T Minus 30 days and Castilling

A lot happened today in Metland, and it was full of good tidings. The Mets today acquired Luis Castillo from the Twins, for basically no one. Two minor leaguers I’d never heard of, and probably won’t be missed. Luis Castillo is a good consistent player that will fit well here, and although it limits Gotay, I’m pretty okay with it. Although I’m getting the feeling that Ruben Gotay is this year’s Endy Chavez.

Pedro Martinez had another session today, and said he’s pitching Wednesday night for Class A. Provided he does actually make this start, it’s definite, not just hopeful, that Pedro will be back with the Mets in September. He has to be added to the roster 30 days after his first start, which puts him there by September first and should get him a couple of starts before the playoffs.

Of course, Luis Castillo is only hitting .254 with runners in scoring position, but hopefully he can work on that. He can add some consistency to the Mets lineup, by batting second. Plus once Beltran returns it’ll be three switch hitters at the top of the lineup. Will make opposing managers think twice before looking for match-ups.

The Mets aren’t playing badly as of late, despite a mere split with the Nationals. Look for them to play well again this coming week, against Milwaukee and the Cubs. Should be a fun week, as both those teams are struggling for the lead in the Central division.

On an opposing note, I’m not worried about the Braves and Teixeira. Sure he’ll be good, but I really don’t think it’ll be the difference the Braves need to close the gap. I think both Castillo, and the resurgence of Delgado, who’s had a great July, will hold them off.

Smith, Delgado, Pelfrey and the trading deadline

At first I was a little upset that Joe Smith got sent down. I know he's been struggling as of late, but I still think he's a good pitcher. I've gotten over it though, and I hope he can work on some adjustments down in AAA that will aid the Mets down the stretch. I feel the Mets need a reliever and contract situations make that tough, so if Joe Smith could be a solid playoff contributor, it would go a long way.

The trading deadline is approaching, and while I feel like we need a move, I'm not quite sure exactly what it should be. There are a lot of underachieving parts on this team, and it's a tough spot to figure out which parts are going to come around, and which could use a backup or replacement. Should we get a decent reserve infielder that can spot Delgado at times? Do we need another decent outfield bat? Another reliever? I don't relish Omar Minaya's job this year, he's got a lot of tough choices. I have faith in him though, based on what he's done so far.

Mike Pelfrey is getting the start tonight, a game in which I'll be in attendance. I have a strange feeling he'll be good. He managed to pitch himself onto this team in the spring against expectation, and he is in that situation again tonight. With Sosa no longer exceeding expectation, I feel like Pelfrey could steal his spot with a gem tonight. Hopefully he'll only be keeping it warm for Pedro, but until Pedro's throw a game or two, It's hard to talk about him.

Carlos Delgado is hitting .333 this July. He's got a .394 OBP this month. Hopefully this is a turning point for him. Whatever the struggles were early, he's looking like he might start turning it around for real. If he plays well the rest of the way, I don't care what happened early this year. Maybe he just struggled to get into his groove, but we're in first place, and if he keeps playing well, it'll stay that way.

This team isn't playing great, but that doesn't mean they can't. Almost everybody is having a poor season, and that just means that they all are capable of playing better. Better than four games up in the division is a good thing, and I expect that at least some of the underachievers will step it up down the stretch and in the playoffs. It's going to be a successful year, I can feel it.

7 game series

I was right. The Mets gained ground in the division race over the road trip. If I had any nagging doubts about this team, they're gone now. The playoffs are decided on a best of seven series, and the Mets just played one against two teams that will likely be participants and opponents. The Mets won, winning game seven where they failed last year.

Now they come home to play the Nationals and Pirates. Hopefully they can continue this stretch of play and pick up more games in the division. They're currently on pace to win 91 games, but with a good stretch run they can easily win more than that. The trade deadline arrives soon, and with it hopefully another little piece to this team.

I like the way David Wright is swinging the bat. He looks like he's in a good place right now, a place where you can get the big hits and carry this team a little bit if he needs to. If the opposition starts pitching around him, hopefully Carlos Delgado can make them pay. Delgado is working on a eight game hitting streak, and has hit in 12 of his last 13 games. This is the kind of consistency that was missing from him all year, and while he only has two home runs in that stretch It gives more more confidence then when he hits a bunch of home runs over a weekend, but then stops hitting again. I've predicted that Delgado would atone for his slow start with a hot finish; I expect by the start of October for him to be right in his groove.

