Ceetar

Check out Metspolice's write up of the instructions. Obviously written in China or something. http://metspolice.com/2010/04/29/injoy-the-floating-feeling-of-mets-baseball/ Injoy the Floating Feeling.

Never really thought it made sense statistically, but that run expectancy doesn't really address it. Curious what the numbers are for OBP after a triple and after a home run. The triple with less than 2 outs forces the opposing team to think a bit too, play the outfield in a bit for the sac fly? who's at bat? is it Delgado and do we still overshift? is the squeeze play going to be on? The more you force guys to have to think, the more mistakes they'll make. Of course, it's almost impossible that you'll score more runs in an inning with a bases loaded triple than a grand slam.

Looks like it wasn't specifically a draft thing. Peterson is a pretty smart guy and a pioneer in this injury evaluation stuff. I'd love for him to work for the Mets in a talent evaulation type role. This stuff is kinda interesting, breaking down which pitchers are at risk for injuries. (It's interesting how many pitching injuries the Mets had last year, the first full year without Peterson...hmm... ) http://fullcountpitch.com/2010/01/25/arms-race-the-last-hope-for-small-market-teams/ Interesting article at least, and there is a whole bunch of artilces on that site with Peterson it seems. One only has to look at Mark Prior for the most recent example of a talented pitcher�s career getting extinguished because of injury. In fact, Prior�s injuries could�ve been avoided. It was known that Prior had a mechanical flaw in his delivery that put an inordinate amount of stress on his elbow and shoulder. Essentially, the talented Prior was a ticking time bomb to be injured. It wasn�t a matter of if, it was just when it would happen. Rick Peterson believes that Prior�s injuries could�ve been avoided. �The technology is there for a pitcher to get an analysis of 14 different risk factors in a delivery�, states Peterson, �If there is even one flaw in a delivery, you are essentially a car with a leak in the oil pan. Eventually, you will run out of oil.� If the technology and the supporting data are indeed available, why are organizations still paying close attention to pitch count and innings limits?

Gwreck wrote: Prior was in the draft out of high school but didn't sign (he was drafted by the MFYs) and instead went to USC. That being said, there's no reference that I can recall re: Peterson and the drafting of Prior. This is out of the recesses of my memory. (Maybe it was Wood, or some other similar guy) I remember Peterson being interviewed (by I think Ed Randall) and mentioned Prior/whoever and saying he was identified early as being a guy likely for an injury. (Just because he didn't draft him doesn't mean he didn't evaulate him as a potential guy should he drop to Oakland/wherever he was at the time)

I love the park. I don't mind the quirks. (would've prefered they didn't lower the CF line. that bothers me a bit. I don't like home run "lines" that aren't the tops of fences in most cases) The RF power by Wright is exaggerated. ALL hitters power is mostly pull. It's been documented. sure, Wright occassionally slashed one the other way and out, but he still can, just further down the line, or higher up so it hits the porch. or gets a triple. I love the triples. The idea of triples over home runs reinforces the team to run hard and aggressively around the bases. Sometimes you feel like (not sure if this is actually documented) rallys die after home runs, but a bases clearing triple with Reyes standing on third is sure to mess up a pitcher. And keeps him out of the windup. It puts pressure on opposing outfielders to field fast, and make good throws, and very few do. We're biased with Frenchy, (and Beltran if he ever returns, who people seem to underrate his arm. I remember a game he airmailed a throw to home plate so high/hard it hit the net. But he's usually pretty accurate, which is great.)

