Better Luck Next Year

This doesn't hurt as much, but it still sucks.  These players are too good to be this bad.  MVP candidates, Cy Young candidate, Gold Gloves, probably some Silver Sluggers..with players this good you can't be this bad.  The injuries to Wagner and Maine hurt, sure, but it's something deeper.  The bullpen had streaks here and there, so they definitely showed talent, even if it was rare.  I don't discredit Omar, he did a lot to shake things up from last year, but many of them failed, but plenty succeeded also.  

So what's left?  Management.  We all credit Warthon with Perez and Pelfrey turning around, but Pelfrey had already shown flashes.  Did Warthon speed that up? maybe.  Allowing Perez to be Perez was certainly helpful at first, but yesterday he pitched like April, excellent until the 6th inning.  The offense continually put pressure on the bullpen because they wouldn't score more runs, and then the bullpen continually put pressure on the offense because they couldn't put up zeros.  For such great players they struggled with situational hitting, except for some streaks and some guys like Castillo who had good numbers in key situations.  The batters often failed to hit the ball on the ground, or get a sac fly, or go the other way, or not swing for the fences, while the pitchers often failed to be able to induce a groundball, or throw a pitch that won't be hit out.  The manager and coaches are the people most responsible for creating these game plans, and they haven't worked.  Maybe part of it is the calling of the game.  Could Schneider be responsible?  Was he even calling all the pitches?  Was his almost-platoon status inhibiting his authority to call pitches and be respected by the pitchers?  Who knows, but something is wrong with the fundamentals, and I think Jerry Manuel is doing more harm than good. 

The farewell ceremony was touching and nice at least.  That's two stadiums I've closed out in two years now.  

All or Nothing

Shea was great on Saturday. And hopefully it'll be great on Sunday. Hopefully this isn't actually the last game. Either way I'm going to take 6 zillion pictures. It's going to be insane, and we won't know the final of the Brewers game until the middle of the Shea Goodbye ceremony, which will make it all the more nerve wracking.

What Johan did was amazing. Oliver Perez never moved from his spot leaning on the railing in the front of the dug out, and was one of the first out to congratulate him. Here's hoping he was taking notes.

All...or nothing.

This team is very all or nothing this year.  It feels that way sometimes in games, and now the whole season is at that point.  The whole relationship with the fans is at that point too.  Win, and everythings golden.  lose, and the floodgates will have opened.  

This season has the potential to be great, to create two or three or more all-time Mets favorites, ones that might even surpass guys like Keith Hernandez and Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.  

It could also tumble down, and have fans calling for these guys heads.  Even the 'franchise' ones.  This weekend will start to tell the story, and hopefully it's only the beginning of the story.

Smart At-Bats

I only want to talk about one specific at-bat here.  It happened in the 9th inning, while Ryan Church was at bat.  I was watching the defense and I saw before the final pitch that the second baseman and shortstop had moved in dramatically, to the front edge of the dirt.  I was curious why, but then I realized.  They were setting up Church for a ground ball with the bases load.  Sure enough, ground ball, fielded, throw home for the force.  Couldn't someone in the dugout, or Church himself, seen this and adjusted accordingly?  I'm not a baseball player but that made me see the Mets as overmatched.

Bad all Around

That game was miserable. Manuel's managing of it no better than the situational hitting. The crowd felt alive, energetic, excited..it was almost a borderline playoff feel. Until Sanchez let up the tying hits.

How can Manuel be so inconsistent? How can he use reliever after reliever when someone is in trouble in earlier innings, but leaves Ayala in there for two? Shouldn't he have gone somewhere else, or at least pulled him after the first hit, if not the second? Why did he pinch hit for Schneider, but leave Argenis in to bat when he already got his hit for the month? And then pull Argenis after the inning anyway!

Good Bye and Good Riddence

The Mets game was a disaster, all across the board.  Managing, situational hitting, bullpen.. So while we still have a lead in the wild card and a more than adequate chance to make the division title ours, I’m going to talk about something else.

 

It’s hard to be a baseball fan without at least a little respect for Yankee Stadium (not necessarily the Yankees themselves).  The Stadium has been around for roughly 86 years, and housed some of the earlier stages of baseballs history.  If there is a baseball ‘god’, it’s Babe Ruth, who made the first marks at the Stadium.  So my gut reaction is that they shouldn’t be demolishing something full of so much baseball lore.

