Well. Talk about site issues. Had a personal thing so I couldn’t update last night, the server was going through changes all day Sunday, and I just realized that I haven’t been publishing the posts from Friday and Saturday. Great stuff. I don’t have much time, so I’m going to have to breeze through this as quick as possible with notes from the top of my head. It’s a shame SNY doesn’t have their YouTube channel updated, as that could’ve saved my ass here.

Game 11: The New York Mets (39-41, 5-6 under Manuel) lose to the New York Yankees, 3-2

Johan Santana lost the pitcher’s duel that was stalled most of the day thanks to the thunderstorms that were on and off throughout the city. Dominated through three, had a shaky fourth (with no help from the umps), then did well through the rest of his six inning stint. Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez did great in relief, giving up one hit between the two of them. Again, the offense looked uninspired, only scoring on solo shots from David Wright and Ramon Castro. This wasn’t a bad game for the Mets, they were simply outdone by the rain and a pitcher that had a better day.

Overall Grade: B.

Game 12: The New York Mets (40-41, 6-6 under Manuel) defeat the New York Yankees, 3-1

Ryan Church made his return to the lineup, batting sixth and taking the place of his substitute Trot Nixon who had to tag out to the DL with a strained groin. He went 2-4, looking like he hadn’t spent a day out of the lineup. The big story of the game, though, was Oliver Perez - the most inconsistent pitcher in the majors threw his first game of the season where he didn’t walk a single batter. Seven beautiful innings on the mound, only three hits and one run on a solo homer from Wilson Betemit that may have hit CitiField on the bounce. Oliver threw from the center of the rubber, which was something that former pitching coach Rick Peterson wouldn’t allow him to do…funny how that works. He went out there, threw fastballs, threw breaking balls behind in the count; he simply looked great. Big game for everyone involved. The offense left eleven runners on base, but Carlos Delgado smacked a bomb to the scoreboard in right, keeping his hot streak going and giving the Mets the two runs they needed to pull out the win.

Overall Grade: A

The Mets start an eight game road trip (and continue their 18 game in 17 days stint going into the All Star Break) tonight in Busch Stadium where they take on the St. Louis Cardinals. John Maine (8-5, 3.73 ERA) takes on Kyle Loshe (9-2, 3.94) on the mound. Talk to you after the game.

Not much to be said after the game last night; seems that the reporters are calling it an even day, moreso praising the Yankees than burying the Mets. Some things never change, eh?

Ryan Church is expected to be activated on Sunday, and Moises Alou is tentatively scheduled to rejoin the team for next weekend’s four game series against the Philadelphia Phillies - the series that could decide the division going into the All Star Break.

Pedro noted to the press in a meeting this morning that he seemed to be tipping his pitches, clearly exposing when he was going to throw his changeup. Yankee hitters and coaches also noted this in their morning press meetings. Always good when your highly paid pitcher is giving away his stuff so clearly.

I’ll have a personal get-together tonight so I won’t be able to cover tonight’s game - expect a two-game recap on Sunday evening following the wrap-up of the Subway Series.

Game 10: New York Mets (39-40, 5-5 under Manuel) lose to the New York Yankees, 9-0

Well, obviously some of the runs from Carlos Delgado in the day game could’ve been used here. At least the two teams broke even on the day at 15 runs a piece. I really don’t want to talk much about this, so let’s get this one over with.

Offense: Lackluster would be an understatement. They left the bases loaded with one out in both the second and third innings, and after that, no one delivered at the plate. Not much you can comment on when everyone on the team is left without scoring a run. Everyone had a bad night.

Defense: No big blunders, but no spectacular plays. Everyone, especially Wright and Reyes in the right half of the infield, came off as tired from the prior game in Yankee Stadium.

Pitching: Pedro held on strong through four, but the fifth inning is what eventually stuck the fork in him. Six runs and twelve baserunners allowed, not good at all. The bullpen did what they could to attempt to keep things sealed, but it wasn’t enough.

Overall Grade: D-: I don’t want to consider it an overall failure since the boys put on such a hard performance earlier in the day and were clearly exhausted. Just so happens that they had no sense of pacing themselves for the night game. Poor job done by Jerry to get this team prepared for two games.

