Hot Hitters, Injury Report, Wildcard Bound?, Hot N' Cold, and Halfway There: Reviewing the 1st half of the 2011 Mets Season

Hot Hitters: It starts with a spark. That's what can get a team going and get them to be a contender. Jose Reyes has been that spark all year for the New York Mets. Reyes leads the NL in Batting Average (.334), Runs (58), Hits (109), and Triples (13). Reyes is also 2nd in stolen Bases (27) Reyes, who just turned 28 on June 11, is just entering his prime and has been the topic of trade rumors throughout the year. Another hot hitter for the Mets has been Justin Turner. Justin, since he entered the Bigs 6 weeks ago, has been tearing it up. JT (Justin Turner) has gotten 2 Homers and 32 RBI in his 48 games played this year, also with a .267 average. JT also helped the Mets win their first walk-off win of the year last week by getting a bases-loaded- walk-off-hit-by-pitch to help us win 3-2 in 13 innings vs the Oakland A's. One last guy who is having a resurgent season is Carlos Beltran. Beltran missed the 2nd half of last year after having microfracture surgery on his knee. No one, evan the most optimistic Mets fan, could have predictedthat he be playing every day and be moving on his knee so well. Beltran leads the Mets in Homers this year with 10.
Injury Report: The Mets have lost two big bats since mid-May. David Wright and Ike Davis. David was cleared to resume baseball activities and has started taking grounders and twisting his body. Ike, on the other hand, his season does not look so good. Ike might need to have season ending surgery if he can't run in 16 days. Davis has been wearing a boot to protect his bone bruise. Johan Santana has been out since last year after having surgery on his throwing shoulder, but has started to throw off a mound. Chris Capuano, who tweaked his side earlier this week, says he will be ready for his next start on Wednesday vs the Tigers.
Wildcard Bound?: The Mets have been doubted ever since they have hired Terry Collins. SI before the season predicted us to finish last in the division. Yet, the Mets have proved all the haters wrong, as they are in contention for the wildcard spot in the N.L. The Mets are 7th in the wildcard race, trailing the Braves, D-Backs, Cardinals, Nationals, Pirates, and Reds. The Braves are the early favorites for the Wildcard spot, as noone expected the D-Backs, Nats, or Pirates to be evan close to this. The Cardinals recently lost their best slugger, Albert Pujols, for 6 weeks so that should dim their chances. The Reds are really the shaky team in this race. They have been REALLY shaky.
Hot N' Cold: The Mets have probably been one of the most streakiest team this year. They started off the year 5-13. But then came bck and went 17 -9 in their next 26 games. to be 22-22. then they went 6-9 in the next 15 games to be 28-31. Then turned it around and have been 11-8 in the last 19 games. The Mets are currently 39-39 and dn't know where their next streak will take them.
Halfway There: The Mets will be halfway through the year once they finish the series vs the Tigers.



All Stats on players come from Mets. com and ESPNNewYork.com and mlb.com


Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

Who Is Terry Collins?

Terry Collins was named the Mets 20th Manager in team history on November 23rd, 2010 and signed a 2-year contract with the team. He spent 6 years as major league manager, he led the Houston Astros (94-96) and Anaheim Angels (97-99) to winning records and 2nd place finishes in his 5 full years. he got a record of 444-434 (.506) over those 5 years. He joined the Mets in 2010 as a Minor League Field Coordinator. Was manager of the Orix Buffaloes in Japan's Nippon Professional League from 07-08, Led Team China to its First World Baseball Classic tounament victory in 09. Managed 11 years in the minors from 81-91. Former minor league shortstop, he played in the minors for 10 years with the Dodgers (74-78, 80,84) and with the Pirates (71-73) Originally drafted by Pittsburgh in the 19th round of the June 1971 Free Agent Draft. Was a native of Midland, Michigan, graduated from Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in 1971 and was twice named to the NAIA College World Series All- Tournament Team in 68 and 70. Played 4 years of Baseball at EMU, had a .285 career batting average (led club in Batting avg in freshman and senior years) and paced his team in stolen bases all 4 years. Inducted to EMU's Hall of Fame in 1995. He now lives with his wife Deborah in his home in Midlothian, Virginia.

All info on TC comes from mets.com

Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8

Third Times The Charm?

On Wednesday night, the Mets will try to climb their way back to .500 when they face the Atlanta Braves. If they do win, they will be 34-34, or .500, The last time the Mets were at the elusive .500 mark was on May 20, when they were 20-20. Since that 20-20 record, The Mets have had two chances to get back to .500. The first was when they were 31-32, but then fell to the Pirates. The other was when they were 32-33, and also fell to the Pirates. Will the Third Time be the Charm for the Mets on Wednesday?
Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

Rockin' Rotation

Mike Pelfrey, Jonathan Niese, R.A. Dickey, Chris Capuano, and Dillion Gee. That's the Mets rotation. There's not really one guy in that list that jumps out at you, does there? But I bet you could not guess which team's rotation has had the best ERA in the last 17 games. That one. And the latest pitching gem was from Chris Capuano, who shut down the Pirates by throwing 7 scoreless innings in a 7-0 Mets Win on Sunday. Over the past 17 games entering Sunday, the Mets starters have had a league leading 2.53 ERA, or 32 earned runs in 113 2/3 innings pitched.


