Francisco Rodriguez participated in a slow-pitch softball game in Venezuela on Thursday.
Leading the other team was Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
K-Rod “allowed” 11 runs over three innings. Chavez surrendered seven runs over two innings on the mound.
Chavez’s team won 14-12.
1. How many times do Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Bruney argue/fight/whine in 2010?
2. Are only NL East teams making moves? That’s what it seems like so far.
According to the AP, Francisco Rodriguez is the first pitcher since 1995 to allow two walk-off grand slams in the same season.
The last pitcher to do so was Lee Smith in 1995 with the Angels.
Yeesh.
A late-September game against the Marlins. Back in April, we probably all thought this would be one of those games the Mets might have to win to clinch their postseason bid.
Now that those games are being played, we couldn’t have been more wrong.
Games that, for the last two years, spelled disaster for the Mets are now flipped in roles. The Marlins are trying to stay alive and the Mets, far from meaningful October baseball, are trying to play spoilers.
Last night, they pulled it off.
Down three runs heading into the top of the 8th inning, the Mets tacked on one in a bizarre play. David Wright at the plate with Brian Schneider on third. Wright swings and believes he fouled off the ball as it squirts away from Ronny Paulino.
Home plate umpire Bill Hohn calls strike three as Paulino scampers back to retrieve the ball. Heads up play by Schneider who dashes home to score while Wright and Jerry Manuel begin to argue.
It was a tough call to make. On replay, in slow motion, it was hard to tell if Wright tipped it. If he didn’t, just a flat out terrible play by Paulino.
Top 9 rolls along and the Mets are down one run. Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur greeted Leo Nunez with singles to start the inning. Pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed comes to the plate and is walked on four pitches, loading the bases for pinch-hitter Cory Sullivan.
Sullivan ends up slicing a ball down the third base line, scoring two and giving the Mets the lead. The Mets went quietly through the rest of the 9th, with Wright striking out for the fourth time in the game to end the inning.
Francisco Rodriguez came in for the bottom of the ninth inning, allowed a single, but closed out the Marlins in a game of somewhat revenge for the previous two Septembers.
Watching Daniel Murphy boot that ball brought something to mind…
“So the winning run is at second base, with two outs … Little roller up along first … Up in the air! Murphy boots it! Here comes Ross, and the Braves win it!”
I’m sure you all thought about that, too. Right?
All we can do at this point is laugh. I know I said that back when Luis Castillo dropped the ball, but this is a new low.
Every time I think the Mets have found every single way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, they come out with something like this. It’s really unfathomable. It is beyond fathom.
In a lost season, it would be nice to at least see some decent baseball.
Sixteen hits and only five runs? Not decent.
Seven hits and three walks in 3 1-3 innings for Bobby Parnell? Far from decent.
The fact that Jerry Manuel pulled Parnell as if the Mets were trying to win? Confusing.
Asking for a four-out save from K-Rod with the season in the tank? Just…why?
So many questions, so little answers.
Man, 2009 can’t end quick enough.
There’s bad baseball and there’s really-terrible-just-awful-no-fundamental-miserable-downright-sad-looking baseball. And the Mets are no doubt the latter.
Mike Pelfrey got shelled (again), but David Wright and the rest of the Mets bats were able to bail him out. Six runs in the last three innings propelled the Mets to a 10-9 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday afternoon.
Pelfrey gave up eight earned runs in six innings, allowing 10 hits while on the mound. He walked one while striking out three.
So up and so down. What a crazy year.
Ken Takahashi allowed one earned run in relief. Sean Green, Pedro Feliciano and Francisco Rodriguez closed out the thriller.
The Mets jumped on Jamie Moyer early, plating four runs in the first inning. Wright drove in two runs with a single in the first inning as the Mets led off the game with five straight hits. Carlos Beltran followed with a two-run home run to center field.
From there, though, the Mets went quiet.
Moyer ended up tossing seven innings, only allowing another run in the seventh on a Wilson Valdez RBI groundout.
In the eighth, Wright added a two-run home run to pull the Mets within two. Daniel Murphy later singled to make it a one-run game.
