Mets Daily Thoughts

The Mecca?   Yes, I remember when Bob Backlund lost the WWF Title to the Iron Shiek at Madison Square Garden and Hulk Hogan defeated the Iron Shiek one month later to propel his long-lasting career in sports entertainment.  If anyone made that place a Mecca it was Vince McMahon's father with his monthly wrestling cards.  LOL. 

I just want to say that I hope that once healthy, Angel Pagan finds his stroke and his place in the starting line-up.  Let's not forget that Jose Reyes was injured for most of the season last year and Pagan stepped into the spark-plug role admirably.   He hit, stole, walked, and scored as well as any other Mets player last season and I sincerely hope that he is not kicked to the curb.   What's this Team going to look like if both Reyes and Pagan are running on all cylinders at the same time?   

Shea this team would look like we thought in preseason, awesome, with questions about pitching. I am completely sure that Pagan will not lose his job upon returning unless he is gone for quite some time. While he was not off to a fast start he must be given a chance once he returns.

Going for 5 and the return of Young!!

All righty Mets fans we got our 5 in a row!! Not sure if Young was just getting tired quickly but his stuff sure didn't do a fade. It was more like the dropping of a lead balloon. With his return from the DL and the way he pitched the first four innings I am willing to give him the benefit of doubt.
Dickey goes tonight and while these are teams we should be beating I like the way we are playing. Lets keep it going.

It is funny how listening to the locals how we are now in playoff contention. Far from it. The Mets have already started calling teams to see who wants to dance with them before the trade deadline and while there are no takers as of yet, it is interesting that maybe the Mets front office does not see anything in the team they have now and are planning for the future.

All hail my new avatar, Ike Davis!  Man do you like this kid or what?!  The more Mets games I watch, the more I can't get enough Ike!  He is the complete package. I believe and I sure hope he is our first baseman for the next 15 years.  The thing that impresses me the most about him is that he will crush a mistake, but he will also put good swings on pitchers pitches.  I believe that's the sign of a good pro. 

I can't believe the Wilpon's are in a 625 million dollar hole either, that's a darn shame.  Cleverly trying to sell 49% of the team to maintain controlling interest.  They should just straight up sell the team because, although I heard it's far from certain, they will be crushed if they lose this lawsuit.  Like many buisnessmen before you, you hooked up with the wrong guy and it's costing you the ultimate price. 

5 in a row feels good, especially because there's no hiding my fanhood with my obnoxious Mets decal on the back of my SUV.  Before this little turnaround I had been thinking that if I were a single guy I might use it to try to get some pity dates.  Could have worked.  Go Mets!

I believe and I sure hope he is our first baseman for the next 15 years.-NAVY


Not only does Ike Davis hit he makes the infield better with his glove.  There is future 'Gold' in that glove.  15 years and an on field retirement party would be great.  I am not worried about the Wilpons coming out of this, the only concern is how long this A-hole Picard can tie them up while he is trying to extend his 15 minutes of fame.  Picard has a greater chance of being Bernie Madoff's cellmate than winning his fraudulent claims.

Did it again, should have substituted rectum opening. 

Nice comeback win from the Mets tonight. They're starting to prove they can beat on the lesser teams like decent teams are supposed to. It's a good start to moving in the right direction and getting back on track mentally from the lack of comebacks and all the losses they took to poor teams in the past 3 years.  I want to see the Mets tested against the good teams now though to see where we really stand at this point.

Game of the year for me! I mean, we've been involved in plenty of exciting games thus far this season, but we actually won this one (in dramatic fashion). That's what the good teams do (never give up, play hard til the final out). And more and more, during this win streak, we're beginning to look and play like a good team.      Keep it up,  like Murph said, "lets try and make it 7 tomorrow".   LETS GO Mets!!!

Ike Davis is gonna compete for a batting title one of these years, I truly believe he has a chance to do that.  Once he gets a little more recognition outside of NY he'll be an all-star too.

