It's Official

It's official. We have seen way too much Obama-mania in this country over the past 20 months or so.

How so? I was watching Mike Piazza's dramatic home run in the bottom of the eighth inning on September 21, 2001. That was the first (professional) baseball game played in New York City after the 9/11 attacks. With the Mets down by a run with one out and Desi Relaford* on first base, Piazza cranked a home run over the center field fence. This was a huge moment for New York. The TV cameras showed the ebullient fans jumping up and down and cheering like crazy. Then it showed the auxiliary scoreboard down the left-field line which flashed "Home Run!"

*Remember him? Desi Relaford was the backup infielder for the Mets for that lone 2001 season. I was probably his biggest fan. In what was one of the best years of his career, he put up a .302/.364/.472 line. Not bad for a backup infielder. He'd be batting second on the 2009 Mets. He also pitched a perfect inning for the Mets (to give some relief to the relief pitchers) when they were getting shelled by the Padres.

As you may recall, (okay, probably not) Desi was included in the deal with the Giants that netted the Mets Shawn Estes. Though, you probably have not heard much (if anything) about him of late (since the end of the 2005 season, he's started 9 Major League games), Shawn was in the major leagues with the Padres last year, and pitched, quite frankly, a lot better than Livan Hernandez did. Maybe the Mets should have gotten him instead.

He began this year with the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate and pitched quite well, posting 3-4 record, but an ERA of 3.07. He is no longer playing, but is officially "not retired."

The TV flashed to a fan jumping up and down with a sign that read "WE BELIEVE." Then it showed Piazza getting greeted by his teammated near the dugout steps. It flashes to the auxiliary scoreboard down the right-field line, which scrolls "YES." And my mind immediately expects to see "WE CAN."

WOW!

This is ridiculous.

And let me just point out that either

1. That guy is so scraped and bruised from messing up so many times that his mother probably doesn't recognize him; or

2. That guy is so awesome that he isn't scraped and bruised.

I don't know which is a scarier concept.

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.

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.

Optimism?

Everybody thinks that the Mets stink. And can you blame them? They're nine games out of first place.

Well, if you're feeling blue about this team, orange you happy to read these optimistic notes.

1. Johan Santana, who is darn good whenever, is markedly better after the All-Star break. Just for one example, last year his ERA, WHIP, and SO/BB ratio were all much better after the All-Star break. And he went 8-0.
2. David Wright is a power hitter. He will likely hit some home runs in the second half.
3. Daniel Murphy is seemingly getting comfortable at first. Maybe he'll start hitting.
4. The bullpen is pretty good.
5. If Carlos Delgado comes back in, like two weeks, and gets hot, he could carry this team.
6. Fernando Tatis is probably a bit better than he's playing.

I know, I know, it's a weak list. But the fifth point (while containing a big "if") can be huge.

Baseball Note: According to this, the fourth-most similar pitcher to Tim Lincecum through age 24 (I know you were wondering) is Jim Bouton (who, in case you don't know, was arguably the most influential baseball player ever).

Weekend Notes

After a really tough loss to the Yankees at their new "wiffle ball stadium" on Friday night (capped by a Luis Castillo error), the Mets rebounded last night by beating the Yankees 6-2. Gary Sheffield likes going back to being a designated hitter - he's 4 for 10 with two home runs and a double in the last two games.

David Wright, if you didn't know, is leading the major leagues in batting average.
Carlos Beltran is not far behind.
Fernando Nieve pitched solidly in place of the injured John Maine.
The Mets had 17 hits today.
They are not dead.
Trust me.

Interesting Note: It might just be me, but it seems as though there is an inordinate number of former Mets second basemen floating around the Major Leagues.

1. Melvin Mora, BAL - played 8 games at second base with the Mets in 1999-2000 before being traded (with others) to the Orioles for Mike Bordick.
2. Ty Wigginton, BAL - played 37 games at second base with the Mets in 2002 and 2004 before being traded to the Pirates in 2004 in the Kris Benson deal.
3. Marco Scutaro, TOR - played in 51 games at second base for the Mets in 2002-2003 before being waived in 2003.
4. Anderson Hernandez, WAS - played in 18 games at second base for the Mets in 2005-2006 before being sent to the Nationals in 2008 to complete the Luis Ayala deal.
5. Kazuo Matsui, HOU - played in 105 games at second base with the Mets in 2004-2006 before being traded in 2006 for Eli Marrero.
6. Jeff Keppinger, HOU - played in 32 games with the Mets at second base in 2004 before being traded in 2006 to the Royals for Ruben Gotay.
   

Ruben Gotay (who played 37 games at second in 2007) does not make the list. He might soon, considering he is a AAA infielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks and his on-base percentage is currently more than 50 points higher than what the Diamondbacks are getting from their second basemen.