The problem is putting Glavine out on short rest doesn't put you in the best position to ensure the win. The Cardinals have a lot of players who look much more comfortable at the plate at home than on the road. I think you try and steal this game not make the series hing on it.
If they had a viable alternative I would agree with you. When the series started I was calling for Maine in Game 1 and Glavine Game 2 to avoid this situation, but here we are. I don't consider Heilman an option to start at this point. You can certainly make the case that the roster for this series was mismanaged, with Floyd playing 3 innings before going on the shelf, and a number of useless hitters on the bench.
I have to agree with 3rd here that going with Heilman is just too much of a risk - he hasn't pitched more than 2 innings since May 19 (and that was the only time all year he did it), which means that you would have to be counting on long relief. That's the last thing the Mets want to do, since they should be thinking very seriously of Darren Oliver as the game 7 starter. I'm a bit torn on whether the roster has been that mismanaged - I think the Mets are just coming up against their inherent weaknesses (especially after Pedro and Duque went down) - other than the Floyd debacle. The forecast still looks good for tonight: The hour-by-hour forecast has the rain already starting, and it going pretty much nonstop until midnight.
The way I see it is Maine and Trechel are going to go in 6 and 7. Are you really telling me you trust Heilman less than those two?
There's no way Trachsel pitches Game 7. Willie is being coy about Oliver but he's got to be the guy if it goes 7. I think when it comes down to it if you are counting on just 3 or 4 good innings from whoever starts Heilman might give a better chance at that then Maine et al but then you've also weakened your bullpen that you're going to need to rely heavily upon as it is.
I don't know about you other Met fans, but i breathed a huge sigh of relief last night....things were looking a little bleak after the 5-0 nightmare....momentum was all with the Red Birds... Hopefully we've seized that back. Need the rainout, because to me the 3 days rest thing is already in glavine's head...how can it not be, he gets asked about it every 2 minutes.... also, it would be nice to let the Cards stew in the blowout for another day
Jeff Brantley on Steve Trachsel: ‘This guy is a joke, he showed me nothing as a pitcher and even less as a man.’ :rofl:
I'm glad someone is calling him out for that performance, I don't think I have seen anyone come up so small in such a big spot. He cannot pitch game 7 under any circumstance..
Glavine may be on 3 days rest, but so is Weaver. I know Glavine's getting up there (40 I think), but 3 days rest is tough on any pitcher, not just the old guys. Give me the mentally tough Glavine over Weaver on 3 days rest. I really don't know if it's any better going on 4 days rest because that's just giving Carpenter another day to rest. I don't want him fresh at all when the Mets play against him again (even though he didn't show much the first time out). With that said, I feel like the game's getting rained out and it doesn't really matter what we think is better. Let's just assume this. 3 days rest = Glavine wins. 4 days rest = Glavine wins. I like either of those scenarios.
I trust Heilman less than those two. Maybe I've been missing something all season, but I don't trust Heilman on the mound ever. I also don't trust Wagner either (which it seems like most Mets fans are apparently in love with him for the most part). For me, the 8th and 9th innings are the hardest innings of Mets games to watch, and it's not because it's the end of the game, but because I have an incredible lack of confidence in those two individuals. Trachsel made me yell and scream at the TV quite a bit the other day, but we all know he's not nearly as bad as he showed the other night. Trachsel can get the job done and I think he's ready to redeem himself. I'm fairly confident with Maine on the mound as well. I think he is going to be a solid pitcher for this team and I think he's on his way there already. I don't think Perez last night was any better really. That brings me to another point. I could not believe the way people were talking about Perez on TV last night. Since when is giving up 5 runs something to be proud of? He didn't pitch well. He just pitched well enough to win the game which doesn't mean very much when your team can put up 12 runs. When your team scores 12 runs, giving up 10 or 11 runs doesn't mean you pitched well just because you got a W. It was like none of them were even watching his performance. If I had to listen to one more commentator praising Perez "pitching the game of his life," well, I don't know what I would have done. But I wouldn't have been very happy haha.
Go back a page or two in this thread to the game thread comments, and you'll see many people (especially me) complaining about Joe Buck constantly saying how well Perez pitched. I will give him that he gave up 2 HRs after he had a 9 run lead, but Perez's comment after the game "I did my job, I kept my team in the game" was to my point of view ridiculous (notice Maine and Trachsel didn't say that, and they did not give up more runs than he did). I disagree completely about Trachsel - I think he shouldn't go anywhere near the mound unless the Mets are already losing by at least 5 runs. I don't see why you think Mets fans are in love with Wagner - actually, I think he was very much underrated by them during the regular season. He was terrible in game 3, of course, but he was lights out in the second half of the regular season, and I think very few people noticed. I won't pretend to be comfortable when he's in a close game, but the fact is that there aren't many closers around who you can be comfortable with. As far as Heilman goes, he couldn't have been much better than he has been since the beginning of August, so I'm not sure what you're looking for from him.
On Perez, I think he did pitch well "UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES". The guy is a young pitcher who clearly has talent and has lost his way. He was put in a very tough spot last night. He had good stuff and kept the ball around the plate all night. That was a spot for a pitcher like Perez to completely lose it and he didn't. In contrast Trachsel who is a veteran looked like a Deer in the headlights. The guy showed no heart at all. I would take Perez every time over Trachsel based on what we saw the last couple of nights.
I'll agree with this, I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with any closer but since June 22nd I think you'd be hard pressed to find one that pitched better then Wagner. He's converted 29/30 save opportunities and lost 2 games including the postseason. I also saw/heard a stat that he was leading the league in 1 run saves but I can't remember the source. As to the point of Mets fans loving Wagner, he was mercilessly booed when he was taken out of the game Friday night, so I'm not sure where this impression is coming from.
"He kept the team in the game" is about as far as I'm willing to go with Perez. While overall his performance was not good there were several moments that you had to like, in the first after the Delgado error he gets Encarnacion to GIDP rather then imploding, which was absolutely huge the way Game 3 went. Also after giving up the Eckstein HR to cut it to 5-3 he K's Spezio and Pujols and gets Encarnacion to fly out.
I agree with this (and what 3rd said about it as well). I was not disappointed in Perez, but I am a little sick of constantly hearing pitchers congratulating themselves for giving up 4 runs in 6 innings and being happy. I don't see how anyone could argue with the point that you'd take Perez over Trachsel any day at this point.
