Roll With the Punches

Here it is a holiday weekend, a fun 3-day weekend, Memorial Day weekend. If there’s a better 3-day weekend, I don’t know about it. The opening of the NJ Shore season, better weather ahead, memories of fun times, games and barbecues…what could be better than that?

And there’s baseball of course, even if you’re a Mets fan. I’m now watching the Mets-Phillies Sunday game and the Mets are helping me feel even better about the weekend. They have jumped off to a 4-run lead in this one, Niese seems to be cruising along, and, at least right now, it seems the Mets are all making pretty good contact with the ball.

Beltran just crushed a 380 foot double to left center and, despite all the troubles with the rest of the lineup, Beltran has been like a rock all season, him and Reyes, and it’s sadly ironic that those are two guys who won’t be Mets next year.

Now Bay and Murphy have followed with hits and it looks as if the Phillies Worley will be finished soon. Wow! Amazing! Now Pagan has stroked a liner to right, scoring Beltran and Bay and it looks as if a rout is on. It’s 6-0 and even these Mets will have trouble giving this game back.

Now it’s 8-zip, even Josh Thole having contributed to another 4-run inning, and the Mets cup runneth over. It’s about time. Since their opening win against the Yanks, it’s been lose 3, win 1, and lately even the relief staff has faltered. Since Wright and Davis have both been on the DL, it’s been the bizarro world in Metsland.

As the prospects for Wright’s and Davis’s return soon aren’t that good, it looks as if we’ll be seeing a lot more of these rookies, and so far, at the very least, it’s certainly been instructive, if nothing else. Justin Turner has been an eye-opener. If it hadn’t been for Turner, the Mets could have lost all their games. He was an RBI machine there for a while.

Turner had become the second baseman after the failure of Brad Emaus but, when Davis and Wright went down, he had to spell Wright at third base. That opened up the second base spot for Reuben Tejada, who’s a real magician with the glove. Murphy has been spelling Davis at first base and, while he’ll never be confused with Keith Hernandez, he’s been almost passable, although Jose Reyes may disagree after having been charged with at least two errors on throws that most first basemen would have made.

At this point though, any expectations I might have had for this season have been pretty much dashed. A team can’t possibly absorb all these injuries without a negative effect. So any win will be a welcome win, and somewhat of a surprise. But this team, despite everything, continues to be entertaining, although I’m probably more easily amused than are most people.

Jonathan Niese has now gone 5 full innings and he’s just rolling along. With Dickey down with a fascia tear, and Chris Young down with a shoulder for the season, and Pelfrey being up and down, maybe it’ll be Niese we’ll soon be calling the ace of this staff. Now that’s a scary proposition.

But newbie Dillon Gee has been pretty impressive in a starting role, sporting a 3.83 ERA at present and most teams would take that kind of performance in a heartbeat, especially for a number 5 starter. As long as Capuano can keep his end up, the staff really isn’t that bad.

The relievers should bounce back after their recent letdown. And that might be the most important ingredient of all. When that part of their game was holding up, the Mets were tough down the stretch, making all the plays they needed. But, of course, the reverse was true as well.

There should be some very entertaining baseball coming starting today with Pittsburgh coming to town for four games. But the Pirates aren’t the patsies they used to be. They may indeed have more proven major-league players than our Mets.

What is the true nature of this Mets team? Are they a AAA level team with a few ringers or are they a playoff-contender level major league team with more AAA fill-ins than would be optimal? Are they the team that lost 3 for every one victory or was that the result of great pitching opponents in Philadelphia and Chicago?

A family barbecue had interrupted these inane musings and now it’s Tuesday. The Mets won their finale against the Phillies and they beat the Pirates in their opening game. They did it without Jose Reyes and without Jason Bay. They banged out a zillion singles and just one double while Dillon Gee, Isringhausen and K-Rod limited the Pirates to 3 runs.

