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Chatter Up! Mets Vs Marlins 6/28-6/30
Filed Under (Chatter Up, NL East Chatter) by treilly on 30-06-2010
Welcome to another edition of Chatter Up! For each Divisional Match Up we ask 5 questions to affiliate bloggers concerning their respective team. This week we will be featuring questions concerning the Mid-Week division Match Up between the Florida Marlins and New York Mets.
Answering our questions concerning the New York Mets this week we have James Figueroa of TheRealDirtyMetsBlog…
Q- With Ruben Tejada’s recent success both offensively and defensively, do you see him staying with the club when Luis Castillo is ready to return from injury?
A- Tejada is in a tough spot. No matter what Tejada does, since he has options to go down to the minors, he will go down when Castillo comes back. It’s a shame because that kid has earned a spot here. If Cora’s option doesn’t vest, Tejada is back up here full time next year.
Q- Would you like to see the Mets go out and make a big splash for the Likes of a Cliff Lee or Oswalt or look to hold onto their core young talent and go after a Ted Lilly or Kevin Millwood?
A- Well, let me start by saying I would love for the Mets to get Cliff Lee. I think a guy like Lee would give the Mets the most formidable rotation in the east if not the NL. I think Lee could be had while still holding on to core young talent. It all depends on the Mariners at this point. What kind of package would they accept? What are they looking for? Stuff like that. Oswalt is another guy that won’t cost a lot in prospects since he has a monster contract but the Astros farm is barren, so that is going to be an interesting game with Houston. Lilly or Millwood would be a good option but the Mets are in a position that they can acquire a top tier pitcher like Lee or Oswalt; I would like to see them go after those two before settling for Lilly or Millwood.
Q- What do you feel is the biggest reason the Mets are playing so well at home this season?
A- They finally learned the advantages of their home field. I figured they would struggle their first year in a new ballpark, it isn’t much of a home field advantage if you don’t know how to use it to your advantage. I think with a year under their belts, they know where to hit the ball and how to hit the ball in Citifield…something visiting teams that doesn’t play here often won’t know how to do.
Q- Are you concerned about Johan Santana’s recent struggles or do you feel he will return to becoming the Old Second Half Johan come July?
A- Johan has always been a better second half pitcher, his stats reflect that. What is concerning is reports that quote Santana as not being completely healed from his surgery. Santana is still an Ace in my opinion but just doesn’t mix and match his pitches that much anymore. There isn’t much of a differential between his fastball and change to keep hitters off balance. He needs to mix in his slider more and perhaps learn another pitch to make the loss in velocity not stand out as much and keep the change up a very good weapon. I think Santana will be just fine but I’m sure I’m speaking for myself.
Q- Do you think the Mets can survive with their bull pen as stands or do you think it will be necessary to add another middle reliever?
A- I think bullpens are a crap shoot. I think the Mets have the pieces to survive a 162 schedule. For the first month or two, we were the best bullpen in the majors. It is hard for me to believe their recent struggles cannot be attributed to fatigue and injuries. If Valdez and Igarashi can get healthy while Nieve gets some rest, they can have a decent bullpen. A lot of people overlook how good Feliciano and k rod have been, not to mention Dessens. The bullpen is more or less like every bullpen in the majors, some good days and some bad.
Answering our questions concerning the Florida Marlins we have Chris Towers from the blog FishGuts…
Q- How is the Team handling the firing of their Manager?
A- The players seemed a bit stunned by the news at first, but there hasn’t been much public grumbling among them. You’d think they’d want to get everything sorted out as soon as possible to avoid potential distractions, though. The longer this drags out, the worst it will be.
Q- Are people speculating Hanley Ramirez had something to do with the firing?
A- There has been nothing said about that, and to Hanley’s credit, he came out and said Fredi would be missed. He hasn’t taken any shots at Fredi as he’s leaving. I don’t think he’ll miss him, but there’s an outside chance Hanley was actually starting to respect Fredi.
Q- What has been the biggest cause for the recent struggles of the Marlins?
A- The bullpen cannot hold a lead and the offense has been terribly inconsistent, particular the guys who are supposed to be the run producers. Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla are slumping big time, and Cody Ross and Mike Stanton are both struggling too.
Q- What are your early impressions of Mike Stanton?
A- He looks like a 20 year old at the major league level should. He’s overmatched and he can’t catch up right now. He’s looked very bad, but nobody is panicking. He’s 20, struggles are to be expected. Everyone knew he would strike out a lot, but he’s bound to make some changes and at least find the power stroke.
Q- What exactly is getting in the middle of the Bobby Valentine hiring?
A- Sounds like Bobby wants an assurance from the team that they will be buyers at the deadline and will add payroll heading into the 2011 season, and this is the holdup.
I would expect it to get done, but Loria is going to have to make concessions if he wants to get his guy, and frankly, spending the season before the stadium is a smart move anyways. Fans want to see them compete right away to stay excited.
Washington ended their 5 game losing streak on Tuesday against the Braves with a 7-2 victory.
