Check out the lead that Ed Hershey wrote for the article:
Now a whole new country can laugh at the Mets, and in two languages no less.
Too funny.
4/8/09
What a lead
Newsday just posted their story from the first game of the 1969 season. The New York Mets lost to the Montral Expos by a score of 11-10.
The Verducci Effect on Mike Pelfrey
A theory I've been pointing to all off season comes from SI writer, and fellow New Jerseyite, Tom Verducci. He believes that if a young pitcher, usually under the age of 25, has his inning pitched increase by more then 30, he is at risk for an injury the next season.
Mike Pelfrey fits that category.
Verducci met with Pelfrey down at spring training, and much of his latest article focuses on Pelfrey and a handful of other young pitchers he has "red flagged" for injuries in 2009. Of the 10 pitchers Verducci picked, Pelfrey had the seventh largest jump in innings with 48.
Mike Pelfrey fits that category.
Verducci met with Pelfrey down at spring training, and much of his latest article focuses on Pelfrey and a handful of other young pitchers he has "red flagged" for injuries in 2009. Of the 10 pitchers Verducci picked, Pelfrey had the seventh largest jump in innings with 48.
How much should those guys be worried? Over the previous three years I red-flagged a total of 24 young pitchers at the start of those seasons. Of those 24 at-risk pitchers, 16 were hurt in that same season. Only one of the 24 pitchers managed to stay healthy and lower his ERA.Not the greatest news in the world for Mets fans or Pelfrey.Hopefully the Mets have enough arms in their system that a significant injury to Pelfrey, who pitches tonight in Cincinnati, can be overcome.
Video of the 'worst seats in Citi Field'
Commenter PaulD did a little reporting and shot some video of what I claim to be 'the worst seats in Citi Field.'
It seems the Mets have tried to alleviate the issue of the obstructed views by installing televisions behind the out of town scoreboard.
It seems the Mets have tried to alleviate the issue of the obstructed views by installing televisions behind the out of town scoreboard.
4/7/09
David Wright for Evan Longoria? Really?
Posted on the LoHud Mets blog:
Do you point to Wright's .340 AVG/.416 OBP/.577 SLG for September of 2008? Or maybe his .352/.432/.602. of September, 2007?
Maybe you note that Wright has a .300 career batting average with RISP?
What about Wright's .384 OBP with RISP and two outs for his entire career?
Or maybe, just maybe, you point out that with the bases loaded over his career, Wright has put up .393/.444/.768?
Oh, and Daniel Murphy has a career .182 AVG with RISP and two outs.
Or you can just point out that Longoria's batting average with RISP is almost 60 points lower than Wright's. With the bases loaded? Wright's only hitting 130 points higher. How about Longoria's OBP vs. Wright's OBP with the bases loaded? Only a disparity of 194 points -- I'll leave it to you to guess who has the .250 OBP and guess who has the .444 OBP.
But 80s'Joel is right, David Wright just isn't clutch...
80s’Joel writes: “the mets need to trade that choke artist David Wright for a a left fielder and move Dan Murphy to 3rd base he might not have the power of wright but he hits average and IN THE CLUTCH. We should trade wright while he still has some value. I would trade him for Longoria straight up and you could most likely get a prospect or two for him as well. The mets should do this while they still can.”What do you say to this?
Do you point to Wright's .340 AVG/.416 OBP/.577 SLG for September of 2008? Or maybe his .352/.432/.602. of September, 2007?
Maybe you note that Wright has a .300 career batting average with RISP?
What about Wright's .384 OBP with RISP and two outs for his entire career?
Or maybe, just maybe, you point out that with the bases loaded over his career, Wright has put up .393/.444/.768?
Oh, and Daniel Murphy has a career .182 AVG with RISP and two outs.
Or you can just point out that Longoria's batting average with RISP is almost 60 points lower than Wright's. With the bases loaded? Wright's only hitting 130 points higher. How about Longoria's OBP vs. Wright's OBP with the bases loaded? Only a disparity of 194 points -- I'll leave it to you to guess who has the .250 OBP and guess who has the .444 OBP.
But 80s'Joel is right, David Wright just isn't clutch...
Johan Santana's handshake routine [Video]
Too cool.
What's with the Mets and the handshakes?
First Jose Reyes, now Johan Santana...
First Jose Reyes, now Johan Santana...
The SNY graphics are too 'bloated'
SNY debuted their new graphics package this season, specifically to target the HD market.
For a fan who watches most of the games in standard definition, I find the graphics to be too large and invasive into the screen. I'm not alone in my sentiment, as reader Byron Brewer noted in an e-mail.
