Ron is having an off night. "You can't give the hitter anything he can put in play" Really? Gomez had a lousy swing and it blooped over the infield.
Again, this guy has been so incredibly consistant over the years, I don't think he's just completely plummet in one year. Let's wait until at least the all-star break before too much speculation. Oh, look at that...Delgado just scored.
Ah, no better way to shoot your own argument in the foot than citing the ultimate small sample size- one AB.
There's nothing wrong with speculation. Besides, whether you want to believe it or not I'd say that it's pretty significant that a guy that has averaged a walk every 6 AB's for his career is averaging a walk every 11 AB's this season. While hitters certainly can and do slump this kind of flucuation in walk rates usually indicates a more serious problem.
I guess it's time to rekindle my love/hate relationship with Green this year. That ball could've been caught.
Just a little joke. But hey, any at bat could jump start a streak... You can read all about this in my new book, "Grasping at Straws". (anyone get that reference?)
And Duque gives it all back. Now the starting pitching has collapsed. This is a team in real trouble.
I think residents of the city of New York know that speculation can be a very bad thing. That walk ratio is bad...but I'm sure I could find a 60 game stretch where he had only 1 walk every 11 ABs. EDIT: As for the game going on, damnit El Duque! We'll get them back. Delgado's hitting a 5 run homer in a couple innings.
I'm not sure what you're alluding to with your first statement. As for the second, I'm not sure that you could. Last season was his lowest OBP since the mid 90's and he still averaged a walk every 7 ABs.
You're second point: Good point. Maybe you're right, but I don't intend to find out. As for the speculation thing, I'm just saying that in a town where newspapers, fans, everyone pay such close attention to every game, it's very easy to obsess over little trends (though 60 games is not little). Statjeff22 just said your starting pitching has collapsed and we're in real trouble after an inning in which El Duque gave up two runs (sorry to bring you into this). Patience is a virtue. It could be worse. Instead of leading the division by multiple games, we could be managed by Art Howe. I just got chills. EDIT: Would it kill Delgado to back me up? Would it?
Well, you did bring me into it, and unfairly too. The Mets have been hitting poorly for several weeks. They've had bad relief pitching for about 2 weeks. They've now had bad starting pitching three games in a row. (Maybe you didn't notice, but Duque has given up 3 runs, not 2, in 4 innings, and has already thrown 80 pitches. And look, the pitcher just led off the 5th with a hit.). They are going through a very tough part of the schedule, and are playing poorly in all facets of the game. The fact that the Braves have been crappy for weeks really has nothing to do with it. Forgive me if I think that a team playing poorly in just about every aspect of the game is in trouble.
Sorry about that. First of all, I didn't make a mistake. I said he gave up two runs in one inning, which is what he did. Is 3 days enough time for starting pitching to collapse? I say no. Not even close. Besides, El Duque can still easily salvage this start. You're right, the team has sucked. They are playing terrible, terrible baseball, and the Philly series pissed me off more than anything. But there's a difference between playing badly and being a bad team. The Mets are not close to the NL lead for nothing; they're a good team. The bullpen is just having a rough stretch (as a side note, I find it interesting the suckiness coincided with Mota's return), and the offense has been labored by injuries to the point that the likes of Ricky Ledee was starting this weekend (lost is yesterday's abysmal performence was a 7 run output). I'm not usually that annoying guy who tries to make everything seem better than it is, but I think last year has spoiled us all. We're not going be thinking about clinching in early September it seems, and that's fine. The Cardinals have proved that getting to the playoffs are all that matters, and though it's way too early to count on it, the Mets could very well do that. EDIT: And El Duque just got out of it. 5IP and 3 ER is nothing to brag about, but that's certainly decent.
No, actually he gave up three runs in that one inning. I definitely am not a glass-half-empty kind of guy, but part of the frustration with this team is that they do have talent, and seem to be making the same mistakes over and over. I also think that every fan moans and groans when things go bad and gets giddy when things go good, and a game thread just makes those kinds of remarks permanent and correspondingly "bigger". It is a measure of my comfort in these threads that I don't just yell at the TV, I also "yell" at the game thread.
I enjoyed the last line of your post. My bad about the runs...Anyway, I guess that makes sense. I don't usually react that way when I watch a game, I'm firmly entrenched in denial for most of the time. As an example, I'm telling myself that Willie is absolutely right for leaving El Duque in.
