13
2012
Mad Men
An article by 
Jonathon Niese pitched six shutout innings. Kirk Nieuwenhuis started yet another rally. Mike Baxter got well-deserved respect as a premier pinch-hitter. Justin Turner won another battle against Heath Bell.
And the Mets still lost.
After Nieuwenhuis started a two-run inning for the Mets in the fourth inning with a single, Niese continued to pitch shutout ball before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh. Ramon Ramirez relieved Niese hoping to protect the lead.
Triple.
Home run.
Game tied at 2.
The Mets regrouped as they have been wont to do during the first month and a half of the season. Against Marlins’ closer Heath Bell in the ninth, the Mets got a one-out double from Daniel Murphy, Doubles Machine. Two walks later (including an intentional walk to Mike Baxter, who carried a .438 batting average as a pinch-hitter into the at-bat), Justin Turner whacked a double to right to score two runs. Then Frank Francisco came into the game to save it and give the Mets a series victory.
Triple.
Walk.
Single.
Hit the showers, Frank.
Stop sniffing yourself, Frank. We all know you stink.
That was all for Armando Benitez-lite. Frank Francisco was removed from the game by manager Terry Collins, but not before he stopped by home plate umpire Todd Tichenor to wish his mother a Happy Mother’s Day. (At least I thought I heard him say something about Tichenor’s mother.) Manny Acosta was summoned into the game to stop the bleeding but was “Acosta-ed” by the Marlins.
Sacrifice fly.
Tie game.
Pop out. (I guess you can’t put ‘em all on base.)
Walk.
Hit by pitch.
Giancarlo Stanton.
Say hello to my little friend.
The Mets will now retreat to Citi Field after a 4-2 road trip against the Phillies and Marlins. If you had asked me before the season started that the Mets would win four out of six against the two teams expected to compete for the NL East title, I would have been thrilled. But I’m not.
I’m mad.
Very mad.
Smoke coming out of my ears mad.
Paul LoDuca mad.
Paul LoDuca SMASH!!
Something has to be done about the bullpen situation. Sandy Alderson did not have much money to work with during the off-season. But what money he had, he used to upgrade the bullpen. That “upgrade” has now had a part in several late-inning meltdowns.
Both losses to the Marlins this weekend were charged to Frank Francisco. Prior to Friday night’s loss, the Mets’ last loss was a 5-4 setback to Arizona on May 4. That game was lost by Jon Rauch, who allowed three hits, two inherited base runners to score and a run of his own. What about Ramon Ramirez? He’s allowed 31 base runners (21 hits, 10 walks) in only 19⅓ innings.
Even a certain holdover, wearing Oliver Perez’s old No. 46, has pitched like dookie. (And I’m not talking about Orlando “The Dookie” Hernandez, although I think he’d have better success right now than the current members of the Gasoline Brigade.) Including Sunday’s series finale, Manny Acosta has faced 85 batters this year. Almost half of them (36) have reached base. Four of them reached base and then continued running around them. That includes Giancarlo Stanton, who touched Acosta for a game-ending grand slam.
The Mets have done quite well so far. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t play angry after games like this. There should be 25 mad men in the dugout on Monday against Milwaukee. They should let it be known to each other that losses like this will no longer be tolerated. The bullpen must improve. The team must improve. They’re better than that. And they should know it.
About the Author: Ed Leyro
Ed Leyro was hatched in the Bronx, but spent most of his youth in Queens at Shea Stadium. Apparently, all that time spent at Mets games paid off as Ed met his wife (The Coop) for the first time at Citi Field during its inaugural season. Guess the 2009 season was good for something after all. In addition to his work at Mets Merized Online, Ed also owns, operates and is head janitor at Studious Metsimus, where he shares blogging duties with Joey Beartran. For those not in the know, Joey is a teddy bear dressed in a Mets hoodie. Clearly, Studious Metsimus is not your typical Mets blog.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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Nice recap.
So when Acosta is sent down, who takes his place?
They have a few options. I hope not but it could be Mejia.
way too soon.
Hampson? Egbert? Cabrera? Take your pick.