The Phillies and Reds had an exciting finish to their game on Tuesday night with Philly coming out on top 9-6 in 10 innings.
Thanks to small attendance figures Major League Baseball decided to bring the game to San Juan Puerto Rico for the three game set.  The first one was an absolute blow out.  Behind Ricky Nolasco’s 7 innings of 3 run ball, which he retired 13 in a row and 6 of those 7 he retired thanks to the strikeout, the Marlins went on to win big 10-3 over the Mets.  The Mets just completed another successful homestand in which they faced two of the best teams from the AL and won both series two out of three, but their road woes continued, this time in division.  The rookie Mike Stanton hit a 3 run home run to put the game out of reach off of Ryota Igarashi and make the score 10-3.  The Mets 3 runs came off two Jason Bay home runs, which was his 5th and 6th of the year.  This was his second multi home run game, which means in the first 76 games he’s hit a home run in four of them.
The last time Johnny Cueto faced the Phillies it was one of the most lopsided games contests ever and his worst outing in a 22-1 loss in which he only got two outs.  This time he went a little bit longer and the Phils were unable to generate enough offense to beat Cueto and the Reds as they lost 7-3.  Cueto allowed 1 run on 6 hits in 8 innings of work.  The Phils scored 2 in the ninth but were unable to sustain a rally.  Scott Rolen, the former Phil, hit his 300th home run in the contest as well, which happened to be only the second loss in 7 games for the Phillies who have been putting up an average of almost 7 runs since Jimmy Rollins came back to the line up.
Facing a division rival for the first time, Stephen Strasburg found out that life can’t always be easy.  In his fifth start, the star rookie once again got no help from his ball club as their bats were silenced by Tim Hudson who went 7 innings and struck out 6 in a 5-0 victory.  Since winning his first two starts in which he got 9 and 5 runs of support in two victories, the Nationals have given him one run in his last three starts.  It used to be that they only won his starts, now even Strasburg’s starts aren’t a guaranteed win.  The Braves got to Strasburg in the 7th where they put 4 runs on the rookie who seemed to have hall of famer written on his resume even before he threw his first pitch.  Of course the Braves know about hype, as they have one of the best young talents in the game, he also being hall of fame bound early into his career, Jason Heyward but he was not in the line up due to injury.  The Braves having the Phillies and Mets lose, gained another game on both and now lead the Mets by 1.5 and the Phillies by 3.5.
The Mets stayed hot at home on Sunday winning another home series with a 6-0 win over the Twins.
San Diego defeated Florida on Sunday by the score of 4-2 off of a late home run by Will Venable.
The Orioles timely hitting led to a 4-3 win over there in state rival Nationals on Sunday.
Philly’s bats came to life on Sunday with an 11-2 beat down on the Blue Jays.
Detroit routed the Braves in this one winning it easily in a 10-4 victory.
The Twins scored four runs in the first inning off of Santana (5-5), and never looked back. Joe Mauer started the scoring with a run-scoring single, and then with 2 outs, Jason Kubel hit an RBI double and Delmon Young doubled home two more runs to give the Twins an early 4-0 lead. Meanwhile, Pavano (9-6) was dominant from the start. Pavano went all nine innings, allowing just three singles and a walk to the Mets. Kubel added a solo home run in the ninth inning to cap the scoring.
Kenshin Kawakami came into the game winless, and though he pitched well over seven innings, left trailing 1-0. However, the Braves finally gave Kawakami (1-9) some support in the bottom of the seventh when Chipper Jones belted a three-run home run off of Detroit reliever Joel Zumaya (2-1). The Braves added another run in the eighth on an Eric Hinske RBI double and entered the ninth inning with a 4-1 lead. 
The Blue Jays touched up Phillies starter Cole Hamels (5-5) for five runs in four innings. John Buck, Aaron Hill and Alex Gonzalez each homered off of Hamels to spark the Toronto offense. Shaun Marcum (7-3) didn’t allow the Phillies to get back into the game, allowing just one run over six innings. The Phillies only run came courtesy of a Ryan Howard solo home run. In an unusual site, Howard acted as the Phillies’ DH as the game was played under American League rules in the NL ballpark. Toronto relievers combined for three scoreless innings to close out their Philly home victory.
Washington scored four runs in the 3rd inning, thanks to a two-run double by Adam Dunn and RBIs from Ivan Rodriguez and Roger Bernadina. After adding another run in the fourth, the Orioles came back against Nats’ starter Livan Hernandez. Adam Jones homered in the fourth to get the O’s on the board, and then the Orioles scored four in the fifth. Matt Wieters  delivered the big hit, as his two-run single tied the game at 5.
The Marlins scored first in the second inning thanks to a Mike Stanton sacrifice fly. The Padres answered back in the fourth when Adrian Gonzalez doubled home David Eckstein with the tying run.  In the fifth, Jerry Hairston Jr. tripled off of Stanton’s glove, and then scored on Garland’s fly ball to right field.  Garland’s ball took Stanton into foul ground, and Marlins players tried to yell at Stanton to let the ball land foul, but his catch turned into a sacrifice fly and scored the deciding run.
