Seems like the Phillies had a sense of deja-vu last night. Game 2 of the 2008 National League Division Series to be exact. Santana taking the place of Sabathia and Moyer talking the place of Myers.
“The moment reminded Phillies fans of Game 2 of the 2008 National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, when Sabathia and Myers battled in an epic nine-pitch at-bat with two outs in the second inning. Myers walked to extend the inning with two outs. Sabathia, who seemed flustered, walked Jimmy Rollins on four pitches to load the bases.
Victorino then hit a 1-2 pitch off Sabathia for a grand slam to give the Phillies a four-run lead in a 5-2 victory that remains one of the most memorable moments of the team’s 2008 World Series championship season.“
35 comments
Mr North Jersey
5/3/2010-10:19am at 10:19 am (UTC -4)
In the article Victorino is quoted to say,
“Never second guess this team, because we show up to play every day,”.
No matter how well the Mets play until the Mets can make the same claim we will never get past these guys.
Moyer vs Santana edge: the answer is supposed to be Mets.
When your Ace takes the hill you cannot afford to say well I just didn’t have it tonight. Aces play big in those spots and that is what killed last night.
Had it been Ollie or Maine or Niese no one would of been surprised by it but for Santana and to a lesser extent Pelfrey getting hammered shakes the core of what Mets are trying to accomplish here.
Santana couldnt explain what happened that scares me because who is to say it won’t happen again?
stickguy
5/3/2010-10:23am at 10:23 am (UTC -4)
well, they have 17 games to right the ship and pile up wins before the big homestand in late may (3 with the evils, then 3 with philly). That stretch, bringing the team to roughly the 1/3 mark of the season, will IMO tell what we need to know about this years team.
Mr North Jersey
5/3/2010-10:27am at 10:27 am (UTC -4)
Yes the best thing the Mets can do is return the favor and take 2 out of 3 in our park May 25th 26th and 27th. It will give them a chance to show what kind if fight they have I hope Santana pitches in the series so he can redeem himself for his terrible outing.
stickguy
5/3/2010-10:20am at 10:20 am (UTC -4)
I hate victorino. Even though my fantasy team appreciated the GS, I still hate them.
Hey, if you want (as Met fans) some “good” philly news, their injury woes continue (I know after the 2 beat downs you may not think it matters, but eventually, it could catch up with them).
Rollins is still having pain in his calf (extended calf issues, where did we see that before?) and his return is on hold until at least the end of the month. At this point, might be a race between him and beltran.
And Happ went to trhow the other day, and had to get shut down quick due to continued pain or tightness in his forearm. 50/50 that He is visiting Dr. andrews soon.
they are 1 injury to one of the “big 3″ guys to being decided average at best.
ceetar
5/3/2010-10:23am at 10:23 am (UTC -4)
yeah, Rollins isn’t as big a hit cause he’s not that good, but it hurts their rotation depth with Happ, although supposedly Blanton is back tonight.
just hope this showing bythe Mets didn’t wake up Ibanez and Victorino, because they were both not doing well, making their lineup really not thatgood.
As for the CC comparison, I’ll take it, because I know, unfortunately, what CC did to them the next time he faced them.
Mr North Jersey
5/3/2010-10:24am at 10:24 am (UTC -4)
Nice Ceetar I like that.
DNDJohan aka kistics
5/3/2010-10:25am at 10:25 am (UTC -4)
I’ve been saying all along. The key players that were injured for the Mets were
Reyes
Beltran
Delgado
Putz
Ollie
Maine
Johan
If the Phillies were to have the similar caliber type of guys injured it would be
Rollins
Vicky
Howard
Madson
Blanton
Happ
and I’m not including Doc in the equation. So, they are still at least 2 key injuries away from matching the Mets.
DNDJohan aka kistics
5/3/2010-10:26am at 10:26 am (UTC -4)
and not to mention the length of time these guys were out.
udontmesswthejohan
5/3/2010-10:39am at 10:39 am (UTC -4)
That’s fine, but we as fans need to stop using the injury excuse, cause that’s what it is at this point. Though he will invariably make them better, I’m not going to sit around and hold my breath until Beltran comes back because even when he does make it back, there are no guarantees that he will be the same player he used to be, and even if he is, its going to take sometime before he can really contribute.
I hear you when you say we got ravaged by injuries, but that was last year and we need to let it go.
As far as this weekend, I’m not too devestated to be honest. They hit on Friday and Sunday and probably should have won the series. Johan may struggle at times this year, but he’s still better than most.
trs86
5/3/2010-10:46am at 10:46 am (UTC -4)
My hope with Beltran lies in the fact that before he was out of the lineup last year yet still injured he hit very well. The line he put up for the entire season if carried out over a full season would have been his best ever statistically.
Kingman 26
5/3/2010-11:16am at 11:16 am (UTC -4)
This is a slightly above .500 team. I still really believe it. This is what 83-79 teams do; they beat up on Atl/LA/Chi when they are all playing minor league ball, and lose to FLA, Wash, StL, and Phil when those guys bring their A game.
And truthfully, despite the disappointment of the last two days, the team has rebounded nicely from being 4-8.
The team is not a 4-8 team, and it is not a 9-1 team.
No matter what the good days seem to show, Johan, Maine, and Ollie have lost significant speed; this is either a soon-to-be-figured out/fixed blip, or a major seismic problem. The pen cannot and will not keep this pace up forever.
The three youngsters look really good; we need to see more of them.
Beltran will clearly strain four muscles while opening a bottle of body lotion in a spa during rehab, so let’s get FMart or Nieuwenhuis in CF. Let’s get Gee ready to join the rotation, and let’s keep the exciting progress going.
