12
2012
Hits & Misses: Johan’s Back, Boo Bay Out Of Town, Kirk Needs More Seasoning
An article by 
The Mets got out of the gate with guns blazing to start the season, but were shooting blanks by the time they got on the first stage coach out of town and heading for Philly. Luckily, we did manage to learn a few things along the way.
Any success that comes out of this season will hinge on our ace Johan Santana. If he can put it together and become a steadying force at the front of the rotation, the Mets will play meaningful games in September. So far the early results are astonishing. 10 innings pitched with a 0.90 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, only 7 hits allowed and 13 strikeouts… Are you kidding me? He’s back people, don’t mess with the Johan.
I pointed this out yesterday on Twitter, but ummm… Mets with David Wright in the lineup 4-0, Mets without David Wright in the lineup 0-2. I’m just saying….
Speaking of captains (calm down, Alex and Bayonne), how about Captain Kirk? There’s some promise here for sure, but once Andres Torres gets back, Nieuwenhuis will need to go back to Buffalo for a little more seasoning. Sure he picked up three hits and looked so-so in centerfield, but what concerns me is the 5 strikeouts in 12 at-bats. That don’t work for me and is a sure sign he’s a bit underdone. Lets not blow this.
I talked about Jason Bay in length yesterday, but come on… 8 Ks in his first 19 at-bats ? And in his first six games at Citi, where the new shortened walls were catered to right-handed sluggers, nary a home run from Bay? The boo-birds got onto him really good during this homestand, and sad to say it was well deserved. A .158 batting average? Only one RBI through his first six games batting fifth? 17 runners left on base? What did some of you expect applause for the highest paid position player on the team? Let him have it.
Did you take a closer look at Ike Davis’ at-bats yesterday after I gave Bay partial blame for Ike’s healthy dose of offspeed and breaking pitches?
He got a non-stop serving of filthy curves and nasty changeups and they were all strikes and they were all unhittable. In Davis’ first at-bat, when Strasburg dropped in a changeup for a called strike two and then a curveball for called strike three, there was a look of terror on Ike’s face. In his second at-bat he gets a called strike two, and finally swings at a killer curve that fell off the table for strike three. Luck shines down on him in the seventh inning and he hits a changeup in his third at-bat for a clean single to break the schnied. Bay comes up next, sees 5 fast balls and strikes out. I wanted to puke. Finally, Ike sees seven pitches in his last at-bat, none of them fastballs, and grounds out meekly. Get Bay out of the fifth spot.
By the way, nice job by the Mets for rolling back ticket prices to $2.50 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the very first Mets game in 1962. When the tickets sold out in a matter of a couple of hours, the Mets were gracious enough to offer another batch for the Tuesday game. Now that’s fan friendly… Lot’s of people were able to take their family out for a game and at least for one day they didn’t have to break the bank to do it. Having Roger Craig on hand to toss out the first pitch, was also a classy move.
I totally agree with Petey Pete on bringing up Zach Lutz if Wright were to go on the DL. Valdespin isn’t even playing second base anymore… Check out his great post on Lutz here.
Have a good one…
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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When Wright gets back, I would bat Ike 3rd followed by Wright, Duda, Bay, Kirk, Thole. I hope Bay settles down while away from Citifield.
Yeah it’s kinda weird when I write a piece, and then some half-baked version of it turns up 12 hours later on Amazin Avenue, where some guy with absolutely no talent for writing, has taken all my ideas and threw it together to form some piece of incoherent crap about marinated pork sandwiches. What the hell? Don’t those guys at AA have any sense? Don’t they even have a shred of pride? Obviously they don’t. They are a bunch of losers, and there are others too, who for now, will go unnamed.
Well Pete I have yet to see an original point ever made over there!
A lot of parrots posting there but not a lot on minds!
or, some of us are just physically impaired… I quit c&p but had to resume it due to my fixed position in my bed…
thank God I have such loyal friend like Joe
I’m sorry Mack, but please don’t cry foul. Every other day you call out Mets bloggers as if you’re somehow different or better. Just this morning you posted this quote:
“It’s unbelievable. The season is six games long. For four games the Mets were Titans. Now, they need to car bomb the clubhouse. I tell ya, two generations ago these beat nerds and blog dicks would have been barkers at Steeplechase.”
And you included this picture:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z71sKUN4Htg/T4Y7laa9adI/AAAAAAAAbgk/BBKEDGVN-5k/s1600/a+-+finger.jpg
Blog dicks?
You’re always calling someone out on your blog or complaining about some blogger or beat writer every week. In 2012 alone you mocked me three times by name and I kept silent.
Don’t cry foul just because I wanted to commend a few sites that do an outstanding job. I didn’t mention you or anyone else or any site by name. I had my reasons for posting what I did and it had nothing to do with you.
You have no right to cry foul. In fact you owe all Mets bloggers and Mets beat writers an apology because we are not “nerds and dicks”. We are not “know-nothings”. We are not “blogging from our parent’s basements”.
You seem to be angry at the world. If you love the Mets and love blogging than do both without resorting to insults and name calling. If you want respect and loyalty, then dish some of it out in equal measure. Otherwise, just reap what you sow and don’t complain about it.
MMO has been the place to go for differing (and sometimes rowdy) opinions for quite a while now and with the outstanding original coverage of the Met minor league affiliates is now the place to go for prospect discussion as well.
Others have taken notice and responded in different ways and more will follow because MMO is relevant, original and engaging.
