May 2008

All Wright Now

David Wright powered the Mets to a 8 to 4 victory over the Dodgers last night.  His two home runs and four RBI lead the Mets way to their third consecutive victory, the first time they’ve hit a winning streak of three since April 26 through 29.  Claudio Vargas earned his second win of the season.

Wright got the Mets going in the third with his first of two two-run homers.  Then in the fourth when the inning seemed to be over, catcher interference was called on Russell Martin and the inning extended with only two outs.  From there, Jose Reyes got a single, followed by a Luis Castillo double that allowed two runs to score after a throwing error, only followed by Wright second homer.

Vargas hit a little rough patch after the big inning, only allowing the Dodgers to get back into a little.  Not much came from it, as Endy Chavez and Brian Schneider provided back to back daggers with RBI singles in the seventh, make it an 8 to 4 ball game which didn’t change from there.

The most alarming thing from last night’s game is that all eight runs came with two outs.  Try to wrap your head around that Mets fans.  This team, who seems incredibly inept with runners on and two outs, found their way to get eight across in those situations.  Great job.

People can comment on how David Wright isn’t “feeling”, but one-third into the season he has 11 home runs and 40 RBI.  I’ll take it.

If anyone was watching the game on SNY as I was, you saw they totally cut to commercial before the catcher interference call was made in the fourth, which forced the Reyes at-bat to be missed.  Bad job by SNY cutting to commercial before team’s even really leave the field.  They also made a little mistake on Sunday during the game on CW11.

But really a great victory.  Things feel a lot better than they did on Monday.  You have to feel good about things as a Mets fan right now, as things seem to be on the up side.  Just stay inspired and keep it going, boys.

We Needed That

Last night’s 7 to 6 victory over the Marlins was exactly what the Mets have been looking for since this season started.  From top to bottom it was pretty much a perfectly scripted game.  I think the only flaw you can point out for the Mets was Oliver Perez giving up three home runs.

Now while Duaner Sanchez got the win despite practically being the loser, this win goes to the bullpen.  What a tremendous job by Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Heilman, Billy Wagner and Sanchez.  They sat down 18 of the 19 they had to face, the only one being the homer given up by Sanchez.  And they did this entirely being in control, combining for nine strikeouts.

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Then of course the extra bounce the Mets seemed to have in their step yet again proved to lead to a win.  Once the Mets fell behind in the sixth for some reason I felt this was the night we had our big comeback.  The only other comeback came against the Nationals on April 17, and it was really nothing that big.  But last night had the feel of a big one.  While sitting there in the ninth with Endy Chavez up and behind in the count, there was just a feel that Endy would do something.  Who would’ve thought that something was a game tying home run.  And then it was really fitting that in the 12th inning the game was in the hands of Fernando Tatis, the guy trying to resurrect his career.   Once again behind in the count, he ripped it down the line scoring David Wright and Carlos Beltran to get the walk-off win.  We knew this team had it in them, but it’s good to finally see some resiliency.

That’s the attitude they need.  For the first time in a while I can say this team looks like they believe in themselves.  Now there’s two games, time to make something big out of it.

YEA BABY!

In my post following Monday’s loss, I had the following to say:

“all this team needs is a big, dramatic, comeback win”

And man, did we wait a long time for one like this.

There was a certain energy coming from this team once again tonight and it started off well with a Luis Castillo homerun.  The reserves did well again and Jose Reyes hit another homerun as the Mets had the lead.  However, Oliver Perez fell apart after his great start, surrendering three homeruns and the Mets were once again trailing after six innings.  And we all know the stat, 1-19.  Well in the ninth inning against the Marlins closer Kevin Gregg, Endy Chavez turned on one to tie it up.  Fast forward to the 12th inning as Duaner Sanchez, who looked awesome, just had Amezega kinda get lucky and tie the game up with a homerun.  So can we do it?  David Wright walks.  Beltran singles.  After an Easley strike out, the unlikely hero, Fernando Tatis won the game with a double into the left field corner.  What a game.

A really awesome game, and I had a great feeling the whole time about this one, and I have no idea why.  Great job by the bullpen, great job by the offense finally showing some guts and some fight, and great way to not quit.

You gotta love it, this is what we need.  I feel good right now, all of us should feel good right now, and based on that celebration, I know the Mets feel damn good right now.

WOOO! METS WIN!

Let’s Keep it Rolling

The Mets look to take the final game of this three game series against the NL East leading Marlins.  With another lefty going for the Marlins, Scott Olson, Willie Randolph will send out the same lineup that found the Mets a victory last night.  So yes, Carlos Delgado is once again on the bench.

It’s a big night for Oliver Perez who needs to be on top of his game.  It’s a must for him to pitch the way he did against the Yankees on that Sunday night.  Everyone within the Mets would be able to let out a big sigh of relief with a victory tonight, because the focus has to get back onto winning series.

The Mets need to focus on the task at hand, which is tonight’s game.  That means no thinking “hey we played great last night”.  Worry about Scott Olson and the Marlins tonight and just take care of business.

