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.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
No Maine In Sight
I hate to pile on but nobody deserves it more than John Maine.
What can a guy expect when he walks the world to open his last game and then gets taken out when he opens a game with another walk? Manuel was absolutely right to take Maine out in that spot. If John Maine had any sense of judgment at all, his priority last night should have been to throw strikes, especially to that first batter of the game.
Manuel shouldn’t have to justify taking Maine out with allusions to the 85 mph speed of his fastball (for lack of a more genteel word), or express what might have been a legitimate concern for Maine’s health.
Manuel’s team needed a win. They’d been swept in Florida and floundered in Washington. Maine had been horrible in his last start and Manuel kept him in that game longer than he needed to, much to his regret, I’m sure. Manuel expected and needed strikes. He didn’t get them.
He also got a pitcher acting as if he were hurt, bent over, looking defeated. So what’s a manager to do?
Maine’s temper tantrum reflects his sense of entitlement, a curiously undeserved feeling for a guy who hasn’t been worth much for quite a while. Maine’s expectations far exceed his talent. Why should his treatment differ from that of Oliver Perez, who just got axed from the rotation? And he was removed partly for not finding the plate.
Maine desperately needed a sense of urgency last night. The most urgent need was to throw a strike. He didn’t. Case closed.
That the Mets later won didn’t matter to Maine. He continued to pout. All those Mets runs could’ve been his to work with. Bummer! That this guy has been a Met for so long might partially explain what has been wrong with the team, lo these many years.
Maine’s removal energized the whole team. How often have the Mets had 3-run innings, and then a 5-run inning? It was as if they said, “okay, everybody hits” and that was just what they did. Everybody hit, and the core guys, Wright and Bay and Reyes, seemed to lead the charge.
The Mets also got a terrific pitching performance from Raul Valdes, who went a full five innings and struck out six Washington batters while spacing 7 hits and just one measly walk. He came out after allowing his first base on balls. Are you awake yet, Mr. Maine? There are other pitchers out there. Some of them show the intensity required to pitch in the major leagues. Most of them can throw strikes.
I’ve felt all along that the success of the Mets season would depend not on the success of Maine and Perez but on how quickly the Mets would respond and manage their situations and their failures. The Mets had been patient with both and even coaxed a few decent performances from them. But now, as it seems both have reverted to recent form, the Mets need to clear the decks.
It’s not as if there are no decent alternatives. Takahashi has been great in long relief. There’s no reason to think he can’t be effective as a starter. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey has already tossed in one nice start. He might be just the change of pace the Mets rotation needs to baffle opposing bats from day to day. Igarashi will be returning to the fold soon to bolster the pitching in general. And just who wouldn’t inspire more hope than John Maine?
Even the refusal of Perez to pitch at Buffalo for a while may turn to the Mets favor. Perez has already appeared in a relief role, and, although he did walk a batter, he did get the one out the Mets needed.
So, without Maine, it’d be Santana, Pelfrey, Niese (hopefully soon), Takahashi and Dickey. Without Niese, then some more resourcefulness is needed. Rookie Mejia, who has been effective in relief, may ultimately be the nice answer. In the short run, Pat Misch and last year’s bust Parnell could be this year’s boom. And, even if they can just turn in mediocre performances in the bigs, they will have been better than John Maine.
After this terrible road trip, 2-6, one has to wonder how competitive this Mets team can be over the long haul. Before the trip I thought it would be a good measure of how competitive they could be in their division. But if that were true, the Mets will be in bad shape this year.
The hitting has been so bad though lately. It’s hard to believe the bats can’t get a lot better than they’ve been. If the bats pick up and the pitching can hold together, the Mets can easily pick up. I know I’m looking forward to three days of Takahashi, Pelfrey and Santana. It’s only after that that expectations descend somewhat.
Can Dickey repeat a nice job? Who’ll it be after that? I guess that’s why they play the game.
Merde! The actual Yankee-Mets game has intervened. Takahashi was great. The Mets couldn’t hit the Yankees Javier Vasquez or Joba after that. They did manage to get a couple of hits from Bay and Davis off Mariano but it was too little, too late and the Mets lost 2-1.
But they looked damned good in every other way, the pitching, the fielding, the managing…..even given Cora’s big throwing error and the inauspicious debut of Elmer Dessens, that anybody but the far-seeing Manuel could have foreseen.
Vasquez got all the Mets out except Alex Cora for one of those mysterious reasons that only occur in baseball. But he got all the “big” guys out. Joba Chamberlain was like the old Joba, except he looks 20 pounds heavier to me. Maybe it’s just my imagination. When Girardi doesn’t totally kill his spirit, Joba rules.
So now it’s just Pelfrey and Santana to face Hughes and Sabathia. And no Maine appearance in sight for 15 days.
