About Last Night
-
- April
- 24
Never mind it was against Washington. What is important is Johan Santana found a way to win and stop the losing streak before it got rolling.
That’s earning his money.
The offense was better last night. It had some help with the Ryan Zimmerman error, but it clicked in a few spots.
I think the offense will get better. There are too many good players for it not to improve.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 9:10 am by John Delcos.
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But the good players get edged out by the so called veterans that may be passed their prime. Last night was a good game to watch. about time mets went back to producing runs by stealing etc. forget the long ball. just get on base.
;-)
Obviously they will be better, but Delgado is finished, Castillo looks anemic most of the time, Angel Pagan will begin to look a lot like Angel Pagan, and the worst of all is that Jose Reyes still doesn’t seem right. Beltran has always been streaky and will heat up I believe. But the Mets cannot win games 9-7. They will go as far as the arms can take them, and no further.
Go read Wallace Matthews’ column in Newsday on Reyes. Matthews is normally a real pain in the butt (I said that as nicely as possible), but he’s pretty much spot on with this article. I don’t know what happened to Reyes, and I don’t have any brilliant ideas on how to fix him, but the Mets need him back to All-Star form yesterday.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spwally245661966apr24,0,3064201.story
That defensive play Santana made was impressive. I can’t see Ollie or Maine ever making a play like that. Then you add in his bat. Maybe he’s the best hitting pitcher in the NL except for Owings. I think Johan is worth every penny.
Wally Matthews is a hack
JM, I can’t believe you made it past Matthews’ headline: “Reyes, Do You Want to be Jeter or Rey Ordonez?”
To even mention Ordonez in the same breath as Reyes is an insult. Reyes is a far better player than Ordonez could ever dream about.
That article was right out of the hack writer playbook. Terrible.
Yeah Steve C. The guy who did most of the small ball stuff will soon be replaced (for a couple weeks) by a 43 year old who can’t move can hit a lot of singles and hit into an awful lot of DPs. Won’t that liven the team up.
So ghost, would you rather have Pagan in LF over Alou?
Are the Alou haters forgetting the 30 game hit streak last season? And Alou had 13 HRs and 20 ebh’s in 328 ABs. Hardly a singles hitter. Alou coming back gives Beltran more protection, allows us to drop Delgado down in the lineup and gives us a stronger bench with Pagan moving out of LF. Plus, when Alou eventually goes down for one reason or the other, we have a replacement waiting right there. We all need to be a little more patient with Delgado as well. We’re only 21 games into the season. If we’re talking about his .206 avg in early June, then we can start the movement to get him replaced somehow.
Ghost – that 43 year old (who’s actually 41) also had a 30+ hitting streak, hit .340 with some pop and finished the season with almost a 1.000 OPS. There isn’t a team in the majors that would turn that production from a corner outfield position.
Only in Angel Pagan’s dreams can he achieve that sort of production. There is a reason why he’s been a career AAAA player. Don’t get me wrong, Pagan has done a terrific job, but water finds its own level. I doubt Pagan will be able to surpass let alone match the consistency Alou offers at the plate. Having Alou back and moving Pagan to the bench actually makes the team better. The Mets will arguably have the best 4th and 5th best outfielders in the game.
JM,
I posted basically the same thing last night about Reyes to what mathews column was about. I am starting to believe that reyes is over rated and will never be the player met fans thought he would be and it’s not that he doesn’t have the talent, it’s because he doesn’t have it upstairs in his brain.
I can’t get excited about last nights game. The nationals stink and the three runs to break the game open were three soft grounders that didn’t get out of the infield.
Lets see how the Mets do against the Braves.
About Alou, there’s no doubt he is a better hitter than Pagan but the question is, How long will he stay healthy and how many games will he play this year?
Alou was a baseball hitting machine last year, even if he needed some oiling.
I have to say that after seeing Johan on the MLB video, that dude can run. I am serious, he was booking around to second like a Reyes out of the bunt.
It is kind of unfortunate the Mets do not really expect him to do anything else than to pitch.
If he keeps it up with the hitting and running business, he’s gonna go on a tear. Call me crazy.