 

The Mets fan and Yankees hater side of me enjoys that they’re knocking down something so historic.  You could argue that the Curse of the Bambino that supposedly stopped the Red Sox from winning was actually reversed when the Yankees went through the process of starting to dismantle the Bambino’s house.  The Red Sox won twice, and the Yankees have gradually gotten worse and worse, until this season when they will miss the playoffs entirely.  Going into the final game ever at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees number for elimination is 1.  This means that if they lose, not only will it be the final regular season game in the building, but also clinches that it will be the last game, period.  They’re currently up 5-3 in the 5^th, but we’ll see how it turns out. 

 

Physically, Yankee stadium isn’t very nice.  The concourses, specifically on the ground floor, are tight and feel cave like.  The seats aren’t great, and the upper deck is tall and steep.  The entire place feels old, because it _is_ old.  Besides the ‘magic’ behind the historical place, I’m glad they’re knocking it down.  As a baseball fan in New York, I do occasionally find myself at the place, whether randomly or for a Subway Series game, and my priorities when visiting are my own comfort and enjoyment.  I already have to deal with Yankee fans when I’m there, so why add in small concourses, ancient bathrooms, long lines, broken seats and all the other things wrong with the place? 

 

Babe Ruth may miss the place, but I won’t.  May the Yankees live to regret this decision and be doomed to decades of failure.

 

Back to the Mets, I’m sick and tired of Mets fans acting like Luis Castillo is beating up babies and stabbing nuns in the clubhouse.  To me it seems like he plays at least as hard as anyone, and he certainly gets on base more than Argenis Reyes, and more than Easley.  I don’t think the 7^th spot in the lineup is the best location for him, but that’s Manuel’s lineup, not Castillo’s.  The guy might not have the range he used to, but he’s certainly not stationary.  If the Mets were pounding in runs, specifically in clutch spots, then maybe you live with a defensive Argenis a little more often.  Right now though, they need both Castillo’s OBP, and his average with runners in scoring position.  

Division Title is Brewing

Regardless of the struggles for the division, the Brewers inability to win games has put up a safety net for the Mets.  They own a substantial lead over the wild card challengers in Milwaukee, so that even were they to lose the division they’d likely make the playoffs.  However, with a Mets win last night, and a Phillies loss, the Mets are now one loss ahead for the division.  That’s really two, because if they were to end tied, the Mets as winners of the season series would get the division, and the Phillies the Wild Card. 

 

There are nine games left, which is also the magic number to clinch the division outright.  Seven is the magic number to clinch the postseason altogether.  Both are doable.  This team looks good right now; finding ways to win, capitalizing on errors, and not letting their own errors hurt them.

 

86 wins in the book, with nine to play.  Chances are they don’t win every one of them, but end up with a comfortable 90-92.  Which is where they’d have been last year if their collapse had been mini instead of total.  Time to finish it out, put the Phillies away, and win this division.  Leave the final weekend at Shea for Shea, not trying to make the playoffs.

 

Argenis Reyes really should just told he can come back next year.  His spot in the lineup should just read ‘out’.  I know Castillo has been slow returning from the DL, but so has Church, and we’re not killing him.  Castillo is better than Argenis, and a hurt Castillo is better than a hurt Easley, and I don’t think Castillo’s that hurt.  Maybe he’s lost a step here and there, but he still can run the bases, still can draw the walk, still gets on base.  If he can get on base, and Wright, Beltran and Delgado can hit, then everythings peachy.  Argenis Reyes however, hasn’t had a hit in over a month spanning 12 games.  He’s had one walk in that span.  Castillo accomplished both last night.

Magic Number Mojo

Obviously baseball is a very superstitious sport.  That doesn't mean jinxes are real, or that some things don't have to happen the way they do.  There are some things you just can't wait until the last minute to plan for.  The playoffs are one of them.  Many Mets fans out there don't want anyone mentioning the magic number for instance, but if these fans got their way the Mets would wake up on October First having made the playoffs, but having even more issues.

