Never Happened

I actually forgot that the Mets were playing a day game today until around 5pm, when my infamous co-worker called and asked if I had the game on.

I immediately turned the game on and realized I hadn't missed much. Or, rather, I hadn't missed anything that I hadn't already seen out of the Mets.

Then, about 10 or so minutes after I put the game on, Ronny Cedeño hit his grand slam and that was pretty much that.

With the extent of the Mets/Cubs games in Chicago coming and going within the span of 24 hours, I fully expect to have no memory whatsoever of the Mets at Wrigley Field this season. It's probably better that way, given how things have turned out.

I suppose the brunt of the blame will focus on the pitching, specifically the Bullpen, and while they haven't been very good, or very consistent at all over the first few weeks of the season (Heilman and Sosa repeatedly victimized over the past few days), it's too easy to heap all the blame on them.

Look at it this way: Aaron Heilman came into Monday night's game with the Mets trailing 2-1 in the 8th. Aided by a Jose Reyes error and some long hits, a 2-1 deficit turned into a 7-1 deficit, the runs unearned. Unearned, yes, but given up nonetheless.

Going further, however, is the fact that had Heilman pitched well, and held the Cubs, then the Mets would have lost the game 2-1, rather than 7-1. Heilman and Sosa wouldn't have magically taken the Cubs runs off the board.

The pitching can do what they can, and whether they do it or not, it doesn't make much of a difference if the Mets could only muster 2 runs over 2 games. If the bullpen does right itself, and start to pitch with some authority, it'll certainly be nice, but will it matter if nobody not named David Wright hits?

Carlos Beltran languishes with a .215 average and 1 HR. Carlos Delgado is barely off the interstate at .208, 1 HR. These are major players in the Mets offense, and for them to not be hitting creates a lot of problems and a lot of pressure on the rest of the team. It's an awful lot like last year. The Mets seem to win when they have a spark, like a bigtime outing from Santana or a 4-hit game from Wright or Reyes. But these guys can't and won't carry the load day after day, and it's not realistic to expect them to do so. More disconcerting is that there's still no anger or chip on the shoulder, especially on the day after they got their heads handed to them. We expected there to be some kind of difference, especially after basically the same team muddled through most of last season, and after the air of confidence and cockiness had seemed to return during Spring Training.

I know Beltran is a streak hitter, and he could right himself and put together one of those weeks where he hits .485 with 5 HR and 16 RBI and everything would be better. I'm less sure about Delgado, to the point where perhaps Moises Alou or Angel Pagan should be taking First Base lessons.

I keep saying this, but especially after the way last season went (and I'm not going to refer to "The Collapse" specifically anymore, and neither should anybody else, because the Mets were lousy all season, and everyone knows this as truth), it's really really easy to panic even though it's only April. But they're not playing consistently good baseball. Sure, they won 5 games in a row last week, but that could just as easily have happened by accident. It's a step up from last year, however, when they didn't manage 5 wins in a row until September, but what's that saying? They're the same team now that they were then? I don't see much of a difference.

Yes, yes, it's very early to panic. But this season, right now, looks like it has all the potential to get real ugly real quick. But so I don't sound too pessimistic and upset the optimists out there, I will say that last year, at this time, the Mets looked like a World Series team, and that pretty much fell apart starting in June. These things can turn around.

At least, I think they can...

How To Disappear Completely

In the 7th inning of Saturday Night's debacle at Shea, Jose Reyes tagged up from 3rd on a pop out by Wright and attempted to score. In a bang-bang play at the plate where Reyes appeared to be safe, he was called out. Arguments and whining ensued.

It basically looked like the Umpire, Alfonso Marquez, saw the play and had no idea what the hell the call was, so he called Reyes out.

It's the sign between a good team and a bad team. A Good team will get the lucky breaks needed to win games like that. A Bad team doesn't get that call. And right now, the Mets are playing like a bad team, which is pretty ridiculous considering that this is supposed to be a pretty good team.

But given that the Mets had 6 pretty big Divisional games this year, and more or less Shit the Bed in 4 of them, and barely won a 5th, it's clear that this formula that Willie is using right now ain't working.

Each game it appears there have been different, multiple goats per game. Whether it's been the continued failure to hit with runners in scoring position, the continued mounting of runners left on base or the complacent reliability on the "Productive Out," or several failures by the Bullpen at the worst possible moments, the Mets have been playing a lifeless brand of Baseball, and while there have been glimpses of hope and spurts of strong, inspired play, this has gone on for the better part of 3 months now, this general Malaise. The Mets have not won more than 4 games in a row at any time this season, and they haven't even done that since the end of June, when they last played Philadelphia. Since then, inconsistency has been the norm, and it's beginning to cost the Mets more and more as they play poorly against the teams they really need to beat.

