Blown Save, Walk-Off Grand Slam: Not The Best Way To End a Roadtrip...

Ugh...

Irritated isn't quite the right word, but I'm something...

The Mets lost on an extra-inning walk off grand slam last night to the Padres, only 2 innings after K-Rod blew a 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  They ended up losing the game 5-1 (box/wrap up) and continued their streak of NOT winning a road series ALL YEAR....awesome.  After the game Gary made a point of saying the Mets have given up the most grand slams this year of any team in the league.  That's probably because when you walk/hit batters to get the bases loaded the next thing you are trying to do is just throw a strike...hence meatballs...hence batting practice fastballs...hence Grand SALAMIS.

K-Rod is killing me.  While some might complain about him coming in in the eighth inning, he should still have been able to shut the door.  And Raul Valdes is now my fourth favorite Valdes(z) after his last two abismal outings.  He has fallen behind Exxon Valdez, which I think is only in third place because of current news...

Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention Santana pitched, was awesome and the Mets still found a way to blow it for him.  This is exactly what I was talking about the other day when I said that I had more confidence with Pelfrey on the hill than Santana.  For some reason the Mets find ways to not hit, and blow leads when Johan throws.  Especially when he throws well. Unreal.  Santana went 7 innings giving up only 5 hits, and no runs, although he did walk five.

The Mets only run was driven in Francoeur.  Bay went 3-4 and swiped a bag and scored the only run of the game, while Reyes also stole a base but went hitless.  That's all worth mentioning on the offensive end.

The Mets come home, apparently the only place they can win...to face the Marlins tomorrow night at 7:10, with Dickey on the hill against Annibal Sanchez.  Time to start beating the Marlins and Nats, because these in-division series are important.  I know that's obvious, but with this team, even the obvious is worth stating...

Nieve Saturday?, Line Up Tonight...

A couple things here...

First, according to Metsblog, here, Jerry is considering Fernando Nieve for the opening in the rotation on Saturday against the Brewers.  This must be the only way Jerry thinks he can get Nieve the work he needs...wait, I'm sorry he's appeared in 26 of 46 so far...Jerry must smoking something. 

Here's my issue with this, clearly, they don't want to make a roster move...but...wouldn't this be an IDEAL time to send down Mejia to get stretched out and bring up someone else to start Saturday?  I just don't see how Nieve is going to be ready to throw 80 pitches, if he does end up starting, or how he'll be effective for that long.  Seriously, that makes very little sense to me.  Although, it is interesting to note that in this same post to Metsblog Jerry is quoted as making it pretty clear that he's the one fighting for Mejia to stay up.  I know he's good, but I still don't get it.  Let him be a starter the 'pen isn't scary anymore, they can survive without him.

Also, there is something to be said about letting Valdes get the start, especially if it's a spot start and he gets a chance to rope doubles like he did last night.  Plus, in my opinion he's been better than Nieve recently...

Next on the agenda is tonight's Mets line up for a game at 7:10 where Takahashi takes the hill against Joe Blanton, as they go for four wins in a row.  Here is the line up courtesy of the Mets twitter account:

Reyes-SS
Cashstealo-2B
Bay-LF
Davis-1B
Wright-3B
Pagan-CF
Barajas-C
Francoeur-RF
Takahashi- P

Perhaps more interesting is the Philly line up, which seems to have less teeth tonight...courtesy of Kevin Burkhardt on twitter:

Victorino CF
Polanco 3B
Utley 2B
Howard 1B
Werth RF
Francisco LF
Valdez SS
Schneider C
Blanton P

I'm not saying they aren't trying to win tonight, but they certainly don't look as dangerous with Ibanez, Ruiz and Rollins out of the line up in the same night.  All I'm saying is the Mets are really getting a chance to take the series tonight and better take advantage of it.

Mets Handle Phils 8-0, I Remain Undefeated

Tonight, the Mets dominated in an 8-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies (box score/wrap) in what seemed like their first "dominating" victory since the first week of the season.  In other news, the Mets remain undefeated in games I have attended.  Soon I plan on a collection jar to send me to any, and all, home games with an option for road games should my luck continue...

Everything went right tonight for the Mets, starting with an outstanding performance from R.A. Dickey who had the Phillies looking foolish all night long.  Dickey went 6 innings, scattering 7 hits and striking out 7 Phils.  It was unreal to see how bad he made certain Philly hitters look...Dickey was extremely impressive tonight.  He then gave way to my third favorite Valdes who worked out of trouble (which he got himself into) in the 7th after two consecutive hits, and then never gave up another hit to earn a good ol' fashioned 3 inning save.  Man, I love those...

At the plate, everyone hit.  Reyes had 3 hits, scored 3 runs, tripled and swiped 2 bags while Bay had two RBI, Francoeur went 2-3 with 2 RBI, Carter had a big pinch-hit RBI single and even Raul Valdes doubled over the head of Jayson Werth in the 8th off of Figueroa.

Overall, this was a fantastic game for the Mets.  They did everything right and it was great to see.  However, tomorrow is a different day...

Tomorrow the Mets send Takahashi to the hill in game 2 of the series against Joe Blanton.  Considering how the Phillies fared against Dickey tonight, a crafty pitcher like Takahashi might be able to duplicate the performance, especially considering how well he threw against the Yankees Friday night.  At the least the Mets put themselves in a good position after game 1 of this series...

Mets Split in DC, Maine Pulled Very Early

After a loss last night that can only be described as disappointing (despite a great outing from Dickey), the Mets found yet another way to come back this season.  This time the Mets came back with a win the next night, and they did it with a huge hand from the bullpen. 

Tonight the Mets defeated the Nats 10-7 (box score/wrap up) on the back of a great relief effort from Raul Valdes, who relieved John Maine after only throwing 5 pitches and walking a batter, and a very nice offensive effort.

First thing's first...

John Maine threw 5 pitches tonight, because, according to Metsblog, Warthen noticed in warm ups that Maine had some messed up mechanics and his velocity wasn't where it should have been.  This is not encouraging for Maine, but somehow makes me feel better about the coaching staff.  I'm happy to know, for once, that they weren't willing to let things get out of hand before they pulled the plug on Maine.  I'm going to assume that had less to do with a philosophy change and more to do with the staff not wanting to get fired, but that's just me.  Regardless let's give my third favorite Valdes (behind Ismael and Juan) some credit for doing work tonight.  Valdes went 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 7 hits, and came in after the first batter in the game.  Mejia, on the other hand, had a tough outing tonight giving up 3 runs in an inning and 2/3 and let the Nats creep back into the game.  Eventually K-Rod would shut the door, but not after giving up a run himself.  Mixed bag of nuts on the mound tonight for the Mets... 

At the plate, David Wright's base-clearing double (also added a sac fly later in the game) in the first got the Mets going offensively.  Francoeur also had two hits, Reyes had two, Barajas had two included a homer, Bay had three hits along with Davis who scored 3 runs as well.  Bottomline here is after Atilano shut the Mets down last week, they exploded on him tonight.  The team pounded out 10 runs and 15 hits on route to what should have been an easier win than what actually was.

It was nice to get a win heading into the weekend as the Mets will be welcoming the Yankees to the "Citi" tomorrow for the start of a weekend series.  Tomorrow at 7:10 the Mets throw out Takahashi against the disappointing Javier Vasquez for the Yankees.  Saturday will be another night game, this time it will be Hughes against Pelfrey.  And Sunday night will be a battle of the aces to close the series, Santana vs. Sabathia.  I hope there's some good baseball being played this weekend...