IGT 8/6, Cubbies at Los Mets de Nueva York

[Guest KC]

CHICAGO CUBS
Lawton LF
Walker 2B
Lee 1B
Ramirez 3B
Burnitz RF
Perez SS
Macias CF
Blanco C
Maddux P

NEW YORK METS
Reyes SS
Cairo 2B
Beltran CF
Floyd LF
Wright 3B
Cameron RF
Anderson 1B
Castro C
Seo P

[Guest KC]

Mets make Maddux throw over twenty-five pitches in the first. Wright doubles
in Cairo for a 1-0 lead through one.

Maddux moaning and groaning over home plate umpiring to which I say, "oh
dry up, you and Tommy Boy had enough help over the years from Blue."

[Theoldmole]

Yeah, but now we WANT Tommy Boy to get it.

[Theoldmole]

Seo looking good over two innings. Good to see him back.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Jae Seo's chance to prove that the Mets are a bunch of retards for leaving him to languish in AAA while Ishii stunk in the bigs.

Seo's one terrible start in Norfolk where he gave up 14 runs about a month ago was due to coming to the ballpark late after attending to his pregnant wife. Nice to have an explanation for it--I was worried that he'd jumped the shark.

If/when Dougie reaches .250, he has a bet with Wright to shave his head.

I was hoping he'd get a chance today but I guess he's stil too banged up.

Seo looks sharp so far. Hitting high 80's with his fastball and good location and a nice sinking action on his change. Keep it up, Jae.

LGM!

[Guest Rotblatt]

Seo continues to look good. 4th inning: gets ahead 0-2 on Walker, then loses him at 3-2 putting the leadoff man on with a walk. Two pitches out of the zone to Lee, starting him off 2-0, but then got tough and got him to pop up on a low change. Ramirez fouls out and Burnitz goes down looking on a fastball away.

Got up to 91 on the gun in that inning and has only made a few bad pitches, pretty much all of them out of the strike zone.

Mets got another run in the 3rd, as Reyes led off with a bloop single, tagged up from first on a long fly to center by Cairo, stole third on a close play (he looked safe on the replay, so a good call), then scored on a jam shot to right by Beltran that fell in front of Burnitz for a hit.

Tightly played game so far, although the Mets just went down really quickly in the bottom of the inning. They've got to take more pitches, ala their first inning . . .

[Guest KC]

Seo has sprinkled three hits through six and the Mets are still up 2-0.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Okay, so six innings so far, 3 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 0 runs, 86 pitches. Lee & Ramirez are both hitless in 6 at bats and of the two of them, only Ramirez got a good swing on him.

It's official: we HAVE to give him another start after this, and we should really think about how we can fit him into the rotation even after Trachs gets back.

The guys been dynamite this year.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Seo sets em down 1-2-3 in the seventh. He's at 96 pitches and would bat fourth if anyone gets on. If we go down 1-2-3 or if there's a bunt situation when he's up, it's a no-brainer. What if there are two outs and there's a runner on?

I put my money in on leaving Seo in, since he's a pretty good batter for a hitter and Seo's been dominant.

Cam reaches on an error on a grounder to Ramirez, and he just stole second.

I thought Blanco was supposed to be good.

Maddux is getting the most buillshit calls I've ever seen.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Cam advancecd to third on a ground out by Castro, and Willie left Seo in to bat for himself. At least two pitches called strikes for Maddux were either really low or really outside. Total bullshit.

Anyway, Seo with a dribbler down the third-base line, but Maddux made an off balance throw off line to Lee, who stretched out and made a nice snare to record the out.

Impressive play, all around.

[Theoldmole]

Seo far, Seo good.

[MFS62]

Blanco double, Hollandsworth hitting for Maddux.
Get Seo out of there. Let him leave with a chance to win. I don't want him to put any potential tying run on base. Over 90 pitches in this heat is enough. he proved enough to earn another start.

Later

[Guest Rotblatt]

Willie, you're a fucking dicknut.

Seo gave up a ground-ball double over the third-base bag leading off the inning, then got PH'er Hollandsworth to hit a soft liner to Reyes for the first out.

Koo coming on to face Lawton & Walker.

I think it's a bullshit move. Seo's looking as sharp as ever and he's handled the top of the Cubbie order incredibly well--the top six are 0-17 with 1 walk against him.

Well, go get em Koo, and make me look like an idiot.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Koo walks Lawton on a 3-2 pitch, then gets Walker to pop out to Cam. Robo in to face Derek Lee.

Nice at bat by Lawton. Koo's really inconsistent with his pitches.

Come on, Hernandez.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Hernandez dominates Lee, getting him swinging on three pitches.

Up to Loopy now. But first, how about an insurance run?

[Guest KC]

Looper!

Mets win 2-0. Please check your belongings and arrive home safely.

Thanks for coming.

[Guest Rotblatt]

METS WIN!!!

