Is The Glass Half Empty, Or Half Full?

I might be taking a much different point of view than your average fan, but certain points led to the Mets humiliating defeat last night.

1. David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos DelGado were a combined 4-16 (.250), but more importantly, both Wright and DelGado grounded into double plays at inopportune times.


2. Dwright trying to stretch a single into a double, and was thrown out by a country mile


3. Pedro unable to hold onto a huge lead provided to him by the offense. Pedro gave up five runs in five innings, threw 110 pitches…two more pitches than Pelfrey threw in his complete game victory the night before. I was real tired of Gary, Keith, and Ron waxing poetic about Pedro; he didn’t pitch well. I don’t care if he continued to hit 90-92 MPH on the gun, his pitches were flat, and he was getting hit.


4. Brian Schneider – he has to make that play at the plate in the ninth inning, to tag out Jason Werth. Bruntlett hit a ball to the right center gap, Church did an outstanding job cutting the ball off, made a solid throw to Easley at second, who turned and relayed the ball to home. The relay was done to perfection, and although the ball bounced to the plate, it was there in plenty of time to catch and tag Werth out. Schneider didn't catch the ball, and the tying run, instead of the final out, scored. This has happened many times this year with both Schneider and Castro, and it comes down to poor execution. Can someone explain to me why professional catchers are so out of position on plays at the plate? I continually see catchers trying to make tags at the plate standing on the 1B side of home, or so far behind the plate, that they have to reach to tag the runner. In Schneider’s case, he was behind the third baseline, where blocking the plate would be difficult.
5. The Phillies stole six bases without being caught once. There were at least two occasions where the catcher never made a throw. Runners were getting a good six step head start before the pitcher delivered the ball home. The worst offender was Pedro, who ignored runners on base, inviting them to steal.
   
   Not to be totally negative, Jose Reyes and Carlos DelGado made terrific defensive plays late in the game to preserve the tie…until of course Blowenweis blew it in the 13th.