213 Miles From Shea

Well folks it all comes down to tonight. 16 teams have played well in this tournament and now only Korea and Japan are left, and tonight they will battle it out for the fifth time in the tournament. Winner not only gets the advantage in these countries head to head record but the winner will also get the WBC championship. Japan comes in defending their championship from 2006 while Korea comes in 2008 Olympic Gold Medals. Both of these teams are extremely qualified to win this championship and both of these teams have a ton of international experience.

Tonight is going to come down to who can play their fundamentals the best. Both of these teams stress being able to perform baseball at every single level, and they bring that on the field by making very few mistakes, and taking advantage of opportunities when the time arises. Personally for me, I still feel that team Japan will win, as I felt going into the tournament just because over all their pitching is better, however, I can really see Korea winning this too (I am also starting to think that I have a Japan bias because I know the players on the team better, but after seeing Korea play a few times, I can easily see them winning this tournament as well).

If you have not seen any of the Korea and Japan games yet, then you should really watch this game because it has the same emotion and passion as watching a Redsox vs Yankees, UNC vs Duke, Jets vs Patriots type of feel to it. This game should be a good one tonight, and its the last stop before we really start counting down to opening day.

Well the USA is out of the WBC after tonight's loss to Japan. The score was 9-4 and basically what it came down to is USA had a lot of opportunities that they didn't capitalize on. They would get runners on in scoring position and only twice did they really do something about it. Wright had an RBI in a clutch, runner on second with two outs situation in the third, and then DeRosa hit a triple with two runners on, however that is the only time that USA rallied. USA actually looked like they could make another run like they did against the PR, but they weren't able to thanks to Dunn who really had an all around off night. He looked bad at the plate and he looked bad in the field as he helped Japan get runs across the plate.

I hate to say this, but Rollins really looked good tonight and has looked good the entire tournament. He is hitting like his MVP season, and thats a dangerous thing if you are a Mets fan. Team USA did well in this tournament and it is important to remember that. When it comes down to it, they finished in the top 25% of the tournament and didn't have a disappointing early exit like last time around. It would have been nice to to see them get to the finals, but now we have an intense set up tomorrow with Japan vs Korea for the fifth time in this tournament. They have split the previous four games in the tournament and the intense rivalry finds its way to the main stage. Predictions tommorrow!

As bad as the Mets were yesterday they were that good today and a lot of that stems from the ace that took the mound today. Santana pitched today and showed that he is still the same Santana. He had a good outing, except he gave up his one weakness, which was a solo homer. With the amount of homers he gives up, I really wonder how he will play in Citi because a lot of the homers that he gives up are to left, and not only left almost as deep as Shea, it has a huge wall. This could really drop his homers allowed numbers and potentially pad his ERA, so that is a story to keep your eyes on this upcoming season. Anyway, the Mets lost yesterday 12-1 and today they won 12-1, against the same oppenent, the Atlanta Braves, and no one really did bad, so the two listed there just looked bad compared to everyone else today, here are the box highlights:
The Good:
    Castillo 2-4, 3R, BB, 2B
    Murphy 2-4, 3R, RBI, BB
    Reed 4-5, 2R, 4 RBI, 2 2B
    Tatis 2-4, R, 3 RBI
    Santos 1-1, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB
    Santana 5.0 IP, 2H, ER, 2 BB, 7 K
    Green 1.0 IP, 2 K
    Gee 1.0 IP, H
    Feliciano 1.0 IP, H, K
The “Bad”:
     Reyes 1-4
     Rivera 0-3
Reed was just smoking the ball today. There are two weeks left of Spring Training an you have to think with this performance plus his other performances (and the injury to Pagan) he is moving up the latter to getting that bench spot. Tatis also showed today why he is going to be a key player on the Mets bench this year. With that, starting left fielder Murphy also had a great day smoking the ball around the field as did Castillo, and both of them liked finding homeplate, because they each did that three times today.

On the pitching side today, we already discussed how good of a day Santana had, but he wasn't the only one who really performed well today. Green, who seems to be battling Parnell to get the seventh inning job, really did well today as did prospect Gee and specialist Feliciano. I am very excited about the pen this year because not only do the players have roles, since there seems to be a 9th, 8th and 7th inning guy, I think Feliciano will be able to be used as a specialist, which is what made him so good and so deadly in the 2006 season.

What a sports week this has been. First there is championship week of College of Baseball which is followed by the NCAA tourney, there is a lot of Spring Training Games and finally there was Round 2 of the WBC and now the Semifinals. Last night Korea beat Venezuela badly by a score of 10-2. If you were watching the game, it was over by the top of the second once Korea was up 7-0. Korea was the Pool 2 Runner Up while Venezuela was Pool 1 Champion. I talked yesterday about how if Korea won and Japan won, then those teams would play for the fifth time in the WBC, and for the entire tournament.

