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Letters to the NL East, Part 2/5

(To read past year’s letters, click here)

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Letters to the NL East, Part 2 of 5. (part 1)

Dear Washington Nationals,

You’ve won the award for biggest roster turnover, and biggest hyped prospect, but this doesn’t mean that you’re going to be vastly improved.  Kudos on working to make the future of baseball in Washington DC a little bit brighter.

With Steven Strasburg looming in the minors it sounds like there will be more to look forward to this season beyond Barack Obama throwing out the Presidential first pitch.  This tradition was actually first started by Taft 100 years ago.

You’ve got some talented young pitchers on the team already, and a couple of guys that can actually swing the bat.  However this isn’t enough to field a complete team, and though you’ll be improved, you’ll still likely be the caboose of the National League East and end your season along with everyone else on October 3rd.

Look on the plus side though, if Strasburg is talented enough to make the majors this year he’ll draw a lot of fans to come see him pitch!

Sincerely yours,

Optimistic Mets Fan

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Letters to the NL East Part 1/5

(To read past year’s letters, click here)

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Letters to the NL East, Part 1 of 5.

Dear Florida Marlins,

Congratulations! You’ve been caught stealing from the league! No one was surprised after you were told by the league to stop pocketing the revenue sharing money that you handed your star pitcher a big check.  Why look at free agents or try to actually improve the team in any way?  That’d cost money!  Maybe when you get that new stadium right?

This isn’t to say you don’t have any good players. The aforementioned Josh Johnson and the whiny guy at shortstop are stars.  Some good prospects and young talent floating around down there, but who knows how reliable or talented they will end up being.  Chances are you’ll be the team that’s semi-talented, capable of winning any ballgame but just not that often.  Yes, you’ll probably beat the Washington Nationals, but that’s not exactly high praise.

You’ll be in to Citi Field to open the season this year, and I suspect that’s the closest you’ll be to the Mets in the standings all year.  You’ll play the Mets a series in Puerto Rico this year as well, and despite having last licks, I suspect there will still be more people in the stands rooting for the Mets.

Your disgusted rival from up north,

Optimistic Mets Fan

Hop over to The Real Dirty Mets Blog for some lively discussion on the topic.

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Heading Out to Citi Field This Season

As usual, I’ll be heading out to Citi Field more than a couple of times this season.  I’ve currently committed to four games, as you can see in the ‘upcoming games’ box on the sidebar. 

I try to get to Opening Day any chance I can.  I wasn’t able to secure or afford second hand tickets to the Opener last year, but this year with demand a little down and it not being a new stadium, I was able to get tickets.  I’ll be in the Promenade Box, and Opening Day can’t come soon enough.   I always remember the early April games, and walking into Shea Stadium, and remembering how much I missed being there, and how much I felt I belonged.  I suspect this season will be no different, and I already have a bunch of things planned.  If you’re also going to be there, you should check out Mets Police’s Blue Cap Army.  All you have to do is show up wearing a blue Mets cap.  Easy!

Opening Day has a lot of hoopla to get out of the way, and it’s more about the return of baseball games that count, so I like to get to another game early on to devote solely to the Mets.  Friday April 9th will be that game. I’m going alone, will probably spend most of the game on my feet wandering around to different parts of the stadium and enjoying the different vantage points.  I’ll probably buy a scorecard and keep score, and have my camera and take a billion pictures.

Pyrotechnics night is July 5th.  I was frequently at Shea for Fireworks night, and I was lamenting it’s disappearance once Citi Field’s construction starting taking up the parking lot, so I’m glad it’s back in some fashion.  I have no idea how they’re going to do it, and what the difference between pyrotechnics and fireworks is, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.

The Hall of Fame ceremony game is August 1st.  Something that has  been somewhat lacking in the last couple of years is a true celebration of long time Mets greats, and properly honoring them.  This day will rectify that, and it should be a game that sells out.  After all, there has been tons of screaming and yelling about Citi Field not having enough Mets history in it.  If you’re one of those people, you pretty much have to be there.  It would look really bad if Mets fans were clamoring for Mets history but don’t sell out a game celebrating it.  This isn’t about the team this year, this is about being a Mets fan.  As of right now, not even the cheapest section is sold out.

