Mid-Season Review

Since today is exactly the halfway point of the season, I figured I'd give some kind of mid-season review of the Metsies. So here it is.... their record is 40-41, about .500. They've played like a .500 ballclub. They get hot and win a few, and then get swept by the Padres. They can beat the Yankees, but can't touch Seattle. From the caliber of play we've seen so far, it's about what you'd expect.



OFFENSE....

The Bad - There's been too much patchwork crap going on in LF and RF. Tatis, Nixon, Easley, Anderson, and Chavez are decent to good bench players, but not starters. Omar's reliance on Alou this year has really cost this team. Delgado has 14 homeruns now, but his OB% is still .308 and his slugging percentage is less than Ramon Castro's. He also ranks 214th in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), just above Kelly Shoppach and just below the Meathook.

The Good - Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran. Big surprize there. Ryan Church was excellent early. Beltran still frustrates me, but he's putting up the numbers. Luis Castillo takes a terrible amount of heat from New Yorkers, but he's a good player. He takes a lot of pitches, draws walks, doesn't strikeout, steals bases, and he's solid in the field.

PITCHING....

The Bad - Heilman blew a few games early on and was just awful. Replacing Pedro wasn't really accomplished very well, and he looks like crap now anyway. Maine, Perez, and Pelfrey haven't progressed quite like everyone hoped. Oliver has had nine bad starts out of 17. Maine still hasn't found a strikeout pitch. Pelfrey allows half the batters to reach base.

The Good - Santana. Wagner. Everyone else is just average to bad. Pelfrey has pitched fairly well since 5/31, going 3-0 with a 3.35 ERA. Heilman has only allowed one run since 5/31. Duaner Sanchez has done well setting up for Wagner. New pitching coach, Dan Warthen, altered Oliver Perez' windup yesterday, and it worked. We'll see if that continues though, I won't hold my breath.

COACHING

The Bad - Willie was braindead. Rick Peterson was creeping everyone out.

The Good - Jerry Manuel is a gangsta and wears Joe Maddon glasses. Dan Warthen is old.







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Billy Beane is a smart man

Billy Beane (left) is a legend that changed the game.

This post is for Keith, Ron, Gary, and for every other stodgy baseball guy that is "insulted" by the book Moneyball....

Listen, first, the book Moneyball was written by a reporter, not Billy Beane. Also, Moneyball was not about the perfect way to evaluate players, although it's close. Moneyball was about finding a baseball asset that was undervalued, and capitalizing on it. Billy Beane figured out, by using statistics, that OnBase% is one of the most valuable individual offensive statistics in baseball. He also figured out that players with high OB% weren't necessarily coveted by other ballclubs. So he began collecting cheap players who put up high OB% and built very successful teams.

Beane also figured out that college players were much more developed than high school kids, and therefore much closer to becoming major league players. Having college playing experience also gave Beane more sample size, which made them easier to evaluate, and therefore less of a gamble than high schools kids.

With Oakland's small budget, Beane needed cheap players, and he couldn't afford to make mistakes. So instead of relying on what his scouts "saw", he used anything he could to help himself, including statistics, data, and evidence. He thought the best way to field a good team was by capitalizing on the value provided in an offense built around OB%, and a pitching staff built around young, cheap, college arms.

His stategy obviously worked. First, his teams won. And now OB% is properly regarded as a valuable trait, and the college game has elevated dramatically. When everyone starts copying you, you know you're doing something right.

So to Keith and Ron and fucking Joe Morgan, all Beane did was break away from the same old, crusty, narrow-minded baseball strategy of years past, those same dated ideas that you hang onto about "how the game should be played". He found a new way that worked, because he was forced to by his budget, that is why it was called Moneyball, and not Statball.

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I never thought that Howard Johnson would get a coaching job, especially a Hitting Coach job. He was one of the most undisciplined players I can remember. He pulled everything, struck out a lot, had terrible defensive form, and played like a lunatic. Then on Wednesday he's doing a dugout interview during the game on SNY talking about how Delgado needs to hit to the opposite field and other shit. He was right, but I just thought, since when did you ever hit a ball the other way? Then I remembered what my college coach used to say, and what I assume HoJo must say to his players, "do as I say, don't do as I do".

Please, No More

Oliver Perez (left), from Mexico, is the real reason New Yorkers support building the border fence.

