Mets begin four-game series with Rockies tonight

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

So Cablevision and whomever owns WPIX got in a big dispute last week and Cablevision ended up pulling the plug on WPIX and replaced it with some “Style” network on channel 11. Bottom line is, I didn’t get to watch the Mets last weekend. Cablevision just got NFL Network (finally!) though, so I can’t hate them too much. The amazing NFL Network outweighs missing the Mets almost win a series in Washington.

Tonight, the Amazins are back in Queens to start a four-game series with the terrible Colorado Rockies. Today, Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson had a meeting and decided to continue pitching Johan Santana this season.

Santana is scheduled to start on Thursday and will be strictly prohibited from throwing over 100 pitches. Good thing the bullpen hasn’t been too awful lately.

Also today, I posted a few paragraphs explaing how surprisingly awesome Ronny Cedeño has been this season. Here’s an excerpt:

Although Cedeño is 29 years old and probably due to regress from this season’s highs, his 2012 hasn’t been incredibly fluky. His .348 BABIP is up there, but it’s not otherworldly. More importantly, Cedeño has bumped his walk rate up to 10.7%. His previous MLB high was 7.6% in 2008. That kind of jump makes you wonder if Cedeño has really improved his approach at the plate after bouncing between the major and minor leagues for the past six years.

I hope the Mets can bring him back next season, but it looks like Cedeño may have played himself into another team’s starting lineup. He’s certainly having a better season than a lot of the other middle infielders who will be free agents this winter.

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Mets win 6-5 after another bullpen disaster

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

I’m really, really glad that I watched the Olympic closing ceremonies last night. Even though they weren’t live and even though NBC made a bunch of cuts without telling me, it still meant that I didn’t have to suffer through a Mets bullpen meltdown.

Well, I sort of suffered thanks to my phone, but it would have been worse if I was actually watching.

The near-complete bullpen meltdown at the end of the game took some of the attention away from Jon Niese, who pitched a wonderful game. In fact, with only 106 pitches thrown in eight innings, I’m rather curious as to why Niese wasn’t allowed to go the distance. Niese allowed just one run while striking out six and walking two, but he was pinch hit for in a 6-1 game in the bottom of the eighth.

Josh Edgin, who has been a pleasant surprise thus far, walked the bases loaded while recording two outs. Frank Francisco came in for what should have been an easy save, but he walked Juan Francisco and Michael Bourn and then allowed Martin Prado to double in a pair of runs. Now with the score 6-5 and with Prado representing the go-ahead run on second base, Terry Collins brought in Jon Rauch to pitch to Jason Heyward.

Even though Rauch doesn’t miss a lot of bats and even though he’s not left-handed, Rauch managed strike out Heyward and save the Mets from catastrophe. Or did he? Strike three got away from catcher Rob Johnson and his throw to first was just a split second ahead of Heyward and nearly hit the runner in the leg. Ike Davis made a nice snag to finally end the game. What a terrifying ninth inning that was.

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Mets vs. Braves Sunday night finale lineups

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

It’s almost game time! Before you switch on the Olympic closing ceremony, check out the lineups that the Mets and Braves are using tonight ON NATIONAL TELEVISION. Remember, Jon Niese will be pitching for the Mets, and he’s coming off a rough start against the Marlins. Still, Niese has been very good this season, and the Braves are vulnerable to lefties. Of course, that didn’t stop them from teeing off on Santana last night, but that kind of thing can’t happen two nights in a row, right? Hopefully right.

The Braves are starting Ben Sheets, who has been completely awesome since the Braves brought him back from the abyss last month. His 6.47 strikeouts per nine innings this season is very low for him, but he’s only walking 1.97 batters per nine, which has helped him maintain a 1.41 ERA.

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David Wilson stands out in Giants’ 32-31 loss to Jags

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Ah, the first preseason game. It means nothing, and yet, it means everything. Everything for the second string defensive backs and nothing for the first string players that matter. We don’t really care that Eli Manning went 4-for-8 with 60 yards. We don’t really care that Ahmad Bradshaw rushed four times for 12 yards. We also don’t really care that Victor Cruz caught one pass on three targets for 28 yards.

However, rookie David Wilson gaining 43 yards on just seven carries is something that is inherently awesome. KID IS OFF THE HOOK. I had heard all about Wilson’s blazing speed, but I was impressed with his ability to bounce off tacklers. Of course, I’m not crazy impressed. Wilson was a first round pick and with that comes the expectation that he’ll eventually start in the NFL. Pretty much all starting NFL halfbacks can bounce off of tacklers to some degree. Here’s what coach Tom Couglin had to say:

He certainly did run the ball well. He ran the kickoff return back well. He did a nice job on our punt return team of getting downfield rapidly and helping to block the first defender down the field. He didn’t perform as well as you’d like in the pass game. He should’ve got out of bounds with one of his plays there towards the end of the game. He’s young and we’ve got to eliminate the mental errors.

Bad news: Jerrel Jernigan and Jayron Hosley each muffed a punt return as the Giants’ search for a punt returner has hit a snag. There are so many fast guys on a given football team that you’d figure it wouldn’t be that hard to find someone who could properly receiver punts, but the Giants continue to struggle in that regard.

