premium blogad:
blogads:
advertisement:
sitemeter:
|
|
|
September 16, 2005
Upcoming Series: Atlanta Braves Pitchers
In the immortal words of Dave Chapelle, “What can I say about (Shea Stadium) that hasn’t already been said about Afghanistan? It looks bombed out and depleted.” And if you thought things were bleak before the Nationals series even began, just wait! Because now we get the Atlanta Braves. Yes, that’s right, again! I wasn’t looking forward to writing this Upcoming Series article, but thankfully the Mets face the exact same Braves pitchers that held them to four runs in twenty-one innings and, oh yeah, swept them badly a little over a week ago. So, instead, I figure I’ll just update their season stats, and slap an Overall on it. In the first game of the series, the Braves send to the mound John Smoltz (14-6, 2.95) to continue to deny Pedro Martinez (14-7, 2.93) some more wins. On Saturday afternoon at Shea, Tim Hudson (12-8, 3.36) gets the ball when he faces Steve Trachsel (1-2, 3.54). And, in the final game of the series John Thomson (3-4, 4.76) takes the mound against an increasingly bitter Tom Glavine (10-13, 3.88). Here’s the link to the original Upcoming Series. Enjoy! John Smoltz This Year: Remember the good ol’ days, when a start against John Smoltz meant an automatic loss for almost any team in baseball? Well, relive those days with the Mets! In four games against the Mets, Smoltz is 3-1 with a 1.61 ERA. In twenty-eight innings pitched he’s allowed twenty-six hits and five walks, while giving up five runs (two off of homeruns by Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza). He’s also managed to strike out twenty-six. And, just for fun, over every player on the Mets’ career, they’re managing to put up a line of .223/.263/.364 against him. Good times. Tim Hudson This Year: Hudson’s shutting out of the Mets ended last game, but he’s still put up terrific numbers against them this year. In three starts he’s pitched to a 2-0 record with a 0.82 ERA. In twenty-two innings he’s allowed nineteen hits and five walks, has allowed two runs and has struck out five. Carlos Beltran has hit .359/.389/.471 off of him for his career, which is the only time all season Beltran’s posted numbers that resemble that of a three-spot hitter. Oh, yeah, everybody else on the team hits like crap off him. John Thomson This Year: Remember that year when everybody in baseball teed off on John Thomson? Wait, that’s this year? Apparently the Mets haven’t been given the memo. In two starts this season, Thomson is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA. He’s allowed twelve hits and a walk in twelve innings, yet Met hitters have managed two runs off of him. He’s also struck out eight. Ugh. Overall: I know the series looks bleak, but there are plenty of reasons to head out to Shea. Number one, the stadium is empty. I mean empty. There’s like seven people there a night. So, if you have problems with one of the players, or even Willie Randolph himself, you can just go to the game and yell and yell and they’ll more than likely hear you. Also, you’ll get to see what position Willie Randolph will stick Miguel Cairo in to keep that “bat” fresh! Catcher? Third? Maybe seventh inning relief? Who knows! And because every seat is unoccupied, you can amble over to the bullpen and see Heath Bell and Juan Padilla not pitching, while Gerald Williams and Jose Offerman see time everyday! Come on down to Shea, because Next Year is Now! Oh yeah, they drop all three. I mean, how could they not? Predicted Record: 71-75 21 Responses to “Upcoming Series: Atlanta Braves Pitchers”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
|
If I was in New York ,I’d go!! Sat, I hear we’ll have the following lineup against Hudson
1.Ice cf
2.cairo 3b
3.daubach 1b
4.offerman ss
5.defilece c.
6.Koo lf
7.graves 2b.
8. Diaz RF.
9. Ishii sp
Andrew, that summary was a little bit like watching Brazil.
I love bleak humor, and this was the bleakiest!
Thanks
why willie keeps on using looper and roberto over padilla and bell i got no idea…give the guys some time theyve been good this year..my god ice williams n offerman take bench spots on the team…wtf i mean does omar see whats happening? he is the GM, i think he maybe should butt in and say “aye willie, seriously wtf are u doing”
They should weight these games; I think the Mets can easily lose badly enough to qualify as four or five losses, not just three.
Chris, I love the lineup, but c’mon! Koo, hitting sixth?? His OBP is way too high for that!!
