The Mets win streak reaches five games

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals by the score of 8-5. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and he continues to pitch well. The bullpen pitched pretty well other then Bobby Parnell who had a rough game. The offense continues to roll, David Wright had a couple more hits. Ronny Paulino had a big game.
Gee pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up four hits and three runs with two being earned. He walked four and struck out five. Gee is now 10-3 with a 3.69 ERA. Ryota Igarashi faced one batter and got him out, Bobby Parnell pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and two runs, he did strike out a batter. Tim Byrdak gave up two hits without recording an out, D.J. Carrasco struck out both batters that he faced and Jason Isringhausen pitched one inning giving up no runs and no hits, he struck out a batter. Isringhausen picked up his fifth save of the season and 298th of his career.

Jose Reyes had a hit, walk and two RBI. Justin Turner had a hit and Daniel Murphy had a hit and an RBI. Wright had two hits, Angel Pagan had a hit and an RBI and Jason Bay had two hits and an RBI. Lucas Duda had an RBI, Ronny Paulino had three hits and an RBI and Gee had a hit and an RBI. Bay, Reyes and Paulino all had a double. The Mets were 8-12 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Reyes made an error.

The Mets jumped all over former Yankee Chien-Ming Wang. The Mets scored four runs in the first inning. Murphy had an RBI single, Pagan had an RBI single, Bay had an RBI groundout and Duda had a sacrifice fly. In the fourth Gee had an RBI single and Reyes had a sacrifice fly making it 6-0 Mets. In the fourth inning Laynce Nix grounded into a force out and two runs scored. There was also an error on the same play. Rick Ankiel hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to make it 6-3. Paulino had an RBI double and Reyes had an RBI double in the sixth inning making it 8 3 Mets. In the eighth inning Wilson Ramos had an RBI single and Ankiel had an RBI single to make it 8-5. The last two batters struck out to end the inning.

The New York Mets have won five games in a row. They are 55-51 and hanging in the playoff chase. The Mets have now scored eight or more runs in four consecutive games. Gee is just the seventh Mets to have double digit victories in a season. He is the first since Dwight Gooden in 1984. Tom Seaver was the first and that was in 1967. The Mets are starting to come on in the wild card race and who knows what could happen.

The Mets earn the sweep in Cincy in a slugfest

The New York Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 10-9 on Thursday afternoon. It was a slugfest for sure. Chris Capuano started for the Mets and struggled but he was able to pick up the win because the offense was so good. The bullpen also struggled, the only pitcher that pitched well was Bobby Parnell. David Wright, Angel Pagan and Jason Bay led the offensive attack with three hits each. Wright has been on fire since coming off the disabled list, he has had at least two hits in every game and is batting close to 500.
Capuano pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with three walks and four strikeouts. Manny Acosta pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and one run, Pedro Beato pitched one inning giving up two hits and one run and Bobby Parnell pitched one perfect inning with a strikeout. Jason Isringhausen pitched one inning giving up one hit and one run and struck out one. Capuano is now 9-10 on the season and Isringhausen picked up his fourth save of the season.

Jose Reyes had a walk, Justin Turner had a hit and Daniel Murphy had a hit and two walks. Wright had three hits and an RBI, Pagan had three hits and an RBI and Bay had three hits, three RBI and a walk. Lucas Duda had two hits, three RBI and a walk, Josh Thole had a hit, walk and RBI. Bay had two doubles and Duda had a double. The Mets were 8-18 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Pagan and Murphy each had a stolen base.

The Mets got on the board in the first inning with a Wright RBI single. The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first on a Joey Votto RBI double and Brandon Phillips RBI double. The fourth inning was a big inning, Duda hit a three run double and Thole had an RBI single to give the Mets a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning Homer Bailey had an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3. The Mets answered right back in the fifth inning as Pagan had an RBI single and Bay had a three run double. It was 9-3 Mets and they looked well onto their way to a sweep. The Reds began a comeback in the sixth inning, Ramon Hernandez had an RBI double and Miguel Cairo had a three run homerun pinch hitting. It was 9-7 Mets and the lead wasn’t so safe anymore. Jay Bruce had an RBI double in the seventh inning making it 9-8 Mets. In the ninth Pagan scored on a wild pitch and that would be the final run of the game for the Mets making it 10-8. The Reds would score on a Votto solo homerun in the ninth to make it 10-9. They were retired in order after the homerun.

