New York Mets 2012

[sonny10305]

....and we continue to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic....Manny Acosta....

Good one Syam
Manny is just as I said a bandage till Sandy does something with the pen by the deadline with 8 days and counting.I mean Manny for Pedro is not exactly a step up even thou he has been doing well in AAA

So the dude is gone Lucas Duda as expected has been sent to AAA Buffalo to make room on the roster for Harvey. There will be another move when Baxter returns which is expected this weekend then of course whatever Alderson does with the Pen by the trade deadline 7/31 so more to come. Lucas will have an opportunity now to sharpen his skills with Backman which will be a very good thing for him and enable Lucas to possibly return later in the season. The other thing this does is give Valdespin more playing time, although he is basically an infielder he seems very comfortable in the outfield and will get to play more often, IF that is what the Mets decide to do we should know more on that soon.

 

[ConfusedJew1]

It's me again. (deleted my account, came back added a 1).

Sandys not going to make a move for the pen. Whatever we have is what this going to be for the rest of the season. Acosta can't be any worse than anyone else that's been in the pen.

 

[sonny10305]

Confused Jew, In light of what has been happening the Mets may have to change the position of being buyers and not sellers. They have already made Brydak and Harrston “available” and of course many teams would love to have Murphy especially the Dodgers, of course for the Mets to give up an awesome talent like Murphy they would have to get something incredibly good in return. Of course I think they would be nutz to give Daniel up but stranger things have happened. In any event we will know soon 6 days and counting.

I wanted to tell all of you Luca Duda fans I caught up with him last night by phone and he is doing fine.
when He got to Buffalo he was greeted by Mike Baxter, Zach Lutz, Josh Satin and Matt den Decker who all welcomed him in and took him out for pizza, I thought that was a nice thing for those guys to do and Lucas really appreciated it. Later, Wally Backman sat down for a really really great heart to heart with Lucas and basically told him not to worry we will get you back on track so all in all a nice welcome to Buffalo I would say. The game plan right now is for Lucas to start out by playing right field along with Mike Baxter. As to his offense we know Lucas has a good swing or I should say had, then he started taking way too many fastballs, first pitch strikes and swinging at pitches he should not have swung at, basically doing his Jason Bay imitation and that ain’t good. Wally will work on Duda with that along with hitting when he is behind in the count so much. Of course Lucas had he disadvantage of playing in a position(right field) that he was not used to he is primarily a first baseman but with Ike here there is little chance of Duda playing first. I recall speaking with Duda last time I was in Florida during a Marlins series and at the time Lucas did feel that the changes at Citi field would help him but it really did not turn out that way. Perhaps, and he did not say this I am, the pressure of playing and struggling in the outfield had him overcompensating at the plate basically trying to do too much, again my thoughts not his. It starts with getting good pitches to hit he needs to guess or expect what is coming and work for those pitches, he needs to remember that he should not get defensive until he has two strikes you simply have to do that ya just gotta and Lucas may have forgotten that but have no worries Wally will fix him.

Lemme just say one thing about that Brydak, Thole, Warthen mess yesterday, I am totally behind Tim here I mean it’s one thing for the bench to send signs to the catcher on pitch selection but it was a bad selection and Byrdak knew it and shrugged it off to Thole twice. Then out of frustration or maybe revenge he threw the pitch anyway which ended up being a two run homer. I would have liked Tim to have called Thole out to the mound and told him he was not going to throw that pitch and he would deal with the coach later that’s what he should have done.

So it’s Harvey tonight and here is the aforementioned Tim Brydack who is forever the clown welcoming Matt to the team and wishing him luck.

 

[syam24]

I whole heartedly agree with you Sonny, it is the pitcher's responsibility to throw the pitch HE thinks will work and he is confident in. He can deal with any repurcussions later. If he "grooved" one just to be obstinate, then he's even more to blame in my book.

 

[Sausy]

I think Tim handled it alll wrong and put Josh in an uncomfortable situation...Terry Collins does not want any finger pointing and between Beato and Byrdak they should have just kept their mouths shut about any miscommunication with Josh Thole.Josh was only doing what the bench(guess Warthen)wanted so not his job to show up anyone.He may like sonny and syam said been right but handled it all wrong,and should have told Josh he'll throw the pitch he sees fit and take the blame from the coaches... that would have given me more respect for him.But the thing now is that everyone come together,it's been a frustrating two weeks since the all star break and until last night only one win and so many frustrating,tough losses.I'm sure Tim,Josh and everyonwe are really trying to get back to the good feeling of life here before the All Star break when everyone was so proud of how competitive and ressilient our boys were.I loked that David Wright got involved trying to get things cooled off and showing some leadership to help diffuse the tension.

I'm glad about Lucas Duda,sonny....getting the love from the guys and encouragement and support from Wally.He seems like such a good guy,not into himself and really had started gaining confidence after last year I know like you say he'll be fine,just needs time to get his groove back at the plate and not be so homer happy.He's so strong he'll hit em by accident if he gets a hold of one...last year he showed he was a good hitter,clutch hitter with a great swing and approach he doesn't need to press and prove his power.I hear he'll be platooning in left with Jason Bay when he gets back....much more comfortable in left field than right,and obviously Ike's too important to the lineup for Duda to play first.I'm rooting for him to get back on track and return in a couple of weeks focused and just being himself....if he returns to the mentality at the plate of last year,Big Luke will be fine.
I really hope nothing comes of the Murphy rumors,guy is too good at the plate to give up,and as a couple of guys in the booth mentioned,while he's never going to be a Gold Glover at second he has really improved and looks comfortable out there.Especially when paired with Ruben Tejada.Hopefully at least through this year and next we'll still be able to enjoy watching Murph play.....the guy's so endearing you can't root against him.


Last but not least,wow what a debut by Matt Harvey last night!He threw a lot of pitches and with three walks in a little over 5 innings was somewhat wild but but allowed only three hits and struck out 11 Diamonndbacks.Showed great life on his pitches,very tough with runners on and also was very mature and professionalshowing he belonged.Threw hard throughout and was impressive in getting Arizona batters to swing and miss.His prents were at the game from Connecticut and were obviously thrilled with their son's first major league game....Matt even smacked two hits including a double and joked later on that on the double he just closed his eyes and swung hard though afterwards he credited his dad with working on his whole game.In Matt's 3-1 debut win he is the first guy since 1900 to strike out 10 or morein his debut and get two hits.....the competitor he is,only going to get better.Is Matt a new savior...no but he has the talent and drive to become a key top of the rotation guy.Can't wait til,Zach Wheeler comes up next year and gives us two extraordinary young guns!!!!!!!!!!!


And thankfully,despite allowing a frustrating 30 pitches Bobby Parnwell ended the game by striking out the super tough Jason Kubel.It was talked about that throwing 94-97 Harvey got a lot of swings and misses,but for his even more impressive(100mph at times)fastball Bobby just doesn't get that many swings and misses.You think sonny it's because his fastball tends to be straight and in a hitting zone to foul offbecause that's what I've heard and it seems....I liked the way he went after Kubel,though.

 

[sonny10305]

I have always preferred the catcher and pitcher be left alone calling a game. Only if the game gets away or a pitcher gets into trouble do I want to see the pitching coach out on the mound to give guidance that’s his job but unless it’s Ollie Perez I believe the coaches should let the guys on the field call the game. I recall a while back when Josh Thole came to Brooklyn to rehab with the Cyclones I asked him about preparation and he said he likes to get to the park early with his pitcher to lay out a game plan batter by batter a tremendous amount of thought and planning by him and his pitcher goes into every game.

Well I hate it say I told you so but I did tell you so, Matt Harvey as I am sure you all know by now was outstanding last night he looked so cool calm and most impressive was his confidence, he had a plan and knew what to do out there. An example of that confidence had to be watching him throw a curve ball on 3-2 and working up in the strike zone, getting strikes and pitching inside to righties, and of course that swing and miss fastball, WOW
I loved seeing his parents and family in the crowd taking pictures and of course Burkhardt's heartwarming interview with Matt’s dad that just made me feel so good. A word has to be said for the fine job Rob Johnson did calling the game, Rob was brought up for the most part to catch Harvey at Matts request a smart move by the Mets to do that, those two are close friends worked really well together in AAA and need to play together, just a great combo.
I have not as yet spoken to Matt I just figured he was overwhelmed by calls last night and wanted to give him some time to soak it all in I will try and get to him later today. I have an urgent yearning to tell him how proud I am of him.

 

[Ninja108]

Nice solid debut by Matt Harvey. Keep it going!

