Another day brought another win for the Mets this afternoon, as they ran their season-high winning streak to six straight. Fernando Tatis snapped a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with his fourth home run of the year, and his second go-ahead shot in the last five days. The bullpen was lights out for the third straight day and hasn't allowed a run since almost giving back a 10-1 lead on Monday in Philadelphia. The sweep of the Giants was the Mets' first such feat since they took three straight from Washington from April 15-17, unless you count the three-game series at Yankee Stadium that was started in May and finished in June. The Phillies rebounded from a 2-0 loss in St. Louis on Tuesday to beat the Cardinals in two straight, so the Mets are currently 1.5 games out of first place heading into a three-game series against Colorado this weekend.
Of course the win is good, and the six-game winning streak is fantastic, but let's not get too carried away just yet. This team still has some glaring issues it will need to overcome on the way to a possible playoff run--and we shouldn't forget that these last three games were against a hapless Giants offense that only managed to muster nine hits in the entire series.
Despite his lively fastball and eight strikeouts, John Maine failed to get out of the fifth inning for the second time in his last three starts. Maine is unhittable at times (he only allowed two hits today, and only one--a home run to Ryan Howard--in his last start), but always seems to run deep counts on hitters, preventing him from going deep into games. The Mets coaching staff and broadcast crew have noted that he gives up an uncanny amount of foul balls, which raise his pitch count regardless of how well he is pitching. The Mets are fortunate that the All-Star break is right around the corner because between yesterday's rain delay and Maine's early exit today the bullpen has been used an alarming amount considering the Giants only scored three runs in those two games.
The other bit of bad news out of Mets camp today was Moises Alou's torn hamstring, which will likely sideline him for the remainder of the season. You can't help but feel bad for Alou, and naturally this is a detriment to the Mets' offensive plans, but the bright side is that now the front office actually knows for sure how much playing time they can expect from him: none, unfortunately. Hopefully this will trigger Omar Minaya to make a deal for an outfield bat with both Ryan Church and Alou on the disabled list again. The Mets' reserves are tearing it up right now, but who knows how long that will last? Tatis' resurgence has been a heartwarming story, and most importantly he has been coming through in the clutch, but sooner or later he is going to realize that it's not 1999, and Mets fans will realize that he is just a back-up at this point in his career. Damion Easley and Endy Chavez are both on fire recently but Easley is more of a role player whose value lies in his professionalism more than in his bat, and Chavez is merely a fourth outfielder with an outstanding glove and excellent speed. Don't get me wrong--I like both Easley and Chavez and think they are both very valuable to the team, but when they are no longer hitting a combined .412, like they are since June 28, the Mets will need a proven slugger to pick up the slack.
Around The League
After getting swept in a two-game series at Yankee Stadium, the Rays couldn't turn it around against the Indians, losing 13-2 tonight. Tampa's current four-game losing streak is their longest of the season, and it will be interesting to see how they respond.
Although the Tigers have been playing much better lately, they blew an early 6-2 lead against the Twins earlier today. Minnesota scored one run in the seventh inning, one in the eighth and two in the ninth off closer Todd Jones to send the game to extra innings. Justin Morneau belted a home run in the top of the 11th (his fifth hit of the game) to win it 7-6. Minnesota's bullpen tossed 7 1/3 shutout innings to keep the game in check. The Twins are perhaps the most surprising contender this season, sitting at 51-41, just three games back of both the White Sox for the division lead and the Red Sox for the Wild Card. Minnesota is a well-run organization that develops their players with a winning attitude and smart baseball sense from the minors all the way up. Despite a relative lack of stars, outside of Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer, they do all the little things right and win with speed, defense and timely hitting, rather than home runs and big contracts. As long as their young starting pitching stays healthy and consistent, the Twins could stay in the playoff hunt for the duration of the season, even after trading away Johan Santana in the Winter.
The Cubs and Brewers each added a front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher this week, so what did the Cardinals do to keep pace? Nothing yet, other than placing Mark Mulder back on the DL after just 16 pitches last night. It is unfortunate what has happened to Mulder since leaving Oakland. After one good season in St. Louis he has been absolutely riddled with injuries and has never been the same pitcher. I wonder if Billy Beane knew something we all didn't at the time...
Links of the Week
A story in the New York Times that chronicles Fernando Tatis' comeback: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/sports/baseball/01shea.html?
Apparently the Mets' handling of Ryan Church's concussions has provoked the players' union to seek a plan for these situations in the future, similar to the NFL: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/sports/baseball/10church.htm
If unlike me, you're not yet sick of talking about the Willie Randolph firing, this is an interesting and all-encompassing discussion on ESPN.com: http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=21106
An assessment of the Mets' chances in the second half: http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-sppow0710,0,540
Some recommendations to improve the logistics of the All-Star Game: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayso
A look at how the Minnesota Twins have found themselves in the playoff race, and whether or not they'll stay in it: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_je
A glimpse into what the Florida Marlins have been fighting against for years in their quest for a new stadium: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/599483.html
How the Cubs plan to keep Rich Harden off the DL: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080709-rich-har
An interesting SI interview with Cal Ripken, Jr.: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/richard_deitsch/07/03/qa.r
*Statistical information derived from www.baseballreference.com
Keywords: Billy Beane, Cal Ripken Jr., Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Damion Easley, Detroit Tigers, Endy Chavez, Fernando Tatis, Florida Marlins, Joe Mauer, John Maine, Justin Morneau, Mark Mulder, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Moises Alou, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Omar Minaya, Philadelphia Phillies, Rich Harden, Ryan Church, Ryan Howard, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Todd Jones, Willie Randolph
