Hmpf

This game pissed me off so I’ll react in grunts…

• Pelfrey good game
• Confirmed, Angel Pagan back to his old head scratching ways after hiatus in 2010
• Lucas Duda’s could only enjoy his biggest home run as a Met for a half of an inning
• Daniel Murphy’s lack of a natural defensive position is glaringly hurtful
• Murph can still hit
• Jason Bay hit a home run…..yay
• Jose Reyes is still chilly
• Wish Wright would throw the ball over hand
• Izzy probably wishes he threw a curve ball to Stanton in the 10th
• Mets lose out on an opportunity to gain ground on the Braves

I feel better now.  The good thing is the Mets can still win this series.

Time To Build The 2012 Mets

Life is unfair and so is Major League Baseball.  If the Mets were in the National League Central they would be in the hunt for a division title.  They’re not, so it’s time friends.  Time for Mr. Alderson to show us what he can do.

He has given Terry Collins and his players enough time to prove they can compete for a playoff spot.  After this weekend’s disappointing series loss, it is clear that chances are slim to none, and slim left town with Logan Morrison’s eighth inning home run this afternoon.

As much as I don’t want to see it, I know Carlos Beltran will be dealt.  It also seems pretty clear that Jose Reyes is staying and the Mets are going to attempt to re-sign him.

What isn’t clear, is what else Sandy Alderson has in the works. Between now and opening day of 2012, Mr. Alderson has his work cut out for him.

Being the giver that I am, I figured I’d share with him who I’d like to see move on.

• Mike Pelfrey– I like Big Pelf and will always hope he does well.  However, I feel as if he has peaked as a Met and needs a change of scenery to see if he can thrive elsewhere.  The Mets have given him an ample amount of opportunities to prove he can be a reliable starter.  Too many ups and downs for me.
• Jason Bay– He’s not going anywhere anytime soon, but he belongs on this list for obvious reasons.  Maybe the Mets’ front office can blackmail high ranking officials from another team forcing them to make a deal for Bay.  It could happen.
• Angel Pagan– Similar to Pelfrey, Angel has been given plenty of opportunities to prove he can be an impact player.  He has regressed this year and his decision making ability irks me.
• Ryota Igarashi– Iggy is a bust.  His 6.25 ERA in 53 career appearances is explanation enough.
• D.J. Carrasco– Wasn’t a huge fan of his signing, and he hasn’t disproved my initial opinion.
• Bobby Parnell-  Parnell is last on this list for a reason.  I am still holding on to hope that the time he has remaining with Jason Isringhausen will help him get over the hump mentally.  Clearly he has electric stuff, he just doesn’t carry himself as if he believes in it.

I realize some of these players will log innings for the Mets in 2012 just as it is a reality that a number of players I didn’t list will not.  I just figured Mr. Alderson would want to get some feedback from Midwestropolitan.com before he starts building the 2012 Mets.

Good luck Mr. A., we believe in you.

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Morning Baseball

Like many of you, I am a busy guy.  Husband, father, full-time professional employee, little league coach, friend etc. etc.  So there are days and nights in which I miss watching Mets’ games live.  Actually, there are very few games that I watch live in their entirety.

Typically, I am able to watch about four or five innings live.  Fortunately, it is 2011 and thanks to the bicthin’ internet (MLB.COM), I have the opportunity to go back and watch what I missed.

Due to my hectic schedule, I was unable to watch any of last night’s game.  So in my world, Carlos Beltran tied up the second game of this current series at 6:46am this morning.  At 6:50am, I was doing an Air Claw in my kitchen with a cup of coffee in my other hand once Angel’s blast won it.

Yes, I am a dork and I occasionally Air Claw the Mets when watching at home.

One of the benefits of this haphazard style of following baseball is the ability to skip to vital points of the game when I have limited time available.  Hence, the ability to watch both home runs within a five-minute period.

