Crosstown Rivals

Wouldn't It Be Nice

2010-07-20T16:11:00.005-04:00

It might have been Joe Morgan who said something about computers not playing baseball. (Apparently humans do.) Or maybe it was Tim McCarver. Could have been John Kruk. One could safely assume, in any event, that whoever said such a thing owned a David Eckstein jersey stained with blood and mud and grit and heart. And that owner has no plans to wash the jersey.

[You are encouraged to hum, or sing along, as this graf progresses. Start here.]

Wouldn't it be nice if Mike Pelfrey were a computer? If he were Mr. Clanky, from the old Backyard Baseball series? Then we wouldn't have to wait so long... for him to regress to the mean in a particularly ugly game last night. One-and-a-third innings, 74 pitches, seven hits, two walks, six runs. All of this you probably remember, if you were unable to successfully drink yourself asleep after Chris Young singled to start the game.

These 9:40, air-conditioned-desert start times bring back fuzzy memories for most Met fans, memories of a day when Omar Minaya didn't have to do any paperwork to succeed, of a day when this Manuel fellow was just a goofy bespectacled Buddhism-spouting bench coach. The Mets were 11-1 in Arizona in 2005, 2006 and 2007 back when discrimination was just a glint in the eye of Maricopa County.

[Aside: any chance they can round up this Mexican national? When he tries throwing his breaking pitch, it's probably tantamount to assault with a deadly weapon. And he's involved in an ongoing massive swindle, pocketing $12MM a year to... pull his socks up? Occasionally jump over the first base line? Be fairly surly? Not sure what it is. Must be some kind of money laundering.]

But things have gone sour in the desert since then. 3-3 in 2008 and 2009. Sure, it's a small sample size, but we can assume the fun's over in Phoenix. (Perhaps due to this awful roster. But we can try to pretend otherwise.)

Last year the Mets offered Cory Sullivan (he of the career 79 OPS+, he, cast off from the 38-55! Houston Astros this year) as their leadoff hitter and left fielder against the Diamondbacks. Oliver Perez allowed six hits and six walks in five and a third while facing Arizona last year. (He somehow only allowed one run. Call it the Pelfrey Problem. We know how it bites a team in the ass as time passes, cf. last night's debacle.)

Jeremy Reed (he of another 79 career OPS+, he, also without a major league job anymore) had his share of plate appearances, too. And you'll remember Omir Santos and Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur and Anderson Hernandez and Elmer Dessens and Alex Cora, those 2009 Metastases who earned their fair share of unwarranted praise (is there any other kind?) from Jerry. Thankfully, they're all no longer on the team. Wait, what? You're kidding. Oh no.

All of this is to say, in a rather circumspect fashion, that Mike Pelfrey drives far too many of us crazy, with no good reason. Kevin Burkhardt tweets things like, "Mets have no shot of being a playoff team if Pelfrey can't find his old form. He needs to figure this out." Andy Martino, at the Daily Snooze, writes that Pelfrey's pitches aren't effective, or something.

Um, yeah. That's the problem. Sure. His pitches aren't good enough. Specific as hell. Not a catch-all. Or we're supposed to believe some garbage about a fluky-good April/May/June Pelf needing to return to "his old form." One can't help but marvel when noting how Pelfrey's "old form" alternates between good and bad depending on who's writing.

What we do know about Mike Pelfrey, aside from silly speculation, has nothing to do with phantom neck injuries suffered on planes or sports psychologists or teeth grinding. What we know is that his strikeout rate's slightly higher this year than it used to be (5.51/9 against a career 5.23/9.) His walk rate is a little higher too (3.46/9 versus a 3.41/9 career total, though that total is slightly inflated by his putrid control in 2006 and 2007). His home run rate is back down from last year's unexpected spike, to almost exactly what it was in 2008.

And so, as you might expect, his performance this year contains no mystery, no enigma, no dead-arm phase. Rather, he's the Mike Pelfrey we'll come to know and kinda like, with an ERA and FIP hovering around four, middling strikeout and walk rates, and occasional help from the double play, despite some shaky surrounding infield defense. He probably won't be as lucky as he was in 2008, or as he was during the first three months of this season, yet he won't be as unlucky as he was during 2009, when each Big Pelf start made us yearn for Livan's next turn. (That was hyperbole.)

Wouldn't it be nice, though, if he could stop finding new ways to get destroyed in the early innings? Wouldn't it be nice if he were a computer, and could throw up nine innings of four-run ball each time he pitched? I think "consistency" is the word a baseball analyst might occasionally use. Wouldn't it be nice if these games didn't start so late? Oh, wouldn't it be nice?

STRAY THOUGHTS:

Yikes. I'm a little worried, even though we could have seen this coming. With Pelfrey and Takahashi taking half of the starts, and R.A. Dickey always ready to turn into a pumpkin... yikes. That's all one can say. Is John Maine coming back anytime soon? Can we get Trachsel to unretire?
I think I'll be returning to this space on a fairly frequent basis, but I don't want to say anything premature. Keep your fingers crossed.
Hard to believe what two weeks out of the lineup (sans rehab innings) can do to a certain shortstop's once-miraculous fielding ability. He can get a free pass for last night.
Ugh, Nieve.
Did I forget to say ugh, Barajas? I meant to say that. My word, he's terrible.
Ugh, Andy Turner. Is that his name? Pete Turner? Pete Phillips? Justin Johnson? I won't bother. Suffice it to say, if you can pick up a 26 year-old who posted a .750 OPS in the minors last year, you have to do it. Idiot Omar. Idiot Jerry. Now I'm beginning to remember why I stopped writing about this team in the first place.

In any event, thank you for your continued and endlessly valued patronage of Crosstown Rivals, your home for great coverage of something or other.

Smooth(ish) Sailing

2008-08-22T17:17:00.002-04:00

So it may take an ersatz five-for-five night for Carlos Delgado to sweep the Braves at Shea, but it apparently takes more than that to put together a blog post, and I'm quite sorry.

But, hey, don't you already have enough to be happy about, what with the 9-1 record in the last ten and the incredible starting pitching? You don't need my whining about Nick Evans' inability to take a walk, Carlos Beltran's power slump, and Duaner Sanchez's drop in velocity.

When Anderson Hernandez and Lastings Milledge are putting the heat on Philly in Philly, while Jimmy "THE UNDISPUTED MVP" Rollins is putting the heat on himself in the very same, how can things get better?

How about two errors for the Holy Father of Shea Jones alongside a handful of balls he and fellow disliked Brave Kelly Johnson just couldn't quite reach?

Dayenu, it would have been enough, but the Yankees make it even sweeter! They lost 14-3 to the Blue Jays, they're double digits behind the division-leading Rays, and running six games back in the Wild Card.

Do things get any better right now for the Mets fan dabbling in schadenfreude?

Ryan Church comes back tonight, and Johan Santana is taking the hill. Now there's something to get excited about.

SNY, Knowing AL West Baseball Since... Never

2008-08-09T21:46:00.003-04:00

Perhaps this doesn't fall under my purview, but from tonight's broadcast, your AFLAC Trivia Question:

What [sic] is the last team to have an infield with each player hitting 20+ HR in the same season?

The answer, which, admittedly, I did not know, is the 2005 Texas Rangers. If I recall correctly, they weren't much of a pitching ballclub, but they could hit.

In any event, Gary Cohen and Ron Darling attempted to guess those infielders with the sterling accolades:

Ron: Teixeira.
Gary: Teixeira. Young. Kinsler.
Ron: A-Rod.
Gary: He would be good.
Ron: Blalock.

Let's sort this out.

Mark Teixeira is correct - he is good at hitting home runs. He had 43 of them for the 2005 Rangers while playing first base.

Michael Young, the Texas shortstop not renowned for his power, would also be correct - he had 24 taters.

Hank Blalock, the recently injury-riddled third baseman, did hit 25 home runs for that team as well.

Now here's where it gets interesting:

Ian Kinsler, currently the Rangers' second baseman, made his major league debut in 2006, a full year after this powerful infield's prominence, and in that year he hit only 14 home runs. He hit 20 in 2007.

A-Rod is a great guess - after all, he won the MVP in 2005! Surely he must have hit 20 homers! In fact, he hit 48, playing for the New York Yankees, for his second year. Anyone who followed baseball might have remembered the 2004 ALCS, which happened to feature A-Rod. So, yeah, Ron, about two years late on that one. It's not like you're a baseball analyst for a New York team, or even make appearances as an analyst on national TV.

And, of course, you guys strangely agreed on an infield of five men, only three of whom played for the Texas Rangers in 2005 – you might have left out that homer-hungry former Hiroshima Carp legend Alfonso Soriano, who walloped 36 dingers in his second and final season in Texas.

Hey, it wasn't like Soriano was traded to a team in the Mets' division right before 2005 - and Ron Darling certainly wasn't the Nationals' analyst before becoming getting the SNY gig, or anything.

Keep up the good work, guys.

We're Moving Into The 21st Century!!

2008-08-05T18:56:00.002-04:00

We now have a mobile site:

http://crosstownrivals.mofuse.mobi

for those of you who need a fix at all hours of the day.

(Though judging by the Mets lately, if you have a fix, I'd say rehab is a stop in your future.)

Move Along, Nothing to See Here

2008-07-31T23:32:00.003-04:00

The Mets didn't do anything today. They did less than the Yankees, even, who after acquiring one beloved former Met (the X-Man), were hungry for another (last graph, obvs).

Instead, the sellers had this club in a holding pattern, asking the Mets for hard-throwing lefty Jon Niese or human tool-shed Fernando Martinez in exchange for crummy used goods, like Raul Ibanez.

The Mets couldn't acquire a difference-maker for the corner outfield spots or for the bullpen without surrendering serious talent, it seems. And, hell, they couldn't even acquire a non-difference maker without surrendering something substantial.

Desperate times call for desperate measures: Omar even tried to grab Luis Ayala, in hopes of reassembling his Expos squad in Flushing.

ASIDE: How has no one pointed this out yet? As Mets GM, Omar has acquired Brian Schneider, Ryan Church, Endy Chavez, El Duque, Fernando Tatis, Claudio Vargas, Tony Armas, Ron Calloway, Wil Cordero, and Val Pascucci, all of whom were his subjects at one point when he was master of the most useless domain in baseball?

Today, he tried to acquire Luis Ayala! The same Luis Ayala of the 5.54 ERA and 1.49 WHIP! He is actually trying to recapture the glory of those Expos days, when Matt Loughlin would eat french fries with cheese curd (it's called poutine!; right) and Fran Healy and Ted Robinson would lull us to sleep telling us how sneaky-delicious those fries were, while Eric Valent hit for the cycle.

Good times - who knew they were being reassembled beneath our nose at Shea? If it's any luck, Brad Wilkerson will soon be patrolling a corner outfield spot. Or maybe Peter Bergeron will. On second thought, Bergeron will probably be running the poutine stand at ShittyField. I'm sure there will be one.

--END OF ASIDE--

In any event, we Mets fans should be mildly pleased that the team made no moves.

While Manny would have been a welcome addition, the Mets have no prospects, outside of Martinez, who would be capable of even carrying Andy LaRoche's jockstrap. And while LaRoche (and the heretofore unheralded Bryan Morris) may seem to be quite a mild price for a masher of Manny's caliber, there always exists the possibility that Jeff Kent will be dead at Ramirez's hand by the end of the season.

I've already reserved FreeManny.com to secure funds for his legal defense.* (Actually, this is not true. Please don't register this website. You will have stolen my idea - consider investing in KentHadItComing.com)

In any event, there really wasn't that much out there for the Mets. Considering that Griffey wouldn't have waived any clause to come here (and he's only a minimal upgrade anyway), and that the price for Bay was so high, it looks like the Mets did the right thing by standing pat.

Placidity was a theme in the NL East today, as the Marlins acquired but Arthur Rhodes, while the Phillies only have that Blanton deal to go on. While both teams had previously been mentioned as potential homes for ManRam, his incurable psychosis (if he's on your team, this may be called "Manny Being Manny," or, alternatively, fun-loving attitude) may have scared them away.

In fact, it makes sense that the Dodgers' Ned Colletti was the only GM in baseball ultimately able to swing a trade for Manny - Colletti's methodology for acquiring players involves a simple set of questions:

1) Was he good five years ago?
2) If you answered yes to the first question, acquire him. If no, could he be described as either "gritty" or "a gamer"?
3) If you answered yes to the second question, acquire him. If no, did he ever play for the Devil Rays?
4) If you answered yes to the third question, acquire him. If no, is he Ramon Martinez?

The Dodgers have done everything possible to take at-bats away from James Loney, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp in that outfield – and by everything possible, I mean Andruw Jones' 218 PA of .167/.268/.250 and Juan Pierre's 311 PA of .279/.325/.316 baseball out of a corner outfield position.

Angel Berroa is also logging time at short with a line of .204/.260/.247, but hey, he won Rookie of the Year only a few years back!

While it won't take much to win the NL West, I'm still terribly excited for the pissing match that will ensue over the next couple months. Even though the Dodgers have Manny, that team is still managed by veteran-loving Joe Torre with Colletti calling the roster shots upstairs. Here's to hoping Manny rides pine for the rest of the year after refusing to cut his braids and Casey Blake grinds out his career 106 OPS+ in a corner outfield spot opposite Juan Pierre.

In any event, the Mets didn't bite on any offers and still have Fernando Martinez, Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Dan Murphy, Nick Evans, Mike Carp and Raul Casanova (wouldn't have been able to cope had we traded him.)

What's nice is that this team is no less equipped to win tomorrow than it was yesterday, even if that game didn't turn out so well. It wasn't like trading Nady for Bert, Kazmir for VZ, or doing anything that would give Luis Castillo a larger share of the team's at-bats. The Mets haven't changed, for better or for worse.

Playing With Fire

2008-07-29T00:30:00.002-04:00

Sure, it was crushing.

But this game, unfortunately, was lost on Saturday night.

Sure, one might say that the Mets squandered the lead twice in this game – and that it's hard to lambaste the team when the starting pitcher went fewer than five innings because of an injury – but this one was really over Saturday night.

You might remember Saturday night's - well, maybe Sunday morning's - Mets game, a 14-inning thriller chock full of comebacks, contributions from journeymen, and guys on base (even if the Mets couldn't drive them in.) They lost, 10-8, to the Cardinals, when a dog-tired Aaron Heilman served up a two-run shot in the top of the 14th to Albert Pujols. He's good.

That game, in which the starter, Brandon Knight, only went five innings, really set the tone for tonight's matchup. For, you see, that game taxed the Mets' most effective reliever of late, oddly enough Aaron Heilman (in fact, this space hammered him for an almost identical incident last year).

Heilman, with Duaner Sanchez's arm acting like it's in a Miami cab, Pedro Feliciano turning into a rancid pumpkin (in July, batters have been hitting .409 against him, and he's already served up more homers this year than he has in either of the past two), and Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis only ROOGY and LOOGY at their bests, and Carlos Muniz and Willie Collazo being Carlos Muniz and Willie Collazo is now this pen's non-Wagner ace, or N.W.A. (I am sure I am the only one who finds this joke funny.)

Heilman, though, was treated on Saturday like Darren Oliver in 2006, or Aaron Sele of 2007 - he was the LONG MAN. And as the LONG MAN, one takes a pounding, knowing that he will not be called upon to pitch night after night. This individual may even have more than a week between appearances - which is not a bad thing, given that the infrequency of work for a long man means that starters are going deep into ballgames and that the Mets are taking care of things in regulation.

It's not hard to notice, though, that this bullpen, under Jerry Manuel, has contained no such figure. There are two situational pitchers, a closer with an iffy shoulder who occasionally has trouble controlling his slider and his mouth, a righty who spent more than a year out of baseball and is trying to find his gas, a lefty who appears to have hit some sort of wall after two years of nonstop contributions, and the warm body who knows the MSY (N'Awlins Airport) to LGA flight quite well. There is no once-great (or, well, for Sele and Oliver, once-average) starter who occasionally will be asked to make a pseudo-start if the game goes into extras or a starter can't give the team much.

Let me reiterate: this team has no long reliever.

Now, I titled this missive "Playing With Fire" because I do not believe this has to be the case. Jerry Manuel could, quite easily, designate Carlos Muniz his long man. Muniz would not make brief appearances early in ballgames, as he has been doing of late, only to give back leads. I know it hurts, Carlos, but it's something vaguely resembling the truth.

But would you believe me if I told you that Muniz, who has allegedly been the long man this season, has made no appearances of more than two innings? Not one.

Jorge Sosa, who was supposed to fill that role - before being released, made only one such appearance, in the second game of the season! Tony Armas, who might have been that player, made two appearances of less than two innings before being placed on the DL. Claudio Vargas, who was something of a long man, made two appearances of more than two innings - including one of great success after Ollie Perez's meltdown in San Fran. He, along with Nelson Figueroa - another potential longman, currently toils at AAA. Maybe Willie Collazo, currently on the roster due to Pedro Martinez's bereavement leave, could even be a long man.

Although not one of these men would likely contribute in the way that Oliver did while filling that role in 2006, any one of them would be an upgrade over "Oh, shit - this game's going into extras. We've used everyone but this guy, because we were trying to rest him after working plenty on consecutive days. Well, what choice do we have? Let's throw him out there!"

Hell, maybe the Mets could even trade for Manny or Teixeira - I hear they're available - and make one of them the long man. Even if they couldn't pitch well, it would still be nice to designate someone in that role.

Look at the number of relievers the Mets have used in their recent contests excluding Santana's (ill-advised) complete game:

7/22: 4
7/23: 3
7/24: 2
7/25: 4
7/26: 7
7/28: 5

Keeping in mind that there are only seven relievers on a team, how is this kind of usage pattern sustainable? That question becomes even tougher in road games, when a manager will not use his closer without a lead.

Manuel is more aggressive than Randolph; we knew that when he was coming in. But his aggression with the bullpen cost the Mets this game – if one only makes the conservative assumption that a well-rested Aaron Heilman would have been better than Muniz, Smith, Schoeneweis and Co.

Recall this game, last year. The Mets still had Billy Wagner ready to go to slam the door in the 17th! Against the Cardinals on Saturday, Oliver Perez was warming up in the 14th.

Certainly, the Mets' bullpen is going through tough times right now. Smith is hitting a wall, perhaps, as is Sanchez, and Feliciano hasn't been able to get anyone out for over a month. Carlos Muniz is not a capable major league pitcher, and Billy Wagner won't be pitching eighth innings because no one else can.

The problem is not that starters aren't going deep into games (ARGH, THESE BABIES WITH THEIR PITCH COUNTS! SATCHEL PAIGE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HIS OWN BIRTHDATE! MORDECAI BROWN HAD THREE FINGERS! OLD HOSS RADBOURN THREW 678 INNINGS IN A SEASON!), but that the bullpen isn't getting anyone out (and is giving up plenty of runs), and Manuel is managing aggressively to keep the Mets in these games.

Problem is, managing aggressively means you sometimes have to pitch Aaron Heilman until his arm falls off, even though you know it will hurt the team.

Managing while paying due attention to the bullpen wouldn't be all that difficult, though - it means getting lots of innings out of Carlos Muniz (or whoever the long man will be) and perhaps in the process conceding a less important game and saving the bullpen for the next contest, or, if the game is still definitely within reach, charging ahead with all hands on deck.

But the Mets can't have it both ways.

ADDENDA: This is the second straight post within which I have spoken about debunking the philosophy of the Met manager. I love Jerry, just so you're sure. But I will depart from the discussion of baseball philosophy to plead for a few things:

1) Scott Schoeneweis is a situational lefty. Lefties are hitting .149 against him; righties .309. In his inning of work tonight, he faced one left-handed batter (whom he should have retired if not for David Wright's premature sprint to third), out of seven total. I know there were pinch hitters and the like, but he is not on this team to face right-handed batters (again, this speaks to the problem of a short-handed bullpen, but I'll move on.)

2) Schoeneweis is a better situational left-handed reliever than Pedro Feliciano. We knew that going into the season, provided we believed that Schoeneweis was truly injured last year and for that reason he pitched poorly. However, Pedro Feliciano was expected to do well against left-handed and right-handed batters, as he had both last year and the year before. That has not been the case. Pedro has been unable to retire righties of late - which might explain this news that the Tigers have been looking into snagging Schoeneweis. If this is the real Feliciano, then the two cannot peacefully coexist in that bullpen. There is only enough room for one situational lefty. Although your author would prefer Schoeneweis be the one to stay, his value is probably greater to interested teams.

3) Cannot the Mets acquire a reliever? Moreso than an outfield bat, a set-up man would be a welcome acquisition, it appears. While your author fondly remembers previous midseason relief acquisitions that have proved a little less than fruitful (Mel Rojas, Steve Reed - for Jason Bay, Billy Taylor - for Jason Isringhausen, Roberto Hernandez's Act II - the lacking success of which I forecasted correctly here, save for the Perez stuff), this corps simply cannot be trusted. Perhaps relief (intended, obvs.) comes from within: in the form of Jon Niese or Bobby Parnell, power arms that could be converted to bullpen help for the stretch. The Mets have Eddie Kunz, too, a former college closer ready to contribute. Maybe former Philly legend Eude Brito brings some help. But this bullpen, in its current state, ain't goin' nowhere.

4) What is up with this three catchers thing? I presume Manuel's still carrying three catchers because either Castro or Cancel is a better pinch-hitting option than Chris Aguila or Val "I'll be honest. Who is he?" Pascucci. But Castro has had four at-bats as a pinch-hitter this year. 4. Sure, he's probably been double-switched in a few times - and therefore not technically a pinch-hitter, but the fact remains that Manuel isn't using his third catcher to give Castro at-bats off the bench... he's using Castro as a third catcher (on days when he's not starting) to get Robinson Cancel at-bats! Cancel has 8 pinch-hit ABs, despite having been on the roster quite a lot less than Castro has. I'm not going to make an argument that Castro should be the everyday catcher - he's in too poor shape for it to ever happen. But, Jerry, let me plead: if the Mets are to carry three catchers (thereby hamstringing the rest of the bench), can it at least be designed to give ol' BigHead some extra at-bats, and not SlightlySmallerHead Cancel some plate appearances to write a fairytale?

5) Manny? I think Manny would be a good fit - I really do. And for the first time ever on WFAN, I even heard an intriguing potentially feasible trade proposal: Manny and Jacoby Ellsbury to the Mets for Carlos Beltran. The Mets would probably be asked for a little more in that hypothetical deal, but I digress. Its feasibility gives me pause. To get Manny, this would not be a simple trade - regardless of how much of a clubhouse cancer the slugger is, and despite the boatload of money still owed to him (including two option years he might want the new team to pick up) – the Red Sox have hopes of repeating as World Series champs and would need a player of Beltran's caliber in return. Prospects would be of no use to them. My gut would tell me that Beltran, who has a full no-trade clause, would not want to go to Boston. And if giving up Beltran seems a tough pill to swallow, imagine losing the only other comparables: Wright, or Reyes. The Mets wouldn't benefit on the field from trading either one (and it would be an off-field nightmare), and moving Beltran would be only slightly better. While this author has a sneaking suspicion that other potential tradebait (ie Fernando Martinez) is tremendously overhyped and will not be an elite major leaguer, the Red Sox should not be interested in prospects at all. So we must wait. Perhaps he comes here as a free agent this offseason, though your author would prefer another lumbering free-agent left fielder: Patrick Brian Burrell.

END OF ADDENDA

On the whole, though, there's a lot to like about this team. Despite two blown ones from the bullpen out of the last three, first place is still theirs - at least until tomorrow.

Tuesday night's matchup: Oliver Perez (6-6, 4.15 ERA) goes against Scott Olsen (6-5, 4.07 ERA), in the Dolphin Tank in front of a few thousand fishmongers. 7:10 p.m. is your start. If you have an unaddressed fetish for mercurial (read: immature) lefthanders, this is a must-watch game. This author hopes the two will have been in fisticuffs by the third inning.

Symbalta

2008-07-28T00:26:00.005-04:00

The Mets' acquisition of Johan Santana was largely symbolic.

Sure, there was that whole acquiring arguably the best pitcher in baseball thing - but in looking at how the Santana trade was viewed by Mets fans and pressfolk - it was a symbolic trade.

Johan going to the Mets, rather than the Red Sox or Yankees? Symbolic - there's a new sheriff in town.

Omar Minaya nabbing Johan with dogged persistence, and doing so without giving up Fernando Martinez or Mike Pelfrey? Symbolic - in him we had lost confidence after fumbling away Brian Bannister and an entire relief corps; now, it was In Omar We Trust all over again.

The Mets managing to get a negotiating window with Santana, and then signing him to that big deal? Symbolic - big-money signings since the Minaya regime came into power notwithstanding, there were still some who complained that the Wilpons were not willing to open up their checkbook, and there they were inking an elite pitcher to a big money, long term deal.

So, why, then, is Johan still treated like a symbol?

Sure, I know they won (handily), and everything, making them 15-4 in their last 19 and giving them some momentum heading into the Dolphin Tank, but there was something not to like about Johan today.

He pitched great, having exceptional pitch economy while limiting hits for the first chunk of the ballgame. It looked, for a while, like he would have more hits than he gave up.

But then Santana started to run out of gas in the seventh - the Mets were up by plenty, and he served up a near homer to Ryan Ludwick before serving up an actual homer to Phat Albert. It was fine, he set the Cardinals down in the eighth. His day should have been over.

What is that, you say? Contrarianism? How dare you?

Johan Santana went out and pitched the ninth inning. He finished it, gave up some hits in that inning, and gathered his final out on the 118th pitch of the day. He had retired 27 batters in one game, the highest total posted since Oliver Perez's immortal second-half of a doubleheader showing against Atlanta in September 2006. (Dave Williams had started the first game. He was better than Ollie then.)

But he threw too many pitches doing it. It's one thing to ask someone to throw that many pitches in a playoff game, or even in a close game, where the gassed starter is a much better option than the reliever likely to get the call.

It's quite another when the Mets have six and a half more years of Santana, at a steep price, and are up by seven runs on the Cardinals in bad weather. Willie Collazo, no matter how much he is Willie Collazo, easily could have pitched the ninth en route to a painless victory.

This victory won't be painless, though. Johan's more likely to be injured now than he was before this start, and it doesn't help that his velocity dropped after a non-taxing season in Minnesota last year. Sure, his number of pitches per start is roughly the same as it has been for the last few years, but that, according to most research done on the topic, isn't the health risk.

Johan has thrown or exceeded 110 pitches in a start eight times this season.

In his previous full seasons as a starter, he has done the same this many times:

2007: 6
2006: 4
2005: 6
2004: 7

We're not even into August, and Santana has extended himself more in starts than ever before. Today, the reason for doing this was wholly symbolic. The game was won, and the taxed bullpen had relief, even if it happened to come in the form of Willie Collazo (though the bullpen would have preferred a suppository.)

Baseball Prospectus found Johan Santana to be the 26th most-abused starter in baseball, measured by total Pitcher Abuse Points. Imagine what happens in the wake of this effort.

The Mets aren't stupid - Santana, in fact, is the only Met pitcher in the top 30, while noted crusty ol' baseball men like Lou Piniella and Charlie Manuel each have two pitchers in the top 15 (is it any wonder Carlos Zambrano always seems to have a DL stint and Brett Myers is out of gas? They're both up there. Good news, too - Cole Hamels is #7... just wait until his arm falls off.)

So why do they kowtow to goofy WFAN hosts/callers, and this woman (left) (writing here), and other idiots from the peanut gallery?

She wrote a book about Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, which apparently makes her qualified to determine the physiology of pitching.

I wrote a book about the Prague Spring, and yet I don't claim to know anything about women's tennis.

Ed.: Yes, he does. And Kundera's lawyers, please look away.

The Mets lost on Tuesday not because of Johan Santana, but because of an inept cast of characters who toil in the Shea bullpen. That is obvious. The fact that Santana did not pitch the ninth has nothing to do with Sanchez, Feliciano, Smith & Co.'s inability to retire anyone.

The argument for Johan to finish that game could have been made thusly: he's the team's best pitcher - and his inning, regardless of how many pitches he's thrown, would be better than the bullpen's; we want to avoid using Wagner; Feliciano's been struggling lately; something like that.

Nowhere in arguing for Santana to pitch that ninth would one bring up the following things:
1) He's getting paid $137.5 million.
2) He has a seven-year contract.
3) He's thrown 105 pitches.

And yet, those were the hindsight crew's points about why he should have pitched the ninth! He's getting paid all of this money - he should be out there pitching every day! He's got seven years of salary coming to him - he should earn his damn keep! He's thrown 105 pitches - come on! Juan Marichal threw 220-something to beat Warren Spahn! Or was that Pedro Astacio...?

The money spent on Santana is an investment, and the seven years granted in his deal are a reflection on the Mets' hope that he will keep up his current pace. Johan should not be treated like a rag doll just because of his contract.

And all of this thinking about Tuesday and its wake brings me to today, when Johan Santana willingly engaged in that which shall be called "arm harm."

Jerry's Kids gave into all of this hot air spewed from the media this week, and Johan first among them. Manuel and Warthen asked him if he was okay to throw all of those pitches, and he said yes. And while this blogger does not doubt that Santana felt confident in the instant of throwing those pitches (after all, he uses J.R. Watkins Apothecary Liniment), it is certain that the Mets just absorbed plenty of risk for zero reward.

What does the team gain from the CG next to Santana's name on the box score? Momentum? Ha!

Earl Weaver said, "Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher." It's John Maine, facing Ricky Nolasco, by the way.

Does one really believe that had Santana left after eight innings, and Willie Collazo done all he could have not to surrender seven runs, that the Mets would have a better chance of winning on Monday in Florida?

Can one honestly think that John Maine is going to pitch especially well tomorrow, now that Johan's gone deep into the game?

In fact, Maine's last especially good start really generated plenty of momentum for the next day's pitcher. Look at that line: 7 2/3 innings, one hit, no runs, 14 strikeouts.

If momentum exists, think about the kind of show that the next day's starting pitcher put on.

(I'm quite sorry I had to bring this up, by the way. Devastated, in fact. I know that I'm a Mets fan first, and a stathead second, but the overwhelming contention that some intangible effect of Santana's abuse would help this team has driven me to crazy things.)

Simply put, Johan Santana did The Job Of An Ace™ today, but there was no need to extend him through the ninth, especially after all of the times he's been extended earlier this year. He does not have a rubber arm, and whatever rubbery things exist in his arm will wear down on the Mets' dime if the team continues to batter him like they have so far.

When the Mets acquired Johan, it meant a lot of different things. It helped turn the tide for this team after an embarrassing collapse in 2007.

But he's here now. When all's said and done, he will most likely have made more starts as a Met than as a Twin, where he fashioned two Cy Young Awards and collected the bulk of his now 101 career victories.

Mets fans are smart enough to know that Johan Santana is right now way more than a symbol, way more than a device. He's ours, for the long haul. Let's treat him like it.

LINK: This article on Pitcher Abuse Points might be useful to you.

Was There Any Doubt?

2008-07-15T23:19:00.002-04:00

It's the bottom of the eighth inning in the All-Star Game. Home field advantage is at stake.

Was there any doubt who would give back the NL lead?

None whatsoever.

Billy "Big-Game" Wagner is your once and future culprit. Get used to this, if you weren't already.

"They Win the Fuckin' Thing!"

2008-07-08T00:09:00.001-04:00

In the words of Bob Murphy... wait, did I mishear him?

Pedro

2008-07-07T16:34:00.005-04:00

Pedro Martinez isn't the Mets' ace, anymore. That title, for the foreseeable future, belongs to Johan Santana, although an old friend is making waves across town.

But he can pitch like it tonight.

Pedro was really only the Mets' ace for that woefully underrated 2005 season, where he wowed stat folks (a ridiculous .949 WHIP) and goofy old traditionalists (4 complete games) in the way only he could. By 2006, his hip was cranky, and then his shoulder exploded - and we grew to love an aceless club.

2007 was lost, for the most part, and 2008 has been Pedro's worst showing to date, with really very few mitigating factors. He's not striking anyone out, he's walking well more than usual, giving up more hits, and more home runs than ever before.

Really, the only thing that could make us have any faith in Pedro is that he's been throwing hard - harder than last year, certainly, and harder than much of his brief 2006 work.
And, well, that he's Pedro. Armed with freakishly long fingers, and at various times a (now deceased) pint-sized Dominican horror film actor, at left, a Jheri-curl, and roosters to cockfight with Juan Marichal - he has managed to be perhaps the most dominant pitcher in the history of baseball, leading everyone in ERA+ (a park-adjusted, league-adjusted figure).

