Mets fans will pull for Red Sox and Dodgers

In my last poll, I asked my readers what team they will pull for in the playoffs.  The Red Sox were the victor over the Dodgers by one vote.  Here are the results…Somehow, the Phillies managed to garner 11 votes.  I’m guessing those were voted for by Philly fans, don’t you think?

Personally, I’d like to see either the Twins or the Tigers win it all, though for Johan Santana’s sake, maybe the Twins shouldn’t win it all.

Next poll: Were the right people fired?

Baseball Digest: Fan starts rally to ‘Vote for Manny’

Just had an interview with Jason Rosenberg, the man behind the Vote For Manny Web site.  A Yankees fan starting a grassroots campaign to get Manny into the All-Star Game.  Quite a story.

Head over to Baseball Digest to read the article.

The Mets can hit, so can the Nationals.

The top five teams by batting average and their records:

1. New York Mets (.289), 21-18
2. Toronto Blue Jays (.286), 27-15
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (.285), 28-13
4. Los Angeles Angels (.285), 20-18
5. Washington Nationals (.278), 11-27

Hey, who let the Nationals into this party?

Would you take Andruw Jones -- for Luis Castillo?

I know there was a tiny ember of a rumor a few days ago that was quickly shot down, but I'd like to think about the possibility of bringing Andruw Jones on board -- if and only if Luis Castillo is shipped elsewhere (LA).

Jones, coming off another miserable season, hasn't come close to hitting above .250 since 2006. In his last season with Atlanta ('07), Jones only hit .222, but still managed to drive in 94 runs, hit 27 doubles and 26 home runs. With his two triples, that means he only hit 72 singles in a full season. How that is possible, I'm not too sure.

His first season with the Dodgers was nothing short of disastrous. In only 75 games, Jones hit a measly .158, driving in 14 runs and only picking up 33 hits in 238 plate appearances.

Now we all know the maladies of Castillo and his contract. This may be a bit tougher to pull off, especially since Jones reworked his contact (likely signaling the Dodgers big push to bring back Manny Ramirez) for a much lower amount. According to Buster Olney, "Under the terms of the restructured deal, Jones will be paid the $15 million in salary over the next six seasons with no interest, sources say."

Now with the $18 million due to Castillo over the next three years, it's unlikely the Dodgers would want to swap the new Jones contract for Castillo's. The Mets would have to sweeten the deal with someone else, but I honestly don't think it's worth it.

Though I want Luis "The Newest Scapegoat" Castillo off the Mets, I don't think taking on Jones would be the right fit for the team.

Tidbits: Fuentes and Vargas sign, DeRosa traded, Marquis soon

A few tidbits on this one of many slow news days.

• Brian Fuentes finally found a team. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for two-years, $17.5 million, with a vesting option for a third year. A little cheaper than K-Rod, eh?
• Claudio Vargas signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. $400,000 base salary with up to $1.4 million in incentives. Why couldn't the Mets do this?
• The Cubs have traded utility man Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians for three minor leaguers. I expect Omar Minaya to land a utility guy for the Mets quite soon. I'm looking at you, Alex Cora.
• The Cubbies are also in talks to trade Jason Marquis to the Rockies for Luis Vizcaino. An upgrade from Heilman, if ever so slightly.

Fletcher wished his readers a Happy New Year, and I will too. Have a safe night and here's to a wonderful 2009 for you, yours and our Mets.

My updated playoff predictions

Here is an updated version of my playoff predictions, complete with the results from my first round of picks. Leave yours if so inclined.

MIL vs. PHI
I had: Philly in three.
What really happened: Philly in four.
Close, but no cigar.

LAD vs. CHC
I had: Cubs in five.
What really happened: Dodgers in three.
I don't think I could have been more wrong. Perfect case of a team getting hot at the right time.

BOS vs. LAA
I had: Angels in four.
What really happened: Red Sox in four.
And with that, my world series prediction is out the window. (I had the Angels beating the Cubs.)

CHW vs. TB
I had: Tampa in four.
What really happened: Tampa in four.
I nailed it!

NLCS: PHI vs. LAD
ALCS: BOS vs. TB

PHI vs. LAD
I'm going to take the Dodgers in six.
Yes, the Phillies starting pitching is good, but their bullpen will soon falter. I'm waiting for Brad Lidge to implode. Dodgers just look too good right now, and with everyone hitting in that offense, it's truly a force to be reckoned with.

