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A Healthier Orange and Blue 2010

Last night a player, wearing Orange and Blue, returned to play after an injury-plagued 2009.  I’m going to take this as a sign of good things to come for those other injured orange and blue wearing professional athletes, even if it is a different sport.  Last night Rick DiPietro made his first start in goal for the Islanders in over a year.  He’s one of their franchise players, and having him back with the team means a ton to their long term success.

From MetsStuff

In 2010 the Mets will be getting Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, and John Maine back from injuries in 2009.  Even David Wright missed time in 2009.  Maine and Beltran actually returned before 2009 was over, and the others are all on schedule to be healthy by Spring Training, with Oliver Perez already working out.

Of course, this doesn’t guarantee anything.  Filling out the lineup card doesn’t count as a win, but the Mets had been competitive the three years prior to 2009 and with these guys back it’s hard to expect they won’t be again.

We could spend time breaking down lineups, breaking down the Phillies lineups, analyzing trades and offseason acquisitions, evaluating players and prospects and predicting what 2010 will bring. We can and will do that, but the rosters aren’t set yet, and Spring Training is not quite here.  There will be time enough for everyone to declare who the favorite is, and why.  There will be time to document what the Mets need to do, and what the other teams need to do to get to the playoffs.  Right now it’s about formulating the roster that will take the field on April 5th.  Omar’s working on a catcher and a pitcher, and time is working to get those players we already have healthy and back on the field.

I’m going to take Rick DiPietro’s return as a sign that the 2009 orange and blue injury bug is over, and that 2010 will bring much success.

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2009 World Series: Bad News

As everyone has made light of, this World Series sucks for a Mets fan.

Mets fans are pretty split on which side they’re rooting for, if you can even call it rooting.  Funny thing is, you see plenty of Yankees fans saying that we should be rooting for them, but I don’t hear any Phillies fans making that same argument.

From Mets

Personally, I’m rooting for the Yankees to lose.  I don’t get any joy or any more grief no matter what the Phillies do, but the Yankees winning would really irk me.  It’d blow my theory of them being cursed for knocking down the house that Ruth built, it’d give even more fuel to the “Jeter’s the best player ever” arguments you hear, as well as the constant reminder about how much they’ve won.  Their eight rings to the Mets two would start to get a little insurmountable, whereas three for the Phillies wouldn’t be as rough.

From Mets

Some say that the cracks in Yankee Stadium will open up and swallow both teams into Hell.

Some compare it to 1999 although despite how much it sucked losing the Braves, the Braves fans were never in the equation as hated rivals.  Others suggest we ask who the Yankees were rooting for in 1986 and root accordingly.

Personally, I’m just not watching.  I get no joy out of watching either team, and if you factor in all the game-delay tactics, the 50 million pitching changes, and the pop-fly home runs, I’m just not sure it’s going to be fun to watch anyway.

I’ll be watching the Islanders at the Rangers Wednesday night.

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Division Isn’t Out of the Question for the Mets

You may have seen that pessimistic post on Metsblog earlier that stated the Mets should be aiming to go 45 and 20 to win the Wild Card.  This is short sighted.  I hate to do this, but let’s go back to 2007.

On July 27th 2007 the Mets were up four games over the Phillies and Braves in second place.  They kept the hordes at bay for a month, and on August 27th were six games up, seven over the Braves, and neither team looked really good.

Then the Mets played that ill-fated series in Philadelphia where they lost four games, the lead dropping to two games and panic started to set in.  The Mets rebounded terrifically winning five in a row and 10 of their next 12.

They hosted the Phillies again on September 12th with a seven game lead and plenty of reason to think that the series in Philadelphia was merely a fluke.

More so than any other reason, the Mets lost in 2007 because they lost those seven games to the Phillies.  In 2009 the Mets and Phillies play eight more times.  They blew their first chance at this a couple of weeks ago, allowing the Phillies to sweep them, but 65 games and eight against the leader is not something you write off.  If the Mets are good enough to overcome the deficit in the wild card, they’re good enough to overcome the deficit in the division.  The Phillies are bound to come back to earth, as they’re not going to play at this crazy winning percentage for the rest of the season, and now they’ve started to be bit by the injury bug as well.  If the Mets can recover and run with it, it’s the division that’s waiting, not the wild card.  If you’re looking for numbers or formulas, here is one for you.

