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In an article for the Daily News, Mark Hale notes that Howard Johnson wants to return to the coaching staff in 2009.
Johnson, in regards to coaching next year:
“Oh, sure, absolutely. The way I look at this year, we failed because we didn’t reach our goal of getting to the postseason. But when I look at us offensively, we had a lot of positives, and our positives outweighed our negatives.”
Hale also writes that bench coach Sandy Alomar Sr. wants to return next year as well.
…the offense looked great at times, and i feel he did a good job, especially if he had anything to do with carlos delgado’s turnaround…however, i feel that delgado is his own coach at this point, and the offense, like other areas of the team, lacked consistency…i’d like to see this team play small ball more, move runners over, leave less runners on base etc., but overall i like hojo and hope he returns in some capacity…
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I don’t know anything about the mechanics of hitting or what makes a good hitting coach.
However, I’m not sure the team should stick with HoJo. The offense was incredibly inconsistent. They’d score 20 runs in 3 games, then 5 runs in the next 3. And that happened all the time. The clutch hitting was awful for almost every player on the team.
Clearly, with this offense – they’re going to score runs if a chunk of granite is the hitting coach. But I’d like to see someone help coach them to be more consistent and more relaxed in clutch situations.
If you look at the run distribution of our offense versus Philly’s, it’s basically equivalent. They scored less than 3 runs and more than 6 runs just as much as we did.
All offenses are inconsistent. It’s the nature of baseball.
Where’d you look up those stats?
Somebody posted it at MetsGeek, let me pull them up for you…
Mets:
The Mets scored 3 runs or less in 57 games (11-46).
They scored 4 or 5 runs in 40 games (22-18).
They scored 6 runs or more in 65 games (56-9).
The Mets allowed 3 runs or less in 73 games (63-10).
They allowed 4 or 5 runs in 33 games (14-19).
They allowed 6 or more runs in 56 games (12-44).
Phillies:
Scored 3 runs or less 59 times (12-47).
Scored 4 or 5 runs 42 times (29-13).
Scored 6 runs or more 61 times (51-10).
Allowed 3 runs or less 74 times (59-15).
Allowed 4 or 5 runs 40 times (23-17).
Allowed 6 runs or more 48 times (10-38).
(So basically, it was the bullpen)
Thanks! I would never argue with statistics.
No problem! Hat tip to Jessica at MetsGeek for her stats there.
That really does equate to a smelly pen.
Numbers are funny, Lets Use davus wright’s numbers this season. He has clearly good numbers, But when you look at his numbers in scoring position its awful.
My point is Numbers can be deceiving. Any one knows the philies RISP vs the Mets????
They hit .263 we hit .253.
I agree with you Prizmo, and I believe that this team needs something beyond that which Hojo can provide as hitting coach.
As fans we suffered terribly the last two years when we lost so many games because of our failure to get a SIMPLE base hit with r.i.s.p. Most recent example was David Wright’s turning a 3/0 count into a swinging “from the heels” strike out.
We all know that Hojo (I love him!) was primarily a slugger and maybe he can not teach any other aspect of hitting.
I wonder how many of you may agree with me that it would be a smart move to hire someone who was a great base hit player and “table setter” thru-out his career
How about WALLY BACKMAN ????
I saw an interview with hojo and he seemed more of a ra-ra guy than a nuts bolts and mechanics one. I was actually disappointed, especially since we always here such good stuff from Keith Hernandez.
I would rather see hojo as a 3rd base coach
Let Hojo return as 3rd base coach. He was never a consistant hitter.
I don’t know that hitting coaches matter, but one thing for sure, Howard Johnson was not exactly Ted Williams.
Neither was Charlie Lau but he was one of the best ever.
really? or was he just a guy fortunate enough to coach George Brett?
I could be wrong but i think Ted Williams wasnt much of a coach
love hojo, but not as our hitting coach, with that said..i’m not sure who is a better option available…but they should look
our offense wasnt the problem, you are not gonna score 5-7 runs everyday. our problem was the bullpen and maybe the offense was pressing to score more runs. I dont remember us winning many 2-1, 4-2, 3-2 games.
