Big stretch coming up

How long before "there's still x % of the season left to be played" gets old? Don't get me wrong, I like the work they do over at Metsblog, and I understand the logic that we still have time to turn it around. But that doesn't mean I agree with it. I'm a solutions guy, and this doesn't add to the solution to me. Instead, I think it only compounds the problem.

How do we get people to stop justifying a season that has been disappointing so far? Win. Winning cures everything, its true. And we should be doing a lot of it in the coming weeks. The Mets have the Reds, Nationals, Yankees, Braves, Rockies, and Marlins coming up, in that order. Combined they are 94-110. When you consider the Marlins are overachieving to this point, that record should be worse.

The Mets should be able to take each of these series, and only the Braves and Yankees should give them trouble in doing so. They play 20 games in this stretch, and a 13-7 record or better should emerge. This takes us until the end of May, and would put the overall record at 30-22.

But if it isn't I know what I'll be hearing. There's still 68% of the season left to be played.

Congrats are in order

First, and most importantly, for the team for a big series win in the desert. Second, congrats to Carlos Delgado for passing Juan Gonzalez for the most career home runs for a Dominican born player. I've bashed Carlos before, but I would believe this is an important accomplishment for him. Or maybe it isn't. Either way, congrats Carlos, you've earned it. Back to the team...

This feels like a huge series for the Mets. Considering the fact that they haven't lost a game in Arizona in three years (unless Pelfrey pitches), this should be par for the course. But it isn't. This is a little more special.

Especially when you consider the pitchers they faced were 14-1 heading into the series. The team had only lost 8 games in April, and they hadn't lost a series since their opening games in Cincinnati. This is a team that had lost 3 games at home all season before the Mets beat them twice.
This series was awesome for our team. And even though the Mets lost Saturday, they scored 4 runs against a pitcher who had given up 7 runs total in his last 5 starts. This is a promising sign.

The Mets head to Dodger stadium for their next series, to face another good team. Oliver Perez takes the mound Monday against Chad Billingsley. I'm hoping Ollie gives us one of those outings that are the exact opposite of his last outing. The great starts that make last week's episode even more frustrating because he shows us his potential greatness.

I'm hoping he steps up because another series win out west would be great. After that the Mets come home to face the Reds and Nationals, both of whom are bringing up the rear in their divisions. Entering that stretch with some momentum could allow the Mets to really take a head of steam into the Yankees and Braves series that follow.

You know, the kind of roll we've been waiting over a year for.

Wagner Jinxed

Billy Wagner lost his no-hitter today, losing the chance to become the first Met to throw a no-hitter for a whole season. With all of the discussion about his streak recently, the news media has to be blamed for mentioning the no-no before it was completed.

I'm taking credit for Delgado's breakout game. By implying his slump wouldn't end before Chinese Democracy was released, I reversed jinxed him into a good game. By mentioning this reverse jinx, I doomed him to another slump. So my vote still goes for Chinese Democracy.

Finally, the Braves may just be washed up. John Smoltz for sure. When you're giving up home runs to Delgado and Raul Casanova you're washed up in my mind. Just don't tell David Wright.

As of right now, we are in second place in the NL East, 1 game behind the Marlins. While we'd prefer to be on top with a cushion, we have to be happy to be in this, especially with the injuries we've sustained. Unfortunately, this looks like it could be the team we have for the rest of the year, with Alou's most recent injury.

The good news is we have had good pitching*, despite the fact that two of our five starters (Pedro and El Duque) have not pitched enough innings to qualify for a win this year. Back end of the bullpen is solid with Wagner and Sanchez.

After a month, this team seems to be in pretty good shape. Returns from injuries and a Delgado breakout will make this team a serious contender in October.

*Aaron Heilman not included

Appalling fan behavior

And it's not even at Shea. Even more shocking, it's not even in Philadelphia. Nope, it's in good ol' Atlanta. Guy gets beat up because he roots for the opposing team. Apparently, even Pittsburgh Pirates fans aren't safe in Hotlanta.

I'm a fan writing this. Most of the people who will read this are fans as well. How many of us would dream of decking another fan for wearing the other teams gear? I'm all for some friendly heckling, but this is over the line. To quote Joey Tribbiani, this guy is so far over the line, he can't even see where the line is. The line is a dot to this guy.

Fan behavior seems to be at an all-time low early in this season. Phillies fans are cheering injuries and throwing Mets fans over the railings. Braves fans are knocking opposing fans' teeth out. In a completely unrelated sport, I was at the Bills-Bengals game when Chad Johnson got carted off the field on a stretcher, and some fans were cheering. We're booing our own players frequently at Shea.

