Mets

[swoboda]

Beautiful week for the Amazin's, OTD was great, and the Mets showed they can definitely compete against LA, we just need the offense to pick up a little speed this month.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Pedro never played for the Dodgers, so Fred Wilpon wouldn't have invited him to Old Timer's Day, anyway.

The bulk of his career was spent elsewhere, but Pedro came up as a Dodger, playing 2 games as a Sept call-up in 1992, and then 66 games in 1993.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Pedro never played for the Dodgers, so Fred Wilpon wouldn't have invited him to Old Timer's Day, anyway.

He came up with them but yes.

Nice to take two from the O'Malleys! They're still the best at beating themselves, I don't trust the Mets' depth but if they can stay intact and get that far I think they have a better chance than anyone to stop the West Yankees.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by swoboda

Beautiful week for the Amazin's, OTD was great, and the Mets showed they can definitely compete against LA, we just need the offense to pick up a little speed this month.

The Mets played like the games were important. The Dodgers - particularly their hitters - not so much... (LA's first three in the order - Mookie-Trea-Freddie - hit .171 for the series...) Even so, a few balls that would've gone out of Dodger Stadium landed in Mets' outfielders' gloves. Those go out, and the series looks much different... The Mets high-leverage bullpen guys looked really good... If these two teams meet in the NLCS, it could be interesting...

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by thehef

The bulk of his career was spent elsewhere, but Pedro came up as a Dodger, playing 2 games as a Sept call-up in 1992, and then 66 games in 1993.

Damn, that's right. Surprised Wilpon didn't put up a statue of him.

[thehef]

The trade of Pedro from the Dodgers to the Expos for Delino DeShields - at the time - didn't seem so lopsided as it would turn out to be... A lineup featuring Delino at Brett Butler at the top, with Piazza, Karros, Wallach, and Mondesi supplying the power, seemed pretty nice...

However, after four mostly dynamic years in Montreal, DeShields was pretty ordinary during his three-year stint in LA. For whatever reason, it took leaving LA for him to rediscover some of his dynamism...

It took Pedro a few years to make the Dodgers think, "What the hell did we do????"

[Westheim]

Mets eventually overcame their own battery and beat a team playing a healthy .173 against their own division, and Ildemaro Vargas is one annoying little bugger, but the thing that really concerns me most at this point is that bulge on the left side of Gary Cohen's neck/cheek that seems to be getting bigger every week.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by thehef

The trade of Pedro from the Dodgers to the Expos for Delino DeShields - at the time - didn't seem so lopsided as it would turn out to be... A lineup featuring Delino at Brett Butler at the top, with Piazza, Karros, Wallach, and Mondesi supplying the power, seemed pretty nice...

However, after four mostly dynamic years in Montreal, DeShields was pretty ordinary during his three-year stint in LA. For whatever reason, it took leaving LA for him to rediscover some of his dynamism...

It took Pedro a few years to make the Dodgers think, "What the hell did we do????"

I looked up Delino DeShields' numbers...his OBP was higher than I remember. A nice player.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Mets eventually overcame their own battery and beat a team playing a healthy .173 against their own division, and Ildemaro Vargas is one annoying little bugger, but the thing that really concerns me most at this point is that bulge on the left side of Gary Cohen's neck/cheek that seems to be getting bigger every week.

It's nice to see WAS terrible again, gotta pour it on against an iffy schedule the rest of the way: 6 with the Pie-rats, 5 with the Fish, a thrilling interleague battle with the Oakland Oaks, and finishing with the Gnats. All those games SHOULD make the 3 against ATL moot by the time they roll around. But that will probably depend on how many starts the Devin Marreros of the world get :/

[Westheim]

The highlight on Saturday was clearly Kevin Burkhardt's visit, and I don't expect even the most hardcore nay-sayers to be able to come up with something else.

[Westheim]

The Mets started on Friday a 16-game string of games against teams at least 19 games under .500;

They're well on their way to start that string 1-2, and with all the renewed pitching woes and multiple slumping hitters it can only get worse from here...

[Amazin69]

Back-to-back smacks from the Gnats. Of course. There's no such thing as an "easy schedule" for this team.

