Archive for category 2010 Season

The I Like Ike Davis Pulse of the 2010 New York Mets Baseball Season

Mets Crushing All Inter-League Foes

Mets were sweeping, winning and just outright destroying their interleague schedule. Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles got worked over by the surging Mets pitching staff. The Twins didn’t fair much better and only the Yankees managed to play .500 with the Mets.

Jose Reyes has been on a tear, mashing homers and triples at a crazy pace and has demonstrated his wheels with his return to prominence on the base paths by routinely stealing bases and scoring runs.

David Wright has returned to form, belting his 14th home run and driving in RBI’s to the tune of most RBI’s in the National League. Mr. Clutch is back and he no doubt is benefiting from having Ike Davis hitting behind him.

Speaking of Ike Davis, this guy is a rookie and has not only played a stellar first base for the Mets, but he has jacked 9 home runs and is really starting to drive in runs for the offense consistently.

Carlos Beltran is coming back, he is playing for Port St. Lucie including some work in center field. A healthy Beltran returning to his old school form would make the Mets lineups one of the better ones in all of baseball. Even with Frenchy playing some good baseball, a Carlos Beltran caliber player would be a huge upgrade. Frenchy will make a great bat off the bench and a solid 4th outfielder.

Jason Bay and Angel Pagan are key pieces. Jason Bay obviously signed that huge deal, and hopefully the warmer weather ahead will get him back to his knack for being an RBI machine. Angel Pagan has played great, timely hitting and solid defense. Pagan’s speed has been a second coming of Jose Reyes and his impact scoring runs has been big reason the Mets fans have been patiently waiting for Carlos Beltran’s return.

Pitching is all about R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi replacing John Maine and Oliver Perez. The two immediate upgrades have solidified the rotation and giving confidence to the ball club that they can win everyday, as evidenced by a couple of long winning streaks. R.A. Dickey has won his first six decisions, making him the first New York Met in history to accomplish that feat. I fully expect Dickey to be the first Mets pitcher to throw a no-hitter. Johan Santana has given up some big innings, and at the moment appears to be the weak link in the Mets rotation. Johan is too good to let this continue, I expect him to turn it around and return to being the Ace of our staff. Mike Pelfrey has become an absolute winner. Love what he has done all season. Props off to Fernando Nieve as well, this guy has been terrific as the Mets 5th starter, even throwing a one-hit masterpiece.

Brewers Win 2 of 3

That is about par for the year on games played away from the vast coziness of Citi Field. Onto San Diego, where surprisingly good pitching and not surprisingly bad hitting (save Adrian Gonzalez) has the Padres winning most of the close games and leading the NL west.

Replacing Oliver Perez and John Maine in the lineup with R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi have Mets Fans feeling much more comfortable. With those guys, we feel we have an actual chance to win. Dickey is 2-0 in his 3 starts and Takahashi’s crazy leg motion has befuddled the powerful Phillies and Yankees lineups.

Omar Minaya has been taken a beating in the media, but it appears the discoveries of R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi were brilliant and he deserves some applause for that. Now, he needs to figure out what to do with Oliver Perez.

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day! Fireworks will be going off after the game at PetCo Park in San Diego. Let’s go Mets!

SUPER BROOM Mets Sweep Phillies

Mets embarrass Phillies 3 Straight SHOUTOUTS!

Mets fans finally have something on our hated rival. Mets just made history with three consecutive shutouts in a 3 game series. That all powerful Philly lineup just got blasted by a journeyman knuckleballer, a thirty something year old Japanese rookie and Mike Pelfrey who redeemed himself against the team he had his one bad outing of the season against. No Chase Utley. No Jayson Werth. No Jimmy Rollins.

Mets now only 2 games out. Big series against the Brewers and that means Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Let’s just hope we can continue what we’ve gotten going against the Yankees and Phillies.

Mets Take 2 of 3 from Yankees

Citi Field was rocking all series long, but a historical Citi Field moment was born. The crowd was on its feet – moments from a hopeful eruption – and with a full count, two out in the ninth inning, with the Mets hanging to a two run lead, and the juiced home run king A-Rod facing fireball closer K-Rod, and the Mets delivered. Struck’em out with a nasty pitch. This was awesome, Johan Santana out dueling C.C. Sabathia and Jason Bay ripping two off the Yankees star pitcher.

I Like Ike Davis is now batting cleanup. Amazing for a rookie, but he gives us the best chance for success. Reyes’ experiment at batting third did not work, he is back leading off. Angel Pagan has moved back. Beltran is still awhile away.

Mets Starting Pitching 0 Wins in Month of May

Monday, May 17 2010 to date in the month of May the Mets starting pitching has yet to get a single win, but managed quite a few losses. Early in the season we had some pitchers putting up W’s but lately they have been putting up lollipops losing in ugly ways.

