Mets 4, Astros 1

by Eric Simon on Sep 9, 2007 4:57 PM EDT

Hero of the day: Pedro Martinez - 5ip, 6h, 0r, 1bb, 4k

Nice 2007 Shea debut for Pedro Martinez. He showed generally good command of his pitches, better than his first start at least, though at times he lacked the ability to put hitters away. He fanned Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee in succession on beautiful changeups and was otherwise solid. The Astros are nothing like a formidable lineup, but Pedro intimated that his second start would be a good indicator of his readiness and he seems to have passed that test with little difficulty.

Add fielding and throwing to the list of things that Guillermo Mota is terrible at, his throwing error in the sixth almost costing the Mets some runs.

Aaron Heilman walked the first batter he faced on four pitches but induced groundball outs on the next three, a welcome sign to say the least. Heilman's strikeout and walk numbers have been very strong but he has hurt himself and his team more often than not by giving up untimely (are they ever really timely?) longballs. His season WHIP is 1.10 and his success is going to be very important for this team as we head down the stretch and (hopefully) towards the postseason.

Jose Reyes has been frustratingly bad at the plate for the better part of three months now. I'll have more on his struggles later this week, but his season is spiraling out of control a bit and he has turned into something of an automatic out.

Moises Alou has very quietly hit .329/.387/.524 in 274 plate appearances. Also from the "very quietly" department, Carlos Beltran has pushed his season OPS above .900, currently hitting .283/.364/.538. Not quite what he did last year, but very good considering his defense and baserunning have been exemplary.

Magic number is down to 15 with the Phillies and Braves coming into town this week.

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Comments

Typo - Pedro went 5 innings ...

and I liked what I saw. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on Jose.

by Max in NJ on Sep 9, 2007 5:41 PM EDT reply actions

Corrected

Thanks.

by Eric Simon on Sep 9, 2007 5:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Beltran

No, it's not up to the standards of last year, but last year was really a career year. This is more in line with his career norms, and what we should be expecting from him. Needless to say, it's very, very good.

As for Reyes, it really hasn't been 3 months since he last hit well, since he had a very nice June, but nonetheless, he had a mediocre July, a weak August of Ecksteinian proportions, and has been dreadful so far in September. It's been long enough of a drought that I'm starting to worry a bit, especially since his power isn't at the level it was at last season.

Every time Mota pitches, a kitten dies. Please think of the kittens!

by Greenpoint Ian on Sep 9, 2007 5:59 PM EDT reply actions

also

I really think Randolph needs to drop Reyes in the order to try to get him to calm down. Castillo would be a fine understudy in the leadoff spot until Reyes snaps this slump.

Every time Mota pitches, a kitten dies. Please think of the kittens!

by Greenpoint Ian on Sep 9, 2007 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Three months

You're right, his June was mighty fine. Make it three of the last four months, since May was actually his worst moon of the lot. His power spiked in July but his on-base numbers simply weren't there.

by Eric Simon on Sep 9, 2007 6:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Reyes

For what it's worth, even as bad as he's been lately, Baseball Prospectus still projects Reyes at at 10.8 WARP3 for the season. We certainly could still be a hell of a lot worse off at shortstop.

(Which isn't to say that I disagree that he's in need of the Willie Mays Hayes treatment, of course. Pushups every time he pops a ball up.)

by Josh @ Amazin' Avenue on Sep 10, 2007 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions