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Off We Go To Philadelphia

I’m excited about my impending trip to Philadelphia tomorrow for both games of the doubleheader. Maybe after watching the Mets’ fireworks, I’ll watch the ones provided by Philadelphia after the game. It will be my first time ever seeing the Mets on the road. Mike Pelfrey hasn’t looked great in the majors, but maybe he figures it out tomorrow, and the Mets blast enough to win. John Maine continues his consistency tomorrow, and I expect the Mets can win that game too. I know their offense isn’t quite there, but they are near the top of the league in batting average, even after the last three days. Obviously they need to get more big hits, and I think they will. I also think some 370 foot fly outs might become 385 foot home runs in Citizens Bank Ballpark.

I’ve only had one cheesesteak in my life, and it was a generic one at Shea earlier this year. I have yet to find that booth on the field level again after either. I plan to have a nice delicious one down there in Philadelphia, while I enjoy the games. I expect some heckling, but I’ll be ready. I’m probably going to wear my Beltran shirt, because it’s one of the two shirts I have that easily proclaims Mets on both the front and back. Which is surprising as I have roughly 10 different Mets shirts. It’s probably going to be too hot to wear my jersey, so I’m leaving it at home. Our seats for the first game are in the upper terrace section, behind home plate. The nightcap seats are out in left field, in I believe the second area. I expect to have a blast, and hopefully not have to punch anybody wearing a Rollins shirt.

A quick note on tonight’s game. I think it’s a measure of redemption for Carlos Beltran to express that he can learn from past mistakes, and become a better player. The Mets need to hit the ball hard, in preparation for the weekend. I picked up Orlando Hernandez in my fantasy league, so I’m hoping it pays off. Are last view of last year was a curveball from Wainwright, and I think it’s only fitting that the last thing Wainwright sees tonight is a Carlos Beltran home run.

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Another (Season) Series Won

The Mets again, just like game seven, took a tie game into the late innings against the Cardinals. This time Heilman retires the side, Billy Wagner strikes out So Taguchi, and the Mets win on a Shawn Green home run. It’s been a while now since people have been calling for Green’s head. He’s started to play well again, and the hair on that head has started to grow again. The Mets now have a four game winning streak, and instead of not hitting when they pitch, they pitch when they’re not hitting. It’s a small thing, but a huge difference. The Mets are finding ways to win again, despite two Delgado errors, despite only having three hits.

This isn’t a fluke, this isn’t the Yankees teasing fans with a long win streak only to stumble again. The Mets are for real, this is for real. The Mets have now won the season series against the Cardinals, and have yet to lose a game against them. I think I’m over last year now. I still despise the Cardinals, but the Mets are far enough along that I can block out the NLCS and focus on the future. The Cardinals will not be standing in the way in October. The Mets have a big series coming up this weekend, and it’s good that they’re playing well again. If I could pick one stretch for the Mets to have a losing streak, June would be the one I would’ve picked. They lost games against mainly American League teams, who they won’t be competing against to win the division or even a wild card. An added bonus is that losing games to teams like Detroit and Minnesota actually hurts the Yankees wild card chances.

The Mets have a chance to gain a comfortable lead after a miserable stretch. They will actually go into July with a greater lead than they went into June. The Mets are 8-14 so far in June, and they actually have a chance at not having a losing June. I don’t expect this to happen, but it’s starting to look much better than it was.

To address the pessimists that think the first three weeks in June are more a measure of this team then the rest of the season, you’re crazy. I know the Mets were playing the so-called best teams in baseball, but that doesn’t mean the Mets stink. Besides the fact that the American League teams have an obvious advantage in interleague play, particularly at home, the Mets were just slumping. You could see it in their play. It’s not like the Mets were playing great, pitching well, hitting well, and not making mistakes. They played crappy, and they lost. I know they went through a similar interleague struggle last year, and it’s a sad coincidence that strengthens this bogus argument. If the Cardinals could beat Detroit last year, do you really think the Mets wouldn’t have?

Another negative point the pessimistic Mets fan likes to rant about seems to be that we need another starting pitcher. This is the rant of a fan that’s not paying much attention. Tom Glavine will be what he is, and he actually pitched well in the playoffs last year. El Duque can be a starter, or a long reliever, and is great in the playoffs. Oliver Perez is really starting to look like a clutch pitcher, and John Maine has had a measure of consistency this year, keeping the Mets in games. All accounts say that Pedro Martinez is progressing marvelously and he would be a bigger addition to this club then any trade could bring. The bullpen is another story. I would like to see some other players audition, whether it is through trade or call-up. I’m sure Omar is looking into solutions, and it’s still a month from the deadline, so he’s probably putting out feelers and expressing interest in guys on teams that haven’t given up yet.

Another bat is another common request, but I think it’s a bad one. Counting out Moises Alou, whose injury gets worse and worse the more doctors look at it, we’ve got Shawn Green and Carlos Beltran. After them, we’ve got Carlos Gomez, Endy Chavez, and even Lastings Milledge. These guys add sparks and excitement and the ability to mix it up, put out different guys and try to find someone hot is much more valuable then putting a acquisition out there. Especially if that acquisition is a guy like Sosa, who by many accounts is a cheater.