Jersey, that would be a wonderful post for Petey or one of the other MiL specialists. there are a few guys down there having very good years.
so IMO immediately lose Acosta, demote Franky to Acosta’s role, and call up a replacement. then find out if rauch and Parnell are up to the task. But anyone besides fat franky.
I like that Terry is letting things rest tonight. Change is going to happen. Lets post.
However let’s not insult ABenz. He had great regular seasons.
You know I started all this Francisco is Benitez but I’m starting to think that was REALLY REALLY UNFAIR!
To BENITEZ!
As bad as Acosta has been Francisco has been worse. So if we are sending someone down from those two you know who my choice is.
well, no chance this early that FFF is going down. But acosta, he can go. 3-F is just going to get demoted in the pecking order.
and you are right about benitez. I looked up his stats not long ago, and was amazed to see how dominant he was while a met (and a few other years too). Regular season of course.
If they could get him replicated it would be wonderful.
Stick I’m sure both are not really able to be sent down or they might have done so already.
Acosta has to go passed waivers if I’m not mistaken before he goes down and I’m not sure Francisco can be sent down at all.
RE: Benitez I used to cringe when he got into a game but I also said at the time he did get treated rather unfairly by the fans as he was never quite as bad as they made him out to be.
He blew saves but never two in a row that I can remember and most of his issues were walking batters not giving up the big hit!
He might allow a walk or two then a single before striking out the side but rarely if ever gave up a 3 run inning.
What bothers me the most is THIS is the guy they thought was good enough to sign for the most money since they got here and for two years!
SO if we can’t find some way of sending him down we are stuck with him!
The question remains who was cheaper and more of a certainty? At least at that price if he tanks you are not completely stuck like the Marlins or Phills. I still thinl they always intended on trading one or both.
Why does it have to be someone cheaper?
Why isn’t about getting someone GOOD?
If this guy was worth 6 Mil per to Sandy then obviously someone worth 13 Mil might be WORTH signing considering how that signing may affect our playoff chances this year no?
You guys got to get off your CHEAP kick!
Hasn’t worked for the Pirates or Oakland now has it?
“What bothers me the most is THIS is the guy they thought was good enough to sign for the most money ”
Because you can’t spend what you don’t have for one thing but lets play along. Who would you have signed that was more consistent and healthy regardless of price?
A Catcher or a STARTER who would remove the need to have to go to the pen in the 5th every 5th day and then use the guys we are going to use NOW to relieve!
Wasted money is wasted money no matter how little you think you spent!
Maybe if they didn’t spend on CRAP they would have money to spend!
You forget there were a few guys who were cheaper that are doing much better than these guys!
Look at anyone’s bullpen I bet you see plenty of guys who could do a better job!
If there was no one better than THESE guys available then there was NO ONE AVAILABLE PERIOD!
Put the money in the bank!
Or spend on what WAS available!
Right now FFF is the money wasted. That’s 5.5M. Rauch has pitched well enough and while Ramirez has not pitched well that money was a wash factoring in Pagan.
Still doesn’t matter. Lets assume that the 8M that was spent on Rauch and FFF were available for a starter who would you have signed? Who is this mystery list of relievers that were more shoe ins than the guys we brought in? Are there some that signed cheaper that have pitched better? Sure. Does that mean we should have expected them to pitch better and our signings to stink? You know better than that. That would be like saying Sandy knew how great of a pinch hitter Mike Baxter would be so that’s why he signed him.
Tell me something TRS….Why did we need a Closer at all?
What happened to the one we had again?
Oh, for sure fat franky (3-F) can’t be sent down. By demoted, I meant in the BP pecking order.
And I doubt acosta has any option left, so I meant to waive him. if he clears great. if someone claims him or he refuses the assignment, greater. so most likely they lose acosta, but I can live with that.
It’s really not even close though. Abenz would get 36 million on the current market. That is why FFF got 2/12. He didnt get that low amount because he was great. Benz was a great closer who choked. Is Fff choking or just being himself? I am not sure yet. I am sure his numbers will get better but he may have to lose his job for that to happen.
If they paid him a dollar it was to much oif you ask me!
