8/23 - What Wright Said...

Posted on 23 Aug 2008 by Danielle

(On Carlos Delgado)

"There is a different dynamic to our lineup when (Delgado) is hot," Wright was saying Friday night before Johan Santana shut out the Astros. "By that I mean there's a different dynamic when he's Carlos Delgado. And a lot of that just has to do with confidence. When I watch him now, I see him up there with the confidence I used to see when I played against him in '05, and the way he was when I thought he carried us offensively in '06. It's not just that the guys in front of him get better pitches to hit and the guys behind him get better pitches to hit. When he's hot, pitchers always know where he is in the lineup."

(On his game-to-game attitude)

"I just love to win," he says. "You can have the stats and all the rest of it. I just want to win."

(On the Mets' consistency issues)


Then he says: "I still think we have a long way to go as far as consistency. But we've become more consistent, and that's why we're the team we are right now and why we are where we are. There's this feeling now on our team that if one guy struggles, another is going to pick him up, and that's the feeling we want to carry all the way through."

And David Wright says: "We learned a valuable lesson last year. A lot of them. But the most important is that we have to take care of our own business on a daily basis. We're not going to rely on other teams to ever do our job, especially down the stretch. We are going to focus on the task at hand, win every game we can. We don't want to need anybody's help this season. We want to make our own."

Credit: Daily News

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Backe keeps Mets silent, Maine loses his form as Mets lose 8-3.

Posted on 23 Aug 2008 by Danielle

The Mets lost for just the second time in 12 games and their NL East lead was cut to 1 1/2 games over Philadelphia. Brian Schneider hit a two-run homer, his fourth in his last six starts, and Ryan Church added a pair of hits and an RBI in his second game back.

Maine struggled again with a mild strain to his right rotator cuff that has already landed him on the disabled list. Mets manager Jerry Manuel jokingly said before the game that a good outing from the right-hander would be 100 pitches - over nine innings.

He threw 105 but didn't make it out of the sixth, allowing a season-high 10 hits and eight runs.

Maine said his problem was throwing the ball down the middle of the plate more than his shoulder, and doesn't plan to miss any starts.

Backe has been awful one game and excellent the next, so it figured that he'd throw well after matching a career high by allowing 11 runs last week against Arizona.

The right-hander didn't permit a base runner until Daniel Murphy drew a two-out walk in the fifth, the first time the Mets put anybody on base after Schneider's home run off Roy Oswalt in the second inning Friday night. Oswalt retired his final 20 batters in a complete-game loss, and Backe set down his first 14.

Maine cruised through the first inning on eight pitches before Berkman doubled leading off the second. Geoff Blum followed with a run-scoring double.

The big blow came in the third, when Backe led off with a single and Darin Erstad walked. Both moved up on Michael Bourn's sacrifice and Tejada followed with an RBI single before Berkman hit a 94 mph fastball over the left-field wall for his 26th home run.

Newhan's drive to right leading off the sixth was his first since May 12, 2007, when he was with the Mets. Four straight singles capped by Berkman's base hit made it 8-1.

Schneider's two-run homer in the eighth was his sixth of the year. It chased Backe, who allowed three runs and five hits in seven-plus innings.

One of the bright spots in tonight's loss was the bullpen, consisting of Duaner Sanchez, Joe Smith, and Brian Stokes. Combined, they allowed zero runs on two hits (all Sanchez), striking out three, in 3.1 innings of work.

Another bright spot is Ryan Church, who in his second game back off of the disabled list, went 2-4 with a double and a single, as well as an RBI and a run scored.

Brian Schneider hit his fourth home run in his last six games, possibly joining Johan Santana as a better second-half player.

Reyes 1.0 was also 2-4 tonight with a single and his 32nd double of the season.

David Wright went 0-3 tonight, cooling down after a couple of red hot games, however, he did make two excellent defensive plays, one of which was Baseball Tonight's number one Web Gem of August 23rd.

Wright's average dipped down to .293.

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Santana is stellar again, Mets win 3-0.

Posted on 22 Aug 2008 by Danielle

The trend continued, as the Mets got onto the board quickly in the first inning with a single by David Wright to score Jose Reyes. 1-0.

In the third inning, Ryan Church took his first at-bat since returning to the New York Mets after a stint on the DL, hitting an infield single. The next batter was Brian Schneider swung at the first pitch... and drove it deep to right field for his third home run in his last five games to make it 3-0.

Apparently, Brian Schneider thinks that he is Fernando Tatis... and the New York Mets are just fine with that.

From there the Mets were quiet, but Santana was phenomenal, holding the Astros scoreless on eight hits and a walk, striking out five in the process. Johan hurled 121 pitches and 86 were strikes, roughly 71%. His ERA dropped to 2.64, second in the National League.

Aaron Heilman pitched a perfect 8th to earn his 14th hold of the season, while Luis Ayala continues to perform well for his new team, earning his first save of the season.

Notable performances came from Ryan Church, who was 1-3, and Brian Schneider, who was also 1-3.

