Mostly Mets

Blogging mostly about the New York Mets since 2004.

About Baldwin

In the wake of the Mets horrific loss to the Diamondbacks by a score of 12-8 last night let me come out publicly and say that I still believe the Mets did the right thing by promoting James Baldwin instead of a younger pitcher to replace Tyler Yates on the big league roster. Baldwin got crushed last night allowing six runs on seven hits in two-plus innings including 2 home runs to Luis Gonzalez. In addition to the points I made yesterday it is also my belief that you cannot judge a player based on one game. If David Cone had been judged on his first appearance as a Met then he would never have had the chance to win 194 games in his career. (For those of you who don’t remember, Cone really stunk up the joint in his first few appearances in 1987 before settling down and winning 20 games in 1988.) If what I said yesterday is true (this is not a season in which management is trying to win but rather build for next year) then Baldwin’s performance is really irrelevant anyway. Hang in there with him for a few starts before calling for his head. His time is limited anyway.

Speaking of not judging people too early, did anyone notice that Ty Wigginton had 5 hits last night? I don’t believe you can call a slump over as a result of one game any more than I believe you can judge any player based on one game but it’s still nice to see. If he can get a few more hits in Arizona then we can call his slump over.

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The Diamondbacks

The Mets open a four game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks at the BOB (BankOne Ballpark). To make you feel better about the Mets situation, the Diamondbacks have lost are on a four game losing streak including being swept by the Phillies over the weekend and have lost 7 of their last 10.

For all those fans who are up in arms over Kaz Matsui not living up to his billing yet take a look at Diamondbacks leadoff hotter Matt Kata. He’s in the midst of a 1 for 19 slump.

Of course, the usual warnings apply: Beware of clubs on losing streak. They tend to break them against the Mets.

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My Take on Yates/Baldwin

Tyler Yates was demoted in favor of bringing in James Baldwin. Baldwin had been pitching well in the minors and Yates was struggling so the Mets made the switch and the veteran will replace the rookie in the rotation.

The Mets said it had nothing to do with Baldwin’s contract but I don’t buy that. I think it was a combination of Baldwin’s contract and Yates’ struggles. If they hadn’t promoted Baldwin they would have lost him(his contract expired last month and his extension was only 18 days long). So the Mets were forced to find a spot for him or lose him. Yates’ struggles gave them that opening. Not that they were looking to screw Yates but (in my opinion) the rookie clearly needed to take a step back before he could go forward.

Many fans have criticized the Mets for promoting Baldwin instead of bringing in a younger guy to take Yates’ spot in the rotation. I’m going to go against the grain and say Baldwin was the right move. Mets management is clearly not going with a win now approach. They are preparing for next year. That being the case there’s no reason to rush a kid up to the majors. There will be plenty of time for that in July and August. Let the kids get themselves into gear and work their way up. There’s no reason to push them. It’s the same philosophy that was used with Jose Reyes last year. For all those people looking for the young guys to come up I have one thing to say. Be patient.

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Mets Salvage Weekend

After a good streak last week the Mets dropped the first 2 games to the Brewers over the weekend. They managed to end the homestand with an 11 inning win yesterday. Steve Trachsel had a good start until the bullpen blew it. Kaz Matsui knocked in the winning run after not starting the game. I’m going to skip all the recap stuff that I normally write (because everyone else is saying it already).

I can’t think of anything to say right now but check back later Because I’ll probably post again today.

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Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all my maternal readers. And take it easy on Dad. He means well but he just can’t help it. (Thank me later, guys.)

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Spider-Base

By the way, for those who haven’t seen it yet, the Spider-Man 2 base ad is pictured below. One question: Did anyone at MLB really think a fan in the stands or a fan watching on TV would be able to see this ad well enough to know what it was for? At best they would be able to see that there was something on the base but they would not be able to see what it said so they would not know it was a Spider-Man ad (unless they were told, of course). I’m sure Bud Selig had this in mind when pulling the plug on the base ad but keeping the rest of the promotion intact. “Let’s give the fans a ‘concession’ on this crazy scheme we have to make a little more money by pulling out the most controversial but least recognizable ad in the promotion. They’ll still have the on deck circle to look at and will see trailers on video screens all day long.”

