The Mets’ misery continues as they fell to the Brewers, 4-1 Wednesday night.
- Curtis Granderson hit a homer leading off the fourth. I’m not sure why people are fired up about moving him down in the order. It’s not like there’s some spot in the lineup he could hit where people magically get on base before him.
- Logan Verrett was very effective in two innings of work. He may ultimately be a ROOGY with that slider but hey, Jeff Nelson made quite a career out of that profile, so let’s not dismiss it.
- Michael Cuddyer was mercifully removed from the lineup but we had the joy of watching him pinch hit in the 9th. I know you’ll be shocked but he weakly grounded out.
- Darrell Ceciliani played in Cuddyer’s place and batted fifth. He hit a ball to the warning track, which qualifies him in this lineup, I guess.
- Ron Darling said the bench looked dazed. There’s a complete lack of passion on the team right now. Remember when Terry Collins was described as fiery? That was his tag back when he managed Houston. Collins gave a pre-game speech to the club tonight. It must have been awesome as it inspired the team to new heights.
Darling basically said the Mets lineup is not constructed of major league level talent. It hurts when your color commentator is one of your harshest and most realistic critics.
But that’s also by way of an excuse: poor us! Look at all these injuries!
As if no other team has them…
That’s how I heard it, anyway.
Charlie, I’ve been saying it for a month. That’s all we hear! Especially coming from the crier himself, Collins. There are so many reasons to despise his leadership, but, alas, the Wilpons love him!
I almost copied my comment from yesterday regarding the definition of insanity and the Mets fans’ despair.
While most times the truth comes out eventually, I wonder what the heck Alderson and the Wilpons are thinking…
I’m not asking for a move of desperation, but how about seeing the obvious?
The Brewers had more hits by the first batters than the Met baatters got in the entire game. Enough said.
Colon is not this wonder that he is made out to be by the media. He is barely a serviceable 5th starter that eats innings. He, not Niese, is the player blocking Matz.
Moving Granderson to second is not a knock on him. If Tejada leads off then there is a posibility that there may be a runner on for the home run.
This is an unbalanced, poorly constructed team. Make a trade.
Metsense,
Catch this:
Collins says that he won’t move Granderson down because no one will be on base for his home runs anyway. Can you believe the optimism of this leader? I mean, why the heck does this obtuse moron have a job???
“Who’s getting on?” Collins asked. “So we’ll leave him where he’s at. He’s doing a good job. He’s getting on. He’s hitting some home runs. You put him [lower] in the order, unless somebody is getting on, we’re not driving in any runs. … It was brought up today. I said, ‘Why would we disturb the one guy who is swinging the bat like we want to?’ So we’re going to leave him where he is.”
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/105590/terry-collins-wont-point-fingers-at-absentee-front-office
The Wilpons are in no hurry to start the clock on Matz. Don’t be surprised if he stays down in Vegas the entire year,
His “Super 2” date was Sunday. There’s no financial reason to keep him at AAA anymore.
And who does Alderson try to move from the starting rotation? Colon since his 5-0 start is too inconsistent to move. Niese to L.A.,Toronto or Detroit?
The game was better than I expected
I wonder what he could of said to the players behind closed doors? “Gentleman we’re here to win games? My job is to win games? If you continue to perform like this I might get fired? Excuses are like a…everyone has one. Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself ,”Am I giving my all? My best effort?”
More so than at any point in baseball history, we are living in an age of prospect hype. This is because of the internet, the proliferation of media formats, the access of information. We hear about these young players so much more than we did back 45 years ago, when all we knew amounted to who was featured on the back page of the Mets Yearbook under “Rising Stars.” That was it. This kid Boswell will be good, they say.
Now we have so-called “experts” writing about players they’ve never seen, forming opinions based on a quick scan of the stat sheets. It is awful and it is woeful and it is a lie. Most of it, anyway. Everybody these days has a their own list of Top 20 Mets Prospects. What a joke.
It is, of course, mostly hype. Mostly empty. Yet for fans, it feeds a mass delusion.
And for Sandy Alderson, it’s been the best thing that could have ever happened And by that I mean, delusional fans hopped up on prospect hype. It feeds the grand agenda: Sell ’em on tomorrow. This Fulmer guy’s gonna be great. What are we gonna do with Plawecki when d’Arnaud is back? Smith will inherit the job from Duda, we’re all set there! Nimmo will be a perennial All-Star! Our closer of the future is named Akeel Morris! And when can we start comparing Dilson Herrera to Joe Morgan, who for a few years there was only best baseball player on the planet? Can we start calling him “Little Joe” now, or do we have to wait until he hits above .200?
The key was patience. That Dusty Springfield tune, “Wishin’ & Hopin’.”
