CONTINUING IN A NEW VEIN, SOME MORE BRIEF THOUGHTS ON THE METS
That's right, brief. I've decided -- for me and my readers -- to abjure the 162 game-long posts that marked (marred?) my analytical and hilarious baseball stylings last season. Anyhow, the Mets didn't win the championship, it's obviously my fault, and I need to change it up.
(So there.)
1. The Mets can put runs on the board pretty quickly, huh? Even with one extra base hit yesterday, they drew about 16 walks and hit exactly 100 singles in the 8th inning alone. The runs come in bunches with these boys. And with their overall speed, and decent team-wide ability to put the ball in play, other teams have made their share of errors. And the Mets have really made them pay for doing so. Not good to give an extra out to a team sporting a .372 OBP.
2. I'm cool with Willie letting the Amburglar face Ryan Howard. Why: (a) Burgos was dealing, (b) bad idea to load the bases with either a wild reliever or a fresh reliever, (c) Burrell --on deck -- has been the Phils' hottest hitter, and he has 755 lifetime homers at Shea, (d) Met LOOGYs are either not very good against lefties (Pedro Dos), or not very good against men standing in the batter's box (Schoeneweis), (e) Howard can hit lefties fairly well -- .279 with 16 HRs in <200 ABs last season, and (f) 'cause I said so.
3. David. Wright. Is. Back. He smacked the shit out of that ball in the 8th, missing a grand slam by the diameter of Ryan Howard's biceps. Granted, that's a decent enough distance, but we're still not talking about missing the jack by much, are we?
But you know what, that's not why Wight's back. This is why Wright is back:
4. Jose Reyes failed to triple yesterday.
Fucking bum. That's it, the engagement's off. Nice time to slump, huh?
5. I can't reitterate this enough: the Mets have a problem in terms of left-handed bullpen arms. Pedro Dos is actually a decent enough 6th or 7th inning guy, but he's not especially effective against lefties (.231 last year.) And in case I was unclear earlier, or in the pitching preview last week, Schoeneweis is awful.
6. Beltran.
(That's it.)
7. Even though Reyes is on quadruple-secret probation for failing to hit a triple in the last 29 1/2 hours, I have to note that through 7 games he's scored 10 runs, driven in 8, drawn 5 walks, stolen 3 bases, and played flawless defense.
I tell ya folks, this Reyes kid's gonna be alright. Just remember Larry King told you first.
8. Joe Smith.
(Nothing more to add there either.)
9. Today's Vote: What was more fun? Watching Chipper botch two pop-ups in two games, or seeing Jimmy Rollins boot that grounder to open the floodgates?
I'm going with Chipper, but that's because I rock it Old School. But I'd love to hear what others think.
10. In case you're scoring at home, the Mets have plated 47 runs in 7 games, while yielding only 16. And they've played all their games so far against the defending WS Champs and their two primary divisional rivals. As we all know, winning the one-run games tends to balance out from one season to the next (and consider last year's 29-14 record in such contests). But the really good teams win the blowouts. Lots of blowouts, by big margins.
47-16. Seven games ain't 162. But it ain't two either. The Mets lead the majors in both categories. Long season, that's for sure. But it's seven games shorter than it was last week.
(So there.)
1. The Mets can put runs on the board pretty quickly, huh? Even with one extra base hit yesterday, they drew about 16 walks and hit exactly 100 singles in the 8th inning alone. The runs come in bunches with these boys. And with their overall speed, and decent team-wide ability to put the ball in play, other teams have made their share of errors. And the Mets have really made them pay for doing so. Not good to give an extra out to a team sporting a .372 OBP.
2. I'm cool with Willie letting the Amburglar face Ryan Howard. Why: (a) Burgos was dealing, (b) bad idea to load the bases with either a wild reliever or a fresh reliever, (c) Burrell --on deck -- has been the Phils' hottest hitter, and he has 755 lifetime homers at Shea, (d) Met LOOGYs are either not very good against lefties (Pedro Dos), or not very good against men standing in the batter's box (Schoeneweis), (e) Howard can hit lefties fairly well -- .279 with 16 HRs in <200 ABs last season, and (f) 'cause I said so.
3. David. Wright. Is. Back. He smacked the shit out of that ball in the 8th, missing a grand slam by the diameter of Ryan Howard's biceps. Granted, that's a decent enough distance, but we're still not talking about missing the jack by much, are we?
