Bend Ya Knees: Week 2 / The Mets Can't Hit

After a horrible, horrible loss to the Brewers yesterday, the only thing that can lift my spirits is to check out just how much we ripped off the Nats.

.308/.351/.442 - Yes, Lastings has drawn three walks so far! You know how many walks Ryan Church has? Three. Yeah, he's just as good.

And B-Schneid? He has two. Oh wait, that's passed balls - he has six walks! Right again - he's twice the OBP machine that Lastings is.

Alright, there's no getting around it - this team just can't hit. Outside of Wright, Beltran, and maybe Church against righties, who do you feel comfortable with at the plate? Angel Pagan is going to come back to earth and so will B-Schneid. Castillo is, in the words of B!T "the Juan Pierre Lite who at this point is basically just hoping to walk because he can't hit and can't run."

Delgado is a shell of his former self and won't accept it and start trying to use the whole field consistently. Whenever it looks like he's starting to hit line drives and go to all fields he crushes one into the scoreboard and gets pull-happy again for a month.

The fact is that once Pagan and Schneider come back down from their 158 OPS+ and .409 OBP clouds this team is going to score two runs every game if they're lucky. And it should be right about when that moment comes that the Willie Watch will commence. It can't come soon enough

Worried Yet?

Despite all the feel good "he broke down his swing and built it back from scratch" articles, Delgado still can't catch up with an inside fastball. And he's hurt again.

El Duque's many root canals are catching up with him. He hasn't even thrown batting practice yet.

Luis Castillo may not ever play in a spring game because his knees are held together by bazooka and masking tape.

Ruben Gotay's ankle may been broken and now we have to be ready to cross our fingers that Stache can make a much speedier recovery than expected and be on the bench for Opening Day.

Filthy Sanchez had an "underwhelming" fastball when he threw on Friday and hasn't even long tossed since. The Professor says that he's "still building arm strength."

Ryan Church had his possibly anti-semitic clock rung by Marlon Anderson and has to wear sunglasses to protect his sensitive eyes from the light.

And as if it couldn't get any worse, Wally Matthews ripped off an idea from the Mets blogosphere and penned a column suggesting "funny" slogans for the Mets to adopt this season. To add insult to injury, his final "witty" suggestion is "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Way to stay on top of those pop culture references Wally...but Benigno and Screech used the song for their fantastic montage of the final day of the season's highlights.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 New York Mets!

Big Wally Style

Even when just about everyone in baseball is high on the Mets, our old friend Wally just can't resist being a big downer. Apparently Met fans haven't been sleeping for a week - they've been planning on all the different ways they're going to boo Johan out of Shea:

What will be acceptable production? Twenty wins? Twenty-five? Thirty? Or just enough to get them to October, when the judgment process will begin all over again. For all his regular-season brilliance, Santana's postseason record with the Twins was a so-so 1-3 with a 3.97 ERA.

I was waiting for the first opinion on Santana's playoff record. You got him Wally, he's a regular A-Rod in the clutch. What Wal-Dog forgot to mention is that after his first 3 rocky outings in 2002 and 2003, Johan has allowed 3 ER in 20 postseason IP - that's a 1.35 ERA but who's keeping track? Oh, and Wally...one more thing. In 2004 Johan pitched 12 innings in the ALDS against the beloved Yankees. His line you ask? 1 W, 12 IP, 1 ER. What a C-H-O-K-E-R! Destined to make an ass out of himself on the grandest stage of them all!

The rest of the column was Wally praying out loud that Santana crack under the pressure of playing in New York. Because honestly, if Santana goes 20-5 with a sub-3 ERA, what will The Keeg's former radio partner have to write about?

Remember how Mets fans made Carlos Beltran's life hell for his first season and a half? And how last year, Carlos Delgado could barely poke his head out of the dugout without being showered with boos? The good news for them is, they've moved down the payroll list. There's a new kid in town, with a bigger paycheck and, presumably, a bigger target on his back.

Yes Wally, Mets fans just can't wait to boo the living piss out of the best pitcher in baseball. In fact, I just dropped $250 on a custom-ordered "Overpaid" #57 jersey. Honestly, someone at Newsday needs to tell Mr. Matthews that when he needs to reach this far to bash the Mets he should just stick to bashing Roy Jones Jr.

You Pick Your New Wallpaper and/or Screensaver

With all due respect to Metstradamus and his impeccable photoshopping skills... Doesn't the real thing hurt so much more?

Remember everyone complaining about the Mets not having any heart? Not playing with any emotion? Not caring about choking away a 7 game lead in the middle of September?

Apparently the solution was to get rid of the two guys who may have actually gave a fuck.

I was on board with the Milledge trade when it happened...now, I'm not so sure. The thought of Captain Red Ass and Da Edge combining to hit .500 with 20 HR against Met pitching in 2008 isn't particularly appetizing.

But rest assured loyal Mets fans, this upstanding gentleman who exited the clubhouse after the quite epic collapse looking like this should be fully healed and ready to go just in time for spring training.

No more stories of barely legal girls from Oneonta instead of smoking hot playmate wives. No more articulate rap songs praising the benefits of deep knee bends. Just someone named Carlos telling the media that this team is so good that sometimes they just get bored.

