Playoff IGD: Mets @ Cardinals (15 Oct 06)

first pitch: 5:15 p.m., PT
television: FOX
matchup: Oliver Perez (3-13, 6.55 ERA) vs Anthony Reyes (5-8, 5.06 ERA)
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Ball one. Ball two. Ball… click. Hey, look, football’s on this here other channel.

Is this playoff matchup serious? Has Oliver Perez finally settled on an arm slot? I’m pulling for the kid to recover from his extremely aggressive promotion while still a member of the Padres organization (four starts at Double-A — good to go), but is he really the best option the Mets have down 2-1 in the NLCS on the road? Yikes, they’re in worse shape than I thought.

I’m not sure that I have it in me to watch this one, but feel free to chat if you’d like. With all the pitches that are likely to be thrown in this one, there should be plenty of time for discussion.

[Update: Apparently the Padres remain interested in bringing Perez back to San Diego.]

25 Responses »

  1. Kelly – what’s up with the pictures labeled “Padres rookies, September 24, 2006″ at your web site (http://www.sittingstill.net/)? Did I miss something on Sept 24th? Yikes!

  2. Somehow, first 3 half-innings were scoreless … despite 84 pitches being thrown …

  3. Bottom of 3rd … 2-1 Mets … Ollie issues first walk … before he gets his first K …

    He seems to have 2 modes … controlled = can’t K anyone, but walks fewer guys … pedal-to-metal = lots of K’s and lots of walks …

    Eh, he’s got Prince Albert in both of his ABs so far …

  4. After 3 full … both pitchers with 6.00 ERAs :-)

    Pitches-strikes – O Perez 49-29; An Reyes 69-38.

    Ground balls-fly balls – O Perez 3-5; An Reyes 1-5.

    Batters faced – O Perez 14; An Reyes 15.

  5. 1: Perhaps you did miss something! ^_^ I think it’s tradition for every team to haze their rookies a bit by making them dress up for the last road trip (and then usually serve beers and otherwise obey the veterans on the plane). Usually they’re in costumes, with a pronounced tendency toward those you might usually see on women, though this year the Yankees dressed up their rookies like George Steinbrenner (wigs, turtlenecks and blazers). I knew that Sunday was the day for the Padres–but I don’t think too many of the folks who just wanted to yell congratulations to Trevor expected the sideshow!

    I think it was last year that a Cleveland rookie was spared injury from a random bullet that pierced their bus because it hit him in the lower leg, but he was wearing a miniskirt and leather go-go boots. ^_^

  6. Kelly re: 5 … so you took those pics? How/where/when? Fun!

  7. Nice pics Kelly. Funny stuff.

    Off the subject . . . I’d be all for getting Ollie Perez back.

  8. Thru 4 …

    Pitches-strikes – O Perez 65-39; An Reyes 86-48.

    Ground balls-fly balls – O Perez 4-6; An Reyes 2-6.

    Batters faced – O Perez 18; An Reyes 19.

    … ie. 151 pitches for 8 half-innings! Ollie with his first K …

    re: 7 … I think getting Ollie back is a good idea also … he’s only 25 … and I think Balsley might get him fixed up … worst case scenario might be that he’s a LOOGY …

  9. Cards to the pen first … bringing in Thompson to start the 5th … they gotta be happy with what they got out of Reyes … but frustrated that their offense hasn’t done more damage …

  10. I take photos at just about every game I go to, nowadays. Started at the beginning of last year; the whole of sittingstill.net is the result. I don’t know if you’ve looked around the site at all… I’m afraid you’ll discover my fondness for a certain one-year Padre who had a terrible 2006 season if you do. ;) I’m a Boston fan, primarily–I went to Padres spring training to follow some of my former Sox, but the Padres fans I met were such great people AND such great baseball fans that they made me a Padres fan. I decided I was entitled to a team in each league!