 

[Sausy]

Not so nice stinker by Jonathon Niese....we really need better from him.Jon has got to learn how to pitch when his command is off.Feel terrible for Jason Bay....after the game the SNY analysts Ron Darling and Bob Ojeda(sonny's favorite!) were basically saying that he is at a opint right now for whatever reason he just has lost it and needs to be taken out of the lineup for awhile,try intense batting sessions to get his feel and swing back and maybe deal until then with a platoon situation of Scott Hairston/Kirk Nieuwnhuis or Jordanny Valdespin.If Kirk is going to get back in his own earlier groove he's got to play or go down to Buffalo and play every day...he isn't helping the team or his own development by his erratic playing time.He walked last night coming off the bench but has been striking out alarmingly....one of the biggest problems in rthe lineup has been the extraordinarily high strikeout rate(Davis,Nieuwenhuis,Duda and now Jason Bay)....even David Wright who had really cut down on his strikeouts this year is getting into bad habits and swinging and missing more in recent days.
Matt Harvey is a great story,a great young man and awesome competitor but this club needs collectively to play well and pick up each other.Until different results are seen the Mets will struggle to stay around .500.As a huge Mets fan,hopefully our boys can pull together but it looks tough right now.

 

[Sausy]

Chris Young pitched a stinker the night after Jonathan Niese's stinker despite Matt Harvey's great effort Thursday night.Gave up six runs and departed early but the bullpen held strong.Mets offensive star of the game was clearly Ike Davis,three solo homers including two titanic blasts over the high dead center field wall plus added a single in the eighth.Daniel Murphy with David Wright and Ike on in the eighth just got under a ball he drove deep to to center that appeared originally a sure double that might have scored two runs but was caught.Again a lot of strikeouts....Nieuwenhuis goes after EVERYTHING and Scott Hairston and of course Jason Bay struck out in key spots.DWright was a K victim and the usually good contact guys Ruben Tejada and Josh Thole struck out twice.Reading that Matt den Dekker also tends to strike out,we know Lucas Duda was striking out a ton.We need less big swinging and more situational consistency....ironic that Met former analyst Ralph Kiner was such a prolific slugger in his days with the Pittsburgh Pirates and other than his rookie season never struck out 100 times in a full season.Kirk Nieuwenhuis(who I love for his all out style and defense )has 98 strkeouts already around 300 AB...and only has seven homers,for instance.Ike thankfully was able to work out all his problems but the Mets were still winning at the time he was in his deep slump and the Mets could afford to keep him up and wait it out until he got his groove back.However,with the injuries,the uncertainty on how far Johann Santana can come back especially after a serious shoulder injury,Dickey's fade,the strikeouts and after such a period of clutch hits with two outs a big dry spell it just looks tough to see the Mets going anywhere right now.See that sonny has already got a Mets 2013 sign up and hey,sure doesn't look like playoff contention this year.However,no reason at all the Mets can't finish strong,competitive and positive this year going into the offseason if they just can pick each other up and do the little things that really help build winning cultures.It will be tough but this club until recently has always been resilient and there is no excuse for the Mets to play August and September like they're at a funeral.

 

[sonny10305]

Just checking in before heading to Mahoning Valley for the Cyclones game later this afternoon.
I thought Saucy wrote a terrific piece yesterday well thought out and full of emotion and insight as he always does but this post was especially thought provoking and I wanted to say thanks for that.

Let’s start with Jason Bay who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts yesterday and is now hitless in his last 19 at-bats. The other day he ran into a wall again but was not hurt this time so I ‘m starting to wonder is this guy accident prone, a big Jabone or has decided that the best way to out for him now is to be on the dl for the rest of the season. I’m kidding of course no one would that right??? In any event his days are numbers now and if things don’t improve on this road trip, and there is reason to believe it will, I expect Mike Baxter to take over at left-field at least against right-handed pitching, no more facing lefties for Jason. I think Mike will be back as soon as Monday in San Francisco after finishing his rehab assignment in Buffalo. We can’t allow Bay to continue he is now hitting .164 it’s time to sit him down, and yeah I know I was against that when it was Ike Davis but Bay has been in this slump since the day he arrived from Boston two years ago, Ike’s slump does not compare to what Bay is going thru and if we are going to make up any ground in spite of the great work he does in the outfield we have to face the fact that maybe he just does not have it anymore and make the change. Let me be clear I was kidding about him wanting to be on the dl cause in spite of his lack of production it is not cause he isn’t trying or his lack of interest in improving, he is just lost now and any player you speak with will tell you Jason is trying very hard and feels as bad about that as anyone. He's a good guy just not the player he was.

