Chicks Dig The Pitchers' Duel

Moves (Deadline and Otherwise)

2007-07-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to finally announce something that has been in the works for a little while now. I will now be part of the writing team at Take The 7 Train, MVN's Mets site. The past year-plus that I've spent writing this blog has been a great experience, and I hope that the wonderful readers who have commented on my work here will follow me over to my new "home." I look forward to continuing to share my perspective on my favorite team with a receptive audience.

Stay tuned - my first post at Take The 7 Train will be about the deal the Mets made today, and in the near future I'll be recounting my experience at a recent Brooklyn Cyclones game and perhaps tackling a question that has probably crossed the minds of many Mets fans over the past couple of weeks.

How The Other Half Lives

2007-07-24T18:21:00.000-04:00

So, what have I been up to over the past week? Well, for one, I was working on this article for Mets Geek (go check it out - it's a nice mixture of number-crunching and awesome moments from the first half, if I do say so myself). I was also suffering through the West Coast road trip. I can't argue with the outcome - as I said last week, the Mets needed to win 4 of 7, which is exactly what they did (of course, I wasn't expecting that to result in the division lead increasing by 2 games, with the Braves facing the Reds and Cardinals at home). However, every 10 PM (or later - Friday's game started at 10:40, for crying out loud!) start time reminded me that while seeing out-of-division teams more than 6 times a year might be nice in theory, in practice 1 road series against each NL West team is more than enough. There were poundings of aces and struggles against mediocrities, comebacks squandered, thwarted, and thrillingly realized, there was Duque at his best, Glavine at his worst, and Wagner at his craziest (but crazy like a fox). It was as exciting and exasperating as any other stretch of games might be, but considerably more exhausting, with the lack of sleep affecting me more and more as the week wore on (by the end of the week, my sleep patterns had been thrown completely out of whack and I was such a zombie in the morning that I would be at work by the time I realized that the shirt and skirt I was wearing didn't match). Maybe I was just overly sensitive to the break from the norm this time around - the previous West Coast trips this season took place before I started my summer job and had to wake up early in the morning - but when the games end so late that the morning paper can't tell you how they unfolded, you start to wonder who could possibly enjoy those 10 PM starts.

I'm sure that fans of West Coast teams have similar gripes about the East Coast trips, where the night games start when fans of the visiting team are still at work and getaway days start just in time for breakfast, but what about the Mets fans located in the Pacific time zone? My uncle, a lifelong Mets fan who moved to Los Angeles in 2005 and kept his Saturday plan at Shea, doesn't seem to be bothered all that much by the time differences. While he only gets to see the Mets in person when they go out West or when he's able to coordinate a necessary business trip to New York with a Mets homestand, with the help of things like Extra Innings and MLB.TV and satellite radio he can follow the games pretty much as he could back when he lived in Queens. Night games? He TiVos, then fast-forwards through the commercials when he gets home from work. Sunday starts at 1 PM Eastern? According to him, Mets games go great with Sunday breakfast. The one area where out-of-market fans really get the short end of the stick is Saturday afternoon, when everything except the Fox game is blacked out until 7 Eastern/4 Pacific (even if, for example, it's a Mets game that ends before the Fox games are scheduled to start).

The way my uncle describes it, being a Mets fan on the West Coast is a pretty sweet deal. If I didn't love New York so much, I might try it myself (that, and the whole not-having-a-driver's-license thing - I don't think someone who can't drive would survive out there for more than a week.)

History In The Making

2007-07-15T23:39:00.000-04:00

As much as there is a tendency to focus on the "now" (and not necessarily in the ESPN sense of the term), I feel that as a Mets fan, and as a baseball fan in general, it is both rewarding and important to study the history of the game. After all, how can we put into perspective the feats we see today without knowing what came before them? How can we debate the Hall of Fame candidacies of current stars without an awareness of the careers of those already enshrined? How can we understand the wacky plays, unexpected games, and improbable seasons from the years before we were born without the helpful recollections of those who were there for it all?

As Mets fans, we are fortunate to have Ralph Kiner, to be able to look forward to his visits to the booth, occasions on which he shares stories about the Mets teams he has covered since the beginning of the franchise's existence and about the guys he played with and against during his own storied playing career. Not only does he have a remarkably sharp mind for a man in his 80s, he is usually able to find in his memory bank of anecdotes a few that fit well with the game unfolding on the field. When Ralph talks about his contemporaries, he does so in a way that makes you understand what they were like in a way that you wouldn't be able to do just from their career numbers.

When I saw that the Mets were having a Ralph Kiner Night, I knew that I had to go. While I may not have grown up listening to Kiner in the same way that older fans did, I've learned a lot and laughed a lot from his stories even if he only gets to tell them once a homestand or so these days. The Mets did a wonderful job in honoring Ralph, bringing together some beloved Mets figures and all-time greats for the ceremonies, showing footage from some classic Kiner's Korner interviews before the game, and showing some taped messages of congratulations from the likes of Vin Scully and Hary Kalas between innings. Just about the only thing that could have been improved upon was the car in which Ralph and his wife drove around the field. After all, home run hitters drive Cadillacs ;-)

The game itself on Saturday was fantastic in its own right. Glavine more than bounced back from a subpar first half, pitching what was easily his best game of the year and a candidate for one of the best outings by a Mets starter this season. There is dominant, and then there is facing one batter over the minimum in 8 innings of work. Despite some frustrating moments by the offense (when you get 11 hits and go down 1-2-3 in only one inning all game, you should be scoring a lot more than 2 runs), Lastings Milledge eventually provided the spark the Mets needed.

The Mets also won today, the offense taking more advantage of its opportunities than it did last night and Oliver Perez pitching well in his return from the DL. The Mets had to take this series against a bad team, and they did so with the bats apparently waking up just in time for a very tough road trip against the Padres and Dodgers in which they desperately need to win at least 4 of the 7 games.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

The Reds seem to remove Adam Dunn for defensive purposes in the late innings fairly often, so I was surprised they didn't do so on Saturday (especially after he batted in the 8th and would have been due up 7th in the 9th), and not all that surprised that the decision came back to bite them in the ass. Dunn is a damn good hitter (and while his home-run totals are boosted by playing in Cincinnatti's bandbox, he has the power to break the scoreboard even at Shea), but he seems like he'd be better off as a 1st baseman than as an outfielder.
I'm still trying to figure out why Fox showed the Astros-Cubs game here in New York yesterday afternoon. While the Cubs do have a national following, wouldn't it have made more sense to show the Cardinals-Phillies game, since that one featured a division rival of the hometown team?
That play Reyes made in yesterday's game - the one right after Gotay made that nice catch - is something I'm still in awe of. The ball was past David Wright, and Jose had both the presence of mind to be there backing up the play and the arm strength to make the throw practically from 3rd base.

Shaking Things Up

2007-07-14T13:51:00.000-04:00

Since my last post, the Mets have fired Rick Down, moved Howard Johnson to Down's former position as hitting coach, hired Rickey Henderson to take over as first-base coach, and designated Julio Franco for assignment in order to make room for Lastings Milledge. While it's too soon to really see any results from these moves, I like what the Mets are doing. While it would be foolish to blame Down for all of the team's offensive woes this season, the aggressive approach at the plate that he advocated just wasn't getting the job done. I think one of the most telling statistics regarding the Mets offense this season is how often they were unable to drive up the opposing starter's pitch count and knock him out of the game early. The following is a list of starting pitchers who have gone at least 7 innings in a start against the Mets this year:

Adam Eaton, Shawn Hill, Tim Hudson, Aaron Cook (twice), Josh Fogg, Jason Bergmann, Randy Johnson, Livan Hernandez, Matt Cain (twice), Matt Morris, Carlos Zambrano, Andy Pettitte, Kyle Davies, John Smoltz, Sergio Mitre, Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Brandon Webb, Doug Davis, Jamie Moyer, Cole Hamels, Chad Durbin, Hong-Chih Kuo, Brad Penny, Chien-Ming Wang, Johan Santana, Joe Blanton, Mike Maroth, Wandy Rodriguez, Woody Williams, Roy Oswalt, and Bronson Arroyo. (Honorable mention goes to Jason Hirsh, who had thrown just 62 pitches in 6 shutout innings before suffering an injury on the basepaths.)

Yes, the Mets did win some of those games and yes, there are some future Hall of Famers, current Cy Young candidates, and innings-eaters on that list. However, some of those names are downright embarrassing and a pretty damning indictment of the lack of patience the Mets have shown too often this season. I'm not expecting Rickey to come in and be a miracle worker, but his work with Jose Reyes has certainly helped El Profesor to live up to his potential, and having the greatest leadoff hitter in the history of Major League Baseball around to give Mets players helpful hints on baserunning and plate discipline seems like a great idea to me.

As for Franco, he was an affordable luxury last year, but in a tight pennant race there are much better uses for a roster spot than a guy who is pretty much limited to pinch-hitting at this point in his career and who had one extra-base hit in 61 plate appearances this year. When you take into account that he was apparently unhappy with his lack of playing time and that he didn't run out a ground ball in a far more crucial game situation than the one that led to Jose Reyes getting a benching and a talking-to, it was time for him to go.

Now that all of that is out of the way, on to the past two games. I didn't get to see Thursday night's victory (I finally got to see Spring Awakening on Broadway - if you're not easily offended and can tolerate less-than-stellar choreography, I highly recommend it as the music is fantastic and the cast is extremely talented), but judging by the highlights I later saw on ESPN, it was quite a game (back-to-back leadoff homers? Check. Blazing speed? Check. Taking advantage of opposing team's mistakes? Check.) I went to last night's game, and well, hey, at least I'm now the proud owner of an Endy Chavez bobblehead (I wish they would have had Endy out there on the field prior to the game, though - the crowd would have gone wild). John Maine had his worst outing of the year and possibly his worst outing as a Met (this one comes to mind as the other possible contender for that title). It was what I call a sucky/unlucky start, one in which the pitcher doesn't pitch all that well but isn't exactly helped by the defense behind him, and one in which it was obvious pretty early on that Maine was going to have a rough time. In the first inning, I felt like he got himself into trouble by paying too much attention to the baserunners and not focusing on just getting the batter out (especially when the baserunner is Norris Hopper and the batter is Ken Griffey Jr.) While there were occasional rallies after that, and while the Mets were able to chase Aaron Harang fairly early, that 4-run 1st inning was just too much to overcome.

I'll be going to tonight's game as well. I'm looking forward to the ceremony honoring Ralph Kiner, and I hope that the Mets win one for Ralph.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I hope that Brandon Phillips never finds his way onto an NL East team, because he's a certified Met-killer (I was there when he ruined the Reyes cycle game, too). 9 games is a pretty small sample size, but .353/.395/.559 is no joke.
I was surprised to see Pelfrey enter the game out of the bullpen. If he's not going to be starting once Sosa comes back from his hamstring injury, I want him to go back to AAA where he can at least pitch on a regular schedule.
Idiot of the Day honors go to the guy on the 7 train after the game bitching about how he's "tired of Milledge's bullshit" - about 30 seconds after declaring that even after reading Game of Shadows, he still loves Barry Bonds
Not Mets-related, but can anyone explain to me why David Wells got a 7 game suspension for arguing with an umpire? That's 2 more games than fellow Padres starter Chris Young got for drilling -and trading punches with - Derrek Lee. Since when is bitching about the strike zone worse than inciting a bench-clearing brawl?

Maybe They Should Target That "This Time It Counts" Campaign Towards The Managers

2007-07-11T20:00:00.000-04:00

Ah, the All-Star Game. A chance to see the "best" players in baseball (or more accurately, the players either most popular with fans/other players or the one guy on each of the crappy teams that the All-Star manager likes best) in a fun exhibition game, showing off their skills. Even with some of the things that have diluted its impact (interleague play, the constant movement of star players from one team to another and across the leagues, the conflict between the fun exhibition aspect and the idea that it should determine home-field advantage in the World Series), there's still something pretty awesome about players from every team coming together for a friendly competition in the middle of the season.

It's even more awesome when your favorite team is well-represented at the game. All 3 Mets in the starting lineup got at least one hit, combining for 5 of the NL's 9 hits in the game. I was especially happy for Jose Reyes, since he was unable to play in last year's All-Star Game. Not only did he go 3-for-4, steal a base, and score the game's first run, but he was the player given the tremendous honor of catching the ceremonial first pitch from Willie Mays in that beautiful pre-game ceremony in Mays's honor. Jose has come so far over the past couple of years, and as a Mets fan it just makes me so proud to see him on the field with his peers and taking part in the celebration of one of the game's legends.

The only Met who really had a bad night at the game was Billy Wagner, who provided the AL with what proved to be a crucial pair of insurance runs. Of course, he wasn't the only lights-out closer to serve up a 2-run bomb last night, and if this was Billy getting a bad outing out of the way in a game that doesn't affect the NL East race I'm not particularly upset, but given the way the bottom of the 9th went down, Wagner should be happy that all of the heat is on Tony La Russa.

La Russa made some questionable decisions earlier in the game (not having any of the starting pitchers go more than 1 innings, pulling Russell Martin when Takashi Saito was brought in to pitch, putting Freddy Sanchez in the game at all), but the bottom of the 9th was some inexcusably bad managing that should once and for all convince people that he is not a "genius." After a late rally against two of the best closers in baseball, the NL was down by a run with 2 outs and the bases loaded. There was exactly one position player left on the NL bench: Albert Pujols. Aaron Rowand was scheduled to bat. Now, Rowand had a good first half (.310/.385/.478) that's better than his overall career numbers, but Pujols is a far superior hitter - this is perhaps the worst season of his career so far, and he's hitting .310/.411/.516 at the All-Star break! Given that either an out or a base hit would end the game right there, I cannot for the life of me understand why La Russa was saving the best weapon he had in case the game went into extras (because K-Rod was totally going to walk a 3rd consecutive batter/throw a wild pitch/balk and then get the 3rd out, right?). Rowand flied out, the AL took home-field advantage yet again, and while that's probably not going to affect La Russa given that his team is below .500 and 7 1/2 games out in the worst division in baseball, alienating his star player probably isn't going to make for a pleasant second half in St. Louis. It's enough to make me wish for a rule change - perhaps from now on the honor of managing the All-Star teams should go to the previous season's Manager of the Year winners instead of the pennant winners. Joe Girardi is far from perfect, but I doubt he would have left Pujols on the bench last night.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Just about the only thing worse than Fox's usual stable of broadcasters (thanks, Tim McCarver, for reminding us all of Game 7 as Beltran hit a triple last night, and props to Joe Buck for showing us all how hip he is with those Entourage and Wedding Crashers references) is their belief that the viewing public thinks Eric Byrnes is entertaining. Having him in the studio for the playoffs last year was bad enough; did anyone really want to see/hear him reporting live from a kayak with his dog?
I've never been a fan of the whole "God Bless America" in the 7th inning stretch phenomenon (really, would you expect a nonobservant Jew who thinks "America The Beautiful" should be the national anthem to like that?), but the extended technical difficulties and Paula Cole's subpar performance would have merited a thumbs-down even if I liked the idea of that song being performed at that time. The only saving grace it had over the similarly disastrous "This Is Our Country" performance before a World Series game last year is that there was no car commercial shoehorned into it.
I thought it was pretty awesome that the San Francisco crowd loudly booed all 3 Dodgers during player introductions, and I thought it was even more awesome that Penny, Saito, and Martin all responded by tipping their caps. Rivalries don't subside during the offseason, so why should they during the All-Star break?
Yeah, it's been said before, but it's worth repeating: Derek Jeter has the range of a garden gnome. I don't know how a shortstop doesn't get to Griffey's RBI single in the 1st.
The MVP presentation just cracked me up. Why the hell did Jeanne Zelasko announce that Ichiro will be a free agent soon when Ken Rosenthal reported during the game that Ichiro was close to signing a 5-year extension with the Mariners?

Actual Score of Last Night's Game: Beltran 2, Houston 0

2007-07-08T11:35:00.000-04:00

I don't know how either team can be expected to do anything other than sleepwalk through this afternoon's game after the marathon that took place last night. I'm still exhausted just from watching it, from holding my breath every time the Astros put a runner or two on against one of the Mets' less-reliable relievers who was out there because the "book" says not to put your closer into a tie game on the road (even when that results in things like Guillermo Mota facing the heart of the order with no margin for error), from crossing my fingers that the Mets would just get that one.big.hit every time someone reached base, from despair as the ball left Luke Scott's bat and was destined to drop in and end the game that turned to joy because holyfuckingshitbeltranflewupthehillandmadethecatch (after all of the plays Scott made in the first two games of the series to rob the Mets of hits, it was only fitting that he was the victim of the WebGem of the Year in such a crucial situation), from the adrenaline rush that didn't subside until quite a while after the game was over.

It's funny, I didn't really watch much of the early part of the game - I was busy flipping back and forth between the various channels covering the Live Earth concerts, and by the time I switched over to SNY it was the 9th inning. Little did I know that things were just getting started, that the bullpen that had gotten its teeth kicked in just a few days earlier in Colorado would deliver 10 scoreless innings with everyone pitching in, that Beltran would be the hero with his glove in the 14th and his bat in the 17th, that before the game was over Keith Hernandez would be attempting to feed Fritos to a teddy bear (for those who were stuck with the Houston feed, that took place right around when Gotay went up to the plate in the 17th). I don't know what kind of lineup is going to go out there this afternoon - Lo Duca obviously isn't going to play, and it would be good to get the All-Stars some rest if possible, but Oswalt versus the "A-minus" lineup is not likely to be a pretty sight. I just hope that Dave Williams can go at least 7 innings, because I don't know what the Mets will do if he can't.

This Post Is Brought To You By The Number 7

2007-07-07T17:27:00.000-04:00

No, this is not about Sesame Street (although come to think of it, Big Bird would be a pretty damn good pitcher, and Oscar could use the lid of his trashcan as a catcher's mitt, and...). I just figured that with all of the hoopla about it being 07/07/07, I'd make a list of 7 things I feel like talking about. Here goes...

I have to discuss the events last night surrounding our #7. In case you've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours or changed the channel before it happened, Jose Reyes hit a ball down the 3rd-base line in the top of the 8th that he must have thought was going to go foul. He stood there at home plate, the ball stayed fair, the Astros 3rd baseman jogged halfway to 1st like a pitcher after fielding a comebacker, and threw Reyes out as he was still standing by home plate. When the Mets took the field for the bottom half of the inning, Jose found himself on the bench. That's fine with me - Reyes had a pretty significant brainfart, and Willie needed to send a message about the unacceptability of that kind of behavior. However, the news that some teammates think Reyes should be benched tonight, and that Julio Franco (yes, the same Julio Franco who jogged to 1st base in the 9th inning on Sunday when running hard might have meant the difference between game over and Reyes coming to the plate with the tying runs on base) plans to give him a talking-to, is somewhat disturbing to me. What Reyes did on Tuesday in Colorado might have been lack of hustle, but this was just a stupid mistake, and one he's already been punished for. I don't see what pointing fingers at a guy who's been one of the best players on this team all year is going to accomplish, and benching him to prove a point seems incredibly shortsighted, especially given the slim division lead.
Mike Pelfrey fell to 0-7 on the year, but just like in his start against Philadelphia last Sunday, I was encouraged by what I saw from him in terms of stuff and plan of attack, and once again he had one bad inning in which he was victimized by some sloppy defense from David Wright (who tagged out Brad Ausmus's imaginary friend trying to steal 3rd base, but missed Ausmus) and a home run that was a product of its environment (between that ridiculously short porch in left field and the flagpole-clad hill in center, Minute Maid Park has to be the poster child for ill-advised manufactured quirks in the new breed of ballparks). While he hasn't pitched well overall in his time in the major leagues this year (of his 8 starts for the Mets this year, last night's was only the 2nd in which he struck out more batters than he walked), he's had very little in the way of run support (the Mets have scored 3 runs or less in 7 of his 8 starts). If the Mets had managed to score at their normal levels in a couple of his starts and had been able to get him a win, I think fans would be a lot less panic-stricken about his performance thus far.
Left field is position #7 on the scorecard, and thus far the Mets have started 7 different players in left this year, more than at any other non-pitcher position. The 3 who have started there most frequently - Moises Alou, Endy Chavez, and Carlos Gomez - are all currently out with injuries, Ben Johnson appeared overmatched in his brief call-up, Damion Easley is an infielder, and the less said about David Newhan and Ricky Ledee, the better. Now that Lastings Milledge is back playing in the minors after missing 2 months with a foot injury, he needs to be called up as soon as possible.
Tonight's starting pitcher for the Astros, Woody Williams, could fall to 7 games below .500 for the year if the Mets beat him. I'm really not sure what the Astros were thinking when they gave him a 2-year, $12.5 million deal this offseason. Not only is he enough of a flyball pitcher that he gave up 1.3 home runs per 9 innings in each of the last 2 seasons despite pitching his home games at Petco, he's also had a reverse platoon split throughout his career. A flyball pitcher who is worse against righties than lefties in a ballpark where it's just 315 feet down the left-field line? Now that's a brilliant idea if I've ever heard one!
The Braves have won 7 of their last 10 games. I do not like this at all.
While the All-Star rosters are far from perfect, I feel that the managers are getting more blame than they deserve, as there's not much they can do. Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland each got to pick just 7 players, had to pick exactly 4 position players and 3 pitchers, and had to make sure that every team had at least one representative (in other words, some of their 7 picks had to go to players on teams that didn't get anyone in on the fan or player ballots). La Russa does deserve every bit of criticism he's getting for picking Freddy Sanchez as the Pirates representative instead of Ian Snell, and a roster with Snell and Hanley Ramirez would be better than one with Sanchez and Jose Valverde. However, he made sure that 2 of the best relievers in baseball were on the roster (and I don't really get the complaints about the NL roster being too reliever-heavy - considering that most pitchers in the All-Star game only get 1 inning, doesn't it make sense to have guys who are used to rearing back and firing everything they've got in a short outing?), and he really needed to pick Aaron Rowand so that the roster would have more than one player capable of playing center field (great job by the player's ballot in picking 3 left fielders, including Carlos Lee, who isn't as good as his shiny RBI total makes him look). As for Leyland, 5 of his 7 picks had to go to players who are their team's sole representatives, and while Michael Young clearly is not having an All-Star caliber year (Gagne, Otsuka, or even Kenny Lofton would have been a better pick) and James Shields might have been a more deserving Devil Ray representative than Carl Crawford, Leyland did the right thing in making sure that Victor Martinez was on the team. Martinez is having a far better year than the catcher on Leyland's team who was voted into the starting lineup by the fans, and Leyland resisted the temptation to use that spot on Curtis Granderson (who is having a damn good year himself, but is not as big of a snub as Martinez would have been).
After all of these wacky late-ish start times, it's great to look forward to watching a Mets game that starts at the "normal" time of 7 PM.

Heeeeeeere's Johnny

2007-07-06T07:54:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of things one could focus on about last night's game. You could point to Reyes jump-starting yet another 1st-inning rally, one that held up this time. You could point to Delgado looking like he was in a groove, for one night anyway (by this point in the season, I've learned not to get my hopes up about a few good at-bats in a row being a sign that "Delgado is finally breaking out of his slump). You could point to both of them driving the ball to that stupid hill out in center field (the one good thing about that monstrosity is that it's named after the guy who thought of it, so when someone gets seriously injured out there we'll all know who to blame). You could point to the fact that the Mets batted Ricky Ledee 2nd in the order and still won. But to focus on any of those things would be missing the point entirely.

Last night's game was all about John Maine, who was flat-out filthy. In a performance that was part being the stopper after a bad losing streak, part gigantic middle finger to every player who left him off their All-Star ballot in favor of a veteran having an inferior year, and part just being a damn good pitcher, Maine just dominated the Astros, taking a shutout into the 8th. While the way he struck out the side in the first (with Berkman's bat leaping out of his hands to go after a significantly larger target than the baseball) might get more attention, the inning that to me really showed Maine's development as a pitcher was the 6th, when he found himself in a bit of trouble after a leadoff single and a Ricky Ledee misplay put 2 on with nobody out for the heart of the order. Last year's Maine might have lost focus and unraveled, or at least needed Willie to go out and lecture him. This year's John Maine simply blew away Berkman and El Caballo, then induced a pop-up.

After the disaster in Colorado, this was exactly what the Mets needed. Here's hoping Pelfrey can build on his decent outing in Philly and pitch well tonight.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

So far this season, the Mets have dealt with injuries to all of their starting outfielders, their top outfield prospects, and their 4th outfielder of choice. With Gomez now out until at least the middle of August with a broken hand, I have to wonder what pissed off the baseball gods so much that they keep attacking Mets outfielders.
That SNY poll question about which of 4 baseball feats was ridiculous, even by SNY poll question standards. The number of times a pitcher has recorded 20 strikeouts in the game can be counted on one hand, how can you even compare that to hitting for the cycle, something that happens multiple times each year?

Climbing The Mountain (Of Shitty Pitching)

2007-07-05T08:02:00.000-04:00

Those last two games were just brutal to watch. While other series in the past 12 months have been more frustrating (the Phillies at Shea last month), discouraging (Dodgers, Twins), or just plain heartbreaking (do I need to spell this one out?), this was by far the ugliest series since the atrocious 3-game set at Fenway around this time last year, back when this blog was still in its infancy. By around the 4th or 5th inning, those 1st-inning rallies that gave the Mets a lead were a distant memory, as just about anyone the Mets put out on the mound sucked Rocky Mountain Oysters. Granted, it's not fair to place the blame entirely on the pitchers, as the defense behind them was shoddy at best. If it's better to be lucky than good, what is it when you're both unlucky and bad (and in El Duque's case, unlucky, bad, and slightly insane - seriously, a 3-2 eephus with the bases loaded?!)?

I'm glad that Coors Field is in the rearview mirror, as it brought out the worst in both our pitchers and our broadcasters. Between Keith not understanding why Mets fans hate Roger Clemens, Gary not knowing what a "weekend warrior" is, and that extended rant about hometown scoring, I'm really convinced that the mountain air limits blood flow to the brain. Next up is Houston, which while still a bandbox is at least at normal altitude. Hopefully Beltran sends a few into that joke of a short porch in left field and gives the Astros fans an actual reason to boo (seriously, Houston fans. Get over it. He was a rent-a-player who spent less than a full season with your team and chose to sign elsewhere, in part because the Astros didn't offer him a no-trade clause. He didn't sign with a division rival, it's not like his leaving prevented the Astros from making the World Series the following year, and as far as I know Beltran didn't pull a Mike Hampton and diss the Houston school system. The way he's treated when the Mets go to the juicebox is beyond ridiculous at this point.)

Rocky Mountain Flatness

2007-07-02T23:57:00.000-04:00

That was just not a good game. There were bad decisions (intentionally walking the #8 hitter with 2 outs is never a good idea - isn't the objective to try and prevent the opposing team from getting to clear the pitcher? - and when it results in the pitcher driving in 2 runs it's even more painful), poor execution (remember, Glavine was ahead of Matt Holliday 0-2 before serving up a 3-run bomb on the 3-2 pitch), and a complete abandonment of the patience that had been such a wonderful thing to see in the first 3 games of the Philly series (the most glaring examples were, with the Mets down by 6, Lo Duca and Reyes swinging at the first pitch to lead off the inning and immediately after Jason Hirsh walked Glavine, respectively). Just about the only bright spot was the rally against Jorge Julio (regardless of situation or eventual game result, poundings of relievers who sucked as Mets always bring a smile to my face), featuring a fantastic at-bat by Ruben Gotay. Hopefully more Mets will bring that sort of approach to the plate tomorrow. A game that's exciting enough that Keith doesn't attempt to re-enact his Just For Men ad in the middle of an inning would be nice (something about the thin Colorado air must make him loopier than usual - I remember him being particularly out-there during a blowout Mets win at Coors Field last August).

High Cheese Stakes

2007-07-01T22:41:00.000-04:00

Some of what happened this weekend wasn't much of a surprise. A bandbox like Citizens Bank is exactly the sort of thing you would expect to jump-start the Mets offense. Either Carlos in the outfield making a spectacular catch or two? Almost routine. What did surprise me was the performance of the starting rotation, something I was honestly a bit worried about going into the series. Yes, El Duque, Maine, and Sosa have all had good years, but they're all fly-ball pitchers with pretty big platoon splits, and they would be pitching in an extremely hitter-friendly park against a team with a couple of intimidating lefty bats. Maine was nothing short of brilliant (pitched into the 9th inning, allowed 1 earned run, didn't walk a single batter), El Duque allowed little outside of a pair of solo shots (in fact, he retired 12 consecutive batters between the home runs), and Sosa kept the team in the game before sustaining an injury while beating out a double play (while hamstring injuries are never a good thing, Sosa didn't seem to need as much help walking off the field as Endy did when he got hurt in a similar situation a few weeks back). Even though Pelfrey took the loss today, he pitched pretty decently (5 innings, 3 runs - one unearned thanks to the trademark David Wright Routine Play Throwing Error - 4 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts) and showed better stuff than what we had seen before he was sent down to New Orleans.

Another thing that made me very happy this weekend was the approach the Mets took at the plate, particularly on Friday night. One of the most frustrating things about this past month was the way the team as a whole seemed to be very undisciplined, not working counts and allowing fairly mediocre opposing starters to pitch deep into games. Yet against Cole Hamels, a pitcher who is even better than his impressive raw numbers when you consider where he has to pitch his home games, the Mets fouled off a ton of pitches and were able to recognize and lay off those that were out of the zone. While they didn't exactly smack Hamels around, they drew 5 walks and forced him to throw 110 pitches to get through 5 innings. By doing that, they made a bullpen that had needed to enter the afternoon game in the 5th throw another 4 innings in the evening. That's the sort of thing that a good team needs to do - soften up the bullpen early in a series so that a tired starter might be left in a couple of batters too long later on in the series - the sort of thing the Mets hadn't been doing enough of lately.

Would I have liked a sweep? Of course I would have. However, I'm perfectly content with winning the series and opening up a bit more breathing room in the division. I almost feel silly for "saying this out loud," but I wonder if this road trip could be to this year's team what the June trip to LA, Arizona, and Philly was to last year's team. The "3 wins against division rival" part has already been checked off. Let's see if history can repeat itself, albeit in a reversed, slightly later in the season form.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

While I can't argue with the result, I really don't ever want to see a Ramon Castro headfirst slide again. There's just too much potential for injury - both to Castro and the catcher who might come into contact with that gigantic melon of a head.
Michael Bourn might not have the same sort of upside as Carlos Gomez, but he really impressed me in this series with his speed and with some fantastic catches in the outfield. Speaking of outfield catches, Aaron Rowand's attempt to catch Beltran's 2nd homer on Saturday was pretty crazy.
The next time Cole Hamels is trying to drill a batter, he might want to make sure he doesn't miss, especially if there's a runner on 3rd. Just sayin'.
The next time Julio Franco comes up as the potential tying run when the Mets are down to their last out, he might want to run hard all the way to 1st to take advantage of any defensive mishaps that might occur. Just sayin'.
Congratulations to the 4 Mets who made the All-Star team. While I wish that Maine had at least been one of the Final Vote candidates, I'm happy to see that Wagner was picked, as he has pitched better this year than many closers with higher save totals *coughBrianFuentescough*.
Speaking of All-Star voting, John Kruk and Eric Young can kiss my ass. Their reaction to Reyes beating out Rollins for the team was jaw-droppingly ignorant. Let's ignore that Reyes leads the majors in stolen bases with more than twice as many as Rollins and has about a 70-point lead in on-base percentage - after all, Krukky reminds us that "you don't go to the All-Star Game to watch a guy hit singles and run." Never mind that the case they were making that Rollins is the best because of his power is blown apart by the fact that JJ Hardy, the other shortstop to make the NL team, actually has more home runs and a higher OBP than Rollins and doesn't play in as hitter-friendly a home park. Never mind that Eric Young's argument that steals are irrelevant because Pudge Rodriguez shuts down the running game is easily refuted by Pudge's uncharacteristically bad year behind the plate. Don't get me wrong, Jimmy Rollins is a good player who probably deserved to make the All-Star team, as did Hanley Ramirez and Edgar Renteria. However, Kruk and Young's arguments in favor of him accomplished the near-impossible: making Steve Phillips seem like the voice of reason. Then again, should we expect anything less from the guys who think it's a travesty that Sammy Sosa (who, while among the league leaders in RBIs, has an OPS below .800 as a DH/guy who occasionally stands in the outfield) wasn't picked for the AL team?
I'll save the rest of my All-Star roster venting for another day, but in the meantime, I encourage you to go vote for Chris Young and Jeremy Bonderman, a pair of pitchers having excellent years but who go unnoticed because they happen to be on the same team as a more high-profile great pitcher.

Vote, Vote, Vote For The Home Team

2007-06-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

Seeing as how rain has prevented the Mets from playing more than 5 1/2 innings over the past 2 days (I'd grumble about getting just 2 hits over 5 innings against a pitcher who came in with an era around 6 and a half, but seeing as one of those hits was a decisive 2-run bomb by David Wright I can't complain too much), I've had a lot of time to think about the All-Star Game. Voting ended last night, and the rosters are announced Sunday, so I figure now is as good a time as any to go through who I'd pick at this point, while doing a little bit of shaking my head at how some of the votes have gone so far. So, without further ado...

First Base: In the NL, this is pretty easy. Prince Fielder leads the league in home runs and in slugging percentage, and it's not like he plays his home games in a bandbox. I'd express embarrassment that Delgado is in the top 5 in voting despite having a pretty bad year, but that pales in comparison to the travesty that is Nomar Garciaparra (.266/.306/.321) in 3rd, ahead of Derrek Lee (.346/.421/.511). On the AL side of things, David Ortiz is having a pretty damn good year (.319/.433/.573), even if he only plays 1st base during interleague play. Jason Giambi and Sean Casey are in the top 5 ahead of players who are actually having good years, like Carlos Pena (.286/.388/.608) and Casey Kotchman (.319/.396/.532) - Kevin Youkilis is also having a very good year (.330/.415/.498), but he's pretty much screwed because he plays on the same team as Ortiz.

Second Base: This is about as close to a no-brainer as you get in the NL. Chase Utley is not only by far the best offensive 2nd baseman (.331/.418/.586), he's been a better hitter this year than his team's 1st baseman, Ryan Howard (.252/.383/.556). There's not too much to complain about with the way the voting as gone - yes, Valentin and Weeks should probably not have as many votes as people who didn't miss time with injury, and Craig Biggio is a shadow of the player he used to be, but 2nd base is a pretty weak position overall. In the AL, however, the voters kinda sorta dropped the ball. Brian Roberts's on-base percentage (.409) is higher than Robinson Cano's or Luis Castillo's slugging percentages (.404 and .335, respectively), and his batting average (.322) is higher than Cano's OBP (.307). Cano and Castillo combined have 8 steals in 15 attempts, while Roberts is 25-for-29. Yet Cano and Castillo are in the top 5, and Roberts is not.

