Tired

I'm tired. I'm tired of this routine loss and I'm tired of writing about it. So I'm not gonna.

I know it's only April, but thank God for today's off day. We as a fan base and they as a team are in much need of a "mental health day" (as my father would call it). So here's to what's ahead readers. We're going to learn a lot about the fortitude of our Metropolitans in the coming stretch.
-- Post From My iPhone

Hump Day With Mets Mike 4: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

A month into the year, I will now reflect. I often reflect, as I am a Pisces, and naturally creative and emotionally advanced, but I will be reflecting specifically on my random thoughts on The Amazin' Metropolitans through this young season.

Please Note: I will say whatever I want because it’s Hump Day and I am the boss.

Johan Santana. One word to describe him? SPECTACULAR! YES!

Now more words…

Johan is a bad, bad man. No doubt in my mind he created swine flu just to watch it wreak havoc on the pathetic human nervous system, only to soon cure it because Omar plans on installing human emotions in his robo-brain.

(All that gibberish simply meant, thank God that guy is a Met, he’s carrying them. Nobody messes with the Johan. YES!)

Carlos Beltran- How do I complain about a guy hitting 400? Well, now every time he’s about to slide, I picture him seeing the dirt on his jersey and going, “Yuck!” He just doesn’t like getting dirty when I need him to. Ha. (no homo)

David Wright- Can we reuse the Dr. K nickname for him? I know he’ll get goin', and could turn the corner for good any game now, but stop striking out so much. F’real. If this continues past April, dare I say, David Wrong?

…..No, I just like plays on words. He’s great. He’ll be great. This column is going great too!

Starting Pitchers 2-5- I am not amused. Good starts here and there don’t make up for the hurt you’ve caused me. I’m keeping my keen cynical peepers on all of you until you restore my confidence fully.

K-Rod- I like you man. Keep it up. Just don’t make me angry. I have the skulls of Armando Benitez & Braden Looper on a necklace with puka shells. Relay this message to the rest of the bullpen, especially Putz. I'm weary of anyone with a big red beard.

The rest of my thoughts on the Mets are so complex only Peter Gammons, the father of Sabermetrics Bill James, and Jesus of Nazareth could comprehend them. So, instead, I will abruptly end my column……….now

(PS- Coming next week...The Mets Fan Hall of Fame. It will be longer and funnier than this week, if that is physically possible).

Feet

Just another up and down April from your Metropolitans. I mean what happened? Livan Hernandez was pitching great and then they pulled him before he'd have to face Cantu again. Cantu works a solid at bat against Parnell, and then Hermida is up. Are we not playing matchups anymore? Where is Feliciano or Takahashi in that situation? Fish only down by one after that at bat.

Similar situation in the 7th with 2 outs - Green gets into trouble and is then up against Baker, another lefty. Where are the LOOGY's? Baker walks. Cantu's follow up bomb becomes a 3 run shot instead of possibly being out of the inning. How would Feliciano have fared against Baker? Well he got him to ground out on one pitch in the 9th, so I have to assume fairly well and without exerting much effort. I don't get on Jerry's case too often, but this game can absolutely be put on mismanagement of the bullpen match ups (though the offense could have done more than popped up or hit a soft fly out after the 5th).

Oh about that image - that is what I got the pleasure of sitting next to last night at the game. I have sat next to maniacs, drunks, family, friends, racists, people of the cloth, and John F. Kennedy Junior at Shea before. I've been screamed at, had beer spilled on me, been high-fived, hugged, and chest bumped. I have never however sat through a game downwind from a pair of stinky ass feet. He clapped with those feet. The feet grazed my back on more than one occasion. It was just gross. Citi Field employees are yelling at kids to take down a makeshift K corner, yet I gotta smell this guys dogs? I'm too nice to say anything either so I just moved in the 6th. I have 13 more games sitting near this fella, so here's to hoping that whoever sits in seats 3 & 4 of my row shows up for the Phillies game next week.

QS + GS = W

The second Gary Sheffield muffed the first fly ball opportunity in left field last night, I thought it was going to be a long night. Much on the contrary. John Maine worked around the trouble spot, only allowing a run to score, and proceeded to throw no hit ball in innings two through five. Sounding a little vintage Maine? Not only did he appear to be a throwback to his old self last night, but the Mets did as well by putting up a six spot on the board in the first inning with a grand salami by Omir Santos. They only backed that up with one more run the rest of the game. Vintage.

There were a lot of positives to take from this game, but we shouldn't get too excited on two. First, as nice as it was to see our third string catcher blast a grand slam, there is no need to crown him king yet. Sanchez threw him a pitch that bled over the middle of the plate and he took advantage. So before you start calling for the heads of Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro, let Jerry continue to see what he has in him and lets watch what he has.