What does that mean though? The opposing pitcher was one Charlie Morton. The Pirates have been the perennial National League doormat. Their current 24-28 record is better than they’ve been in a dog’s age.

Willie Harris batted leadoff and played third base. Daniel Murphy batted cleanup. Pridie played left field and Tejada was at shortstop for Reyes. The amazing Justin Turner moved back to second base. It would be easier to laugh outloud at that lineup if they hadn’t promptly gone out and won with it.

It’s all been pretty mystifying. I don’t know what to root for anymore. Reyes will be out for a week now because of a death in his family in the Dominican Republic. Things can’t get much worse.

Even after the win last night though, I asked myself if I really enjoyed watching it. The word that best describes their success is “ephemeral”. Fans shouted for the Mets to keep Reyes the other night. Will they be able to do it?

It’s all very temporary. What you see today may not be here next week, never mind next year. Mets fans would be well-advised to roll with the punches.

Trying Their Brains Out

The kindest thing to say is that it just wasn’t meant to be. The Mets only had a puncher’s chance anyway. To take 2 of 3 from the Yankees would have been highly unlikely under the best of circumstances. And as just about every circumstance went against the Mets in Game 3, the result somehow became more palatable.

Taking the first game of the Series from the Yanks took all the pressure off the Mets, immediately ensuring that they wouldn’t be swept. So when Game 2 was lost, it wasn’t really very painful. It wasn’t that hard to figure that Chris Capuano, always vulnerable to the long ball, would be victimized somewhat while AJ Burnett would roll.

I’d say Game 3 was a typical Mike Pelfrey loss if it weren’t for the fact that he did so well for so long, pitching lights out for 6 innings. Usually he falls apart much sooner than the 7th inning. All he really did wrong in that 7th was give up a single and a walk. And, oh yeah, he hit Cervelli with a pitch to load the bases. By then, every Mets fan knew it was curtains for Mikey. The more cogent ones though knew he was done after he walked Dickerson.

Unfortunately, manager Terry Collins isn’t as smart as most Mets fans. He let Pelfrey pitch to Jeter, who promptly singled in two runs. Only then did Collins call for a reliever, after Jeter’s single tied the score at 3-3. Collins likes to give his players an opportunity to show their character. Pelfrey showed his when he nailed Cervelli. He’s really not that good with adversity.

It was interesting for a very short while thereafter. When Girardi sent the Yanks leader in home runs up to bunt the runners over to second and third, I figured the Yanks wasted an out and, if the Mets could walk Teixeira and get a ground ball from Arod, all would be right with the world. Reliever Beato had always been tough with runners in scoring position.

The ironic thing was that Beato did get his ground ball from Arod. But it was too soft, unplayably soft, and the winning run came trotting home. Even then, things might have been salvageable if Beato could have eked out a ground ball from Cano. But he couldn’t. Cano rifled a single to center and two more runs came scurrying home. Only then was it time to switch to the French Open.

What happened after all the above isn’t really important. Things got worse. Willie Harris booted a chance at third base but by then everybody had lost interest. Mets fans were left to wonder what could have been if Collins hadn’t been such an optimist with respect to Pelfrey.

But sometimes things just catch up to you. How long could the Mets keep going as if losing David Wright and Ike Davis didn’t really mean that much? How long could Justin Turner, the Mets RBI machine for the past week, keep practicing his magic? How long could the relief staff keep throwing up zeroes?

Our local heroes have a day off before traveling out to Chicago for three against the Cubbies before hosting the Phillies and then Pittsburgh. One hopes they just forget all about yesterday’s foibles. Instead, they could think about all the good things they have, because they can still win a lot of games with Justin Turner and Pridie and yes, even Willie Harris.

They just have to keep pitching well. There does seem to be enough talent there. By some miracle, R.A. Dickey’s knuckler has returned and the other starters, Gee and Niese and Capuano have been good enough so far to keep them in games. And the hitting isn’t really as bad as all the local media would have you believe, even without Davis and Wright.

