Embrace the Ace & Cowgill Caution

Originally posted on Metszilla.com

One of the positives of being a Mets fan is the fact that we follow a club that tends to do well on opening day.  After dropping their first six opening day games, the Mets have a franchise record of 34-18.  That’s pretty damn impressive when you consider some of the long stretches of futility this franchise has experienced.  When you stop and think about it, this is probably the least talked about reason for the cautious and sometimes pessimistic nature of Mets fans.

So what can we take from yesterday’s great start?  Jon Niese may have the right attitude to be an ace.  It is a small observation that certainly needs the test of time.  It is derived from the fact that he looked like he was going to take a swing at Terry Collins when he was initially informed that he wasn’t coming out for the top of the seventh inning.  Collins finally compromised and allowed him to face the first two batters of the inning.

Here’s my reaction when they took him out:

I’ve always been a fan of Jon, mainly because he is from Lima, Ohio.  The fact that he has been a solid lefty has helped too.  His display today took him up a notch.  I guess I should expect nothing less from a fellow Midwestropolitan.

Cowgill Caution

Let’s face it; we have been starved for favorites in the lineup over the last few seasons.  Colin Cowgill has definitely hit the ground running as a leading contender to join Captain Wright and Ike Davis.    All of the comparisons to Lenny Dykstra with regard to his play not his financial wisdom; have definitely thrown gasoline on the fire.  At this rate, I am going to be officially sick of the “more Cowgill” references by Wednesday.

I advise you to proceed with extreme caution.  There has to be a reason he has averaged 37 games a year at the major league level over his first two seasons.  Enjoy the show by all means.  However, wait and see how he combats the adjustments pitchers start to make before you anoint him the next superstar in orange and blue.

Produce Selection Techniques Of Colin McHugh

This is funny…

Mini Vacation

Just wanted to give you a heads up.  I’m heading on a mini-vacation for the next couple of days.  New content may be a little slow depending on access to free time and the bitchin’ internet.

Hopefully, the Mets will figure out how to win at home while I’m gone.

Kershaw Is Sunshine From Remember The Titans

Currently watching Clayton Kershaw own the Mets, with help from home plate umpire Greg Gibson.

It is especially annoying getting owned by a guy that looks like Sunshine from Remember The Titans.

Clayton, is that you?

 

Technical Difficulties

We are aware that the header for the website looks lame as hell.  Lives have been threatened in order to correct the header back to its original state of awesomeness.

We believe this to be some sort of communist plot to unhinge the American way of life.  Don’t fall victim to it.

Update 11:23pm:

Tom has successfully hacked into the commy bastards’ server and created a work around to hijack our header back.  If you see future errors with the header you will know that the battle still wages on.  Not to worry my fellow Americans (and friends of America), we won’t stop until the war has been won.  Good night, and God bless America.

Dollar Beer Night (Thirsty Thursday)

*This post has nothing to do with the Mets*

Why is minor league baseball so awesome? Because it cost my girlfriend and I a grand total of $20 to go to sit in the first row of a Triple-A game, down 8 beers, meet the General Manager of the ballclub, and heckle the shit out of some players.

The Tucson Padres are the AAA affiliate of the San Diego Padres (no shit?). My girlfriend is in a sports marketing class, so she got extra credit for essentially going to a baseball game and getting drunk. As if that’s not cool enough by itself, the GM of the ballclub spoke to us and a bunch of other students, which was intriguing but not really the main part of this story.

The best part about minor league baseball is in the interaction between fan and player, fan and coach. In the 6th inning we moved from a few rows up in the general admission area (which goes first base towards the outfield) down to the first row so we could heckle. By that time everyone was pretty smashed, or they used the dollar beer night as an excuse to act like an asshole.

Either way, the first few rows had an immensely entertaining dialogue with the opposing team’s first baseman and the home team’s first base coach. Both had let’s say, hair that looked a little better than ‘I just got out of bed.’ Our section was determined to find out whether or not they used the same hair product, saw the same hair stylist and so on. A few of the girls behind us asked if the first base coach was married (thumbs up or thumbs down) and we guessed his age. I think the guys in the uniforms had as much fun as we did.

But the funniest part of all was when the opposing team’s first baseman came to bat. By this time we had learned a bit about him and adopted him as a road team hero, in a sort of mocking way. Thus, the entire section stood up, gave him a standing ovation and began chanting his name. He must have been motivated because he went 2-2 during the time period in which we treated him like Pujols.

Anyhow, at the end of the night I caught the attention of one of the opposing team’s pitchers and said, “Hey #27, #6 is being a dick and won’t give us a ball.” So, he smiled and laughed and told me to wait by putting his finger in the air as if to say, “one sec.” As soon as the game ended he tossed one my way and I gave it to the lady, of course. We later learned that he’s a pretty damn good pitcher. It goes without saying he was incredibly nice.

So, the point of the story? Beer is good. The other point is that sometimes fans forget that baseball players can be funny as hell. They put up with a lot of crap from fans, especially in an environment like a minor league park where everything can be heard. It put us all in a good mood that they were friendly and responsive even after probably more than an hour of ridiculous running commentary. These guys have more important things to worry about so it’s refreshing to see them get a kick out of the fans during a ballgame.

Because Why Not? Realignment

My buddy Ben sent me a radical idea with regards to MLB realignment. Though he and I both know it’s not realistic, why not share it for the hell of it? It’s sort of a combination of the NBA, NHL, NFL and College World Series formats. What’s cool about it is that Ben’s idea makes sense geographically and puts together natural rivalries by placing teams like the Cubs and White Sox in the same division.

