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All…or nothing.

This team is very all or nothing this year.  It feels that way sometimes in games, and now the whole season is at that point.  The whole relationship with the fans is at that point too.  Win, and everythings golden.  lose, and the floodgates will have opened.  

This season has the potential to be great, to create two or three or more all-time Mets favorites, ones that might even surpass guys like Keith Hernandez and Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.  
It could also tumble down, and have fans calling for these guys heads.  Even the ‘franchise’ ones.  This weekend will start to tell the story, and hopefully it’s only the beginning of the story.
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Ray Lines

I just logged in to place a bet on the Mets to win the game tonight, and decided to check the odds for the World Series.

the Mets are back to 15-1, which is what I got when I made my wager pre-Santana.

The Rays, the team that’s never finished above 500?

10-1.

Ouch.

Cue comparisons to the ’69 Mets.

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Nothing to Say

I wish I had something to say, but there is nothing. The only reason to peruse Mets blogs and media today is the faint hope that someone, somewhere has some insight that promotes confidence. The problem is everytime you find that glimmer, the Mets blow it to shreds at night.

This season started with the most promise and expectation in at least seven years, World Series or bust. The last team the Mets faced in 2006 was to become the first team they’d face in 2007. Now they are seriously in danger of that being the case again, only this time it’s not a World Series champion that foils their quest, but the lowly Marlins. In that first season of the year, they did something they have struggled to do of late, and that’s get revenge and complete a sweep. Maybe seeing Albert and Yadier sparks that fire that they need. Destiny, however slim, is still in the Mets hands. Are the Mets complacent, acting entitled, almost snobbish? Well here is the true wake up call. The one team that can remind them that despite the glory of last year, they are essentially losers. They are owed nothing and have everything to prove.

Hopefully the Mets beat up on the Cardinals, and then because a one game series is just not enough for the Mets to work out their aggression, they’ve got a series against bored fish on the weekend to continue with. Something needs to wake up this team, and if it’s not the Cardinals, I may be using my Playoff money to buy an HDTV.

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Carlos Beltran’s Key Met Moments

Carlos Beltran had a miserable first season with the Mets, but since thing he’s been a big part of the team. He doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, or to be the star player, but he’s had some big impact games and single-handedly won a couple of games for the Mets over the last couple of years. There are a couple that come to mind.

  1. On May 23rd 2006 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea, Carlos Beltran launched a long homer over the Mets bullpen in the 16th inning to send everyone home. No one else seemed to be getting to Ryan Madsen, who was in his 7th inning of relief at that point, and even earned a start for the Phillies off of that performance.

  1. Game 1 of the NLCS in 2006. A classic pitchers duel. The only two runs scored by the Mets off of a Carlos Beltran home run down the line.

  1. Sunday, April 29th, 2007. Carlos Beltran’s home run is the only run scored in a terrifically pitched game. John Maine gets the win, but Beltran was just as important.

  1. Thursday, May 17th, 2007. Carlos Beltran has a pinch-hit walk as part of the Mets 5-run come from behind rally against the Cubs.

  1. Saturday, June 23rd, 2007. Lost among the Paul Lo Duca ejection was a key single to left field by Beltran that would’ve scored the only run of the game, had Ricky Ledee not gotten thrown out at the plate.

  1. Saturday, July 7th, 2007. Beltran smacks a single to right field to score Jose Reyes with the go-ahead run in the top of the 17th with the Mets quickly running out of pitchers. Beltran also made a terrific catch on the hill in center field in the bottom of 14th to rob Luke Scott of a walk-off hit.

His ability to come through when he’s needed (game 7 aside, no one’s perfect, even Babe Ruth has ended a post season with a caught stealing.) is going to play a huge role in where the Mets go this year. He’s able to play great defense, and his playoff performance with the Astros can’t be overlooked. He’s a solid contributor to this team, and most of the difference in his numbers from last year are a result of the inconsistency of the rest of the lineup.

Reyes is going through one of his mini-slumps, but Wright’s been hitting well. Carlos Delgado seems to be picking it up a little bit, but he’s teased us with that before. The Mets outfield is beat up, but after the All-Star break I expect we’ll get to see some of Lastings Milledge, which could add some excitement. The last I heard Moises Alou was on the road back, but I haven’t heard much since then. I think these days off will really help Delgado, and he’ll have his best half-season as a Met yet. Endy and Gomez will probably be lost until September, but they should be around for October, when they can both play key roles.

