IGT, 3/7, Met and Nats again

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Mets are apparently spending a lot of time in the division with their spring training schedule. I guest a lot of NL east eams have set up shop around the Treasure Coast.

Welcome to Tradition Field, folks. i'm a little disappointed to see the DH used in an NL park in a game betweeen NL teams.

1. Justin Maxwell, CF
2. Ian Desmond, SS
3. Elijah Dukes, RF
4. Mike Morse, 1B
5. Ivan Rodriguez, C
6. Kevin Mench, DH
7. Adam Kennedy, 2B
8. Alberto Gonzalez, 3B
9. Willy Taveras, LF

1. Gary Matthews Jr., CF
2. Luis Castillo, 2B
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Jason Bay, LF
5. Daniel Murphy, 1B
6. Jeff Francoeur, RF
7. Alex Cora, SS
8. Omir Santos, C
9. Catalanotto, DH

• Matt Chico
• Jason Bergmann
• Ron Villone
• Matt Capps
• Drew Storen
• Luis Atilano
• Joel Peralta

• Hisanori Takahashi
• Pat Misch
• Jack Egbert
• Clint Everts
• Tobi Stoner

=#BF8040].
.

Washington		=#FF8000]New York
Jason Marquis, SP	Oliver Perez, SP
Also Scheduled:		Also Scheduled:

[Guest Edgy DC]

Looks like a pretty regular-like lineup backing Ollie.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Think Ralph makes his 2010 debut today?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Ollie yields a three-run clout in the first. Suicide rate in New York climbs precipitiously.

[Guest Kong76]

Ollie sucks, rinse and repeat (or spit).

[Guest Edgy DC]

An inside-the-park grand slam by Omir Santos and Ollie off the hook.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Ollie exits from a 5-5 tie and Hishanori Takahashi steps in.

Nice to see a lefthander in 47 come out of the pen.

[Guest Edgy DC]

And Takahashi takes about 90 seconds to strike out the slide!

I think I love him, so what am I so afraid of?

[Guest Kong76]

Takahashi rocks!

Perhaps you're afraid of being not sure of a love
there is no cure for.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think that's it!

He gives up a seeing-eye single in his next inning, throws away a pickoff pitch, and then bears down.

He gets an infield grounder that avails to naught as Cora tries and fails to catch the runner off third, then, with first and third and no outs, he fans the next two! Kevin Mench is the last chance for the Nats and my love won't wait.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Look at these guys chasing the ball low.

A soft liner to Bay and the Mets defense has to get one out for him.

[Valadius]

Damn you MASN and MLB Network, nobody gives a shit about the Orioles.

[MFS62]

Today's starting lineup is a head scratcher.
Manuel has commented during the off season that Santos isn't really good defensively. Some of his quotes made that sound like he's not especially good at handling pitchers.
Today's starter was Ollie Perez, who is trying to get his mechanics straightened out.
So, why isn't one of the more experienced (major leagues) catchers in there with Ollie?
Just askin'.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think you're reading too much into nothing.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Six strikeotus for Tak as he comes inside to Willie Harris and Harris can't do anything with it.

[MFS62]

I think you're reading too much into nothing.[/quote:11m03g0i]
Yeah. I think about things like that a lot.
Actually, I thought Jerry might be trying to see if they can work well together, like the guys across town are doing by having Posada catch Burnett.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Misch says "F Takahashi and fans his first guy on a backup slider and gets the second quickly on a weak grounder."

I'm very pleased that they didn't sign some overpaid question mark as a starter.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Ike, pinch-hitting lefthanded specialist Ron Villone, doubles off the leftfield wall.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Hi, I'm Nick Evans. Remember me?

[Valadius]

I'm beginning to think, if we wanted to, we could trade for a starter, as we have plenty of minor-league pieces to make it work.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That's twice today that Francoeur has thrown out the tying runner at the plate.

[Theoldmole]

Francoeur's arm looking good out in right.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Francoeur's arm looking great out there. They ought to give him a save.

Misch, though, is the one to finish it off, wearing number 48 and all the cooties it can carry.

[MFS62]

Won with your basic ground ball grand slam home run.

I love this game!

Later

[Fman99]

Takahashi rocks!

Perhaps you're afraid of being not sure of a love
there is no cure for.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Holy crap. Go lefties!

I mean, it's early... but with 4 optionless guys (and 2 be-optioned types) pitching so well as to make their buttocks slough from their backsides, could it be possible that we have too MANY good options at the five-hole?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Could it be possible that we have too MANY good options at the five-hole?[/quote:1ff6r2eo]

I would think not, given how shaky the 2, 3, and 4 spots are.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, the adage of never having enough pitching is true enough.

The key is perhaps having more pitching than they might have had they thrown all their donuts after Jason Marquis or Ben Sheets. Hopefully that's true.

[bmfc1]

The problem is that right now, the "five" pitchers (Niese, Nieve, Figueroa, Misch) don't appear to be any worse than the "two", "three", or "four" pitchers (Ollie, Maine, Pelfrey).

[Guest Edgy DC]

If that's true, I don't think that's a problem, but an asset.

I've said it before, but for all the problems the staff had last year, their pitching was pretty much middle of the pack. Thier depth really bailed them out a lot.

And Takahashi is definitely a starting option. He's started his whole career in Japan.