First base has been a black hole since Delgado went down, right?

Carlos Delgado last played in a game on May 10.  Since then, Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy have taken over at the bag. 

At the bag, they have been able to hold together the infield and perform well above expectations.

At the plate, let’s just say they’ve been pretty awful.  Or have they?

Tatis, since May 11: 16-75, 6 BB, 6 K, 4 2B, 1 HR, 10 RBI … .213 AVG / .302 OBP / .307 SLG

Murphy, since May 11: 11-73, 11 BB, 11 K, 1 2B, 1 HR, 9 RBI … .151 AVG / .259 OBP / .205 SLG

I can’t get beyond Murphy’s slugging percentage since May 11.  .205?  Wow.

Combined: 27-148, 17 BB, 17 K, 5 2B, 2 HR, 19 RBI … .182 AVG / .280 OBP / .256 SLG

That’s 30 combined games at first base.  Delgado, through 28 games before going down with injury, had 28 hits, 12 BB, 20 K, 7 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 23 RBI … .298 AVG / .393 OBP / .521 SLG.

Delgado got off to a quick start, slowed down, but was coming on before the injury.  Surprisingly, the RBIs are quite close between Delgado and his replacements.  For all the struggles we’ve seen at first, the run production has been quite close. 

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such terrible numbers drive in as much.  It could be a lot better, but I guess it could be a lot worse, too.

Wright shows fire, excites Mets fans everywhere

Even if the Mets lost last night, I think a lot of fans would still be pleased at one thing that happened during the game.

OK, maybe not.  But they should still be (and are) very excited to see David Wright stepping up and getting vocal.  Sure, it was with one of his best buddies on the team, Mike Pelfrey, but it still counts for something.

After the sixth inning ended, an inning Pelfrey just couldn’t finish, Wright was shown jawing at the pitcher in the dugout.  Things looked heated, but positive, and ended with a nice slap on the rear, meaning things were well.

Sure, Wright is the King of Cliché, and if you caught his interview on Joe Buck Live earlier this week, you know what I mean.  Still, he never trips up and always has the right things to say about himself or the team.  I just wish he would be negative once in a while.  Seems we got something of that sort last night.

A lot of fans, myself included, would like to see Wright step up as more of a leader on the Mets.  With Carlos Delgado, the unnamed leader on the team, out with a hip injury, someone needs to step up in his place.  Wright, the young stud third baseman, would be perfect for the role.

He’s already the face of the franchise, why not be the leader in the clubhouse?

It may be only one incident that the cameras were lucky enough to catch, but it’s a sight for sore eyes for some Mets fans.  If Wright can step up and become a leader that other players rally around while putting up spectacular numbers at the plate, he will cement himself as the MVM (Most Valuable Met).

Manuel’s Musing for June 16

“I don't laugh at those.  It's a nightmare and I wake up sweating.  But it's a part of baseball. In the course of 162, everybody gets their breaks and all those things even out, for the most part.”

-Jerry Manuel on Aubrey Huff’s error (similar to Luis Castillo’s error a few days earlier)

Game Recap: Mets 6 – Orioles 4

It’s never, ever easy.

The New York Mets (33-29) beat the Baltimore Orioles (27-37) by a score of 6-4.

Mike Pelfrey set down the first 11 batters that faced him before giving up a single to Nick Markakis in the fourth inning.  Pelfrey got into trouble in the fifth, but struck out Brian Roberts with the bases loaded before any damage was done.

Pelfrey let up two runs over 5 2-3 innings, both coming on a Markakis home run to right field in the sixth inning.  Pelfrey allowed five hits, walked three and struck out two.

Not a spectacular start, but Pelfrey did just enough.  He needed 109 pitches as he worked through the last few innings on the bump.

Sean Green relieved Pelfrey and threw 1 2-3 hitless innings.  Green hasn’t allowed a run in his last 14 innings.

In May, Green was awful.  In June, he’s been spectacular.

Bobby Parnell entered for the bottom of the ninth and allowed two hits to lead off the inning before being removed in favor of Francisco Rodriguez.  K-Rod walked in a run and induced a ground ball, allowing two runs to score, before striking out Adam Jones to end the game to notch a win for the Mets and a save for himself.

Whewwww.  Is anyone else worried about Parnell?  I am.

Fernando Martinez started the Mets off in the fourth inning with a walk.  After Brian Roberts booted a would-be double play ball by Carlos Beltran, the Mets strung together four hits and a sacrifice fly to plate four runs against Jeremy Guthrie.

The Mets again got on the board in the seventh, with what ended up being the winning runs.  The bases were loaded with two outs for David Wright.  Wright skied a ball to shallow right field, which send first baseman Aubrey Huff back.  Huff attempted to make an over the shoulder catch, but the ball fell to the grass, allowing Alex Cora and Martinez to score.

