Posted on

Welcome to the 30-30 Club

David Wright reached the 30 home run and 30 stolen base plateau Sunday with his home run in the 7th inning. He became the third Met to do it, and the first since his hitting coach, Howard Johnson, did it in 1991. This is especially impressive considering he basically did it without the month of April where he didn’t hit a home run and only stole three bases. I thought Wright had a good chance to do this this year, and it turns out I was correct. I also thought the Mets could win the World Series, so we’ll see how that goes. I also think Jose Reyes has a shot to be a 30-30 guy in the future, but only time will tell.

Wright plays a smart game and is a great player; I fully expect this to the first of many 30-30 years he racks up. I don’t think Howard Johnson’s knowledge should be overlooked here either, I like Hojo as a batting coach. In a season that in June looked like the Mets would struggle to have even one player get to 100 RBIs, Wright has managed to put up some impressive numbers as an MVP candidate.

Also performing well after a bad start is Pedro. Pedro didn’t actually have a bad start, he didn’t have a start at all. He’s three starts in and all three have been superb. It looks like he’ll for sure get a start in the playoffs, the only downside is with his still healing rotator cuff, it will be tough for him to go deep into games. I’m interested to see how the bullpen shakes up during the playoffs. Presumably Maine and Perez will both be there in the division series, so hopefully they can get the job done and guys like M*ta and Sele don’t need to make the roster, leaving room for guys like Joe Smith or even Willie Collazo if he can get the job done.

I know Collazo is too much of a rookie for Willie to go to him in the playoffs, but hopefully he finds a suitable substitute that he can use where we don’t have to worry when the starters don’t go 9.

Luckily, I think the Mets committed all the rest of their errors for the season and postseason this weekend, so it should be smooth sailing here on out.

Posted on

Notes from Early September

Pedro: He’s looking better and better. Hopefully the end of the season doesn’t come before he peaks.

Book review: I just finished a new Mets book, my write-up to come.

David Wright: You all know the story here, and it’s really no surprise. He’s an uncrowned leader and most valuable player of at least the Mets.

Bullpen: It’s looking better. Remember that in the playoffs it’ll also have one or two of our five strong starters.

A-Rod: Suddenly talk has risen about him surpassing Roger Maris. I don’t think he will; he’s actually four or five behind the pace. I’m torn about whether I think he’ll tie the Babe at 60 or fall one short. The Curse of the Bambino will permit nothing else.

Tonight’s game is an example of how the Mets just aren’t going to win every single game, but Reyes has three doubles so far, which is nice to see. Reyes does get into a funk every once in a while, and I think the grind of the season caused Reyes to take longer to break out of it this time.

I really like Wright batting third. I didn’t think I would at first, but somehow this lineup just seems right. Reyes has been getting some criticism about his production this year, but I think it’s mostly unfounded. He doesn’t have as many RBIs or home runs this year, but that’s not his game, and lately the complaints have been that he’s popping up the ball too much. I think he has improved; his runs are a little behind this year, but I actually think they reflect better on him this year. He’s gotten more of those runs manufactured this year, through his many stolen bases, whereas last year Lo Duca and Beltran and Delgado were driving him in. This year the offense behind him was a little slow, which kept him from scoring more often than not.

I will be at Shea tomorrow night, courtesy of the free tickets from the Mets for attending the Mets at the Movies promotion. I’d invite you to come say hello, but the tickets are for section 41, row Q. I think I can find two seats a teensy bit closer than that at least. I’ll also be in my usual seats (UR section 15, Row G) for Saturday too.

Posted on

Brooms a Flying

Brooms Flying

I said the Mets would sweep the Braves, and now they have. Anyone that doubts that the Philly series was the exception rather than the rule needs to look again. The Mets are again four games up, on the way to being five up as I write this. Assuming the bullpen hangs on, the Mets will again be going for five wins in a row.

