Cute, but he's scratching his head
The pathetic, destitute, odorous, ugly, impotent New York Mets offense found the little blue pill that is the Chicago Cubs bullpen and sprung to life, scoring late and often to win 6-1.
78 rpm
With the score tied at 1 the bottom of the 7th proved lucky for the Mets.  Reliever James Russell (0-1) came on for the Cubs and promptly hit pinch-hitter Jose Reyes with a pitch.  After pinch-hitter Gary Matthews Jr. struck out, Angel Pagan homered to left field to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.  One out later Jeff Samardzija relieved Russell.  He walked David Wright who then stole 2nd base.  Jason Bay doubled off the left field wall to plate Wright making it 4-1.  Jeff Francoeur then reached on an error by 3rd baseman Aramis Ramirez while Bay advanced to 3rd.  Left hander Sean Marshall relieved Samardzija and rookie Ike Davis singled to drive in Bay making it 5-1.  Francoeur came in on a Marshall wild pitch with the final run. Pagan’s homer was the 1st extra-base hit by a Met since Friday night, a span of 36 innings played.
It always starts with the 5th
The Mets opened the scoring in the bottom of the 5th. Â With 2 outs Alex Cora, who started to give shortstop Reyes a night off, singled. Then starting pitcher Jonathon Niese followed with a single of his own. Â Pagan walked to load the bases, then Luis Castillo grounded a single up the middle which barely made it to the outfield grass but took long enough to get there that Cora scored and it was 1-0 Mets. Â The Cubs tied it in the bottom of the 6th when Niese walked Geovany Soto with 1 out. Â Cubs starter Randy Wells singled moving Soto up to 2nd, then Soto advanced to 3rd base when Cora’s throw to 1st base bounced away from Davis for an error. Â Fernando Nieve (1-1) relieved Niese and the 1st batter he faced, Marlon Byrd, singled off Nieve’s foot to drive in Soto with the Cubs only run.
Ike Ike baby!
Tonight’s game marked the major league debut for Davis. Â Including his 7th inning RBI single he finished 2 for 4 and with a shaving cream pie on his face courtesy of Francoeur.
20 comments
metsfan4decades
4/19/2010-10:36pm at 10:36 pm (UTC -4)
‘It always starts with the 5th’. Great stuff.
Good start for Niese, even though high pitch count. Got himself out of some jams.
Finally the offense wakes up tonight. And Ike Davis…..congrats to the young man on his first ML hit, first ML RBI. He’s the good luck charm.
Angel ‘it isn’t hard to hit a ball out here’ Pagan.
Baseball like it ought to be.
PS: The Cubs actually looked worse than we have so far in this young season, if it’s possible.
njstuckintx
4/19/2010-10:42pm at 10:42 pm (UTC -4)
I will not make Ike to be the Saviour, but he does make me feel a whle lot more comfortable.
And flip Pagan for Castillo now!
stickguy
4/19/2010-11:06pm at 11:06 pm (UTC -4)
I much prefer Pagan hitting 1 or 2 also. I don’t think Castillo is going to have the average of OBP from last year, and I really like having some power up at the top.
stickguy
4/19/2010-11:05pm at 11:05 pm (UTC -4)
Some interesting tidbits from elsewhere.
the phils have another SP down now. Happ has to miss a start with a strain in his elbow. And that is always a scary proposition.
Just might be seeing Figgy in the phils rotation. Who woulda thunk it.
And, because it amuses me:
Kaz matsui might be losing his starting 2B job. To a red hot Jeff keppinger! I Knew there was a reason I wanted him back in the day.
DNDJohan aka kistics
4/19/2010-11:20pm at 11:20 pm (UTC -4)
Phils still have long ways to go before catching up to the ’09 Mets. They still need Howard, Victorino and eventually Halladay on DL….
Ha! Ha!
stickguy
4/19/2010-11:37pm at 11:37 pm (UTC -4)
It is early. Still plenty of time.
Oh,and even though he is playing, good change that Ibanez still isn’t right.
gategem
4/20/2010-2:50am at 2:50 am (UTC -4)
In all the years I have followed baseball I’ve never rooted, not even jokingly, for injuries to strike a given team and/or player. These are, after all, human beings and baseball is their livelihood.
Mr North Jersey
4/19/2010-11:17pm at 11:17 pm (UTC -4)
Grave must feel good to write a post with a happy ending.
Good job luv da 5th analogy.
asod75
4/19/2010-11:25pm at 11:25 pm (UTC -4)
Nice win by the boys tonight. I agree that Pagan needs to be moved up in the lineup, I’ve been saying this all along. Bat Castillo eighth where his OBP skills can be used to clear the pitcher. I’d love to see Reyes (once he gets going) and Pagan wreaking havoc at the top of the order. And nice debut by Ike, a real feel-good win tonight!
