NY Mets 2014

[Sausy]

Also nice to see over 46,000 fans attend the first MLB game in Montreal's Olympic Stadium since the Expos left after 2004. They loved their baseball in Montreal but each year it seemed they would trade away young stars heading into their prime years for more prospects, and keep repeating that pattern. Always a good minor league system but never wanting to pay enough to keep a potential championship team together. Unfortunately that soured many Expo fans and attendance in later years dropped. Sad since it should have been a longterm successful Canadian franchise in MLB to go along with the Toronto Blue Jays but ownership really let the fans down a lot.

 

[gulhud]

It was indeed nice seeing baseball back in Montreal.

 

[Sausy]

Even better attendance today, over 50,000 back at Olympic Stadium for the last game f the two game exhibition with the Toronto Blue Jays. Glad to see how much interest and support this series gathered... like I said yesterday baseball had a great opportunity in Montreal with a second Canadian MLB franchise and ownership blew it, not the fans with their constant trading of rising stars instead of developing teams with a winning culture. For whatever reason ownership just didn't prioritize maintaining the players they needed to give the fans hope they really were not only occasional contenders but serious ones. Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, Larry Walker... so many names that developed into big names but were let go in that constant merry go round.

Daisake Matzusaka pitched very well, a scoreless five innings giving up five hits and had 8 strikeouts but still surprisingly was optioned to Las Vegas t least for a brief period and Jennry Mejia gets the fifth starter spot. Mets lost 2-0 to end the spring on a down note and deep concerns about their relievers still troubling the organization and their fans.

We'll have to see how things play out starting Monday afternoon when the Mets play the Nats at CitiField, Dillon Gee getting the Opening Day nod as Jonathon Niese is still working his way back from the elbow scare. As syam would say, "Let's go, Mets!" Hope we see sonny here soon giving us his view of how he sees the boys this spring and going into the season, it's always passionate and thoughtful perspective. He does have another busy year working with Mets minor league affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones starting early in June which he really enjoys.... he was a huge Cyclone fan since they started over 10 years ago and has between the Cyclones and Met AA affiliate Binghamton and former AAA affiliate Buffalo met a great number of Mets minor leaguers who have worked to the major league level, are moving up the Mets system or with other organizations now. He's been working with the Cyclones for the past few years now.

 

[sonny10305]

Thanks for the bio Saucy
Well as no surprise to any of us Ike Davis will be the first baseman opening day today but I expect Satin to play tomorrow against the lefty and Duda will get some time at first as well

BUT the big news comes out of Florida Daniel Murphy’s wife Tori went into labor and the baby will be here any second now. More on the arrival of Noah Murphy tomorrow.
Congrats to the happy couple we are so happy for you guys

 

[Ninja108]

Mets are winning 4-2 right now. Strausburg does not look good at all.
As for Granderson... he's sadly picking up from where he left off with the Yankees..as a strike out machine.

 

[syam24]

Oh, that bloody bullpen! As Ralph Kiner used to quote Frankie Frisch, "oh,those bases on balls." The bullpen struggled finding the plate wasting a terriffic start from Gee. Torres and Rice combined to throe 8 straight balls setting up the Nats to it the game. Some good stuff from the Mets like brown's 3 run shot off Strasburg in the first, and Lagare go ahead HR inthe 8th only to see Parnell cough up the tieing run inthe ninth. DWright had 3 hits including a 2 run HR in the tenth. valverde of all folks was the best out of the bullpen. Land an gave up the backbreaking 3 run shot in the tenth after a couple of bleeders off Familia. Heartbreaking loss 9-7 in 10 innings.

 

[Sausy]

Yep DWright tried to help get a rally going with his two run shot in the tenth but the damage was done and I wasn't pretty. We need Parnell to be a lights out closer and this kind of effort on top of pretty much with the exception of a good turn by Jose Valverde a craptastic failure for the bullpen in general. In order to be competitive when we score seven runs we need to hold down the other club... not enough to have a strong starting rotation when we're giving it away in the poison pen. Don't want to see this become a habit because frankly we are going to need the pen... Jonathon Niese is not going to be taxed with innings in order to save his arm and elbow from further setbacks, and Zack Wheeler's innings are going to still be watched and anything we get from Rafael Montero or Noah Syndergaard later in the season or Jennry Mejia this season will also be heavily monitored so they don't go over a certain amount of innings. Dillon Gee went six and two thirds today allowing four runs but deserved a better fate.... sure Dice K will be up before long and Bartolo Colon can give innings but this bullpen had better be ready to compete. The walks are unacceptable, as well as too many mistake pitches which the opposing team will crush.

