Category Archives: Mets 2010 Season

the 2010 Mets Season

November 25, 2010 · 2:42 pm

Thoughts on the manager.

I listened to the interviews. I read the analysts. I spoke and heard the opinions of the fans. Then Sunday, I got the news alert on my cell phone: Terry Collins, 61, named 20th manager in Mets history.

I saw it, and moved on. That’s it.

Not to sound like a buzz kill, but I was muted in response for a reason. I often find myself reacting to every single bit of Met news like its personal. When its your favorite team, ideas like family, loyalty etc begin to over take any bit of reason. Which is why I’m happy these last few seasons happened.

Like a girl who gets walked all over by her man, one day I woke up and decided that I wasn’t going to take it anymore. Not that I don’t care anymore, no. But I won’t be suckered into anything anymore. I refuse to be reeled in.

So the Mets couldve hired a manager who hadn’t managed in over a decade, alienated almost every team he had coached, and was seen as too high strung for a high profile job like one in NYC. And the Mets couldve overlooked the overwhelming fan favorite in this managerial search, a member of the 1986 world champion Mets*, a fiery personality who certainly would have had people coming back to Citi Field considering the last few seasons and especially since new GM Sandy Alderson has said over and over again that they have no plans to dip into the top end of the free agent pool meaning no Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford.
*= the 86 Mets are remembered like no other team in the history of sports. They won the world series and had a cast of characters that, if you add the fact that they played in New York, makes them larger than life.

The Mets hired the former, taking their chances on the guy with major league experience while holding onto the fan favorite as an escape clause in case the Terry town experience doesn’t go as planned.

And what’s planned? Let me take a crack at it. Collins was given a 2 year contract. Wally Backman will likely be given a promotion in the minors and stashed away for a later date. In baseball terms, think of Terry Collins as the starter in the 8th inning, with runners on 2nd and 3rd protecting a lead. The manager has made his trip to the mound and given him a chance to get out of the inning. Backman is the closer. He will come in at some point and end this game.*
*= here’s your analogy key
Game= win a championship
Manager= Sandy Alderson

But its clear the Mets front office brought in Collins to clean the operation up and sets up Backman very well. Collins major selling point was teaching and his major role over the next two years is to motivate the Mets and create a new clubhouse culture that is more conducive to winning. And you need a Type A personality to fight those battles with players who may be used to getting their way too often.

Backman will enter his first managerial position with a team full of young homegrown players, taught to play the game the right way and his job will be to manage, which he’s shown he’s pretty good at already.

But that’s just an opinion of a clear headed Met fan who now can see the light. I’m removed from the B.S. of it all which sapped my energy.

Aldersons job is to get a fan like me back into the fold. The Mets have one of the most passionate fan bases. We aren’t devoid of bandwagoners, because if we’ve learned anything, its that America loves teams with tortured histories (They gravitate to them like leeches for God knows what reason) but we aren’t as bad as some.

Butt I like being here. I’m not at happy hours watching the Mets lose on a summer night. I’m not checking scores on my phone during dinner. I’m not on Metsblog.com everyday hitting refresh just to see if the Mets are trading for/linked to a free agent.*
*= I’m going to act like I never wrote this paragraph in about 6 months, I know it.

I’m not even negative nancy waiting for the Mets to screw up. I’m just here, void of feelings, still in love but a lot more cool about it.

Maybe I’m just writing to convince myself. Maybe its easier for me to tell myself this to save myself the misery. Maybe I had to write it down in order for it to stick. Who knows?

What I do know is this: the Mets are operating under a new vision. It may not be what we want, but I suppose having a plan is a good thing. A plan that accounts for the organization. A plan that looks to the long term. All I can do is believe that that’s what’s happening. If it doesn’t happen, just know I won’t be crying in my room. I will be living my life. Life goes on.

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June 9, 2010 · 12:04 pm

Mets 2- Padres 1

Forget the fact that this is the Mets ninth consecutive victory at home, their second consecutive winning streak of such a kind.  Let’s forget that instant replay was used properly in baseball for a second.  Let’s focus on the fact that a day after the Mets drafted in the top 10 for the second time in the last 5 years, two of their better draft decisions came through for them in the clutch.

– As always the pitching is at the forefront: Mike Pelfrey, not the future ace but the ace right now, went 9 innings giving up 5 hits letting up one earned run striking out 6, and walking none on 103 pitches (78 for strikes- 76%).  This was about as well as I’ve seen Big Pelf perform all year.  He went into the ninth with a very low pitch count and there were doubts in my head as to whether Jerry Manuel was going to butcher this decision but alls well when Pelf ends it.  Going into the ninth he let up a double, and usually Jerry shoots out of the dug out like someone pressed a button and is motioning to the bullpen half way there but this time he came to the mound and he allowed Pelf to stay in, basically going Anti-Maine.  Pelfrey pitched through the inning and struck out Nick Hundley, and then got Will Venable to hit a weak grounder to Pelfrey who fittingly finished it by himself.  Unfortunately for the Mets they were countered by one of San Diego’s best starters Clayton Richard, who in his last start went 6 innings against the Mets and gave up only one earned which he did tis time around too, only he went 7 innings giving up just that one earned run on a disputed Jose Reyes home run.

The maturation of Pelfrey has been the main story this season and has been source of much discussion among New York baseball fans.  While the Mets have Pelfrey, the Yankees have had Phil Hughes who is settling nicely into his role on the team as the fifth starter.  But Pelfrey to his credit has squared off against many aces and out dueled them, with that one bad outing in Philadelphia against Roy Halladay being the exception.  Since that start, here’s been his composite numbers for an average start:

7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K’s.  Let’s not even forget that prior to that one start in Philadelphia in which he allowed a season high 6 earned, he had a streak of consecutive scoreless innings that was mounting up pretty high.  Taking that start in Philadelphia out of his record, and his ERA stands at 1.65.  We won’t even get into what Johan Santana’s ERA would be had he not had that one inning in Philadelphia as well.

A critical point in this game had to do with something I related back to Philadelphia for.  In Philly, it was Met errors that got Pelfrey to go back to old Pelf and let his emotions get hte best of him and lose his concentration like he did much of the last few years.  But even in that start he had good enough stuff to get out of the inning but was hamstrung by bad defense in that game.  Scott Hairston got on base because of a bad throw by David Wright and he hustled to second and slid in safely because Jose Reyes couldn’t handle a one hop throw by Ruben Tejada.  So understandably Jerry came out but I had no doubt it was to see where Pelf was emotionally.  Right then and there was a turning point as Pelf was able to put that error behind him and get the final two guys out to end his outing.  Not shabby for a first round pick, picked ninth overall from Wichita State.

