Was "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" Written About Hisanori Takahashi? Seriously Was It?

Game 2: Los Marlins 7 Mets 6

Takahashi vs Robertson

Pagan was back in the lineup! Ike was given the night off.

Basically Takahashi was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tonight. I'm pretty sure he has split pitching personalities because those exist and all. Well if they don't exist I'm coining the phrase. For most of the 5 2/3 innings Tak pitched he was good old Dr. Jekyll retiring Marlins left and right. He had in fact retired the first 8 batters he faced BUT then with 2 outs, it was the bottom of the third, Hyde emerged and he was evil and he forgot how to get batters out.

Takahashi gave up a 2 out single to the pitcher Nate Robertson and that was the beginning of the end. The shit hit the fan. Speaking of shit, who shoveled manure as a kid? Jorge Cantu! Yeah Kevin Burkhardt shared that little tidbit tonight.

Okay but back to the game. It was still the bottom of the 3rd, still 2 outs and the bases were now loaded and oh fudge Hanley Ramirez was up. Before tonight the Metsies had given up 7 grand salamis this season and after one swing of Hanley's bat they had given up 8 grand salamis this season. And then Hisanori HYDE gave up a 2 run homer to Dan Uggla. Of course it was Uggla. I imagine Uggla wears a shirt wherever he goes that reads, "I'm Dan Uggla I Crush Dreams." The worst part of this 6 run inning was the fact that the Mets were up 3-0 over the Marlins before it started and now the score was 6-3.

BUT Takahashi became Jekyll again, he was pitching pretty good again, and Jerry kept him on the mound until the bottom of the 6th when he gave up a 2 out double to Coghlan. Tak's stats tonight were:
5 2/3IP 6R 9H 2BB 4K
The call to the bullpen was then made, Dessens came in and on one pitch Gaby Sanchez flew out and the inning was over.

But the Metsies had fight in them and they weren't throwing in the towel just yet. How could they the Marlins bullpen has the reputation of being the worst bullpen! In the top of the 7th Tim Wood was pitching for the Marlins and with nobody out and men on the corners Tejada was up. Tejada hit a ground ball to Wes Helms that definitely should have led to a double play but Helms bungled a bit and he got the force out at second but Tejada was safe at 1st and Tatis scored. The Metsies were down just 6-4, there was only 1 out now, Tejada was on first and the pinch hitter was Isaac Benjamin Davis. Taylor Tankersley was the new pitcher and wtf he was good and he struck out Ike. Then Jose Veras came in to pitch against Reyes and wtf he was good too and he struck out Reyes. I don't know why the Marlins bullpen won't live up to their lousy reputation. That's just inconsiderate of them.

After KRod pitched a perfect bottom of the 8th, oh yeah he retired the Marlins in order, the Metsies had one more chance to "call it a comeback." The Marlins closer Leo Nunez was in the game and well he lived up to the Marlins sucky bullpen rep, YAY! Barajas led off the inning with a single. Next "The Animal" pinched hit and he doubled! It was 2nd and 3rd for Frenchy with nobody out and Jeff grounded out but Barajas scored and the Metsies were down by just 1 run, 6-5. Then with 1 out and Cora on at third (Alex was the pinch runner for Carter) Tejada was up, nope it wasn't Tejada, Josh Thole pinch hit for Ruben and Thole was CLUTCH. He's a badass! Thole singled, Cora scored and the ball game was tied 6-6 YAY! Unfortunately Ike and Jose did a repeat performance of what they had done in the top of the 7th and Thole was stranded. Nunez got Ike to fly out and then he struck out Reyes. BOO.

Since KRod had pitched in the 8th and was pinch hit for in the top of the 9th Jerry had Perpetual Pedro pitch the bottom of the 9th. It started out oh so well. He struck out both the pinch hitter Bonifacio and Hanley Ramirez! But then that manure shoveling Cantu got a 2 out double and well Uggla was up. Like I said he must wear that "I'm Dan Uggla And I Crush Dreams" shirt wherever he goes and he got a walk off base hit, Cantu scored and the ball game was over. The Marlins won 7-6, BOO.

Okay enough of that depressing stuff let's get to what memorable things Keith said tonight. I think it might help to cheer everybody up somewhat.

Keith does not find humor in Hanley Ramirez falling over on his keister. If that happened to him he would be embarrassed.

He likes the word "FRISKY."

Hernandez thinks Hanley's helmet makes him look like a mutant.

Keith then added that the helmet actually makes Hanley look like a Klingon or a Romulan. Who knew Keith was a trekkie??!!

Last night he was drenched after the game. And he had no exertion.

Keith from the booth would not need a glove to catch a foul ball because he is that awesome. "It's not necessary with me" GARY!

He had a hunch this game was going to be "wild and woolly."

He knew from just the lower half of a man's body in the bullpen (no upper body or head was shown by the camera man) that that man was in fact Dessens. He said "Trust me it's Elmer." Yeah that was kind of weird. AWKWARD!

Frenchy has the most intense expression. "Look at those eyes and teeth, his teeth are like Bela Lugosi."

After mentioning Lugosi Keith felt old and dated and "un-contemporary."

He usually needs reading glasses for the promos.

Keith said you have to be careful of astroturf you "don't want to be hell bent for leather." After he said this he asked Gary if he could say that on television and Gary told him he probably should have asked that to begin with and Keith replied, "You know me..."

Keith said the Caribbean is always wonderful.

Parnell is a man of few words and he's easy going. Good to know Keith!

His Dad's a full blooded Spaniard and that makes him 1/2 Spanish.

Hernandez is surprised there isn't an ACRONYM for everything.

Keith had no idea what "BTW" meant. His kids texted him this cryptic message and he was all WTF. Oh wait he probably doesn't know what that means oops.

