Trade Deadline Looms

I worry about John Maine, but I think he’ll be okay in the end. A little shoulder stiffness is really all it is, and apparently they knew about it before hand, which means that he was able to pitch with it without hurting it further. Maybe they skip him in the rotation due to the off day, but I’m hopeful it’ll be alright in the end.

More importantly, Johan Santana stepped up after an exhausting game on Saturday where the Mets used the bullpen so roughly that Oliver Perez was warming up in the 14^th inning. Santana pitched a complete game, waylaid his critics a bit, and gave the bullpen a much needed rest. They have an off day on Thursday too, so if Pelfrey can give them a lot tonight, they’ll get a nice recharge.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about as the trade deadline looms is what the Mets are to do. I am not a fan of Adam Dunn, or the “Gets on base so strike outs don’t matter” group. While I think our bullpen is excellent, I know bullpen suckiness and exhaustion were the main culprits last year. Maybe another solid arm in there is the best solution the Mets can find. There is a lot of talk of a corner outfielder, and even yesterday I thought this should’ve been the priority. I think Carlos Delgado changes that, Delgado has been playing pretty amazingly for a while now, and I don’t think it’s something he’s going to lose midseason. This Delgado is more true to form than the ones fans grew to hate in 2007 and earlier this year. If Delgado is hitting, then the offense is not as big a problem as it was, and couple that with the possibility that Church will be back soon, and the success Tatis and Endy have had filling in, we might be okay.

So my (un)professional opinion is to get a bullpen arm, and keep an eye out for a cheap outfielder too, even if it’s just someone that can get hot for a week or two, or just needs a change of scenery. Even if the bullpen arm doesn’t end up being great, it’ll distribute the work load and hopefully keep the best guys healthy and fresh for the stretch run.

Who's Feisty Now?

The Mets despite the turmoil they've faced so far, are right where they want to be; in sole possession of first place. The Phillies are on the outside looking in. If this season, and last, has taught us anything it's that this isn't over. There will be plenty more ups and downs after this series, maybe starting as soon as tomorrow. We don't even know who is starting on Saturday, a game I'm looking forward to being at.

Speaking of Delgado, his hit had so many layers. The slide into third, the racing for third on the throw to begin with, looking frustrated at being thrown out despite delivering one of the biggest hits this season. That he took it the other way.

It's far from over, but it feels good. How about the Phillies continuing to roll over? To win the first game of every series and not get another one is just pathetic. They've only scored one run off of Perez all season, that's maddeningly awesome. That Rollins can't even be bothered to show up on time? "Traffic" come on! (Does it matter? I think Bruntlett is doing better against the Mets than Rollins). I wonder if Rollins' traffic looked something like this.

Ouch

(The included picture came up when I did a google image search for 'baseball ouch' How depressing is that?)

I'm so sick of Manuel. Not that his poor handling of the bullpen is any excuse for the poor performance of the bullpen, but you know what they say, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The last game before the Mets 10 game winning streak was a game in which Santana dominated the Phillies for eight innings and 95 pitches and was lifted by Manuel in the 9th only to have the lead, and the game, be blown. Last night he did the same thing, with a couple more pitches thrown, and a couple more runs as a cushion. However, he knew Wagner wasn't available, and he instead went to a closer by committee, changing his mind three times in the inning.

Hopefully Manuel hasn't transported this team to the way it was before the winning streak; sandwiching it between (at least) two poorly managed games and shipping it off to 2006. If anything, this team has shown remarkable resilience for taking a devastating loss and coming back from it. The Phillies have also shown the remarkable ability to take any advantage they're given and squander it, so we'll see where the chips fall tonight.

They're Just Not That Good

Fear! Panic! Dismay! These are the feeling in Philadelphia today as the Phillies get read to play the Mets at Shea. Likely these feelings are mimicked in the visitors clubhouse.

The Phillies signed a new starting pitcher, and the Mets may lose one in Pedro Martinez. The Phillies are bringing back Brett Myers from his Trachselesque exile to AAA, and the Mets may have an injured closer. Yet the momentum and the good feels are all on the New York side of Jersey.

After a half-season where it seemed like everything that could go wrong for the Mets, did. The Phillies consequentially played well, fighting with the Marlins for the division lead while the Mets wallowed around .500 with the perennial rival Braves. Even a weekend that saw the Mets lose two out of three giving the Phillies a chance to enter this series with a lead has now gone the Mets favor; the Phillies also lost two out of three so the teams remain tied.

