We may be standing on the unanticipated and unwanted resumption of the Ricky Ledee era. At least I assume that's who'll get the call from New Orleans, though the way things are going with anyone unwise enough to set foot in our outfield, perhaps it'll be Ron Swoboda. Or me. They're saying that what struck down Endy Chavez was a hamstring strain, but that sure didn't look like any hamstring strain I've ever seen. That looked like a six- to eight-week gunshot.
I don't think I agree with Gary Cohen that this had the feeling of a pivotal point in the season. Yes, the Phillies have shown a much better bullpen, and Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino played their guts out tonight. (Memo to all baserunners: Do not fuck with Shane Victorino.) But the Phillies still made plenty of mistakes, enough to doom them on a night the Met offense was firing on its normal number of cylinders. And, well, they're the Phillies. Jimmy Rollins' talent and fire have never been in question — even when the Phils were getting shoved around Shea in April, he acquitted himself perfectly well. But I doubt it'll be enough. I doubt they'll be able to get out of their own way when it matters — not with that bullpen, that manager and that peculiar lethargy that seems to creep into their clubhouse no matter how hard the likes of Aaron Rowand and Rollins and Victorino play.
Meanwhile, we're a very good baseball team scuffling through injuries and a cold offensive stretch, and what we're doing or not doing in early June most likely will have nothing to do with whatever happens in September or later months, should we be allowed to partake of extra baseball. I don't think tonight's game — a heartstopping, marvelous and ultimately horrifying game — was any kind of referendum on 2007. But it did bring something into focus for me, and that's the difference between 2007 and 2006.
In 2006, Heilman giving up a three-run laser to Rollins would have just upped the drama. In 2006, with the equivalents of Ruben Gotay and David Newhan (Xavier Nady and Michael Tucker?) on base and Endy up, you knew there'd be a clean single up the middle, a play at the plate that just went the Mets' way, then maybe a shredding of the hapless Phillies bullpen on the way to talk about resilience and picking each other up. You just knew it, to the point that sometimes you even shook your head at the blissful cheesiness of the script, of walkoff after walkoff and comeback win after comeback win, so that if the scoreboard showed you were within two in late innings, you almost felt sorry for the other guys.
That happened so often early in 2006 that you fell head over heels in love with the Mets — if you had any liking for baseball or human achievement or drama, how couldn't you? And the Mets fell head over heels in love with themselves, and before any of us could catch our breath the momentum was unstoppable and we were pennant-bound. The 2007 model Mets have a decent-sized lead of their own and statistical superiority over all comers, and they're perfectly capable of running off 5-of-7 streak that will make us all relax — heck, they did just lose a third-straight game for the first time all year. But the feeling isn't the same, because the ridiculous, giddy drama isn't there. This year, that bouncer up the middle might be hit hard enough to be a double play. Last year, you knew Endy would just beat it out anyway. This year, he needs to be helped off the field.
We won't remember it for long, but until then this was a pretty neat game, what with El Duque doing his usual chemistry experiment on the mound (Ugh! Smoke! Things breaking! Hang on … fiddle fiddle … Got it!) and Carlos Beltran pulling a reverse Dave Augustine. And I thoroughly enjoyed pulling an A-Rod on the Useless Liability Formerly Known as Pat Burrell, razzing him foully and smugly during his at-bat as the one guy I'd want to see up in that spot. Unfortunately he was only the second out, and he was followed by Rollins. Then came the change-up from Heilman that was supposed to go outside and stayed in, and the rally that wasn't, and the images of Paul Lo Duca sitting morosely in the dirt behind home and Endy downed in the grass beyond first.
It's 2007, the scripts have been torn up, and we'll have to find our own way.
very well said. Except, as I said before the season “Why do I have the feeling this will be like 1987 all over again?
Yea, I wanted to somehow contact the SNY booth and let them know how much I disagreed with that assessment. Usually they are spot on but the Phillies are the most inconsistent team in baseball. They always play us tight and always will. Beyond that though, they have never proven that they can stay in the race for 162 games. They may be in the race through September, but I cant imagine anyone looking back at this game as some turning point in their season.
Especially since we have been beating ourselves these past few games. Sure, credit the Phillies for some timely defense and taking advantage of the slumping Mets, but the Mets on the field tonight did not represent the 2007 Mets. They'll get back on track and when they do, it will be like 2006 all over again ('cept the NLCS)
But props to El Duque!
This is like 1987… if the Mets had lost game 6 in '86.