Now USA has a hard task ahead of them tonight as they must beat Japan in order to advance. The only team that Japan has lost to is Korea (a couple of times) and Japan has beaten a lot of hard competition as well, like Korea twice and then Cuba twice. Need less to say, the USA will have to be on the mark in order to win. The advantage that the USA has tonight is that Daisuke is pitching tonight for Japan, who several members of Team USA have seen before. That being said, it is still hard to hit against Daisuke. The keys for team USA tonight is to hit the ball hard and often, and early ralley can give them room to breathe because Japan's fundalmentals are so strong, that they will rarely make mistakes. The keys for Japan is to just shut down the USA offense, because the pitching behind team USA is not as strong as Japan.

The game tonight should be closer than the semifinal last night. Should be another great night of baseball!

Today was an all around tough day for the Mets as they struggled on both sides of the ball. The big problems really came from Maine and Figueroa. Maine could not locate any of his fastballs today, and that made innings go longer as he would get two quick outs then allow hits and walk the bases full, and then walk in runs. That doesn't happen during the season with him so lets hope that today was a bump in the road. Also today, I saw my dream fade away with Figueora, which I will explain after going through the box “highlights” of today's game:
The Good:
    Kielty 3-4, RBI
    Evans 1-4, R, 3B
    Church 2-3
    J Feliciano 1-1, 2B
    Nieve 1.0 IP, K
The Bad:
     Maine 4.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2K
     Villone 1.0 IP, 3H, 2 ER
     Figueora 1.0 IP, 3H, 5 ER, 2 BB
     Cora 0-3
     Green 0-4
     Murphy 0-3
     Campbell 0-3
So I have spent a lot of time over the last week how I think that Figueora could become the fifth starter for the Mets and he proved today that probably won't happen. I wasn't listening to the game when he started pitching (instead I got to watch my Terps get destroyed by Memphis) but he just could not get people out. After shutting down some of the best talent in the world he couldn't get someof the Team B and Team C Braves out at all. I really hope this was just a blip for him, and he will turn it around the next time he comes out to pitch.
Kielty and Evans continued to play well today, and if they keep this up, it will be a tough battle for that last bench spot. I feel that Evans will most likely be sent down before the season starts because a player at his age and his talent, it is much better if he gets to play every day (remember Carp, Murphy and Evans last April? They really hit the ball well). The regular season is right around the corner, Lets Go Mets!

Even though we are in March right now, it is that time again to get ready for the MLB draft. The MLB draft is so different than drafts by other leagues because as long as a couple of players make the majors from a draft year, than its considered a good draft. This year thanks to free agent signings and retaining type A free agents, I know for sure that the Mets do not have any first round picks and I am pretty sure that they do not have any first round supplemental picks. Today, I want to go back a few years and look at what we picked up in the first round and where those players are going to be this year:

2004- Phil Humber: No Longer with the Mets, Traded to the Twins with a bunch of other prospects for Johan Santana. Last season he pitched in 5 games and almost 12 innings for them.

2005- Pelfrey: No need to expound here, he is in the Mets starting rotation, and could be our number 4 guy all the way up to our number 2 guy.

2006- No First Round Picks

2007- Kunz: He is still a highly touted prospect who hasn't lived quite up to his hype yet. He did good in AA last year but struggled in AAA and in the majors. He has had a pretty good spring so far and with injuries to the major league club, he will find his way into the club this year again. If not by then, he will get there as soon as rosters expand in September. If he has a good year this season, then he will be a big factor and player to watch next Spring. Here are his numbers from this last season:
    Mets: 4 G, 2.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, BB, K
    BNG: 1-4, 44 G, 48.1 IP, 25 BB, 43 K, 2.79 ERA
    NOL: 0-1, 6 G, 5.2 IP, 2 BB, 4 K, 7.94 ERA

2008- In 2008 the Mets had two picks in the first round, then a supplemental pick making a total of three first round picks. So far they all have been impressive, although one, Brad Holt, seems to be standing out as the brightest. Ike Davis was the first overall pick for the Mets and then Reese Havens. Here are their write-ups:
Ike Davis: Davis is a 1B/OF type and seems to have some extra base hitting ability. He didn't hit any triples or homers in the minors yet, but he was able to smoke 15 doubles. His speed is a little below average, and if something holds him up in the minors, that will probably be the reason. He has seen some playing time with the Mets this Spring, including a 2-4 performance yesterday with a double. These are the numbers he put up last season:
    BRK: 58 G, 215 AB, 17 R, 55 H, 15 2B, 17 RBI, .256 AVG
Reese Havens: Havens mainly plays SS, but the Mets have been gving him time now at 2B (I wonder why). His play was really hampered last year because for the first time in his playing career he was hampered by a few nagging injuries. If he can get healthy he is also a player to watch in the season to come. In his short time playing last season, he was very impressive:
    BRK: 23 G, 85 AB, 13 R, 21 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, .247 AVG
Brad Holt: He has been very impressive because of his fastball. He gets it down fast and he has been causing all sorts of trouble for hitters. The Mets do not want to rush him but would love for him to develop, because he can be a major pitcher in the future. These were his very nice numbers from last season:
    BRK: 5-3, 14 G, 72.1 IP, 33 BB, 96 K, 1.87 ERA

The Mets have had a pretty good couple of drafts the last few years, mainly because they drafted a chip to get Johan and they got Pelfrey. The class from 2007 and 2008 could start to be heard in New York as early as this year, and more than likely in 2010 and 2011. In the next part of the MLB draft preview series here, I will be looking at the Mets second round picks, as well as the picks they will have this season (and talking prospects hopefully)!