He does know what "LOL" means. "Lots of Laughs." (Gary then had to inform him he was wrong). I then lol-ed! I was in fact "ROTFL." Yes Keith remember Gary said that means I was "rolling on the floor laughing" from you!

Well that's it folks. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully Pelfrey can help the Metsies to get their first road win against these pesky fish. And maybe Uggla can have the day off! That would be splendid.

Oh and SNY I'm still waiting on that RUM of Puerto Rico...

And Keith I want us fans to continue to have "lots of laughs" so keep up the good work!

The Most Important Thing From... Game 6, Mets v. Nationals, April 11, 2010

The Mets' bullpen continued its stellar performance, allowing only two hits and two walks over four innings while striking out three. So far in the young season, the group has been excellent.

Today's performance has come on the heels of several other impressive group outings:

April 10th: 3.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB
April 9th: 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB
April 8th: 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB
April 7th: 5 IP, 3 R, 9 H, 2 BB, Loss
April 5th: 3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB

Hisanori Takahashi Should Be This Year's Darren Oliver

The day was October 14, 2006. The Mets were in trouble. It was the second inning of Game 3 of the NLCS. The Mets were at Busch Stadium, facing the Cardinals, and Steve Trachsel was struggling. He led off the second inning by surrendering a home run to the opposing pitcher, Jeff Suppan, which made the score 3-0 in favor of St. Louis. A walk, single, and walk later, he was out of there. Who came in to save the day? None other than Darren Oliver, one of the unheralded heroes of the Mets 2006 season.

Oliver wasn't perfect, allowing two of those inherited runners to score - but that can hardly be blamed on Oliver. What happened next, however, was something which endeared Oliver to me for life. No matter what else he did, I would always be a Darren Oliver fan.

The Fifth Starter Competition, And Why Nobody Should Be Listening to Jerry Manuel

There has been a lot of talk about the fifth starter spot this spring, but few of the reports have taken a large-scale look at the situation as a whole. So let's set the record straight and figure out as much as we can about the candidates right now. Below are the spring training statistics for the four men who are can be considered true candidates for the spot:

Fernando Nieve: 3 games, 9 IP, 12 hits, 6 runs, 5 bb, 2 K
Nelson Figueroa: 3 games, 8 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 3 bb, 9 K
Jonathan Niese: 3 games, 7.2 IP, 10 hits, 6 earned runs, 4 bb, 7 K
Hisanori Takahashi: 2 games, 6 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 bb, 9 K

Obviously, a few spring innings are not going to tell you much about the player posting them. What is interesting, however, is that in the four men, we have the four most hilariously stereotypical rotation contenders imaginable:


Fernando Nieve -- The Former Top Prospect, resurrecting his career
Nelson Figueroa -- The Journeyman, struggling to prove himself
Jonathan Niese -- The Real Prospect, trying to break into the Show
Hisanori Takahashi -- The Japanese League Veteran , shrouded in mystery.


We've got righties and we've got lefties. We have old and young. We have hard throwers and soft-tossers. It's great.


Who else is in favor of tossing Pelfrey, Perez, and Maine overboard and just going with these guys? At the very least, we could have an interesting Mighty Ducks-style story on our hands. Especially if we include Ryota Igarashi, aka "Swallows Man."

Storyline aside, there is one very important issue. The most important issue, in fact, one which I believe that the beat writers and bloggers have been avoiding for the most part:

What are our goals for this season and beyond, and what do each player offer us to help us toward that goal?

If our objective was to "win now" we could hand the job to the best pitcher, toss the other three in the bullpen, and promote Jennry Mejia right away.

If our objective is to play for 2011, we should send Jon Niese to Triple-A and plug whoever will sell the most tickets into the fifth starter slot.

If, as I imagine, our objective is somewhere in between, the picture becomes less clear, and it is important for us to consider what each of the players offer. It appears that the Mets consider Takahashi and Nieve as candidates for the bullpen, but not Figueroa. According to Brian Costa of the Star-Ledger, Fernando Nieve is the only candidate who is out of options and cannot be sent to the minor leagues without clearing waivers. Each player also offers us a different potential ceiling and floor for their performance.

The one person whose input we should not be taking into account is Jerry Manuel. This is not because I don't like Jerry - in fact, I think he's not a bad manager. However, it is inherent in his position that he wants to win NOW, without regard to the future development of our prospects and without regard to service time and free agency. I don't blame him. If my job depended on how the Mets performed in the first 40 games, I would probably do the same thing. This is precisely why we need to adhere to the manager/GM system which we allegedly have in effect. Manuel, despite all his sneaky comments to the press, particularly about Mejia, shouldn't have much, if any, input into the final shape of our roster.

All of these players are much more than their spring statistics would indicate, but delving into each would take another post altogether. But knowing just the basics, a few things are clear. Fernando Nieve and Hisanori Takahashi will be on the roster Opening Day. If I had it my way, both would be in the bullpen and Nelson Figueroa would be the fifth starter. Jon Niese would have a few months to hone his craft in Triple-A.

This option allows us to a) retain all our players, b) allows Niese to mature as a pitcher, and c) gives Figueroa the shot at the rotation that everyone thinks he deserves. Just as importantly, it moves two potentially powerful forces to the bullpen. Seeing as most pitchers are more effective when relieving rather than starting, Nieve and Takahashi could potentially provide a huge boost to our weakest unit. Takahashi, in particular, would provide us with a second left-handed option in addition to Pedro Feliciano.

A bullpen of Frankie Rodriguez, Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green, Ryota Igarashi, Nieve and Takahashi is deep and provides a variety of different looks.

For the best chance of winning now, holding on to our player properties, and allowing Jon Niese to reach his potential, this arrangement seems to be the obvious answer.