Kuzul

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Are the Mets really doomed? Believe it or not, there is a realistic chance the Mets can make the playoffs, even if the Braves series doesn’t turn out well. Heck, even if the week as a whole doesn’t turn out well. After taking a look at the Mets’ schedule, it’s not so unrealistic. 

Starting Tuesday, the Mets have 56 games remaining in the season. Of those 56 games, nine are against the Braves and 12 are against the Phillies. Of the remaining 35 games, 27 are against teams that are well under .500: seven against each the Astros and the Pirates, six against the Nationals, four against the Brewers, and three against the Cubs.  

Just for the sake of completeness, the remaining eight games include five against the Marlins and three against the Rockies. You can plainly see, that even if this week doesn’t turn out well, there still is hope for the Mets.

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I was watching this team play baseball yesterday in what was a must-win game for the Mets. They knew how big these next six games were going to be. They needed to show in last night’s game that they were ready to do anything to win and that they would not go down without a fight. But they didn’t do that.

At times this season the Mets have looked like a team that battles back or fights to stay in the game. But something has happened to that team, and whatever they had at the beginning of the year is gone. It happened around the time Mike Pelfrey started to fall apart, and around the time Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo came back.

I don’t think Beltran and Castillo are clubhouse poisons who made this team go into a tail spin. They haven’t played great, but still that’s no excuse for why the rest of the team has struggled so much. It could have been that when these two guys came back, the team just shifted into a different gear. The players figured, now that we have them back, they can take some of the load off of us. It doesn’t really make sense, but a lot of things the Mets have done this year haven’t made sense.

I came to the sad realization a couple days ago that this team isn’t going anywhere. The Mets don’t have what it take to make the playoffs with the type of attitude they have right now. I’m not the only one who thinks this either. In a recent poll on Mets Paradise, 85 percent of the voters believed the Mets will not make the playoffs.

This doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop watching them or stop attending games. This is my team, and if it is going down, I’m going down with it. I love the Mets, and that wouldn’t change whether they were in the World Series or in last place.

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The New York Mets are about to play the most important six games of their season. Starting tonight, the Mets will play three games against the Atlanta Braves, followed by three games against the Philadelphia Phillies, all of them on the road.

The Mets’ playoff hopes are on the line, we know it, and the players know it. More specifically David Wright knows it:

“We’re positive heading in to this week. We know what we want is there for us to take it, and really grab it… but, we need to go out and play better baseball.”

Right now the Mets are 6.5 back of the first place Braves and four games back of the second place Phillies.

With wishful thinking, let’s say the Mets sweep the Braves. That would put them at 3.5 games back, and they would certainly be right back in the race. If they win two of three, they would be 5.5 back. If they lose two of three, they would be 7.5 back. If they get swept, they would be 9.5 back.

If the Mets lose two of three I wouldn’t see the season is over. Anything could happen, and we as Mets fans know that all too well. If the Mets get swept, that would make things extremely difficult for the Mets to say the least.

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Here were all the trades around baseball. Today, before 3:00 PM was the last day teams could trade players without them having to go through waivers:

• Jayson Stark reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot from the Chicago Cubs for Blake DeWitt , Brett Wallach , and Kyle Smith . The Cubs wanted Josh Thole from the Mets for Lilly and the Mets didn’t want to part with him…can’t blame them.
• Jon Heyman reports that the Mets offered the Cubs Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo for Carlos Zambrano , but the Cubs turned it down because they didn’t want Castillo. Does that mean they wanted Perez? Because they can have him.
• The St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians pulled off a three-way deal today. Jake Westbrook (CLE) and Nick Greenwood (SAN) go to the Cardinals, the Padres get Ryan Ludwick (STL), and the Indians get prospect Corey Kluber (SAN). The Indians send cash to the Cardinals and some cash to the Padres, but they still save money in the deal.
• FOX Sports reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks completed a five-player deal. Arizona sends catcher Chris Snyder , minor league prospect Pedro Ciriaco , and $3MM to the Pirates for reliever D.J. Carrasco , Bobby Crosby , and ex-Met Ryan Church .
• Buster Olney reports that the New York Yankees acquired Kerry Wood from the Indians for a player to be named later or cash. The Yankees are picking up $1.5M of the $3.71M left on Wood’s contract. The Yankees will also pay Wood $200K if he can stay healthy. To make room for Wood the Yankees designated Chan Ho Park for assignment.
• Dan Connolly reports that the Florida Marlins have acquired Will Ohman from the Baltimore Orioles for Nick VandenHurk .
• Brian McTaggart reports that the Houston Astros are close to a multi-year deal with Brett Myers . The Astros wanted Josh Thole and Bobby Parnell from the Mets for Myers.
• The Atlanta Braves acquired outfielder Wilkin Ramirez from the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
• Jayson Stark reports the Dodgers have acquired Octavio Dotel from the Pirates for Andrew Lambo. The Pirates wanted Robert Carson from the Mets for Dotel.
• Rob Bradford reports that the Boston Red Sox traded Ramon Ramirez to the San Francisco Giants for Daniel Turpen.

