Game 44 Open Thread: New York Mets @ Atlanta Braves
Yesterday began with Willie Randolph having to answer for some controversial comments he made (which he has since apologized for) and ended with one of the best hitters on the team lying face-down in the dirt as blood spilled from a gash on his forehead. In between, there were two agonizing losses to the Braves that featured much futility against the sort of pitchers that typically give the Mets fits and effectively obliterated any warm-and-fuzzy feelings that the weekend of good baseball against the Yankees had produced. It’s not crazy to suggest that the Mets are currently playing for Willie’s job, and should there be more of what we saw yesterday during this road trip, it’s possible that the next time the team dons its home uniforms the number on the manager’s jersey will be something other than 12.
It is this soap opera that will likely take center stage on ESPN this evening as the Mets and Braves face off in the background. The Mets will face Jair Jurrjens, who was unhittable for five innings and unable to find the strikezone for one when the Braves were at Shea last month. Jurrjens has been more than solid for the Braves so far, with a 2.20 K/BB ratio and just one home run allowed in 54 1/3 innings. Meanwhile, Mike Pelfrey will look to continue his recent success. He has taken the loss in each of his last two starts despite allowing a total of three runs in 13 2/3 innings, and while he hasn’t been blowing hitters away (he hasn’t struck out more than four batters in any start this year), there have been positive signs recently in that he is throwing more strikes and bringing his walk rate down to a tolerable level.
Ryan Church will obviously not be in the lineup tonight after suffering a mild concussion at the end of last night’s game, but he suggests that he could return to action as soon as tomorrow. While the Mets may exercise a bit more caution than that, it’s encouraging that he does not appear to be seriously hurt. Endy Chavez gets the start in right field tonight and will bat second, pushing Luis Castillo down to eighth.
Let’s Go Mets!
Links
MLB Gameday
Baseball-Reference Game Preview
Fangraphs Live Scoreboard
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Jair Jurrjens, Ryan Church, Game Thread, Mike Pelfrey, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, 7 Train.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
THE AUTHOR
POLL
ARCHIVE
RECENT ARTICLES BY DIVISION RIVALS
SPONSORS
Find a great selection of baseball memorabilia, including David Wright memorabilia and Jose Reyes memorabilia, all with certificates of authenticity.
Online Seats
New York Mets tickets New York Tickets
Ticket Specialists
Tickets4U
New York Mets Tickets World Series Tickets New York Giants Tickets
Coast to Coast Tickets
New York Mets Tickets New York Yankees Tickets New York Jets Tickets New York Giants Tickets New York Knicks Tickets
Great Seats
New York Mets Tickets Yankees Game Tickets New York Jets Tickets NY Giants Tickets Theatre Event Tickets
15 Responses to “Game 44 Open Thread: New York Mets @ Atlanta Braves”
May 21st, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Why must the line drives always be right at someone?
May 21st, 2008 at 3:34 pm
A break going in the Mets’ favor? *pinches self*
Okay, so now I have a welt on my arm and the Mets have two runners in scoring position.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Let’s Go Big Pelf! Mikey is throwing HARD in the early going
May 21st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Braves fan here. Hope things get better for you guys (after tomorrow of course). Although as a Braves fan, I am genetically predisposed to feeling animosity toward the Mets, I find those feelings softened by the empathy that stems from the fact that I am also a Falcons fan. As such, I am intimate with the pain of underperforming teams, especially those with off-the-field distractions and drama. So, I hope you guys get things straight (but not too straight). Be sure to give Church a big hand when he comes home. That was a clean hard play, but he paid for it. He’s a gamer. Peace.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Thank you for the kind words, SouthernFriedSkeptic.
This game has been an utter disaster any way you slice it. One night, this team is the ‘99 Mets; the next, they’re the ‘03 squad.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I think the thing that bothers me most is that somehow I *knew* that this game was over as soon as Castillo hesitated on Teixeira’s grounder in the third. I could feel it. And sure enough.
*sigh* well, there’s always tomorrow
Thanks for your encouragement SouthernFriedSkeptic. You may cause me to rethink how I regard Braves fans. Peace to you too.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:09 pm
ok to get away from this game for a bit, what do you guys think of the idea of SNY brining Mike Piazza on as a Mets broadcaster?