What can a guy expect when he walks the world to open his last game and then gets taken out when he opens a game with another walk? Manuel was absolutely right to take Maine out in that spot. If John Maine had any sense of judgment at all, his priority last night should have been to throw strikes, especially to that first batter of the game.
Manuel shouldn’t have to justify taking Maine out with allusions to the 85 mph speed of his fastball (for lack of a more genteel word), or express what might have been a legitimate concern for Maine’s health.
Manuel’s team needed a win. They’d been swept in Florida and floundered in Washington. Maine had been horrible in his last start and Manuel kept him in that game longer than he needed to, much to his regret, I’m sure. Manuel expected and needed strikes. He didn’t get them.
He also got a pitcher acting as if he were hurt, bent over, looking defeated. So what’s a manager to do?
Maine’s temper tantrum reflects his sense of entitlement, a curiously undeserved feeling for a guy who hasn’t been worth much for quite a while. Maine’s expectations far exceed his talent. Why should his treatment differ from that of Oliver Perez, who just got axed from the rotation? And he was removed partly for not finding the plate.
Maine desperately needed a sense of urgency last night. The most urgent need was to throw a strike. He didn’t. Case closed.
That the Mets later won didn’t matter to Maine. He continued to pout. All those Mets runs could’ve been his to work with. Bummer! That this guy has been a Met for so long might partially explain what has been wrong with the team, lo these many years.
Maine’s removal energized the whole team. How often have the Mets had 3-run innings, and then a 5-run inning? It was as if they said, “okay, everybody hits” and that was just what they did. Everybody hit, and the core guys, Wright and Bay and Reyes, seemed to lead the charge.
The Mets also got a terrific pitching performance from Raul Valdes, who went a full five innings and struck out six Washington batters while spacing 7 hits and just one measly walk. He came out after allowing his first base on balls. Are you awake yet, Mr. Maine? There are other pitchers out there. Some of them show the intensity required to pitch in the major leagues. Most of them can throw strikes.
I’ve felt all along that the success of the Mets season would depend not on the success of Maine and Perez but on how quickly the Mets would respond and manage their situations and their failures. The Mets had been patient with both and even coaxed a few decent performances from them. But now, as it seems both have reverted to recent form, the Mets need to clear the decks.
It’s not as if there are no decent alternatives. Takahashi has been great in long relief. There’s no reason to think he can’t be effective as a starter. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey has already tossed in one nice start. He might be just the change of pace the Mets rotation needs to baffle opposing bats from day to day. Igarashi will be returning to the fold soon to bolster the pitching in general. And just who wouldn’t inspire more hope than John Maine?
Even the refusal of Perez to pitch at Buffalo for a while may turn to the Mets favor. Perez has already appeared in a relief role, and, although he did walk a batter, he did get the one out the Mets needed.
So, without Maine, it’d be Santana, Pelfrey, Niese (hopefully soon), Takahashi and Dickey. Without Niese, then some more resourcefulness is needed. Rookie Mejia, who has been effective in relief, may ultimately be the nice answer. In the short run, Pat Misch and last year’s bust Parnell could be this year’s boom. And, even if they can just turn in mediocre performances in the bigs, they will have been better than John Maine.
After this terrible road trip, 2-6, one has to wonder how competitive this Mets team can be over the long haul. Before the trip I thought it would be a good measure of how competitive they could be in their division. But if that were true, the Mets will be in bad shape this year.
The hitting has been so bad though lately. It’s hard to believe the bats can’t get a lot better than they’ve been. If the bats pick up and the pitching can hold together, the Mets can easily pick up. I know I’m looking forward to three days of Takahashi, Pelfrey and Santana. It’s only after that that expectations descend somewhat.
Can Dickey repeat a nice job? Who’ll it be after that? I guess that’s why they play the game.
Merde! The actual Yankee-Mets game has intervened. Takahashi was great. The Mets couldn’t hit the Yankees Javier Vasquez or Joba after that. They did manage to get a couple of hits from Bay and Davis off Mariano but it was too little, too late and the Mets lost 2-1.
But they looked damned good in every other way, the pitching, the fielding, the managing…..even given Cora’s big throwing error and the inauspicious debut of Elmer Dessens, that anybody but the far-seeing Manuel could have foreseen.
Vasquez got all the Mets out except Alex Cora for one of those mysterious reasons that only occur in baseball. But he got all the “big” guys out. Joba Chamberlain was like the old Joba, except he looks 20 pounds heavier to me. Maybe it’s just my imagination. When Girardi doesn’t totally kill his spirit, Joba rules.
