Good morning, Mets fans!

Congratulations! If you are reading this, you have as many hits as the entire Mets pitching staff has in the 2014 MLB season. The Dodgers and Yankees will be entering a bidding war for your services shortly.

Mets pitchers, as Jared Diamond pointed out in his column yesterday, are 0-for-41 on the season, which is the longest hitless streak from a pitching staff to start a season since at least 1974. Because pitchers were much better at hitting back in the day, I would guess that the 2014 Mets actually have the all-time record.

Gonzalez Germen and Carlos Torres are 0-for-1. Zack Wheeler is 0-for-7. Dillon Gee is 0-for-9, Jenrry Mejia is 0-for-12, Jon Niese is 0-for-3, and of course, there’s Bartolo Colon, who is 0-for-8. I’ve always wanted to see Scott Rice bat, but that’s probably a pipe dream unless Terry Collins‘ love for him really gets out of hand.

Anyway, add those all up and you get 0-for-41. Now, it’s not all so bad. Mejia sprints down the line with impressive speed every time he makes contact, which sets an example for the “real” hitters (not that they follow it) and will probably result in an infield hit before too long. Bartolo Colon’s at-bats give the Mets the game’s premier Comedic Reliever. And Jon Niese, who has only had 3 at bats, will probably start cracking a few singles before too long; Jon has always been a fairly decent hitter.

But let’s be serious. So far, It has been painful to watch our pitchers try to hit. The other day, the Mets had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and the #7 hitter Anthony Recker at the plate. Recker struck out, and at that point, I think we all knew that the Mets weren’t going to get a run before the end of the inning: #8 hitter Ruben Tejada is an easy out and our pitchers have been automatic outs so far. So when Recker whiffed, I was ready to give up on the inning. Ironically, Dillon Gee worked a walk to load the bases for Eric Young, but EY grounded out to end the inning… a walk is NOT always as good as a hit, guys.

The Mets don’t their pitchers to start hitting .300, or anywhere remotely close. But the occasional hit out of the 9 hole deepens a lineup and makes opposing pitchers really pitch to everybody who comes to the plate, instead of, as Gary Cohen said when Gee stepped to the plate late in Sunday’s game, throwing a couple pitches down the middle and “getting it over with”.

Have a good day, Mets fans. We play in Citizens Bank Park tonight, so if Jon can hit a pop-up: the hitless steak will end emphatically, with a home run.

LGM!

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Good morning, Mets Fans!

Nice win yesterday, although it took a bit too long, dragging on for 14 innings before Curtis Granderson won it by doing what he does best: making an out. The absurd length of yesterday’s game is actually what brings me to the topic of this edition of the Morning Grind.

The Mets went into extra innings 20 times last year. They were 8-12 in those games, several of which went far beyond the 10th inning. This year, the Mets have already played 4 extra-inning games (winning 2 and losing 2), each one of which has been longer than the previous one. New York is on pace to go into extras 36 times this season.

These contests can either be fun and exciting, or miserable and stressful. It depends on the game. But going past the 9th inning with such alarming frequency could hurt the Mets in the long run.

The Mets went 6-14 in the games after extra-inning games last season. This year, the Mets are 1-2 in the games after extra-inning games, and that record will have another win or loss tacked onto it after tonight’s game against the Cardinals.

Extra inning games, especially the marathon ones, take their toll on teams. The managers are forced to burn through their bullpens, forcing relievers to work for longer than they are accustomed to, even on days where they had been expected to take a rest. Sometimes, even starters are forced to get into the action. Hitters are also prone to the scrambling that occurs in the wee hours of the morning on some occasions. You might see third basemen at shortstop, first basemen in the outfield, or backup catchers serving up bombs on the mound. When teams constantly go into extras, it can lead to ineffectiveness and even injury.

An extra-inning win is still better than a 9-inning loss, so we should be happy that the Mets won yesterday, even if it was a pretty messy win. But if the Mets want to keep their players running fresh and smooth, they have to find a way to stop letting every game turn into a wacky, prolonged adventure.

Have a good day, Mets fans. Let’s hope for a win tonight… a normal one.

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Good morning, Mets fans!

