I have struggled over the past few days to verbalize how I feel about the current state of the New York Mets. When I woke up on Thursday morning, they held a 3.5-game lead over the second place Phillies, and there were 17 games left in the season. But this wasn't no ordinary number (Boys, Geto). As you might recall, the Mets held a 7.5 game lead over the Phillies in September of last year. With 17 games left to play. And we all remember how that ended.
So you can forgive Mets fans if they had some minor trepidation going in to this past weekend's series against the Braves. Yes, the heart of the order was hitting its stride (depending on how they finish, I think there might actually be a compelling case that David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado are all viable MVP candidates, but that is for another post). Yes, the Phillies were set to play four with a very good (if struggling) Brewers team. Yes, the Braves are awful this year. Yes, the bullpen has pulled it together. Sort of. But these were the Mets, the team that has blown more saves than a racist lifeguard at a swimming pool in Harlem. Yes, you could forgive Mets fans a certain sense of discomfort going in to the weekend.
And now, just five days later, here we go again.
The Mets lost two of three to the Braves on Saturday and Sunday, despite leading all three games in the 8th inning or later. The Phillies swept a four-game series against the suddenly awful Brewers. And then on Monday, the Mets - looking terrifyingly similar to the lethargic, unmotivated team that let it all get away in 2007 - mailed it in against the AAA Nationals. The Mets now lead the NL East by the thinnest of margins (0.5 games, one in the loss column, even in the win column), and the comparisons to September of 2007 seem on the verge of boiling over into full-blown hysteria.
Yet with the stars re-aligned for another September to forget, I think I have expended all of the mental energy that I can on this team. I still watch as many games as I can, listen on the radio if I can't watch, and check regularly on my blackberry if I can't listen. I like this team (more than I thought I would after last year), I think Jerry Manuel is a good fit; I want them to do well, and I will celebrate with my friends if they can pull out a playoff berth and make a run in October.
But the truth is this: I have never cared less about a first-place Mets team than I do about this one. When they lose it doesn't get to me as much, and when they win I am not as encouraged as I used to be. In my life, the Mets have been in first place maybe seven or eight times this late in the season (I am too lazy to look it up). They won the division in 1986, 1988 and 2006, there were a few close calls in the late 1980s and the late 1990s, and then of course there was 2007, and now 2008. In each of those seasons - including last year - I was elated with a September win, and devestated by a Setpember loss (that was a little bit of hyperbole, but not much). Some people would say that, as a 30 year-old professional with a wife and a job, it is high time that I stopped getting so fired up about something as meaningless as professional baseball. Maybe. But
I don't think that this is just about "growing up" or getting older. Either way, my experience as a Mets fan is noticeably different this year.
A few of us have theorized that the Giants' Superbowl win (and now their 2-0 start) was so exciting that it cushioned any blow the Mets could deliver. That could be a part of it. But I think it has more to do with last year. That was supposed to be the one where we got to see the real October Beltran. The one where he avenged that curveball from Game 7 of the NLCS. It was supposed to be the one where the 2006 Mets blossomed into the 2007 Champions. And it was just all wrong all year, almost from the very start. After a strong April, the Mets were a boring, mediocre team for months. They played ugly baseball, lost games they could easily win, and had no heart when they needed it most. Watching that team implode in September was devestating, but in a way it made perfect sense - that was where 2007 had been heading all along.
I think the 2007 season managed to compress ten or fifteen years of sports disappointment into a six-month period. It put our collective sports maturation in a time warp, and accelerated what may be a natural tendency to grow less and less intense about "your team."
For years, I could not understand why my dad, a huge Boston Red Sox fan for his entire life, could not get himself more fired up about the 2004 team. They were a miracle, and he got to see it. I offered to buy him tickets to the ALCS games in the Bronx, and he declined. I invited him to come into the city and watch the games with us, but he wanted to stay home. I would ask him what he thought of a particularly close play in the eighth inning, and he would say he went to bed in the seventh (in fairness, he watched all of game 7). But he was 62 years old in 2004, and he had seen the Red Sox let him down so many times, that I guess it just wasn't worth letting himself get too excited again. And I think I might be getting there with the Mets. And it sucks.