A Little Help From The Cardinals

How huge was David Freese dropping Carlos Beltran’s foul ball a few pitches before his bomb?  The dugout rail was a factor, but it wasn’t that difficult of a play.

I bet Ike Davis said to himself, “Shit, he didn’t even flip over and still dropped that.  Chump.” as he chuckled to himself.

Daniel Descalso’s throwing error in the eighth allowing Pagan to reach and eventually score a game tying run, was also appreciated.

Thanks Cards!

Is Mr. Alderson Sweating At All Now?

Well, 10 games left before the morning of July 31st and now 2.5 games to gain on the Braves to get to the magic wild card number Midwestropolitan.com established on July 10th.

Is 7-3 for the Mets and 4-6 for the Braves going to happen?  Unlikely, but I have to be honest with you.  There is a part of me that is hoping for a miracle that the Mets are on the verge of an insane hot streak while the Braves cool off and Mr. Alderson doesn’t pull the trigger on a Beltran trade.

It’s stupid.  But I can’t hide anything from my fellow out of market Mets fans.

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Just Stay Afloat

Only three games left prior to the All-Star Break.  My, how time flies.

It is realistic to believe the Mets could drop two of three in San Francisco prior to this well deserved break.  You know what?  I would be okay with that.

If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that the Mets would be one game over .500 considering the following factors I would have laughed in your face heartily:

• Johan Santana still has yet to pitch
• David Wright has played in only 39 games
• Ike Davis has played in only 36 games
• Angel Pagan missed 30 games
• Jose Reyes is on the DL with a bum hamstring
• Chris Young is out for the season after only four starts
• Jason Bay has been non-existent for a vast majority of the season
• Tom has yet to don the over sized head of the Mr. Met suit

I am confident they will find a way to get a win in San Francisco.  Much has been said about the three starters the Giants will throw at the Mets. Yes they are formidable, but they are human and can be beat.   As a matter of fact, all three (Lincecum, Vogelsong, and Cain) haven’t exactly thrown no hit ball in their last couple of starts.

The icing on the cake scenario would put the Mets three games over .500 after figuring out a way to stun the World Champs with a road series win.

Avoiding a sweep is paramount.  It would be somewhat deflating to find the Mets a game under .500 after all they have accomplished the last few weeks with all of the challenges thrown at them.

Is 16 Runs Something You Might Be Interested In?

What if I were to tell you that the Mets would set a club record by scoring 52 runs in 4 games. Is that something you might be interested in?

Yes, Bob! It is something I might be interested in.

Ah, I feel better when I do random shit on this blog. To the good news!

• The Mets have scored 14, 8, 14, and 16 runs in their last four games. I’m not going to pretend to understand why this is happening. My apologies, but I’d rather not act like I’m smarter than you just because I have a blog and therefore have an outlet to make up some ridiculous theory about why the Mets offense is suddenly unconscious. I’m young but I’ve seen enough to know that the only predictable thing about baseball is that it’s unpredictable. You can make an educated guess if that makes you feel better, though. (Don’t let Jason’s ineptitude deter you!)
• That said, Angel Pagan and Jason Bay’s contributions have been terrific. Bay must have made an impression with his grand slam last night because he was walked four times. That’s just odd.
• Isn’t it funny that Jose can go 2-6 and his average actually drops?

Tomorrow:

• I’m excited for this one. The irresistible force meets the immovable object when Justin Verlander faces the Mets white hot bats.

Lastly, the Mets aren’t gaining on Atlanta…but they’re gaining on a bunch of teams in the pack.

___________________________________________________________________________

Atlanta	47	35	—	80
Arizona	44	38	3.0	80
St. Louis	43	38	3.5	81
Cincinnati	42	40	5.0	80
New York	41	39	5.0	82

40-39

Extremely Good Player On The Right

The Mets broke through the .500 barrier in a big way.  Some pretty important things happened tonight.  Here they are for those of you that had other “obligations”…

• The New York Mets have now won five of six and have put together a lovely little three game winning streak on the road against the big bad American League.
• Jose Reyes went 4 for 4……again.  Seriously, we have reached the point of utter insanity where there is nothing left to say about how unbelievably well he is performing.  God forbid he has a string of games in which he goes 1 for 4.  Everyone will be proclaiming he is in a major slump.  I know we had a little bit of fun with it earlier today, but it is utterly ridiculous that Troy Tulowitzki has a chance to start in front of Jose in the 2011 All-Star Game.