A. They already sent the groundscrew home for the winter, so the field isn't ready, the grass isn't cut, the trap hasn't protected the field, (They're knocking it all down anyway right?), and the lines aren't drawn.

b. No one's showing up to see them play, since they never printed or sold the tickets.

c. The vendors and ushers aren't there to escort anyone to their seats or sell them hot dogs.  There aren't any hot dogs anyway, since they didn't reorder from Aramark past September 28th. (Would anyone be surprised if the concessions are out of virtually everything that day, clinched or not?)

d. In fact, the wrecking ball is already dismantling Shea, because everyone told them to assume the season was over October first until told otherwise.  Can't play at Yankee Stadium, since that's meeting the same fate.   

e. If they did manage to play, it wouldn't be on the radio.  Fox has the tv covered, but Howie Rose is already in Uniondale and Wayne Hagin went home. 

f. Mr. Met is off doing weddings and other apperances, unable to man the Pepsi Party Patrol Cannon.  

In all, the number (and not just on Metsblog) has been posted before.  '06 as well as '07.  Would Glavine and Mota have pitched better if the number wasn't up there? no.  Even without it on the main page, it'd be mentioned in every thread.  Everytime you look at the standings and the Phillies score, you're thinking "how many more Mets wins and Phillies loses before we're in?".  So posting it is merely giving us the info we want, which is what the blog is for.  I'm too lazy to come up with a proper auto-updating widget (and don't know javascript well enough) to put up the Magic Number, but it stands at 13 with I believe 26 games left.  

Can't win them all

Wow.  Bummer of a weekend.  It turns out this team is roughly the same team as last year.  I’d originally thought the bullpen was better, but without Wagner, it just isn’t.  The bigger deal is that the Brewers seem to be freefalling again, like last year.  It’s shocking that the Phillies beat them in 4 games, but the Mets at least still have a two game in the loss lead.  One of those games is to night. 

 

I’m still not worried, this has been the trend for most of the season.  They’d get a little good run going, and the Phillies would struggle a bit.  Then it’d reverse, and the Phillies would catch back up.  But each cycle of this, the Mets seemed to gain a little bit of ground.  In July and early August, the Mets would get to a game or two lead, and lose it again.  Now they’re getting a three of four game lead, and letting it dwindle down to one or two.  I still think it’s likely the Mets win by four, and I think it’s entirely probable that the Phillies lose 3 games this week.  If the Mets can lose less than that, or go 5-2, next week they’ll be a solid three games up with a week to play. 

 

The biggest problem is still that the bullpen is unsettled.  Last year at this time, we didn’t know who to go with when.  Maybe because they were all struggling or hurt.  This year it appears to be the same story.  For the most part guys like Ayala and Stokes have been solid since coming here, but is that something that’s going to be the norm?  Or are they going to be tired out from being the go-to guys, and by the final weekend, we won’t know who to call on in a tight spot? 

 

The Mets have had plenty of opportunity to put this division away.  There have been a game here and there that they just let get away, gave up early, or couldn’t shut the door on.  They could easily be in a position that the Phillies wouldn’t even be sending out ticketing emails about coming to see their playoff push. 

 

However, it is what it is.  Let’s see the Mets end this this week, play TWO games better than the Phillies, and enter the final week four games up. The Cubs have a magic number of seven, and likely will be using those four games against the Mets for rest and setting up for the playoffs.  Just like it’s been each of the last three seasons, the division is there for the Mets taking.  

Citi Field: Home of the Mets, and only the Mets.

 News today confirms what has probably been the plan all along.  A shiny new Home Run Apple at the Citi.  This is just as it should be, I don’t understand those that want the same old decrepit apple from Shea.  It’s worn out and needs to be replaced anyway.  Moving it would be as silly as taking the seats from Shea to put in Citi Field.

 

A lot of stuff about Citi Field hasn’t been decided or released yet.  There will be plenty of Shea mementos, and plenty of references to the Mets, despite what some people like to think.  For example, the neon guys from the outside of Shea will be featured in one of the clubhouses somewhere, and while we can’t see them, they’ll be there.  I’m sure other things will as well.  Citi Field is not some Dodger tribute either.  The façade of the rotunda will resemble Ebbett’s Field, which I think is a nice touch for the part of the stadium that will be named one of the few baseball players that actually transcends the sport.  There are a couple of names for landings and areas that are tributes to old Dodgers and Giants, and you might say it’s a bit too much, and maybe it is.  However, there will be plenty of Mets stuff all around, as well as any new memories and additions that happen will likely to Mets related.  These Dodger/Giant references are merely the way to recognize and remember the past that led to the creation of the Mets.  It’s a way for Mets fans and the next generation to not forget the roots of the team, while we move into a new state of the art facility designed specifically for the New York Mets.  Next summer, when the Mets are making memories and leaving their mark all over the place, no one will be thinking about the Dodgers. 

