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June 12, 2006
Seven Reasons Why It’s Good to be a Mets Fan
Soak it in, Mets fans. Just past the season’s first trimester, things are looking up for the Mets. The offense is rolling, the pitching staff is coming together, and the defense has been stingy. We all know that it’s a long season and that things can change in an instant, but I think we all deserve to bask in what the Mets are doing right now and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Here is why you should be happy. Carlos Beltran is awesome Carlos Beltran will probably never be worth $17 million a year, but right now there aren’t too many players in either league having a better season than C-Belt. He ranks ninth in all of baseball in VORP, and that includes the week he missed at the end of April. Of the eight players with a higher VORP, only one, Joe Mauer, has collected more defensive Win Shares (3.5 to Beltran’s 3.2; remember that VORP doesn’t include defensive considerations). Beltran is ninth in the NL in on-base percentage (.406), second in slugging average (.631) and third in OPS (1.037). He is 12-for-14 in stolen bases (86%). The Mets have him for another five seasons. David Wright is awesome At just 23 years old, David Wright was recently selected by ESPN’s Page 2 as the second player overall in a fictitious worldwide baseball draft. Wright ranks tenth in all of baseball in VORP, just behind Beltran, and is just a shade behind the Marlins’ Miguel Cabrera as the highest ranked third-baseman in the bigs. You have to go all the way down to #48 to find that other New York third-sacker. Wright is an immense baseball talent, and he has the head and the heart to endear him to the fans of this city and fans of the game everywhere. He grew up a Mets fan, he’s a star for the Mets right now, and when the time comes, he will be locked up by this franchise for a long, long time. Jose Reyes is getting better Like Wright, Jose Reyes is just 23 years old. Like Wright, Reyes is adored by Mets fans. Unlike Wright, Reyes isn’t yet a superstar. He has long had superstar qualities, and is slowly, steadily becoming a better ballplayer. We all know about the speed and the cannon-arm, and much has been made of his increased walk rate this season, which has been very encouraging. With his three walks on Sunday, Reyes is now just one walk behind his mark from 2005 (27) in fewer than half of the plate appearances. At .246, Reyes’s batting average is not what it should be, but there is reason for optimism. His batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is just .267, a good deal below the league average of .300 or so. In a sense he has been unlucky, and should a few more bounces go his way his average should get up to .270 or so, boosting all of his other rate stats and making him a more valuable player. Everybody knows their role Willie Randolph’s greatest asset is is command of a clubhouse. Specifically, the Mets’ clubhouse. To that end, he commands the respect of everybody on that ballclub, and subsequently everybody knows their role. Bench players like Julio Franco and Chris Woodward have been terrific when called upon to pinch hit or give the starters a day off. Endy Chavez has been a revelation for this club, providing ample offense, clutch hitting, and outstanding defense at all three outfield positions. Every arm in the bullpen knows his job and is ready when asked. Darren Oliver is there to keep the team in the game when the game goes into extra innings or that day’s starter just didn’t have it. Pedro Feliciano has been surprisingly effective and Chad Bradford has had more good days than bad. It’s easy to be a regular or a top-flight reliever, but for subs and long men, it’s important to “know your role and shut your mouth”, and these guys do. Omar Minaya knows what he’s doing Each of us has griped at one time or another following an Omar Minaya move, but he has had an enormously high success rate since taking over this club following the 2004 season. It’s easy to throw millions of dollars around on ballplayers, but it’s just as easy to throw that money at players who don’t work out as it is to throw it at those who do. The Diamondbacks paid Russ Ortiz $33 million dollars over four season and he has been a disaster. The Blue Jays paid A.J. Burnett $55 million over five years and he has spent almost the whole season in the disabled list. Minaya paid — some might argue overpaid — for Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran and Billy Wagner, but all three look like great signings right now. We all scoffed when he gave Jose Valentin a guaranteed contract this past offseason and he has been terrific as Kaz Matsui’s replacement at second base. Paul Lo Duca has been better than advertised at just about everything (except throwing). Carlos Delgado, despite his horrendous slump in May, has been very good. Duaner Sanchez has been very good. Minaya got Jorge Julio (and John Maine) for Kris Benson and, when Julio began turning things around, Minaya shipped Julio to Arizona for Orlando Hernandez. Hernandez has already turned in one gem for himself and may have played a part in relaxing fellow Cuban Alay Soler, who has pitched back-to-back gems of his own. The leadership, the talent, and the personalities of this ballclub have been meticulously crafted by Minaya, and right now everything he touches turns to gold. The Braves and Phillies are stumbling After their dismantling of the formerly-first-place Diamondbacks, the Mets sit atop the National League East, six-and-a-half games ahead of the Phillies and ten games ahead of the Braves. The Braves are in a tailspin and the Phillies are slumping a bit, putting the Mets in terrific position to put some distance between themselves and their division rivals. The Phillies have a lot of talent, but their rotation is very suspect and they always find a way to buckle when the going gets tough. The Braves are in danger of dropping into fourth place in the division, as the Nationals have been surging and are now tied with Atlanta for third place. They may be even better than this While some guys may be playing over their heads (Valentin, Chavez, Milledge), Reyes, Delgado and Cliff Floyd have all likely underperformed to this point in the season. Floyd is still nursing an ankle injury, but he has been hitting much better of late and Delgado appears to be pulling out of his month-long funk. This lineup put up runs seemingly at will on their recent west coast swing, but they have still yet to hit a streak where everybody was “clicking” at once. Now, that may never happen, but it’s comforting to know that, as good as the team is playing right now, it’s not as if everybody is hitting over their respective heads. This club has shown itself to be a resilient one, and if there’s one thing they do it’s pick each other up. If somebody falls down, you pick them up, and the Mets have been doing that all year. Today is an off-day for the Mets. Tomorrow they head to Philadelphia, looking to improve upon the best record in the National League. Regardless what happens tomorrow, today it is good to be a Mets fan. Eric Simon has far too much time on his hands. He sleeps upside-down, keeps people as pets, and can be found on the internets at Amazin' Avenue or bothered directly at eric@metsgeek.com. 123 Responses to “Seven Reasons Why It’s Good to be a Mets Fan”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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Not only did I vote for the Mets that I think will help us win the all star game, I also voted in the american league for those I think wont help them win. I think the mets will be in the world series and the all star game mean alot to us. I say Vote for the Best team possible not for Mets that have no reason for being there. Stache , Floyd , Endy are Great Mets but there are better players at those positions that will help the Mets get home field position in the playoffs, vote for them.
