Mon 21 Jul 2008
So the on field part of my baseball season is over after our LL All Stars lost an elimination game last night 6-1. The lack of hitting was a problem ( my son was robbed of an extra base hit that would have drove in two runs on a running one handed catch by the opposition left fielder) but the biggest flaw of our team was defense and the lack of fundamentals that had us fighting from behind early in both games. Oh well. Now I can put all my time and energy into the Mets run to the post season and working with my son on strengthening his arm to pitch next season.
A spilt with the Reds on the road is ok as the Mets ended the week in a tie for first place and that sets up a big three gamer with the Cheesesteakers at Shea. Every thing is setting up nicely for the Mets as we are in the middle of a NYC heat wave (you know your in the middle of summer in the City when the urine smell at the 14 th Street stop of the 2 and 3 train is so strong you check the front of your pants to make sure it’s not you causing this stink) as the start of the series begins with Johan Santana on the mound. Santana has pitched very well against the Phillies this season with a win and a no decision (that 4th of July game that we have gone over ad nauseum) with only Chase Utley (2-7 .286 1 HR) and Pat Burrell (2-7 .286) doing any kind of hitting against him. Joe Blanton will make his Phillies debut and the one Met who has success against him won’t be in the line up. Gimp Castillo is 7-14 against the plow horse Blanton.
So Billy Wagner is going for an MRI this morning and the Mets tell us to move along nothing to see here. If that MRI shows something that shuts Wagner down who takes over as the closer? Dirty? Heilman?, Eddie Kunz? Oy Vey!
The biggest reason for the Mets turnaround has been the born again slugger Carlos Delgado. Who saw this coming? On June 21 Delgado was pulling down the offense hitting (if you want to call it that) at .241/.315/.417/.732 and I was ready for the Mets to eat his contract and dump his sorry ass. Well, one month later Delgado has been on a tear bring his stats up .261/.343/.472..815. The twenty point rise in batting average is very good as is the jump in OBP but the biggest spike was in slugging of .55 which shows that not only has Delgado regain his stroke but he is hitting with power. A lot of the improvement stems from Delgado laying off that inside pitch that he couldn’t collapse his back elbow on to hit the other way. He now recognizes that pitch and lets it go for a ball and helping him get into hitters counts. As great as the resurgence has been the Mets still could use a righty bat to spell Delgado against lefties.
Why do we need Marlon Anderson anymore?
Every time I hear the name of Reds pitching coach, Dick Pole, I laugh because (a) I’m an idiot and (b) it reminds me of a kid I went to grammar school with whose name was Lewis Lipschitz. Every time the teacher would call out the attendance and said “Lewis Lipschitz” we would all laugh and say “Lipschitz? What’s your ass do whistle?” I still laugh at that. I guess I need to grow up.
Howard Megdal has a fine column today in the New York Observer on the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Mets top three draft picks RHP Brad Holt, 1B Ike Davis and INF Reese Havens. Megdal goes in to detail on Holt’s performance and I agree 100 % that Holt will be on a fast track through the organizations farm system
July 21st, 2008 at 10:58 am
Here is what worries me about the series with the Reds: They are one of the worst teams in baseball and if you think about it, we could have very easily been swept in a 4 game series by them. They won 2 easily. We won 2 also but one was a 9th inning comeback and the other was in extra innings so we could have easily been swept by them. That is scary. You may argue that the good teams win those games (the comeback and the extra innings) and I will agree with you BUT we still could have been swept.
And I agree with you on Wagner. If he is shutdown for any period of time, we may be in real trouble. Unless Kunz is 3-0 with 15 saves and a 1.53 (or something like that) I don’t see bringing him up and putting all that pressure on him to fill Wagner’s shoes in a newly created pennant race. You have to go with one of the guys we have now and that is the scary thought! Would be nice to trade for that lefty from Colorado but I know we have nothing to trade with.
Sorry to hear about your all star team too! You said the defense hurt you and I’m sure it did but it sounds more like your offense hurt you more - 2 runs total in 2 games was it? They must have been watching too much of the mets from the first 2.5 months of the season!
July 21st, 2008 at 11:05 am
Delgado’s resurgence coincides with the change of manager, the J-Gangsta tenure.
And the re-emergence of José Reyes as a major force has been during the same month.
The Mets winning games that they trailed after 6 innings, and even after 8, also coincides with the post-Willie period.
And more hustle and grit and wins, despite all the same injuries and age and so forth.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am
When we first got Manuel as bench coach I was excited because I remember reading a great article about him in Sports Illustrated when he won manager of the year back in 2000 or 2001. I would also agree that this is a different team under him. Lets hope we can keep it up and knock the Phils out. The only thing that would be a real set back would be getting swept.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
you know who “saw” Delgado boosting his numbers coming? My co-worker. And dammit he will not shut up about it now. Of course he’s still talking nonsense like giving Delgado a 4 year contract after this season.
Why DO we need Marlon Anderson?
July 21st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Giving Delgado a 4 year contract would be as ludacris as giving, say, Luis Castillo a 4 year contract - Nobody in their right mind would do that…oh wait, nevermind
July 21st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Anderson is a solid, lefty bat off the bench. His numbers aren’t so good this year, but as a veteran he knows what to do. He can also play 1B in a pinch. The problem is he is not an OF and he looks bad out there. So, let’s keep him in a role where he has been successful, and stop using him out of position. What’s the alternative (assuming Endy plays a fair amount of OF for the rest of the year)?
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 am
Marlon Anderson has been a big help the past few years…but is he done or just out of sync this season? He may yet step up for us this year. But his role is off the bench, and an occasional fill-in start; and the same goes for Endy, Tatis, Easley, Evans, and Argenis Reyes…
The problem we have is that fully three regular positions are regularly not being filled by regulars. For now the Gangsta is working his magic, but I don’t think these bench guys can keep on performing like this all the way to October. Take Easley - he is 38…if he is our day-to-day 2B, his joints are gonna wear down. It seems that Omar needs to go get us at least one outfielder, and not Barry Bonds, please.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:53 am
Speaking of Anderson, at the Mets web page, there is a positive piece on how he stepped up back in June, after the loss of 4 straight to the Padres, and challenged the team to get to the post-season.
Here is the link:
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080721&content_id=3166624&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 am
Marlon did his chart on “the road to 92 wins”. He is a leader, and David is right, he is best when coming off the bench, like the rest of the subs. Hopefully, Omar does not give up what we have left to get a fill-in starter. Let us NEVER forget that this is the man who got Bartolo Colon for Brandon Philips, Grady Sizemore, and Cliff Lee. That does not get a lot of air, and people talk about Ryan for Fergosi, but that move by Omar may be the worst in history. I do not trust that guy as far as I can throw him, bottom line.