N.Y. Mets Franchise

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Game 8 RFK Stadium
Washington Nationals(3-5) vs. New York Mets(5-2)
Steve Trachsel vs. Pedro Astacio(0-1)

Met pitcher Steve Trachsel notched his first win of the season, when he scattered eight Washington hits over 8 1/3 innings cruising to a 5-1 win. Billy Wagner earned his fourth save.


Game 9 RFK Stadium
Washington Nationals(3-6) vs. New York Mets(6-2)
Tony Armas Jr.(1-0) vs. Victor Zambrano(1-0)

The Mets continued their hot hitting in the rubber game of the three game series and Victor Zambrano pitched eight solid innings giving up 6 hits, giving up 2 runs and striking out 5 for the win.
Jose Vidro went 2-3 with a homerun in the loss.

League Notes
Injuries
NYM Jeff Keppinger(AAA) 6+ months...dislocated ankle!(ouch!)
LAD Nomar Garciaparra 2-3 weeks...hairline fracture wrist
CHI(AL) Ricky Gutierrez 1-6 days...strained calf
DET Josh Phelps 1-6 days.....knee sprain
KC Mike Sweeney 1-6 days....lower back pain
MIN Matt Guerrier 1-6 days inflamed nerve
MIN Jason Kubel(AAA) 6+months....dislocated shoulder

No trade rumors
No one on the trading block

M.K.
Knight165

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Game 10 Shea Stadium
New York Mets(7-2) vs. Milwaukee Brewers(4-5)
Brian Bannister vs. Rick Helling(1-0)

If New York Mets rookie pitcher Brian Bannister had any butterflies about his first major league start today, it did not show. Right out of the gates Bannister kept the Milwaukee hitters off balance and kept his mistakes to a minimum. The Brewers have some impressive hitters in the lineup and Bannister faced them with the stuff of a veteren pitcher.
Milwaukee journeyman Rick Helling did his best to keep the Mets from jumping out to an early lead and through the first three innings he did an admirable job. The Mets managed to scatter a few hits and draw two walks...but no damage was done. The Mets finally got to him in the third inning and scored three runs.
In the fourth inning it looked like the Met rookie might show some chinks in his armor...but settled down after giving up a MONSTEROUS homerun to Prince Fielder.
In the sixth inning with one man out, Helling walked Mets second baseman Kaz Matsui. Milwaukee pitching coach Mike Maddux knows the sign of a weakining pitcher and manager Ned Yost agreed. RHPJose Cappellan was brought in to finish the sixth and pitch a scoreless seventh.
Mets manager M. Knight let his rookie have his seven innings and 98 pitches and called on his pen to finish it out.
Brian Bannister(W1-0) 7.0IP.....8H....1R(1ER).....2BB.....6K
Rick Helling(L1-1) 5.1 IP......6H......3R(3ER).....3BB.....3K


Game 11 Shea Stadium
New York Mets(8-2) vs. Milwaukee Brewers(4-6)
Pedro Martinez(2-0) vs. Ben Sheets(1-0)

