I’m Rooting For Carlos Beltran and the Cardinals

Normally I wouldn’t be pro-Cardinals, especially after they eliminated the Mets in 2006, but as long as it’s not the Yankees It doesn’t really matter to me which team wins.  I don’t hate the Yankees because they win, I hate the attitude of many of the fans and the treatment they get in the media.  That’s what makes me root against them.  The Cardinals could be considered similar, but I have no contact with their fans and being in a different city keeps me separated from most of the Yankees writer counterparts that you can’t help but hear about when you live in the NYC area.  What does matter to me is Carlos Beltran.

 

Carlos Beltran may be a Hall of Famer alreadydepending on who you ask, but for those that don’t think he is, a World Series ring and further postseason domination would strengthen his case.  He’s played more games with the Mets than anyone else, the next closest being his Royals origins.  This suggests that if he were to get inducted down the road, he’d go in as a Met.  That means I’m invested in Beltran collecting the criteria required to strengthen his case, and if that means rooting for the Cardinals this postseason, so be it.

 

Carlos Beltran was one of the best Mets ever, and it was a joy to watch him during his tenure here.  He’s still a great player, and I’m rooting for him to continue the postseason dominance he’s shown in his previous two trips there.

Carlos Beltran Beats The Phillies

Last night I watched Carlos Beltran play right field and beat the Phillies.  Even though he went 0-4, you can tell he’s going to be a great fit on that team.  He makes the team so much better, and can provide the offensive boost they really need.

 

There are so many great Carlos Beltran moments with the Mets that it’s impossible to name just one.  He’ll be sorely missed regardless of how the team does.  Carlos Beltran was a truly Amazin’ Met and one of the greatest players in franchise history and one day he just might be a Hall of Famer wearing a Mets cap.

 

Good luck in San Francisco Carlos.  Maybe we’ll still see you again at Citi Field this year..

Give Carlos Beltran Your Love

Carlos Beltran is one of the all-time greatest Mets.  I know he doesn’t have a ring, but it’s not for lack of ability or clutch hitting.  He’s got a 1.3 career post-season OPS over 21 games.  He’s near the top in almost all franchise leaderboards.  He’s a leader in the clubhouse and cares about his team, and the community.  You couldn’t ask for a better guy than what we’ve gotten from Carlos Beltran over these last seven years.

It seems practically inevitable that he’ll be traded by the trading deadline even if many of us, emotionally, don’t want him to go.  With just two home games remaining before the trading deadline, time is growing short to thank Carlos Beltran for all he’s done.

So cheer when he’s announced. cheer when he makes a great play.  Cheer when he gets a hit, and when he draws a walk.  If he hits a home run, give him a curtain call that lets him know just how much he’s meant to us over these years. 

And if August first comes and he returns to Citi Field with the rest of the Mets?  Keep cheering, because he deserves it.

Biggest Week of Mets Baseball in Years

This next week or two may be the biggest games the Mets have played since the last week of 2008, and they also might be the biggest games they’ll play for years.  The Mets record, as well as the Phillies and Braves, will greatly determine the look of the team going forward this year, and maybe even next year too.

Sandy Alderson has said he would consider trading Carlos Beltran right now a white flag, but if the Mets play poorly over the next two weeks, that white flag is inevitable anyway.   It’s probably not just Carlos Beltran either; The Mets won’t get a ton for guys like Chris Capuano or Jason Isringhausen, but if the chances of contention plummet there will be little reason to keep them.   If they manage to climb closer in the race, the small return from trading those guys won’t be worth gutting the team.  In a way, the Mets could finish a handful of games above or below .500 based on how they do in these next bunch of games.

Either way this season will likely be viewed as a step in the right direction, but if the Mets fall out of it here and restructure the team with next year in mind, the record and excitement levels will fall.   That probably won’t be enough to prompt many to invest in this team, raising projected income and in turn, payroll.  As the memory of the last Mets game fades, we’ll be subjected to more financial news regarding the Picard lawsuit and the Madoff mess.  Their will be speculations about Einhorn’s control, about how much the payroll can possibly go up, and if the Mets will actually field a competitive team.   So the only real news will be mostly doom and gloom again, which won’t help sell tickets.  Just today someone called into WFAN in the brief 20 minutes I had it on proclaiming there is no way the Mets compete for five or six years.

