We’re Still Watching

At the beginning of the season, April 4th to be exact, I shared something with you that is contrary to what most bloggers believe:

“A message to new readers of this blog:

I am not a believer of forcing the issue,  in terms of providing content for this blog that is.  I do enjoy the stolen base and the squeeze bunt however.

Although I have been writing quite frequently lately, there will be times when that is not the case.  You see, I believe in quality not quantity.  The quality part is a matter of debate for some of you I’m sure.

There are a number of great Mets Blogs out in the blogosphere which helps makes this team fun to follow.  There are also a number of them out there that aren’t so great.  One reason for this, in my humble opinion, is some people tend to force the issue and post content just for the sake of posting content.”- Me

I share this because I wanted to let you know that we’re still here, and still watching.  There hasn’t been much that has inspired us to write.  New developments and interesting subject matter have been hard to come by.

There are three reasons for this:

1. The Mets are not in playoff contention and haven’t been for quite some time.
2. The trading deadline has come and gone.
3. Due to injuries, we are quite familiar with the Mets’ young talent.  In reality, their September call-ups found themselves on the MLB roster in April and June.

Just like you, we are keeping a close eye on the following situations :

• The Jose Batting Title Chase:  I am a bit surprised that this hasn’t received more attention.  After all, the Mets have never had a batting champion.  I realize it may be counter productive, but I am pulling for Jose.  I don’t care that it adds value to his side of the negotiating table.  I want it to happen.
• Is Lucas Duda A Full Time Solution In The Outfield?
• The Bench Mix:  Tejada, Murhpy, and Turner have all played well this season.  Now Nick Evans is showing his stuff for his homies as well.
• Pitching Woes:  The weak link that needs the most attention on this team.  Who stays?  Who goes?

I guess we could share our thoughts on the topics above each day.  The problem with that is, I for one, am taking this time to observe.  I haven’t made up my mind on what I think should happen and I want to play the season out before I start weighing in.

So never fear friends, we haven’t left you.  As exciting as Scott Hairston’s strained oblique is, it doesn’t make the cut.  Once things get a little more juicy, you’ll hear from us more frequently.

Until then, stay thirsty my friends.

Mets Dealt Knockout Blow For 2011 Season

Stupid Atlanta Braves.

I feel like I’ve said that once or twice before in my lifetime….

1. They are going to force me to talk about injuries even though I just got done telling you about my new aversion to doing so.
2. They ruined *Jason’s Game Of The Week.
3. The stupid, dumb, Braves dealt the Mets their 2011 knockout blow by way of a Larry Jones go ahead RBI single in the ninth inning.

*Jason’s Game Of The Week or JGOTW is the rare occasion in which I can actually sit down and watch the Mets from start to finish.  Normally, my schedule dictates that I watch four or five innings and then go back later to watch what I’ve missed. 

Due to the pure specialness JGOTW represents, I hook up my laptop to my flat screen TV and force my family to watch with me.  This typically results in them finding other things to do, periodically checking in on me as I direct various loud noises at the television.

Stiff Hammy And Murph’s Unluckiness

I am not going to even begin to speculate about how severe Jose Reyes’ latest bout of hamstringitis is.  No need for the torment at this point in time.  It sucks. I’ll just leave it at that.

The only silver lining I can see in this situation is that this could conceivably bring his market value down if it results in more time on the DL.  Not exactly something I am doing cartwheels over right now.

The Mets are not wasting any time and are sending him to get an MRI later today, providing me with more evidence of the belief in which shared yesterday,

“If you look at the 2011 season, one thing is for certain, the Mets have managed their injuries in a prudent and reasonable manner.”- Me

As far as Murph’s knee goes, all I can say is how unlucky can a guy be?  He busts his ass to work through injuries, takes advantage of opportunity by blistering the ball all over the field this season, and then blows out his knee because some punk kid named George Costanza doesn’t know how to slide into second base.

At first I wanted to believe it was a dirty play.  However, upon further review (which consisted of the very first replay), Costanza is lucky he didn’t break his ankle.  He slid directly into the base at full speed.  If he had been trying to spike Murphy, his front foot would have been air born, not digging into the bag.

No Way This Team Can Rebound From This

I’m not saying that I am going to stop watching the 2011 Mets.  This team fought the Braves hard this series and I firmly believe we have some more entertaining baseball to watch.  Hell, David Wright was playing shortstop at the end of the game today.  That was certainly interesting.

I just feel like this series was the knockout blow to any slim hope of post season play, if you are inclined to look for one in a 162 game season.  Mathematically speaking the Mets have to gain nine games on the Stupid, Dumb, Braves in 49 chances.

If I’m wrong, it is going to be one hell of a ride.

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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.

