IGT, 7/18, Mets Visit the Friary

[Edgy MD]

Colon takes on [crossout:tz9zak6y]Tyson Ross, San Diego's lone All-Star representative. Ross also pitching today, so I guess that takes him out of the ASG.[/crossout:tz9zak6y] Ian Kennedy.

Padres losers of four of their last five and six of their last eight. Currently hitless against the Dodgers in the third. Hitting. They don't do a whole lot of that.

[MFS62]

Keep 'em coming, Edgy.
You're on a roll.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Between the now universal four-day break and the fact that we're ending on the east coast and starting on the west, I'd have to think that this will be the longest in-season time frame without NYM baseball aside from the forced break caused by 9/11?
Approx 130 hours between last pitch today and first pitch on Friday ... ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!



I may just be mis-remembering, but it seems like we've gone into ASBs on a roll recently a lot more often than not. It would be great if somebody would check on this ... and by 'Somebody' I mean, not me.
And I KNOW we've had a lot of problems coming out of ASBs in recent years. I don't need to look anything up to know that.

[Edgy MD]

Frayed Knot wrote: Between the now universal four-day break and the fact that we're ending on the east coast and starting on the west, I'd have to think that this will be the longest in-season time frame without NYM baseball aside from the forced break caused by 9/11?

Well, there were those two extended strikes.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: ... it seems like we've gone into ASBs on a roll recently a lot more often than not. It would be great if somebody would check on this ... and by 'Somebody' I mean, not me.

We just took a vote. Its you.

Shortening the break by a few hours, Noah just got the save in the Futures Game.

Later

[Fman99]

I forgot that the whole league gets the Thursday off now as well. I hate summer days without Mets games.

[Edgy MD]

Mets at the Break in the Terry Era

2010 Mets going into the break: 4-6
2010 Mets coming out of the break: 2-8

2011 Mets going into the break: 5-5
2011 Mets coming out of the break: 4-6

2012 Mets going into the break: 6-4
2012 Mets coming out of the break: 1-9 (This would extend to 1-11)

2013 Mets going into the break: 6-4
2013 Mets coming out of the break: 5-5

I suspect the trend LF detects would be even more pronounced if we extended the envelope to 20 games in each direction, but even at 10, the data supports him.

[Frayed Knot]

Sort of supports me.
I was originally thinking that there were several really hot streaks going into the break in recent years where, like this year, Met fans would curse the whole idea of the break and its timing.

But 2009's 9-1 looks to be the only one that truly fits that category, and even then there wasn't a post-ASB swoon either in the short run (6-4) or the long (August = 18-11) as newly installed Jerry made the most of his honeymoon period (55-38) and was rewarded by the contract that came out of it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

What a retrospective disaster that was.

I guess I didn't give it enough thought then, but when you can a manager midseason you're pretty much forced to a limited selection of replacements. No doubt Jerry did well particularly in those first few months but it was typically short-sighted and foolish Omarian/Wilponian Mets not to have brought in a slate of candidates to interview before re-upping Jerry. As time would demonstrate, he was a bad choice.

Sure the budget had much to do with this as well.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: What a retrospective disaster that was. I guess I didn't give it enough thought then, but when you can a manager midseason you're pretty much forced to a limited selection of replacements. No doubt Jerry did well particularly in those first few months but it was typically short-sighted and foolish Omarian/Wilponian Mets not to have brought in a slate of candidates to interview.