Game 9: New York Mets (39-39, 5-4 under Manuel) defeat the New York Yankees, 15-6

Well, never thought I’d see that score. There’s no other way to describe it, simply an annihilation in the Bronx half of the cross-town split. This finishes off the first of two interleague series between the two teams this year, completing a sweep for the Metropolitans. There’s lots to talk about, let’s not waste time.

Offense: Welcome back, Carlos Delgado of old. Two days after his 36th birthday, Delgado set a new Mets’ record for RBI’s in one game, breaking Dave Kingman’s 32-year standing record of eight. Delgado went 3-5 with two HR’s and a double, just catching every single Yankees pitcher that he faced. A great day for a guy who was in a slump. While not as flashy, David Wright also had a great first half of the doubleheader, going 4-5 with 3 RBI. Just a fantastic job done by everyone today.

Defense: Nowhere near as good, but I suppose you can play a little sloppy when you put runs up on the board. Fernando Tatis had two errors in substitution for Delgado at first base, and Luis Castillo let a ball slip through the legs in the fifth. A sloppy day, but again, excusable when you have such a solid day of offense.

Pitching: Mike Pelfrey still showed signs of growing pains with his starting performance (5.0 IP, 8H, 4ER, 4BB, 5K), but he got himself out of some jams with men on base. He allowed 14 batters to get into scoring position and only let up four runs, so while he got himself in trouble often, he managed to keep a lid on any attempts at a rally. Pedro Feliciano let up a homer in his one inning of relief but looked outstanding aside from that, Aaron Heilman let up just one single in his inning of relief, and Carlos Muniz let up a run, two hits and a walk in his two innings of service.

The Mets travel across town to Shea Stadium as I type this for what was scheduled to be an 8:10 start time for Game Two against the Yankees, but I get the feeling that won’t exactly get off. Pedro Martinez takes the mound against recent Yankees acquisition and perennial fatass Sidney Ponson. Let’s go Mets!

Sorry about not being able to post for the past 36 hours or so. Between FTP problems and a personal ordeal that took priority, the new blog had to go by the wayside. So, with the Mets having a day off, I figured I’d play catchup now.

Game 7: New York Mets (37-39, 3-4 under Manuel) lose to the Seattle Mariners, 11-0

Nothing else to say but just a horrible game. David Wright had his first night off of the season and the team sorely missed him. Oliver Perez continues to be one of the most inconsistent pitchers in the majors, Luis Castillo mimicked Wright’s poor defense from the night before and the Mets’ offense refuses to get on track. The big story of the night for the Amazin’s, as noted in the previous post, was the ejection of Jerry Manuel and Carlos Beltran, which can be seen here (thanks to MetsBlog). Overall Grade: F

Game 8: New York Mets (38-39, 4-4 under Manuel) defeat the Seattle Mariners, 8-2

Talk about immediate turnaround! David Wright had two home runs in his first two at-bats, making his new skipped look like a modern day Einstein, and Jose Reyes put some intense wood on the ball, absolutely killing a three run homer to right field. John Maine looked great through the first four, but then seemed to put it in cruise control and let the M’s get the best of him. Overall Grade: B

Other notes: as I hoped, Bart Hubbich was named one of the Worst People in the World on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC for his negative spin on Jerry Manuel’s “fertilizer” comments …current Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira is looking for an eight year, $160 million contract at the end of the season and the Mets will be in dire need of a big bat and someone to fill the void in first base that will be left by Carlos Delgado. Very interesting …Mets’ first round draft pick Ike Davis has been signed and is already on the road with single A affiliate Brooklyn Cyclones …speaking of the minors, AA affiliate Binghamton Mets had an amazing bench clearing brawl in their game with the Altoona Curve in the bottom of the ninth with two outs during a pitching change …tomorrow brings the famous cross-town doubleheader against the Yankees, so prepare for hell if you’re taking the B, D or 4 trains getting out of work in the city; 2:05 in the Bronx, 8:10 in Queens. Let’s go Mets!

