The Mets 10-Game Report: Volume 10

Mets fans, hello.  Welcome to the 10th official installment of the Mets 10-Game Report.  They are giving us hope again.  Keep the whiskey at hand.  

Previous Results:

Volume 1: Games 1-10: Record: 5-5

Volume 2: Games 11-20: Record: 4-6

Volume 3: Games 21-30: Record: 8-2

Volume 4: Games 31-40: Record: 4-6

Volume 5: Games 41-50: Record: 7-3

Volume 6: Games 51-60: Record: 4-6

Volume 7: Games 61-70: Record: 4-6

Volume 8: Games 71-80: Record: 3-7

Volume 9: Games 81-90: Record: 4-6

And the latest:

Volume 10:

Games 91-100

Record: 6-4!

@ ATL L 7-1

@ WAS W 6-2

@ WAS L 4-0

@ WAS L 3-1

@ HOU L 5-4

@ HOU W 10-3

@ HOU W 8-3

vs COL W 7-3

vs COL W 4-0

vs COL W 7-0

Runs Scored: 48

Runs Allowed: 30

Team BA: 91/327 = .278

Team BA w. RISP: 27/74 = .365 (Nice!)

Team BA w. RISP & 2 outs: 12/34 = .352 (WOW!)

HRs: 6

Team ERA: 86IP, 27ER = 2.82 (That. Is. Awesome.)

Starter ERA: 59.2IP, 21ER = 3.19 

Bullpen ERA: 27IP, 6ER = 2.00

Team BAA: 76/313 = .242

HRs Allowed: 6

Errors: 6

GIDP: 10

Fielding DP: 14

SB: 2

Volume 10 MVPs:

Starter: Livan Hernandez got two wins in this volume with two very nice starts.

Reliever: Pedro Feliciano's arm may fall off by the end of the season, but boy has he been good.

Hitter: Luis Castillo & Jeff Franceour have been tearing the cover off the ball.  

Volume 10 "Just Shoot Me in the Face!":

Starter: Oliver Perez drives me crazy with all of those stupid walks.  To his credit, he hasn't had a true meltdown start yet.  

Reliever: Tim Redding stinks.  

Hitter: Ya know, I actually don't think anyone deserves to be here for this.  

Analysis: After four straight volumes of pure crap, the Mets have finally turned in an over .500 result, posting a solid 6-4 for Volume 10.  And they had to work hard for this one, as they started the volume out 1-4 and came back to win 5 straight.  

They truly hit rock bottom after that Washington series.  And I guess after that, they figured the truly worst was behind them, and perhaps it gave them a sense that they were about to start anew.  Who knows.  It all comes down to pitching though at the end of the day, especially starting pitching, and the Mets have been getting excellent starting pitching.  Santana is back to normal, Big Pelf - dare I say - seems to be back to normal, Livan is good again, Niese has given the team a lift, and Ollie - though he hasn't been great - hasn't been classically horrid Ollie.  

And the offense?  I'm not sure how to explain the offensive surge.  Basically - you have Pagan and Castillo playing extremely well and getting on base.  DW is DW.  Franceour has been scary good, and has provided protection for Daniel Murphy.  So now you have 5 guys in that lineup who really can hold their own.  This takes pressure off a player like Cora who is not really an everyday player.  And look - even bad teams go through hot offensive streaks.  Now, I hope that's not what is going on with the Mets, but I'm not about to declare them new and improved and ready to storm into first place in the WC chase.  Not yet, anyway.  I need to see another 20 games or so of this.  

But there's hope again, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking.  I had resigned myself to the fact that the Mets were not going to do anything but lose.  But now, with this 5 game winning streak and with them only 5 games out of the WC lead, and with Beltran, Reyes, Delgado, Putz, and Wagner all looming and looking to come back sometime next month, there is hope.  

Next up for the Mets: 6 more games on the homestand - 4 vs the D-Backs, and 2 vs the Cardinals.  They must win 4 out of those 6, which would make for a 7-3 homestand, which is excellent.  Then they go on the road to play the Padres for 4 games.  So of the next 10 games, 8 of them will be against teams that are well below .500.  The Mets must take advantage.  I mean, simply put, they can't afford to lose much anymore.

Around the NL:

Phillies: 4-6, 7-3, 5-5, 7-3, 7-3, 5-5, 2-8, 6-4, 8-2, 6-3

Braves: 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 5-5, 6-4, 6-4, 0-1

Marlins: 9-1, 3-7, 4-6, 3-7, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 7-3, 5-5, 6-4, 1-0

Well, since that putrid 4-14 stretch that the Phills suffered, they have really turned it on.  So much so we Mets fans have stopped paying attention to the division race and have a hearts set on the WC race now.  Both the Braves and the Marlins have been playing solid baseball as of late, but if the track record of the season as a whole means anything, they should be back to .500 and below soon.  

