After IM’ing with Scott Lauber, the B-Metsbeat reporter for the Press & Sun Bulletin, who told me he now
feels RHP Brain Bannister could be a front-end starting pitcher in the
Major Leagues, I packed up and headed to New Britain last night to
catch Bannister in person, as Lauber claims it is tough to understand
the pitcher’s success without actually seeing him in action…

A few comments from the game…

I
sat amongst several scouts, two of which had heard of MetsBlog, which I
found quite funny.  I spoke most often with two scouts, one from the
Marlins and the other from the Giants, both sporting hefty Championship
rings.  The Mets coordinator of professional scouting, Bryan Lambe, was
also in attendance, which I was told most likely indicates that the
scouts in attendance were there for a specific reason…

Bannister
is impressive, and it’s hard to pinpoint why.  Baseball America is
correct when they continually write that he lacks dominant stuff.
However, rarely if ever did an opposing batter make solid contact on
him.  More times than not, when they did connect, they topped the ball
or swung off balance.  Most all balls coming off their bats were weak,
and lacked any kind of pop…

He also keeps the ball moving around
the zone.  Batters swing a lot, but rarely make contact, which is odd
considering his fastball only topped out around 90-mph, according to a
scout with a radar gun…

He’s an average-sized pitcher, holds the
glove up high to his face while standing way, way over to the furthest
left corner of the rubber.  His delivery is compact, a tad mechanical
but he keeps the ball back well and releases it quickly, rarely giving
the batter a solid look at it…

Both scouts seemed highly
impressed with Bannister’s cut-fastball, noting it is already of Major
League caliber.  They also liked his fearlessness on the mound.  He’ll
throw any pitch at any time and seems to retain his command throughout
the game, one scout mentioned…

On Mike Jacobs, the
catcher-turned-first baseman with a beautiful left-handed swing, one
scout said, “This is their one kid with real power, but he really
should go back behind the plate.”  The scout may be right, as Jacobs
looks very awkward and timid when fielding the ball at first – on one
occasion, he overreached when receiving a catchable throw from third,
which tipped off his glove, ricocheted to the wall and allowed a run to
score… 

Bobby Malek hits the ball very hard, nailing it
square on the nose when he connects.  “He’s a strong doubles hitter,”
the scouts discussed, but agreed, “he needs more power.”…

On
Anderson Hernandez, who I was quite impressed with when watching him in
action on Monday night, and was equally impressed last night, as well,
one scout admitted that, “This kid is opening some eyes.”  On Monday,
while playing second base, he made a lightening fast, backhanded stab
on a short-hop from his knees.  Last night, on a ball hit deep between
short and third, while playing shortstop, he glided to the ball,
back-handed it Jeter-style, but unlike Jeter he chucked the ball to
first, with his momentum still pulling him away, while never leaping
from his feet.  The ball zipped to first and the runner was out.  Both
scouts grabbed their pens, each said, “wow,” as they started scribbling
notes on their charts…

Lastly, it should be noted that the scouts
watched the player’s wives and girlfriends section in the stands nearly
as much as they watched the game.  And so did I.  It was just so tough
not to…

…so, i tried to think about this in a different way…

…everyone keeps saying he needs to walk more, that he needs to be more patient…

…the thing is, if he just can’t stop swinging the stick, than maybe he just needs to not swing and miss so much…ichiro and juan pierre come to mind…

Last season, Ichiro Suzuki batted .372, tops in baseball, and had a .414 on base percentage, ninth in baseball, yet he walked just 49 times, which ranks well in the bottom half amongst Major League hitters and comparable to guys with OBPs in the mid– to-low .300 range.  He struck out just 63 times in 704 at-bats, though.  Amongst all the league’s .300 hitters, only Jason Kendall, Shea Hillenbrand and Juan Pierre struck out fewer times per at-bat…

