#jerry manuel

[freshthoughts2020]

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[freshthoughts2020]

[freshthoughts2020]

[mlbmanagers]

[outsidepitchmlb]

The Forgotten Prospect: Mulling over Mejia

In a time before Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard were household names, there was another young arm in the Mets farm system drawing praise.

Right hander flamethrower Jenrry Mejiawas dubbed the top pitching prospect in the Mets farm system in 2009 at the age of just 20. After the 2010 season he was ranked the 44th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America. He was all set…

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[justinssportscorner]

MIAMI -- With the score tied in the sixth inning of the Marlins' 5-4, 14-inning victory on Sunday, a Phillies fan may have cost his team a potential rally. Hunter Pence doubled to right field in the sixth, but it appeared a fan interfered with the ball.

Marlins skipper Jack McKeon came out to argue that it was fan interference. The umpires gathered to discuss the play, then went to video review and determined that the Phillies fan did interfere with the ball and ruled Pence out. Ryan Howard returned to first base.

"I'm confused about it," Pence said. "I haven't really seen the replay. All I know is I hit a ball that didn't get caught, and I was called out for it. I know they're trying to get the call right. I've just never seen that before."

"They called it in play for a double," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who was later ejected for arguing the overturned decision. "I thought that they wanted to review it to see if it was a home run. I was arguing because if he went to see it because of the defensive play, I didn't think you could do that.

"My understanding is that's not the rule. Even if you go look if it's a home run or a double, the defensive play doesn't come into play there."

According to Major League Baseball, "instant replay will apply only to home run calls -- whether they are fair or foul, whether they have left the playing field, or whether they have been subject to fan interference. The decision to use instant replay will be made by the umpire crew chief, who also will make the determination as to whether or not a call should be reversed."

Both Manuel and Jack McKeon came out of their respective dugouts to argue the initial ruling, and crew chief Joe West said that led to the review.

"I had two managers on the field," West said. "One of them was arguing that they wanted an out, and the other was arguing that he wanted a home run. Because they wanted me to go look because they wanted a home run, I got to judge whether it went over the fence or not.

"[Home-plate umpire Chad Fairchild] already thought it was spectator interference. So now we go look at the replay, and we have to take all the evidence that we get from the replay and that's why we came up with the rule, which is the correct ruling."

But Manuel believes the rule should be interpreted differently.

Ibáñez's hit would have driven in both baserunners had it not been for the interference ruling. Instead, it allowed the Marlins to intentionally walk Carlos Ruiz to load the bases. Florida then induced an inning-ending double play from Wilson Valdez to end the threat.

Following the game, Manuel was told that the fan who interfered claimed that the ball hit the railing beyond the fence. To Manuel, that didn't matter as much as the replay potentially costing his team runs.

"He said it was a home run? It might have been," Manuel said. "When I looked at it on replay, they assumed he's going to catch the ball, but assuming is not how it's played. A lot of times when you hit the fence, it jars and you will miss the ball. They assumed that the guy being there is interference. I'll argue that with you too, because I played there 20 years. That's how I look at it. At least we should have got a double out of it with men on second and third."

H/T: MLB.com

[hotfoot]

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: June 14 - June 20, 2010

Apologies for taking a short hiatus last week from providing the masses with my Man Crush and Dog House Resident of the Week, but I'm back, and decided to share a quick little review of the last week in a bit of a different way.

The Good

I've been sternly in the camp of Mets fans that were completely confused as to why Jenrry Mejia was in the majors as a reliever, when he really should've been in the minors as a starter. At least, in baseball terms. As a business move, it made perfect sense. His stuff looked good, he threw hard, and he looked like a piece that would help the club in the later innings, not to mention help Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya keep their jobs. The problem with all this was, he just wasn't panning out as a dominant reliever. He's got 15 walks and 3 hit batsmen in 27.2 innings pitched. The bigger problem I have with Jenrry being in New York as late as yesterday involved the spots that he being used in. He was brought into games that were essentially over, stunting his development. Baseball America's #1 rated Mets prospect had no business being in the Major Leagues, so I was pleased to hear that he was optioned to AA Binghamton following yesterday's conclusion to the 2010 Subway Series. There, he'll be converted back to a starter, and perhaps will help the big league club in the future, or, as is being speculated, will be used as a trading chip for a starting pitcher before the deadline.

The Bad

Is Johan Santana ok? This is the question everybody's asking today after the "ace" of the staff got touched up for 4 runs off the bat of one Mark Teixeira in yesterday's loss to the Yankees. Granted, it all came on one pitch, and someone can argue that he was fine if you erased that one pitch. But guess what? That pitch happened, and you can't erase it. His velocity has dropped, he looks eminently hittable, and frankly, I don't remember the last time I didn't hear the following: "Santana's battling through this start like a true ace, because he clearly doesn't have his best stuff today." I don't know about you, but I don't know what that even means anymore. His "not best stuff" has recently become "his stuff," and I'm more than a little bit concerned. The good news is that he's known as a second-half pitcher, so there's still time for him to look like Santana again. Is he capable, though?

The Ugly

Who in the blue hell came up with that awful, awful Go Gaga For Wright promotion? Who thought it was a good idea to give fans a blue foam finger to fans to hold up to ramp up support for an All-Star Game appearance? That person needs to be fired, and banned from being within 250 feet of any Major League ballpark. If you ask me, David Wright's made a great case to go to the All-Star game in June, but this promotion is just... you know what? I have no words. Oh wait, I do. Horrible.

[alontods]

Yeah. Shake things up Jerry. There you go.