Mets now have a losing record and are really falling behind Philadelphia, and that after being in first just a couple weeks ago.

Pelfrey on the mound tonight, and currently has a lead 3-2 lead over Atlanta through 8 in the game with Barajas knocking in two of the Mets three RBIs. If we can hold, Pelfrey will have righted the ship and can put up a W for the beleaguered starting pitching staff.

Mets Losing 1 Run Games, 3 this Week

Obviously this sports blog is relatively positive, well at least as much as possible but sometimes I am just gonna tell it like it is. The Mets offense has shown some bright flashes, but overall its still pretty anemic. Wright is showing some pop and improvement from last year, but the middle of our order is just not getting runs batted in consistently. That is where hopefully Carlos Beltran comes in. This guy is one of the best in the game when healthy, add him to our lineup and drop off some of the dead weight and hopefully we can see us with an offense that is more like Milwaukee’s and less like Atlanta’s.

1 out in the ninth, the Marlins score the game winning run… on a wild pitch. Why does it come down to this, lets get Johan Santana more than 1 run of offense.

Nationals Own Us

Take 2 of 3.

2 of 3 from San Francisco Big Series with Nationals Ahead

The only thing I know is that the Nationals are better than expected. It seems its about time, as even a bad team comes together every once in awhile with a good season, save the Pittsburgh Pirates (17 years of consecutive losing seasons). Except, that the Nationals have an ace up their sleeve. Steven Strasburg is gonna dominate and its only a matter of when.

With the Mets and Nationals tied in the standings at 17-14 and trailing Philadelphia by 2 games, it would be nice if the Mets were to take 2 out of 3 in the series. The games are at Citi Field where the Mets have been incredible, so a sweep of the Nationals is not out of the question. They are the Nationals, remember.

Rod Barajas Walk-Off Home Run

Rod Barajas and I Like Ike Davis Smash Two Home Runs Each

This epic Mets win was one of those games you wish you were there in person. Close your eyes and imagine being at CitiField in the bottom of the ninth inning, watching as the heroic Barajas rips a rising line drive to the right of the left-field flag pole. Now open your eyes, and remember that this Barajas guy was just sitting around in the offseason, lets give some credit to the Mets front office for finding a nice piece to the puzzle. We have already gotten about a zillion times more production out of Barajas than we got all last year. 9 home runs including a jaw-dropping 3 multi-home run games.

Off topic: Way to belatedly celebrate Cinco De Mayo Barajas, you the man rocking Mexico’s sports pages and pleasing one of the largest Mets fan bases outside the United States. For all you futbol fans, the initial rosters must be submitted later this week for the World Cup. The Mexican soccer team I think may surprise the world at this year’s upcoming World Cup in South Africa by advancing not only out of their difficult group of South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay & France, but I boldly predict they make it to the semifinals. Of course I also think the United States has a realistic chance of winning the whole World Cup thing, we do have great goalies and offense which can be a great combination if we can get reasonable play at of our defense… Ahh, forget defense, just score goals this time around.

Back to Ike Davis. This guy is seemingly gonna be the next great Mets first baseman as he is young and has improving power. Some say I Like Ike Davis is a lot like John Olerud. That is great and all, we all loved John Olerud. But I hope he is more, I hope he grows into something more powerful as a player a la Albert Pujols or Ryan Braun. As a team, the Mets seem to have success so far in nearly every game that Ike Davis contributes. It will be pleasurable watching this guy transform into a true leader on the team, the type of hitting by example leadership that you love in a first baseman.

Almost forgot to mention, I Like Ike Davis plays defense too. His acrobatic lunge into the dugout for a foul ball was the big out saving K-Rod in the top of the 9th inning.

Mets miss Citi Field

The Cincinnati Reds hit a back breaking walk-off homer in extra innings to beat the Mets. Moments before, I Like Ike Davis had one of those dream moments you have as a kid, go ahead runner on 2nd and two outs, extra innings in a hostile environment (well, Reds fans are more docile than hostile) and I thought he was gonna have a big moment that Mets fans would remember for the rest of his career. I Like Ike Davis looked at a couple curve balls for strikes and then struck out. The hair raising moment was one of many for the Mets, as it so nice to see them playing meaningful baseball. Davis looks comfortable at the plate, his clutch hit moments ala Benny Agbayani are gonna come.

Pelfrey and Santana Blasted by Philadelphia

The Mets lead in the NL east is over. On Saturday Mike Pelfrey getting outdueled by the best pitcher in baseball was almost to be expected. On Sunday Johan Santana getting outdueled by the oldest pitcher in baseball was certainly not expected.

