GAME 107: METS @ PADRES — After Mets Take 3-of-4 in SF, Dickey Goes For Number 15 in SD

By Blazing Fastball

Before today’s pregame, for anyone who might have missed it, I’d like to briefly draw everyone’s attention to the past couple days’ comments here about the MetCave and the DN blog. I know that some of us review the prior thread’s comments each day, so I won’t rehash that discussion here, but it’s important to me to clear any air that needs clearing.

Wednesday night, Gregg asked me to clarify my “goals” concerning (mostly my) recruitment of the “missing” members of our merry band of Mets marauders. In my haste to get back to the DVR, my poorly-worded “clarification” apparently only made matters worse, giving an unintended impression, and Gregg took offense. Some of you have already weighed in, at all hours, day and night.

Everything here is right out in the open, so if you have a minute, please do go review these comments. Either way, if I’ve been remiss in addressing anyone’s concerns about this issue, or too flip in my attempt to do it properly in the rapid-fire live game-thread, let me make amends right here, right now — so, as I wrote in the comments this afternoon, we can all move forward with our METS conversation.

Again, I sincerely apologize to Gregg and everyone else — for any offense or misunderstanding resulting from my words or deeds while trying to get this site off the ground and healthy. It’s NEVER been my intention for that to come at the expense of Bill Price or the BB.

I’m proud of what we’ve done so far. If I ever seem overzealous, it’s only the Mets fan in me.
And, now, that METS conversation I love so much ….

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So, what can you say about the past two days?

After getting humbled by the previously-putrid Tim Lincecum on Tuesday night, the Mets provide us with polar opposite performances, yet slip quietly out of San Francisco after taking 3-of-4 from a first place team.

Wednesday night, unfathomable ineptitude with 19 baserunners on board produces only 2 — TWO!! — skinny runs, but somehow Jon Niese AND Bobby99 pick this night to tell Pass what he can do with his front door.

Then, yesterday — with a lineup featuring Ronnie Cedeno, Jason Bay, Rob Johnson and Chris Young — your basic 9-1 blowout. Baseball. Gotta love it. Fantastic bounce-back by Young, by the way. And, finally, a game that was … PEN PROOF!

Considering the shape the Mets were in when they left New York last week, a series win in San Diego would spell a wildly successful 7-4 trip, not the Bataan Death March some of us (hi there!) anticipated.

The weekend pitching matchups (thanks, ESPN Mets Blog) are as follows:

METS (52-54, third place/NL East) vs. PADRES (44-63, fourth place/NL West)

Friday: RHP R.A. Dickey (14-2, 2.83) vs. LHP Clayton Richard (7-11, 4.14), 10:05 p.m. ET

Saturday: RHP Jeremy Hefner (1-4, 5.52) vs. RHP Edinson Volquez (7-7, 3.51), 8:35 p.m. ET

Sunday: LHP Matt Harvey (1-1, 1.59) vs. RHP Jason Marquis (4-6, 4.08), 4:05 p.m. ET

ESPN also recaps SD’s pre-deadline long term deals. They re-upped left fielder Carlos Quentin (3 years, 2.7 billion pennies, no trade clause) and closer Huston Street (extending him for 2 more years, plus club option on 2015 — at $7 million per — very cap-friendly in today’s closer market).

Street has been ridiculous so far in SD: 17 straight scoreless appearances, opposing BA .060 (3-for-47) with three BBs and 21 Ks during those 16-innings — and 17-for-17 in save opportunities. This deal squashes any further rumblings of the Mets trying to pry him loose from the struggling, possibly salary-dumping, Padres. No comment from the Geren family. Kidding aside, when those rumors were flying last month, the kid sacked up and said the friction with Geren in Oakland was at least half his own fault, and that he’d have no problem being teammates with his old manager in NY.

In other SD tidbits, shortstop Everth Cabrera is 18-for-18 in steal attempts. Holy shmoly. New club record for unpunished thievery to open a season. Also went 15-for-15 in the minors this season. Starting to sense a pattern here?

