You can root for the Mets without being convinced of their doom
I’m back from my trip to Florida. Here is a sampling of the 750 pictures I took in no particular order. I can highly recommend everyone goes down to Spring Training and/or the World Baseball Classic.
Puerto Rico celebrating their walk-off, 11-1, 7th inning win over the USA.
I’m going to Spring Training for the first time ever. Thanks to the Netherlands, I get to see Jose Reyes down in camp. While listening to talk about spring isn’t that interesting, I’m sure being there will be a thrill. I’m expecting to come back and be anxious for the season to start. (Well, I’m anxious now too..)
I know most people don’t want to read another Spring Training story anyway, so when I get back, I’m going to go picture happy and post some odd or interesting pictures I take. If I don’t have anything good, I’ll just post a picture of my lunch or something.
For those of you that know what I look like (roughly, none of you). I’ll be in section 120 row A, which is roughly the third to last section down the line, right behind the Mets bullpen on Saturday.
Here is my itinerary.
Thursday: MIN @ PIT. Ho hum right?
Friday: NYM @ DET. Yah Mets!
Saturday: Port St. Lucie. WAS @ NYM. Behind the dugout as I said, if I don’t get a ball at this game, I’m pathetic.
Saturday night: Miami. WBC. Puerto Rico vs. Netherlands winner against the loser of the USA vs Venezuela game today.
Sunday: NYM @ FLA. Then I fly home.
I’m not a huge fan of World Cup type competitions. I enjoy some of the Olympic events, because I don’t see those events competitively very often. I’m not overly enthused about the World Baseball Classic as it goes, because ‘USA’ doesn’t actually represent the best of what this country has to offer in terms of baseball players, and as fun as the games may be, it’s still going to be second-rate to the World Series. Second-rate means that since I have a better option, I’m not going to be that excited about it. I feel the same way about minor league baseball and college sports.
However, I’m also not against the World Baseball Classic. The number one reason cited for disliking it usually falls along the lines of injury. This is valid in a sense, but the thing is these guys aren’t robots that live in bubbles. They’d be in Florida or Arizona working out and playing games anyway. I can understand the worry, but you can have that same worry if they were with the club playing games, running in the outfield, or simply taking a taxi cab to the stadium. As far as baseball players go, you generally worry about them getting injured least while they’re actually performing, and that’s what these players are doing in the Classic. Pitchers are also held to a pitch count which is very similar to what they’d pitch in a Spring Training game.
We’re always criticizing players that don’t seem to play hard, or don’t seem to care. We claim they’re multimillionaire athletes playing for the money, not for the love of the game. However, things like the World Baseball Classic suggest that this isn’t the case. These players honestly want to play these games. They are excited to be out there competing for their country, and we should be thankful to have these competitive players on our teams. This has to be better than lulling players to sleep in a sense of complacency with a full month of meaningless spring games.
So far, I’ve enjoyed catching what Classic games I can. It’s certainly more exciting than Spring Training games, and while it’s not quite watching the Mets during the season, it’s exciting in it’s own right. I’m making my first trip down to Florida for Spring Training this week, and it coincides with round 2 of the Classic in Miami. I bought tickets, for what seems like way too much money for Dolphin Stadium, to game two between the Pool C runner up versus the Pool D winner. I’m excited to be there, and I think it will be an interesting experience. It also adds a little bit of intrigue to the round one games. At this very moment, I’m watching Venezuela play Italy in an elimination game. The winner plays the USA team, and the loser of that game is the team that I will see on Saturday. At the very least, I know I get to see the Mets from Puerto Rico on the other side, and as much as I probably should be rooting for the US to win the pool, I’d rather them be second, so I get to see the Mets on the team when I’m there.
Coming Soon on Optimistic Mets Fan:
I’ve got a fair selection of topics slated once Spring Training starts and we can start to smell Opening Day:
My yearly baseball wagers.
My fantasy teams, and what types of leagues I’m going to join. Hopefully a nice rotisserie league.
The Second Annual Letters to the NL East where I address all five teams in the division, and the Yankees.
Thoughts and observations on my first ever trip to Spring Training. I’m going to see Three Mets Games, against the Marlins, Nats, and Tigers, as well as the Twins versus the Pirates.
While I’m down in Florida, I’m going to be catching a game of the World Baseball Classic.
And that’s just some of the thrilling prose I’ll have for you over the next two months or so..before we can get down to some serious April baseball.
Watched some football today. Giants look good.
I miss baseball.
Baseball.
Spring Training Yet?
Speaking of which, I got my letter for renewal of season plans. Thinking about whether I should get a 15 game package, or just try to get 15 games on my own. Of course, I can have 3 extra seats, so if anyone out there wants to join me/us..
Does it get any better than this? The Mets continue to demonstrate that they are the class of the National League East. Braves dominate the Mets? Braves won seven of nine this year? Guess not. Better luck next year Braves.
