Good news? No. But good timing.
Well, I just posted a comment on the item below that I would resume multiple posts tomorrow, but then I saw the Billy Wagner news and felt compelled to react.
"Good news," as Omar Minaya put it, does appear to be a huge stretch. But, to reiterate a theme from Monday, it is potentially good timing. A properly functioning Mets team should be able to steamroll over the Padres, Pirates, Nationals, Braves and Astros, five of their next six opponents, Wagner or no Wagner. Of course, as we saw this weekend in Houston, a malfunctioning Mets team will lose to anyone.
This will be a big test. For Jerry Manuel. For Aaron Heilman. For Eddie Kunz, maybe. And for the belief that many, many people out there can handle the job of closing, at least for a short while.
Since this is Day 3 of Wagner's DL stay, let's say, for argument's sake, that he returns on Monday, August 18, his first day of eligibility. The Mets have 13 games between now and then. I'll say the Mets go 9-4 in that stretch, and that Kunz picks up five saves to Heilman's two (and two games feature no save). Your thoughts?
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Comments (17)
A Met fan can only hope that Heilman, who suddenly finds himself with an important role on the team, can step up and meet the challenge instead of the usual moping he does throughout the season. Everybody knows I'm NOT a Mets fan, therefore 5-8. And Heilman retains his status as the biggest dog pitcher on the team and second biggest dog (behind Beltran) on the entire team.
13 games; I'm voting 8-5 which will make them .500 for August.
Of the 8 wins 3 feature no saves, then 2 by heilman, 1 by Sanchez, 1 by Kunz and 1 by Schoeneweiss
Ken, the Yanks announced that Joba will see Dr. James Andrews tomorrow after taking a MRI on his right shoulder in New York. The Yanks did not say what was on the MRI until Joba sees Dr. Andrews. When a player is send to see Dr. Andrews, that's not a good sign.
Right now you can't trust the Mets. They could go one way or another. The bullpen will blow some games while Wagner is out.
I hope that you're right, Ken. If the starting pitching performs decently and the offense scores some runs, then I still have confidence that this Wagner-less bullpen can protect a typical two-run lead in the eighth inning....
I had not known that, in 36+ years of the club's existence, no Met has ever hit three home runs in a game at home -- Polo Grounds or Shea. That's wild! Thanks, Gary and Ron!
If Joba needs surgery I will be absolutely speechless. If he is out for the rest of the year I will be absolutely speechless. Why do Yankee pitchers seem to be getting injured at rates above and beyond the norm? Steinbrenner would have had someone's head on a platter by now. My how times have changed.
Because of the Mets easy schedule I would have to agree with you, Ken. Wagner's absence will not really be felt, especially because he of his blown saves. But, when Wagner returns and the schedule eventually gets a little bit tougher, the fans are going to be pretty rough on Wagner when he blows another game.
The Mets needed 3 pitchers to close out the game tonight and win 6-5. Heilman started the inning and gave up a 3-run home run to make it 6-5. And then Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano both got the last 2 outs. The Mets were lucky tonight.
If George was still running the Yanks, he would fire people left and right. To me, I believe the Yanks have not develop their pitchers propertly nor train them propertly. As Jim said, the Yanks pitchers have gotten hurt a lot.
Another lost tonight, and the Yanks offense waited untill late in the game to get going. They did nothing against Harrison and it didn't help that Pettitte put them in a hole right off the bat.
Pettitte's 104 pitches in just five innings aren't going to do. Three walks, a homerun - not a good night for Andy. I am starting to think that Ken's prediction of 90 wins is a tad high. If they reach that number, I will be pleasantly surprised.
I just don't understand what's happening with the Yankee pitchers. Robertson, who I think has real talent, threw 44 pitches in 1.2 innings. He walked three. I'm not happy with those numbers, even if he did fan four. Two walks by Bruney brought the game total up to 8. That's shameful.
Bruney wasn't ready to come up to the big leagues. I read that he was getting depressed in the minors so they brought him up even though he had a series of terrible performances. What have we come to in NY? The coddling of these guys is really amazing. Brian Cashman has become a big teddy bear. Does he have the pajamas with the feet attached to the legs? I though this was a business, Ken?
LOL. What do you want from me, Jim? I hadn't heard that about Bruney being depressed. I think they brought him up because they thought he was close enough to ready.
The bottom line is that relievers, excepting the elite ones like Rivera, are volatile by nature. Which was I was against the Farnsworth-Pudge trade. You need as many talented arms as you can get.
I'm not sure what you mean about "Yankees pitchers getting injured at rates above and beyond the norm," Jim. We're basically talking about Wang and Joba, right? Wang was an absolutely freaky injury, indicative of nothing. And I'm not sure how much more Joba could have been babied. Teams like Detroit (Bonderman, Rodney, Zumaya), the Angels (Lackey, Escobar), Seattle (Bedard, Hernandez) and Texas (pretty much everyone) have all had their share of injuries, too.
Not sure Dennis is quite right on that Mets bullpen scenario. I believe it only took 2 men to get the save, and Feliciano went 1 1/3 hitless innings before the 9th.
Ken, wasn't Hughes injured? Wasn't Kennedy injured? I'll find you the report on Bruney being depressed and them bringing the guy because his was going down the drain mentally.
Oh, sorry, you're right on Hughes and Kennedy. Kennedy was basically a 15-day deal; that happens. Hughes, at this point, it's fair to wonder if he can ever stay healthy. But to try to find some link among Hughes' rib injury, Wang's foot injury and Joba's shoulder injury...I just don't see it. I thought there was more of a case to be made last year, when all of the Yankees were getting groin injuries.
Ken, the Yankees started the season with five starters: Pettitte, Mussina, Wang, Hughes and Kennedy. Three of the five or 60% were injured and put on the DL. No other rotation, that I know of, in the major leagues lost 60% of their rotation to injuries. Now, we have added Joba to the list to make it 4 of 6. I'm not even going to get into the bullpen (Bruney and now Rivera).
I am not pointing a finger, just making an observation: Something isn't right. Are they not doing enough running, enough stretching? I have no idea. It's just strange that 4 of 6 starters could get DL'd in the same season. Something's wrong.
From Saturday's NYT:
Since then, Bruney bounced around the Yankees’ minor league system, scraping his way back to fitness while trying to overcome the frustration of being away from the majors.
“You’re taking buses everywhere, getting in late, leaving early, playing in front of 1,000 fans, 5,000 fans,” Bruney said. “It’s tough to go out there and throw 97.”
Still looking for the clip about Bruney being down about getting stuck in the minors.
From Saturday's Newsday about Bruney struggling mentally in the minors because he thought he was ready to come back and the club wasn't bringing him back:
"I want to see him here in this setting as opposed to pitching down there," manager Joe Girardi said of Bruney, who admittedly had been struggling mentally in the minors because he believed he was ready to return. "Sometimes the setting here's a little bit different and I'm anxious to see if we can get him back to where he was."
Heilman started the 9th, got an out before heput 2 runners on and gave up a 3-run homerun to Gerut. Smith came and got Iguchi to fly out. And then Schoeneweis got Giles to fly out to Beltran to end the game. So the Mets did used 3 pitchers in the 9th, But it was Schoeneweis who got the last out.