You shouldn’t judge the Mets hitting off a series with the Yankees. Those relievers in the Bronx were and are pretty darned good. While the Cubbies have a couple of good ones in Marmol and Marshall, if the Mets can take and hold a lead against their starters, they may not have to face the really tough ones.

If this all sounds a little too optimistic, it shouldn’t. While these upstarts from Buffalo don’t have any reputations, they do seem to play defense and do all the other things needed to win. They’re not the Yankees but then even the Yankees aren’t really knockin’ ‘em dead.

The Yankees lineup just doesn’t seem that intimidating anymore. Arod seems to be coming on and Granderson hits the more than occasional dinger but otherwise they’ve been pretty mundane. Besides, the lineup is crazy. Having Granderson in the two spot is ridiculous. Although he did lay down a nice bunt yesterday and he does have speed, he’s really not making enough contact to be a two.

Teixeira’ not a three, Jeter’s not a one, and just about no Yankees seem to really fit in the lineup spot they find themselves in. Gardner should be the leadoff hitter with his speed and ability to take pitches. If anybody’s a three, it’s Arod and well, it’s not really my business but they are looking old to me, especially Posada but Jeter’s looking a little too creaky to me at shortstop. His error in taking a beautiful throw from Cervelli yesterday looked suspiciously to me like an old guy trying to do things only a younger guy could pull off.

And Cano looks as if his mind’s on something else more often than not. He’s not so far the wunderkind he was last year, especially in the field. Even at the plate more often than not, it looks as if he’s just not that into it.

The Mets never look complacent. The Mets are all trying their brains out. And as Beltran and Reyes are in their contract years, they’re playing for their very livelihoods. It’s a peculiar mix that just might work.

The Happy Mets Fan

Before I get distracted by one more thing, let me get started here. It’s a rainy day, second day in a row actually, and I’ve had “alls I can stands” from indoor projects that I don’t even know how to do. And I’d really like to talk about, you guessed it, the Mets.

Okay, first an overview. The Mets are about a quarter way through the season (along with everyone else) and, beginning now, nobody can still say, “it’s early” and get away with it. I mean, before you know it, it’ll be June. That’s not early. The Mets are 19-21. The Yanks are 20-18, so they’re two games back of the Yankees. That’s not too shabby.

All the hitting I expected from this team in pre-season has arrived. Reyes and Beltran are tearing up the league. Wright and Bay are doing their plodding along but still pack some punch in a lineup. Ike Davis is hurt now but had been doing his best Carlos Delgado impersonation, without the smile and the notepad.

Who am I missing? Well, let’s see, the number 2 hitter is now Justin Turner and, since he knocked in 5 runs yesterday against the Astros, I really can’t pick on him too much. Josh Thole will spell him in the number two spot against righties and that’s all good too. Both these guys make contact, a la Luis Castillo, but with more power and much better timing as to just when they poke something.

The omnipresent Daniel Murphy is all over the place on the right side of the infield, spelling Davis now but also had looked pretty darned good at second, at least, better than everybody had once thought. And he’s at least nominally productive, scoring or driving in a run about 26% of the time. This stat, one of my favorites, just totals runs and ribbies divided by at-bats. Wright’s percentage is just 28% while Reyes’s average is only 22 ½ %, surprisingly enough. Since Reyes is batting at .310 with a .831 OPS and 14 steals though, his low production percentage can only be attributed to some pretty poor production both behind and in front of him.

Overall though, the Mets are 10th in runs scored which puts them in the top third of the entire league. Their pitching has held up admirably, especially in the relief category. Statistics for the season don’t really reflect that though as their poor start has mired them at just 24th in the league in ERA. It also reflects the poor starting pitching in general balanced only by really fine relief pitching.

It surprised me to find that the team leader in strikeouts and ERA is Chris Capuano at 34 and 4.78 respectively. Pelfrey is the leader in wins but with just three to his credit. Without getting too far into it, all the starters have been relatively bad, except for Chris Young, who’ll be out for the rest of the year.