And he’s only 36, Willie doesn’t trust kids to hit that high in the order. Pencil him 8th.
Is it wrong that I can’t help thinking Ice hits more like a leadoff man than Bustran does like a #3 hitter? Or that Graves wouldn’t give noticeably less offense at 2B than Cairo?
Mike Jerzembeck for closer! Yankees know how to win, y’know.
I don’t know why everyone is so bummed out. I mean, yes, we are losing, but its not like we are getting hammered. Granted I didn’t watch today’s game, but still. In this 2-12 span, how many times have we lost by more than three runs? One, twice? Basically, right now, we are losing because of two things: The back=end of our bullpen, and our offense (with an assist to Willie, of course). That should come as no surprise. Those are the areas we knew we had to fix even before we started losing games. Replace Looper with an elite closer, and add another hitter or two to our lineup and these close and heart-breaking defeats are victories next year. Moreover, the beauty of this losing streak (in addition to protecting our first rounder) is the fact that bad and flawed players are being exposed. I’d much rather lose a game because Jose Offerman made a baserunning gaffe or because “defensive replacement” Gerald Williams made an error or because Looper couldn’t get out a LHB than to win a game thanks to them. We don’t want to see thse guys do well, we want them gone. If they keep playing like this, the Mets will have no choice but to let them go (or at least I hope so). Not only are these players being exposed, but our young players are also proving they belong. We all know Jose and David are going to be here, but Aaron Heilman is now arguably our best reliever. Jacobs and Diaz have shown that at the very least they should be part time players next year. Jae Seo has earned a rotation spot for next year, etc. Our record might not reflect it, but we are a few moves away from becoming a really good team.
Thanks for the optimism, OFF! Your comment was a nice shot in the arm. Let me add also that we should remember that as of August 2004, the Mets, as a franchise, have been moving in the right direction. I actually have hope that the franchise will come out of the coming winter as a better club. I have confidence in the club’s philosophy and direction.
Hiring Willie to manage is not going in the right direction. Havingt Koo,Ishi, Graces, Ice, Offerman etc in the roster is not going in the right direction. Unfortunately we need to clean house again!
If Next Year Is Now, and “Now” is a fourth consecutive losing season, what’s Plan B?
As of today, they’re 71-75. Looking at the rest of the schedule, .500 or better seems
like a long shot, with a win total of between 75 and 80 more likely. Given the fact
that the 2004 Mets’ Pythagorean W-L record was 76-86 and therefore the team was somewhat
unlucky, and the fact that Pedro Martinez alone should give the team an extra four or
five wins, this team isn’t much of an improvement, if at all.
Nice reference! Brazil is a fantastic movie. All hail Gilliam!
If you are going to use Pythagorean standings to illustrate the Mets’ true performance in 2004 you should probably use their 2005 adjusted record for comparison instead of their actual record.
Their Pyth record for 2005 is 80-66 which is a substantial improvement over last year’s adjusted record of 76-86.
OK, OFF, we add Wagner or Ryan. We add Giles for RF. We let Jacobs and Diaz battle at first. This makes us a playoff team, but 3 major cavaets.
1) We still are miles behind the Cards and the Braves
2) We still have Willie as manager.
3) We are trusting a lot of Cliff and Jose staying healthy.
Finally, the Mets look like they are dumping Piazza.
Here is the quote of the day from Willie:
I have a list and I’m checking it twice.
OK, OFF, we add Wagner or Ryan. We add Giles for RF. We let Jacobs and Diaz battle at first.
That would be the most ideal of situations. I’d have no problems at all if this happened.
The problem is…it seems as if Willie’s idiocy is to blame for much of the difference b/t the Pythagorean wins and actual wins. Now, this team may do much better once everyone is healthy and we add a few free agents, but isn’t there a limit to how much this team can win with Willie at the helm? It’s not like the other teams will be sitting still while we improve. We’re still way behind the Braves, whose starters have not been healthy. Don’t forget the games missed by OBP-machine Marcus Giles and Chipper Jones. They have better youngers at the corner spots, too. Well, they might not be better, but they’re still more ready for the majors then our kids. They’ve just added a fireballing closer in Kyle Farnsworth. If the Braves were healthy all year, they’d be bitchslapping this division. If our ultimate goal is to not only make it to the playoffs but to actually do some damage once we’re there, Willie is not going to cut it. The worst part is he never seems to learn. It’s one thing to have a bad manager who is learning quickly. It’s quite another to have a bad manager who is arrogant and never second guesses himself. That might be a necessary quality for a player, whose game is largely psychological, but it’s a serious flaw in a manager, whose game is largely strategical. It seems like Willie is a classic case of the player who never un-became one.