Hopefully the Mets can end this half with another win, and go to the All-Star break with the attitude that the worst is over. I look forward to seeing the Mets starting on Tuesday night, and after they scored and drove in the only runs last year, seeing if the rest of the league can help them out this year. The more World Series games at Shea, the better a chance I have at getting (more, I’m already guaranteed one game) tickets.

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Interleague Play Draws Near: Command?

Good clean 8-1 win with Jorge Sosa pitching wonderfully nets the Mets the best record in the National League for the time being. The game started at roughly 10:10 and finished at just before 1am. Certainly sounds like a typical west coast start time for the Mets, but it was a home game delayed by rain instead.

Interleague play, Love it or hate it, seems like it’s here to stay. There is a lot of debate about it’s pluses and minuses, discussions about how unfair the scheduling is and about how it’s an abomination. Another draw back was made apparent in tonight’s Mets/Cubs game, one that actually affects the fans. With the extra 15-18 baseball games thrown in against the opposing league the Mets see teams like the Cubs and Cardinals who have long been rivals of the Mets, less. If the Cubs were returning to Shea, waiting out a 3-hour rain delay would’ve been less necessary and the game may have been canceled early and a make up scheduled. However that’s not the case; the Cubs play their last game at Shea for the year(although I did pick the Mets over the Cubs in the NLCS, so they could still come back, just not in the regular season) later today and then fly back to Chicago. So the fans sit through a rain delay, the players sit through a rain delay, and the game is played late. The Mets did award anyone with tickets to yesterdays game a free ticket to the Minnesota series, which is nice but besides the point.

While I both like the idea of seeing the different teams, especially in cities where there aren’t two teams like in New York, I personally think it might be a bit much. It ruins a certain flavor of the World Series match-ups too. The World Series is about the best team from each league, going head to head to see which is the best in the ‘World’.(If Bobby Valentine got his way, they’d then go on to play the best team from Japan) Four times in the 10 year history of interleague play has the World Series featured two teams who played each other in the regular season; 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2006. It wasn’t so much two teams pitted against each other as a rematch of a regular season series. The fans didn’t get to ooo and ahhh at the opposing teams stars, as they’d already seen them.

That being said, I’ll still enjoy this weekends games against the Yankees. I’ll be at all three games, screaming at the Yankees and their fans. I’ve even got 6 extra tickets that I need to get rid of at cost for Sunday night’s game. Hopefully I can find someone to take them and not be out that money. If you’re interested, let me know.

One final thought; A lot was made about the American League’s dominance over the National league in Interleague play and over Trevor Hoffman in the All-Star game. I would argue that the Cardinals came through when it mattered, and that’s how you truly determine who’s better. What else is the World Series for right? I think the Interleague games will be more split this year, and I predict the National League will finally win the All-Star game and home field, hopefully at Shea Stadium.

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Obligatory Roger Clemens Post

As Mike Pelfrey struggles in the first inning, the return of Roger Clemens is eminent. He announced it during the Yankee game, from George Steinbrenner’s box. Can this guy do anything without drama? In his YES interview shortly after he’s talking about things like how some of the Yankees don’t have World Series rings yet, about the parade after they win, and about how he’s been pushing himself and will push himself hard to return quickly. He says he’s going to try for the end of May, or June 1st as his return date. June 1st just happens to be a Friday night game in Fenway Park.

One of these years the wheels are going to come off, and he’s just not going to be that good. Note that he’s switching back to the American League and this very well could be the year. A lot of the moves George Steinbrenner makes to ‘fix’ the Yankees on his own don’t always work out quite the way a Yankee fan would hope. Could the idea of Roger Clemens being around keep Cashman from signing someone else around the trade deadline that could help them more?

On a clubhouse cohesion note, Clemens will supposedly be afforded the same travel schedule he enjoyed in Houston. There is often talk of the drawbacks of a 24 and 1 clubhouse, but with the Yankees it seems to be a lot of 22 and 1 and 1 and 1. Will him not being present for big road series, or being in Houston for big home games, keep him from really meshing with his teammates? There are a lot of Yankees that weren’t around the last time he was, and what kind of example does it set? Does this motivate any free agents the Yankees try to sign in the off season to not only try to get more money out of the Yankees, but other perks as well? Roger Clemens claims his return is all about his new teammates and winning a World Series, but that’s probably a lot of public relations bullshit.

Only time can truly tell, but I’m going to predict that Roger goes 4-3 with a 4.52 ERA. I will probably be way off, but predicting he’s going to go 8-1 with a 2.3 ERA and win the World Series MVP just isn’t as satisfying, and goes against my Optimistic Mets standpoint.