Official 2011 New York Mets Thread

['7']

Really Johan? Walking Moyer and then allowing a fly ball HR to Victorino? Can you at least put one in Victorinos ear and hopefully crush his skull? At least that's only 1 run.

[nmigliore]

What a fvcking debacle. Santana of all people. Whatever, I didn't expect to win this series anyway.

['7']

Show a little pride Johan

8 runs in an inning after we had 2 outs? Very Met-like

Edited May 3, 2010 by '7'

[Devils Pride 26]

WHAT THE fvck JOHAN. WHY CAN'T THIS GOD DAMNED TEAM PLAY LIKE WINNERS. SANTANA OUTDUELED BY MOYER? CMON ALREADY. Im sick of this sh!t. The second you have a reason to believe in this team they sh!t all over it.

[nmigliore]

WHAT THE fvck JOHAN. WHY CAN'T THIS GOD DAMNED TEAM PLAY LIKE WINNERS. SANTANA OUTDUELED BY MOYER? CMON ALREADY. Im sick of this sh!t. The second you have a reason to believe in this team they sh!t all over it.

Wow, they lost a series for the first time in a few weeks. Did you expect them to win every series from here on out? Are you nuts?

Sure, they probably should have won 2/3 with the pitching match-ups in their favor, but not everything breaks the way it appears like it should, what the fvck can you do? But you've got to be an idiot to essentially give up on the team and the season based off of a lousy couple of games, yeah, GAMES (not even series!), especially considering the hot-streak they were on over the past couple of weeks. They were due for a series loss, unfortunately it came against their arch-division-rival and came with our ace crapping out, but its not the end of the world. Hopefully they'll bounce back against the Reds, because I know Santana isn't going to have many of these type of starts.

Edited May 3, 2010 by nmigliore

[robdeselich88]

guysguysguys... your facingv moyer.. three runs next inning your back in it

[Devils Pride 26]

Wow, they lost a series for the first time in a few weeks. Did you expect them to win every series from here on out? Are you nuts?

Sure, they probably should have won 2/3 with the pitching match-ups in their favor, but not everything breaks the way it appears like it should, what the fvck can you do? But you've got to be an idiot to essentially give up on the team and the season based off of a lousy couple of games, yeah, GAMES (not even series!), especially considering the hot-streak they were on over the past couple of weeks. They were due for a series loss, unfortunately it came against their arch-division-rival and came with our ace crapping out, but its not the end of the world. Hopefully they'll bounce back against the Reds, because I know Santana isn't going to have many of these type of starts.

no no no. thats not what im mad about. Not that it happened. It's all about HOW it happened. Walking in a run with Moyer? Then giving up two bombs? Come on, this is our ace we are talking about. I guess it makes it worse after seeing Halladay go lights out yesterday and say 'why the hell couldn't that have been Johan tonight?' sure i overreacted, tis the life of a mets fan i guess

[NJDevs4978]

Johan's prior eight starts against the Phillies as a Met:

4/18/08 - at Phi 7 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 10 K

7/4/08 - at Phi 8 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 6 K

7/22/08 - Phi 8 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 4 K

8/27/08 - at Phi 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K

9/7/08 - Phi 7.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K

5/6/09 - Phi 7 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 10 K

6/9/09 - Phi 7 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 2 K

7/5/09 - at Phi 7 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K

Only one there you can define as a non-quality start and he actually got the win that day (6/9/09). Let's face it when you face a lineup like that so many times with that dopey ballpark, even the best pitcher is due to get hit around eventually.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Wow, they lost a series for the first time in a few weeks. Did you expect them to win every series from here on out? Are you nuts?

Sure, they probably should have won 2/3 with the pitching match-ups in their favor, but not everything breaks the way it appears like it should, what the fvck can you do? But you've got to be an idiot to essentially give up on the team and the season based off of a lousy couple of games, yeah, GAMES (not even series!), especially considering the hot-streak they were on over the past couple of weeks. They were due for a series loss, unfortunately it came against their arch-division-rival and came with our ace crapping out, but its not the end of the world. Hopefully they'll bounce back against the Reds, because I know Santana isn't going to have many of these type of starts.

The best thing that can be said about this series is that they didn't get swept. And Wright is already halfway to his 2009 total of home runs.

It's the way they lost that has me understanding where DP26 is coming from, just like he said...yes, overall Johan has pitched pretty well against the Phils in the past, but this is supposed to be an ace...yeah, in that ridiculous ballpark ANYTHING can happen, but the ballpark didn't have one thing to do with Santana walking Jamie Moyer...JAMIE FRIGGIN' MOYER! Sorry Johan, but if your team gets you a 3-0 and a 5-2 lead, you're supposed to get it done. This might be harsh, but in my eyes Johan just lost his "ace" title, especially in light of what Halladay did the day before (I went to that game BTW...got me some freebies).

