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Battle for First

Could first place be around the corner?

mrmetphanatic

These current batch of Mets have been berated in the media and the blogs all week. “We can’t win like this” “These players aren’t very good.” Even the manager got into the act by asking for more offense and saying that it’d be tough to win with the current guys.

Despite all that, the Mets have now won two in a row, one with pitching and one with hitting. They will go into Philadelphia with a chance to take first place, sitting just one game behind the Phillies. (and the Marlins)

The Phillies aren’t playing great baseball either. In fact, the pitcher the Mets faced in Pittsburgh, Paul Maholm, has a better ERA than the Phillies ace Cole Hamels, and the two pitchers in the rotation the Mets are facing this weekend. The other pitcher, Rodrigo Lopez, is a journeyman pitcher who hasn’t pitched in the majors in two years. Lopez, coming off Tommy John surgery, signed with the Braves last year, pitching five innings in the minors, and was released at the end of the season. He’s nearly given up a home run a start in his career, which will go over well in that ballpark, and his best year came in Baltimore in 2002. He was 5-4 with a 3.91 ERA in the minors this year.

So the pitching landscape the Mets will face this weekend is not great. The lineup isn’t what it would be with Reyes, Delgado and Beltran in it, but most of these guys are still major leaguers, or prospects, and should be able to score some runs in a ballpark that lends itself to scoring runs.

The worry may be on the pitching side. Livan Hernandez has been pitching pretty well and hopefully he can keep the Phillies in the park. Fernando Nieve is basically an unknown, having had three excellent starts and one bad one. Has he been properly scouted now? Have the Phillies read the scouting reports? Or was last time just a blip, and he’ll bounce back with a good performance? Sunday is almost a must-win, with Santana on the mound. He’s a competitive guy, and nothing is more competitive than a competition for first place, against rivals, after a bad performance in his last outing. Expect good things from Santana on Sunday, which is also the halfway point in the season. Santana typically pitches well in the second half. A lot hinges on Livan tonight. The Phillies bats have been sleeping, and it would do us good not to wake them up.

Bad games, horrible losses, injuries, and bad managing in the first half can all be put aside this weekend. If the Mets play competitive baseball for these three days, the first half ends and the second half begins without any handicap or ground to make up. Beltran and Reyes may both be back before we know it, and it’d be an excellent situation to be in if they come back not to help the Mets play catchup, but to help the Mets put distance between them and whoever is in second come that point.

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Bring It

There is a new hitting instructor for the Mets. His name is Chan Ho Park.
chanhophilly
I can’t think of anything better to get the Mets bats going than this guy, pitching in Citizen’s Bank Ballpark. The quality of the Phillies pitching is not very good in general, and I’d say the Mets have a favorable matchup in every game.

It’s time to get healthy and build some confidence. There is nothing to the ‘heart’ argument. There is plenty to the pressure. Guys are pressing, and they’re failing. Some people let that pressure get them down, get them depressed, have them doubting their own abilities. (and the lack of confidence in them from the manager surely doesn’t help) Others just find themselves slumping. However, winning is contagious. These guys do seem to be pretty close. give them a couple of big wins, a good stretch, breaks going their way, a couple of consistent pitching performances in a row..something that would pump them up, as it would pump us up, and they’ll feed on that. Because they’re hungry for that success, and they’ll build on it.

So on to Philadelphia. Maybe it’s knowing the Mets play well in that park, that they’re due for a good stretch, that the Phillies just aren’t that good, that it’s Chan Ho Park pitching, but I feel good about this series. So I’ll make some baseless predictions, to help pump you up.

David Wright will have more home runs and RBIs in this series than in April.

Oliver Perez will pitch well, despite the home run to Chase Utley.

Ryan Howard will strike out at least seven times.

Utley will get hit by a pitch by Maine on Sunday, although it probably won’t hurt as much as Hanley’s.

The Mets will sweep this Turnpike series.

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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.