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.

Shrewd Move Not Needed

Joel Sherman from the New York Post is advocating that the Mets trade David Wright, R.A. Dickey, and even Jon Niese for 8-10 prospects to fix overall depth issues in the organization.

Although Joel’s thought process isn’t completely bananas, I don’t think it’s the road to take.  While I agree there are some glaring holes in the outfield that don’t appear to have a real solution inside the organization, they have demonstrated some potential depth in the most important area of all, starting pitching.

Side Note:  Can someone explain to me why Corey Vaughn is still in single A?  I get he hasn’t hit for average, but he is 25, has shown a good deal of power, and Wally Backman seems to have a liking for him.

Matt Harvey has proven he will be a critical member of the Mets starting five next year.  It is reasonable to believe we could see Zach Wheeler mid-season next year after a solid first season in the Mets organization. I believe Collin McHugh has the right mental game and can locate his curveball extremely well to be an intriguing option as well.

Combine these guys with R.A. Dickey, who needs to be extended, and Jon Niese, who received a fair but very reasonable extension this year, and you have a pretty solid assortment of options for the starting rotation.

I purposefully left out Johan Santana from that group because I refuse to hold any hope that he will return to his dominant self or even a top of the rotation starter at this point in his career.

Do you remember a guy named Dillon Gee?  He may not be a front of the rotation guy, but he can be a very nice five-spot or long man.  Jeremy Heffner has also emerged as a pitcher that also can fill that role.

Throw in Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia as options to keep in mind or potential bullpen help.

While I’m at it, I’ll throw in a dark horse.  There is a guy by the name of Mark Cohoon that pitched extremely well in Binghamton this season, 146.2 innings pitched with a 3.46 ERA.  Keep an eye on him.  I’m not necessarily making any bold predictions because he did get promoted to Buffalo and was shelled in his first two starts.  The idea here is there may be a guy out there like a Collin McHugh that becomes an option that no one was even thinking about.

My last point, and this may very well be the most important, many people tend to forget the Wilpons got off a whole helluva lot easier from the Madoff Mess than we all originally thought.  While long gone are the days of having one of the highest payrolls in baseball, I can see them loosening the purse strings a bit more to allow the Mets to make long-term investments on guys in the future.  Guys like David Wright and R.A. Dickey.

At this point in time it is reasonable to expect a 85 win team next year, and to compete in 2014 for a playoff spot.

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.

Electronic Pat On The Back

Do you think Dickey is saying “Thanks” fellas?

I fancy myself as a level-headed, realistic Met Fan.  Much of this is my personality, some of it is based on the fact that I grew up in the Middle, where we are a tad bit more laid back than my east coast brethren who have a tendency to be high-strung.

Having said that, I have to congratulate you easily excitable east coasters.  After last night’s game, I expected you to be all over David Wright for “blowing” R.A. Dickey’s no-hitter as well as Nickeas for the two past balls that ruined his shutout.  After reading over the comments left on the bithcin’ internet I was surprised that this was not the fact.

Accept this post as an electronic pat on the back, atta boy, job well done etc.

The debate I stumbled across that had the most volume was whether or not the Mets should appeal the ruling of Wright’s bare-handed attempt in the first inning.  This question seemed to bring out the touchiness I have become accustomed to reading.

For the record, it was the right call for the Mets to appeal the call.  Not because it was a clear hit, simply because they should to show support for their 10-1 knuckleballer who is mowing down the opposition.

Also for the record, it was a hit.

1. Upton had more than a good chance of beating that out even if Wright fielded the ball cleanly.
2. The ball hit the lip of the infield “grass” on the last bounce placing it in the ole’ “tough hop, bad bounce” hit category.

One more thing before I let you go.  I am becoming leery of David’s fielding of late.  He is starting to revert back to his 2011 form of sailing his throws which were pleasantly absent at the beginning of this season.

Wright’s Wrun Down

What’s up with the doubting of David Wright’s intentions this morning? I’ve read multiple authors doubting Terry Collins and David Wright’s statements that his run down in the seventh was a heady play.

If you missed the game last night #5 roped a single to right with runners on first and third and two out in the top of the seventh inning.  Andres Torres scored bringing the Mets within one run of the lead.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis went to third as the right fielder had to a run a bit to cut the ball down.  David Wright never really stopped and headed to second as the throw went to the catcher who promptly threw it to second hanging up Wright. The Phillies executed the run down poorly ending the debacle with an errant throw trying to pick off Nieuwenhuis going back to third which allowed him to score the tying run.

That’s wordy as hell so I suggest you watch the video here:

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=21265781&c_id=nym.

If WordPress were cooler or I wasn’t such a cheap skate, I would be able to embed the video so you wouldn’t have to leave the page.  Such is life.

There are thousands of little league teams that try the very same play on a regular basis.

I’m not sure it was the best idea in the world due to the fact it hardly ever works against MLB players, but it is believable that he did it on purpose. Whether Kirk Nieuwenhuis had touched 3rd base before Wright left for 2nd base is irrelevant on that play.

Me thinks those in the media that don’t believe that D. Wright may have done this on purpose have never picked up a bat or participated in a run down before.

