Marlins Over Mets 5-4 In Walkoff April 10, 2009

post from The Mets Report on 10 April 2009 11:51:02 PM. © The Mets Report

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThe good news for the Mets tonight is that John Maine looked pretty good. He went five innings giving up two runs, both on solo homers from Hanely Ramirez and Dan Uggla. He threw 83 pitches and 54 strikes. That’s a nice game for Maine who struggled at times during [...]

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POSTGAME: Marlins 5, Mets 4

post from Dom D's Mets Fan Blog on 10 April 2009 11:40:14 PM. © Dom D's Mets Fan Blog

The Florida Marlins (4-0) are off to their best start in franchise history after beating the Mets (2-2) Friday night with a walk-off hit by Jorge Cantu. John Maine (0-0, 3.60) pitched five strong innings in the no-decision, allowing just two runs on two solo home runs.

Mets Pitching
John Maine: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 HR, 1 BB, 5 K
Sean Green: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Bobby Parnell: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER
J.J. Putz: 1.0 IP, 1 H
Pedro Feliciano (L, 0-1): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 K
Darren O'Day: 0.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB

Marlins Pitching
Anibal Sanchez: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Dan Meyer (H, 1): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB
Kiko Calero: (H, 2): 0.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB
Renyel Pinto: 0.0 IP, 1 BB
Leo Nunez: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Matt Lindstrom (W, 1-0): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER

Notables
Daniel Murphy: 3 for 5, R
Carlos Beltran: 3 for 5, 2 R, 2 RBI
Ryan Church: 3 for 4, BB

The Good:

Daniel Murphy looks solid at the plate yet again. He is turning into the perfect number two hitter behind Reyes.
Ryan Church continues to rake, as he collected three more hits and struck the ball well all four times tonight.
John Maine was very strong in his first outing of the season. In fact, I'd say he looked the strongest of all Mets pitchers so far, giving up just two hits in five innings. Unfortunately, those two hits were solo home runs.

The Bad:

Jerry Manuel's decision to pull Maine after just 83 pitches in five innings of solid work. This is the second poor managerial move in as many nights for Jerry, and I'd go as far to say he cost the Mets the game tonight. Maine looked too good to pull after just five innings, especially with two outs and only down by one. Have faith in your offense to score a run in the next innings, Jerry. Maine should not have left the game so soon.

The Ugly:

Nothing really "ugly" about this game. Just solid baseball on both sides, and give credit to Florida for getting the job done. I am not disappointed at all in how any of the Mets played tonight. This was just one of those games where we were slightly outplayed. Two of three is still a possibility, though.

Mets Players of the Game: John Maine (1), Carlos Beltran (1)

It always stinks losing to a division foe, but Florida gets off to a hot start every single season. Don't worry though, because they simply don't have the starting pitching to last all year long. Good game by the Mets today, just a poor decision by Jerry Manuel to go to his bullpen so soon. The Mets' bullpen saw a lot of action in Cincinnati, and should have been given a little bit of a break tonight.

Something tells me that Manuel's inability to manage a bullpen is going to burn these guys out this year, which is hard to believe given the talent that is out there. Let's not get too confident in our bullpen, now. We have some good starting pitchers who can go 115-120 pitches deep into games as well, so why cut them off so soon?

As you may or may not know, I am a huge critic of the whole "pitch count" thing, so I was obviously angry tonight after Maine was pinch hit for. I understand you wanted to tie the game, Jerry, but why pull a guy who has retired the last seven Marlins hitters he has faced? Regardless of his pitch count (which was only at 83), he was getting them out. End of story. Just a horrible, horrible decision that I really think cost the Mets the game tonight.

Oh well, enough criticizing for tonight. Let's just hope the Mets can rebound tomorrow with a good outing from Livan Hernandez. Perhaps the bullpen will get the night off, for a change.

And by the way, coverage of tomorrow night's game doesn't start until 7:00 PM, but the game starts at 6:10 PM. In other words, MLB Gameday is pretty much going to be the only way of following the game for the first hour. Thanks, Marlins.

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Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 4/10

post from Talking Chop on 10 April 2009 11:34:00 PM. © Talking Chop

Gwinnett 3, Charlotte 5 - F/7

D. Hernandez 2-4 2 2B, 2 RBI, CS, E
G. Blanco 1-4 K
JoJo 6IP 7H 5R 1BB 2K

Rain shortened this game a little. Blanco has Ked 5 times in two games so far and JoJo pitched O.K. I know he gave up 5 runs but he went 1-2-3 in every inning but the 4th and 6th and he gave up all his runs in those innings. We will call it a fluke this time.

Carolina 3, Mississippi 0 (In Progress)

This game has been in the 4th inning for two hours so either gameday is stuck or it is raining. If anything happens before I go to bed I'll edit the post. Right now Gorkys has the only hit for Miss. and Eric Campbell has his second error of the season.