– Speaking of home grown stars, let’s talk about the two runs scored on home runs by Jose Reyes who had to have video replay to get the correct call and Ike Davis’ mammoth no doubter of a walk off.  The theme here is building through the draft and reading much of the early analysis from these games, its become patently clear that the new age of thinking among GM’s of even big market teams is to steer clear of 30 something free agents who can inject drugs into their bodies and play for another few years.  No, baseball is moving away from that era and is constantly looking to stay younger and fresher and trying to keep younger stars  on the home front.  Think about Evan Longoria getting locked in to 7 years by Tampa only days after he made his big league debut.  A huge leap of faith that could still bite them in the butt but a risk worth taking considering the numbers he’s putting up.  Also, let’s not forget the Johan Santana trade in which Yankee GM Brian Cashman famously decided NOT to trade Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain to get the Minnesota ace, something they would’ve done years earlier.  Its working out for both teams (on the most part-if only the Mets scored runs for their aces).  So on this night, their first following the draft, the Mets behind their home grown stars showed return on the drafting of really good home grown stars can look like.

– Reyes’ home run wasn’t something to be disputed but it does bring up some stadium oddities that need to be addressed in the near future.  The orange rubber that runs along the top of the wall is the home run marker.  If the ball hits it, and runs back into the field of play in the corner, I’m told its a home run yet I saw in one particular instance that it wasn’t.  Unfortunately I can’t off the top of my head remember when but I can tell you it was against the Yankees and the ball definitely hit the marker and fell back in and it was ruled a double yet the broadcasters were repeatedly saying during replays that stadium rules say that if it hits the marker its a home run yet it was never reviewed or anything.  The other one are the low foul poles which in the Rod Barajas walk off game against the Giants, Ike Davis hit a long enough deep enough shot, but since it was over the foul pole it was a judgement call and it was ruled a foul ball.  Its hard enough hitting home runs here, but making it even tougher with these vague calls aren’t helping Mets FO, let’s get these problems addressed in time for next season.

– I don’t just like Ike, I love Ike.  I’ve said it time and time again and perhaps the comparison to John Olerud is spot on.  Only he has much more power than Olerud.  When Ike makes contact with a ball like he did on that hanging change up, its lights out, game over even with his one hand swing.  He has enough power to muscle it over the wall even in Citi which makes you wonder what kind of damage he could do playing 81 in Citizens Bank.  The best stat I’ve heard is that he hasn’t gone more than two days without a hit which tells you that he can make adjustments on the fly and he can correct whatever mechanical flaw he has on his swing which seems about as pure and sweet and the follow through is impeccable.  He said it was his first walk off, ever.  Well, I’m loving it and I hope that he has many more.

– So, MLB decided against bringing up any mess over Ollie Perez’ fishy medical report.  He must have frustrated Major League Baseball’s Commissioner’s office as well.

– Thank you Ike for not pulling a Kendry Morales on us.  Not trying to poke fun of such a horrific and unfortunate situation but just be careful.

In case you were wondering:

METS RECORD: 31-27

MY PREDICTION: 34-24

Mets go for their 10 straight win at home with Johan Santana vs. Matt Latos.

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May 15, 2010 · 4:04 am

Marlins 7- Mets 2

The Mets went down to .500 after Oliver Perez’ latest meltdown which feautured 4 home runs given up to a Marlins team that coming in was scoring 3 runs a game.  More on that as we go on.

– Oliver Perez’ line: 3.1 IP, 7 ER on 9 H, 5 K’s, 3 BB, on 88 pitches (54 for strikes- 61%).  The big hit is what killed him today.  He gave up a 3 run home run in the 3rd.  Then in the fourth came three more home runs which just seemed like over kill.  I think Jerry Manuel kept him in the game to try and extend him just a tad but it was clear that he had melted down.  His head was out of the game and into the post game spread and the shower that was awaiting him.  The problem today other than his mental mechanics were the fact that he again kept getting down in counts.  Too many 3 ball counts forced him to throw the ball over the middle of the plate and for a straight fastball hitting team like the Marlins, that’s like playing into their hands.  The best part of the game was seeing him leave.  He jumped over the 3rd base line and if you were Jerry Manuel you probably almost wanted to ring his neck.  It seems as though he just never cares either way and it hurts to see him act like that.  He has the talent, how else to explain the days where he can be great, but those days are few and far between and now its becoming perfectly clear that those days are not coming back.  He’s completely regressed, both mentally and physically.  People may think that its too much money to eat, but he’s a waste of space.  Its time to DFA him and eat the loss.  The Mets can’t continue to have this guy on the roster, making starts.  In fact, I’m even opposed to seeing the bullpen door open and seeing him skip on to the mound.  Its not that he’s sucking, its that it seems like he doesn’t care and I know, from an outsiders perspective like mine, I don’t know but his inability to keep himself together on the mound is just annoying now.

Will the Mets DFA  him?  No.  They will demote him to the bullpen at the worst, or skip his turn in the rotation and put him on the DL with some fictitious injury so that he can make some minor league starts before coming back up.  But yes, he will come back up.  That’s the worst part, the fact that I know for certain that at some point this season he will be back to make a start, barring injury, and we’ll be right back to where we started.  Of course the Mets have no one but themselves to blame here with the 12 million a year contract they gave to him.  There’s no easy way to just eat 12 mil but the Mets need to do what’s in the best interest of the organization and not what’s in the best interest of the bottom line which again would go a long way towards convincing Met fans that maybe the Wilpons didn’t stash all their pennies and lose all their coin with Madoff.  But again, the point is, Ollie will be back Met fans.  We’ll have to live with it in some form through 2011.

– What more to say about the Met offense?  Well, in their defense when they scored those two runs in  the top of the 5th, I got excited and it goes back to what I’ve been saying.  As bad as this team has been recently, they’ve been fun to watch.  I know Met fans won’t see any solace in this, but its clear the team has a different mindset and they’re fighters.  Its these days where they show some fight that convince me that when they get hot, its up to their coach to convince this team that they can overcome any deficit.  As an eternal optimist it is my duty to inform you that the Mets will not completely be in this kind of funk for long.  There’s too much talent for this to go on and I have some ideas.  I realize that alot of Met fans have been longing for a line up change and I put a few together a few weeks ago when the Mets were facing similiar questions.  Yesterday I suggested that the number three hole be a rotating group of players of Wright, Bay, and Davis.  But now, let’s see some other line ups that could make sense:

1. Reyes

2. Wright

3. Bay

4. Davis

5. Barajas

6. Pagan

7. Castillo

8. Francouer

This is the line up that I like the most.  You put Wright in a situation where his OBP will actually help.  What’s interested me the most is that his defense hasn’t suffered while he’s looked like a mess up at the plate.  If someone can convince him to take those outside breaking ball pitches, then he will cut down on his strikeouts and force the pitcher to throw it down the middle. The two hole is the on base guy.  Ladies and gentleman: one of only 24 guys in the bigs with a .400+ oBP: Mr. David Wright.  I know it doesn’t sound as sexy but seriously it counts.

