premium blogad:

blogads:

Want to target ads on New York City blogs? Visit the NYC BlogAds Network.

advertisement:

user links:

sitemeter:

ticket center:
February 8, 2008
Print This Post
The Seven Worst Games of 2007
Scribbled by: John Peterson @ 12:32 am | Filed under: Articles

2007 was a season to dismember. Did you know the Mets lost to the Phillies in extra innings four times last year? All four games are on this list. Johan who? Be prepared to feel anger and disappointment.

7) June 7 vs. Phillies: The Bullpen Ruins Back-to-Back-to-Back Home Runs

John Maine pitched well through seven innings, allowing only two runs on six hits. Meanwhile, Carlos Delgado, David Wright and Paul Lo Duca hit three straight home runs off Cole Hamels to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. They held this lead until the ninth, when Billy Wagner gave up a home run to Pat Burrell to tie the game. In the tenth Scott Schoeneweis came on and allowed a leadoff single to Jimmy Rollins, a sacrifice bunt to Shane Victorino, a run-scoring double to Chase Utley, and an intentional walk to Ryan Howard. The Mets then brought in Joe Smith, who allowed a single to Aaron Rowand and a double to Pat Burrell, scoring two more runs. The heart of the Mets’ batting order did nothing in the bottom half, and the good guys lost 6-3. It was the team’s second extra-inning loss in three days and it meant a series sweep for the Phillies.

6) May 7 @ Giants: One Terrible Inning

Oliver Perez had been pitching well. Then came the fifth. It started with a questionable ball four to Ray Durham. Bengie Molina hit the next pitch through the arms of a fan in left center leaning into the field of play, and off the top of the wall, but it was ruled a home run. Perez then retired Pedro Feliz and Todd Linden, but Barry Zito reached out and blooped a single to center. Randy Winn hit an easy, inning-ending grounder to the middle of the diamond, but Damion Easley booted it. Omar Vizquel then hit an easy, inning-ending fly ball to right field, but Shawn Green just missed it. Rich Aurilia followed with a line drive homer to right. Barry Bonds walked. Ray Durham singled. Finally, Bengie Molina hit another home run, this time for real. When it was over, the Giants had scored nine runs.

5) April 11 vs. Phillies: Perez Implodes

Philadelphia only scored three runs in the inning, and it was a close game regardless, but the ugliness of this particular Ollie P outing merits its inclusion on this list. The young lefty got the first two hitters out, but then forgot about the strike zone. He gave up a single to Utley on 3-1, walked Howard, walked Burrell, walked Wes Helms, walked Rowand, and finally hit Rod Barajas with a pitch. He wasn’t missing by much at first, but as the balls piled up he got more and more frustrated and his arm started going all over the place. It was just terrible to watch, especially because Perez walked zero in his first start of the year. He didn’t walk anyone in his next two starts, either, including April 21 vs. Atlanta, when he threw twenty consecutive strikes.

4) August 28 @ Phillies: No More Mota

It was the second of a four-game series in Philadelphia, and Tom Glavine took the hill for New York. He pitched seven strong innings, scattering eight hits and giving up no runs. The Mets got two off Adam Eaton on a Delgado home run, and had their bullpen set for the last two innings. Pedro Feliciano came in for the eighth and gave up a home run to Jimmy Rollins. Utley grounded out, Burrell walked, and Ryan Howard flew out. Then, with Aaron Rowand coming up, Willie Randolph went to Aaron Heilman because he thinks Feliciano is just a LOOGY. Victorino, pinch running for Burrell, stole second and took third on Lo Duca’s throwing error. Rowand singled, and the game was tied. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the tenth, when Guillermo Mota, in his second inning of relief, gave up a game-winning home run to Ryan Howard. What a surprise. I don’t care how good his peripherals look; Guillermo Mota is a bad pitcher.

3) August 29 @ Phillies: Interference

The next day was pretty terrible, too. The Mets wasted a ten-strikeout performance by Oliver Perez and lost the game on an interference call, as Shawn Green bounced a weak grounder to short and Marlon Anderson went out of his way to break up the double play. Anderson, pinch-hitting for Lastings Milledge, had just sent Endy Chavez to third with only one out, and if it weren’t for the interference call, the game would have been tied at three. On the play, Phillies second baseman Tadahito Iguchi came across the bag to get the Rollins feed, and Marlon Anderson hooked the side of the bag as he went toward shortstop, after Iguchi. The real interference was that Anderson tried to push Iguchi down after the slide, but he was called, wrongly, for not going after the bag. To make it worse, he didn’t even need to do anything, as they had no chance at the double play. Watching on MLB.tv, I had to hear someone in the Phillies’ broadcast booth, presumably Larry Andersen, scream “Yes! Yes! Yes!” at the call. The next day the Mets wasted a five run eighth inning as Billy Wagner gave up two in the ninth and the Phillies won 11-10. It was a demoralizing four-game sweep.

