Where They Belong

We all know by know that the Phillies have very little fight in them. The Mets are back atop the NL East again, alone. Where they belong. If you look closely, you'll also notice our 'anemic' offense has scored more than the 'Murderer's Row' offense of the Phillies. Also more than anyone but the Cubs. Without Daniel Murphy's eight, we'd be two behind. Keep it up!

Good Days, Bad Days

I don't know what's with this team. Where has all the popping out with runners in scoring position gone? What happened to our inability to tack on runs late, or to hold a lead? What happened to the good old days of a pitcher going 100 pitches and calling it a night? Did we forget to practice booting ground balls during pregame warmups?

If these statements sound silly to you, remember that the reverse is probably true too. It's just one game, and it matters no more or no less than any other game. If you thought the Mets looked lifeless, or not that good on Wednesday and used that as a determination for the rest of the season, how can you not look at tonights game and think just the opposite?

The Mets will lose some games. They'll win some games. They certainly proved tonight that they still have that ability to play hard, play well, scores runs and look good. That doesn't just vanish. Of course there are still issues, but there are also plenty of good signs for this FIRST PLACE team.

This isn't the time to talk about the Braves or the Phillies (or the general Yankees bashing that's always fun). They certainly have issues and problems, but for now it's just about the Mets games, whoever they're playing. Scoreboard watching is fun in a “Die Braves Die” type of way, but it's not a big deal in May.

One thing I do want to say, and I know it's gone now anyway, but can I point out that the Mets aren't/weren't the only ones to use Sweet Caroline? I was walking into Penn Station on Thursday around 6:30 and they were definitely playing it along with Ranger highlights outside the Garden.

Good.

Beltran's making statements now? Good. I love it. I'm glad he thinks the Mets are the team to beat. They are. They own this division. This was my favorite part.

"I don't care," Beltran said. "They boo me in Houston. One more city won't make a difference."

Good. Stop worrying about what fans think and just take what belongs to you. Maybe Willie's right when he suggested you becoming a father gave you confidence.

It's still February and I'm starting to feel some strong magic with this team..March 31st can't come soon enough.

It's all about being there...

I'll be there. I was there for game 7 last year, hopefully this isn't similar. I still believe the Mets can win this. I don't think the Phillies will win both these games, they just aren't that good, and I know the Nationals suck, but...All the Mets need to do is remember what it's like to win..and do it.

Brooms a Flying

Brooms Flying

I said the Mets would sweep the Braves, and now they have. Anyone that doubts that the Philly series was the exception rather than the rule needs to look again. The Mets are again four games up, on the way to being five up as I write this. Assuming the bullpen hangs on, the Mets will again be going for five wins in a row.

Another thing that we need to stop talking about is the Atlanta ‘jinx’. There is no such thing, and if there ever was, it’s over. The Braves have no more magic, no more sway over the Mets. Chipper Jones may still have the Mets number, but it’s a lost cause. The Mets are very clearly better than the Braves, are the defending champions, and hold a commanding leader over those Braves again this season. So what if the season series is seven wins to eight losses against Atlanta? They were held down and pummeled when it counted the most. This weekend was pretty much must-win for the Braves for any illusions about the division, and maybe even the playoffs.

Now everything probably won’t go as well as it has these last four days, but I think this is closer to the Mets than the Philly series was. Delgado seems to have some power back, and if he can hold on to some of that and Alou can stay healthy the Mets have something that they actually lacked for much of the season, power. Beltran was slumping a bit, and Wright’s not a pure power guy, so the Mets were often resorting to small ball and stringing together hits. There are only so many hits you can string together sometimes. Many of those games in the middle of the summer that the Mets lost would’ve been wins if the RBI singles had become three run home runs.

Pelfrey and Pedro looked good, David Wright’s making his case for 30-30, as well as MVP, Wagner finally earned a save again, and the bullpen has settled down a little.

The magic number is at 23, soon to be 21, and before you know it we’ll be pricing playoff tickets on Stubhub and hoping the Mets clinch at home on the 24^th so that we can be in attendance.

The Real Truth

I know this series sucked, trust me. I still believe it's the exception and not the norm, and were this the playoffs we'd have found a way to win, and hold the leads. Wagner and El Duque are not usually going to pitch like this.

This is the NL East race, pictured here in mid-September.

Pedro and the Padres

The Friars come to town this week, followed by the Dodgers. I'm planning on being at Wednesday's game and my usual Saturday game for game numbers 24 and 25 on the season. That's more than Carl Pavano. This team is finally playing with some fire and energy, winning six of their last seven. I expect them to continue this stretch through these next two teams, who may be playoff contenders, but are not in the Mets class. More importantly, I think they'll win more games than the Phillies and Braves over this six game stretch, bringing their division lead to at least six before they go play both of those two teams.