DNDJohan aka kistics
4/19/2010-11:33pm at 11:33 pm (UTC -4)
Is it me or is Wright trying to swing at everything? He looked really bad especially when the bases were loaded. I think Wells threw him 4 balls and he swung at everything.
I realize the Mets had great inning, but I think the approach at the plate needs to change for all the Met hitters. I like the fact that they are being aggressive, but with exception of Pagan and Castillo, I just don’t see them working the pitches. There are too many 3-4 pitch Ks and too many quick outs.
Wells could have easily gone 8 at the pace that he was going.
We know what Wainwright did
Garcia threw 97 pitches thru 7 and probably could’ve gone longer.
Carpenter went 7 w/106 pitches
De La Rosa went 6 w/98 pitches
Smith went 7…
See the pattern here? I know the line up is staggered with fast trigger guys with lots of Ks, but I really think the coaching staff needs to re-evaluate the approach at the plate. I’m not sure who’s responsible, but something has to be done.
well it was great to see Ike doing so well though.
ceetar
4/19/2010-11:40pm at 11:40 pm (UTC -4)
It’s hard to argue that the guy that leads the majors in walks is swinging at everything.
But I could see how he looks like he’s pressing sometimes.
stickguy
4/19/2010-11:44pm at 11:44 pm (UTC -4)
only in the really big spots.
stickguy
4/19/2010-11:44pm at 11:44 pm (UTC -4)
and yes, I know I am sounding like Alex tonight!
ja ja ja ja
trs86
4/20/2010-9:20am at 9:20 am (UTC -4)
Thing is Wright has been walked over half of his plate appearances with RISP. They have flat out pitched around him. Thus he most likely feels pressure to swing at bad pitches because that’s all he’s getting.
stickguy
4/20/2010-9:30am at 9:30 am (UTC -4)
That was pretty much my point. And the question is, will he stop doing it? Because if he doesn’t, it will eat him up even more, and just get worse.
You might not like Bonds as a person, but he certainly was willing to let the pitcher dig a hole (and let the guy behind him clean up the ducks onthe pond).
maybe all DW needs is Bay to get hot and start picking up lots of RBIs, so he wil relax and take the walk, thereby maybe getting pitches to hit instead!
stickguy
4/19/2010-11:43pm at 11:43 pm (UTC -4)
Well, it isn’t like HoJo was known for patience.
As to Wright, he seems to be major pressing now. Although he was doing it last year too.
In a big spot, he is just taking huge swings at everything. Hell, it looks like he is closing his eyes on some of them.
I don’t know what will get him to calm down. Prozac? Getting married? Having 2-3 guys behind him raking so that he relaxes?
Note that I left off getting laid, since I highly doubt that is the problem.
But the sad thing is that right now, if it was 2 outs bases loaded and down 2 runs, bottom 9, he is about the last person on the team I want coming up.
GravediggerHebner
4/19/2010-11:59pm at 11:59 pm (UTC -4)
Well Carpenter and Wainwright are perennial Cy Young contenders. Since 2004 Carpenter has averaged 1.8 BB/9 innings. Wainwright averages 2.7/9. Garcia’s only pitched 29 innings in his career but his average is high. I looked at his pitchF/X data from the Met game and he threw the vast majority of his pitches in or very close to the strike zone. De La Rosa averages 4.6/9 and he walked 5 Mets.
I think maybe you’re over-analyzing 1 Wright at bat and extrapolating it onto the whole team. Wright’s career OBP is superb, Bay’s is very good, now that Jacobs and Tatis are playing less (or not at all) the team should get more bases on balls. Even if I’m wrong and you’re not over-analyzing this situation, I would say it’s unlikely to change mid-season unless there is a change in hitting coach, and even then it’s unlikely. To completely remake the way these guys approach at bats would require off season programs and spring training implementation.
gategem
4/20/2010-3:36am at 3:36 am (UTC -4)
The Cardinals starting pitching is impressive to say the least. Dave Duncan has once again spun his magic web with a masterful reclamation of Brad Penny. When last I saw Penny was wearing a RedSox uniform and having difficulty missing Yankees bats. But I did notice the velocity was in the mid to upper 90’s and the curveball still had it’s customary break but the location was poor. Apparently Duncan has restored Penny’s command and he is once again a formidable pitcher.
gategem
4/20/2010-3:00am at 3:00 am (UTC -4)
Wright is in a slump and when he’s in that state he tends to press rather than let the game come to him. Slumps come and go. When he’s in a good groove the walks and hits come easily. When he’s not they don’t. It’s the nature of the beast. It’s nothing to be concerned about.
trs86
4/20/2010-9:21am at 9:21 am (UTC -4)
Hey if we can get all of our guys to have a high .900′s OPS while slumping we are in great shape.