The Mets Police

March 10, 2009

Games In April Actually Count: The Importance Of A Good Start For The Mets (or anyone)

One of the reasons I hated Bobby Valentine is that his teams always got off to a bad start.

It seemed like every year the Mets would be way back and then have to kill themselves to get back into the race. They

Going back to the V years, the Mets have had a standings lead on May 1st only once. Care to guess which year it was?

Mets Standings On may 1st:

The V Years (not a single first place finish, some wild-card ass-saving and even a play-in game):

1996 5 back

1997 8.5 back

1998 4.5 back

1999 1.back

2000 4 back

2001 4.5 back

2002 ironically tied for first. This team lost 10 games in the standings in June and wound up over 20 back.

The Rest:

2003 7 back

2004 6 back

2005 3 back

2006 Up 6. Funny how much easier seasons go when everyone else is chasing YOU.

2007 .5 back – just about right. A near miss. Except they were trailing the Braves.

2008 .5 back of the Phillies.

So the next time someone tells you that it’s cool that the Mets are 10 and 13, and “only” 4 back – it’s time to start worrying and time to start winning games.

March 10, 2009

A-Rod Disappoints Again

I now realize how spoiled we've been.

A-Rod helped sportsblogs coast through February.

Yesterday A-Rod let me down.

With a pseudo-Mets team missing 16 players there's not much to say. Sure I could make some crap up along the lines of:

"'Kielty Should Platoon"

Or the ever popular "Santana Elbow OK!" posts that you see everywhere.

Maybe some random Mike Pelfrey speculation would float your boat?

Nope, I'm hoping the real Mets come back soon, and that brings me back to A-Rod.

Alex you let me down. I needed to wake up to headlines like "A-Rod blows off surgery to go surfing with Madonna" or "Alex: Jeter doesn't have it as hard as I do" or "Doctor: A-Rod cried like a baby."

Nope. All I have is "A-OK" type stuff. The surgery went well. Good for you A-Rod but what about the poor blogger with nothing to write about? Can't you steal some ice cream from a little girl or something?

Jerry said something non-commital about Pedro (that everyone is spinning as 'no way', read it again folks.)

"You have to be fair to the people we have here."

That's not no.

I have a suspicion there's a tremendous upside to Livan Hernandez.

Anyway, A-Rod, Santana and Pelfrey are fine. Enjoy the WBC. I don't.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

March 9, 2009

Shea for Sale

There’s tumbleweeds blowing by in Hypothetical Flushing today. There’s really nothing happening in Metsville.

Uniwatch mentioned this article: http://www.northjersey.com/sports/Shea_for_sale.html updating all the stuff you didn’t buy the first time.

Want to turn your basement bar into the Roosevelt Avenue Pub? Buy the sign for $500. Yearn to have the wizened face of Casey Stengel or Yogi Berra hanging on your wall? Take home a mounted photograph for the right price. While many of the items have a fixed bar code â€” it’ll cost you $50 for a brick â€” others are on the auction block. A catalog of available items, all of which have been authenticated by Major League Baseball, can be found on mets.com/shea. More information and personal appointments can be made directly through MeiGray at 888-463-4472.

March 9, 2009

Amazin’ Avenues Mets Announcer Tournament

This is fun: http://www.amazinavenue.com/2009/3/9/785685/amazin-avenue-mets-announc

An NCAA type tournament of Mets announcers.

I think there’s some McCarver bias here – he was probably the Mets best TV guy ever (don’t judge him by his tired Fox work, back in the 80s this was all fresh) – TMac faces The Franchise in the first round.

Also they gave Ron Darling a bye – who the hell would vote for Fran Healy?

Where’s Lorn Brown?

Fun stuff.

My picks for round one:

Murph over Ted Robinson

Rusty over Rose (because Howie lies about attendance)

Kiner over O’Brien

Keith over Zabriskie

Cohen over Jiggs

McCarver over 41

Gary Thorne (the good 1986 Mets version not the bad ESPN version) over Lindsey. I never dug Lindsey.

Ron Darling over Fran Healy.

Silence over Fran Healy.

Nails on a chalkboard over Healy (and I don’t mean Dykstra)

A cat screeching at 3am over Healy.

March 9, 2009

Centerfield Maz remembers Mel Ott

A loaner article from my friends over at Centerfield Maz http://www.centerfieldmaz.com/

I’m struggling to find anything Mets related to write about since all the Mets have left the team…so we return to the past. Good job out of Centerfield Maz on this one from last week.

Also, if the Mets insist on wearing black, they should eyeball these pictures. That pic on the bottom is a good look.

I know that the Giants never played in Brooklyn so I doubt Mel Ott will be mentioned at C-Field.

New York Giants Hall of Famer: The Great Mel Ott on his Would Be 100th

Mel Ott was born in Gretna, Louisiana on March 2nd,1909 and was Known as “Master Melvin”. His small 5′ 9″ frame was very unusual for a hitter with so much power. Ott’s swing was so perfect NY Giants manager John McGraw brought him right up to the big leagues so minor league coaches couldn’t mess with it. He was a Giants everyday right fielder at age of 19 and that year he hit 18 HRs 77 RBIs and batted .323. It was his first of ten seasons hitting over .300. Ott took full advantage of playing in the Polo Grounds with its short right field fence. 63% of his 511 career HRs were at home.

Ott would play for the Giants for 22 seasons, appear in 12 All Star Games and 3 World Series. His batting style was unusual as he would lift his right leg up and drop it as he swung the bat. That style won him six home run titles and he became the 1st NL player to hit 500 HRs. He was the 1st player and still one of only four to ever drive in over 100 runs for eight straight seasons. Because of his awesome power he was walked a lot and led the league in that category six times. Ott also led the NL in on base percentage four times and was runner up an additional 3 times. He also scored 100 or more runs 9 times in his great career.

Ott played in 3 World Series winning in 1933. He hit .389 in that Series including 2 HRs in Game #1. He had four hits and drove in the Series winning run in the 10th inning of Game #5. He would hit .300 again in the 1936 World Series with 1 HR 3 Doubles & 3 RBIs. His last Series was in 1937, he only batted .200 but still had a home run & 3 RBIs.

When he retired he was the NL All Time HR leader with 511. He is currently #23 All Time. He is 11th All Time with 1810 RBIs and 8th in walks with 1708. His 5048 total bases is 18th best all time and his on base % of .414 is 27th All Time.

Otts #4 is retired by the Giants and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951. He also has the distinction of the player hitting the most home runs in one city, that city is New York (348). Ott also hit the most HRs of any one at the Polo Grounds (323).

After playing he managed the NY Giants from 1942-1948. They never finished above 3rd place and his easy going style caused rival Dodger manager to say his famous words “Nice guys finish last”. Ott became a radio broadcaster in 1955 for a national broadcast station, then for the Detroit Tigers (1956-1958). In 1959 at the age of 49 he was tragically killed in an auto accident in New Orleans.