On the other hand, baseball will never eliminate the American and National League, nor the DH (which doesn’t pertain to his idea as much as the other parts). Also, a division that features the Mets, Red Sox, Phillies and Yankees is a little bit absurd in terms of how powerful those teams can all be.

Eastern Conference

Atlantic
Mets
Red Sox
Phillies
Yankees
Orioles

Great Lakes
Nationals
Pirates
Blue Jays
Tigers
Indians

Southeast
Cardinals
Royals
Oklahoma City (Marlins)
Rays
Braves

Western Conference

Midwest
Cubs
White Sox
Twins
Brewers
Reds

Southwest
Texas
Houston
Colorado
Arizona
San Diego

Pacific
Mariners
Dodgers
Giants
Athletics
Angels

• NFL style playoffs (2 byes for top two seeds, homefield advantage for a three game mini-series for top seeds)
• 3 division winners and 3 wild cards
• No DH (if only)

Thanks for sharing, Ben. Anyone who wants to chime in with their ideas feel free to do so below.

Tom Predicts Mets Path, Lets Me Know About It

Everyone is all jazzed up about the potential return to .500 for the Mets.  One House Money Game win, and they are there. This team continues to fly below the radar and find ways to win.  It is fun to watch.

However, I am slightly cranky this morning because of this potential landmark.

My very talented and intelligent friend Tom shared a piece on May 29th pretty much laying out how the Mets could go 9-5 in their next 14 games finding themselves back to .500.  If the Mets win tonight, they will hit that 9-5 mark.

Pretty kick ass right?

There is a down side to this for me.  You see, while writing for Mets Gazette Tom and I participated in a friendly “recap pennant race”.  Basically, we took turns writing recaps for the Gazette and we tracked how well the Mets did for each of our recaps.

Every time he won he loved to let me know about it.  In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m pretty much a guy’s guy so a little shit talking is always welcomed.  No problem.

Well, it seems as if Tom has gone off the deep end with his latest success.  The minute the Mets won yesterday I knew I’d hear something from him, but he decided to bring it to a whole new level in the form of about 23 voice mails and 73 text messages letting me know he is the next Nostradamus.

I had the Midwestropolitan Research Staff transcribe a few of them for you for shits and giggles.

5:30pm EST:  “Dude, can you believe the Mets are one win away from going 9-5 just like I predicted?”

5:40 pm EST:  “I’m the shit.”

5:43 pm EST:  “Because I have predicted that the Mets would get back to .500 after this series in case you couldn’t put two and two together.”

5:44 pm EST:  “Tell Carlos I said hi.  And let him know that I am “winning”!”

6:15 pm EST:  “Chris and I are going to go celebrate my epic winningness.  Wine coolers and Long Island Ice Teas for everybody!”

*The Chris he is referring to is Mets pitcher Chris Young.  Ever since he sampled Tom’s upside down pineapple cake the two of have been inseparable.  Due to being placed on the DL for the year, they have been spending quite a bit of time together.

Tom used to be a beer drinker, but Chris is the one that introduced him to wine coolers and long island ice teas.  I’m pretty sure Tom is in the process of having his man card revoked.

9:30pm EST:  “Well on the road to being wasted.  I just had my third wine cooler in about three hours.  Chris just threw up in the Taco Bell drive through.  I told him he shouldn’t have had that second Long Island.”

9:45 pm EST:  “How come you’re not replying?  Probably pissed that I called these last 14 games.  I understand, it’s hard being around greatness for some people.”

10:30 pm EST:  “Shit.  Chris fell while we were playing pool.  I think he broke something.  Who gets injured playing pool?”

1:00 am EST:  “Just got back from the Emergency room.  Chris did break his leg.  He also tore a ligament in his other arm so he’ll have to have Tommy John surgery on that one too.”

1:10 am EST:  “Oh well.  At least I predicted the Mets would be .500 after these last 14 games.”

1:30 am EST:  “Just got out of the shower.  Thought you may have called.  Ever happen to you?  Call me and we’ll talk about it.”

And that ladies and gentlemen, is my friend Tom.

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Bunting Bucs?

As we all know, R.A. Dickey has a bum foot.  The whole world knows this including the Pittsburgh Pirates.

So my question is, how many bunts will we see tonight from the visiting Bucs?  I am putting the over/under of bunt for hits at two.  If it’s me managing the Pirates, I’m going to make Dickey prove to me he can field his position.  It’s not like they have a Murderer’s Row in terms of a lineup.

Hopefully the agility exercises that R.A. had to participate in were a bit more complicated than a few jumping jacks and some up-downs.

If There Is A Time

If there is a time to get healthy so to speak, the upcoming stretch of games would be exactly that. 8 of the next 14 ballgames the Mets play are against the Pirates (whose record really isn’t half bad, but it’s still the Pirates). The other six games consist of 3 at home vs. Atlanta and 3 on the road in Milwaukee.

I cringe as I present my optimistic scenario of finishing 9-5 over this stretch – a scenario which would return the Mets to .500 overall. In order for it to happen, I would say taking 3 of 4 vs. Pittsburgh twice, and splitting the six games against Milwaukee and Atlanta would be the way to do it.

That said, is it doable? Yeah, I think so. Do I expect it? No, not really. The team is just fractured and broken in just about every sense of the word. More importantly, the Mets are going to have to figure out a way to put together all of the components at once – pitch when they hit when they field, as opposed to just one or two.

I guess I just want to see some solid baseball and I’d rather be 5 or 6 games from a Wild Card than 10 or 11. False hope at least creates the illusion that games are more important than they are. Also, the more the team loses, the more we will all have to suffer through the Reyes and ownership drama. There’s some motivation to aspire for the mediocrity that is .500 baseball.