The Mets Core Tweet This Post
The particular suggestion is problematic because it reflects something akin to an underpants-gnome approach to sports analysis. David Wright and Jose Reyes are the best players on the Mets this year. The Mets will not win a World Series this year. Thus, the Mets will not win a World Series with David Wright and Jose Reyes as their best players.
That’s a quote by Ted Berg, the guy who broke the story on Tommy Hanson of the Atlanta Braves being related to the band Hanson, in relation to stories suggesting the Mets should break up their core and blow up the entire team for next year.
I could go on for pages about why it’s a poor idea, but that quote from Ted pretty much sums it up. David Wright and Jose Reyes are great players, but even great players can’t win on their own in baseball. Baseball is great because it’s a team sport, and requires a team effort over a long period of time to succeed. The Mets are not doomed for 2011 and the best way to succeed is not to blow it up and hope you get lucky replacing two virtually irreplaceable players but to figure out talented, healthy players to add to them to make a team. Then find a good leader and set of coaches that are capable of guiding the team over a 162 game season and keeping them focused and level-headed enough to win.
Tags: Baseball, break up the core, core mets, David Wright, great players, Jose Reyes, Mets, mets core, New York Mets, south park, ted berg, underpants gnomes
Left Field Landing Observations Tweet This Post
Edit, 3/12/11: The Mets have announced the last two sections of the Left Field Landing have been renamed Mr. Mets Landing, and discounted. Many of the pictures here, and in the full album here, are from this section.
Edit, 4/1/11: And now it’s sponsored and called BJ’s Clubhouse.
Since Citi Field was mostly empty last night due to the team and the rain, I moved all over the Left Field Landing section where my seats were to get a feel for it. I’ve never sat there before, and I was surprisingly impressed with the vantage point. At least from the front six or so rows. Further back and you lose too much of left field for my liking. I ventured out to the farthest section, 339, and it was almost the same as watching it at home, from the center field camera. Actually, I could’ve reached out and touched the camera.
Center Field Camera
There was this interesting thing out above the Apple, that seems to report wind speed and direction.
Checking wind speed at Citi Field
Tags: apple, Baseball, bjs, bjs club house, bjs clubhouse, bullpen, bullpen bathroom, bullpen gate, center field, center field camera, cheap citi field sectiosn, Citi Field, citi field bullpen, citi field sectiosn, citi field wind, club house, home run apple, knish, left field landing, Luis Castillo, Mets, mets discounts, mr mets clubhouse, mr mets landing, mr mets landing discount, mr mets landing section, new mets section, new mr mets landing, New York Mets, outfield, shea bridge, windspeed
Will I Be Lonely At The Citi Tonight? Tweet This Post
I’m going to Citi Field, courtesy of a non baseball-watching friend who got two tickets for donating blood. (I actually haven’t figured out whom to give the spare one to) The Mets are virtually out of it, merely at .500, and 8 full games away from even sniffing a playoff spot. I’m not going to say “It’s over” because stranger things have happened, but until they rattle off a streak better than 4-3, even I’m not going to be hanging on every game like it’s a pennant race. So will anyone be out at the game tonight? Someone suggested I should try the dunk tank and pretend it’s Oliver Perez sitting on it. I’ll explore the free giveaways at the Verizon Studio, and see if the seasonal beers have changed to fall yet.
Will the lines at Shake Shack be short? Or will they be longer as more people are willing to walk away from watching the game for a great burger?
Will the crowd get into the game if it’s a good game? Or will they mostly be disinterested and focus on booing guys like Castillo?
Will people leave early, even if it’s a close game? If the score is 6-2 can I expect the stands to be virtually empty by the 9th? Will they be mostly empty even if it’s 4-3?
Personally I’ll be looking forward to a good pitching matchup (Johnson vs. Dickey) and looking forward to Dickey reaching the minimum innings required to qualify for the ERA list, on which he’d be in the top 10.
I’m watching the game from section 337, row 4. That’s Left Field Landing, and somewhere I’ve never sat before. Always enjoy the new vantage points, and row 4 probably isn’t overly obscured like the back rows of that section are. I’ll also probably roam at random taking pictures of everything. If you see a guy with a camera pointing at odd things wearing a Mets Hall of Fame cap and a Wright last season at Shea jersey…probably me.
