21
2012
Morning Grind: I Hate Losses Like Last Night, Kirk Keeps Coming At Ya, Niese Is All Growed Up
An article by 
You can always count on a Morning Grind from me after a loss like last night. I embrace my Met fandom and take great pride in the moaning and groaning I do after a loss. It was something I picked up in the mid seventies and I never could quite kick the habit. 
It looks like Terry Collins is cracking and beginning to see the light on Kirk Nieuwenhuis. After a week of adamantly stating that the centerfield job would go to Andres Torres as soon as he got back – even before last night’s game – Collins paused when asked about it after the game and simply said “I don’t know what I’m going to do”. It’s a far departure from his previous stance and that gives me hope that he’ll ultimately do the right thing. Yes, I know that it’s only 35 at-bats, all you small sample advocates settle down. You have eyes don’t you? It’s not difficult to see how athletic and talented the kid looks beyond his .371/.460/.600 line… It’s not hard to see how incredibly good he plays in centerfield… His instincts and savvy are way beyond his years… And to hear Terry Collins talk about Kirk’s competitiveness and how his whole persona transforms as soon as he leaves the clubhouse and gets on that field for the game, gave me goosebumps last night. The trick is to see how he adjusts once the league adjusts to him, but I gotta hunch that there’s no fail in this kid.
Jon Niese looked awful from the word go last night and he admitted as much during the post game, but I give him high points for turning it around and holding the Giants at bay and giving us a chance to rally back and win – and we almost did. Niese has got a lot of moxie and the kind of swagger I want to see in a starting pitcher. Niese is maturing and taking his game seriously. He no longer has that deer in the headlights look. He sounded like he was pissed off at himself last night and looked like he wanted to punch a wall (luckily he didn’t) which is a nice departure from what we usually see from Pelfrey after a bad outing. Speaking of the big dude, he gets a chance to play stopper this afternoon. I hope he can end this three game slide.
One of our readers, Stuart, emailed me this last night:
Duane Reade has the promtion when the METS hit Two HRs in a game you get a free Axe brand deodorant. Last season they gave out bars of SOAP. Do you think this is a not so subtle hint to us METS fans about our personal hygiene. Or is this a way of them saying that the team and the fans both stink?
I don’t even know hot to respond to that, lol.
A bunch of our prospects have written to tell us how much they dig our coverage of the Mets Minors. Hey guys, we dig you too!. Bisons reliever Justin Hampson got a little annoyed at us though because he thought we were a little rough on him, so I want to point out that on Wednesday, he pitched two perfect innings of relief and picked up his first save of the season and the second of his pro career. Way to go, Justin! I also promised Cam Maron that we will no longer refer to him as Camden, he prefers Cam.
Our Minor League guru Pete, spoke to Brad Holt and he’ll be posting an interview in the coming days. We just heard back from the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs who invited Pete to take in a couple of games when the Bisons roll into town for a three game series next week. He’ll not only be rubbing elbows with the boys from Buffalo, but plans on talking to Wally Backman and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg. I’m so jealous!
By the way, I want to welcome Tim Burns to our MMO Minor League team as well as Prince Rahman. Tim’s a firefighter and a die-hard Mets fan who lives in Binghamton and catches a lot of the B-Mets games. In addition to providing a daily game recap, he’ll be doing a weekly feature called the Binghamton Buzz which looks to be a lot of fun and very insightful. Prince will be focusing on the MLB Draft and will have a series of great posts as we get closer to Draft Day. Welcome to MMO guys!
One more thing… Thanks to Darryl Strawberry for including us on his Ultimate Mets Bloggers list on Twitter. 
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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Yes, last night it really seemed that we were destined to win, ah, but then we weren’t. Still smoldering over that one.
We’ll get ‘em today.
LGM!
This game was winnable – the type of game they have to win if they’re planning on playing. 500 ball or better.
I don’t know why people put any stock into what Collins is saying about the Torres and Kirk situation. The final decision is most probably going to be made by Sandy when he has to create the roster spot for Torres. That said errors like last night’s are not going to help him. Kirk is going to be a fine CF one day and he is already a good hitter (Sample size not withstanding) but errors like those will get you sent down toot sweet.
I think it was an error of nerves myself. He knew he had to make a throw to gun down a runner and was thinking about that before he actually had the ball to throw. Rookie Mistake but the kind of thing that gets you sent down to work on fundamentals.
Francisco simply can not walk the leadrun in a tie game. He’s been pretty decent so far (and by decent meaning he hasn’t really allowed runs before but he has allowed a lot of baserunners in the proccess) so I will let this game pass.
Lets hope they can take the next two or the season could get ugly very quickly.
Growing pains. Every major leaguer has gone through them. But I like the fact the error was on aggressiveness and not apprehensiveness.
Yep which is why I am still against just replacing him with Torres when he gets back.
I think Torres shold earn the job back. I would be fine if they platooned him into the lineup but Kirk has proved he belongs and while he may have madea rookie mistake he has also showed he can make some pretty good plays as well.
Joe D., that out at the plate in the 10th still annoying me.First the 1st baseman snow coned the ball in his glove and than the catcher snow coned the throw in the webbing and still made the tag for the out!!!!!!!!!!.OUCH.Would have been a nice win.I am curious to see if Collins shakes up the line up today.The only guy I would not mess with is Wright who is locked in.We need Murph lower in the line up to utilize his strength of hitting with risp.He is wasted in the 2 hole when nobody in 4,5 and six is doing the job.Hutchens needs to work with Ike.He is strictly a mistake hitter right now.Too many holes in his swing to bat clean up.Bat Murphy in 4 hole for a few games and drop Ike to 6.nothing to lose.Maybe Ike would relax after the change.I know Murphy is not a power hitter and probably should go to 3 hole and Wright in the 4, but I do not want to move Wright when he is so hot.
That’s why I like reading your posts because you write like a real Mets fan and not some wanna-be journalist. We gave away that game last night! I have some issues with Terry Collins lately. He says he cares about winning but doesnt always present his best lineup. He also doesnt do his homework because lefties hit Zito good and Thole is red-hot.
Posted lineup for today’s game has Kirk lead off , Murphy in 2 hole and Ike at cleanup.I guess Collins didn’t read my post.LGM!!!!
The Bay strikeout was a killer!
I know Bay hit a homer last night and all, but you have to make contact in the 10th. You HAVE to. Even if he had popped up, I would not have been satisfied but I would have accepted it. Hitting is hard. But this guy ALWAYS strikes out when the other team needs him to. Yes, Kirk is looking good. My concern now is that he stays healthy. He is an extra effort player who has been hurt in the minors. Shoulder injuries scare me.
Just as a P.S.—Ike did what he had to He swung early in the count. When you are in a situation where an out can produce a run, you jump on the first good pitch you see. Bay does not do that. The guy should just be assigned two strikes before he gets into the box.
correction–I was referring to the play in the 9th–and it was Baxter, not Ike, who went up there and swung the bat. The one where Kirk was out at home.
Interviews with both Backman & Sandberg?
Nice. Looking forward to them.