As we mentioned previously, Billy Wagner suffered a stiff left forearm last Tuesday in Florida. Wagner had an MRI this morning, and Marty Noble of Mets.com reported that “Wagner had no structural damage in his elbow.” The Mets placed Billy on the 15-Day DL anyway to be “precautious”, and it was made retroactively to Sunday. So he won’t return until Aug. 18.
In the meantime, Jerry Manuel said the void would be filled by committee. However, Manuel pointed out that every committee needs a chairman. Aaron Heilman is expected to be the chairman until Wags returns. Heilman only has 6 career saves, but he is the man of the hour. I have never been a huge fan of Wagner, but I would prefer him to Heilman. Actually, I don’t think I’m a fan of anyone in the Bullpen. Maybe that’s because they keep blowing games. The Mets are in a tough spot here. The good thing is that Manuel tends to use who’s hot. Maybe somebody will stay hot until Billy comes back.
John Maine got placed on the 15-Day DL with a mild strain of his right rotator cuff, according to Anthony DiComo of Mets.com. Billy Wagner suffered a stiff left forearm last Tuesday in Florida which created a need for another bullpen arm. Wagner will have an MRI on the forearm this Tuesday in New York, and he isn’t expected to pitch again before at least Wednesday. The Mets filled the hole by selecting the contract of Double-A closer Eddie Kunz from Binghamton. To make room, they placed John on the disabled list. The move is retroactive to July 29 and will force Maine to miss his scheduled start on Aug. 8. But he will miss only one start.
DiComo lists these as options for the Mets to fill Maine’s spot in the rotation, “Though the Mets could pitch Oliver Perez on Friday and use a spot starter for Saturday’s game against the Marlins — a sequence that would allow them to call up top pitching prospect Jonathon Niese — manager Jerry Manuel said that he would be more inclined to give Perez an extra day of rest and use a spot starter Friday. Claudio Vargas is the likely candidate to take Maine’s spot in the rotation.”
I agree with Manuel wanting to give Ollie an extra day because Ollie was moved up a spot in the rotation to take Maine’s place today. Otherwise, you are looking at having Perez moving up a spot in the rotation for two consecutive starts. It’s better that Vargas starts even though you never know what to expect, but you don’t know with Ollie either. I can’t wait till Johnny’s back.
A couple of hours ago, Anthony DiComo of Mets.com reported that John Maine will not make his start on Sunday. He is still out of action with a strain of his right shoulder’s rotator cuff, and Oliver Perez is expected to move up a day in the rotation to fill the void. Maine said, “I’ve had soreness back there, but this is the first time I’ve actually had any arm problems. It’s a good thing that it’s nothing serious. A couple days off and it will be fine. I try to do everything I can to keep my arm in shape, and I think I’ve done a good job. I’m 27 years old, and this is the first time anything’s ever crept up, and it’s nothing serious.” The Mets have an off-day on Monday which allows them to play it safe and give John some extra rest. So this means that we won’t see him on the mound until August 8 against the Marlins.
I know the media tried to make a big deal out of this situation. They thought the Mets were concealing information and thought that the injury was much worse than the Mets stated. However, it seems like everything is fine and he just needs a few days off.
Die Hard Mets Fan would like to congratulate Jose Reyes for becoming the Mets All-Time triples leader after hitting the 63rd of his career today against the Reds. Jose passed Mookie Wilson on the club’s all-time list. Reyes did it during his 2,928th big league at-bat while Mookie did it during his 4,027th big league at-bat. The most triples Jose ever hit in one season was 17 in 2005, but Lance Johnson holds the club record with 21 in 1996. So far, Jose hit 11 triples this season. Reyes is only 25 so he shouldn’t become much slower until he’s at least 30. He should definitely raise the bar for those to follow.
I thought the Mets had this game locked early on until the Reds took an 8-6 lead in the Bottom of the 7th. The Mets looked so flat in the 8th so I began to think that the winning streak was coming to an end. Jose Reyes struck out to begin the 9th Inning which wasn’t a good sign. All of a sudden, Argenis Reyes came in and got a pinch hit single. David Wright hit a 2-run dinger that barely made it over the right field wall to tie the game at 8-8. Beltran singled, and then Easley singled so Beltran went first-to-third. Carlos Delgado hit an opposite field RBI single to give the Mets a one-run lead. Fernando Tatis lined a two-out RBI double into the corner in left field to give the Mets a 10-8 lead after the rally came to an end. In the Bottom of the 9th, Billy Wagner pitched a 1-2-3 inning to seal the deal which extended the winning streak to 10 games. The 10-game winning streak tied a club record. Let’s see if the Mets can set a new record tomorrow.
Final: New York Mets 10 - Cincinnati Reds 8.
PS - The Mets are in a 1st Place tie with the Phils. (52-44)
So I watched the All-Star Game last night. The first time I ever watched one was last year once we created Die Hard Mets Fan. Growing up, I never cared because the game never meant anything. I know that they changed it so the winner gets home field advantage in the World Series, and that decision just pissed me off as a baseball fan. It bothers me because the managers are concerned about playing everyone. It’s a joke, and where the World Series is played shouldn’t depend on a joke.
I just wanted to comment on the Mets who played last night. David Wright ended up going 1-3 with a walk which isn’t bad, and Billy Wagner blew a 3-2 lead in the 8th Inning which resulted in a tie until the AL won 4-3 in the 15th Inning. I heard a lot of people bashing Wagner for not being a big game pitcher, but I wouldn’t consider a game that doesn’t count a ‘big game’. Overall, I thought the starting pitching was great. After that, the game was played very poorly. Dan Uggla of the Marlins went 0-3 and committed 3 Errors which didn’t help the NL at all. I thought the game was very boring.
David Wright didn’t end up winning the NL Final Vote ballot to make the 2008 All-Star Team. Instead, an outfielder named Corey Hart of the Milwaukee Brewers got selected. On Friday, Omar Minaya called Wright multiple times according to Mets.com. David saw four missed calls and two voicemails and thought, “I thought that I was traded.” If there is one Met that I don’t want traded, it’s Wright. The good news is that Omar wanted to let David know that he ended up making the All-Star Team as a replacement to the injured Alfonso Soriano. Wright had this to say about making the All-Star Team…
It seemed like I got quite a few second chances. When you realize that you’re not going to something that you want as badly as I wanted to participate in this All-Star Game, it makes you appreciate a lot more when you get that phone call. To be able to come up through this system, being a Mets fan as a kid, and to participate in the closing down of Yankee Stadium at the last All-Star Game, it makes it extremely special. It’s something that I wanted pretty badly. It’s been an up-and-down week. It’s been great for the way the team’s been playing, so I didn’t really have anything to complain about. But after the vote, I was obviously somewhat disappointed. Glad I didn’t make any plans.
Congrats to David. It’s too bad he didn’t make the team originally, but he’s right in saying that it seemed like he kept getting second chances.
As we mentioned previously, Billy Wagner suffered a stiff left forearm last Tuesday in Florida. Wagner had an MRI this morning, and Marty Noble of Mets.com reported that “Wagner had no structural damage in his elbow.” The Mets placed Billy on the 15-Day DL anyway to be “precautious”, and it was made retroactively to Sunday. So he won’t return until Aug. 18.