Speaking of Juan Pierre, whose 2004 stat line, a .326 AVG, .407 OBP, 45 SB and 100 RS, would be a reasonable season for Reyes in the early half of his career while batting leadoff, has not walked all that often either.  During 2004, Pierre drew just 45 walks, again, ranking him amongst the bottom half of all hitters.  However, he rarely struck out…

If the 2004 version of Pierre or Ichiro was batting leadoff for the Mets this season, while posting the .310 AVG and .371 OBP that Pierre sported at this point in June, or the .335 AVG and .382 OBP sported by Ichiro, along with their signficantly low walk totals, do you think we’d be reading as many columns being posted by journalists and bloggers about their need to walk more…

…i doubt it…

Yeah, but, Cerrone, at this point last June, Ichiro had 20 walks and Pierre had 22 walks.  Right now, Reyes has just eight…

…fair enough…

Add 12 walks to Reyes’s current total, to bring him up to Pierre’s and Ichiro’s total of 20, and Reyes’s OBP is just .329, still at the bottom of the pack amongst leadoff hitters…

However, cut his strikeouts down from 38 to 13, to equal that of Pierre’s from 2004 at this point in June, and assume he’d hit .300, as was Pierre and Ichiro from opening day last season through June, which we know Reyes is capable of, and Reyes’s batting average jumps from .277 to .330 and his OBP goes from .290 to .367…

Walks are not the problem.  Putting the ball in play is the problem.  Reyes doesn’t need to develop better patience at the plate.  He needs to develop better control with his bat…

…tell me he should take more pitches to put him in a more advantageous count, and i can accept that…though if you look at his numbers, you’ll see that the more pitches he sees, the less chance there is of him getting a hit, oddly enough…

One thing Reyes can start to try and do is put the ball on the ground more.  Last season, Ichiro hit more than three balls on the ground for every one he hit in the air.  Pierre was only slightly behind Ichiro’s rate.  With their speed, this allows them the opportunity, at least, to leg a ball out.  This season, Reyes is putting more or less the same number of balls in the air as he is on the ground, robbing himself of nearly 30 extra chances to beat out a fielder’s arm for a hit…

…maybe the mets need to implement the willie mays hayes rule, imposed on wesley snipes’s character in the film major league, as my friend johnnyg has been demanding for months now…for those unaware, snipes’s character, hayes, had lightening fast speed…when hayes would hit the ball in the air, his manager demanded 100 push-ups right there on the field…

…i’m kidding, of course…

Mets 1B Doug Mientkiewicz recently ranted to WFAN about how the Shea Stadium infield slows the ball down.  Imagine if the infield grass was slick enough, Mientkiewicz explained, that Reyes could utilize it to his advantage, the way players long have gained hits by slapping balls down on to Astro-turf, scuffing them by corner-infielders playing in to protect against the bunt.  Inversely, the Mets infielders are quick and agile enough to defend against the same being done to them, Mientkiewicz believes…

Ichiro swings, Reyes swings, Pierre swings.  None of them walk.  Only two of them hit.  Reyes simply needs to hit more, that’s all.  Don’t over complicate it…

After attending last night’s game, I can attest that he is leader of the fans, as well…

I grew up in an era of Shea Stadium excitement.  I know what a shock from blue-n-orange electricty feels like…

Last night, though, I am proud to say I witnessed something I’ve never seen as a Mets fan: pure, unbridled enthusiasm coming from every seat in the building – and not just in the filled 40,000 seats in the stand, but also in the dugout, in the locker room, on the field, in the press box and, most importantly, on the other team’s bench…

All of us were in awe of Pedro…

It’s difficult for me to conjure up memories of the electricity that Dwight Gooden created, because my mind is also smeared with his failures.  And with Darryl Strawberry and Mike Piazza the excitement was limited to a few at-bats per game…

Last night, though, there was Pedro standing center stage for nearly the entire game, all for New York to see.  And the fans cheered him non-stop.  Every two-strike count sounded like the last pitch of a game.  Fans would stand, repeatedly cheer his name, clapping and hollering as though it were October.  But it wasn’t.  It was June.  On a Tuesday night…

