213 Miles From Shea

What has been pretty consistent with this season, the Mets last week were both very good and very bad. They swept the Pirates in a four game set only to face the Braves and be swept by them. The Mets, with an elimination number of 1 in the Wild Card, look to rebound tonight as they take on the Marlins and their rookie starter Mendez.

Pelfrey is coming off of a strong start in his last outing. Pelfrey is actually 2-0 in his last two starts with 14.1 innings logged in with an ERA of 2.51. His one start against the Marlins was rough this season as he allowed 4 ER over 4.2 innings (and it seems the Marlins always give him some sort of problem). The fish have these numbers against him:

The Mets get their first crack at 28 year old rookie Mendez who is 1-1 in his two starts in the majors with a 1.74 ERA. His first start against the Phillies was very good as he picked up the win 6 innings of shutout ball. Eight days later he pitched against the Phillies again and allowed 4 runs, 2 earned in 4.1 innings of work. So he's had ups and downs against the same team.

Lets Go Mets!

One of the things I am concerned about for this upcoming off season is that the Mets will make changes, but the changes won't actually be changes, and it will just usher in another era of the same old same old in New York. Essentially, what I am nervous about is ownership playing up all of their changes, when in fact the changes are just who holds the titles, but the results will still be the same.

I was actually going to hold off writing this article until the end of the season, but with Torre's comments yesterday about how he is waiting for the phone to ring from the Mets office and would love to hear their offer, I feel compelled to write this article now. The following are crucial events to either in order to have actual change next season:

Those are the three main things the Mets need to do this offseason from an office standpoint to make sure changes will actually come to Queens by next season. If any of the above three don't happen, then there is a good chance that mid way through next season,.we will see the Mets acting like this year because the personality change via a personnel change did not occur.

There were a lot of skeptical looks at the New York Daily News last week when one of its writers came out in support for Mazzilli for Mets manager, a name that at that point of time was not being thrown around by anyone. I've been thinking about it for a week, and I think under certain conditions, that is exactly right. First a preliminary introduction of “canididates”, names that different people in or outside the organziation have thrown around, with a brief amount of information of what they bring to the table:

We can toss out a bunch of names on this list from the start. Bob Melvin, Joe Torre and Jerry all are wrong for this young team who need some passion from who ever is managing the team. That leaves Backman, Valentine and Mazzilli. The problem with Backman is we really don't know what we will get from him. He doesn't have the experience, and in this critical junction in Mets history, trial by fire is not the way to go. He could be very successful, but we need more time to see. He should manage at higher level or join the bench somewhere for a bit to see what he can do.

In a perfect world Bobby V is the perfect fit. The problem for Bobby V is the money. The Wilpons are some sort of money binge and while they know you have to spend money to make money, their money over the last two seasons has been placed in all the wrong places and the deal to bring Bobby V to New York might be too much money over too long a period of time to get him here. In a perfect world, he is the perfect fit, but this isn't a perfect world.

Because we don't live in a perfect world, Lee Mazzilli should be highly considered. He has some experience, and he wasn't terrible as an Oriole manager and he has a lot of the other qualities that the other members of this list have, except he hasn't led a team to the playoffs.

To actually understand what life for Mazzilli was in Baltimore while he was here, you need to talk to a Mets fan living in Baltimore during that time. Lucky for you, I am that person, and I have a good amount to say. The public was pretty much against Lee from the beginning because he was a New Yorker. This ranged from fan, to media to owner. If there was something wrong with the team, it was that manager from New York's fault. Because of this, a lot of his success was forgotten. One season he essentially had the Orioles in first place until May and this was in the height of the Yankees and really that great Red Sox team. He was then handed one of the toughest situations that a team can handle. One of the best players on the team, the player who just got his 3000th hit that season and was immensley popular, Rafeal Palmeiro, turned up a positve sterioids test.

At that point the entire team fell apart as Lee couldn't help with the moral in the lockerroom and helping the players through the media boom. Since then Lee has been a part of the media in New York, and the media is something that the most of the players in New York are already used to.

Mazzilli also has fire. I was at the game where got thrown out for a disputed home run call as Mazilli was fighting for his players and ended up throwing bubble gum all over the field.

In short, Lee Mazzilli was a lot better in Baltimore than history will let one remember, and if the Mets cannot afford Bobby V, then Lee would make a fantastic choice to lead the Amazins and their players who could really use a firey manager.

The Mets look to avoid the sweep this afternoon as they continue their series with the Braves. Yesterday, Gee kept the Mets in the game throughout his outing but the Mets were not able to get players from bases to the plate as the Mets lost yesterday by the score of 4-2. The Mets will look to bounce back today vs Lowe while Dickey goes out to fight the Braves.

Dickey was amazing in his last outing where he allowed only one earned run on his way to pitch a complete game win. That outing pushed his ERA down to 2.80 and rasied his innings pitched to 154.1 (which is important because if he wants to get the team ERA crown, he needs to finish with more than 162 innings pitched). Dickey this season is 0-1 over 2 starts against the Braves with a 3.55 ERA. The Braves have these numbers against Robert Allen:

The Mets will get another crack this season at Dereck Lowe who is 13-12 this season with a 4.22 ERA. In the month of September, Lowe has recorded 14 innings pitched and has allowed only 1 earned run. He has also faced the Mets three times this season totaling 18.1 innings, allowed 6 ER (2.95 ERA) with an 0-2 record. The Mets have these numbers against Lowe:

Lets Go Mets!