I know Tejada’s been solid, but DAMN the Mets really miss a little VITESSE on the bases. Weatherman forecasts a hot sweaty night for Josh Thole. At least Josh won’t have to suffer (direct) comparisons all night to Pods’ rookie catcher-phenom, Yasmani Grandal — part of Cinci’s package for Mat Latos last winter. Grandal just hit the DL with a strained oblique after tearing it up since his big league debut in June (.315, 5-HR, 15-RBI in only 77-ABs).

On paper, the Mets should continue their roll this weekend.

The Padres are already playing for next year, with a staff featuring Jason Marquis and Kip Wells (!!!) in the rotation. Marquis has been passable in SD. But, apart from Volquez-Hefner, the starting pitching matchups favor the Mets.

The Mets — ok, Ronnie Cedeno (5 RBI?) and Jason Bay (2 RBI? WTF?) — shook off  Wednesday night’s stupefying futility with men on base and were hitting on all cylinders yesterday.  The pen has provided two straight relatively-clean performances, compared to Monday & Tuesday’s gasoline-can-and-Bic-lighter horror show by everyone not named Edgin.

Then again, they don’t play these bad boys on paper, do they?

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One final, revealing, note on T-Shirtgate — from J-Spin himself, speaking out on his tailoring teammates teaching him the unwritten rules of life in The Show the way they did:

“I would never do that,” Valdespin said. “You know why? Because you’ve got to respect everybody. The example here is this guy, David Wright. He’s the captain of the team. He respects everybody.”

Veddy eeeeen-teres-teeng.

Johan Santana threw a bullpen yesterday, and if all goes well, will throw another on Saturday, lining him up to go against the Marlins next Wednesday. His return to full capacity would take a BIG load of R.A. Dickey. Mets brass seems serious about trying to run Dickey out there on 3-days rest for a stretch. I’ve got a bad feeling.

Anyway, tonight R.A. — still very much in the conversation for the Cy Young — goes for #15 with two full months left on the slate.  C’mon, speak up … who had money on that back in March?

Refs drop the puck a bit earlier tonight … at 10:05 pm ET.

Let’s Go Mets!

54 thoughts on “GAME 107: METS @ PADRES — After Mets Take 3-of-4 in SF, Dickey Goes For Number 15 in SD”

  1. So that all’s clear, Blazing, I greatly appreciated the sentiments that you expressed at the end of the last thread and have reiterated here. I apologize in kind. You were gracious to both understand and respect my areas of concern, and to allay my misimpresions. II thank you. My misimpresions are many, most notably for my extremely vocal support of the Jason Bay signing, which — happily — can no longer be looked up.

    For what it’s worth, Bill references the status of the tech problems on his entry today, for those interested.

  2. Ron made a point about these uniforms that I noticed the last time they wore throwbacks: the way they used to have them tailored back in the day was just too darn tight. Especially the jerseys. They look much better worn a little looser, the way they are today.
    The pants… I’d like to see something between this excessively hitched up look and the silly pajamas of the current day.

    • All these sartorial comments. Oooof. Where to begin.
      The old unis? Ugh. The new pajamas? LOL. The stirrups? Warm memories.
      This year’s cream white with pinstripes might be the most elegant they’ve ever worn. Now, if only someone could outlaw pajamas on the diamond and explain to these knuckleheads the meaning of “uniform,” we’d be getting somewhere.

  3. I would just really like to know who did the snip job on that shirt. And I bet Valdespin does too, no mattr what he says.

    Warthen? Jay Horwitz?

    • T-Shirtgate, I would lay at the feet of a Brydak type — the older vet who fancies himself doling out clubhouse justice. I don’t see any of TC’s coaches (or people in suits and ties) dirtying their hands with this; that defeats the whole premise that the players handled this infraction themselves.

      Oh, and I think V-Spin wants payback for sure. Doesn’t yet get the concept of being outnumbered and outgunned.
      Talk about a battle you can’t win.

      BTW, what did you guys think of HIS quote about “leadership” included in the pre-game notes up top?

        • That seemed rather pointed, but he could have had his tongue in his cheek. I mean, he said he didn’t understand why they wrote “El Hombre” on his shirt. Bullshit. He knows EXACTLY why they chose those words. He’s got the self awareness to have his famous quote as his signature on his twitter page.