Jeff Conine is on his way, and I really could care less. I hope this isn't a statement on how Delgado is feeling overall, because despite his 2007, I'd rather Delgado at first any day. Castro and Lo Duca healing up is another thing I'm waiting for, despite Mike Difelice doing as well as he is doing. Lo Duca was upset that he went on the DL in the first place, so I expect him to come back healthy and angry, which I suspect is when he's at his best. Pedro Martinez is climbing the ladder, and I expect he'll be here before we know it. He's itching for the competitive baseball of the major leagues, and even though by the time he gets here we may be already putting the finishing touches on the division, I expect that competitive fire to come through in the playoffs.

Endy Chavez could be back as early as tonight. As far as bench impact players go, he's a good one. He's a fan favorite too, and maybe his reappearance is all the Mets need to start winning at home again. I'd love to finally break the 4-win plateau with some crushing victories at home over the Padres. I'd even be there for the 5th one should the game go well tonight, and with John Maine on the mound looking to redeem himself after a couple of iffy starts, I expect tonights game to be a good clean win.

The Land of the Free, and the Home of the Mets

Here come the Braves. Literally, not figuratively, though if the Mets play badly this week it could be both.

In some of the time I spend in the Hot Foot Bleachers, I mentioned once that this upcoming series is a lot bigger for Atlanta then it is for the Mets. I was laughed at, but it still holds true. The Braves are four and a half games back, which means the best they could reach is two losses behind the Mets with a sweep. If the Braves win the series, which is what I’m sure they’re setting out to do, that puts them four losses back. Three and a half games back with only 48 left to go is what the Braves are aiming for. This isn’t a threat to the Mets; the Braves have been hovering around three and a half for a while now, unable to really put on the pressure. They’ve flirted with third place more than first place.

That said, the Mets still should go out there and win this series at home. They need to brush them back with the attitude of “What? You’re still here? This is our division now, check in again sometime next decade.” They can do this; they just won series against the two contenders in the Central division, they won a seven game road trip against the West division contenders. It’s time to show the Braves that there aren’t any contenders in the East division, only a repeat champion.

I have heard no word yet on if Willie Randolph is going to pitch his pitchers on normal rest next week, taking advantage of the day off to get Maine to pitch Thursday against the Braves instead of Friday against the Marlins. It would be the right move to get the best pitcher in the rotation to pitch against the team currently sitting in second place in the division.

I want all the Braves fans to be thinking about one thing Thursday night; the Friday preseason Falcon game against the Jets.

7 game series

I was right. The Mets gained ground in the division race over the road trip. If I had any nagging doubts about this team, they're gone now. The playoffs are decided on a best of seven series, and the Mets just played one against two teams that will likely be participants and opponents. The Mets won, winning game seven where they failed last year.

Now they come home to play the Nationals and Pirates. Hopefully they can continue this stretch of play and pick up more games in the division. They're currently on pace to win 91 games, but with a good stretch run they can easily win more than that. The trade deadline arrives soon, and with it hopefully another little piece to this team.

I like the way David Wright is swinging the bat. He looks like he's in a good place right now, a place where you can get the big hits and carry this team a little bit if he needs to. If the opposition starts pitching around him, hopefully Carlos Delgado can make them pay. Delgado is working on a eight game hitting streak, and has hit in 12 of his last 13 games. This is the kind of consistency that was missing from him all year, and while he only has two home runs in that stretch It gives more more confidence then when he hits a bunch of home runs over a weekend, but then stops hitting again. I've predicted that Delgado would atone for his slow start with a hot finish; I expect by the start of October for him to be right in his groove.

Could the worry warts please shut up about Beltran? I know his average is a little low, but he's playing well. I have been very busy lately, and haven't had a chance to really sit down and just watch a baseball game, but whenever I do it seems like Beltran is coming through with a big hit. Don't compare him to the small sample size with Houston in the playoffs, don't equate a dollar value to production ratio based on his contract. Take him for what he is; a great player, but not the only great player, on this team.

I've been saying it for a little while now, I think we may have gotten all we're going to get out of Jorge Sosa. With Pedro vanishing into the Carribean, and Pelfrey being a strain on our offense I'm not sure what the solution is here. Maybe Sosa turns it around, but even if he doesn't, I don't want any sort of panic moves out of Minaya that bring a mediocre starter in here at the expense of any worthwhile prospects. Maybe he can pull off something like last year where he pulled in Perez and Maine from seemingly nowhere.

A day off, and then I'll be on the field level at Shea for Tuesday night's game. I'll get to see John Maine pitch again, who after a couple of iffy performances is going to settle down again. I expect to see the offense play well again, and I fully expect it to be a fun day.

After the Shakeup

I don't know that I'd actually call the actions of the Mets after the All-Star game a shakeup, but they've gone 2-1 since then. It's a very soft 2-1 so far, but I'll take it. The pre-game Ralph Kiner events were very nice. It was cool to see all those guys come onto the field, guys like Seaver and Koosman and Yogi. It was cool seeing clips of Kiner's Korner and all of that stuff. I'm only 25, so i barely remember a lot of the old stuff, I don't even remember '88 or '86, and the Mets were bad for a lot of the time after that so my focus was never fully on the Mets growing up.

