Mets Game 63: Loss To Giants

Giants 6 Mets 4

Again. What more is there to say? At least the Mets are consistent in their losing ways.

Sound off in the comments.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
  1. DanB June 9, 2014 at 12:21 pm
    Did you see how boring that lineup is without Wright? Even with the way his 2014 is going, at least he gives you hope for a RBI. Already people are suggesting trading Wright. Who else do they have to trade? And his salary jumps next year. Sad to think. I can’t wait for the time when the Mets talk about acquiring players rather than trading them away.
  2. Walnutz15 June 9, 2014 at 1:20 pm
    When the same exact kind of garbage plays out, year-after-year – it’s definitely time to get a new voice in……*cough* notBobGerenorTimTeufel *cough*

    Just as they (one of them, anyway — finally) came to the decision on Dave Hudgens. [And no, that didn’t “solve” anything from the word go – but it’s an actual consequence of holding a man accountable for his job over a few years time.]

    Problem with the Mets is, they’re so completely disjointed in their decision-making process — that certain coaches will stay on, akin to slipping a band-aid off – inch by painful inch……in lieu of making across-the-board changes.

    Collins has been a place-holder and baby-sitter for too long a period of time now, where – to me – it looks like they’re perfectly content with “accepting” certain facets of their games being a MAJOR problem.

    Hearing him talk about 3 flyouts that “would have been homeruns on the other side of town” during a press conference during the Subway Series at Citi Field – is the perfect example of what I despise about him as a coddler.

    This doesn’t even factor into the actual “X’s and O’s” of setting up guys for defined roles by his own sharpie and lineup card – and asking them to come in and perform to them. That he routinely ignores the importance of getting his guys (Wright and Murphy) the rest they’ll need to continue on, somewhat fresh throughout the year?

    Just another of the problems. And no, they don’t have a ton of talent —- but to tell me that they can’t pull a few close games out, here and there…..due to something their manager might pull out of his hat?

    I don’t believe that, at all – and never will.

    The Mets are 8-17 (.320) in 1-Run Ballgames this year, ExWL: 31-32.

    Believe me, Collins is a nice guy – good soldier – and definitely bought into whatever the Mets told him to do to stay employed. That doesn’t mean he should continue to collect a check, though…….unless it’s what the Mets Front Office expects and wants to happen.

    He (and his coaching staff) is terrible. This isn’t a recent angle for me, as I’ve said it LONNNNNG before contesting replays that everyone in the world can see have no chance of being overturned confirmed it…..and really, doubly confirmed in the dugout by Bob Geren’s 2 thumbs-up to continue along with the waste of time.

    By the same token, he also chose to ignore a play he could have contested at 1B at Wrigley, instead watching the Cubs challenge a play at the plate that got reversed.

    Moronic.

    If a Met team ever finished over-.500 on their watch?

    I think I’d need to be wheeled-out to the hospital, due to shock.

    …………..I’ll also just tack on the ever-growing trend of Collins burning his (untalented, per the public sentiment – so “it’s ok”) bullpen with 2 out and nobody on to “create the match-up” for Scott Rice or Josh Edgin to come in vs. a LH hitter.

    Yesterday, it was Rice for Crawford – pulling Torres. Rice, once again, craps the bed – and is removed after his 1 (unnecessary) hitter. Which brings Collins right back out to call for Vic Black.

    “CAPTAIN HOOK” was the most apropos nickname I’ve seen assigned to Collins in years, so kudos to one of my Met buddies over on my other haunt.

    If you had that bad a bullpen, full of guys that you’d probably need to temper usage on – in order to keep effective throughout the year —— wouldn’t you be a bit more prudent about it in the first week of June?

    No coincidence, we see bullpens obliterated by the summer months………to the tune of handful of pitchers to get through less than 2 innings of baseball.

    Carlos Torres: on pace for 85 appearances [used in 9 of the last 16].

    Scott Rice: on pace for 85 appearances, spanning a whopping 30 innings, since he can’t even throw a pitch to RHH.

    Jeurys Familia: on pace for 75 appearances, in a year following surgery.

    I don’t even wanna go into anything past this……

    I had this Met team pegged for 78 wins. I’m a firm believer in “can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shizzle” as well, but at some point you just cut bait.

    The even more disturbing thing to me is that the Mets have Collins under contract for next season, to boot.

