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The Opposing Viewpoint: Cincinnati Reds

Welcome back to The Opposing Viewpoint, the place to learn more about the Mets’ opponents from the bloggers who write about them. The Mets return home after going 3-3 out west, with three games against the Reds scheduled at Shea this weekend (emphasis on “scheduled” - as of this afternoon, it’s pouring in NYC, and the rain is not expected to let up until after midnight. As far as I can see, the only common off-days the Mets and Reds have are July 31 and September 11, and the former is during a Mets road trip. Naturally, I have tickets for tonight’s game.). Today’s guests are Jeff Gentil and Andrew Kappes of Redlegs Rundown. Jeff and Andrew were both kind enough to answer my questions about the Reds’ current struggles and future outlook. Read on for the Q&A (Jeff’s answers are in plain text, Andrew’s answers are in italics):

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Game 33 Open Thread: Reds at Mets

The Mets are back from their West Coast swing, and are back at Shea for 7 games starting tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. The game is very much in doubt, with weather the weather forecast calling for moderate to heavy rain all afternoon and night. There is no word yet on how the schedule will change if the game is in fact postponed.

 Pitching Matchup: Mike Pelfrey (2-2, 5.27 ERA) vs. Matt Belisle (1-2, 6.91 ERA)

Mike Pelfrey makes his 6th start of the year, and will try to avoid losing his third straight decision. More importantly, he will attempt to keep his team heading in the right direction, and solidify himself more clearly as a Major League starter. Pelfrey should have Brian Schneider back behind the plate, and the 6′7 righty is 2-0 with Schneider as his catcher.

Matt Belisle is even more desperate for a win than Pelfrey. Belisle has been very shaky thus far, and with highly touted prospect Homer Bailey waiting in Triple-AAA, Belisle’s time with the big club could be ticking if he doesn’t turn it around quickly.

Rizzi’s Rant:

I have tickets to tonight’s game, and this could be an end to an amazing run; I have been to more than 100 Mets games in my life, and not once has a game I have had tickets to been rained out. In fact, I have only been to a game with a rain delay maybe 4 or 5 times. The forecast is terrible for tonight, and this will be a first for me if it gets postponed.

Assuming the game IS played, I will be shocked, angry, and saddened if the Mets cannot hammer Belisle. If they can’t get at least 4 runs off of him it is unacceptable, especially with the struggling Pelfrey looking for run support. Maybe even Carlos Beltran can get things going on this homestand…maybe…please?

I will keep this preview brief and leave it at that, since they are already discussing a doubleheader tomorrrow on Mike and the Mad Dog. Here’s to the possible end of a long streak of good weather and my Mets tickets!

Recap: The Streak is Over! Mets 12- Dodgers 1

Updated 5/8 at 10:10am… For all of you who are confused about my “The Streak is Over” headline, this has nothing to do with the Mets losing 2 in a row to the Dodgers. It is a reference to the Mets losing 7 straight games that I recapped on the site, until Wednesday.

John Maine went 8 1-3 innings and gave up just 1 run, and the Mets offense tattooed Dodgers starter Brad Penny again, as New York avoided the sweep in dominating fashion, 12-1. Maine becomes the first Mets pitcher to go more than 7 innings this year, and looked sharp for the entire game. He started the 9th inning and got one out, but was pulled after Matt Kemp’s RBI single spoiled the shutout.

With the way Maine pitched he did not need much run support, but he sure got it. The Mets scored 4 in the 2nd inning, 1 in the 3rd, then 6 in the 5th, and a final run in the 6th inning. A lot of those runs came from role players, as Marlon Anderson and Angel Pagan picked up RBIs starting the day after a night game, and Raul Casanova drove in 2 runs. Even Maine got into the act, driving in runs 9 and 10 to knock Brad Penny out of the game. The Dodgers’ ace took the loss to fall to 4-10 against the Mets in his career. Ryan Church added a late solo homerun off releiver Scott Proctor, while both David Wright and Luis Castillo drove in 2 runs.

Everything was clicking for New York today; the offense, the pitching, and even some sparkling defense. In the first inning Andre Ethier hit a tailing foul ball, and Angel Pagan made a running grab that catapulted him over the wall and headfirst into the stands onto the cement ground. He landed on his head and shoulder, but held on for the grab. 40,000 plus fans at Dodger Stadium stood and applauded for Pagan, who had to come out of the game in the 3rd with tightness in his shoulder.

