Can't Overplay the "Team" Stuff

Sometimes with these Mets you can watch the ugliest baseball you’ve ever seen. Pitchers slide on the grass. Batters swing at pitches that hit them when they’re not watching perfect strikes to the outside corner. These Mets can’t run either. But, before you can say “Jordany Valdespin”, they manage to come out with the win. The sliding pitcher tonight was Bobby Parnell, a guy I hate watching just in general. He is one of the Mets I’d like to see join some other team. I’ve just never seen a player, pitcher or position player, have worse baseball instincts. But Parnell managed to get out of two jams he put himself into and the Mets lived on. Ike Davis is another guy that hasn’t been able to hit a thing since his injury last year. He starts his swing as the pitcher unwinds. When he has finished swinging, the ball is just approaching the plate. Nobody you’ve ever seen since Little League has worse timing at the plate….but not this night…not in his last at-bat anyway. Reserve catcher Mike Nickeas, who had to relieve Josh Thole late in the game after Ty Wigginton tried to take his head off at the plate, usually can’t hit a lick. And this night he was only facing Jonathan Papelbon, Philly’s elite closer. You can see where this is going. Nickeas had one of the best at-bats ever versus the big right-hander. Even with Davis on third and Nickeas on second, it was still easy to figure that, with Valdespin at the plate and two outs, it was still looking pretty good for Philadelphia. But Papelbon grooved a fastball that Jordany was waiting for. Bang…zoom…the ball rocketed into the night. The Mets took the lead, 5-2. Frank Francisco, the Mets closer, almost always looks confused. He’s a guy with all the talent in the world but his talent is matched by his insecurity most nights…just not this night. Francisco looked confident and he proved it by making a great play on a Rollins bunt before blowing away the next two batters and the Mets had beaten Roy Halladay and Papelbon. You can’t overplay this “team” stuff. But what a way to start a road trip! These Mets came to play baseball and when Thole got hurt, they really got fired up. I think a lot of guys took issue with Wigginton’s shoulder to Thole’s head. I know I did. I’m hoping for a nice high hard one tomorrow when Wigginton steps up to the plate. These Mets may be short on talent but they’re a real team. There was good baseball all around. Murphy’s tough at-bats and Ike’s slap tag on Rollins, Turner’s turning that double play despite Victorino’s interference, Wright’s two ribbies early and Torres’s tough at bats all night long. So where are they tonight? The standings always really tell the story as to how good a team really is, or has been anyway, and the Mets are in third place in the NL East behind the surprise Nationals and the Braves, two teams that aren’t all that perfect either. It’s such a long season though. The Nats will be without Jayson Werth, a bigtime hurt, but now it looks as if The Mets will be without Thole and Tejada, for a little while at least. The Braves have Chipper to keep healthy and the Marlins in 4th are just a game behind. The Fish have finally begun to play like a team themselves. They may have finally incorporated Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez, and Giancarlo, formerly Mike, Stanton and even Carlos Zambrano. The Fish will be moving on up. But, I’m telling you, this “team” stuff can’t really be over-rated. You can see it and feel it. The Mets may not be the best all-around talent but they do seem to play tough one-run games, always historically an indicator of a good team. They’re tough in the late innings, as the Indians were tonight sweeping the Pale Hose. Even the Knicks showed some of that “team” stuff in that win over Miami in Game 4. Amare melded with Carmelo, finally, and Bibby, of all people, made a huge shot from 3-point land. This is a team that’s fated to play without a strong point guard, it seems, but five guys playing as a team can overcome the obstacles and look for opportunities to win. For one night, the Knicks were able to overcome adversity and play as a team. You see the San Antonio Spurs playing team basketball, and the Celtics too, the Bulls not so much. The Rangers in the NHL and the Devils too must be doing something right, and I guarantee you they’re both playing as teams. All those line changes in hockey demand a team concept by definition. Back to baseball though, you see that camaraderie among teams that have played together for a long time, that easy and happy feeling that carries onto the field. You see it in these Mets, you see it in Texas, you see some of it in Cleveland now, and Baltimore too, a bunch of minor leaguers all coming together in the major leagues. The Yankees? I’m still undecided on them. But most Yankees are free agents when you think about it but there still are Jeter and Cano who came from the minors. There had been Mariano too, and that catcher too…..yeah, you know who. Don’t think their loss doesn’t have some affect on that team feeling. In the final analysis, though, winning is a combination of talent and teamwork, especially in baseball, given the length of the season. The finals always match this talent and teamwork versus that talent and teamwork. Invariably too, there are usually one or two guys who inspire the rest of the team to heights unknown. The Rangers have Hamilton and Kinsler and Young, the Knicks have Pierce and Garnett and Allen, and maybe even Rondo. The Spurs have Duncan and Ginoboli. The Mets have Wright.

