Thursday, May 25, 2006

Cuban Import Alays Mets Rotation Concerns

Alay Soler made Elian Gonzalez, Cuba, and Mets fans everywhere very proud yesterday in his gutsy Major League debut. The only question I had was what were the Mets waiting for? Not only does Soler have good stuff, with a nice variety of pitches to keep hitters guessing, but he has a lot of cojones too. There's a lot of pitchers who would have absolutely folded after walking the first three batters of a game, and allowing three runners to score befor recording an out. But Soler bucked up and pitched a strong six innings. I think he probably should have started the seventh as well, but willie's overuse of the bullpen is a subject for another day. Today is a day to be glad we have a starter who showed he has the stuff and makeup to compete at this level. And Soler's got personality to boot! Concerns about the rotation have to be dramatically assuaged at this point, regardless of which El Duque shows up on Sunday. It was a tremendous win for the Mets, though I must admit I watched a lot of it during commercial breaks of the season finale of Lost (holy mackerel what a finale!).

The Mets send Jeremi Gonzalez to the hill this afternoon to try and complete a sweep of the Phils. The Phillies, meanwhile, have Brett Myers (2-2, 2.75 ERA) trying to be the stopper. Don't forget to listen to this afternoon's broadcast - Schmuck & His Lap Dog are doing the play-by-play and color commenary on WFAN and MLB.com's Gameday Audio.

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