Too many strikeouts today by the Mets batters.... too much patience is bad if you're giving up on good pitches to hit and aggressiveness is bad when you're constantly swinging at the ones the pitchers are setting you up to do so. We don't need a team that can score runs but goes into droughts in the clutch when the timely hit is needed, especially because we can't trust the bullpen to hold the fort.... we can't right now even trust the closer. Enough with the swing and misses... put the ball in play the defense can make mistakes, strike out and you've done actually nothing for your team especially if you have baserunners.

Andrew Brown provided a great moment with his early three run homer and Juan Lagares' homer late to tie was another. DWright always seems to have big moments too but like I said his two run shot in the tenth was not enough. Curtis Granderson's first game at Citi Field was utterly forgettable.. several strikeouts reminding people of his Yankee days. No longer in Yankee Stadium, Cyris has good power but must make more contact.


Finally some happy news.... Happy Birthday to Mets second baseman and sonny buddy Daniel Murphy, his 29th... looks like his son, who will be named Noah, will arrive as well on daddy's birthday as Murph got the game off to be with his wife Tori who was going into labor. Two Murphs born on the same day... gonna be a memorable day in the Murph household and congrats to Daniel and Tori on Noah's birth!

 

[Sausy]

Just looked it up again and Daniel and Tori Murphy welcomed their son Noah on Opening Day, March 31... so cool though to have a child born as close to your birthday as Noah to Daniel. Murph is going to be a great dad, btw.... just wanted to update my congrats to clear it up that their wasn't a double birthday today. Yesterday may have been rough on the Mets but the Murphy family has a lot to celebrate. Still no doubt Murph will be happy to be back with the boys on Wednesday and get going on the regular season.

 

[syam24]

Well, it appears Bobby Parnell has a partial tear of a ligament in his right elbow, two weeks of complete rest is prescribed, which I would think will sideline him at least for a month. Welcome Valverde as the new closer.

 

[Sausy]

Well, it appears Bobby Parnell has a partial tear of a ligament in his right elbow, two weeks of complete rest is prescribed, which I would think will sideline him at least for a month. Welcome Valverde as the new closer.

Partial tear...damn. There always seems to be another shoe to drop in the Mets' world... it sucks because Bobby had come so far as a real consistent closer before he had the issue with the bulging disk in his neck late last season which shut him down. Now this.... now I'm really depressed because it means that looking at all the young pitchers in our system with promise...Jon Niese is already coming perilously close to major injury and Matt Harvey just had Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Jennry Mejia, too had serious elbow woes... we shouldn't get too attached to Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndegaard, Rafael Montero or anyone else coming through the system, they could get snake bitten too with arm or elbow woes. That's why we need EVERYONE to improve... on offense, defense as well as our pitching staff. WE can have the best staff ever but if they get hurt, we're screwed unless we keep improving in other areas and keep producing arms that odds would eventually have to be SOME can stay healthy.

 

[Ninja108]

Well, it appears Bobby Parnell has a partial tear of a ligament in his right elbow, two weeks of complete rest is prescribed, which I would think will sideline him at least for a month. Welcome Valverde as the new closer.

Which is bad news because you'll be seeing his load the bases gimmick more then you'd like to.
Mind you, the Yanks are likely to see a lot of that as well with David Robertson as the closer.