While the Phillies fans start remembering how much they disliked their team before the Mets handed them the division, the Mets fans are starting to remember how much they like this team. The second Reyes has replaced most thoughts of Ruben Gotay has step-in second baseman, Delgado is playing like it's 2006 and Endy and Tatis have stepped up to man the outfield in the absence of Ryan Church and whoever the Mets theoretically sign to take over the left field role.

Since the Mets took the division by storm in 2006, the East has been theirs. They took it for granted, let it slip through their fingers, and watched a rival get Rockied in the 2007 playoffs. Now it's time to step up, knock the crown from the Phillies undeserving heads, and run with it. This week is the week the Mets take the last dregs of Philly confidence, turn the Phillies away with their tails between their legs and down the Turnpike back to Philadelphia and 20000 losses.

Runaway Train

10 in a row, and this was certainly a game you could've thought the Mets would lose when Santana proved to not be up to the task today and the bullpen was iffy. But the Mets kept battling, even in the top of the 9th, and came out on top. Good to see, good to win a game like that, but lets not make a habit of it. David Wright comes through with a clutch hit, a home run that if this was two weeks ago you would've been sure was going to be caught. This is probably a good question for metswalkoffs, but how it seems like David Wright has a crazy amount of walk-off or game-tying hits off of opposing closers. I guess it's logical that these kinds of hits come off of closers, but I may start calling David Wright the Anti-Save anyway.

10! in a row and tied for first place. The Phillies get Joe Blanton and even if that made them feel better, that feeling barely lasted three hours. The Mets go for history Friday night, trying to tie the franchise record for wins in a row at 11. This team has made a complete 180 since about two weeks ago, and I cannot see a catalyst for it. Players just started playing well, pitchers started pitching, and instead of finding ways to lose, they're finding ways to win. Maybe they just flat out ran out of ways to lose games?

No Baseball? Try This.

Looking for something to do while there is no baseball on?

check out simyard.com It's a baseball management simulation. You get a roster full of randomly generated players, and have the ability to pick up new ones. Then you compete in games in the park against other managers. In the off season you're players train and get better. If you buy/join a league, you can build a stadium, have a free team, a major league team and a minor league team and sign players to fill them. Then you pick a league and compete in a scheduled 162 games against your opponents. It's lots of fun, and very addictive. Check it out. My team's the Ceetarian Killer Dust Bunnies.

All-Star Guide

I wrote a sort of guide to the All-Star game, of what to expect, which i'm pasting below. I also created a drinking game, if anyone is interested in that.


Tuesday is the Major League Baseball All-Star game. It’s being played this year in Yankee Stadium, in it’s final season before being knocked down. This is, quite understandably, going to create a feeling of nostalgia around the broadcasts and events involved in this game. From clips of past All-Star games at Yankee Stadium and other memorable moments to discussions about Yankees from Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter, there is going to be a lot of talk about the Yankees and Yankee Stadium during these festivities.

Things to expect on Tuesday for the All-Star game

Players:
-I expect plenty of coverage of Goose Gossage, a Yankee who played in the 1977 All-Star game at Yankee Stadium and is being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

-Thurman Munson also played in that game, and is a much beloved Yankee that will get plenty of discussion.

-The other Yankees to play in the 1977 All-Star game; Reggie Jackson, Sparky Lyle, Graig Nettles and Willie Randolph will get some mention.

-It’ll be mentioned that Randolph managed the Mets and got fired, but other than that I’m sure it’ll be all Yankee references.

-Probably at least some discussion of the other Yankees to play in All-Star games at Yankee Stadium over the years.

-Especially on ESPN, Joe Morgan will talk about, or be talked about, since he was at the game in 1977. If we don’t see a clip of the home run he hit in the game, I’ll be shocked.

-I don’t expect a lot of talk about the Yankees citymates, the New York Mets. David Wright and Billy Wagner will get mentioned since they’re on the team, but even though this isn’t the only stadium closing in the city, not much will be made of the 1964 All-Star game at Shea Stadium. John Sterns was the only Met representative at the 1977 All-Star game, but Tom Seaver was also on the roster for the Reds before being traded back to the Mets, as was former Met Nolan Ryan.

