24
2012
Finishing Strong Could Give Mets Momentum For 2013
An article by 
David Wright was in full salvage mode yesterday, both from a team and individual perspective, After a blazing first half in which he carried the Mets, he’s fallen off dramatically and with his fall so has his team.
There have been numerous times during the Mets’ dreadful second half when they could have turned things around, but failed.
Now mathematically eliminated and after being ripped publicly by their manager, the Mets now have one more opportunity to wash out the foul taste in their mouths created by going from eight games over .500 to 14 games below.
I’ve mentioned several times how the Mets have a chance to become next year’s Orioles, who won 11 of their last 16 games last season and rode that momentum into 2012.
Wright noticed, too.
“It’d be nice to finish on a strong note,’’ Wright said. “You look at, for example, what the Orioles did, they finished strong last year and it kind of carried over into this year. It’d be nice to do that. And I think there’s a lot of individuals that want to finish strong and we as a team and an organization would like to finish strong.’’
The Mets have four games left at home against free-falling Pittsburgh, once a feel-good story, but the Pirates have dropped 17 of their last 22 games to fall 6.5 games behind in the wild-card race. Even so, they have a chance to finish over .500 for the first time in 20 years.
After that they have three games in Atlanta and Miami. The Braves should need those games for their playoff positioning while the Marlins are in a position similar to the Mets, perhaps worse because there are rumblings of a house cleaning this winter.
Unlike the Mets, expectations of the Marlins were high entering the season. With a new stadium, new manager and new players, the Marlins were a sexy spring pick but have failed miserably.
Perhaps a strong finish will have a carry-over. If not as a team, then maybe individually, especially for Wright, who, after hitting around .350 for much of the first half is struggling to stay over .300.
He’ll break Ed Kranepool’s franchise hits record – he’s three away from tying – but it’s more than that for Wright.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.0 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 6.5 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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First of all, if they do finish strong and start winning means we no longer will get the #7 pick in next year draft..
He’ll break Ed Kranepool’s franchise hits record – he’s three away from tying – but it’s more than that for Wright”
YEp, for everyone else is about stats and individual accomplishments, not for wright. he’s the ultimate TEAM player, he’s the guy everyone should envision being like.. Yep.. DW.
Poor thing, you have such a Wright complex. It just eats at you that some feel about him the way you did Reyes.
This is the same Met fan who states:
‘We SHOULD’VE traded wright last year regardless of how bad a season he had, we could’ve had reyes and tejada up the middle and murphy at 3B.’
Sell low on Wright….I don’t know how this makes any sense.
Last year there was a post here that showed how Reyes and Tejada were the worst DP combo in the NL or maybe even in MLB, not sure but it was one or the other. Reyes has had a sub-par year defensively, has brain lock far too often and picks the most crucial parts of games to make his errors. Lets not make him out to be Omar Vizquel in his prime.
I loved that one last year – give Murphy a guy that played less than a handful of games at 3rd the job. It’s all about getting rid of Wright at any cost simply because he’s Wright.
I am sorry who?? all i am saying is the double standard of mets fans is ridiculous and downright pathetic… If the guy leaves it’s because he wants to win, other players leave because of the pathetic job of the FO, and somehow that player is a traitor. this guy JOGS to first on ground out all the time, the excuse is his foot is tired.. other players do it and they need to be bench. go figure. andy martino was right when he said what he said about mets fans
Well, we didn’t… we lost on having an even better middle infielded, look at what has happened. also, trade the guy now that his value is up, even better…
Alex68 — Who was that? Ruben Gotay?
I don’t care about the draft. This isn’t the NFL or NBA where you see your draft picks on the field right away. It takes a few to develop these guys and some guys don’t even make it onto a big league roster in their lives.
What I would like to see happen is for them to go 6-4 or 7-3 over their final 10 games. I predict a split against PIT, taking 1 out of 3 at Turner field and then either sweeping or taking 2 of 3 from the Fish to close out the year. What do you think?
And what exactly would them winning the rest of their games accomplish???
Sandy all but said the whole team would look different next year anyway….most of these bums will be replaced with new bums of Sandys picking.
The draft picks dont necessarily have to make it to the pro’s and be successful. They can be used as trade chips, to get major league talent. As we did when we used a bevy of them to acquire Johan. None of those prospects had stellar careers but they were valuable enough to bring us the best pitcher in baseball at the time.
The more of these high end prospects you have the more intriguing your farm system is for other teams who are looking to trade away top talent. For instance the Tampa Rays will be looking to trade a 27yr old David Price you know what they will ask for in return for him??? Not major leaguers but PROSPECTS!!!! REALLY GOOD PROSPECTS!!!
But some fans would rather this team that has dissapointed fans on some many levels to win there last 7 games as if that changes anything!!! It doesnt because 2-3 yrs from now no one will remember, “oh the 2012 mets won there last 7 games in 2012″ NOPE…they’ll remember this team tanked for the 2nd straight season in 2012.
Do you know what I remember from 2009 that we stunk so bad we had the 7th worst record in baseball. The only good thing i remember is because we stunk we drafted Matt Harvey 7th overall and poof one of the only good thing in 2012 besides Dickey is Matt Harvey’s emergence.
“NOPE…they’ll remember this team tanked for the 2nd straight season in 2012. ”
4th straight.
A lower draft pick. Sorry, the irreversable 2012 damage has already been done. Forget the Orioles, it’s time to move on.
[...] Finishing Strong Could Give Mets Momentum For 2013 John Delcos, MetsMerized Online [...]
If TC galll to give DW an option to sit ensure he finishes over .300. I want DW to publically say it is #%#& and force his way to play. This will send a message that drive and competition are more imporatant than individual stats. As for Dickey going for 20 wins that is a different story as he has earned the CY Young award for the entire year. Reyes was backing in last year for BA title. By the way if DW last AB in the last game in Miami gets him back over .300 (assuming he slipped below .300) would that make him clutch?
“Oh mommy and daddy I know I got all F’s this year except for that C I got in art class. I finished strong and next year just watch me go! ” ” Go get ‘em son I can’t wait to school starts next year.” GIMME’ A BREAK!!
“Ripped publicly” by their manager? Really? That isn’t actually what happened. Maybe hack blogs like this are part of the problem with the New York media…
Well Seth we kinda’ deserve each other. Hack bloggers for a hack team. A match made in heaven.
Yes let’s get some momentum and it’s on our way to 75 wins in 2013. What a joke.
Hi Joe,
In this case I strongly disagree with you. Getting hot the last two weeks of a season will not make the players feel differently about being kicked in the teeth. Nor will it build up a momentum for the following year as it did Baltimore because of the bitter taste left over from that stinging indictment of the front office just like the previous year when they felt the front office had no faith in them.
The only thing of note they got this year from the front office were those underdog tee-shirts. Maybe next year it will be more expensive underdog sweat-shirts.
Previous 2 years. No help came in 2010 either. 8 games over 500 at the allstar break is even better than this years 6 games over at the same time.
**** Sorry John that I referred to you as Joe.