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."

Poll Results

Okay. The results of our poll are in. The poll asked about your reaction to the Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur trade. And let's put it bluntly: The trade was not up to scratch - at least for our voter(s).

The new poll is up. The question is "Which injured Met will return to MLB playing action soonest?"
The choices are Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, JJ Putz and Jose Reyes.

Vote early, vote often.

Late Push

With the trading deadline creeping up - and with it the decision of whether to become buyers or sellers - the Mets have gone on a winning spree. Before falling to the Rockies in the second game of their twinbill on Thursday, the New York Mets - with all their injuries - were winners of five straight.

How did this injury ravaged lineup win five straight. Well, it's kind of simple. When you give up nine runs in five games and score at least four per, you're giving yourself a good shot. Every starter pitched well - even Oliver Perez was OK - and the offense was doing the job, too.

The Mets stand six games back of the Giants in the wildcard hunt.

Notes: I'd like to note Fernando Tatis's two home runs against the Rockies. Number six on the year, Thursday, put him into a tie for third on the Mets this year, with Omir Santos and David Wright. They're behind Gary Sheffield and Carlos Beltran. (Seriously, how much money could I have made by betting that David Wright, 375 at-bats into the season, would have 6 home runs.

Also, nice heads-up play by Angel Berroa in the top of the seventh yesterday. Troy Tulowitzki hit a high fly to left. Tatis tracked it to the wall and leaped, but missed the play. Anyway, the ball bounced hard off the padding and was making its way back to the infield, when Berroa, the shortstop, picked it up and threw it in.

Not something you see every day.

Welcome

Fernando Nieve, who tore his right quadriceps while running out an infield grounder yesterday, has been placed on the disabled list, and outfielder Cory Sullivan has been called up from Triple-A to take his spot on the roster.

According to this,

"The team called up Sullivan rather than 22-year-old prospect Nick Evans (who played 15 games for the Mets prior to the All-Star break) because of Sullivan's versatility.

"In our situation now, in Cory's defense, he has a little bit more versatility than Nick," manager Jerry Manuel said. "He can play center field, he can play right field. Nick is a first baseman/left fielder basically, and he's still growing and learning those positions.""

Now, maybe I'm crazy (it's been argued), but to me, that doesn't really make any sense. Two days ago it seemed as though the Mets outfield consisted of Jeff Francoeur in right, Angel Pagan in center, and Gary Sheffield in left, with Fernando Tatis and Jeremy Reed as the backups. Okay, now Sheffield hurts himself.

If I'm the GM, I probably want to call up Nick Evans and play him in left field, but apparently they want Jeremy Reed to play left.

Here's the problem though. The man who went down was not needed to play center or right. Why should his replacement need to? Tatis can play right, and Reed can play all three spots, so a versatile outfielder is irrelevant. Basically, you can have one outfielder who can only play left.

I may have the answer. According to this, the Jerry Manuel is toying with the idea of having Livan Hernandez play some first base. Aha! Should that happen, Daniel Murphy might try to reinvent himself as an outfielder - one who can only play left.

If Jerry is really going to try this, the decision to leave Evans in Buffalo makes some sense. If he isn't - which certainly would seem more likely - it's a mystery.

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).

Poll Results

Ironically enough, considering his terrible start on Friday, our readership (or whoever voted) chose Mike Pelfrey as the second-best starting pitcher on the staff.

Our new poll asks about what your reaction to the Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur was.

Vote early and vote often.

Time for Synagogue

Okay, we're one game past the traditional halfway mark in the baseball schedule, and things are not looking good if you root for the Mets. The Mets, picked by Sports Illustrated to win it all this year, are in fourth place.

With an overflowing portion of injuries to the likes of Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran and the under-performance of players like Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis, the Mets are in hot water.

Then Omar Minaya trades Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur. Ryan Church was one of the Mets only healthy players with any real upside. Sheffield's old, Castillo has no power, Schneider can't really hit. Church was really good last year (especially until the concussion) and has shown flashes of that this year. In fact, with Beltran and Fernando Martinez out, he became our center fielder.

So, let me understand: You trade one of your best uninjured players for a slow outfielder who doesn't hit for average, strikes out a ton, and treats walks as if they're the bubonic plague. Oh, and let me clarify - I'm not talking about and Adam-Dunn-without-the-walks type of player. This is a man with five home runs. Let me repeat that: Five home runs.