John Maine was effective. Okay so he was a little more than effective (5 no hit innings). However he has always been so against the Fish. Including last night's start, John Maine is 4 - 0 in 7 starts (41 IP) against the Marlins with a 2.20 ERA and 53K's since 2007. This is just a free-swinging, fastball hitting team that he can dominate with a pitch that rises up and outside the zone when offset with a decent slider. He did that again last night. Let's see how he carries it over into Sunday against a lefty heavy Philadelphia team, though he had mild success against them last year too (3 GS / 18.2 IP / 1-0 / 11 K / 3.38 ERA).

I think the one positive we don't need to be weary of from last night was an RBI single to the opposite field by David Wright. He also hit a triple to center field in the 8th that he wound up scoring on. Most importantly he didn't strike out once. These are the games that get him going. I think David may be back.

Photo by Bob Sabo NY Daily News

Yipsy-Ki-Yay, M***********s

In an April featuring shoddy starting pitching and extremely untimely hitting, the Mets’ most eye-catching shortcoming has nevertheless been their truly atrocious defensive play. For lack of a better term, the not-so-Amazins have been suffering from a collective case of the Yips, also known as Steve Blass Disease, after the Pittsburgh Pirate all-star pitcher whose sudden and baffling loss of control is still the stuff of baseball lore (it has been conjectured that Blass’ affliction was “survivor’s guilt” over not having been on the flight that killed Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente).

Daniel Murphy’s play in left field, for instance, has been more reminiscent of Chief (!) Inspector Clouseau than a Major League outfielder, slipping and sliding as if wearing two banana peels for footwear. And the stuff is catching, with normally reliable fielders like David Wright and Luis Castillo booting and errantly throwing balls left and right – or wrong, as it were. Mind you, we are not talking garden-variety errors here; on the contrary, these are gaffes that would make any self-respecting Little Leaguer blush: routine fly balls, including pop-ups, bouncing off gloves, etc.

So, what can the Mets do to stem the tide and avoid further embarrassment? Well, if history is any guide, the Yips need to be nipped in the bud, lest they are allowed to fester and completely obliterate players' confidence. Just ask former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch, a “fundamentally sound” all-star second baseman whose late career was marred by recurring – and spectacular – throwing problems (he once famously hit talking head extraordinaire Keith Olbermann’s mother in the face). In the end, then-Yankees manager Joe Torre consigned Knoblauch to the outfield, thus effectively rendering the latter’s career moribund.

Although Murphy has certainly “distinguished” himself early on, the Mets’ Yips are, as mentioned above, collective – with near-comical errors also having been committed by Ramon Castro, Gary Sheffield, among others – and, as such, they need to be dealt with collectively. This author’s suggestion would be a group-hypnotherapy session with Paul McKenna, Kevin Stone or someone else of their ilk, wherein the Met players, while under hypnosis, would be prompted to recite the following self-affirmation: “I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, doggone it, people like me!”

El Perezidente

That wasn't even a good series. The Mets played a severely incapable team and still found a way to lose 1 game. The only one that was enjoyable to watch was Friday's Johan Santana start, and even then it was merely because he pitched. Johan could pitch a tee-ball game and I'd be riveted. The rest of the staff? Big Pelf was serviceable, throwing 5 2/3 of 2 run ball (against the Nationals). The other guy?

Yuck. Oliver Perez looked good in the first getting out of a minor jam. A fielding mistake may have cost him in the second as it was followed up by a 2-run bomb to left center. Then things just got bad in the 3rd, followed by the all too familiar 5th inning implosion. Reports today say his fastball only hit 88 mph on the radar gun, though the reading on the PIX broadcast registered at 92 a few times and 90 consistently (Bobby Ojeda said the same on SNY Post Game too). The slider looked good at first and was even thrown for strikes, only to disappear and become a pitch to spit on.

So what do you do with him now? As Jerry Manuel said yesterday there are always options. First you could move him to the pen, which in my opinion doesn't solve a thing. Second you send him to Triple-A for a little reality check. This allows him tweak things under some different tutelage and work on throwing strikes.

Or you pitch him against the Phillies. Perez had only allowed one run in 26 innings against the Phillies in '08. Their lineup has become more lefty-centric since the Ibanez addition, which does play into Perez's strength. If he throws well, his subsequent start would be against the Phillies again at Citi Field allowing him the chance to throw well for the home crowd. As scary as the option is to have him throwing against our rivals on national television Saturday, keeping him in the rotation puts him in the best position to have success. Ollie needs success in order to succeed (sounds nonsensical, yet somehow it makes all the sense in the world). The kid could put on his Steve Carlton disguise this next week and the Mets and fans have no choice but to hope he takes that costume out of hibernation. If he doesn't - then we'll have a real problem.

Twenty-one

Update - 3:11 pm
Twenty-three strikeouts after AB number three. New projected season total - 209 times. Still not good.

Update - 2:28 pm
Twenty-two strikeouts after AB number two. New projected season total - 203 times. This isn't good.

Original Post
Twenty-one is the number of strikeouts David Wright has totaled this season after his first at bat in today's game. That is 2 more strikeouts than he has hits. If strikeouts and not hits were used to calculate average, he'd be at a cool .313 right now. That's not how it works though and he's at .284. At this pace, he projects to fan 196 times this season (if he has the same number of at bats he had last year). Thank God he's playing some stellar defense at third base - it's his saving grace at the moment.

