He had just walked Lo Duca and had nowhere to put Beltran, I was ok with him taking a strike and trying to get ahead. But how do you not protect the plate 0-2? Was he looking for a walk at 0-2? That I didn't get.
I think he's a headcase but I don't think it's specifically "pressure" that gets to him. He is definitely a "thrower" and not a pitcher and I think there was something to his struggles early on when Castro was in the game as opposed to Loduca. If he came in last night with a 2-1 lead in the 9th I think he shuts the door.
Junc, I love Jiggs but the guys been terrible. I don't think I've ever seen an announcer continually get names wrong like Jiggs has. Howie's a pretty good announcer, imo. I'm still not sold on this Jaffe guy though.
The problem with all closers is that they are all compared to Mariano Rivera. If you look at the numbers most above average to good closers blow 5-8 games a year, that is only magnified even more if one of them comes in the playoffs. Guys like Percival, Hoffman, Wagner etc. are what they are a notch below Mariano.
Eric Gagne is where it's at, 84 saves in a row--will never be topped. Once they sew his arm back on, he's deadly.
True, but even Mariano is a notch below Mariano because the media perception is that he's Mr. Perfect who never fails. The reality is he is directly responsible for the team being eliminated 3 times. 97, 01, 04. Is there anyone better? No. Is he bulletproof? No. He's choked too.
I'm sooo heart broken. The mets really hurt me, this one if going to sting for a long time. I dont see the Jets picking me up. Lets hope we can go into the bye week at 5-3.
Their is no scapegoat. Baseball is broken down to three elements. Hitting/Pitching/Coaching. We were out hit, out pitched and out coached, hence, we lose. I was there last night, my heart aches today. Endy for President.
I blame Wagner, he is just not a big time closer. A big time closer is in the game in the 9th inning of game 7 with the score tied.
Leaving Heilman in was the correct move. He's an excellent pitcher and was more then rested enough to pitch 2 last night. The bottomish part of the order was coming up for the Cards. The way the Mets were swinging the bat he had every reason to believe the game might go into extras and was trying to extend the innings with his "top" guys in there.
Yes it was the correct move but only because Wagner had been pitching horribly in the series. Rivera would have been pitching the 9th and 10th if it came down to that. Obviously you can't solely blame Wagner as there were others that didn't do there jobs but Wagner proved to me that hi is not a big time closer..
Bingo! That game had all the signs of going to extras, possibly for a long time. In that type of situation, you can't take out an excellent reliever like Heilman who can give you 3 GOOD innings to go to your closer. Willie made the right move leaving Heilman in there. Heilman just made one mistake. Mistakes happen. This one just stings alot.
Exactly. Bottom of the order coming up. Tie game, you have to extend Heilman maybe even three and save Wagner for the next couple of innings Overall, Willie had a good game. He left Perez in to go after Pujols in the 5th and got away with it...left Perez in to pitch in the 6th and got away with it (thanks to Endy). I thought Perez was going to give up a homer somewhere eventually. He didn't. He should have...but he didn't. Every Mets fan watching thought he was crazy for those moves, I'm sure. I don't even have a problem with the no-bunt. I wanted him to go for the win....and he ended up with Beltran up with the bases loaded so Mets fans can't complain. They got beat. Fair and square.
Just hearing his voice brings back so many memories of when the isles were good, I just love hearing his voice. Howie is a good announcer but his voice irritates me.
Mets won game after game 8-4; 9-5 or so it seemed. The mets were NOT going to win 3-1 games. Bases loaded with your one of your best hitters up -- get an gddamn hit and tie the game.
