#1 Mets Pitchers, Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez will both spend significant time on the Disabled List in 2008. Since arriving in New York, Martinez has spent time on the DL every year. The past 2 seasons, Pedro has pitched a total of 160 innings. El Duque’ is now 41 years old (at least that what he claims) and is in the twilight of his career. The Mets will be scrambling to fill the voids left when these two go on the DL.
#2 Moises Alou will also spend time on the DL. The number of games that Alou has played has diminished dramatically over the last 3 years. In 2007, he had 120 hits and 92 of them were singles ! He’s done !
#2A Carlos Delgado hit the fewest number of Home Runs in his career since his rookie season. His production has dropped over the past couple seasons in NY and his range at first base is very limited. Oh, and he is also 36 years old and not getting any better.
#3 Billy Wagner’s fastball has lost velocity. At one time, Wagner was un-hittable. His fastball was consistently hitting 100 miles per hour. His Saves were down last year and he is definitely on the down side of his career.
#4 Jose Reyes is a head case. When the Mets needed someone to step up offensively last year, Reyes disappeared. In 7 key games against Philadelphia in August and September, Reyes hit .148. This year (2008) is a critical year for Reyes. If he digresses, the NY fans will lose faith in him quickly !
#5 Willie Randolph got a free pass last year and should have taken a lot more heat for the Mets September collapse. He’ll be under much more scrutiny this season and may feel the pressure in July when the Mets are struggling to find pitching.
2 comments:
Dude, the Mets not winning the East sounds, with all due respect, like a Philly Phantasy. Here are the five reasons why Philly should just be thankful for last year�s gift-wrapped NL East crown which temporarily took the heat off a sports city that has not sniffed a championship since the 76ers in 1982!
#5. The Phils have enjoyed 1 (one) Championship in its 124 year history. This is statistically remarkable and the baseball equivalent of the blind squirrel finding a nut. But blind squirrels do not keep finding nuts. They get run over. It is hard to imagine history not repeating for the only baseball team with a greater run of futility than the Chicago Cubs.
#4. The top of the Mets rotation is a Who's Who of baseball royalty....Johan and Pedro. And their #3 and #4 starters, John Maine and Oliver Perez each had 15 wins last year! By contrast, the top of the Philly rotation is more of a Who's That? And it's hard to take a team seriously when their bullpen aces consist of a guy who pukes from nerves during 'big' games in June (Flash Gordon), and a guy still suffering whiplash after Albert Puhols launched a rocket off him in the 2005 NLCS playoffs (Brad Lidge).
#3. Despite the isolated age and injury history you allude to, the Mets boast a core of proven young studs....Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Santana. And none of them are a Denny's Lumberjack Slam breakfast away from a visit to the DL, like Ryan Howard. Jimmy Rollins' talent seems only exceeded by his big mouth. Pat Burell makes Bobby Abreau seem charismatic. This is the Philly core, and should be enough to make you nervous. Or, make Flash Gordon throw-up.
#2 Your Manager is Charley Manuel. It's rare to find a Manager that does not fall into any of the stereotypical categories, like 'fiery' (Lou Pinella), 'genius' (Bobby Valentine), 'fiery genius' (Billy Martin), 'self-proclaimed genius' (Tony LaRussa) or 'genius because my payroll is $100M higher than the next guy' (Joe Torre). Charley seems like a nice old man. He may want to consider spending his days playing Wii Bowling at the old age home, instead of sitting glassy-eyed in the dugout pretending he wasn't the guy who just farted.
#1 Karma..feels like the Sports Gods are having too much fun to stop now, with a city that owns the worst basketball record ever (1972 76ers), the only 10,000 loss team in sports (Phils), only team to ever go an entire season without scoring (Villanova football), point shaving scandals (St. Joseph), among others. It's enough to make Mike Schmidt cry. Or Flash Gordon throw up.
Hey, don't get me wrong. Philadelphia has a nice little team, and it's a nice little city. And I loved the movie, it was Tom Hanks' best acting since 'Splash'. But winning the East? Phar-phetched, if you ask me..
Who's who of Baseball royalty ? You're correct Martinez was king of the 1990's !
You Mets fans are still hoping against hope that Pedro is going to make a difference this season. He will absolutely be on the DL before June 15th, which should give him plenty of time to go to cock fights in the Domenican Republic !
BTW - Your rebuttal is pretty good. keep it coming.
Post a Comment