But that doesn’t deter me from being optimistic. Except for Dickey, the starters are all beginning to come around. Ask yourself which starter makes you feel that the team has no chance that day. Pelfrey, Niese, Dillon Gee, Capuano and Dickey, I’ll take that rotation any day of the week. They’re all capable of at least keeping the team in the game.

With K-Rod closing, Isringhausen setting him up and Taylor Bucholz finishing up games, the Mets hitters have been paying attention for the entire game. I don’t have the stats on it but these Mets hitters seem to get better as the game wears on. I’m beginning to think the most important component of a team may very well be the quality of the relief pitching.

There’s nothing more demoralizing than losing games late because your relievers stink. That Houston team is the perfect example. They just wilt down the stretch. The Mets never seem to think they’re out of it, all of which makes it very easy to watch the entire game.

I won’t let myself get too excited about Santana’s return to the rotation though. I won’t let myself think too seriously about their chances for a wildcard either. As all one ever hears is that the Mets will be trading Beltran, Reyes and Wright away by the break, why should I let myself in for a letdown?

The Mets minor leagues are depleted of any real talent though. If Alderson and company think it’ll be necessary to trade any or all of them, Beltran, Reyes or Wright, I could very well live with the decision. What I don’t want to see is trading Wright and keeping Reyes or vice-versa. They should either both stay or both go.

Wright and Reyes have been the heart and soul of the Mets. It’d be too painful to split them up. In the back of my mind too, I can’t help thinking that they are both as responsible as anyone for the team’s frustrations these many years. Both have been spotty players overall, Reyes mostly because of injuries and Wright because of his failures to drive in runs in big spots. Wright gives every indication of being a head case. Who’s more erratic than David Wright?

As I’ve been a Mets fan as long as they’ve been in existence, I do think about the future too. It’d surely be nice to beef up the entire organization with young talent, especially in the pitching area. Each one of their trade candidates is marketable enough to garner some real talent in return. I’ll sacrifice 2011 for a team with a bright young future.

I’m pretty sure now that Sandy Alderson’s entire management team has been really professional. They’ve made prudent decisions on player acquisitions and don’t fill the news with scandal. The same can’t be said for their counterparts in the AL East.

And, speaking of the Yanks, it must be hard for Posada not to link himself with Jeter and Mariano, transferring their talents to himself.

On Hitting and Just Looking

Hitters hit. It’s an axiom as old as baseball itself. It’s as true today as it ever was too, albeit somewhat diluted by steroid usage, the differences in home ballparks and the odd manager who keeps moving a batter around in the lineup.

I read the other day that only about 10 percent of players are being tested for steroids. That means that we’ll continue to see some big surprises, maybe even bigger than the shock to us all when Manny Ramirez tested positive. But the really smart cheaters won’t get caught. And, as long as the situation prevails, we’ll continue to see wildly aberrant performances. Some presumed hitters won’t hit.

Then there’re the ridiculous differences in the dimensions of ballparks. San Diego and New York Mets hitters won’t hit quite as well, or for as much power as those lucky enough to call Colorado or Philadelphia or Texas their home ballparks. In the course of a 162-game season, there isn’t a level playing field.

Then there are the odd brainiac managers who think they will re-invent the wheel. They’ll bat leadoff hitters third and vice-versa, not to mention moving lefties down against lefty pitchers and so on. It’s a manager’s prerogative of course to set the lineup and many of them totally abuse the responsibility.

There can be other variables involved in a batter’s performance too, not the least of which is a batter changing teams, moving from a small media outlet to a much larger one. I’m thinking of course of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez moving from Tampa Bay and San Diego respectively to the craziness of Boston. Or, closer to home, there were the first-year failures of Carlos Beltran and, more recently, Jason Bay.

