Those Lucky Sons of Bitches...The Mets

Those gosh-darn New York Mets. They go up 8-0 then 10-1 and somehow only end up winning by a single run. The crazy thing is that the Mets are now above .500 and only 2.5 games out of first place in the pitiful division, commonly known as the National League East. The Phillies cannot seem to get a win, the Marlins have slowed down tremendously, the Braves are beset by injuries and the Nationals are just awful. This leaves the Mets as a viable option to come out of the division and make the playoffs. This New York Mets baseball team is just not very good, you know it, I know it, and everyone in baseball knows it. The offensive is terribly inconsistent, the starting pitching is not deep, and the bullpen is lacking ability. With all of these problems it is clear that if the Mets want to continue to make a playoff push they are going to have to make some midseason moves to acquire a solid 8th inning reliever and another hitter.

The Mets current bullpen setup looks something like this: Starter comes out of the game in the 6th inning. Joe Smith comes into the game and gives up a couple of hits then Pedro Feliciano comes in and closes the door on the threat that Smith has just created. Duaner Sanchez comes in for the 8th and gives up a run, and then Wagner comes in to blow the game or dominate depending on his mood the given evening.

The problem with this is that every game that the Mets are leading by only one or two runs becomes a dangerous, since Feliciano is the only consistent guy in the 'pen and he is only brought in after Smith, Heilman, or Schoenweis create a dangerous situation. Acquiring a pitcher like Brian Fuentes would solve this problem, giving the Mets a solid option in the 8th or 7th. A 7th, 8th, 9th combination of Feliciano to Fuentes to Wagner is a whole lot better than anything the Mets are currently putting out there. With the inclusion of a solid end game reliever the Mets can continue to win games like the one last night, only without the heart-attack inducing trauma that occured after Pedro Martinez left the game.

TODAY IN SPORTS (SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2008)

• Mets at Phillies 1:35 p.m. (CW11) - The Mets can't count on clutch hits from Brian Schneider every night.
• Red Sox at Yankees 8:05 p.m. (ESPN) - Even if the Yanks pull off a win tonight, their season may be over. Right now, they are behind Tampa Bay, Boston, Chicago, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Oakland and are only up one game on Baltimore and Texas in the American League standings.

- D. Spell

TODAY IN SPORTS (SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2008)

• Red Sox at Yankees 3:55 p.m. (FOX) - The last time the Yankees were in fourth place on July 5th or later was 1992. Does that explain to you how badly this team is playing?
• Mets at Phillies 7:05 p.m. (SNY) - Last night's game was the perfect microcosm of the Mets' season. Santana allows two runs in eight innings only to find himself with a no decision and the Mets' untimely hitting leads them to a 3-2 defeat in Philadelphia. I'm impressed. Could Omar Minaya be the next one out? More to come on this later...

- D. Spell

TODAY IN SPORTS (FRIDAY, JULY 4, 2008)

• The Annual July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest 12:00 p.m. (ESPN) - I wonder if Joey Chestnut blogs...
  

• Red Sox at Yankees 1:05 p.m. (YES) - Mr. Girardi seemed quite peeved after the Yankees' 7-0 loss to Boston last night. Let's see how the team responds to his closed door meeting.
• Mets at Phillies 7:05 p.m. (SNY) - As badly as the Mets have been playing, they're only 4.5 games out and they play the first place Phillies in a three-game series this weekend.

- D. Spell

Jetting Jeter to the Outfield

Derek Jeter never had very good range at shortstop, but now it seems to be plummeting, and fast. Jeter, who always ranged well to his backhand and poorly to his glove-side, is now only average ranging to his backhand well below average ranging to his glove-side. 

For those of you who contest Jeter's poor defensive ability, look at the stats. According to baseball-reference.com, he has a 4.04 range factor in his career. Over his time in the league, the average shortstop has a 4.11 range factor. Jeter's range factor has decreased in every year since 2005 (4.56 in 2005, 3.97 in 2006, 3.80 in 2007 and 3.79 this year). Although Jeter still has soft hands in the field - he has a .980 fielding percentage this year - he is hurting the team too much at shortstop. Thus, I propose that it's time for Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman and the rest of the Yankees' organization to move Jeter to right field next year and start to find a replacement for him.

Bobby Abreu is a free agent at the end of the season. There will be a hole to fill in right field and Jeter would be the perfect player to fill it. He has always been great on pop-ups. The most impressive part of his game in the field is ranging back and towards the line for fly balls. He still has the arm to play right field, as exemplified by his almost-great backhanded jump-spin-and-throw play against Texas on Monday. 

You may ask, who would play shortstop if Jeter moves? If the Yanks are moving him for defensive reasons, they should be signing a defensively capable shortstop. Orlando Cabrera and Rafael Furcal are both free agents at the end of the season. Cabrera has great hands and a good arm in the field. Although he is not known for his hitting, he is competent at the plate. Furcal has good hands and a tremendous arm, not to mention that he was hitting .366 before he got hurt earlier this year.