On another note, why does Carlos Beltran hate sliding?

Oh, Say Can You See

I know it looks bad. We were just swept by the Cardinals (a team that is exactly where we expected to be at this point in the season) in embarrassing fashion, our numbers 2 - 5 starters boast a robust 7.32 ERA collectively, and our lineup seems to only be able to bring runners home when there are no chips on the table. To top it all off there are now rumblings of possible rotation, roster, and coaching shake-ups. You're probably asking yourself "so as a team, where do we stand right now?" I'm here to tell you that we stand as one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. Bring on the Natinals.

Those pesky Nats always have a way of getting the best of us towards the end of the season as we have learned the past couple of years. However thinking of the team that went 5 - 1 against us last September does not bode well for confidence going into tonight. Over the last 3 seasons the Mets hold a 6 - 2 record in their first series of the year against Washington with a team ERA of 3.00. The offense decides to click as well in these games as they have generated an average of 4.63 runs per game in the first series.

As for this season, this is a Nationals team that is 3 - 11 without a win on the road coming into town. I know you pessimists out there are saying it would be fitting for them to get their first against the Mets. To you I say if it makes you feel any better about this series, know that Willie Harris will NOT be in the building to rob us of some runs. So let us bask in the glory that is Johan Santana tonight. He is the stopper we need. Make some noise at Citi Field and let's get out of this rut. There is no better time to take advantage of a situation than this weekend.

Metstradamus

Our friend Metstradamus has a hysterical piece up on our number 2, 3, 4, 5, and formerly 5 1/2 starters that is a must read. After the series we just went through between the slopfest on Wednesday and the almost blowout this afternoon, it's good to remind yourself to laugh.

Hump Day with Mets Mike: The Third

You like lists bruh? I love lists.
You like the Mets? I friggen' blog 'bout the Mets.
Since we have so much in common, why don’t I share with you some of my very own Mets top 10 lists. I’m straight up copying David Letterman. Except Mets themed. David Metterman. Holy Shit...Metterman. Can you wrap your little baby mind around that? I barely can and I’m smarter than Oz. Enough awkward intro. Let the lists take a hold of you; mind, body, and soul...I got 3 lists for the 3rd edition. It’s the magic number y'all

List the First: Why The Mets Won’t Choke this Year

1. The Mets rule.
2. Jerry Manuel hired medics to teach Fernando Tatis the Heimlich maneuver.
3. They might not be in a position to.
4. The charade is over, Johan will reveal he is a cyborg, and he will start every game.
5. I have prayed for angels to help in the outfield, and have written both Tony Danza & Danny Glover to see if they can help too.
6. Because they brought back Sweet Caroline as the sing a long song during the 8th inning. Who can get nervous after that whimsical tune?
7. Saint Daniel Murphy, Patron Saint of Singles
8. Gary Sheffield has Doc Gooden’s champion blood running through his veins.
9. K-Rod is fly as hell. As is Putz. I wish his name was cooler though. I’m gonna call him PZ Top from now on, since he has a sick beard.
10. Because I just don’t have any more tears.

List the Second: How to wear a Mets shirt to Citizens Bank Park and leave with your Testicles

1. Be physically stronger than weak loud mouthed Philadelphians (not hard)
2. Be smarter and more cunning than weak loud mouth Philadelphians (even easier)
3. If some classless idiots are yelling and cursing at you, proclaiming your shirt is nothing short of a travesty(!) just keep saying, “There’s kids here you guys, please tone it down!” to make them feel guilty.
4. Take no prisoners.
5. Go for the jugular.
6. Remind them what NY the city has, and what Philadelphia the city has. This reality will cripple them with sadness.
7. Remind them their hero Lenny Dykstra’s only ring is orange and blue. He probably forgets he was a Philly. (If they weren't sad before, they are crying now).
8. Watch this. (I think I linked this last week, but I don't care, the way this guy talks is hilarious to me)
9. Bring a roll of quarters to hold in your punchin’ fist.
10. Just basically don’t be a sissy baby and you’ll be fine.

List the Third: Things already pissing me off BIG TIME with the season only 8% done

1. Our pitchers after Johan need their diapers changed.
2. Our hitters get sweaty and nervous like a school boy at his first dance with runners in scoring position.
3. No Mets signs or insignia in a new 800 Million dollar Mets Stadium? Shit is Looney Tunes.
4. Doc Gooden signed a wall. OH THE HUMANITY!!! Let Doctor K sign your face if he wants.
5. I can’t afford tickets. (yo...hence the blog name. daaaaaamn. that's the circle of blog life)
6. David Wright is whiffing at the plate more than curious noses whiff at a bakery. That was terrible.
7. The LA Dodgers probably have less Dodger memorabilia than we do in the stadium. I don’t know for sure, (see number 5) but that’s what I heard.
8. The Marlins are off to a swimmingly fast start. (I don’t blame you if you stop reading now).
9. The Mets are 6-7 at the time of this post.
10. I won’t be able to afford tickets until I rob you. That’s right. You the reader. Sleep tight.

Gross.

That was an ugly game. If Beltran slid in the 8th it may have been the kind of game you shake your head and say "well, a win is a win," but he didn't. The Mets didn't win. We're back below .500.

Ollie Perez had a bad game. His ball to strike ratio was about 1:1, he couldn't control his fastball, and he just got into one too many jams. The only reason he came close to making it through 4 2/3 was because of the infield defense behind him. It didn't stop there. Daniel Murphy was an adventure in LF (and subsequently looked like he wanted to cry in the locker room post game). David Wright struck out again tonight bringing the season total to 17 (and the hits he had were cheap ones). Beltran made a very un-Beltranlike mistake not sliding into home on a play that would have given the team the lead in the 8th. The umps thought it was still spring training making poor and delayed strike calls on top of bad calls on the field. Ryan Church was ineffective at the plate - probably due to shaking some rust off after not playing in days. It was all just bad. You watched it. You know what I mean. This was on the team as a whole here.

Were there any positives to take from this? Reyes, and Castillo are looking fantastic at the plate and on the base paths while Daniel Murphy continued to contribute at the dish. Wright made a nice play in the field that will be the web gem of the night on ESPN. The buck pretty much stops there. Jerry should chew them out after this one and the fan base should forget it ever happened.

Thank God for Hump Day with Mets Mike, we need some humor to get past this one.

Back to the 80 Pitch Drill

Perhaps an off day would be good for these guys to clear their heads a bit and come back fresh tomorrow. It seems as though their muscles needs a bit of a refresher course, and some time in the cage would be beneficial. Yesterday the Mets left 23 runners on base, half of those in scoring position.

Over the course of Spring Training, Jerry Manuel's exhausting hitting drill was highly publicized. A batter steps into the box and is fired 80 straight pitches over the course of 6 minutes. The overall goal of the exercise was to improve situational hitting by concentrating on using your hands in an at bat. The thought is that you are going to be fatigued at some point in the drill so eventually using your hands to put it to the opposite field would become second nature. I understand that hitters are behind on the ball a bit in Spring so they naturally go the other way, however it appeared to be working.

So far this has not been the case many times this short season. In the Brewers series alone the players had collectively stranded a total of 60 runners on base. Yes there was a bit of bad luck yesterday in the 7th and 8th innings and "it's a game of inches" as Keith Hernandez would say after the game. Regardless, this team needs to capitalize in those situations if it is going to be successful. It might be time to go back to the cage and throw some of these guys in there for, oh I'd say about 6 minutes.

In case you missed it since I couldn't link to it, here is Ben Shipgel's Times article from yesterday on the lack of run support in Santana Starts. Our article from Monday here.

Sunday Times

Ben Shipgel touched upon Johan Santana's lack of run support in today's New York Times - a subject we wrote about here on Monday. In 19 2/3 innings pitched this season, Santana has allowed one earned run yet has only been backed by 3 runs offensively. I understand that we are generally facing the ace of the opposition's staff, but we are a team that scored the second most runs in the National League last season. This team needs to stop stranding runners (17 yesterday).

Sorry for the silly image - trying to test this blogging application out.

-- Post From My iPhone

This Shouldn't be an Issue

Coming into this season, there didn't appear to be many glaring holes on this team to the biased fan. Most sports pundits wouldn't agree with that, but aside from a power-hitting righty what else was there? Now one is starting to show it's face for some. If you're reading the box scores, the rotation with Mr. Santana aside could be an issue. However the box score doesn't tell you everything.

After forward progress in his last two starts, John Maine took a small step back last night. Through the first inning Maine was making the top three in the order look silly with that beautiful rising fastball of his. Second inning had him working his slider and mixing in the occasional change-up with great effect. Then things got hairy in the third. He had some trouble locating his pitches and getting the proper sink or rise on his fastballs. In John's defense, home plate umpire Gary Darling had a rather inconsistent strike zone all evening which made it difficult to get the job done as well.

The other killer? Oh none other than the ever rattling plate presence that is Chase Headley. In all seriousness, Headley just had a great game. He hit in the spots he needed too and no they weren't terrible pitches he was raking on. In both of his RBI at bats (he had three rib eyes on the evening) he just sat and waited for the fastball he wanted. He never got the exact pitch, but worked with what he was given with runners on base. Game ball to you sir.

Yes you're going to read a lot of gloom and doom about this Mets rotation today. Maine had one bad inning. He pitched to some contact last night and a few walks (one intentional) hurt him. Personally speaking there is no need to fret just yet. I mean we have Livan stepping on the rubber tonight, what is there to be worried about?

Side Note - David Wright is not looking himself at the plate. I said it over a month ago here after watching him play in Toronto at the WBC. Read this alarming piece from our friends over at The Daily Stache and it'll be ever more apparent. Oh and add 2 more strikeouts from last nights game to his current season total.

