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The Land of the Free, and the Home of the Mets

Here come the Braves. Literally, not figuratively, though if the Mets play badly this week it could be both.

In some of the time I spend in the Hot Foot Bleachers, I mentioned once that this upcoming series is a lot bigger for Atlanta then it is for the Mets. I was laughed at, but it still holds true. The Braves are four and a half games back, which means the best they could reach is two losses behind the Mets with a sweep. If the Braves win the series, which is what I’m sure they’re setting out to do, that puts them four losses back. Three and a half games back with only 48 left to go is what the Braves are aiming for. This isn’t a threat to the Mets; the Braves have been hovering around three and a half for a while now, unable to really put on the pressure. They’ve flirted with third place more than first place.

That said, the Mets still should go out there and win this series at home. They need to brush them back with the attitude of “What? You’re still here? This is our division now, check in again sometime next decade.” They can do this; they just won series against the two contenders in the Central division, they won a seven game road trip against the West division contenders. It’s time to show the Braves that there aren’t any contenders in the East division, only a repeat champion.

I have heard no word yet on if Willie Randolph is going to pitch his pitchers on normal rest next week, taking advantage of the day off to get Maine to pitch Thursday against the Braves instead of Friday against the Marlins. It would be the right move to get the best pitcher in the rotation to pitch against the team currently sitting in second place in the division.

I want all the Braves fans to be thinking about one thing Thursday night; the Friday preseason Falcon game against the Jets.

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Seeya Next Year Brewers

The season is now two thirds over. I’m not going to bother doing projections, as that doesn’t matter anymore. The home stretch has arrived, and the Mets are in first. All that matters from now until October first is how well they play. Now how well, or badly, they played. I still strongly believe the Mets are better than the Phillies or Braves, and we now have 54 games left and the Braves and Phillies are playing with a four loss handicap.

The Mets again haven’t been playing like last year, and I really think it’s time for people to forget about last year. Not to quite 2005 or anything, but next year is now. This isn’t the same team as last year, but that’s not a bad thing; the Mets didn’t win last year. They had a rough middle, and have only gradually recovered from that. They’re only as far in first place as they were on June first before they went into their tailspin. They’re winning though. They find ways to win when it matters, even when they aren’t playing at their best. People predicted they’d have a tough stretch against the Dodgers and Padres, and they won four of seven. Sure that’s not terrific, but it’d win the NLCS against either of those teams. This Milwaukee and Chicago trip is supposed to tough too, but they beat the Brewers two of three and four of six despite Oliver Perez pitching weakly and Brian Lawerence starting today. The only game they squandered was Glavine’s attempted 300th win and it took the Brewers 13 innings to get their only win of the series.

The Cubs are the hottest team in baseball right now, so we’ll see how the Mets handle them. Maybe facing a tough hot team will spark them to be hot themselves. The Mets have actually been getting better with runners in scoring position, with runners on third, and with two outs. They have some injuries, but no one’s going to be out all season. Beltran, Pedro, Lo Duca will all probably be back and very healthy by the playoffs. Really healthy. Beltran will probably be able to rest all his sore muscles while on the DL, Pedro will return nice and healthy and stronger than ever. Lo Duca will return, and hopefully these days off will also help him be productive. Plus I think Willie finally realizes what a commodity Ramon Castro is, and hopefully will use him more appropriately.

I was getting a little down earlier last month with the way the Mets seemed to be playing, but I feel good now. I see a lot of good in the Mets future, and I can’t wait to get my playoff tickets. As for the Braves and Phillies? Well maybe the Falcons or Eagles will still be in it this October.


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T Minus 30 days and Castilling

A lot happened today in Metland, and it was full of good tidings. The Mets today acquired Luis Castillo from the Twins, for basically no one. Two minor leaguers I’d never heard of, and probably won’t be missed. Luis Castillo is a good consistent player that will fit well here, and although it limits Gotay, I’m pretty okay with it. Although I’m getting the feeling that Ruben Gotay is this year’s Endy Chavez.

