10
2012
Sunday Brunch: Is Today’s Lineup Subway Serious? Pinch Hitting For Hairston?
An article by 
It’s time for a few quick rants. After all, what would you expect after seeing Andres Torres and Jason Bay featured prominently at the top of the order today as we look to avoid the sweep. Is Collins kidding me with this lineup or what?
At least it’s great to see the red-hot Scott Hairston batting cleanup today… He of course is batting .417 (10-24) with five home runs, 10 RBI, eight runs scored and two stolen bases over his last 11 games. But why in the world was he pinch-hit for last night in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the tying runs on base? How can you pinch hit for your team’s hottest hitter – power hitter at that!
Getting back to our table-setters Torres (.209 AVG) and Bay (.211 AVG), how could we give these two the opportunity to have more at-bats than anyone else in the lineup?
Why isn’t another red-hot hitter, Omar Quintanilla at the top of the order? All he’s doing since he got promoted was deliver a .344 batting average with a .462 on-base and a 1.024 OPS.
Sometimes, Terry Collins just makes me feel like tearing my hair out…
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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I have said it before and i will say it again.There are reasons Collins didn’t manage in the bigs for 10 years.In game management being a very prominent one.That said, with Turner, Baxter and Tejeda injured and Davis missing in action, he does not have too many options.
I mentioned the Hairston thing on RDMB last night. You gotta have your run-producing power hotter up in that spot. And Valdespin has been awful at the plate. The move didn’t make any sense to me.
Blame the R/L Splits for the Hairston pinch hitting last night.
Vs LHP 67 PA .349 BA .388 OBP .746 SLG 1.134 OPS 7 HRs
vs RHP 48 PA .182 BA .250 OBP .364 SLG .614 OPS 1 HR
Not saying I agree with that line of thinking just showing what was key to an organization that makes many of it’s decisions based on statistics instead of who is hot and who is not.
Today’s lineup is also strange…
Bay, Wright Hairston all RH together? Well that should help Girardi late in the game when he wants to plat R/L Matchup now won’t it?
Bay sucks rotten eggs. You heard it hear first: he will never do anything for the Mets, and he will go down as one of the most hated Mets in our illustrious 50-year history. I seriously don’t want to hear any longer about his work ethic, what a terrific guy he is, etc. He flat out sucks.
Today’s lineup is pure spring training.
Oy Gevolt!
He has some good competition for the title though…
Juan Samuel? (Granted just a trade)
George Foster?
Zambrano (Another Trade)
Collins is an overmanaging schmuck. Instead of staying with the redhot hand he lives and DIES by lefty/righty matchups. Extremely dumb move PH for an experienced red hot hitter with a free swinging rookie with the game on the line.
I watched the last two games intently and in my opinion my beloved Mets are overmatched. We can’t get timely hits and we bring in Parnell to keep us close. Well that went out the window, We have a 200 batting average lineup with Torres, Bay and Davis and you bat Valdespin in a pinch hitting role instead of Hairston. I said in a post last week Collins is a six inning manager. He is out of his element in the final three innings, the most important part of the game because of the strategy. If the Mets can pull off a win today it’s because the Yanks let them and don’t believe that’s going to happen. This is low hanging fruit for the Bombers and the Mets are not only overmatched but their being embarrased too. Saw the cameras pan on to Alderson and if looks could kill. Never ever broke a smile and for good reason too.
No argument. But…maybe we’re just hitting a bad patch, too.
Mets have problems against GOOD pitching….Have all season!
Really good at Home and under .500 away. But a lot of that has to do with being Swept by Atlanta and Houston.
Too true, Metsie
It’s quite evident when you look at how and when they score runs.
When they get to a good SP they do it early (1st Inning, 30 RS) while he is still finding himself (hence not as good as usual)
And their best hitting and run scoring happens late in starts (5th-8th) when they get past the starter and beat up on the Bullpen (where the pitching is not quite as good)
You look at the splits and thier best innings are:
6th – 39 Runs (Right about the time a starter is running out of Gas and seeing third time through the order)
8th – 39 Runs (Where most relievers come in after the Ace hits his pitch count)
Their two worst RS inning are the 2nd (17 RS) and 3rd (16 RS).
