My Spring Training Videos
During my time at Port St Lucie on March 3, I took some videos of Mets players before their Spring Training game that day. The first video here is of different Mets players hanging around the cage. At about 33 seconds, if you turn up your volume, you can hear Mets SS Jose Reyes talk in Spansh.
In this next video, Jose Reyes is hitting, and on the last pitch, he lays down a bunt and runs it out. After running it out, you can hear him say something in Spanish to Carlos Beltran, who is sitting on a bucket waiting his turn to hit.
On this next video, I took a video of the Mets conference room inside Tradition Field, putting the camera on the door’s sign saying “Conference Room” so that everyone can see it. As I am walking outside towards the players parking lot, you can see on the left very quickly a place where the players get their haircuts. It is some kind of barber shop.
Pelfrey vs. Wheelchair!
The fifth spot in the Mets starting rotation is very much on the line today in Port St. Lucie. The Mets will be playing host to the St. Louis Cardinals at 1 pm at Tradition Field.
Throughout the spring, the Mets have been sending five pitchers daily to pitch, but today it is exclusively El Duque and Pelfrey. I’m guessing the Mets really want to sit back and watch this unfold TODAY.
Let the battle begin!
Deja Vu?
I wasn’t home today during the game and the game wasn’t even on TV, so I can’t tell you much about it from my point of view except that Oliver Perez needs to start focusing for the season soon. We don’t want April to be like last April. You know, that game that he pitched against the Phillies kind of April?
Perez threw five innings today, but gave up five runs.
How come with every word I write on this post I keep getting reminded of that horrible game in April against the Phillies? Fine, that is it, I’m going to dig up some of my post-game from that day and see how it turned out. To see it all, click here.
Date: April 12, 2007
Mets vs. Phillies
This is what I wrote:
“Oliver Perez had a fine start, allowing no hits for the first two innings, then allowed a single in the third and never looked back. He ended up walking consecutive batters, hitting another batter, and then was finally taken out after walking in three runs by Willie Randolph”
So ya kinda see what I mean?
At the plate, it was really nice to see Ryan Church get a hit. Beltran hit a homer and Brian Schneider, finally returning from the injury, went hitless.
Tomorrow, the Mets are finally on TV. Guess who is pitchin
g?
Orlando Hernandez! Yes, he is pitching in a real, live game! No, not a simulated game! Not a bullpen session! Not just throwing long toss with some weird ball that he always does. He is actually going to throw a pitch to a batter with an umpire behind him and a crowd cheering.
That’s always a good sign, right? Well, I guess, but when you are the world’s most injury-prone person, anytime you walk you could break a leg, ankle, or whatever that bunion thing was. Besides, he isn’t a young person that can pitch all day long. He is 42. Or maybe he is 32. Or maybe he is 52. Maybe if his dog never decided to “chew up his birth certificate”, we might have a clue!
So again, Orlando Hernandez is pitching tomorrow. I think the team should wheel him in a wheelchair out to the mound to make sure he doesn’t pull a muscle or break his leg. What do you think?
Pedro has unlimited pitch count in ‘08
Bart Hubbuch at the NY Post wrote this morning about the great progress made by Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez. Hubbuch explained how manager Willie Randolph has seen enough from Martinez so that he doesn’t need those 90 pitch counts like he had last year, or e
ven any count at all.
“This year, if he’s feeling strong, Pedro is going to go out there and pitch unless he tells me differently,” Randolph said yesterday. “When Pedro is feeling it, he’s not going to come out of the game.”
Hopefully we can see the old Pedro this year, not the one that comes back late in the season like last year, or the one that warped his rotator cuff the year before in September.
Pedro is more cautious now than he ever has been, and that is what happens to older players who are trying to conserve all of the years that they have left in the tank. I’m expecting a solid season from him. Why wouldn’t I?
Pedro will most likely make one more start this spring before his scheduled April 1 start in game two of the Mets’ opening series of the season against the Marlins.
Pedro sharp, Wright homers in win vs. Nats
Pedro Martinez’s pitches were fairly under control in today’s victory over the Nationals, as the veteran righty pitched five innings and allowed two runs, one of which was a long ball hit by Austin Kearns.
I am impressed with how Martinez has come along, but not surprised. I’m always impressed by his pitching, but he has done great in only two starts thus far. Like I said, I’m not surprised because, not only is he one of baseball’s best, but he had so long to prepare for these games and kind of waited around for awhile before getting a start
Following the exit of Martinez, the bullpen did it’s job, never letting a runner cross the plate. That kind of thing is great to see, especially with all the different pitchers throwing. Today’s relievers consisted of Ricardo Rincon, who got the win, Pedro Feliciano, Scott Schoeneweis, and Matt Wise.
As for the offense, the bats kept cracking and the balls kept rolling. Jose Reyes, Marlon Anderson, and Carlos Beltran each came up with doubles, with Reyes hitting two. I’d think David Wright would be satisfied with how he did today. He had three hits, one if which was a home-run off Chris Schroder in the fifth inning, and had two RBI. Wright took awhile to get his first homer of the spring, but he finally got it. I’m sure he won’t struggle this April like he did last April because he knows it happened and has it in the back of his head to make sure he won’t do it again. Sometimes, seasons like last seasons actually help players in terms of learning from their mistakes.
The Nationals hit fine in the beginning of the game, but slipped as the game went on. At one point, they scored three runs in a three-inning span, but nothing after that. It may be a sign of what we will see throughout the season again from this club, because they didn’t prove anything except that they will have a tough time trying to make the playoffs this season. The team had six hits combined. Other than Elijah Dukes’ double and Kearns’ homer, not much happened for them at the plate.
Tomorrow, the Mets will be on the road, traveling to play the Cleveland Indians for a 1:05 PM game.