Pittsburgh Pirates

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

    With two outs in the top of the eighth inning it looked like the Mets would leave Philadelphia last night with their collective tail between their legs.  Brad Lidge, who still hasn't blown a save all season, was warming up in the Phillies' pen, and the New York offense had only mustered two runs and 12 hits in the previous 16.2 innings, going back to the fifth inning of Tuesday's game.  But Carlos Delgado, who had homered in the sixth to cut Philly's lead to 3-2, sliced 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"

story Tidbit of the Week:  Not Perfect Enough

May 26, 1959:  Milwaukee Braves 1, Pittsburgh Pirates 0, 13 Innings

    On Memorial Day in 1959, Pittsburgh's Harvey Haddix completed arguably the most impressive pitching performance in baseball history--but it wasn't quite good enough.  He faced the Braves, who had won the National League pennant in 1957 and '58, and were soundly in first place at 23-14.  Milwaukee's ace, Lew Burdette took the mound against Haddix, bolstered by a lineup that featured four All-Stars that year, including Johnny Logan at short, catcher Del Crandall, and future Hall-of-Famers Eddie Mathews at third and, of course, Hank Aaron in right.

Continue reading "Delgado, Easley Spark Comeback Against Braves"

    Another solid outing from Oliver Perez and another offensive onslaught sealed the Mets' 9-3 win, and a three-game sweep over the Nationals.  The Mets cruised through the first six innings behind Perez's dominance, 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."

Baseball History Tidbit of the Week

1903 World Series:  Boston Americans (AL) 5, Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 3

    Sometime this October, the best team from the American League will play against the best team from the National League in the World Series, to determine the best team in baseball.  No one will dispute the legitimacy of one of the leagues, and no one will question the means by which the two competing teams were chosen.  It hasn't always been that simple though.

Continue reading "The First Fall Classic"

    Since when is a four-run, seventh inning lead against a team 17.5 games out of first place not safe?  Since the Mets' bullpen hit rock bottom.

    The Mets' plan for Monday afternoon's makeup game against the Pirates was to get on top early and send Pittsburgh packing quickly.  When David Wright knocked a three-run home run to right center in the first, and Pedro Martinez allowed only one run through six innings, the game seemed to be following how it was scripted.  But then on came the New York bullpen.

Continue reading "Heilman Heads Up Another Bullpen Meltdown"

    When Pedro Martinez allowed a home run to Jody Gerut on the first pitch of the game, it already didn't look good.  Then, when he allowed another one just two batters later, it looked like it was definitely going to be a long day for Pedro and the Mets.  But Pedro settled down beautifully and allowed just two hits the rest of the way in his 6.1 innings pitched Wednesday night.  His curveball and change-up were both working well, forcing San Diego hitters to hit ground balls or pop up, as they were regularly off balance.

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

    Sure enough, just after I wrote about how I’d like to see Jerry Manuel try to stretch Aaron Heilman for some more two-inning relief appearances, Heilman blew a tie game in his second inning of work on Friday night.  After getting through the seventh inning cleanly, Heilman loaded the bases in the eighth and gave up a game-winning grand slam to pinch hitter Mark Loretta.  To add insult to injury (literally, considering the ailing arms of John Maine and Billy Wagner), Heilman was tagged with the loss again on Saturday in another collapse of sorts from the Mets’ bullpen.  This one was a group effort though, with Scott Schoenweis and Billy Wagner contributing to the blown 4-1 lead.  After yet another solid, but insufficiently long, outing from Johan Santana, Schoenweis allowed a solo home run to Kaz Matsui, who has killed the Mets, hitting .438 against his former team over the last three years.  Wagner then gave up a bizzare two-run single to Geoff Blum with the bases loaded in the ninth to blow the save, as both runners crashed into one another and Ramon Castro all at once at the plate.  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"

    The trade deadline is approaching and the Mets still have some needs to fill.  It's still unknown whether Ryan Church will be able to come back and play everyday, so a corner outfielder is certainly a priority.  On Monday Jerry Manuel named Fernando Tatis the everyday left fielder, but his red-hot month may not, and probably will not, last.  Even if Tatis remains decent as a starter, the uncertainty surrounding Church's health calls for a stronger bench.  Endy Chavez is an excellent defensive replacement outfielder, but when he plays everyday he eventually gets exposed offensively, so he is really more suited to a role as a fourth outfielder.  Casey Blake would have been a good fit because he can play both corner outfield positions as well as first base, but he has already been traded to the Dodgers.

