My First #FireTerry of the Year

This is where I enter those easily flipable, fickle feelings regarding our favorite baseball team. There are probably so many other factors at hand that have led us to 20-14 record after a 13-3 start, but as far as I'm concerned, Terry Collins and his poor in-game managing is magnified even more so in this supposed hopeful new era. I don't care about the injuries, I don't care about any of that. No matter the level of talent, this man has never, in any of his years here, put the Mets in the best position to succeed. And he's only gotten worse, as far as I'm concerned.

MANDATORY CREDIT: Jake Roth, USA TODAY sports

I didn't get a chance to watch the whole game, but it did dawn on me by the 4th that the game may be on Wednesday Night Baseball on my ESPN app, and it was. So, "Thankfully" I was able to see everything fall apart at the end while helping customers claim the Two Boots slices they wanted. I immediately turned the app off before the bootleg announcers could tell me what I saw.

I will say this: 15 seconds later, the Rangers won 2-1 in overtime of the 7th game against a team I hate exclusively because they have the word "Washington" somewhere there. The Rangers provided an example of a payoff after having your backs against the wall. Honestly, and this, I guess, is just how I feel about baseball and the Mets, there's always some kind of payoff every year, whether or not you think THE payoff is the only thing that matters.

The Mets backs are not yet against the wall...

But it does feel they're slowly walking backwards towards the Grand Canyon...

Can we have some Major League Wallyball already? And don't give me that "Wally's not Sandy's type of guy," stuff. I don't believe it. And neither do some other people.

I hope that percentage has eroded some more, Sandy...

#FireTerry

LET'S. GO. METS.

Julian's Met of the Week - Backman

Oh...Halloween?

It seems as if we all understood Halloween would probably be a little muted this year. But I didn't think we would all FORGET about it. I am certainly in the group of the latter. Even before I knew about the storm sometime last week, I found myself shaving off an itchy few week beard, a sign I had completely forgotten about All Hallows Eve. I thought I had started an annual Facial Hair Halloween for myself the past 2 years, having gone as a dude with a mustache for my inaugural campaign*, and then as a Gentleman last year, as seen on your right. I kept the first one for some time into November of 2010, but I kept the Mutton Chop all of November 2011.

The second I started shaving, I suddenly realized this year's facial hair campaign would be halted before it began. Alas, I must have had some kind of intuition about this year, my subconscious figuring Halloween would be somewhat subdued. Normally, the NoHo area off the Halloween parade route of 6th Ave, south of Washingston Square Park, is like walking through a Gotham Imaginationland. Is there even gonna be a parade? 

I'm sure, throughout the city, an Imaginationland will take shape, even with everything going on. 

This is, indeed, New York.

Maybe I'll go get the Luigi hat and 'Stache I saw together at a Halloween Shop when I took my lil sis to get a costume. I don't know...I think Big Bad Baseball Gypsy is gonna fetch it for me on his way over. I told him to go to the Halloween Shop and find the costume that I want. I didn't tell him what costume, but told him he would know EXACTLY what costume I was talking about when he arrived. 

"Middle Aisle. You'll know."

Regardless, it won't be the same as the real thing. Can't even count it as the 2nd and a Half Annual Facial Hair Halloween. I had been thinkin' about goin' with the Tim Byrdak, not necessarily GOING as the Byrd, but using the Horseshoe as a base.

We'll see what I'm feelin' October 31, 2013.

(After an Orange and Blue Autumn settles over New York.)

Here's the Goulish Song of the Day.

LET'S. GO. METS.

*October 31, 2010: It's like I was WB Mason trapped in some crazy time portal. Some people asked me if I was Wally Backman 'cause I was wearing a Brooklyn Cyclones Shirt. Ironically, I wore that shirt today, sans 'stache.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.

Channel it, Mets.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.

Recap of Yesterday's Mets Stuff and the 2011 Photo of the Day "Bonus Round": New. York. City.