The Mets swept the four game series and moved three games over 500. The Atlanta Braves still lead the wild card but it is becoming tighter. The Mets are 54-51 and the Red dropped to 50-55. It was the Mets first four games sweep in Cincinnati ever. Isringhausen said there isn’t a sense of relief about Beltran because they can’t replace him but they know what they have to do without him. Terry Collins the manager plans on addressing the team on Monday after the non waiver trade deadline is over. He wants to do that in case they make any other moves which is unlikely. The Mets also got good news on Johan Santana. He threw a scoreless rehab game in Port St. Lucie and he is on track to come back at the end of August.

Yankees postgame notes after CC dominates the Mariners

Here are the Yankees postgame notes, mostly to do with CC Sabathia and his almost no hitter perfect game that was screwed up by the rain.  It was a special night anyway for him, he was just so dominant and set a career high in strikeouts and only gave up one hit.  He unraveled after the second rain delay, walking three batters and got taken out of the game. 

Through most of CC Sabathia’s career with the Indians — including his Cy Young season — the Cleveland manager was Eric Wedge, who tonight sat in the Mariners dugout and watched his former ace dismantle his current lineup.

“That was about as good of stuff as I’ve seen him have,” Wedge said. “He had a better fastball than we’ve seen him have a times. He’s always had a good fastball, but at times, but he was really consistent with it tonight. His secondary stuff was as good as we’ve seen it too.”

“He was so sharp before the rain delay, and I thought his slider got a little bit bigger after the rain delay,” Girardi said. “I didn’t think he was quite as sharp, and we’ll never know, but golly, for that (six) and a third he was brilliant… It’s one of those nights, he’s rolling along so well, it’s just like, please don’t stop this game. But you can’t stop mother nature.”

Francisco Cervelli: “The whole game, I had in my mind, no-hitter… The first inning, the way he was throwing the ball in my glove, sliders in the dirt, I thought we had a chance to do it. They’re professional hitters, but CC was really good today.”

Mark Teixeira: “He was so dominant. You always figure someone’s going to bloop one in or you’re going to make a mistake, someone’s going to get a hit. But the fourth or fifth inning, he was dominant, and we figured, alright, if he can keep this up, I think he’s going to get it… You never know. No rain, he might have had a perfect game.”

Eric Chavez: “There was no doubt in my mind he was going to throw a no-hitter.”

CC Sabathia: “You know you haven’t pitched out of the stretch the whole game. Some guys say they don’t know, but I know from the first pitch until I get out of the stretch that I’m in the situation I’m in.”

 Girardi said the first delay could have gone quite a while without Sabathia needing to come out of the game. His pitch count was low enough, that the Yankees could have let Sabathia throw simulated innings every 15 minutes or so and just counted that against his game pitches. Sabathia said it didn’t matter. There was no chance Girardi was taking him out. “I was going back out,” he said.

 Sabathia guessed that he’s shaken off Cervelli two or three times since Cervelli became his regular catcher. As soon as he started his postgame press conference, Sabathia gave a ton of credit to his catcher. Cervelli, of course, deflected the praise right back to his pitcher. “He’s a liar,” Cervelli said. “He’s got the ball, so he throws what he wants. I just try to be on the same page.”

The single by Brendan Ryan was a 2-0 fastball. It extended Ryan’s hitting streak to 10 games.  When you get behind in the count things can happen and he was sitting on the fastball and hit a single.

 The Yankees had a total of 18 strikeouts tonight, their highest nine-inning total since Ron Guidry’s 18-strikeout game in 1978… This was the first time the Yankees held their opponent to one hit since September of last year when Sabathia beat the Athletics… This was the first time the Yankees held the Mariners to one hit since 2002 when Freddy Garcia was opposing starter for Seattle.

