For the record, the slugging percentages (as of this morning) of the starting 8 from last night’s Mets lineup:
| PLAYER | Slg |
|---|---|
| Reyes | .447 |
| Lo Duca | .391 |
| Beltran | .614 |
| Delgado | .538 |
| Wright | .575 |
| Valentin | .492 |
| Nady | .509 |
| Milledge | .455 |
Note that Lo Duca (.324) also has the lowest OBP in that lineup other than Milledge; it’s a fair question what Lo Duca, who is slow to boot, is doing in the number 2 slot. Yes, he does some of the “little things,” and the Mets have had something of a tradition in recent years of sticking their weakest hitter in the #2 hole, but there’s really no reason to keep him up that high.
The short-term decision the Mets need to make is on Milledge when Floyd returns, but I have no problem with sending Milledge back for a few months, as long as he’s back on the roster for the postseason. Right now, he’s still about even with Nady – both have power and a mostly good glove, and neither gets on base much. Milledge needs to play every day, so Norfolk makes sense.
(As to the second base situation, I’ve gotta run but I’ll get to that later).
Wish I still lived in Virginia Beach to watch Milledge play. Seems each day brings a new highlight of his throwing arm. He nailed a runner at second yesterday and it wasn’t even close. The real benefit of an arm like that isn’t the guys he throws out but rather the runners he discourages from taking the extra base. As word travels (and it is already) first base coaches will be more tentative at sending runners turning doubles into singles.
I think that if they could get him enough playing time (2 or 3 starts a week), Milledge might benefit from staying up, rather than returning to Norfolk. He seems like he needs more development in terms of maturity and professionalism than in terms of baseball skills, and being around the likes of Franco, Floyd, and Delgado on a daily basis could only help.
I really wanna keep Milledge up with the big boys. I just love the Beltran/Milledge/Chavez outfield.
* * *
Man, it’s weird to be posting here about the Mets for the first time in a month, especially aftre the way the Mets’ve performed lately! I think Milledge was still at Norfolk when the comments went down.
More on these and other Met topics on my Met post today (not to mention a month’s worth of back-posts — my gift to all . . . for free!): Click on My name.
So what should we have as stakes for next week?
Looks like
Lester v. Soler
Beckett v. Pedro (a scalper’s dream come true)
Schilling v. Glavine (see above though not as much)
I doubt the Sox will give the Mets a look at Kyle Snyder who is currently their 5th starter (although we just traded for Jason Johnson and with an off day Thursday and Monday I think they will go with a 4 man rotation) and while the Mets have an open day it would seem to behoove them to stay with their current 5 man plan.
I think it will be great baseball and great theatre. Pedro will no doubt get a very warm welcome back. Boston loves him and always will. I wouldn’t miss that game for the world and I would love to be in Fenway to see it.
Two promising youngsters starting, 4 war horses in the last 2, tons of huge names, guys having great years, in short two heavy weights going at it. This may be the best match up of the season.
Thoughts on this?
Hey remember when people were booing Carlos Beltran? With Pujols out he’s probably the favourite for NL MVP isn’t he? He’s currently second in win shares behind only Phat Albert (courtesy Hardball Times).
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Wagner.
Wagenr can make anyone crazy. However, I think we are all spoiled by Mariano. ANd maybe Gossage (however, even Goose had his bad monents, generally when someone named Brett was at the plate).
Remember when everyone marvelled that Eckersly never blew a save? It was unique. Or when Mariano blows one, it’s front page news? Or how all the comments when Nen walked the ballpark, then got it (so called) done?
I’ll let others do the research, I’m only wondering, just how atypical is Wagner? Seems to me that if the modern idea of a close is Wagner, Nen, Benitez, and others like them, and they all seem to do the same, then maybe that is the norm? Let’s face it, Mariano Rivera is one of the best pitchers we have all ever seen. Maybe every team wanting one is like every team wanting Willie Mays. Nice if you can get it.
Wagner’s on course to save 31 and blow 9. That is probably a bit below average. I think it is the case of high salary, high expectations and the SPECTACULAR nature of his blown saves. It’s not like he blows the ones you think he might, it’s the ones like last night where he gets 2 easy outs and has an 0-2 count and then disintegrates. Those types make the blown save more painful and obvious because it seems like the game is in hand.