2) September 20 @ Florida: Ugly

The Marlins led the Mets 4-3 going to the ninth on the strength of an RBI double by Hanley Ramirez and a three-run homer by Miguel Cabrera. But Marlon Anderson, pinch-hitting, smacked a huge, clutch, bases-clearing double off Kevin Gregg to put the Mets ahead, and Carlos Beltran gave them an insurance run. The Mets led 7-4 going into the ninth, but Pedro Feliciano, after giving up a single to Jeremy Hermida, was replaced by Jorge Sosa—again, because Willie Randolph thinks Feliciano’s a LOOGY. The Marlins made the Mets pay, getting three hits and two RBI groundouts off Sosa to tie the game. It went to the tenth, when Jorge Sosa, still pitching, gave up a game-winning double to Dan Uggla.

1) September 30 vs. Florida: One Third of an Inning

Walk. Groundout. Single. Single. Double. Pitcher throws the ball into left field. Single. Walk. Single. Hit Batsman. Don’t come back, Tom Glavine. To be fair, the game did start on a ridiculous note, as Glavine had a pitch called a ball, despite it hitting Hanley Ramirez’s bat. After that, a series of unimpressive ground balls and bloops did him in. Later, Ramon Castro lifted a sure grand slam to left that would have put the Mets in the game, but a mighty wind came and knocked it down. Worst game of the year? There’s no doubt about it. Devastating? Definitely.

John Peterson hates old players on principle. You can read his stylized ravings regularly at Blastings! Thrilledge.

19 Responses to “The Seven Worst Games of 2007”

  1. Comment posted by Ed in Westchester 2.0 on February 8, 2008 at 6:25 am (#607759)

    Didn’t Pedro Dos have a poor 2nd half? That might be why Willie used him as a LOOGY more tha, he did earlier in the year.

    Besides, maybe Willies learning about LOOGY’s and ROOGY’s like we want.

  2. Comment posted by Lunkwill Fook on February 8, 2008 at 8:52 am (#607768)

    Actually, Feliciano didn’t have a horrible 2nd half. Certainly not as good as his first half but his first half was just plain unreal.

    1st half - 32.1 innings 20 hits 17BB 29K OPS
    2nd half - 31.2 innings 27 hits 14BB 32K

    His August and September numbers were:

    August 11.1 IP 9 hits 4BB 8K OPS .687 BABIP .242
    September 12.2 IP 13 hits 6BB 19K OPS .733 BABIP .414

    A little more hittable in September but if you look at that BABIP number, he got very, very unlucky. Of course, if you look at his first half BABIP, he was extremely EXTREMELY lucky so maybe it was just karma.

    Really, you just have to look at how tired plus unlucky he was, just like the rest of the Mets bullpen (except Mota who just sucked) and most of the team ended up in September. Good numbers, bad results.

  3. Comment posted by Danny on February 8, 2008 at 9:17 am (#607803)

    WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

    I can’t even bring myself to read this. I’m so over 2007.

    **flips hair**

  4. Comment posted by bcuster on February 8, 2008 at 9:34 am (#607823)

    i am suprised that the 1st tyler clipper game is not included here. i guess we did not know at the time, but that was where the tide started going out. we were a .500 club the rest of the way…

  5. Comment posted by jas on February 8, 2008 at 10:51 am (#607867)

    Okay, that was uncalled for and painful. The wounds clearly haven’t healed.

  6. Comment posted by Lunkwill Fook on February 8, 2008 at 10:51 am (#607868)

    Personally, I feel our “ground zero” game was the in the series against the D-Backs when everyone was out due to injury except Jose and Delgado. I think. I remember Wright missed the game due to back spasms and the entire outfield was injured. And Valentin was out with the original injury he had (before he came back and then injured himself permanently).