VOTE FOR REYES DAMNIT!

• Jason Bay broke the 299 game grand slamless streak with a blast down the left field line in the fourth inning.  While I am tickled pink that my namesake was able to make this happen, you won’t find me claiming or hoping this means he has broken out of his season long slump.  Fool me once, shame on you Jason……
• Not to be outdone, Carlos followed with his own grand slam the very next inning.  Brilliant.
• One could almost forget that R.A. Dickey pitched a nice little game tonight.   He has given the Mets at least seven innings and no more than three earned runs in five of his last six starts.  His ERA is now at 3.77.
• Angel Pagan had the quietest three for three/reach base all five times imaginable.  It was so quiet, I failed to include it in the original draft of this post.
• Keep an eye on Justin Turner.  I have a feeling his thumb is bothering him a bit more than he is letting on.  He has certainly cooled off at the plate.  That alone is not an indicator of a troublesome thumb.  His “easy” throw to first on a throw in the second that lead to an error may be the key.  He doesn’t strike me as a guy that takes plays off, so I am wondering if his thumb is more of  a factor.
• Josh Thole said, “Screw slap singles.” and delivered his first home run of the season.
• Manny Acosta lowered his ERA below 10.00 with a scoreless inning in the ninth.  Baby steps.
• Who’s counting, but …..aw who the hell am I kidding, I am.…the Mets have scored 36 runs in their last three games.  That is an average of 12 runs per game (thanks Midwestropolitan Stats Department).

Tom’s prediction of taking two of three in the Motor City is looking pretty good right now.  Damn…..I’ll never hear the end of this…

OK Guys, A Win Would Be Nice

Well…..shit.  Opening up this home stand with a loss wasn’t exactly how I pictured things.  That being said, I’m not ready to officially start worrying yet.

Tonight brought us yet another game that the Mets were in position to win.  Chris Capuano provided a quality start.  And despite Jose Reyes going 0 for 4 on the night, he and Justin Turner worked consecutive walks to represent the tying and winning runs in the ninth.

Unfortunately, Angels closer, Jordan Walden, struck out Carlos Beltran, Daniel Murphy, and Angel Pagan to shut the door.

Speaking of Walden.  He is absolutely filthy.  A 100 mph fastball combined with a devastating slider makes for quite the challenge for hitters.  He seemed to be in big trouble against Reyes and Turner as his slider wasn’t working.  Then all of sudden it became unhittable and Beltran,Murphy, and Pagan had no chance.

Losing tonight sets the Mets up for a Don’t Disappoint Game tomorrow.  Time to get off the schneid guys.

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Just Need One More Tomorrow

My wishful thinking may actually come true. With a win tomorrow the Mets would finish a 14-game stretch against Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Atlanta at 9-5, thus returning them to .500 overall.

But in an effort to not get too ahead of myself I’ll just highlight upon a couple of things from today’s win.

• This is Chris Capuano’s second straight excellent start. He’s been inconsistent this year but hopefully he is turning a corner. If Capuano and Pelfrey can keep the team in games it would do wonders with Gee, Niese and Dickey pitching really well.
• Jose Reyes continues to lead the world in hitting (.346) with another 3 for 5 day. The “Don’t Trade Jose” craze/cult is going to intensify with each home game I imagine.
• Beltran has now driven in 39 runs on the year, putting him on pace to drive in just shy of 100. That makes Jason happy.
• Speaking of Jason, he was spot on in mentioning that Angel Pagan’s resurgence and the Mets recent success is no coincidence. He had another two hits today.
• Jason Bay had a hit and an RBI. Baby steps.

