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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

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Fiery Ejections and Walk-off Doubles

At Shea for my usual Saturday season ticket plan, I finally got to see the Mets with two in a roll, win a series, and it was fun. The attendance was over 52,920, and it seems that many of the bloggers I read were there as well. The Faith and Fear duo, Metsradamus, and Metswalkoffs. I think they all had better seats than me too.

It was a great game, Orlando Hernandez was pitching well, and so was Joe Blanton. El Duque let up some base runners, but they always got out of it, and he battled through the 7th with nearly 120 pitches. One could think that scoring only one run is just the Mets slumping again, but that’s not the case. All the credit there goes to Joe Blanton, who pitched through eight innings. The Mets did have Ricky Ledee thrown out at the plate on a nice 2-out, runners in scoring position, double by Carlos Beltran. I think Evan Roberts really needs to rip Joe Benigno about that on their show on WFAN Monday, because he’s playing very well. He was running full-speed on Wright’s walk-off double, even though his run was meaningless. He was excited, and he came charging around third, almost catching Castro. It was a botched play in right field, as if he had played it on a hop, Castro wouldn’t have scored. It didn’t matter though, as I had faith in Delgado getting a fly-out there to score him. After struggling against Joe Blanton, as soon as he was lifted for a guy with a 0.00 ERA in 12.1 innings, they jumped all over him. Castro leads off with a double, they walk Belran to the boos, and David Wright hit’s another double the opposite way to right, game over.

The Mets win a series again, every other team in the East loses, and just like that the Mets are again three full games up on the competition. Four and five games in the loss column over Philadelphia and Atlanta. The Mets now have added another team in the A’s that they don’t have a losing record against, having tied the Cubs all-time earlier this season, also on a walk-off ninth inning hit. A pitcher’s duel, a temper tantrum with an ejection and throwing stuff on the field, and a game winning double by David Wright. What more could you ask for in a game?

I did notice a little less campaigning for Paul Lo Duca at the game today, and I wonder why. I think the Mets may have started that push a little early. Now if Paulie overtakes Martin in the voting Monday, Dodger fans will be motivated to vote hard. We should have waited until after that tally came out to push for him, and get him past the unsuspecting Dodger fans. So remember, Lo Duca still needs our votes next week, and you can vote 25 times per email address you type into that box.

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Paul Lo Duca Speaks

Listening to Paul Lo Duca in his week radio interview with Joe and Evan on WFAN gave me a lot of confidence. First off he said there can be no excuses, about injuries or whatever, they’re just not playing well. He mentioned an attitude adjustment, about how maybe they were coasting a little and they’re realizing it’s not going to be as easy as last year. He also brought up how Willie had been talking to them about and it and stressing some stuff trying to get them going. A lot of his statements make me feel like this slump is coming to an end. On a related Paul Lo Duca note, somehow the Mets fans have been lazy, and the Dodger fans have been pushing for their catcher, who I’m not going to deem with a name. You can vote 25 times per email address, so get out there and continue to vote for Paul, who’s fallen out of the lead in the All Star voting.

They asked him if he thought he should be batting second, and about how Reyes needs protection and all that. He basically said it doesn’t really matter, it’s not the order that’s the problem, it’s that they need to start getting hits at the right times. Which is true, were they driving in these guys with two outs and when they’ve got guys on, no one would be debating the line-up that much.

He also addressed Cole Hamels a little bit, who basically was upset over how Lo Duca acted after his home run the other day. This was the third of three consecutive home runs off him, to put the Mets up 3-2. He said he “could give a rats-you know what” about Hamels or his statements. That if he upset him, he’s sorry, but he could care less. It was a big home run while they were struggling, and he got excited. That it’s different than when he got upset at A-Rod for watching his home run when the Yankees were up by a lot and it was mostly meaningless. He knows that he’ll see Hamels again, and if he gets thrown at, he’ll happily take first base.

I’ve been saying it all week, but obviously the Mets are going to get out of this. I think the Yankees will probably falter a bit again by this weekend. I think we can play them tough and do well, especially considering their bullpen sucks and we’re facing Clemens and Clippard. So all you pessimistic ‘woe is me’ Mets fans out there, chill out. Sure this isn’t last year, but don’t forget that we lost last year. This is also not 2003. This is 2007, look forward, not back. Look up, not down.

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Projections

With just over one third of the season done, and after playing a couple of games with stunted offense, lets take a look at the projected stats of some of the Mets.

The Spark of the Mets offense, Jose Reyes.
.316BA, .398OBP, 213Hits, 126 Runs, 24 Triples, 78 RBI, 90SB and maybe the most telling of all, 90 walks.

Those are some nice numbers. You especially like to see Jose Reyes taking those walks, and he’s still steadily improving. This should at least put him in the discussion for MVP.

David Wright.
.272BA, 96Runs, 24HR, 84RBI, 39Doubles, 33SB, 955 pitches seen

These numbers are not quite up to his usual stats. He struggled for much of April, and hasn’t put together a really good stretch yet. The numbers aren’t horrible, and he’s got more stolen bases then you’d expect. It’s probably just a matter of time with him, maybe once Moises Alou gets back to batting behind him he’ll find some more pitches to get and get into a groove.

Carlos Beltran
.297BA, 24HR, 105RBI, 21SB, 99Runs

Nothing to special here. His numbers are solid, but nowhere near what he was doing last year. He said he was going to steal more bases this year, and 21 is not bad. The Mets have a lot of speed, and as long as Beltran is taking smart bases here and there, it will help without him swiping 40.

Paul Lo Duca’s numbers don’t quite tell the story. He’s been having a good year, getting hits when needed, and doing what needs to be done at the plate. He doesn’t strike out much, and he’s gotten 3 sacrifice flies and 2 sacrifice hits. Add in what he adds behind the plate with the pitchers, and how he’s drastically improved his throwing to second base, and he has a huge impact.

We all know Carlos Delgado has been struggling this year, but he still will have 24HR and 99RBI if he stays on pace, and if he really starts hitting well again, look out. David Wrights numbers might suffer just because Delgado isn’t leaving anyone on for him to drive in.