So now it’s just Pelfrey and Santana to face Hughes and Sabathia. And no Maine appearance in sight for 15 days.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Necessity the Mother of Invention
I’m so glad I waited until after last night’s Atlanta game before making any idiotic commentary on the state of the Mets. I had been so disheartened after watching them lose four in a row. A wild pitch, a ridiculous Perez start, a Maine walking marathon, and then still another loss after a promising starter, Jonathon Niese, hurt himself. Things were looking decidedly down for our intrepid heroes.
But then there was Monday night, a new day and a new pitcher, one Mike Pelfrey, who couldn’t take his turn last time out for a shoulder twinge, or something equally ominous-sounding. But the big guy was back for last night’s game and the whole team played better. Especially nice was seeing some slick fielding to accompany some timely hitting by Barajas and some opportunistic base-running from Jose Reyes, once again a leadoff man.
The lineup issues may continue, it’s anybody’s guess, but this lineup had newbie Carter hitting in the cleanup spot and he was pretty damned impressive (1-2, run, rbi). Bay moved to the 3-hole and of course, the worst hitter in the free world, Gary Matthews, batted eighth after Barajas, who continued his torrid and timely hitting by driving in two with a hard double in the left center gap.
But the Mets finally finished on top, and Pelfrey was the biggest reason for it.
But the great game followed an organizational meeting attended by none other than owner Jeff Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya. So things were tense before the game and will probably continue that way for quite some time. It’s quite amusing to me that that brain-trust came up with a lineup that put a rookie in the cleanup spot and removed Angel Pagan from the lineup altogether.
But I love it. First they bring up Ike Davis, who outperformed Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis by a long shot. Now they strike gold again with Chris Carter, who supposedly can’t play right field but can hit that ball a good lick. So the brain-trust came up roses.
That a 35-year-old knuckleballer is going to start Wednesday is also pretty interesting. It says to me that they’re getting really imaginative, thinking out of the box, something this organization needs. The same old thinking, fielding an experienced lineup of journeymen retreads, clearly wasn’t working. The last of those might be Matthews, who must have something on somebody to stay on the roster at all.
It’s easy to have mixed feelings right now. You’re happy to not only beat Atlanta in the opener, but to do it the way they did, by playing good baseball all around. At the same time though, you worry about Wednesday and hope Santana can win later today.
You worry about Wednesday because it’ll still be one more starter coming up from the minors, and this time a really veteran knuckler. R.A. Dickey. And truthfully, you worry going forward to Thursday when John Maine takes the mound again after his 13 straight balls in his last putrid start fresh in your mind and nasal cavities.
Then it’ll be Hisanori Takahashi going on Friday against the Yankees. Holy cow! as Phil would have exclaimed. Takahashi replaces Ollie Perez in the rotation, of course, and Perez will take his place as a long reliever. You can’t say it’s not interesting.
And can they be shopping Pagan? Is that why he wasn’t in the lineup? Pagan is a very serviceable commodity in their outfield, and with Beltran coming back and Fernando Martinez still another significant minor league presence, it would make sense to trade for a pitcher, and I’m sure Pagan may even get one.
The Mets are certainly showing some resourcefulness lately. Plato wasn’t a Mets fan but he did call it when he talked about necessity being the mother of invention. The Mets have been really needy lately too.
Even the Yankees are showing some neediness lately though. They got a walkoff dinger from Marcus Thames last night off Boston’s Papelbon, and that came exactly one night after pulling Joba for loading the bases and inserting a none too healthy Mariano Rivera for a 5-out save, a move that really puzzled me at the time, another one of those inexplicable Girardi brain farts.
I’m just happy Girardi’s in the Bronx. The Mets have enough problems. But it’s hard for Girardi to fall on his butt what with Gardner spelling Granderson with flash and even power and a guy like Thames on the bench. We have Tatis and Matthews.
The Mets future depends a lot on whether Maine can show some toughness for once and come back strong in his next start, and, hopefully for a few starts after that. To have to drop one of your starters from the rotation (Perez) is bad enough; to have to drop two would be disastrous, especially if Niese’s hamstring injury, which appears relatively minor as this is written, winds up being serious.
If Maine should continue to falter, and if Niese can’t return, the Mets almost have to make a deal for a pitcher. I can imagine any number of inventive deals down the line, involving just about any serviceable, and thus trade-able, player, either Pagan or possibly even a Carlos Beltran, certainly a more than serviceable commodity, one who has been and probably will be, an enormous distraction.
If things get really crazy, and if the Mets can’t turn it around, I suppose there will be nothing sacrosanct about the manager’s position. I’ve always got a big kick out of Jerry Manuel, but I have to wonder whether some of the problems, especially the weak performances from Wright, Reyes and Bay, aren’t due, at least in part, to Manuel’s own inventiveness, some of which may not have been out of necessity.
The inventiveness could even extend all the way to Omar Minaya, who has to take the hit for Ollie Perez, his most conspicuous error but certainly not the only one.
Last place tends to accentuate all the necessities.
But then there was Monday night, a new day and a new pitcher, one Mike Pelfrey, who couldn’t take his turn last time out for a shoulder twinge, or something equally ominous-sounding. But the big guy was back for last night’s game and the whole team played better. Especially nice was seeing some slick fielding to accompany some timely hitting by Barajas and some opportunistic base-running from Jose Reyes, once again a leadoff man.
The lineup issues may continue, it’s anybody’s guess, but this lineup had newbie Carter hitting in the cleanup spot and he was pretty damned impressive (1-2, run, rbi). Bay moved to the 3-hole and of course, the worst hitter in the free world, Gary Matthews, batted eighth after Barajas, who continued his torrid and timely hitting by driving in two with a hard double in the left center gap.
But the Mets finally finished on top, and Pelfrey was the biggest reason for it.
But the great game followed an organizational meeting attended by none other than owner Jeff Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya. So things were tense before the game and will probably continue that way for quite some time. It’s quite amusing to me that that brain-trust came up with a lineup that put a rookie in the cleanup spot and removed Angel Pagan from the lineup altogether.
But I love it. First they bring up Ike Davis, who outperformed Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis by a long shot. Now they strike gold again with Chris Carter, who supposedly can’t play right field but can hit that ball a good lick. So the brain-trust came up roses.
That a 35-year-old knuckleballer is going to start Wednesday is also pretty interesting. It says to me that they’re getting really imaginative, thinking out of the box, something this organization needs. The same old thinking, fielding an experienced lineup of journeymen retreads, clearly wasn’t working. The last of those might be Matthews, who must have something on somebody to stay on the roster at all.
It’s easy to have mixed feelings right now. You’re happy to not only beat Atlanta in the opener, but to do it the way they did, by playing good baseball all around. At the same time though, you worry about Wednesday and hope Santana can win later today.
You worry about Wednesday because it’ll still be one more starter coming up from the minors, and this time a really veteran knuckler. R.A. Dickey. And truthfully, you worry going forward to Thursday when John Maine takes the mound again after his 13 straight balls in his last putrid start fresh in your mind and nasal cavities.
Then it’ll be Hisanori Takahashi going on Friday against the Yankees. Holy cow! as Phil would have exclaimed. Takahashi replaces Ollie Perez in the rotation, of course, and Perez will take his place as a long reliever. You can’t say it’s not interesting.
And can they be shopping Pagan? Is that why he wasn’t in the lineup? Pagan is a very serviceable commodity in their outfield, and with Beltran coming back and Fernando Martinez still another significant minor league presence, it would make sense to trade for a pitcher, and I’m sure Pagan may even get one.
The Mets are certainly showing some resourcefulness lately. Plato wasn’t a Mets fan but he did call it when he talked about necessity being the mother of invention. The Mets have been really needy lately too.
Even the Yankees are showing some neediness lately though. They got a walkoff dinger from Marcus Thames last night off Boston’s Papelbon, and that came exactly one night after pulling Joba for loading the bases and inserting a none too healthy Mariano Rivera for a 5-out save, a move that really puzzled me at the time, another one of those inexplicable Girardi brain farts.
I’m just happy Girardi’s in the Bronx. The Mets have enough problems. But it’s hard for Girardi to fall on his butt what with Gardner spelling Granderson with flash and even power and a guy like Thames on the bench. We have Tatis and Matthews.
The Mets future depends a lot on whether Maine can show some toughness for once and come back strong in his next start, and, hopefully for a few starts after that. To have to drop one of your starters from the rotation (Perez) is bad enough; to have to drop two would be disastrous, especially if Niese’s hamstring injury, which appears relatively minor as this is written, winds up being serious.
If Maine should continue to falter, and if Niese can’t return, the Mets almost have to make a deal for a pitcher. I can imagine any number of inventive deals down the line, involving just about any serviceable, and thus trade-able, player, either Pagan or possibly even a Carlos Beltran, certainly a more than serviceable commodity, one who has been and probably will be, an enormous distraction.
If things get really crazy, and if the Mets can’t turn it around, I suppose there will be nothing sacrosanct about the manager’s position. I’ve always got a big kick out of Jerry Manuel, but I have to wonder whether some of the problems, especially the weak performances from Wright, Reyes and Bay, aren’t due, at least in part, to Manuel’s own inventiveness, some of which may not have been out of necessity.
The inventiveness could even extend all the way to Omar Minaya, who has to take the hit for Ollie Perez, his most conspicuous error but certainly not the only one.
Last place tends to accentuate all the necessities.
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