31
2010
Valdes Annihilated, Mets Lose 9-6
An article by 
In a game where David Wright hit two home runs and the Mets offense put up some run support, Raul Valdes was pitching volleyballs and the Diamondbacks tee’d off, winning the opening game of the series 9-6.
Game Notes
Mike Pelfrey was hit early on in the game, and hit hard. Mike’s final line of five runs allowed, four earned on eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts in five and two-third innings doesn’t look too bad – but Mike easily could’ve been out of the game by the third inning if a few hits would’ve gone in different directions. Big Pelf is getting annihilated in the first inning of games, and hopefully he can establish himself in the first inning, otherwise the Mets will be looking at a tired bullpen in Pelfrey starts. In an awkward move, after 118 pitches, Jerry Manuel pulled Pelf with 2 outs in the sixth.
Playing the situation card, Raul Valdes was brought into the game to face the left-handed Kelly Johnson who promptly deposited a ball into left-center. Valdes would allow two more singles, and then another left-handed hitter, Miguel Montero tagged a shot off of the Pepsi porch. When all was said and done, Valdes allowed four runs to score on four hits without recording an out, and allowing an inherited runner to score. Realistically, Pelfrey couldn’t have done much worse considering the next batter he would’ve faced hit a home run. Manny Acosta, Elmer Dessens and Pedro Feliciano combined for the final three and one-third innings, striking out six.
The Mets offense today was known as David Wright. David went 3-4 with 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R and a K. David was just locked in at the plate, and hopefully this offensive outburst lasts. Angel Pagan would account for the other RBI, knocking in Jose Reyes.
Jeff Francoeur, 0-4 with 2 K’s. I can’t say that I am surprised, but why isn’t Chris Carter starting against righties? Outside of his three run home run, Frenchy has been a Barajas-esque black hole of futility.
Jose Reyes went 3-5 with 2 runs. Always good to see Jose operating on all cylinders, but the Jose Reyes error helped to get Pelfrey pulled from the game.
Luis Castillo went 0-4 with a R and a BB. For the year, Luis is hitting .239. Why isn’t Ruben Tejada up here again?
Turning Point
Jose Reyes’ error in the sixth inning could’ve helped the inning to end and the Mets to exit the inning in the lead, but at least the error would’ve left it with two outs.
Game Ball
David Wright, 3-4 with 2 HR and 5 RBI. Good performance
On Deck
The Mets will look to rebound and break the four game losing streak to the Diamondbacks, sending out Hisanori Takahashi to face up against Barry Enright. Game time is 7:10 PM
About the Author: Sean Kenny
Sean Kenny is a student/writer currently attending school at the City College of New York. For more Mets news, notes and thoughts follow him on twitter @TheSeanKenny
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My points:
-The error by Jose though not good was at the start of the inning, Pelf usually gets a DP in these situations.
-Though not good this did not cost us the game, Pelf should have been left in to finish the inning and maybe this helps turn around his 2nd half.
-Jerry brought in the one lefty who can’t get lefties out, doesn’t he or Warthen know this or does Valdes have to carry an tag on a chain around his neck saying, “I have a hard time with lefties.”
It is one thing when Valdes comes in to eat innings as he has done lately but the recent implosion of Pedro has left Mets with no other lefty until Takahashi is returned to BP.
-The only games the Snakes have won in over two weeks is against Mets.
Their BP is one of the worst in NL yet they are Cy Young to Mets, even Heilman came in and got a save. Sheesh?
-The 5-9 hitters were 0-18. This is not going to win games or scare other teams.
-Why is Francouer playing over CC? At least with CC you know he won’t swing at 1st pitch everytime.
With Feliciano coming up, Frenchy needs to eat some pine.
-Once again the lack of a power arm or two in BP when you need a strikeout has hurt this team again.
-We need another option at 2b cause with the reduced range of Cora and Castilllo and their inability to even get on base why is Luis even hitting 2nd? The OF plays him like a little leaguer.
-Davis needs to be a little more consistent and stop swinging at all those high fastballs, cause I don’t think he has hit any yet.
-Does anyone have any confidence in any of the pitching moves made by the Jerry/Warthen combo?
-Parnell, I know it was early but sometimes the 6th inning is where you wind the game, should have been brought in to see if he could get that lefty out and show team he can.
-Is it me or dose Jose seem reluctant to steal? He only has 20 or 21, Pagan has more than him.
-On at least 3 occasions, as mentioned by the booth, Snake pitcher pushed Mets off the plate. Why is this not part of the game plan, especially against a free swinging team like the Snakes. They were just standing in the batter’s box, all comfy just waiting for Mets pitcher to lay on in that tiny strike zone that the umpire had?