And Now Deep Game 2 Thoughts

Some random observations that crossed the pea sized object inside my skull during game 2:

• Too bad I missed D. Wright’s bomb, but my chicken parm was worth it.  Besides, there will be more (optimistic font).
• Thole is swingin’ it.
• Dude.
• Pradio’s homer doesn’t exactly make Warthen look like a genius.  Nice visit.
• I don’t want to mow my lawn.
• Ike needs to chill the f$%# out.  As annoying as the outside corner strike has been, it has been called all game.  Bitching out the ump will only hurt his cause.  Especially if he gets a reputation as being a whiner.  We all know he is bad ass, but unfortunately the rest of the league and especially the umps still need some more proof before he gets that call.
• Bobby’s strikeout pitch to Michael Bourn was filthy.  Man I hope he has this figured out for the long haul.
• A beer sounds nice about now.
• Dude squared.
• Keith calling out Juan Francisco for wearing his hat “half cock-eyed” was hilarious.

“Come on, look like a ballplayer.” -Keith Hernandez

• Jon Rauch is tall.  Shouldn’t he be throwing the ball 137mph?  I hope he doesn’t read this.
• Two saves in a row, Mr. Francisco.  Nice.
• It sure feels nice to start the season off with a series win against the Braves.
• Sweep?

And Now Deep Game 1 Thoughts

Some random observations that crossed the pea sized object inside my skull during game 1:

• The pre-game ceremony remembering Gary Carter was classy.  Well done Mets brass.
• Ah, Johan is back.  I really wish SNY would remove the pitch count graphic when he pitches.  I find myself somewhat consumed by projecting out how many innings he’ll go.  I hate that.
• Daniel Murphy can still hit.  Sweet.
• I find it ironic that the player we traded Angel Pagan for in the off-season gets picked off at first base in the season opener.  Aren’t 34-year-old veteran lead off men supposed to keep base running errors to a minimum?
• The “no shit” statement of the game:

“And that’s not what he wanted to do there.”-Keith Hernandez in the 5th inning after Johan walked the 8 & 9 hitters (the 9th hitter being the opposing pitcher).

• Johan is the only pitcher I have confidence in getting out of that situation.  Well done El Gocho.
• Who schedules a staff meeting in the middle of the Mets’ opening day?
• Cool, still zero zero  “Who’s winning?  The Bears.”  Didn’t miss anything.
• David Wright with a clutch hit.  Man it would be sweet if he has a monster year.  This is certainly a decent start.
• Jason Bay got on base.  That’s nice.
• Duda & Ike a combined 0 for 8 with 4 Ks.  Ouch.  It’s only one game though.  No biggie.
• Diggin’ the 1-2-3 save by Francisco.  Dramatic, nail-biting, saves are over rated.
• Nice win.  Enjoyed it.  Mets are STILL in 1st place.

Well, Here We Are

The purpose of this post is not to drop mind-blowing insight or tinkle in your pants it’s so funny humor per the norm.  To be completely honest, it is solely to document my thoughts heading into the beginning of the 2012 season.  My apologies to those of you that came here to have your minds blown or to tinkle in your pants.

Let it be known that on the eve of Opening Day, I feel pretty calm.  I am excited that baseball is upon us, but I have absolutely no irrational beliefs that the Mets will finish better than fourth place in their division this season.

The cool thing about this is that anything better will be a sign of over achievement which takes a lot of angst out of the equation.  Low expectations equal low stress.

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.  With that in mind, here are some things I feel could happen this year:

• Ruben Tejada will play a solid, consistent shortstop defensively, and hit .270.
• 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.
• Lucas Duda and Ike Davis will both blast 20 plus homers, maybe even 30 plus.
• 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.
• Johan Santana will remain relatively healthy and pick up 12 wins.
• 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?
• Mike Pelfrey will have his last season as a starter as a New York Met.
• 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.
• The Mets will still be looking for a true closer, even though Bobby Parnell will have a better showing this season.
• 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.
• 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.

Some Quick Game Notes

I’m tired so here’s some quick hits…

• Dillon Gee’s performance tonight snapped a streak of 36 games in which Mets’ starter’s gave up two or more runs.  Out of all of the stats I’ve seen recently, this one illustrates the point I have been making about how average the rotation is collectively this year.
• Ron Darling’s annoyance at how much the Padres’ bullpen slowed the game down was amusing.

“These relief pitcher’s have put a parachute on this game.  Thatcher has faked to second four times this inning…”-Ron Darling

• Even though he had only one hit, David Wright had a huge impact on this game.  His three run blast is obvious, but I really enjoyed his fake throw to first to fool Maybin for an out in the bottom of the frame.  Don’t forget, this happened after his diving stop prevented Maybin from scoring in the first place.
• Chalk up two more runs allowed by Igarashi.  Seems like a nice dude, but I can’t say I’ll be too upset the day we see him leave the franchise permanently.  He is a run allowing machine.
• Jason Bay is Baying again (0 for his last 20)…
• No matter what the situation, a road series win is always a good thing.  Particularly at a park that the Mets have struggled in historically.