Now, tonight, he takes the hill for the Mets in what, regrettably, is a very serious game. We don't like playing serious games this early in the season, but when a team has been as disappointing as this club has, sometimes it's necessary.

Pedro has a checkered past in these matches: one might remember his six no-hit relief innings to clinch the 1999 ALDS, or perhaps his start in early April 2005, with the Mets 0-5 and facing John Smoltz in Atlanta: 9 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 9 strikeouts.

But an anti-Pedro pundit might offer his eighth-inning meltdown against the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS - although it's primarily blamed on Grady Little, Pedro gave back a three-run lead with a chance to clinch a World Series spot for the Sox.

And hell, Pedro is now physically nowhere near the pitcher he was in any of those games. His stuff has changed, too: more cutters, more sliders, fewer curveballs. And Pedro's cutter has recently appeared to be a special variety: the meatball cutter.

But then again, he's Pedro. He still has the ability to power this team, due to his still quite good repertoire, and his fearlessness on the mound. Tonight will be his first test - as this game is far more important than a rainy affair against the Cardinals. The Cardinals don't matter. They won't be an obstacle to the Mets' postseason chances (though given their 2006 comeback and Joel Pineiro's 2007 stunner, maybe I'll eat my words), while the Phillies, moreso than any other club, ought to be.

Tonight, Pedro, slayer of demons, faces Adam Eaton, slayer of Mets. Eaton is 5-0 career against the Mets, with an ERA against them a run and a half below his career average.

The Mets won with Eaton on the hill in April, in a twelve-inning affair, but lost to him a few weeks later (despite his poor performance: 4 runs in 5 innings).

It may appear to be just another early-July game against the Phillies, one that the Mets can lose and still split the series, but we all know it's far more pivotal than that. The Mets, with a win, can push themselves over .500. And, sure, momentum might be overrated, but who wouldn't want to be winners of three straight with the Rockies and Giants coming to town before the break? Those teams are a combined thirty games under .500.

So here's to Pedro being Pedro. We all know what he can do - now it's time to see it.

-------------

Some Notes/Links:

David Wright is trailing in the Final Vote for the All-Star Game. Trailing Corey Hart. I quit.
Ryan Church has a headache. Uh-oh.
Mike Lupica gets it about Jose Reyes and Captain Clutch. But guess which one's on the All-Star team?
Thumbs-up to Keith Law and Joe Sheehan (subscription required), who have seen the light on the All-Star front. As for me, I'm purchasing my ninth Derek Jeter All-Star jersey.

The Players Can Suck It

2008-07-06T14:54:00.005-04:00

All-Star Voting really isn't meaningful. I know that. And the Mets have been the beneficiary of some generous fan voting in recent years.

But the most recent selections are a disgusting travesty. And the guys to the right are pissed off (or should be).

Not only are Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano starting outfielders (Soriano ranks ninth among NL left fielders! in VORP, and Fukudome ranks seventh among NL right fielders! in VORP), but Miguel Tejada (8th among all NL shortstops in VORP) is making an appearance on the team as a reserve over the much more deserving Jose Reyes, Rafael Furcal, and (DARE I SAY IT!) Jimmy Rollins.

Aramis Ramirez ranks third at third in the NL in VORP, but some Met who ranks second by a wide margin (both in front of Ramirez and behind Larry Jones) has to make the team via the fan vote.

Ryan Ludwick, who, as we recently saw him in St. Louis, is now in an outfield platoon, made the team over a much more deserving Pat Burrell, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady. (what's in that water in Pittsburgh?) And, yes, I could talk about Cristian Guzman making the team, but as the only National, we'll cut him some slack.

And onto the pitching staff, where more travesties abound.

Some fellow named Johan Santana ranks ninth among NL starting pitchers in VORP (better than Ryan Dempster, who's 13th, but still on the team, and the sixteenth-ranked Brandon Webb, who's been struggling mightily lately.) Non-pick Tim Hudson ranks seventh and also has a legitimate gripe.

In the relief pitcher selection, the Mets were unnecessarily rewarded - Wagner should not have been selected as the token Met. He ranks 26th among NL relievers in WXRL, a stat measuring how many wins a reliever is worth over a replacement level player, smack-dab between Tyler Walker and the equally overrated Jose Valverde.

EDIT (7:47 PM): He also really, really, really sucks. Like, a lot. He really sucks.

Brad Lidge ranks first, and made the team. San Fran's Brian Wilson ranks second, and also joined the club. Kerry Wood? Well, he ranks 22nd.

If one knows me at all, it's pretty easy to discern that I'm not a huge fan of the Cubs, how their players perpetually receive undue adulation. That's the case again this year. The team is good - but the individual players that comprise it really aren't all that great.

The Cubs win because the team lacks a great weakness - replacement level hacks are by and large no longer eating up plenty of innings (Ronny Cedeno, anyone?) – and not because of all their stellar individual contributors.

So the MLB players who voted for all of those Cubs? They can suck it. Clint Hurdle can suck it too. (Unless, of course, he brings some Mets onto the team as replacements.)

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

2008-07-05T19:29:00.007-04:00

This blog is mostly used for whining about the Mets. And it's July, and there's plenty to whine about.

But allow me to say goodbye to Jaromir Jagr, easily one of the most important players in the history of the New York Rangers, an Original Six team lacking a recent dynasty or long list of elite players.

More importantly for me, too young to be aware of the 1994 Cup, I rooted for the Rangers despite the fact that they were nearly the Yankees of hockey, minus the postseason success. Beginning with Gretzky's penultimate season, the team didn't make a playoff appearance for seven straight years, despite all of the great stars appearing on Broadway (limited run only!): John Muckler (behind the bench), Pat LaFontaine, Mike Knuble, Mathieu Schneider, Petr Nedved, Theo Fleury, Valeri Kamensky, Alexandre Daigle, Mark Messier (Part II), Eric Lindros, Vladimir Malakhov, Bryan Berard, Pavel Bure, Martin Rucinsky, Tom Poti, Bobby Holik, Alex Kovaley (Part II), Greg De Vries, Boris Mironov and Anson Carter.

I list Carter last, because on January 24, 2004, the Rangers acquired Jaromir Jagr and cash from the Capitals in exchange for Carter, and that's where the Rangers' luck began to change.

The acquisition of Jagr seemed somewhat predictable for the Rangers, a team that had tried to add as many talented players as possible, no matter the chemistry between them, no matter their disinclination to play defense, no matter their large salaries – and failed to attend to the pressing matters of defense and goaltending (Mike Dunham was the netminder for that '03-'04 team; Dale Purinton managed to log 40 games).

But Jagr was different. All of the players the Rangers had previously acquired were a notch below elite, had some mitigating factor that made them so easy to acquire: Lindros' concussions, Fleury's love of drugs, Bure's knees. And there were, it seems, some knocks on Jagr - he was a bit of a diva, perhaps had some gambling problems, and had seemed to quit while Washington aggressively tried to trade him.

But he came to the Rangers, soon to be coached by Tom Renney (after Glen Sather decided he didn't want the bench), and the fallen superstar seemed to find his way. Nearly the entire team was shipped off within a few months (save for Messier and Holik), but Jagr still managed some sort of success in that lost season: 15 goals and 14 assists in 31 games.

And with that, the team took to the lockout, and Jagr became acquainted with a lovely little Siberian outlet named Avangard Omsk, after 17 games with the Czech team Kladno, owned by his father (Jaromir Sr.), where he posted 28 points in 17 games.

Omsk GM Anatoly Bardin, who I imagine looks like this fellow on my right, would become a central figure in engineering Jagr's departure from New York, using a mixture of dogged pursuit, Alexei Cherepanov, and (I imagine) polonium to eventually lure the erstwhile superstar to the permafrost.

But Jagr's departure is certainly not the most important element of his Rangers tenure.

What was, though, was the post-lockout season. The Rangers had been reshaped, but at the same time, evidently decimated. They were heading into the season with Jagr as the lone star - flanked only by veterans Martin Straka and Michael Nylander, who had become the team's top pivot after Bobby Holik was bought out. The rest of the forward corps included Marian Hossa's little brother, Marcel, Steve Rucchin, Martin Rucinsky, Ville Nieminen, Jasons Ward and Strudwick, and the Hollweg-Moore-Ortmeyer unit.

The team was to be backstopped by Kevin Weekes.

I remember opening night 2005. Even though I was at school in Massachusetts, I tuned into the game - hoping to see what the new OLN coverage was like, and trying to see the first game of what would undoubtedly be an 0-82 season. Where were the stars? Where was the scoring? Where was the defense?

The Rangers were playing the Flyers, armed with their new post-lockout star Peter Forsberg, who would have been heavily sought after by the pre-lockout Rangers. The Rangers were down 3-2 going into the third period. And then Jagr scored a power play goal. They had tied the game.

Then he scored another. The Rangers went on to win, 5-3, setting a tone for the season: the league would have more penalties, therefore more power plays, and therefore more stretches in which other teams would have to fear the force that was Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr, too, was backed by a bevy of Czechs: newcomers Prucha, Straka, Marek Malik and Michal Rozsival, and midseason acquisition Petr Sykora.

Some other defining games that season: Marek Malik's between-the-legs shoot-out goal, Jagr's hat-trick in a 6-1 win at Pittsburgh, the 5-4 overtime win in St. Louis, and Petr Prucha making a name for himself by beating Martin Brodeur in the shoot-out.

The Rangers that season witnessed an exceptional performance from Jagr (54 G, 69 A - creating team records in goals and points), and the birth of King Henrik. But unfortunately that team's storyline must be its pre- and post-Olympic performances. During the Olympics, the King backstopped Sweden to a championship and Jarkko Ruutu drove Jagr's face into the boards.

The team had won six straight in February going into the games in Torino, but went 1-6 immediately after the Games. Lundqvist looked low on gas. Jagr had slowed as well. Weekes soon had to take some goaltending duty from the King, and the team lost five straight heading into the playoffs.

Nevertheless, the feelings were good - after all, the Rangers had plenty of good moments that season. The team would have time to regroup itself before the playoffs. All would be good.

Instead, they were embarrassed in a sweep by the Devils that really was over after Game 1, a 6-1 romp in which the team allowed five power play goals and Jagr dislocated his shoulder trying to punch Scott Gomez. Without Jagr, the Rangers were powerless. Also, they had Sandis Ozolinsh, who scored at least five own goals - after consuming well more than five shots - during that series.

So the offseason came. We were suddenly worried about Jagr. Whither his shoulder?

In a word, not really. His point production was down by 27, despite adding weapons on the power-play (Brendan Shanahan, Matt Cullen), and even though he was scoring fewer goals and appeared slightly averse to shooting, his passing was as crisp as ever. Nylander had an 83-point campaign and Straka had 29 goals.

Henrik, despite some fleeting hiccups, had a stellar sophomore campaign, and the Rangers, buoyed by the deadline acquisition of Sean Avery, went on a late-season run into the playoffs, during the first round of which they swept the Atlanta Thrashers, putting their previous failures behind themselves. Against Buffalo, the team faltered, though, delivering a crushing mix of hope and despair.

Funnily enough, the chief culprit in that series was Chris Drury, marking consecutive years in which Gomez and Drury shattered Ranger fans' playoff hopes.

So, logically, come July 1, the two were both Rangers (at Nylander's expense, despite his great postseason), and Jagr's stewardship of the club was clearly beginning to come to a close.

The 2007-08 season was more bitter than sweet for number 68, who failed to mesh with Gomez or Drury on the ice. Not only was Jagr not scoring (he had only 25 goals, the lowest total of his career - even including the work-stoppage-shortened 1994-95 season, and his lowest point total since that season), the team wasn't scoring.

Moreover, Jagr's inability to score meant that his pre-lockout contract would terminate at the end of the year. The Rangers had scored a sweet deal, with the Capitals footing a large part of the bill on the rolled-back contract. But that deal would come to an end when Jagr failed to score 84 points, meaning that his presence on the Rangers in 2008-09 would no longer be a sure thing.

The team scored exactly 2.5 goals per game, sixth to last in the league. Henrik was great again, so the lack of scoring couldn't ultimately doom the club, but the cracks in the post-lockout Rangers were starting to show. Jagr was no longer feared, but instead debated. Was he pacing himself? Was he giving his all?

Jagr was eventually working on a line with Brandon Dubinsky and Sean Avery, reminding Ranger fans of the previous season, when he would occasionally work with Marcel Hossa and Brad Isbister. The problem, though, with the aforementioned line, was that it was the Rangers' first line. Come season's end, Drury was grinding on a unit with Ryan Callahan and Brendan Shanahan was banging bodies on the fourth line. Like it or not, the captain's style was, by necessity, the Rangers' style, and if he couldn't work with either seven-million dollar center, they'd stick him with a kid (left) who looks like he's fourteen.

We didn't have an answer until the playoffs, when the Rangers were assigned their familiar foes to the South. The Rangers, as you may recall, beat the Devils in five games, with Jagr getting angry. Jay Pandolfo? Pandolwho?

Even when the Rangers lost in five to Pittsburgh, where their lack of team defense (and Sean Avery's importance to the team) became apparent as ever, Jagr was a tremendous force. He drew three penalties in the final game, despite referees calling the series overwhelmingly in the Penguins' favor.

And when Marian Hossa netted the goal that beat the Rangers in overtime, we didn't know who was more likely to be the Rangers' top right wing when this season rolled around. It could be Jagr or Hossa.

And as we all know now, it would be neither. (I think it's Nikolai Zherdev. Who knows, maybe it'll be Colton Orr?)

***

Evidently, this post has evolved as a post-mortem of the Jagr era rather than an essay on what he has meant to the Rangers. But the two are one and the same: this team evolved the way it did because of Jaromir Jagr's presence. He was the captain for the final two post-lockout years, and, despite being well past his physical prime, led the Rangers to three straight playoff appearances, after seven straight misses, and even won two series during that span.

Even though he will go down as the inferior player of the three, the aged Jagr did what Gretzky and Messier (Part II) couldn't in their tours on Broadway. Sure, he was younger when he took the team to the playoffs, but it would have been quite easy for Jagr to coast here. The team had been a failure, the fans had agitated for Glen Sather's ouster, and they still had failed to develop players from within. (Brief tangent: the dearth of forwards on next year's team means the Hugh Jessiman era might be upon us! He had 18 goals in Hartford last year!)

But Jagr, no matter the knocks that dogged him throughout his career, didn't quit. He, Tom Renney, and Henrik Lundqvist changed the tone of Rangers hockey in their three brief years as figureheads of this team. But not only did they change the team's tone, they made it pretty fun to watch. They were fast and furious, and Jagr (and, well, the dear departed Avery, right) were always there to provide a splash of wit.

Hell, Jagr left town telling former Islanders GM and now NBC hockey analyst Mike Millbury to "kiss my ass."

They de-Dolaned the Dolan Garden (large free-agent signings Gomez, Drury and Redden notwithstanding and still pending), and played with heart (think of all the fan-favorites born in the past few years, compared with only a few enemies: Poti, Malik and Aaron Ward), something that eludes some of their co-tenants - the Liberty play a tight game, though.

I'm not sure where the Rangers will go from here - the Redden signing is already scaring me, and I generally trust Sather - and Zherdev is far from a sure thing. Gomez and Drury are supposed to have bigger and better years, but there's no guarantee of that. Markus Naslund, too, would be lucky to have a season like Jagr's last campaign, an alleged disappointment.

But when I saw that Jagr's time with the Rangers was officially over, my feeling was not so much to think about what's ahead, but rather to think about what's not ahead. Jagr will not be a Ranger lifer, aging gracefully on Broadway until he's set enough records to make himself happy. I know he said he was headed to Kladno in two years anyway, but that he will spending those next two years in Siberia and not in New York makes me worry.

This feels distinctly different than Mike Piazza's final go-round with the Mets. Despite Piazza being longer-tenured on the Mets than Jagr on the Rangers, his departure felt right. Even if we were briefly melancholy, it was evident that Mike was washed up. Piazza was a three-win player (based on WARP) on those 2005 Mets, a far cry from his career peaks. The team was getting younger; Mike was not. And in order for that team to get better, the team had to take on a new catcher, and a new identity.

With Jagr, it doesn't feel like that. Sure, he posted his worst season in years, but was still by far the best player (excepting Henrik) on the team. He carried them during the playoffs. Moreover, Jagr stunned on the ice, not shooting like he did in 2005-06, but backchecking aggressively for the first time in his career, and still making exceptional moves only he could. No offense meant to the current Rangers squad, but not a single one of these players can perform as well Jagr did last year. There's no superstar on this team, and the biggest building block they have is Marc Staal - their offensive weapons are few and far between.

Jagr was not desperate for offers (Omsk was always offering him boatloads of Russian oil money, and Edmonton had a multi-year deal on the table), and Sather was not really desperate to bring Jagr back into the fray. After all, Sather must have reasoned, what use was there making sure he kept together the core of a team that had managed to finish middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference despite being touted as cup contenders for two straight preseasons? And Jagr figured, I'm sure, that there was no point returning to New York when the Rangers were taking strides toward a new direction and Anatoly Bardin was all over him like Madonna on A-Rod.

But perhaps, for all intents and purposes, that afternoon in Pittsburgh was The Last Night of the Ranger Dynasty - Buster Olney, eat your heart out. Sure, a stretch of three straight playoff appearances without an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals, let alone the Eastern Conference finals, doesn't seem like much of a dynasty. But how exactly do the Rangers plan to build around this new group of guys? [Insert Hugh Jessiman joke here. Oh, wait, we already used that one? How about an Al Montoya joke, then?]

I know I'm young and naive, and, according to ESPN, Jagr's deal with Omsk contains no out clauses – he must play the first two years of his deal there, without a doubt - but Sather did say in his farewell to Jagr conference, "... iIf things don't work out for him in Russia that he could call us back and we'll see what we can do." Wouldn't it be great to see him back on this team, at some point? I know I would welcome him back - and I'm sure the city would as well.

***

I guess the more apt comparison from Metland is that of this year's farewell to Shea Stadium. Like Jagr, it has its flaws, and at various points it hasn't served me very well. But there's something comfortable about being there. The Mets have won at Shea - maybe they haven't been tremendously successful there, but this team can play there. I can go see a game there. CitiField is unfamiliar. It's corporate, too - and don't believe what you might hear about naming rights potentially defraying costs.

Saying goodbye to Shea will be difficult, just as difficult as figuring out what to do now with my JAGR 68 jersey. I'll still wear it to games, but will it still hold the same significance? I played on an intramural ultimate frisbee team at school this year, and in an important game, despite the weather conditions nor the necessary range of motion being all that conducive to wearing a hockey jersey, I wore it anyway. It was the playoffs, and I had to channel Jagr, who against all odds was doing what I needed to do in that game. I had my best game of the season.

Maybe you couldn't tell it, but I love Jaromir Jagr. I wrote a European History paper on the Prague Spring, because I had heard that that was why Jagr wore number 68. I needed to learn more about it. Even better, Jagr, according to a 1992 Sports Illustrated article, kept a picture of Ronald Reagan in his notebook as a student, simply because he so admired Reagan and his anti-Communist policies. Thumbs up, Jags.

I've defended Jagr in every arena possible (and by that I mean at MSG and the TDBanknorth Garden, as well as in conversations with plenty of people), and it will most likely be tough for anyone to alienate me from my support of him.

He's gone now, and it will be tough for me to come to grips with that.

But hey, we'll always have Vancouver.

Opportunity

2008-07-04T23:41:00.003-04:00

The Mets had plenty of opportunities tonight, in what seemed to be an unfortunate redux of various parts of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons.

You can take Willie Randolph out of the clubhouse, but it still doesn't mean the Mets can hit a rookie left-hander. J.A. Happ didn't pitch all that well tonight, but one would not have been surprised to see the name "Kuo" on the back of his jersey.

But unlike previous clashes with the untested - and therefore, in Metland, dominant - rookie lefthanders, the Mets had Johan Santana on the mound, who this year has been a living testament to the irrelevance of wins and losses as a pitching statistic.

Santana pitched well. He pitched like Johan Santana was supposed to pitch, cruising through the Phillies' lineup, save for an unfortunate sixth inning (it happens).

The one gripe about Santana comes from the Mets' fifth - the big inning by the wayside. The Mets had the bases loaded, no one out, when Johan, he of the .200/.224/.308 career line (it's better than Marlon Anderson's 2008 campaign), came up to the plate. Johan's bat would be the Mets' secret weapon, allegedly, acquired in the trade with the Twins.

And he looked pretty good - working a 2-0 count from Happ, with nowhere to be put. Then he swung at a bad pitch, probably a ball. Then he swung at another bad pitch. 2-2. Then he popped it up in foul ground.

This was disappointing. While it came from a pitcher, the Mets ought to know that if the previous batter just walked, and the count is 2-0, one ought to take a pitch. Maybe even another.

So up came Reyes, he of the first inning appearance at third base with less than two outs (but not scoring), and he grounded out, earning the team a solitary run. Then Endy walked, and then Wright walked, driving in a run.

And then in came the scariest force of them all: Chad Durbin. No, not J.D. Durbin, who pitched for the Phillies last year (and beat Brian Lawrence in a fateful clash in August) but Chad Durbin, he of the 5.38 career ERA, and no relation to J.D.

The Mets, as they did last year, forced us to durb our enthusiasm. Beltran whiffed, Santana gave the lead back in the sixth, after Durbin struck out the side in the top of the inning and then two of three in the next frame.

Chad Durbin's line: 2.1 innings pitched, seven batters faced, six strikeouts, no hits or walks allowed.

Santana held the Phillies down for the seventh and eighth, while Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge did the same to Mets hitters in the eighth and ninth (a five-pitch inning for Lidge!). And we all know what Duaner did.

This game was not a crushing loss, as far as walk-offs go. The Mets lost with their set-up man on the hill, not Wagner. They weren't beaten by Rollins, Howard, or Burrell, but by Pedro Feliz and the Flyin' Hawaiian.

More than crushing, it was frustrating. The Mets' big, scary bats (Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Delgado) were on base twice: Wright walked once, as did Reyes. Beltran and Delgado combined for nothing but five strikeouts. Who knows, maybe it was an act of silent protest for Puerto Rican independence while Americans in the fifty states set off enough explosives to carpetbomb Greenland.

But this game was frustrating, as this team has been. Losing to the Cardinals with Carlos Muniz on the mound was frustrating, as was this. The Mets are playing seemingly sound baseball, and are winning almost every other game. But what's astonishing is that their wins lately have been romps, not nailbiters - while their two most recent losses have been via the walk-off.

Save for Maine's dead-arm loss to the Cardinals on Monday, the Mets have lost every loss in the last week by one run. Maybe it's a small sample size, but it's indicative of this team's inability to cash in on their opportunities, however limited they may be.

Against the Mariners, in that 8-2 win, they capitalized. In the 15-6 slaughter of the Yankees, they capitalized. In the 7-4 victory against St. Louis, they capitalized - and yesterday, against the same Cardinals, they capitalized.

Their flaws are not uniquely Metropolitan, that's for sure, but look at Santana's recent inability to win games - it has nothing to do with the way he's pitched.

While I'm sure everyone in the clubhouse is thinking this now, Jerry Manuel's Mets must start cashing in, must avoid affairs like this - ones that won't be remembered for the pain they delivered to the fans, but may be remembered should this team nearly miss success like their 2007 predecessors.

Once this series with the Phillies is over, the scheduling gods have granted to the Mets a reprieve - six games against the Giants and the Rockies. Yummy.

But for now, I hope the players are lamenting all of the fireworks they missed. I may have set off a few before and after Pedro Feliz crossed the plate, but I sure missed them too.

Ouch

2008-07-03T00:25:00.002-04:00

You know Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel - at least one of whom is pictured to the right - used steroids, right?

I think that's all I have to say.

And, oh, wait a second - was CARLOS MUÑIZ pitching the ninth inning of a tie ballgame?

Yes, I believe he was, with a predictable result.

Now that's all I have to say.

Fertilizer

2008-06-25T14:07:00.004-04:00

I really wanted to write a wrap-up of last night's game. Something scathing.

But, the Mets lost to a pitcher named Dickey (perhaps my relative), and started a team (with the highest payroll in the National League) that included Trot Nixon, Endy Chavez, Fernando Tatis and noted stiff in '08 Oliver Perez. This is the baseball equivalent of an NFL Europa team.

And to be fair, I don't much care for that Castillo fellow. He really plays poor baseball. Maybe it's the injuries, but it seems like he's just surly, has the ego of a great player, and doesn't really play like one.

Good thing he's gone at the end of the year – oh, wait, 2009 – no, sorry, 2010 – scratch that, he'll be off our hands come 2011.

But I guess what possesses me today are the fires stoked by The Worst Beat Reporter in Town, Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post, and his fixation on Jerry Manuel's fertilizer comment.

As a fan of metaphor, my instinct was to applaud Manuel. His point was that booing can be good for growth – makes sense – and, unfortunately, like fertilizer, it stinks. Fertilizer is not a pleasant thing - but it's ultimately essential in growth.

That was his point.

Hubbuch, though, takes a strange series of potshots on his blog today, and calls out Daily News counterpart Adam Rubin as well as bloggers.

Normally, I enjoy the curmudgeonly Post-folk. The hockey fan in me finds all of Larry Brooks' stuff, despite his incredibly dour demeanor, must-read, while the same goes for Peter Vecsey's basketball work and Phil Mushnick's writing on sports media. All these guys do is bitch and moan – just look at their pictures, for the sake of a snap judgment –

but their content is pretty good.

Hubbuch, however, seems to have taken the Post's sports journalism, which, unlike its news content, had been palatable (bordering on informative!), to a new low. Perhaps the press would be right in cracking jokes about Manuel's fertilizer comment, reminding him of it every so often, making a few feces punch lines in the press.

Instead, Hubbuch, perhaps full of sulfites, dumped a boatload of nitrates on his readership. Or, for those of you without doctorates in chemistry, a truckload of shit.

So, I'll say this again, in the wake of last night's amusing ejection, I love Jerry Manuel. I'm not sure if this AAA team will be able to play well under him – my guess is they can, and probably will – but he's said more interesting things in his week here than Willie did in his entire tenure – though his comment about Shingo Takatsu bringing the funk to Miguel Cabrera (to the tune of Parliament's "A Three-Run Double) will always warm my heart.

Hubbuch, on the other hand, should know his place – can we get him in touch with Jared Paul Stern and Ian Spiegelman? I imagine they could write some mean sports gossip together.

Some other notes:

I'm sure you all heard, but Claudio Vargas was demoted for Carlos Muniz after last night's game. That's funny – I was going to call him the Mets' worst long man since Aaron Sele.

John Maine goes tonight against Miguel Batista, 7:10 p.m. your start, as usual. If we're taking odds on this one, Maine will throw 145 pitches in 5 innings, and Batista will throw 45 in a complete game shutout.

Renaissance

2008-06-19T04:35:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I've written down my thoughts about this team. It's been a while, really, since I took the time to sit down and think about this team, for whatever reason. In between laughing about how Moises can't stay healthy for six innings straight and then laughing some more about how six innings is, oh, infinity times better than what El Duque has pitched this year, it's hard to really reflect on what has been plaguing the Mets.

And in sitting and reflecting, wouldn't I be vindicating their effort this year (I know it's baseball, where intangibles and hustle are made-up terms to make David Eckstein an All-Star and Derek Jeter the best player ever, but come on) by proffering more time to their failures than they have?

But that was until the renaissance. Maybe it's too early to dub the Jerry Manuel era the renaissance – after all, one could have called the Victor Zambrano era a great success by the second game of his Mets career (he went seven innings, didn't allow an earned run, and was buoyed by an offense that featured Ice Williams leading off, Joe McEwing in the two hole, and Todd Zeile batting third – laugh with me), but I'm going to do it anyway.

Already, in two days, Manuel has endeared himself to me much more than Willie did in his two plus years here, what with his references to "cutting" Jose Reyes on the field, and his shouting match with home plate umpire Doug Eddings tonight. Willie was a product of the Yankee system (mostly Torre's tutelage), and was stoic, afraid to ruffle any feathers and often bordering on dour in his news conferences.

Jerry Manuel, on the other hand, brings the renaissance. Sure, there was Tuesday night's game (I might call it Wednesday morning's, but Omar Minaya would, in broken phrase, tell me that that was just a matter of perception), which was an abomination of the highest degree, but the team was tired – probably spent the entire night partying because Willie was gone – and just didn't have it.

Tonight, however, they were anything but exhausted. Reyes looked like the kid we remembered in 2006 – sprinting his way around the bases, scoring three of the Mets' five runs (and he simply couldn't have scored the others, because they were solo homers). Delgado woke up and crushed a ball for his tenth homer of the year – after the news broke that a veteran player, wonder who it could be, told Willie earlier this year that he would outlast the manager – maybe Manuel is capable of waking him up.

And most importantly, they came back. Oliver Perez, as per usual, was bitten by a bad inning, but unlike the usual, pitched well enough to survive, and keep the Mets in the game. Before I finish – a tangent, if you would indulge me. Why is it that people, including our SNY broadcasters, consistently praise this Angels style of baseball? Sure, taking an extra base once in a while is all well and good, but they scored four runs in the inning before this doozy of a double play: 5-2-4-6-5. The play was relatively simple: there was one out, with men on the corners, and Robb Quinlan hit a bouncing ball to third. Making a play at second would have been difficult for Wright (with the moderately speedy Torii Hunter at first) and throwing to first, across the diamond and across his body, would have been similarly difficult.

Instead, the now slow-footed Vladimir Guerrero breaks home, and Wright throws him out, and then Hunter, hoping to catch Castro napping (I know he's on the West Coast and has trouble with his time zones, but he won't often be napping during a night game) breaks for third, where he is forced out after a string of throws.

So instead of possibly having the bases loaded with one out, which, according to the Run Expectancy matrix, ought to generate about 1.5 runs, there were three out, and no one scored. Wouldn't 1.5 runs been a nice cushion for K-Rod, before he blew it in the ninth?

I understand the importance of hustle, and following Jose Reyes since his promotion has convinced me of the importance of speed in baseball, but how on Earth can one say that grabbing an extra base once in a while is a reasonable trade-off for horrendous gaffes like these?

And more importantly, while I'm attacking the logic of our SNY crew, how could they present that graphic showing the Angels as a hacking team (fewest P/PA in MLB since 2002) and then showing their successful record and saying that since they see few pitches, and they win, their strategy must be working?

Including 2002, the Angels' pitching has ranked in RA/G: first, fifth, second, second, fourth, fifth, and this year fifth as well. In terms of runs scored per game, they have ranked, including 2002: fourth, eleventh, seventh, seventh, eleventh, fourth, and this year eleventh.

So, count it, there was exactly one year, 2007, where the offense outperformed the pitching, relative to competition. Just one year. So my kudos to Mike Scoscia on winning and all – but I beg of SNY to acknowledge the viewers' collective intelligence and talk about the killer Anaheim (or Los Angeles of Anaheim) pitching over that timespan, and not about how this great "let's hustle, take the extra base, and not look at any pitches ever" approach works for scoring runs.

==END OF TANGENT==

So, Perez's effort to control the damage would have also gone to waste, if not for the stellar bullpen work: four innings of one-hit ball after he left the game. Joe Smith pitched well, Schoeneweis pitched well, and Sanchez and Wagner, dare I say it, reminded me of 2006 with their lockdown work in the ninth and tenth.

While the game ball tonight will go to Jose Reyes, an awful lot of praise must be heaped upon David Wright and Damion Easley. Easley, reprising his role as hero (and resident righty power bat) from the 2007 campaign derailed by injury, hammered a Justin Speier slider over the left-field fence to put the Mets ahead to stay.

And Wright, who, it appears, has not hit a ball solidly since Willie Randolph had some semblance job security, managed to beat K-Rod (once upon a time, my favorite non-Met) on a nasty slider to tie the game in the ninth. Reyes chugged home, and didn't even throw his helmet.

All in all, a happy day in Metland. Just you wait – I hear Minaya's on the hot seat, and Fred and Jeff^TM are considering replacing him with either Tony Bernazard, Paul DePodesta or Petrarch. Then the real renaissance begins.