Could the worry warts please shut up about Beltran? I know his average is a little low, but he's playing well. I have been very busy lately, and haven't had a chance to really sit down and just watch a baseball game, but whenever I do it seems like Beltran is coming through with a big hit. Don't compare him to the small sample size with Houston in the playoffs, don't equate a dollar value to production ratio based on his contract. Take him for what he is; a great player, but not the only great player, on this team.

I've been saying it for a little while now, I think we may have gotten all we're going to get out of Jorge Sosa. With Pedro vanishing into the Carribean, and Pelfrey being a strain on our offense I'm not sure what the solution is here. Maybe Sosa turns it around, but even if he doesn't, I don't want any sort of panic moves out of Minaya that bring a mediocre starter in here at the expense of any worthwhile prospects. Maybe he can pull off something like last year where he pulled in Perez and Maine from seemingly nowhere.

A day off, and then I'll be on the field level at Shea for Tuesday night's game. I'll get to see John Maine pitch again, who after a couple of iffy performances is going to settle down again. I expect to see the offense play well again, and I fully expect it to be a fun day.

Tough Road Trip? Maybe not.

I've heard all about this tough seven game road trip the Mets are on. I just don't agree. Surely it's tougher than the upcoming home stand of the Pirates and Nationals, but I'm certainly not scared of the Dodgers or the Padres. Right now the Mets are doing something they haven't quite done lately, tacking on runs late. They are leading 7-0 against the Padres re-evening the all-time series.

One game is not a trend, and they didn't exactly play great on Monday, but I like what I saw tonight. Tomorrow night Maine should pitch a good bounce back game, and Greg Maddux hasn't exactly been lights out against the Mets. 35-19 with a 3.40 ERA is pretty well on pace with his career numbers, but it always seems like the Mets manage to get to him. In the Mets last two good seasons he hasn't pitched well. 2000 finds Maddux with a record of 1-3 against the Mets with a 5.64 ERA, and 2006 finds him 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA. Now the offense hasn't been playing like 2000 or 2006 lately, but I'll take my chances on Maine. I'm actually going to place a wager on the Mets for tomorrow night.

The Mets owe the Dodgers a measure of revenge for the last series they played, so I'm not that worried about them either. I said it before the road trip, and I still feel it; the Mets will come back home with a bigger lead in the division than when they left. When it all comes down to it, the Braves just aren't that good. The Phillies are still reasonably close, but they don't seem to be better than a .500 team anyway.

There is talk about the Mets needing to fall out of first to be 'tested' and get their drive back. I very much disagree with this statement, it's a statement often made by the fan that wants some sort of justification for his pessimistic outlook on the season. Seeing the Braves get close is a test, finding a way to win any given game is a test, trying to get runs in with key hits is a test. By no means is this division over, like I expected it to be by this point. The Mets will figure out away to get through this tough patch, that has lasted a lot longer than anyone expected. In the end though, you can learn a lot by trying and failing. If the Mets only win 93 games this year, and only win the division by a handful of games, but in the process learn anything they can use in the playoffs, I'll take it.

After the Shakeup

I don't know that I'd actually call the actions of the Mets after the All-Star game a shakeup, but they've gone 2-1 since then. It's a very soft 2-1 so far, but I'll take it. The pre-game Ralph Kiner events were very nice. It was cool to see all those guys come onto the field, guys like Seaver and Koosman and Yogi. It was cool seeing clips of Kiner's Korner and all of that stuff. I'm only 25, so i barely remember a lot of the old stuff, I don't even remember '88 or '86, and the Mets were bad for a lot of the time after that so my focus was never fully on the Mets growing up.

I was at the last two games, Friday and Saturday. I was witness to, and part of, the growing anger of the Met fan. Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, particularly on Saturday, were getting booed when they failed. It's probably part booing the Mets for failing in key situations, as they had six hits and no runs through four innings on Saturday. It's also part booing what is perceived as Delgado's and Beltran's recent struggles. I can refer you to my earlier post about Beltran, where I point out that he's had some pretty key moments with the Mets. Or I can point out that although it's primarily taking pitches that fans have a problem with, but Beltran did draw one of the Mets two walks. He also had two of the Mets four walks on Friday. On Friday it was primarily David Wright and Delgado swinging at everything and not taking pitches, but Delgado had a couple of hits. Saturday Delgado hit two long fly balls, and three of his outs were hit the other way, which usually will help Delgado get some hits against the shift.

