Tagged: david wright
Reyes better than Wright? Not so fast…
Since Jose Reyes stepped onto the field April 1st, he has been unstoppable. He’s hitting .341 with a Major League leading 103 hits and 12 triples. Not to mention he’s stolen 25 bags as well. He has been slick at the shortstop position, as usual, and he has been collecting big hit after big hit.
Now David Wright, not so much. Before David was forced to go onto the Disabled List, he was batting .226 with 6 homers and only 18 RBI. Not to mention he was striking out just as much as before. Again, he hasn’t shown that he can return to his 2006 and 2007 form. Still, David Wright is a very good player.
Of course there’s Fred Wilpon, who doesn’t know when to shut his mouth and help his team. I could write all day about how Fred Wilpon needs to get out of the baseball scene and leave the Mets and their fans alone, but that’s for another time. According to Fred, David isn’t a superstar. Ah ha! That’s it! He knows everything about baseball. After all, he let the team give Oliver Perez have $36 million and my man Luis Castillo $6 million per. And, he’s been in the postseason 5, yes 5 times since 1980. Wow, he’s a baseball guy alright.
Maybe David Wright isn’t a superstar. He may not be a Ryan Braun, Albert Pujols, or Joe Mauer, be he is one hell of a good player, that’s for sure.
But I’m not ready to call David Wright better than Jose Reyes. Mets fans and baseball fans are riding the Jose band wagon, as I am guilty of as well. But, Jose Reyes has never hit above .300 in his career and hasn’t been this consistent.
I was reading an ESPN article by Ian O’Connor about how Jose Reyes was better than David Wright and how Wright needs to be traded away. I disagree. What will happen if David Wright gets traded away and the Mets keep Reyes, and Reyes gets hurt. And once the Mets trade Wright, he hits 35 with 120 a year and returns to his post concussion form? Mets fans will be up in arms and booing Jose and the franchise.
I have a solution: Keep both. Although David Wright may not be quite as good as before, but he is better than any other option.
Gee stays, Carrasco goes
The Mets won their fourth straight game today, sweeping the D-Backs and finishing this homestand with six wins and four losses. The Mets rebounded nicely from a near sweep at the hands of the Astros.
I’ve been impressed by the Mets’ home run totals lately at the stadium. David Wright hit two home runs today, and Ike Davis along with Bay hit homers yesterday. Ike had three bombs, and I mean bombs during the homestand. Ike proved once again he has sheer power and that he is now a force in the N.L. East along with Heyward, Utley, and Ryan Howard. On MetsBlog.com, the discussion was brought up about the dimsensions of the Mo’s Zone. It probably wouldn’t be a terrible idea, but I hate changing the stadium once it’s been open. And, I really don’t know why either. But, if they did have a shorter fence, Carlos would have had to homers today.
By the way, I love the name Gary Cohen gave the left field wall: The Great Wall of Flushing.
Dillon Gee pitched very well, yet again yesterday. He did allow four runs, but only two were earned and he was affected by a Daniel Murphy error and an Ike Davis dropped pop up in foul ground.
Sandy Alderson announced that the Mets have optioned D.J. Carrasco to AAA Buffalo in order to retain Gee. Chris Young is going to return Tuesday to pitch versus the Nats in Washington, D.C.
I will be sick if the Mets put Gee in the bullpen. There is too much changing of roles in today’s game. Just leave the guy where he has been effective and where he is comfortable. Why mess him up by switching him from a starter to a reliever, then back to a starter. If he can’t be in the rotation, send him to AAA and bring him up when a spot opens back up.
Another option could be to put Chris Capuano in the bullpen, where he has pitched before. That seems to be more logical, to me atleast. The only dilemma is that he pitched great last time out.
It’s a new team
The Mets put their new, revamped team to the test tonight versus the Phillies in Philadelphia. The Mets ended up taking it to the Phillies and their fans, running the score to seven to one, and knocking out Cole Hamels in the third inning.
Chris Young was good, really good tonight, completing 5.2 innings and allowing only one run. He did get into a little trouble with the bases loaded, but besides that I’m impressed. This is what the Mets wanted, and definitely needed. Not to mention, Young had three base knocks, tying a Mets record. He even had two hits in the same inning! You know your having a good day as a pitcher when you get three hits, and two of the three in one inning.
David Wright was locked in at the plate, collecting four hits with a double and two RBI. It had been nearly two years since David had four hits in one game. David’s only at bat without a hit was in the first, striking out with runners on second and third with no one out. But, heck, I would take this game anyday. This is a really good sign for Dave and Mets fans. It is obvious he has worked hard this winter on reducing his strikeouts and being more productive with two strikes. Although he did K in the first, it was on pitch that had late break outside.