The Mets shut out the Orioles today to improve their Spring Record to 8-10 (on a quick side note, in case you were wondering the Astros finally won a game from the first time since the first game of Spring). Anyway, with any shut out, the Mets pitchers were on key tonight and they really performed well. There has been a lot of worry about Oliver Perez because not only did the Mexican team make him pitch a lot, he got very sloppy with his mechanics during that time, but I think he turned that around today, or at least it sounded like he turned that around today with his box score, and here are the highlights:
The Good:
    Murphy 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 3B
    Davis 2-4, RBI, 2B
    Perez 3.0 IP, H, 2BB
    Parnell 2.2 IP, 5 H, 2K
    O'day 1.1 IP, BB, K
The Bad:
    Riveria 0-2
    Cora 0-4, RBI
    Anderson 0-4
    Sullivan 0-2
Another good day for Parnell gets him closer to making the Mets this year, which I am not sure how I feel about yet. If we can avoid it, I would rather him stay in the minors and work on being a starter, he could be an effective starter. Davis got some good hits today which was great to see. He was the number one overall pick for the Mets last year and he struggled a bit his first year in Brooklyn. He is an firstbase outfield type, and he could potentially develop power. I don't know where he fits in with the Mets plans for the future, but if he becomes good, then that is a good problem for the Mets to have.

The Mets optioned Niese today to the minors and this was pretty expected at this point. Garcia has been struggling, and probably will be cut or optioned or something soon, hopefully far away from the Mets. It is hard to say good bye to Niese but I have a feeling he will be back. He is going to get stronger this season in the minors and unless Hernandez is lights out this season, he will be on that short leash. As soon as he has a couple of bad starts in a row, as long as that happens after April, I have a feeling Niese will come up, and probably bounce around between the rotation and the pen. He just needs a little more seasoning, and as soon as he gets it, he could be the next home grown arm in that rotation. I really do wonder what this means for Redding, I guess its something we will have to wait and see how it plays out for the Mets and their number 5 madness. On another note, I still have this gut feeling that the reason Hernandez has not been publicly named as the Mets fifth starter yet is I think Manuel wants to take a closer look at Figueroa, which he should.

On another note entirely, the Rangers announced they will not be using those two toned red and blue batting helmets, and thats great news for every baseball fan around, because those were some terrible, terrible helmets and now they are gone.

Pelfrey was spectacular yesterday, furthermore showing why the Mets have strength in their rotation, but he also showed something a little more yesterday, his new pitch. From hanging around Livan Hernandez, Pelfrey has developed a new sinker for left handed batters, which usually do damage against Pelfrey. The New York Times actually call it a front door sinker, basically, it looks good, goes out and comes back, which makes left handed batters not swing at it, because it looks bad, but then it becomes a strike.

Pelfrey had a great second half of year last year which really built up his confidence. When you watch footage of him from April, and compare it to Septermber, it looks like a different pitcher on the mound (I think he also has facial hair in the later months since Randolphs no facial hair policy left with him). He is so confident in his pitches, and I think the team is now real confident behind him. He pitched over 200 innings last year, and his arm didn't fall off. This Spring, over his last two starts, not only has he done well, but he has been very effective, and stingy with his pitches.

I am curious to see how he develops this pitch over the season. As long as this pitch doesn't become a crutch (which I'm pretty confident it won't) it will make Pelfrey that much better, make our rotation that much better and we know, especially after last year, when your rotation is better, your bullpen gets better. Go Big Pelf!

With Japan's win last night, the semifinal games are set with the United States vs Japan and Venezuela vs Korea. Both of these games on paper seem to be excellent games. I think it is very possible that Japan and Korea could be meeting each other in the the Championship game and can you imagine that? That will be the fifth time that these two teams have faced this Classic, and right now, the record is an even 2-2, meaning if this was a five game series, the Championship game could really be a game 5. That could be nuts because these fans are ready for this rivalry. This rivalry has grown very strong.

On the other side of the story, Team USA will have a very different look because of all of the injuries. They already had to add Roberts, and now they added Longoria (which is great so they have a sub for Wright, or maybe allow Wright to DH). I still like USA's chances to beat Japan, it will be very tough, but they have a chance. So does Venezuela, they have a chance to beat a very tough team Korea. All of these teams are very talented and its exciting to think that this tournament is almost over, because we will be that much closer to the regular season. 19 Days to go!