Mets Stuff
Now that the 2011 season is finished, it's time to review just what exactly happened. The New York Post, ESPN New York and NJ.com give you some statistics to help jog your collective memories. Over at Tedquarters, Ted Berg takes a look at the amount of at bats the Mets gave to players with <.300 on base percentages compared to 2010. Why he did, I'm not sure...they won fewer games in 2011 than in 2010 so it's moot, right? #LogicFail
Let's face it: you've always wanted to pretend you were the Mets general manager. Patrick Flood helps you get a start on building your pretend Mets. It's no secret that the payroll will drop in 2012 but will these cuts affect Sandy Alderson? Howard Megdal examines how much money the Mets are really spending when you account for "dead money".
Should Sandy Alderson go after C.J. Wilson to shore up the rotation? How about picking up another lefty reliever?
More Jose Reyes controversy? Yes. Surprise surprise! Jimmy Rollins has something to say about what Jose did. It wasn't all bad, though. The always entertaining Metstradamus put together an excellent Jose Reyes Manifesto, in which he discusses the entire Reyes flap at length (Editor's Note--I refuse to call this "Reyes-gate" because I completely despise the use of "-gate" as a suffix meaning controversy. If "-gate" were a suffix, wouldn't the Watergate scandal have to be called Watergate-gate? It doesn't make sense, but I guess that is neither here nor there).
Did the Mets decline the Yankees' request to move their AAA team to Newark out of spite?
Finally, Tim Byrdak is really awesome at video-bombing.
Around the PLAYOFFS (Don't talk about the PLAYOFFS!)
The red-hot Tampa Bay Rays beat up on C.J. Wilson and the Rangers, as they won 9-0 behind seven shutout innings from lefty uber-prospect Matt Moore. Where the hell do the Rays find these pitchers and can the Mets start tapping this well of aces? Kelly Shoppach also hit a pair of home runs for Tampa, who will send James Shields to the hill to face Derek Holland in game two on Saturday. First pitch is at 7:07 PM and can be seen on TNT.
The Yankees and Tigers played an inning and a half of ball before the skies opened up, wasting a potential doozy of a pitching matchup of Sabathia and Verlander. Game one will resume in the second inning with a 1-1 score on Saturday at 8:37 PM and will feature Ivan Nova going up against Doug Fister.
Diamondbacks hitting coach (and former Mets bench coach) Don Baylor was rushed to the hospital after fainting on Friday morning.
The Diamondbacks and Brewers square off in the first game on Saturday at 2:07 PM on TBS. Ian Kennedy goes for Arizona and Yovani Gallardo throws for the Brew Crew. Meanwhile, the hated Phillies host the Cardinals at 5:07 PM on TBS. Roy Halladay goes up against Kyle Lohse in what looks to be a big league mismatch.