Matthew Deutschman's New York Mets fan blog

    Mike Pelfrey has displayed the utmost kindness to Mets fans over his last two starts, sparing us the privilege of seeing the bullpen crumble.  The last time a Mets starter went the distance in back-to-back starts was 2001, when Rick Reed (one of my personal favorites) did so in his first two starts of the season, both against the Braves.  But, he lost the second game 2-0 to Greg Maddux, who allowed just one hit over seven innings.  John Rocker recorded the save.  For the last time a Mets starter won consecutive complete games we have to go back to June of 1995, when Bret Saberhagen beat Atlanta 4-2 and Florida 5-2, before the Mets dealt him to the Rockies at the trade deadline, for Juan Acevedo and, of course, Arnold Gooch.

    But the Mets won't be trading Pelfrey anytime soon.  At least not unless they bring back Dan Duquette as GM--Victor Zambrano anyone?  Despite rumors that Pelfrey's work will be limited from here on out, the 24-year-old has gotten stronger and stronger as the season has worn on.  His fastball had more life to it last night than at any point during his 2-6 April and May, and sinker-ballers usually get more downward action on their pitches with a little fatigue.  That said, it would still be unwise to overwork Pelfrey in unnecessary situations, but lately he has been incredibly economical, throwing just 108 pitches in each of his last two starts.  He has been throwing strikes early in the count and getting hitters to put the ball in play.  It helps that the Mets' defense has been playing spectacularly over the last month or so, committing only four errors in the last 32 games.  With John Maine back on the shelf with a bone spur in his pitching shoulder, the Mets will need all they can get out of Pelfrey down the stretch.

Continue reading "Eighteen Innings And Counting..."

    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 mystery of how Jerry Manuel will manage the bullpen was put on hold for a day, as Mike Pelfrey pitched his first career complete game Wednesday.  Pelfrey didn't even seem to have his best stuff, but he worked economically throughout the game and kept his pitch count down.  He only struck out three batters, mainly relying on aggressive Braves hitters putting the ball in play early in the count.  The only blemish was the sixth inning, which still could have been much worse.  Atlanta loaded the bases on a bunt single and two walks, but Pelfrey induced a double play grounder from Brian McCann, and he had a chance to escape with only one run allowed.  But he bounced a wild pitch to the next batter and Yunel Escobar scored from third, before Mark Kotsay lined out to left to end the inning.  Pelfrey settled down thereafter and cruised through the next three innings, retiring all nine batters on just 25 pitches.

Continue reading "Pelfrey Goes The Distance"

    The Mets' woes with the bases loaded finally ended Tuesday night when Carlos Delgado doubled off the wall in left to score two and put New York ahead 4-3 in the eighth.  Prior to Delgado's two-bagger, the Mets had just three hits in their last 42 at-bats with the bases loaded.  Then, after an intentional walk to Fernando Tatis, Damion Easley came up with a bases-loaded hit of his own, singling into left center to score two more runs.  Ramon Castro topped the five-run inning off with an RBI double down the line in left, and the Mets completed the comeback from a 3-2 eighth inning deficit.

    Oliver Perez didn't have his best stuff, but still managed to keep the team in the game through 6.1 innings, allowing only three runs despite giving up seven hits and five walks.  Luis Ayala relieved Perez with two runners on and one out in the seventh, and immediately endeared himself to Mets fans by brushing back Omar Infante with some chin music, and then retiring Infante and Brian McCann on successive pop-ups.  Aaron Heilman escaped a jam in the eighth without allowing a run, and Scot Schoenweis tossed a scoreless ninth to nail down the victory.

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.

    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."

    No, it wasn't the first perfect game ever thrown by a Mets pitcher, but it was a game that went exactly according to plan.  John Maine came off the DL in style last night, tossing five scoreless innings while allowing just one hit.  Although Maine was on a short leash with regard to pitch count, Brian Stokes made sure the bullpen got its rest, throwing four shutout innings of his own.  Stokes provided the time type of long relief outing New York's bullpen has sorely missed since the departure of Darren Oliver after the 2006 season.  The offense scored 12 runs to complement the stellar pitching, and Daniel Murphy and Fernando 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"

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.

    Since the inception of the American League in 1901, there was a bitter hatred between the team owners of both leagues, mostly spurred by AL owners raiding NL teams of their players.  In 1903, Barney Dreyfuss, the owner of the NL's Pittsburgh Pirates, offered an outstretched hand to Henry Killilea, the owner of the AL's pennant winner, the Boston Americans.  In the interests of furthering the scope of baseball as a sport, and of course making money, the two owners agreed to hold a best of nine series to determine the champion of baseball.  The Pirates were heavily favored over the representatives of the supposed second-class, upstart American League.

Continue reading "The First Fall Classic"

    Well, it's become quite obvious that the Mets desperately need to find someone else to close in Billy Wagner's absence.  When Wagner had to miss a game against the Phillies three weeks ago with forearm stiffness, Duaner Sanchez dropped the ball.  Since Wagner was placed on the DL last week, Heilman has been awful in two of his four ninth inning chances.  In order to put an end to the bullpen's pattern of implosion, Jerry Manuel offered two other options after yesterday's game:  Eddie Kunz and John Maine.

    Kunz closed for Oregon State's College World Series team in 2006 and was the closer for Double-A Binghamton before the Mets called him up to the big leagues.  The Mets drafted him with the intention of molding him into their closer of the future, since Wagner is 36 years old and has just one year left on his contract after this season.  Despite his lack of major league experience, he's actually the only pitcher on the Mets' staff other than Wagner with any sort of closing experience.  At first Manuel wanted to keep him out of high-pressure situations for the time being, but the ineptitude of the rest of the bullpen has forced the manager's hand.  Consistent with Manuel's comments after yesterday's game, Kunz will get an opportunity to close tonight, if necessary.

Continue reading "Mets' Season May Depend on Kunz"

    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.

    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"

    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.

    But after Pedro allowed a couple of baserunners in the seventh, David Wright made a costly error on a Brian Giles cue shot with two outs, that allowed Luis Rodriguez to score the go-ahead run.  Eddie Kunz allowed a solo homer, the first round-tripper he's given up in more than three years, for a bit of insurance, but it was no matter because the Mets went down in order against Trevor Hoffman, the all-time saves leader, in the ninth anyway, and the Padres evened the series at 1-1.  Wright had also made a significant baserunning error in the fifth inning, getting doubled off at first on a Carlos Beltran fly ball to right field.

Continue reading "Wright's Lapses Contribute to Mets' Loss, But Pedro and Murphy Shine"