Other thoughts:

-The Mets will have a much-needed off-day tomorrow before facing the Rockies at Coors on Thursday, where the disappointing John Maine will face off against ten-game winner Aaron Cook.

Just thought I'd share that with you. Not really a point to it: but, fun fact, Cook is second only to Brandon Webb in the NL in wins, and Edinson Volquez leads in strikeouts and ERA. If you'd have told me that that would be true midway through June, I would have laughed and said, "oh, yeah, right, and Robinson Cancel will have a game-winning hit for the Mets. And Raul Casanova will have had more at-bats than Ramon Castro by that point! And Angel Pagan, who's been out for more than a month with an injury, will have had more playing time in left field than any other Met! And next you'll tell me, that at this point in the season, Nelson Figueroa's ERA will be lower than Pedro's. And sure, Jorge Sosa, despite having been released, will have more wins than Pelfrey! And Moises Alou will have had some bullshit injury, take two months to heal, come back and reinjure himself after six innings! Ha!"

-Can we now anoint Omar Minaya the new worst press conduit in the Mets' history? Sure, Mike Piazza held a press conference to announce that he wasn't gay (by the way, Alomar was the gay one, if you haven't figured it out already), and Bobby Valentine did an impression of a hitter batting while stoned after the Mets' core players (Mark Corey and Tony Tarasco, dontcha know?) were accused of smuggling weed into the clubhouse in peanut butter jars, but Minaya just did them all one worse.

That's all I've got for you today, but I wholeheartedly assure you: the Renaissance means I'm back.

Some Picks on Opening Day

2008-03-31T10:49:00.002-04:00

Hi there.

While substantiation is being constantly thought up, I wanted to get my season picks on record, right here, right now.

NL East: Mets
NL Central: Reds
NL West: Diamondbacks

Wild Card: Phillies

AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: Indians
AL West: Mariners

Wild Card: Tigers

WORLD SERIES: Indians over Mets

AL MVP: Manny Ramirez
NL MVP: David Wright

AL Cy Young: Erik Bedard
NL Cy Young: Johan Santana

It's Back

2008-03-26T15:28:00.002-04:00

I doubt anyone reads this thing anymore. Why would they? I haven't written since the Mitchell Report came out – and in that time, we watched, as expected, the vindication of Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds, all of whom have now been fully exonerated of any wrongdoing and have graced us extensively with their presence on the baseball diamond during Spring Training.

For the record, Andy Pettitte's made three starts. That's it. Last we've heard of Clemens and Bonds was on Capitol Hill and the ongoing BALCO trial, respectively. But I'm not here to talk about the past – all the things I've missed, like the Mets' trade for Johan Santana or the rise of Angel Pagan (previously dubbed, in this space, Oxymoron-in-Chief).

No, I don't want to talk about Brian Register and Steve Stokes, Jon Parnell and Bobby Niese, or Ivan Figueroa and Nelson Maldonaldo. Or is it the other way around?

Yes, it's Spring, where those numbers we're used to seeing affixed to the backs of mediocre Jets make their way onto the baseball diamond, now on the backs of kids who live the glamorous lives of minor league pro athletes – taking buses from Binghamton to other cities in the Northeast and staying in motels there. Cities like Akron, Altoona, Harrisburg, New Britain, somebody stop me before I drop my computer and head for the most exciting road trip of my life.

Even though we're not here to talk about the past, the past has somehow made an appearance on the Mets, as Omar Minaya's attempt to assemble a 1998 All-Star Team has broken down, thanks to your usual sports injuries, like hernias and bunions. Just kidding about the All-Star Team – 1998 was El Duque's rookie season, weirdly his best in the major leagues, though perhaps not weirdly, since he celebrated his 39th birthday on the raft to the Bronx. But hey, think about the Mets that were All-Stars during that season. Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, Damion Easley. And had the Mets not so rudely cast them off after last season, Tom Glavine and Aaron Sele would be on that list!

This team is pretty old. But not the good old, where you talk about all of the rings and whatnot they've amassed, where the elderly provide sagelike wisdom and key advice on the way to championships – all hail Luis Sojo – but rather these are the cranky veterans, who do things like pee on their hands, arbitrarily refuse to join the bullpen and bring years of a winning tradition to Flushing – think about Blue Jays stalwart Carlos Delgado, Tiger legend Easley, and career Expo/Nat Brian Schneider.

Sure, maybe the Mets are on the hunt for talent blackballed because of the age of the body in which it resides, but when we hear that Moises Alou is out with a strained prostate come the pennant race, one would hope that strategy is reconsidered for future years.

But there is something charmingly old and decrepit about this Mets club. They're playing the final season ever in Shea Stadium. This is especially significant for El Duque, whose son was one of the lead architects on the project during its construction in 1963.

This is Shea's last chance, in a way. Two World Series have been won on its grounds, but it has seen far more playoff hearts broken by the likes of Yadier Molina, and, well, yes, Luis Sojo than it has great triumphs. This isn't just the last go-round for Shea, it's the last chance for folks like Moises, El Duque, Easley, Jose Valentin and maybe even Pedro Martinez and Carlos Delgado, both battle-worn and signed to contracts expiring after this year. Oliver Perez is a free agent after this year, and is represented by Scott Boras – thanks for your service, bud. It might be the last chance for Willie Randolph, who has quickly appeared something of a failure at motivating his club, if he can't win this year.

Yes, it's Spring, the time of rebirth, but this entire Mets season will have to be about rebirth for this team to win. The dead bats of the elderly must be reborn, the dead arms of John Maine, Oliver Perez and Billy Wagner must be reborn for the full season, and we need to see the rebirth of Jose Reyes' interest in playing good baseball. The rebirth of Luis Castillo's hamstrings wouldn't hurt, but I'm not holding my breath.

But I hate to sound pessimistic about this season. They've got Santana, Wright, Beltran and the rest of the gang. So what if Ryan Church, Brian Schneider and the punchless Castillo are in the everyday lineup? This team will be reborn; they've got no choice.

And that's my major concern this season, not the fifth starter or the 25th man. So it's easy for me not to worry right now, when Nelson Figueroa and Joe Smith, both of whom are still in the running to make this team, combined to allow six runs in two innings against the Marlins. I can't worry about that. Both allowed homers. Yeesh. Still can't worry.

As a corollary to not worrying about the last pitcher in the pen or in the rotation, I won't reflect on the fact that Brady Clark and Fernando Tatis are feasible options to join the Mets opening week in Florida – and not in Port St. Lucie. Although, chuckling, I ought to remind you of Tatis' 1999 season in St. Louis where he posted a .298/.404/.553 line with 31 doubles, 34 homers, 107 RBI, and 21 steals. And he wasn't even named in the Mitchell Report!

But I'm not here to talk about the past; I'm here to talk about the future. And, I bet, so is Fernando Tatis. It's March 26. The Mets are losing to the Marlins. Do I care? No.

Give me five more days.

Which is "The Steroids Era" in a nutshell?

2007-12-13T15:08:00.000-05:00

OR

your call.

THIS IS FUNNY

2007-11-20T18:39:00.000-05:00

What's this I hear?

The Mets acquired a living, breathing human being for Guillermo Mota?

That Guillermo Mota?

And even better?

The living, breathing thing is Johnny Estrada: a former All-Star catcher at age 31.

He may have only walked 12 times last year – but his 2.3 WARP3 easily bests Mota's .9.

More later.

A Return

2007-11-17T23:56:00.000-05:00

It's been 48 days since I last spoke to you. Since that fateful day, there have been many tears shed, many culprits named, many pitchers who weren't devastated.

But there have been no Mets wins.

Sure, we saw some life out of favorite whipping boy Kaz Matsui – who has been offered a three-year deal by the Chicago Cubs – during the playoffs, en route to a surprising show from the Colorado Rockies.

But it was all about the Red Sox: forget the Phillies, the Yankees, all the teams about whom, as Mets fans, we once cared.

The season is long since over, and the offseason is kicking into gear. Sure, we won't have hours and hours to agonize about the fate of Alex Rodriguez – and whether David Wright will move to second base, first base or left field, and we most likely won't spend our time thinking about what will happen should the Mets sign A-Rod and send Jose Reyes to Minnesota for Johan Santana.

We won't be thinking about obtaining hot trade commodities like Jake Peavy, who unanimously won a Cy Young Award earlier this week, Santana, or Miguel Cabrera, who, along with his apathy and exponentially growing waistline, is allegedly up for grabs.

Jorge Posada is gone, having returned to the Yanks for top dollar, and the fate of Tom Glavine as a New York Met – who was referenced, not by name, but by a wretched image, in my last post – seems to be resolved. The Mets don't really have any tremendous needs.

Right field is open, perhaps for Carlos Gomez, or Lastings Milledge, and for second base the Mets seem to be torn between David Eckstein and incumbent Luis Castillo – a combined 19 big-league seasons and 54 home runs.

Hope springs eternal in Flushing, and there are some things to be excited about: David Wright won a Gold Glove, Pedro Martinez was sterling after coming back, and even Mike Pelfrey started to emerge anew as a potential member of the starting rotation. John Maine threw a near no-no to keep the season alive. What great news!

We've heard the bad – save for that Brian Bannister, acquired for Ambiorix Burgos, who ~~makes Armando Benitez look like~~ is Armando Benitez, came in third in the voting for AL Rookie of the Year as the ace of the KC Royals. Good thing we had such a surplus of young and capable starting pitching, like Brian Lawrence.

And we were perplexed this week to learn of the strange saga of Yorvit Torrealba.

You may ask "Why?" or "Who?" or "Are there any peanuts in it?"

We heard three years, $14 million. Then it was gone. His shoulder they suggest, but we can't tell for sure.

Is Ramon Castro the future? Not unless the future includes half of its days lost to injury, solely for being out of shape.

Now would be a nice time to have Jesus Flores, who will backstop Manny Acta's Washington Nationals to glory in the near future, while the Mets twiddle their thumbs trying to avoid calling Jason Phillips' agent.

They can't. The catching situation is bad: maybe the Mets will go after Jason Kendall, whose 63 OPS+ would really buoy the team, or maybe they should sign Michael Barrett in hopes of nabbing a true clubhouse leader.

Did you know Kris Benson is a free agent? Sign me up. When Carlos Silva (CARLOS SILVA?!) is slated to earn nearly $40 million in a contract, doesn't the prospect of Kris playing for damn near free sound appealing to you? That's a return – unlike mine – that we can all feel happy about.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

fin

2007-09-30T16:08:00.000-04:00

to quote radiohead,

You do it to yourself, you do
And that's what really hurts
Is that you do it to yourself
Just you and no-one else
You do it to yourself.

the stench of death is in the air

2007-09-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

Scarred and Scared

2007-09-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

Please ignore my last post.

The cruel joke appears to be over, but another win might help.

I'll be back writing regularly when I stop sweating.

Smooth Sailing

2007-09-14T09:49:00.001-04:00

You may have been wondering why I haven't joined you in this space of late. You're probably all the better for it, and I have ridden myself of nearly all anxiety regarding the Mets, except a nasty rash that breaks out when Guillermo Mota's "I Like to Move it Move it" song plays over the Shea sound system.

The team has entrenched themselves as increasingly infallible. I didn't think I'd be saying this after the sweep against the Phillies, after the Braves were the Mets' kryptonite this year, and after the entire starting pitching staff and bullpen looked to be on the brink of collapse.

But the Magic Number is 11... it's possible to count it on Antonio Alfonseca's fingers. That's always a good sign.

And I don't think a comeback for anyone is on the way: after three games against the hated "Team to Beat," the Mets play six against the Nationals and seven against the Marlins alongside one against the Cardinals to close out the season. That's a game every day, and you can bet the Mets will be sending out the big guns: Conine, Gotay, Endy, Carlos Gomez, and maybe even Anderson Hernandez will take the field for some meaningless games in September.

Once the Phillies are dead and gone (the Braves are practically there already), the Mets can relax and set the yacht to auto-pilot. Moises can lay on the beach, glove extended, provided he doesn't strain anything. Pedro can find a Dominican dwarf-horror film actor to carry around.

It's smooth sailing until October.

Five the Hard Way

2007-09-04T22:37:00.000-04:00

Well played, Mets.

After five devastating losses in a row, I guess this was the best they could do. They've put on nightly shows more entertaining than Celine Dion's, and that's not easy.

Tonight, the Duck played unlikely hero in a contest that one couldn't have called for the Mets from the get-go. Oliver Perez continued to be erratic, banking tonight's start as the opening argument in the case of why wins are a relatively useless statistic.

Ollie walked five for the third straight start, though this time he did not bring the ten strikeouts that he showed in Philly, allowing five runs to cross the plate in five innings. Only three of those runs were earned, though, on account of Paul Lo Duca's errant throw, his seventh error of the year. Is it just me, or does Paul Lo Duca make you want to trade for Mike Piazza, if only as a late-inning defensive replacement?

But Duck did another Mike Piazza impression tonight. He drove in seven of the Mets' 11 runs, blasting (erm, they were at the GABP, and the ball went like, two feet over the fence) two three-run shots and a single as well. Perhaps Paul had some money on the long side this evening?

Get this: the Duck had five homers and 34 RBI coming into tonight's game, and he leaves with seven and 41. I'll bet a chunk of his winnings are made out to Todd Coffey and Matt Belisle, who, apparently, are major league pitchers.

Yesterday, they run out a half-rate thespian in relief and a pitcher whose last name makes me think I'm watching a certain SNL sketch, and today they have Bill Bray (who came along with Gary Majewski in one of the worst trades in recent memory) giving up three runs in zero point zero innings of work and some dude named after a fish walk two in an inning of work.

To think, all but one of those replacement-level clowns have better ERAs than Guillermo Mota (2 years, $5MM) and Scott Schoeneweis (3 years, $10.5MM). In Omar We Trust? Yeah, right.

I'll keep my criticism curt, for I have little choice but to be pleased with five straight victories. These games took a contribution from everyone in the rotation (even El Duque, whose achy foot forced Pedro back into active duty), and, more importantly, the bats have started clicking again.

David Wright is still firing on all cylinders, Beltran is putting together some strong showings, Alou is using a touch extra of urine on his hands, and even Carlos Delgado is clobbering the occasional ball. Hell, Shawn Green and the Duck combined for six hits today! If Jose Reyes were clicking, this would be the dream team all over again.

Who knows: Baseball Prospectus gives the Mets a 95+ percent chance of winning the division. I think he can get a little rest.

-----------

Memo to SNY: I know the quirky announcers are often the best, but can someone remind Gary and Keith that at least one of them has to be the straight man, even in lopsided games. It was getting so bad, as they were one-upping eachother with memories of Underdog, that I was thinking of muting their game and going over to WCBS just to hear John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman have awkward pauses and cut eachother off.

Tomorrow: John Maine looks to push forward against the legendary Tom Shearn. 12:35 p.m. is your first pitch.

Four Straight

2007-08-29T23:01:00.000-04:00

I can't blame Guillermo Mota for this one. Can't blame Willie, Delgado, or even Shawn Green. The usual scapegoats are gone.

The lack of scapegoats crippled the Mets this evening, as they lost 3-1 to the Phillies in absolutely heartbreaking fashion. You'd think losing on a Ryan Howard walk-off shot with Mota on the hill would be rough.

But you haven't seen the wrath of C.B. Bucknor.

While pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson is probably absolved of blame on account of a hit that put the Mets in good position to tie, he was obviously trying to interfere with second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. But he's a veteran! Keith would say that he has tailor-made fundamentals, or something.

And obviously you would know that Shawn Green, slower than MetroNorth, would actually have made it safely to first, and Endy would have crossed the plate, and the game would have been tied. The Mets would have beaten wife-beating Brett Myers.

But Marlon Anderson thought it best to make up for Pearl Harbor with his pugilistic skills at second base, and Iguchi acted with the adeptness of a seasoned veteran of the West End.

So, we're here. The lead is three, gentlemen, and we're headed to Atlanta for the weekend. Color me scared.

Durbed

2007-08-27T23:32:00.000-04:00

Durb your enthusiasm. I'm back, but the Mets are taking a little bit of a vacation.

Sure, they didn't play like their overrated Bronx counterparts, who witnessed the magic of Mike Mussina and Quality Veteran Pitching, en route to being three-hit by Justin Verlander and losing 16-0.

The Mets learned a little bit about why the Quality Veteran Pitching doesn't buy you much tonight. Brian Lawrence, a Quality Veteran Pitcher himself, the former ace of the 64-98 2003 San Diego Padres, took the hill against J.D. Durbin, a pitcher with 7 starts to his career ledger and a 5.68 career ERA.

Who won? It should have been Lawrence, the Quality Veteran Pitcher, the one who was promoted by the Mets despite having zero upside and a fastball that would be lucky to touch 85 on the gun.

The Mets didn't want to lose him on account of his opt-out clause should another club offer him a major league deal. Lawrence would be a major loss: a 3.87 ERA in AAA is impossible to replicate. So they promoted him and let him take the fifth starter spot. Jorge Sosa was slipping, and Mike Pelfrey wasn't going to hold it either.

Fair enough. I was all for Lawrence getting the first shot. And he looked okay, at times.

But now, this is a nightmare that just won't end. Thank Moises that Pedro is on his way. He nearly beat the Class A Palm Beach Cardinals tonight!

However, Pedro isn't your ordinary Quality Veteran Pitcher. He throws a filthy changeup and curve, and also happens to have three Cy Young Awards and is two strikeouts away from three thousand.

Brian Lawrence has a career ERA+ of 95 and once was the ace for some last-place Padre teams, and, well, things didn't go as well as planned tonight.

J.D. Durbin held the Mets hitless through four innings, and shut 'em down afterwards.

I love Quality Veteran Pitchers, don't you?

A Sigh of Relief

2007-08-17T22:43:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure Tom Glavine has been the Mets' ace this year- he has shown periods of extreme inability to pitch like one, and he frequently is in trouble with walks and too many balls. But he sure as hell pitched like one tonight.

Sure, to repeat the all too common refrain, they're still in first, et cetera, but they needed to win this game tonight. Despite that necessity, we saw something of the B-Team out there again: our good friend Mike DiFelice (of the +.1 WARP1 since 2004) was behind the plate, Shawn Green was in right field against a lefty, and Damion Easley was at first base. Not exactly the team you'd want in Game 7 (though Yadier Molina might not be on that team either).

The gang of misfits became the unlikeliest of heroes tonight. Green was on base twice, DiFelice drove in three and hit a long triple (the ninth of his long career), and Easley set the tone with an early home run and managed not to screw up at first base.

Factor in a slick double play from Reyes and Castillo, both of whom were on base twice tonight, and great plate discipline and contributions all around the lineup, and you have the seeds of a win. Seeds, mind you, that were grown into nice shrubbery by Tom Glavine.

Glavine threw seven innings, allowing eight hits and a walk, but whiffing six and keeping the Nationals, a pretty hot team, to one run. Although we heard the rumblings of "here we go again. . ." when Jorge Sosa took the hill and proceeded to have a rough go of it, there was Pedro Feliciano returning to form and inducing a ground-ball right to Reyes for the double play. Pedro even went the extra mile, as it were, by not melting down in the ninth inning, which allowed Alpaca Man to remain in the bullpen.

This game was one of those which you expected to win, like last night's, and the feeling afterwards is less rejoicing than it is relief. You'd like to have your regular lineup back, and you'd like to beat Matt Chico a little bit more resoundingly, but for now, the Mets will take it day by day.

Another One

2007-08-16T22:38:00.000-04:00

I know they won two out of three. But still, might we be able to question Willie's field managing skills?

Read my Talkin' Pitchin' With Aarin' Heilmin' sketch from the archives.

I promise I'll be back tomorrow– though this is starting to resemble Groundhog Day.

A Few Business Notes

2007-08-15T14:47:00.000-04:00

Hi, all:

Sorry for not posting anything all that meaty or pithy of late; I wish I had an excuse other than "Willie is really starting to turn my stomach." I'll be back tonight.

If you're bored, check out my piece about the bullpen of woe at Mike's Mets.

Thanks.

Aghast

2007-08-10T22:03:00.000-04:00

:items:

Nobody's perfect, including Billy Wagner.

Back to back poor showings: maybe there's some money in alpaca farming.

Carlos is back, but he's no Hess truck: better than ever is hardly true.

The offense is awful. Terrible.

I can throw harder than Brian Lawrence. With my toes.

Where have you gone, Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, Jose Reyes, Paul Lo Duca, Moises Alou? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

I'm aghast.

Alejandro De Aza, Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Olivo, and Hanley Ramirez all had more hits than Delgado, Wright, and Beltran combined. What a wonderful world.

Pinch me. This must be a dream.

Mike Piazza cleared waivers. Is he available to be a defensive replacement for Lo Duca?

Daniel Barone? Kevin Gregg? Matt Lindstrom? This isn't a major league team.

Have a good night, but you might want to load up on the Ambien rather than tossing and turning and reflecting on this one.

Nothing Perpetuates Momentum Like a Brick Wall

2007-08-07T21:36:00.000-04:00

Tom Glavine won his 300th game on Sunday evening, and there was much rejoicing. (YAYY!) But the Braves know how to take wind out of the Mets' sails. Tom Glavine was theirs before he was ours, and they wanted to assure us wholeheartedly that they were aware of that.

They came out firing against the Mets' Braves specialist, if you will, Oliver Perez, and the game appeared lopsided early. Matt Die-Az jacked one in the opening frame, and it was all downhill from there. The Mets weren't able to muster much offense, notching only three runs all game. Who opposed them this game? Was Smoltz on the hill? Tim Hudson? I think not.

My friends, it was Buddy Carlyle, of the 7-6 record and 5.60 ERA for his career, who toed the rubber against the Mets tonight.

I'm not sure what it is about the Braves that ruins the Mets so: double plays and shoddy pitching abounded tonight.

One thing is sure, though: the curse is not broken.

Another: I hate the Braves.

Questions Unanswered

2007-07-31T22:53:00.000-04:00

I wasn't really watching tonight's game in Milwaukee to discover the outcome. It was totally secondary. Sure, I would always prefer that the Mets win, but tonight was Tom Glavine's night. Maybe the Mets had to win for Glavine to get three hundred. I think that's mostly a technicality.

We've seen ups and downs from Glavine, but he rarely has put together efforts as strong as tonight's against the top dogs of the NL Central. Six innings of two-hit ball? Awesome. I won't mention that he had five walks, but even seven baserunners in six plus innings is nasty.

Everyone looked great tonight, for the most part. Heilman was a man on a mission. Castillo played tight defense in his debut. Moises and Wright did what they had to at the plate. But someone forgot to send that memo to Pedro Feliciano, who has traded places with Scott Schoeneweis of late, becoming an incredible liability in close games.

But you can't blame Pedro. He's been ridden like Secretariat for the second straight season, and this year he hasn't even been able to tag-team with Chad Bradford to bring the funk. The Mets have had a revolving door for righty setup men, featuring luminaries like Jon Adkins, Ambiorix Burgos, and Lino Urdaneta. Don't tell me to check my facts: all three appeared in at least one game.

Most importantly, though, they don't have Duaner Sanchez, who last year followed Heilman many eighth innings, like clockwork. Joe Smith, too, was overworked the first half of the season, and was demoted to AAA.

Apparently, though, our dear manager was too busy to read scouting reports, spending his time instead hobnobbing with this fine thespian on your right, who, perhaps non-coincidentally, believes that the alien ruler of something called the "Galactic Confederacy" brought people to earth 75 million years ago in spaceships and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. The people, not the spaceships.

So, he used Heilman for the seventh and one out in the eighth. That's fine; Aaron's been hot lately. Unfortunately, as they say, the best laid plans. . . Nevertheless, Willie opted to call on Pedro Feliciano to face the lefty Prince Fielder. That's where he lost me. Feliciano has been ice cold lately (21.60 ERA this past week). But given the way he has faced righties all season, one would think that Willie wasn't just leaving him in for one batter.

Instead, Pedro can't find the strike zone, and Willie has to go to the rock of the Mets' bullpen. The go-to-guy. The man with a plan. The equalizer. Guillermo Mota. The reliever of a 5.40 ERA. The same one who needed anabolic steroids in 2006 to attain a 4.53 ERA.

Was Willie drunk? Did he forget that Chad Bradford no longer pitches for this team? Did he forget that Joe Smith was sent down for Jon Adkins, who in turn was sent down for David Newhan? The Mets' groundball funk machine in the pen was sent down for David Newhan. Read that sentence again.

Actually, aside from the first little blemish on Mota's evening (a rocket of a ground-rule double off Bill Hall's bat), he managed quite the little escape act. Sure, Gary Cohen can call Jorge Sosa, who is probably going to be displaced from his Thursday start, Houdini, but Mota's feat was similarly impressive.

Weirdly, though, this game had a playoff atmosphere. Perhaps it was because of the implications of Glavine hunting for 300. But he will live for many other starts. Maybe it was the fact that Jeff Suppan started this game. By the way, if you were asked which opposing pitcher would be responsible for foiling what could be one of the Mets' greatest nights of the season, the Supp' Nazi would definitely be near the top of your list. That's a fact.

How does this guy dominate the Mets? He doesn't strike anyone out, walks too many, has an awesome 114-110 career record (with the sterling 4.64 ERA to boot), and has a 5.89 ERA in July. Maybe if Steve Trachsel's not too busy losing games in front of three fans in Baltimore, he could give Jeff a few pointers. Inexplicably, he has a 2.81 career ERA against the Mets.

And after Suppan, the crack staff of Brewer relievers looked pretty good. Maybe Carlos Villanueva doesn't scare you, but he scares the rest of us. Derrick Turnbow and Francisco Cordero were both tough. And then comes Matt Wise. Maybe you're not incredibly familiar with him, but I've been pumping him for a while on account of his filthy change. Oh, no, I thought. We're toast.

And then, ten straight balls. This game's script was starting to read like an Alec Baldwin SNL sketch. But then Brian Shouse, who brings the funk, came in to face Moises, already with two balls on him. [ED NOTE: :::chuckles:::] And Shouse gave him a third. But then Moises being Moises did what Moises does. Six. Four. Three.

If game-ruining double plays were game-winning hits, Moises Alou would be David Ortiz.

So the bottom of the eleventh came, as it invariably will, when only David Newhan (our unlikely and untalented hero!) is capable of mustering a hit against the indomitable Chris Spurling. Aaron Sele took to the hill, a bastion of Metness, throwing soft curveballs and soft fastballs to the Brewers.

Unfortunately, Geoff Jenkins greeted him rudely with a single. Corey Hart, who couldn't lay down a bunt, never surrenders (look it up), and he blooped a single. Thankfully, Delgado atoned for his error in the ninth with a nice throw to third on a failed bunt, and Luis Castillo started the double play against the next batter.

And madness, as per usual, ensued. Firstings was diving left and right, all the while looking like a near-great in center.

But at the end of the day, there was one last mistake left up Willie's sleeve. He left Aaron Sele in to face Geoff Jenkins, instead of bringing in Scott Schoeneweis, and the outfielder scalded a two-run walk-off shot after Tony Graffanino's leadoff double in the thirteenth. And Willie ought to answer for that.

Transaction Reaction: 2B Luis Castillo

2007-07-31T13:50:00.001-04:00

Although GM Omar Minaya hasn't swung any blockbuster trades this year, the Mets on Monday made a minor move in acquiring second baseman Luis Castillo from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for minor league catcher Drew Butera and minor league outfielder Dustin Martin.

Castillo, 31, was putting together an average season in his second year in Minnesota, batting .304/.356/.352 in 85 games. Butera was batting a rather anemic .231/.297/.344 for St. Lucie and Binghamton in 82 games, and Martin was hitting at a .289/.359/.422 clip in 95 games, all but two at St. Lucie.

I can't help but be somewhat nonplussed by this trade. Obviously the Mets aren't giving up much here, but I'm inclined to wonder why Minnesota opted to deal the impending free agent, a move which forced unproven prospect Alexi Casilla into a starting position on the depth chart.

I am also confused about the Mets' methodology behind this trade. I would understand the move if they were somehow in possession of a secret time machine capable of resurrecting the Castillo of a few seasons ago, but at present he is a singles hitter with hamstrings more torn than Natalie Imbruglia.

Obviously the Mets have not been enamored with Ruben Gotay's recent showing as the full-time second baseman, but Castillo is hardly a defensive upgrade over Gotay. Baseball Prospectus lists Gotay's Fielding Rate as 97 with a -2 FRAA. That's below average, but Castillo's numbers are far worse: Fielding Rate of 93 with a -6 FRAA.

As recently as 2005, Luis was a whiz in the field and a sparkplug in the lineup, but offensively there's no comparison: Gotay's EqA is .311 and Castillo's is .269.

This year, Castillo is posting his lowest OBP since 2001, and he has only stolen nine bases. Nine! Even Shawn Green, who, according to Joe Benigno, stinks, has nine steals. Castillo, unfortunately, isn't much more than a washed-up singles hitter.

I'm not sure how to evaluate this deal, when all's said and done. The Mets gave up almost nothing to acquire an impending free agent who fills a near-void at second base (despite the Mets retaining the services of every second baseman in the nation: Anderson Hernandez, David Newhan, Marlon Anderson, Easley, Gotay, the injured 'Stache), but he's not much of an upgrade over Ruben Gotay, who's been absolutely raking at the dish.

I hope Omar can think of something better, because I'm not entirely certain the Mets have exactly counteracted the Braves' addition of Teixeira by acquiring a latter-day Chuck Knoblauch.

The Deadline Dish

2007-07-31T01:44:00.000-04:00

Deadline Dish

12:18 PM Tuesday: Not too much news to announce. The Cardinals acquired Joel Pineiro from the Red Sox, and Scott Proctor is headed to the Dodgers for Wilson Betemit.

More importantly, though, are the potential moves on the horizon. Although Octavio Dotel is possibly headed to Atlanta, he may, in fact, still be available for the taking. The Red Sox are still aggressively pursuing Jermaine Dye, and their trade of Pineiro indicates, perhaps, that they believe ESPN's Buster Olney, who calls the Sox the frontrunners for Eric Gagné. Olney also lists the Mets and the Brewers among the three top teams.

I'll keep you posted.

1:45 AM Tuesday: Okay, kids, maybe I'm getting a late start on this, but throughout today we will be top-notch rumor mongers and critical thinkers regarding the 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline for Major League Baseball.

What to watch for:

Transaction Reaction: Luis Castillo for two soon to be ex-baseball players

Full coverage of all Mets rumors and some others, too

Breakdown of division-impacting moves: Teixeira to Atlanta, Lohse to Philadelphia, and are others on the way?

Stay tuned; it's a going to be a mostly forgettable journey. Don't forget that Tom Glavine's gunning for 300, A-Rod for 500, and Barry for 755* once the sun sets on the Wild West. See you then.

The Dull Flame of Doubleheaders

2007-07-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

I don't have much to write about this morning's win and this evening's loss.

However, à la Spy Magazine, I will present two lists, representing my feelings about today as a whole...

LIST 1:

Moises Alou
Willie Randolph
Jose Reyes
Pedro Feliciano
Paul Lo Duca
Marlon Anderson

LIST 2:

El Duque
Aaron Heilman
Jesus Flores
Ruben Gotay
Carlos Delgado
David Wright

Gut-wrenching, isn't it? I'll see you on another occasion, but for now, I implore you to read the italicized text below.

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A Routine Affair

2007-07-25T21:24:00.000-04:00

Well, you'd expect a bit more of a take-no-prisoners attitude from a self-dubbed band of pirates, wouldn't you? Instead, this group seemed a little less than swashbuckling. Perhaps the Friendly Manatees would be a good name, unless you're describing their incredibly charming treatment of Lastings Milledge, who might as well be a chest of buried treasure under nonstop pillage.

Pardon my kidding about piracy. I watched a segment on Sean Hannity's vanity program on Fox News Channel, Hannity's America (and the nation really is his, you know), where he explained that piracy was still a huge problem affecting our society. So huge, in fact, that I postponed my yearly sailing voyages to Indonesia and Somalia out of fear.

I'm proud of Glavine's 299th, but he's been absolutely awful since about mid-May this year. I too noticed that stat on SNY showing Glavine's 4 no-decisions in 5 seasons while with the Mets after being staked to 6-run leads, compared to 1 in sixteen seasons with Atlanta. He's been struggling so much lately, it wouldn't be a stretch to compare him to another of the worst pitchers in my Mets memory: himself two seasons ago.

