Issue Five
&
Both teams are still Alive
NEW YORK METS
19-15 (3rd place) 2.5 GB
There was a debacle after
the last time we talked Met fans...it happened in Houston and we all seemed to
let it go. It's what we expected in March. They got swept by the horrible
Astros and everyone seemed to play like Ike Davis. With a trip to Philly up
next below .500 looked like a fore gone conclusion and the downfall of the
surprising positive first month of the season looked to be in jeopardy.
Houston took care of the Mets 1-2-3.
In Philly, the diehard
blowhards were looking to turn things around themselves from being a last place
team. That's right. Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies began week six
of this baseball season under all teams in the NL East. Cliff Lee would be back
off the DL and Mr. Serious-face Papelbon was 100% as the closer so alls should
be good for a quick turnaround...right? The Mets come in off the plane from
being embarrassed out in Houston. All the pieces were in place. Laugh laugh,
wink wink. The Mets shut the Phillies up and had and broke out the brooms themselves.
IN PHILLY! Against Roy and Cliff. What the hell is going on this year? Too hard
of a question to be answered, but it all makes for great baseball. The serious
face of Paps wouldn't scare rookie Valdespin from knocking his 1st career (and
maybe his last) HR in the Top of the 9th to ruin Cliff Lee's return from his
short DL stint. The young Amazin's were back and stood at three games over .500
as they left Philly for Miami. The dominance of playing within their division
continued and Terry Collins gets a ton of credit for all the success thus
far.
As Ike Davis continues to
struggle the Mets still continue to be a scrappy bunch producing runs by base
hit after base hit after base hit. Who needs Ike when you have D. Wright
batting .400, Daniel Murphy at .328 and Mike Baxter at .346? Oh, it's a fool’s
man wish but this team keeps chugging and playing their rivals well enough to
be an annoyance and most importantly a factor a month and a half into the
season.
The last time the Mets
played Miami a couple of series ago it was all about Jose Reyes's return to
Citi Field. Well that was over and done with after a solid 3 game sweep by the
Mets shutting up all the Jose hoopla and knocking out the Marlins 100 million
dollar closer, Heath Bell (also a former Met) from his one and only roll.
Now it was time to play in Reyes in his lime green grossly overdone new
home in Miami. South Beach and all the thongs and free boobies you want to see,
until you go into the dome. Odd feeling I'm sure. It always looks as if the
games in Miami are played under the lights in an amusement park at night even
though it’s a weekend afternoon game. Dreary and gloomy. Sad and depressing,
especially if your three stars are all batting under .260 and as I stated
before let us not forget about Heath Bell and his awful curveball.
The problem for the Mets
right now after losing two out of three over the weekend when in all honesty
they could've swept the Marlins again isn't the fact that the lineup is filled
with home grown players. It's not the fact that their pitching rotation is
inexperienced. It is also not all Ike's fault. (Kick the baby). "Don't
kick the baby". The problem right now lies at the back end of the bullpen.
Terry Collins has few options out there and I personally wonder if Sandy
Alderson or his dog can see it. Frank Francisco can NOT close games, but who on
this team can? Joe Raunch can't as seen in Toronto and Minnesota.
Young Bobby Parnell can't handle the pressure of the 9th inning
stress...Acosta's ERA has ballooned to 9.53. Where is the answer?
Take a clue from Davey Johnson and split the
role. Don't feel the need to name a closer. That time period could be over
nowadays. It lasted a good decade or two, but what closer in the MLB would or
should I say, do you trust now? Personally, I trust no closer in the
Majors. All well over paid for a three out job.
Sometimes old school
works, hey this reliever situation can't get any worse. Play the matchups and
do the homework. It's baseball baby and if your name isn't Mariano Rivera then
you will never be known as the greatest closer in the game anyway, so let's
hang up titles and contracts with funny words in them and just play the game.
Pitch the ball and make the final out. I don't care who or what your name is,
because five appearances down the road you will most likely give up an
important run and then your mind will mess with you like the paparazzi on a
child star.
THE FUTURE:
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Interleague
play is upon us, great. I won’t boar you with my true-feelings of this waste of
time. The Mets return to Queens for four
odd days, 2 games against the struggling Brewers
and 2 against the reviving Reds. They need to split these four games or the official
downfall could be upon us. Then off to
Toronto! A good team playing well below their ability. That being said the Blue Jays are a very good team at home and with a player like
Bautista down in a funk since day one of the 2012 season, now is the time to
steal your wins and leave. Then finally
the Mets get some equal competition, they face the Pirates and Padres. Away then Home, shouldn’t make a difference
unless they go into this week like they did against Houston.
NEW YORK YANKEES
19-15 (3rd place) 2.5 GB
Closers: the athlete (or
best short arm relief pitcher) who can close the door and lock up a victory for
your team.
Clos•er - A relief pitcher
who specializes in pitching to the last batters in a game when your team has
the lead.
Sounds like anyone could
really do this job who has been a Major League pitcher. Sounds like a job title
that was made up to grow more excitement and get someone paid more than your
average relief pitcher.
This is mainly true, but
Yankee fans have not needed to think about this for over 15 years. The greatest
of all time has gone down, like Muhammad Ali for the first time. It was
shocking and jaw-hanging worthy when Mariano Rivera twisted his knee tearing
some ligaments and was later carried off the field by fellow Yankees in Kansas
City while shagging fly balls during batting practice.
