Pedro Feliciano

ond, and the 27th of the season for the Mets' bullpen.  The two runs Atlanta tacked on against Pedro Feliciano were just gravy, as the Mets came up empty in the bottom of the ninth against Mike Gonzalez.  Meanwhile, the Phillies swept a double header from the Brewers to pull within a game of the Mets (two in the loss column) for the lead in the NL East.

Continue reading "Ayala Joins The Blown Save Party"

.  And did anyone 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.

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

ser backfired in its first attempt, and Duaner Sanchez 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"

    The Mets blew leads of 3-0 and 4-3 on Sunday, and Pedro Feliciano gave up two solo bombs in the 10th inning to give New York their second straight loss against the Astros.  Oliver Perez had just one rocky inning, allowing a sacrifice fly to Mark Loretta and a two-run homer to Hunter Pence in the fourth, but Aaron Heilman couldn't hold the one-run lead in the seventh.  He allowed hits to both batters he faced, but was credited with recording an out when Fernando Tatis gunned Geoff Blum out at the plate in the seventh.  The homers Feliciano allowed in the 10th came from two players who had combined for a total of three taters all season until their extra-inning blasts.  You know you don't have your best stuff on a particular day when you give up a go-ahead home run to a defensive replacement (Brad Ausmus).

Continue reading "Feliciano Blows Up In 10th"

  The suspense mounted.

    When the Mets came to bat in the top of the ninth Pedro Feliciano was warming up in the bullpen, presumably because the left-handed Willie Harris was due to lead off, but the rest of the ninth would be anyone's guess.  However, the Mets scored four more runs on Damion Easley's pinch-hit two-run single and Washington's sloppy defense, to put the game out of reach.  Aaron Heilman pitched a scoreless ninth, and the Mets avoided a save situation.

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

, 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"

solid pitching, allowing just two runs over 6.2 innings, despite not having his best sinker.  Pedro Feliciano then came in and got four outs to bridge the Mets to the ninth, leading 6-2.  With Billy Wagner on the DL, Jerry Manuel turned to Aaron Heilman, and then the floodgates opened.  Heilman walked the 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"

nbsp; Then, in the tenth, Heilman put the first two runners on base before handing the ball over to Pedro Feliciano.  Feliciano actually did not pitch poorly, striking out the first batter he faced and then allowing the game-ending sacrifice fly on a weakly hit liner by Darin Erstad.  Fernando Tatis made an excellent catch on Erstad’s sinking flare, but was unable to throw Lance Berkman out at the plate.

Continue reading "Shaky Pen Gets Mets Swept By 'Stros"

now the entire bullpen is in a bit of a rut.  Duaner Sanchez seems to be in a dead-arm 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"

Then came Manuel's first mistake of the game.  Why pitch around Jacobs instead of bringing in Pedro Feliciano?  If Muniz gets you four outs without blowing the game, you take your money and run.  But instead, Manuel had Muniz put the tying run on base and pitch to Cody Ross, who tied the game at 2-2 with his RBI single.  Then, Manuel brought in Feliciano to strike out the Baker.  If bringing in Feliciano to face just one batter was an option anyway, then Manuel should have brought him in to face Jacobs.  I might even have used Schoenweis in that situation, and saved Feliciano for a full inning later in the game, instead of Schoenweis, who ultimately pitched poorly anyway.

Continue reading "Mets Fried By Fish, Maine Leaves Early"

over to Duaner Sanchez.  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"

ez, 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"