Shortstop: Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose. There are other NL shortstops who have hit for more power this year, but Reyes's .395 OBP is the highest of any NL shortstop (man, does it feel awesome to be able to use OBP in a pro-Jose Reyes argument) and he leads the majors in stolen bases by a full dozen (with a 79% success rate, to boot). It seems strange to say this, but with the way the media focuses on calling him "the most exciting player in baseball," how good he is at playing baseball sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. In the AL, the gap in votes between Derek Jeter and Carlos Guillen is far greater than the gap in talent, and Julio Lugo (.190/.256/.283 to go along with below-average defense) being in the top 5 would be laughable if it weren't pathetic.

Third Base: This is where I deviate from the stats. There are two third basemen in the NL who are having a better season than David Wright (one is arguable in that he's better when he's healthy enough to take the field), but there will be snowball fights in Hell before I'd advocate voting for either one of them, and it's not even a matter of hometown bias towards Wright. Over in the AL, it's really tough to argue in favor of anyone other than A-Rod, who while easy to dislike does not inspire the Miguel Cabrera/Larry Jones level of hatred in my view. That being said, Eric Chavez and Adrian Beltre in the top 5 (OBPs barely above .300, the two lowest Zone Ratings among regular AL 3rd basemen) are proof that it's not just players on big-market teams who get votes based on a good season a few years ago.

Catcher: Russell Martin for the NL, and it's not even close. He has the highest OBP and slugging percentage of any regular catcher in the NL (.365 and .480, respectively), and he's also 13-for-15 on the basepaths. In the AL, Jorge Posada is having a great year (.337/.401/.536), as is Victor Martinez (.318/.379/.537). Somehow, Pudge Rodriguez is in 1st place even though his OBP is below .300 and his defense has been decidedly un-Pudgelike this year (only 9 out of 37 would-be basestealers have been gunned down). That he has almost as many All-Star votes as a teammate of his who deserves every bit of recognition he's getting this year is just sad.

Outfield: I'm never sure how to handle this - should I look for the best at each of the 3 outfield positions, or the best 3 outfielders regardless of position? Making it more complicated, corner outfielders are usually better hitters than centerfielders. In any event, Beltran is still one of the better-hitting centerfielders in the NL even if he doesn't deserve to be the top vote-getter based on how he's hit this year, it's great to be able to vote for a healthy Ken Griffey Junior who's hitting like a healthy Ken Griffey Junior, and Andruw Jones (.199/.300/.383) having more votes than Matt Holliday (.350/.397/.581) is sickening. I'll ignore the .504 OBP elephant in the room. In the AL, it's hard to argue with a Magglio Ordonez-Ichiro-Vlad outfield, but Grady Sizemore and Curtis Granderson deserve more votes than they've gotten. You're talking about 2 good defensive centerfielders with a higher OPS than Manny Ramirez, yet Sizemore is 7th in the voting (Manny is 4th), and Granderson isn't even in the top 15 (but his teammate Craig Monroe, a left-fielder with a .277 OBP, is).

So, there are my thoughts on the starting lineups and the voting. I'm interested to hear what you think.

Unspeakable

2007-06-26T23:02:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to curse about yet another atrocious outing by Scott Schoeneweis, but that's only because the English language lacks words sufficiently vulgar and foul to express my feelings towards that utter waste of a roster spot. I'm not saying that the loss is all on him - to do so would be foolish. I hate to bag on Jose Valentin because he's been so solid offensively and defensively since becoming the everyday 2nd baseman last year (and was 90 feet away from complete redemption), but 2 Cardinal runs were the direct result of grounders he couldn't quite handle, and you could argue that a 3rd was due to his inability to get to a ball hit up the middle. The offense seems to have fallen back into the funk it was in for much of the past month (a collective .129/.208/.300 over the past 2 games). Yet all of that might not have mattered had a pitcher capable of getting the fringiest of major-leaguers out started the top of the 11th.

Tonight could have been, almost was, a thrilling comeback. As Isringhausen suddenly lost the ability to throw his curveball for a strike with 2 outs in the 9th, I found myself pacing around my parents' living room, my mother and grandmother (in town for my brother's high school graduation and taking advantage of the opportunity to watch her favorite team on TV) in full-on "I can't take this, somebody needs to hit a home run RIGHT NOW" mode. When Green raced home with the tying run on Valentin's double, I practically tackled Mom. The game was not yet won, but there was no way the Mets were losing after that...

...Until the top of the order did nothing in the 10th and Schoeneweis trotted in from the bullpen to turn yet another close game in the opposing team's favor. I held out hope that he would be able to make it through unscathed, but deep down I knew that something bad was bound to happen, and you'd have a hard time finding a Mets fan who would tell you otherwise. I can't wait for the day when Omar finds a team willing to take on the remainder of that 3-year sentence otherwise known as Scott Schoeneweis's contract. I'd also take the Mets remembering how to consistently score enough runs to make his "pitching" a non-issue, a sign that Friday and Sunday were not a fluke but a return to form. If I can't have that, can I at least have a win tomorrow? Please?

Whacking The Scoreboard

2007-06-25T22:41:00.001-04:00

Watching TV is typically a sedentary activity. Watching baseball on TV, especially a baseball game like tonight's, is far from that. As the innings go by with the score unchanged, the tension mounts and the viewer feels her heart leaping into her throat with every baserunner, every close play, every deep count, breathing a sigh of relief with every key out and sinking into despair with every wasted opportunity. After such a game is over, it takes a while for the adrenaline to dissipate, for the heart rate to return to normal, for the joy or bitterness to subside.

The long fly ball pulled just foul is almost always a cruel tease, leaving fans of the team on the field trying to tell themselves it was just another strike and fans of the team at bat harboring an image of what could have been that is likely to be replayed in their minds at the conclusion of the at-bat. To see a foul "home run" followed by one that stays fair in the same at-bat is nearly unheard-of. Yet tonight the Mets got two of them, one by a rookie who entered the night with 4 career extra-base hits and the other a massive walkoff blast off the center-field scoreboard that was the first Mets hit since the home run 8 innings earlier.

Had the Mets lost tonight, it would have been a painful reminder of the events of last October (as it was, there were constant reminders of Games 2 and 7 throughout the evening), a frustrating setback after a great weekend, and a game lost in the standings to the Braves. Instead, it was a thrilling victory, one that provided little moments of redemption (forget Green's walk-off for a second if you can - how about that diving catch?) and cause for celebration. The emotional roller-coaster provided a wild and thrilling ride. Now can we have a nice, easy win tomorrow?

Observations/Odds & Ends:

As much as the late-inning heroics were reminiscent of last year, the temporary transformation of a mediocre slop-throwing lefty into Cy Young was a less pleasant repetition of the past.
As much as Pujols is one of the best hitters in baseball and so on and so forth, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who got really, really nervous when he was intentionally walked in the 7th to load the bases for Spiezio.
You know Keith is back in the booth when a box of Tootsie Pops is brought out and players are compared to field mice.
What was Valentin doing with that bat during the victory celebration?b

Waking Up From The Worst Nightmare

2007-06-25T17:51:00.000-04:00

The reason I didn't write about the Yankees and Twins series wasn't that I didn't watch the games (well, I missed the early innings of Ollie vs. Clemens last Friday because I was at Babbo for birthday dinner #3 and I had to follow the comeback that almost was on Saturday on my cell phone's Web browser because I was at a graduation party, but other than that I watched it all). The fact that I watched the games made me not want to write about them. That feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop once the first game of the series had been won, of not getting too friendly with the lead because it probably wasn't going to stick around, was bad enough to live through once. To write about it afterwards would have compounded the pain, much like getting food poisoning from the sandwich that tasted bad enough when you ate it. I'm not one of those fans who can't handle losing, but the losing that took place for much of this month wasn't ordinary losing. It was big heaping helpings of flat baseball, sloppy defense and 0-2 meatballs and offensive struggles, that gave one the feeling that an early lead would disappear and a late deficit would be insurmountable.

Thankfully, it looks like that losing has been banished. There are so many positive signs to take from this weekend's sweep of the Oakland Athletics - outstanding performances from the starting pitching, the offense clicking once again, hell, even Schoeneweis pitched a 1-2-3 inning. The biggest positive may be that the Mets did what a good team should do - take advantage when the other team makes a mistake. The first and last games were blowouts in which the Mets took an early lead after Reyes's speed contributed to errors (if you haven't seen Jose's leadoff double + throwing error, you've missed out on something special), while the only run of Saturday's game scored after Beltran was intentionally walked to get to David Wright, who promptly laced a ball into right field that Travis Buck (who had made a great throw earlier in the game to keep it scoreless) dove for, enabling Ramon Castro (who a} is very slow and b} could not be pinch-run for) to score from second. The A's are a good team, but since their offense is not exactly overpowering (in the AL, only the White Sox have scored fewer runs) and their pitching staff doesn't strike a lot of guys out, they need to play good defense to be successful. Judging by the team defensive numbers on The Hardball Times, they usually do, but the Mets were able to take advantage this weekend when they didn't.

I think that we might end up looking back at the top of the 7th on Saturday as a turning point. El Duque was in a jam, Willie Randolph went out to get him, but Duque convinced Willie to let him stay in and face Mark Kotsay. As I held my breath, Kotsay fouled off what seemed like a dozen pitches before El Duque struck him out. I know that a week ago, the outcome would have been different, and I'd be howling about the decision. But just as the past month or so reminded us what it's like to watch a team be less than the sum of its parts, this weekend showed us what this team is capable of when it's firing on all cylinders. I can understand Gary Cohen's moment of being warm and fuzzy, of singing the praises of Ralph Kiner and Mr. Met, because the way the Mets played this weekend brings that out in the people who root for them.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Gomez's catch in the Friday game at Yankee Stadium was fantastic. I'm hesitant to compare it to Endy's catch in Game 7 last year (Endy's was more technically impressive and in a more important game, but Gomez deserves some credit for making his catch in an extremely hostile environment), but with Endy out for now, it's good to see Gomez stepping up to fill his extremely important role.
I'm still trying to figure out how a team that struck out 10 times against Chien-Ming Wang (career K/9: 3.52) last Sunday faced Johan Santana (career K/9: 9.47) two days later with Johan not recording his only strikeout of the game in the 9th inning against Paul Lo Duca (who hardly ever strikes out).
Speaking of Lo Duca, I was really not a fan of his outburst on Saturday. I'm afraid that umpires will now screw the Mets over on every borderline call they possibly can (more than they already are), and to throw his gear out on to the field knowing that such conduct usually results in a suspension seems a bit selfish to me.
Is there anything more unexpected and awesome than Jose Valentin hitting a massive home run from the right side?

Wake-Up Call

2007-06-14T11:40:00.000-04:00

I'm never asking for anything for my birthday again. All I wanted was a handful of nice, shiny wins, and instead I get 3 nights of some of the most lethargic and uninspired baseball I've seen since the days of Mo Vaughn and Roberto Alomar. How many times must we be subjected to the same old story of "Mets take slim early lead, give it back and then some, bats go from half-asleep to unconscious once lead is squandered?" I could grumble that perhaps Jorge Sosa has turned back into a pumpkin or bemoan his failure to cover 1st base that opened up the floodgates last night, but how can I do that when his previous 2 starts are the only reason we're not tearing our hair out over a 12-game losing streak right now?

I'm sick and tired of mental lapses and hitters who should know better swinging at shit out of the zone and not making the opposing pitcher work and wasting good starting pitching and previously-reliable bullpen guys looking shaky and getting beat by that lousy ex-Brave Wilson Fucking Betemit and looking at a deficit of a couple of runs knowing it's not going to be reversed. For the sake of this team and the mental well-being of fans like me, something big has to happen at Yankee Stadium this weekend. Sending the overhyped headhunting mercenary to the showers in the 1st inning would be one hell of a step back in the right direction.

Since we're in the midst of interleague play, I figure that now is as good a time as any to explain why I hate the DH rule. Contrary to what many fans of AL teams might believe, NL fans don't get some perverse joy out of watching pitchers bat (although when relief pitchers have to bat because a manager burned through his bench? Now that's some funny shit right there). My objection to the concept of a designated hitter is that it allows and encourages regular playing time for players who are only good at one aspect of the game. Think about it - when you have a player who can't hit their way out of a paper bag but can field a position well or run really fast, do you put them in the starting lineup every day? Hell no (unless, of course, you're the Astros). You use them as a defensive replacement or pinch runner in the late innings of close games and keep them on the bench the rest of the time in favor of players who can do more than one thing well. If a guy can hit but is a complete disaster in the field, he shouldn't get to play every day, instead being used as a pinch hitter who gets one at-bat per game in a high-leverage situation (and the occasional spot start when his team's starting pitcher is unlikely to be hurt by his poor defense). I don't want to hear about how the DH slot helps keep an injury-prone player healthy by preventing him from having to be exposed to the wear and tear of playing in the field (you know, the same wear and tear that his teammates endure on a daily basis) or prolongs the careers of older players (for every older player that gets to stick around, there's a younger, cheaper, and perhaps better player he's blocking). By the same token, I also don't feel that a pitcher should be let off the hook for being completely useless at the plate. While pitching should obviously be his main priority, a pitcher should also work on his hitting and at least know how to get a bunt down when called upon to do so. Not only can a pitcher help himself by contributing to the run support generated by his team, the experience of standing in the batter's box and seeing "how the other half lives" should provide him with valuable insight into what goes through a hitter's mind at the plate, which should help give him a better understanding of how to get hitters out.

Finally, congratulations to Justin Verlander on his no-hitter. Maybe I'm alone in this feeling, but watching a pitcher on another team throw a no-no gives me this weird mixture of happiness and jealousy (unless, of course, it happens to be a team I dislike, in which case it's just anger and frustration). It's similar to the feeling I get when my grandmother in Florida talks about her cat - I love cats, but since I live in an apartment in New York City, I can't have one of my own.

Happy Birthday To Me?

2007-06-11T21:18:00.000-04:00

I've tried my best to block out how Thursday night's game ended (really, does any game in which Schoeneweis gets to stand on the mound - I refuse to refer to what he does as "pitching" - end well?) so as to be able to enjoy the awe-inspiring sight of back-to-back-to-back home runs off a damn good pitcher (although apparently, a damn good pitcher who has been taking his jackass lessons. Maybe Hamels should be more concerned about letting himself get so rattled by a call that didn't go his way that he threw a pitch that a guy who can still count his extra-base hits on one hand 2 months into the season could send into the bleachers than with making not-so-veiled threats to drill Lo Duca. Just sayin').

Friday marked the start of the weekend, the start of the Mets' first visit to Comerica Park, and the resumption of my birthday celebration, which began last Sunday with an afternoon at Shea (unfortunately, no Mets victory was unwrapped that afternoon, although my parents did arrange for one of those "Happy Birthday" messages on the scoreboard for me). I come from a family that tends to make a big deal out of birthdays to begin with - celebrations usually last a full week - so for a "special" birthday like this one (I turn 21 tomorrow), great seats to a ballgame and dinners at a few of my favorite restaurants were just part of the festivities arranged by my parents. Of course, when my parents made the dinner reservations, they forgot to consider how they might impact my ability to watch the Mets on TV (not that I'm going to complain about going out for dinner at a nice restaurant, but sheesh, is it really that difficult to look at the Mets schedule before making plans this time of year?)

Friday night's dinner was at Chinatown Brasserie, an upscale Chinese restaurant in the heart of my East Village/NoHo comfort zone. Fortunately, reservations were for 5 PM, so I could enjoy the gourmet dim sum without worrying that I'd miss more than the 1st inning or so of the game. Not only that, but the game was over so quickly that I had time to change into pajamas and open all of my presents before Baseball Tonight went on at 10:00! While I would have liked to see more offense against the likes of Chad Durbin (seriously, how was that guy still on the mound to start the 9th inning having thrown less than 90 pitches?), that was one impressive performance by Jorge Sosa to so thoroughly shut down a lineup of that caliber, one that I would come to appreciate even more for all the wrong reasons over the next 2 days.

As much as Sunday's game was even more brutal in terms of sheer Detroit firepower being unleashed against the pitching staff, Saturday's was more unsettling to me. Maybe I've been too dazzled by a fraction of a season's worth of excellence, too hasty to dismiss nearly 2 years of crappy pitching prior to Game 7, but I've come to view Oliver Perez as our best starting pitcher, the guy who can go out there against the other team's ace and give us a chance to win. To watch him give back a lead by throwing 0-2 meatballs like that was just bizarre and painful. I still have faith that Ollie will pitch better next time out (especially since he won't be facing a team that demolishes lefties the way the Tigers do), but I don't know that I'll have that feeling of confidence that he'll go out there and dominate the opposition.

I'm tempted to just recap what I had for dinner on Saturday instead of talking about the Saturday and Sunday games. I mean, really, why would I want to write about those damn seagulls all over the field and the inability to hold a lead and Delgado being Del-Godawful with RISP and those seagulls and Gomez going back and forth between "Endy 2.0" and "Milledge at Fenway" and that atrocious CW11 commercial for the Subway Series that made my ears hurt and FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, CAN WE GET PLACIDO POLANCO OUT FOR ONCE? and did I mention the seagulls? Wouldn't you rather hear about a cute little restaurant on the Lower East Side with outdoor seating and funky appetizers and these amazing little rolls sprinkled with sea salt and awesome scallop risotto and did I mention that I had 3 glasses of champagne with dinner? I know this is not a food blog, but just humor me.

I'm hoping that this series in the Land of Annoying Plastic Rally Noisemaker Bats will make my birthday a happy one. Even though the Mets did not play the day that I was born, they were on quite a winning streak during the first week of my life. Plus, it's not just my birthday this week - our favorite force of nature/occasional Spanish instructor is celebrating his birthday today (aren't Geminis the most awesome of all the zodiac signs?) In any event, I'd like for the Mets to take at least 2 out of 3 from the Dodgers and go into the Bronx with momentum on their side, ready to demolish Roger Clemens on Friday - when I won't be able to watch because that's when my parents made reservations for yet another birthday dinner.

Insult To Injury

2007-06-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

It started out seeming like such a promising evening. I was excited about going to a game with one of my best friends from high school, especially since I don't get to see him that often. My dad gave us his office's tickets for the game (the only thing better than a good seat is a good seat you don't have to pay for), and the weather was perfect - sunny, but not oppressively hot or humid, with a gentle breeze. As we boarded the 7 train at Grand Central, we struck up a conversation with a man who overheard us talking about the upcoming game. He was a fellow Mets fan, and we spent the rest of the ride to Shea talking about everything from the impending debut of Citi Field to the best games we've ever attended to ambidextrous pitchers (If Bill Veeck were around today...), and before we knew it we had reached our destination.

After we bought our food, got to our seats, and filled out the lineups on our scorecards, I suddenly and inexplicably wanted nachos. In an ill-fated attempt to avoid disturbing the people sitting between me and the aisle, I climbed over the empty row of seats in front of us, only to lose my balance and fall into the row in front of that. My ego and ankles bruised, I set off in search of the nachos, only to be misled by those little signs with arrows pointing to the alleged locations of various concessions. Despite the preponderance of signs claiming that there were nachos right nearby, only one stand on the entire loge level actually sold them, and of course that stand was closed. Since there was no way I would be trudging all the way over to section 24 during the game to see if the stand had opened, I would have to go without the chips and salsa I wanted so badly, and my seat-tumbling was for naught.

I soon forgot all about the nachos, as my friend and I were thrown into a state of panic by El Duque's seeming inability to throw a strike as he crossed the 40-pitch mark in the 2nd inning. Fortunately, Duque did not break from all the bending of the first 2 innings, eventually found the strike zone, and managed to go 6 shutout innings. As the Mets had Eaton on the ropes in the 4th, 1st and 2nd with nobody out following Beltran's opposite-field shot that had just enough to clear the wall, I found myself smiling. Alas, the inning was soon to end on an unpleasant meeting of Delgado's legs and Shane Victorino's arm that gave the sinking feeling that the Mets had let Eaton off the hook.

I was somewhat surprised to see Heilman brought in to start the 7th - only the 2nd time all year he was brought in in that situation, and only the 4th in which he entered the game before the 8th inning, and though he scared us all by letting the first 2 men on, it looked like he would get out of the jam he had created. The roar of the crowd, the energy of an entire ballpark on its feet as he struck out Met-killer Burrell for the 2nd out and then went 0-2 on Jimmy Rollins and his big fat mouth was nothing short of electrifying, which made the 1-2 that landed over the right field wall all the more devastating. As Rollins rounded the bases, surely basking in the gloom that had enveloped Shea, I felt as though I had been punched in the stomach. Had I been successful in my quest for those goddamn nachos, I'm sure I would have been throwing up.

Yet even after that crushing blow, there was still hope. With one swing, Newhan momentarily went from being the pathetic bench player who couldn't even get a bunt down to the go-ahead run in scoring position with nobody out. Even after Gotay inexplicably stayed at 3rd on Franco's grounder to Howard, there was still a chance. Endy would make them pay for intentionally walking Reyes and...what? How the hell does Endy Chavez ground into 2 double plays in one game? Why is he being helped off the field? Oh shit, this is terrible. Remember how at the start of spring training, our biggest weakness was the rotation and our biggest strength was outfield depth? Seems like eons ago.

There were still 2 more innings to play, but even if the Mets had managed the eminently possible task of getting something done against Ryan Madson and Antonio Alfonseca, this game became a devastating loss the second Endy pulled up lame. Such an injury couldn't have come at a worse time given the rash of outfield injuries the Mets are already dealing with, and his phenomenal defense will be sorely missed by extreme flyball pitchers like Perez and Maine. Get well soon, Endy. We need you.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Absolutely phenomenal at-bat by Gotay in the 3rd. It's always encouraging to see a rookie be able to battle like that with the pitcher, fouling off a ton of pitches before working a walk.
Glavine needs to hold a bunting clinic for the pitchers and bench players who might be called on to bunt ASAP. Multiple bunt attempts landing on the screen is just inexcusable and painful to watch.
Before the game went sour in the 7th, the "LAST PLACE YANKEES! Clapclapclapclapclap" chants directed at the handful of jackasses wearing the wrong shirt to the ballpark were quite amusing.
The usual "Sweet Caroline" singalong in the 8th didn't take place. Thank God for small favors.
Speaking of the 8th inning, I was absolutely disgusted by just how much of the crowd left after the last out of the 8th. I understand that some people have to get up early for work the next day and all, but the mass exodus when the home team is trailing by only 2 runs is just pathetic.
Speaking of pathetic, the 2 idiots in the row behind me bitching about how this was the most boring game they had ever been to after no runs were scored in the first 3 innings should just stay home and stick to video games from now on.

Never Let The Gift Horse Kick You In The Mouth

2007-06-05T23:24:00.000-04:00

That has to be the most frustrating loss of the year not in the "making a rookie or crappy journeyman look like Johan Santana" category. What makes it so frustrating is that the Phillies were playing some awful baseball and doing everything short of gift-wrapping the game and presenting it on a silver platter. They cured Tom Glavine's first-inning woes. Burrell and Utley tried to reenact the Kent/Drew play at 3rd base. There was the dropped pop-up in the bottom of the 9th and that other ball that dropped in front of Burrell earlier in the game. For crying out loud, they made Scott Schoeneweis look like a major league pitcher! Unfortunately, the Mets just couldn't get that one big hit they needed, Reyes had a baserunning blunder of his own (how do you let yourself get picked off 2nd base with Beltran at the plate?), and Feliciano and Smith took the night off and let their evil twins pitch in their places. I'm hoping for a better outcome tomorrow, and not just because I'm going to the game with an old friend from high school. If the Mets make Adam Eaton look like a decent pitcher, I will not be happy.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Wow to that play at the plate where Wright basically flipped over and landed on the catcher. Once I saw that nobody was hurt, I laughed my ass off.
Somebody needs to tell Gomez that attempting to bunt a pitch that's at eye level is not a good idea.
Keith's commentary on Jamie Moyer's "minor-league" stirrups was priceless. SNY really needs to incorporate his fashion tangents into the next set of cartoon commercials.
Nice to know that it's not just Mets no-hitters that Gary is capable of jinxing.
I can understand why the fan voting for the All-Star Game is shaping up the way it is, but it still makes me shake my head a bit (particularly in the AL catcher and 2nd base departments).

Time Flies Even When You're Not Having Fun

2007-06-05T18:07:00.000-04:00

Since my last post, the Mets have played 5 games, lost 3 (2 of which I attended), Carlos Beltran joined the Brigade of Injured Mets Outfielders, and Willie Randolph seems to be the only manager not afflicted with whatever it is that's causing managers all across baseball to throw hissy fits with various levels of creativity and spontaneity. Quite the eventful week. Since it's less than an hour until the latest Battle of the Old Soft-Tossing Lefties, I'm going to just blurt out a few things that went through my mind over the past week:

Last year, Tom Glavine's "one bad inning" always seemed to be the one right after the Mets took a lead. This year, it's the first inning. I thought that perhaps looking at the raw numbers might tell me that I'm exaggerating, that I just remember Glavine's first-inning struggles more vividly than I remember the subsequent innings of those starts or the games where he pitches well in the first inning. However, it only served to reinforce my initial opinion. Glavine has pitched at least 6 innings in all but one of 12 his starts so far this year, and he went 5 1/3 in the lone start in which he failed to make it through the 6th. He has allowed 31 runs thus far, 28 of them earned. The first innings of Glavine's starts represent less than one-sixth of the innings he has pitched this year, yet more than one-fourth of the runs he's given up this year have come in the first inning (replace "first" with "second," and the previous sentence is still true). Glavine has given up at least one run in the first inning in 7 starts so far this year, including each of his last 4 starts. While he settles down and pitches well after the first inning or two more often than not, it's unsettling that the pitcher who was considered our most reliable starter going into the season is routinely putting the team in an early hole. Is Glavine not warming up enough in the bullpen? Does it take him time to gauge what kind of strike zone the home plate umpire has and adjust his gameplan accordingly? Does he rely on a very predictable pitch sequence the first time through the order? It's often said that in order to beat the good pitchers, you have to get to them early in the game, and lately the Mets' opponents are doing just that against Glavine.
While El Duque caught Glavine's case of first-inningitis last Thursday, he was great after that. Few things are more entertaining to watch than El Duque when he's on like he's been since his return from the DL, although yet another team falling victim to the Endy bunt single ranks right up there as well.
I went to Friday and Sunday's losses. The team just seemed flat and lifeless on Friday, but that's to be expected when the "A-minus" lineup is up against a pitcher as good as Brandon Webb. However, Maine pitched very well (no walks!), and the "Mr. Endy's Neighborhood" thing they showed on the Diamondvision before the game rivals the Jose Reyes Spanish Academy for sheer entertainment value. As for Sunday, very frustrating to see Perez have a mini-meltdown after being (literally) unhittable early in the game, although not quite as frustrating as the lineup not being able to get Doug Davis out of the game until the 8th inning. Of course, I'd be singing a different tune if only that Easley liner in the bottom of the 8th was just a few inches on the other side of the 3rd-base line.
First thought upon hearing that Armando Benitez had been traded to the Marlins: "Awesome. Mets still have a bunch of games against Florida this year, so more chances to beat up on Benitez." Second thought: "Oh fuck. The Braves have more games remaining against the Marlins than the Mets do, and we all know what happens when Armando faces Atlanta." Third thought: "Hmm. The Braves haven't faced the Giants yet this year, while the Mets have completed their season series with San Francisco, so this trade provides the Mets more additional opportunities to face Mr. Balk-off than it does the Braves." Fourth thought: "Armando Benitez sucks, and I'm so glad he's not a Met anymore."
If they ever make a male version of "The View," John Kruk and Steve Phillips would be perfect in the Rosie and Elisabeth roles. I thought their fight when Fausto Carmona was sent down to Triple-A was bad enough, but their shouting match on Sunday over Lou Piniella being suspended for kicking dirt at an umpire was just over-the-top ridiculous (for the record, I agreed with Kruk that the Indians should not have sent Carmona down and with Phillips that Piniella deserved to be suspended ).
Speaking of managers and suspensions, I'm sure you've all seen the Phillip Wellman outburst by now. As much as it's gotten way more attention than it deserves and I'm glad that it was a member of the Braves organization acting like such a jackass, the bit where he crawls to the mound to and throws the resin bag is just hysterical in a way that puts the Piniella and Leyland tantrums of the weekend to shame.

A Familiar Face In Different Clothing

2007-05-30T02:56:00.000-04:00

I'm still in a deliriously giddy state over what I witnessed at Shea a few hours ago. In some ways, it was a lot like what I was hoping for as I got ready to go out to the game Tuesday afternoon...

Here's to both pitchers having more strikeouts than baserunners,

Hit the nail on the head there. Perez and Lincecum each struck out 8 batters over 7 innings. Perez allowed 5 hits and no walks, Lincecum allowed 3 hits and 3 walks.

8 shutout innings from Lincecum, 9 zeroes for Perez,

Oh, well. Can't predict 'em all.

and a brief detour from dominant pitching in the form of an Armando Benitez meltdown / Reyes walk-off (yes, I know managers usually don't bring their closers into tie games on the road, but a girl can dream, can't she?).

Even I wasn't expecting Benitez to melt down in such deliciously implosive fashion. Reyes may not have been the one to complete the decisive rally, but he sure as hell started it (you have to think that Reyes's speed helped unnerve Benitez to the point that he balked twice, and I'm not sure that Delgado gets that pitch to crush if Benitez isn't completely unhinged after balking in the tying run).

Going back to the pitching matchup that enticed me to buy a ticket to this game in the first place, both starters pitched better than the number of runs they allowed would suggest, if that makes any sense. I feared it would be a long night when Perez was taken deep by 2 of the first 4 hitters he faced in an inning of deep fly balls, but he reverted back to dominance after that, retiring the next 14 batters he faced after the second homer. He's going to give up his fair share of home runs because of his extreme flyball tendencies, but if he can avoid walks and rack up strikeouts the way he did tonight and the way he's done in most of his starts this year, most of those home runs will be solo shots that don't do much damage. Lincecum is just filthy - between the unusual delivery and the fantastic stuff (he was routinely hitting 96 with his fastball, and the curveball is just devastating), it says a hell of a lot about how locked-in Delgado is right now that he was able to hit a home run against him.

As for Bonds, the reaction when he entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the 10th was about what I would have anticipated - lots of booing, a couple of chants ("You did steroids" and "Barry sucks" being the most noteworthy), and more energy from the crowd than I had noticed all night. I got the feeling that a lot of people at Shea were there to see Barry and didn't really care all that much about the fantastic game that took place while Mr. Potato Head was in the dugout. The crowd thinned out noticeably after each half inning once the game went into extras, so only the diehard fans were left when Benitez made his entrance in the bottom of the 12th. I don't think I'm exaggerating one bit when I say that the boos for Armando were on a per-person basis louder than the boos for Bonds, and the roar of the crowd after his first balk was just tremendous - as we saw his reaction to the call, that mixture of rage and despair that we had all seen too many times when he pitched for the home team, we knew that there was no way we wouldn't be going home happy in a hurry.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I thought it was a little too cutesy to have the entire team leap over the foul line as they took their positions prior to the 1st inning. The "Take The Leap" signs on the scoreboard, however, were sheer genius.
I'm sure I've said it before, but the Chavez-Beltran-Gomez outfield is quite a sight to behold, and an absolute must when Perez is pitching.
Speaking of Gomez, I've noticed that before he steps into the batter's box, he holds out his bat and sniffs it like it's the cork from a fancy bottle of wine. From here on out, I'm referring to him as El Conocedor (that's Spanish for "connoisseur"). I'm still puzzled as to why Willie had Franco pinch-hit for him in the 9th.
I never want to see Schoeneweis brought in when the game is tied. Unless, of course, Omar trades him and the Mets are facing him.
Heilman has been absolutely lights-out when brought in with runners on base this year. He has stranded every base runner he's inherited so far this season, and I have to wonder if he does better in those situations than he does when brought in to start an inning because it feels like a more important role.
Nice to see that Fred Lewis is attending the Johnny Damon Academy of Outfield Defense.
Russ Ortiz is a really bad pitcher. Not that that's news or anything, but the only difference between what he was doing on the mound last night and batting practice is that batting practice pitchers hit the strike zone more often than not.
Can the Mets just plunk a Molina already? I'm not picky, just pick one and throw it at their rear end - they've been enough of a pain in the ass to the Mets that it's time to return the favor.

May Sweeps

2007-05-29T13:57:00.000-04:00

I'll admit that I wasn't paying all that much attention to the first two games of the Atlanta series last week. What could divert my attention from a rather important matchup against the most hated of rivals? A little show called American Idol - perhaps you've heard of it. As wretched as the song they picked for the winner to sing this year was (how is it that they held a nationwide songwriting competition to get a better song than what they've given previous winners to sing, and the best thing they were able to come up with was a drippy power ballad entitled "This Is My Now?"), listening to Blake Lewis attempt to perform a song way out of his stylistic and vocal range was far less painful than watching the Mets make Kyle Davies look like a good pitcher yet again. Despite the fact that Wednesday's grand finale ran past its timeslot and screwed over most of the people who were TiVoing it by announcing Jordin Sparks's well-deserved victory after 10 PM, I had enough time after its conclusion to flip back over to SNY and watch Wagner close out Oliver Perez's third victory against the Braves this season (the same number of victories the Mets have against the Braves in total this season - perhaps the rest of the starting rotation should be taking notes during his starts), ensuring that the Mets would leave Atlanta in first place no matter what happened the following night.

My TV viewing for the season over (except for tonight's House finale, which I'll have to tape anyway - more on that later), I tuned in to Thursday night's game with only the Smoltz/Glavine matchup on my mind. Other than absolute rage over that bullshit check-swing call against David Wright that snuffed out a bases-loaded rally, I'm still not sure how to feel about the game. Was Glavine the victim of nonexistent offensive support in a good outing, or was he fortunate to have only given up 2 runs considering how poorly he pitched in the first couple of innings? Did the Mets squander the uncommon scoring opportunities that arose because of Smoltz's nagging injuries, or does that argument not give Smoltz enough credit for being a great pitcher and tremendous competitor with the ability to get out of the jams he rarely creates? In any event, I hate the Atlanta Braves and I hate that this 2007 Mets team, so good in almost every aspect, makes me think of the bad old days because of the one team they've really played poorly against this year. The Mets don't face the Braves again until August, and until then there's only one thing to do: play better baseball than Atlanta plays, increasing the lead over them to the point that those remaining series won't have much meaning other than the opportunity to put the final nails in their coffin.

