Daily Archives: April 21, 2009
Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post comes to the defense of Ryan Church, who despite hitting .378 is seeing decreased playing time in recent days.
…i’m a bit puzzled by this as well, Bart…i understand the need to get guys at-bats, but forcing players like Fernando Tatis and Gary Sheffield into the lineup while those they are replacing are playing well doesn’t make much sense…
At his blog for the New York Times, Ben Shpigel wonders if the bullpen will continue to perform at their current level due to frequent usage.
…they may pitch often, but i have no issues with Jerry Manuel‘s use of his relievers…he has put each reliever in a position to succeed and i don’t think any specific reliever has been overused to this point…
Over at Mike’s Mets, Joyce Mandelkern says, ‘don’t panic,’ while looking at positive aspects of the Mets .500 start.
Brian Costa of the Star-Ledger takes a statistical look at the Mets troubles with runners in scoring position.
Meanwhile, Metsgrrl looks at the dysfunctional design of the bullpens at Citi Field.
…i’d still like a clear explanation of the white tarps covering the Mets portion of the bullpen…like metsgrrl says, it’s pointless to have an open air bullpen if you’re just going to cover it…
Finally, Mike Silva of New York Baseball Digest posts video of former Mets managers Bobby Valentine talking about the 1999 Mets.
Tagged Mike Nichols |
Today at 11 am, Mark Healy will dedicate the full two hours of his online radio show, Baseball Digest Live, discussing Citi Field, while also taking calls from listeners about the new ballpark.
By the way, MetsBlog reader Chris M sent me a link to a story in the Daily News from June 2007, in which it mentions the Mets were planning an ‘interactive Mets museum’ for Citi Field.
However, when it was announced recently by Fred Wilpon that such a museum will be built, reporters and fans, including myself, criticized the team for being out of touch, late and only reacting to fan criticism – when in reality it appears the Mets intended on building it all along.
So, I guess the real question is: what’s the hold up?
Lastly, while on the subject, the more I look at it, the more I wish the outfield wall in Citi Field was blue, instead of black.
Again, like so many of these arguments about aesthetics, it’s not that big of a deal; but, it does bug me when I see the black wall and orange text, which reminds me of the Giants and O’s – and, once it is pointed out, be it to people 
who work with the team or other fans, most people end up agreeing it should be blue.
Actually, if you click here, and look at the original mock-up from HOK in 2006, it appears they envisioned the wall being blue.
Nevertheless, MetsBlog.com reader Vince H did some basic work on Photoshop job, and, as you can see, such a simple move immediately makes the new ballpark feel more Mets-centric.
[poll id="245"]
The Daily News, SNY, Bergen Record and Newsday all write stories today about the hot start from Luis Castillo, who is batting .389 so far this season, and .444 in nine at bats with runners in scoring position.
“I’m a different guy,” Castillo told the Daily News. “I don’t have any pain, I don’t have any injuries.”
…i wonder if Jerry Manuel is thinking about replacing Daniel Murphy with castillo in the second spot in the batting order… i am not yet sure it is wise to remove murphy, who is batting .319, but it’s hard to deny that castillo’s slap-hitting style could serve moving Jose Reyes from station to station better than murphy, whose approach may help drive in more runs from the middle of the order…
[poll id="244"]
Yesterday, I ran a poll on MetsBlog.com asking, “Right now, today, what is your biggest concern, as a Mets fan, regarding the Mets?”
According to the results of the poll, 60 percent of the roughly 7,000 people who voted said the Mets results hitting with runners in scoring position is their 
biggest concern, while 35 percent said the starting position.
The Marlins, Citi Field’s Decor, Team Defense, the Bench and Bullpen made up the other five percent.
So, I posed the same question to other bloggers from around the NL East, myself included, to see where the rest of the division stands.
Here are their comments:
Craig Strain, Marlins, from Fish Stripes: I would say the biggest concern is that, so far, all of the starters in their third start didn’t have command of their pitches and didn’t go very deep in those games. This is causing the Marlins to over use the bullpen. While I don’t think this will be a long-term problem, it is raising a concern in the short run.
Martin Gandy, Braves, Talking Chop: If I had to boil it down to one, it would be injuries; but that’s followed closely by inconsistency. There have been no major injuries to the Braves this year, but there have been a boat-load of nagging injuries that just won’t go away.
Jason Weitzel, Phillies, Beer Leaguer: Biggest concern is the pitching, which has the second-highest ERA in baseball (6.87), even 
worse than the Yankees, thanks in no small part to 26 home runs surrendered in 11 games…
The bullpen, which paced them during the first week, fell apart last week. The season is only a handful of games old, but you could already argue that the bullpen will be worse than last year, which just about everyone assumed it would be. Last season the Phils were 79-0 when leading after eight, and Brad Lidge was a perfect… Lidge blew his first save in 47-consecutive regular-season chances Saturday. Obviously, nobody’s perfect, but Lidge, who’s given up three homers already, doesn’t look the same as last season. He’s missing his fastball.
Staff wide, however, there are signs of recovery. Their K/BB ratio is
sound, their BABIP is high and the rotation had a better turn the
second time around.
Ed Chigliak, Nationals, Federal Baseball: Having just suffered three straight losses to the Marlins, in which the Nationals led going into the ninth, the bullpen was the biggest concern… Now it’s how the new bullpen will perform? The 
Nationals sent three relievers packing Sunday, rebooting the pen two weeks in.
Matthew Cerrone, Mets, MetsBlog.com: I agree with the readers of my site, in that RISP has me most concerned. The silver lining, as Jerry Manuel has pointed out, is that this means they have runners on base, and this is fair. The thing is, the team is losing most of its games by one or two runs, so when they strand 10 per game, it’s hard not to fret about. I trust this will turn around, I just think the offense is out of sync. However, I do feel better knowing Weitzel (Phillies) wrote the most in the above responses.
Just like last week…
I will be making regular posts to MetsBlog.com today, as I always do.
However, the comments section will be closed, as I am doing a bit of administrative work on the blog.
The comments section will be re-opened, like usual, tomorrow morning.
Thank you for understanding,
