J-Roll had the best vantage point in the house for all but one at bat of the Phillies’ 3-1 loss to the Mets Thursday afternoon. It was fascinating to hear ESPN’s resident baseball expert Stephen A. Smith hail Jimmy Rollins yesterday as someone who “does what he says he’s going to do”, while his Mets counterpart, Jose Reyes, “is a shell of his former self”.
Said shell hit a game winning 3 run HR last night, while scoring the first run of Wednesday’s matinee after walking and stealing second in the third inning. Reyes also leads Rollins in every important offensive category save for doubles this season. At what point will commentators have to acknowledge that not only has Reyes successfully rebounded from a poor second half of the ’07 season, but for the 2nd time in 3 years he’s a legit MVP candidate?
If the events of two nights ago generated a near-suicidal overreaction from this corner, the most recent pair of Mets wins over Phillies revealed the former to have exactly the sort of poise I doubted they’d summon. Virtually every discussion about the infuriatingly erratic Oliver Perez has to include the disclaimer, “he’s occasionally lights-out brilliant”. Today was one of such occasions, and Perez (12 K’s, 7.2 IP, 1 solo bomb allowed to Jayson Werth) resembled a bona-fide No. 1 starter rather than the strike-zone phobic enigma who seems to take the mound every other start.
Perez wasn’t alone on the redemption front ; Carlos Delgado, nothing short of a pariah in May, once again came thru with a game changing blow, the first baseman’s opposite field, 2-RBI double off J.C. Romero breaking a 1-1 deadlock in the last of the 8th. Delgado was 2-for-17 entering today’s game against Romero, but as Gary Cohen was quick to cite, “that was a different Carlos Delgado”. Likewise, Aaron Heilman, possibly the most widely despised Notre Dame alumnus this side of Mike Golic, induced Met-killer Werth to fly out to Beltran with the bases loaded in the top of the 8th.
How tremendous was 79 year old Jamie Moyer (7 IP, 2 hits, 3 walks, 1 run, 6 K’s)? Even Johan Santana wants to criticize Moyer’s teammates for the lack of run support. In all seriousness, you’d have to go back to some of the Mets’ epic NL East battles with the Cards (’85, ’87) and Pittsburgh (’90) to recall regular season games at Shea that seemingly had so much at stake. Neither team is likely to go totally into the tank between now and October, nor are the Marlins, so let’s hear for it for what oughta be an awesome final two months.
On an entirely different tip, if Wilpon TV’s talking heads wanna champion the joys of raising kitty-cats, more fucking power to ’em. “Time to man up and get a dog”, Mr. Mottram? Hey, if we’re gonna be all size queen about it, how about really confirming your manhood by getting two dogs?
I live with a pair of dogs, two cats and assorted other dangerous critters (one of whom runs a hosting company). Ron and Keith are guilty of many aesthetic crimes, but owning felines isn’t one of them. Let’s stamp out pussyphobia in our lifetime.
I too, found it impossible to be on time for a noon start (of course it was 9am where I was).
Also, putting aside Reyes entirely, Rollins is simply not having a great season. Maybe it’s the injury. Maybe he’ll never repeat last year. But he is the place where the Phillies offense starts or stalls, no matter how often Charlie tries to suggest it’s also because the 7 and 8 hitters don’t get on base enough to give him RBIs (’cause Wes Helms and Abe Nunez were such juggernauts last year). If SAS is gonna drool on Rollins ’cause he walks the walk as MVP and vocal leader, well, that’s also the first guy you point the finger at.
Jason,
I doubt its the leg injury as Rollins has managed to steal 25 bases at 100% success rate and his fielding is fine. Perhaps 2007 was a fluke as he is now hitting around his career norm. The tardiness today couldnt have occurred at a worse time for J-Roll as we are all still sore at him for pulling up on the 2-out bloop double Victorino hit in Florida and ended up on 3rd rather than plating a run.. Utley or Vic scores on a play like that everytime and the run he did not score would have resulted in a 1 run lead and Brad Lidge in the 9th….Its really starting to appear that the 2008 Phillies are really just not a good team as you just cant fall flat on your collective asses for such an extended period. It is starting to appear that the April/May success was largely due to excellent bullpen work and that now that the pen is starting to fray (overwork or were just overachieving) the wheels are really starting to come off this team on both sides of the ball. Utley is on a 25-game on/off cycle and he is entrenched in his 3rd nasty slump of the season. There are plenty of games left and plenty of times to make some moves but patience has been exhausted and Rollins has set himself up for team scapegoat.
I’m not saying he’s hobbled, just hampered. Less steady at the plate, less aggressive on the basepaths. If he’s not stroking doubles and homers and hitting for average he’s merely a very good player, not a great one.
I still don’t think it’s the bullpen though. Last year’s offense wins yesterday’s game despite Madson. And I don’t blame Romero one bit today.
More importantly, who the hell drives their car from Philadelphia for a three-night stay at Le Parker Meridien. And then drives it to Queens? Use the team-provided transportation or hire a friggin’ limo. Gotta wonder if that car was safely parked in the hotel garage at 1 a.m. last night.
I’m guessing that Screamin A. hasn’t bothered to look at Reyes’ stats since Mid-May by that idiotic comment.