Forever the Kid. A boy among men and a legend of the game. Baseball was lucky to have him. RIP Gary Carter. We shall all miss that wonderful smile.

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Op Ed
Game 6. Need we say more...

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As Mets Take Final Game Of Season From Reds 3-0: Reyes Bunts His Way To Mets First Batting Title! (77-85)

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Op Ed

Much Ado About Nothing: nicely sums up Reyes’ departure in the 1st inning of the Mets’ final game of the season.

Reyes exited the game in the 1st inning with a .337 batting average after his bunt single and sending a message to Mr. Braun saying, if you want to win the batting race then beat that!

A few hours later Mr. Braun answered with an 0 for 4 evening at the plate finishing the season 5 thousandths of a percentage point behind Reyes with a.332 average.

However, everyone thought it was criminal that Reyes exited the final game in the 1st inning after his bunt single. The fans wanted to see Reyes play the entire game, which could have been his last at bat as a Met, and the media wanted to see Reyes compete to his last at bat for the batting title .

People were comparing Reyes’ exit of the game to Ted Williams’ resolve of playing in a double-header on the last day of the season in 1941 which saw Williams go 6 for 8 and raised his batting average from a .400 to .406 making him the last man in MLB to hit .400!

First of all, the two events are like comparing apples and oranges! Williams was not competing against anyone for a batting title. Williams was competing against himself.

Williams’ coach told him that he could sit out the double-header and still hit .400 for the season. Williams would have none of that and demanded that he play in both games. Williams had already won the batting title since DiMaggio’s .357 was a whopping 33 points behind Williams’ .400 going into the last day of the ’41 season.

So how can Williams and Reyes be compared? They can’t! The two events aren’t even remotely close. Williams had already won the batting title for the season where as Reyes was in a battle for the batting title.

Furthermore, baseball contracts of today are incentive laden and winning batting titles, all-star appearances and even plate appearances command big dollars for today’s players.

Jose Reyes did what any baseball player of today’s ilk would have done especially when the player has a team of agents in his ear advising him what he needs to do to secure the pot of gold and lines the agent’s pockets as well.

Simply put, all Reyes did was compete for the batting title, the best he could, to the very last day of the season and then he laid out his cards on the table and said to Mr. Braun, here’s my hand let’s see if you can beat that! To which Braun, simply, folded.

Here’s a recap of the final week of hitting for Reyes and Braun. I think the figures and facts clearly bear out the strategy of both players and illustrates that the batting title winner rose to the occasion.

Monday 26 September 2011

On Monday morning Braun was leading the batting title race with a .333 average. Jose was only hitting .331.

However, on Monday night with only 4 games left to play in the season and home field advantage on the line for the Brewers, the umpires received the line-up card without Braun’s name on it. That’s right, Braun chose to sit out Monday night’s game with his leading .333 average.

Yes, that is correct, Braun was leading Reyes in the National League batting title, but he chose to sit out Monday’s game with the lead.

Jose Reyes, on the other hand, chose to play in Monday night’s game when the Mets were playing for absolutely nothing. Reyes seized the opportunity going 3 for 4 and raised his average from .331 to .334.

Ryan Braun did not play on Monday night, however when Reyes went 3-4 and raised his .331 trailing average to a .334 leading average Braun was then inserted into Monday night’s game as a pinch hitter. In his pinch-hit at bat Braun answered the bell and doubled which raised his trailing average of .333 to a tying average of .334.

In summary, Braun sat out Monday night’s game with his leading batting average and waited to see what Reyes would do. When Reyes surpassed him Braun then entered the game in an effort to keep pace in the race.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Braun and Reyes tied at .334.

Braun goes 1 for 2 raising his average to .335.

Reyes goes 3 for 6 with 2 home-runs in 13 innings and raised his average to .336.

In Reyes’ first 4 at bats he went 3 for 4 and he could have taken himself out of this game with his .338 average, but he played all 13 innings when the Mets were still playing for absolutely nothing.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Reyes’ average: .336

Braun’s average: .335

Wednesday was the final game of the regular season for both teams, but the Mets were playing a day game and the Brewers were playing a night game. This meant that Braun would know exactly what Reyes did in his game and exactly what he needed to do to win the batting title before the Brewers’ game even started that night.

