The engagement party was a big success yesterday, though we ordered way too much food and bought way too much beer. I will give them both a good home.
The Mets, on the other hand, were not so lucky. They were in a 6-0 hole before coming to bat in the first inning, and while they certainly had their opportunities to chip away at the big lead, they ultimately wound up losing 7-4. Kris Benson's ERA ballooned from 3.49 to 3.89, and he registered a razor-thin Game Score of just 12 [50 + 2 (2 outs) - 16 (8 hits) - 24 (6 earned runs) = 12].
While Benson gave them nothing, the Mets bullpen put in a great game just one day after blowing an 8-0 lead. Juan Padilla was terrific, going 4.1 innings and allowing just one run on four hits. Danny Graves probably bought himself a couple more appearances by going two scoreless innings, and Aaron Heilman pitching two innings of no-hit ball. The bellpen kept the Mets in the game, but the Mets' offense sputtered for the most part, leaving 10 men on base and striking out 12 times.
Two things we've learned this weekend:
1. Willie Randolph is a moron
2. Danny Graves is useless
#1 we already knew, but he continues to prove our case through his utter misuse of the bullpen and his ongoing stubbornness regarding playing time for rookies. Unless he was given a mandate by Omar Minaya, there is no excuse for Mike Jacobs to remain on the bench while useless hacks like Jose Offerman and Marlon Anderson alternate games at first base while contributing nothing offensively or defensively. I have no way of knowing if Jacobs can hit at the Major League level, but I know that those two guys can't, so I'd like to see what the kid has to offer.
As for Graves, he has now pitched an identical number of innings with the Mets, 18.1, as he did with the Reds before they were smart enough to cut him loose. Here's what his team splits look like:
ERA IP H R HR BB SO
Reds 7.36 18.1 30 18 4 12 8
Mets 5.89 18.1 27 16 4 6 10
The guy is just plan awful and it's a travesty and an embarassment to the organization that he continues to take up a roster spot while more deserving pitchers like Heath Bell (just recalled), Tim Hamulack (just recalled) and even *gulp* Manny Aybar are stuck in Norfolk. The Mets will continue to spin their wheels and remain a joke, roster-wise, as long as they waste time and money on has-beens and never-will-bes like Graves, Dae Sung Koo, Offerman, etc.
I'd like to rag on Ramon Castro a bit, but I have no reason to. The guy has been about as good as can be expected for a backup catcher making $500,000, and he's almost matching Piazza production-wise.
AB BA OBP SLG OPS
Piazza 351 .259 .326 .444 .771
Castro 127 .244 .315 .433 .748
While poring over Castro's stats, I noticed the following:
AB BA OBP SLG OPS
None On 62 .210 .246 .419 .665
Runners On 65 .277 .372 .446 .818
Scoring Position 40 .350 .451 .550 1.001
I'm not quite sure what to make of this yet. It's a fairly small sample size, so it's tough to draw any meaningful conclusions from the data. Castro has been terrible when there is nobody on base, but he's been quite good with any runners on and he's been Berkman-esque with runners in scoring position. The Mets are going to give him a long look to see how he might fit into the catcher picture for 2006.
Yusmeiro Petit was promoted to Norfolk over the weekend and makes his AAA debut tonight. During his time in AA Binghamton this season, Petit (pronounced 'puh-TEET') was, well, awesome.
W L ERA IP H HR BB SO 9 3 2.91 117.2 90 15 18 130His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 7.22, his strikeouts-per-nine ratio is 9.94, and his WHIP is 0.89 (!). He doesn't have Felix Hernandez-like stuff, but he is very, very good. Oh, and he doesn't turn 21 until November.
I changed the font size for the main part of the site (increased it from 11px to 12px). I think it makes things a bit easier to read, but if anybody has any problems with it let me know.