Hello Ace

Here are the leaders in Wins among MLB starters:

Starting Pitchers
RK	PLAYER	TEAM	GP	GS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	SV	HLD	BLSV	WHIP	ERA
1	Ubaldo Jimenez	COL	10	10	71.1	42	7	7	24	61	9	1	0	0	0	0.93	0.88
2	Mike Pelfrey	NYM	11	10	63.2	57	18	18	26	44	7	1	1	0	0	1.30	2.54
	David Price	TAM	9	9	59.2	45	19	16	23	46	7	1	0	0	0	1.14	2.41
4	Andy Pettitte	NYY	9	9	58.1	53	18	17	18	36	6	1	0	0	0	1.22	2.62
	Derek Lowe	ATL	10	10	56.0	59	35	33	28	33	6	4	0	0	0	1.55	5.30
	Roy Halladay	PHI	10	10	77.0	73	23	19	12	59	6	3	0	0	0	1.10	2.22
	Barry Zito	SFO	10	10	67.1	55	23	22	26	40	6	2	0	0	0	1.20	2.94
	Jon Garland	SDG	10	10	60.0	51	21	14	29	38	6	2	0	0	0	1.33	2.10
	Carlos Silva	CHC	9	9	53.2	54	23	21	11	31	6	0	0	0	0	1.21	3.52
	Adam Wainwright	STL	10	10	72.0	52	20	19	19	69	6	3	0	0	0	0.99	2.38

Jason Bay Can Right the Ship This Weekend

Jason Bay has struggled in May to the tune of a .111 BA, .190 OBP, .111 Slg, and .301 OPS in 18 at-bats.

Fortunately for Mets fans the team is home this weekend and facing a club with a pitching staff that Bay has crushed throughout his career.

Here's what he's done against the Giants staff in his career:

PITCHER	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Todd Wellemeyer	16	3	0	0	2	5	0	8	.188	.222	.563	.785
Guillermo Mota	6	3	0	0	2	3	0	2	.500	.500	1.500	2.000
Barry Zito	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.400	.400	.400	.800
Matt Cain	5	4	1	0	0	1	2	0	.800	.857	1.000	1.857
Jonathan Sanchez	3	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.333	.500	.333	.833
Tim Lincecum	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333	.333	.333	.667
Jeremy Affeldt	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.500	.667	.500	1.167
Brandon Medders	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000
Brian Wilson	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.500	.000	.500
Totals	43	16	1	0	4	9	5	14	.372	.440	.674	1.114

Those numbers alone have to make you smile, but there is another important point--Bay has hit well in Citi Field thus far.

On the year he has a .309 BA, .433 OPS, .545 Slg and .978 OPS in 55 Citi Field at-bats.

If the weekend goes as the numbers predict, Bay is back, and with a vengeance.

The Best Baseball Blog You Don't Know About...Yet

Morgan Ensberg is blogging....and it is amazing.

He goes into detail about situations and what big leaguers are thinking and doing.

I'm not kidding that it might just be the most interesting baseball blog I have ever read, and he just started it.

Morgan Ensberg's Baseball IQ

Here are two of his fascinating posts:

How to Hit a Batter:  Zito vs Fielder

Did Barry Zito send a message to Prince Fielder or to his Giants teammates?

What’s My Point?
Barry Zito did hit Prince Fielder because of the walk–off home run.  But I believe he is sending a message to the league that the Giants care about how the game is played. I also think that Zito is teaching his young pitching staff how to hit a batter.

Why does it matter?

1. The Giants have a team that can win the NL West and Zito knows it.  The pitching staff is young, but Zito knows that opposing players take notice if they know that a pitching staff is willing to protect their teammates or the game.
2. There is no better way for a pitcher to get position players on your side then to hit an opposing player.  Even though this was not retaliation because of a Giants batter being hit, it still proves that any perceived disrespectful action will be handled with a message pitch.  This is HUGE.

Reasons to Throw at a Batter:

1. A player looks, yells, or points at an opposing player clearly showing that the game is secondary to making his point.
2. A player slides hard into a base late or with their spikes high where the result is not to break up a play, but to hurt the opposing player.
3. Any action that a player makes that causes fans to look at them instead of the play.  This could include hitting a home run and standing there too long or throwing your bat high in the air while you are watching the ball go over the fence.
4. If the opposing pitcher throws around a player’s head more than once.  (Once can be assumed that the ball just got away)
5. If opposing team hits your 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th hitter, or best player with a fastball in the middle of the back with the 1^st pitch.

