LATEST STORIES FROM MIKE'S METS
Merely the Painfully Obvious
It's not helpful to be absurdly impatient. Baseball is a long season, and being two games under .500 in May is really meaningless. It's easy to call for the heads of Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya.
Met fans, though, aren't so stupid. We merely notice the painfully obvious. Like re-signing Oliver Perez was a major risk. At the time, he looked like a reasonable risk as a fifth starter...
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May 20, 2010
Discuss
You May Ask Yourself, Well, How Did I Get Here?
Last night, I had a dream. I had an awesome dream. The Mets were in first place, and a Mets pitcher not named Santana was leading all of baseball in ERA. This despite the fact that, as a team, they were scraping the bottom in batting average, not hitting for power, and scoring fewer runs than twenty other teams.
Nope. It's not a dream. These first-place Mets are a good team. But...
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April 28, 2010
Curiously, What's Wrong With the Mets?
Understanding that hindsight is 20/20, much of the blame for the present travails of the Mets falls squarely on personnel decisions that should have been dealt with very differently.
We will never now for sure which decisions can be attributed to whom, but Omar Minaya is the final arbiter on the roster.
True, we are only eight games into the season.
True, there have been a few...
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April 15, 2010
Game 6: Evoking Memories of 2009
Nationals 5 - Mets 2
I'm not trying to do a ton of game analysis this season. I try to get something with some thoughts on each game, but my work schedule doesn't allow me to post after games in a timely fashion. I keep it brief and to the point, and hope to write more commentary type pieces.
Yesterday's game against the Nats doesn't even warrant a short game analysis. What...
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April 12, 2010
Game 5: Ollie Being Ollie
Nationals 4 - Mets 3
One of the bigger questions for the Mets this year is which Oliver Perez will show up -- the good Ollie, who can be a dominating left-handed pitcher, or the bad Ollie, who doesn't have a clue where the ball is going when it leaves his hand.
Both Ollies showed up yesterday. While he looked impressive at times, it was walks and poorly located pitches that eventually...
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April 11, 2010
Oliver Perez 2010 Season Stats
Updated Sunday, April 11, 2010Oliver Perez (0-1)DateOpp.IPRERHKBBHRERAWHIPTeamResultPitcher Result4/10WAS5.24446406.351.41LLApril (1 Game)5.24446406.351.410-10-1Season (1 Game)5.24446406.351.410-10-1Month By MonthMonthStartsIP/StartH/9K/9BB/9HR/9ERAAVGOBPSLGApril15.76.49.56.40.06.35.190.320.286Season15.76.49.56.40.06.35.190.320.286About Mike: I was the original writer on this...
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April 11, 2010
Mike Pelfrey 2010 Season Stats
Updated Sunday, April 11, 2010Mike Pelfrey (1-0)DateOpp.IPRERHKBBHRERAWHIPTeamResultPitcher Result4/9WAS62246403.001.33WWApril (1 Game)62246403.001.331-01-0Season (1 Game)62246403.001.331-01-0Month By MonthMonthStartsIP/StartH/9K/9BB/9HR/9ERAAVGOBPSLGApril16.06.06.06.00.03.00.182.308.318Season16.06.06.06.00.03.00.182.308.318About Mike: I was the original writer on this web...
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April 11, 2010
Jon Niese 2010 Season Stats
Updated Sunday, April 11, 2010John Niese (0-1)DateOpp.IPRERHKBBHRERAWHIPTeamResultPitcher Result4/8FLA61145204.501.67LLApril (1 Game)63383204.501.670-10-1Season (1 Game)63383204.501.670-10-1Month By MonthMonthStartsIP/StartH/9K/9BB/9HR/9ERAAVGOBPSLGApril16.012.04.53.00.04.50.308.357.462Season16.012.04.53.00.04.50.308.357.462About Mike: I was the original writer on this web...
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April 11, 2010
John Maine 2010 Season Stats
Updated Sunday, April 11, 2010John Maine (0-0)DateOpp.IPRERHKBBHRERAWHIPTeamResultPitcher Result4/5FLA61145201.501.00LNDApril (1 Game)54483127.201.800-10-0Season (1 Game)54483127.201.800-10-0Month By MonthMonthStartsIP/StartH/9K/9BB/9HR/9ERAAVGOBPSLGApril15.014.45.41.83.67.20.364.391.682Season15.014.45.41.83.67.20.364.391.682About Mike: I was the original writer on this web...
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April 11, 2010
Johan Santana 2010 Season Stats
Updated Sunday, April 11, 2010Johan Santana (1-0)DateOpp.IPRERHKBBHRERAWHIPTeamResultPitcher Result4/5FLA61145201.501.00WWApril (1 Game)61145201.501.001-01-0Season (1 Game)61145201.501.001-01-0Month By MonthMonthStartsIP/StartH/9K/9BB/9HR/9ERAAVGOBPSLGApril16.06.07.53.00.01.50.190.261.238Season16.06.07.53.00.01.50.190.261.238About Mike: I was the original writer on this web...
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April 11, 2010
Game 4: Solid Pelfrey + 4 Homers = Win
Mets 8 - Nationals 2
All of the hand-wringing over Mike Pelfrey's spring numbers can come stop, at least for a few days, as Pelfrey delivered a solid 6 inning effort in his first game that counts.
