Joe Smith

managed a measly two singles in 30 at-bats in the two games.

    Mike Pelfrey and Joe Smith pitched phenomenally last night, but their efforts were squandered as the Mets' bats came up empty against the great Odalis Perez.  There were three key plays that had a major impact on the outcome of last night's game:

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

nyone notice that the bullpen pitched three scoreless innings?  Brian Stokes, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith and Luis Ayala all did their jobs last night, and for that they deserve credit.

Thought of the Week:  Pitchers Only Known for Giving Up Big Home Runs

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

ez can't seem to get anybody out anymore.  Pedro Feliciano is only useful against lefties, and Joe Smith is only useful against righties, but they never seem to pitch well on the same day.  Scott Schoenweis is inconsistent at best, and Aaron Heilman is either brilliant or terrible.  Last night Heilman gave the Mets three scoreless, albeit difficult, innings, but who knows what to expect his next time out?  In my August 12 blog, I statistically broke down Heilman's appearances to that point.  He actually hasn't allowed a run since then, and has overall looked best when he pitches on back-to-back days.  Jerry Manuel will need to find the right mix with the pitchers he has now, but to this point he hasn't found the right pattern.

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

ance, and built a 5-0 lead, but Perez ran out of gas in the seventh and gave back three runs.  Joe Smith got the final out of the inning, and it appeared that the rest of the game would be an interesting test of the New York bullpen.  Smith got the first out in the eighth but ran into some trouble after walking Lastings Milledge and Austin Kearns, so Jerry Manuel called upon Duaner Sanchez.  Sanchez got out of the inning unscathed and the Mets had a 5-3 lead after eight.  The suspense mounted.

Continue reading "Mets Finish Off Sweep in D.C."

be following how it was scripted.  But then on came the New York bullpen.

    Joe Smith started the seventh inning with a 5-1 lead, and promptly walked the lead-off batter, and allowed him to score on a double by pinch hitter Freddy Sanchez.  5-2, Mets.  Enter Pedro Feliciano.  After Nate McLouth, the Pirates' best hitter, gave the Mets a gift of an out on a sacrifice bunt, Feliciano walked Luis Rivas on four pitches and gave up an RBI double to Doug Mientkiewicz.  Ryan Doumit followed with a sacrifice fly to chase Feliciano and pull Pittsburgh to within one run.  Duaner Sanchez came on to retire Andy LaRoche to end the seventh, and tossed a hitless eighth to keep the 5-4 lead in tact.  Enter Aaron Heilman.  After striking out McLouth, Heilman looked like he might cruise to his third straight save.  But he then fell behind 3-0 on Rivas, who singled to left, and walked Mientkiewicz to put the go-ahead run on base.  Doumit smacked a line drive off the right field wall for the game-tying RBI single, and Heilman hit LaRoche to load the bases.  5-5.  Enter Scott Schoenweis.  Damion Easley threw home on a hard smash by Brandon Moss to nail Mientkiewicz at the plate, and it looked like Schoenweis might preserve the tie.  But Steve Pearce had a different idea.  With the merry-go-round in motion on a full count, Pearce lined a single into left center to score two runs.  7-5, Pirates.  Exit Mets.

Continue reading "Heilman Heads Up Another Bullpen Meltdown"

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"

rm period, Pedro Feliciano has been inconsistent since the All-Star break, and Scott Schoenweis and Joe Smith have had their ups and downs as well.  But Heilman's two innings yesterday, coming off his three innings on Saturday, might give Jerry Manuel the assurance that he can pitch the sixth and seventh, or seventh and eighth, in a tight game in front of Wagner.  Now of couse, knowing Heilman, he could pitch terribly his next time out and struggle to get through even one inning.  But if the starters can continue to go a little deeper into games, like they have been more frequently of late, and Manuel uses Heilman expediently, he could pick up his share of two-inning holds and be effective in that type of role.

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

anchez.  The bottom line is that a quartet of major league pitchers (Sanchez, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith and Aaron Heilman) absolutely need to be capable of recording three outs without allowing three runs, let alone six runs.  I don't know what it is about the ninth inning, but some pitchers are just not cut out to pitch in those situations.

Continue reading "Billy Wagner Never Looked So Good"

o not want to trade Endy Chavez, and I do not want to cripple the bullpen by trading Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, Duaner Sanchez or Pedro Feliciano.  Scott Schoenweis is expendable but probably does not have much value, as is the case with most other Mets players outside their untradeable core, and that will be Omar Minaya's main obstacle in getting an outfield bat before the trading deadline.

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