Monthly Archives: April 2006
Mets manager Willie Randolph, as quoted by Adam Rubin in the Daily News…
“We like to please our fans, but we can’t get caught up in that. Fans see it from a different perspective. You can’t react to that. As a fan, all the years the way the rivalry has gone, yeah, they would love to get some payback. And we would, too. But we keep it more in perspective than the fans do, and the media…
“It’s basic to me. It’s like they don’t understand the long haul. They don’t understand that we want to win as badly as they do, but it’s not that easy sometimes. You have to play the game. You can’t get too high in a situation where you have to play those guys again later on, because if you don’t do well, how are you going to deal with it later on?”…
…that’s a fair point…
…essentially he is saying that if the team convinces itself that these guys are huge and they lose, then what…i get that…and he’s probably right…
…willie may make some odd in-game moves, and he still seems to struggle with the concept of the double-switch, but i have a hard time questioning his leadership abilities…he appears to have a solid handle on how to allow his team to have fun and be passionate, all while remaining professional and focused…
At his MetsBlog MiniBlog, I Left My Heart in Shea, our buddy Eric creates three lists, 1) Things To Make a Mets Fan Go Woo, b) Things to Make a Mets Fan Go Wii, and 3) Things to Make a Mets Go Hmmm…
Checking in atop his Hmmm list, Eric wonders whether Mets 3B David Wright will find his “stroke” again…
…of course, wright will regain his swing…
…my concern is that he looks a little rattled lately…i don’t know if the media attention and the fan m.v.p. chants are getting to him, but he looks a tad overmatched lately, at the plate and especially in the field…in the field, he looks very unsure of himself, which is evident by his taking five steps with the ball before throwing it to first…
…maybe willie was wright not to put too much pressure on wright, batting him so low in the order last season…
…my gut tells me wright will just shake this off – and in some ways, him going through this is a good thing…he needs to struggle, fight it and know that he can rebound, because that is the essence of baseball…nothing comes easy, and i know he knows that…
…he’s still the chosen one, no doubt…but even Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, and such, go through slumps…the key is how he adjusts and makes his way back…
Meanwhile, last season for the Braves, OF Jeff Francoeur hit .300 with 14 HR in 70 games, finishing third for the National League Rookie of the Year…
This year, the 22–year-old outfielder is batting .190 with nine RBI, and has yet to draw a walk in 87 plate appearances while striking out 18 times…
According to Ken Rosenthal at FOXSports.com, the Braves have no interest in demoting Francoeur, and instead will stick with him through his slump…
According to a variety of reports, the Mets will re-evaluate OF Carlos Beltran on the field prior to tonight’s game in Atlanta…
…the buzz around beltran is that if he cannot start tonight then the team will most likely hop him on the disabled list retro’d to april 21, while activating OF Victor D
According to David O’Brien’s Braves blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, both OF Chipper Jones and SS Edgar Renteria will be in Atlanta’s starting lineup when they face the Mets and Pedro Martinez tonight…
In the New York Post, Mark Hale writes about how the team heads to Atlanta on a high note, following a thrilling win in San Francisco. Mets OF Cliff Floyd tells Hale he agrees…
Don Burke of the Star-Ledger quotes a mild Martinez, who seems to feel the series is not as big as people will make it…
At his regular column in the Journal-Constitution, O’Brien quotes Chipper Jones as saying the Mets are a “National League East All-Star team.”…
In the Daily News, Adam Rubin provides a lengthy quote from Mets manager Willie Randolph, who does he best to explain that his team sees this series with Atlanta a tad different than the fans…
Lastly, at his blog titled Getting Paid to Watch, Coach Sikes explains how this series with Atlanta is similar to when the Mets and Cardinals matched up in the final weekend of April during the 1986 season…
Earlier this week in Newsday, Jon Heyman wrote that the Mets rejected an offer from the Marlins to swap 3B David Wright for RHP Dontrelle Willis…
However, in today’s Palm Beach Post, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria says Heyman’s story is completely false, explaining, “It never happened. I would know if it happened. There are two people who would make phone calls: Larry (Beinfest, Florida’s general manager) or me. I’ve never made a phone call, never had a discussion. It’s all fiction.”…
…to heyman’s credit, just because the owner is not aware of the call doesn’t necessarily mean it didn’t happen…
Nevertheless, an anonymous Mets official told the Florida newspaper that the Newsday report was accurate…
“[Willis and 3B Miguel Cabrera are] not going anywhere. I’ve said that 15 times,” Loria yelled to the Post. “We’re trying to build a team. We build around those two guys.”… Meanwhile, at FOXSports.com, Ken Rosenthal feels that Loria’s position will eventually change, as team’s begin offering more substantial packages for his two young building blocks… …every season there is a trade story, such as last season with Josh Beckett and Manny Ramirez, or every season with Alfonso Soriano, that just lingers and lingers and tests the patience of sports writers everywhere…it appears that the willis-cabrera saga will be such a story this season…