Some short-term poor performances defy any explanation. Take David Wright. Here’s a great hitter who just won’t swing the bat, a guy who seems to have lost all confidence at the plate and a guy who has so far steadfastly refused to change his approach, either to stand closer to the plate or, from time to time, to stop swinging up at the ball.

Of course, there is something to be said for ignoring suggestions too. Take Derek Jeter. Try as he might to change his stride in order to get that bat around quicker, which just about everyone thought his 37-year-old wrists, arms and reaction-time just couldn’t do anymore, he just couldn’t do it. The very minute he stopped thinking, he started to hit again, in a very big way.

Then there is the curious case of Curtis Granderson. He was taught to change his approach so that he’d hit lefties better. He so far has been able to do just that. And, so far at least, he’s proven adaptable in just about every way. He’s been moved around in the batting order to no effect. He just keeps hitting and many of the balls he hits go a long way.

So it must be ego. A guy with just a touch of ego can take a good suggestion and run with it. He’ll recognize a shortcoming in his game and try to do something about it. The David Wrights of the world will not change. The little voices in their heads say no. You’ve been successful before. You’ll be successful again.

Do I have a point here? Actually, to be perfectly honest….no. It’s just that the entire subject of hitting is fascinating, in large part because it’s totally perplexing.

I have forgotten one other big variable and that is the manager’s approach to hitting, specifically that of wearing the opposing pitcher down by taking as many pitches per at-bat as possible. Terry Collins is obviously a very strong proponent of taking pitches. The David Wright’s of the world take the pitches in the middle of the plate and swing at balls in the dirt after taking two strikes.

The approach should be a little more specific than just taking as many pitches as possible. A batter has to have the opportunity to swing at a ball down the middle, no matter that it’s the first pitch, especially when facing pitchers with great control, the Cliff Lee’s and Tim Lincecum’s of the world.

Making matters worse for the Mets, many of the great pitchers in the game reside in their division, in Philadelphia and Atlanta and Florida. Take pitches against these teams and lose. Why even play the game? Just roll over and play dead. That’s exactly where you’ll be anyway. There are no rewards given out at season’s end for number of pitches taken.

Terry Collins strikes me as one of these guys who will treat everybody the same. He’ll treat David Wright the same as he’ll treat a Jason Pridie or a Justin Turner. Well, that’s just great. But it doesn’t work. David Wright is a hitter. Carlos Beltran is a hitter. Too many of the others are just not. All the players can’t be treated the same way.

There are enough obstacles to hitting. The pitchers are getting better. They’re all developing new pitches. The strike zone is made artificially big by umpires who just want to go home early. Added to that stupidity, there are the vindictive umpires who’ll continue to punish any player who has the temerity to question them. Ask Ike Davis about that phenomenon.

Given the Metsies incredibly bad start, a Mets fan really can’t be too unhappy with their current position. The players playing for contracts have been great. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are proving themselves worthy of big money. They’ve been hitters, are hitters right now and will probably be hitters in the future.

But Reyes swings at strikes. So does Beltran, no matter whether it’s the first pitch or not. Pitchers are afraid to walk Reyes. It’s the worst case scenario for them. Beltran is too smart for pitchers to have their way with.

A walk is not as good as a hit, David. Not feeling confident? Sit yourself down.

Osama bin Laden Is Dead

Here it is another cloudy Monday, a chill and pervading dampness fills the air, the things I had to do are largely done, there’re no afternoon baseball games on the schedule and it would seem to be a perfect time for reflection.

Osama bin-Laden is dead.

The Mets were huge in a very little way last night. After losing the lead in the eighth, their relief staff held on to hold the Phillies scoreless the rest of the way while the offense finally broke through in the 14th friggin’ inning to win it. But, as impressive as the Mets pitching was, the result paled in the grand scheme of all things.

Because Osama bin-Laden is dead.

