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Continuing to Roll

I strongly feel that John Maine got snubbed, but I’m not surprised. He suffered because Billy Wagner deserves to be there too, is a bigger name, and was the 4th Met selected. I feel bad for Kevin Youkilis too, who certainly deserved to be there. I really feel baseball should attempt to honor guys like this, who would go to the game excited, and not guys like Manny Ramirez, who will go reluctantly, if at all. To make the All-Star game more meaningful, fill it with players that want to be there. We don’t necessarily need guys playing all out, colliding with catchers and getting into fights, but these young guys that want to be there will play hard, and enjoy playing. That’s what would make it watchable.

The Mets dropped the finale, missing out on sweeping the Phillies. It doesn’t matter, they had a bit of a sloppy day and left the Phillies with a little bit of hope. It’s misguided hope, as the Mets now have won eight of their last 10, and now hold a five game, six losses, lead over the Phillies. The Braves are four games back and five losses. I’d be happy with picking up one more game on each before the All-Star break. Colorado has been playing badly since sweeping the Yankees, and while they’re due to start winning some, the Mets can take two out of three easily, even with Vargas pitching one of the games.

Mike Pelfrey looked good, I’ve thought he looked good all year long, just not quite ready. He looked more ready this time, if not quite there. I feel like one of these days he’s suddenly going to develop some confidence, make a small adjustment with his pitching, and suddenly will start winning. I’d like him to start throwing more innings, but even three runs in five innings at a ballpark like that keeps the team in the game. Maybe if he keeps pitching like that, the offense will feel last pressured to score nine runs to win for him, relax a bit and just start hitting, and making plays behind him defensively.

I don’t know what’s up with Oliver Perez. We all know he’s pretty much a head case, and when he’s made such good progress this year I’m not sure I want him pitching injured either. We’ve in a good situation right now, with a good lead. If he’s really hurting, we could DL him retroactively, he’d be eligible to come off by the games after the break, and we could get some help up here in the meantime.

Carlos Gomez has picked up a bit of a reputation as a hot dog, which is why Joe Smith asked Carlos Beltran how to say “hot dog” in Spanish. “Perro caliente,” Beltran replied. Gomez seemed to like the new nickname. I like it too.

Speaking of the All-Star break, I hope Ricky Ledee doesn’t see the other side of it. Lastings Milledge has starting playing rehab games, and I see no reason why he shouldn’t be with the team by then. Whether to try to contribute, or to showcase to be traded. Willie seems to be alternating Ledee and Gomez anyway, and I don’t know anyone that looks forward to seeing Ledee’s mangled picture up on the scoreboard.

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The City of Brotherly Love

We arrived in Philly around noon, stopped at my friend’s condo, had some lunch, and then took the transit system, SEPTA, to the ballpark. We arrived in the top of the first, and it was weird that we were actually missing the Mets at bat. This was my first time seeing the Mets away from home, and they made me proud. The first game featured probably 30% Mets fans, so we weren’t alone. The night game was sold out for fireworks, so there were less Mets fans, but we still managed to get a “Jose, Jose” chant going for a bit before we were booed. Oddly, I only heard one “Let’s go Phillies” chant the entire day. I wasn’t hassled much either. Some girls teased us a little on the train, and we got cursed at a couple of times throughout the day, but nothing major. We were in our seats in time to see the Phillies complaining about El Duque, and could tell that he was getting angry at them. Six innings later, with the Mets out to a nice lead, he had his revenge.

The Mets bats surely woke up, in both games. The second game especially, where the Mets stranded tons of runners on base, some from some nice plays by Michael Bourn in right field. They got some hits, they got some home runs, they stole some bases, and they got some hits with runners in scoring position and two outs. The Mets have won seven of eight, put the Phillies six losses back, and are again on a roll.

The bullpen make it a little difficult in the first game, and then we hurried over to Chickie’s and Petes, which is a local sports bar. They have yummy crab fries, which I, and apparently Metsradamus, highly recommend. We also had a tower of beer, which is just like it sounds. It’s two and a half pitcher’s of beer in a tall tower with a tap on the bottom to serve yourself that sits on the table. We also had some wings, paid, and headed back to Citizen’s Bank Ballpark.