The time difference in the two games prompted reports to ask Braun if he would play in his game if Reyes’ average fell below Braun’s average.

Braun said that the Brewers are still playing for something. He said the Brewers are playing for home field, so he said that he will play no matter what happens with Reyes.

My question to Braun is, what happened on Monday night when he was leading the batting title race? Why didn’t he play then? His team was still playing for something on Monday, in fact, his team lost Monday’s game. Who knows if the Brewers would have won Monday’s game if Braun played, but his statement on Wednesday certainly does not reconcile with his actions on the previous Monday.

So going into Wednesday’s game Jose Reyes was leading the batting race with a .336 average while Braun was not far behind with a .335, only 1 thousandths of a percentage point separated Reyes and Braun.

In true Jose Reyes fashion he rose to the occasion and got a hit in his first at bat and decided that was good enough to win the race and took himself out of the game. With his .337 batting average Reyes sent a message to Mr. Braun that Braun would have to be better than his best to beat Reyes today. In fact, Braun would  have to go 3 for 4 or better to win the batting title.

The Brewers ended up beating the Pirates 7-3 on Wednesday night, but Braun went 0-4 and finished his season with a batting average of .332.

Sure we would have all loved to see Reyes play the complete game en route to the Met’s first batting title winner. However, in 2011 the national league batting title came down to two players battling it out to the very last day or in this case night.

To win any game or competition sound strategy is paramount. Monday night Braun employed his strategy and on Wednesday night Reyes employed his. When the dust settled Reyes’ strategy and average won the race fair and square.

Well done Jose!

Posted in Batting Title | Leave a comment

Mets Sliding Into Abyss. 8/15 (58-62)

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Op Ed

At 4 games under .500% and 11.5 games behind in the wild card and 20.5 games behind in the division the Mets season is truly over.

With those insurmountable numbers Terry Collins and the front office brain trust should be managing this team with the view to put the best team on the field for next year. However, in my view, it does not appear that is how the Mets are being managed.

What is Lucas Duda doing playing 1st base? Can someone please tell me! If Duda is the right fielder for next year then why is he not playing as many games in right field as he can possibly play?

If the Mets intend to play Duda at 1st base for the remainder of the season and then start him in right field in spring training next year then the Mets management are completely inept. Why have a Duda playing a position he is not going to play next year? It’s the height of stupidity!

The mets should put Evans or Harris at 1st base now while Duda is in right field honing his skills for next season and not wait until spring truing next year before Duda has his first game in right.

The other position that should be solidified is catcher. There is no way Thole is the Mets catcher next year. He leads the Majors in pass balls and he can’t blame Dickey either.

Thole is a horrible defensive catcher and keeping him in the line-up for his bat is poor strategy and speaks to Terry Collins’ biggest downfall as a manager.

Terry Collins seems to think that offense is more important than defense and this philosophy has cost the Mets several games and has put several Mets players on the DL.

Terry Collins tries to put the best hitting team on the field every night at the expense of the defense. He needs to realize that type of philosophy is not going to win him games in the long haul and he is only going to injure his players when he is constantly moving them from position to position.

The sooner Collins realizes that sound defense cannot be compromised the sooner the Mets will take a huge step forward in improving the team for the future and leave the abyss behind.

Posted in Mets@Padres Aug 15-17, 2011 | Leave a comment

Mets Lose Series To Pesty Nats 7/29-31 (55-53)

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Op Ed

The Mets’ offense was only capable of scoring 2 runs in their last 21 innings against the Nats and as a result only took 1 game in the 3 game series and dropped to only 2 games over .500%

Unfortunately the Mets are living up to what the pundits say about them as they fail to put any space between them and the .500 mark. The last series against the last place Nats would have been a perfect opportunity to put some space between the Mets and the .500 mark while gaining some ground in the wild card race. However, the Mets could only muster 10 runs in 27 innings and only 2 runs in their last 21 innings.

The Mets started off the series nicely against Wang as they roughed him up for 4 runs in the 1st inning, but let’s face it, Wang hadn’t pitched in 2 years and he is coming off of major shoulder surgery so it wasn’t much of a surprise that Wang got touched up.