I'm a bit surprised Jason is siding with “Faith” here. Me? I'm going to represent “Fear” for the time being. Tonight's loss, and the almost divine way in which it unfolded, felt like a harbinger.
There's a bad moon rising.
As for the other poster who said that tonight and recent weeks don't “represent” the 2007 Mets… are we sure that the 2007 Mets aren't being fairly represented right now? Who's to say what we'll get from Alou/Green/Valentin (and now Endy) if/when they come back? Who's to say that our superstars are going to perform like, well, superstars at any or even one point this season. Who's to say the stellar starting pitching performances the Mets have been wasting won't go away once the offense gets in gear?
There's a lot of baseball left to be played, and that's either a very good thing or a very bad thing. And stranger things have happened than a team as seriously flawed as the Phillies overtaking a superior-yet-snakebitten team like the Mets.
This is how I see it (And I'd lose my status of Optimistic Mets Fan if I saw it any other way wouldn't I?)
We lost three in a row…but we didn't really lose any ground. The pressure is not on us, it's on the Braves, and the Phillies. If the Mets fight out this evil stretch of June still in first place, I can't see them faltering. And they finish the season with 13 against Washington and Florida.
Eek! It's a three-game losing streak! We're human!
It's too early for symbolic losses or even symbolic wins. This wasn't a good result and the details were distressing, but it would be Aguayo-bad if this were September. It's only June. Not to dismiss the Phillies by any stretch, but they have a long way to go before they're at an identifiable turning point. If they sweep, they're five back. That's still five back. 1987? I can remember the Mets sweeping series here and there that were going to get us off the ground then and we never launched. Seasons are long, friends. Long.
Re: Infallible 2006 — the loudest the booth ever heard it last year was that Wednesday night game against the Reds when Jose cycled. Remember what happened next? Wagner blew it. This spit happens. It wasn't a turning point, just a bump in the road. Ditto for that horror show in the Subway Series, also Wagner. Long season. Long.
What pissed me off endlessly, at least until Endy got hurt, was effing Carlos Delgado's disgraceful inability to run the bases properly. He did that “lemme watch” thing when he doubled after Beltran's homer. It was immaterial because it was a ground-rule job, but does he have no short-term memory? He stood and watched in Miami a couple of weeks ago and got thrown out at second. Then, not so immaterially, he did not sprint from third to home on that flyout to Victorino. Victorino and Ruiz did what they had to do to get him out but Delgado did not do what he had to do to defeat them. He cost his pitcher, who was working his ass off, a run. To me that was the game every bit as much as Rollins' homer and Chavez's sickening tumble (he was gonna be out had his hamstring cooperated, but at least he'd be healthy).
Valentin is due back tonight, praise be. Green is likely back by Sunday. Alou maybe next week. It's not a good time to be shorthanded or Ledee-laden if that's the case. It's never a good time for any of that. But this is supposed to be the class of the league, more on the stars than the supporting cast. Time for the main men to get busy not stranding one another in scoring position.
There. They have their assignments.
Honest to God I just dont know about this team..17-15 at home..Everybody just sitting around assuming we will win..I just dont know. This team is really not that good. I'm trying not to care..I wish I had no hope or expectations..I just dont know.
I disagree, Greg. I'm of the mind that had Endy not had to pull up half-way down the line, the game is tied.
I want to die.
I don't think the “normal number of cylanders” is knowable for this offense. I think we're in big trouble.
Whither Aaron Heilman?
Come down off that ledge, Laurie. I'm as grumpy as any old man Mets fan, but for all the awful, uninspired baseball we've seen out of them this past week, don't forget :
The Mets are still in first place. By three games instead of five, but still in first place.
No other team in the East has made a real move on them yet, least of all the Atlanta Native Americans.
They still have the best record in the National League.
Their pitchers are still keepin the naysayers' mouths shut with solid, consistent starts. The offense is wasting many of those starts lately, but that will change.
The Other Jose should be back today.
Faith, folks, faith. They weren't as good as they looked when they were undefeated in early April, but they're nowhere near as inept as they've played the past seven days.
I don't like this one little bit…no, sir-ee, Bob…Not one little bit…
Hi Jason,
Don't forget two other things that sealed our doom:
1) Delgado thrown out at home plate on a perfect throw.
2) Franco hitting a grounder down the rightfield line that Howard made a great play, saving a sure double.
Last year maybe Delgado would have scored and the ball would have gone by Howard driving in two and we would have won 5-4. And last year at this time Heilman would not have served up a 1-2 pitch that Rollins could drive over the fence (he waited until September/October to become gopher crazy) so the score could have been 5-1.