This is mostly due to the bases that stretch above the normal horizontal line. To accompany the second base area, the "field" lies above the line score.
Am I being too picky? Probably. But it's the little things like this, that I know can be fixed quickly, that start to bother me.
Are the new SNY graphics too 'bloated'? Vote in the poll on the right!
For a fan who watches most of the games in standard definition, I find the graphics to be too large and invasive into the screen. I'm not alone in my sentiment, as reader Byron Brewer noted in an e-mail.
Not sure if you watched either of the SNY broadcasts. In any case, they have a new on-screen graphics on the top of the screen to display score, baserunners, innning, etc... It has a nice new modern look, but it's incredibly bloated and goofy looking. I watch all the HD broadcasts and I think the new graphic is really bloated and distracting. I like the idea, but they need to reduce the size quite a bit.The main problem I have with the new graphics package is the line score at the top of the screen. To work with an HD set, the line score is set further down on the image leaving a gap on top of it. It takes away precious television space and allows you to see over the top of the line score.
This is mostly due to the bases that stretch above the normal horizontal line. To accompany the second base area, the "field" lies above the line score.
Am I being too picky? Probably. But it's the little things like this, that I know can be fixed quickly, that start to bother me.
Are the new SNY graphics too 'bloated'? Vote in the poll on the right!
Baseball Digest: Citi Field vs. Yankee Stadium
Head over to Baseball Digestto read my comparison between
Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.
Twitter Poll: How will 2009 finish for the Mets?
I'm trying a new thing out here on the blog. I've fully embraced Twitter, and I'm going to be occasionally throwing out some questions or polls about the Mets on Twitter, and posting the responses here.
Last night, I asked my Twitter followers one question. Here are their responses to: How will 2009 finish for the New York Mets?
Not on Twitter? Hit the comments to put in your 2¢.
Last night, I asked my Twitter followers one question. Here are their responses to: How will 2009 finish for the New York Mets?
- letsgoduke said: playoffs. 50% chance division 50% chance wild card.
- metgirl4ever said: like the 2000 season, only better. A girl can dream, can't she?!?!
- citycynic said: Better than the last two seasons' last games.
- fullnelson said: Mets end season with playoffs NL wildcard
- Retire31 said: At least NL East champs. I think we go all the way this year.
- jsilberberg said: if we can't produce runs, not too far... how many runners are we gonna strand?
- justinleon said: Wild Card...barely.
- gmo418 said: Wild Card at worst. Still 161 games left though...long season.
- kierankelly said: 2nd place in the NL East. Wild card and lose to the WFC in the NLCS. (ed. note: Good luck figuring out "WFC" Hint: He's a Phillies blogger.)
- rtjr said: dramatic game 7 loss to Pirates in the NLCS (ed. note: What else would you expect a Pirates blogger to say?)
Not on Twitter? Hit the comments to put in your 2¢.
4/6/09
Game Recap: Mets 2 -- Reds 1
If there was a script the Mets had to follow for the first game of 2009, this game followed it exactly.
On The Mound
The Mets turned to Johan Santana for the second straight opening day, and he did not disappoint. Ninety-nine pitches later, 62 for strikes, Santana exited the game in the sixth inning. He allowed only three hits, walked four and struck out seven. Santana allowed the sole Reds run to score on a Brandon Phillips sac-fly in the bottom of the 6th inning.
Two of those walks came in the first inning, back to back. Santana needed 31 pitches but was able to wiggle out of the inning and pretty much settled in from there. In fact, Santana held the Reds hit-less until the bottom of the fourth inning when Jay Bruce drilled a ball to the left centerfield wall.
Jerry Manuel wasn't going to push Santana in the first game of the year. Santana was dealing, though he struggled with the walks a little. He got the outs when he needed to and that's all you can ask.
From there, the newcomers took over. Sean Green relieved Santana, getting a tough out with two on and two out. Edwin Encarnacion lined out to left field, ending the inning and the threat. Green came out for the seventh as well, inducing three ground balls for a quick inning.
Green looked confident on the mound and got a very key out in a very tough situation.
J.J. Putz came in for the 8th inning, as the Mets have planned since acquiring him in December. Putz walked one in his inning, but escaped otherwise unscathed. Francisco Rodriguez entered for the 9th inning in a one run game and did what the Mets are paying him for. He needed only 10 pitches to retire the Reds in order, striking out Ramon Hernandez to end the game.
Beautiful. As a Mets fan, I've been trained to worry late in games, so my heart was still in my throat when these two entered the game. They made it painless and easy and I couldn't be happier.
