Update coming later!
Welcome to my MLBlog, folks! I will be using this platform from now on.
Sorry folks, it looks like Sundays will be evening update days, at least until the school year is up, as Sundays are the day I write my Cutoff Man article for The Tartan and I don’t have the time to write two in the morning. I’ll put an article up probably around 7!
Also: Happy tenth birthday Mathias Altman-Kurosaki! He is the little guy in my picture. Biggest baseball fan besides me and my dad – we’re raising him right.
No ifs or ands, but…
I went to a career fair at PNC Park yesterday to see if any of the MLB teams in attendance had any openings for writers/any form of media. I got an okay amount of talking in, but it seems like most teams are only looking for people to work in sales and finance. My best bet right now is the Washington Wild Things.
If someone were to write an article about my experience, it would probably be titled something along the lines of “Jonas attends first career fair, but attempts fall short.”
There always seems to be a “but” lurking around the Mets. Starting during the pre-game speculation, the “but” made its way uncomfortably through the game, popping up just when you most expected it. First, it was, “the Mets have some momentum coming off their first win in five games, but they have yet to show that momentum helps them at all.” Coupled with that was, “the Mets have some momentum, but they have Oliver Perez on the mound.” Further into the game, it got better, surprising us with, “Jeff Francouer made a bonehead baserunning play, but scored on a throwing error anyway!”
But unfortunately, things turned sour, and suddenly there was, “Oliver Perez actually pitched well, but now Fernando Nieve just hit a guy and walked a guy to load the bases!” Fans were befuddled thereafter, thinking, “Hisanori Takahashi has done very well in his last three appearances, Ryota Igarashi has yet to allow a run and as recently as yesterday was said to be the team’s latest setup man, and Jenrry Mejia is supposed to have great breaking stuff that’ll either get ground balls or strike guys out, but why does Jerry always choose the newest guy to put out the fire?” It’s a question Mets fans have pondered for a while now, and one that reached a pinnacle last year when rookie Jon Switzer was brought in to face the Yankees instead of, well, anyone else, and gave up a three-run homer to give the Yanks a 7-6 lead.
But gripes aside, bringing in Raul Valdes didn’t work out, and after Felipe Lopez hit his grand slam, the only “but” left was one the Mets have heard a lot over the past two weeks: “Mets fight back in ninth, but comeback attempt falls short.” Jeff Francouer summed it up best. “I’m not going to lie to you, I thought we were going to win today,” he said to mets.com’s Anthony DiComo. “But it didn’t happen that way.”
The Pirates refuse to drop two games below .500, despite the best efforts of their bullpen. Reds starter Mike Leake pitched decently after an hour-long rain delay, giving up three earned runs in seven innings, but the Pirates’ Zach Duke was better, pitching seven scoreless before walking a batter to start the eighth. He was replaced by Joel Hanrahan, Javier Lopez, and finally Brendan Donnelly, and when the dust settled, it was 3-2, and an inning later Octavio Dotel blew the save to tie the game.
But former Mets top prospect-turned-top target Lastings Milledge smacked a two-out single back through the box to score Andrew McCutchen in the bottom of the ninth, and the Pirates won 4-3. They are 5-5 on the year.
The Padres had a little walkoff action of their own on Friday, scoring a run each in the seventh and eighth to cut their deficit to 3-2 against Arizona. David Eckstein hit a two-out double to tie the game in the ninth for San Diego, and after an intentional, no-brainer walk to Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Headley Lamarr blasted a three-run homer for the 6-3 victory.
One way to avoid your bullpen imploding and blowing the game is to not let them pitch in the first place. The Cleveland Indians, whose bullpen is 1-2 with a 4.85 ERA, got a complete game victory from David Huff on Thursday and got another one from Mitch Talbot on Friday. I wish the Mets would get some more of those as it is, but Jerry Manuel is not a fan of them and tends to enjoy wearing out the path from the dugout to the mound.
The Giants’ Aaron Rowand was hit in the face with a pitch from the Dodgers’ Vincente Padilla last night. He sustained small fractures to his cheek and a concussion. In a bizarre display of logic, umpires chose not to eject, or even warn, any players or managers after the incident, even though earlier in the game, Giants starter Todd Wellemeyer had thrown high and quite tight to Matt Kemp. Hopefully Rowand will be okay, and hopefully umpires will continue to let the game go on without unnecessary repercussions.
