The New Mets: Young and Hungry

Baseball is a young man's game.

Sure, you can win with an older team, but it doesn't last, and study after study has shown that the peak years for a ballplayer are between ages 25-31.

The Mets have a young core that could carry this team to big success for the next 5 years, and I would love to see them continue with this model vice previous attempts at finding lightning in a bottle with aging vets.

The current starting team is as follows:

• C-Rod Barajas, age 34
• 1B-Ike Davis, age 23
• 2B-Ruben Tejada, age 20
• 3B-David Wright, age 27
• SS-Jose Reyes, age 26
• LF-Jason Bay, age 31
• CF-Angel Pagan, age 28
• RF-Jeff Francoeur, age 26

That is an average age of 26.9.

When we look at the pitching the story gets even better.

Pelfrey  is 26, Niese is 23, Mejia is 20, Johan is only 31, and Frankie Rodriguez is 28.

While the Mets may not make the playoffs this year, their is a fantastic young core of players to work with.  We're seeing the results in the field, and the youthful energy is something that will carry this team through the dog days of summer.

Baseball, a young man's game, is on display in Queens, and it sure is fun to watch.

"Give Rod the Nod" Campaign

Mets fans want to see Rod Barajas in the All-Star game, and we can certainly help by going here to vote.

The 34-year old Barajas has been a revelation for the Mets, both with his bat and his glove.  He currently leads all catchers in homeruns and RBIs, and his slugging percentage is second only to Miguel Olivo.

That said, the most important contribution he's making just might be with his personality.  Barajas has developed exceptional relationships with his pitchers and the amount of "shaking off" from last year to this year is noticeably less.

If you look at the stats, Barajas is certainly above average defensively, with the 9th best CERA in MLB to go along with the 4th best RF in the NL.  He does fall short in terms of throwing this year, but he commands the game from behind the plate, works well with the staff, and I have not seen him make a bad decision all year. 

Speaking of throwing--Barajas has an excellent arm and has thrown out 33% of baserunners in his career, and 34% just last year.  His totals this year are down, but they are also not running on him very often.  By season's end I fully expect that stat to normalize back toward the mean.

NL Catcher Sortable Fielding
RK	PLAYER	TEAM	GP	GS	FULL	TC	PO	A	E	DP	FPCT	RF	ZR	PB	CSB	CS	CS%	CERA
1	Geovany Soto	CHC	43	39	340	327	312	14	1	1	.997	8.64	3.012	1	30	8	.211	4.46
2	Russell Martin	LAD	46	45	404	387	357	25	5	1	.987	8.52	2.972	3	23	10	.303	3.99
3	Bengie Molina	SFO	40	37	320	303	281	21	1	1	.997	8.49	2.931	1	37	7	.159	3.29
4	Rod Barajas	NYM	41	39	349	328	314	12	2	3	.994	8.40	3.021	1	15	2	.118	4.23
5	Miguel Olivo	COL	38	38	335	303	274	26	3	2	.990	8.07	3.083	3	13	16	.552	3.46
6	Brian McCann	ATL	41	39	331	294	273	16	5	3	.983	7.87	3.170	1	23	9	.281	4.08
7	Yadier Molina	STL	46	45	403	350	323	25	2	5	.994	7.78	3.237	2	10	13	.565	2.52
8	Chris Snyder	ARI	41	39	345	286	260	26	0	0	1.000	7.47	3.395	2	25	11	.306	5.93
9	Carlos Ruiz	PHI	39	38	334	272	247	24	1	2	.996	7.30	3.463	1	24	7	.226	3.55
10	Ryan Doumit	PIT	44	42	367	299	276	21	2	1	.993	7.28	3.485	4	41	4	.089	5.09

There are certainly some great choices for all-star this year at catcher, but for many reasons, it's time for Mets fans to get out and vote to "Give Rod the Nod".

The current popular vote totals for National League catcher are:

1	Yadier Molina, Cardinals	316,795
2	Carlos Ruiz, Phillies	259,227
3	Ivan Rodriguez, Nationals	247,998
4	Brian McCann, Braves	203,377
5	Russell Martin, Dodgers	160,698

Barajas 2010 Season Stats
SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	42	149	22	40	8	0	11	30	4	20	0	0	.268	.291	.544	.835
Career	855	2670	321	641	157	1	103	385	147	464	2	2	.240	.284	.415	.699
Last 7 days	5	18	2	5	1	0	1	6	0	0	0	0	.278	.263	.500	.763
Projected	151	536	79	144	29	0	40	108	14	72	0	0	.268	.291	.544	.835

Mets Cap Off Amazing Comeback Win

In what was the game of the year thus far, the Mets came back to beat the Nationals 8 to 6 in Citi Field.