May 21st, 2008 at 7:25 pm
when are the mets going to stop recycling other teams aging retreads? delgado is obviosly finished as is alou (who left weds game while standing in the outfield doig nothing). beltran needs to bat 2nd if he is only going to hit 3 hrs- at least he will see a majority of fastballs with reyes(who is finally starting to come around) batting leadoff. put church 3rd, wright 4th, schnieder 5th. at least they hit for a decent average. call up someone to play left and 2nd to bat 6th and 7th and have delgado 8th or call up a firstbaseman- all call ups being younger players. and the bullpen aint doing it either. mix in some young arms here also. it isn’t all willie, omar minaya is the one bringing in all these aging players….didnt he learn anything using young players in montreal? maybe the mets should hire whoever made all the decisions there as their next gm cause omar isnt hacking it either.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Mike, I think that would be a great idea. Piazza always seemed to do a good job when Fox used him as an in-studio analyst the years the Mets weren’t in the playoffs.
johng - I think Beltran is also starting to come around after a rough start. Also, Schneider hit .235 last year - I wouldn’t be so quick to move him up in the order. The problem is that there’s not really anyone to call up. Fernando Martinez is at least a year away and is currently on the DL, the middle infielders at New Orleans and Binghamton aren’t hitting, and Evans/Carp/Murphy aren’t ready yet either - Carp is the only one who played above A-ball prior to this year, and he’s repeating AA because he struggled so badly last year. The one hitter they could call up is Val Pascucci, a 29-year-old outfielder/first baseman who bats right-handed and is killing the ball down at New Orleans. He’s not a long-term solution, but at the very least he could be a platoon partner for Delgado.
The big problem is that the Mets have not been willing to go above slot in the draft, and that limits the top-notch talent you can add to the farm system. For a big-market team to go for anything less than the best talent available in the draft when they’re more than willing to throw money at mediocre veterans is just bad business and ignorant of the direction in which baseball is headed.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Its time to fire willie… enough is enough… 2 years of this crap is sickning
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:52 am
oh yeah and i forgot in the game last night david wright almost jogging out a ground ball to short.
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:54 am
its a shame when a big market team with so many resources can not do any better than a firstbaseman who obviously has lost plenty and is hitting in the 220s
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:50 am
Personally, I got sick and tired of Rick Sutcliffe raking the Mets over the coals for bringing up Pelfrey too early in 2006 and ruining him. Hey Rick!!!! We had to bring him up in 2006. Pelfrey’s major league debut was on July 8, 2006 to pitch the second game of a double header against the Marlins. Up to that date we were using people like Jose Lima, Alain Soler, and Jeremi Gonzalez as stop-gaps. Then Pedro hurt his hip and was on the DL, Maine’s career with the Mets was about a week old, we still weren’t sure about El Duque. We had no choice but to give Pelfrey a shot.
Yes, Pelfrey looked rattled last night and yes, he does get rattled easily. But I think that has more to do with Pelfrey being Pelfrey than the Mets ruining him by doing something they had to do.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 am
Johng,
The Mets just don’t have too many options as to Delgado. Sure he has declined, but he’s still the best firstbaseman available to us. Nobody else wants him and nobody is going to give us anything for him. And there aren’t any free agents hanging around to sign that would satisfactorily replace him either — although I suspect Shawn Green isn’t doing too much these days.
We don’t have anybody down in the minors who’s ready yet either. Nor can we trade prospects to an out of the race team for a productive, veteran firstbaseman. In part, because we don’t *have* any prospects and also in part, because there aren’t a lot of out of the race teams. Just about everybody’s pretty competitive and expecting to remain competitive until the trading deadline.
That’s the problem. We’ll just have to do the best we can with Delgado until Mike Carp is ready.
And pray that Delgado doesn’t get injured. Because then we’re *really* screwed.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:41 am
Hi everyone. My name is Ray, from Utica, NY. I will be visiting Poland soon, and I am hoping to meet my Polish relatives. I also hope some people from here may help me in contacting my relatives before my visit. Thanks and looking forward to meeting some great people on here!
Leave a comment