What also bothered me is how the Mets' offense basically shut down after the Phillies had their big innings. I know the Mets were down big, but in that ballpark you have to show a little more fight than the Mets did.

Anyway, the Mets are exceeding expectations as this point, so I can't be mad about the Mets being 14-11 and a 1/2 game out, but with Perez and Maine going this could become a four-game losing streak in a hurry.

[overtime98]

bases loaded, 2 outs and your pitching to Jamie 47 yeard old Moyer....... you know he isnt going to swing and if he does what is he really going to do? knock it out 430 ft HR? What a friggin joke! Just throw strikes to the other teams pitcher! just like last year when we wwalked Rivera against the yankees with the bases loaded.

[nmigliore]

Santana's numbers at CBP coming into last night were ridiculous -- a lifetime .178/.217/.337 slash line against, a 25:5 K:BB, and 1 HR allowed -- he was long over-due for a start like this. The good news was that his velocity was up in the 90-91 mph range, at least (in his previous start vs the Dodgers he mainly sat 86-88 mph).

Again, it really sucked to lose this series, especially when you take the 1st game, and of course everyone is going to pick with "how they loss" yadda yadda, but I'm 100% sure EVERY Met fan would be elated if I said the team will have a 14-11 record while being a half game out of 1st place on May 3rd, and that's where this team sits right now, and I'm fine with that. There have been plenty of positives this year too -- Jon Niese and Mike Pelfrey have been great, Wright already has half of his HR total from 2009 to go along with his terrific .421 OBP, the bullpen really needs to cut down on the walks, but, they do have the 3rd best ERA in the NL (5th best FIP), and although its still a small sample size, Jeff Francoeur has a very nice 0.90 BB/K ratio (for references sake, his career BB/K ratio is 0.28).

There was also some really positive news on the Beltran-front this weekend:

Buster Olney said on ‘Baseball Tonight’ that Beltran is “getting closer to resuming baseball activities.” While SI.com’s Jon Heyman wrote on Twitter that, “carlos beltran hopes to start running in a week.” The Mets are hoping to get Beltran back from offseason knee surgery by the end of May.

GM Omar Minaya said the outfielder is just waiting on the word from doctors.

“Beltran is in Florida right now, strengthening that knee and we are waiting for the doctors to give him clearance for him to start doing baseball activities,” Minaya said on ESPN Radio. “He’s got a new brace that he is working with and all reports we hear that it is working. We are waiting for the doctors to give us clearance for baseball activities. And once he gets into baseball activities then we will have a better idea when he is able to come back.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/metsblog/report_beltran_closer_to_resuming_2ezbUCDmBA3WAXoBeoiMbN

Edited May 3, 2010 by nmigliore

[nmigliore]

Nieve serves up two 2-out homeruns in the 8th. Hard to blame him on the Rolen one considering RF at this park is an absolute joke. Maybe this will finally give Jerry a reason to stop over-working Nieve so damn much.

edit: Rod Barajas comes up huge!! His team-leading 7th HR is a BIG one!

Edited May 5, 2010 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

They're all beautiful wins.

Let's face it nmig, at the very least, if this team is to go anywhere, Jerry's probably not part of the equation. I kind of liked him at first, and he did help turn that season around until the collapse, but he comes off like the village idiot more often than not...but then again, so does Omar.

[nmigliore]

Jerry Manuel strikes again: takes out Bay, but leaves his homeboy Matthews in... Gold. He also took out Wright, for whatever reason, and inserted Feliciano for the 4th straight day (with a righty-lefty-righty part of the order due up), and the Mets lose on a walkoff HR from Orlando fvcking Cabrera.

EDIT: Per Anthony DiComo, here is Jerry's terrific reasoning for taking Wright out of the game: "Jerry wanted to keep his emergency catcher, Tatis, in the game."

lol.

Whatever, like I said before the season started, its a win-win situation with this team this year; if the team wins -- that's great, obviously .. and if the team loses -- then that will [hopefully] lead to changes to this inept management.

And if anyone could explain why Matthews Jr. is still on this team and getting at bats, be my guess. Oy. The whole bench should be revamped, actually. Cut Matthews, Catalanotto, and Tatis .. call up Pridie, Carter, and Evans. Pridie probably wouldn't be all that useful as a hitter, but I'm willing to try anyone at this point considering how terrible Matthews has been, plus Pridie's defense alone gives him some value.

Edited May 5, 2010 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Couldn't agree more on Matthews...what a friggin' waste of space.