The Mets will face Joe Blanton and the Phillies tomorrow with Mike Pelfrey pitching for the good guys.
Bye the way, Cole Hamels is now 2-9 versus the Mets in his career. Cole was 0-4 last year against us and he isn’t off to a good start this year.
The rivals
The Mets will be taking on their National League East foes tomorrow at Citizens Bank Park. Getting the ball for the Mets is going to be Chris Young, while Cole Hamels pitches for the Phils. Of course, the Mets will get to see the wonderful north east weather for the first time in seven weeks.
It will be interesting to see Chris Young pitch tomorrow. It’s probably too much to be asking for, but I expect Chris to be good. I mean, I really like him and think he was a really good, cheap pick up by Sandy Alderson. Just as long as he can remain healthy, he can be an effective pitcher. You would think that Chris would be k-ing guys all over the place because of his size, but he really doesn’t strike out many. The Mets need to solid defensively tomorrow.
The Mets had Cole Hamels’s number last year, as did many teams. Hamels didn’t pitch well versus anyone in particular, but I expect him to rebound. The Mets are pretty good versus lefties, especially David Wright.
The weather tomorrow looks as though the rain with halt around 6 p.m, perhaps only delaying the game. Sunny weather is expected the next few days, which is a plus, but it’s not Florida.
First win and today’s game
Yesterday
The Mets won their first game last night of the 2011 season at the Marlins’ Sun Life Stadium. The final score was 6-4 and the game lasted into the tenth inning.
Jon Niese was stellar yesterday, throwing 87 pitches over seven innings, and only allowing one hit after the 2nd inning. Jon had a blip on the radar in the first, but settled down nicely after. The Mets needed this from Niese, considering Pelf’s poor start Friday.
David Wright had three hits last night, including the go ahead RBI single in the tenth inning after the Marlin’s outfielder Cousins let a fly ball in foul territory drop. David also hit his first homer of the 2011 season, and the first for the Mets. He hit the Mets’ first homer last season as well.
Josh Thole had an RBI single to put the Mets ahead in the 9th last night, only to have Francisco Rodriguez give up a single to former Phillie Greg Dobbs to tie the game. The positive I can take from this is that Frankie’s appearence didn’t count as a game finished, which helps the Mets’ cause for preventing his 17.5 million dollar option to vest. Blaine Boyer ended the game, although giving up one run.
Beltran played all ten innings last night, and looked great in the field and hit well, too. It’s good to see him healthy.
Today
The Mets are going to take on the Marlins again, with R.A. Dickey on the mound. Pitching in the rubber game for Florida will be Javier Vazquez. The lineup will be…Reyes, Harris, Wright, Ike, Angel, Lucas Duda, Daniel Murphy, and Thole with R.A. batting ninth.
Following today’s game the Mets will travel to Philly.
Standings
Here are the early N.L. East standings.
Phillies 2-0 — GB
Mets 1-1 1.0 GB
Braves 1-1 1.0 GB
Marlins 1-1 1.0 GB
Nationals 1-1 1.0 GB
Mets lose opener
The Mets lost their first game of 2011 last night at Sun Life Stadium in Florida against the Marlins. The final score ended up being 6-2 with the Mets only collecting 4 hits.
To be honest, I was pissed last night at the team. They could only must four hits in the entire game and two runs. But, now that I slept on it, Josh Johnson was dominant last night, and that was expected by many. I was just disappointed that we looked so flat.
Pelfrey’s performence was the most gut-wrenching thing for me last night. He allowed 5 runs and four walks last night, and had little to no command of his fastball. Mike left his ball up on a few pitches but he was constantly down. Too down. He would either miss in the dirt or he would never changed the hitters eye level. I was really expecting Pelf to go out their and pitch well, his being so excited for this game. It was deflating for Mets fans.
Beltran played well, and ran well, which was great. I was really happy to see that. Willie Harris played well, and I’m impressed with him.
Terry Collins remained very positive last night, which makes the loss a little less hurtful. But, David Wright’s at bats last night really made me ********** and feel like we were still in 2010. He can’t catch up to the ball. He needs to drop all of the b.s. and get rid of the leg kick, as he did in 2006, 07, and 08.
The Mets and Jon Niese are going to be taking on the Marlins tonight at 7:10pm.
