PITCHING? WE DON' NEED NO STINKIN' PITCHING!
This is fun.
And by the way, if you're in the "Oh shit, I can't read too much positive about my team or that'll jinx us" camp, better click away right now. I promise no "Irrational Exuberance" here, but when a team's playing well, what are you supposed to talk about? Aaron Heilman's woes? Lastings Milledge's evening in Le Chateau Bow-Wow? Nah. I'm too happy to go there now. This one's gonna be an orgy of positivity.
And knowing no man (even a superstitious baseball fan) can turn away from the promise of seeing an orgy, let's continue, shall we?
It's truly a pleasure to watch a really good team playing really well. And that's what's happening right now. The Mets are 42-23, the best record in the majors. They just finished a 9-1 road trip against three teams over .500 (at least before The Boys hit town). They've outscored their opponents by 69 runs, meaning they "should" be 39-26 or 40-25, so even with the gawdy 18-7 record in one-run games, they've exceeded Old Man Pythagoras by only a couple games.
They're really good.
How're they doing it? Every which way. Pitching? Leading the N.L. in ERA and strikeouts; second in WHIP. Hitting? How you like second in runs scored & slugging. First in stolen bases and doubles. Fourth in home runs, 7th in OBP. They lead the majors in runs scored on the road, and are second in slugging and sixth in OBP out of the 30 teams in that specific category.
Ok. I could go on-and-on citing ever-more arcane statistics (anyone know where they stand in VORP for road games in June?), but a few facts are clear: they're good, their pitching is good but a tad thin, and their offense is very powerful. Very powerful.
And if I may toot my own horn here, I said a month-and-a-half ago that, "their middle-of-the-pack run total has been seriously deflated by the games in Shea and all the other pitcher's parks. This team can rake," before predicting that "come summer, they're gonna put some scary numbers on the board in some of those road games."
{Toot}
No, that's not me tooting my own horn; I did that already with the quotation & the link. That's just me passing some early morning gas. You know how that is. Too much info? Hmmm, maybe it is. Let's get back to something a tad less offensive. The Met's hitters!
The fellas are scoring runs in bunches because (a) they currently have no holes in the lineup, and (b) there are three Very Big Guns in the middle of the order.
No Holes: While the Mets OBP stands only at 7th in the NL, every hitter makes the pitcher work. The worst regular right now is probably LoDuca, ironically batting second. With an OBP of only .330 he can be had. But when a player with a 727 OPS is your weakest link, that's a strong lineup! Same for 'Stache (only a .317 OBP, but slugging near .500), Milledge (.316/.510) & Chavez (.341/.438 + some see-ree-us speed).
And then -- after establishing that the line-up has no easy outs -- we have to look at the bona fide strengths. First, we have . . .
"Wheels" Reyes. He's really becoming a lead-off hitter. 263/334/431. He's got 27 XBHs, 28 SBs, and . . . 29 BBs in 281 ABs. Let's put in this way, prior to 2006, he had 45 walks in his career. As the batting average goes up, his OBP should rise to the .350 range. He's leading the NL with 54 runs. At this pace, he'll score 135! And it's no fluke. And then we move on to The Big Three.
Carlos Delgado. Despite hitting a nightmarish 208/300/406 for the entire month of May, he's compiled a pretty decent 269/352/542 on the season. He's looked very good lately, driving the ball to left center, laying off high fastballs, actually running the bases well. He turns 34 this month, so we can't discount slumps like he had in May, and he's still struggling against lefties (235/298/412). But he's an established slugger, a very professional guy. If he stays healthy, the 102 R and 122 RBI he's on pace for seem legit. 47 HRs? Doubt it. But 35-40 looks reasonable.
David "Derek Who?" Wright. Nothing he does anymore surprises me. His knack for the big hit is getting to be commonplace. If the Mets give up a lead and Wright leads off the next inning, what are expectations? 50/50 for a leadoff homer? One-in-Four that he makes an out? The only thing that could possibly worry you in that situation would be his failure to fall behind 0-2.
And I'm not joking. After the count reaches 0-2, which has happened in about 38 plate appearences this year, Young Mr. Wright is hitting 343/395/714. That may actually be a negative indicator, in that it's a pattern that simply can't last. But in the meantime, he's just something to watch. The fives have it, as his 335/404/587 project to 107 R, 125 RBI, 45 2B, 5 3B, 35 HR and 75 BB for the season. Can you say MVP? No, I can't, because someone else is already saying it . . .
The Beltranator. Oh my. So this is why they signed him for the GDP of a medium-sized Eastern European nation last year. He's missed 10 games, yet he leads a high scoring team in RBI and walks, and is second in homers, doubles, runs and steals. After a tough stretch early on where a huge number of line drives found opposition leather, he's gotten his BA up to .300, and compements it with a .408 OBP and a .643 SLG, trailing only Phat Albert. Assuming he doesn't repeat the 10 games missed as the season progresses, he's good for 122 R & 132 RBI in only 152 games. Add on 42 2B and 45 HR with 30 SB and you've got your basic MVP winner.
MVP. That's be that thing no Met has ever won. Along with No Hitter, that thing no Met has ever tossed. Well, back in Shea for a few. Maybe it's time for the pitchers to do a little showing off.
Pedro vs. Mr. Anna Benson this weekend. Heh, heh.
Pedro? You hear me? Peeeeeeeedddddro?
And by the way, if you're in the "Oh shit, I can't read too much positive about my team or that'll jinx us" camp, better click away right now. I promise no "Irrational Exuberance" here, but when a team's playing well, what are you supposed to talk about? Aaron Heilman's woes? Lastings Milledge's evening in Le Chateau Bow-Wow? Nah. I'm too happy to go there now. This one's gonna be an orgy of positivity.
And knowing no man (even a superstitious baseball fan) can turn away from the promise of seeing an orgy, let's continue, shall we?
It's truly a pleasure to watch a really good team playing really well. And that's what's happening right now. The Mets are 42-23, the best record in the majors. They just finished a 9-1 road trip against three teams over .500 (at least before The Boys hit town). They've outscored their opponents by 69 runs, meaning they "should" be 39-26 or 40-25, so even with the gawdy 18-7 record in one-run games, they've exceeded Old Man Pythagoras by only a couple games.
They're really good.
How're they doing it? Every which way. Pitching? Leading the N.L. in ERA and strikeouts; second in WHIP. Hitting? How you like second in runs scored & slugging. First in stolen bases and doubles. Fourth in home runs, 7th in OBP. They lead the majors in runs scored on the road, and are second in slugging and sixth in OBP out of the 30 teams in that specific category.
Ok. I could go on-and-on citing ever-more arcane statistics (anyone know where they stand in VORP for road games in June?), but a few facts are clear: they're good, their pitching is good but a tad thin, and their offense is very powerful. Very powerful.
And if I may toot my own horn here, I said a month-and-a-half ago that, "their middle-of-the-pack run total has been seriously deflated by the games in Shea and all the other pitcher's parks. This team can rake," before predicting that "come summer, they're gonna put some scary numbers on the board in some of those road games."
{Toot}
No, that's not me tooting my own horn; I did that already with the quotation & the link. That's just me passing some early morning gas. You know how that is. Too much info? Hmmm, maybe it is. Let's get back to something a tad less offensive. The Met's hitters!
The fellas are scoring runs in bunches because (a) they currently have no holes in the lineup, and (b) there are three Very Big Guns in the middle of the order.
No Holes: While the Mets OBP stands only at 7th in the NL, every hitter makes the pitcher work. The worst regular right now is probably LoDuca, ironically batting second. With an OBP of only .330 he can be had. But when a player with a 727 OPS is your weakest link, that's a strong lineup! Same for 'Stache (only a .317 OBP, but slugging near .500), Milledge (.316/.510) & Chavez (.341/.438 + some see-ree-us speed).
And then -- after establishing that the line-up has no easy outs -- we have to look at the bona fide strengths. First, we have . . .
"Wheels" Reyes. He's really becoming a lead-off hitter. 263/334/431. He's got 27 XBHs, 28 SBs, and . . . 29 BBs in 281 ABs. Let's put in this way, prior to 2006, he had 45 walks in his career. As the batting average goes up, his OBP should rise to the .350 range. He's leading the NL with 54 runs. At this pace, he'll score 135! And it's no fluke. And then we move on to The Big Three.
Carlos Delgado. Despite hitting a nightmarish 208/300/406 for the entire month of May, he's compiled a pretty decent 269/352/542 on the season. He's looked very good lately, driving the ball to left center, laying off high fastballs, actually running the bases well. He turns 34 this month, so we can't discount slumps like he had in May, and he's still struggling against lefties (235/298/412). But he's an established slugger, a very professional guy. If he stays healthy, the 102 R and 122 RBI he's on pace for seem legit. 47 HRs? Doubt it. But 35-40 looks reasonable.
David "Derek Who?" Wright. Nothing he does anymore surprises me. His knack for the big hit is getting to be commonplace. If the Mets give up a lead and Wright leads off the next inning, what are expectations? 50/50 for a leadoff homer? One-in-Four that he makes an out? The only thing that could possibly worry you in that situation would be his failure to fall behind 0-2.
And I'm not joking. After the count reaches 0-2, which has happened in about 38 plate appearences this year, Young Mr. Wright is hitting 343/395/714. That may actually be a negative indicator, in that it's a pattern that simply can't last. But in the meantime, he's just something to watch. The fives have it, as his 335/404/587 project to 107 R, 125 RBI, 45 2B, 5 3B, 35 HR and 75 BB for the season. Can you say MVP? No, I can't, because someone else is already saying it . . .
The Beltranator. Oh my. So this is why they signed him for the GDP of a medium-sized Eastern European nation last year. He's missed 10 games, yet he leads a high scoring team in RBI and walks, and is second in homers, doubles, runs and steals. After a tough stretch early on where a huge number of line drives found opposition leather, he's gotten his BA up to .300, and compements it with a .408 OBP and a .643 SLG, trailing only Phat Albert. Assuming he doesn't repeat the 10 games missed as the season progresses, he's good for 122 R & 132 RBI in only 152 games. Add on 42 2B and 45 HR with 30 SB and you've got your basic MVP winner.
MVP. That's be that thing no Met has ever won. Along with No Hitter, that thing no Met has ever tossed. Well, back in Shea for a few. Maybe it's time for the pitchers to do a little showing off.
Pedro vs. Mr. Anna Benson this weekend. Heh, heh.
Pedro? You hear me? Peeeeeeeedddddro?
posted by Mike at 6:20 AM
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