All over the media universe on Monday morning, in newspapers and on radio shows, in blogs and on message boards, some variation of the same theme will be shared with baseball fans of all stripes.
This is what the Mets got Johan Santana for.
I'm writing the same thing tonight, but with a twist. The Mets got Santana to be a stopper, to turn the tide against the most frightening storm of the 2008 season - two straight home losses to the Phillies and a third game on national television. A third loss would've meant squandering the three-game cushion the Mets had built on Philadelphia and no doubt would've caused Mets fans to come together on the verge of the collective nervous breakdown.
Not for seven innings and 110 pitches and leave it to the bullpen with a three-run lead. Santana started the eighth inning, just like an ace is supposed to do. But not for 7 1/3 innings and a man on second with one out, so Pedro Feliciano can match up with Ryan Howard and Brian Stokes can take on Pat Burrell.
The New York Mets signed Johan Santana to get those outs on his own, and then to hand the ball over to whoever's closing the door for the team these days.
Feliciano did his job and Stokes did his, so it's hard to argue with the results. And Santana certainly turned in an admirable performance, even if it wasn't quite as long as it needed to be. The end result is that the Mets have a two-game lead in the National League East, the fan base is letting out a sigh of relief and the 2008 postseason remains a distinct possibility.
Earlier in the day, Pedro Martinez silenced any remaining voices who thought it prudent to offer him a contract for the 2009 season. It still pains me to say it (even though I wrote my "Pedro is done" column a few months ago), but Martinez simply isn't good enough to compete for a starting job on a team with championship aspirations. His upside is an average #5 starter who might give his team six good innings on occasion. When he's not on ... well, you saw the results against the Phillies.
The sad performance - 4 innings, 6 runs, 8 baserunners - will surely convince even the most ardent believers that the old Pedro is gone and he's never coming back. I mean, these are the moments that you are supposed to pay experienced veterans for, right? If you can't retire the #8 hitter with 2 outs in the second, a base open and the pitcher on deck, and if you can't keep Greg Dobbs in the park in the fourth, what are you bringing to the table that, say, Glendon Rusch can't?
Showing posts with label Pedro Feliciano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pedro Feliciano. Show all posts
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Relax, Jerry
Jerry Manuel is managing scared, and in doing so he's only making a bad situation worse.
Look, if there's anything that the first five months of the 2008 season has taught us, it is that the Mets' bullpen isn't very good. Mets fans have gotten spoiled in the last few years, so despite the way they may be feeling about their relievers they really don't remember what it's like to have a truly bad bullpen. But it's safe to say that, as currently constructed, this bullpen is in the lower half of the National League and certainly isn't of a playoff team's caliber.
The bullpen is a weakness, but Manuel isn't helping by showing absolutely no faith in his relievers. He has kicked the mixing and matching into high gear over the last 10 days, even with relievers who are not specialists by nature. It's fine to use pitchers like Scott Schoenweis and Pedro Feliciano as specialists, but at some point you have to show enough faith in your other relievers to get the outs they need to get out of the inning.
It's gotten to the point that every time a reliever comes in, there's another one already in the bullpen warming up. That's no way for a reliever to gain confidence and leads to a natural tendency to press. What's more, it tires out relievers who, even if they don't get into the game, never get a day or two to fully rest their arms.
Today's win was very nice, especially since the bullpen combined to put up four scoreless frames. Even so, with a 6-2 lead in the ninth inning, Manuel had Luis Ayala warming up behind Brian Stokes. All Stokes had done to that point was to allow a leadoff single and then run a 3-1 count on Alfredo Amezaga. It wasn't a great start, but you have to believe that a major league reliever can nevertheless get out of this situation without giving up four runs.
The Mets will begin the month of September with a one-game lead over the Phillies. Help clearly is not on the way, even though it was announced during the game that the Mets were calling up nine more players (including four relievers) when the rosters expand tomorrow. It's hard to imagine Manuel isn't going to look at the new arms as a fresh troop of reinforcements, ready to be plugged right into the situational matchups that call for them. But if Manuel continues to over-manage, he's going to wear out the Mets' bullpen in the same fashion the former manager did last season.
