A Fine Night for Baseball and Takahashi

The Mets took two out of three from the Yankees, took the first game of the series from the Phillies and all I hear on radio and TV is that Manuel will be fired but has been given a reprieve. I hear ridiculous proposals too. What about picking up Roy Oswalt? Even more ridiculous….what about Carlos Lee? What about Cliff Lee?

The Mets are at .500. The dropping of the pouter Maine and the maniacal Ollie Perez seems to have given our Metsies a new lease on life. Now if they could just keep Darryl Strawberry out of the clubhouse, I could see the Mets going on a nice long run.

I’ve only asked one time for Manuel’s removal. That was when he benched his regulars a couple of weeks ago in a game against these same Phillies with first place on the line. Facing the Phillies with the horrendous Gary Matthews replacing Francoeur and Mr. Uppercut #1 Fernando Tatis replacing Ike Davis was just a little bit too stupid for me to take lying down.

Manuel had his reasons, of course, but they were ridiculous tactical moves that ignored what could have been and should have been a real war for first place. Manuel is prone to errors such as these because his mind is always going and he is a deep thinker. Sometimes he loses the obvious; losing the forest for the trees.

But, I still think, all things considered, Manuel is the perfect manager for this Mets team. He stays too long with non-performing veterans, he has almost no faith in rookies, and to be frank, he doesn’t seem to believe in his team. I know he didn’t believe in his relief staff at the start of the season and that has been one of the team’s strong points.

But that thinking may be changing. Bringing up Ike Davis, Chris Carter, Jenry Mejia, and then the knuckleballer Dickey, and at the same time finally putting the kibosh on Maine and Perez, seems to be portending an old dog looking forward to learning some new tricks.

We don’t see too much of Matthews and Tatis anymore. We do see Carter and Davis. We also will be seeing some more of Hisanori Takahashi and A. J. Dickey, who are now officially listed on the depth chart as the number 3 and number 4 starters. Takahashi goes tonight again, followed by Pelfrey ans Santana. After that, some resourcefulness will be needed as Niese isn’t scheduled to return until June 1st.

Now watching the Mets put another whoopin’ on the Phils, I’m struck with how good the Mets look when they get the pitching and are in the game. Takahashi was nothing short of masterful and Reyes just kept chuggin’. Rod Barajas, meanwhile, just keeps tearing it up. When there’re men on base, Barajas just gets tougher. He’s not locked in unless he sees some of his same uniform out there on the basepaths.

You can’t compare the Mets telecasts with any other. They are just too good. While this may seem like “homey” thinking, the MLB Network, that uses the local broadcast team on its live feeds and replays most of the time, has allowed me to see how it’s done in other cities. These other broadcast teams range from poor to passable. There’s just no chemistry that you get with Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.

Mejia’s out there now in the top of the 7th and the Mets leading 4-0. There are 2 outs and a man on third. Raul Ibanez is at the plate, and why can’t I find myself worrying? It would be logical to worry. But then Ibanez hits a weak grounder that that youngster Jenry just pounces and makes the play at first himself. Ibanez looked old and feeble in comparison.

But you do wonder how long this can last. How will Niese perform after his layoff? How will the relief corps be affected by the removal of Takahashi and Valdez from their ranks? How will Valdez fare as a starter?

The anxiety goes on the back burner though when the Mets win. All those concerns take a seat on the bench. Almost every Mets player now is contributing. It’s very often different guys each and every night. Even Francoeur is chipping in which is very important for this team as Frenchie seems to be one of those positive forces everywhere, except when he’s slumping.

The other Japanese pitcher, Igarashi, is now pitching the Phillies eighth. I’m still not worried. This guy, who I’d been watching since spring training, was really very impressive in spots and was just pretty good the rest of the time. In fact, for most of the beginning of the season, Takahashi was “the other Japanese import.”

Utley’s up. I should be worried. Curiously, I’m not. Maybe the Phillies just aren’t that scary anymore. Utley gets a high hard one and swings through it. Then he pops up. Ho-hum, it’s just another Phillies out. Now Ryan Howard, he’s been looking silly all night long. I still have no worries, even with a man on first, even though Howard just took a vicious cut at what looked like a slider in. Sure enough, he swings and misses at a beautiful low and outside pitch. I’m not sure what the pitch was but it was headed down, a lot like the Phillies.

You know the Phils are killing time when they insert Nelson Figueroa, another journeyman former-Met who left the team under less than optimal circumstances. He gets Francoeur, but Frenchie hit it hard. Darling, Keith and Cohen discuss the disparity between the box score and a player’s actual performance and effect on the team. Perfect timing , as usual.

