Phillies Find Value in Met Castoffs

Wilson Valdez, Brian Schneider and Nelson Figueroa all contributed to the Phillies’ fourth straight division title in 2010. The Phillies were reportedly interested in John Maine before he signed with the Rockies Thursday. Do the Phillies have a specific interest in players dropped by the Mets?

Nobody cared much at the time when the Mets cut ties with Valdez, Schneider and Figueroa after the 2009 season. Who knew if these players would even make an MLB roster in 2010. Yet all three ended up contributing to the Phillies’ fourth straight division title.

Valdez, filling in for the injured Jimmy Rollins, started 50 games at shortstop. Schneider took over the backup catcher role, starting 38 games behind Carlos Ruiz. Both Valdez and Schneider did well enough that the Phillies are bringing them back this season.

After putting up a 4.09 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 70 innings in 2009 for the Mets, Figueroa improved to a 3.46 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 26 innings with the Phillies before they released him and he was picked up by the Astros.

It’s not as if any of these fringe players have had a turnaround along the lines of an R.A. Dickey. (Though Figueroa, who had a 3.22 ERA in ten starts after joining Houston, would likely be in the competition for a back-of-the-rotation spot were he back with the Mets.) And it’s not as if these players put the Phillies over the top in the division race.

But even though the rivalry between the Mets and Phillies has been very one-sided recently, some Phillies players and fans continue to obsess over the Mets. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Philies get extra pleasure in showing the Mets that players like Valdez and Schneider can be valuable parts of a playoff team.

After the 2009 season, the Mets signed a Phillies castoff, Chris Coste. One would think that this fringe player would be happy for someone to give him a chance. But Coste was so caught up in the Mets-Phillies rivalry that he may have jeopardized his chances to make the Mets the following spring. Here are excerpts from an interview with Comacast SportsNet Philly after he signed with the Mets:

“It was the Mets,” Coste told CSN. “It’s the last team I ever saw myself playing for. I knew I was going to accept it, but had to think about it for a few days.”

“I will always be a Phillie,” Coste told CSN this evening.

If Albert Pujols somehow ended up on the Mets, he could wear a Cardinals cap for all I’d care. But if this is how Coste feels, it’s just as well he didn’t make it out of spring training with the Mets.

Coste, now 38, has not played in the majors since the Mets cut him. (He was then picked up by the Nationals’ organization and released last June.)

As long as the Mets can’t compete with the Phillies when it comes to the frontline players, it won’t matter where the backups want to play. But as of now, it’s just another place where the Phillies are sticking it to the Mets.

John Maine puts the M-e-t in mental

Is it possible that Oliver Perez is not the biggest head case on the Mets’ staff? Last night, John Maine pitched a fit after being pulled after only five pitches because he was topping out at 85 mph and looked like he was hurt. From Metsblog:

“I guess they didn’t see 95 mph… I mean, it was the first batter of the game, cut me some slack… Whatever, if they’re looking for 95, whatever… I’ve felt pain for two years, I’m over it. I want to go out and pitch… I feel something all of the time, we’re pitchers, every pitcher does, it’s not an injury… I didn’t get asked for a chance, that’s what I’m most upset about. They said they saw something and were taking me out. I’m a little hurt by that… I’m just so frustrated by the whole situation, you know, whatever.’

Didn’t see 95? The only way anyone is seeing 95 from Maine is watching tapes from 2007.

And as for giving him a chance to right himself, Maine has apparently forgotten about his previous start, when his first TWELVE pitches were out of the strike zone, yet the Mets gave him a chance to get his act together.

Or maybe that’s how Maine now sees the first inning, as a continuation of warmups. How unfair of the other team to act like the game is underway.

Earlier this year, Maine left a game early because he had pain in his non-pitching arm. Jerry Manuel muttered after the game that he had never seen anything like it.

Something is really wrong here. Maybe it’s as simple as Maine hiding injuries. Last night, Dan Warthen called Maine a “habitual liar” when it came to health issues. Pretty harsh words, and even if they are true, they also call into question how Warthen is handling his crumbling staff.

But it was Omar Minaya who built this staff and Jerry Manuel who anointed Maine and Perez as starters in spring training without making them earn those spots. Not that the Mets had many other options, but better to figure out things in spring training than start scrambling around now, when Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey are the only two pitchers still in the rotation from the start of the season.

Meanwhile, 27-year-old lefthander Jason Vargas has a 3.08 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in eight starts for Seattle. Vargas has the distinction of being part of not one, but two of Minaya’s lousy moves. First, the GM acquired him from Florida in the deal that sent Matt Lindstrom to the Marlins. Then Minaya included him in the ill-fated deal for J.J. Putz.

