"Wagner Stinks It Up"
Mets lost to the Braves today. Today's Boxscore is from MikesMets.com
"Aaron Sele started the game against the Braves today. Surprisingly enough, he only gave up an earned run in 5 innings of work. Considering that, after a terrible first inning, he pitched 5 shutout innings last time out, he is on somewhat of a roll. While the fifth starter's job would seem to be a long shot, the long reliever spot in the bullpen is still open.
Sele's final line: 5IP, 1ER, 2H, 1K, 2BB
Scott Schoeneweiss relieved Sele in the sixth and was touched up for a run on doubles by Chris Woodward and Larry Jones.
Billy Wagner came into the game with the Mets down 2-1 in the seventh and proceeded to nail it down -- for the Braves. After retiring Craig Wilson leading off the inning on a called strike 3, Wagner allowed consecutive singles to immortals Doug Clark and Bill McCarthy. Martin Prado doubled home a run, and another run scored on a fielder's choice. Tony Pena's 3-run homer capped the inning off, and Wagner finally settled down to get the last 2 outs. I wonder if Wagner was throwing his split change today?
Joe Smith pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the Mets, striking out two.
Orlando Hernandez takes the hill for his third start of the spring tomorrow in St. Lucie against the Cardinals. We should get a better idea about where he stands after that one. The game will be televised on SNY at 1 PM. "
Somethings Mike left out
Jose Reyes:keeps on raking 2-4 today raising his average to .386 on the spring
Jose Valentin:2-4 with a RBI today, Valentin has looked terrific this spring hitting .333
Uhm nothing very interesting besides Sele making a bid for the LR spot in the bullpen. Wagner got ruffed up a bit..
The run that Schoeneweiss gave up was his first of the spring..
And Joe Smith another perfect inning 2 k's, ladies and gentleman your Right Handed Specialist for the 2007 New York Mets JOE SMITH
~Mikes Mets is a great website, Mike is a terrific writer and if you don't know about his site then go there immediately as he has done a great job on Bullpen and Starting Rotation previews..
3 comments:
WHAT'S WRONG WITH WAGNER?
Any story you may interpret today as both responsible sports journalism and also proceeds to slam Billy Wagner's performance yesterday is purely coincidental. You are sure to hear or read about "Wagner imploding" in the 7th inning yesterday and when you do, know that these stories come from uninformed sports journalists who probably peek at the box score, report their blurb and go to the next project. Something like ESPN does only not as bad. Factoid soundbytes ruin sports stories so here is my informed story about Wagner's day yesterday:
When you break it down, Wags wasn’t good enough to keep it close but despite the line score, he wasn't all that bad either.
1 IP; 36 pitches; 13 balls; 16 strikes; 5R; 4H; 1 K; 0 BB.
In the home 7th with the Braves leading 2-1:
Struck out 1st batter swinging in 5 pitches. Four of the next five batters got hits (with a FC run-scoring ground ball [Valentin-to-LoDuca] wedged in among the hits). Anyway, of the four hits only 2 were hit solid (a single and the 3 run Pena HR); the other two: a seeing eye ground ball single and a loop fly ‘double’ that Green dove for (Nice ballsy try Green! Maybe Alou was taking notes). Then Wags got the last 2 batters out. Period.
Not his best outing but not terrible. Perhaps his new pitch wasn't the culprit, perhaps he just got unlucky--twice. Sometimes even once is all it takes. So when you hear or read about all the terrible things that Wagner did yesterday, think again...and keep a grain of salt handy. And as I had wished after they clinched in ‘06 that Wags should get any bad outings out of his system before the playoffs, it’s with that reasoning that I’m glad he got this one outta the way before April 1st. And in answer to the first question: Not a damn thing!
I did not get to watch the game, because it wasnt on any channel I could watch it on. But yeah I heard about Shawn Green's horrible defensive play, and all I have to say is get ready for it to keep on happening if he's the starting RF. Im not really worried at all with Wagner in a close game in the 9th I want Wagner in there.
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