There are 10 weeks left of the season, and 8 games against the Phillies.  Win six of the games against the Phillies, and then play merely one game better than them in five of the other 8 weeks they don’t play Philadelphia.  Win one more game, whether it’s another against the Phillies, another random game during the season, or game 163.  From there the playoffs are your oyster.

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Hang on to Those Towels

Have You Thrown in the Towel?

dont-throw-towel

It’s not far fetched, and I don’t blame him. It’s hard not to be frustrated and disgusted with the Mets the way they’re playing. There is blame on the field, in the dugout, within management and even with in the front office, all the way up. I’m not sure I’m even willing to excuse the ushers or ticket takers from the poor play of the Mets.

But it’s not over. If only it was. We all know how much 2003 sucked, but right now I think 2009 has sucked more. There was some hope in 2003. Shea Stadium shook in 2003, if only because Mo Vaughn was trying to make it to first base. You had Alomar who had been a great player; surely after a year of getting accustomed to New York, he’d return to form. You still had Piazza.

It became evident pretty fast that these guys weren’t going to get it done. It was a season probably very similar to how the Pirates fans think, of “Well, if this guy gets hot, gets good, figures it out.. then..maybe..” By mid-April, most fans realized that there was no point in getting invested in the season.

One of the bright spots of 2003 was getting to see our star prospect, Jose Reyes. A lot of 2009 hinges on the same idea. Right now it feels like they’re being overly cautious, not even testing the injury. On one hand this could mean he’s still not healthy, on the other it could mean he’s 100% healed and almost ready to go. He’s been swinging down in Florida so I hope this is the Mets way of getting his swing in shape while still resting the injury. Hopefully he’ll be ready to go, and soon.

The biggest reason I would say not to throw in the towel has to do with not being overly critical of our existing players. Despite the injuries, the Mets are in the top of the league in batting average, on base percentage. They’re getting guys on, they’re getting chances. The problem is what they do with those chances. Part of it is that they have Fernando Tatis, and lead the league in grounding into double plays. Part of it’s lineup management. If you have a lot of guys getting on, but not getting in, the lineup needs to be shaken up. Things like batting Luis Castillo and his high OBP 8th, where he’s more likely to be stranded due to the pitcher’s spot, inflate these numbers. Part of it may be the lack of power, and not being able to get as many runs out of one hit. Part of it may be the bunting, which gives away an out and a chance to have a big inning.

Another culprit has been the fundamentals. This has been a problem for most of the year, and why Jerry Manuel is not working harder at stressing it is beyond me. Especially when many of the errors seem to be of the mental kind, suggesting that the players aren’t in the right frame of mind in the field. It’s the manager’s job to get his players ready for the game. This doesn’t excuse them from making these mistakes, but it is a fault of the manager as well. When players are pressing, even in the first inning, something needs to be done. These guys need to relax. Especially David Wright who’s carrying the weight of all our expectations on his shoulders. Daniel Murphy is another who works so hard, that maybe it’s too hard.

This leads me to another thought, which is Jose Reyes in the clubhouse. Reyes, despite being a hard worker, is a very happy go lucky guy. Love it or hate it, he’s pretty much defined the atmosphere of the Mets clubhouse for years. I think the Mets miss that. His energy is something that’s missing with this team and hopefully when he comes back that energy is something he can rev people up with, get them confident and relaxed, and win some ballgames and maybe stop some of these mental errors.

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Worst Day of the Year

Today is the worst day of the baseball season. We get that teaser game yesterday, only to be followed by a day off and no baseball. So I’ll bore you with the bets I made this off season. Feel free to mock and ridicule.

 

2009 MLB Regular Season Wins – Team Must Play 160 Games

Atlanta Braves

Over 84.5

 

I think the Braves are more talented than people think. Barring injury.

 

2009 MLB Regular Season Wins – Team Must Play 160 Games

New York Mets

Over 89.5

 

This should be an easy one. The Mets are obviously seriously talented.

 

2009 MLB Regular Season Wins – Team Must Play 160 Games

New York Yankees

Under 95.5

 

I think the Yankees have a lot of issues, especially if Pettitte is old and wears down, Joba is restricted, Wang is not quite back to form and A.J. Is the new Pavano. Especially if A-Rod isn’t fully recovered.

 

2009 MLB Regular Season Wins – Team Must Play 160 Games

Philadelphia Phillies

Under 88.5

 

The Phillies got lucky with their bullpen and had a dozen guys over perform last year. They’re a pretty soft team in general and I think they mail it in early this year.