“Today (Jose Reyes) came up right handed. That told me something. It told me he is either not as comfortable from the left side (against the knuckleball), or that’s just the side he feels stronger from. That tells me something – that gives me information I need.” --RA Dickey

Jose Reyes faced his former team for the first time yesterday, and while he did not swing through the knuckeball, he did ground it weakly to RA in his only plate appearance of the day (because of rain.) It will be interesting to see if batting from the right side against the righty knuckler was just an experiment, or if he recognizes early on that he will be more successful against the knuckle from that angle. Regardless, I look forward to Dickey making Reyes look silly swinging through that 76 mph knuckleball of his.

The Mets lost to the Marlins by a score of 3-1 yesterday. Jason Bay and Ike Davis both swung the bat well, but an Adam Loewen error in left field led to two runs scoring. It is clear that Adam can swing the bat well for a pitcher converted to an outfielder, but he has a lot of work to do before being compared defensively to Rick Ankiel. His body-type says that he most likely won't be Ankiel with the glove, but use two hands, Adam. Use two hands.

The Mets also made their first cuts, and nobody was surprised to see Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia reassigned to minor league camp. They both are very close, but as I've said before, they need a little Wallyball before they make it to The Show.

The Mets will take on the Tigers at the Domain today on SNY at 1pm.

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I love New York City. I love the many pockets. I love discovering new pockets. I love the food. I love the people. I love looking down streets like Downtown Broadway and feeling as if you're in the Grand Canyon of Steel and Concrete.

I love baseball. I love the Mets.

And I love the view you get of the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn, Queens, and the Citi Field upper deck smoking section.

New. York. City.

Lets. Go. Mets.

The Southpaw Chronicles Pt. 2

The weekend in terms of Mets stuff got away from me, and this is the first chance I have had to write about Johan’s second outing. I thought about skipping the game (since life can sometimes get in the way of capturing every waking moment of the evolution of the 2012 New York Mets) but the fact it was a 2-4 Mets loss in 5-inning rain-shortened game, coupled with the Johan factor, left me no choice but to see the innings through. 

Was that enough of a run-on sentence for you?

It continues to be lovely to see Johan as jovial as he has been. He’s as bubbly and as bouncy as any player I’ve ever seen. He’s all business on the mound, however. Instead of working mostly on his fastball as he did his first game (which was still around 90), there began to emerge his repertoire of pitches, some which will get more screen time now that he has had his shoulder repaired. With Johan’s pitching acumen, I am beginning to envision as overtly effective of a pitcher post-surgery as there was pre-surgery. Check out this pitching sequence to right-handed batting Emilio Benefacio:

• 0-1  Fastball up and inside
• 1-1  Low inside fastball
• 1-2  84 mph slider down and low check-swing foul
• 2-2 High Fastball
• 2-2 Slider foul upstairs and in
• 2-3 78 mph change-up low and inside; swung on and missed

Even if he doesn’t improve the fastball speed, it still has enough bite to be a great set-up for his improved off-speed pitches. The change-up has slowed down as well, but that’s a good thing, since it needs to be around 8-12 mph less than the fastball. This kind of pitch sequence shows off Johan’s high pitching IQ. While I know the league hasn’t even come close to adjusting to the new Johan (which looks awfully similar to the old Johan), Johan will clearly have the intellect to adjust right back. Here's to his good health.

Some other takeaways from the short game:

