Back to .500

The Mets came inches away from their third straight shut out as Teixeira’s home run just missed Beltran’s glove.  In fact, that would’ve been an easy fly out in every other ballpark in the majors.

You can't see the new building in this picture because it's blocked by that historic structure Babe Ruth once played in...wait, what?

Now the Mets are back at .5oo and 22-22 on the season.  They played poorly early on, but despite injuries have really settled down.  They’ve suddenly got a very potent bullpen.  That’s not an exaggeration either, their bullpen has been as good as you could want for quite a while now.  Beato’s back to try to continue his scoreless inning streak.  Jason Isringhausen, if they considered relievers for the award, would be on his way to comeback player of the year.   Francisco Rodriguez remains one of the best closers in the game, and may actually be the best this year.

 

The bullpen is meaningless if the starters are going to let games get away, but they haven’t been doing that.  The starters have been keeping them in games.  The offense is crippled without David Wright, Angel Pagan and Ike Davis, but if they can continue to play the way they’ve been playing they’ll find themselves in a very favorable position as those guys trickle back into the lineup.

 

Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson both deserve some credit for what’s gone on.   Collins has this team focused and playing good baseball, and Alderson hasn’t been shy to shuffle the roster around and reward guys that deserve playing time; like Justin Turner.

 

I said yesterday I like the way the Mets match up this weekend, and I stand by that. The Mets can hit Burnett tonight and Pelfrey is a better pitcher than Ivan Nova.  Another series win, and perhaps a sweep, is within the Mets grasp.

Subway Series Recap and Notes

empire-190Some quick notes about the Subway Series

I thought the Yankees were supposed to take pitches, but excepting a couple of innings where some Mets pitchers struggled, they really didn’t. 

While a limited sample size, Jeter’s range looks very very suspect. 

My unofficial analysis suggests it was 70-30 Mets fans on Friday, and closer to 60-40 on Sunday, although most of the Yankees fans left on Sunday before they had anything to cheer about. 

Shake Shack continues to have ridiculous lines.   Need more grills!

In the past Subway Series games, especially Sunday night, have been rowdy and violent to the point of almost making it unfun.  This wasn’t the case this series, I was there for both a loss and a win, and it never progressed much past good-natured ribbing.  There will probably be more fights by the 5th inning against the Phillies Tuesday than all weekend.

The Yankees injuries have messed with the bench most of all.  It’s not as big a deal when they play AL ball, but when they need pinch hitters they are woefully unprepared.  I wonder if they could use a guy like Gary Matthews Jr?

Big thanks to the Mets for emailing me some postgame wrap up notes after the game yesterday.  I was pretty tired after driving back, but some interesting notes that I didn’t catch myself.  The so called “Bronx Bombers” did not hit a home run in the series, and the Mets only hit two, both by Bay.  This ties the least amount of home runs for a Subway Series and is only the third time in a series the Yankees have not hit one.

That was the first Interleague loss for C.C. Sabathia since June 15th, 2007.   It was a bad day for former AL Cy Young award winners, besides ours, as Halladay, C.C. and Greinke all got roughed up. 

The Empire State Building will be blue and orange tonight for the Mets victory.

The Best Time To Face The Yankees

Many talk about how the Mets are reeling and it’s a horrible time to face the Yankees and Phillies.  I disagree, I think it’s time for them to rise up and face the challenges, but either way this is the perfect time to face the Yankees. 
The Yankees are riddled with injuries, and they’re going into the Subway Series five games out of first place. (the Mets are six)  Both teams have not played very well as of late.  Usually these series are best, regardless of talent, if both teams are both at least playing reasonably well, but maybe both of them playing badly works too; who gets up off the mat better? 

Maybe the Mets anemic offense, despite double digit runs Thursday, gets the Yankees pitchers into a groove?  Or maybe the Yankees tattered and faulty bullpen is what the Mets need to wake up the sleepy bats.  The Mets are just trying to get back to .500 and get some momentum before they play division-leading Philadelphia.  The Yankees are hoping to right the ship and not erase what was an excellent start to the season.  This series is more about not losing than it is about winning. 

The Mets have their two best pitchers going in this series, and certainly a fair chance to win each game.  Winning at least two out of three is not only possible, but would actually create a lot of good will and confidence going into the bigger divisional series against the Phillies.  The Yankees are indeed supposedly better, but they’re losing lately, they’re injured, and even great teams lose 50+ games a year.  The lowly Pirates beat the Phillies and Halladay last week, for instance.  So It’s time for the Mets to make the most of their wins, and get them in these next six days.  No time like the present for a hot streak. 

The Yankees are no juggernaut.  Their biggest key to success last year may have been health, and that’s eluded them this year. Posada will not play.  The bullpen is a wreck, Vazquez is very sketchy this year. 

