The headline of this post is what yesterday's game was all about. For whatever reasons, Jerry Manuel gave up even before the game started. I understand that it was unfortunate that Redding was pitching for the Mets. Not Jerry's fault. I understand that Johnson was on the mound for the Fish. Not Jerry's fault. I understand there are some injuries. Again, not Jerry's fault. The lineup was thrown together giving nearly everyone of note and who is healthy the day off. Jerry's fault! Let's remember May 30th at the end of the year! Marlins 7 Mets 3.
Enjoy today's game. Mr. Maine pitches. Might be a good one.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Morning After Thoughts - Santos, Mets Win in 11
On the night that the Mets win with catcher Santos driving in all runs and catcher Castro traded to the White Sox, Manuel said "There's no panic or anxiety when he's in those situations." He was talking about Santos, of course. On the same night that David Wright came up in clutch situations again only to strike out both times again, I wonder if Manuel was also thinking, There's anxiety when he's in those situations when musing about David. It always seems that the more tense the situation is, the more anxious David becomes. Of course, none of us really know this. Only David does. It sure seems that way though.
Speaking of David, I noticed a photo of Boston star outfielder Dominic DiMaggio in an Obit this past week. DiMaggio, a great ballplayer in his own right and in the shadows of his brother Joe, passed away at age 92. In the photo, Dom was apparently in his early 20's. If you removed the wired rim glasses he is wearing, there is a certain resemblance to David Wright.
The Castro trade to the White Sox for Mr. Broadway is interesting. At first glance, it looks like a move only to address the catcher dilemma. On second thought, it seems that Mr. Broadway could have a role as a starter into which he will be remade in AAA Buffalo. It may or may not work out. On the other hand, the Mets' success this season wasn't riding on Castro. And with Omir Santos in the house, maybe they can ride his tails for a while.
The Mets are now last in strikeouts at the plate despite David Wright's 50 or so Ks for the early season. Also the Mets lead the league in RBIs with 2 out. Both good signs even though they are 3rd from the bottom in the power department.
Nice to see the 40 year old Sheffield continuing to do great things for this team!
Reyes starts rehab next week in Florida. Church is already there.
Let's see if Redding can have a better game than he did last week. I have a feeling that Redding is better off in a long relief role tha as a 5th starter.
Let's Go Mets!
Speaking of David, I noticed a photo of Boston star outfielder Dominic DiMaggio in an Obit this past week. DiMaggio, a great ballplayer in his own right and in the shadows of his brother Joe, passed away at age 92. In the photo, Dom was apparently in his early 20's. If you removed the wired rim glasses he is wearing, there is a certain resemblance to David Wright.
The Castro trade to the White Sox for Mr. Broadway is interesting. At first glance, it looks like a move only to address the catcher dilemma. On second thought, it seems that Mr. Broadway could have a role as a starter into which he will be remade in AAA Buffalo. It may or may not work out. On the other hand, the Mets' success this season wasn't riding on Castro. And with Omir Santos in the house, maybe they can ride his tails for a while.
The Mets are now last in strikeouts at the plate despite David Wright's 50 or so Ks for the early season. Also the Mets lead the league in RBIs with 2 out. Both good signs even though they are 3rd from the bottom in the power department.
Nice to see the 40 year old Sheffield continuing to do great things for this team!
Reyes starts rehab next week in Florida. Church is already there.
Let's see if Redding can have a better game than he did last week. I have a feeling that Redding is better off in a long relief role tha as a 5th starter.
Let's Go Mets!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Gary Says ....
During tonight's 2nd inning, Gary Sheffield was at bat. The Marlins immediately shaded the infield defense well to the left side. Announcer Ron Darling noted this shift, proclaiming that you don't often see this left side shift,but that it makes sense with the prototypical pull hitting right handed Sheffield at the plate. Without a moment passing, favorite Gary Cohen retorted, "It's the Shefft"! Darling could only chuckle "Good one", acknowledging yet another funny and insightful one liner from Mr. Cohen.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Morning After Thoughts - Play It Again. Met Win!
It started this past Saturday against the Red Sox in Fenway. The Santos home run experienced the video review of the umpire crew before it was called correctly. Sheffield's homer was finally declared exactly that after the 6 minute video review on Monday. Murphy's "was it or was it not?" homer was ruled a round tripper after another evaluation of the tape. And then there was a review done for the opposition this week and that decision also went the Mets way. What do the Mets have in common with the film Casablanca? How about "Play It". Or as Woody Allen would say later, "Play it again.". It seems that the video tape review of MLB was designed to suit the Mets.
