Giants post game thoughts

Ok, I know it’s a tad late to be doing this, but better than never. Giants looked better this week, but that might have been because the Rams aren’t a very good team. Both sides of the ball looked good. It was a close game, it was 20-13 in the 4th quarter when the Giants scored 3 touchdowns to seal the deal.

Offense Eli & the Wide Receivers: They were much better this week, Eli completed 20 passes out of 29 attempts. Eli was looking for other receivers this week, besides Plaxico Burress. It seemed like he threw at least 6 passes towards Toomer’s way, most of them were not caught however. Eli and the receivers looked much more in snyc this week, unlike last week against Washington when Eli made Burress his primary target that night. Eli finished the day by going 20/29 with 260 passing yards and 3 touchdowns.

Earth, Wind, & Fire: Yes, it is the new nicknames for the 3 headed monster the Giants have at runningback with Jacobs, Ward, and Bradshaw. I won’t even hesitate saying that we have the best three runningbacks in the league. Each runningback had over 50 yards rushing and had at least one reception. Something different with this game was the fact that Bradshaw was used, last week he wasn’t. The Giants offense looked flat in the second half of the Redskins game, this time Bradshaw was utilized and provided a jolt to the offense, as he picked up 2 TD’s, one receiving and another rushing.

0, 0, and 0: 0, 0, and 0. Catches, Yards, and Touchdowns. Those are the stats are of the Giants tightends this year, Boss, Matthews, and Johnson have yet to record a catch. Which is pretty Shock[ey]ing, because we are so used to seeing at least a few catches by now, if not touchdowns. Is this something to be worried? No. Boss is still being targeted, but most of the passes were off target, even though he did catch one sunday but was called back due to a penalty. Boss should be able to be a weapon in the future.

The Old Men: Veterans, and I mean Veterans, John Carney and Jeff Feagles each had good games, especially Carney, having yet to miss a field goal in 5 attempts and any extra points as a Giant. He has shown he still has a strong leg, most of the time his kicks were booming.

Defense

Not too many complaints, the defense played superb this week.

Under Pressure: Marc Bulger was under pressure throughout the game, granted the Rams offensive line isn’t the greatest, but picking up 6 sacks in any game is good. Both Tuck and Robbins had 2 each, with Pierce and Alford getting the other two. Robbins and Tuck have been outstanding so far, Robbins is having a breakout year, and is picking up a lot of tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Hopefully his production will continue to increase enough to get votes as a Pro Bowler. Tuck has been good as well, recording 3 sacks on the season with an interception returned for a touchdown.

Rams QB Marc Bulger with his helmet on reverse

Kevin Dockery: was playing nickel against the Rams, he made a good play in the first series but then seemed to struggle quite a bit, often leaving his man to go and try and making a big play, which cost the Giants just a bit. There were more positives this week than last week, can’t complain much especially when the Offense, Defense, and Special Teams did their jobs. I’m looking forward to the next game against the Bengals.

NFL Scouting Report: Rey Maualuga

Rey Maualuga, linebacker for USC is one of this year's top linebacker prospects.

Name: Rey Maualuga

Position: Inside Linebacker

School: University of Southern California (USC)

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 250 pounds

Projected 40 Time: 4.60

Class Year: Junior

Strengths:

Good Size

Has Quickness

Power

Good Blitzer

Weaknesses:

Not incredibly fast

Needs to work on cover skills

Lacks sideline to sideline speed

Scouting Report:

Rey Maualuga should be able to transition from the college game to the pro game with some ease. Rey is listed at 6-foot-3 250 pounds, a good size for a linebacker. His projected time is 4.60, but he is explosive and is very quick over short distances. Rey Maualuga is a big hitter and plays with tons of intensity, and is one of the leaders on the USC defense. Maualuga was USC’s leading tackler with 79 tackles, with 10.5 tackles for a loss and picked up 6 sacks. He should be able to play the inside linebacker position in the 3-4 or in the 4-3. One of Maualuga’s biggest strength is blitzing, he would be most effective in a blitzing defense, such as the Eagles and Giants.

Maualuga is one of the best linebackers that could enter the 2009 Draft, he can arguably be the 2^nd best linebacker followed by Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis. Maualuga is a first round talent, and should be taken within the first 15 picks, if he has another solid season for the Trojans, he could just be a top 10 pick.

Value: 9.1

Draft Value: First round prospect, should be drafted within the top 15.

