"I can feel the walls closing in..."

New York Mets - August 10-17

Monday August 10 - The Mets and RHP Mike Pelfrey were defeated 7-4 by the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1 of a 3-game series in a very poor played game from a defensive standpoint. As a result, the Mets OF Angel Pagan was benched 2 games for his poor play in the field.

Tuesday August 11 - The Mets and RHP Livan Hernandez suffered another series loss by losing by a score of 6-2 to the Diamondbacks. Hernandez was miserable yet again as he allowed 5 earned runs on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 5 in just 4 innings of work.

Wednesday August 12 - The Mets and LHP Oliver Perez got back in the win column as they defeated and salvaged the last game of the series against the Diamondbacks, 6-4. The Mets' Perez walked the tightrope as usual as he allowed 6 hits and walked 6 batters through 5.1 innings pitched but somehow only allowed 1 earned run.

• The 1 Constant Player of the Game - Cory Sullivan

Thursday August 13 - Scheduled off-day. The Mets former closer Billy Wagner is said to be set to return on Sunday August 16 or shortly there after.

Friday August 14 - Back home at Citi Field, opening an 11-game home stand, and wearing throwback uniforms circa the early 1900s, the Mets and RHP Bobby Parnell shutout the San Francisco Giants by a score of 3-0. Parnell was fantastic in only his 2nd big league start in blanking the Giants over 6 innings of work. He allowed only 3 hits while walking none and striking out 7 in picking up his first big league win as a starter. OF Angel Pagan led-off the game with a homer to deep leftfield.

• The 1 Constant Player of the Game - Bobby Parnell

Saturday August 15 - The Mets and LHP Johan Santana were defeated in extra-innings 5-4 by the Giants. The Mets 3B David Wright was hit in the head by RHP Matt Cain. Wright suffered a concussion. Santana retaliated by throwing behind 3B "Kung fu Panda" and then hitting C Bengie Molina. Molina hit a game-winning home run to leftfield off of Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez in the 10th inning.

Sunday August 16 - The Mets and RHP Mike Pelfrey defeated the Giants 3-2. Pelfrey rebounded from his last outing with a solid effort and 1B Daniel Murphy drove in RF Jeff Francoeur with the game-winner in the bottom of the 9th inning. After the game, it was announced that 3B David Wright will be placed on the 15-day disabled list and could be lost for the season. He now joins Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Jose Reyes on the disabled list forming a powerful team.

• The 1 Constant Player of the Game - Mike Pelfrey

In the On Deck Circle - August 17-24

Monday August 17 - The Mets and RHP Livan Hernandez(7-7) finish up their 4-game series with the Giants and RHP Joe Martinez(2-1) at Citi Field in Flushing, NY. First pitch is at 7:10 EDT.

The Mets continue their home stand with 3 games against the Atlanta Braves from August 18-20 and then a 4-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies from August 21-24.

Odds and Ends

The Mets GM Omar Minaya answered questions about a possible Bobby Valentine return to Queens in this article. The question remains, will Minaya be in a position to make those decisions after the current season?

The Mets and their top pick, LHP Steven Matz, in this year's draft have yet to come to terms on a deal. The deadline for all draftees to sign is Monday night at midnight. 

Due to some unforeseen circumstances pertaining to everyday life outside the baseball world I will not be posting anything new for the next few weeks. Sometime towards the end of August or the beginning of September I will ramp it back up with Mets coverage and historical articles as we edge closer to the postseason and the offseason.

For what it is worth, I will still update the "Summary - Box Scores & Recaps" under the "2009 New York Mets" link heading and also the "2009 Player of the Game Tally" on a regular basis and as seen fit.

Thanks,

-Amazin86er

"Mets season in a nutshell."

Today's Baseball Thought

"The media often asked me about my players(teammates)...I refused to be the media's mouthpiece. I came to Boston to play professional baseball, and that's what I did. And I did it well." - Jim Rice

Today In Baseball History

On August 7, 1956 outfielder Ted Williams was fined $5,000 by the Boston Red Sox for spitting at the Fenway Park crowd. The incident came after fans booed him for dropping a fly ball in the 11th inning against the New York Yankees. The Red Sox won when "The Splendid Splinter" walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Today's Baseball Trivia

 Who did "The Splendid Splinter" give his 1946 World Series earnings check to?