Speaking of Ike Davis I am sure you guys saw the awesome game he had yesterday he produced the ninth three-homer game in franchise history and went 4-for-4 to raise his batting average to .216 with a career-high 20 home runs and 60 RBI this season. I will speak with him a week from Monday when I see him in NY when the guys get back home and will ask him how he feels and report back tom you guys then. Yesterday I sent him a congratulatory text, his “thanks bro I feel pretty great” warmed my heart. I always knew he would be back and I see nothing stopping him now.
I wish I could say the same for Kirk Nieuwenhuis who is in a horrible slump striking out again yesterday and going 0-for-4. And although he still plays a mean outfield, at the plate he has lost his way. I spoke with him before the road trip and I will write about that later in another post. My concern is that now that Duda is gone Kirk may well be the one to be demoted when Mike Baxter gets back.

With the guys away I do not speak to any of them as much as I generally do not even Burkhardt but after the Harvey start I asked about who will catch Matt next week will they stay with Johnson or will Thole get the call. I love Thole and have no doubt he can catch Harvey I just want Johnson to have at least one or more chances to catch Matt before Thole steps in especially his next start against Lincecum. I am not saying Johnson should be Harvey’s personal or exclusive catcher I just want him to catch him for at least a couple more starts. Thole has gone on record to say that he has seen enough of Matt and have a pretty good feel of what he likes to do. Still my fingers are crossed it’s Johnson next week
Not much progress to report on Lucas Duda he is now 1-for-12 since going to Buffalo. But hey, these things take time I have faith in the Dude.

Zack Wheeler should be in Buffalo nest week once that happens yours truly will be going to Buffalo to see Lucas and Zack gotta make time for that.

 

[syam24]

Well, the Mets pulled one out in spite of their bullpen last nite. Did not see the game, but it's easy to see Hairston came up big. Parnell and I guess to some extent Manny Acosta struggled in trying to close it out. A win is a win. RA of course, had a sensational game vs the Dbacks on Sunday, to gain the Mets a split in the series. BAxter is back, Kirk off to Buffalo to get his swing back along with Duda. Let's see how it goes the rest of the trip. Let's go Mets!!

 

[Sausy]

syam just glad you can keep that positive approach!Not a huge Scott Hairston fan but needed him last night....Rob Johnson and Robby Cedeno also big hits.God our bullpen all but giftwrapped the game to the Giants but thankfully their bullpen was awful too.About time we give the other team a heartbreaker but this bullpen version of Russian roulette has GOT to stop!!!!

 

[sonny10305]

I thought Matt Harvey pitched a very good game yesterday but unfortunately he got no run support with lousy defense behind him. Matt now has the most Ks through two major league starts of any pitcher in franchise history. BTW whose idea was it for Harvey to go heavy on that changeup? Who’s messin with his pitch selection, I will get to the bottom of that to be sure. And on that subject why did Collins put Thole in with Matt instead of the winning combo of Harvey and Johnson, could that be the answer to my first question?

On to the trade deadline I was not surprised to see what the Mets did or should say did not do. I would have been against our giving up any of our guys for what would have only amounted to a modest change I do not want to dismantle the team unless it is for a far better good than what was offered. What we need is a late-inning reliever and I saw none available. Speaking of late inning relief Frank Francisco struck out the side in an inning forAA Binghamton in a rehab game yesterday. He will pitch again today then he should be ready to join the Mets for the weekend series in San Diego.

Saucy mentioned Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Lucsa Duda and I have been in contact with both of them since they went to Buffalo. Lucas continues to struggle batting .143 and Kirk in his first game went 2-for-4. and is at .286. No worries I know Backman is going to turn Lucas around and Kirk just needs to get his mojo back. I will have plenty to tell you guys soon I have a trip planned to Buffalo on 8/13 the Cyclones and Mets are both off that day and the Bison’s play at home so a perfect time to head on up there. I will travel with the SNY boys who are covering that game and televising it live I will stay over and leave Tuesday 8/14 to return home. Ike Davis is defiantly coming with me but can only stay one day and Murph will let me know Monday if he can work things out to go as well. Davis and Nieuwenhis are great friends and Ike wants to go up and support him. There will be a belated birthday for Kirk which is this Tuesday but we will help him celebrate the following week.

Kevin Burkhardt has a shirt dedicated to him and profits to the sale of the shirts will be made to the Make A Wish Foundation. Finally I have something to wear when all my “I Like Ike shirts” are in the wash

 

[Sausy]

Yep Sonny Matt Harvey pitched well and looks like he could be a great addition to the rotation.Command and a consistent off speed pitch are the two things he has to work on,but he is so determined to be good and NEVER satisfied with just doing okay....he wants to be great so I see him definitely making big strides in those areas as he develops.However even now with his stuff and competitiveness he sure is giving excitement to Mets fans for the future,along with the likelihood of seeing seeing Zack Wheeler here sometime next season and others like Michael Fulmer in the system rapidly gaining steam we have a potential dominant young rotation to look forward to in near future.