Delgado a NL MVP candidate?

Since June 27, Carlos Delgado has had 19 HR, 58 RBI, and a batting average of .310

As of the past 2 months ago, New York Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado is putting up big numbers across the board, as he is one of the factors in the Mets 2nd half success. Since June 27, Delgado leads the National League with 19 HR and 58 RBI, and maintaining an .310 batting average. Carlos has 30 HR, 93 RBI, and a batting average of .263 in the entire season.

Delgado will most likely have a couple more homeruns and over 100 RBI before the season’s end, stats that are good enough to be talked about as a candidate for the NL MVP. If he has any chance of winning this award, he is going to need to raise his batting average, to at least .280.

As a Mets fan, I did not see this coming. I seriously have disliked him for a good portion of this season, as well as last season. If I had known that Delgado would be in contention to win the NL MVP, I would have most likely died of shock. I hope he continues his streak, the Mets are going to need as much help, and it could be from anyone.

Giants projected defensive lineup

With the some losses in the defense, the Giants are going to have some new faces in some key positions. Strahan left the Giants to retire, and is working as an NFL analyst for Fox Sports, Gibril Wilson bolted to Oakland and was rewarded a hefty contract, Kawika Mitchell signed a 5 year deal with the Bills, and once back up Reggie Torbor went to Miami.

During the Giants-Jets preseason game, Osi Umenyiora suffered a season ending knee injury. As seen here, Osi is being carted off to the team locker room.

In the last preseason game, the Giants lost super star defensive end, Osi Umenyiora, to a season ending knee injury. Osi, a key cog to the terrifying pass rush last season, had surgery this past week, and the doctors are very optimistic on a successful rehab. According to them, the surgery went very well.

Talks of Strahan coming back occured when Osi went down, and if the price was right (no pun intended), Strahan would come back from retirement and play for the Giants one more year with a one year contract worth to as much as 12 millions. Strahan contemplated coming back, but was happy in the position he was. Since Strahan was not coming back, 3rd year player Mathias Kiwanuka would be taking Osi’s spot on the depth chart.

Last year the Giants experimented with Kiwanuka, who had always been a defensive end in his football career, as a strong side linebacker. He was lost early on in the season but as soon as he had a grasp of his job, he did better. Now he is returning to his natural position, which shouldn’t be much of a problem for him to return to. The Giant’s had already been giving him some snaps in Training Camp before the Umenyiora injury. Teammate Justin Tuck, who’s going to be playing opposite of Kiwi, said he has looked good in camp as a defensive end. I believe Kiwi will do a nice job of replacing Osi, so much that he will be getting at least seven sacks, maybe even ten.

Now that the defensive end position is solved, who’s going to be playing the strong side linebacker, as well as the weakside? Danny Clark has been the front runner for the weak side job, and was the linebacker that had the most snaps at that position. Now that Kiwi has been moved, an oppertunity arises for 3rd year pro Gerris Wilkinson to play as the strong side linebacker.

I have felt this linebacking corps has been weak for years, Antonio Pierce has been the only one that has done a solid job, and I still think we can get an upgrade at the middle linebacker spot. This year I feel very uneasy about who we have starting. Clark has been a traveling team to team for some years now, and Wilkinson has been sidelined with injuries since we drafted him. It’s just going to be one of the things we have to keep a very close eye on this season.

Here is the starting projected lineup for the Big Blue defense.

DE: Jusin Tuck*

DT: Barry Coefield

DT: Fred Robbins

DE: Mathias Kiwanuka**

ROLB: Gerris Wilkinson*

MLB: Antonio Pierce

LOLB: Danny Clark*

CB: Aaron Ross

CB: Corey Webster

SS: James Butler

FS: Kenny Philips*

* = New Starters (note, Kenny Philips is a rookie)

**= Kiwanuka was a starter last season, but not at defensive end.

Clearly the defensive this year, with new faces at some positions. The pass rush will not be as good as last year’s, it will require more blitzing from the secondary and linebackers to even try to get as much pressure as they can. Spagnuolo will have something figured out, I have faith and confindence in him since he was able to turn around that defense last year.

Mets 9 game win streak

Mets celebrating after 9th straight win

As of late, the Mets are on a 9 game win streak. Last night they beat the Rockies of a score 7-0, ending the season series and sweeping Colorado at home. Before the Colorado series was the Giants, as we swept them as well. The win streak goes back to last weekend in Philadelphia, the Mets could have swept them as well if it was not for Shane Victorino’s single to drive in the winning run. Had we won. we would have been in 1st place by now, but all is good and I am more than satisfied with whats going on with the team.