BOS vs. TB
Sorry, Tampa. Red Sox in five.
I love the Rays, but they lack the "experience." The Red Sox are a postseason team, they simply find ways to win when it matters most. A better start from Josh Beckett this time around will help considerably. Still, Tampa Bay will put up a fight.

My World Series: LAD vs. BOS, a Yankee fan's worst nightmare.

Poor Cubbies fans

Another year, another lost season.

Sounds like the Mets. But I'm actually talking about the hapless Chicago Cubs. The Mets have at least had two World Series championships this century. The Cubs have come nowhere close.

I actually feel bad for their fans. After a 97-win season, riding high throughout the entirety of the season, they were swept out of the NLDS by Joe Torre and his Dodgers, three games to none.

The funny part about that is the Dodgers won 13 less games, had to battle through the misery that is the NL West, pretty much squeaked into the playoffs, and they came in and handily tore apart Chicago, never even letting them sniff a win.

Yankee fans in this area must not know how to feel. Joe Torre is in the LCS for another year, with Manny Ramirez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Scott Proctor all under his control. Scott Proctor's Arm seems to be a little confused.

Chicago has had a long history of baseball, but the Cubs cannot seem to break the "curse." There's always next year?

Game Recap: Mets 12 -- Dodgers 1

The offense might garner most of the press after this dominant performance over Brad Penny, but I feel the true hero today was Mets starter John Maine, who fell just two outs short of a complete game shut out. The Mets bats were out in plenty, and from some unlikely sources, as the Mets trounced to salvage the final game of the series by a score of 12-1.

Maine pitched 8 1-3 innings, and only allowed four hits. He walked two and struck out four. Maine allowed two doubles and two singles and fell just short of a complete game shut out.

Maine was helped out by some nice defensive plays, two of which come to mind. David Wright made a nice running swipe on a ball hit by Jeff Kent and then made a nice throw to first for an out. The best play came from Angel Pagan, who started the game in left. In the bottom of the first, Pagan made a catch in foul territory up against the wall, flipped head over heels into the stands and held onto the ball. He stayed down for a few minutes, but stayed in the game. He was later removed with "shoulder tightness."

Sick play by Pagan. He really went all out to get that ball.

Maine was incredibly dominant. There's really nothing I can say to put his performance into perspective. He shut down the hot bats of LA, keeping his pitch count low, throwing 117 pitching into the ninth inning, 76 for strikes.

John Maine, I love thee.

How do I even recap a 12 run outing by the Mets bats, ten of which were charged to Penny? After singles from Church and Pagan in the second, Marlon Anderson hit a ball deep to center field, which hopped over the wall for a ground rule double as Church scored. Raul Casanova then singled to the right side, driving in both Pagan and Anderson. After a sacrifice from Maine and a walk to Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo grounded a ball up the middle, driving in Casanova.

The Mets strung together five hits this inning to drive in four runs, but this wasn't even the team's biggest inning of the day. Good stuff.

The Mets added one in the third as Pagan grounded into a fielders choice, allowing Carlos Beltran to score from third base.

The fifth inning was huge for the Mets and all their runs came with two outs. Church was hit by a pitch with one out, Anderson singled, and Casanova walked to set up Maine with the bases loaded. On an 0-2 pitch, Maine went down and got a slider low and away, blooping the ball to shallow center field, driving home Church and Anderson. A walk to Reyes ended Penny's day, and ex-Yankee Scott Proctor entered the game with the bases loaded and two away.

Proctor promptly walked the first batter he faced, Castillo, driving in a run. Wright, who had been struggling to this point, ripped a ball deep to left field, which hopped over the wall for a ground rule double, allowing two runs to score. With Beltran batting, Proctor threw a ground ball in the dirt, allowing Castillo to trot home with the sixth run of the inning.

Wow. The Mets bats woke up today, and had a lot of production from some reserve players, which is always good to see. Spectacular offensive performance.

Church added to the Mets runs in the top of the sixth, crushing the first pitch of the inning deep to right for his sixth home run of the season.

It's official. I must go buy a Church jersey or shirt. This guy is amazing.

Maine allowed one run in the ninth inning as Andruw Jones dunked a double in between Church and Castillo. Matt Kemp singled to center, breaking up the shut out and ending the day for Maine. Duaner Sanchez threw 2-3 of an inning, striking out James Loney to end the game.

Amazing game. This is how you quiet down the boo-birds and shut up griping fans. Where's the praise for Willie Randolph today? If you're going to blame him for the one run losses like Tuesday's performance, where are the people singing his praises for today's lashing?