The answer to Monday's August 3, 2009 trivia question "Who holds the record for most stolen bases in a season without being caught the entire season?" was Kevin McReynolds in 1988 with 21 total stolen bases. Reader Mr. Met of Shea to Citi...and Beyond was the first to answer it correctly and has been awarded a single point.

***Trivia questions will be posted on Mondays and Fridays unless noted otherwise.*** 

*****The first to answer the trivia question correctly will have his/her screen name and/or MLBlog or other URL posted under the "1 Constant - Trivia Tally" on the right side of this page. The winner of each trivia question will be awarded a single point, unless noted otherwise, and at the end of the calendar year the top 2 point leaders will do battle in a best of 7 trivia questions to determine who will be crowned "The 1 Constant Baseball Trivia Guru" of 2009, receive a hand-crafted unique trophy, and rewarded with a small baseball related gift/prize of my choosing from the MLB.com shop.***** 

August 6, 2009: The San Diego Padres(45-65) Defeat the New York Mets(51-57) at Petco Park in San Diego, CA

Thursday August 6, Padres 8 Mets 3

Starting Pitching Fails Mets Yet Again

Game #108(51-57) Recap...

As the old baseball adage goes "You can never have too much starting pitching," well, the Mets barely have any starting pitching hence a big reason why they are going to be playing meaningless baseball over the last 1/3 of the 2009 Major League Baseall season. You have heard it all before but just to recap it "It all starts with and ends with the starting pitching" and "Contending teams and playoff teams have good pitching while the rest have poor pitching."

It has not just been the injuries that has plagued the Mets, the season was basically over early on because of the lack of starting pitching and/or underachieving of said starting pitching and Livan Hernandez kept that theme in place on Thursday night as he put his team in an early 6-0 hole and would eventually fall to the Padres by a score of 8-3.

The Padres would get 2 runs on the board in the 1st inning on an RBI sacrifice fly to centerfield from Adrian Gonzalez and an RBI single to leftfield from Kevin Kouzmanoff. They would push 4 more runs across in the 3rd inning on a 2-run homer to centerfield off the bat of Gonzalez, a run scored on a fielding error by Mets SS Alex Cora, and an RBI liner to leftfield by the Padres starting pitcher, Clayton Richard. They would tack on a single run in the 5th inning on an RBI double to centerfield from Henry Blanco and a single run in the 7th inning on a bases loaded walk to Tony Gwynn.

The Mets could only muster 3 runs on the night and they all came in the 6th inning against the Padres young southpaw, Richard. In the 6th inning, Jeff Francoeur lined an RBI single to centerfield which was followed by an RBI single up the middle through the infield off the bat of Fernando Tatis and then Daniel Murphy would ground into a 4-6-3 double play plating the Mets' 3rd and final run of the night.

All told for the Mets' Hernandez, he was punished for 7 earned runs on 8 hits while walking 4 and stiking out 2 in suffering the loss while the Padres' Richard allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits while walking 4 and striking out 5 in picking up the win. The Padres bullpen pitched 3.1 scoreless innings to stymie the Mets the rest of the way.

• W: Richard(5-3)
• L: Hernandez(7-6)
• HR: Gonzalez(29)

For the Mets.com Post-Game Recap and Official Box Score click here.

In Other News

After the game, the Mets SS Angel Berroa was designated for assignment to make room for the recently re-acquired middle infielder Anderson Hernandez.

In the On Deck Circle

On Friday August 7 the Mets and LHP Oliver Perez(2-3) look to even the series against the Padres and RHP Kevin Correia(7-9) at Petco Park in San Diego, CA. First pitch is at 10:05 EDT. 

August 6 - August 9 at Petco Park in San Diego, CA

The New York Mets(51-56) are heading to the west coast for a 7 game road trip and their first stop will be southern California to take on the San Diego Padres(44-65) in a 4 game series over the weekend. When the Mets open play on Thursday night they will find themselves 5 games under .500, 10 games behind, 11 games back in the loss column, and in 4th place in the National League(NL) East compared to the Padres who are 21 games under .500, 22.5 games behind, 23 games back in the loss column, and firmly settled in last place in the NL West.

