David Wright, 8/12: 3-5, 2 R, K
AVG: .325 (Change from previous game: +.003, Change from Game 81: -.001)
OBP: .415 (Change from previous game: +.001, Change from Game 81: +.001)
SLG: .468 (Change from previous game: +.002, Change from Game 81: -.002)
When Bobby Parnell made his first major league start against the Padres last week, he was help to a 60-75 pitch limit. Thanks to two long frames, he only lasted 2 1-3 innings on the mound before reaching his cap.
As Parnell takes the mound tonight against Barry Zito and the San Francisco Giants, he’s been allotted about 85 pitches.
Parnell was likely going to winter ball as a starter, reports Adam Rubin, so this experiment was going to happen sooner or later.
“I felt good,” Parnell told the Daily News. “I feel like I'm in condition. My arm strength was good, but obviously it's going to take a little while to keep building it up. I think we're just going to take gradual steps and build it up slowly.”
From the Mets…
FLUSHING, N.Y., August 12, 2009 - The New York Mets today announced they will honor their National League heritage by wearing throwback uniforms inspired by the turn of the century New York Giants uniforms when they play the San Francisco Giants August 14-16 at Citi Field.
The cream-colored jerseys feature an oversized blue "NY" on the front, blue and orange piping on the sleeves and a Mr. Met patch on the right sleeve.
Mets Amazin' Memorabilia will auction off the jerseys to benefit the Mets Foundation on www.mets.com/gameused.
I dig it.
The New York Mets are currently 53-61, a .465 winning percentage. They’ve dropped seven of their last 10 and 10 of their last 14.
The team currently last in the NL East, the Washington Nationals, are 40-74, a .351 winning percentage. But they’re won eight of their last 10 games.
So with the basic Excel skills I know, I wanted to see if the Mets could end up in last place in 2009.
Answer: It’s possible (maybe if the season never ended).
Here’s the two teams winning percentages on a graph, with an average trendline. (Basic trendline rules: trendline going up = winning more games of late, trendline going down = winning less games as of late.)
Taking a very rudimentary approach to extrapolating this out, I turned to Photoshop and traced the trendlines out, so you could see what would eventually happen if both teams stay on their respective paths.
I’m not sure if this is possible in the games left for the 2009 season, but if they just kept playing baseball until next March, it would happen.
The Mets can stay out of the basement with a few more wins here or there, but if they don’t veer off their current path, the Nationals may have a change to leap-frog them into fourth place.
Scary, isn’t it?
But you should never throw beer (or anything) on a player. That’s the lowest of the low.
So, Mets fans, please never stoop to this level. Ever.
-Jerry Manuel on the rest of the season
Where to begin…
--The Mets won 6-4, salvaging a win in the desert and avoiding a sweep. Oliver Perez was his inefficient self, walking six and allowing six hits over his 5 1-3 innings. He did only allow one run, though, and struck out seven.
--David Wright suffered some sort of an injury in the 9th inning of today’s game in Arizona. After singling and moving to second on a fielding error, Wright clutched his right knee. He stayed in the game.
Wright claimed it was just usual soreness, but Jerry Manuel classified it as a strain behind the right knee.
--Carlos Delgado strained his oblique muscle in his right arm, further derailing his return to the New York Mets. Assistant GM John Ricco, who supposedly is next in line if Omar Minaya is fired and is now handling more and more press, said that it would be a few weeks before he starts swinging again.
It’s important for Delgado to get back to prove he can still play for another contract. This does put to rest the rumors that the Mets were willing to trade Delgado if he returned before the August 31 wavier deadline.
--Billy Wagner will return to the Mets this weekend. Wagner pitched another shutout inning in the minor leagues, and will return on Saturday.
The Mets may try to deal Wagner if he impresses.
Today I will be attending a wake in south Jersey. I will be gone for the better part of the day.
I will publish some short articles tonight.
Thank you for understanding,
-Andrew Vazzano
Livan Hernandez (7-6, 5.08 ERA) vs. Max Scherzer (6-6, 4.01 ERA)
(Chat removed, as usual.)
I don’t know about you, but if I was a pitcher, I would harness the power of my scary eye and try to intimidate the opposing batters.
