IGT 8/31: Mets vs. Phillies, Game 2

[Zvon]

I hear thats the 3rd time pedro has given up 4 HRs in a game.
they say he did that twice in 1998.

[Zvon]

id like to give out afew awards before the game is even over.

Utley gets the player I will now love to hate the most award.

The Homeplate ump gets screw of the game award for squeezin Pedro on that one pitch, that changed his whole pace (pedro went for a little walk around the infield after that one,lol) and was the turning point of the game, in my mind.

Mets get the From High To Low award for makin me feel so hi one nite, and so low the next.

Bell gets the EMPTY OUT THE STADIUM award for allowing the Phils to score and score again and make a comeback look impossible.

The Cranpool forum gets the doldrums award, for makin less noise when the Mets r down, almost quieter that the fans actually at the game.

I get the optimist of the night award.

Bret gets the pessimist of the year award.

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

Pedro is hurt.

[Guest KC]

Care to elaborate Bong? Or are you speculating?

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

KC wrote: Care to elaborate Bong? Or are you speculating?

I don't know any specifics, but I don't think there's any question he's hurt. The disappearance of his fastball should prove that.

A healthy Pedro doesn't throw many curveballs - mostly fastball/changeup.

A news piece a few months ago said he wrenched his foot, which he did last year too. It's a bit worrying.

[Zvon]

tomorrow is a day game, right?
Well, lets go get em tomorrow.

Tuff loss friends....

[Guest KC]

>>>I don't know any specifics, but I don't think there's any question he's hurt.<<<

That's why I asked. Some people on forums are watching the Mets or the
Phillies feed and likewise some are listening to one or the other. Others are
following online here or while watching play by play on a site.

Pedro's hurt sounds kinda ominous.

[Guest SI Metman]

ugh, definately a tough one to sit through tonight. Somehow I had a feeling it would blow up in our face with the Mets up 2-0 and the Marlins trailing at the same time. It was just too good to be true, the thought of the Mets having the Wild Card lead entering September 1.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Pedro's done an unbelievable job for yuz all year long, and you've got to expect an off night now and then. The real problem is that you've been depending on him to supply a great game every five days, rain or shine. Well, tonight it rained.

You know, one funny thng about that night the Mets ganged up on Pedro in Fenway Park in 1998, WP, is I was gloating about the Mets' abfab performance to Theo's dad and another Red Sox Nation author in the bleachers, really giving them teasing and mocking, and they seemed to take it just fine.

[Guest Rotblatt]

No, I agree with Bong. Petey's hurt. I thought he wasn't finishing his pitches--after he released, it seemed like he was pulling back a little bit, which, IIRC, affects velocity & location. Now, the home plate umpire was tight as hell last night, at least from where I was sitting (which was pretty darn far away, but Castro barely had to move his glove at all on most of the balls), but Petey's velocity in innings 2-5 was sitting at around 81-82, occasionally getting up to 84-85. In the 6th inning after giving up the HR, he ponied up to 90 mph to get through the inning. In my mind, that should have been it for Petey, despite the 82 pitches thrown. And yet Willie didn't so much as get someone throwing in the bullpen throughout the entire 7th--even after the double by Abreu.

And Peterson never made a trip to the mound, which confused the hell out of me.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was amazing that Petey fooled them through 6 innings--it's a testament to how smart of a pitcher he is--but you just CAN'T tell me he couldn't have used an extra day here or there. 6 man rotation, Willie--DO IT. In the "I told you so" department, I believe I started a thread sometime back in June advocating a 6-man rotation built around giving Petey an extra day off every turn--and on keeping Glavine on regular rest.

Speaking of Willie, I was pissed at him for a few reasons: 1) starting Cairo. He looked like shit out there, especially on those two strikeouts, and the second one, with Reyes at second, struck me as grounds for an immediate benching. I totally had the same uncharitable thought as Bret after he got hit, immediately followed by "The only thing he's good for these days is getting hit by pitches." 2) Leaving Petey in there. IMO, he should have been pulled after the 6th, but DEFINITELY after he gave up the single to Rollins. 3) Not pinch hitting for Cairo in the eighth. He'd looked terrible all night long.

I also wanted Willie to pinch run for Castro in the bottom of the seventh. Put Matsui out there and have him steal a base or something, but Castro's been en fuego and I can see not wanting to take him out.

It looked to me like Floyd gave up on his at bat in the eighth. He looked terrible on every single pitch.

Lofton's two catches really put the nail in the coffin, but Cairo getting called out on that play in the 3rd hurt too. I had no idea of what happened and assumed Cairo had gotten tagged somehow by Utley. As Beltran sped towards first, I found myself thinking "He's hit safely six straight times in a row," then immediately blamed myself for incurring the wrath of the baseball gods, who proceeded to taketh away--Beltran was quiet the rest of the night after that call.

A hard wind was blowing intermittently out towards the left field pole, and I've no doubt that Howard's HR was aided by wind--I thought for sure Floyd would catch it as it left the bat.

The crowd was in full playoff mood last night for the first 6 innings. We loved our Mets--especially Petey, Wright & Castro--and were confident they'd roll to a victory. Once Beltran stole second in the first, we all knew Floyd would drive him home, and that Wright would do SOMETHING good to follow. The "MVP" chants raised my hackles a bit--I thought we should, you know, wait for him to complete an at bat before serenading him, and my fears were realized when Wright took a HUGE swing at a pitch in the dirt. He settled down after that and got what looked like a good-natured ribbing from the first-base coach after he drew his walk. DiamondVision showed Wright with a huge, shit-eating grin on his face as the coach jawed in his ear.

After Myers had control problems in the first, Diaz maddingly began the second by swinging at the first pitch and grounding out. When Castro stepped to the plate, the crowd gave him a standing ovation, and if Floyd made us happy with his RBI single, Castro put us into a state of delirium with his first-pitch HR. No one sat down until Castro came out for a curtain call. Nonetheless, Myers got through the inning having thrown only 7 pitches.

Once Petey gave up his second home run, however, it got eeriely quiet, and "shock" is the only word for the atmosphere after Utley's two-run jack. Bret-like bandwagoneers started jumping ship, but the rest of us hung tight despite the rain to see Bell shut down the Philies in the eighth and await our second straight comeback. Cairo hit the ball pretty sharply, but right at Utley, Beltran went down on some nice pitching, then Floyd embarassed himself.

After Bell got Utley, we thought we were home free, but Beltran couldn't get to Abreu's double, a fact which enraged a very drunk fan behind me, who launched into an explitive-laden rant against Beltran. Looked like there was no chance to me, but I DO wonder if Cam could have gotten there . . .

I viewed the ninth as an interview for Wagner, and he didn't do so well. No hits, but he looked a wild out there and Castro just scorched the ball. A great play by Bell should have ended the game--that offline throw was inexcusable. He had all day to double up Wright.

All in all, last night was tough. It's the second straight Petey-pitched game I've gone to where I've been confident we were going to win only to see it go up in flames. As dissapointing as last night's loss was, however, it was still only one game and we're still in the hunt. Time to wake our bats up and win this motherfucking series.