That's Why He Makes The Big Bucks: Mets 6, Cubs 2

by Eric Simon on Sep 24, 2008 12:05 AM EDT

Johan Santana was the story again tonight, as he has been most times he pitches. He struck out ten batters for the fourth time this season, and recorded 20 swinging strikes, matching his season-high. He also picked up that bizarre infield hit in the fifth that bounced off of the mound AND the shattered barrel of his own bat, which had spun and flown between the mound and second base. Santana would eventually come around to score the go-ahead run on David Wright's two-out, two-run single, and scored again on Jose Reyes's bases-loaded triple in the sixth.

Santana also threw a career-high 125 pitches, but given the way Pedro Feliciano handled the four-run lead he was handed in the ninth inning, I don't think anyone will question Jerry Manuel's desire to leave Santana out there as long as possible. Santana has now thrown 3,481 pitches this season compared to 3,335 in 2007 and 3,450 in 2006, so he's certainly within his established range. With any luck, the Mets will play competently over the next four days and Santana won't have to come back to pitch the Mets into the playoffs against the Marlins on Sunday.

The Phillies lost at home to the Braves, so the Mets are just a game back in the loss column with five to play. The Brewers came from behind to beat the Pirates, so the Mets' lead in the Wild Card race remains a single game. On Wednesday, Oliver Perez takes on Carlos Zambrano, who will probably only stick around for five innings or so.

Big winners: David Wright, +29.8% WPA, Johan Santana, +15.1% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Beltran, -14.8% WPA, Pedro Feliciano, -2.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright two-run double, +22.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Fukudome RBI double, -10.0% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +16.7%
Total batter WPA: +33.3%
GWRBI: David Wright

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by LOUtheMETSfan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Name	# of Posts
LOUtheMETSfan	144
losangelesmets	56
Prince	35
JoshNY	32
itsmetsforme	31
JohnPeterson	24
elifriedman	15
anonymous	11
Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright	8
DoctorK16	4
johnnyapple	4
MetsfaninVA	4
kendynamo	1

Tweet Comment 14 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Why only 5 innings?

They don’t want to overuse you mean? Interesting. I have wondered what advantages, if any, the Mets might have playing the Cubs, who have home field already. Sorta like when my Broncos got to the playoffs a few years ago because in Week 17 we got to play the Colts, who promptly sat everyone. :-)

Forget the Phillies for now. Again. Just win. Too bad the Brewers didn’t lose tonight, but we need to establish some sort of energy. Tonight was great. Let’s go for two tomorrow.

BTW, who are the contenders to pitch on Saturday?

The 2008 NY Mets: Pedro hurt already. Delgado still sucks. Mets still can't beat the Braves. Beltran only plays 6 innings. WTF with Pelfrey?? Mets win 60 in a row. Freakin' Wagner. PLAYOFFS, NO WAY?!

by ZaBlanc on Sep 24, 2008 12:47 AM EDT reply actions

Advantages of playing the Cubs

For one, they’re resting a lot of regulars. This week, they’re letting guys get healthy, which is why Henry Blanco and Sean McGehee both started tonight. Big Z’s last start will probably just be a little tune-up before the playoffs. No need to expend your ace in an essentially meaningless game.

by BobbyV_Incognito on Sep 24, 2008 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions

Saturday's starter:

According to the Journal News, there was a note posted in the clubhouse that listed “Staffinator” as the starter on Saturday.

'Catsmeat!' he cried. 'I see it all. It was that chump, Catsmeat.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Sep 24, 2008 7:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Damn, Lou

That is some mighty fine embiggening there. What are you doing, trying to make up for my absence?

by BobbyV_Incognito on Sep 24, 2008 1:58 AM EDT reply actions

You know me Bobby V...QUANTITY over QUALITY ;-)

I hand the baton off to you my friend. Gotta work the next 3 nights.

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Sep 24, 2008 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions

Quantity over Quality

Sounds like the guy loading up on mortgage bonds over at Lehman this year

by Simons on Sep 24, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

My Microeconomics term paper is going to be about this fiasco. Perhaps I’m biting off more than I can chew, but I’m pissed off and I want to write about it.

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Sep 24, 2008 5:34 PM EDT up reply actions

fingers crossed

I just called the Mets ticket office. The guy said no plans have been made for a potential Brewers play-in game which he thought would be on Monday. He guessed they’d make tickets available going into Sunday if they were tied or +/-1.

by mmxii on Sep 24, 2008 9:38 AM EDT reply actions

I have a ticket.

I got two tiebreaker tickets (Game A and Game B) with my season package. Woohoo!

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Sep 24, 2008 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Johan's Pitch Counts

I don’t like em.

He’s locked in for 6 more extremely expensive seasons. 125 pitches is a lot, no matter who you are.

People like to say that Livan Hernandez is the type of guy who can go that deep, but keep in mind that he hasn’t been particularly effective. I don’t like the idea of abusing Johan this early in his contract.

Sure his overall pitch count is similar to past seasons, but his abuse points are up because he’s gone past 105 pitches in more games than in the past.

Also keep in mind that this guy used to have upper 90s heat, and now he’s in the low 90s. Low 90s is fine for a guy with his command and secondary pitches, however, there is evidence that the abuse in the past is having a toll on him.

Additionally, his body isn’t reparing itself at the same pace at 29, as it was when he was 27. His bodies ability to hold up wil deteriorate exponentially as he gets older.

Johan is special no doubt, and his historic endurance played a critial role in our huge commitment to him. With taht said, I don’t feel like it is prudent to put that faith to the test in his first season of such a long contract.

No pitcher has ever held up to a long term contract like this. A big reason why that’s the case is the thot process that a pitcher making this much money has to be able to sustain extraordinary abuse. I don’t agree with this logic.

I think wth a guy like Johan, he’s worth the money even if you use him LESS than he’s been used in the past.

100 pitches per game, with the exception of a 100-110 game no more than 3 times a year, if the circumstances are extreme.

I’m not comfortable with the way we are using Johan. I think we are asking for an injury as early as next year. My biggest fear is that if he doesn’t get hurt next season, it will only encourage us to abuse him more, further deteriorating his incremental value long term.

by Omar21 on Sep 24, 2008 10:21 AM EDT reply actions

yikes

It’s my belief that he has control over how much he pitches in any given game. If he didn’t want to be out there, he wouldn’t have been.

That being said, unless you can provide me with some solid proof that a guy who increases his total pitch count in one year by 150+ is in line for an injury in the future, I’ll never buy this argument.

It’s also within reason to believe that he has already pitched his best years, especially in terms of stuff. He’s probably not ever going to get his arm strength back to the mid-upper 90s, unless he decides to have some kind of unnecessary surgery to “repair” the stress that has been put on his arm. Also, the pitching motion is stressful on your arm no matter if you throw 100 or 125. It’s not a natural motion for the arm and not unexpected that after 5 straight years of 200+ innings your arm will lose some of it’s strength. I’m not sure lessening the workload would have any difference.

Talkin' Sports

by BlackOps on Sep 24, 2008 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Duely noted

I think that this MAY be the last year or next to last year that teams keep offering HUGE contracts for players in the MIDDLE of their prime. Every team that is except the Yankees. Are teams learning their lessons from getting burnt? Time will tell.

The attitude in professional sports seems to be win now. Do the METS think that they can win the WS this year? Maybe their thinking is: “Just get us in the playoffs. You never know how things may turn in our favor.” That may be the mentality of Jerry and Co., especially since Jerry may be managing for his job next season. Jerry knows that he can NOT depend on his bullpen so he is going to get every ounce that he can from his starters.

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Sep 24, 2008 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions