MLB Midseason Awards

12 07 2011

Although most teams have already played 90-92 games, roughly 10 games past the official halfway point of the season, baseball sees no problem in calling the All-Star break the “halfway point” so I’ll go along with that and pretend that we’re not lying to ourselves. Here are my first half awards, which are given out with no bias whatsoever and also have zero impact on the actual awards given out later on in the year.

AL MVP
Adrian Gonzalez, BOS
.354 BA, 17 HR, 77 RBI
This is pretty much a no-brainer. Leading baseball with a .354 average, Adrian Gonzalez has, so far, been worth every single penny that the Red Sox spent on him this past offseason. He came just shy of winning the home run derby last night, but we’ll let him slide on that one. His 77 RBI also leads the league and he is on pace for a jaw-dropping 154 RBI (assuming that this is the statistical midway point, which it isn’t). He also has an OPS of 1.009, which, if you’re not familiar with the stat, is really, really good. It even looks good. I mean, if you don’t know what OPS is (it’s just the slugging percentage added to the on-base percentage), you can tell that 1.009 is good just by looking at it. Right?

NL MVP
Jose Reyes, NYM
.354 BA, 3 HR, 32 RBI
I’m not picking Reyes for first half MVP because I’m a Mets fan, I’m picking him because he’s batting .354 with 124 hits, an earth-shattering 15 doubles and because without him in the lineup, there is absolutely no way in hell that the Mets would even be sniffing .500 at this point in the season, let alone a game over .500. The “Best Baseball Player in the World” (according to A-Rod, of course) is living up to his billing this year, despite a recent injury that has sidelined him before the break. Every time he gets on base he’s almost guaranteed to cross the plate eventually, and he has been the heart of this Mets team all year (also, the lungs, the brain, the arms and legs, the liver, kidney and probably spleen too).

AL Cy Young
Justin Verlander, DET
12-4, 2.15 ERA, 147 SO, 0.87 WHIP
Verlander is having a monster season and his numbers back it up. Despite starting the season just 2-3, he’s won 10 of his last 11 decisions, including tossing a no-hitter against Toronto back in early May. His miniscule ERA might not be the lowest in the majors (that belongs to Jered Weaver, who I came awfully close to giving this award to) but it’s low enough. He’s also tied for the major league lead in strikeouts with 147 (Clayton Kershaw has 147 also) and his astonishing 0.87 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) is also tops in the majors. In other words, Verlander owns American League hitters right now, and he owns them hard.

NL Cy Young
Jair Jurrjens, ATL
12-3, 1.87 ERA, 65 SO, 1.07 WHIP
Man, it must be fun to play in the NL East. Of the top 10 pitchers in the NL right now, ranked statistically, five of them play for either the Phillies or Braves. With a race that includes Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee of the Phillies and Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson of the Braves, I’m inclined to give my midseason award to Jurrjens, if only because I can’t really decide which Phillies pitcher to give it to (they all split my imaginary vote – although I guess if I had to choose, I would pick Hamels, but I won’t). Jurrjens leads the NL in wins and ERA and also has a pretty nifty WHIP as well. Fun fact: Of the three losses Jurrjens has, two of them came at the hands of the Mets, in a 10-day span back in June. Cool!

AL Rookie of the Year
Mark Trumbo, LAA
.260 BA, 17 HR, 41 RBI
I’m not going to lie, I don’t know much of anything about Mark Trumbo, except that his name makes me think of shrimp. And gumbo. Also, I’m hungry.

NL Rookie of the Year
Freddie Freeman, ATL
.274 BA, 13 HR, 43 RBI
Things I know about Freddie Freeman: 1) He has a perfect baseball name. He almost sounds like a fictional character in a baseball movie that may or may not contain a sappy and cliché romantic storyline and – okay, I’m just describing the plot to “Summer Catch” because Freddie Prinze Jr. is the only other famous Freddie I know (Freddy Krueger spells his name differently). 2) He loves hitting against the Mets.

AL Manager of the Year
Terry Francona, BOS
The Red Sox started the season 2-10 and everyone in baseball reacted like everyone in the movie Deep Impact when they found out a giant asteroid was going to wipe out Earth. Now, it’s the All-Star break and…well, look at that! The Red Sox are in first place. What a surprise. Did I mention that they started 2-10?

NL Manager of the Year
Whoever manages the Pittsburgh Pirates, PIT
Okay, okay, I know that Clint Hurdle is the Pirates manager, I’m just kidding. But he’s doing a bang-up job right now with a team that hasn’t posted a winning record in 18 years. At the break, not only are the Bucs four games over .500 at 47-43, but they are a mere one game removed from first place in the NL Central behind the 49-43 Beer Makers. I could go on and on about what life was like the last time the Pittsburgh Pirates made the playoffs (1992), but I’ll spare you, because VH1 has already rammed enough ‘90s nostalgia down our throats to last until the 2090s.