Please, Omar,.... Jerry,.... I don't want to see Oliver Perez anymore. Today I edited his games started to 16. I don't want to add another one. His ERA is 5.29, with a WHIP of 1.56. He can't hold runners. He can't throw strikes. He leads the league in hit batters and he's second in walks....

Wow, I just found an awful Mets stat while looking at Perez' numbers....

Oliver Perez(17.95), John Maine(17.88), and Mike Pelfrey(17.72) are all in the bottom seven in pitches per inning, for all of MLB. They are all worse than Tom Gorzelanny and barely better than Bronson Arroyo. This is telling me the obvious: they throw a lot of balls, and don't have a strikeout pitch.

So please, Dan Warthen,.... tell Pelfrey and Maine to start throwing a curveball. Guys, a curveball is a pitch that is much slower than your slider, a pitch that you throw by creating downward spin. Just try it, for the hell of it. Maybe you'll actually miss a bat with it, and even if you don't, maybe it will make your fastball look better. Just try it.

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I was very excited to be able to add to the Mets Ejections list today. I was also pumped up to write this blog about the incident, but I guess everyone else was too, since it's all I've heard about today. I thought Runge pulled multiple bushleague umpire stunts, first asking Beltran if he needed the plate dusted off, then bumping the manager. He ranks right up there with Tim McClelland about now.

Jerry needs to make his arguments a little longer though. They're pretty good overall, with excellent head bobbing and screaming. His glasses fly off and his hat moves, but he just needs to add some length. You know, get in there until the other umpires come over. Or until the umpire starts to back away. Let the fans enjoy it and the stadium get really loud. Remember Jerry, those arguments are more for the fans than anything else.

Jerry Manuel is from the streets, Bitch!

"I told him next time he does that I'm going to get my blade out and cut him. I'm a gangster. You go gangster on me, I'm going to have to get you. You do that again, I'm going to cut you right on the field." - Jerry Manuel talking about Jose Reyes' sissy fit.

No doubt, Jerry Manuel learned a few things while managing on the south side of the City of Chicago.

"Willie Watch" Continues

Not being able fill up the back pages with polished journalism like this (left) was the real reason for yesterday's media blow-up surrounding Omar's questionable timing.

It's amazing how easily public opinion is swayed by the media. Yeah, I initially thought it was bogus that the Mets fired Willie in the middle of the night (although, on the west coast, where the firing took place, it wasn't the middle of the night). I still agree that it wasn't quite handled correctly, but do you think Willie cares? Do you think it makes one bit of difference to him whether he was fired in the morning, afternoon, middle of a game, taking a shit, or in the hotel? I don't think so. Would it really make a difference to you, dear blog reader, what time of day you got fired? What matters is that he got fired, and he wouldn't be happy about it no matter when it happened. However, New York ate it all up. Everything about how classless a move it was, every last bit of it.

The only reason this is an issue at all is because the NY media and press didn't get to break the story live. By the time they splashed the backs of their papers with the news today, it was already old.

So, I'd like to know. Did Willie feel dissed by this? Or was it just the media?

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The other group of people blasting this move are Yankees fans disguised as impartial viewers. This group of pathetic people talk about how much 'class' Willie has, and how 'classless' the entire Mets organization is. However, as far as Willie goes, 'class' isn't defined as blaming your percieved lack of enthusiasm on some racist cameramen. And one douchebag writer even used this to try and make Hank Steinbrenner look better. Now that is classless.

TOM NIETO IS FIRED

Tom Nieto, Rick Peterson, and manager Willie Randolph were all fired in the middle of the night, while New York slept.

So, what exactly did Omar and the Mets think was going to happen here? I mean, the timing of this firing was odd to say the least. What could the Mets' ownership and GM possibly be thinking? Well, you've come to the right blog, because I know exactly what they were thinking. An undercover Mets-Thing correspondent, who shall remain nameless, secretly recorded Omar saying this over the weekend....

"Hey guys, I was thinkin', if we fire Willie in the middle of the night when we're in Anaheim, noone will notice, we'll be able to avoid the media, and New York won't even realize we made a change. I mean, we're three thousand miles away, there's no way anyone could get word of this for at least a week. We'll do it at the hotel after the game too. Half the players will be asleep and they won't even realize we made a change until September."