Make Parnell the closer, Rauch the Setup man, Promote Hefner and don’t let Ramirez or Francisco get near the mound unless we are 5 runs down and they simply can’t hurt us!
Between Ramirez and Francisco alone, if not for them we could have a 5 game lead in the division already!
How many games have the Mets lost after leading in the 8th or 9th? Every game counts but I don’t think it’s as many as it feels like.
I still think Ramirez will be fine but FFF? Who knows?
Well consdier this….
Our Starters only have 8 Losses to their credit (includes Schwinden and Bautista).
Starters have 10 Wins . 15 no Decisions Meaning left tied or the Pen blew their lead!
So in 33 Games, Nearly half have been decided by the pen or the offense!
Pen has 7 Losses (including today) which means they gave up the tie or lead.
They have 8 Wins which in a few cases were blown leads or ties the Late rally offense saved.
So lets see what happened there…
Ramirez got the win Opening day – Game was tied Wright singles in Torres – Francisco gets save (+)
Rauch Wins after coming in tied – Murphy hits walkoff single (+)
Rauch Wins – Francisco comes in 9th up 4-1, Gives up 3 Runs. Rauch Gets us out of the inning tied – Kirk hits into FC Error Run scores! (-)
Rauch Wins – Tied Game – Duda GWH in 8th – Francisco gets save (+)
Ramirez Win – Down 2-1 – Gets win after tie and walkoff single by Kirk (+)
Francisco Win – Rauch comes in up 4-1 in 8th, S,BB,GO,BB Brydack in HR Game Tied. Kirk double regains lead in 10th , Francisco gives up lead on HR – Ike Davis gets lead back bottom half – Ramirez gets Save(-)
Byrdak WIn – Pitched to one batter when tied Valdespin hits 3run HR – Francisco Save (+)
Acosta Win – Comes in down 4-1 Mets score 4 in bottom half (+)
So there are two Blown leads to add to the 7 losses in those wins that can be attributed to the Pen failing but the Offense making up for it with a win.
So maybe we wouldn’t be 5 games up in the division…Just 4.5!
IF the BP just did it’s job!
That’s not what I ask. I ask how many games had they lost after leading in the 8th or 9th inning?
Obviously today’s sticks out as does Friday night. As of May 10th though NJ produced this from BBR.com
http://realdirtymets.com/2012/05/10/a-look-at-the-nl-east-record-at-the-start-of-the-8th-9th-innings/
They were 14-1 when leading going into the 8th inning and 14-0 when leading in the 9th inning.
Yet the starters only have 10 wins…What does that tell you?
the 7th inning is where a lot of games are being decided!
And it’s usually the pen that is deciding it!
And How many starters have gone past the 7th?
I know of two games off hand where we had a starter go to the 8th!
Still wasn’t what I asked you. Oh well. Yeah, I agree with Bay (shocking) starters don’t go deep enough and all over baseball you are plagued with middle relievers pitching in way too many situations that matter.
Well do some reasearch there dude!
Point is the starters only have credit for half the games they are pitched in.
Some are ties and I showed you two eventual Wins that should have been credited to the starters but the relievers blew it and got them instead
6 Wins of the pen were when tied and 6 losses (you can look) means either tied or blew a lead!
I don’t see what relevance the 8th and 9th have since the Pen has blown games in just about every inning!
And they usually come in from the 6th inning on!
The relevance? When does FFF and Rauch usually pitch? Rauch has pitched one game this year not in the 8-9 inning and obv. FFF is all 8+.
metsie, there have also been games where the starter left on the loosing end, and the mets rallied to tie it up to get the SP off the hook for the loss.
And when does Ramirez come in? the 8th or the 9th?
You guys keep shying away from him for some reason and keep inserting rayches name only because he has 3 of the 8 Wins the pen has!
Yes Stick those were noted in the list of Wins. The Losses I didn’t break down because it is quite obvious no matter what situation the Pen came in they failed to KEEP whatever the Offense got them!
“Between Ramirez and Francisco alone, if not for them we could have a 5 game lead in the division already!”
