Well, this is a day late (and probably a dollar short) but since this is my only chance to write something about New York's National League team, I'll put something up to appease the masses. Actually, I only recieved one complaint (from Buttercup) about not having it posted yesterday, so I guess I should say I'll put something up to appease my immediate family.
As we (Buttercup and I) drove back to Chicago, we were able to find the Milwaukee broadcast of the game, and we were delighted to hear the Twins get out to a 5-0 lead. After being essentially cut off from Twins baseball for two days it was good to hear that they had picked up where they left off with their sweep of Atlanta. Only Bob Uecker tells us that the Brewers have won the first two games of the series. Clearly, the Twins need me. I made it home, and in the time it took to unpack the car (with the radio now off) the lead shrank to 5-2. I began watching again and the Twins stormed back to take a 9-2 lead. With the game well in hand, I was a bit drowsy, so I lay down for a quick nap. I awoke in the 9th inning just in time to see Lew Ford's throw miss the mark on a game-tying (what!?) sacrifice fly. I watched the last two batters of the game, a Joe Nathan strikeout victim and Justin Morneau's home run, which brought the score of the game when I was watching to MN - 10, MIL - 1. I guess I didn't realize I had so much power over the Twins.
The Twins begin their interleague road trip with a series against the New York Mets. So far the Twins are 7-5 against the National League, 2-1 on the road. The Mets are 4-5 in interleague play mostly from two series against their crosstown rivals, the Yankees (3-3), in their other series they lost two of three to the Tigers. The Mets are returning from a road trip where they faced the Tigers, were swept by the Dodgers, and lost two of three to the Yankees. So far this season the Twins are 14-15 on the road (it seems like the Twins are about a .500 team regardless of situation doesn’t it?) while the Mets are 17-16 at home.
Game 1 featured Carlos Silva against John Maine. Maine had a fantastic start (5-0, 9 ER in 7 starts) but has since cooled off a little bit (18 ER, 7 HR, 6 starts).
Game 2 has Johan Santana going against Jorge Sosa who had a rough start his last time out (5.2IP, 6 R, 8 H), but has been relatively solid this season (6-2, 3.42 ERA, averaging over 6 IP/start).
Game 3 will send Scott Baker to the mound against Oliver Perez. Hopefully Baker continues his big apple magic, as he allowed 2 hits and 1 run over 5 innings to the Yankees in his only other New York start. Perez had his own success against the Yankees the last time out, pitching 7.1 scoreless innings. In 2007, Perez has had only 2 starts where he has allowed more than 3 earned runs.
If those descriptions of the Mets starting pitchers don't quite do it for you, maybe something a little more alcohol-based will do the trick.
Before this series the Mets were struggling a bit (as evidenced by their last road trip), and it's been a result of a lack of both offense and pitching. Add to that a lack of clutch hitting, and you've got the whole team searching for answers. Here's an analysis of David Wright's swing this year when he's hitting .281/.369/.490, and a comparison to his swing last season when he hit .311/.381/.531.
Speaking of David Wright, he shaved his head. I didn't realize this was a big deal, but it's obviously a point of some contention.
Not technically a blog entry, but this NY Times article about Scott Schoeneweis and his choice of jersey number was deemed interesting enough by the expert panel of judges to be allowed into this entry.
Finally, Lastings Milledge is currently in the minor leagues, but since he's always the subject of trade rumors he could be headed to anybody's favorite team. To brush up on your Milledge knowledge, here are some Lastings Milledge facts.
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