2
2011
Welcome Ronny Paulino! Mets Beat Phillies 2-1 In 14th
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A combination of Chris Young and the bullpen held the Phillies to one run in fourteen innings, and Ronny Paulino made a big Mets debut, including the game winning hit and the Mets won the game in the fourteenth inning, 2-1.
Game Notes
Chris Young was lights out today, going seven quality innings while giving up two hits, walking three, striking out seven and allowing ZERO runs. What is more amazing is most columnists/bloggers figured Chris Young would cease effectiveness in the micro-park known as Citizens Bank, but outside of a Brian Schneider double, nothing was hit hard. He seemed to fatigue in the seventh when he walked two of his three batters and hit another. He was efficient for the whole game, and sadly due to lack of run support didn’t get the win.
The bullpen today was AMAZING overall. They would go seven innings, allowing one run, giving up five hits and three walks and only one run. That run was made possible by Jason Isringhausen issuing two walks and Tim Byrdak coming in to get Ryan Howard out, and having Howard hit an opposite field single that would score John Mayberry. The run was charged to Izzy, but Byrdak’s inability to be lights-out against lefties is leaving room to believe if he falters against lefties, the Mets may call up a lefty to see if he can be effective. K-Rod came out after Byrdak gave up the hit and would finish the inning. He would then come out for the ninth, and gave up two singles and struck out one in his one and one third innings of work. Pedro Beato came out and gave THREE quality innings in a 1-1 game, giving up two hits and striking out two. Beato may not strike out the world, but the man does not like walking batters, having walked three in seventeen innings. Taylor Buchholz came out, and pitched two quality innings, getting the win while allowing no hits and striking out two. Buchholz has looked much better as of late, and may be the steal of the offseason. That last pitch he struck Mayberry out on was nasty.
The bats today were great at producing hits, but atrocious at scoring them. The Mets stranded 32, yes 32 baserunners. Outside of the Carlos Beltran double that scored David Wright from first, the Mets couldn’t get runners across if their lives depended on it. This cannot occur if the Mets hope to win any games, and at any time the Mets could’ve had this game won in the early innings.
Ronny Paulino – 5 for 7 with an RBI in his first Mets start. Welcome to the team, Ronny.
David Wright – 3 for 6 with a walk, both Mets runs, a steal and a strikeout. Good outing for David, but its against a lefty so its expected.
Jose Reyes – 2 for 6 with a walk and two steals. Thats eight walks against 11 strikeouts and ten stolen bases. Lets go Jose.
Hu & Harris – strikeouts in pinch hitting appearances, both with runners on second. Sigh. Oh productive bench, where are you?
Ike Davis – 0 for 6 with a walk and two strikeouts, both looking. Major flyball that advanced David Wright in the 14th inning though.
The Mets drew seven walks and stole four bases. Only good things to come from that combination
Turning Point
The Mets 14th inning, getting hits off an obviously fatigued Kyle Kendrick.
Game Ball
Ronny Paulino/The bullpen. Paulino was on the entire game, and minus the Izzy/Byrdak eighth, the pen was stellar.
On Deck
The Mets will get a well deserved day off, and then travel back to Citi Field to open a series against the Giants on Tuesday. The Giants, as Yahoo is showing will be sending out Ryan Vogelsong and he will be going up against Mets legend/Internet Meme king R.A. Dickey. Game time is 7:10 P.M.
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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Wright was 3 for 6 BUT whan he had chances to drive in runs he did not. This is a BIG problem. The Mets cannot BUY a hit when runners are in scoring postion. Glad they won, they needed that game but WHY are they so tight when runners are in scoring postion. It continues to be amazing and not in a good way.
Pressure. Guys who aren’t power hitters swing for the fences, too selective with pitches, Wright shortens up in some cases and in others sticks with the 400+ foot swing.
I’m not sure it’s pressure. To me, that’s a keyboard concept. What I’d like to see him do is swing with an understanding of just what needs to be done for a particular AB. I’ve been pleasantly surprised how Ike has adjusted — hands start out lower, feet further apart. It’s worked for Ike and nobody has accused David of being a knucklehead. It would work for David.
Let’s remember though, that the season is long and we’re just out of April.
No,
It’s pressure. Believe me, it is. It’s not a “keyboard concept”. It’s REAL Pressure, real life situations. Some people get nervous and think too much when the focus is on them and they can’t let their natural ability take over – they tense up and choke under pressure.
With Wright, he’s folding under pressure and has trouble in big spots. That is EXACTLY the problem. Take if it from me.