But I'll still watch the game tonight.
Showing posts with label I am smarter than Willie Randolph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I am smarter than Willie Randolph. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Wilhelm Von Randolph
Peace out, Willie.
I like Willie as a person, but I'll tell you the exact moment I lost faith in him as the manager of the Mets. It was 0.04 seconds after he said (paraphrasing), "Yeah, there are some bumps in the road right now, but it'll all be that much sweeter when we're sipping champagne." Because at that moment I knew the team would never play with any sort of urgency as long as he was the manager. And they haven't.
The only energy on the team comes from Reyes, who acts like a clown a lot of the time, and Wright who, God bless him, seems to carry the weight of the entire team from a player representation standpoint. Carlos Beltran has as much personality as some old crusty gym socks (what?).
PS - don't look now, but Carlos Gomez is the spark plug of that Twins team. Lead off hitter, tons of energy, kindof brash in a good way. His numbers aren't through the roof, but he's certainly respectable, and once he ups his on base percentage, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
I predict two hours before I get cockblogged (that's my new favorite phrase).
PPS - a quick thought exercise. Imagine this, the Mets signed Yorvit Torealba or some other catcher. Instead of Carlos Gomez, they trade Blastings Milledge et al. for Johan. Here's the twist. The pitcher bats 8th in the lineup, Carlos Gomez bats 9th and starts in right field every day. Blasphemy, or really good idea that only Tony LaRussa would have the guts to try?
I like Willie as a person, but I'll tell you the exact moment I lost faith in him as the manager of the Mets. It was 0.04 seconds after he said (paraphrasing), "Yeah, there are some bumps in the road right now, but it'll all be that much sweeter when we're sipping champagne." Because at that moment I knew the team would never play with any sort of urgency as long as he was the manager. And they haven't.
The only energy on the team comes from Reyes, who acts like a clown a lot of the time, and Wright who, God bless him, seems to carry the weight of the entire team from a player representation standpoint. Carlos Beltran has as much personality as some old crusty gym socks (what?).
PS - don't look now, but Carlos Gomez is the spark plug of that Twins team. Lead off hitter, tons of energy, kindof brash in a good way. His numbers aren't through the roof, but he's certainly respectable, and once he ups his on base percentage, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
I predict two hours before I get cockblogged (that's my new favorite phrase).
PPS - a quick thought exercise. Imagine this, the Mets signed Yorvit Torealba or some other catcher. Instead of Carlos Gomez, they trade Blastings Milledge et al. for Johan. Here's the twist. The pitcher bats 8th in the lineup, Carlos Gomez bats 9th and starts in right field every day. Blasphemy, or really good idea that only Tony LaRussa would have the guts to try?
Monday, May 5, 2008
Alphabetically According to Height
As Carlos Beltran continues to struggle, it strikes me that the Mets' batting order needs to be shuffled. Am I the only one who thinks it should look like this:
1. Jose Reyes, SS.
2. Carlos Beltran, CF.
3. Ryan Church, RF.
4. David Wright, 3B.
5. Carlos Delgado, 1B.
6. Moises Alou, LF.
7. Luis Castillo, 2b.
8. Brian Schneider, C.
9. Pitcher.
Reyes is an obvious leadoff hitter, and there is no one else on the club who you would even consider in that spot; similarly, the pitcher is always going to hit ninth, no analysis needed there.
From 2-8, though, I think Willie has it exactly wrong in every respect. Start with the number 2 hitter. I know there has been a lot of debate about whether it should be Church or Castillo, but in my view Beltran has always been the ideal second hitter. He was a #2 hitter with Kansas City more than occasionally, and it was only when the Mets gave him a huge contract that they felt compelled to keep him out of the two spot and only in the 3-4-5 spots (the money spots). I know he is capable of hitting a ton of home runs, but I will take those anywhere in the lineup (and, by the way, he hasn't hit JACK SQUAT (said in Matt Foley style) this year). Also, for his career, Beltran hits 1 HR per 18.3 AB in the two spot, 1 HR per 20.9 AB in the three spot, and 1 hr per 23.2 AB in the cleanup slot. His career average across the 2-3-4 roles? .292, .274, and .289, respectively. He walks a ton, but he strikes out too much and he has been struggling. Putting him up second, with Reyes occasionally on base in front of him gives him RBI chances, and forces people to throw him strikes. Put your big power hitters behind him, and you only increase the number of quality pitches he is going to see. If Beltran gets going this team is scary (consider that they are 1/2 game out of first place and Beltran has been awful so far this year).
