soupcan

Sosa 5 Delgado 2 Gomez 1 Wright 1 LoDuca 0.5 Wagner 0.5

metsguyinmichigan wrote: X-Factor: Detroit: None --- Hold on. Not exactly true. Kenny Bleeping Rogers is on the DL right now, but he's on the Tigers roster. You're right. Vance Wilson too - also on the DL.

-versus- The Mets go into MoTown to face a powerful Tiger team that is currently leading the Majors in runs per game (5.95), total runs (351), hits (616), doubles (143) triples (20), batting average (.290), slugging (.481) and is tied for third in OBP (.351) and homeruns (74). Our boys on the otherhand, while dealing with injuries, and a frustrating ‘NOffense‘ as a result, have still been pitching rather effectively and will counter the Tigers punch with a pitching staff that has numbers just as good as the Tigers’ bats. The Mets have the third best ERA in the Majors (3.42) while allowing only a Major League best 7.5 hits per game. The way to beat the Tigers is to pitch well and get to their bullpen which these days resembles the Mets outfield - injuries, call-ups and bad performances. Zumaya is on the DL as is set-up man Fernando Rodney. Jason Grilli and Bobby Seay have been seeing time and are hittable. Closer Todd Jones has blown 4 saves this season and has an ERA of 5.79 in 23 innings. The two teams are 3-3 in head to head competition – The Mets being swept at Tiger Stadium in 1997 and the Amazin’s returning the favor when the Tigers came to The Big Shea in 2004. Pitching Matchups: Friday: Jorge Sosa (5-1, 3.22) Chad Durbin (5-1-4.75) Durbin hasn't lost in 10 starts since his first outing of the season, he did however give up five runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Indians on last Saturday. It was the most runs he's allowed since mid-April. Saturday: Oliver Perez (6-4, 2.80) Jeremey Bonderman (5-0, 3.27) Bonderman is also unbeaten in his first 10 starts this season, getting ND’s in his first 5 and then winning his last 5. He lost his only appearance against the Mets in 2004. Sunday: Tom Glavine (5-3, 3.36) Andrew Miller (1-0, 0.00) This will be rookie Miller’s, second start of the season. He was called up to replace Nate Robertson in the rotation. Miller, 22, was 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA in eight relief appearances last season. In his first career start on May 18th against the Cardinbals he pitched six shutout innings and threw 94 pitches. Miller will be recalled from Double-A Erie, where he is 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA after four starts for the SeaWolves. Who’s Hot (Last 10 games): This team can hit and does hit. They are all seemingly hot. Gary Sheffield.375 BA, 7 HR, 17 RBI Maglio Ordonez ..419 BA, 7 RBI Sean Casey .387 BA Ivan Rodriguez .383 BA, 2HR, 9 RBI Who’s Not (Last 10 games): The Mets X-Factor: Detroit: None Mets: Easley (1996-2002) KTE: Tiger Fans Disclosure: some content taken from mlb.com

That's great Val. I'm very excited for you. If its at all possible I'm going to go to your game.

="Nymr83"]they have Brian Wilson but he's been hurt, I'd guess Hennessey, maybe they'll go get someone. Some choice.

I know which name I like better.

No evil intentions on my part, just relaying the news.

Chipper hits the DL

OHernandez 3 Reyes 1.5 Beltran 1 Chavez 1 Smith 1 Wagner 1 Wright 1 Johnson 0.5

Well you gotta figure Rickey's an able enough athlete to learn how to play first adequately. I assume he'd be faster than Franco, be able to finagle more walks and be, if not a 'threat' on the bases, then at least give a team more speed once there, no? You don't think he could hit as well as Julio has?