The game started off poorly for the Mets, with Jonathan Niese giving up a three-run blast to Adam Dunn to put his team behind.

The Mets had plenty of chances to score early, but double play after double play killed the rallies, and the Mets were behind 6-2 in the bottom of the 8th.At one point in the game the Mets were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

Yes, it was that bad.

And then the magic happened...

12 men came to the plate, and 6 scored.

The New and Improved Rod Barajas, "Now with even more A-Has!" double off the leftfield wall to tie the game at 6.

After a beautiful bunt single by Alex Cora, the newest Met, Chris Carter, stroked a line drive single to right to give the Mets the lead.  Jason Bay walked with the bases loaded to give the Mets their 8th and final run.

Frankie Rodriguez came on to close it in the 9th, and after getting two quick outs, the magic of Ike "Money" Davis resurfaced for the third time.

Davis made another unbelievable catch by diving into the dugout and flipping over as he was caught by a half dozen teammates, coaches and trainers.

After the first two of these spectacular plays, the bench now stands ready anytime Ike approaches.  The young first baseman is more acrobatic than a 4 foot 6 female Chinese gymnast, and he once again stuck the landing to take home the gold medal.

It was just a terrific comeback all around, and we saw solid, and much needed, hitting from Jason Bay and David Wright.

The Mets play the Nats tomorrow afternoon to finish the series.

Good Morning Mets Fans!

Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco were afterthoughts this past off-season as they played second banana to the Benjie Molina.  If they were a musical duo, they'd have been called Garfunkel and Oates.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, and the fans that fill the forum known as Citi Field are certainly grateful

Henry Blanco took a cue from Rod Barajas and blasted the Mets to victory in the 11th inning--this just one day after Barajas hit his walkoff bomb.

Blanco's blast enabled the Mets to win their 9th consecutive home game and sent the fan faithful home with a lot to cheer about.

"That was exciting to see Henry come up and hit that home run," manager Jerry Manuel said. "We swung the bats well the last couple of innings but I was wondering where we were going to get some runs."

"It was a fastball pretty much right down the middle but I never thought it was going to go out," Blanco said, "so I just keep running hard and see if I can make a triple. But I guess it went out."

Johan Santana pitched a strong game, going into the 8th inning on a very reasonable pitch count.  When two men singled their way on board in the 8th, Jerry Manuel made the switch to the bullpen with nearly disastrous results.  The bullpen couldn't hold on to Santana's 4-3 lead, and the Giants tied it on RBI single off Pedro Feliciano by Aubrey Huff.

I tend to beat up on Jerry's handling of the pitching staff, and yesterday was no different.  You have your ace on the mound, in the 8th, at 101 pitches, and an overworked bullpen.  In that situation the best move was to leave Santana in; instead Jerry goes to Nieve and Feliciano, both of whom are on pace to pitch in well over 100 games.  They gave up back to back singles and the lead was lost.

Enough is enough Jerry...the well is not endless, and when the Mets start playing back to back games of 10 or more, as the upcoming schedule shows, you're not going to have the guys you need because of all this ridiculous early season overuse.

That said, there was a lot of good news from the bullpen.  After Mejia recorded the final out of the 8th, Frankie Rodriguez came on and pitched two very strong innings.  Then Takahashi, the crafty Japanese import came on in the top of the 11th and once again pitched brilliantly.  He got the win thanks to Blanco, and afterward, he called Barajas and Blanco "My big brothers." 

It was another win in what is looking more and more like a very competitive and hard fought NL East.  The Mets are showing a lot of heart and grit--they are an easy team to root for.

Just imagine this club with Carlos Beltran.

Scoreboard
Final 11th	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
San Francisco (17-12)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	10	0
N.Y. Mets (17-13) «	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	7	0

Player of the Game

New York
H. Blanco	AB	5
	R	1
	H	3
	HR	1
	RBI	1

Enjoy your coffee!

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• Quote: Blanco for Barajas, Tipping Pitches, Heels (metsblog.com)
• Blanco HRs in 11th; Mets' home win streak at 9 (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• Mets 6, Giants 5, 11 Innings: Different Game, Different Catcher, Same Result for Mets (nytimes.com)
• Mets 5 - Giants 4 May 8, 2010 (metsreport.com)
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• Note: about Rod Barajas, His Hand, and The Clutch (metsblog.com)

Rod Barajas on Pace for 61 HRs, 115 RBIs

And that makes me smile.

From ESPN:

Rod Barajas 2010 Season Stats
SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	23	82	13	20	2	0	9	17	2	11	0	0	.244	.264	.598	.862
Career	836	2603	312	621	151	1	101	372	145	455	2	2	.239	.283	.414	.697
Last 7 days	5	16	4	5	0	0	4	6	0	2	0	0	.313	.313	1.063	1.375
Projected	156	556	88	136	14	0	61	115	14	75	0	0	.244	.264	.598	.862

Good Morning Mets Fans!

What a great night last night.

Two HRs by Ike "Money" Davis, two HRs by "In Rod We Trust" Barajas, including a game-winning walkoff, and a catch by Ike that was the play of the day.

Oh it was a dramatic night...

Rod Barajas' hand hurt...he got called for catcher's interference when Mike Pelfrey's pitchout wasn't wide enough and the crafty Giants catcher, Eli Whiteside, swung the bat and hit Rod in the mitt...it hurt, and Barajas knew his swings were painful, and therefore limited.

"I told myself I probably got one good swing," he said. "Once I take that swing, my finger's going to go numb."

But one swing was all the Mets needed from him in the bottom of the 9th as he took Sergio Romo deep with one on (Ike Davis walked) and one out.

Barajas cherished the moment:

"My whole body went numb after it went over the fence," Barajas said.

The older veteran catcher and the rookie phenom first baseman played alpha-omega for the Mets and led the team to victory.

Ike was moved down in the lineup because lefties had been 0 for 17 against Jonathan Sanchez on the year.  Ike wasn't phased a bit and had his best game of the year and first multihomer game of his young big league career.

The "Catch" can be seen here...words are tough to describe the acrobatic elegance of what this man can do with the glove.

"My biceps are a little sore from holding onto the fence," Davis said.

He added:

"Most of the time you don't get chances repeatedly like that," Davis said. "I got long arms, I guess."

Mike Pelfrey also played a key role in the victory, pitching into the 8th inning on a very stingy pitch count.  He looked phenomenal and could've pitched a complete game, but Jerry Manuel was cautious with him and went to Valdes in the 8th, who worked out of a jam.

Frankie Rodriguez gave up a tying solo shot in the 9th on a pitiful excuse for a changeup after shaking off the fastball that was called by Barajas.

But it's a team game, and his teammates, Ike Davis and Rod Barajas, picked him up.

It's certainly starting to feel magical around here and I will say this with certainty--these 2010 Mets are an easy team to root for.  Johan Santana on the mound today, in a game that could tell us a lot about the rest of his season...I can't wait.

Enjoy your coffee!

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Francisco (17-11)	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	1	4	11	0
N.Y. Mets (16-13) «	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	6	8	3

Players of the Game

New York I. Davis AB 3 R 3 H 2 HR 2 RBI 2

New York R. Barajas AB 4 R 2 H 2 HR 2 RBI 3

Memo to Jerry: Fix the Lineup Now

The Mets are in an offensive funk, and the Gods of math and baseball are shaking their heads at Jerry Manuel.

It is painfully obvious what the lineup should be, yet Jerry continues to put his special brand of craziness on it.

Here's what the lineup should be and why:

Jose Reyes
Angel Pagan
David Wright
Jason Bay
Ike Davis
Jeff Francoeur
Rod Barajas
Luis Castillo
Pitcher

To whit:

• Jose Reyes has a .356 OBP with 145 SB from 2007-09, yet only a .283 OBP lifetime batting third. Jerry has him batting third.
• Angel Pagan has a .400 OBP .900 OPS 2007-09 hitting second. Luis Castillo has a .360 OBP .666 OPS in 2010 hitting second.  Jerry has Castillo batting second and Pagan leading off.  I wrote a detailed stats piece on why Angel Pagan should bat second here.
• David Wright has a .446 OBP .909 OPS hitting third in 2010 and .398 OBP .909 2007-09. Jerry has Wright batting fifth.
• Jeff Francoeur has a .313 OBP and .709 OPS in the 6 hole from 2007-09, and a .268 OBP, .568 OPS hitting 7th. Jerry has Francoeur hitting seventh.
• Rod Barajas is tied for the team lead in home runs and has an OPS 113 points higher than Luis Castillo.  Jerry has Barajas hitting eighth and Castillo second.