Hmm...makes you think, doesn't it?? Please, Mets fans, we're better than this. Don't blame the manager for a two game losing streak. Have some sense. It happens to every team. Forget about 2007, it's a new year, but don't think it's going to be as easy as '06.

Game Ball: John Maine.

Hong-Chih Kuo, newest Mets killer

We all saw Hong-Chih Kuo's dominance over the Mets bats last night.

Here are his career numbers against them: 5 games, 3-0 record, 19.2 IP, 9 hits, 1 earned run, 5 BB, 24 K, 0.46 ERA.

Twenty four strike outs in only 19 2-3 innings. I sure hope they don't face him today.

Game Recap: Dodgers 5 -- Mets 4

First off, this was probably the most maddening game of the year, so if you didn't stay up until 1:32 a.m., you were probably better off.

The Mets had an early lead and forced the Dodgers to go to their bullpen in the fourth inning, but just couldn't hold on to the lead as they dropped the second game of the series to the Dodgers by a score of 5-4.

Nelson Figueroa was on the bump for the Mets, only lasting five innings. Figueroa allowed five earned runs on eight hits and four walks. Figueroa struck out three. He needed 104 pitches to get through the five innings.

Not good, not terrible. The Mets starters need to pitch more innings or the coaching staff is going to have no choice but to go to the bullpen. Something needs to be done, but I don't think Rick Peterson is the problem.

Ryan Church put the Mets on the board early, crushing a solo home run to deep center field as the second batter of the game.

The Mets didn't take any time off, and in the second added two runs on RBI singles from Luis Castillo and Jose Reyes. The Mets failed to score any more runs, as they had the bases loaded with nobody out, but Church grounded into a double play, 1-2-3, followed by a David Wright called strike three.

The Mets were 2-14 with runners in scoring position tonight. They absolutely cannot buy a hit with runners on base. They absolutely could have won this game, as they pounded out 11 hits and walked four times. Terrible.

The Dodgers got on the board in the second, as Juan Pierre singled in Blake DeWitt with two outs for LA's first run.

Pay attention to the two outs.

The best inning of the game was the fourth, even if the Mets only scored once. Leading off the inning, Moises Alou reached on a dribbler to third that DeWitt couldn't handle. Carlos Delgado then singled up the middle, and Alou took an aggressive turn at second, catching Andruw Jones flat footed. Alou slid into third, which would set up a coming play. Angel Pagan, starting in center for Carlos Beltran who was out with flu-like symptoms, grounded into a fielders choice, erasing Delgado at second.

With Brian Schneider batting, Pagan broke for second. Russel Martin popped up and made the strong throw to second, and as soon as Alou saw this, he broke for home. Pagan slid in safely at second and the throw home wasn't even close as Alou stole home for the fourth time in his career.

Just great, aggressive stuff on the basepath from Alou this inning. He's trying to make up for lost time, and thankfully so. This team needs some fire.

The third inning saw the Dodgers scratch back, as DeWitt knocked a two out single to right field, driving in both Jeff Kent and James Loney.

Again, two outs. DeWitt wasn't done for the day either.

In the fourth, the Mets knocked out LA starter Hiroki Kuroda as he was replaced with Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo was the Dodgers savior, as he pitched 3 2-3 innings of scoreless and hitless baseball, walking only one while striking out eight.

He was absolutely nasty. The Mets didn't even have a shot while he was on the bump. Dominant performance.

The game breaker came in the fifth inning with one on and, of course, two out. Martin singled with two outs. DeWitt came up and crushed a ball to deep right field. Church went back to the wall and made a leaping attempt at the ball. It hit off the top of the wall, barely catching the edge of his glove. Church fell to the warning track as the ball bounced back onto the field, still in play.

Church lay there, either expecting Pagan to come over and back him up on the play and pick up the ball, or he thought the ball was already called a home run, but he paused for a second, which allowed DeWitt to chug around the bases. By the time Church got up and fielded the ball, DeWitt had rounded third and headed home for his second career home run, an inside the park job.

And from there, the Mets looked defeated. I believe it should have been Pagan's ball to field as he should be backing up Church on a play like that, but I can't be 100 percent sure. Just an unlucky bounce and chain of events. Only the Mets...

Aaron Heilman turned in two innings of scoreless baseball, only allowing one hit while striking out two. Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith combined for one inning, with Feliciano allowing one hit and Smith recording one strike out.