Wilmington 1, Myrtle Beach 3

J. Heyward 0-4 2K
F. Freeman 2-3 2B. RBI
C. Johnson 1-3 HR(2), 2 RBI, K
J. Locke 5IP 3H 0R 1BB 6K WP

Cody Johnson hates baseballs. And I hope he hates them all year. I know I have been one of his biggest detractors but seriosuly, he has tons of ability and if puts it together he could be almost as good as Heyward. Think of Heyward-Freeman-Johnson as our 3-4-5 guys. SICK. Anyways, Jeff Locke is the Braves pitcher this year that has the best chance to really jump on the national radar and tonight's game was as good as any game he pitched last year.

Rome 2, Charleston 4

G. Rodriguez 2-4 RBI, 2K
Jacob Thompson 4.1 3H 1R 1BB 3K

Gerrardo Rodriguez hit a lot of homers las season in the Appy league and he could do the same thing for Rome this year. He is an old 21 (He'll turn 22 right after the season ends this year so he might be a big old for the league, but if he batters the competition then he might get a promotion if the same happens to Freeman. Jacob Thompson was considered a steal for the Braves last year in the 5th Rd and he might move fast. Keep an eye or two on him.

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Astros lose in frustrating fashion to the
Cardinals; was Hampton getting squeezed

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 10 April 2009 11:16:00 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

The agony of defeat. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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**UPDATE** Because just about everyone who was rooting for the Astros has remarked that Hampton was getting squeezed, I went through and took some screen shots from Game Day to see if that was a fair criticism to make. Photos after the jump.

*****************

It was a frustrating game from the get go. Hampton seemed to be getting squeezed and stretched out his pitch count by alternating between loooooong innings and ridiculously short innings.

Our inability to blank the Cards in the frame following one of our runs was just simply maddening.

9th inning heroics seemed to be in the works, but alas, they were all for naught.

On the plus side, Pujols was pretty much neutralized (except for Hampton lobbing the ball to first)? If only Ludwick and Schumaker could have been as well. Oh, and Carlos Lee had a good game too.

via www.fangraphs.com

See you tomorrow afternoon for round two.

Box Score and commentary from the Red Birds here.

So this won't be proof positive of anything because I didn't compare anything to Pinero and we don't know if this is an abnormal result, but there are a few pretty clear examples of Hampton getting hosed by home plate ump Ed Hickox (plus a few pitches that could have gone either way, I think).

Pitches four and eight are close.

Picture_106_medium

But pitch 2 here is just absurd.

Picture_108_medium

Wait, how is pitch 5 not a strike?

The view is about to change because as I took the screen shots, my mouse kept moving it and then I just started messing around with the view.

2 and 3 please.

Picture_111_medium

He was painting the corners, for sure, but at least one of these please.

Like I said, not the most scientific, or proof definitive because I didn't go through every at bat, but some examples of a goofy zone, I think.

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Astros lose in frustrating fashion the Cardinals

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 10 April 2009 11:16:00 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

The agony of defeat. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Browse more photos »

It was a frustrating game from the get go. Hampton seemed to be getting squeezed and stretched out his pitch count by alternating between loooooong innings and ridiculously short innings.

Our inability to blank the Cards in the frame following one of our runs was just simply maddening.

9th inning heroics seemed to be in the works, but alas, they were all for naught.

On the plus side, Pujols was pretty much neutralized (except for Hampton lobbing the ball to first)? If only Ludwick and Schumaker could have been as well. Oh, and Carlos Lee had a good game too.

via www.fangraphs.com

See you tomorrow afternoon for round two.

Box Score and commentary from the Red Birds here.

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Frick on the Rain, Tribe Falls to 0-4

post from The Tribe Daily on 10 April 2009 10:40:00 PM. © The Tribe Daily

Kind of gloomy.

What a ridiculous rain delay that was.

It also killed the Friday Night Lights episode tonight. It's okay, I wasn't that interested in watching Tim Riggins smack anyone around tonight, I just wanted some baseball.

Didn't want lousy losing baseball though.

I guess the bright spot is this offense, which just keeps smacking the ball around the park.

How about Pronk? I mean really?

He's being quite the stud right now.

The double could have very well been a home run and the home run very well could have been a super home run.

This game is over by the by. It's the 8th inning as I type this, but the Indians defense and bullpen has just blown it. Freaking stick.

Give it up for the offense though, coming back like the did.

Choo hitting the monster solo-blast and Vic getting the deep ball was huge. Then to get basically the bases loaded off walks and to score a run off a HBP.. I mean wow.

Ryan Garko had a good night, going 1-1 with three walks (after 8, he wll get another AB after I submit this post). Loving how he's going right now, too bad he's going to sit tomorrow.