The Mets seem to have found a little of their power over the past 6 games after going through a drought.
What is it about David Wright that some of us are finding troublesome? The man is hitting .350! How can we complain? Well, David has these games where he is either not fielding or striking out. In the 3rd game of this series with the Nationals, David struck out 4 times. Is he guessing wrong? Or is he just not seeing the pitch? Then again, it's hard to argue a .350 average.
It's was hard to watch rookie and 20 year old FMart as he stood just outside the batters box gazing disappointingly at his infield pop up. When it was dropped by the Nationals catcher, FMart could have made it safely to 1st base had he been running in that direction. Instead he was out at 1st base. Embarrassing for the rookie. Let's hope he learned a solid lesson and won't repeat it. Something about his demeanor tells me this won't be a recurring problem. Otherwise, New York will let him know.
Murphy had a big story night - 5 RBIs, single, double and that video enabled home run. Congratulations, Murph. Let's hope your offense is back to stay.
15 strikeouts last night by the pitching staff! Terrific. Tom terrific-like!
Santana was perplexing. Huge strikeouts. Eleven in all. He seemed to lose his stamina in the 4th inning. Perhaps that was the result of the last game when he had to work through crucial situation after crucial situation due to the poor fielding of his teammates in that game. He may not have been at his best last night. Nonetheless, this win was well deserved payback for earlier season losses when Johan pitched like Cy Young and only received an "L". The cliches about how things even out in baseball are true.
By the way, this win moved the Mets back into 1st ahead of the Phillies. Not bad when it's our "B" team out there on the field and on the bases for the most part.
The Mets seem to have found a little of their power over the past 6 games after going through a drought.
What is it about David Wright that some of us are finding troublesome? The man is hitting .350! How can we complain? Well, David has these games where he is either not fielding or striking out. In the 3rd game of this series with the Nationals, David struck out 4 times. Is he guessing wrong? Or is he just not seeing the pitch? Then again, it's hard to argue a .350 average.
It's was hard to watch rookie and 20 year old FMart as he stood just outside the batters box gazing disappointingly at his infield pop up. When it was dropped by the Nationals catcher, FMart could have made it safely to 1st base had he been running in that direction. Instead he was out at 1st base. Embarrassing for the rookie. Let's hope he learned a solid lesson and won't repeat it. Something about his demeanor tells me this won't be a recurring problem. Otherwise, New York will let him know.
Murphy had a big story night - 5 RBIs, single, double and that video enabled home run. Congratulations, Murph. Let's hope your offense is back to stay.
15 strikeouts last night by the pitching staff! Terrific. Tom terrific-like!
Santana was perplexing. Huge strikeouts. Eleven in all. He seemed to lose his stamina in the 4th inning. Perhaps that was the result of the last game when he had to work through crucial situation after crucial situation due to the poor fielding of his teammates in that game. He may not have been at his best last night. Nonetheless, this win was well deserved payback for earlier season losses when Johan pitched like Cy Young and only received an "L". The cliches about how things even out in baseball are true.
By the way, this win moved the Mets back into 1st ahead of the Phillies. Not bad when it's our "B" team out there on the field and on the bases for the most part.
Gary Says ....
That NY favorite Met announcer who seems to never make a mistake seemed to get just a bit caught up in the "Is it home run or isn't it?" question. During tonight's game against the Nats and immediately following the 4th home run video review in the past 5 Mets games, Gary explained "It's Out of Here!!" as he called a drive to left field corner by Ramon Castro as a home run. It clearly was ball in play in the left field corner and Gary quickly acknowledged that he and his partner, Ron Darling, could not see that corner from the announcers' booth. This homer was a double. In any case, Gary's honesty is always appreciated as is his accuracy and his understanding of the game and its people. Even a mistake was handled professionally. Good job, Gary!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Morning After Thoughts - Mets and Video Win Again
The Mets are certainly getting good calls from the umps on the recent spike in video reviews. The calls are also correct. Good for the umps. Good for MLB. Good for the Mets!
The red hat thing for Memorial Day was a little silly. If it was symbolism that MLB was after, then a patch of the American Flag or something like that would have been better. Or was the hat a way to sell more merchandise? Sorry for being such a skeptic.
So Bobby V seems to be available again soon. Probably won't mean much to the Mets. I think he could end up in Arizona, Colorado or Cleveland.
Nice to see our closer back in form.
The red hat thing for Memorial Day was a little silly. If it was symbolism that MLB was after, then a patch of the American Flag or something like that would have been better. Or was the hat a way to sell more merchandise? Sorry for being such a skeptic.
