Mets Lose, But David Wright Shines
Just as Jose Reyes showed Sandy Alderson how important he is to this team, David Wright is starting to do the same thing if Alderson has designs on getting rid of him.
Wright slammed a two-run home run in the seventh inning to give the Mets a short-lived 4-3 lead in the game against the Marlins on Sunday. It was Wright’s third hit of the game. In his first series back, Wright went 6-14 with six RBIs. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t played in two months. Wright is just as important to the Mets as Reyes is. Hopefully Alderson knows this and will keep them both for the long term.
Dillon Gee did not have his best stuff, pitching himself into and out of trouble over his five innings. He allowed three runs in the first two innings, but was able to work out of jams in the other three. While it obviously would have been nicer for Gee to have pitched better, it was good to see him battling his way out of trouble. It’s a good learning experience for a young pitcher.
Manny Acosta followed with two lights-out innings, but Bobby Parnell blew it in the eighth. He allowed a solo shot to Logan Morrison to tie the game at four, then coughed up the lead on a John Buck pinch-hit double as the Marlins came back to win 5-4. Parnell has yet to prove that he can be the closer. Throwing a 100 mph fastball is great, but if it is as straight as an arrow as Parnell’s is, major league hitters can easily catch up to it.
On the offensive side, Terry Collins has been getting away from needless bunting over the past couple of months, but it was back in full force on Sunday. With the Mets down 3-1, Wright led off the fourth inning with a double. Daniel Murphy — red-hot Daniel Murphy — laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Wright to third. Did I mention it was the fourth inning and Murphy is red-hot? The next two batters could not drive in Wright, stranding him at third. There is a chance Murphy did this on his own and was bunting for a hit, but it was still dumb, considering how well he’s been swinging the bat. And it was the fourth inning!
Then in the sixth, same score, Wright and Murphy led off with back-to-back singles. Jason Pridie (who replaced Angel Pagan in center in the fifth because of dehydration) sacrificed them over to second and third. Jason Bay followed with a single to drive in Wright to make it 3-2, but Josh Thole and pinch-hitter Lucas Duda struck end the inning. Why destroy a potentially huge inning with a bunt? Let Pridie swing the bat.
The Mets lose a disappointing one and drop the series to the Marlins. Now it’s on to Cincinnati for a game-game set with the Reds.
i agree with most of the points in here. i’m still very skeptical of wright though, just because he’s seemed so pull happy (one of the announcers on sny/wfan made a point about that too). but if he can show that he still looks opposite field sometimes, he’s a very good player that could help the mets very much. i also agree 100% with the sac bunting. collins should only sac bunt with pitchers or if they’re trying to get the winning run in during the 9th and it hasn’t been an offensive game. it was also nice to see gee starting to mature with this lesson today.
also on another note, it’s kinda sad, but this article is making me realize that the mets are really out of it. i remember a couple weeks ago at the all star break (the mets were like 7.5 out of the wc about) and now they’re down to 9. it just seems so sad that the mets can’t contend for the last two months. it makes the games worth nothing and that much less appealing to watch, even though baseball’s always been my number 1 sport. i just hope the mets are heading in the right direction now with alderson, i would love to see a winner, but the only ones nearby (phillies, yanks, boston) are just unwatchable for a new york sports fan.
also, another note on your trading poll on the right side of the page. i don’t understand why everyone keeps picking bay to be traded. yes he’s underperformed, but why would anyone else consider taking the mets problem unless they had a huge contract of their own that they wanted to get rid of (angels-vernon wells, white sox-alex rios)
I only put Bay on the list just to see what people would say, but I doubt anyone would take Bay even if the Mets were inclined to trade him. However, you mentioned Wells and Rios, and the Blue Jays were able to get rid of both of those bloated contracts without having to take any in return — Wells in a trade, Rios in an ill-advised waiver claim by the White Sox.
yes but the mets front office hasn’t been the most competent over the last few years, so i doubt something like that would happen so easily for the mets. example: alderson is offering to pay some of beltran’s contract if he’s traded, despite the fact that he’s the best player available on the trade market this year. alderson should be looking to maximize what he can back and he definitely isn’t doing that if he’s throwing in $6 mil or so with beltran
also i’m not sure if you saw this yet, but mets blog has said that reyes would take a 6 year, 120 mil contract. i thought you’d be interested in writing about it and i’d love to see what you have to say. here’s the original post:
http://www.metsblog.com/2011/07/25/francesa-if-mets-can-offer-6-years-120m-to-reyes-hed-take-it/
i’m kind of skeptical though because i hate francesca, who’s mentioned in there. idk if he reported it or what, but i’m not a fan of him so i’ll leave the judgment up to you.
Thanks Tom, I did see that, but it just seems like speculation to me. It comes from “someone who knows the (Jose Reyes) group.” That does not seem like the most reliable source. Reyes and his agent said they will not negotiate during the season, and by everything they’ve said, that has not changed.
yeah that’s true. i’m just getting overexcited. i would love to see reyes stay and it’s the first story i’ve seen on the topic in a while