Manuel’s Musing

“Power doesn't always have to be in terms of home runs. Power can be in terms of triples, doubles and the sense that the opposition doesn't play you so tight. They play you fair.”

-Jerry Manuel on power

Game Chat: FLA @ NYM [Game 139]

Ricky Nolasco (10-8, 5.27 ERA) vs. Pat Misch (1-1, 3.25 ERA)

(Chat removed, as usual.)

More tomorrow. It's been a long day.

Lineup for Game 139

Looks like Jerry Manuel’s is going with the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  Too bad it is broken.

1. Angel Pagan – LF
2. Luis Castillo – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Carlos Beltran – CF
5. Daniel Murphy – 1B
6. Jeff Francoeur – RF
7. Josh Thole – C
8. Anderson Hernandez – SS
9. Tim Redding – RHP

Poll: Pelfrey’s the resident ace right now

In a somewhat joke of a poll, I asked fans who the ace of the Mets rotation was now that Johan Santana is on the DL. 

Here are the results…I’m shocked how many votes Pat Misch and Nelson Figueroa garnered.

Now if only Mike Pelfrey can turn in his last performance for the every start.

Next Poll: Is Omir Santos your starting catcher in 2010?

Remember home runs?

Have you seen this apple lately? It used to pop out when the Mets hit home runs.  Crazy, right?

The Mets have hit only 42 home runs this season, with Gary Sheffield leading the team.  Sheffield had only 307 plate appearances for the Mets, good for sixth most on the team.

18 different players hit home runs for the Mets this season.  They are…

Player	Home Runs
Gary Sheffield	10
Daniel Murphy	9
David Wright	8
Carlos Beltran	8
Jeff Francoeur	7
Fernando Tatis	7
Omir Santos	6
Angel Pagan	6
Carlos Delgado	4
Ramon Castro	3
Brian Schneider	3
Cory Sullivan	2
Jose Reyes	2
Ryan Church	2
Nick Evans	1
Luis Castillo	1
Alex Cora	1
Fernando Martinez	1

Yeesh.  That’s a sad list.

Manuel’s Musing

“If we did some things situationally, we had a shot.”

-Jerry Manuel on last night’s game

Beltran back, belts one to track in loss

Carlos Beltran made his return to the Mets tonight after missing 70 games and just missed out on being the hero in the 7th inning.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Beltran came to the plate and hit a deep drive to right field.  Rightfielder Cody Ross turned and chased the ball to the track as Beltran’s ball fell a few feet short of the wall.  The Mets fell to the Marlins by a score of 4-2, their 76th loss of the year.

This loss is so much worse because there’s a die-hard Marlins fan sleeping on my couch for the next few days.  Argh.

Tim Redding pitched only five innings, surrendering a pair of two-run home runs to Hanley Ramirez and Cameron Maybin.  The Mets used five relievers to patch together the next four innings of work.

The Mets got runs off of a Josh Thole sac-fly, his first major league RBI. 

Congrats, Thole.  Here’s to many more.

Luis Castillo drove in Angel Pagan, who tripled, on an infield single in the fifth inning for the Mets other run.

When Castillo is third on the team in RBI, you know there’s a problem.

Game Chat: FLA @ NYM [Game 138]

Rick VandenHurk (2-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. Tim Redding (2-4, 5.70 ERA)

(Chat removed, as usual.)

Lineup for Game 138

Look who is back!

1. Angel Pagan – LF
2. Luis Castillo – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Carlos Beltran – CF
5. Daniel Murphy – 1B
6. Jeff Francoeur – RF
7. Josh Thole – C
8. Anderson Hernandez – SS
9. Tim Redding – RHP

Game Chat will be up at 7 p.m.

SNY getting creative to keep fans tuning in

In a dismal season, the Mets are getting creative.  From meet and greets with fans to gimmicks on TV, the team is hoping people keep tuning in even if the team isn’t winning.

The gimmicks on TV will come into play tonight and tomorrow, both giving Gary Cohen some well deserved time off.

Tonight, during the 6th inning of the game, the SNY broadcast will go completely silent.  No announcers will be on – at all – during the entire inning, rather letting the actions on the field speak for themselves.

I wonder if Cohen has his fingers crossed that no spectacular play will occur during this inning of play.

Tomorrow, Cohen will get the entire day off.  Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling will be at the helm for the entire game.

You may remember that Cohen had a day off earlier in the year with Kevin Burkhardt taking over the play calling duties.  Tomorrow, though, is all Darling and Hernandez.

I like these little things SNY does to keep the TV feed fresh.  Last year we saw Hernandez sitting behind home plate and discussing the game from the field perspective.  We also saw all three broadcasters move up to the upper deck level and call an entire game from that perch.

I dig it.