PS: It seems like my boy Seo had some trouble with the strike zone last night. Despite 5Ks to 0BB, he seemed to be stay away from the corners. I hope he bounces back. How about that 53K/10BB ratio? If he qualified, that’d be 6th in MLB or 2nd in the NL after Ben Sheets.
This is a great point and I hope everyone (Omar?) understands that this, and not the mistakes themselves, is what makes Willie Randolph a terrible manager. Virtually every manager, especially novice ones, make mistakes. The great managers learn from their mistakes and turn them into strengths. Randolph compounds his mistakes by never acknowledging them in the first place, thus setting himself up to repeat his mistakes at the expense of his players and of the fans.
Willie Randolph is not an idiot. He is a stubborn, stubborn man who sabotages the Mets’ chances to succeed on a seemingly daily basis. When the Mets do manage to win a few games they do so despite Randolph’s best efforts to the contrary.
THANK YOU ERIC SIMON!
This is a point that I don’t hear ANYONE making about Randolph and his managing “style” (if that’s what you want to call it). Hell, I’ve been saying it over on the other topic for today posted by Ricardo Gonzalez, who BTW continues to DEFEND Randolph! Here’s what I said:
“I didn’t want Randolph in here as manager in the first place because I thought that this club needed a hardened vet like a Pinella (and I know he was not available). Still, as a fan, I was willing to give him a shot. But month after month it was painfully obvious that this man, who has been in and around Major League baseball for so long, was virtually clueless as to how to manage a baseball team. This has NOTHING to do with him needing more experience. Hell, he should have made the necessary adjustments as the season went along. BUT HE DIDN’T! He keeps making the same moves over, and over, and over. And they always fail.”
Isn’t it OBVIOUS that he has no clue what-so-ever? It’s sad to say, but it’s so apparently true!
Continue to defend Randolph? Please. If you think I’m defending Randolph in the other thread, you probably need to take a couple of reading comprehension classes.
Ricardo hasn’t been defending Randolph. He has been defending the Mets’ players and their organizational plan. Randolph has been terrible and the Mets have underperformed in a lot of areas, but establishing a viable philosophy that will permeate the organization from the top down takes time.
Omar Minaya has a plan to build from within and to supplement that growth via free agency and the trade market. He has also stressed international scouting, particularly in the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries. Ricardo defends that plan and I agree with him: the plan will work if it is given the time and care to do so.
The Mets are a better team this year than last year (look at their run differential, not their record) and they will almost certainly be a better team next year than they were this year. They won’t become the Braves or the Cardinals overnight, but they are making forward progress after several years of misguidance and futility.
Like everyone here I am upset that the Mets will not be in the playoffs this season, but I can see the direction that the organization is going and I am looking forward to improvement next season and further improvement in the seasons to come.
“Randolph has been terrible”
You said it, and I agree. That’s all I’m saying. As for the rest of your post, I agree with all of it. I can’t say enough how I’m NOT disappointed that this team is not making the playoffs. I just thought that they were a better team then this, and in a way, I still believe that. That’s why I believe (and always have) that Randolph is not the man for this job. They will end this season on a down note MOSTLY because of him and his incompetence.
So, let’s be speculative about Willie’s departure from the franchise. He’s got, what, a two-year contract? How often do managers get let go in the off season after their first full season? I suspect it will likely be in the first month of the next season that we see the axe fall. I think the MetsGeeks ought to have a pool for predicting said axe — maybe offering a prize for the winner?
Fire Willie.
Ever notice that whenever the camera cuts to a close up of Willie, he always has a blank look on his face?
Willie looks likes he is asking himself: “Where am I? What are all those strange men in uniforms doing chasing that little white ball?”
Hey! I liked your site very much! when Stake Destroy Soldier Play: , when Gnome Con Boy Kill Expect Stake is very good Soldier , Collective Girl Create or not Lose Kill Compute - that is all that Player is capable of