 

Cole Hamels – Total Regular Season Wins

Regular Season Wins

Under 15.5 (-135)

 

Hamels has already started injured. 16 is a lot of wins, especially for a team that won’t top 85 wins.

 

Jose Reyes – Total Regular Season Hits

Regular Season Hits

Over 188.5 (-115)

 

This might be the easiest bet. Reyes is only getting better.

 

2009 World Series Championship

New York Mets

6 – 1

 

Because I had to.

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Opening Day

Opening Day.

The day we’ve all been waiting for.

It’s such a relief to see the Mets finally playing meaningful baseball again, and finally it’s time to put aside conjecture and projections for real stats and concrete results. Citi Field is nice and all, but now the focus can be on David Wright’s batting average, Jose Reyes’ range, or Beltran’s shear awesomeness instead of tacos or exclusive beers (as great as those things may be).

I seem to get more and more excited for baseball every spring, and this year was no exception. I even went to seven baseball games already. Four spring training games plus an exhibition as well as the St. Johns game at Citi Field and a World Baseball Classic match-up. It’ll be nice to sit down, crack open a beer, and root for the Mets on the same team and really care about the outcome.

Thanks to the Braves, the Mets are already a half game ahead of the Phillies (one in the loss column.) However, they’re behind the Braves by a half game(tied in the loss column.) There is a lot to look forward to this year, and it all starts today. It’s great that the Phillies lost, but you can’t scoreboard watch in April anyway(I won’t tell you that the Phillies elimination number is 162). It’s about the Mets going out there, game after game, and taking care of business. Putting up Ws.

You can find something to complain about and be nervous about later. For now, let’s sit down with our empty slate and enjoy some baseball. Collapses or Championships from last year don’t count in this years win total. Let’s Go Mets!

 

Edit:  And the Mets win! Good Start to the Season.  Woo!

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Letters to the NL East, Part 5/5

Letters to the NL East, Part 5 of 5 (part 0, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 )

 

 

Dear New York Mets,

 

New Stadium, Fresh look. Let’s forget these so-called collapses, and focus on 2009. Games from 2008 don’t count, and teams don’t get handicaps for being defending champs. This division is ripe for the picking.

 

Braves look stronger, Phillies look weaker, but you still look like the best team on paper. It’s time to make that stand up. The bullpen changes should be enough to give you enough confidence to finish off these teams, win these games, and have an excellent season. As usual, health plays an issue. You need to make sure guys like Delgado, Church, Castillo and Maine all stay healthy. One benefit this year is that you seem to have a ton of outfield depth in Sullivan, Reed, Kielty and Evans. More so if you do acquire Gary Sheffield today, although I think he’s a washed up cheater if anything.

 

We’re all excited for this season, and hopefully you’ll give us something more to enjoy than a new ballpark. We’re all curious how Citi Field will feel in those rowdy, anxious playoff moments. Lets get us there to find out. Many have reservations about the park and how it stands up to Shea Stadium, but this season has the potential to get to put Shea behind us. Give us a new crop of highlights in the new park, and we’ll all love it.

 

Your lifelong fan,

 

Optimistic Mets Fan

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Letters to the NL East

(If you weren’t paying attention last year, so begins the second annual ‘letters to the NL East’ week. We start with the other team we want the Mets to do better than, before diving into the division)

 

Part 0 of the 5 part series, “Letters to the NL East”

 

Letter to Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees.

 

Dear Yankees,

 

You spent a ton of money after your first season out of the playoffs in years. It certainly makes you wonder if you made a mistake firing Joe Torre. There are still a ton of question marks with your team, even putting aside the A-Rod situations.

 

Will A.J. Burnett be Carl Pavano part two? Will Posada be able to reliably play catcher this year? What’s up with the log jam at DH, or your too many outfielders? How much does Pettitte have left for a full season? Can Joba really help the team, even if he’s superb, considering the Joba rules and Innings Pitched limits?

 

Those are just the obvious ones before the season has even started. Who knows what other issues will pop up. I’d stray away from assuming just because you again spent way too much money that you’re the team to beat in that division. I still think you’re favored not to make the playoffs. I don’t care what the so called experts say. Don’t be surprised if by August, your ‘fans’ are looking for a ticket into Citi Field. That’s where the good baseball’s gonna happen this year.

 

But don’t worry, the media will still be all over you. The over/under for new A-Rod controversies is at 13.

 

Hatefully Yours,

 

Optimistic Mets Fan