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There are 1,000 stories from any night in this crazy numbers racket. I’m here to tell you a few of them. <\/p>\nThere are 1,000 stories from any night in this crazy numbers racket. I’m here to tell you a few of them. <\/p>\n
•<\/strong> The Mets have to feel great about themselves this morning, completing a three-game shutout sweep of the Phillies and doing so without Johan Santana<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> ever taking the mound. Mike Pelfrey<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> did the honors Thursday (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 5 K) and I’m not sure what to make of the start; while his fastball looked as live as I’ve seen all year, he was also bailed out by three timely double plays. <\/p>\n The New York offense didn’t light up the scoreboard against Cole Hamels<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (6.1 IP, 3 R), but there are reasons for the Mets to be optimistic about their lineup. Jose Reyes<\/a> is on a 14-for-32 binge, lifting his average to .249, Jason Bay<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> has a zesty 1.026 OPS at home, and Angel Pagan<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> has been a handy find in center field, hitting .296 with eight steals in 11 attempts. <\/p>\n Pagan’s been especially effective in May (.330, 15 runs, nine walks against 10 strikeouts) and his emergence is essential for the Mets right now as the Carlos Beltran<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> timetable seems to be pushed back weekly. GM Omar Minaya admitted on Thursday that it’s unlikely we’ll see Beltran back with the club before the All-Star break. Pagan’s current ownership level in Yahoo! leagues is a modest 10 percent; that number needs to be doubled, if not tripled, in short order. Show an open mind for the Angel of Queens.<\/p>\n •<\/strong> The Twins looked like a bad matchup for Javier Vazquez<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> on paper (all those good left-handed bats) and that’s how it played out on the field; Minnesota knocked Vazquez around for eight hits and five runs over 5.2 innings. Vazquez gets a break next week with Baltimore on the schedule, albeit he’ll have to toil in Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n Target Field hasn’t been homer-friendly for the Twins through two months, but Jason Kubel<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> got things working Thursday, clocking two homers and adding an RBI double. "It hasn’t been flying here," Kubel said. "But if you pull the ball, it can get out. So maybe that’s the key."<\/a><\/p>\n •<\/strong> The Brewers bullpen had it going in Thursday’s 10-inning victory over Houston;t the final four Milwaukee pitchers worked scoreless innings. Okay, you don’t throw a parade for stopping the hapless Astros offense, but it was a step forward. Zach Braddock<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> Todd Coffey<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Carlos Villanueva<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> each worked their inning while the Brewers were trailing by a run; Villanueva struck out the side in the ninth, working around a couple of hits. <\/p>\n Milwaukee tied the game in the bottom of the ninth (capitalizing on a rare 2010 misstep from Matt Lindstrom<\/a>(notes)<\/a>),<\/span> then handed the ball to John Axford<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> for the tenth (perfect inning, two strikeouts). Lindstrom, inexplicably asked to work a second inning, walked in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth.<\/p>\n The Brewers never had a save situation in the game, so don’t read too much into Trevor Hoffman<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> not pitching; he’ll probably see the ninth inning on the weekend if there’s a lead to protect. That said, if Hoffman were pitching well this year, he probably would have come into this game in the top of the tenth; that’s routine work for a home-team closer – pitching in a tie game once the save is no longer possible.<\/p>\n •<\/strong> Johnny Cueto<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> continues to roll over the weak NL Central; Thursday he threw six dominant innings at the Pirates (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K). At times you’ll see Cueto nibble too much when a game is close, but when the Reds are able to score for him early, he seems to relax and trust his stuff more. He’s on a 5-0 binge over his last six starts, posting a 1.85 ERA and 40 strikeouts (against eight walks) over 39 innings. He’ll work at St. Louis next week, and possibly Washington on the weekend if the Reds want to keep him on normal rest. <\/p>\n Kings of Pain:<\/strong> Curtis Granderson<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (hamstring) will probably come off the disabled list and play Friday against the Indians. … Brian Anderson<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (elbow) is still tentatively scheduled to pitch Saturday at Detroit. He did some throwing Thursday with no setbacks reported. I’m not a fan of starting pitchers right off the DL; unless you’re desperate for weekend innings, put Anderson in the scouting queue for at least one turn. … Andre Ethier<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (thumb) is ready for a rehab assignment and might be with the Dodgers next week. … Brad Lidge<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (elbow) had a clean bullpen session Thursday, which sets him up to start a rehab assignment on the weekend. The Phillies don’t have to rush anything with Lidge, given how well Jose Contreras<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> has pitched this season. … Nick Punto<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (finger) should be able to play Friday after missing the previous four games. If that doesn’t make your weekend, nothing will. … Carlos Zambrano<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> made a surprise visit to the hospital Thursday, dealing with abdominal pain; thankfully, it wasn’t an appendix problem. Zambrano’s setback is good news for Tom Gorzelanny<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> – he’ll get more chances to fight for his rotation spot while Zambrano transitions back to starting. … Strikeout tease Bud Norris<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (biceps) won’t be able to start Saturday at Cincinnati. Brian Moehler<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> gets the call instead; be ready with your Cincinnati hitters . . . Luke Scott<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (shoulder) hopes to make it back Friday. … Brian McCann<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (quad) didn’t get the start in rainy Florida. … J.A. Happ<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (forearm) threw 50 pitches Thursday and didn’t have a setback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are 1,000 stories from any night in this crazy numbers racket. I’m here to tell you a few of them. • The Mets have to feel great about themselves this morning, completing a three-game shutout sweep of the Phillies and doing so without Johan Santana(notes) ever taking the mound. Mike Pelfrey(notes) did the honors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}