I Can't Believe We Just Had To Watch That Game Again

by Sam Page on May 17, 2009 10:54 PM EDT

Yea, this one. The same moronic Steve Phillips blabbering. The same frustrating offense. It even had the token pinch-hitting fail by Jerry Manuel. I humbly submit, Angel Pagan's career splits:

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two things

1. When did Murphy get the reputation that he can’t hit lefties? I know he struggled against them in the minors, but he’s been pretty successful against them in his major league career (375/.414 /667 in 30 PAs). I really have no idea why Manuel would think Pagan, who apparently can’t hit lefties and only had previous AB this season, would be more likely to get a hit in that situation.

2. You know Steve Phillips is a moron when he makes Joe Morgan sound like the voice of reason.

by englishgrey on May 17, 2009 11:07 PM EDT reply actions

The Steve Phillips talk this time was 10x worse, though.

And it was as winnable a game, except we had NO ONE IN THE LINEUP.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on May 17, 2009 11:09 PM EDT reply actions

OT a little

But I’m surprised Phillips includes Kevin Youkilis in his list of players who “know how to win” or whatever his retarded cliche du jour is. After all, Youkilis was featured prominently in Moneyball as a player that Billy Beane’s evil computer liked, and that book made Phillips look like the retarded marmoset that he is.

I figured if Steve is enough of a petty, bitter asshole to call out good Mets player all game, he’d hate on “The Greek God of Walks” too.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on May 17, 2009 11:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Why make a move

for the sake of making a move? There is just no good reason to do that.

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on May 17, 2009 11:16 PM EDT reply actions

I guess that's rhetorical though

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on May 17, 2009 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions

not necessarily

others on here have complained about manuel’s overmanaging, and i think tonight was another example of that. manuel probably would have been better off letting murphy take the at-bat in the 8th. at the very least, if he’s going to play the matchup game, he should have brought in castro

by englishgrey on May 17, 2009 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly

I would have left Murphy in there. A month ago, wasn’t Murphy such a good hitter that he could hit lefties? He was a “better hitter than Church”, someone who didn’t need to be platooned. So show some faith, Manuel, and don’t put in a hitter who can’t do much of anything against a lefthander.

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on May 17, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah this was my initial complaint with him

That he’s a chronic over-manager. But its grown into something much worse than that. He not only over-manages, but makes very bizarre decisions, loves obvious sample size flukes, and loves going on extended honeymooons with replacement level players who manage a nice little hot streak.

But really, how is Murphy not a better matchup than Pagan there? He’s a fine contact hitter, he’s probably not gonna strike out, and with the head start he gets being in the lefty batters box, he’s probably going to get down the line in about the same amount of time as Pagan would out of the righty box anyway. So that wipes away Pagan’s one advantage, speed (and no, looking at those splits, being a switch hitter is not an advantage for Pagan).

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:32 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs

Rec'd

Couldn’t agree more. I’d also add he has an awful obsession with bunting and ‘small ball.’

by jasondg on May 17, 2009 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions

He didn't even play small ball though

Pelfrey had less than 80 pitches, he could have left him in to bunt with no outs, and he pinch hits with Church, who strikes out. As bad as the Pagan move was, this was just as ridiculous

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on May 17, 2009 11:36 PM EDT up reply actions

The Castillo bunt

in the first should never, ever happen — even if he was doing it on his own.

by jasondg on May 17, 2009 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Was Pelf's pitch count really that low?

I can’t fault this decision really though, Pelfrey was not comfortable at all on that mound for whatever reason. He was hard to watch, and hard for a manager to leave in, even if he was effective overall he just seemed like something was physically wrong, and that’s something you don’t mess around with when its one of your more reliable pitchers.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:38 PM EDT up reply actions

78 pitches.

He didn’t pitch like he was hurt, he did well. He may have done better if not for the balks.

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on May 17, 2009 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions

No he looked so awkward

He technically balked about 7 times, it was almost like the umps were taking pity on him. He was a wreck on the mound, his body language was atrocious, and even if you’re not hurt and you’re generally effective, if a pitcher is that uncomfortable pitching, its going to be something of an injury risk.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, true that

just such an aggravating game. Go get em tomorrow, I guess.

I wonder what Art Howe is doing these days…

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on May 17, 2009 11:44 PM EDT up reply actions

That last part is so sad

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions

You don't think

the Mets would have really “battled” for Art? ;-)

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on May 17, 2009 11:56 PM EDT up reply actions

The thought of that whole era

Just makes me sad.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions

78 pitches

by Mount17 on May 17, 2009 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Not to mention

Sure, Pagan’s a good athlete, but he’s not Jose Reyes, he’s not even Carlos Gomez. He’s hardly guaranteed to beat out a double play ball, especially batting from the right side. This decision had absolutely no reasonable justification, it was even worse than hitting Santos for Castro I think.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:21 PM EDT reply actions

So what's Jerry's formula (ha!)

1 step on a potential double play = .050 OPS?

by Mount17 on May 17, 2009 11:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I wish it were even that simple

But I’d love to see a race to first between Pagan and Murphy where Pagan started in the righty box and Murphy in the lefty. I bet it would be almost exactly a tie.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions

And even if he's playing simply to stay out of the DP

it’s pretty stupid with 1 out. So maybe Pagan barely beats a relay and Santos is up with 2 outs and we’re still down. Go with the batter with the best chance for a hit!

by Mount17 on May 17, 2009 11:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly

It was awful on every level.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 17, 2009 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions

this just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside

Seeing Pagan’s splits.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on May 17, 2009 11:27 PM EDT reply actions

A silver lining

Maybe Pagans PA there will knock some sense into the FO and they’ll take him off the roster.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 18, 2009 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Or fire Manuel tonight, 3 AM Eastern Time

by James Kannengieser on May 18, 2009 12:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Let's not go crazy now

There’s only so much intelligence in the Front Office, you can’t blow it all at once, you gotta save some for September (aka after the trade deadline and 80% of the games are already played)

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 18, 2009 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Not only that...

He’s hitting a cool .174 as a pinch hitter.

by The 'Ropolitans on May 18, 2009 12:53 AM EDT reply actions

Man, I am so glad I didn't watch this game.

Jerry better get the stupid out of his system on this road trip. Live and in person, I can’t change the channel, only begin drinking.

by BobbyV_Incognito on May 18, 2009 1:18 AM EDT reply actions

Some of you watched it on TV

Some of you didn’t watch it at all.

You know what the worst thing was? Watching it at AT&T Park.

Jeezy freakin’ Creezy.

"But it's not over yet, everybody thinks it over, but if we can just get the Earth to reverse rotation...this thing can be played again. So there you go, New York Mets......motherf*ckers." - Jon Stewart

by pingel on May 18, 2009 1:53 AM EDT reply actions

Believe me

Being anywhere that you couldn’t hear Steve Phillips was a better place to be than anywhere you could hear him. I missed his last masterpiece of a Mets game, but my God that man is just awful. He made Joe Morgan more than bearable. Yes, he was that bad.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 18, 2009 2:11 AM EDT up reply actions