Timing
Most important!!!!!  2 outs! Your team is winning by 4 runs or more.  Why?  After you hit this guy, the opposing team is going to be mad and you just gave them a motivator to fight back.  Also, winning the game is the top priority.  We will not give the opposing team a legitimate statistical chance of winning because of it.  The reason it is 4 runs is because that is the most runs possible with one swing of the bat.

MATH:
In 2009 the MLB On Base Percentage Avg was .333.
In 2009 the chance of hitting a Home run was 0.03

So the probability of 3 men getting on base in a row are 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/3 = 1/27 or 0.037

We multiply 0.037 (chance of loading the bases) x 0.03 (chance a person hits a hr) = 0.001 or 0.1% (one tenth of a percent)

Now you have to understand that I am using overall 2009 Stats and this is not taking into consideration anything but the “absolute” numbers.

Obviously a power hitter has a better chance of hitting a home run vs. a power hitter who is playing hurt. You get my drift.

This math problem is to give you a general understanding of probability.

All you SABR guys can cool off now.

Try and hit him in the RIBS not the back, butt, legs…with a 4 seemed fastball. This is the only real way to send a message. I have been hit countless times in the back by a 2-seamed fastball and never once am I sure I was hit on purpose.  Of course, I must have been, but since the ball was sinking into me I assumed he just missed.

Once you hit him, you don’t look at him, you don’t talk to him, you don’t walk towards the batter, you don’t look at the umpire and throw your hands up as if it got away, you don’t argue with the umpire.  If you get thrown out you walk off the field…message sent.   If you do any of the actions mentioned you have switched the focus from sending a message to saying you “didn’t mean it” which is opposite of your point.  You want the opposing team to know you did it on purpose.

MOST IMPORTANT!
You do not hit a batter because he “owns” you.  You don’t hit a batter because you don’t like him.

I Believe Milton Bradley

What’s My Point?
I believe the fans at Wrigley gave Milton a hard time and maybe it was deserved, but at least 3 of those fans crossed the line.

Why Does it Matter?
I don’t hear one person coming to his defense and that tells me something isn’t right.  I believe the Cubs tried as hard as they could to make him feel welcome.  But I haven’t heard one quote saying it was possible that a fan crossed the line.

My Take
It has been well documented that Milton received treatment for anger management.  But fans don’t care.  They think,  “Hey, he is a millionaire and a jerk.  Watch this, I am going to yell at him until he snaps.  It’ll be funny!”  A fan at Wrigley tried to be funny with me also and he crossed the line.

I was in right field shagging balls during BP in 2007.  I loved talking to the fans in the bleachers.   In fact, I felt so comfortable with them that a guy asked to see my glove so I tossed it to him.  He looked at it and threw it back down, no problem.  Back to the story…

I was talking to a group of 7 and they started ragging me, but I got them to laugh and the conversation quickly turned into a Q & A session.  After 15 min I told them I had to hit.  When I turned my back I heard a guy spit and felt phlegm hit my left temple.

As I jogged into the dugout my eyes were watering up.  I took 3 or 4 deep breaths and regained my composure.  It took me over an hour to stop feeling humiliated.  Someone just spit on me because he thought it would be funny and instead it burned a memory into my heart that I will never forget.

Spitting, literally, dribbles contempt, and it is the noxious, viscous disdain of the act that makes it such a powerful and intimate insult. The appeal of spitting is the effortless momentary disrespect it conveys, while the person on the receiving end must experience the full humiliation of the splash, the dribble and the ungainly wipe.  Esther Addley The Guardian, Thursday 6 November 2003

So when Milton says that he was called a “derogatory comment”.  I believe him.  When he says his family was threatened, I believe him.  Every fan isn’t a racist, just like every fan doesn’t spit on players.  But based on my experience at Wrigley, I believe him.

Final Thought
Milton and I were teammates for 2 months with the Padres.  He has a HUGE heart and was a great teammate.  He just wants to have someone in his corner.  I’ll be that guy Milton

Good Morning Mets Fans! 6 in a Row!

There was something in the air that night,
The stars were bright, Fernando!

From scrap heap, to scrappy star. Fernando Tatis is baseball's feel good story of the year.

On a day the Mets learned the Moises Alou era at Shea is most likely over, Tatis, a Comeback Player of the Year candidate, did it again. He went 3 for 5 with two doubles and a homerun, while driving in 4 runs. His 7th inning two-run bomb put the Mets up for good.