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Contract Killer

6 06 2011

Last night, despite the paltry Sunday night crowd of just a shade over 21,000 that showed up to Citi Field for a nationally televised home game, you could barely make out a chant of “Don’t Trade Reyes” that made its way around the park sometime during the 4th inning. It was right after Reyes drove in Ruben Tejada to give the Mets a 5-0 lead, and several innings before Frankie Rodriguez gave up a 9th inning bomb to Diory Hernandez that landed on the runway at LaGuardia.

It’s not hard to understand why the people that ended up at Citi Field last night (it’s safe to assume that they were lost and wandered in unknowingly, right?) want so badly for Jose Reyes to stay. After all, he’s putting up numbers that are almost MVP-worthy. Through 53 games this season, he’s third in the National League in runs scored with 41, second in batting average with a .337 mark, second in stolen bases with 19, and he leads all of baseball with 10 triples.

These kinds of numbers don’t really come as a surprise to Mets fans because they are the kinds of numbers he’s been putting up for his entire career. Has he had recent injury problems? Sure, he was out for an entire season’s worth of games between 2009 and 2010,  but let’s also not forget that from 2005-2008 he missed a total of only 15 games.

At the end of the 2011 season, Jose Reyes will be a free agent. There’s no telling where he will end up playing in 2012, but it isn’t very likely that it will be in Queens. Right now, the Mets ownership can barely afford a breakfast buffet at Golden Corral, so the chances of Jose Reyes getting an attractive offer from the Mets are slim-to-none. Despite all of the constant talk of free agency and trade rumors that have been swirling around Reyes since spring training, he continues to perform at the highest level, and is having his best season since 2008. This makes it even harder to accept the fact that the face of the Mets franchise for the past eight seasons might just be another face for another franchise come next April.

So what are the Mets supposed to do? Are they supposed to trade Reyes at the deadline to a contender like San Francisco or Boston, getting a handful of prospects in return and leaving a gaping hole in the leadoff spot of their lineup? Are they supposed to hold onto him until the end of the season, make an underwhelming offer that is borderline insulting and then eventually lose him to free agency? It’s going to be a difficult call for everyone in the Mets organization, and one that will likely shape this team in the coming years.

At the end of this season, Carlos Beltran will also be a free agent and there seems to be little doubt both inside and outside of the Mets organization that he is going to be dealt before the season is over. With the possibility of Reyes, Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez leaving, there is already a sense of the direction that the Mets are moving in, and it’s no secret that they are looking to get younger. Promising play this season from guys like Dillon Gee, Justin Turner, Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy, as well as another hot start from Ike Davis (who has since been sidelined with an ankle injury) has many Mets fans hopeful for the future.

Although he is now eight seasons into his MLB career, Jose Reyes is only 28 years old. He still has at least 10 more years of efficient play left in him, although there’s no telling if his legs will last that long. Jose Reyes is most effective when he is on base — that’s where he makes plays and that’s how he scores runs. What he adds to the New York Mets is a lot more than what stats can quantify. The energy and life that he breathes into the lineup when he’s on a hot streak is something you can only understand from watching the team night in and night out and not from looking at the box score the next morning.

If the Mets are smart (we already know they’re not, but let’s play along with this hypothetical) they would make sure that Jose Reyes is wearing blue and orange next season. They may not be able to afford him, but at the same time, they can’t afford to lose him either. So owners, GM’s, executives, whoever is listening, do your team and your fanbase a favor and give Jose Reyes a contract he deserves. Hey, maybe it will even help keep those 21,000 fans in the seats.


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I Have To Be Honest, I Like Where This Is Going

27 05 2010
New York Mets Jason Bay and Ike Davis slap hands at Citi Field in New York

I’ve been absent from writing for the last few weeks due to a little West Coast trip to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and California. I didn’t bring my laptop with me out of fear that I might pawn it in Vegas for more cash to gamble with, so I haven’t been able to properly record all my Mets-related thoughts in a while, but that certainly doesn’t mean that I haven’t been watching my beloved Mets night in and night out. Thanks to the joys of modern technology and being able to watch live television on my phone in airport terminals and casinos, I’m always keeping tabs on our rag-tag bunch of lovable losers. Lately though, they’ve been anything but.

I was able to watch our bats take down Phil Hughes on Saturday night from a blackjack table at The Mirage, and got home just in time on Sunday to see A-Rod strike out with the tying runs on base to seal yet another convincing victory over the hated Yankees. Honestly, if there was anyone I would want to see in that position, striking out to the end the game with runners in scoring position, I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else but Alex Rodriguez.

