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April 20, 2005

Who Are These Guys?

When the Mets started the season 0-5, it was, to me, more of the same.

Then they won six in a row and I was stunned. As with all streaks, it ended and they suddenly couldn’t hit and lost two in a row. Last night they unleashed 7 home runs and defeated Philadelphia 16-4.

Who are these guys?

The off-season acquisitions from manager Willie Randolph to outfielder Carlos Beltran gave me hope. I still thought the rotation was iffy and the bullpen iffier. They had a great spring and none of my suspicions changed.

With two weeks under their belts, I am getting a sense that these guys are having some fun and enjoying playing together. That they won five of their six games during the streak without a homerun but played what’s known as “small ball” was actually encouraging. In the past, managers seemed to be content with putting a guy or two on base and waiting for Mike Piazza to smack one over the wall.

Problem was, Piazza hasn’t been able to do that for three seasons or more. Finally, this year, with Beltran the new stud in the heart of the batting order, commentators on the air are saying what the fans already knew: Piazza is over the hill and his best days are behind him. Even when he was the hitting star, he was never much of a team spokesman or leader in the clubhouse. Instead, he avoided the job and seemed more interested in personal goals. With each passing year, Deb grew more and more disenchanted with him and his frequent lack of clutch hitting. When I left for the Federal League auction she made me swear I wouldn’t bid on him (I didn’t).

I got a chance to see the guys for real on Opening Day, an event I should have chronicled here. First of all, there were 14 of us split into two groups since the Mets won’t let us buy more than 8 tickets for Opening Day. My group consisted of Deb, her coworker Brandon, the Peter David family, and Keith DeCandido. A fine group to see a game with. Our seats were mezzanine reserved, so we were low, exposed to the warming sun of early spring, and all the way out in right field, just passed the foul pole and near the Mets’ bullpen. Overall, a nice view that gives you a fresh appreciation for how much territory each outfielder is responsible for.

The player introductions were fun, especially with the Mets announcers leaving out, intentionally or not, Houston’s Lance Berkman. It was pretty funny watching on the Diamond Vision as Berkman, #17, stood in numerical order and then kept shifting one player after another, staying on camera the whole time, until finally, he was identified last. With him on the DL, at least people remembered he was there.

The game itself was fun as the Mets came back from behind twice to win. We saw good plays, one bad error, a double steal and had a great time. Our infield defense is markedly improved with Kaz Matsui now playing second base and Jose Reyes back where he belongs at short. Matsui has been struggling both offensively and defensively this spring and the chant to bench him in favor of popular former Yankee Miguel Cairo has begun, including Deb. While I like Cairo (just added him to the Final Frontiersmen), Matsui is capable and just needs to get more comfortable in the role. I say give him time.

The outfield is fine with Floyd, back and healthy, Beltran and, for now, Victor Diaz. Diaz is a likeable player who gives us some pop and can be a genuine threat. I gather he’s not the greatest defensive outfielder but so far he’s been doing fine.

Our starting rotation, as seen by Tom Glavine’s performance that day, can be respectable but worrisome. Glavine is not only showing his age but he continues to nibble corners of the strike zone umpires have stopped giving him and he’s not adjusting. At least Pedro Martinez is living up to his billing. But guys like Victor Zambrano worry me and with Aaron Heilman so unpredictable, that’s 40% of your rotation that’s suspect. Not a good percentage.

The bullpen can either be effective or a disaster and they lack anyone who, when they enter the game, make the other side nervous. It’s most likely they will give up someone, hopefully not Diaz, to acquire just that kind of bullpen threat. But not today and not in a panic. But later, when they are genuine contenders and the investment makes sense.

Who are these guys? These are the 2005 New York Mets. I’m going to love them, root from them and no doubt be driven to distraction by their miscues and power outages. But I’m there for the season.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at April 20, 2005 09:19 AM

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Comments

What I always loved about Mets baseball was their come from behind way of winning games. Back in 2003, when they were 0-2 in the World Series against the Yankees, I explained to everyone who cared that the Mets had the Yankees just where they wanted them, lulled into a false sense of security. Sure enough, the Mets won the very next game, stopping the Yankees winning streak of World Series games. It didn't matter that the Mets ended up losing the Series; they had stopped the Yankees from achieving a shutout, and that was all that counted.