Our pitching has been phenominal, our starting pitchers are throwing shutouts every day, and our bullpen is holding the lead and keeping that 0 on the score board. Our bats has been hot, especially Tatis. Having 3 game winning at bats this season, and two coming in this past week. We are hitting the long ball now, and driving in the runners in scoring position. Everything is clicking right now.

This win streak has given the Mets some confidence now, now that they know they can be a winner in the national league east. As I watched the game last night, I saw the guys out in the dugout in the pre-game, all enjoying themselves before the game. The game is starting to get fun for them now, but hey when you start winning a lot of games, who isn’t gonna have fun. Beating up on the weaker teams like the Rockies and Giants helped gain confidence for the clubhouse. We were close to sweeping the Phils also, and they are a pretty good team.

Lets hope the momentum will carry the Mets after the all-star break, and into the 2nd half of the season. There is still a good portion of baseball left to play, and we still have a shot at making the playoffs.

Mets(50-44) vs. Rockies (39-56)

The Mets play the Rockies, the last game before the All-Star break. Let’s hope they can pick up a win and sweep the Rockies and continue this win streak to 9 games. Pelfrey is taking the mound for us today, Big Pelf has an win-lose record of 7-6, and of an ERA of 3.93. What’s better though is that Mike has a ERA of around 2 and is 5-0 in his last 5 starts. Mark Redman will be pitching for the Rockies, Redman has a win-lose record of 2-4 and of an ERA of 7.07 . Here is tonight’s lineup

SS Jose Reyes
LF Nick Evans
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran
2B Damion Easley
1B Carlos Delgado
RF Fernando Tatis
C Ramon Castro
P Mike Pelfrey

8:20 Two men on base, Carp at second, and Wright at first … lets hope Beltran can move the base runners or drive them in ..

8:24 AND BELTRAN DOES IT! Beltran picks up a homerun, putting the Mets with a 3-0 lead to start the game. Man what a shot ..

8:32 Pelfrey gets a 1-2-3 inning on only 10 pitches, and struck out Koshansky. Pelfrey is looking good early in the game ..

8:39 Reyes up to bat, 2 outs, runner on second and Reyes drives in a run. 4-0 Mets, looking pretty damn good so far.

8:44 Mike Carp singles and moves Jose to third. Wright up at bat looking to score .. but he doesn’t.

8:52, Top of the 3rd Quitanilla is making Pelfrey working for a while, but Mike gives up a double. 2 outs remaining. Redman bunts the runner over to third, with 1 out remaining. Pelfrey jams the batter, making a hit towards Wright, and he throws the runner out at first.

9:11 Pelfrey has a runner on 1st, and gives up a single to have runners on the corners with one out. Mets defence helps Mike out by making a double play to end the inning. Hurdle is not happy with the call as he cames out of the dugout to talk with the umps.

9:18 Tatis was one first base when Castro came up to bat, and Castro moves him over to third with a single. Runners on the corners. No outs in the bottom of the 4th. Pelfrey bunts Castro over to 2nd. Reyes up, and looks like they will be walking him to load the bases.

9:23 Rockies make a pitching change, and bring in Speier. Evans is up with bases loaded, and will make a sac fly to bring in a run. 5-0 Mets, runners on the corners.

9:38 With a runner on first, Delgado drills a homerun to make the score 7-0.

9:58 Pelfrey has been pitching 7 shut out innings so far, good work by the big fella.

10:17 Pelfrey hits a batter, ironically right when the anouncers said that he hasn’t let up a walk since his last outing on tuesday ..

10:24 The crowd is in full support of Pelfrey, everyone is chanting “Let’s go Pelfrey” or “Pelfrey, Pelfrey”. He needs one more out to finish the inning. He makes the batter pop out to end the inninng. 8 shutout inninngs of Pelfrey. Chances are he won’t comeback for the 9th, hes thrown over 120 pitches.

10:34 Joe Smith is in to take the mound, that is the end of the night for Pelfrey. Looks like this game is almost done, with a score of 7-0. Mets shut out the Rockies, and win 9 straight.