Tags: atmosphere, Baseball, Citi Field, citi field dunk tank, left field landing, Mets, mets crowd, mets seats, mets tickets, New York Mets, Oliver Perez, photography, pictures, seats, shake shack
I Predict an Oliver Perez Sighting Tonight Tweet This Post
I know no one wants to hear it, but I’m suspecting we may see Oliver Perez tonight, and definitely before the end of the road trip. Here’s a couple of reasons why:
1. He hasn’t pitched in ages.
2. reports that he’s “looking better” (I don’t know how this can be when he hasn’t actually faced batters)
3. The Mets have already not lost this series, and 2 road wins a trip is normal. Could be thinking it’s house money at this point?
4. Bullpen tired from yesterday.
5. B.S. about missing-Frankie need to get more value from everyone else.
At this point, with the Mets virtually eliminating and sending subtle signs that they’re very aware of this, it might be time to try to get Perez into a state where you might be able to raise his value such that an opposing GM may consider trading for him if they’ve had a couple of beers. It’s in the Mets best interest to play him since his value cannot go down, but if they could tease some modicum of success out of him down the stretch, or in Spring Training next year, they might be able to trade him for a long-shot AAA player or a down on his luck reliever.
Tags: 2011, Mets, New York Mets, Oliver Perez, ollie perez, perez, Pitching, road trip, trade value
Depressingly Early Football Season and Long Term Mets Plans Tweet This Post
My posts have been lacking lately. Part of that is certainly that the Mets don’t produce much to be optimistic about right now, but I am also having a lot of computer issues involving memory and hard drives and multiple reformats of my laptop. I spend most of my time at the computer cursing at it and telling it get going; which is much like how I feel watching the Mets. I was holding out hope as things spiraled out of control with the Mets as is befitting the title of this blog, but my hope is dwindling as the math suggesting the Mets will make the playoffs, even if they were to morph into a powerhouse overnight, grows bleeker and bleeker.
They can still make the playoffs. They won’t, but the possibility does still exist. A strange confluence of events including David Wright not having another slump, Jason Bay coming back and accumulating all the stats that he would need to reach his career averages for the year in the final month, Carlos Beltran shaking off the rust/age/injury and playing well, Castillo putting up career norms for OBP and getting driven in regularly, would have to happen first. Some of these will happen, but it does not seem like it will be enough to matter.
My personal opinion is that the Mets have subtly given up on the season, but they do have a long term plan in place. Promoting the unready Tejada and the possibly unready Fernando Martinez suggests as much. I think the Mets should probably take the next step and start interviewing managers, if not GMs. Take the two weeks to figure out who should manage this team next year, and give them a month to get acclimated with Wright, Reyes, and the rest of the 2011 incumbants so they don’t have to do so in Spring Training. I think it would help the long term goals. One reason not to do this immediately is if the Mets plan on dumping Omar Minaya, in which case you’d want to take care of that before the manager situation, and you may just run out of time to do this all sequentially. Tonight is the night the draft picks have to sign by, so it’d be a perfectly opportunity to make a move forward after that. Give a new GM time to analayze the team and it’s holes and create a offseason strategy. Start the ball rolling, hint at the long term plan, and bring some more of the kids of up in September and I bet Citi Field won’t be quite as empty as some are predicting.
It’s sad that I’m aware that the Giants are playing a preseason game tonight. (Against the Jets too) I prefer years where I don’t even know the Giants record until late October. Or at least late September. I prefer football games as an appetizer to a big Sunday Night Baseball game featuring the Mets and a pressure filled push towards a playoff berth. (results aside)
Tags: 2011 mets, Baseball, fire jerry manuel, fire manuel, football, football season, general manager, jerry manuel, leadership, long term plan, Mets, mets general manager, new york football giants, New York Giants, New York Mets, offseason, Omar Minaya, preseason
Some Applicable Quotes For the Mets Tweet This Post
It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”
-Deli81 Chuck Palahniuk quotes (American freelance Journalist, Satirist and Novelist. b.1961)
“Success is how high you bounce when you hit rock bottom.”
-George Patton
Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.
You’d have thought they’d have learned already..
Looking down on disappointment only blinds you for what’s ahead, you can always benefit from a loss as long as it is a lesson to you.
How achievest thou something meaningful in thy life when thou art very deeply wedded to thy ugly and miserable past?
referring to Perez and Manuel/Minaya/Warthen etc? Need to put the past behind them.
The only way to prevail is to hit rock bottom. After all, you need something to push off of to fly high.
I thought 2009 was rock bottom..
“Life’s real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.”
This is my favorite. Seems very applicable to baseball and the many tiny adjustments that a great player makes throughout a season. “game of inches”