Every time he showed his face – be it walking from the mound to the dugout, running to first, scoring a run, standing calmly in the on deck circle, or pointing to the sky in satisfied victory – the fans honored him with animation, appreciation and amazement…

Kaz Matsui turned a double play during the game.  It was nicely done.  Before stepping back to the mound, Pedro looked Matsui directly in the eyes and pumped his fist, as if to say, "Pedro believes in you."  Matsui smiled, pounded his fist in his glove and geared up for the next pitch, looking slightly more confident…

"It’s great, just what an energy he brings here," Mike Piazza said of his battery-mate.  "Aside from that, too, we always feel like we’re in the game."

In the fifth inning, as Carlos Beltran stepped to the plate with Pedro on third, he gave the same confident fist pump to Beltran, as if to say, "Come on friend, you can do it."  Beltran slapped a single and Pedro hustled home…

"Once every five days, there’s something special about watching us," Willie Randolph said of Pedro prior to the game.  "I like to think it’s my young kids, too, and the way we play.  But Pedro gives us that buzz."…

The game had been long over, and fans spiraled down the concrete walkways that wrap around Shea Stadium.  At that point, Pedro was probably primping in the mirror of the clubhouse, off the field and nowhere to be found by fans.  Yet, the cheering continued.  "Pedro, Pedro, Pedro," continued to echo from the ramps, to the walkway around Shea to the parking lots scattered around Flushing…

Two tall, lanky guys in their mid-twenties walked ahead of me.  They wore matching Martinez jerseys, Mets hats and Jeri Curl wigs to honor their idol…

Pounding the pavement walking towards the lower level of Shea, an older man walking behind me leaned into his wife and said, "Hey, stop when we get to the bottom, I wanna buy a Pedro jersey."…

I was thinking the same thing…

That being said, I try and do my best to taper my emotions on this blog, all in an effort to keep it’s voice level-headed and intellectual…

Last night’s game, though, had me all amped up…

As I’ve said before, winning is not the most important thing to me, as a fan.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s important…it’s just not most important.  Buzz, however, is…

I crave that electric charge that courses through my blue and orange blood when this team is clicking, when the fans are cheering positively in unison, the media is watching all while the standings are tight and every game is vital…

It’s that ultimate charge I experienced the moment I realized the Mets were going to win game five against the Braves in the 1999 playoffs…or the lift I got hearing the crowd anxiously roar in between innings prior to clinching the 2000 National League pennant…or the tear in my eyes, and the hairs standing on the edges of my arms watching Mike Piazza crack his homer in the first game after 9/11…

It’s those moments I watch for, and that I hope to experience…

And it’s moments such as these, and not necessarily the wins, that I’ve missed over the last few seasons…

Last night, however, in our first taste of the clear, hot, humid air of summer, as Victor Diaz rounded the bases with the chant of DJ Kool blaring from the speakers, the crowd rocking, the glare of fireworks shimmering off the team’s bright blue batting helmets and for all of America to see, I felt it…

I felt that buzz…

It wasn’t the full buzz, mind you…But it was a small taste.  A sampling.  A reminder of what Shea Stadium once was, and what it will be again…

It was an exhausting five hour effort…

…this is far from a suggestion that he will actually bat cameron at the top of his order, but it was enough to spark a lot of debate in the blogosphere and on talk radio today…

…the thing is, the reporter that asked randolph the question obviously realized the following…

With runners in scoring position, Cameron is batting just .214…

…far from stellar…

When batting with nobody on base ahead of him, like he would be when hitting leadoff, Cameron is batting .395 and has reached base nearly 52 percent of the time…

When leading off an inning, Cameron is batting .368 and has reached base roughly half of his plate appearances…

…that is remarkable…

Aside from getting on base, a leadoff must also be able to work a count and give the hitters behind him a chance to familiarize themselves with the pace of the current pitcher…