Pedro Martinez had another session today, and said he’s pitching Wednesday night for Class A. Provided he does actually make this start, it’s definite, not just hopeful, that Pedro will be back with the Mets in September. He has to be added to the roster 30 days after his first start, which puts him there by September first and should get him a couple of starts before the playoffs.

Of course, Luis Castillo is only hitting .254 with runners in scoring position, but hopefully he can work on that. He can add some consistency to the Mets lineup, by batting second. Plus once Beltran returns it’ll be three switch hitters at the top of the lineup. Will make opposing managers think twice before looking for match-ups.

The Mets aren’t playing badly as of late, despite a mere split with the Nationals. Look for them to play well again this coming week, against Milwaukee and the Cubs. Should be a fun week, as both those teams are struggling for the lead in the Central division.

On an opposing note, I’m not worried about the Braves and Teixeira. Sure he’ll be good, but I really don’t think it’ll be the difference the Braves need to close the gap. I think both Castillo, and the resurgence of Delgado, who’s had a great July, will hold them off.

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Tough Road Trip? Maybe not.

I’ve heard all about this tough seven game road trip the Mets are on. I just don’t agree. Surely it’s tougher than the upcoming home stand of the Pirates and Nationals, but I’m certainly not scared of the Dodgers or the Padres. Right now the Mets are doing something they haven’t quite done lately, tacking on runs late. They are leading 7-0 against the Padres re-evening the all-time series.

One game is not a trend, and they didn’t exactly play great on Monday, but I like what I saw tonight. Tomorrow night Maine should pitch a good bounce back game, and Greg Maddux hasn’t exactly been lights out against the Mets. 35-19 with a 3.40 ERA is pretty well on pace with his career numbers, but it always seems like the Mets manage to get to him. In the Mets last two good seasons he hasn’t pitched well. 2000 finds Maddux with a record of 1-3 against the Mets with a 5.64 ERA, and 2006 finds him 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA. Now the offense hasn’t been playing like 2000 or 2006 lately, but I’ll take my chances on Maine. I’m actually going to place a wager on the Mets for tomorrow night.

The Mets owe the Dodgers a measure of revenge for the last series they played, so I’m not that worried about them either. I said it before the road trip, and I still feel it; the Mets will come back home with a bigger lead in the division than when they left. When it all comes down to it, the Braves just aren’t that good. The Phillies are still reasonably close, but they don’t seem to be better than a .500 team anyway.

There is talk about the Mets needing to fall out of first to be ‘tested’ and get their drive back. I very much disagree with this statement, it’s a statement often made by the fan that wants some sort of justification for his pessimistic outlook on the season. Seeing the Braves get close is a test, finding a way to win any given game is a test, trying to get runs in with key hits is a test. By no means is this division over, like I expected it to be by this point. The Mets will figure out away to get through this tough patch, that has lasted a lot longer than anyone expected. In the end though, you can learn a lot by trying and failing. If the Mets only win 93 games this year, and only win the division by a handful of games, but in the process learn anything they can use in the playoffs, I’ll take it.

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Good Signs/Bad Signs

When worry over the Mets ability to beat the Braves resurfaced recently with them dropping the series in Atlanta, I didn’t panic. I’m still convinced Atlanta’s not a great team, nowhere near as good as the Mets, and it’s just coincidence that they’ve played badly when we’ve faced them. Call it a let down from the Yankee series or whatever you want, but they can’t win them all. Two days later and the Mets are already further in front then they were before they faced them, so they can just keep winning series and widening the distance.

When the Braves get into a funk, it’s different then when the Mets do. The Braves have now lost three of their last four series, and sure they’ve run into some teams playing well, and some teams that are just good, but when a good team would still be able to beat the Nationals when they’re playing well. The Phillies on the other hand, haven’t been playing that well and recently lost their second closer of the season in Brett Myers.

