Archive for the ‘Carlos Beltran’ Category

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

My father approached me yesterday with an ongoing conversation that was going on during the Joe and Evan Show on WFAN. Apparently, a fan called in and said the Mets and Rays match up on a potential blockbuster off season trade, and the hosts prepared themselves for a horrible proposal.

They wouldn’t get such a proposal though, as the fan suggested something that not only makes sense for the Mets, but it makes sense for the Rays as well.

Mets Get: B.J. Upton, Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza
Rays Get: Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and mid level prospect
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BY MERIWYN TRAVISANO
STACHE WRITER

Oh the stars at night…are big and bright…

The Mets opened a 4-game series tonight against the Houston Astros in beautiful Minute Maid Park. The Mets showed some spunkiness and fight tonight as they took the first game by a score of 3-1.

How long has it been since the Mets have been able to say that pitching wasn’t an immediate problem? Lefty Jonathon Niese pitched another brilliant game, going 7 innings, with 1 run and 5 strikeouts, which is bizarrely like his last two starts (both of which were 7 innings, 1 run and 7 K’s). Spooky. On the downside, he records yet another no-decision as the game was tied 1-1 when he departed after the 7th inning.

On the defensive side of things, David Wright seems to have pissed himself off enough that he was absolutely great in the field tonight. He caught a few line drives and made some great stops. Luis Castillo showed why he still wants to start as well by making some great plays tonight as well. Throw in Mike Hessman (Ike Davis sat against lefty Wandy Rodriguez) and you had something cooking tonight!

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BY SCOTT ILOWITE
STACHE WRITER

Tonight the Mets take on the Phillies in the rubber game of this 3 game series at Citi Field.

TV- ESPN (ugh, sorry you have to listen to John Miller and Joe Morgan) 8 PM
Radio – WFAN 660

New York Mets Lineup
1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Angel Pagan, RF
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Carlos Beltran, CF
5. Ike Davis, 1B
6. Chris Carter, LF
7. Josh Thole, C
8. Louie Castillo, 2B
9. Mike Pelfrey, P

Interesting Fact/Trend-  Jeff Francouer hit a homer run last time the Mets faced Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick , and is 9 for 22 in his career against him.  What do you know, Jerry isn’t starting Jeff tonight.  Seriously Jerry?

Philidelphia Phillies Lineup
1. Jimmy Rollins, SS
2. Shane Victorino, CF
3. Placido Polanco, 3B
4. Raul Ibanez, LF
5. Jason Werth, RF
6. Greg Dobbs, 1B
7. Carlos Ruiz, C
8. Wilson Valdez, 2B
9. Kyle Kendrick, P

Interesting Fact/Trend – Catcher Carlos Ruiz is hitting .318 with 2 homers and 10 runs batted in, in 11 games this month.  He only has 30 RBI total, on the season.

On The Bump

For the Mets, Mike Pelfrey (11-6 3.95 ERA) looks to build upon his great outing on Tuesday against the Rockies, when he tossed 7 shutout innings for his first victory since June 25th.  Mike is 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four career starts at Citi Field against the Phillies, including a 3-0 victory May 27. Pelfrey is 7-2 with a 3.14 ERA in 13 starts at home in 2010.

For the Phils, Kyle Kendrick (7-5  4.60 ERA) is 2-2 with a 3.34 ERA in six career starts against the Mets. He faced them once this year, giving up four runs over five innings in a 9-1 loss on April 30 at Citizens Bank Park. 

Daily Stache’s Keys to the Game:

Mike HAS to have his command early on.  As we all know, Big Pelf either has it, or he doesn’t.  He’s been killing himself with very high pitch counts early on in games.  As Ron had pointed out in Pelf’s last start, he has gone from 12 or 13 pitches per inning, up to around 17 per inning.  That’s not going to allow him to last long.

Jose and Angel have been collecting dust out on the base paths.  It seems as if every time they are on base, they get stranded in scoring position.  Wright, Beltran and Ike HAVE to have a few big hits tonight. David is 3 for 37 with just two walks and 12 strikeouts in August. Also in the second half of the season, Wright has hit just .198 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI with 28 strikeouts in 96 at bats. 

Play solid defense.  The Phillies don’t need any help scoring runs.  Even though they finally scored a run at Citi Field last night, we all know that they score runs in bunches.  With no Howard or Utley in the lineup, you still have to contend with Rollins, Polanco, Werth and Ibanez. 

LET’S GO METS!

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
EDITOR

The Mets look to take Game 2 and the Series from the Phillies @ Citifield tonight.

TV – WPIX-Channel 11 7:10 PM
Radio – WFAN 660

New York Mets Lineup
1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Angel Pagan, RF
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Carlos Beltran, CF
5. Ike Davis, 1B
6. Fernando Martinez, LF
7. Josh Thole, C
8. Ruben Tejada, 2B
9. Pat Misch, P

Interesting Fact/Trend: Carlos Beltran is a .355 hitter against Halladay in his career, while Reyes is 6 for 11 with three extra-base hits.

Philadelphia Phillies Lineup
1. Jimmy Rollins, SS
2. Placido Polanco, 3B
3. Raul Ibanez, LF
4. Mike Sweeney, 1B
5. Jason Werth, RF
6. Shane Victorino, CF
7. Carlos Ruiz, C
8. Wilson Valdez, 2B
9. Roy Halladay, P

Interesting Fact/Trend: The Phillies have not scored a run in any of their four games played at Citi Field this season. The last time a team was shut out four straight times at an opponent’s ballpark was 2004, when Minnesota blanked Kansas City at the Metrodome

On the Bump:
Phils send Roy Halladay (14-8, 2.34 ERA) to the hill vs Pat Misch (0-0, 0.00 ERA), AAA-(11-4, 3.23 ERA).

Misch was 3-4 with a 4.12 ERA in 22 games with seven starts with the Mets in 2009. He is 0-1 with a 5.09 ERA in six games Including two starts against Philadelphia in his Career.

Halladay is making his Citi Field debut and in his last start against the Mets gave up five runs on nine hits, but still got the win. Halladay this season is 8-1 with a 1.36 ERA against the NL East.

Daily Stache’s Keys to the Game:

The Mets have got to get to Halladay early, the thing that was lost on all of us after Dickey couldnt get the job done last Sunday was that the Mets actually scored 2 runs off of Halladay in the first inning. The old saying is that if your going to get to an ace, get to him early. Mets did it once, they need to do it again tonight.

Keep the good vibes going with Carlos Beltran, he has 4 hits and 2 RBI in his last two games and seems to be coming into his own. David Wright had some hard hits yesterday with only one falling in, which led to him scoring the winning run in the ballgame last night. Lets hope this is the beginning of good things to come for our number 3 and 4 hitters.

Keep the Phillies away from the big inning. As much as I would love to think the Philles once again will be shutout by the Mets, I highly doubt it and with a guy making his debut in the Majors this season in Misch, its going be key to not allow the Phillies to have one of those huge innings where they score 5 plus runs which they have done in all 4 of their wins this season against the Mets.

Let’s Go Mets!

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
EDITOR

The things that baseball can provide someone with a love of facts are sometimes more unbelievable as you mention them.

The Mets had their Closer suspended for two games, and they get two straight Complete Game Shutouts. The Phillies have lost all four games this season to the Mets in Citi Field and not once have they scored a Run. The only two CG, One Hit Shutouts by the Mets this season have been by Jon Niese and R.A. Dickey.

Its always fun to watch a game like this and realize just what your watching is so special that no matter where the team is, and will be for one night, you feel so great.

Tonight was the perfect storm of dominance, fan jubilation, the right visiting team, the right pitcher and the right time that this win would come together.

The Mets are 4-2 in their last 6 games and that is something to work with and with the schedule starting to get easier and easier, Meaningfulness in September on the Field could be achieved.

But for one night, thanks to a pitcher nobody thought would make a difference, R.A. Dickey provided a spark and we hope it turns into a raging fire.

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BY SCOTT ILOWITE
STACHE WRITER

When I went to bed Wednesday night, I turned the TV on like I usually do. I pop on MLB Network or ESPN, and set the sleep timer. But when I turned the TV on, I didn’t expect the lead story to have anything to do with the Mets after a 6-2 loss to the Rockies.

I forgot who the anchor was, but when I heard “Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez has been arrested and charged with 3rd degree assault after an altercation with his common-law wife’s father in the Mets family lounge”, I was stunned. 

About 5 seconds later I just said out loud, “WHAT THE F*@K?!”. In a season of complete misery, it just got worse.  So for the last 36 hours, we’ve heard about 40 different reports of what happened. I’m not going to go over it, because I’m sure you all have heard the same things. 

It’s just a shame that I couldn’t turn on WFAN while on the way home from work, and listen to all the callers compliment Johan Santana for his incredible complete game shutout.

