IGT 5/13/12 Deloris Wright's Mets @ Isabel Ramirez's Marlins

[Ceetar]

It's Mother's Day. That means pink bats like this one. I don't know why the Mets are using bats in the Marlin's color scheme though.

Probables are Jon Niese vs. Carlos Zambrano.

Mets are trying to go 6 above .500 for the first time. (and depending on the Nats and Braves fighting for first)

The Marlins are trying to avoid dropping back to .500.

[Ceetar]

Andres Torres - CF
Kirk Nieuwenhuis - LF
David Wright - 3B
Lucas Duda - RF
Daniel Murphy - 2B
Ike Davis - 1B
Ronny Cedeno - SS
Rob Johnson - C
Jonathon Niese - LHP

[Ceetar]

Reyes SS
Infante 2B
Hanley 3B
Kearns LF
Stanton RF
Sanchez 1B
Bonifacio CF
Buck C (Buck is a _Male_ goat. this seems inappropriate for Mother's Day. They should've started John Doe)
Zambrano P

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Ike a late scratch with the flu*. Murph to first, Valdespin to 2B.

*On the potential plus side, so is Teufel.

[Edgy MD]

We're in mid-May and already have the second clubhouse flu epidemid.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Someone isn't washing their hands after scrappy comebacks.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

They should be wearing gloves for the post-victory high fives!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Carlos Zambrano just doesn't seem like a rough-age-peer of SugarPants, does he?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Niese laboring-- 40-some-odd pitches-- to get through 2. But he's pitching REALLY well once those runners get into scoring position.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Muprh!!!

We have a lead kind of early in the game? Not our usual MO.

[Edgy MD]

So that Zambrano guy sure has a lot of pitches in that big butt of his.

Le's go, pen.

[Edgy MD]

Fan of letting a pitcher with a shutout continue.

< < <

[bmfc1]

Yes to that Edgy. Shorty McBunty's over-managing costs the Mets the lead. Ike was too sick to start but he apparently was well enough to bat for Niese who was pitching a shutout. If there was 0 out or 1 out, OK but not 2 out. This one's on you, Shorty.

[Gwreck]

Maybe Heath will walk in another run here.

[Gwreck]

Another fantastic Turner plate appearance against Heath Bell!

[Edgy MD]

Was Sanchez in no man's land there? Great job by Turner, but Gabby was in no position to make the play.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Amazin'! Amazin'! Amazin'!

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Frank Frank is coming unglued.

[Lefty Specialist]

Starting to think that Frank Francisco is Not. The. Answer.

[Valadius]

Get him out of town. I've seen enough.

[Gwreck]

Gameday shows very clearly that Francisco was squeezed when pitching, and that each of the first three pitches he threw to Buck (none of which were swung at) were strikes.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Horrible.

[TransMonk]

What a waste of a series that was.

Fuckin' bullpen.

[Guest themetfairy]

Fuckin' Francisco

[bmfc1]

If the bullpen does it's job, that's a sweep. Sandy spent a lot of the little money that the Wilpons gave him for that 'pen. Rauch was a good move but the rest of the moves have stunk.

[Valadius]

Rauch should be closing. You do NOT give off defeated body language on the mound and you do NOT turn your back on your manager.

[batmagadanleadoff]

bmfc1 wrote: If the bullpen does it's job, that's a sweep. Sandy spent a lot of the little money that the Wilpons gave him for that 'pen. Rauch was a good move but the rest of the moves have stunk.

This isn't so shocking. They're judging pitchers based on 50 or so innings pitched-seasons. That's nothing. That's a coupl'a starts. You watch the right (or wrong) 50 innings pitched, and you might come away thinking that Dillon Gee is Sandy Koufax. Or that Johan Santana is, at best, a minor leaguer. And then on top of that, the IP's thrown by the starters are such that the Mets need about half a dozen dependable relievers instead of just two or three. Too many moving parts. Too much increased likelihood that something will go wrong, that some reliever will screw it up. The best way to minmize dependence on the bullen is by improving the starting rotation. Get better starters. Then get more better starters.

[G-Fafif]

I know where they got this guy from, but reflexively all I could do when it was over was ask aloud, "Where did they get this guy from?" Somehow "the free agent market after a fairly successful American League career" doesn't seem an adequate answer.

Davis and Torres piling on runs with second and third with two out would have been nice, too, I heard myself say in the innings when they didn't.

Damn this failure to be perfect.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: bmfc1 wrote: The best way to minmize dependence on the bullen is by improving the starting rotation. Get better starters. Then get more better starters.

Then when you have good starters, let them pitch deeper and not relflexingly go to the seventh-inning guy, eighth-inning guy and closer because that's what most teams do now.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Guest

[G-Fafif]

I understand pinch-hitting to go for it when Niese's turn came up (reluctantly) but a flu-riddled Davis seemed like an addled choice.