We managed to stay over 500 yesterday, in part because we didn’t have a game. Tonight, the Mets will be coming home to begin a nice, long, 10-game homestand. I’m especially excited for tonight’s matchup with the Braves, as I will be attending my first game of the year (although, since I’m going with a Yanks fan and a pair of Braves fans, things might get hostile).

But here’s the thing: The Mets just haven’t been good at home. They were solid at home in their first 2 years at Citi Field, but over the past 3 seasons, their winning percentage in Flushing is a paltry .423, which translates to an average home record of 34-47 each year (103-140 overall).

To make things more frustrating, the Mets actually have had a winning record (122-121) on the road over those three seasons. So even a decent performance at home during that time would have made us a relevant team.

When you lose at home, two things happen. First of all, it hurts your record. That’s the obvious thing. But in addition, when fans who pay good money to come out and see the team are constantly leaving the ballpark with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths, it can hurt sales and generate disappointment and, in some cases, apathy.

A fan is far more likely to want to come back if he or she sees a thrilling victory rather than a bleak, 5-1 loss in which the team only gets 2 runners past first base. If the Mets are going to charge New York Prices for fans to come out in this New York Weather and see the New York Mets, the team had better perform if they want to be able to generate the interest and revenue that teams in the New York Market are supposed to generate.

The Mets are 2-4 at home and 6-3 on the road this season. They’ll have a chance to pad that home record in the next couple weeks. The Mets are off to a decent start at 8-7, but if they want this season to mean something, they have to perform at home. Good teams don’t lose in their own ballpark.

Citi Field is a fantastic stadium. Let’s hope our Mets can make the most of it.

Have a great day, Mets fans!

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Good morning, Mets fans!

Nice win yesterday! We’re over 500. Can we get to 90? Time will tell.

Anyway, we’ve reached the point in the season where we can start to throw around terms like “good start” and “bad start” for certain players. But stats at this point in the season can still be incredibly deceiving.

Yesterday, I wrote about how amazing Gonzalez Germen has been. His stats are eye-popping, although, as I said, they are not sustainable. Juan Lagares has also been fantastic, but he just landed on the disabled list and only time will tell if he can hit the ground running once he returns. Lucas Duda has been mashing the ball, Kyle Farnsworth is pitching well… there have been some good signs so far.

There have also been some struggling players. David Wright, Curtis Granderson, Ruben Tejada, and Travis d’Arnaud have had their struggles in these first couple weeks.

It is important that we remember not to get too high or too low on any given player so early in the season, because while there have been enough games played for noticeable trends to develop, there are more than enough games remaining for those trends to strengthen, stop, reverse, and reverse again several times over.

Even within the small sample size we have been given, we can see how fickle these trends can be. Jose Valverde was awesome in his first couple outings, but had a disastrous meltdown in Anaheim and then gave up home runs to the first two batters he faced yesterday. Eric Young was dreadful for the first few games, but has been red hot lately and has been a major catalyst at the top of our lineup.

Curtis Granderson won’t hit 170. Gonzalez Germen won’t have an ERA of 0.89. April stats are tempting, but can be very misleading, and that’s why I have dedicated this edition of the MMO Morning Grind to John Buck, who was Mike Piazza at the plate for one month and then Brian Schneider for the rest of the season.

The season isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, and that goes for every player on every team in the league. Keep that in mind, and enjoy your day, Mets fans!

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Good morning, Mets fans!

Another nice win last night. A stress-free win, for once. The only blemish on our victory was Jenrry Mejia having to leave early with a torn blister, but considering Mejia’s luck with injuries, I’ll settle for a torn blister any day of the week with that guy. Anyway, my post this morning is going to be about the awesomeness of Gonzalez Germen.

Now, let me start by saying that if, before the season, you had told me I’d be writing a positive, serious (or mostly serious) article about Gonzalez Germen, I would have laughed in your face.

Germen was totally going to be my scapegoat when it came to our terrifying (for us, not our opponents) bullpen. He would be called up early in the year, he would be the worst pitcher on the staff, and I would basically dub him the Face Of The Mets’ Bullpen Struggles (assuming he could beat out Eric Sogard in the fan vote). Basically, Germen was going to be our 2014 version of Ollie Perez (who looked good last night for Arizona, by the way).