This is always a problem, if the hitter gets hit, then next time he won’t be leaning over the plate. Only Johan and Niese I see doing this.
-I see today where Wilpons were sued by Sterling Investments over Madoff dealings so I guess this case will show us if they really don’t have money to spend cause they made $47 billion from Madoff and now the investors are coming after them. Please sell the team.
You’ve made some great points. I’ll comment on a couple of them.
The money angle with Uncle Bernie will be exposed. I don’t know how much exposure but from Day One, it seemed that Jeffie was doing the big fib. He went to high school with some of Uncle Bernie’s boys. It might have been difficult for him to level charges ahead of the Feds charges.
Regarding Jose’s reluctance to steal. He has been vulnerable when on base and maybe he’s getting queasy about leading off base. He has been almost picked off a half dozen times recently. Also, with a head first slide, maybe he’s afraid of getting some sense knocked into his coconut. He’s not progressed a lot mentally on the base paths. Disappointing, especially for a player with so much talent.
Ike Davis has some glaring weaknesses in his swing. I wrote about them yesterday. His long swing will be difficult to solve, but his hitch, causing him to have trouble with high,hard pitches needs to be corrected to whatever extent possible. Calling Howard Johnson . . . .
Cora has got ‘it’ between his ears but his AB’s are weak now.
On throws by our catchers, first our guys have to make sure the ball is blocked if it is not caught. These swipes at the throws by our middle infielders is getting tiring. Are they timid about the throw, or the incoming runner, or what? Something’s wrong.
Why aren’t our pitchers pushing back opposing batters from crowding the plate? In the old days, we would have had a simple solution.
The home plate ump was bad, really bad, especially on low pitches.
Jerry said in his interview that we had the advantage or some history in that match up with Johnson? What was he smoking?
He says that was a surprise, good match up? Come on Jerry the stats say otherwise and I am tired of hearing, “OH, He has pitched great lately but he didn’t have it today.” How many times have we heard this after another tough loss or another xtra inning loss or another miss match from the BP?
your points are well taken. but what do you want manuel to say?sure his excuses are lame but so is the team.i said several weeks ago if the frenchman in right field were any good he would still be with cox. this man swings at anything at any time in any situation.if castillo is going to bat 230 bring up the kid who plays better d and let looie sit.wright was being buzzed in the early part of the season and nobody protected him.now the booth mentions it as if to get all their ducks in a row for 2 months of excuse mode!a sign tonight of things to come is that the booth was going after people(feed the masses…since no significant move is coming…from the mets anyway).
Most of the problems this team faces are systemic, although some of the late-inning moves by Jerry Manuel can be considered questionable. Here’s what needs to happen:
Cut: Castillo, Ollie & Valdez.
Promote: Justin Turner, Ramon Ortiz & Pat Misch
Platoon: Francouer, Carter & Hessman
Reasons: No sense to clog the roster with an 18m/year milstone around your neck. Addition by subtraction.
Castillo v. Turner: The D-Backs 2nd baseman has 17 homeruns, ours has zero. We absolutely need more offensive production from our 2nd baseman. Not for nothing, but Castillo joined the ballclub at the trading deadline in 2007…I’m just sayin’…
Ollie v. Misch: Pat Misch is 9-4 with a 3.44 era pitching for the Bisons. He’s a control freak. Ollie walks more batters in a game that Misch does in a month. One thing Misch doesn’t do is defeat himself. He’ll have a shaky outing every 4th or 5th start, but the same now can be said for everyone not named “Dickey”. Whoever is calling the shots in the front office is just stupid.
Ortiz v. Valdez: Ortiz is on fire for Buffalo. Took him a couple of starts to get acclimated, but he’s fresh off a 2-hit shutout that culminates a string of very good starts. Appears he rediscovered something. His promotion, combined with Takahashi’s return to the bullpen, gives us a lefty and righty combo from the pen that can cover the rotation from the 5th inning on.
Platoon: Chris Carter needs at-bats to regain his effectiveness at the plate. Mike Hessman needs to be in the line-up every third day – I don’t care how he gets in, we need his stick. Francouer – I love the guy – needs to be taken to the back shed and have plate discipline beaten into him. He’s driving me nuts. Medicate him with ritalin…whatever works, but get him to stop swinging at first-pitch crap.
Here’s a curious question. Not now, but in the offseason, could we explore shifting Wright to 2nd base and moving Hessman, or another worthy candidate, to 3rd base? Most of Wright’s errors are on throws, and he appears to have the range and agility to perform a competent, if not gold-glove caliber 2nd base. Hessman appears very comfortable at 3rd base, and David is certainly better a better fielder than, say, Jeff Kent. Just a thought.
