Baxter bats lead-off as Mets take on Buccos tonight

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

With Andres Torres having issues at the plate recently, Terry Collins has penciled Mike Baxter into the lead-off spot tonight for New York’s game against James McDonald and the Pirates.

Here’s the rest of the Mets lineup:

Baxter will play left field with Nieuwenhuis in center so hopefully any offense they produce tonight at the top of the order is not offset by another embarrassing defensive miscue. Also, Ike Davis is back in there against the right-handed McDonald, but some skeptics think that it’s only a matter of time before Davis finds himself in the Buffalo Bisons lineup.

On Sunday, Terry Collins suggested Davis could be sent to the minor leagues, telling reporters “There is nothing etched in stone. We will never, never say something is not going to happen. What we’re trying to do is make sure is we wring the rag dry.”

So much opinion! When Jason Bay comes back, I’d much sooner send down Nieuwenhuis, who strikes out even more than Davis does. On the flip side, it wouldn’t kill me if Davis went to triple-A, but I just don’t see the point of it for a team that doesn’t have an obvious replacement (Lucas Duda and Daniel Murphy can play first, but then who steps in for those guys?). Plus, it remains a fact that the Mets’ postseason chances are very, very slim, so they can certainly afford for Davis to swing his way out of this.

Continue reading →

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mets new American holiday hats look pretty sweet this year

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

It’s been a little tougher than usual to watch the Mets play on Memorial Day and Independence Day in recent years because the special holiday hats badly clashed with the Mets uniforms. However, if these photos posted by MetsBlog are legit, this year’s caps look to be much more stylish.

This more subtle camouflage look allows the Mets to continue to wear blue and orange on their heads while honoring the country’s soldiers and veterans. I’m not sure what’s up with the black hat. You can’t really see the camouflage on that one (maybe there’s something on the back?), and the Mets have shied away from their black uniforms all season. I’m guessing these hats were designed before the Mets made their uniform intentions clear this season.

Well, hopefully the Mets continue the very pleasant trend of wearing blue hats, no matter what the occasion. We should first be able to see one of these hats in action when the Mets take on the Phillies on Memorial Day next week.

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Leave a comment

This time starter blows lead, Mets lose to Pirates 5-4

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Aaron Yorke


After getting out of Toronto with just one win in three games versus the Blue Jays, the Mets return to National League play this week, starting with three games against the Pirates.

Last night’s series opener got off to a good start, as the Mets bats blessed starter Johan Santana with a rare multi-run cushion. Alas, Santana let the 4-0 lead slip away by giving up a pair of runs in the fourth inning — when he gave up three straight doubles to Josh Harrison, Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez — and another pair on backup catcher Michael McKenry’s two-run home run in the seventh.

“We were trying to throw a fastball away [to McKenry] and it stayed pretty much in the middle of the plate and up and he put a good swing and it was out of the park.” Santana told reporters after the game. “I still feel that I have some work to do with my command, and especially with my fastball.”

With the game tied at 4-4 in the eighth and Jon Rauch on the mound, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Mike Baxter nearly collided in the outfield and let a routine Neil Walker fly ball fall in for a triple.

“I didn’t hear him,” Baxter told reporters after the game. “I should have taken a look. It’s 100 percent my fault. That’s a fundamental of baseball. Kirk has the right of way on that ball. I’ve got to get out of his way on that ball. That one hurts. … I was calling for it. But it’s irrelevant, to be honest with you. As off-outfielders, your job is to know where he’s at and if he’s going to make a play on it, you get out of the way.”

Both Baxter and Nieuwenhuis had entered the game as pinch hitters in the top of the inning. Two batters later, Clint Barmes hit a fly ball to right that was just barely deep enough to get Walker home from third and give the Pirates the lead. In the ninth, Pittsburgh closer Joel Hanrahan put down the Mets in order to preserve the 5-4 win.

Continue reading →

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Mets go to Canada

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets are up north in Toronto for the weekend for a three game series with the Blue Jays. For some reason, MLB scheduled interleague play to begin this weekend and then go into hibernation again until June 8, so we will be witnesses to a lot of random match-ups over the next three days.

It turns out that out of all the teams the Mets have ever played, they have the highest winning percentage against the Blue Jays. Of the 18 games the teams have played all time, the Mets have won 14, including a 9-0 home record. That means that New York is only 5-4 when playing in Toronto, but the last time they went there, in 2006, the Mets took two out of three. Not bad.

Here’s the Mets lineup for tonight:

Hey look! A DH. In case you didn’t know, “DH” stands for “designated hitter,” which is a player who hits for the pitcher in the American League. Pretty much all National League fans hate the DH rule. If not for the reason that it allows AL teams to carry boring, unathletic players on their rosters, then for the fact that when a pitcher hits a home run, it is freaking awesome. There’s nothing more exciting than a pitcher who can hit!

