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="John Cougar Lunchbucket":21l2fcm1]Shit happens ... and you deal with it.
My issue is that the Mets have not dealt well. They look glum, defeated and lazy. They make the same mistakes over and over again. They are routinely outhustled and outexecuted by the other guys. That's not dealing well. That's where the fury is coming from.[/quote:21l2fcm1]
This point is gradually bothering me more and more. The Castillo error last night was pure laziness. Waits back on the ball, lobs it wide to first, all in the most non-chalant fashion.
Seeing L.A. in play doesn't help -- they are the anti-Mets. Crisp in the field, timely at the plate, tons of young players who have legitimate MLB talent (Kemp, Ethier, Loney, guys like that) mixed with steady veterans.
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Gwreck
Jul 08 2009 10:23 AM
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I don't expect the defense or the range of Carlos Beltran or Jose Reyes when we have replacements in the field. Nor do I expect the offensive output.
But it is not unreasonable to expect those players to be fundamentally sound. You cannot be a professional baseball player (major or minor league) and not be able to catch popups, position yourself correctly, hit the cutoff man, and generally make consistent throws.
Even worse is that some of our everyday players -- those who would be in the lineup regardless of the injury status of others -- are also making these mistakes.
I don't like losing, but I understand why it happens when you lose your best players. I cannot accept losing sloppily, and the Mets shouldn't either.
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soupcan
Jul 08 2009 10:31 AM
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8-0 last night. No offense.
Castillo making a play or not wouldn't have made a bit of difference.
I'm not excusing the bad play, I'm just saying that if the Mets were healthy and hitting, we wouldn't care nearly as much about the stuff that we're complaining about now, because that team would be able to overcome a lot of it.
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LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Jul 08 2009 10:42 AM
Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Jul 08 2009 11:59 AM
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As far as Kubler-Ross stages go, I think I'm into acceptance right about now. (As I mentioned in the OllieDay thread, I'm going tonight; I'm looking forward to the company of my in-law-to-be, and the pleasures of ballpark beers and communal sarcastic applause... and nothing else.)
The only things that really still get me hot are the bonehead mistakes-- these guys aren't great, yeah, but they're not Throneberrys-- and, on a more profound level, the rudderless feeling.
If they're not making aggressive moves to survive until the cavalry arrives-- and I'd rather management does not do so, at this point-- then I'd just like to see future planning, or at least info gathering (start Niese, play the hell out of Murphy and Evans against pitchers of both handedness...es), start sooner rather than later. Writers, businesses and people often fail more for not having made decisions than for having made wrong ones; the "tread water" talk bugs me almost as much as "battling" did (and does-- Jerry used it thrice yesterday in the portion of postgame that I heard).
I'm not a big believer in Omar these days, but I wouldn't burn torches at the stadium gates if he stayed on. That said, It's really feeling like he'll meet his end due to circumstances beyond his control, like a president getting run out of Washington after the economy heads south.
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Benjamin Grimm
Jul 08 2009 11:33 AM
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I think the Schaefer Mets Player of the Month for July will end up being the middle reliever who pitches the most scoreless mop-up innings.
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Frayed Knot
Jul 08 2009 12:26 PM
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| ="soupcan"]I understand your frustration but I don't know what you expect from the guys that are on the field. It's a rag-tag bunch of minor leaguers and journeymen and you are seeing why they are minor leaguers and journeymen.
Again - not the team that was supposed to be out there. |
Except that - as Gary & Ron pointed out last night - it's not only the out-of-position/back-up guys who are making all these bad plays.
It's understandable that the offense is suffering on account of being 3/4 a list of nobodies and why Wright's current slump is so much more glaring. But it's the bad plays on top of the expected decrease in output that is putting the few games where they have a fighting chance out of reach.
Now again, that doesn't mean that the 'Wilpon is cheap', 'team was poorly constructed', 'Minaya is a moron' chants are any more true, only that the injuries can't be used as a catch-all excuse for everything.
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Edgy DC
Jul 08 2009 12:47 PM
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="Gwreck":lsixbwv3]I don't expect the defense or the range of Carlos Beltran or Jose Reyes when we have replacements in the field. Nor do I expect the offensive output.
But it is not unreasonable to expect those players to be fundamentally sound. You cannot be a professional baseball player (major or minor league) and not be able to catch popups, position yourself correctly, hit the cutoff man, and generally make consistent throws.
Even worse is that some of our everyday players -- those who would be in the lineup regardless of the injury status of others -- are also making these mistakes.
I don't like losing, but I understand why it happens when you lose your best players. I cannot accept losing sloppily, and the Mets shouldn't either.[/quote:lsixbwv3]
I understand and agree, but to hear players tell it, is that execution is what seperateds the AAA guys from the big leaguers. A lot of great athletes and 95-maile per hour throwers are in AAA, but big leaguers execute plays 99% of the time that they execute 90% or some other fake but meaningful number.
Mental strength and focus is about good coaching, but it's also something a lot of good folks never achieve.
Take me, for instance, goofing off on the interweb at work.
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