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More Pressure For a Quick Start

ike davisIt’s not just Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya that have to worry about fast starts to the season or their jobs being in jeopardy.  The same case could be made for Jeff Francoeur,perez Daniel Murphy, and Rod Barajas.  The way Ike Davis, Fernando Martinez, and Josh Thole have been playing in a way this spring that makes you suspect they’ll be knocking at the door to Citi Field sooner rather than later.

With Reyes possibly being out some, or all, of April the pressure on the starting pitching has just doubled.  The most recent report on April suggests that he may be back closer to mid April, but that’s still a rough estimate.

We’ve known for a while that the season was going to hinge on the starting pitching.  The offense was projected to be one of the top in the league, and surely would’ve won some games on it’s own even when the pitching struggled.  With Reyes and Beltran out, they may not have that cushion for a while, but this doesn’t mean the Mets are doomed to a 9-13 type record to start the season.

The fast start is more important than ever, and if Maine, Perez, and Pelfrey can have a good month of April the Mets will still win games.  We all know they’re each capable of pitching good games.  It was expected before the season that they could definitely pitch competitively and keep us in games, but now they may be pressured to actually win the games.  Instead of quality start performances and limiting the opponents to three runs over six innings, stepping up and going seven innings and occasionally limiting the other teams to merely one or two runs becomes important to the Mets early success.

This isn’t to say the Mets lineup is useless, and that they won’t occasionally put up a crooked number, but Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are two of the most irreplaceable players in the game today.  The season is never won and lost in April, but if the pitching can step up and win more games than they lose, not only will it minimize the damage caused by losing Reyes and Beltran, it will set them up nicely once they return.

This post, and vibrant discussion about it, also featured on The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

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Aftershocks of the 2009 Mets Season

aftershockThe 2009 season for the Mets was a disaster.  After careful review, it appears that the specific type of disaster was earthquake.  Even after the disastrous season ended we’ve been hit with aftershocks.  Aftershocks are known as smaller earthquakes that follow after the original quake, not to be confused with the alcohol beverage that was needed for us fans to get through the season.  They can still be dangerous, but generally get smaller and farther apart as time goes on.

Carlos Beltran’s scoped knee surgery was the first aftershock of the 2009 disaster.  While final damage totals are not yet in for this one, it’s expected he’ll miss up to a month of real time.  The last report I heard suggested that he’d be cleared to resume baseball activities right around the time the Mets head north for Opening Day.

The Jose Reyes Thyroid aftershock hit last week, when blood work revealed that Reyes has an overactive thyroid.  The results and treatment for this are still being determined, but many opinions suggest that it shouldn’t be a big deal and he can get back to playing soon.  This smaller aftershock was still upsetting, but it seems like it won’t be one that did much damage.

Other smaller aftershocks have occurred throughout Spring Training for the Mets.  Francisco Rodriguez came down with pink eye, pinkeyebut didn’t become a zombie.  Fernando Tatis is batting some knee issues, and Nick Evans strained his forearm.  Neither is considered serious and Frankie is back and pitching again.

The big thing to remember here is it’s not 2009 anymore.  You can check the calendar if you don’t believe me.  Every tweak or setback or injury is not indicative of disaster, and the bad luck that plagued the Mets in 2009 was just that; bad luck.  The way Reyes did not adequately recover from his hamstring injuries has nothing to do with what his thyroid may or may not be doing right now, and the bone bruise that Beltran had does not relate to his recovery from having his knee scoped in the off season.  Right now we’re still in limbo waiting on how Reyes will be treated by doctors and when he’ll get back down to Florida to continue Spring Training, but once he does everything will be alright.  Soon it will be time for baseball to count, and we can start obsessing over wins and losses and pitching performances and home run totals instead of thyroid levels and pink eye symptoms.

Visit The Real Dirty Mets Blog for lively discussion on this, and other, Mets topics.

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Unsuccessful Franchises

There are eight teams remaining in Major League Baseball that played in the National League in the 19th century through to today: The Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the San Francisco Giants, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

From MetsStuff

Even though I’m not a basketball fan, I find myself routing for the New Jersey Nets.  They’re on pace to break the record for worst NBA season this year, surpassing the 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers.  It’s my feeling that I want to keep the city of Philadelphia associated with failure.  Prior to the Phillies winning in 2008, the city had gone 25 years without a championship in any major sport.  The Phillies are the only professional sports team to have lost 10,000 games: an unprecedented level of failure.