1-2-3 9th for Loopy. Good stuff! Seo pitches 7.1 sharp innings, Beltran has some nice at bats, Reyes makes it happen with his speed, and Willie's bullpen moves pay off, despite my misgivings.

Fun, tight game to watch.

[Elster88]

Every time I give up on this fucking team.....they pull me back in.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Well, it was one of those games . . . They did pretty much everything right today, and it's hard to stay mad at a team after they've been so damn lovable . . .

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, our upcoming road trip is Big. If we can shake our road blues, we'll begin to resemble a real competitor . . . If not, we'll be swept under the rug. Unless, of course, the rest of the National League continues its mediocre play, in which case, we'll remain technically in it until September.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I have to wonder how different the won-lost record would be if every game that was started by Ishii had been started by Seo instead.

[seawolf17]

Great game. Timely hitting (both runs driven with two outs), Jose Reyes basically scoring a run all by himself, Greg Maddux "stealing second base," Jae Seo looking like a Cy Young candidate, Mr. Koo getting a big out, Bert getting a huge out, Looper getting 'em 1-2-3. Beautiful day at the ballpark. This one was a keeper.

Jae Seo gets the PotG, but honorable mention to Bert, who was great.

[Guest Rotblatt]

I bet we're up at least two or three games, Yancy . . .

Seo's been REALLY consistent in the minors, at least until the pregnant wife thing . . .

Hopefully, this go-round made a lasting impression on Willie.

There's no way he'd pass through waivers, so we can't trade him. The only way we get him in the rotation permanently without moving Zambrano to the pen or Norfolk (not the best idea, as he's been decent lately too) is by trying to trade Glavine, maybe. Not sure how possible that is, but it'd be nice, and he's been pitching well lately.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Mets relieve a Korean with a Korean. Nice.

[metirish]

Yeah I thought that was pretty cool Edgy, Mr. Koo is back in the mix it seems, three straight days of work.

[nymr83]

Jae Seo rocks. and here's a big "i told you so" to any Ishii supporters that are bold enouhg to admit it.

[Guest Rotblatt]

I saw a headline this morning, "Call-up outduels Maddux" and it struck me that I'm not even surprised by how well he pitched. I pretty much expected him to come up and be great.

Not that I didn't have some concerns, but still--that's pretty unusual, don't you think?

Willie confirmed that Seo would make his next start against LA.

[Centerfield]

Not trying to rain on the parade, but while his last two starts have been great, Seo gives up quite a few HR's, really needs a park like Shea to hold some long fly balls, and can fall in love with the changeup so much hitters learn to sit on it (though I though he did a much better job mixing things up today). I think Jae is a nice number 5, but not much more than that.

Still, starting him over Ishii is a no-fucking-brainer.

[smg58]

The Mets need to make room for at least one of Seo, Heilman, and Bannister in next year's rotation. And then deal the others, rather than continue to block them. That's the 5th starter. If Glavine doesn't make 200 IP, you buy him out and pick up Trachsel's option. Otherwise, you (probably reluctantly) buy out Trachsel. That's your 4th starter, leaving an opening for Petit in 07. Benson is #3, and Pedro's the ace. Zambrano should be moved as well, and a solid #2 brought in.

Everybody the Mets spoke to leading up to the deadline appears to have insisted on Milledge rather than asking for pitchers that could have been much more easily had -- the Mets' past history most likely played a role there. Hopefully teams will be more flexible in the offseason.

[seawolf17]

Seo's "problem" is that he throws too many strikes without having really dominant stuff. He doesn't walk too many guys, but he doesn't K too many either; guys put the ball into play. When the defense is good, like they were yesterday, he wins.

Note: Neifi Perez looked AWFUL yesterday. I don't know why Nomar didn't play, but Perez looked completely lost at the plate, making four outs to first base (and looking ugly every time he swung).

[Guest Rotblatt]

]Seo's "problem" is that he throws too many strikes without having really dominant stuff. He doesn't walk too many guys, but he doesn't K too many either; guys put the ball into play. When the defense is good, like they were yesterday, he wins.

No offense, but that scouting report is old. He's using a cutter/sinker and a curve now, and his stuff looked pretty damn dominant yesterday. And at least in AAA, has become much more of a strikeout pitcher. He K'ed 8.21 per nine innings this season. As for HR, he's allowed 0.96 per nine innings in AAA. Those are both good numbers--the K rate especially. Now, in the majors so far, he's only at 6.40 K/9, but that's still better than anyone on the team not named Pedro.

And maybe four balls got hit hard past the infield all night against a pretty good lineup and NOTHING got as far as the warning track.

Now, these numbers don't mean as much since he hasn't spent much time n the majors this year, but that's precisely the problem. He needs to have a number of starts this year in order to figure out what, exactly, we have, but as I've been saying pretty much all year, his consistency in the minors suggests that he could be pretty darn good if given a chance--maybe a #3, maybe a #4. A real good shot at being better than Victor, Tom & Kaz.