Tom Seaver's Blog

One of the greatest pitchers ever has now started his own weblog. You can check it out here.

Not Quite a Sweep

If there was one game that I thought the Mets would surely lose, it was yesterdays. Ishii vs. Willis wasn't a matchup I was looking forward to, but the Mets and Ishii came through to win their fourth straight. Today would have been the second most likely game for them to lose, and they did, running into a good outing by Josh Beckett and a timely homerun by Carlos Delgado.

Mike Cameron got a hit, and has one now in five straight games. Probably the most surprising part of this game was Jose Reyes walking twice. He now has eight, and once again has more walks then triples.

The loss puts the Mets three games behind both Atlanta and the Marlins. They have a razor thing half game lead over the Nationals. The Mets have the day off tomorrow as they come home for a three game series over the Diamondbacks.

Pedro Edges Moehler in Pitchers Dual

It only too the teams 2:22 to fly through this win. Both teams had five hits, but the Mets were the team to put a runner across the plate as they edged the Marlins 1-0. Mike Cameron and Cliff Floyd hit back to back doubles to score their single run. In sort of an odd twist, four of the Mets five hits were doubles.

Pedro Martinez was awesome as usual. Eight innings, five hits, no runs and ten strikeouts. Looper pitched a perfect ninth to earn his eleventh save of the season.

Mets Get Back on Winning Track

This was a big game against a pitcher we should have beat. The bats and Kris Benson really came through as the Mets hammered the now tied for the division leaders. The two hot bats had big games, with Cameron going three for five with two doubles and three RBIs. David Wright was two for four with two RBIs, and Jose Reyes tripled twice and drove in three.

Jose Reyes has more triples (7) then walks (6). I'll have to check if a qualifying hitter has ever finished the season that way.

Kris Benson pitched pretty well, going six innings. He gave up five hits and three runs.

The Nationals lost, so with a win and a Washington loss the Mets can creep back up into the three spot. There's still a lot of baseball to play, and the Mets have to just keep on winning.

Back to Back Bagels

The Mets haven't scored a run since Monday when they lost the series opener to the Braves. They need to change that, or they could find themselves in a hole that they'll find extremely difficult to get out of. The five game deficit they face isn't insurmountable, but the fact that they have three teams ahead of them makes each game pretty important.

The Mets have a huge four game series down in Miami beginning tonight. Kris Benson is throwing against a rookie, and Pedro throws tomorrow against Brian Moehler, so these are two games we really should win. Saturday's game is one I'd be willing to give up (Ishii vs. Dontrelle Willis), and Sunday's will be a good matchup with Glavine throwing against Josh Beckett.

Carlos Beltran came in to pinch hit yesterday. I know we were only down by three runs, but in the event Carlos finds himself on the DL, this will cost us four games because we could have made the move retroactive to Sunday. I'm hoping he's in the lineup tonight, but we'll see

Go Mets!!

Braves Set to Sweep Mets

The Mets are three innings away from being swept by the Braves and losing their fourth straight. If the Phillies beat the Marlins, it will be little consolation. One the one hand we won't lose a game to first place but on the other hand, we will get closer to dropping into the cellar.

To say this upcoming series with the Marlins is huge would be a major understatement. Anything less then a split will be catastrophic. While it would be too much to ask to sweep them, I'd take three out of four and go into Memorial Day with a smile on my face. Whether Beltran is ready will be a major indicator as to how well the series goes.

Mike Cameron continues to be the man. Since coming off the DL, he's been one of the Mets best hitters along with David Wright. Anytime you have an OPS over 1.100, it's something to be extremely happy about. Of course Cameron is a lifetime sub-.250 hitter, so we'll see how long it lasts.

Ishii Remains Winless in Loss to the Braves

This is a pretty big series, and the Mets did not get off to a good start. Kaz Ishii gave up seven runs in four innings without a single strikeout. The big blast was a three run homer by Marcus Giles in the fourth.

Mike Cameron remained red hot as he went three for four and nailed his fifth homer of the season. He's also been able to roam his old stomping ground as Carlos Beltran is still nursing the quad injury. David Wright also have a big game, going three for three with his eighth homer of the season.

Tonight it's Glavine vs. Hudson. Hopefully the Mets can walk away with a win.

Mets Player Retrospective - Tom Seaver 1967

Signed as an amateur free agent in 1966, Tom Seaver didn't waste much time making an impact on the National League. While he'd leave the game without getting a decision, the Mets won their second game of the season 3-2. He'd have to wait a week later to earn his first career victory, and on April 20, Seaver held the Cubs to a single run.

He'd finish the season with a 16-13 record which doesn't look impressive until you consider the team as a whole only won 61 games. In the 34 games that Seaver started, the Mets would go on to win 20 of those games, or nearly a third of their overall wins. It was all good enough to earn Seaver the Rookie of the Year award, despite an equally impressive season by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dick Hughes. And it was also good enough to earn him a spot on his first of twelve All Star teams. In the 1967 game, he pitched the fifteenth inning to earn a save for the National League in their 2-1 win.

His 16 wins were good for fifth in the league, and his 180 strikeouts put him in eighth place. Most impressive was his durability. He finished over half the games he started (18), a total exceeded only by Fergie Jenkins (20).

Here's a run down of the Tom Seavers's 1967 statistics, courtesy of Lee Sinins Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia.

