Mets

[Westheim]

Don't know what sort of diarrhea you must have in your numb skull to be promoted into the Mets front office, but we're now batting Lindor, "who has been struggling all season", leadoff "to get him going", and then Nimmo is batting third "to make it harder for the opposing bullpens" by separating Pete and Martinez.

What bullpens, Gary?? People are pitching ******* shutouts against us!!

AND PETE IS STILL HITTING SECOND!!!

[Amazin69]

What, you don't want the guy with the .268 OBP leading off?

Huh.

[Westheim]

June 15, 1977

December 3, 2018

Same vibe.

[Amazin69]

On the plus side, the new line-up scored 9 (legitimate) runs, their most in a month.

On the negative side, the (former) Best Pitching Staff in the NL allowed the (former) Worst Hitting Team in the NL to score 17 (legitimate) runs in 17 innings, so far.

(The Marlins did not bat in the bottom of the 9th of Friday, recall.)

************************

Offensive Sparkplug Frankie Lindor (.268 OBP to start the day) was HBP leading off the first, then went 0-5 thereafter, culminating in Lindor leaving the bases full as he made the final out in the top of the 9th.

******************************

On the plus side, at least Edlose Diaz didn't blow a save, since he entered with a 4-run lead.

Perhaps he was just trying to set up a save opportunity for Lopez or Diekman or whomever?

**************************

On the plus side, at least Diaz survived his return to the Florida mound (where he was injured in the 2023 WBC) intact.

On the negative side…can we really count that as a plus?

[Westheim]

The only thing I can add here is that the Fish scored 17 runs in 18 innings (8+10).

Here, too: same vibe.

Mets...! (gnashes teeth)

[Westheim]

Steve Gelbs reports that Boom-Boom Diaz cried in the clubhouse after ******* up another lead last night.

GOOD.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

.225/.303/.462
.203/.300/.479
.223/.302/.440
.226/.307/.458
.221/.326/.456
.204/.285/.432
.238/.309/.417

Various actual Dave Kingman seasons, with 2024 "Kingman" mixed in. Spot the Polar Bear?

Who knew that Kingman would be so ahead of his time.

I can name a dozen Kingman-like players now, and no..it ain't good baseball.

[Amazin69]

I should point out that those are poor seasons by Kingman.

(San Francisco, 1972-1974; Mets, 1981-1982, Oakland 1985.)

He was capable of better:

.231/.284/.494 (OPS+ 118)
.238/.286/.506 (OPS+ 129)

.266/.336/.542 (OPS+ 132)
.288/.343/.613 (OPS+ 146)
.278/.329/.522 (OPS+ 128)

.268/.321/.505 (OPS+ 133)

Mets, 1975-1976; Cubs 1978-1980; Oakland, 1984

So while I was ragging on Pete last year for resembling 1976 Kingman, I still acknowledged those seasons as worthwhile. This one, not so much, IMO.

But it's still early. Lindor still has time for a few more 1-for-25 skids. (How do you have TWO slumps so bad, so early?)

[Amazin69]

With the Mets' recent 9-19 skid having dropped them an impressive 13.5 games out of first place (remember, no team EVER has come back to win a division or league after being more than 15.5 out), they were hoping for the return of Brooks Raley, Scourge of the Homosexuals. Alas, Brooks is having surgery and will be out all season.

Brooks probably thought he was safe until his old nemesis, Pride Month, came along next Saturday. But what he forgot is that this is Fleet Week. So dem Queers had him surrounded, I guess. (You could say that he was getting it from both ends…but only if you enjoy cheap and sleazy jokes, lol.)
**************************

Gary Cohen spent Tuesday afternoon flying back and forth to New Jersey, where he received an honorary degree from Seton Hall and gave the commencement speech. (Gary also announces for Seton Hall basketball, you may recall.)

Far different from if Gary had tried to address students at his alma mater (Columbia), no doubt. I mean, he wasn't assaulted to keep him off of campus or had paid Qatari agents disrupting his speech (Gary is Jewish) or anything like that.

(In case you missed it, Columbia not only hired Mohammed Abdou [an open supporter of Hamas] after the October 7th massacres, but University President Minouche Shawfiq lied to Congress when she testified in April that Dr. Abdou had been fired (he's still listed on the University's web site) but also when she claimed that Professor Joseph Massad (who posted online that the Hamas attacks were "awesome") had been "spoken to" by his department head about his posting. Massad said that nobody had "spoken to" him, and his department head announced unequivocal support for Massad.)

