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Chat removed, as usual.
Chat removed, as usual.
4/13/10
Lineup in Colo.
- Jose Reyes – SS
- Luis Castillo – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Jason Bay – LF
- Jeff Francoeur – RF
- Fernando Tatis – 1B
- Rod Barajas – C
- Angel Pagan – CF
- John Maine – RHP
This tweet, explaining Pagan batting third, is really just a head scratcher.
Game Chat will be up around 8:30 p.m.
How the Yankees salvage New York City sports
The other day, in a discussion with Joe Fortunato from Blueshirt Banter, he brought up the point of how the Yankees save New York City sports from being a miserable sports town. And he’s right.
Though it’s impossible to think about New York City sports without thinking of the Yankees, the most powerful team in sports, let’s just take a run at it. Take a look at the NYC sports scene, boiling it down to the simplest of simple: Championships.
Pulling the Yankees out of “New York” leaves six major sports teams (we’re going to include the Giants and Jets, even though they play in NJ, because - well - yeah):
- Mets
- Giants
- Jets
- Knicks
- Rangers
- Islanders
In the last 20 years, these six teams have won only three championships – Giants in ‘90 and ‘07 and Rangers in ‘94.
That’s just sad. Over the last 20 years, the Yankees have won five championships on their own – almost double what the six other teams have done combined. Is it just a bad run for those six teams? It’s hard for me to believe that six teams in four different sports are all struggling this mightily, but I can’t just chalk it up to bad luck. We know the plights of the Wilpons, Dolans, etc., but they haven’t owned these teams forever.
In the last 50 years, the six teams listed above have won 12 combined championships – Mets in ‘69 and ‘86, Giants in ‘86, ‘90 and ‘07, Knicks in ‘70 and ‘73, Rangers in ‘94 and Islanders with their run of four straight from ‘80-‘83. In the last 50 years, the Yankees have won nine World Series on their own.
What stings the most is the recent struggles of most of these teams. We all know the plight of Mets fans lately, but the Knicks and Islanders rank right down there in the categories of ownership, GMs, managerial mishaps and the like. The Giants and Jets have enjoyed some recent success in getting to the playoffs, but only the Giants have tasted the sweetest victory in the last decade.
And soon, the Nets will join the ranks of NYC sports teams. They will improve over this past season because I just don’t think they could play this poorly again. Right?
It’s hard to imagine NYC sports without the Yankees, but if they weren’t around, this would be one very, very sad sports town.
Now I have to go take a scalding hot shower and scrub myself until I’m raw. That was a terrible article to have to write. It pained me.
4/12/10
Link: This article is beyond crazy
Read this: Santana is Flushing away his talent by Ian O’Connor …and then come back here.
Reading that article was akin to O’Connor reaching into my brain, ripping out all the journalism ethics and stomping on it with metal cleats. Writing about what you assume a player would do if his water was spiked with truth serum? This isn’t a Harry Potter novel (though I love those).
It’s one thing to suggest that Santana would have won on a different team or with a different rotation or players behind him, but to suggest that he thinks he is “flushing away his talent” by pitching in Queens is just wrong. Truth serum doesn’t exist. Both Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez said that they wouldn’t go back on their contracts or wished they signed elsewhere, but O’Connor simply doesn’t believe them.
Maybe O’Connor should spend more time perfecting his truth serum than making assumptions about what players might be thinking, because that article is a waste of time.
From commenter @TweetTheMets, who truly hits the nail on the head:
What's truly puzzling about this column is the timing. O'Connor writes this off a loss that almost entirely belonged to Santana. Sure, teams can be put in a 4-0 hole in the 1st inning and hope his teammates bail him out, but it's far from routine. (Well, unless you pay for the kind of lineup the Yankees routinely put forth.) As much as baseball is a team sport, the fact is the starting pitcher has the most influence over its outcome. Sure, fielding is important, and park factors, and BABIP. But it almost always comes back to the starting pitcher. Now, if the pitcher had 27 wins on an awful team (Steve Carlton, anyone?) he'd be "wasting his talent" on that team. If he couldn't get to 27 wins because he kept losing games 1-0 and 2-1, he, too, would have valid complaints. But how does it make sense for Ian O'Connor to be waxing poetic about Santana and his talent and how it's out of place on the Mets the day after a stinker? If it's July, the team is out of contention, and Santana is throwing gem after gem, go ahead, write about how frustrating it must be to be a great player having a great season for a terrible team. I'm sure that column has never been written before.
Guess the Met [Solved]
The rules are easy: I post a Mets player photo, but only reveal a tiny part of the image. From there, your goal is to try and guess which player the photo is of.
No prizes, but pride and honor is on the line.
Here is today’s Guess the Met… Good luck!
Answer: This Met is… Jon Niese!
Manuel’s Musing
take responsibility.”
-Jerry Manuel on the Mets facing Livan Hernandez
4/11/10
Game Recap: Nationals 5 – Mets 2
Oh, Livan!
The Good
Jeff Francoeur continued his torrid hitting pace, with a triple and a single. He’s now batting .476 on the season. Oh yeah, and he walked again. His OBP is .538.
Mike Jacobs homered. Practically the whole reason Jacobs is still relevant is that he can mash, if and when he connects. Well, he connected for the Mets only two runs of the game, a 2-run home run in the 8th inning.
The bullpen. Raul Valdes made his major league debut and Ryota Igarashi and Francisco Rodriguez all turned in scoreless innings.
Johan Santana after the first inning. From the second to fifth innings, Santana allowed only three hits and one earned run. Too bad about the first frame.
The Bad & Ugly
Santana’s first inning. A leadoff triple, two walks, a blast from Josh Willingham and some replay later, the Mets trailed 4-0 after a grand slam. The Mets never recovered.
Josh Willingham is the newest Met killer. The Mets should trade for him and stash him away in Triple-A forever. Get Willie Harris, too.
The Mets offense. Livan Hernandez tossed seven shutout innings, allowing only five hits and needing just 88 pitches. When they got runners on, they did nothing with them. “Punchless” is a good term to use.
This game was over in the first inning.
Game Ball
Raul Valdes, why not?
On Deck
Monday is an off day for the Mets as they travel out to Colorado for their first road trip starting Tuesday night at 8:15.
Game Chat: WAS @ NYM [Game 6]
Join in and chat with your fellow Mets fans!
Rubin: Green could be headed to DL, Valdes could get call [Updated]
Update – 11:50 a.m.: Clint Everts has been DFA’d to make room for Valdes on the 40-man roster.
Update – 10:45 a.m.: It’s official. Green to DL, Valdes called up.
Sean Green, who according to a team source, has been dealing with a torn muscle in his rib cage, could be heading to the disabled lists, writes Adam Rubin. He notes that left-hander Raul Valdes, who is on loan from the Mexican League, could get the call to replace Green.
If Green has been dealing with a tear in his rib cage, why did he come north with the Mets?
Either way, good for Valdes. Imagine that feeling? One month you’re pitching for Tabasco in the Mexican League and the next, after a short and decent spring training, you’re on the brink of pitching in the major leagues in the biggest market in the country. Crazy.
Lineup [Game 6]
- Jose Reyes – SS
- Alex Cora – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Jason Bay – LF
- Mike Jacobs – 1B
- Jeff Francoeur – RF
- Gary Matthews Jr. – CF
- Rod Barajas – C
- Johan Santana – LHP
Question: Do you want to see the opposing team’s lineup, or is the Mets enough?
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