The Mets recently concluded a brief 2-game series split with the St. Louis Cardinals while the Padres just suffered a series loss to the Atlanta Braves in which they lost 2 out of the 3 games played. The Mets have a 9-11 record in their last 20 games played compared to the Padres mark of 8-12 over their last 20 games.

The Mets continue to push forward through the 2009 Major League Baseball(MLB) season, which has seen a freakish rash of injuries decimate the Mets roster, with one eye on the 2010 season and one eye on hoping a miracle occurs and/or other teams fall flat during the stretch run for a playoff birth. Concerning the injury bug, the Mets continue to drop like flies as in their previous series with the Cardinals they saw three more players go down, which one player was definitely lost for the season, and I am sure most of the uninjured players that are left are walking on eggshells and wondering who will be next.

The Mets have an extreme outside shot at the NL Wildcard as they are 8.5 games back with 8 teams currently ahead of them in the Wildcard standings. For the Mets to make the playoffs many teams would have to stumble significantly and it would be a miracle of proportions maybe larger than the "Miracle Mets" of 1969 or even the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets of 1973.

The Padres, who in recent years have been in the playoff hunt for the most part, find themselves as cellar dwellers as they are in a mode of transition from one ownership to another and are basically in a complete rebuilding and evaluating of talent process. They also recently traded their ace of the staff, RHP Jake Peavy, to the Chicago White Sox for a package of four young promising pitching prospects.

The Mets and Padres have played one other series this season. The Padres were the Mets opponent in the first official MLB game played at Citi Field in Flushing, NY on April 13. The Padres would win the series by taking 2 out of the 3 games played. This current 4-game set will be the last meetings during the 2009 campaign.

History

The Amazins' have an all-time record of 210-216 against the Friars from San Diego. The Mets were 92-102 at Jack Murphy Stadium and the renamed Qualcomm Stadium while they are currently 5-12 at the newly constructed Petco Park in San Diego, CA.

On April 22, 1970 the Mets and Hall of Fame starting pitcher Tom Seaver defeated the Padres 2-1 at Shea Stadium. In Seaver's complete game effort he would allow only 2 hits while striking out a then record of 19 batters including the the last 10 Padres' hitters consecutively. The 10 consecutive strikeouts in 1 game was a MLB record then and it still stands today.

On December 11, 1986 the Mets traded OF Shawn Abner, RHP Kevin Armstrong, RHP Kevin Brown,  OF Stan Jefferson, and INF/OF Kevin Mitchell to the Padres for INF Adam Ging,  OF Kevin McReynolds, and LHP Gene Walter in what eventually would be a blockbuster type deal when looking back on it.

Notables from the deal include Brown, who would go onto have a fine career as he played for 19 seasons and racked up 211 wins while finishing in the top 6 in the Cy Young Award voting 5 times and made 6 all-star teams, ...

...McReynolds, who would play mostly LF for the Mets and would hit 22+ HR with 82+ RBI in his first 4 seasons with the club and would finish 3rd in the NL MVP Award voting in 1988, ...

...and Mitchell, who would win the 1989 NL MVP Award by hitting 47 HR with 125 RBI, all told, he would hit 234 career HR and make 2 all-star teams.

The Mets and Padres played a series at Monterrey Stadium in Monterrey, Mexico in August of 1996 due to a scheduling conflict with the Republican National Convention which was scheduled at the same time in San Diego in which the series was supposed to take place. This series signified the first time a regular season MLB game was to be held outside of the United Sates or Canada.  

The Mets and Padres are two of the four teams in MLB currently that have never thrown a no-hitter throughout their histories. The Mets are the longest running franchise in MLB to not do so.