Short hops: Nats top-prospect Stephen Strasburg dominated the world yesterday with 2.1 innings of one-r
un (none earned) ball yesterday before a rain delay in the second Double-A start of his career… Jorge Cantu got another hit, but couldn’t drive in a run against the Phillies on Friday, ending his streak at ten for games with a hit and an RBI to open the season… Red Sox centerfielder Mike Cameron passed a kidney stone yesterday in one of the grosser injuries suffered by a player this season… The Blue Jays did their best Marlins impression yesterday, hosting a mere 14,779 fans to see them lose to the Angels on Friday.
As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there’s a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!
The right foot
The Houston Astros, after starting off the season with an eight-game losing streak, finally got rookie manager Brad Mills his first Major League win with a 5-1 triumph over the Cardinals. Now with one win and eight losses, Houston is no longer the worst in baseball, as Baltimore stretched its losing streak to seven against Oakland yesterday to put its record at 1-9.
According to MLB.com’s Nate Latsch, one of the main things the Astros did yesterday that was different than their eight losses was change the music in the clubhouse before the game… to Jason Michaels’ collection of *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. And while at least it’s not the Jonas Brothers, I think listening to “Bye Bye Bye” and “I Want It That Way” before every game in hopes of a win would make me think, “you know, I think I’d rather just lose.”
But at least the Astros won, and Brad Mills got his first W. It’s about time for the former Red Sox bench coach, who undoubtedly had hoped for a bit more from the start of his managerial career. If he actually is Terry Francona’s protege as he is touted to be, I’m more than confident that he can turn it around a la 2005 Willie Randolph and make the Astros competitive again. Besides, Pittsburgh’s getting antsy not being in the basement.
Mike Pelfrey led the Mets to their first win in six days when he shut down the Rockies yesterday with seven scoreless innings. The big righty is pitching like the Mets hoped he would, and after two starts is their only starter with two wins and an ERA under 4 (his 1.38 impresses considerably more than Johan Santana’s 4.91). Pelfrey struck out six and, more importantly, walked none, which is always a bright spot for a Mets staff that finished second to last in the Majors last year in walks allowed and has already walked 37 batters this season, an average of 4.11 walks per nine innings. Just to make his day complete, Pelfrey also went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI to maintain his .500 average on the season. Still waiting for his first home run…
The Yankees’ Robinson Cano couldn’t have picked a better time to have a good game. The Yanks’ second baseman, who was named after Jackie Robinson, hit two home runs yesterday during his team’s 6-2 victory over Los Angeles of Anaheim. His performance came on a day when baseball honored the Dodgers’ Robinson, also primarily a second baseman during his career; now that’s something I bet even Cano couldn’t have wished for.
Javier Vazquez, though, seems to have gotten off on the wrong foot during his second tour of duty with the Yankees. Seemingly acquired purely because the Steinbrenners saw him succeeding with a team other than the Yankees, he had hoped to win the fans over from the last time the Steinbrenners did the exact same thing. However, he is 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA to start the year. The fact that he considered “unfair” that the home fans booed him after he gave up four earned in 5.1 innings in a loss to the Angels reinforces what the Yanks should already have known: some people are just not meant to pitch in New York.
Short hops: Kris Benson will make the start for the Arizona Diamondbacks tomorrow as their fifth starter. Enjoy Anna, fellas! She’s great in public relations… Toronto is still in first place after their 7-3 victory yesterday put them at 7-3 on the season. They are a half-game up on the Yanks and Rays… Jorge Cantu hit an RBI double yesterday to put his streak at ten straight games with a hit and an RBI to start off the season. Dating back to last year, he now has 14 such games in a row. The last time any player went that long was when Mike Piazza did it in 15 straight games in the middle of the 2000 season. I was at the thirteenth game in that streak.
As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there’s a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to hel
p me get one!
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Happy Jackie Robinson Day everybody!