You just know during the warmups...when a pitcher..or in this case pitchers are going to have great stuff. You hear it in the pop of the catchers glove...you see it in the break of the curveball. Pedro Martinez and Ben Sheets were gearing up for one heck of a pitchers duel....and for the first 7 innings in Flushing today....they got it.
Trading strikeouts for the first 4 innings the Flushing faithful looked like they might have to make more signs for the K Korner. In the fourth...Pedro already had 8 K's and three of those caught the Brewers looking. Absolute nasty stuff on the day. Sheets was no less impressive as he stranded 4 Met runners and himself had 5 K's after four innings.
In the bottom of the fifth the Mets managed to get on on the board as Chris Woodward, starting at SS today, got his second single of the afternoon. Pedro moved him to second on sacrifice bunt and after Endy Chavez struck out...Met catcher Paul LoDuca singled Woodward home.
The Brewers answered in the sixth however as RF Geoff Jenkins hit his third homerun of the season, a two run shot, to put the BrewCrew up by one.
Sheets looked as though he might make the lead hold up as the Met bats were quiet in the bottom of the inning, but as the bottom of the seventh inning unfolded...so did Sheets. By the time the inning was over the Mets had scored six runs capped by homeruns by Carlos Delgado(3) and David Wright(3).
With a 7-2 lead Knight handed the ball to RHPChad Bradford. This was supposed to be a confidence booster to Bradford whose 10.80 ERA was the clubs highest and his confidence perhaps the lowest. But the Brewers bats had something else in mind as they unloaded on Bradford for 4 runs...and all of this with 2 outs! Shaking his head...Knight summoned hard throwing Jorge Julio to quell the barrage. He struck out pinch hitter Chris Gill to end the threat.
After an uneventful eighth inning, Mets closer Billy Wagner came in and quickly got the first to Brewers out on strikeouts. 2B Rickie Weeks...whose .400+ batting average and 7 game hitting streak is getting him noticed...hit a single up the middle to get the tying run aboard. Keeping an eye on the speedy Weeks, Wagner quickly got two strikes on Jenkins, who had already homered in the game. As Weeks took off for second....Jenkins tried to hold up on a swing but first base ump Matt Hatter called him out on strikes to end the game.

Pedro Martinez(W3-0) 7.0IP....4H.....2R(2ER).....2BB....12K
Billy Wagner S(6)

M.K.
Knight165

[Bravesfan47]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Well i'm enjoying this so far. To bad I overwrote my franchise.

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Game 12 Shea Stadium
New York Mets(9-2) vs. Milwaukee Brewers(4-7)
Tom Glavine(1-0) vs. Chris Capuano(1-1)

There is nothing like a little Sunday afternoon baseball. It's especially nice when you have already taken the first two games of the series and are looking for the sweep. The Mets and their fans had the brooms ready, because going on the mound for them today was a tough veteren pitcher who knows how to get the job done, Tom Glavine.
Opposing Glavine today was Milwaukee's Chris Capuano. Capuano who isn't a youngster per se at 28 years old, is relatively young in the league. 2005 was his first full year starting and he was impressive winning 18 games. If there is an obvious weakness to his game it's walks as evident by his 91 last year.
Capuano started the game smoothly, striking out the struggling Jose Reyes and getting catcher Paul LoDuca to ground out to third. In stepped Carlos Beltran and his hot bat and Beltran wowed the capacity crowd with a monstrous blast off the centerfield scoreboard to put the Mets up 1-0.
Capuano settled down from there and Glavine seemed to put it on cruise control as the pitchers exchanged zeroes for the next few innings.
In the top of the fifth inning Glavine was pitching well and retired the first two batters of the frame...Carlos Lee and Prince Fielder on strikeouts. 3B Bill Hall stepped into the box and promptly hit Glavines first pitch to him for a double. Then C Chad Moeller hit what seemed to be the inning ground ball to the usually steady David Wright....who let the ball go right through his legs into rightfield. The speedy Hall who was off at the crack of the bat scored easily to tie the game at 1-1.
In the bottom of the inning, the Mets answered when Jose Reyes was hit by a pitch to lead off and stole second. Paul LoDuca then singled him home for the 2-1 lead. Capuano gave up a single to Beltran and then seemed to lose his composure as he walked Delgado, and after striking out Wright walked Cliff Floyd to load the bases. Manager Ned Yost either had confidence in his pitcher to get out of the jam or little confidence in his pen...because Capuano stayed in there to finish out the inning, striking out Kaz Matsui and getting Victor Diaz to ground out to first.
Due to lead off the seventh was Capuano who was pinch hit for by Brady Clark. Glavine rolled into the ninth and with a bit of a tired pen, manager M. Knight was hoping for a complete game from his lefty. With two outs in the ninth and looking extremely tired, Glavine walked CF Hart and 2b Cirrillo to put the tying run in scoring position.
With closer Billy Wagner needing rest and powerful righty Carlos Lee at the plate, Knight decided to bring in the Mets best reliever to date,righty Duaner Sanchez. Sanchez has been impressive this season so far with no signs of control problems that have plagued him. Carlos Lee hit a LONG fly ball to dead centerfield and as M. Knight began to hang his head...he watched as centerfielder Carlos Beltran climbed the wall........TO GET THE OUT!!! Whew!
Beautiful play by Beltran who earned player of the game honors.
Tom Glavine(2-0) 8.2IP 6H....1R(0ER).....3BB .....9K
Chris Capuano(1-2) 6.0IP 6H....2R(2ER).....3BB....8K
Duaner Sanchez S(1)