 

[sonny10305]

Just let me jump in here for just a few words. The poison leaky bull pen remains as always and let’s face it when is the last time we had a pen that was anything to get excited about. We had hoped that Alderson would have addressed that over the winter but he didn’t maybe now he will do something Hanrahan and Madson still available on free-agent market As to Parnell first of all he lied after the game and said he “felt fine” we learned shortly after that it was total BS but I won’t come down hard on Bobby he was just being the good soldier and not speaking out of turn; it’s that Mets mind set ya know keep us guessin and tellin half-truths. I’m thinkin we knew his velocity had not yet returned to where it was and maybe he was not completely ready to go but with all the hype of opening day the crowd on their feet as he went for that final out and not wanting to let his team down he just pushed himself a bit too far he wanted to win that game I doubt he expected the outcome to be so bleak. The loss is a big blow for us to be sure cause Bobby was beginning to look like a really good closer but he is no Mariano freakin Rivera but still the loss is very bad maybe if we mid season we could get thru this easier but now will be tough but we will do what we always do and move on its just what happens to our team time and time again. Question is where are we gonna get a closer now we will have to count on Valverde for a while but he is no spring chicken and as good as he was opening day it would be hard for me to imagine he can keep that going his best days are behind him the Pirates pretty much wore him out and overused him. We do have other options we have a lot of young talented arms in the organization let’s do what the Cards did and bring up these kids put em in the bull pen and let em show us what they got. Now I dono if that would include Montero cause he could be our back up starter when and not if another one of our guys go down. But in let’s say midsummer when he starts to hit his innings limit the Mets will want to cut back on his innings and then bring him into the pen as a 7th or 8th innings guy. On a positive note Jonathon Niese is looking good and will return from the disabled list Sunday to face the Reds. Sooo we have been here before year after year and so here we go again And it’s not just the pitching cause Granderson has not shown us much either not in spring and certainly not in game 1 the strike out king and I worry that he is gonna be this year’s Jason Bay

I gotta say if you're pissed at Daniel Murphy for missing a few games for the birth of his first child, you need to get a life and fuck off. I was disgusted to read how some fans have their panties in a bunch cause Murph is talking a few days off to be with his wife and son; I mean come on WTF let the kid have a little time off he is not asking for much just a couple of days it’s day two not as if we are playing for the playoffs. Many players have done this not unusual so get off Murph’s back about this. You should know that mother and son are doing really well and baby Noah weighed in at a healthy little over 8 lbs.

Filling in for Murph at second will be Wilmer Flores and as expected Satin will play first tonight against the leftie. Chris Young returns to the lineup in left Juan Lagares in center and leading off.

 

[syam24]

Not too much from the Mets last nite, another 13 K's, bringing to 31 in two games. Put the ball in play, is that asking too much!! Sheesh. Colon didn't have his best stuff, but kept the Mets in the game. Lagares is one Met who is hitting the ball well, so far. Chris Young started for half an inning before leaving with a quad injury. THey should put him on the dl, let it heal and bring back den Dekker or Niewenhuis, til he heals properly. We'll try again today to get victory Numero Uno with Zach tossing. Lets go Mets!!

 

[Sausy]

Another day, another injury...like syam said it's Chris Young who really tweaked his troublesome hamstring and should be out a couple of weeks. Colon was all right, bullpen wasn't spectacular yet didn't sparkle. Curtis Granderson has to realize this isn't Yankee Stadium...can't just strike out so much anymore. This was a reason I was okay with the move to get Granderson but not thrilled with it.... with all the guys here who strike out a lot last thing we needed was a huge strikeout machine. Jason Bay had the injuries and concussion that really finished him here but he already brought in a lot of strikeouts and did the same with the Mets... Curtis really nedsto be strong protection for DWright and put the ball in play more. Strikeouts are wasted outs.... you can move runners over with other kinds of outs but strikeouts accomplish nothing. The fewer a team has the better, just hate seeing wild wings and misses especially on pitches you couldn't hit if you tries 1 million times.


I'm with you sonny on the Murphy paternity leave.... it's three games, should be back by Saturday. In the old days players rarely if ever had the chance to spend the first few days of their children's life with the child and mother. It's an experience you just can't get back... cut Murph some slack and just leave him alone. Especially idiots like Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton who say idiotic stuff like Murph should have had a Caesarean arranged before the season started... dudes giving advice on pregnancy...lol shut up guys!