Over the weekend, the Mets did just that, sweeping the Marlins as the Braves were being swept by the Phillies. El Duque's return from the DL was masterful, being moved down in the order may have been just what Delgado needed (that dead-center home run on Saturday night? Wow), and the Marlins kept coming up with new ways to hand the Mets runs through lousy defense (I'm surprised Scott Olsen didn't throw a temper tantrum on the mound Sunday when the comedy of errors kicked in). Yes, there are some things to worry about - outfielders keep getting hurt, Maine is still issuing way too many walks, Reyes is in a slump - but right now, I'd rather bask in the glory of Delgado going deep twice in one game and Gary reading off the promos for some new trashtacular soap opera on CW11 and Pedro hyping up his pending comeback and Keith sheepishly admitting that he didn't see last Saturday's game because he was tending to his yard and Wagner getting his bad outings out of the way when there's enough of a lead to absorb them and feeling proud of my mom for pointing at the TV and saying "that Olsen kid pitching for the Marlins looks like a shithead" and baseball being the only thing on TV worth watching for the next few months.

I'm going to 3 games this week, and without a doubt tonight is the one I'm most excited about. Let ESPN slobber over Barry Bonds all they want (after all, Roger Clemens isn't pitching a minor league game today, so it's not like they have anything else to talk about ;-P), I'm there for the pitching matchup. We all know what Oliver Perez is capable of and what he's done in his last few starts. Tim Lincecum is a phenomenally talented young pitcher who, with the exception of a rough start in his major-league debut, has basically picked up where he left off in his domination of the minor leagues, seriously helping my fantasy team in the process. If any Mets game this year has the potential to out-do Pedro vs. Webb in terms of dominant pitchers facing off (the El Duque vs. Cook / Endy bunt-off game earlier this year came close), this would be it. Here's to both pitchers having more strikeouts than baserunners, 8 shutout innings from Lincecum, 9 zeroes for Perez, and a brief detour from dominant pitching in the form of an Armando Benitez meltdown / Reyes walk-off (yes, I know managers usually don't bring their closers into tie games on the road, but a girl can dream, can't she?).

Scott Schoeneweis Has A Better Arm Than Johnny Damon

2007-05-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

One of the most frustrating things about letting myself slip away from updating the blog daily is that by the time I finally do sit down to write, many of the thoughts and impressions I had after a game have been rendered moot by subsequent events. Had I posted something in the wee hours of Thursday morning after that rain-delayed win over the Cubs, much of that post would have been centered on worrying about Reyes after he had to leave the game in the 8th. Now that we all know that Jose is just fine, it's pointless to go back and rehash my thoughts from when we didn't know that, even though it was a major concern that occupied my thoughts at the time. Similarly, it doesn't make sense for me to write about how getting into the Yankee bullpen before making a single out on Saturday gave the Mets a huge advantage for Sunday's game because that turned out not to be the case, even though it was one of the first things that crossed my mind on the way home from Shea the other evening.

However, some elements of the past week's events remain timeless in their relevance, for better (that glorious comeback against the only team capable of such a complete implosion, Endy gunning down Damon on the first play of Friday's game before hitting a surprising decisive home run, Smith striking out Jeter) or for worse (John Maine's high walk rate finally catching up to him, Scott Schoeneweis being allowed to face right-handed batters in order to make a close game a blowout and a blowout closer than it ever should have been, yet another player in the organization testing positive for steroids). There's a lot I'd like to say, but for the time being I'll focus on the game I attended this Saturday.

My family makes it a habit to attend one of the Subway Series games every year, usually the Saturday game. Dad gets the tickets from work, Mom spends the week leading up to the game complaining about how much she hates going to Shea when it's filled with obnoxious drunks rooting for the opposing team, I tell her (tongue only slightly in cheek) that it's our civic duty as Mets fans to attend the game because our presence means 4 fewer Yankee fans will be able to enter the ballpark, we leave the house 3 1/2 hours before the game is scheduled to start even though we only live 20 minutes from Shea to make sure we can park in our usual spot on 114th Street (even before the Citi Field construction began, we knew that the parking lots were to be avoided whenever possible, especially for sold-out games).

Given that we arrived at Shea so early, we had plenty of time to kill. Normally, we would have taken advantage of the opportunity to hang around on the field level during BP, but nasty weather = no BP = no field level access. Dad foolishly assumes that this means we can't get Mama's Of Corona for lunch, but I know better (there's a ramp going down that provides access to Mama's and the Nike store, but nothing else on the field level, one of those little things that an unpicky eater would never take the time to find out about). Food is consumed, the lineups are filled in on my scorecard, the scoreboard is watched (the Red Sox beat the Braves 13-3, bringing joy to some and pain to others) the location of our seats is a source of happiness (loge section 4, far back enough that the overhang of the mezzanine shields us from the rain, not so far back that the overhang obstructs our view), and eventually it's time for the first pitch.

Glavine looked extremely shaky in the first 2 innings, missing the strike zone enough that he wasn't getting the benefit of the doubt on borderline calls, and generally not looking like he would last long in the game. The quality start he ended up delivering was more than I would have expected. Meanwhile, the Yankees' starting pitcher, Darrell Rasner, was literally knocked out 2 batters into the game by a comebacker off the bat of Endy Chavez. If I'm being perfectly honest, I was somewhat disturbed by the crowd's reaction to Rasner's injury (which we later found out was a broken finger on his pitching hand). Cheering because someone got hurt is just fucked up any way you slice it.

The Mets scored their first run thanks to Johnny Damon's pathetic throwing arm. Beltran looped one to shallow center and while it was Reyes tagging up, Damon was right behind 2nd base and still had no shot of even making a play of it. My father and I tried to start a round of "Chickenwing" (our preferred nickname for Damon and that weak arm) chants in our section, but I don't think anyone else got it. Later that inning, David Wright absolutely crushed one, an over-the-bullpen shot reminiscent of the one he hit during the Sunday night game of last year's Subway Series. He hit another one in the 3rd inning that Chickenwing helped over the wall as it doinked off his glove (Dad: "Apparently, that's the only type of outfield assist he's capable of") before the Yankees decided to just intentionally walk him in his remaining plate appearances.

Once Glavine settled in and the Mets commenced their pulverization of the Yankee bullpen, some of the more entertaining moments of the afternoon took place in the stands rather than on the field. A couple of rows in front of us, a rather heavyset young man wearing a Beltran T-Shirt had fallen asleep in his seat, arms sprawled out, head leaning back, mouth wide open. Fans of both teams united in their quest to try and wake him up, to take pictures of Sleeping Guy, and to toss peanut shells in his mouth from 5 rows back.

By the 7th inning stretch, it was pouring. Fans whose seats weren't covered by the level above them began to head for the exits as the grounds crew kept pouring extra dirt on the infield between innings. Just as I didn't expect Glavine to pitch so well after his rough 1st and 2nd innings, I didn't expect what looked like an easy victory to get so close and tense in the last couple of innings. I've never been happy to see Scott Schoeneweis enter a game, and after his obliteration of the margin for error that made it "safe" for him to be brought in on Saturday, that's not about to change any time soon. A 5-run lead to start the 8th inning should never result in Heilman having to come in with the potential go-ahead run at the plate (although Heilman seems to do his best work when brought in mid-inning with a runner or runners already on base). Fortunately, Robinson Cano continued his display of atrocious defense (3 errors and a dropped transfer on a double-play attempt) in the bottom of the inning while attempting to make a flashy play on a Julio Franco ground ball. Normally, this is where I'd make a joke about Franco being old enough to be Cano's father, but as it turns out, Franco is actually older than Cano The Elder.

So here we were. Saturday afternoon. Mets vs. Yankees. 4-run lead for the Mets. Billy Wagner coming in for the 9th. I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn't nervous after being at the ballpark last year for what happened under those circumstances. I was in a state of sheer terror after Wagner somehow thought that trying for the out at home on the Abreu comebacker was a good idea, and didn't resume normal breathing until Phelps swung at strike 3. It had been a long day of sloppy baseball on both sides, but the right side had prevailed.

Having gone to these games in the past, the atmosphere on Saturday was noticeably different, and I'm not talking about the weather. Whereas in past years, the Yankee fans almost seemed to outnumber Met fans at Shea, this was not the case this weekend. I remember many rounds of the dueling "Let's Go Yankees"-"YANKEES SUCK" chants over the years, almost musical in the way the sets of battle cries seemed to fit together so well, but this year it seemed as though a handful of people in a section would try and get the former going, only to be completely drowned out by the latter long after they had given up. Perhaps my mother, in the way that only she can, put it best: "All those years we said 'Yankees Suck,' not because they actually sucked, but just because we hated them. Now, they really do suck."

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Thursday's comeback against the Cubs: Sure, it's easy to say it now, but going into the 9th I had a feeling something would happen, given the talent available on the Mets bench and how non-lights-out Ryan Dempster is. I'm still mildly surprised that Willie let Gotay bat instead of pinch-hitting for him, and completely shocked that Lou Piniella left Dempster in to face Gotay after Dempster had already walked in a run.
Billy Wagner's post-game comments about Joe Smith on Friday night were especially hilarious, even by Billy Wagner standards.
Saturday's installment of the "Jose Reyes Spanish Academy" featured Reyes singing a verse from "La Bamba." I didn't think it was possible to improve on last year's segments, but it is.
Note to Joe Morgan: When you ask a manager if a baserunner decided to run on his own with 2 outs and a 3-2 count to get something started, don't be surprised if the manager looks at you like you're insane.
Note to Jon Miller: It's Citi Field, not Citi Park. Sheesh.
Tony Randazzo (a familiar face from that game in Washington with all the botched calls at 1st base) is scary. If you didn't hear the clip of him screaming at Doug Mientkiewicz for not trying to get out of the way of a pitch that hit him (and how often do you see that called?), you dodged a bullet.
Frankly, I'm shocked that so many people don't get why the Braves and Red Sox are considered "natural rivals" for interleague play. The Braves used to play in Boston, for crying out loud!

2-Run Pop-Ups, Mothers' Day Mastery, & Walk-Off Walks

2007-05-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

Saturday, May 12

The less said about this game, the better. I was still trying to figure out how the hell the Brewers scored 2 runs on a popup that was caught by the 2nd baseman when the bullpen decided to get their bad outings in all at once to put the game out of reach. As happy as I was that Pelfrey made the rotation out of spring training, he's just not able to pitch effectively at the major-league level right now and won't be until he demonstrates the ability to throw his changeup and slider for strikes. To some extent, Pelfrey was the victim of defensive miscues behind him, but when you allow as many baserunners as Pelfrey did via the walk and can't get a strikeout when you really need it (in 30 1/3 innings, Pelfrey walked 17 batters and struck out only 13), those grounders that find a hole and those popups that get misplayed are going to bite you in the ass. I hope that when Pelfrey comes back up, he figures out how to miss bats so that we will be spared Ron Darling's constant declaration that he is a "contact pitcher."

Sunday, May 13

My family went to a friend's house to celebrate Mothers' Day. While my mom isn't the world's biggest baseball fan (her lack of understanding of some aspects of the game has inspired much laughter by me and my dad), she is enthusiastic when it comes to rooting for the Mets and is often far more optimistic about their chances to come back from a deficit than my dad or younger brother. She's also a fairly awesome person in general, someone who put her career on hold to take care of my brother and I, who is always there to listen when I need to vent and offer advice when I need help, who often makes me laugh hysterically when she calls me back 5 seconds after hanging up to tell me something interesting that just popped into her head. Here's to you, Mom.

As for the game, I was excited to see that top outfield prospect Carlos Gomez had been called up and would be making his major-league debut. I had a feeling that with such a fast, defensively gifted outfield behind an extreme flyball pitcher in Oliver Perez, we would be in for quite a show. Chavez, Beltran, and Gomez all got the chance to make some stellar catches, helping Perez take a one-hit shutout into the 9th inning, a wonderful thing to see in his first start after the San Francisco disaster. I think I'm now finally at the point where seeing Perez walk a batter doesn't worry me any more than seeing any other Mets pitcher issue a walk - while I once would have feared a total meltdown after watching Ollie walk the first batter he faced, I've seen him get past that enough times now to convince myself that he really has turned the corner. It was also very encouraging to see the Mets tee off early on Chris Capuano, considering he had been lights-out in the early innings of most of his starts this season, not to mention stealing a couple of bases off a pitcher who typically shuts down the running game.

The game was over quickly enough that we were able to flip over to TBS and catch the end of the Braves being pulverized by the lowly Pirates. The Braves allowed the batter leading off the inning to reach base in every inning of that game. What a beautiful thing.

Monday, May 14

It was a quarter to 5. I had just gotten back to my dorm a couple of hours earlier after spending the weekend with my parents, and I was ready to have a quick dinner and watch the game on TV, all the while being jealous of my dad, who was going to the game with a business associate who had really good loge box seats. Then the phone rang - it was Dad, telling me that there was an extra ticket if I wanted to go with them. Did I want to go? Is the sky blue? Does Jose Reyes run fast? Is John Kruk a moron?

After a little bit of stress at Penn Station (LIRR announcing a track change for the Shea-bound train 2 minutes before its scheduled departure = not cool), Dad and I got to the ballpark with plenty of time to spare before his buddy with the tickets would be there to meet us. Having underestimated how windy it would be at Shea when I decided to wear a short-sleeved shirt, I wound up having to get another $60 hooded sweatshirt to stay warm.

Once we were at our seats, I began to fill in the starting lineups on my scorecard. I was surprised to see Alfonso Soriano batting 3rd for the Cubs, probably because it makes more sense than batting him leadoff (aside from being a powerful hitter with lousy plate discipline, Soriano just gets caught stealing too often for his speed to justify batting him leadoff). Glavine looked quite sharp against the first 2 batters he faced, then seemed to struggle for the rest of the night (granted, the defense behind him didn't exactly help in the 2nd inning). Meanwhile, with the exception of David Wright's 2-run homer, the Mets weren't exactly taking advantage of the fact that the opposing pitcher was Jason Marquis. Yes, I know he came into the game with a 1.70 ERA for the season, but he's still Jason Marquis, the guy who put up an ERA above 6 last year, and the Mets had chances in the 2nd and 3rd innings with a runner in scoring position and less than 2 outs that they didn't capitalize on. At some point around the 4th inning or so, I looked at the scoreboard and noticed that Marquis had thrown more balls than strikes at that point in the game, making it even more frustrating that the Mets found themselves trailing.

When Glavine stepped up to the plate to lead off the bottom of the 5th, my dad, his associate, and I were all shaking our heads, trying to figure out why Willie chose to do that. At that point, Glavine had thrown 95 pitches and had just walked the bases loaded with 2 outs in the top of the inning. The Mets were down by 2 runs, and the bullpen was fairly well-rested after Perez went 8 1/3 the day before. Even though it all worked out in the end, I'm still not sure I see the logic in giving away an out to lead off an inning in order to keep in a pitcher who wasn't a sure bet to complete the following inning.

In the 6th, everything started to turn around. Now it was the Cubs who couldn't catch fly balls (nice job by Soriano on Delgado's bloop to lead off the bottom of the 6th), and Lou Piniella got burned by playing the lefty-righty matchups when LoDuca ripped a double down the line and Easley drove in the tying run with a sac fly. The game remained tied into the 9th inning, and although my dad grumbled and covered his eyes when Heilman came in with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd (Dad isn't exactly what you would call an optimist and definitely not an Aaron Heilman fan), we went to the bottom of the 9th with the score still 4-4.

After Julio Franco looked overmatched going down swinging for the 2nd out, extra innings seemed to be coming our way, even as my dad and his friend hoped for a Reyes walkoff so that we could make the next LIRR train back to Manhattan. Reyes "only" got a single, but that proved to be pretty much the same thing. As many times as I've seen it happen, watching a pitcher completely unravel once El Profesor reaches base is still one of the most entertaining sights in baseball. Even after Reyes stole 2nd like we all knew he would, Michael Wuertz still couldn't find the strike zone with a map, throwing 8 balls in a row to load the bases for Delgado. In one of the best at-bats I've seen from him this year, Delgado was able to foul off a bunch of tough pitches to stay alive long enough for Wuertz to throw yet another ball 4, for a true "walk"-off to put the Mets back in first place where they belong.

Shea What?

2007-05-11T22:59:00.000-04:00

One of the beautiful things about baseball is that by virtue of the infinite array of possible outcomes, nearly every game features something that you probably would not have expected to see. Tonight's game featured a rare hybrid of slugfest and pitchers' duel, with all but one of the 9 runs scored coming via the long ball, and nearly half of the 13 hits leaving the park. While 6 home runs being hit in a game at Shea Stadium may not be a particularly bizarre occurrence, it's certainly not something I expected, given Shea's history as a pitcher-friendly park (looking at the yearly park factors on ESPN, it typically suppresses home runs to a pretty significant extent). It was certainly jarring to see some mammoth home runs (Prince Fielder's laser at the scoreboard, Damion Easley's blast that nearly cleared the visitors' bullpen) when there was little else in the way of offense going on tonight. It was also nice to see Jeff Suppan get smacked around a bit, not that it makes up for last year or anything, but still an encouraging sign.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Whether he's just on a hot streak or has actually turned the corner, Jorge Sosa is getting it done. Those are not words I thought I would be typing this season.

I'm beginning to worry about Aaron Heilman. It seems as though you never know if he'll be nasty or a mess on any given day, and in 15 2/3 innings this season, he's allowed 3 home runs while only striking out 10 batters.

I'm still not used to seeing a Mets catcher throw out would-be basestealers on a regular basis, but I'm enjoying it.

Funny Moment of the Game: Gary Cohen observing Beltran's demeanor in the dugout around the 4th or 5th inning and noting that he looked so calm, like a Buddha. Not sure I see a resemblance (and yes, I took the picture of that Buddha statue during my trip to Hong Kong in March):

Odds & Ends: The Catching Up Edition

2007-05-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

I am happy to report that I am officially done with my junior year of college. No more final exams to take, no more homework assignments that are inexplicably due after the last day of class, only another day or two of having to share an apartment with someone who thinks washing the dishes is something that should be done once a semester. Although I've had other things to deal with over the past week, I was able to watch at least part of every game of the West Coast trip. A few scattered thoughts and observations:

So, has Beltran's home run from Thursday night landed yet? That was an absolute BOMB.
Maine clearly didn't have his "A game" on Friday night, yet he still managed to strike out 7 batters in 6 innings while only giving up one run. Whatever Rick Peterson is doing, it's working.
Julio Franco being the oldest player ever to hit a home run is so last year ;-P
Damn you, popcorn-box idiot. As ridiculous as the home-run call was, since the Mets won that game I'm more pissed about Endy spraining his ankle on the play.
As disgusted as I am by Mariners reliever Julio Mateo's violence towards his wife, Seattle handled the situation (suspending Mateo for 10 days, helping him get counseling) a lot better than the Phillies handled the Brett Myers domestic violence incident last year (I'm still appalled that the team allowed him to make his scheduled start a day or two after he was arrested for hitting his wife).
A month and a half ago, I would have expected a Jorge Sosa-Brandon Webb matchup (in the extremely hitter-friendly environment of Arizona, no less) to go about as well as Jose Lima versus Dontrelle Willis went last year. What actually happened was a pleasant surprise.
I'm not all that surprised that Roger Clemens signed with the Yankees. However, I'm shocked that they're letting him do the whole skipping-roadtrips-when-he's-not-scheduled-to-pitch-thing. I am completely unsurprised that his target date for returning to the majors is conveniently right after the Yankees come to Shea. In any event, here's hoping he makes a start in Oakland at the end of June so Piazza has another chance to exact his revenge on the headhunter.
While Pelfrey is still inconsistent, he seems to be putting it together somewhat over the last couple of starts.
The less said about the Monday night meltdown, the better. Perez definitely let himself get rattled by questionable calls, but the defense was responsible for prolonging the atrocity. If the Mets never face another Molina again (I'm including the one who's currently with the White Sox and isn't related to the rest of them because he's a catcher too), it'll be too soon.
I think it's pretty cool that almost everyone on the team shaved their heads before Tuesday's game. The fact that Reyes is pretty much the only holdout is even more amusing - I like to imagine that it's because he runs fast enough to elude any would-be barbers ;-P
Few things are more fun than taking the lead immediately, as the Mets did against Matt Cain last night by hitting 3 doubles in a row to start the game...
...but taking the lead in the 9th thanks to an Armando Benitez implosion (God knows I've had to see too many of those from the wrong side) is one of those few things. That game was decided as soon as Reyes's pop-up fell in, and it was great to see David Wright driving in the decisive runs.

Take May Out To The Ball Game

2007-05-02T22:11:00.000-04:00

It was time. I had had enough of spending all of my free time studying for finals, of watching games on TV and finding myself being distracted by my computer or the latest episode of House while fretting about the latest injury news and Chan Ho Park going into meltdown mode after giving up a hit to the opposing pitcher and the defense doing the exact opposite of bailing him out and Ricky "I gave up 19 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings against the Mets in 2006" Nolasco being able to look like an actual major-league pitcher on the Shea Stadium mound. There was a Wednesday afternoon game, no class for me to attend, and a field-level ticket still available online. For the first time since the NLDS, I was breaking out the "baseball purse" (the bag that I pretty much use only for going to games, filled with old ticket stubs and scorecard pencils), rummaging around my closet for the seat cushion I got as a promotional giveaway a few years ago, and attempting to corral my hair into a Mets cap (my hair is not exactly what I would call "hat-compatible" ... or "humidity-compatible" ... or "wind-compatible," for that matter). After the usual subway ride, it was time to buy my scorecard (now 25% more expensive than last year!), search the store for a hooded sweatshirt to keep me warm (deciding to wear a short-sleeved T-Shirt under my jersey because the weather forecast was 65 and partly cloudy: not such a good idea), and get some food (Mama's Of Corona sandwich, oh how I missed you over the winter).

Aside from the gigantic 3D Dunkin Donuts coffee cup sign near the left field foul pole/visitors' bullpen (I wonder if it's like the Keyspan sign where the company donates money to charity if a home run hits the sign), Shea looked pretty much the same as last year. As excited as I am about Citi Field and how it'll be a better place to see a game, I know I'll miss Shea when it's gone just because I've gone to so many games there over the years.

I was happy that I would get to see an Oliver Perez start. I've been excited about his potential since he came over in the Xavier Nady/Roberto Hernandez trade last year, and he really seems to be putting it all together this season. While he had a rough first inning and ran out of gas/was squeezed by the home-plate umpire/had to deal with David Wright's 2nd error of the day in the 6th inning, in between he was absolutely dominant. 10 strikeouts through the first 5 innings, a stretch where he retired 9 batters in a row, routinely hitting 92 mph on the radar gun and occasionally dialing it up to 96. It was an impressive performance - Perez was worthy of the applause he received when he left the game in the 6th, and it only got louder when he tipped his cap to the crowd.

Although I wasn't exactly thrilled to see the errors (I've come to expect the occasional wild throw on a play where he has too much time to think about what he's doing, but letting a ball doink off his glove? That's something that should be left to the other third baseman in this afternoon's game), all signs indicate that David Wright is back to being David Wright at the plate. Somehow, Fredi Gonzalez missed that memo, as he somehow thought that intentionally walking Delgado to get to Wright was a good idea. With Valentin's injury and Alou's recent slump, it's going to be important to get more production from Wright and Delgado.

I'm sure the winning had something to do with it, but it felt great to be back at the ballpark watching a game. Hopefully I'll get to go as often as I did last year, and hopefully they do as well in the games I attend as they did last year.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

The lineup intro before the game where they have pre-taped footage of the players introducing themselves is pretty cool. Perez must have been nervous as hell when they taped his, because he blinks about a million times in the time it takes to say his name and hometown.
I see that the new season of Reyes's Spanish lessons has a new sponsor and a slightly different name. I didn't think it was possible to make it funnier, but superimposing the footage of Reyes onto a cartoon classroom backdrop accomplishes that.
When did Perez learn to hit, and why did Anibal Sanchez bother throwing over to first? A wild pickoff throw is bad. A wild pickoff throw when it's the opposing pitcher standing on first base is just inexcusable.
Speaking of inexcusable, what were the Marlins thinking leaving Sanchez in the game after he got hit by a comebacker in the 1st and was lying on the ground in pain for quite a while? He was having control issues and repeatedly missing high before that, and he only got worse after.
Watching relief pitchers bat is amusing.
Humor At The Expense Of Others Moment (in-game edition): In the 9th inning, a rather obnoxious Marlins fan in the loge level started screaming and taunting and generally making an ass of himself when the Marlins got a baserunner against Wagner. Some guys in a luxury box started pelting him with peanuts.
Humor At The Expense Of Others Moment (post-game edition): On the 7 train back to Manhattan, the guy sitting next to me asked what the score of the Met game was. He didn't seem particularly happy to hear that the Mets had won, and asked who the starting pitcher was and how he did. When I told him that Perez had 10 strikeouts, his response was "damn, why can't the Yankees have pitching like that?"

The Bad Umpire Taketh Away, The Bad Umpire Giveth

2007-04-28T23:28:00.000-04:00

It was the top of the 9th, and things didn't look promising. The circumstances leading to the Mets being behind by a run and down to their final out included the old (well, in terms of this season, anyway) standby (Reyes in scoring position with less than 2 outs and not scoring), the continuation of a recent frustrating stretch (today's guest star on "Let's Make This Scrub Look Like A Good Major League Pitcher": Jerome Williams, reprising the role recently played by Josh Fogg and Matt Chico), and something completely different, just for good measure (Tony Randazzo unleashing his inner Angel Hernandez on some close plays at first base so that Ryan Zimmerman could go eat a candy bar in the dugout). Shawn Green reached base with a single, but with 2 outs and Chad Cordero on the mound, that didn't seem as though it would be enough. Then Damion Easley, who was there because Valentin got hurt (here's hoping it's just a tweaked moustache or something equally minor), hit a ground ball that looked like it would be the final out, looked a good deal more like an out than the one in the 5th inning that was called an out. Yet this time Randazzo decided that Easley was safe at first. I don't know if it was an attempt at a make-up call, or Randazzo continuing to straight-up suck at his job, and I don't really care. All that mattered was that the tying run was now in scoring position in the form of none other than Endy Chavez, pinch-running for Green. Next up was pinch-hitter Julio Franco, who doinked the ball into shallow right field, setting the stage for a play at the plate. Austin Kearns's throw beat Endy by a not insignificant margin, but when Endy Chavez is involved, such details don't matter. One perfect tag-eluding slide later, the game was tied, and despite a few little bumps in the road (the biggest being Pedro Feliciano channeling Scott Schoeneweis and issuing back-to-back walks), it was pretty clear they would win. It's the kind of game that would have been an extremely frustrating loss and turned out to be a dramatic, satisfying win, showcasing the sort of resilience and never-say-die attitude that's kept me watching until the final out for the past 10 years.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I didn't get to see all of yesterday's game, but as much as Alou's overly tentative baserunning in the 8th drove me up the wall, I was very encouraged by Perez's performance. Nice recovery after a rough first inning, and pretty damn impressive that he hasn't issued a walk in 3 of his 4 starts this year.
Felipe Lopez stopping a few feet short of 2nd on a steal attempt and getting thrown out to end the inning? Funny. Jerome Williams going into a home-run trot and having to settle for one of the longest singles I've ever seen? Absolutely hilarious.
I really can't stand Ronnie Belliard. If he's not sitting on Reyes in the NLCS or doing that gross tongue-waggling, he's driving in runs and throwing out batters on balls hit to short right field.
CW11 needs to keep churning out campy reality shows just so that Gary Cohen has to read promos for them.
Tony Randazzo is a horrible umpire. I just felt that was worth repeating.

WHAT AN ENDY!

2007-04-24T22:49:00.000-04:00

I haven't been able to watch all that much of the past 2 games - school tends to have a way of rearing its ugly head at this time of year. Fortunately, I was able to see the first few innings and the last couple of innings of tonight's game. Some of what I saw reminded me of one of the best games I attended last year, two starters putting up zero after zero, with Endy Chavez playing the hero at the end. Yet this one had its own twists and turns, its contributions to recurring plotlines in the story of the season thus far. There were sparkling performances by Heilman and Schoeneweis, a touch of redemption after some recent rough outings. There was Damion Easley representing the potential tying run and the potential final out, dramatically illustrating the importance of having pop off the bench with the Mets down to their final strike. There was David Wright working out a walk in the bottom of the 11th, having a vintage David Wright at-bat for the first time in a while. There was Jose Valentin, whose bunting ability or lack thereof has been the object of my derision on multiple occasions, dropping down a beauty to move the winning run into scoring position. And finally, there was Endy. We often forget about what he can do at the plate, not because he's an awful hitter, but because even before The Catch he was known for his defense, his graceful strides and perfect routes in the outfield, the way everyone in the ballpark knows the ball will be caught when it's hit in his general vicinity. Yet Endy can make things happen at the plate or on the basepaths with his speed and with his instincts. He saw the way the Colorado infielders were positioned, he noticed an opportunity, and he took full advantage, with a perfect drag bunt that Ryan Speier couldn't do a damn thing with. Thanks to Endy, we have our first walk-off of the season, and until Jose Reyes steals home one of these days, the most exciting way to end a game that I've seen.

A Beautiful Day Gone To Hell

2007-04-22T23:57:00.000-04:00

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Today was supposed to be my first of many trips out to Shea for the year. Beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, Glavine vs. Smoltz, calendar giveaway - what more could a girl ask for after a stressful week? Unfortunately, I wound up not being able to go. I have a group presentation for one of my classes tomorrow, and the only time everyone else in the group could all meet to rehearse was today at 5 PM. I would have had to leave the game early if I wanted to make sure I'd be back in Manhattan in time for the meeting, and given the choice between being one of those people who heads for the 7 train during "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" and not going at all, I'll be in front of a TV or radio any day of the week.

For 6 2/3 innings, I found myself second-guessing that decision. While it wasn't exactly a pitchers' duel - it usually isn't when the very first pitch of the game goes over the outfield wall -there was plenty of tension before the Mets finally broke through and got to Smoltz big-time, an explosion with - big shocker here - a Jose Reyes triple at its center. Why didn't I go? I asked myself. It's not like I even have a speaking part in that presentation. I could have just told the rest of the group some bullshit about going home for the weekend and being stuck in traffic. As Scott Thorman stepped to the plate with 2 outs and the bases empty in the top of the 7th, all roads seemed to point towards a 1 1/2 game lead over the Braves and career win number 294 for Glavine. Great game. I wish I were there...

And then it all fell apart. Thorman hit a fly ball to right field that should have ended the inning and most likely would have ended the inning if it weren't for the fact that Shawn Green is our right fielder. Thorman was credited with a double, and the only explanation I can think of for that is that the official scorer has him on a fantasy team. Up to the plate came Kelly Johnson, and out to the mound went Willie Randolph. OK, so Willie was fine with letting Burgos face Thorman even though he bats left-handed, but Johnson warrants bringing in a lefty pitcher? Seems a bit strange to me, but Feliciano will get the job done - wait, is that Schoeneweis coming out of the bullpen? Oh, shit. Schoeneweis continued his Royce Ring impersonation, walking the left-handed batter he was specifically brought in to face and generally making me wish anyone else was on the mound. Whaaaaat? They're leaving him in to face Renteria? Is there any universe in which that makes sense - LOOGY can't get a lefty out, so let's leave him in to face a righty even though he's never been good against right-handed hitters (.290/.362/.457) and Renteria has had an OPS about 100 points higher against lefties than righties over the course of his career.

The game wasn't over after Renteria's home run. The Mets had 3 more innings to re-take the lead. Yet something about what had happened was eerily reminiscent of Game 2 of the NLCS - pounding the opponent's ace, a chance to really send a message, and then in the blink of an eye, a Shawn Green misplay, an unsettling display of weakness from the bullpen, and the foot is off the enemy's throat. The unhappy parallels continued in the 8th when Heilman, following a rare error by Jose Valentin, did his best "Billy Wagner facing So Taguchi" impersonation.

Am I overreacting to compare an April game against the Braves to the turning point of the NLCS? Of course I am. Does knowing that there are nearly 150 games left to be played, including a dozen more against the Braves, make losing this one hurt any less? Absolutely not. Even after last year's triumph, I can't help but still see the team that found countless ways to break my heart growing up every time I look at the Braves. I don't know if there'll ever be a time when watching my beloved Mets lose to Atlanta is no more painful than any other loss or when seeing them emerge triumphant brings me just the same amount of joy - no more, no less - as any other win. What I do know is that I'm glad I wasn't able to witness this afternoon's bitter end in person, and that I'll always want to avert my eyes when Schoeneweis enters the game.

Kibbles & Hits

2007-04-21T22:18:00.000-04:00

What, you thought I was going to use some pun involving the term "southpaw" just because both starting pitchers today were lefthanded and it was Dog Day (seriously - I feel bad for the Shea stadium employees assigned to picnic area cleanup duty)? ;-P In any event, this game was a great opportunity to turn things around after a previous poor outing for both the offense and (more importantly) for Oliver Perez. Watching Perez pitch today, it's hard to believe that this was the same guy who walked 7 batters in less than 3 innings of work last Wednesday. As impressive as his line for the day was (9 strikeouts, no walks, 72 of 98 pitches thrown for strikes), it doesn't even come close to illustrating how locked-in Ollie was this afternoon. There was one stretch of the game in which he threw about 20 consecutive pitches for strikes. I don't think that even happens in video games (definitely not when I play baseball video games, that's for sure). Perez pretty much cruised through the first 5 innings before dealing with a couple of jams in the 6th and the 7th. The last time he pitched, the crowd cheered sarcastically whenever he managed to throw a strike and he left the game on the verge of crying. Today, the cheers from the crowd were of the genuine, appreciative variety, and Perez responded by tipping his cap. I'm hoping we see a lot more of that going forward.