The good news for the Mets is that putting Kirk Nieuwenhuis in right field instead of Lucas Duda should enhance the defense tonight. I guess one good thing about the DH is it puts better defensive players on the actual field, but that also removes the need for strategic substitutions. It was fun when Adam Dunn was in the NL and managers would have to decide between leaving him out in left field or taking him out in favor of someone who could actually catch the ball.

This game will be extra fun because it is the second major league game played by catcher/third baseman Yan Gomes. Not only is Gomes playing third base, a position that he just learned this season, but he’s also from Brazil, which makes him the only MLB player from Brazil.

Gomes already upset me by being absent from my copy of Baseball Prospectus 2012, so hopefully he’ll make me less mad during the game and make some outs. Can’t wait.

Tonight’s pitching match-up features Ricky Romero for Toronto and Jon Niese for New York.

Continue reading →

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mets steal one from Cincinnati, head off to Canada

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Aaron Yorke


Trailing 4-0 after four and a half innings against Mat Latos and the Cincinnati Reds, the Mets certainly looked like they were going to suffer their third straight defeat yesterday. However, even with Latos pitching well and the National League’s best bullpen waiting in the wings, the Mets rallied all the way back to tie the game, and then they rallied some more. When the dust finally settled, the Mets earned a 9-4 victory to split the short series with the Reds.

After New York starter R.A. Dickey and Latos pitched three scoreless frames each, Joey Votto got the scoring started in the top of the fourth when he slammed a home run off of the Pepsi Porch facing in right field.

Cincinnati kept rolling in the top of the fifth. Dickey starting the inning by hitting Ryan Ludwick with a knuckleball and then issued his first walk of the game against Todd Frazier. Backup catcher Ryan Hanigan followed with a double past center fielder Andres Torres that got Ludwick home and made the score 2-0. Next, Latos hit a sac fly to score Frazier and move Hanigan to third. That allowed Hanigan to score while Zack Cozart was at the plate thanks to what seemed like Mike Nickeas’ hundredth past ball of the day.

Dickey struck out Cozart and Drew Stubbs to end the inning, but the damage had been done. They way Latos was pitching, it seemed a tall order to ask the Mets to come back from a 4-0 deficit. Of course, it didn’t hurt that they were able to cut the lead in half by the end of the fifth inning.

With Andres Torres (single) and David Wright (walk) aboard in the bottom of the fifth, Lucas Duda came to the plate with two outs and a chance to deal some damage. Duda fell behind Latos 1-2, but battled to foul off some pitches and then finally lined a double into right field that allowed both baserunners to score. Suddenly, a win was not so far out of reach.

Continue reading →

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mets call up LHP Robert Carson, designate Carrasco for assignment

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

D.J. Carrasco only pitched three and two-thirds innings for the Mets this season, but after he surrendered a two-run homer to Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier last night, the front office decided that enough was enough. Carrasco was designated for assingment after last night’s loss, and this morning the Mets announced they had called up lefty reliever Robert Carson from double-A Binghamton.

Last season, Carson pitched mostly as a starter for the B-Mets, but he didn’t find a ton of success in that role. The 2007 14th round draft pick only struck out 91 batters in 128.1 innings with 55 walks and a 5.05 ERA. However, while pitching out of the pen this season, Carson has 13 strikeouts and 4 walks in 14.2 innings with a 1.84 ERA.

Carson hasn’t pitched in the majors before, so the Mets will likely bring him along slowly with some low leverage work. Eventually though, Carson can give the bullpen more flexibility by giving Terry Collins a second lefty to turn to. So far this season, Collins has had to decide between using Byrdak on a tough lefty in the sixth or seventh inning and saving him for later on. Hopefully, if Carson pans out, he can allow the Mets to be tougher on lefties late in the game.

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Reds slam bullpen, defeat Mets 6-3

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Aaron Yorke


Ouch. This 6-3 Mets loss to Cincinnati hurt more than usual because it involved Terry Collins making a pretty dumb decision that immediately resulted in the Mets blowing a lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, New York finally put up a crooked number against Reds starter Mike Leake. With the score tied 1-1 and Lucas Duda on first with a single, Daniel Murphy hit a ball sharply towards the first base line that was deftly snagged by Joey Votto. However, instead of doing the smart thing and taking the easy out at first, Votto attempted to throw to second from his backside. The result was the ball tumbling into left field and no outs recorded on the play.

Slumping Ike Davis was up next, and he also hit the ball hard down the first base line, but this one got by Votto for a double. Duda scored on the play to make the score 2-1 Mets. New York would get another run when Mike Nickeas successfully executed a squeeze play.