The headline on mets.com this morning read: “Mets rally, but Rockies get to Mejia in extras.” True, the Mets did rally from being down 5-3 immediately after being up 3-1. Yes, the Rockies did technically get to Jenrry Mejia in extras; he came into the 10th and threw four pitches before the only batter he faced – catcher Chris Iannetta – hit a walkoff homer to give the Rockies a 6-5 win. So really, the headline could have just said, “Mets lose in extras.”
When something bad happens, it is usually our natural reaction to try and disguise it so that it seems a little better. Silver linings are all the rage, especially if your name is Jerry Manuel, Omar Minaya or whoever is in charge of the Orioles right now. The Mets managed to lose yesterday despite homers from Jeff Francouer and David Wright, and after the game, Wright didn’t even try to look for a silver lining. “I don’t, and I don’t think anybody else in here, takes too much pride in the fact that we fought back,” he said according to Anthony DiComo on mets.com. “It is what it is, and that’s another loss.” They are now off to a 2-6 start, which is their worst since 1992.
Meanwhile, despite having to place Jimmy Rollins on the DL for two to four weeks, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and the Phillies routed the fourth-place Nationals to move to 7-1, which is their best start since 1993, when they made it to Game 6 of the World Series. They are already five games ahead of the New York cellar dwellers, and if yesterday’s five RBIs are any indication that Victorino has found his stroke again, not having Jimmy Rollins shouldn’t be a big obstacle for the Phils.
The Orioles, similar to the Mets, are off to a historically bad start as well. After getting swept at home by Carlos Pena and the Rays, Baltimore is now on a six-game losing streak a
nd has a record of 1-8. This is their worst start to a season since they started off the 1988 season 0-21. The team that lost to the Mets in the 1969 World Series is only 1-for-29 (.034) this season with RISP and two outs. Orioles manager Dave Trembley’s winning percentage has dropped each season since he became the manager in 2007, from .430 to .422 to .395, and given Peter Angelos’ short leashes with Sam Perlozzo and Lee Mazzilli, I’d give the Orioles another two to four weeks of playing like this before Trembley gets the can.
Poll: Which will happen first?
A) Jimmy Rollins returns from the DL
B) Dave Trembley gets fired
C) Jerry Manuel gets fired
It’s no secret that the Cleveland Indians do not have much in the expectations department. That said, either their broadcasters have the best/worst noise-cancelling microphones in history, or their fans really do not want to be there (what little fans were that there to begin with). When something bad happen to the Indians, the crowd sounded like a cemetery. When something good happened to the Indians, the crowd sounded like a cemetery on a windy day. It’s really a shame
Short hops: It was Pun Day on MLB.com, with headlines “Huff puffs way to inside-the-park-homer” and “Penny’s stinginess gives Cards win.” As a lover of all things wordplay, this greatly appealed to me… Florida’s Jorge Cantu set a Major League record yesterday when he hit a home run in the third inning to record a hit and an RBI in his ninth straight game to start the season. Perennial video game announcer and current Reds announcer Thom Brennaman mistakenly said the
record was for “a hit or an RBI” in nine straight games, which isn’t impressive at all… Joel Pineiro of the Angels showed the Mets why they probably should have tried a little harder to get him this winter by pitching seven dominant innings against the Yankees yesterday. He allowed one run with seven strikeouts and no walks, making Alex Rodriguez look like a fool on more than one occasion.
For a great article on Jackie Robinson, check out Billy-Ball.
As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there’s a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!
“Egad, lads! Bestir yourselves!”
Sorry this one’s up so late guys…
Today’s headline is courtesy of my grandpa, who often refers to that as the greatest baseball headline he ever saw; I believe my dad’s favorite is by Lee Jenkins of the New York Times from 2004: “The Mets Trade for Hidalgo, Once a Future Star.”
Egad, lads, indeed. Watching the Mets last night reminded me what makes them so hard to believe in sometimes: they play some of the most uninspired baseball I’ve ever seen. When they’ve got a good-sized lead and they know they have control of the game, it’s great. But when they’re down or even tied, it just feels like they’re playing in a lull and just want to get it over with. After a few innings of it, I’m watching in a lull and just want to get it over with. And don’t even get me started on their lack of ability with RISP, especially with two outs.