This is worth a note, as Jay Horwitz, the Mets PR guy, is wearing his orange suit jacket.  He was talked into wearing the jacket last night and the Mets won, so maybe we’ve found our good luck charm.

Let’s get it done tonight, Ollie.  Enjoy the game everyone.

LET’S GO METS! 

Early Afternoon Notes

Well it’s nice to be waking up the night after a victory.  It’s been a rarity lately.  So with the heat being off the Mets for at least a few more hours, I have a few notes to pass along on this Wednesday.

Pedro Martinez will make a rehab start in Single-A Port St. Lucie tonight.  If all goes well Pedro expects to rejoin the Mets in San Francisco in order to start Tuesday night.

If you missed it, Matt Wise is back on the 15-day DL, leading to Carlos Muniz getting the call once again.  There was some speculation that Aaron Heilman may be sent down to Triple-A, but with Wise on the DL that seems unlikely now.

Ryan Church fortunately has no brain damage, as results came back negative from his visit with a neurologist yesterday.  However it is still unknown as to when Church will be OK to play.

Marlon Anderson, who was placed on the 15-day DL over the weekend after injuring his hamstring, turns out to have a torn hamstring.  Anderson says he can walk now but cannot run.

The Mets currently aren’t getting much love on the NL All-Star ballot, as no Met is in the lead at their respective position as of today.  I have a good feeling this is because of the large amount of frustrated fans in the first two months of the season.  Maybe things will change.

This team is better

If you take the last 162 games the Mets have played, they are 79-83, four games worse than they were in Willie Randolph’s first year as manager.  Mets fans have been stumbling all over the place in search of answers the last few weeks, trying to figure out why this team is struggling so much.  It makes no sense at all that a team that is built around the same core that was so dominant in 2006 and very successful through 130 games last season is basically lousy this season.

Maybe the wrong moves were made after the collapse.  Maybe they shouldn’t of counted on Carlos Delgado bouncing back or Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez and Pedro Martinez staying healthy.  Maybe they shouldn’t of resigned Luis Castillo, who clearly was a player on the decline.  You can go so many ways about, but truthfully, and I don’t know how many Mets fans agree with me, this team is WAY better than this.

I know the old saying is you are as good as your record shows, but I think you’d be foolish to think this team is not good.  They are absolutely underachieving, and I think it’s quite clear that this team gives up.  Last night was a great example as the final 15 hitters were sat down by relievers who I would in no way label “unhittable”.

There’s a lot wrong with this team, and eventually things are gonna have to be shaken up.  Because things can not continue to go the way they are.  Bench Castillo, maybe even release Delgado- do something!  This formula is only equaling disaster, and it cannot continue.

I know Mets fans are basically saying “can it get any worse than this?” pretty much every day, and are painfully learning it can.  So I won’t sit here and say tonight’s the night, because it’s gonna take a lot more than one night.

I am a super-positive fan, the ultimate Mets optimist.  I bring myself all the way from Jersey to Shea on more than occasion and spend every inning of this team either in front of a TV or with a radio by my side.  And if I have something to do, I have my VCR set, no question.  My point is that at a time when I’ve run out of good things to say about this team, you know it’s bad.  But, we gotta remember, we do not turn on our team, no matter how tired of things we get.  Be there tonight, be in support of Johan and the Mets and let’s try to get the ball rolling.  I know when 7:10 comes I’ll be plugged into Mets baseball, so no body better be jumping ship yet.  Because after all,  ya gotta believe.

Same Old Song

A day you thought would’ve been perfect for the Mets to start a turnaround turned out to be just a typical day in the 2008 story.  The Mets lost 7 to 3 the night after Willie Randolph received a temporary vote of confidence from the front office.

What can you say at this point?  It started out awful with the Jose Reyes error, ultimately leading to two runs in the first.  But then it seemed like the Mets woke up.  Reyes homered and they added a few more hits after that and we had a tied game.  The in the second Reyes homered again and all of a sudden the Mets were in the lead.  From there, all you had to do was drop in your seat and say “here we go again”.

Mike Pelfrey struggled with two outs in the fourth and once you blinked the Marlins were up 6 to 3.  The Mets got the tying run to the play in the fifth with two on and none out, but from there the next 15 hitters were sat down and the game simply came to an end, once again on the losing side.

I’m out of comments.  I know that all this team needs is a big, dramatic, comeback win, but I knew it wasn’t gonna happen tonight.  They only have one win when trailing after six innings.  Pathetic.

Then things got even worse once the fans started chanting “Fire Willie” and strongly booing Carlos Delgado.  It was an overall ugly night at Shea Stadium, and it seems like nothing has changed in the last week now.

Things are going bad, and I don’t know how they can be fixed.  This isn’t Willie’s fault, and if you’ve watched any of these last eight games closely, you know it’s not Willie’s fault.  These guys taking the field need to take a good, long look at themselves and need to realize they need to start playing at a different.  Then, and only then, will this team turn things around.

It’s been painful, Mets fans, but just hang on.  After all, that’s why we’re fans.