He is winning over the hearts of his manager, teammates and the Shea faithful with his hustle, clutch hitting, and the energy and smile he carries around with him...he is a gamer and exactly the type of player NY fans love to cheer.

Tatis stroked a two-run double in the third inning against Barry Zito before untying a 3-3 game with a shot over the fence in left-center against Sergio Romo (0-1) in the seventh. Fans chanted "Ta-tis" following the homer and again as he came to bat in the eighth inning.

When you lose [Alou and Church] you think of replacing them with like pieces," interim manager Jerry Manuel said. "But if you look around, you might have had that piece staring you in the face."

"This is New York," Tatis said. "Sometimes they are going to boo you and sometimes they are going to clap for you. So far they've been great." "He's a good ballplayer. He's always been a tough out. He's not a surprise to the guys who know him," said Billy Wagner, who was starring for Houston when Tatis had his one brilliant year.

And the clutch stats certainly tell the tale of this unlikely hero. He is hitting 12 for 26, .462, with runners in scoring position. How about pressure? In "close and late" situations he is hitting .368.

Fernando-Mania!

How amazing were the Mets pitchers against the Giants? How about 3 runs and 9 hits in 3 games....that is staggering.

John Maine didn't have great control yesterday and his pitch count suffered, but he didn't allow the Giants much.

The bullpen, for the second straight game, was the star. 4.1 innings of one-hit ball. Yesterday it was Muniz, Schoeneweis (who got the win), Goggles and Billy Wagner.

Our young guys continue to rake--David Wright had two doubles and Jose Reyes drove in a run...not sure if you are aware, but neither player is going to the All-Star game.

So here we sit, after a 6-game winning streak, 4 games over .500, 1.5 games back in the NL East, and 3.5 games back in the NL Wild Card.

We talked about our favorable schedule earlier in the week, and how big a part that is going to play for the rest of the year. The Mets are very much in the hunt and are 14-9 under Jerry Manuel.

Guys are hitting, guys are pitching, we're running more and the results have been tremendous. Let's take it to the Rockies and close out the first half in style.

It's a good morning to be a Mets fans. Enjoy your coffee you wild-eyed optimists!

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Francisco (39-53)	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	3	3	2
N.Y. Mets (48-44) «	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0	x	7	9	0

Players of the Game

New York D. Wright AB 3 R 2 H 2 HR 0 RBI 0

New York F. Tatis AB 5 R 1 H 3 HR 1 RBI 4

New York Mets
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jose Reyes, SS	4	0	1	1	1	0	1	.300
Argenis Reyes, 2B	5	1	1	0	0	1	5	.308
David Wright, 3B	3	2	2	0	2	0	0	.288
Carlos Beltran, CF	5	1	1	1	0	0	6	.265
Fernando Tatis, RF-LF	5	1	3	4	0	0	1	.303
Carlos Delgado, 1B	4	0	0	0	1	0	2	.246
Nick Evans, LF	4	1	1	0	0	0	2	.185
Endy Chavez, RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.268
Brian Schneider, C	1	1	0	0	3	1	0	.249
John Maine, P	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	.111
Carlos Muniz, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a- Chris Aguila, PH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Scott Schoeneweis, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
b- Damion Easley, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.286
Duaner Sanchez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Billy Wagner, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	34	7	9	6	8	2
a-hit a sacrifice bunt for Muniz in the 6th
b-grounded out for Schoeneweis in the 7th
Batting
2B - David Wright 2 (24, Romo, Matos), Fernando Tatis 2 (5, Zito, Zito)
HR - Fernando Tatis (4, Romo)
SH - Chris Aguila (1)
RBI - Jose Reyes (40), Carlos Beltran (63), Fernando Tatis 4 (18)
2-OUT RBI - Jose Reyes (21)
Team LOB - 12
Fielding
DP - A. Reyes-Delgado

New York Mets
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
John Maine	4.2	2	3	3	5	8	0	3.99
Carlos Muniz	1.1	0	0	0	1	1	0	5.54
Scott Schoeneweis (W,1-2)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.72
Duaner Sanchez	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	3.63
Billy Wagner	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.43
WP - John Maine 2 (9)
Pitches-Strikes - John Maine 109-63, Carlos Muniz 20-10, Scott Schoeneweis 8-5, Duaner Sanchez 21-12, Billy Wagner 5-5
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - John Maine 2-4, Scott Schoeneweis 2-1, Duaner Sanchez 1-0, Billy Wagner 1-2
Batters Faced - John Maine 21, Carlos Muniz 5, Scott Schoeneweis 3, Duaner Sanchez 4, Billy Wagner 3