 Curtis Granderson momentarily took sole possession of the team lead in home runs tonight, but just a few innings after he hit his 28th, Teixeira responded with his own 28th homer in the eighth inning. “It’s a lot of fun,” Teixeira said. “We don’t like sitting on whatever number we’re at, so we enjoy going back and forth.”

 Dave Robertson has been amazing, he is the unsung hero of this game and probably the team. That was still a three-run game when he came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth. He allowed one run on a routine grounder to third, but got two quick outs to limit the damage. “He does it every time, doesn’t he?” Teixeira said.

 By the way, Girardi said he’s still not sure whether Rafael Soriano will be activated tomorrow or Friday. He also refused to say whether Soriano will take back the eighth inning. “The first thing is, let me get him back, and then we’ll make decisions as the game goes on,” Girardi said. “We need to get him pitching well, that’s the bottom line, and get him comfortable. He had four outings, which is not a ton of outings. It’s somewhat of a short spring training, but we feel that we need him and then I’ll make those decisions.”  I don't think you can throw him right back in the 8th inning the way Robertson has pitched but I can see Girardi doing that, he is loyal to his guys almost to a fault at times.

Chavez said everything felt fine in his return from the disabled list. He was tested a little bit — and made some nice plays at third — but he came out of the game with no pain, having gone 1-for-3 with an RBI single.

 Here is one last thing about Robertson, When he struck out the first batter he faced in the eighth, it was his 10th consecutive strikeout with the bases loaded. No pitcher since at least 1965 had a bases-loaded strikeout streak that long in a single season. Robertson has faced 12 batters with the bases loaded this season: 10 strikeouts, one ground ball out and one double.

CC dominates in Yankees win

The New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners by the score of 4-1 on Tuesday night.  CC Sabathia made the start and was simply Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira each had a solo homerun their 28th of the season. 

Mariano Rivera earned his 26th save of the season and Dave Robertson can be considered the hero coming in with the bases loaded and no outs and only allowing a run on a fielders choice, he struck out two batters.  Rivera also struck out two batters.  The 18 strikeouts tied a franchise record.  Ron Guidry struck out that many by himself in 1978. 

The Yankees will be looking for the sweep of the three game series on Wednesday afternoon.  Phil Hughes will be facing off against Felix Hernandez.  That will be a tough game for the Yankees to win.  The Mariners will be trying to snap their 17 game losing streak.  It is hard to imagine that, you couldn't even lose that many if you tried.  It is also amazing that when this streak started they were a 500 team. 

Yankees take care of the awful Mariners

The New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners by the score of 10-3 on Monday night. The game was delayed for just about two hours because of rain. It was also the beginning of Hope week for the Yankees. Hope Week is Helping others persevere and excel and it is the third year that the Yankees have done this. It is really touching and moving stuff. It is great what the Yankees organization does and it is so popular and gotten so much recognition that the Minnesota Twins adopted it this year for themselves. Freddy Garcia started and pitched very well and the offense rolled tonight with some help from the Seattle defense.

Garcia pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out five. Garcia improved to 9-7 on the season with an ERA of 3.23. Boone Logan struck out both batters he faced and Steve Garrison in his major league debut retired both hitters that he faced. Rafael Soriano who has been out for the last couple of months is expected back with the club on Tuesday and will be activated most likely on Wednesday. Garrison will probably be sent back down to AA Trenton so this was a nice moment for him.

Derek Jeter had two hits, a homerun and a triple and three RBI for the third time this season. Curtis Granderson had a hit, walk and two RBI, Mark Teixeira had two hits and three RBI, it appears that he is heating up which is good for the Yankees offense especially without Arod. Nick Swisher had a hit, Andruw Jones had a hit and a walk and Eduardo Nunez had two hits and an RBI. Brett Gardner had two hits and an RBI. Nunez has hit very well on this homestand and overall as the replacement for Jeter and Rodriguez. His defense has been his problem but he has been improving on that lately. Nunez had a nice diving stop today saving a double. Granderson, Gardner and Nunez all had a double. Jeter and Teixeira had a homerun and Jeter had a triple. The Yankees were 4-11 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base.

