Friday, May 15, 2009

Our Crumbling House

So with J.J. Putz developing a bone spur and fixing to be out for a couple of games, and Carlos Delgado perhaps being out anywhere from this weekend to ... forever, this is going to really test Omar Minaya's ability to put together a 25-man roster.

So who's scared?

When Delgado was day-to-day, I was against putting Daniel Murphy at first base. If you're going to have Murph play there all season, then give him every opportunity to learn the position. But if we're talking months for Delgado? Then by all means put Murphy at first, Tatis in left, Church in right, and have Sheffield as your bench pop (not your cleanup hitter/regular left fielder as he seems to be now ... seems that someone is thinking it's 1999, and not 2009.)

But whatever you do the fact remains, this team is thin. Delgado is out with his bone spur in his hip (can we put him on the DL already), Putz is out with a bone spur (at least now there's a reason for his struggles) and even Reyes missed Thursday's game with a bone spur he developed in his brain on Wednesday. The Mets call it a "tight calf", but come on, that could be another created injury which is code for "we're benching you because of a foggy brain but we're not going to embarrass you" (with the discovery of new injuries left and right, I think we're talking Nobel Prize in inventive medicine for the training staff.)

Thankfully, the Mets were able to survive Bobby Parnell's shaky foray into the eighth inning (albeit while being dinked and dunked), and Sheffield was able to survive stealing third base (seriously, he's old ... every stolen base could be his last act in baseball) with three runs in the ninth and a 7-4 win against the Giants. I don't know what lucky shamrock Carlos Beltran is carrying, but once again he stole third in more ways than one setting up the go ahead run in the ninth (Larry Jones is currently petitioning the league office for more competent baseball gods), driven in by David Wright who, apparently, just needed to get away from New York for a while as he not only drove in the winner but stole four bases.

Good catches by both announcers tonight. Gary Cohen, for noting that the Mets set a team record for most steals in a game without Reyes. And by Keith Hernandez who, while discussing a mutual sponsor of the Mets and Giants noted: "Speaking of sponsors, Fran Healy was the catcher in that old Willie Mays highlight."

Thank you Keith, for reminding us how much Fran Healy loved sponsors, and how amazing it is that I didn't throw paperweights through the television set while Healy was pitching Cheez Doodles and Optimo Cigars for all those years.

Hey, where's Oliver?

Seems that rehab took a sad turn as Oliver Perez was eliminated from American Idol on Thursday night.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahaha another outstanding post sir, ur witty humor is one of a kind, makes me chuckle all the time.. great win today tho, Parnell has got to be the unluckiest pitcher rite now, or the leader in giving up infield hits.. btw metstradamus, I'm a new reader so I was wondering why you refer to Jerry as 'Snoop' Manuel? haha is it cause of his gangsta references?

James Allen said...

Word has it that Ollie's going to be riding Mine That Bird this Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Don't ask Jerry that directly, or he's going to cut you right there on the field....

Unknown said...

You're killing me with the "where's Ollie?"

Anonymous said...

inventive medicine is an up and coming pseudo science, which will have a far reaching impact on how we live our lives in the future and should not be knocked by bloggers on the internets....

also, bone spurs in the brain will be discussed in the upcoming american medical journal...

Unser said...

Why so blue MD? After the first few innings of last night's game, I was prepaing myself for 2 and 8 road trip. Quite a turnabout for Maine and co. Give them credit for that 9th inning rally, gutsy stolen bases and clutch hits by Wright and Castro.

Losing Delgado would be a disaster. Not too concerned about Putz if only because I think we have guys who can fill his shoes. Parnell, for example, despite last night's performance. He didn't pitch that bad. Those walks though - killer.

850 said...

I can't stay up to post this under tonight's post ...

If Manuel is forced to play without Delgado and Reyes because of injuries, why on earth is Murphy sitting against Lincecum. And Tatis. And why is Sheffield hitting 4th against Lincecum. (For that matter, why does Sheffield hit 4th against lefties too.) I don't understand.

And that blown call at 3rd base on Sandoval just cost us 3 runs.