Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Padres 8, Mets 3
Surely you've seen The Catch by now. If you have spent the last twenty-four hours away from your television and computer, go here now to witness the awesomeness. I don't know if it's the best catch I've ever seen, but it certainly makes me sit quietly and think about that for a minute or two. While David Wright's offense has been unimpeachable--the twenty-two year old is twentieth in the league in OBP and twenty-third in slugging, second and fourth among NL third basemen--his defense has been an issue. While defense is extremely difficult to quantify and the standard measures are grossly inadequate, eighteen errors are nothing to sneeze at, even if Scott Rolen did have twenty-four in his first full major league season. But anyone who's watched Wright knows that his mistakes have been as much mental as physical, with tentativeness topping the list of troubles. Jaw-dropping plays like the one last night and the dive into the Safeco Field stands earlier in the season show Wright's athleticism and his fearlessness. And there's certainly no reason to doubt his work ethic. This is, after all, the guy who hit better on the road in the low minors because he was tiring himself out by taking too much batting practice when at home. Just as that problem was corrected with a little bit of good coaching, I have little doubt that all of the factors that have combined to make Wright a great hitter will come together to make him a good, if not great, defensive player.
As for the rest of the game, well, Pedro Martinez wasn't good. He lasted just five innings for the first time all season and allowed five runs on nine hits including two balls that landed beyond the distant fences of Petco Park. He did not walk a batter and he struck out four but his ERA is now precisely 3.00, the highest it's been since the end of May.
The Mets' offense wasn't much better, collecting just nine hits, eight of which were singles, and one walk. Cliff Floyd's double was the only extra base hit and he and Mike Cameron had two hits each. Kazuo Matsui made his return to the lineup in a pinch hitting role and he singled and scored, driven in by the man who took his job, Miguel Cairo. It's certainly not reasonable to expect that Matsui will bounce back with a strong final two months, and perhaps it's not even true that he deserves a chance to start again, but I'm certainly rooting for both. Matsui may have been awful so prior to going on the DL, but his getting hot would be a lot more useful than the status quo from Cairo.
As tonight's game starts, the Mets will remain a mere three games out of the Wild Card. Kris Benson (7-4, 3.72) will get the start to try to prevent them from squandering another glimmer of hope. Brian Lawrence (6-11, 4.43) goes for the Padres. ¶ joe | 9:59 PM |
Surely you've seen The Catch by now. If you have spent the last twenty-four hours away from your television and computer, go here now to witness the awesomeness. I don't know if it's the best catch I've ever seen, but it certainly makes me sit quietly and think about that for a minute or two. While David Wright's offense has been unimpeachable--the twenty-two year old is twentieth in the league in OBP and twenty-third in slugging, second and fourth among NL third basemen--his defense has been an issue. While defense is extremely difficult to quantify and the standard measures are grossly inadequate, eighteen errors are nothing to sneeze at, even if Scott Rolen did have twenty-four in his first full major league season. But anyone who's watched Wright knows that his mistakes have been as much mental as physical, with tentativeness topping the list of troubles. Jaw-dropping plays like the one last night and the dive into the Safeco Field stands earlier in the season show Wright's athleticism and his fearlessness. And there's certainly no reason to doubt his work ethic. This is, after all, the guy who hit better on the road in the low minors because he was tiring himself out by taking too much batting practice when at home. Just as that problem was corrected with a little bit of good coaching, I have little doubt that all of the factors that have combined to make Wright a great hitter will come together to make him a good, if not great, defensive player.
As for the rest of the game, well, Pedro Martinez wasn't good. He lasted just five innings for the first time all season and allowed five runs on nine hits including two balls that landed beyond the distant fences of Petco Park. He did not walk a batter and he struck out four but his ERA is now precisely 3.00, the highest it's been since the end of May.
The Mets' offense wasn't much better, collecting just nine hits, eight of which were singles, and one walk. Cliff Floyd's double was the only extra base hit and he and Mike Cameron had two hits each. Kazuo Matsui made his return to the lineup in a pinch hitting role and he singled and scored, driven in by the man who took his job, Miguel Cairo. It's certainly not reasonable to expect that Matsui will bounce back with a strong final two months, and perhaps it's not even true that he deserves a chance to start again, but I'm certainly rooting for both. Matsui may have been awful so prior to going on the DL, but his getting hot would be a lot more useful than the status quo from Cairo.
As tonight's game starts, the Mets will remain a mere three games out of the Wild Card. Kris Benson (7-4, 3.72) will get the start to try to prevent them from squandering another glimmer of hope. Brian Lawrence (6-11, 4.43) goes for the Padres. ¶ joe | 9:59 PM |