The boldest, darkest and
most prominent period was soon to be placed at the end of this man's career in
September or October. He would've announced his retirement at the age of 42,
remarkably in coincidence with the same age of his jersey number and the only
player left wearing it after #42 was retired for Jackie Robinson a few years
ago. It all made sense with one last solid run to another World Series ring for
the future Hall of Famer, but last week it was all over in a blink of an eye.
Two days after the injury Mariano boldly stated, "this is not the
end". I say think twice.
It's time again to compare
like last time...
Mets are 19-15 as is you’re Yankees. Both
teams are two and a half back from 1st place as both teams sit in 3rd in their
respective divisions. Okay, all right enough of this.
The Yankees don't look
like they should, however after the slight jinx from the Doctor himself
(loosing last two in Baltimore) the Yankees survived in KC after the worst news
ever for their long time closer and flew back home for a rematch with Tampa
Bay. With this rematch came the week long discussion that has now pushed into
this week we are in today...who should be the closer? Robertson or Soriano? Go
with experience or shape the future with young talent? Well the Doctor is still
on the DRob bandwagon even though he has struggled in his two opportunities
since the "accident". DRob had a particularly rough outing last game
against the Rays squandering 4 runs, blowing the save and getting the loss
without getting three outs. On the other hand Soriano himself has given up 2
runs in his last three innings pitched, so there is no straight answer besides
going with the guy who has mowed down the competition lately. David Robertson
has been spectacular going back to the beginning of 2011. He sparkled in the
8th inning role and let’s remember my people he took that job from Soriano and some
guy named Joba Chamberlin... Remember that guy? Me neither.
The
Yankees also still seem to have a bit of a rotation problem, but that could all
have been solved this weekend with Andy Pettitte coming back for his first
start since his short retirement. He
pitched decent going 6 innings while giving up 4 ERs. David Phelps tried his luck but in two starts
he would never see the 5th inning.
Robinson Cano also showed a bit of life, but still not enough and Nick
Swisher is back to full strength. These
are the positives. The negatives, with
the bullpen woes and the starting rotation questions can also add Mark Teixeira. He has been dismal, awful and many other
synonyms that come to mind. He is
batting .223 with 4HRs and 17 RBI’s.
This is not good enough to help a team that is known for scoring
runs. Since the KC series he batted .216
with 1 HR in those last ten games. Pick it up, or drop him in the order. A
shake up is needed. For Christ’s sakes Baltimore leads the division!
Russell
Martin is batting .182 on the season; maybe a little change behind the plate is
in order, I don’t know, I’m just a guy who writes about the team. Something
needs to change as we make our way towards the end of month two. If you haven’t
broken out of a slump in two months it sounds a lot more that you are just completely
lost…and are beginning to simply suck at your profession.
The
good thing here is that there is time in baseball to work out the kinks and
fill out your rosters, but you also want to create a lead on teams who are defunct,
as in Boston and Toronto, but if you think you can beat teams like Texas or the
Tigers well then you have something else coming. Yes, the Yankees still have all the right
weapons, but Joe Girardi needs to shap’em up or ship’em out…or maybe that’s
Cashman’s job? Regardless, losing the
Baltimore series and then splitting a four game set against KC isn’t going to
cut it, and 4-2 against a hurt Tampa team and an awful Seattle squad doesn’t
mean you’re quite there yet either.
THE FUTURE:
-
At Baltimore and at Toronto for 2 games each should set precedent for the week because
they’ll come back home for a fun series to watch against the Reds.
The Yankees must drive into those two cities and take 3 of 4 before
coming home to win the series against a competitive NL Central team. After a long seven game week (like the rest
of the league) the Oakland A’s will
fly in with their young team followed by another team that need to have their
ID checked if they buy a $12 beer…rematch against the Royals. The Bronx Bombers must take advantage of the lighter schedule
and build some solid ground between within the AL East.
ADAM
HAMMER’S “Loose-Lips”
-
Josh Hamilton had four last week. When asked later what he felt,
he said he hasn't felt that good "Since the off-season." In a related
story, Josh Hamilton also hit four home runs in a game last week.
-
Andy Pettitte pitched returned this weekend, losing to the
Mariners. Every report you read about the game is different. It seems everyone
"mis-remembered" what actually happened.
-
The Mets swept the Phillies last week, sending Philly even
further down in the standings. The Phillies offense has been terrible this
season, but at least Philly has the Flyers.....Well at least the 76ers have a
chance.....Well at least Philly isn't Detroit.
-
Inside Information: I peed on an apartment building on the way
home on Saturday.
-
Dale Sveum has asked Alfonso Soriano to use a smaller bat. In
addition he asked him to take less money, stop swinging at sliders in the other
batter’s box, and be better at baseball in general. No word on if Soriano will
work on any of these things. 
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Last Quip by Dr. Kas Josh Hamilton put on a show last week
hitting 9 HR’s in seven days and if that wasn’t enough he hit four in one game.
The bat will now head to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of fame to smash guitars in an
alcoholic fit of rage.
Let
us also not over look how crazy things are in Texas, on Friday night Yu Darvish
showed America he’s no pussy by pitching one inning at 8pm then sitting through
a 2 and a half hour rain delay and coming back to get the win. He pitched 5 and
a third innings and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits while striking out 7 Angel
batters.
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