Back at the stadium I made sure to get a cheesesteak, and I had a Phillies hat full of chocolate ice cream, that I didn’t smash like the Fanatic smashed a Mets cap on the field during the game. The Mets loaded the bases in the first inning, but didn’t score. That was only the start though, Beltran blasted two runs, and the Mets chased Cole Hamels early. Not before he threw behind Reyes, leading to a wild pitch and a run. Reyes had an interesting day, he was angered by Hamels, and in the first game he was called out stealing second on what was clearly a bad call. He even stood around the base, still reluctant to actually leave the base that was rightfully his. Willie came out to argue briefly, but to no avail. Wagner was summoned after Maine gave up a double to start the 9th, even though it wasn’t a save. Wagner sadly allowed that run to score, but in a measure of revenge for his only blown save of the year, he struck out Pat Burrell to end the game.

David Wright says he will be upset of John Maine is not on the All-Star team. Only Brad Penny has more wins than him at 10, and he’s fourth in the league in ERA at 2.74. At what basically is his halfway point, he has 84 strikeouts in 102 innings. To compare, Cole Hamels has the same 9-4 record as Maine, with an ERA approaching four. To think that Maine was considered one of the Mets question marks before the season, is laughable.

I do enjoy the stadium down there, but I think it’s nothing that special. It’s a nice modern park, but nothing superb. The ball travels nicely there, and all the sight-lines are good. The Mets always hit well there, and they have much better food than at Shea. Still, when I go back to Shea later this month, I’m sure I’ll have that ‘It is good to be home’ feeling.

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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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Bullpen Exhaustion, Aaron Heilman and the Mets Classics

Tonight was a bad game, mainly because you can deal with one night when the offense struggles, but two nights starts to make a bad habit of things. At least the Mets are going on the road to three great hitters ballparks. The other issue is bullpen fatigue.

I think Schoeneweis was the right move in that situation. I think he sucks, and I wish he wasn’t on the team anymore, but given that he is on the team, and you can’t not use guys on the team, it was probably the right move. The problem now becomes fatigue. Two extra inning games have started to tax the bullpen. Willie’s kept his starters in longer than I think he would have probably would have any other time, to help save the bullpen for a taxing weekend in Philadelphia. The only other option I see for that inning is Aaron Sele, and I wonder if they’re entertaining the idea of him starting one of Friday’s games, and holding him back. Aaron Sele however hasn’t exactly been an excellent reliever anyway.

I think the Mets need to make some changes. I know it’s tough to find bullpen help, and I think Omar is working on it, but it can’t happen overnight. Maybe we traded away too many relief prospects in the spring this year. I think it’s drawing to a time where you have to do something with Schoeneweis. I doubt he can be optioned down to New Orleans, and from all accounts putting him on the disabled list isn’t going to heal his tendon, if it’s even the tendon that’s making him suck. I want to see some of these relievers that are down in AAA, if we can somehow get them up here on the roster. The Zephyrs have a couple of guys that might be decent. Willie Collazo has a 2.75 ERA, Steve Schmoll has a 3.18 ERA, and even Jon Adkins’ ERA is 3.68. Now, I saw some of Adkins in spring training, but I really don’t know anything about these guys, but in my mind they can’t pitch worse than Schoeneweis, or even Aaron Sele, who I think at least has options.

I’m kind of amused that Aaron Heilman has six wins and leagues the majors in relief wins. He has as many as the rest of the Mets relievers combined. He wants to be a starter, but it’s arguable that he’d actually have less wins if he was in the rotation. It’s probably just a statistical quirk, but I find it amusing.

The Mets NLDS win over the Dodgers is going to be played on Mets Classics on SNY. I watched one of these games a couple of weeks ago, and it was fun to watch, except for one thing. Especially as a replay, the ESPN and Fox announcers really take some of the juice out of watching these games. Part of the charm is having the guys that we know and have been doing the games all year, continue into the playoffs. I wonder if it’s possible to mute these games, and splice in the audio stream from the radio broadcast. I’d much rather listen to Tom, Howie and Gary’s radio broadcast while watching these replays.

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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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Fiery Ejections and Walk-off Doubles

At Shea for my usual Saturday season ticket plan, I finally got to see the Mets with two in a roll, win a series, and it was fun. The attendance was over 52,920, and it seems that many of the bloggers I read were there as well. The Faith and Fear duo, Metsradamus, and Metswalkoffs. I think they all had better seats than me too.

