Who Figuer-ed?

Nelson was brilliant yesterday, pitching 7 innings and driving in as many runs (1) as he gave up. What more could you ask from your number seven starter?

Others who contributed to yesterday's miniature offensive outburst were Anderson Hernandez, Jeff Francoeur and Daniel Murphy with RBI hits (Hernandez's a triple).

Fernando Tatis seemed to get a hold of a ball in the top of the fourth inning, and he hit a shot to left, but the wind knocked it down and it didn't even make the warning track.

The wind could have been the story of the day as it (possibly) played a role in around 7 plays, most of which involved Luis Castillo. Castillo was battling like nobody's business, but when he yielded to Jeff Francoeur on a pop-up in the ninth, Francoeur dropped it. Kosuke Fukodome, who was on first, was forced out at second by the alert Castillo, but those two Mets were having a rough time of it.

The Mets Win a Balllgame!!

Russ Hodges immortal words (which can be heard here) almost should have been parodied in Landshark Stadium today.

"The Mets win a ballgame...The Mets win a ballgame...I don't believe it...The Mets win a ballgame" would have hardly been inappropriate. Why didn't Howie Rose use those words? Because they were up by 7 runs.

But what a display the Mets put on today. Trotting out a lineup that had fewer home runs combined than the Marlins top two sluggers, the Mets promptly made mincemeat of Anibal Sanchez and crew.

Every single member of the Mets starting lineup (1-8) had at least two hits. Anderson Hernandez had three. Daniel Murphy cracked 2 RBI doubles, Jeff Francoeur knocked in a pair, and the New York Mets were on their way to victory.

The only Met who couldn't get anything done in the batter's box more than proved his worth in that of the pitcher. Just 3 runs on 5 hits in 6.2 innings. There's not much more you can ask for from Tim Redding. Now, Johan Santana's a different story. But remember, this is Tim Redding. TIM REDDING. You know, the guy who just managed to get his ERA under 6 with this fine outing. Ya Gotta take that!

Tomorrow is Pat Misch's first start of the year. He'll be taking on the Chicago Cubs and Ted Lilly.

If the Met year had gone differently, if say, Delgado, Beltran, Reyes, Wright, Church, Sheffield, Schneider, Pagan and Fernando Martinez had not been injured - if Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and JJ Putz had not gotten hurt - if all of the above had played as expected and the Mets had only one starting pitcher pitching like a number five starter, I might be making fun of the Cubbies right now.

But that ain't happening.

Poll Results: Our last poll asked you, "Who's your favorite infielder?" The winner was former-and-current Met Anderson Hernandez.

Bright Spots

In what looks like a lost year for the New York Mets, I'd like to highlight a (slighlty) bright spot: Perspective.

2009 seems to be the year of the injury. But it's more than that: It is, to some extent, the year of "What Will Be."

Angel Pagan, Daniel Murphy, Fernando Martinez, Bobby Parnell: These men have all been auditioning for jobs with the 2010 New York Mets. And Angel, with his real production, may just have earned one.

And the other thing about this year worth mentioning is the carousel of unqualified shortstops that the Mets have put out there. I have nothing against Anderson Hernandez, Ramon Martinez, Wilson Valdez, Angel Berroa and Argenis Reyes.

But, seriously, are these the New York Mets or the B-Mets?

That's Three

It was not exactly a great moment for Met fandom, but this was a pretty cool (and rare) play.

Also, hat's off to Angel Pagan, who is (I believe) the first Met with two home runs in a game since Daniel Murphy.

Itch

In 2005, Ichiro hit 15 home runs. Obviously I don't follow him or the Mariners too closely, but that definitely surprised me. I recall reading a quote from his father (I think) saying that if he wanted to, Ichiro could hit 30 home runs in a season.

Okay. But there are two things.

1. The whole point was that he could - but that that's not his game. His game is about speed and offense; and
2. It's his father, so I'm not entirely certain about how much stock we should put in what he said about Ichiro.*

* I am reminded right now of Ty Cobb. Cobb, as you probably know, was arguably the best hitter of all time. (He wasn't, but people argue that he was.) He has the highest batting average of all time, and I believe I once read something along the lines of "Ty Cobb retired having set 106 records, one of which was having set most records." Point is, he was good. And to some extent, he was an Ichiro slap-the-ball-and-run type player. Which I suppose most people were back when he played. He supposedly practiced his bunting by putting down a sweater and trying to get the ball to land on the edge of the sleeve.

Anyway, while he was a quasi-slugger (I mean, he did lead the league in slugging percentage eight times), he wasn't exactly your prototypical knock-the-cover-off-the-ball type of hitter. From 1906 (his first kind of full-time season) to 1920, he topped out at 9 home runs in a year, averaging about 4.5.

