Well, Johan Santana won, and the Mets won on Sunday. So as far as I'm concerned, my Weekend Predictions were perfect.
In honor of the New York City subway system's seven numbered lines, plus the shuttle that runs between Times Square and Grand Central Station...
1. Yankees fans, you're surely hurting today, after last night's Mets smackdown. If you're looking for short-term hope, remember that your team started last year at 21-29, and you nevertheless made the playoffs. I don't see another such turnaround, although I do see the Yankees picking up their play as Alex Rodriguez returns tomorrow.
If Jorge Posada comes back at the start of June, then the Yankees will be in considerably better shape. But I'll believe that one when I see it. Posada's serious concern over his right shoulder makes me wonder whether he can return to the lineup without surgery.
2. Mets fans, on the other side of the spectrum, you must be sky-high. No matter how bad the Yankees are right now, it was a real display of character for the Mets to come into Yankee Stadium and play arguably their two best, all-around games of the year. They found contributions all over the field _ none larger than Billy Wagner's four-out save on Saturday, especially after Wagner's mouth had created a gigantic stir. Extremely impressive, and for now, at least, Willie Randolph is off the hot seat.
3. Just as Yankees fans should hope for a deja vu of 2007 (at least, until October), Mets fans should cross their fingers for a repeat of 1999. Remember, the Mets opened the year 27-28, and Steve Phillips fired the three coaches who were closest to Bobby Valentine _ pitching coach Bob Apodaca, bullpen coach Randy Niemann and hitting coach Tom Robson _ two days into a Subway Series at Yankee Stadium.
I was the Yankees beat writer for The Bergen Record at the time, but I attended the June 6 Mets news conference just to see the theater of Phillips, with Valentine sitting next to him, explain with a straight face how this wasn't a personal shot at Valentine _ all with a Yankees logo in the background. It was truly surreal, and Bobby V. raised the stakes when he said he deserved to be fired if he couldn't turn the team around in the subsequent 55 games.
The Mets won that night, Al Leiter prevailing over Roger Clemens, and proceeded to post a 97-66 record, defeating Cincinnati in a one-game playoff to get the NL wild-card slot.
In Yankee Stadium once more, with the team seemingly unraveling, Randolph held a lengthy team meeting on Friday. The results, so far, are extremely impressive. We'll see whether this becomes the second year in which the Mets salvage their season in the Bronx.
4. I spoke with Jose Reyes before and after last night's game, and it is remarkable how much simple mechanics can come into play regarding a player's turnaround. Yesterday afternoon, Reyes watched the tape of his Saturday homer off Kyle Farnsworth (who stinks again, by the way). The key, Reyes said, is to keep his stride short, not go too far with his front (right, when he's hitting lefty) foot. I noticed that more than I usually would as he went deep again, this time against Ross Ohlendorf.
5. Jason Giambi made his 31st start at first base for the Yankees, and as usual, he hurt them on defense. He has so little range, and even when he does get to a ball, as he did on Marlon Anderson's fourth-inning grounder last night, he can't make the throw to get an out.
I understand that Giambi is getting on base at a .357 clip and leading the team in homers, that Hideki Matsui is one of the Yankees' more productive hitters right now and that the Yankees want to get Johnny Damon going offensively. But when you're scoring so few runs, the last thing you want to do is extend innings with defensive miscues. The Yankees have put themselves into a box here. They're paying a high premium for Giambi's unusual offensive production (eight homers, seven singles).
6. If you were opposed to instant replay prior to last night, I'm not sure how you could watch the way the umpires botched Carlos Delgado's fourth-inning homer and still be opposed today. I don't buy Bud Selig's argument that replay would prolong the game. The game was prolonged anyway by the umpires' conference and the Mets' protests. Might as well get it right.
And how about the normally placid Jerry Manuel getting ejected for arguing the call? In light of all the pleas for a more "fiery" manager, was Manuel auditioning for the Wilpons?
(I'm very much kidding; Manuel is a very good man, and I don't see him as the back-stabbing type, unlike others who have served as a Mets coach. But it was funny to envision Manuel hopping in his car following the ejection and driving straight to Jeff Wilpon's house in Connecticut, ringing his doorbell _ with his uniform still on _ and asking, "Did you see me get thrown out there? I have the DVD, if you didn't see it.")