Another thing that we need to stop talking about is the Atlanta ‘jinx’. There is no such thing, and if there ever was, it’s over. The Braves have no more magic, no more sway over the Mets. Chipper Jones may still have the Mets number, but it’s a lost cause. The Mets are very clearly better than the Braves, are the defending champions, and hold a commanding leader over those Braves again this season. So what if the season series is seven wins to eight losses against Atlanta? They were held down and pummeled when it counted the most. This weekend was pretty much must-win for the Braves for any illusions about the division, and maybe even the playoffs.

Now everything probably won’t go as well as it has these last four days, but I think this is closer to the Mets than the Philly series was. Delgado seems to have some power back, and if he can hold on to some of that and Alou can stay healthy the Mets have something that they actually lacked for much of the season, power. Beltran was slumping a bit, and Wright’s not a pure power guy, so the Mets were often resorting to small ball and stringing together hits. There are only so many hits you can string together sometimes. Many of those games in the middle of the summer that the Mets lost would’ve been wins if the RBI singles had become three run home runs.

Pelfrey and Pedro looked good, David Wright’s making his case for 30-30, as well as MVP, Wagner finally earned a save again, and the bullpen has settled down a little.

The magic number is at 23, soon to be 21, and before you know it we’ll be pricing playoff tickets on Stubhub and hoping the Mets clinch at home on the 24th so that we can be in attendance.

Posted on

The Real Truth

I know this series sucked, trust me. I still believe it’s the exception and not the norm, and were this the playoffs we’d have found a way to win, and hold the leads. Wagner and El Duque are not usually going to pitch like this.

This is the NL East race, pictured here in mid-September.

Posted on

If you don’t have something nice to say..

I still trust Willie, I do. It’s only the regular season, but I wish they’d played more to step on their throats. They’ve hit a little downswing offensively which is understandable after a two week stretch on fire, but the bullpen has been unable to make anything stick.

The Phillies won’t catch up, but you can’t let them sweep either. Even the four games, while it doesn’t sound like much, is enough for the division. Willie has some hard decisions ahead of him about postseason rotations and bench players, but he’s got an equally hard and much more important one in finishing out this bullpen. We’ll get some September call ups, and Willie has to be looking for some extra bullpen help. Someone needs to play well, so Willie can pull the “I can’t leave this guy off the way he’s throwing” justification for not putting Mota on the postseason roster. Honestly the Mets need to do some cost analysis and realize that the extra postseason money that they’ll make from the team going further into the playoffs is more than enough to pay off Mota’s contract.

Tomorrow I’ll be watching the game at the Ziegler theatre with the Mets at the Movies promotion they’ve been promoting for a couple of weeks. I have no idea what to expect, but hopefully it’ll be fun to see the Mets on the screen like that. Look for me, I’ll be the one with the Mets hat.

Posted on

Quick Word

Everyone else has already gushed over last nights game, so I’m just going to highlight a few things that I liked, and could help in the playoffs.

1. Beat a Cy-Young candidate pitcher.

2. Beat a Hall Of Fame bound Closer.

3. Staged multiple come from behinds RBIs

4. Beat a former Met, Heath Bell, and didn’t let a former Met, Mike Cameron, beat us.

Oh, and this was in the Press Pass notes for today’s game. I think it’s a little silly..at least wait a couple of games.

“Good Luck Charm: Since the birth of John Ricco’s daughter, Olivia, the Mets are 1-0.”

John Ricco being the assistant general manager.

Posted on

Pedro and the Padres

The Friars come to town this week, followed by the Dodgers. I’m planning on being at Wednesday’s game and my usual Saturday game for game numbers 24 and 25 on the season. That’s more than Carl Pavano. This team is finally playing with some fire and energy, winning six of their last seven. I expect them to continue this stretch through these next two teams, who may be playoff contenders, but are not in the Mets class. More importantly, I think they’ll win more games than the Phillies and Braves over this six game stretch, bringing their division lead to at least six before they go play both of those two teams.

Jeff Conine is on his way, and I really could care less. I hope this isn’t a statement on how Delgado is feeling overall, because despite his 2007, I’d rather Delgado at first any day. Castro and Lo Duca healing up is another thing I’m waiting for, despite Mike Difelice doing as well as he is doing. Lo Duca was upset that he went on the DL in the first place, so I expect him to come back healthy and angry, which I suspect is when he’s at his best. Pedro Martinez is climbing the ladder, and I expect he’ll be here before we know it. He’s itching for the competitive baseball of the major leagues, and even though by the time he gets here we may be already putting the finishing touches on the division, I expect that competitive fire to come through in the playoffs.

