Tag Archives: mets

Who to root for in the 2010 World Series

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I’ve been asked to weigh in on who to root for in the 2010 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers. Let’s handle this scientifically:

Pro-Rangers: They beat the Yankees. Their manager is Ron Washington, the former infield coach for the Oakland A’s, who is credited by Eric Chavez for turning him into a multiple Gold Glove winning third baseman.

Pro-Giants: They beat the Phillies.

Anti-Rangers: They were previously owned by George W. Bush, who used his father’s political influence to acquire the land and public financing to build the Ballpark in Arlington, artificially inflating the value of the franchise before sale to Tom Hicks. He parlayed this into successful runs for statewide and national office. The Texas roster also includes the likes of Jeff Francoeur, whose horrible play captivated the New York media during his time with the Mets over 2009-2010.

Anti-Giants: Their fans are among the biggest bandwagoneers I have ever observed. During Game Six of the NLCS against the Phillies, I was at Trader Joe’s. More than half of the other shoppers were wearing Giants gear, displaying the dedication to their team that could only be interrupted by the need to buy Mandarin Orange Chicken and Pesto and Sundried Tomato Torta. They are too drunk on Two Buck Chuck to notice that their precious Pablo “Panda” Sandoval has added hitting to baserunning and fielding as things that he’s not good at on a baseball field.

Conclusion: There’s only one winner during this year’s World Series, the New York Mets and their fans. The hiring of Sandy Alderson as new GM signals a commitment to reform the organization from the the front office, through the major league roster, and down to the farm system, where the championships of the future are won and lost. So Giants and Rangers, enjoy your time on the stage while it lasts, because flukes like you come and go, but the impending dominance of the New York National League Club is coming.

Opening Day: the inner inner dialogue of a Mets fan

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Opening Day! After a long, cold winter, it’s finally here! Instead of following trade rumors and free agent negotiations and news stories about guys in “the best shape of his life” we have actual games to look forward to. And for Mets fans it’s going to be so sweet. We got kicked around last year, but it’s a new year and everybody is tied for first! Hey, we even won our first game of the season. 1-0! We’re on our way back to the top of the National League! That Johan Santana pitched great today!

Yes, Santana will be good, but do you know who starts on Wednesday? John Maine, who missed half of last season with injury, and when he did pitch, he alternated between competent and awful. He’s followed up by Ollie Perez, who also missed half of last season with injury. That was the productive part of his season. Jonathon Niese has eight starts in his major league career and will probably be the team’s second best pitcher.

Oh, but don’t forget Mike Pelfrey! He was a first round draft pick and is a real up-and-comer! He’s a ground ball machine!

Exactly, he’s a ground ball machine. Unfortunately, there’s nobody in the infield to pick up those ground balls. With Mike Jacobs, Luis Castillo, and Alex Cora forming 3/4 of the infield, those ground balls aren’t going to be outs. They’re going to be singles. Get ready for runners on first-and-third all the time, and innings that last 45 minutes.

That’s ok because Casillo and Cora are character guys. They’ll make up for it in the clubhouse! And Jacobs has 30+ home run potential!

Honestly, I would prefer it if Castillo and Cora would stab somebody in the neck. Then at least they’d have to be good at baseball to stick with the team. Jacobs was also released by the Royals. The worst team in the majors, both on and off the field decided that Mike Jacobs was not good enough to be on their team. He was the opening day starter at first base for the New York Mets.

But the Mets have so many stars: David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Jason Bay, Johan Santana, Frankie Rodriguez!

This is the most depressing part. Wright is brilliant, and Santana is a joy to watch, although he probably isn’t the-best-pitcher-on-the-planet(TM) anymore. Don’t let the nay-sayers fool you, Reyes and Beltran are among the best players in baseball when healthy. Jason Bay is a great hitter as well. Despite having a core group of guys that few teams can match, some interesting young players, the third highest payroll in the majors, the largest TV market in the US, and a brand new ballpark, the Mets are so poorly run that they will be a .500 baseball team struggling for third place. Even with all of those stars, the rest of the team is so bad that they will be dragged down into mediocrity. And not only will they be mediocre, they will be mediocre in the worst possible way, alienating their best players, disrupting the development of their few promising prospects, and generally acting like they have everything under control and if they can just patch this hole and that hole, they will be back in the playoffs.

Hmmm. That’s quite a downer. What is a Mets fan supposed to do then?

Savor every game that Santana pitches and every time Wright is at bat. Pray that Reyes and Beltran come back healthy. And hope beyond hope that Minaya and company are fired before they can do any more permanent damage.