Aaron Heilman can't even hold a seance the right way.In his fervor to channel the spirit of Don Drysdale, instead he has let the aura of Doug Sisk waft through him. (Perhaps he failed to use the "rap once for yes, rap twice for no" system.) And because of which, the Mets dropped the final game of their four game series against Philadelphia, 5-3...with the difference being the two runs Heilman gave away in the seventh. One on a home run to a guy that's 180 lbs. with a piano on his back, and the other one on an Aaron Rowand liner that made Heilman look like Charlie Brown.
I will not kill Mike Pelfrey...by all rights and purposes, it was a hard luck "L" that was hung on him today with David Wright's error being the margin of loss for Pelfrey. I would, however, have hoped that Mike DiFelice would have taught him to be a little more economical with his pitches.
I can't even kill the Mets lineup for not putting the hammer down on a third rookie, this one being Kyle Kendrick...a better brand of rookie than those faced earlier. Although Carlos Beltran could have traveled a lot further towards that cause by not hitting into a double play in the first inning. But Kendrick made pitches when he had to.
Heilman though, does not get off easy this time. Guillermo Mota is struggling, and he had a scoreless inning today. Scott Schoeneweis? Mets fans want his head on a platter. And he pitched a scoreless frame today. Heilman, the meat in that sandwich, was undercooked. The pain is very raw. If you are going to channel a spirit, please let it be someone with more movement on their pitches.
(Editor's note: Doug Sisk is not dead...only his career.)
18 comments:
what? no mention of franco's pathetic ("oh my knee hurts") game-ender?
Metstradamus, I would hope you would address the ridiculous decision by Omar to carry 12 pitchers when Sele never really gets into a game. When you are eating up a roster spot with Franco and you can't pinch-hit with Castro because you're afraid to be short of catchers, having 12 pitchers is a luxury you can't afford. If they don't trade Heilman than make him the long man and go with the six relievers. If they trade Heilman, then put Sosa in that role when Pedro comes back. This way, when everyone gets healthy, we can have Endy, Ruben Gotay AND either Milledge or Gomez on the roster or perhaps a third catcher. Of course, Franco needs to finally be put out to pasture but that's another story.
Agreed, those are problems long term. But today, it's not an issue without Heilman's blunderous outing.
Julio Franco= waste of roster space(Carlos Beltran does not need his hand held any longer).
Ruben Gotay= three second baseman on the roster(Why?).
Met lineup not having a good day against a rookie= predictable.
..why are you ripping on Gotay? He had an RBI single in the 9th.
and yes, I don't think Franco even ran out the game ending groundout.
Just like CBP helped Beltran with his homers this weekend, it helped with the homers hit against Heilman today.
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http://www.dcdeal.com/mets
I don't think you can write-in, but I also think Maine not even making the final vote is pretty atrocious, especially with Carlos Zambrano and his 4.20 ERA up for consideration. I know that since the All-Star Game "counts" now, they want to have more guys on the roster who are used to pitching in relief, but I really can't see Brian Fuentes' six blown saves as deserving a roster spot over Johnny. I even think an argument can be made for Johnny over Cole Hamels, and I don't want to hear anything about his ERA being distorted by playing in the Philly bandbox; Hamels has actually been considerably worse away from Citizen's Bank.
Overall, it feels like there are far more snubs this year than usual. Chris Young not making it straight-off is a joke, as is Freddy Sanchez making it over either Hanley Ramirez or Edgar Renteria. I will avoid the obvious "drunk at the wheel" jokes regarding La Russa's selection process.
Chris Young should have made it. I'm not going to get on La Russa for choosing Hamels with all the K's he has. And unfortunately, he like Smoltz has more of a name than Maine.
And believe it or not, I don't even mind Fuentes. Even though he was yanked from the closers role, he had a good season up until then...and you see guys get picked all the time after bad Aprils, so bad Junes shouldn't necessarily wreck you if you've been all-star calibre for a year and two months.
And Freddy Sanchez is only there because you have to have a Pirate. Dan Uggla should also merit consideration on the team along with Hanley and Edgar.
But don't worry, most of these snubs will be fixed when guys bow out of the game with "injuries".
Maine should have been final five though, at least. That's a joke.
With Sosa and Perez down and Wagner's arm burned to a crisp, I'm very happy that only one pitcher from the Mets made the All-Star team. Stats [and pop awards] are for losers. The real fans and players know whom to fear on the field and who's a pretender. Maine's arm is essential now to a Mets run, and not to an overpriced and overhyped exhibition game in a town that's so dumb it thinks Bonds is a legit MLB player.
Re: The Pirates, I think Gorzelanny probably deserves a roster spot more than Sanchez, which in turn probably would have had Maine in the final five...
Re: Cole Hamels, I agree that his K's are impressive, and he has two complete games under his belt, but I get the feeling that he benefits far too much from his own hype. Hamels is an ace prospect expected to take the league by storm, while John Maine is a "number three" on the Mets "suspect" starting rotation. (Though I guess I should be glad that our "number three" has an ERA over a point lower than Philly's ace...) Hopefully Johnny can keep up the good work, and maybe earn some well-deserved hype going into next season.
You're definitely right about Uggla deserving consideration, he's one helluva run producer for a 2B.
Odds are Heilman is gone by the trading deadline. Omar will package him with youth and get a starter or a reliever. The guy was never happy in the pen, and now he's not effective. Some team will take a chance on him as a starter.
We also need another left handed bat off the bench. Franco, hitting .191, cannot serve as our best pinch hitter.
Sean,
The problem with Gorzellany is: Which starter that's a current all-star can you really leave out to get Gorzellany in, and in turn put Uggla in there instead of Sanchez? That is the pitfall of a "one player per team" rule.
Hmmm, if I was going to have Uggla on the roster rather than Sanchez, and had to make room for Gorzelanny among the pitching staff, I'd probably leave off Fuentes rather than any of the starters. While I don't think a bad June should necessarily wreck a player's All-Star chances, the fact remains that that bad June has left Fuentes' season overall looking less than impressive. Still, I agree that the one player per team rule is largely the culprit, here.
Yeah, that's the big thing. LaRussa got six closers. My problem with Fuentes (as well as Valverde and Francisco Cordero) is that I think they make it as "saves leaders" options.
I hear people defending closers far too much by merely citing the number of saves they have. As if being presented with more save opportunities is of their own doing. I'd say Wagner, Hoffman, and Saito are having better seasons, even if they don't have as many saves as your Valverde or Cordero.
I really think Chris Young, John Maine, and one of the Pirates pitchers (Tom Gorzelanny or Ian Snell) should have been included at the expense of two of these closers (Fuentes and Valverde probably) and Cole Hamels.
can we get a special July post about New York Rangers from Metstradamus?
Either that or an analysis of Jason Vargas for Tuesday night :)
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