League Notes
League Leaders Batting Average
...........NL....................................A L.........................
CHI A Ramirez.. .447................CLE V. Martinez.... .488
SF L. Niekro.... .429............... CHI J. Uribe........ .487
PHI A. Nunez... .424................ BAL B. Roberts.... .471
COL T. Helton... .404................ TB T. Lee......... .450
LA D. Navarro.. .400.............. TEX M. Texiera... .447

Homeruns
CIN A. Dunn 6..........................CLE T. Hafner 5
CIN F. Lopez 5.........................BAL J. Lopez 5
WAS A. Soriano 5.....................CHI J. Dye 4
HOU J. Lane 4........................SEA R. Ibanez 4(was this guy released?)
ATL E. Rentaria 4......................NYY D. Jeter 4

In the NL East the Mets hold a 1.5 game lead over the surging Phils(but the Brave are coming to town tomorrow!)
In the NL Central it's the Cubs over the Cards by 1.5 games
In the NL West the Dodgers and Giants are tied for the lead with everyone else just a 0.5 game behind.

In the AL the D-Rays still lead the East over the Yanks by 1.5 games.
In the Central the Tigers have turned it on and lead the World Champions by 4 games!
In the West the Mariners are just obliterating the rest of the division and hold a commanding 5 game lead over Texas

Injuries
Barry Bonds(I created him with Stocker's attributes) is out for 1-6 days...he is batting just .138 with 2 homers and 3 RBI!!!!

M.K.
Knight165

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Game 13 Shea Stadium
New York Mets(10-2) vs. Atlanta Braves(8-5)
Steve Trachsel(1-0) vs. Jorge Sosa(0-1)

You can always count on two things when the Braves come into Shea......the boys from Atlanta are going to play good baseball and they are going to bring some mojo.
With a two game lead in the East over the third place Braves...and a three game series starting at Shea....anyone who has been a Met fan for the last two decades is worried about even this early season matchup of the clubs....and with good reason. Except for an unbelievable comeback a few years ago in Flushing, New York...the Mets have seen their leads overcome and their hopes squashed against "Larry and his merry men".
Taking the hill for the Mets was Steve Trachsel. Opposing him was the young righthander Jorge Sosa. From the first pitch for each of them, you were almost sure that this could be a game that got deep into the bullpens. In the first inning, Trachsel gave up a single and walked a batter....but managed to escape on a beautiful double play ball initiated by Jose Valentin, getting a start at thirdbase today. He would get out of the inning without giving up a run.
In Sosa's half of the frame...the Mets managed to get a two out single by Carlos Beltran and a walk by both Carlos Delgado and Jose Valentin....but they could not push forth a run as Cliff Floyd ground out to end the threat.
In the second inning, it looked as though Trachsel might hit the showers early as he loaded the bases with Braves and no one out. Giving up two three walks in two innings prompted manager M.Knight to start up Aaron Heilman in the pen for some long relief work. But a strikeout of #8 batter Johnson and a double play ball by pitcher Jorge Sosa, got Trachsel and the Mets out of another jam.
Sosa again looked sloppy in the second inning as he quickly gave up two hits and found himself again working with men on base. After Trachsel fouled off two sacrifice bunt attempts, Knight had his pitcher swing away. It would be a 14 pitch at bat for the Met pitcher that ultimately ended in a strikeout. Once again the Mets could not finish the scoring threat and Sosa escaped tired, but unscathed.
Perhaps sensing that the bullpens were being readied, both pitchers seemed to settle down somewhat and both threw pefect third innings. In the fourth Andruw("the other") Jones led off the inning with a towering shot that went a long way into the New York night...but Trachsel shrugged it off and retired the next three batters.
Sosa was all over the place but kept it together and managed to get his club six innings of shutout ball. By then he had thrown well over 90 pitches and was pinch hit for in the seventh inning.
M. Knight did the same with Trachsel in the bottom of the frame, but to no avail.
Braves relievers handled the Mets easily the rest of the way and combined for a 6 hit shutout of the New York.
Jorge Sosa(W1-1) 6.0 IP ...6H.....0R......5BB......5K
Stever Trachsel(L1-1) 6.0IP......9H....2R(2ER).....5BB.....5K
Blaine Boyer S(1)