Cora, Wright and Schneider each had multiple hit games.

Again, whew.  Wright didn’t bust out of the box on the ball, as he should have been standing on second when this play was done.  There needs to be a better attention to detail.

It shouldn’t have been this close, but a win is a win.

Game Chat: NYM @ BAL [Game 1]

The Mets head to Camden Yards to take on the Baltimore Orioles for three games.

Join in for some barstool banter as Mike Pelfrey takes the mound.

(Chat removed, as usual.)

Thirty-one years ago today

Yesterday, I posted a little homage to Tom Seaver being traded away on June 15, 1977.  And if you were alive, you probably remember what happened on June 16, 1978.

If you don’t remember, here’s the painful reminder…

Tom Seaver: W 4-0, 9 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (15 GB, 9 FB)

That’s right.  Seaver threw his first career no-hitter as a member of the Cincinnati Reds exactly one year and one day after being traded away by the New York Mets.  The Reds bested the St. Louis Cardinals that day.

Ironically, Keith Hernandez (who the Mets acquired on June 15, 1983) was playing first base for the Cardinals that day.  He went 0-2 with a walk.

I’m sure we’ll hear about it during tonight broadcast.

Lineup for first game against the O’s

Back from a long day into the city.  Mets are set to take on the Orioles in Camden Yards tonight.  I believe my uncle that lives near Baltimore will be at the game.  That being said, I hope the Mets win (of course!).

Here’s the lineup, via Bart Hubbuch:

1. Alex Cora – SS
2. Fernando Martinez – LF
3. Carlos Beltran – CF
4. David Wright – 3B
5. Ryan Church – RF
6. Gary Sheffield – DH
7. Daniel Murphy – 1B
8. Brian Schneider – C
9. Luis Castillo – 2B

Mike Pelfrey takes the mound for the Mets.

Big day in NYC: Filming for Mets Weekly

If you follow my Twitter feed at all, you probably know I’ll be spending the better part of the morning in New York City filming a segment for Mets Weekly on SNY.

Obviously, I want to share this experience with you as much as possible, so below will be a nice little widget displaying my Twitter feed.  I’ll be tweeting as much as possible. 

I’ll be back in the afternoon, so look for some real posts around then. Otherwise, enjoy.

Bisons: Javier Valentin to DL

One of the players I wouldn’t mind seeing on the Mets right about now just landed on the disabled list.

Javier Valentin, who plays first base and catches, has been put on the DL with a right shoulder strain.  Valentin had been hitting .260 with three doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI.

It seems the Buffalo Bisons have also been hit hard by the injury bug, with eight players on the DL.

From The Dish:

Valentin becomes the eighth Bisons player currently on the disabled list. RHP Dillon Gee, INF Andy Green, OF Bobby Kielty, INF Mark Kiger, RHP Carlos Muniz, C Mike Nickeas and INF Argenis Reyes are all currently on the team's DL.

Just like the big club.

Luis Castillo not the first, won’t be the last

Here’s an e-mail I got from my friend Ben today…

This whole Castillo thing - "have you/will you ever see anything like it" - made me wonder just how rare the circumstance is. So I did the research - when do you think the last time this happened: walkoff error, batting team trailing, two outs? Answer: August 9, 2000. AP recap can be found here (scroll to Rockies/Pirates); the fly ball is described as "routine." Maybe not a Castillo duplicate - the box score says it was more of a line drive than a flyball (and the recap notes the ball was hit hard enough to roll to the wall), but this "most improbable" way to lose a game just happened 9 years ago. Of course, the Subway Series and the increased media attention will certainly make this one much bigger. After all, I don't think I heard anyone say Luis "pulled an Alex Ramirez."

August 9, 2000, the Rockies beat the Pirates by a score of 4-3. The Rockies scored two in the 9th inning after a “routine” fly ball off the bay of Juan Pierre deflected off of outfielder Alex Ramirez’s glove and skipped to the wall.

Here’s the box score, via Baseball Reference.

Here’s what the AP report said, courtesy of The New York Times:

Todd Walker drew a one-out walk from Mike Williams (2-3). After Walker stole second, Ben Petrick reached on shortstop Mike Benjamin's error. One out later, Juan Pierre hit a routine fly to right that deflected off Ramirez's glove and rolled all the way to the wall, allowing the tying and winning runs to score.

Yikes. Not one, but two errors in the 9th inning to let the game slip away.

Maybe not to the degree of Castillo’s flub, being the Subway Series, and being against the Yankees, but still pretty interesting.

Here’s what first baseman Kevin Young told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"You feel bad for Alex," Young said, "but, hey, we're all in this together. People are going to make mistakes. He catches that ball 499 times out of 500. It just so happened this is the one he missed."

Sound familiar?

Great find, Ben!

The Stat of the Day blog picked up on this as well. In all, this is the 11th time this has happened since 1954.