Odds and Ends

Mended Fences Historically, the Mets have never been a team whose offense leaned heavily on the home run ball. Within the last couple years however the big fly has become so rare that an ignorant observer of Mets games might be left to wondering if hitting a ball out of the field of play had been made illegal. In an effort to help Citifield shed it’s reputation of being a place where four baggers go to die, the team decided to move the fences in and simultaneously make the original high walls less daunting. Although the old schooler in me still views this as a wimpy move, the early returns are positive. Of the 6 HR’s the Mets have smacked at home this season, 4 of them would not been with the old configuration. Since the loss of Jose Reyes has denied us the excitement of the triple, here’s hoping the resurgence of the homer can fill the drama gap. Since the 2011 Mets were also last in home runs on the road it’s important to note that the boys have shown some power in hostile territories as well with 8 bombs. When Jason “Mr. Invisible” Bay has 3, you won’t hear me complain. Santana Rising Like Carlos when he put out with that song with Rob Thomas on it, the comeback of Johan Santanta is in full swing. All right, yes he got shelled last time he toed the rubber, but to echo my words in the season preview, when you haven’t pitched in a year and a half there will be ugly moment. The good news is, those moments are a lot easier to weather when the two previous starts were so pretty. In his first two starts in 2012 Johan Santana posted a combined 10 IP surrendering 1 ER with 13 K’s to go along. While the ace has 0 wins to show for his effort and he is a long way from returning to Cy Young discussion, Johan’s arm hasn’t forgotten how to make him money and as long it holds up, the W’s will come. Give and Take (Pitches) When a movie about the “Moneyball” revolution nearly wins best picture, you know on base percentage is important. Thus far the Mets have occupied those little white squares like hipsters on Wall Street. The team has posted a OBP mark of .331. Most importantly, Mets hitters have been taking a ton of pitches. Though I can’t prove it with statistics (read, I don’t have the energy to find them), it seems like every AB for the Mutts seems to be at least half a dozen pitches. It goes without saying that higher pitch counts lead to better pitches to hit, walks, and higher pitch counts on opposing starters. Even if an opposing pitcher appears dominant, taking pitches could get them of there by the 6th. The problem thus far is that our home town hitters have been mediocre in turning those base runners into runs, but the law of averages dictates we’ll bring em around eventually. A secondary problem has been that our starters have also thrown a ton of pitches. The given that the Mets are one of those clubs so staunchly committed to a 100 pitch limit it means the bullpen has been throwing 3 or 4 innings every day. Regardless of talent, no pen can throw that much. An exhausted bullpen is no recipe for an Oscar winning season. Familiarity Breeds Contention Of the 13 games played this season, 12 have been against our NL East division mates. While the record hasn’t been anything legendary, our performance shows that we can compete with these teams as they stand. Like the season at large there are a ton of division games left, but the competitive start helps both literally and psychologically. Had we dug a deep whole two weeks in the urge to give up for fans and team may have won out by well…May. The division may not be great. The Mets may not be great, but we don’t suck…for now