M.K.
Knight165

[bkrich83]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Great reads Knight. Once the Roster update hits with Josh Barfield, I'll be doing the same thing with MOM franchise for the Pads. However we do have a Dynasty Forum here for just such threads.

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Great reads Knight. Once the Roster update hits with Josh Barfield, I'll be doing the same thing with MOM franchise for the Pads. However we do have a Dynasty Forum here for just such threads.

Sorry about that Bkrich..
I was looking at the forums when I started this...I only see.....MLB SLIDERS.....MLB ONLINE and MLB ROSTERS....and of course this forum(general I guess). Am I missing it?...or is it not created yet?

M.K.
Knight165

[bkrich83]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Sorry about that Bkrich..
I was looking at the forums when I started this...I only see.....MLB SLIDERS.....MLB ONLINE and MLB ROSTERS....and of course this forum(general I guess). Am I missing it?...or is it not created yet?

M.K.
Knight165

Go to the main forums page, it's near the bottom.

[bkrich83]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

I went ahead and moved it for you.

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Game 14 Shea Stadium Flushing, New York
New York Mets(10-3) vs. Atlanta Braves(9-5)
Victor Zambrano(2-0) vs. Horacio Ramirez(1-2)

With the New York Mets bats pretty much silent in game one of the series at Shea against the Atlanta Braves...and the air of gloom creeping into a hopeful but young season at Shea with just a simple 2-0 loss yesterday, NYM manager M.Knight looked to break the spell and start a couple of bench players in place of his regulars. SS Jose Reyes, C Paul LoDuca, 1B Carlos Delgado, LF Cliff Floyd and 2B Kaz Matsui would all sit today as Chris Woodward, Ramon Castro, Julio Franco, Victor Diaz and Jose Valentin would start in their places.
As the game began, it looked like Knight's attempt at fending off the Atlanta voodoo was in vain, as Met starter Victor Zambrano had alot of trouble finding the strike zone walking one and ending the inning throwing 29 pitches. If Met fans could take anything positive out of the frame, it was that Atlanta did not score.
As if Atlanta starting pitcher Horacio Ramirez was trying to outdo his counterpart, he struggled finishing off the Met batters and although he did not walk a batter in the first, they each ran the count to full and fouled off plenty of pitches.Ramirez left the first throwing a whopping 34 pitches!
While Zambrano righted his ship in the second inning, the trouble was just begining for Ramirez who gave up a second inning homerun to David Wright(4)
retired Julio Franco but then gave up consecutive singles to Xavier Nady and Jose Valentin. With the count at 2-1 LF Victor Diaz deposited Ramirez' next pitch into the picnic section in centerfield. After giving up a single to the Met pitcher next, Atlanta manager Bobby Cox walked to the mound and handed the ball to his long relief man(soon to be starter) Kyle Davies. Davies finished off the Mets in the second and hoped the Atlanta bats could get them back in the game.
Zambrano would have none of it though as he put the Braves down in the third inning 1-2-3.
Knight must have had another voodoo doll handy because the Mets bats started up right where they left off in the second. With a walk, 3 doubles and a single in the inning, Davies was chased as quickly as Ramirez was. Cox, in obvious disgust went to 39 year old journeyman, Mike Remlinger to get a few innings of scoreless relief. While Remlinger did scatter 4 Met hits over 2.1 innings, the Mets were able to push across another run on a sac fly by Julio Franco.
Zambrano was by no means sharp and with one out in the sixth and a 9-3 lead, he proceeded to load the bases after already giving up a run. Seeing that his pitcher had nothing left after 104 pitches, Knight summoned Chad Bradford. Bradford came into the game with a 14.40 ERA and it looked like things could get interesting, but Bradford worked out of the jam as the Braves would score just one in the inning.
In the bottom of the frame, the highlight was a perfect strike at home to nail Xavier Nady who was trying to score from first on a double by Carlos Beltran to end the inning.Simply a great play!
The Braves went quietly the rest of the way and in all they wound up using 6 pitchers in the contest.
Bradford pitched a scoreless 3.2 innings in relief.