It was fun watching every met, other than Fernando Tatis, perpetually whiff with men on. KEEP THE HITTING COACH!
Hojo can come back. Luis Aguayo on the other hand, he can sell T-shirts for the Bisons.
Small ball is so lame and incredibly overrated. We were a good offense because we didn’t make outs as much as everybody else. Just get good hitters.
I agree Danny.
scapegoat HoJo… I think that’s where this is heading … save the inpet GM, save the two-choke-stained manage, fire the mediocre hitting coach
you have no clue
Eh he may be a little harsh with his criticisms of Omar/Manuel, but this does seem to be a repeat of the same thing that happened last year. I mean I’m not even a fan of Hojo but what difference does firing him make. Clearly firing Downs and Henderson didn’t make a difference.
but firing peterson did…
what did firing peterson accomplish? what? it helped the bullpen? Don’t give me Perez. Pelfrey was already on his way to getting good … what? Johan’s second half was a result of Dan Warthen?
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That may be one of the silliest things I’ve ever read here and thats saying a lot.
I would like to see more NL type small ball as well, however that is not going to happen with Manuel at the helm.
We really need to make sure our managers are equipped to play the style of the league we play in.
Exactly. Manuels White Sox teams were very reliant on the HR, if memory serves. That’s never a good way to play.
Yes, I enjoy giving away outs so I can slightly increase the chance of scoring a run.
So you would prefer to have runners at 1st and 2nd instead of 2nd and 3rd always waiting for that big hit? OK. Funny thing, that’s what sunk the Mets, offensively, in the 06 NLCS and also down the stretch in 07 and 08.
What sunk the Mets was getting unlucky and hitting more into line drive double plays that usual. If those liners are 5 feet to the right of the first baseman, than the Mets are getting ready to play in the NLCS.
There is a time and place to sacrifice. When you have the top of this particular Mets order up, you do not sacrifice. All that does is invite IBBs and allows the opposing manager to dictate matchups.
Some times you just have to take your chances and let your great players make great plays. With this being baseball, great players only succeed about 30% of the time. You are going to have players, even the great ones, fail in big spots more than they succeed. If they don’t succeed, it doesn’t mean something ridiculous, like the player isn’t clutch, it just means he did not succeed in that instance.
What was Hojo’s background as a hitting coach before becoming one? How many years did he serve as one in the minors?
Would Piazza make a good hitting coach?
No, I don’t think Piazza would make a good hitting coach. Reason being is because he never dissected and studied the mechanics. He just went up there and swung and kept it simple. He just had a natural talent to hit the ball. That won’t work for a coach who needs to teach techniques to different kinds of hitters with different abilities. I would think someone like John Olerud would be good.
Maybe Delgado, he keeps a book. LOL. Yeah I guess Olerud would work but he does not have that fire I would look for. Hojo is just not the answer either. Obviously Keith would be interesting but that’s not happening. I would not mind seeing Valentin brought in as a coach, maybe 3rd base?
I would be all for Valentin as the third base coach. Heck, I would be all for anything that will get Luis Aguayo out of there. If you gave me the option of having Ralph Kiner sitting on a lawn chair under an umbrella sipping pina coladas waving his arm randomly, that would be just fine.
Hahaha, nice. Although, I think it’s something a lot stronger than a pina colada.
Where is the causation between “being a good hitter” and “helping pro players become better hitters.” There’s no way any of us would know who would be good at the latter. John Olerud, Mike Piazza, HoJo -it doesn’t matter. At this point in the game the guys can hit and if they can’t, they’re not really going to learn now. Aside from familiarity and friendliness, I can’t imagine the hitting coach having too big of an affect on any baseball team.