The second and third game were abysmal for the Mets except for Hairston who was sole reason the Mets scored 2 runs in their last 21 innings with his two solo shots in game three.

The road trip wasn’t a complete disaster (6-4), but I hope this let down is just a minor set-back and is not indicative of the play we can expect from the Mets. It’s understandable that there would be a let down of some description after the Mets biggest bat was traded, but they must rise to the occasion if there is any hope for a wild card birth.

The Mets now have a 10 game home-stand and they must start turning around their home record to be in the hunt. Next up is Florida for 3 then Atlanta for 3 before playing 4 against the Padres.

Pelfrey (6-9, 4.55 ERA) is the first cab off the rank against Vazquez (5-9, 5.10 ERA).

Posted in Mets @ Nationals July 29-31, 2011 | Leave a comment

Duda, Wright Stuff Reds 7/25-28 (54-51)

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Op Ed

Duda and Wright may have been on fire in Cincinnati, but it was Murphy’s law for the Reds as the Mets swept the 2nd place Reds 4 games and pushed the Reds down to 4th in their division and 4 games behind the Mets in the wild card race.

Duda stepped up his contribution since Beltran’s departure and went long twice in the Reds series hitting .333 with 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored. David Wright also had a great series hitting .473 with 7 RBIs and 5 runs scored, but Daniel Murphy had a scorcher series and continues to get better at the plate every game. In the Reds series Murphy hit a scorching .588 with 5 RBIs and 6 runs scored and he is now 3rd in the national league in hitting.

I know that Reyes is the favourite to win the MVP this year, but Daniel Murphy must garner some votes for MVP. If you look at what he has done for this club this year it is nothing short of invaluable.

Murphy has played 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, right field and he even hit DH during interleague play and has come off the bench as a PH too. Murphy has also hit in every spot in the line-up save for lead-off and 9th, but he is mainly batting in the 3 to 5 spots. Murphy simply does whatever is asked of him and he never complains. We need more guys like him on this team and in baseball in general.

The Mets are now 3 games over .500% and 6 ½ games behind in the wild card race. Notwithstanding Beltran’s departure, this team seems to be gelling as a group and may be hitting their strides at the right time.

Wright is back and hitting like the Wright of old. Pagan seems to be out of his little funk. Duda’s confidence issues have abated and is looking to make his big league mark. Reyes and Murphy are having MVP seasons and just around the corner say hello to my lil’ friend Johan.

With 4 wins in a row for the Mets and the next 3 games at the last place Nationals the Mets can really start to make a move in the wild card race!

Next up for the Mets is Gee (9-3, 3.75 ERA) against Wang (0-0, —- ERA). Come on boys, fire up!!

Posted in Mets @ Reds July 25-28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Mets’ Wright Of Way In Opener But Yield To Marlins In Series. 7/22-24 (50-51)

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Op Ed

With David Wright back in the line-up for the opening game in the 3 game series against the Marlins the Mets were poised to start their assault on the wild card standings.

It was an auspicious start to the road trip for the Mets with David Wright getting started right away in his first at bat with a run scoring double and leading the way to a 3 run 1st inning for the Mets.

However, after the Mets win in the opening game they were let down by their pitching in games 2 and 3 of the series giving up 8 runs in the 2nd game and a blown save in the finale which dropped the Mets to under .500% again.

The offense on the other hand has performed well since Wright’s return and Wright himself has looked like the David of old, but his defense still leaves a lot to be desired, his gold glove notwithstanding.

The 7 game home stand was not the success the Mets hoped it would be with only grabbing 3 wins. This 10 game road trip; 3 vs. Florida, 4 vs. Cards and 3 vs. Nationals will give the Mets an indication if they have a shot at competing for the wildcard race since both K-Rod and Beltran will be long gone.

Posted in Mets @ Marlins July 22-24, 2011 | 2 Comments

Mets Take Series From St. Louis But Remain Steady At Mediocrity. 7/21 (49-49)

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Op Ed

The Mets clawed their way back to .500 with their 2 wins against the Cards, but they are struggling to maintain the offense and put some distance between them and mediocrity.

Gee pitched a gem in the first game against the Cards going 7 strong innings and giving up 2 runs on just 3 hits to earn his 9th win of the season.

