Tag: New York Mets

NL East News: Phillies In Atlanta Video

The Philadelphia Phillies are in Atlanta for a three game series against the Braves starting tonight. The ideal scenario for the Mets is for the Braves to win at least two of the games at home. Considering that the Braves are 28-14 at home this season, that’s likely to occur.

The Phillies are 2-8 in their last ten games. Hopefully, they don’t get hot in Atlanta before the Mets go to Philly for a four game series beginning on Friday.

Of course, the Mets need to win some games in St. Louis this week too. Last night wasn’t a good start to the series with every facet of the game going wrong for the Mets. But there’s an opportunity for the Mets to go into Philly with a chance to take the division lead if everything breaks right this week.

See the ESPN Baseball Tonight preview of the Phillies/Braves series below.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3468523

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Manuel: Mets Are Second Team In New York

NEW YORK - MAY 18: General Managers Omar Minaya of the New York Mets and Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees meet before the start of their game at Shea Stadium May 18, 2007 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

One of the hot topics yesterday was Mets manager telling reporters before the game against the Yankees that the Mets are New York’s “second team”.  You know what? He’s right. It’s funny how the media gets these things and runs with them like there’s some major story here.

The Yankees do dominate the New York baseball scene. There have been moments for the Mets, like in October 1969 and 1986. But by and large New York is a Yankees city. The Yankees have been here since 1903 and won 26 World Series’ and 39 American League pennants. Those are the facts.

So what’s the story here? The Mets franchise is still in it’s infancy compared to the Yankees. Jerry Manuel may be too honest with the media for his own good at times. I dislike the Yankees as much as anyone. But Jerry’s right. I’m still holding out hope that we can change that for a month in October 2008.

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Are The Mets Buyers Or Sellers This Season?

New York Mets

Image via Wikipedia

New York Mets GM Omar Minaya only has three to four weeks to decide if the Mets will be buyers or sellers on the trade market. The non-waiver trading deadline ends on July 31 so the Mets need to give themselves two to three weeks to work out trades prior to the deadline.

I would imagine that Minaya has no idea what he’s going to do right now. Standing at 7.5 games back of the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies and two games under .500 after the first 62 games makes their situation ambiguous at best. The Mets need to play 20 games over .500 for the rest of the season to win 90 games which is about what it will take to win the division. If the first two and a half months of the season are any indication, and they are, that is highly unlikely.

The wild card is a long shot right now as well. The St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins are in a much stronger position to make a run, especially the Cardinals playing in a weak division.

That leaves the Mets in the awkward position of potentially scrapping the 2008 season and selling off the team for parts. For a team that went into opening day with a payroll of $137,793,376 the proposition of selling prior to the deadline is a complete and utter embarrassment. Flushing a season down the toilet in New York is particularly difficult because the team’s revenue goals are tied to the tickets sales and television advertising revenue. Last season the Mets sold over 3.8 million tickets and the Mets jointly owned television station SNY generates plenty as long as people are watching. Watching this team becomes more difficult with each passing loss.

Possibly the most embarrassing situation of all would be for the Mets to limp into their new stadium Citi Field. I’m sure that the Mets will sell plenty of tickets despite the team that shows up to play every day. But it’s certainly not what the Wilpons had in mind when they broke ground on Citi Field, a team that’s a reclamation project. Continue reading “Are The Mets Buyers Or Sellers This Season?”

Reader Poll: Last Day To Vote

Today is the last day of voting for the current reader poll. The question is: What is the Mets biggest problem this season?

It’s clear that the Mets have many problems right now, but I want to know what you think is their biggest. There’s been a big surge in readers voting for “Manager” over the last couple of days. That’s not a surprise.

Get your vote in now on the right side of the page.

Santana vs. Other Met Mid-Career Acquisitions

Baseball Crank has a great chart comparing Johan Santana against other mid-career pitching acquisitions the Mets have made. The comparison is through their first seven starts.

Santana looks pretty good but doesn’t compare to some like Al Leiter who was lights out in his seven starts in 1998. 

Thanks to The Hardball Times for the link.