Meanwhile, the offense that looked so helpless against Tim Hudson last night had a great deal of fun at Chuck James's expense (when the backup catcher and utility infielder both go deep, it's usually a pretty good day). I love how this team has been pounding lefties so far this year, especially after having to constantly hear about the struggles against them late last year. As much as I nit-pick and second-guess at times, this is a really good team we've got here, a team that's going to be fun to watch a lot more often than not.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Did anybody else notice that immediately after both the Castro and Easley homers, James's first pitch to the next batter was of the high and tight variety? If it happened once, I could accept it being an accident, but twice?
Schoeneweis is well on his way to becoming a more expensive version of Royce Ring. There are few things more annoying than a lefty specialist who walks the one batter he was brought in to face.
Joe Smith, on the other hand, is looking more and more like a better, less expensive version of Chad Bradford with each inherited runner he strands.
David Wright batting 2nd: Yay. David Wright making a fashion statement with the high socks: Yay. David Wright going 0-for-4: Anti-yay. When will he get back to being the consistent hitter who could almost always be counted on for a good at-bat that he was for most of last year?
Why wasn't Endy brought in as a defensive replacement for Alou in the 7th?
How awesome was it that both Reyes and Beltran almost hit for the cycle? And how ironic was it that the triple was the hit Reyes didn't get?

Sometimes You're The Windshield, Sometimes You're The Bug

2007-04-20T23:04:00.000-04:00

The title of today's post was inspired both by a bumper sticker I saw the other day and the extreme highs and lows of the last couple of games. Last night's game was just a thing of beauty - El Duque making the Marlins look foolish, relentless pounding of a young pitcher not quite ready for prime time, the tragicomedy of Josh Willingham in left field, the way you just knew that even though the Marlins took an early lead, the Mets would come back. Nice little sweep of the mini road-trip, great way to build momentum for the big series against the Braves coming up - the one that starts tomorrow, right? I don't recall there being a game tonight...

*sigh* If only that were the case. Unfortunately, this game very quickly became something we've seen before, sort of like those rancid leftovers in the back of the fridge. Of course, eating said rancid leftovers is actually less likely to induce vomiting than watching Larry Jones do what he's been doing for as long as I can remember. If there's anything positive that I can take from this, it's that the Mets got to Rafael Soriano in the 9th (even Valentin's game-ending at-bat featured a monster foul ball and a rather loud out), a sign that this team doesn't quit and that the Braves bullpen, while better than last year, still isn't all that great.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

While some of the blame for that nightmarish 7th inning goes to Reyes's throw that Delgado couldn't handle, there is absolutely no excuse for Pedro Feliciano's subsequent meltdown. Walking in a run is terrible in normal circumstances and downright embarrassing when the batter is Jeff Francoeur. The 3 runs the Mets scored in the 9th inning make that implosion even more painful in retrospect than it was at the time.
I wonder if Wright will bat 2nd tomorrow, since Lo Duca will have the day off. I have a feeling that Willie didn't want to move him as part of last night's lineup shuffles because of the hitting streak.
The ceremony honoring Jackie Robinson was pretty powerful stuff. I think it's really important to remember what Robinson went through and how much of an impact he had - it's easy to forget that he broke the color barrier years before the height of the civil rights movement.
I couldn't help but giggle a bit at Keith, Ron, and Gary's lament regarding the prominence of walk-off celebrations in the game today. They sounded a bit too much like the proverbial parent reminding the kids that in his day, they had to walk 5 miles in the snow to get to school.
Damn, I really thought that Reyes's grounder in the 5th was going to get through. So close, and yet so far away.

Did That Really Happen? Oh Yes It Did

2007-04-18T22:31:00.000-04:00

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about how tonight's game would go. After all, it was Dontrelle Willis pitching for the Marlins, and all too often the end result of that is the D-Train shutting the Mets down for 7 or 8 innings and hitting a home run or two. Yet, when I turned on my TV, it quickly became clear that this would not be the case tonight. Before I could blink, before there was even an out recorded (thank you, Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez, for those extra outs you so kindly gift-wrapped), there were 4 runs on the board. I'm used to watching the Mets administer first-inning beatdowns, but to do so against Willis was just unthinkable until I actually saw it happen. The early lead certainly enhanced my viewing experience, because I would have been even more nervous about what else was going on if that cushion wasn't there.

There comes a time in every Met fan's life when they learn that their favorite team has never pitched a no-hitter. I remember when I first heard that fact - I was 11 or 12 at the time, and I, relying too heavily on logic in an area where emotion has quite a pull, wondered why that wasn't considered a bigger deal than the postseason droughts that are part of baseball lore - after all, at least the Cubs actually did win the World Series once upon a time and have only failed in their last hundred or so attempts, whereas the Mets are still waiting for their first no-no after (162 games * 45 seasons + bunch of post-season games) tries. In any event, my inner relentless optimist tends to view every game as the potential "first," and any time a Mets pitcher retires the first batter of the game, I can't help but start the countdown in my mind. If I'm still in countdown mode around the 5th inning or so, I start to get all excited and nervous. Alas, it was not to be, as Miguel Cabrera (who was already somewhere between Jimmy Rollins and Larry Jones on the "really good player on division rival that you just love to hate" scale) broke it up in the 7th. I can't say that I'm sad, though - after all, the Mets had one of their "completely dominate the other team" nights against a pitcher whose presence usually spells complete domination of the Mets. Of course, I might get a little envious when I watch the highlights of the Rangers/White Sox game tonight, but I'll be over it by the time El Duque retires the first batter tomorrow night and I'm back to hoping once again.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Great to see Delgado getting a hit in the first-inning rally. Hopefully, he's starting to heat up.
Great slide by Valentin on that play at the plate.
While I wasn't amused by it quite as much as Gary and Keith were, what was up with the Borat graphics accompanying the Mets' pictures on the scoreboard?
Not that I'm complaining, but the Phillies are fucking insane. When I read that, I thought it was some sort of belated April Fool's joke for a second. Seriously, making one of your two best starting pitchers into a setup man so that Jon Lieber can go back into the rotation? Well, I guess they'll blow fewer leads by virtue of the fact that there will be even fewer leads to blow, but I'm still in shock.

There Is Such A Thing As A One-Game Sweep

2007-04-17T23:14:00.000-04:00

After what seemed like an eternity of postponements falling from the sky like raindrops, the Mets finally played again tonight, opening and concluding a series that was even briefer than originally scheduled. I almost couldn't believe my eyes as I sat in front of my TV - a real, live baseball game! Not a re-run of last year's Home Run Derby or the 1999 tiebreaker against the Reds, but the 2007 Mets facing the 2007 Phillies in front of a crowd that was probably booing the weather until the game provided them with a reason to boo. It was far from perfect - I'm really, really tired of watching our starting pitchers issue so many goddamn walks, and I hate to see Reyes get picked off, or LoDuca get hurt, or Green...apparently think the squeeze was on even though Willie never calls for it - but there were plenty of good moments to outweigh the bad (like Moises Alou going deep, or Moises Alou going deep again, or the sweet double play, or the other sweet double play, or the other other...you get the picture) and in the end the Mets stomped all over the Phillies, sweeping that quirky little one-game series and gaining momentum that they'll need every little bit of when they face Dontrelle Willis tomorrow. I'll gladly take it, especially after 2 days of not having a new game to watch.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

It's amusing to watch how bad the Phillies are at defense. In addition to Valentin's double + error in the 2nd (awesome throw by Victorino, and a fantastic bellyflop onto the grass by Burrell while trying to track it down), they were thisclose to botching the rundown when Green broke for home in the 6th.
As much as Glavine's control issues in his last couple of starts have bothered me, I'm not particularly worried. I think it's just the cold weather making it difficult for him to get a feel for his pitches. Yet another reason to hope for warmer weather.
If LoDuca has to miss time after getting hurt tonight, I wonder what Willie will do with the batting order while Castro is in the lineup.
Watching a little bit of the '99 game last night, I couldn't help but notice that Joe Morgan made a hell of a lot more sense back then.

Maybe The Rain Will Wash Away All Of The Walks

2007-04-15T16:35:00.000-04:00

Apologies for not posting about the last few games - I wasn't near a computer Thursday night, had to choose between blogging and sleep on Friday, and was away all day yesterday and didn't get to watch. In any event, I'm trying to figure out why it is that the starting pitchers have had such issues with their control this homestand. During Thursday's much-ballyhooed Battle of the Old Crafty Lefties, Glavine was quite shaky early on, while Pelfrey seemed to alternate between shutting down the opposition and wriggling out of trouble on Friday. It's one thing for Oliver Perez, whose control problems are a big part of why he's struggled over the past couple of years, to walk the ballpark, but to watch pitchers like Glavine and Pelfrey (who has shown good control in the minors and in spring training) struggle to throw strikes is more than a bit disconcerting. Not having seen yesterday's game, I don't know if El Duque suffered from the same problem - considering that he gave up 3 home runs and 2 of them came with nobody on base, perhaps his problem was that his pitches got too much of the plate. In any event, it's pouring outside and the Braves are in first place, and I won't be happy as long as either condition persists.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Can somebody explain to me why El Duque was ejected from yesterday's game? Judging from the fact that no other batters had been hit, I'm assuming that no warnings had been issued, and I seriously doubt that El Duque would deliberately plunk the opposing pitcher to put a runner on for Felipe Lopez, who has hit well against El Duque in the past.
Why are the Mets traveling to Philadelphia for a 2-game series? That just seems like such an odd length for a series. Of course, it'll probably be rained out and the games will be tacked on to series taking place later in the season.
Another thing that's bugging me a bit: why are the Aflac trivia questions not always at the same point in the game? Wouldn't it make sense, for example, to ask the question at the top of the 3rd inning of every game and provide the answer during the top of the 4th?
ESPN mini-rant: Okay, Eric Young. We get that you used to play 2nd base in the major leagues. That does not mean that you have to find an opportunity during every telecast of Baseball Tonight to make some comment about how 2nd base is such a tough, important position. I suppose the same goes for Kruk invariably praising the 1st baseman's role in any defensive highlight, but Young is actually capable of being a decent contributor to BBTN, which makes it that much more aggravating (see: Hershiser, Orel, frequent utterance of the phrase "Holy Smokes!", 2006).

Does Only Allowing 5 Runs When You Walk 11 Count As A Moral Victory?

2007-04-11T22:20:00.000-04:00

I've had a really bad day and watching tonight's game didn't exactly do anything to change that. On top of the thing that frustrated me the most on Sunday (inability to capitalize on Reyes on 3rd with less than 2 outs and other excellent scoring opportunities, thereby letting a mediocre pitcher have a good outing), Oliver Perez was about as far from the dominance he showed in his previous start as you can possibly get. When you have as many walks and HBPs as outs recorded, it's just not your night. Perez completely lost it in the 3rd inning, and it was painful to watch - I just felt so bad for him and so worried as to how this will affect him his next time out.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Aaron Sele came through big-time tonight, saving the rest of the bullpen and keeping the game within reach. Hopefully he can be this year's Darren Oliver.
I'm still pissed about the near-total squandering of the bases loaded, none out situation in the 4th.
It's not often that you see a game in which two batters swing at pitches that hit them (although I'd almost expect it when the Braves play the Cubs - Jeff Francoeur and Alfonso Soriano both love them some hacking). How is it that the umpires decided that Delgado went around but Utley didn't?
One major gripe with SNY: the format of the in-game interviews. Yes, Hojo and Koosman have interesting things to say, but there has to be a better way of integrating that content into the game coverage. There's a real live ballgame going on down there on the field, and completely ignoring it for an entire inning to chat with the guest in the booth just doesn't make for a good broadcast.
Between innings, I flipped over to ESPN2 for the Seattle/Boston game. Daisuke Matzsuzaka versus Felix Hernandez promised to be one hell of a battle, and the end result (Hernandez shut out the Red Sox, facing just 2 batters over the minimum) reminded me a bit of another nationally televised game last year - Roger Clemens against Francisco Liriano. Big storyline (Roger's return; Matsuzaka facing Ichiro) that in the end was overshadowed by a phenomenal young pitcher grabbing his own place in the spotlight.

Tough To Field With Both Feet In Your Mouth, Isn't It Jimmy?

2007-04-09T23:22:00.000-04:00

Highlight reels and boxscores can't possibly do today's game justice, yet for now that's all I have to work from (thankfully, my mother remembered to tape it for me so I can watch it when I go home this weekend). The way in which college professors tend to pile on the work at the end of the semester must seem cruel even to those students who aren't baseball fans, but to those of us who just want to sit back and act as though our favorite team can actually hear the words of encouragement we shout at the TV, it's unbearable. By the time I got home from a class I couldn't get away with skipping, it was the bottom of the 7th and the Mets were down 5-3. I flipped on my TV just in time to see Beltran draw a walk to put the potential tying run on base. Knowing I would have to leave again in just a few minutes to go work on one of those dreaded group projects due next week, I tried my best to take in all of the information I was hearing (Maine walked six? Burgos...Howard...yulp) as Delgado blooped one into center to make it 5-4 and David Wright laced one to the opposite field and damn you, Shane Victorino. I couldn't stick around to watch any more of the game, but somehow I just had the feeling that this time, the Mets would stage one of those epic comebacks. After all, they were already in the process of getting to the Phillies' bullpen, and they weren't going to send home all those people disappointed on Opening Day, were they?

As I sat in a study lounge on-campus and tried to work on pro forma statements for an equity valuation (if you don't know what that means, you probably had a more enjoyable afternoon than I did), not knowing the outcome of the game was driving me crazy. Finally, the other students in my project group decided we had done enough for today, and off I went, looking up the score on my cell phone (11-5! Holy shit!) as I scurried to the nearest computer terminal to read a recap of the joyous events. When I saw that it was an error by none other than Jimmy Rollins, the same Jimmy Rollins who made an ass of himself at Shea last year by trotting down to 1st on ball 3 and an even bigger ass of himself this offseason when he boasted that the Phillies were the team to beat, that tied the game and opened the floodgates, I just couldn't stop smiling. You can't script a better comeback than that. Despite the utter tedium of my evening class, somehow the 3 hours just flew by as I anxiously awaited the opportunity to gleefully watch (and re-watch) the clip of Rollins's latest, greatest mistake.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Since I didn't see the game, I'm not sure exactly how freaked out I should be that Maine walked 6 batters in less than 5 innings of work. Since only one of those walks was to Ryan Howard, I'm guessing it wasn't a case of pitching around him. Was Maine being squeezed by the umpire, did he slip into nibbling mode, or was it a little bit of both?
Sometimes, ESPN really pisses me off. Managers all across baseball make ill-advised decisions on a daily basis, but it's not often that the Baseball Tonight crew rips into them for it with the gusto with which they second-guessed Willie (there was even a special second-guessing graphic on the screen, for crying out loud!) for letting Burgos pitch to Howard and having Endy pinch-run for Green rather than Alou in the 8th. I'm not at all saying that managerial decisions shouldn't be second-guessed - hell, I do it all the time [obligatory rant over sending Valentin up there to bunt when he's shown on numerous occasions that he's not good at bunting] - but for a panel that's rarely this critical of them to let loose on Willie like that just bothers me. Is Steve Phillips that upset that he can't find anything to badmouth the Mets about?
Jessica's Pet Theory of the Week: Relievers who are brought in with runners already on base are more likely to struggle in a second inning of work than relievers who are brought in with the bases empty. In the past 2 games, there have been 3 instances (Heilman on Sunday, Burgos and Geoff Geary today) of a reliever being brought in with runners on base to get the final out of an inning, then giving up multiple runs the following inning.
As I said yesterday, if you went to the game this afternoon, I want to hear all about it. Sometimes a girl's gotta live vicariously through others, especially since I might not get a chance to go out to Shea until this semester is over.

I Thought Easter Was For Hunting Eggs, Not Laying Them

2007-04-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

This looked too much like yesterday's mess, only without the defensive lapses. I hate that as usual it was Larry Jones who got the rally started for the Braves, I hate that so many scoring opportunities were squandered, making a mediocre pitcher like Kyle Davies look good (seriously - 1st inning, Reyes walk-steal-balks his way to 3rd with nobody out, and is stranded there? Inexcusable), and I hate that an excellent start was wasted like that. Hopefully the Mets play better against the Phillies than they have over the past two games, and build up the momentum to completely steamroller the Braves when they come to Shea in a couple of weeks.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I was nervous, to say the least, when El Duque gave up a home run on the very first pitch he threw, but he did a great job of keeping the Braves off-balance and using their aggressiveness against them after that.
Ramon Castro's home run was an absolute bomb. Wow.
I have a feeling that Scott Schoeneweis is the reliever whose appearances I will come to dread over the course of the season (and next season, and the season after - why did Omar give him a 3-year deal?). He just doesn't seem to have good command of his pitches and absolutely cannot be trusted against righties (he walked Chris Woodward, for crying out loud!), and I don't doubt for a second that part of the reason Heilman struggled and coughed up the lead in the 8th was that he had to be brought in to clean up the mess Schoeneweis made in the 7th.
Matt Diaz looks like the prime candidate to be this year's Wilson Betemit - the Atlanta bench/platoon player whose presence in the game just aggravates me to no end.
On a lighter note, what was up with those people in the stands dressed like Easter bunnies? That was...interesting.

So, tomorrow's the big day. Home opener against "the team to beat" (somehow, I think Jimmy Rollins is going to be reminded of that rather loudly). If you're going, I'm incredibly jealous and hoping for a detailed account of the atmosphere at Shea, any new Diamondvision gimmicks to keep an eye out for when I get the chance to go to a game, etc.

Losing = Wound. Losing To The Braves = Wound + Salt

2007-04-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

Apologies in advance if this is somewhat brief - my computer crashed while I was in the middle of writing, and I don't feel like recreating the post that was eaten.

I knew the Mets were going to lose eventually, I just wish that they could have waited to do so until they were somewhere other than Turner Field. I can't help but associate that place with the bad things that have happened to the Mets over the years, which is why games like last night's feel even better than the typical win and games like today's hurt that much more than most other losses.

Just as Reyes's leadoff triple last night set the tone early, Delgado's error in the top of the 1st was an early sign that it was going to be a rough day. While I don't think that the poor defense behind him rattled Glavine, it forced him to throw a lot of pitches in the first inning on a day where he just never seemed to get a good feel for his pitches, throwing as many balls as strikes. I was surprised that he batted for himself in the top of the 6th and came back out to pitch in the bottom half of the inning, given that he had already thrown 90 pitches. Once he got into trouble in the bottom of the 6th, I felt like Willie was too slow to pull him, trying to get him in position for the win.

While I was happy to see the offense put up a fight against the Atlanta bullpen, it ultimately wasn't enough. There were too many wasted opportunities while Smoltz was on the mound (he had just one 1-2-3 inning in his 6 innings of work, but allowed just 2 runs) and too much given away to the Braves via poor defense. When Shawn Green lined out to end the game with the tying run on 2nd, I didn't know whether to applaud the effort while bemoaning the bad luck or dwell on the possibility that the Mets might not have been trailing in the 9th had Green been able to hold on to a fly ball in the 6th.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Note to FOX: As cool as the idea of having a player from each team read the starting lineup might have seemed, it just doesn't work.
I could complain all day about Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, but I'll keep my grumbling to 2 specific points. First, don't say that the Braves "shipped Marcus Giles off to San Diego" when they actually non-tendered him. Second, Russ Ortiz's role in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series really has no relevance to a Mets/Braves game in 2007, so don't go off on a tangent about it during the game.
Since I don't want this post to be an overwhelming cloud of negativity, I'll point out an interesting article from today's Newsday about Reyes and his (to this point) limited marketing presence. I think Jose is quickly approaching the point where language barriers won't matter, given the increasing prominence of the Latino community in the US and the simple fact that what makes Reyes so buzzworthy - his obvious enthusiasm for what he does - requires no translation whatsoever.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before...

2007-04-06T23:49:00.000-04:00

At quite a few points during tonight's game, I couldn't help but think it was awfully similar to what we saw Wednesday night. I can't quite put my finger on exactly what gave me that impression. Was it...

The location - home of a hated rival?
The stellar double plays the Mets turned?
The buffet of horrendous defense served up by the opposing team and feasted on by the Mets?
The way the lineup seemed to be letting a mediocre pitcher off the hook before an offensive explosion took place?
The 7-inning gem by a young pitcher who doesn't seem like a question mark right now?
The impressive 8th inning pitched by Ambiorix Burgos?

Now that I think about it, I know what it was. It was the winning, and the message it sent. Underestimate them at your peril. As special as last year was, I have a feeling that this year's team will be even more dominant.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I lost track of how many bad plays the Braves made in the field. The defensive ineptitude started early on, with Craig Wilson's inability to catch Reyes's foul pop-up in the 1st inning, giving Jose the opportunity to hit his first triple of the season. Chris Woodward also made a couple of bad plays in the field (including one that led to a Paul LoDuca "infield hit").
That was a fantastic outing by Oliver Perez. Not only did he strike out 6 batters in 7 innings without issuing any walks, he had more groundouts than flyouts and threw just 82 pitches (55 for strikes). For a pitcher who has struggled so much over the past couple of years with his control and his flyball tendencies, this was a very encouraging sign.
I know that every team must have at least one representative, but how the hell was Mark Redman an All-Star last year? You know a left-handed pitcher sucks when he gives up an extra-base hit to Jose Valentin (career slugging percentage when facing left-handed pitchers from the right side of the plate: .303).
Interesting tangent from Ron, Keith, and Gary about 7th-inning stretch/post-game songs played at various ballparks. I vaguely remember Billy Joel's "New York State Of Mind" being played at Shea after games a few years back, and I always thought that was really cool.
The Mariners/Indians game-that-technically-wasn't, in which Victor Martinez got hurt running to 1st base, should be a wake-up call to MLB. Baseball games played in the sort of weather conditions that Cleveland had today are not safe for the players on the field and not all that enjoyable for the fans in attendance, either. Certain cities are going to have cold weather and a strong possibility of snow in early April, and it would make sense to either have the teams that play in those cities start the season on the road or have the season start a bit later and schedule some doubleheaders.

10 Things I Love About Brooms

2007-04-04T23:00:00.000-04:00

3 games into the season, the Mets have yet to trail at any point. I think the message has come through loud and clear - there is unfinished business, and this team is ready to take care of it. In honor of the number of runs scored tonight, a list of things to savor from this utter demolition of question marks, 5 1/2-month-old demons, and the 2007 St. Louis Cardinals:

John Maine. After back-to-back gems from the crafty veteran portion of the rotation, the leader of the youth movement had big shoes to fill. His performance tonight was nothing short of brilliant. I have a tendency to view every game as the potential first no-hitter in Mets history, so you can imagine the thoughts that ran through my mind as Maine retired the first dozen batters he faced. While history will have to wait, it was great to see this sort of dominance by Maine (7 innings, 6 strikeouts, just 3 baserunners, and 65 of 97 pitches thrown for strikes). Keep up the good work, Johnny.
Carlos Beltran. Given the way the NLCS ended, it was especially important that Beltran make some noise against the Cardinals. I think a pair of home runs did the trick.
Jose Reyes. I wasn't thrilled with Jose's approach at the plate in the first 2 games of the series - he looked a bit too much like the overly aggressive pre-2006 Reyes. Tonight, he was more like the deadly hitting machine we saw for much of last year. The double was just a beautiful piece of hitting, and the fact that it came after the home run was a very encouraging sign to me.
Cardinals outfielders continuing their tribute to Tiger pitchers (for those of you who didn't watch the World Series, that's cutesy for "sucking at defense.") If, as Keith Hernandez speculated, the lights at Busch Stadium are too low, why did it only bother the home team? And how dumb does Steve Phillips look after stating on Baseball Tonight before the game that the Cardinals were a better team defensively than the Mets? (Yeah, I know Steve Phillips looks dumb all the time, but there's always room for "improvement.")
Ambiorix Burgos. The big lead gave the Mets an opportunity to get Burgos some work in a low-pressure situation. While he was inconsistent in spring training, Burgos looked flat-out nasty tonight.
Wrecking Braden Looper's first major-league start. Consider it payback for the way he wrecked Pedro's Mets debut.
Keith Hernandez going into that extra gear of wackiness reserved for blowouts. If you didn't get to hear his story about wearing tights when he played at Candlestick Park, you don't know what you're missing. I could have lived without Keith admitting that he rooted for the Cardinals and Yankees when he was growing up, though.
That highlight SNY showed from the Braves/Phillies game. You know, the one where Ryan Madson gave up the decisive extra-inning bomb for the 2nd game in a row.
Aaron Sele's 3-2 to Pujols in the 9th. Wow.
Watching as the live win-probability graph sloped sharply in the Mets' favor and stayed there (yes, I'm a dork and things like this fascinate me).

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I wonder if Julio Franco is the oldest player ever to reach on an error? ;-P
I really like the new SNY commercials with the cartoons of Ron, Keith, and Gary. The ads manage to capture the off-beat humor that's always present in the broadcast booth.
Not baseball-related, but allow me a little American Idol rant. Sanjaya is awful, and it bugs me that performers with some level of actual talent get voted off when he's not even in the bottom 3. However, I hate the way the media is reacting to his continued presence on the show. I've watched all 6 seasons, and every year someone who can't sing makes it much further in the competition than they deserve to. Stop freaking out over it like it's never happened before.

El Duque's OPS > El Duque's ERA. Any Questions?

2007-04-03T23:31:00.000-04:00

April is always a hectic time for me. Not only do my professors start to pile the work on because there are only a few weeks left in the semester, but the baseball season begins before the TV season ends. Although the baseball games mean more to me than the TV shows, the latter usually win the what-to-watch battle because of the existence of things like Gameday that let me follow the game even when I don't have it on the TV. For the first 5 1/2 innings, I flipped back and forth between SNY and FOX, with just the ballgame to watch the rest of the way.

And what a ballgame it was. El Duque is almost always an incredibly entertaining pitcher to watch, with that 60-MPH curveball he throws a couple of times a game and an ability to hit that you wouldn't expect from someone who had been a career American Leaguer up until last season. El Duque wound up driving in more runs than he allowed, while the infield continued the double-play clinic it began the other night. Add 2 cups of deliciously bad St. Louis defense (I love it when Reyes rattles the pitcher to the point that pickoff throws go awry, and let's just say that compared to Skip Schumaker, Shawn Green looks like Endy Chavez), stir in the requisite 8th-inning drama (Note to Scott Schoeneweis: throwing strikes to the people batting ahead of Albert Pujols is usually a good idea), and you've pretty much got the recipe for another satisfying Mets win.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I like the new graphics that SNY is using for its game coverage. They look so much more modern and professional than what was used last year.
I didn't catch all of it, but Rick Peterson made a really interesting point during his in-game interview about the "magic number" of 38 batters faced, and that the Mets were something like 66-25 last year in games where they faced 38 batters or less. I had to laugh at his comment that it's okay for pitchers to have butterflies as long as they fly in formation towards the glove.
Nice diving stop by Delgado in the 6th, even if El Duque didn't quite get there in time to get Duncan.
Thank goodness Wagner had a nice quick 1-2-3 9th inning, because the 8th was enough stress for one game. Pujols coming to the plate as the potential tying run does not make me a happy camper.
Speaking of Pujols, that 2-1 pitch by Heilman in the 8th was nasty.

Odds & Ends: Everyone Else's Opening Day Edition

2007-04-03T15:51:00.000-04:00

If Sunday night's season-opening Mets victory was like an exquisite chocolate souffle, yesterday was one of those big bags of Hershey's Miniatures, more exciting baseball goodness thrown your way than you know what to do with, leaving you with a bit of a headache once you realize how many little pieces you ate. I watched at least an inning of 5 different games on TV yesterday, something I probably won't get the opportunity to do on any other day this season and something I probably wouldn't want to do again until this time next year, when I'm so starved for real live baseball games that actually count that I'm willing to flip channels between innings and watch 3 games at once. In a way, I was a bit relieved that the Mets had gotten their game out of the way the night before and weren't a part of the Opening Day feeding frenzy. I was able to watch my favorite team with no distractions, then sample bits and pieces of the rest of baseball the following day. The following is a collection of some of my thoughts on what I saw

I was only able to watch the first inning of Braves/Phillies on TBS before I had to leave for my 2:00 class, so I didn't have time to figure out what outcome I was rooting for (since "both teams losing" was unfortunately not an option. I was shocked that the game was already in the 9th inning when I got back from my class a little before 3:30. Edgar Renteria's game-winning homer should hopefully demoralize the Phillies a bit, but I'm upset that the Braves' bullpen went 4 innings without giving up a run. Hopefully, they play 15 innings each of the next 2 games.
As I flipped back and forth between the end of the Braves/Phillies game and the middle of Cubs/Reds, trying to avoid missing too much of either game, I couldn't help but think that all of the money the Cubs spent over the winter isn't going to help them all that much. Their lineup is still filled with hitters who aren't patient enough, and they can't afford too many bad outings like that from Carlos Zambrano with the way the rest of their pitching staff looks (I'm still somewhat in disbelief over Jason Marquis getting a 3-year deal coming off a season where his ERA was above 6).
Red Sox/Royals seemed like a mismatch with the potential to be a blowout. I mean, Curt Schilling versus Gil Meche? Of course, it did turn out to be a one-sided game - in favor of the Royals. If you had asked me before the game which starting pitcher was more likely to walk in a run, I would have picked Meche with no hesitation whatsoever, and I would have been wrong. The other moments from this game that stick out in my mind are Alex Gordon's major-league debut (and the tremendous round of applause he got in his first at-bat), and Dustin Pedroia trying to stretch a single into a double and being out by approximately 20 feet.
I was disappointed that my 6:00 class would result in my not being able to see most of Orioles/Twins, since Johan Santana versus Erik Bedard is a pretty damn good pitching matchup (but I wasn't about to skip class for anything less than a Met game). Of course, by the time I got home, it was the 7th inning, neither starting pitcher was still in the game, and the score was 7-4. I saw replays of Nick Markakis's pair of cannon-powered throws from the outfield and Justin Morneau steamrollering the Orioles backup catcher on a play at the plate, and I wish I had been able to see more of that game.
Finally, I settled in to watch Rangers/Angels, a matchup where the potential for a bench-clearing brawl is always there. There weren't any fights, but I did see a couple of nice catches by Gary Matthews Jr (as well as one he booted), Kenny Lofton looking pretty clueless in center field on a home run, and Mike Napoli dropping an Ian Kinsler pop-up, which naturally came back to bite in the form of Kinsler homering later in the at-bat. Good stuff, even if I wasn't able to stay awake for the whole game.
I'll admit it - I checked the box score of the Diamondbacks/Rockies game just to see if Kaz Matsui had hit a home run. He didn't, marking the end of an era. I wonder if this means he'll actually be good this year ;-P

Defense Is No Joke

2007-04-01T23:01:00.000-04:00

With all of the talk this offseason about the strength of the Mets' lineup or the uncertainty of their pitching staff, precious little attention was paid to their defense. Sure, there were the frequent bittersweet replays of the EndyCatch, perhaps the occasional voicing of concern that an outfield containing both Moises Alou and Shawn Green wasn't such a good idea, but did you really hear much talk about how brilliant Jose Valentin is at second base, or that Jose Reyes has a cannon for an arm in addition to those wheels? The defensive abilities of Valentin and Reyes (plus a fantastic throw by Carlos Beltran) played a huge role in the Opening Night Win, a game that was a hell of a lot closer than the final score would indicate (if you were able to stay calm during the 6th and 8th innings, you may want to have your pulse checked to confirm that you're actually alive).

In addition to Beltran's throw that nailed David Eckstein at home, the squeeze play that LoDuca and Wright successfully thwarted, and a diving catch by Moises Alou (yes, that Moises Alou), the Mets turned four double plays, the final one to end the 8th inning with the potential tying run at the plate. Meanwhile, the Cardinals were not as sharp defensively. So Taguchi did his best Chris Duncan impersonation out in left field (although Duncan probably would have done more damage to the wall on Delgado's double), and although he didn't make any errors, Adam Kennedy looked pretty shaky at second base.

I'm glad that games that actually count are back, and I'm even gladder that the Mets began the season on such a high note, sending a message to last year's villains, smacking around a pitcher as good as Chris Carpenter (who had an ERA below 2 at home last season), and generally looking more like the team that kicked ass and took names last year than the punching bags of spring training.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

While it all worked out in the end, I'm not sure what Willie was thinking having Feliciano start the 8th inning. The Cardinals had a fairly long stretch of right-handed hitters scheduled to bat, and if Joe Smith was going to be brought in at some point, wouldn't it have made more sense to just have Smith start the 8th inning rather than make his major-league debut a trial by fire in which he entered the game with a man on base?
I know I must have made this point during the NLCS, but I don't know what possesses Tony La Russa to bat Preston Wilson 2nd. As good a hitter as Albert Pujols is, it's just that much easier to pitch around him when the guys batting ahead of him don't get on base, and while I can understand the Cardinals wanting to stack their lineup with righties tonight, Wilson has terrible numbers against Tom Glavine in his career. Not that I'm complaining over opponents shooting themselves in the foot, but the lack of logic just drives me crazy on some level.
I knew that Moises Alou had a history of getting off to a good start after a miserable spring training, but actually seeing it happen was quite fun, especially since I wasn't aware that it applied to his defense as well as his hitting.
ESPN2 kept having problems with its audio, and I'm not sure that was such a bad thing. Those of you who picked the first inning of the first game in the "Joe Morgan's first anti-stats comment" pool, congratulations. I'm still highly amused that Jon Miller thinks the Braves gave up a "top starter" in Horacio Ramirez to get Rafael Soriano. The only other person who thinks that is Bill Bavasi.

Optimism - Just as Contagious as the Common Cold, But Much More Useful!

2007-03-27T18:59:00.000-04:00

My computer crashed while I was in the middle of writing a post Sunday evening, sparing all of you from being subjected to my NyQuil-fueled ramblings on what a terrible pitcher Jorge Sosa is. Since then, my cold has mostly gone away, Sosa has been sent down to the minors, and as far as I'm concerned that means that all is right with the world. Okay, so perhaps that's a bit of oversimplification, but I do think that the Mets are in pretty good shape as Opening Day rapidly approaches.

Yes, the news about Duaner Sanchez is bad, but I feel as though its impact is being overstated. We already knew that Sanchez would not be ready for Opening Day, there was already uncertainty about what could be expected of him when he did come back. If, as Omar Minaya seems to believe, the hairline fracture in Sanchez's shoulder was going to happen at some point, it's probably better that it happened now than in the middle of the season, when replacing Sanchez would mean altering the bullpen hierarchy that would already be in place. Hopefully, Sanchez makes a full recovery and returns in August to make a bullpen that's already good even better.

Speaking of the bullpen, I'm interested to see how Chan Ho Park's transition from starter to reliever works out. Park's performance this spring has been rather up-and-down - he's allowed 4 home runs in 13 1/3 innings of work, but has also recorded 16 strikeouts. It seems as though his first reaction to his new role was less than enthusiastic, but I think some of that has to be chalked up to him not being told before his start on Saturday that the plan was to pull him from the game early and have him pitch in relief on Monday. While I think that Willie could have handled that a bit better, if Park can be made to realize that he can be a valuable contributor to the team out of the 'pen this could work out well. If it doesn't, there are other options - Joe Smith has done quite well this spring, and once Ambiorix Burgos gets it together in New Orleans, he'll be a nasty setup man.

