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.

Frank Franc’s Back

I like chickens.

I don’t really have any mind blowing insight on this development.

Just wanted to be hospitable.

If I was forced to write something about the return of F Squared I would say it’s probably a good thing for Bobby Parnell.  Clearly Bobby P. isn’t a closer.  His plateau has been reached as a setup man, which ain’t half bad compared to a lot of pitchers in the league.

Harvey’s Mental Game

Over the last few weeks there has been much debate about whether or not Matt Harvey is ready for the big leagues.  Tonight we get to find out.

I have to admit I’m concerned.  In my mind I had Harvey and Wheeler starting off the 2013 season in the rotation, having all of 2012 in the minors to fine tune their game.  I’m not going to flat-out say it is the wrong decision to hand Harvey the ball tonight.  Let’s face it, something’s got to change and maybe he’ll give this squad a boost.

In many ways, baseball is a numbers game.  My problem is I am way too lazy to analyze stats to come up with an opinion about a player’s readiness.  Particularly in the pitching area.

Instead, I focus on their confidence because on many occasions it is very easy to decipher.  All you have to do is look at a guy’s face or pay attention to his body language.

Read the following names of Mets’ pitchers and picture the look on their face when they were on the mound only.  Forget everything you know about them.  Forget about how many games they have won, their career ERA, how fast they throw, how tall they are, or how nasty their breaking pitches are.  Focus on only how they carry themselves.

Mike Pelfrey, Aaron Heilman, Frank Francisco, Manny Acosta, Armando Benitez, Jeremy Heffner, Chris Schwinden, Bobby Parnell

This group doesn’t exactly ooze machismo does it?

Now try the same exercise with the following list.

Tom Seaver, Billy Wagner, Dwight Gooden (first few years before the coke completely took over), R.A. Dickey, Johan Santana, David Cone, John Franco

You feel a little more confident in their ability to get a guy out don’t you?  Or better yet, their ability to pitch out of a jam.

Can a pitcher’s outward confidence change?  Sure.  But I argue it’s rare.

Tonight, pay attention to how Harvey reacts when someone drills one of his pitches, or when he doesn’t get a call.  It’s all about the mental game.  Right now, I’m not sure even his own catcher knows. Check out this quote from Rob Johnson

“I think mentally he’s strong enough to be there. It’s just going to be a matter of if he can compose his emotions.”

Maybe I’m being nit picky here but isn’t composing your emotions part of being mentally strong?  In my book it’s the most important thing.

The cool thing about all of this is we’ll start to figure it out with Matt Harvey tonight.

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.