I would wager that Rickey could play first base and be more productive off the bench than Franco.

soupcan wrote: Watched the game last night in HD for the first time. The fact that it was on ESPN HD and SNY HD gave me a chance to flip back and forth to compare the two pictures. I didn't think there was a difference in HD quality from one HD channel to the next but wow was there ever. ESPN's was so far superior to SNY's. Mostly apparent from the centerfield camera shot. I tried watching the game on ESPN but the graphics all over the screen combined with Sutcliffe and whoever the hell those other two rednecks in the booth were, made it border on impossible. I watched most of it on SNY even with the lesser quality resolution. Anyone else ever experience different levels of HD? Is that a usual thing? soupcan wrote: Watched SNYHD again last night and thought that the HD resolution was much better than it was the night before. In fact it was great. From Phil Mushnick's column in today's NY Post: "One of the comical pleasures Cablevision has consistently provided its customers the last 25 years is its baloney answers to good questions. For example, if Cablevision fails to deliver promised programming you can bet a call to a Cablevision customer service rep (CSR) will produce a ridiculous explanation, one that, naturally, blames everything and everyone except Cablevision. Tuesday's Giants-Mets on SNY did not appear in HD due to a technical delivery failure from Shea. Fair enough, it was fixed the next day. But a Cablevision CSR, Tuesday, explained Cablevision was "contractually disallowed" to present the game in HD, which was both a ridiculous and typically ridiculous answer."

From the 'Perpetuating The Myth department: - The two accounts of the trade that went down last night that I read (NY Times and NY Post) both included variations of the phrase 'Giants trade struggling Benitez' I think he was 9-11in save situations. Maybe he wasn't lighting the world on fire but its hardly 'struggling'.

]Would we be giving Jason Giambi too much credit for designing and executing a scenario that got him to the Los Angeles Angels? Yes.

On the player stats page on mlb.com they have a 'save' column and next to that what appears to be a 'save opportunies' column. It's odd though b/c they don't give a total number of save opps. at the bottom and in some cases a pitcher is listed as having a save but there was no save opp.

"You won't shatter my dreams Derek Jeter" Love it.

If I recall correctly CF compared 'Mando's stats in postseason games to to his peers and 'Mando came out right in line with everyone else.

Do you really expect them to?

seawolf17 wrote: Isn't that part of the dilemma of the modern closer, though? You fail four times over the course of a six-month season, and that's all that's remembered. Yes it happens to all closers but for some reason Benitez is tagged as the biggest choker of them all when its just not true. Again I think its because he blew up in a few high profile games and just could never shake the tag. He's expected to save games so when he does it's no big deal. When he blows one, its headline time because of past 'big game' failures and the rarity of his blown saves. Same reason that Jeter is perceived as the clutchiest clutch player that ever swung a bat. He came through a few times in high profile situations and ever since then every time he gets a hit in a 'big' situation (and of course every time there's a RISP that's perceived as 'big') it just adds to the myth. When he doesn't get the 2-out RBI its no big deal because the odds say he won't but when he does - whooo-hooo Cap'n Clutch ccomes through again. ="Gwreck"]I'm convinced that adding to Benitez' problems was that during his heyday, the best closer...EVER was also in his heyday. Excellent point.

]We probably should split off some posts for an "Armando Revisited" thread. Do it. [/code]

Watched SNYHD again last night and thought that the HD resolution was much better than it was the night before. In fact it was great. YESHD also has a great picture. Makes Yankee losses even more enjoyable.

Glavine 2.5 LoDuca 2.5 Beltran 1.5 Chavez 1.5 Mota 1 Wright 1

The problem with 'Mando I think is that he had a few blown saves in high profile situations while with the Mets. He got himself an undeserved choker reputation because of those, and then every save after that that he blew (even thoughh there weren't many) were 'big' games. Ignoring the fact of course that any blown save is usually a story because they don't happen nearly as often as a save When he did and does close out a game successfuly no one cares because that's what he's supposed to do. Does the casual Mets fan even know that Wagner is 12-12 right now?

On the postgame Carlos said he would've gone home first but his momentum had him going towards the first base bag so it was literally his first step after he got the ball. When Randolph was asked the same questions that FK posed he said that Carlos did the right thing. One reporter asked Willie if Delgado should've thrown to second after touching first and Willie's eyes basically bugged out of his head and he looked at the guy like he was a complete idiot all the while saying/insinuating that it was painfully obvious to anyone who knew anything about the sport that there was no way they were going to get that out at second.

Delgado - 4 Perez - 1.5 Beltran - 1 Feliciano - 1 Heilman - 1 Reyes - 1 Chavez - 0.5