Davis slugs three home runs, Mets lose to Snakes 6-3

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

When your team’s suddenly hot young slugger hits three home runs in a game and your team only scores three runs… well that’s pretty sad. Tonight (Saturday), the Mets lost to Arizona 6-3 even though Ike Davis went 4 for 4 with three round trippers. All three were off of Diamondbacks starter Ian Kenneday, who pitched splendidly to everyone else, and the first two dingers were nearly identical blasts to straight away center. The third went down the right field line.

In his fourth at-bat, Davis ripped a single to right field off of Arizona set-up man David Hernandez. There was nearly a fifth chance, but Davis was left on deck as the game ended with J.J. Putz striking out David Wright.

I didn’t see any of Chris Young thanks to a social engagement, but apparently he got rocked. Young allowed six runs in just four innings with two strikeouts and two walks. Miguel Montero hit a two-run bomb in the fourth, while Aaron Hill and Ryan Wheeler hit RBI doubles in the first and second innings, respectively.

Besides Davis being a monster, the Mets kept the game watchable with a trio of nice bullpen performances. Ramon Ramirez pitched two scoreless innings and Manny Acosta struck out three in one and one-third innings. Josh Edgin wrapped things up with a pair of strikeouts in the eighth.

Davis is still hitting just .216/.281/.448 on the season, but the 20 home runs show that, at the very least, he can be depended on to hit for power. There’s still a lot for Davis to work on, but given that power hitting is something that the Mets sorely lack, he’s on the right track. Another good sign is that Davis is dealing with a career low BABIP even though he’s hitting line drives more often than in his previous two seasons. In other words, Ike is probably not a career .216 hitter.

Sunday at 4:10 PM the Mets finish their four-game set with Arizona. R.A. Dickey will take the mound for New York and Joe Saunders will pitch for the Diamondbacks.

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Mets get amazing Harvey debut, then go right on losing

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Havery’s incredible debut
Thursday night gave the Mets some hope for the future, as 2010 first round pick Matt Harvey’s major league debut went better than anyone could have imagined. The rookie became the first player in the modern era to strike out 10 or more batters while recording two hits of his own in an MLB debut. All told, Harvey struck out 11 batters in five and one-third shutout innings while allowing three hits and three walks in New York’s 3-1 win over Arizona.

“We knew [Harvey] threw hard; we knew he had a hard slider,” [third baseman Ryan] Wheeler said. “The changeup, I mean, I’d seen one changeup in the [triple-A] All-Star Game and it wasn’t good, and today his changeup seemed to be on. So that was the best I could do on a scouting report. The only thing we knew was that he had a really good arm, and he showed that today.”

Scott Hairston knocked in a pair with a double in the first inning, and Rob Johnson hit a sac fly to take advantage of Andres Torres’ triple in the fourth.

The only bad news about this game is that some irrational fans might expect Harvey to do this in every start. I’d be surprised if he pitched another game like this all season. That said, the 11 strikeouts seems to show that Harvey’s stuff translates over to the big leagues, so you have to at least view him as a high-ceiling guy for the time being.

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Mets are hopefully done losing now

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Thanks to the Penn State football team being in dire straights, my attention has wavered a bit from the Mets, who are in admittedly less dire straights. Don’t tell the Mets fans, though. Sure, a 47-51 record after 98 games would be considered acceptable back in April, but it’s the way they’ve come to that record that hurts, isn’t it?

Hey at least the Mets are swooning before the trade deadline instead of after. This way, the front office is less likely to make a pointless trade. Last season, the San Francisco Giants were so jazzed up about defending their league title that they traded away stud pitching prospect Zack Wheeler. That was really, really good for the Mets, if you don’t recall.

Of course, people are still upset that general manager Sandy Alderson is actually sticking to the rebuilding plan instead of amusing fans with minor acquisitions like Brandon Lyon and Brett Myers (combined Fangraphs WAR this season = 0.4). It’s amazing how one magical first half can make so many people forget that we’re in the middle of a multi-year process.

Anyway, the Mets lost again today to the Nationals to fall to 1-11 since the All-Star break. Jeremy Hefner was pretty good, but Stephen Strasburg was predictably better. Now that the Nationals can hit the ball (back in April and May their offense was dubious at best), they appear poised for a shot at the title, even with that Strasburg innings limit hanging over their heads. Washington won 5-2 and Ike Davis hit his 16th home run of the season.

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Football Culture!

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

On Monday morning, the NCAA crashed their “hammer” down on the Penn State football program. A four-year bowl ban and a loss of 10 scholarships per year for four years were penalties designed to humble Penn State’s proud football program. The vacation of all wins from 1998 through 2011 and a $60 million fine (with the money going to charity) were just icing on NCAA president Mark Emmert’s cake of darkness.

The penalties handed out by the NCAA were supposed to “change the culture” of Penn State and scare other schools into downplaying the importance of their football programs. However, recently occurring events seem to imply that student wellfare is still taking a backseat to the desire of football coaches to win football games.

For example, I don’t think Emmert anticipated that frenzy that would occur when he opened up the recruitment of Penn State’s current roster to every school in the country. Today, coaches from various schools were witnessed loitering outside of the Lasch Football Building, waiting for the opportunity to recruit PSU players.

“Our players are in our building right now and they don’t want to leave the building because there are coaches from other schools in the parking lot waiting to see them,” said O’Brien, who spent the morning at ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., campus.

According to defensive back Stephon Morris, coaches were even stalking the players in their apartment complex.

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Paterno statue down, sanctions coming Monday

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

On Penn State

It appears the day of reckoning is upon us. This morning the Joe Paterno statue outside of Beaver Stadium was removed and reportedly placed in “storage.”

Around the same time, a source within the NCAA that “unprecedented” sancations would be handed to Penn State at a 9:00 AM press conference on Monday morning. Immediately, speculation on what exactly “unprecedented” could be referring to began taking place on Twitter and the rest of the internet.

The one silver lining is that ESPN college football insider Joe Schad seems confident that Penn State football will not be cancelled this season.

Rather, the “extremely harsh” penalties could be even worse than the “death penalty.” I’m not sure how this is possible unless the supposed bowl ban is somewhere around 10 years long, but Schad did not rule that out.

PennLive.com did a great job rounding up various opinions on the matter of the possible sanctions. Peruse that at your leisure. It’s important to note that the NCAA may be opening up a can of worms by beginning to issue penalties on criminal issues that are not dealt with in the organization’s bylaws

https://twitter.com/Devon2012/status/227066801891201024

It will be interesting to see if future criminals acts such as DUIs are dealth with in a similar fashion or if Penn State is being singled out because of the horribleness (and high profile-ness) of the crimes.

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Mets Saturday morning: Santana to DL, Hefner up

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

After last night’s Johan Santana start that was not awesome (well, it was for the Dodgers, and particularly for Luis Cruz, who hit his first major league home run), Terry Collins discussed maybe skipping the lefty’s next start, because he was tired or something.

“He’s not hurt, let’s put it that way,” said Terry Collins after the game.

That turned out to be false, at least according to the front office. Santana was placed on the disabled list this morning with an ankle injury.

Of course, the ankle thing still doesn’t make a lot of sense given that Collins said that he wanted to “get some energy back in the arm.” You’d think it would be more clear that Santana’s issues were based in the lower body like the Mets are implying with the DL stint.

At least an ankle injury would seem to signify that Santana’s issues are not based on Collins letting him throw 134 pitches to complete his no-hitter on June 1. Said Santana yesterday, “That no-hitter stuff was a long time ago. I don’t think that has anything to do with it.”

Santana has a 6.54 ERA in eight starts the no-hitter. The problem is an insane 11 home runs surrendered as well as 42 other hits in just 42.2 innings. 17 walks isn’t great either, but 37 strikeouts indicate that the stuff is still there. You have to figure if Santana keeps striking guys out, the home runs and hits will go down at least a little bit by themselves.

https://twitter.com/PatrickJFlood/status/226469183603490816

Obviously, I would go with more effective pitching now. Not only did I not get to see the no-hitter alive (I was in Europe), but everyone knows perfect games are the new no-hitters. It’s really ridiculous that the Padres don’t have even a no-no yet.