Stadium:
-An overabundance of Yankee Stadium goodbyes. All sorts of people will be asked about their first and last moments in Yankee Stadium and what it means to them.

-Plenty of talk about when Yankee Stadium was built, about Babe Ruth’s career helping to make it what it is today.

-Repeated shots of Monument Park and all the plaques and statues enclosed within. Also discussions about how it’s going to be moved to the new stadium.

-Plenty of overhead shots of the new Yankee Stadium being build, and the comparisons and similarities between the two stadiums.

-I’d be shocked if they showed Shea Stadium at all. Despite there being another stadium in New York that housed plenty of baseball’s history as well as an All-Star game, it won’t get more than a passing mention. At best I’d expect a quick aerial shot of it and Citi Field, the Mets home from 2009 and beyond.

As for the game itself, I suspect it’ll be a fairly decent game this year. There are a great amount of young players on the rosters that are fun to watch, as well as some terrific pitchers. I think the National League will finally prevail this year, after failing in a close comeback last year and Trevor Hoffman blowing the save in 2006. This means Yankees closer Mariano Rivera will not get to close out the final All-Star game in Yankee Stadium for the American League, but he can still pitch the ninth inning if Terry Francona was inclined to do so.

This Team Is Good

Take a break and think about it for three days; The Mets are good. Mike Pelfrey is good.

They can now take three days really feeling this, knowing that destiny is in their own hands again, knowing they are better than the Phillies and just having to lose less games than them to win the division this year. They know that despite a collapse and a poor first half, they're right where they need to be for the second half, having played as well as their competition despite struggling. They get that confidence back, and can take off in the second half without all the nagging questions and doubts.

It's freaking unbelievable the way this team has been playing, it's like they suddenly turned a switch and started working. I don't know what happened, maybe it was just they finally stopped west coast trips, or maybe it's the excitement of having a player like Pelfrey step up and the bench players, while not playing great, are playing well enough when they need to to cover the injuries and holes on this team at the moment.

Got some All-Star posts coming tomorrow.

On Top of the World

A huge confidence booster to end the unofficial first half on this kind of note. Win or lose tomorrow, when they resume play on Thursday it'll be with the knowledge that they can and will beat everyone.

The Mets now control their own destiny. They are zero losses behind for the lead, so if they win, they win. It's a good place to be, and even if they were to fall back to one out, they can go into the break relaxed and confident.

For the first time probably all year, their was optimism and confidence in the stands at Shea while I was there. And the place was virtually packed too.

Prices for next year?

I saw this column by Phil Muschnick (Someone pointed it out to me, I wouldn't read him on a regular basis) about his friend's invoice for season tickets next year, and wrote up a reply. I tried sending it to him, but his mailbox is full. (Can the Post not afford adaquate storage or just Muschnick just not know how to use email?)

So I'm posting it here. While there is some disappointment involving rising prices of tickets, and really everything in life, most of Muschnick's points don't really translate well. (What do you expect? He's writing for the New York Post) Here's his article, and my response. Real brilliant 'Citi Slickers' headline too..

It's a capitalist society and baseball is a business. Sorry, that's just how it is, and I probably couldn't afford to buy those season tickets for 1993 even if I was purchasing them today.

The Sunday night thing is a non-issue, and you should know it. It has nothing at all to do with the Mets, and is solely between ESPN and MLB. A baseball season is a grind and if someone can't handle staying up late to watch a game, oh well. Sure, he'd rather be home by 8pm on a Sunday, but that's exactly why the game is at 8; National TV ratings, which are higher when everyone is home. And you get a couple of weeks warning, and if you're really a season ticket holder and follow the team, you'd have to be pretty daft not to notice the change.

You're talking about virtually the tip of the iceberg in seating too. You don't walk into Applebees, look at the exclusive steak special and declare the whole restaurant too expensive, because it's not true. Sure, it's going to be expensive, sure even the 'cheap seats' will be overpriced, but to go to every game and sit in the top deck is probably going to be less than $4000. You'll still be getting the same ballpark experience, the ability to walk around and see the sights, get to most of the restaurants and food stands, and see the same players play the same game. You won't get into the Sterling Club or the waiter service type stuff, and if you argued that _that_ upgrade wasn't worth $50000 I'd agree with you. The Yankee comparison is valid, because it's the 'competition' in terms of going to a ballpark to see baseball. There are a lot, and probably way too many in my eyes, of fans that easily flipflop between the teams and would use financial excuses to determine where to see games.