Glavine appears to be out of tricks hidden up his sleeve, as evidenced by his barely quality start tonight: six innings, eight hits, three walks, 113 pitches (47 balls, 66 strikes), and only two strikeouts. He feasts on the naivete of young hitters, and this Pirates lineup is filled with 'em, not to mention the fact that they're second to last in the major leagues in runs scored, third to last in OPS, third to last in total bases, and last in on-base percentage. A real murderer's row they have there.

While the Mets notched a win in a fashion that has become surprisingly routine during this hot streak, with early scoring and Lastings Milledge swaggering his way to victory, Tom Glavine's shoddy showings have become equally numerable. Sorry, Tommy, but maybe you might be better suited going out on a high note. If he has a lead after five innings next start, it might be advisable for him to just run off the field, à la Victor Zambrano. Who knows, maybe the Braves will pick him up.

It might be rather meaningful when analyzing Glavine's season to discuss what transpired this offseason, when the lefty desired to return to Atlanta and instead re-signed with New York after the Bravos were reportedly unwilling to put his name on a check.

Did the Braves have the right idea in opting not to pony up for a starter whose better days are behind him? Only time shall tell, but to my knowledge the Mets are on the hook for next year should Glavine pitch 160 innings. He retains an opt-out clause should that option become guaranteed.

For a pitcher who has lost the mystique and fastball that guided him through his best years with Atlanta, one must only hope for continued strong run support on the offense's part and perhaps better command from Tommy.

A prediction? Moises Alou injured his shoulder while punching Jose Valentin when their paths crossed at the orthopedist's office. Carlos Beltran injured his abdominal muscles while attempting to punch off his own mole (left).

Lastings Milledge looked alright in centerfield tonight, though one certainly does not hope that Anderson and Green will be starting in the corners everyday. Maybe Ben Johnson and his .185 average are worth another look. What's Shane Spencer doing these days? Hey, Eric Valent hit a whopping .209/.284/.256 for the Portland Sea Dogs. I hear he could really use a major league job to lift his spirits.

I know Green had a good night, and that Anderson's looked good since joining the Mets, and Milledge is probably a future star, but can the Mets really do no better than two thirtysomething lefthanded hitters with no defensive range and weak arms against a nasty lefthanded starter? We hear Beltran's day-to-day, but for him that usually means a ten-day absence and a subsequent period of total ineffectiveness.

Seriously, the guy can get back in the lineup after a gut-wrenching collision of faces at high speed in the outfield, but he has a little muscular pain and he's suddenly Jeff Duncan at the plate, if he even bothers to play.

Who taught Beltran how to become an ironman and win the hearts of Mets fans? Carl Everett? Just kidding, Carl. I referenced Sean Hannity in the post, so it's just as though I'm with you on the dinosaur thing.

It was nice to see Damion Easley back in the lineup and even nicer to see a game without any major defensive blunders at second base. I like Gotay a lot, but I can understand how the Royals gave up on him for Jeff Keppinger.

Just a quick note: at the price of Ty Wigginton and prospects Matt Peterson (who spent most of this year at AA for Pittsburgh, despite being at the same level four years ago with the Mets and being way too old for it now, and still hasn't surfaced on the big league roster of an awful team) and Justin Huber (who is hitting .243 for the Royals' AAA affiliate, stuck behind former Met folk hero Craig Brazell and his 25 long balls on the depth chart), the Mets netted Gotay, John Maine, and El Duque. Too bad we had to suffer through a year and a half of Kris and Anna to complete that deal.

Tomorrow's a bright and early start, 12:10 p.m. It's swell for the kids in summer camp, not so much for the unemployed alcoholic set. See you then.

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Off-Day Blues

2007-07-23T16:04:00.000-04:00

It is a little disconcerting around here, in Metland. Sure, the team just won an incredible game against the Dodgers, taking three of four against some of the NL's steepest competition, but something just doesn't feel right.

Sure, they put a little distance on the Braves and Phillies in the process, but something just doesn't feel right. Some of the most moribund components of the Mets' offensive attack were revived, call it the HoJo Effect, but something just isn't right about this team.

Maybe it's the fact that Chip Ambres, Sandy Alomar, Jr. and Anderson Hernandez are on this team with a week and change until the trading deadline and no hope on the horizon. Maybe it's that the Mets are likely going to rely on an increasingly out-of-gas Glavine, a noble but still injured Sosa, an injury-prone Duque, and youngsters Maine and Perez to shepherd this starting rotation through the season. The rotation is (allegedly) a key strength.

It could be the bullpen's struggles, which have resumed to haunt it after an incredible stretch prior to this road trip. Willie has two relievers who are to be counted upon in close games, and they're both lefties. Joe Smith isn't showing any of that magic we grew to love earlier this season, Aaron Heilman is liable to blow the game at any turn, Guillermo Mota still has a 5.53 ERA, and Aaron Sele, while not exactly disappointing, has made us lust for the 2006 Darren Oliver.

Thankfully, the Mets are outperforming their Pythagorean record by three games. Coincidentally, perhaps, the Mets narrowly retain a lead of three and a half against Atlanta, inexplicably swept by Cincinnati earlier this week, despite almost identical Pythagorean records.

I can't help but worry about this team, whether or not Pythagoras intended for that. You can still look at the lineup and find non-contributors in Shawn Green and whoever is slumping with him. Recently, we have seen Jose Reyes in near-freefall, Paul Lo Duca redefining useless, and the now-injured Jose Valentin showing nothing near last year's performance.

This all makes us wonder: how on earth did this year's club, with ostensibly similar roster construction, manage to underperform so much compared to the magic of 2006? Was it really the departure of Chad Bradford? Was it Cliff Floyd? Eli Marerro? X-Man? Sancho?

It's hard to say, but the Mets this week will attempt to embark on a new phase of the season. Moises Alou has parted the Atlantic and returned to action, as he is slated to join the Mets tomorrow. It's reasonable to assume there shall be platoons abounding in the corner outfield positions, with Firstings supplanting Green and Marlon Anderson spelling the fragile Moises.

When Damion Easley, who receives the deepest condolences from this space, returns sometime this week or next, he, Anderson, and Ruben Gotay will form a triumverate at second base with Jose Valentin absent for the forseeable future.

The pitching staff will remain relatively unchanged this week, but the Mets are undoubtedly looking to acquire relief pitching at the deadline, and the farm system is quite deep. Perhaps the Mets will pick up the righty setup man of their dreams. And speaking of righty setup men, Duaner Sanchez is a candidate to make an appearance sometime next month, according to his agent, Bean Stringfellow, seemingly a Monty Python character. Have we forgotten Pedro, too, the key rotation cog from last year's club who has been nothing more than an urban legend in 2007?

Relish the future for the Mets. The adversity is slowing, but with seven at home prior to the deadline against the Pirates and Nationals, is a clean sweep too much to ask for? I think not.

------------------

A few quick notes:

I'm not sure if I have expounded on ESPN's organized takedown of the National Hockey League in this space, but others certainly have. I think that blog has someone reading my mind.

Anyhow, isn't it odd that ESPN's golden boy, David Beckham, who received hours upon hours of his own programming on the Worldwide Leader despite minimal playing time in his first contest, referred in his inaugural press conference to "the three big sports in America?"

Perhaps you should consider sharing some of your time with hockey while savoring the fixing of games by an NBA ref, the seizure of a hallowed record by a misanthropic felon drug abuser in baseball, and the ritualistic electrocution of dogs raised to fight by an NFL superstar.

I am slightly ashamed to admit that various Harry Potter 7-related experiences kept me from posting this weekend (read: consuming the entire book in a day, and then suffering the requisite headaches), but I would love the opportunity to discuss my displeasure with the series' ending, which I will not reveal in this space. As always, I can be reached by email or in the comments section.

If the weather would deign itself to cooperate, I will be attending Thursday's Mets-Pirates contest. I will be the one unendingly whooping and cheering for Xavier Nady. Regrettably, it seems like there are few fan clubs I can join to channel this adoration of the X-Man. Oh, well.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

A Wild Ride

2007-07-19T23:31:00.000-04:00

Well, after that first inning, I made an immediate move to clear my schedule for Wednesday night's game against the Pirates: Tom Glavine would be gunning for 300 wins. Eh, not so much.

I'm not sure that I have all that much complaining to do about tonight's game, after Ramon Castro got the start and proved why he should be an everyday player, after the slumping Beltran and the suddenly resurgent Delgado contributed jacks to the effort, and after Aaron Sele "Posturepedic" (No, Berman, you can't have that one!) managed somehow to contain a club that blew away a great on the cusp of 300.

I guess I now have to agree with the so-called baseball traditionalists who whine about pitchers not going deep into games anymore: tonight's two starters, Derek Lowe and Tom Glavine, have 12 All-Star appearances, 2 Cy Young Awards, and one no-hitter between them, and they combined to throw five innings. Five innings between them! It would have been a short start for just one of them, although perhaps a marathon effort for Greg Maddux.

Apparently Marlon Anderson is back on this team. Fair enough. He looked decent in left field, making a nice sliding catch in the ninth when Guillermo Mota was somehow struggling to hang on to a big lead. Perhaps he could give Shawn Green some pointers, who continued to look marginal at best out there, despite a laser rocket arm-type throw to nail our good friend Jeff Kent at third base.

On an aside, did anyone watch that game and not have to vomit in between innings. I'm not exactly a master cinematographer, but what was going on with the SNY crew? They seemed to miss shots, pan to the wrong parts of the field, and just generally provide a weak showing. Perhaps Billy Walsh is available to take over for Bill Webb.

Also re: SNY, has anyone noticed that the score bar keeps changing. Tonight's FSN-type graphic was the third different one employed by the Mets this season on SNY alone. If I had my way, there would be a separate channel just showing a live feed of the scoreboard at the ballpark. Saves the problem of digital snafus, and, at home, you can catch the "Professor Reyes" segments if the Mets are getting pounded.

Anyway, I guess, what with the game being in LA and all, there are celebrities present, some of whom are adorned with Mets paraphernalia. Note two-time Best Actress Oscar winner Hilary Swank on your left. However, Hilary probably has some other types of paraphernalia lying around her house, courtesy of ex-hubby Chad Lowe, if you believe her side of the story regarding her recent divorce.

All in all, I'm not sure if there is any way to describe this game besides surreal. There were some encouraging signs, but the performance from Tom Glavine made it appear as though he has very little in the tank. He was nasty against Cincy last week, to be sure, but Glavine's low strike percentage obviously has contributed to this season, where he has witnessed some of the worst outings of his career. 300 is nice, when it happens, but we need Glavine to be Glavine again. Perhaps getting the milestone monkey off his back will help.

First pitch is at 10:40 p.m. tomorrow, Ollie vs. Brett Tomko. If tonight's matchup was any indication of these games' potential length, you might want to go with the double espresso.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Some Grades

2007-07-11T15:30:00.000-04:00

Perhaps it has become clichéd to award somewhat arbitrary marks to members of this club at midseason, but just because something has been done far too often and by those more capable than myself doesn't mean that I won't make a futile attempt at it. I have reels and reels of film of my attempts to remake Air Bud with a duck. Unfortunately, YouTube's policy against explicit content makes it impossible to host them on the net.

Anyway, onward and upward:

YOUR STARTERS

C Paul Lo Duca: C

This just in: the Duck has refused to discuss this grade with anyone who has ever set foot in New York State. Perhaps he had his money on a solid B. While he had an incredibly hot month of May, the Duck has slowed down somewhat and appears to be just your average catcher, though he's not hitting for any power. His .274/.321/.372 line is a disappointment compared to last year's, and he appears to have entered the same downward spiral that besets any 35 year-old catcher. His ten doubles to this point show a decrease from last year's 39, as we are more than halfway through the season. He won't be back next year, despite the slim pickings on the free agent market. Boy, I really do miss Jesus Flores.

1B Carlos Delgado: F+

Carlos, I'm awfully sorry about this. You seem like a pretty nice guy, so I might otherwise be inclined to give you a semi-positive mark. But you have to get on base more often than your dreadful .305 OBP clip. Your career average is .386. Your slugging percentage is equally bad, compared to your previous numbers: a .435, compared to last year's .548 and your career .551. The doubles numbers are nice, but for someone who also lumbers around in the field at a position where offense is required, we might ask for a hint more. Thankfully, we have a nice capable backup in Julio Franco who can slide into the lineup in the second half. Groan.

2B Jose Valentin: D-

We were all pretty impressed with what Valentin did last year, replacing the ineffective Kaz Matsui/Anderson Hernandez duo at second base when we had given him up for dead after his atrocious pinch-hitting. He hit for solid power, played very well defensively, and hit for an average better than his career clip. Perhaps the real JoVal caught up with him in the playoffs, as the pixie dust emanating from his magic mustache ran out when he failed to drive in anyone in Game 7. This season, Valentin hasn't done much of anything for anyone, playing defense with zero-range courtesy of a knee brace. He sustained something of a freak injury earlier this year, and we all would have understood if he had bowed out and retired or taken time to get surgery. Instead, he came back and displaced Damion Easley, the only Met hitting for much power in April/May, and has posted this season a wretched .243/.297/.388 in 164 plate appearances. Other scribes have mentioned the fact that Valentin has an option for next year which vests at 400 PA, possibly forcing Willie's hand. Whether Valentin is being selfish or courageous, we can glean that he is a far cry from the player that surprised us all last year.

3B David Wright: B+

The Great Wright Hope has turned his season around after a powerless April where we quickly placed blame on the Home Run Derby and worried about that massive contract extension on the Mets' books. Although he may not be exactly where he was last year (SLG down from .531 in '06 to .506 in '07), he has been walking more and stealing more bases alongside improving defense and resurgent home run power. In the end, his numbers will be right around where they were last year, and, after all, he's just 24.

SS Jose Reyes: A-

Regardless of whatever idiots like John Kruk might say, Reyes is the best shortstop in the National League, which is high praise given competition like Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Edgar Renteria, and J.J. Hardy. Ramirez might be superior offensively to Reyes, whose power is down from last year, but Jose has nearly everyone in baseball beat with his glove and his arm. Despite the aforementioned drop in power (after all, he hit 19 homers last season), Reyes' OPS+ is up, thanks to an incredible increase in walks. That is partially due to the fact that teams now intentionally walk Reyes often, but he is no longer the free-swinging player whose most valuable aspect was "excitement" or something. The recent situation with Willie appears to have blown over, and Reyes appears to be firmly entrenched on that depth chart. I might add that Reyes is still extremely young, and that, with time, perhaps he can homer, steal, walk, triple, and field with total proficiency, all in the same season.

RF Shawn Green: C-

It's been something of a peculiar season for Green, who seems to be the least noticeable member of this team. He is quiet, rather average offensively, and often batting towards the bottom of the lineup. Maybe, though, quiet refers best to his bat since returning from the disabled list in early June. Green has hit barely above the Mendoza Line in that span, and save for a few notable games, hasn't anything power-related to his credit. His defense has been barely average, courtesy of a noodle arm and no range. Granted, the Mets didn't expect him to be a forty-homer player like he was in Los Angeles and Toronto, but a little bit more might be expected for the salary unloaded on him. Is it excessively optimistic for me to see a Gomez/Beltran/Milledge outfield next year? Maybe, but Green will be a platoon player elsewhere when he departs the Mets after this season.

CF Carlos Beltran: C+

I like Beltran as a player, and what he did last year was amazing. The 2007 Beltran, though, has contained quite a bit more of the 2005 Beltran than we might have liked. All of his stats are down compared to '07, as we might have expected, but a 48-point decrease in OBP (.388 to .340) stinks. Perhaps that is especially evocative of his struggles as a hitter, since one who isn't seeing the ball well is probably going to walk less and hit less. With Beltran, though, one has to wonder why he seems to be dogged by some nagging injury each and every year. And unlike other players, who manage some sort of offensive effectiveness despite an injury, Beltran seems to lose it all when he wakes up with a little tweak in his quad. That being said, he has shown some signs of resuming production of late. But how many seasons of average baseball are we going to wind up with over the life of this contract due to a little pulled hamstring, strained quad, or whatever it may be? He's making an AAV of $17 million, and one would hope that he'd be outproducing Curtis Granderson. Not so much.

LF Moises Alou: INCOMPLETE

It's tough to give any other grade to Moises, who has missed since forever with an injury that didn't initially appear to be all that severe. He was a constant for April and about half of May, but Endy Chavez (another injury case) and Carlos Gomez (ditto) have amassed almost identical numbers of plate appearances as Alou. We all knew that Moises would miss some time with injuries, but nobody apprised me of his insatiable desire to hang out at home during the baseball season. While he was on the field, he produced a decent .318/.374/.445 line that was somewhat short on the power. He also hit into a ton of double plays, for whatever that's worth. It would be nice to have him back healthy, but wherever Moises goes, he has to be followed by a capable sub. Count on a retirement or a minor-league deal with another club in 2008.

=====================

pitchers/bench tomorrow!

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Trouble in Paradise?

2007-07-07T00:17:00.001-04:00

Scratch everything I wrote last night, I think.

Tonight's Mets were entirely different, despite an ostensibly similar lineup on the field. What, you may ask, was the cause for that?

Well, first of all, "Magic" Wandy pitched like a sprig of holly with a core of phoenix feather, purchased at Ollivander's. [ED NOTE: Does a Harry Potter reference, albeit an obscure one, qualify as a new low for this space? Yes, yes it does.]

[ED NOTE: I write and edit (and read, while sobbing uncontrollably) these posts all by myself; I had hoped you, the reader, would enjoy this interplay in my tormented mind. Perhaps not. I'll return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.]

The Mets have been shut out three times this year. The first was at home, at the hands of Barry Zito, who undoubtedly wanted to prove to Mets management what they were missing when they passed on his ridiculous price tag. Another came against Johan Santana, whose agents are reportedly looking for $25 million per season over a long-term deal when he enters free agency after the 2008 season.

Each of those pitchers has at least one Cy Young award and a winning percentage above .600 for their career (Santana's is above .700). They're extremely well-regarded among their contemporaries.

Enter Wandy Rodriguez, of the 24-27 career record with a 5.23 ERA to boot, who dazzled against the Metsies in a near-surreal evening. Rodriguez only allowed four hits over the complete game, putting to shame another improved effort from youngster Mike Pelfrey, who regrettably drops to 0-7.

The Mets' shutout, though, was their third against a lefthanded pitcher. As Marty Noble notes at MLB.com's wrapup of the game, the Mets haven't been hitting lefties like they used to since Xavier Nady's departure, and, I might add, since Moises Alou hit the DL.

But regarding that Nady trade, you might have read similar sentiments in this space last August and again later that month. I really liked Nady as a hitter, though his defense in right was questionable at best. The X-Man, who has a .292/.343/.509 line in the City of Brotherly Steel this season, would have fit in very well on this team, though it would have meant no Oliver Perez. Take your pick.

The Mets stunk against lefties last year, and were routinely mastered by luminaries like Hong-Chih Kuo and Eric Stults. This year, the Mets have fared better OPS-wise against lefties than against righties, but a recent swoon versus southpaws and these three shutouts might argue otherwise.

Being shut out by Wandy Rodriguez wasn't the biggest problem, tonight, as the Mets are awfully depleted without Duck and Alou and with Green and Delgado essentially useless on most evenings. You might have hoped for David Wright to do something, as well, but home plate umpire Larry Vanover called the game as would a man with one hell of a dinner reservation.

The big question for tonight was Jose Reyes. Over the years, Reyes has brought enthusiasm to the team and has been something of an outgoing and charismatic individual. Remember in 2005 when he would dance with Doug Mientkiewicz? Poor Jose.

But he didn't seem to care much tonight. With the Mets down by four in the eighth, Reyes hit a ball down the third base line, which had all the traits of a ball that wasn't going to stay fair. He jogged a little, but was blind-sided when Mike Lamb picked up the ball and nearly ran it all the way to Lance Berkman at first base.

Reyes didn't run. For a player who makes a living on having legs in constant motion, the shortstop didn't plan on straying too far from home plate tonight.

So what? We've seen times where Beltran hasn't run, even times when the infallible Julio Franco (who must have incriminating pictures of Omar Minaya) hasn't. And what? Nothing usually comes of them, though sometimes the lazy are lampooned in the press.

When Mets infielders spend time with sunglasses upside down atop the bills of their caps, nothing comes of it. It's vanity, not baseball. Occasionally, they'll lose a ball in the sky, but at least they look really bad-ass doing it.

But Reyes apparently didn't explain that he didn't want to be caught hustling to Willie Randolph, who pulled the sparkplug from the game in favor of Ruben Gotay, who is probably best described as that revenge hookup for Willie Randolph. He's obviously not a better shortstop than Jose Reyes, but it made the All-Star seethe in the dugout.

Jealous of Ruben Gotay's playing time? Who are you, Esteban German?

Only time (and, perhaps, tomorrow's lineups) will tell whether a conflict has truly developed between Reyes and the skipper. The two hardly embraced after David Wright was caught trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt to end the game.

The team has, in recent days, shown something of an aloofness on the field, with the exception of Paul Lo Duca and his "Die Hard and Like It" at bat against Colorado. One hopes Reyes, who has looked a little unfocused in the field of late, will be able to set a positive example for other players with a newfound hustle and love for the game in these last two contests before the break.

If not? Perhaps Reyes becomes more like Rafael Furcal. I don't want to go there.

------------------

Tidbits:

-I'm trying to develop a coherent way to phrase my thoughts and feelings about Dodgers GM Ned Colletti. Admittedly, it's something of a non sequitur, but he has done atrocious things with the personnel in LA and has won only on account of the talent developed by ex-GM Paul DePodesta and farm director Logan White. That post ought to be up sometime next week.

-As I write this, the Braves have defeated the Padres and the Phillies and Rockies are engaged in an extra-inning duel. Ground, unfortunately, must be gained by someone.

-I won't voice my thoughts on global warming (or Al Gore) in this space, but I'm pretty excited about Live Earth tomorrow, mostly because I get to see a few of my faves on stage, all the while blacking out the drivel emerging from their mouths. With hours upon hours of music, you might want to borrow some amphetamines from your good friend Tigers SS Neifi Perez. With a 25-game suspension, he probably won't be needing them anymore. [ED NOTE: Way to go! You could have very easily made a reference to Hermione Granger's time-turner from the Harry Potter series that allowed her to take all those classes. You really have made it in this biz!]

In addition, remind me to make this blog carbon-neutral by December.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Straightened Out

2007-07-05T23:02:00.001-04:00

Well, not really. I'd like to think the sorry excuse for baseball performed by your Metropolitans has ended, as of 10:54 PM EDT on this Thursday, but tonight didn't really show everything you'd like to see from the Mets.

However, John "Snubbed with a Vengeance" Maine took it to Houston tonight, showing his nastiest stuff as the Mets defeated the 'Stros 5-2, with the unlikely ace notching a career-high nine strikeouts and only two runs allowed in seven and two thirds sparkling innings of work.

He didn't really have much to straighten out, as he took no part in the Mets' four-game skid, and won resoundingly in his last start.

But Carlos Delgado did. Ramon Castro needed to step up, with Paul lo Duca finally dropping his appeal after the promotion of Sandy Alomar, Jr. to the big club. The pair combined for a whopping seven hits, including two doubles and three RBI.

The Mets made their imprint on that ridiculous malignant tumor in the centerfield of Enron Field (I assume you know the story of that ballpark's checkered past), and pounded nemesis Jason Jennings.

You might have hoped for something more from Joe Smith, who is no longer wondrous and closer to ponderous, or maybe for something more from Carlos Beltran, who was rather ghastly up until a ninth-inning home run into the short porch. I was expecting something more from Mr. Wright, and perhaps a little something more in the field from Mr. Green, but we have tomorrow for that.

In other news, the Carlos Gomez era has been put on hiatus for six to eight weeks, and it's now safe to wear your NEWHAN 17 jerseys back to the ballpark, for the utility man who embraced the Mendoza line has replaced our dearly departed speed demon.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Talkin' Pitchin' With Aarin' Heilmin'

2007-07-02T15:46:00.000-04:00

Cue lights.
HEILMAN
Today, kids, we're going to learn about pitching. You can learn from me, and my good friends Mike Pelfrey, Scott Schoeneweis, and Rick Peterson. Here, at Talkin' Pitchin', having fun comes first, keeping the Mets in ballgames comes second!

I'm first going to answer some viewer questions.

Sal from Brooklyn wants to know: "Aaron, what is your key pitch?"

Well, Sal, my favorite pitch is the hanging changeup. I enjoy giving up home runs and scowling, and throwing the hanging changeup, especially to lefthanded hitters, makes it awfully easy to erode a lead in the late innings.

John from Staten Island writes in: "Aaron, how have you managed to earn six wins on the season, despite a VORP of only 2.6?"

John, thanks for the question. I learned the key skill of luck through communication with my good friend Joe Carter, formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays. He would consistently drive in 100 runs, while hitting barely over .250, not walking, and sustaining his reputation on an especially clutch moment in the World Series.

You all can remember my great playoff successes, right? Remember a little duel I had with Yadier Molina? Exactly. So part of my ability to win is based on my impeccable postseason record.

Brady from Cleveland wonders: "What is the outlook for Notre Dame football this year?"

Well, Brady, even with Jesus and Charlie Weis on our side, I'm not sure the season is shaping up too great. Prep QB Jimmy Clausen underwent a little arm surgery, and I'm not sure the offense can withstand the departures of Jeff Samardzija, Rhema McKnight, and Darius Walker.

I've heard they're planning on facing some tough teams like the Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, and the TSA training program because the other service academies aren't difficult enough.

Okay, so now we're going to learn this week's new pitch. This one is a real favorite of mine. Victor Zambrano taught it to me, and starting a sentence like that automatically makes you a legitimate pitcher. I call it the changeup-in-the-dirt. How do you think I've managed 15 hit-by-pitches and 13 wild pitches in my short big league career?

So, you assume the normal changeup grip, with four fingers over the ball. Then, in an important count where you can't really afford to throw balls, you proceed to throw the pitch towards the ground, preferably way inside or way outside. Don't be afraid to bounce it to home plate, but take heed: it is of the utmost importance that you don't confuse this pitch with my hanging changeup, which I taught you last week.

With that pitch, you assume the changeup grip, and throw it down the middle or on the inside half of the plate to a lefthanded hitter. Guaranteed to provide fan-pleasing fireworks at all times, especially in opposing ballparks. Take a look at my home run rate: it's no coincidence that it's higher than those of all other Mets pitchers except my next guest, Scott Schoeneweis, and I intend to change that.

Speaking of which, Scott is joining us in studio now. Thanks, Scott, for comin' on Talkin' Pitchin' With Aarin' Heilmin'.

SCHOENEWEIS
No problem, Aaron. I always would love to help out a fellow useless reliever.

HEILMAN
Well, about that, Scott, I was a little upset when I noticed that you hadn't given up an earned run on the road all season. I understand there are small sample sizes and all, but I was a little disappointed in your road splits for the season.

SCHOENEWEIS
I can understand that, buddy. I can try to give up long home runs, but somehow the opponents just can't touch my meatballs on the road. But I mean, look at you, you did manage to strike out the side today.

HEILMAN
Don't you dare try and trick the fan base. I allowed two runs in that inning, and by all accounts I should have given up even more.

SCHOENEWEIS
Fair enough.

HEILMAN
And, to wit, I have managed to allow all those runs in a very short career. I was a first-round draft pick, and I have had the fan base turn on me several times. Remember 2005? Of course you don't, but I was nasty. Mets fans were even insisting that I replace Braden Looper as closer. Thank God those times are over.

SCHOENEWEIS
Didn't you want to be a starter at one point?

HEILMAN
I'll handle the questions here.

(awkward pause)

HEILMAN
So, Scott, do you have any questions for me?

SCHOENEWEIS
Aaron, I was just wondering about those days when you wanted to be a starter.

HEILMAN
Well, ah yes. I still do want to be a starter, though the Mets seem to believe that failing in the bullpen doesn't seem to make me a better candidate for the rotation. I might add that I was sterling in the rotation in 2005, and although I have had bumpy times in my career as a starter, the Mets' campaign of hate against me is totally ridiculous.

SCHOENEWEIS
I've been a starter before, and I'm not sure it's all that much better. Also, Aaron, I'm not sure exactly what campaign of hate you are referring to.

HEILMAN
Oh, Scott, I'm not sure you really understand anything. I am great, and you might notice all of the options the Mets have utilized to keep me from entering the rotation: Jose Lima, Jeremi (né Geremi) Gonzalez, Alay Soler, Jason Vargas, Mike Pelfrey, Dave Williams, Steve Trachsel, Oliver Perez, Brian Bannister, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine... must I continue?

SCHOENEWEIS
I'm not sure how many of those guys you mentioned have actually pitched for the Mets, but I digress. Aaron, have you not considered the fact that you throw only two pitches, neither of which is exceptional?

HEILMAN
Take a look at Tim Wakefield. He throws only one pitch, and he's probably the most celebrated pitcher in the history of the major leagues. With double the pitches, I will double Tim Wakefield's success: he has 159 career wins, pencil me in for 318.

SCHOENEWEIS
Aaron, I went to Duke, and aside from learning how to run an offense from Coach K, I learned a little thing about logic. That's flawless. I also met some very fine strippers there, though they kept trying to swab me in between dances.

HEILMAN
That's quite enough, Schoeneweis. Win a few games, and we'll talk again, okay? Special thanks to Scott Schoeneweis for appearing on this program, and while I'm on the topic, I would like to note that all guests on Talkin' Pitchin' With Aarin' Heilmin' receive a $5 gift certificate, erm, coupon, to the Olive Garden, and a urinary tract infection. Let's bring in our next guest, Mike Pelfrey, joining us via satellite. Hi, Mike. You're appearing via satellite from New Orleans, as you've just been demoted, correct?

PELFREY
Aaron, I'm backstage. Making the footage a little grainy doesn't make it seem like I'm appearing via satellite.

HEILMAN
Okay, okay, save the criticism for your parents, those who delivered such an incomplete pitcher into this world.

PELFREY
Aaron, you're a dick.

HEILMAN
Dry, acrid wit from you as always, Mike. Tell us a little bit about your methodology on the mound today, managing to allow three runs in five innings to the Phillies with three walks despite not pitching in nine days, bringing your record to 0-6 on the year. I have six wins on the season. Mike?

PELFREY
Well, Paul Lo Duca told me to go out there and just throw, and I managed to --

HEILMAN
Excuse me, Mike, but our good friends at Elias are telling me that in my last start, in 2005, I struck out 7 against the 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. What are your thoughts on that?

PELFREY
(flips off camera, walks offstage)

HEILMAN
Well, it looks like we're having a few problems with the satellite feed, but I'm sure Mike will be back soon. Then again, maybe he could use a little practice at pitching. Let me remind you, all guests on Talkin' Pitchin' With Aarin' Heilmin' receive five dollars off a meal for four or more at the Olive Garden and a real bitch of a urinary tract infection. At the Olive Garden, when you're here, you're family.

Let's welcome our final guest in-studio, Dr. Rick Peterson, the Mets' CEO of Pitching.

PETERSON
Namaste, young grasshopper.

HEILMAN
So, Rick, do you think you could fix me in ten minutes, huh?

PETERSON
Time represents that which cannot be governed by the heavens, Aaron. We are trapped in this submarine, and doomed to repeat history's mistakes if we shall fail to pitch below thigh-level.

HEILMAN
Yes, definitely. What do you think of my changeup?

PETERSON
Aaron, without your changeup, it would be as though Jimmy Page without hands, Louis Armstrong without a mouth. One cannot make beautiful music without sinking action on the changeup, or essential organs.

HEILMAN
Absolutely. Let me take a second, Rick, to complement you on your fine polyester/nylon-blend jacket there. That is puffy beyond belief; you resemble a man of great stature with it and a Jheri-curl atop your head.

PETERSON
Why thank you, Aaron. But I ought to warn you- there's no chance of you becoming a starter, ever. We have some fine talent coming through this organization, as silk through the roads of China during the time of Marco Polo, and I fear you might have the wrong impressions of your likely fate.

HEILMAN (crying)
Is this really what you think of me, Jacket? I've made all of these sacrifices for you; I gave you my clean sample, and this is how you repay me? How dare you?

PETERSON
Relax, don't do it, when you want to go to it.

HEILMAN (still sniffling)
That's all the time we have, on Talkin' Pitchin'. I would like to thank my middling guests, and I'll be back at work, throwing some games for the Mets, as we continue along this road trip. For all of us here, at the Olive Garden, I'm Aaron Heilman, and I will haunt your excretory system. Good night.

