HO-HUM, ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE
Some (very) brief thoughts on last night's Met game, which saw The Boys storm back from a 7-1 deficit to win in their final turn at-bat, 8-7.
* I'm not sure whether I like "Grand Slamming" Carlos, or "Game Winning" Carlos more right now. But I'll open it up to a vote. Assuming anyone comments (not a safe assumption), whichever Carlos receives the most mentions/allusions/references/marriage proposals will be declared "Carlos of the Day" for August 23. Simple.
* {Shhhh, nobody looking? Ok . . .} Here's my little insider's tip for you. I'm telling you, you can take this one to the bank: This Pujols guy? On the Cards? He's gonna be good. I juuuust have that feeling. Trust me. I think he's worth trying to grab for your fantasy team.
* Since the Met's loss to the Blue Jays on June 24, when he went 1-for-3 with a 3B, a BB, 1 R & 1 RBI, David Wright has played 48 games. That's two months, as of tomorrow, for those of you playing along at home. 1/3 of a season. And his numbers over that stretch? Not pretty:
* Last night's game had me feeling a way I haven't felt since 1986. I'm not kidding. The Mets were down 7-1 in the 5th inning, Maine clearly didn't have it, Pujols looked like he could've taken a busted tennis racquet to the plate and hit an overripe cantaloupe thrown by Walter Johnson over the wall, no one other than Delgado seemed to swinging well at all . . . and yet I wasn't concerned at all.
I'm not saying I was confident. I wasn't. I'm not saying I wasn't pissed they'd fallen so far behind. I was. But somehow, very much like I used to feel watching the '86 squad, that 6 run lead didn't look safe to me. I just figured they'd probably climb back into the game somehow: Delgado was swinging well, Jeff Weaver was on the hill for the Cards, Flooper & Izzy waiting in the pen. It just didn't seem all that bad.
So when they won, I was happy, I was excited, and I was pleased. But I wasn't nearly as surprised or as giddy as you'd expect after a 7-runs-in-4-innings comeback. Helluva team, folks. Helluva team.
* I'm not sure whether I like "Grand Slamming" Carlos, or "Game Winning" Carlos more right now. But I'll open it up to a vote. Assuming anyone comments (not a safe assumption), whichever Carlos receives the most mentions/allusions/references/marriage proposals will be declared "Carlos of the Day" for August 23. Simple.
* {Shhhh, nobody looking? Ok . . .} Here's my little insider's tip for you. I'm telling you, you can take this one to the bank: This Pujols guy? On the Cards? He's gonna be good. I juuuust have that feeling. Trust me. I think he's worth trying to grab for your fantasy team.
* Since the Met's loss to the Blue Jays on June 24, when he went 1-for-3 with a 3B, a BB, 1 R & 1 RBI, David Wright has played 48 games. That's two months, as of tomorrow, for those of you playing along at home. 1/3 of a season. And his numbers over that stretch? Not pretty:
174 AB, 41 H, 12 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 20 BB, 28 R, 24 RBI, & 4 SB w/ 2 CS. That works out to 236/314/374.And, no, he hasn't had a day off in that stretch, which included the All Star Game and the stupid Home Run Derby. Just sayin'.
* Last night's game had me feeling a way I haven't felt since 1986. I'm not kidding. The Mets were down 7-1 in the 5th inning, Maine clearly didn't have it, Pujols looked like he could've taken a busted tennis racquet to the plate and hit an overripe cantaloupe thrown by Walter Johnson over the wall, no one other than Delgado seemed to swinging well at all . . . and yet I wasn't concerned at all.
I'm not saying I was confident. I wasn't. I'm not saying I wasn't pissed they'd fallen so far behind. I was. But somehow, very much like I used to feel watching the '86 squad, that 6 run lead didn't look safe to me. I just figured they'd probably climb back into the game somehow: Delgado was swinging well, Jeff Weaver was on the hill for the Cards, Flooper & Izzy waiting in the pen. It just didn't seem all that bad.