MLB Network’s Top 100 Players Right Now
As I am lying in my bed flipping through the channels, I came across the MLB Network’s Top 100 players right now program (which I forgot was on). I have a problem with this list that they came up with. For one, I was baffled that Ryan Zimmerman was ranked so far ahead of David Wright. Granted, David’s batting average was below his career average. But, he had 29 bombs and over 100 RBI. The only category that Ryan beat David in was BA. I know that they factor in the last three years, but, David has to be ahead or at least be closer to him.
Secondly, I noticed that Ichiro was ranked, I believe 27th. How is Ichiro ranked 27th!? He is one of the most consistent players in the game and you know you will get a batting average well above .300 and he will give you 200 hits. Ichiro is a top 10 player in my book. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t hit a lot of home runs or because he is a Mariner.
Also, they have Buster Posey ranked 16th. I love Buster. I think he will be one of the best catchers fo years to come and will be eventually known as one of the greatest of all time. But, he cannot be ranked that high. They factored in the last three seasons, so how does he qualify? Michael Stanton was ranked in the 70’s and he was a rookie. I think that he needs to prove himself more before he can be considered one of the greatest in the game. At this moment, he doesn’t compare to Joe Mauer.
Jeff, you’re the joke
Jeff Francoeur had this to say about Citi Field.
“Citi Field is a damn joke.” -Jeff Francoeur
You’re the damn joke, Frenchy. You didnt do anything to make me think otherwise while you were here. In fact, you were one of the worst hitting outfielders in the majors. And, most of the team was able to hit there, considering David hit 12 bombs in that very place.
Who’s the damn joke now Frenchy? You’re tucked away in Kauffman Stadium where no one will ever here from you again. Good bye and good riddens.
To see Ted Berg’s response, click here. It’s great.
Mets in Houston
The Mets won their first game in Houston versus the Astros Monday night, by a score 3-1. Jon Niese to-ed the hill for the Mets and was good yet again, allowing one run in seven innings and keeping the Astros at bay while runners were in scoring position.
The Mets’ offense looked a little better tonight. Beltran hit his second homer of the season, while also collecting another hit and making playing good defense in the outfield. I was at the game, and I really loved that he went deep, considering how badly he gets booed in Minute Maid. I still dont know why he keeps getting booed. I mean, didnt Astros fans realize thatt he was probably a rental player and that he hasnt been great in New York? They, for $19 million, should be happy they didnt sign him.
David Wright collected three singles, and made some great defensive plays, including a diving catch on the line to save an extra base hit.
Pedro Feliciano got the win tonight as he came in and got out of a bases loaded, two out jam. Although he allowed the runner on first to reach on a terrible error. Hisanori Takahashi came in and collected his first save, a 1-2-3 inning.
Just to mention, Jeff Francoeur had an RBI triple and was thrown out at home on a ball to first, buut he was clearly save at the plate. It was surprising thatt the home plate umpire made the error and not the second or third base umpires. Those two were Angel Hernandez and Joe West. Francoeur also just missed a three-run homer.
I had a great time at the game, and I advise anyone who is in the Houston area to go see a game. I was happy to get an autograph from the ‘animal’ Chris Carter and one from David Wright. Frenchy was also nice enough to throw me a baseball.
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In the paragraphs above, I mentioned that Hisanori Takahashi collected the save for the Mets. That was because the Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez will likely miss the rest of the season with a tron ligament in his finger.
He reportedly injured it when he punched his father-in-law at Citi Field. He was arrested and charged with third-degree assult.
The Mets are reportedly attempting to void K-Rod’s contract, I hope it happens.
Kudos to David Wright and Carlos Beltran tonight, great game guys.
Mets snake-bit again
The Mets fell to the Diamondbacks for the fourth consecutive time this evening, losing by a score of nine to six, pushing themselves back to one game over .500 and 7.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves.
David Wright had a breakout night against former Yankee great, Ian Kennedy. He went yard twice, collecting three RBI along the way. His first home run was a low and in changeup that David parked over the “great wall of flushing”, putting the score back to a tie. His second gave the team a short lead by one. That homer was a two-run bomb to dead center field, just left of the apple’s home. He also collected a base hit for a total of three hits.
Mike Pelfrey didn’t have it again tonight, giving up five runs in just over five innings pitched. He was better than he was last week in Arizona, but no by much. He just cant seem to be able to put the guys away he needs to. He hasn’t been pitching inside like he has needed to to be successful. He also seems to be taking more time in between pitches, possibly losing more focus.
Put it in the Books! 