So, wise move by Gary. Apparently Morningside Heights is as safe as Germany in 1938. Oh, joy.

[Westheim]

Swept by the Lakeland Cleavers or whatever they're called these days.

Season is obviously in the bin.

There's no rotation. Between Sean Diarrhea and Jose Squintana and the trying but godforsaken rookie, there's only the realization that Kodak is doing better than Kodai, and that they all can't keep ball four in their pants and know the seventh inning only from hearsay.

The bullpen was hopeless from the start. Boom-Boom Diaz was always overrated. Resigning Snottavino should come with a mandatory resignation. And Reed Garrett after a few weeks of grace period at the start of the season now finally looks like somebody that had to join the Okiyama Onion Slicers to make a major league roster somewhere. And every day in the sixth inning I have the haunting feeling that any moment a wild Hansel Robles can spring from the bullpen and point at the bombs he's given up.

The Alvarez injury was rotten luck, but maybe teams should be less enthusiastic about embracing stupidity and not position catchers right under the batter's painstick. Alvarez took multiple hits from all angles (also that slide into second one day), but he sure got most of them from bats. Narvaez is a waste of oxygen. Nido is ... Nido.

Speaking of embracing stupidity, why the **** is Pete batting second again? One day he'll be on a team that deserves him. Could be as soon as six weeks from now. It will break my heart in two.

Speaking of embracing stupidity, why is The Three-hundred-forty-one Million Dollar Man batting FIRST??? Lindor, then Pete, then Nimmo - the only way you can make that worse is by batting Johneshwy Fargas ahead of all of them in the #1 spot. Or Narvaez. Even Jeff McNeil would be a better leadoff batter than that Gamestop-sized money hole at short...

That being said, I enjoyed Andres Gimenez' game-tying, 3-run homer today as much as I have ever enjoyed somebody hitting a game-tying, 3-run homer against the Mets, ever. Stupid team finally got payback. I hope they embrace it.

[Amazin69]

I am informed that MLB teams that hit 3 or more homers in a game have a .783 winning percentage this season.

Therefore, there is only a 4.8% chance that a team could hit three homers in consecutive games, and lose them both.

As the Mets have just done.

2024 Mets: AGAINST ALL ODDS!

(Yes, I hate that song, too. But it seems appropriate.)

Narvaez is a waste of oxygen

Don't be silly. Oxygen is free.

How bad of an organization do you have to be to spend $20,000,000 (over 3 years) on a player so bad that, when the catcher Narvaez is nominally backing up gets hurt, he loses the job to…Nido??

I mean, I like Tomas. I've followed him since his days in the low minors. I was glad the Mets didn't lose him when they left him off of the 40-man roster over the winter.

But…they left him off the roster! And he still beats out Omar Minayez! FFS.

Narvaez is emblematic of how this team can have the highest payroll in baseball without seeming to have any big-ticket talent. Yes, Frankie "Uncontrollable Giggling" Lindor makes $34.1 mn per year. Nimmo and McNeil are well-paid. Pete has a $20 million ticket out of town. Senga got a lot of yen to ghost-fork himself. Edwin Diaz gets $20 million per.

But that's not a Yankees-esque Free Agency All-Stars line-up. What the Mets have done is pile on the over-stuffed mediocrity. Narvaez. Severed Arm. Bader. The Broken Corpse of Starling Marte. (And, on a lesser scale, Ottavino and Diekman and The Immortal Demetreus Jerome Stewart.)

It's not surprising that the Mets are therefore the Oldest Team in MLB, since they have developed exactly ZERO young studs since 2019. (Alvarez and Mauricio did well last season, but they are hurt.) Vientos is finally starting to show promise, but other teams have LOTS of young and hungry players, because they don't feel the need to overpay for every last has-been.

It is thus also not surprising that the Mets are the second-worst defensive team in MLB. Old crap is not exactly a recipe for defensive success.

(I still don't object to the Bobby Bragan Special Lineup. It's only been 5 games and the Mets have scored some runs. The 1-4 record seems mostly on the pitching staff, AFAICT.)

