Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Your Nine-Run Lead Means Noth- ... Okay You Win

I don't care, this is still a team of assassins.

I showed up late with the Mets already down 0-3. Mets2Moon filled me in on what I missed, and then things promptly got much, much worse. John Maine's ERA rocketed up to a lofty 2.15. Carlos Zambrano sprinkled six hits and three walks over his eight innings, but the Mets cashed in exactly once, on Shawn Green's solo homer in the fifth.

M2M questioned the move to bring Schoeneweis over Aaron Sele trailing 1-3 in the sixth, and he may have had a point, but to me it was pick your poison. After Aramis Ramirez's truly monstrous grand slam that made this one your proverbial laugher, I guess I gotta concede this one to M2M.

No images today. That's how sternly I disapprove of this loss.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler
In the notes at the bottom of this game recap it's reported that the Mets picked up an infielder named Jake Gautreau from Cleveland for a player or cash (CBS Sportsline sagely suggests that you ignore him in your fantasy league for the time being). The Mets have been suffering mightily for the lack of a French-derived bat in the lineup since the departure of Xavier Nady, so here's a move that could pay dividends down the road. Or at least give our AAA team's fans someone they can really get behind. Vive le Gautreau! Allez!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

To elaborate a little further on my point, Willie managed this game like the score was already 9-1 in the 6th. While you are right in making the point that he has done well managing his bullpen, and you don't want to burn guys out, Schoeneweis had little to no business being in the game at that point, while it was still eminently winnable at 3-1 Cubs, and at the very least he should have been pulled as soon as he managed to load the bases with Soriano coming up. When was the last time Schoeneweis pitched? He's basically become the garbage time guy at this point, since I wouldn't trust him to come into any game that was close, and he didn't do anything to change my opinions last night since he basically turned a close game into a bloodbath very quickly. If Sele comes in and gives up that moonshot to Aramis, then I would have shut up. But, face it, Willie butchered that one.

In fact, and I didn't say it at the time, since I didn't think he was going to go to Schoeneweis in the 6th, but leaving Maine in the game might have been the better move. True, Maine didn't have his best stuff last night, and he was right around 100 pitches, but he had at least settled down after the rocky first few innings and got through the 5th 1-2-3.

I suppose it's pointless to continue to stew about it but really, if the game could have been kept at 3-1, the rest of the game plays out differently. Delgado probably doesn't come out after he was hit in the 6th. Piniella (who looks like he's about to keel over any second) would have pulled Zambrano with 1 out in the 8th after he walked Endy and Beltran, and Franco doesn't hit into that DP. Not in a 2-run game. In a 9-run game, what difference does it make?