Mets Doctors Strike Again

Has there ever been anything more boring than a Mets series against the Oakland A’s? I can’t think of anything offhand. I mean, really, the Yanks got the Cubs and then the Reds, interesting (in the case of the Cubs) or exciting (the Reds) opponents while we got the friggin’ Angels and A’s.

I wouldn’t mind so much if the Mets were having a little more success. But they’re not and the future doesn’t look too good either. The Mets doctors have struck again. Now we hear they totally blew the diagnosis and treatment of Ike Davis’s bruised ankle. The walking boot they recommended did nothing but inhibit blood flow to the affected area. No healing occurred as a result, and, oh yeah, there’s cartilage damage too.

I’ve had it with the Mets medical staff. Ike was the last straw for me. How many players do the Mets need to see get worse after visiting the Mets witch doctors before they make a change. Who recommended their staff in the first place, Madoff?

Ike Davis was the Mets most promising player. A bruise will now have Ike out until the middle of August. That’s unforgivable in light of their past failures with Beltran and others too numerous to mention. If Alderson wants to really cement his standing with Mets fans, he’ll do something about this deplorable Mets medical staff.

For his part, Davis will be finally getting a second opinion, demonstrating at the very least that he’s much smarter than the Mets management. Just to recap the situation, Ike Davis was the Mets leader in rbi’s and batting average when Wright came across to destroy his leg. It only happened at all because the gork pitcher Pelfrey made no attempt to help his fielders out with a fly ball to the mound.

Meanwhile, the Mets plod on at two games below .500. The rookies who had been hitting stopped. Several of their veterans stopped hitting too. Jose Reyes keeps truckin’ though and Justin Turner continues to be the luckiest ballplayer in the world. Last night, he won the game by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 13th inning.

Of course, that only happened because Dickey was lights out and K-Rod blew the save in the 9th. As this is written, the last game of this colossally dreadful interleague setup is taking place and, predictably, it’s been pretty boring. I’m even getting tired of Gary Cohen, something I didn’t think was possible.

Thank God for Wimbledon tennis action and other real baseball action. Nothing I’ve watched in the last month was better than the Tsonga-Dmitrov battle I just witnessed and the Nats walk-off win against the Mariners was very cool too, with Nats reliever Tyler Clippard shutting the Mariners down for his offense in the bottom of the ninth.

Reyes just made a strong throw from shortstop to keep the speedy A’s second baseman Weeks off the basepaths. Set your DVD’s to “record”, Mets fans, because every at-bat , every nice play, every triple and every smile you see from Reyes this year might be his last in a Mets uniform.

Reyes wouldn’t agree to having contract talks during the season. I was nevertheless happy to see the Mets make the offer to talk. I’ve decided too that I’d rather see Reyes finish the season here than pick up a couple of prospects for him in some rent-a-player scheme devised by one of the real contenders for a World Series berth.

Even if the Mets wind up losing Reyes with no compensation received in return, we’ll at least get to see him finish his outstanding year in which he’s making his bid for MVP. And, by the bye, Reyes just scored again for the Mets, this time by reaching base on an error, moving right along on the basepaths and scoring on a, wait for it, Daniel Murphy 2-out rbi.

Pagan just made another bone-headed play in centerfield, bobbling a ball because he once again tried to do something he’s incapable of pulling off. Now there’s a guy I’d like to see traded. He’s a player who’ll never get better. He lacks focus, the Mike Pelfrey of the offensive side of the ball.

One exciting thing about this time of year is that I can imagine fantasy trades I’d like to see. For example, Mike Pelfrey to the Yankees for their doctors, Pagan to the Angels for a legitimate established relief pitcher, K-Rod to anywhere for a couple of hitting prospects with power.

While the Mets continue to plod along, it’ll be nice to see the NBA draft tonight, a draft most experts agree is short on talent but still, there must be some big guy out there that the Knicks could use to grab some rebounds and play defense while the most selfish player in the league, Carmelo Anthony, calls for the ball with three players draped all over him.

One of the keys I look for when a player is traded is the opposing coach’s reaction to the trade. George Karl, for example, the Nuggets coach, looked like a kid on Christmas Day when Anthony left for the Knicks, this despite his battling cancer. There’s been no more ecstatic reaction since that Bulls coach long ago couldn’t believe his good fortune when the stupidest GM in the league, Isiah, took the world’s stupidest center (Eddy Curry) off his hands.

So, now that the Knicks have Anthony and nothing else but Amare, they have needs all over the place. Anybody they draft tonight will have to fit a need. The Nets meanwhile will try to pretend they know what they’re doing. It’s just a matter of time before their ballyhooed acquisition of point guard Deron Williams goes kerplunk when he declines to sign whatever paper they put in front of him.

