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The Mets Sisyphean Task

My mother’s always sending me odd Mets/baseball cartoons she sees.  This one, and I’m not sure where it’s originally from, came in the mail the other day.  If you don’t know who Sisyphus was, here’s his Wikipedia page.  Basically it’s a Greek myth about a king who tried to outsmart Zeus and was punished by being forced to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity.  Just when the ball reaches the top, it would fall back to the bottom.

Presumably this is a statement on the Mets quest for a championship.  Everytime things start to get good, the boulder roles back to the beginning.  Perhaps it’s Sisyphus in the back of peoples’ minds when they call for a fire sale.  After all, Sisyphus doesn’t start pushing the boulder again when it’s only rolled halfway back down.  I have no idea why the Mets player is wearing #1. 

 

Perhaps the cartoon is only referring to the Mets of recent times, since they have successfully pushed the boulder to the top twice in their history.  Although perhaps the last time it was about to fall it got stuck on Bob Stanley and Bill Buckner. 

 

The cartoon might be better attributed to baseball as a whole.  To win a championship a team has to accomplish so many tasks, from signing and promoting the right players, maintaining health and effectiveness, successfully navigating a tricky 162 game season and finally three quick-shot short playoff series before the end and it can certainly seem daunting.

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Mets Fans at Last Night’s Giants Game

At least, it felt like that didn’t it?  The truth is there weren’t that many Giants fans at Citi Field, but the Mets fans had very little to cheer about.  There were a lot of isolated groupings of Giants fans, and pretty much all of 302 in the Pepsi Porch was loud and cheering, as well as a group behind the visitor’s dugout.  The few times the Mets fans did get some chants going when the game was still tied, the Giants fans were drowned out.

 

Initially we boo’d, or Lets Go Mets’d, over the Giants cheering, but by the end of the game a lot of people had left and we were cold and there just wasn’t anything to cheer for.  Cowbell Man seemed awfully pitiful with very few people joining in.

 

The game was cold, it felt like April, or San Francisco.  Even with the Giants and Tim Lincecum on the mound, it felt like a poor showing of fans.  Mets Police did a little digging and found that a local bar sponsored a Giants Fan trip to Citi Field.   If the Mets continue to flounder I imagine you can expect more of these types of events becoming affordable for groups.

 

I’m tired of Willie Harris.  He hit two double play balls and failed to even get a sacrifice in a key spot.  He’s quickly approaching Gary Matthews Jr levels and I hope he’s quickly off this team.   I know some have soured on Jason  Bay, but this game would’ve been a lot different if he’d been in the lineup.  I don’t begrudge him the paternity leave, but the Mets missed him.

 

In all three games against the Cy Young award winners lately I felt like the Mets have done a good job, but really they failed to get the big hit when it matter.  Key walks, singles and long AB to drive up pitch counts are nice and all, but if you don’t capitalize, it’s all for naught.  I really miss Johan Santana.  Get well soon Johan.

 

Still, Tim Lincecum is quite good.  

 

I do feel like the Mets will win the finale.  I sense a seven inning Pelfrey performance in which he gives up merely two runs on a double after a walk and a hit.  Izzy, K-Rod, game over.  5-2 Mets.

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Breeding Confidence

Terry Collins called last night’s win “No doubt the biggest win they’ve had this year.” It’d be hard to disagree, and they extend their winning streak to six games after they got shut down early by Gorzelanny.  He talked about turning the anger the team has about the last couple of years on the opponent and using it to their advantage.  One things for sure; this team is an extremely likable team that plays with energy and is fun to watch.

 

Winning games when you struggle to hit early and have to overcome bad calls and comeback in the 8th and the 9th can be huge morale boosters.   I know all teams have huge comeback wins and look great and energetic doing it.  All teams look better when they’re winning.  For _this_ team, the comeback and practicing winning, as uncrowned captain David Wright would put it, may be a bigger deal.  We watched the Met struggle early this season, and press and try too hard and make mistakes.  Terry Collins tried to keep them upbeat, but nothing does that better than winning.  Games like this reinforce the attitude on the team that they are winners, and that no obstacle is too large to overcome.  It’ a complete 180 from where they were earlier in the season.  The baseball season is a long one, and there is a huge mental preparation aspect to it.  When teams believe they can pull out a win, when they don’t doubt themselves, it can be a huge weapon to get through a season.  The other side: When a pitcher is out there, maybe a closer that hasn’t handled the role well, (Why, hello there Ryan Madson) knowing that the other team is sure they’re going to beat you, it can eat at you.  The Phillies of recent years may be an example of this. You heard from everyone, including opposing players, that the Phillies are never out of a game.    It creates a mental edge.  It may not be a large one, or one that’s measurable, but it does exist.