Pitching Matchups

• Thurs. Aug. 6, RHP Livan Hernandez(7-5) vs LHP Clayton Richard(4-3) 10:05 EDT
• Fri. Aug. 7, LHP Oliver Perez(2-3) vs RHP Kevin Correia(7-9) 10:05 EDT
• Sat. Aug. 8, TBD vs RHP Mat Latos(3-1) 10:05 EDT
• Sun. Aug. 9, LHP Johan Santana(12-8) vs RHP Tim Stauffer(1-3) 4:05 EDT

Odds and Ends

• The Mets rank #2 in AVG in the NL while the Padres rank last.
• The Mets and Padres rank #3 and #14 in OBP respectively in the NL.
• The Mets rank #11 in runs scored in the NL while the Padres rank last.
• The Padres rank #10 in HR in the NL compared to the Mets who are last in all of MLB.
• The Padres and Mets rank #13 and #14 in XBH respectively in the NL.
• The Mets lead the NL in AVG with RISP while the Padres are last.
• The Mets lead the NL in SB compared to the Padres #11 ranking.
• The Mets and Padres rank #9 and #14 respectively in overall team pitching in the NL.
• The Mets pitching staff has walked more opposing hitters than any other team in MLB.
• The Padres and Mets rank #8 and #10 in overall team defense respectively in the NL.
• The Padres rank #12 in Ultimate Zone Ratings(UZR) in the NL while the Mets rank last.
• In head-to-head meetings the Mets are hitting .242 AVG with 17 runs scored and a 4.33 ERA in 3 games.
• In head-to-head meetings the Padres are hitting .235 AVG with 14 runs scored and a 5.19 ERA in 3 games.
• The Mets will be facing the young LHP Richard, who was part of the Peavy deal, in the first game of the series.
• The Mets are 21-31 in road games while the Padres are 27-29 in games played at home in Petco Park.
• The Mets young southpaw Jon Niese tore a hamstring on Thursday afternoon in a start against the Cardinals and will require season ending surgery. Niese is expected to make a full recovery and be ready to go at the start of Spring Training in 2010.
• The Mets SS Jose Reyes is still feeling discomfort behind his right knee and an MRI revealed scar tissue and inflammation in connection with a hamstring tendon injury. As usual there is no timetable for his return and he most likely will miss the remainder of the season.
• In lieu of the Luis Castillo injury and an overall need for middle infielders the Mets made a small trade with the Washington Nationals for a former Met as they re-acquired Anderson Hernandez for Minor League 2B Greg Veloz.
• UPDATE: The Mets have announced that RHP Bobby Parnell, who had been pitching out of the bullpen, will make his first big league start in the 3rd game of the series. Parnell will be starting in place of Mike Pelfrey who will not be with the team due to his wife giving birth to their first child. Also, Parnell will remain in the rotation the remainder of the season.  

Post-Game Recaps and Official Box Scores of the Season Series

• April 13, Padres 6 Mets 5
• April 15, Mets 7 Padres 2
• April 16, Padres 6 Mets 5

August 5, 2009: The New York Mets(51-56) Defeat the St. Louis Cardinals(59-51) to Earn a Series Split at Citi Field in Flushing, NY

Wednesday August 5, Mets 9 Cardinals 0

Figgy Gives Mets Much Needed Relief

Game #107(51-56) Recap...

You have all heard that the Mets have been decimated by injuries during the 2009 Major League Baseball season but the bad luck and amount of injuries is just getting ridiculous. Tuesday night it was 2B Luis Castillo. This afternoon it was LHP Jon Niese and OF Gary Sheffield. Whoever has the "Mets Voodoo Doll" and thinks it is funny needs to just give us Orange & Blue folk a break. Please? As for the game results, the Mets shutout the Cardinals 9-0 to earn a series split in the brief 2-game set.  

It took Niese all of 1.2 innings before he had a pin stuck into him as he tried to cover 1B and seemed to have tweaked something in his leg. When he tried to get back on the mound and test it out he collapsed on the first warmup pitch and had to be helped off the field. Later on, it would be determined that it was a strained hamstring, however, it is feared that the young southpaw has a significant tear to the hamstring and could miss the remainder of the season. Sheffield would also tweak a hamstring later in the game and had to be replaced in the lineup. 

