No matter how you look at it, its tough not to be encouraged and I mean it. I’m not being sarcastic I swear.* In fact I’m going to try to not be so critical because while some of the early season demons came back to haunt them I saw some more promising things that the Mets can build on.
*= And i’m never sarcastic. I swear!
– Two days in a row the Mets have gotten more than solid pitching from one of their rotation question marks. Oliver Perez went 6 1/3 giving up that earned run, 4 strikeouts and 3 walks. The walks were not that much of an issue as they were scattered and not bunched up like Ollie sometimes likes to do so no real damage came from that. Yet another day that Met pitchers seemed to take their time and look relaxed on the mound. What’s most encouraging is that both of these pitchers were the biggest screw jobs mentally on the Mets rotation and they both seemed to have their cool and not look upset or lost or confused on the mound. They knew what they had to do and executed their pitches. Credit the pitching coach* who may finally be getting through to both of these guys.
*= Actually screw that guy! I’m not going to give him any credit until we’re having the conversation about how these guys have been so consistent all year long in about August. You’re going to have to win me over Mr. Warthen and Mr. Johnson.
– The curious coaching decision came in the 7th inning when Ollie got the first out and Brendan Ryan was coming up. At this point Ollie had thrown 97 pitches yet he didn’t look fatigued or anything. He looked like he could go. He had worked himself into a rhythm and yet they thought to play the percentages and bring in Fernando Nieve. I thought that was a bad move and not knowing your pitcher. Ollie had a good breaking ball that hitters were just not catching on to and yet Manuel thought he had seen enough. This is a gut call and I suppose its easier to question him now that we know how that decision fared. But you have to understand your pitcher and see if he’s fatiguing and it was clear he wasn’t. In my opinion Ollie could’ve gotten those last two outs.*
*= The worst part of it was Ollie didn’t even fight it when Manuel came out to pull him. I think if Manuel had seen some fight out of Ollie he may have left him in and he just never showed that. Which of course brings me to the point that was made on the radio that Oliver Perez is the kind of pitcher who is not open to switching up the game plan during the game. He will go through with what he had planned to do before the game regardless of how he’s faring instead of making adjustments. So if its time for Ollie to come out, he won’t fight it, that’s the decision and that’s that. In Ollie’s world its black and white, the decision is made. I think back to the AL playoffs when John Lackey was in there against the Yankees and Mike Scoscia came in to the game to pull him and Lackey from the moment he saw him come out, started barking at Scoscia to let him have the final out. That’s the kind of spirit some of these Mets need but in reality all these pitchers are getting their confidence built up and haven’t shown the kind of consistency that warrants a manager to trust that they have the stuff to get those two final outs. It would’ve been nice if Ollie decided to mouth off a little. But I suppose as he starts consistently having those starts, it will build and eventually make him a more trusted commodity.
– The bullpen will unfairly be criticized this morning but I’m willing to give it a bit of a leash here considering how excellent they’ve played thus far, keeping the Mets in games. Raul Valdes was brought in, as it turns out, because Pedro Feliciano was out with a stomach bug. It was really a situation for Feliciano to be out there. I’m not going to fret over one bad pitch or say Takahashi was the better selection here but clearly Feliciano was the guy to turn to in that situation and he wasn’t available. You can’t throw Mejia in there as its still a huge leverage situation, being bases loaded and one out. They played percentages and they lost. Simple as that.*
*= I had to breathe heavily while writing that sentence. Being a fair and impartial fan isn’t easy folks.
– Oliver’s velocity, like Maine’s is down and it does bear watching but I think its more a result of him trying to locate pitches more instead of just throwing. I think the Mets have asked both of these guys to start locating pitches better instead of just throwing it hard for the sake of getting it up there on the radar gun which in my opinion if you can trade off a few MPH for location you do it but not when your fastball was only registering 92 on the gun to begin with. Major league hitters will notice that these guys are throwing strikes and will start teeing off on 89 MPH fastballs which is why Maine’s decision to start throwing harder is a good idea because as much location helps, its about velocity with it and that’s what separates ok pitchers from the excellent ones. You know what separates Oliver Perez from a Chris Carpenter.
– Speaking of which. Carpenter wasn’t a strikeout pitcher last year but it seems as if he’s going for more punch outs this year as it shows from him already giving up 5 home runs. Last year he gave up 7 all year. But wash away that start in Milwaukee and he’s got decent numbers but historically the Mets hit him well so the Mets showing patience and getting 4 hits and drawing 3 walks was no surprise. But Carpenter’s curve and cutter were filthy. The curve was his out pitch against righties and the cutter was impossible to hit for lefties as it bore in on their hands and usually got swings and misses. He’s an excellent pitcher and this kind of outing isn’t wildly surprising but the Mets had some chances in this game and once again failed to come through with runners in scoring position which has been the achilles heel for this team and honestly has been the most frustrating part about following this team. Credit Carpenter today but the season’s major headline has been the Mets inability to get the big hit. The Mets have the worst average in the National League right now batting below .200.