7. I greatly admire Chien-Ming Wang's work ethic and his desire to improve and add pitches. But he still doesn't belong in the elite group of starting pitchers (Josh Beckett, Jake Peavy and Johan Santana, for instance) because he can't get strikeouts to escape jams as often as they can. With the exception of Reyes' leadoff double in last night's four-run fourth, the Mets didn't hit the ball hard. But those grounders and Moises' Alou's check-swing, soft liner found holes, and Wang was shot.
It is worth noting that Wang's strikeout rate has increased this season. Yet he's coming from so far down low that he's still not even close to the leaders of this crucial stat.
8. Yankees fans, what would you have thought if, after the Mets made it 11-2 in the top of the eighth, Joe Girardi had lifted Derek Jeter, Giambi and Bobby Abreu _ conceding the game _ and told them, "Take off the final inning and a half and Monday, and we'll go get 'em Tuesday"? I think that would've had value, just to wipe some of the stench off this weekend and clear the players' heads. I think that's what Joe Torre would've done.
Of course, Torre had far more capital in the bank. Perhaps Girardi felt like he couldn't concede a Mets game, no matter how large the deficit.
Comments (13)
Ken, I rather be in the Yanks position than the Tigers and Mariners right now. Don't forget the last 3 years the Yanks started out terrible and find a way to get into the playoffs. The Mets took 2 games against the Yanks, good for them. But watch the Mets lose 3 out of 4 to the Braves and 2 out of 3 to the Rockies on the road, The Mets are a up and down team that plays SOFT against below .500 teams, so let's see them play like they did agianst the Yanks. Instant replay definitely should be in baseball. If last night game doesn't convince you, than you are lost. Wang is the ace of the Yankees, but he's not a donimating ace pitcher. Last night's game is why the Yanks should have made the deal for Santana if Hank had the guts to do it himself.
Ok, I'll bite. Why is Dave Wallace a backstabber? What did he do as a Mets coach to Willie Randolph or Art Howe?
Speaking of Reyes...imagine the hoopla if Jose had missed a popup in the sun while having his sunglasses on his cap as El Cap-i-tan did on Saturday. Jose would have been run out of town on the aforementioned 7 train...
Yeah, big back-pat to the Mets. You put two tough lefties on the mound against a lefty-heavy team with not a single righty replacement who can hit, and you won two games. Not really a shocker.
Johan and Beckett, two aces of a similar sheen. They're aces and they love the fans -- evidenced by all the home run balls they put in their hands.
But seriously... Beckett is considered a no-doubt-about-it ace, and yet he's had one, exactly ONE, "ace" regular season. Yeah, I know, he is the king of the post-season, but pitching well for a few games doesn't make you an "ace" (the way Peavy is). Wang, on the other hand, gets hammered with this question of whether he's an ace or not because he had one bad post-season and he's not a strikeout pitcher. Why can't he just be considered a good pitcher and move on? Every team in baseball would gladly add him to their rotation, so I think it's time to stop reevaluating him every time he has a bad start. Roy Halladay has basically been the same pitcher Wang is and he's an unquestioned ace. Being an ace by default doesn't make you a true ace, but who cares? I've never seen a talented pitcher get beat up more than Wang does.
And what killed Wang wasn't a groundball -- it was a check-swing that happened to fall in and a first baseman who can't throw the damn ball.
I wouldn't have minded at all if Girardi sat down some of his starters once the game was out of hand in the late innings. It would have made perfect sense.
I agree that Wang is not in the elite circle of pitchers. His failure to get the big strikeout has come back to bite him many times in the past few years.
I am one of those purists that is completely against instant replay. The DH, inter-league play, exploding scoreboards, blasting music, etc. I could without them all. So, they umpires blow some calls. Instant replay is far from a perfect science. The camera isn't always at the right angle. I remember when the Mets benefitted from a blown call in a much bigger game: Gane 4 of the 1969 World Series when JC Martin got hit with a thrown ball on his way to first base while running inside the baseline.
The Yankees are going nowhere with Giambi at first base. He would have to hit 60 homeruns to balance out all of his negatives at the plate, in the field and on the bases.
If A-Rod gets hot he can easily carry the team for a nice stretch. If they get a few wins and Kennedy pitches well and actually wins a game, we might be able to see if this team is really any good.