The Mets had to call on Nelson Figueroa, who was torched for 6 runs on 10 hits in just 1.2 innings on August 3, to give them innings considering the injury to Niese and he did just that and more in picking up the win. All told for Figueroa, he would toss 4.1 shutout innings allowing 4 hits while walking none and striking out 5. Figueroa also helped himself with a 2 RBI triple at the dish. Mets reliever Bobby Parnell relieved Figueroa and pitched 3 shutout innings as well, allowing only 1 hit while walking none and striking out 3 in picking up his 1st save of the season.

The Mets jumped on the Cardinals and starter Kyle Lohse for 5 runs through the first 2 frames. In the 1st inning, the Mets put 2 runs on the board on a David Wright 2-run homer to right-centerfield. In the 2nd inning, the Mets increased their lead to 5-0 when Jeff Francoeur lined a single to centerfield, Brian Schneider hit a ground-rule double to rightfield, Angel Berroa hit into a fielder's choice in which Francoeur was caught in a rundown between 3B and home and eventually was tagged out but he did stay in the pickle long enough to allow Schneider to advance to 3B and Berroa to 2B, Figueroa then tripled to centerfield to plate both Schneider and Berroa, and Angel Pagan hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, which CF Rick Ankiel failed to catch for an error, to score Figueroa.

The Mets would add 2 runs in the 6th inning on a pinch-hit double to centerfield from Jeremy Reed to leadoff the inning, an RBI triple to centerfield from Pagan, and an RBI single to leftfield off the bat of Alex Cora. The Mets would score their final 2 runs of the day in the 8th inning on a Parnell single to centerfield and a 2-run homer to deep centerfield from Pagan.

The Cardinals' Lohse would suffer the loss as he allowed 5 earned runs on 7 hits while walking 2 and striking out none in just 2.2 innings. Cardinals reliever Brad Thompson would allow 3 earned runs on 5 hits in 2 innings but he also clearly threw a pitch at the Mets' Wright's head in retaliation after Albert Pujols was hit in the arm earlier in the ballgame by Figueroa which was clearly unintentional. After Wright was nearly hit, Homeplate Umpire Bill Miller issued warnings to both benches in which Cardinals Manager Tony LaRussa took exception to and proceeded to argue his case.

While I respect LaRussa as a "baseball mind," he has always seemed to think his players should somehow be more protected than the oppositions. In this scenario, LaRussa had no reason to be upset as Pujols was hit unintentionally yet he surely was sending a message to the Mets about hitting his star player. Is this what it has come to? You are not allowed to pitch inside to the best hitter in baseball? Who is the "Pond Scum" now, Tony? You are lucky you got out of town with one win against the Mets and their ragtag roster considering it was gift-wrapped for you.

• W: Figueroa(1-2)
• L: Lohse(4-7)
• S: Parnell(1)
• HR: Wright(8), Pagan(2)

For the Mets.com Post-Game Recap and Official Box Score click here.

The 1 Constant Player of the Game

Nelson Figueroa

In the On Deck Circle

On Thursday August 6 the Mets and RHP Livan Hernandez(7-5) will head to the west coast to open a 4-game series with the San Diego Padres and LHP Clayton Richard(4-3) at Petco Park in San Diego, CA. First pitch is at 10:05 EDT. 

August 4, 2009: The St. Louis Cardinals(59-50) Defeat the New York Mets(50-56) at Citi Field in Flushing, NY

Tuesday August 4, Cardinals 12 Mets 7

...and Green Loses It As Pujols Slams! Mets

Game #106(50-56) Recap...

The Cardinals defeated the Mets 12-7 on Tuesday night in a game the Mets seemingly had wrapped up heading into the 9th inning. Like anything else in this 2009 Major League Baseball(MLB) season, it, of coarse, could not come easy and on this night it spiralled out of control as the Cardinals would score 2 runs to tie it in the 9th inning and then 5 runs in the 10th inning to win it. The Mets' bullpen which had been perfect over 7.1 innings in their previous game was anything but perfect in the first game of the brief 2-game set with the Redbirds.