So, taking two out of three from the Yankees was very satisfying. It helped me forget about the fact that Javy Vazquez managed to stifle us for all of one hit on Friday night (yes, that Javy Vazquez) and it gave me some pretty good ammo to fire back at Yankees fans with, at least until we meet them again next month. That was all good, but as much as I hate the Yankees (and trust me, I hate them with the fire of a hundred million suns) it still wasn’t as beautiful as the first two games of this Philadelphia series.

With the starting pitching back to form and giving us the kind of quality starts we got from them during our first extended winning streak back in April, the bats are beginning to heat up as well and I’m about as optimistic right now as I’ve been in a pretty long time. We’ve outscored the Phillies 13-0 in the first two games of this series. After a great outing from knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (apparently we should throw a knuckleball pitcher on the mound every time we face the Phillies, because after Wakefield and Dickey it’s clear that they are baffled by 64 mph pitches) and an even more impressive start from Hisanori Takahashi tonight, we are now 3 games out of first place at 24-23 and rolling.

What are some of the things that I’m particularly pleased with right now? For starters, Jason Bay has finally started to produce. His two home runs on Sunday off of C.C. Sabathia (the C.C. stands for Cottage Cheese, in case you were wondering) seemed to spark his bat to life and he has begun to grow into his new spot in the lineup as the #3 hitter in front of Ike Davis.

Jose Reyes, with a big triple last night off of former Met Nelson Figueroa and another RBI single tonight, is beginning to look a little more like the Jose Reyes we all know and love and it’s good to see him back in the leadoff spot again instead of batting third where he looked lost and confused.

David Wright, despite his strikeout problems (he’s hit more air this season than baseball) is still 8th in the NL in RBI’s with 33 and his 8 home runs are second on the team behind Barajas and only 2 shy of his total from all of last season. Speaking of Rod Barajas, he’s quickly on pace to become my new favorite Met to ever wear the number 21 and if he keeps on hitting the ball the way he’s been, he might even give old #31 a run for favorite all-time Mets catcher (alright, probably not, he still has a long way to go before that). Another 3 RBI’s for Barajas tonight gives him 27 on the season so far, with 10 home runs, both totals that I absolutely did not expect to get from our #7 hitter halfway through May. So that’s certainly progress.

With four wins in a row coming against the Yankees and Phillies, the two teams that met in last year’s World Series, and the two teams whose fan bases have both singlehandedly brought me dangerously close to being in at least 17 bar fights in the past year, the New York Metropolitans are playing some pretty damn good baseball right now. If you consider the fact that the lineup continues to score lots of runs despite being without arguably its best hitter in Carlos Beltran, then I would say that we are in fairly good shape.  If Beltran ever gets healthy again before the remaining two years on his contract are up, we have the potential to put out a lineup with legitimate hitters from top to bottom.

Tomorrow night, we put Mike Pelfrey on the mound to try for a sweep of the Phillies. Not only would it probably be our first sweep of Philadelphia since our lineup featured Bernard Gilkey and Butch Huskey (I’m exaggerating), but it would also give Big Pelf the chance to start 7-1 and all but guarantee that I start calling him “Cy Young” from this point on.

I’m excited.


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That Was…Interesting.

18 04 2010
Mets Bay at bat against the Cardinals in the first inning of their MLB National League game in St Louis

I haven’t found anyone that can explain to me exactly what happened yesterday from 4:10 until a little after 11 p.m., at least not yet. So, because of this, I’m going to try to explain what I saw. But, how can I even attempt to explain it when I can’t decide if it was the greatest game I’ve ever watched or the worst game I’ve ever watched? It has to be one or the other, a game like that cannot fall in between.

In order to properly digest all of yesterday/last night’s 20-inning fiasco, I’ll break it down into 20 thoughts that I had before/during/after the game. Some of these thoughts are positive, others are not-so-positive, and a few are just downright baffling.

1. Friday night’s performance from Oliver Perez. For some reason, watching him throw 6 scoreless innings against the Cardinals brought me right back to that night in October 2006 that I’ll never forget. Then, seeing Raul (Exxon) Valdes come in a blow his 1-0 lead with just a few pitches made me think of Aaron Heilmann on that night in October 2006 and then I pictured Yadier Molina circling the bases and pumping his fist, only this time it was Felipe Lopez and I got really angry for a few seconds. Then I realized that I just watched Oliver Perez pitch a good game, and that right there (as rare as it is these days), was enough to make me happy.

