I thought about writing during early season struggles. I thought about writing when Willie was fired. I've thought an awful lot about writing about sports media idiocy, but I might blow out the bandwidth with that one. I've thought about writing about the fans knee-jerk reactions, but the big vein in my forehead would explode.
I don't write this as though I think I've been missed...I'm a small blip on this radar screen. It's just to explain why it's been three months since my last post. So why now?
Last night's debacle against the Phillies was gut wrenching. But the pain of watching Johan Santana throw 8 great innings only to be done in by a bullpen allowing 6 runs in the 9th has only been exacerbated by the completely asinine blame directed toward SANTANA, of all people, for not pitching the 9th.
And that, is 100 percent pure idiocy. I hear nonsense about how Santana should be "demanding" ball...that hasn't happened in 30 years, and most of those tales are fabrication. The fact is that the game is handled differently now. You may not like the 100-pitch limit, but virtually everyone adheres to it 95% of the time.
But besides that, you can't have it both ways. Fans cry about Reyes fighting Manuel to stay in a game, then turn around and gripe about Santana NOT fighting him. These people have no idea what the heck they're even saying.
Third, they were up by three runs. A bullpen should be able to hold that. The critics MIGHT have a bit of an argument were this a 3-2 game. But if you don't believe your entire bullpen can get 3 outs before giving up 3 runs, then the trade deadline focus needs to be the bullpen.
What it all comes down to, of course, is money. Fans resent the money these guys get. It's why Carlos Beltran can never do well enough for them, why Johan Santana will always be a failure here no matter what he does, and why A-Rod has been so drastically underappreciated in the Bronx.
It also comes down to people being, quite honestly, ignorant. Take, for example, the dopes who cry about "bring me the 60s, when those guys threw complete games all the time...these guys are wusses." Well hell, if we're using that logic, aren't those guys in the 60s "wusses" because they weren't throwing 350 innings like Christy Mathewson did, who didn't throw 400 innings like Cy Young did, who didn't throw 600 innings like Tim Keefe did (1886...68 games, 68 starts, 68 complete games, 619 innings).
The game changes...the game evolves. At some point, if we're lucky, sportswriters and the general fan base will as well.
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]]>Mark it down...the Mets will leave the bases loaded at least one more time this game.
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]]>If you fear something as a Mets fan, it's this team lacking a killer instinct. We saw a lot last year that this team refused to bury a team. They would get 2 runs in, but have the bases loaded with 0 or 1 out, and get nothing further. Right now, the bullpen and the top of the order are having a real bad time...that's a good way to, well, start 2-4.
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One added thing...if any of you are trying to comment and can't, please shoot me an email at gforceedit@yahoo.com. I've been at a bunch of blogs here in the past week where it has said I am not allowed to comment. Not sure if this is with the redesign of what, but I'd like to know if you're experiencing such a problem here.
Thanks.
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]]>I've been thinking about the injury, wondering if Pedro may have been holding back a little and that's how he got hurt. He was touching low 90s in the spring, but last night I don't think he topped 88. If he shortens up a bit, tries not to overthrow, he can mess up his stride and injure himself. No idea if that's what happened, and you have to think Pedro knows himself better than anybody and wouldn't do anything that would mess with his motion.
Nice work by Oliver Perez tonight, shutting down the Marlins as the Mets bats go wild...it's currently 11-0. Church and Wright have homered, and Beltran had one called back on an appeal. Nice to see them come out ripping after a disheartening loss, in more ways than one, last night.
]]>Of course, the newspapers will be all over him; moron Wally Matthews will call him out, talk radio will be burying him and his season, and in some circles likely the Mets season as well. After all, sports media is under no requirement to be rational.
He walked down the stairs, walked through the tunnel. I don't imagine this is anything major. If it is, it will be a big problem. But rather than shooting first and asking questions later, let's see if this is 2-3 starts missed, or 10 starts. There's a big difference there.
We're two games in, folks. Keep things in perspective.
]]>For those wondering what the heck I'm talking about, I used to create the leading roster modifications for several baseball video games. I first brought my roster project, called TotalMinors, to High Heat Baseball, because the game came out with a AAA and AA minor league system, a first in the non-text video game category. But those guys would all have fake names, so what was the point. But as a baseball fanatic, stathead and passionate researcher, I developed my own ratings system to project minor leaguers (and reevaluate major leaguers), and what resulted was a full baseball universe that came to be known as TotalMinors.