I’ll attempt to get video of this sometime within the next day, but Manuel just received his first ejection as Mets’ skipper, arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Brian Runge. Unfortunately, this also came at the price of the ejection of then-batter Carlos Beltran, arguably the hottest player on the team right now. Down 5-0, this probably wasn’t the best move…but hey, I like seeing some fire in this team that’s been perhaps a bit TOO laid back after a successful road trip.

EDIT: Not the best, but here it is from YouTube. Thanks to user acefight3r.

Jerry Manuel and Carlos Beltran Ejected

Game 6: New York Mets (37-38, 3-3 under Manuel) lose to the Seattle Mariners, 5-2.

Talk about a disappointing loss…it doesn’t get much more disappointing than losing to the worst team in the majors. Just bad play all around tonight aside from Beltran, who looked like a stud. Flirting with .500 is better than most, but after the road trip, I expected to see some better play. Perhaps it was the lack of a travel day that did them in, but regardless, there’s little excuse for playing like this.

Offense: ”Pitiful” would be the best word I could think to describe the way the team played at the plate tonight, aside from a Superman effort from Carlos Beltran. The team took four innings to get a baserunner on board, as Jose Reyes landed on first after a slight fielding error that wasn’t charged against the Mariners. All for naught, though, as he was ruled out on the next pitch on a fielder’s choice. Beltran worked harder than anyone on the team by far, nearly knocking a shot out of the park in the fifth, still running the bases to pull in a double. From there, he took Jerry Manuel’s recent advice to get more aggressive on the basepaths by stealing third base and then charging home on a wild pitch. Unfortunately he ended up taking out Felix Hernandez in the process, taking him out of the game with a bum left ankle. One would think that, perhaps with the dominant starting pitcher out, the offense could perhaps take advantage of the opportunity: again, all for naught, as a lack of plate discipline and the inability to even get a hit ruined the team. Beltran tried in the ninth to bring on a rally, even bringing home a run on an RBI single to the outfield, but it was too little, too late.

Defense: David Wright had his worst night of the season, bobbling balls and racking up two errors in the process, one of which was responsible for loading the bases for the big grand slam from Felix Hernandez (yes, the pitcher from the American League…yes, a grand slam…ugh…). Johan Santana also had a blunder that was saved by Carlos Delgado, who had a phenomenal night not only with this save, but also blocking a blooper down the right field line with his body to flip the ball to first for an out. Seems like the early fielding practice that Delgado went into today at Manuel’s advice was for the best.

Pitching: Johan gave up a grand slam to an AL pitcher with eight at bats. That really says it all, even though he did look pretty good aside from that horrible second inning. He was able to dominate Ichiro Suzuki throughout the night, throwing hard fastballs and just more or less owning the guy. The bullpen continued their great hot streak, with both Aaron Heilman and Duaner Sanchez throwing perfect innings in relief to close out the game.

Overall Grade: D+ - Horrible offense aside from Beltran. Horrible defense aside from Delgado. Horr…well, not HORRIBLE, but it’s hard to think of another word to describe the situation when your pitcher gives up a grand slam to an AL pitcher. How about “lackluster”? Lackluster pitching aside from the bullpen. It’s a shame baseball can’t be won with four players, otherwise the Mets would’ve done great tonight.

This game is historic in the Manuel Era, as it’s the first game in Flushing for the new manager. When asked before the game if he was nervous about being the leader of the team for the first time in front of the home crowd (his first home game as a manager since his skipper stint five years ago with the Chicago White Sox), Manuel kept it simple with the press:

“The only time I get nervous all day is when I talk to you guys.”

Other quick notes:

• Ryan Church Injury Update: Church did his normal workout today. Batting practice, fielding fly balls, throwing from right, the whole nine. Things are looking optimistic. Reports are that Church should play Wednesday and Thursday for the Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones with the target return being this weekend’s four game series with the Bronx Bombers.
• Fred Wilpon spoke with the press today during the MLB’s unveiling of the “Welcome Back Veterans” program, an initiative to support American war veterans upon their return from their service time. Of course, the main topic of discussion with Wilpon was Willie Randolph:

“It’s all about performance.  Recognize, we gave Willie the chance, Omar gave him the chance, to be in this position.  He had never been a manager in the major leagues or the minor leagues, and I think he did a good job.  I think the results of the last 14 months were not up to what we thought that they had to be.”