It was a great game, Orlando Hernandez was pitching well, and so was Joe Blanton. El Duque let up some base runners, but they always got out of it, and he battled through the 7th with nearly 120 pitches. One could think that scoring only one run is just the Mets slumping again, but that’s not the case. All the credit there goes to Joe Blanton, who pitched through eight innings. The Mets did have Ricky Ledee thrown out at the plate on a nice 2-out, runners in scoring position, double by Carlos Beltran. I think Evan Roberts really needs to rip Joe Benigno about that on their show on WFAN Monday, because he’s playing very well. He was running full-speed on Wright’s walk-off double, even though his run was meaningless. He was excited, and he came charging around third, almost catching Castro. It was a botched play in right field, as if he had played it on a hop, Castro wouldn’t have scored. It didn’t matter though, as I had faith in Delgado getting a fly-out there to score him. After struggling against Joe Blanton, as soon as he was lifted for a guy with a 0.00 ERA in 12.1 innings, they jumped all over him. Castro leads off with a double, they walk Belran to the boos, and David Wright hit’s another double the opposite way to right, game over.

The Mets win a series again, every other team in the East loses, and just like that the Mets are again three full games up on the competition. Four and five games in the loss column over Philadelphia and Atlanta. The Mets now have added another team in the A’s that they don’t have a losing record against, having tied the Cubs all-time earlier this season, also on a walk-off ninth inning hit. A pitcher’s duel, a temper tantrum with an ejection and throwing stuff on the field, and a game winning double by David Wright. What more could you ask for in a game?

I did notice a little less campaigning for Paul Lo Duca at the game today, and I wonder why. I think the Mets may have started that push a little early. Now if Paulie overtakes Martin in the voting Monday, Dodger fans will be motivated to vote hard. We should have waited until after that tally came out to push for him, and get him past the unsuspecting Dodger fans. So remember, Lo Duca still needs our votes next week, and you can vote 25 times per email address you type into that box.

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Oakland Athletics Arrive

This weekend Oakland is back at Shea Stadium for the first time since August 20th of 1975. The Yankees won that game 3-2, the difference being an 8th inning Bobby Bonds home run. On an interesting coincidence, the Yankees this weekend are in San Francisco playing against Barry Bonds, who homered last night for the loss.

Oakland lost again last night, as the Mets again showed signs of breaking out of their month-long slump. Obviously one game isn’t enough to proclaim it over, but it looked good. The Mets got hits with runners in scoring position, they tacked on runs throughout the game, Shawn Green hit a home run. Reyes made a great defensive double play and Glavine pitched into the 9th.

Starters going long is going to be important, as the Mets play a long stretch now without a day off, and have two games on Friday, both of which I’ll be at in Philadelphia. Keeping the bullpen from burning out is important, and it looks like we’ll get another shot at seeing Pelfrey on Friday. Probably for only one start, unless Sosa has actually run out of magic powder.

I don’t want to wait until Sunday for this series to be over, and for what it’s worth, the Mets are 5-7 in rubber games. The Mets need to go out tonight, while I’m in attendance, and slaughter the A’s again. The Mets have 10 games left until the halfway mark, and I’d like to see them win at least seven of them, which would put their record at 46 and 35. That’s back to a tolerable 11 games over .500 and on pace for 92 wins. I do think they’ll win a handful more of that, but for now, lets start stringing some wins together. El Duque is due for a good start again. I’m predicting David Wright and Carlos Delgado back to back home runs tonight, be watching!

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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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Healing and Growing

Where Do We Go From Here?

We were 4.5 games in front when May ended. Now we are 1.5 games in front. We’ve won three games in that stretch. It’s depressing, and hard to be optimistic lately, but if there was ever a reason, that’s it. We went a stretch where we won three of 15 games. Not even the 1964 Mets played that badly over the season, so when we only lose three games in the standings it gives me faith that even if we continued to play like the 1964 Mets, we’d probably maintain the lead.

Now before all you worry warts use that as ammunition, we’re not going to play like that team for long. It’s just not going to happen, we’re not going to continually leave dozens of runners on base. If A-Rod could get over that adversity, surely the Mets and Carlos Beltran can too. Our pitching isn’t going to be this bad forever. El Duque probably was due for a bad start or two, and Glavine is a veteran, he’ll figure this out and bounce back. Meanwhile, Oliver Perez is making a case to start as many possible big games as humanly possible. John Maine hasn’t been excellent like he was in April, but he hasn’t been horrible either. He’s learning to minimize the damage when he doesn’t have it, and maximize the innings when he does. Jorge Sosa has had two bad starts, and even if we never got another one from him, he’s been a big contributor.

