The Mets are heading off to LA for a four-game series against the Dodgers. That’s not particularly good news for the Mets, as the Dodgers have treated them like a red-headed step child here recently. LA holds a 15-5 edge the past three years and many of those games have not been close, as the Dodgers have pounded the Mets’ pitchers.
In preparation for the series I did a podcast with David Camp, former GM of the Copperheads and a lifetime Dodgers fan. You can download and listen to the podcast here – http://cast.rocks/hosting/13288/David-Camp-52419.mp3
I check the box scores every day. It’s amazing to see how many teams score 10 runs or more every day now. I remember seeing maybe 1 team every other day score 10 or more. Now we have 3 maybe 4 teams in a single day accomplish that feat. The thing that I find interesting is these teams don’t have 3 or 4 superstars in their lineups.My observations tell me that the hitters aren’t getting better but the pitching is not where it was say 5 or 10 years ago. It seems that players can project to the big leagues faster as a hitter with a longer shelf life.
My other observation is my annual payroll on the IL. It seems the Mets always have about a third of their payroll on the IL. This year is no exception. Between Cespedes, Wright (I know), Lowrie, Frazier for 6 weeks , That’s over 60 million dollars! Insurance is nice to have but I would rather see the players on the field. By the way. How does Cespedes pass a full physical with not one but two bad heels?
It would be interesting to see the innings that the runs were scored by the teams who put up a 10 spot.
The Cespedes question is an extremely valid question. Why are we paying Lowrie? Should he like the real world. He accepted a job but never showed up for work.
Maybe it’s just my perception, but as a youngster, I just dont remember so many players getting hurt.
In 2003, the NL ERA was 4.29
In 2008, the NL ERA was 4.30
In 2013, the NL ERA was 3.74
In 2018, the NL ERA was 4.03
In 2019, the NL ERA is 4.29
That seems fairly stable. I mean the NL ERA went from 2.99 in 1968 to 4.09 in 1987. It went from 3.51 in 1992 to 4.64 in 2000. And yeah, those times are cherry picked. ’68 was the last year before they lowered the mound and ’93 is generally considered the start of the PED era. But if we know the start of periods of drastic change in the game and we see a change of around 1.00 in ERA — we see virtually no change from ’03 to today.
The change we see is from five years ago, when there was a period where we saw ERA decline five times in six years. Maybe the question shouldn’t be – Why is there more offense now than five years ago? Rather, it should be – Why was there less offense five years ago than either 10 years ago or today?
Same way Edwin Diaz passed his physical when we were told he has a bone spur in his elbow, but it’s ok because it’s an “old bone spur”. Therefore, since he’s already been pitching with it, he won’t say anything for four more years, supposedly.
I have a suspicion that this last off-season was about hitters adapting to velocity. Perhaps they were doing that drill like they did in Kansas City a few years ago and facing fastballs from 40 and 50 feet. When the Mets unleashed the group of 95+ starters in 2015, mot of the league wasn’t ready for it. Traditionally, only closers and a few rare guys like Clemens, Johnson could consistently hit high 90s. I think the league has adapted and the pendulum has swung the other way. Hitters are also learning to lay off the high fastball. Now it’s time for the counter punch. Pitchers will need to adapt with different pitches or sequencing. It’s a perpetual dance.
After the disastrous trip to Miami, the homestand appeared to be a success. But who did they beat? Washington was reeling and their bullpen is it disaster. Detroit is Miami North. If the Mets can pitch well this road trip then they will have a chance. 4 and 3 would be nice but they have to split in LA and win the series against the Diamondbacks. If they pull it off, then we can consider them a possible playoff team. You have to beat the good teams also . LGM
You can add the Cleveland Indians to that group. They can’t seem to beat any legitimate “good” teams out there
Nice piece: