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Bring It

There is a new hitting instructor for the Mets. His name is Chan Ho Park.
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I can’t think of anything better to get the Mets bats going than this guy, pitching in Citizen’s Bank Ballpark. The quality of the Phillies pitching is not very good in general, and I’d say the Mets have a favorable matchup in every game.

It’s time to get healthy and build some confidence. There is nothing to the ‘heart’ argument. There is plenty to the pressure. Guys are pressing, and they’re failing. Some people let that pressure get them down, get them depressed, have them doubting their own abilities. (and the lack of confidence in them from the manager surely doesn’t help) Others just find themselves slumping. However, winning is contagious. These guys do seem to be pretty close. give them a couple of big wins, a good stretch, breaks going their way, a couple of consistent pitching performances in a row..something that would pump them up, as it would pump us up, and they’ll feed on that. Because they’re hungry for that success, and they’ll build on it.

So on to Philadelphia. Maybe it’s knowing the Mets play well in that park, that they’re due for a good stretch, that the Phillies just aren’t that good, that it’s Chan Ho Park pitching, but I feel good about this series. So I’ll make some baseless predictions, to help pump you up.

David Wright will have more home runs and RBIs in this series than in April.

Oliver Perez will pitch well, despite the home run to Chase Utley.

Ryan Howard will strike out at least seven times.

Utley will get hit by a pitch by Maine on Sunday, although it probably won’t hurt as much as Hanley’s.

The Mets will sweep this Turnpike series.

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Managing Scared

Fire him before it’s too late. Send away the pitching and hitting coach while you’re at it. If you’re really desperate to keep HoJo with the organization, make him the new bench coach.

Why give away 4 outs? Why pinch hit a guy that’s hot for a guy that wasn’t watching the game and hasn’t been watching what Lindstrom was throwing. We all know this team needs confidence. so what kind of confidence does it show Castro in that spot? Murphy that he’s replaced defensively and would’ve been up in the ninth? Reyes when you won’t let him steal early in the count or only hit and run and tell him when to go? Or that you’re constantly bunting in front of him like he can’t drive the guys in himself.

Drawing the infield in in the first. Managing scared. Manuel set the stage from the very beginning saying “Even though it’s the first inning, I don’t think you guys are going to score enough runs to win if we let this run score.” Well, ask and you shall receive.

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Winning Baseball?

What’s this? Winning Baseball?

Craig Carton mimicked the optimism I’m feeling on his show this morning. Livan against the free-swinging, slumping Marlins. Livan probably pitching for his job, if not his career. If the Mets and Livan can beat Nolasco, they go into Wednesday looking for a sweep, and to go above .500.

And Wednesday isn’t a normal Mets game. Wednesday is the day even regular Mets fans feel confident. Johan Santana is pitching. Even better, Johan’s pitching against Josh Johnson, the guy who ‘out-pitched’ him for a win the last time they matched up together. Despite Johan actually pitching better, you know he’s itching to put Johnson in his place.

The three games after that are against the Phillies, then to Atlanta for two, then home for two more against the Phillies. The Mets are all set for a turn around and to take May by storm. What better way to set us at ease then to steamroll the pathetic Phillies pitching, exorcise some demons in Turner Field, and then come home to make Citi Field rock by stomping the Phillies again?

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Manuel’s ‘ultimatum’

Manuel’s ‘ultimatum’ to the pitching staff is basically a case of buying low.

He knows they are better than this, and he also knows Redding could be pretty close to coming back and taking Livan’s spot anyway. So he makes this statement about one more time through the rotation and then there will be changes, but he’s really just stating the obvious. He’s taking a bet that the pitching will be better and/or Omar will make a change with the 5th starter. If the pitching gets better, he looks like he got them going, and if they don’t, likely a change will be happening anyway, and he can take credit for it. This is how he’s been winning people over since he’s been in charge.

Anyone watching these games can clearly see that the starting rotation is struggling, but also that they’re like to get better. Perez was reported to have not done what he was supposed to do in Spring Training while at the World Baseball Classic. So he wasn’t quite ‘ready’ when the season came. It’s now three starts later. He hasn’t looked real good, but there have been small signs between a raise in velocity to a couple of key strikeouts that could give you hope if you’re looking for it.

Maine was coming off an injury. I thought it would take him a couple of starts to get going, given the longer layoff from pitching in real games. He’s had some bad moments, but some good ones too. I suspect he’ll start giving some worthwhile performances soon.

Pelfrey is probably what I’d call the least worrisome. He had some tendinitis so they skipped a start, so he’s had even less. He really stepped it up last year, and It’ll probably take him a little while to start getting back to that point, and to adjust to any scouting adjustments made to him. He’s always shown promise, and I see no reason to think he won’t have a good year.