Dickey had a quality start going 6 1/3 giving up 4 runs on 8 hits while he received strong run support from his team when he left the game with the score tied at 4.

Izzy ended up with the win in the second game when Pagan hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning with the Mets winning 6-5.

In the rubber game the ball bounced the Cards way from the outset when Pujols hit his 21st home run of the season in the 1st inning with a man on. The Mets trailed the whole game as Niese was handed his 8th loss of the season.

John Niese was entitled to better defense behind him then the one that was on the field and I think it’s about time that Collins starts thinking about the defense that he puts on the field.

The Mets pitchers are pitching their hearts out, Pelfrey excluded, and the defense behind them are making errors that are costing them games.

Collins has had Duda playing first base and then he shifts him into the outfield, then he’s got him back at 1st base. So what do you think happens? In the very same inning Duda makes a throwing error which results in a run scoring and then Duda is out of position when Pagan throws to 1st base which causes a run to score. That’s two runs scoring as a direct result of someone playing out of position.

Collins must wake up to the defense he is putting out on the field or the lack thereof if he wants to start putting some distance between his team and mediocrity.

The Mets can’t go two game without committing an error. The Mets had 3 errors in the 3 games against the Cards and 2 errors in the game they lost. Coincidence? I think not.

David Wright is back, no pun intended, starting the 3 game series against the Marlins in Florida. Let’s hope that the David is right to go because with Beltran’s exit imminent they will definitely need a bat in the line-up to get Reyes across the plate.

Posted in St Louis @ Mets July 19-21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Fish Fry Mets As They Sink To Under .500% 7/18 (47-48)

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Op Ed

The Marlins’ Clay Hensley started his first game since 2008 and beat the Mets 4-1.

The Mets could only manage 5 hits against a pitcher that has not started a game in 3 years. In fact, Hensley has thrown less than 110 inning since 2008, but he managed to stifle the Mets bats with ease.

I hope tonight’s game illustrated to Mr. Alderson how desperately this team needs offense. With Reyes, Beltran, Wright and Davis out this team, with the exception of Murphy and Turner, looks like a fledgling AAA team. I hope Mr. Wilpon and Mr. Alderson can clearly see that this team cannot afford not to sign Reyes after the season.

My question to Messrs Wilpon & Alderson is if Beltran is traded and Wright comes back don’t the Mets still have the same offensive problems? Also, would trading Beltran yield a better result for the Mets then if the Mets were re-sign Beltran for a couple of years? I would say absolutely not. What could the Mets get in return by trading Beltran that would be more productive than keeping Beltran over the next two years?

Let’s face it, if the Mets are going to compete it will be over the next couple of years. Trading Beltran may be return a good prospect, but the Mets will not get anyone in return that will benefit them in the short-term. Beltran is a part of the solution not the problem. Re-sign Beltran and watch what a line-up can produce with Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Davis, Murphy and Turner!

Tomorrow the Mets start a 3 game series against St. Louis with Gee (8-3, 3.63 ERA) up against Lohse (8-6, 3.32 ERA).

Posted in Marlins @ Mets July 18, 2011 | 4 Comments

Mets Drop To .500 As They Lose Series To Phillies. (47-47)

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Op Ed

Reyes, Wright, Davis & Beltran are still out and as a result the Mets were only able to muster 1 win against the Phillies in the 3 game series at Citi Field.

The Phillies on the other are now 24 games over .500 and its fair to say no one is going to catch them in the National League this year. They are playing at a .622 winning percentage pace and the closest team to them is Atlanta with a .589% at 17 games over .500, but Atlanta has been playing over their heads and will soon cool off.

The Mets were at least in a position to win the first 2 games against the Phillies, but they let the first game slip away with silly errors. Again, errors made by infield players that have been shifted around all season, namely Turner, Murphy and Tejada, making costly errors which cost the Mets the game.

I think Collins has done a great job, but I think he’s being too cute with his constant defensive moves and these errors are the result. Collins is mixing and matching and choping and changing attempting to put together the best offensive line-up he can for every game, but as a result the defense suffers. Here’s a hint Terry, take Bay out!

