Blogging Mets

It’s the Mets, sitting atop the National League East, a half game ahead of the Phillies. If this recent surge is a mirage, then this might be the only chance I get to write this. But if the Mets are for real, this is something we could get used to.

What a difference a week makes. The Mets are the hottest team in the league right now, winners of their last six games, and are 8-1 on the homestand. The Mets travel to Philly this weekend for a series that is suddenly important, one of those early-season series that could set the tone for the Mets-Phillies rivalry for the rest of the season. You know those series — the ones the Braves used to win all the time against the Mets. 

Except for Oliver Perez, the Mets were brilliant in their doubleheader sweep of the Dodgers. Perhaps the biggest revelation was David Wright. He looked like the Wright of old in the second game, driving the ball to right field with authority — the type of hitting that was absent all of last season. If he can keep this up, and if Bay continues to hit, the Mets will be tough to beat.

When everyone was saying it was imperative that the Mets get off to a fast start, Jerry Manuel downplayed that, saying “let’s see where we are after 20 games.” Well, if it weren’t for Monday’s rainout, we’d be at 20 games right now. Win or lose the first game the doubleheader with the Dodgers, the Mets will be either 10-10 or 11-9 after 20 games — pretty much the same.

And pretty much a .500 team. Who thought we’d be saying that as recently as a week ago? They were 4-8, and struggling in all facets of the game. But after a 6-1 run in which the offense picked it up, but still not running on all cylinders, and the pitching looked great, the Mets are back in the thick of things.

Ike Davis’ call-up and Jose Reyes being moved to third in the batting order played  major roles in the mini-resurgence. This was the lineup before the moves:

Reyes
Castillo
Wright
Jacobs
Bay
Francoeur
Pagan
Barajas
Pitcher

Not a particularly threatening lineup, especially with 3-4-5 not hitting. This is the current lineup:

Pagan
Castillo
Reyes
Bay
Wright
Davis
Francoeur
Barajas
Pitcher

Pagan is much better utilized in this lineup, as is Reyes’ power. Bay is seeing more fastballs with Reyes on base, and it is helping Bay break out of his slump. Wright is still struggling, as is Francoeur lately, but having Davis in the middle adds another threat that wasn’t there before. When everyone starts hitting like they should, there are no easy outs in this lineup.

The starting pitching has been a pleasant surprise. Johan Santana is pitching like Johan Santana, so no surprise there. But Mike Pelfrey?! Where did that come from? He looks so much more confident on the mound. Jon Niese has been good. Oliver Perez hasn’t been awful. Only John Maine is stinking up the joint — not bad considering four of the five starters were question marks.

The bullpen has been excellent. But it is already overworked after 19 games. The starters need to regularly pitch at least seven inninsg to give the bullpen some rest. If not, it’s going to be another ugly September.

So at Manuel’s almost 20 games point, the Mets are not in terrible shape. There are still improvements to be made, but overall, things are okay. Things could be far worse — we saw that over the first 12 games. We don’t want to see it again.

I just read a book with the unfortunately long title of “Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball From Itself” by Michael Shaprio that is a must-read for Mets fans. While the book does not talk about the team hardly at all, it does tell the story of what led to the creation of the New York Mets.

The basic story is a familiar one that every self-respecting Mets fan should know: After the Dodgers and Giants left town for greener pastures out West, New York went to work finding another National League team. Some lawyer named Bill Shea was tasked with the job. When he failed to lure an exisiting team to town, Shea dreamed up the idea of a new league — the Continental League — to compete with the NL and AL, which of course would have its flagship franchise in New York, in a new stadium in Flushing Meadows. The leagues got scared, and agreed to expand — two new teams each, with of course one of the NL teams in New York.

End of story, although that’s what I always thought. I thought the Continental League was just an idle threat. Turns out it was much more than that, and that’s what this fine book is all about. The planning for the league went on for years, with former Dodgers GM Branch Rickey joining Shea to spearhead the work. An old, ”reluctant” Rickey was even set to become league president.