Keep the flack jacket handy Joe.
sincerest form of flattery and all.
figures you would defend them…
defend who? I really have no idea who Joe is referring to and I choose not to involve myself in mindless speculation.
It is more of a compliment to the job Joe and Kelly have done here.
Why don’t you take that 303 IQ(nope, still not old) and apply it occasionally?
Metsie – I dont understand what your problem is or why you are always on the attack, but I would hardly call a compliment as “defending them”, whoever “them” is. Settle down man.
Agreed, that’s how I see it too.
If others want to copy content from here, it just means they like what they’re reading. As long as they link back to here I see no harm.
Yo, there’s Beat Street let’s serve. The Bronx Rockers are here man. Battle!!!
http://youtu.be/VzK8BE7r55M
I think your analysis of Ike’s AB’s is really on target. At this point in his career Bay can only hurt the younger guys hitting around him. A giant hole in the lineup that gives the opposition a ton of confidence – hence, they keep throwing all the junk to Ike for strikes – and those unhittable called strikes will kill you.
I’ve grown tired of sticking up for Jason Bay, he’s let me down and I was one of his biggest supporters. It’s a shame how he declined so much so fast. It’s unexplainable. As for your other stuff, Stephen Strasburg was plain nasty, plus he had the home plate umpire in his pocket! I always enjoyed this Mets blog more than any other precisely because of it’s original content. I go to Metsblog for my news and Metsmerized for everything else because I enjoy all the different opinions.
What about Thole? How could you leave him out of your rant? He continues to look awful behind the dish!
Josh Thole is horrible.
Yeah, how the heck is it that the catcher lacks such basic catching skills?!
As for Bay, at the risk of blaspheming, I feel so GD sorry for the guy. Admittedly, he sucks at the plate. It just kills me, knowing that he prepares himself and gets into the box and wants to deliver and then just fails, fails, fails. Maybe he’s really don. Dunno.
Yesterday was a combination of failure and farce for him. I thought he was doing just what a good, patient hitter should do, and the ump calls him out on BALLS. Bay gets booed.
I know we’ve had all kinds of dicussions about “booing” here on MMO, so I’m not gonna touch that one, but I wouldn’t boo Bay, b/c only genuine A-holes deserve that treatment. Not saying he deserves a standing O either…Whatever, four and-a-half more weeks to axe him if he doesn’t start hitting. Meanwhile, keep him in the seven hole.
Mack, I speak for myself here, but I can honestly say Joe has never, ever once “instructed” me on what to write or how to write it. He’s never even suggested a topic for me to write about. I can only assume what you inferred you might do if you “were a younger man,” but there’s no place for any of that garbage on a site adults use to exchange ideas. You owe this entire site, its contributors and it’s readers, and most especially Joe, an apology.
I can actually vouch for this…I don’t even think Joe and Xtreeme agree on all that much based on their writings.
I have written quite a bit for the site under the fan posts and not once has Joe ever told me what to say!
Mack,
As I said before, enough with the insults and name calling. I don’t like deleting posts but all these kids and high schoolers you’re always complaining about happen to read this site and I dont think they should be privy to grown men behaving badly.
As to your statement in your comment:
>>>>Regarding original material, you are legendary in the blogging world for stealing concepts and not respectng how others choose to post. You not only copy ideas, but you instruct your “writers” to go that way.<<<<
I take offense to that and would further add that I've never instructed anybody at any time to copy or steal anyone's content. That's a false accusation and sounds more like sour grapes.
In fact you wrote this on your site just 4 weeks ago:
"Joe has always been a loyal frend to MMs and is one of the few Mets bloggers out there that goes out of his way to come up with his own theme ideas for his site."
http://macksmets.blogspot.com/2012/03/mack-on-lucas-duda-joe-d-johan-santana.html
You also wrote this in December:
Joe D over at Mets Merized has built his site on original thoughts. Matt Cerrone’s MetsBlog has degraded into a cut-n-paste wasteland where readers simply click on due to their connection with SNY. I’d like us to go down the same road Joe has, with continued emphasis on the Mets' minor league system.
http://macksmets.blogspot.com/2011/12/2012-and-beyond-future-20.html
If you search Metsmerized or MMO on your site, over 175 different times you liked what you read here and shared it with your readers.
Your argument today in your comment rings untrue.
Anyway, I just wanted to clear the record and respond to your charge.
Have a nice day.
He completely threw Matt Cerrone under the bus. It’s obvious this creep is just jealous of others success. What Met fan doesnt appreciate Mets Blog which is where you go for all breaking Mets news??? Ignore this insect.
Agree with all said about Jason and I believe that after the game Friday Bay will be hitting lower/and or out against RH until he gets it back together.
Right now Mets don’t have another reliable bat after David and Hairston is just as inconsistent.
Mets need another RH bat with some pop and get rid of Cedeno who is so anemic at the plate that Terry putting him out there instead of Turner is just giving at bats away, another great signing, probably cheap, by SA.
Facing some tough pitching the first month of season, Nats have good pitching and Deitwellier, was just nasty but no RH balance in lineup.
Unless Bay picks it up then Mets have to bring up another RH bat cause lefties are just eating up the lineup with Duda, Ike, and Thole in there.
I thought that Thole was doing a good job until yesterday’s game, bad day maybe, but lets see how he comes back from this bad game and continue to improve.
R.A. will be a test for him