  7. Comment posted by coolpapabell on February 8, 2008 at 12:05 pm (#608012)

    This hurts. I remember all seven all too well. Oddly enough I think there were a few Nats games that could have been included. How about the one that they were getting crushed, then mount a ninth inning rally and leave the tying and winning run stranded? I believe that happened at Shea down the stretch in Sept., and unfortunatley, I was in attendance.

    Or the day I took a half day to go see Pelfrey pitch against the Rockies. I get there late, around the third inning, only to find that he is no longer pitching. Yes they lost that game.

  8. Comment posted by John Peterson on February 8, 2008 at 12:14 pm (#608021)

    Yea, coolpapabell, one game in particular like that was in consideration for #7. It was September 25th at home against the Nationals. The Mets came to bat trailing 10-3 in the bottom of the ninth and scored six runs, but Paul Lo Duca popped up to short right field to end the game.

  9. Comment posted by John Peterson on February 8, 2008 at 12:16 pm (#608026)

    I guess all four extra-inning losses to the Phillies are not at this list. Only two.

  10. Comment posted by jas on February 8, 2008 at 12:34 pm (#608033)

    Or how about the Atlanta game at Shea, in August, when Delgado had a game-tying home run taken away by WILLIE F’N HARRIS, at the top of the left-centerfield wall, after Wright smacked a three-run homer to cut the deficit to one run?

  11. Comment posted by sheadenizen on February 8, 2008 at 12:59 pm (#608051)

    John…..time to move on. Do you like wallowing in misery? If this was cathartic for you…. so be it, but next time…please keep it to yourself!
    It’s a week before pitchers and catchers. Fresh start!

  12. Comment posted by John Peterson on February 8, 2008 at 1:17 pm (#608057)

    What, I’m gonna give the seven best, but not the seven worst? It still makes me mad that Shawn Green was playing over Lastings Milledge. I’m furious.

    Turns out that Feliciano and The Show were used in the same proportion vs. lefties and righties. Of course, Feliciano was better against lefties but still good against righties, while Show was great against lefties but miserable vs. righties. Bottom line: The Show is a LOOGY, and Feliciano is not. However, Willie used them oppositely, and there is no reason to suspect that he won’t do the same this year.

  13. Comment posted by Ogre on February 8, 2008 at 2:01 pm (#608080)

    Or how about the Atlanta game at Shea, in August, when Delgado had a game-tying home run taken away by WILLIE F’N HARRIS, at the top of the left-centerfield wall, after Wright smacked a three-run homer to cut the deficit to one run?

    Ogre remembers that one quite well. Someone on this blog even went so far as to say that Wright’s HR was a rally killer and he would have been better off hitting a double instead!

  14. Comment posted by Jessica on February 8, 2008 at 2:02 pm (#608082)

    As I read this, I went from “WTF, how was that game not on the list” to “oh, yeah, that’s why.” I think that sums up the 2007 season quite well.

  15. Comment posted by Lunkwill Fook on February 8, 2008 at 2:49 pm (#608134)

    Ogre remembers that one quite well. Someone on this blog even went so far as to say that Wright’s HR was a rally killer and he would have been better off hitting a double instead!

    hahahah I remember that. Was it Ramon?

  16. Comment posted by C Low on February 8, 2008 at 4:47 pm (#608351)

    I cant’t wait to boo Glavine this year. They might outweigh Larry’s.

  17. Comment posted by Wally Dykstra on February 8, 2008 at 6:24 pm (#608463)

    Gosh, I’d put almost all of the losses in the last 2.5 weeks of the season on this list. Each of those were far more painful than anything that happened before Sep. 1.

  18. Comment posted by Athena on February 9, 2008 at 12:05 am (#608513)

    hahahah I remember that. Was it Ramon?

    Wasn’t it Izzy, Lunkwill?

  19. Comment posted by madisonmetsfan on February 9, 2008 at 7:40 pm (#608568)

    Interesting how many of the 7 were against the Phillies. This is, oddly enough, 1 reason why I’m optimistic for ‘08 (the other being Santana). The Phillies dominated the Mets head to head last year, particularly from, say, June on. Given how closely the teams are matched talent-wise, the Phils are extremely unlikely from a statistical perspective to repeat this performance.

    Of course, there was no good reason for the Mets to post a record of something like 5-25 at Turner Field a few years back, either, so….

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

«« Link Dump: February 8th, 2008
Link Dump: February 9th, 2008 »»

advertisement:

highest rated journals:

recent user journals:

Journals Archive

advertisement:

recent articles:

More...

features:

other:

your ad here:

advertisement: