“Niese’s masterpiece aside, the Mets have been careening toward disaster for most of May and are now on pace for 100 losses. No one should be surprised; this roster has been badly flawed from the outset. Still, it’s disturbing how quickly the season has unraveled, leaving in its wake the sense that it’s hopeless from here to September.”

Klapisch says manager Terry Collins made himself an easy target in light of recent comments disparaging Mets fans. He says, “It’s hard to repair the damage once a wedge has been placed between the players and the ticket buyers. It’s how managers get themselves fired.”

He does go onto saying that Collins isn’t really the problem and replacing him with Wally Backman wouldn’t change the real problem which is the makeup up of the entire roster.

“GM Sandy Alderson chose to populate his bullpen with aging relievers…Alderson’s bullpen will keep breaking their hearts. At least until the Mets can score more runs.”

The most discouraging thing was what one national League Official told him:

“That tells me the Mets really have no plan, they’re just going from crisis to crisis,” said one league official. “What can Ankiel give them? I’m sorry, you just don’t belong in the big leagues when you’re striking out [35 times in 62 at-bats before being released by the Astros last week]. You have to try to be that bad.”

One scout also doesn’t understand the fascination with Ike Davis saying, “What’s he even doing on that roster?”

There’s some good points made coupled with a few bad ones, but definitely worth taking a look.

Ankiel is expected to be in uniform on Monday night for the Mets and Andrew Brown already has been told he is being dispatched to Triple-A Las Vegas according to Adam Rubin.

Ankiel, 33, was released by the Astros last week after hitting .194 with a .231 OBP in 25 games for the Astros. He also hit five home runs and drove in 11, but had 35 strikeouts and three walks in 65 plate appearances.

Thoughts from Matt Balasis

You may remember Ankiel from Game 2 of  the NLCS against the New York Mets, Ankiel was removed in the first inning after throwing 20 pitches, five of which went to the backstop. Ankiel appeared again in the seventh inning of Game 5 facing four hitters, walking two, and throwing two more wild pitches. The Cardinals lost the series four games to one to the Mets.

Since then Ankiel has more or less reinvented himself as an outfielder with his best season probably coming in 2009 when he hit .264 with 25 home runs and 71 rbi. Since then he’s been primarily a 4^th outfielder used primarily for pop off the bench. Ankiel is of course known for his rifle arm and has often been used late inning defensive replacement in right field with a runner on first.

I’ve always thought it a shame that this guy never figured out how to get back to pitching off a mound. Perhaps letting him pitch from center field might have helped him since his control from there appears to be deadly accurate.

Ankiel is also remembered for having purchased a 12 month supply of HGH with perccriptions signed by Florida physician William Gogan, who provided them through a Palm Beach Gardens clinic called The Health and Rejuvenation Center as reported by the Daily News in 2004. Ankiel was never suspended as HGH wasn’t banned by MLB until 2005.

Ankiel was hitting .194 but had five home runs in 25 games before the Astros released him. Ankiel, 33, could provide some interesting options for a Met team in dire need of outfield help.

The Mets with less than stellar performances from Lucas Duda, Jordany Valdespin, Malon Byrd, Colin Cowgil and Mike Baxter, the Mets could be a fit for the veteran Ankiel. The Met offense has been struggling mightily of late  with a 691 OPS (24th best in baseball. The Mets scored just 14 runs on their recent six-game homestand. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Edgardo Alfonzo

As a batsman, Fonzie developed in almost textbook fashion before the delighted eyes of fans. Coming up, he had a reputation for a good eye at the plate, some evidence of moderate power, and the ability to make contact. Following his major league debut in 1995, the young Venezuelan worked diligently to refine his game both in the field and at the plate. By 1999, he had blossomed into one of the league’s premier middle infielders, hitting over .300 and slugging over .500 for the first time in his career. His peak game, and likely the peak offensive game by any Met, came in late August of that year as the Mets were heading toward a post-season berth under the guidance of Bobby Valentine.

The team was in Houston for a series against the Astros during their last go-round in the vast dimensions of the Astrodome. The following year, the team would move to the bandbox originally known as Enron Field (or “Ten Run Field” to fans for its propensity to produce high scoring games) and now dubbed Minute Maid Park. In stark contrast to the home run haven the Astros now inhabit, the ‘Dome was a pitcher’s dream and a slugger’s graveyard. Not only was the field characterized by expansive proportions, the roof insured that the very atmosphere itself was endowed with what batters swore was a deadening effect. But it was in this most unlikely of settings that the Mets’ version of the Fonz chose to put on perhaps the greatest display of slugging in team history.

1999 was a bumper year for runs scored by the Mets as they pushed 853 across the plate, good for 5^th in the league and still the club record for a single season. Even 40 year-old leadoff batter Rickey Henderson was having a renaissance year, batting over .300 for the first time since in four campaigns. On the night of August 30 of that year, the team would rack up a run tally that was impressive even by the standards of that era, blasting the Houston squad by a score of 17-1.

The key figure in the onslaught was Edgardo Alfonzo who began his evening by rocketing a solo home run his first time up to give the Mets an early lead. After the Astros were retired in order in the bottom of the first, the New Yorkers erupted for six additional runs in the next inning with Alfonzo contributing a single and a run scored in the process. He then homered in his next two at-bats registering a two-run shot in the fourth and another solo round-tripper in the sixth. After collecting his second single of the game in the eight amidst another rally, he came up for a final time in the ninth. Urged by his teammates to shoot for the elusive 4-homer mark, he banged a shot off the right field wall for a run-scoring double, missing another 4-bagger by a matter of a few feet.

