RIP: Hope for Aaron Heilman

All hope for Aaron Heilman among Mets fans passed away today after a lengthy struggle. Doubts first surfaced in the minds of Mets fans a few years ago, when Heilman was first transferred from the rotation to the bullpen. Fans watched in agony as Heilman suffered through repeated walks, hard hits, and scoring inherited runners. All of these are common symptoms of Inaffective Reliever Syndrome (IRS), which will from now on be called Aaron Heilman Syndrome. Heilman seemed to be recovering from the illness in the final three weeks before the All-Star Break. However, after the 3 day rest, the disease clearly returned in Cincinatti.

Hope in Aaron Heilman is survived by Hope in Duaner Sanchez, Joe Smith, Scott Schoeneweiss, Carlos Muniz, Pedro Feliciano and Billy Wagner. However, Schoeneweiss showed signs of an onset of the disease during his time on the mound following Heilman.

Alou is Back!

If nothing else, the Mets roster is beginning to slightly more resemble the Mets roster with Duaner Sanchez returning recently and tonight's return of Moises Alou. Sure, both catchers from our preferred Major League roster are on the Disabled List currently, and Pedro will miss several more weeks, and El Duque is -- well -- El Duque, but some people are making their returns.

Last year, when Alou actually played, he was an RBI, BA, and HR machine. Tonight, in his first at-bat of the season, he has an RBI single (which, granted, should have been a double play ball if Diamondbacks 2B Orlando Hudson didn't simply miss it completely). There's been plenty to complain about with this Mets team this season, but Alou is currently batting 1.000 with an RBI. There's not much we can say in complaint about his performance when he's actually been on the field......yet.

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By the way, the Mets have switched back tonight to the order with Ryan Church batting second and Castillo in the 8-slot. They're scoring again. Incredible... Amazing how so many blogs and other fans have called for this, and it's taken this long for Willie Randolph to go with it.

A Turning Point in the History of This Blog

I am sorry to say that this is the first post to which I am attaching a Parental Advisory, following the lead of other blogs that wrote on the event.

This past week, the Mets traveled to Wrigley Field for a series against the Cubs. During that series, young Mets reliever Joe Smith apparently decided he had had enough of the hecklers to whom relief pitchers become so accustomed. Follow the link below to HomerDerby and the video is available on that site.

http://homerderby.com/archives/2144


I like Joe Smith. I do. I think he was our best guy before Wagner in the 'pen before Dirty Sanchez came back (who has looked good so far, so my hopes are high). But I don't like this.

...Speaking of Billy Wagner, today he allowed a hit for the first time this season. I guess this windup of his (which I still find weird whenever I see it) is working. Wagner still has not allowed a run in 2008.

Dirty Sanchez is back!

The Mets game just ended, and it was full of great individual performances. Pelfrey pitched 7 scoreless innings, Reyes had 4 hits including a triple and double, Wright had 5 RBIs including a 2-run homer in the first inning. But the biggest thing about tonight's game in my opinion was the man who pitched the 9th inning for the Mets: Duaner Sanchez. It was his first Major League appearance since his taxi cab accident in Miami back on July 30, 2006. I didn't get to see it, but the radio announcers said his slider seemed sharp and his fastball had good velocity. But we all know Duaner's go-to-pitch is the change, and he seemed to be missing his spot with that. But that will come. Overall, Sanchez pitched 1.0 inning, gave up a ground ball single up the middle, struck out a batter, and induced two ground ball outs. A strong outing.

I know I'm a Heilman-hater, but I'll mention here that he pitched a scoreless 8th inning, despite giving up a double.

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More on Duaner Sanchez, I just want to include a story here. I've already written the story of how Xavier Nady learned he had been traded after Sanchez's injury created a need for a relief pitcher. As clueless as Nady was that him being traded was a possibility, the rest of the Mets may have been even more shocked. Apparently, Nady was in the hotel lobby on July 31 and preparing to leave to join the Pirates. A bunch of the Mets players were set to go out to dinner and just assumed that X-Man would either join them or be going out on his own. It was then that Nady told them all he had been traded to Pittsburgh. He also told them at this time about Duaner Sanchez's car accident and injury, which the players seemingly didn't know about before. Needless to say, the collection of Mets players was speechless. Nady was an extremely popular player among both his teammates and the fans, and obviously everybody recognized how critical Sanchez was to the team's success.