With Jerry's "Very special lineup" the Mets are:

19th in MLB in Runs
24th in OPS
27th in MLB in Batting Average

Jerry--fix the lineup and let math be your friend.  And one more thing--the next time you start Gary Mathews Jr you should be fired.

Good Morning Mets Fans!

We had a lot of fun on Twitter last night following the game.  For those of you wanting a little fan interaction, I really recommend it.  All of the bloggers and beat writers are there, and it's very enjoyable.

It's even more enjoyable when the Mets win, and thanks to Rod Barajas 9th inning herioics, a win it was.

I think Rod needs a slogan.  How about:

The New and improved Rod Barajas, now with even more "A-Ha!"


Barajas solo shot in the ninth inning rallied the Mets to a 5-4 victory.  Truthfully, Rod's heroics should not have been needed, but Jerry Manuel insists on pitching Fernando Nieve until his arm falls off, and Nieve showed a few cracks in the armor in allowing two 8th inning homeruns to the Reds, which erased the Mets 4-2 lead.

Barajas shot was an absolute bomb--Reds closer Francisco Cordero put one right in Rod's wheelhouse, and the sturdy catcher knew exactly what to do.

Barajas now leads the Mets in dingers with seven, which is also the most by any catcher in baseball.

"He's been impressive in that manner," manager Jerry Manuel said. "He's had some big hits at some big moments."

Perpetual Pedro Feliciano got the final out in the eighth and got the win, and Frankie Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five tries.

"It's good to win a close game," said David Wright, who hit the other solo homer. "That's something we have not been able to do a lot of this year. Hopefully this gives us a little momentum."


"You don't want to be a team that diminishes a winning streak with a bad streak," Manuel said. "You want to right the ship."

David Wright's homerun came off of Bronson Arroyo, who pitched well, but not as well as he had in the recent past against the Mets.  Jose Reyes is rounding back into offensive shape.  Reyes chipped in with two hits, a run-scoring single in the first and a double in the sixth inning.

There were some very good signs from John Maine as well.  The lanky rigt hander pitched 6 innings and allowed only one earned run.  He also K'd six batters and walked two.

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
N.Y. Mets (15-12) «	1	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	1	5	8	1
Cincinnati (13-14)	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4	6	0

Player of the Game

New York R. Barajas AB 4 R 1 H 1 HR 1 RBI 1

All in all a very satisfying win.  Enjoy your coffee!

Inside the Park Grand Slam for Omir!

Well that was fun.

Jason "I wanted to be a Met" Marquis walked the bases loaded. Alex Cora hit a single to drive in a run, and then Omir Santos stepped to the plate.

Omir lined one into leftfield, and after the ball bounced around it rolled under the fence. The ball was clearly playable, but the Nats leftfielder, Tavares, decided to raise his hand and ask for the ground rule double.

His request fell on deaf ears, and Omir circled the bases for an inside the park Grand Slam.

Talk Me Off the Ledge: Rod Barajas

First it was Benjie Molina, now, according to Metsblog and other sources, it's Rod Barajas.

Why, why, why?

This is the same Rod Barajas that put up the following stats in 2009:

• .213 BA and .241 OBP against RH pitching
• .214 BA and .234 OBP at home
  
• 8 walks in 299 plate appearances in the second half of the season
• .163 BA and .195 OBP in games played that his team lost
• .661 OPS on the year
  

If you're fooled by a few homeruns, please stop reading now and go back to your fingerpainting. This is a player that cannot get on base and doesn't have high pedigree fielding chops to make up for the lack of hitting. Is he an above average fielder? Yes, but not enough to offset the hole in the lineup his bat brings.

Can we not just stick with Thole and Santos or Blanco and call it a day? Do we truly need to chase after every marginal catcher in baseball?

Talk me off the ledge please.

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