R.Ace in the hole...Dickey a leader of men with words and actions

The once beleagered New York Mets found a way to win their sixth straight game behind the bat of Daniel Murphy and the right arm of R.A Dickey., In winning their second road series of the year, (both in games pitched by R.A), the streaking Mets found a way to come back from two late inning defecits and a critical bad call by the third base umpire on a Jose Reyes triple attempt. While replays confirmed that Jose was safe at third, these "New Mets" used the bad call as motivation for the late inning comeback. The Mets received key contributions from back up infielders Chin-lung Hu and Justin Turner. However the biggest blow was the pinch hit homerun by Murphy, struck immediately after the blown call,  to tie the score in the eighth and his two run double that gave The Mets their final margin of victory. It's no coincidence that The Mets have been a different team since Dickey aired out himself and his teammates, asking that each player take responsibility for their poor play.

Mets Back to square one yet again.

They say that in sports your won-loss record is the best indicator of whether you are good or bad team. The Mets, after squeaking out another win over the lowly Bucs,  are once again not a bad team. Nor are they a good team. So I guess that makes the Mets average.  At 73-73, the Mets who are still not officially eliminated from playoff contention, can continue to try and separate themselves from severe mediocrity. Maybe they can finish 5-10 games above .500? We shall see.

Takahashi Tames Yankees, Mets extend streak to Eight!

Mike Francesa said on his radio show today (WFAN, NYC 660AM) that he thought Mets starter Hisanori Takahashi is a five inning pitcher. He also said that he thought The Yankees would "bang him around". Well Mike..you can suck my Dickey! Takahashi extended his shutout streak against the Yankees to 12 innings in winning his sixth game against just two losses. The Mets, winners of eight straight games, including their seventh straight on the road, continue to exceed expectations. Written off for dead back in mid May, the Mets keep on getting baseball's most important commodity. Great starting pitching. Nursing a 1-0 lead, the crafty lefty Takahashi looked more like a vintage Tom Glavine than a  journeyman, by wiggling out of a bases loaded jam in the 6th retiring Jorge Posada to end the Yankee's most serious threat. Ike Davis drove in the Mets first run with a single in the first inning. Angel Pagan added some insurance with a two run opposite field single in the eight, before Jose Reyes capped off the scoring with a rbi single in the ninth. The Mets bullpen continued to do the job with Pedro Feliciano pitching two strong innings before Frankie K gave everyone Agita by loading the bases in the ninth inning before escaping the jam for his 16th save.

Santana, Mets outlast Indians 7-6

Johan Santana overcame a rocky start and pitched 7 sturdy innings for his 5th victory of the year. The Mets beat the Indians 7-6, as Ike Davis' two run 5th inning homer proved to be the game winner. Jose Reyes got things going in the first inning, scoring from third on a David Wright infield single.The Misadventures of the Indians infield manifested itself in a 5 run fifth, capped by Reyes' mad dash home from 2nd base on an infield single by David Wright..

Mets Commit Avicide! Slay Birds 3-1

The New York Mets won back to back road games for the first time since they beat the Houston Astros on July 25-26, 2009.  The Mets were 0-7-2 in their previous nine road series. Riding the arm of lefty starter Hisanori Takahashi, who pitched 7 innings of one run ball, the Mets continued a remarkable run by it's starting staff. Over the last five starts, the starters have gone 38.2 innings while giving up only 7 runs. This has given the weary bullpen some rest, and they have responded by giving up no runs over their last 8.1 innings. Jose Reyes led off the first inning with a solo HR and Jeff Francoeur added a big insurance run by smashing a laser to right field for his 7th HR of the year. Francoeur has been contributing all year, despite his very streaky offensive game. Ruben Tejada sparkled in the field on a couple of plays and showed tremendous range on an Adam Jones ground ball up the middle in the 7th inning. KRod saved his 13th by pitching a scoreless ninth.
The Mets are at their high water mark of the season, six games over .500 at 34-28.

The Hebrew Hammer nails Pods in the 11th, Mets win 2-1

Isaac Benjamin " The Hebrew Hammer" Davis crushed a 1-1 off speed pitch deep into the night to give the Mets their ninth straight win at  Citi Field. Davis hit his 7th homerun into the upper deck in right field to back the stellar pitching of Mike Pelfrey and the New York Met's bullpen. Jose Reyes hit his second homerun of the season in the bottom of the 7th to knot the game at 1-1. Reyes had been in a mini slump but seemed to break out tonight with a 2-4 game. Pelfrey was outstanding again, pitching 9 innings of one run baseball. Elmer Dessens got the final out in the 11th to earn his first win as a Met.

Takahashi, Bullpen Blank Phils for second straight night! Mets win 5-0

Jose Reyes continued his torrid hitting with a homerun and two RBI's and Rod Barajas drove in three to back the stellar pitching of Japanese lefty Hisanori Takahashi. Takahashi, improved to 4-1 with six shutout innings and the bullpen continues to impress, blanking the Phillies over the final three.
It seems for the moment that the Mets won't miss either John Maine or Oliver Perez, as the have received a marked improvement from replacement starters Takahashi and R.A. Dickey.

Note-Team speed continues to help as the Mets now have been successful in  47 out of 56 SB tries.

Mets don't knuckle under, Top Phils 8-0

The Mets rode the 35 year old arm of journeyman, and knuckleball specialist, R.A. Dickey to their third straight win as they topped the Phillies at Citi Field. Dickey, who for the second straight outing pitched 6 innings, struck out 7 batters and didn't give up a run. Raul Valdes completed the whitewash with 3 innings of shutout relief, earning his first save of the season. What a difference a day makes, as the suddenlty surging Mets are a combined 15 for 35 with runners in scoring position in their last three games. With contributions from Jeff Francoeur (1run/2hits/2rbi), Jose Reyes (3runs/3hits/1rbi/2sb), Jason Bay (2rbi), and rbi singles from Luis Castillo and Chris Carter, it was as complete a team effort you could ask for.

Let's not blame Jerry Manuel

As every baseball manager knows, getting fired is part of the territory. Jerry Manuel, who is on every talk radio, print media, and blog hot seat, deserves better. Ever since Endy Chavez made his spectacular catch in the sixth inning of game seven of the 2006 NLCS, the Mets have done nothing but disappoint their fan base. Age, Injuries, and inconsistent play from their young players, have all contributed. When the Mets blew a seven game lead with seventeen to play in 2007, we should have known better. Three fifths of their starting rotation was made up of a pair of 41 year olds (Glavine and El Duque) and a rookie (Mike Pelfrey). You just can't win without a legitimate, in his prime, ace. So Omar traded for one in Johan Santana. Genius! He also tried to upgrade the defense by acquiring good gloves in blossoming OF Ryan Church and Catcher Brian Schneider. We all know what happened. The Mets got off to a slow start, and Manager Willie Randolph was fired. Jerry Manuel took over after 69 games and actually had a 3-1/2 game lead with 17 left to play. This despite closer Billy Wagner blowing out his arm in August. Starting Pitcher John Maine was injured. And the other starters (with the exception of Johan and Pelfrey) couldn't get past the sixth inning. This put pressure on the Wagner less Mets. It was the bullpen collapse of 2008, so Omar Minaya thought he fixed that with a bold winter meeting trade, acquiring former all star closer J.J. Putz, and signing the all time single season record holder for saves, Frankie Rodriguez. Everyone applauded. 2009 would be different. Well, it only got worse! Injuries, injuries, injuries! The Mets just can't get it right the last three and a half years. But in this curious case that is the New York Mets, the blame can be put squarely on the shoulders of the players. Are we suppose to blame Jerry Manuel for David Wright's sudden penchant for swinging at every slider outside the strike zone? How about Jason Bay and his one home run? Jose Reyes, layoff not withstanding, hitting a robust .216? Or how about an Ollie Perez, who once was wildly inconsistent, but is now just plain consistently bad. I don't blame Jerry. On paper, even without Carlos Beltran, the Mets should have enough offense to win with the quality of the pitching they have been getting. Johan Santana could easily have a 6 and 2 record right now. What the Mets have been doing is finding a way to lose tight ballgames and more often than not a lack of offense has been the culprit. Here are some numbers to digest. The Mets have a combined 4 HR's and 33 RBI from the number three and four hitters. COMBINED! Their pinch hitters are hitting a collective .209. The team average with runners in scoring position is .237 and with two outs it drops to .227. The biggest indicator is the team's road average which sits at .217 with a pathetic .281 on base percentage and a disgusting .339 slugging percentage. I guess that explains the 5 and 13 won-loss record on the road. So much for blaming Citifield or the manager.