The First Step Is Admitting You Have A Problem

“But I’ve got to run with my head up.  I can’t get doubled off right there. I was going. With one out I thought we were going to try to send him. I figured either he cuts it and we get the run, or he lets it through and Jose and I both end up in scoring position. I got too far off the bag. Niese stopped, which probably wasn’t a bad play, because it looked like a good throw. I got doubled off. And that wasn’t a very good play.” -Daniel Murphy

Daniel Murphy has a problem.  And that problem is over aggressive base running.

We’ve talked about a time or two here at midwestropolitan.com.  The good news is that he is aware of the problem (based on the comment above).  Over time we can hope that he will work to fix this issue and it will be a thing of the past.

Reading Between The Lines

Terry Collins had this to say about Murph’s latest base running blunder,

“Miscommunication.  We thought Jon was going to try to go to home.”

Don’t let this fool you my friends.  The responsibility for the double play falls directly on Murph’s shoulders.  He has to notice Jose stopping more quickly, plain and simple.  If this weren’t the case, you would see double plays like this more frequently.

I have a feeling Terry Collins let Daniel Murphy know this shit has to stop.  He’s just not going to air it out in the media.  A quality that I respect about the Mets’ current skipper. I find this to be an interesting challenge managers face.  You know this type of play has to eat at Collins.  Yet, he has to go out and defend his player to the media knowing Murph blew this one.

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Muprhy’s Aggresiveness & Passed Balls

It sounded like the Mets played a solid game last night.  I say sounded because I was blacked out due to the fact that I live two and a half hours from Cincy.   So a couple quick observations from my experience listening to the WFAN crew and going back later to watch some of the crucial plays.

Roger Ramjet

Daniel Murphy’s unnecessary aggressiveness has been documented in the past here at Midwestropolitan.com.  I figured I’d share a couple of other points of view about Murph’s propensity to make mistakes trying to force the issue.  Last night he killed the Met’s first scoring chance in the second inning trying to advance to third on a bouncer to the pitcher.  It was a play that Jose Reyes would have been thrown out on.

Keith Hernandez shared with the SNY viewers that he calls Muprh “Roger Ramjet”.  Sounds like a horribly cheesy cartoon character to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I know Murphy helps the team way more than he hurts it.  Last night was no exception, as he came up with the biggest hit of the game.  I imagine that in time he will learn how to hone his aggressiveness to use only for good.

Two Fun Little Tidbits

The Mets have scored 191 runs with two outs.  That leads the National League.

Josh Thole allowed his 14th passed ball of the season.  Honestly, that is pretty awful.  I realize he has to catch R.A. Dickey which is no small task, but 14 passed balls is excessive.

Thole can breath a sigh of relief as he has a way to go to catch the passed ball king.  Rudy Kemmler allowed 114 passed balls in the 1883 season.  In Kemmler’s defense, it wasn’t the norm to use a glove until the middle of the 1890’s.

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Series Loss Is A Microcosom of 2011 Season

As I sat pondering how much closer the Mets are to becoming sellers at the trading deadline,  a thought occurred to me.  If someone asked me to sum up the Mets season, I would tell them to watch this series.

Hear me out.

1.  I’ll start off on a positive note:  The Mets have shown some resiliency this season.  After a rough first game, they absolutely embarrassed Cole Hamels, coming up with after hit and scoring a bunch of runs with two outs in yesterday’s game.

Hell, they even caused me to raise my eye brow for a split second in the eighth inning of today’s drubbing.

2.  They have had to adjust due to a plethora of missed games by their star players.  In this series, Terry Collins was forced to replace Carlos Beltran for two of the three games due to the flu.

3.  At times, the Mets have made average pitchers look like Nolan Ryan.  Kyle Kendrick?  Kyle Effing Kendrick goes seven deep only giving up one run today?

Even TBS’ Dennis Eckersley couldn’t believe it.  I don’t know how many times he commented on how Kendrick didn’t have an out pitch and that he was very hitable.

In the middle of the game I messaged Tom stating, Dennis Eckersly should just get it over with and say: “How the fuck are the Mets not hitting this guy? He sucks ass!”

Even I could hit Kyle Kendrick

4.  At times, the Mets starting pitching has been lights out.  Thank you Jon Niese.  Not so much Mike Pelfrey.

5.  The young players that have had to step up have played well for the most part.  Daniel Murphy was a monster in this series going 7 for 12 at the plate.  I realize he was not a call up, but at the beginning of the season Murph was supposed to be the utility guy, not the cleanup hitter.

6.  The Mets have been atrocious at home.  With the exception of game two, there was much atrocity on display in this home series loss.

There’s more, but I’ll let you play, so feel free to add your examples in the comment section.

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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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All Things Considered…..