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Ted Berg of SNY.tv and TedQuarters.net wrote a very interesting blog about the perception of a Mets fan.

I’ve seen many Mets fans blame the fact that the Mets aren’t playing well on Carlos Beltran. Many fans believe Beltran’s return has ruined the team chemistry, and therefore the team is not playing well.

That is simply not true. The Mets haven’t been playing well since they went down to Puerto Rico and Jose Reyes got injured. The team isn’t playing well because the team goes as Reyes goes, and Reyes hasn’t been going.

The question still remains: Why is it that many Mets fans have blamed this funk on Beltran?

Many fans don’t like Beltran because Beltran doesn’t smile. Beltran doesn’t look like he’s having fun making millions playing a game. That’s why people are blaming Beltran. Fans think since Beltran doesn’t look like he’s having fun, he’s not having fun and is a cancer in the clubhouse. That is simply not true.

Beltran doesn’t talk much to the media, and fans don’t like that. I think this is similar to the home run battle between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961 and how the media favored Mantle, because Mantle smiled and talked to the media.

To this I say, “Perception is not reality.” Just because Beltran doesn’t smile doesn’t mean he’s not enjoying himself and certainly doesn’t mean he’s a cancer in the clubhouse.

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Before we all go out and jump off the closest bridge, let’s please calm down. Yes, the Mets aren’t hitting well. Yes, the Mets aren’t winning; but there’s still plenty of baseball to be played.

With 64 games remaining in the season, 35 of them are against teams that are sub .500; 24 of those 35 games are against teams that are 10 games under .500; 17 of those 35 games are at home where the Mets are actually playing really well; and seven of those game are to end the season at home.

Furthermore, the Mets are playing 10 more games against the Atlanta Braves this season which gives them lots of opportunities to play catch-up. Atlanta will slow down eventually. How soon I can’t say, but they can’t continue pitching and clutch hitting the way they are

Since the All-Star break, we’ve seen that the Braves closer and former Mets closer, Billy Wagner, have been terrible. Wagner blew two consecutive saves after a relatively clean season; he lost only three in his first 25 opportunities.

It’s possible that you could say Wagner just had “two bad outings”. It’s also possible that he’s feeling the effects of pitching more than 41 innings this year. When you factor  the workload with his age, it’s clear he will slow down in the second half.

One of these days, the offense will wake up. While we all hope it is sooner rather than later, later (not too late, though) wouldn’t be so bad. Considering what happened in ’07 and ’08, a team who isn’t worn out from hitting too much will be hitting well in late September when it matters most.

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The Mets start the second half of the season in a good position to reach the playoffs. There’s still a cloud of uncertainty hanging around the team, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do some serious damage. Don’t believe me? Look at some similarities to the last Mets team make the World Series:

