The only thing that matters is what actually happens between the white lines. But there are things that happen because of skill and there are things that happen due to luck. At one point, fans likely believed that the overwhelming number of things that happened either in a game or over a season were due [...]
Old baseball wisdom states that you’re going to win one-third of your games no matter what you do and lose one-third in the same fashion. It’s what you do in the other third of the games that determine your season. What if we took that same mindset and applied it to how teams handle their [...]
Well, at least it is for one Mets fan I could name. Back in March, some clown wrote that this 2024 season would be a mystery, that we couldn’t really gauge how it would play out at that early juncture. The way this team was constructed, in the aftermath of the scorched-Earth summer of 2023, [...]
For the third time in his last four starts, Jose Quintana turned in a sub-par performance Friday night, as he allowed 4 ER in 5 IP, thanks to 3 HR allowed. It was a Game Score of 40, a metric designed so 50 is an average start. At least it was better than the game [...]
Below is a transcript of an email conversation with Chris Flanders while we wait for the Mets to start a series against the Marlins, White Sox, Angels, Rockies – ok, fine, the 22-12 Braves. Brian: The Mets are 18-18 or about what we would have thought at the start of the season, when most people [...]
Brandon Nimmo got off to a horrible start this year, one that he’s still trying to work thru if you’re still stuck in the mid-20th Century and view things thru a prism of batting average. Nimmo started off 3-29, which is a .103 AVG. Since then, he’s raised it 126 points, which is nice, but [...]
Both the greybeards and the ones who are no longer with us understand/understood that the ballpark plays a big role in how the at-bats turn out. A fly ball in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field or the elevation of Coors Field could easily be a home run, one that would be an out in [...]
Umpiring and Replay Robbery Any true Mets fan knows full well that we have been getting screwed by umpires for decades. When others bemoaned the introduction of replay, I cheered. Over the years, umpires blew obvious calls that replays overturned. (Remember Omar Santos’ home run at Fenway Park?) In a recent season, the Mets were [...]
In 2023, the Mets started out 14-7 but by game 32 they had a 16-16 record. In 2024, the Mets started out 0-5 but by game 32 they had a 16-16 record. It turned out that start last year was the high point of the Mets’ season. Will the stretch the Mets went on to [...]
News broke yesterday that the Mets were planning on promoting top prospect Christian Scott to start Saturday, with plans to run a six-man rotation during a stretch where the team has 26 games in 27 days. It’s always exciting when a team gives a player a promotion from the minors on talent, rather than an [...]
Preseason predictions largely estimated the New York Mets would be a near .500 ball club. A little better if the pitching staff performed slightly better than a median forecast, but also a little worse if the rotation performed a bit more poorly. The Mets are currently 14-13 and performing about as expected. The Mets Pythagorean [...]
One of the pleasant surprises of the 2024 season so far has been the play of Tyrone Taylor. When the Mets acquired him from the Brewers, the thought was that he was a strong fourth outfielder, one who could play all three outfield positions and be above-average defensively. Additionally, while a RHB, he did not [...]