Hoping Dude can get going and Kirk too,thanks for the update and glad you and some o the boys from the Mets will be up at Buffalo to lend your support.Ike,btw .....please stop the strikeouts!!!!!He was going so well the past month but since the three homer game has nine strikeouts....gotta get back to selectivity that made Ike such a bona fide threat.And sonny,LOVE those KB shirts!!!!!!

 

[sonny10305]

And sonny,LOVE those KB shirts!!!!!!

Kevin did as well, when the T-Shirt company asked him for permission to sell shirts with his likeness Kevin agreed under the condition that partial proceeded be donated to charity. The company agreed and gave Kevin the option to choose the charity and Kevin chose Make A Wish foundation

 

[ConfusedJew1]

Crazy game tonight, can't believe they pulled it off. But, a win is a win is a win.

 

[syam24]

Obivously, Jonathon Niese must have been terriffic, and a nice job by Parnell to close it out. The MEts got enuff hits, but juuuusssttt enuff runs (2) to win. As Confused says..."a win is a win is a win." Lets Go Mets!!

 

[sonny10305]

Crazy game tonight, can't believe they pulled it off. But, a win is a win is a win.

Obivously, Jonathon Niese must have been terriffic, and a nice job by Parnell to close it out. The MEts got enuff hits, but juuuusssttt enuff runs (2) to win. As Confused says..."a win is a win is a win." Lets Go Mets!!

Seriously guys I dono how they won that game. They tried everything they could to blow it leaving the bases loaded 3 times with 13 men left on base, even DWright tried by running on a ball hit in front of him!!
What pro baseball player does not know ya never do that?

Oh well moving on, Zack Wheeler has been promoted to AAA and will start this weekend, that makes lot more motivation for me to go to buffalo next week. Alderson said Wheeler will “not likely” play in the majors this year because he is on an innings limit which is something the Mets are also doing to Matt Harvey. Now I support get that with guys like Strasburg who is just back from surgery but I am not so sure I wanna put Harvey and Wheeler in that category just yet. Matt Harvey is an Ox and no way do they need to put an innings limit on him, the other part of this genius plan to use Dickey on short rest to finish the season.
So I guess the Mets have decided our season ends at the end of the regular season cause if it doesn’t there is no way you shut Harvey down.

Ike Davis gets the night off tonight Murphy will play first, Torres returns tonight his thumb boo boo is all better

 

[Sausy]

Not sure if limiting Harvey is such a great idea.Maybe Wheeler who's leaner and lankier....though look at Cole Hamels of the Phillies(boo hiss,well...when they're a threat again!): who is pretty lean himself and hasn't had difficulties logging innings over the years.Does say that this seaon is strictly for pride now,not contention though seriously since the All Star game slide who could blame em?Hope you get to Buffalo to see Zack start sonny,whether it be with some of the boys or KB and the gang.I know I'm nobody but hopefully you can pass a good word to Lucas and Kirk that I'm a big fan and really hope they can help the Mets over the next few years and I'm rooting for them to get their games together because they're good guys with a lot of talent.Just have to believe in themselves(and for god's sake,cut down the strikeouts.....you don't get extra points for wiffing with style!)

3 out of 4 against the Giants as the Mets crushed Zito and his relief 9-1....Ronny Cedeno had his best game with five RBI since he knocked in 5 against the Mets when he was a Cub in 2008.Even Jason Bay got in on the act with two RBI and Chris Young came back from a stinker of a previous start to give them seven great innings allowing only the one run.Now off to San Diego and some really nice weather for the weekend to close the West Coast swing......Let's go Mets!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sausy]

Nice Mets win tonight bouncing back from last night's disappointing 3-1 loss.Final score was 6-2 and Jeremy Hefner pitched very well giving up only a run in six innings.After a tremendous 2 inning effort by Josh Edgin of course Bobby Parnell was not very effective and Frank Francisco cleaned up his potential mess with no ill effects first time back from his oblique injury.Jeremy appears to have the confidence of the Mets brass as a long innings relief guy once Johann Santana returns late this week from his ankle layoff.Nice kid,even though he's been inconsistent he has shown some flashes of really knowing how to pitch and good command.Seems like a really nice ,hard working young man as well.

A ton of walks for Mets players tonight including a record tying 5 walks for Mike Baxter....4 hits and a walk too for Daniel Murphy.Of course it would be nice if the Mets could take advantage f being on base so much but still a really nice victory.Matt Harvey goes today for the Mets as they hope to end the West Coast road trip on a positive note by winning both the Giants and Padres series.