Post Draft Applesauce

by Joe Budd on Jun 10, 2009 9:51 AM EDT in Applesauce Comment 45 comments

In one of the busiest sports days that I can remember, the Mets defeated the 10 Phillies on the field despite a heroic effort by Lance Barksdale for Philadelphia. The win narrowed the gap to two games between the two teams and improved the Mets' record to 3-1 against Philly, but the bragging rights are still squarely in Phillly hands.

Meet the Mets

Let's start with stories from the game. Johan Santana was shaky on the mound and was angry at Jerry Manuel for pulling him in favor of Bobby Parnell in the 8th. Parnell gave up a hit, but Pedro Feliciano continued his amazing season, inducing a ground ball double play from Ryan Howard and a weak ground out from Raul Ibanez. Santana's bat, however, proved to be a key in the game as he swung away on a bunt sign, doubling and driving in a run in the 6th inning. Hopefully, these aren't signs of a rift between Manuel and Santana.

In last night's first year player draft, the Mets selected local left handed pitcher Steven Matz and Florida Southern shortstop Robert Shields. Mets Geek scouts out what the team got. Matz has committed to playing college ball at Coastal Carolina, so he is expected to demand a significant bonus to get signed. Mets Today takes a closer look at Matz.

The pain is gone for Jose Reyes, but his return is still far away.

Mets Police makes a suggestion for a new Met uniform.

Ted Berg took a trip upstate to check out the farm teams in Buffalo and Binghamton.

Chipper Jones has some choice words for Citi Field. David Wright likes Citi.

Hardball Times takes a look at how Mike Pelfrey gets by with one pitch.

Faith and Fear in Flushing is organizing a Metstock to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Met World Series win. The event will be on June 18th while the Mets are playing the Orioles.

Around the NL East

To the surprise of no one, the Nationals selected Stephen Strasburg with the #1 pick in last night's draft. Now the real fun begins: signing him.

The Nationals celebrated the draft pick by losing 3-2 to Johnny Cueto and the Reds.

The Mets will not face Brad Lidge this series as the Philadelphia closer was placed on the 15 day DL with a sprained knee. Lidge has a 7.27 ERA so far this season. Ryan Madson will take on the team's closing duties.

The Phillies are talking with the Rockies about outfield Ryan Spillborghs.

Raul Ibanez is not taking steroids. You can trust him.

Jeremy Hermida homered in the ninth, snapping a 3-3 tie and giving the Marlins a walk-off 4-3 victory.

The Florida Sun-Sentinel asks why Emilio Bonifacio is still playing third base.

Sean West was too nervous to chat to Randy Johnson when the Marlins recently played the Giants. This reminds me of the time I was too scared to talk to Howard Johnson when I was in third grade. Life's regrets.

Around MLB

Who was selected after Stephen Strasburg? That would be North Carolina first baseman Dustin Ackley by the Mariners.

Josh Beckett and the Red Sox continue to dominate the Yankees. The Red Sox drafted Carlos Beltran's cousin with their first pick (28th overall).

Cleveland trade bait and prospective Met Mark DeRosa hit a grand slam in the Indians 8-4 win.

Jorge Julio proves again that if you can throw hard teams will take a chance on you. The Tampa Rays have signed the reliever.

Mike Cameron has been suspended for two games for making contact with an umpire.

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Wow, that Bill Sheridan piece is AWFUL

“Remember, the Phillies’ biggest lead over the Mets last season was just four games”

Umm…bullshit. Just over a year ago the Mets were 7.5 games back. Actually, never mind, let’s let them roll with that, if they’ll let us get away with “the biggest lead the Mets had in 2007 was 1 game.” Makes the collapse seem a lot better, doesn’t it.

“Both have problems with their shortstop-leadoff guy: advantage, Phillies. Rollins is already better than Reyes. His track record says he’ll come out of this slump and have something to say about the race.”

Double bullshit. WAR since 2006:
Rollins – 3.8, 6.0, 3.9
Reyes – 6.2, 5.6, 5.6

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 10:16 AM EDT reply actions 5 recs

also

his contention that Utley, Howard, Rollins, and Hamels have put the debate over who’s a better core to rest b/c they won some hardware from the BBWAA is so asinine. The Mets ran away with the division in 2006 b/c they had 4 guys with legit MVP seasons, fracturing the vote enough to let a guy on a non-playoff team win it. There’s Phillie hardware #1. Then, the Mets implode down the stretch even as David Wright is having the best month of the best season of his career, allowing the Phillies to sneak past. Despite having a ridiculous edge in statistical numbers, Wright (and Holliday) loses the MVP to Rollins b/c he made a preseason prediction and had a pretty good season to back it up. Hardware #2. Finally, Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge were better than Aaron Heilman and Luis Ayala, so that means Hamels is better than Santana, right? I’ll give Hamels credit, he legitimately deserved the WS MVP, but who’s to say Santana wouldn’t have pitched just as well if he were in that position. Fact is, he’s a better pitcher than Cole.

Ugh, I hate Philadelphia so much.

