Everyone Just Take It Easy
In all the frustration surrounding the extremely slow pace of the 2010 incarnation of the New York Mets, one thought keeps coming to mind: this is still April,right?
After P Mike Pelfrey put the stops to a 4 game skid Thursday afternoon, the Mets sit at 3-6. Does anyone remember 2000? The year Armando Benitez blew the World Series against the Yankees by failing to close out Game 1 and set the tone for a runaway Yankees win?
That team was 4-6 on Tax Day.
Does that mean this team is destined for the World Series in 2010? Hardly. It just illustrates my point that the hyperbole that manager Jerry Manuel needs to go and the like needs to be put on a hold.
At least until May 1.
I keed, I keed. Jerry Manuel may not have the coldest seat in majors, but sometimes clubs need a while to find themselves. Some players deliver, some don't. Others step up and find a role no one expected.
It's still far too early to try to suggest roster moves and the like. However, one glaring weakness is the pitching. The bats aren't exactly waking the dead, but OF Jeff Francoeur is off to hot start, David Wright is right about where he should be, and Jason Bay is more productive than his numbers indicate.
The pitching, on the other hand, looks like something I drove by on the side of the road waiting to be cleaned up.
After Johan Santana- who didn't look at all as dominant on Sunday against the paltry Washington Nationals as he did on Opening Day against the Florida Marlins- and Pelfrey, you have a muddled mess of question marks.
John Maine is a mess. He can go one of two ways: either he's been injured so long that it's just taking him a while to find himself again or he'll be chasing down Anthony Young in the baseball record books so.
That's a bad thing .
Oliver Perez is as "Jekyll and Hyde" as they come and I will shed no tears the day he goes away. Far, far, away. Sure now that I typed that he'll pitch a three-hit shut out, but the next outing he'll get shelled and chased after three innings. Is it worth it, I ask you? IS IT?
Jonathan Niese may eventually turn out to be a serviceable starter and I'm not ready to give up on him. I saw him pitch in AAA and he does have some nasty breaking pitches. He just doesn't seem to fooling many people with a 1.82 WHIP ratio. If that number comes down on a consistent basis, the Mets may have found that third starter. My gut tells me he will, but as John Cusack said in the movie "High Fidelity": "...my guts have shit for brains".
If Niese rounds out, that makes Maine or Perez the linchpin to a successful season. Oh, and the injury bug has to stay away. Who knew last year that the bullpen would give me the least amount acid reflux.
The old baseball adage is that pitching wins championships.
I'll settle for a series with the Rockies, for now.
After P Mike Pelfrey put the stops to a 4 game skid Thursday afternoon, the Mets sit at 3-6. Does anyone remember 2000? The year Armando Benitez blew the World Series against the Yankees by failing to close out Game 1 and set the tone for a runaway Yankees win?
That team was 4-6 on Tax Day.
Does that mean this team is destined for the World Series in 2010? Hardly. It just illustrates my point that the hyperbole that manager Jerry Manuel needs to go and the like needs to be put on a hold.
At least until May 1.
I keed, I keed. Jerry Manuel may not have the coldest seat in majors, but sometimes clubs need a while to find themselves. Some players deliver, some don't. Others step up and find a role no one expected.
It's still far too early to try to suggest roster moves and the like. However, one glaring weakness is the pitching. The bats aren't exactly waking the dead, but OF Jeff Francoeur is off to hot start, David Wright is right about where he should be, and Jason Bay is more productive than his numbers indicate.
The pitching, on the other hand, looks like something I drove by on the side of the road waiting to be cleaned up.
After Johan Santana- who didn't look at all as dominant on Sunday against the paltry Washington Nationals as he did on Opening Day against the Florida Marlins- and Pelfrey, you have a muddled mess of question marks.
John Maine is a mess. He can go one of two ways: either he's been injured so long that it's just taking him a while to find himself again or he'll be chasing down Anthony Young in the baseball record books so.
That's a bad thing .
Oliver Perez is as "Jekyll and Hyde" as they come and I will shed no tears the day he goes away. Far, far, away. Sure now that I typed that he'll pitch a three-hit shut out, but the next outing he'll get shelled and chased after three innings. Is it worth it, I ask you? IS IT?
Jonathan Niese may eventually turn out to be a serviceable starter and I'm not ready to give up on him. I saw him pitch in AAA and he does have some nasty breaking pitches. He just doesn't seem to fooling many people with a 1.82 WHIP ratio. If that number comes down on a consistent basis, the Mets may have found that third starter. My gut tells me he will, but as John Cusack said in the movie "High Fidelity": "...my guts have shit for brains".
If Niese rounds out, that makes Maine or Perez the linchpin to a successful season. Oh, and the injury bug has to stay away. Who knew last year that the bullpen would give me the least amount acid reflux.
The old baseball adage is that pitching wins championships.
I'll settle for a series with the Rockies, for now.
Comments