Quote of the Day

"The good thing for Wilpon is his team seems to be oblivious to the chaos in the front office. The Mets posted their fourth straight victory last night. Maybe they should fire Bernazard every night." - Tim Smith, New York Daily News

Damn it, they're giving me hope again!  

Mets 7, Rockies 3... and Omar Minaya is a f***&^% idiot

That win last night was simply the most fun I've had watching a Mets game since sometime in May.  And it feels like longer than that.  It feels like I haven't seen a game like that since '06.  I mean last night was basically the '06 formula: decent, keep-you-in-the-game staring pitching; clutch offense; shutdown bullpen; come from behind win.  The Mets mastered that formula in 2006.  

That's 3 wins in a row now.  But so what?  They are still 4 under .500, and while they are not completely out of the WC hunt, they are not exactly right in the mix either.  Still, the Mets last night at the very least gave me reason to smile - they gave me reason to be happy about them and about baseball, if only for one freggin' game.  One day at a time.  

............................................................................

Omar, Omar, Omar...  Forget about the fact that you are a scumbag for a second.  We'll get to that.  Let's start with what a completely horrible public speaker you are: 

“Adam, for the past couple of years, has lobby [sic] for a player development position. He has lobby [sic] myself, he has lobby [sic] Tony…”

“All I’m saying was [sic]… that I know that when you wrote the reports, that I am saying, that in the past, you have lobby [sic]… you have lobby [sic], for a player, for a job…”

Listening to you abuse the english language, Omar, makes me want to gouge my eyes out and shove them deep into my ears.  

Now, on you being a scumbag...  It's pretty clear that you have much love and affection for your good friend Mr. Bernazard and that you are very angry about having to fire him.  And this is why you chose to lash out at Adam Rubin in the despicable way that you did, only adding more wood to a fire that you were supposed to be putting out yesterday.  That's a real piece of shit thing to do, Omar, and also a very stupid and imprudent thing to do.  

But here is what really puzzles me.  You stand by your claim that Adam was lobbying for a job with the Mets; that he wasn't just asking people for "career advice", that he was actually trying to get a specific position with the Mets organization.  And of course you strongly implied that this had something to do with his negative (but wholly true and accurate) reporting on Tony Bernazard.  Yet yesterday when you scheduled YET ANOTHER press conference to issue a quasi-apology for your despicable behavior, Jeff Wilpon who stood by your side confirmed Adam's account of the story, not yours. Jeff Wilpon confirmed what Adam said - that he was seeking career advice, NOT a specific job with the Mets.  Yet you still stand by your claim that Adam was lobbying for a job with the Mets.  So you're not even on the same page as your boss here.  You are in a world of shit, now, aren't you?  

I'm so tired of this stupid circus.  But hey, all I really care about are the Ws.  Let's keep them coming.  

Let's Go Mets!

Musings

So here's basically what has happened to the Mets this season and why they are so bad:

The Starting Rotation:  Only Santana has been reliable.  We went into this season needing the trio of Maine, Pelfrey, and Perez to solidify the middle of the rotation.  Maine is still on the DL, Perez spent most of the season on the DL and has an ERA over 7.00, and Pelfrey has been disappointing.  Nieve and Hernandez held down the fort for some time, but could not adequately prevent the inevitable bleeding.  Tim Redding is one of the worst pitchers I have ever seen in my life.  I can't stand him.  Watching him makes me want to gouge my eyes out.  

The Bullpen: K-Rod has been great, but we went into the season needing Putz to be great too.  He has been on the DL most of the time, and when he wasn't on the DL, he was bad anyway.  Parnell started out hot, but is now struggling.  

The Lineup: We went into the season needing Carlos Delgado to be what he was in the second half of 2008 and not revert back to his 2007/first half 2008 form.  He was good, until he went on the DL, where he is still today.  Reyes and Beltran joined him and remain there.  Various other key parts spent significant amounts of time there.  Replacements and hopefuls such as Tatis and Murphy have been amazingly disappointing, and there has generally been a huge drop-off in talent.  Defense? - we won't talk about defense.  

So that's it.  Outside of Santana and K-Rod, everything else the Mets sorely depended on going into this season has betrayed them.  Oh, and we have an utterly inept front office.  You simply can't win like that.  

..............................................................