All told, Fonzie had recorded 6 hits in as many at-bats including 3 HR’s and a double. In the process he set Mets club records for hits, runs, and total bases in a game as well as collecting 5 RBI. Naturally, his performance set off the stat freaks at Elias who determined that the only other player to accomplish a comparable feat was none other than Ty Cobb some 74 years prior when he also recorded a 3 homer, 1 double, 2 single game against the St. Louis Browns.

Fonzie and Cobb, Cobb and Fonzie. A rather exclusive club with one member a Met.

Jim Beauchamp (pronounced “Bee-chum”) was one of these players, and after kicking around the league with the Cardinals, the Astros (including some games as a Colt 45), the Braves, the Reds, the Astros again, and the Cardinals again, he wound up his career with the Mets, seeing a little action in the ’72 and ’73 seasons. A right handed hitter, he fulfilled the role of OF/1B, usually getting into between 35-50 games a year, primarily as a bat off the bench. He wore uniform No. 24 at the start of his Met career but swapped it for No. 5 when future Hall of Famer Willie Mays joined the team following a trade during the ’72 season.

He was a country boy, a French Okie, as he called himself, from the tiny town of Vinita, Oklahoma, a town that today boasts a population of around 6,000, parked in the northeast corner of the state about 30 miles from the Missouri border.  As a ballplayer, he pretty much embodied the term “journeyman,” as his peripatetic resume demonstrated. As a Met in 1972, he started 29 games, mostly at first base and chipped in with five home runs for the season. Two of those homers came on a special night.

August 21, 1972 was Beauchamp’s 33rd birthday, and with the Mets facing lefty Jerry Reuss of the Astros that night, Jim was given one of his rare starts, playing first base and batting seventh. The Astros were featuring a hot shot young center fielder in those days by the name of Cesar Cedeno, a 21 year old revelation with speed, power, and a great glove-sort of a right-handed Bryce Harper of his day.

Jon Matlack started for the Mets, looking for his 11th victory.  Matlack would end the season with 15 wins that year, and become the second Met to be named Rookie of the Year, joining Tom Seaver. On this night he pitched well, hurling a complete game with 8 strikeouts, but along the way had somewhat less success holding off Cedeno who homered in the 6th to tie the game at one-all, then doubled in the 8th after the Mets had taken the lead to knot the score again.

The 7th inning go-ahead run for the Mets had come via a long ball off the bat of Jim Beauchamp. Now, heading into the bottom of the 9th tied at 2 apiece, the Mets would face Jim “Sting” Ray, a right hander who was starting his second inning of relief. When Ray retired the first two batters, it looked as if the game would be heading to extra innings. But after John Milner coaxed a walk, Beauchamp swatted his second homerun of the night, deep into the left field bullpen.

Afterwards, on Kiner’s Korner, I remember him telling Ralph that he thought it would be nice if “just once, I could be the hero.” To my ears, his Oklahoma twang made the last word sound like “hee-row.” In my eyes he was. Happy Birthday, Jim.

Previous Mets Memorable Moments

Willie Comes Home

Rusty and the Rundown

Jesse and Roger in the Outfield

Through the use of the scorecard, let’s take a look at how Andres Torres did this week:

I honestly don’t think I’d ever expect to say Andres Torres would win the Player Of The Week award, but he did well this week and produced for the Mets. While I still don’t feel he should replace Kirk Nieuwenhuis, he did quite well this week. I will also note he had a stolen base.

Honorable Mentions

These players, although not winning the Player of the Week award, had a very strong showing this week and deserve to be recognized. We will also show how strong a showing they had through the use of the scorecard.

Daniel Murphy

David Wright

Ruben Tejada

Frank Francisco

Bobby Parnell

Ramon Ramirez

Not So Hot

The Not So Hot area mentions a few players who did not have a good week this week.

Jon Niese

Chris Schwinden (now demoted)

Manny Acosta

Jon Rauch

Josh Thole

Ike Davis

Player Of The Week Scoreboard

This area shows the scoreboard of the Players of the Week, and who has won already this season and how many times.

David Wright – 1

Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 1

Johan Santana – 1

Andres Torres – 1

Trivia

To finish off the Player of the Week announcement each week, I’ll be asking you a trivia question. The answer will be announced during the next Player of the Week announcement, as well as the first person who answered correctly. Another question will then be asked. Last Week’s Answer is: Harry Chiti. Alex68 was the first person to correctly answer the question. So here is this week’s question:

When the Mets won Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, what Met pitcher was warming up in the bullpen to pitch the next inning if Mookie Wilson had made out?

But here is where I’m having a hard time….I read a report in USA Today a few days ago about the winners and losers of the winter meetings.  The Mets were not considered to be a winner or a loser.  Think about that.  By being neither, the Mets have cemented themselves as being apathetic and non-committal to the whole hot stove process.  And if you are not intent on improving your team, you are destined to lose more games than you win.  It’s that simple.

And then this morning, I read this piece on Yahoo Sports about Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, he of the 97 mph fastball.  Dude had a throwing session yesterday in which big league scouts were on hand and here are the teams they mentioned that sent a representative: Yankees, Red Sox, Astros, Nationals, Marlins, A’s and Orioles.  Of course, there were 15 teams represented in all, so there is no telling if the Mets did indeed send someone, but the writer didn’t mention them.  That’s either because the Mets did not care enough to send a scout, or because the writer did not care enough to mention the Mets.  Either way, it’s adding more fuel to the apathy fire.  Because really, why wouldn’t you go overpay like crazy for a guy like Chapman, who not only throws 97 mph, but is a LEFTY who could neutralize those big bats of the Phillies.

I think the version of the Mets you see now is what you’re going to get in April, plus maybe the return of Carlos Delgado.  And wow, what a heartwarming thought that is during the hot stove league season.