It should be noted that, even before these two disasters, Gary Cohen's bragging about the Mets having gone 10-3 against Washington was somewhat unmerited…given that Braves/Phils/Marlins were 32-6 against those same DCers.

Current records v. Washington, NL East

Miami 12-1
Philadelphia. 10-2
Atlanta. 10-3
MUTTS. 11-5

Worst in the division. STFU, Gary. (Much though I love you.)

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Back-to-back smacks from the Gnats. Of course. There's no such thing as an "easy schedule" for this team.

It should be noted that, even before these two disasters, Gary Cohen's bragging about the Mets having gone 10-3 against Washington was somewhat unmerited…given that Braves/Phils/Marlins were 32-6 against those same DCers.

Current records v. Washington, NL East

Miami 12-1
Philadelphia. 10-2
Atlanta. 10-3
MUTTS. 11-5

Worst in the division. STFU, Gary. (Much though I love you.)

I had (fortunately) forgotten that the Pirates fiasco last year basically ended their season. The same Athletic article about that had a section about how the Mets had virtually locked up a postseason berth... 3 games is better than 1 for elimination but they still have no business falling that far. If they can't stay ahead of the Barves against the dregs of the league...

[Westheim]

Good news - rained out today! Can't lose to the bums if the bums and you are all wet and soggy...! Hah!!

[Mariner and Giants Fan]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Good news - rained out today! Can't lose to the bums if the bums and you are all wet and soggy...! Hah!!

An Apollo Creed declaration reminds me of the Mets situation now..."He's going down" (to the fans about Rocky Balboa as you may recall, ��
The Braves are implacable!

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Mariner and Giants Fan

An Apple Creed declaration reminds me of the Mets situation now..."He's going down" (to the fans about Rocky Balboa as you may recall, ��
The Braves are implacable!

Plus there's this, which they apparently caught from their neighbors:

[Westheim]

Easiest schedule my ***.

Ever since entering that string of 16 games against teams 19+ under .500, they've gone 1-3 with 11-25 runs. AND blown their five-month-old lead in the division.

Once a sucker bunch, always a sucker bunch.

[BBGiovanni]

I just fell asleep watching the CONDENSED version of that game. Get ready for three weeks of seeding "excitement"!

At least all 10 Pirates fans there had a good time. Seems like the Mets should be a better draw for them but then again I couldn't make it through 10 minutes.

[Amazin69]

Well, the reason Pittsburgh won those "most livable city" awards was partly because they had the most open space within the city limits, IIRC. Apparently that's now being enforced within the stadium, as well.

(Detroit also has a lot of "open space", but a good chunk of that is from buildings that burnt down and were not replaced, so my city planner college roommate would have to give them an asterisk for that, IMO.)

And so, it's officially gone. The Braves have gone 62-24 since June 1, which makes the Mets' 51-34 not necessarily shameful. But the current triple-faceplant is surely a sign of a team that spent all of its bullets in August (19-11) for no real effect (Braves went 18-10) and is now out of gas.

"Easy schedule"? To use a reference Fred Wilpon might understand, "Is Brooklyn still in the League?"

(Manager Casey Stengel, 1934, after his lowly Dodgers had eliminated the defending World Champion Giants, whose manager [Bill Terry] had mocked his city rivals with that 'question' in Spring Training.)

Mind you, I'm sure the Braves won't have any problems with the Gnats or the Fish, just as they beat Oakland last night. The only difference between their schedule and ours is that they play the Phillies seven times, whereas we are "lucky" enough to pull the other half of Pennsylvania. So just bash those Buccos and…oh, never mind.

[BBGiovanni]

I don't know about "spent bullets" but I have questioned their depth all along... trading for a DH platoon at the deadline looks like a bust. I think about half the starting lineup is hurting from one thing or another; when Marte and Escobar were HBP I was pretty worried as either of them going out will leave them with basically no options.

I think the 3-game setup will hurt them more than other teams too if they pitch Jake and Scherzer ("side fatigue", WTH) they may not have them more than once in the DS if they get through.

It's beyond time for them to answer the bell and take care of business against the teams a real contender has no business losing to.