The poison pen problem has been one of our biggest flaws and yep Alderson should have done something lasting about it to make things more stable..... he's tried but we never seem to get the right mix. Oh there have been times things are okay but either the pen gets too taxed from overuse or the flaws of the relievers become more pronounced and evident. The St. Louis Cardinals approach as sonny talks about may really be a good idea, using some of our deep young starting pitching almost ready to contribute to the big league club in the bullpen to deepen it and give the team and players flexibility since their innings will be managed anyway. This could extend them out more, spread it out.


Most likely there would be a callup to deepen the outfield while Young's out, leaning more to den Dekker but we'll have to see but someone has to be added. Guess Andrew Brown will also get more of a chance in the lineup... he does seem if anything to have a good bat if not as smooth a glove as den Dekker or Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

Hope Zack Wheeler can get us started on the victory track...like syam says, "Let's go, Mets!"

 

[syam24]

More rubbish from the bullpen today as the Mets fall 8-2. Wheeler was effective for 6 innings before running out of gas. He threw over 100 pitches, but got no run support after the first inning. Granderson chipped in with two doubles, but the Mets squandered a couple of opportunities to add on, and late in the game against Roark couldn't touch him, when he should have been tiring. A mess of an opening series. Reds are next, let's go Mets!!

 

[Sausy]

Yeah, syam... Wheeler wasn't sharp but did only walk two and struck out six while allowing three runs on seven hits in six innings... then the poison pen came in and Scott Rice, Jeurys Familia and Carlos Torres pretty much crapped up the place. Gonzalez German threw an effective ninth inning but the game was well out of hand by then. Curtis Granderson did do good things today, two doubles and driving in a run.

Daniel Murphy returned from paternity leave.. my bad I thought he was requesting three additional days but it was three days period, from Monday through Wednesday. It's really idiotic those know it alls that gave him grief on missing the extra game, Murph basically did stay the extra days because for awhile because his wife needs to rest after the emergency C section and won't travel for awhile so he wanted to spend as much time with her and little Noah before he had to get back to the grind. He might not really see them much for a few weeks so if the know it alls like Mike Francesa, Boomer Esiason or Craig Carton in particular ever just tried to find out why Murph was doing the paternity leave thing instead of just shooting their mouths they would have known Murph had a damn good reason. Sandy Alderson had total support for Murph and the situation players today have now to be with and bond with their young families... God, it's only three days! Murph handled this with a lot of class and didn't let this crap bother him much but it was so unnecessary, nosy BS from asshats who just don't know any better and have proven that a number of times.

 

[Ninja108]

On the grief Murphy got, I can assure the talking heads on the radio that if any of my sister's husbands talked to them that way, they would be on the street.
It is absurd the grief he is getting over that.

 

[sonny10305]

so if the know it alls like Mike Francesa, Boomer Esiason or Craig Carton in particular ever just tried to find out why Murph was doing the paternity leave thing instead of just shooting their mouths they would have known Murph had a damn good reason. Sandy Alderson had total support for Murph and the situation players today have now to be with and bond with their young families... God, it's only three days! Murph handled this with a lot of class and didn't let this crap bother him much but it was so unnecessary, nosy BS from asshats who just don't know any better and have proven that a number of times.

On the grief Murphy got, I can assure the talking heads on the radio that if any of my sister's husbands talked to them that way, they would be on the street.
It is absurd the grief he is getting over that.

The great part off all that was the backlash those idiots got in total support of Murph from the fans and Mets organization which was sweet. Surprising to all of us was the media attention the story got rewarding was that all of it was in total support Daniel.

Here he is speaking about the wonder of the birth process as told as only the Murph can tell it



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuIRMHBK_gs&feature=youtu.be

 

[sonny10305]

My bad I forgot to mark publish on murph's video should be good top go now

 

[Sausy]

Saw it and was so nice to see.... Murph has a lot of class just matter of factly explaining the situation without getting upset at the complainers. Such a great guy and obviously adores his wife and son. He certainly made it clear that is basically how spent Tori was and how she couldn't travel for two weeks or even likely make it up to New York for a month. Of course an extra couple of days shows the right prioriy, to choose to be with your new family at the beginning for as much as possible. Two games missed isn't critical, and Sandy Alderson was totally supportive. Such a wonderful, as Murph says "humbling" experience and getting to be there at the beginning for your wife and son was absolutely the right thing to do. Thanks sonny for the link!