attgig wrote: so, then I guess everyone here likes what Nolan Ryan is doing with the texas pitching staff, huh? except, I think everyone here has talked about how much dusty baker screws up young arms ie Prior & Wood. So, which one is it? Was dusty baker right even though prior and wood are where they are now? Didn't Rick Peterson avoid drafting Prior because he had an arm angle that was prone to injury or something?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I was born in 1963, and I'd also like to see more complete games. I think the pussies, though, are the managers who cling to pitch counts and save situations. I would suspect a lot of pitchers would like to be able to finish what they start. (Though some may be so young that the thought never occurs to them.) They're taught that it's not up to them, that 100 pitches is okay, etc. And as a result only have the arm strength for 100 pitches, and every foul ball and full count is treated as a failure. Guess what? If it takes you 6 pitches to get Pujols out cause you had to tease him with some balls, that's fine. Pelfrey two starts ago said he wanted to pitch the 8th, but that it wasn't his decision. (This was the start after the save) He says his body bounces back really well. He kinda implied that he could pitch on short rest with no problem. To me, not letting this guy throw 130+ pitches is just asking to fail, especially if the bullpen ever stops being awesome. You gotta make use of the guys that can go long. More so than the pitch counts though, some guys get stronger/smarter as the game goes along. Get more comfortable. I hate when managers take out a guy the inning after a 9 pitching domination inning, just because he's got 98 or 103 pitches. (My 'generation' doesn't remember '86 very well, just as a bench mark here..)

Lots of that's just angry ego ramblings, but there is definitely more going on there. I imagine Omar would still give him a positive referral anyway. I'm sure a lot of it was blown out of proportion too. I would've rather they fired Manuel as well in terms of scapegoat, and they even blamed the opposite field drill on Tony, who I'm not sure really had anything to do with it. What interests me is the fast track program. The list he gives is interesting, and obviously points to either them favoring guys that went through it, or it actually working well, hence those guys being ready. Nick Evans, Daniel Murphy, Mejia, Tejada...definitely noticing a trend here. Guys they trusted were ready and promoted before the fans felt they should've been. Mental toughness (though Evans fails..). It seems like these guys were chosen specifically because they'd already been evalated as being able to handle promotion and the risk of failure before they were ready. And yes, I could see these guys being viewed with jealousy as a "teachers pet" type way.

3 games, 24 hours. Who pitches more innings, Santana or Nieve?

Via PatrickJFlood twitter: "Ryan Howard's OPS against lefties has been in a steady decline his whole career, from .923 in 06 to .653 last season." "In other words: congrats, Phillies, you're going to be paying a lot of money for a potential platoon player!" Which might be a slight exaggeration, but he wasn't going to be a free agent after this season even, they paid him a ton of money which inhibits the ability to sign Rollins/Werth/fixholes, he'll be 35/36 at the end of the contract, and the team didn't get any better despite the much higher payroll. Works for me.

I routinely mute or turn off the TV when Jerry's on now. I don't need to be lied to or try to spot all the contridictions like some crazy Mets word puzzle. I only listen when he's on with Francesa and i'm stuck in the car anyway. But that was my biggest contention with the move to begin with. If it was me, he'd have gone to AA, but I could live with him in teh Majors if he was helping and was still throwing his secondary stuff and not being pigeon holed into some sort of Rivera emulation.

At one point wasn't he in like 4/5 of games? Maybe Jerry's just figuring he should give him a couple of days after that, and situations just stretched it a bit. He was warming up last night. Maybe they chose Valdes when it started to rain figuring he's the guy they'd most prefer to burn if their was a long delay.

Edgy DC wrote: I think relieving at the big league level and returning to the rotation in winter ball is a workable plan, though, don't you? I always feel any major league experience is worth so so much more than minor league. People make arguments about mental toughness, but with the exception of a few players (Nick Evans perhaps), most athletes are mentally tough enough to overcome it. There is so much failure in baseball that if a guy was ruined if he didn't succeed in his first taste, so few players would ever make it. And at this point I'm no longer concerned with Mejia's "development" only with the 2010 Mets. Let him stretch out in winter ball, stop thinking about Verducci (The Mets haven't shown that they necessarily believe or adhere to any sort of Verduccian innings limit for sophmores) and let him pitch here this year if he can help the team win.

Well, I was just speaking of 'clutch' as it applies to the sample size we're discussing. I doubt the Mets keep it up and I doubt the hitters are as bad as they've been. I'm hopeful they can knock off the walks a little bit as the season rounds out. I'll certainly take the BBs if they're going to keep the Ks coming rather than having both go down.