Another version of the line up could be as follows:

1. Reyes

2. Castillo

3. Davis

4. Pagan

5. Bay

6. Wright

7. Barajas

8. Francouer

I’d rather not bunch up three right handed hitters but at this point, you have to separate Wright and French who’ve been striking out almost every time up and Barajas will give those two guys some pitches to hit.  Either way, both need to start producing.  Also, you may be wondering why Pagan is batting clean up.  Ladies and gentleman, the Mets leader in average with RISP: Mr. Angel Pagan who came into tonight’s game with a .381 BA.  The numbers don’t lie, Pagan can rake and if given the opportunity I believe he could do it.
With both of these line ups as you can see, my vote is for Reyes to be moved back to his spot in the line up which is at the top of the order.  He doesn’t remember how to put a bunt down.  Mentally this, hitting in the 3 spot, has messed with his psyche and his beliefs.  He’s a lead off hitter, and as much in favor as I was with the move (I remember talking something about the Mets needing to be unconventional and having speed at the top of the line up), I must admit that this is not working out.  With as much a sample as we’ve had, its clear that the Mets must make the switch and move Reyes back to where he belongs: at the top of the line up as the table setter.  Packing even Reyes, Wright and Davis might not be such a bad idea either.  If we sink, we’ll do so with our homegrown talent.

– What more can be said about our bullpen who seem to have a new guy going 3+ innings a night it seems.  Raul Valdes came in and pithed 2.2 innings of perfect ball striking out 4 on 34 pitches.  Acosta and Mejia came in and shut down the Marlins the rest of the way.  By the way, the Met pitching staff recorded 13 K’s, 9 after Ollie left.  Its unfortunate these guys are seeing so much daylight but hey, when they come in, the opposing team doesn’t seem to have much success the rest of the way.  Imagine they put together a pitching staff that went 7 innings a night, this team would actually be, dare I say it, respectable.

– Mets losers of 5 of their last 6 face Nate Robertson in their next game.  He threw against the Mets at Citi Field on April 8th and struck out 4 in taking the win against them in 5 innings of work.  The Mets counter with the rejuvenated John Maine looking to get the Mets on the board in this series.

SEASON: 18-18

MY PREDICTION: 22-14

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May 15, 2010 · 2:38 am

Break-Up letter

I feel this is kind of rushed.  Its 8:31 right now as I’m writing this.  The score is 7-0.  Dan Uggla has hit his second home run in as many innings.  The Marlins have hit their 4th home run of the game, their third of the inning.  The Marlins hadn’t had a lefty hit a home run yet, until tonight.

This feels like a morning after article and I’m sure in the interest of fairness I should wait till the morning to write this but I can’t help it.  This feels like it needs to be said so I’ll say it.

Ollie, you and the Mets need to break up.  Immediately.

I dont want to wait till morning to say something I’ve been keeping to myself for the last few weeks.  To be honest, this is tough for me.  I’ve been one of Oliver Perez’s biggest supporters.  When the Mets signed him to that 3 year 36 million dollar deal, I defended the Mets.  I said that he was a lefty with tremendous stuff.  I would repeat Johan Santana’s proclamation that he had the best stuff on the staff.  I mean, the great Johan said that.  He knew something about pitching.  He had to know something that us couch experts didn’t know.

But I began to break down when I heard how out of shape he came into the season after the Mets gave him that contract.  During the worst season in recent Met fan history he epitomized the Mets: fat, lazy, and full of cash.

In fact, this has been the classic break up.  Think about Ollie’s symptoms:

1. He’s unstable.  The running joke for Met fans/broadcasters has always been the question upon entering the ballpark: What Ollie will show up?  Good Ollie or Bad Ollie?

2. He has something that makes him unlikeable. (sometimes with the mate, its his/her family or friends, but with Ollie its definitely its his contract.)

3. He was attractive at one point but nowadays that cuteness has wore off with the reasons stated above.

Look at Ollie’s 2004 season with Pittsburgh and you’ll see why people see so much potential in this guy.  This is his season in 2004 at the age of 22:

12-10, 2.98 ERA in 239 K’s in 196 IP, with only 81 BB’s, 2 CG’s and 1 SHO.  That’s an 11 K/ per 9!!!!

So the talent has always been there, but he never made it materialize in the last 6 years.  In fact, when the Mets got him just two years later, he was the throw in on a Roberto Hernandez deal.  Think about it, he was the throw in.

I’ll remember the good times we had.  I’ll fondly remember him coming out and throwing a heck of a game 7.  I’ll remember the biggest reaction I’ve ever seen from him coming from that Endy Chavez catch.  I”ll remember the days showing up to the park, knowing it was an Oliver Perez start and thinking “oh boy”, and then I’d see him be dominant over 6 innings.

But I’ll also think to the games like tonight where he just had no command and no fight.  When there were times I’d show up to the park for an Oliver Perez start and think “oh no” and see the whole game fall apart for him by the third inning.  I’ll remember him getting beat because he had portions of the night where he couldn’t throw a strike.  Where he just seemed to never care either way.  The Mets fired Willie Randolph because it always seemed like he didn’t care, but watch Oliver Perez after a start good or bad.  Its the same expression.  It just makes you upset.

So now what?  Well, we tell him to pack his bags because he’s not wanted here anymore.  We demote him to Triple A.  We let him go.  We toss him.  Its not that he isn’t skilled and he is young enough to resurrect his career so this does have the makings of it coming back to haunt the Mets.  But he’s not going to go anywhere on this team.  There’s nothing on this team that can fix whatever is messing him up time and time again.  This relationship isn’t working out.

I thought that I should take a break, take a walk, and get some dinner.  Two hours after starting this I still feel the same way.  Its over Ollie.  Its not just the aftermath of that ugly loss.  Its just the fact that this was the kind of loss that makes you say enough is enough.

Its over Ollie.  The Mets gave it a shot, but its over.  He needs to go.

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May 14, 2010 · 4:13 am

Marlins 2- Mets 1

You know how there are tough losses and there are really tough losses?  Well I dont know where exactly this would be on that scale but its a loss that the Mets are going to look back on and say we got the pitching performance we asked for, we got the other team’s ace by the 7th inning with a rally mounting and we had a runner on second in the ninth with our supposed franchise player up at the plate and we couldn’t score.  But they win it on a wild pitch from Fernando Nieve.  Yep.  I think that about sums it up.

– Johan Santana’s line: 7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, but he gave up one run, 5 K’s, 1 BB, on 98 pitches (62 for strikes- 63%).  It was a pitcher’s duel as he was going against Josh Johnson who also went 7 innings.  The two were pitching really well.  Santana gave up the one run on an error when he tried to handle a bunt by Josh Johnson and threw high to Jose Reyes.

Either way, we saw from Johan Santana what we’d been waiting for.  Enemy territory against a divisional opponent, head to head against the other team’s ace, coming up big.  Not the flashy line but when he needed a pop up he got it.  When he needed a double play he got it.  When he needed a strike out he got that too.  He’s not going to strike out over 200 guys a year like he did during his hey day with the Twins but he’s still an intensely competitive pitcher and capable of getting by with guile.  Like every pitcher it seems on the Mets, he’s lost a few MPH on his fastball.  Now we dont know if its still the lingering effects of his elbow surgery but whatever it is, he seemed to be throwing 91 through most of the night.  Maybe its the humidity in Florida that gave him that extra juice.  Who knows, but it was great seeing vintage Johan out there.

– Josh Johnson is just nasty.  While driving down, WFAN went through a hypothetical trade situation and wondered aloud who they would trade Josh Johnson for and they couldn’t find a single person they would get in return that would be of equal value and I’d have to agree with them.  The guy throws in the high 90’s and is a dominant ace and this is two years after he came back from Tommy John.  What sucks even more is that he owns the Mets.  Absolutely owns them.  7-1 with a 2.66 ERA coming in and today he seemed to be cruising retiring the final 15 batters he faced.