I understand that three years ago Jeff Francoeur was a summer sensation. He made Sports Illustrated, got all the hoopla, and for all I know, it didn't even get to his head. But the fact is that right now the guy stinks. And he's seemingly going on a downward trend. Could this trade work out well for the Mets? Sure.

But it doesn't make any sense.

Ugly Update

The Mets, to put it mildly, are suffering mightily. After dropping 3 games in Philadelphia (in which they scored only three runs - three runs), the Mets are now three games under .500 and 4.5 games behind the first-place Phillies.

What's more, the Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles), possessors of the best record in the major leagues as well as Manny Ramirez, are coming to Flushing. Get ready for a long week.

Or should you?

Here's why the Mets might beat the Dodgers...

Game 1: Mike Pelfrey vs. Clayton Kershaw
These two youngsters have a lot of potential between them, so don't look for too many runs on the scoreboard tomorrow night. If Pelfrey is as good as he was last time out, the Mets might just eke out a win.

Game 2: Oliver Perez vs. Hiroki Kuroda
Oliver Perez. The enigma to end all mysteries. He's been devastating so often in his career - and downright terrible just as often. Hopefully he'll be on the top of his game and the Mets can score a few runs. Because otherwise, they're toast.

Game 3: Randy Wolf vs. Livan Hernandez
Probably the game that the Mets have the least chance of winning, as Livan always seems to implode when playing good teams - but what watch out for the fellow. He's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

As I analyze these forthcoming games, I realize that the only reason I give the Mets any chance against the Dodgers is because Tim Redding is not pitching.

How's that for optimism?

Bases on Balls

In a somewhat controversial blog post, Harold Reynolds basically bashes power hitters like Adam Dunn and Adrian Gonzalez because they walk and "clog the bases." He also writes that he doesn't like OPS because a pitcher's fear leads him to walk power hitters and drive up their on-base percentage.

Well, that's a darn good reason for a stat to go up. Walks are extremely valuable. I did some research on the subject and concluded that on occasions that Adam Dunn walked this year, he had 2 RBIs and scored 7 runs.* There were also occasions in which he extended the inning and one of the following batters drove in other base-runners.

All-in-all, walks are not remotely worthless. Batters who draw a lot of them (for any reason) should be rewarded in the statistical record. If they have value, it should show.

*I'm not entirely certain, because I checked these numbers a while back, but I believe that there was also one instance in which he was pinch-run for and the pinch-runner scored.

Closing In...

Carlos Beltran is now hurt. He joins the ever-growing list of wounded Mets that includes such ballplayers as Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, J.J. Putz, Oliver Perez and John Maine. Oh, and don't forget Gary Sheffield. Yet, believe it or not, the Mets are closing in on first place.

Under almost any circumstances, winning three games in a four-game series is impressive. With all those All-Stars on the shelf, it's nearly unfathomable.

So how did the New York Mets, in their current crippled state achieve the unachievable? How did they face off against a first-place (and darn good) St. Louis Cardinals team for a threee-game set and emerge victorious?

A lot of it had to do with starting pitching. Over the four games, Mets starters pitched 27 innings, in which they allowed nine runs (only seven earned) on only 23 hits. Their strikeout to walk ration was a pedestrian 1.36, but the walks didn't hurt all too much and the defense did pretty good work. Was there a luck aspect involved? Probably, but what do you want - this is baseball.

But it was more than that. In the nine innings that the bullpen worked they gave up nothing. 3 hits and no runs. And remember, J.J. Putz, the setup man, is disabled, and Bobby Parnell, his replacement, has been so overworked that they vowed to rest him for the first few games. No runs in four games! It's an impressive achievement, to say the least.

But there's some more credit to pass around. David Wright had 6 hits and 4 runs, Fernando Tatis, who is hopefully out of his seemingly interminable batting slump, had 5 RBIs over the four games. Ryan Church contributed runs and RBIs at the rate of 3 apiece, and the middle of the order, while it may not have scared the Cardinals too much, certainly hurt them.

Tomorrow the Mets take on the Yankees at Citi Field with Mike Pelfrey taking on Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia.



Poll Update: In our last poll, we asked you "Who should play right and left field for the Mets?" with the choices being Gary Sheffield, Ryan Church, Fernando Tatis, and Fernando Martinez. Coming in first was Ryan Church, with Gary Sheffield and Fernando Tatis tied for second.

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.