Rizzi’s Rant:

The streak is over ladies and gentlemen! After recapping seven straight losses, I finally get to write about a Metropolitans “W,” and it feels fantastic! It also feels great to see this team play up to its capabilities. Obviously as fans we cannot demand 12-1 wins every day, but there’s no reason we cannot play as solid and mistake free as we did today. And while 12 runs is plenty more than the Mets will average, it is a good sign to see our slumping bats break out. Maybe this will carry over to our homestand now, starting with the weekend series against the Reds.

John Maine was superb today. I still think he will end up having a great season, and today was just a taste of what Maine is capable of. His next goal should be trying to string two or three great starts together.

The Mets absolutely own Brad Penny. If only he could start against us every day. Can we clone him twice and trade him to the Phillies and Braves?

Luis Castillo may be breaking out of his slump…again. I just think Castillo will be the type of player that goes hot and cold all year at this point. Enjoy the hot while you can.

Raul Casanova is a very solid third catcher to have. I still want Ramon Castro back asap, but in the meantime I don’t mind having Casanova as a backup at all.

Ryan Church is amazing. If I was attracted to men…

For all of you who bash the bullpen constantly on this site, we have now found the best way to avoid those problems- just have the starter go into the 9th every single night. Might be a little unrealistic, but that’s your best plan I think.

Great win, pretty decent road trip. When you have a 6-game west coast swing against the best team in baseball and then the hottest team in baseball, 3-3 is very acceptable. Now let’s go home and dominate!

Game 32 Open Thread: New York Mets @ Los Angeles Dodgers

Less than 72 hours ago, the Mets were riding a wave of positive momentum after taking two of three against an excellent Diamondbacks team. Since then, they’ve taken that momentum, lit it on fire, and dumped the ashes in the nearest toilet. This afternoon, they find themselves trying to avoid being swept by the Dodgers.

Before each of John Maine’s past couple of starts, I’ve made some reference to the fact that he has issued too many walks so far this year and needs to cut down the free passes. While his walk rate is still too high, it is showing signs of improvement. Maine walked 12 batters over his first three starts (6.48 BB/9), but over his three most recent starts he has issued just seven walks (3.71 BB/9), a rate that is a little bit higher than I would like but is certainly acceptable. Maine also has a little bit more than 10 K/9 over those last three starts, so it looks like he’s shaking off the issues he had in the early part of April.

Brad Penny will be pitching for the Dodgers this afternoon. Over the course of his career, Penny is 5-11 with a 5.66 ERA in 19 starts against the Mets. However, most of his bad outings against the Mets have come at Shea Stadium, where he is 1-9 with a 6.54 ERA in 11 starts; he’s been a good deal tougher against them at his home park. Penny’s velocity is down a bit this year (according to the data available on Fangraphs, his fastball is coming in at 91.6 MPH on average, as compared to 93.4 MPH last year), which probably explains the low strikeout rate thus far (just 20 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings, good for 4.25 K/9). However, he has been stingy with the long ball, having allowed just two home runs in his first seven starts this year.

It’s a day game after a night game, so Angel Pagan, Marlon Anderson, and Raul Casanova get the starts in place of Moises Alou, Carlos Delgado, and Brian Schneider. Luis Castillo, .253 slugging percentage and all, is back up at the second spot in the order.

Let’s Go Mets!

Links
MLB Gameday
Baseball-Reference Game Preview
Fangraphs Live Scoreboard

Recap: Oh, Kuo! Not Again! Dodgers 5- Mets 4

Hong Chih-Kuo pitched 3 and 2/3 hitless relief innings and struck out a career-high 8 batters, and Blake DeWitt hit the go-ahead inside-the-park homerun, as the Dodgers beat the Mets 5-4. Nelson Figueroa was given a 4-1 lead, but he could not hold it as he gets the loss and falls to 2-2.

The Mets took the early lead when Ryan Church hit his 5th homerun of the year, a solo shot to left-center in the 1st inning. They then added 2 more runs in the 2nd on RBI singles by Luis Castillo and Jose Reyes.

The Dodgers got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd courtesy of an RBI single by Juan Pierre, but the Mets got that run right back in the 3rd, in a most peculiar way.