Even Wagner, who has been the picture of rock-solid all season long hasn't been immune. His blown save on Friday was not only his second blown save of the season, it was his first loss. And he hasn't exactly been sharp of late, but he'd been able to minimize the damage and get out of jams until Hanley Ramirez burned him on Friday.

What's most alarming about this is that Wagner had, to this point, been the one guy that none of us worried about out of the Bullpen. In fact, he'd been having a standout season even by his own standards. Heilman and Mota both imploded in spectacular fashion on Saturday. Heilman has been up and down all season. Mota has been simply miserable most of the time, Feliciano seems to have hit the wall after his strong start, Sosa is a mystery, and Schoeneweis is Schoeneweis. Too many of these names have been unreliable at the worst possible times this season, and have often created deficits that the Mets offense has not been able to pull themselves out of.

Last year, it seemed like there was no deficit too large to overcome, no lead that couldn't be locked down in the late innings, no break that didn't go the Mets way. And the team played with confidence and arrogance. And now, they come in with what appears to be an false air of supremacy, and then fall flat on their faces and don't get the breaks.

I don't want to say that the Mets are in serious trouble. But to a man, it really looks like they're headed in a really bad direction right now unless some changes are made, both within the Starting Lineup and within the Bullpen. It doesn't help matters much when the Mets are potentially looking at going in to Pittsburgh this week with Mike DiFelice as the Starting Catcher, with Castro ailing and LoDuca on the DL.

"Mets In Trouble..."

Int. Living Room, Day.

GROVER stands over his Answering Machine.

(Machine Beeps)

GROVER'S DAD: Grover, I need to know if you're gonna stay in my apartment. Otherwise, I'll rent it. Call me.

(Pause)

Knicks In Trouble...

-From the film "Kicking And Screaming."
(I mean the good Kicking and Screaming, not the Will Ferrell Abomination.)

Grover's Dad's concern about the Knicks could just as easily translate to the Mets right now. If you missed last night's game because you were out watching fireworks, well, you probably did better watching the fireworks in the middle of the torrential downpour that swept through the New York Metro area. After one more miserable loss in Colorado, and one more total implosion by the pitching staff, and one more game where I had to listen to Gary Cohen and Tom McCarthy talk about Pop Rocks, Fireworks and Bagels, I'm just about at my wits end.

Just look at these numbers from the last few days:

El Duque: 4IP, 6H, 6R, 5ER, 6BB, 2K, 106 pitches
Mota: .2IP, 6H, 6R, 6ER, 0BB, 1K, 43 pitches
Feliciano: 1IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K
Vargas: 3.1IP, 11H, 9ER, 2BB, 2K
Schoeneweis: Who cares, we all know he sucks.

Beltran: 1-11, 2RBI
Delgado: 3-12, 3RBI
Reyes: 2-13, 3R

I know that when the Mets and Rockies faced each other in April, I noted to El Guapo that their lineup really wasn't as bad as it seemed, and maybe they could surprise if they got their act together. And they did for a while, and then they didn't , and it looks like the Mets were just what they needed to get them going again. It was appropriate that the Mets looked to be in a Fog on the night they faced a pitcher named Fogg. I'm not sure what this team needs first, a dependable arm in the bullpen or a guy who can get a hit with a runner in scoring position. I've been going bonkers about this pretty much all season long, about the miserable situational hitting that this team has exhibited, and once again, it's come back to bite the Mets in the ass and really cut the legs out from under them when it looked like they were breaking out of their early-June funk. But for as good as they looked against Oakland, St. Louis and in Philly, they've managed to look twice as bad in Colorado. Yes, it helps that the rest of the division has shit the bed just as badly over the last few weeks, but how long can you manage to tread water and luck out because Philly and Atlanta happen to lose on the same night.

We're off to another hitter's paradise, Enron Astros The Astrodome Mike Scott Minute Maid Park for the weekend series. You know, that stadium with the 300' Jeff Bagwell porch down the left field line, and the cute little Choo-Choo Train, and the chicken wire outfield fence that nearly killed Beltran last season, and the ridiculous hill in Center Field that's there for no particular reason, and their hotshot rookie Hunter Pence who seems to be the only redeeming feature for an Astros team that has muddled through the first few months of the season. Meanwhile, the Mets are looking at seeing Sandy Alomar, Jr. behind the plate at some point over the weekend.

Of course, this all is pointing to a recipe for instant doom for the Mets. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if Reyes tripled 4 times in a game, followed by Beltran striking out each time following him, and then came back and hit 4 HRs with the bases empty the next night. John Maine could throw 9 shutout innings tomorrow night and lose because Schoeneweis balked while warming up in the bullpen. Barney Rubble could show up and play first base. Takeru Kobayashi could come in and throw shutout relief for 3 innings, then get called out because he attempted to bat with a hot dog. It's almost reminiscent of the days when Todd Zeile used to hit into double plays with the bases empty. Losing 3 of 4 in Houston wouldn't surprise me. Then again, winning 3 of 4 in Houston wouldn't surprise me. Nothing surprises me anymore.

