What I missed

1. Oliver Perez DL’d with right knee patella tendonitis.

It’s bull and we all know it.  But anything that gets Perez to the DL and hopefully thoroughly through the minor leagues, while (again, hopefully) improving his ability as a pitcher is a good thing.  Unlikely, but a good thing.

Jon Niese took Ollie’s roster spot.

2. Mets win 4-3 on Friday night.

R.A. Dickey is awesome.  Three runs and seven hits over seven innings.  I like it.  He also went 2-3 at the plate, driving in one and scoring once.

3. Mets win 6-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Niese came back from the DL and was awesome.  Seven innings, allowing just the one run.  Ike Davis went 4-4, scoring three times.  David Wright went 2-3 with three RBI, including a monster two-run blast off the Acela Club.

The Mets go for the sweep at home today at 1:10 p.m.

GMJ DFA’d, Castillo DL’d, Santos, Tejada up

Luis Castillo, as expected, was sent to the disabled list.

So long, Gary Matthews Jr.  He was designated for assignment to make roster room.

Ruben Tejada is up to take over for Castillo, and is batting 8th tonight.

Omir Santos is up as Henry Blanco is a bit banged up.  Santos takes GMJ’s roster spot.

Manuel’s Musing

“One thing about Murph is that he’s a baseball player.”

-Jerry Manuel on Daniel Murphy

When I first saw this quote, I thought there was more to it or that it was taken out of context.  Or something.  I was wrong.

More bad news for Daniel Murphy

See you in 2011, Murphy.

Guess the Met! [Solved]

The rules are easy: I post a Mets player photo, but only reveal a tiny part of the image.  From there, your goal is to try and guess which player the photo is of.

No prizes, but pride and honor is on the line.

Here is today’s Guess the Met… Good luck!

Who is this hairy Met?  Post your guess in the comments!!

Guess this was was way too easy.  Seemingly everyone nailed it.  R.A. Dickey!

Why you can’t overturn Jim Joyce’s call

Armando Galarraga should have pitched a perfect game.  Jim Joyce’s blatantly wrong call at first base erased all hope.  But you can’t overturn it.

Hopefully Major League Baseball and the Detroit Tigers do something very special for Galarraga, as he pitched a brilliant game and was robbed of a chance at history.

Last night, after the Tigers game ended, I was IMing with Tejesh of Mets Prospect Hub, and was arguing over whether or not the play should be overturned or adjusted.  Tejesh thought it should be switched, I did not.

Here’s the example I used, with added detail…

Let’s say Johan Santana and Roy Halladay are locked up in a pitching duel at Citi Field.  It’s a one-game playoff to make it to the postseason.  Santana has allowed a few hits and walks, allowing only one run.  Halladay, though, is pitching a perfect game into the bottom of the 9th.

With two outs and the pitcher’s spot due up, Jerry Manuel decides to pinch-hit Gary Matthew’s Jr.  (Crazy, I know.)

GMJ ends up pulling a ball way down the right field line, which lands foul, but is called fair.  Jayson Werth runs over and falls down, breaking both his legs in the process.  The ball skips away and settles on the warning track.  Shane Victorino hustles over to the ball, but trips and breaks both his arms.  Matthews rounds the bases and ties the game for the Mets.

Now, the ball clearly landed foul, but the umpire determined it was a fair ball.  Because it’s not a home run clearing the wall, it’s not up for review.

The perfect game is ruined, but the Mets also managed to tie the game.  If your overturn it, you take a run off the board for the Mets to keep the perfect game intact.  Is that OK?  No.  Not at all.

(Yeah, I know, that will likely never happen, but it’s just an extreme example of why the play can’t be overturned.)

Galarraga was absolutely robbed of pitching a perfect game, but unless you institute replay for every play – be it balls and strikes, plays at first or home, etc. – you cannot overturn or call back Joyce’s call.  It stinks, but them’s the breaks.

Manuel’s Musing

“I can't watch him walk around out there like that. Come on Luis. Come on home and sit over here by me for a minute.”

-Jerry Manuel on watching Luis Castillo walk

Game Recap: Padres 5 – Mets 1

Poor Johan.

The Good

Johan Santana.  He didn’t have his best stuff tonight – far from it.  But he ended up throwing seven shutout innings.  He allowed as many hits as he did walks, five, but struck out three and kept a run from scoring while he was on the mound.  He was very wild, but was able to battle through it.

Jason Bay went 3-4, scoring the Mets only run.

The Bad & Ugly

The bullpen.  OK, I made an argument at the beginning of the season that the Mets had a decent bullpen with depth.  I was wrong.

K-Rod came on with a one run lead in the 8th for a four-out save.  He got three of them before allowing the tying run to score.  He ended up throwing 2 1/3 innings (46 pitches), which makes no sense to me.

After K-Rod was pulled, Jerry Manuel picked Raul Valdes to take over.  Here’s how the inning went for Valdes…

1. Leadoff double.
2. Fielder’s choice, runner out at third.
3. Single.
4. HBP.
5. Walk-off grand slam.

The leadoff double was bad, but he eliminated that runner with a nice play to get the lead guy.  Then: disaster.  Should have seen it coming, though.

Game Ball

Santana, poor guy.

On Deck

Off day Thursday, back home (yay!) on Friday to take on the Marlins.

Daniel Murphy injured, carried off in Buffalo

Daniel Murphy, who was playing second base for the Bisons, was injured and had to be carried off the field.

Tough break.

Random facts & stats

I’m a little sidetracked by applying for jobs, but here are some interesting facts on the 2010 Mets for this Wednesday…

• Jason Bay leads the Mets in plate appearance with 227.
• Bay also leads the teams in hits with 56.
• Most runs?  That also belongs to Bay with 33.
• David Wright edges out Bay for most doubles on the team, 13 to 12.
• We have a tie for most triples: Jose Reyes and Bay each have four.
• The Mets do not have a .300 hitter.
• Bay leads the Mets in OBP.
• Wright and Jeff Francoeur each have grounded into six double plays.  Reyes, the guy who is “so hard to double up,” has hit into five.
• Though a lot of people worry about Francisco Rodriguez not getting into enough games, he is third on the team with 24 appearances.
• Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana have each allowed 61 hits.
• John Maine and Oliver Perez have each allowed 27 earned runs.
• K-Rod has a 10.4 K/9.
• Pelfrey and Santana have each thrown upwards of 1,100 pitches.  No other pitcher has eclipsed 800.

Carry on.