But who needs a 27-year-old lefty when you’ve got a 35-year-old knuckleballer (R.A. Dickey), a 35-year-old who has never started a game in MLB (Hisanori Takahashi) and a 32-year-old import from the Mexican League who has also never started a game in MLB (Raul Valdes)?

Maine and Perez may be head cases, but the real craziness surrounding the rotation is the responsibility of the front office.

Great homestand, but Met rotation still has a way to go

I was at the game today and got to see another Met first – John Maine became the first Met starter besides Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey to get a win this year. Going into today’s game, Maine, Jon Niese and Oliver Perez were a combined 0-4 in twelve starts.

I don’t know what’s more amazing:

• The Mets went 9-1 on the homestand.
• I saw Maine pitch twice on the homestand and he won both games.
• I needed my new Met ski cap at both games.

Maine pitched into the seventh today for the first time. It was only the second time all year that a pitcher besides Santana or Pelfrey made it that far.

I was so skeptical that Maine would last that long that I left my seat in the top of the sixth to use the rest room and get some hot chocolate (when I got my Met ski cap last Friday, I did not expect to be using it again so soon!). I figured that Maine would not last the inning and there would be a pitching change. But by the time I got back to my seat, Maine had struck out the side and my companions did not want to let me sit down because Maine was doing so well in my absence.

I hate to point out that the three batters Maine fanned were Casey Blake, Ronnie Belliard and Xavier Paul – not exactly Murderer’s Row. Or that Ollie had a good start a week and a half ago and there was much talk of how he was turning it around.

The Mets really need Maine to do well because the most likely replacement starter, Hisanori Takahashi, is a lefty, so he would be less likely to replace Maine, since that would give the Mets four lefty starters. But Takahashi could replace Perez.

Still, the Mets have managed to go 9-1 with the rotation as is, so it’s hard to complain.

And it’s great to see the other manager for a change being the one to say “we battled.”

“I was a lot more comfortable with the energy today,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. “We battled it. I think the effort was there. We’ll get it straightened out, eventually.”

Squawker Lisa, the Mets are still in first place, and have a big showdown with the Phillies this weekend.

But you have something to look forward to as well – Javier Vazquez gets to face one of his former teams, the White Sox, in front of his adoring home fans.

It’s not enough for Mets to show some fight

So the Mets rallied from a 6-1 deficit to tie the Marlins and send the game into extra innings before losing, 7-6. It was an exciting game, even if it was pretty sloppy, and made me feel better about the Mets than I usually do after the dreary second-game loss that always seems to follow the Opening Day win.

But while it is too early to trot out all the negativity of the offseason, let’s not get carried away. The Mets only came back because the Marlins walked two men with the bases loaded and allowed the tying run to score on a balk that probably wasn’t a balk.

John Maine got the non-Johan Santana part of the rotation off to a bad start with another mediocre start – five innings, 4 ER, 8 hits, 2 homers. Maine threw 93 pitches in those five innings, only 53 for strikes.

Aside from dependable Francisco Rodriguez and Pedro Feliciano, three of the other four Met relievers allowed runs. Jenrry Mejia and Hisanori Takahashi were shaky in their debuts. Sean Green failed to show why he should be on the team and not in the minors. Only Fernando Nieve did well – his second straight good game.

It’s only one game, but it validated all the fears people have about Met pitching after the stars.

But worst of all was Fernando Tatis trying to score from third when the ball got away from Marlins catcher John Baker, who recovered the ball and threw Tatis out at home. The bases were loaded with two out and David Wright was up with the Marlins winning, 6-3. While the Mets did tie the game the following inning, Tatis’ baserunning blunder was all too reminiscent of last year’s baserunning follies.

The Mets have a new third base coach this year in Chip Hale, but Razor “Wave ’em in” Shines is somehow still on the basepaths over at first. Perhaps he managed to catch Tatis’ eye to get him to run.

So far, the Mets seem to be more fundamentally sound than they were last year, but Tatis’ blunder shows they still have a way to go.

The blunders continued off the field as well with Nelson Figueroa somehow not good enough for the Mets’ shaky staff but getting claimed by the Phillies. Figueroa now has a chance to become this year’s Darren O’Day, who was lost by the Mets last April in a roster snafu and went on to a strong season in Texas.