So Bobby V seems to be available again soon. Probably won't mean much to the Mets. I think he could end up in Arizona, Colorado or Cleveland.
Nice to see our closer back in form.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day Tribute
Please take a moment to think about those who have given their lives over the centuries whether directly or indirectly to ensure our freedom. May their memory live on within us throughout the generations.
Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.
Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.
Jerry's Injuries
Let's spend a minute counting the Mets injuries that Jerry is managing through. First and foremost there's Delgado, Reyes, Beltran and Church. If you count emotional injuries, there's Ollie Perez. There's Schneider, who really isn't missed. There's Alex Cora and Ramon Martinez. Who did forget? Oh yes, Billy Wagner.
Now let's look at other teams. For example, Tampa Bay Rays, which is a team expected to compete. There injury has been Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Jason Bartlett, Chad Bradford, Pat Burrell, Akinori Iwamuram, Troy Percival, who might retire rather than return and Fernando Perez.
The point is that the Mets injury situation isn't unique. The problem is that the Mets do not have much depth in the minors from which to pull replacements. Omar and his crew haven't done a very good job to stock the minors. On top of that add the fact that Jerry just isn't a creative manager. It's like driving a car at 65 miles an hour - notice we are within speed limit - pointed directly at a cement wall. And the driver, Jerry, continues to go straight for that wall, another loss. Happens all the time with the Mets. Willie Randolph used to do that. Willie's former bench coach, Manuel, does it too.
On the bright side, we hear that FMart may be on his way to Citifield.
Now let's look at other teams. For example, Tampa Bay Rays, which is a team expected to compete. There injury has been Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Jason Bartlett, Chad Bradford, Pat Burrell, Akinori Iwamuram, Troy Percival, who might retire rather than return and Fernando Perez.
The point is that the Mets injury situation isn't unique. The problem is that the Mets do not have much depth in the minors from which to pull replacements. Omar and his crew haven't done a very good job to stock the minors. On top of that add the fact that Jerry just isn't a creative manager. It's like driving a car at 65 miles an hour - notice we are within speed limit - pointed directly at a cement wall. And the driver, Jerry, continues to go straight for that wall, another loss. Happens all the time with the Mets. Willie Randolph used to do that. Willie's former bench coach, Manuel, does it too.
On the bright side, we hear that FMart may be on his way to Citifield.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Some Thoughts From Today's Game
Did you ever notice that Jerry Manuel manages exactly like Willie Randolph? In a close game, we win if the players become heroic. We lose if we rely on Jerry to make just the right moves. Today, close game and Jerry brings in Green and then Stokes, both of whom have struggled throughout the year.
Jerry will be happy with the 5-5 road trip. It should have been much better.
Speaking of Green, we would have been better off with Shawn Green pitching than Sean Green. With everything else going green, did the Mets really need to get involved in the movement?
At least Frankie Rod seems to be better and Reyes should be back Monday. Hang in there. It's better than the alternatives.
Jerry will be happy with the 5-5 road trip. It should have been much better.
Speaking of Green, we would have been better off with Shawn Green pitching than Sean Green. With everything else going green, did the Mets really need to get involved in the movement?
At least Frankie Rod seems to be better and Reyes should be back Monday. Hang in there. It's better than the alternatives.
Gary Says ....
New Feature - "Gary Says ...."
Gary Cohen, the NY Sports and Channel 11 Announcer of the NY Mets dropped the best line last night in the bottom of the 9th inning just after the memorable home run. To paraphrase: Jonathan Papelbon standing in the Red Sox dugout flashing that dazed Calvin Schiraldi look. That's Calvin Schiraldi of the 86 Red Sox (and former Met) in the World Series.
Gary Cohen, the NY Sports and Channel 11 Announcer of the NY Mets dropped the best line last night in the bottom of the 9th inning just after the memorable home run. To paraphrase: Jonathan Papelbon standing in the Red Sox dugout flashing that dazed Calvin Schiraldi look. That's Calvin Schiraldi of the 86 Red Sox (and former Met) in the World Series.
From Flushing to San Fran to LA to Boston
Here's another baseball adage. Just when you are sure things are going to get even worse, they turn around. Well, that may not always be true. In fact, in baseball it often isn't. For the Mets, the past 9 days have gone from disappointing in Flushing to exciting to San Fran. From then it went to miserable in San Francisco and onto the remarkable in Boston. With Santana displaying his own form of gutty magic again and with Santos and 9th inning defense in the 2nd game, the Mets seem back from the dead.
