That’s right, I’m not in a positive frame of mind. Yeah, something about looking like a sack of crap when playing the Skankees will do this to me. I just cannot let the last three games go, and I really was feeling like we might be able to muddle through until after the All-Star Break. Now, I feel chances are good to excellent that in an NL of mostly very mediocre teams we’re going to be a bad one come August.
Frankly, there’s decent starting pitching for five innings with an inability to go deep into games, a decent but already overworked BP, and a starting lineup and bench players who may have seen their best hitting days already. Unless a major hitter or two is added to this team soon, it’s a real likelihood that we will find ourselves uncompetitive and in fourth place once the leaves begin to crackle.
Beyond the basic middlingness of our lineup and pitching, there is the basic atrocity of Mets defense. While we never know what series of blunders will befall us next on the field, the one constant is that the Mets defense stinks. Let’s be honest: Daniel Murphy is a liability in the field–no matter where he’s placed. Wright can make spectacular plays at third, but he always seems challenged in terms of basic arm strength and speed when it comes to fairly routine grounders. Still, I surely can live with him at third. Players like Castillo and Cora are decent for the most part, but their range and speed are limited. As for the outfield, without Beltran defense is not sufficient.
When DeRosa was dealt to the Cards, I read people who said, “That’s no biggie, he wouldn’t have carried us anyway.” Funny how Manuel’s telling reaction was, “That’s a real good move for them (Cards).” Having watched DeRosa in Chicago and followed how he fared in Cleveland, I think letting him go to the Cards stinks. He may not be a superstar, but he’s a darn good ball player. He currently has 13HRs and 50RBIs. I don’t think too many Mets have that kind of offensive production right now, do you? He also plays a very capable defense at a variety of positions and has a very strong arm–an OF’s arm in fact.
I’ll be in Miller Park tonight, and I’ll be screaming my head off for our Mets, but mark my words: status quo from here till the All-Star break will most likely end in something close to disaster.
Let’s Make a Deal, and Let’s Go Mets!
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
Can’t keep doing like this.
Great article. Agree with you completely. My thinking is that standing pat means fighting with the Nats to keep out of the cellar. That’s not the kind of season I was hoping for. LGM!
I have no where else to write this, but I’m going to say this here. I am sick and tired of hearing all these guys are taking days off due to illness. I have played baseball all my life through college and have never missed a game due to an illness of any kind. I have played in games where I have puked in the outfield, in between innings etc. And do you know why I did that? Because if we lost I would not have been able to sleep that night knowing I let someone who is my backup play over me and possibly cost us the game that day. If church didnt have 102 fever and wasnt wrapped around the bowl all day yesterday there is no excuse for him not being in the lineup last night. In my mind he is the 3rd best hitter on this team right now and unless he was on his death bed he should have been in that game. Baseball is not a physically exerting sport. There is alot of down time in order for your body to recooperate. If Michael Jordan can play a playoff basketball game with 102 fever and the FLU, Ryan Church could have played with an “illness” as it was so elequently put.
He was suffering from nausea. So were all the Mets fans. LOL.
Hahaha…but think about it. A rookie Hanson pitches a great game while battling the flu. It’s about 20 times harder to go through a game pitching then it is standing in the outfield with time to rest during at bats.