Game #61 (33-28) - Robert Allan is on Fire

I didn't get to watch last night's game in full, so just a couple of notes from the boxscore, as the Mets got a rare road win, albeit against the worst team in baseball.

• Another successful start for R.A. Dickey, his fourth straight start with a W.  Once again he posted an above average strand rate, which continues to be the key to his success.   After last night, Dickey's strand rate of 82.9% is 7th in the major leagues (interestingly, Pelfrey is 8th with 82.4%); only one player finished with a higher rate in 2009 over the full season.  Look for Dickey's ERA to get closer to his 3.91 xFIP in the next month.
• David Wright showed that perhaps his struggles in Thursday's doubleheader were an aberration, going 3-4 with 2 RBI.  Wright is now hitting .462 in his last 12 games.  While most of that damage has been done against lefties, he has shown flashes of his former competence against righties.  I'm not getting my hopes up just yet, but if Wright can make some adjustments there, this team might be able to make some noise in the NL East.
• Congrats to Chris Carter on his first major league home run.  Carter's power numbers have always been borderline elite at the minor league level, and while I personally don't think he has potential to be a well rounded hitter, it would be great if he could add some pop to the tune of a homer ever 20 AB's or so.  His pitch selection leaves something to be desired, as you can read more about here, in a great piece from Amazin' Avenue.
• Jason Bay went for another 0-fer yesterday and he's now 1 for his last 21.  Bay's OPS still sits at a measly .780, and he looks on track to repeat his miserable 2007 performance with the Pirates, although he hasn't been as bad as that quite yet.  His 2007 WAR was an ugly -0.7, while this year he's managed a 1.0.  Were his WAR converted to dollars for free agency, Bay would be worth around $3.6M - quite a far cry from his actual salary, and an even bigger differential from his $22.6M value from last year.  Did somebody say Jeromy Burnitz?
• To give you an idea of just how bad the Orioles are, they are currently on pace to finish the season 45-117.  The only times this century a team lost 117 games or more were the 1916 Philadelphia A's, who managed the feat in 154 games, and the 2003 Tigers, who finished 43-119.  Too bad there's no Strasburg or Bryce Harper in the 2011 draft.

The Mets will look to win their 7th game in the last 8 tonight in Baltimore, with Hisanori Takahashi taking the hill against 23 year old Orioles lefty Brian Matuz.  If the Mets find a way to lose this one, trust me, I'll have a lot more reasons tomorrow about why being a met fan sucks.

Game #56 (29-27) - Who is the Real Jon Niese?

The Mets won their NL leading 21st home game yesterday, and it was one of those rare days where it felt good to be a Met fan.  They looked great in all aspects of the game, and played well for all nine frames; in all, it was one of the stronger performances of the year.  Jon Niese gave 7 strong innings in his first start back after 3 weeks on the shelf, but to look at things pessimistically, it's become maddening to try and figure out exactly what the Mets have in Niese.  This was the 4th of his 9 starts this year in which he's pitched well, and probably right up there with his April 30th start at Philly for his best of the year.    It was similar in 2009, where 2 of his 4 starts were good, and the others were on the other end of the performance spectrum.  On the good side, Niese is only 23 with only 17 MLB starts under his belt, but he has yet to find any kind of consistent groove at the top level, and so for now he's still another question mark in the rotation.   We'll get a little bit more information on Niese when he makes his next start against Baltimore this weekend; he should perform well against the worst team in baseball, and if he doesn't it will only make the Niese question more maddening

Lots of positives yesterday, and I hate  to focus on them, but it was REALLY nice to see that kind of production from Davis and Wright in the middle of the lineup.  If they can find any sort of groove, the Mets could be on their way to a really nice little run, especially with another home series up next with the Padres, and then trips to see the two worst teams in the AL (Baltimore and Cleveland) before the rematch with the Yankees at the Stadium starting June 18th.   On top of Niese's effort, the Mets got extremely efficient work from Mejia and Nieve, only needing 19 pitches to get the final 6 outs, with only 1 hit.

I'd also like to make a quick note about a terrible column I read from Larry Brooks today in the NY Post.  The column advocates a trade for Cliff Lee, which I agree is a great idea.  What makes Brooks' column lazy journalism is at no point does he mention how the Mets should pull off said trade, what teams they'd have to compete with (and how the farm systems would match up), or Lee's financial situation for the remainder of the year.  Sportswriters so often criticize bloggers for being "lazy", meanwhile to read a professional piece like Brooks' that is so poorly fleshed out makes me wonder if we've reached a point where the amateurs have truly surpassed the pros.  Food for thought.