Also to assume that the turnaround was because of him and not because of natural regression and health. It was simply one of those placating moves to appease the fans/media and to try to change the conversation (and that mostly worked)

[Frayed Knot]

Meanwhile, back to looking forward to the Padres rather than back to the managers of Christmas past:

The Friars cemented their rep for good pitching matched with pathetic hitting by losing back-to-back 1-0 games to the Dodgers over the weekend - and neither was a Kershaw game.
Overall, they are not just dead last in RS/G in the NL but are last [u:2vu9rya4]by nearly a full run[/u:2vu9rya4]. They're averaging 2.94 RS/G, a whole lot behind 14th place StL's 3.75
The Mets, btw, have snuck a hair above league average thanks to their recent hitting spree: 4.03 vs 3.99

On the run prevention side, the Pads are at the head of the league by a slight margin, 3.46 RA/G leads Washington's 3.51

Park factors at Petco shirley contribute to all this, but I'm not sure we've seen those kind of scoring numbers from a ML team since the days of the Nixon/Humphrey race.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Oh I think Willie deserved firing too. It's just that Omar among his other faults couldn't appoint a competent manager given 2 tries.

To his credit Adam Rubin was the one writer who remained skeptical of the Jerry Effect throughout. He maintained a brutal early season schedule including 3 separate West Coast trips by June did more to hurt the team than Willie's shitty managing did, and that the team was bound to have a better second half no matter who was pulling the strings.

I think that turned out to be prescient as after a while you could barely tell the difference between Jerry and Willie strategy-wise.

[Edgy MD]

It was simply one of those placating moves to appease the fans/media and to try to change the conversation (and that mostly worked)

I don't think it was placating. I think it was re-upping a manager whose team turned around following his interim appointment. It was shortsighted and conservative, but contracts are doled out on such terms all the time.

OE: Unless you mean the initial interim appointment.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: It was simply one of those placating moves to appease the fans/media and to try to change the conversation (and that mostly worked) I don't think it was placating. I think it was re-upping a manager whose team turned around following his interim appointment. It was shortsighted and conservative, but contracts are doled out on such terms all the time. OE: Unless you mean the initial interim appointment.

I meant the interim appointment and Willie firing. If the rope was that short, just fire him in the offseason.


anyway, Mets can pitch too, so hopefully that means they can stomp on these friars from San Diego with their suddenly competent offense. I have faith d'Arnaud has turned a corner, and I think David's been coming around too. Plus with 4 days to rest his nagging injuries..

[seawolf17]

Ian Kennedy to pitch on Friday, followed by Ross on Saturday and someone named Odrisamer Despaigne on Sunday.

[Edgy MD]

Despaigne's good. A Cuban who debuted after seven games in the minors. Like Wheeler, he's hard to hit, harder to homer off of, but gives up more than his share of walks.

[batmagadanleadoff]

It was also Carlos Delgado doing a Babe Ruth impersonation for two of Jerry's first few months, carrying the team about as much as any Met ever did for a while. Maybe Delgado felt suddenly liberated from the termination of Willie's serial two hole sac bunting strategy -- Delgado was the #5 batter and the most likeliest guy to lose his first inning at bat as a result. Delgado wasn't a Willie fan in any event.

Neither was I.

[Frayed Knot]

seawolf17 wrote: Ian Kennedy to pitch on Friday, followed by Ross on Saturday and someone named Odrisamer Despaigne on Sunday.

Against what should be Colon, Gee, then Wheeler

Kennedy was one of the 1-0 losers this past weekend to LAD, Overall he's 7-9 with a more than respectable 3.47 ERA and 1.19 WHiP

[Frayed Knot]

Mets fans held hostage: Day Four
Expected release: T-minus 36 hours.

[Centerfield]

OMG. LET'S FUCKING PLAY TONIGHT. ENOUGH ALREADY. I COULD HAVE HAD TOMMY JOHN SURGERY ON THE LAST DAY BEFORE THE BREAK AND BEEN HEALED BY NOW.

[Farmer Ted]

Can't think of Petco Park without horrible images of the Beltran-Cameron collision. Ray Ramirez earned his paycheck that day.

[Edgy MD]

Man, that was 2005 crashing and burning in a nightmare.

Cliff Floyd earning his paycheck that day too, sustaining a system-jarring crash himself two innings or so later, but somehow, Willie stalled for 20 minutes while he put himself together, refusing to take him out of the game and put a(nother) reserve infielder into the outfield. The team already was going with Marlon Anderson in right and Chris Woodward in center.

