I was rocking the fist pump last night, oh, around the sixth inning or so. Cliff Floyd is a monster. David Wright, despite his defensive hiccups last night, is just an outstanding player. He made a couple of really nice plays earlier in the game, particularly that dribbler that Heilman swatted out that Wright ended up barehanding to make the play at first. He is current third in the league in P/PA (pitcher per plate appearance), seeing an average of 4.43 pitches every time he comes up to the plate. His two-run shot was a bomb to centerfield.
It was nice to see Piazza go 3-for-4, hitting the ball hard for his three base hits. You wonder if a couple of his shots might have been homeruns a few years back, but there's not much we can do about that. I don't think his strength is gone: the homerun he hit in Philly went 471 feet, which is a monster shot.
Aaron Heilman: what can you say. Four starts, two outstanding, two forgettable. His two great starts have been at Shea. Let's hope he can get in a nice groove and become an adequate back-of-the-rotation starter.
AAA southpaw Royce Ring was called up to The Show last night, with Mike Matthews being DFA'd (designated for assignment). Royce was a first round pick a few years back with the White Sox and came over to the Mets in the Roberto Alomar deal in 2003. He should be filling Matthews' role of mostly being a LOOGY.
Last few days at MetsGeek.com
- Matsui vs Miguel (Michael Oliver)
- Upcoming Series: Atlanta Braves Pitchers (Andrew Hintz)
- Minny Manny (Ricardo Rodriguez)
- Bad Starts (Jeremy Heit)
Also today, our friend Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog.com has an open letter to Mets fans everywhere, urging them to join in the battle to get Mets game back on Time Warner Cable. If you are a fan and are currently being deprived of watching the Mets play most of their games, stop by MetsBlog.com and read about some of the things you can do to try to get this whole thing resolved.
At The Hardball Times, Steve Treder continues his chronical of the LOOGY in baseball. As with most of the writing at THT, this is a must-read. You can check out Part 1 of his article here.
Also, if you're not regularly reading fellow-MetsGeek Andrew Hintz' Chuck 'n' Duck, now's the time to rectify that. Just this week he's written a letter to Victor Zambrano and outlined a Fran Healy excerpt that might not have actually happened but almost certainly could have.