David Wright and Rod Barajas jacked homers to put the Mets up 3-0 and then 5-2, both leads seemingly safe with Santana on the mound. But then came one of those total brain-farts when Johan walked a hitter with the bases loaded…and two outs. That hitter, was none other than 47 year old pitcher Jamie Moyer. Shane Victorino should never have had a chance to bat that inning, instead he immediately takes Johan out of the ballpark, the third home run off Santana in just a few innings of work.

Though it was a long shot, the walk to the pitcher and subsequent grand slam pretty much ends any chance for Santana to win this years Cy Young award. Hopefully he can forget it and concentrate on at least getting us some wins.

Home Run Party in Philly

Jonathon Niese was brilliant, his best outing of his career in a high pressure situation. Going into Citizens Bank Park and facing the two time defending National League champs is no easy task, but Niese got the job done. Mets win 9-1.
Rod Barajas went yard twice while Frenchy and David both rocked the Phillies pitchers for four baggers. The beat down included a blasting of Brad Lidge, who coming off an injury spell will certainly leave some unhappy phone calls to the sports talk shows in Philadelphia.
Jason Bay, mad props for that ridiculously nice at-the-wall catch, web gem plays like that are always welcome.

Up Next, Roy Halladay Saturday and Johan Santana Sunday.

Mets Sweep Dodgers

Hot hitting Ike Davis goes 2-4 with an RBI and helps the Mets to an incredible 9-1 homestand.

6 in a row and now in 1st place

Yes, that is right, the Mets have a 1/2 game lead on the Phillies after taking a doubleheader from the Dodgers. Johan Santana was ridiculous in the first game in front of 27 fans at Citi Field. In the more heavily attended nightcap, the Mets demolished the Dodgers with the big money bats exploding and the bullpen’s Japanese relief sensation again coming through and probably earning him a spot in the rotation soon, very soon. Sorry Maine.

Ike Davis brilliant

2-5 on the day with 2 doubles driving in 3 runs and walking twice. I know everyone is falling in love with I Like Ike especially the fact that his emergence has coincided with the best baseball the Mets have played in a long time.

Jason Bay got his first homer today and has several extra base hits lately. With plenty of space at Citi Field it was only a matter of time till some of his drives found some open space to land.

Maine showed me after my knock on him last post. Maine impresses with 9 strikeouts pitching into the 7th inning. Possibly a coincidence, but on a very windy day, Main’es pitches were moving all over the place all day totally baffling the well payed Dodgers lineup.

Mets Sweep Atlanta

With the call-up of I Like Ike Davis and Reyes returning to the lineup – batting third – the Mets find themselves over .500 and only 1.5 games behind Philadelphia who shot out of the gate with the League’s highest scoring offense. The NL East is tight so far as the Mets are now tied with wild card hopeful Florida and upstart Washington. Washington has had the worst record in Major League Baseball the past two seasons but the whole Steven Strasburg is tearing up the minor leagues has the Nationals playing inspired baseball. Atlanta 3 games back and playing embarrassingly bad. I especially liked how Pelfrey made Chipper Jones look silly with runners in scoring position… 3 times.

Midway through the Mets going for the four game sweep against Atlanta, Mike Pelfrey has pitched 25 consecutive scoreless innings.

This is a tremendous performance by the young pitcher. It must be getting close to a Mets team record. 1-0 Mets winning through 5 innings, appears Pelfrey is done for the day as he had a high pitch  count working out of a jam seemingly every inning.

Mets at 9-9 are back to .500

This is promising as through the early going strong pitching by Mike Pelfrey and the bullpen has really carried this team and the offense seems to have gotten a little spark from the Ike Davis call up from AAA.

I Like Ike

The buzz in New York is building, and that is because the Mets first baseman of the future, Ike Davis, has arrived. His first home run was a game-tying blast en route to a win over Atlanta.

Ike Davis Major League Debut Brilliant in Mets Win

Ike Davis went 2-4 with an RBI in his major league debut helping the Mets to a 6-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. This guy is gonna be a monster at 1st Base for the Mets. We needed a real 1st Baseman and we now have a batter who has been on an absolute tear in AAA and has continued that into hist first career Major League Baseball Game.

Mets Win Marathon Game

The Mets started slow but have now created a buzz following a dynamic 20 inning marathon win that didn’t see a run score until the 19th inning. KRod got the win, Pelfrey got the save and a position player on the St. Louis Cardinals was the losing pitcher. This game was an instant classic. Jose Reyes went 0-7 but his sacrifice fly in the 20th gave the Mets the 2-1 lead and Pelfrey slammed the door for his first career save. This was a game the Mets seemingly needed to win and was managed that way

Opening Day
Mets Win! Always nice to start off the baseball season with a win, hopefully this means good things to come.