So again, I’m not worried. To reinforce my not-worryingness, some good signs came out of this series with the Marlins. Carlos Delgado remembered how to hit the ball, hard. Jose Reyes had some hard hits, and was robbed by Miguel Cabrera. David Wright didn’t get hits, but he did get three walks with no strikeouts, and finally John Maine started pitching pretty well again. He did walk some people, but I think he’s making a case that May, not April, was the aberration.

Of course, there were bad signs too. Shawn Green and Carlos Gomez hurting themselves would be up there. Gomez was fun to watch, but even if his injury’s minor, you’re not going to keep a guy with that much speed up in the majors with a hamstring pull. There has been a lot of calls for Shawn Green’s head, mainly because of his defense, and Endy Chavez should continue to get a lot of playing time, especially before Moises Alou returns in the near future. David Newhan will be getting some more chances to prove he’s valuable here, with a couple of starts. Otherwise it’s likely we may see Ben Johnson from New Orleans up here in the near future. Hopefully Newhan can come through, Shawn Green and Moises Alou were big parts of the Mets offense, and even though they can get by without them, it’s never good to lose that production. Hopefully Endy Chavez and David Newhan can have some good games and some consistency as the Mets continue trying to widen their lead in the NL East.

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Subway Series to Atlanta

There isn’t that much of importance to say in regards to this weekend. The Mets missed out on the sweep, but they secured another series win. The Yankees look disastrous, although Tyler Clippard grabbed one of the shovels the Mets were using to bury them to excavate his team a bit. Not bad for a MLB debut. The Empire State Building will still be orange and blue tonight to display the Mets victory, and the Mets go to Atlanta 2.5 up, while the Yankees welcome in the Red Sox 10.5 back.

The overall series was pretty tame in terms of fan craziness in the stands. Sunday night picked up a bit with the Yankees in the lead and some actual fighting in the stands. I’m not sure what it is about Sunday nights, but it seems to bring out the drunken rowdy fan. I know the two or three guys sitting behind me were horrible. They didn’t shut up the entire game, chanting and yelling at the Yankees. I’m sure I would’ve despised them even more had they not been Met fans, but they were ignorant stupid Met fans, which are the worst kind. The kind I suppose I should get used to as the ignorant stupid band-wagon Yankee fans come over to Shea.

Even though some Mets struggled, John Maine, Carlos Beltran, Delgado, Green, and Scott Schoeneweis among them, it didn’t really affect them. One player who I still don’t like, despite some big home runs, is Damion Easley. Something just bothers me about the guy, particularly his defense. He seems to get to a lot of balls, but struggles to get it where it needs to go, and struggles with double plays.

A lot of talk has started to pop up about the possibility of Carlos Delgado being injured, or not fully recovered anyway. If this is the case, it’s becoming too much of a problem and he needs to do something about it. If he needs some days off, just needs to take it easy, or maybe some physical therapy he needs to get it. Of course, I don’t necessarily want to see Julio Franco there. I don’t imagine this will happen, but seeing Shawn Green there and Gomez in right fight wouldn’t be a bad thing.

I turned down the opportunity to go down to Atlanta for this series. The prospect of a 13 hour car trip was a little too much for me to handle, so I decided to just sit it out and root for them on tv. I get to enough games at Shea, and I fully intend on making to it Washington and Philadelphia to see them this year.

I still feel like the Mets have a power streak in them. They’ve had a good 7-3 homestand, but that wasn’t quite as strong as it could’ve been. Atlanta’s already 2.5 back, and with a nice push this week they’ll be 3.5 back and the Mets can hopefully put one of these streaks together in the summer to lengthen the distance.

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Good Brews

I was in attendance for the Saturday game against the Milwaukee Brewers. I have a Saturday season plan, so I’m always in attendance for the Saturday games. Today the Brewers just looked good. The Mets were a bit sloppy, Pelfrey’s unseasoned and Ben Sheets pitched pretty well.

