Submitted by robsafuto on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 22:17.
This one provides a lift after a Sunday flop. Very nice to see John Maine throw a good game. And in the context of Perez' crappy performances this performance by Maine is even more heartening. Got some good offense too. I feel a little better about things tonight.
What you fail to realize is that the core of this team has performing like this since last year and the same things that plagued the team last year are once again showing their ugly heads. This team had something to prove and needed to get out of the gate at least in a semi successful fashion. They haven't won a series for awhile and they are playing a soft schedule.
What do you base your "solid, good team" statement on? History?
I base it on talent. There is no debate that right now the team is not performing well. The offense has been average, the non-johan starting pitching has been woeful, the bullpen has been average, and we haven't done well in the clutch. But i still maintain that we are a solid team because of the talent we have and what i've seen these same players do in the past. This same roster (give or take a few minor changes, mostly for the better) went on a winning spree in July/August last year. We all know David Wright isn't really as bad a hitter as he's been thusfar. We all saw Pelfrey dominate in the second half of last year and know he isn't as bad as he's pitched. Even if Perez is up-and-down we all know he's at least capable of doing better, we've seen him do it and we saw him succeed last year. And we all know Maine is a good pitcher as well from past experience, but he has struggled too. When a team is winning without much talent, that team is overperforming (much like the Pirates so far this year; i seriously doubt they will finish the year leading the NL Central!) Conversely, when a team is treading water with a lot of talent (like us), they are underperforming. Last September I was at my wits end and went into every game doubtful that we could win it with our bullpen woes and injuries. Even though we're not winning games, I don't have that feeling yet with this team and I realy think we'll turn the corner and turn in a winning season. Lets hope I'm right!
I think the mets team so far this year is playing worse and looking alot worse than the mets team of last year. The things that are a real concern are the way that they can't score runs. Well they can in the first 5 innings but hwomany runs have they scored from innings 6-9? Not many so im never confident with anything than a 4 run lead because teams are coming back on them in the later innings and scoring runs to win the game.
David Wright is realy starting to worry me now. He is 2nd in all of the majors with being struck out, most of which are strike outs looking! Its as if he can't tell what the pitch is and that its not a ball. He looks like he is trying to carry the team on his own and at the moment it looks like he can't do it. I like him alot but i think he needs a couple of games off to relax and clear his head and come back like the player we know he is.
Then theres the ballpen it has cost the mets 2 straight defeats when they were winning when they took over.
I agree this isn't a good team at the moment at all and they are playing below par baseball with far too many errors for my liking too.
I know what you are saying but they just fill me with much confidence so far this season. They haven't played a really good team yet. I mean the Marlins have already beaten us 4 times. San Diego took 2 games of us for gods sake and we couldn't even sweep the worse team in baseball at home. Until we start playing baseball for 9 innings we are not going to win anything, thats my biggest worry that the mets score in the first 4-5 innings and do nothing after that.
Submitted by robsafuto on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 20:45.
So far it feels like last year to me. The Mets are actually a couple of games behind last year's pace when they were 11-10 after 21 games. The record and things like come from ahead losses caused by bullpen failures, along with the lack of clutch hitting give this season a shocking similarity to then. The Mets have the 3rd best batting average in the National League right now but they're 9th in pitching. The hitting must pick up with runners in scoring position. I think the starting pitching will get better. I'm not worried about K-Rod but I am about Putz. He hasn't looked very sharp to me even in outings where he did the job.
We learned last year that one or two games can make the entire season. So if the Mets are going to do something big in 2009 they need to get it together. It's gonna be May already tomorrow after all.
Clutch hitting has been our undoing this year just as it was last year. through 23 games, we have left 173 men on base: more than 7 per game. That can't happen. We are getting plenty of hits, but our problem is they're coming sporadically instead of in clumps. 5 hits all in one inning will get us more runs than 10 hits spread evenly throughout the game, so while statistically our batters are doing well they are not doing well WHEN we need them to, which is why we're not scoring enough.