• The boo birds are already out for Jason Bay.  In his first at-bat, we see the usual Jason Bay hustle lead to an infield hit. Then, when he strikes out the second time up, the boos rain down. Jason Bay is sucking not because of a lack of effort, and I appreciate seeing him run down the line every time. This is why I so desperately want to see him turn this thing around…besides it being an excellent thing for the Mets.
• Loewen’s got some good opposite field power, and I like how he stayed with Buerle’s outside breaking ball.
• Murph keeps putting his knee in the wrong place, as is evident on a pick-off play at 2^nd base. He’s gotta correct this otherwise his knees will keep getting taken out, taking him out for longer than any of us needs. He has such a great swing; A “Charlie Hustle” type swing.
• Schwinden has a good arsenal, but none of them have that much bite. He also fiddles with the ball a lot in his glove before pitching. Serviceable spot starter.
• Lagares, who crushed minor league pitching last year, had some serious pop in his bat, even though he grounded out to short.
• Rauch is very hittable right now. I like his arsenal, with a good slider and curveball, but he can’t seem to miss bats. He’s got an interesting tattoo on his neck, though.
• Thole is getting better at blocking the baseball
• Lucas Mayhem - #62
• Ruben Tejada’s got that focus in his eyes. I like this kid. His determination to succeed will be a fantastic thing to watch for Met fans.
• Nice exchange to end the game; Wally Backman, who was supposed to talk to the  booth during the 6^th inning: “Hey guys. See ya! (Takes his headphones off) Ron, I’ll see you at Duffy’s in a half hour.”

Orange and Blue Like it Aughta Be.

Our apartment has some semblance of a layout now, so by 6 pm last night, I was sitting on our couch cuing up some baseball. Extremely raw baseball, but baseball nonetheless.  The Mets game against the Nats clearly showed how much everyone needed to freshen up.

 

They lost to that team from DC by a score of 3-1. But who cares about that? Spring Training games are just competitive practice. Arguably more than any other time in the season, we as fans are dissecting every little play, every little situation, and dreaming of what it could mean for our 2012 New York Mets.

 

The game wasn’t the most enthralling game I’ve ever seen, but there were some nice takeaways. After Dillon Gee and his Goatee sat the Nats down in the first, the Mets came out aggressive and with some hustle, which was thrilling to see.  Andres Torres walked, and then briskly stole second with Daniel Murphy up. Murph then proceeded to single up the middle, and Torres sprinted home from second. The Mets had a run on the board before the 3^rd spot was up; a sequence I hope repeats itself many times this year.

 

Kirk Neuwenhuis (I refuse to look it up. Did I get that spelling right?), a gentleman we all hope can show star power up with the big team, made a great diving catch in center field. He later, however, called off Jordany Valdespin only to not use two hands to catch the ball. He might be ready sometime in June, but for now, he definitely needs to play a little Wallyball.

 

Matt Harvey, somebody else who needs some more Wallyball seasoning, got them pretty easily in the first, throwing mostly fastballs. In the second, he got into a little jam (he walked 3 of the 8 batters he faced in the 2-innings.) With some good defense behind him he was able to get out of the jam. He showed us his curveball this night, and, man, that 12-6 drop is beautiful. He ain’t far off, and we should all look forward to his major league debut.

 

There’s some other things that were nice. Mike Baxter looked good in left field throwing out a runner trying to stretch a hit into a double. He also had a nice opposite field single. His main competition, Adam Loewen, has an excellent spring training beard but did not look pretty on a striking out.  The SNY truck messed up a pitching count before quickly catching up, and sometimes you forget it’s spring training for them, too.

 

Also, Frank Francisco reminded me of Armando Benitez on the mound. Let’s hope he comes through in big spots much more often than Benitez did.

 

Some Nats shortstop farmhand made a sick play up the middle to take a clear single away against some Mets farmhand.  It was sick.

And Daniel Murphy looked good turning two.

 

And it’s nice to see that sweet Ike swing back.

 

So, I look forward to more games as we watch this team take shape. There are two games today, one which we can view. Johan Santana makes his spring debut and we all hope it goes swimmingly. Here’s to getting off at work to watch it on the DVR.

 

And here’s to having the play at first back.

 

And the snag up the middle.

 

And the outfielder running a long drive down.

 

And a swing and a miss.

 

And the hustle down the line.

 

And the 12-6 curve.

 

And, today, the knuckleball.

 

Here’s to having baseball on every day for the next 8 months.

 

Here’s to having baseball back.