FIN

Just a note: I was disappointed to find that my blog is only the seventh hit if one Googles the phrase "Aaron Heilman stinks". I'm determined to change that.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

In Defense of Steve Phillips and Joe Morgan

2007-07-01T19:27:00.000-04:00

Please accept my most sincere apologies for the title of this post, and understand that I have made these two my favorite punching bags in my years of watching Baseball Tonight, an absolutely atrocious program shoved down our throats by the good people at ESPN.

The two mentioned actually bring some sense into the fray, for the first time ever.

Now, tonight's 7 PM show featured discussion of the All-Star selections, something I was looking forward to while seething about the obvious ignorance of John Maine's great season. John Maine is tied for third in the NL in VORP among pitchers. Cole Hamels is nineteenth. Somehow he made it. Hamels ranks behind El Duque, by the way.

Regardez, s'il vous plait: Maine isn't even in the final five left for voting. His stats: 9-4, 2.74 ERA.

The final five:

SP Brandon Webb: 8-5, 3.05 ERA,
SP Roy Oswalt: 7-5, 3.42 ERA.
SP Carlos Zambrano: 9-6, 4.20 ERA.
SP Tom Gorzelanny: 8-4, 3.05 ERA.
SP Chris Young: 8-3, 2.14 ERA.

and, just for kicks,

SP Cole Hamels: 9-4, 3.87 ERA.

This is absolutely disgusting. I try to avoid putting too much stock into these things, but Maine outpitched all of the above but Young as measured by ERA, and he won more (or as many) than all. This is grotesque. Fire Selig.

P.S.: Zambrano's ERA is 4.20. Look at that. Oliver Perez would sooner deserve a spot.

Instead, the idiots on tonight's panel (Eric Young, Steve Phillips, and John Kruk) decided to debate why Jose Reyes made the All-Star team instead of Jimmy Rollins, who sucks, by the way.

Reyes OPS+: 131
Rollins OPS+: 116

Reyes WARP: 4.5
Rollins WARP: 3.9

Listen to our good friends at BT:

KRUK: "You don't go to the All-Star Game to watch a guy [Reyes] hit singles and run. That doesn't happen. Hit a home run."
KARL RAVECH: "You know that's ridiculous."
STEVE PHILLIPS: "Thank you."
KRUK: (incredulous)
RAVECH: You don't want to see Reyes run? Steal?
KRUK: He's not going to. It's the All-Star Game. [ED NOTE: There were two stolen bases from the NL in last year's ASG, and Reyes wasn't even playing.] And Jimmy Rollins can't steal a base?
YOUNG: I like Jose Reyes. I think he's one of the most exciting players in the game, but when we think about performance, who should be the all-star shortstop for the National League, no doubt about it, it should be Jimmy Rollins. Look at the numbers!
PHILLIPS: Come on!
YOUNG: His power, his slugging percentage, it's over .500! Take out the average and the stolen bases. What do you have?
PHILLIPS: You have on-base percentage. There's a 60-point difference between the two.
YOUNG: Ugh.
PHILLIPS: You're playing this game to win! Here's the thing, Jose Reyes has 25 more stolen bases than Rollins, which means those singles become doubles. Jimmy Rollins slugs? When you look at Jose Reyes's OPS, it's better than Jimmy Rollins'! He puts himself in position to score more runs than Jimmy Rollins! Runs scored come from the people behind you in the lineup! He's the most exciting player in the major leagues. And 2.5 million of my closest friends agree.
YOUNG: The Mets' lineup is not good?
PHILLIPS: The Mets' lineup with Beltran and Delgado behind him struggled this year compared to Howard and Utley.
YOUNG: They've been tearin' it up [ED NOTE: No, they haven't. They suck.] How about Ryan Howard earlier this season?
PHILLIPS: I'll trade you right now, Jose Reyes for Jimmy Rollins, you'd take Reyes.
KRUK: We're talking about an All-Star Game!
YOUNG: Not about trades! [ED NOTE: So cute. They're finishing eachother's poorly-thought out arguments.]
PHILLIPS: Okay, who would you say gives that team a better chance to win that game?
KRUK and YOUNG (in unison): Jimmy Rollins! [ED NOTE: According to the Hardball Times, Reyes has four more win shares this season than Rollins. Just thought I'd point that out.]
PHILLIPS (incredulous, once again): It's not even close. Jose Reyes does everything.
KRUK (interjecting): You wanna throw situations out, let's throw this one out: bases loaded, 2-run game, bottom of the ninth inning, who do you want hitting? Jimmy Rollins or Jose Reyes?
PHILLIPS: I'll take Reyes. Absolutely. He does everything, he doesn't strike out.
KRUK: Then you'll lose. [ED NOTE: Rollins is 0-for-5 on the season with bases loaded. Reyes is 4-for-12.]
YOUNG (changing the topic and making no sense): You also have to think about the opponents' batting averages against those guys. It's not going to be a piece of cake for him to get on base and steal. [ED NOTE: So is it going to be easy for Rollins? I don't understand... they would face the same pitchers.] You got Pudge behind the plate. Pudge shuts down.
RAVECH (trying to save Young and Kruk from their stupidity): There are people in Milwaukee saying, why are you even having this discussion? Where's J.J. Hardy? People in Florida, the few that actually watch the Marlins, saying where's Hanley Ramirez?
PHILLIPS: Hardy's 2nd best, Ramirez's 3rd best, Renteria's fourth best, and Rollins is 5th. [ED NOTE: By WARP (which takes defense into account), your top NL Shortstops: Reyes, Renteria, Rollins, Ramirez, Hardy.]
YOUNG: I can't believe you're saying that.
KRUK: That's why, as a GM, you're here with us.

(later in the show, another exchange with JOE MORGAN)

RAVECH: You were listening to that discussion we had, about Reyes and Rollins, and you were a speed guy. Who would you have selected, Reyes or Rollins, given that choice?
MORGAN: Well, you know what, I'd flip a coin, either one that comes up, I'd be happy with. [ED NOTE: If you read Fire Joe Morgan, this must sound familiar.] But if you forced me to make a choice, I'd have to take Reyes. I think Reyes is the most exciting player in the game right now. [ED NOTE: He also leads all NL Shortstops in WARP!] I think Jimmy Rollins is exciting; he's a great player, a great clutch hitter. I just think that that's a real snub not to have him on the all star team. But I would have to take Reyes.
RAVECH: [blah, blah] Some have compared Jose Reyes to you in your prime.
MORGAN: I didn't get that. (having some audio issues)
RAVECH: I just complimented you.
MORGAN: Well, that's high praise, because I think he's an exciting player.

One final ED NOTE: If Rollins is so bothered about being left off the roster, he might want to ask Tony La Russa why he took Aaron Rowand as a manager's selection. I don't think he's very good. Or why he took Albert Pujols, who has not been Albert-ly this season (SLG down by nearly 140 pts. compared to last year).

==================

I'll be back tomorrow with something coherent which hopefully can spear Aaron Heilman. Stay tuned.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Schoene' Him The Door

2007-06-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

Tonight's game, a 5-3 extra inning loss to the hated Cardinals, which ended the Mets' one game winning streak against the Redbirds at Shea, was a failure on many levels despite the unlopsided score.

One ought to view this failure in three parts: the failure of the entire team to hit Todd effing Wellemeyer, who has all of eight major league wins to his credit (alongside an utterly sterling career 5.51 ERA), the failure of Scott Schoeneweis to do anything that could possibly help this team at any point in time, and the respective failures of Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph on this night and others.

You might say I'm overreacting, but the Mets' offense, in deslumpifying itself, managed only one run against Oakland on Saturday, one run in the first nine against St. Louis last night, and only three in the first nine tonight. You might remind me that I am forgetting two blowouts against Oakland in the Mets' favor, but then I will remind you that they faced Lenny DiNardo and Joe Kennedy in those games.

So, the Mets didn't fare too well against a replacement level starter tonight. They didn't last night, either. What can I do? There's nothing to second-guess: Delgado looks atrocious at the plate (1-for-5, 4 LOB, including a crucial groundout with men on first and third), and when Jose Reyes isn't hitting (1-for-5 tonight), he isn't stealing bases, and the Mets' offensive wheels aren't turning. No Met had a multi-hit game tonight, and six hits in eleven innings isn't a winning pace. Oh, well.

But, really, that's been a trend of late. The Cardinals don't hit all that much either, despite having one of baseball's top sluggers on their roster. (TAGUCHI!) They have Albert Pujols, too. Yet they manage to circumvent offense and win at the same time, at least when facing the Mets.

How does that happen? Two words: Scott Schoeneweis. He's awful. Totally horrendous. I can't really think of a time, save for a few April and Spring Training games, where I was able to heap praise on Schoeneweis. You might recall this post (scroll down a little), where I discussed and criticized the initial signing. However, I'm not sure there was anyone who expected Schoeneweis to be an instant curse upon entering the game.

Schoeneweis can't be used. Baseball Prospectus lists his VORP as -1.7 runs, which is pretty terrible, and that doesn't even include tonight's poor showing, including a home run ball served up to a rookie who most likely idolizes David Eckstein's power production. His ERA is 5.86, and he seemingly walks/allows a home run to each and every batter he faces.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating: the Mets' record is only 1-5 in the last six games in which Schoeneweis has pitched, and he really wasn't directly responsible for any of those losses, except tonight's. He claims to be injured, but it wasn't that mysterious severed leg tendon serving up the 3-2 meatball to Brendan Ryan.

Even in a best-case scenario, Schoeneweis is a mediocre pitcher who has little place on a major-league roster aside from a left-handed specialist role. And Pedro Feliciano already fills that role like convicted shakedown artist Tony Sirico as Paulie Walnuts on the Sopranos. Schoeneweis can't be a mop-up guy: that's Sele's job. Maybe he and Julio Franco could take a ride in a late model Yugo driven by Duaner Sanchez's cabby. I'm just saying.

But we have become accustomed to Schoeneweis' failure: he is the Mets' version of a white flag, at least in the minds of the fanbase. Why hasn't the coaching staff gotten that memo yet? We're putting new cover sheets on the TPS reports, too.

This is why much of the onus for the loss must be put on Willie 'n Omar, Omar 'n Willie, the inseparable duo who brought Scott Schoeneweis and Julio Franco into our Mets family, and who now refuse to cut their losses and acknowledge the mistakes. Even George Bush (a friend of Minaya and Franco, I smell a conspiracy!) knew it was time to pull the plug on Rumsfeld and Ashcroft at some point.

What was Willie thinking when he took Wagner out after a nine-pitch tenth? I understand he would have had to go two innings on back-to-back nights, but it would have been more like one and a half after that stress-free frame. It's not as though he had to bat, or as though their most feared hitters were due up in the next frame.

If he is so hell-bent on saving his closer, then what exactly was his reasoning behind selecting Schoeneweis to pitch the next frame? Although his four best relievers were out (although it shames me to include Mota and Heilman in that assessment), he did have Joe Smith to go to. Even Aaron Sele has been better this season than Schoeneweis.

That decision didn't pan out well, and the degree to which it was so poorly rewarded might have overshadowed the even more questionable decision to pinch-hit Julio Franco in the ninth with men on the corners. Franco hasn't had a pinch-hit in three weeks, and his .196/.333/.261 line doesn't exactly instill confidence in anyone.

While utilizing Ramon Castro in that spot probably wouldn't make sense, Willie would have been much better off using Damion Easley instead of Franco. Either option was 0-for-his career against Izzy, but at least we can recall Easley having hits in this millennium that were not bloop singles to right field.

In fact, Willie could have opted to leave Carlos Gomez in to bat for himself against the closer, who had lost all control of his curveball, and then sent up Ledee to bat for Mota. The game had already been tied, and Gomez has been getting on base at a higher clip than Ledee this year.

Instead, Ledee walked, and Julio "Out Machine" Franco went up and was a role model to all the young players, showing them how to overstay their welcome and how to minimize their bat speed and, simultaneously (!), maximize their outmaking potential. The jokes make themselves with Julio on the field. He is absolutely useless, and it befuddles me why Willie chooses to use him as his "ace" pinch-hitter.

Randolph might say that it's nice to have a bullet like that for late in the game: the Mets play Russian Roulette with themselves when the amazing egg-white guzzler steps up to the plate. By the way, did you know that Julio is older than Ron Darling? Almost two full years older? Ron retired in 1995. Hell, Franco's only three years younger than Lee Mazzilli.

Those two decisions are where Willie's at fault: Franco shouldn't be in any major league games at all, and Schoeneweis should be in even fewer than that. But it's someone's fault that these two found their way onto the roster in the first place, and that blame falls squarely on the shoulders of our beloved Omar.

Some have found significant fault with his offseason dealings, and I count myself in the crowd that only vilifies him for a couple of those moves. He deserves praise for passing on Barry Zito's ridiculous price tag, and outfielders like Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee. He showed incredible foresight in making both Maine and Perez parts of this year's rotation, and the Moises move might even turn out well, if his legs can be reattached.

But Minaya's failures this offseason lie in a few atrocious moves: two trades and one signing. The signing was Schoeneweis at 3 years, $11 M, just for the hell of it, apparently. The Mets passed on one of their relief aces from '06, Chad Bradford, at an almost identical clip, and he has a 3.49 ERA in 40 games for the Orioles this season. He's younger than Schoeneweis, too. That move has been discussed to death, and with good reason.

Minaya's two trades were even worse: Royce Ring/Heath Bell to the Padres for Jon Adkins and Ben Johnson, and Matt Lindstrom/Henry Owens to the Marlins for Adam Bostick/Jason Vargas.

Lindstrom has a 3.52 ERA in 33 games for Florida; Owens a 1.96 clip in 22 games (4 saves) for the Fish, before going down with an injury. Heath Bell has a 1.42 ERA in 36 games with San Diego, and Ring (right) hasn't given up a run in his four games of MLB work, alongside a 4-0 record and 1.23 ERA in 25 games for AAA Portland.

Three of the relief pitchers the Mets sent away have ERAs under two, and the other still has a respectable 3.52. Do you want to know what the Mets got in those trades?

Adam Bostick has a 3-5 record and 6.71 ERA at AAA N'awlins. Vargas made one forgettable start for the Mets and has a 6-4 record to go with a 4.35 ERA on the farm. Jon Adkins is the gem of the bunch, with his 3.68 ERA in 29 games for the Zephyrs. Ben Johnson posted a downright adorable .185/.233/.222 line in 27 AB for the Mets, and has fared rather middlingly at AAA, with a .264 average and zero power (.368 SLG).

Might it be a little bit more than a coincidence that the Mets have lost or been aided in their losing of several games due to spotty middle relief? The Mets traded away four dynamite major league relievers for nothing. Zero contribution to the big club for the Mets' acquisitions. Ahem, there was actually less than zero contribution as Vargas and Johnson combine for a -3.8 VORP at the plate and on the mound.

It pains me to say that the players the Mets chose to give up have been worth 34.9 runs over replacement level to their teams. Considering that the Mets gave up about 40 runs in two trades, and that a win is worth about ten runs, the Mets cost themselves four wins to this point during the season in these trades. Four wins extra and four losses subtracted would have given the Mets a 46-29 record, which would have been tops in the NL and third in major league baseball.

I hope that this doesn't sound like an excessively impassioned rant, but at this point in the season, there has to be some blame assessed for a 2.5 game lead that could have been 6.5. Minaya has time to remedy his mistakes: promote Willie Collazo (the AAA squad's best reliever, as long as Ambi "The Lorax" is disabled) and 1B Andy Tracy (.311/.418/.571, 18 HR, 58 RBI) while DFAing Julio Franco and DLing Schoeneweis.

Just a humble suggestion, but one that's intended to avoid all too certain failure.

----------------------

Two quick notes:

-Check for an article regarding Delgado, Franco, and Andy Tracy by me (!) on Mike's Mets tomorrow. I will be writing there weekly, for the foreseeable future, but I'll still be here to provide you coverage on my usual semi-semi-regular posting schedule.

-I'm going to tomorrow night's game (Anthony Reyes and his 0-9 record and 6.69 ERA vs. Tom 296, 7:10 p.m.) and hope to fare better than I did last time. If I don't, be sure to keep your cursor on that refresh button to indulge yourself in my horror.

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Rock Bottom

2007-06-20T23:04:00.000-04:00

It's hard to imagine things would have gotten any worse for this Mets team after a sweep at the hands of Philadelphia, letting the subpar Phillies reenter the division race.

Well, it's been two weeks, and they have. The Mets lost this evening, 6-2, sending Oliver Perez, this season's unlikely ace to the hill, against the Twins' Scott Baker, whose 1-2 record and 7.33 ERA so far this season are an embarrassment to anyone named Scott or Baker.

It marks the sixth straight series dropped by the Mets. This used to be best described as a funk, then a slump, then a lengthy losing streak, Now, however, the Mets' precipitous decline resembles a collapse. The team has been awful defensively, awful offensively, and awful on the hill.

A loss used to be a refuge for this club, infallible, and unable to be threatened by hard-charging opponents. These Mets are weak, resembling in no way or shape the team we grew accustomed to seeing since the inception of "the New Mets."

Sure, the team is 38-32, a record we would have been exceedingly pleased with during the reign of Art Howe. But this isn't working. There are no strings being pulled from above, no Met seemingly threatened with an unsatisfactory fate besides Carlos Gomez, who is the only player on the team giving a consistent level of effort.

Let me amend myself: others on the team are giving a consistently low level of effort, as Carlos Delgado's recent defensive (and offensive) performance makes me pine for Doug Mientkiewicz. Shawn Green ought to be envious of Barry Bonds' range, and Jose Reyes might not even win a home run derby against Jason Tyner right now.

I never anticipated asking this question during this season, especially after a sterling April and May, but can things get any worse for this team? They have been ravaged by many injuries, including Beltran's nagging quad, Moises's shredded quad, and the Duck's shattered thumb.

Pedro's absence deprives the Mets of their true ace, and Duaner Sanchez's cab ride from hell still haunts the Mets in the late innings. One might not be able to credit late-inning collapses for any of the failures since the Phillies series, but Joe Smith has lost his luster and the rest of the pen never had any.

Injuries have shepherded the club to this point, but with no imminent returns from anyone, including Firstings, is it safe to say that things will get any better soon? Pedro might be the jolt who can fix things, but he's nowhere near all there yet. There's nothing there in the minor leagues, unless you long for OF Chip Ambres, whose name's reminiscence to that of a Braves superstar (and announcer) makes me doubt his readiness.

The issue is complacency, at least in part, as Delgado has watched his OBP sink below .300 and Beltran's last homer came on June sixth. Carlos Gomez is the only player capable of pushing Beltran with Endy out, and if Beltran sits, the outfield contains Green and Ledee flanking Gomez.
What's worse is that Julio Franco is the only first baseman on the Mets' roster, and allowing him to spell Delgado might just sink this team even further. Recent ostensibly false reports suggested that Franco was an impetus for conflict within the team, but perhaps Minaya has retained his employ as a personal favor to Delgado, who cannot face any heat from a man old enough to be his father. (**may not be true; I shall consult my inside sources)

Nevertheless, this team plays with varying senses of urgency, none of which seem to be exactly proper, as evidenced by the losing streak. The Mets are fortuitous, as they have the opportunity to end this horrendous interleague play against Oakland while missing their ace, Dan Haren, though Joes Blanton and Kennedy aren't exactly Scott Baker. The Mets will also face Lenny DiNardo, a former Met property.

Don't imagine another sweep, another lost series. Visualize a Mets sweep, a reversal to perpetuate an unprecedented hot streak. Things can't get much worse. My fingers are crossed.

p.s.: new white stripes and smashing pumpkins within three weeks? does it get any better? (no.)

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Karma

2007-06-16T00:02:00.000-04:00

I love it when these karmic shifts occur: when someone due for an unpleasant outcome finally meets it. And nothing makes me happier when the mighty Yankees are toppled.

Earlier in the season, we might not have been prepared to use the phrase "mighty Yankees." After all, the club was in a seemingly unprecedented state of disrepair, as their pitching was struggling and their offense was nearly as bad.

The Mets took two out of three against the Spanks earlier this season, when legends such as Darrell Rasner and Tyler Clippard showed up as starters. One might summon up the image of Mighty Mets, with Carloses Beltran and Delgado resembling actual baseball players.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Mets have been middling at best in June, with an exceptionally dismal stretch of four straight series losses. Perhaps you might recall a recent Yankee winning streak, of nine straight games. The Mets were 1-8 during that span.

Yet the Mets deserve to be relevant within New York. The media (of which I am certainly not a part!) decides to print papers either about the Yankees winning or struggling. You might not find out anything about the Mets, especially not with all the manufactured drama in the Bronx.

Suffice it to say that their time, at least for now, is up. The Mets rebounded tonight, as you might have heard, with a brilliantly-pitched 2-0 win over the Yankees and their $28 million dollar Rocket Man.

The Yankees were certainly out of their element during that winning streak: after all, the team is still poorly constructed and is perhaps the least cost-effective entity in existence (with the obvious exception of the federal government). Carl Pavano is pulling down a cool $10 M and Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon, both of whom abstained from tonight's contest, are earning eight-figure salaries.

Regard now, this team, sans any sort of budgetary restrictions, which placed former Met superstar Miguel Cairo at first base and Melky Cabrera in center field. Josh Phelps DHed. Pardon me if I take a second to indulge myself in a quick chuckle at the Yankees' abject failure to put a halfway decent team on the field.

Okay. You might say that I shouldn't be so joyful. After all, the win was anything but resounding, as the Mets averted chaos in the eighth inning with Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith on the hill. Don't tell me you weren't on the edge of vomiting when you saw Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis up in the pen during that eighth. I'm not sure Willie could have scared us any more without flying in Braden Looper or Dae-Sung Koo (he has a 2.51 ERA for Hanwha in 14+ innings in the Korean League so far this year; I checked).

But the Mets managed to sneak by, thanks to outstanding performances tonight by Jose Reyes at the dish and on the basepaths, Oliver Perez on the mound, and Carloses Beltran and Gomez in the field. Gomez, too, was probably the second or third best Met at the plate, recording two bunt hits and blinding us with his speed.

I would give a game ball to Carlos Delgado at the dish, but I think a game steaming pile of dog excrement would be more suited for his 0-for-4, 4 K performance. The humorous thing in all of that is that he probably couldn't have managed to do any worse at the plate. Like, if I went up and faced Roger Clemens, I would probably do no worse than that.

Yet indicative of an incredibly successful ballclub is the ability to win in spite of various upsetting occurrences. The bulk of the lineup, as has been the case with so many of these recent contests, was ice cold. Oliver Perez's wildness was a little frightening.

However, the Mets persevered and won an impressive game. Maybe the case is that the team just needed an intense atmosphere to win, although I might contest that there is no reason to develop a playoff air in the middle of June. We shouldn't be unhappy with tonight's outcome, though.

Maybe 2-9 in the last eleven shouldn't make the Mets superior to the Yankees, though a sweep is thankfully not in the cards. The Mets thereby successfully averted total crisis, backing many of us off the ledge and inducing an overwhelming sense of calm across the fan base.

Call it karma.

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A Hiatus

2007-06-14T00:13:00.001-04:00

They are down 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Rafael Furcal is on third.

I will take a hiatus of sorts, though I can assure you at least a thousand words, after the next Mets win (if there is one), describing my relief in not having to jump of a cliff.

I am completely and utterly disappointed in this team's lack of effort to avoid resembling their 1962 counterparts.

To quote Casey Stengel regarding that squad, "Can't anyone here play this game?"

Willie should be asking the same. He and the rest of his coaching staff combine for over 4,500 hits in their careers.

Reyes dropped the double-play ball. 7-1. One out. I hate this team.

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Resignation

2007-06-12T02:19:00.000-04:00

During Willie Randolph's tenure with "The New Mets," we as fans have become accustomed to seeing a baseball product of the highest quality, and Randolph's managerial style keeps the players hustling. The Mets had a never-say-die attitude, as evidenced by pitching Roberto Hernandez for, like, six straight games, during Willie's first year, for he was the only reliever of any quality.

But when the Mets were snuffed out tonight by Randy Wolf, whose umpire brother needs to cool it on the omniscience, the team seemed resigned to their fate as losers.

Come to think of it, the team has been playing that way for a while. It can be seen in the lack of late rallies, the relievers' inability to hold any lead (or deficit), and other characteristics which have shepherded this team to an unfortunate 2-7 record in their last nine games, with Jorge Sosa having started both Mets wins.

The New Mets aren't resigned, in theory. They fix problems; they never quit. Last year, they were the Cardiac Kids, with Endy Chavez, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran mastering the late-inning walkoff hit. This year, in a game that probably would have proved crucial for stemming the tide of defeat, Willie Randolph sent up his big three hitters in the ninth: Jose Valentin, Ruben Gotay, and Ricky Ledee.

Disgraceful. Valentin was dispatched on a first-pitch swing, and Gotay and Ledee both have K's next to their name in your scorecard. I know Takashi Saito is good, and the rest of that Dodgers bullpen is pretty strong as well, but these are the Mets. Remember that club who ran over the Dodgers in the NLDS, even with Steve Trachsel (by the way, 5-4, 3.82 ERA for Baltimore this season) starting one of the games.

The Mets got out to an early lead tonight, as has often been the case during this losing streak. Yet after three quick runs, the Mets proceeded to cough up runs and hang on for dear life, committing errors and making poor baseball decisions. What is to be made of the smart decision in pitching out during the suicide squeeze, only to see Tony "Not Bobby" Abreu go from first to third on a poor throw by Captain Red Ass.

This team is inexplicably resigned to their fate as a losing bunch: why play aggressively? Why get important hits in the late innings? They are doomed to lose, because of reliever clowns like Mota, Schoeneweis, and Aaron Sele (who was better off in the witness protection program). And don't get me started about Aaron Heilman.
What does it mean for the team when Willie says things like, "Nothing's better." regarding the condition of Moises Alou? The team must sense that sense of urgency from "quality veteran leaders" like Moises, who has missed nearly a month with a pulled left quad.

A pulled quad? Really, Moises? You are making us suffer through Endy Chavez (who's now out for over a month), Ben Johnson, David Newhan, the premature Carlos Gomez era, and Ricky effing Ledee because of your precious quad? Shawn Green, hardly the image that first comes to mind when thinking of tough guy baseball players, missed less time with a broken bone in his foot.

A broken bone, Moises. You have a pulled muscle! I hope your Workmen's Comp is paying well, because if any Mets fan gets a shot at you, I wouldn't be surprised if you met the Phil Leotardo treatment. Moises is not new to this ire, I am sure, as even before joining the Mets he had served fourteen separate DL stints in his career.

Moises is nothing but a cancer. Beltran is slumping. Delgado is seemingly showing signs of life, but can't manage a hit in crucial situations. The Duck is regressing to the mean. Reyes is devoid of that power which showed itself last year.

The spirit of this team is gone, and I don't know who can bring it back. It's more than just complacency: it's that the Mets are essentially smoked for the evening once they fall behind in a game. Fight isn't enough. They have to start coming back. The bullpen needs to keep the team in games.

Sure, there are things that this team is doing right. I like Carlos Gomez, Wright is locked in, Jorge Sosa is a godsend, and the rest of the starting pitching hasn't been terrible, although one would hope they could go deeper into games. I'm not sure the Mets should stop getting out ahead, although it hasn't boded terribly well for them of late. The good behaviors on this team still outweigh the negatives.

Don't stop

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Liveblogging the Mets' 2007 Amateur Draft

2007-06-07T10:07:00.001-04:00

8:50 PM-With the 183rd pick in today's draft, the Mets snagged another third baseman, Zach Lutz, out of Division III Alvernia College in Pennsylvania. In all fairness. Lutz was the Division III Position Player of the Year this year, but I'm not sure exactly what the Mets are doing in selecting someone out of Alvernia College.

Lutz was by far the best player on the club, batting .454 with 12 HR and 58 RBI in 40 games. He stole ten bases, hit 15 doubles, struck out only nine times, and had a .541 OBP. Unfortunately, he was a disappointing 4-2 with a 5.18 ERA in five starts. As meaningless as D3 statistics might be, I'm not prepared to argue with a player with such all-around capability.

Perhaps a latter-day Moonlight Graham? I'm not sure. I'm looking forward to the legend of Zach "Triple" Lutz.

EDIT: I very much hope you've enjoyed my draft coverage today, although I could understand if you don't. It might be awful. I won't be covering day two, but I can assure you that the Mets will try an intriguing pick. They haven't netted themselves all that much in the way of potentially extraordinary prospects, and the pitcher who I mentioned earlier as a good fit for the Mets, Roxbury Latin HS's Jack McGeary is still available and perhaps the Mets could throw enough money at him to lure him away from Stanford.

8:13 PM-With pick #153, the Mets grabbed their first position player of the day, selecting 3B Richard Lucas out of Wolfson Senior High School in Florida, the alma mater of Kansas City OF prospect Billy Butler, who was a third baseman at Wolfson as well. He is a barrel-chested, muscular 6' 205 lb. kid with the ability to add onto that frame and develop more power, according to scouts.

Lucas is an aggressive hitter at the plate with good command of the strike zone and scouts indicate that he can hit to all fields, with good power when he pulls.

Wrote Florida State associate head coach Jamey Shouppe,

"He is the best third baseman in the country in my opinion. For a big guy he has the best, softest hands you will ever see in a big kid. He has Major League hands. If it hits his glove, you are out. He won't bobble or miss many. He played shortstop in high school and could probably play there at this level if you wanted a 6'3", 215 pound shortstop. If he isn't that big, he sure looks it. He projects as an outstanding Division I third baseman."

Defensively, he is solid as well, with soft hands and a developing arm at the hot corner. While he will need to perform awfully well to displace the man currently there for the Mets, he has a lot of potential to develop into a solid hitter and a strong fielder as his body matures. He is reportedly of strong character and is a team leader with solid fundamentals. He had a 3.25 GPA during his senior year.

Scouts have compared him offensively to Matt Diaz of the Atlanta Braves, as a hitter who projects best as a doubles hitter and not a home run hitter.

7:36 PM-With the 123rd overall pick, the New York Mets drafted RHP Stephen Clyne out of Clemson. He's 6'1" 205 lbs. and makess yet another college reliever selected by the club.

He's a redshirt senior, which makes him possibly one of the oldest kids in the draft class, and he is regarded as a hard worker and good clubhouse guy, working as a middle reliever on the strong club. He ranked second on the team in saves, with 3 (yes, you read that right), so he's not exactly the relief ace of the Tigers, who have been ranked as high as #5 in the nation this season.

The problem with Clyne: injuries. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2004, and his stuff didn't really rejoin him until this season, which meant that he wouldn't be on the fast track to the big leagues. He's a two-pitch pitcher in the big leagues, with a 91-94 MPH fastball with good sink and a slider that has been filthy at times. He's not all that confident in his secondary pitches, though, so he relies on the fastball.

His reliance on the sinking heater allows for the rather high batting average against of .253, though he was playing in the SEC, probably the nation's toughest conference He did, however, have a 2.28 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 43.1 innings, so I'd say he projects rather favorably as a big-league setup man or middle reliever if his stuff holds out and the injuries don't return. A solid pick, right about where he should be in late Round 3.

7:07 PM-With the 99th overall pick in the draft, the Mets chose LHP Eric Niesen out of Wake Forest. He's 6' 185 lbs and a reliever on the Deamon Deacons club.

As with many young pitchers, he relies on his fastball as his key out pitch, and it is strong, reaching the mid-90s occasionally. Unfortunately, Niesen has marginal secondary pitches, which is unusual for a left-handed reliever. Without much improvement on his slider, it would be hard to see how Niesen could find his way into a major league bullpen, especially since he struggles too with his command.

He's not a sidearmer, though he does come from a 3/4 angle, which makes it slightly more difficult for lefty hitters but exposes him to righties. His ERA this season was 3.00, his record 6-5, and he held opponents to a solid .218 batting average. He struck out approximately one batter each inning, though he walked nearly one every two innings (38 BB in 83 innings of work).

I'm not sure I love this pick, though if the Jacket could teach him a better slider or a change, he could be a decent long reliever.

7:00 PM-With the 93rd overall pick, the Mets selected RHP Brant Rustich out of UCLA. Rustich is a 6'6" 225 lb. closer who has nasty stuff and control problems. Rustich's fastball is usually in the 93-95 MPH range, though he has been dogged by whispers that he isn't fully recovered from finger surgery last year.

