For those who missed it, the umpires and the league have reached an agreement that will allow the use of instant replay, but solely for determining boundary calls. For those wondering what that means: homerun or not homerun. Umpires will decide when instant replay is used. 

I’m not one of those super traditionalists that thinks any change is bad, whether it be instant replay or Yankee pitchers running bases in an interleague game, there is some merit in the argument that instant replay has the potential for slowing the game down. Much as I enjoy those west coast games that run till 1 or 2 am NY time, the thought of extra time added on to them makes me cringe. And not the good type of cringe. That being said, with use limited to boundary calls, how much an affect will really take place? Odds are, at best there will be one use max of instant replay per game.  Its not everyday someone hits a questionable homer, steroid homers aside. There’s no need to worry realistically till they start broadening the replays use, as football has. If we can start using replay for close plays and questionable catches, an unlimited use would potentially result in 6 hour marathons. Imagine how painful that would be for those late summer Baltimore/Toronto fight for last matchups.

For now, limited replay seems like a good idea. At the very least, its worth a try, at least until 2015 when the robot umpires take over. They’ll be 100% accurate, and powered by the medicine of the elderly.

Since 2006, the Mets-Braves rivalry has become somewhat rekindled, though it has taken a major backseat to the Mets-Phillies rivalry in that same span. The rivalry has suffered from the Atlanta Braves’ lack of contention in the second halves of the past three years, as well. As a result, the splits in the series have developed a bit of a trend:

2006: Mets 11-7 against Braves (5-4 first half, 6-3 second half)
2007: Mets 9-9 against Braves (3-6 first half, 6-3 second half)
2008 (thus far): Mets 4-7 against Braves (2-7 first half, 2-0 second half with 7 more games to play)

2006 is pretty split, which makes sense because the Mets had the NL East in control early on. 2007, though, was the year the Mets just kept losing 2 out of 3 to the Braves (they did in their first four series with them.) They finally evened out the score with the last two series, when the Braves fell peaceably out of the race.

This year isn’t really that consistent failure against the Braves in 2007, as much as it is that disasterous 4-game sweep in May (of which I attended two games in a doubleheader.) That sweep has really skewed the Mets’ first half record against Atlanta, putting it at the same as their first half record against Atlanta in their horrid 2005 match-ups.

But the Braves have once again fell out of contention in 2008, and this series has been in the Mets’ control, not to jinx tomorrow’s game. The Braves have not been good in the role of the spoiler against the Mets the past few seasons, which hopefully continues.

As we move towards September, the team playoff push continues to progress as does the discussion of individual awards. 

In a chat for ESPN this week, Rob Neyer talked with fans and said that as of now he would pick David Wright as his choice for NL MVP. 

Today at Baseball Prospectus, Joe Sheehan disagrees.  He states that Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols should win the award, followed by Hanley Ramirez, Lance Berkman, David Wright and Jose Reyes.  However, he did throw out another Mets player into consideration:

As was the case a year ago, Chipper Jones would have a very strong case to be the MVP if he had just stayed on the field all year long. As it stands, Jones’ missed time is going to cost him an award that, were it based solely on rate stats, would be between him and Pujols. Well, and Daniel Murphy.

Very true and very funny. 

Hat tip to Vines for the quote and link.

The Mets defeated the Braves by a score of 7-3 this evening at Shea Stadium. Aaron Heilman got the win for the Mets, and Jeff Bennett took the loss for the Braves.

Oliver Perez had his worst stuff in quite awhile tonight, but battled, and kept the team in the game. Ollie threw 6.1 innings of three run ball, but walked four, something he has not done in well over a month.

The Mets got the scoring going in the 1st, on a David Wright sac fly and a Fernando Tatis RBI Double.

In the 7th, Luis Ayala came in and cleaned up the mess Perez left for him. He got Omar Infante and Brian McCann to fly out, leaving a man stranded on 3rd.

Heilman threw a scoreless 8th, and gave the Mets the opportunity to get back in the ballgame.

After two walks and an infield single, Carlos Delgado drove a two run double to the wall, driving in Endy Chavez and David Wright. Damion Easley added a two run single to give the Mets some extra breathing room.

Scott Schoeneweis pitched the 9th to close it out.

What a win, these are the kind of games the Mets are going to have to win if they want to be playing in October.

The Mets and Braves are at it again tomorrow. Jair Jurrjens will oppose Mike Pelfrey.