I don't understand why they're trying to hide this. I don't understand why they waited until Willie flew all the way to California. Actually, I don't understand why Willie wasn't fired immediately after LAST season.

This firing makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. And I think I'm feeling that way because this firing most likely won't do any good for the team. If you've noticed in this blog, I've pointed out how Willie seems clueless at times, but I haven't completely blamed him for how bad the Mets are. The problem still lies in the old, overrated players he has been given by Omar. Whoever the manager will be the rest of this season (maybe Jerry Manuel), will still have to rely on players like Carlos Delgado, Oliver Perez, Scott Schoeneweis, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley, Marlon Anderson, and Fernando Tatis, all playing key roles. Then, he has to deal with the oft-injured Moises Alou and Pedro Martinez, two players that Omar likes to think are big parts of this team. And unfortunately, Omar is right, because without them, the Mets are mediocre at best. Thinking you can rely on them is the problem.

Basically, although I didn't like Willie that much, he's not really the issue here. It's the players. However, you can't get rid of the players, so you get rid of the manager I guess.

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Can we bring back Bobby V. now please?!?!

All-Star ballot stuffing time

Since I am obviously a well respected internet baseball bloggister, I feel that it is my duty to post the all-star ballots that I submitted last night. To me, the all-star game is a scrimmage game, a game where the fans vote on who they want to see. So, I vote for my favorite players, not necessarily the best ones, as you might be able to tell. I used my 25 allotted entries on these guys....

American League
*1B Jason Giambi (the Giambino, with mustache)
*2B Aaron Hill (sick defensive secondbaseman, underrated bat)
*SS Edgar Renteria (had to vote for someone from Colombia, and Edgar is still sweet at SS)
*3B Miguel Cabrera (with Edgar, this makes an all South American leftside of the infield, and I still think Cabrera is one of the top-5 hitters in baseball)
*C Joe Mauer (sweetest swing in the game)
*OF Carlos Quentin (fucking monster, will be dropping bombs for a long time)
*OF Josh Hamilton (the 'Natural', 26 tatoos, 3 suicide attempts, snorted Colombian white gold for over 3 years)
*OF Manny Ramirez (best hitter ever, best baseball character ever)
*DH Travis Hafner (yeah, bad season, injured too, but his nickname is "Pronk")


National League
*1B Prince Fielder (he's a big man)
*2B Orlando Hudson (styling secondbaseman)
*SS Stephen Drew (making up for his brothers, Tulowitzki would have had this vote except for the fact that he's been dead all year)
*3B David Wright (had to pick a Met, Wright has been very consistent, played great defense, and hasn't missed a single inning)
*C Brian Schneider (wow, there are some hurting catchers in the NL, I like Russ Martin and Kendall, but Schneider has really shown me how bad LoDuca was)
*OF Eric Byrnes (my favorite player, known as 'Captain America' in the Dominican)
*OF Juan Pierre (freestyle rapper, never Ks, old school)
*OF Ryan Church (rounds out the same NL outfield group that I voted for last year)


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Aaron Heilman has pitched poorly to say the least. However, he has seemed to be a little unlucky. Every groundball seems to find a hole, and every blooper seems to fall in. So I looked up his BABIP (batting average on balls in play). BABIP is usually around .290 and independent upon how a pitcher is throwing. Basically, if a pitcher is showing a very high average here, it's bad luck. And if he has a very low average here, he's getting some good luck. Right now, Heilman is allowing a .344 BABIP, way above the average. I'm thinking he's bound to get some of those groundballs to start going at infielders and start moving his BABIP back towards the mean. However, his BB/9 is way up, as he is already closing in on last year's walk total. He may not be able to determine where batters hit the ball, but he can control the walks.


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Yesterday, Pedro had a little spat with Marlon Byrd after Byrd stepped out of the batter's box during Pedro's windup in the 6th inning. For some reason the umpire granted timeout. It was the second time during the game that Byrd did this. Pedro was pissed, and he played the waiting game with Byrd before he flew out to CF. It reminded me of one of the great Pedro moments. A few years ago, when he was on the Red Sox still, pitching against the Yankees, Gary Sheffield tried the same shit with Pedro, stepping out twice in the same at-bat. Pedro just stared him down, waited, then put a fastball right between his shoulder blades.