– The Mets had a runner in scoring position in the 2nd and got a huge hit from, who else, Rod Barajas to score their only run.  After that, they had a runner in scoring position in the 6th when Johnson tried to throw Reyes out but ended up throwing low and the 1b Gaby Sanchez unable to make the play and allowing Reyes to go to 3rd.  Johnson came back and struck out Bay on a wicked inside fastball that froze him.  Then the big rally in the 9th with the game untying run, Luis Castillo, reaching on an error by the 2b who overthrew the first baseman.  Reyes popped up.  Bay hit a liner to third which froze Castillo who couldn’t advance and Wright struck out on the…wait for it….slider out of the strike zone.  I mean its like a script now with Wright.  Its so clear how pitchers are going at Wright and its beginning to irritate me that he’s falling for it every time.  Of course it took Leo Nunez fifteen conferences with Ronny Paulino but he finally got the pitch he wanted.  Its tough that the Mets lost but not too much the offense could get going against Josh Johnson and co.  They were getting lucky with little errors but I suppose that’s where everyone comes out and says “good teams take advantage of opportunities.”

-Another day another mistake by the bullpen.  Now I know what people are going to say: Why is Nieve coming out for a second inning?  Even after giving up the single to Paulino pushing Cody Ross to third, exactly why was he still there?  Nieve threw a bad pitch and here we are discussing what a terrible decision it was.  But Manuel really didn’t need to keep him there.  I’m not going to sit and second guess him on this since Manuel took a chance that the game would go into extras and he needed his long arms to be in the game for multiple innings but what a terrible way to lose the game.

– For those wondering, no I won’t start the Ike Davis to hit 3rd chants or the Rod Barajas higher in the batting order one either.  For now I think Jerry is holding off on a decision he will have to make sooner or later.  You can’t just plug Beltran back even if you get him back in Mid June to the three spot so if no one is producing Jerry will have to make a decision soon enough.  The Mets are just not generating enough offense and since they don’t have a prototypical 3 hitter, I think its time to come up with a rotating system.  Putting in a few guys who are hot and plugging them there, no matter who it is.  You need your best hitter up there in those spots and if its Rod Barajas then Rod needs to hit 3rd.  Plain and simple.  Forget convention, these Mets need unconventional methods to win and I think its time to start thinking outside the box.

– Of course all the attention went away from the game after yesterday’s press conference where Charlie Manuel tried to deflect the rumors that his team was stealing signs with binoculars by saying that there’s something fishy with the Mets winning so much at home.  HUH?  At that point, uncle Charlie started to get all slurry with his speech and say the Phillies were stealing signs legally.  Stealing something legally is an oxy-MORON if I’ve heard some.  Good job of Jerry Manuel of staying away from controversy and continuing to take the high road as did Johan who was at the center of the controversy as the game where he gave up those 10 runs is one of the games being looked at.  Just beat them on the field guys.  Keep it on the field.  Oh and please do send a high and tight one to Victorino with the first pitch and then glare at Manuel.  That would be downright awesome.

SEASON: 18-17

MY PREDICTION: 22-13

LGM!

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May 13, 2010 · 2:32 am

Nationals 6- Mets 4

Another rubber game, another loss as the Mets dropped it in the ninth when light hitting outfielder Roger Bernadina stroked his second home run of the game, season, and career against K-Rod to break a 4-4 tie.

-Mike Pelfrey’s line today: 5.2 IP giving up 4 ER, on 7 hits striking out 6 while walking 3, giving up a homerun on 119 pitches (74 for strikes- 62%).  By the way while those 6 K’s look good, he struck out the side in the first and in my mind didn’t make an adjustment when the line up came the second time around and ran into trouble in the second.  In the first he looked flat out dominant.  He struck out Nyjer Morgan on 3 pitches, Adam Kennedy on 4 pitches and Ryan Zimmerman on 5 pitches.  That was as efficient an inning as I’ve seen from a Met pitcher this season.  The second inning was led off by a double from Will Ferrell, i mean Adam Dunn, , a single by Cristian Guzman and then Willie Harris* walked to make the bases loaded.  Then he goes out and strikes out Roger Bernadina, strikes out Will Nieves and then comes the pitcher.  Gets a two strike count but Craig Stammen poked it past David Wright for a two out bases loaded single plating two.  Again, another Met pitcher unable to get his counterpart out in a big spot, with the bases loaded, and two outs.  He also gave up Roger Bernadina’s first home run of the year.  By the way Roger Bernadina is NOT a home run hitter.  Oye.  Over the next few innings he labored getting into deep pitch counts and unable to get that split finger over to finish off hitters as he did in the first two innings.  Craig Stammen came in the fourth and got another RBI this time after Will Nieves (former Met catcher of the future) hit a double after Bernadina’s homer.  Pelf dug himself too many holes and couldn’t go deeper than 2 outs into the sixth.

– The Met bullpen came in after Pelf issued his 3rd walk of the game with two outs in the sixth and Takahashi gave up a hit, then struck out Ryan Zimmerman to strand two runners.*  Pedro Feliciano, Fernando Nieve (who, let’s face it needs to have Dr. James Andrews on speed dial at some point in the season.) pitched 2.1 IP of scoreless relief.  Then came K-Rod and out goes the ball.  He gives up a go-ahead two run home run to Roger Bernadinha who’d never had a home run up until today’s game and he hit two, count em two home runs to help win the game for the Nats.  I’m not going to go too hard on the Mets but as far as sure things the Mets had coming into the season:

1. there’s Jason Bay adding power (out of his 32 hits, 11 are for extra base hits and only one of them is a home run) which has been a fail thus far.

2. K-Rod being a consistent closer.  Clearly the Mets didn’t get the young guy the Angels had when he was coming up.  I want that guy.

3. David Wright getting his power back.  Well something’s still there and its the strikeouts and its from last year.

4. Johan Santana.  I dont even need to bring up the Philly game do I?

As we know there are no sure things in life and thus let’s put those to rest.

*= Gosh I love this guy.  I need to learn some Japanese before I decide to come back to the stadium in hopes of getting his attention.  You know…from the second row in the upper deck.

*= ugh..Willie Harris…insert mean face.

– What I love a lot about the Mets are whenever Ralph Kiner comes to the broadcast booth and shares his wisdom, knowledge, and turns it into story hour with Ralph Kiner.  The guy is a natural story teller and with baseball losing a voice like Ernie Harwell, its becoming clear that these voices most closely associated with specific teams are becoming more and more rare.  Kiner takes you back to an older era.  I was able to visit the Met hall of fame earlier this year and see the old broadcasting names and I’m priveleged to have been able to hear a guy like Ralph Kiner growing up and still hear him whenever he pays a visit to the guys in the booth.  His most important point was that of the discussion of whether Reyes is a 3 hitter.  Kiner didn’t hold back and said “no” without even a moment’s hesitation.  I’m personally on the fence about it.  Frankly, there’s no one on the Met roster that’s hitting the tar out of the ball that you would logically think to promote.  You could talk yourself into Ike Davis but that’s only if your absolutely convinced that he’s a great hitter because like Ralph Kiner said “the 3 hole is for your BEST hitter.”  I’m not sure that Ike Davis is the best hitter.  David Wright could be that guy.