With Sanchez returning, it's an appropriate time to look back. Aaron Heilman, Guillermo Mota (yes, that steroid-using, lead-blowing @$$****), and Roberto Hernandez all tried to fill Sanchez's role, and none were particularly successful in the end (i.e. the playoffs [Yadier Molina? Are you kidding me, Heilman?]). Heilman is still blowing leads for the Mets, so not much has changed there. Mota was sent to the Brewers in a form of addition-by-subtraction, since the player the Mets received in return, Johnny Estrada, was released just a couple weeks later. Roberto Hernandez went to the Indians to start 2007, but was released by them on June 20 of that year, and signed onto a minor-league deal with the Dodgers. He struggled through a stretch with the Major League club, and is currently a free agent at 43 years old. Xavier Nady is now the main offensive threat of the Pittsburgh Pirates (or a close second to Jason Bay), and still a very popular player (not to mention an early winner of the Non-Mets Player Mets Player of the Day Award here on this site).

Update from last post

Out of the large number of Mets listed in the last post as being injured, several returned to the lineup today. The biggest surprise was Ryan Church, returning from the Grade 2 concussion he suffered in his collision last weekend. Church looked good, ripping two line-drive singles to right in his only 2 at-bats. Also returning to the lineup for the game against the Marlins were Brian Schneider, Damion Easley, and Endy Chavez. This was a split-squad game, and on the other squad which traveled to face the Baltimore Orioles, Marlon Anderson made his return to the lineup.

Duaner Sanchez is also scheduled to pitch for the first time in 8 days in the game against the Marlins, though he hasn't entered the game yet as of now.


Beltran, Castillo, and Delgado continue to sit out. Reports on Beltran and Castillo sound like they could appear in a game any day now. Delgado has taken batting practice and reported no pain.

Moises Alou will definitely miss the beginning of the regular season. Orlando Hernandez has finally thrown a bit down in Florida, but there is no definite timetable for his first appearence in a game.

Welcome to the Blog

Hey there, everybody in the blogosphere. Welcome to this brand new blog. The focus is going to be mostly on sports -- and specifically on baseball. Just to let you know, I'm a life-long Mets fan, and the posts will reflect that. I have no real access to players or coaches or anybody else affiliated with the organization -- or any organization. This is simply going to be a fan's perspective of the Amazin's. I was born 9 months too late to enjoy a Mets World Series title in my lifetime, so hopefully this will be the year.

I have no real expertise other than being an avid fan. For all-access, great coverage, check out Matthew Cerrone at metsblog.com. I've seen more than my share of baseball games, and I hope you trust me when I say I know what I'm talking about (hopefully you'll at least bear with this blog long enough to give me a chance to show that).

I may occasionally post an angry response to something going on with the New Jersey Nets. I was a Phoenix Suns fan when J-Kidd was playing there, and I'm far from pleased with his recent departure to Dallas for a scrap heap of guys that includes Keith Van Horn. Heck, is it me, or did Keith Van Horn (I say did because Keith hasn't played a game since 2005) always seem like he would be getting wedgies from the other guys if the game was being played in the school-yard? I could just picture Van Horn being powerless as a guy pulls his jockeys all the way up to the 6'10" top of his head for an atomic wedgie.

But anyway, since talk of Keith Van Horn and the Nets is just making me depressed, let's return to baseball. Suffice it to say for now that I'm pumped about Spring Training returning. Heck, if there was a network that televised daily workouts, I would skip all my classes and just sit around watching David Wright take infield practice and Duaner Sanchez throwing live BP today to a group of guys (only D-Wright managed to make contact against him on a foul tip, and Easley was the only other player to take a hack, but swung and missed).

I'm also hoping I'll be able to convince my roommate, Steve Slowinski, to take up writing here, as well. I gotta give him credit; rooting for the D-Rays, he suffers more than Mets fans like I do. He's in Denmark now studying, and I don't waste a day reminding him that there's no baseball in Denmark. I think Spring Break we might have to both fly down to Florida for Spring Training. We'll see.

Well, that's enough of an intro for now. I'll try to post often on events down in Port St. Lucie. If nothing else, I'll try to post links to other sites' articles and posts that you might find interesting.

Go Mets!!!