In Newsday, David Lennon profiles Mets OF Xavier Nady, who is batting .316 with six HR and 11 RBI on the season…
According to Lennon, “everybody” in the Mets clubhouse “loves Nady,” who was acquired this past off-season for the popular Mike Cameron…
Mets OF Cliff Floyd, who is good friends with Cameron, on Nady, as quoted by Lennon…
“You ask anyone in here, and the first thing they’ll tell you is that he’s one of the best guys they know…
“He just has an aura about him that makes you want to be cool with him. He’s quiet, but he keeps you loose. Hates when you talk negative.”…
In the column, Lennon quotes Mets GM Omar Minaya as saying his team could not acquire 1B Carlos Delgado’s salary without trading away Cameron’s. Therefore, as Minaya put it, “we thought we had to go for a young, up-and-coming guy that could give us numbers close to Cameron at a much lower rate. We’re very happy how it turned out.”…
According to most all morning news outlets, it appears Mets RHP Brian Bannister will not be heading to the disabled list, after suffering what was diagnosed as a grade-one strain of his right hamstring…
However, in Newsday, David Lennon leaves the DL-door slightly open…
A typical grade one will sideline an athlete for at least three to five days. Bannister’s next scheduled start is Tuesday against the Nationals…
Bannister, as quoted by the Daily News…
“I was walking slowly today around the mall for a couple of hours, to see how it felt when I put some weight on it. It just depends if I can get some time on the mound before the next start…I’m optimistic.”…
…hmm…when did my grandfather get a gig as a trainer with the mets…he, too, loves to walk around the mall as a remedy for achy bones and muscles…good for you, papa…
If Bannister is unable to pitch, his start could go to either LHP Darren Oliver, who is currently in the team’s bullpen; or Tides RHP John Maine, RHP Jeremi Gonzalez, RHP Jose Lima or RHP Yusaku Iriki, who went unclaimed last week after being designated for assignment, thus returning to Norfolk to pitch in Triple-A…
On Wednesday for Norfolk, Maine, who is already on the team’s 40–man roster, allowed one run and five hits in seven innings while striking out nine and walking one. In four starts this season at Triple-A he is 1–0 with 2.62 ERA. Having pitched on Wednesday, he will have had five days rest come Tuesday’s need for a starter in New York…
Over at the Mets Minor League Report, Toby recaps the night in Mets minor league action…
Among other comments, Toby writes of strong performances by Norfolk SS Chris Basak, who went 2–for-4 against a hot Cole Hamels, Philadelphia’s top pitching prospect; St. Lucie 1B Mike Carp, who hit his third HR of the season; and Hagerstown LHP Jon Neise, who is getting talked about more and more by Mets insiders…
…toby provides a mets minor league report after each night’s action…thanks, toby…
In 66 at-bats for Norfolk this season, the 26–year-old Basak is batting .258 with 14 walks and 21 strikeouts…
Following a season when he hit 19 HR, the 20–year-old Carp has three this season in 66 at-bats for Single-A St. Lucie. He’s batting just .167 with 21 strike outs compared to seven walks…
Pitching for the low-A Suns, Niese is 3–0 in five starts with a 2.95 ERA. He has struck out 26 batters, walked 10 and allowed 26 hits in 21.1 innings pitched…
Last season, the Mets signed 17–year-old Fernando Martinez out of the Domincan Republic for $1.4 million…
At Single-A Hagerstown, Martinez is batting .323 in 65 at-bats, with one home run, eight RBI, seven doubles, two triples, three stolen bases and eight walks…
In Baseball America’s most recent Ask BA mailbag, Jim Callis is asked where Martinez would be drafted were he a high school senior this season. Callis believes Martinez would likely be selected in the first ten picks, adding, “He’s better than any high school position player available, and you could argue him against the top college position players.”…
Though he describes Martinez as “an advanced hitter,” Callis notes that the teenager is at least three years away from the Majors…
…this is partly why minaya has not been concerned with trading away the team’s top picks the last few seasons…with such a strong presence in the dominican republic, the team feels it can recoup the lost draft picks with signings like martinez…
At CBS Sportsline, Scott Miller puts forth a tremendous article about the life and times of Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, the aging, former teammates who are currently No. 1 and No. 9 among the National League’s ERA leaders…
Throughout the column, Miller provides a variety of quotes from Glavine on Maddux, and Maddux on Glavine…
…great work, scott…i love pitching…i’d rather watch dueling no-hitters than a slug fest any day…so it is a pleasure to read about these two outstanding professionals…of course, as a mets fan, just thinking about maddux makes me sick to my stomach, but an impressive pitcher he is nevertheless…
…hat tip to david, at baseball musings, for the link…