If I'm Jerry Manuel, this is my time to give that pep talk to the mets. This is the time to call them in a half hour early and go through all the things we've been failing at and really emphasize how important this upcoing series is, and make sure that every player treats this series like a playoff series. 3 games, on the road, vs. our arch rivals, with our three shakiest SP's thusfar who all have something to prove taking the mound, and wright in a horrid slump, all of this makes this series a turning point in our season. If we sweep the series we are back at .500 with tons of momentum, it will have meant that Pelfrey, Perez, and Maine all turned in decent outings, and we will probly be in second in the division. If we get swept, we are 6 games below .500, with a slumping lineup and underperforming rotation fighting to stay ahead fo even teh nationals in our division. Most likely nither will happen, but the momentum and confidence levels that swing on this series are tremendous. Lets kick some Phillie ass right now and keep doing it the whole season!
> San Diego took 2 games of us for gods sake and we couldn't even sweep the worse team in baseball at home.
Be fair, the San Diego games weren't about the Mets or the Padres, they were about trying to acclimate to Citi Field, and so far we haven't been able to turn CF into an advantage yet. I'm not going to slam thet team for losing 2 of 3 or whatever it was to SD. Even the worst team will sometimes win a series and the best will lose one. I'm more concerned about that inability to finish a series off. How many times do we win Friday and Saturday and then seem to just mail it in on Sunday for a 2-1 series win? That's a 2-game swing in the standings every time we do that.
Across the Mets' 7 3 game series this year, we have not won a single one of the last games in those series. We are 0-7 in the third game of the series. That's probly just a random coincedence (and after all, it does mean we are 9-5 in all the other games) but it is the perfect embodiment of how so many of last years' and this years' games have gone: we start off well, but then can't close it out at the end.
Submitted by robsafuto on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 21:25.
I don't know the exact figures from 2008 but it felt to me like the Mets had an issue closing out series then. I certainly know they didn't close out the last series of the season.
vs. 
Maine Beats Marlins
This one provides a lift after a Sunday flop. Very nice to see John Maine throw a good game. And in the context of Perez' crappy performances this performance by Maine is even more heartening. Got some good offense too. I feel a little better about things tonight.
Another Series loss
No use analyzing this....this is a mediocre team playing sub-par baseball.
I don't believe that
This is a solid, good team that is underperforming and playing sub-par baseball. I think it's too early to label us as mediocre less than a month in.
What you fail to realize
What you fail to realize is that the core of this team has performing like this since last year and the same things that plagued the team last year are once again showing their ugly heads. This team had something to prove and needed to get out of the gate at least in a semi successful fashion. They haven't won a series for awhile and they are playing a soft schedule.
What do you base your "solid, good team" statement on? History?
Talent
I base it on talent. There is no debate that right now the team is not performing well. The offense has been average, the non-johan starting pitching has been woeful, the bullpen has been average, and we haven't done well in the clutch. But i still maintain that we are a solid team because of the talent we have and what i've seen these same players do in the past. This same roster (give or take a few minor changes, mostly for the better) went on a winning spree in July/August last year. We all know David Wright isn't really as bad a hitter as he's been thusfar. We all saw Pelfrey dominate in the second half of last year and know he isn't as bad as he's pitched. Even if Perez is up-and-down we all know he's at least capable of doing better, we've seen him do it and we saw him succeed last year. And we all know Maine is a good pitcher as well from past experience, but he has struggled too. When a team is winning without much talent, that team is overperforming (much like the Pirates so far this year; i seriously doubt they will finish the year leading the NL Central!) Conversely, when a team is treading water with a lot of talent (like us), they are underperforming. Last September I was at my wits end and went into every game doubtful that we could win it with our bullpen woes and injuries. Even though we're not winning games, I don't have that feeling yet with this team and I realy think we'll turn the corner and turn in a winning season. Lets hope I'm right!
Worse than last year
I think the mets team so far this year is playing worse and looking alot worse than the mets team of last year. The things that are a real concern are the way that they can't score runs. Well they can in the first 5 innings but hwomany runs have they scored from innings 6-9? Not many so im never confident with anything than a 4 run lead because teams are coming back on them in the later innings and scoring runs to win the game.