If the Mets climb back into the race and get closer, Sandy Alderson will be more likely to keep players like Beltran, and may even look to add a reliever or someone, especially if the player can be helpful beyond this year too.   Whether or not they can or will win a playoff race is not the point here, the point is that if they stay close and prove that they can play with anyone it suggests that the Mets may not be years from competing.   They could go into the offseason with fans thinking they’re getting close and with the right moves, including resigning Jose Reyes, the Mets could be a very good team next year.  

There’s going to be a lot of stuff to watch with this team this year, and if they remain competitive and winning games they’ll bring in fans to watch versus fans switching gears to what could be a returning NFL season or something else.  Jose Reyes could have a record breaking season, as despite spotting the opposition 11 or more games, he’s still got a commanding lead in base hits.  David Wright will be returning, one of the Mets franchising players who they’ve sorely missed.  Johan Santana may return, and while that’s still up in the air, as is his effectiveness, it will be nice to see him on the mound again.  I would like to be at his first game back if I can at least.

It all starts tonight against the Phillies with your hero in attendence.   The Phillies aren’t taking the Mets seriously, opting to give  Halladay and Lee some extra rest coming off the break and pushing them back until after the weekend.  Facing Vance Worley, Cole Hamels who the Mets routinely beat, and Kyle Kendrick is not a daunting task.  Hopefully the Mets can get a hot start to the second half, while exposing the Phillies pitching depth, and start catching both them and the Braves who are playing the Nationals this weekend.

I Love The All-Star Game

I attended the All-Star Game in person in 2006 in Pittsburgh, and it really changed my opinion of the game in general.   It’s a true celebration of the greatest sport on Earth, and that’s something I can look forward to.

 

Just because I enjoy the game does not mean I don’t recognize that there are a lot of problems with it.  The biggest is the huge amount of players that do not participate, and truly do not want to participate.  There are problems with the voting, with the ballots, and with how much the game matters.  There are similar issues with the Home Run Derby, including it’s length.  I did actually like the way it was done this year, with two players selecting the rest.   It’s harder to say no to a coworker than it is to a boss.

 

So I’m going to enjoy celebrating baseball this week, and wish I was there.  If you don’t like the festivities (And if you don’t, I question why you clicked on a link that said “I love the All-Star Game”), don’t watch.  That’s fine, the Mets will be back Friday.  Just please refrain from tweeting and arguing about how much the game sucks and this and that. Why rain on my parade?  I try to keep the negativity to a minimum myself when I see my timeline filling up with boring soccer tweets, or college basketball tweets, so do me the same courtesy.  I don’t need to see you tweeting about how you’re so much better because you’re not watching the game.

Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran: Pretty Amazin’

During the Mets home run drought someone commented to me that comparisons to 1980 don’t bode well.  Well here’s a comparison to 1986 that’s exciting to see, via the Wall Street Journal: The Mets have two players (as of Tuesday) in the top 10 in OPS. The last year that happened was 1990, and before that 1986. 

 

This is one of the reasons the Mets are still afloat after losing David Wright and Ike Davis.   Still having these great players really helps things, as does having guys pressed into duty like Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada performing well. 

Ultimately comparisons to past years don’t mean anything.  Every season is full of “This hasn’t happened since” milestones both good and bad, but I wouldn’t count out a team that has two of the games top players and will likely be adding David Wright and Ike Davis at one point in the next month or so.

The Mets Are Confident

Over a month ago I wrote about the Mets breeding confidence with a big win. For all the talk of how the Mets haven’t been involved in any walk-off wins or losses this year, the only thing stopping that one was that they were on the road.  After falling behind 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th, the Mets rallied for four runs to win 6-3.  It was the game with the Hu sac-fly to tie it, perhaps the best moment of Hu’s Mets career.   Yesterday suggested that the Mets may in fact believe in themselves.

