You can root for the Mets without being convinced of their doom
My in-laws owned a deli in Brooklyn in the ’70s. One of the beers they sold was Rheingold, and a result they had this display board hanging in the deli, and then collecting dust in the basement until this weekend. The bottom reads: “Enjoy Rheingold here, and at the home of the World Champions”. Well, in 2011 that deli, and Shea, are gone, The Mets are no longer World Champions, and you cannot get Rheingold at their home. (Check out the Citi Field Beer List for what you CAN get)
Here’s David Wright touch home after homering in the 2006 All-Star Game.
The Mets are looking to finish the unofficial first half with a positive note, despite losing Jose Reyes this week for six or more additional games. They have three All-Star pitchers to face to get there, although the name Vogelsong doesn’t exactly fill you with fear.
With the Braves and Phillies rarely losing lately, the Mets have had trouble making up ground even when playing well. Which is why it’s important that they win some of these games against All-Star pitchers before they lose anymore ground. They still have plenty of time and plenty of games against their opponents, but you can’t let them get too far ahead either.
The Mets will have a chance to finish anywhere from one game under .500 to five games over. Merely winning the series would put them a comfortable three over, whereas losing it would drop them to just one. The Braves and the Phillies play each other this weekend, so one of those teams will have to lose at least two games. The Mets winning ensures they can at least gain ground on one of them. They then have a chance after the break to gain even more ground on Philadelphia directly.
If the Mets can win some of these games, including some of the ones after the break, they’ll start getting healthier with Jose Reyes, David Wright and maybe even Ike Davis returning to this offense. Adding those guys would suggest that the Mets would be better than they have been so far. There’s no saying that that will be enough to propel them above and beyond their competition, but it should be fun to watch. Hopefully the Mets can give those guys an opportunity to still be in the race when they return.
The Mets starting rotation has been performing pretty well. No one’s an ace, but mostly they’re keeping the team in games and pitching pretty well. Johan Santana appears to have taken the next step towards return, but there are a lot of questions revolving around that. Will he be the dominant Santana we’ve come to know and love, or some lesser pitcher while still recovering from the shoulder surgery? Which pitcher would he replace in the rotation, and will he be able to go deep into games, or will he be on a strict pitch count?
Maybe it’s Johan Santana who should go to the bullpen. In the best case we’re talking about five weeks of games, and maybe six or seven starts. He’ll barely have time to really get into a routine and build up some arm strength. Pitching out of the bullpen would allow him to work on his game and proving his shoulder is repaired without having to really push it. He’ll be able to build muscle and arm strength and work on his mechanics without the strain of 100 pitches at a time. They could work out a schedule and not pitch him too often or back to back days or whatever works best for him.
He has done it before. When he first came up with the Twins he spent a lot of time in the bullpen, and while that was before he was established it’s not exactly a foreign concept to him, he’s pitched 77 games out of the bullpen in his career. Let the beat writers joke about the Mets 23 million dollar middle reliever, it’s still better than the Mets 23 million dollar Ace who’s still experiencing soreness in his shoulder. Or..
Many feel Francisco Rodriguez is a lock to get traded before his option vests. It’s certainly possible, and it does seem like the Mets have a plan in mind with him as they certainly don’t seem to care about his option or use. What about using Johan Santana to close? Closers don’t have a whole ton of value, which is part of the reason you don’t need an overpaid closer clogging up the roster, but you do still need to replace the quality innings Rodriguez gives you and what better way than someone like Santana? You could say that Santana is not used to getting ready to pitch that fast, but he’d have all of “Spring Training” to get used to it, and with a closer you often have a couple more minutes.
After all, the goal with Johan is to get him pitching again. He needs to build up his arm muscles again and recover from having his shoulder sliced open. He doesn’t necessarily need to throw 40-50 innings to do so, 20-25 in a more limited capacity could be just fine. He’d be able to test out his shoulder, get some time under his belt with major league innings, and shut down at the end of the season healthy and ready to rev it back up in Spring Training like normal.
A lot of this could depend on how the Mets are doing in the playoff picture when Johan Santana comes back. On the other hand, it’d be foolish to rely on Johan for anything this year at this point in his rehab, so if he does indeed come back, the Mets don’t need to desperately shove him into the rotation and demand he win every game. Let him ease himself back into pitching, and take what value you can get while keeping him healthy and strong. He’s too valuable to future years to push him too hard coming back from surgery.