And speaking of management blunders, David Wright walked twice tonight after a walk on Monday. In the seventh, Tatis took the bat out of Wright’s hands. By batting Mike Jacobs cleanup, Jerry Manuel is helping to do the same thing.

Met Fever: Catch It!

From today’s AP game story:

So how do the rest of the Mets avoid getting sick on their upcoming trip to Pittsburgh and Washington?

“I need one of those masks,” [David] Wright said. “Just stay away from the sick people, quarantine yourself I guess.

It figures that the one game where I am sitting far closer to the players than I am likely to all year is the one where the unofficial team captain is talking about wearing a mask and quarantining himself.

My friend Roger had great seats to today’s game, so I found myself sitting 20 rows behind home plate. Cushions on the seats – but no Purell dispensers.

One minute, John Maine is breezing along with a three-hit shutout, then he suddenly gets removed in the top of the seventh because he caught the same stomach virus that Carlos Beltran has.

Perhaps the discussion in the dugout between Jerry Manuel and Dan Warthen went something like “You go get him. ” “No, you go get him.”

Though I do admit to being a bit of a hypochondriac, I’m not really worried about catching something at the game. (Besides, as a longtime Met fan, I am used to the Mets making my sick to my stomach.)

With all the injuries and illness the Mets have had (Angel Pagan also got hurt during the game and could go on the DL), it’s a wonder that they have now won six of eight. The Mets don’t get many hits these days, but they make them count. Twice the Mets sacrificed a man to second and both times they got him home. And the players who drove in those runs were well outside the core – Pagan and Fernando Martinez.

We got to the game so early that there was no line at Shake Shack. My friend Roger said it was the best burger he has ever had at a sporting event. I have somehow managed to skip Shake Shack the last couple of times at the ballpark so it was great to go back.

The other off-the-field highlight: No “Sweet Caroline”!

***

Squawker Lisa, I know you like Larry David about as much as you like Monty Python, but my trip to the ballpark today did make me think of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I can just imagine Larry getting a chance to go to the clubhouse to meet the players after the game, only refusing to do so because he didn’t want to catch anything and managing to insult everyone in the process.

Or Larry could be the one who brought the bug to the ballpark in the first place and made all the Mets sick, much like the episode where he tripped Shaquille O’Neal at courtside and caused Shaq to tear up his knee.

***

By the way, Lisa, our section was fairly full and the people there didn’t look any different from other fans.

I can just imagine what it would be like to sit behind home plate at the new Yankee Stadium – you’d be surrounded by empty seats except for a couple of guys wearing tuxedos and monocles swatting at foul balls with polo mallets.

Bad Maine sinks Mets; Citi too fan-friendly?

So John Maine pitches two great innings, then suddenly loses it in the third. Sounds like what happened to Oliver Perez in his first start. Bob Ojeda thinks Maine lost focus after failing to lay down a bunt.

Losing focus after having good stuff? Is Maine becoming another version of Perez? Is it time to start wondering whether we will see Good Maine or Bad Maine?

***

In the fourth inning, Jose Reyes was on second with two outs when Daniel Murphy doubled to left. The ball had barely entered the now-tiny foul territory down the line when two fans reached for it. Because of the fan interference, Reyes was stopped at third.

It’s not clear if Reyes would have scored, but considering that he was left on third when David Wright struck out and the Mets ended up losing by one run, the TV announcers were remarkably blase about the situation. Just because the fans are closer to fair territory does not mean that they have the right to reach over to touch a live ball.

On the other hand, when the Mets are in the field and the corner outfielders are Daniel Murphy and Gary Sheffield, it’s probably in the team’s interest to have a fan touch the ball and stop the runners. Otherwise, there’s going to be a lot of extra bases when the Mets have Murphy treating Reyes as the cutoff man. Fortunately, we haven’t seen Sheffield chase a ball into the corner yet, but I have a hunch it won’t turn out to be a Web Gem.

***

Squawker Lisa, I agree with you on Kelly Clarkson singing the National Anthem. What does she have to do with New York? I wasn’t crazy about the cast of “West Side Story” singing the first National Anthem at Citi Field, but at least the musical is set in New York.

I just hope the cast wasn’t chosen because the original Broadway production of “West Side Story” opened on Broadway on September 26, 1957, only two days after the last Dodger game at Ebbets Field.

As for “Sweet Caroline,” new stadium, new Apple, new food and same old song? What’s up with that? Didn’t people vote on alternatives to this song a year ago? Having something associated with the Red Sox doesn’t bother me the way it would bother Lisa, but why must the Mets keep borrowing from other teams’ traditions?