Or were they ever really dead or even dying? We can now all attest that the Mets aren't dead or even dying. They are hurting. Now add our closer tothe mix of walking wounded. Correction. In this case, non-walking wounded.
Sounds like disk problems, but I only say that because I have 2 herniated ones. When they act up, it feels like what KRod described, including sciatica paid shooting down my left leg. When it's really bad, there is a tingle all the way down to the toes accompanied by lower back spasms. In those cases, I can stand for maybe to the count of 5 before needing to lie down. I hope this is not the case for KRod. I hope it's something more easily treatable.
So now can we sweep and hope for a Yankee win against the Phillies too? A move back into 1st just before arriving home to face the Nats would be nice. Maybe Reyes, KRod, and Church will be ready then. More remarkable things have happened in the past 2 days. Just ask the Bosox.
Or were they ever really dead or even dying? We can now all attest that the Mets aren't dead or even dying. They are hurting. Now add our closer tothe mix of walking wounded. Correction. In this case, non-walking wounded.
Sounds like disk problems, but I only say that because I have 2 herniated ones. When they act up, it feels like what KRod described, including sciatica paid shooting down my left leg. When it's really bad, there is a tingle all the way down to the toes accompanied by lower back spasms. In those cases, I can stand for maybe to the count of 5 before needing to lie down. I hope this is not the case for KRod. I hope it's something more easily treatable.
So now can we sweep and hope for a Yankee win against the Phillies too? A move back into 1st just before arriving home to face the Nats would be nice. Maybe Reyes, KRod, and Church will be ready then. More remarkable things have happened in the past 2 days. Just ask the Bosox.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Morning After - No Power, No Defense - Dodgers 5, Mets 3
Last night's game seemed to start almost as badly as the loss from the night before. It turned out that the real story may not be that LA won and the Mets lost. It may be that what Casey Blake did by hitting a 3 run homer to power his team past the Mets is something the NY team just never does. The Mets are a powerless team right now. Without Delgado, there isn't a threat to hit one out. Why is that? Where did all the power go? Beltran? Wright?
More about Delgado and the loss of his bat.... Omar might want to learn to twitter as well as to text to stay in continuous touch with GM's who might want to make a trade. It would take some sort of ransom right now though. The best idea I heard was to try to get Pujols from the Cardinals. Well maybe not the best idea, but certainly the most creative and pretty funny. Who would we trade? Wright, Beltran, and Santana and $50 million?
Anyone remember that we could have had Orlando Hudson for next to nothing during the off season? He wanted to play for the Mets. There just never seemed to be any interest from Omar, Wilpons. I wouldn't mind having him at 2nd! Regrets are hard to overcome.
The Mets have committed 32 errors. How did we become the team with the third-highest total of errors in the majors behind only Washington (41) and Seattle (34)? Where is the defense?
It was nice to see Reyes back.
Well one more vs the Dodgers. Not very comforting. Then off to the land of the Sox. Maybe we can win one of the next four. Santana is pitching in Boston so we have a shot. Other than that, it appears that both the Phillies and the Braves are getting hot as the Amazins have cooled off. It isn't fun right now.
I just read on CNN's Web site that one can submit a question to the astronauts in space today. I have one for Astronaut Mike Massimino, a Long Island native and terrific Mets fan. "Do the Mets look as bad from out there as they do down here?" Pretty lame, I know.
More about Delgado and the loss of his bat.... Omar might want to learn to twitter as well as to text to stay in continuous touch with GM's who might want to make a trade. It would take some sort of ransom right now though. The best idea I heard was to try to get Pujols from the Cardinals. Well maybe not the best idea, but certainly the most creative and pretty funny. Who would we trade? Wright, Beltran, and Santana and $50 million?
Anyone remember that we could have had Orlando Hudson for next to nothing during the off season? He wanted to play for the Mets. There just never seemed to be any interest from Omar, Wilpons. I wouldn't mind having him at 2nd! Regrets are hard to overcome.
The Mets have committed 32 errors. How did we become the team with the third-highest total of errors in the majors behind only Washington (41) and Seattle (34)? Where is the defense?
It was nice to see Reyes back.
Well one more vs the Dodgers. Not very comforting. Then off to the land of the Sox. Maybe we can win one of the next four. Santana is pitching in Boston so we have a shot. Other than that, it appears that both the Phillies and the Braves are getting hot as the Amazins have cooled off. It isn't fun right now.