Batting third, putting Church up here is again a no brainer to me. I admit that he strikes out too much, and will also admit that he is a .342 career hitter in the two spot (he is also a .500 hitter in the three spot, but that's not a fair stat, because he has only batted third twice in his career), but he will continue to see a ton of quality pitches ahead of Wright (which may explain why he has hit so well in the two slot this year), and I like the lefty up to bat with a man on first, because the hole is wide open on the right side every time he comes up (first baseman holding the runner, second baseman cheating towards the bag for a double play). Will he ground into a fair amount of double plays and strikeout a lot batting third? Yes. But this is countered, in my view, by the number of singles to the right side that will score a run, or at least move a speedy Reyes or Beltran from first to third.
If you buy my first three arguments, batting Wright cleanup is a given. You want to alternate between lefties and righties so that the opposing bullpen is challenged in the late innings, and Wright is our big RBI guy. Putting him up fourth with runners in base and two potential deep threats behind him would be terrifying to an opposing pitcher. Also, Wright has been pretty consistent for his career across the number three, four and five slots. He bats about .325, with about 1 HR every 20 AB and about 1 RBI every 5.2 AB. Only meaningful differences appear to be a slight increase in power when in the #4 slot (1 hr every 19 AB as compared to 1 every 23 AB) and a drop in average when you hit him fifth (about 30 points). His numbers as a cleanup hitter are pretty remarkable. .333/17/60 in 321 career AB's. He is going to lose some stolen bases batting cleanup, but I can live with that.
Batting fifth, Delgado. Lefty following the righty is reason enough, but protect him with Alou behind him and he is going to see better pitches. I'll give less credence to the career splits here, because he is far from his prime, but I will admit that he is slightly less productive in the five spot than in the four or six spot. If for no other reason, given how much sense it makes to put everyone else in the 2, 3, 4 and 6 positions, Delgado bats fifth by default.
Batting sixth, the secret weapon. I have been as critical of Alou as anyone, but that's because he cannot stay healthy. When he is healthy, he is a terrifying hitter, and doesn't need someone behind him to improve the pitch selection he gets. Righty after the lefty who followed the righty that followed the lefty, Alou picks up the pieces. Note, Alou's career numbers batting sixth (.324, 1 hr every 15.5 AB's and 1 RBI every 4.8 AB's) are better than when he bats third, fourth or fifth. He is also slower than Stephen Hawking driving a Yugo, so it makes sense to keep him towards the bottom of the order.
Seventh/Eighth. I could argue the Schneider/Castillo thing either way here, but keep in mind that you are rarely going to take Schneider out of the game, so it makes sense to keep him in the eighth hole, rather than in the seventh hole where you might want to go with a pinch hitter with some pop (Marlon, Damion). I admit that is sort of a stretch, but it's something to consider. Also, Castillo is much less likely to get the extra base hit to clear the runners on base (so the edge goes to Schneider to bat seventh) and Castillo is much less likely to strikeout (so the edge goes to Castillo to bat eighth). Bottom line is that like most teams, we need to get our run production out of the 1-6 hitters. The batting order proposed above is the most likely way to make that happen.
Do the math Willie.
1. Jose Reyes, SS.
2. Carlos Beltran, CF.
3. Ryan Church, RF.
4. David Wright, 3B.
5. Carlos Delgado, 1B.
6. Moises Alou, LF.
7. Luis Castillo, 2b.
8. Brian Schneider, C.
9. Pitcher.
Reyes is an obvious leadoff hitter, and there is no one else on the club who you would even consider in that spot; similarly, the pitcher is always going to hit ninth, no analysis needed there.
