Mets Song by Song: Weezer (Red Album) by Weezer

Here is another in a series of Song by Song. I will take one album and try to use all of the song titles to explain the Mets current predicament. The songs will be bolded and italicized.

This time around it's Weezer's latest album, nicknamed the "Red Album." Enjoy...

Daniel Murphy is proving to be a Troublemaker for opposing pitching. Mets fans can only hope he will be The Greatest Man That Ever Lived. Seems his parents raised him well on a steady diet of Pork and Beans.

Poor Johan Santana. He won't be writing the bullpen any Heart Songs this year. They've already blown six wins for the ace pitcher, but it's only early August.

I'm thinking Jerry Manuel gives some amazing pre-game speeches. Something along the lines of "Everybody Get Dangerous!" The offense always seems to jump out to a quick start in games, probably when the starting pitchers are still Dreamin'.

I Thought I Knew this team was going to get out of their funk, and they seem to be doing so against the NL East rivals in the Florida Marlins. They might be sinking the Fish into a Cold Dark World of a year without playoffs.

It's not going to be Automatic down the stretch for the Phillies or the Mets, as it seems like it's going to be a dogfight through September.

Today, it's The Angel and The One with Mike Pelfrey on the mound and (hopefully) Murphy in the field. These are only two of the young guns the Mets have been trotting out on the field lately, all of whom are performing very well and contributing to Mets wins.

Photo of the Day: Daniel Murphy

Daniel Murphy: 10-20, 2B, 3B, HR, 4 BB, 5 RBI

Not a bad start to a career.
(AP Photo/Ed Betz)

TSTDIA: Mets 8 -- Marlins 6

Again, despite the pitching's best effort, the Mets squeaked out with a win thanks to home runs from Carlos Delgado and Daniel Murphy, his first career home run.

The new Procede

This commercial is infuriating.

Now I'll wait for Matt Cerrone to get an interview with the old guy at the beginning.

Met-o-sphere roundup

A few links from around the Mets blogosphere...

The Youth Movement - Hot Foot

Throwing Out the First Pitch at Shea - Mets Merized Online

Again, Why Not Niese - Mets Today

NL East Breakdown Part 2 - Ramble7321

Ryan Church is cleared ready to play

Via Adam Rubin:

News out of the clubhouse: Ryan Church has been cleared to go to Florida to begin playing in minor-league games. He’ll initially DH in Port St. Lucie after working out at Shea on Saturday.

Amen!!

Don't rush him through the system, but he'd be very nice to have as Fernando Tatis seems to have cooled off very quickly.

Oh, this is wonderful news.

TSTDIA: Mets 3 -- Marlins 0

The story of tonight was Oliver Perez, who threw seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits and walking three, while striking out eight.

Aaron Heilman took the rest of the game into his own hands, throwing two perfect innings and striking out three to earn the save. David Wright and Carlos Delgado homered to tally for the Mets runs.

Luis Castillo, stay away

Does anyone miss this guy?

Big series against the Fish

Tonight the Mets start a three game series against the Florida Marlins.

This is a huge series, as the Mets could leapfrog the Fish into second place in the division with a few wins this weekend. Coupled with a Phillies slide, the Mets could be back in first place by Monday.

This is my optimism getting the best of me, but it's possible. The Mets are playing great baseball at home, as they've won 13 of their last 16 at Shea. A fine sendoff this would be if they could keep up the stellar play in their old park.

Oliver Perez, the team needs the good, no, great you tonight. If you could keep the hands out of the bullpen, that would make every Mets fan in the world breathe much easier.

Daniel Murphy gets vote of confidence

Joel Sherman, who is almost always down on anything the Mets do, is giving his vote of confidence to Daniel Murphy.

From Sherman's Hardball blog:

I do believe Daniel Murphy is ready right now to hit in the majors. Eighteen plate appearances is an incredibly small sample size, but he has two qualities that stand out that project positively: 1) He is not afraid to work deep into counts. He is seeing 4.44 pitches per plate appearance, so far, and he seems to have that Kevin Youkilis thing in at-bats in which he treats each one with fervor and diligence. 2) He is not pull conscious and he can hit the ball with authority the opposite way. With Ryan Church appearing more dubious to ever return this season, Murphy does need to be a real hitter -- and I think he is.

I love the way this kid approaches at bats. He hangs that bat low on his shoulder, almost with a swagger. He also watches every single pitch hit the catchers glove if he doesn't take a hack.

Taking pitches is a huge part of the game in my mind. Just wait for the pitcher to make a mistake and groove one for you, a trait Jose Reyes does not have. Murphy seems ready to go, and I think he'll be sticking around for a while if he can keep it up.

Sure, it's only 15 AB's (18 PA with the three walks), but he is hitting .467 with an OBP of .556.

Nasty.