At The Plate
The lore of Daniel Murphy grows and grows.
Murphy picked up both RBIs for the Mets today, including hitting a solo home run off of Reds starter Aaron Harang in the top of the fifth inning. Murphy also grounded out to first base with the bases loaded the next inning, allowing Luis Castillo, who had doubled, to score the eventual game winning run.
A lot of people are very high on Murphy, and though I think he's going to be good, I'd like to see what he can do with a full season. Can't get a better start to the season than this. Great job by the left fielder.
Ryan Church and Carlos Delgado each picked up two hits for the Mets today. Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran also picked up hits. Wright was also thrown out at the plate in the fifth inning. He was out by a decent amount as Beltran ripped a single to right field. Razor Shines sent him, but he was out by a mile. He was also caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out.
Reyes and Church each swiped a base a piece.
The weather definetely played a factor for a few of the Mets hits today. Wright probably shouldn't have been sent home, though Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling all thought it was a good send by Razor Shines. Hindsight is 20/20.
In The Field
Church and Wright both made beautiful plays in the field, helping the Mets keep runners off the basepaths. Church made a slide, bobbled the ball before settling with it and then threw to first for a double play in the second inning.
Wright made a beautiful snag of a ground ball in the 7th inning, falling to his left and getting his glove out to field the ball. He then scrambled to his feet and made a perfect throw to Delgado at first base.
On Deck
Off day tomorrow. Mets will play the Reds again in Cincinnati at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night.
On The Mound
The Mets turned to Johan Santana for the second straight opening day, and he did not disappoint. Ninety-nine pitches later, 62 for strikes, Santana exited the game in the sixth inning. He allowed only three hits, walked four and struck out seven. Santana allowed the sole Reds run to score on a Brandon Phillips sac-fly in the bottom of the 6th inning.
Two of those walks came in the first inning, back to back. Santana needed 31 pitches but was able to wiggle out of the inning and pretty much settled in from there. In fact, Santana held the Reds hit-less until the bottom of the fourth inning when Jay Bruce drilled a ball to the left centerfield wall.
Jerry Manuel wasn't going to push Santana in the first game of the year. Santana was dealing, though he struggled with the walks a little. He got the outs when he needed to and that's all you can ask.
From there, the newcomers took over. Sean Green relieved Santana, getting a tough out with two on and two out. Edwin Encarnacion lined out to left field, ending the inning and the threat. Green came out for the seventh as well, inducing three ground balls for a quick inning.
Green looked confident on the mound and got a very key out in a very tough situation.
J.J. Putz came in for the 8th inning, as the Mets have planned since acquiring him in December. Putz walked one in his inning, but escaped otherwise unscathed. Francisco Rodriguez entered for the 9th inning in a one run game and did what the Mets are paying him for. He needed only 10 pitches to retire the Reds in order, striking out Ramon Hernandez to end the game.
Beautiful. As a Mets fan, I've been trained to worry late in games, so my heart was still in my throat when these two entered the game. They made it painless and easy and I couldn't be happier.
At The Plate
The lore of Daniel Murphy grows and grows.
Murphy picked up both RBIs for the Mets today, including hitting a solo home run off of Reds starter Aaron Harang in the top of the fifth inning. Murphy also grounded out to first base with the bases loaded the next inning, allowing Luis Castillo, who had doubled, to score the eventual game winning run.
A lot of people are very high on Murphy, and though I think he's going to be good, I'd like to see what he can do with a full season. Can't get a better start to the season than this. Great job by the left fielder.
Ryan Church and Carlos Delgado each picked up two hits for the Mets today. Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran also picked up hits. Wright was also thrown out at the plate in the fifth inning. He was out by a decent amount as Beltran ripped a single to right field. Razor Shines sent him, but he was out by a mile. He was also caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out.
Reyes and Church each swiped a base a piece.
The weather definetely played a factor for a few of the Mets hits today. Wright probably shouldn't have been sent home, though Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling all thought it was a good send by Razor Shines. Hindsight is 20/20.
In The Field
Church and Wright both made beautiful plays in the field, helping the Mets keep runners off the basepaths. Church made a slide, bobbled the ball before settling with it and then threw to first for a double play in the second inning.
Wright made a beautiful snag of a ground ball in the 7th inning, falling to his left and getting his glove out to field the ball. He then scrambled to his feet and made a perfect throw to Delgado at first base.
On Deck
Off day tomorrow. Mets will play the Reds again in Cincinnati at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night.
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