All I can say is, stop being so pessimistic. Have some faith in the team, in Willie and in Minaya. Enjoy the winning season rather then expecting it to be like 2003.

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The Mets Are Still The Best in the National League

It’s hard to be optimistic at this juncture, so I’ll keep it short. The Mets obviously aren’t this bad, it’s just not the case. A lot of the problem is hitting, and all of the other problems with mental errors and actual errors and even some of the relief pitching is probably a byproduct of confidence. Once the Mets get going again, and they are going to get going again, these problems should melt away.

One of my biggest complaints is Jorge Sosa and the starting pitching. We’ve gotten some big games, like Monday night, that have looked like slump-busters, only to have the next day’s pitcher pitch us out of it early. This trend needs to stop, and we’ll get a stretch of good pitching again that will wake us up sooner or later. You can’t micro-manage these situations, blame Willie, blame Delgado or really anybody. They seem to be trying to hard more than not trying hard enough. Tuesday’s game turned on Beltran’s throw in the second inning. Pressing to help, seeing an opportunity he throws fast and hard and it sails into the stands. If the team is going good, Beltran probably pauses for that split second he need to make an accurate throw.

I can point out positive signs, throw out numbers, but none of it really means anything. The Mets will get out of this, and how they get out of it, and how hard they get out of it will go a longer way in demonstrating how good the Mets are this year than the slump itself.

I do think things need to be shaken up a bit here and there though. None of our outfield moves worked out, but I think we could do with testing out some of our Zephyr relievers up here, just for some new blood. Another new starter might work too, although while I think Sosa might have used up his magic, he definitely gets one more start. I wonder if seeing Philip Humber up here would motivate these bats to wake up for him though? Just a though, I’m sure Omar and Willie are in the process of making something interesting happen, and I trust them.

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Ticket Woes

Feb 26, 2007 01:27 PM

It gets harder and harder to get the platinum level type ticket every season. Last year I managed to have tickets for opening day, and all three subway series games. This year I have 3 tickets to opening day, and 3 tickets to one of the Subway Series games. I also have 4 tickets to a second subway series game, but that’s only because I took the financial hit and bought a Saturday season-plan which included one.

Sadly baseball is becoming, at least here in New York from my perspective, a sport for richer folk. Now I don’t remember the days where you could see a baseball game for less than the current price of a mocha at Starbucks, but even at 24 I can see the ever increasing cost of being a fan.

I understand that a fan has to remember that baseball is a business, but I think that _baseball_ needs to remember that it is also a game and a passion of a lot of ordinary, average people. It’s understandable that baseball tries to make money, by offering corporate boxes, charging more for prime games, and the like. There are millions of us out here that are fans that cannot come up with hundreds of dollars to see a couple of games, but are willing and enthusiastic about spending what money we have on the sport we love. Making it hard for the average fan to buy a cheap ticket, even to deep bleacher seats just alienates us, and mutes our interest in the game.

Some people have wonderful memories of paying quarters to get into memorable games of baseballs rich history, remember getting into the bleachers just so they could see some of baseballs great players play. Others listen to stories of fathers, or grandfathers, or uncles as they recollect some of the exciting games they went to, even if they weren’t rich, while we listen on, remembering just how much to costs to be able to goto a game today.

With the construction of Citi Field, and others like it, the philosophy of having no bad seats is a wonderful one, but if the trade off is the cheapest ticket being $20 or $30+ dollars, I’d be just as happy watching it at Shea. For the true fans, it’s not about the seat, the concourses or the view. It’s about the game in front of us.

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Excited

Feb 15, 2007 11:47 AM

Maybe it’s because it’s the first year the Mets have made the playoffs in a while, or maybe it’s because of how devastating it was leaving Shea after game 7, but i’m very impatient about the start of the 2007 season.

Even though the roster is still unknown, there are a lot of young pitchers out there ready to make the team and shine. And a lot of them will get the chance to. Orlando Hernandez will probably miss a couple of starts here and there, and there are always injuries and switches during the season. On top of this, Pedro rarely pitches a whole season, but this year it will be the first part of the season he misses, so that when the time comes to pitch in the playoffs, not only will he hopefully be energized from missing it last year, it’ll feel like July for him as he’ll only have been pitching a couple of months.

We’ve got enough relievers out there to find something that works and Wagner…well, he’s not Rivera, but what else is there?

Delgado is a very smart player, and after his struggles last year, I think he’ll be having a monstrous year, Reyes is only going to get better, i’m predicting 70+ steals this year. David Wright is only improving too, and as of yet he’s the only position player in Port St. Lucie right now. He’s going to hit 30 home runs and 130 rbi’s this year. I’ve been saying this all off-season, and he’s been doing great in the games he’s been playing, I think Anderson Hernandez is going to be a starter on this team.

I miss Cliff Floyd, and I think he’s going to have a huge year this year, but I think are outfield can get it done. I’m interested to see what happens with Milledge.

I’m strongly considering trying to goto Spring Training this year, but if not, I have every intention of winning the lottery and scoring tickets for opening day.