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Thursday, July 29, 2010

ESPN NY: Howard: It’s time to stop pretending—the Mets are entertaining, and that’s it

Leaving ducks on the pond and wishing you were faraway
That’s entertainment!

The Mets have hung around in the NL East because journeyman knuckleballer R.A. Dickey started the season 6-0 and first-year regular Angel Pagan is hitting over .300 and rookie call-up Ike Davis has been a pleasant surprise. Wright’s fast start (since faded) temporarily covered for how badly Jason Bay has struggled to hit and all the games Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes missed.

The unexpected—the good and the bad—has been the only real constant of the Mets’ season. Quite often, it’s been the surprises in their lineup who have carried them and their expected stars who have most often disappointed them.

So you can blame the job Manuel has done—and he’ll pay by getting fired at the end of this season—but the Mets’ front office and ownership deserve it more. The Mets should have known better than to think they could contend with Oliver Perez and John Maine in the starting rotation; enough critics screamed it wouldn’t be good enough way back in spring training. And sure enough, it wasn’t.

...The Mets are what they are. An incredibly game team. And a flawed team. And the long season exposes both.

Repoz Posted: July 29, 2010 at 11:50 AM | 12 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
Related News: General, NY Mets

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1. zack Posted: July 29, 2010 at 12:32 PM (#3602459)

I think it's time to fire Manuel and demote Cora to manager. That would be entertaining.

2. formerly dp Posted: July 29, 2010 at 01:32 PM (#3602513)

I think it's time to fire Manuel and demote Cora to manager. That would be entertaining.

Agree re: Manuel, but Cora is Omar's problem, and emblematic of the bigger problems with his reign.

I was traveling for most of July so didn't get to watch many games. Glad that I missed the month. What a terrible stretch.

3. Neil Kinnock...Lord Palmerston! (Orinoco) Posted: July 29, 2010 at 01:37 PM (#3602518)

When were they entertaining?

4. Moneyball can't buy you love (Joey B.) Posted: July 29, 2010 at 01:55 PM (#3602541)

When were they entertaining?

They were pretty darn entertaining back in the days when they were pretty good and half the team was doing coke.

5. Benji Posted: July 29, 2010 at 02:01 PM (#3602546)

I would find it entertaining to have a Pedro Feliciano Human Pinata Day. I always wondered why the broadcasters (esp. Cohen) always gushed over him. His value is to get a mediocre lefty hitter out and yet is constantly used in situations where he can't succeed. I know it's as much Manuel/Warthen's fault but please change his role.

6. Sam M. Posted: July 29, 2010 at 02:26 PM (#3602592)

The idea of pitching to Albert Pujols in a situation where he will beat you is ridiculous enough. Doing it with a left-handed pitcher (who has already shown he's not sharp by hitting one batter and walking another), when you have a right-hander available (even one who sucks) is just lunacy.

As for moving Cora into Manuel's job, there's at least a chance that would simultaneously improve two positions on the team: the manager and the back-up infielder. People keep touting Cora as a future manager -- maybe they're right. Just don't let him be a player-manager, and you might have something.

half the team was doing coke.

Lenny Dykstra called and wants to know how big the damn roster was, because he distinctly remembers doing coke with a lot more than 12 Mets in 1986 alone. No wonder they kicked ass; Davey must have had 40 players to choose from.

7. Freeballin' (Tales of Met Power) Posted: July 29, 2010 at 02:36 PM (#3602609)

The idea of pitching to Albert Pujols in a situation where he will beat you is ridiculous enough. Doing it with a left-handed pitcher (who has already shown he's not sharp by hitting one batter and walking another), when you have a right-hander available (even one who sucks) is just lunacy.

Who was available? My impression was they were down to Valdes and Ollie.

8. Sam M. Posted: July 29, 2010 at 02:47 PM (#3602621)

Yeah, that's right -- there was no RHP available. But I still would have taken my chances with Holliday instead of Pujols. There would never, ever be a situation in which I would let Albert Pujols beat me if I have any other choice.

9. Win one for Agrippa (haplo53) Posted: July 29, 2010 at 02:56 PM (#3602638)

Acosta wasn't available? EDIT - nevermind, missed his name in the boxscore initially.

10. Something Other Posted: July 30, 2010 at 03:38 AM (#3603313)

and rookie call-up Ike Davis has been a pleasant surprise.

I don't suppose it's part of the job description to actually look up stats, but Davis is 13th of 15th among NL 1Bmen with more than 300 PAs. Votto's OPS is around 1012. Davis is sucking at 761. The worst regular 1Bman in the NL has an OPS of 720. People seem to forget that Davis had less than 300 PAs above A ball before this season. There was no strong reason for him to be good, and he's not--not yet, at any rate. He started with a hot streak, and since the league got a look at him he's put up an OPS around 700. The Mets have lots of moderate problems. Davis is one of those problems.

The idea of pitching to Albert Pujols in a situation where he will beat you is ridiculous enough. Doing it with a left-handed pitcher (who has already shown he's not sharp by hitting one batter and walking another), when you have a right-hander available (even one who sucks) is just lunacy.
Who was available? My impression was they were down to Valdes and Ollie.

That's part of the problem. It was only the 13th inning and Roddy had pitched two innings. You shouldn't be endplayed into horrible matchups, let alone get stuck with a reliever batting as early as the 13th inning, particularly when your closer has chipped in two innings.

At least Manuel got him into the game. That's something.

11. The District Attorney Posted: July 30, 2010 at 04:32 AM (#3603336)

Wait, they're entertaining?

12. Russlan will never be fond of Jason Bay Posted: July 30, 2010 at 04:49 AM (#3603341)

All in all, I think it's pretty remarkable that the Mets are still in shouting distance of the WC. They haven't won a series in something like a month prior to today and haven't won back to back games in July.

The pitching has been much better than we could have reasonably hoped for. You can slag on Omar all you want for Ollie and Maine but Dickey has been a godsend and Niese has had a fantastic season. The bullpen has been quite good.

It's the offense that's been disappointing. Bay has been awful and Reyes has been disappointing. Beltran's been hurt so the only part of the Mets core that has produced as expected is Wright.

I think the Mets are going to end up coming up a bit short but I also think they could sneak in if their good players actually play well the last two months of the year. If Bay, Beltran, and Reyes can actually play like we expect them to, the Met offense should be OK.

Reyes
Pagan
Wright
Beltran
Davis
Bay
Thole
Castillo

That lineup should be able to score runs.

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Thursday, July 29, 2010

ESPN NY: Howard: It’s time to stop pretending—the Mets are entertaining, and that’s it

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