From 2-8, though, I think Willie has it exactly wrong in every respect. Start with the number 2 hitter. I know there has been a lot of debate about whether it should be Church or Castillo, but in my view Beltran has always been the ideal second hitter. He was a #2 hitter with Kansas City more than occasionally, and it was only when the Mets gave him a huge contract that they felt compelled to keep him out of the two spot and only in the 3-4-5 spots (the money spots). I know he is capable of hitting a ton of home runs, but I will take those anywhere in the lineup (and, by the way, he hasn't hit JACK SQUAT (said in Matt Foley style) this year). Also, for his career, Beltran hits 1 HR per 18.3 AB in the two spot, 1 HR per 20.9 AB in the three spot, and 1 hr per 23.2 AB in the cleanup slot. His career average across the 2-3-4 roles? .292, .274, and .289, respectively. He walks a ton, but he strikes out too much and he has been struggling. Putting him up second, with Reyes occasionally on base in front of him gives him RBI chances, and forces people to throw him strikes. Put your big power hitters behind him, and you only increase the number of quality pitches he is going to see. If Beltran gets going this team is scary (consider that they are 1/2 game out of first place and Beltran has been awful so far this year).
Batting third, putting Church up here is again a no brainer to me. I admit that he strikes out too much, and will also admit that he is a .342 career hitter in the two spot (he is also a .500 hitter in the three spot, but that's not a fair stat, because he has only batted third twice in his career), but he will continue to see a ton of quality pitches ahead of Wright (which may explain why he has hit so well in the two slot this year), and I like the lefty up to bat with a man on first, because the hole is wide open on the right side every time he comes up (first baseman holding the runner, second baseman cheating towards the bag for a double play). Will he ground into a fair amount of double plays and strikeout a lot batting third? Yes. But this is countered, in my view, by the number of singles to the right side that will score a run, or at least move a speedy Reyes or Beltran from first to third.
If you buy my first three arguments, batting Wright cleanup is a given. You want to alternate between lefties and righties so that the opposing bullpen is challenged in the late innings, and Wright is our big RBI guy. Putting him up fourth with runners in base and two potential deep threats behind him would be terrifying to an opposing pitcher. Also, Wright has been pretty consistent for his career across the number three, four and five slots. He bats about .325, with about 1 HR every 20 AB and about 1 RBI every 5.2 AB. Only meaningful differences appear to be a slight increase in power when in the #4 slot (1 hr every 19 AB as compared to 1 every 23 AB) and a drop in average when you hit him fifth (about 30 points). His numbers as a cleanup hitter are pretty remarkable. .333/17/60 in 321 career AB's. He is going to lose some stolen bases batting cleanup, but I can live with that.
Batting fifth, Delgado. Lefty following the righty is reason enough, but protect him with Alou behind him and he is going to see better pitches. I'll give less credence to the career splits here, because he is far from his prime, but I will admit that he is slightly less productive in the five spot than in the four or six spot. If for no other reason, given how much sense it makes to put everyone else in the 2, 3, 4 and 6 positions, Delgado bats fifth by default.
Batting sixth, the secret weapon. I have been as critical of Alou as anyone, but that's because he cannot stay healthy. When he is healthy, he is a terrifying hitter, and doesn't need someone behind him to improve the pitch selection he gets. Righty after the lefty who followed the righty that followed the lefty, Alou picks up the pieces. Note, Alou's career numbers batting sixth (.324, 1 hr every 15.5 AB's and 1 RBI every 4.8 AB's) are better than when he bats third, fourth or fifth. He is also slower than Stephen Hawking driving a Yugo, so it makes sense to keep him towards the bottom of the order.
Seventh/Eighth. I could argue the Schneider/Castillo thing either way here, but keep in mind that you are rarely going to take Schneider out of the game, so it makes sense to keep him in the eighth hole, rather than in the seventh hole where you might want to go with a pinch hitter with some pop (Marlon, Damion). I admit that is sort of a stretch, but it's something to consider. Also, Castillo is much less likely to get the extra base hit to clear the runners on base (so the edge goes to Schneider to bat seventh) and Castillo is much less likely to strikeout (so the edge goes to Castillo to bat eighth). Bottom line is that like most teams, we need to get our run production out of the 1-6 hitters. The batting order proposed above is the most likely way to make that happen.
Do the math Willie.
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