Photo: Uli Seit for The New York Times

Oliver for Prez

So the general consensus appears to be that we are now calling him either "Good Ollie" or "Bad Ollie." I'm just going to stick with straight up Oliver Perez, Ollie, or Big Game Ollie P. Whatever you want to call him, know this - he pitched a good game last night. Perhaps my little pep talk worked (thanks for reading Ollie). BGOP pitched six strong against the Friars allowing 1 earned on 3 hits while striking out 4 and limiting his walks to 2. He threw almost 2/3 of his pitches for strikes while only tossing 90 total. He also gets to add the first W in Citi Field history to his resume.

A wise move on Jerry's part to take him out after the 6th. Sure I think he could have kept going - I think too highly of him though. With the early exit, he gets out of the game on a high note. There was no chance of even a minor implosion to allow the Queens faithful to get on his case. This should boost his confidence to the level it needs to be in order to keep pitching effectively. Ollie's next start will come either Sunday against the Brew Crew or Tuesday in St. Louis, pending how thing's shake out with Big Pelf's tendinitis. With his low pitch count tonight, I could see the team possibly pitching OP on short rest, though I hope they just call Niese up for a spot start.

On another note - and I have remained very quiet on this one - I can't stand Gary Sheffield. I hope he can win me over, but as of now I don't like him one bit. Last night he (and that dumb ass smirk of his - remember when your mom used to tell you "if you keep making that face it's going to get stuck like that forever," that happened to him) successfully struck out, grounded into a double play (which killed a rally), and stranded 4. I don't understand why Jerry needs to find playing time for him and take our hottest hitter in Ryan Church out of the lineup. Leave Gary on the bench to pinch hit or bring him in to occasionally give a guy some rest against left handed pitching. There is no need to see him on the field right now. I hope he rides the pine for the rest of the home stand.

Hump Day with Mets Mike: Episode 2- Attack of the Clones

First off...a balk? Really? Way to get Citi Field started on the right foot!

Alright now it's the 2nd week you get to enjoy my exquisite bloggetry. It is like fine wine that will only get better. What lucky readers!

Actually this week I hit a bit of a writer's block. Sophomore slump maybe? I don't know, but I did like anybody else does when they get stumped/bored, I searched the internet and pirated music. One thing led to another and I figured I would try to combine two of my favorite things in this post, hip hop and the Mets. (This is completely unrelated to current Mets happenings because Bilko is more articulate and knowledgeable than me so he can write about that stuff, plus I don't want to depress myself). I will do this by comparing a member of the Mets starting lineup to the "Rap Super Mega Star" I feel he most reminds of. It may be because they look alike, or maybe due to a vague similarity I find. Its my column and that's how I party.

Oh, and when I was looking for music, and thought of this great idea, I remembered these two great articles from many moons ago from two of my favorite sites; the Smoking Section comparing rappers to athletes, and Palms Out Sounds comparing hip hop stars to characters in TV's all time greatest show, The Wire. Attack of the Clones indeed. Sorry to bite a good idea, but I won't plagiarize, I swear! Enough talk, here's my streetwise list for all y'all b-boys & b-girls.

1. Jose Reyes = Lupe Fiasco


Both have relatively short resumes that have been impressive, but leave the feeling that if they reached their potential and capabilities they would be the undisputed best. Reyes needs to add post season success, and Lupe needs to pick beats that don't sound like cats getting flushed down a toilet. (I don't even know what that would sounds like. His beats are that bad!)

2. Daniel Murphy= Wale

Both these guys have a lot of people excited, and could make something special out of their proper debuts. Murphy is batting between Reyes & Wright, while Wale is said to have production on his debut from Kanye, Just Blaze, 9th Wonder, & even Justice, so there's no good reason for either to disappoint.

3. David Wright = Nas

Might not be more talented a ball player than Wright, or rapper than Nas, but they each have had their share of highly publicized failures. Wright has been (maybe unfairly) placed as the face of the past few seasons' collapses, and Nas has been relying on gimmicks and bland beats on his past several mediocre albums. If Wright gets his ring and Nas releases anything remotely like Ilmatic again, I will blow a fuse and immediately die from happiness overload.

4. Carlos Delgado = Scarface

Highly respected among peers both in the clubhouse and rap industry, and still both way above average in their own right, despite their glory days being behind them. These guys mean business and they get to it. They leave me no room for snarky blog jokes. Moving on...

5. Carlos Beltran = Redman


Consistent. You always know what you're gonna get and it'll be good. Might not be mentioned by everybody as one of the bests in their respective fields (get it? baseball field!) but its because people take them for granted.

6. Ryan Church = Busta Rhymes


They're both great in spots, but over a whole season/album? nah.
Church gets hurt easy and Busta's voice is too grating. This is easily the worst comparison yet, but thanks for reading this far! Stay with me, I'll do better...

