IGT 6/21/06 Mets vs. Cincinnati

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I think Gary was angry at himself for not "setting the scene" first -- he had to blurt out that it was a HR and that Valentin hit it LHed at once when he'd have preferred to have pointed out his LH-hitting first.

[Guest Edgy DC]

If this was the culture of 1986, Duaner Sanchez is brought in to face Snotty Brandon Phillips.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Farmer Ted wrote: Still 9.5 up you negative bastids.

Those 9� games won't mean anything when Wagner's trying to close a game in the NLDS.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, I imagine Wagner would say (to himself, at least) last night's blowage won't mean anything at that point either.

All my love to Zvon, but I'm starting to seriously dislike that Sandman pic.

Let him earn a real nickname as a Met.

[Centerfield]

All that comes to mind is "WagNOOOOO!!!!!"

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I'm not into Wagner and haven't been from the start, at least as contract $$ and draft picks surrendered went, and although this prolly puts my FEEEEEEELINGS out there a little bit, he doesn't appear to actually be a member of the team, in that they've set it up so that there's 24 guys essentially working together FOR him, and he's the one guy who offers nothing up until the point he's asked to the job. Truly, this Met team is a, forgive my Metmetism, a TEAM and he's not.

Edgy's right. A real TEAM team woulda brought in Sanchez without regard to Billy's FEEEEELINGS, in service of a goddamned victory. And tho I'm understanding of a guy having a bad stretch, doubt that WWSB has the Bs to de-leverage him as he did to Heilman when he wasn't getting it done, in part because of all that money/time/status of his.

But the guy's blown 20+% of his opportunities this year.

[Elster88]

Edgy DC wrote: All my love to Zvon, but I'm starting to seriously dislike that Sandman pic.

The pic was cool the first time but, as with anything, oversaturation breeds contempt.

[The Big O]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I'm not into Wagner and haven't been from the start, at least as contract $$ and draft picks surrendered went, and although this prolly puts my FEEEEEEELINGS out there a little bit, he doesn't appear to actually be a member of the team, in that they've set it up so that there's 24 guys essentially working together FOR him, and he's the one guy who offers nothing up until the point he's asked to the job. Truly, this Met team is a, forgive my Metmetism, a TEAM and he's not.

I don't really get this. Isn't this true of all closers?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Yeah, tis. My point was made better by Edgy above -- it'd be nice if someone had the nuts to rescue him when he doesn't succeed, but WWSB seems to prefer that the last line of defense remains the last line of defense.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That's better put than I put it also.

But it's not alone about rescuing him when he fails, it's about, when you have two similarly successful pitchers, and the situation is tense, going for the best matchup. In this case, with Wagner (1) wild, (2) facing a lefty, and (3) 25 pitches into the evening, Sanchez is the better matchup.

That seems to be OK in the seventh with guys making something like the minimum wage, but not with millionaires in the ninth, when managers instead defer to status. That's frustrating.

[metirish]

Elster asked...

] I wonder if any of the mediots asked them about it after the game. I'll look around.

I looked and couldn't find anything in the papers about Beltran not attempting to steal so I wrote the Mets beat writer for the Journal News and got this response....

] Conor, Thanks for the email. You raise a great point about Beltran not stealing. It never came up in the postgame press conference, mainly because Wagner blowing the game and Jose Reyes' cycle were the main topics of discussion. We all also know the way Willie works. He manages those ninth inning situations very conservatively and would never want to run himself out of the inning by getting a guy caught stealing with two power hitters at the plate. Don't forget, too, that Javier Valentin was catching for the Reds in the ninth. He's got a decent arm (he's thrown out 6 of 14 runners, which isn't awful) and the Mets didn't really try to run on him on Tuesday, which is rare for them. Personally, I think when you have Delgado and Wright up, you have two chances at a walk-off homer and shouldn't risk stealing unless it's with Reyes. But you're right, they probably should have tried running Beltran, especially once Delgado was retired. Wright's game-ending double play wouldn't have looked so bad then! Again, thanks for the email. Kevin

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Feliciano gets two outs but then gives up a hit and a ground rule double in the 8th. Bradford's coming in with two on and two out.

[metirish]

This IGT is from the 21st..

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Oops - sorry.

[Elster88]

That's cool Irish. He wrote back pretty quickly too. Nice job by both of you.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Good job, irish.

Ask him if anybody grilled Willie about Delgado not running hard.

Or grilled Delgado.

[metirish]

Edgy I will ask him but please refresh my memory as to when Delgado didn't run hard.

[Frayed Knot]

On Wright's double in the middle of the game.
Delgado ran from 1st to 2nd like he expected it either to be caught or go out. By the time he started really running it was too late to send him.
A question about it will likely produce the same "it didn't come up" response as your earlier one. Wasn't the biggest story, etc.


Eddie C asked Willie about it on the FAN pre-game show. More like; 'Did you think Delgado would score there?'
He said he thought initially that he could score but that he clearly wasn't far enough along by the time the ball got back into the IF. Sounds like he either didn't think Delgado was loafing or just didn't see it.

[metirish]

Guys I asked Kevin the Mets beat writer about Delgado not running hard and got this reply......Kevin seems like a really cool guy...

] Conor, It took me a while to know what you were talking about, but I think you're referring to Wright's double off the wall. I know it might not have looked Delgado was clueless on t.v., but that ball was absolutely scolded. He was asked about it after the game and if I remember correctly, he said he didn't pick up where it was until it was too late... whether that means he A) didn't know how many outs there were, or actually thought it was going to be caught is unsure. Remember, though, that there were two outs at the time and the Mets were trailing 4-2. I don't think that, given Delgado's mediocre speed, they would have sent him and potentially run themselves out of the inning. Milton was just starting to come undone and Valentin was on deck (he was intentionally walked) and Xavier Nady was to follow (he had a big night on Tuesday). Unfortunately, Nady struck out. That's just me speculating. These are all very good questions. Unfortunately after games we don't really have too much time with Randolph and the players to fully analyze plays. I am, however, taking note of the types of things you guys are discussing and will try to align my thinking with that when I go into the locker room after games. Thanks again, - Kevin

When I last emailed him I asked if it was ok to post his response here and gave him the link to the CPF..I invited him to visit.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I'm not familiar with the Journal News. Is that a Jersey or Westchester paper?

[metirish]

It's Westchester County.

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage