Posts tagged ‘Brian Stokes’

What an amazing road trip as Ron Darling just said.  The Mets are 5-2 on this eight-game swing so far, and they lost the first game by blowing a 7-0 lead.  Gotta be proud of the boys.

Jon Niese had moments tonight where he looked real good, but he just fell apart in the fourth.  I hope the Mets give him some more chances so his confidence doesn’t get killed.

But the story of tonight’s game was the outstanding play of the bullpen.  They threw seven, yes SEVEN scoreless innings tonight.  That’s 10 scoreless since the new guys came on board.  Like I told Ted, sometimes these guys get motivated when they know their jobs are on the line.

Extra points for Nelson Figueroa and Brian Stokes.  These are the hot hands Jerry has been talking about and I think both of them will play crucial roles in getting this team to October.  Hopefully they won’t need them tomorrow so they’re nice and rested for Friday.

Endy Chavez gets some credit for this win too.  He made an outstanding throw to nail Ricky Weeks at second base in the eighth inning.  Then he got the game-winning RBI with a sac fly in the 10th.  The fringe guys have been awesome for this team during this recent stretch.

If they can sweep the Brewers, they would have a whole lot of confidence when these teams likely meet in the NLDS.  Tomorrow is a monster game, and I have a lot of faith the boys can get the job done.

Just when we get two in a row in unusual fashion, the 2008 Mets we’ve grown to hate showed up tonight.  They score three runs in the first three innings and then do nothing as the bullpen blows it.

It’s amazing how many times they’ve lost a three-or-more run lead, yet have only come back from down three-plus runs one time.  Part of that has to do with the fact that they’re rarely down by three runs because their rotation is excellent and they score early runs, but you wish they would hold onto more games.

Mike Pelfrey was very good tonight against a team he usually struggles against.  He had one rough inning which unfortunately killed the team, but you’ll take 6.2 IP and two runs every time from Big Pelf.

The bullpen continues to be a disaster in progress.  Pedro Feliciano, as he normally does, can’t retire the first guy he faces so Duaner Sanchez has to work more than one inning.  Well he gets the job done in the seventh and then on cue gives up a solo bomb to former-Met Mike Jacobs.

Brian Stokes is pretty much the only guy in this bullpen who is getting the job done.  He might be the permanent set-up guy for a while.

Aaron Heilman was back to his old self after an amazing performance on Tuesday.  How do you walk in the winning run on a 3-1 pitch?  I mean throw a meatball and at least give your defense a chance.  Ugh, just terrible.

Now the Mets are back to clinging to a one-game lead after the Phillies won this afternoon.  Just another one of those games the Mets can look back on if they fall short of postseason ball by a few games.

These are the types of games where you find out what your team is made of.  And frankly, the Mets are made of sh*t!  This is the worst regular season loss I’ve ever seen…and I’ve seen many.

You’ve got a 7-0 lead with first place on the line…how do you lose!?  Someone needs to explain how in the world you lose this game.  It just boggles my mind.

Pedro Martinez…you have a seven-run lead.  You can’t give up 80% of it.  I mean didn’t you win two Cy Young Awards!?

The bullpen is just the worst.  The Mets have lost five games to the Phillies this season and in four of them, they had at least a two-run lead.  Aaron Heilman, I tip my cap to you.  You were awesome and so was Brian Stokes.  The rest of you were absolute garbage.

I know Pedro stunk up the joint tonight, but I think all of us would take a two-run lead heading into the 8th and a one-run lead in the 9th.  The bullpen has to finish it off, and it’s too often that they can’t.

Jayson Werth should have been out at the plate to end the game too.  Ryan Church’s throw was not good, but Damion Easley made a solid throw.  Brian Schneider…I kept hearing before this season how you were such an amazing defensive catcher.  How about catching the ball and ending the game!?  I mean come on!!!  Are you kidding me!?  If you’re going to be as terrible of a hitter as Schneider is, then you better be like Rey Ordonez with the glove behind the plate, and he’s not!  Say what you want about his throwing deficiencies, but Mike Piazza makes that play without a doubt.

And then finally, the offense.  It’s tough to get too angry when your team scores seven runs.  But how many times are we going to see this!?  They light up the scoreboard early on, but then they do nothing for the rest of the game.  They didn’t score a single run the last nine innings of the game.  And Carlos Delgado and David Wright both grounded into huge double plays that could have scored more runs.

The season isn’t over…the Mets are only a half-game back.  But I keep saying this when the Mets lose games like this, there comes a time when all of these terrible losses are going to come back and bite you in the ass.  I hope this one doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it does.

I really see this season going one of two ways…they use it as a wake-up call and someone steps it up…or they fall out of this thing altogether because of this loss.  Gary Cohen talked about how this game could determine the rest of the season, and I completely agree.  The Mets are so talented, much more so than the Phillies.  But the Phillies have so much more confidence.  Tomorrow is just a huge game and I’m so happy to have Johan Santana on the mound for it.

Well there’s the dominating performance I’ve been waiting to see for a long time.  Like Gary and Keith have said, you jump on a second division team late in the season like this and they’ll likely roll over.  The Mets finally did that tonight.

The offense was very sold tonight.  They scored 12 runs and eight in the third, but some of those runs came on National errors and terrible walks…but they did get some clutch hits as well.

Daniel Murphy looked awesome again tonight.  That home run to the opposite field was not on an easy pitch…slider down and away.  He might be the X factor for the season right now.  I know he hasn’t played a lot, but in all honesty he could be the reason if the Mets make the playoffs or not.

John Maine looked very good tonight too in his first start off the DL.  His stuff was crisp and he struck out six through five.  If he can remain healthy and get back to where he was early in the season, the Mets rotation is probably the deepest in the league.

Brian Stokes also looked great tonight.  It’s funny in a 12-0 game someone could get a save, but that’s exactly what Stokes did tonight.  He was throwing strikes and was really in the zone in his four innings of work.  He didn’t walk anyone and struck out three.

Gotta go for the throats tomorrow and get a sweep.  Also, keep an eye on the Phillies tonight because if they lose the Mets and Phils will be in a tie for first….could be an exciting night.