Alternatively, it's not any one player that's struggling, but all of them. The Mets are hitting, the Mets are even on occasion drawing walks, but they're inconsistent. Saturday Matt Belisle for the Reds has 60 pitches through three innings, but managed to get through seven innings. They were working counts early, but failed in the middle innings. The Mets had 11 hits, they just failed, and have failed to string together hits at the right time. Whether this is because of bad luck, bad approaches at the plate, or just a coincidence is hard to say, but it's something Howard Johnson and the Mets need to address.

This post has been more negative than I feel, so let's put together a list of good signs.

-Shawn Green gets a hit with a runner on third and two outs.

-Lastings Milledge got a hit with two outs and a runner on second to score the go-ahead run and the win for Glavine after he'd pitched eight terrific innings.

-Lastings Milledge scores the go-ahead run on Thursday by scoring from first on a hit.

-Saturday the Mets played terrific defense, and when you start doing well at one aspect of the game, it often carries over to others.

-Wagner continues to pitch excellently.

-The Mets are showing signs of being able to work counts and take walks.

-The Mets are accumulating a lot of hits.

-The Mets are still in first place.

-Oliver Perez looks like his back is fine.

-Even John Maine's bad outing wouldn't have been horrible without two errors.

-Delgado has hit some long fly balls for outs, suggesting that he's just missing having his stroke back. He's slowly raising his average up to miserable from completely miserable. Some of this fly balls have been the other way, suggesting he's making an attempt to use the whole field.

I'm going to describe this season like I would describe John Maine's pitching last year. They're a good team, but they have some mental blocks at key times. I'm still confident in them, and you should be too. Every season can't be easy, but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and I don't think the Braves or Phillies have what it takes to kill our season.

Some Transactions

Ricky Ledee has been outrighted to New Orleans.

The Mets signed Marlon Anderson, who will also be going to New Orleans.

Metsblog is saying that Ken Davidoff of Newsday has reported that the Mets released Julio Franco. Which would be nice, but I'm still skeptical.

Billy Wagner was pitcher of the month for June.

Ceetar's Ready To Watch the Mets Again

When the Mets start there game tonight after the break, Rickey Henderson will be the new hitting coach. I like Rickey, despite all his baggage. I thought Rick Down was a good coach, but I'm not going to be upset over the switch of someone I almost never see save for an occasionally spot with the SNY guys.

I think this can only be good. Rick Down certainly wasn't the reason the Mets hit last year, they hit because they are good players. There's always more Reyes can learn about base stealing from Rickey, and I'm sure so can Beltran and Wright. It's just a shame Gomez is injured and will have to wait for those lessons. Rickey is also a superb hitter, and at the very least I'm sure he can lend some insight to some of the struggling bats.

I think the Mets are going to start hitting again anyway, but this move will basically give Rickey the credit. In general the Mets have had a rather lackluster first half. It had it's moments, but it certainly wasn't great. Now is the time to push towards the playoffs, get some distance in the division, rediscover that offensive stroke and fine tune the team. Pedro looks like he'll be back, Alou supposedly will be back. Endy will be back. Maybe the Mets make some changes here and there, bench and bullpen and get better. They're only looking at a pace to win about 91 games, but I think they'll have a good enough second half to win at least 95.

Lastings Milledge will by all accounts be back with the Mets, hopefully over Ledee, tonight. It's been almost a year since he's had any real major league experience, and I expect that this time he'll have more success. I kind of like the guy, he's got some personality and excitement.

The Home Run Derby and All-Star Game are fun in their own ways, but I'm looking forward to the Mets again tonight. I'll be at Shea for my 18^th and 19^th baseball games of the season tomorrow and Saturday for Endy Chavez bobble head night and Ralph Kiner night.

Mid-Summer Classic

We've reached the theoretical halfway point of the season, and I'm sure we all hope for a better second half. I'm confident we'll get there. For now, It's All-Star time. I point you all to my TOTK article where I explain why I have a little excitement about watching the Derby and the Game.

BTW, nobody except a Mets player has driven in or scored a run in the All-Star game since 2005.

Carlos Beltran's Key Met Moments

Carlos Beltran had a miserable first season with the Mets, but since thing he's been a big part of the team. He doesn't like to be in the spotlight, or to be the star player, but he's had some big impact games and single-handedly won a couple of games for the Mets over the last couple of years. There are a couple that come to mind.