So much ink and so many words have been devoted to the Mets’ bullpen woes, specifically the (potentially long-term) absence of Billy Wagner. So why not some more words?

On Tuesday’s Mets-Braves telecast, Peachtree TV showed a graphic with the Mets’ bullpen ERAs by month. The team’s bullpen ERA for August was 6.65, a full two runs higher than the monthly average. Of course, Wagner has missed almost all of August. In April, back when Wagner was not only healthy but flawless, the Mets’ bullpen ERA was under 4, the season-low.

I know it’s a flawed stat, but let’s take a look at blown saves for each Mets reliever, since the pessimistic Mets fan in us is more concerned with not blowing saves than with maintaining leads. We’ll also look at losses to be fair because relievers are as to blame when they come into tie games.

Heilman - 7 losses, 3 BS
Sanchez - 1 loss, 0 BS
Schoeneweis - 2 losses, 3 BS
Feliciano - 3 losses, 2 BS
Smith - 3 losses, 3 BS
Ayala - 8 losses, 4 BS
Stokes - 0 losses, 1 BS

After looking at these extremely unscientific numbers, I’m inclined to say Heilman has probably gotten, by far, the most opportunities to close games, and he’s not really done well in those situations. Obviously, anybody could make that observation. Unless Ayala becomes stellar in a Mets uniform, I would think any thoughts of him becoming an end-of-game reliever soon are silly. And I kind of think people have overrated Stokes’ early contributions as a reliever, causing Jerry Manuel to put him in a role he shouldn’t have been in and subsequently helping to blow the game. (Let’s face it, that Mets-Pirates game came right after a Johan Santana shutout. And hey, Maine at least went five. Why was Manuel pushing for two innings out of Stokes there?)

Is there a clear-cut solution? Definitely not. Some are inclined to say John Maine, and I agree with SNY’s Ted Berg. If you absolutely had to pick a starter, Maine is probably the guy for the reasons Berg mentions in his latest column. But I’m not convinced that it’s that dire time yet. After all, I perceive the Mets rotation right now as a major strength, so why mess with a good thing there? Has Pedro Martinez put together enough solid outings to start counting on him as a strength in the rotation? Not quite there yet.

I also feel uncomfortable with struggling to watch the last few innings of every Mets game with their disasterous closer-by-committee. Billy, come home soon.

In addition to his left forearm injury for which he was originally placed on the DL, Billy Wagner is now going to the Hospital of Special Surgery to have his elbow examined.  Wagner is under contract for next year at $10.5 million next season, after which the Mets have a $1 million buyout or an $8 million club option. 

The Mets sorely missed Jose Reyes this afternoon, and lost to the Pirates 5-2.  Reyes was given the day off today, one day after David Wright was given the day off.   

Initially, the Mets seemed to be doing fine without Jose, with Argenis Reyes starting the game in fine fashion.  He singled to center, and Nick Evans followed him with a double.  However, the Mets were only able to score one run in that inning off a sac-fly from Carlos Beltran.  The Mets scored again in the fourth off of a Carlos Delgado groundout to make the game 2-0. 

Jerry Manuel was ejected arguing in the fifth, after Argenis Reyes was tagged out after running through first base and apparently making a turn into fair play.  Reyes unintentionally made this turn and did not know, so he was casually tagged out.  While he did appear to make the turn, Manuel disagreed and was given the boot by cowboy Joe West. 

John Maine did not have his fastball or his control this afternoon, but managed to throw five scoreless innings.  Maine walked four and allowed two hits while throwing 96 pitches in those five innings. 

Brian Stokes relieved Maine to begin the sixth and promptly gave up a 2-run HR.  After that the bullpen moved things along to the eighth, where Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez combined to allow three runs while recording only one out.  Joe Smith worked out of the jam to prevent further damage.

After a solid 6-1 road trip, the Mets take on their classic rival the Atlanta Braves with Oliver Perez taking on Jo-Jo Reyes. 

Through five starts this season when Brian Bannister had a 2.48 ERA and a 3-2 record, Mets fans were pulling their hair out and extremely upset that Bannister was traded for the now injured Ambiorix Burgos. 

Now, Bannister is 7-12 with a 5.96 ERA partly due to his miserable start yesterday afternoon.  Facing the Yankees, Bannister failed to record an out in the second inning, and allowed 10 earned runs.  The barrage of hits included three home runs, a double and a triple. 

Bannister has lost six consecutive decisions.

Yikes