Jeremy Hefner has been called up, likely to back up Miguel Batista’s start today. Hefner might then pitch in Santana’s stead on Wednesday. Adam Rubin is thinking that this could set up for Matt Harvey to make his MLB debut on Thursday in Phoenix.


I think Harvey would be best used out of the bullpen if promoted this season, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I would be surprised if Harvey pitches a lot better than a replacement-level guy would, but his debut should be fun nonetheless.

Oh, and today at 1:10 PM the Mets play the Dodgers for game number two of their three-game series. As usual, Collins has loaded the lineup with righties against a left-handed opponent. Scott Hairston, Jason Bay, Ronny Cedeno and Mike Nickeas are all in the starting lineup to face old friend Chris Capuano. Here’s LA’s lineup. Hopefully we’ll find out that two starters are better than one this afternoon.

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Mets bullpen panic and more Penn State yapping

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

On Wednesday afternoon for The Daily Stache, I wrote a preview for the Mets vs. National game, but what I want to write about now is the beginning in which I wrote about why the awful bullpen situation has not gotten any better (and might not for another week or two).

Last night was ugly for the New York Mets and now everyone is going nuts about the bullpen. Of course, the bullpen is dreadful, but there’s not much that can be done about it right now. Bringing up Jenrry Mejia (who has been really bad in Buffalo) or Manny Acosta (who has been good in triple-A but not as good in the majors this season) would likely amount to “rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.”

As for outside help, with so many teams still in contention (and thus, so few sellers), the price is going to be driven up on even minor acquisitions. With still two weeks to go until the trade deadline, the sellers are going to hold off on simply giving assets away just in case a buyer gets desperate at the deadline and decides to give up something besides financial relief. There’s little incentive for sellers to give up their assets just yet, and because of that, the Mets front office probably won’t get any help to the bullpen until the deadline draws closer.

Basically, I’m sick of fans being sick of the bullpen. At MetsBlog (linked above), Matt Cerrone takes Sandy Alderon to task for not making insignificant changes to the bullpen. With baseball being as random as it is, there doesn’t seem to be much of a point to calling up lousy players to take the place of other lousy players. Besides, it wasn’t that long ago that Josh Edgin entered the fray to allow Terry Collins more flexibility in his use of left-handed relief.

That flexibility allowed the Mets to get their LOOGY Byrdak up against left-handed amazing person Bryce Harper. Byrdak lost that battle and Bobby Parnell lost his own battle the inning before, but the point is that the Mets were able to get the right people in place to get the job done. Last night was just a lack of execution by guys that most Mets fans would count as pluses.

On his blog, Cerrone talks about how he “had a difficult time sleeping” last night, which is kind of funny to me now. The Penn State scandal has taken me to such a level of fan distress that little Mets collapses like this now seem insignificant by comparison. Just another loss in a season that is bound to have a handful of tough losses.

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On the Penn State scandal

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

I’m done defending Joe Paterno regarding his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. They can do with they want with the statue. I’m don’t think they should tear it down completely, because that would be like pretending this whole thing never happened. Rather, something should be done so that future generations will see Paterno’s greatness as well as his flaws.

It doesn’t matter much to me, though. The statue is on the non-campus side of Beaver Stadium where you really have to look for it in order to find it. It was never meant to be a central landmark of Penn State anyway (at least not until major expansions were made to the already giant university). No matter if the statue is torn down or not, that’s not what’s going to affect the memory of Paterno at Penn State.

I think Phil Knight said it best, as far as Joe’s supporters go. “I missed that he missed it.” That sums up well how I feel now that the Freeh report has brought so much more new information to the table. Before, I felt that protests of Paterno’s firing were acceptable, because there wasn’t enough evidence to link the legendary coach to the decisions that covered up Sanudsky’s crimes.

That’s all changed now, and while there remain some in defense of Paterno, for me it’s become impossible to look past the fact that Paterno and the other stooges let Sandusky stay affiliated to the university with even a little knowledge about what might be going on. “Inexcusable” doesn’t really seem like a strong enough word.