The Team! The Time! The Utter Humiliation!

The Legend Of Joe Smith

I knew there was a reason to go to a Marlins game

Despite a second straight loss to the Fish, there were a few positives to take away from tonight's game. Conversely there were a few negatives as well. Shall we?

Positives:

1. Mike Pelfrey settled in nicely after a shaky 1st inning. His command improved dramatically after he took some speed off his fastball. He went 6.1 solid innings and should have secured himself a few more starts.
2. David Wright began snapping out of his April daze after being moved up to the #2 hole, going 3-4 with his first HR since last July...well first HR of the season.
3. Joe Smith continues to amaze, improving his season-opening scoreless streak to 13 innings after coming in after Pelfrey in the 7th with two runners on base.
4. Carlos Delgado also picked up a couple of hits, going the other way both times and getting himself over the Mendoza line.
   

Negatives:

1. Aaron Heilman gave up a monster shot to the new Pat Burrell - Josh Willingham. Heilman has been erratic and inconsistent all season...If he's hurt, I'm with Metsradamus, put him on the DL.
2. Moises Alou doesn't look good at the plate (although he had another sparkling play in the field) since the shoulder situation on Saturday.
3. The hitting with RISP has been bad all year - .245 to be exact compared to a MLB-leading .287 overall), and it's starting to kill rallies now that the team isn't winning games in blowouts.

Overall it's not quite time to panic. If Pelfrey can be a reliable #5, than the team should be fine until Duque and Valentin get back.

Oliver looks to save the series tomorrow afternoon against Anibal Sanchez. It should be interesting to see if Willie keeps David Wright in the two hole or if he drops him back to fifth...it's more likely that David stays up top, with LoDuca probably getting the day game after the night game off.

One More Thing...

People booed David Wright (left, in the low cut shirt) at last night's game. People booed Carlos Delgado at last night's game. It's not quite the Bronx circa 2004 when they booed Jeter, but it's not really the time or the place when you want the face of the franchise to snap out of a season opening funk.

Since I'm basically illiterate and can't contribute anything else relevant to the discussion, I'll quote Mike's Mets' contributor Joyce:

I sat there and I was as upset as anyone. I saw the wheels come off in the 3rd inning. I saw the poor defense and the men left stranded time and time again. But did I boo David Wright? Of course not. And those of you who did should be ashamed of yourselves. This crowd turned on the entire team in a New York minute. They booed David, they booed Delgado, they booed Easley, they booed everyone and when they weren't booing, they were moaning and groaning. Actually, I may have moaned on the dropped balls myself...

The weird vibe at Shea last night almost made me long for the good 'ole days when no one expected to win and if we did it was a nice bonus to a night at the ball game. Almost. I want to win. I want to win badly. But c'mon guys. Relax. These aren't the years when we were 35 games under .500 and we have to let management know that we aren't going to stand for this anymore. I think that everyone knows we want to win. I don' think booing our team is going to help David break out of his slump or make Easley feel any better about dropping that ball in the 3rd.

I hate to scold all of you who booed. I know you have every right to boo if you want. And believe me, I know how much those tickets cost and you have paid for your right to boo if you so chose. I was just taken aback last night by the sheer negativity in the crowd. Yes, I stayed till the end. No, I did not think we would win at any point last night. I did not think we would win once I heard that Chan Ho Park was starting. Yet, I try to be supportive. Try and look at the bigger picture. We're a good team now - remember?

Agreed.

Sometimes It's Better To Keep The Old Mouth Shut

Keith Hernandez is a prophet. Jimmy Rollins is going to have to hit .400/50/150 to back up his mouth at this point. (Photo swiped from Adam Rubin's Surfing the Mets Blog)

Update: LoDuca goes yard in the top of the first, Delgado drops a routine toss from Jose "Pink Panther Moustache" Valentin on the first hitter in the bottom half and Glavine promptly walks Renteria on 4 pitches...Chipper pops up and I cross my fingers.

I'm Betting the Kid Isn't a Fan of The Policy in Iraq

ESPN.com is reporting that Doug Mientkiewicz's replacement has left the team to be with his wife in Puerto Rico for the birth of their first child...

In other news Don Zimmer's most fearsome sparring partner made 125 tosses from 75 feet today...apparently that's a good thing.

"'I'm on the same program but making a lot more progress than the previous week,' Martinez said.

Martinez said he throws four days during the week and spends about five hours a day working out at the Mets' minor-league facility in Port St. Lucie.

'It's agonizing some times,' Martinez said. 'So far I am sticking to the program. I feel real good, no pain. I'm not evening icing yet. But this is just throwing long. When you throw off the mound it's totally different.'"

Everyone's favorite Jewish RF is reportedly losing his "stronghold" on a starting spot according to Newsday's David Lennon.

Does it matter if there's an aspiring record producer with a bad attitude in RF or a over-the-hill, poorly defending, "I wonder if I should play on Yom Kippur or not" in RF? I don't think so. Milledge is destined to be trade bait anyway with the emergence of Gomez and Martinez in the minor league OF ranks.