you choose to accept it is to find Maine’s fastball. This post will self destruct in 10-9-8-…….
Mr North Jersey
4/8/2010-10:39pm at 10:39 pm (UTC -4)
Well done Grave I swear I don’t know how you do it.
Love the Florida reference best so far.
BTW is every1 ready for Reyes on Saturday?
njstuckintx
4/8/2010-10:40pm at 10:40 pm (UTC -4)
w00t w00t!
metsfan4decades
4/8/2010-10:41pm at 10:41 pm (UTC -4)
I’m doing the Jose chant. It’s been way too long…..
gategem
4/9/2010-2:44am at 2:44 am (UTC -4)
So are the St. Louis Cardinals.
koose
4/8/2010-10:43pm at 10:43 pm (UTC -4)
congradulations Mr.Niese nice game too bad your team behind you, that offensive powerhouse still cant score and ohh the power that we were going to have where is it. What do trail the majors again with 1 hr after three games.
njstuckintx
4/8/2010-10:44pm at 10:44 pm (UTC -4)
Chill meng. The kids are alright, or so the song says.
stickguy
4/8/2010-10:44pm at 10:44 pm (UTC -4)
Castillo? Damn, I knew that leap yesterday was going to hurt something! ANd he really needs those legs to run out his GBs.
Seriously, if his legs are going to start acting up, if could get very ugly (and extended ugly) for him real quick. Slappy on sore wheels isn’t going to be pretty.
I really don’t mind seeing Tejada get a shot (for the glove, if he can handle the work around the bag, and being blindsided), but man, I hope he can do something with the bat.
That could be your real wally pip right there!
Although think about the extra range for GBs with Reyes and Tajada in there.
stickguy
4/8/2010-10:51pm at 10:51 pm (UTC -4)
SInce Davis didn’t get the gig with Murphy out, I really think they leave im down at least until the point where his arb clock won’t start a year early (what is taht, May sometime?).
1st Jacobs gets his extended audition. Assuming he continues to fail it, he gets cut with Murphy returning.
Then, Murphy gets a few weeks until that arb deadline. And if he isn’t pulling his weight, and Davis is cranking, then it makes all the sense in the world to make the change.
and it really sholdn’t matter what the Mets record is, if the expectation is that davis can overall outproduce Murphy.
The grey area is, what is good enough from murphy? .310 with some HRS, no move. .220 with no power or OBP< move. In between? Tougher call.
gategem
4/9/2010-2:51am at 2:51 am (UTC -4)
It’s really not a tough call. If the you consider the Mets a contender and you decide that Davis will outperform Murphy giving the Mets a better chance of winning then arb deadline be damned.
asod75
4/8/2010-11:14pm at 11:14 pm (UTC -4)
One thing I’d like to see when Reyes gets back (and this could happen with Castillo sidelined) is a Reyes-Pagan top of the order. No more Matthews Jr, he’s pretty much sucked his entire career outside of one good season in Texas. I’d go Reyes-Pagan-Wright-Bay-Francoeur-Jacobs-Barajas-Cora, or if they insist keeping Castillo in the two hole, bat Pagan fifth or sixth with Jacobs sliding down to the seventh spot. Can’t have him hitting cleanup anymore, it doesn’t make any sense except in the mind of Jerry Manuel.
stickguy
4/8/2010-11:18pm at 11:18 pm (UTC -4)
many things only seem to make sense in the mind of Jerry. Unfortunately, that is the mind that makes out the line up card.
As much as I want to see him gone, I really don’t want to live through the pain of the season it would take to get him axed.
although probably better to be quick and catastrophic so he gets axed sooner (rather than a slow torture), so they will at least have a chance to pull a rockies and make a run at the end!
asod75
4/8/2010-11:26pm at 11:26 pm (UTC -4)
Some things seem to be common-sense (playing Pagan over Matthews, not batting Jacobs in the top part of the order) yet he doesn’t do them. Don’t get it.
gategem
4/9/2010-2:55am at 2:55 am (UTC -4)
“many things only seem to make sense in the mind of Jerry.”
This is without a doubt the best comment on the board tonight. My compliments.
gategem
4/9/2010-3:08am at 3:08 am (UTC -4)
Heb thank you for the Elmer Fudd reference. Elmer Fudd and Mr. Magoo were my favorite cartoon characters growing up and are once again as I enter my second childhood. BTW Jim Backus was the voice of Mr. Magoo and portrayed Thurston Howell III in “Gilligan’s Island.”
BTW if Jerry Manuel is dismissed as manager of the Mets he could easily excel as either Mr. Magoo or Elmer Fudd.
gategem
4/9/2010-7:18am at 7:18 am (UTC -4)
Last night of the 92 pitches Niese threw, “81 (88%) were some variety of fastball, the distribution being roughly 40 fourseamers, 20 cutters and 20 two-seamers. Niese threw all three pitches for a high percentage of strikes and swinging strikes. Surprisingly, he only went to his curveball 5 times and only once for a strike.â€
Since Niese’s best pitch is his curveball I wonder why he didn’t go to it more often. It defies logic as to why a pitcher would throw his best pitch only 5 times in a game. Even if early in the game he didn’t feel he had particularly good curve that day you would think that he would come back to it and try to establish it. By not throwing it he’s removing his most effective pitch from his arsenal.
udontmesswthejohan
4/9/2010-9:32am at 9:32 am (UTC -4)
Nice outing for Niese last night. I kept thinking how nice it would have been had he not been injured last year and impeded his progress. I think he showed last night that even early in the year, coming off an injury, you can still pitch effectively. I really hope that I’m wrong about a guy like Maine, but it just may be that he is going to be a frustratingly inconsistent pitcher.