Well, the bullpen looked good, especially Heilman. These scoreless innings have to be huge boosts to his confidence.

The Mets threatened in the ninth, getting consecutive two out singles before Castillo was called out on strikes to end the game.

Honestly, the strike zone was terrible, all night. I don't want to blame it on the ump because the Mets had a TON of chances to get hits and drive in runs, but I was screaming and throwing things on some of those strikes.

Game Ball: Alou. The team needs more hustle like that.

Game Preview: Mets @ Dodgers -- 5/6

The Mets aim to bounce back from last nights debacle, facing the Dodgers for the second late game in a row, another 10:10 p.m. start.

Lineup:
SS Jose Reyes
RF Ryan Church
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran** (Late scratch. Flu-like symptoms.)
LF Moises Alou
1B Carlos Delgado
CF Angel Pagan** (I believe this is what the lineup card in the dugout showed)
C Brian Schneider
2B Luis Castillo
SP Nelson Figueroa

Mets vs. Hiroki Kuroda:
No Met has ever faced him.

According to John Delcos, the lineup was posted late as Willie Randolph waited to hear from Alou if he was good to go for tonight. Look for Angel Pagan or Endy Chavez tomorrow.

Let's hope the Mets can find some success against a guy they've never faced. Most players were out for early BP.

Game Recap: Dodgers 5 -- Mets 1

The Dodgers were fans of the long ball tonight, knocking three off of Mets starter Oliver Perez, and coasted to a 5-1 win in the series opener.

Perez struggled through another start, this time lasting much longer. He threw six innings, giving up six hits and two walks, which allowed five earned runs to score. Perez kept the walks down, only giving away two free passes while striking out three batters.

Perez gave up his first dinger to the first batter of the game, as Rafael Furcal homered an 0-2 pitch to center field. Juan Pierre followed this up with a single and a steal, and was driven in by a Russel Martin two out single to center to field.

Perez then got the side in order for two straight innings in the third and fourth. He did not have the same luck in the fifth, as Blake DeWitt crushed his first home run of his career to straight away center field. After getting the first two outs of the inning, Perez allowed a two out walk to light hitting Pierre, and paid for it as Matt Kemp hit a two-run home run to right field.

This is actually a better start for Perez. Kept his walks low, which was big, but he wasn't hitting the glove where Brian Schneider wanted it. He kept it over the plate too much, and it showed as the Dodgers took him deep three times. A step in the right direction, but he needs a few more of these before Mets fans will trust him again.

The Mets got on the board in the sixth inning as Carlos Beltran smoked a ball down the right field line. The ball rattled around in the corner and Kemp booted it once or twice. Beltran coasted into third with a triple, but was being waved around by third base coach Sandy Alomar Sr. It was a moot point as Moises Alou followed it up with a single up the middle, easily scoring Beltran.

Beltran didn't pick up Alomar until it was too late. They have to get the basics down, or they're not going to win anything. Nice to see Alou contributing while he still adjusts to major league pitchers.

Where the heck does the offense go? One day they're there and smacking the ball left and right, the next day they're nonexistent. So far, through these 30 games, this team has been extremely inconsistent. One day they play great, another day they stink up the joint. They need to get into a rhythm somehow and I thought they sort of did that in Arizona. Guess not.

Scott Schoeneweis and Jorge Sosa each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Mets. Sosa allowed one base runner, as Kemp singled during his stint on the mound.

Nice to see these guys turning in scoreless innings. Wish they meant more, like if the Mets had a lead, but alas.

Game Ball: Beltran

Game Preview: Mets @ Dodgers -- 5/5

After taking a series against the NL leading Arizona Diamondbacks, the Mets head further west to Los Angeles to take on Joe Torre and his Dodgers, a 10:10 p.m. start.

Lineup:
SS Jose Reyes
RF Ryan Church
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran
LF Moises Alou
1B Carlos Delgado
C Brian Schneider
2B Luis Castillo
SP Oliver Perez

Another day, another great lineup. I love it. Not much to say here. Good luck staying awake for the late game, I guess.

Mets vs. Chad Billingsley
Reyes: 0-1
Church: 0-4, BB, 2 K
Wright: No experience
Beltran: 0-1
Alou: 0-3, RBI, K
Delgado: No experience
Schneider: 1-4, 2 RBI
Castillo: 1-4

Boy, those are some great numbers. A combined 2-17.