Defensively, it was nice to see 2010 sixth round pick Adrian Tracy get a sack and a forced fumble after bouncing around the practice squad all of last season. Coughlin was encouraged by the performance.

When Adrian played, you can see the power. You can see the things that he can do well. You can see also there are things that are happening out there; he’s not in as good of control of himself as he would like to be. The bull rush, the power rush, he’s good at that. The edge, he’s good at that. He made some nice plays in the run. He made some nice plays from behind.

Not all was well on defense, though. The first Jaguars possession went for 89 yards and a touchdown and featured 2011 first round pick Prince Amukamara getting torched a couple of times. However, on the next Jacksonville drive, Amukamara forced a fumble that gave New York the ball back. It’s good to see corners make plays even when they’re not in coverage, but Amukamara needs to improve against the pass if the Giants are going to get better on defense this season.

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Johan falls apart in 9-3 Mets loss to Braves

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

“That really got out of hand fast.” That’s the only way to described last night’s Mets loss, which saw the home team fall behind 9-0 after just two innings of Johan Santana pitching.

In the first, Santana got hurt by a pair of dribbler singles by Michael Bourn and Reed Johnson. However, he appeared to settle down with strikeouts of Jason Heyward and Chipper Jones. For about one second it looked like Johan was “back,” but in the next moment he gave up a double to Freddie Freeman down the first base line. The score was 2-0 Braves, but Santana had still pitched a pretty solid first inning.

It was very difficult to say the same for the second inning. After Dan Uggla walked and Paul Janish singled, opposing pitcher Kris Medlen sneaked a ground ball through the infield for an RBI single. Now things were really getting frustrating, but Atlanta refused to yield. Bourn and Heyward each ripped line drives into the outfield to score a couple more runs, and Chipper Jones poked a base hit into right for one more.

Now Santana was being lifted with the score 6-0, even though he had only given up one extra base hit. Of the 10 balls hit into play against him, only two went for outs. I thought it would be better if Terry Collins just let Santana build his confidence and get a couple more innings under his belt. Unfortunately, Collins saw it differently and brought in Jeremy Hefner for a long relief effort. Hefner immediately gave up a three-run homer to Freeman and the game was all but over.

“Over three weeks not facing any hitters at this level and trying to command all your pitches, (it) wasn’t my best,” Santana said. “I think as I continue I’ll make some progress and improve my command. I think I left some pitches up in the strike zone and when you make mistakes like that that’s what’s going to happen.”

On the bright side, Santana didn’t give up a home run, and even Freeman’s first inning double wasn’t elevated much (the pitch was, the ball wasn’t). The long ball has been a major problem for Santana during this rough stretch, so it was nice to see that every Braves hit against him landed in front of an outfielder.

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Braves vs. Mets and the return of the Johan

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

He’s baaaaaaack! After three weeks on the shelf with a sprained ankle, Johan Santana makes his triumphant return to the mound tonight against the Atlanta Braves. Did anyone realize that Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake spells his first name the way it sounds instead of the way Santana does? Very interesting! Kind of.

Garrett Olson’s tenure with the Mets lasted only one-third of an inning. In his only appearance, he allowed four runs and only recorded one out on Wednesday versus Miami. He very nearly was sent off with an infinite ERA. Fun!

In the eight starts he made since pitching a no-hitter versus St. Louis on June 1, Santana has allowed 11 home runs and is sporting a 6.54 ERA. Hitters are hitting .305/.363/.575 over that span, so hopefully the rest will do Santana good.

Atlanta’s starter Kris Medlen has bounced back and fourth between starting and relieving throughout his major league career. This season, he started out in the pen, but was forced into the rotation because of a lack of healthy and effective starters. As a reliever, Medlen had a 2.48 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 13 walks in 54.1 innings. He hasn’t looked too bad as a starter either. In each of Medlen’s two starts, he’s allowed only one run, but neither went more than 5.1 innings.

The right-handed Medlen threw 57 pitches in his first start and 79 in his second, so he might just be able to approach 100 this time around. Meanwhile, Santana probably won’t throw more than 100 pitches either.

Hit the jump for tonight’s lineups.

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Harvey no match for Maholm, Mets lose to Braves 4-0

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Paul freaking Maholm. This is the man who is going to lead the Atlanta Braves into the playoffs. Seriously, look at the pitchers on their disabled list. Brandon Beachy, Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens are all out of commission, and yet the Braves just keep on ticking.

Yeah, they got really lucky with Ben Sheets (and yet, any team could have), but you have to give general manager Frank Wren credit for going out and getting a quality Cubs pitcher even after his plans to acquire Ryan Dempster fell through. Last night, Maholm spun a three-hit complete game shutout in which he allowed zero walks while striking out five.

Maholm did a tremendous job keeping his pitches low in the zone, inducing 14 ground ball outs including two double plays. Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez was impressed.

“Masterful performance. I mean, this guy’s throwing 88-90, in and out with his fastball. Threw some curveballs in on right-handers, made some nice pitches on change-ups and also curveballs. And we played some nice defense behnd him.”