One thing I don’t agree with is the notion that Paterno was somehow the mastermind behind the whole cover-up. I realize that he almost certainly held more power than Tim Curley or Gary Schultz or Graham Spanier, but that doesn’t mean he was willing to exercise that power to save Penn State some embarrassment. The Freeh Report brings to light that the Sandusky problem was discussed with Paterno, and we know that he certainly wasn’t adamant about turning the guy in, but we don’t know if it was the other way around, either. Maybe it was Curley or Spanier who talked Paterno into the cover-up. That wouldn’t excuse the fact that Paterno was part of what happened, but the point is that we don’t know if Paterno abused his role as football coach, like so many are assuming.

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I liked Dickey before he was cool: Dickey becomes mainstream

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

In today’s times of Twitter, hipsters and non-stop baseball media madness, we’re dealing with a lot of the same conversations year after year. Who will get traded at the trade deadline? Who will win Rookie of the Year? How do we make the period between the All-Star break and the pennant race interesting? At what point do no-hitters stop being a big deal?

Well here’s something completely new: The league’s best pitcher is a knuckleball-thrower without a ulnar collateral ligament. Although R.A. Dickey has been thrilling Mets fans for the past two seasons, he’s finally reached national stardom thanks to a pair of one-hitters in which he combined to strikeout 25 batters.

For a Mets fan, this is kind of hard to deal with. The Mets as a whole are still far from completing their renovation that started when Sandy Alderson was brought in after the 2010 season, and yet Dickey has become a superstar. Whether this is a short term Jeremy Lin-like phenomenon or something more, it’s still going to be weird seeing Dickey on the mound to start the All-Star Game. This is something that I dismissed as improbable just last week, but now seems like a distinct possibility.

So, is this something that can last for a long time? Knuckleball pitchers have been known to pitch well into their forties, but Dickey is unlike any knuckleball pitcher to come before him. The main reason for this season’s outstanding performance has been a rise in R.A.’s strikeout rate from 5.78 per nine last season to 9.36 this year. Dickey has somehow gained more control of the thought-to-be uncontrollable knuckleball and that’s allowed him to get more swings and misses than ever before.

I’d love to say that Dickey can keep striking guys out at this rate, but that seems highly unlikely. Dickey adjusted to what batters were doing, and the batters are bound to adjust back. The good news is if he can keep eating up innings while performing like he did in 2010 and 2011, the Mets would still have a rock solid rotation pitcher for years to come.

Speaking of years to come, with a one-year club option for $5 million still left on his deal, the Mets have a lot of time to decide how exactly they want to extend Dickey’s contract. It will certainly be tricky because of the prospect of Dickey pitching well and staying healthy for the next 10 years remains possible. However, at this point, I’m sure Alderson and company know that something has to be done to keep him in orange and blue for a long time.

Dickey could certainly command a lot in the trade market, especially with that affordable option coming up, but the connection he has with the fans and his almost magic durability make him a very unique asset, both tangibly and intangibly. Right now, we can only sit back and hope Dickey keeps pitching like a Cy Young candidate. Even if he doesn’t, though, the dude better get his money.

PS: Props to David Lennon at Newsday for thinking up a great way to compare Dickey to Star Wars that I’m sure the nerdy pitcher will appreciate very much.

You can follow me on Twitter: @apy5000

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Bronson Arroyo is back in town as Mets host Reds

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Update: The Mets just posted their lineup for tonight, so here’s that…

Looks like pretty standard stuff. Remember, no designated hitter tonight since we’re back in the National League.

Yes, that’s Wilson Valdez in center field. Drew Stubbs has been out with an oblique strain since June 5, and his replacement Chris Heisey just injured his groin, but the Reds have opted to leave both players on the active roster. That means we get to find out if Valdez can actually play center. I certainly wasn’t aware that he could.

Original Post: There’s something comforting about Bronson Arroyo pitching against the Mets. In today’s age of roster turnover and guys switching leagues, Arroyo is now in his seventh straight season of eating innings for the Cincinnati Reds.

I’m trying to figure out if he’s pitched against the Mets in each of those seasons, but Baseball-Reference is asking for money and I’m not in the mood to pay for inane statistics.

Anyway, it does SEEM like Arroyo has pitched against the Mets every year since 2006, and now here he comes again. The dude is crazy consistent. He pitched 200+ innings in every season from 2005 to 2010 and then last year he failed and only pitched 199. Always solid, but never spectacular, Arroyo is the type of rock that every team wishes to have in its rotation.

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