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• Da Madd Genius April 4, 2011 at 8:17 am

  I guess I’m glad a manager is capable of making subs, but I’d have to say down #3 negates up #1. I see a fair amount of people on this forum heaping love on Collins. I’m glad we have a new manager thats hungry to win, but in 3 games I don’t see a tangible improvement. We saturday because we’re better than that team that refuses to spend to help out their core, and we won on sunday because they threw the ball around.
  • scottydoesn'tknow April 4, 2011 at 11:05 am

    I don’t think it is a Collins Love fest, but you do have to give him some credit for having this club ready to play come start of the season. The first game I chalk up to Pelfrey and his sub-par outting, but the Mets were still in that game.

    Positives to take away from the first 3 games are…

    1) The club continued to tack on runs in Sundays game instead of just mailing it in once they were up by 4. The Mets of Manuel would have started packing there suitcases (especially on get-away-day) well into the 7th inning lastnight, and at one moment in the game, the Marlins had the bases loaded down by 5. The Mets closed the door and continued to add to their lead, late in the game, which was very encouraging to see.

    2) Niese and Dickey look very sharp, and if they can maintain consistency, things will be very good for the Mets this season. If Chris Young and continue his success from the spring and carry it into the regular season, than that will only add to the strength of this rotation. Hopefully Pelfrey finds his groove, maybe it was the pressure of being that “Opening Day” pitcher, maybe it was a little bit nerves, who knows, but he showed high’s and low’s throughout that game, and he can’t have a mental lapse mid game when the bases are loaded.

    3) Beltran going 1st to 3rd should be all I need to write about him. Pagan taking charge in CF, once Bay gets back, out outfield should hold it’s own.

    4) Wright’s swing looks great, Reyes is starting off a little cold. Base hits Reyes, not homeruns.

    So I feel there are quite abit of ups for the Mets, granted we are only 3 games in, but a lot of people felt the Marlins were going to finish higher in the standings then us, and after this first series, I highly doubt that.
    • gregga April 4, 2011 at 11:50 am

      I totally agree with you about the Mets not packing it. It seems like in the Jerry|Willie days, the Mets would score 5 or 6 runs, then do exactly what said, pack the suitcase and hurry to leave.
      Not only was Beltran going for first to third a plus, he was hitting the ball hard. Let’s hope he stays healthy all season.
  • METS62FAN April 4, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Genius, you must be a charter member og Beningo’s fan club; after ALL the nonhoopla of this offseason, coming out of last yr’s HOUSE OF HORRORS against a team most every expert ranks higher than ours with a 2-1 split is most likely the best outcome we realisticly deserved to anticipate. To create any reason to be less enthusiastic, to me is deliberately creating dissatisfaction considering the comparative records of Johnson V. NYM & Pelfrey V.FL was there any other outcome expected for Game 1? Nolasco V. Niese was certainly destined to be one that may turn either way. Game 3 was only in doubt for those refusing to believe in Dickey as God’s apology for loading on more than NYM could handle. Those of us who truly remained loyaly optimistic professed our team was positioned to SUPRISE a lot of peolple. Only the haters here who are most comfortable with half empty glasses and dismal fortunes could ever find negativitty out of this level of start to a campaign.
    That blown save? hogwash no more of an indicator of disaster than Hughes’ meltdown or Vazquez’ disaster. In case u hadn’t noticed Frankie’s left as the best closer standing in this division at the ooutset of the 2011 campaign.
    PHL: Jose Contreras, 2 career SVs
    ATL: Kimbrel/Venters combined 2 career Svs
    FL: Nunez
    DC: Storen
    It certainly would have been a more interesting series, if as I’d wished Dickey & not Pelfrey had been entrusted with the opener since despite Johnson’s dominant game 1 of 6.2 2ER; he was out performed 2 days later by RA’s 6IP 1R 0ER. While Dickey certainly isn’t a prototypical #1, on this staff he’s certainly, IMO, proven to be the best prepared & most likely SP to match an opposing Ace’s zeroes on the scoreboard. Isn’t THAT the truest measurement stat in this game, SCOREBOARD!. I understand that Pelfrey, not Dickey is where the future lies, though my money would still ride with Dickey to provide more Ws in NY than Pelf over the next however # of seasons each has with us. Pelfrey, IS a Boras client, don’t u know!
    • t agee April 4, 2011 at 12:38 pm

      ’62, I prefer Dickey over Pelfrey for exactly the reason you stated. Preperation and even more so, competiveness. But Dickey does give us the best chance of a positive home opener which is necessary to start sweeping away the negative atmosphere at Citi Field. Leave the fans with a good fun first day at Citi and hopefully they’ll show up for more.

      I wouldn’t call it wasting a Dickey start vs. Josh Johnson but we we’re as likely to get 3 runs (thereby giving Dickey a good chance of a win) as we were of leaving Pt. St. Lucie with no one left behind. Not likely, but not outside the realm of possibilities either.