Or maybe the Mets have finally pushed me off the deep end...

Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun

Well, the road trip is just off to a fabulous start right now, and it's a couple of losses short of officially being a full-scale debacle. It appeared that the brief power surge that the Mets showed in Detroit was just a mirage. The Mets have looked simply impotent at the plate in all 3 games of an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Dodgers, who hadn't been hitting much either, and even more alarming was how easily the Mets were handled by Dodger relievers like Broxton, Billingsley and Saito. It seems as though the Mets will score early, run with a lead for a little while, and then simply implode in the middle innings, and then just go into "Operation Shutdown" from the 7th inning on. And on the other side, the Mets pitching has been turning manageable games into hopeless deficits. And nobody's been immune. El Duque had a rare bad outing on Monday. Maine was only middling on Tuesday. Even on Wednesday, Sosa, who as El Guapo mentioned has amazingly become the stopper, fell victim to the dinking and dunking and blooping and blasting of these annoying, aging Dodger hitters (especially Furcal, who I just hate more and more with each passing game).

But, clearly, the offense has been the main culprit; it's ridiculous to try to sugarcoat things (the ol' Bob Murphy treatment, "Delgado may not have any hits this month, but he's a heck of a good ballplayer," would be a trademark of this) and say that the Mets have had good at-bats. It bothers me when you hear someone say, "Boy, LoDuca's really had a lot of good at bats," after he's had 3-straght 10 pitch at bats where he worked the count and fouled off 6 pitches before grounding to short, and then he popped out his last at bat. Point being, what good is a bunch of "good at-bats" when you're 0 for 4? Delgado didn't hit for 6 weeks and got moved down in the order, where he stayed for 2 games in which he happened to hit well, and then promptly got moved back (yes, this was a side effect of Green and Alou's injuries), but he then went right back into no-mans land. Reyes's swing is totally out of whack, and when he gets on, nobody can seem to hit behind him.

Again, it's frustrating, and perhaps I'm echoing El Guapo's sentiments, but I wonder how much Willie may be outfoxing himself by trying to re-invent the wheel and experiment with guys like Wright, Green and Gomez in the 2-hole when LoDuca proved himself the perfect #2 guy last season. Then again, if Reyes leads off and gets on, and LoDuca works a count and allows Reyes to steal, then grounds out and moves Reyes to 3rd, it doesn't matter much when Beltran subsequently strikes out, another all-too-frequent occurence.

I don't know if a team meeting is needed, or Willie needs to get thrown out of a game, or they need a Bench-Clearing Brawl, or someone needs to flip over the clubhouse spread after the game, but there needs to be a jolt. It's to the Mets benefit that the rest of the division has been equally as impotent at times (though it's somewhat alarming that Philly has been able to move to within 2 games of the Mets), but this lead will evaporate if things don't turn around soon. And as we keep saying and we keep hearing, this ain't an easy stretch we're in. It's a cross-country flight home for 3 in the Bronx, and all of a sudden, after the Mets have ruled New York Baseball for much of the Spring, the Yankees are red hot, and ready to whip out that classy gentleman Clemens on Friday, and follow it up with Clippard on Saturday and Wang on Sunday, and if the Mets can't start to punch more than 3 runs per game across the plate, this is going to be a very long, humiliating weekend, and an even more humiliating end to what's shaping up to be the anti-West Coast road trip that was the springboard for the Mets last season.

Gimme Fiction

With the Mets now deeply lost in the dark forest, as Keith would put it, I'm left looking for a foothold, a sense of meaning, a way out, something. I was thinking about this the other day: those who root for a perenially losing team feel the misery as a dull, constant ache. Think back a couple years ago. It wasn't anger you were feeling as much as a thudding depression. Now the situation is different. Glancing away from the sad Cavs loss-in-progress over to the other bar TV in time to see Maine give up his third home run in a row, this time to the opposing pitcher (who flipped his bat like Bonds, the little asshole), that searing shot of fire in the chest is nothing other than the anger of the arrogant brought low.

What. The. Fuck. are they doing losing like this, over and freaking over? This is not what this team is supposed to be doing.

You know something? It's an ugly feeling. I'm not proud of it, the fact that I now assume that they're supposed to beat the stuffing out of everyone. That those magical rallies, miracle catches, and crowd-stunning drag bunts are a Met fan's birthright. I mean, who the hell are we, Yankee fans circa '97-'01? Bellowing from our high and mighty perch, we demand our wins. On the other hand, with this team and, ahem, payroll, why shouldn't they be winning, and why shouldn't we expect it? It's just that big supposed to that leaves me feeling uncomfortable, on shaky karmic ground.