7. Brian Schneider = Mims


Why? They're both meh. That's why. (I refuse to link a Mims youtube clip for this one).

8. Luis Castillo = 50 Cent


I'm tired of both of them. Luckily most other people seem to be too, so maybe something can be done about these chumps. That's right, I said it, chumps.

9. Johan Santana = Cam'ron


They both pitch nothing but the hottest piffery to the street/plate. They've always been strong leaders, and will get theirs even when their team doesn't support them. For example, how the Mets decide as a collective to not score runs when Johan is starting, and how ingrates Jim Jones & Juelz Santana left Dipset despite their membership in Cam's crew being the reason why anyone knows or cares about them. They both keep it movin' anyway, with another all star season to come from Johan, and a new Cam album in a month or so, with some leaked tracks that are setting the internets on FIYAH. God bless them.

And God bless us, everyone. See you next week! (I promise future topics will be more broad, I just wanted to listen to some beats tonight, ya dig?)

Citi Field Home Opener

I tried posting last night and have been experiencing some technical issues with the mobile posting function. Full post later in the day...

Where Are the Runs?

Now I know what you're thinking. Probably the same thing I was yesterday. How does this team not even scratch out one stinking run while our ace is up there? Not one! Well, Josh Johnson was just that good yesterday. Until running into a little trouble in the 9th (which shouldn't have been trouble for him at all considering a bad call on a should have been third strike on Delgado), Johnson held the Mets to just 3 hits through 8 2/3. He was even able to dial his fastball up to 98 and maintain good location through the 9th. It was just an impressive pitchers duel.

However yesterday got me thinking. "This seems to happen a lot doesn't it? Why can't the Mets ever score runs for Johan?" I want ahead to the always trusty baseball-reference.com and looked up said statistic. Of Johan Santana's 34 starts last season, the Mets failed to put more than 3 runs on the board 11 times. The worst of these stretches was between June 6th and July 2nd where it happened a whopping 5 out of 6 starts.

Now if we add those numbers to the 2 times it has already happened this season, and you have it happening 36% of his starts as a Met. What else is troubling about it? His ERA is at an astounding 2.41 in the starts the team can't score more than 3 runs (10 of 13 QS). His record? 3 - 8.

So what does this all mean? The margin of error in the field is minute every third time Johan takes the hill if he wants a win. Our ace is almost guaranteed a loss every 2 weeks because our bats go silent. Not to make a pun on yesterday's error, but Murphy's Law is applicable in more than one-third of Johan's starts. Anything that can go wrong, does.

*****

Battle of the Mets Blogs FBL Update!

Week one saw some blowouts and close calls. Here are the weekly scores with the blog's current place in the standings in parentheses:

Metsmerized Online (2) defeated We're the Team to Beat (11) 10 - 1
The Daily Stache (1) defeated Eddie Kranepool Society (12) 10 - 1
Amazin' Avenue (5) defeated Brooklyn Met Fan (9) 8 - 4
Priced Out of the Citi (6) defeated The 'Ropolitans (7) 5-4
Mets Lifer (4) defeated Hot Foot Blog (8) 8 - 4
and finally 213 Miles from Shea (3) took down Metstradamus (10) 8 - 4

This week I take on Mets Matt over at We're the Team to Beat. Frankly I think he's been in the vicinity of too many cheese steaks to even begin thinking about taking on my powerhouse squad. Another FBL update with proper graphics and whatnot to come next week!

A Message to Oliver Perez

Oh Ollie. Ollie, Ollie, Ollie. You were cruising. Velocity was down, but you were cruising. You got Votto to strike out on his first trip to the plate. What happened? I know what happened. You were being you. Just another episode of Ollie being Ollie.

Listen kid - you just got your payday so a lot of people are going to be upset today. Remember the beginning of the season last year when the fans were asking for you to be cut? Yeah? Well it might get that bad again.

I don't buy into that crap though. The booing and screaming. The boycotting. The negativity doesn't work for you. This will be about the power of positive reinforcement for you. Something that has seemingly proven to work.

Stick with it Oliver. Weather the storm that is the New York media. Pay no mind to the screaming fans. You showed flashes of brilliance yesterday through the first 3 innings. You clearly didn't have your velocity and that hurt you the second time through the lineup. Keep working with Dan. Just listen to him. He can rebuild you. He has the technology. He has the capability to rework the mechanics of the Mets $36 million left arm. Oliver Perez will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.

So have fun tonight. Be there to cheer on your teammates and John. But come Saturday be ready to work. I hope to watch you pitch at least five strong against San Diego. 2 trips through the lineup my man. You can do it too. Every game is a big game, and you're Big Game Ollie P. Let's do this. No excuses.

K-Rod's Rough Outing Promising for the Amazins

As nonsensical as it may sound, yesterday we saw the hallmark of a great closer.

Frankie Rodriguez struggled mightily, throwing 50% more balls than strikes, had to contend with a terrible call by Bill Welke at first base, but ultimately got the job done. In so doing, he immediately differentiated himself from Benitez, Looper and even Wagner, who always needed to be on top of their games to get people out.