The Mets have growing, and healing to do. Pedro’s well on his way to returning. Delgado, whether from some sort of residual pain or weakness from his surgery, or whatever it is, isn’t this bad. He’ll be good again, even if it’s only for September and October. Beltran will heal his left quadricep back to 90% and be good again. Gomez looks like he’ll only grow and get better. I think having him up here with Veteran hitters and runners is going to help loads more then playing consistantly in New Orleans. Valentin still is probably aching a bit. Alou will eventually heal, as will Lastings Milledge, for whatever he’s worth. Scott Schoeneweis will either learn how to pitch effectively with his injury, Willie will learn how and when he can use him to maximize effectiveness, or hopefully he’ll be forced to get surgery and heal. Mota hasn’t looked good, and he’s one of the more legitimate concerns in my eyes. I’m in favor of some auditions of our minor league relievers, and I imagine Minaya has been on the phone constantly trying to plug some gaps and fine tune this team.

I see the signs of the offense breaking out of this slump, the problem is that the pitching has fallen apart recently. When Glavine and Hernandez pitch them out of games early, it must be hard mentally to overcome a slump and get some hits. I don’t expect it to be much longer.

Earlier in the season we had our share of problems too. Orlando Hernandez went on the DL, Valentin wasn’t hitting that well, then went on the DL. Delgado and Wright went through some slumps, Pelfrey wasn’t able to ever pitch well enough to win. Heilman hasn’t pitched very well at all. With all this, the Mets still came out and won. Injuries happen, slumps happen, and the Mets will overcome that. They’ll have a stretch where they’ll be better than we’ve seen all year, and while many of you will still be waiting by the ledge for the right time to jump, others of us will enjoy it.

And please, do not boo Carlos Beltran tonight. He’s slumping, but so is the whole team. It’s not his fault solely, and rather then getting on him, which we know gets to him, how about we give him the benefit of the doubt. The Mets need some confidence right now, and booing him is only going to hurt that.

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Faith on the Subway

I think the Mets are a better team than the Yankees, and despite the past two weeks, I think the Mets are going to win this series. I’ll give some reasons for each game, I’m not panicking, and I don’t think the Mets are either.

Game 1: Perez vs. Clemens
Oliver Perez has really pitched well here in New York. He’s pitched some of the biggest games and done well. Game 7 last year, the three wins against Atlanta, and he beat the Yankees at Shea. He lost his last start and he hasn’t had two bad outings like that all season. I expect him to bounce back strong tonight.

Obviously the offense is the problem, but I think they can wake up tonight. Clemens threw well over 100 pitches just getting through six innings against Pittsburgh, and the Mets offense is a lot scarier than that. If the Mets work counts, and let Clemens throw as many pitches as he did in his last start, he won’t make it six. Even if the Mets don’t capitalize on him, that leaves a good stretch of iffy Yankee bullpen to beat up on. Nothing wakes up bats like Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth.

Game 2: Clippard vs. Glavine
Would you believe people are actually saying that this match-up favors the Yankees? Seriously? Tom Glavine is miles ahead of Tyler Clippard, and after his poor start in Detroit, you know he’s going to come back strong. The Mets often struggle against new guys, but Clippard is no longer new, they’ve seen him before, and they’re going to be ready for him. This will be another early to the bullpen day for the Yankees.

Game 3: Hernandez vs. Wang
I feel like this match-up may favor the Yankees a bit, but Hernandez is a fierce competitor, facing his old team, coming off a bad start, and has pitched very very well recently besides that. The Mets have apparently never seen Wang, but he’s been around enough that I don’t think they’re going to fall prey to him the way they would’ve if this was his first year. At the very least I think the Mets will compete, and he won’t pitch a complete game like he did recently. The Yankee bullpen could be tired by this point if my other two games went as planned, so even if he does pitch well, the Mets have a chance to put their foot down on a tiring bullpen.

The Mets are done with their slump. They’re going to win these games, because they need to start winning games. Everybody needs to have some Faith in this team. It was 24 years ago today that the Mets started putting together the ’86 puzzle by acquiring Keith Hernandez. I wonder if Gary will remember that and mention it to him tonight.