A few days later, Pedro Martinez lost a no-hitter and the game at Los Angeles when Gerald Williams failed to corral a fly to the wall, folding before the impact. It was a shot Beltran or Cammy would have had in their back pockets.

[MFS62]

Mets fans held hostage: Day Four Expected release: T-minus 36 hours.

Looking for something to do?
Well, the AMC Network is running a Tremors marathon.
Yesiree. All 4 of them. (If you knew there were 4 of them, raise your hand.)


Later

[Frayed Knot]

Mets fans held hostage: Day Four Expected release: T-minus 36 hours. Looking for something to do? Well, the AMC Network is running a Tremors marathon. Yesiree. All 4 of them. (If you knew there were 4 of them, raise your hand.)

I didn't know there was ONE of them.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Never heard of Tremors either.

They've had three friggin' days to do our preview, guess
they're still wrapping up the Jeter coverage.

NY Mets at San Diego
When: 10:10 PM ET, Friday, July 18, 2014
Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California

Check back later for a complete preview analysis.

[Centerfield]

OMG. FINALLY. THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO...

Wait what? 10 p.m.?

Grumble grumble.

[MFS62]

Never heard of Tremors either.

Really?
A very funny send-up of monster movies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremors_(film)
Gets you one degree closer to Kevin Bacon.

Back to the game.

Later

[Ceetar]

I think I saw Tremors 1 and 2 years ago.

10pm. that's just cruel.

[Guest d'Kong76]

NY Mets at San Diego
When: 10:10 PM ET, Friday, July 18, 2014
Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California
SportsDirect Inc.

The New York Mets attempt to pick up where they left off as they kick off the second half with a 10-game road trip that begins with a three-game series at the San Diego Padres that starts Friday. New York wrapped up the first half with a 10-game homestand during which it went 8-2, taking two of three from both Texas and Atlanta before sweeping a three-game set from Miami. The Mets improved to 25-23 at Citi Field with the surge and climbed within seven games of Washington and the Braves for first place in the National League East.

The offensively challenged Padres entered the All-Star break on the heels of a 2-5 road trip that saw them score a total of five runs in the losses. San Diego, which set a major-league record for the lowest batting average in a month by hitting .171 in June, ended the first half with back-to-back 1-0 defeats at Los Angeles and also suffered 2-1 losses to the Dodgers and Colorado during its trek. Despite their struggles at the plate, the Padres are third in the NL West - 12 games behind first-place Los Angeles.

TV:
10:10 p.m. ET, SNY (New York), FSN (San Diego)

PITCHING MATCHUP:
Mets RH Bartolo Colon (8-8, 3.99 ERA) vs. Padres RH Ian Kennedy (7-9, 3.47)

Colon looks to snap a three-start losing streak as he enters what could be one of his final starts for New York with the July 31 trade deadline quickly approaching. The 41-year-old Dominican has allowed 13 runs over 21 innings during his skid, which has followed an eight-game unbeaten streak during which he posted six victories while yielding two or fewer earned runs in each outing. Colon evened his career record versus the Padres at 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 1.78 on June 13, when he limited San Diego to two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 frames.

Kennedy has been outstanding over his last three starts, allowing one run in triumphs over Cincinnati and Colorado before settling for a no-decision at the Los Angeles Dodgers despite scattering three hits over eight scoreless innings. The 29-year-old, who also could be on the move before the end of the month, has surrendered a total of 14 hits over 21 frames during his unbeaten streak. Kennedy fell to 4-2 lifetime against the Mets after yielding three runs over 5 1/3 innings at New York on June 15.

WALK-OFFS:
1. San Diego has been shut out 15 times thus far this season.
2. Mets 3B David Wright has hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 11-for-25 (.440) with two home runs and seven RBIs in that span.
3. The Padres are second in the NL and fourth in the majors with a 3.18 team ERA and lead the league with a 2.09 mark since June 18.

[Edgy MD]

Never knew Bartolo was Dominican.