Any closer can be dominant when he has his A-game going, but only the true greats manage to guard slender leads on off-nights as well. Kudos to the Met front office for getting us a true great, although I must admit that I was convinced the game had been lost when the ball left Nix's bat.

A Win is a Win

It wasn't the prettiest of victories, but it was still chalked down as such in the win column. Big Pelf labored to get through the 1st inning (44 pitches), giving up a 2 run lead and allowing Cincy to put a 4 spot on the board. In the subsequent innings, with the help of some luck in the field, Pelf settled down and hit his stride. He averaged a little over 15 pitches per inning over his other four and got the ground balls and pop ups he needed to eek out a W.

The bullpen faltered a bit as well last night. Pedro Feliciano, one of 2 remaining pen members from last seasons motley crew, really struggled giving up 2 earned on 2 hits and a walk through two-thirds. Sean Green came in and allowed Pedro's inherited runners to score. Putz allowed one earned on 1 hit in the 8th. And Frankie Rodriguez, despite notching his second save in as many opportunities, took fans and teammates on what Jerry Manuel called a trip on "the high wire."

The offense was not an issue last night. Yes not all hits were converted to runs, however the team capitalized when they needed to. Carlos Delgado smacked a bomb in the first that is still coming down and had 4 RBI's on the evening. Brian Schneider and Carlos Beltran also had very productive nights.

Regardless of the lackluster pitching, a win is a win and the Mets go for the sweep against the Reds today in Cincinnati. Big Game Ollie P is on the mound, and let's certainly hope he has a better performance than his last tune up against the Red Sox at Citi Field.

Hump Day with Mets Mike: The All Brawl Squad

Welcome to the first edition of Hump Day with Mets Mike. It will be a weekly (or bi-weekly if I’m working or have a hot date on a Wednesday. Ok fine, bloggers don’t date, but I might rent Hellboy or something) series of the best baseball related musings in the galaxy. Let’s start this off with a bang! And a punch! And a kick to the nuts! Here is the all time team that I would field had I super GM powers, because my team would not be measured in wins and losses, but in blood collected, and families torn apart, because I want to assemble the all brawl squad.

Pitching Staff

• Juan Marichal- He is a weapons expert and can wield a bat like none other.

• Julio Castillo- This charming gentleman and bringer of all things doom was the minor leaguer who threw a fastball in a brawl but hit a fan instead. On my team that type of projectile intimidation is worth a fan getting their clocked clean. He’s a keeper.

• Pedro Martinez- To fend off all the who may or may not be in the brawl.

• Nolan Ryan- To give super death grip brainlocks (aka ) and fist smashes to the dome of any whipper snapper wuss who charges him, whether he is named after the only gay superhero sidekick or not.

• Randy Johnson- If I’m in a fight, I want the 7 foot tall grimacing prehistoric bird lookin dude on my team. He also destroys modern birds with his pitch at will, for they are his enemies. This makes the squad good in fights against man AND beast.

Relievers

• Riddick Bowe- Ridiculous low blows

• Ron Artest- In case fans get hyphy

• Bas Rutten- self explanatory

• Farooq- nation of domination anyone?

• The Green Mile mice healer guy- dude’s BIG yo!

• Hellboy- I like both Hellboy movies a great deal.

Note: All games will be ended before relievers enter, as my starters will provoke the melees, meaning I only need serious fighters and crazies to join the frenzy at that point.

1^st Base- Mo Vaughn- He will immobilize people by sitting on them. This can be done to at least 5 but no more than 8 grown men at one time.

2^nd Base- Roberto Alomar- To straight up at people. We do thangs dirty on my squad and we spit hot fiyah.

Shortstop- Hanley Ramirez- Sucks to say as a Met fan, but he does everything else good so I bet he fights good too. Stupid Marlin jerk.

3^rd Base- A-Rod, his is stuff of legend.

LF- Barry Bonds- .

CF- Ty Cobb- With the wussy climate of the MLB today, he would be so insanely filled with rage that he would do so much damage. A prick like that is “good” for a team of idiots like this.

RF- Kevin Mitchell- I know he was a Left Fielder, but this list needed more Met blood, and Kevin Mitchell was the man. Plain and simple, he beat up whomever he wanted whenever he wanted, including Daryl Strawberry. Look up my previous post reviewing The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman for that awesomely violent anecdote.

C- AJ Pierzynski- He will be the decoy, since everyone hates him and will try to focus on destroying him first. This will lead the oppositions attention away from the rest of my Goons and be very costly. This is a strategic selection, as this one jerk's face will have to be sacrificed to put my brawlers in a better fighting position.

Bench

• The NWO Wolfpack

• - The master of the pre-emptive strike

Y’all want it with my team? Doubt it. Did I miss somebody vicious who should take sissy A-Rod or Hanley’s spot? Probably. But did I mention I’m the manager and I will also be taking part in the brawl? Real Talk. That puts this team over the top as fight squad of the millennium.