[Amazin69]

Mets are currently 14 games out of first place. 14.5 if Taijuan Walker wins again tonight.

Gee, it's funny how much Walker and Seth Lugo and Trevor Williams are all prospering this season, huh? It's almost as if Jeremy Hefner was a ****ty PC, Spider-Tac or no Spider-Tac.

Nahhhh, that's couldn't be.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

What, you don't want the guy with the .268 OBP leading off?

Huh.

Louis Aparicio made a career leading off, with a career .301 OBP. Dude had 750 PA's, and couldn't score a hundred runs.

Edit ... 707 PA's. Still, EIGHT years with 650+ plate appearances, and never scored a hundred runs.

[Westheim]

I have to add how it gives me the rage how the Mets pay zero attention to the basestealing game. They hardly do any running themselves, be it because they're a terrible mix of old, fat, crap, and slow (the actual mix varies by player), and they are completely oblivious to the other teams' stealing business, which is how we got to set an MLB record for consecutive bases getting robbed of to begin a season, and half the time - and Narvaez especially - they don't even bother throwing.

Probably because they're back there under the painstick, airing their nether regions in the most unsuitable position for any sort of catching duty. Oh boy, and all the wild pitches...

Fundies, said Keith.

The bright side is that as the losses mound, Keith will get grumpier. The moaning might begin as early as June. And how he'd never have gotten out of the Texas League in 1972 with the 21-hour bus rides, if he had la-di-dah'ed it like these kids with their shoe contracts do! Also, there goes another Barves runner. Against the Mets, they all look like Lou Brock!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Louis Aparicio made a career leading off, with a career .301 OBP. Dude had 750 PA's, and couldn't score a hundred runs.

Edit ... 707 PA's. Still, EIGHT years with 650+ plate appearances, and never scored a hundred runs.

I guess there are many reasons why the White Sox didn't win a ring for most of Luis Aparicio's lifetime. This could be one of them.

[Amazin69]

Well, Little Looie did win a ring…but he had to go to Baltimore to do it.

Hank Bauer led Aparicio off all four games of the sweep. Looie was 4-for-16, scoring 0 runs.

However, as the Dodgers were shut out in the final 32 innings of the Series, Baltimore's lineup selection was not a large factor.

Quickly, what is the Davy Johnson trivia from this Series?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Quickly, what is the Davy Johnson trivia from this Series?

"Always go to bed on time, kids!"

No, I have no idea.

[Amazin69]

Davey (before he corrected the spelling) in Game 2 of that 1966 World Series became the last man to ever get a hit off of Sandy Koufax.

Three years later, of course, he hit the fly ball to left that Cleon Jones caught to give the Mets their first World Championship, which is appropriate as Davey would later manage the Mets to their second and (sigh…) final title to date.

(Hey, it's only been 38 seasons. No rush, guys. Take your time. I'm probably good for a few more years…)

Davey would then go on to be part of the first team ever (1973 Braves) to have 3 men (Aaron, Davey, Darrell Evans) who hit 40+ HRs in one season, as he set the single-season record for Home Runs by a Second Baseman (since broken)…and then in 1974, fell off from 43 dingers to only 5, setting records for declines.

Then he went to Japan, becoming the only man to bat behind both Hank Aaron and Sadaharu Oh in the lineup, and then I think he set some pinch-hitting record when he came back to play out the string with the Cubs and Phils.

But other than that, lol…

[Amazin69]

With the Phils not only having won Wednesday night but also yesterday while the Metsies were recovering from having to visit Cleveland, the Mets are now 15 games out of first place. With a week to go in May. And yes, the Miracle Braves of 1914 did pull out of a similar pit, but that's why they were referred to by that adjective.

And besides, I'm rather doubting if the Mets have a 68-19 finishing kick in them.

I grant you, now that 12 teams from each league make the playoffs, there is a decent shot at the post-season, but that would be sheer futility anyhow. Let's not be foolish. We may not be able to catch the Marlins or the Rockies, but there's a decent chance we could drop behind Stinkinnati and become the third and final team eligible for those precious October tee times, rather than stretch this farce any longer than need be.

13th place, here we come! Make Taylor Swift proud!

[Westheim]

Were we not kinda unanimous in guessing them to be around 68-94 at the start of the season?

The good news is they are on pace to beat that!

69-93.