2. So, the pitching….I’d say we’re on the right track now? Perez tosses 6 shutout innings on Friday night, then our ace Johan goes out yesterday and throws 7 shutout innings (little did we know that there would be another 11 scoreless innings after he left the game). So, if you’re keeping count, that would make it 13 consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Mets’ starters. Pretty good. Santana had his A1 stuff yesterday, and if anyone in the Mets lineup didn’t suddenly feel bad about harming the baseball yesterday, the game likely would have been over well before it was. Not to mention the fact that the bullpen did not collapse at all throughout 11 extra innings of baseball yesterday/last night. If I would have told you a few days ago that the bullpen would combine for 11 consecutive scoreless innings in one game, you probably would have slapped me right in the face. UNBELIEVABLE! Right? Look: Fernando Nieve, 2.1 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs. Wow! Raul Valdes, 2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs. It gets better! Hisanori Takahashi, 2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 4 strikeouts! What a game from the bullpen. As sloppy as this game got at times, you absolutely cannot overlook how well the bullpen pitched for 11 innings. Almost unheard of in Mets Nation these days.

3. That catch. Hey, I know it happened when the sun was still out in St. Louis, but does anybody remember that catch that Alex Cora made in the stands along the first base line in the 10th inning? I do. Let me jog your memory. Bottom of the 10th inning, still no score (of course) and the bases loaded. Nieve had just come in to relieve Pedro Feliciano and gave an intentional walk to Albert Pujols. Matt Holliday came to the plate with two outs and Alex Cora was in at first base (an ever-so-helpful FOX graphic told us that this was only the 3rd time that Cora had ever played first base in his career). So, Matt Holliday swings and pops one up along the first base side, just beyond the dugout. Cora is in pursuit and at this point, I’m pretty sure that the ball is going to end up going foul. Then he drifts closer and closer to the railing and the first row of seats, Cora dives…he doesn’t just lean over the railing and stick his glove out, I mean this guy actually leaps head-first into the seats and into some Cards fan’s lap. There is a split second of uncertainty and I’m thinking to myself, “OH @%$&, HE CAUGHT THAT BALL!” And then he reaches his hand up, and what is it holding? The baseball. Following that play, I tweeted: “Wow. For someone who isn’t even a first baseman, Alex Cora may have just saved the game. What a catch.” As it turns out, he probably did. Who knows if on the next pitch Holliday wouldn’t have ripped one into right field and won ended the game right there? He very well could have, but thanks to Cora he never got the chance. The play was very similar to another great catch made about 6 years ago by a popular shortstop that plays for another New York team, though his name slips my mind at the moment.

4. Hitting with runners in scoring position? Hitting? Listen, I’m going to be perfectly honest here, normally when a team is heading into the 12th inning of a game and they have only mustered 1 hit up to that point, they really don’t even deserve to win the game. Seriously, it’s unheard of.  I mean, up until the 10th inning the Mets had only hit the ball out of the infield 4 times. How you can play 10 innings of baseball and only hit the ball past the infielders 4 times and still be in a position to win the game I will never know. This is a Major League Baseball team. Even further, as bad as that sounds, it probably sounds worse for Cardinals fans. Because despite how completely inept the Mets were at the plate yesterday, we still won the game! Amazin’! I even forgot that Jaime Garcia had a no-hitter through 5 innings yesterday.

5. Jason Bay, where art thou bat? 0-for 7. 4 strikeouts. Ouch. Every time he swung at a pitch in the dirt yesterday and walked with his head down back to the dugout, all I heard was a CHA-CHING sound. Where has all that money gone? I really hope he starts hitting soon. Like really, really, really hope. For his sake. If not, the wrath of the New York media will come down on him with the fire of a million suns and he will wish that he was back in Boston or Pittsburgh or anywhere but here. Please Jason, for the love of God, make contact with the ball.

New York Mets vs St. Louis Cardinals

6. Everyone in the Mets lineup yesterday, except for Angel Pagan, where art thou bats? Take in this statistic: Angel Pagan went 3-for-6 in yesterday’s game. Everyone else in the lineup not named Angel Pagan? 6-for-55. What? I promise you that’s not a typo. That is good for a .109 average. I have never, ever seen a team swing at worse pitches than the ones that some of our guys swung at yesterday (I’m looking at you David, and Jose, and Jeff, and Jason..). As my dad would say (and probably did say at some point during yesterday’s game), “They could hold batting practice in a hotel lobby and not break anything.”

7. Felipe Lopez. There was a Felipe Lopez that hit a grand slam on Friday night to put the Cardinals ahead 4-1 in the 7th inning. Then, there was a Felipe Lopez that shut down the Mets in the 18th inning, allowing only one hit and one walk. Here’s the kicker though: they are both the same person! That’s right, the Cardinals third baseman/shortstop/reliever, who started the game as the shortstop, ended up pitching a scoreless inning last night. Good for him. If he came to the plate in the bottom half of the inning and then nailed a homer to win the game for the second night in a row, he instantly joins Yadier Molina in the pantheon of Cardinals Players I Hope I Never See In Public.

8. Speaking of position players on the mound… I don’t want this to sound like I’m complaining, because I’m really not. I mean, we ended up winning the game, so I’ll take whatever I can get….but…we could only manage 2 runs off of a backup outfielder? Really? That kind of bothers me, and it probably bothers you a little bit too, you just won’t admit it. It took a sacrifice fly from Jose Reyes to squeak in the go-ahead run against Joe Mather. Just think about that for a second.

9. By the way… I still thoroughly enjoy watching position players pitch in really long extra inning games. I don’t think I will ever get tired of that. It’s just fun to watch. It reminds me of those long-ago days in Little League when anyone could pitch, just as long as they could reach home plate without bouncing it.

10. A standing ovation for the Slingbox. I left my girlfriend’s house at the start of the 10th inning, thinking that there would only be about an inning or two left, at the most. So, we got in my friend’s car to go out for the night and I took out my phone and turned on my Slingbox…and proceeded to be glued to the tiny 3-inch iPhone screen for the next three hours. I must say, the recent update to allow Slingbox streaming over 3G (instead of only Wi-Fi like it used to be) ended up being such a clutch move. The picture quality was impeccable, and didn’t break up once, even on a 45-minute drive down the shore. Greatest gift I’ve ever gotten. And that ends my Slingbox commercial that I didn’t even get paid for.

11. Good Slingbox, even better iPhone. Although my remote TV-viewing app was the star player last night, my iPhone had to be the co-MVP with its battery life. I had a full battery at the start of the 10th inning, but was dragging along at 15% by the 17th and thought I might lose the game at the worst possible time. So, I shut it down for a while and followed the game at ESPN.com. However, the little guy hung in there and delivered and I was able to catch the last two innings. Three straight hours of streaming live TV is pretty impressive for a phone. Kudos to you, Apple. (Once again, I swear I’m not getting paid for this.

12. After breaking everything down, I think I’ve come to a decision. Turns out that yesterday/last night’s game wasn’t the worst game I’d ever seen. It wasn’t the best one either. What it ultimately ended up being was a perfect microcosm of this 2010 Mets team. A few parts ugly, a few parts promising, and always intriguing. That’s what I took away from last night’s game. Atrocious hitting, remarkable pitching, and a lot of head-scratching moments that made you go, “What the @$%&? Did that just really happen?” Folks, these are our Mets, love ‘em or leave ‘em. And I love ‘em.

13. Turns out that 20 is a lot harder to get to than you would think. Whether it’s 20 innings or 20 thoughts about a game that went 20 innings, 20 is a lot, and since I don’t have 7 more things to say about yesterday’s game, I’ll leave it right here at 13 and hope that we can fill in the blanks after tonight’s game.


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Damaged Beyond Repair?

11 04 2010

"I never thought I would wish to be back in Montreal."

Those of you that actually managed to sit through the torture that was this weekend’s three-game series against the Washington Nationals, I applaud you. I came close. Friday night was no sweat, in fact I enjoyed watching the Metropolitans’ first 4 homer game since 2006. Seeing Francoeur and Barajas carry the Mets with 2 home runs a piece on the night before Reyes was to return to the lineup had me feeling pretty optimistic. I carried that optimism into the next afternoon’s game, only to have it ripped away by Willie Harris as his diving grab in left field robbed Barajas of what could have been the game-winning hit with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Okay, so I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over one loss to the Nationals. Clearly, Reyes looked a bit rusty all day and that was to be expected. After all, it had almost been an entire calendar year since he had last started a Major League game. But then there was today. I’ll be honest with you and tell you that I didn’t last beyond the 1st inning of today’s game. Josh Willingham’s grand slam off of Johan Santana in the top of the inning gave the Nats a lightning-fast 4-0 lead and I shut down my Slingbox and put my phone back in my pocket quicker than Tiger Woods when his wife enters the room.

Here’s what I didn’t like about losing two out of three to the Washington Nationals: EVERYTHING. I am well aware that the Mets are not the creme de la creme of the National League. This is not new. However, I had at least one thing to cling to as a Mets fan through the last few seasons of collapses and chokes and catastrophes: that we were still better than the Nationals. After this weekend, I’m not so sure anymore.

