They’ve done it time and time again in 2011. When they fall behind, the Mets find a way to claw back into the game and give themselves a chance to win. But over the past week, not only have their comebacks fallen short, they’ve been unable to get off the mat. While playing a better caliber of competition, they also appear to be worn out.
Whether a result of revenue sharing or other factors, in Major League Baseball today, “parity” has created a large class of mediocrity,
Manny Acosta and the Mets bullpen have had a rough week.
save for one or two dreadful teams, and three or four elite teams. The Mets fit into the mediocre category, as do winning teams like the Tigers and the Diamondbacks. If it weren’t for injuries and the Madoff-fueled trades of Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez, the Mets may have had a winning record by now as well. The Houston Astros clearly fit into the “dreadful” category.
The elite teams are few and far between. The New York Yankees, The Boston Red Sox, and the Philadelphia Phillies are surely elite. The Texas Rangers are borderline, having feasted on a weak division. But the elite teams category may have a new member. The Milwaukee Brewers. With Zach Grienke pitching like an ace again, and Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder raking their way across the National League, the Brewers have won nine of their last ten, and have opened up a convincing lead in a division that seemed to be up for grabs six weeks ago.
The Mets found themselves in a deep hole in each of the three games against the Brewers this weekend. They couldn’t overcome a 6-1 deficit against the underrated Shawn Marcum on Friday. Trailing 7-1 on Saturday, the Mets seemed poised to pull off another scrappy comeback. They scored five runs in the 7th to pull to within one, then took the lead in the 8th following a game-tying double
K-Rod vultured a win for Milwaukee on Saturday.
by Josh Thole, and a two-run home run by Angel Pagan. But in the 9th, like Balboa vs. Creed in the original Rocky, the Mets simply didn’t have enough against a superior opponent, despite the fact that they never gave up. Depending on your perspective, the depleted Mets bullpen blew the game in the ninth, or the talented Brewers lineup rallied to win. Finally, on Sunday, the Mets wasted a solid outing by R.A. Dickey, and a game-tying two-run homer by Lucas Duda. The bullpen, combined with shoddy defense, gave up four more runs en route to a 6-2 Brewers victory.
In the face of injuries, trades, and sub-par performances, the Mets have survived, at times, on guts alone this season, getting remarkable performances by unsung heroes, cast-offs, and AAA players asked to grow up sooner than expected. But in the face of an elite team, scrappiness isn’t enough. The Mets simply lack the talent to compete with teams like the Brewers in 2011. They couldn’t even compete with the surprising Diamondbacks last weekend. In between the two series, they took two of three from New York’s mediocre counterpart, the San Diego Padres, in a series that defined “parity.”
Now the Mets limp into a series with the elite Philadelphia Phillies, followed by a series with the Atlanta Braves. Didn’t like what you saw this weekend? Get used to it. It’s not for lack of effort, this team plays hard every day. The Mets simply don’t have the horses to keep up with the best teams in the league.
29 comments
Anonymous
8/22/2011-12:35am at 12:35 am (UTC -4)
one thing recently with this team is they never seem to do what you would expect. So, taking the series vs. the Phils? Sure, why not!
though being as I live outside philly, and detest the team and their fans, that may just be wishful thinking.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-12:38am at 12:38 am (UTC -4)
I do agree with your premise though that there is a whole bunch of mediocrity (average?) in MLB. That means, to me, a bunch of “any given year” teams, where the stars align and they have their run (see Mets, 2006). But just as easily, the next year they die off.
And I am still not ready to anoint the phils as a perennial powerhouse, instead of a team that (literally) had a once in a century perfect storm of good fortune, good luck, and smart management. But given the overall oldness, they could easily hit a speed bump and come crashing back to earth (a couple guys acting their age, a couple injuries, and bingo, just another team in the middle)
Anonymous
8/22/2011-4:42am at 4:42 am (UTC -4)
This will be the fifth year in a row that the Phillies will place 1st in the NL East. They haven’t had a losing season since 2003. They have had an impressive run indeed. No matter the state of your unbridled hate for this team you have to begrudgingly classify them as an elite team.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-11:19am at 11:19 am (UTC -4)
Was only talking about going into the future really. Of course they have had a very good run (as I said, for them, once a century!). But, all things come to an end eventually.
MetsFan4Decades
8/22/2011-12:48pm at 12:48 pm (UTC -4)
Hey Stick, I think you and I will be the first laughing as we comment ‘Oh how the might have fallen’.
