The New York Mets lose a close one in Miami to the Marlins

The New York Mets were defeated by the Miami Marlins by the score of 3-2 on Monday night. The game took place at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. Jeurys Familia started for the Mets and was very wild but was able to limit the damage. The Mets bullpen wasn’t very good and their offense was led by David Wright. Wade LeBlanc pitched ok and their bullpen was pretty good. The Marlins offense was led by Gorkys Hernandez. 
Familia pitched four innings giving up one hit an no runs with six walks and three strikeouts. Elvin Ramirez pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk, Manny Acosta pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and Jon Rauch pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and a strikeout. Ramon Ramirez lost his fourth game of the season pitching an inning giving up three hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout. LeBlanc pitched five innings giving up seven hits and an unearned run with two walks and two strikeouts. Tom Koehler pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and a run, Dan Jennings pitched to one batter and got him out and Ryan Webb pitched an inning giving up a hit. Heath Bell won his fourth game of the season pitching an inning giving up a walk and striking out one, Steve Cishek saved his 15^th game of the season pitching a perfect inning.

Daniel Murphy had two hits, Wright had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Lucas Duda had a hit. Ike Davis had a hit, Kelly Shoppach had a hit and drew a walk and Jason Bay had two hits. Andres Torres had a hit and drew a walk. Mike Baxter had a hit and an RBI, Shoppach and Baxter each hit a double. The Mets were 5-15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.

Bryan Petersen drew two walks, Hernandez had three hits and drew a walk and Jose Reyes had an RBI and drew a walk. Mike Stanton had a hit and an RBI, Carlos Lee had a hit and drew two walks and Rob Brantly had a hit and an RBI. Donovan Solano drew a walk, Gil Velazquez had a hit and Scott Cousins drew a walk. Austin Kearns drew a walk, Gregg Dobbs had a hit. Brantly hit a double, Hernandez hit a triple and Stanton hit a homerun. The Marlins were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Petersen and Hernandez were caught stealing. Velazquez committed an error and Petersen had an outfield assist.

In the fifth Wright hit an RBI single giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. Baxter hit an RBI double in the sixth to make it 2-0 Mets. Stanton hit a solo homerun in the sixth to make it a 2-1 game. Reyes hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to tie the game at two. The Marlins took a 3-2 lead in the eighth on a Brantly RBI double. 3-2 would be the final score of the game as the Marlins held on to the lead.

The Mets record fell to 73-87 and the Marlins record improved to 68-92. The Mets and Marlins are both playing out the string and will play two more games before they are off for the off-season.

Mets lose to the Phillies and fail to sweep them

The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 9-4 on Sunday afternoon. The Phillies had lost eight games in a row coming into this one. The Mets swept a doubleheader from them on Saturday. Mike Pelfrey made the start and was awful and D.J. Carrasco came in to relieve him and was bad also. The rest of the bullpen did a good job. The offense was led by Jason Pridie and also saw Jose Reyes and Justin Turner have good days.
Pelfrey pitched three innings giving up nine hits and five runs. He walked one and struck out one. Pelfrey took the loss and he finished the season with a disappointing 7-13 record. Carrasco pitched one inning giving up four hits and four runs with a walk and two strikeouts. Dale Thayer pitched two innings giving up three hits and struck out two, Ryota Igarashi pitched one inning giving up one hit and one walk and Pedro Beato pitched one inning giving up a hit. Josh Stinson pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one batter.

Reyes had two hits, Ruben Tejada had a hit and Willie Harris had a walk. Nick Evans had a walk, Turner had two hits and an RBI and Mike Baxter had a walk. Ronny Paulino had a hit and two RBI, Pridie had three hits and a walk and Valentino Pascucci had a hit and an RBI. Turner had two doubles and Pridie had one. Pridie also had a triple and Paulino hit a homerun. The Mets were 2-15 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Baxter had an outfield assist.

In the first inning Hunter Pence hit a two run homerun to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. Raul Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. In the second Chase Utley hit an RBI single to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead. Placido Polanco hit an RBI double in the third to extend the lead to 5-0 Phillies. In the fourth Pence hit an RBI single, Ryan Howard had an RBI single and Carlos Ruiz hit a two run single to make it 9-0. In the seventh Paulino hit a two run homerun and Pascucci hit an RBI single to make it 9-3. In the eighth Turner hit an RBI double to make it 9-4 and that would be the final score.