Well, not all of these guys turn out so good, as Terry Collins might express it. Plawecki might develop into a solid ML catcher. Or become Vance Wilson. Or Ed Hearn without the gutsy GM. And sometimes these guys will turn out to be productive players, but it will take time. Not days, not months, but years. They don’t often dominate out of the box.
Meanwhile old guys perform like . . . old guys. Didn’t Sandy read the memo? The steroid era is over. 35 year old players go into serious decline, just like they did in the old days. Why is he signing them to big contracts? Well, actually, it’s not the contract that’s the issue: It’s that the Mets are counting on these players. Giving them everyday jobs. Perceiving them as solutions. Doesn’t he realize that it’s over? The game has changed. Offense is down. Speed and defense are the new market inefficiency . . . and he missed it entirely.
Who did he champion? Josh Satin — the perfect approach — and the slow, stone-fisted first baseman who walked a lot in AAA? What’s his name? I forget. Hell, everybody forgets. But he sure knew how to take pitches! Whatever happened to him?
And while the hyped prospects flounder, or fail, or develop slowly — and the old guys get older and injured — the young guns just want to get paid.
The grand assumption, repeated so many times it would make your head spin, was that Sandy didn’t merely want to win, he wanted “sustained success.” Years and years of playoff appearances. And so many folks said, “Yeah, that will be awesome!” As if the saying made it so.
We’re still waiting for that first winning record. At this point, let’s start with one. That would be nice. Because the clock is tick, tick, ticking. And these young fans, out playing lacrosse, have completely lost interest in the team. Terry is the oldest manager in baseball. Sandy is the oldest GM. The owners are half-dead (we can only hope).
Patience! Don’t swing at that pitch. Another one will come along, a meatball, a big beautiful meatball, and we’ll swing at that one.
Just you wait.
With our luck, Jeff Wilpon will be the modern Connie Mack…
Fantastic summary, James!
James, it was great and you didn’t even mention throwing away a first round pick to sign the 36 year old or rebuilding with veterans over kids.
JP, hopefully a catharsis.
Take the next game off—–or not. It really won’t matter.
When you think that this is the darkest it can be just remember the names Donald Grant and Dick Young. Things can always get worse. Now that’s a happy thought!
James, thats the post of the season so far. I couldnt agree more.
Mediocrity James. That is what the patient Met fan is going to get. Did you say patience with the youngsters? Here’s where it gets interesting. It’s potluck at best. Bu then I thought Alderson was a shrewd evaluator of young talent. Justin turner was asked in a post game interview why the Met’s didn’t like him. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said he was glad to be in L.A.
TC needs to go now,and if Alderson were to get canned at the same time.Well,I wouldn’t mind.
Who the hell is Jimmy Nelson?
Isnt this the team we heard coming up with 90+ wins, even surprising the Nats?
Wasnt that all over the teams mouths and plastered all over the blogosphere… we would delight in just how good this team is?
The very same team as last year except for adding Harvey and Cuddyer…and we were supposed to be Nats killers? How many time have I uttered on these boards, that the player moves are the same as shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. The FO has completely missed the target in building a team to win now, or later.
90 wins was unbelievable on April 1st and its equally unbelievable now. This team is not and has not been part of a playoff race. Modern media hype has us talking about wild card positions in April, May, June. Its wholly inappropriate.
Pulling out a winning season will be remarkable. At the start of the season I predicted 81-84 wins tops. Im still there…unless…
Alderson wakes up and realizes the players we have cannot get the job done. Deep personnel moves need to be made. Band aids wont solve it. Zobrist does not make this team a contender.
And when the trading deadline passes and Colon and Niese are dealt for more spare parts what then Chris? Murphy stay if Wright retires? Then what? Dump Gee and 5 million+? No game plan here. there never was. Only what the was fed to the media. Maintain control of the team. That and only that is the priority of the Wilpons. The 2015 Met’s are a badly constructed ball club with no room for error. The joke is on us.
“No game plan here. there never was. Only what the was fed to the media. Maintain control of the team. That and only that is the priority of the Wilpons.”
As you know Pete…I feel exactly the same way. They may only want the team to have huge control over Willets Point redevelopment.
Semi-retired GM.
Never been a great fan of Collins but if you want to blame him for the Mets hitting woes, then you need to give him full credit for the great pitching that they have. Since it is unlikely that we will swing any big deals for substantial bats, I am at this point ready to bring Wally Backman up from AAA and let him light a fire under this team. For those of us old enough to remember Gil Hodges walking out to left field to remove Cleon Jones from the baseball game because he did not hustle, that’s the type of manager we need at the helm.
In my quick calculation, glancing at Game Logs, I had mistakenly thought that last night’s HR with the 8th solo shot for Curtis this year.
It was his 9th.
Doesn’t feel like we’re getting the most out of the team’s HR leader.