I was at the last two games, Friday and Saturday. I was witness to, and part of, the growing anger of the Met fan. Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, particularly on Saturday, were getting booed when they failed. It's probably part booing the Mets for failing in key situations, as they had six hits and no runs through four innings on Saturday. It's also part booing what is perceived as Delgado's and Beltran's recent struggles. I can refer you to my earlier post about Beltran, where I point out that he's had some pretty key moments with the Mets. Or I can point out that although it's primarily taking pitches that fans have a problem with, but Beltran did draw one of the Mets two walks. He also had two of the Mets four walks on Friday. On Friday it was primarily David Wright and Delgado swinging at everything and not taking pitches, but Delgado had a couple of hits. Saturday Delgado hit two long fly balls, and three of his outs were hit the other way, which usually will help Delgado get some hits against the shift.

Alternatively, it's not any one player that's struggling, but all of them. The Mets are hitting, the Mets are even on occasion drawing walks, but they're inconsistent. Saturday Matt Belisle for the Reds has 60 pitches through three innings, but managed to get through seven innings. They were working counts early, but failed in the middle innings. The Mets had 11 hits, they just failed, and have failed to string together hits at the right time. Whether this is because of bad luck, bad approaches at the plate, or just a coincidence is hard to say, but it's something Howard Johnson and the Mets need to address.

This post has been more negative than I feel, so let's put together a list of good signs.

-Shawn Green gets a hit with a runner on third and two outs.

-Lastings Milledge got a hit with two outs and a runner on second to score the go-ahead run and the win for Glavine after he'd pitched eight terrific innings.

-Lastings Milledge scores the go-ahead run on Thursday by scoring from first on a hit.

-Saturday the Mets played terrific defense, and when you start doing well at one aspect of the game, it often carries over to others.

-Wagner continues to pitch excellently.

-The Mets are showing signs of being able to work counts and take walks.

-The Mets are accumulating a lot of hits.

-The Mets are still in first place.

-Oliver Perez looks like his back is fine.

-Even John Maine's bad outing wouldn't have been horrible without two errors.

-Delgado has hit some long fly balls for outs, suggesting that he's just missing having his stroke back. He's slowly raising his average up to miserable from completely miserable. Some of this fly balls have been the other way, suggesting he's making an attempt to use the whole field.

I'm going to describe this season like I would describe John Maine's pitching last year. They're a good team, but they have some mental blocks at key times. I'm still confident in them, and you should be too. Every season can't be easy, but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and I don't think the Braves or Phillies have what it takes to kill our season.

Continuing to Roll

I strongly feel that John Maine got snubbed, but I'm not surprised. He suffered because Billy Wagner deserves to be there too, is a bigger name, and was the 4^th Met selected. I feel bad for Kevin Youkilis too, who certainly deserved to be there. I really feel baseball should attempt to honor guys like this, who would go to the game excited, and not guys like Manny Ramirez, who will go reluctantly, if at all. To make the All-Star game more meaningful, fill it with players that want to be there. We don't necessarily need guys playing all out, colliding with catchers and getting into fights, but these young guys that want to be there will play hard, and enjoy playing. That's what would make it watchable.

The Mets dropped the finale, missing out on sweeping the Phillies. It doesn't matter, they had a bit of a sloppy day and left the Phillies with a little bit of hope. It's misguided hope, as the Mets now have won eight of their last 10, and now hold a five game, six losses, lead over the Phillies. The Braves are four games back and five losses. I'd be happy with picking up one more game on each before the All-Star break. Colorado has been playing badly since sweeping the Yankees, and while they're due to start winning some, the Mets can take two out of three easily, even with Vargas pitching one of the games.

Mike Pelfrey looked good, I've thought he looked good all year long, just not quite ready. He looked more ready this time, if not quite there. I feel like one of these days he's suddenly going to develop some confidence, make a small adjustment with his pitching, and suddenly will start winning. I'd like him to start throwing more innings, but even three runs in five innings at a ballpark like that keeps the team in the game. Maybe if he keeps pitching like that, the offense will feel last pressured to score nine runs to win for him, relax a bit and just start hitting, and making plays behind him defensively.

I don't know what's up with Oliver Perez. We all know he's pretty much a head case, and when he's made such good progress this year I'm not sure I want him pitching injured either. We've in a good situation right now, with a good lead. If he's really hurting, we could DL him retroactively, he'd be eligible to come off by the games after the break, and we could get some help up here in the meantime.

Carlos Gomez has picked up a bit of a reputation as a hot dog, which is why Joe Smith asked Carlos Beltran how to say “hot dog” in Spanish. “Perro caliente,” Beltran replied. Gomez seemed to like the new nickname. I like it too.

Speaking of the All-Star break, I hope Ricky Ledee doesn't see the other side of it. Lastings Milledge has starting playing rehab games, and I see no reason why he shouldn't be with the team by then. Whether to try to contribute, or to showcase to be traded. Willie seems to be alternating Ledee and Gomez anyway, and I don't know anyone that looks forward to seeing Ledee's mangled picture up on the scoreboard.