Posts Tagged ‘Terry Collins’

Posting For The Zilla

February 10, 2013

I’ve joined forces with Metszilla.  Here’s my first post:

 

Greetings Zilla readers.  I’m pretty tickled to be teaming up with Vinny, Jason, and the gang.   From time to time I’ll be sharing some unsolicited opinions from the corMidwestMets3a-smn fields of Indiana.

A little introductory information before I start.  Not so different than many of you, I have been a lifelong Mets fan.  However, when I was five my folks moved us over 700 miles away to the good ole’ Midwest, or as I occasionally refer to it, The Middle.  This creates some challenges in terms of being able to see the team live, but thanks to this bitchin’ thing called the internet, I get to consume every inning I can.  The bonus to living this far away is I am removed from the constant presence of the New York Media and its tendency to create news, rather than report it.

Enough jibber-jabber, it is time to kick things off.   I figured I would begin with a brief rundown of where I stand on a few Met related issues that have us all scratching our heads from time to time.

The 2013 Mets

I’m not one for making predictions, as I view upcoming seasons in terms of what can be realistically expected.  Success or the lack there of, always begins with starting pitching.  Much is said about the depth of the Mets starting pitching organizationally.  At times people confuse this with the strength of  the guys at the big league level.  The Mets’ starting five will be solid, not great.  Everything hinges on Johan Santana’s ability to be the ace, Matt Harvey to take the next step developmentally, Jon Niese to cement himself as a consistent two or three, and Zach Wheeler to provide a Harveyesque impact  at some point in 2013.

Combine this with the fact that there have not been any significant offensive improvements, and I think it’s reasonable to expect a third or fourth place finish while we keep our eyes on 2014 for the next playoff push.

The Wilpons

I’ll keep this brief as to avoid throwing up in my mouth a handful of times while I type this.  I truly believe the Wilpons want desperately to win.  They just can’t get out of their own way.  A few examples would be, the Madoff mess, a bizarre obsession with the Brooklyn Dodgers that Fred doesn’t seem to realize alienates Mets fans, and the many boneheaded comments that publically undermine players .

Spend Spend Spend

The “you have to spend to win” mentality that many of our brethren believe in is one of the more frustrating viewpoints I come across when perusing the bitchin’ internet.  If you truly look at things rationally, throwing money at problems is never a successful long term solution.  I’m not saying the Mets shouldn’t spend money in free agency.   It just needs to be done with a great deal of thought, rather than throwing money at the Bobby Bonillas, Jason Bays, and Olver Perezes of the world.

The Best Pizza In Muncie, Indiana

This is probably the most controversial opinion in this piece.  If you ask 100 Muncieites who has the best pizza in town, 90 of them will tell you Pizza King. Don’t fall for it.  It is glaringly obvious that Greek’s Pizza is a whole league above the king.  Just because a pizzeria has 723 locations in a five square mile radius, doesn’t mean the quality of the food is superior.

Sandy Alderson Is a Genius.

Ever since the creation of the catchy term, Moneyball, anyone associated with the Oakland Athletics in the last 13 years has been considered a genius, Mr. Alderson included.   Genius is a bit farfetched in my humble opinion.   Mr. Alderson possesses great skill in long term organizational planning.  More importantly, he has proven that he does not let the media or an impatient fan base dictate his decisions.  This is a quality I highly respect and feel is a requirement for a big league GM.  I also respect the fact that he has great patience with regard to what he wants to gain in a trade.  The result seems to be other general managers meeting the Mets’ asking price.

Sandy Alderson Is an Idiot

Read the preceding paragraph.

Playing The Game The Right Way

One thing I learned while suffering through the 90’s was it is impossible to win when you beat yourself.  The Braves of the 90’s and early 2000’s won with great starting pitching, solid defense, and never making critical mistakes.  And I mean NEVER.  When you step back and look at those teams, their lineup didn’t exactly make you piddle in your pants.

When Terry Collins came on board talking incessantly about playing the game the right way, I was on board in a big way.  He bamboozled me into believing that the Mets may get out hit or out pitched, but he would field a team that would never beat themselves.

Apparently, the players didn’t understand that meant avoiding critical errors and  playing lethargic baseball for entire months at a time.  At this point, I’d rather not here this talk, until I see it consistently backed up on the field.

Don’t get me wrong, I like TC.  He has clearly had to deal with a lack of talent during his tenure and has never publically cried about it.  It will be interesting to see what happens with him in the next couple of years as the Mets appear to be on the right track regarding improving their roster.

The New York Media

Last, and certainly least, let me share my opinion about the New York Media.  I grow weary of them easily and have realized that there are times when it is simply better to avoid their silliness.   I get it, their job is to cover the Mets and they have to produce.  The problem is, coverage is clearly in the over kill stage and there are many times when it is easy to see that they are creating news rather than reporting it.  The next “controversial” column you read concerning something a player said or did, try to focus on the context and the exact question they were prompted with.  The last example that comes to mind is the R.A. Dickey Christmas Party fiasco.  Here’s a guy that is lauded for his openness and then is attacked when he simply answers a question asked of him.  He probably should have seen it coming I guess.

