Russ Ortiz Pitches Lousy, Jon Niese Pitches Great And Mets Win

Russ started off lousy, gave up 3 runs in the first because he couldn't locate much of anything or keep the ball down. He had a good 2nd, a passable 3rd, a barely tolerable 4th in which he gave up a walk, a single, a GIDP run and then Kd the pitcher. Fulchino had been warming up and at that time, the Astros were only losing 4-1, and in spite of Niese pitching the way I had expected Santana to, it was still a winnable game. But Coop sent Ortiz back out there and he got an out, gave up an IF single to 3rd, then a 10 pitch walk to Wright. Goodbye Russ. Byrdak went in to get the next 2 outs, which he did except for one itsy bitsy snag - which consisted of him going to 3-1 to Francoeur with 2 on and 2 out and THEN, Pudge called for a FB. Now, just before Byrdak threw the pitch, I said DON'T THROW A FB!!! and J.D. said - he's sitting dead red. So, how is it that Pudge has NOOOOOOO idea that Francoeur won't walk and sits dead red????? And why even bother to call for anything in the strike zone at all? He's supposed to be a veteran and better than that. And yes, it IS Byrdak's fault for 1 - not shaking that off, and 2 - throwing it straight down the middle. But what happened next was unbelieveable - right after the homer, JD said - the one thing that Roger Clemens said was that it was always better to walk a batter, even if he gave up a run, than it was to give into a hitter. Jeez - that is what I always quote Roger as saying. Might could it be that great minds think alike? I know that a lot of fans are madly in LUUUUVVVV with Pudge because he has a strong arm, but I am not real too in LUUUUVVVV with his inability to block balls well, the fact that he already has FIVE passed balls and his doing really stupid stuff like calling a FB for a hitter who even my kids know sits dead red and can't hit breaking pitches for spit and won't walk. Anyway, there we are, down 7-1, game over. So if you are going to bring in Chad Paronto, why on earth not bring out all the bench guys to mop up? sigh Paronto actually DID pitch 1 inning without giving up any runs, believe it or not. And it looks seriously strange to see him wearing Lidge's number - really, just as strange as it looks to see Coste wearing Backe's number. Speaking of pitchers, it looks as if Sampson is gonna be returning tomorrow, and Paronto will be headed on down. Good thing too, because Arias and Hawkins are lookin mighty tired these days. Wonder when Brocail is coming back - and I guess Wesley will be going back when he is ready. And Pence is still not hitting well, although he most definitely had much better ABs today - no swinging at sliders outside, more fighting off bad pitches, taking more balls. He hit a high FB off Frankie Rodriguez into the Crawford Boxes. He likes em high, just like Kit Keller. This afternoon, it's Moehler vs Livan Hernandez in the rubber game. I think the Mets have gotten more hits here in the past few days than they have in the past few months and yeh, I know that Citi Field seriously depresses homers, but their hitters haven't been making up for it at other stadiums neither - well, except for ours. I notice them all trying their best to hit balls into the Crawford Boxes. Even their leftys. Wonder how many people will be watching the games today instead of listening to Jim Ed Rice's and Rickey's HOF induction speeches. Oh yeah - with Hampton and Ortiz BOTH pitching lousy, does anyone think that any minor league pitcher of ours has even a ghost of a chance to replace them? I mean before September? Felipe Paulino, in case you are curious, has pitched in 2 games since returning to AAA - gave up 3 hits, 4 BB, 1 K and 1 run over 4 IP; gave up 4 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 R over 4.2 IP. You notice that this is AAA, he's not pitching deep and he's giving up a lot of walks and not getting many Ks...