The one hitch in the plan was that Rickey didn’t want to go it alone. He didn’t want to be a “renegade” league that would challenge the established leagues. He knew that would be a suicide mission. Instead, Rickey wanted the NL and AL to cooperate, and for the Continental League to be a third major league. There were even vague plans for a three-way round robin World Series.

The leagues strung Rickey and Shea (left, in his namesake stadium) along, but it appears they never had any intention of going along with the plan. But the planners trudged onward, lining up owners in eight cities — New York, Houston, Minnesota, Buffalo, Denver, Toronto, Atlanta and Dallas.

Finally, when push came to shove, the NL and AL agreed to expand to make the threat of the Continental League go away. One problem was that while the leagues said they would try to accomodate half of the prospective Continental owners and cities, it was not written in stone. The NL did the right thing, admitting New York and Houston. But the AL, which was far more adamant against the new league all along, screwed them over. Yes, Minnesota was given a team, but that was a transfer from Washington. The new Washington Senators had an owner picked by the AL. The second expansion team was the Los Angeles Angels, which was never part of the Continental League planning.

The one issue I have with the book is the Casey Stengel part of the title. Mixed in with chapters about the Continental League is the story of Stengel’s final years with the Yankees. It had absolutely nothing to do with the formation of the new league, and just felt out of place. The story of the Continental League is good enough to merit its own book.

But all in all, an excellent read — a story all Mets fan should know.

I refuse to finish the headline. Every headline in the newspapers tomorrow will be some kind of version of “We Like Ike.” He’s only been on the team for a day, and it’s already a cliche. But the truth is, we do like Ike Davis, at least so far. We Mets fans are a fickle bunch.

In his much anticipated major league debut, Davis went 2-for-4 with an RBI. He looked good at the plate and around first base. Davis is just what the Mets needed after suffering through the weak Mike Jacobs-Fernando Tatis combo for the first two weeks of the season.

The Mets say Davis will play every day, which means Tatis will see very little playing time, other than pinch hitting duty in which he will invariably ground into a double play. That was $850,000 well spent.

It was a good game all around. Jon Niese pitched well enough to win, allowing just an unearned run. But he only lasted 5+ innings — he needs to stretch it out. Jason Bay took a step towards ending his slump, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Angel Pagan slammed a two-run tie-breaking home run. And Jenrry Mejia pitched two scoreless innings. Oh yeah, the Mets won 6-1.

One possible troubling development — Jose Reyes asked for the night off. He said he was tired after playing all 20 innings Saturday then playing Sunday night’s game. After missing spring training and most of last year, it’s understandable that Reyes would be tired and not be in his usual shape. But this is a guy who refused to take a day off, fighting with then-new manager Jerry Manuel on the field when Manuel tried to take him out of a game because of a possible injury. I just hope Reyes is all right, and will soon be back to his energetic self. The Mets offense is lackluster at best when Reyes is not on his game.

But all in all, a fine victory, and a much needed great start for Ike Davis.

The Mets have designated the struggling Mike Jacobs for assignment, and according to a report in the New York Post, the Mets are getting ready to bring up Ike Davis (left). The story says a major league source claims Davis will be in Flushing sometime over the next couple of days. Davis hasn’t stopped hitting since tearing up spring training, with 2 homers, 4 RBIs and a .364 batting average in  Buffalo. In contrast, Jacobs was hitting .208 with a homer and 2 RBIs.

If Davis can hit like he did down in Port St. Lucie, Daniel Murphy is out of a job. It’s too bad for Murphy, who apparently isn’t even close to being ready to return, anyway.

*****

 I knew Sunday night’s game was going to be trouble when Frank Catalanotto was announced as the cleanup hitter. That’s never a good sign. A team with a starting lineup including Catalanotto, Alex Cora and Gary Matthews, Jr. is not going to win a lot of games.

Speaking of Sunday, how about John Maine’s pitiful performance? It wasn’t bad enough that he coughed up a three run lead. No, the worst part was that he only lasted five innings. The Mets desperately needed him to go at least seven innings following Saturday’s marathon that saw the entire bullpen used. But in his typical fashion, Maine struggled throughout, and was done by the time Cory Rasmus hit the game-tying three run homer in the 5th. My guess is Maine will be given one more start. And if he fails again, he’s done.

Why couldn’t Maine rise to the occasion like Adam Wainwright did for te Cards, going all the way for a complete game, allowing his bullpen to rest?

On the other hand, a big round of applause to Tobi Stoner for bailing the bullpen out. Called up from Buffalo Sunday exactly for this situation, Stoner pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in relief. He ended up taking the loss because the runner who scored on Ryan Ludwick’s two-run homer off Ryota Igarashi was his responsibility. However, Stoner looked pretty good, and could be one of the guys considered for Maine’s spot in the rotation, along with Pat Misch and maybe even Dillon Gee.

*****

I wish I could write a nice long column about Saturday’s epic 20 inning game against the Cardinals. But I can’t because I couldn’t see it. Here in Los Angeles, we usually get West Coast teams as Fox’s national game. So I was left following along on ESPN. Very frustrating. But still, I’ll take missing an occasional Mets game in exchange for missing all of the blizzards and rain and hail and muck and mire of New York while I lounge at the pool on a beautiful sunny day in January in LA. Not to rub it in or anything.

How cool it must be for a guy like Albert Pujols. He just began his 10th season in the major leagues — the minimum to be considered for the Hall of Fame. Even if his career ended tomorrow, he would be a lock to get in. Hopefully it won’t end anytime soon, so he now gets to play the next 10 years or so as a sure-fire HOFer. It must be a nice feeling. That got me thinking about players in the league today whom we might see in Cooperstown some day. I only took into account players who are signed for this season, so guys like Pedro Martinez, Gary Sheffield and John Smoltz were not considered. Here’s what I came up with. I welcome your comments:

Locks — players with 10+ seasons who are no-doubt-about-it first ballot Hall of Famers

Ken Griffey, Jr.
Vladimir Guerrero
Roy Halladay

Todd Helton
Trevor Hoffman
Derek Jeter

Chipper Jones
Albert Pujols
Mariano Rivera

Johan Santana
Ichiro Suzuki
Jim Thome (Yes, I forgot him. Thanks readers!)
Omar Vizquel

Steroids — most would be locks, but their implication with PEDs will hamper their candidacies

Jason Giambi
David Ortiz
Andy Pettitte
Manny Ramirez

Alex Rodriguez
Ivan Rodriguez
Miguel Tejada

On the Bubble — players with 10+ seasons who need a few more big seasons to garner serious consideration

Carlos Beltran
Lance Berkman
Mark Buehrle
Adam Dunn
Andruw Jones

Carlos Lee
Magglio Ordonez
Roy Oswalt
Aramis Ramirez
CC Sabathia

Alfonso Soriano
Billy Wagner
Michael Young
Carlos Zambrano

Falls Short — players with 10+ seasons nearing the end of their careers who will get consideration, but just won’t make it

Bobby Abreu
Garret Anderson
Johnny Damon
Jim Edmonds

Troy Glaus
Torii Hunter
Raul Ibanez
Derrick Lee

Jamie Moyer
Jorge Posada
Edgar Renteria
Scott Rolen

On Their Way — still early, but players with fewer than 10 seasons who appear to be Hall possibilities

Ryan Braun
Miguel Cabrera
Carl Crawford
Prince Fielder

Adrian Gonzalez
Matt Holliday
Ryan Howard
Cliff Lee

Jon Lester
Tim Lincecum
Evan Longoria
Joe Mauer

Justin Morneau
Jonathan Papelbon
Jake Peavy
Hanley Ramirez

Jose Reyes
Francisco Rodriguez
Jimmy Rollins
Mark Teixeira

Chase Utley
Justin Verlander
Jered Weaver
Brandon Webb

David Wright
Ryan Zimmerman

It was all set up for the fast start the Mets desperately needed. They were opening their season with a six-game homestand against two lousy teams (I don’t care what anybody says, the Marlins are not good). Ace Johan Santana would pitch two of those games. Jose Reyes would be back for the last two against the Nationals. A 4-2 record, at least, was virtually guaranteed. The bad feelings from last season would begin to melt away. Instead, they are 2-4, and those feelings are starting to harden.