The Mets won two out of three from the Phillies in this series. The Phillies clinched over a week ago and lost eight in a row since then. They haven’t looked like they wanted to play until today. The Mets are continuing to go hard and are making manager Terry Collins look good. The Mets will finish the season with three home games against the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets will finish under 500 for the season. They stayed in it for so long this season but then feel apart at the end of the season. The Mets seem like they are headed in the right direction though and their fans should have something to look forward to next season.

Welcome to New York-Jason Bay

The New York Mets took center stage today as they introduced Jason Bay in a 11AM press conference. He will wear #44, he is a solid addition to the team and will be a better left fielder then what they had last season and in at least a couple of years. He will provide power to a lineup that is sorely needing it. The thing about the Mets is their lineup will be better just by getting guys back healthy. They really need pitching but I don't want to get on them for this signing because it was a good one and Bay played well in Boston so he is able to handle the pressure and he seems to be a clutch player. Here are some quotes courtesy of Matthew Cerrone of the wonderful Mets blog metsblog.com It appears that Jason Bay settled on the Mets by Christmas it just took time with the holidays and all to get everyone together. I don't think he had any reservations about New York like a lot of people assumed. It is intersting though that he said he wanted to come to a winner, Boston was in the postseason last season and the Mets were terrible. I never believe what these players say, it is usually about the money but they will never admit that.

Yanks win 5th in row

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles tonight by the score of 9-6. A.J. Burnett got the start and had nothing as he went 5 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs. He hasn't won a game in over a month and it may be cause for concern now. He didn't pitch bad his last time out but tonight he just had nothing going. I would think now is the time for A.J. to get it together so he can head into the postseason with confidence, I would think he would be the game 2 starter but maybe he will be the game 3 starter the way it is going. The Yankees offense bailed him out with 5 homruns, 2 of them off of the bat of Jorge Posada who is 1 homerun shy of putting the Yankees at 7 players with 20 or more homeruns. Robinson Cano had 2 hits as he continues to demolish Baltimore pitching this season. He is batting I believe it is 481 against them now this season. The only guy in the lineup without a hit was Mark Teixeira. A-rod had a rbi single, Nick Swisher had a homerun and so did Eric Hinske in fact they went back to back. Melky Cabrera had 2 hits as he has been showing signs of life lately which is a good sign, Brett Gardner should be back somewhat soon but we will see what he can do when he comes back. The Yankees will be going for the sweep tomorrow night with their ace CC Sabathia on the mound. The Yankees are now 36 games over 500, they haven't been this far over 500 since they finished the 2004 season 40 games over. The Yankees have 30 games left this season, could they win 16 more to get to 100, it is looking pretty good but the only thing that is going to matter now is winning in the postseason and getting that 27th championship.

Blog Contest

Here is a picture of the book that I will be giving away to one lucky winner. It really is a great book for an individual or the whole family, it is a collectible but is a coloring book with puzzles, connect the dots and other fun games. If you are a fan of the Yankees this is a great book to have especially for the children. The illustrations are really dead on with all the new players and old ones also, you can read, color, play games, puzzles, trivia and more. I would urge everyone to check it out more at www.YankeesColoringBook.com and you can also look up the company at www.HawksNestPublishing.com If you are interested in the book you can order it through these websites, so I would urge everyone to get in on trying to win this book and if not then go ahead and check it out on these websites and order it for yourself or others in the family.

The way this contest is going to work is I need everyone to email me at Gmarchesej@aol.com, the first person to answer these questions correctly will win the book.

I want to know who was the last Yankee to hit for the cycle??

Who holds the record for most hits in a season by a Yankee??

Who had the lowest era in a season for the Yankees??

I think these are pretty tough questions but I am not asking the particulars just the names so go ahead get to work and send me the emails and the first one I see answer it correctly will be mailed the book. Good luck, I probably won't open the emails to tomorrow but hopefully you will find out then if you won.

