Thursday, June 05, 2008

Maine Beats Cain, Gain But No Pain

It really was a nice try by Aaron Rowand, as he was intent on breaking his face again just to prove a point against the Mets like he did in '06.

But instead of making Aaron Rowand a folk hero again, Thursday's drive to center by a Met (this time Carlos Beltran) tipped harmlessly off of Rowand's glove while Rowand harmlessly bounced off the padded outfield wall, and the fun began for the Mets.

One Jose Reyes dinger and six strong innings by John Maine later, the Mets were finished doing what they were supposed to do and took two out of three from the Giants. (And Rowand left the game with his face intact.)

And now it's on to San Diego, where the quadrant of Josh Banks, Randy Wolf, Cha Seung Baek, and Wil Ledezma awaits for the Padres ... yet they don't seem to strike fear in the heart of Gary Cohen, who basically said that the Mets should cut through this staff like a hot knife through a cheap butter substitute. Well, he didn't say it in so many words ... but those four didn't really seem to strike fear in Gary while he was looking ahead during the broadcast yesterday. But these are exactly the kinds of pitchers who the Mets have been making look like Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, and Hong-Chih Kuo. So let's tread carefully ... but swing hard.

And don't forget about baseball's draft tomorrow, where the Mets have three picks in the first 33 ... in addition to Memphis Red Sox pitcher Robert Scott, their choice in the special ceremonial Negro League draft to take place beforehand. No word on whether the Mets adhered to baseball's slotting system to make that choice.

8 comments:

Jaap said...

irrespective of the Padres' starting rotation, given the fact that Pelfrey and Perez both have scheduled starts in this 4-game series, anything more than a split is dubious.

TW said...

Pelfrey is going to shine tonight, I got the feeling and Perez is going to show off for his suitors, I think we'll be fine.

I prognosticated 7 of 11 during this Dodgers series/west road trip last week and we're a game ahead of theat pace right now.

Anonymous said...

OJ is inocent! he was framed by racst detective Mark Foreman! Yet all you sheep care about is baseball. Shame on all of you.

Anonymous said...

BTW I was at all three games in SF, with awesome seats behind home plate.

Monday was horrid, watching Ollie fling the ball in my direction pitch after useless pitch, getting more irate with each ball, team mates and coaches alike unable to stop the trainwreck that ensued. The game was already in the toilet long before my first piss break, ironically.

Tues night was great seeing Pedro making those cracking sounds in Castro's glove, and that 8-run inning was sweet. Other than that it was an OK game.

Yesterday I arrived early with the kids for BP, and saw Ollie in the bullpen pitching a simulated game, presumably to make up for the 60+ additional pitches he (thankfully) didn't get a chance to throw Mon night. While most of the other guys were working with the trainer, stretching and whatnot, Ollie seemed to have his own special workout regimen, doing sprints around the warning track, solo. Sort of like detention for jocks.

At one point he got really close to us by the bleachers, and we yelled at him to please toss one of the balls at his feet to my kids. Perhaps noticing my Met cap and my son's #7 Reyes jersey, he complied, expressionless, and just kept walking.

He looked like he a friend had just died.

I yelled "hang in there, Ollie, we need you!" and he just kept walking with that thousand yard stare.

I got the distinct impression that he was leaned on pretty hard after Monday night's meltdown.

Thankfully yesterday's game ended with a W. Definitely the best all around game of the three.

That's my report from the Left Coast.

Metstra, a tip of my virtual beret to you for this most excellent blog.

Metstradamus said...

And a tip of the beret to you for your first hand report from the Bay.

Anonymous said...

Any chance the Mets will have the opportunity to pick Cutter Dykstra? That would be awesome.

Can Tatis play any first base? Got to get him out of left field.

Metstradamus said...

Unser,

That would have been nice to have Cutter. But Cutter went to the Brewers in the second round.

Anonymous said...

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You can see a video we did at MLB's recent symbolic draft of Negro League players, which includes Millito Navarro, Peanut Johnson, Charley Pride and Bill Blair as well as Ken Griffey and Dave Winfield.

I hope you enjoy it!

http://growingbolder.com/media/Sports/Baseball/Righting-a-Wrong-155775.html