Livan however, might be more of an issue. Besides that Manuel routinely comes out and basically says he has no confidence in him, he doesn’t seem to have much left. He pitched well in the spring, but it looks like he’s getting by on a lot of trickery and smarts. Batters figure him out and he seems to crumble as he gets through the order a couple of times. Hopefully he can give us one more reasonable start, against the Marlins, and then maybe Redding will be available to get us a couple of good starts at least.

Another thing to note is Sheffield; he still appears to be done. We talked about how it was a win-win situation for the Mets, but it really isn’t. It took at-bats away from Church when he was hot. It’s taking at-bats away from Castillo when he’s hot by way of Tatis not having any fill-in time in the outfield and having to find him a place to play. Barring a sudden turn around, I think the Sheffield experiment should be terminated. However, Manuel is playing him again today. A day after getting swept, sitting Murphy another day. Who’s more likely to get a hit? Who’s more likely to score runs for Santana? Who’s more likely to benefit from a day in LF and will be here all year? Hint: It’s not Gary Sheffield.

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Fresh Ideas

The players are the players. Fundamentals are the result of practice and training. Look at how much better Jose Reyes has gotten at shortstop over the years. To me, this is on the coaches. They don’t seem to be doing proper base running drills, or proper training in general. Perez is what he is, but you know he has talent. It’s on the coaches to bring out that talent.

Between clutch hitting, stolen bases, good defense, and good pitching, this team has shown it all at times. These players have all show they’re capable of it. And you can’t fire the players. It’s time for a real change in management. Sometimes when you’re too close to the problem, you can’t see what needs to be done. It’s time for Howard Johnson, and Jerry Manuel, and probably Dan Warthen too, to get lost. I want some outside influence on this team. Some fresh ideas.

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Aggressive? Or Timid?

I’m not ready to jump off a ledge yet. Yes, we haven’t gotten many hits with runners in scoring position, but it is a small sample, and it is April. We’ve gotten a lot of guys on base.(Our on base percentage with runners on is a little better.) Sometimes we stage two out rallies where a guy or two gets a hit, and often guys like that get stranded. I’m not as worried about the number of guys left on, because you do get things like that when a team gets a lot of hits and never gives up even with two outs. Creating opportunities to score is the first part to having big games.
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Still, this team doesn’t feel right. Supposedly Manuel is preaching aggression, but I don’t see it. Other than trying to make Castillo swing at more pitches, I’d say this team is timid. Also, wasn’t the big plus with Dan Warthen and Oliver Perez is that he let Ollie be Ollie? Why is this not okay with Castillo? I worry that trying to make him into a hitter that he isn’t, could hurt. He’s been a successful player in his career, why mess with that? The Mets have way too little stolen base attempts for a team that is supposedly aggressive.

The Mets are on pace for 122 stolen base attempts, compared with 174 last year. Before that is was 246, 181, and 193 in 2005. This team is a team that’s always used it’s running game to it’s advantage. When was the last time you saw Reyes dancing off third trying to entice a balk? Putting the runners in motion, like yesterday with Omir Santos up, is not what I’d call aggression. It’s almost defeatist. Manuel seems to manage like he expects failure. He doesn’t think Santos, even though he’s two for three, or Reed as a pinch hitter are going to come through, so he tries to manufacture something. The same way he does when he goes matchup happy and starts pinch hitting for Church or Castro/Santos. Church has shown some ability to hit lefties, but if you keep taking him out against lefties, he’s going to have less practice at it, and you’ll start putting ideas in his head about failure. I brought up a similar thing about Feliciano. If you never let him pitch to righties, how is he supposed to figure out how to get them out? It’s not like he wasn’t a big pitcher for us in years past, so what happened? Actually, the data doesn’t look that horrible for Feliciano’s splits, and it also looks like that he pitches against as many righties and lefties. So if he’s really supposed to be a lefty specialist, he’s being used wrong.

Then again, the Mets won two of three. They dropped the ball on the third game, but you can’t actually win them all. (I’m assuming they can win 156 however) Beat the Cardinals, Beat the Nationals and maybe we can start putting this small sample size problems behind us.

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Game 3: Padres at Citi Field

Good Place to Watch a Game

From 041609_Padres

The energy of Citi Field was amazing. Even for this cold lackluster game in April. The game sucked. I thought we were finally going to get that blow out, getting three on Peavy early and I figured we’d chase him early and then beat up on the bullpen. It didn’t work out, and the fan down the line that interfered with the ball may have cost them the game. Continue reading “Game 3: Padres at Citi Field”

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First Regular Season Trip to Citi Field

I’d have hoped the Mets would get off to a better start, but they had some bad breaks. Hopefully Pelfrey’s tendinitis isn’t a big deal. Once the weather warms up, and they shake off this spring rust, I’m expecting them to put together a nice little run.

