Ceetar

Edgy DC wrote: But with a sample size that big, it's certainly worth exploring. don't get fooled, it IS a small sample size. Mets through June 4th, or 31 games, were scoring 4.05 runs a game at home. (19-12 record) On the season, 68 games, 3.54. 30-38. It's really just a weird timing about when a streaky team ended up sucking.

Centerfield wrote: I think implied in the "X players away" statements are the idea that if a current player turns into one of the players they are lacking, then they lack one less player. So if the Mets are 4 players away and the Looney Tunes martians return Jason Bay's ability back to him, we will be 3 players away. Also sometimes that player is simply a more solid backup guy, or a real good pinch hitter, or something. People seem to underemphasize how much some bit players can add.

Murphy isn't that bad a fielder all in all. He's hardly been disastrous at any rate, and if he could put up his career rates that's actually a solid piece. 1500AB is a lot, but it's also only three seasons or so, and a segmented bit at that. I wouldn't be surprised if what we've seen this year is a floor of sorts for Murphy. He's 9th in OPS of qualifying players and his career numbers would have him 6th. He appears to be a student of hitting and If i had to bet on one guy improving and maintaining it, it'd probably be Danny. Thole..I dunno, a guy that's going to get on base like he did before this year is valuable as a catcher. It's not the traditional bopper, sure, but not making outs is nice. Not having a hole in the lineup is nice. He's 18/44 in OBP from 2010-2012, but he's just way down this year. Concussion? I dunno, even if you think Thole sucks, do 25 year old players just vanish like that? He's basically Jason Bay since returning from the concussion except with a couple more singles and when he happens to hit one hard it's a double instead of a homer. .219/.270/.257 over 210 AB. 14/32 BB/K where he was 66/77 before this season. I'm a little wary of Tejada's lack of progress though.

Centerfield wrote: The offense is miles away from being competitive. Are they? It's easy to get fed up with guys, but Murphy and Thole and Duda have all shown signs of being better. Is it a stretch to think that one or more of them could do that, and the other guys get replaced by guys that will? It's baseball. Sometimes miles away is really inches. it's a balancing act for Sandy to figure out which guys are going to bounce back, and which ones are going to..well, need replacing. While I don't think guys quit, I think once the Mets were basically out of it guys started having different approaches and tinkering a bit (the whole Thole as pull hitter thing) Maybe there's something to home. more media? more homeward responsibilities, lackluster crowd? It's probably just randomness though. It may be the pitchers park thing? I suspect that after a half season or so of success for some possibly limited players with big holes in their games, opposing scouting reports caught on. They played division rival playoff teams in WSH and ATL after the break and they would've been scouting the hardest. pitchers were able to exploit the exposed weaknesses in the hitters, who weren't able to re-adjust. Citi Field being a little more pitcher friendly make it more apparent. They also stopped wanting to get beat by David Wright so through him progressively less pitches in the zone, and as the Mets sunk maybe he started swinging at more and more of them trying to force the issue. I do believe a lot of the "he's tired" reports are more of the mental variety associated with losing. I think Ruben or Daniel probably doesn't say anything in a pennant race, goes to bed an hour earlier and has another red bull. The adrenaline and fun of playing meaningful baseball probably helps too.

Vic Sage wrote: So to what do you owe our inability to score runs at home, even after moving in the fences this year? Is it just random? I'm inclined to think so, but i'd be interested in other theories. It's been a weird season. They scored some early, but by June it was tailing off. the Mets underperformed that month, and it was the offense's fault. Best ERA in the league (bullpen was a tick better than league average if I recall) but just didn't score enough runs. I want to say power, but I'm not even sure. (they don't need to find a one-dimensional slugger, but they probably need to replace one of the 0-2 HR position guys with someone that's gonna hit 15-20) we went from 6th last year to 10th this year in runs scored in the NL. we were top 2 in OBP last year. Sure, we lost Beltran and Reyes, but I expected an uptick in power to at least match the run scoring. Maybe that was short sighted, especially after we swapped Pagan for Torres. Ruben doesn't hit for power, and has shown very little improvement over last year. Thole's taken a step back to where he's actually a bad offensive player this year, compared to at least keeping the line moving last year. And everyone's been so freaking streaky! Besides David, who's not having a great second half but at least seems to still sorta getting hits here and there and bases here and there, I think every other regular has gone through stretches where they're like 0-20. I'm sure some of that's bad luck, and just an oddity, but when on any given day you're playing with 23-24 outs, it hurts. This is kind of what I was arguing in another thread about Davis. Since he's sorta gotten it together, he's really minimized the 0-20s and games where he swings and misses at 4 pitches an AB. And he seems capable of running into one for some runs even when he's struggling. They need to work on minimizing these lows. I like Dave Hudgens, but he's got a lot of work to do.

Frayed Knot wrote: I guess the biases at MASN & The Baltimore Sun are too much for Kay et al who prefer the unvarnished truth that one gets from YES as well as from the NY Daily News, a paper that has fostered a commercial and symbiotic relationship with the team they supposedly cover so deep and for so long now that any pretense of objective journalism left the stall about 20 years ago. 20 years ago? wasn't the Daily News pretty much put on the map by the coverage of Ruth and the Yankees?

