October 2009
All You Zombies Show Your Faces
Quick note to inform everyone we're still here, wearing our Phillie Phanatic Underoos and puzzling over the perceived lack of conviction among Met fans for rooting interests this World Series. We had some computer issues, busy work schedules and sickness, but will have new Met related stuff up soon.
Hey Met fans: Root for the Phillies. The way I see it, the Phils beat the Mets, they may as well beat everyone. And they're the only team this postseason -- certainly the first to face the Yankees -- that hasn't gone around playing the kind of embarrassing baseball we've already seen too much of this year. So if you're still on the fence, don't let rhe media trick you into buying Mets-Phillies as an overwrought drama in the vein of Red Sox-Yankees: Support your league, take what consolation you can in acknowledging the Mets fell to a terrific team, and hope the Phillies get their Phil this time around (if ever) and subsequently begin the the kind of sad death-spiral that all multichampionship teams eventually encounter.
The 3,000-Hit Club
Who said the Mets didn’t accomplish something this year?
While fans licked their wounds, Jeff Wilpon slandered other teams’ medical staffs and the writers commissioned sculptures of Derek Jeter, not one but two round-number milestones in Met history were toppled in the same week, and nobody even noticed.
Until now.
Congratulations to Carlos Beltran and David Wright. Your
acts of tepid batsmanship as the season ground to a forgettable close resulted
in the 3,000th all-time Mets hit for each of your respective uniform numbers. And
your pursuit of this glory in the season’s final week made for a thrilling down-to-the-wire
chase that went similarly unremarked upon.
Beltran reached the magic number Sept. 25 in Florida, when his single off Ricky Nolasco marked the 3,000th all-time safety for the No. 15 jersey. Three nights later in Washington, Wright rapped a double to right field off Ross Detwiler, marking hit No. 3000 for the No. 5s.
Wright then proceeded to out-hit his teammate 6-to-5 over the final four games, leaving No. 5 ahead of 15 by a single hit, 3,006-3,005.
Wright, who already is the Mets’ all-time leading No. 5, made good strides to tighten the overall race while Beltran was limited to 100 hits and Jose Reyes, representing the leader, No. 7, added only 41 hits the total in ’09. Also notable: Luis Castillo in No. 1 outhits the combination of Ramon Castro, Argenis Reyes and Anderson Hernandez in No. 11 to overtake fourth place.
Top Numbers by Hits, through 2009:
No. Hits Leader
7 3,441 Kranepool (1,252)
5 3,006 Wright (983)
15 3,005 Grote (994)
1 2,743 Wilson (1,112)
11 2,739 Garrett (667)
4 2,587 Dykstra (469)
12 2,542 Stearns (636)
9 2,519 Hundley (590)
17 2,509 Hernandez (939)
Welcome to New Jersey
My friend Dave reports the buzz on the Intenets suggests the Mets will unveil their new uniform designs on Friday, Nov. 27. For those of you dreading the worst, that day is also known as "Black Friday" and the official kick off to the Holiday shopping season. It's also a week before the Winter Meetings get underway.
That the home pinstripe unis will shift from a bright-white to cream color is the worst kept secret of this event. What might be more interesting to track is whether those jerseys will retain the unnecessary black accents that the current jerseys do, and whatever other changes might be in store.
I've been tipped off that certain influential people in the Mets organization are strongly in favor of a new alternate look -- that is, to balance to the "retro" look of the cream pinstripes -- as well as subtle chages to the current ensemble including the removal of piping on the plackets of the home whites. That would allow the Mets to further resemble to Dodgers, but if you're going to copy an NL team, you could do worse. Do you think this addition might mean they cashier the all-black look or would they dare mix and match four looks? I dunno. And I wish they'd come to realize the two-tone hat is just awful and derserved to die years ago already.
Pictured here are a few of the alterna-prototypes the Mets asked season-ticket holders to consider earlier this year. What do you think?
We've Been Having Fun All Summer Long
Oh, you SHaMs, you. Way back at the All-Star Break when we naiively dreamed you had a run in you, we speculated it would take at least 45 victories out of the final 75 games for a realistic shot at the postseason, and a sizzling 50 wins to be safe.
To my horror, my anger, and eventually my acceptance, the Second Half Mets went and lost 47 of their next 75. Only a freak 3-game sweep against the mailed-it-in Astros this weekend stemmed the bleeding at 92 losses, and assured the SHaMs wouldn't reach the magical 50-loss post-all-star-break plateau.
Still, it's a pathetic showing thoughout, and tragic to have missed such a great opportunity to be the kind of up-against-it underdog the fans could get behind. The question shouldn't be, "Has any team ever lost so many players to injury?" It ought to be "Has any team ever lost so many players to injury and failed to replace even one of them adequately?" Right? We got Jerry's passive skippering, a parade of nondescript clockpunchers and a team that until the end preferred to play Schneider over Thole, and anybody over Evans, while even the regulars loafed about, made ridiculously costly errors, threw ball four eight times a night, whiffed with runners on third, bunted in every situation except those that might drive in a run, and indifferently flew out to medium right while while gift-wrapping signature moments for nearly every team they played down the stretch.
Hey, Mets: BOOOOOOO!
Yeah, take that.
It's obvious that Jerry ought to be fired. He hasn't gotten though to the players, the team barely had a single good run all year, and his passive managing style ("Hey. let's go out there and try not to lose!") drives me crazy and doesn't work. Omar should have been whacked last season for sitting on his hands while the Mets shanked a second gimmee putt, and the strenuous, reactive fiasco of acquiring not one but two faltering closers last offseason only to see the SS Met spring a few hundred other leaks, many of them completely foreseeable and potentially preventable (starting pitching, Brian Schneider, right field) should be answered for as well.
They won't be. Instead the Mets are making a show of blaming a development staff for failing to make major-league ready replacements of the 16-year-olds they signed in 2005. That and promising to try and do better. Hey, good luck, Mets!
I'm going to go ahead and name Luis Castillo the MBTN Player of the Year for 2009. He atoned for a bad season in 2008, he committed the signature screwup in a season jammed with them, but most of all, he really loved to bunt. May his example of improvement through desperation revisit the Mets in 2010.
There were 52 53 Mets in 2009, including 26 first-time players. The Number of the Year is 29: Issued to three of those 26 newbies, and one repeater who I've already forgotten was a 2009 Met: Emil Brown, Andy Green, Robinson Cancel and Tobi Stoner.
We'll be back to keep current with the hot stove and other stuff too! For now, go Jets!