But on Metsblog, we credit things like “striking out with runners on 2nd and 3rd” to the hitting coach. Because David Wright needs a retired baseball player to help his approach at the plate. Right, and let me guess, this team needs “clubhouse leadership” too, a sentiment spewed by more than several people who, by the way, have never and will never step foot in the clubhouse.
I agree about John Olerud for the same reason that I previously posted my strong recommendation for WALLY BACKMAN.
With R.I.S.P we don’t always need a batter swinging from his heels and for the fences. How often in those circumstances would we have loved to simply get a line drive base hit.
Maybe an Olerud or Backman can instruct our guys in the technical aspects of line drive, and opposite field hitting.
Do any of you knowledgeable baseball posters agree OR
disagree with this idea???
I memory serves me correctly, HoJo served as a hitting instructor at every level of our minir league system. I also believed he managed Brooklyn one year as well. Now to only make one post I will add my opinion here, so this is not part of the reply…
Now by my screen name you can tell I am slightly biased, not completly but I was HoJo fan growning up and still am… I believe we scored the 2nd most runs in the NL, were at the top or near the top in walks and striking out the least. On the other side we were pretty inconsistent at times, very unclutch to often, and we need to do a better job of making things happen, i.e. small ball. I was never a big fan of not letting the man on first steal because the 4 hitter is up, I prefer to push the tempo and force the action, and I am sure that is why Wrights steal attempts were so down. I am not saying we need to bunt all the time by any means, but they do need to run, hit and run(which they started to do), and hit behind the runners better, and be able to make runs happen when the long ball is off for the day. It was overall a good offense, but with a lot of room for improvement, but I think a lot of the pieces are in place there…on the other hand the stat posted here on Metsblog that said if the games were 6 innings long we win the division by 11.5 games and if they were 8 innings long we win the division by 6.5 games tell me the problem rests squarly on the pen… It alwas nice to score more runs, and definantly nice to be much more consistent, but with out an improved bullpen it won’t matter.
I’m never completely sure what people mean by small ball, but I do think some sort of adjustment needs to be made in strategy on the base paths, which I think comes down more to Manuel. For example I feel like we rarely ever tried to steal. Wright’s steals attempts were almost cut in half from last year to this year. With all his at bats and his speed why wasn’t A. Reyes stealing, it’s not like he served any other purpose really. Evans and Murphy had 2 combined steal attempts, now I know neither of them are speed demons but they’re young and athletic, we could at least try with them in games where our offense couldn’t get going.
I’m not big on the small ball bunting type of strategy but we really could steal more and to me small ball also means being able to situational hit better even though that isn’t the normal definition of small ball.
We definitely stole a lot less this past season. We led the National League BY FAR in stolen base and stolen base attempts in 2007. But we were second to Colorado in both in 2008, and just ahead of Philly.
And we had a better stolen base percentage in 2007. So maybe aggressive on the basepaths is the way to go. I do like putting pressure on the defense.
Yeah if ESPN’s stats are accurate we had somewhere around 76 less steal attempts this year. I’m not sure how much of that was Manuel or if it started with Willie though. Also if small ball means smarter/better strategy on the base paths I’m all for it. Another thing I don’t remember happening very often was pinch running.
Also this is sort of random but according to ESPN’s stats we were in the bottom half of the league in XBH’s. I don’t know how you fix that without bringing in totally different types of player but that seems like something that could pose problems, especially if Delgado’s season next year is closer to his 07 one than this one.
It started with Willie as well. Maybe at the advice of Manuel. I did not think we MADE things happen enough late in games with the SB. We were always so concerned with keeping the hole open that we were essentially station to station.
Jerry seemed much more inclined to go for hit and runs over straight steals.
And I think they were also making a concerted effort to hold down Reyes’ steal attempts so that he wouldn’t wear down as quickly.
I don’t know what’s better. It’s hard to say. When you can’t afford to give Reyes, Wright and Beltran any days off, it IS important to try and keep them as fresh as you can.
It’s tough.
It’s fun to watch them score 3 in the first and 2 in the 3rd and then shut down for 6 innings. A hitting coach is supposed to be working with guys on situational hitting. Clearly, that did not happen.