He projects as a closer type in the big leagues, as his stuff is somewhat better than Kunz's if he can stay healthy. He is a redshirt junior, so he's older (22) than most in his draft class.

Perhaps the Mets would prefer that we ignore his statistics this year: opposing hitters batted .265 against him and his ERA was 6.67. He had six saves. He also had 11 wild pitches and 7 hit batters in only 29.2 innings, certainly indicative of the aforementioned control problems.

6:40 PM-The Mets, with the #77 overall pick, gained from the Cleveland Indians because Roberto Hernandez is so essential, selected RHP Scott Moviel out of St. Edward High School in California. Moviel is 6' 11", 245 pounds, so apparently the Mets are deciding to draft the tallest pitchers around.

He is certainly not the model of consistency, as is the usual with pitchers his size, and finding consistency in his windup and with his secondary pitches is going to be essential for him. Given that he has been described as a poor man's Andrew Brackman (Moviel too has a basketball background), it is rather funny that he signed to play at NC State next year if the Mets don't sign him.

His body is very projectable, and his fastball is likely to be his key pitch with the ability to throw mid-90s heat (it's consistently 88-92 now) a possibilty for him as he fills out. His curveball is not where it should be, and that is perhaps his greatest weakness.

Two of his older brothers are in professional ball: brother Greg is a lefty in the Mariners' system, and Paul Moviel is a righty in the Devil Rays organization. Both of the brothers are 6'6".

5:43 PM-With pick #47 overall, the Mets selected LHP Nathan Vineyard out of Woodland HS in Georgia. He's 6'2", 200 lbs, and is ranked as just below the first tier of prospects in a class heavy with high school lefties.

He was ranked as the 26th best prospect in high school midseason by Baseball America and boasts a nasty slider as his key pitch. His fastball is 88-91 MPH on most days, though scouts believe that he will add to his velocity and his command with more reliance on it and less on his slider. He probably projects best as a fourth or fifth starter if he reaches the big leagues.

5:36 PM-Courtesy of stinky old reliever Roberto Hernandez (who came to us last season along with Oliver Perez) and his signing with the Indians, the Mets have selected with pick #42 overall RHP Eddie Kunz out of Oregon State University. He is the closer for that team, and is a big kid at 6'5", 250 lbs.

He was ranked in the preseason as the top draft prospect from the Pac-10, and he projects well as a closer/setup man. His delivery is from a 3/4 angle, so he's going to fare much better against righties, but he's definitely well suited to the back of the bullpen. He's a sinker/slider pitcher who doesn't get a ton of strikeouts (37 in 44.1 innings this year).

He doesn't have a third pitch, though, so he might remind Mets fans of a certain incompetent reliever who takes up space on the mound and blows crucial games against the Phillies. I pray Kunz can get on a plane soon and take said reliever's place in the pen.

His stats on the year:
3-1, 3.05 ERA in 28 games (0 starts). Hitters batted .190 against him and he allowed 0 home runs.

4:47 PM-Picks of interest are taking place:

-With the pick that would have been the Mets', the Giants snagged Wendell Fairley, an elusive left-handed speed demon from high school in Mississippi. People consider him an incredible athlete, drawing comparisons to Carl Crawford, and a totally capable player in all facets of the game. ESPN's Keith Law, who had scouted Fairley, remarked that he was a "top ten/top 15" talent. However, the outfielder is not on the fast track to the big leagues, and it wouldn't surprise me if it took him five or six years to get regular playing time in the major leagues. On the bright side, the Mets don't really need any more toolsy outfielders.

-With the #30 pick, (after all this is supposed to be a Mets and Yankees blog) the Bronx Bombers selected RHP Andrew Brackman, who I mentioned earlier in this liveblog. He was a power forward on the NC State Basketball team, and therefore has huge size and huge upside: he's touched 99 and 100 MPH with his fastball. I mentioned him previously in conjunction with the Mets, and the concerns regarding him are his elbow and his secondary pitches. This is somewhat of a comparable selection to the Yankees selecting Joba Chamberlain last year, and I have a feeling that the Yankees might get him somewhat cheaply in these negotiations, despite Scott Boras' representation. I hate to say it, but nice pick by the crosstown rivals.

4:38 PM-The Tigers just pounced on Rick Porcello, rated by most as the second best pitcher in the draft after Price. It is nice to see that he didn't go to the Yankees, but the new draft rules allot far less time to sign players than previous rules did.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Porcello heading off to Junior College or independent league ball next year, but if the Tigers are prepared to pony up, they might have the best young pitching crop in the majors, such as Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, Andrew Miller, and Porcello among others.

So far, the most illustrious players are off the board, and what ensues now is a mixture of teams trying to pry high-ceiling high schoolers away from college or average-type collegiate players. One might wonder, though, what exactly the Mets are planning at this point. Will they abide by the Commish's suggestions for slot money, or will they be held under the sway of Scott Boras?

The San Francisco Giants are on the clock with Pick #29, which would have been the Mets' if not for signing the aged, decrepit Alou. Starting left fielder my rear end.

4:03 PM-Steve Phillips made a lovable jab at the incredibly competent Jeff Wilpon when Karl Ravech asked how many people were involved in a MLB draft in the war room:

"You got a whole slew of scouts in there: national crosscheckers, area scouts, regional crosscheckers, owners, owners' sons, you name it; they're in the draft room," said the stoogely ex-GM, his comment met with chuckles from Gammons and Ravech.

Let's look at this from a Napoleonic perspective: if you could exile one to Elba and one to St. Hélène, who would go where? I think Wilpon would go to Elba and Phillips to St. Hélène. If you aren't laughing right now, you probably never took an AP European History Course. What a shame.

I would also advise you to notice that the Boras-advised high school aces like Matt Harvey and Rick Porcello haven't been tapped as of yet. I wouldn't be surprised if one is a Yankee and one is a Red Sox at the end of the day, but if either one of those pitchers slips to the Mets, you've gotta believe the Mets will pounce.

3:24 PM-Keith Law is incredibly vexing... perhaps it's regrettable that I am just finding this out now.

The intriguing selections of late have been RHP Phillippe Aumont (From Quebec to the Mariners) and 1B Beau Mills (From Lewis & Clark State to the Indians). Mills is the son of the Red Sox's bench coach, which apparently allows one to play baseball better. The Mets' son of a big leaguer picks last year went in rather disappointing directions: as OF Jeremy Barfield was arrested for pushing his big league father, Jesse, (ironically) down the stairs, while C Stephen Puhl is MIA in the minors.

One can also look at a bizarre storyline: of the first twelve picks, two are from Vanderbilt (a university without an athletic department) and two are from Chatsworth High School in California. How strange.

3:00 PM-Perhaps the doldrums of this draft vaguely do resemble that of those of the NFL. Here are the first nine picks:

1. LHP David Price (Devil Rays)
2. SS Michael Moustakas (Royals)
3. 3B Josh Vitters (Cubs)
4. LHP Daniel Moskos (Pirates)
5. C Matt Wieters (Orioles)
6. LHP Ross Detwiler (Nationals)
7. 1B/LF Matt LaPorta (Brewers)
8. RHP Casey Weathers (Rockies)
9. RHP Jarrod Parker (Diamondbacks).

So far, there haven't been too many surprises. LaPorta was viewed as an odd selection for the Brewers, in part because of the inherent signability issues that accompany him, and because the Brewers already have a budding All-Star first baseman in Prince Fielder. Weathers and Moskos were both viewed as slight reaches, though as collegiate pitchers they tend to be on the safer side.

Be back to recap the rest of the first round.

2:01 PM-ESPN is incredibly courteous. They have lent unto us Karl Ravech and Peter Gammons for this fine draft extravaganza (on the Deuce), as well as emotional baseball video with sunrises and the like. Romanticism is the keystone of the draft, apparently.

It apears as though the most important draftees are here, which is great. So are old players, making the symbolic selections for their franchise. Unfortunately, someone made the mistake of letting Steve Phillips into the building, so we must suffer with him.

ESPN2 has the graphics like those from the NFL draft as well as many of their baseball writers on remote feeds. The best part: no John Kruk! Since the Mets don't select until midway through the sandwich round, I might just cover the coverage until then. Each team has five minutes to make selections in the first round, so be prepared for some pain.

I'll keep you posted.

12:56 PM- We're only about an hour away from the draft, and I wanted to unveil my prognostication. Vanderbilt LHP David Price is the consensus #1 pick, so there's no fun there, but I do have a guess of who the Mets will take at #42. I see Rudy Terrasas, who runs the draft for the Mets, selecting RHP Andrew Brackman out of NC State.

He's somewhat of an injury risk, as evidenced by his lackluster performance this year, described by some as dead arm. But he's got immense upside and incredible size (6-10) and he will likely slip to the late first round or sandwich picks, right where the Mets would be looking to make a splash.

If Brackman is not available, you could look for the Mets to go for a high school pitcher who dropped courtesy of signability issues, like Seton Hall Prep's RHP Rick Porcello, Fitch HS's (CT) Matt Harvey, or LHP Jack McGeary out of Roxbury Latin HS (MA).

During Minaya's tenure, the Mets have shown preference towards college pitchers, but with Mike Pelfrey (#9, 2005) and Phil Humber (#3, 2004), the team was picking incredibly early in the draft, and had more choices talentwise. With last year's selection of Kevin Mulvey, the Mets did take a pitcher with upside, as Mulvey is less of a sure thing than other college products due to his participation in a somewhat weak program at Villanova.

The Mets, as far as I can tell, will probably go opposite ways with the #42 and #47 picks, probably opting for pitching with both, but using one on a more established college pitcher and one on a high school pitcher with a good deal of upside. Due to the Mets' lack of splurging this offseason, it is probable that the club has some money to spend on their picks, especially after last year's fiasco with draft-and-follow Pedro Beato.

10:16 AM-Good morning all, and welcome to what will certainly be an epic occurrence here at Crosstown Rivals. I will be covering, on a pick-by-pick basis, the Mets' performance in the MLB Amateur Draft today.

The Mets shall have their first pick 42nd overall (courtesy of the Indians inking Roberto Hernandez, the key cog of last year's bullpen, obvs) and they will pick again at 47th (courtesy of Chad Bradford to the Orioles) and then an additional 2nd rounder for Hernandez and an additional third rounder for Bradford. They were stripped of their first-round pick because of the signing of Moises Alou.

Because they were the best regular-season team in the National League, the Mets rank 29th out of 30 in the draft order. Last year, the Mets didn't pick until 62nd overall. Last year, I recapped all of the 62nd overall selections and most every draft in MLB history.

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Cap Day: Drug-Addled Maturation in the Third Base Loge

2007-06-06T17:58:00.000-04:00

Perhaps this entry should be accompanied with a disclaimer: this story is entirely true, and I am so intensely scarred by its content that I have no reason to exaggerate..

Shea Stadium, facing a rapidly approaching demise, contains many memories of Metropolitan triumph and futility over the years. Yet my most vivid and most acrid memories of Shea were formed this past weekend, at Saturday's Mets-Diamondbacks matinee, aptly named Cap Day.

I attended the game with my father, a self-described hipster, who has a passion for the Mets that is somewhat flickering: he considers himself a Yankee fan as well, ignoring my descriptions of the inherent treachery. As season-ticket holders, we had passes to the Diamond Club, though the world's slowest elevator failed to fit us in, to our chagrin, before ten minutes of waiting.

Fair enough. It's not as though anyone could have a problem waiting in line for overpriced grill room food or being surrounded by a select few who wished to consume shots of Cuervo prior to a 1 p.m. game.

We eventually made our way to our seats, though surprisingly our box was devoid of an usher to wipe our seats, something which was rather rare for us. A family of four who sat directly in front of us soon had their seats wiped. Discrimination, ah yes, the scourge of Shea.

Getting a glimpse of the usher, we noticed his somewhat weathered face. Maybe it was the Mets hat atop his head, but I noticed a resemblance to character actor John Capodice (right), who I remembered as the proprietor of the laundromat in the second season Seinfeld episode "The Revenge." There was a little Gregg Popovich in there too.

The usher is not to be ignored in this story: his, well, incompetence shall play a pivotal role in this fateful occurrence.

Midway through the second inning, what was apparently a group of eight ragamuffin twelve-year olds celebrating a birthday decides to pounce on the prime seating lower in the loge box. I don't much enjoy twelve-year old boys, as I have lived through that age, and perhaps I had improved my seating during that era.

I expressed to my father mock disgust, calling their conduct morally reprehensible. To be fair, the member of the group who I affectionately referred to as "the ringleader" hoisted both of his arms and beckoned the rest of the group to join him in this act of unprecedented indulgence.

"Look! Look at all of these seats," he cried, standing up. Using a mock deep voice, I screamed back at him. "Siddown," I said. He did, but this nightmare was to perpetuate itself throughout the afternoon. I debated whether or not to get the usher: I would have loved nothing more than to see that smug bastard and his cronies ejected from the unoccupied seats, but after surveying the surrounding selections, our geriatric usher appeared to have misplaced himself.

Feigning intense disgust, I decided to assuage my state with a pretzel and a chilled Diet Pepsi (sans bottlecap, to be sure) from the nearest concession stand. As per the corollary laid out by Metsblog, I noticed a somewhat upbeat cashier uniting people with their food and stripping them of their savings. That's great: this will take forever.

And it did; as I waited an entire inning in line. The worst part: an associate of the cashier, best described by my father as "one pill away from the nuthouse," attempted to convert me. To be sure, I had had experiences with Jehovah's Witnesses and ecoterrorists trolling my block in Connecticut looking for my faith or my cash, so I was not totally averse to such conduct in public.

This woman, however, propagated a strange religion.

"Become an electrical engineer," she said. "You should ask your teacher about electrical engineering, or mechanical engineering, or civil engineering."

I smiled, waiting for my Pepsi and pretzel, trying to ignore this outreach.

"Hey you," she said. "Go ask your teacher to take you to the Central Library and check out all of the books on engineering. You need to learn your math, too, study your numbers. And read your Bible, and you're set for life."

I wish I could have blamed it on the usher, but it might tie into a general dereliction of the Shea staff. This is not the first time I have been served by someone appearing to be loony, but this was the first time I had to experience exceptionally weak service AND an attempt to sway my career choice.

For the record, I have completed too much education in my life to become an electrical engineer, and in what was a bad omen, presumably, a bad power cord in my house delivered a whopping blow of electricity to my arm the night before the game. My arm was shaking for about five minutes. My lawsuit is still pending.

My father and I returned to our seats, after a little bit more time in the concourse, for he had forgotten his sunscreen and was intensely afraid of the skin cancer that we not-so-cleverly dubbed "hematoma." He's a doctor; he enjoys occasionally making medical malapropisms for my benefit.

The kids were still there. How lovely. When those annoying Shea photographers trying to swindle came around, all eight of them stood up, obscuring the view of everyone within the box. My dad muttered to the photographer if he would make them pose with their tickets, too, but the photographer seemed not to understand.

Since my father and I were sitting a seat apart in the box, the Mets fotog asked us when he came around if "either one of us" wanted a picture. I guess we looked like we were not together: this will perhaps be pivotal later in this story.

The Mets did manage to tack on three runs in the fourth inning, evoking a good deal of cheering from ourselves and others. After that fleeting jubilation, though, we did notice some increasingly conspicuous folks behind us, courtesy of several spilled beers and loud, boisterous cheering.

Mine and my father's aforementioned adolescent experience give us a minimal ability to discern the intoxicated from the crazies, and this pair was somewhat intermediate. They were too loud and too raucous to be merely drunk, but they appeared to be at least somewhat sane. Yet my perceptive father managed to notice that the group made excessively frequent bathroom breaks: could it be cocaine?

Cocaine use was our somewhat reasonable conclusion. You might appreciate that a pair of the alleged cokeheads were dancing in the aisle during Sweet Caroline, and one had her dress fall off. How charming... entrancing, in fact. This is another reason to ban that venerable Red Sox tradition from Shea, and it might also be added that I despise Neil Diamond. Where was the usher during this chaos? Hiding under the overhang, of course, nowhere to be found.

The promotion of Cap Day once again enters into the fray, in this part of the narrative, as my father and I combined amassed, as you might expect, a pair of hats. Yet my father, in an attempt to pay homage to Dontrelle Willis, only will wear this one Mets hat with an unbent brim tilted slightly to the side. So I had two hats.

A woman who wasn't with the cokeheads prior approaches the group, beer in hand, and mutters something indiscriminate, though I hear them mention "Wagner" in between loud whistling and cries of "SMITTY!" to honor the Mets rookie reliever on the hill. Wagner wasn't going to come into the game, as far as I could tell, and I was wearing my WAGNER 13 shirt and sitting right in front of the rowdy bunch. It might also be said that I was unsure if this crew had ever seen a Mets game before; they didn't seem to care much about the action on the field.

Were they talking about me?

I answered my own question when the beer-porting woman approached me. I don't usually have strangers come up to me at Mets games.

"I'll buy your hat from you," she said. I employed my technique of politely smiling and saying nothing. It almost sorta worked when I was with the crazy concession lady.

"I'll either pay you for it or you can [look at my female anatomy]." I crap you not. Perhaps this woman was unaware that I was with my father, although he might insist that his presence spurred the bizarre offer on. I looked toward him for advice, but he hadn't heard the flashing comment and urged me just to hand over the hat. I did, and the woman threw a dollar at me.

It could have ended there, but I seemed to forget that the inebriated often find friends among the anonymous. The loud, tattooed woman behind me asked me if I was satisfied with the transaction's outcome. I smiled, chuckled, and although I should have learned my lesson, I ignored her for the most part.

I heard her behind me. "She's a chicken[expletive]. She got the hat but she didn't show him her [anatomy]. Let's go over there." She soon called to me, "We'll get you at least a lapdance, Wagner!" I shook my head slightly, hoping to avert any sort of controversy and trying to remain as sensible as possible.

She and a crony went over to speak with the girl and her boyfriend, with all parties visibly agitated by eachothers' behavior. I couldn't discern exactly what was being said during the shouting match... after all, this is a baseball game, and no one can speak over the deafening PA... but I listened to the woman behind me after she returned, defeated.

Behind our seats, I vaguely heard some chattering.

"He told me I was crazy; I told him your girlfriend's a slut," mutterred the cokeheadess. "I told him that we'd see him outside."

For the first time in my life, I felt a bizarre emotion. That emotion was not at all sexual, not any sort of embarrassment, but rather that I wanted to leave a Mets game early. I had somehow become a lynchpin for conflict, despite not consuming a drop of alcohol or an ounce of blow.

The Mets dispatched the Diamondbacks rather quickly in the top of the ninth, and my father and I bolted Shea with speed rivaling Jose Reyes with brand-new hamstrings.

Such is life with elderly ushers, in the hot sun, on a day when Paul Lo Duca and Carlos Beltran are sitting. What a day. Cap Day.

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Tomorrow, I will be your host for the second annual Crosstown Rivals Draft Liveblog Extravaganza, covering the Mets' draft. Pore over, if you will, the coverage from yesteryear. Hope to see you there.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Failure

2007-05-25T17:26:00.000-04:00

I am writing to you, readers, or whatever is left of you, to discuss two failures: the Mets' failure to secure a win in the especially pivotal series over Atlanta and my own failure to update this blog within essentially the past three weeks.

First, let me address the Braves series. Oliver Perez cannot start every game against Atlanta. Perhaps we'd rather him on one day's rest than Glavine or Sosa, or whoever is to take the mound against our chief competition.

I must say that I have become increasingly disillusioned with Glavine's work, and Sosa was due for a regression. Maine dazzled in April, though his May has seen more disappointments than the Ron Paul campaign.

Glavine pitched well enough last night, though the Mets were simply unable to get to John Smoltz. It's not terribly difficult to be in that state: Smoltz has been exceedingly effective late into his career, and his 7-2 record and 2.58 ERA this season despite what appeared to be some sort of finger injury does not belie that.
What should scare all Mets fans is the sudden late-game quitter's tendency of this club, and its equally displeasing failure to drive in runners. Perhaps I appear hypocritical, after all, these observations can often be the result of poor perception.

Take a look at this, though: the Mets' .241 team batting average in the last week is the 23rd highest in baseball, hardly a stat befitting a first-place club. Their OPS is 27th in that span.

Where is the power? Aside from David Wright, the Mets' offense is conspicuously devoid of power. Jose Reyes hasn't hit a home run since April. Carlos Beltran has one extra base hit in his last ten games. Carlos Delgado hit one homer on May 9, one on May 11. That's it for this month; he only had one in April.

I'm not sure how this team is managing to fend for itself: Jorge Sosa and Jason Vargas are in the rotation, El Duque is slated to come back tonight (before his next invariable bout with osteoporosis) and replace Vargas, but top prospect Mike Pelfrey still hasn't been able to figure out big league hitters.

Moises Alou and Jose Valentin are MIA. Despite the success of replacements Endy Chavez and Damion Easley, it would be much nicer to relegate that pair to the bench.

Regarding that bench, might I add, is there anyone besides Carlos Gomez and Ramon Castro capable of getting on base? Julio Franco is awful, David Newhan is worse, and Ruben Gotay is hardly even on this team.

That being said, I'm not hopeless for this club. They're still in first place, and they did take two out of three from the Team Formerly Known As The Bronx Bombers.

Let's get the Fish this weekend...

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Regarding my failure to post, I might be inclined to explain that I have been incredibly busy this time of year. Sure, whatever, you might say that's my fault and screw me, etc., but I have hope that this will be a daily blog from June-September, and perhaps October, though I won't jinx it.

I do have plans ensuing for a relaunch... this site's name is no longer apt, obvs, and I have plans to make this officially into a site about the Mets, with the Rangers and Jets as secondary fodder.

I also plan to include other writers on the site, so if you might be interested, send me an email at zookman12@yahoo.com explaining what you think you could do to help with a relaunched site.

Trust me, it'll be fun.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Splashdown

2007-05-07T19:22:00.000-04:00

Pardon me for not being able to muster up the courage to post: I was distraught by the two final nails in the Rangers's coffin, and a start by Mike Pelfrey which made me long for Mike Bacsik.

The tom-toms will inevitably begin to beat regarding Pelfrey's status in the rotation, as Jorge Sosa's fleeting flash of brilliance Saturday night cemented a rotation that has seen quite a bit of good pitching from its front four, save for a few embarrassing outings at the hands of Duque and Perez.

Pelfrey, on the other hand, has been pretty bad. I wish there were another way to put it, but at this point he doesn't seem major league ready. While this in no way spells doom for Pelfrey's long-term career, his 4 BB 2 HBP effort yesterday won't cut it on a championship contender.

Pelfrey has shown signs of improvement in his most recent two starts, but he is not striking enough batters out, as evidenced by his 14:10 BB to K ratio. That's awful. Pelfrey has that overpowering fastball, and yet he looks less and less like a future star and more and more like a groundball pitcher at best.

He's 0-4, with a 6.39 ERA, and has allowed runs in the first inning during each of his last four starts. It is certainly not a formula for success to allow early runs, and his control issues and strikeout issues will pose trouble throughout the year.

I'm not sure whether we can argue that he has been rushed to the majors: he spent almost the whole of last season in the minors, and he was considered a near lock to make the rotation after being drafted ninth overall out of Wichita State.
The Mets did ink Brian Lawrence, left, that stud of the 49-61 career record who hasn't set foot on a big league mound since 2005. He's coming off of surgery, and he wasn't exactly a flamethrower before the operation.

That being said, Lawrence will certainly push Pelfrey if Sosa is returned to the minors or sent to the bullpen. The Mets' roster composition is due for a shakeup, as Aaron Sele is for all intensive purposes useless in the pen, and Sosa's success, albeit one night's worth, makes him a potential long man.

Ambiorix Burgos will eventually be returned from AAA, and we all have the hope that he will emerge as a setup man. So where does that leave Pelf? Will he return to AAA, to work with his beloved catcher Mike DiFelice, or is Pelfrey destined for the bullpen, where his lack of effective secondary and tertiary pitches will be less poisonous?

The Mets' impending series in San Francisco is unlikely to answer the questions of Pelfrey's destiny, although Lino Urdaneta, formerly of an infinite ERA, is still on the team.

The San Francisco series will see Perez, Glavine, and Maine (who might just be the National League's best pitcher right now) for the Mets, while former infatuation Barry Zito, ridiculously good youngster Matt Cain, and veteran average pitcher Matt Morris will take the mound for the Giants.

Tonight's Perez-Zito matchup (10:15 PM, ugh, SNY) will be interesting to watch, as the Mets made a concious decision this offseason to spurn the $126 million man Zito (2-3, 3.52 ERA) in favor of the much cheaper Perez (3-2, 3.41 ERA) or Pelfrey. I have Perez with the win, as Zito's inability to generate swings and misses will probably bode well for the Mets, whose team speed is pretty good. Also, Barry Bonds is a middling 1-for-7 against Perez in his career.

The Mets will undoubtedly have to contain Barroid in this series, though I'd be surprised if he does all that much damage against their three starters. Bonds is a pretty good 26-for-80, .325 AVG, against Glavine, and Maine has never faced the Giants' slugger.

We'll see. I've ordered a Ritalin IV Drip to stay awake for tonight's game.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Dining in the Desert

2007-05-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

The ballpark in Arizona, call it BankOne Ballpark, Chase Field, or banking services company + synonym for stadium (CitiField isn't finished; I can still make that joke), has been very kind to the Mets of late: the Flushing squad is 8-0 there since 2005.

The thin air inside the retractable-roof stadium has created Mets lore during the past years, as Mike Jacobs posted a .467/.579/1.133 line there in 4 games in 2005, turning the youngster into a legend while he jacked three homers in four games.

David Wright is a .469/.528/.875 hitter there.

Carlos Beltran has a fairly nuts line there, too: .368/.432/.921.

Perhaps this trip to Chase Field can provide the Mets with a slumpbuster: last year all four games weren't even close, as the Metsies ran the D-Backs over in short order: 7-1, 10-6, 5-0, 15-2. It was part of the "greatest road trip ever," where the Mets took a tour of National League teams on their way down, en route to posting a 9-1 record. Even Alay Soler and El Duque threw shutouts.

Here's something to look at: the Mets wreaked similar havoc in the desert in 2005. The scores there were 4-1, 14-1, 18-4, and 3-1. Victor Zambrano was nasty, Pedro had that odd start, where he had been charged up on some sort of electronic machine to counteract an injury, and carried a no-hitter through four or five despite having absolutely no control over where his pitches were going.

This Mets team is in a different circumstance, as are the Diamondbacks. The Mets are narrowly behind Atlanta in the all-important NL East race, and the Diamondbacks, despite having to cope with garish new uniforms, are only a game and a half behind the once-hot Dodgers.

This is a totally rebuilt Arizona team: gone are the relics of that 2001 World Series team (save for the pitcher formerly known as Randy Johnson) and in their stead are the young products of a top-notch farm system. Arizona's unloaded their veterans, like Shawn Green and Luis Gonzalez.

Arizona has been led on offense by second baseman Orlando Hudson, and his uncharacteristic .348/.412/.500 line. Eric Byrnes and Chad Tracy have done pretty well, and the Diamondbacks have a young nucleus that will undoubtedly contribute at some point during the season.

One could look at shortstop Stephen Drew, centerfielder Chris Young, outfielder Carlos Quentin, catcher Miguel Montero, and utility man Alberto Callaspo as signs that this team is up-and-coming.

Their pitching isn't bad either: reigning Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb is once again the ace of the staff, and the chaff (Russ Ortiz, Claudio Vargas, Miguel Batista) that allowed the Mets to tee off in past years is gone.
Offseason acquisition Doug Davis (left, 2.25 ERA in 6 starts) has done well, as has the Mets' old friend Livan Hernandez (3.55 ERA in 6 starts). Micah Owings, who will be facing the Mets tonight (9:40 PM, SNY), pitched well in three starts before an arm injury.

Best of all, though, has been the Diamondbacks' lights-out bullpen, anchored by closer Jose Valverde (10 SV, 1.64 ERA, more than a strikeout per inning), who is supported by righties like the mercurial Juan Cruz, youngster Dustin Nippert, the out-of-nowhere Tony Pena (16.1 innings, 1.65 ERA) and southpaw Doug Slaten, who has held lefties to a .167 batting average against.

I'm not sure that these Diamondback teams will be pushovers, though any team playing in that stadium gives the Mets an opportunity to win. Let's do it. Let's see that slumpbuster.

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

Nolas-killed

2007-05-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

Ah, how punny. The Mets lose to the Marlins and Ricky Nolasco, who entered the game 0-3 with a 19.73 ERA career against us, and I can still make light of it with a terribly clever pun.

Well, not exactly. Last night's game wasn't all bad: after all, our golden boy did hit his first home run of the year (on the same night that the perenially-overrated $136 million man Alfonso Soriano hit his), and the Mets didn't play awfully. David Wright went 3-for-4 with a double as well.

Pelf didn't pitch badly, aside from a poor first inning (three walks and a triple, positively Parkesque), and the Mets' rookie wunderkind Joe Smith still hasn't given up a run on the season.

Regrettably, Stinky Heilman was exactly his name, serving up a two-run job to ice it in the eighth. He put it out of reach: a deficit of one run became three during his fine stint on the mound.

I don't know what to do about him: one would hope his filthy change will soon return, and moreover that he won't go all Brad Lidge on us.

Lidge, coincidentally (or not?), like Heilman closed games for Notre Dame, and melted down precipitously after serving up a home run, coincidentally (or not?), to a Puerto Rican player on the Cardinals while pitching in his home ballpark during the NLCS. The comparisons are eerie.

Lidge's meltdown didn't cost his Astros a spot in the World Series. After all, the Cardinals had disposed of the Astros during the 2004 NLCS, and 2005 presented the Astros with an opportunity to go to the Series. They were swept, with Lidge boasting an 0-2 record in only three games of work.

After that postseason, questions emerged about Lidge's confidence. Would he be okay? The overwhelming opinion was that the embattled closer would weather the storm. Not exactly: he posted a 1-5 record with a Trachselian 5.28 ERA. His WXRL, a metric for measuring relievers, dropped from 8.1 in 2004, to 4.7 in 2005, and an embarrassing 0.8 in 2006.

Lidge has a 5.73 ERA and a ghastly 2.36 WHIP this season, and was recently bumped from the closer's role in Houston in favor of former Met long man Dan Wheeler.

Enter Heilman. He served up a shot of Jack to Molina during Game 7: we all unfortunately can remember. Heilman's numbers this year haven't quite been Lidgely, though he is undoubtedly vying with Ambiorix Burgos for the weak link in the Mets' pen, with two losses and a 4.09 ERA on the young season while working as the primary setup man.

Perhaps Willie should consider lengthening the leashes of Schoeneweis (who has a whopping 8 walks in slightly more than nine innings) and Joe Smith, though I am not entirely sure that's a good idea. Maybe the Mets would benefit from the promotion of Jorge Sosa, who has been impressive at New Orleans, and has worked as a reliever before.

Maybe it was shortsighted to unload four of our young relievers this offseason to net Ben Johnson, Adam Bostick, Jason Vargas, and Jon Adkins. I don't see any of them contributing to the Flushing squad, while Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom have combined for 26.2 innings of 2.40 ERA ball for the Marlins and Heath Bell has a 0.54 ERA in 16.2 innings of work for the Padres.

Bell (left, pumped to be a Padre) probably had very little to offer the big club, though I would disagree with similar assessments about Ring, Owens, and Lindstrom. Maybe the Sanchez and Padilla injuries are responsible for this, perhaps the Mota suspension as well, though all of these were pretty much known quantities when Minaya made the questionable deals with Florida and San Diego (read my first impulse, which turned out to be pretty much right).

The bullpen needs to get better, and a little more late-inning production from the offense wouldn't exactly hurt. You can't exactly expect the Mets to win when they score two solitary runs.

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The Mets are tied 1-1 with Florida now, with Perez on the hill. Follow it at MLB Gameday. Ruben Gotay drove in the tying run.

And finally, how about those Rangers? I think Briere's last second shot probably was a goal, so we caught a break, but it's not like the refs have been awfully kind to us this season. Shanahan's goal was beautiful, and King Henrik was outstanding.

I made a mistake handicapping the series in my post yesterday: the NHL series format is 2-2-1-1-1, not 2-3-1. Game 5 is therefore in Buffalo, and we'll see you on Friday night with a chance to take the lead.