MLB:2008 All-Star Futures Game

Earlier today at 12:30 p.m., the 2008 All-Star Futures Game took place in Yankee Stadium. Representing the New York Mets was outfielder Fernando Martinez. Martinez went 1-2 with a single in the game. Martinez missed a few weeks down in AA Binghamton but still has some solid numbers. Martinez has 4 HR’s, 21 RBI’s, an average of .303, an OBP of .344, and is slugging at .437.

Fernandez is the best prospect in the Mets’ depleted farm system. After the massive deal sending over farm players and Carlos Gomez to Minnesota for ace pitcher Johan Santana, the Mets can not afford to deal this kid. The next few years we will be needing to restock with some new prospects …

Oh and by the way, the World won by a score of 3-0.

Activity

I plan on to be more active and make more posts once school has ended, which is monday. I plan to make at least one a day, most likely on the mets and my thoughts on a game, and make post like pre-game and post-game thoughts on the game. 

- Big Blue

Strahan hangs up the cleats

 

Today is a sad, sad day for all New York Giants fans, as a good player, Michael Strahan, has retired. 15 year veteran Michael Strahan retired today, after deciding that it was time to hang up the cleats and begin his retirement. ”It’s time. I’m done.”, Strahan said to Fox Sports. Strahan wants to remembered leaving on top, ending his career with the sweet memory of that Superbowl victory over the Patriots, that would be his only Superbowl ring.

With no doubt that he is a Hall of Famer, and I believe he will get in first ballot. Strahan is listed 5th all time in sacks with 141.5, and is the all time Giants sack leader, ten more then the great Lawrence Taylor. Strahan also holds the record for most sacks in a season with 22.5, which he achieved back in 2001.

As a big Giants fan, I am very sad that this happened. I knew he was going to retire soon, but I couldn’t believe it would be this year. It will be very strange to see the team without him, he is so valuable to this team, not just as a great defensive end, but as a leader. He is one of my favorite Giants player, because every game I knew he was going to play his heart out, and especially when playoffs came around.

So, now what. Who will be the heir to Michael’s spot? Some of the few that come into mind is Justin Tuck, who had his best season last year, but I think it would be best if he continued to rotate in and play inside instead of defensive end. Mathias Kiwanuka could possibly go back to playing defensive end, then you have to be worried about who is playing outside linebacker, since there is already a question mark as to who is playing on the weak side, moving kiwi would mean that there would be two question marks on the two outside linebacker positions. Newly acquired free agent, Renaldo Wynn would make best sense in starting at defensive end, he has experience, and Tuck and Kiwi can stay at their positions they played last year. 

We will have to wait and see in training camp and see what the coaches decide to do.

MLB Draft Recap pt. 2

Here are the rest of the picks made by the Mets later in Day 1 of the draft. I am not going to be going into detail about each player however.

Round 2: Javier Rodriguez, OF, Puerto Rico Academy HS
The Mets selected the top Puerto Rican talent in the Draft when they took the 18-year-old Rodriguez with the 68th overall pick. His stock grew after a fine performance at Puerto Rico’s Excellence Tournament, according to Baseball America, and he rates as another potential power-hitting outfielder for the farm system.

Round 3: Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF, Azusa Pacific University
Another college bat — albeit not one from a traditional baseball power — greeted the Mets when they made their selection at 100th overall. Nieuwenhuis hit an even .400 over 225 at-bats for Azusa Pacific this season, slugging 15 homers and 20 doubles.

Round 4: Sean Ratliff, OF, Stanford
Ratliff is the leading slugger for a Stanford team still fighting in the NCAA Tournament. He belted 20 homers this season — nearly twice as many as any of his Cardinal teammates — and produced a .298 average in 61 games. Ratliff’s 65 RBIs were also tops on the team.

Round 5: Charles Doyle, C, Coastal Carolina
The selection of Doyle made it five college bats for the Mets — and six hitters in all — over their first seven picks. Doyle, the 2008 Big South Player of the Year, hit .366 with 16 homers and 72 RBIs in 235 at-bats for the Chanticleers. He threw out 12 would-be base-stealers this season and picked seven more of them off.

Round 6: Joshua Satin, 2B, California
The Mets finished off Day 1 by selecting yet another college bat, this one a slugging second baseman out of California. Satin hit .375 with 18 homers for the Golden Bears, ranking fourth in the Pac-10 with a .745 slugging percentage. His selection fortified the Mets’ commitment to selecting power hitters during the first day of the draft — they took seven of them in all with their eight picks on Thursday.

Found in the Mets website, Click here to read the article.