Actually i dont miss alou that much. pagan/chavez are a good platoon. I was always partial to Chavez as a player.
Pagan has won me over as well. I am not sure Alou will help. i think he is much like Pedro and Delgado. Too much upkeep. The only difference is, Alou is a professional and will do the right thing. I never saw that with delgado or pedro both always seemed selfish. By selfish, I mean they rather play hurt then let someone who can play and help win play. Honestly I think the outfield is fine the corner needs a little seasoning but its find. the infield is another story.
Pagan/Chavez is not a good platoon. For one, they’re both essentially lefties (Pagan is not that great from the right side) and Endy really doesn’t hit at all. There was a time when I thought Endy could have been the LH half of a platoon, but he just doesn’t hit enough.
How can you not believe Alou will help? This team is desperate for a guy with some power in the middle of the lineup to take some pressure off Wright and Beltran.
Castillo and Schneider give us enough scrap. We need someone who can rake.
To me, Reyes is the key to the Mets offense. Reyes is the table setter. The problem is Reyes is still playing like he did the last few months of last season.
Its like the pitch count. Sometimes the side one hits at shouldn’t factor in the ability to hit a pitch or pitcher.
Endy does hit. but not as often as we like because he isn’t used everyday. Listen its all relative, in the end what we need are farm boys that will grow with the team and be healthy and play ball as a team. 1 player shouldnt have to carry the team on his back. (piazza, beltran… etc.. )
tomg: its the long ball. he gets a swelled head. he just needs to get on base. thats the job of #1.
I thikn reyes has better plate discipline this year.
Difference between slumping dudes
Delgado and Castillo: Old (for baseball) and coming from surgery. Bad for slump. They start thinking a lot more about their missing variables including whether their injuries are a factor (even though they will BS the media and say injury has nothing on it)
Wright and Reyes: Young bucks coming from less baggage. Better for fixing slump. They just think maybe its mechanical, plus they know it will come back to them. Then they mentally come back.
Older dudes have more secret doubt. Thinking more on pain.
However, this stuff may contradict Bull Duram. If that matters.
Steve, I have to disagree on Endy. On a good team, he’s a 4th OF at best. He just doesn’t hit for enough power, especially to hold down a corner OF spot. Plus, if he received more regular playing time he would get exposed.
And a platoon implies that you have a guy who hits righties but not lefties and a guy who hits lefties but not righties, so you utilize them in a way that plays to their strengths.
keith: agreed. the issue is, i rarely see a good platoon anymore. also those that could actually get better with play time get sat out for aged vets that are coming off bad DL.
Ok, You all want Alou back. You all know he’ll last more than 15 minutes. You all know he won’t start hitting is age. You all know that his power dropped off considerably last year even tho he had @ same # of ABs as year before. You all know he found the fountain of youth… Ok I’ll buy it ….
I do agree with Keith @ Pagan/Chavez. Same guy and that is one too many when Pagan goes to bench.
Steve, I totally agree on platoons. No one uses them effectively anymore. (Although Jones and Thames sort of platoon in Detroit). The Hardball Times did a great series on successful platoons. A few good examples from the Davey Johnson era Mets teams.
Ghost, Alou’s SLG was .524 last year, which is higher than his career average. So yeah, he is hitting less home runs, but part of that is due to Shea, in addition to him getting older. The thing with Alou is his ability to square up the ball and spray line drives all over the field is uncanny. He had 19 doubles and 13 homers in about half a season of work. With the way this lineup is going, I’ll take that.
yeah hardball times is good .. i like their clutch stat. pretty on the mark.
Santana did what we paid him for. Stop the skid and go long. It would be nice for him to finish tho.
Delgado is done. Steve was right last year.
Pagan – not that I think he is the second coming, but for those who like LM his numbers are the same and he plays better D.
We need Alou even as a part timer. David/Beltran need protection.
For those who say Endy can’t do it for extended periods he did it two years ago. Played the best OF in the majors ( all 3 spots ) and hit 300. He has no power but we know that. I don’t know if he can replicate that, but I am fine with Pagan taking his role if he can keep hitting like he does.