The 2011 Mets: Ride The Rollercoaster

You would think that after 40 years of watching the Mets’ brand of baseball, I’d be used to it by now. I was about six-years-old when I finally kind of caught on to what this “base-ball” thingy was. Since then, I’ve seen some seasons where it’s been awful from Jump Street: 1974, 1977 through ’79 [...]

Mets Notes: Capuano’s value and extra-base hits

It’s easy to overlook with his 4-6 record and 4.86 ERA but Chris Capuano has been a nice addition to the Mets’ staff. In his last 10 games, including nine starts, Capuano has a 3.98 ERA and is giving the Mets a chance to win nearly every time out. Not surprisingly, the only run he [...]

Following the Mets Can Be Fun. Really.

Every now and then, even in a ghost-season like this one – ephemeral, amorphous, in flux, would-frighten-Scooby-Doo, “are they really there?” – following the Mets can be most entertaining. Take Sunday night (6/5) for example. Wonderful pitching from our friend R. A. Dickey, scoring like a Chicago election (early-and-often), even giving the Atlanta fans a [...]

Murphy among struggling Mets starting to hit

The Mets salvaged the final game of their three-game series against the Phillies as the bats finally came alive. The first two losses were tough to take, as the Mets held leads after seven innings in both games. They both fall into the category of toss-up games that I mentioned how the Mets are struggling [...]

Are we witnessing the real Jason Bay?

The return of Jason Bay has widely been considered a major reason why the Mets have been playing better baseball of late. (Notwithstanding last night’s 10-3 drubbing at the hand of the Phillies). Prior to last night’s game, the Mets had gone 6-1 in Bay’s return and raised their collective batting averages from .238 to [...]

More good news in the Isringhausen comeback

"I love the competition," Jason Isringhausen said. "There's a lot of the stuff that goes along with the game I don't enjoy, all the politics, the business part of it. But I enjoy the 1-on-1 competition with a hitter, and it's hard for me to find that anywhere else. I'm just trying to compete with [...]

Talking Mets and ZiPS with Dan Szymborski

Fans tend to be either overly optimistic or pessimistic. That is why it is important to look at unbiased, systematic approaches to projections. One of the best sets available are the ZiPS projections from ESPN Insider and Baseball Think Factory Editor-in-Chief Dan Szymborski. Recently Szymborski, an Orioles fan, agreed to a Q&A about his projections [...]

Comparing Jason Bay and other Mets free agent hitters

When the Mets signed Jason Bay, he was going to be the slugger in the middle of the lineup who essentially replaced Carlos Delgado in the lineup. Then he didn’t hit for power and had his season cut short due to a concussion. Now fans are looking for any reason to feel confident about a [...]

The real reason Jason Bay struggled in 2010

Some people blame the poor season last year by Jason Bay on his move to Citi Field. Others blame it on the season-ending concussion that knocked him out of action before he could turn things around. Me, I have a different theory. Bay’s poor first season is a direct result of his uniform number. While [...]