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4/19/09

The Mack Attack - April 19, 2009


Mets:


No Jack Citi? The Mets open their new park in the same manner they closed their old one—with a loss—but it's hardly as consequential as the previous defeat. The real question is how Citi Field will play; increased distances and taller fences could make homers scarce, which of course would help the pitching staff as much as it could hamper the offense. Early returns—seven homers in the park's first three-game series—suggest this place is no Petco

Park.




Wanna get sick? Scott Kazmir is almost two years younger than David Wright.


Well, that’s the way the textbook was written. Santana goes seven, one for J.J. and the last for Frankie… nine innings, six hits, no runs, 11 strikeouts… ERAs of 0.46, 1.29, and 0.00, respectfully… pack the truck, time to go home.


Here’s a Brewers’ perspective on Saturday’s game:


For 6 1/2 innings, Yovani Gallardo and Johan Santana traded zeroes in a fantastic pitcher's duel. Gallardo pitched six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out seven, but was pulled after throwing 103 pitches. Johan Santana also struck out seven and allowed five hits over seven innings. Villanueva, apparently removed from the interim closer's role, walked #8 hitter Ramon Castro to lead off the seventh, and gave up an earned run after another hit, an error and a fielder's choice brought the run home. Offensively, the Brewers were locked down all day. Despite playing scoreless baseball into the seventh inning, they only had a Win Expectancy over 50% one time in the game (Corey Hart's leadoff single in the sixth), and every Brewer hitter had a negative WPA.





Tim Kurkjian went into a whole thing about how Gary Sheffield's 500th homer automatically makes him a Hall of Famer. Frankly, I don't see the connection. I said weeks ago that Sheffield's numbers if he never plays another game make him a Hall of Famer; now it's going to be more difficult to keep him out unless----and this is a big "unless"----the writers hold his cantankerous reputation and BALCO involvement against him. Other than that, Sheffield's numbers make him a first ballot, no-doubt Hall of Famer




-look, I really don’t care if Sheffield is voted into the HOF… all I care about is what he does, this year, as a Met. Once a player becomes a Met, I jump on the bandwagon, and I smile when I think that the Mets won last night because of the bats of Sheff and Luis Castillo. These are very god players that can help bring a pennant home. That’s what fans should care about.


Minors Thoughts:


B-Mets:


“… Owen, a 22-year-old righty who entered this season ranked by Baseball America as the 28th best prospect in the Mets organization, pitched well at Single-A St. Lucie last season. He went 12-6 with a 3.43 ERA before earning a late-season promotion to the B-Mets. But Owen has struggled at the start of his first full season at Double-A. In his first start, he walked five batters in a five-inning no-decision at Trenton…”




-Dylan Owens is one of those “tweeners” in the Mets organization. He’s stuck behind Jonathan Niese and Bradley Holt, who are projected to enter the Mets rotation in 2010, and 2011, respectfully… and ahead of a ton of guys like Jenry Mejia, Jeurys Familiar, and Christopher Swinden, who represent the Mets future beyond 2011.There simply is no room for any of the so-called Mets pitching rotational prospects, other than Niese or Holt. Thus, guys like Owens, Mike Antonini, and Dillion Gee either have to look to the pen for their future (i.e. Bobby Parnell), or hope for a trade.



Lucy:


-SP Angel Calero threw six more scoreless innings Saturday night and lowered his ERA to 0.82… Calero is back on the prospect list after a strong start this season… he came out of the VSL system, and went 2-2, 6.83 for the GCL Mets in 2006… split between K-Port and Savannah in 2007… In 2008, Calero pitched well at Savannah (3-5, 2.57 in 12 starts) and was promoted to St. Lucie, where he struggled (1-1, 7.07 in 4 starts). Low-90s.


SP Brant Rustich piggybacked again, maintained his 0.00 ERA, and now has 8 Ks in 5 inning… look for him to move into the rotation for his next outing.



Gnats:


It’s only natural for Mets fans to dream about better pitching, and those of them into following the minors, will naturally gravitate to the stat sheets for Jonathan Niese and Brad Holt for solace. However, the problem this year is both Niese (9.00) and Holt (8.38) are off to a slow start and the average Mets fan might begin to panic at this point.Not to worry.Due to excellent international scouting, a big checkbook, and a couple of decent drafts, the Mets have plenty of young arms that will begin to make all of the prospect lists in the next couple of years.Check the current stats of these three down in Savannah:


Christopher Schwinden/Gnats: 2-0, 0.82, 0.82


Jeffrey Kaplan/Gnats: 0-0, 0.90, 1.10


Jeurys Familia/Gnats: 1-0, 0.00, 0.84



Draft:


Stephen Strasburg got the start for the opener against New Mexico and it was the typical Strasburg outing, though Gwynn allowed him to pitch the complete game. He didn’t give up any runs, struck out 14, walked one and gave up seven hits in the Aztecs 1-0 win. Strasburg allowed three runners to reach third in the first six innings, including getting a lead off triple in the fifth by Adam Courcha, but he still escaped any damage. After the lead off triple Strasburg retired the next three hitters on a ground out and two K’s. In the eighth, the Lobos had the tying run thrown out at home with two outs. The Lobos even had a runner on third and one out in the ninth, but Strasburg struck out the last two hitters to get the complete game victory





General:


Stephen A. Smith, an ESPN reporter and once a rising star who had his own show called "Quite Frankly With Stephen A.Smith" on ESPN2, is leaving the station as of May 1. On his own website, Smith confirmed rumors that had been circulating that he would be gone at the end of his contract. Through ESPN, Smith issued a statement: "It's been a wonderful, wonderful ride, filled with great accomplishments, great memories and, most importantly, great friendships. It's difficult to express how appreciative I am to ESPN for all it's done for my career. But nothing lasts forever. It's time to move on. "While my love for sports has never dissipated -- of course, I'll never let go of Sports -- my desire to venture beyond sports into the world of news, politics and entertainment has grown. Where that will take me? Who knows! But I'm about to find out. I'll just do so with some degree of sadness, knowing all the friends I'll leave behind."http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/04/stephen-a-smith-leaving-espn.html
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