Things getting feisty tonight

We had Brian Bruney talking again and now K-rod fired back saying "He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job." "If he was a big guy I would probably pay attention, If he was someone big like Mariano, I'd respect that. But if I don't know who he is I don't listen." "Instead of sending a message through the paper next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don't be sending a message through the media. I don't even know who that guy is, somewhere in Double A? I believe he hasn't even pitched one full season, he is always on the DL and that is all I know right now." He say's he doesn't know who he is but knows that he is always hurt that is pretty funny to me. There are others who don't like K-rod including MO but I don't know what got Bruney started on this and why it would matter. Brad Penny also reacted tonight to Joe Girardi saying he intentionally threw at A-rod the other night. "I don't give two f---s what Joe Girardi says. I am coming inside, I don't care. Anybody can say that, we can say it about the time they hit our guys. I am just trying to pitch inside. Maybe he should worry about managing and let the umpire crew do their job." Wow it seems the Yankees are fired up and got others fired up, maybe this will lead to the Yankees playing well again I hope or could this all be nonsense and distract them, only time will tell.

Yanks/Cleveland recap

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by a score of 3-1 tonight. The Yankees now sit alone in first place for the first time since the last game of the 2006 season. Andy Pettitte started and gutted out 5 plus innings, leaving in the sixth with what is being called lower back stiffness. Alfredo Aceves came in and got out of a bases loaded no out jam by allowing only one run and then pitching 2 more scoreless innings. Mo came in and got the save in the ninth. Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera now have the most win/save combo in major league history with 59. Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersely previously held the record. Derek Jeter h.ad a couple of hits and so did Jorge Posda in his return. Mark Teixeira had a rbi groundout and Nick Swisher had a sac fly. A-rod had a hit, the Yankees will take on Cleveland tomorrow night with CC Sabathia on the mound in his return to Cleveland.

Yanks slide continue

I don't know what to say but MO giving up back to back homeruns looks like a lost season to me. It is too early to say that but in this division they better wake up right now and stop this nonsense. The Yankees are a mess right now, when they hit they don't pitch and vice versa. I still think someone has to pay and it should be the hitting coach as the offense is too inconsistent. Dave Eiland's job isn't safe either as the pitching is performing the way it should, I also now question the medical staff or training staff whoever but someone has to pay for all the injuries the last two years. The Yankees are decimated with these injuries, now they have no catcher at least A-rod is back tonight maybe that will jolt the team. I know the stats say they are 22-30 without him last year and this year so that must mean something because with him they have a winning record, so lets hope they go on a win streak and even he will be a hero and have the confidence and just go nuts.

Mets swept away in St Louis

The Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals today by the score of 12-8 getting swept in the three game series. The Mets are now 6-9 on the season. The bullpen has been good but the problem for the Mets is after Johan Santana they don't have any pitching. John Maine hasn't seemed to get past his shoulder problems, Oliver Perez is well Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey is already hurt. Livan Hernandez was pitching pretty well until getting shelled today. The Mets also have a problem hitting in the clutch and doing little things. I like Jerry Manuel but it just seems this core of players doesn't get it, they still don't always hustle and they just don't seem to do the little things to win games. This team more then any other needed to get off to a good start after the last two years. The season is young and there is a long way to go but there is reason to be concerned with this team, they can get healthy now on the Washington Nationals but lets see what happens.

New York Mets opening series

I don't want to forget about the New York Mets, they open up the season tomorrow at 2:00pm in Cincinatti. The pitching matchups for the series are Johan Santana vs Aaron Harang tomorrow. Game 2 will be Mike Pelfrey vs Edison Volquez and Game 3 will be Oliver Perez vs Micah Owings. The Mets are off Tuesday and then play Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon. The games will be on SNY and WFAN radio 660am in NY.