They need to fire Luis Aguayo. The guy has one job, to know the outfielders arms and the speed of his runners. Time and time again he makes the wrong decisions on when to send the runner and when to hold him up.
Hitting coaches are irrelevant. Only on teams with really young hitters do they have any sort of value.
I don’t think HoJo brings anything significant to the team. However, I don’t think he hurts the team either. Even if the FO doesn’t like him, I can’t see him getting fried individually because he’s a fan favorite. The only way he is going is when they clean house with a new manager. Which will probably be in 3 years at 2am.
I think the term ’small ball’ is getting thrown around too much and getting a negative connotation by some….
I believe the term situational hitting is more appropriate in this team’s case. It doesn’t matter who you are on this team (man 1 on the roster or man 25) when you come up, you are expected to do what is asked of you…..if that means moving the guy over in the 9th, then great….if that means taking the walk and letting the guy after you succeed….then that’s what you need to do.
I wouldn’t get too hung up on the steals….
40 steals by Reyes in MEANINGFUL situations, are 100000% better than 80-90 when you are up by 3 in the 8th inning and just padding steal stats.
Small ball never has a negative connotation, unless you’re talking about a man’s bravery…however, small ball is what won 125 games for the ‘98 Yanks. I think it worked out for them.
It wasn’t the small ball. They had a bunch of great hitters that had great years.
Come on. Yanks played small ball all year that year. Those Yankee teams were built on small ball and great pitching. It wasn’t until they went out and signed Jason Giambi that the dynasty died.
The Yanks slugged .460 as a team in a pitcher’s park. That’s not small ball.
They had 32 sacrifices the entire season.
And bad example today after their early exit but the Angels all year were of the type to score a run through small ball and try and add on. Yes it hurt him last night with the failed squeeze but at least he was not affraid to try one.
Yanks played small ball. You don’t sacrifice in the American League nearly as much as the NL. You know that. By small ball, I mean they manufactured runs in close games. You obviously don’t do that every game, but it goes back to what Manuel said. In a tie game in the 9th inning and a man on 3rd base with nobody out….you don’t try to play hero by hitting a walkoff home run. You do whatever it takes to win the game by putting the ball in play. The ‘98 Yankees would have gotten that run home 99 out of 100 times. The 2008 Mets got that run home maybe 90 out of 100. Of course it didn’t hurt that the Yanks had extremely clutch hitting either.
Don’t just look at stats. I’ve watched a significant amount of Yankees games over the past 15 years (as I am the only one out of 6 in my family that’s a Mets fan). Their approach today vs. their approach in 1998 is worlds apart.
The Yankees had great hitters. “Manufacturing runs” is code for having a bunch of guys that get on base and hit for power.
1998 Yankees: .288/.364/.460/.825
2008 Yankees: .271/.342/.427/.769
It’s easy to see why one team scored a lot more runs than the other.
i always thought “manufacturing runs” was getting a run in via making the most of your outs for example
leadoff man gets on
leadoff man steals 2b
guy at plate grounds out to 1b, leadoff man to 3rd..1out
guy at plate hits sack fly..1 run in 2outs
Outs are bad.
Danny, I agree that outs are bad. But by simply looking at the 1998 Yanks and analyzing their statistics, that doesn’t do the team justice. They knew how to win games by hitting in clutch situations and moving runners over in clutch situations. They didn’t win because Tino Martinez hit 40+ homers. They won because they pitched and got runners home any way they could. To me, that is small ball. More than anything else, I think it’s just a sign of the times. Swinging for the fences is sexy, but that doesn’t win you baseball games. Of course, small ball doesn’t always win you baseball games….but it’s worked for the A’s over the past 8 seasons.
your right. I remember the 98 yankees as the 8th and 9th inning team. Those guys always found a way to win late in games and by hitting those gap shots and extra base hits. I hate to admit it but that was one hellova team.
Its a combination of all of this…….
