Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I Hope All the Billy Wagner Haters are Happy Now

Well, what can I say about this game? For all the grief and complaining about Billy Wagner, I guarantee that he saves this game and the Mets are in 1st place. So for all the people out there that hate Billy and think he's no better than Armando Benitez, shut the f_ck up and be careful what you wish for.

As I've said on this blog and on other blog's, Sanchez is not fit to be the closer. That was proven tonight beyond a shadow of doubt. He's not the same pitcher he was in '06, and he's been spotty at best this year. I've also said that I don't trust Feliciano and shudder when ever he comes into the game. If I was Santana, I wouldn't come out of the game unless I couldn't throw the ball at all. The pen has now blown 3 wins for him and he could have won this game. The problem is that everyone is worried about the $137 million dollar arm. I don't think 105 pitches was too many heading into the 9th inning, but then again I didn't see Johan fighting very hard to go back out.

I've also said time and again that Jose' Reyes is not the Messiah that Guinness and others proclaim him to be. Another lousy night at the plate, another costly mental error in the field, and Jimmy Rollins standing at 2nd base after driving in 2 more runs in the 9th inning. The difference between a good player and a great player is what they do when the chips are down. Rollins is a great player, Jose' is a good player. Rollins can draw to an inside straight, and all Jose' can do is draw a pair of deuces.

Some Mets fans are always clamoring for Chavez should start more games. Well, the bloom and petals fell off that rose and turned to fertilizer. He made three costly base running blunders, and then allowed Taguchi's routine fly ball to go over his head in the 9th inning to score the winning runs. He didn't run to 3rd base on an easy triple, and then he was thrown out at the plate twice, WITH NO OUTS !!!! I don't know who the bigger goat is this game. Chavez, Sanchez, or Feliciano?

The bottom line here is that you should be careful what you wish for. Too many people bash Billy Wagner and praise Sanchez and Chavez. After this game we all know who's the most valuable player on this team is. It's not Jose', Sanchez, or Chavez. It's Billy "The KID" Wagner. With him the Mets win games, without him they lose big leads in the 9th inning and look like the team from last September.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

First off, you can not guarantee that wagner does not blow this game. it was a horrible job by the bullpen, yes, but who is to say that wagner would not have done the same? This in no way validates your assertions about wagner, so settle down.

it is now up to your boyfriend maine to go out and pitch well tomorrow. Hopefully the mets will score some runs off of that bozo myers so when maine leaves the game in the 4th having thrown 120 pitches the bullpen will have an easy time of it.

Dan the Mets Fan said...

testy testy KJM. It must really pain you to see how much Billy means to this team.

Maine does indeed need to man up for this game. But these are the games were John tends to raise to the challenge. It's High Noon again and the bad guys are reeking havoc. Time for the Sheriff to do his job.

Dan the Mets Fan said...

I like Billy and I have nothing against Billy. He's just not the same pitcher he was when the Mets signed him. I stil like Billy in the closing role but if he has value and get us another reliever and an outfield bat, do it.

As for your other points, they don't make a whole lot of sense. First of all, Reyes played fine. In the 9th inning, he tried to get a double-play out of a groundball and would have succeeded if Victorino didn't slide into his foot. So I wouldn't be too hard on him. And Rollins couldn't hold Reyes' jock strap. Look at the numbers this year, not even close.

And Chavez getting thrown out at home was not his fault. He was relying on the 3rd base coach (mini-Sandy Alomar Jr?) both times and got thrown out. You can't blame him for those mistakes, they weren't his mistakes.

I blame this loss on Jerry Manuel and it's the first loss of the season that I do blame on him. First of all, why not let Santana pitch a complete game? Wasn't Jerry the guy who kept saying the pitchers should throw 120 pitches? It's not like he needed to be pinched hit because the Mets already had the lead.

Second, with the bases loaded in the 9th inning and nobody out, why were the Mets playing with the outfield drawn in?!? You only do this when it's a one-run game and you're the visiting team! If the outfield was at a normal defense (because one run doesn't matter) or a no-doubles defense, So Taguchi would have flied OUT instead of getting a double over Chavez's head.

Finally, we've seen Joe Smith carve up both the righties and lefties of the Phillie's offense so why only have him face one batter? He got the groundball he was supposed to get, why not let him finish out the inning?!?

Dan the Mets Fan said...

Funny thing is Guinness, the guys on SNY agree with me. They all said that if they had to choose between Jose' and Jimmy as the better Shortstop, they ALL SAID JIMMY!!!! Maz, Keith, Ron, Schien, Carlen, Gary. They all said that Jimmy has won a gold glove and is the MVP from last season. Jimmy comes thru when the game is on the line, Jose' is still learning how to do that

Anonymous said...

Well Dan, you were spot on about Wagner, kudos for you. You were only half-right about Reyes though. He did not draw an inside straight, nope, tonight he drew the inside-straight-flush! right into the bullpen!

Dan the Mets Fan said...

LOL LOL Thanks. Maybe Jose' was tired of Rollins stealing the spotlight in Shea. LOL