Thursday I’m going to my first regular season game at Citi, since I couldn’t find even scalped tickets to the opener for less than $250. I’m going to go for batting practice, and roam around like crazy. I plan to check out views, and bounces, and try to catch a bp home run. Here’s a quick run down of some things I plan on doing. Feel free to comment/email me if you think of other things I should check out.

1.Views from all the seats I currently have tickets to.

2.Other views, last row behind the plate. Last sections in the promenade on both sides. View from the Left Field Landing under the Promenade. Many others.

3.See what type of ‘club access’ is available well before the game. Are all the clubs already locked down and checking tickets, or am I able to go inside and look at them?

4.Someone asked me about the veggie options at Citi Field. So I’m going to keep an eye out for that stuff. I know they have salads and such in the Worlds Fare Market. Veggie burgers?

5.If I’m feeling ambitious, maybe I’ll try to time how long it takes to get up from high in the promenade after an inning, walk down, go to the bathroom, and get a hot dog, and get back.

6.Shea always had ‘hidden’ food items, especially in the later years. Where were the knishes? You can get Killian’s and Blue Moon on the Mezz? Really? I’m going to keep an eye out for the odd kiosk that might be serving something less standard at Citi.

7.I really want to check out the standing room options from around the park. I know there are some amazing standing views up on the Promenade that are close, block no one’s view and block no one’s path.

8.How tight is security for the ‘roamers’. I’m planning on buying a cheap seat, but not sitting in it. Am I going to get harassed for grabbing a seat here and there during the game? Only on the field level? What about the Big Apple seats?

9.Of course I’m going to have a beer or two, to continue the Citi Field Beer Review.  First will be the exclusive Brooklyn Sabroso Ale.

I’m looking forward to a fun six hour day at the ballpark.

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Our Final Offseason Acquisition

Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for! The day our final off-season acquisition comes into play; Citi Field. Starting today, the Mets and Yankees no longer share the same “Place we played before this one.”

 

From Citifield

Just like a new player, we’ll be watching the game tonight to see how Citi does. We’ll want to watch balls off the walls, wind, home runs, foul territory, and many other things. We’ll be curious how “Lets Go Mets!” chants resonate. We’ll be curious how well we can hear Cow Bell Man.

 

We’ll be curious how the Mets in the Citi look on tv. How the cameras are set up, if we can see everything properly, including replays. We’ll also be looking for how the field plays, the balls in the gaps, how it plays to lefties and righties.

 

Opening Day should be a metro area-wide holiday, and even if schools are open or you have to work, today is a special day. There has only been one day like today in the last 85 years, a day when a New York baseball team moves into their very own stadium, and starts making memories there.

 

This will be our home for many years to come. Pop open a beer, pull up a chair, head to the park, flip on the tv, and take in the game, the park, the team. Let’s go Mets!

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First Thoughts

Thoughts after the first series.

 

I like how this team looks, even if Oliver Perez seems to still be three weeks behind and in Spring Training mode. They really lit him up by the second time through the lineup. I’m not worried though, I just think he really did get behind by pitching in the WBC without the oversight to stay in shape. Give him another three weeks with the Mets and I think we’ll see a pretty impressive post-April record for Perez.

 

The offense looks good, despite people trying to read into every failed opportunity with runners in scoring position. It’s going to be an awfully long season if you expect the Mets to hit .350 in those situations, every game. Sometimes it’ll be worse, and sometimes it’ll be better, but by the end of the season I suspect the numbers will be right around career averages and what not. Don’t worry about it right now, I’ve seen more good signs in this regard than bad ones.

 

The bullpen does in fact look revamped, and I’m happy for that. It’s still early though, and our bullpen was fairly decent in April last year too, behind Billy Wagner’s scoreless inning streak.

 

Since Manuel vocalizes every fleeting though, it’s necessary to analyze actions to try to get an understanding of how he feels about players. So far I get the feeling he doesn’t like Castillo much, because if it were me, I’d get Castillo as many at-bats and as many opportunities to succeed prior to coming home, not sit him yesterday. I think he buys into the Church can’t hit lefties thing, since he pinch hit for him yesterday when he was 2/3. I’m not sure if he likes Anderson too much, or is trying to give him every opportunity to come through and prove he could deserve to stay prior to his impending release. I just can’t believe they’d get rid of O’Day instead, because that just doesn’t make sense. Quality, or at least performing, relief help is a lot harder to come by than what Marlon brings to the table.

 

I’m happy with 2-1 for now, but I think it’s important they win this series from the Marlins and come home above .500 with the clubhouse smelling of wins, not of mediocrity.