Carlos Beltran

As if the 2009 season couldn't get any worse for the Metropolitans, Pedro Martinez had to go and embarrass them on national television last night. While Tim Redding (who I can't stand) pitched his ass off for the Mets, their anemic offense couldn't help him out. The Phillies' famously potent lineup was held to just one run...

Continue reading "Pedro sticks it to his old mates"

up in the offseason.

The Mets put yet another star on the disabled list, this time center fielder Carlos Beltran. He joins Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes on the DL, and that's just in the lineup.

Continue reading "The 2009 New York Mets are Finally the Underdogs"

(Note: I posted this a couple of days ago on my other blog at FanNation.)

When it comes to the Mets' starting rotation, I think all of their replacement-level options are better than Tim Redding. Redding's stuff is disgraceful, and his general approach to the craft of pitching is laughable. He's been embarrassed in his last two starts -- recently against the Marlins, and the Red Sox before that -- and there is little-to-no indication of potential improvement. I don't think there is any doubt at this point...

Continue reading "I've Had Enough of Tim Redding."

Jose Reyes-SS

2. Daniel Murphy-LF

3. Carlos Beltran-CF

4. David Wright-3B

5. Ryan Church-RF

6. Ramon Martinez-2B

7. Jeremy Reed-1B

8. Omir Santos-C

Notice the three highlighted players: Church, Martinez, and Reed. If you don't already know, Church got himself picked off of first base in the previous night's game, and then proceeded to miss third base after Angel Pagan's clutch shot to the right-center gap. 

Continue reading "Jerry Manuel Must Be Fired. Now!!!"

All right, so I've jumped the gun a little (the Mets are 21-17, giving them 38 games played, which means they're shy of the 1/4 season mark), but I haven't been too active on this blog and I'd like to get up to speed.

Continue reading "The New York Mets: A Quarter Season in Review"

9 season and the Mets have proven so far to be just as maddingly inconsistent as they've been since Carlos Beltran left the bat on his shoulder in '06. I must say I was proud of the team (and understandbly shocked) by the moxie they showed in winning the first three games of their series against the Giants, including some late night heroics against that guy from the Beach Boys. Of course I remain convinced that they won because I only watched about 15 minutes of the games all weekend. But Sunday's game just goes to show why the Mets make me insane. To look at Mike Pelfrey's stat line one would think he had an impressive outing. And in many ways he did but ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Only the Mets have a guy get such a bad case of the "yips" that he commits THREE balks in one game and gets taken out after only 79 pitches. Oh yeah and then there was the offense. What does this team have against hitting with the bases loaded? I want to know what the record is for double plays grounded into with the sacks juiced. I swear other than the grand-slams from Omir Santos and Fernando Tatis it seems like the Mets never get more than a run from these situations. Can I see a bases clearing double please? I miss the days of Robin Ventura hitting a grand salami in each game of a double header.

Continue reading "Team Inconsistency"

lso brought in Pedro Martinez, who restored the Mets to some respectability and allowed him to sign Carlos Beltran, and he traded for Carlos Delgado, another instrumental part of the core of the Mets team that has been competitive every season with Minaya on board.  Other useful acquisitions include Paul LoDuca, Darren Oliver, Jose Valentin, Duaner Sanchez, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Endy Chavez, Ryan Church, Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis.

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse ..."

esult, many have opined that the Mets’ core of offensive talent (Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran) is simply unable to take the team to the next level, and should be broken up via trades.  Let’s take a look at what getting rid of those players would mean for the Mets, one by one.

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse ..."

inal 17 games of the season.  Oliver Perez pitched well enough to win through 5.1 innings, and Carlos Beltran provided a huge game-tying two-run homer in the sixth, but the bullpen didn’t hold up its end of the bargain.  Scott Schoenweis and Luis Ayala gave up back-to-back home runs in the eighth, and the offense couldn’t fashion a comeback.  The Mets fell one win short of the playoffs, just like last year.

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse"

  The Mets 3-4-5 hitters are a combined 1-23 so far this series, and Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado have managed a measly two singles in 30 at-bats in the two games.

Continue reading "Mets In First Place...For The Wild Card?"

iced a liner over the left field fence to tie the game at three and spark the Mets's offense.  Carlos Beltran followed with an infield hit, and stole second.  With first base open, Brad Lidge walked Ryan Church intentionally, but Daniel Murphy made him pay, doubling down the right field line to bring home Beltran with the go-ahead run.  The hit parade continued with Brian Schneider's flare to left, which put the icing on the cake.  New York's four-run eighth inning clinched a two-game split in Philadelphia, and catapulted the Mets back into first place by a half game.

Continue reading "Delgado's Two Bombs Save The Day"

d, or with the tying run at least on deck) games, Carlos Delgado has batted .194 this season, while Carlos Beltran has batted just .235.  David Wright has hit just .231 with two outs and RISP, while Beltran has hit just .164 in those situations.  In the final three innings of games, Wright has hit only .232 and Beltran has hit just .217.  All season long the Mets' best hitters have struggled in extra innings.  Jose Reyes' batting average in the 10th inning or later is .235 and Beltran's is .167.  In the ninth inning or later Carlos Delgado's average is just .176.  Far too often this season the Mets' offense has poured it on early and then gone to sleep, while the bullpen allowed the opposition to chip away and get back in the game.

Continue reading "Seven Runs: Too Little, Too Early"

when you give up a go-ahead home run to a defensive replacement (Brad Ausmus).