But you know what, that's not why Wight's back. This is why Wright is back:
[Our comeback] reminded me a lot of last year, the way we battled and never gave up.Battled. Never gave up. Not quite five cliches-in-five sentences level, but it's early. At this rate, he'll be invited back for the NL Sports-Cliche Derby. And I see the first homer coming soon.
4. Jose Reyes failed to triple yesterday.
Fucking bum. That's it, the engagement's off. Nice time to slump, huh?
5. I can't reitterate this enough: the Mets have a problem in terms of left-handed bullpen arms. Pedro Dos is actually a decent enough 6th or 7th inning guy, but he's not especially effective against lefties (.231 last year.) And in case I was unclear earlier, or in the pitching preview last week, Schoeneweis is awful.
6. Beltran.
(That's it.)
7. Even though Reyes is on quadruple-secret probation for failing to hit a triple in the last 29 1/2 hours, I have to note that through 7 games he's scored 10 runs, driven in 8, drawn 5 walks, stolen 3 bases, and played flawless defense.
I tell ya folks, this Reyes kid's gonna be alright. Just remember Larry King told you first.
8. Joe Smith.
(Nothing more to add there either.)
9. Today's Vote: What was more fun? Watching Chipper botch two pop-ups in two games, or seeing Jimmy Rollins boot that grounder to open the floodgates?
I'm going with Chipper, but that's because I rock it Old School. But I'd love to hear what others think.
10. In case you're scoring at home, the Mets have plated 47 runs in 7 games, while yielding only 16. And they've played all their games so far against the defending WS Champs and their two primary divisional rivals. As we all know, winning the one-run games tends to balance out from one season to the next (and consider last year's 29-14 record in such contests). But the really good teams win the blowouts. Lots of blowouts, by big margins.
47-16. Seven games ain't 162. But it ain't two either. The Mets lead the majors in both categories. Long season, that's for sure. But it's seven games shorter than it was last week.
Labels: At 1-6 The Phils Are The Team To Beat In The East, Givin' Willie A Rare Break, Schoeneweis The Door
posted by Mike at 8:18 AM
8 Comments:
Thank Maine for me, worthless meat last night
Indeed, we must remain true to our original hate and be most pleased when Larry, Larry screws up.
As for Mr. Wright--he's been on the victim end of Web Gems 2 days in a row, for what that's worth. (Yes, that means I've been on the victim end of Baseball Tonight two days in a row, too.)
Consider this about D Wright: he is obviously struggling at the plate; his timing is off; his power just isn't there. But he's on a 19 game hitting streak (obviously, going back to last year), and hitting close to .300 so far this season. When he straightens out his swing, he's going to be effin dangerous.
Shane - Johnny M's been fine by me. That was a tough strike zone yesterday. 13 walks combined.
George - This Victorino character is pissing me off with his fielding.
My condolensces re "Baseball Tonight." It was bad enough while Harold Reynolds was still there. But now . . . ? Kruk + Phillips = Stupidity in spades and serious Met-bashing.
Rattling - Young David's gonna be just fine, I think. He swung a good bat yesterday. We may have been spoiled by his first half last year (as he was by the undeserved & unwanted invite to the HR Derby), but the guy can hit .300 with 40 2Bs in his sleep. 22-27 HRs, 75-90 BBs, and a solid glove compliments that just fine for me.
I thought this article might be of interest to you.
Personally, I grew out of baseball in the early 90's. I think it had to do with how quickly the champion Blue Jays disbanded. Player loyalty/team longevity is just not there in baseball as it is in football for example.
That and I found the game really boring all of a sudden.
Thanks for the article. I hadn't heard about that, at least not through such a careful correlation study.
Were you a Blue Jay fan from their inception? If so, that must've been pretty cool to see them get so good in the 80s, then win back-to-back in the 90s.
From about '83 to about '94, that was a helluva organization.
I was 16 during the Blue Jays first season. I didn't skip school for opening day, but went to their second game. I have a program from opening day though.
I must have went to 20-25 games the first season. Skipping school a few times, me and my friends would smuggle in booze, buy a large coke at the stadium. We'd drink the coke down to make room for the booze and then progressively get hammered while the game played on.
It was fun.
That's the old Exhibition Stadium, right? Man, it must've been cold as hell there in early April.
Then again, you Canucks have a far different tolerance for the cold that we do.
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