See you next week on Hump Day with Mets Mike. BEAT THE LAME ASS REDS!

Hey Baseball, Did You See That?

Hey Baseball, good to see you again! So that's what an easy save is supposed look like huh? Kinda pretty don't you think? That whole bullpen in sync. What's that you say? It's always going to go that smooth? I mean I know we spent a bunch of money and made some trades for that beautiful display of holds and saves, but it won't always be like that. This is the Mets you're talking about. I'll take you're word for it if that's what you're telling me though.

Hey how about my boy Johan! Did you see him? First off - I think he has more handshakes than a Jose Reyes convention. That was too fun to watch pre-game. More importantly, he pitched without his best stuff yesterday...and still struck out 7! I know he walked 4, but do you care? I'm okay with yesterday's walks. I mean it's still early and he made it work for him. You like a pitcher like that don't you? Of course you do! It's guys like him that make you so great.

Oh oh! How about our boy Daniel Murphy? The Business Man hits a home run on his first major league opening day that put the Mets on the board first! He also managed to drive in the only other RBI while the rest of the team stranded 12 runners.

Yeah I know that's a problem. The situational hitting was off yesterday, you don't need to tell me twice. Don't worry Manuel will make sure it's fixed. He's gonna have them all hitting 80 in the cage today. You'll be there to see it. I mean, you're back after all.

Hey hey, think Ryan Church has motivation? He went 2-4 and what you have nothing to say about him? Did you see him flash that leather in the field? How about turn that double play after the catch? Of course you saw it! Don't sleep on him. No sir. He's special when he's on that field. We're going to need that in right field too come the home stands.

Well thanks for coming back. I think I speak for all of us when I say I missed you. Too bad you're pulling a Keith and taking an off day already.

Photo by John Sommers II - Reuters

So Long St. Lucie

The team is going to wrap up their Grapefruit League play today against the Orioles, and this day couldn't have come any sooner. At this point last year the Mets were already 1 - 1 on the regular season and on their way to being 2 - 1 (Mets mashed the fish 13 - 0 and Ollie struck out 8). Today we're still staring 3 more exhibitions in the face.

Whatever the results of the next few days may be, we can say this was a great Spring. Subtracting "elbow-gate" from the equation everything was so positive from Port St. Lucie. Luis Castillio looks primed for a rebound season. Daniel Murphy is still hitting at a .300+ clip. Jose Reyes is in mid-season form and demonstrating serious growth both mentally and physically. David Wright, though slumping a little, seems ready to lead us to the promised land. Beltran is in peak physical condition. Delgado, who struggled last season to get his average in Spring Training to the Mendoza line, can't seem to get his average below .500 this year. Schneider is healthy and has a year with the same staff under his belt. Church is on a mission to prove the first half of last season was no fluke. The rotation, despite a few blips on the radar, came together this last week - as it was supposed to.

Maybe it was all the negativity in Yankee camp that made ours seem so positive, but maybe not. The players are buying into Jerry's method and are demonstrating it on the field. They're also still having fun - more so than it seemed they were last year. It's all smiles in St. Lucie and they're on their way to New York. You couldn't ask for anything more.

Who has tickets the exhibition games? Anyone going to the Sunday BP session?

Progress: Part 2

John Maine continued to make progress last night against the Fish. The right-hander tossed 83 pitches over 5.2 innings of work while striking out 3 and letting up 2 earned runs. Maine seemed okay with his outing, telling reporters after the game that he still felt he was a few ticks behind on the fastball. If that is the only complaint from Johnny regarding the outing, Mets fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

A few important things to note - first one being that the walks were down. Maine allowed one base on balls and it was to the first batter of the game (granted you do not want your starter to walk the lead-off man and it should further be noted that the aforementioned man came around to score). It is the abundance of walks that have been a problem of John's this Spring and he kept them under control against Florida. After falling behind 3 - 0 to a few hitters, he would settle down, get a strike in, and follow that up with an out via contact. Coming into the evening he was averaging 5.0 walks per 9.0 innings pitched - ouch. He has now dropped that number by almost a full walk to 4.18.

Maine also worked out of trouble well. After allowing Marlins pitcher Anibal Sanchez and 3rd baseman Emilio Bonifacio to kick off the bottom of the 3rd with back to back singles, he got the Marlins' top prospect Cameron Maybin to fly out. The next batter Hanley Ramirez watched the count go to 3-1 before Maine induced the ground ball for the double play to end the inning unscathed.

The pitch count was quite good. Warthen and Manuel wanted to keep him at around 85 pitches on the night, and he just so happened to reach that count with the lefty Hermida up and a runner on first base. This was the perfect circumstance to bring in Feliciano to get some situational work in. John could have got through the sixth if he needed to. Let's assume he would have been at 90 pitches should he have finished the frame. Very encouraging pitch count for Maine through 6.0 full.

If John can keep putting all of these elements together and add the extra zip he wants on his fastball this rotation will have a 15-game winner in him again - "no question."