    I really enjoy trying to capture a side of players that doesn’t always come out in the photos that show up in the papers. I know, for example, that with my camera I’m not going to get the perfect shot of a pitcher in mid-windup. But I might, say, get a shot like this one of Boomer:
    http://www.sittingstill.net/photos/06September13/thumbs/091306_865t.jpg
    …and I find that to be more fun, in the end. It’s been a learning experience over two years. Someday I might even need to take a class!

    Where and when, literally–outside the garage entrance, behind home plate, about an hour or so after the game ended. And it was indeed a lot of fun!

  11. re: 10 … ya, I noticed your ode to Bellhorn … well said!

    Nice pick of Boomer … reminds me Terry Forster … wasn’t he the “tub of goo”?

    Did you know you’d be seeing costumed players … or was that just luck?

    Wonder why pics of this event didn’t make it out to the mainstream media?

    The Giants did something like this in spring training … but it wasn’t rookies only … Bonds did a Paula Abdul thing … http://www.funnyhub.com/pictures/pages/barry-bonds-in-drag.html … YIKES!

  12. I’d forgotten that the timing would be right for the rookies but was tipped off at Saturday night’s game. (I missed the Red Sox rookies, who were paraded about the previous Thursday night in Boston–I was at that game but left as soon as it ended since I was flying to SD in the morning!)

    There were video crews (Channel 10?) there when they brought the guys out, so there may have been brief glimpses on the evening news–ditto Boston, I’ve seen video–but I’m not sure I’ve seen the MLB photographers there. I’m not sure everyone wants to see their beloved sports figures in drag! Tim Sullivan did write a column called “Mr. Pujols, meet Miss Meredith” and described the dress, though.

    Bonds was terrifying. I can still see him even without clicking the link…

  13. Card bullpen imploding … bases loaded 0 outs in top of 6th …

  14. Kinda thought they could only point out earlier how many innings the Mets had been scoreless before something like this happened. (Same way I felt in the 9th in the Tigers game last night when they put up Magglio’s series average of .188.)

  15. 11-3 Mets after 5-1/2 … with Ollie on the mound, it’s not yet out of reach … it’ll be interesting to see how quick Randolph pulls him if/when he gets in trouble …

  16. 15: LOL… as you were saying…!

  17. Interesting strategy by Perez to keep the Cardinals from having a rally … just give up solo HRs :-)

  18. Seems like do-or-die time for the Cards in bottom of 7th … starting at the top of the order …

  19. Phew! Good thing Beltran got one back for them. ^_^

    Always fun to watch Bradford’s delivery. Jonathan Papelbon’s little brother Josh (in the Sox minors) is also a submariner… I took pictures of him at one game
    http://www.sittingstill.net/06August26.htm
    and had a hard time believing that the images I had were real.
    This one, say…
    http://www.sittingstill.net/photos/06August26/082606_600.jpg
    … that’s just wrong.

  20. Bradford’s delivery was always fun to watch when we had him in Boston. It just doesn’t look physically possible. Jonathan Papelbon’s little brother is a submariner in the Sox minors, and some of the photos I’ve taken of him just don’t look real.
    http://www.sittingstill.net/photos/06August26/082606_600.jpg

  21. 19/20: oops! Post didn’t appear, so I thought I’d erased it, or put in too many links.

    Looking more like “die” than “do” so far…

  22. Gotta love the pics of Chad Bradford … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6061 … no one gets lower :-)

    Kelly – you’ve got some pics of him to, doncha?

  23. re: 22 … guess we were thinkin’ along the same lines!

  24. re: Bradford … if you’re interested in Chad Bradford and haven’t read Moneyball, you should … awesome background on the guy … very interesting stories about him … sometimes scrapes the dirt when he pitches!

  25. I actually have two copies of Moneyball, as I kept wanting to re-read it when I’d lent it out! Terrific book–a lot of great information presented in such a very readable way.

    Sadly I didn’t have my current camera in 2005, so I don’t have much of him–nothing approaching those great shots Getty has on that page. Relief pitchers are usually toughest for me because my camera is best in good light–I need to catch them in day games to get action shots worth looking at. I’ve been very lucky with Cla, fortunately!