I absolutely adore the documentary on the Brooklyn Dodgers that HBO put out a couple years ago.  Really informative, and really moving.  I wonder what it would be like today if both the Dodgers and the Giants didn't move out of NYC.  Imagine?  3 baseball teams in NYC?  The traffic would be nuts, but damn - how cool would that be?  

The Mets 10-Game Report: Volume 9

Welcome, Mets fans, to the 9th installment of the Mets 10-Game Report.  Things could be worse, folks.  We could be Nationals fans instead

Previous results:

Volume 1: Games 1-10: Record: 5-5

Volume 2: Games 11-20: Record: 4-6

Volume 3: Games 21-30: Record: 8-2

Volume 4: Games 31-40: Record: 4-6

Volume 5: Games 41-50: Record: 7-3

Volume 6: Games 51-60: Record: 4-6

Volume 7: Games 61-70: Record: 4-6

Volume 8: Games 71-80: Record: 3-7

And the latest:

Volume 9:

Games 81-90

Record: 3-6

@ PHI L 2-0

vs LAD L 8-0

vs LAD W 5-4

vs LAD L 11-2

vs CIN L 3-0

vs CIN W 4-0

vs CIN W 9-7

@ ATL L 5-3

@ ATL L 11-0

@ ATL W 5-1

Runs Scored: 28 (Yeah, that's 2.8 runs per game)

Runs Allowed: 52

Team BA: 64/318 = .201

Team BA w. RISP: 20/78 = .256

Team BA w. RISP & 2 outs: 5/28 = .178

HRs: 2 (Two.  Two homeruns.  In 10 games.)

Team ERA: 78IP, 50ER = 5.76

Starter ERA: 49.1IP, 34ER = 6.23

Bullpen ERA: 28IP, 16ER = 5.14

Team BAA: 100/344 = .290

HRs Allowed: 10

Errors: 2 (At least they haven't been making many errors.)

GIDP: 7

Fielding DP: 4

SB: 5

Volume 9 MVPs:

Starter: Johan seems to have returned to form.  He pitched a gem in Atlanta a couple days ago.

Reliever: I suppose K-Rod should get this.

Hitter: There aren't even any hitters on this team, let alone MVP hitters.

Volume 9 "Just Shoot Me in the Face":

Starter:  Mike Pelfrey has been simply abysmal lately and is seriously underachieving this year.  He is currently arguably the biggest disappointment on the staff.  

Reliever: Bobby Parnell hasn't been the same since late May.

Hitter: One through Nine.

Analysis:  The numbers speak for themselves.  Before Beltran went down 40 games ago, the Mets could still hang in there.  But look at the last 40 games - the last four volumes...  The numbers speak for themselves.  This isn't rocket science.  When you hit .201, score less than 3 runs per game, and pitch to an ERA over 5.00, you're going to do a lot of losing.  And that's what the Mets do - they lose a lot.  The lineup has nothing.  It simply stinks.  It's not that the lineup is underachieving.  This is simply what they are with no Reyes, Beltran, and Delgado to compliment guys like Wright, Castillo, and Francoeur.  

The starting pitching, on the other hand, is underachieving.  For example, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez.  For example, Johan Santana's horrible month of June (though he seems to have been better lately.).  Add to that the injuries that the rotation has suffered as well, and it only exacerbates the problem.  The bullpen has flaws too - with no Putz, and with Parnell struggling.  K-Rod is all we really have.  Him and Pedro Feliciano.  It's funny how the pitching really didn't go into the tank until the offense started to fumble, but I guess when it rains it pours.  

There is not much else to play.  The Mets stink and simply cannot win with this current lineup.  The players deserve blame of course, but the organization deserves more.  If I have to hear one more time about a guy who has a slight strain all of the sudden needing surgery...  

I said it in the last volume - this team, from top to bottom - organization to the players - is one big joke.  And the joke is really on us, since we're the ones who really give a damn and since we're the ones who pay the $$$.  

If the Mets can actually get Beltran, Delgado, and Reyes all back and all healthy and all productive by the end of August, and if they are still within 10 games of the WC at that point, then maybe there is a slight chance that they can make a run and get the WC.  But now re-read exactly what I just said in that last sentence.  Yeah.  

Up next for the Mets is a 3 game set in Washington, D.C., followed by a 3 game set in Houston, followed by 4 against the Rockies at home.  10 games against bad teams.  5-5 would be a miracle.  