And yeah, Jerry's kind of a bad joke. But the Mets are going to have to tank hard now that they're over .500 for him to lose his job.

[nmigliore]

Great article on Fangraphs that just rips into Jerry Manuel. It even addresses the handling of Mejia in the bullpen:

Ignore the extra innings mismanagement of Francisco Rodriguez. That’s merely another bullet point on Manuel’s pink slip. Consider the horrendous handling of Jenrry Meija to date. Manuel has instructed him to focus on his fastball – presumably the pitch that needs the least work for Meija to become a good starter. If telling the organization’s best pitching prospect to disregard developing his secondary stuff isn’t enough, then how about then using that pitcher in lower leverage situations than just about everyone else in the bullpen. Manuel is actually using Meija in the perfect developmental situations, yet he’s capping that development by disallowing him to throw his curve and change-up as often as he wants. Meanwhile, Meija’s service clock continues to tick.

Full article: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/someone-help-the-mets/

[nmigliore]

Pretty cool/funny survey from the Wall Street Journal on Yankees/Mets fans:

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees are more popular: Sixty percent of the survey's baseball fans said they followed the Bronx Bombers, compared to just 33% who favored the Mets.

The Mets have more fans in Queens, of course, and the Yankees have an edge in the Bronx, but Manhattan is dead even at 19% each.

...

But the biggest distinction of all had nothing to do with income, education or neighborhood. It wasn't what they read or do for fun or prefer as a pet. It was their relationship with alcohol.

Male Mets fans were 43% more likely than Yankees fans to drink beer. They also drink more in general: the percentage of male Yankees fans who said they don't drink was almost double that of their Mets counterparts (30% to 16%).

...

Yankees fans had no trouble generating theories about this disparity. "Blame their team," said Sal Richichi, 30, an electrician from Sheepshead Bay who participated in the survey. Mr. Richichi also expressed concern about another finding: that Mets fans owned more guns (11% versus 5%).

"I don't think a Mets fan should be having a gun in the house," Mr. Richichi said.

At least the Mets men have better support systems: they rated higher for marriage (51%) and pets (47%). By contrast, the typical male Yankees fan is unmarried (59%), owns no pets (58%), and is less likely to have children in his home.

...

Mets fans had the Yankees fans beat in one telling category: they seem to pay a lot more attention. Not only do they monitor their team's progress more often and make more bets, they listen to substantially more sports radio (26% to 17%).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704342604575222410550392850.html#articleTabs=article

[Prucenterrules]

Come on mets, lets go on another 8-1 run.

['7']

Awful. Ump refuses to call strike 3 to Bowker on a perfect curveball. Bowker goes on to hit the game tying HR!

['7']

Pretty cool/funny survey from the Wall Street Journal on Yankees/Mets fans:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704342604575222410550392850.html#articleTabs=article

Pretty much what I always suspected. Yankees have more bandwagon fans, Mets have more knowledgeable real fans.

and it is true that you seem to have more Mets families while Yankee fans are the single male fist pumping idiot.

[nmigliore]

Hey Bengie Molina, meet Rod Barajas.

By the way, K-Rod should take Castillo, Davis, and Barajas out for a dinner. Castillo did an amazing job to keep that ball in the infield/keep Rowand from scoring on the DeRosa hit, Davis made another amazing over-the-railing catch to get K-Rod out of that mess, and Barajas obviously had the huge game-winning HR.

What a game.

Edited May 8, 2010 by nmigliore

[nmigliore]

Now its Henry Blanco's turn!!!! Another walkoff win!!!

[NJDevs4978]

Hah, today was practically a carbon copy of yesterday - pen blows it late, K-Rod gets squeezed against Bowker and catcher hits a walkoff HR.

Last night was a great game to go to. I don't know if anyone's seen the Met Hall of Fame, I didn't really have time to look around when I made my first trip (of this year) to Citi last night but it's a nice little place. You can spend five minutes or an hour there.

Couldn't have been better weather out, though I was even getting a little chilly by the fourth inning (short-sleeves and shorts), nothing I couldn't handle though Somehow I managed to make the 10:49 train back to NJ after Barajas's HR thanks to the express 7 train

[nmigliore]

Oy. Another blown save for the bullpen; a wind-aided 2-run HR by Rowand off of Mejia. Well, that stinks. Would have been a nice come from behind win. Winning 2 out of 3 was decent enough for me, but Perez sucks, the sooner this team figures that out, the better.

['7']

That ump seriously needs to be clubbed in the head with a blunt object, that was not strike 3 to Wright. it was low and inside!

good to see some fire from Wright though. 2 of 3 is fine.

Edited May 9, 2010 by '7'