That was when the live-ball era arrived. And this aging quasi-slugger, this stolen base man, the fellow who practiced having his bunts land on the cuff of the sweater, this 34-year-old sixteen-year veteran, hit 12 home runs in a season twice.

I'm not going to say that 15 home runs is such a huge total , but it sure ain't bad from a Gold Glove outfielder who will also pound out 200 hits. On the Mets he's be batting third.

2001 was one of the best (if not the best) year for the Rookie of the Year Award. The American League Award went to Ichiro Suzuki, while the National League Award went to Albert Pujols. I just want to point out that if they each keep up their pace for the next month and a half, they will have each played nine full seasons.

In only 3 of them will Ichiro not have led the American League in hits. In only 3 of them will Albert Pujols not have had either won the MVP award or placed runner up.

Just saying.

Wild Game

Trivia Question: What is Ichiro Suzuki's career high in home runs? (answer later)

Another Question: Why is it that the Mets major league team doesn't cover the bases properly? (No answer forthcoming)

What a game! How often do you see a pitcher give up 8 runs in an inning - and remain in the game to pitch the next inning?

A couple of players earned a trip to the moon in frequent flier miles in tonight's game. Here's basically what happened:

Anderson Hernandez started off the game at shortstop. In the bottom of the third inning, Wilson Valdez pinch-hit for Bobby Parnell. That's where all the trouble started. Valdez remained in the game as the shortstop and Anderson Hernandez shifted to second, with Luis Castillo being double-switched out for Nelson Figueroa.

In the bottom of the fifth, Andy Green pinch-hit for Figueroa. Green remained in the game at second base and Anderson Hernandez went back to shortstop, with Wilson Valdez now shifting to left field to replace Gary Sheffield who was double-switched out of the game for Tim Redding.

In the bottom of the eighth, Cory Sullivan pinch-hit for Redding. He remained in the game as the left fielder. Valdez went back to shortstop, with Anderson Hernandez going back to second. Andy Green shifted to third taking over defensively for Fernando Tatis, whose spot in the batting order was taken by Sean Green.

This would all be so much cooler if it happened because the Mets did this in a game in which they were blowing out the enemy instead of vice-versa.

Answer: 15. For more, click here.

Who's Up First?

Let's start off with a question: What is the average number of pitchers who have had at least one at-bat for National League teams this year?

I just concluded a bit of research on pitchers hitting and I found out (essentially) nothing (well, kind of). The team with the most pitchers with at least one PA is in last place. The team with the fewest is in first. Not only that, but the NL teams that leads in this category are both in last place. That would seem to tell you that the best teams have fewer pitchers hit. The problem? The Yankees lead all AL teams.

Additionally, the AL teams that are in second place are in the first, third, fourth and fifth places in their respective divisions. Hmm...

The NL teams that are in second place in terms of amount of pitchers with PAs are teams in first and 2nd place.

The reason that I have not given you any numbers is because I wanted them to be a mystery only to be solved at the end of this excruciatingly long blog post. I know that I, for one, was quite surprised by how many pitchers have hit. In fact this all happened when I saw that the Blue Jays had 8 pitchers hit. I thought that was a lot. They only play 9 games a year without the DH. Assuming that there are 5 starters, even assume one starter goes down with an injury, you have 6 starters - there are an additional 2 pitchers that get At-Bats? I guess so.

In fact, they don't even lead their own division. So what do I know.

Answer: 14

Just me, once again, but that seems pretty high, too.

I wrote earlier that I learned essentially nothing from this exercise. That's true. What it does seem like to me, however, is that in the National League you can kind of get a gauge of how good the team is by seeing how many pitchers batted. Which, of course, makes sense. The worse your pitchers are, the more you'll use. The more you use, the higher the number of pitchers who step to the plate.

Here are the numbers. If they're not neat enough, you can write to your Congressperson.

Yankees 9
Red Sox 8
Rays 6
Blue Jays 8
Orioles 8

Tigers 7
W. Sox 5
Twins 6
Indians 8
Royals 6

Angels 4
Rangers 7
Mariners 7
A's 6

Average 6.78

Phillies 13
Marlins 16
Braves 12
Mets 14
Nats 18

Cards 13
Cubs 12
Brew 13
Astros 13
Reds 15
Pirates 14

Dodgers 16
Rockies 10
Giants 14
D-Backs 13
Padres 18

Average 14

Poll Results: I asked "Which injured Met will return to Major League action first?" It now seems as though the answer is Billy Wagner, who was not even an option in the poll.

I think I was hoping that by the time I reviewed the poll we would know the answer, but alas, that is not the case.