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BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
EDITOR

In January of 2005, Carlos Beltran, a young five tool player who broke out onto the scene in the playoffs in Houston the previous postseason was sitting at a table in Flushing about to become the cornerstone of what he so poetically called “The New Mets”.

He helped to further re-energize an organization which needed it so badly after three years of poor and mostly boring baseball. Together with Pedro Martinez who brought a swagger and Willie Randolph who brought in a winning tradition. The 2005 Mets were the beginning of something that was going to last us a lifetime.

In 2010, the innocence of those days are long gone. Willie was fired in the middle of the night, after a win. Pedro did what most people expected, got hurt alot, won some ballgames, made things fun, but mostly got hurt, especially at the wrong times.

And now we come to Carlos. 2005 was a struggle, with an exclamation point put on it on a Thursday afternoon in San Diego. 2006-2008 he was the player we thought we were getting and the beginning of 2009 was no different.

But since a knee injury that happened in a 2009 season to forget, he is not the same and his innocence, his hope that he brought to Flushing is now gone. The Anger is back from the fans and media, and the way he played on Sunday brought back memories of the tape in Oakland in 1973 when Willie Mays just couldn’t see the ball.

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BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
EDITOR

It was a long time coming but this is a step in the right direction for your NY Mets. The fact is that some players who dont belong are still here, but no need to jump ahead of ourselves and get mad, a step in the right direction was still taken.

Bringing up Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada is a sign that this team is about ready to rebuild and take the talented young players that people last year said didnt exist and give them a chance to shine.

Cora was a nice guy but his contract was insane and Im Happy Omar and Jeff wouldnt allow him to reach that plateau. Feliciano is a thirty one yr old journey man and lets face it is not the future of this team and this team has just a glut of Outfielders.

I know Castillo is still here and so is Frenchy, but I think that if Jerry wants to make one last stand, go out with a blaze of glory. I have always hated Jerry Manuel but if can man up, sit them on the bench, let the young kids play and keep playing, I will respect the way he went out.

The fact is that with a young team like this, although Im not a fan, but If Jerry goes and Beltran is traded in the off-season which alot of people feel could happen. Your gonna have a batting order in which David Wright is the 2nd oldest starter at 28 years old. I like that alot when you think about it.

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BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
EDITOR

You really thought there was a chance they would do something. As you read this, I want you to think about how that no matter how negative you are about this, you thought there was a chance.

Mike Pelfrey was gonna turn it around, French was gonna keep going and have a Revolution and send the Braves to the gallows as the Mets escaped Atlanta with 2 out of 3. You are thinking about that moment when you thought they actually would do that.

Now your pissed off because it didnt happen at all, and lets face it, it never was gonna happen. The Mets are like the girl we all knew in high school, you heard the stories, you saw the looks and yet….nothing but a giant tease and left you alone and hurt.

The New York Mets have played two-thirds of the season and are 54-54, a .500 team. There is no need to try to explain well if they beat such and such team they would be this.

No need to waste time thinking about it. The New York Mets are a .500 ballclub which has little possibilty of really improving but could easily fall apart.

The team is on the brink and when you really think about it, its scary how troubled this team really is. After the jump, you can see how scary it is in written form.

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BY ANDREW MERLIS
STACHE WRITER

Well another trade deadline has passed and again there’s not much to be excited about. I say not much because there are so many of us thrilled to have Robert Carson on the farm rather than Octavio Dotel in the bullpen.

What’s the message sent by the team brass? That the team as currently constructed is what they want? If so, they want was is essentially a .500 team.

That’s what that team is. It could be worse, for sure. But as far as I’m concerned, .500 is what the Royals and the Pirates should aspire to be.

The Mets – you know, that National League team in the country’s largest market – ought to aspire to so much more. But maybe that’s just my opinion.

Word is that Omar liked the prospects he has too much to part with them in any of the potential deals discussed. Now, it would be hypocritical of me to jump all over him for liking prospects, because I like prospects too.

I like prospects because a) they can be cheap, under control replacements for aging, departing, or injured players, and b) they can be used in trade. I guess there is no “b” this season. So let’s “a” Castillo and Francoeur and Perez.

But here’s what I’m really wondering. If the prospects are so valuable, why not go get more? If the Yankees had stood pat, I would have understood – they have a great team and will make the post season.

If the Braves had stood pat, I’d have understood – they lead the division, they aren’t a big market, and they seem to have the talent already on the club needed to compete and succeed.

But for the Mets to stand pat? It makes no sense. Okay, there was nobody out there worth the price that would be the difference maker. I’ll accept that for the remainder of this post.

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