Aftermath: Mets vs Phillies (05/25/2006)

Game 3: Mets 5, Phillies 4

(Source: fangraphs.com - what's this?)

Jeremi Gonzalez's line from Game 3:

 IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR   PC-ST   GS
6.0   7   3   3   3   1   2   90-56   44

Mr. Met:

• Hitting: Jose Reyes, 19.7% WPA
• Pitching: Jeremi Gonzalez, 8.0% WPA

Mr. Regret:

• Hitting: Kaz Matsui, -19.8% WPA
• Pitching: Pedro Feliciano, -24.2% WPA

For the second straight game a Mets starter was dreadful in the first inning but pulled things together after that, only to have Pedro Feliciano come in and screw things up. Feliciano was the staff goat for the second consecutive day, only this time the Mets' offense wasn't able to bail him out. Feliciano, who had only allowed one earned run all season before Wednesday, has now allowed three in the last two games. He also doesn't appear to be especially effective against left-handed batters, which makes it hard to justify using him as a LOOGY.

In other news, Kaz Matsui continues to struggle at the plate, not just with runners in scoring position but basically any time he has a bat in his hands. His 0-for-4 yesterday has left him hitting .219/.252/.298, and his .550 OPS is sixth worst (of 129) in the National League among players with at least 100 plate appearances. He has managed to be even worse with runners in scoring position (.167/.189/.250) and worse still with runners in scoring position and two outs (.143/.182/.190).

Matsui is still far better than Anderson Hernandez was in his brief stint (.146/.146/.146), but it may be time to start giving more at-bats to Chris Woodward, who is hitting .289/.341/.447 in 38 at-bats. He also hit a very respectable .283/.337/.393 in 173 at-bats in 2005. Woodward made an error in the field on Wednesday, but I suspect he isn't much more than a marginal dropoff in defense from Kaz Matsui, who has played well this year but has a history of unspectacular glovework. There have been many times in the past where I argued that Kaz Matsui could be a productive ballplayer for this team, but I'm running out of arguments. At the very least he should be splitting time with Woodward, whose bat is vastly superior.

One more number: on the season, Matsui is at -152.0% WPA; Carlos Delgado is at 163.9% WPA. So basically Matsui has been as bad at the plate as Delgado has been good. Woodward is at 15.5% WPA for what it's worth.

And, in case you're keeping score at home, the Mets have never won a game that Mike and the Mad Dog called on WFAN, officially 0-1.