I’m listening now to Tom Coughlin discussing the recent Giants draft now and, as in baseball’s spring training, he’s optimistic for the upcoming season. Jerry Reese, the Giants GM will be coming on later and it should be interesting listening to his views on the same thing. And I think they did as well as anybody, unless you count New England and crazy Bellichick, who once again possessed twice as many picks as any other team.

The Jets did pretty well too as far as I can see. They opted for defense with the first two picks while devoting the rest to offense. But there’s no harder draft to judge than that of this Jets team that has more free agents than just about anyone. It’s kind of hard to tell who’s going to stay and who’s going to go so, from a need point of view, the draft can’t really be evaluated.

But at least Osama bin-Laden is dead.

There’s been so much sports action. It’s almost ridiculous. The NBA playoffs are right in the middle of things, the dogs having finally been eliminated, and some big dogs too, especially longtime top dog San Antonio. But they didn’t go quietly and my favorite game so far may have been their valiant effort to snatch victory in overtime in Game 5 from a surprisingly tough Memphis squad.

Then there’re Boston in the East and LA in the West who are still alive.

But not Osama bin-Laden. He’s dead.

Of course, my NFL coverage wouldn’t be at all satisfactory without at least mentioning the NFL lockout and the interminable legal wrangling surrounding that battle, which it seems has become the real Super Bowl.

I’m reminded of Paul Newman’s final argument in “The Verdict” as he discusses justice as opposed to the trappings of the court. His jury got it right. You have to wonder whether two judges will ever rule the same way on this thing, providing some reason to get the parties back to the negotiating table.

Most observers favor the players in this battle as it seems the NFL is more profitable than ever and why should they now take money back from the players? Well, how about the cost of all those new stadiums the owners built in the midst of a depression? Shouldn’t players help share the angst of filling all those monuments to greed?

The owners brought their current situation upon themselves. Much as the banks were bailed out for their stupefying mortgage decisions, so are the owners looking for a bailout of their own, but they’re looking for that bailout to come from the players. They’ve already soaked their fan bases to saturation. No further increases in ticket prices or seat licenses could conceivably be borne by what has to be a shrinking fan base.

These player-owner negotiations have become paralyzed by the lawyers, much as our entire society has. All the issues that beset us are eventually solved but only after thousands of billable hours. Meanwhile, the judges seem to make sure the billing continues. Do any of these vipers have justice in their hearts? We’ll find out if the season starts on time.

But it’s baseball season, or would be if the other sports would just let go and stop trying to fix our attention on them the whole year round. And Major League Baseball is fighting back now, looking to expand the baseball playoffs so maybe we can have a World Series on Thanksgiving?

The season’s already too long. These April games are played in long sleeves and hoodies more often than not and, unless you’re remarkably gullible, you can’t believe any of these players can bring themselves to care passionately whether they win or lose. They’re just trying to get through the day, or more often than not, the night.

But it’s finally May. If I had no calendar, my cherry tree would tell me. If there’s any consistency in life for me, it’s got to be that cherry. In full bloom on May 1st without fail, its blazing pinkness dominates the entire springtime tableau, if only for a fortnight or so.

But consistency is over-rated too, in baseball as much as anywhere else. Most players aren’t very steady at all, and especially pitchers, and even more especially, pitchers in April. But maybe it just seems that way to an observer focused too much on his fantasy staff.

The Mets pitchers reflect that inconsistency quite well. Mike Pelfrey has gone out of his way to show us he’s really not an ace. But, on the other side of things, Chris Young, one of the Metsies low-risk shots in the dark, continues to amaze us with good performance after good performance. And two other long reaches, relief pitchers Beato and Isringhausen, and maybe even a Taylor Bucholz, are doing way more than anybody could have reasonably expected.

But make no mistake. Last night’s win was a big one for the Mets. After losing two to the hated Phillies, salvaging that last game to avoid the sweep, and doing so with pitching, was entirely satisfying. Even the Phillies staff can be had, and even a Cliff Lee appearance won’t necessarily end in a victory.

Cautious optimism is the order of the day.

Osama bin- Laden is dead.