Atlanta Braves(L 9-6) 3R 8H 2E
New York Mets(W 11-3) 12R 20H 0E

Zambrano(W(3-0) 5.1IP.....6H.....3R(3ER)....3BB....6K.
Ramirez(L1-2)... 1.1IP......4H....4R(4ER).....0BB....0K.
Bradford S(1)

M.K.
Knight165

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Shea Stadium Flushing, New York
New York Mets(11-3) vs. Atlanta Braves(9-6)
Brian Bannister(1-0) vs. Tim Hudson(2-1)

In October of 2005 when it became a reality that longtime pitching coach Leo Mazzone would no longer be bringing his expertise to teach Atlanta pitchers but rather to those in Baltimore, Braves fans may have groaned a little....but thought to themselves..."it's going to be fine...he's just the pitching coach".
Well fifteen games into the 2006 season, it may becoming more apparent at just how important a pitching coach can be.
Realize for a moment that while Mazzone did have some of the best pitchers to pitch the game on his staff, he also did a tremendous job of making mediocre pitchers into at least very good pitchers. He resurrected the careers of both Mike Hampton and John Burkett. He made Denny Neagle and Kevin Millwood Cy Young contenders. The same with Russ Ortiz.
He may look nutty, rocking back and forth on the bench, but he sure does get results.
This season Roger McDowell has taken over for Mazzone. One day, someone may be singing the praises of McDowell as a saviour of pitching careers...but for now his pitching staff is struggling.
Today's starter, Tim Hudson, came over from the Athletics as an already established big time...big league...pitcher. He is not supposed to be a pitching project....but after this last outing ...he may turn into one.
The Mets wasted no time in lashing out the hits and making Hudson struggle with his pitch selection. By the time he exited the game in the bottom of the fifth inning he had surrendered eight hits and six runs while walking three and striking out just one. The already exhausted Atlanta bullpen immediatly gave up two more runs for a Met 8-1 lead. David Wright capped the scoring with 3 hits and his fifth homerun of the season.
On the other side of the field, youngster Brian Bannister gave Met fans something to cheer about as he held Atlanta to just 2 runs on five hits, walking 2 and striking out six. Met pitching coach Rick Peterson told reporters " this is exactly why he was brought into the rotation this early in his career". There was no reason to wait. He has the stuff and he has composure. That's a tough team he beat out there today".

Brian Bannister(W2-0) 7.0 IP.......5H......2R(2ER)......2BB.....6K
Tim Hudson(L2-2)......4.2IP........8H......6R(5ER)......3BB..... 1K

Attendance 55,460

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Game 15 Petco Park San Diego
San Diego Padres(8-7) vs. New York Mets(11-3)
Jake Peavy(1-2) vs. Pedro Martinez(2-0)

The Mets are starting a tough seven game West Coast stretch. Add that to the fact that it is right in the middle of sixteen games without an off day, and you could easily forgive the New York club from not being sharp in their first game against the Padres...especially with the Padres on a four game win streak of their own and ace Jake Peavy taking the mound. But that would not be the case as the Mets have an ace of their own starting today in Pedro Martinez.
The first three innings saw the two aces showing the near capacity crowd at Petco Park why these guys are the stoppers of their staffs. Peavy and Martinez both went once through the opposing lineups with only the San Diego hurler giving up a one out walk in the first inning.
In the fourth frame, Peavy gave up a singles to both David Wright and Cliff Floyd. He then got two quick strikes on Kaz Matsui. Matsui battled and fouled off pitch after pitch and working the count to 2-2. He then hit a dribbler that found it's way through short and thirdbase, scoring David Wright to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
That was all the Mets needed and all they would get as Pedro gave up just 3 hits going into the ninth inning.
Peavy was also up to the task as he squashed a couple of Met rallies and pitched a gutsy eight innings.
In the ninth, with Peavy set to lead off, manager Bruce Bochy pinch hit Eric Young for his young hurler. Young worked himself into a full count and Martinez eventually lost him, giving up his second walk of the game. With two outs and the bases loaded thanks to a single an another walk, Martinez glance over to the Met bullpen down the line. It was empty, signaling that manager M.Knight was giving Pedro the green light to finish it off....and finish it off he did getting Vinny Castilla to strike out on three pitches to end the game. It was Martinez' seventh strikeout of the game.