Jason Bay hit the wall in Dodger Stadium hard and made a great catch. A couple of days later he was done for the season, and when he returned this year it was like someone had switched him off. He struggled, was dropped in the order, failed to have an extra base hit for weeks, and watched his average plummet. Then he started to get some more hits, and the occasional home run. He was drawing more walks. Then he made another amazing catch and hit the wall in Dodger Stadium.
One of the first things they ask you when you call a tech repair shop for service on your computer is, “Is it switched on?” No one thought to ask that of Jason Bay this season. Then Bay hit the wall, and his switch went back on. Guys back in the clubhouse hung their heads in shame and said to themselves, “Why didn’t I think of that?” and Jason Bay hit two home runs and drove in four runs in a 6-0 rout of the Dodgers.
It was also Jason Bay’s 155th game as a Met, which would probably be more than he would’ve played in his first season as a Met. Perhaps he’s just safely past his ‘first year in NY’ slump, and back to being a good baseball player.
If you vote for Jose Reyes for the All-Star Game, and select the Mets as one of your favorite teams on the form (Why wouldn’t you?) you’ll be entered in the contest to win two tickets to a future Mets game and the chance to meet the National League leader in Hits, Runs Scored, Triples, and Average, Multi-Hit Games, and the hardest player in the league to strikeout.
You’ve got until Thursday and you can vote up to 25 times per email address so let’s get Jose Reyes that starting spot that he both wants and deserves. While you’re at it, give Carlos Beltran your vote too. For the American League I usually just look at the most recent standings and vote for the player that has the best chance to unseat a Yankee.
If you’re able to get to Citi Field on a weekday, the Mets annual summer blood is Thursday the 7th of July from 10 to 5. Do a good deed AND get Mets tickets for it. As a working resident of New Jersey I won’t be making this one, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t!
So while you’re waiting for the game to start, hop over to Mets.com and #votereyes.
This was originally a comment to a Mets Police post about ripping the Trade Reyes bandaid off, but I decided it deserved a post of it’s own.
It’s really a simple decision. Franchise players like Jose Reyes are very valuable, and it’d be especially silly to let him get away for anything but an absolute steal of a package, and even then I’d be reluctant. This isn’t fantasy baseball; I, and other fans, develop emotional attachment to players and there is value and revenue in that.
Sign Reyes, and you keep a franchise player that the fanbase loves and will define and promote your franchise for, and this isn’t an exaggeration, 60+ years. Keep one of the best players in the game at a premium position of which there is nothing close available on the market or in the minors. Finish the season at or above .500, regardless of if they can make a playoff push or not. Have people believing 2012 will be better, that we’re already into year two of the ‘rebuilding’ process and things are good and people are buying season tickets. The Mets (not the Wilpons) problem is not so much debt is it trying to get the revenue stream back above the level of what a competitive payroll is. To do this they have to keep people interested in the Mets and coming to the park. Who’s more interesting than Jose Reyes right now?
Or you can trade him or let him walk away, and finish below .500. Show people that this is year one of the demolition process before rebuilding starts. Watch no one pay any attention to the Mets all offseason, and no one buy season tickets, or renew season tickets. 2.5million fans this year becomes 1.5million fans next year, and in 2013, and in 2014.. prices come down because no one’s going, revenue drops as a result, less demand on advertising space drops revenue there as well. SNY becomes the Food Network; sure you’ll flip it on once in a while and see what’s cookin’, but it’s not worth DVRing. In an age when it’s so very very easy to watch any team in the league, and with the Mets unwatchable, many fans start half-following the Giants or wherever Reyes ends up playing. If MLB.TV existed when the Mets traded Seaver, how many Mets fans do you think would’ve purchased it to watch him pitch? In 2013 the Mets sell out the Giants series at Citi with the stands awash of really faded Black Mets 7 shirts. The next series against the Phillies is empty, no one wants to see two bad teams play. Citi Field feels empty without #7.
Saw this guy at the ballgame last week. He was in the perfect spot for a picture, so I obliged.
Gary Cohen is not a big fan of interleague play. During one of the broadcasts this week SNY showed the out of town scoreboard and Gary noted that SEA WAS looked more like an address than a rivalry.
Certainly true. He did miss another one though.
Another one not from this weekend would be TB FLA.
I told you yesterday I’d make sure they won..
More photos after the break. The game started an hour late but looked to almost finish at a normal time before Frankie got a hold of it.