On one side, you have the New York Mets that are in one of the largest markets in baseball. Expectations coming into the season were not good. The only deal that Sandy Alderson made was to grab free agent Shaun Marcum. Marcum is still looknig for his first win although one could say that the offense hasn’t been behind him in many of his outings. This year, he has played different roles for the first time in his career as a relief pitcher in extra inning games two times this year.
The biggest blow to the Mets was at the start of the season. Johan Santana would be out for the season with another injury. Not the first time that he was out for nearly a season. In fact, you can say that many of the Mets have faced the injury bug and even though there were many reports that there were problems with the Doctors, the Wilpons ignored all this and continued to have more injuries year after year.
If that wasn’t enough, an announcer at ESPN said that the Mets outfield is a revolving door, constantly bringing up players to the major leagues, then sending them down. The list includes Lucus Duda and Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Then they took Rick Ankiel, an outcast from the Astros and eventually sent him down. Then the most recent move was to send Mike Baxter down along with Ike Davis, who last year led the Mets with 32 homers. This was after having a bad start last year as well.
As a team, the Mets have been hitting poorly - batting 232. After sweeping the Yankees for four games though, things went downhill, losing to the Marlins. Even Matt Harvey took his first loss against the Cardinals 2-1. At this point, the concern may be that the Mets may not even finish in fourth place since they have lost 8 games to the Florida Marlins, the worst team in baseball.
Over in the American League, you have the Kansas City Royals, who are in one of the smallest markets in baseball. Expectations seemed better now that they acquired James Shields and Jeremy Guthrie. A few weeks ago, the Royals had lost 8 in a row. By the end of May, they had lost 12-14 and were in last place. This included being swept by the California Angels - who are not having a good year - and losing 2-3 to the Houston Astros.
As far as the hitting was concerned, it was abysmal. Alex Gordon and Billy Butler have the most home runs on the team - 6 and 5. Mike Moustakas, the third baseman, has been hitting 185. This was after hitting 20 homes and batting over 290 last year. Many of the others on the team - Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar are not up to expectations either.
Yet there was Ned Yost, the manager, saying in an interview with the Kansas City Star that he was not sending Mike Moustakas to the minors. In fact, he said that it’s not like he can go to a third baseman’s tree and find another third baseman like Moustakas. He has heard complaints about Eric Hosmer, he stayed with him as well. He also mentioned that many people said that Alex Gordon would never develop as a good player.
After a dismal may, the Royals did make a move. They demoted their batting coach and brought back George Brett. Since then, the Royals swept the Astros, took 2-3 from the Twins and the Detroit Tigers, beating Justin Verlander in the last game. Now the Royals have won 9-10 games and are back in third again.
Yes, Moustakas still isn’t hitting but the Royals are hanging in there. There are days when former Giant Miguel Tejada is there. The Royals have great starting pitching and a well rested bullpen. Their relief pitchers have appeared in no more that 24 games this year. Compare that to Scott Rice, who leads the league with 36 appearances. He’s on his way to win that award like the former teammate, Pedro Feliciano.
Let’s face it, if you’re relief pitcher and you’re making a lot of appearances, that’s because you’re on a team that isn’t giving you quality starts. George Kontas of the San Francisco Giants is up there with 30 but he hasn’t pitched in the last 10 days now. Just two days ago, he was suspended for three games. If anything, I think the Mets have had more quality starts than other teams in the league.
If you look at the Mets and Royals, there aren’t too many differences between the two teams on the field. Both teams are young and they have young players who are up from the minors. Neither team scores a lot of runs but if anything, John Buck, Lucas Duda, Marlon Byrd, and David Wright have more home runs than the entire Royals team.
One manager believes that you have to do more than put a uniform on in order to play in the major leagues. Another manager believes that you have to be patient with young players because they’re not going to be superstars right away just because they did well in the minors.
A tale of two teams going in different directions for the moment. Maybe it’s time for Met fans to realize that there are other reasons that the team isn’t doing well. It wasn’t just because of Ike Davis.
Rick Holman
The biggest blow to the Mets was at the start of the season. Johan Santana would be out for the season with another injury. Not the first time that he was out for nearly a season. In fact, you can say that many of the Mets have faced the injury bug and even though there were many reports that there were problems with the Doctors, the Wilpons ignored all this and continued to have more injuries year after year.
If that wasn’t enough, an announcer at ESPN said that the Mets outfield is a revolving door, constantly bringing up players to the major leagues, then sending them down. The list includes Lucus Duda and Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Then they took Rick Ankiel, an outcast from the Astros and eventually sent him down. Then the most recent move was to send Mike Baxter down along with Ike Davis, who last year led the Mets with 32 homers. This was after having a bad start last year as well.
As a team, the Mets have been hitting poorly - batting 232. After sweeping the Yankees for four games though, things went downhill, losing to the Marlins. Even Matt Harvey took his first loss against the Cardinals 2-1. At this point, the concern may be that the Mets may not even finish in fourth place since they have lost 8 games to the Florida Marlins, the worst team in baseball.
Over in the American League, you have the Kansas City Royals, who are in one of the smallest markets in baseball. Expectations seemed better now that they acquired James Shields and Jeremy Guthrie. A few weeks ago, the Royals had lost 8 in a row. By the end of May, they had lost 12-14 and were in last place. This included being swept by the California Angels - who are not having a good year - and losing 2-3 to the Houston Astros.
As far as the hitting was concerned, it was abysmal. Alex Gordon and Billy Butler have the most home runs on the team - 6 and 5. Mike Moustakas, the third baseman, has been hitting 185. This was after hitting 20 homes and batting over 290 last year. Many of the others on the team - Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar are not up to expectations either.
Yet there was Ned Yost, the manager, saying in an interview with the Kansas City Star that he was not sending Mike Moustakas to the minors. In fact, he said that it’s not like he can go to a third baseman’s tree and find another third baseman like Moustakas. He has heard complaints about Eric Hosmer, he stayed with him as well. He also mentioned that many people said that Alex Gordon would never develop as a good player.
After a dismal may, the Royals did make a move. They demoted their batting coach and brought back George Brett. Since then, the Royals swept the Astros, took 2-3 from the Twins and the Detroit Tigers, beating Justin Verlander in the last game. Now the Royals have won 9-10 games and are back in third again.
Yes, Moustakas still isn’t hitting but the Royals are hanging in there. There are days when former Giant Miguel Tejada is there. The Royals have great starting pitching and a well rested bullpen. Their relief pitchers have appeared in no more that 24 games this year. Compare that to Scott Rice, who leads the league with 36 appearances. He’s on his way to win that award like the former teammate, Pedro Feliciano.
Let’s face it, if you’re relief pitcher and you’re making a lot of appearances, that’s because you’re on a team that isn’t giving you quality starts. George Kontas of the San Francisco Giants is up there with 30 but he hasn’t pitched in the last 10 days now. Just two days ago, he was suspended for three games. If anything, I think the Mets have had more quality starts than other teams in the league.
If you look at the Mets and Royals, there aren’t too many differences between the two teams on the field. Both teams are young and they have young players who are up from the minors. Neither team scores a lot of runs but if anything, John Buck, Lucas Duda, Marlon Byrd, and David Wright have more home runs than the entire Royals team.
One manager believes that you have to do more than put a uniform on in order to play in the major leagues. Another manager believes that you have to be patient with young players because they’re not going to be superstars right away just because they did well in the minors.
A tale of two teams going in different directions for the moment. Maybe it’s time for Met fans to realize that there are other reasons that the team isn’t doing well. It wasn’t just because of Ike Davis.
Rick Holman