In 86 plate appearances on the year, Cameron has worked a full count 25 percent of the time…on par with Craig Counsell…but, better than David Eckstein’s 10 percent, Johnny Damon’s 8 percent, Brian Roberts’s 7 percent and Barry Bonds’s 7 percent from last season…

In those full counts, Cameron has walked half of the time…

…statistics aside, cameron is an aggressive baseball player…his head is always in the game, he runs the bases well, he’s fast, he strives to make big plays and his teammates respect him as a friend and a player, so he can lead by example and motivate the team from the front of the line…

…i don’t think this is where cameron should bat long-term, but i’d be down for seeing how it plays out while he is posting numbers, such as the above…

On four different occasions last night, in a 3-0 loss to the Braves, the Mets had runners at third base with less than two outs and never scored…

The thing is, while I disagree with Randolph, and believe that Carlos Beltran should be batting second, David Wright third followed by Mike Cameron, Cliff Floyd and Mike Piazza, with Cairo and Mientkiewicz filling in the bottom of the order and starting everyday, a lack of offense has actually not been this team’s problem…

So, Randolph could be correct by default…

During the team’s stretch from May 1 through May 18, in which they went 11-6 while playing the Phillies, Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals and Reds, the Mets hit .205 with runners in scoring position.  Over the last week, against the Yankees and Braves, they hit .184 with runners in scoring position.  In other words, they picked up one extra hit per 50 at-bats with runners in scoring position during a solid stretch of wins, compared to a bad stretch of losses…

Interestingly, only the Marlins, Phillies and Cardinals have scored more runs than the Mets in the last week in the National League.  Incidentally, only the Marlins and Diamondbacks had a better batting average…Yet the Mets won just one game in seven chances…

They hit, score runs and bat with runners in scoring position the same whether they’re winning or losing…

So, what’s the problem…

Although only three teams allowed less hits against them than the Mets in the NL over the last week, no team made more errors or had more stolen bases swiped against them and only three teams turned less double plays.  Also, only the Cardinals walked more batters and allowed more unearned runs…

Driving in more runs would, of course, help.  However, playing better defense, not walking batters, keeping the double play in order and, in short, playing smarter baseball is most important…

…catch and throw, gentlemen, catch and throw…

Click the play button below if you’d like to hear the audio of me and Costanza…

Click here to listen to the entire 24 minute show…

Enjoy…

Initially, I hoped to see the Mets take six of their next time 10, breaking down as four of six from the Yankees and Braves and a split with the Marlins…

Wait…no…the Mets need more than that if they plan to make a mark while playing their largest threat in the National League East.  They need to win more than they lose.  Meaning, they need to win two of three from Atlanta, and take three or four from Florida.  However, if they’re to take two of three from the Yankees, it would mean they’ll go 7-3 during the stretch, which is unrealistic…

So, I asked myself, ‘would I take getting swept by the Yankees, in exchange for taking both series from the Braves and Marlins?’…

And, you know what, I think I would…

The Yankees mean nothing to me.  And, for the record, my fiancé, all of my grandparents, most of my friends and the overwhelming part of Connecticut in which I live are all Yankees fans.  I can’t avoid them if I try.  Yet, through it, I’ve managed to carve out a perspective that seems to elude most ‘New York’ Mets fans: the Yankees are irrelevant in a baseball context…

Sure, they’re relevant in the off-season, when it comes to the game’s economics and who the Mets can or cannot sign – but, on the field, when it comes to winning a division, their meaningless…

I’d gladly see the Mets lay down and let the Yankees win this weekend, with ease, if the Gods of Baseball will guarantee the Mets take the majority of their games played next week against the Braves and Marlins…

…by the way, to take a look back at how the ‘subway series’ went down last season, the daily news does a great job of sifting through the frenzy…

…and for more Mets Blogging, check out MetsBlog.com…