When you send your ace out to the mound, in front of a home crowd on a nice Sunday afternoon, you expect to win no matter who you’re facing. When you send your ace out to the mound , in front of a home crowd on a nice Sunday afternoon against the Washington Nationals, you are SUPPOSED TO WIN. However, this was not even the most embarrassing part of today’s loss.

What could have possibly been more embarrassing then having your Cy Young-winning ace get blasted at home by the Washington Nationals? Oh great, I’m glad you asked. It’s this: having your Cy Young-winning ace get out-pitched by a guy who was the number 5 starter in your rotation the year before. Livan Hernandez. Forget for a second that Livan Hernandez is so far past his prime that he’s about to pass it again a second time around, just know that he shut the Mets out for 7 innings today and probably laughed his way all the way back to the clubhouse when he left with a 5-0 lead.

Am I overreacting about an April 11th loss to the Nationals? It’s possible, but I’ve already asked myself about 4 questions in this column and usually when I ask myself questions and then answer them, that means that I’m complaining about something, and today I’m complaining about the New York Mets.

The New York Mets are a broken franchise, whether or not you choose to accept this fact as a Mets fan. I, myself, happen to be about as optimistic a Mets fan as you’ll ever find, anywhere. Mets fans, by nature, are not supposed to be optimistic. It’s about as rare of as finding a New York City cab driver that speaks fluent English. So, naturally, I held off for about as long as I possibly could before deciding that the Mets 2010 season was doomed. It only took me 6 games. I’m sorry guys, I really am, and I want so badly to tell you that everything will be alright once Beltran gets back and once we stop playing such juggernauts as the Marlins and the Nats, but I don’t think I can grin and bear it anymore.

Most of the time, this team is very hard to watch. There are the bright spots like Friday night and like Opening Day, but lately, those bright spots have been few and very far between. Maybe reaching a conclusion as dramatic as this after only 6 games is a little bit premature, but I’m willing to take that chance. If they end up proving me wrong, then that’s incredible. I will be just as happy as all the rest of the Mets faithful. Right now though, I’m more inclined to say that they won’t prove me wrong, and if that is the case, then the Mets organization needs to start cleaning house sooner than later. Unlike past years though, cleaning house should not mean firing Jerry Manuel and bringing in someone else as a temporary scapegoat. No, by cleaning house I mean going straight for the source of all these problems — Omar Minaya.

But I’ll save that for another day. Right now, I feel like I’ve reached my rant quota for the week, maybe even the month.


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I Know, It’s Only One Game, But…

6 04 2010

And to think, we only saw this 10 times last season...Trying to accurately assess a Major League baseball team after one game is about as fruitless as trying to predict the future occupation of a toddler. In other words, we’re much better off just waiting for things to naturally develop and take shape before we start throwing around assumptions. In a 162-game season, Opening Day is nothing but a mere drop in the ocean, and so as much as I enjoyed yesterday’s nice, stress-free Opening Day win, I’m not doing any back-flips yet.

Just as with any season-opener, yesterday’s game featured an equal amount of bright spots to look forward to and also some cautionary flags to look out for. Since the weather is nice today and I’m in a good mood, we’ll start with the bright spots. Number one was David Wright’s two-run opposite field homer in the first inning to put the Mets up 2-0. Now, I know that he also hit a home run on Opening Day last year too and then ended up only hitting 9 more for the remainder of the season, but it was certainly comforting seeing him be able to get into the batter’s box yesterday and take Josh Johnson deep on the fourth pitch, especially after a whole offseason of questions about where his power disappeared to.

The second positive thing that I took away from yesterday was the fact that we were finally, FINALLY able to beat Josh Johnson. Going into yesterday’s game, the young Marlins righty was 7-0 against the Mets. If he had won yesterday, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez might have seriously considered putting him back on the mound on Wednesday…and Thursday…and every other time they play the Mets this season.

What else did I like about yesterday? I really liked the play of the newcomers to the Mets lineup, Jason Bay, Gary Matthews Jr. and Rod Barajas. Each of them contributed two hits yesterday, including a triple from Jason Bay and an RBI double from Barajas in the Mets 4-run 6th inning that took Johnson out of the game and blew it wide open.

Although Gary Matthews Jr. is only a temporary placeholder until Carlos Beltran returns from the DL in May, he looked like he was right at home in center at Citi Field yesterday, and did an admirable job of running down fly balls on a day where it seemed that every outfielder was having at least some kind of difficulty with the bright April sun.