 

I don’t know if a “winning attitude” or some sort of mental edge is enough.  I don’t know if the Mets are talented enough, or will stay healthy enough, to win a division.  I believe they can, but me believing it, or even the players believing it, doesn’t mean it will happen.  For now, it doesn’t matter.  They’re a fun bunch that believe they can win any game, and I’m going to have fun watching until the end believing they can pull it out.  I’m not worrying about how many wins they have to have if they’re going to compete, or what their record needs to be against this opponent or that. Play the game, try to win the game, and I’ll sit on my couch and root for you.  It’ll be a nice change from having to root against teams the last couple of years.

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Statistics Rising

You can make yourself crazy over-analyzing baseball.   A week ago the Mets rotation wasn’t pitching deep into games, the bullpen couldn’t get anyone out, and people were all set to write the Mets off.  Now they’ve run off a stretch of five wins in a row, the pitchers have pitched well from rotation to bullpen, and they’re scoring runs in all sorts of ways from home runs to errors to simple clutch hits.

 

The last time a major New York sports team other than the Mets won a home game was last Sunday the 17th when the Rangers and Yankees did it.   Since then the Rangers and Knicks both got bounced from the playoffs and the Yankees are 3-3 including dropping the last two home games against the White Sox with each of their two closers, Mariano Rivera and Rafael Soriano, blowing saves.

 

An aside on the Yankees: For a team as old as they are, it has to be a little worrisome that they’ve postponed so many games already doesn’t it?  They’ve played far fewer than anyone else, and in fact only played four games last week.  Those three games will have to be made up, and it’ll eat into days off and rest time for some of these veteran players.

 

You could make excuses about the quality of the Mets opponents, but I could make excuses that they were a bloop or a lucky bounce away from winning some of those games they lost too.  Regardless of who is in the other dugout, the Mets are playing good baseball right now.  When this team is playing well, they’re capable of beating anyone.  The question has always been if they’re going to stay healthy enough to have the chance to play well, and can they sustain the success longer than the slumps they might go through when guys are struggling?

 

Also worth noting is that if the only reason the Mets are winning is because they’re playing bad teams, why can’t the Phillies beat the Diamondbacks?

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New Mets Ticket Specials

Way back before Citi Field’s construction, and a playoff berth, prompted a surge in attendence at the Mets home ballpark they often offered ticket deals via Wendy’s, or LIRR, or the always popular “Bring a Pepsi Can, sit in the picnic area” deal.

Well, with dwindling demand this year the Mets have again started in on some of these promotions. 

You may have noticed an increased presense by Pepsi this year, particularly Pepsi MAX.  Pepsi is really pushing their diet soda this year, and being a big sponsor of the Mets it’s particularly evident at Citi Field.  Last Wednesday they were giving away samples before the game next to a giant inflated Pepsi MAX bottle and a pitch speed tent they had set up. 

On Friday they had huge bins of free Pepsi MAX cans to give away to Mets fans as they exited the park.

They also have a ticket special;  Pepsi MAX Mondays. 

“In partnership with Pepsi, you can now maximize your outing at Citi Field with Pepsi MAX Mondays. Starting at $80 you can get 4 Monday game tickets in the Pepsi Porch and 4 Pepsi Fountain Sodas.”

 

They’ve got the BJs Club-House sections, specially priced at $10 for kids and $20 for adults.

McFadden’s always has special happy hour packages than include tickets.

And McDonalds has a deal where if you donate $1 to the Ronald McDonald House you can get select tickets 50% off to value games in May and June.  Tickets will cost anywhere from $14 to $48 after the discount.  Plus the donation and normal ticketing fees of course.

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Happy Easter Eggs

Courtusy of the Mets Twitter account, the Mets are 12-19 on Easter Sunday.