The Phillies fall another game back, and now face the Dodgers, while the Mets face the Astros. The Dodgers are a better team, but their records aren’t that far apart. Then the two teams meet up for two next week. There are no real goals; just play better than the Phillies do. I’d like them to finish with the Phillies and be further ahead then they are now.
This was one of those games where you almost expect the Mets to drop one. They’ve been hot, they can’t win them all, Pedro can be hit or miss sometimes, and the bullpen hasn’t blown a game in a couple of days. Instead, the Mets pull one out, and now have Santana on the mound tomorrow. It doesn’t matter that it’s against Oswalt.
Now only are Ace’s supposed to stop losing streaks, but they’re supposed to string together winning streaks. All of a sudden the Mets have another winning streak, and Johan has a chance to make it longer. The Mets are on pace for 90 wins for the first time in ages. Johan on the mound, an emotional walk-off win, coupled with the return of Ryan Church, and the Mets will be rolling tomorrow night.
Things have to be looking bad for the Phillies. They lost ground despite playing the Nationals and winning two of three. They’re going into another four game series against the Dodgers, against whom they were swept recently. Could the Phillies fold under the pressure and go away so soon? Only time will tell.
I’m feeling rather chipper, excuse my pun, about the state of the Mets right now. Specifically about Mike Pelfrey, and Daniel Murphy. It’s still too early to know anything about Murphy, but so far he’s looked spectacular. He may not be the greatest outfielder, but he’s not an outfielder. He’s shown the willingness and ability to play anywhere however, and if the Mets decided the best way to fill left field, for now and the future, is to keep going with the conversion process for Murphy, I’m sure he’d turn out to be more than serviceable out there.
Pelfrey has got enough major league innings under his belt now to say that he’s not a flash in the pan. Pelfrey is looking more and more like the real thing the more he pitches. The Mets organization, even without uber-conservative Peterson, wants to try to keep an eye on Pelfrey’s inning count as the latest viewpoint is that it’s important to keep the young pitchers from throwing too many innings too fast. Pelfrey is pitching too well for that. Manuel was probably thinking that he’d let Pelfrey pitch a solid six or so innings, and go to the bullpen. Pelfrey was too economical and too dominant to make a decision like that anything but stupid. With less than 100 pitches, Letting Pelfrey finish out the game for his first complete game was good for the bullpen’s stamina, Pelfrey’s confidence, the fans entertainment, and most importantly, It was good for the Mets. 
Church looks like he could return soon, and where a month ago the Mets were desperate for a _second_ outfielder, now they’re trying to figure out how to have playing time for five of them…not to mention Endy, who really has been a big help, despite the horrible start he got off to. Assuming Church comes back soon, there should be enough playing time for Church, Evans, Murphy, and Tatis among the two corner outfield positions, including the possibility that some of them could give Delgado a day off. Hopefully Endy can find some playing time also, to stay sharp, and maybe Beltran can get a day off here and there, depending on the playoff race.
Everything’s coming up roses for the Mets lately.
The Mets despite the turmoil they’ve faced so far, are right where they want to be; in sole possession of first place. The Phillies are on the outside looking in. If this season, and last, has taught us anything it’s that this isn’t over. There will be plenty more ups and downs after this series, maybe starting as soon as tomorrow. We don’t even know who is starting on Saturday, a game I’m looking forward to being at.
Speaking of Delgado, his hit had so many layers. The slide into third, the racing for third on the throw to begin with, looking frustrated at being thrown out despite delivering one of the biggest hits this season. That he took it the other way.
It’s far from over, but it feels good. How about the Phillies continuing to roll over? To win the first game of every series and not get another one is just pathetic. They’ve only scored one run off of Perez all season, that’s maddeningly awesome. That Rollins can’t even be bothered to show up on time? “Traffic” come on! (Does it matter? I think Bruntlett is doing better against the Mets than Rollins). I wonder if Rollins’ traffic looked something like this.
(The included picture came up when I did a google image search for ‘baseball ouch’ How depressing is that?)
I’m so sick of Manuel. Not that his poor handling of the bullpen is any excuse for the poor performance of the bullpen, but you know what they say, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The last game before the Mets 10 game winning streak was a game in which Santana dominated the Phillies for eight innings and 95 pitches and was lifted by Manuel in the 9th only to have the lead, and the game, be blown. Last night he did the same thing, with a couple more pitches thrown, and a couple more runs as a cushion. However, he knew Wagner wasn’t available, and he instead went to a closer by committee, changing his mind three times in the inning. 
Hopefully Manuel hasn’t transported this team to the way it was before the winning streak; sandwiching it between (at least) two poorly managed games and shipping it off to 2006. If anything, this team has shown remarkable resilience for taking a devastating loss and coming back from it. The Phillies have also shown the remarkable ability to take any advantage they’re given and squander it, so we’ll see where the chips fall tonight.