Gee, statistically it looks like our hitters beat up on our opponents bullpens just the same as they do to ours!
In so far as our hitting against good starters, the oldest adage in the books is that if you don’t get to a good pitcher early in the game then he just gets better and you don’t get him out of the game!
Bottom line is the bullpen on most teams is a terrible weakness because they have too much work too early in the game. The 100 pitch count and years now of so many specialists have screwed up the works.
We have closers…we have set up guys…. and now we deal with the first pitcher following a stater who can statistically get ” a hold”
Perhaps the biggest reason that we have played pretty well so far is that our hitters in general are working the count with patience and getting a chance to hit against the bullpens of our opponents!
No Allen your wrong there…It may appear that way but the runs allowed stats say differently.
1st – 29 RA vs 30 RS
2nd – 32 RA vs 20 RS
3rd – 33 RA vs 16 RS
4th – 13 RA vs 31 RS
5th – 35 RA vs 34 RS
6th – 27 RA vs 39 RS
7th – 40 RA vs 26 RS
8th – 38 RA vs 39 RS
9th – 29 RA(48 innings) vs 23 RS (45 Innings)
(all the data from innings 1-8 have 61 innings of data, And I will point out that those runs are all runs not just earned….)
Totals 247 RA vs 258 RS
1-6 – 140 RA 23.3 RAPI each Inning vs 170 RS 28.3 RSPI
7-9 – 107 RA 35.6 RAPI each Inning vs 88 RS 26.6 RSPI
That clearly shows that we can keep up with everyone on the scoring from 1-6 but it’s that 7th that is the key inning that usually kills us and as soon as a reliever is in there the other side scores more than us by an almost 10 run margin on average and 20 run actual.
The actual RPI are: (R / TI)
1-6 .38 RAPI vs .46 RSPI
7-9 .63 RAPI vs .52 RSPI
Tot .46 RAPI vs .48 RSPI
When is Collins going to learn to leave the starter after 7 innings. Just because ‘the book’ says bring a reliever in the 8th, doesn’t mean he has to do it.
This guy is the worst in game manager.
hawk I get what your saying but thats a bit of nyperbole on your part…He is hardly the worst manager we have ever had that list is long and distinguished!
Just off the top of my head:
Bamberger
Green
Howe
Torborg
If I had to vote I would say Torborg
Wrong, none were as bad as Joe Frazier. You’re to young to have nightmares over his strategies. As a matter of fact, we thought he was back when Valdespin batted for Hairston.
fogot about him….Can you blame me? LOL
Just saw Parnell blow another lead.I can’t kill Collins for taking him out after seven.Most managers in MLB would have done it.Somebody in that arson squad of a bullpen has to do what they are being paid for.Parnell needs to be moved to another team.I am tired of watching this guy fail for 3 years.One more thing.Teufel stinks as a third base coach.I still can’t believe Nickeas was standing on third with one out on the ball Valdy hit over the bag and caromed off the stands.Even the announcer pointed out that Swisher had conceded the run by throwing to 2nd base.He needs to grow a pair or go back to coaching in triple a.
How can a Manager make a good decsion when all of his options are BAD Options?
He can’t win either he leaves a guy who left his last start because he had a heart problem in and possibly blows out his arm or he goes to a pen arm which no matter what you go to is very likely to give up 2 runs or more!
That’s the sad truth Metsie..
You are making things up. Almost everyone raved about Alderson’s pen.
YOU MUST BE NEW HERE! ALMOST EVERYBODY RAVED ABOUT THE PEN? YES, THEY DID RAVE AT METSBLOG, METS.COM AND AMAIZING AVENUE! NOT HERE PAL! NOT BY A LONGSHOT!!!