Regarding the Blue Jays stealing the 1973 Mets “Tug Line”, I wrote them the following email:
Guys, please, you can’t be serious… You Gotta Believe?!? Your organization really thinks it’s a good idea to steal another organization’s tag line, and place it on YOUR website? Has anyone in your organization ever heard of the 1973 Mets? Tug McGraw? YOU GOTTA BELIEVE?!? Ring a bell anyone? Wow. You people have balls.
LOL! The response should be interesting.
I miss Mets Baseball today. I have a little empty feeling inside.
udw - totally agreed. you know it’s bad when you go repeatedly to metsgeek just to try to get a little fix. or tivo-pausing and fast-forwarding through baseball tonight in a vain effort to see somebody talk about our team…
Doesn’t anyone realize Poo-holes is injured?
This shouldn’t even be close!
Eckstein can’t hold a candle to Jose. The sad thing is: there are at least 540,237 morons living in the US. Most of whom, most likely, live somewhere in the midwest.
Beltran is by far the best all-around OF in the NL this season. The top 2 on the list don’t even deserve to be in the top 4!
Heath Bell = Mr. Irrelevant
Matt that was a great article about Milledge. One thing I would like to take issue with:
Milledge has incredible bat speed similar to Gary Sheffield. A little physics tells us:
KE = (1/2)m*v*v
where m = mass of object
v = speed of object
It’s the v squared component that is significant. Bat acceleration is also significant as
F=m*a.
When the kid makes solid contact the ball will always jump off his bat.
That was a great wrestling tag team. Heath Bell & Royce Ring. They could of been champions if it wasn’t for Willie Randolph and those meddling kids!
I was told that the All Star voting goes by your email address. So I typed in a new name, BD, and new fake email addr. And got my 2nd set of 25 votes in. Apparently you can do this an infinite # of times - constrained only by time!
Barring injuries, Bell may have blown his shot with the Mets…with interleague games on tap, figure that Nady will take his roster spot…and the next reliever to be called up likely will be Henry Owens, a far more talented pitcher imo.
In case anybody hasnt noticed Cole Hamels is rejoining the phillies rotation. The Funny part is they are avoid starting him vs the Mets. I guess they dont want thier wonderboy Spanked early in his carreer by the mMets, It might damage him for life.
http://milledgefacts.blogspot.com/
300. Cole hamels avoids pitching vs the Mets because hes afraid of Lastings Milledge
Is anyone here worried about Pedro’s health here?
Oops, screwed up the tags there. Let’s try again.
Before we all get too excited about Owens, let’s remember that he is 27 years old and pitching in AA ball. Sure, he’s dominating, but he’s a man playing against boys. Heath Bell shredded AA ball at age 24. At age 24, Bell put up a 1.18 ERA, 49 K’s and 6 walks in 38 innings at Binghamton. Not as impressive as Owens’ AA numbers, but not too far off either, and of course Bell did it at a younger age.
I really think it’s a joke that Owens is still at AA. I don’t know what he’s supposed to be learning by blowing 20-year olds away. Maybe you don’t want to “rush” a young prospect with a fragile ego, but Owens is 27, ancient for a prospect. I can’t think of any logical reason why he isn’t in AAA right now.
Before we all get too excited about Owens, let’s remember that he is 27 years old and pitching in AA ball. Sure, he’s dominating, but he’s a man playing against boys. Heath Bell shredded AA ball at age 24. At age 24, Bell put up a 1.18 ERA, 49 K’s and 6 walks in 38 innings at Binghamton. Not as impressive as Owens’ AA numbers, but not too far off either, and of course Bell did it at a younger age.
I really think it’s a joke that Owens is still at AA. I don’t know what he’s supposed to be learning by blowing 20-year olds away. Maybe you don’t want to “rush” a young prospect with a fragile ego, but Owens is 27, ancient for a prospect. I can’t think of any logical reason why he isn’t in AAA right now.
Drat, I nearly sent that in yesterday.
I am a little young since I wasn’t born yet but isn’t 318 wrong. Didn’t the black cat thing happen to the Cubs during the regular season and preceded their collapse and the Mets rise. Wait and wasn’t that in ‘73.
What is the email address Paladin?
I want to write them too.
I want us all to write them.
The Bastards.
Never Mind Paladin, I found out how to do it.
I was a tad nicer than you were, not much, just a little.
For those interested, go to bluejays.com, click on “Help/Contact Us” at the bottom of the page. On the next page that comes up, click on Other in the middle, and you can send them a comment.
Ok, how do i start a Heath bell fan club here in Montana?
udamn, yes the black cat thing happened in front of the Cubs dugout. I think it was in ‘69.
Yep, it was 1969.
Not that I was there, but I’ve seen pictures ;)
And if you Google “Black Cat Shea Stadium” you see you can buy your choice of autographed (by the Cubs!) photographs.
ROFLMAO
I haven’t read the other comments, but you’ve got to be kidding that Beltran will never be worth $17 million. At this pace, he’s worth more.