Anyway, the poll ended in a three-way tie between Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes.

Speaking of injured Mets, this is a great article from the SNY website. Feast your eyes. And remember, his point is so much better now that David Wright is down and out.

That Was Ugly

Skeptics predicted it. Fans dreaded it. And yesterday it happened.

What? This.

How ironic is it that right as the pitch was about to be thrown, the FOX announcer said "That's good old country hardball here."

With the amount of injuries that the Mets have suffered this year, you would think they would make it their business to move their Triple A team somewhere less than, say, 300 miles away. It's just economically prudent.

Bitter

Well, what if I am bitter about the way the Mets are playing? I can still point out the inaccuracies of other people.

Get a load of this. Nice sliding play by David Eckstein. But did you get a load of the title of that clip: "Eckstein's strong throw?" You've got to be kidding me.

Congratulations to Alex Cora on hitting his first home run of the year. He was the fifteenth Met to hit a home run this year. And Geico wants you to know...Just kidding.

Cans of Corn

I think the Mets players are like cans of corn - they're dropping like flies.

Yesterday, the Mets got news of a setback to Jose Reyes's recovery. Then Luis Castillo fell down the dugout steps and had to leave the game.

Today, adding injury to injury, Johnathan Niese hurt his hamstring while covering first base on an attempted double play. And then Gary Sheffield pulled up lame at first base after crushing a base hit to left-center field.

Yet they won. Nelson Figueroa and Bobby Parnell spun 7.1 scoreless innings - against an offense that had scored 12 runs the night before and the offense, led by Angel Pagan and and David Wright, scored seven runs.

I still think that with all their players healthy, they are, at the very least, the team to beat in the Wild Card race.

Now if Beltran and Delgado can just come back.

You know what Yogi said: It ain't over 'til it's over.

Innocent

As you probably know if you're living and breathing, Omar Minaya has been getting a fair amount of blame for the Mets substandard record in 2009. And he should probably expect it.

The Mets have the highest payroll in the National League. To think that they are struggling right now, trying to ease their way up to .500 seems to show some significant mismanagement. It's hard to blame people for getting disturbed.

But, if you ask me, (and I know you didn't, but it's my blog) it's hard to blame Omar Minaya for this team's troubles.

Last year, the Mets won 89 games and finished 3 games out of first place.

They basically played with this team:

C Brian Schneider/Ramon Castro/Raul Casanova/Robinson Cancel (C+)
1B Carlos Delgado (A-)
2B Luis Castillo/Damion Easley/Argenis Reyes (C)
3B David Wright (A+)
SS Jose Reyes (A)
LF Fernando Tatis/Daniel Murphy/Nick Evans/Angel Pagan/Marlon Anderson/Moises Alou (B-)
CF Carlos Beltran (A+)
RF Ryan Church/Endy Chavez/Trot Nixon (B)

Those letters in parentheses are the grades that I gave to the positions. They are approximate. That's a pretty good team.

Here is what I assume Jerry Manuel figured:
1. Brian Schneider/Ramon Castro would continue their decent catching duties.
2. Carlos Delgado, who hit torridly the last 3 months of last year, as well as in the World Baseball Classic, would put up similar numbers to those of last year.
3. Luis Castillo would improve on last year's injury-hampered numbers.
4&5. David Wright and Jose Reyes would at least duplicate their numbers from last year, while possibly showing some improvement considering that they are both under 27.
6. Daniel Murphy would be able to play left field and hit rather nicely.
7. Carlos Beltran would be Carlos Beltran.
8. Ryan Church would, after full recovery from last year's injury debacle, play quite well.

Here is where Omar's luck went bad: Of his 8 rather reasonable assumptions, only 3 (1, 3, 5) came to fruition. Injuries bad ballplaying hampered 5 of the 8 everyday positions.

But there's more. It's not like the Mets had no decent backups. They had Fernando Tatis, who was great last year as a semi-regular ready to back up the corner infield and outfield positions. They had Alex Cora, a fine backup infielder. They had Gary Sheffield and Nick Evans, both of whom can seemingly hit a bit, and play a little (very little) defense. And Jeremy Reed, who is this year's Endy Chavez, was availabe to back up the three outfield spots.

In a nutshell, here is what happened. Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, got hurt. Ryan Church, Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis (and David Wright, to a lesser extent) clearly underperformed. CLEARLY. Throw in an injury to JJ Putz, and you've got yourself a lost season.

Unless...they come back. And perform. And win.

* * *

I was holding a relative's (relatively) new-born baby today. It burped and spit up. The baby's mother asked "Oh, did it burp or spit up?" to which someone else responded something like "both."

I said, "I like that it burped and spit up. That's my kind of person."