For me, the worst part of last night that wasn’t the final score came in the first inning of the game, when Jose Reyes came to the plate and I wasn’t excited at all. The only thing I was expecting was a popup, and I got it. Jose doesn’t feel like the Jose of old. He just feels like an old Jose.
I won’t go into how poorly John Maine pitched yesterday or how poorly the Mets played in the 11-3 Rockies victory. My grandpa summed it up best in an email he sent me this morning:
After last night’s debacle,the jingoistic battle cry of the so called Spanish-American War should be altered to read “Remember The Maine – Must I?”
Perhaps the problem that everyone on the Mets is trying to shoulder the load and everyone is putting unnecessary amounts of pressure on themselves to get the Mets rolling. Maybe, like in years past when the guy batting cleanup was named Piazza, all it’s gonna take is one big hit, one clutch homer to get the Mets a win and get the Mets rolling. I certainly hope. Then everything will click.
Speaking of uninspiring, Tuesday was a relatively uninspiring day in baseball. The most exciting news was that the Blue Jays’ Ricky Romero became the second Major League pitcher this season to take a no-hitter into the eighth. Romero eventually gave up a home run to former teammate Alex Rios as the only hit he allowed through eight innings to go with his 12 strikeouts. Romero is coming off a year in which he went 13-9 with a 4.3 ERA; this year he is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in all of two starts. So, logic says, he is now baseball’s next big thing. What was that I was saying the other day about bandwagons and the jumping thereupon?
Bernie Williams threw out the first pitch at the Yankees’ home opener yesterday. The Yankees received their World Series rings before the game and gave one to Hideki Matsui as well, which was nice to see. The Yanks went on to win the game, 7-5, including the first home run of the year from Derek Jeter, who apparently considers Yankee Stadium openers special. Who knew.
I love defense, and it is pretty well known that the Mariners have a guy named Suzuki who is pretty good at it. The Oakland A’s have a catcher named Kurt Suzuki who has been making some pretty sweet plays himself. The heads up play he made last night involved diving out from behind the plate to catch what would have otherwise been a wild pitch and immediately firing to third to catch Chone Figgins trying to advance.
David Ortiz right now is hitting .136 with 11 strikeouts, 3 hits and 2 walks in his 24 plate appearances. Two walks means he has 22 official at-bats, which in turn means he is striking out .500 right now; he even got some shiny headware with a four-whiff performance on Sunday. The Red Sox are going to have to figure out soon if he’s actually going to turn it around Carlos Delgado-style or if they’re going to have to start looking for a new DH before the production from their entire middle of the lineup suffers.
Short hops: Delgado is actually in the news today, as he is now rehabbing from hip surgery number two and hopes to get healthy enough to play again this season. Or next season. Or in a video game… The Reds’ Jay Bruce, no relation to the late Lenny Bruce, apologized yesterday for making an “obscene gesture” toward his teammates after hitting a double to break out of a 1-for-17 slump. Coincidentally, Jay’s gesture looked an awful lot like this… Jorge Cantu of the Marlins tied a modern-day Major League record by getting a hit and an RBI in his eighth straight game to start the season.
One more thing: I’ve been thinking a bit about how bad it is for me as a fan to expect nothing but disappointment. Does that make me a bad fan? Maybe. But I, as an educated fan, can take solace in the fact that I am not an idiot whose posts show up on MLB.com’s “The Pulse of the Game” Twittering feature. For your viewing pleasure (keep in mind, these show up in real time on the site):
“maine sucks”
“The who! Mets? Their still a franchise? In the MLB? GO #ROCKIES”
“met fans..whats the best day/time to watch a game a citi, i know opponent matters but wat days/times get best crowds?”
“KEITH AND GARY STILL POLISHING A ****”
Other gems from Ollie’s start last week included “bay and francouer are hitting the crap out of the ball” and “GOD DAMN IT OLIVER.”
I think I’ve made my point.
As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there’s a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!
Official JOB column coming Monday!
Starting Monday, Jonas On Baseball will feature my weekly column in The Tartan, called The Cutoff Man! Look for daily posts here in between each weekly installment and always pass it on to any and all baseball fans you know!
As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there’s a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!
Jonas On Baseball 