We end our musical week tour with a classic, redone. As you noticed I really avoided posting Meet the Mets, because we all have heard in numerous times. In the 80's, the team actually had a cover of it done. It sounds slightly different, and its an interesting take on a sports music classic:

The Mets dropped the first game of the series last night and look to rebound this afternoon behind rookie Dillon Gee. Gee has been phenomenal in his first two starts of the season where he has allowed only one earned run in 13 innings of work while striking out 7. In those 13 innings of work he has allowed only 14 base runners in the form of seven walks and seven hits. Also, since he has made only two starts this season, he has not faced anybody on the Braves yet.

The Mets batters will get a familiar face this afternoon in Tim Hudson who is 15-8 with a 2.62 ERA this season. He is 0-3 in his last three starts with an ERA of 6.03. His first loss of those three was against the Mets where he allowed 3 earned, 4 total runs in 7 innings of work. The Mets have these numbers on Tim:

Lets Go Mets!

Atlanta could be in trouble. After commanding the division for the majority of the season, they now find themselves three games out. In the Wild Card their lead has shrunk to half a game as the insanely hot West look to upset the power in the National League that looked set all season. The Braves are probably looking forward to playing three games against the Mets. So guys, tonight it is time to play spoiler. The Mets have now won 4 games in a row and are looking to cause a little noise in the East before the season closes.

The Mets will be sending out Jon Niese tonight had a good start in his outing as he pitched 7 innings with 3 ER. Tonight could be a big personal night for him as he looks to get to double digit wins this season, something he really deserves and probably would have it, if it wasn't for the Mets offense at times. He is 0-1 against the Braves this season in two games but has a nice 3.60 ERA. The Braves have these numbers on Jon:

The Mets will get another crack at Tommy Hanson this season who is 9-11 with a 3.54 ERA. He has had a very good month of September where he has pitched 20 innings with an ERA of 1.80. He has also been very good against the Mets this season with a 1-1 record with an ERA of 1.02. Hopefully the Mets can light him up tonight. The Mets Sport these numbers:

Lets Go Mets!

Ok folks, lets leave the 80's today to bring this gem from modern times. The song is based off of Whine Up, and the singer who sang Whine up also did this song, which adds to its feel. This is a good one folks:

My roommate and I were having a discussion last night about the now famous Derek Jeter play, and really, we were focusing on why the media was making such a big deal about it. In case you haven't watched sports news anywhere in the United States (seriously every time I turned on ESPN yesterday, this was the story), Jeter was hit by a pitch in a game on Wednesday night. Except he wasn't. The ball hit the knob of the bat, Jeter was a good actor and he got his base then a lot of argueing happeneded. Blah Blah Blah.

The question was then, is Jeter a cheat?

In a normal world, when one person decieves another person, in order to recieve some sort of beneficial reward or treatment, that action of deciption qualifies as cheating.

Except in the world of sports.

There is a gray line in Sports of what is cheating and what is not. Using Performance enhancing drugs? Cheating. Scuffing the Baseball? Cheating. Acting like you got hit by a pitch? Actually not cheating.

To some degree in sports, it is permissible to do things in order to get an advantage. In football for example, one could call holding on almost every single play. In basketball and soccer, players act more injured than they actually are in order to get a penalty of sorts on the other team. In baseball, this tradition of not exactly fair play falls on the hitter acting like they got hit by the pitch. What Jeter did is exactly what any ball player should do in that situation because you are trying to create an advantage on the team. The responsibility here falls on the umpires, who are bestowed with the job to make sure players do not create these unfair advantages.

If this happens all the time, why isn't it covered like it was yesterday? Simple. When Jeter does something that pushes moral boundaries, the world overreacts.

The Mets beat the Pirates by the score of 6-2 tonight and beat the Pirates for the 4th time in a row. That was the first four game home sweep for the Mets since 2003. Tonight the Mets battled back from being down 2-0 at one point, tied the game and then continued to add runs as the game went on.

One of the stars of tonight's game was Mike Pelfrey who pitched a fine game tonight as he allowed only 2 ER over 7 innings while walking 4 and striking out 4. It was the 15th win of the season for Mike who has now pitched two nice games in a row in his enigma of a season. The other main star of the night was Duda who has been struggling since coming up the Majors. Tonight he smacked in two hits, both doubles while scoring a run and notching two RBI's. Pagan also had a big hit on the night as his two run double in the 8th inning put the game away for the Mets.

Next up for the Amazin's is a visit from the Braves who are now three games back in the division. While I would rather see the Braves in the playoffs instead of the Phillies (maybe the lesser of two evils, but I'm not sure), I really don't want to see both teams make the playoffs so if the Mets can ice the Braves playoff hopes, that would be realllllllly awesome.