5/2/10

Lineup for rubber game in Philly

  1. Gary Matthews Jr. – CF
  2. Luis Castillo – 2B
  3. Jose Reyes – SS
  4. Jason Bay – LF
  5. David Wright – 3B
  6. Fernando Tatis – 1B
  7. Jeff Francoeur – RF
  8. Rod Barajas – C
  9. Johan Santana – LHP

Well this is a strange lineup.

Game Chat will be up at 8 p.m.

Earth-shaking revelations from Daily News article

OK, not really.

I know I’m a day late on this, but if you missed it too, click here to read “Daily News reporter taunts Phillies fans with Mets win at Citzens Bank Park.”

Huge shocker, I know!

"These New Yorkers never shut up!" Fratelli whined. When a Phillies security guard wearing a Phillies World Series Ring took a half swing at me mid-Mets chant, I knew this was truly hostile territory.

"I'm not protecting you as long as you have that jersey on," he said. Once I took my seat, Phils fans seemed to lose their mojo as the Mets piled on run after run.

I have two qualms with this story.

One, the sky is blue, the grass is green and the sun will come up every day.  I would like to thank Captain Obvious Kevin Deutsch for allowing us to see into the super-secretive world of the Mets/Phillies rivalry.  Without this intrepid reporting, I would have never known there was bad blood between the teams and their fans.  Thank goodness!

And two, what happened to journalists not becoming part of the story.  I realize this is an opinion piece, but still.  It’s like setting a fire to a house, then reporting on it as if you were first on the scene.  Tsk tsk.

Manuel’s Musing

Manuel's Musing “We had a couple of chances, but he's a good pitcher.”

-Jerry Manuel on Roy Halladay

Understatement of the century?

5/1/10

Game Recap: Phillies 10 – Mets 0

All good things must come to an end.

The Good

Uhh…?

Mike Pelfrey’s first three innings were good.

Henry Blanco and David Wright hit doubles.

Blanco touched third base.

The Bad & Ugly

Roy Halladay is a beast.  Complete game shutout.  Three-hitter.  One walk.  Six strikeouts.  118 pitches – 88 were strikes.  Woah.

Pelfrey’s fourth inning.  Two plays that could have been outs – Jose Reyes on Chase Utley’s line drive and Alex Cora on Jayson Werth’s bloop to center field – could have been converted into outs.  They weren’t and the Phillies made Pelfrey and the Mets pay.

Raul Valdes didn’t fare much better.  Three innings and four runs (three earned) on five hits.  But he did strike out six.

Game Ball

Uhh… Blanco?

On Deck

Rubber game tomorrow night on ESPN.  An 8:10 start.

Game Chat: NYM @ PHI [Game 24]

Chat removed, as usual.

Lineup going for nine

  1. Angel Pagan – CF
  2. Alex Cora – 2B
  3. Jose Reyes – SS
  4. Jason Bay - LF
  5. David Wright – 3B
  6. Ike Davis – 1B
  7. Jeff Francoeur – RF
  8. Henry Blanco – C
  9. Mike Pelfrey – RHP

Oh, look… Cora is starting again.

Game Chat will be up at 3 p.m.

The back pages [Images]

NY PostNewsdayNYDN

Manuel’s Musing

Manuel's Musing “I didn't want him to pick up a bat after that.”

-Jerry Manuel on Jeff Francoeur

Game Recap: Mets 9 – Phillies 1

Baja Fresh!

The Good

Rod Barajas, of course.  3-4, 2 HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R.  Umm, yes please.  It also skyrocketed his average to .227 on the year.  Go Baja Go.

Going yard.  Adding to Barajas’ two blasts, David Wright and Jeff Francoeur both homered.  Citizens Bank Park plays like a little league field.

D-FENCE!  Jeff Francoeur and Jason Bay both made beautiful catches to limit the Phillies to just one run in the second inning.  Frenchy slammed into the wall and Bay showed his Canadian ups to haul one in.  Pretty.

How about Jon Niese?  Seven strong innings, allowing only four hits and the aforementioned run.  He walked only one and struck out seven.  Who’s my boy?  Jon Niese is my boy.

Angel Pagan leading off.  3-5, 2 RBI, R.  Enjoy that leadoff spot, it might be yours for a while.

The Mets only struck out three times, two of them by Jon Niese.

The Bad & Ugly

Frenchy had to leave the game after getting plunked in the seventh inning.  X-Rays came back negative and he is listed as day-to-day.  Guess you can pencil in GMJ in RF tomorrow.

Jenrry Mejia pitched more mop-up duty.  Yup, this was a great idea.

Game Ball

Jon Niese and Rod Barajas

On Deck

Mets and Phillies do it all over again, tomorrow at 3:10 p.m.