During the beginning of the year I was absolutely convinced that putting Reyes there would be the best option given that Beltran was out and the top of the line up would feature speed of Pagan, Castillo, and Reyes.  I also agreed with Mike Francesa when he said that it didn’t matter where a guy hit in the line up but as we’ve heard over and over again, Jose Reyes is the prototypical lead off hitter.  He’s been trained to get on base anyway, any how.  Now he’s put in a spot in the line up where RBI’s need to be had.  He’s not used to that and I now think that if Beltran comes back and takes the 3 spot in the line up, Reyes changes his approach back to lead off and begins to regress again and it never gives him the consistency that we absolutely need from Jose Reyes.  Its no secret that the Mets go where Reyes takes them so shifting him up and down the line up isn’t looking so good now that we know he isn’t that great of a 3 hitter.

By the way a funny moment when Reyes got thrown out trying to advance on a ball hit to his side.  Both Keith Hernandez and Ralph Kiner were jumping at the chance to groan and then go over the basic rule of baseball where “you never advance on a ball hit to your side with less than two outs.”  Its simple and yet Reyes does this every single time.  I don’t think that Reyes is as fast as we’re used to seeing him and so I’m always weary of where he thinks he is in terms of speed.  Maybe before his leg problems he would’ve been safe but its just not a smart play.  A few days ago he ran on the same play but the short stop never went to third with the throw.  Sucks that it had to be on a Met out, but a funny play no less.

– Subway Pre-Game Live was excellent today.  I usually fast forward through it but today seeing a few highlights I stopped.  Watching Chris Carter talk, it looked like he was nervous and was about to grind his bottom row of teeth from how nervous/excited he was.  Great to see the energy from the Animal and the fact that his intro-song* is “Real American Hero” (the Hulk Hogan theme for you non 80’s folk), just completes the image of a guy who was described by Josh Thole as a guy who “never sits down, not even to eat.”  Speaking of Mr. Thole, boy was he nervous.  I know it will take some time to get used to the whole t.v. experience for young Josh but its exciting to see some green faces just upbeat and smiling.  Like I talked about in yesterday’s game, the fact that these guys come from a different clubhouse and different culture where last year’s stench isnt there on them, it makes it all the sense in the world that they come in and contribute and can be impervious to the negativity that’s been surrounding this team.  Their general youth and excitement over being called up is so refreshing and something I love.  By the way, Thole wasn’t kidding, everytime an SNY camera caught Chris Carter, the guy was pacing around the dug out, stretching, getting some water.  Something.  Never sitting down.

– Bernadina didn’t just hit home runs, his diving catch to rob Francouer in the 5th inning saved the game for the Nats as that hit would’ve plated 3 for sure and broken the game open for the Mets who had rallied back from their second two run deficit to tie the game.  Of course their final two run deficit the Mets just couldn’t come back from and from there Matt Capps came and closed the door.  That’s 0-6 in the finale of a tied series.  Doesn’t bode well that the Mets can’t seem to win that rubber game.  Ever.  It doesn’t bode well that right now, the Mets have nobody that you can confidently say will go out and give you 7 or 8 strong innings.  You pray a starter goes 6 without giving up too much damage and hope that the Mets can chase the starter out and go to work on the other’s team’s relievers since the Met middle relief will go a long way towards keeping it competitive.  A tough pill to swallow but let’s look at the positive side and I promise you there is.  On a day when Pelf didn’t have his best stuff.  When the Mets went down twice they kept fighting and tied it twice.  They played with passion, enthusiasm and they have this new vibe about them that does well in one very important respect.  The major league season is a marathon and not a sprint.  This kind of confidence that they are building up will bode well come September when they are trying to summon the ghost of rallies past to help them in crucial games where a Wild Card berth or, dare I say it, a division could be on the line.  This is definitely not the team that they put out there last year and though they lost this game if they keep this kind of fight they won’t run into too many light hitting outfielders busting out the home run trot too many times.  The law of averages says so.  Though at this point I’m not too high on anything Jerry Manuel is saying, I do think that the Mets are on the right track in terms of mentality and overall effectiveness.  It was a cold, rainy, disgusting day and the Mets fought.  Its May and the team is fighting with a line up that’s only starting to get their big boppers going.

– I know what’s on everyone’s mind but I think Jerry waits a few days before making, yet another switch in the line up.  People are clamoring to have Barajas hit higher up in the line up, which I agree with Jerry Manuel (What’s wrong with me?!?!) is not a good idea.  The guy swings at everything and he’d be exposed batting higher.  People want Ike Davis up there, which might not be so bad of an idea but I think Jerry waits to press that button.  That’s a little bit of pressure on such a young guy but I think with everything I’ve seen from him, he’ll be up to the task.

– Finally, a moment of trepidation and joy.  Shoutouts to Matt Cerrone, founder of Metsblog- known place you can find me everytime I need to get my head out of the books in school, who linked the blog to his page.  Now time to find a tech savvy person to make this blog a bit more appealing.

Mets start a series against the Marlins in Florida starting tomorrow at 7 with Johan going up against Josh Johnson.  The Mets start a crucial road trip where they on the road against the Marlins for four, to Atlanta for two, then Washington for two.  How do I have them faring in this road trip?  I got them going 3-5.  Let’s hope I’m an idiot and don’t have a clue about anything.

SEASON: 18-16

MY PREDICTION: 21-13

LGM!

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May 10, 2010 · 11:50 am

Giants 6- Mets 5

There’s but one word to describe this game:  Wild.  From Bad Ollie to swirling winds to blown opportunities, this Giants series has had it all but this game’s end result wasn’t so great for the Mets.

Oliver Perez: 3.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 R, 2 K’s, 7 BB, on 2 hits and 98 pitches (44 for strikes- 45%).  Bad Ollie came to play in what was a terrible day for baseball with the winds playing tricks on people (ok, so maybe it was just Giant defenders.)  After talking about how much control the Met pitchers were showing Oliver Perez couldn’t make it out of the 4th inning.  Let’s see where we could go on this:

1st inning: No problem

2nd inning: Walked the first batter on four straight pitches.  Two hits plates a run.  A passed ball moves the runners over.  A groundout gets the run on a play which Reyes could’ve thrown to home but he took the safe play at home. Walks the pitcher.  Goes 3-0 on Rowand but comes back to strike him out.

3rd inning: Walks leadoff hitter.  Fly out.  Walks another on 4 straight pitches.  Walks another hitter and makes it bases loaded.  Two straight fly outs to end the inning.

4th inning: Walks the leadoff hitter again.  Lincecum tries to bunt over the runner on first but Ollie throws wildly to second but Reyes stays on the bag to make the play.  Walks another hitter.  Finally walks another one to end his afternoon.