As for the starting rotation, I get the feeling that many of those who predicted doom and gloom for the Mets about a month ago will be eating their words. Glavine is Glavine, El Duque has found time to throw a few of those 55-MPH curveballs despite setbacks early in spring training, Maine and Perez have pitched well enough to justify having faith in them, and Pelfrey has won the 5th-starter job. Meanwhile, the Phillies - remember, the team that everyone was picking as the favorites in the NL East because of the stability of their rotation - will probably begin the season with Jon Lieber on the DL with a strained oblique, and with Freddy Garcia dealing with tendinitis. I wonder what Jimmy Rollins has to say about that.

Observations/Odds & Ends

If one good thing came out of Sosa's utter meltdown on Sunday, it was the following bit of commentary from Keith Hernandez: ""I hate when they bat around. It ruins my scorecard." I can definitely empathize with that, although I probably wouldn't be as quick to admit it as Keith was.
While the idea of fans getting the chance to vote for David Wright's at-bat music is pretty cool, some of the choices are just ridiculous. "Lean Back?" Did whoever put this list together not see Fat Joe's Yankee-worshipping appearance on This Week in Baseball last year?
Over the weekend, I got an advance copy of The Team. The Time. The 2006 Mets, a DVD about - oh, come on, with a title like that, do I really have to tell you what it's about? Anyway, it's a pretty decent look back at last season. The whole intro about the nature of New York and its fans was a bit heavy-handed, but there's really not much to complain about with all of the awesome footage from last season (including the final moments of selected walk-off wins).

Disrupting the Status Kuo

2007-03-21T22:35:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know it's a horribly cheesy pun, but after what Jose Reyes did to a certain Dodger pitcher this evening, it had to be said. I've grown used to El Profesor acting as the spark that ignites the Mets' offense, but this was just such a textbook demonstration of his ability to rattle the opposition that I would swear it had been made up as an archetypical example had I not seen it play out on my computer screen. Beating out an infield hit (and quite easily)? Check. Stealing second? Oh yeah. Completely warping the brain of the pitcher and scampering towards third? This just keeps getting better and better. Marching home as Kuo uncorks the first of four wild pitches on the evening? Somewhere in the dugout, Matt Kemp is feeling a little better about himself. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game, in which the Mets generally looked like the Mets (and by that, I mean a team that wins and has its act together).

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I'm sure I've said this before, but one of these days Reyes is going to steal home when Delgado is at the plate because the shift will prevent the third baseman from holding him on. I seriously cannot wait to see that happen.
Why did the Dodgers have so few regulars in their starting lineup? They were the home team, and as far as I can see they didn't have a split-squad today.
I watched tonight's game on MLB.TV, which had the Dodgers' TV feed since SNY is only covering the Port St. Lucie games. This was the first time I listened to more than a brief snippet of Vin Scully calling a game, and I totally get why he's such a legend. Much more of a relaxed, laid-back style than what I've grown up listening to, clearly does his homework on the opposing team and is respectful towards them, and is able to mention some of what he's witnessed over the years in a way that flows with what's going on right now (unlike many announcers who seem to tell the anecdote for the anecdote's sake, tonight's game be damned). There's just something very soothing about the way he calls a game.
One thing that really bugs me about MLB.TV: Quite frequently, the picture would flip upside-down for a while before going back to normal. It's rather frustrating to have to deal with that on something I'm paying to watch.
Anna Benson should really just STFU already. I don't know in what universe a pitcher who has had exactly one 200-inning season and exactly one season with an ERA below 4 is considered a "number-one stud," and to suggest that the Mets fell short because they traded Kris Benson is so far beyond ludicrous that I just have to break it down. In 2006, Kris Benson gave the Baltimore Orioles 183 innings of a 4.83 ERA. In exchange for him, the Mets obtained John Maine (90 innings of a 3.60 ERA) and Jorge Julio (21 1/3 innings of a 5.06 ERA as a Met), who was subsequently traded for El Duque (116 2/3 innings of a 4.09 ERA as a Met). That works out to the Mets getting 228 innings of 3.99 ERA out of the "bag of balls" they got in exchange for Mr. Anna, and that's not even considering that Maine outdueled Chris Carpenter in a must-win playoff game.

Jet-Lag and Fantasy Drafts Don't Mix (and other observations)

2007-03-20T22:43:00.000-04:00

I got back from Hong Kong late Thursday night. It's an incredible place, with an intriguing combination of the urban and the rural, and I'd like to go back there someday, but after the insanely long flight (about 20 hours, including stopovers in Alaska and Taiwan), I was happy to be back in New York, with my parents there at the airport to drive me home. Although I'm sure he probably said something before it (along the lines of "how was your trip?" or "we're so happy to see you"), the first thing I can remember my dad saying to me on the way home was, "I was watching highlights of the game from today, and Oliver Perez struck out Big Papi and Manny back-to-back TWICE." As my mom looked on with mild frustration (wanting to hear about her daughter's foreign adventures rather than a televised exhibition game), I smiled and continued the "if Perez can be anything close to what he was in '04, this is going to be a damn good year" discussion. I was completely exhausted, had yet to unpack, or sleep in my own bed, or even walk through my front door, but none of that mattered because I was back home, chattering excitedly about my favorite team.

Over the weekend, I attempted to return to a normal sleep schedule (something I have yet to fully accomplish) while catching up on everything I had missed, from TV shows to magazines to, of course, baseball news. Duaner Sanchez got in trouble for showing up late? I don't like the sound of that, but Willie seems to have handled it well. Alay Soler was released? Fine - let the Pirates deal with his Trachsel-esque nibbling. The Mets keep losing? I'd prefer to see them winning, but it's only spring training. As I turned on the TV Saturday afternoon to watch a game against the Nationals, I remembered that the fantasy league I had joined was having its draft the next afternoon, so it might be a good idea to work out some strategy for the draft.

Unfortunately, the draft had in fact been moved to Saturday, and by the time I logged on, 14 rounds had gone by, 14 picks made according to the Autodraft instead of my own preferences. The combination of still being somewhat jet-lagged and discovering that my starting pitchers were Mark (had exactly ONE quality start last year) Prior, Javier (gets lit up the third time through the order) Vazquez, and Chien-Ming (more earned runs allowed than strikeouts recorded) Wang would have been enough to make me miserable, so watching the freaking Nationals walk all over the Mets (while hearing that the other game being played that afternoon was much of the same) was just adding insult to injury. Strangely enough, my usually pessimistic father was actually sort of happy ("I want Chan Ho Park and Aaron Sele to keep getting lit up like this so they won't make the team. They don't have anything left.").

Tonight, I was finally able to sit back, relax, and watch the Mets win. While I'd like to see Mike Pelfrey strike out more batters than he has this spring, I was happy to see how he pulled himself together after struggling with his command in the first inning. I had a similarly mixed reaction to Jose Valentin's 2-out triple ("What is he doing? I know it's spring training and all, but still, never make the first or third out at third - holy shit, he's safe!"). It's less than 2 weeks until the games really count, and I'm glad for that.

Odds & Ends: 1st Week Of Spring Training Edition

2007-03-07T21:56:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, you're all tired of the latest iteration of "sorry I haven't written anything in a week, I was busy..." but every time I turn around, there's something else for me to deal with. Between afternoon classes and having to go work on group projects that get completely changed around 2 days before the original due date, I haven't had a chance to see/hear anywhere near as much of the past week's games as I would have liked. I watched some of Saturday's game against the Dodgers (thought during 9th inning: "Jon Adkins is a right-handed relief pitcher, kind of on the tubby side, and runs score when he's on the mound. Hey, that sounds like the guy he was traded for!"), listened to the first few innings of Sunday's game against the Orioles (thought during 3rd inning: "Yeesh, who is the official scorer? Do they just pick some random Florida resident with those ubiquitous old-people sunglasses? I can tell from the radio that Newhan's throw was an error, and they're calling it a hit!), and saw the highlights from yesterday's game against the Astros ("Haha, are they seriously adding up the ages of the runners crossing the plate? That is just awesome."). Other than that, I've just been trying to read about what's going on. Some thoughts:

Okay, who else felt more than a little nauseous after reading this article? There's a line between being respectful and being an ass-kisser, and I think that Wright stepped on the wrong side of that line. Not to mention the idea of the A-Rod circus coming to the Mets - spare me the melodrama. It's all a moot point anyway - I'm sure that A-Rod will opt out of his contract after this season, sign with the Cubs, and the union of the two most jinxed entities in all of baseball will make the 100th anniversary of you-know-what quite interesting. C'mon, stranger things have happened.
Is it wrong that the first thought that popped into my head after reading about Milledge's musical aspirations was "hopefully, he can write a better song than 'Our Team, Our Time," not that that's setting the bar all that high"?
I got a call from the Mets ticket office a couple of days ago asking me if I wanted to buy season tickets. As silly/irrational as this may sound, I don't think I want to. I'm very much a creature of habit/routine who rarely does anything spontaneous, and there's something exhilarating about waking up on some random summer morning and deciding that I want to go to the game tonight, looking online to see what tickets are still available, and hopping on the 7 train. As nice it would be to know that I would have the same seat for, say, every Saturday game and that I could buy my own playoff tickets, I feel like getting a ticket plan would mean giving up that ability to be impulsive every once in a while, and I don't want to do that.
I was at the bookstore this morning looking for some baseball books to keep me entertained during my upcoming flight, and I noticed that Game Of Shadows was out in paperback, with a new chapter added. For some reason, this really bugged me, and I couldn't figure out why until a couple of hours later. I bought the book when it first came out in hardcover, and the people who waited until it was out in paperback get a more "complete" version of the book than I did. I know it's not the intention of the authors and publishers who add content to the paperback editions of their books, but in a way it punishes the people who were interested enough in a book to buy it before it was out in paperback. A similar principle applies to singers who "re-release" their CDs with a different cover and a couple of extra songs 6 months after the original release date, but at least in that case the new songs can (usually) be purchased individually on iTunes without having to buy another copy of an album you already own.

I won't be around for the next week or so (this year, spring break = mandatory class trip to Hong Kong) but when I come back, I promise that I will return to posting more regularly in preparation for the season.

Ready Or Not

2007-02-27T23:42:00.000-05:00

It's almost that time. Tomorrow afternoon, there will be a Mets game on SNY, and it will not be a treasured relic from the year I was born or the one where Bannister got hurt (I'm aware that they re-air other games from last season, it's just that they seem to show that one a lot more often than the others). It will be live from Tradition Field, featuring some new faces and high uniform numbers, the first Mets game of 2007. I've been waiting for this for more than four months, and yet I don't know if I can bear to watch.

Of all the teams in the Grapefruit League, why do the Mets have to play their first spring training game against the Tigers? It's as though the baseball gods are taunting Mets fans everywhere still not over the events of October 19, 2006. It's going to be damn near impossible to watch Oliver Perez, he of the occasionally effective wildness, face the Detroit Tigers, they of the extreme lack of plate discipline, and not wonder what sort of gem we might be reminiscing over if only...

Yet even wounds that have been salted heal eventually. Soon, there will be games that have ramifications beyond the fifth starter selection process, reminders that as thrilling and devastating as 2006 was, the slate is clean and the next chapter of Mets history is being written. I'm sure that by the time the Mets go to Comerica Park in June, my heart will feel what my mind already knows. For now, though, I'm not quite done with the bittersweet daydreams of what could have been. I guess that just as players need spring training to get into playing shape, us fans need spring training to get back into optimal rooting form.

As The Channel Changes

2007-02-20T22:58:00.000-05:00

I am seriously fed up with TV right now, and I'm not just talking about the cancellation of The O.C. just when it was starting to get good again. I turn on ESPN or SNY for some coverage of spring training, and all they want to talk about on Sportscenter and Daily News Live (and even Mets Hot Stove, for crying out loud!) is the gigantic soap opera surrounding the Yankees, particularly the relationship or lack thereof between Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Two highly-paid, successful athletes are acting like 6th graders who aren't speaking to one another because one didn't save a seat for the other in the cafeteria, and it's the only baseball news that the sports networks seem to give a shit about. There are 748 other players who will be on Major League rosters on Opening Day - it would be nice if someone on TV paid some attention to them.

I can understand ESPN being all over this (in fact, I'm surprised they haven't interviewed T.O. yet to ask him what he thinks about the Jeter/A-Rod situation) since this is the kind of stuff they love to pick apart from every possible angle, but I'm really disappointed in SNY. I understand that SNY's goal is to be a network that covers the entirety of New York sports, but forgive me for wanting the Mets' TV network to devote more airtime to the Mets than to New York's other baseball team. Yankee fans aren't going to watch SNY instead of YES, so stop trying to cater to them and go back to focusing on producing television that Mets fans - you know, your target audience - will want to watch. I'm not saying that SNY should ignore the rest of baseball and just focus on the Mets, just that I don't want to feel like my favorite team is playing second fiddle on its own freaking network. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

I'm happy to see that one of my favorite "shows" has been picked up for another season. Viva El Profesor.
I guess Lastings Milledge won't be starring in a McDonald's commercial anytime soon :-P
Apparently, Aaron Heilman is upset because he doesn't have an assigned parking spot. In keeping with the TV theme of this post, this sort of amuses me because it reminds me of a sublot on a recent episode of House. Maybe Heilman could spend a week wearing hideous-yet-allegedly-fashionable clothes, tape a mole to the side of his head, and dye his hair gray if he wants a parking spot that badly ;-)
Speaking of popular medical dramas, the first Kerry Wood injury of the season has already taken place and Ken Griffey Jr. has finally admitted the cause of his broken hand. As much as the injury-prone reputations of both players are a source of laughs, I can't help but be a bit sad because I remember when one was matching the single-game strikeout record as a rookie and the other was better than Barry Bonds. Now the baseball icons of my youth are busy falling out of hot tubs and losing fights with 12-year-olds.

Are We There Yet?

2007-02-13T22:29:00.000-05:00

I am so stressed out right now. My computer was the victim of extreme carelessness (fortunately, it has made a full recovery, but just a bit of advice for all of you: When deleting stuff from your hard drive to make room for the latest version of The Sims, pay attention to what you're getting rid of and make sure that it's not Internet Explorer. Just trust me on this one), the internship application frenzy is in full swing (Please tell me this one doesn't require a cover letter! Why is this application asking me what I think my greatest accomplishment? Yay, they want to interview me - now I just need to buy an actual suit to wear to the interview), midterms are next week already even though it feels like the semester just started, and my goal of setting aside more study time before I take that actuarial exam again is kind of being pushed aside by everything else I've been dealing with. That being said, I'm in a pretty good mood at the moment.

Once the number of days until pitchers and catchers report can be counted on one hand, I know that it's time to forget about what's on my mind and focus on the stream of news bits that will be coming from St. Lucie, the "big questions" that will seem amusingly trivial 6 months from now, the names that will be forgotten 6 weeks from now, the auditions and rehearsals for (with apologies to the Ringling Brothers) the greatest show on earth. Why worry about the things I'll have to deal with no matter how much I dread them when I can wonder how the offseason acquisitions are fitting in with the existing team or search for the latest news on Duaner Sanchez's recovery? I can't wait for the next wave of Pedro speculation, the next round of arguments about Heilman's role, and fortunately, I don't have to wait much longer.

Odds and Ends:

I like the recent signing of Chan Ho Park. Inexpensive insurance policies are always a good thing to have, and that's exactly what this is given that there's only $600,000 in guaranteed money and that Park is capable of being a decent pitcher in a ballpark like Shea.
It seems that the Orioles have signed everyone's favorite Human Rain Delay because Kris Benson will miss the season with a torn rotator cuff, and Duquette needs to make sure that he has enough ex-Mets on the roster. Seriously: Steve Trachsel, Melvin Mora, Jay Payton, Chad Bradford - and they invited Roger Cedeno to spring training! I'm surprised he didn't make more of an effort to get Victor Zambrano (again). In any event, now I'm really going to have to pay attention if I want to plan another trip to Camden Yards this year, because I do not want to get stuck with tickets to a game Trachsel is scheduled to start.
Finally, a helpful tip for anyone who's upset about being single on Valentine's Day. Notice all of those red/pink, heart-shaped chocolate boxes at the supermarket/deli/Barnes & Noble? Well, those tend to go on sale when the calendar flips to February 15, and the people who are in relationships can't take advantage of that because their significant others would kick their cheap asses. That's not a problem, however, when you're buying it for yourself, and is there ever a problem with getting more chocolate for less money? That's how you deal with Cupid's absence - just think of February 14 as The Day Before The Chocolate Goes On Sale.

Metropolitan Idol: The Search For A Fifth Starter

2007-01-31T18:38:00.000-05:00

I'm not a big fan of January. When I think of January, I think of New Year's resolutions that are broken within a week or two, I think of going from bored ("ugh, I have nothing to do - when does school start again?") to overworked ("ugh, do I have any classes in which there is not a group project that counts for 30% of the grade? And can someone please tell my International Study Project professor that it's not a 'pop quiz' if we have one at the beginning of every single class?") in the space of about three days, and I think of bad weather. Somehow, I'm never quite prepared for those lovely mornings of wind chills 10-15 degrees below the actual temperature (which is already pretty damn low), I never seem to have the right type of winter clothes (shopping for cute warm-weather clothing is much more fun than buying all of those bulky sweaters), and I never manage to avoid having to go out in the slippery mess otherwise known as snow (sure, I loved to go outside and make snow angels when I was 4 years old, but that's just because I was too young to know better). This past week, the heat in my dorm room wasn't working, so I had to resort to using my laptop as a source of warmth (hey, it overheats when I leave it on for too long anyway, might as well put that to good use). The other really bad thing about January? No baseball. Most of the big offseason moves are done already, and unless you have ESPN Deportes (I think it's the only ESPN channel NYU doesn't have on the campus cable network), there's no way to watch any of the winter league games.

Thankfully, January is almost over, my dorm is once again properly heated (doing wonders for my productivity - trust me, it's really difficult to type when you're all wrapped up in a blanket in an attempt to stay warm), and baseball is almost here again. Pitchers and catchers report in just a couple of weeks, and the competition among those seeking a spot in the back end of the Mets rotation will begin. If you look at it a certain way, there are some amusing parallels to a certain TV show. Surely, there will be some bad "auditions" (speaking of that, Jose Lima would be an entertaining American Idol contestant in the "really bad, but loves attention and has wacky hair" mold), but with so many contestants, there will be talent that stands out, perhaps from unexpected sources. American Idol has Randy Jackson, the judge who seems to speak in his own language sometimes but actually knows what he's talking about; the Mets have Rick Peterson. Chris Cotter has the same sort of spiky hairdo as Ryan Seacrest, doesn't he?

Which pitchers will get the "golden ticket" to Queens? Stay tuned. In the meantime, imagine what Simon Cowell would say to Jose Lima.

Book Reports Are More Fun When They're Not For School

2007-01-21T22:57:00.000-05:00

Before college, one of the things that bugged me the most about school was that I was never really work-free over winter vacation. Even in high school, the fall semester ended about 3 weeks after we came back from winter break, and teachers always saw that week and a half of vacation time as the perfect opportunity to assign some sort of paper or report. My family usually spends most of that winter break somewhere warmer than New York, and ignoring the work during that fun in the sun and then scrambling to complete all of it in the couple of days before school starts again is an idea that my mother has never supported. For as long as I could remember, vacation meant schlepping heavy textbooks in the carry-on luggage and not being allowed to go to the pool until another half a page of that report had been completed.

Once I started college, things changed. The fall semester ends before winter break, so "vacation" really means "no schoolwork whatsoever" instead of "1,000-word essay for English class, research paper for History class, etc." Naturally, I saw this as an opportunity to reward my brain after 3 and a half months of hard work...by reading a bunch of books. That may seem strange, but I've always loved to read, and reading something because you want to feels great after a semester of reading textbooks and other class material because you had to. After a couple of shopping sprees at nearby bookstores, I had 6 books to bring with me on my cruise. All were nonfiction, and all were about baseball. I thought I would share some of my thoughts on what I read.

Veeck As In Wreck
Most baseball fans know of Bill Veeck as the guy who sent a midget up to pinch-hit. Some know that he planted the ivy at Wrigley Field. However, that only scratches the surface of Veeck's contribution to baseball as an owner at both the minor-league and major-league levels. Part of what makes Veeck's autobiography a compelling read is that there is no sugarcoating. Veeck doesn't shy away from examining his failures, and he doesn't hide his feelings towards those he clashed with. Over the course of the book, Veeck comes across as a man ahead of his time, with ideas about interleague play and farm systems and television deals that didn't exactly make him popular with fellow owners attached to the status quo. He was able to see baseball as both a game and a business, to care about his players and to recognize the importance of making sure that fans had a good time at the ballpark and wanted to keep coming back. Baseball would be better off today if front-office staffs were to learn from what he did and how he went about doing it.

Whatever Happened To The Hall Of Fame?
Although you wouldn't know it from the way some people carried on over Mark McGwire's first year on the ballot, the Hall had its share of controversies before the "steroid era." Like his well-known Abstracts, Bill James's book about the Hall Of Fame is a grab bag filled with all sorts of interesting ideas and obscure facts that deserve a wider audience. The history of the Hall Of Fame is mixed with some examination of the merits of specific players. I'm a big fan of the question "what on earth were these people thinking?", and it's a question James frequently applies to the actions of those in charge of the voting process. Another aspect of the book that I particularly enjoyed was the focus on players who have been forgotten but had a good deal in common with those in the Hall.

Baseball and the Media: How Fans Lose in Today's Coverage of the Game
Why is it that 3 or 4 papers all decide to cover a story with the same angle, using pretty much the same quotations, on a given day? Why do we hear so much grumbling about the alleged "East Coast bias" in sports media? These are among the issues discussed in this book, written by a long-time sportswriter in the Chicago area. George Castle looks at disturbing trends such as the herd mentality of reporters, newspaper columnists who rarely attend the games they write about, and newspapers that stop sending reporters on road trips if the local team falls out of contention. One of the more interesting things I learned from reading this book is that in many cities in the Midwest, newspapers choose to focus on high school and college sports, often at the expense of pro sports coverage, so that the families of student-athletes mentioned will be sure to buy the paper. As a lifelong New Yorker, such a concept was completely alien to me, and reading about it made me realize that although some of the baseball writing in the Daily News or the Post or Newsday makes me want to bang my head against my keyboard, I'm actually somewhat spoiled in that I can read comprehensive coverage of every Mets game from multiple newspapers.

The Pitch That Killed: The Story of Carl Mays, Ray Chapman, and the Pennant Race of 1920
Ray Chapman is the only player in the history of the major leagues to die as a result of being hit by a pitch. This book examines the tragedy from many angles. As I learned about the players involved, the events that led up to the incident, and its aftermath, I felt as though I were reading a documentary and this somewhat obscure part of baseball history came to life and found myself wondering why the events I was reading about had generally been forgotten.

Game Time: A Baseball Companion
Every baseball fan should have at least one collection of Roger Angell essays on their bookshelf. His writing just has a way of bringing out the wonderful little moments that make up the game. This particular book is organized into three sections: pieces about spring training, pieces about the regular season, and pieces about October. One theme that runs through many of the essays is Angell's youthful rooting interest in the New York Giants, and a 1975 piece entitled "The Companions of the Game," in which Angell watches a game at Candlestick Park with Horace Stoneham, was my favorite essay in the collection. Reading it, I could sense the joy Angell felt over the opportunity to sit back and talk baseball with the man behind the team he grew up rooting for, the power that baseball has to bring out the wide-eyed little kid in everyone as they reminisce. There's also an essay about the 2002 Mets that perfectly captures the atmosphere at Shea during that period in time.

The Book On The Book: An Inquiry into Which Strategies in the Modern Game Actually Work
I like baseball. I like math. I really like seeing the latter used to analyze the former. While those who aren't "numbers people" might not like this book, there are a lot of interesting items here, from an in-depth look at how the battle between the pitcher and the hitter shifts depending on the count to an examination of which patterns of payroll distribution are most likely to produce a winning team to a ranking of general managers based on the value of the players they acquired and the value of the players they let go. One word of caution: Do not read the chapter "What A Player Is Worth" immediately after eating, as it is based on data from the 2003 season.

I'm always looking for another good book to read, so please feel free to tell me about your favorites.

Winter Vacation Adventures (The Less Words, More Pictures Edition)

2007-01-15T22:06:00.000-05:00

Over the course of the past week, I had been working on what promised to be a lengthy recap of my cruise vacation. Yet the more I wrote, the more I was unhappy with what I was writing. Perhaps it's that the format of my previous travel recaps (a zillion little details, entertaining bits of dialogue) doesn't work when covering 7 days instead of 2 or 3. Perhaps it's that I was too preoccupied with the heating up of the hot stove (Why are the Mets giving Scott Schoeneweis a 3-year deal? Can Jorge Sosa be this year's Jorge Julio? Am I the only one rooting for Cliff Floyd to sign with a team that faces the Blue Jays so that he has an opportunity to stick it to John Thomson?). Perhaps writing about my vacation just made me realize that it was over (school starts tomorrow - where did all the time go?). In any event, I think I'll just let some of my favorite vacation pictures tell the story (the reviews of the 6 baseball books I read during the cruise will be posted soon. I still can't believe I was able to put that many books in my laptop case and still have room for the laptop.)

The island of Curacao is home to the oldest Jewish synagogue in the Western Hemisphere

In Curacao, the pier was connected to town by a floating bridge that could be moved out of the way to allow boats to pass.

On the island of St. Maarten, one of the artists who helped build Yoda has an art gallery. My brother is a big Star Wars fan and insisted that we go check it out. We ended up buying a couple of inexpensive pieces of Star Wars-themed artwork, and "Yoda Guy" let us take a picture of the gallery.

Sunset in St. Maarten, as seen from the balcony of my room:

St. Thomas is home to Magens Bay, generally regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet. Here I am, dipping my feet into the clear, warm, water.

On our way back to the ship, our taxi driver stopped at a couple of points along the route so that we could take pictures overlooking the beach.

We Now Return To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

2007-01-07T22:40:00.000-05:00

Even though the spring semester doesn't start until a week from Tuesday, I'm back at my dorm and glad to be there. Within the next couple of days, I hope to put together a recap of my cruise vacation (think travel photojournal mixed with book reviews, with a dash of reaction to the occasional insanity of this offseason's free-agent pitching market - in other words, the offseason equivalent of my ballpark road trip adventures, only this one will cover a week instead of a weekend). However, at the moment, there is a matter requiring immediate attention.

A little while ago, I was flipping through the channels on my TV when I saw something quite surprising - a little SNY logo in the corner of the screen. At first, I didn't believe it. After all, why would NYU change its tune about adding SNY to the campus cable network now, when its primary programming is on hiatus? As reality set in, I had to resist the urge to dance around my room (since that probably would have resulted in me slipping on a magazine I had left on the floor). I can actually watch all of the games next season! My viewing of classic Mets games is no longer limited to the contents of the '86 DVD set! After watching lots of Geico SportsNite, one day I might be able to distinguish between Steve Berthiaume and Matt Yallof (on second thought, let's not get too carried away here)!

I'd like to think that my comments on the campus cable survey I filled out last year in some small way contributed to this, to that FAQ that incurred my wrath back in August now taking on a lesser form. In any event, there's a new episode of Mets Hot Stove just under 20 hours from now, and I look forward to watching it, not because I expect to find out anything I hadn't already heard about, but because I can.

To Z Or Not To Z...

2006-12-23T21:30:00.000-05:00

In between constantly refreshing my NYU homepage in the hope that my grades for the semester will be there (even though professors are supposed to submit grades within 72 hours of the final exam, I won't find out how I did in half of my classes until 2007) and packing for my family's annual Caribbean cruise winter vacation, I feel like I've read a million words about Barry Zito (How high will the bidding go? Will he get the deal he wants? Is he worth the deal he'll get? How serious are the Mets about pursuing him?) this week.

Zito has his strong points. In each of his 6 full seasons with Oakland, he has made 34 or 35 starts and pitched at least 213 innings. That sort of track record is quite valuable. A pitcher who can pitch deep into games helps keep the bullpen from being overworked, and a pitcher who can be counted on to make all of his starts is the best known form of Jose Lima repellent. His fly-ball tendencies would not pose much of a problem for the Mets, because Shea Stadium's outfield dimensions are quite pitcher-friendly and the Mets can support their pitchers with some excellent outfield defense.

However, there are also some problematic aspects to a potential Zito signing. Over the past few seasons, his strikeout rate has slipped to around the league average just as his walk rate has gone up to a point quite a bit higher than the league average. While Zito has managed to have ERAs better than what his peripherals would suggest in recent years, it would probably be a mistake to expect that to continue. (Then again, it's not as though durable left-handers who consistently give up fewer runs than they "should" are unheard-of - the Mets already have one of them in their starting rotation.) The other big problem is Zito's agent, Scott Boras. When multiple teams go after a player represented by Boras, things tend to get expensive. Yes, the Mets are a major-market team with wealthy ownership, but expensive long-term deals can bite any team in the ass. If it will take a contract longer than 5 years to get Zito, I hope that the Mets will pass on the risk of being saddled with an albatross a few years down the road. On the other hand, if the Mets could get Zito to agree to a shorter contract by offering him a couple of million dollars more per year than other teams, it could be a very good deal for both sides.

I'm still not entirely sure what I think about the idea of Zito as a Met, and I suspect that I won't make up my mind until some team signs him to a x-year, $y million contract. It can be something to think about over the next week as I enjoy some tropical sunshine.

This Post Is Deceptively Short

2006-12-18T22:06:00.000-05:00

While I'm transitioning from "Yay! Finals are over" mode to "Aaargh, time to pack up my stuff for winter vacation" mode, I suggest that you click over to Metsgeek and read my column about the 2007 outfield situation. I learned a few things that surprised me while doing research for the piece, and I hope that you enjoy the end result.

In Honor of (C)Han(n)uk(k)a(h)

2006-12-17T21:05:00.000-05:00

8 Things I Want By Sundown On December 4, 2007 (in no particular order):

A pile of scorecards from yet-to-be-played games that will be of the "I was there when..." variety.
News of Wallace Matthews being traded to a newspaper in Wyoming for a bale of hay (I picked the state with the smallest population so as to subject as few readers as possible to his writing).
A Mets victory on my birthday (June 12).
Baseball Tonight replacing Jeff Brantley with someone who doesn't make me want to throw things at my TV (a seemingly easy task, until you remember that this is ESPN we're talking about).
SNY on the NYU campus cable network (and not just for me - my little brother will be going here next year).
All-Star Game festivities that include a Met-free Home Run Derby and MVP honors for Jose Reyes.
Another weekend trip to see a game at a different ballpark
A "2007 World Champion New York Mets" T-Shirt.

Odds & Ends: December 13 Edition

2006-12-13T16:33:00.000-05:00

Ah, finals week. Sure, it brings with it the stress of having to remember 3 months of material for an exam that represents 50% of your grade in a class, but it also brings with it that light at the end of the tunnel, the knowledge that once you hand in that exam paper you are done with that class (and its pompous professor/tedious, difficult homework assignments/excessively air-conditioned meeting place/group project trauma/any other potential cause of annoyance) forever. There are few things that provide a stronger sense of closure than going to the campus bookstore after a final and selling back that textbook you no longer need. Of course, it's not so fun when the cashier informs you that the book you paid $100 for in September isn't being bought back by NYU for some ridiculous reason, but you still find yourself donating the book back to the store just for the joy of getting rid of it.

For some reason, it seems oddly appropriate that I was in that frame of mind when I saw that the Mets had non-tendered Victor Zambrano. A sense of closure has been achieved by cutting ties with one of the more prominent symbols of the old regime's incompetence. It's not entirely fair to judge Zambrano by who Duquette traded to acquire him, but that's exactly what happened during his injury-plagued tenure as a Met.

Other items of note:

If you're interested in going to visit the Hall of Fame, May 21 could be a fun time to do so.
The Braves, who are on a strict budget because of their ownership situation, non-tendered Marcus Giles. Although Giles will probably look to sign with San Diego so he and his older brother can play for the same team, the Mets should at least think about going after him. I'm fine with Valentin at 2nd base for next year, but Giles is younger than the rest of the right-handed 2nd base free-agent crop and could be fairly cheap coming off of a down year.
Looking at this trade, I think the Astros went into a bit of a panic after Andy Pettitte went back to the Yankees. At best, Jason Jennings is a #3 starter - even away from Coors Field, his peripherals aren't really impressive - and he's a free agent after the 2007 season. To get him, the Astros traded Jason Hirsh (who was their top pitching prospect and is capable of contributing to a major league rotation next year), another young pitcher, and Willy Taveras (who is basically the second coming of Juan Pierre in terms of offense, but is a good defensive centerfielder, something that's kind of important in a ballpark where center field is really deep and features a freaking hill). If that's what the Rockies wanted for Jennings, I'm glad the Mets steered clear.
I saw this piece about pink sports apparel on ESPN's website and thought it was dead-on, reminiscent of Mets Grrl's earlier rant on the subject. I have nothing against the color pink - it's actually one of my favorite colors and I own a bunch of pink shirts (including one Mets Spring Training 2006 shirt that I bought as a souvenir, the same way I buy the cheesy T-Shirt with all of the tour dates on the back when I go to a concert). However, rooting for your favorite team means wearing its colors with pride, and the apparel in funky non-team colors just makes the wearer look like they're a fan because it's "trendy" (and I'm not just talking about one gender in particular, or even one particular fashion color. This applies every bit as much to the guys who strut around Manhattan in all sorts of Yankee hats colored to match their outfits a la Turtle on Entourage.)