Sure enough, Germen was called upon for some late innings work in the second game of the season after Bobby Parnell blew out his elbow on Opening Day. And sure enough, Germen gave up doubles to the first two batters he saw, leading to a Washington run. I started laughing– you know, like one of those sad, “I was right but I was also pessimistic so it sucks that I’m right” laughs…

But Germen hasn’t given up a run since that game. In fact, until he gave up a hit in this third inning of work last night, Germen hadn’t given up a single hit since the second of those two doubles. In that time, Germen has struck out 10 hitters. His 2014 ERA is 0.89 and his WHIP is 0.48. The season is young, and those numbers obviously cannot be sustained, but Gonzalez Germen has been absolutely ridiculous this season. He has been lights out.

Kyle Farnsworth and Carlos Torres have also been fantastic and Jose Valverde as well, his meltdown against the Angels this weekend notwithstanding. Our bullpen won’t be this amazing all season, but early on in the year it looks like the bullpen— which was supposed to be one of our biggest weaknesses— should be decent and has the potential to possibly even be a strength.

I may have been wrong about you, Gonzalez Germen. Please accept today’s Morning Grind as a token of my most sincere apologies, and keep up the absolutely mind-boggling work.

In the event that you are a Mets fan reading a blog, and not Mets reliever Gonzalez Germen, have a great day, and let’s hope our guys can finish off a sweep tonight!

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Good Morning, Mets fans!

Our Mets got a nice win last night. Zack Wheeler looked pretty solid, Lucas Duda was great, and Daniel Murphy turned into a Gold Glover for a night.

But I have something a bit more troubling on my mind this morning, and that is the Injury Bug. Us Mets fans know all about the Injury Bug by now… with this team, it’s not a question of If, but When, How, and Who the Bug will strike. We had our first battle of the year with the Bug on Opening Day when Bobby Parnell tore his UCL. Actually, this season’s bug began last season, when it was announced that Matt Harvey would miss the entirety of the much-awaited, magical year that was to be “2014”. 

But last night was the first night of the season where I think we all thought: “This is why we can’t have nice things”. Juan Lagares, who has been the best story of the season so far, went down with a hamstring injury while running to first in the seventh. We don’t know how bad it is yet, but hamstring injuries usually lead to at least 2 weeks on the disabled list, and setbacks, recurrences, and exacerbations seem to occur quite often when it comes to hammys. You could sense the “here we go again” tone in Keith Hernandez‘s voice last night when replays showed our dynamic young center fielder reaching for the back of his leg.

Oh yeah, our biggest offseason acquisition got hurt too. Curtis Granderson crashed into a wall in the first inning, then had to leave the game 5 innings later with apparent injuries to his arm, ribs, and knee.

According to reports, Lagares is likely to go on the disabled list, and Granderson is day-to-day but “very sore”. I guess we just have to hope that Lagares comes back in 2 weeks and can put all of this behind him and pick right back up where he left off, and that Granderson can get back in the lineup after a day off. But that’s wishful thinking, and our wishes as Mets fans are rarely fulfilled.

We might see Bobby Abreu. We might see Kirk Nieuwenhuis (did I spell that right?). We will see Chris Young within the next few days. Hopefully, these guys can fill in and produce if they are needed as replacements in the outfield. But it’s frustrating to see our biggest offseason acquisition leave a game, and it’s concerning to see a young player who is off to such a hot start go down with an injury that often seems to lead to more problems.

But maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe I just have Post-Reyes Stress Disorder when it comes to hamstrings. Let’s hope for the best, and let’s see if we can get ourselves another win tonight. LGM!

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Good morning, Mets fans!

Another crazy game last night. Why do the Mets always do this to us? I know I’m not the only one who actually expected the unthinkable to happen… but once Jose Valverde threw ball 3 to Erick Aybar and the guys in the SNY truck cut to Raul Ibañez looming on deck,  I said “Ibañez will probably hit a home run” out loud… 2 minutes later, well… you all know what happened. But we got the win in the end, so… I think we can let this one slide, Mr. Valverde.

Anyway, Omar Quintanilla is on my mind this morning. Q made his first start of the season at shortstop and had 3 hits while driving in a pair of runs. Omar also made a few very nice plays on defense.