That’s what set the stage for Collins’ poor bullpen management. Mets starter Johan Santana allowed a solo home run to Todd Frazier in the top of the seventh. Two batters later, with the tying run on second and two outs, Collins brought on Bobby Parnell to get the final out of the inning. Parnell succeeded by striking out Zack Cozart on five pitches.

Even though the pitcher’s spot had just been passed in the order (ie: Parnell did not need to be subbed out for offense), Collins for some reason brought in Jon Rauch to pitch the eighth. This was very frustrating for me, because I had just wrote a bullpen article for The Daily Stache about how Rauch stinks and how Parnell is great. Here’s me tooting my own article.

…it’s a bad combination for someone to have a low strikeout rate and a low ground ball rate. That’s what Rauch is working with this season, and it’s a good reason to leave him out of high-leverage situations.

I only wish I could be as prophetic when I actually predict good things to happen. Rauch allowed Drew Stubbs to single, which was followed by a Votto double and a Brandon Phillips RBI single. Now with the go-ahead run on third base, Rauch finally got the first out when Chris Heisey hit a pop fly to first base.

Continue reading →

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wright benching takes center stage as Mets shutout by Brewers 8-0

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Aaron Yorke


The Mets were mauled by the Milwaukee Brewers last night. Dillon Gee lasted only five and one-third innings while giving up eight hits and seven runs. Brewers first baseman Travis Ishikawa, who is only in the lineup because of regular first baseman Matt Gamel’s ACL tear, went 3 for 4 with two homers and five RBI.

The Brewers have now won four of their last eight games. In each of the four wins, they scored exactly eight runs. After the game, Ishikawa explained the need to score so many runs.

“Then we need to score eight runs every time,” first baseman Travis Ishikawa said a few hours later. “Because one run is no fun.”

You know what’s even less fun than one run? Zero runs, which is what the Mets managed against Milwaukee starter Zack Greinke as well as relievers Tim Dillard and Jon Axford. Greinke pitched the first seven innings of the game and allowed only five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Dillard and Axford combined to pitch two innings with zero walks, one hit and three strikeouts.

David Wright and Mike Baxter each managed to go 2 for 2 with a double, but that was the only good news for New York.

The real story happened in the seventh inning. During the top of the frame, mop up man D.J. Carrasco let up a solo homer to Rickie Weeks that made the score 8-0 Milwaukee. The next batter, superstar left fielder Ryan Braun, was hit by a high, inside fastball and Carrasco was ejected. It wasn’t made clear that the Brewers were going to retaliate, but Mets manager Terry Collins took no chances and pinch hit for Wright in the bottom of the inning.

Continue reading →

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Batista amazes as Mets beat Brewers 3-1

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Some things are best left misunderstood. One of those things is Miguel Batista’s performance last night at Citi Field against the Milwaukee Brewers. After a couple of cringe-inducing starts that had Mets fans like myself begging for Jeremy Hefner to be called up, Batista wove a gem last night with seven shutout innings against the Brewers.

Batista had his sinker working with great movement last night, which resulted in a bunch of ground balls and five strikeouts. Perhaps most surprising was that Batista only issued one walk for the entire outing.

The Mets struggled quite a bit on offense against Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo, but just as they have all season, they made big plays when it mattered. In fact, the Mets only had three hits for the entire game, but the one of the most patient teams in the majors managed to walk eight times against Milwaukee pitching.

It was Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Lucas Duda drawing walks in the first inning that set the table for Daniel Murphy’s RBI single. In the sixth, the Mets added another run when Ronny Cedeño pulled off a perfect suicide squeeze. Murphy came home on the play after he doubled and moved over to third on an Ike Davis fly out.

In the ninth, David Wright led off with a double and moved to third on Duda’s ground out. Although Wright got caught in a rundown between third and home when Murphy grounded to second base, he miraculously scored when Milwaukee third baseman Aramis Ramirez dropped the ball while trying to move it from his glove to his throwing hand.

If you’ve been keeping track, the Mets were able to score in every inning in which they had a base hit. That’s pretty resourceful (and a little lucky).

Continue reading →

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Frank Francisco is going to get better

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Frank Francisco has been really bad this season so far, but his past performance shows that he’s likely to bounce back and be a decent relief pitcher for the rest of the season. That’s why, no matter what Mets manager Terry Collins decides to do with him, the decision will likely be viewed as the right one.

Because Francisco’s ERA is not going to stay at 8.56, Terry Collins will be praised no matter what he does. Leave Francisco in the ninth, and Collins’ faith will be rewarded. Move Francisco to the seventh or eighth, and he’ll pitch better in the new role. The only thing Collins shouldn’t do is move someone who isn’t Bobby Parnell into the closer’s role.

I wrote about Francisco, as well as Bobby Parnell and Jon Rauch, over at The Daily Stache today. Check it out, or don’t.

Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | Tagged , | Leave a comment