Apparently, Mediocre Pitchers = The New Tickle Me Elmo

2006-12-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

You may be wondering why it's been a whole week since my last post. Sure, I've had group project drama to deal with and finals to start studying for, but schoolwork alone doesn't entirely count for the delay. A few times this week, I had thought out what I wanted to write about the rumors and deals of the winter meetings, and every time I was about to sit down and start typing - BOOM! Some team would announce their latest ill-advised holiday shopping spree at Pitchers-R-Us. Each time, I found myself horrified, wondering if the GM in question would have been better off just setting that money on fire or using it as toilet paper or something equally wasteful. Eventually, I would get the idea to write about how bad and foolish that contract was and - BOOM! An even worse one would be announced. By the time I had stopped shaking my head over the Cubs giving a 4 year, $40 million deal to Ted Lilly (who has never had a 200-inning season and has issued more than 4 walks per 9 innings in each of the last 3 seasons), I was hit with the news that the Royals, a team with a much smaller budget than the "lovable losers", had signed Gil Meche (who has never had a 200-inning season either) to a 5-year deal worth $55 million (did I mention that Meche has a career ERA of 4.65 despite getting to make half of his starts at one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks in the majors?). I still hadn't come to grips with the insanity of that contract when I heard that the Cubs, realizing it had been a couple of days since they had signed someone to an expensive multi-year deal, gave Jason Marquis a 3-year deal worth at least $20 million. Yes, the same Jason Marquis whose gave up 35 home runs and had an ERA above 6 this year, the same Jason Marquis who has struck out less than 4.5 batters per 9 innings each of the last 2 seasons. Part of me is waiting to wake up from this bizarre nightmare of contracts too bad to be true. The rest of me is wondering which teams will give Steve Trachsel and Jose Lima lucrative multi-year deals.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

With the way money is being thrown around this winter, I can't believe that about a month ago I was uneasy over the $6.5 million El Duque will be getting in 2008 when he's 42. Right now, that looks like a senior citizen discount.
I've already made my feelings on this issue clear, so I won't dwell on it too much now, but I'm not happy that Guillermo Mota was re-signed, and I hate that it gives windbags ammunition to trash the Mets. Of course, now that I've said this, Wallace Matthews will probably go and praise the Mets for giving Mota a second chance.
If you want the chance to boo Jason Kendall because of who he's not, make sure to keep the weekend of June 23 open. Seriously, good luck to Piazza. I'm happy that he signed with a team that's pretty fun to watch and that could really use a bat like his.

They're Going to Disney World

2006-12-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

One of the things I love most about baseball is that it gives my mind something to think about other than the things that it has to think about. Sometimes that means enjoying a baseball book (or three) along with the tropical sun during winter vacation and remembering that I actually enjoy reading when it's not linked to a tedious class for which I have to write papers, other times it means hopping on the train right after work on a warm summer evening to a place where "data entry" means filling out a score card. This weekend, it meant immersing myself in the world of Hot Stove transactions after taking a difficult actuarial exam on Friday and having to do some major editing of a paper that served as a reminder of why I don't like group projects.

The biggest move the Mets have made so far this offseason was announced on Friday, as Tom Glavine was re-signed to a one-year deal with a vesting option for a second year. He's not going back to the Mets' biggest rival, and obtaining another pitcher can now be something that Omar Minaya would like to do under the right circumstances rather than something that absolutely must be done. As much as I get the feeling that Glavine would have preferred to return to Atlanta (and I firmly believe that had John Schuerholz made him any sort of offer including a no-trade clause, he'd be doing the Tommyhawk Chop), I'm glad to have him back and I'm happy that he stuck to his promise that he would make up his mind before the Winter Meetings. In addition, Glavine chose to re-sign before the Mets would have had to make the decision of whether or not to offer him arbitration.

Speaking of arbitration, it was offered to Roberto Hernandez and Guillermo Mota. Hernandez and Chad Bradford were both Type A free agents who have signed with other teams, so the Mets will receive a sandwich pick and a pick from their new teams as compensation (Bradford signed with the Orioles before the arbitration deadline, so the Mets automatically receive the compensation picks for him). Offering Hernandez arbitration was a sensible move - the worst-case scenario would have been the Mets having to give a one-year deal to a reasonably effective reliever, and what actually happened was fairly close to the best-case scenario(which would have been Hernandez signing with a team whose first-round pick was unprotected). I'm less happy that Mota was offered arbitration - I don't want him on the team next year, and if other teams are understandably wary of signing a reliever who will begin the season by serving a 50-game suspension for violating the drug policy, the Mets may be stuck with him. The arbitration offer won't deter other teams as Mota is a Type B (meaning that the team that signs him will not lose a draft pick for doing so), but the Mets would only get one draft pick if he signs elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, the potential reward of a sandwich pick is outweighed by the potential risk of having to sign a known PED user who was ineffective for most of this season and will be ineligible to pitch for nearly one-third of next season.

Thus far, Omar's offseason moves are more about what he hasn't done than what he has done, and I don't mean that negatively. He recognizes that the team already has a strong core in place and doesn't feel the need to throw tons of money at big-name free agents who wouldn't really be filling a need. While GMs all around him are giving ill-advised multi-year deals to middle relievers and players who just had career years, none of the signings or re-signings the Mets have made over the past month are for more than two years. As much as it would have been nice to have Chad Bradford back in the Mets bullpen for 2007, it probably wouldn't be worth ensuring he would be there in 2009 as well. Even though I can't help but see Glavine's decision to return as the equivalent of a high school senior whose reach school misplaced his application picking the safety school that offered him a scholarship, I recognize the value of being able to pencil him in for 200 innings (Glavine pitched 198 innings this season. The only other time he failed to reach 200 in the last decade was 2003) and an ERA below 4.00 (1999 and 2003 were the only seasons out of the past 16 in which he had an ERA above 4) in 2007. Pitchers who can't be counted on to do both of these things (and might be counted on to do neither of them) could wind up getting paid about what Glavine will be paid next year ($10.5 million) and will keep getting that money for the next few years.

Omar still has some work to do, mainly finding a reliever to replace Bradford and seeing if there's a starting pitcher out there worth the asking price (in money, years, and/or the talent that would be given up in a trade). However, the infield and outfield are all set, many of the key relievers from this year's bullpen are returning, and there are plenty of pitchers in the system worthy of battling it out for the back end of the rotation. The biggest news coming out of Orlando this week might be about teams other than the Mets, and I'm fine with that.

Odds & Ends:

Here are a couple of helpful links for keeping track of how upcoming free-agent signings will affect teams in next year's draft. First, a list of Type A and Type B free agents, along with whether or not they were offered arbitration, who they signed with, and what pick (if any) their new team lost as a result. Next, an overview of how the first three rounds (plus the sandwich round) of the 2007 draft will shake out. Even though the Mets will not have a first-round pick next year, they will still have somewhere between 4 (if Mota re-signs and they sign 2 more Type As) and 7 (if Mota goes elsewhere and no more Type As are signed) picks before the end of the 3rd round.
Nice going, Pujols. There are far better arguments for you deserving the MVP over Howard than the one you chose to go with, and you come off like a sore loser (not all that surprising, considering his antics after Game 1 of the NLCS).
It's always great to see that the Braves will continue to stock their bullpen with crap, especially now that they no longer have Leo Mazzone around to work his magic.
The more I think about it, the more I see it as oddly appropriate that Tom Glavine will most likely win his 300th game as a Met even though he spent the bulk of his career as a Brave. Most of the great Mets achieved their milestones elsewhere (Seaver won his 300th game as a member of the White Sox, Piazza hit his 400th home run as a San Diego Padre, seemingly every good Mets pitcher has thrown a no-hitter after leaving the team), so it sort of fits that the Mets get to be the team where someone else's future Hall-of-Famer will get the big shiny round number.

Talking About The Past

2006-11-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

It's not as if it were unexpected. I knew that this was the year that players who retired after the 2001 season would be eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time. Yet when all of the news articles came out earlier this week, listing the candidates, focusing on the 3 big names who are debuting on the ballot, examining the controversy surrounding one of those names, all of a sudden I found myself trying to figure out what I thought about Mark McGwire.

I was 12 years old that summer, already very interested in baseball, reading the sports section of the newspapers every day, crossing my fingers that each trip to the library would result in the discovery of a baseball book I hadn't borrowed yet. I hoped that it would be the year the Mets made the playoffs, after they had been close the year before. Most days, I went to the beach club my family belonged to, and on weekends, when games were of the afternoon variety and the dads in our row of cabanas were off from work, baseball was the topic of conversation. Most of the families in the cabanas near ours were Mets fans as well (there were 1 or 2 families that spent lots of time crowing about some other team they rooted for, but fortunately they lacked strength in numbers), and it was not at all uncommon to see clumps of people gathered around a radio, too superstitious to move during a Mets rally or a John Franco inning, aggravated when those who didn't get it just walked right in front of the radio like nothing important was going on (my mom was one of the worst offenders, but even she started to take an interest in baseball, deciding that Mike Piazza was her favorite player and cheering for "Mikey" whenever he was at bat).

When we weren't talking about the Mets, our attention turned to the exciting home-run race playing out between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Both players just seemed larger-than-life, hitting one mammoth blast after another, with all eyes on them. I rooted for McGwire to break the single-season home-run record, something he had come close to doing the year before even with the distraction of being traded at the deadline. When my uncle took me to a Mets-Cardinals doubleheader at Shea that August, I found myself actually sort of wanting a player on the opposing team to hit a home run (but not if it would tie the game or give the Cardinals the lead, and certainly not if it would have been the first hit of the game - I had already gotten into the habit of viewing every game as the potential First No-Hitter In Mets History until proven otherwise, and nothing, not even the biggest story in baseball, was going to make me root against that). I'm sure I wasn't the only one. As the summer wore on, it became more and more evident that the record would be broken, and the media circus surrounding both of the potential record-breakers intensified. There was a bit of controversy when a reporter noticed a bottle of some sort of supplement in McGwire's locker, but nobody really seemed to care.

It poured on Labor Day that year, yet on the morning of September 7th, most of us made our way to the beach club. Our row's big annual end-of-summer party had taken place that weekend, and there were still plenty of leftovers to eat as the adults began to pack up some of the contents of their cabanas before beach season was over and the club would shut down until the next year. Normally, the kids would play in the sand while the adults did this work, but the weather was so terrible that nobody wanted to go outside of their cabanas. When my dad decided that too many people were getting in his way, I made my way over to the cabana 2 doors down from ours, where the occupants were less concerned with packing than with watching the Cubs-Cardinals game on their little portable TV. After all, McGwire was at 60, and at any moment...

And there it went, #61, tying Maris. I can still remember my initial reaction, a sense of relief that it had come in the 144th game of the season and that there would no longer be an asterisk in the record books next to the first name on the home-run list. The next night Steve Trachsel became a part of history for doing something he's done fairly often throughout the course of his career, and I was transfixed by the celebration of such a special event. #62. I just got the feeling that it would be one of those "where-were-you-when" moments for my generation, and I couldn't wait to see if my classmates in the middle school I was about to start attending felt the same way.

When I look back at it all 8 years later, there's a bit of a rueful laugh over how naive I was back then, how naive baseball fans were as a group. It's hard to reconcile the joy of watching that seemingly magical summer with what is now known about steroid use during that period, with McGwire telling us so much by what he didn't say in front of Congress. There are lots of serious questions raised by Mark McGwire's name on the Hall of Fame ballot - Should he be considered "innocent" because there's no ironclad proof that he used substances that were against the rules? If he did use, should that keep him out? Is there a double standard in keeping steroid users out of the Hall of Fame when some individuals of less-than-stellar character are already in? Is there any sense to the idea of saying a player should be in the Hall of Fame, but not a first-ballot inductee? - but the question that weighs most heavily on my mind is more philosophical in nature. Should I be happy that fans today are more level-headed, more skeptical of jaw-dropping performances, more apt to question what they see when it seems too good to be true, or should I mourn the loss of that innocent optimism that prevailed when I was 12, that feeling of getting caught up in the big exciting thing that was happening without suspecting something fishy? The correct answer seems to be somewhere in the middle, but the Hall of Fame ballot that inspired the question just asks yes or no.

Talking Turkey

2006-11-26T23:54:00.000-05:00

As a turkey cooked in the oven at a family friend's house on Thursday afternoon, those who had gathered to devour the bird enjoyed some appetizers while occasionally paying attention to the football game on TV. One guest mentioned that while he liked football and everything, he didn't miss it in the offseason the way he misses baseball, and that was all it took...

"What's this about the Mets signing Alou? Couldn't they get someone who isn't a million years old?
"Come on, it's good to have veteran guys around for the younger players to learn from, and Alou can still flat-out hit. And he's great against lefties, which is where the Mets really needed help."
"I think this Alou deal and that other guy they got from the Padres are a sign that Milledge is getting traded. Hello, Dontrelle Willis!"
"Are you crazy? The Marlins aren't trading Dontrelle, especially not to a division rival."
"Speaking of the Marlins, Joe Girardi beating Willie for Manager of the Year? What a crock. How can a guy whose team had a losing record be the best manager in the league?"
"I'm telling you, all of the sportswriters from other cities are just biased against New York. That's why Willie didn't get Manager of the Year, and that's why Jeter didn't win MVP. I can't stand the Yankees, but he's a great player and had a hell of a year, but none of those guys in the Midwest are going to vote for someone from a New York team."
"At least Morneau was on a division winner. How can Ryan Howard be the NL MVP when the Phillies didn't even make the playoffs?"

So it went until dinner was ready. I gave thanks that there was plenty of non-turkey food on the table (my parents had ordered a bunch of things from one of the local Italian places, including my favorite veal dish and some stuffed mushrooms) and did some more thinking about the debates over the various baseball awards. I've already talked about the Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, and Rookies of the Year, so in the interest of keeping this shorter than a Harry Potter book I'll stick to the ones I haven't discussed yet.

Manager of the Year: While I'm happy with the way Willie handled the Mets this year, I actually think Girardi was the more deserving candidate. This is not to say that I support the argument that goes "well, the Mets had a high payroll, they're supposed to win the way they did." In fact, I absolutely loathe that piece of intellectual laziness. The Mets had an Opening Day payroll of a little bit more than $100 million. Of the other 15 teams in the National League, 5 (the Dodgers, Cubs, Braves, Astros, and Giants) had Opening Day payrolls greater than $90 million and 2 more (the Phillies and Cardinals) were above $85 million. The Mets won 97 games; no other NL team won more than 88. 3 teams with Opening Day payrolls above $90 million ended the season with losing records, including the Cubs, who spent $94 million and lost 96 games. All of this seems to suggest that money does not guarantee success. Then again, as Mets fans we should already know that, having survived the Mo Vaughn Era.

The way I see it, what made Girardi's performance as manager award-worthy was the lack of major-league experience among the players he was given. The 2006 Marlins may have been a more talented team than some of the small-market teams that spend a few million dollars on mediocre veterans, but much of that talent was still raw and inexperienced and probably could have used more time in the minors to hone its skills. The team was terrible early in the year because they were a bunch of rookies being sent out there to make rookie mistakes against more polished players. Girardi had to do a lot more on-the-job teaching than most major-league managers do, because the majority of players on most major-league rosters have already learned the finer points of high-level baseball. The Marlins had 4 rookies in their starting rotation, rookies at both middle-infield positions, a 1st baseman who had limited major-league experience, and a fling-shit-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks outfield. Girardi was able to help mold this into a competitive major-league team, and played an important role in the development of talented young players who should be solid major-leaguers for years to come. That's impressive for his first year as a major-league manager, and it makes the Marlins look pretty crazy for firing him over some personality clashes with the owner.

With that being said, I'm upset that 5 writers left Willie off the ballot completely (meaning they thought there were at least 3 NL managers who were better than him this year). That's just absurd.

As for the AL, I guess I agree with the selection of Jim Leyland. The Tigers were terrible for most of the final 2 months of the year, but they were probably the best team in baseball for the first two thirds of the season. Meanwhile, the Twins were awful early in the year but great from June onward. I think Leyland gets the edge over Gardenhire because the Twins have been a pretty good team for the past few years while the Tigers had been pretty much awful for over a decade until this year, so it could be argued that Leyland had the tougher job in making his team into a contender. What's interesting to me is that in the AL, the only managers to receive any votes were the managers of the 4 playoff teams, while 4 of the 7 NL managers to get votes (including the winner) managed teams that didn't make the playoffs and a manager whose team did make the playoffs (Tony LaRussa, who is often regarded as a genius by the very group of people who make up the voting body) didn't get a single vote.

Cy Young: In the AL, this wasn't even a race. By just about any statistical measure, Johan Santana was the best pitcher in baseball this year, absolutely deserving of the unanimous first-place finish. Of course, the voters still showed that they can be blinded by wins with the selection of Chien-Ming Wang over Roy Halladay for 2nd place. Halladay pitched more innings than Wang, had an ERA nearly half a run lower and significantly better strikeout and walk numbers - while pitching his home games in a more hitter-friendly ballpark. Shouldn't that mean more than the difference between going 19-6 and going 16-5?

In the NL, things were more interesting. For most of the year, I thought Brandon Webb should win the Cy Young. Being at or near the best in the league in ERA while making half of your starts in one of the most hitter-friendly parks in the majors is pretty damn impressive. Then, Webb had an absolutely terrible start on the very last day of the season and I began to wonder if maybe that was enough to push Roy Oswalt (who was fantastic down the stretch and wound up with the best ERA in the league) ahead of him. While Oswalt deserved to finish higher than 4th, I'm glad that 1 bad outing by Webb wasn't enough to outweigh a season of very good pitching in a particularly difficult environment in the eyes of the voters.

However, I'm appalled by how close those voters came to turning the award into the equivalent of a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for Trevor Hoffman. Sure, it's great that Hoffman broke the all-time saves record this year and led the league in saves for the '06 season, and I can see voters looking towards a reliever when there was no overwhelmingly dominant season by a starter this year. Still, there's no logical sense for Hoffman finishing a close 2nd in the voting while Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito get a grand total of 3 votes between the the 2 of them. Saito and Wagner both pitched more innings than Hoffman and were significantly better at striking batters out (Saito: 12.29 K/9, Wagner 11.7, Hoffman 7.14). Hoffman allowed twice as many homers as Saito in 15 fewer innings of work. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

On a more amusing note, the awards coverage page on MLB.com claims that Webb won Rookie of the Year in 2003. Fact-checkers are your friends, guys.

MVP: Here's where things really get fun (and by fun, I mean absolutely insane). Ryan Howard won the NL MVP despite not even being the best in the league at his position. Albert Pujols had a higher batting average than Howard, a higher on-base percentage, and a higher slugging percentage, and that's with Howard playing in a much more hitter-friendly home park. So Pujols is a better hitter than Howard. Once defense is taken into account, it's really no contest. They played the same position, Pujols was a deserving Gold Glove winner, Howard was pretty much terrible. Of course, Howard had higher home run and RBI totals.

While I don't think that Howard deserved to win the MVP, I think it's ridiculous to say that he didn't deserve it because his team didn't make the playoffs. Howard's team had a better regular-season record than Pujols's team while playing a more difficult schedule. Neither the Phillies winning more games nor the Cardinals getting the October glory change the fact that Albert Pujols was a better player than Ryan Howard this year.

In 3rd and 4th place were Lance Berkman and Carlos Beltran. Berkman had better offensive numbers, but not by a big enough margin to offset the fact that Beltran was a Gold-Glove centerfielder and Berkman was a decent 1st baseman. I think that what the voting came down to was that Berkman was the only big bat on a team that couldn't hit its way out of a paper bag while Beltran was the best player on a team with lots of good players (David Wright and Jose Reyes were both in the top 10 in the MVP voting, and Carlos Delgado got some votes as well). While it's strange to think that a player was hurt in the MVP race by his team being too good, I think that's exactly what happened to Beltran. Excellent hitter despite playing in a pitcher-friendly park, excellent defense at an important position, but writers just couldn't fit him into the "he carried his team" angle that they like the MVP to have.

The NL voting looks sane when compared to how badly the AL voters fucked up. Justin Morneau had a very good year, but he wasn't even the best player on his own team. It's hard to comprehend the extent to which Joe Mauer was robbed. He hit .347/.429/.507 (that's 1st in the majors in batting average, 3rd in the league in on-base percentage) as a catcher (and he's a pretty good defensive catcher). Somehow, this didn't get him any first-place votes or 2nd-place votes and got him left off of 5 ballots out of 28. One of those 5 geniuses, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, found room for A.J. Pierzynski on his ballot at #10, effectively saying that he thought Pierzynski (.295/.333/.436, 10 passed balls, 90 stolen bases allowed) was a better player than Mauer. People like that should not be getting paid to write for publications that people pay to read.

If you're among those who think that pitchers should be considered in the MVP voting, you could make the case that Johan Santana was also lower in the voting than he should have been. I am, and so I will. I understand that some people feel pitchers shouldn't be MVP candidates because they have their own award, but a pitcher can be every bit as valuable to his team as a position player. While a starting pitcher only plays 1 out of every 5 games, he generally faces over 20 batters in each game he starts while a position player bats about 4 times per game (for what it's worth, Santana faced 923 batters this season, while Morneau had 661 plate appearances), so I don't give much weight to the "but he doesn't play every day" argument. Johan Santana was good enough to merit serious MVP consideration this year, and I'm thrilled that one voter, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, gave him a first-place vote (that doesn't excuse Grant for placing Mauer 7th, or putting Frank Thomas ahead of David Ortiz while completely ignoring Travis Hafner, but there were far worse ballots).

As for the idea that Derek Jeter was a victim of anti-New York bias, I'm not buying that. There were exactly 2 ballots out of 28 on which he was ranked lower than 2nd. One of those was Joe Cowley (aka the guy who left Mauer off his ballot entirely in favor of A.J. Pierzynski), the other was a Detroit writer who found room on his ballot for Jason Giambi. Everything that could be said in favor of Jeter could be said in favor of Mauer (who had a higher average, OBP, and slugging percentage than Jeter while playing the one position that's even tougher than shortstop) to an even greater extent.

Conclusions: Sportswriters can be rather dumb, but at least they give us something interesting to talk about during the offseason. Oh, and veal > turkey.

Now That's Just Sick

2006-11-19T22:07:00.000-05:00

My weekend didn't go exactly as planned. Whether the cause was some bad takeout for dinner Thursday night or just one of those bugs that sneaks up on you every so often, I spent most of Friday being sick to my stomach. Fortunately, my parents were around to help me gather some of my belongings, hold the barf bag in front of me on the subway ride home, and generally take care of me, and by Saturday afternoon my mother's refusal to feed me anything other than saltine crackers had me feeling better. Then this morning, I sat down for breakfast, opened up the Daily News, saw this, and felt a bit queasy again.

If this rumored Moises Alou signing turns out to be true, it will be the first move that Omar Minaya has made this offseason that I really don't like. Yes, Alou hit .301/.352/.571 last with 22 home runs and mashes against lefties. However, the Mets already have 2 right-handed hitters competing for a corner outfield spot in Lastings Milledge and Ben Johnson. Alou will be 41 by the All-Star Break, and played in less than 100 games in 2006 due to injuries that sent him to the disabled list twice. While the deal would only be for a year, surely there's a better use for $8 million of the '07 payroll than an old, fragile right-handed outfielder on a team with young, cheap right-handed outfielders. Hopefully the on-field results of the 2007 season will prove me wrong, but this move just seems like an overreaction to the team's struggles against left-handed pitching late in the '06 season.

Of course, the free-agent signing on everybody's mind is the ridiculous deal the Cubs have supposedly made with Alfonso Soriano. 8 years and $135 million for a guy who will be 38 by the end of the contract and who has a career on-base percentage of .325. I had a feeling that some team would overpay Soriano after the season he had, but I never imagined the contract would be this huge. The Cubs have been spending money like crazy so far this offseason, handing out some big long-term deals. Thank you, Cubbies, for getting Soriano out of the NL East, but good luck with that albatross of a contract you gave him. Of course, offering good luck to the Cubs is like giving a bar of soap to Kevin Federline - it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the problem.

Hooray For Schedules!

2006-11-16T23:22:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy week for me. I had a couple of midterms, started working on the summer internship search (also known as "jumping for joy when a company does not require applicants to submit a cover letter), and registered for next semester's classes. Despite my fears based on unpleasant history, I got the most desirable timeslot available for each of the classes I needed to sign up for, and for once I will be reasonably happy with my spring schedule.

It's been a busy week for the Mets as well. In the past 4 days, they've announced the name of their new ballpark, made some important non-blockbuster moves, and announced their schedule for next season. Since the things that bug me the most about it were things that I already knew (the very first game of the season will be in St. Louis so that the Mets can watch Braden Looper get another ring, I'm pretty sure we're the only NL team that will be facing all of the '06 AL playoff teams in interleague play), my first reaction was to look for possible road-trip opportunities. A brief list:

Philadelphia (weekend of June 30): Citizens Bank Park is a beautiful ballpark, and only about a 2-hour drive from my parents' house. After we went to a Phillies-Nationals game back in August, my parents thought it would be awesome to go back there next year when the Mets are there. I'll just have to remind them of that.
Los Angeles (weekend of July 21): Not exactly a "road trip" (more of a "sky trip"), but you get the idea. I could go visit my uncle again, and it would be nice to experience a game at Dodger Stadium when they're not giving away Annoying Plastic Rally Noisemaker Bats.
Chicago (weekend of August 4): I've always wanted to go to Wrigley Field - it's a baseball institution. Now that JetBlue will be starting service from JFK to O'Hare, maybe my parents will finally agree to it.
Washington, DC (weekend of August 18): Of these, it's the least likely to happen. At that time, my parents will be focused on the task immediately ahead of them (moving my brother into his dorm for his freshman year of college) and probably would want to hold off on DC until the Nationals open their new ballpark in '08. I suppose I can always go visit my best friend some time in June when he's working in the area and we can go to a game at RFK against some other team.

Hey, it's a fun thing to think about in November.

Now, on to the transactions. Once Jose Valentin was signed to a $3.8 million dollar deal for 2007 (with a $4.3 million option for 2008 that vests with 400 plate appearances), El Duque was signed to a 2-year deal worth a total of $12 million. While I'm not exactly thrilled that the Mets will be paying a 42-year-old pitcher $6.5 million in 2008, I like both of these deals and what they signify. Neither contract is longer than 2 years, a couple of significant contributors to this year's team will be part of next year's team, and Omar locked in some solid players for decent money in what's shaping up to be a ridiculous free-agent market (Valentin's contract already looks like a bargain now that the Cubs have signed Mark DeRosa, a 31-year-old utility guy who just had his career year, to a 3-year deal worth $13 million, and I have a feeling that we'll see a middle reliever or two get contracts larger than what the Mets gave El Duque, a starting pitcher who struck out nearly a batter an inning this year). Yesterday's move was a trade with San Diego. In exchange for Heath Bell and Royce Ring, the Mets got Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins. Getting a bullpen arm and a young right-handed outfielder who could be very useful to the team next year seems like a decent haul for 2 relievers who clearly weren't part of the Mets' plans. Today, the Mets signed Damion Easley for $850,000. Easley has some pop and is a good utility guy who can play any infield or outfield position. While that sounds eerily like a description of Eli Marrero, I think Easley will be an upgrade over Chris Woodward for only $25,000 more than what the Mets paid Woodward this year. While none of these are huge splashy moves, they're just as important in some ways, perhaps moreso. For a team like the Mets that already has a core of megastar-caliber players, the key thing is to have depth in the supporting cast, and Omar is working on doing that without handing out gobs of money to middling players.

Hopefully I'll find some time tomorrow, in between doing some sample-sale shopping with my mother and going to a Broadway show, to post my thoughts on the awards given out thus far. In the meantime, congratulations to Johan Santana. May he continue his dominance next year, especially against the Braves on June 12, the Brewers on June 17, and the Marlins on June 22 ;-)

(Yes, I picked those dates for a reason, and not just because June 12 is my birthday.)

Groundbreaking Ceremonies and Multi-Million-Dollar Moustaches

2006-11-13T21:15:00.000-05:00

Today featured the high-profile announcement of a deal that will impact the Mets for the next couple of decades, as well as a much quieter announcement of a deal that only affects the upcoming year. As I impatiently waited for the live video stream of the Citi Field groundbreaking ceremony (mlb.com claimed it would start at 11 AM, so the succession of bad speeches by politicians preoccupied with referencing other teams began at least half an hour late), I read that the Mets had re-signed Jose Valentin to a one-year deal for around $3 million. More on that in a bit, but first I'd like to give my thoughts on the groundbreaking.

As I already mentioned, the ceremony featured many New York politicians giving speeches, most of them not very good. Governor Pataki's speech stood out as being particularly awful, as his Yankee fandom reared its ugly head with just about every cliche that left his mouth. Mayor Bloomberg sounded like a politician robot prototype, and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall gets points for enthusiasm but loses points for not being entirely sure what sport she was referring to (go to mets.com, watch the video of the press conference, and hear her almost say "basketball." Funny stuff.) However, there were also some very nice moments, particularly the announcement that the rotunda will be named after Jackie Robinson and will feature a statue of the trailblazing athlete. It's fitting that Robinson will be honored in the portion of the ballpark most clearly modeled after Ebbets Field, and those who wanted the ballpark to be named after him will hopefully be satisfied with this tribute.

I've had high hopes for the new ballpark ever since the plans were unveiled earlier this year. Knowing exactly what its name will be, that the Mets made a lucrative deal with Citigroup for the naming rights just serves to make those hopes slightly more concrete, to remind me that sooner rather than later, that skeleton forming in the parking lot and that patch of dirt that served as a site for a semi-cheesy photo opportunity (the handles for the shovels they used were shaped like baseball bats! How cute is that?) on a gray November afternoon will be the place where I buy my scorecard and snacks, where I cheer for numbers 5, 7, 15 and their supporting cast, where new memories will be added to the ones that were acquired at the old cookie-cutter where I learned to expect the seemingly impossible.

Now that the run-on sentence portion of the evening has hopefully concluded, I'd like to return to the Valentin re-signing. I'm very happy with it. Valentin played absolutely phenomenal defense at second base this year and was a good power threat at the bottom of the order. While there are some concerns due to his age and the lengthy slump he had late in the season, I'd rather bring Valentin back for another year than sign, say, Mark Loretta. Loretta isn't that much younger than Valentin, was nowhere near as good defensively last year, also struggled at the plate late in the season (.204/.279/.245 in September), and hit poorly away from Fenway Park all year (.261/.313/.309).

Ideally, there will be a right-handed utility guy capable of playing 2nd base on next year's roster. Valentin needs some days off to keep him from wearing down late in the year, and it's best for everyone if those days coincide with the Mets facing left-handed starting pitchers. While Valentin is technically a switch-hitter, he has never been a good hitter from the right side. Perhaps Anderson Hernandez is the answer - in his minor league career, the switch-hitting infielder has been a poor hitter from the left side of the plate but a decent one from the right side. Platooning a pair of switch-hitters seems like a strange idea, but hey, if I told you 6 months ago that Jose Valentin (who at that point was basically a pinch-"automatic out") would become the starting second baseman and hit his 16th and 17th home runs of the season the night the Mets clinched the division, you would have thought that was pretty strange, too. (Looking back at the boxscores, I see that May 13 was the day of the game in Milwaukee where Valentin's season began to turn around and the transformation into a key player on the '06 Mets began. Ahh, memories.)

In other news, the Rookie of the Year Awards were announced today. In the NL, Hanley Ramirez (aka the poor man's Jose Reyes) narrowly beat Ryan Zimmerman (aka the poor man's David Wright) despite having to compete with a bunch of his own teammates for votes. I think it was the right call - Ramirez had a higher batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage than Zimmerman while playing a more difficult position in the field. Over in the AL, I'm surprised that Justin Verlander won by such a huge margin. Verlander did have a very good year and stayed healthy through the entire season, but Francisco Liriano was just so ridiculously dominant in his time in the Twins' rotation, striking out 20 more batters than Verlander in 65 fewer innings of work. I expected the vote to be much closer than it was. I'm also baffled that somebody gave Nick Markakis a first-place vote - with the plethora of phenomenal rookie pitchers in the AL this year, a corner outfielder who was decent but unspectacular offensively (.291/.351/.448) probably doesn't even belong on the ballot. Finally, there is another item to be added to the "geez, the Cubs never learn, do they?" files. Apparently, the contract they just signed with Aramis Ramirez to replace the one he opted out of contains, you guessed it, an opt-out clause. What a joke.

Odds & Ends: Mid-November Edition

2006-11-12T22:37:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting much lately, but it's not because of a lack of things to write about. I've just been really busy with school. The 2nd wave of midterms hits over the next couple of days, and I register for next semester's classes on Tuesday, so I've been spending lots of time this week either studying or trying to work out a schedule that won't be a huge letdown (for some reason, I'm always able to work out a great schedule for the fall semester but wind up with a less-than-desirable one for the spring). I'm about to pop in the DVD of Game 6 of the '86 NLCS, but in the meantime, here are some of the more interesting events of the past week:

How Do You Say "Walk-Off" in Japanese? Apparently, the proper term is "sayonara," with a dash of the "Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose" chant for added excitement. The MLB team swept the 5-game exhibition series it played against the Japanese all-stars, with Jose Reyes ending the final game with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 10th. David Wright had a good series, hitting 2 home runs and hitting .353 with a 1.154 OPS. John Maine, on the other hand, walked 4 batters in his 2 2/3 innings of work.
Options and Opt-Outs: The Yankees picked up their 2007 options on players who weren't in their '07 plans and traded them for some young arms, a move that makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If a team is going to have to pay a certain sum of money to buy out the option on a player they intend to let go, might as well pick up the option and get someone in return, while controlling where that player goes (because we all know that if Gary Sheffield had his way, he probably would have signed with an AL East team so he could make the Yankees suffer 19 times next year for whatever perceived slights he felt and provide lots of snappy quotes on those occasions). Sheffield will provide a much-needed dose of plate discipline to the Detroit lineup while playing for a manager he actually gets along with, and Jaret Wright might make it through the 6th inning now that he'll be reunited with Leo Mazzone, his pitching coach during his career year. Meanwhile, J.D. Drew and Aramis Ramirez took advantage of clauses in their contracts that allowed them to opt out and seek new deals. It appears that Drew won't be returning to the Dodgers, hoping to convert his recent good health into a more lucrative deal than the 3 years and $33 million remaining on his contract with Los Angeles. Ramirez, on the other hand, will remain a Cub, basically replacing the remainder of his existing contract with one that is 3 years longer with an average annual salary a few million dollars higher. I don't see why a team would offer a player a contract that allows him to opt out after a couple of years - with the way player salaries keep rising, chances are he'll opt out and get more money.
Sales Pitch: While nothing is official yet, Buster Olney's sources say that the Red Sox won the bidding for Daisuke Matsuzaka, paying around $40 million for the right to negotiate with the Japanese ace. While I was hoping that the Mets might win the Matsuzaka sweepstakes, I would not have wanted them to pay that much just for the negotiation rights. Meanwhile, Tom Glavine has declined his option and filed for free agency, telling the Mets that he will let them know whether he wants to return before the winter meetings. Glavine is still considering the possibility of returning to Atlanta, where he spent the majority of his career and where his family still resides. I think he'll be back with the Mets next year, as Atlanta doesn't really have room for him in their rotation or their budget.
Silver & Gold: A week after Carlos Beltran received his first career Gold Glove, he and Reyes each won their first Silver Slugger awards. While there were some head-scratching choices (Joe Crede for AL 3B?), Reyes and Beltran were among the clearly deserving, leading the NL in VORP at their respective positions. Congratulations to them for the achievements that earned them those awards and congratulations to the coaches and managers who voted for not fucking these up as badly as they did the Gold Gloves (seriously, Omar Vizquel over Adam Everett? Brad Ausmus? Derek Jeter?)
Manny-ger Acta: It looks like the Mets will be needing a new third-base coach next season. Congratulations to Manny Acta for being selected to manage the Washington Nationals. It's weird to realize that he's younger than some of the players on the 2006 Mets.
Citi of the Future: News that broke first in the blogosphere before being picked up by the mainstream media brings us the knowledge that the Mets will be receiving lots and lots of money in exchange for naming the new ballpark CitiField, with an official announcement expected during the ceremonial groundbreaking tomorrow morning. I'm not against the concept of selling naming rights - even in ye olden golden days, ballparks were named after team owners and outfield walls were plastered with advertisements - but I'm not entirely happy with this name, perhaps because it sounds somewhat similar to the name of the new ballpark in Philadelphia. Still, as long as our new park contains a winning team, comfortable seats with good views, and those Mama's of Corona sandwiches, it doesn't really matter that much to me what the place is called.