I loved the game last night, but they played those last two innings angry.  Not necessarily a bad thing.  That fire and emotion has been missing for a while.  It happened because of something I have to bring up:  HOW THE HELL DOES THE UMP BLOW THAT CALL ON JOSE'S TRIPLE IN THE EIGHTH!?  I thought Reyes was going to attack him seriously.  Not that the umpire wouldn't have deserved it.  It goes to show that sometimes I believe umpires, in their human nature, love to make game changing calls.  That could have cost us the game and I was livid.  Great comeback though.  Go Mets!

Thats game was by far the best of the season...the fire in the Mets those last 2 innings was awesome!

Reyes is back baby!!!

How fun was that game last night??? For all the crap we go through as Mets fans, it's a comeback like yesterday that reminds you why we bleed blue and orange. Can we make it 7 straight tonight???

PS, Murphy BETTER be playing every day at second base, period. Yes he has some defensive mental lapses, but let the guy learn the position, especially while he is raking at the plate!

Mets made a mistake recently by putting Dillon Gee in the pen. Capuano or Young should be in the pen before Gee.

Sorry BoltThrower, I just can't agree with that assessment.  Davis was definitely outHYPED by Heyward, but not necessarily outplayed by him.  Heyward deserves the hype--he's a great player, but from a production standpoint at least, they didn't differ much.  Remember also that Heyward was surrounded by a basically healthy Braves team (minus Larry) for most of the year.

Heyward got the press for two reasons:  1)  he was a top prospect for a few years where Davis wasn't, and 2)  he produced in April and May, and people had the early start in their minds all year.

Davis:  523 AB, 19-71-.264
Heyward:  520 AB, 18-72-.277

Now granted, you can argue that Heyward had a little more speed and better plate discipline--which is true.  Overall he was a better player.  However, he wasn't light years ahead of Ike. 

So far this year Ike has the slight edge:

Davis:  73 AB, 4-17-.301
Heyward:  71 AB, 4-8-.225

Of course it's ridiculously early, and Heyward does have he plate discipline again, with an amazing 12 Ks and 13 BB for a power hitter.

It's also a fact that Heyward got only 2 votes to Heyward's 107...but that doesn't tell the real story.  The voting has nothing to do with real performance and definitely little to do with future success.  It's early still, but Davis and Heyward both look to be productive players for a long time.

Thomasam,

I HOPE Ike Davis is the "real deal." I want him to finish 30-100 or better; I'm far from rooting against him. I hope he is a SOLUTION for the Mets. I think he and David Wright could be good "bookends" for the infield for years to come.

I just don't look at him as the real deal yet until he does it for 162.

Ike Davis, real deal? Sorry, but he was good, not great, his rookie year, easily outplayed by Jason Heyward for ROY consideration. 

Bolt, I agree with you...Davis needs to do it for a full season, but so does Heyward.  He had an incredible April and May and then disappeared power-wise for most of the rest of the season.  He had 10 HR and 38 RBIs through May and then had 8 HR and 34 RBIs for the rest of the year.

My point isn't that Davis is a sure thing, it's that it's not as if he's been only a fraction of the player Heyward has been.  The perception might be that he is, but the reality is that he's been just as good as Heyward so far in their very young careers.

Not sure why the quote box text is blue...not important, but kind of strange.

Josh Thole better pick up his performance, because if he doesn't and Paulino stays healthy, Thole's gonna end up riding the bench real soon.  Paulino went 5-7 in his Mets debut tonight including the game winning hit.  Paulino is just the spark the Mets needed right now, hope it lasts. He's always had a good work ethic but his health is probably the only thing to be worried about.

Alas, we stole one in extra innings.  By that time I was switching back & forth on the t.v. to watch the Osama Bin Laden coverage.   Finally.... Justice Was Served.  I vividly remember the 1st baseball game in NYC after the September 11th attack... one in which Mike Piazza's HR over the Braves gave the entire city a boost of happiness.   Bobby Cox later admitted that he didn't mind losing that game to us because he knew the Met victory was for the greater good.   Kudos to the Phillies fans for starting the deafening U-S-A, U-S-A, chants too. 

ATW - good observation about Ronny Paulino.  He was a welcomed addition and made an immediate impact in his 1st game for the Mets.  I'm glad they didn't get swept by the Phillies and we at least salvaged one win. 