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Why Can't I Be Wrong?

2007-05-01T16:19:00.000-04:00

I hoped against hope that my prognostication of Chan Ho Park's sucking would be wrong. I am not Metstradamus. Unfortunately, I'm not stupid either.

The wretched thing that is the Mets starting rotation (save for the farm boy, and Glavine) took another turn for the worse as Tsing-Tao Park spirited us away to our third loss in the last five games. I know... that's hardly Yankee proportions of late, but it still is something to be concerned about.

Why, take note of this stat: in the past week, the Mets have put up a paltry .258/.325/.378 line, on par with the career numbers of the dearly departed Joe McUseless: .251/.302/.355. You know that when you're slumping to an extent where McEwing would be a productive offensive player, you're in trouble (see New York Mets from 2002-04).

And it is high time to worry about David Wright and Carlos Delgado. These two composed half of the Mets Core Four from last year (Reyes and Beltran are the others) and it's difficult to see them playing poorly and the Mets winning.

The worst part is that Wright is a player, who, at this point in his career, you would like to see a progression from him, in both hitting for average and for power. He's 24 and a half, and yet that 6-year, $55 million deal looks like we bought ourselves an above-average singles and doubles hitter.

Maybe it was my mistake to bash Wes Helms: his .244 EqA is hardly that much worse than Wright's .263 clip. Even better, we're forced to watch the best 3Bs in the National League frequently; Miguel Cabrera and Larry Jones. Perhaps we might have all been carried away with Wright, though he just looks absolutely lost at the plate.

Worst of all, David is hearing boo-birds at Shea. He deserves them, undoubtedly, his 0 HR and 6 RBI aren't going to win the Mets any championships. Perhaps Willie should rest him... I hear that David Newhan's swinging a hot bat (2 for 13, no XBH on the year). The other David (Wright) hasn't had an extra-base hit since April 12.

There's nobody there to push Delgado and Wright: the players who would assume their positions are not only decidedly inferior, they are both on the downside of their careers. Sorry, Julio, but you just aren't cut out for everyday work.

Where does this team go from here? The Mets are lost, wandering, without much of a home (as evidenced by their 6-6 record at Shea), and in mild but present danger of losing ground in the division to Atlanta.

Factor in that Jose Valentin followed El Duque to the DL (perhaps the clubhouse oat bran was tainted), and that Moises was awfully banged up in last night's game, and that Mike Pelfrey, our top pitching prospect, and his 0-2 record and 7.90 ERA are heading to the hill, and it makes it a great night for playoff hockey.

Rangers-Sabres, 7 p.m., on your local VERSUS channel. ::Collective groan from league offices::.
Seriously, this is probably a must-win for the Blueshirts, unless they plan on going back to Buffalo down 3-2 or getting eliminated on home ice Game 5.

Maybe Michal Rozsival will do something impressive, so all the local tabs can do their best Ethel Merman impression in tomorrow's headlines.

One final thing: Ruben Gotay (!) was called up to replace Jose Valentin. If Anderson Hernandez or Fernando Tatis makes the trip up north from New Orleans, I might consider rooting for the Red Sox. They're good.

Edit: Vote in the new poll.

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Frying the Fish

2007-04-30T16:34:00.000-04:00

Hm. This would have been a good post title, if not for the news, just breaking, that one of our magnificent starters, Orlando "I did it all for the Duque" Hernandez, will be scratched from his start tonight, placed on the DL, and replaced in the starting rotation by Chan Ho Pork.

While our newest starter's name may actually be Chan Ho (can we say that in the blogosphere anymore?) Park, I'm going to call him Pork, for the most part because a ham could probably throw a better game than he does. Although if you watch towards the end of this YouTube video, you'll see Chan Ho's mad Kung Fu skills. The picture is also on this post.

I don't like Chan Ho Park. My dislike of him is rooted in so many things, but mostly the fact that he was a royal bum after signing a Darren Dreifort-esque 5-year, $65 million pact with the Texas Rangers. Park, in his three and a half years with the Team at the Ballpark at Arlington, won 22 games.

Last year he pitched for San Diego, where he racked up an impressive 7-7 record with a 4.81 ERA. His 8.0 VORP wasn't even a third of Pedro Feliciano's tally. And Pork was making upwards of 15-million dollars, cruising in Southern California, on an aircraft carrier he bought wth spare change between his couch cushions.

The highly-sought after Park entered into free agency, and reached a deal with the Mets, ensuring that he would bring his mediocrity to Shea Stadium when we least desired it. Maybe I was wrong on that front.

Chan H* will take the mound tonight, against the Florida Fish, primed for an embarrassing showing. He's 4-2 against Florida, with a 4.39 ERA, for his career, and the Mets don't need another Jose Lima.

The worst part about Park is that he doesn't even qualify on the Lima level. Lima was crazy, it was always Lima Time (even when Dontrelle Willis smashed that grand slam past the International Date Line) and we looked forward to his showings. ~~Jeremi~~ Geremi Gonzalez is more an accurate comparison for Park, minus of course that then-record contract.

Let's pray that El Duque's shipment of medical cream is on it's way, and that he keeps taking his Centrum Silver and Metamucil. That bursitis isn't going to cure itself. Onward and upward, folks. How long until Omar has to ask John Maine to fill two spots in the starting rotation? Hell, I'd take lefty Pedro. As long as he's one arm to his name, he'll be better than Chan Ho and his incredibly dexterous legs.

----------------

P.S. Michal Rozsival is the man.

And the Mets will lose two of three to the Fish. What is going wrong? Thankfully this series will be followed by a trip to Arizona. The Mets are 8-0 there the last two years.

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A Brief Blurb

2007-04-27T20:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the dormancy. But it's hockey time, and the Mets were just pasted by the Colorado Rockies on getaway day.

Your model of consistency, Oliver Perez, is on the hill for the Mets against Matt Chico. Why am I so worried about the Nats when the Mets are the tops of the Senior Circuit?

Oh well. Mets lose this series (sigh) and I'll see you same time, same place, another day.
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Vaporize the Scum

2007-04-20T17:50:00.000-04:00

Maybe from my title, you can glean that I don't much care for the Braves, and their manager, who looks lovely in this picture. I am quite pleased with the Mets, however, who rode Ramon Castro's giant head and Carlos Beltran's even bigger mole to victory last night in Miami, while receiving in that series two outstanding starting pitching performances from the U.S.S. Maine and Hell Duckie, both of whom were building on their incredibly strong last appearances (Maine in the home opener against the Phillies; Duque against the Nats.)

Take note: the Braves and Mets are jostling for position atop the NL East, as both squads are unquestionably among the top five in baseball. This is all occurring despite Andruw Jones' .170 average and Carlos Delgado's whopping total of three extra base hits. One might say that those superstars are bigger busts than A-Rod has been this year. Erm, wait... he's on pace for, what, 115 HR and 300 RBI. Well, he's still not clutch.

This series is actually pretty pivotal: it can determine who's in first place at the crucial April 22nd benchmark, and if your team's down by April 22nd, forget it. Tank so you can snag Oden or Durant in the first round.

Color me still totally unimpressed by this Braves team. Sure, their pitching is better than last year, but I'm just not accustomed to the Mets losing to the Braves from my years of Mets fandom. Their offense hasn't really clicked yet, either: maybe the Mets have Ramon Castro outhomering Delgado and Wright combined, but Ryan Langerhans is hiting .074 in 27 AB, and Scott Thorman isn't much better, at a .207 clip.

Let's get Atlanta: the Rangers vaporized the Thrashers' scum (see Holik, Bobby) and now the Mets have a chance to keep Larry and Andruw Jones in check, all the while enjoying the beautiful weather and admiring Rick Peterson's jacket. I'm ready: hopefully Aaron Sele (right; facial hair added for dramatic effect) is too.

Why Sele? Well, I will point you to the below probables, featuring certainly unsure things in Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey. I'd be shocked if they went a combined 5 innings. I'll be watching the TBS feed just so I can see the Braves announcers mangle the name Ambiorix, and then do a commercial for something involving logs or pesticides. I think that might be the primary focus in Atlanta, or maybe that and Lil' Jon.

The Games

Game 1: Tim Hudson, RHP (2-0, 0.86 ERA) at Mike Pelfrey, RHP (0-0, 3.18 ERA)
7:10 p.m., National TV: TBS

Even ignoring the fact that Pelf-master looked shaky (BUT RESILIENT) against the Nationals, this game is still ridiculous. That is a 0.86 ERA. I would call this the must-miss game of the series, though don't fret. Given all the TV news coverage of this terrible national story, you might be able to get quality analysis of major news in there: the elimination of Sanjaya from American Idol. I'll take Hudson and the over.

Game 2: Chuck James, LHP (2-1, 2.25 ERA) at Oliver Perez, LHP (1-1, 3.72 ERA)
1:10 p.m.

Despite my best instincts, I'm not going to enitrely doubt Perez here: it's certainly been a while since we've seen him, and one would hope he found the strike zone in that period. Chuck James is always going to be tough, but I see D-Wright's first homer in this game and Moises Alou getting like 8 singles into centerfield: you know how he does. Mets win in a nailbiter.

Game 3: John Smoltz, RHP (2-1, 3.12 ERA) at Tom Glavine, LHP (3-1, 2.70 ERA)
1:10 p.m., National TV: TBS

Maybe a rematch I wasn't totally intent on seeing, given the outcome of the first clash of the titans. Larry and Andruw will always have Glavine's number, and I don't like him against Francoeur or Matt Dye-Az. But you know what? John Smoltz sucks it. Hard. I'll take Glavine, with foolhardiness as my justification.

Players to Watch
NYM: Carlos Beltran. He's hitting .500 with a pair of jacks in his last 20 AB, and take a look at his .349/.429/.581 career line against Hudson (in over 40 AB). Don't forget that grand slam he hit off Chuck James when the Mets laid the Braves to rest in the Ted last July.

ATL: Matt Diaz. Call me crazy, and I don't have much justification for this either, but I just have a feeling he'll go off against this Mets troika. If he doesn't do anything, the Braves still have Brian McCann to kick some ass. I'm generally frightened.

Series prediction: Mets 2, Braves 1.

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How Sweep It Is!

2007-04-18T23:10:00.000-04:00

Quite frankly, that's all you need.
And Avery and Nylander weren't half-bad, either.

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Apologies

2007-04-17T16:41:00.000-04:00

I would apologize profusely for my week of absence, but perhaps you noticed that the Mets played only four games during this span, including one which was an embarrassing showing by Oliver Perez and another, which I attended, where El Duque was smacked around by the Nationals before the floods came.

The weather in Philadelphia tonight (for what appears to be the ubiquitous one-game series) is overcast and in the mid-forties, with a chance of rain. Don't fault me for likely watching hockey. The beautiful conditions on Monday in the City of Brotherly Love are on your left.

While other bloggers have complained about their inability to follow the rhythm of this baseball season, I might follow suit. Where is the intensity? More importantly, where is the power? Alex Rodriguez has outhomered the Mets, and Ian Kinsler and Jimmy Rollins (the definition of irony, on the 3-8 Phillies) have tied the team's mark.

Then Jose Reyes goes 0-for-5 against Nationals aces like Shawn Hill and Micah Bowie, and you know. This must be spring (training). Pinch me when JoVal crosses the Mendoza Line.

-----------

Let's go Rangers: the chance is there for a 3-0 series lead against the Thrashers, while Sean Avery, averse to the Lady Byng Trophy is working on his Conn Smythe candidacy.

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Open for Business

2007-04-10T10:21:00.000-04:00

The familiarity level decreased a little with the Mets. I saw the new SNY graphic for the first time, and what shocked me most was all that construction equipment behind the outfield. I just might be getting excited for CitiField.

But something about these Mets was entirely the same. Like last year, they are the Cardiac Kids, resilient and relentless. While Ambiorix Burgos got a little breaking-ball happy against Ryan Howard (yet another chubby Dominican flamethrower a little too in love with his splitter, in the Mets tradition of Armando Benitez and Jorge Julio), the Mets knew what to do.

John Maine was hardly stellar, being outpitched by his counterpart Cole Hamels, and the Mets didn't have a day off in between the loss at Atlanta and the home opener. Scratch Heilman from the pen. But what we all saw against the Phillies was a sign of both Mets strengths and Phillies weaknesses.

The Phillies 'pen is oft a point of contention among their most ardent supporters. But non-diehards know that Geoff Geary is an inexcusable attempt at a setup man, and Jon Lieber has not had much success in short relief for a reason. Without reason, Jimmy Rollins too choked, failing to make an easy play at short, which prolonged the inning.

That's it. It's the Mets' Magic 8th. While I would hope our squad could break through against the Phillies' starting staff, it might not be necessary when facing a patchwork bullpen and a team that brings little to the table when Howard and Utley are cold.

The Mets are now on pace to go 81-0 at Shea, a feat that has never been performed by any Metropolitan club. Tell me about small sample sizes if you will, but the energy at Shea, despite the frigid weather, seemed to be far more palpable, even on TV, than it was in Atlanta or St. Louis, two venues where fans deserted their clubs when the score became a little unpalatable.

Here, the Mets were trailing, with seemingly very little momentum after Shane Victorino's nice catch. But they came around. Alou, Green, Reyes, Wright, Lo Duca, they all did it.

Shea is open for Mets victory in 2007. I'm ready. Aren't you?

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The Team to Beat

2007-04-09T10:17:00.000-04:00

Here at Crosstown Rivals, the virtue we value most is that of foresight. Accordingly, put your hands together in welcoming the second season of Crosstown Rivals' Series Previews. Enjoy.

So, we're 0-for-1 on the series predictions. Oops. Can't really say that the Mets did awfully well against Atlanta, leaving oodles of runners on the bases, while Carlos Delgado (my pick to get hot) left me longing for Doug Mientkiewicz on the field and at the plate.

Stinky Heilman stunk it up on Sunday, and Larry, McCann, and Francoeur provide quite enough trouble against relievers who aren't so hot. Oliver Perez was stellar in his start, and the Mets' offense was in sync that game, but they certainly will need more production from ~~Matty~~ Moises Alou, Stachemaster Valentin, and Bald Lefty Delgado.

I hope they need motivation, as the 1-5 Phillies are entering town on the heels of their shortstop and leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins' prediction of a division title. Brett Myers, who mind you beats his wife, followed in suit with similar words.

Home openers have gone rather well of late for the Mets, as they have captured every contest since 2000 with the exception of Tom Glavine's disastrous effort in 2003. Glavine is not our man today, as John Maine takes the hill after his strong effort on Wednesday night.

He will face the Phillies' Cole Hamels, who, aside from being voted "Most likely to have his left arm fall off" in his senior year, pitched very well in his first start against Atlanta, only to see the Phillies pen blow another one.

I hate the Phillies. I'm not terribly sure why, but it has something to do with Pat Burrell and Geoff Geary. Maybe it's that when I look at their roster, regardless of the talented but tremendously overhyped (and excessively compared to the much younger and more athletic David Wright and Jose Reyes) Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, I find myself totally unimpressed.

Wes Helms (batting .222/.318/.333 on the year)? Aaron Rowand (only six singles on the year)? Shane Victorino? Rod Barajas (oh-fer-8)? All everyday players. The Mets' lineup, bullpen, and rotation are superior to those of the Phillies. Their bullpen is a mess, despite Pat Gillick's attempts to fix it, as Flash Gordon's out of gas for his career, and the rest of the crew is even weaker.

Raise your hand if you thought Antonio Alfonseca had died from the condition that gave him six fingers. Or if you thought he was serving 14 years in a Venezuelan jail cell. He's actually one of the primary setup men in Philly.

Factor in that there are three pretty average rookies/sophomores (Francisco Rosario, Matt Smith, and Clay Condrey) back in the pen, and you can start realizing why the Phillies are panicking. Call me stupid, but I don't see much in this squad to instill fear in the hearts of Mets and Braves fans everywhere.

Take a peek at Ryan Howard's start to the season: .217/.400/.261 with one XBH and 2 RBI in 23 at-bats. He's clearly on his way to another undeserved MVP trophy. Chase Utley's not quite en fuego with his .259/.333/.407 line. Let's not forget that their pitching staff was supposed to be the real concern.

The Games

Game 1: Cole Hamels, LHP (0-0, 0.00) at John Maine, RHP (1-0, 0.00)
Mon 4/9, 1:10 PM

I'm liking Maine at present. I know Hamels can get nasty, but how can you pick against the farm boy with an ERA of 0?

Game 2: Adam Eaton, RHP (0-1, 13.50) at Oliver Perez, LHP (1-0, 1.29)
Wed 4/11, 7:10 PM

There is an inherent ideological struggle in trying to pick Oliver Perez's starts. He can be so awful at times, but yet I want him to win and I am aware of what he can do. And while I have thought of Adam Eaton as totally overhyped throughout his career, his lifetime 3-0 record (in three starts) and 1.33 ERA against the Mets make me worry. Perez is 0-1, 9.35 ERA against the Phils in two starts for his career. PUSH.

Game 3: Jamie Moyer, LHP (1-0, 2.70) at Tom Glavine, LHP (1-1, 2.38)
Thurs 4/12, 7:10 PM

Wow, the infusion of youth into both of these pitching staffs is awfully impressive. I jest, as Moyer is one of the few pitchers around with more birthday candles than Glavine. Their combined age is 85. That said, I like Glavine to get 292 in another grind-it-out start.

Players to Watch
NYM: David Wright. The admitted lefty-masher gets a shot against two of 'em, and his .574 career average against Moyer makes me smile. Maybe we can see some power, for once. He has a hitting streak, too.

PHI: Pat Burrell. Ugh. It's the Mets. He has a .566 career slugging percentage against us. Compare that to his .480 number against everyone, and you too can understand why I worry. Two lefties and a fastballer righty. Oh, no.

Series prediction: Mets 3, Phillies 0. Get those brooms out.

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Back at the Ted

2007-04-06T14:41:00.000-04:00

Here at Crosstown Rivals, the virtue we value most is that of foresight. Accordingly, put your hands together in welcoming the second season of Crosstown Rivals' Series Previews Enjoy.

Well, the Mets are a pretty good club. That suspect starting pitching did a pretty good job against the defending World Series Champions, tossing twenty innings of two-run ball while the Mets' bats did the rest. Pardon the gloating, given that the bat of Game 2 was being swung by Orlando Hernandez.

Nevertheless, the Mets are hardly fortunate enough to play all their games against St. Louis. Enter the 3-0 Atlanta Braves, who no longer have a streak of division titles on the line. However, the CrosstownOracle has the Braves finishing second to the Mets in the NL East, given that scary bullpen of theirs.

No longer is tubby Bob Wickman left to fend for himself in the pen, as Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano have joined him back there. And they still have Chad Paronto. CHAD friggin' PARONTO. Shield your children.

Still, the Braves had one hell of a lineup last year, wiith Andruw Jones and Adam LaRoche (now in Pittsburgh) bashing homers and John Smoltz bashing heretics who didn't listen to his post-game speech on "Faith Day" about how Jesus saved his life.

Don't forget about Brian McCann and Edgar Renteria, who are hitting .500 and .467 respectively this year, small sample sizes be damned. Moreover, they have Chris Woodward, whose inspiring heroics last year on the Mets made him a surefire candidate for a new contract. Ugh. Tim Hudson is ripe for a comeback this year, and if he can rebound a little bit, he'll be ten times the player Tyler Hansbrough was against Georgetown.

Maybe some of their moves haven't been such successes. Kelly Johnson, their new second baseman, is setting the world on fire with his .081/.188/.286 line to this point in the season. Andruw Jones didn't hit much in the opening series, and questions abound about their Canuck lefty, Scott Thorman, at first base.

The Games

Game 1: Oliver Perez, LHP (0-0, NO ERA) at Mark Redman, LHP (0-0, NO ERA)
7:35 p.m., National TV: TBS

You have to give the edge here to Ollie. I like what he did during the spring and Mark Redman is, uh, I don't know, Mark Redman.

Game 2: Tom Glavine, LHP (1-0, 1.50) at John Smoltz, RHP (0-0, 4.50)
3:55 p.m., National TV: FOX

This'll be a good one, but I have to say that Smoltz usually has the Mets' number. The Braves win and New York's bid for 162-0 stops here.

Game 3: Orlando Hernandez, RHP (1-0, 1.29) at Kyle Davies, RHP (0-0, NO ERA)
1:05 p.m., National TV: TBS

I like Duque against a young team like Atlanta. His funky curveballs and zany sliders will guide the Mets to a series victory against the iffy Davies.

Players to Watch
NYM: Carlos Delgado. He hasn't done much to date, so I'm waiting for a breakout. He'll have a monster series, despite the lefty starter on Friday night. Mind you, he's a .375/.583/.625 hitter against Redman in an admittedly small sample size. He's also got a .346/.414/.808 line against Smoltz.

ATL: Andruw Jones. He has a monster .371/.476/.771 line against Glavine in his career and is primed to start mashing. Remember, he has always hit better in the first half of the season than in the second, and it's his free agent year. So be afraid.

Series prediction: Mets 2, Braves 1.

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THE GREAT LIVEBLOG

2007-04-01T16:32:00.000-04:00

LIVEBLOG:

Top 9th:
That's it for my blog, guys. I hope you enjoyed it, and we'll be looking forward to a great season for the Mets and a great season here at Crosstown Rivals.
Let's Go Mets!

Bottom 8th:
VALENTIN. TO REYES. TO DELGADO. boom. double play.
Uh-oh. Joe Smith just walked Pujols... was this the right time for Willie to give him his MLB debut?
Here comes AARON HEILMAN and his GAME FACE. Let's pray.

Bottom 7th:
Glavine's out, Feliciano's in. Let's see if the Mets bullpen can hold the lead.

Top 6th:
-Reyes looks like he's really hustling. NOT.

Bottom 5th:
-Glavine's looking great... so are 'Tin and Reyes in the field. Only four more innings.

Top 5th:
Hmm... I'm hoping for a more exciting inning than that. Moises looked pretty bad on that curve.

End Bottom 4th:
-Glavine just dropped that filthy change on Preston Wilson. Am I allowed to love a ton of things about this game? I do.
-Our ace looks better than Chris Carpenter... I'm tired of hearing about how great Dave Duncan is. Talk about the Jacket.
-Odds on whether or not they will ask La Russa about his DWI rap? What about no chance in hell?

End Top 4th:
-More love for the team. They're getting the pen cranking. On an aside, wouldn't you love to go up to Josh Hancock and ask him for his John Hancock? I think that would bother him.
-Carlos Delgado looked like vintage rookie Jose Reyes on that curve in the dirt. Ooph.

Middle Top 4th:
-Good job by Green and 'Tin there. Maybe they'll become a rhyming one-two punch.
-It's funny to listen to these guys speculate about Willie calling a squeeze; any Mets fan/broadcaster would know that Willie never calls squeeze plays. He will, however, bring Shingo Takatsu in during a tie game.
-Boy, it sure didn't look like Chris Carpenter was pitching around Reyes there. At all.
-Hmm... watching this Lo Duca at-bat, maybe CC is losing it. I have faith in the Duck. You must, as well. BOOM. DUCK.
-And here comes Beltran.

End Bottom 3rd:
-So-Tag didn't look so hot.
-I thought Kennedy had some Jack there, but uh, thankfully that wall's pretty close.
-That was an embarrassing squeeze play. I hate Tony La Russa and his squeeze plays, and I hate that horrible bunt. Duck and D-Wright handled it well.
-Glavine showed a lot of resilience in getting out of that jam there. 1/3 of the way there, he's at a very managable 38 pitches.

End Top 3rd:
-Wow... did anyone think that Tom Glavine would outhit Jose Reyes on the season? I just adore small sample sizes.
-Hmm, Reyes didn't look so good there. One could even say he was punk('d).
-I hate Scott Rolen and the defensive acclaim that invariably follows him around everywhere. It really took a lot of Gold Glove-style brilliance to know that an aged pitcher was running from first base. Oh, Scott Rolen, could you please teach me in your art of judging how slow people are?
-Beltran's blast looked fair, initially. If he can do a little more of that, but keep 'em fair, can we top 41 jacks this year? Probably. Maybe Carpenter got a little angry on that one, with the pitch nowhere near the strike zone.
-Part of me has to feel sorry for So Taguchi on that one, but it was one hell of a shot. I thought it was gone, but a two-run double isn't all that bad.
-Boo, Pujols. Nice hand.

End Bottom 2nd:
-Does Jose Reyes have the year's first Web Gem? I love it.
-Do we still have to face Yadier, after last year? I'm not sure I can get through an at-bat without cursing.
-And Tom Glavine notches a strikeout on the change. I love that, too. Here's a serious question: Is it possible that Edmonds has been rushed back from a severe injury a little too soon? He didn't play much at all this spring, and he's already got the natural fade of age on him.

End Top 2nd:
-Already my beloved Metsies are tearing at my heartstrings... here's a question. Who put the money on Moises Alou and Shawn Green having the Mets' first two hits (and Moises being the first to take an extra base)?
-Also... this is two straight regular season at-bats for Valentin without being clutch. Is it too late to bring Kaz Matsui back?

End Bottom 1st:
-Look at David Eckstein grit out that hit. All grit, hustle, etc.
-I thought Wright wouldn't have that ball on the short hop, but... whew.
-Okay, well, at least Pujols has been kept in check. I would say that's the key to winning, but that's obvious.

End Top 1st:
-Tragic. Reyes' batting average has now dropped 300 points from last year.
-Duck's has fallen 318. Two weak groundouts on the game.
-I thought Beltran was safe...

*Only 24 more outs for Carpenter to get the Opening Day perfect game!

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It's 4:33 P.M. on the East Coast.

I'm liveblogging the game tonight. I hope you will join me.

See you at 8.

Happy Opening Day!

EDIT: I'll be returning with series previews throughout the season, but it's too late to cover this one. Oops.

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Sounding the Alarm

2007-03-29T12:01:00.000-04:00

Maybe it's a little late. Maybe it's a little early. I'm not quite sure about anything, except the fact that the Mets haven't been very good at all in Spring Training.

The team, as evidenced in Marty Noble's article on MLB.com, where he indicated the veteran Mets just aren't feeli"ng the magic of last year returning to the team this year.

As a fan, I tend to agree. The cautious optimism I had last year, forecasting the Mets to win it all, is lost. I struggle to make preseason predictions, for the most part because I fear the effect of a Mets bias.

What is this team capable of. On some level, we really won't be able to know until they play some games. In fact, they have to play a lot of games. However, there are immediate problems.

Last year, it was okay to worry about Darren Oliver going into the season. He happened to be arguably the Mets' best pitcher the first half of the season, and Duaner Sanchez had a great first half setting up closer Billy Wagner, and the Mets vaulted out to an early lead.

Wright and Delgado were on 50-homer clips, and everything seemed so perfect, despite the borderline horrendous starting pitching. The issue surrounding this Mets team is high expectations coupled with abysmal spring results. 10-20-1 is a sorry excuse for a record, even when the guys blowing the games are Hall of Fame caliber pitchers like Jon Adkins and Clint Nageotte.

Adkins blew another game yesterday, further cementing his status as very undesirable trade bait. Unfortunately, the relief pitching has been bad and the offense from our aging corner outfielders, catcher, and backup first baseman has been considerably worse.

The popular refrain is to hit David Wright second now, based at least in part on Paul lo Duca's likely regression and his spring struggles. Maybe Wright will be a good second hitter, even if it does sap his power.

But then take a look at the bottom of the order. Jose Valentin and his .184/.238/.395 line of September is likely to return to the field. Shawn Green and Moises Alou have looked totally slow and unready this spring. Can we worry?

The Mets' lineup of yesteryear thrived as a murderer's row. They would come back against weak bullpens in tight games, while their own strong relief corps held down the fort.

This year, the Braves' bullpen will clearly challenge the Mets' for supremacy in the NL East. Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez are strong additions, and the Braves also have Blaine Boyer coming back from surgery. Factor in that this might be the year that Joey Devine puts it alltogether, and that Lance Cormier has a 3-0 record and a 1.15 ERA this spring and even former Met farmhand Steve Colyer is doing well, we should worry about our ability to come back in games.

There's no more Chris Reitsma in ATL. I'm not quite as scared of the Phillies, to be honest, because their bullpen is awful and their starting rotation only marginally better. Ryan Howard is likely to regress, and as I have pointed out before, they will have Rod Barajas, Wes Helms, and Shane Victorino in their everyday lineup.

Opening Day will come soon, and with it will come a clean slate. The Mets will take to the new-ish Busch stadium, toasting near-felon Tony La Russa while the Cardinals fans take home obnoxious relics of a World Series due only to Yadier Molina's lucky homer.

Tom Glavine will start for the Mets on that night, as per usual during his tenure here, save for 2005. Then we can see what this team is truly capable of.

For now, wake me up when March ends.

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Thomas Pock's Great Revenge

2007-03-24T19:48:00.000-04:00

I doubt Thomas Pöck is really the vengeful sort. But maybe he remembers those years he logged at UMass, posting impressive numbers while being for the most part ignored by the hometown Bruins.

The Rangers signed Pöck as an undrafted free agent in 2004, and he skated with the big club rather quickly due to the fire sale of defensemen Greg de Vries, Vladimir Malakhov, and Brian Leetch. The past couple years the offensively gifted defenseman has been the odd man out, shuttling along that lonely stretch of highway from Hartford to Manhattan.

On some level, his failure to succeed in the NHL is due to his crippling inability to realize that he is, in fact, a defenseman, not a winger, and that he needs to hit more people and get caught up ice less. He's a bit like current Ranger D Paul Mara, who has a propensity to jump into every play, even plays where he's not at all wanted.

Speaking of Mara, did any of you notice that the player he was traded for, Aaron Ward, skating for the Bruins today, had three hits today, all of which were against Jaromir Jagr? I'm surprised that #68 denies that he had anything to do with the disappointing Ward being run out of town at the deadline. The two quarreled, I would imagine, because Jaromir Jagr is going to the Hall of Fame and Aaron Ward sucks. Just a thought.

Today, he showed the Bruins what they missed right under their noses. The Rangers seemed throughout the game to lack the offensive cohesiveness that has been omnipotent during their recent hot streak. Henrik Lundqvist, consistently under heavy fire in net, made the mistake of allowing a long rebound to reach the stick of Marc Savard in the second period, good for the Bruins' only goal.

I was scared, maybe unjustifiably so, that the Rangers wouldn't score again. Ryan Hollweg had taken a rather stupid five-minute major penalty for boarding, which prompted the Boston Bruin announcers to defend Chris Simon's vicious hit. I knew the announcer, Dale Arnold, was going to take a cheap shot at Hollweg when he began a sentence with "Not to defend Chris Simon's actions, but. . . ." I hope you won't blame me for ceasing to pay attention there.

Maybe in all of the commotion and the Rangers' failure to score it was easy to forget that we were playing the Bruins. With a minute and change remaining in the third period, Pock roofed one over the enemy's backup goalie, Joey ~~MacIntyre~~ MacDonald and the Rangers were more or less home free. MacDonald actually played a very good game, surprising considering his Mike DeJean-esque relief effort during the 7-0 St. Patrick's Day Massacre last week.

Okay, they took a penalty in overtime, which usually spells impending doom for the Rangers (I would implore you to recall the most recent game in Atlanta), but when it got to the shootout, the Rangers did win, thanks to usual heroes Michael Nylander and Henrik Lundqvist, and the reluctant shootouter Jagr, who scored the deciding goal.

The Rangers go into tomorrow's clash against the rival Islanders poised to seize the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. This is fortunate, as a seventh seed would require the Rangers to play the second-seeded New Jersey Satanists (read: Martin Brodeur and 19 guys who should be pumping gas in Ontario), whereas the sixth seed allows the Rangers to play the very beatable Atlanta Thrashers in the first round.

Expect the normal team to be in uniform tomorrow (thankfully Chris Simon won't be for the Islanders), and perhaps the tensions will boil over. Get 'em, Colton Orr.

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Not a good day for the Mets. Either squad. Thankfully, Major League Baseball doesn't believe in the wisdom of playing regular season split-squad games.

Not a good day for Chan Ho Pork (not a typo; it's an incredibly clever play on words), as he pitched three shutout innings only to find that the fifth starter job was no longer open to him.