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Mets Win 2-1 in 11 (And Other Stuff)

The “Mets fans” were happy last night as Barry Bonds was in the lineup for the last game of the San Francisco Giants only visit to Shea Stadium last night. But it was the real Mets fans who got the last laugh as Mike Piazza’s walk off homer in the 11th inning gave the Mets a 2-1 victory. Karim Garcia homered earlier in the game for the Mets other run. It was the first time all year that the Mets were on the winning side of a 3 game sweep.

The New York Post had an article today about Bonds’s pre-game interview that made the star leftfielder look really bad. I’m unsure if the Post was trying to make Bonds look bad (or at least worse than he really is) or if it was a true and honest retelling of the future hall of famer’s decorum and language in his dealing with the press. I’d figure that it’s somewhere in the middle of those two choices. He’s probably a lot like that but the Post probably exaggerated because they get annoyed when Bonds refuses to talk to the press.

MLB has backed off it’s plans to put ads for the upcoming Spider-Man 2 movie on the bases for games played from June 11-13. Apparently fan backlash had something to do the change but I think it’s more than just that. (When was the last time the commissioners office responded so quickly to something the fans were upset about.) The movie logos will still be plastered on the on deck circles during the games and will be featured on home plate and the pitchers mound during pre-game warmups. I’m curious how the geniuses at MLB could think that the fans would go for this idea to begin with. Obviously the marketing and promotions people would love this idea. From their standpoint this would have been a coup and the people who came up with the idea would be due promotions. (I know that if I owned a company I would reward someone for thinking out of the box like that.) But don’t these things have to be approved by the higher ups and ultimately by the commissioners office? Is Bud Selig really that out of touch with the fans that he couldn’t see this was a bad idea from the start? Or is it that he was thinking as a greedy owner and not as a commissioner? I’d say the latter since that’s the way he normally does things.

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Yankees, Mets and the Rest Blog on Barry Bonds Not Playing At Shea

The Yankees, Mets and the Rest blog has a post that elaborates on my frustration about Mets fans being disappointed about not seeing Barry Bonds play at Shea.

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Last Night At Shea

The game started out with a good break. For the second straight night the Mets would not have to deal with Barry Bonds who was still bothered by a sinus infection. The good breaks continued as Mike Piazza hit his 352nd career home run as a catcher finally surpassing Carlton Fisk to take sole possession of first place on the all time list of home runs by a catcher. (Congratulations, Mike.) The game itself was exciting too.

Tied at 2 in the eighth (after a 1 hour 19 minute rain delay) the Mets faced a 2 out, one man on situation. They proved that they are much improved over the product they had on the field two weeks ago as they managed a two out rally that scored 6 runs and included homers by Shane Spencer and Mike Cameron en route to an 8-2 victory.

Jae Seo pitched well (not great) but had to leave the game in the fifth inning after he split a fingernail. That opened the door for Ricky Bottalico to make his Mets debut. Bottalico pitched 1 and 2/3 hitless innings and was followed by one hitless inning each from John Franco, David Weathers and Orber Moreno to close out the game.

Notes:

Art Howe was not sure how he would handle the injury to Seo. The options are to either skip his next scheduled start or to push him back a day or two. I imagine that the decision will be based on how he progresses the next 2 or 3 days.

Once again the fans have stumped me. Today’s NY Post has a story about how fans attending last nights game were upset that Bonds didn’t play. It doesn’t bother me that the fans were upset. Many of them paid premium prices for their tickets. What upsets me is that they all came just to see Bonds. Can these really be Mets fans? (Okay, the article cites a couple of Giants fans too.) This game had some great moments from the home team, including Piazza’s record breaking home run, and the fans were upset because they didn’t get to see Bonds? Grow up and be a real fan.

The Post also had a good Joel Sherman article about how history is judging Bonds. Sherman tries to be a little too poetic but his point is good.

The Yankees have said that they will offer limited participation in the big Spider-Man 2 promotion announced by MLB yesterday. They are refusing to put the Spider-Man logo on the bass during the game but will do so during batting practice and warm ups. The only in game promotion they will do is having the logo in the on deck circles. I’d like to congratulate the Yankees on taking a stand on this issue.

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The Bad Guys Won

I finally ordered The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman from amazon. I ordered it with a couple of different items I wanted/needed so I can get the free shipping. I’ll have some things to say about it when I’m reading it so watch this space.

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