If Posada can't really play and ends up needing surgery I will be disappointed that he didn't have it in the early spring, which would have given him plenty of time to recover for next year.
Got it Bailey, Yanks were unlucky and Mets cheated by using their best pitching options.
The Delgado call was blown when Davidson over ruled. I am fine with missed calls, part of the game. Replay, as seen in the NFL, will lead to incessant nitpicking. The ump in position should never have been over ruled unless he he indicated he missed the ball. Did not happen here, more a case of one idiot playing know it all. At least he was man enough to own the mistake.
Jeter's act is worthy of one between the shoulders.
Regardless of what their issues may or may not be, The Yankees had best snap out of this real soon. They are playing mediocre baseball, at best. It doesn't matter how impressive their resumes read-they need to perform consistently on the field There is way too much parity out there to assume any miraculous comebacks this year.
Sandy: Wallace became the Mets' pitching coach during the aforementioned 1999 purge. He served as part-time pitching coach/part-time spy on Bobby V. for Steve Phillips. It was ridiculous.
baileywalk: I hear what you're saying about Wang. You raise an excellent question: "Why can't he just be considered a good pitcher and move on?" The answer is we're generally an unimpressive species, and we get caught up in petty disagreements. As a relative stat-head in the media world, it annoys me when people try to dismiss the low-strikeout count. That is a major deal.
Speaking of which: Halladay has 57 K in 72 IP this year (over 7 per nine innings) and 1,138 in 1633.2 IP for his career (6.3 per 9 IP). Wang has 39 K in 66.2 IP this year (5.3 per 9 IP) and 266 K in 600.1 IP for his career (less than 4 per 9 IP).
Dennis: You're going with the fact that the Yankees are better off than Detroit and Seattle? Yeesh. That would be like me saying, "At least I'm losing my hair at a slower rate than Larry David."
Craig, don't be such a drama queen. I didn't say the Mets cheated or won unfairly. All I'm saying is that it shouldn't be seen as some huge win, considering that they had two tough lefties against a team that hasn't hit lefties well all year. They won, they get the headlines, but big deal? Both of these teams are less than impressive right now.
Ken, I said Halladay has basically been the same pitcher. They're not identical, and Halladay was the better pitcher in his prime. But check out Hallday's K/9 in '06 and '07, his last two full years of pitching (when he was a no-doubt "ace"): 5.4 and 5.5. He's picked up the strikeouts a bit this year, but even in his prime he was a sinkerballer who kept it on the ground. In his monster year of '03, his K/9 was 6.9, which is not elite, but who would question that he was one of the best pitchers in baseball?
Webb is at 6.9 right now.
Wang's 5.27 is the highest of his career and his strikeouts per nine have gone up each year he's been in the league. At only 28 and in his fourth year, I suppose he could improve those numbers even more and get a little respect one day.
Jeter's act is worthy of one between the shoulders.
------
Missed this one, sorry. What is this about? Why are Mets fans so angry? You think Yankee fans want to hit Reyes because of the way he danced around during the series? Or hit Wright because of his emphatic fist-pump when he scored at home in a game that was already over? Doubt it.
Aw shucks baileywalk. The Mets are just showing their enthusiasm. Good thing Chamberlain didn't do any fist pumping or Met fans really would have blown a gasket. As far as Reyes is concerned, he's just "playing with joy, bouncing around, clapping after big hits."
As per Dennis, if the Mets lose 3 of 4 to Atlanta and 2 of 3 in Colorado and the "Willie Watch" will be back on. Then, maybe Reyes won't be "playing with joy, bouncing around, clapping after big hits."
Ken, coming to tonight's action, the Tigers are 10 games under .500 and the Mariners are 9 games under .500 and both in last place like the Yanks. That's what I'm trying to point out to you. I have a list of names that could be out of the job by the end of the season. See if you think these people are staying or going:
Brain Cashman: Yankees General Manager
John McLaren: Mariners Manager
Ron Washington: Rangers Manager
John Gibbons: Blue Jays Manager
Ned Yost: Brewers Manager
Willie Randolph: Mets Manager
Bill Bavasi: Mariners General Manager
J.P. Ricciardi: Blue Jays General Manager
Dennis:
If Cashman leaves, it will be by his own choosing.
McLaren and Bavasi will both be fired.
Yost will be fired.
The rest will stay.