Frayed Knot wrote: The more interesting question is whether he went on his own or got a nod from Tuefel. looked like Tuefel was waving on the replay

Zvon wrote: Gah. And suddenly Uggla can field too. and things are right again in the world. 1-0 Mets.

Ike hasn't had a home run in like a week, he's due.

Zvon wrote: mmmmm, coffee. A Brave on third already? The NY Daily News today: Yankees: 4 pages Larry: 4 pages Mets: half a page yeah, but he's stranded there.

bmfc1 wrote: Adam Rubin said that the Mets will open next season at home against the Padres (last time that happened, the leadoff batter hit a homerun). Pelfrey won't be ready.

now that I have a moment to actually look at the painting.. The apple is up and the fan in the upper deck there is signaling home run. But clearly the CF is relaying it in to Chipper and the third base coach seems to be signaling stop, but the runner seems to be running through that towards third, and is clearly going to be trapped in a Chipper-started rundown. Unless they're review it and rule it a home run..which never officially happened at Shea. Of course, there are no officials on the field, so it's easy to see how they could've made a bad call.

Wow, the Yankees really are embarrassing and sore losers huh?

Frayed Knot wrote: Strasburg shut down as of NOW!!!! -- No final game at Citi next week. After getting bounced around by the Marlins last night (and, really, in several of his latest starts) they think he is wearing down both mentally and physically and so are pulling the plug a bit earlier than they planned. And, actually, in terms of ERA he's now the 4th best starter on his own team; behind Gonzalez, Zimmermannnnn, and even Detwiler, ahead of only Edwin Jackson. nice. shutting him down means when he gets to this point next year it'll also be his career high in IP in a season and maybe he'll tire again.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Zackly. Fuck. Them. And fuck Michael Kay. F-U-C-K him. who do I look like, Jodi Applegate?

I'm toying with writing a book that takes place 30-50 years in the future. Fiction or not, I'm envisioning a world where the Yankees are no longer held up as some sort of 'better than thou' franchise, but instead are a relic and a laughing stock. They routinely have spring uniforms with letters (or THREE! digits) They were a world-wide laughing stock back in 2035 when one of their fringe invitees, wearing 2A (he fancied himself the 'next' Jeter but was a long shot at best to make the majors.) He hit like crazy in Spring Training and the Yankees suffered injuries to two SS that spring and he ended up making the team and refused to give up the uniform number so he became the first player to ever wear a letter in a regular season game. They called him "The Apartment" and he ended up having a pretty decent career as a backup middle infielder, but the Yankees were teased all season long for the letter thing.

metirish wrote: And if I am driving and parking in the $20 lot? they're all 20 lots. but yeah, third base/left field side. Stand on Shea's infield and walk directly at Citi Field. right there. under the little overhang. alternatively the ticket office is tucked around the corner right there too, next to the rotunda and they could probably help you.

Edgy DC wrote: That's got two levels of clever. I don't think Sterling goes that deep. Apparently, last night, there was a handsome, but naturally cheaply fabricated, giveaway of a little statuette replica of the Cal Ripken statue --- plaster painted to look like bronze. I found three or four broken apart as a I got off the Marc train this morning --- arms and heads ripped off and left in a pile. I blame Yankee fans. I had half a mind to grab a bunch of pieces to glue back together, but I would have had to sit there placing the severed limbs against the stumps to make sure I had matching parts, and I didn't want to look like any more of a dork than I already am. you should've just taken a head.

Swan Swan H wrote: Reynolds flipped the bat a lot on his second homer, and it made it over the wall by about three feet. I'm fully in favor of embarrassing the Yankees in any way possible, but that was close. Oh, and how about "Weiters, there's a big fly in my soup." Aha! and that sounds like perfect Sterling too.

Andin-o! into the second row! no? heard Sterling went with "Bombs away in Baltimore!" Adam Jones apparently got pied. he also seemed to flip the bat a little. I wonder if Yankees fans will get a little whiny over that.

Edgy DC wrote: Ceetar wrote: An Adam Bomb, from Adam Jones! You're on the Mark, Reynolds! I can't think of one for Wieters, Andino, or Davis. bah. That's a BIG STAT... for MATT! Wieters Weighs in with a Home Run!

An Adam Bomb, from Adam Jones! You're on the Mark, Reynolds! I can't think of one for Wieters, Andino, or Davis. bah.

Will it? just from the post article, which hardly has full access to the books and what not and what counts as losses and what doesn't (naming rights? no?) That leaves $21.5 million, slightly less than this year�s expected losses. Next year, if losses are reduced to about $15 million, that would leave a $6.5 million surplus. well okay, so they can spend $7 million or so if the projections for 2013 hold? But what if Sandy Alderson suggests the benefits to the team by spending $17 million more than this year would greatly improve the team, the record, and therefore the projected income? Especially factoring in that a ton of money comes off after next season, so an extra bit next year doesn't affect the teams ability to get into the black long term, win or lose?

themetfairy wrote: Make that 9-6. Mark Reynolds now has like 6gazillion home runs against the Yankees.

Edgy DC wrote: I don't know if anybody is saying the team is stacked. (Optimists? Where?) You always need more pitching. Everybody knows that. well, not stacked exactly but you do see people suggesting things like trading McHugh (or even Wheeler) to round out the team and the "Don't bother with Pelfrey we have enough." stuff. You always need more pitching. That's sorta where I was going with that.