This got me thinking about the other older teams that have been around as long as the Phillies.  How are those teams doing?

The Braves will be the next team to lose 10,000 games.  They have a record of 9854-9883.  That’s good for a .499 winning percentage, which is pretty decent.  They actually have a shot at reaching 10,000 wins first.  They need to win 96 games next season to get above .500 for their history.

The Giants were the first team to 10,000 wins and the Dodgers, Cubs, and Cardinals have joined them.

The Pirates and the Reds both have winning records.  The Reds have 9824 wins to 9548 losses, and the Pirates, even after being a joke for the last two decades, have a record of 9753-9579.

The other old team, the Philadelphia Phillies, are in another class altogether.  They hold a record of 9038-10,167.  That’s good for a .471 winning percentage which is 26th of active franchises.  Only the Padres, the Rangers, and the expansion Rays have a worse winning percentage.  If the Phillies went 96-66 every season it would take them 38 years to get over the historical .500 mark.

The Mets aren’t exactly in great shape either, although they’ve won as many championships as the Phillies in roughly a third of the time.  They only have a .479 winning percentage and a 3655-3981 record.  They have a losing record in all three stadiums they’ve played in, but hopefully they can fix that this year.

Read and comment on this post at The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

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The Anti-Mets

Many Mets fans would fall into a more doom and gloom mindset than a positive one.  Whether that’s because of persistent disappointment, a “younger-brother” mentality associated with the Yankees, the attitude of talk radio hosts, or something else, Mets fans tend to approach the team waiting for the other shoe to drop and the team to fail.

From Baseball

As the self-proclaimed Optimistic Mets Fan, I tend not to take this approach anyway, but I’ve found that this rule is not true across the board.  Oddly enough, there are two Mets players that never fail to bring out smiles and optimism; Johan Santana and Jose Reyes.

From Baseball

These two Anti-Mets, more than any other player, bring out positive vibes from Mets fans.  Carlos Beltran, despite being very clutch, has the cloud of his strike out against the Cardinals in the 2006 playoffs.  David Wright has been considered almost un-clutch by many fans.

Even if it’s not true, when David Wright comes up with a runner on third, many are expecting a strkeout.  When Oliver Perez lets up a leadoff double, most fans expect him to walk two following that.  Jason Bay hasn’t even played a game yet and you just know many fans are already expecting every opposing runner to score from second on a single to left field.

Reyes is different.  When Reyes gets on to lead off an inning, Mets fans give him second base like it’s a foregone conclusion.  They expect him to score on any ball hit to the outfield.  They expect opposing pitchers to get nervous and possibly balk in runs.

It’s similar for Johan Santana.  If it’s an Oliver Perez start, fans are betting the over/under on how many walks he gives up.  Or how many foul balls John Maine has.  If it’s a close game in the 6th or 7th inning and Pelfrey is pitching and lets up a leadoff single, Mets fans think “Here we go again.”  If Santana lets up that same leadoff single even many of the pessimistic fans are just thinking about double plays and are recalculating how many pitches it’ll now take to get the next three guys out to see if Santana can pitch another inning afterwards.

This is the true meaning of the phrase, “As Reyes goes, so do the Mets.”  Mets fans expect winning results from Reyes and when they get it they feel the Mets will win.  Johan is such a fierce competitor that as fans we’re surprised when the opponents’ bats don’t literally explode under his gaze.  It doesn’t matter that the Mets have never pitched a no-hitter; when Johan strikes out the leadoff batter, the first thing we think of is “26 to go.”

This post is also visible at The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

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New York Mets Memorabilia of the 1970s

I came across some old Mets (and generic Hall of Fame and Yankees) stuff this off-season.  I scanned a few of my favorites to share.  This is the first set.  Here’s the scoreboard shot after Seaver set the NL record with seven consecutive 200 K seasons.

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Here’s the back of the 1974 Mets schedule.  Box Seats for $4?  I’ll take it.