It’s over in Yankee-land. Pettite gave them eight innings. He and his cutter were magnificent and the Yanks went on to win. Nick Swisher belted a homer in the 9th to win it. Mariano got three weak groundouts to close it out.

Mets Are Fun at the Very Least

You have to admit the Mets are fun to watch. (I can be as positive as the next guy). Jose smacks the double and you cheer, then about 30 seconds later he tries to take third on a ball right there in front of him. After the game, he says he’s sorry, that there’s no excuse for it.

Yeah, I suppose it was that Bernadina guy who really won the game for the Nats. His beautiful catch of Francoeur’s liner late in the game saved three runs right there. Add the two homers and well, he was making sure it was over.

If you listed a “Top Ten” of reasons the Mets lost yesterday though, the first would surely be Bernadina but the second would be Reyes. If I knew beforehand that he’d hit a double and then get thrown out, I’d surely have eschewed the double. Keep it, Jose.

But they are fun when they’re hitting, and even when they’re not, you get the feeling that they will very soon. When Wright isn’t striking out and Bay decides to swing at good pitches, when Davis and Barajas join the fun, things get crazy.

The whole lineup is interesting now. The sure outs just aren’t there anymore, except when mad Manuel decides Gary Matthews .325 average of friggin’ yesteryear is just around the corner, so he inserts him into the game and he strikes out. And of course you know he’s going to strike out. It’s kind of interesting to ask yourself just how he’s going to do it this time. Will he swing at the impossibly outside pitch or the one in the dirt? Or will the pitcher be silly enough to throw him a fastball, something that he can maybe just strike out on the foul tip?

Yes, I know, he actually got a hit the other day. WooHoo!!

But, besides Matthews, there’s really nobody you give up on totally, if you don’t count Bay on one of his clueless days. There’s Pagan, who does a little of everything. Then Castillo will do something smart, and then there’s Reyes, who can drive the ball a bit, maybe get one of those great triples. There’s Bay who can hit the heck out of the ball when he connects and Wright, who is totally unpredictable.

Remember when Wright was the best two-strike hitter in the game? Um, not anymore. But when he’s not striking out, he usually does something spectacular. Then Ike Davis gets up there and he’s a tough out. Never mind that he can hit the friggin’ bridge to Shea. Then Francoeur is always good for a drive somewhere in the park. And Barajas, you can’t say enough about Barajas.

I had been a Barajas detractor when they got him, wishing they would have given Omir Santos more of a shot. The Mets also got Blanco to back him up, which put Santos further down the ladder. But I was wrong. Not only does the man represent a real threat at the plate but he apparently does wonders for these Mets pitchers, unless you think it’s just an accident that the pitching has been so good. Oh, and both these catchers can throw out runners.

So, all in all, the lineup is interesting. When they try to take pitches, they stink. When they just let it go and play, they can be overpowering. Of course, Manuel doesn’t always see that because that’s right in front of his face. Jerry only sees things far off, very deep things no one else can really fathom.

So the manager is kind of interesting too. And GM Omar Minaya, I mean, what can you say? I think of him as a snake oil salesman with education. Except for the time he accused that Daily News reporter of trying to take one of his boys’ jobs, he keeps things light and fun. And he has a good sense of humor, which you need when Jose Reyes is on the bases.

They’ve been a good home team too, which worries me a little bit as they take off for a long road trip, to some mostly unfriendly divisional places like Florida, Atlanta and Washington. Then they return home to face the Yankees, so this could be a long, depressing ride for the rest of May, especially if they get a bad start.

But, if the pitching holds up, they can survive just about anything. Santana starts it off tonight against Florida ace Josh Johnson, then it’ll be Maine, Pelfrey, Perez and Niese again, which, compared to what I thought they’d get, especially from Maine and Perez, hasn’t been too shabby at all.

I keep expecting the relievers to blow up, given the innings they’ve had to work, what with the starters’ relatively short appearances. That doesn’t figure to get much better either. Maine and Perez especially just work too hard early to last a very long time in the game.

But the relievers have been terrific so far. The Mets are in every game. There’s nobody in that pen you just give up on. They’re all tough, led by Takahashi, who’s been unbelievable. But Igarashi was great before he got hurt (and will soon return), and the list of good performers goes on with Nieve, Feliciano, and even the new kid Mejia. Even Vargas hasn’t stunk it up (but I keep thinking he’s Bizarro Jerry).

But things could have been a lot worse. Nobody except me expected the relief performance the Mets have gotten, and it’s not so lucky or accidental that the Mets find themselves 18-16 and just 2 ½ games back of the Phillies. They let the Nats sneak in there for 2nd place but well, talk to Bernardina and Reyes about that one.

All these upcoming teams are beatable too, division rivals all, and the Mets performance over this road trip should tell us a lot about how the rest of the season will play out.