 

Another misconception is that the average fan is being priced out of Citi Field.  This is just people overreacting to little snippets of news and expectation.  The facts are that there will be plenty of affordable seating at the Citi, and the concessions are likely to be on par with Shea, just with more options and better quality.  I’ve heard from a variety of season ticket holders, and while the top prices for the very best seats are obscene, some people are actually paying less than they are this year.  There are definitely reasonable priced tickets, and it will be possible for everyone to see a game at the Field next year.  I believe the cheapest ticket is going to be $12, compared to $5 this year.  There will probably be the occasional special and discount too.  And this doesn’t include the Standing Room Only tickets, which they haven’t discussed yet. 

 

Of course, there are some things about the new stadium that aren’t perfect.  Despite the ‘good views everywhere’ philosophy, I don’t like the limited seating.  Financially I understand why it was done; it would probably take decades to replace the cost of building those extra 10k charging what they’d be worth.  While more legroom and closer seats is important, those next 10 thousand people that get left out of the big game would rather be inside than out.  However, the Mets rarely average more than the capacity of Citi Field, and the only reason they did this year is because it’s the last year at Shea. 

 

All in all, I’m looking forward to Citi Field a lot.  Shea Stadium has a lot of memories, but just like everyone eventually moves out of their first apartment that was falling apart but fun nonetheless, it’s time for the Mets and the fans to move to a better home.

 

 

Best Season Ever?

Greg over at Faith and Fear likes to go on about the ‘almost’ seasons like ’97; years that express the Mets rebirth from the basement into a competitor. These are usually seasons that have little or no possibility of horrific disappointment because you expect nothing and know it’d be a crazy long shot for anything magical to happen.

No one is looking at 2007 with anything but disgust; At least not on this end of the Jersey Turnpike. There was very little ‘good’ to take out of last year. Even something that might have been something, Glavine’s 300^th win, was forever marred by..well you know. I’m sure there were some fun and memorable moments from 2007, but I find myself at a mental block whenever thoughts stray to that year.

2008 will be better, because it’s not like those other years where we expected nothing and got something. Not because it can’t possibly be worse. In a way it combines that magical trait of moving from nowhere to somewhere with the expectation of something exceptional. Much like ’83 or ’96 were worthless years leading into something bigger, ’07 will be the same way. The difference with 2008 is that it’s not coming off an era of irrelevance. Disregarding all the Shea Goodbye and other off the field stuff, 2008 is a recovery year but not just one where we look at the team and enjoy watching them because there is hope and good baseball for once. 2008 has endless possibilities all the way to the end, but even if it were to end as horrifically as any other season there is still that ‘97/’05 quality to it that will keep it in our minds.

For us younger fans (And by that I mean under 30 or so, which is a sad statement in it of itself), I imagine this is how it felt to watch Gooden in 1984. Pelfrey has blossomed into something every team dreams of, a home grown Ace. Even if he might never be the Ace on the Mets because we already have one, even If the Mets never win another game this year, there is something rather exciting coming out of 2008 that makes most of us rather giddy. Can you imagine what the future holds with a 1-2 punch of Santana and Pelfrey? How about how solid Daniel Murphy looks at the plate, coming seemingly out of nowhere? And of course I don’t need to express how wonderful it is to have two franchise ‘veterans’ in Wright and Reyes continue to shine. They hopefully haven’t even reached their prime yet, and they already hold places in the Mets record books that will have them mentioned for decades to come. These are only some of the moments that make 2008 already memorable. From as simple as sweeping the Yankees in the final Subway Series at Yankee Stadium to the possibility of winning it all, 2008 has something for every Mets fan to remember fondly.

Where will this chapter of Mets history take us? That’s yet to be determined, but it’s safe to say that the season will be full of successes no matter how it ends. Step back from the internal strife, the bullpen woes, and the late-inning offensive slumps to appreciate the good aspects of the season. Whether it’s Reyes’ or Wright’s all around good play, the joy of watching an emerging Ace or an already dominant one, the discarded player in Tatis making a comeback to have an excellent year, or any of the other exciting secondary stories that are playing out this year. Then brace for the next four to eight weeks as I expect this season could jump to near the top of the list of best seasons ever for both young and old fans alike.