I know they didn’t play as well Friday night, but seeing them in person I was impressed. From Tony Gwynn throwing out David Wright at second on his hit off the wall, to the crazy antics of the fourth inning where Prince Fielder popped into a sacrifice double play. 4-2-6-3-6. Gotay drifting back makes the catch in shallow right, and has no momentum on his throw home to get the tagged runner. I wonder if Shawn Green should’ve called him off and made that play? On the throw J.J. Hardy attempts to goto second, and Lo Duca grabs the too late, and way off line throw and guns it to Reyes, who now has Hardy in a rundown. However in the 6-3-6 rundown somehow they forget about the other runner, who scores from second. Sure it sloppy of the Mets to let it happen, but it was also sharp of the Brewers to capitalize on that. J.J. Hardy hit a grand slam, and also made a great catch in the bottom of the 9th of a lopsided game to end it. J.J. Hardy looks like the Freddy Sanchez of this year.

Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano finally shed their 0 eras after that, and any chance of a Met comeback just faded. At least it didn’t come in a situation where they blew the game, and now we can stop worrying every time they come out that they’re due to give up some runs. Feliciano actually got out of the jam Aaron Sele got in in the 6th very nicely. 1 pitch double play, and then another out 3 pitches later.

It’d be nice to win today, not lose another series and hint to the Brewers that they just might not be the best team in the National League. The Braves play against Ian Snell today, who I just picked up in a fantasy league and I think they’ll be losing. I’m still sticking to my prediction that the Mets are going to click one of these next couple of days and go on a tear that takes both the Yankees and the Braves in their wake.

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Time to get hot

In last nights game both Wright and Delgado had hits. RBI hits. Big hits. Delgado hit a home run into the water, and Wright has the 2-run double that gave the Mets the lead. Off Armando Benitez too. Gee, didn’t see that coming? A lot has been made about Wright’s lack of home runs, and while he should be hitting more, he’s not a power hitter. He claims that himself, and if you look back, a lot of his big hits are just that, hits or doubles into the gaps or down the line or over Johnny Damon’s head. He has his share of big home runs too, but he doesn’t go up there swinging for the fences, knowing a 2-run double can be just as important. I don’t think there is any reason to worry about David Wright, haircut or not.

They secured the game last night, getting runs when they needed it. However, we still feel like we’re waiting for them to click, but when you look at the record, it’s not like they’re struggling. Sure it’s not as strong a start as last year, when we’d only lost one series to this point and already had a huge division lead, but we didn’t think it would be this year. Despite the 21-12 record, it’s apparent the Mets have another level that they haven’t yet reached. The 5-2 road trip was good, but it wasn’t dominating. Remember that west coast trip the Mets went on last year? Where they basically scored in the first inning every day and just didn’t lose? I’m sure they have a streak in them like that this year. And maybe it’s coming. As we saw when games went from meaningless spring to grudge match against the Cardinals, the Mets can find strength in playing tougher teams. The Brewers and Cubs and Yankees are all coming up, all pretty good teams. 10 game homestand, where they haven’t yet played well, only going 7 and 7 in their first 14 games at home. This looks like as good a time as any to go on a tear. 8-2 or 9-1 homestand asserting their dominance of two of the better teams in the National League and one of the best in the American?

The season’s starting to really get going, and It’s time for the Mets to make their move and gain some distance from the Braves.

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Heating Up In The Desert

By now I’m sure everyone knows about how great the Mets play in Arizona. Maybe if they moved their spring training camp, like the Dodgers will do next year, they’d play better in the spring too.

Easley came through again Thursday night, to take back the lead in the top of the 9th. Wins like that are so invigorating. David Wright kept the inning going with a 3-run home run of his own, and Billy Wagner probably didn’t know whether to cheer or cry. I’m sure he wanted that save. He got his 6th last night, giving up a walk but getting a nice double play. For the first time in May Wright didn’t get a hit, and facing the reigning Cy Young award winner Brandon Webb might cool Wright off before he has a chance to really get going. I doubt it though, I expect David’s starting to remember how to really smack the ball, and someone’s gotta keep this streak against the Diamondbacks alive tomorrow, so why not him?