Is it a worsening deal? A lot of that depends on the team. But a deal is what people will pay for it, and people will pay for season tickets next year. If it was really a worsening deal, you and he wouldn't be bent out of shape about it because you'd figure it wasn't going to be as good as in the past. Shea is a leaky dump, and Citi Field will be a nice place to see a game, plus the revenue streams created help the Mets compete and put a better team, or deal, on the field. The issue here isn't about the rich folk who are suddenly having to pay more money for the product, ti's the average working class family that will struggle to afford to get to any but the games against the worst opponents and maybe even struggle to do that.

If your friend is really that concerned about it, and he's obviously high on the priority list of ticket holders, he should call the ticket agent and negotiate for a lower priced ticket somewhere else. I'm sure there are excellent box seats for half that price in a different part of the stadium.

The Other End

The other end of the broom sure feels good!

Can't Rain On This Parade

Five in a row! Again! Suddenly, the sky is blue and the paths are rosy. The Mets can do no wrong, the bench players come through with big hits, the bullpen and starters don't allow runs and the Mets win the games instead of finding ways to lose.

Nothing has changed and yet everything has changed. Pelfrey looks so good that even the Mets of next year look good! The biggest difference in my eyes has been Carlos Delgado. Delgado is finally hitting the baseball hard, laying off of bad pitches, and driving it all over the place. I think Delgado has suddenly become better than he was in 2006, where he was even streakier. His ability to hit the ball hard has changed this lineup drastically, and he's starting to scare pitchers again. He's suddenly gotten his batter's eye back, and as he hits more, pitchers will pitcher him more carefully, which means he'll be able to draw more walks and consequentially, make less outs and ground into less double plays. If he remains hitting sixth, whoever hits in front of him is going to find more pitches to hit, and do better themselves. I know Endy has been playing well, but it's no surprise that since Delgado has started hitting, this offense has been hot and those outfield holes have looked a lot smaller. Smaller holes means less desperation for Omar to find another outfield bat, and less desperation means he can be patient and find that diamond in the rough without sacrificing prospects and the future. I look forward to see what he can do over these next three weeks.

Except for a brief euphoria after Santana's opening game win, or the brief glee we felt in April of 2007 starting with the vengeance sweep of the Cardinals, this may be the happiest Mets fans have felt since Endy came down with that catch. There will still be rough patches; The Phillies aren't a great team, but there offense will have more hot streaks where they win a stretch of games. This is irrelevant if the Mets continue to perform as they have, as they'll far outclass the Phillies. There are four games left before the break, and for the first time I find myself not agonizing over having to have a certain record to match a certain record to the Phillies. Barring catastrophe, we'll go into the break with a virtual clean slate; able to outplay the Phillies, and the Braves and Marlins and Nationals, and win this division.

Chances are the Giants will find a way to score at least one run in their trip to New York, but I have a lot of confidence in John Maine to get the job done tonight. Let's Go Mets!

No longer sinking, but rising

And the Mets take three out of four from the Phillies in Citizen's Bank Ballpark. Billy Wagner made it stressful, but when it came down to it, the Phillies offense just wasn't that good, and they just weren't clutch enough to get the job done. In fact, the only win they got was in walk-off fashion in the 9th inning of a game in which Johan Santana should've been pitching. Instead Jerry Manuel pulls the Mets ace with only 95 pitches thrown and Sanchez gives it up in the 9th.
Pedro pitched well, but in typical Pedro Martinez fashion falters after he reaches the 100 pitch mark.

The Mets finally give former Met Killer Adam Eaton a loss, get Pedro his first win, and now are only two games out in the loss column. Billy Wagner pitched two of his bad games, and the Mets won anyway. The so-called 'gamer' Phillies have been bad, especially last year, after facing the Mets. Let's hope they continue that trend, and the Mets can win in these final six games. They could even be in first by the break.

Of course, the Mets have showed signs before, particularly against average Philadelphia who they are 7-3 against. A winning record over these next six would be a big step up though. Maybe the Mets really do turn it on now, and take the division they deserve.