Of course, if they keep going out and buying/trading for their talent like the Yankees, who knows how long this run will go? I’d have to think after trading away so many prospects these past few years, and not getting the picks lesser teams get b/c of their record and letting their FAs walk, they’re going to find themselves in the Mets situation sooner or later.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-1:14pm at 1:14 pm (UTC -4)
eventually Houston will run out of top players to give them for some A ball 19 YOs. I hope. Or they can Ed Wade and the pipeline stops!
MetsFan4Decades
8/22/2011-11:07am at 11:07 am (UTC -4)
‘The Mets simply lack the talent to compete with teams like the Brewers in 2011.’
Boy, that’s an understatement. Watched most of this series, minus the last two innings yesterday due to a power outage. Talk about uninspiring. The only thing keeping the Mets at average was they were getting decent SP. Outside of RA Dickey, who once again had a quality start and nothing to show for it, our SP has fallen off. And that BP? Absolutely dreadful.
I did get power back in time to see most of the post game yesterday. I will say this though. For the most part, I continue to be impressed with TC. The difference between him and the last two managers is he’s willing to admit a mistake and in front of the media, no less. When they asked him about pinch hitting for Dickey in the 6th he said something like: ‘I was going for the win, looking for Willie to put a good swing on the ball. In hindsight, RA was pitching a good ball game and maybe I should have left him in. Before you go for the lead, you have to actually tie the game and stay in it. It just didn’t work out’.
He went on to say more or less what you’re saying Paul: they just don’t have the horses, but it’s not for lack of trying.
Yeah, bring on the Phillies. I hate ‘em and like nothing better than to embarrass them this series. It’s the little things, at this point……
Anonymous
8/22/2011-11:20am at 11:20 am (UTC -4)
but willie harris? I would have given dickey just as good a shot there to tie it up! and anything to avoid the pen right now.
MetsFan4Decades
8/22/2011-12:44pm at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
I said the same thing to myself as soon as Harris was announced. We ALL knew he wasn’t going to do anything. Dickey could have made that same out and went back to the mound and kept them in that ball game.
Here’s hoping Harris is one of the first to go at the end of the season, along with most of that BP.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-12:55pm at 12:55 pm (UTC -4)
How is “going for the win” when you transitioning from our rubber armed knuckleballer to a mid-80′s Beirut of a bull pen?
SaltyGary
8/22/2011-1:02pm at 1:02 pm (UTC -4)
So Bay has played the same amount of games this year that he did last year and it’s scary how similar his numbers are:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
95 348 48 90 20 6 6 47 10 44 91 0.26 0.35 0.4 0.75
96 356 48 85 10 1 9 43 10 43 88 0.24 0.32 0.35 0.67
Anonymous
8/22/2011-1:13pm at 1:13 pm (UTC -4)
he was actually better last year. yikes. When are we playing the dodgers again?
Anonymous
8/22/2011-1:13pm at 1:13 pm (UTC -4)
700 ABs, more than a full season, at his age? Gotta figure what you see is all he is now.
Someone did post that he has still good numbers vs. LHP. So, assuming he is here next year, just platoon him with whichever LH hitting OF prospect earns the job (Kirk, F mart (most likely) and never let him see a RHP.
Paul J. Festa
8/22/2011-2:12pm at 2:12 pm (UTC -4)
Like the economy, this looks like “the new norm” for Bay.
MetsFan4Decades
8/22/2011-1:37pm at 1:37 pm (UTC -4)
Here’s an interesting tidbit:
Andy Martino of the Daily News says Terry Collins and team officials asked Mike Pelfrey if he had any interest in being converted to a closer, “according to someone who was briefed on, but did not witness or participate in, the conversation.”
However, according to Martino, though Pelfrey said, ‘Absolutely,’
Sandy Alderson is said to be averse to the idea, which was not his to
begin with.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-1:53pm at 1:53 pm (UTC -4)
so, having a guy with good “stuff” but the mental makeup of one of my daughters dolls is a good idea? Joe D at Metmerized wrote about putting Cap in the BP and bringing up Schwinden. That will allow for getting rid of Iggy, and saving some $$$ with reduced incentives to Cap. Sounds fine in theory. just a shame Cap sucks too.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-2:45pm at 2:45 pm (UTC -4)
pelf is not a good late inning BP candidate to me. doesn’t miss bats at all and is now homer prone (1.1/9 his highest rate ever).
even at his best, pelf is too hittable, always at or above a H/IP.
MetsFan4Decades
8/22/2011-2:57pm at 2:57 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, I don’t see where Pelf has a very good ‘out’ pitch. He’ll get to
0-2 in the count and next thing you know there’s a ton of foul balls or
maybe the hitter works it to 3-2 or gets a hit. He just can’t seem to
put them away. Not a very good trait in a closer….
