Vintage Pedro, Mets lose 1-0

Pedro is still Pedro; he went 8 innings, striking out 7, walking 2 and giving up 6 hits. Even though it's our offense, it still has Luis Castillo, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran in it, and those 3 went a combined 2/9 with 2 walks. Tim Redding pitched pretty well for the Mets, going 6 innings, and limiting the potent Phillies offense to 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3. The offense was pretty bad, only getting one hit off of Madson in the 9th. Anderson Hernandez and Brian Schnedier both had multi hit games. Read that again. The 2 best hitters was Hernandez and Schneider. That's sad.
The Mets have been eliminated from the National League East, and the National League Wild Card, so guys, there is not comeback.
Stupid Decision of the Day: This one is gonna go to Charlie Manuel for letting Pedro pitch for 130 pitches. Pretty damn dumb, Charlie.
Random Thought of the Day: Jerry, please start playing Thole, Evans, and every other young guy called up more regularly now. It makes it more interesting.
Clutch Play of the Game: Wright double in 6th. +.097 WPA.
Up Next for the Mets:
Offday, then series with Atlanta.
Brian Schnedier Line: .203/.279/.323. Up from .195/.274/.318

Murph: Win 4-2

If the Mets hadn't gotten all their injuries, this would've been a series to be proud of. Win 2 out of 3 against the struggling Cubs, knocking them out of the Wild Card race, and getting a dominant start from Mike Pelfrey, and good hitting from Daniel Murphy. But, alas, we're not in contention, but we should still be proud of the fact that we won a series. Yep, we won our first series since July, and it was against a team over .500. Despite the fact that Mike Pelfrey only had a swinging strike % of 7.6, he gave up 1 run, on 5 hits, a walk, and he struck out 5. He got 10 groundouts and 9 flyouts. It's these kind of starts that make you think the Pelfrey can be a number 2 starter, and really he's been the same as last year. The difference: Alex Cora and co playing Short instead of Jose Reyes, and also a really sucky outfield defense.
Daniel Murphy was the star offensive performer, going 3/4 with a homer and 4 rbi's. He was a double shy of the cycle, and he raised his batting line to .255/.311/.404, and his OPS to .715. While much has been made of Murphy's downfall from last year, he does have an .286 BABIP, which is below average.
Frankie Rodrgiuez came on in the 9th for the save, and had to make it interesting with 2 outs, walking Baker and then giving up a double to Soto, but he got Fukodome to ground out to end the game.
Stupid Decision of the Day: Pinch hitting Schneider with Tatis. Playing the rightie lefty splits is stupid when you're in the lead in the 8th inning.
Random Thought of the Day: Why can't Josh Thole play back to back games? And, Jerry you play Schneider instead of him?
Clutch Play of the Game: Murphy 2 run triple in the 7th. +.151WPA.
Bryce Harper Sweepstakes™: Mets have 10th pick, 1.5 back (ahead) of Cleveland for 5th.
Brian Schneider Line: .195/.274/.318. Up from .185/.267/.311.
Up Next for the Mets: off day, then series with Marlins.

Offense Sucks, as Does Stokes:Lose 5-2

Remember guys its September, so the bullpen is bad, the offense is bad, I used that line yesterday, didn't I? Well, Tim Redding was good for the second consecutive start, going 6.2, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits (one of them a homer) and a walk, and striking out 6. Brian Stokes, however was not good, getting one out, walking 3 (one intentional), giving up 3 hits, and 3 runs. The Mets had to turn to K-Rod to end the inning, and he did, getting Carlos Gonzalez to pop out to third, and striking out Seth Smith. Stokes was bad for the second time in 3 outing, hopefully though this doesn't change Jerry's use of him, just because there isn't anyone better (except Feliciano), and he's cheep, so should be considered for next year because he's somewhat decent. The fatal blow was driven in by Jason Giambi, with a 2 run single that made it 4-2; then Yorvit Torrealba singled to make it 5-2. In the 9th, the Mets went down quietly against Franklin Morales (who proved that anyone can be a closer). In fact the Mets could only muster 5 hits and a walk against Ubaldo Jimenez in 8 innings, and 2 runs, one of them coming on a Francoeur homer, the other coming on a Murphy sac fly in the first (an inning where Francoeur hit into an inning ending double play; he saw 10 pitches in 4 at bats).
Stupid Decision of the Day: Nothing. Can't blame Jerry.
Random Thought of the Day: Thole makes his debut tomorrow.
Clutch Play of the Game: Francoeur homer. +.116 WPA
Brian Schneider Line: .185/.267/.311
Up Next for the Mets: Mets at Rockies, 3:10 PM
Pat Misch (0-1 3.41 ERA 4.05 FIP 5.72 tRA) makes his second start. He faces
Jason Marquis (14-9 3.60 ERA 3.98 FIP 4.80 tRA)