Endy Chavez could be back as early as tonight. As far as bench impact players go, he’s a good one. He’s a fan favorite too, and maybe his reappearance is all the Mets need to start winning at home again. I’d love to finally break the 4-win plateau with some crushing victories at home over the Padres. I’d even be there for the 5th one should the game go well tonight, and with John Maine on the mound looking to redeem himself after a couple of iffy starts, I expect tonights game to be a good clean win.

Posted on

Down the Stretch

I wrote an article recently about a team’s transfer from old stadium to new ballpark. In it I mention the Home Run Apple. I’ve heard of a campaign to move the actual apple from Shea to Citi, and I thought about it a bit, and I don’t quite agree.

Recently brought to my attention was a campaign to keep the home run apple when the Mets move to Citi Field. Whenever a Mets player hits a home run at home a red apple rises out of a black top hat, lit up to display the Mets logo on the front. I’ve been talking about this for a while, but I don’t want the old apple at the new Shea. I want a new apple, a fresh apple, and most importantly, a real apple. An apple with the newness of Citi Field. A digital apple would just be a disgrace.

John Maine just looks tired, as I watch this second game of the Pirates series. He’s struggled through five innings, and I imagine he’s done. With the Mets up 5-3, at least he has a shot at a win. This would be game three in a row, on the way to trying to finally top their season-high four game winning streak. Hopefully the Mets can find a way to get a little more of a lead in the division, allow them to rest Maine and Perez, rather than risk burning them out.

They need to address the bullpen a little too, and I’m afraid big contracts in the likes of Mota and Schoeneweis will prevent them from figuring out what would be best. They’ve got a guy or two down in the minors like Willie Collazo who I wouldn’t mind seeing. Joe Smith has only thrown five innings since going down; it might be time to bring him back up too. Jorge Sosa has pitched well out of the bullpen, maybe that’s a gem that we can count on where we weren’t expecting it.

Pedro threw his second rehab outing, did well, felt good, and continued on his path towards returning. It seems likely that he’ll be back in a couple of weeks, and maybe can provide that spark and energy that’s been so lacking so far. It’s going to be a fun night when he returns, and it’ll also be the night he gets 3000 strikeouts.

The Mets have just over six weeks remaining, and hopefully they can put behind this so-so season by coming on strong and playing like the playoff team they almost certainly will be.

Posted on

Brave Woes

We got the one game, which of course is less than optimal. However, we retain a comfortable four loss lead in the division. This was a much more important series for them than for us. Had the Mets won two, the Braves would be six back and in trouble. Now they’re not as much in trouble, but like they have for the past three months, they’ll be playing a series this weekend for third place.

Worry-warts are saying that this is the same old Mets team, struggling against the Braves. I think differently. That particular struggle was put to rest last year. The reason the Mets are 4-8 against the Braves this year is precisely that they’re not that good. The flip side is that the Braves know that the Mets are the team to beat, and they don’t seem to have any sort of struggles in playing the Mets. While the Mets see the Braves as just one of the teams they have to hold off, the Braves see these games as must wins. The Braves know that they have to beat the Mets to get to the top, and they play these games appropriately.

The Braves have to play this games this hard, because they’re not that good. They know they need to get through the Mets to win the division, because even winning what they have against the Mets, they’re not in first. If the Mets had even split these 12 games with Atlanta, I’d probably be discussing resting players already. All is not lost though. The Mets have two options that they can very easily take. The first is to start playing like they’re capable, beating teams left and right, starting with the Marlins this weekend. If they play strongly, there is no way the Braves can catch up. The other option is to play the six remaining games against the Braves hard, and put the distance between them that way.

The Mets have the capability to play well, and to win this division. They are easily the best team in at least the East, if not the whole league, and when they play well no one else has much of a chance.

Posted on

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.