The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Teixeira two run homerun. Ichiro Suzuki hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning making it 2-1. The Yankees got the run right back in the bottom of the third inning on a Jeter solo homerun making it 3-1 Yankees. In the fourth inning the game got sloppy as the Mariners self destructed defensively. Martin reached on an error and Jones had an infield single but it should have been an out. Nunez had an RBI single, Gardner had an RBI single and Jeter reached on a fielders choice and went to second on the error. It was 6-1 at this point and then Granderson had a sacrifice fly and Teixeira had an RBI single. The Mariners really could have been out of the inning with no runs but at the very least with maybe just a couple. It isn’t hard to see after that inning why the team has lost 16 straight games. It is hard to believe they were a 500 team before this losing streak. Granderson hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning making it 9-1. Justin Smoak had an RBI single in the seventh to cut the lead to 9-2 and Brendan Ryan had an RBI double making it 9-3. The Yankees added another run in the eighth inning on an RBI triple by Jeter to finish the scoring at 10-3.

The Yankees have now won two straight games and are 20 games over 500 for the first time this season. The Yankees are 2 ½ games behind the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL east and lead the Angels in the wild card race by 6 ½ games. The Red Sox game is still going on, if they lose the Yankees will be two games behind if they win then three games behind. The Yankees and Mariners will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night with CC Sabathia taking the mound.

The Yankees defeat the A's but sweat it out

The New York Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics by the score of 7-5 today.  Bartolo Colon started and pitched very well.  He gave up two runs in the second inning but that was it as he cruised through the seventh after that.  The bullpen had it's struggles today and let a 6-2 games become close.  Dave Robertson looked really bad, he has been so good but he couldn't pitch through the eighth in this game and made the game 6-4.  Mariano Rivera came in and got out of the jam.  Rivera struggled in the ninth though giving up four straight singles and making a 7-4 game 7-5.  The game ended on a line drive double play to first base. 

Russell Martin had a good game with a couple of hits and a good defensive play on an out at the plate.  Curtis Granderson hit his 11th homerun off of a lefty which is the most in the majors for a lefty off of a lefty.  Eduardo Nunez had a couple of hits, Nunez has shown he can hit and run but he needs to get his defense up to par. 

The Yankees ended up winning two out of three and remain three games back of the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East.  They are 5 1/2 games ahead of the Anaheim Angels for the wild card and 6 1/2 ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.  They are seven games ahead of both of them in the loss column.  The Yankees will now take on the Seattle Mariners for three games starting tomorrow night.  Freddy Garcia will take on Jason Vargas.  The Mariners have lost 15 in a row. 

The Mets blow a late lead and lose series to the Marlins

The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins by the score of 5-4 on Sunday afternoon. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and he pitched pretty well but he only gave them five innings. Bobby Parnell attempting to get a save was not able to do so. David Wright continued his successful return to the lineup with three hits. Jose Reyes and Daniel Murphy each had two hits.

Gee pitched five innings giving up seven hits and three runs. He walked three and struck out three. Manny Acosta pitched two perfect innings striking out three and Parnell pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout. Parnell blew his first save attempt and suffered his second loss of the season.

Reyes had two hits, Justin Turner had a hit and Carlos Beltran had a hit and an RBI. Wright had three hits and two RBI, Murphy had two hits and Jason Pridie had a hit. Jason Bay had a hit and an RBI and Gee had a hit. Wright and Pridie each had a double and Wright had a homerun. The Mets were 1-9 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Reyes and Murphy each made an error.

Carlos Beltran had a sacrifice fly in the first inning to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Hanley Ramirez grounded out driving in a run to tie the game in the bottom of the first. In the second inning Mike Stanton hit a solo homerun and Emilio Bonifacio had an RBI single to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead. Bay had an RBI single in the sixth to make it 3-2. In the seventh Wright hit a two run homerun to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. In the eighth inning Logan Morrison hit a solo homerun to tie the game at four and John Buck had a pinch hit RBI double which ended up being the game winning hit. The Marlins won the game 5-4, that hit gave them the lead and they held on.