No one wants to see a repeat of that.
Look, if there's anything that the first five months of the 2008 season has taught us, it is that the Mets' bullpen isn't very good. Mets fans have gotten spoiled in the last few years, so despite the way they may be feeling about their relievers they really don't remember what it's like to have a truly bad bullpen. But it's safe to say that, as currently constructed, this bullpen is in the lower half of the National League and certainly isn't of a playoff team's caliber.
The bullpen is a weakness, but Manuel isn't helping by showing absolutely no faith in his relievers. He has kicked the mixing and matching into high gear over the last 10 days, even with relievers who are not specialists by nature. It's fine to use pitchers like Scott Schoenweis and Pedro Feliciano as specialists, but at some point you have to show enough faith in your other relievers to get the outs they need to get out of the inning.
It's gotten to the point that every time a reliever comes in, there's another one already in the bullpen warming up. That's no way for a reliever to gain confidence and leads to a natural tendency to press. What's more, it tires out relievers who, even if they don't get into the game, never get a day or two to fully rest their arms.
Today's win was very nice, especially since the bullpen combined to put up four scoreless frames. Even so, with a 6-2 lead in the ninth inning, Manuel had Luis Ayala warming up behind Brian Stokes. All Stokes had done to that point was to allow a leadoff single and then run a 3-1 count on Alfredo Amezaga. It wasn't a great start, but you have to believe that a major league reliever can nevertheless get out of this situation without giving up four runs.
The Mets will begin the month of September with a one-game lead over the Phillies. Help clearly is not on the way, even though it was announced during the game that the Mets were calling up nine more players (including four relievers) when the rosters expand tomorrow. It's hard to imagine Manuel isn't going to look at the new arms as a fresh troop of reinforcements, ready to be plugged right into the situational matchups that call for them. But if Manuel continues to over-manage, he's going to wear out the Mets' bullpen in the same fashion the former manager did last season.
No one wants to see a repeat of that.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Blame Pedro For This One
Another terrible loss for the Mets last night, and of course the bullpen will be front and center for criticism in this one. Pedro Feliciano in particular has been downright awful this season, after several solid years as an important bullpen contributor for the Mets. Jerry Manuel is simply going to have to stop using Feliciano in important situations for the rest of the season. Of course, Manuel also has to temper his matchup-happy ways; I know Omar Minaya inexplicably decided to pack the bullpen with specialists this year, but there are still a few relievers in the bullpen who can reasonably be asked to get lefties and righties out.
Let's not forget, however, that the bullpen gave up three runs in seven-plus innings of work last night. That's not the stuff of world-beaters, but it's not bad either. Aaron Heilman was heroic in extra innings, and Brian Stokes has been shockingly competent when you consider his professional body of work. The Mets had a 7-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but Pedro Martinez was the pitcher most responsible for making it a competitive game again.
Pedro's August resurgence came to an abrupt end last night in a four-run fifth inning that got the Phillies back within shouting distance. Martinez is the nominal #4 starter in this rotation only because of John Maine's injury, and as I wrote for Flushing University this week his starts need to be minimized down the stretch. Any thoughts of re-signing Pedro for next season, even at a "discount" price, should be ignored unless there are four competent starters in front of him in the rotation.
Let's not forget, however, that the bullpen gave up three runs in seven-plus innings of work last night. That's not the stuff of world-beaters, but it's not bad either. Aaron Heilman was heroic in extra innings, and Brian Stokes has been shockingly competent when you consider his professional body of work. The Mets had a 7-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but Pedro Martinez was the pitcher most responsible for making it a competitive game again.
Pedro's August resurgence came to an abrupt end last night in a four-run fifth inning that got the Phillies back within shouting distance. Martinez is the nominal #4 starter in this rotation only because of John Maine's injury, and as I wrote for Flushing University this week his starts need to be minimized down the stretch. Any thoughts of re-signing Pedro for next season, even at a "discount" price, should be ignored unless there are four competent starters in front of him in the rotation.
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