Tag Archives: Philadelphia

Apr 13

Mets Pushing It With David Wright

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A show of hands please, who has seen this before?

WRIGHT: What is the rush?

Who hasn’t seen a Mets’ manager project a return of an injured player and that player plays in a game and gets re-injured? And, to make matters worse, it prevents the Mets from back-dating the time on the disabled list.

Based on that experience – Jose Reyes, David Wright, Ryan Church to name a few and multiple times for Reyes and Wright – I don’t have a good feeling about Wright in Philadelphia.

Wright saw a hand specialist yesterday and was given clearance to try to play tonight. He’ll test it in with batting practice and by throwing, and it will be a game time decision.

Oh boy, suspense in a Mets’ season.

Wright was injured Monday and hasn’t played since, so a DL stint would be backdated to Tuesday. If he plays now and is re-injured, the clock would start the day after he plays.

Granted, the Mets are better with Wright than without him, but I don’t understand the sense of urgency. Are the Mets that desperate that they’ll risk Wright being re-injured. If they are, then they have more problems than a third baseman with a fractured pinkie.

I always held the belief that when it comes to injuries, specifically with the Mets, to be the over. I’d sit him for a few more days.

 

Apr 12

Mets Have No Options With Bay

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The Mets have been here before, saddled with an unproductive player and a huge contract. It wasn’t too long ago the Mets cursed the existence of Oliver Perez. Now it is Jason Bay.

BAY: Nowhere to go but up (Getty).

A significant difference is while Perez’s attitude in the clubhouse turned teammates against him, Bay remains a popular figure because he plays hard and hustles. He just can’t hit.

With Andres Torres on the disabled list and David Wright possibly heading there, the Mets’ serious lack of depth has been exposed six games into the season.

Realistically, what can the Mets do?

They could drop him in the order as Terry Collins hinted, but he’s still an out waiting to happen. Besides, without Wright – and with Lucas Duda and Ike Davis also not hitting – where’s he going to hit? Sixth? Seventh?

If the Mets had somebody better to play they would, but since they don’t there won’t be a platoon system and they can’t bench him.

Bay’s contract and two years of not hitting makes him nearly impossible to trade. And, do the Mets really want to eat his contract and release him? There’s that egg-in-the-face risk again of him being picked up and producing elsewhere.

The Mets’ best hope with Bay is the same as it was with Perez, and that’s for him to play and eventually fix himself.

 

 

Two days ago I thought there might have been a chance of dropping him in the order and then perhaps platooning him because the Mets didn’t want Bay being an anchor to a fast start. But, Wright is hurt and two losses later with the Mets heading to Philadelphia, what was once bright is now bleak.

Bay will stay. Sorry.

Apr 12

Mets Crash And Burn Again

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Yes, the Mets were shut out, and yes, losing David Wright for the past two games helped exposed their offense, but that’s an oversimplification. Yesterday was about Mets’ hitters striking out 15 times – none by Wright – and their pitchers walking ten.

WRIGHT: Mets hope he'll be back to throw helmet.

Terry Collins was right. The Mets should have lost by more.

You can lament losing Wright all you want, but the real problem is through six games the Mets received precious little from Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Jason Bay. Duda had those two homers, but outside of that there’s been nothing.

Nothing, of course, sums up what the Mets have received from Davis and Bay and unless that suddenly changes, their feel-good start will be history. Hell, it probably already is with the Mets heading into Philadelphia for the weekend.

When your ace, Johan Santana, who is coming off surgery has an ERA of 0.90 and has two no-decisions, that pretty much says it all.

ON DECK: What to do with Jason Bay?

Jan 04

Mets face difficult start.

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It won’t take long to figure out the 2012 Mets.

The team entering spring training without expectations – at least positive ones – face a difficult schedule despite 13 games at Citi Field and ten on the road. That includes everybody in their division, so we’ll have an idea of how they’ll stack up against the NL East.

I looked at their schedule this afternoon and if things play out as expected, they could be done before the weather gets warm. It isn’t hard to imagine interest in the baseball season being done in Flushing before the kids are done with school.

They open with a pair of three-game series at home against the Braves, who always give them a hard time, and the new-and-improved Washington Nationals (80-81 last year), who are talking with Prince Fielder.

Then they have consecutive three-game series at Philly and Atlanta before coming home for four games against San Francisco and three with Miami.

The Nationals and Marlins were sub-.500 last season, but both played the Mets tough and are expected to be better this year, perhaps to the point of wild-card contention.

They close out the month with three at Colorado and one in Houston, places where they have struggled.

Following two more at Houston, the Mets play Arizona, at Philadelphia and Miami, and home to Milwaukee and Cincinnati before May 18.

Think there’s a chance they could be ten games under or more by then? You bet.

It is not productive for a team to look too far ahead, but with all that’s going on with the Mets, it isn’t hard.

Nov 29

I can hardly contain myself.

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Read the news today about how the Mets could be players for 38-year-old reliever Octavio Dotel. A journeyman of all journeymen pitchers who has pitched for a dozen teams, including once the Mets.

If the Mets were a contending team with a deep bullpen, Dotel might have been a good fit. But, they aren’t a contender and their bullpen is shoddy at best and Dotel is nothing more than a bit part.

Surely, the Mets can scoop something off the reliever garbage heap that Dotal.

Also a bit of interesting news is that Pat Misch signed with Philadelphia. There was somebody always better – and that’s a relative term when it comes to the Mets’ rotation – but Misch always gave a solid effort and usually strong innings whenever given the chance.