All stats come from ESPNNewYork.com


Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

Standings Update #1

Here is how the Mets are doing in the standings through 71 games
NL East: Tied for 3rd Place out of 5, 9.5 gms back of leader Philidelphia
National League: Tied for 10th Place out of 16, 9.5 gms back of leader Philidelphia
Wild Card: Tied For 7th place out of 13, 3.5 gms back of leaders Atlanta and Arizona
Overall: Tied For 18th place out of 30, 9.5 gms back of leader Philidelphia
The Mets are 35-36 (.493) 16-18 at Home, 19-18 on the Road, 301 Runs Scored, 304 Runs Allowed, Last 10:6-4, 11-10 in Day Games, 24-26 in Night games, 35-36 on Grass, 8-13 in 1-run Games, 2-4 in Extra Inning Games, 35-36 is our Expected W-L Record, 15-15 vs the NL East, 10-10 vs NL Central, 8-8 vs NL West, 2-3 vs Interleague Teams, 26-28 vs Right Handed Pitchers, 9-8 vs Left Handed Pitchers
All Standings come from ESPN.com, These Standings are as of 6/19/11
Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

$66 Million Dollar Baby: The Struggles of Jason Bay as a Met

Is it Citi Field, the pressure of the New York spotlight, or just age? whatever it is, it's been causing 4-year, 66$ Million Dollar outfielder Jason Bay to struggle ever since he was signed in 2010 as a Met. Bay has only hit 8 HR's in his career as a Met and lately has been in a awful 0 for 20 slump. He's been batting .216 this year and battled a rib cage injury for the first month of the year. In 2 combined years as a Met, Bay has only played 133 games. In the previous 6 years as a Pirate and a Red Sock, he played more than 145 games in each year. Terry Collins even tried to move Bay down to the 6 hole this year, to take some pressure off of him. That still didn't work, as he's be 0 for 7 in the 2games hes played in the 6 hole. Bay has gone .171 with Runners in Scoring position this year. "Lets be honest- im here to hit and i haven't been hitting" Bay said before Saturday's game. So, What do you think has been causing Bay to not hit all of a sudden? leave your comments below and i will look into them.
All quotes and stats come from ESPNNewyork.com and Mets.com
Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

Is Citi Field Too BIG?

A Joke. That's what former Mets Outfielder Jeff Francoeur calls Citi Field. He could be right. The Dimensions at Citi Field have cut down on the Mets Home Runs substantially. The dimensions at Citi Field are: Left Field 335 ft Left Center 379 ft Center 400 ft Right Center 383 ft Right Field 330 ft. But two big bats in the Mets lineup have been hurt by the big ballpark. David Wright and Jason Bay. David Wright has hit most of his Home Runs on the road in some of the more "hitter friendly" ballparks. Jason Bay has only hit 8 Home Runs in 128 games at Citi Field. Bay hit 36 bombs with the Red Sox in '09. New GM Sandy Alderson has found the good in this large ballpark. Sandy says that it should help attract free agent pitchers in the future. Look at Chris Young, he was picked up during the offseason and before he blew out his shoulder, he had a 1.29 ERA at Citi. Just think of this: If we moved the "Great Wall of Flushing" in Left Center Field 10 feet closer to home plate and reduced its height by 10 feet you would increase homers to that part by 35% and overall homers by 22 percent. If we changed the "Mo's Zone" in Right field by the same dimensions as earlier said, it would increase homers there by 25% and overall by 9%. If this was done, just think how much more homers David Wright and Jason Bay would have! Also, when Sandy Alderson was GM of the Padres, he moved PETCO Park's walls forward. Before this move, that ballpark had 3rd worst number of Home Runs of any ballpark in the MLB.
All quotes and dimensions come from ESPNNewyork.com and Mets.com
Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

Beltran leaves with Right leg contusion;day-to-day

Carlos Beltran left Sunday's game in the 2nd inning with a right leg contusion after he fouled a ball off the inside of his shin guard. X-Rays were negative. The Mets have listed Beltran as day-to-day for the time being. Beltran leads the team in HR's and RBI's so far this year. Beltran is in Tuesday's lineup vs the Brewers
Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

