A blog dedicated to the New York Mets with some other baseball thrown in.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

The Incredible Shrinking Run Differential

So the Mets have now scored 119 runs and given up 118. Basically, they are a .500 team. To the naked eye, they have looked like a .500 team to this point so that is not really all that surprising. I know they are better than this and Mr. Billy Wagner knows they are better than this.

"It's very easy to say, 'Hey, yeah, you're going to have these games,' and you will have these games," Wagner said. "But when there's not a lot of effort and a lot of desire, that's when you worry.

"I just think that today we just didn't show up. I'm not saying that Pittsburgh can't beat the New York Mets. I'm just saying there's no way we should have this lopsided of a score. ... We weren't good at defense. We weren't good at pitching. There was no get up and go. That can't happen."

And about the starting pitcher ...

"Perez has honestly got to step up and know that we've just used every guy in our bullpen the night before," Wagner said. "He can't come out there and decide that, gee, he hasn't got it today and so be it."

When Wagner's words were relayed to Perez, the hot-and-cold, 2-2 lefty said, "I don't have a problem with that. I didn't do my job."

Randolph said it was a combo of faulty focus and mechanical failure: "Choose the one you like."


Many people dislike him, but I happen to think Wagner is a good guy who is not afraid to shake things up a bit. At this point, the Mets need to shake things up a bit.

"That's my job," Reyes said, "to be at the left-field line there."

Randolph saw it another way.

"Those are mental mistakes," he said. "That's just a lack of focus on that particular play."


And now you have the player thinking he knows more than the manager. Which he probably does, but it certainly speaks volumes to me about what is going on here. This team is very talented and seemingly very listless. The good news is their first month of baseball was a month in which they played better than .500 ball and no one else really grabbed the division.

However, this team needs to wake up and start playing a lot better if they plan to excise some demons.

Labels:

16 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

From a far this is an average ball club... we have age on the right side and left field and nothing to really speak of as replacements for the future since we have more age backing them up, add the low production of Beltran and Reyes and I could go on. The pitching has been in consistent at best. This is a team that needs to be going on all cylinders and its not, teams with lesser talent are playing better than we are, my expectations are high but after last years collapse they are certainly tempered. I realize Omar took nothing and made it somethiong in a short period of time but honestly feel we need a skipper who will have some fire and brimstone in his persona. We play the Dbacks this weekend and we have there # at ther home park, I can't remember the last time we lost there... so we will see if they still have the magic or will they be sleep walking through the season.

11:54 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Freaking Oliver Perez.
Oh well. It's just a loss and I rather they lose like this rather than fight till the bitter end to lose that way I can leave my house and do something else with my time.

Tought series in Arizona and also the DBAcks are on fire, its not like we're catching them at a rough stretch.

12:34 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

for as much as we suck right now, take solace that the rest of the nl east sucks.

someone has to win it and hopefully we can get hot at the right time.

12:36 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll keep it brief:

Fire. Willie. Randolph. Now.

12:39 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey man. Nice piece yesterday pulling out some long and interesting comments on the front page. And I say this not just because mine was among them. Well, not just that. (-:

I stand by the assertion that the failure to fire Willie, to spill some blood to account for the tears was an inexcusable mistake by Minaya, and they're paying for it now in multiple ways.

And speaking of He Who Should Be Gone, Joel Sherman, on his blog, http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/st/ finally addresses one of Willie's (and maybe Peterson's) biggest problems. The guy uses sixteen pitchers every game - way, way more than any other manager in the bigs - and we all sit here wondering why the bullpen was fried by the end of last season, and why they look, as a group, like an emotional basket case already this year.

1:09 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What the fuck is Joe Torre doing out in LA?
Okay, Furcal, Pierre, and Kemp batting 1,2,3 is fine, but then Mike Sweeney batting CLEANUP!? WTF? WHY!?
Martin at 5th is alright but then you have Andre Ethier and his .319 AVG and .400 OBP batting 6th, there has got to be a better spot for him!
He could bat 3rd, or 4th. Put Pierre or Sweeney, especially Sweeney lower in the order.

I hate Willie Randolph. Alot of people are seeing the light. I mean its 3 years too late but some people are seeing it, even Mathew Cerrone is showing itty bitty tiny winey signs of coming around.

1:11 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We don't have one regular in the Mets lineup outperforming their expected BABIP. I know some people hate to acknowledge that their is a luck element in this game, but the Mets are hitting the ball better than the results they are getting. Sometimes the ball finds a glove and the Mets are going through that right now.

Check this out.

It will get better. Honestly, the other teams we have played have not played the sharpest baseball either. The Mets aren't just that much sloppier than everybody else. The Collapse fallout just has everybody on edge.

1:31 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What you see is what you get. Stop the Spin.

4:34 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Willie needs to go. This isn't entirely his fault, but he does enough wrong and with the type of players on the team, he absolutely needs to go. They need a hardass, grimy, blue collar type who will bring some effort and emotion to the team. Not Willie saying "It's just one game guys."

Get Carter or Backman, Oberkfell or Hojo maybe.

5:32 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Despite copious amounts of alcohol, I'm pretty sure Church in the 2 spot with Castillo 8th with Alou in the line-up is pretty fuckin sweet.

Maybe Willie reads the comment section of this blog? All I know is Church right now is the absolute man. Good stuff from Minaya ... I said that trade was shit from day one, and I am totally wrong and will eat my words.

And David Wright's catch tonight in foul territory over the shoulder? Sugary sweet, as expected.

2:48 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm officially renaming this team the New York LOBs.

So frustrating ...

9:18 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hard to complain when maine is on and we're up 12-0....

...but can i wonder why pagan is pulled for chavez when beltran is coming off of knee surgery that is clearly effecting his play

5:31 PM

 
Blogger Sidd Finch said...

Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle last night. Mebbe people will stop saying the Twins got hosed.

4:03 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where's Mike?

7:46 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know I'm like this guy's biggest fan, but I would LOVE Ryan Freel on the Mets; he'd be the perfect fit - super utility guy, can play second for a couple weeks if Castillo breaks down, could add a real grit and spark to this team.

How about a three way deal? Sosa to the Tigers for a couple B prospects, Mets keep one trade the other with Pagan to the Reds for Freel?

I like Pagan, but feel like he and Chavez do the same things. I think the Reds might bite on a guy like Pagan - young, can play all three OF spots, cheap. Throw in a decent prospect and that might be enough to grab Freel, who's not that young and makes a bit of money.

Chavez would be our backup OF again, Freel would be a backup IF (and could easily be an extra OF when needed), we have insurance if Castillo breaks down, and we can activate Wise and keep Smith up. Wise can take over Sosa's role. Thoughts??

-ube

2:57 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Still tryin...

http://eastwindupchronicle.com/limatime-lives-7-ip-2-h-1-bb-4-k-w/

6:20 AM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home