Its not just small ball, its not just manufacturing runs, its doing all of these when the situation calls for it.
I think everyone can point to Wright’s AB once Murph led off w/ his triple…….He became over anxious to end the game, and took himself out of what he was supposed to do…….. Get a pitch, drive it….. Instead he swung 3-0 and went chasing other pitches just to loft one in the air……..completely changed the inning around. If they’re gonna walk you, you need to have the confidence that Delgado/Beltran can get the job done. The hitter needs to be able to put personal stats/accomplishments aside and do what is best for the team.
Certainly how guys perform in important situational hitting scenarios like RISP and RISP with 2 outs is going to make an impact as to how many runs a team scores. And however the manager stresses a particular approach in those situations will make some impact.
But the overwhelmingly biggest impact to how many runs a team scores and when they score them is based on the quality of the hitters that make up that lineup.
Danny –
Outs are always bad, but some years they’re less bad than others. When offense is crazy like its been since 1994, making “productive outs” isn’t worth it since you’ve got a good chance of hitting that big home run. But 2008 might have been the weakest years for offense since, maybe 1992! As scoring decreases, the value of each individual run increases, so productive outs actually become more meaningful. Not saying we should make outs on purpose, just that sometimes, they’re not as useless as we’ve come to think over the past 15 years (and if offense continues to trend downwards….who knows?)
I actually think a steal in the 8th inning when you’re up 3 runs is a great play. Gives you the chance to get to the 4 run lead (where a grand slam only ties the game) if you can just single the guy home. However, with our inability to get the big 2-out hit, it’s probably more stat padding.
Your example may have just been that and you didn’t mean it to be the bit 3-run vs. 4-run lead mark, but if you don’t get aggressive on the bases when you have a lead in the game, then I don’t know when you should be aggressive. I, for one, think it is the perfect time.
Exactly stop worrying about what other teams think. Put pressure the entire game. What happen to Wright’s steals this season? Because he was batting infront of a cleanup guy? Like those cleanup guys routinely drove in Wright from 1st? You are puting all the pressure on your 6-8 hitters when you do that. And our 6-8 hitters were just not good enough most of the season. Get on 1st still 2nd and score on a single. Not get on 1st and still be on 2nd after that single.
I agree and thats something that (sorry to say) kruk said on baseball tonight about the mets. He said basically manuel got to throw out that unwritten rule of baseball that when your up by a certian amount of runs, you play more conservative out of professional courtesy. Kruk said with a bullpen like the one we had manuel has to keep scoring runs because that bullpen will give up its share when its all said and done. Kruk was like if it ticked off other teams..so what..with a bullpen like that he has got to keep pouring it on.
JefJarrett,
You do realize that only 3 teams walked more than the Mets (Bos, TB, Cubs) and only 9 teams struck out less than the Mets in 2008.
The offense is FINE.
“Clutch” hitting comes down to one thing and one thing only. Luck. A player is going to get roughly the same number of hits over the course of every season. The luck part is how many teammates can string together enough at-bats where they get hits in the same inning.
If you really think clutch exists, then how do you explain the fact that the list of “clutch” stat leaders (stats like batting avg. in close and late situations) changes wildly every season?
Clutch is for ignorant fans and bored sports writers that can’t think of anything original to write.
At times you are right. But as a coach there is such a thing as clutch. It’s just good players usually perform no matter the situation. They learn from previous mistakes. I would think that given Wright’s a good player that if faced with that situation again we would make it either be his pitch or take the walk. Thus increasing the small sample size that clutch is to start with.
I think luck is involved to a degree. However, certain players get it done when it matters most. Sure you can hit a line drive right into someone’s glove. By the rationale you’re using, the Mets bullpen was unlucky rather than bad. Why didn’t a ball find a glove (besides the fact that it was usually over the fence)?
I think clutch is what Vlad Guererro did last night in the 8th inning. He worked out a walk from an 0-2 count. Not being clutch would be going out of the strike zone to try to make something happen. Clutch is going about your business and treating it like any other at bat.