If Derek Jeter is truly about the team, he will realize that his defense is only hurting the Yankees at this point. It would take an adjustment, but there is no reason Jeter can't be as good in right field as he was in the prime of his career at shortstop. Now, all the Yankees have to do is realize that Derek's not the player that he once was. The real question is: will they ever come to that realization?

- D. Spell

It's About Making a Point

Although this doesn't relate to New York sports, as a sports fan in general, one should be outraged by the way the Boston Red Sox have handled Manny Ramirez's past antics. Only a week after Shawn Chacon's scuffle with Astros' General Manager Ed Wade ultimately led to his release, Manny Ramirez has done essentially the same act. The difference: it looks like he won't even be disciplined. 

When the traveling secretary for the Red Sox told Ramirez that it may not be possible to obtain the 16 tickets that Manny had requested for an upcoming game, Manny reportedly yelled, "Just do your job" and shoved him to the ground. Why is this any worse than Chacon shoving Wade to the ground? Because a traveling secretary is playing the part of the General Manager and a future-hall-of-famer is playing the part of Shawn Chacon. 

Red Sox manager Terry Francona claims that the organization has already taken care of the situation and that he is happy with the way it was handled. Of course he is. He wasn't the one shoved to the floor and he still has his slugger and best hitter in the lineup. 

The Red Sox need to ignore the jobs that these two have within the organization and simply acknowledge them as two people. If you shoved a co-worker to the ground at work, you wouldn't get out without any scratches. The Red Sox should suspend Ramirez indefinitely without pay. They should allow him to return when he has proven that he has cleaned up his attitude; when he no longer is taking swings at Kevin Youkilis in the dugout, when he says he will always run a groundball out. It's not nearly as severe as a punishment as what happened to Chacon, who was released. Granted, as Jay Mariotti said, "The biggest mistake Shawn Chacon made was having a 5.15 ERA." It's about making a point.

- D. Spell

Girardi Needs to Learn How to Make a Lineup...Again

About a month and a half ago, I wrote about Joe Girardi's difficulties with making a lineup. His troubles once again stemmed into Sunday's game against the Mets. 

With Hideki Matsui on the DL, Girardi couldn't afford to sit three of his best hitters (Robinson Cano, Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu), but he did because they are all lefties. Facing left-handed starter Oliver Perez, Girardi completely reconfigured his lineup in order to avoid the lefty-lefty match-ups. In doing so, he decided to play Wilson Betemit instead of Robinson Cano, Jose Molina instead of Jason Giambi and Jason Christian instead of Bobby Abreu.

Girardi seems like he is reading the textbook, but not looking at the numbers or even looking into common sense. Why would he rather have a lifetime minor leaguer with twelve career at bats heading into a game (Christian) over a perennial All-Star (Abreu)? Christian shouldn't be starting unless he is filling in for someone during a day off or an injury.

Girardi clearly neglected to look at the numbers. If he had, he would've seen that Abreu is hitting .316 against lefties this year with an OPS 57 points higher than that against righties. Cano's batting average against lefties (.281) is twenty points higher than Betemit's (.261), as the utility infielder is notoriously known as an anemic hitter from the right side (even though he did hit a long homerun yesterday). Jason Giambi is hitting over .400 against lefties since May 17. 

If Girardi wanted to sit a lefty, it should've been the only one he decided to play. Johnny Damon's batting average against lefty pitchers (.292) is 36 points lower than his average against righties (.328). Consider the fact that he is also nursing a sore left arch and has witnessed his batting average drop since he returned to the lineup a few days ago, he should've gotten a day off. 

Why did Girardi decide to sit all the lefties against Oliver Perez, who had a 5.29 ERA entering the game, and decide to play all the lefties against Johan Santana, who had a 2.93 ERA entering Saturday's game and is known as one of the best pitchers in baseball? Wouldn't it make more sense to sit them on Saturday? There's a better pitcher on the mound - Sunday, there wasn't even a good pitcher on the mound - and you can rest players after a long double-header the previous day.

In the eighth inning, after Oliver Perez threw seven innings of three-hit-ball against a lineup in which Wilson Betemit was hitting fifth, Joe Girardi sent out Jason Giambi to pinch hit and face Pedro Feliciano, another lefty. However, the difference between Feliciano and Perez is that the former is an effective pitcher. Girardi knew that if the Mets had a lead, Feliciano would be in the game. He's their eighth inning guy. Thus, in pinch hitting Giambi, he was stating that he'd rather have his first baseman against a good lefty than a bad one - not exactly the right game strategy to have.

When Girardi sent out that lineup at the beginning of the game, Manuel knew it was because he didn't have confidence in his left-handed hitters. Thus, he pulled a great managerial move and called his bluff, only throwing lefties in the game (Perez, Feliciano and Billy Wagner). You know Scott Schoenweis would have been the next Mets' pitcher out of the bullpen. Girardi got out-managed on Sunday because of a lack of confidence in his players and too much of an allegiance to the baseball textbooks.

- D. Spell