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

    Neither the good nor the bad version of Oliver Perez showed up on Thursday at Shea--the spectacular version came to play against the Phillies.  Perez struck out 12 batters over 7.2 innings, including six whiffs of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, as he out-dueled Jamie Moyer, who pitched a gem of his own.  Carlos Delgado came through with the big hit, a two-run double off the previously unhittable J.C. Romero, in the eighth, and Billy Wagner nailed down the win in the ninth with his 26th save.  Fittingly, Jimmy Rollins, who did not start because he arrived an hour late to the ballpark, made the final out of the game.  After Tuesday night's ninth inning meltdown, the bullpen tossed 4.1 scoreless innings, including back-to-back saves by Wagner, and the Mets took two of three from Philadelphia, despite losing the first game of the series.  New York is now 9-4 against the Phillies this season.

Continue reading "Mets Continue to Roll Behind Delgado, ..."

It’s the annual midpoint of the baseball season, and for the brief span that is the All-Star break, all eyes are upon the Bronx. As everyone is well aware of, this campaign is the last go around for the world’s most famous, largest, and most prominent ballpark, Yankee Stadium. It seems hard to believe, and even more sacrilegious that this living legend’s days are numbered. Built in 1923 and christened by the greatest ballplayer to ever live, Babe Ruth, the cathedral of baseball will never truly be replaced. Although the Bombers will move a block to Yankee Stadium’s heir, the Mecca of America’s Pastime will still live on in our hearts. Whether you’re a diehard Yankee fan, or Yankee-hater, you still can respect the history and awe that the stadium brings. So when the All-Stars take the field Tuesday night, sit back on your couch, crack open a cold one and soak up the history of Yankee Stadium, as its final chapter is unveiled to all of us.

Continue reading "National League Looks to End Rut"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

    Mike Pelfrey pitched another gem Sunday night, throwing eight shutout innings in the Mets' 7-0 victory over the Rockies, and won his sixth straight start.  New York cruised through their six-game homestand, outscoring the Giants and Rockies 31-4 with four shutouts to boot.  They now stand just a half game behind the Phillies for first place in the NL East.

Continue reading "Big Pelf and the Mets Take Nine Into ..."

    This time last week the Mets were 4.5 games behind Philadelphia entering their pivotal four-game series with the division leaders.  After Johan Santana gave up a 2-0 lead and Duaner Sanchez allowed the winning run in the ninth, the horizon looked bleak for the orange and blue.  However, since that devastating defeat, New York has racked up six straight wins and the Mets now find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East.  During the winning streak the Mets have scored an average of seven runs per game while yielding only three per contest, including back-to-back shutouts of the Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Continue reading "Mets Go For Seven Straight Tonight at Shea"

Food for thought: Ryan Doumit (Pittsburgh Pirates), 10 HR, 25 RBI, .330 AVG., despite missing over 30 games.  

Lance Berkman 1B – Houston Astros

The National League Central is by far the best division for first basemen, with the likes of Albert Pujols, Derrek Lee, Prince Fielder, and Lance Berkman. The All-Star starter seems to rotate amongst the quartet, and this year is definitely the year of Berkman.  His numbers are out of this world, and provide an ample amount of evidence that everything is bigger in Texas. The ‘Big Puma’ is leading the league in slugging, OPS, runs, and extra base hits. Also he is the runner up in several categories from homers to batting average to hits and doubles. Without a doubt, Berkman deserves to be anchoring the National League infield at first.

Continue reading "Mic's National League All-Star Team"

Sorry for the Blog Pause--went out of town to the wedding of a friend of mine, but now I'm back and back strong, to conclude my review of the unsung heroes of the 1961 Yankees infield. We're finishing with that all-important position of shortstop, Tony Kubek, who was an anchor for that 1961 team, both in the field and at the plate. He's also one of the great woulda-coulda-shoulda players, someone that many argue would have been one of the greatest Yankee shortstops ever, had his career not been cut short by injury.

Continue reading "Around The Horn With The '61 Yankees: SS"

in the top third of the league, something Milwaukee will need in order to compete with the Cubs.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Is there anything to be excited about in Pittsburgh?

Aside from a couple of good young pitchers in Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny, and the probable debut of centerfielder Andrew McCutchen, not a thing. In typical fashion, the Pirates did nothing to improve themselves over the winter and their awful player development leaves little to be excited about in the future. McCutchen, who will start the season in AAA, is a top 15 prospect according to Scouts, Inc. with the potential for 30 plus home runs. Even when he does get the call to the Majors, it may be a while before we see fireworks. That leaves Pittsburgh with another season of at least 90 losses.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: NL Central"