 

The lineup will be:  Reyes-SS, Murphy-2B, Wright-3B, Beltran-RF, Bay-LF, Davis-1B, Thole-C, Pridie-CF, Niese-LHP

It is also Carlos Beltran’s 34th birthday.

 

The last Mets player to hit four home runs in four games was David Wright on June 7th through June 10th of 2007.  Ike Davis has a chance to match that today.

 

For all the bullpen bashing for how badly they started, they haven’t allowed a run in eight innings, and have a 2.08 ERA over their last eight games.  Additionally, Pedro Beato has thrown 11 innings to start his major league career and has yet to allow a run.

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It Gets Windy At Citi Field

The wind played havoc on the baseball last night, and I saw Shannon at Mets Police retweeting a couple of people at the game talking about how windy it was.

 

To give you an idea of how windy it gets, I’ve got a video below.  This was taken in the cup holder in dead center field behind the Big Apple seats.

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Keith’s Grill And Custom Made Burgers

Keith’s grill, which I wrote about earlier this month, was featured on SNY the other night.

There are two different types of burgers that Keith Hernandez helped create, and both come with kettle chips and a Tootsie Roll pop.  You get whichever is the next flavor to come out of the box, although I’m sure the cashier wouldn’t be _too_ annoyed if you asked for a different one.

Right now they’re only set up to do one burger at a time, but they said they’re hoping to have both available for the next homestand.

 

The Mex Burger

On Wednesday I had the Mex Burger, and while I’d still give the edge to Shake Shack, it was a pretty tasty burger.  I look forward to trying the Gold Glove Burger when I get a chance.

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Keep Doing That

Swing and a Miss

The Mets starting pitcher, R.A. Dickey pitched as well as, or better than, the Astros pitcher Bud Norris.  Dickey pitched eight innings and gave up four runs, for a 4.5 ERA on the day, and Norris pitched six innings and gave up three runs, also equaling a 4.5 ERA.   I’d give the tie-breaker to length, especially since relievers are generally not as good as starters.

The Mets also out-hit the Astros. The Mets got 12 hits, with three extra base hits, and the Astros got eight, with three extra base hits.

Of course, when all was said and done the Mets made a variety of mistakes and lost the game.  The Mets cannot afford to lose these games that are practically handed to them, but if they continue to pitch and hit like they did today, they WILL win most of those games. What they need to do is identify what they’re doing wrong that’s giving them such a low amount of runs per hit, and why the opponents hits seem to be worth so much more. 

Not bunting with only three precious outs left on the first pitch with one of the fastest guys in the game on first base would also go a long way towards not losing.

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5-1 Homestand Still Alive

I wanted the Mets to go 5-1 on this homestand to claw their way back to respectability.   If they lose the first one, the third one, or the 6th one, the resulting record is the same.  I’m sure the Mets understand this, but I’m going to head out to Flushing tomorrow to make sure they start winning again.  (Follow me for in-game thoughts and pictures from around Citi Field)

 

While it’s still April and very early, the longer the Mets play losing baseball the better they’ll have to play, for longer, to make up for it.  While I still believe the Mets are a good team, and certainly better than this, there does come a point where they’re going to have to show it.  They don’t have to come out blazing to a 10-1 stretch and just destroy everyone, but they do have to play consistent baseball and win more games than they lose.

 

They just need to win, and it doesn’t need to be pretty.  It could  be a 9-walk complete game shutout.  A 4-error game where the opposition fails to capitalize.  Jose Reyes could power the offense with three home runs in a 9-8 slugfest.  At this point they just need to start putting up Ws.  It starts with not giving free bases, not giving up outs, and not making too many dangerous mistakes in the field.  But it also starts with picking up your teammates when they do make a mistake, such as Wright did diving to get Lee at third base after Turner’s error.  Pitchers need to start striking out a batter after an error and not getting rattled by it and the fielders need to stop thinking they need to get two outs at once and stop panicking in the field.

 

Divisions are not won in April.  In fact, three of last years playoff teams were at or below .500 on May first.  There is still time for the Mets to settle down and start playing better.   There’s plenty of time for Collins to stop playing guys that tend to suck, and for Alderson to wish those that suck away into the cornfield for players from the minors or other clubs that suck less.