That’s it for now.  Don’t worry; my posts will not typically be this long.  I normally tend to keep things simple and focus on one thing at a time.

Acostad

May 28, 2012

Let me preface this post by stating that I am satisfied with where the Mets are at this point. They’ve been a lot of fun to watch and are certainly a team that is easy to root for.

Let’s be frank, they are over achieving and if anyone tells you they knew they would be five games over .500 and only a handful of games out of first at this point you would be well within your right to call them a big fat liar.

Now on to one of the few players on the roster I could do with out.  Manny Acosta needs to go.  His 11.86 ERA speaks for itself.

For some reason, Terry Collins has made repeated attempts to give him a chance to show us that he can be relied on in somewhat critical points in ballgames.  Enough is enough TC.  The guy has never looked comfortable on the mound this year for whatever reason.  In fact, he looks downright scared at times.  You can see it all over his face.

Maybe the Mets are reluctant to give someone else a shot until Pedro Beato is ready.  Fine, I’m not ready to second guess Mr. Alderson at this point.  Mainly because I have always believed that selecting members to fill your bullpen is a lot like playing Russian Roulette.

But I’m practically begging you TC, please don’t give Manny the ball in a one run ballgame anymore.  I’m tired of getting Acostad.

What’s Up With Gee Lately?

August 13, 2011

Stubborn S.O.B.

I have a pretty simple philosophy when it comes to starting pitching.  Give me at least six innings, hold the opposing team to three runs or less, and don’t walk anyone.  I.E.,  give me a quality start.  Anything beyond that is gravy and I’ll be as giddy as a goose.

During the course of the season, I feel it is fair to say Dillon Gee has been my favorite Mets’ starter.  I don’t have a clear reason why.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been hoping he would get a shot in the rotation for a while.  Once he did, he took advantage.

Things haven’t been so peachy for my boy recently.  He hasn’t exactly met the criteria I provided above.

For you stat geeks out there, he has averaged 5.40 innings, 3.67 earned runs, and 2.67 walks over the course of his last three starts.  That’s a 1.42 W.H.I.P for my fellow über dorks.

So what’s wrong?

Permit me to read between the lines a bit here.  Terry Collins seems to think Dillon is being a stubborn S.O.B.,

“It goes to show what’s happening right now with Dillon.  He gets frustrated with something and, if he doesn’t make a good pitch, he gets away from things. He’s got to stick to what’s made him successful.”- Terry Collins

My assumption is this comment is based on the fact that after Justin Upton took Gee yard in the 1st inning, he didn’t throw another curveball for another 39 pitches.

Seems like a logical explanation for Gee’s struggles lately.  It doesn’t appear as if he’s hurting at this point.

So knock it off Dillon.  Don’t be so bull-headed already….sheesh.

If only it were that easy…

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Gauging Series Wins Versus Game Wins

April 3, 2011

Over the years I have developed a different perspective on how I gauge the Mets.  I use each series as a barometer.  Sweeps are rare, so I tend not to get too wrapped up in a single game.  Both positive and negative.

Take this series win against the Fish for example.  It would have been great to see the Mets win the season opener but I didn’t write them off for the entire 2011 season because they lost.  I was happy with the comeback win last night, but I didn’t go ape shit and claim the Mets are going to surprise everyone in 2011.  Today’s win earned a series victory due to solid pitching, patient hitting, and Marlin sloppiness.

Now I have small sample size to gauge how I feel about the Mets right now.  They pulled off a road series win against a divisional opponent.  That is an accomplishment.  Duplicating this result will bode well for the boys in blue and orange.

I’m not about to claim they are the team to beat in the National League yet, but I liked a few things that I saw.  They displayed patience at the plate, solid pitching, and a little pop.  They are going to need all three on a constant basis in order to compete.  The strong teams in the league can slide in a few areas and still win.  The Mets don’t have that luxury.

Watching Terry Collins manage for an entire series provided a possible sign of things to come.  He was aggressive in Florida and wasn’t afraid to use his bench.  As is the case with any manager, I didn’t necessarily agree with every decision he made (particularly lifting Ike Davis for a pinch runner late in the game Friday night), but I have no problems because he was managing to win.

I thought it would be fun to track the Mets’ progress by series.  As you’ll notice, I’ve added a few sections on the right side of the home page tracking the Amazin’s overall series record, home series record, away series record, and NL East series record.

Gauging the Mets by each series helps me put things in perspective.  For all you stat geeks out there, don’t get too excited, I probably won’t be adding much else in terms of displaying statistics and standings.  You can go to Baseball-Reference.com for everything you need.  Series’ records aren’t easy to find everywhere and tracking them aren’t very time consuming for me.  A very important factor for this blogger…..