Ramirez may have been up and down, but how can you leave out Acosta? He’s been way more of a problem than Ramirez has.
agreed. and at least ramirez has a better track record. he was a great set up man for the last few years. Acosta just kinda sucks.
Kinda is just being kind. He always was hittable and walked too many. You can see why Atlanta put him on waivers.
Acosta only has 2 losses and when he gave up runs it was in games they were already losing or tied not when they were winning!
You guys are focused on Acosta but I notice your all giving a pass to the guy who blew a pretty good game by allowing them to tie!
If not for Ramirez and Francisco giving up the game Acosta never gets in there!
So what you’re saying is that Acosta just made things worse for the Mets when they were behind or tied up. You seem to forget the Mets came back in the 9th after Ramirez tied the game. I’m not really giving Ramirez a pass, but I trust him a lot more than Acosta. Even so, Parnell wasn’t available after Francisco flopped?
What I’m saying is if Francisco and Ramirez did their job there would be no need for Parnell or Acosta at all!
He reminds me more of Braden Looper. Break out the Tums every 9th.
its gonna be a loooooooong season with this pen. its been a great start otherwise especially considering Ike’s absent bat and the ever-present injuries. maybe the best thing to happen this year has been the injuries to torres and bay. i like what i see so far in torres but if he didnt get injured captain kirk wouldnt have gotten a chance and if bay didnt get hurt then kirk wouldnt be playing so much and so well. unfortunately the pen is killin us. its a shame when so many stories are so bright that the pen has to drag us down. goodbye .500 folks
They say it’s only a game but after today, why does it hurt so bad? Help me here fellow Met fans-Pleeeeeeez!
Must be that it is Mother’s Day. Way too many raw emotions. LOL
“That was all for Armando Benitez-lite.”
People who make judgements like this really need a refresher course in history.
During a three year period -(2000 – 2002) Benitex led all major leaguers in saves and successful save opportunities. He had more saves then Mariano (108 – 117). He had more saves and less blown saves then anyone. Look it up.
In 2002 he had 33 saves out of 35 save opportunities. A .227 era. A 1.054 WHIP. And yet he was the only Met player booed on opening day 2003!
He was run out of town on a rail. You try doing your work when you have 40,000 people booing you. Yet, when he was traded in late june, he had 21 saves already.
The next year he went to the Marlins. Successfully saved 11 games against the Mets without blowing any. Led baseball with 47 saves that year.
His post season numbers were pretty good too. He had a 0.93 ERA in two NLCS. He gave up one run in the World Series – the famous blown save that no one will forgive him for. He didn’t lose that game by the way. Turk did in later innings.
I remember thinking that the Mets fans treatment of Benitez was not their best moment. But to try to make his apparent failures an historical fact is just really sloppy.
I think it was after Benitez’ first season that he started to blow saves in big moments for the Mets because his first year here he was lights out and as dominating a reliever the Mets ever had.
Actually – re-read the previous post. Having the most saves and the best saves per centage means that he was pretty damn good for the first three years when he took over from Franco.
I think the problem was when he blew the saves and who they were to. I think that most of us wouldn’t be as pissed with FFF if he had blown the save to the Rockies instead of the Marlins after already blowing one the other night to the Marlins…. LOL.
Yeah, but didn’t he blow game one of the World Series and blow several critical games during the pennant stretch the following year?
What’ the point of being dominant if you can’t perform when it matters most?
Sounds like fools gold to me.
Aaaaaand, while we’re on the topic of season’s records, didn’t Benitez lead the league in first batter homers with seven (7)? I think that’s a ML record that still stands today!!!
But. to compare him to Francisco is unfair – Benitez obviously was much more talented and effective. He just became an elephant in a room full of mice when it came to important situations.
Terrible loss once again by SA built BP.
When he doesn’t pitch well in a non-save situation then the adrenaline is lacking so what was lacking today for FF?
He should of not walked Buck but Ramirez blowing the lead for Niese was just as bad, TC needs to let starters, especially Niese, Gee, R.A., go an extra inning cause this BP has few middle relievers that can be counted on and the closer is trash so something has to change and I hope TC does change BP order for Monday game against the sweaky clean Braun led Brew Crew.