      All in all though I like the way it shapes up with RA in OUR home opener.
      • METS62FAN April 4, 2011 at 12:48 pm

        T, think about this home opener series rotation; DICKEY,YOUNG,CAPUANO has there been a more promising backend for this team? NOT to my recollection esp consideruing Young & Cap will have CITI @ their backs & the Gnats @ their fronts.
        • t agee April 4, 2011 at 1:10 pm

          ’62, That’s a combination that hopefully will put the wind at OUR backs for a change. How nice would that be?
          • METS62FAN April 4, 2011 at 1:33 pm

            T, just remember, I deserves a lot of compassion & empathy this upcoming home opening series because believe it or not the Gnats claim all of NC as their home broadcast area so I’m forced to endure it via their feed from MASN, while I’m likely to get earbleeds from Bob Carpenter’s incessant whining, though his malcontent partner, Dibble, seems to have been replaced this season by FP Sabntangello as Dibble hated CITI, it promises to may be an improvemeent. Carpenter must either have hellacous bad breath or the product on their field is too unwatchable to sustain more than 12y per color analyst as in the 3 yrs I’ve endured Carpenter’s been paired with Sutton, Dibble & now FP. keep me in your prayers that I don’t hemorage to death from the ears, lol, not really.
            • t agee April 4, 2011 at 1:46 pm

              So ’62. When your in another teams home market SNY gets blacked out? Is it only Washington or the Braves too?

              By the way I hit against Dibble a couple of years ago. 0-2 in a 12 man lineup 7 inning game. All I can say is that was the only time in my life I conciously thought about hoping I didn’t get hit in the box.

              I’ll pass along anything of note I hear on SNY and if you get a decent announcer to pair up with Carpenter I would consider sending along a little scope to keep thing fresh.
              • METS62FAN April 4, 2011 at 2:35 pm

                T, Gnats,ZBraves,Orioles,Reds ALL seem to believe they actually have fans here in this zip code, the most Southern point of central NC. In fact our local big amusement park CAROWINDS is half in each state NC & SC, bothy extend instate tuition privlidges to teach other’s college students attendinf staste colleges or universities. BTW I’ve never seen either a curly W or a Baltimore bird anywhere in this vicinity, Braves fans galore; but nary a day goes by whrn I’m profiling NYM gear when I’m not engaged in fan conversation, youo’d be suprised. I’ve got DIRECTV & it’s much worse for those paying for the pkg from Time Warner cable as TWC refuses to carry MASN broadcasts so they’re reduced to MLB.com for current broadcasts, also most games on PIX I’m shutout of regardless of opponent as PIX isn’t a baseball pkg complier. At least I get what I can; but I also tend to hear many more positives about our team from many of these “HOMERS” u’d be very,very suprised some of the stuff SNY doesn;t portray positivly about our valiants
              • t agee April 4, 2011 at 3:30 pm

                Interesting ’62. Braves I get. Nationals? I guess you guys BBque anything with a curly tail down there. Reds? Birds? I think MLB is just gloming every territory possible to “protect” local markets.

                I thought it was unfair to claim CT for NYY Boston AND the Mets. Few Met fans around here.

                Years ago I got Direct TV and gained the channel 9 games but, despite their telling me I would get Fox Sports NY, LOST 130 games. I quickly “moved” the service to Queens and got ‘em back but it was a hassle. Cable here gets me SNY, YES, RedSox and channel 11.

                I’m sure enemy teams have been saying nice things about us for years.

                I spent a couple of weeks in a NC neighborhood last March and enjoyed it quite a bit. The guys at the lumberyard got a kick out of me running in and out when ever I needed something. Everyone’s so laid back down there. We fully enjoyed it. Lots of Sports fans, good people, good times.
    • gregga April 4, 2011 at 12:45 pm

      “62″, you make a great point about Florida being a “house of horrors” for the Mets. Luckily for our guys, three of main thorns in our side, Uggla, Cantu, and Ross are all gone. Florida has a very nice pitching staff, and let’s be honest anytime you’re facing Josh Johnson, you got to be thinking loss. All and all though a great weekend for our boys.
  • Chris April 4, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    um, we didn’t win yesterday because they threw the ball around. if they DON’T throw the ball around and make every play, we still win 4-2. jesus theyre playing good baseball and winning and we still have to be negative nellys and cant give them the credit. mets fans are unreal.
• K Maxx April 4, 2011 at 9:54 am

  It was good start to the season, no doubt. Krod worries me and I think he will be a disaster. But at least we have Parnell who I like a lot.
• Alan April 4, 2011 at 10:43 am

  It is definitely knit picking to point out the “three downers”. Being shut down by Josh Johnson who is a “legitimate ace” has no shame. He’ll probably win 20 games if healthy. The pop fly that dropped between Reyes and Eamus is simply two guys who have played very little with each other. Josh Thole being aggressive on the base path didn’t cause him to get thrown out. Stumbling to get back to first caused the out….

  How about the fact that we came back to win a game in Florida that we have continuously lost in the past and then came out very aggressively to put the Marlins away in the rubber game of the series.

  It will be a long season but Terry Collins will have this team hustling and being aggressive. I think that in the past few years Jerry Manuel managed all too often in a defensive mode and now we will see more of a kick em while they are down attitude.
  • scottydoesn'tknow April 4, 2011 at 11:07 am

    “How about the fact that we came back to win a game in Florida that we have continuously lost in the past and then came out very aggressively to put the Marlins away in the rubber game of the series”

    Excellent point, the Mets of old always lost that extra innings game mainly because they always packed it in early. This 2011 team seems to be more focused, hopefully it is not due to being opening weekend, and it continues throughout the season.
  • gregga April 4, 2011 at 11:52 am

    It’s the sign of a successful weekend when we can knit-pick the 3 downers, lets hope it goes that way all year long!
• JerseyGuy276 April 4, 2011 at 6:24 pm

  I have to say, I’m positively excited to see Young’s start. I have a feeling that he’ll hopefully stay healthy and if he has a good year, maybe we can pin him down for a couple years. Hopefully Capuano does a better job as a starter then working out of the bullpen as well.

  And I feel for you ’69. I had to watch the Marlins series with their feed as I go to school in FL.