Not a stupid saying such as “keyboard concept” It’s real competition. Wright is an outstanding athlete but a terrible competitor.
Believe you? You’re wrong on almost everything you say! And the next stupid remark will undoubedly come from your keyboard. Nothing ever changes.
Oh really? I’m wrong on everything I say?
This coming from a guy that copies and pastes his own quotes from other blog posts and tries to pass them off as official quotes
..among other incidents of “original reporting”
Not only are you frequently wrong, but when I or others explain something to you, your real or feigned outrage surfaces. Oh, you’re so easy to set off, something I seldom do because the key to productive posting is accepting a variety of points of view. Go ahead and continue to lead with your chin and set yourself up for a retort we know you can’t handle. You have nothing more than a point of view, but you seem to confuse your opinion with facts.
Line up the shopping carts on Kennedy Blvd. for Bayonne.
P.S.: I wrote a very lengthy analysis of cross-posting vs. quoting. It apparently went over your head. I tried, you failed.
It’s nice to read how well Daniel Murphy is doing.
Regarding his great play on Saturday, Reyes said:
“Unbelievable, there’s not too many second basemen who can make that play. I think he’s been much better than anybody expected. I’m surprised how comfortable he’s looked over there in his first year at that position.” Reyes went on: “That’s a hard position — I know from experience ….It’s not easy. The good thing about him is that he works hard. That’s important. He’s always out there during batting practice taking ground balls and working on double plays. A lot of guys wouldn’t do that.”
Terry Collins added: “He’s getting more comfortable with positioning. He’s getting more comfortable with where he needs to be on things. I think the ground balls are never a factor because he was a good first baseman. I think his mechanics fielding are good. The part that I think he’s been getting better and better at is around the bag. The tags, the double plays, and the more he plays, the more comfortable he’s going to be.”
Murphy is going to make a fielding mistake every now and then but he is making the routine and even some beyond routine plays and as he gets more experience he is probably going to be fine.
it is still early. It will be interesting to see how he does in August when the Legs are starting to slow down. I think he is going to be OK though.
even with the occasional adventure, he is already beyond what castillo could do. And that is without even factoring in his bat.
That was a great point by Reyes I almost forgot about. Remember when Reyes was moved to 2B to make room for Kaz Matsui? Remember how well Reyes did there, as great of an athlete as he is? He was terrible. Murphy has been beyond what anyone could have hoped for and has earned everybody’s accolades.
Paulino really did have a great game! Lets hope he continues!
It should also be pointed out he hit against the righty as well.
Ike did not move David over in 14th, he was on 2b when Paulino had his hit.
Watching the game was nerve racking cause when there were runners on base, David did nothing, when no one on he gets a hit, maybe he should bat 2nd or leadoff.
Turner botched an at bat when he could of moved Jose over, bunt maybe but he stuck out, what happened to fundamentals to win games Terry?
Mets had runners on every inning and I don’t remember any of the little things, hit to opposite side, bunt, fly ball, to move runners over so they could score w/o hit.
I am still worried about Izzy as 8th inning set up guy cause he likes to live on the edge and sooner or later it catches up to you.
This was a good win cause to lose in Philly after two straight games with good pitching would have been hard.
Hey Mets are 7-3 in last 10 games, .500 road trip, maybe the road woes from last year are gone?
Wright is not gonna be 2nd and he’s not gonna lead off.
Now back from fantasy island.
He should be batting 6th. It’s a less pressure spot and I think he could perform better there. He ABSOLUTELY must be removed from the 3 hole and let Beltran/Davis/Bay take over the 3/4/5 spots.
The higher up in the order the more chances to bat in a game. Right now Wright has to have less chances batting, not more. Replace his At Bats with either Beltrans or Davis. Those guys can handle pressure hitting.
He is not going to be batting leadoff or 2nd anytime soon. Batting 2nd requires a completely different type of approach as a hitter.
I actually felt that Wright was a good option to be a dominant 2 hole hitter. Plenty of gap power, high OBP, good speed (and can steal). Plus he usually takes pitches, and in the past, was a good 2 strike hitter. basically all attributes that you want out of a #2 guy. Same thing about Beltran back when he still had legs.
now of course that is a lot different than saying the team ever would put DW there!
If the other players are there, I got no problem with moving him back down to 5th (he hits more like a guy from down there at this point anyway). But one thing that scares me is having DW and Bay back to back. Too similar, and too many Ks when they bring in a tough RH pitcher.
I just don’t see anyone else right now that should be hitting 3rd. Beltran maybe? Ike I like for clean up.
most likely a moot point, since it is unlikely they move DW out of the 3 hole.