Ceetar
8/22/2011-3:07pm at 3:07 pm (UTC -4)
As Ted Berg points out (http://www.tedquarters.net/2011/08/22/flew-away-howling-on-the-yellow-moon/) It’s not that Pelfrey won’t make a good closer, because he probably will. It’s one inning of baseball (or two) and Pelfrey has the ability to do that.
It’s more that it’s just not going to provide as much value to the Mets as starting, and unless the Mets are going to find 5 healthy starters better than Pelfrey, it’s silly to put him in the bullpen.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-4:54pm at 4:54 pm (UTC -4)
Other than stating that Pelfrey could “dial up” his fastball, Ted offers absolutely no reason to think that Pelfrey can be a competent late game reliever.
Pelfrey hasn’t been able to dial-up his fastball enough to get big strikeouts when he needs them — never since he’s a major leaguer.
There’s more than enough reason to suspect that the homer prone, hit happy, no strike out, occasionally base on ball generous (actually pretty good at it this year) and seemingly neurotic Pelfrey is a terrible candidate.
It’s enough for me that Ted generalizes that many starters do better when moving to the pen.
Ceetar
8/22/2011-5:44pm at 5:44 pm (UTC -4)
throwing faster is not how you get strikeouts anyway.
There’s some thought that ‘homer happy’ is simply bad luck. Last year he let up very few. In a limited stint he could focus more on the sinker, and with the defense of Wright Reyes and Davis (depending who plays 2B) that’s pretty good and will keep his WHIP down. If he’s keeping the ball down, and has a good defense behind him, he can go after more guys, yielding less walks.
As you’re not a shrink, and specifically not Pelfrey’s shrink, I’ll ignore your worthless opinion on Pelfrey’s possible mental state.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-6:32pm at 6:32 pm (UTC -4)
I think Pelfrey’s mental state is obvious even to a non-shrink like myself. You don’t have to be a shrink to see frustration on his face and to see the correlation of how that face ordinarily occurs simultaneously with big innings that younger guys like Jon Niese and guys with less stuff like Dillon Gee can manage to control with much greater poise.
Funny that Ted Berg’s background as a nerd, rather than as a pitching coach, qualifies more heavily with you concerning his ridiculous opinion that Pelf can close because he can “dial-up” his fastball.
Then again, you’ll adhere to any thought that paints the Mets in a favorable light.
Ceetar
8/22/2011-8:04pm at 8:04 pm (UTC -4)
oops, I’m sorry. I thought using statistics and evidence to inform an opinion was more useful than just asking you what you thought and treating that as fact.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-10:32pm at 10:32 pm (UTC -4)
what statistics and evidence are you referring to?
Ted cited none. You cited none.
And the h/9 and k/9 and hr/9 speak for themselves.
I’m sorry to have had to insult you by saying something negative about the worst starting pitcher on a lousy team.
Anonymous
8/22/2011-2:45pm at 2:45 pm (UTC -4)
once the AA and AAA season ends all these veterans need to take a back seat and let some of younger guys play.
Not really sure Terry is willing to admit defeat yet though…
Anonymous
8/22/2011-3:08pm at 3:08 pm (UTC -4)
who are you expecting to be called up? gregg jeffries and darryl strawberry?
The guys on the 40 man are Zach Lutz (deserving of a shot but you’re not sitting david wright), Valdespin (not nearly ready), Thayer (who cares), Armando Rodriguez (not nearly ready), Mike O Connor (who cares), Stinson (will get a shot), Nickeas (who cares), F-Mart (injured and bordering on who cares), and Manny Alvarez (who cares).
Anonymous
8/22/2011-3:29pm at 3:29 pm (UTC -4)
It’s pretty thin. I would like them to have Duda in RF all the time. Not sure who’d play 1B then. Evans? ick.
Can Lutz play 1B? Just to see his bat for a little while?
Ceetar
8/22/2011-3:07pm at 3:07 pm (UTC -4)
Which is probably how the conversation played out. “What if we converted a starter to a closer? Maybe Pelf could do it?”
Alderson: “Maybe, but he’s more valuable to us in the rotaiton. We’ll fix the bullpen another way.”
MetsFan4Decades
8/23/2011-1:57am at 1:57 am (UTC -4)
The title on this post is about as appropriate as you can get to post a comment after watching yet another loss.
Mets vs. Philly. Yes, probably went about as expected.
Truly, what is there left to say?