It's kinda amusing in a way that the stats show that the Mets pitchers may be as clutch as the hitters are not. Perez and Santana are two guys that have historically high strand rates. This is also a testiment to the defense. Colder Aprils, Coors Field, all play into those numbers too. Pelfrey is still refining his new pitches and how to throw them. Maine is either going to develop more velocity(or less on his breaking stuff) and control or be replaced by (theoretically) someone with better numbers. Niese is only likely to get better since he's a rookie. So I hope this says those walk numbers will go down, but the other excellent Ks and ERA will stay awesome. Pelfrey has a chance at Pitcher of the Month. especially if Halladay and the Colorado guy..(Jimenez?) get hit their next times out. Pelfrey probably is done for April. (normal rest is the 30th, but his spot is Saturday the 1st.)

Wow. That's bad. I'm just happy they lost a series. All day sunday seemed like a lovefest with them talking about series-wins records to start the season and blah blah blah. Jinxed it maybe. I'm holding out that the guys that they were worried about being 'old' and 'worn down' but aren't early on, do finally succumb to the age factor. Also, isn't A-Rod's hip basically a season-ending surgery waiting to happen? That confuses me, it seemed like almost a sure thing he'd have to have surgery after last season and that it wasn't something that would/could heal.

Too early to break out "The Mets control their own destiny" line? Guess so, since there hasn't been a time they haven't controlled it yet, but hey, why not.

Well, I believe the Mets are very talented anyway, so I'm not going to say Jerry's prepared his guys any better than those great managers, but I did like hearing that the Mets did a "rule a day" type thing in Spring Training, although I don't know who's idea it was. Even really good teams play very sloppy, and I think the pressure of situations and the 'clutchiness' plays in too. The Rays, from what I understand, look pretty solid in this regard, and that's kinda where the Red Sox tried to go. Solid consistant play. (I have not watched either to really know if this is true) Watching the playoffs last year, I saw a ton of the supposedly best teams make a bunch of boneheaded moves. One of those Twins-Yankees games seemed like AA, which is unfortunate because had the Twins played sound fundamentals, they could've won.

Yeah, most baseball players don't study the rulebook looking for these little things that might help once a decade. Plenty of times you don't even see guys attempt to run to first on a dropped third strike, just aren't thinking about that as an option. It's sad in a way. They could probably gain a bit of an edge studying the rules and knowing things like this, but I guess they'd rather take illegal substances, etc.

Jeter supposedly is rarely in the clubhouse and often retreats to unreachable areas beyond post-game comments as he's headed out of sight. I've heard guys like Kay laud him for this, call it 'business like', etc. He'd be ripped for hiding from the media in the Mets clubhouse.

Yeah, until Reyes gets a CS, and Manuel says afterwards he ran through a stop sign.

I heard Keith mention it on the broadcast last night actually. I just watched that, I didn't realize A-Roid made shooing motions with his hands when Braden started talking. That just adds to it in my opinion. (And gee, I'm surprised Francesa didn't mention that in the 20 minutes I heard him talking about it)

On the flip side, I bet we could pick up Daniel murphy real cheap now..

Gwreck wrote: I'd like to someday see a manager whose team is really getting robbed (like in the World Series with Whitey's 1985 Cardinals or Bobby's 2000 Mets) have the stones pull his players off the field, and force the league to choose between a justifiably aggrieved team or a grossly negligent ump. One of my biggest wishes too. The lax umpiring/different rules in the postseason drives me particularly crazy. Hey, if they're ever worried about WS ratings, that would surely help. The Bobby game text from the gamelog: "METS 4TH: Zeile singled to left; Payton flied to center; Ordonez doubled to left [Zeile to third]; Appier reached on a fielder's choice [Ordonez out at third (shortstop to catcher)]; Flo Mgr Perez ejected by Danley. Umpires originally called both out, then ruled that Zeile could return to 3rd. Perez was ejected for arguing the reversal; McEwing doubled to left [Zeile scored, Appier to third]; Relaford struck out; 1 R, 3 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Marlins 1, Mets 2. "