A Thrilling But Bizarre World Series So Far

First off, you can't let a World Series game end like this.

I said in the Dodgers/Cardinals series that the whole thing might come down to Mike Matheny just being a better manager, and as this Fall Classic played on, I thought that might again be the case with John Farrell making so many 2nd guess-type moves, seemingly unable to navigate the National League waters with the series now in St. Louis. But it appears this World Series is just going to come down to who makes the least amount of rookie mistakes.

There was Beltran, standing at the plate, having a great World Series in his first trip to the Fall Classic, unable to do anything about the end of Game 4, arguably the most important game in a 7-game series.

In regards to the obstruction call of Saturday night, I had been on my way home, listening to the game on the radio, pumped up to get home with a "Kinda-Halloween Weekend" buzz goin', turn the TV on, sit on the couch, have a glass of wine, and watch some extra innings of the World Series. I turn it on, turn my MLB Gameday Radio off, and literally, the next pitch I see is this ending.

Just as many of us, I couldn't believe what I just saw. Even Tim McCarver said he couldn't remember a GAME ending that way, much less a World Series game. Firstly, Jarrod Saltalamacchia thinking he had the bum-legged Allen Craig at 3rd was a bit overaggressive, and the throw arguably shouldn't have been made. In regards to the actual obstruction call, I'll say what I said that night….WHERE WAS THE FIELDER SUPPOSED TO GO?! 

"Incidental contact," to quote Ted.

But I guess….I guess….the umps and Joe explained the whole thing enough for me to drop it.

Anyway, outside of all the actual baseball still being played, I had a blast this weekend reviewing the 2013 seasons of Omar Quintanilla and Josh Satin. Over at Rising Apple, we have been going through the entire 2013 Mets roster this month and reviewing the players' individual seasons, as well as speculating what their next role will be, either on the Mets or someplace else. As many people have been saying- those players may be mediocre at best...but my posts regarding them certainly aren't. Make sure to take a read.

I also interviewed retired SF State lecturer Svein Arber on the Bedford & Sullivan podcast regarding "Seasons Past," a book he co-wrote with Ford Hovis under the pen name, "Damon Rice." The book informally rides through baseball history, mainly New York's, leading up to the Dodgers and Giants exit, as told through 3 generations of the Rice family. The book is great, and with so many questions and so much material to cover, the podcast episode from the weekend is certainly the first of more to come about the novel. Take a listen.

And lastly, a legend of Rock 'n Roll died yesterday. New York's own Lou Reed, the lead singer of the 60's Velvet Underground (a band that is said to have spawned millions of people to start their own band after buying their first record) also had a great solo career, and that is where I go for a Song of the Day. If you haven't heard all of the album, "New York," do yourself a favor and listen to the record either today or over the next couple days. For now, we go to the album's 2nd track, "The Halloween Parade."

REST. EA. SY. LOU.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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Jordany Giveth, and Jordany Taketh Away

This image is not from last night, but it might as well have been

First place was for the taking at least 3 times last night. Their inexperience, however, shown through at every corner, and awful defense led the Mets to lose the game, 6-7, in 12 innings.

Throughout the course of this year, a big story with this team has been the production they've been able to get from the men they call up from Buffalo. Tonight, the lack of Major League experience was a huge detriment. Jordany Valdespin, who had a good night off the bat and was a reason the Mets were even in the game, botched a ground ball to open up the 10th with Parnell on the mound and the Mets leading 5-4. Even worse, however, was the potential double play he screwed up with runners on the corners and 1 out. That just made my head explode. Even Terry Collins said a couple weeks ago he didn't think Jordany was all that good at short. He had first put him in left field after Jordany pinch-hit in the 6th but then moved him to short an inning or so later. Terry (and all of us) got burned. There were other instances where the inexperience show through, such as Josh Satin striking out with runners on the corners and a chance to add to our lead (the Mets never could get those insurance runs they needed.) Of course, there was also Elvin Ramirez, who was asked to pitch two innings in this one for his 2nd Big League appearance. He wasn't horrendous but didn't make certain pitches, threw certain ones to the backstop (ones that Josh Thole did not get in front of) and ended up taking the loss. This was just a game where this young team fought for 1st and battled, but couldn't make the right plays at the right time.

The Buffalo kids weren't the only culprits. All around, the ball was being mishandled by some who we would consider relative vets at this thing called baseball. Daniel Murphy botched a double play ball in the 8th with the Mets up 4-3. Chalk that up to inexperience at 2nd as well, but he should make that play by now. Ike Davis botched a double play ball in the 10th, right after Jordany botched one. Apparently there is a mandate that Ike strike out every time so if he's not going to make the defensive plays that help us win, I don't know what his use is up here.