Baseball 2009 almost here

The baseball season is set to kick off tonight with the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies hosting the Atlanta Braves. Brett Myers will get the start going against Derek Lowe. The game will be on ESPN sunday night baseball. It will be interesting to see how the MLB network will be during the season, I think they have done a great job so far and it should be fun to watch. They will have the nightly show beginning at 7 and not ending till the last pitch of the last game. They will have live look ins, highlights, analysis. The New York Yankees are in Baltimore now taking batting practice and working out. You can see some pictures over on Peter Abrahams blog http://yankees.lhblogs.com Joba Chamberlain made his final start of the spring down in Tampa pitching for AA Trenton against AAA Scranton. He threw 75 pitches going 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits. He was so good though that he faced 5 additional batters with 3 outs. He started out giving up 2 hits and a walk but then retired 16 straight, he had 5 strikeouts. He said he was working on fastball command and his changeup. He said it was good, one of his best days as far as consistency goes, He said he is excited to get going.

Yankees Recap

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox tonight in Tampa 7-1. AJ Burnett got the start and was good pitching 5 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits with 4k. MO pitched a 1-2-3 inning on 16 pitches. Jon Albaladejo faced one batter and got him out on a groundball. Damaso Marte pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up 1 hit, 1 walk and 1k, 0 runs and Edwar Ramirez closed it out with 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit and 2k. Austin Jackson hit a grandslam in the 8th inning when the Yankees scored 6 times. Tim Wakefield had the knuckler really knuckling and they couldn't get much going off of him. Johnny Damon was 1-3 with a rbi, Angel Berroa was 1-1 with a rbi. Derek Jeter was 1-2 with a walk, Hideki Matsui had a rbi. Robinson Cano was 1-3. Brett Gardner had a triple and run scored with his speed as he beat a throw to home and Melky Cabrera had a walk in his only at bat. Ramiro Pena who is in the mix for the utility role was 1-1. The Yankees have an off day tomorrow and will be back at it on Thursday when they face the Phillies with Joba Chamberlain on the mound. Austin Jackson was reassigned to minor league camp after the game along with Eduardo Nunez, Juan Miranda was optioned down. The Yankees are down to 39 players in camp now. Thanks to Peter Abraham for having that information on his blog and go check him out at http://yankees.lhblogs.com to see comments about Austin Jackson as Reggie Jackson and Joe Girardi had high praise for him. He ended up hitting 333 with 3 hr, 10 rbi a double and triple. He will be the AAA cf and if he does well we could see him in September, I will be watching him closely all season.

Arod Today

Here is Arod with Joba and Arod sure has the support of the fans out at George M. Steinbrenner Field. He really seems to be enjoying himself out on the field, but this story won't go away, hopefully he will just pour everything in to the baseball field and have a great season.

Jeter speaks again

Derek Jeter reiterated today that he and all of the team supports Arod. He spoke to the press after working out at the Yankees minor league complex. He also stated that Mike Borzello the former BP catcher used to joke with Arod about Afraud and that no one ever said it to him other then joking around. Derek did say this about the upcoming season. "I'll tell you what, i'm probably as excited about this season as any season in a long time." "We've made some great additions. They said they wanted to improve our pitching staff and we got arguably two of the best in the game. We added Tex, they always talk about how great of a hitter he is, he's an all around player." "It boils down to everybody staying healthy,especially in our division with so many good teams, Im pretty excited about this year."

The Captain Speaks

We have all been waiting for the New York Yankees captain to speak and he finally has. Derek Jeter did an interview with SI.com's Jimmy Traina today. The interview will run in tomorrows edition of Hot Clicks. Here is some of what he had to say. "I'm just curious as to why people keep asking the same questions over and over. We've been down this road before. Alex is a teammate. I support him. Our whole team is behind him. We all support him and we are looking forward to a new season. To be quite honest with you, it's old hearing the same questions. It's something that has been addressed before in the past. Everyones moved beyond it and it really doesn't need to be addressed again." He also had this to say about the Yankees high expectations for 2009- "I don't know how you can say more pressure because every year we are expected to win a championship. That's the bottom line. So I don't know how you can have more pressure then winning it all, you know what I mean? So every year it's the same expectations for us and that won't change." You can check extra mustard on si.com tomorrow for the entire interview. I am happy with this statement, it is what he needed to do, say he supports Arod and so does everyone else and that they have to get ready for the season and trying to win a title and that is the last of the Torre book for the team. I hope he did speak about the Book, but we will see what else he said tomorrow.