Wins 16
Losses 13
Games 35
Games Started 34
Complete Games 18
Innings Pitched 251
Hits 224
Runs 85
Earned Runs 77
Walks 78
Strikeouts 170
ERA 2.76
Runs Saved Above Average 18
Shutouts 2
H/9 8.03
BR/9 11.01
SO/9 6.10
BB/9 2.80
SO/BB 2.18
Neutral Wins 17
Neutral Losses 12

Binghamton Mets AA Report

Binghamton's three game winning streak was snapped yesterday with a loss to the Altoona Curve. The loss put the Mets a single game below .500, and they trail the first place Portland Sea Dogs by 3 1/2 games in a tight Northern Division race that where first and last are seperate by only 6 1/2 games. The Mets will have a chance to shave that lead as they're playing Portland as I write this. They have a four game series there.

Shortstop Chase Lambin has been a tear all season. Yesterday he went one for four, but he's hitting .339/.392/.661. He leads the team in homers with eight, and more then half of his hits have been for extra bases. Third basemen David Bacani has also been very effective for the Mets. He leads the team in OBP (.429) and has a nice 17/14 strikout to walk ratio. He's even thrown an inning of relief for the squad.

On the pitching side, Floyd Bannister's son, Brian, has been lights out. He's 6-1 with 51 innings under his belt. He has a miniscule 1.94 ERA and 43 strikeouts. I see a promotion coming soon for the 24 year old. Yusmeiro Petit has also thrown well. He has 40 strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings with a 3.13 ERA. He only has 5 walks, so he's had pretty good command to date.

Mets Lose Without Carlos Beltran in the Lineup

It's tough losing when Pedro takes the mound. He pitched very well (seven innings, one run, four hits) but the pen let this one slide away in the eighth. Despite the bumped and swollen elbow, Derek Jeter was used as a pinch runner.

Cliff Floyd hit his twelth homer of the season and the Mets scattered eight hits against Carl Pavano and the Yankees bullpen. Both Carlos Beltran and Kaz Matsui were out of the lineup with injuries and are listed as day to day.

The Marlins beat the Devil Rays, so the loss puts the Mets three games back. Unfortunately the Nationals won today, and that pushed the Mets into fourth place.

Norfolk Tides AAA Report

It's been an up and down week for the Norfolk Tides. After losing two straight to the Indianpolis Indians, they won four in a row against the Richmond Braves, only to get hammered yesterday by the Pawtucket Red Sox. Norfolk stands in first and has a nice four game cushion in the International League South.

Veteran Brian Daubach, who only three years ago hit 20 homers for the Boston Red Sox, has been tearing it up for the Tides. He sports an impressive .373/.438/.672 line. Equally as impressive has been infield prospect Jeff Keppinger. Primarily a second basemen, Keppinger has also seen some time at third base, and is hitting at a .368/412/.503 clip in 163 at bats.

On the pitching side, Juan Padilla has been the most impressive. Used primarily as a reliever, Padilla is 2-0 with a 0.94 ERA and a 0.837 WHIP. Most importantly, he has a rock solid 27/4 strikeout to walk ratio. He's saved two games, and has yet to give up a homer in 28 2/3 innings.

The Tides have three more games with Pawtucket before moving on the Ottawa Lynx come to town.

Mets Top Randy Johnson Behind Big Games By Kris Benson and Jose Reyes

It's always nice to see your team get a win against one of the best starters to ever take the mound. The Mets got on the board early with a two run single by Jose Reyes and never looked back. Reyes ended up having a huge game, going three for four with a triple and four RBIs.

Kris Benson held the Yankees in check by pitching six shutout innings. He even plunked Derek Jeter in the elbow that forced him to leave the game.

In probably one of the funnier parts of the game, Dae-Sung Woo got his first career hit off of none other then the Big Unit. He doubled and eventually scored on a Jose Reyes bunt/delayed squeeze play. Jorge Posada fielded the bunt, and got Reyes at first, but didn't get back to cover home, so Woo scored.

The rubber game is this afternoon. The downer to interleague play is the division leading Marlins have a much easier Tampa team to contend with, while the Braves get the Red Sox and we get the Yankees.

Mets Drop First Interleague Game

Victor Zambrano was his typical self. He threw 5 1/3 innings, and gave up more walks (6) then hits (4). He did keep the ball down (no homers and 6/6 ground ball to fly ball ratio) and kept the Mets in the game. It was the pen that failed them. Roberto Hernandez had thrown pretty well this season, but gave three hits, a walk and two runs while getting only two outs.

Mike Cameron hit in his sixth straight game and drew a walk as well. The Mets only managed five hits off of starter Kevin Brown and four relievers. This afternoon it's Benson vs. Randy Johnson. Be nice to get a win, but this might not be the matchup to do it.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. Here I'll analyze the Mets, and throw in a little bit of history. I hope you'll come back often. Tom Seaver is my favorite Met of all time, hence the name.

Over time, I'll cover the 2005 Mets, along with doing some historic player retrospectives. I'll start with Tom Seaver of course. In addition, I've been having some serious discussions with some other team specific sites that mix history and current day content. Brian at Tigerblog (he also does work at Reds Cutting Edge and Hardball Times) has done historical diaries for past Tiger teams the last couple of years and I thought this would be a really cool thing to do for the 1986 Mets next year since it's their anniversary. I've been picking his brain, along with Jay Maxwell at Black Sox Blog, who does season lookbacks, and that's how I came up with the historic player retrospective idea.

Any constructive feedback is appreciate. Thanks for stopping by.