No one is going to go about their buisness and treat it as a normal at bat. They are all going to feel pressure. It’s just that good players usually respond better to that pressure because they are used to it. Give Wright time and he will be too. The reason those numbers even out are that they learn from past mistakes as any good player would.
Wait, the bullpen IS bad. Look at their stats. All have WHIPS over 1.25. Almost everyone gave up close to one hit per IP (this is terrible). Except for Stokes and Wagner they all allowed more than one walk for every two Ks (this is also terrible).
The Mets lost ONLY because of their terrible bullpen. To blame it on the offense, the hitting coach, the manager, is insane.
No…there is a lack of an offensive philosophy…which is what Jerry Manuel is talking about changing. Batters need to be able to recognize the situation in the game they’re in and adapt to get the job done. If this means Delgado shortening his stroke to try to shoot one in the hole they leave him, then so be it. If this means Wright not playing outside of himself and swinging at stuff around his ankles or around his eyes, then so be it. If the offense was this good now……imagine how it would be if all the batters were a little smarter in certain situations. We’d certainly be playing right now if it happened.
And I think that is why you bring Delgado back. I thought he did a great job of situational hitting in the 2nd half. He went the other way, shortened his swing, etc.
Wright will learn from these things. He was trying to do too much and needs to learn to trust his teammates more.
I think we are all trying to say the same thing, but we have different definitions of the term small ball. Team over individual means you squeeze a guy home if you’re Eric Aybar (in the situation last night) or David Wright from that Wed night game. Just need to play smaerter ball and handle situations a bit better.
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy….Jaramillo :-)
Should be the manager but I don’t see him breaking his contract with the Rangers to become the Mets hitting coach. That would cost us and him a lot of money. Not to mention that we would have to get permission to talk to him, something the Rangers would most likely not give. Hey maybe we could trade Heilman and Hojo for Rudy and Padillia? LOL.
Think we can throw Castillo in there and give Padilla a 2nd baseman’s glove?
How much of the job is analyzing the hitters’ mechanics … how much is preparing team for upcoming pitching staffs … tendencies of pitchers, what to expect.
All the concentration in the world on consistent mechanics becomes irrelevant if hitters are surprised by what/how/when/where pitchers are throwing, and could explain inconsistent results.
Long tome reader, new poster.
I agree with you completely. My thoughts are that the Mets never seem to be prepared, either pitching or hitting. Its like the whole scoting and coaching group has to go.
The Marlins came out swinging agressively at the first pitch. So how about bouncing that to a couple of hitters and then later on come in with first pitch strikes. The hitters don’t seem to have a plan when they come up, like knowing when a pitcher is wild to force him to throw a strike – instead they swing at bad pitches.
Or they go the opposite route – when the pitcher is 3-0 the hitter always takes the next pitch – never swings at a ball right down the middle; waiting for the called strike.
Love Hojo but I’d let him go based on those remarks.
Positive outweighs negatives?
Um….no.
That is an attitude that has killed this team the past 2 years.
NO PLAYOFFS.
Negatives ALWAYS outweigh positives when that happens.
Teach D Wright to hit a fricking fly ball w/ runner on 3rd and no outs pal
i dont agree with you on alot of things furioso but i agree completly….had we won that game we would be in the playoffs right now if the rest of the season played out the way it did. Your best rbi guy at the plate and someone on 3rd with 0out and you cant get a sac fly even with a 3-0 count!!!!!
It’s not even the sacfly part that bothers me. It was that he did not trust his teammates. They were obviously trying to pitch around him. Take the walk. Then they walk Delgado and it’s up to Beltran instead of Church and Schnieder.
I think it was a combination of D-Wright trying to be the hero, as well as not understanding the significance of the situation. Everyone expects that run to score in that situation. D-Wright was probably thinking the run was most likely scoring. However, he needs to realize that with nobody out and the only two other real threats in the lineup right behind him, and two bases open….a walk is as good as anything, short of a sac fly in that spot.