Last night's game had me a lil' upset since they the Mets had so many scoring opportunities on Cliff Lee, but they just couldn't drive 'em home.  Too many ducks were left on the pond & then Ryan Howard singled off Tim Byrdak to tie the game at 1-1.  Mets should've had some cushion room by the time Howard stepped up to the plate in that position in the game.  

They really needed that win last night.  Really could've won the Saturday game--and should have--but hey one out of three down there is sort of what you expect.  This lineup is healthy and they're creating opportunities; now they just need to capitalize and string hits together more often.  They had Lee on the ropes all night long and just didn't follow through.  If they'd lost that would've made it just another frustrating game.  As it turns out it gave them a chance to stick in there and pull of a close one.  It's too bad Young didn't get a win he very much deserved.

Got to give credit to Beato and especially Buchholz, who really stepped up and pitched five shutout innings when they were needed most.  Buchholz especially just because he needed to show that he could be big in a situation like that.  After he hit in the top of the 14th it was ALL on him.  Just a great job overall by the pen.

I think I had an experience like most Met fans, switching between the news and the game and trying not to miss much of either.  The funny thing (to me) is the exchange with my girlfriend as I came back in from walking the dog at the exact moment the news came through:

Her:  "Bin Laden was killed"
Me:  "What?  I was only gone 15 minutes."

It was an amazing night.  I've lived in Hoboken since 1999 and was watching from the piers here--one of the darkest days ever.  They closed entrance and exit from the town because it was being used as a triage area among other things.  The town lost (if I remember correctly) 40 or so people, and the strangest thing was the way people came together afterward.  I think it impacted everyone across the nation, but here in the immediate NYC area the spirit of helping others lasted for awhile afterward.

To me at least that's what came through last night.  Yeah, it's a game between teams and fan bases that often "hate" each other...but it's sports hatred.  When the announcement was made baseball suddenly didn't feel that important for awhile, and everyone considered themselves Amercians before they considered themselves phillie or Met fans.  That's not a bad thing at all and in a way the real revenge--the fact that if anything coming together during this has made us that much stronger.

Special addition:

Mets 2, Phillies 1 (14 inn)

Mets leave a platoon on base but USA mops up.

4th Star: Pedro Beato - 3 solid inning of relief.

3rd Star: Chris Young - outdueled Cliff Lee for 7 innings (2 H 3 BB O R 7 K's)

2nd Star: Ronny Paulino - 5-7 in his first Mets start with the GW hit.

And the Ultimate Stars for the Day: US Navy SEAL Team Six 4, Usama bin Laden Null, and Void

SheaHey, Thomasam, & Bolt.... Very Nice posts.  I was deployed to Ground Zero on that day and slept out on the streets for three straight days.  No cell phone reception either for most of the duration so I didn't have too many opportunities to contact my Family.  We also had dry-mouth due to the immense amount of dust in the air from the rubble.  We were worried about secondary attacks, such as a car (or "stolen" ambulance) heading on down to take out first responders (Fire, Police, EMS).   It (a secondary attack) never came.... but what did come was a wave of human fortitude & spirit that I've never seen before.  We didn't have to worry about Looters, as the main thing on anyone's mind was to help one another.   Scores of people brought us bottles of water and cereal/granola bars.   Scores of people asked if they could help in some way or some form.   Scores of people brought us sheets and blankets to use while we caught some shut-eye.   Scores of people cheered & clapped for us as we came back on the Staten Island Ferry (all roads & bridges were shut down).... those same people waiting for a chance to see if their own loved one or family member was returning home.   It brought tears to my eyes then and last night's news invoked those same sentiments and memories. 

I drifted away from the Mets / Phillies game and thought about all, or the majority of families who received some satisfaction in knowing that we finally caught up to this guy.  I thought about the many children who lost their fathers or mothers that day.  I thought about the many parents that never had a chance to say good-bye to their child.   In the end.... Justice was served, but the damage inflicted upon innocent people by this terrorist group will last a lifetime for many.   I said a prayer for my fellow brothers and sisters lost on 9-11 in that they rest in eternal peace.  Something tells me that they are, along with many "cat eating the canary" grins on their faces.