Skip to main content

Mets Bullpen Regroups To Holds Off Rays

METS 5
RAYS 3

After a dreadful week in which the Mets played listless baseball in Baltimore thanks in part to leaks in the ship that is the so-called revamped bullpen, the Mets found a way to plug some of those leaks against the AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays.

For the second straight week, Fernando Nieve surprised the world with another fabulous pitching performance. Nieve went six innings, gave up three hits and a run to earn his second straight victory. Nieve is 2-0 with a 1.84 ERA as a replacement for the injured John Maine. Nieve has shown no fear going up against two of the better lineups in baseball, the Yankees and Rays. If he keeps it up, expect Nieve to take over the spot inhabited by the awful combo of Oliver Perez and Tim Redding.

The Mets got on the board early in this one to support the right hander. Brian Schneider, of all people, blasted a three-run home run into the bullpen in right center field to give New York a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

In the third inning, the Mets continued to pound Rays starter Andy Sonnenstein. Alex Cora and Daniel Murphy led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Two batters later, David Wright doubled to right to drive in Cora to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.

But as has been the case with the Mets over the past couple of weeks, the bullpen almost blew it. Bobby Parnell got ripped apart by the Rays when Jason Bartlett singled to left to move Gabe Gross to second; Duaner Navarro's sacrifice fly moved Gross to third to make things really complicated for the young Parnell. Finally, B.J. Upton doubled into the left field corner to drive in Gross and Bartlett to cut the Mets lead to 4-3. Upton advanced to third because Fernando Tatis was extremely slow in moving into the left field corner to retrieve the ball.

Then the Mets did something they never do lately: tack runs on! Ryan Church's single to center was good enough to drive in Carlos Beltran who was initially attempting a steal of third base. The extra run was enough for Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod bounced back from his horrible performance against the Orioles on Thursday, recording a 1,2,3 ninth against the Rays. Box Score.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jets, Dolphins and Patriots Playoff Breakdown

Here are the formuli that could get the Jets into and out of the playoff party this season: 1) If the Jets win against Seattle and Miami, they win the AFC East based on a better conference record (8-4) than the New England Patriots, even if New England wins out as well. 2) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins win out and finish at 11-5, the Jets would be 10-6, or 9-7, and probably out of the playoffs. Both New England and Miami would make the playoffs, with the Dolphins as a divison winner and the Patriots as a wild card. The Patriots make the postseason if Baltimore loses one of its final two games. 3) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins and Jets split, then the Patriots win the AFC East. The Jets will have to hope that they beat Miami to win that tie-breaker and, further, hope that they have a better conference record than the Baltimore Ravens in order to clinch the sixth seed. 4) If the Patriots and Ravens win out and the Dolphins and Jets split their final two games, then ...

Is Aaron Glenn in Danger of Getting Fired?

 According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio there is a "chance"   that Jets head coach Aaron Glenn could be fired at seasons end.  While Florio doesn't site any sources, the rumor has caught fire the last two days. The question is would it make sense? Let's examine this for a second?  Why it Makes Sense:  Glenn has not been great in his first year as Head Coach of this team. The talent has taken a major step backwards, granted two of those talented players were traded away in Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis and Quinnen Williams to Dallas.  The decision he and GM Darren Mougey made to give Justin Fields a two year deal proved to be a horrible mistake, and Glenn stuck with Fields for far too long before pulling the plug following the Jets loss to the Patriots on a Thursday night in mid November.  Glenn gave now former Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks too much power to run the defense, and the players couldn't stand Wilks. Reports indicated this week af...

Same Ol' Jets! Gang Green Dropped by Ravens

 RAVENS 24 - JETS 9  In short the opener to the 2022 season for the New York Jets was a complete and utter disaster.  A team that came into the season with the promise of better days ahead, a team that had taken on so many kudos in the off-season for what so many in the media had claimed was an impeccable off-season and draft, came out flat as a pancake when it mattered the most.  If this was a debut of what is to come for the Jets in 2022, you better start preparing your 2023 draft boards.  Sunday's 24-9 loss wasn't just a defeat at the hands of a better team, it was a total indictment of the Jets current predicament.  The Jets offensive line, which has been battered and beaten this summer with the losses of Meckhi Becton and Duane Brown looked like a sieve on Sunday. Joe Flacco, who is not exactly fleet of foot, was under siege all afternoon. The fact he came out of Sunday's game having been sacked only three times was a miracle in itself.  George Fa...