I moved on to become the official roster developer for Out of the Park Baseball, a stat-based text simulator that basically lets you run an entire franchise, league or baseball universe. The game is simply outstanding, and I encourage any real baseball fan who wants to go beyond the button mashing of standard XBox/Playstation baseball games to give this one a look.
I went from there to bring TotalMinors to EA Sports' MVP Baseball series, and was credited by many with making the game for them because of my project, as well as deciphering workarounds for several glitches in the ratings/performance mechanism of the game.
Now, married with 3 kids, I don't have the time to handle rosters for Opening Day, at least not without being paid. So now I do Alltime roster projects such as my Franchise Stars project, which will be released for OOTP sometime in the next month. Its previous versions have been received very well, as fans love getting to play with MLB, AAA and AA rosters of their respective franchise's alltime best players.
With the regular season upon us, I am going to try and get a blog schedule going here, with daily Mets game reports, but also different items each day, be it minor leagues, baseball history, sabermetrics, and even a baseball fiction story I've been working on.
More on this to come this week when I figure out my schedule. Hopefully, you'll stick around. I love the writing, and the interaction. It's a beautiful game...so let's share it.
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Opening Day couldn't have gone much better for the Mets. Johan Santana was outstanding, giving up two runs over 7 innings, striking out 8. Wright, Beltran and Reyes each get two hits, Wright drives in 3 and Ryan Church and Angel Pagan each drive in a run. Not too shabby. Sure, it's the Marlins, but the Mets need to beat up on the bad teams and play well against the good teams. And this, for many reasons, was a nice first step.
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AL East
Yankees
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Devil Rays
Orioles
The Josh Beckett injury will come into play, and the fact is that the Yankees' aren't much changed from last year. Look for the Sox to take a step back, the Yanks to stay the course, and that will be enough for the Yanks to win the division. As for the excitement about the Devil Rays, they will improve, but we need to calm down a bit about this team. Baseball Prospectus projects they win 88 games...if the Rays win that many, I'll eat a Devil Ray (the animal, not a player, though I'd eat Rick Peterson if it would bring Kazmir back to the Mets.)
AL Central
Cleveland
Detroit
Chicago
Minnesota
Royals
I know everyone's raving about Detroit, but pitching wins, and Cleveland still has more of it than the Tigers do. This is a two-horse race by the All-Star break.
AL West
Angels
Mariners
A's
Rangers
Forget the hype about the Mariners. They can't score, and Bedard and Felix Hernandez only pitch 2 games every 5. The Angels pitching has been hit by the injury bug, but they still win this division by 5+ games. My friends over at BP actually say the A's will be better than the Mariners, but I don't buy it. Oakland takes a step back this year.
NL West
Diamondbacks
Rockies
Dodgers
Padres
Giants
Forgotten in all the talk about Brandon Webb and Dan Haren is Randy Johnson. Expect the Unit to miss time with his balky back, but when he pitches he'll be effective more often than not. So good young bats make the D'Backs the class here. I know the Dodgers have gotten a lot of love, but I don't buy it. What I do buy is the Giants struggling to win 70 games...I say they miss.
NL Central
Brewers
Cubs
Cardinals
Reds
Astros
Pirates
I know everyone seems to be picking the Cubs, but I don't quite get why. I don't love their pitching as much as a lot of other people seem to, and I just think the Brewers are on the rise and that continues this year.
NL East
Mets
Braves
Phillies
Nationals
Marlins
Call it a homer pick if you want, but look at it this way: The Mets' collapse last season obscured an 88 win season. A historic collapse is unlikely to occur again. How have the Mets gotten worse? Church over Shawn Green? A wash worst case, an improvement best. Schneider over LoDuca. Two years ago I wouldn't have said this, but right now I'll take Schneider's staff control over LoDuca's presence, which was his greatest gift and wore out. A full year of Luis Castillo at 2B is an improvement, and Pedro and Santana replace Glavine and Jorge Sosa/El Duque. That's a big improvement, and the reason the Mets take the division. I think the Braves top the Phillies, too, as the Phils have too many pitching questions right now, and I'm no big fan of Pedro Feliz or Geoff Jenkins at this point in their careers. I will say, though, that the idea that anyone is counting on something from Mike Hampton is purely comical. What could stop the Mets? Health, obviously. But I'm betting on Delgado not being worse than last year even if he's no better, and a big year from Pedro, who's playing for a contract and to retain his "Acehood." For someone like Pedro, this matters.