Let’s See a Pulse

Maybe, just maybe, the dramatic episode has come to a close.  The meeting is over and Willie Randolph is still the manager of the New York Mets.

Now what’s next?

Well for starters it’s the Florida Marlins followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers on a seven-game home stand.  Tonight will be Mike Pelfrey against Ricky Nolasco, a guy who’s career ERA is over 10 against the Mets.  With all that’s happened in the last 10 days, if this team can’t be inspired tonight, then I don’t what would do the trick.

Let me take you back to exactly 10 days ago.  The Mets were about to send Claudio Vargas to the mound in his Mets debut against the Nationals.  At this point, it was still very possible for the Mets to go 5-2 on that home stand, and you were just hoping Vargas could do a decent job.  It was wasted, only to be capped off with Aaron Heilman having a disturbing outing that night.  Since then everything has seemingly gone down hill, when that night it really wasn’t that bad.  Now maybe today, 10 days later, with the press conference complete, we can move forward and away.  Because as easily as a bad stretch comes, a good stretch can come.  And if the next 10 days are a complete 180 from the last 10, then I think the Orange and Blue life is a little better.

I have a good feeling that this team will come out playing well tonight.  I would hope they feel a bit of a burden is off their back now that Willie’s job status seems clear for now, but they still need to get the burden of not playing well off their back.

I just hope the fans come out in support of their team and in support of their manager tonight.  Times have been bad, but maybe we should all try and move forward right now.  I’m listening to Willie Randolph on WFAN right now and he seems very upbeat and very optimistic.  That’s the type of inspiring play I want to see from the Mets tonight.

LET’S GO METS!

Judgement Day Awaits Willie

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The Mets are headed back home with things having gotten a whole lot worse since they left
back on the 15th (remember the 1-0 loss?).  A dreadful 3-6 road trip, which started out 2-0, ended dropping two out of three to the Colorado Rockies, who hold the second worst record in the league, and practically fielded a Triple-A lineup this afternoon.  The Mets will take the field tomorrow night at Shea Stadium at 23-25.  But more importantly, the Mets may take the field without Willie Randolph, as a morning meeting with the Wilpons awaits him.

The week started with his comments, while maybe a little stupid, not really an issue in my mind (which is why I haven’t commented on it).  The team in no way helped out their manager after that, dropping four disgusting games to the Braves and then playing a pathetic series against the Rockies.

Thankfully the Mets pulled out a win on Saturday, because this series was as ugly as the Braves.  Friday’s 13-inning loss had a lot of sting to it.  I don’t blame Billy Wagner, he was gonna give one up eventually, it was just bad timing.  But man, this team had so many opportunities that night and took advantage of none.  And then today was basically the script I’ve seen too many times, which is John Maine’s doing fine and the moment he gets the grounder he needs for a double play, it gets right by the one and only Jose Reyes.  Unbelievable.

I don’t wanna say what will happen.  It’s a hell of a thing to predict a manager’s firing on Memorial Day.  But if it happens, I won’t be surprised.  I’m not saying it’s the right or wrong move, but I won’t be surprised if this is the case come around 3 PM tomorrow.

I really think Willie has shown to be a good manager, I just feel that everything is falling around him.  He may pay the price, and it’ll be a shame.  Now some may say I’m crazy for thinking he’s done good things here, but he really has.  Think back to 2006, when Pedro, El Duque and Cliff Floyd all went down with injuries and then Steve Trachsel was unprepared for the postseason.  Willie still made things work, and give him a ton of credit for rolling the dice with Maine and Ollie and finding away to make this team stay upbeat at that time.  But now it’s like he’s lost everyone but Wright and Wagner, and I’ll include Ryan Church and Brian Schneider, but they’ve only been here seven weeks.  It’s troubling as a fan to watch a team with so much talent just practically give up.

I don’t know what tomorrow holds.  I hope Willie doesn’t get fired, but I also hope the front office finds away to fix this.  Something has to be done, because obviously things cannot continue the way they are.

I wish I could elaborate more, but after this road trip I am mentally shot as a Mets fan.  Tomorrow morning I’ll have some good things, especially after everything will Willie and the Wilpons goes down.

Happy Memorial Day.

Let it Come to Us

I’ve been purposely inactive since last night’s game on the blog, and basically as a fan in general.

He’s the reality of it; last night sucked. When the game ended, I was in a horrible mood. Not just about the Mets, but it for some reason really crippled me living my own life last night. I just felt dejected. So today, I decided I need a day away.

Truth be told, everyone is starting to over-think all of this. The front office, the coaches, the players, the media and even the fans. Yes, the Mets are playing terrible baseball and that was a pitiful display at Turner Field. But too much thought is being put into turning things around and how to go about it. It’s simple, go win. It could be a perfect win or a sloppy win, it goes down as one in the W column. So enough with the extra thoughts. That’s why I needed a day away. I haven’t read a paper or listened to a thing of talk radio. We need to try and relax. And by we I mean everyone linked to the New York Mets.

I have one comment to make for tonight’s game out in Colorado…

Let’s Go Mets!

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