Chants, Injuries, Tumors, and Crazy 8ths: Defining the crazy Mets Season 2011

NOTE: ALL Quotes and some stats come from ESPNNewYork.com
Chants: Crazy. That is what defines the Mets season so far this year. It got evan crazier Friday. During the 5th inning of Friday's game vs the Braves and after a leadoff triple by Jose Reyes, people in the stands started chanting: "Keep Jose!" "Keep Jose!" "Don't trade Rey-es" "Don't trade Rey-es" As Jose put on another exciting show Friday, with the exception of the 8th Inning. Reyes committed a E-6 on Alex Gonzalez's routine grounder went under his glove, and allowed the tying run, Dan Uggla, score. "They want me [here]" said Reyes, " But right now, my mind is on the tough loss today. We had the game all the way until the eighth and we let it go away. I needed to make that play. Mistakes are part of the game, but hopefully they don't happen again." Reyes had two facts in that sentence. The first is "we had it until the eighth and we let it go". The Mets have lost 6 straight home games when leading into the 7th Inning or later. The second is "mistakes are apart of the game" Reyes has had two routine groundballs go under his glove in his last 3 games.
Injuries: David Wright went to the doctor Friday to see if he could resume baseball activities. Wright has not played since May 15 with a stress fracture in his lower back. It looks like he wont be playing anytime soon. Dr. Patrick O'Leary said that Wright can ONLY do core exercises for 3 weeks. This means that Wright will not come back AT LEAST until mid-July. Another big bopper for the Mets who has been out for a long time is Ike Davis. Davis found out May 31 that he would have to wear a boot for 3 more weeks because his bone bruise in his left ankle has not healed. GM Sandy Alderson hopes that both of these guys will be back before the All-Star Break.
Tumors: Gary" The Kid" Carter has multiple brain tumors, and has glioblastoma according to Duke University doctors.On Monday, Carter is expected to start a treatment that includes 6 1/2 weeks of radiation and 1 year of chemotherapy. Please Pray for The Kid as He helped lead us to the 1986 World Series. Anyone interested sending wishes to Gary Carter, send a letter to this address
The Gary Carter Foundation
580 Village Blvd.
Suite 315
West Palm Beach Florida, 33409
Crazy 8ths: As I said earlier, the Mets have lost six straight home games when leading in the 7th Inning or later, here are the game Before and after (Courtesy of ESPNNewyork.com):
May 16 VS. Marlins Led 1-0,7th, Lost 2-1 in 11
May 27 VS. Phillies Led 3-2, 8th,lost 6-4
May 28 VS. Phillies Led 2-1, 8th, Lost 5-2
May 31 VS Pirates Led 1-0, 8th, Lost 5-1
June 1 VS Pirtates Led 2-0, 7th, Lost 9-3
Friday VS Braves Led 3-1, 8th, Lost 6-3

Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.

Rookie Power

The New York Mets, believe it or not, are one of the youngest teams in the MLB. The Mets have 7 rookies on their MLB roster who started out the year in the Triple-A Affaliate in Buffalo. Pedro Beato, Dillion Gee, Dale Thayer, Nick Evans, Ruben Tejada, Justin Turner, and Jason Pridie are those 7 rookies. All of these guys have helped us in games all during the year. Beato started out the year throwing 18 2/3 scoreless innings. Gee has started out the year 5-0, a Mets rookie record. Thayer has helped us get out of many jams this year. Evans walked during Thursday's game, which kept the 6th inning going. Ruben Tejada has gotten 5 RBI in the last 2 games. Justin Turner has gotten 18 RBI in the month of May and was named NL Rookie of the Month for May. Pridie has gotten 3 HR's in May with 11 RBI's. All of these Rookies have VERY bright futures ahead of them.

Reyes Activated, Buchholtz put on DL

Jose Reyes will be activated off the bereavement list Thursday and play in the 4th and Final game of a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. To make roster room for Reyes, the Mets put Taylor Buchholtz on the 15-day DL with a fatigued shoulder. The Mets have been 3-8 in the last 11 games, including going 2-8 in the last 10

Driven Wright out of New York?:Part 1

A source close to the Mets says that the Mets will probably finish this year with Jose Reyes and David Wright. That's the good news. The Bad news is that the Mets, in order to re-sign Mr. Electric, might have to trade slugger and norfolk-native David Wright at the end of the year. Jose Reyes will probably be the most coveted player before the trade deadline, which is July 31. Reyes as established himself that way this year, as he is leading the N.L in hits, stolen bases, and multi-hit games. David Wright has been hurt with a stress fracture in his back the last 2 weeks. Both have played in New York Mets uniforms their whole career. But the source says that the Mets will probably keep both of them except if they get a good deal for Reyes before the Trade Deadline. I would LOVE to see both of these guys back in Mets uniforms next year because they are the heart (Wright) and soul (Reyes) of this team. I will set up a poll and you guys give me your opinions. But the question still remains: Will David Wright be Driven Wright out of New York? Also the source said that Sandy Alderson could trade Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod), if it means keeping Reyes long-term