The Mets lost two out of three games to the Marlins. The Mets may not have the team you see today for much longer as the Beltran rumors start to heat up. They don’t want to drag it into next weekend so I would expect a deal by the middle of the week. The Mets record is 50-51 and although they have done a good job staying around 500 and fighting through all the injuries they aren’t realistic contenders. The Mets are in the middle of a tough stretch of 20 straight games without a day off. Pagan left the game with dehydration because of the heat. Gee was also affected by the heat laboring through his five innings. The Mets allowed five homerun over the last two games and that was what really hurt them. The Mets left 28 men on base over the three games including seven in this game. It wasn’t a good display of clutch hitting and another reason they lost two out of three. The Mets will now head to Cincinatti for three games.

Yankees news and notes after a loss to Oakland

Here are some Yankees news and notes following their loss to the Oakland Athletics today.  Thanks to the Lohud Yankees blog for providing some information.  If you don't know about the blog it is a great one that Chad Jennings of the Journal News runs. 

Less than 24 hours after putting up 17 runs and 17 hits, the Yankees posted three runs and nine hits. They went just 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11, including the potential tying run at third with two outs in the ninth. Rich Harden had his good changeup and held them to two runs and five hits over 5 1-3. And the A’s won 4-3 on a day when the heat index again hit 100.  I predicted that, whenever the Yankees, not just them though score a bunch of runs you know they will have trouble the next couple of games most likely. 


“You hold this lineup down to a couple of runs, you’re doing something,” Nick Swisher said. “So you’ve got to give credit where credit is due.”

Still, Swisher and Mark Teixeira agree this lineup misses Alex Rodriguez, expected to be out for about another month after knee surgery. The Yankees are 7-5 since Rodriguez went down. They are 5-5 since the All-Star break, alternating wins and losses in the last six games. And they are 9-9 in their last 18.

“He’s Alex Rodriguez,” Teixeira said. “I mean, this is one of the greatest players of all time. His presence, the fact that he has great at-bats, he makes the pitcher work, and then he’s going to drive in 100 runs, hit home runs and do everything he does. So obviously we miss him.”

Brandon Laird played the part of A-Rod in this game, making his first major-league start, at third. But the 23-year-old rookie went 0 for 3 and struck out with two outs and the bases packed in the fourth.

“It was my first time coming up with the bases loaded,” Laird said. “I felt pretty good. I was excited. But it just didn’t go my way. …

“It would’ve been nice to get a win. But I got my first start, got it under my belt, got it out of the way. Hopefully I have some more coming in the future.”

A.J. Burnett is now winless in his last four starts, but he pitched well enough to win in this one, charged with three runs, six hits, three walks and two hit batters while fanning six in 5 2/3. In 21 starts, he has given up three runs or less 13 times and four runs five times.  He is what he is, he is great at times, not so great other times but he takes the ball every fifth day and usually gives the Yankees a good chance to win.

“I thought he threw the ball extremely well,” Joe Girardi said.

Rafael Soriano’s rehab assignment will now shift after two outings with High-A Tampa. The reliever is scheduled to pitch today against Syracuse at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  He may pitch tomorrow also and then be ready to come back to the Yankees if everything is ok. 

David Robertson struck out his ninth consecutive batter with the bases loaded. After a scoreless ninth, he has allowed just two earned runs in his last 26 outings.  It is amazing how this guy gets in and out of trouble.

Hideki Matsui’s decisive homer off Boone Logan in the seventh snapped a 16 2-3-scoreless innings streak for the bullpen. Matsui has homered in four of his last five games here, all in a visiting uniform.

Derek Jeter went 3 for 4 with a walk and is batting .333 (21 for 63) in July after batting a combined .260 the first three months.  He isn't this good but you also didn't think he was as bad as he was hitting.  I would think he could still hit 280 or maybe even 290.  We will see but hopefully for the Yankees he is more like the hitter now then the first three months. 