1. On May 23^rd 2006 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea, Carlos Beltran launched a long homer over the Mets bullpen in the 16^th inning to send everyone home. No one else seemed to be getting to Ryan Madsen, who was in his 7^th inning of relief at that point, and even earned a start for the Phillies off of that performance.

2. Game 1 of the NLCS in 2006. A classic pitchers duel. The only two runs scored by the Mets off of a Carlos Beltran home run down the line.

2. Sunday, April 29^th, 2007. Carlos Beltran's home run is the only run scored in a terrifically pitched game. John Maine gets the win, but Beltran was just as important.

2. Thursday, May 17^th, 2007. Carlos Beltran has a pinch-hit walk as part of the Mets 5-run come from behind rally against the Cubs.

2. Saturday, June 23^rd, 2007. Lost among the Paul Lo Duca ejection was a key single to left field by Beltran that would've scored the only run of the game, had Ricky Ledee not gotten thrown out at the plate.

2. Saturday, July 7^th, 2007. Beltran smacks a single to right field to score Jose Reyes with the go-ahead run in the top of the 17^th with the Mets quickly running out of pitchers. Beltran also made a terrific catch on the hill in center field in the bottom of 14^th to rob Luke Scott of a walk-off hit.

His ability to come through when he's needed (game 7 aside, no one's perfect, even Babe Ruth has ended a post season with a caught stealing.) is going to play a huge role in where the Mets go this year. He's able to play great defense, and his playoff performance with the Astros can't be overlooked. He's a solid contributor to this team, and most of the difference in his numbers from last year are a result of the inconsistency of the rest of the lineup.

Reyes is going through one of his mini-slumps, but Wright's been hitting well. Carlos Delgado seems to be picking it up a little bit, but he's teased us with that before. The Mets outfield is beat up, but after the All-Star break I expect we'll get to see some of Lastings Milledge, which could add some excitement. The last I heard Moises Alou was on the road back, but I haven't heard much since then. I think these days off will really help Delgado, and he'll have his best half-season as a Met yet. Endy and Gomez will probably be lost until September, but they should be around for October, when they can both play key roles.

Hopefully the Mets can end this half with another win, and go to the All-Star break with the attitude that the worst is over. I look forward to seeing the Mets starting on Tuesday night, and after they scored and drove in the only runs last year, seeing if the rest of the league can help them out this year. The more World Series games at Shea, the better a chance I have at getting (more, I'm already guaranteed one game) tickets.

John Maine to the Rescue

Before we do something stupid and trade needed prospects for Mark Buehrle, the Mets need to consider something. Does Buehrle help us win the World Series? The answer to that is no, not this year. I don't want to hear any complaints about how we're not making the playoffs, anyone that thinks that hasn't been paying attention. Oliver Perez has been amazingly clutch for the Mets in big games, and nothing is bigger than the playoffs. Oliver Perez is probably our fourth playoff starter, and that's if you assume El Duque would pitch out of the bullpen. Pedro Martinez is going to be our fresh ace, Tom Glavine is obviously going to be second based on experience and seniority. There hasn't been a game this year that John Maine has started that the Mets have gone into the 7^th inning thinking the game was lost. (If that's not an All-Star pitcher, I don't know what is) With Orlando Hernandez to pick up the slack if one of those guys struggles through the first couple of innings, where would Buehrle fit? He wouldn't, and that's the point. Building the rotation for the future is all well and good, but there is plenty Omar can do to make this team good now, and it's not the starting rotation. Maybe a more reliable second baseman or outfielder, a better bench, or more importantly, a reliever.

John Maine gets a chance to continue that consistency tonight, against the Houston Astros. With the Mets desperately needing a win, and the bullpen desperately needing a rest, it would be really helpful of Maine to pitch at least 7 effective innings. He's shown that he can keep us in these games, and if the offense can string together some hits, he should be in for his 10^th win.

I'd like to see the Mets clearly win this series, end the road trip with a positive record, and go into the break on a good note. I think the couple of days rest will do some players good, particularly Delgado and Valentin. Then they can come back, put this whole losing thing behind them, and play good baseball after the All-Star break.