• Endy Chavez starts tonight in right field for the sixth time in the past seven games, substituting for Ryan Church. In his previous five starts, Chavez is hitting .368 with two doubles and an RBI. It’s those sort of numbers that prove that he’s one of the most solid, dependable players off the bench in the majors. Having such a clutch, dependable outfielder to fill in throughout the year saved Willie Randolph in some tough situations, and it looks as if guys like Chavez and Damion Easley are going to be some of Manuel’s favorites.

Gotta love the Post and their headlines.

Bart Hubbich wrote quite the column for this morning’s edition of the world renowned paper, taking a page from Presidential Race coverage and fine-tooth combing through quotes made by Jerry Manuel before Sunday’s game with the Colorado Rockies. Talk about spin…let’s compare the actual quote from Manuel to what Hubbich wrote.

Jerry Manuel, when asked if the boo-birds in Flushing can affect the team’s performance:

“That’s a good question.  I don’t know if it drains a team as much as it affects that individual.  I think it does have an effect on the individual more so than the team…It’s painful, but it’s also growth.

“I’m going to say this, and I hope you all don’t take it wrong, I know you’re going to run out of here with something crazy on this: It’s very, very fertile ground for growth at Shea Stadium.  It’s fertile ground for a team’s growth and development.  Sometimes, fertile ground has fertilizer. [laughs]  But, fertilizer is a good thing.  It’s a good thing. You get the greatest results, you get the most beautiful plants, when you put it in that type of fertile soil.  That’s what we have the opportunity to do.  Don’t take that wrong, because I know what you’re going to do with it.”

What did Hubbich take from this?

“Angry Mets fans are a big pile of … fertilizer? Manager Jerry Manuel apparently thinks so, at least when it comes to their harsh treatment of reliever Aaron Heilman at Shea Stadium this season. Adding to his fast-developing reputation for outrageous comments, the Mets’ interim boss compared the atmosphere at home for Heilman with manure today.”

Really? Is that the point that Manuel was trying to make with the fertilizer analogy? If anything, it was clear by the laughter in the room from Jerry and the reporters that it was obvious that essentially comparing the fanbase to cow manure maybe wasn’t the best way to word it. However, it was worded in a way that meant absolutely no harm to the people that pack the stands at Shea. In fact, it seems that Adam Rubin from the Daily News got the point in his own blog this morning: Mets fans are the caretakers of the squad, since they want the best out of their players and will push them to their peak. Instead, the Post leaves the average fan with the taste of…well, fertilizer in their mouth.

Post-Game Press Conference - Sunday, June 22, 2008: With the team on the road in Colorado and the New York media far, far away, little word came out of the Mets’ clubhouse after the 3-1 win over the Rockies, capping off a road trip in which the team went 4-3 and climbed to .500 for the first time since June 6th. Manuel kept his comments brief, mainly discussing the pitching efforts of Mike Pelfrey (5.2 IP, 0R, 3H, 5K, 5BB):

“He sailed along, got some quick outs later on. I thought his pitch count might inflate but he was able to hold it together.”

When asked about the recent gesture instituted by the pitching staff where the starting pitcher will wait at the mound for his reliever and then hand the ball off, Manuel had this to say:

“I didn’t expect Pedro to stay there [to hand the ball off], and when Pedro does it, everybody’s going to fall in line no matter what it is. We try to do everything we can to make this a team thing. Let everybody take some responsibility and pull for the next guy — that type of thing. Hopefully that can continue. Maybe that’s why they’re getting those outs now.”

Couldn’t have said it any better myself, Jerry. The camaraderie that the handoff has already created is obvious, and with the bullpen putting in so much great work on this road trip (18.2 innings, only two earned runs), it’d be an understatement to say that these guys at least deserve the sign of respect that Manuel has instituted.

The Mets fly back to LaGuardia tonight for a 7:05 game against the Seattle Mariners, taking them on in a three-game interleague series.