    • DaveSchneck June 9, 2014 at 10:51 pm
      Nutz,
      That was some post. Agree that Collins seems like a good guy, but I also agree we’ve seem this movie before, in 2011, 2012, and 2013. And it’s a bad movie.
    • Garett June 10, 2014 at 1:07 pm
      My patience with TC the lovable loser is wearing very thin….
  3. CleonJames June 9, 2014 at 3:41 pm
    Time for a post that is suck-sinct and to the point about the Metsiocres. The Mets suck because the owners only care about money, they don’t know baseball and they don’t understand the principle of investment and return (as evidenced by their co-dependence with the likes of Madoff). They have either tied Alderson’s hands or Alderson is not getting the job done. Collins is not the main problem, but at this point a change is needed. The only thing that will really turn the Mets long term will be a campaign to oust the owner led by WFAN staff (no longer beholden to the Mets) a la the demand for the Piazza tirades, or at a grass roots level. Metsblog is in the team’s pocket, so there are many things that can’t be said. The whole operation has reached an all time low, similar in my mind to the day owners decided to get rid of Seaver for asking for money that he deserved and used Dick Young as their shill to get the job done. The Mets ownership is not only incompetent and apathetic, there is an ooze of slime that covers Ebbets-Citi Field that cannot be removed until the Wilpons are sold and old. Let’s bring it on! I picked up the Mets in May in 1969 and have been an intensely loyal fan ever since. But right now I feel like a born sucker.
  4. PeterG June 9, 2014 at 3:58 pm
    I can’t figure out why pitching “coach” Warthen hasn’t been relieved of duty. He should have a pink slip on his office door when he returns from his daughter’s graduation. To me that would be a start.
  5. david June 9, 2014 at 6:47 pm
    Mets drafted Billy Beane in the 1st round. Think he’d come home to save this moribound franchise? Today’s sugggesiton to management and ownership – has it crossed your mind that embossing Mr Mets on the players uniforms makes them look like clowns, not professionals? Some idiot probably figured they’s sell more junk at the sourveneir stand. Take a lesson from the winners on the other side of town, and start taking yourselves seriously.
    • Joe Janish June 10, 2014 at 2:24 pm
      Well, Billy Beane’s “home” has been California for the past 30 or so years, so I doubt it. Maybe if his daughter is accepted to Columbia or Fordham, there’s a shot.

      And hey, what’s your beef with Mr. Met? I think it’s nice that the Mets have chosen to promote MetsToday during batting practice — it’s the least they can do to support my struggling efforts to keep the blog going.

      • david June 10, 2014 at 5:57 pm
        Joe, I love Mr Met. But I think it is unprofessional to stick him on the shoulder. It looks weak for the pitcher to see a mascot staring back at him, and although it has zero to do with the team’s failures at the plate it just rubs me the wrong way. Promotions, batting practice, giveaways, I am for all of that. Perhaps it is symbolic of the team’s focus on the wrong things, such as how many different uniforms they can wear instead of moving the runner over, turning the double play, or dare I say it teaching a guy making $10M how to bunt.
  6. The King June 10, 2014 at 12:00 am
    I’d love to see the business plan. Rapidly shrinking attendance, ratings, and merch sales normally don’t lead to higher profits in the short or long terms. So why isn’t more money being spent? Damn Wilpons.
  7. argonbunnies June 10, 2014 at 2:00 am
    I think the Wilpons have bought into the fantasy that “focus on building up minor league talent” will mean the team will start winning while it’s still cheap, and then fans will come out, keeping the Wilpons in the black as the payroll increases. “It’s happened in other places, so why not here?” It wouldn’t surprise me if Alderson pitched this when he was hired.

    What Alderson either doesn’t know or has decided not to mention is that “focus on building up minor league talent” guarantees nothing, especially if you don’t commit to losing 100 games every year for the #1 draft pick the way the Astros do.

    At this point, the Wilpons aren’t getting the cheap winner that Sandy promised them, but they’re sunk too far into his regime to pull out now. (Grantland noted how firing GMs is tough today because they bring entire infrastructures with them.) The only sensible thing the Wilpons can do now is acknowledge reality for what it is, give up on the pipe dream of cheap winning, and spend money to make money.

    Unfortunately, whatever the hallmark is of the Wilpon-Alderson Mets, “acknowledge reality and give up on pipe dreams” is its antithesis.

    • Joe Janish June 10, 2014 at 2:32 pm
      This entire theory of having to lose for years and years while you build from within is poppycock.

      Tampa Bay was awful for how many years? And how many times did they have a top-5 draft pick? And after all that, they went to the World Series how many times? And were able to sustain that success for how long? And even when they were among the best teams in baseball, how much revenue were they generating?

      Mets fans have been / are being shoveled bovine feces — the myth that you have to stink for several years in order to create a long-term winner. It’s nonsense. One does not necessarily follow the other. We’re still waiting for the Royals and Pirates to dominate their divisions, and the Rays can’t keep the momentum going. Somehow, though, the Braves, Cardinals, Red Sox, and Giants find ways to both win and develop future talent simultaneously.

  8. Colin June 10, 2014 at 1:24 pm
    The Mets need to get into a team fight against the Brewers. I’m serious.

    I’d say the 90 win season chatter has been forgotten.

    • CleonJames June 10, 2014 at 2:39 pm
      Best idea I’ve heard in a long time, esp. since Fielder is no longer on the team.