That split-fingered change he throws looks like it can be that effective off-speed pitch that he's needed, and the sinker looked good, too. Pelfrey kept his focus when things got tough...
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April 10, 2010
Game 3: Niese Okay, Offense Not So Much
Marlins 3 - Mets 1
Jon Niese looked pretty good in his first start, but the Mets left their bats at home last night.
I was impressed how much mileage Niese got out of his fastball and cutter last night. If he takes what he did last night and mixes in a few more of those big curves he has a real chance to be a really solid major league starting pitcher.
He looks clearly more poised...
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April 09, 2010
Game 2: Forgetting the Maine
Marlins 7 - Mets 6 (10)
There were several different story lines running through this one -- the offense was pretty bad, some dumb plays on the bases, and the Marlins bullpen looks a little shaky in the early going.
The biggest story, however, was John Maine's struggles. He lacked velocity and location all day, and needed over 90 pitches to navigate five rather unsuccessful innings...
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April 08, 2010
Perchance to Dream
Low Expectations May Be the Elixer
For the first time in several campaigns, no one picks the Mets the win the NL East and few pick them for the NL Wild Card. Perhaps we have been blessed by the lowering of expectations?
For those of us who prefer to see the glass as half full, there are four things to keep in mind as we begin yet another baseball season which brings to a close...
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April 06, 2010
Game 1: Hope Still Has a Pulse
Mets 7 - Marlins 1
I was at Opening Day yesterday thanks to Dana Brand, the author of the wonderful The Last Days of Shea.
The sun was shining, the temperature was comfortable, and for at least a day we were able to put aside all of the over the top criticism and enjoy the hope and love for the game that Opening Day signifies.
I enjoyed being at the game and just being a fan....
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April 06, 2010
Mets Fans Understand What's Relevant
Thanks to George Vecsey for yet another condescending piece on the Mets from the New York Times.
I used to enjoy the Times' sports coverage once upon a time, but there is a certain arrogance to it now that makes them better suited to Yankees coverage. That's fine, too, whatever works. It's not like there is a shortage of Mets coverage.
The issue that Vecsey and his comrades at...
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April 04, 2010
Season Preview: The Bullpen
The news is out on the latest round of cuts, and they pretty well clarify the bullpen the Mets are going north with:
Francisco Rodriguez (R)
Ryota Igarashi (R)
Jenrry Mejia (R)
Sean Green (R)
Fernando Nieve (R)
Hisanori Takahashi (L)
Pedro Feliciano (L)
It's somewhat surprising that Kiko Calero didn't make it. He was signed to a minor league contract and didn't pitch very well...
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April 03, 2010
In Our Prayers
I was saddened to read about the passing of Steve Keane's mom on his The Eddie Kranepool Society blog.
I've had the good fortune to talk Mets with Steve at a couple of different events. He's a class act himself, and reading about his mom at the above link you could see where that comes from.
Steve and his family are in my prayers, as I am sure they are in the prayers of many of...
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April 01, 2010
Season Preview: Starting Pitching
Before I get into the meat of this piece I'd like to offer a quick apology for the sporadic posting. The "part-time job" that I started working early this month has developed into a 6 day a week more than full time job. I'm supposed to start full time early in April, so it's probably not going to get any easier for a while.
I'm going to have to figure out how to post more given...
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March 31, 2010
A Note about Comments
It's become a common practice these days for spammers to attach comments to blog posts that are merely attempts to hijack some free advertising. The problem has become so prevalent that these comments, if completely unchecked, would quickly overwhelm most legitimate comments on a blog.
I've been using Movable Type's built-in anti-spam plugins for quite a while, and they do a good...
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February 28, 2010
Back In High School
Back in high school there were always a few people who liked to instigate fights. They would go up to a guy and ask, "Did you hear what Jimmy is saying about you?" He'd say something back, which of course would get back to the other guy, and eventually this would escalate into a fight on the back field after school.
The thing that strikes me most about those fights looking back...
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February 25, 2010
Job Insecurity
In his Daily Scoop column today at SI.com, Jon Heyman doesn't travel very far out on a limb when he pronounces Mets manager Jerry Manuel as "on the hot seat."
I'm going to preface what I say next by noting that I am not a "quick trigger" guy when it comes to managers and coaches. Too many get fired simply for the sake of making a change, and usually any improvement in the team...
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February 24, 2010
Looking Back, Looking Ahead (Part 2)
[Note: This is the conclusion of a 2-part article. For Part 1 of this article, please click here.]
For all appearances, the Mets operated this past winter without a real plan. Despite claiming that they were putting together a team that would contend for the division title in 2010, management did little to address their starting pitching concerns. Indeed, other than Jason Bay...
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February 22, 2010
The Third Man?
I'm still trying to finish Part 2 of my Looking Back, Looking Ahead post. Hopefully I will have it up Sunday night, possibly Monday. I've been spending a lot of time job hunting this week and that has cut into writing time.
In the meantime, I've had a few emails asking me what I thought about the latest news with Jerry Manuel considering batting Reyes third in the lineup.
I could...
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February 20, 2010
Looking Back, Looking Ahead (Part 1)
Going into this winter I thought that the Mets had too many question marks to consider themselves a player or two away from being legit contenders, particularly with the Phillies and Braves looking solid.
There were some pundits and fans who thought the Mets could obtain a pitcher and a power bat and be solid contenders for 2010. Others, such as ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, felt like...
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February 18, 2010
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