I could see Wright moving to 2nd, but not for Hessman.
Hessman strikes out more then any player. He’s having a nice viewing right now, but there is a reason he’s a career minor leaguer.
Can we please start calling it what it is and say that Mike Pelfrey is a first round BUST!
Why is Luis Castillo still on this team, and WHY is he still batting second!!!
Believe it or not, I’m not mad at Manuel for replacing Pelfrey with Valdes last night. No way you leave Pelfrey in there to finish that inning. No way.
Sorry man that was a mistake that Jerry made last night. He should had let Pelf finished the inning and let the bullpen closed down the next three innings. Jerry’s mistake in putting Valdes cost the Mets a win.
Once someone is drafted, he ultimately either CAN or CAN’T. This is especially true of someone who’s been up in the majors for a few years. The round a guy has been drafted in becomes irrelevant. So I don’t really understand your “Mike Pelfrey is a first round BUST!”
Do you mean that he’s not living up to your expectations for a first rounder?
Or is it that he is just a bust and should be released?
I’d appreciate a response.
Agree with you DC cause Valdes has always worked good when he comes in for long relief not to get a particular lefty out, Jerry should have known this.
Castillo does not bring anything to the team, no range, weak arm, can’t get on base, no power, some speed, Mets need to start looking for long range solution here with defense being the priority.
BP needs to be redone, bring in some young hard throwers like Padres did.
Biggest change for this team is to mentally challenge the players to take games like the ones against the worst teams seriously cause as in 2007 we are losing again to the dredges of the NL and no-name pitchers are holding us in check.
There is definitely apart from the quality of players needed a lack of mental toughness against inferior teams and pitchers that Mets have always struggled with. Any answers out there?
Lastly do Jerry and Warthen really go over the other teams weakness and strengths or do just guess?
Pelfrey for me is driving me crazy, I want him to succeed yet he frustrates the heck out of me when he doesn’t follow the game plan and tries to nibble with his stuff that moves, just throw it to a spot on the plate and let the movement take over. Come on Pelfrey you have got to get this already, you are the only one who can correct this.
Oh, how about brushing back some D-Back hitters?
Guys who should turn in their Mets uniforms (with a little help from the FO):
Castillo
Perez
Cora–make him a base coach
Barajas
Francoeur
probably Pelf–he’s been four seasons in the making, and he’s not making it! Lot of great talent, just cannot make it work over the long haul. Sad.
Chris Carter, Hessman, Tejada, Feliciano…Can we please get real? Scrubdom!
Ten guys up and out! Are you serious?
Maybe you’re planning on starting a basketball team!!!
P.S.: Feliciano — Pedro or Jesus? Or both? Maybe you need eleven.
One extremely crappy basketball team to you, Sir.
Well, Des, if they all left at once that would cause a bit of a problem, I concur. Let’s call it a phased withdrawal.
I met Feliciano, the Jose, not the Pedro. I know Jerry thinks he’s a terrific two-strike hitter, but his torrid MLB production now seems to prove otherwise.
If you think I’ve made a poor statement about giving a heave-ho to these ten, then please inform me of your counter-position.
I thought your statement was made as comical relief so I didn’t think that grading meant anything. You say it would be an extremely crappy basketball team. I don’t know that because some of those dudes would be tough under the boards.
Anyway you made me laugh so thanks to you.
Sorry I didn’t meet Jose; I mean “meant.”
Earlier in July I did an analysis and concluded that Ike Davis and Daniel Murphy have had similar batting success in the majors. Ike has more homers and Daniel has more speed and more triples (Ike has none). Today I took a look at Ike’s splits over the months of the 2010 season. It isn’t as pretty as the Mets PR message. I also present Daniel’s figures for comparison.
Ike’s monthly splits for BA, OBP, SLG, OPS
Apr .324, .415, .500, .915
May .235, .348, .418, .766
Jun .264, .291, .425, .715
Jul .221, .288, .474, .762
Daniel Murphy’s career numbers for the same measures
2008 .313, .397, .473, .871
2009 .266, .313, .427, .741
As you can see, we have two pretty good offensive first basemen. Here are a few of my conclusions.
Murphy’s BA is superior. It always will because of issues I raise in the last paragraph.
Murphy had a better rookie year than sophomore year.
Ike started his career with a batting flurry.
Ike’s OBP has declined each succeeding month.
In the most recent month, while Ike’s BA and OBP declined, his SLG and OPS have risen. Is he swinging from his heels to boost his power at the cost of base hits? Is his relatively long swing and his swing’s hitch costing him base hits? More evidence is needed for a longer term outlook but it’s unlikely he’ll ever be a high percentage batter.