Always Look on the Bright Side: Weekly Review
Cheer up Met fans, a special Always Look on the Bright Side edition of the Met Wiki Weekly Quickie!
The Mets showed great fight this week, highlighted by two six-run comebacks. On Tuesday, a 6 run 8th turned a 6-2 deficit into an 8-6 victory. On Sunday the Mets scored six in the sixth and seventh to turn a 7-0 deficit into a 7-6 deficit, on their way to a 10-8 loss. John Maine became the first pitcher in almost 10 years to start a game by throwing 12 balls, but he established himself as the Mets number 3 starter by giving up just 8 runs in 11 innings this week. Niese and Perez combined to give up 17 runs -- only 15 of them earned -- in 9 2/3 over their 3 starts. Jeff Francoeur's .083 On Base Percentage this week was only four points lower than his Slugging Percentage. Over the past month Jeff hit .125 with a .188 Slugging Percentage, with 3 walks and 23 strikeouts. That's good news because it might be bad enough for the Mets to realize they should start somebody else at least against righties, maybe Chris Carter. 
In actual good news, for the third time in his young career Ike Davis made a nice catch falling into the dugout, this time for the final out of a Met victory. Excellent weeks for Johan Santana, Raul Valdes, Jason Bay, Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Chris Carter, and even Gary Matthews Jr. But just nudging out Bay for the player of week, for the third week in a row, is Rod Barajas. Rod led Met regulars in hitting, On Base Percentage and OPS this week. He also had the big hit in the Mets' victory, the game tying 2 run double, after which he scored the go-ahead run.
Mets schedule week starting May 17
The Mets head north this week, stopping in Atlanta and DC before coming to face the Yankees and then Phillies. Good news: Pelfrey and Santana pitch the next 2 games. More good news: that sets them up to face the Yankees this weekend. Even more good news: that sets them up to miss the Phillies, who hammered them a few weeks ago. Unclear who will join Maine in starting against the Phillies, but it's a good bet that the Mets' long relievers will get a lot of work.
It's looking increasingly unlikely that the Mets will miss the postseason this year because of a late season collapse. By going 1 and 6 this week they dropped to 6 games back of the Phillies. Final piece of good news: all those Met fans whom we thought had no souls because they thought 2010 would be a repeat of 2009? Well, now they look like optimists, so good for them.
This has been the Met Wiki Weekly Quickie. Thanks for reading. See you next Monday.
Strangely Optimistic
My post when we hit bottom in Atlanta a few months ago, Always look on the bright side of life, was sarcastic. This isn't.
Yes, the following are all true:
- We just got shutout 4-0, completing a sweep, extending our losing streak to 4, and dropping us 3 games behind the red-hot Phillies, 9 days after having a 2 game lead.
- John Maine was just placed on the DL. Billy Wagner may follow. Ryan Church still hasn't begun rehab.
- We're in the middle of a pennant race, and we have veteran castaways starting at second and right, and 3 guys who were in AA last week are now our primary left fielder (platooning with a guy who was in AA two months ago), starting pitcher (probably) and late inning reliever.
- Among our starters, Pelfrey and Perez just had bad starts, Maine is on the DL, and Pedro, just off the DL, gave up 3 homers in 5 innings. Pelfrey is about to throw far more innings than he ever has before, and he is expected to drop off.
- The bullpen is a disaster. They're mostly responsible for the dreadful roadtrip. Sanchez is hurt. Wagner is hurt. Heilman is overworked. Muniz has struggled.
And yet .. strangely optimistic.
- I thought most of those AA guys would be in Pittsburgh or somewhere by now, but we not only kept them, we brought them up. And not the useless but publicity-generating call-up that F-Mart would have been (maybe we're just lucky he's hurt) but the guys that look like they can help now.
- I have a lot more confidence in the starting rotation than others do. Perez threw just 67 pitches yesterday through 6 innings (before getting pinch hit for). 3 strikeouts, 0 walks. 1 solo HR, and one 4 straight-hit (one of which should have been caught) 2 out rally. Stuff happens. He had a hell of a July. I'm happy to have him in the rotation. I'm confident in Maine and Pelfrey. Santana's performance has been underrated because of insane expectations and lack of offensive or bullpen support. He's having a great year. Pedro -- his velocity is back, I'm happy to have him back. Niese as the #6 man -- can't wait to see him. In short, I take our starting rotation over any in the National League, and certainly over the Phillies.
- Mets.com called yesterday's game a lackluster loss. That's not what I saw. Yes, there were some bad moments. But mostly the Mets were getting men on, and then hitting the ball hard but right at people.
- Yesterday's error by Kunz was the Mets first in 12 games. And even on that play, Easley's heads up and hustling play got the lead runner at third. Earlier he made a nice play up the middle. Wright made a nice play earlier. Evans got 2 outfield assists on beautiful plays. Tatis looked good out there.
- I'm not expecting Castillo to have a Delgado like turnaround. And I can't believe he's on the first year of a 4-year deal. But I think Mets bloggers and fans are giving up on him too soon. There's a good chance this man comes back and starts again doing what he does best: getting on base. Hopefully the big question in a couple of weeks is whether Castillo, Church, or Beltran hits second. With any of those choices, I think it's a strong lineup. Reyes, Wright, and Delgado have been doing it. Tatis and Castro have been strong. If Beltran, Church, and Castillo can join them, this team should score some runs.
- The bullpen is the biggest concern. But it's good to see that Manuel and Wharthen have the starters pitching more efficiently and going deeper. Smith has been good, though recently unlucky. Kunz has the advantage of not having been seen before. A lot depends on Wagner and Sanchez's recoveries.
- The Wild Card is in play. I wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers, Cards, and Marlins all struggle, making the Wild Card attainable should we phail to catch the Phils.
In short, I'm optimistic for this year. I'm also optimistic for the coming years. I'm so much happier to see the team building around Kunz, Murpy, Evans, and Niese (with F-Mart safely tucked away) than trading those guys for Ibanez or Bay or Manny. Of course, I'd still love to get somebody like Giles on waivers.
Maybe I'm just drinking the Kool-Aid. But despite all the things going wrong, I'm optimistic this morning. I hope it lasts.
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