While Matthews played a solid game, this also brings me to my only major cause for concern from yesterday: the nagging injury issue. Seeing the Mets lineup on Opening Day missing both Beltran and Reyes just makes me feel like we have picked up right where we left off last September. Reyes should be returning to the lineup this weekend against Washington and Beltran may be back as soon as next month, but for the Mets to have any shot at all at staying competitive in the NL East this season, it is imperative that all of their key players remain healthy and in the lineup, because while Cora and Pagan and Matthews may be able to get the job done from time to time, they aren’t Jose Reyes or Carlos Beltran.

All in all, the Mets did what they were supposed to do yesterday; we trotted our ace out to the mound and he got the job done, allowing only one run and 4 hits in 6 innings of work. We already know that Johan Santana can win games, it’s the other four pitchers in the rotation with question marks next to their names. Maine? Pelfrey? Niese? Perez? These four guys have defined inconsistency the last few seasons. If even two of them can step up and have a big season in 2010, then I don’t see why we can’t be competitive. With this team though, you never know what can happen. And that, I guess, is why they play the game.


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Categories : Sports

NFL Week 14 Picks

10 12 2009

It’s been a few weeks since my last full NFL picks column, so I’m taking the time to give you Week 14, no holds-barred. The Thursday night games have been throwing me off because now I need to have my picks done a full 3 days before I usually do them, so thanks a lot NFL Network, for throwing me off my comfortable routine, and also for providing meaningless games that almost nobody cares about. Come on, Bears-Niners? Jets-Bills, in Canada? Tonight is no better. Steelers-Browns? These games are making me feel fine with the fact that Cablevision doesn’t get the NFL Network. No complaints so far. So let’s get to the picks. As usual, home teams in all caps.

Pittsburgh (-10) over CLEVELAND

Look, I know that I’ve shamelessly name-dropped my fantasy football team so many times in this column that I’m starting to sound like Nicholas Cage plugging another bad movie on Letterman. However, I’m now in the playoffs (at 6-7, it’s a miracle) and it’s starting to get important. At this point in the year, with Michael Turner limping around like House, my most reliable player has become Rashard Mendenhall, a guy I claimed off waivers in Week 4. Tonight they’re expecting a lot of snow in Cleveland. This game has “150 yards, 2 TDs” written all over it for Mendenhall against a weak Cleveland run defense that’s among the bottom 5 in the league. Am I excited about the possibility of him racking up 30 fantasy points on a bad ankle? Yes, absolutely, especially when the team I’m going against has Drew Brees and Chris Johnson. Okay I promise, that’s enough about my fantasy team for at least another 500 words.

Denver (+7) over INDIANAPOLIS

It’s Week 14 and we still have two teams that are undefeated. Some may call it a remarkable season, I just call it the biggest piece of evidence to show that the league has more bad teams this season than ever before. It’s not that the Saints and Colts are that remarkably good, it’s that the teams they are playing (for the most part) are remarkably bad. You mean to tell me that it’s just a huge coincidence that in the 37 years since the ’72 Dolphins we’ve had only one team go undefeated in the regular season (’07 Pats, of course) and now all of a sudden we might have two in one season?

Cincinnati (+7) over MINNESOTA

The 2009 Bengals are a lot like Santa Claus in that I want to believe that they are for real. So I will, for now. I will keep believing, even when Carson Palmer throws 16 passes a game.  (sentence deleted because of content about fantasy team). The people of Cincinnati are rejoicing because this is a team that is one year removed from an 0-8 start and now they have clinched only their second winning season since 1991. That’s fascinating. They’ll have an even bigger reason to celebrate if they can hand the Vikings a second straight loss on Sunday.

TAMPA BAY (+3) over NY Jets

Why am I taking the 1-11 Bucs over the Jets? Because they are the feistiest 1-11 team I’ve ever seen. Also because Kellen Clemens will make the start in place of an injured Mark Sanchez (out with a knee). Luckily, Joe Girardi came last week and showed poor Mark how to slide correctly. Fortunately Rex Ryan was able to get Girardi, because the other option was to get Jose Reyes to come in and show Sanchez how to milk a minor knee injury for 5 months.

Green Bay (-3) over CHICAGO

Okay, I think I’m safe to talk about my fantasy team one more time. I’m excited for this game because I have the Packers defense and I know that they are all staring at a picture of Jay Cutler right now and salivating. I’m thinking of a word that starts with “inter” and rhymes with “ception”. Green Bay is peaking at just the right time for them, and just the wrong time for the Giants. The thing about the NFL is that you need to take care of your own business before you can start counting on other teams to take care of it for you.

New Orleans (-10) over ATLANTA

I don’t know whether to be impressed or confused by the Saints, especially when one week I watch Drew Brees pick apart the New England secondary, and then the next week they’re edging out the Redskins in overtime only because Shaun Suisham can’t kick field goals (don’t worry ‘Skins fans, he was cut this week). WHO ARE YOU, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS? WHO ARE YOU???

