It was nice to see El Duque throw and hit and run so well on a day where the Mets got bad news about another pitcher. And his piping was lined up.
The Mets won behind the strength of Carlos B. and Carlos D., the two forces who carried this team at different times. David Wright and Jose Reyes also did, but that's another story. It's kind of interesting to think that there has only been one occasion where the Mets' big four of Reyes, Beltran, Delgado and Wright has been operating at full strength.
That was the four-game sweep of Arizona, a first-place team at the time.
File this under Abreu syndrome: David Wright is hitting .261/.348/.387 post-AllStarBreak as opposed to .316/.386/.575 before it. He also hit only two home runs after the break, one of which came in Chicago in the series immediately following the break, while the other came in Atlanta.
I think it's awfully strange that he's gotten into this deep, powerless funk. Wright has become about as valuable to this team offensively as Chris Woodward was last year. Willie might be best suited giving him a day off when Valentin's healthy. (Another reason we should still have Xavier Nady: he can play the corner infield spots.)
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I also got two medical opinions from doctor relatives, who both noted that Glavine receiving an angiogram did not mean that an aneurysm had been ruled out. They said that an angiogram is to test for aneurysms, so while it is precautionary, the aneursym is unlikely, not definitely absent.
I wish Glavine all the best and hope that his career ends well, if it is to end in the coming days. The best of health is wished upon all of our pitchers.
As far as I can tell, surgery means season and season means career for the crusty forty year-old.
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Brian Bannister and Oliver Perez have both started campaigns for Glavine's rotation job. The immature and enigmatic lefty Perez carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of his last start, where he threw seven shutout innings and whiffed eleven.
Bannister tried to top that on Sunday, throwing 6 innings of one-run ball.
Other candidates mentioned for the rotation job include the intriguing Phil Humber, who has pitched okay at Binghamton (0-2, 4.76) in his three starts. The best number for Humber is his 21 strikeouts in 17 innings. He'd at least make a fun September callup, and his power arm might be capable of helping out the Mets in a postseason bullpen.
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I wish no success for the Yankees. But it was awfully fun to see them pound Boston this weekend. Boston was a team outperforming itself, as they made some headscratcher moves this past offseason and the one prior. They lost Pedro, Derek Lowe, Johnny Damon, Hanley Ramirez and Orlando Cabrera and replaced them with Matt Clement, David Wells, Josh Beckett, Coco Crisp and Alex Gonzalez.
Their bullpen is disgusting, as the two "veteran middle reliever; how could this go wrong?" pickups have devastated them. Rudy Seanez was DFAed earlier in the weekend to call up the funnily named downgrade from Seanez Jermaine Van Buren, while Julian Tavarez hasn't been all that much to write home about.
Mike Timlin, aka another example of regression to the mean, has been hit hard of late. Boston fans, who are uncharacteristically looking for a scapegoat, blame the WBC for Timlin's lower stats.
Let me get this through the head of whatever idiots from Boston read this blog. Mike Timlin is forty. Forty? Yes, forty. Typically, athletes are not at their physical peak at age forty. Mike Timlin's career (which again, he is not at the peak of) DIPS (Defense Independent Pitching Statistics) ERA is 3.63. His DIPS ERA this year? 3.84.
The guy is having a slightly below average season at a very old age with twenty-plus years of wear and tear on his arm, and you guys want to blame the WBC? My god.
And yes, I understand Timlin's DERA last year was much lower. But there's not all that much year-to-year correlation in ERA, especially when a pitcher is having a career year, at, uh, I don't know, THIRTY-NINE!
Good riddance Sawx. Now let's see Cory Lidle embody the spirit of Gramma Lidle and take the Sox down to the junkyard, where all the incorrectly put together teams come to play.
I think I'm going to continue on this tangent. The Sawx have two supahstahs in their primes in Manny and Ortiz, while their only passable starting pitcher is in the waning moments of a great career. And those fools in the front office have managed to squander that by surrounding them with a bunch of overrated players who under-produce.
How can a team with a payroll of over 120 million dollars put Gabe Kapler in centerfield against the Yankees? It's totally inexplicable.
How can a team selling out almost every home game at steep ticket prices put Jason Johnson and Jon Lester on the mound for a doubleheader? Inexplicable!
I think, despite my Yankee hatred, I disrespect the Red Sox. They run their franchise like a carnival, whereas Steinbrenner and the Yankees have a desire to win. They'll spend whatever it takes. Is that fair? Probably not.
But the Red Sox instead opt to line their pockets with all that hooded sweatshirt revenue. They also actually sold Red Sox Nation Member cards for twenty bucks a pop? Where else could you find a team who gouges the populace to make them cahd-carryin' Sox fans?
And despite all this revenue and fanship, they can't even manage to field a team that's superior to the Yankees on one day out of four?
Apparently the gang in Boston is more concerned with lining their pockets than with beating the Yankees. Oh, well.
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I'm glad to see that former All-Star Manny Mota has joined the Mets organization. He could provide some valuable insight to some of our farm players. He was a top-notch pinch-hitter in the day. I'm surprised, though, that the Dodgers would let him go. He's been coaching there for a while.
Wait... we signed Guillermo Mota? To pitch for us? We traded for him? You mean we actually gave something up for Guillermo Mota?
Whoa. That's not good.
In all seriousness, Mota was awful this year for Cleveland, posting a 6.21 ERA in 37.2 innings of work. He allowed 45 hits (9 homeruns) in that timespan and walked 19 guys while only striking out 27. Unquestionable career worsts for the former Mets minor league shortstop.
I would argue that the cause of his rapid decline the past two seasons was his great 2003 season, where he threw 105 innings. As a reliever. His ERA was 1.97, striking out almost a batter an inning.
105 innings as a reliever. Just think about that. Not even the hyper-abused Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera of Joe Torre's bullpens touched the century mark as relievers.
Honestly, there's not all that much hope for Mota. This signing speaks sweet whispers of Danny Graves last year in one ear and out the other.
Oh, except this guy is a coward who drilled the greatest Met position player ever. Like three times. Nice work, guys.
Mota's ERA as a Met: Over/under 6.50?
I've got the over.
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Madman Al Pujols and his barnstorming Gashouse Gang visit Shea this week. I'd like a third consecutive home sweep.
See you all tomorrow.
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