I’m headed out to the Citi today and Sunday.  I’m planning to enjoy myself.  Let’s have a fun weekend of baseball, an orange and blue Empire State Building on Monday, and momentum for the Phillies.

Citi Field Borough Race

Metsblog made a post about the possibility of the Mets doing a Citi Field race, similar to the Presidents Race in Washington or the Sausage Race in Milwaukee.  I think since Citi Field was built with New York City in mind and the name of the park implies New York City, that it should have the entire city in mind.  After all the Mets represent New York baseball and all its history.

My idea, which was inspired by a segment I heard Joe and Evan do on the midday WFAN show, is to have a 5-party race including something from each borough of New York.

In this Borough Race:

Queens would be represented by Mr. Met.

Staten Island would be represented by the Staten Island Ferry.

Manhattan would be represented by a yellow taxi cab.

Brooklyn would be represented by Sandy the Seagull, the Brooklyn Cyclones mascot.

The Bronx would be represented by a Zoo animal.  An orange Cheetah would work well.

The alternative would be to represent the Bronx with a pinstriped New York Highlander baseball player that would play the Teddy Roosevelt role and never, ever, win the race.

You can also read this post at The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

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?

Does Citi Field Need Some Neon?

Does anyone miss the neon figures on the outside of Shea?  They weren’t the prettiest, or the classiest, but they gave the place a unique character that many Mets fans enjoyed.  It’s cool that they incorporated the images into the carpets in the clubhouse, but I think a lot of what people miss about Shea is that uniqueness that right now is missing from Citi Field in many instances.

From Denver

Coors Field in Colorado features this on the side of the building.  Ignore the awesome fact that it’s actually over a park entrance that’s also a brewery where Coors tests experimental brews, and it’s still something that I would love to see at Citi Field.  Maybe instead of this simple play at the plate, they could do something similar where the ball gets under a fielder’s glove (Buckner’s?) and it flashes “Mets Win!”

Subway Series greets the new Yankee Stadium

Welcome to the first Subway Series at the House That Ruth Cursed. The Mets get their first shot at the crosstown new Yankee Stadium, but sadly it’s without Delgado.carlosdelgado_homerun_005

The leftfield situation with the place has been very favorable to lefty pull hitters, like Delgado. Given the stadium, I can’t see any reason the Mets lefties shouldn’t start in all three games. Church and Murphy especially. I think Schneider should get at least two of the starts, and you probably want to give Fernando Martinez a shot at his first major league home run.

On the flip side, you want to be careful how you pitch to batters here. Certain batters are getting home runs on check swings so caution is tantamount. I have more faith in the Mets’ pitchers than the Yankees’ so hopefully all will go well even if Fernando (that’s Fernando number three if you were counting) Nieve will be pitching in the series.

Imagine how Babe Ruth’s ghost feels watching the Yankees knock down his house, and then building a place where he could probably hit a home run while sitting down. There is only one major league stadium still standing where Ruth played a major league game, so it’s no surprise the Red Sox have been having success lately. I’ve been wondering if the Mets will have more wins at Fenway Park this year than the Yankees. It seems likely.

The Yankees have been better lately, Red Sox series aside. Are they a better team? I don’t think so. Their pitching is suspect. Pettitte has been having poor second halves as he wears down, Burnett is doing is Pavano imitation, Wang has still not returned from the injury to what he was, and Joba has been merely average. They’ve reinforced their bullpen with starting prospects, but it still reminds me a bit of the 2008 Mets bullpen, and we all know how that turned out. Hopefully they can play a solid series and get out of their with at least two out of three.

Letters to the NL East, part 2

Letters to the NL East, Part 2 of 5

Dear Lastings Milledge, Paul Lo Duca, and the Washington Nationals,

Ooo, A shiny new ballpark! Now lets see if you can use the revenue that usually comes along with a new ballpark and an increase in attendance to keep it filled for years to come. On paper you look like you might be a little better than last year, improving slowly. Someone has to fill out the bottom of the division, but luckily It looks like you’ll easily be able to stay ahead of the Marlins in that regard.

Milledge and Lo Duca, we get it, you don’t like how you were treated or the opportunities you were given or not given in New York. Unfortunately, that’s life in New York and baseball. Talk all you want in spring, but the season is starting now and it’s time for you to stop worrying about New York and start worrying about Washington. Turns out, I actually wanted both of you to stay on the team, but you both had to open your mouths enough to piss off the powers that be, which only hurt the possibility of you sticking around. Now that you’re in the political correctness capital of the country, no one’s watching you guys to see if you’re saying the right things.

Your Former Fan,

Optimistic Mets Fan