Thursday, May 22, 2008By Mike Steffanos
Game 44: Braves 11 - Mets 4
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. -- Joseph Heller, Catch 22
The above quote from one of the greatest books of the Twentieth Century says it all about this edition of the New York Mets. What's worse, the elevator the Mets have taken back down to their comfortable level of mediocrity shows no sign of slowing down.
For Mike Pelfrey, this was a regression start after a couple of nice ones in a row. You have to wonder, though, if it had something to do with his losing both of those starts despite only allowing 3 earned runs in 13-2/3 IP. I think there's a lot of pressure on Mets pitchers right now, as they must into a game feeling that allowing even a reasonable amount of runs will probably cost them an "L". Still, when Pelfrey doesn't pitch aggressively he accomplishes nothing. What's worse, there seemed to be some mechanical component to his struggles yesterday.
There's nothing new to say about the offense. Carlos Delgado is oh-for the first three games of the Atlanta series, and has dipped below .220 again. Luis Castillo is contributing nothing offensively or defensively, and is rapidly morphing into the version of Kaz Matsui we saw in his last two seasons here. Where you have you gone, Jose Valentin?
Be sure to check out Dave Mills' terrific post from earlier today if you missed it.
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Comments (6)
Outside of Heilman, the pitching staff gets a pass. For the most part they have kept the Mets in 90% of the games. It is the offense, and in-game tactics that have them spiraling and it does not seem to want to stop. Losing the first three to your most hated division rivals and the way the have lost them? Outscored 23-7? I am trying to keep my optimism, even in the back of my mind I still say it's early, but at some point something needs to give. If every game was tight in this series I could stomach losses, they happen. Last night after the Bravos went up 6-1, I just turned off the T.V., plus the Braves announcers were wearing me thin with the Bj's they give every Braves player for everything they do. It's sad, that I could think back to watching old Met teams with Willie Montanez, Craig Swan, Ron Hodges, Doug Flynn, etc, and "I would never leave the screen unless a commercial came on". Some of those teams lost 100 games. 2008's team has me turning off game in the 5th, and watching old movies on HBO & Cinemax, or talking to my wife ( now the latter is a no no during baseball season). Hmmmmmmmmmm. Mike Pizza retired yesterday.
Posted by L.J.Phipps | May 22, 2008 3:42 PM
I think your being to hard on Castillo. He hit .300 last year and is currently hitting .262 after a slow start due to recovery from surgery. Marlon Anderson is 0 for his last 12, is 0-8 in the 2 hole and hitting .194.
In the meantime, Willie has the prototypical 2 hole hitter in Castillo, but bats him 8th. If I were Castillo I might be POed and starting to lose my concentration too.
Posted by Since68 | May 22, 2008 4:35 PM
mike, just watched another pathetic effort by the less than amazins..re: your comments about castillo.he makes kaz matsui look like an all star.re: santana..i loved the trade when we made it.maybe this is crazy, but with another 6 1/3 inning, 10 hit outing, he's starting to remind me of tommy glavine.for 137 million dollars, i expected a dominating, lights out pitcher.half of his starts this year have been very average.when does the great, cy young winner pitcher show up??does that pitcher still exist? if they get swept in colorado and willie's still managing, it's gonna be real nasty at shea next week.
Posted by gary s/ | May 22, 2008 10:17 PM
LJ - I flipped around between American Idol's final (where I could watch TWO Davids instead of just one), the Chelsea-Man U soccer match (because soccer is much less boring than watching the Mets lose), and one of the Terminator movies (because at least there the good guys had a chance at winning).
All those channels, and still no good Mets baseball on.
Clock's ticking, Willie...
Posted by NostraDennis | May 22, 2008 10:24 PM
Alou leads the team in MRI's....Where is Wally Backman? H e would shake things up a bit! Gary Carter wants to manage but I like another catcher, John Stearns is in the wings, who I think is perfect for this team right now.
Posted by REV AL | May 23, 2008 11:17 AM
I wasn't trying to be hard on Castillo, actually. The comparison with Matsui -- who I always thought was treated unfairly in NYC -- is that Castillo struggles are making him a target for the fans' anger. For what it's worth, I think he was once a pretty good player who is still decent when his knees allow him to be, but nowhere near worth the contract he was given.
Posted by Mike Steffanos | May 23, 2008 5:31 PM