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions 5 recs

rec'd both and sent to annoying Phillies friends

by jasondg on Jun 10, 2009 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Phillies fanbase has gotten exponentially more obnoxious in a very short period of time

were Philly fans on anybody’s radar 2 years ago? I know they won a title, but this has been a truly shocking transformation

by metsjetsnets on Jun 10, 2009 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I went to college at Delaware

which is very much Philly sports country, and during my 4 years there (2002-2006), the Phillies might as well have not existed. The only team any of them cared about were the Eagles. I think I saw like 4 people who wore Phillies hats when I was there. I have multiple pictures of a party I went to during the 2004 World Series where 2 of my friends were decked out in Red Sox gear. Today, they all “love” the Phillies, and both of those friends went to World Series games (one was at Game 5) and they both went to the parade decked out in Phillies gear. All you see around campus now when I go back to visit are people wearing “World Series Champions” stuff. It’s kinda sickening in a way.

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well

That happens everywhere. Think of the Giants’ Super Bowl win last year. I’ve rooted for the Giants my whole life and suddenly I had friends coming out of the woodwork to celebrate the win with me, people who had talked shit about the team as recently as a few weeks prior. Whatever, everyone wants to be part of a winner.

by Zwill on Jun 10, 2009 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

that's true to an extent

but it was pretty excessive in this case. The only worse case I can think of are Patriots fans, but at least they waited until the Pats had won like 2 or 3 Super Bowls before becoming overly obnoxious.

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I went to college in Philly, from '00 to '04

And they couldn’t care less about the Phillies then.

by jasondg on Jun 10, 2009 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I lived in Philly from 98 to 2007.

From 2006-2007, the number of Phillies fans went around by 1000×. I can’t imagine what it is now. People I KNOW who never gave a shit about baseball suddenly post about the Phillies on their Facebook pages 24/7.

by Lunkwill Fook on Jun 10, 2009 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

9 years? I feel for you

4 years of cheesesteaks, hoagies, etc really took its toll.

by jasondg on Jun 10, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cheesesteak

You know, I actually only had one cheesesteak while I lived there. And only ate at Pat’s BEFORE I moved.

by Lunkwill Fook on Jun 10, 2009 4:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I dont know

why I tortured myself by reading that.

Each paragraph was worse than the previous one.

The Mets are without Reyes, whose nagging injuries are becoming a real issue

Indeed.

by mets81 on Jun 10, 2009 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nagging injury?

This is the first time he’s been hurt since…when (besides the hand issue in 07)? 2005?

by metsman07 on Jun 10, 2009 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

exactly,

SO FRUSTRATING.

by mets81 on Jun 10, 2009 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

~~Bill~~ Phil Sheridan.

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

by squid92 on Jun 10, 2009 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

whatever

he’s so bad he doesn’t deserve his real name to be typed on this blog

by cjmulrain on Jun 11, 2009 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

One more thing

(not having a job sure does give me plenty of time to read and comment about the Mets…)

Anyway, I really liked Mets Police’s suggestion for an alternate home jersey. I think the Giants jersey they chose is fantastic. I’m not crazy at all about his suggestion for a Queens away uniform though. I looked through some of the Dodgers old uniforms, and came across this one from 1923 that I think could work pretty well as an alternate away, only replacing the “B” with the interlocking “NY”. What do you think:

If that doesn’t work, how about these:

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 10:46 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

note

the 2nd ones are meant sarcastically

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sure, let's also grow moustaches and and start catching the ball with a slab of meat instead of a glove.

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

by squid92 on Jun 10, 2009 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

har har har

would that even make the Mets infield defense any worse?

I’m not saying to use the exact same uniforms, but use that as a template. I’m a fan of the Phillies and Indians alternate jerseys, so I wouldn’t mind seeing the Mets wear something similar. That, or do what the Royals and Blue Jays have done and start wearing throwbacks to your relatively new franchise’s glory days. In our case, bring back the racing stripes. But the difference with the Mets from the Royals and Jays is that they were conceptually a continuation of NL Baseball in New York, so the nods to the Dodgers and Giants old uniforms are acceptable, IMO.

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Personally, I'm not a huge throwback type

I mean I like throwback jerseys in general, the racing stripes and all blue jersey tops were great looking. Just as were the “old” toronto jersey and the “old” brewers jersey. However, using throwbacks as alternates just doesn’t do it for me. No matter your opinion of the Mets black jersey, when fans see them, you have to think late 90’s early naughts Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura-era, just like when I see racing stripes I think mid-80s Mets. I like the idea of changing the alternate every so often in order to give teams a jersey to indentify with. If this throwback jersey fad continues, and this fad is not limited to jersey but fashion/design/whatever in general, there isn’t any new ideas being explored and in twenty years, there won’t be any jersey to throwback to. I mean even bad looking jersey’s have their place, I fully expect the ugly Padres camo jersey will age in twenty years much like the orange stripe Astro jersey that defines a decade’s bad choice. With that being said, if two teams play each other and both agree to use throwbacks (with the key being they both wear the same throwback year) I’m down.

by Sokojoe on Jun 10, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The camo jersey

is already hideous. I don’t need 20 years to figure that out.

Personally, I like the idea of just a home and an away, no alternate. Pinstripes with blue caps at home, road gray for the away games. I loathe the mix and match, and for me, the black jerseys were just the Mets marketing dep’t jumping on to that late 90s all black bandwagon. They hold little to no special meaning for me. They were, and are, a money grab.

That said — the Mets pinstripes have evolved over time, with the racing stripes, etc., and I’m okay with that.

by jasondg on Jun 10, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just to be clear

I also think the camo jersey is shitty looking now. Don’t want any rumors going around. I don’t find alternate jersey to be that bad of a cash grab, I dont buy jerseys, and as I said, like the idea of every decade having their own jersey.
Now this was a money grab:

by Sokojoe on Jun 10, 2009 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good lord

Way to rehash things that I had safely and conveniently forgotten, Joe. I’m gonna go throw up now.

"He's definitely mixing it into his repertoire. That's French for 'repertoire' " - Keith Hernandez

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jun 10, 2009 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh come on Oral wasn't that bad.

by Sokojoe on Jun 10, 2009 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

zing!

"He's definitely mixing it into his repertoire. That's French for 'repertoire' " - Keith Hernandez

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jun 10, 2009 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

if they were the Mercury Mets

why was there a picture of the moon on the jersey?

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you make good points

for me, it’s less about the “throwback” and more that I just think the older uniforms look better. I actually agree with Jason that I wish every team would just pick 2 uniforms and stick with them, but unfortunately I just don’t see that as a realistic possibility, b/c if a team can make money off a 3rd and 4th jersey, it will. That being the case, I prefer uniforms that look good, and to me, classic uniforms look great.

by cjmulrain on Jun 10, 2009 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's a fair point

throwback for the sake of throwback is silly, but just cause it looks good is alright by me. My only argument would be that if new jerseys wouldn’t be tried then we’d end up looking like the Yankees whose fear of change and “disrespecting” the past remind me of a grandpa simpson not willing to get a flag with the correct number of stars.

by Sokojoe on Jun 10, 2009 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Question.

Do you think Jerry benches Church for F-bomb tonight. Church hit his homerun, the first into the apple, off the righty Durbin.

He has good career numbers of hamels
AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
Cole Hamels 20 6 1 0 0 3 2 6 .300 .364 .350 .714

Not much power and high strike out total, but he got his hits.

I think you have to play Church, let the guy prove that he can play everyday. He hasn’t been terrible versus lefties, excluding 2007 and this year, but also he doesn’t have a ton of AB’s verse them.

Hopefully Logic will prevail in the battle for reason in the mind of a Chaos Gangsta.

by Delgado on Jun 10, 2009 10:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh come on...

We have no idea what Jerry’s gut is telling him…

probably that Church is due for an 0-fer against Hamels….ugh

by metsman07 on Jun 10, 2009 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I believe it was Condrey

But I think I can agree with some of your sentiment.
The curious case of Ryan Church this year. He was the guy that I pointed to at the start of the season, and said, here could be an “X” factor (whatever the hell that is). The tribulations have been lamented over and over, but I have felt he hasnt gotten a real shake since the injuries. I like him as a ball player, he brings great outfield defense and a cannon for a arm, and shows some pop from time to time. I guess Sheff has to play against the lefties, but he looks dead tired. Why not play F! and Church? (Sigh)

by TBlz on Jun 10, 2009 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

nope, you were right: Durbin it was

by TBlz on Jun 10, 2009 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

But-but-but-

Sheffield’s a righty! So…he HAS to play!

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

by squid92 on Jun 10, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ever seen "The Babe" with Goodman?

Think the Mets could park a runner at first that could take off once Sheff got there and they, like, slapped hands or something?

Seriously, what the f was he doing last night? Did he
a) think the ball was out of the park, or at least over the orange line to be reviewed?
b) think that Ibanez was going to plant one and could chill in to second?
c) run out of steam between home and first because of all the grustle he’s been exuding lately?
d) want a hit in the books, but didnt feel like running much, so he spied a quick and easy way back to the dugout?

by TBlz on Jun 10, 2009 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah Sheffield is definitely in against Cole

F! never saw Cole before, I just hope Jerry doesn’t cave in to the pressure to play F! this many days if it costs Church playing time.

by Delgado on Jun 10, 2009 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

F! has to see Cole sometime

and seeing as they’re both going to be on each respective team for, I don’t know, the next 15 years or so, I wouldn’t mind Fernando getting a look and I’m a big Church supporter, but Fernando needs to get at bats if he’s on the roster, I don’t want some Wily Mo Pena situation.

by Sokojoe on Jun 10, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what is wrong with

the black uniform

by JADDENHOPKINS on Jun 10, 2009 1:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I like the Black uniform

"We have to find a way to play better, there's no doubt. Overall. I'm not pointing fingers at anybody. Offense, defense, pitching -- we have to find a way to play better. The reality of this is, coming here to Pittsburgh and being swept -- personally, I feel embarrassed." -- Carlos Beltran

by EMSfan9 on Jun 10, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs