Game Chat will be up at 7 p.m.
I will be on WQAQ.com from 7-10 p.m. tonight, but I should be tracking the game via Gameday, Twitter, etc.
First, a little about me: I'm taking over the Mets beat from Marty Noble, whom you may have followed over at Noble Thoughts. I began at MLB.com as an intern in 2007, then did backup work on the Mets and Yankees beats over the last two seasons. Starting today, I will be covering the Mets full time.
-Anthony DiComo on his blog, Mets Cetera
Marty Noble is not retiring, just cutting down on his work. DiComo is taking over full time starting today.
And for you tweeters, you can follow DiComo: @AnthonyDiComo
Is it a good thing or a bad thing when the team loses and they’re still on the back page?
Also, same photo for Newsday and the Daily News.
It’s just one game.
Unfortunately, that was the Mets ace, Johan Santana. Unfortunately, it came right behind Mike Pelfrey’s also bad game. Unfortunately, it happened on national TV. Unfortunately, it happened against the Phillies.
But one game doesn’t make the season.
Yes, we know “every game counts the same,” but one bad game isn’t going to tank the year. If/When David Wright or Jason Bay go 0-4 with three strikeouts and 8 left on base, we all say, “Just get them next time!” But if Santana goes out and gets shelled, suddenly everyone see the four horsemen riding in ready to destroy the world – or at the very least, the Mets season.
But it’s just one game. If Santana comes out and gets shelled in his next start, I’ll start to worry – quietly and to myself.
If he gets shellacked in his next two, I’ll express my worry.
If he gets pounded in the next three, four or five games, I’m packing it in.
But what we saw last night is the inevitable crapping of the bed by a superstar. Every now and then, they should be allowed to lose, to fail, to underperform.
-Jerry Manuel
Can we go back to April?
Power. Home runs from Rod Barajas and David Wright accounted for all the runs scored by the Mets. A three-run blast from Wright in the top of the first inning and Barajas with a two-run bomb.
Yeah, that’s it.
Johan Santana was tagged for 10 earned runs in only 3.2 IP. He walked two and struck out only one. Staked to a 3-0 lead early, he allowed two solo home runs in the bottom of the first. It all came apart with two outs in the fourth inning as nine straight Phillies reached base. Santana walked Jamie Moyer with the bases loaded, then surrendered a grand slam to Shane Victorino. A batter later, he served up a bomb to Chase Utley. How very, very disheartening.
Gary Matthews Jr. went 0-4 leading off. Why he was there, no one knows.
David Wright
The Mets escape to Cincinnati for a 7:10 p.m. start tomorrow night.
Well this is a strange lineup.
Game Chat will be up at 8 p.m.
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.
-Jerry Manuel on Roy Halladay
Understatement of the century?