David Wright is realy starting to worry me now. He is 2nd in all of the majors with being struck out, most of which are strike outs looking! Its as if he can't tell what the pitch is and that its not a ball. He looks like he is trying to carry the team on his own and at the moment it looks like he can't do it. I like him alot but i think he needs a couple of games off to relax and clear his head and come back like the player we know he is.
Then theres the ballpen it has cost the mets 2 straight defeats when they were winning when they took over.
I agree this isn't a good team at the moment at all and they are playing below par baseball with far too many errors for my liking too.
I hope your right
I know what you are saying but they just fill me with much confidence so far this season. They haven't played a really good team yet. I mean the Marlins have already beaten us 4 times. San Diego took 2 games of us for gods sake and we couldn't even sweep the worse team in baseball at home. Until we start playing baseball for 9 innings we are not going to win anything, thats my biggest worry that the mets score in the first 4-5 innings and do nothing after that.
Feels Like Last Year
So far it feels like last year to me. The Mets are actually a couple of games behind last year's pace when they were 11-10 after 21 games. The record and things like come from ahead losses caused by bullpen failures, along with the lack of clutch hitting give this season a shocking similarity to then. The Mets have the 3rd best batting average in the National League right now but they're 9th in pitching. The hitting must pick up with runners in scoring position. I think the starting pitching will get better. I'm not worried about K-Rod but I am about Putz. He hasn't looked very sharp to me even in outings where he did the job.
We learned last year that one or two games can make the entire season. So if the Mets are going to do something big in 2009 they need to get it together. It's gonna be May already tomorrow after all.
All great points
Clutch hitting has been our undoing this year just as it was last year. through 23 games, we have left 173 men on base: more than 7 per game. That can't happen. We are getting plenty of hits, but our problem is they're coming sporadically instead of in clumps. 5 hits all in one inning will get us more runs than 10 hits spread evenly throughout the game, so while statistically our batters are doing well they are not doing well WHEN we need them to, which is why we're not scoring enough.
If I'm Jerry Manuel, this is my time to give that pep talk to the mets. This is the time to call them in a half hour early and go through all the things we've been failing at and really emphasize how important this upcoing series is, and make sure that every player treats this series like a playoff series. 3 games, on the road, vs. our arch rivals, with our three shakiest SP's thusfar who all have something to prove taking the mound, and wright in a horrid slump, all of this makes this series a turning point in our season. If we sweep the series we are back at .500 with tons of momentum, it will have meant that Pelfrey, Perez, and Maine all turned in decent outings, and we will probly be in second in the division. If we get swept, we are 6 games below .500, with a slumping lineup and underperforming rotation fighting to stay ahead fo even teh nationals in our division. Most likely nither will happen, but the momentum and confidence levels that swing on this series are tremendous. Lets kick some Phillie ass right now and keep doing it the whole season!
good teams/bad teams
> San Diego took 2 games of us for gods sake and we couldn't even sweep the worse team in baseball at home.
Be fair, the San Diego games weren't about the Mets or the Padres, they were about trying to acclimate to Citi Field, and so far we haven't been able to turn CF into an advantage yet. I'm not going to slam thet team for losing 2 of 3 or whatever it was to SD. Even the worst team will sometimes win a series and the best will lose one. I'm more concerned about that inability to finish a series off. How many times do we win Friday and Saturday and then seem to just mail it in on Sunday for a 2-1 series win? That's a 2-game swing in the standings every time we do that.
0-7 in series finales
Across the Mets' 7 3 game series this year, we have not won a single one of the last games in those series. We are 0-7 in the third game of the series. That's probly just a random coincedence (and after all, it does mean we are 9-5 in all the other games) but it is the perfect embodiment of how so many of last years' and this years' games have gone: we start off well, but then can't close it out at the end.
Not Closing Well
I don't know the exact figures from 2008 but it felt to me like the Mets had an issue closing out series then. I certainly know they didn't close out the last series of the season.
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