    Carlos Beltran's two home runs shone as a bright spot on an otherwise dismal Sunday on which the Phillies and Marlins each pulled a game closer to the Mets in the division.  Philadelphia and New York are tied in the loss column, but the Mets hold the slim half-game advantage with one more victory than the Phillies' 71.  The Marlins, who cannot yet be declared out of it, are five games behind New York, in third place.  The Mets finish up their four-game series with Houston tonight at Shea, and will look to salvage a split behind Mike Pelfrey, who is tied with Johan Santana with a team-high 12 wins.  Who would have thought that would be the case on June 11 when Big Pelf was 2-6?  Brian Moehler gets the nod for the Astros, who are looking to take six of seven from the Mets this season.

Continue reading "Feliciano Blows Up In 10th"

ndo Tatis each homered to lead the onslaught.  Jose and Argenis Reyes had two hits apiece, and Carlos Beltran drove in two, as New York scored eight runs in the third inning to put it away early.  Things are looking pretty good for the time being, but the real test will come the next time the Mets have a slim lead late in a game.

Continue reading "Perfect Game Moves Mets Back Into First"

ad also made a significant baserunning error in the fifth inning, getting doubled off at first on a Carlos Beltran fly ball to right field.

    Other than Pedro's performance, a good thing to take out of this game was the continued impressive play of Daniel Murphy.  Despite not having played the outfield at a professional level prior to this year, Murphy played his third straight solid game in left field, and he has looked excellent at the plate as well.  With three hits Wednesday night he is now hitting .455 (5-11).  But most importantly, he has drawn three walks and worked four counts of six pitches or more in 14 plate appearances.  That kind of patience and mature plate presence has made Murphy a fantastic fit for the number two hole, a spot in the batting order he has manned the last two nights.  He has taken outside pitches to the opposite field, and proved he can go the other way with authority, driving an RBI double to left center on Tuesday night.  In Ryan Church's absence for the time being, Murphy has stepped up and looks like a good complement to Fernando Tatis as a fellow super-back-up who is currently playing in the Mets' starting lineup.

Continue reading "Wright's Lapses Contribute to Mets' ..."

he first batter and the second reached on a misplayed pop-up that fell in between Argenis Reyes and Carlos Beltran.  He recorded an out on a fielder's choice, but then Jody Gerut hit a three-run bomb over the right field fence, and suddenly it was 6-5.  Joe Smith and Scott Schoenweis entered to retire a batter each and save the game, but the victory left a bad taste in any fan's mouth because of the continued struggles of the bullpen, namely Aaron Heilman, in Wagner's stead.

Continue reading "Heilman Nearly Wastes Efforts of Pelfrey and Tatis"

lead on Monday.  David Wright gave the Mets an early lead with an RBI double in the first and Carlos Beltran put New York ahead with a rare two-out RBI single in the sixth.  Carlos Delgado jacked a two-run homer in the eighth for insurance, and Heilman pitched two scoreless innings for the hold, before Billy Wagner tossed a perfect ninth for his 27th save.

Continue reading "Heilman Holds Perez's Lead, Delgado Puts it Away"

or league talent in return.  There have been rumors of a Manny Ramirez and Jacoby Ellsbury for Carlos Beltran trade.  Beltran is not worth the money the Mets are paying him, he has not lived up to the expectations he created for himself in the 2005 playoffs, and he is very streaky offensively.  However, his millions of critics in the New York metropolitan area are usually irrational.  Beltran is one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball, and offensively, despite his cold streaks, he is still in the top three at his position.  Although he has struggled to a .145 batting average with runners in scoring position and two outs this year, he actually has been a very solid clutch performer in his career, hitting .306 with RISP.  With all that said, if that particular deal presents itself Omar Minaya would have to pull the trigger.  Ellsbury is a very good outfielder with a pretty good offensive upside, and Ramirez's bat is uncomparable.  However, drawbacks of Manny Ramirez include the possibility that he is just a rental player for the remainder of this season, and the inevitable headaches that come with Manny "being Manny."

Continue reading "Trade Market: Will The Mets Be Involved?"

derstandable to some extent, but the alternative of having men on second and third with no outs and Carlos Beltran at the plate immediately makes third base coach Luis Aguayo's decision a bad one.  The second time was a horrendous decision considering that Chavez had to hesitate to make sure David Wright's line drive made it over Chase Utley's head, and that Jayson Werth was already in shallow right center when he fielded the ball.  Granted, Aguayo is new at coaching third, but I certainly hope Jerry Manuel had a firm discussion with him after the game to ensure that he doesn't cost the Mets any more games.

Continue reading "Billy Wagner Never Looked So Good"

Phillies for the lead in the NL East.  Lately it hasn't only been Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran leading the offense; Carlos Delgado has been on fire recently and came through with the clutch, game-tying hit in the seventh inning on Sunday, and the Mets' bench players have been carrying the torch as well.  The "irregulars," (as Mets television broadcaster Gary Cohen puts it) such as Fernando Tatis, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley and Ramon Castro, have been igniting the Mets' offense for the past three weeks.  But two new players with anything but household names were just as instrumental to the Mets' success in Cincy as anyone getting paid upwards of $12 million per year:  Argenis Reyes and Robinson Cancel.

Continue reading "Makeshift Mets Back In First, But ..."

  I guess they realized I'm almost out of Pepto and gave me the break I was looking for.  Carlos Beltran belted a three-run home run off Giants ace Tim Lincecum in the first inning and Carlos Delagado and Fernando Tatis each homered later in the game to lead the Mets to their fourth straight win.

Continue reading "Pelfrey and the Mets Finally Make It Easy"