That my friends is a recipe for trouble and Oliver showed up with absolutely no command of his breaking pitches and credit the Giants.  They never chased anything forcing Ollie to throw strikes.  To say this was unexpected is foolish.  Anyone who’s watched Oliver Perez over the years knows these starts exist and you have to live with them.  The Mets choose to continue with him understanding these outings will come from time to time.  When asked whether there might be a decision to remove him from the rotation Manuel was not ready to commit to a decision, but clearly Perez needs to see someone, but who about what?  Is it his concentration?  Is it just a lack of focus?  Is it just not being able to have command over his pitches?  But then why can he look dominant some times and unable to be close to the strikezone some times?  I feel as though his control goes with his confidence.  If he gets behind, he’s unable to recover mentally and will lose himself in the inning.  Its the same problem Pelfrey had and so far he’s been able to control it thanks to a visit with the psychiatrist this past offseason.  Oliver needs to see one at this point and the Mets need to make it a point to do so, if they continue to have him pitch and hope to see any consistency.

– The bullpen both saved and ruined the game though you can blame the wind.  The wind giveth and it taketh away.  Raul Valdes came and let up two runs, one on a bases loaded walk (inherited situation) and a passed ball.  But then went 3 innings of shutout work to keep the Mets in the game.  Feliciano and Nieve pitched 1.2 IP of scoreless relief as well.  It was Jenrry Mejia who came in and couldn’t stop the Giants as he gave up a walk and a game winning 2 run home run to Aaron Rowand; a home run that was picked up by the wind and blown out.  Tough loss for the Mets especially in a game where they clawed back against one of the better pitchers in the game in Tim Lincecum.  I made a comment yesterday saying that perhaps the Mets have some success against Lincecum and again yesterday it seemed as though they did and looked good in chasing him out after 6 innings.  The Met hitters, while not without much success built up a pretty big pitch count against Lincecum and had a good game plan to try and get to the bullpen early.   Funny thing is, they did that with Halladay and it torpedoed after the Phillies had that one big inning.  So now looking back it seemed as though the Mets gave up the idea of trying to win that game but they always felt, with the Giants bullpen, that they had a shot in winning that game as long as they got to them.  Once Halladay started cruising, you got the idea he was going to finish what he started and the Mets couldn’t stop it from happening.

Lincecum’s line:

6.0 IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER. 2BB, 8k on 116 pitches (72 for strikes)

– The offense was fortunate all afternoon to get some wind aided offense and also some terrible defense by the Giants.  Two sides of the coin: David Wright struck out for the seventh consecutive time yesterday.  Yes, 7 straight.  He had a RBI fly out, but he struck out 7 times and on the last one, in the 9th he blew his lid and almost left the Mets in a bad spot.  Uncle Jerry had used up all his bench players and by Wright getting thrown out, if the Mets had tied it and went to extras they would’ve had to put a pitcher out there in an infield position which of course would’ve been LaRussa-like.  It was another double switch happy game for Jerry who’s moves continue to get the people’s raised eyebrow treatment.  Wright clearly isn’t right, and he needs help that its becoming painfully obvious that Howard Johnson is not the answer.  Wright’s focus, inability to get around the fastball is all costing him.  He’s also chasing pitches out of the strike zone and just isn’t seeing the ball clearly.  Lincecum had trouble in the first inning which he had runners on second and third and Wright up with 2 outs and struck him out.  Then in the 6th inning with runners on first and second he struck out again.

On the flip side there’s Ike Davis.  He went 2 for 3 drew two walks, struck out once but that’s to be expected facing Lincecum.  He just looked comfortable up there and never fazed as if he were facing an ace.  By the way he never got to face Halladay so in his first outing against a certified top flight pitcher he did really well.  In the sixth with two outs and after Wright struck out for the third straight time, Davis put a 3-1 pitch in the opposite field for an RBI single.  I dont know how he makes it look so easy and Wright just seems to struggle so mightily.  Perhaps Wright needs to smile more, who knows?  Maybe he needs to be helped out by Ron Davis, Ike’s dad.  Either way Wright is looking like a certified out and Davis is sandwiched in there between Wright and Francouer who has gone back to being a certified strike out/out.  I understand why Jerry keeps the line up that way to separate outs but its becoming problematic for Wright to be in such a huge RBI situation and striking out all the time.

– Tough loss for the Mets after having some terrible defense and terrible relief pitching (till the end) by the Giants.  They loaded the bases in the 7th on three consecutive walks.  Then Bay hit a fly ball that was misplayed because of the wind and two runs scored and Reyes got to third on a close play.  Wright then had a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4 Mets.  After walking Davis, Francouer grounded out to Uribe who couldn’t handle it and made it bases loaded.  Barajas then flew out to end the rally.  The Mets could never generate another rally and ended up losing after Brian Wilson came in for a five out save in which he struck out all five batters.  Obviously the Mets got very lucky and could’ve easily been shut out in this game but thanks to a lot of luck they rallied to take the lead but Aaron Rowand’s home run, pushed about 30 feet out by the wind, helped to give the Giants a lead they would never forfeit.

– Mets look to get back on the win column as they face the Nationals for a three game set starting today.  The loss snapped a 9 game winning streak at Citi Field.

THE SEASON: 17-14

MY PREDICTION: 18-13

By the way I have them winning these next three games so let’s hope I got some Miss Cleo in me.  LGM!

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May 8, 2010 · 9:52 pm

Mets 5- Giants 4 F/ 11

These Met catchers sure have some magic don’t they?  Another catcher the Mets got instead of paying for Bengie Molina and another walk off home run against Molina’s Giants.  Simply…well…AMAZIN!

– Johan Santana started the game and once again a Met pitcher saw the 8th inning.  But once again the bullpen let them down but we’ll get to that later.

Johan Santana went 7.2 IP, gave up 8 hits, 4 ER, 6 K’s and and walked no one on 101 pitches (74 for strikes- 73%).  That’s two consecutive games that Met starting pitching hasn’t given up a walk.  In fact, in their last four games, the Mets have had 4 walks, a period in which they’ve gone 3-1, and two of those walks were handed out today.  Otherwise you’d have to go back to John Maine last Tuesday to see a Met starting pitcher give up a walk to a hitter.  That’s an impressive string of focused baseball that the pitching staff has put together.  I’m going to be the first to tell you that I’ve been down on Dan Warthen but it seems as though all that coaching is finally paying off.  The focus this past Spring Training was about the Mets pitching staff throwing strikes and it seems as if its beginning to take hold.

– Yesterday while eating at Elena 43, the Yankee game was showing and I noticed how AL pitchers just tend to get deeper into games by keeping pitch counts low.*  Being that pitch counts are so important nowadays I think the policy of throwing strikes is helping that.

*= Shout out to the YES Network who put up a pitch count meter along with the regular graphic that shows the score, the count, the inning and runners on.  Its a crucial addition as the pitch count is becoming a vital statistic for teams to employ.  Now SNY needs to get on that though their slow motion cameras are very excellent.