Omar Quintanilla is 32. Ruben Tejada is 24. Neither player is very good, but since he is the older one, many people view Q as the more boring option. If Tejada were a serious prospect with a high ceiling, I wouldn’t even consider letting Quintanilla take the starting job (this is why I don’t think Anthony Recker should be given a chance to take Travis d’Arnaud‘s job, but that might be a post for another day). But Tejada is not a prospect. He is a weak hitter, he doesn’t run particularly well, his baseball instincts aren’t too great, and his fielding has seemingly gotten worse over the past couple years. He also has had trouble staying healthy.

So why not give Q a shot to win the job? At first base, the Mets are trying to take a look at both Ike Davis and Lucas Duda and hoping one of them sticks. In my opinion, they should do the same at shortstop. Neither player is a star, and I’m not sure either player can even perform at an MLB-Average level, but if one shortstop can establish himself as better than the other, he should get to play. Neither player is the shortstop of the future (we hope…), so, unlike at catcher, “development” shouldn’t be a factor here.

Obviously, Q has only started one game, but even last season, we saw that he is pretty decent in the field, he can drive the ball more than Tejada, and he always plays hard. I think the Mets should take a good look at all of their options, and this includes Omar.

And hey, once we get to June and it would no longer cost us a draft pick to sign Stephen Drew, we can always go for that…

Have a great day, Mets fans! Let’s try to take the series this afternoon with Big Bart on the mound.

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Good morning, Mets fans!

Crazy game last night. Or this morning. I’m not even sure anymore. Anyway, as far as losses go, it wasn’t that bad. The Angels have a pretty imposing roster and we fought with them in a back-and-forth battle for 11 innings. What I think cost the Mets in this game, and what is definitely on my mind this morning, is New York’s inability to understand its strengths and weaknesses.

I’ve been watching the Knicks, the team with the lowest Basketball IQ I’ve ever seen, for the past 6 months. So seeing the Mets make several foolish decisions in the first couple weeks of the season hasn’t really been too much of a shock. But there was a lot of foolishness from our Mets last night, coming from both the coaching staff and the players.

First of all, Dillon Gee just isn’t a 100-pitch pitcher. He really starts to lose steam after the 5th or 6th inning, once he gets around 85, 90, maybe 95 pitches. The 3rd time around the order is usually worse than the first 2, and by the 4th time he sees a hitter, he usually has a lot of trouble getting the guy out. The Mets simply have to accept this and start pulling the plug on Gee earlier, instead of leaving him in to ruin what usually starts as a solid outing.

Second of all, Jeurys Familia is here because of his “stuff”. So when he comes in and waits until his 3rd inning of work to throw something other than a fastball, that’s a problem. When that first slider, his 36th pitch, bounces in the dirt and moves the winning run into scoring position, that’s an even bigger problem. Familia was basically throwing 100% fastballs, but even the heater was impossible for Jeurys to control tonight.

So with a wild pitcher on the mound, what did the Mets do? They intentionally loaded the bases, putting their young, erratic reliever in a situation where he could not walk a batter. To Familia’s credit, he did not walk Hank Conger. He hit him with the pitch. Game over.

So yeah, there were some frustrating decisions made on our side in this one. Why leave Gee in? Why would Familia stick with one pitch, when it wasn’t even working? Why would we force a young pitcher who can’t throw a strike to be in a situation where he has no safety net for his wild arm?

I get that we want to have Gee try to eat some innings and save the bullpen, and I get that walking the bases loaded sets up a force at the plate. But the bullpen, if managed correctly, should be able to last long enough to replace a tiring starter after 5 innings. And having runners on the corners isn’t that much different than loading the bases… you can still turn the double play and you just need 1 extra split-second to tag a runner if the play goes to the plate.

Anyway, like I said, while it was a frustrating loss, it wasn’t too bad in the end. There were definitely some positive signs. Travis d’Arnaud hit his first homer of the year and the bullpen was solid from innings 6 to 10. We’ll get ’em next time.

Infuriating fact of the day: The Mets forfeited the 24th pick in the 2009 MLB draft as compensation for signing Francisco Rodriguez. Mike Trout was the 25th pick in the 2009 MLB draft. If it makes you feel any better, the Yankees sent the 25th pick to Anaheim when they signed Mark Teixeira.

Have a good day, Mets fans. Let’s get some revenge on the Angels tonight. Game time is nine or midnight, or something like that.

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