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Here’s the front of the schedule, with the rarely seen Lady Met.

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Wayne Garrett and his wife Donna scouting the competition.  Apparently the Mets and Phillies used to have their wives play a couple of innings of softball occasionally.  Seems like a cool idea.

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This post is also viewable on The Real Dirty Mets Blog

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Excited for Spring, Rooting for The Mets

From Mets

20 Days until Pitchers and Catchers and Injured Players report to Port St. Lucie.   I’m excited.  To me, it’s hard not to be. It’s still Mets baseball, and no matter how you feel about the Wilpons, the front office, or the team, there are still fun games to be played this season, and fun players to watch.

Johan Santana’s due to make 33 or so starts, and every one of those games is worth watching.

Jose Reyes is reportedly healthy and is always a joy to watch play the game. He’s due to be out there on the field at least 155 games or so.

David Wright, Jeff Francoeur, and Daniel Murphy may have varied amounts of upside or talent, but all three of them play their hearts out.  You can’t ask for more out of a baseball player.  You can truly believe that these guys want to win at least as much as you want them to.

From Mets

Exciting rookies like Josh Thole, Jonathan Niese, Fernando Martinez, and maybe even Ike Davis are candidates to make appearances this year.  It’s always fun to watch homegrown guys try to break out and become major leaguers.

You may be down on Mike Pelfrey a little, but he’s going to work out to do better this year.  He’s still a young, talented, homegrown pitcher who will hopefully have a bounceback type season, and there is a good chance we see Niese come up and pitch this year.

The 2010 season won’t be won in January, it won’t be won on paper, and when April 5th comes and the Mets take the field, they’ll do so tied for first place.  This is small consolation right now, but anything can happen.  There is still time for a trade to happen for another pitcher.  It’s entirely possible that one of the Mets starters has an excellent season and pitches great to compliment Santana.  The offense isn’t bad, and it’s entirely possibly Beltran is back and healthy by May and Francoeur continues his resurgence and everyone plays well.  If some of these things happen, the Mets will be extremely competitive and rather than berate the players I think will fail I’m going to focus on rooting for them to succeed.  Isn’t that the point of being a fan?

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Staying Positive on Beltran

Everyone’s down after the news that Carlos Beltran had surgery on his knee and will likely miss Opening Day, and probably most of April.  The one thing we were all hoping for in 2010 is that we could go into the season healthy, with a full team on the field, and start feeling good about the Mets again; Positive about the Mets again.  This doesn’t help that cause.

I’m going to ignore most of the off-field drama for now.  There is a still a lot that we don’t know, about who knew what, what the doctors said, how much the Mets knew or didn’t know, and when Beltran started feeling pain.  We know he told Kevin Burkhardt in November that he felt no pain.  His knees started acting up again and he had surgery.  We’ll go from there.

We haven’t gotten a solid figure on recover time yet.  The common figure seems to be around 12 weeks to baseball activity, whatever that means.  Is that another month past the 12 weeks to be on the field with the Mets?  It’s roughly 12 weeks to Opening Day, so we’re basically talking about most or all of April.  If the prognosis is closer to 8-12 weeks, maybe he can be back sooner.  Maybe it’s not as serious as all that.  I don’t think we’ll really know until we see how Beltran feels in March. 

The events of 2009 have given us no reason to believe anything the Mets, or anyone, says about recovery time and return to action.  I don’t see how we can do anything else right now.  Beltran is irreplaceable and if he’s out for longer than April, things could get murky.  Angel Pagan has played very well with the Mets, and while he’s no Beltran, the team can be successful with him in CF temporarily.  Fernando Martinez could become a factor too, if he shows something amazing in Spring Training.  Of all the possible contigency plans, that has to be the most exciting one. 

For now, I’m going to stay upbeat and cross my fingers about all things going well from here on out, and Beltran being on the field by May 1st.  A-Rod missed April for the Yankees last year.  Championships aren’t won in April.  The Mets need to get another solid pitcher, and it looks like they should find another solid lefty OF bat for the bench.  I have good feelings on Mike Pelfrey and John Maine based on some stuff I’ve heard from them, and if both of them pitch well in 2010 it would actually overcome the lost offense from Beltran to Pagan.