But even THAT might be amusing at least, more entertaining than this god-awful interleague play or another oops by the Mets (for lack of a better word)” doctors”.

What A Difference A Bay Makes

Do you believe in coincidences? Do you think the Mets having won two in a row has nothing whatever to do with the return of Jason Bay to the Mets lineup? Well, I believe in coincidences myself but this 2-game streak is not one of them.

Are two games won a streak? For the Mets it is. The Mets are what, 7-13? Some things looked a lot better in spring training, especially the Mets bats. But once the regular season started, all the bats went cold right about the time the pitchers started using every pitch in their repertoire. Some guys just hit fastballs.

But they haven’t gotten one break. Or so it has seemed. But since they were making stupid plays each and every game, it was kind of hard to figure what was bad luck and what was bad baseball.

Watching Scott Hairston play left field was torture, worse almost than when Daniel Murphy was out there. Of course, watching his plate appearances was almost as bad. Willie Harris looked better at the plate and the field but Willie is one of those guys who have the ability to bunt but just won’t. He’d rather foul off a couple of tries and then swing away, only to strike out.

There are a lot of Willie Harris’s. Scott Hairston’s grow on trees. There are only several Jason Bay’s . With the weaknesses already built in at second base and sometimes at catcher, having still another spot filled by a minor leaguer was just too much to overcome.

But there were problems with the established players too. Angel Pagan had been awful in general, at the plate and in the field. Beltran was only mediocre in his new right field position. The second basemen, every one of them, were awful at the plate. Such are the fortunes of players with their heads down.

This column has been very critical of Jason Bay, especially since his latest stint on the DL. But Bay’s return fueled a reason for optimism. Bay has been an established hitter. And he looks like the Jason Bay of old thus far. The elbows are out of the way. He’s holding his hands higher, naturally pulling those elbows out of the way.

David Wright had been shooting for the right field porch every time up, regardless of the game situation. That stopped upon Bay’s return and it was so nice to see Wright pull a couple of pitches into the hole between left and center, especially the homer to the seats in left-center.

It didn’t help that the pitchers that looked so good last year came out flat too. The best performances came from the pickups, from Chris Young and Capuano. Mike Pelfrey was especially dreadful, but that stopped last night too.

So things are looking up….way up. Even Jason Pridie from the minors, filling in for Angel Pagan, looked as if he could perform at least as well as Pagan. As this is written, he just got his first hit, and it wasn’t a fastball that he smacked to right.

It’s even beginning to look as if Daniel Murphy, who can hit a little bit in the majors, can play second base. He looks much better there than he ever did in the outfield. And his comfort in the field is maybe making him relax more at the plate. He’s a contact hitter too, and the second spot in the lineup seems perfect for him, at least until Pagan remembers how to hit again.

Dillon Gee provided a nice lift too and is pitching well today. Last night Pelfrey pitched with confidence for the first time this year. It seemed as if there were first times for a lot of things once Bay returned. Hitters hit. Pitchers pitched. Fielders…well, you know.

It can’t be totally a coincidence. Bay solidifies the outfield. Bay protects Beltran or Wright in the lineup. Bay provides still one more scary guy appearance in the lineup, which eventually wears on an opposing pitcher. As pitchers bat in the National League, there is already one built-in hole in the lineup. The Mets had holes all over the place.

And Jason Bay just homered to right center. He only hit 6 all of last year. He single-handedly gave the Mets a 3-1 lead in this Arizona game and, lo and behold, Ike Davis just killed a hanging slider way out to right field for a 4-1 lead. Now Thole creams another pitch to right. No, it can’t be a coincidence.

Of course no player’s return can account for all ills. Murphy just pulled an ole on a grounder he should have had and Ike Davis just dropped a tough over-the-shoulder popup he ordinarily makes and it’s now 4-2 in the 4th inning. It remains to be seen how Gee will handle these bad breaks.

Uh-oh, after getting the second out, Gee just allowed another hit and it’s now 4-3. Growing pains are in the offing. Soon we’ll be learning more about the relief corps. What we’ve learned so far about the bullpen hasn’t been encouraging. In fact, as of a couple days ago, the Mets had the worst ERA in the National League.

Well, Gee got out of the inning with the lead but only after Pridie in center had to run back to about the 400 foot mark to make the catch. One wonders what Collins will decide for the fifth inning. It looks as if Gee could use a breather.

Whatever happens in this game, the future certainly looks rosier than the past has been. The team is healthy again, at least the players who had been playing well. Pagan is the only player still hurt and, as I mentioned, he had been dreadful.

Some things never change, I guess. Wright just hit into a double play with two men on base. At least he didn’t look as if he was swinging for that rightfield porch.

Even Jason Bay can’t change everything.