The remnants of the 2011 New York Mets were overmatched once again, this time by the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils beat New York by a score of 10 – 0. The Amazin’s drop to 60-67 on the year.
Dillon Gee (11-5) allowed a career-high 8 runs, all of them earned, while walking 6 in only 3 2/3 innings. Cliff Lee (14-7) picked up the win, allowing no runs and three hits in seven innings.
You know when Ryota Igarashi makes an appearance in the 4th inning, it’s going to be a long night. Dillon Gee looked like he finished both ends of a double header before taking the mound on Monday night. In this case, the “Gee” stood for “gassed.” This is further evidence that the way pitchers are handled in pro ball is all wrong. They’re coddled to the point where they can’t even throw 180 innings in their rookie year anymore. Remember the days when Dwight Gooden threw 276 innings in his rookie year at age 19? And what about the music these days? You can’t understand the words. It all sounds like noise! Kids these days!
OK, I kind of reverted to my father there, but seriously, if you look at Gee, Niese, Pelfrey, and every other young pitcher who has
Terry Collins was not happy tonight.
come up with Mets in recent years, they’re spent by the All-Star Break. What kind of conditioning are pitchers getting in the minor leagues? Gee started the season 7-0 with a sub-3.00 ERA. But lately, he’s surrendered 5, 4, 1, and 8 runs in his last four starts. Since the All-Star break, he has pitched to a 4.33 ERA coming into tonight’s game. Pitchers just don’t throw enough innings at the Minor League level to prepare them for a 33 start grind in the Majors.
In other news, Angel Pagan was benched due to what the Mets called a “stomach virus.” After being retrieved by Terry Collins when Pagan was late for his time at bat, Pridie replaced him in Center Field in the next half inning. Pagan could be seen arguing with Collins in the Mets dugout, with a “Who, me?” look on his face. It will be interesting to see what really happened tonight. (UPDATE 8/23/11 5:13 EDT: Angel Pagan has had intermittent stomach problems this year, and went on the DL while with the Cubs with a case of colitis.)
As for the Phillies, they continued to look dominant, even in the absence of the injured Jimmy Rollins, spurred on by HRs by John Mayberry, Jr. and deadline acquisition, Hunter Pence.
Meanwhile, as Gary Cohen put it, it was a thoroughly miserable night for the Mets.
Or rather Wright?!? } – 
5 comments
Anonymous
8/23/2011-2:59am at 2:59 am (UTC -4)
Hmmm, so we lost again, huh?
Those Phils are so old it’s amazing Lee can even go 5 innings. Surely the age-related swoon begins any day now!
Paul, GREAT point about the annual collapse of Met young pitchers—Niese again, Gee right there too.
And Pagan? A joke. He continues. To. Be.
The house must be cleaned, and by the folks in nuclear plants who come in dressed in yellow suits and scrub everything with steel brushes.
Every day it becomes more clear how bare this cupboard is and how many years away we are.
I cannot believe I would ever think this, but rooting for a higher draft pick, I fear, DOES make sense right about now.
Paul J. Festa
8/23/2011-2:27pm at 2:27 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t see anyone who blows me away at AAA, and outside of Familia and Harvey, no one really at AA. Alderson’s going to have to rebuild this organization from the draft on up. Our patience will be tested!
Anonymous
8/23/2011-2:59am at 2:59 am (UTC -4)
Just to reinforce your point about pitchers today being coddled in their development consider that Sandy Koufax was forced to retire from baseball after the 1966 season with what was diagnosed as traumatic arthritis of the elbow. Yet pitching with pain he threw 323 innings, had a 27-9 record with a 1.73 ERA and a 0.985 WHIP with 317 strikeouts.
Anonymous
8/23/2011-3:01am at 3:01 am (UTC -4)
And 27 complete games in 41 starts.
MetsFan4Decades
8/23/2011-11:40am at 11:40 am (UTC -4)
‘…..OK, I kind of reverted to my father there,…’
My Dad makes this same type of complaint frequently. He also takes no stock in the need for all those BP arms, nor a closer. ‘Back in my day’, is a frequent precursor to many a discussion on pitchers.
Watched the game last night. The final nail in the coffin on this season was Beltran traded with Murph and Reyes going down. Look at the rest of that lineup. Hope the FO is paying attention because going with a rookie in CF, LF, SS and 2nd base next year – if that’s the plan, means things are not likely to change anytime soon.