Detroit (-13.5) over BALTIMORE

I was wrong about the Baltimore Ravens, I’ll admit it. But then again, so was everyone that gushed about them for the first two months of the season. It’s was a nice honeymoon, but I think we’re seeing what it’s like when Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco come back down to Earth. All I’m saying is, let’s not wet our pants just yet. On the other hand, Ray Rice has passed my first test of stardom. When I look at my opponent’s fantasy team (seriously, I promise, this is the last time) and see him on the roster, I actually mutter “oh crap” very softly to no one in particular. That’s what I call the “oh crap” test. Ray Rice has passed that test. Welcome, Ray.

JACKSONVILLE (-3) over Miami

It’s the 2009 Battle of Florida Teams Who Might Be Relevant Again, Only We Can’t Really Tell Yet, We Just Hope This Game Doesn’t Get Blacked Out! Only on CBS! By the way, the Jacksonville Jaguars currently hold one of the wild card spots in the AFC. What I’m trying to say is, if the season ended today (thank God it doesn’t), the Jacksonville Jaguars would be in the playoffs. Their fans can’t even watch them on television at home because they can’t sell out their games. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2009 AFC Playoffs!

NEW ENGLAND (-13.5) over Carolina

You know what it means when Bill Belichick starts kicking guys out of practice because they got their $80,000 Hummers stuck in the snow and couldn’t make it to morning meetings on time. It means that it’s Serious Time and when it’s Serious Time, Bill Belichick is serious. It’s not anything like the rest of the year when he’s happy-go-lucky and cracking jokes with the media. Not anymore. He’s cutting off the sleeves to his grey hooded sweatshirt as we speak. I don’t want to be the Panthers defense this week.

HOUSTON (-6) over Seattle

I have nothing to say about this game because I feel like it’s between two 5-7 teams who basically play the same exact game every week. I’m sorry.

TENNESSEE (-13) over St. Louis

Last week was the first time in 5 weeks that I couldn’t tweet “VINCE YOUNG WINS FOOTBALL GAMES” on Sunday night, because Vince Young did not win a football game last week. This week however, Vince Young will win a football game and I can go back to living my life the way that it should be lived. Thank you, Mr. Young.

Washington (-1) over OAKLAND

This is what I don’t get about the Raiders: they’ll beat the Eagles, Bengals and Steelers, but then they’ll get trounced at home by the Redskins on Sunday. Of course I don’t know this for sure, but I can sense it coming. If it doesn’t happen that way, then we can just conveniently forget that I ever wrote this paragraph. Okay?

San Diego (+3) over DALLAS

Around here, in Giants country, we have a name for the Dallas Cowboys in December and January: Choking Hazards. That’s right, I said it. Let’s see you win something, “America’s Team.” I haven’t enjoyed a Giants win as much as I enjoyed last week’s win in a long while. Probably since the last time we beat the Cowboys. I’m not very fond of Philip Rivers either, but you better believe I’ll be a Chargers fan on Sunday.

Philadelphia (+1) over NY GIANTS

I hate games against the Eagles. Do you want to know how much I hate games against the Eagles? I hate them a lot. First of all, my brother is a huge Eagles fan, so the tension that builds up in our house the days leading up to a Giants-Eagles game is both exciting and uncomfortable at the same time. Second, they have demolished us the last three times we played them, with one of those times being last year’s NFC Divisional Playoffs. Needless to say, I’ll be there at the stadium on Sunday night with my brother, so we’ll see how this one goes. The last time I saw a Giants-Eagles game at the Meadowlands in December, Jeff Garcia took apart our defense like he was taking apart a bunch of Lego’s.

Arizona (-3.5) over SAN FRANCISCO

What has my fantasy football season come down to? Listen, if you’ve stuck with me for this long, then you’ll have to hear me out when I say this: my starting quarterback this weekend is Alex Smith. I’ve endured a long 13 weeks going back and forth between the likes of Matt Ryan, Donovan McNabb (even after I swore I would never touch him again after last season) and Carson Palmer (don’t even get me started about him), but now going into the first round of the playoffs, Ryan is M.I.A. like Andy from Shawshank Prison, Palmer is looking at a possible stat line of 9/22, 121 yards, 1 INT this week against Minnesota’s defense and I can’t possibly start McNabb against the Giants (as important as I think fantasy is, it will never come before my allegiance to the Giants). So it’s come down to this. Alex Smith. I’ve dropped so many Alex Smith jokes in the past few years that I know I have terrible karma going into this game. It all goes to show that the fantasy football gods really, truly hate me.

Last Week: N/A (out with a swine flu)

Season Total: 101-75


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