Around the NL East:

Phillies: 4-6, 7-3, 5-5, 7-3, 7-3, 5-5, 2-8, 6-4, 7-2

Braves: 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 5-5, 6-4, 1-1

Marlins: 9-1, 3-7, 4-6, 3-7, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 7-3, 5-5, 0-3

The Phillies are on fire.  It all started with their sweep of the Mets 4th of July weekend.  Since then, they haven't looked back.  Leave it to the Mets to make the Braves actually look good.  The Marlins are starting to falter yet again, and they are not playing the Mets any time soon, so they could be in trouble for a while.  

The 2nd half, and the state of our New York Mets

On occasion, I like to check out other teams' blogs in order to get an idea of the pulse of the other fanbases.  Mostly I do this with the Phillies, and I tend to check out philliesnation.com most of the time.  I read this piece just the other day:

http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2009/07/commentary-two-scenes-say-a-whole-lot/

Everything seems to be perfect in Phillies nation.  If that post is representative of the feelings of the fanbase, and I think it is, I have to say - I don't think I've ever seen a team and their fans feel so good about themselves before.  And they have every reason to feel good about themselves.  They are defending champs, and they have a commanding lead in the division entering the second half.  

The Mets and their fans, on the other hand, don't have much reason to feel good about themselves.  Our injury ridden squad is in 4th place and 6 and half games behind, with no relief immediately in sight.  

Call me crazy, but I like this situation.  While the injury situation still greatly concerns me, I like them feeling good and smug about themselves, and I like us chasing.  The Mets are better this way.  

Hope.  

The Mets' 10-Game Report: Volume 8

Howdy, Mets fans, and welcome to the latest disaster.  

Previous results:

Volume 1: Games 1-10: Record: 5-5

Volume 2: Games 11-20: Record: 4-6

Volume 3: Games 21-30: Record: 8-2

Volume 4: Games 31-40: Record: 4-6

Volume 5: Games 41-50: Record: 7-3

Volume 6: Games 51-60: Record: 4-6

Volume 7: Games 61-70: Record: 4-6

And the latest:

Volume 8:

Games 71-80

Record: 3-7

vs STL W 3-2

vs NYY L 9-1

vs NYY L 5-0

vs NYY L 4-2

@ MIL L 10-6

@ MIL L 6-3

@ MIL W 1-0 

@ PIT W 9-8

@ PHI L 7-2

@ PHI L 4-1

Runs Scored: 28 (This is a season-low.  Just under 3 runs per game for 10 games.  Wow.)

Runs Allowed: 55

Team BA: 70/331 = .211 (As we shall see, while they could somewhat deal with the losses of Delgado and Reyes, Beltran's absence is the straw that has broken the camel's back.)

Team BA w/RISP: 20/81 = .246

Team BA w/ RISP & 2 outs: 6/38 = .157 (What a joke.  This team really has become a joke.)

HRs: 5 (That's a half of a homerun per game!)

Team ERA: 87IP, 50ER = 5.17 (How did they even win 3 games?  I mean really... 2.8 runs per game, 5.17 ERA...)

Starter ERA: 52.1IP, 35ER = 6.04

Bullpen ERA: 34IP, 16ER = 4.23

Team BAA: 102/339 = .300 (ouch)

HRs Allowed: 10

Errors: 9 (The Mets' defense has been comically and disturbingly bad this season.  Lately there has just always been a gaffe of some kind.)

GIDP: 6 (Really?  Only 6?  Didn't Fernando Tatis ground into about 160 double plays just last week?)

Fielding DP: 11

SB: 8

Volume 8 MVP's:

Starter: I guess this can go to Big Pelf, who threw a great game in Milwaukee the other day.

Reliever: Sean Green got some big outs in Milwaukee and has looked a lot better lately.  

Hitter: Alex Cora seems to be making contact a lot.  Actually, you know what... the only guy who seems to be having good at-bats lately is Luis Castillo.

Volume 8 I'd Like a Tall Glass of Whiskey With No Ice Now!:

Starter: Sorry, Livan, but you can't go into Philadelphia and give up 7 earned runs in 3 innings.

Reliever: Elmer Dessens?  You're still in baseball?

Hitter: David, I'd like to know why you have been such a ridiculously streaky hitter for the last 2 seasons.  You'll hit .500 for a good 12 games, and then you'll hit .100 for the next 12.  wtf?

Analysis: When it became a reality that the Mets would be without Delgado and Reyes, which was sometime around the Boston series (actually Reyes became an official casualty just a bit later), I thought that the team was still capable of playing .500 ball, perhaps even just above .500 ball.  And they did sustain a .500 level of play for a decent period of time.  But then Carlos Beltran went down right before this volume got under way.  One player really, really can make a difference.  And now this team is just in an offensive free-fall.  Simply put: they can't hit.  Hardly anyone in this lineup can hit, and the only ones who can are seriously hurt by the fact that there is ZERO protection in the lineup for them.  Look at the numbers, folks.  28 runs over 10 games.  2.8 runs per game.  They just can't hit.  Like any bad offensive team, they will on certain occasions score a bunch of runs.  But most of the time they are not going to hit and score.  