Randy Johnson looked mediocre yesterday, and you wonder when he’ll finally realize he’s no longer the dominant pitcher he once was and retire. Of course he’s young and spry compared to Julio Franco, who had both a stolen base and a home run yesterday. It’s obvious he can still play, but I worry that the long season will wear him down, as it appeared to do last year. Luckily the bench with Chavez, Newhan and Easley as well as Franco seems like it will fare much better this year. Add the possibility of players like Ben Johnson, Ruben Gotay and Lastings Milledge to the mix and they’re looking good.

The Mets don’t play any really bad teams in May, the Giants and Cubs being more dangerous than their record suggests and the Marlins having enough young talent that you never know how they’re going to look. A lot of people think the Braves are going to stick around all year, and it’ll be interesting to see as this month progresses if anyone pulls away a little. The Mets will visit Turner Field after playing the Yankees this month, and that might be the time to start making that move. We know June may just be one of the toughest scheduled months in baseball, which them meeting six of the seven playoff teams from last year. Putting together a streak here in May would go a long way to keeping Atlanta at bay, whether or not they fall of the pace. After losing four of six to the Braves, if it’s still this close on May 22nd, I expect the Mets to reassert who’s the team to beat in the National League (East).

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Bad Spring doesn’t mean Bad Season

Mar 28, 2007 05:11 PM

Just a couple of more days until the season starts, and the Mets still seem to have plenty to figure out after they tied the club record for most losses in spring training today. Duaner Sanchez is sidelined for at least a couple of months and after what amounts to about a year off, will he even be as good as he was at the beginning of last year? Will Heilman still be able to be good this year with his starting ambitions and his tendonitis? How long does Shawn Green get before he gets benched for Milledge, and is Milledge ready to be a major-league contributor? What about Jose Valentine and second base? Can Anderson Hernandez learn to hit major league pitching well enough to take his job if he struggles? The starting rotation is either old or mostly untested, which leaves one question. Is this going to keep the Mets from getting to the World Series, where both the organization and fans expect them to be?

I believe that it won’t keep them from it. Spring training games mean nothing, and the players know this. The beginning of the season is full of motivating to get pumped and get into the game. First they open the season by watching the Cardinals ceremony, reminding them of their failure last year, and I’m sure the reporters there that day won’t be hesitant to ask them about it. The next series, on Friday, is Atlanta’s home opener. While none of the current Mets really have connections to the Mets struggles at Turner Field and with the Braves, they’re still a division rival who wants their title as Champions of the East back. If that wasn’t enough they come home Monday to play the home opener in front of 55 thousand fans whose last glimpse of the Mets was watching Wainwright’s pitch go past Beltran for strike three. They open against the Phillies who many people have picked to win the division this year, Shortstop Jimmy Rollins included.

The Mets have enough offense to get some runs produced, plenty of speed, and good defense in most positions. While everyone points to the Mets rotation as the weak point of the team, they do it from a pessimistic standpoint. Who’s to say John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Mike Pelfrey aren’t going to be good this year? These statements aren’t made out of recent history, as there is very little of it, and most of it’s good. John Maine and Perez pitched well last year, and came through when they were needed in the playoffs. Despite being decimated by injuries, it wasn’t the Mets starting pitching that kept them from the World Series last year.

There were many candidates for the 5th starting spot in spring, and while most of them didn’t pitch so well, it is only spring. Pelfrey will get his shot by mid-April and if he doesn’t succeed, chances are one of these other guys has been pitching well in New Orleans and can come up and pitch.

Omar Minaya shouldn’t be forgotten either. It’s perfectly legitimate to expect that he could make some moves and bring in help where it’s needed mid-season. However, without having to even do anything, the Mets will bring in a top, Hall of Fame destined pitcher around the trade deadline in Pedro Martinez. Is anyone else involved in a playoff run at the time going to be able to do as much to improve the rotation?