He simply strikes out too much for the #2 spot.
This is why Murphy has been good there because he is a contact hitter who is better at working a count and protecting the plate.
The OLD David Wright would have been a good #2 but he is too busy worrying about fence dimensions now.
I wonder when we will hear that they should move the fences in at National Parks where has has yet to hit a single HR!
I guess it was not clear, but I was really referring to the “old” DW.
Though I am curious to know if he could get back more to that in a different role (since I do think his decline stems largely from trying to be a big HR type of carry the middle of the order hitter).
so who knows. Maybe moving up to the 2 hole would get him thinking about driving the ball up the gaps, and protecting with 2 strikes again!
David singled, Beltran popped out, Bay singled Wright to second, Ike’s fly moved David to third. Paulino scored David with the single, advancing Bay to third. Buchholz grounded out to pitcher.
i think the PED issue keeps paulino out of the hall of fame.
it won’t be long before ike and wright flip lineup spots to match up lefty / righty
i’d like to see them go wright ike beltran bay against righties an wright beltran bay ike aganst lefties
Actually it would be better to flip Murphy into the #3 slot when Pagan gets back than it would to flip Ike in there.
Not that Ike couldn’t be a good #3 hitter but his power makes for much better protection for Beltran. I would flip Ike with Bay if Bay continues on his mini slump.
I agree about flipping Ike and Bay now. maybe base it on LH or RH SP.
Well I’ll tell you why L/R doesn’t matter…
Beltran switch hits and Beltran has more power from the RH side…
So they will never want to turn him to that side with a lefty.
If a lefty is in there they will be forced to face beltran on the power side and if they throw a righty at him they then have to burn another pitcher (lefty) to face Ike and then face the righty Bay.
It basically takes the advantage away from throwing a lefty in there against Ike because Bay is a decent hitter and can protect Ike.
Now maybe the emergence of Paulino helps that out and if it does then what you say makes sense provided Paulino (who hits lefties good) is behind Ike.
But I still think Ike provides better protection for Beltran than Bay does.
As of right now Wright seems to be the weak link in the order, which is why I suggested maybe move Murphy to the #3 spot and put Pagan (speed) back into the #2 but that only works if Pagan starts hitting again which is anyone’s guess at this point.
was thinking of the 3 or so ABs against the SP, so you get 2 LH or RH batters in a row (with beltan swinging both ways)
though putting Murphy in the 3 hole would probably take some stones by Terry to try!
but what the heck, in 2009 he spent some time hitting clean up!
Yes I agree Any, and it begs the question of where do you bat Wright if you do it.
Maybe Wright moves after Beltran and Ike jumps ahead of Bay.
Too soon to say we really need to see if Bay hits well, he started off good but he has tailed off of late. Hence my suggestion to move Ike up.
Ike seems to hit better with runners on and less than 2 outs. We need to get him into more situations like that.
Only way to do that is to move him up which makes the #3 spot a decent suggestion. I just think he has too much power for that spot.
One thing I like about wright in the 3 hole (that Ike does not bring to the table) is his speed. Nice to have a guy that can motor in front of your big bats. Not that many (most?) 3 hole guys are speedsters, it is just a nice bonus.
there is also the issue of still not having the “real” team on the field. If Pagan comes back soon (and no one else gets hurt), where is he best utilized? If you put him in the 2 hole again, does murphy go to 7th? Or do you want a speedier guy like pagan down there?
Actually, pagan 7th with Thole/paulino behind him is a nice little 2nd top of the order!
too bad contract/status/etc. always come into play 9can’t insult the big guys, right?) or you could do something like:
reyes/murphy/beltran/davis/wright/pagan/bay/catcher. Assuming, of course, pagan ever remembers how to hit again!
Amazing victory last night, but soooo many missed opportunities and mistakes.
How many were LOB in scoring position? Staggering: I think 10 or 11.
Collins never should have pulled Izzy for Byrd-doo; I trusted Izzy there. Well, these mistakes are going to happen. Even the most astute BB minds show their mortality from time to time.
Just want to see way more of Murph than Turner, and I want way more of Pridie than Hairston or Harris. C’mon Terry!
Jason Bay does not look as if he’s swinging to get max power on the ball.
Was wind blowing in in Philly last night? Man, we couldn’t buy a HR!
Call me a damned fool, but I believe in our Mets. Last night was a special, special game. Beato was remarkably good. The pen is coming together.
This team has the capacity to go places. Let’s see what we can accomplish on next homestand. We are four games under .500. Not so bad when we consider how awful the season began.
LGM!