I don’t think that at all. Wright knew how important that AB was. He was just pressing and swinging at balls. Someone has to pull him over and say look kid they are trying to walk you take the damn walk.
Maybe I said that wrong. D-Wright, whether he knows it or not, was the most important batter in that spot (forget about the most important batter of the season). Man on 3rd and nobody out, is an infinitely tougher situation than man on 3rd and 1 out. You have so many options as the team in the field. You can walk just the next guy. You can walk the next 2 guys. Makes it much harder to score a run. That being said, we also had 1st and 3rd with nobody out the two previous innings and it took a few walks for us to capitalize. Granted, Murphy did hit a bullet.
agreed. If they let wright walk, delgado was most likely the next canidate to walk. That leaves you with bases loaded and carlos beltran with 0 out.
Exactly Dirty. Then Beltran and Church have a chance to drive in the run with 0 to 1 outs.
does anyone important hate hojo? delgado started trying when willie was fired. maybe someone else on the team has no pride and will try harder without him. if not, keep him as it’s a pretty irrelevant coach.
For those of you that don’t seem to understan the term “small ball”.
Small ball does not mean bunting, it means having the ability to make contact with the ball in a controlled fashion. It means popping a loopy single to left or right field when needed rather than smashing a single, double or home run. Bunting can be part of the concept but is not the emphasis.
Control versus power is, on occasion the way to tack on runs in a tight game or the way to win with a walk off. The nember of times we lost games this year becauseof the bullpen is a shame but we also lost many opportunities by stranding runners while the Mets (DW in particular) would swing wildly.
David is an excellent case. He actually does have a great eye and did get a wonderful number of RBI’s but he failed to make simple contact in many critical games because he forgot how to stay calm and play “small ball”
I would not say swing wildly, as much as not deal with what the pitcher gives to them.
If you have a runner on third and less than two outs and the pitcher is content with unintentionally intentionally walking you, you have recognize the situation and take only what they give to you.
Exactly Patrick. But I also blame the coaches. After you see Wright swing at a terrible 3-0 pitch then you pull him aside and tell him to get on base and trust his teammates.
Forgot:
The fact that we didn’t know how to make contact (small ball) was the reason why no name pitchers could stun the team with 70-80 mph breaking balls. The Mets of ‘08 were generally fastball or hard slider hitters.
But in contrast they did not strike out much.
Using the 3-0 count to Wright with Murphy on third as an example: he didn’t swing wildly, he just looked like he was trying too hard to pull the ball when all he was being given at that point was outside pitches. When he isn’t pressing, David usually either takes the walk or slaps the ball the other way like he’s good at doing. He just needs to learn to relax and focus on the fundamentals like contact and control, and let the heroics come if they come.
There was nothing wrong with this year’s offense that a decent bullpen wouldn’t fix.
Fix that damn bullpen and the hitters all of a sudden look more proficient.
As for small ball, that’s not HoJo’s job. It’s primarily the manager’s job to think small ball and incorporate it into his strategy. Unfortunately, neither Jerry or Willie seem to like small ball. I liked that Scosia attempted a squeeze last night even though it wasn’t successful. . That’s something Jerry or Willie would never do, especially in a game like that.
“There was nothing wrong with this year’s offense that a decent bullpen wouldn’t fix.”
I don’t know about that. I think that the pressure was higher on the hitters with the bullpen problems but good situational hitting shouldn’t change with the situation.
the Mets, in general were terrible with RISP in games that seemed to count the most.
Of course the flaw to what I just said is that all games count throughout the season…we just tend to remember the “must win” games.
The Mets problems begin and end with the bullpen. Hojo did a fine job this year, my only criticism is he should’ve told Wright to stop pulling the ball all the time. The one coach who HAS to go is Luis Aguayo. He decision making at third was dreadful and inexcusable at times.
don’t fir Ho-Jo he’s cool. As for Luis Aguayo I never want to see that guy near the mets ever again!