As the Phillies struggle to find a closer, Ryan Madson was the pitcher of choice on Saturday. A two-out single by Fernando Tatis brought Wright to the plate, who drove the first pitch he saw from Madson into the left field stands, giving the Mets the lead.
As mentioned above, K-Rod came in and closed it out.
This was probably one of the most exciting games of the year. Too bad it helped the Mets avoid 100 losses. In a dismal season, this was a bright spot. This is why I love baseball.
Via Flickr user Hip_Hip_Jorge…
When Johan Santana went down for the season, the man filling his spot in the rotation had some pretty big shoes to fill. Today, Nelson Figueroa was as good as you could ask for.
Seven innings of six-hit baseball saw Figueroa through his longest outing of the season. While on the mound, Figueroa struck out 10 Cubs, nine in the first four inning, a career high strikeout count.
Figueroa allowed one run in the first inning, but bounced back from there, allowing only five hits over the next six inning.
I love Figueroa and always have since he came up last year. Glad he’s putting together some starts and maybe showing the Mets he can be a fifth starter next year. Maybe.
Brian Stokes turned in a 1-2-3 8th inning and Francisco Rodriguez saved the game after a bit of pressure. Kosuke Fukudome led off the inning with a single and Jeff Francoeur dropped Jake Fox’s pop-up, but was able to throw out Fukudome at second.
Never easy.
The Mets got a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively.
In the third, the Mets stitched singles from Angel Pagan, Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur together to drive in two runs. Murphy and Francoeur each picked up an RBI with their singles.
In the fourth, Brian Schneider hit a one-out single. Schneider was chased in by an Anderson Hernandez triple. Figueroa helped his own cause with an RBI single of his own, driving in Hernandez from third.
Eleven hits off of Carlos Zambrano is no small task. A good few innings from the Mets, but went fairly quiet from there on out, picking up only one hit the rest of the game.
Luckily, it was enough.
This time.
Based on an extremely small sample size (one inning of work), Billy Wagner looked awesome.
Since the pitcher is already on waivers, the rumors about what teams are interested are squeaking out. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com notes that the Tampa Bay Rays and the Florida Marlins are two teams that scouts believe have expressed interest in Wagner.
The one hitch is the money left on Wagner’s contract.
There is $2.5 million left on the deal, with another $1 million buyout of his option for 2010. Stark writes, “other clubs believe that the Mets will have to eat a major chuck of that money if they expect to land a decent prospect in return for Wagner.”
As a fan, I love Wagner. I love his attitude on and off the mound. But at this time, it’s time for the Mets to deal him. Even though Francisco Rodriguez has shown signs of cracking and having a back-up closer (much like the plan was for J.J. Putz this year) wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
(Don’t forget, Putz has an option for 2010 as well, but it’s a little hefty to be paying that much for a set-up man.)
If the Mets can take most of Wagner’s contract on and dea l him away, they may be able to get a good, young player from a desperate team trying to make it in 2009.
I say the Mets pull the trigger on a deal if the right one comes along.
Billy Wagner’s appearance in Thursday night’s game was the unlikely highlight, as Johan Santana was on the mound for the Mets. The Mets lost 3-2, dropping the final two games of the series to the Braves
Santana allowed three earned runs on nine hits over seven innings. He struck out two and walk none, needing only 77 pitches (66 landing for strikes).
But when Wagner entered the game for the 8th inning, the crowd got to it’s feet and cheered. He paid them back by turning in a 1-2-3 inning, striking out two batters in a span of 14 pitches.
The offense sputtered again, plating one in the 4th on a Cory Sullivan single and later in the 8th inning on a pinch-hit single from Omir Santos. Other than that, the bats were relatively quiet.
Francisco Rodriguez turned in a shutout inning, but walked two batters in his time on the bump.
But hey, Billy’s back. (For now.)
Back in April, if you told me the Mets would be sporting Billy Wagner, J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez in the same bullpen in August, I would have danced a jig and bought everyone a round.
Now that the Mets are days away from having this become a reality, I’m barely entertained by the idea.
K-Rod, as of late, has been all over the place. One day he’s great, the other, not so much. Putz and Wagner are coming back from long stints on the DL after surgery, so their ability is entirely a crapshoot.
Sitting in 4th place in late August, the idea of these three in the pen is more of a novelty and an audition.
Wagner has already been placed on waivers and Putz is going to try and show the Mets if they should pick up the option on the relief pitcher.
Wagner-to-Putz-to-K-Rod were the things Mets fans dreams were made of before the 2009 season began. Now, it’s nothing more than an amusing storyline in a dismal season.
After a great outing from Oliver Perez, Francisco Rodriguez blows another save (with an assist to the home plate umpire). No thanks to the Mets bats, that went almost completely dead after the first inning.
Here is the FanGraph’s win probability graph, which pretty much sums up this game in one, single image.
Earlier today, I linked to Adam Rubin’s story about Tony Bernazard challenging the Binghamton Mets to a shirtless brawl. Now, we have a report from Bart Hubbuch that the minor leagues aren’t the only ones to see the rougher side of Tony B.
Mets reliever Frankie Rodriguez confirmed this afternoon that he exchanged words on the team bus last week in Atlanta with Bernazard, the club's embattled vice president of player development.
"Yeah [it happened], but I'm not going to talk about that," Rodriguez told The Post before tonight's game here with the Nationals. "Not going to get into it."
Another player, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Post today: "That guy [Bernazard] is crazy. No one like[s] him."
Hey, Wilpons? Are you reading this?
Please, for the love of all that is holy, do not fire Omar Minaya for any reason as long as Bernazard is around.
I don’t remember what it feels like when the Mets have a larger number than the other team.
The New York Mets (41-43) beat the Los Angeles Dodgers (53-32) by a score of 5-4.
Oliver Perez did just enough to put himself in line for a win. Five innings, 108 pitches, four hits. But he walked seven and allowed two earned runs. He also struck out two.
I’m calling this a successful first start for Perez after coming off the DL. Sure, it was a lot of pitches and sure, almost half of them were balls, but it’s good enough. Not $36 million good, but good enough.
Bobby Parnell turned in 1 2-3 solid innings in relief, highlighted by a terrific play by Daniel Murphy.
It’s really one of the coolest plays of the year, so I won’t even explain it to you. Just GO HERE and watch the video.
Sean Green allowed one run in his one inning of work, bringing the Dodgers within two runs. Francisco Rodriguez entered in the ninth, allowed a solo home run to Manny Ramirez to start, let on two more runners before inducing a game-ending double play.
He likes to make the fans sweat. That’s for sure.
The Mets finally picked up extra base hits tonight. Three, to be exact.
Jeremy Reed doubled in the second inning and later scored on a Luis Castillo RBI single.
Murphy picked up his second double of the night in the third inning, and scored on a David Wright RBI single. A fielder’s choice plated Wright later that inning and Reed delivered an RBI single to cap off the three-run inning.
Didn’t think I’d see that tonight. Well I didn’t think I’d see one run tonight, nevermind three in one inning.
In the fifth, Brian Schneider ripped a RBI single to right field, plating one run. That run proved to be the eventual game-winner.
A win is a win. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy but they won.
David Wright and Carlos Beltran have been named starters for the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis.
Beltran, due to his bone bruise in his knee, likely will not participate in the game.
Update – 2:54 p.m.: Joining Wright and Beltran, Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez have been named to the All-Star roster.
The starting NL roster:
So of the starting eight players for the NL, they come from only five teams. Not surprising, if you really think about it.
Here are the AL and NL starting rosters.
Congrats to Beltran and Wright.
What John Franco said pretty much hit the nail on the head. Though I think he was a bit foolish in the way he went about it, he was right.
But yesterday, when the Mets went out and won the game (twice) after being down 5-0, was something rarely seen by Mets fans.