Now the Mets head out for a six-game road trip against two very good teams — the Rockies are loaded with young talent, and the Cardinals are the second best team in the league behind the Phillies. When it’s all over, a 4-8 record is a very real possibility. That fast start? — wait until next year.

You could make the argument the Mets were inches away from a 4-2 record, but that is just grasping at straws. They did lose one game to the Marlins in extra innings, but their bullpen virtually gave the game to the Mets. The comeback from a 6-1 deficit, while exciting, was not a test of the Mets strength. And they lost one game to the Nationals because of that great catch by stupid Willie Harris.

The starting pitching performed pretty much as expected. John Maine and Oliver Perez were disappointing,  Jon Niese and Mike Pelfrey showed some promise, and Johan Santana had one good start (and one bad one, but we’ll forget about that).

The offense struggled. Jeff Francoeur and Rod Barajas are hitting well, and David Wright and Jason Bay are doing okay. Mike Jacobs and Gary Matthews, Jr. pretty much stink. Speaking of Matthews, it’s kind of surprising how much playing time he is getting. Angel Pagan should be in the lineup more.

The bullpen has been a bright spot. Everyone is doing well, and Sean Green is on the disabled list.

Now that ownership has corrected the off-the-field mistakes at Citi Field, it’s time to make changes on the field. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for players to absolutely crush a ball (Wright’s shot off of that asinine high wall in left, Francoeur hitting the wall in deep right on the fly) and not get a homer. But we can all say how frustrating it is for us fans. It’s disheartening to watch the Mets offense sputter when we all know a reasonably designed park would result in more runs. I’m not saying Citi Field should be a bandbox where a pop fly turns into a homer, like Citizens Bank Park and the new Yankee Stadium (although the tenants of those parks were both in the World Series last year. Just sayin’.). But it needs at least be fair, like Shea was. This is one problem we will have to live with all season.

The season is only six games old, so there’s no need to worry just yet. But if this first week turns into a microcosm of the entire season, it will be a long one indeed.

Game two of the 2010 season was actually a second Opening Day of sorts — the day the rest of the Mets rotation, the guys NOT named Santana, gets down to work. And to the surprise of no one except Omar Minaya, it did not go well. The Mets lost 7-6 in 10 innings. They fought back from a 6-1 deficit, thanks mostly to the ineptitude of the Marlin’s bullpen, but the rally fell short in the end.

John Maine looked awful, lasting only five innings, letting up four runs. He didn’t seem to have command of his fastball, which topped out at 90 mph, but usually was sitting around 88. He was a lower 90s guy before his shoulder problems. Maine labored through his first start, throwing 92 pitches in those five unspectacular innings.

Maine repeated a pattern that appears to be common for him, Pelfrey and Perez — not pitching deep into games. These guys are all younger than 30. They should be able to pitch seven innings. If the past is any indicator, the Mets bullpen will burn out yet again late in the season. Perhaps that’s why they have two long guys in the pen — Fernando Nieve and Hisanori Takahashi.  I’ll bet they’re both going to have plenty of games where they pitch two, three, even four innings.

Jenrry Mejia (whose name is apparently spelled with two r’s — I’ve been spelling it with one. Sorry. I’ve got to go back and fix those.) made his hotly anticipated debut, and it was disappointing. In his one inning he let up one run and three hits. His fastball reached 97, but it didn’t seem to have much movement. I didn’t see the “Mariano Rivera” cutter, either.

Takahashi also made his Mets debut. Also a disappointment — he was the losing pitcher, allowing the winning run in the tenth.

Sean Green was lousy as usual, allowing a home run in his one inning. I’ll ask again — why is this stiff on the team while Bobby Parnell wastes away in Buffalo?

Offensively, the Mets let a huge chance slip through their fingers in the 7th. Down 6-1, the Mets rallied for two runs, and had the bases loaded with two outs and David Wright up. The first pitch to Wright was a wild one, hitting catcher John Baker’s glove and heading for the backstop. Fernando Tatis raced down the line towards the plate. But Baker did a good job of getting to it and getting rid of it, nailing Tatis at the plate. Although it was a fine play by Baker, Tatis has to make sure he scores on that, especially with Wright at the plate.