Not a good day for John Maine, who has locked up the third starter spot, but apparently feels guilty enough about doing so that he gave up 12 hits and four runs in five and two-thirds against most of the actual Marlins. Aaron Boone, going into today's game hitting an epic .138, mashed Maine for three hits.

Not a good day for Jose Reyes, who fouled a ball hard off his foot (left) en route to a hitless game.

Not a good day for the projected starting outfield of Moises Alou, Carlos Beltran, and Shawn Green, who went 0-for-6 with a walk.

Call me a pessimist, but there's a week to make this team look good. It's uglier than Steve Buscemi right now.

I'll be back tomorrow with my projected roster for this season. And you can trust me as a prognosticator. I have online proof that I picked Duke and Notre Dame to be upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

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Sandis La Russa

2007-03-23T01:20:00.000-04:00

Most people with a reasonable knowledge would find very little in common between St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa and former Rangers bum/wino Sandis Ozolinsh. Or Rams DE Leonard Little.

But Little's tale of DWI, where he killed a woman, repented, and then was arrested again on similar charges seems to be appropriate here for a fellow St. Louis sportsman.

Maybe Tony La Russa didn't kill anyone. But he could have. If his foot was heavy against the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal as the veteran manager passed out, the carnage would have been greater.

I can understand that people make mistakes, and that La Russa's BAC level was barely over the legal limit, but part of me feels a little schadenfreude in this. La Russa is revered within the game of baseball, despite having a somewhat creepy demeanor, and he has received great acclaim for his work with animal rights groups.

I'm just not sure I see it. Tony, you have one of the largest contracts for a manager in all of baseball. You've won four Manager of the Year awards. You also just won the World Series for the second time in your career. You can't afford a driver?

Your team drove away 2B Ronnie Belliard for suspected legal troubles. The Cardinals are supposed to be a family organization, dating back to before 1983, when Keith Hernandez was unceremoniously dealt to Flushing in part because of an ongoing drug problem.

Maybe La Russa isn't a drug addict, and maybe he isn't expected to be a role model for millions of kids. However, I tire of the sanctimonious praise that follows him from city to city during the season. Tony does everything right. He's a great manager. He's great within the community. He's an outstanding influence on the community. Doesn't that all look like bullshit now?

Remember in 2004, when the Diamondbacks axed their manager, Wally Backman, after four days on the job in part because of a DUI collar? Imagine if this was Willie Randolph, or Joe Torre. These men are professed as well to be some of the good influences within pro baseball, as well. Wouldn't we, with good reason, be up in arms about the disgraceful conduct of our team's leaders?

What's worse, baseball pundits opine about the extent to which steroids have permeated the game when drunken driving is far more detrimental to society. Steroid use is at least a victimless crime with consequences that solely affect the drug user. La Russa, terribly irresponsible in his conduct, could have killed anyone on the road.

Pardon me if I hope there was animal blood in that wine. Let's debunk this hero. Erase him from the ledger. No more puffball interviews between innings, where Jon Miller and Joe Morgan say nice things. Ask him if he's sorry. Ask him why he did it.

He won't say much. I don't care. Baseball will be one giant ego lighter.

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My Return

2007-03-19T17:08:00.000-04:00

Well, the past few weeks have been somewhat hectic. Apologies to all, the whole thing.

At present, both Garden residents are in the throes of contentious playoff races, and my Mets are embarrassing the city of Port St. Lucie in a 6-14-1 Grapefruit League season that has seen very little sound playing of the game of baseball.

We have heard Willie Randolph discuss the potential tightening of camp, and with good reason. The notion that spring training games are meaningless has become a popular refrain in my household, and I have too often used the excuse that non-roster players are coughing up late-inning leads.

To a certain extent, these preseason games are meaningless, as in the three other major sports. There are always constants within this game: Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez will hit 30 HR and drive in 100 runs, Tom Glavine will log 185 innings, and one or more of the former Marlins young guns (Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Carl Pavano, Brad Penny) will spend time on the DL.

Nevertheless, maybe some of the sloppiness and poor offensive/pitching showing by expected contributors to the squad can actually be seen as a legitimate precursor to a regression for the Mets this year. They will lack the rotation force that is Pedro Martinez, and the bullpen can be expected to decline with the departures of Darren Oliver and Chad Bradford and the news that Guillermo Mota (steroid suspension), Duaner Sanchez (3 A.M. munchies), and Juan Padilla (real injury) will probably not be ready for opening day.

The starting rotation provides further cause for concern at first glance. Yet when one recalls that the Mets' opening day rotation of 2006, the dynasty-spawning season, included Victor Zambrano, Brian Bannister, and Steve Trachsel, it is hard to argue that this group is much worse. Moreover, Zambrano, Bannister, and Pedro were all injured by mid-May. Given that their replacements were such luminaries as Jose Lima, Jeremi (eventually Geremi) Gonzalez, Alay Soler, and then-unknown John Maine, can we really be all that disappointed with this year's crop?

As far as I can tell, this season's rotation will be unfortunately troubled by an inevitable regression from John Maine: his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) was a godly .225 last year, and Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA forecasts him for a more reasonable .276 BABIP this year. Maine's high home run rate does not bode well for him either, and one must inquire about whether his strategy of pitching with fastballs high in the strike zone will continue to hold up for him this year.

I worry further about Oliver Perez, for the most part because he has shown tantalizing potential upon which he has failed to deliver. Perez is more or less the Mets' version of Rangers C Matt Cullen. He has a ton of ability, but he often tends to display it against inferior competition. Last summer, I took a fiery and enraged approach to dismantling Perez, but I have a sliver of hope that he can develop into a semi-dependable starter.

The major issue for Perez is not his stuff, but rather the issue is his pitch selection. He oddly nibbles early in the count, despite having a filthy slider that baffles hitters from both sides of the plate and good heat. But when Perez gets behind, he grooves a sweet batting practice fastball that even Neifi Perez could drive over the centerfield fence. Unfortunately, when he doesn't groove that fastball, he just walks the hitters and grooves another fastball to the next guy.

Offensively, the Mets are stuck with a new set of problem child outfielders: Shawn Green and Moises Alou. The hardly dynamic AARP members have propelled themselves to absolutely woeful batting lines of .174/.208/.348 and .182/.229/.242, respectively. Don't forget that those statistics include a recent hot streak by Green.

In their places are younger upstarts Ben Johnson and Lastings Milledge, previously thought to be shopping for long-term mortgages on New Orleans real estate. Now Milledge's .375/.468/.550 line is the best in camp, and Johnson's .268/.333/.439 is not too shabby either. Add in the strong spring showings of Endy Chavez and David Newhan, and one must be pressed to ask if we really have to suffer through a whole season of "veteran outfielders" or "real team guys."

I would be inclined to say that the real spring training begins tomorrow, but that date is entirely arbitrary. The season begins April 1. Let's panic now, before the games actually count.

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Rangers vs. A TEAM WITH UPSIDE at the Garden tonight. It's on OLN or VS or whatever the channel will be named next year. Seriously, isn't it weird thinking that earlier this year the Devils and Penguins were in the Rangers' dust? Oh, well, remember when Brendan Shanahan had by far the most goals in the league?

Still depressing. I have the Sidney Crosbys winning 5-3.

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Parting Shots and Opening Salvos

2007-02-24T12:06:00.000-05:00

It's not really a new thing to hear Cliff Floyd not toe the party line about Flushing or the Mets franchise. But earlier this week, when he seemingly challenged Willie Randolph's decision making with regard to that fateful October night where Floyd and Beltran went down on knee-buckling curveballs, it was a scary sign that Floyd was no longer one of ours.

The veteran outfielder, now with the Chicago Cubs, will most likely be mired in a muck thicker than that of the 2002/2003 Mets when he arrived. I always liked Cliffy and his swing was certainly good for scaring the crap out of someone in the late innings, but his 2006 with the Mets was rather pathetic.

While we here at the Rivals tend to wish all former Mets good luck (with the partial exception of John Thomson), I pray that Floyd doesn't believe he's going to start a war of words between the regular-season NL pennant winners and, well, a team that was actually worse than the Pirates and Nationals last year.

However, our good ol' wife-beating friend Brett Myers over there in the City of Brotherly Love has tried to precipitate a war of words between the Phillies and Mets.

Myers said, "I hate the Mets." I find it awfully difficult, on some level, to even respond to this. Why do we give a damn that Brett Myers hates the Mets? He beat up his wife, ladies and gentlemen, and was allowed to start only a few days later by that fine organization they have there.

I have no doubt that the Phillies will be improved this year, given that their staff no longer has to suffer through the work of Scott Mathieson and Gavin Floyd. But are we really supposed to fear the Phillies, carrying Wes Helms, Rod Barajas, and Shane Victorino in their starting lineup?

And is the rotation really much better? What has Adam Eaton done, ever? Nothing. And why is Freddy Garcia expected to salvage this team? His PRAA (Pitching Runs Above Average) of 3 in 2006 looks really impressive. El Duque's PRAA was two, and that's just in his time spent with the Mets (never you mind that it was -5 with the Diamondbacks.)

Jimmy Rollins is still running his mouth off as well, seemingly unaware that dem Phillies ain't going nowhere no time soon.

Why don't we all just settle this on the ballfield? April 9th. Mets home opener. Bring a couple extra batting helmets, Rollins, just in case Tom Glavine's changeup goes so slowly that it cracks your helmet.

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You have already heard, I'm sure, that El Duque has arthritis in his neck. Sometimes I wonder how the baseball gods can be so cruel to me and so kind at the same time.

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Rangers-Blue Jackets. Tonight, 7 p.m.

I hope the Rangers lose badly, just so I can see Larry Brooks' (right) smiling face in the Post twice tomorrow.

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I'm Back!

2007-02-17T13:05:00.000-05:00

Signing into my blog today, I noticed a rather jarring statistic:
"LAST POST: FEBRUARY 3, 2007."

It made me feel all sorts of emotions, and my throat got lumpy from the absence, which does not make the heart grow fonder.

Nevertheless, it is now Spring Training. That's right- we get to see legends like Chip Ambres, Mike Nickeas and Marcos Caravajal on the same field... playing for the same team. I wish the Mets would make more ads like that, alerting us to this limited release perfomance before the players head off to the Minors or Korea.

Spring training always inspires a sort of weird feeling in me, and I would imagine it does the same to others. You sit around, watching the game on SNY, and just have an epiphany. It's hardly romantic, hardly exciting. You just decide you want to watch something else... that you're bored by the passion you've been waiting months to enjoy.

I figure that's okay, though our good friends at SNY/CW-11 have afforded us sixteen televised spring training games just in case. Shocking, right?

I don't think I can wait the upcoming month or so until baseball season, offering divided attention to my sputtering Rangers, and, uh, the Mets' taxi squad.

Let's take a look at spring training this week, where there will be intriguing battles for the final two rotation spots (count me in as the only Perez non-believer) between a group of eight mediocre journeymen and hotshot prospects.

Might I add that Pedro has been working with the Dominican version of Greg Anderson (Angel "Nao" Presinal)?

The positional battles aren't going to be too interesting (To Easley, or not to Easley, that really is the question), and soon enough we'll be watching David Wright for an inning of work, and then suffering through eight of Chase Lambin.

Although, I would be remiss not to mention Firstings' outstanding work last spring training. You might remember it... it's here if you don't. That was back when Aaron Heilman had a shot at the rotation (not that long ago).

Maybe all of this doesn't sound too impressive. Some of the games end in ties. Stars don't get too many at-bats. But I have to tell you. I'm mildly excited. Aren't you?

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The AnonyMets

2007-02-03T13:37:00.000-05:00

We're heading toward spring training at top speed (sans caravan), yet there are a few Mets we haven't heard much of.

We've heard from the recently extended Willie and Jacket. Delgado has been in the press for likely missing the start of the season (I heard that he's giving birth... maybe my sources are off) and the Duck has been mentioned in John Thomson's firy rhetoric.

MiniMets Castro and Endy have resigned, and Jose and David are in the press as usual. We hear about Glavine and Pedro, and Duque reupped earlier.

My question– where are the outfielders?

Despite his new surroundings, and his new will to win, we've heard nothing of Moises Alou. Shawn Green is suspiciously incommunicado, and has anyone heard anything from Carlos Beltran since his MVP-caliber season ended?

Finally, where is Firstings? I miss him and his youthful indiscretion.

The lack of hype going into the season is hardly putting me at ease. Spring Training is soon.

See you later.

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A Haiku

2007-01-25T12:58:00.000-05:00

Willie Randolph you
are now a very rich man
thanks to big contract

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Another haiku:

Don't be too happy
Willie because a man named
Schoeneweis makes more

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I'll be back eventually with some season previews.

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The Death of a Season

2007-01-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

It's difficult for us to fathom what has become of the New York Rangers 2006-07 season. Sure, they're still only behind the Devils in the Atlantic Division, but at present they are tied for eighth in the conference with one game at hand vs. Toronto. That's right. If the season ended today, the Rangers would receive an early-round thrashing from the Sabres, similar to the show put on by the Satanists over in Jersey last year.

But if you've been living in a cave for a month, you would probably be surprised at this turn for the worse taken by the Rangers. After their 5-2 win at Dallas, where Henrik Lundqvist stopped everything, making 43 saves, the Rangers moved to 18-10-4 and had the division lead. It's been downhill from there. They have allowed 50 goals in their last 15 games, while scoring only 35 in that same span. The problem with that is that the Rangers are deviating from their best output in both directions.

Their weapons are rusty. Jagr's the walking wounded, Shanahan has two goals in his last 18 games, and Michael Nylander apparently has forgotten how to shoot the puck. The team defense is absolutely wretched- they take a plethora of useless penalties and then leave it up to Hank to make a great save. Of course, given that the Rangers play in Madison Square Garden and are owned by Jim Dolan, the coaching staff and front office are also ridiculously culpable.

Some of the team's problems were due to GM Glen Sather's weak manuvering during the spring and summer months. The playoffs exposed the Rangers as a team with few offensive weapons and scoring defensemen. Accordingly, Sather opted to let two of the Rangers' top scorers walk. Peter Sykora and Martin Rucinsky found new homes, and the Rangers seemed in no need to replace them.

Rather than choosing to add an elite defenseman, Sather chose to add Aaron Ward, a man who grew a red playoff beard last year. He added Ward's Hurricanes teammate Matt Cullen. The Rangers also added notable alcoholic Latvian superstar Sandis Ozolinsh into the fray last year, absorbing Ozo's giant contract from the Ducks in exchange for Ville Niemenen. He made another poor trade, as well, acquiring useless chump Adam "11 points in 47 games" Hall for Dominic Moore, a player who was much of the heart and soul of this team.

The burden to a certain extent falls on coach Tom Renney's shoulders as well. The coach has overexposed many players, repeatedly expecting some sort of output from them, while simultaneously burying the Rangers' future in Hartford and on the fourth line. Overexposed players include low-scoring forwards Hall, Jason Ward, Marcel Hossa, Colton Orr, and Ryan Hollweg, all of whom are logging valuable minutes while Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan rot in Hartford and Peter Prucha is atrophying on the fourth line.

The Rangers have also been the victim of some bad luck, to be sure, given Jagr's injury, Henrik's sophomore slump and Fedor Tyutin's sudden defensive regression. It's hard to say that this couldn't have been planned for, though.

Accordingly, the Rangers lost again, today, and will head into the All-Star Break losers of four of their last five.

They best come out strong, for Renney's sake.

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A Call to Polyester-Covered Arms

2007-01-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

Omar Minaya has made his intentions for the 2007 season clear, and his recent signing of washed-up Cardinal/Brave fireballer Jorge Sosa is even more evidence of that.

Minaya did not add, much to the chagrin of fans like myself, an arm the caliber of Zito, Haren, or Schmidt. Minaya has yet even to add a pitcher in the mold of Gil Meche or Ted Lilly, pitchers who have been hampered by injuries moreso than ineffectiveness during their careers.

Instead, Minaya stockpiled projects. He nabbed hard-throwing righty relievers Jon Adkins and Ambiorix Burgos in separate deals, and he followed that up by trading for Jason Vargas, a pitcher whose ability far outweighs his performance to this point.

And now he's got Sosa. Although he was 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA in 2005, the righty posted a 5.42 ERA in 2006 following Leo Mazzone's departure.

One might wonder if the Mets were trying to play the market cheaply, avoiding expensive injury risks and the large contracts that have permeated the game so far this winter. However, these contracts show something else, as far as I can tell.

The Mets are putting all their faith in "Slick" Rick "The Jacket" Peterson. They are counting on him to take a rotation without a Pedro and a bullpen without a juiced Mota to the top of the NL East.

Beforehand, such a goal might have been unrealistic. We've watched as various projects scuffled at points in the year, and not one among us forgets his "I can fix him in ten minutes" comment. By the way, the Devil Rays are reportedly pursuing Victor Zambrano as an option for a non-roster deal.

This is all a giant opportunity for the Jacket. He will be given talented young starters with explosive arms (Pelfrey, Humber, Perez) and a few live-armed relievers down on their luck (Sosa, Burgos, Mota, Sanchez) and he will be expected to take this team to the top.

The Jacket will be required to take this team from its present conceptual state, instead hoping to turn it over into a pitching juggernaut where all fireballers are supposed to reach their potential. Obviously, that's not happening.

It's tough, though, to take a look at this team and realize the worst case scenario. The Mets will still have that incredible offense, and Glavine will still be here. Furthermore, the rotations in the division are still not all that formidable (though you have to fear the Marlins' young guns).

Godspeed, Jacket. This season is on your (surgically-repaired) shoulders now.

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According to Murray Chass in the New York Times, the Mets are close to a minor-league deal with Ruben Sierra. (What, Travis Fryman wasn't available?) Chass quotes Sierra's agent Chuck Berry, who will soon join a battle with Billy Wagner's agent Bean Stringfellow for worst name.

Sierra put up a garbage .179/.273/.214 line in 28 ABs with Minnesota last year, before being released in July.

I just don't understand this. Sierra is 41 years old, has garbage knees, hasn't played a game in the National League since '97 and played no time in the outfield last year.

In fact, the Mets already have Sierra's equivalent in Julio Franco. This move makes zero sense to me, even though it's probably a non-guaranteed deal.

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Rangers, Devils, tonight, 7:30. It strikes me that these teams just play every time that neither one has a nationally-televised game. It's pretty awful, given that the rivalry is devoid of intensity.

Oh, well... the boys looked alright during the Boston game.

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On Thomson, Schoeneweis, and Barroid

2007-01-11T10:57:00.000-05:00

John Thomson is a giant prick. I'm not sure there's any way around it. Many of you have read his inflammatory (and somewhat indecipherable) comments towards the Mets as a franchise and specifically towards the Duck. Here they are, if you're interested.

"As far as just looking at Paul Lo Duca across the field, I'm not really into how he acts behind the plate," Thomson said on a conference call. "I know a bit about [Toronto catcher] Gregg Zaun and I know he wants to win and he's not going to let anything get in his way to do that, and I like that.

"And then with Vernon Wells in center field, I'm not really concerned about the outfield with him out there. ... Just watching the Mets' outfield, if Cliff Floyd is still there it's not a real good fit for him out there. He can hit the ball, but as far as defense, he's a little shaky.

I think I have an idea what Thomson was referring to, and it is a little disconcerting.

Lo Duca, as we are all aware, is something of an adulterer, who might have a thing for younger women. This may conflict with John Thomson's values of being a poor pitcher and screwing the Mets (unlike Lo Duca, who prefers college students) down the stretch run.

He then went on to diss Cliff Floyd, who by the way is no more a part of this 2007 team than John Thomson is. I would think he assumes Roger Cedeno is still in center field for the Mets, because Carlos Beltran compares quite favorably to Vernon Wells.

Nevertheless, if my perception of Thomson's comments is accurate, shouldn't we be worried? Say these words had come from the mouth of a pitcher with a much more credible career ledger, someone like Andy Pettite. Pettite is a notoriously devout Christian who undoubtedly might have some problems throwing to a philandering gambler behind the plate.

On the whole, though, I'm in no position to complain. We don't want John Thomson and we don't want to have to experience more of his mediocrity.

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Speaking of mediocrity, Minaya has apparently issued a ringing endorsement of it with the rumoured 3-year, $10.8MM deal with Scott Schoeneweis.

I find this awfully hard to endorse. While the Mets undoubtedly have vast financial resources, it is a poor decision to offer this kind of money to a pitcher who has been essentially the definition of mediocre (career ERA+: 94) over his career.

Furthermore, while he did impress during the stretch run with Cincinnati, he still only managed a 4.88 ERA for the season. His role in this bullpen is also unclear to me. Does he serve the purpose of lefty specialist, like he has recently, or does he fill the role that Darren Oliver filled last year?

Moreover, isn't Schoeneweis similar to the pitchers we have (or had) in this bullpen? As far as I can tell, Schoeneweis is an older and more expensive version of Royce Ring. It's not even unrealistic to expect one of the Mets' other young lefties (Vargas, Perez, Bostick) to fulfill this role with more aptitude than Schoeneweis can.

Given that Chad Bradford (granted, a higher injury risk) signed with Baltimore for slightly less money, wouldn't it have been rational to expect a bullpen arm with more potential than a thirty-three year old Duke graduate?

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Finally, today, T.J. Quinn of the Daily News outed Barry Bonds as a cheat and a liar.

It's an odd world that we live in. Given the recent discussion about McGwire and failed steroid tests, it's strange to think that this slugger, who has apparently failed a drug test is still allowed to play and potentially pass Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

Bonds will engage in a summer of joyless pursit, making a tainted run at one of the most hallowed records in history. No longer is anyone naive or ignorant enough to have faith in the chase.

The media will be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of San Francisco who believes in Bonds or is willing to follow this man around the country with that unbridled joy that we saw with McGwire's 70 or Bonds' 73.

What strikes me as most humorous, though, are the circumstances in which we have wound up and the path baseball took to get there. Without that steroid piece in SI a few years back, we probably wouldn't be conscious of the issue.

If Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco hadn't scooped the piece's author, Tom Verducci, who would be focusing on steroids?

Furthermore, it makes you wonder about Jose Canseco, a hitter who would have probably hit 500 home runs if he had played until his thirty-ninth birthday. Imagine that world-- a world where Canseco is suddenly complicit in the coverup, more focused on a Hall of Fame legacy than on selling books.

If Caminiti's career had featured more forty-homer seasons, wouldn't he too lack an incentive to go public with the issues of steroids in baseball?

What differs Caminiti and Canseco from McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds?

In the end, the latter three were just using better steroids, realizing that they could someday be enshrined with greats like Ruth and Mays.

The first two are merely sore losers; those who boarded the train too late in their careers to rack up greatness.

I'm just sick of it all- I pray ESPN dismantles their "Chasing Aaron" graphics that showed Bonds' stat line for every game. While they're at it, can they stop glorifying the accomplishments of Shawne Merriman?

I can recall a quote on Sunday NFL Countdown, something to the effect of "Merriman had a great season, you know, registering 17 sacks in only twelve games!" Well, duh, he had a great season. Do you know why? HE WAS TAKING STEROIDS! Christ, why is this so hard to comprehend?

I don't think the media understands what kind of a message they send by glorifying the cheaters in our society. MLB and ESPN and co. will let Bonds persevere with his joyless pursuit. I guess we're just not supposed to mind.

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Weaver, Okha, Newhan, OH MY!

2007-01-06T12:55:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure I'm a fan of technology, given that the Rivals machine has been in the shop. Granted, it's had a bit of wear and tear, but I didn't expect my hard drive to burst into pieces. Ugh.

Nevertheless, I am undaunted and return to you with an open mouth and an open mind.

Well, actually, the open mind part doesn't relate to the Mets' rumored pursuit of Jeff Weaver, which, as far as I can tell, could be the worst possible signing in history if it occurs, regardless of dollar amounts. While I still have enough remaining trust in Mr. Minaya to believe that it won't actually come to fruition, color me unimpressed by his scrambling efforts in the wake of the Zito contract.

In fact, Minaya has only been able to lock down David Newhan, who is not even a lock to improve over his batting lines from the last two seasons, including a .202/.279/.312 showing in 2005, and a slightly stronger 2006 performance of .252/.294/.374. It's actually rather telling that a team as woeful as Baltimore would not pursue a free agent who had spent a good deal of time there.

I would normally say, due to the strong performance of JoVal last year, that Newhan was a good flyer, except that Valentin brought 228 career dingers to the table. Contrast that with Newhan's 20-homer ledger, and well, you have the unimpressive fortunes of your 2007 Mets.

I'm not sure it would be prudent to throw in the towel at present, but I would say that the Mets are going to need at least thirty homers out of Wright, Beltran, Delgado and twenty out of Reyes and Alou. The team is set up to live and die on offensive production, and the last thing any of us need is something reminiscent of the Mets' offensive output from September and October.

Thankfully, there are other capable sports teams in this city, one of which is presently the New York Rangers. Shocking, no? Merely a week ago, the team was in the throes of a vicious losing streak, one that is roughly analogous to a sixteen-game losing streak in MLB. Yet now, the Rangers have dispatched the Capitals, Devils, and Flyers, and are looking to make it four straight in Montréal today.

Oddly enough, the Rangers' recent winning streak has included very little contribution from lynchpins Shanahan and Jagr and more production from unlikely heroes Martin Straka, Darius Kasparaitis, and Marcel Hossa. Since the debacle in Toronto, Hank has been rather strong and has showed it off during this streak.

Oh, and how about that other sports team... your New York Jetropolitans, visiting Tom Brady and the Patriots over in Foxboro tomorrow for a PLAYOFF GAME. I was not a huge fan of the Mangini hiring, but clearly I have backtracked, and with good reason... the Jets are IN THE PLAYOFFS.

No need to dissect the game, we'll just see which coach can outscheme the other.

Jets 23
Patriots 16

We'll hope.

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A Bit of a Shock

2006-12-29T13:12:00.000-05:00

It really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Barry Zito followed the money trail to San Francisco. It's not as though one could punish the Mets for refusing to give a pitcher who has been just above average every year of his career (save for that 2002 23-5 Cy Young season).

Why wouldn't Zito go to San Fran? He doesn't have to switch houses. Moreover, he switches to the National League and stays in a nice pitcher's park. He's not going to Texas. So, as far as I can tell, we have to give maximum credit to the Zito/Boras team. He received everything he could have wanted while not having to make a single sacrifice. In fact, he agreed to the largest deal ever given to a pitcher, tying Mike Hampton's and Kevin Brown's in terms of length, while surpassing both of those in total dollars.

It's funny, actually. One would assume that the greatest contracts ever would have been given to pitchers like Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, or Greg Maddux. These pitchers (with the partial exception of Pedro) have traditionally been the most durable. Up until a few years ago, they, not Hampton or Zito, were perennial Cy Young contenders.

It'll be enjoyable to watch the Giants' management drowning in a pool of their own tears once they realize that Zito isn't all that great. Thankfully for them, they have impressive young righty starter Matt Cain to be a mainstay as an ace, given that Zito certainly cannot fill that role.

The issue for the Mets now exists with the fact that their rotation is in shambles. It's foolish to count on Pedro for anything more than a minimal contribution down the stretch. So, your rotation looks like this:

1. Tom Glavine
2. Orlando Hernandez
3. John Maine
4. Oliver Perez
5. Mike Pelfrey/Phil Humber/Dave Williams

Although we have all recently adopted the "In Omar We Trust" mantra, it's hard to give him much credit for assembling this rotation. El Duque has a history of breaking down: his 162.1 innings this past year were the most since he threw 195.2 in 2000.

Glavine's history is injury-free, but he's unable to go very deep into games unless he's hitting the plate exactly with his changeup. It's tough to say this, but the 41 year-old lefty is probably the closest thing this rotation has to a sure thing.

Maine is a bit of a wild-card. He obviously has an impressive fastball and has shown the ability to work with secondary pitches from time to time, but he survives on a low hit rate, something that usually means future pitfalls for pitchers. He also serves up far too many home runs and a few too many walks. Maine's future is undoubtedly bright, but it's difficult to say whether 2007 will be a progression or a regression.

Oliver Perez has become something of a folk hero within Mets circles. It's deserved, on some level, given his admirable performance on short notice during Game 7 of the NLCS. Perez obviously has a great arm, but it's ridiculous to pencil him in as a sure thing. He's always going to be something of a project, as far as I can tell, and it would not come as a shock to anyone if he was leading the league in strikeouts or biding his time at AAA at the All-Star Break. A bold prediction: Dave Williams and Phil Humber will both make as many (or more) starts for the Mets in 2007 as Perez will.

Pelfrey, Humber, Williams... they're all special in their own ways. It's hard not to like most of what we saw out of Williams last year, but history has shown that he's not exactly an elite pitcher. Humber made a strong recovery from 2005's TJ surgery, but it's hard to say that he's ready to contribute at the big-league level. As far as we can tell with Pelfrey, his biggest problem is working with his secondary pitches. His fastball has a ton of movement, but he can't always bring it over the plate for strikes.

So where do we go from here? Are the Mets really going to begin the season with all of these wildcards in the rotation? My best guess is that they won't. It's awfully likely that the Mets will make a move for a player like Jeff Weaver. If Weaver is still insistent on his four-year deal, it's a safe bet that the Mets will try to kick the tires on Tomo Okha and Tony Armas, Jr. I'm a fan of both, and either one would give the Mets a safe option to bide time until Pelfrey and Humber are dominating AAA.

Nobody said that it would take Zito to win the NL East. It's safe to say, though, that the division won't be as much of a cakewalk next year. The Phillies have upgraded their pitching, while the Marlins' young aces will be impressive as usual. Stay tuned. Omar must have something up his sleeve.

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A Christmas Story

2006-12-22T23:49:00.000-05:00

Every year, children and youthful adults alike all anticipate the arrival of Santa on Christmas Day. Sure, there are some religions that don't worship the Santacious one, but for all intensive purposes, this is a universally giving Santa.

Santa's coming a little late this year. That's just the quaking in our bones, as all of us can tell that we'll have a brand-new shiny present for us come early January. Sure, it'll cost our franchise a good chunk of change, but he's coming. It really shouldn't matter. We won't get prices cut if they decide to sign Suppan instead.

Yes, we all know that Barry Zito's coming to town sometime soon. It always seemed like the likely destination for the long-haired idiosyncratic lefty. We've heard rumors forever about bringing Planet Zito to town.

And with Christmas approaching (and Hanukkah in the rearview mirror) the space under our ceremonial evergreen is mysteriously bare. We got a few of the presents we got last year again, but both of them looked old, dusty, and banged-up.

Later more presents appeared, including one with urine stains, and one that vaguely resembled Damion Easley. And sure, we even wound up with what had been our favorite present from a few holidays ago. It was repackaged nicely and I heard it was even a little cheaper.

But we're missing the great present, it seems. Where is that Lexus with the big red bow on it? Maybe times are tight and it makes more sense to settle for a Subaru. I don't think that's what we should be feeling this Christmas.

I took a peek in Omar's closet. I think that was dishonest of me. I'm sure, though, that it was in my readers' best interests. I know what he has up his sleeve. Ebenezer (or is Satan a more accurate name?) Boras is not going to ruin Christmas for the nation's greatest city.

I just hope that Santa can get here safely, what with Dontrelle Willis on the road and all. That's something that's just pretty hard to fathom. You're a professional athlete, making a couple million dollars a year, poised to get a huge raise, and you can't manage to hail a cab? Erm, wait, come to think of it given Mets history, you're probably safer driving drunk than taking a cab in Miami.

With all due seriousness, though, could anything make Zito a better fit for New York? Boras has expressed his client's desire to play for a championship contender. Zito also would fit in very well in the Mets' clubhouse, which includes his kindred spirits Pedro Martinez and Rick Peterson. Zito could refine his changeup with help from two of the top change-up pitchers of our generation in Glavine and Pedro. Orlando Hernandez and Julio Franco could tell him stories about the invention of the game, given that they played for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's prior to the team's eventual migration to Oakland.

Zito's personality (and ethnicity) are both very marketable in this area. Undoubtedly, the Mets are in good position to pony up as well, given their new cable station (its shortcomings aside) and the arrival of a new stadium complete with a mondolicious naming rights package.

So fret you not, children, during this holiday season. Zito will soon remind us of the courtship of another Boras client whom we couldn't quite snag until after New Year's. Nevertheless, Mr. Beltran turned out okay after a little bit.

Merry Christmas. I'll be back on either Sunday or Monday for a little bit of Jets coverage.

Enjoy your substitute Santa (played above by Benny Agbayani).

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