• Jeff Franceour = Derrek Bell : Bell had a fantastic April, and then disappeared afterwards, and lost playing time because of it. Franceour also had a fantastic April, and then much like Bell disappeared afterwards, and is going to lose playing time because of it, like Bell did.
• Mike Pelfrey = Al Leiter :  Although Leiter was seond in the rotation he pitched like an ace, and so far Pelfrey has done the same.
• Johan Santana = Mike Hampton : Hampton started the season unexpectedly bad, and turned it around in the second half. Santana also started the season unexpectedly bad, and has started to turn it around. Can Santana continue to turn it around like Hampton did in 2000? Santana has a history of being a second half pitcher.
• Glendon Rusch/Bobby Jones = R.A. Dickey : Rusch and Jones solidified the back end of the rotation, a rotation that looked questionable after the third slot. Dickey has done much the same in a rotation that looked questionable after the third spot in the rotation Dickey has stepped in and solidified the fourth spot in the rotation.  Will the Mets acquire a started to push back Jon Niese and Dickey, and solidify the back end of the rotation like Rusch and Jones did in 2000?
• Mike Piazza = David Wright : Piazza ended 2000 with 38 HR’s 113 RBI’s and a batting average of .324. Wright is on pace for 26 HR’s 120 RBI’s with a .314 batting average.
• Todd Zeile = Ike Davis : Zeile ended 2000 with 22 HR’s and 79 RBI’s. Davis is on pace for 22 HR’s and 79 RBI’s.
• Armando Benitez = Francisco Rodriguez : No explanation necessary.

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With the trade deadline of July 31st rapidly approaching, more and more trade rumors swirl. Who is available, which team is interested, who are the buyers and sellers, and will there be a fire sell? These questions will soon be answered.

The Mets are a team name that have been thrown around a lot. They had interest in Ted Lilly , but that has seemed to fade. Now their focus is shifting more towards Cleveland Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook .

This got me thinking, if the Mets want a guy like Westbrook, could they just got out and sign a free agent? I mean, would it be that much of a down grade?

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The All Star game is probably the best of the exhibition “all star”  games in professional sports. Maybe a case could be made for the NHL All Star game, but that game is an anomoly, with no defense. The Pro Bowl in football is a joke. No one really wants to play in it, no one really wants to watch it. The “defense” is vanilla, and the “offense” is boring. The NBA All Star game is another one. No defense, just guys basically running up and down the court throwing it down. It’s schoolyard jams.

Baseball All Star games? Even the contrived “meaningful” All Star game we have now is better than every single other professional All Star game. And oh, the memories. At least for me.

It all begins for me in 1974. It’s the first All Star game I remember watching. I was 5. There were 22 future Hall of Famers in that game (and one who probably should be, Pete Rose), and three total Mets reprisented. Yogi Berra was a coach. Jerry Grote was one of the catchers, and a star Mets pitcher also made the team. Not Tom Seaver, but Jon Matlack. National League won.

The next memorable game was in 1976, another NL win. I remember this one for two reasons: first, Mark Fidrych pitched. He was the sensation of that year. “The Bird”, all the crazy antics. Everyone was talking about him, and in those days (I sound like a geezer, but heck, it WAS 34 years ago, for crying out loud) you only had ONE game a week you could watch, the game of the week on NBC. You couldn’t see him anywhere but the highlights on the local news or read about him in the newspaper. A real newspaper. One that was delivered to your house. One you physically held in your hands. Secondly, Fred Lynn hit a homer for the only AL run. Although a Mets fan, Fred Lynn was my favorite player (we lived in New Hampshire at the time, so in order to watch baseball, that meant watching Red Sox games, they were the only team you could see.

1979’s game was the Dave Parker show. He opened my eyes to real defense in the outfield. What a cannon for an arm. The guy had three of the most beautiful throws that you could ever see, In the seventh inning, he threw out Jim Rice at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. That was a great throw, but he topped that one in the eighth. Here’s the situation:

First and second, one out. AL threatening in a tie gems, 6-6. The dangerous Greg Nettles up. Netles hits a bloop off the end of the bat to right, Brian Downing rounds third trying to score the go-ahead run. Parker comes in, catches the ball on a hop and in one fluid motion hurls an absolute perfect strike, no hop as I remember, to Gary Carter blocking the plate. Downing is dead meat. Most perfect throw to this day that I have ever seen. NL goes on to win in the ninth.

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Mike Francesa reports that the Mets will make a trade at the deadline. He said that they will make a “proper trade,” and that the Mets have “no financial restrictions.”

By proper trade I’m guessing he means that they will do a trade to address their starting pitcher and/or reliever problems.

I’ve said it before, but if the Mets want to be serious contenders for the playoffs they need a starter AND a reliever.

Hisanori Takahashi doesn’t belong in the rotation any more, and the fact that the Mets are going to give him another start while Pat Misch is doing very well in Triple-A is upsetting.

The starting pitchers out there that the Mets are interested in:

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