Obviously, the loss is still a little sour, making me forget a bright spot in the game besides how much we battle. Chris Young pitched in the Majors for the 1st time in over a year and was solid, continuing to get pop ups on his 85 MPH fastball. Let's see how he does as he gets stronger and can go deeper.

Speaking of which, Ron Darling brought up a good point in the post-game: Why are you going into an early division battle short-handed in the bullpen, especially with Chris Young going? Jon Rauch was in New York for tests on his elbow. He'll miss this series but won't be put on the disabled list. The lack of bullpen depth was exposed as the game got further into extra innings.

There was too much wrong with how the Mets went about losing this game, including moves Terry made, so I'm gonna stop here. Time to move on, learn from it, tighten everything up and get 'em the next time out.

The Mets will bounce back tonight at 7:05PM. Righty Jeremy Hefner will take on the right-handed Edwin Jackson. Let's take the series the next 2 days and head into the Bronx with our heads held high.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Converted Mets Fan is now on Twitter. Follow me @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.

Pelf Gets Freesed

Yesterday, the Mets lost to the Cardinals 7-1, mostly a byproduct of more miserable Pelfrey pitching.

His stuff was very hittable, and both David Freese and Yadir Molina were able to tee off on him. I get that it's only his second outing, but it's hard not to think to yourself, "Here we go again..." He has never instilled confidence in me when he's on the mound, and I am ready to irrationally rant about getting rid of him. His fastball was treated to the batting practice special. His breaking pitches didn't break. He pitches a boring 90 mph...in fact, Adam Wainright's 87 mph has more pop and life than Pelf's 90 mph. He's boring, in every way possible. His pitching is tiring, I don't like hearing Pelfrey talk about baseball, I just not a fan. Seems like a nice enough guy, but I can't get over his boringness. Yeah, I know that's not a word, but he's so boring that I just invented a word for him.

Here are some other takeaways besides how boring Mike Pelfrey is:

• Beltran is a class act. The hostility towards him by certain Met fans, I believe, is unwarranted. Very weird seeing him in the Cardinal jersey, though, and with that #3. Who's got 15 on the Cards? Jim Edmonds isn't still playing right?.........Oh. Furcal.
• Daniel Murphy did a great job shortening his swing on an 0-2 count to stay with an inside off-speed pitch and hit one through the hole in the first inning. Murph played the full 9 innings, hitting everything like he does and showing us why he needs to get his knee out of the way at 2nd base.
• Bay is getting on top of pitches, leading to too many soft hits on the ground. He got lucky with a chop over the third baseman's head for a double in the middle of the game, but this still has to be corrected. Ralph brought this same point up when Bay hit the double. Speaking of Ralph...
• Ralph Kiner everybody!!! Always fantastic to hear him talk about the old days and compare and contrast them to our current days. He's still so sharp. In his first inning of work, Kiner had this to say about injuries: "In the old days...you didn't tell anybody you were hurt. You played. 'Cause if you didn't play...you would maybe never get back in the lineup."
• Speaking of injuries, even though every baseball team has them this time of year (or all the time, for that matter) because it's the Mets the number of injuries is magnified by the media. I can understand Terry Collin's frustration because, going back to what Kiner said, maybe these injuries are being babied a little bit. They are probably being extra-cautious for normal spring training aches and pains. And I have to say I agree with Keith when he says they are probably due to overdoing it in the off-season. Players used to actually take the off-season off from staying in shape, and use spring training to get into game-shape. But now, these athletes are in game-shape all year round, and that might be leading to more of these strains.
• Great double-play turned in the fourth by Josh Satin at 3rd and Ike Davis at 1st.
• Josh Satin has a big swing, but it's a nice one. It will be interesting to see how he does when he and his huge eyebrows inevitably gets some big league time.
• Lucas Duda has a great swing, and I am sad the Grand Slam against the Tigers the other day was not televised. But I'm sure I'll have plenty of chances to see him hit another one. Duda.
• Lucas Mayhem can certainly hit, he's just gotta clean it up behind the plate a little bit.
• Garrett Olson (lefty getting a chance because of the Byrdak injury) has a great beard. In fact, his beard is better than his control (ZING!!!) (no internet link of his current beard, and his beard was weak pre-Metropolitan)
• Glad I finally got to see Ramon Ramirez. His stuff is nasty. Great zip. Great movement, Got two quick outs before the Cards hit him around a little bit, but I am a big fan of the pick-up. Should prove a good one.
• Den Dekker can really run it down in center field. He's going to be a star if his bat comes around.
• Fantastic diving catch by Juan Lagares for the 3rd out in the 8th inning