The bullpen took over in only the third inning and allowed only one run until the ninth inning. After Francisco Rodriguez blew his save, he asked to come out for the 10th inning when the Mets took the lead. Gutsy, because Bobby Parnell was the only pitcher left in the bullpen.
K-Rod ended up throwing more pitches than he ever has in a major league baseball game. After blowing the save, he came right back out for the 10th inning put the Pirates down 1-2-3 to earn a rare win.
Is that enough “leadership” for Mr. Franco?
When the team, by his own hand, is put back in a hole after looking to win the game in nine, he trotted right back out to the mound to slam the door (successfully, this time).
“I'm the kind of guy that if I make a mess, I clean it up,” Rodriguez told reporters after the game. “I felt really frustrated that I didn't get the job done in the ninth, then we score and I go back out there in the 10th.”
That sounds like a leader to me.
A gem from Mike Pelfrey.
The New York Mets (38-39) beat the Milwaukee Brewers (42-36) by a score of 1-0.
Pelfrey was as good as could be. Seven and 2-3 on the mound, surrendering six hits, two walks while striking out six. It seemed like anytime he was in a jam, he induced a double play.
Just what the doctor ordered. With this anemic offense, the Mets needed a strong start just to stay close. They got exactly that.
Pelfrey cam out with runners on first and second and two outs in the 8th in favor of Sean Green. Green got a ground ball to third base to end the inning and the threat.
A huge out. Well done.
Francisco Rodriguez entered for the 9th inning and let up a leadoff single to Ryan Braun. Unphased, K-Rod set the next three batters down on a line drive and two groundballs to preserve the victory and the win.
And his control was much, much better this time around.
For the game’s only run, credit is due to Luis Castillo and Ryan Church.
Leading off the sixth inning, Castillo dropped a hit just inside the line in left field for what ended up being a ground-rule double. After David Wright struck out for the third time that game, Church came to the plate and snuck a single under the glove of Craig Counsell and into centerfield, plating Castillo.
And that was all the Mets needed. Thank you, Pelfrey.
Game Ball: Mike Pelfrey
A series win, against the Cardinals, using mostly backups. Pinch me.
The New York Mets (37-34) beat the St. Louis Cardinals (40-34) by a score of 3-2.
Johan Santana struggled early, allowing an unearned run in the first inning, and threw 57 pitches in the first three innings. He settled in nicely though, and coming out for the seventh inning with 100 pitches. He completed the seventh with help from Fernando Martinez, who made a diving stab in center field to end the inning.
Santana scattered seven hits and three walks, striking out three. He allowed two runs, one of which was earned.
It looked like a disaster start in the first few innings, but he bounced back and settled in beautifully. I don’t know why I doubt him.
Pedro Feliciano allowed a leadoff double in the 8th, but worked around it for a scoreless inning. Francisco Rodriguez got two quick outs to start the ninth, then forgot how to hit the strike zone. Nine pitches out of the strike zone meant back to back walks to Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick, bringing Yadier Molina (of all people) to the plate. Molina flew out to Jeremy Reed in LF to end the game.
K-Rod loves to make the fans hearts’ pound.
Chris Carpenter was equally good for the Cardinals. The Mets were held hitless into the 4th, when Luis Castillo led off with a single to LF. David Wright followed with a single of his own. Fernando Tatis came to the plate with one out, singling to right field, plating Castillo.
After coming down hard on Tatis a few days ago, he’s really made me eat my words the past two games. Keep it coming, Tatis. I’m hungry!
Nick Evans came to the plate with two on and two out and laced a double into bump-out in right field, plating both runners.
Evans’ RBIs were the eventual game winners. I like it.
And because of those RBIs, Nick Evans won the first ever Game Ball as voted on by my Twitter followers. Get your vote in after every game to vote for the Game Ball recipient!
Game Ball: Nick Evans
If you follow the blog or my tweets, you know that Francisco Rodriguez has thrown the most pitches out of the bullpen and Johan Santana has thrown the most pitches overall.
Here’s a chart of the Mets pitchers and their pitches per plate appearance. Look who is “leading” the way…
Where’s Everth Cabrera when we need him?