The sad part is, some "fans" can't go to the game without getting completely hammered. I just want to know why. If you want a beer or two, fine by me. But why do people have to have to get completely hammered and ruin the game for others? If you can't enjoy a baseball game without getting drunk, why are you at the game in the first place?

I have two words for these people. Stay home. If you can't have a good time at the game without getting smashed, don't go to the game. Just stay home and drink all you want. That way you can enjoy what you like, and the fans of the game can enjoy what they like. So just stay home.

Stop giving the rest of us a bad name.

Mental Toughness

We don't have it. It's unfortunate really. I wish we had it. But we don't.

How do I know we don't. ESPN has told me. Sports Illustrated told me. Eric Karabell told me on the Baseball Today podcast. An anonymous GM told me.

Its too bad really. I don't like knowing that if Aaron Heilman gives up a home run he can't come back the next day and strike out two batters with the bases loaded. It disappoints me that Jose Reyes can't bounce back from a 8 for 39 (.205 BA) to go 8 for his next 19 (.421 BA).

I'm concerned because Mike Pelfrey doesn't have "it". I don't think Nelson Figueroa will be able to recover from his world travels, his confidence is probably shot. It's a crying shame that Carlos Beltran has no leadership ability whatsoever.

We still can never beat the Phillies. Their in our heads. Our rotation has too many question marks. The Braves rotation is much more reliable. We won't finish any better than third.

Might as well give up on this season. The experts told me to.

Turning Point

I think I'm officially ready to put 2007 behind me. You know, put it in writing, get over it. And I have a reason. This guy is gone:

And this guy is back:

Ever since the Carlos-Jose heart-to-heart (dashes galore!!!) this team has looked better. That lack of heart seems to be gone, replaced by the guy who makes this team run.

Jose said he didn't want to be the reason the team lost. And in my opinion, straight-faced Jose may not have been the reason we lost, but he wasn't helping us win. Reverting to his old form is the best way Jose can prevent losing. Don't think for one second the Phillies and Braves want to beat us more because of Jose's exuberance. It's ridiculous. They want to beat us because they want to win. Like every other team, regardless of their opposition.

But it's going to be a little tougher now because...

Heeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaccckkk...

Before when I said the worst is over...

... perhaps I spoke too soon.

First, Pedro goes down in his first start of the season. Then, John Maine proves that he is actually human and loses to the Braves. Then we waste a 1-run effort from Johan by not hitting the Braves pen (I can't blame them for not hitting Smoltz). And now, David Wright is painting the town with Britney.

Why, David, why?!!!






Just kidding folks. You just got Rickroll'd. Again. If you haven't heard, during Opening Day at Shea tomorrow Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley will be played after the top of the eighth inning.

And if you haven't heard about rickrolling (I looked it up today, so don't feel bad) here's the wikipedia definition:
In a rickroll, a person provides a link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand which actually takes the user to the Astley video.

Over at Metsblog Matthew Cerrone has been saying all along that we don't need a sing-along (don't worry, I wouldn't rickroll ya twice in one post). I have to say now I agree. This can only be bad karma for stealing Sweet Caroline.

Opening Day

First of all I would like to apologize for the long layoff. Expect regular posts throughout the season. Okay, down to the nitty-gritty.

1-0

All we can really ask for at this point. Haters can say what they want about posting a dominating victory over the Marlins, but this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to take care of business against the Marlins, Nationals, and Pirates.

Oh, wait. Those other two teams all won yesterday. Oh, wait, they beat teams that are supposed to compete with us for a division title. Atlanta and Phillie both went down to teams that haven't been over .500 on the same day since March 31, 2003. Atlanta needed a gift from Jason Bay and Nate McClouth to even take the Pirates to extra innings.

Meanwhile, Johan did his thing in Miami, and David Wright continues his trend of extending hitting streaks between seasons with a double that blew this one open. Bullpen was shaky, but did the job on a day when bullpen issues were the big story, especially in Atlanta and Philadelphia.

The other big story: Former Mets helping us out. Xavier Nady (The Untier according to Baseball Tonight) hit two home runs against Atlanta, including the go-ahead 3 run blast in the 12th. Lastings belted a 2-run homer in Philly and scored the go-ahead run in the 9th. Lo Duca added an RBI double to extend Washington's lead.

If these guys do more damage against our division opponents for other teams that they did for the Mets then trading them works out well no matter what we got for them. As for our other trade this offseason, after one game it looks pretty good.