Discussing some of the current hot topics with the New York Mets including:
- Jason Bay performing below expectations on offense
- The Oliver Perez saga
- The Mets makeshift starting pitching rotation
- Carlos Beltran preparing to return next month
- Luis Castillo on the DL and Daniel Murphy out for the season
Bonus! A comparison of the Mets performance of the last three seasons. So far the Mets are right where they've been in 2008 and 2009. That's not necessarily good news.
why so glum
I was surprised to hear you seemed so down on the team at this point. If you'd believed in April that the Mets would be in a virtual tie with the Phillies in the middle of June, wouldn't you have taken it in a minute? There are some annoying trends that need to be fixed, sure. The Mets still can't ever score enough runs for Santana to win a game or expect a non-dramatic appearance from K-Rod. Wright, Reyes and Francoeur still show a propensity for going into extended dead spells. The bullpen gets way too overworked. But these things can be worked on. Injuries haven't been as bad as last year. Beltran is still MIA and Murphy was really just fill-in from last year's injuries.
But Ike Davis has been a spark, Pelfrey has been All-Star caliber, Niese is obviously stepping up and even Dessens has been decent lately, unlike anything he gave in 2009. I don't think our problems are any worse than anyone else's for once and the division is clearly the tightest in the game and no one shows any sign of running away with it, certainly not the pre-season prohibitive favorite Phillies. With the right acquisition or two and if Beltran can be Beltran for even Aug/Sep, that might be enough for us to get to the postseaon for the first time since 2006. I'll take the WC too, I'm easy.
The Current Situation
I look at where the Mets are now and think it seems pretty good but the fact is we'll need a couple of nice streaks in order to be in position to make the playoffs. I don't know if the team has the gas in the tank to make it happen. I look at the outings we've gotten from R.A. Dickey for instance and think it can't last. If both Dickey and Jon Niese keep it up the way they've been pitching then I think that the Mets can contend. But can they keep it up?
The other thing is that I really can't explain how awful the Mets have been on the road. I feel like I need to see the Mets win a few on the road, especially against teams in the division, to gain confidence that they will be able to hold up and be contending when it counts in September. Don't get me wrong I hope we get there so bad. But I feel like for all the good things we still have about the same number of wins we have had the last two years at this time. We all know how those seasons ended.
re: situation
Well, I think the elements for success at home have been obvious. They've grown into the stadium that psyched them out last year and are using it as a 10th man. Even with playing lousy on the road they're where they are and I think that that's bound to improve even a little bit, which could be just enough. I don't buy Atlanta as legitimate--they're still coasting on a long winning streak (we just played worse after ours); I see Philadelphia as the team to beat and we've past them again. For now.
Reverse Psychology
Perhaps my (unintended) reverse psychology worked. Every time I create a podcast that's hopeful after Mets' successes things seem to go south for the team right away. This time I dialed back my expectations and the Mets have outperformed by expectations by losing only one game in the past week. The Mets have crawled to within 1.5 games of first place and (dare I say) the wild card.
good point
Maybe advocate for the re-signing of Mel Rojas and we'll wind up with Cliff Lee.
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