Mitigating Manuel’s Moot Move

Motivated Marlins Maul Mets

The Mets were on the brink of another Johan Santana win. They held a one run lead against the Florida Marlins with their left-handed ace on the mound in the 7th inning. Johan escaped the inning at home unscathed, and the 3-2 New York lead was in tact. The Mets failed to score in the bottom half of the inning, and Jerry Manuel called upon J.J. Putz. Santana sat the bench after delivering 108 pitches preparing for his reliable reliever to preserve the game.
Putz began his expedition with back-to-back walks. You always hear how issuing leadoff walks burns you in the end. It certainly did so for the Mets. With runners on first and second, Florida catcher Ronny Paulino, laid down a great bunt. The runner advanced to set up the potential go-ahead scoring opportunity. Florida clubber, Cody Ross, raked a two run single as the two batters Putz walked scored. Putz was basically finished when he relinquished the two passes to start the inning. Walks change the complexion of the entire inning and I thought Santana should have been left to complete the game anyway.
Jeremy Reed reeled a triple in the bottom of the 8th for the Mets. Reed was inserted for Daniel Murphy as a defensive replacement as part of the double switch. Then, Alex Cora socked a hart hit grounder off Leo Nunez that Emilio Bonafacio back-handed at second base. Bonafacio’s put-out meant two more New York base runners were left lingering. Eleven in total were stranded on the bags by the Mets through eight innings.
Closer, Francisco Rodriguez took over in the 9th inning for his ninth appearance of the season. He allowed a Bonafacio double. The ball was shellacked to the right side gap of first baseman, Fernando Tatis, into right field. Ryan Church fielded the ball, but Bonafacio raced to second. Cameron Maybin was next up at the plate to face Krod. Maybin, who entered the at-bat 0-17 with runners-in-scoring position, grounded out on a soft infield hopper. Rodriguez ruined any Marlin threat when he got Wes Helms to pop-up to end the 9th.
The pitcher’s spot was due up for New York in the bottom of the 9th. Manuel substituted pinch hitter, Gary Sheffield, for Rodriguez. Luis Castillo was on the bench for the skipper and probably would have been the better choice had he not been dealing with a nagging injury. Carlos Delgado did not start either but was also unavailable from the bench. Sheffield came in to face Marlins closer, Matt Linstrom. Linstrom’s horrific claim to fame so far this year has been floating around with an above 9 ERA. He enabled seven Phillies to score in a recent relief effort. The closer throws particularly hard but has been susceptible to suspending the ball up in the air for an easy hitter‘s target. His fastball tops 100 mph, and he threw the heat that hard to the Mets. He wasn’t in command, however. A Sheffield walk represented the tying run on first base for hot-hitting, Carlos Beltran. The centerfielder was fooled by Lindstrom’s slider on a 1-1 count. Lindstrom is still fine-tuning and tweaking his slider though, and Carlos wrested a walk from the Florida pitcher.
David Wright wriggled his way to a 0-2 count, fouling off the flames fired at him. David hasn’t had glaring success fighting off pitches this year. It’s been a problem for him to climb out of deep counts, and this at-bat, he struck out looking for the second time during the day. Wright was doubled up in the third inning when he grounded in a double play. Fans are starting to get on Wright’s case for his failure in the clutch and leaving too many runners in scoring position. I say, give the guy a chance. Wright has so much pressure on him and his bat will come through. Granted, he never really did seem like the same hitter after he participated in the homerun contest at the all-star game. The third baseman looks too anxious at the plate and is typically an automatic out. He also let a ball through the wickets for an error at third base yesterday. Wright can’t allow his poor plate malfunctions are carrying over onto the field.
With one out, Church strolled to the plate. Lindstrom got Church to ground out, but Sheffield and Beltran advanced to third and second base. Fernando Tatis, who had three hits on the day, including a homerun, stepped into the batter’s box. Lindstrom’s first offering was a fastball about a foot off the plate. It’s clear Matt was avoiding throwing anything worthy to tantalizing Tatis. He hit Fernando with a pitch and the bases were loaded.
Manuel decided to roll the dice and play the hot hand. Manuel’s Mets had two outs and the bases loaded when he chose to tinker with his lineup card. He put backup catcher, Omir Santos, up as a pinch hitter for Ramon Castro. Castro corralled two hits earlier in the game, so the move was not entirely justifiable. Santos, on his 28th birthday, came up empty. He flied out to end the game in what is quickly becoming an antiquated affair for the Mets. Marlins win 4-3.
It will be debated whether Manuel should have batted Castro in his usual spot. The rookie Santos had a breakout series and was seeing the ball well. Santos belted his first homerun, a grand slam, on Monday night. He came out of the bullpen to pinch hit yesterday. I don’t think the game should come down to a moot managerial move, but I do disagree with Manuel in this case. Jerry manages instinctively and that often is a good way to manage. However, putting a novice in that position was not the right approach. Castro is a relatively reliable situational hitter and Santos could not have been too prepared coming out of the bullpen.
This was a frustrating game for the Mets as they lose another series to Florida. The team is now three games under the .500 mark. They stranded 14 runners, including leaving the bases loaded in the 9th. The Mets were 1-11 with runners in scoring position. Each team made an error, but it was the Florida defense that stole the show. Jorge Cantu was excellent in the field on a team not known for defensive prowess. Cantu robbed Jose Reyes in the second inning and Ryan Church was greeted by his glove later in the game. Both hits could have resulted in Met runs had Cantu not flashed his fancy leather. Jorge was no slouch at the plate this series either.
The Marlins are tied with the Nationals for the league lead in team strikeouts. Yet, the Met relievers struggled to send them away swinging. Number 57 Santana did strike out seven batters. The bullpen imploded for the second straight game. Tuesday night, they gave up four runs in the 7th inning and yesterday Putz allowed two in the 8th. The relievers conceded runs after the starters put the ball in their hands. Obviously, the team has improvements and adjustments to make immediately. There is something “off” with the nucleus of the Mets and has been for quite some time. The questionable move by Manuel can be discussed at nausium and only adds to the confounding methods the Mets find ways to lose.
Some scoring highlights for New York did occur. The Mets scored on a safety squeeze off the bat of Cora in the first inning. Reyes had a leadoff triple over right-fielder Ross and ran home on Cora’s bunt. The Mets scored again in the 6th inning when Tatis tanked a Josh Johnson pitch over the fence. It was Fernando’s first homer of the year.
The Mets travel to Philadelphia losers of two straight and holders of a 9-12 record. They might be without slugger Carlos Delgado and second baseman, Castillo. Philly is a bandbox of a ballpark, so if there is any time for New York break out the pine, this is the weekend.

Parting points: Three song to close out the month of April: “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”- Paul Simon; “Satellite” by Dave Matthews Band; “Black Heart Inertia” by Incubus

Good Yankees back-to-back pitching efforts by Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain before the team’s nemesis, Anaheim, comes to town.