Firetruck Applesauce - Met fan attitudes, Beltran on the DL, and roster shakeups

by Joe Budd on Jun 23, 2009 8:27 AM EDT in Applesauce

A Met player and his trainer get in a cab on the way to a hospital, is it any surprise that a firetruck rear ends them? This is the perfect metaphor for this season so far. Fortunately, no one was badly injured and we have a victory to relish in today.

Meet the Mets

On the day that Carlos Beltran was placed on the 15 day DL, Jose Reyes was involved in a car accident with a firetruck. Reyes is uninjured. Met trainer Ray Ramirez was in the car as well and is unhurt.

Mike Silva weighs in on the Beltran injury.

With the team's latest DL casualty, there has been a lot written about the fans' attitudes toward this team. Sam wrote something earlier, as did Faith and Fear in Flushing. I must say that I enjoyed watching last night's game more than usual in that I wasn't expecting greatness and I was rewarded with a pleasant surprise victory.

Ihatethemets.net has created a new statistic: The Oliver Perez Index.

Baseball America's JJ Cooper talks about Josh Thole and Ike Davis.

John Maine had a strong, pain-free outing in Port St. Lucie.

The Mets cleaned shop a little yesterday in the minor leagues, releasing Conor Robertson and Bobby Kielty, and Willy Mo Pena and Javier Valentin. Eric took a look at the moves that the big league club made prior to yesterday's win.

Around the NL East

The 1962 Mets can breathe a little easier as the Nationals are winning a little more often.

Hanley Ramirez has pulled ahead of Jimmy Rollins in All-Star voting.

The Braves knocked off the Cubs 2-0 in a rain make-up, but Kelly Johnson was forced to leave the game with leg cramps.

Around MLB

Players' Union head Donald Fehr announced his retirement yesterday. Let's start legacy evaluation.

Albuquerque Isotopes fans are preparing for the Manny Ramirez road show.

Cardinal third baseman Troy Glaus may actually draw interest in the trade market.

Mark Texeira hustled.

The Rockies are 18-5 under new manager Jim Tracy.

The Twins have seen enough of Luis Ayala.

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Comments

You know what's awesome?

If the mets run off a few wins (which probably won’t happen, but if they do), every sports writer and talking head in the country will be referring to the mets as “gritty,” etc. MLB.com’s headline about the game last night includes the word “gutsy.” It’s like AA’s own person hell.

by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs on Jun 23, 2009 9:35 AM EDT reply actions

I like the NYT headlines better:

~~Stokes~~ Socks! Outduels Pujols as the Mets Win With Beltran on the D.L.

Any other night, Sean Green would have been pitching. Or Bobby Parnell. Or Pedro Feliciano. Pretty much anyone but Brian Stokes would have been summoned in the eighth inning Monday to face the best hitter on the planet, Albert Pujols, with the Mets clinging to a one-run lead.

by Michkin on Jun 23, 2009 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Jerry on Stokes

Yeah, that was huge for us… That gives us, again, now we begin to have length in our bullpen… and that’s crucial for us

I think Jerry believes that Stokes was just traded for.

by Mount17 on Jun 23, 2009 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions

maybe he legitamately forgot stokes was on the team

jerry is getting old after all.

Lets hope that when gut check time comes again the Mets will pass it with flying colors.

by kendynamo on Jun 23, 2009 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Personally

I am eagerly awaiting the Mets to go maybe 5-2 over the next week, just so we can have the pleasure of having folks come out of the woodwork to declare that this is the incontrovertible proof that Carlos Beltran was the one person holding the Mets back, and we should all be glad that he is gone.

"He's definitely mixing it into his repertoire. That's French for 'repertoire' " - Keith Hernandez

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jun 23, 2009 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

look, when you earn $17m/year as a free agent

youre expected to hit 60 hrs a year and play awesome CF. of course if the team STILL fails to win a world series it would of course, be beltrans fault for not ‘leading’ us to victory.

Lets hope that when gut check time comes again the Mets will pass it with flying colors.

by kendynamo on Jun 23, 2009 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions

You forgot to mention "you're expected to show grission(c), leadership, not complain about pain, etc..."

by Michkin on Jun 23, 2009 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh and nevermind the fact that he was worth $ 82.2m and paid $ 57.4m during 2005-08

And is worth $ 11.5m in 2009 already. Fangraphs.

Reed did just fine with his 0-4 yesterday.

by Michkin on Jun 23, 2009 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions

but it was a gritty, passion filled oh-fer

Lets hope that when gut check time comes again the Mets will pass it with flying colors.

by kendynamo on Jun 23, 2009 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions

Don't know about gritty, but girls call him pretty-boy-Reed

by Michkin on Jun 23, 2009 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions

but Beltran is just a whiny loser who needs to shut up about his injuries

Beltran could be the most underappreciated player in the game by the average fan.

by jasondg on Jun 23, 2009 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Beltran

2005. First impressions. Doesn’t make it right but it set a tone for the reaction to him. if 2006 had been his first season in town?

by wobatus on Jun 23, 2009 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Who knows?

Lots of people still hold Wainwright strike three against him.

by jasondg on Jun 23, 2009 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah

I guess. That moment was painful. Like Rogers ball 4 to … Andruw Jones was it? Can’t compare the 2 moments or players but if there is one thing you are dying for watching it is just a chance.

Never was a big fan of kenny, but I did like that playoff gem he had with the Tigers.

Beltran really went apeshit in 2004 playoffs. Would love to see that again.

by wobatus on Jun 23, 2009 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions

OPI

Great stat. Now that it’s been like a month and a half for us without Ollie, it’s a little easy to forget just how bad he was. He walked a quarter of the leadoff batters he faced this year. Wow. It’s also very impressive that around 100 would be the “perfectly imperfect” score on the OPI, yet Ollie outdid himself on his own index.

On an unrelated note, it’s nice to see some praise for Beltran from Silva. He gets such a bad rap from a lot of fans and press (not typically here) that it’s nice to see someone defend him.

"You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there -- always have." - Keith Hernandez

by OSUmets on Jun 23, 2009 10:13 AM EDT reply actions

My favorite part of that:

He walked 10% of opposing pitchers. 10%!

by Eric Simon on Jun 23, 2009 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

Also unbelievable. Is there a way to check the league average of % of leadoff batters and opposing pitchers walked? I want to put Ollie’s badness into more perspective.

"You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there -- always have." - Keith Hernandez

by OSUmets on Jun 23, 2009 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Santana can't be too far behind that

"We have to find a way to play better, there's no doubt. Overall. I'm not pointing fingers at anybody. Offense, defense, pitching -- we have to find a way to play better. The reality of this is, coming here to Pittsburgh and being swept -- personally, I feel embarrassed." -- Carlos Beltran

by EMSfan9 on Jun 23, 2009 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions

The flurry of Mets roster moves Monday also included Connor Robertson designated for assignment. Look for infielder Argenis Reyes to potentially be promoted to the Mets later this week, when the club drops from eight to seven relievers.

Adam Rubin

by Michkin on Jun 23, 2009 10:13 AM EDT reply actions