I'm very much enjoying this season of Mets baseball. Go Mets!

Posted by: Michael A. Burstein [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 20, 2005 10:15 AM

I have a feeling what we've seen with the Mets is what we're going to get- a .500 team. I think they've been put together to be a streaky team. They have a decent offense- Beltran is a big addition and if Reyes can stay healthy he'll be a tremendous table setter. As you pointed out, Piazza is getting old, Floyd is injury prone, and Wright and Matsui are unproven. They're starting pitching will be good if Benson can come back from injury and Zambrano can find the strike zone. Their defense is better with Doug M (not even going to bother to try and spell it!) and Reyes and Matsui's swap. I think their relief pitching is a HUGE issue... I remain cautiously optomistic, but they have a real tough division...

Also- I can't tell you how great it is to have a real Mets fan writing! I am sick of people in my area (CT) thinking there are only two teams in the Majors. Ever since you named a Starfleet officer after Benny Agbayani in your Gateways book, I've been impressed...

Posted by: Rich Steeves at April 22, 2005 12:28 PM

Well,Bob, I haven't been to an Opening Day game since Ron Marz left the area--and the first stop on the way to Shea on those days always seemed to be your office! But, Ron says he's coming back, so next year, who knows?...

But just because I wasn't sitting in the stands doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention. The last few years have been miserable, but I never realized quite how bad they were until the new guys went on that six game winning streak--now, THAT'S excitement! Watching the Shea Opening Day intros, though, I was struck by how only six of those players were in that very same position a year earlier (plus Trachsel and Cameron, of course--and half a dozen of those toeing the chalk line joined the team mid-season, but still, that's an impressive turnover--and so far, it seems to be working. The only player I REALLY miss is Jason Phillips, who always seemed so likable, and, especially his first year, capable of hitting the ball awful hard. I hope he blossoms as LA's number one guy...)

Elsewise, I think you're a little too harsh on Piazza. Not so much the over the hill bit, but I never saw him as a selfish player. Maybe not a gung ho, take charge leader, granted, but not someone who put himself in front of his team either. So he wanted the catcher's record for home runs--can you blame him? Otherwise, I see him as good guy--and not a whiff of steroid scandal stench hovering about him either!

I LOVE that new first baseman, though--he fields, he hits, he talks! Slick fielder who's always good for a quote--and has a nice swing to boot! I'm thinking maybe Delgado did us a favor!

Keep watching, Bob, and I'll keep checking in as the season progresses!

Fred

Posted by: Fred Hembeck at April 22, 2005 11:05 PM

When I signed up for my Yahoo! league (sorry you aren't playing, Bob!) I entered the contest for a front office job with the SF Giants. There was an essay question asking entrants to identify the two teams that made the best moves over the past winter. One of the teams I chose was the Mets. Beltran obviously is a plus, but Mientkiewicz is a great defensive first baseman and he'll anchor a very good defensive infield. And while Pedro Martinez won't last the four years for which the Mets are paying him, he's going to anchor the staff like Tom Glavine didn't. He'll be like George Foster was to the early 1980s Mets... just the guy to bring them to the point where they can develop some good young players to take over. (Although I always thought the Mets management screwed Foster, getting rid of him mid-1986, just as they might have sent him off with a World Series ring.)

I also said the Diamondbacks had a good winter, pointing to the Randy Johnson trade as a great move. Johnson could win 20 for the Yanks, but I think he's got a bigger chance of going 6-11 for the Yankees than Javier Vazquez has of stinking it up for the Diamondbacks.

Of course, if you ever come out to Seattle for the comic or science fiction conventions they seem to have here, I'll be happy to show you the Mariners at Taxpayer Stadium. It's a nice park. Shea must go.

Posted by: Mike Flynn at April 24, 2005 02:57 AM