They’d come off a very tough loss the night before with a lot of bad luck and bloops and they were getting some of that same bad luck early.  Pelfrey struggled.  Except for Justin Turner the night before the Mets hadn’t hit a home run since Mike Piazza retired and were barely scoring runs.   All that didn’t stop Carlos Beltran from striding to the place and smashing a home run well over the left field fence to get the game to 7-3.  From there the Mets did what they could, with a lot of help from the Pirates, to tie the game and eventually take the lead 9-7 and the 9-8 win.

The Mets believe they can win games.  They believe they’re a talented team, injuries or not.  Terry Collins believes it too; whether or not his tirade in the post-game conference the other day had any motivating benefits to it, it wasn’t fake. 

Just believing in yourself is not enough to win baseball games, but doubting yourself or your team can lead to losses in games like yesterday.  Opportunities for wins can come at the strangest times and places, but a team needs to be prepared to capitalize.   This one come from behind win doesn’t forgive letting leads get away in the other games during this homestand by not making pitches or catches, but hopefully it helps the players believe that they CAN make those pitches and win baseball games.

Happy Easter Eggs

Courtusy of the Mets Twitter account, the Mets are 12-19 on Easter Sunday.

 

The lineup will be:  Reyes-SS, Murphy-2B, Wright-3B, Beltran-RF, Bay-LF, Davis-1B, Thole-C, Pridie-CF, Niese-LHP

It is also Carlos Beltran’s 34th birthday.

 

The last Mets player to hit four home runs in four games was David Wright on June 7th through June 10th of 2007.  Ike Davis has a chance to match that today.

 

For all the bullpen bashing for how badly they started, they haven’t allowed a run in eight innings, and have a 2.08 ERA over their last eight games.  Additionally, Pedro Beato has thrown 11 innings to start his major league career and has yet to allow a run.

Play Two, Win Two

Something you’ll hear a lot today:

“It’s hard to win both games of a doubleheader”

Don’t listen to them. This is just an excuse to temper expectations. The Mets can win both ends of the doubleheader today, if they pitch and hit the ball. Dickey on the mound for the first game with a healthy nail should be the starting point for a win. In my mind you never settle for a situation that includes losing, and accepting a split would be just that. If the Mets win the first game, should they just go home and concede the second? It’s hard to win both anyway right, so why burn out the pitchers? If you concede you solve the “Who pitches Friday?” problem as well, slotting in Capuano.

The Mets split the first doubleheader in Citi Field history on July 30th, 2009 against the Rockies. They swept the Rockies in a doubleheader on 8/19/04 in Colorado.

It’s still early and the Mets are still getting used to each other and the new leadership and the new season. Obviously you’d have preferred a rip-roaring start to this putrid mess of a homestand, but they’ve got a big series against the Braves this weekend and then six games at home against bad teams. Plenty of time to get the ship righted.

Upcoming Milestones:

Carlos Beltran is 1 double away from sole possession of 8th place on the Mets All-Time doubles list. He’s at 182 right now, tied with Cleon Jones.

Reyes, tied with Edgardo Alfonzo at 1136 hits for fourth in franchise history, needs 1 for sole possession. He’ll have a tough time catching up to #3, David Wright with 1163, but they’re both poised to pass Cleon Jones’ 1188 this summer.

Optimistic Notes for the Phillies Series

Cole Hamels is 2-8 in 13 starts against the Mets, with a 1.513 WHIP. David Wright has a .962 OPS against him in 37PA.  In 33 PA, Beltran has an OPS of 1.041 with three home runs.

The Mets get the end of the Phillies rotation, so Wednesday Mike Pelfrey pitches against Joe Blanton.

Shane Victorino hurt his calf on Saturday.  He still came in and played a couple of innings at the end of Sunday’s game, but it’s possible his range will be a tick off in center, or that he’ll be a step slower on the bases.

 Jose Reyes has good career numbers at Citizen’s Bank Park, and against the Phillies.

Chase Utley hasn’t had a magical recovery and second base is still manned mainly by Wilson Valdez.

In 16 innings, Francisco Rodriguez has yet to allow a run against the Phillies.

Carlos Beltran, in 42 AB, has an OPS of .857 against Roy Halladay.  Reyes, in 20 PA, has an OPS of 1.239.