Gnats @ Gmets, 3/27

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Wood for today's Met starter, courtesy Rod Barajas & the Times:

Mets Reliever Takahashi Has More Pitches Than He Knows What to Do With By DAVID WALDSTEIN PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. � During his 11-year career in the major leagues, Rod Barajas has caught future Hall of Famers, Cy Young Award winners, the gifted, the mediocre, the terrible, and everyone in between. So where does a successful Japanese veteran with no major league experience like Hisanori Takahashi fit in that spectrum? Barajas has caught Takahashi twice in spring training games and several times in the bullpen, and already has a good sense of what Takahashi can be in the big leagues. �He�s a No. 3 starter,� Barajas said. �He�s no less than a middle-of-the-rotation guy.� But it appears that Takahashi will not start the season in that role for the Mets. According to two people in baseball with knowledge of the Mets� plans, Takahashi has made the team barring a disaster in Saturday�s start or some unforeseen trade. But he will almost certainly be a reliever when the team breaks camp, not a starter, because the team has all but named Jon Niese its No. 5 starter. So when the left-handed Takahashi gets on the mound Saturday in his only start of the spring, it could be the last opportunity for a while to see his full catalog of pitches � a half-dozen honed and polished deliveries, all of which he throws in any given game and in any count, all of which he throws for strikes. A batter may face a 3-2 backdoor curveball from Takahashi in the first inning, a 3-0 cut fastball in the fourth, a 2-1 sinker in the sixth and, if good fortune is shining on him, perhaps a nasty two-seam fastball in the eighth.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The stars shine on those who help themselves, especially those who make sure to fly with proper orientation-- even if it takes 5,699 extra miles-- to get to spring training.

(Between this and SwallowsMan, our Japanese contingent's secret oddness intrigues.)

[Guest Kong76]

Sunshine be damned, I'm staying in and watching a baseball game!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

David looking strong driving a sinker into the LCF gap for a RBI dubble.

[ashie62]

Kevin Burkhardt has vetted Chip Hale..

Hale looks like a manager in waiting

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

So, apparently Tak2 and Nelly have a gentlemen's agreement of sorts.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Guys were flailing at Takahashi's changes and sliders and stuff, but they were killing his slow, fat, belt-high FB's. Nice catch & throw DP by GMJ there.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Wright has hit four balls hard in three ABs, including a shot down the right field line that was about a foot or two foul. Boy, is that good to see.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Guys were flailing at Takahashi's changes and sliders and stuff, but they were killing his slow, fat, belt-high FB's. Nice catch & throw DP by GMJ there.[/quote:2vd5aou8]

I'd consider it a minor miracle if by Memorial day, this guy's still in good standing with Mets fans.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I'm either drunk already, or that was Luis Castillo that just ripped a 3-run homer.

[bmfc1]

I'm sitting here, thinking of Castillo reaching for a grounder with one hand earlier in the game, failing to get to a ground ball 2 feet to his left, hitting the ball on the ground his first three times up, and cursing out Omar for keeping him on the roster... and then he hits a bomb. I hope that's not it for the year.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The one he hit last year-- the bomb to the second-deck facing-- was righty, too, IIRC.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Igarashi not too impressive again. But a good looking inning from Kiko.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

When it comes to eighth-inning duty or spicing up my rice, I'm a Kiko man.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Coste, you're cut. His failure to see a pop-up leads to a walk, which is followed naturally by a go-ahead 2-run homer.

[Guest Kong76]

Too much helmet.

[Fman99]

Watched the last few innings of this game after my weekly Saturday nap. Liked the Castillo dinger. Disliked the shoddy bullpen work... even the guys who didn't give up runs put a lot of runners on base.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Coste, you're cut. His failure to see a pop-up leads to a walk, which is followed naturally by a go-ahead 2-run homer.[/quote:vqsyzq3g]
Coste is so cuttable in so many ways.

[ashie62]

Cutting Coste would send Santos up a notch on the food chain.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

You don't think Santos is above him on the chain to begin with?

When it comes to eighth-inning duty or spicing up my rice, I'm a Kiko man.
[/quote:189eietq]

Maybe Lee Kum Takahash-Kee instead?