Monday, March 12, 2007By Mike Steffanos
Finally had the chance to watch today's game against the Fish that DVR'ed. Some quick notes.
Tom Glavine looked sharp in 4 innings of work. He was victimized by the "D" and a strange hit by pitch call in a 3-run third inning, but seems really in synch this spring. He has all his pitches working.
Lino Urdaneta had a scoreless inning and threw the ball pretty well. I didn't even do a preview of this kid when I did all the bullpen candidates, but he's shown something. He won't be in the mix for a job out of camp, but he'll provide some insurance in the Big Easy.
Juan Padilla struck out the first two batters he faced, then survived a hit and a walk to notch a scoreless inning in his first game action in a year. He wasn't just facing minor leaguers, either -- the two strikeouts were Miguel Olivo and Jeremy Hermida. He made both look pretty bad despite not throwing a pitch faster than the low 80s.
Some more shoddy defense cost Scott Schoeneweis a run in his inning and two-thirds work. He threw the ball well, though, registering 4 groundouts and a strikeout.
Joe Smith relieved Schoeneweis and induced a groundball that should have gotten the southpaw out of his second inning unscathed, but a kid playing second booted the ball. Then he registered a pair of strikeouts the next inning. The Mets should try to get this kid into games earlier against the better hitters to see what they truly have.
Offensively, Carlos Beltran had a 2-run homer into the wind and David Wright, who has been scuffling, also got hold of one. No one had a multi-hit game as nine different Mets contributed one hit each to the cause.
In the split squad game against the Tigers, Aaron Sele started and went 3-2/3, allowing 1 run while scattering 5 hits.
Jorge Sosa went 4 strong innings, allowing a run on 2 hits. He struck out 4 and walked none. One negative was that the one run he allowed was on a solo homer to Timo Perez. Sosa didn't register a single groundball out in those 4 innings of work. Of the 12 outs he registered, 7 came on fly balls or pop ups, 1 on a caught stealing and the other 4 via Ks. While it sounds like he was throwing well, it doesn't sound like he was keeping the ball down at all.
Mike Carp and Fernando Martinez had 3-hit games for the Mets.
By the way, speaking of keeping the ball down, in Saturday's game vs. the Nationals, Oliver Perez induced 5 ground ball outs in his 4 innings of work. The other 7 outs were in the air, he didn't register any strikeouts.
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Comments (5)
I like the game notes. Keep it the good work. I've not had time to watch a single game yet, and don't know when I will. (moving sucks)
Posted by Gene | March 12, 2007 5:50 AM
Moving! We moved up to Pa. in 1988 and there is still boxs in the attic we have not opened yet. Mostly from the basement in N.Y. into the attic of Pa. Boy I really need that stuff."ugh". Oliver Perez is looking better, Tom Glavin is ready, John Maine, Pedro Feliciano, Mike Pelfrey show promise also Joe Smith. Wagner, Heilman, Schoeneweis, are set but after that we still have alot of questions and spots to fill and its less than 3 weeks to opening day. Lord have mercy.
Posted by REV AL | March 12, 2007 6:16 AM
Gene - I think the last couple of weeks are going to be way more interesting, anyway, so if you get a chance to watch some of those games you will see the job battles really play out.
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Al - Relax, I guarantee there will be changes during the year, too. Anyway, it can't be more unsettled than it was last season. Still no sign of Lima in camp...
Posted by Mike Steffanos | March 12, 2007 12:33 PM
I wish it was gonna be that easy to watch. Thank god for games on the internet (and a 32" monitor), new home is in Melbourne ... Australia :)
Posted by Gene | March 12, 2007 2:19 PM
Wow, that does complicate things, doesn't it?
Posted by Mike Steffanos | March 12, 2007 2:38 PM