      • I read that he’s actually behaving himself more up here than he was in the minors. I wonder what becomes of him. If he really is a second baseman, the Mets have depth there. Defense and all, I’d keep Murph and shop him.

        • I think he’s ultimately an outfielder, and a better leadoff candidate for the future than anyone else I can think of. But certainly I’d listen if someone who covets him as a 2B makes a nice offer.

  6. OMG. When they were converting Thole to catcher, didn’t they spend at least one of the lessons in Catcher College or whatever they call it, showing him the proper way to secure the ball when it arrives so far ahead of the runner, then swipe him and get out of the way? That was just awful.
    And another misplay in the outfield … where’s Lucas Duda when you really need a scapegoat?
    Two more runs “without the benefit of a (real) hit”

    • You’d like to see Thole secure the ball in his bare hand there, but the timing was close enough that I can’t fault him nearly as much as I can Hairston for not catching the ball in the first place. But one thing that shouldn’t get overlooked is Cedeno made an absolutely perfect relay throw, and he was quite a ways out in the OF. He gets a gold star.

  14. Just keep pounding the lefties against Street, eh Gregg?

    His overall BA against since joining the Pods is now under .060 — didn’t have time to look up the splits, but what are lefties hitting off him now, ,085?

    Ouch, that one stings. R.A. would never say it out loud considering the number of times his mates got him out of jail this year when he gave up 5 or more, but today he was good enough to win #15 and he got hosed by dismal glovework and no support. Blecch.

    • John Baker sounded like someone who’d like to be a Met in that post-game interview. He’s a guy who looked like a pretty good player until he blew out his elbow a couple years ago. He isn’t a starter, and can’t throw our my grandma at this point, but he’s certainly a better hitter than the RH C’s we’ve had this year.

      That’s the good part: the bad is personal. My little league coach was named John Baker. He was no Buttermaker. More like Art Howe with hair.

  17. Sorry, I didnt comment tonight, I had guests who frown on bloggers and they were too many and too big to debate. They just stumbled out.
    The  other day I mentioned that Thole does defensive drills Everyday (and took some heat, I think from the beloved Franny, for even mentioning it). I would like to suggest Jay Horowitz be relieved of these coaching duties. He already has a lot to do.
     I also mentioned at that time that I always err on the side of giving the young ones a looong look in the Big Show. I said I’ve seen enough of Thole. Nothing since has changed my mind. 
    Whenever the Mets lose a game like this to a team with an even worse record then they have, it’s usually just a couple things, sometimes only one, that is the difference. Besides the Thole bad play, the Hairston adventure in right, DW not covering 3rd and the real big one for me cause it should be automatic, the inability of Torres to get down the bunt with no outs and runners on 1st and 2nd. And BTW, could Torres stop doing a Michael Jackson backwards moonwalk dance every time he makes a catch in center? (Boy, when I get down on a guy, it’s all encompassing). 
    Now the fact that DW, Ike and Bay are invisible didn’t make this an automatic win. But can they just make the routine plays? You know, winning baseball. 

    • You already know that I agree with you about Thole. I’ve argued that, while probably a very nice kid, he isn’t a starting catcher on ANY team with legitimate plans to contend while simultaneously banking on pitching staff stacked heavily with young studs in need of strong in-game mentoring. Not to mention he’s a ping hitter, without ping hitter speed. And there isn’t ONE thing I can think of that he does really exceptionally well. Not one. Bad juju, all around.

      Since Gregg cruelly exploited our difference of opinion about Josh by invoking the traumatic image of Brian Schneider returning this winter as a free agent, now I’m tossing and turning and probably won’t get a wink all night. So, trying to sleep alternating between counting 1) Thole’s non-knuckler-related defensive crimes this year, and 2) Schneider’s weak, inning-ending grounders to 2B with runners in scoring position, I found myself back here — bug-eyed, nerves jangling.

      So, since YOU might still be up too (for what sounded like much better reasons), I put this one out there, only because I care …. How do you feel about Torres’ Michael Jackson FORwards moonwalk dance?

  18. He does that little dance when the Mets are Losing. It grates as when a receiver in football celebrates a TD with a little shtick in the end zone when his team is down. If he was my favorite player I’d let it go. But he’s not. Hasn’t been, never will be. You don’t see Coach Dan acting that way. Enough said.

  19. Blazing, T-hole is a nice guy, just an incompetent catcher. He’s emblematic of the Mets – nice guys, just incometent. As long as he has a roster space, this team is going nowhere and will continue to wander in the wilderness of losing.
    When I watched him drop that ball last night, 4 words came to my mind looking at him: “sucking vortex of losing”. He is walking bad karma.

  21. Looks like we had one of those nights.

    Blazin, from the last thread I may have a few idead but they’ve got a off season feel to it. Still, I am working on a post idea that if it picks up steam I would reach out to you and let you post it.

  22. Heat from me, MrC? Naaaaaaaaaah. It’s already too hot out there to be raising the heat here.
    I had no problem with what you said about Thole and his drills. I simply used it a few minutes later to kiddingly tweak you, as a founding member of Friends of Murph, about Murphy’s baserunning skills.
    But the Thole issue is a real one for our Metsies. I would think the reason that the Mets converted him to catcher was they knew he would never hit sufficiently to be a first baseman (zero power).
    And he is a decent enough slap kind of hitter who has some clue at the plate. I remember liking that about him early in his career — he choked up, didn’t strike out a kazillion times and could get you some hits.
    But hitting is his No. 1 skill, and he’s simply not that good a hitter at all. He’s a decent little hitter. And I know he works on his defense, but I’ve never seen a team chasing so many pitches and throws to the backstop. And it wasn’t just him. The defensive specialist Biggus Nickeas wasn’t all that special as a specialist. Vastly overrated in that regard.
    Could Thole be the No. 1 catcher on a championship team? Hard to imagine, though I suppose it is possible.
    I don’t know what the answer will be long term or short term for the Mets behind the plate, but if I had to guess, I would say Alderson has seen enough to know the position is in seriouis need of an upgrade.
    I hate criticizing Thole because he does seem like a great kid. I hope he proves me wrong. But he may be running out of time. I would think he will have competition, at the least, next spring for the No. 1 job.

    All that said, can we all make a pact here never to use the name of that certain ex-Mets catcher ever again? It really is a traumatic experience every time I see his name.

        • I actually have Art Howe’s. No kidding. 2004 3 days before he got fired. It’s framed and hanging up in my apartment. That same day I got my first and only foul ball. Off the bat of Tomas Perez. Longtime BBB regulars will recall his name from Yahmpy’s proud claim as the inventor of the post-game pie-in-the-face ritual.

  24. I struggle sometimes to express myself well, so please allow John Belushi to make clear my feelings about a certain Mets catcher.

  26. Two things:

    Chupa — Backman being Backman? What did I miss?

    Trapper — re: your ideas for blog articles (in-season OR off-season), I’m all for it.

    Whenever your ideas are ready, or almost ready, let me know here or email them to me at “themetcave @ gmail.com” (obviously, delete the spaces — only did that to thwart spammers who use bots to scan blog comments to harvest email addresses). I’m really glad you brought this up again, because I was gonna post a more formal invitation this week, inviting everyone to think about topics that interest them enough to write FEATURE ARTICLES (long or short, no matter), in addition to knocking out the daily pregame now and then, say, one day a week or twice a month.

    Normally, my ISP is rock solid and super high-speed. I also monitor the blog with my Android phone and, in a crisis, can post with it, but only over a much slower a 3G connection. Yesterday, my ISP crashed for a couple hours. The connection was restored in plenty of time to post the game thread, but only BY A MIRACLE. At 8pm ET, their Tech Support’s pre-recorded greeting last night began with, “We are aware of an outage in your area and expect to have the problem resolved by 11:58pm….” 😮

    Needless to say, I lucked out — they got it back up at 9pm. But it would be smart to have a couple of pinch hitters ready, willing and able to grab a bat on days like yesterday. Longer term, I hope we can rotate the daily thread, so the blog reflects and highlights the diverse voices / points of view we have here. That’s what makes this group so much fun for me.

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