Maholm only threw 95 pitches last night. Meanwhile, Mets starter Matt Harvey needed 101 pitches just to go six innings in his home debut.  The phenom walked five batters in the first three innings, and in the first he allowed a two-run homer to Jason Heyward.

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Harvey makes home debut vs. Braves tonight

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

There isn’t too much to get excited about as a Mets fans nowadays. Fortunately, Matt Harvey has pitched reasonably well in two of his first three major league starts, so it’s not completely insane to think he might be good tonight in his home debut.

The Mets will play a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves tonight starting at 7:10 p.m. The Braves just beat Philly in two out of three games, and they’re just 4.5 games behind division leading Washington with the Stephen Strasberg shutdown looming. Atlanta is also up 2.5 games on the wild card, so they’re certainly feeling like a playoff team right now.

The starter for Atlanta will be trade deadline acquisition Paul Maholm, who has been surprisingly effective this season. Following a blowup in Arizona on June 23, when he gave up seven runs in 3.1 innings, Maholm had six straight starts in which he pitched at least six innings and either allowed one or zero runs. That prompted a trade from the Cubs to Atlanta, who couldn’t get a deal done for the Cub they really wanted, Ryan Dempster. However, the lefty Maholm may turn out to be a better value. In his first start with the Braves, he gave up three runs (all on Justin Maxwell’s two home runs) in seven innings in a loss to Houston.

Harvey, as you may know, got hammered in his most recent start, so we’re looking for less meatballs this time around. Mark Simon of ESPN has some ideas on how Harvey can avoid getting blasted versus Atlanta. I would look for the rookie to throw high fastballs against Jason Heyward and fading away change-ups to Freddie Freeman. Brian McCann is more vulnerable on the inside, so Harvey should give his fastball and slider and workout when the Braves’ catcher comes to the plate. When faced with the public enemy Chipper Jones, there’s not much you can do but aim for the lower outside corner.

Against the lefty Maholm, Terry Collins is going with Jason Bay, Scott Hairston and Ronny Cedeño instead of Jordanny Valdespin, Mike Baxter and Ike Davis. I don’t love leaving Davis out of the lineup because his power is such a huge asset, but Cedeño has been raking lately, so you have to find a way to get him in there.

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Penn State Media Day features huge O’Brien conference

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Alright let’s get to it. Check out the video above by Tony Mancusco of GoPSUSports.com for some sweet player interviews. Before we get to the really long Bill O’Brien press conference, make sure you at least peruse this story about Penn State fan Kelsey Hirsch, who is raising a ton of money for RAINN even though she’s only 12 years old. Follow her cause on Twitter.

Now for the press conference. It was kind of ridiculously long. You can read the entire transcript here. I just made note of the more important things that were said:

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Barden, Bennett trying to shake underachiever status

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

The Giants have a big vanacy at tight end thanks to the Patriots claiming Jake Ballard off waivers in the off season. They’re also pretty shallow at the wide receiver position, where the departure of Mario Manningham leaves a battle for the third receiver job.

Two guys with opportunities for playing time this season are Martellus Bennett at tight end and Ramses Barden at wide receiver. However, in order to hold off the competition, both players must prove that the best of their football hasn’t been played yet.

Since being drafted in the second round of the 2008 draft by the Dallas Cowboys, Bennett has shown that he’s more than capable of being a reserve tight end, but he’s unproven as a full time player thanks to being stuck behind star tight end Jason Witten. Bennett hasn’t caught a touchdown pass since his rookie season, and his career high for catches is just 33, set in 2010.

Now with the Giants, Bennett has a chance to shine, but will his eccentric personality get in the way? Bennett has already made it clear that he’s through with his former team.

“I just want to kick those guys’ asses,” Bennett said shortly after arriving at camp, when he was asked about playing the Cowboys. “That is what it is all about. I mean we are cool but we ain’t that cool, know what I am saying? I kind of got some ill feelings towards them overall. It is a game, I kind of hate everybody, honestly, in the NFL.”

So far in Giants camp, Bennett isn’t pleased with the way he’s performed. That’s probably good news for Giants fans, though, because Bennett’s aspirations for greatness might transform him into the producer he never was in Dallas. Despite being hard on himself for the way he’s performed, Bennett is making an effort to get on the same page as quarterback Eli Manning.

“It’s not like sometimes, with the wife, you never know what she wants,” Bennett said. “You’ll be like, ‘Well, do you want steak?’ And she’ll be like, ‘No, I don’t want steak.’ Eli knows if he wants chicken or steak. I’ll come back (and say), ‘Did you like that?’ ‘No, I didn’t like that.’ So the next time I do it, I just do it the way he likes it.”

I think it was a great move by the Giants to bring in Bennett, who still has upside at age 25. Plus, he seems to have a chip on his shoulder and a desire to prove his critics wrong. The other options are tight end are the rookie Adrien Robinson, the unspectacular Bear Pascoe and Travis Beckum, who is still recovering from his ACL tear in the Super Bowl. I really live Bennett’s chances of making an impact this season.

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