I hope everyone out there is having a good off-season so far. Oh, and if you're walking through the East Village at 3:30 PM on Tuesday and happen to hear an anguished scream followed by a series of obscenities, do not be alarmed - it's probably just me discovering that I'll have to take an 8 AM class next semester because the section I wanted is already full.

A Watched Hot Stove Never Boils

2006-11-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

After a weekend back home that featured minimal Internet use, copious consumption of Italian food, a haircut, an unwanted shoe-shopping trip, and watching my favorite Tuesday-night TV shows on a Saturday afternoon, I returned to my dorm and my laptop with...well, not much baseball news to discuss. The major offseason transactions have yet to take place, the exhibition series in Japan isn't getting that much attention (perhaps because the only way to watch the games is to pay 15 bucks for MLB.TV's offseason package), and so things like Carlos Delgado not exercising the trade demand he's technically entitled to or the tone being set for coverage of Pedro Martinez's rehab efforts become a Really Big Deal. More substantial news will come soon when the winner of the Daisuke Matsuzaka bidding war is announced, but until then it's all about asking yourself various questions and waiting to see how the actual answers match up with your own. How should the Mets approach the starting rotation, 2nd base, and outfield situations? Will Aaron Heilman be a starter or a reliever in 2007, and what team will he be pitching for? If Manny Acta is hired by another team to be their manager, how will the Mets alter their coaching staff? Will there be any new items at the Shea Stadium concession stands worth getting next year?

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Congratulations to Carlos Beltran on winning his first career Gold Glove. While some of the selections do not reflect well on the judgment of the MLB managers and coaches charged with voting for the awards (Yes, Omar Vizquel is a gazillion-time winner and that clearly counts for something in the eyes of voters, but Adam Everett was the best defensive shortstop in the NL this year. Meanwhile, Everett's teammate Brad Ausmus won his 3rd Gold Glove at catcher despite being just 17-for-77 in throwing out runners. Don't even get me started on some of the AL selections...), Beltran's defense in center field was excellent this year and a big part of the Mets' success. Any time a ball was hit anywhere near him or Endy Chavez, I just had this incredibly comfortable feeling of knowing it would be caught.
I'm happy to see that the Mets taking part in the Japan series (David Wright, Jose Reyes, and John Maine) are playing well and having fun. How can you not love Reyes teasing Wright about coming all the way to Japan to eat pizza, or Maine dressing up like a samurai?
Tomorrow is Election Day. While I have my own fairly strong set of political opinions/beliefs/etc., I'm not posting this to endorse Candidate X or Ballot Proposal Y. I just want to remind everyone out there with the ability to vote to do so. It doesn't take much time, and it's your chance to contribute to the election of lawmakers who share your views (if your guys win) or to earn the right to say "don't blame me, I voted for______" (if your guys don't win).

Because Public Service Announcements Are Such Great Parody Targets

2006-11-01T23:49:00.000-05:00

[Scene: The pivotal 7th inning of Game 2 of the 2006 NLCS, in excruciating slow-mo. We see Guillermo Mota fooling Scott Spiezio with changeups, Spiezio crushing a fastball foul, Paul LoDuca calling for another changeup, Mota shaking him off.]

Voiceover: You've heard by now about the terrible things steroids can do to the body. What you may not be aware of are the effects they can have on the mind. Steroid use can cause people to do stupid things and make terrible decisions. Mets fans learned this when Guillermo Mota shook off his catcher during a playoff game and chose to throw a fastball right down Broadway to Scott Spiezio. Don't let their suffering be in vain. Stay smart-stay away from steroids.

[The screen fades to black as Spiezio connects with the 0-2 meatball.]

Happy Candy Day!

2006-10-31T23:14:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone out there enjoyed Halloween. Whether or not you dressed up for it (I took advantage of the warm weather that enabled me to wear my mermaid costume, only to feel incredibly self-conscious because almost nobody else in my classes dressed up and uncomfortable because the costume was itchy and it's difficult to take notes while wearing fins), whether you went to a party or went trick-or-treating or spent hours answering your doorbell for traveling packs of elementary-school kids dressed up like the latest trendy cartoon character, it's easy to like a holiday that's based around candy.

The more I think about it, the more I realize how appropriate it is that the hot stove season begins right around Halloween. Each day brings news of more players filing for free agency, adding to the pile of candy that teams can pick from. As fans, we ingest the often-outlandish rumors of this contract negotiation or that trade proposal, sometimes with excitement resembling a sugar rush, sometimes with a stomachache. Sometimes the feeling of nabbing the piece of candy someone else was looking at is better than the candy itself turns out to be, and of course no amount of the sugary stuff can substitute for a meal.

What am I trying to say? Enjoy the excitement of the offseason wheeling and dealing for what it is, but just remember that things will get ridiculous at times and that the deals are just a prelude to the really good stuff. Oh, and if you have a sweet tooth, stocking up on candy tomorrow isn't such a bad idea (this also applies to February 15, when the chocolates in the pink heart-shaped boxes are suddenly 50% off).

Well, At Least I Predicted It Would Go 5 Games

2006-10-28T14:38:00.000-04:00

I'll admit it - I was wrong on just about every prediction I made about the World Series other than the Cardinals having the advantage when Chris Carpenter started. I'm sure I'm far from the only one - a week ago, did anyone really think that the Tigers would have twice as many errors (8) as home runs (4)? It seemed as though almost every Tiger I mentioned as someone to watch in my World Series preview found his own special way to flounder over the past 5 games. Let's recap:

Joel Zumaya: In Game 3, the flamethrowing rookie walked the two batters ahead of Albert Pujols, then threw wildly in an ill-advised attempt to get the lead runner on a Pujols comebacker. He took the loss in Game 4, allowing the decisive run to get into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Justin Verlander: Verlander struggled quite a bit with his command and gave up 10 runs in 11 innings of work. Keep in mind that his own throwing errors contributed greatly to the scoring of those 3 unearned runs.
Jeremy Bonderman: Bonderman actually pitched fairly well and left Game 4 in line for the win, only to see the bullpen blow it. 11 groundball outs in 5 1/3 innings is pretty awesome.
Curtis Granderson: While his tumble on the wet grass in Game 4 will be the enduring image of Granderson's World Series experience, going .095/.136/.143 from the leadoff slot probably hurt the Tigers more than that one misplay did.
Brandon Inge: Inge hit quite well (.353/.389/.471), but between committing 3 errors (including 2 on the same play), not being particularly close when diving for his pitchers' errant throws, making a significant baserunning mistake in Game 5, and striking out to end the Series, nobody will notice.
Carlos Guillen: .353/.450/.529. Along with Inge and Sean Casey, just about the only Tiger bat that was alive during the Series.
Pudge Rodriguez: .158/.158/.211, and while it's not entirely his fault that the Detroit pitching staff had 5 wild pitches in the series, I don't think the pitchers are entirely to blame either.

Moral of the story: Perhaps I should stick to analyzing the games after they happen rather than trying to predict what will happen. (Alternate moral of the story: The Detroit pitching staff should have done some more fielding practice during that week off.)

Observations/Odds & Ends:

This guy predicts the Mets will beat the Twins in 7 next year (a prediction I would have made for this year circa October 1st). However, he also thinks Dusty Baker would be the perfect manager to handle the San Diego pitching staff. Yikes. Speaking of San Diego, I get the feeling that there must be something to the Bruce Bochy situation we're not hearing if they were willing to let him go manage a division rival.
Top prospects Mike Pelfrey and Fernando Martinez took part in the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars Showcase last night. Pelfrey's work in the first inning reminded me of something that crossed my mind a while back, and Martinez had an RBI single in his only at-bat.
David Wright, Jose Reyes, and John Maine will be part of a team of MLB stars who will travel to Japan next week for an exhibition series against the top Japanese players. Manny Acta and Julio Franco are part of the coaching staff.
Shortly before the playoffs started, I ordered this T-Shirt from mlb.com after looking for it in various sporting-goods stores without success. The shirt was not shipped until October 19 (more than 2 weeks after I ordered it), and it arrived at my dorm a week after that. They gave me a discount on my next order to apologize for the delay. Hopefully whatever I order will get here in time for Opening Day :-P
Speaking of the mlb.com shop, right now there's a glitch on the Mets page that's taunting me with an ugly hat I'll never have the chance to actually purchase. I'd post a screenshot, but it's too painful.
The quote of the week is courtesy of my mother, never one to mince words about the fashion miscues of others, reacting to the hideous purple coat Jeanne Zelasko wore during Game 4. "Did she mug a pimp on the way to the ballpark or something?"

Back to the Drawing/Dry-Erase Board

2006-10-25T23:38:00.000-04:00

As I took a seat in my Theory of Probability class this evening, I couldn't help but wonder if I would be able to make it through the whole thing. You see, because the class only meets once a week, it is 3 hours long, running from 6 PM to 9 PM with a 10-15 minute break about halfway through. The class did not begin meeting until 2 weeks after the start of the school year, its first session on September 20. Although the Mets had already clinched the division, I still didn't like being unable to listen to the early innings of that night's game while I was in class. While I tried my best to pay attention to both the words spoken by the professor as he scribbled equations on the dry-erase boards and the scoreboard I kept refreshing on my cell phone, it was no substitute for my usual evening ritual of curling up in my beloved, technically contraband, desk chair (maybe I'd follow the rule against bringing in my own dorm furniture if NYU provided non-crappy chairs) and turning on the radio to hear what I was seeing on Gameday. The same routine of scoreboard-watching took place the following week, a game that was so painfully bad by the time I got back to my dorm that I couldn't bear to listen.

When the first Wednesday in October came around, it was Game 1 of the NLDS. Thanks to my uncle, I had a ticket to the game, but even if that weren't the case, there was no way I would have gone to class that evening, not with a game that important to watch. It's not like I would have been able to pay attention to the lecture, anyway. My mother was upset that I was skipping 2 classes to go to a baseball game (my Linear Algebra class meets twice a week from 2 PM to 4 PM), but she was just going to have to deal with it. Game 1 of the NLCS was supposed to take place the following Wednesday, but by the time I returned to my dorm after slipping out of class during the break, it had been postponed amidst a steady rain and a tragic accident. I left class early again last Wednesday because missing even a moment of Game 6 just wasn't an option.

I was hoping to have a reason to leave class early again this evening, a World Series Game 4 to watch from either the comfort of my dorm or the electric chill of a packed Shea Stadium. Alas, it was not to be. So it was that I found myself getting out of my seat during the break tonight, only to stretch my legs a bit before sitting back down because there was no reason for me not to stay this time. I forced myself to take notes (something I usually don't do in any class because with my terrible handwriting the notes are close to useless), to pay attention in an attempt to make up for everything I had missed over the previous 3 weeks when I had something better to pay attention to. Perhaps something I learned in class tonight will help me get a good grade that will lead to a well-paying job once I graduate, enabling me to shell out the cash for season tickets to watch as the new ballpark acquires decorations in the form of championship banners. Still, I'd rather have had a reason not to be there to learn it.

Odds & Ends:

Congratulations to Carlos Delgado, winner of this year's Roberto Clemente Award.
Here's a good look at the reasons Tom Glavine most likely will not be going back to Atlanta.
Meanwhile, it's sounding as though 3rd-base coach Manny Acta might be managing the Nationals next year.
A new collective bargaining agreement, reached without public dispute? Definitely worthy of applause.

Dirty Hand Meets Hot Stove

2006-10-24T11:22:00.000-04:00

I spent the weekend, the first in a long time with no Mets games to look forward to, finding ways to avoid doing my homework, enjoying some good Chinese food of both the cheap and not-so-cheap varieties, and watching the first 2 games of the World Series. Some of what I predicted is already making me look foolish (the Cardinals have won a game not started by Chris Carpenter, taking advantage of a poor outing by Justin Verlander. Oh, and Brandon Inge, he of the fantastic defense I touted, made 2 errors on the same play in Game 1.) Meanwhile, another prediction is looking pretty good as the whole Todd-Jones-as-closer thing has already come quite close to biting the Tigers in the tail. There have already been plenty of moves to second-guess on both sides. Both managers have run through most of their effective relievers in games that had already been lost. Leyland let Verlander pitch to Pujols in Game 1 with disastrous results. LaRussa, despite having better pinch-hitting options available on the bench, let Yadier Molina bat for himself with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 9th inning, down by 2 runs.

Of course, that's not what anybody is talking about. The big story is that at the beginning of Game 2, Kenny Rogers had some sort of brownish substance on his hand, a substance that he was asked to wash off after the 1st inning. Could he have been trying to cheat, putting something on the ball to affect its movement? Sure (and hey, it would explain how he suddenly turned into a lights-out postseason pitcher). Was he cheating? Probably not (and against a team that can't hit lefties, he didn't need to). There's nothing that indicates that whatever was on his hand was pine tar or something else used to doctor the ball, and he allowed 1 hit in the 7 innings he pitched after washing it off.

Tonight's game should be a fairly low-scoring one. Carpenter is lights-out at home, and Robertson pitches with the hand that gives the Cardinals lots of trouble. Of course, now that I said that the score will probably be 10-8 Tigers with Todd Jones striking out the side in the bottom of the 9th :-P

In other news, the Phillies have made a decision even more bizarre than hiring Art Howe as their 3rd base coach. They signed Jamie Moyer to a 2-year extension. Hmm, left-handed flyball pitcher + Citizens Bank Park = free gifts for fans sitting in that short left-field porch.

Meanwhile, our Mets are getting ready for next year. Minor tune-ups after the wear and tear of the season, top prospects honing their skills in winter ball, Willie responding quite well to the second-guessing (excellent points about why he chose not to bunt in the 9th even though it would have been an "easy call," although I have to disagree with his argument that Cliff Floyd doesn't hit into double plays. While Cliff rarely hit into double plays during the season, his Achilles problems and his ground-ball tendencies late in the season made that a bigger risk than his full-season stats would suggest). Things will get more interesting in the next few weeks as the free-agent signings and blockbuster trades begin to happen. Until then, well, we still have at least 3 more games to watch, opportunities for a repeat of the embarrassing technical mishaps that delayed the singing of the car commercial song before Game 2 to look forward to.

To Watch Or Not To Watch: Important World Series Questions

2006-10-20T22:57:00.000-04:00

While the season is sadly over for the Mets, there are still at least 4 (and possibly as many as 7) baseball games left to be played, a World Series between 2 teams that each lost about 60% of their final 50 regular-season games (the Tigers and Cardinals of 2006 are #1 and #2 all time in worst record over that span by a team that went on to the World Series). One of those teams, the one that just finished stomping on our hearts and spitting in our faces, had only the 5th-best record in its league this year (not that I wanted them to be there, but there's something that just seems wrong with a system in which the Phillies had a better record than their league's eventual World Series representative and didn't make the playoffs). In fact, the only team ever to make it to the World Series with a worse record than the Cardinals was...the 1973 Mets.

So, why should I watch the World Series?

Well, aside from the fact that there isn't really anything good on TV that you'll miss (remember, it's on FOX, so no new episodes of House until the Series is over), there are a couple of reasons to watch. The first is that it's baseball, and once it's over there won't be any of that on TV until next spring. The long, cold winter with no ballgames to look forward to is excruciating enough without starting it a week early.

The second is that there are some pretty damn good players to watch. I'm sure you're as sick of the Cardinals as I am and as unnerved by the transformation of Kenny Rogers into a postseason hero as anyone who lived through 1999 would have the right to be. However, there are some Tigers worth tuning in for. Rookie setup man Joel Zumaya's fastball routinely reaches speeds in the triple digits, and he's just a ridiculously fun pitcher to watch. Game 1 starter Justin Verlander has incredible stuff (the occasional 100-MPH fastball and a flat-out nasty curveball) and had a tremendous rookie season in what was a great year for young pitching. Game 4 starter Jeremy Bonderman is only a few months older than Verlander but has already pitched 4 full seasons in the majors. He's a groundball pitcher who struck out 202 batters in 214 innings this year while walking just 64, and I'm hoping that he pitches a gem on the big stage that will earn him the sort of recognition that matches his talent. Among position players, Curtis Granderson has great speed and is an outstanding defensive centerfielder, Brandon Inge is the rare player who is both scrappy and good (insanely awesome defense at 3rd base, not to mention 27 home runs despite playing at Comerica Park), and all Carlos Guillen did was hit .320/.400/.519 at shortstop. Let's not forget Pudge Rodriguez, a great catcher who wears his emotions on his sleeve (I like that, but I know others feel differently).

Finally, the colossal stupidity of the Fox announcing team will, as usual, be entertaining in a trainwreck sort of way.

Who the fuck am I supposed to root for?

I'm a bit torn on this one. I dislike the DH rule on principle (if you can't find a position for someone to play, you're just going to have to deal with the fact that he can only come to the plate once per game. Sorry.), and the prospect of a winter of media types crowing that the American League is vastly superior to the National League (and on some level, belittling what the Mets accomplished this year because of the supposed quality or lack thereof of their competition) makes me nauseous. On the other hand, I often find myself pulling for the individual AL team in the Series because the NL representative did something to the Mets that I didn't like (with most NL teams, you can find something if you dig deep enough), and what's not to dislike about the Cardinals after they beat the Mets in the NLCS and, led by a former Met who caused significant damage to any playoff hopes while with the team last year, mocked the "Jose Jose Jose Jose" chant during their post-game celebration? I guess that if forced to pick a team, I want the Tigers to win, but I don't want them to win easily. I want the Cardinals to get their feathers torn out, but I don't want to see a sweep that will prompt more knee-jerk slobbering over AL dominance. Most of all, I want to see Braden Looper get lit up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

What will happen?

If I had to make a prediction, I'd say Tigers in 5. Detroit has 4 solid starters (2 of whom are left-handed and who will be facing a team that does poorly against lefties), while St. Louis has Chris Carpenter and a trio of mediocre question marks. The only pitching matchup that doesn't seem to favor the Tigers is Game 3, when Carpenter faces Nate Robertson. Of course, anything can happen in a short series, and if the trend of Albert's supporting cast members making their opponent's bullpen look bad continues (a strong possibility, considering that a team with Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney has Todd Jones working the 9th inning), who knows what the result could be?

Requiem for a Season

2006-10-20T00:03:00.000-04:00

It wasn't supposed to end like this, with the team celebrating on the field at Shea clad in road grays.

If it's possible, I feel worse right now than I did back in 1999, back when Kenny Rogers and October were like matches and gasoline. '99 was the first time the Mets were in the playoffs when I was old enough to know what was going on, and in the way that only a naive 13-year-old can, I thought that the fact that it was 30 years since the Miracle Mets of 1969 would be the momentum that pushed that set of underdogs over the top. When Andruw Jones took ball 4 to send the Atlanta Braves to what would be their last World Series appearance during their run of consecutive division titles, I felt as though I had just been told that [insert Jewish equivalent of being told that Santa Claus isn't real here]. Yet as much as I hated to admit it, in the end I knew that the Braves had been the better team that year.

7 years later, I'm a bit more jaded, having seen seasons that fell just short, seasons that fell on their faces, and decisions by Steve Phillips that make his current work at ESPN seem brilliant by comparison. Yet from the time I saw a game early in spring training, I had a feeling that this year would be different, that this team would dominate like the one 20 years before it did. This feeling was set in stone the first week of the season, my first of many trips to Shea for the year. A college student in the city, no longer at the mercy of my overprotective parents, I went to more games this season than in any previous one, watched as the Mets generally steamrollered over any opponent they faced. Along the way, I found myself commenting on blogs about the team, eventually starting one of my own to share my thoughts about something that meant so much to me.

I'm in a lot of pain right now, thinking of moments from this series that could have turned out differently, momentum shifts from chances not capitalized on, all of the struggles with putting up a 0 after scoring and putting away Cardinals on 2-strike counts that contributed to the better team being vanquished on its own field. That's what kills me about this series - we had the better team, and that wasn't enough. On some level, nothing is going to take away the pain of knowing that, not the fact that the boys in orange & blue made it further than the 2 teams I hate, not the knowledge that anything can happen in a short series.

Yet amidst the pain, there is hope and pride. As disappointed as I am with the outcome of the game, I cannot and will not let myself forget the huge performance by Oliver Perez, who came in with the worst regular-season record and ERA of any postseason starting pitcher and came out looking like the reason the Xavier Nady deal may go down as one of the biggest heists in recent memory. I don't think anyone who saw what Endy Chavez did in the top of the 6th will ever let what was quite possibly one of the greatest defensive plays in postseason history slip out of their memory. I will remember that even after the crushing blow in the top of the 9th, my team did not go down without a fight in the bottom half, going so far as to load the bases with the potential tying and winning runs.

This year didn't quite turn out the way I hoped it would, but there are still plenty of moments from it to cherish as I look forward to the off-season moves of a general manager who has shown that he knows what he's doing, to pitchers and catchers reporting, to Opening Day. I'm glad I started this blog, and I'm happy to have such a great group of commenters. After years of having to churn out papers for classes, rarely being satisfied with my work, I had almost forgotten that I actually liked to write when I wasn't being graded on it. Keeping this blog has helped me rediscover that joy, and for that I am grateful. I will still be posting throughout the offseason, and I hope that all of you keep reading.

Finally, I'd like to be the first person to congratulate the 2007 World Champion New York Mets.

7 Up

2006-10-19T10:06:00.000-04:00

As much as I'd like to claim that I'm not nervous, that tense feeling I've had in my stomach for the past couple of weeks would suggest otherwise. Yet, for large portions of last night's game, that feeling went away, replaced by the adrenaline rush that accompanied the knowledge that the Mets were going to takes this series to a Game 7. From the pitch Reyes sent over the wall to lead off (along with the message it sent to the Cardinals), to the standing ovation John Maine earned from the crowd by outdueling the reigning Cy Young winner with the season on the line, to the greetings Braden Looper received from the fans whose hearts he used to break and from the hitters who have given those fans plenty to cheer about this year, to that nerve-wracking 27th out, Game 6 was both October baseball at its tightly-woven best and a display of so many things we've come to expect from Mets baseball, circa 2006.

Scoring (in the) First: The Mets scored 131 first-inning runs during the 2006 regular season, behind only the Cleveland Indians with 133 for the major-league lead (and unlike Cleveland, they didn't give too many of those back in the late innings). Jose Reyes continued that trend with his leadoff home run last night, and the Mets never looked back from the lead they would maintain for the entire game.
Taking Advantage of the Other Team's Mistakes: Tony LaRussa made a big mistake by sending Braden Looper out to pitch the 7th, and not just because Looper is a former Met who was going to get a vicious reaction from the Shea faithful. Scheduled to bat that inning were a switch-hitter who is far better from the left side, a lefty, and then a pinch-hitter. This year, lefties had a higher OBP against Looper than righties did by a margin of 75 points and a higher slugging percentage by nearly 50 points. The Cardinals have 2 left-handed relievers who were well-rested (one didn't pitch in Game 5, the other threw just 3 pitches in that game), and yet Looper was sent out to face the lefties. While he retired the first 2 batters, he allowed a 2-out single to (left-handed) pinch-hitter Michael Tucker, setting the stage for another mistake for the Mets to take advantage of. On the 2-2 pitch to Reyes, Tucker was running. The Cardinals pitched out. Yadier Molina has a cannon of an arm, but on this occasion it misfired, sending the ball into center field with Tucker safe at 2nd base. Reyes then delivered an infield hit and stole 2nd when nobody was covering the bag (another mistake taken advantage of), and Paul LoDuca followed by singling in 2 insurance runs that would prove to be crucial.
The Bullpen We Know and Love (Even When it Gives Us Indigestion): Bradford and Mota each induced a key double play, Heilman was nasty in the 8th, and then Billy Wagner came in to make things interesting. As mentioned before, those 2 insurance runs scored in the 7th wound up being very important, as Wagner gave up 2 runs on 3 hits before finally slamming the door.
Decisions That Make Jessica Go "WTF?": Valentin bunting? Bringing in Mota to face Duncan? We won, so the fact that one of these moves made me gnash my teeth and the other made me hold my breath doesn't really matter all that much right now. Instead, I can gleefully review the moves that blew up in the other team's face.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Luis Gonzalez "accomplished" the rare feat of sticking out as the stupid one in a booth with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Last time I checked, Gonzo, you don't think about turning a double play when there are already 2 outs in the inning.
Then again, maybe I shouldn't be too harsh on Luis. After all, LaRussa lost track of the count during an at-bat and tried to get his team a 3-ball walk. Almost as funny as the time Jimmy Rollins trotted down to 1st on ball 3, was called back to the plate amidst much sarcastic chanting, and proceeded to strike out.
Ronnie Belliard must pay for planting his fat ass on top of Reyes.

Tonight. Game 7. Oliver & Company vs. Soup that gets rather cold away from home. It's all down to this, and I can't wait. Now if only I could fast-forward through the midterm I have this afternoon...

50, 2, 1, 2

2006-10-18T00:06:00.000-04:00

See those numbers up there? Wondering what they represent?

50 - the number of games the Mets won at Shea during the 2006 regular season
2 - the number of games the Mets won at Shea against the Dodgers in the NLDS
1 - the number of games the Mets have won at Shea so far during the NLCS
2 - the number of games the Mets need to win at Shea over the remainder of the NLCS

There's no longer any margin for error after the loss tonight, a heaping helping of poor situational hitting, ridiculously inconsistent umpiring, and Glavine's unfortunate return to mid-season form when handed a lead. The Mets have their backs against the wall, but anyone writing them off does so at their own peril. Yes, the Cardinals have their ace going in Game 6, but we've already seen that he's not invincible. Yes, their Game 7 starter whooped ass on both sides of the ball a few nights ago, but he's not the same pitcher on the road. Now is the time for a couple of our pitchers to join the pantheon of unlikely October heroes, for the bats to get it together again, for the crowds at Shea to really have something to cheer about and a new set of overpriced hats and shirts to buy.

A must-win Game 6 at Shea. Sometimes lightning does strike twice.

(Apologies for the short post - I have a midterm tomorrow afternoon and a homework assignment due tomorrow night in a class I'll have to leave early in order to watch the game)

A Little Boredom Can Be A Dangerous Thing (Or, Fun With Annoying Plastic Rally Noisemaker Bats)

2006-10-16T23:36:00.000-04:00

Well, the weather in St. Louis was bad enough that Game 5 was pushed back until tomorrow night, the 2nd time that rain has altered the schedule of the 2006 NLCS. The only major baseball events of the day were hirings and firings of managers and coaches. There was nothing on TV, I had already finished reading the books acquired in my most recent Barnes & Noble binge, and doing something productive, like studying for one of the midterms I have this week, just didn't seem appealing. What was a girl to do?

How about utilizing (or attempting to utilize) the timer feature on her digital camera and acting in a completely goofy fashion?

If you read through my lengthy recap of my trip to LA for Game 3 of the NLDS, you may recall references to a certain Dodger Stadium promotional item that I strongly disliked. Through the "magic" of an overactive imagination, ability to get a few usable pictures in more than a few tries, and tendency to accumulate stuffed toys, I shall now get my revenge for the pain those bats brought to my eardrums...

First, I attempted to be "cool" and break the bat over my leg after swinging it. Of course, I forgot that perhaps that requires more strength than I'm capable of. (How I survived, let alone passed, a semester of weight-training gym class in high school is one of life's great mysteries.)

Next, I enlisted the help of my Mr. Met stuffed toy to stomp on the bat. Unfortunately, this is the 2006 postseason, and he went and tore a calf muscle just because that's what everyone else is doing.

After a brief service delay, the 7 Train Bear got in on the fun, but kicked the bat way too slowly to do much damage.

Finally, the Playoff Hat, having been there for Game 3 and the loud but futile battle cries of the annoying plastic objects and those who wielded them, sat on the bat and smothered it. The End.

Don't worry, everything will be back to normal around here tomorrow when there's an actual baseball game to discuss.

Now That's More Like It

2006-10-15T23:56:00.000-04:00

A lot can change in 24 hours. The offense was firing on all cylinders the way it did so often this season, the St. Louis bullpen looked more like the disaster that nearly kept them out of the playoffs than the force that got them through the NLDS, and it's a whole new ballgame. It's now a best-of-3 series with the final 2 games at Shea. Call me optimistic, but I like our chances.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

The Mets had a much better approach at the plate than last night, and it showed. From the 1st inning, they recognized that Anthony Reyes was struggling with his command and were patient enough to wait for something to hit or take a walk. While they didn't score as many runs off of him as I would have expected, he gave up 2 home runs and threw 86 pitches in 4 innings of work, setting the stage for the real fireworks to begin once the bullpen came in.
Hats off to Oliver Perez. It was a must-win game, and he did what he had to do to keep the Mets in it until the bats went off. While his overall line is skewed by a pair of solo shots he gave up after the Mets had broken the game open, he pitched fairly well, threw strikes (just 1 walk), and made it through the 5th inning (which is more than can be said for anyone not named Tom Glavine who has started for us in this postseason) . Not bad for a guy who probably had the worst regular season of any starting pitcher in postseason history.
While there were plenty of big home runs (Beltran's to put the Mets on the board, Wright's to provide a lead and break his NLCS 0-fer, Delgado's to put the team ahead for good, Beltran again to stick it to Braden Looper), the 6th inning was just a thing of beauty. Hit after hit, the hit-and-run working to perfection, Beltran working a walk to load the bases after falling behind 0-2, Valentin finally driving one and making Spiezio look bad.
Watching Perez bat is entertaining for all the wrong reasons. He just looks absolutely clueless at the plate, and those alleged bunt attempts were just laughably bad.
I'm still trying to figure out why Joe Buck and Tim McCarver essentially praised David Eckstein for getting hit by a pitch.
Not that I'm complaining, but for a guy as matchup-oriented as LaRussa, what was Chris Duncan (.535 OPS against lefties in the regular season) doing pinch-hitting with 2 outs and the potential go-ahead run in scoring position? How badly would Willie have been roasted for making a decision like that in a similar situation?
That hour-long pregame show was just brutal. In between Eric Byrnes being stupid, AJ Pierzynski sounding like a teenybopper when mentioning David Wright's looks, and Jeanne Zelasko making incredibly lame jokes, there was way too much football talk. I may be biased here because I'm not into football, but analysis of one sport's regular season games during the pregame coverage of another sport's playoffs just doesn't seem right.
I am still highly amused by the fact that Anthony Reyes irons his hats to get the bills so flat.

Game 5 tomorrow night, unless of course the weather in St. Louis causes the 2nd rainout of the series and enables Glavine to start on full rest.

In Praise Of Darren Oliver

2006-10-15T00:28:00.000-04:00

Obviously, that loss hurt quite a bit, and in a different way from the one the night before. While Game 2 was a sudden shock, Game 3 was more of a slow, steady sort of pain. The lineup couldn't seem to figure out Jeff Suppan while the oft-maligned Steve Trachsel spit the bit at the worst possible time. His Mediocrity faced 12 batters and allowed 10 of them to reach base, including Suppan (who homered on an 0-2 meatball). Let that sink in for a second.

Yet all is not lost, far from it. Let us not forget that last week, the Mets swept a team that by most objective measures was superior to the one they are currently facing. They will be sending a left-handed pitcher to the mound tomorrow night against a team whose struggles against lefties, while not as well-documented as their own, are every bit as big. Perhaps most importantly, the biggest concern I had after last night has been significantly diminished. I had fretted about the bullpen being worn out in Game 2, with 3 games in a row before the next off day. When Trachsel left the game in the 2nd inning with the bases loaded and nobody out, I feared the worst. Thankfully, Darren Oliver did what he had done so many times this season, stepped in to stop the bleeding (yes, he allowed 2 of Trachsel's baserunners to score, but Human Rain Delay's line for the night deserved to look that ugly. If he pitches another inning as a Met I will not be a happy camper. Good riddance, Trax, and have fun aggravating the fans of whatever team is crazy enough to sign you for next season). Oliver went 6 innings and allowed just 4 baserunners, giving the Mets a chance to get back into the game and saving the bullpen after a rough night. The usual suspects should all be available for Game 4, and considering the circumstances of the past 2 nights it's great to be able to say that.

The Mets must now win 3 of their next 4 games, a task that will be difficult but one that we all know they have the ability to do (we also know that the Cardinals have the ability to lose 3 out of 4 - after all, they had 2 8-game losing streaks during the regular season and a 7-game skid just last month). May Tim McCarver soon have reason to note that the Cardinals have failed to score since the 2nd inning of Game 3, may our enduring memory of this game be Oliver's quiet heroics rather than Trachsel being about as useful as a bottle of cooking wine, and may Kenny Rogers have the opportunity to turn back into a pumpkin in front of a crowd that's still not over 1999.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Although things would go to shit soon afterwards, wasn't it awesome to see Trachsel's endless barrage of throws over to first pay off for once?
I feel bad for criticizing one of the only Mets who did something productive at the plate tonight, but what the fuck was Jose Valentin thinking? 5th inning, down by 5 runs, only the 3rd baserunner your team has had thus far - not exactly the situation for trying to stretch a single into a double.
The jury is out on whether Tony LaRussa deserves his genius reputation as an in-game manager, but neither his reaction to his best player flinging a chair at a reporter nor his use of the media to air his dirty laundry involving another one of his stars seem very smart to me. As much as I occasionally get aggravated over Willie's decision to leave a pitcher in or have Valentin try to bunt, he seems to do a far better job with handling his players and the press.
I'm glad that Steve Lyons was fired for the highly offensive and jaw-droppingly stupid remarks he made during Game 3 of the ALCS. With all of the media attention paid to controversial statements by Keith Hernandez and Ozzie Guillen this year, I felt that what Lyons said was far worse, especially given that he had a history of saying things he shouldn't have.
Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers, who over the past week and a half have looked more like the juggernaut they were for most of the regular season than the team that lost 31 of its last 50 games to blow a double-digit division lead (remember when just about everyone thought the AL Central title was a big deal because the A's were a much easier first-round matchup than the Yankees?). Oakland played some great baseball in the Division Series before coming up short in round 2, and I just hope it doesn't inspire another spurt of "Moneyball doesn't work" articles from the mainstream media.
"Guillermo Moto?" Seriously, Tim, at least try to say the players' names correctly.
I don't know what's more wince-inducing: Scott Spiezio's hideous facial hair, or St. Louis fans paying tribute to it with bright red furry objects of their own.