So I'll ask: are we being punished for something? Because what's rational about this slump? It isn't entirely the injuries, although personally I think a healthy Moises Alou would count for a lot right now. Still, nobody is hitting with runners in scoring position, and the starting pitchers have all been bitten by the same mystery bug ... except one. Jorge Sosa, who is now one of the most improbable "stoppers" imaginable, and yet there you have it. He's the stopper, the guy set to salvage the team's pride and divisional standing before they limp home to take on the suddenly resurgent Yankees. No pressure, though.

So in trying to do my part, I dug up this photo I think I stole from Deadspin a while ago and have been sitting on, waiting for a time to use it. I can't say why, but I really think it might have some serious hex-breaking capacity. We'll see:

Who Reads This, Anyway?

With one month of the season just about in the books, I thought it time to take a look at the statistics of this blog, just to make sure everything was in order as we move further along in the season. Feedburner is the place to do things like this, and one of the more interesting features it has is that you can look up just how, exactly, people landed here.

Now, El Guapo has made a big deal about The Ballclub being the first thing to pop up when you Google "The Ballclub." This is still the case. But, it seems that nobody is searching for "The Ballclub." So, while this is a nice honor, it really means very little.

So, you may ask, what are most people searching for when they happen upon The Ballclub? Well, it might give you some insight as to the clientèle we get here.

Most people seem to land here when searching for "David Wright Girlfriend." I suppose this is my fault, based on the dopey post I wrote 3 weeks ago. But what's interesting is that this isn't even in the top 10 results when that's searched for.

If this is true, then we're probably not getting too many repeat hits from the irritated 16-year old girls trying to find out the dating status of our own Captain America.

Some other interesting searches that land people here.
"David Wright Mets Jewish"
"David Wright Sarah Hughes"
"Fuck Face Baseball Card"
"Leitch Cutting Down The Mango Tree"
"Darren Dreifort Divorce"
"Is The Eephus Taken Out Of MLB2K7"
"Major Baseball Player Wore Fake Mustache Dark Glasses Hat After Being Ejected"
"Vintage Hot Dog"
"Iron Chef America Copper Still"
"Why Did SNY Fire Chris Cotter"
"David Wright Makes Fun of Shawn Green"
"What Type Of Necklace Does Jose Reyes Wear"
"Mo Vaughn Home Run Budweiser"
"Citi Field Iced Coffee"
"Is Casey Kotchman Jewish"
"Jose Valentin General El Guapo"

I know we've covered a wide range of topics, but some of these searches just floor me. Never mind that someone landed here by searching for "Jose Valentin General El Guapo," but that someone was out there searching for this, and was prompted to look here. What makes this all the more frightening is that we are the first site to come up if that's what you happen to be searching for.

And to make matters worse, by writing this post, I'm just ensuring that more people off on the trail of some odd web searches are going just going to land back here. And that the number of young women searching for "David Wright Girlfriend" are going to keep coming back, and being frustrated because neither El Guapo or myself particularly care whether or not Wright even has a Girlfriend. We just want him to get a hit with runners on base, Dammit!

All that said, that should sum up the State of The Ballclub through the first month of the season.

I suppose more could be devoted to the games in Washington over the weekend, but really, is there that much to say? Perez gutted it out on Friday night, and really only made 2 or 3 bad pitches, and one of them ended up costing him the game. He kept the ball down for the most part, and his control was great, and Willie left him in and got him to stretch out a bit, which is good, because we could use some starting pitchers that can pitch into the latter part of games. Saturday, Glavine was Glavine, and Endy came up with another clutch play (sliding home around the tag with the tying run) that will go overlooked. The Bullpen was solid, and the Mets finally broke out in the 12th. Sunday's story was simply John Maine, John Maine, John Maine.

The larger problem is the offense. The starters have been great so far, but the offense hasn't been giving them much wiggle room. Some players are hot, and some players are cold, and that's pretty much par for the course with any team. And the hot bats (Reyes, Beltran, Alou, Green, Valentin) have done enough to win games and lessen the effect of some pretty big names that are off to slow starts (most notably Wright and Delgado, also LoDuca). But the major problem so far has been a wholesale failure to come up with the "clutch" hit; the hit that's going to get that runner home from 3rd with less than 2 outs, or that single with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, or any other situational piece of hitting. It's been pretty maddening seeing Reyes lead off with a single or a walk, steal second, get moved to third by LoDuca, and then Beltran pops out to the shortstop and Delgado strikes out. I know guys are pressing, or slumping, and that happens over the course of the season, but if the problem doesn't right itself before too long, it will begin to cost the team some victories. It's beginning to become a major concern.

This week, 3 against Florida, and then the always popular West Coast trip. Maybe an extended road trip will help wake things up a bit.