It has been fun to watch this current group scratch and claw for every win.  But its games like these that make me miss Ike Davis and David Wright.  You see, power in your lineup affords you more room to make mistakes.

As I have said before this current lineup has to be practically perfect to win, especially in close games.  Giving up potential runs because of idiotic base running blunders doesn’t exactly help the cause.

It’s difficult for this team to make one critical base running mistake.  Tonight’s contest showcased two base running errors.

In the top of the fifth Daniel Murphy’s aggressiveness got the best of him as he tried to break to third early on a bunt attempt by Mike Pelfrey.  The only problem was that Pelfrey missed and Pirates catcher Michael McKenry fired a dart down to second to pick off Murph after an awkward rundown.

The second gaffe that we were treated to was yet another sacrifice fly double play brought to us by Lucas Duda.  In Duda’s defense, there was some question as to whether or not Jose Reyes’ liner to left field had hit the ground.  At any rate, Duda was doubled off of first and the Mets found themselves without a tying runner on base.

All things considered, I am still in a pretty positive state of mind regarding the Mets.  Big Pelf threw his second consecutive quality start, they continue to give themselves a chance in every game they play, and they are still only 5.5 games behind in the Wild Card Chase.

National League
	W	L	GB	Left
Milwaukee Brewers	38	29	—	95
Atlanta Braves	38	29	—	95
St. Louis Cardinals	38	29	—	95
Arizona Diamondbacks	36	30	1.5	96
Cincinnati Reds	34	33	4.0	95
Florida Marlins	32	32	4.5	98
Pittsburgh Pirates	32	33	5.0	97
New York Mets	32	34	5.5	96
Colorado Rockies	31	34	6.0	97
Los Angeles Dodgers	31	36	7.0	95
Washington Nationals	30	36	7.5	96
San Diego Padres	29	38	9.0	95
Chicago Cubs	26	39	11.0	97
Houston Astros	25	42	13.0	9

 

Perfecting Teams To Death

During last night’s post game press conference, Terry Collins was a little animated.  Which was good to see in my mind.  During the press conference he made the following statement,

““I sit up every night to try to figure out what can we do to get us over the top. I don’t have the answers.”- Terry Collins

Well, thankfully for Terry, I’m a giver so I’m going ot help him out.  It’s pretty easy really.

Taking into consideration the current makeup of the Mets lineup, even with Jose Reyes back, the Mets need to perfect teams to death.  They can’t walk anyone, can’t make any errors, must execute pitches, and they need to make the right decision with the baseball every time.

Seriously.

The New York Mets basically need to be the tennis player that hangs around the baseline all match long returning everything but never rushes the net, therefore forcing the opposing player to beat themselves.  Can you tell I watched a little French Open while on the treadmill this morning?

I realize this isn’t the most exciting style of play.  Per my norm, I’m being realistic here.  We’re not going to see many three run blasts or six run innings out of this offense for a while.  So slow rolling teams every night is the recipe for success.  And it’s certainly a tall order.

One of the cool things about Terry Collins is he understands this and he isn’t about to make any excuses, regardless of the cards he is dealt or how difficult the challenge may be.

Daniel Murphy

A quick observation about Daniel Murphy….

Obviously, he his waving around a hot stick at the plate.  He’s certainly living up to the hype in that regard.

Defensively, he is still a work in progress.  One thing I like about him is that he is ultra aggressive.  Almost to a fault really.

Take the seventh inning for example.  He ranged so far over to his right to cut off the McCutchen infield hit that it created an odd angle for the pitcher (according to Ron Darling).  I wonder what happens if he stays home like most other first baseman on that play if McCutchen doesn’t beat it out anyway.

My point being here, is that Murph reminds me of the kid in gym class during volleyball that runs all over the court trying to get every ball.  Many times he is successful at getting the ball back to the other side.  However, there are times when the other team returns the ball right to the spot that he vacated.

In Summary

If you are scoring at home, that is one tennis and one elementary school gym class analogy in this post.  You don’t see that every day.

Why Now?

An essential part of being a Met fan is the transition between “We could win this.” to “Ugh.  There it is.”

Last night’s game provided a prime example.  The Mets kept things close, fought back, created some electricity at Citi, but eventually came up short.

Francisco Rodriguez had not given up a run in something like six weeks.  He has certainly been one of the few bright spots of the 2011 season.

So what happens?  He blows up in big fashion.  He waits until a Friday night against the Phillies and implodes by giving up hit after hit.

Granted, Daniel Murphy did not help matters with his lack of glove work.  Let’s be honest, most Met blow ups involve multiple team members.

These types of occurrences always leave me scratching my head asking myself, “Why now?”.

You would think I would learn by now.  I guess that’s why I am still a fan.  Deep down inside the “Mets could win this.” guy is still there.