– Another game and another bad base running error. This time though it came back to help the Mets instead of hurt them. In the 3rd inning when Barajas got a single, Francouer went first to third but took a wide turn around 3rd, which the Cards alertly saw and Brendan Ryan the shortstop set up behind the third base bag for the Pujols throw all the way from first. Once Francouer started breaking for home Ryan rushed a throw home which skipped past the usually reliable Yadier Molina and the Mets scored their only run of the game. I know that they scored and honestly I’m happy it worked out for the Mets but it goes back to fundamental baseball and the Mets aren’t playing it. You can’t expect to win games hoping for luck like that game in and game out. Teams will execute that well and actually I’m surprised the Cards didn’t get them out. The Mets can’t expect this to happen all the time. Just in case you were wondering Francouer did get picked off in a double play when Carpenter snared a liner and then threw to first because Frenchy misread the liner and was caught off base.
– David Wright is starting to hit and maybe its from being away from home. Maybe the Mets are better served not being at home as it seems they don’t have to deal with the opposing team AND the crowd who seem to never rally around this team and not help to lift the spirits. I know its the whole New York crowd being a tough crowd but that’s Yankee fans. Ever since 2006 when the Mets had a great year and seemed to inherit the fairweather fans that were Yankee fans*, the Mets crowd has been a negative one screaming at the first hint of trouble and booing like its their business. I know the last few years have been frustrating but right now our home crowds absolutely suck. Its not just when Ollie gives up a 3 run homerun after giving up two walks. Its Ollie issuing A WALK. Its like incentive to boo. I realize the Mets have to be tougher mentally but if they aren’t, exactly what are the fans doing by being so negative?** I think the whole negativity surrounding CITI field is suffocating and can make players overplay things just to get the crowd behind them instead of focusing on making pitches and getting on base and getting hits.
*= I can’t tell you how many of these fans I’ve spotted over the last two or three years and how it frustrates me to see them sitting field level while a rally is going on…sitting down. I hate that. As a fan I’m there to root and support my team, not to jump on it when it gets down. It’s just dumb and those are the fans I’ve been seeing at these games. It stinks to no degree and it makes me angry.
**= I know that last paragraph made me sound like an overprotective parent but sometimes I feel like Met fans don’t get it. We don’t live in ideal situations. If it were, then we wouldn’t have our current ownership group. We wouldn’t have the current manager and all that. Let’s rally around our team and not jump on it and make it feel conscious of the situation. Mentally let’s face it, the Mets aren’t tough and they proved it two years in a row by letting division leads slip through their fingers to the Phillies who in my opinion, in those years, weren’t all that much better than the Mets just that they had more of a belief and a more rallying spirit around them. They were just tougher than the Mets and thus were able to get past all the booing and all the crap that fan bases from Philly and New York can give them and were able to succeed. Let’s hope that the Met fans can start cheering and rallying around the team in a big spot instead of just booing.
– The Mets hitting woes are just atrocious BUT in last night’s game that play by David Freese in the 8th to rob Tatis was heartbreaking and it seems as though Wright is coming back. More so Reyes’ 0-5 performance was not encouraging. Even worse than that? It could’ve been 1-4 had Reyes shown some of that burst he used to have and its not without concern to say that Reyes’ speed is now becoming less than what it used to be. The old Reyes would’ve beaten that throw by Felipe Lopez but this one just couldn’t. Comparatively Angel Pagan who was on first running for Frank Catalanotto* hustled and would’ve beaten the throw by Lopez. The biggest part of that play was Lopez deciding to go after Reyes which a few years ago would’ve never worked. Until Reyes’ speed comes back which again is a concern for me and every Met fan, the Mets will be in these situations. I wrote about this before but Reyes is not running full speed and my hunch is that its from orders from the front office which begs the question if Reyes isn’t still being bothered by that thyroid condition. He’s clearly not running full speed and it shows and that play is pretty indicative of it. Even at 75-80% Reyes almost beat that throw out which makes you wonder why isn’t he running at full speed.
*= Frank Catalanotto from Smithtown. For some reason, since I heard that introduction everytime he comes up to bat and his name is announced I add “from Smithtown.” It just goes.
– I’ve noticed that the Mets when they get relievers of the opposing team tend to be swinging on the first one or two pitchers which honestly is a good approach as teams that are known to throw strikes will give them pitches to hit early in counts and tend to not have strikes later on which the Mets seem to always get beat by. The Mets have to get good wood on those pitches in order to make it count. The Mets have been hitting balls better and with more authority they just need some of those to fall for hits and it seems as though guys are getting there. The patient approach with the starters and aggressiveness with the relievers has worked. In the 9th they jumped on Ryan Franklin and they just lacked that winning hit with Castillo up but it will come, I’m confident of that.
– Its been a while since I’ve been concerned about a Johan Santana start but today’s start will be crucial. He’s matching up against Jaime Garcia the young lefty so he won’t be going against the opposing team’s ace so its imperative the Mets get a win here. He was brutal in the first inning against the Nats who we’re finding out isn’t a walk over in the NL East anymore. He HAS to win this game no doubt about it for Met fans to not want to pull their hair out. I like how the Mets have pitched Albert Pujols and I hope they make another guy beat them instead of challenging him like Perez did last night which by the way, the Mets were lucky to get away with. The Mets improved patience and approach will pay off but in reality the Mets can’t afford to think they can walk their way to runs. The Mets must be aggressive.
– As always LETS GO METS!
SEASON: 3-7
MY PREDICTION: 5-5
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