New York had runners on first and third with 1 out, when Angel Pagan took off to steal second. Catcher Russell Martin fired the ball down to nail Pagan, but was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, as soon as Martin released the ball, 41-year old Moises Alou broke from third and stole home to make it 4-1. It was the first steal of home for the Mets since Carlos Beltran on August 10, 2005.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers then took starter Hiroki Kiroda out, and brought in the Mets nemesis, Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo then sailed through the 7th inning without allowing a hit, dominating New York once again.

The Dodgers gave Figueroa fits all night, and it was 4-3 in the bottom of the 5th when the defining moment of the game occurred. With Russell Martin on 1st and two outs, Blake DeWitt ripped one deep to right-center field. Ryan Church made a leap for the grab, but it just missed his glove and bounced off the wall. Church thought the ball was gone and sat on the ground in disgust while DeWitt flew around the bases. By the time the ball got in DeWitt was sliding home, and his inside-the-park homerun made it 5-4. It turned out to be the difference.

In the 9th inning closer Takashi Saito got the first two batters out, then gave up a single to Pagan. Brian Schneider followed with a single on the next pitch, and the game-tying run was in scoring position. But Castillo went down looking to end the game, as the Mets lost their second straight in Los Angeles.

Rizzi’s Rant:

Well, this officially makes it 7 consecutive games that I have recapped on this site resulting in a Mets loss. Am I a jinx? In all seriousness, I would love to take the blame for this one but the truth is this team is still not quite clicking. We are 6-9 now since that 5-game winning streak, and just can’t put it together for 9 full innings.

I feel like I have seen it a million times, but once again the Mets score a bevy of runs early, and then randomly get shut down by the opposing bullpen. I hate Hong-Chih Kuo, I really do. Why does this guy dominate us so much?

Speaking of hate, no matter how long it’s been since he was a Met, I still hate Jeff Kent.

David Wright made another throwing error tonight, but he also made three FANTASTIC defensive plays. He is a superb fielder at the hot corner, he just can’t throw a lick.

Alou looked really good at the plate tonight, and might be starting to get locked in. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Carlos Beltran did not start because of “flu-like” symptoms, but he did pinch-hit late in the game.

Aaron Heilman did have a very solid 1-2-3 7th inning in a close game. That’s very good to see.

In the bottom of the 2nd Juan Pierre stole 2nd base, then randomly got up and headed for 3rd, even though Luis Castillo had the ball. He was tagged out and the inning was ended in a strange way.

Another night of just Gary Cohen and Ron Darling in the booth…Where the heck is Keith Hernandez???

What can I say- another Rizzi recap, another Mets loss. Hopefully this losing streak ends soon, because I am really really really tired of writing about losses. 7 games and counting…

Game 31 Open Thread: New York Mets @ Los Angeles Dodgers

I’d like to ask the Mets to score a ton of runs in the first inning tonight. You see, I have a final exam at a ridiculously early time tomorrow morning, and therefore I will have to shut off the TV and go to bed long before the game is over. If the Mets jump out to an early lead, I can think happy thoughts in my sleep, and I figure that if I’m happy and get a good night’s sleep I might actually remember some of what I’ve been studying all afternoon.

Enough about me, let’s get to the pitching matchup. Hiroki Kuroda, a Japanese free agent signing this past offseason, is starting tonight for the Dodgers. Kuroda does not strike a lot of batters out (just 20 in 37 2/3 innings), but he does exactly what a pitcher needs to do in order to succeed when pitching to contact - generate ground balls (a groundball/flyball ratio of 1.49) and keep the free passes to a minimum (just eight walks thus far, and three of those were intentional). Nelson Figueroa will be starting for the Mets - his last turn in the rotation was skipped following a rainout and he ended up pitching in long relief last Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how he pitches tonight with Brian Schneider behind the plate - Raul Casanova has caught all of Figueroa’s starts thus far, and Figgy hasn’t pitched to Schneider outside of two relief innings in the first week of the season.

The Mets’ lineup is the same as last night’s. The Dodgers have shaken their lineup up a bit - Rafael Furcal is not playing tonight, so Juan Pierre is leading off, Andruw Jones is batting second, and Chin-Lung Hu is playing shortstop and batting eighth.

Let’s Go Mets!

Links
MLB Gameday
Baseball-Reference Game Preview
Fangraphs Live Scoreboard