Whether last year, or now, the Phillies have been incapable of building or holding a division lead. When it comes down to it, they're just not a first place team. They're a mediocre team that can pummel some teams and get hot, and can occasionally get up to play the big game against a better team, but usually that averages out in the long run and they finish where they belong, a couple of games above .500 and in second or third.

Palette Cleanser for the Phillies

The best thing about the St. Louis blowout is that it set this team into a no-stress, easy going, comfortable mode that it hasn't had since they went into the second game of the season and Pedro hurt himself. Hit the ball, beat crappy pitching, move along. Carlos Delgado looks freaking locked in. That home run he hit was just a nice, lazy, Delgado(old Delgado)like swing. That recap of the home run would fit in well in 2002, except for the Mets uniform. It was nice to see, and he's amazing close to being on pace for a 30 HR, 100 RBI season, which you certainly would like to see him keep up at.

Jackie Robinson Rotunda Elevators

Thanks the Pelfrey and the surprisingly rejuvenated offense, there was no late inning thoughts of “How are they going to find a way to lose this one?” and just a nice, relaxing blowout going into the series of the year. Now unfortunately, the Braves suck and have halted the Phillies losing ways temporarily, but they pitched pseudo-ace Hamels against the reeling Braves, almost underestimating the Mets.

The Mets now have 10 games left until the All-Star break, and you'd like to see them be able to turn the corner, put this bad stretch behind them, and starting making confident strides towards first place and the division title. There are a couple of things they need to do that.

Beat Philadelphia. Obviously, anything but winning three or four against the Phillies leaves them right where they were, averagely struggling through the season. While a sweep is unlikely, it's also possible, and a sweep would put the Mets with the same amount of losses as the Phillies going forward. If they win three, they need to win at least one more than the Phillies during the next six, and go into the break at worse one game out.

Get to the break above .500. If they do win the series against the Phillies, they'd be one over. Obviously a split of the final six against bad teams isn't ideal, but right now if they could go into the the break one loss out and above .500 in anyway, it's a good thing.

Win the final Sunday game against the Rockies. A nice solid win to finish up the unofficial first half would be a good way to cauterize the first half and just move forward with winning baseball games in the second half like a different team. Obviously it's silly and impossible to place much importance on any single game within a 162 game season, but it'd put the team in the right mind frame for the second half.

Mets Believe Mets Fans Believe They Can Win

I was at the Subway Series games this weekend, and while a lot of the juice has gone out of it, there was still excitement in the air. The lack of juice could be attributed to both teams struggling. I didn't hear one “Jet-ers Boy-Friend” chant for A-Rod. No Hip-Hip You're-Gay! No Captain Cologne! (Admittedly, some of these are better left unsaid) There were still a good amount of Yankees fans being positive, cheering “Der-ek Jet-er” and other assorted lame Yankees chants. Despite the Yankees being in arguably a worse position than the Mets, their fans are still more optimistic.

The argument everyone always falls back on is they've won in the past. But winning in the past doesn't do anything for winning in the present. The only thing it affects is confidence, and part of that is fan confidence. Who do you think has more confidence in their team, and their own performance? Cano, or Castillo? Both are playing badly, but one guy is having his head called for constantly and booed. The other is certainly souring faces, but he's not yet being chased out of town or having fans seriously consider releasing him. Sometimes if you tell someone that they are a certain way enough, they believe it themselves. When Delgado comes up to the plate, everyone at Shea is convinced and screaming at him that he's going to ground out to second, so he's thinking about grounding out to second. Just like you can't stop thinking about the giant elephant in the room. Conversely, Derek Jeter comes up in a big spot thinking he's going to come through because that's what everyone always tells him he does. So he hits roughly the same ground ball, but instead it seems to go a little faster, and just seems to find that hole between second and first.

So how about we go about our business as Mets fans with a little bit of swagger and confidence. We just crushed the Yankees, winning the series 4-2. Play that way all season and the Mets would win well over 100 games. We've gained on the Phillies, and we're coming with a vengeance that they should be frightened of. Even bad teams can win frequently, and whether you think the Mets are good, bad, or somewhere in between, lets go out there and root like we think and know they will win the game instead of constantly telling them how they're going to fail and not good enough for us. Maybe they'll start to believe it too.

Oh, and Jerry Manuel telling everyone that the it's the Yankees town isn't helping. All it did was give fodder to the newspapers to continue talking about the Yankees and treating the Mets like the second team.