Martinez(W3-0) 9.0IP.....4H......0R......3BB.......7K
Peavy(L1-2)....8.0IP.....10H.....1R(1ER)..2BB....9K

Attendance: 40,885


M.K.
Knight165

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Game 16 Petco Park, San Diego
San Diego Padres(8-8) vs. New York Mets(12-4)
Shawn Estes(0-1) vs. Tom Glavine(2-0)

It was a warm but windy night at Petco Park. Not the perfect weather for baseball, but with the season just getting into gear, the 39,722 fans who came for a little night ball were enthusiastic and loud.
Lefthanders Shawn Estes and Tom Glavine would face each other. Perhaps it was the wind....maybe just one of those night but when the when the game finally ended the following morning at 1:11 A.M. there would be a total of 13 walks in the game and just 5 strikeouts in total.
The first inning began as a near disaster for Estes. Walking two of the four batters he faced and throwing 36 pitches, things did not bode well for the lefty, but he managed to work out of trouble and the Met first ended with no runs scored.
Glavine looked just as sloppy in his half of the first inning walking one and giving up two hits as San Diego took a 1-0 lead.
Estes again started the second inning by walking 1B Xavier Nady(giving Delgado a day off) and a single to Cliff Floyd. Repeating his first inning tightrope walk Estes threw another 36 pitches but again...escaped without giving up a run.
In the bottom of the frame Glavine gave up another single run on a homerun by the talented young SS Khalil Greene for a Padre 2 run lead.
Doing his best Houdini impersonation, Estes escaped trouble for the third and fourth innings. After 96 pitches and 6 walks, manager Bruce Bochy pinch hit for Estes to start the fifth inning.
Reliever Clay Hensley came in for the Pods and it looked as if the Mets finally realized there was a baseball game being played and tied the game in the sixth.
Glavine seemed to settle in a bit and got through the seventh inning with the game still tied at 2. He was pinch hit for in the top of the eighth as the Mets pushed across another run and took a 3-2 lead and Met manager M.Knight handed the ball over to right handed setup man Duaner Sanchez. Sanchez looked as erratic as the two lefty starters and gave up a double and a single to give the Padres a 3-3 tie going into the ninth.
In the bottom of the 13th innning with Aaron Heilman on the mound for the Mets and the bases loaded San Diego 1B Ryan Klesko hit a sacrifice fly to right field allowing Eric Young to tag up and score from third to win the extra inning affair. Heilman(0-1) took the loss.....Embree(1-0) the win.

Shawn Estes(ND) 4.0IP......6H.....0R....6BB.....1K
Tom Glavine(ND) ...7.0IP....8H.....2R(2ER).....4BB....3K


M.K.
Knight165

[Knight165]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

April 22, 2006

League Leaders

Batting Avg.

...................NL............................. ...............AL..............................
1.......... M. Alou...437.............................M. Texiera....471
2............D. Lee....417............................V. Martinez....466
3..........S. Green...403............................R. Ibanez......450
4.........J. Estrada..400...........................B. Roberts......449
5.........J. Hermida..393..........................C. Blake..........415
........ .M. Cabrera..393...........................T. Glaus.........415
7........A. Ramirez...385...........................R. Cano.........407
8.........L. Niekro....382...........................J. Uribe..........407
9.........C. Beltran...377........................C. Crawford.......397
10........L. Bigbie.....375.........................T. Lee.............397

M.K.
Knight165

[Buckeye]

Re: N.Y. Mets Franchise

Good Lord Knight what ever happened to this??? Had it going good