– In the offseason the Mes were very much after Bengie Molina and many considered a done deal.  The Mets made an initial offer which was laughed off by Molina.  The second offer was the one year/$5 million offer which never changed.  Molina wanted two years and as time wore on, and the Mets not moving from their position, forced Molina to go “back to where he felt comfortable” to San Francisco for a one contract for $4.5 million.  Molina conducted an interview yesterday in which he talked about him feeling burned by the Mets as he was preparing this past offseason to be the starting catcher for the Mets “watching video of the Met pitching staff.”  His entire interview was bizarre to say the least.  Consider that he’s on the Giants talking about how much he wanted to come to the Mets.  Well, the Mets two catchers have not only helped this pitching staff tremendously with their experience and know how, they’ve given them pop at a position where its pretty much hit or miss.  Consider that only Joe Mauer is the elite catcher in this era.  ONLY.  No one else folks.  Victor Martinez doesn’t call as good a game and no other catcher gives offensively what Mauer does at such a tremendously important position.  But the Mets have two catchers who can guide their erratic pitching staff to such good starts.  Just an FYI: Bengie Molina left the game when he pulled something hitting a off the wall…single.  Yep, Bengie Molina folks.  By the way, Henry Blanco has a steal to his credit.

– One big improvement i saw over the last two days is this idea that certain pitchers like throwing to certain catchers.  Yesterday the Mets went with Rod Barajas behind the plate, though he had only caught one of Mike Pelfrey’s games.  Today Henry Blanco caught Johan Santana who he’d not caught in a Met uni.  Now, Blanco has caught Johan before, in fact he caught him in his Cy Young year of 2004, but this idea that some prescribe to of certain pitchers being more effective with certain catchers can hopefully begin to be put to rest.  Both catchers provide optimal leadership and we now see both can give some big hits when called upon.

– The Mets keep winning despite Jerry Manuel’s flaws.  As I mentioned a few days ago I’m leaning towards the dark side in wanting Jerry’s head after again using Fernando Nieve in a big spot though he had given Hisanori Takahashi enough rest and him proving that he can pitch innings if called upon to do so.  Nieve let up a few soft hits and gave up the lead.  Nieve needs a few days off yet Jerry refuses to give him that and continues to push him into games that he has no business being in.  Hopefully he’s learning but I doubt it.  He then brought in Feliciano who couldn’t get his hitter out until he brought in Jenry Mejia.  That’s 12 pitchers and he went down 3 relievers.  Imagine the Mets didn’t win it in the 11th, what would’ve happened then?  Jerry just needs to stop overthinking it.

-Think about it this way the Mets have now played 5 straight games in which the game has gone down to the final at- bat and are 3-2 in those five games which is great.  This is a great early season test for a team that has been charged with showing no fight or effort or grit.  Hopefully the Mets settle in and start putting a great stretch together.  That’s nine in a row in Citi Field, a stadium the Mets wanted no parts of last year.

– The Mets head into the finale of the series looking to sweep and if fans are worried about how they will fare against the defending two time Cy Young award winner consider his previous two outings against the Mets, courtesy of Baseball-reference.com:

2009:(at SF) (Mets Win 8-6) 6.0IP 10H 5R 5ER 3BB 8K’s
2008 (at citi) (Mets win 7-0) 6.0IP 9H 4R 4ER 2BB 4K’s 2HR all.

So perhaps, I’m just saying, the Mets have his number.  We shall see. LGM!

THE SEASON: 17-13

MY PREDICTION: 17-13

I have them winning tomorrow, so let’s see: LETS GO METS!

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May 8, 2010 · 12:40 pm

Mets 6- Giants 4

Almost two years since the last walk off win by the Mets, Rod Barajas hit a 2 run game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth.

– Mike Pelfrey was really good tonight.  I mean it.  7.1 IP, 4 K’s, 0 BB’s, 3 ER, on 8 hits and 85 pitches (61 for strikes- 72%).  He went into the 8th inning having thrown only 85 pitches.  In the 8th had he not let on the first two runners he would’ve went the distance.  He was masterful and we saw the old school Mike Pelfrey: pitch to contact and make them hit the sinker.  While the Giants may have the best average of any NL team, they do NOT have an explosive offense with much power so there was no need for Pelf to get cute.

– Its difficult to give any JUST one player the game ball so I’m going to give it to both Ike Davis AND Rod Barajas.  Both had two home run games.  Both had great plays in the ninth that helped win the game.  I know people will only look at the game winning two run home run that Barajas hit but that catch in the ninth inning was just downright awesome.  Its funny:

batters 1-6 were a combined: 4- 22 1 RBI, 1 Run scored, 2 BB’s, and 4 K’s.

Rod Barajas and Ike Davis: 4-7 5 Runs, 5 RBI’s, 1 BB, 1 K. (All four hits were home runs- incredible.)

– You always get excited when a rookie comes along and has a great stretch.  You get the feeling that this isn’t just a stretch.  Granted he has to stay away from the injury plague which the Mets have not been able to avoid but if he does, you get the feeling that he will be a really good player for a really long time.  The two home runs he hit were massive, mammoth home runs off Jonathan Sanchez who hadn’t given up a HIT to a lefty batter all season.  His first was so high that Gary Cohen had a tough time reading the trajectory of the ball, only after it smacked off the Pepsi Porch did his voice go into excitement/awe which was pretty awesome to hear.  His second was to the deepest part of the park and he did it with letting go with one hand which shows you the raw power this kid has.  The first was on an inside fastball, the second more massive home run was on a hanging breaking ball.  Usually hitters don’t do well against same side pitching but he’s 7 for 10 against lefties.  He’ll eventually hit righties so he’s getting to the point that he’s an everyday player as he should be.

– Speaking of which, the ninth inning gave me goosebumps because the guys turned into fans calling the game.  Hearing Cohen yell safe, NO OUT! when Francouer bunted/swung at that pitch was just awesome.  This was just minutes after Cohen went crazy on the Ike Davis catch which I’m gonna tell you right now, is going down as one of the greatest Met catches of all time.  For those who didn’t get to watch the game, well TOO BAD, but let me try and describe to you the degree of difficulty on it.

Top of the ninth: K-Rod in to protect a one run lead.  He’s already given up the lead with a pinch hit home run by John Bowker to tie the game at 4.  Bengie Molina comes in and strikes out to make it two outs.  Aaron Rowand reaches first on a single.  A terrible balk call on Frankie Rodriguez which put Rowand on 2nd.  Then Mark DeRosa hit a ground ball up the middle which Luis Catillo of 2002  comes and gobbles up in his glove preventing Rowand from scoring the go ahead run.  Amazing play by Castillo one of the most hated Mets for really no reason.*  Then Pablo Sandoval after fouling off a few 0-2 pitches, pops one up on the first base side.  Ike Davis goes over for a look, sees how much room he has to make the play, gets to the railing, and then jumps over the railing to make the catch, do a dive and stick the landing.  AMAZING.  At that point I didn’t even scream, I just put my hands over my head and looked on with shock at that play.  What a great play.  Two amazing defensive gems to save the game for the Mets!

Bottom of the ninth: Francouer bunts/hits a slow roller to third which is scooped up by Pablo Sandoval and he barely beats out French at first.  Later replays showed that the call was correctly made by Angel Hernandez but the call by the guys was classic:

Cohen: and he’s safe. NO. OUT!

Hernandez: (in the background) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The crowd was booing the play and Manuel ran out on to the field.**  After a few minutes the replays showed that Hernandez had the right call so everyone settled down.  Ike Davis draws a walk.  Up comes Rod Barajas and he just absolutely blasts it out to the left field corner for a two run home run which looked like it would die at the warning track but had just enough pop to go over the fence.

