Opening Day Thoughts

Horrendous Umpiring:

Hanley Ramirez struck out before walking ahead of Willingham's eventual HR in the 4th. Reyes was clearly safe when attempting the steal in the 6th. Santana threw at least 5 pitches where an expletive flew out of my mouth in between "where the" and "was that" - and if I remember correctly 2 or 3 of those times Keith, Gary, and Ron agreed. For those keeping score at home, that's one SB for the 2B umpire and 1 H, 1BB, 2ER for the HP umpire. This sport can't get replay fast enough.

Santana:

Having not watched a ton of spring games, all I can say is that his changeup is as good as advertised. The K of Ramirez in the 5th was one of those outs that the Mets didn't get down the stretch last year - it was nice to see.

The Bullpen:

Matt Wise looked underwhelming but his changeup does seem like it could be a great pitch for a one-inning guy. Willie still loves the Show - and I still strongly dislike Willie.

Bottom Line:

1-0

Wise Decision

Omar, you may not be such a moron after all. Matt Wise has been a pretty decent pitcher in his career. Before beaning Pedro Lopez in the jaw last season, Wise was considered a solid reliever and a live arm.

He has a career ERA+ of 108 so he's slightly better than average - and if the Mets had an average bullpen for the last two months of 2007 the season may have played out a little differently. I'm waiting for the 2008 PECOTA to come out but the numbers seem to indicate that his best season in 2005 may have been a fluke. His BABIP was .190 compared to over .280 in the year before and after. His H/9 was considerably lower than his career average (5.4/8.4ish) and his strikeouts were way up. The most telling sign was his sub-1.00 WHIP compared to a career average of 1.21

All that considered, even when Wise wasn't at his peak he was a better than average reliever who gave 50-60 quality innings without giving up many home runs or walks. If nothing else, it's a step in the right direction.