He’s got Murphy playing 3rd base one day and 1st base the next. Then he has Turner playing 3rd base one day and 2nd base the next. Then he’s got Tejada playing 2nd base one day and shortstop the next. Then he platoons Duda and Evan at 1st base with Murphy thown into the mix. When Reyes gets back in the line-up the merry-go-round starts all over again.

This series saw the Mets commit 6 errors (in my book, the official scorer had 4) against the Phillies. The Mets are certainly not going to win a series against the Phillies committing 6 errors! That is disgraceful! BTW, the Phillies had 0 errors for the 3 games.

In the 1st game agasint the Phillies Murphy played 3rd base and 1st base. In the 2nd game Murphy played 3rd base and in the 3rd game Murphy played 3rd base and 2nd base. That’s 4 moves and 3 different positions in 3 games!!

Dickey and Niese pitched very well against the Phillies, but once again Pelfrey just imploded giving up 4 runs in 5 innings. I think the Mets and Mets fans should come to the realisation that Mike Pelfrey is just a #5 starter at best. The Mets and Mets fans expect so much of Mike Pelfrey and the only thing he fulfils are broken promises.

The second half of the season for the Mets has not started off auspiciously going 1 and 2 in the first series and dropping to .500%. The absence of K-Rod was not a factor since a save opportunity was not required or registered for the Mets in their first series of the second half.

However, the trade of K-Rod by Alderson can only send one message to the Mets’ players and fans and that is, ‘the season is over.’ How else would one interpret a trade which sends one of the best closers in the game to a first place National League team in return for minor league players to be named later?

I don’t care how Alderson spins it, he sees the season as done. Which is very disappointing for this Mets fan, but it’s great to see that the players have not given up like their GM has as evidenced by the Mets scoring 1 run in the 7th inning, 3 runs in the 8th inning and 1 run in the 9th inning in their last game against the Phillies when they were trailing 5-0. Good one boys, keep it going!

The Mets have a rain make-up game against the Marlins tomorrow and then 3 games against the Cards at Citi. Reyes, is having a rehab game tomorrow in Brooklyn, Beltran should be back from his flu illness in the next day or so and Wright is expected back within the week.

Mr. Alderson the season is long and anything can happen in baseball. I will also remind you that us Mets fans do believe in miracles, after all we lived through game 6!

Posted in Philies @ Mets July 15-17, 2011 | Leave a comment

Capuano, Pelfrey & Offense Not Enough To Overcome Giants, Lincecum & Cain. 7/10 (46-45)

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Op Ed

The Mets take two losses from the Giants this weekend, 3-1 on Saturday and 4-2 on Sunday as they slip to 1 game over .500 going into the All-Star break.

The 7 game west cost swing was not all bad news for the Mets as they ended up with a 4-3 record for the seven games, but that only gives them one more in the win column than losses.  They will start the second half with 7 games at home with 3 games against the Phillies and Cards and  one game against the Marlins tucked in the middle of the two.

The Mets offense has fallen off a bit the last couple of games, but frankly they have seen all-star pitchers and to make matters worse they have committed some costly errors that scored runs for their opponents and in one and two run games errors that result in runs come back to haunt you as these errors did.

These errors were a prime example of what happens when players are asked to play out of their normal position and are moved from one position to another from game to game and from inning to inning. Granted, the Mets have had their share of injuries and the need to fill spots, but constantly moving guys around is not the answer. They should play a guy in one position and let him play and get comfortable with the position. If Collins wants to platoon guys, fine, but platoon them in the same position.

what this team has asked Daniel Murphy to do is unprecedented in recent times. He has played every position in the infield this year save for shortstop and he is hitting .305 thus far. He has also been asked to hit in almost every spot in the line-up, but mostly in the clean-up spot and for those of you that didn’t see it the other night, Murphy, in the clean-up spot was asked to put down a bunt. A bunt! IN THE CLEAN-UP SPOT! Come on already!

The all-star break is upon us and the Mets will not have to play until Friday at Citi Field against the Phillies. They will most likely face Hammels and/or Lee and/or Halladay, anyway you slice it they’ve got their hands full after the break especially without Reyes.

Hopefully I’ll have my half-year report posted before the second half starts up again so keep your eye out for it.

Enjoy the break fellow Mets fans and let’s go National League!

Posted in Mets @ Giants July 8-10, 2011 | Leave a comment