Tatis did get some redemption, however, an inning later. With the bases loaded, two outs and the Mets down 6-4, Tatis drew a walk to make it 6-5. Then Leo Nunez was called for a mysterious balk to tie the game at 6.

Then there was a curious decision in the 9th. With two outs, Wright on first and Jason Bay up, Wright stole second. The Marlins promptly walked Bay. Gary Matthews, Jr. then grounded out to end the inning. You’d always choose to have a runner at second rather than at first, but what situation would you rather have — Wright at first, with Bay (whom you’re paying $66 million to come through in these situations) at the plate, or first and second with Matthews at bat? Gary Cohen asked the question as Bay stepped to the plate, and Keith Hernandez said Wright should stay put, and give Bay a chance. Hernandez was conspicuously and uncharacteristically silent after it all went down.

So the euphoria of Opening Day is over. The Mets lose 7-6, but it’s still early. Why do I think I’ll be saying that a lot this season?

If you’re a baseball fan, then today is perhaps the best day of the year (to go along with anniversaries, kids’ birthdays and the first nice Saturday of spring when women who are anxious to shed those winter clothes walk around the city wearing tank tops) — Opening Day of the season.  It’s a bitterwsweet day for Mets fans — while we start 2010 with a clean slate, the hangover from last season (actually, the last three seasons) stays with us.

The Mets needed to do several things today to begin the healing process, and remarkably, they did them all. It’s only one game, playing against a Marlins team that everyone thinks will be good, but looked horrible, so we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. But it’s always nice to get off to a good start.

Let’s start first with the cosmetic:

Citi Field looked great, on television, anyway. The team has really Mets-ified the place. The old apple outside, the banners of players on lightposts, and the murals on the walls really make the place feel like home of the Mets. It was a really nice touch naming the bridge in the outfield the “Shea Bridge.” And the “Mets Hall and Fame and Museum” is a brilliant idea. From what I can tell, it really celebrates the team’s history. All of these things come a year too late, but at least they’re there now.

And they fixed the bullpens, which were absolutely shameful last season. Now they are side-by-side, instead of back-to-back with the opposing relievers behind three chain link fences. When I first saw it on TV last year, I immediately thought “Guantanamo Bay.” I’m shocked no one ever mockingly called it that. And I’m surprised I didn’t in my review of Citi Field. I forgot.

I love the new uniforms. Actually, they are not new at all, but a redesign based on the old 1960s jerseys. I like the off-white rather than the starkness of the usual home whites. Perhaps the Mets will wear these more often, so we will see less of the black uniforms. Those never made sense to me — black has never been a Mets color. They’ve been around for a while now, but the black still doesn’t seem right.

Now to the game:

David Wright needed to put last season’s power outage behind him. The best way to do that would be to hit a home run in the first game. He did it in his first at bat. With that one swing, he made everyone forget he only hit 10 homers last year. Wright looked like the Wright of old — driving the ball, looking more balanced at the plate than he did last season.

Johan Santana is our only reliable starter, but he was coming off elbow surgery and missed the last month of the season. We don’t need him to be a question mark as well, and he showed that he won’t — pitching six innings, and allowing just one run.

Jason Bay needed to get off to a quick start to prove to some skeptical media members and fans that he was worth the $66 million the Mets gave him. He went 2-for-4, showing some major hustle with a triple, and showing a strong arm with a solid throw that nearly nailed a runner at second.

Other newbies Gary Matthews, Jr. and Rod Barajas had two hits a piece, and the bullpen threw three scoreless innings.

And most importantly, the Mets won, 7-1. I know it’s only the first game, but each game the Mets win puts last season farther in the rear view mirror. That is something the Mets and their beleagured fan base need right now.

By the way, I predict an 84-78 record for the Mets this season, and with not that many teams substantially better than the Mets in the National League, they will compete for the wild card berth. I still have no faith in Maine-Pelfrey-Perez, but I think the offense will be good enough to win a lot of 9-8 games.