So when they won, I was happy, I was excited, and I was pleased. But I wasn't nearly as surprised or as giddy as you'd expect after a 7-runs-in-4-innings comeback. Helluva team, folks. Helluva team.
posted by Mike at 6:11 AM
6 Comments:
I place my vote for "Grand Slamming" Carlos. Beltran's homer would have been a mere footnote in a listless 7-3 loss had it not been for Del-got-it's heroics. The grand slam was the absolute turning point in the game. It went from 7-1 to 7-5. Without that, the Mets had no chance.
Plus, Beltran gets to bat before Delgado, so he likely deprived Carlos D. of his own walkoff HR in the next at-bat. By the by, for all of his struggles, with his 2 prolonged slumps at the plate, here is Mr. Delgado's line for the year:
.258/.356/.536, 31 HRs, 85 RBIs, 0 CS
Ok, the last stat was a joke, but Delgado has productive, no doubt about it.
You figure Wright has to break out of this slump at some point, and this is probably not a fair comparison because he is (hopefully) at his low point in the year, but...
2004: .293/.332/.525
2005: .306/.388/.523
2006: .299/.373/.522
When should I actually be concerned that we may already be at Wright's ceiling? (Which makes him a very nice player, but not the perennial MVP candidate we thought he would become.)
Danny-
First off, I like this thinking: Beltran gets to bat before Delgado, so he likely deprived Carlos D. of his own walkoff HR in the next at-bat
Now there's the positive enregy that's gonan sweep through the New York atmosphere and carry the guys!
Or not.
Regarding Wright, I agree that he's leveled off to his career norms at this point. Plus, there are always guys like Eddie Matthews who hit their peak well before the usual 26-29 point.
But I'm thinking we've only seen the tip of the Wright iceburg.
Do you think that Wright's post ASG struggles might have to do with competing in the HR Derby. Maybe it screwed up his swing or screwed up his head?
Do you think that Wright's post ASG struggles might have to do with competing in the HR Derby.
I can't see that it helped, that's for sure. But I think it hurt him -- if at all -- in that it added another day of fatigue, another day that 90%+ of the other MLers rested, but he didn't.
And of course he played in the all star game the next day.
But from watching him & looking at his stats, I'm not sure there's much evidence that he's swinging differently, or approaching his at-bats differently.
That said, I don't profess to know the first thing about the mechanics of hitting or working the count.
Jeez, all this handwringing over Wright. The guy's 23 or 24 -- we won't know what his ceiling is for AT LEAST another three years.
He doubled last night and barely missed a HR the previous night (on a foul ball several feet left of the foul pole).
I've got news for you: baseball players slump.
Nothing to see here folks -- move along!
By the way, I think these last two games illustrate that the Mets will have to win in the playoffs the way the Blue Jays prevailed over the Phillies in '93 -- 8-7, 10-8 nailbiters.
I think the Mets can pull it off against most teams, except the Yanks, who can outhit AND outpitch them (starting pitcher-wise, at least).
I don't think there's any pitching staff that can hold the Mets down, however (though I'd like to see more righthanded hitting from the outfield -- right now there's only Beltran and Milledge (who, I hate to say it, I'd almost rather not see in the playoffs for fear he'll screw something up royally -- I like his potential, but he's about as green a rookie as I've seen in a long time).
Applesaucer
I've got news for you: baseball players slump. Nothing to see here folks -- move along!
I'll note that 2+ months is a long slump to qualify as a simple "slump." If that makes any sense at all.
(Probably not.)
Unfortunately, I agree the Yanks could be a trouble spot if the Mets meet them in the Series. The Yanks might be the one team that can go toe-to-toe with the Mets offensively.
And they're better at the 2 & 3 starter spots. But the Mets have the deeper pen. Even though the Yanks finish second to no one when it comes to closer, Wagner's looking better than I expected too.
Maybe he'll only blow one game, not the two I feared.
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