Halfway Mark - Projections

Midseason Projections

Some interesting notes. The Mets had a bad June, and without a swoon like that in the second half, I forsee these numbers being a little higher. If they have a better second half than first, Carlos Beltran and David Wright both have a chance to be 30 Home Run and 30 Stolen Base guys. Another key note is that Scott Schoeneweis should have significantly less IP than Feliciano, and he doesn't. Heilman's not been very good this year, but somehow he's the most used reliever. Maybe he just needs a little more rest to be the most effective. I left out Aaron Sele because he's horrible, but his numbers look like 51.1 IP with 74 hits. That's really all you need to know about him. I want to see Feliciano, and even Smith get more pitching, rest Heilman a little more and Schoeneweis a lot more.

Player	AVG	OBP	SLG	Hits	R	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB
Jose Reyes	.316	.397	.453	208	114	34	8	68	80	90
Carlos Delgado	.229	.293	.418	140	78	38	26	90	4	50
Carlos Beltran	.271	.346	.475	164	90	32	28	100	26	72
David Wright	.290	.378	.505	176	92	42	28	88	36	82
Paul Lo Duca	.280	.329	.371	148	62	18	10	48	4	32
Shawn Green	.276	.331	.436	134	70	32	14	54	12	38
	Win	Loss	ERA	IP	BB	SO	HR	Hits	SV	SVO
Tom Glavine	14	12	4.39	217.1	78	104	28	228
John Maine	18	8	2.74	204	76	168	20	158
Oliver Perez	14	12	3.14	189.1	74	170	22	146
Orlando Hernandez	8	6	2.78	144.2	50	118	18	104
Jorge Sosa	14	6	3.92	128.2	46	76	12	110
Aaron Heilman	12	6	4.19	77.1	18	58	12	70		6
Joe Smith	4	0	2.73	66	32	66	2	56
Billy Wagner	2	0	1.73	62.2	18	98	8	48	32	34
Scott Schoeneweis	0	4	5.46	59.1	40	30	10	64		2
Pedro Feliciano	2	2	1.76	61.1	30	52	2	34	2	2

Continuing to Roll

I strongly feel that John Maine got snubbed, but I'm not surprised. He suffered because Billy Wagner deserves to be there too, is a bigger name, and was the 4^th Met selected. I feel bad for Kevin Youkilis too, who certainly deserved to be there. I really feel baseball should attempt to honor guys like this, who would go to the game excited, and not guys like Manny Ramirez, who will go reluctantly, if at all. To make the All-Star game more meaningful, fill it with players that want to be there. We don't necessarily need guys playing all out, colliding with catchers and getting into fights, but these young guys that want to be there will play hard, and enjoy playing. That's what would make it watchable.

The Mets dropped the finale, missing out on sweeping the Phillies. It doesn't matter, they had a bit of a sloppy day and left the Phillies with a little bit of hope. It's misguided hope, as the Mets now have won eight of their last 10, and now hold a five game, six losses, lead over the Phillies. The Braves are four games back and five losses. I'd be happy with picking up one more game on each before the All-Star break. Colorado has been playing badly since sweeping the Yankees, and while they're due to start winning some, the Mets can take two out of three easily, even with Vargas pitching one of the games.

Mike Pelfrey looked good, I've thought he looked good all year long, just not quite ready. He looked more ready this time, if not quite there. I feel like one of these days he's suddenly going to develop some confidence, make a small adjustment with his pitching, and suddenly will start winning. I'd like him to start throwing more innings, but even three runs in five innings at a ballpark like that keeps the team in the game. Maybe if he keeps pitching like that, the offense will feel last pressured to score nine runs to win for him, relax a bit and just start hitting, and making plays behind him defensively.

I don't know what's up with Oliver Perez. We all know he's pretty much a head case, and when he's made such good progress this year I'm not sure I want him pitching injured either. We've in a good situation right now, with a good lead. If he's really hurting, we could DL him retroactively, he'd be eligible to come off by the games after the break, and we could get some help up here in the meantime.

Carlos Gomez has picked up a bit of a reputation as a hot dog, which is why Joe Smith asked Carlos Beltran how to say “hot dog” in Spanish. “Perro caliente,” Beltran replied. Gomez seemed to like the new nickname. I like it too.

Speaking of the All-Star break, I hope Ricky Ledee doesn't see the other side of it. Lastings Milledge has starting playing rehab games, and I see no reason why he shouldn't be with the team by then. Whether to try to contribute, or to showcase to be traded. Willie seems to be alternating Ledee and Gomez anyway, and I don't know anyone that looks forward to seeing Ledee's mangled picture up on the scoreboard.