Second Verse, Same as the First Applesauce: It's deja vu all over again, GORSKI gets his name in the papers, Zack Wheeler is captured on film
by Jeffrey Paternostro on Aug 22, 2011 9:00 AM EDT
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PrintMeet the Mets
A valiant comeback? A bullpen meltdown? That's right, it's Crushing Loss 2: Electric Boogaloo. Terry Collins is fed up and he's not going to take it anymore. He wants bullpen help now, not three weeks from now. I don't get the Josh Stinson love. I mean, he throws hard, but he hasn't been that much better in relief than he was as a starter, which was bad. Now is also probably a bad time to mention that Sandy just sort of trailed off glumly when talking about the bullpen at Saturday's Baseball Prospectus day at Citi.
But now we must turn our attention to the Phillies. Jon Niese will get an extra day of rest, facing Vance Worley on Tuesday, while Dillon Gee gets fed to the lions to face Cliff Lee tonight. In this series, Parnell will be the closer, except when he isn't the closer. Of course, this is all moot until the Mets win a close game. Or any game Adam Rubin has your series preview over at the WWL.
Jose Reyes (and his hamstring) are almost ready for rehab games.
Andy McCullough mentions Darin Gorski. He gets a link. Take note, beat writers and bloggers.
Jason Bay remembers his LLWS days, probably because ESPN writers have a directive to pump up the LLWS, which completely coincidentally is broadcast on ESPN.
Mets Minor League Blog has video of the elusive Zack Wheeler. The best part of this video is it looks like St. Lucie is wearing the ol' racing stripe jerseys. I'm still not ranking Wheeler over Harvey, but he is the real deal, folks. Also, Toby Hyde was in Florida this weekend and has scouting reports on the St. Lucie and GCL squads.
Greg Prince of Fear and Faith probably could have picked a better day to take the family to the ballpark.
Ted Berg has lawsuits on the mind. So does Howard Megdal.
The Nationals beat the Phils in extras. This is a small consolation after the rain delay screwed up my Roy Halladay ottoneu pick six entry.
The Padres celebrated Trevor Hoffman Day in style, walking off against the Marlins. His heir apparent Heath Bell didn't fare as well, blowing a save opportunity in the ninth.
The Braves continue to beat up on the NL West, blanking the Diamondbacks behind Tim Hudson and some timely D. And as if they didn't have enough pitching, they should be getting Tommy Hanson back soon.
Around MLB
The ChiSox got back to .500 with a win over the division leading Rangers. Ah, the salad days when the Mets were at .500. Of course, Chicago is only five games out now, because the AL Central is terrible. Meanwhile, the Angels swept the O's to move four back of Texas. And they locked up Jered Weaver for the forseeable future.
More sweeping, the Rays swept the Mariners on a walkoff home run by Johnny Damon. The Mariners did score seven runs, so that is like a moral victory.
Excitement in Detroit, as the Tigers preserve their win with the old walk off baserunner kill.
Even from a Yankee, an inside the park home run gets a link.
The Giants picked up a game on the Diamondbacks with an extra inning win over the Astros. Still no Carlos Beltran and it looks like Brian Wilson will be joining him on the DL.
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Curtis Granderson
newest True Yankee™
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Aug 22, 2011 9:16 AM EDT reply actions
Fuck the Yankees, but I like Granderson
He almost hit that one out anyway, why not come home? Heh.
"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf. "
– Tug McGraw when asked about his preference for grass or astroturf
by Terry_is_God on Aug 22, 2011 9:23 AM EDT up reply actions
It made me so sad, when Detroit traded him
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
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by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Aug 22, 2011 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions
You know Susan,
An inside the park homerun is worth just as much as an over the wall homerun. That’s baseball.
Proud to root for the Jets, Mets, and Islanders!!!
Twitter: cmauceri524
by CharlieIsles on Aug 22, 2011 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions
So,
if the wall was lowered -as Rubin implies it will be next year – and the Bay hit ball was a HR – does RA stay in the game since he had a lead?
Had he stayed in the game, could he have went all 9? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure that’s the only way we’re walking away with a Win yesterday.
Might as well play Taps anytime anyone from that BP enters the game.
by MetsFan4Decades on Aug 22, 2011 9:27 AM EDT reply actions
Yes, I really hope that would be a HR next year.
But RA should have stayed in the game regardless.
"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf. "
– Tug McGraw when asked about his preference for grass or astroturf
by Terry_is_God on Aug 22, 2011 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions
Rubin
And Metsblog are the only two places I hear constant chatter about changing the dimensions. I think that it’s overblown really. Good hitters seem to fair just fine in Citi Field the way it is, whether they are on the Mets or on the visiting team. Maybe if we had a bullpen and better starting rotation we’d win games. The offense has been just fine for most of the year. Even now in this lack of production it has more to do with just not having much in the lineup anymore after losing Beltran, Reyes, and Murphy. Even then we put up 9 runs in Citi Field on Saturday, and Duda hit a shot yesterday to tie the game. It’s not the dimensions.