David Wright, too, went 1-3, with an RBI single in the first inning, his 98th RBI of the season.

His average stayed at .295, continuing to hit for .300.

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On an interesting note...

Posted on 22 Aug 2008 by Danielle

With a solo home run in the fifth inning Thursday, Wright tied Kevin McReynolds for sixth on the Mets' all-time home run list with 122.

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8/22 - What Wright Said...

Posted on 22 Aug 2008 by Danielle

(On scoring the game-winning run)

"Home plate was getting further and further away," he said. "Home plate couldn't come soon enough."

Said Wright: "I didn't think he hit it as hard as he did. He got out on his front foot and kind of flicked it to left. I thought it was going to get down, but realized that it wasn't."

Credit: Newsday

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Wright Watch: David's 25th Home Run of the Season

Posted on 21 Aug 2008 by Danielle

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Mets win it in the ninth, sweep Braves 5-4!

Posted on 21 Aug 2008 by Danielle

Things didn't start off well for Pedro Martinez... but everything ended all-Wright for the New York Mets.

The Braves jumped out to an early lead against with a Yunel Escobar home run.

But the Mets quickly got the run back when Delgado singled in Reyes to make it 1-1.

In the third, after a double by David Wright, Delgado singled him home to make it 2-1.

Wright's solo shot in the fifth tacked on another run, extending the Mets' lead to 3-1.

However, in the top of the sixth, Pedro gave the lead back and then some, with Escobar doubling to left, Larry Jones walking, McCann doubling, and Infante singling. By the time all was said and done, it was 4-3 Braves.

Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Binghamton Boy No. 2 doubled, Beltran walked, Delgado hit an infield single (yes, you read that right), on which Prado made a throwing error, allowing Evans to score.

New Met Luis Ayala came in to relieve Feliciano in the top of the ninth, getting three outs on four hitters.

So it came down to the bottom of the ninth, with the Mets looking for their seventh walk-off victory...

And they got it.

With one out, David Wright doubled to right, Nunez intentionally walked Beltran, and Delgado singled, scoring Wright to win the game!

There were two stand-out performances tonight.

The first was Carlos "Esta en fuego" Delgado, who went 5-5 for the first time in ten years, with three RBI's on four singles and his 26th double of the season.

The second was... who else?

David Wright went 3-4 tonight scoring three times and knocking in one RBI with his 35th and 36th doubles of the season, along with home run number 25.

Interestingly enough, home run number 25 came off of Mike Hampton, the man whose departure allowed the Mets to procure their future superstar third baseman.

How are those school systems now, Mike?

Wright's average ROCKETED to .295 after tonight's game!

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8/21 - What Wright Said...

Posted on 21 Aug 2008 by Danielle

(On the Binghamton Boys, Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans)

"These guys have done a phenomenal job," Wright said. "Unfortunately, young guys have to learn at this level and that's what they're doing right now. It's not easy."

Credit: AM New York

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A special thanks to today's pitcher, Mike Hampton...

Posted on 21 Aug 2008 by Danielle

Because if you hadn't left New York for that mighty fine Colorado school system, the New York Mets would never have acquired David Wright as a supplemental draft pick in wake of your departure.

And my site would not have been possible... well for this Mets fan, anyway.

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Big Pelf goes the distance, Mets win 6-3!

Posted on 20 Aug 2008 by Danielle

Until the very end of spring training, Mike Pelfrey was trying to fend off Claudio Vargas for the fifth start in the rotation.

And even after winning the coveted position, Mets fans everywhere lamented the decision.

Who would have guessed that five months later, the Big Pelf would be the Mets starter with the most wins, pitching a complete game three-hitter on his way there?

Just about... no one.

But tonight, Mike Pelfrey did just that, hurling a complete nine innings of work... and three earned runs on three hits and three walk, striking out... three.

Two of those strikeouts were from Chipper (Larry) Jones, in the first and the ninth.

As has been the pattern lately, the Mets jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning.

Binghamton Boy No. 1, aka Dan Murphy, singled to center, scoring Reyes 2.0 and Carlos "Esta en fuego" Delgado. Tatis's infield single scored Beltran and Murphy scored on Chipper's error.

Even Pelfrey helped out with his own cause, singling to right and scoring Tatis.

By the time the first inning was over, the Mets were up 6-0.

In the third, Gregor Blanco singled in Francoeur to make it 6-1.

But the Mets got the run back in the bottom of the fifth when David Wright homered to left on a 1-1 count.

Pelfrey struggled slightly in the sixth, loading the bases with no one out. On a double play ball (Reyes 2.0 to Reyes 1.0 to... Delgado), Blanco scored, but a wild pitch wound up scoring Escobar, as well.

However, it was smooth sailing from there.

Notable, Daniel Murphy continued to produce, going 2-4 with a run scored and two RBIs.

Fernando Tatis also went 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

David Wright went 1-3 with a home run and a run scored on his 24th home run on the season.

His average remains at .291.

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