AL Playoffs
Tigers over Yankees
Indians over Angels
Indians over Tigers
NL Playoffs
Mets over Brewers
Diamondbacks over Braves
Mets over Diamondbacks
World Series
Mets over Indians
If there's one thing wrong in these predictions, it's that the D'Backs absolutely can knock off the Mets, in what should be a great pitched series. But I still think whoever wins that series wins it all. Injuries could just as easily put the Mets in third in their division...that's how fragile things are for this team. I'm putting a lot of faith in Pedro, honestly. We'll see if that is rewarded.
Now let's play ball!
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But in the "what are they thinking" department, the Mets waived Ruben Gotay, who was then claimed by the Atlanta Braves. Positively stupid maneuver. Gotay has a good bat, and his defensive deficiencies are clear but in a bench player not the key to making a roster move like this. You need roster depth, and though out of options Gotay could have been placed on the DL with his ankle injury. To just give this kid away makes no sense, particularly when I hear the team liked Fernando Tatis...FERNANDO TATIS...better. That's crack-addict dillusional right there.
The alleged explanation for Gotay leaving is that the Mets need a righthanded stick off the bench, and Gotay doesn't provide that because, though a switch hitter, he's terrible righty. But the mad dash for a right-handed bat off the bench was a known quantity with this team for a long time...to suddenly panic about it at the end of spring shows that Minaya dropped the ball leading to this point. This isn't saying Gotay is an all-star by any means, but he's useful, and you don't surrender useful for nothing.
Back later with season predictions.
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Oliver Perez was smacked around by the Indians the other day, giving up 4 homers. Those are days Perez has. When he's off, he's WAY off. He may be more "electric" than Maine, but Maine is the #3. Perez is #4.
As for #5, we may be looking for Craig Swan, because El Duque and Mike Pelfrey seem disinterested in taking the job. Fighting for the slot, Hernandez came out against Cardinals and, without topping 85 mph, he gave up 5 runs over 3 innings of work. Pelfrey of course came out and gave up 8 runs on 13 hits in 4 1/3 innings. That Nelson Figueroa is allegedly getting some consideration for the 5-slot at this point should tell you all you need to know.
Damion Easley got some time at shortstop the other day, yet another sign Randolph really doesn't want Anderson Hernandez on this squad. If Easley can be a capable backup for Reyes, Hernandez is destined for AAA once more.
Aaron Heilman has reportedly finally come to embrace his role in the bullpen, even counseling fellow reliever Joe Smith as far as game preparation and the like.
]]>Starting with the Mets, top prospect Fernando Martinez was sent down last week despite a strong spring. Certainly the right move, as he needs more time, but it was nice to see the kid not look overmatched (.343/.373/.426). Even with the Alou injury, it makes no sense to have this kid at Shea at this point. It was nice to see the front office not panic or rush him for P.R. sake.
Tied to the Mets, Carlos Gomez seems set to be the Twins' opening day center fielder after a solid spring performance (.286, 10 SB). Phil Humber was sent down despite a good spring as well (14 IP, 1.29 ERA, 9 H, 9:3 K:BB ratio).
The Reds sent baseball's top prospect, Jay Bruce, down as well. Bruce had hoped to earn the center field spot but suffered an early-spring quad injury that derailed him a bit. He'll start in AAA, and everyone is saying all the right things. I don't have a problem so much with Bruce going down to AAA to get regular at bats, as I do that the guy who will be taking those at bats at the big league level is Corey Patterson, who ***** like a governor's call girl. Manager Dusty Baker loves Patterson, which means an overextended stay at AAA for Bruce in all likelihood.
On Bruce's heels (both as the top prospect and on the bus down to the minors) is Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria. Though he hit only .262, he walked 10 times to 7 strikeouts, giving him a .407 OBP and a .595 SLG for the spring. When your options are Willy Aybar and Joel Guzman, this move makes no sense for any other reason than to delay Longoria's arbitration/free agency. I know the Rays aren't winning the division or making the playoffs, but with everyone and their brother touting this team as a "surprise" this year, why **** that energy from the team and send down the phenom? Part of me understands their logic, but the other part of me hates the move.
Cameron Maybin, the centerpiece in the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera trade with the Tigers, was sent down as well. His 3 homers were nice, but he hit .190 for the spring with 15 strikeouts in 42 at bats. For that performance they could sign Rob Deer and delay Maybin's service time clock.
Back later with some Mets focused items.
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