Personally I know this team is going to be great the next couple of years; I am not going to blame them for not winning this year as long as they hustle. They have been largely hustling, Jerry has made changes, and we are still 10-3 since the 4-8 start.
Adding all of the more experienced Junior Core to what we already have, with one more starter (Gee or an outsider), and with a few nice subtractions (GMJ, Cat, Tatis, Slappy, maybe Maine or Ollie) has this team on the verge of greatness.
I can wait one more year.
Of course, should they make the playoffs this year, that’s OK too.
trs86
5/3/2010-11:25am at 11:25 am (UTC -4)
We are not too far off here. I think we are an 86-88 win team unless Beltran comes back healthy. Then all bets are off, I don’t have a clue.
DNDJohan aka kistics
5/3/2010-10:37am at 10:37 am (UTC -4)
This adds to more reasons to dislike Morgan.
Since when did Johan throw curveballs? And even I was able to pick up couple sliders that he threw even before he was making that annoying comment about “Johan needs to throw more curveballs”.
Last night just was terrible all around.
Mr North Jersey
5/3/2010-10:40am at 10:40 am (UTC -4)
Best Morgan moment: When Frenchy stole 2nd but Morgan said he could of been thrown out with that slide of his.
Morgan! He was safe move on.
trs86
5/3/2010-10:47am at 10:47 am (UTC -4)
Joe Morgan proved last night over and over again that he is a blabbering idiot.
stickguy
5/3/2010-10:53am at 10:53 am (UTC -4)
I guess that makes him a Jidiot too?
trs86
5/3/2010-10:57am at 10:57 am (UTC -4)
Actually surprised he has not been interviewed for the position.
metsfan4decades
5/3/2010-11:01am at 11:01 am (UTC -4)
LOL.
Added insult to injury with these two losses over the weekend were having to listen to it on FOX and ESPN.
whataputz
5/3/2010-10:58am at 10:58 am (UTC -4)
Back to reality. I actually think yesterday was good for this club. Maybe not good, but I think it was a good lesson. If they wanna hang with the big dog they need to up their game. We’re .5 out, and going into another hitters park against some weak pitching. We can win today and it’s like the Philly series never happened. Huge game for John Maine, because if he goes out there and gets shellled, A. our bullpen is in some trouble, and B. The panic will re-appear. They need to go out tonight, sock some dingers, and get 6 solid out of Maine. O…and no GMJ please.
ceetar
5/3/2010-11:11am at 11:11 am (UTC -4)
Perez. someone threw me off saying Maine earlier, but it’s Perez then Maine.
whataputz
5/3/2010-11:18am at 11:18 am (UTC -4)
I mean, is there really that much of a difference? But thanks for the correction.
metsfan4decades
5/3/2010-11:28am at 11:28 am (UTC -4)
I’m confused. I thought the rotation starting opening day was:
Johan/Maine/Perez/Pelf/Niese
(remember they switched Pelf and Maine logic being Pelf didn’t Pelf wouldn’t face FL in the opening series since he struggled in the past with FL)
I thought we had stayed on the 5 man rotation even with off days so how is it Perez would be pitching today?
trs86
5/3/2010-11:33am at 11:33 am (UTC -4)
Perhaps the rain-out and double header?
ceetar
5/3/2010-11:45am at 11:45 am (UTC -4)
Yea, it got lost in the shuffle. Was supposed to be Johan, Maine, Perez against the Dodgers. Johan got pushed to Tuesday with the rainout, and somehow they swapped Maine and perez there without any of us really realizing?
kinda weird.
trs86
5/3/2010-11:53am at 11:53 am (UTC -4)
Most likely just wanted to give Maine an extra day?
DNDJohan aka kistics
5/3/2010-12:39pm at 12:39 pm (UTC -4)
I think the it was supposed to be Perez on Monday, Johan on Tues and Maine on Wed. With the rainout Ollie just pitched the later game on Tues, so Johan essentially jumped over Ollie.
DNDJohan aka kistics
5/3/2010-11:44am at 11:44 am (UTC -4)
I think the double-header may have thrown the rotation off a little.
metsfan4decades
5/3/2010-12:05pm at 12:05 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks, all. Forgot about that double header….
Mr North Jersey
5/3/2010-11:35am at 11:35 am (UTC -4)
Great article from Ted Quarters.
“In the biggest game the Mets have ever asked Santana to pitch, he gave them a shutout on three days’ rest with a torn meniscus in his knee.”
“He had a terrible start. It happens. It happened to happen at a bad time. Given how well Santana was pitching coming into the game, and given the fact that he’s Johan Santana, it’d be smart to wait until it happens again before deeming him anything but an ace.”
http://www.tedquarters.net/2010/05/03/things-an-ace-does/
Well said imo by Ted Quarters.
whataputz
5/3/2010-11:39am at 11:39 am (UTC -4)
I’d pay a quarter for that!….I’ll leave now.
Mr North Jersey
5/3/2010-11:40am at 11:40 am (UTC -4)
dirtysanchez
5/3/2010-12:04pm at 12:04 pm (UTC -4)
Well, as the saying goes
You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose. ~Lou Holtz and John Heisler, The Fighting Spirit
Just dust ourselves off and try to win the next series
trs86
5/3/2010-12:15pm at 12:15 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed, we are what we say we are and we let ourselves off the hook.
dirtysanchez
5/3/2010-12:27pm at 12:27 pm (UTC -4)
you dont walk the pitcher with bases loaded…that was on santana all the way. While it sux that we lost the way we did, we are only .5 out of first…not a catastrophic loss as the score would imply in the big picture imo
trs86
5/3/2010-12:32pm at 12:32 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed, we are a 14-11 team. We have had a bad stretch and a good stretch. Keep this pace you win 90. Go .500 from here on out you win 84. That’s about the range again I expect us to be in.