Talking to Alderson Saturday
It sounds like they are going to be moved in, probably as soon as next year. I got the impression he really didn’t like the park for a variety of reasons.
the artist formerly known as TeufelCat
@jeffpaternostro
by Jeffrey Paternostro on Aug 22, 2011 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions
I agree
A good team would actually solve the run differential problem.
Teams seem to score just fine off of us. I am also worried that moving the fences in would make it harder to get production from our rotation next year.
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by Coolpapabell on Aug 22, 2011 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions
Agree
Because the other team gets to play with the new dimensions too. The way this team is currently constructed for each additional Mets HR there will be at least 4 opponent HRs.
"Sometimes you make a mistake and you get hit in the head." - Eli Manning
Hate to go over this again and again and again
but there’s a difference in how playing 81 games at a park and coming in a couple times per year will affect hitters. The Mo’s Zone and Pepsi Porch combo is an idiotic design — a gimmick designed to play like Tiger Stadium (that didn’t) and earn a few more endorsement dollars. Pathetic. Building a high OF wall because Fred used to be a pitcher is equally stupid. I understand that the stadium was largely privately funded, and for that the Wilpons deserve oodles of credit, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it when asked to pay a heck of a lot of money to visit a vanity project.
Yeah, I get that
But I’ve seen Citi rob tons of visiting players too it’s not just the Mets. And yes I hate the Mo Zone and thought the Pepsi porch was stupid too. I also have no problem with “normalizing” the park etc. I also don’t have much of a problem with leaving it alone. The problem I have is the continual feeling that the park is the “problem” and moving the walls in is the “answer”. Because neither is true. Fix the team first then worry about the park.
"Sometimes you make a mistake and you get hit in the head." - Eli Manning
Well
I think you can try to do both at the same time. We all know the park isn’t “the” problem. However, if the park is “a” problem, why keep it the way it is? In reality, both the park and the team are problems in their own right and it’d be silly to ignore the dimensions longer if adjusting them could help squeeze out some extra runs for the Mets. Even if the park isn’t the “main problem”, it still has an effect on the team and is thus, “a” problem needing fixing and, in my opinion, right now.
Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
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by Steve Schreiber on Aug 22, 2011 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions
It's not really such an extreme pitcher's park as you're making out
Look at the park factors this year — Citi is pretty near neutral as a run-scoring environment, and deadens HRs far less than a number of others.
This seems to state otherwise
here. According to them, there are only 4 parks that are less HR friendly. That said, I’m fine with the dimensions as is except for the wall height.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.
I don't trust that site without a little more "show your work"
I don’t think they’re even adjusting for which team plays at which park.
"Our Park Factor summary formula uses the mean of runs scored and home runs hit per game at home vs away, where 100 would be a perfectly-average park."
is the closets thing I could find.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.
Yeah, I saw that in the footer too
I think it means what I said: they aren’t correcting for the fact that some teams have more power than others, they’re just naively comparing road vs. home performance and calling it Park Factor.
Yeah, I've always been of the mind
that parks have some lingering effects on hitters when they go on the road. It seems like hitting is a game of inflection points between slumps and streaks. It ends up looking like randomness, but if you initiate fewer streaks (or don’t terminate the slumps) you’ll end up depressed overall . . . I think.
Why is the Pespi Porsch stupid?
People are complaining about HR’s but the Porch helps in that department – unless you just don’t like the name…
Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.
The porch and Mo's Zone are supposed to be something of a matched pair
Playing like Tiger Stadium’s “short porch.” The porch adds HR relative to not having a porch at all, but getting rid of the entire package would have been better. As it stands, they can go further and do worse than lower the fences and filling in “Mo’s Zone.”
And no one is saying the park is “the problem” afflicting the Mets. That’s a straw man. It’s “a” problem.
I don't think it's "a" problem at all (besides aesthetical preference).
Put a good team in there and they’ll win if the CF wall is 410 or 390 or if there is a bulge in RF or not.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.
by Ogre39666 on Aug 22, 2011 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don't know how you could say it's not even "a" problem.
How many home runs has David Wright seemingly lost to right center field in Citi and the Mo’s Zone that would’ve been out of the park at Shea? That right there is a problem. I know you’re not supposed to build a park based on current players, but come on…it is beyond idiotic to build a park that takes a strength and turns it into a weakness. The gaps are just way too deep in Citi Field, right center field even moreso than left center field and I do think it plays a factor with the players on the team. Maybe it’s not a catch-all (i.e. I kind of doubt the park is the reason for Jason Bay’s struggles) but it’s definitely a large factor.
Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.
by Steve Schreiber on Aug 22, 2011 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I really don't get this, "Oh, I can't hit HRs at home so I'm gonna mess up my swing" reaction.
I mean, the Mets are still hitting balls that are getting “robbed” by the park so it’s not like they’ve drastically altered something that would still be drastically altered on the road.
My point about the park is, that while there are things I don’t like, since it plays for both teams any benefit or detriment will even out. Unless ,of course, you build a team specifically for the park which, as noted, is not smart.
Do it or don’t is not a big deal to me (unless they make some sort of Yankee stadium joke or something) but this hue and cry from everyone since Citi opened is totally overblown imo.
"Sometimes you make a mistake and you get hit in the head." - Eli Manning
Hitters don't decide when to go into slumps
and fall into or out of mechanical bad habits. They’d be a lot better and more consistent if they could.
Um
did you all see this?
Andy Martino of the Daily News says Terry Collins and team officials asked Mike Pelfrey if he had any interest in being converted to a closer, "according to someone who was briefed on, but did not witness or participate in, the conversation."
However, according to Martino, though Pelfrey said, ‘Absolutely,’ Sandy Alderson is said to be averse to the idea, which was not his to begin with.
******************
Interesting….Watching Pelf try and close games these last weeks of the season, would certainly give us something new to talk about.
by MetsFan4Decades on Aug 22, 2011 9:36 AM EDT reply actions
Am I alone in this thought....
Pelfrey can now lose games for us in the 9th, rather than in the 1st! I do not know how I feel about this. The dude does not have that edge closers need. It’s been known for a while he is a bit of a head-case. I would rather they focus on Parnell.
Forget about a fucking edge
he can’t strikeout or not walk guys that closers need.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.
I did not
If I had I would have linked it and mericilessly condemned it as nuts.
Pelfrey has exactly one useful skill, durability. I guess two if you count his ability to supress home runs which he clearly has lot to some extent this year. It’s not like his stuff is going to really play up in short stints, or that he can just throw his two good pitches there, because he doesn’t have two good pitches.
the artist formerly known as TeufelCat
@jeffpaternostro
by Jeffrey Paternostro on Aug 22, 2011 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
LOL
‘….because he doesn’t have two good pitches’.
If it wasn’t Sandy’s idea to begin with, have to wonder who exactly asked him about being a closer?
by MetsFan4Decades on Aug 22, 2011 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions
#BlameJohnRicco
Or maybe it was Warthen trying to Mejia-ize Big Pelf.
Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.
by Steve Schreiber on Aug 22, 2011 9:55 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It says in the blerb that it was Collins (and unnamed "official" persons).
Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.
What a great idea
the only thing Pelf is kinda good at, is giving you lots of innings, and being reliably average. So, take that away and put him in a position where he needs to be dominant to be considered serviceable. Brilliant?? No.
Yeah.
If they wanted to make him the long-man reliever I guess I could imagine a case for it (though I still wouldn’t like it). Closer? Definitely not.
"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf. "
– Tug McGraw when asked about his preference for grass or astroturf
by Terry_is_God on Aug 22, 2011 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Wheeler
Thank goodness I never had to face anyone with his stuff in college. OMG. His fastball tails down and away like a screw ball.
Yikes.
He just needs a change up.
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I say we lock him and Johan in the same enclosed training facility during the winter,
hopefully he will emerge with a filthy change
Not like Johan is doing anything else for us right now
Make him useful
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Aug 22, 2011 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Braun and Fielder put on a show this weekend
I think I’d take Ryan Braun’s next 5 or 6 seasons over any other position player in baseball. Even with the shaky defense, he’s just ridiculous. And he doesn’t even strike out a lot anymore.
Him, or Mike Stanton
but yeah, you’re right….he’s crazy good
Proud to root for the Jets, Mets, and Islanders!!!
Twitter: cmauceri524
by CharlieIsles on Aug 22, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions
FRUSTRATED, You bet I am
As a METS fan, I really thought that we had a chance at the WC. With a healthy Jose, and Beltran, bounce back season from Bay, DW, Ike, Big Pelf picking up the slack and Santana back after the ASB, HELL YES, we will be in hunt. Well we lost Ike for 3/4 of the season, DW went down, Jose was on a tear, then, he went down, Beltran was the second best player in the NL, then, he was GONE, K-Rod was also gone, Bay still sucks, and, I think he has lost it forever, Pelf stinks up the place and Santana won’t pitch again until next season. There you have it, the 2011 METS. Now, we still have DW and JR in the prime and to wait a few years to develop players is not a good idea, The Yankees make the playoffs every year, and, they buy players? The METS have to spend money wiser, not, more. As a fan, I am not ready to roll over and watch the Phillies win for the next 4 or 5 years without a fight, or, any hope.
Hahahahahahahaha
Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.
by Steve Schreiber on Aug 22, 2011 10:07 PM EDT up reply actions
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