You are right – until Philadelphia stops fielding like former Phillie Dick Stuart the Mets don't have to worry about them. And although I don't like the losses, they are coming with Alou and Green on the DL, who are now joined by Endy. Beltran was out almost a week, Wright was sidelined for two days.
It's the injuries that are beating us, not the Phillies or D'Backs. And since we're coming up shorthanded against teams like the Tigers, Dodgers, Minnasota, Oakland and the Yankees it could be a tough stretch with injuries still beating us more than the opponents on the field.
And Chipper Jones will be out a few weeks for Atlanta – our real challenge for league supremecy. So, at the end of the month Jones returns to the Atlanta lineup, Alou and Green (and Endy not too far after that) for the Mets, and hopefully all will be even once more.
It's not just the injuries that are beating us. Plenty of 100% healthy guys are stinking it up. The bullpen other than Billy is inconsistent. Nobody's hitting, and who knows who will? These guys need a lightning bolt, some kind of wakeup call.
Aren't you supposed to fire your trainer when this many guys get hurt? That's what the team that invented baseball does.
Did the boys in the booth discuss why El Duque was pulled? I didn't note his pitch count after the sixth because none of us even considered he might be close to being removed. Or was he pinchhit for? I forget.
99 pitches by the 7th…
King – El Duque got pulled after 6 complete for Heilman, with his pitch count at 99.
I'm guessing his pitch limit can't exceed his actual age.
Duque told Randolph that he had it after six.
While Chavez and Gomez are great fielders, we've learned they cannot replace the bats of Alou and Green on an everyday basis Nor can Easly and Gotay do same for Jose Valentin. That's one-third of our lineup which is out and it affects LoDuca through the ninth spot. That's too many key hitters out at the same time and unable to pick up for Beltran, Wright or Delgado.
The bullpen of late has been poor, with Mota letting two games get out of hand, Heilman already losing three and Schoenweis and Sele both having ERA's over 5.00; however, Feliciano and Smith have been anything but inconsistent so we still have three solid guys in the pen.
“Faith and Perspective in Flushing.”
It lacks alliterative appeal, but otherwise I like it a great deal.
The peanut gallery around here, however, really needs to calm down.
Dennis, every time I close my eyes, I see my Endy writhing in pain and being carried off the field. The rest of it I can easily live with.
That's My Girl!! Always on an even keel, letting those problems roll off her back like so much drunk guy spilled beer. “What, Me Worry” she says as her favorite player comes up lame. Never one to get upset when things turn icky or some suited feller in a nearby section boos Beltran with a hearty “Centerfield You Suck”. Her impassive review of the current situation is always heartening…
The last few losses have not been heartening as we've wasted not a few quality pitching outings and lost tight games we have come to expect to win, unless they're played Turner's Death Camp. Hopefully the short term power outage ends soon as we can't count on the pitchers to continually overacheive while getting no support. We have three starters who, with a little luck and a couple of more runs per outing, would be making plans to spend their All-Star bonus' on something pretty for the missus instead of wondering when their next win will come. Mr. Reyes next to get back to being the evolved Jose Jose Jose of last year and not the 2005 Jose who swings, poorly, at everything. All the other stars need to stop trying for those 3 run homers with no one on and need to be reminded they play in the National League. Or those 1987 comparos will continue…
Joel
Don't start with me, Joel!! You forget who was my favorite player before Endy came along… his (final) exit was not exactly easy to watch either!! I AM TRAUMATIZED!!
(Heh, Tuesday night some moron in front of me kept yelling at every Phillie, really clever taunts like “you suck, 26!”… until he learned who “26” was, and changed it to “Utley, you're ugly!” *sigh*)
(a) Endy is a magic talisman for this team. His injury at such a moment feels deeply ominous.
(b) This team was effectively without Carlos Delgado for eight weeks and did mighty well anyway. But when Shawn Green broke his foot, the team started sputtering and flailing. You think anybody in creation would have said before the fact that Green's bat was more crucial to the 2007 Mets' results than Delgado's? But that's what the evidence shows — and the reason is that this team wins when the *bottom* of the order generates runs, and it loses when it doesn't.
(c) The hell with 100 percent, Moises. Get your lard ass back in the lineup pronto.
I don't know about the “100% healthy” part. Wright has had back spasms, Beltran still has a tender knee and quads.
Anyway, this is all my fault. I blogged on Tuesday about how nice it was that the Mets had stockpiled so many good spare parts like Endy. Watch that space later for a “mea maxima culpa.”
I'm afraid if anyone's responsible for jinxing Endy, it would be moi.