How Did I Do?

At the beginning of the season I shared a few things to look for during the 2012 season.  Let’s see how accurate I was.

….I have absolutely no irrational beliefs that the Mets will finish better than fourth place in their division this season.

My expectation for 2012 is to leisurely enjoy each game with the hopes that I begin to pick up on signs that the Mets will contend next year, or more realistically in 2014. 

Couldn’t be more spot on in terms of my beliefs on how the team would fare overall.  Fourth place it was.  I am glad I went back and re-read this though.  It reminded me that 2014 is a more realistic year for the Mets to compete.  Not sure I’ll have the patience to wait another year however.

Ruben Tejada will play a solid, consistent shortstop defensively, and hit .270.

Congrats to Ruben.  No one can argue he was a solid, consistent shortstop in 2012.  He exceeded my expectations with a .289 average.

Daniel Murphy will boast a plus .300 batting average but will struggle at second base.  However, it will still be a better showing than Luis Castillo’s efforts as a Met.

I’m man enough to admit that I was wrong on two out of three accounts here.  I handed myself a gimme with the Castillo measurement, but Murph did not quite make it to .300 as he finished with a .291 average.  I am cool with the fact that Murphy did not struggle at second base and even seemed to get more comfortable as the season went on.

Lucas Duda and Ike Davis will both blast 20 plus homers, maybe even 30 plus.

Thanks Ike.  Lucas, I will never forgive you for making me look like a fool.  You are dead to me.

David Wright will hit .280 and his strike outs will decrease, but will still rely on the submarine heaves across the diamond that will lead to a number of throwing errors.

Looks like I am once again batting .333 on this one.  Great if I was a hitter, not so great in terms of “predictions”.  I’m glad #5 had the bounce back season he did.

Johan Santana will remain relatively healthy and pick up 12 wins.

Not very close on this one.  Maybe in 2013?

Mr. Met will serve some jail time after beating Billy The Marlin’s ass after Billy insinuates that he has always been Jose Reyes’ favorite mascot. Who names a fish Billy anyway?

Fortunately for Mr. Met, the Marlins imploded this year causing Billy the Marlin to drink heavily.  An unidentified source tells me he has checked in to a very expensive rehab center to help him stop binging on Mojitos and Pina Coladas.

Mike Pelfrey will have his last season as a starter as a New York Met.

This wasn’t a stretch going into the season.  I’m not thrilled that this came to fruition due to injury.

Tim Byrdak will be effective for a second consecutive season, largely due to the fact that he graced the first ever cover of the Midwestropolitan.com Facebook page.

Well, he was effective before he got hurt.  You’re not going to hold the cover choice against me Tim, are you?

The Mets will still be looking for a true closer, even though Bobby Parnell will have a better showing this season.

Yup and yup.  The problem here is the Mets won’t spend a lot of cash for a proven closer so they will still be searching in 2013.  As much as I like typing his name, Franc Franc is clearly not the answer.

Andres Torres will be hurt much of the season.  After all, dude is 34 years old, that’s ancient for a lead off man playing CF.

He wasn’t hurt, but he was awful.  I was particularly disappointed in his base running.

I don’t even want to discuss Jason Bay.  I am just going to hope like heck he has a good season.  He sure seems like a swell guy and I’d hate to see him have another tough go of it.

Still don’t want to discuss J. Bay.  Still seems like a swell guy.

On to 2013 boys.

David Wright: Faithful Wife

It’s not what you said. It’s how you said it.

“I think that you want to experience winning. It’s in our nature — it’s in my nature — and that’s going to be definitely a big factor in it”.- David Wright

Yesterday I was talking to Tom and the subject of our sick little baseball team came up.  During our conversation I mentioned the fact that David Wright seems to be positioning himself for a potential departure.

Can you blame him?

My analogy is that he is the faithful wife that has been treated like shit by a douche bag of a husband.  I can literally picture him sobbing while saying, “I gave you the best years of my life and this is the thanks I get!”.

Too melodramatic?  I have eyewitnesses that can place me at work all day and NOT watching daytime television.  I swear.

The bottom line is that it is too early to worry about this issue.  If the off-season passes and the Mets do not extend him then you can worry if you want to see #5 past 2013.

Mets vs Phillies: Who Cares

Just posted this on the Facebook page:

“Mets and Phillies for the next three games. Honestly, who cares at this point from both teams’ perspective. The once electric rivalry is in hibernation thanks to suckiness and people getting old in Philly quickly.”

It’s pretty crazy to think about.  I think back to 2007 and remember thinking these two teams were going to be at each others throats for the next ten years.

Man what an idiot.  I was way off.

The Mets’ issues have been well documented by yours truly.  The lack of interest caused by the Mets’ demise has taken away the pure joy I surely would have felt watching the Phillies age before my very eyes like some horrible science fiction movie.

Thanks again guys.

Midwestropolitan West Coast Viewing Strategy

West Coast trips suck.  Although some would argue they are better than home stands.  Especially recently.

This current excursion has lead me to a reality.  I’m old.  I can’t stay up to watch these games.  Shit, I can’t even stay up to see the first pitch.

So what to do?  I’m not a cry in my beer type of guy, so I altered my approach.  For the last couple of days I have avoided any sport related media when I wake up.  I get to work and dig in to whatever tasks I have to do, fire up my MLB.Com subscription, and “watch” the game as my schedule allows.

I know what you’re thinking.  Must be nice to have a job where you can watch baseball for 3 or 4 hours.  It’s not quite that easy my friends.

Watching games in this manner consists of listening to Gary and Keith mostly. It is nice to pull up the video during a critical at bat. When I have to leave my office, I pause the game and come back.

Some may feel this means I’m not a “real” fan.  I respectfully disagree.  In my eyes, it makes me a more efficient fan.  I can fast forward through all of Jason Bay’s at bats.

What’s New?

Injuries, schminjuries.

I’m tired of reading about the progress of this injured Met or a setback for another injured Met.

I know injuries are a part of the game and accept that we have to deal with them every season.  I’m just flat out bored with them.

The law of averages says things will turn around for the Mets.  Maybe in 2012 we will deal with a few tight hammies and a dead arm or two.  You know, things that require a little R and R and not significant time on the DL.

One thing I find comical, are the comments I read from folks that want to blame the Mets training staff.  Stop the silliness Grumpy Gary.  A poor training staff does not create bone bruises or torn shoulder capsules.  So let’s stop pointing unnecessary fingers.  This isn’t 2009 or 2010.

If you look at the 2011 season, one thing is for certain, the Mets have managed their injuries in a prudent and reasonable manner.  Gone are the days of forcing switch hitting, franchise players to only hit from one side of the plate to “protect” an injury.  So we have that going for us, which is nice.

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