Yankees lose to the Athletics

The New York Yankees lost to the Oakland Athletics by the score of 4-3 on Saturday afternoon. A.J. Burnett pitched pretty well but not good enough. He made a couple of mistakes and that is what cost him the game. The Yankees offense a day after scoring 17 struggled to do anything. They scored one late run and had the tying run at third in the ninth but left that runner stranded. Nick Swisher had a monster homerun in the game.
Burnett pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up six hits and three runs with three walks and six strikeouts. Cory Wade pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit, Boone Logan pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up a hit and two walks. He did strike out a batter. Burnett took the loss and saw his record fall to 8-8 and his ERA is at 4.21. Burnett has lost four straight games.

Brett Gardner had a walk, Derek Jeter had three hits and a walk and Curtis Granderson had a walk. Mark Teixiera had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had two hits and Swisher had a hit, RBI and two walks. Russell Martin had two hits and an RBI and Eduardo Nunez had two walks. Brandon Laird in his first start in the major leagues was 0-3, he left the bases loaded in one at-bat. Cano and Jeter had doubles and Swisher had a homerun. The Yankees were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Jeter and Gardner each had a stolen base and Granderson was caught stealing. Burnett did pick off a runner at first base.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Martin RBI single. The Athletics took a 2-1 lead in the third inning on a two run homerun by Josh Willingham. In the sixth inning Jemile Weeks had an RBI single to make it 3-1 Athletics. In the bottom of the sixth inning Swisher hit a mammoth solo homerun to cut the lead to 3-2. I think it was the longest homerun hit at the New Stadium, it hit the façade of the upper deck. In the seventh inning Hideki Matsui hit a solo homerun off of his former team. The Yankees trailing 4-2 in the ninth inning rallied but they fell just short. Gardner walked, Jeter singled. Granderson struck out and Gardner and Jeter stole second and third. The Yankees had second and third one out and Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly making it 4-3 and putting a runner on third with two outs. Cano made the final out stranding the tying run at third base.

The Athletics snapped the Yankees 11 game winning streak against them. The three game series is even at one game each now. The rubber game will be on Sunday afternoon with Bartolo Colon facing off against Gio Gonzalez. The Yankees record dropped to 58-40, they remain in second place in the AL east but first in the wild card chase. Burnett said “I can only control what I can control out there.” I can’t control the offense, the hitting, the defense, what happens after I lose the ball that’s all out of my hands. I just try to keep my team in the best I can.” Burnett said “This team never quits so you have to be ready for anything.” Girardi said that he felt Burnett threw the ball well and Swisher gave credit to Rich Harden the A’s starter.

Mets notes mostly dealing with Carlos Beltran

The trade deadline is quickly approaching and Carlos Beltran is the name you most hear when dealing with the Mets.  Is it possible they make some other minor moves, maybe so but he is the one guy that they will deal and get something in return for.  Buster Olney wondered today if Reed Johnson could be a trade target for some of the teams looking at Beltran.  The teams you most hear is the Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers.  I might be missing a team but those are the teams you hear about. 

Beltran has said he would prefer being traded to an NL team but I am not sure that will prevent GM Sandy Alderson from dealing him to the AL if he thinks it is the right move.  The Mets also don't want to drag this right to the deadline, so I would expect something to be done by the middle of this week.  I don't think this will go into the weekend because that is the deadline. 

Beltran has 24 hours to approve the trade so the deadline for him is really 3:59 on Saturday of next week.  Those are the main Mets notes, there isn't much else going on.  Ike Davis will wait a couple of more weeks before deciding on surgery.  If he does have surgery he will be out the rest of the season which I would expect. 

Wright has been back for two games and already has three hits, he also has RBI in both games.  Wright is a very good player and the Mets have needed him.  He makes their lineup much better and deeper.  If they had Ike Davis they would have a pretty good lineup, but they haven't had their regular lineup pretty much all year.