Coincidence? I Think Not

It sure is good that we posted this post when we did. Today's lineup has Beltran and Wright batting third and fourth, followed by Ryan Church, and then in the 6-hole the slumping, aged Gary Sheffield.

Could it be a coincidence that Jerry takes our advice to heart? Nah.

Note: Luis Castillo is batting ninth in this game. Alex Cora is occupying the lead-off spot. It'll probably stay that way for the remainder of the series.

Batting Order Blues

As put forth so nicely here, David Wright is leading the National League in batting average and on-base percentage, which brings forth the question of why he is batting 5th in the batting order. Now, it been scientifically proven that the order of the batters makes a very slight difference, but still - the Mets lost two games in extra innings over the last 48 hours. Just one extra Met run by the ninth inning in either game would have them 2 games out of first right now instead 4.

While I haven't written about it, this has been an issue that has been on my mind for a while - essentially since Wright's batting average escalated and Carlos Delgado went on the Disabled List. I also think that it's quite a waste for the Mets to have two of the top three (the other is Carlos Beltran) batting averages (and two of the top five on-base percentages) in the National League, and not take advantage by batting those players back-to-back.

I asked somebody about this a few days ago, and he said, essentially, that Gary Sheffield's value goes up because he's being protected by Wright (as opposed to, say Fernando Tatis or Daniel Murphy). Now, I can hear that. But I still can't stomach Jerry Manuel's separating his two best hitters - by what has turned out to be an out machine in Gary Sheffield, no less.

The solution, perhaps, is to have Sheffield bat third. Then, Wright and Beltran could protect him in the fourth and fifth slots.

I just don't see how it can hurt to have your best hitters batting back-to-back.

Welcome

Good Morning, and welcome to our new blog address. We hope you're as excited about the change as we are.

Enjoy!

What'd You Expect

The Mets just lost two out of three games to the division-leading Philadelphia Phillies, which places them 4 games out of first place. Well, what did you expect? The Phillies are a good team - they currently have the second-best record in the major leagues (behind the Dodgers). Their pitching, while not great, is good enought that when combined with their amazing offense, good defense (they have the best Fielding % in the National League) and fine baserunning makes for a pretty darn good team. (By the way, they're also defending World Champions.)

So the Mets can live with losing this series. Especially the way they did. Missing key performers Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado, it certainly wouldn't've been inconceivable for the Mets to have been embarrassed by the Phillies in the 3-game set. They absolutely were not. The Phillies only outscored the Mets by three runs over the whole series, and both of the Mets losses were in extra innings.

As such, this series lose was excusable. But they can't start duplicating it with regularity. Especially facing a tough stretch of division-leading and other good teams, the Mets cannot let down their guard and just wait to start winning when the big boys come back. They're not playing the Washington Nationals this weekend - their opponent is the revamped version of the New York Yankees, and anything less than a stellar effort by the Mets will likely result in their figuratively being torn to shreds.

But, with their good starting pitching, better base-running, and just a bit of clutch-hitting by the big bats, they should withstand their obstacles.

Those Tricksters

Our poll of "Until Carlos Delgado's return, who should man first base?" ended in a tie between Fernando Tatis and Jeremy Reed. The Mets, in a move that has a lot fo merit, turned erstwhile outfielder Daniel Murphy into a first baseman, essentially nullifying our poll. Considering it leaves leftfield to Gary Sheffield, who has become the team's cleanup hitter, the position change makes a lot of sense.

Meanwhile, the Mets stand 3 games behind the division-leading Phillies after splitting the first two games of their weekend series with the Nats. With a injury-plagued team, the Mets are struggling to put out a major-league caliber lineup every night, which probably has a lot to do with their being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates this week.

But help is on the way. Ryan Church, who had been out with a strained right hamstring, should be coming off of the disabled list on Sunday, and should provide a defensive upgrade, at the very least.

Here's the key for the Mets: With key offensive contributors like Messrs. Delgado and Reyes sidelined by injury, the way to victory for the Mets essentially lies with the starting pitching. The offense is weak, but with quality pitching by Santana, Pelfrey and Co., the offense should perform well enough to win most of the time.

And that's good enough.

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New Poll: Our new poll asks you to select the two outfielders who you believe should be flanking Carlos Beltran in the outfield. The options are Gary Sheffield, Ryan Church, Fernando Tatis and Fernando Martinez. Please only pick two.