Alou getting hurt was inevitable but I hate to say it but I think the loss of Green really is hurting us. He's been one of the most consistent guys this year.
if Delgado and Wright continue to hit like shit the rest of the year, injuries aren't going to be an excuse. granted, Alou and Green being out have hurt us, but the liklihood of them continuing on the early pace wasn't very great, so if they fall off, and Delgado and Wright never catch on, even with a healthy line-up this team is in trouble. I am usually not pessimistic, but this team has me very worried right now. at some point, if Delgado or Wright don't turn it around, even when Green, Alou and Valentin come back, we are still going to have to do a Yanks and trade for the biggest bat available.
jesus christ that was the hardest game ive ever had to go to. the stadium was absolutely rocking during the back-to-back-to-back homers. tons of phillies fans which sucked. this team is killing me.
Why do they not Plunk him when he comes up in a big spot. Down 1, Wagner should have hit him, and pitched to the next guy. 37 Homers vs. the Mets.
Burrell has been lousy this year if anyone deserved one at his head it was Rollins. Wagner has been great too, suggesting that Burrell should've been walked or beaned is pretty ridiculous. If you want to bitch about something bitch about bringing him in in the 8th inning. We've seen Wagner struggle before when he's brought in situations outside his "comfort zone" and I don't think there's ever a reason to bring him in in the 8th in the regular season.
15% of Burells career homers are against Mets pitching. His slugging % against the Mets is over .550 It's one of those cases where you have to take the odds involving that player into consideration.
So what? He's always been on a team in the Mets division. Before last night he was 2-10 off Wager, 3-11 off Heilman and 1-10 off Mota. He was 8-57 against lefties this year with 1 HR going in, and you want to walk the guy because he's hit HRs against the Mets in the past? At best it's ridiculous second guessing after the fact, at worst you actually believe that Burrell is some sort of Mets boogeyman. Also, I just looked up Burrell's numbers at Shea over the last 3 years+ and here they are - .196/.328/.339 which comes out to a fearsome .667 OPS and 6 hrs in 112 ABs.
Agreed 100% with your posts here. It's the right decision to pitch to him. It's not like seeing a pitcher in blue and orange suddenly turns him into freaking Pujols or something. Also agreed on the Wagner in the 8th thing. Just like Glavine with his having to pitch every 5th day exactly thing, Wagner only seems to be effective in the 9th with a 3 run or fewer lead. Trust your set up men there, Willie. At this point, it's just slumping and injuries taking their toll. Chavez was never a good starter and had been killing this O for 2 weeks up until he got hurt. Same with Easley. Gomez isn't ready yet. Beltran isn't 100% back. Franco's still too damn old. Johnson hasn't shown me anything. Green and Alou are still out. The list goes on and on. If I'm sure of one thing, however, it's that Milledge must be banging his head against the wall with all of these opportunities to start. I really think he could have helped out to some capacity too.
"At best it's ridiculous second guessing after the fact, at worst you actually believe that Burrell is some sort of Mets boogeyman." He has our number. He always kills us in big spots. How many times do we have to see it before we take action? he has THIRTY SEVEN homers against us, many of them in key spots. Rollins and Burrell are the guys in their lineup to be afraid of.
The action proposed was idiotic. You want to put a guy on that isn't hitting to lead off the 9th with a 1 run lead? I don't have Burrell's numbers in "big spots" against the Mets but I do know that he's hitting .237 for his career at Shea and barely slugging over .500. As I noted much of this was in the past, his first 4 years he had 12 HR's at Shea and was averaging a HR every 10.5 ABs. Over the last 3+ years this has normalized with his HR rate at Shea being one every 18.6 AB's with his overall average being a HR ever 18.9 AB's. Wagner got beat, it happens.
"Okay, let's hit Burrell because we are too shitty to get him out. In return, the Phillies wouldn't hit one of our guys. No way they would retaliate." C'mon fellas, there is no reason to hit Burrell. You want the Mets to pitch him inside and move him off the plate and make him uncomfortable, that's a different story. But plunking is not the answer. That's Rocket Man vs Mike Piazza pussy baseball. The Mets have to do a better job of pitching to Burrell so that he doesn't hit home runs. It's that simple. Make better pitches! Don't hit the guy.