The Mets and starter Johan Santana would fall behind in the 2nd inning 1-0 on a solo homer to leftfield off the bat of Ryan Ludwick. The Mets would counter with 3 runs in the botton half of the 2nd inning against the Cardinals and starter Joel Pineiro to take a 3-1 lead. In the 2nd inning, Daniel Murphy led-off with a single to rightfield, with 1 out Alex Cora singled to leftfield, Omir Santos was hit by the pitch to load the bases, Santana then helped himself by doubling to centerfield and knocking in Murphy and Cora making the score 2-1, and Angel Pagan then hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield scoring Santos and the Mets 3rd and final run of the inning.

The Cardinals would add 2 runs in the 4th inning when Matt Holliday reached on a fielder's choice force out, 4-6, and then scored on a Ludwick double to deep centerfield, Yadier Molina then followed that up with a single to leftfield advancing Ludwick to 3B, and Rick Ankiel delivered an RBI single to leftfield scoring Ludwick and tying the game at 3-3. The Cardinals would regain the the lead 4-3 in the 5th inning when with 2 outs Albert Pujols double to leftfield and Holliday drove him in with the go-ahead run on an RBI bloop single to centerfield. In the bottom half of the 5th inning, the Mets would have a 4 run outburst as Luis Castillo singled to centerfield with 1 out, David Wright lined a single to leftfield, Gary Sheffield doubled to leftfield scoring both Castillo and Wright, Murphy then doubled to centerfield scoring Sheffield, Jeff Francoeur advanced Murphy to 3B on a groundout to shortstop, and Cora promptly singled up the middle to score Murphy and the 4th run of the inning giving the Mets a 7-4 advantage.

In the 8th inning, the Cardinals would edge closer on a deep solo homer to dead-centerfield that ended up landing directly in the HR Apple's house(the cannister that houses the apple) off the bat of the game's best player in Pujols. In the 9th inning, with the score 7-5 the Mets called on closer Francisco Rodriguez. The Cardinals' Ankiel would leadoff with a double down the rightfield line, Julio Lugo then doubled to left-centerfield scoring Ankiel to make it a 1 run ballgame, and after pinch hitter Colby Rasmus struck out the Cardinals tied the game on a Skip Schumaker single to rightfield. Rodriguez would get out of the inning without further damage but it was just prolonging the agony.

The Cardinals would score 5 times in the 10th inning to secure the win. In the 10th inning, with 1 out the Mets called on reliever Pedro Feliciano who then allowed Ankiel to reach base on an infield hit to second base, Lugo to reach on a single to rightfield which advanced Ankiel to 2B, and he walked Rasmus to load the bases. He then struck out Schumaker for the 2nd out of the inning causing Mets' Manager Jerry Manuel to bring in the RHP Sean Green to pitch to the RH hitting Mark DeRosa. On the very first pitch, Green would plunk DeRosa to force in the go-ahead run and the very next batter was Pujols who would then deposit Green's offering over the leftfield wall for a grand slam giving the Cardinals a comfortable 12-7 lead.

The Mets' Santana would allow 5 earned runs on 9 hits while walking none and striking out 6 through a season high 8 innings and the Cardinals starter Pineiro would allow 7 earned runs on 11 hits while walking none and striking out none, he was not fooling anyone on this night, to garner no-decisions. The Cardinals' Kyle McClellan pitched around a hit and a walk in a scoreless 9th inning to pick up the win while the Mets' Feliciano suffered the loss. With the win the Cardinals have now secured a season series victory over the Mets as they won their 5th game in what will be a 9-game season series which is concluding on Wednesday afternoon.

• W: McClellan(3-2)
• L: Feliciano(4-4)
• HR: Ludwick(18), Pujols 2(36)

For the Mets.com Post-Game Recap and Official Box Score click here.

In Other News

After an atbat in the 7th inning, in returning to the dugout Mets 2B Castillo stumbled down the steps and sprained his ankle. No, I am not kidding, I am serious. Castillo had been playing his best baseball in his Mets' career. Somehow, with what has resembled a freak show at times, I am not surprised.

In the On Deck Circle

On Wednesday August 5 the Cardinals and RHP Kyle Lohse(4-6) will do battle for the last time in the 2009 MLB season against the Mets and their young LHP Jon Niese(1-1) at Citi Field in Flushing, NY. First pitch is at 12:10 EDT.