Don’t Forget About Pagan

Five days ago I made the following statement:

“It’s official.  Dillon Gee is my new favorite pitcher on the New York Mets.” -Me

So who’s with me after tonight’s start?  Eight innings, one run, and more importantly, NO WALKS.  Gee is now 7-0 with a 3.05 ERA and probably doesn’t have to pay for a meal in New York for quite some time.

What a top-notch way to begin a series.

Along with Jose Reyes’ continuation of owning opposing pitchers, plenty of people will laud Lucas Duda’s performance in his first game back.  Deservedly so.  He was able to drive in 20 % of Jason Bay’s total RBIs in just one game.

At this rate, Duda will catch up with Bay in four more games.  Sorry I had to go Rain Man on you there.

Many others will also be singing the praises of Justin Turner, who yet again came up with a huge hit for the Amazin’s.

Let us not forget about Angel Pagan my friends.  It is no small coincidence that the Mets have been playing a better brand of baseball while Angel is warming up.  He is hitting .350 in his last ten games.

This squad may not thrill the ladies with the long ball but they’ll certainly slowly bleed an opponent to death with bunches of singles.  You know what?  I don’t have a problem with it either.

I’m not the only one either.  Check out what #17 had to say tonight during the game:

“You don’t need a lot of power in your lineup to score runs.  Baseball got away from that.”- Keith Hernandez

The current offense is much like an annoying little brother that keeps poking you repeatedly with his index finger until you acknowledge his presence.  He’s too tiny to deliver a massive upper cut that will knock you out cold so you’re not worried about him initially.   However, he does have the ability to annoy the absolute shit out of you.

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The Mets Don’t Suck. The Astros Do.

After watching this series I think it is fair to say we have learned one simple, irrefutable fact.  The Mets don’t suck.

I’m sure that many are clambering to disagree right now.  Before you send me e-mails filled with personal insults and threats of physical violence, let me make a  few points that are chock full of logic.

The Mets are two games below .500 which means they are two games below being an average team.  Two games below average does not equal sucking.

A team that sucks does not win three straight series (two of which on the road).  Nor does it go 7-3 in its last ten games finding itself 4.5 games back in the Wild Card standings.

The Astros, on the other hand, suck.  At least they did in this series.  They played absolutely horrible defense and at times seemed like they had much better things to do (see the Mets theft of home Little League style in the fifth inning today).

I know average isn’t exactly something to write home about, and I’m not saying I find it to be an acceptable stopping point.  It is however, not a horrible  spot to be in considering the financial and roster challenges the Mets organization currently faces.

When you stop and think about it, 19-21 is actually amazing in a way.  After all,

• Johan Santana has not pitched a single inning this season.
• David Wright and Jason Bay are hitting .226 and .216 respectively.
• Angel Pagan has been non-existent (literally).
• R.A. Dickey still has yet to find his knuckle ball.
• Willie Harris and Scott Hairston, two players that were signed to create a solid bench,  have been absolutely dreadful
• Chris Young is out for the season after only pitching 24 innings.
• Along with Pagan, Pedro Beato, Ike Davis, and Bobby Parnell are all currently on the DL.

Frankly, I  believe we should be happy with where the Mets stand with regard to their record.  It says something about the moxie of this team to be able to win of late.

Don’t mistake this as settling.  As long as I feel the Mets are working towards becoming a franchise that will be perennial contenders, I am going to be content.  Eventually, continued improvement will result in the Mets obtaining that goal.

So for those fans that fill up comment sections about how bad the Mets suck every time they lose, grow up.  Realize that in the real world, building a succesful organization from top to bottom takes more than two weeks.

In the meantime, try to enjoy the 2011 Mets as much as possible.  They could have mailed it in a long time ago.  Hell, imagine what could happen if the Mets hang around and they get some guys back, or Wright and Bay start hitting.