But fear not for the bullpen/defense, because it was both, completely threw this game away.

Scott Lewis got off to a terrific start, he lasted three innings and looked to be on track to guiding the Indians in the right direction. That was until whatever the hell happened in the fourth inning. Adam Lind continued his torrid pace with a home run to make it 3-2 and then Kevin Millar tied things up with a single.

Lewis began to unravel in the 5th totally when friggin Marco Scutaro takes him deep. He'd record one out, the rain would come and that would be the time when the game got delayed.

Officially, Lewis went 4.1 innings , gave up four runs off 7 hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

The pen is just starting to piss me off.

Rafael Betancourt gives up a run, then Joe Smith comes in and gets Rios to bounce the ball up the middle, but the bogus crud goes right past Peralta.

Then Rafael Perez completely unravels as does the defense and I'm rally irritated with that kind of crap.

I mean things will get better, but I hate seeing this pitching staff struggle like this, and people take shots at them and Shapiro for saying it sucks, because it doesn't. That pen is chock full of talent and they are too good to struggle like this for a long time.

Well whatever...

Everyone but Anthony Reyes, who hasn't pitched, has given up a run in these four games. That is quite pathetic and quite maddening.

Tomorrow is a new day. Cliff Lee will try and erase the opening day woes with the first win, but he's got a tough task. A battle of AL Cy Young Award winners, Lee will take on Roy Halladay with the first pitch scheduled for 1:05.

Rafael Betancourt Cap Counter: 65

I've worked it out that he pretty much does it 3 times between each pitch, so I'm guesstimating and adding on for any extra touches I notice or odd situations.

[BOXSCORE]

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alls-to-0-4.html

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Ace of clubbed

post from Philliesflow.com on 10 April 2009 10:19:28 PM. © Philliesflow.com

The Phillies starting pitchers haven’t set the bar real high so far this year, but Cole Hamels’ 2009 debut was enough to get you nostalgic for Myers’ opening day effort. Or pretty much anyone else’s effort on any other day for that matter. Myers, Moyer and Blanton combined to allow 15 earned runs [...]

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GGave One Away - Cubs 3 Brewers 4

Game Four - Cubs 3 Brewers 4
WP - Carlos Villanueva (1-0) LP - Kevin Gregg (0-1, BS 1) Save - None

The bottom line is relievers must throw strikes when they enter a game...and on Friday the Cubs pitchers did not, especially Kevin Gregg. On the afternoon the Cubs issued seven walks, five from the bullpen and Neal Cotts hit the only batter he faced.

Rich Harden quieted a lot of critics and concerns, at least for one day, on Friday with a dominating 10-strikeout performance. Harden was in line for the win and allowed only one earned run in six innings.

With the second largest crowd in Miller Park history on hand, the Brewers were given the first win of the season series. Ryan Theriot had one of his roughest days in the field as a Cub. Theriot's error in the first led to the Brewers' first run...then his indecision and poor decision in the ninth allowed Rickie Weeks to score the winning run.

Lou Piniella used six relievers on Friday afternoon and each one had trouble throwing strikes but they were able to pitch their way out of trouble without allowing any damage...until the ninth inning.

Lou Piniella inserted Kevin Gregg into the game with two outs in the eighth with the tying run on second base. Gregg struck out Bill Hall to end the inning and retired Jason Kendall on a ground out to third to start the ninth.

Gregg then walked pinch-hitter Chris Duffy on a 3-2 pitch that bounced well before home plate...Lou Piniella was visibly upset at the pitch selection. Rickie Weeks then hit a line drive over Alfonso Soriano's head in left, the ball hit off the wall and Duffy tied the game. The double by Weeks was the Brewers' fourth hit of the game and the first since the fourth inning.

With the winning run on second, Kevin Gregg uncorked another pitch in the dirt with Corey Hart at the plate that allowed Weeks to advance to third. Gregg eventually walked Hart, his second free pass of the inning. Ryan Braun followed with the game winner.

Braun hit a sharp grounder toward the hole at short. It appeared Gregg got the groundball he needed but after a short pause, Theriot decided to make an off balance throw to the plate. Koyie Hill held his ground but Weeks scored the winning run...and slammed his helmet to setoff the celebration at home plate.

The Cubs offense managed nine hits off Brewers' pitching but all of the runs came via the longball. Milton Bradley recorded his first hit as a Cub, a solo home run off Braden Looper in the fourth inning. Koyie Hill hit his first home run of the year, a 2-run shot in the sixth off Seth McClung that gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead.

The Cubs beat themselves on Friday afternoon...and wasted a gem by Rich Harden.

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Trading Scott Kazmir

More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP 2 days ago: Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Scott Kazmir delivers to the[...]

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