Don't worry about Billy

Billy Wagner (left) fist-pumps the Goodyear blimp during yesterday's game.

Career statistics:

371 saves / 798IP / 1046K / 1.015WHIP

Billy Wagner was born as a natural righthander. At a young age he was forced to throw with his left arm after breaking his right one twice (rumor has it, he threw over 156mph with his right arm, and the bones just couldn't withstand the force). Then the guy pitches at D-III Ferrum College, where he shatters every D-III strikeout record there ever was and put them so far out of reach that they will most likely never be broken. Wagner's domination didn't stop when he reached pro ball either. He was a first round draft choice, and has continued to post ridiculous strikeout numbers his entire career, from minor league starting pitcher, to major league closer.

In 2008 he has broken out his old starter's windup, changed the tilt on his slider to get more drop, and he has looked as dominant as ever. He's also one of the few players on the Mets who seems like he cares whether they win or lose (I can't be sure how they all feel, but many of them sure don't look like they give a shit).

So, with all of the broken pieces, or pieces that simply never existed on the Mets, trying to pin all the blame on one of the most dominant pitchers you'll ever see, well, that makes you look like an idiot. Don't worry about Billy.

Don't Jump

How a championship should be celebrated (left).

I've been away, sleeping under the cover of a Big Agnes tent in the Smoky Mountains, watching elk (yes, there are elk on the east coast), building campfires, hiking the Boogerman Trail, and drinking cans of sweet tasting Modelo. Not all at once.

It seems I picked a good time to go too, since the Mets put together an Amazin' string of losses that must have been just gut-wrenching. Three straight 2-1 games, multiple walkoff losses, all told it was five straight going into last night. Even last night's game feels like a loss. Wagner blows Pelfrey's shutout and the Shea Stadium fans were finished. Beltran eventually won the game with a homerun, and the Mets celebrated around homeplate as if they won the pennant. Unfortunately all he did was break a five game losing streak. What the team should have done was give a short round of high fives and get back in the clubhouse. You don't deserve to celebrate like that after first blowing the game to set up that homerun.

And what's the deal with that 'team jumping together around home plate' thing anyway? I hate that thing, whatever it is. In '04, when the Red Sox won the World Series, first time in 357 years or whatever it was, the on-field celebration consisted of a 'team jumping together around Doug Mirabelli' thing. Then some hugs and champagne. Horrible. When you win a championship, there needs to be a '86 Mets style pileup on the mound. If the pitcher doesn't get tackled, you've basically blown the celebration. And when you haven't won a championship since the 14th century, the celebration needs to consist of more than the standard 'team jumping together like a bunch of schoolgirls' thing.

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I will go down as a second-guesser here, but only because I failed to post my opinion on Church's injury, not because I didn't have the opinion. Basically, the Mets did just about everything they could do exacerbate Church's concussion symptoms, and nothing to help. He needed to go on the DL immediately. It was quite obvious, and I don't know why anyone would fuck around with a severe blow to the head like he took. It's not a very difficult decision really, the Blue Jays know what to do with a concussion injury. This was reported on MLB.com about Aaron Hill....

Second baseman Aaron Hill, who has been sidelined with a concussion since May 29, could potentially begin a Minor League rehab assignment sometime next week. J.P.Ricciardi (Blue Jays GM) said Hill has experienced no symptoms for the past two days. Ricciardi noted that Toronto's medical staff wants Hill -- eligible to be activated from the DL on Saturday -- to have gone at least a week sans symptoms before shipping him out to play some rehab games.

What do you know, "at least a week sans symptoms" before playing baseball again. I just hope the Mets didn't ruin Church's entire season, or worse, his career.

Giuseppe Franco buys Mets

I was going to write today's blog about my favorite commercial starring Giusseppe Franco, but someone already beat me to it. My favorite part is when he looks seriously into the camera and says, "I don't own the company, I don't know anything about it!". Then he trots out the ugliest guys he could find in LA, I just don't get it. He's not putting his name on the line for something that doesn't work though. If you've watched just one full inning of Mets baseball this year, you know what we're talking about.

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I'm also high on that Heineken commercial. There's that one blonde that brings the beer to the bearded Scandinavian dude in the snow. Yeah, that chick is hot. Something about her, I can't wait for that commercial to come on. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture of her.