So Painful

2006-10-14T00:12:00.000-04:00

I don't have the heart to do an in-depth analysis of what just took place. This was a game that looked like a tough but not impossible matchup before the first pitch, a major boost for the Mets once they knocked Carpenter around, and a heaping helping of excruciating torture once the Friday the 13th versions of each team's bullpen came out to play. Worse than Billy Wagner's complete meltdown in the 9th is the fact that he, Heilman, Mota, and Bradford all threw a ton of pitches with no off-day in sight while the St. Louis bullpen expended much less effort in its 4 innings of work.

Here's hoping that Steve Trachsel pitches the game of his life tomorrow evening to put momentum back on the Mets' side. Also, with all the flak Keith Hernandez got for his comment about the woman in the dugout earlier this year, the talking heads in the media had better roast Steve Lyons's ass for his reaction to Lou Piniella speaking Spanish during the ALCS game this afternoon.

I feel like I'm going to throw up right now. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Do Not Adjust Your TV Set

2006-10-12T23:29:00.000-04:00

Going into the League Championship Series, the consensus seemed to be that the American League would feature tight, low-scoring battles between the stellar young pitchers on the Oakland and Detroit staffs while the National League would be all about the slugfests, with some of baseball's elite position players facing pitchers one would not expect to see starting playoff games. So far, the results don't exactly seem to be matching the prognostications. Detroit won the 1st 2 games against Oakland by scores of 5-1 and 8-5 (and in that 1st game, Oakland had a ton of scoring opportunities that they didn't capitalize on. You don't ground into 4 double plays and go 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position without getting lots of men on base.) Meanwhile, the score of Game 1 in the Mets - Cardinals series? 2-0 Mets, with the combined hit total of both teams less than the number of hits Oakland had in its losing effort last night.

This was a huge win for the Mets in many ways. It ensures that even with last night's rainout enabling St. Louis to send out its ace for Game 2, the worst that can happen is that the series enters flyover country tied. Tom Glavine's vintage evisceration of the big scary guy and those 8 other dudes wearing road grays was efficient enough (89 pitches) to lessen the anxiety over a possible Game 5 start on 3 days' rest (a start that I'm hoping he won't have to make for obvious reasons) and deep enough (7 innings) to save the bullpen in a series that lost a scheduled off-day due to the weather. Just about the only thing that didn't go in the Mets' favor was Cliff Floyd aggravating the Achilles while fouling off a pitch, and all that means is a superior defensive outfield and perhaps a powerful lefty bat available for pinch-hitting duty in a day or two. Although it's in a different time slot and follows a different story arc than we were led to expect, I like what I've seen of this show so far.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

What a bomb from Beltran, and great to see after he struggled a bit against the Dodgers.
Tim Welke's strike zone was atrociously inconsistent. Those high and outside pitches to Reyes that were both called strikes are the most egregious example, but there were plenty of others.
Is the Mets' defense that good, or are other teams just that dumb on the basepaths? It may not be as attention-grabbing as 2 runners being tagged out at home on the same play, but 2 instances of runners being doubled off on outs in the air resulted in twice as many outs.
I know Tony LaRussa has a reputation for being a genius, but there doesn't seem to be any way of justifying a lineup that seemed designed to ensure that his best hitter would bat with the bases empty. Preston Wilson had an on-base percentage of .300 in his time with the Cardinals this year. In 44 career at-bats against Tom Glavine, he was .205/.271/.295. Preston Wilson was in the #2 spot in tonight's Cardinal line-up.
Speaking of Wilson, that at-bat against Mota in the 8th was the ballgame in all of its nervewracking intensity. Had Mota not battled back after falling behind 3-0, Albert Pujols would have stepped to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. Getting Wilson to pop up meant that Pujols would lead off the 9th inning, with the worst possible outcome being him bringing the Cardinals within a run.
That Valentin at-bat in the bottom of the 7th was...interesting. First, there was Jose Valentin attempting to bunt Shawn Green over to 2nd, something I never ever want to see again because he's just not good at it. Eventually, Green was running with 2 strikes, a risky move because Valentin does strike out quite a bit and Yadier Molina is basically Mini-Pudge behind the plate. So Valentin strikes out - and Green is safe at 2nd on a great jump.
I loved the crowd reaction when Braden Looper entered the game. When our former shitty relievers come back to town in new clothes, we know how to make them feel at home.
I, uh, didn't love the "insightful" commentary of Tim McCarver. From before the start of the game, when he called Albert Pujols "Luis" for the 2nd time in the past month, to the bottom of the 7th, when he attributed a pitching change to LaRussa wanting to turn Reyes around because he doesn't have power from the left side (Reyes's slugging percentage against right-handed pitching this year: .477) to the bottom of the 8th, when he took the Mets to task for not sending a pair of slow runners on an infield grounder. On a slightly shallower note, there are guys out there who can rock the pink shirt. Joe Buck is most definitely not one of them.
I understand that Fox wants a big-market team playing the primetime game whenever possible and that the weather in Detroit is supposed to be brutal tomorrow. However, I really feel that tomorrow's game at Shea should be an afternoon game. The players have already lost the off day between Games 2 and 3, and having Game 2 be at night just makes the travel that much more draining for the players. There's a reason games on "getaway day" in the regular season are usually played in the afternoon.

Tomorrow night's game will feature St. Louis ace Chris Carpenter facing off against John Maine. If Maine can remember that keeping Eckstein and (presumably) Chris Duncan from reaching base is a really important thing and the Mets can remember that they're a much stronger offense than the NL Central teams that Carpenter is used to facing, this could be a lot of fun. Even if it's not, Carpenter won't be pitching at Busch, where he had an ERA below 2 this year.

It's Only A Game

2006-10-11T20:15:00.000-04:00

There is no game at Shea tonight. With the weather the way it is, that's probably for the best (did anyone really want to see the solution to the Cliff Floyd + wet grass equation?). In addition, it would be difficult to really focus on a game tonight after hearing this terrible news of Cory Lidle's death in a plane crash.

Lidle wasn't a household name or a superstar, and his status as a professional athlete isn't the reason his death is a major news story. A plane crashing into a building in New York City in a post-9/11 world, no matter who was in the plane or the building, would - and did - prompt much fear and panic, followed by a sick sense of relief that it was "only" a tragic accident and not a deliberate act of terrorism. The fact remains that lives ended many years before they should have, and as human beings we should be sad about that. We should remember that our time on this planet is precious, for it can end at any moment, and that we should live each day to the fullest because the next one is not guaranteed.

May Cory Lidle rest in peace, and may those who were close to him have the strength to cope with the pain of losing him.

From Blue To Red

2006-10-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

As long as the weather holds up, the National League Championship Series begins tonight at Shea. The Mets will be facing the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that nearly blew a big division lead in the final weeks of the season and is one of the weaker teams to see postseason play in a while (aside from last year's Padres and the '73 Mets, I can't think of any other teams that had 83 wins or less in the regular season and made the playoffs). Of course, as the events of the past week have all reminded us, anything can happen in a short series (2 runners being thrown out at the plate on a single throw, a Gold Glove outfielder's ill-advised dive leading to an inside-the-park-HR, a .340 hitter attempting to bunt in the first inning against a rookie pitcher). The Twins, one of the best teams in baseball after a rocky start, were swept in a series that saw the best pitcher in baseball lose at home for the first time in over a year. The Tigers, who blew a double-digit division lead and were swept at home by the Royals to finish off the regular season, shut down the vaunted Yankee offense with a gem by a pitcher who had a horrible postseason history and atrocious numbers against the Bronx Bummers. The Cardinals took 3 out of 4 from a San Diego team with a better pitching staff. And of course, our Mets lost their first 2 scheduled Game 1 starters to calf injuries and still swept a Dodger team that ended the regular season on one of its crazy hot streaks.

While the Mets are the obvious favorite in this matchup, there are still a few key battles to consider. Jose Reyes's electric legs versus Yadier Molina's cannon arm. Cliff Floyd versus his injury history. Braden Looper versus the Shea Stadium crowd (oh, how I hope LaRussa sees a reason to send him out there during the first 2 games). Of course, the biggest battles will be fought against the pair of gems that can lift the Cardinals above mediocrity any time they take the field.

Albert Pujols is the best position player in baseball, a fearsome hitter who can change a game with one swing of the bat. The key to neutralizing this threat is to avoid creating situations where he can do damage. As much as you'll hear that the crucial thing is pitching around him and then taking your chances with the merely good hitters after him in the lineup, preventing the guys who bat before him from reaching base is more important. John Maine learned that the hard way in August, when Pujols hit a pair of bombs that drove in a total of 7 runs. Albert can hit the ball over the construction site of the new ballpark and as long as the bases are empty it will still count for just a single run. Maine pitched too carefully to the top of the St. Louis order and paid the price.

Chris Carpenter is a damn good pitcher who looked like he might win back-to-back Cy Youngs until he struggled in September (in his defense, he was left in games longer than he probably should have been because LaRussa didn't feel confident going to the bullpen). However, by virtue of playing in a weak division in the era of the unbalanced schedule, it wasn't often that Carpenter faced a good team, and he didn't fare all that well on the few occasions that he did. Of Carpenter's 32 starts this year, only 8 were against teams that finished the year above .500. In 6 of those starts, he gave up 4 earned runs or more. Granted, his other 2 starts against winning teams were complete-game shutouts, but even a good pitcher is not a sure thing against a quality offense.

In the end, I think what it boils down to is that a well-rounded team can beat a couple of superstars. while the Mets don't have any individual offensive threat on the level of Pujols, the Cardinals don't really have anyone else in their lineup who is both healthy and good at the moment. Carpenter is a better pitcher than anyone who will be starting for the Mets in this series, but the games he's not starting will be handled by the likes of Jeff Weaver and Jason Marquis (despite the rumors that Anthony Reyes will start Game 4, I can't see LaRussa going with a rookie who was left off the Division Series roster to start a game). The Mets have a lineup that's solid all the way through and starting pitchers who can be counted on to pitch effectively until it's time for the bullpen to come in and do its thing.

I'll be sneaking out of my Wednesday night class early so that I can be in front of my TV to catch every moment of the inane Fox pregame show, every aggravation-inducing comment by the announcers I like to refer to as McBabbler and Suck, and every pitch of what will hopefully be the 4th win in a string of 11.

EDIT: The Cardinals have chosen to leave Marquis off the roster and put Reyes on in his place. While Reyes's ERA was nearly a run lower than Marquis's was this year, it's still above 5, and he actually gave up home runs more often than Marquis did (1.79 per 9 innings as opposed to 1.62). They both walked batters at a rate slightly worse than the league average (3.59 per 9 innings for Reyes, 3.47 for Marquis), and the biggest reasons that Reyes performed better were that he records strikeouts at a much higher rate than Marquis (7.59 versus 4.45) and that he was luckier in the percentage of baserunners he allowed that didn't score, a big factor in Reyes's ERA being nearly half a run lower than his FIP (fielding independent pitching, a stat that looks at a pitcher's strikeout, walk, and home run rates while ignoring factors the pitcher has less control over, such as the percentage of balls put into play that result in hits and the percentage of baserunners who are stranded). I think it's safe to say that the exclusion of Marquis won't have much effect on how many runs the Mets score in Game 4.

Take 3

2006-10-09T22:10:00.000-04:00

I'm back from a weekend in Los Angeles. Here's how it went:

Friday, October 6, 2006

I'm no stranger to airplanes. I grew up about 5 minutes from Kennedy Airport, so the roar of a jet plane flying directly overhead is just background noise in the soundtrack of my life (perhaps this is why I don't get it when people get all bent out of shape about planes flying over Shea). I'm also accustomed to family vacations that begin and end with 3 hours on a 747, fighting with my brother for the window seat so I can watch as we fly over our neighborhood, hoping that baggage claim won't provide Dad with a reason to yell at anyone who can hear him. This was different. For the first time in my life, I would be traveling on an airplane all by myself, without my parents there to handle all of the numerous hassles associated with flying. Sure, I had taken a train down to Maryland on my own, but this was different. Checking in and going through security was fine, but not being able to leave my bags with Mom or Dad while I went to the bathroom or to the newsstand to pick up some reading material for the flight or to grab a bite to eat was an inconvenience I hadn't really thought about. I somehow managed to avoid seriously injuring myself or another unsuspecting traveler with the large, heavy carry-on luggage dangling precariously from my left shoulder, but there were a few close calls. I killed the time before boarding by picking up a copy of ESPN Magazine with Jose Reyes on the cover and finding a sports bar where I could sit down, order something bearing more of a resemblance to food than whatever snacks would be served on the plane, and watch a few innings of the Oakland-Minnesota game (for the record, I'm still shocked that the A's swept that series and sad that Brad Radke's final start turned out the way it did).

Being accustomed to flying JetBlue, where there's a TV in the back of every seat with a bunch of different channels to watch, I wasn't sure what to expect from a Delta flight (not that I could really complain, given that I was flying for free thanks to my uncle's frequent flyer miles). Fortunately, the plane I was on had been a part of the Song fleet (Delta's ill-fated attempt at competing directly with JetBlue) and was equipped with TVs that also contained a variety of albums to listen to and games to play. Once the plane took off (only about an hour behind schedule, thanks to having to wait in line behind 15 other planes), the TV was on, and I searched for entertainment. What I found wasn't a movie, but it might as well have been.

Kenny Rogers vs. Randy Johnson. A pair of veteran southpaws, both members of the exclusive 27-Up/27-Down Club, both notorious for run-ins with cameramen. A game that had the potential to be a gem given their long pedigrees or an extended batting practice session given the latter's bad back and the former's history of melting down in October and being lit up by the Yankees. Legendary Tiger broadcaster Ernie Harwell was on hand, still sharp as a tack and bringing a much-appreciated helping of common sense to the ESPN booth in his 2 innings with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. The crowd was wild, having waited nearly 2 decades for playoff baseball in Detroit, and they had reason to cheer early on, as the Tigers scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning, helped by Jason Giambi absolutely botching a pickoff. Even so, I was nervous about the outcome. After all, I had spent all week hearing about how the Yankees might have the best lineup ever and Kenny Rogers isn't one to inspire much confidence in this sort of situation. Yet somewhere in the middle of the game, my reaction each time a Yankee reached base went from "gulp, here comes the explosion" to "let's see how foolish Kenny will make them look this time as he works his way out of it!" By the time the Tigers had piled on some more insurance runs and Rogers left in the 8th with a 5-hit shutout intact, I was ready to cheer along with the crowd at Comerica Park. With all due respect to the fact that the man once pitched a perfect game, Kenny Rogers pitched the game of his life Friday night.

After some postgame coverage on ESPN, some reading of the magazines I brought with me for the flight, and some indecision over what to listen to on my iPod, the plane had landed at LAX. As much as it was a pain in the ass (and shoulder, and knee, and thigh) to carry all of my luggage with me while waiting to board the flight, not having to wait for anything at baggage claim was well worth it. Soon, I was at my uncle's apartment, unpacking my belongings in the guest room, eagerly awaiting the following day.

Saturday, October 7, 2006

I woke up early on Saturday morning, eager to partake in the West Coast weekend activity of watching baseball on TV during breakfast. When my uncle returned from an unsuccessful trip to 7-11 (Uncle: "The cashier booed me for wearing this sweatshirt with a Mets logo! Can you believe that?"), I went with him to pick up a New York paper at a newsstand and some bagels at a place he assured me produced reasonably edible facsimiles of what you can get in New York. I'm not quite sure how to judge the bagels, but chocolate cream cheese can go a long way towards disguising any of their flaws. As for the baseball, high-definition TV is a truly awesome thing that everyone should have the opportunity to experience. My uncle was happy that the Padres finally won a game, hoping that he would have the chance to drive a couple of hours to see the Mets in the NLCS. When that game was over, we flipped over to Yankees-Tigers game that was already in progress. My uncle was recording the game on his DVR, so we were able to fast-forward through the pregame show and the commercials until we caught up with real time, enjoying another A-Rod throwing error and the fact that Jeremy Bonderman had retired the first 15 batters he faced. We couldn't stick around to watch the rest of it, though, because we had a game of our own to go to.

The area around Dodger Stadium can be characterized as follows: Lots and lots of parking. It was quite a walk from the car to the ballpark, and quite a climb as well. What's interesting about Dodger Stadium is that unlike most ballparks, you don't enter at field level and then go up a ramp to the level where your seats are. There are outdoor entrances at each level of the ballpark, with parking lots behind them. By the time we made it up to the upper deck entrance and received our complimentary blue plastic rally noisemaker bats (more on those later), I needed a moment to catch my breath.

Dodger Stadium is one of those ballparks that looks much better in person than it does on TV. The pale seat colors that look washed-out on a TV set are beautiful, and like everything else in the ballpark, absolutely pristine. Even though I know it's true, I would never in a million years believe that the park is older than Shea, because it's been maintained so well. For a ballpark with so many seats, there didn't really seem to be many bad ones, and I was impressed that the designers were smart enough not to extend the upper deck all the way around. The one area where Dodger Stadium really shows its age is the scoreboard, which seems woefully outdated compared to those in most other parks.

As my uncle went to get a Dodger Dog (he says they're not as good as hot dogs in other parks, but there really aren't any other decent food options at Dodger Stadium), the 9th inning of the Yankees and Tigers was being shown on the video screen in left field. The crowd, briefly frustrated by a Yankee home run to cut Detroit's lead down to 8-3, cheered when the final out was made, and for a moment the small minority of Mets fans in attendance felt at home, briefly united with the Dodger fans in shared hatred of the Yankees. Of course, we knew that the "Fuck New York" chants would soon be directed our way.

By some coincidence, sitting right next to my uncle and I were a couple of Mets fans who had flown in from Arizona for the game. We spotted a few others in nearby sections, including one guy who wore a Mr. Met head and spent much of the game being pelted with various objects, but we were greatly outnumbered, surprising my uncle (who remembered going to the lone loss of The Road Trip in June and being part of a crowd that had at least 10,000 Mets fans). The Dodgers fans around us didn't really give us too much of a hard time once they realized that we weren't there to be assholes, just to cheer on our team.

During the pre-game ceremonies, I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of Nomar Garciaparra receiving the Comeback Player of the Year award before a game he wasn't starting due to injury and the fierce booing of LA's third-base coach amidst the cheering of everyone else wearing a Dodger uniform. After a moment of silence for Buck O'Neil that was tainted by pockets of LA fans unable to take a break from their anti-New York chanting, a first pitch by the legendary Duke Snider, and a moderately painful rendition of the national anthem by Kristin Chenoweth, the game was underway. The Mets got to Maddux early, quieting the crowd somewhat, but every fucking time something remotely positive for the Dodgers occurred, the fans started shaking those goddamn plastic bats and banging them against their chairs, producing the sort of noise they couldn't or wouldn't with their own voices. If such a promotional item is ever given away at Shea, I will be quite disappointed in whoever was dumb enough to approve it. As it was, the loudest moments of genuine cheering not aided by bats were Jeff Kent's home run to tie the game and Nomar stepping up to pinch hit with a chance to break the game open after the Dodgers had taken the lead. As silly as it sounds, once Nomar weakly grounded out to end the inning, I knew that the Mets would come back to win. He was the one weapon the Dodgers had, they deployed him early, and he didn't go off. The only Kirk Gibson moment of the night would be the the one they kept replaying on the scoreboard.

The much-joked-about mass exodus took place after the bottom of the 8th, with Dodgers fans correctly assuming that there would be no repeat of this. Fittingly, the final out was recorded on a bazillion-pitch at-bat, symbolic of the plodding pace of Game 3. (Can't even blame Trachsel too much for that - he wasn't in the game long enough to really slow things down). When all was said and done, the Mets had played a game in which their starter didn't make it through the 4th inning, a game in which they gave up 16 hits, a game which they WON to complete a sweep of a team that had been red-hot coming into the playoffs.

When we finally got out of the parking lot, my uncle suggested getting Mexican food at Tito's Tacos, which he described as "one of those places that isn't much to look at, but you always have to wait in line because everyone knows how good the food is." The line was long, but the food was worth it. Excellent taco, great enchilada, and a really good chicken tamale, plus the complimentary chips/salsa/guacamole. Definitely better than any Mexican food I've had in New York. We got back to my uncle's apartment, fired up the DVR to re-watch the end of the game we were at and the end of a certain other game. The Tigers' celebration in front of their hometown fans was a beautiful sight to see, with the sort of joyful exuberance that was on display during the clincher at Shea a couple of weeks ago. Once that was over, we flipped over to ESPN in the hopes of seeing some postgame coverage on SportsCenter, hopes that weren't realized (Uncle: "Who the fuck is Terrell Owens, and why is ESPN incapable of talking about anything else?")

Sunday, October 8, 2006

We had tickets to a game that didn't need to be played, and we were thrilled. During another bagel breakfast, a phone call from Mom & Dad brought the news from New York. Dad referred to the Mets moving on the same day the Yankees got knocked out as "hitting the daily double" (perhaps forgetting that he wanted another subway series), while Mom wasn't quite as happy (Mom: "I hate the Yankees. They still get more attention in the paper for LOSING than the Mets did for winning. That's not fair.") Rather than listen to more in-depth analysis of T.O. on ESPN, my uncle found a gem in his baseball video collection, a tape that was sold at Shea during the '86 season telling the story of the first quarter-century of Mets baseball. I learned some things I didn't know before and laughed my ass off at the song honoring all of the Mets third basemen up to that point. After that, he dug up a CD containing a recording of Tommy Lasorda launching into an obscene tirade during the postseason years ago (Uncle: "Now you see why I was laughing last night when they had that taped message from Tommy on the video board telling fans not to curse").

It was a beautiful sunny day in LA, so the afternoon was the perfect time for some sightseeing. We went to The Grove (it's an outdoor shopping district with a big fountain in the middle and an old-fashioned trolley going from one end to the other) and did some shopping at Barnes & Noble (I picked up a book about all of the World Series Game 7s for some return-flight reading) before getting Thai food for lunch.

We were back in front of the TV in time for Game 4 of the Padres-Cardinals series (Uncle: "That's one of the bad things about high-def right there, seeing Tim McCarver's hideous jacket in all its glory"). The possibility of a Game 5 looked strong when Chris Carpenter was all over the place in the 1st inning, before the Padres reverted to their series-long inability to do anything with runners in scoring position and the Cardinals put together a rally to destroy my uncle's hopes of seeing some more Mets playoff games in Southern California. At least the series went long enough that Carpenter won't be able to go until Game 3 of the NLCS, and Jeff Weaver in Game 1 should be fun. We flipped back to ESPN, where they were still talking about Terrell Owens (Uncle: "When the fuck did he become the A-Rod of football?")

In summary: Mets sweep, Dodger Stadium is pretty, high-definition TV is awesome, convenience-store cashiers in LA boo people wearing Mets gear, chocolate cream cheese can make a mediocre bagel taste good, and there's too much TO on TV. Oh, and plastic rally noisemaker bats are an abomination and really fucking annoying. (Also, a team playing against the Mets probably shouldn't use a Ramones song as a rallying cry. Just sayin'.)

I'm sure I've left something out along the way (I wrote this up while attempting to study for a midterm I had almost forgotten was this week), so feel free to ask questions in the comments to perhaps remind me of something I wanted to say in the first place.

Some pictures (there will be more if/when my uncle gets around to sending me the ones he took, plus I plan on doing a creative series of photos featuring the plastic rally noisemaker bat):

The view from my seat.

That old-looking scoreboard.

Mets lined up for on-field introductions.

Duke Snider throwing out the first pitch.

Crowd shot, including the guy wearing a Mr. Met head.

No explanation necessary.

Put it in the books.

Ready For Prime Time

2006-10-05T23:47:00.000-04:00

All of the question marks and doomsday scenarios of a couple of days ago seem so far away now, as the Mets have remembered that they're the best team in the National League and the Dodgers have remembered that they're inconsistent and managed by Grady Little. Glavine pitched the way he had in his last couple of regular-season starts, Hong-Chih Kuo wasn't the insurmountable monster he was last month, and speed killed. The Mets' first run scored without a ball leaving the infield, and a combination of Met hustle and sloppy Dodger defense (Julio Franco beat out a DP. Julio Franco!) contributed greatly towards runs 3 and 4. The bullpen picked up where Glavine left off, allowing a solo home run and nothing else.

The Mets now lead the series 2-0, with Game 3 to be played at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. I'll be flying out to LA tomorrow evening to go to that game. I'll do my best to represent Mets fans in enemy territory, and hopefully there'll be a celebration to make Chavez Ravine feel like Shea West.

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Not that I'm really complaining about not getting the Buck/McCarver tandem, but I was a bit offended that someone at Fox deemed the game unworthy of getting the "A" broadcast team. A playoff game deserves better than a guy best known for dropping trou during a game and who seemed to be openly rooting for the Dodgers for most of the evening.
The wind at Shea must have been really fierce tonight. There were a couple of fly balls that Wright and Floyd crushed that were just a bit short. Even the announcers thought Floyd's was long gone.
Even though the Mets didn't get much done offensively against Kuo, I was very happy with the approach they took. Through long, tough at-bats of fouling off lots of pitches, they were able to drive up his pitch count and get to face the Dodgers' weak middle relievers.
It's just not a playoff game without Grady Little making questionable decisions. For the second day in a row, Little picked the wrong time to use his only lefty reliever. Bringing him in to face a left-handed hitter who hits lefties well, a right-handed pinch hitter, a switch-hitter who is better from the right side, and another righty is downright moronic when facing a team that has Carlos Delgado and Cliff Floyd in its lineup. Bringing in his closer when trailing by 3 runs in the 8th was another bizarre move that gave the Mets a chance to see what Saito has in a situation where they didn't need to do anything against him.
I'm not sure where Kenny Lofton looked more overmatched tonight, at the plate or in center field.
I hate Wilson Fucking Betemit. Every time he steps up to the plate, I remember being at that game back in May when he hit the homer off Wagner in extras and the crowd at Shea was too dejected to properly boo Chipper later in the inning. It all worked out more than fine in the end, but I hold grudges, what can I say.
Great to see a 1-2-3 inning from Wagner after yesterday's more nervewracking 9th.
Fun moment of the day: Getting to my 3:30 class a bit early, seeing that someone had put the ESPN gametracker of the Yankees-Tigers game on the projector, and watching the Yankee fans in the room get upset when the Tigers took the lead. The professor walked in, said he would try to let the class out early so everyone could go watch the end of the game, but by the time the class was over the Yankees had already lost.
I'm not sure what's more shocking, the Twins losing the 1st 2 games at home against the A's, or the Padres losing the 1st 2 at home against the Cardinals.
Helpful advice: Keeping an open container of chocolates around while watching an important game on an empty stomach may not be the best idea. My body has suddenly realized how much sugar and caffeine I've consumed in the past couple of hours, and I have a nasty headache.

I probably won't be posting much, if at all, this weekend (I haven't finished packing yet and don't know if my laptop will even fit in my carry-on bag), but eventually there will be a full account of my adventures in LA and my thoughts on the Dodger Stadium experience. Let's Go Mets!

A Special Treat

2006-10-05T12:12:00.000-04:00

While I never use my camera during games (I'm too busy focusing on my scorecard), I always bring it with me to the ballpark so that I can take pictures before the game starts. Since my camera has video capabilities and I figured the player intros wouldn't be shown on TV, I recorded the Mets intros for you. Click here for a link to download the video (it's a Quicktime file and about 92 megabytes in size), and enjoy.

First Cut Is The Deepest

2006-10-04T23:08:00.000-04:00

As we are likely to hear approximately eleventeen zillion times between now and the end of the month, anything can happen in a short series. Luck and hot streaks and such can play a much bigger role over 5 or 7 games than they do over 162, and the teams that are still standing are all supposedly fairly similar in their high quality. Thus, winning the 1st game of a playoff series is very important. In the Division Series, doing that means that all you have to do to advance to the next round is win 2 of the next 4 games. Lose Game 1, and you must win 3 of the next 4. These are the reasons that the season-ending calf injuries to the Mets' first 2 potential Game 1 starters made the situation look so dire for a team that had dominated its league for 6 months, and they are also the reasons why surviving the predictions of doom and gloom this Wednesday afternoon (hey, it almost rhymes) makes things a hell of a lot easier for the Mets for the remainder of the series.

Today was the 1st game of a playoff series, but that wasn't the only first. It was the 1st Division Series game the Mets have played as a division champion, it was Willie Randolph's 1st playoff game as a manager after so many as a player and coach, and it was the 1st playoff game for many on the Mets' roster, both youngsters and veterans. In my opinion, the first-timers did well for themselves. Obviously, there was Carlos Delgado's monster day at the plate, but David Wright had a couple of key hits as well, Jose Reyes stole a base, and John Maine pitched quite well for a guy who was catapulted from long relief option to Game 1 starter. Willie also made key strategic decisions, an area in which Grady Little, who has managed in the postseason before, really spit the bit.

Of course, no discussion of today's game would be complete without a look back at the classic 9-4-2 double play in the 2nd inning. Maine looked to be on the ropes after a leadoff single by Jeff Kent and a little dribbler by J.D. Drew that resulted in an infield hit. 1st and 2nd, nobody out, and Russell Martin sends one to the right-field wall that Shawn Green isn't anywhere near. As I followed Green's play of the carom from my seat down the left-field line, my thoughts were something like "Shit, here comes a crooked number. Both runners scoring, Martin on 2nd, still nobody out in the 2nd inning...pretty nice throw by Green though, they might get Drew at the plate and 1 run in, 1 out is a lot better than 2 in, no out...they got him! Wait a second, how come the scoreboard says 2 outs and the score still 0-0? HOLY FUCK, THEY GOT KENT TOO! WEBGEM OF THE YEAR!!!!" That's the sort of play that changes momentum, the sort of play that we'll hopefully be able to point to 10 wins from now as a key moment in a storybook season, and although the Dodgers did go on to score in that inning and would score 4 more runs after it, deep down I knew that there was no way the Mets were losing this ballgame (not that this knowledge prevented my stomach from leaping into my ear during the top of the 9th or anything. Old habits die hard.)

Observations/Odds & Ends:

Maybe it was just the section I was sitting in, but the crowd wasn't as lively as I would have expected. There were the loud reactions to the player introductions before the game and the cheering every time something really good happened and the standing up every time a Mets pitcher made a 2-strike pitch, but there were many moments when Shea was dead silent in a way it rarely is. I'm thinking the tension of the game and what it meant may have had something to do with it, because the crowd the night of the clincher was non-stop exuberance despite consisting of far fewer people.
As silly as it may sound, when Delgado stepped to the plate in the 4th I just knew that he would hit a home run. The only other time I've had that feeling while at a game was earlier this year when Dontrelle Willis stepped up to the plate against Jose Lima with the bases loaded.
I was very impressed with Willie's recognition of what he had to work with and how to use it. In my mind, he made the smart move by pulling Maine in the 5th at the first sign of trouble and using Feliciano and Bradford to induce the desired outcomes of the next 2 crucial at-bats. My biggest criticism of Willie earlier in the year was that he often left his starters in for a batter or two too long or tried to squeeze 1 more inning out of them than he should have, and he's come a long way.
Given what happened afterwards, I'm sure there will be much second-guessing of the decision to let Guillermo Mota bat with 2 outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 6th, but at the time I thought it was a smart move. Mota is a decent-hitting pitcher and had thrown just 11 pitches in a 1-2-3 inning. Considering that Mota was the 3rd reliever the Mets had used with 3 innings left in the game, getting another inning out of him was a good idea that didn't work out, largely due to a rare poor defensive play by Jose Valentin.
Speaking of Valentin, there is absolutely no situation in which he should ever be bunting, because as we've seen on multiple occasions this year, he's not good at it. Good things often happen when he swings away, so stick to that.
And now, the laundry list of bad moves made by Grady Little. In the 6th inning, not only was a struggling Derek Lowe left in after a visit to the mound only to give up a 2-run double to the next batter he faced, but Little burned his only left-handed reliever (who isn't all that good to begin with) against the bottom of the order. In the following inning, he brought in a starting pitcher who has been terrible since the All-Star Break due to back problems to pitch in relief.
Speaking of Brad Penny, that inning was a textbook example of the need to mix pitches. Penny was hitting the high-90s with his fastball, but major league hitters will catch up to that and hammer it if that's all you throw.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but I loved that the Diamondvision showed Pedro in the dugout shortly after Little left Lowe in just a bit too long.
I really, really hope that none of my professors have News 12 Long Island. That station was interviewing fans on the way into the ballpark, and I said something about skipping a couple of classes today being well worth it. Naturally, I'll be in panic mode about that for the rest of the semester and that will not have been aired.
What happened to the weather? It was beautiful at Shea all day, and when I got off the 6 train at Astor Place after the game it was raining, then I turned on my TV to find out that the game at Yankee Stadium was postponed due to the rain. Mother Nature must be a Mets fan :-)
That inside-the-parker in the Twins-A's game is another bit of evidence pointing towards something I've thought for much of this year, namely that Torii Hunter is the Andruw Jones/Jim Edmonds of the AL. His defense is no longer quite as good as his reputation, and he tries for the flashy play rather than the smart one too often.
As if the Baseball Tonight lineup wasn't bad enough already, Eric Byrnes is now on there offering his "expert analysis." What have baseball fans done to deserve this?

Tomorrow, the Dodgers hope to catch a lightning strike in the same bottle twice, sending Hong-Chih Kuo to the mound. I'm kind of upset about this, not so much because of the well-documented lefty issues but because I was really looking forward to a Maddux-Glavine matchup (and cracking jokes about how the best part of it was that John Smoltz was watching it on TV). Oh, and Game 2 will be on Fox. What's the over/under on how many player names McCarver botches? Plus we have the repeated usage of that map of Taiwan to look forward to!