*= For those who don’t know, Luis Castillo has a bad contract that Mets management was dumb enough to give him and yet he’s given most of the blame for accepting.  Yeah.  Like none of us wouldn’t.

**= Every time Manuel runs out to the field, he has his head down as if he’s going over his arguments to the ump so he won’t look like a fool.  I do have another theory and that is, the Swithin Titus theory, named appropriately.  Everytime I have to go up in front of a large gathering I’m always aware of myself walking or moving so I tend to get real stiff and try to walk as cool and calm as I can so I don’t trip or fall.  Its basically a defensive measure to make sure I don’t do any classic blooper reel stuff.  It works about 60% of the time.

– After a wild series against the Reds in which they got beat on two 10th inning walk offs and had a ninth inning home run themselves sandwiched in (Mr. Barajas himself), the Mets are suddenly finding their late inning heroics thanks to the Reds who have been absolutely magical.  You always look for one or two games as the turning point in the season and I think that their last home stand, there was that game where they turned all that negativity surrounding them in Citi Field and used it to get them going.  They’ve won 8 straight at home and are just cruising now in a home ball park that last year was murder for them because of its dimensions.  They hit four more homeruns here and it seems as though the park is getting smaller to the Mets now that they have some boppers up and down the lineup.  While people may make something of Bay’s struggles, he’s always been a streaky hitter who will find his power stroke at some point and get going.  I’m not too worried about him and Wright is also becoming one of those guys that at the end of the year will end up with 25 HRs, 100 RBI’s, and a .310 average somehow.  I dont know how these guys do it, but they do.

– Huge bounce back game for Pelfrey after getting shelled by the Phillies on Saturday.  Tomorrow Johan gets his turn at turning things around against Todd Wellenmyer a guy the Mets traditionally have had great success against.  Then again we said the same thing against Jaime Moyer but we all know Moyer has that old thing down pact having pitched almost a decade in his forties.  Mets go for their second straight against the Giants at 1:10.  Hopefully this game was that turning point to get them going.

The SEASON: 16-13

MY PREDICTION: 16-13

By the way, I have them winning the next two games.  I hope I didn’t jinx it.  LGM!

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May 5, 2010 · 11:45 am

Mets 5- Reds 4

A great win by the Mets who finally managed to get the big hit when it counted.  Important to note that Fernando Nieve making his umpteenth appearance gave up the lead but Rod Barajas came in to clean it all up.  We’ll get into that and yet another managerial blunder that’s beginning to take me to the other side of the Fire Jerry Manuel debate.

– First off, that’s two very impressive outings by John Maine.  6 IP, 6 K’s, 2 BB’s, 1 ER (2 R), on 4 hits and 102 pitches (62 for strikes- 60.8%).  The good thing about it was that by the 5th inning he only had 79 pitches.  If he had one quick inning he could’ve gone 7.  His new strategy is working, by using primarily fastballs in different spots and trying to throw people off and using the offspeed stuff as a complementary pitch instead of the one he throws all the time.  He’s getting more swings and misses because he has good movement on his fastball.  It tails away from lefties and comes in on righties which makes it a very tough pitch for sluggers to extend on.  There will be moments like the Brandon Phillips homerun where he’ll put it where people can extend but for the most part he kept it out of the zone.  So that makes it two consecutive nights where the unknown quantities of the Met rotation gave excellent efforts.  That’s also two straight nights where the Mets almost lost because the Reds were able to come back.

– The Mets offense seemed to show signs of life last night scoring 5 runs, 3 XBH, 2 home runs and a double by Reyes.  Barajas took the first pitch from closer Francisco Cordero and smashed it.  I love watching his home runs because right off the bat, it looks like its going to leave the stadium, bounce on the freeway and go right into the ocean.  I mean he crushes balls when he gets it.  As the old saying goes, he never gets cheated.  The first inning was especially sweet since it started off with 3 consecutive hits against Met killer Bronson Arroyo.  The top three guys got basehits and got Angel Pagan home which is the way it should be.  The first three guys get on, a single can score two, a double clears the bases and that’s the beauty having all that speed on the bases.*

*= The guys made a very good point about the Mets offense.  Right now, they aren’t getting the big hit, they need to rely on forcing the situation and that’s the formula to the Mets success even in 2006.  I remember it like it was yesterday. Reyes gets on, dances on first threatens to steal, hit and run, Castillo busts one through the hole and Reyes ends up on 3rd.   Beltran comes up and singles and Reyes scores.  Now, just replace Reyes with Pagan and Beltran with Reyes and you have the formula to the Mets first run of the game.  Its important that the Mets get back to their identity which is speed and forcing the issue with the guys that get on base.  We have good speed 1-5 (have you seen Bay on ground balls? The throws are barely beating him to the bag.  One day a fielder is going to get lackadaisical and he’s going to make it in a big spot, I’m calling it already) and it can come in handy when you need to score runs on singles with men on 2nd.  All five of those guys can score with their speed which doesn’t put much pressure on guys to get extra base hits to get them to score which is good.

– Ok, so I understand why Jerry brings in Fernando Nieve.  I do.  He’s been good for him this entire season whenever called up on and even up until 2 outs, Jerry looked like a genius.  But, he did give up the two back to back home runs which could’ve ended in disaster given the Mets recent history in being unable to get the big hit.  They were fortunate that Barajas got the home run but again, it could’ve ended badly.  My point is this: you have unofficially given the 8th inning role to Pedro Feliciano who’s done a terrific job.  Yes, he pitched the last two nights but if that’s his role then that’s his role.  Nieve needs to be rested.  Manuel brings him in for long duty, for an inning, and then in the 8th.  My point is, he doesn’t have a clue as to what Nieve’s role is except as his favorite button to push whenever he needs a lead kept safe.  Meanwhile, you have Jenrry Mejia coming in the 7th getting what kind of experience exactly?  IF he’s going to be the ace of the future he serves no purpose right now as a 7th inning reliever.  You either give him high leverage situations OR you get his butt back to the minors to stretch him out.  But back to defining roles.  You’ve seen these guys over a month now and you’ve given Feliciano the 8th on more than one occasion and he’s come through and now you’re giving Nieve the role?  Clearly Jerry has no clue and is now just bringing in Nieve just for the heck of it and actively ruining what is a bright spot on our bullpen.  I’m not suggesting bringing in Manny Acosta, but what I’m saying is you have to be smart in the way you use these guys this early in the season.  By July, Nieve’s arm is going to be in a sling and we’ll be shouting for Manuel’s neck for ruining what was one of the more dependable arms in the bullpen for overuse in April and May.  These are the kind of decisions that come back to haunt you.  Don’t you think the papers are going to suggest that Nieve is running out of gas (even though that pitch that Votto hit was 95 on the gun) in May and going to say that Manuel is ruining him?  Come on Jerry.  THINK!

– The Mets close out the series with Niese going against Johnny Cueto today in a day game.  The Mets are attempting to win the 4th of 5 series and hoping that the Niese from Friday shows up again.

THE SEASON: 15-12

MY PREDICTION: 15-12

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