Figgy! Win, 4-1

We have found the ace of the staff. Please step up, Nelson Figueroa. Figueroa went 7 innings, scattering 6 hits, walked 2 and struck out a career high 10. His only iffy inning was the first, where he walked Bradley, gave up a single to Lee, and then a run scoring single to Ramirez. But, he struck out the last 2 to get out of the jam (he struck out the side in the 1st). He had 12 swinging strikes out of 117 pitches for 10.2%. Swinging strike percentage has a linear relationship with strikeout rate, and can indicate future performance. The league average for pitchers is 7.8%.
Every Met starter had a hit (including Figgy, who went 1/3). The Mets scored 2 in the third when Pagan singled, Castillo singled, Murphy singled to score Pagan, and then Francoeur singled to score Castillo. In the fourth, the Mets scored 2 when Schneider singled, and then Anderson Hernandez tripled. Figueroa then helped out his own cause by singling in Hernandez, through a drawn in infield. Brian Stokes came on in the 8th, gave up a single, but then got Lee to hit into a double play, and got Ramirez to pop up. Nice comeback from Brian. Frankie Rodriguez came in, gave up a single, got a fielder's choice, runner went to second on a wild pitch, but then struck out Fontenot and got Soto to pop up to Hernandez for Rodriguez's 28th save. Not that that matters.
Stupid Decision of the Day: Jerry saying he's going to platoon Thole. Not smart. As proven on an earlier post.
Random Thought of the Day: Why does Jeremy Reed get to play, Jerry? Why not Evans? He's up anyway.
Clutch Play of the Game: Hernandez triple in the fourth. +.141 WPA.
Up Next for the Mets: Off day, then go to Colardo to face the Rockies on September 1.
Brian Schneider Line: .189/.272/.318. The Day before it was .188/.273/.319. So it went down.
Bryce Harper Sweepstakes™: Mets have the 9th pick, tied for 10th. 3.5 back (ahead) of the Padres for 5th.

130 down, 32 to go. Lose 11-4

The Positives: 4 hitters had 2 hit games, Francoeur and Schneider knocked in a pair each with doubles, Bobby Parnell an 8/4 groundout-flyout ratio. He also had 10 swinging strikes out of 109 pitches.
The Negatives: Parnell gave up 8 runs in 4.2 innings. Lance Broadway gave up 2 in 3 (he did strike out 3 and walk 1). There were 3 players who went o-fer. The Mets only got 2 walks. Aaron Heilman shut us down in 2 innings.

Parnell has been pretty bad recently. Since being a starter, in 21 innings he has given up 29 hits, 10 walks, 24 runs, 4 homers. He has struck out 14. For those following at home, that is a 10.29 ERA, and a 5.77 FIP (so something says he's been unlucky). He should continue to make his last 6 starts, because the Mets have no one better. But, next year, I would stick him in the bullpen. He's much better there.

The Brian Schnedier Line: .188/.273/.319. Up from .179/.267/.307
Stupid Decision of the Day: Nothing. But the next time we face a lefty, I want Evans to play.
Random Thought of the Day: Where is Nick Evans? In Jerry's doghouse? He has just been a pinch hitter since he came up.
Clutch Play of the Game: Schneider double in the fourth. +.171 WPA.
Up Next for the Mets: Mets at Cubs, 2:20 ET
Nelson Figueroa (1-3 5.40 ERA 5.37 FIP 6.98 tRA) takes on
Carlos Zambrano (7-5 3.80 ERA 3.95 FIP 4.63 tRA)
Bruce Harper Sweepstakes™: Mets are tied for 8th. 2.5 back (ahead) of the Padres, for 5th. You can do it guys. You can win.