I just read on CNN's Web site that one can submit a question to the astronauts in space today. I have one for Astronaut Mike Massimino, a Long Island native and terrific Mets fan. "Do the Mets look as bad from out there as they do down here?" Pretty lame, I know.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Morning After Thoughts - Dodgers 3 Mets 2 in 11
It didn't take long for the Amazins to fall out of 1st even if by just a few percentage points.... "Early in the season" is a cliche. It's not too early. Ask the 2007 and 2008 Mets teams. Ask Willie Randolph..... After winning the first 3 of this challenging 10 game road trip, it would not be acceptable to go anything less than 6 and 4. How many fans think that the Mets are now going to go 3 and 2 in the remaining games against the Dodgers and the Sox?....
When did hip impingement become all the rage? Now Carlos D is going for the surgery following on a growing list of players, such as Arod. It may be that Tommy John surgery is going to get a run for its money with Arod surgery? We need to name it after someone else though, don't you think?
Speaking of Delgado, maybe now Minaya understands why he should have been seeking some depth at first base. Someone who could actually hit a home run. Did you notice that Omar tends to put together a decent team but one with insufficient depth. Nick Johnson is starting to look good. Not sure we have anyone we would be willing to trade or that the Nats would want.
When did hip impingement become all the rage? Now Carlos D is going for the surgery following on a growing list of players, such as Arod. It may be that Tommy John surgery is going to get a run for its money with Arod surgery? We need to name it after someone else though, don't you think?
Speaking of Delgado, maybe now Minaya understands why he should have been seeking some depth at first base. Someone who could actually hit a home run. Did you notice that Omar tends to put together a decent team but one with insufficient depth. Nick Johnson is starting to look good. Not sure we have anyone we would be willing to trade or that the Nats would want.
Last night's loss reminds us about Pagan. He can hit some. He is not a great outfielder. And our replacement first baseman shouldn't be at first base. Until we find someone else, put Tatis there and keep him there.
Let's also stick with a plan about the outfield. For now, the starting outfield should be Sheffield in left, Beltran in center and Church in right. And stop juggling Church. He needs to play full time. In the past few weeks, Manuel has managed to take Church from being a very good player to a poor one. (Maybe mismanaged is a better term for what Jerry has done.) There is, of course, no excuse for missing third in the 11th inning. Church's comments following the game lead one to believe that he knew he missed the bag.
And 5 errors! That reminds us old timers of the pre 1969 Mets all over again. Hopefully for this one night only. We did get good pitching. Redding did a decent job. The team came back. The offense although not timely continued to have hits in it. So, let's move on. Perhaps Jose will be back tonight and we can take this one. A ounce back would be nice.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Inaugural Message
Today's post is our first. We do not yet have a specific style. With your help, we'll develop one quickly.
The primary purpose of this blog is to render reasoned opinions and thoughts about all things related to the New York Mets. We will follow the characters of the team, its events in and outside of the game itself, its history and the pennant race into the Amazin's future.
We welcome you to this new service. Please invite your friends, whether or not they are fans of the Mets. The service will develop over time. We will seek to encourage your participation.
As a Mets fan, it's always a good day, whether or not we acknowledge it. Like last night. Some of us are disappointed by the opportunities wasted by Jerry and his crew in San Fran. Jerry didn't lose this game by himself. He didn't help matters. That's for sure. Taking 3 of 4 from the Giants was a feat and a hopeful sign of things to come. On the other hand, it's a time and again flaw of the Mets teams of recent years to not be able to bring down the hammer when the opportunity is there. Let's see what tonight brings in LA with the Mannyless Dodgers and the Mr Redding. Hopefully, Jose will be back. Leading off with a triple would be fun.
The primary purpose of this blog is to render reasoned opinions and thoughts about all things related to the New York Mets. We will follow the characters of the team, its events in and outside of the game itself, its history and the pennant race into the Amazin's future.
We welcome you to this new service. Please invite your friends, whether or not they are fans of the Mets. The service will develop over time. We will seek to encourage your participation.
As a Mets fan, it's always a good day, whether or not we acknowledge it. Like last night. Some of us are disappointed by the opportunities wasted by Jerry and his crew in San Fran. Jerry didn't lose this game by himself. He didn't help matters. That's for sure. Taking 3 of 4 from the Giants was a feat and a hopeful sign of things to come. On the other hand, it's a time and again flaw of the Mets teams of recent years to not be able to bring down the hammer when the opportunity is there. Let's see what tonight brings in LA with the Mannyless Dodgers and the Mr Redding. Hopefully, Jose will be back. Leading off with a triple would be fun.
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