Now, add onto these offensive woes the fact that the starting pitching is now just starting to get exposed for what it is: a mediocre rotation.  That happens when you lose 2/5 of it to the DL.  Oliver Perez comes back this wednesday.  It cannot be stressed enough just how well we need Ollie to come through.  And then we need Maine back as well.  But for now, Ollie has to make Tim Redding the mop-up man in the bullpen (because, let's face it, TIM REDDING STINKS.  Let me say that again:  TIM REDDING STINKS).  

I really don't want to talk about the appalling defense this team has played.  It really has been appalling.  I can deal with the fact that we are getting beat due to injuries.  But please, Mets, don't add insult to injury.  Please, stop that.  

Where do the Mets go from here?  We keep hearing, "Just make it to the all-star break; just make it to the all-star break..."  But, look: Delgado, Reyes, and Beltran aren't coming back until, at the earliest, the last week of July.  We are probably looking at early August for all of them.  So, it's another month of this ugliness... Another month of 3 runs per game.  

It's not even like they have to play like all-stars to win.  They just have to pitch a little bit better, and hit a little bit better.  They just have to play .500 ball.  They have to stay within 5-7 losses of first place.  They also have to hope that the NL East continues to stink.  Because, wow, does this division stink right now.  

But there is a real concern that this team could be way too far out of the race by the time they get the "cavalry" back.  And again - as a diehard fan of this team, as someone who bleeds blue and orange - I can deal with losing tough games due to the fact that we are depleted.  I cannot deal with dropped pop-ups and mental gaffes.  Stop it, Mets.  Stop adding insult to injury.  

But aside from the sloppy defense, I cannot direct my ire towards the players as I could last year and the year before.  My ire is directed at Omar Minaya, the Wilpons, all of the coaches, and the trainers.  My ire is directed at the Mets organization who put this disaster together.  

Mets fans, listen up: We and our team are, quite simply, the joke of baseball right now.  2007, 2008, the dropped pop-up, the injuries, the double plays, the errant throws, not touching third-base, Jimmy Rollins and being owned by the Phillies, the Yankees sweeping us at CitiField in brutal fashion, Mariano Rivera with his first RBI, the Yankees being the only team playing winning baseball in New York, all this in the inaugural year of a new and VERY EXPENSIVE ballpark... need I go on???  We are the joke of baseball.  And it sucks.  It really, really sucks.  

The good news is that it is only July 6th.  There is half of a season left to go.  The Mets have 81 games left to play.  And this is baseball, after all.  Not another sport in the world is more fickle and unpredictable than this one.  With all that has happened, the Phillies could lose 4 in a row starting tomorrow and the Mets could win 4 in a row.  Would that shock you?  Would ANYTHING shock you, at this point?  

Around the NL East:

Phillies: 4-6, 7-3, 5-5, 7-3, 7-3, 5-5, 2-8, 5-4

Braves: 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 5-5

Marlins: 9-1, 3-7, 4-6, 3-7, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 7-3, 2-1

Have the Phillies snapped out of their funk?  Tomorrow will determine that.  If they turn their Volume 8 into a 6-4, they'll have snapped out of it.  If it turns into 5-5, then just take a look at their last 30 games.  Not pretty.  I'm not convinced they are ready to take off any time soon.  Their starting pitching stinks, and before the depleted Mets came into that joke of a ballpark they call Citizens Bank, they had just completed a 4-14 skid.  As the Mets showed in 2007, a team that is capable of going on a 4-14 skid in June is capable of doing some pretty amazingly awful things.  The Braves? - still a .500 team.  That's all they are.  Now, that being said, I still don't relish the thought of the Mets going into Turner Field right after the All-Star Break.  

And those pesky fish... I was ready to write them off, and now all of the sudden they are back!  20-13 over their last 33.  Still, unless they are 15 or so games over .500 come September, the only team I see as capable of winning this division right now, and thus the only true threat to the Mets, is the Phillies.  And the Mets have no shot at winning anything until they get their regulars back.  And, hopefully when that time comes, they won't be too far out of it.  

Meanwhile, in the other league, the Yankees continue to battle with their schizophrenia.  Are they good?  Are they bad?  Well, they look pretty damn good right now.  But they are still 0-8 against the Sox.