Friday, April 7, 2006By Mike Steffanos
Mets 10 - Nationals 5
Welcome to the new reality of Mets baseball 2006. It's been kind of ugly with all the hit batters the last couple of days, but it makes a point, too. The Mets pitchers aren't conceding the inside of the plate to opposing batters anymore, and they have a catcher that's not afraid to call those pitches. It's going to pay some dividends over the course of the year, but we might have to live through some brawls, too.
With my newly hooked up DirecTV I was able to watch the game tonight. Sadly, what I've been told about Anderson Hernandez is true -- he looks like a kid that isn't ready to hit major-league pitching yet, though he did manage to drive the ball pretty well his last at-bat.
Keith Hernandez thinks the booing is getting out of hand and is really counterproductive -- but then again, what does he know? STOP ALREADY! Take up knitting or yoga -- work out your stress some other way. Booing your own players should be the last resort of a true fan, saved for the most heinous of offenders. There's no Bonilla on this team. It's just ugly.
I've rooted for this team for a long time. New York has always been a tough town, but never unfair -- at least not until recently. Omar is going to have a hard time getting players to come here if this keeps up. If you were a great player, and you had a choice, would you want to deal with this?
Speaking of Omar -- I kind of poked fun at you when you signed Julio Franco, didn't I, Mr. Minaya? I dismissed it when you talked about what a great influence he would be on the team. I was wrong. You were right. That's probably not the last time this phenomenon will happen.
If Xavier Nady can just learn to cover that outside pitch we might be conceding the above point on that trade, too.
Tonight's ugly win for Pedro was a partial payback for all the times the Mets let him down last year.
Duaner Sanchez has looked pretty good so far. I hated to see Jae Seo go, but I still like this deal -- even if Seo has a pretty good year. As for Chad Bradford, it's nice that Willie has some funk in the bullpen that is actually capable of getting outs.
I was impressed with the resiliency of the team tonight. When Pedro hit Guillen for the second time and then Nick Johnson hit that ball into Flushing Bay I thought the momentum had clearly gone over to the Nationals. I know it's really, really, really early, but this is a tougher team than last year's.
Reyes still has his ups and downs, but I think he really is starting to understand what he needs to do as a leadoff hitter. If he keeps it up, the Sabermetric police might have to find a new whipping boy...
Steve Trachsel gets his first start against the Marlins tomorrow night at 7:10. Southpaw Jason Vargas gets the nod for the Fish.
MetsBlog: SNY on DISH
Matthew Cerrone is reporting that an agreement has been reached between the Mets' network and the other major satellite company.
Minor League Baseball: Pelfrey's First Start
Eric Justic reports on Mike Pelfrey's successful debut for the High-A St. Lucie Mets: 5IP, 0R, 2H, 6K, 1BB. We'll be seeing you, kid...
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Comments (8)
One thing to add to last nights game. Carlos Beltran. Here was his chance to get the fans on his side. He hits a big homerun (his first hit of the year). All he had to do was come out of the dugout and wave to the fans. However he had no intention of doing this. You could see him in the dugout with his team telling him to go out there and see him shaking his head "no". It took Julio Franco pretty much pushing him out to get him to do it.
New York is a tough place to play, there is no doubt about it. However if you do something good and embrace the fans they will be on your side forever.
Carlos is making $100+ over his contract, with that amount of money you need to produce. You cannot continue to leave runners on base, the fans expect a guy making that amount of money to drive them in.
As of right now it is obvious that Carlos cannot handle NYC. Someone from the team (not just players, but perhaps even Omar) need to sit him down and explain why the fans are booing him and how he can turn it around. But as of right now, he's lost a little of my respect.
Posted by Matt | April 7, 2006 8:32 AM
I thought Beltran handled things decently last year. I think what bothers him this year is that he wasn't even given a chance to get it going before the boos started. There is a mean-spiritedness in the fan base now that never existed before. Players aren't robots -- they react to how they're treated. When solid NY guys like Cliff Floyd and Keith Hernandez tell you that you've gone too far, why can't you even consider the possibility that you have?
Posted by Mike S. | April 7, 2006 10:46 AM
The crazy thing is that Beltran was by far the best player on the market over the last two years and he came here, to Queens, where there's not much to see. No offense Queenies ;-) He also played hard last year despite the quad injury and the Cameron collison. He then opted NOT to have surgery and stay with the team. That alone should have earned the respect of not only Mets fans, but all baseball fans. Especially when you have characters like Juan Gonzalez and Albert Belle who have taken their money and ran after injuries. Beltran's a stand up man. Aces in my book. When he stops running on grounders or pop ups, stops giving autographs, starts referring to himself in the third person and starts throwing out racial slurs then we can boo him. The guy is going to be here for a long time. Make him feel at home. Houston is laughing at him and more importantly, the Mets "fans" for doing what they are doing.
Lastly, I really believe that 85% of the fans who boo really aren't Mets fans. They have no childhood ties to the team. They are either fairweathered baseball fans who don't like the Yanks, former Yankee fans, guys who get free tickets from their company and go to the game to drink and/or uneducated baseball fans. The other 15% are actually uneducated baseball fans who happen to be Mets fans. There is also that element of feeling like a loser so that when you lose the only way to feel like a winner I by separating themselves from the pack. I suspect that these "fans" were not there for the team in the early to mid-90's. They were just frontrunners.
Posted by Chris | April 7, 2006 11:41 AM
Chris, I've talked to guys that really are huge fans and boo players like Beltran. I've never understood it, but I'll never say that everyone that boos is not a real fan.
Still, I've been to games and seen it, and the majority of people that boo are doing it like it's a big game. Those are the ones that really irritate me.
Posted by Mike S. | April 7, 2006 12:05 PM
I hope no one took my post the wrong way.. I like Beltran, I do not boo him. I just meant he had a chance to get the fans on his side last night, but decided to stay in the dugout when they were calling out for him.
Posted by Matt | April 7, 2006 12:35 PM
Matt, ballpayers are people, too, and sometimes they let things get to them. Beltran made a mistake for sure, but he got booed on opening day, for God's sake. This is getting nasty with these players.
Posted by Mike S. | April 7, 2006 1:58 PM
Mike,
You're right... he should not have been booed on Opening Day.
Posted by Matt | April 7, 2006 2:06 PM
I hope that Beltran starts hitting and we can all talk about something else.
Posted by Mike S. | April 7, 2006 5:50 PM