The Mets go for the sweep today at 1:10 PM with Takahashi-san trying to rebound from his poor outing Monday in San Diego against Ricky Nolasco.  Nolasco has made more starts against the Mets than any other team, going 4-6 with a 5.62 ERA and 1.46 in 15 career starts.  He is right-handed though, so when Wright goes 0-4 with 3K's against him, it'll be a nice reminder of why being a Met fan sucks.

Game #55 (28-27) - Home is where the heart is

Just a few quick notes on last night's game, cause it actually wasn't terrible and I don't have a ton to complain about after finally breaking a 6 game losing streak against the Marlins.

• How ridiculous is it that R.A. Dickey is the Met's #3 starter this year?  Unfortunately, I'm in the camp of waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Dickey has never posted an ERA under 5 in a season in which he made multiple starts, so it's tough to see him maintaining a sub-4.00 this year.  The biggest reason for Dickey's success has been his 81.9% strand rate, a whopping deviation from his career rate of 70.4%.  If he's unable to maintain his strand rate, which is likely, he'll return to the mediocrity that has defined his career to this point.  That's going to be bad news for this Mets team.
• The home/road split drives me crazy, and I really wish I had any idea why it happens.  It's tough to decide which team is the real Mets, but it would be great if they'd stop teasing us by playing like the best team in the NL when they play at home, and then the worst as soon as they leave Queens.  Just pick one and go with it!
• Jason Bay continues to swing a hot bat, the only problem is that it's got an Ichiro amount of pop in it.    His ISO is a career low .152, and his HR/FB% of 4.5 is the lowest of his career by a WIDE margin. Hopefully he can return at least to his 2007 rate of 11.4%, which was the lowest of his career in a season in which he managed only 21 HR.  His .299 average is propped up by an unsustainable .387 BABIP, but I'd happily trade some of that average for getting some power out of the 3 hole, especially with Ike and Wright continuing to struggle.  Bay is OPS'ing at a 1.034 clip at Citi, and .624 away with it - that goes a lot towards explaining the overall team home/road split. doesn't it?
• At this point, I'll take any save from K-Rod I can get, but I cannot remember the last time he closed a game with a 1-2-3 inning.  Watching him is just brutal, isn't it?
• One last thing - am I the only one who feels like it's a minor victory in any game when Wright doesn't strike out?  It gives me hope that the switch is turning on - of course until the next game when he goes 0-4 with 4 K's.

The Mets go for yet another home W today at 4:10 with Niese returning to the mound against lefty Nate Robertson.  Let's hope the success against lefties the Mets had in San Diego isn't blown by the bullpen like it was on Wednesday.  If it happens again, you can understand why being a Met fan sucks.

Game #54 - Back to .500

I'm having trouble finding the words for tonight's game.  So much inside the game tonight that affirms everything that is wrong with this team.  A few quick notes, Cerrone-style.

• I have trouble remembering a player undergo a regression on par with David Wright.  In Wright's second full season, 2006, he hit .321 against righties.  It wasn't just an Ichiro .321 either - he accompanied that with a .929 OPS.  After tonight, he sits at .221 this year against righties, and the OPS hovers right around .700.  He's struck out a whopping 41 percent of the time against righties.  He looks completely helpless against them - and it's not just a small sample size.  His OPS is down for the 4th year in a row against righties, and what's worse is that he's not striking out on good pitches - he's constantly chasing balls out of the zone against righties, and any breaking stuff that ends up in the dirt with two strikes is a SUREFIRE way to strike him out.  At this point, he's a rally killer against righties rather than a weapon.  Truly sad.
• Jerry continues to boggle my mind.  What the hell is Valdes doing in the game in the 11th inning??? The guy couldn't even get a single out two nights ago, and is CLEARLY off in his mechanics, or injured.  It was clear from his first batter tonight that he was still a mess, and yet Jerry left him out there to lose the game.  Wonderful.  At least he recorded an out this time (albeit on a sac bunt), bringing his ERA down to 216.00 for the series.  Sweet.
• How long until Johan demands a trade?  I feel bad for the guy.  Here was a player clearly on the road to a Hall of Fame career and he's been completely derailed from that by coming to the Mets.  Had he been traded to the Yankees or the Red Sox, he'd probably have an additional 15 wins in the past 2 years and 2 months.  Sucks for him I guess.
• Heath Bell really must love giving the giant middle finger to the Mets, huh?  At least Omar got Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins for him.  Seems like a solid deal.  
• I like Ike as much as the next guy, but it's REALLY sad that this is the Mets cleanup hitter.  He's hitting .225 over his last 31 games and while he's done a decent job getting on base at around a .350 clip, he's just not a strong enough hitter at this stage in his career to be locked in at the 4 hole.

It's really sad that the Mets can get blown out in one game against a team as offensively inept as the Padres, and then 2 nights later lose a pitching duel to the same team.  

I'm looking forward to getting some sleep, so I can wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and say "FUCK, being a Met fan sucks."