We have good news and bad news
Regardless of how the season ends, there are a couple of things we need to make clear here on MFC.com:
1. As painful as it may be, you must give credit to the Phillies. On Sept. 10, the Mets were 3 1/2 games up in the division. In the next 11 games, the Phillies went a ridiculous 10-1, while the Mets went a fair-but-not-awful 6-5. That's a four-game swing. Had the Phillies gone 7-4 -- a good stretch -- the Mets would be 1 1/2 games ahead today, two in the loss column. So, ease up on the talk of collapse.
2. Had someone told you at the end of May that the moribund, under-500 Mets would be within a couple of games of the division title in the final week, you would have signed for it in blood. And while failure to make the playoffs would still be a huge disappointment, remember that the Mets are battling with no closer, an awful bullpen and without one of their top three starters. Not easy.
3. Any questions about how much the bullpen has affected the team can be answered in an article by Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus, found here on SI.com. Jaffe points out that the Mets have plenty to be positive about, including a productive offense, good starting pitching and a reliable defense. He then makes clear -- with data to back it up -- how much the bullpen has undermined the team's success. Not that we needed the fancy numbers to prove it, but it's nice to know that it's not just perception -- it is reality.
4. I'm a Mets fan. I feel the pain like everyone else. But what I don't understand is that last year, during The Collapse, Shea Stadium was filled with so much negative energy that it was a disadvantage to the team. Could you blame the fans? Maybe not, but I draw the line at booing your own club. Talk about counterproductive.
So here we are a year later. The Mets are not only in the thick of a pennant race, but the final homestand of the season is also the final homestand EVER at Shea. You would think the fans would go out of their way to be positive, to cheer, to avoid the negative. To not act like spoiled brats. But by all accounts there are still plenty of fans who don't understand how home-field advantage works.
Do us a favor: Stay home and yell into your pillow.
1. As painful as it may be, you must give credit to the Phillies. On Sept. 10, the Mets were 3 1/2 games up in the division. In the next 11 games, the Phillies went a ridiculous 10-1, while the Mets went a fair-but-not-awful 6-5. That's a four-game swing. Had the Phillies gone 7-4 -- a good stretch -- the Mets would be 1 1/2 games ahead today, two in the loss column. So, ease up on the talk of collapse.
2. Had someone told you at the end of May that the moribund, under-500 Mets would be within a couple of games of the division title in the final week, you would have signed for it in blood. And while failure to make the playoffs would still be a huge disappointment, remember that the Mets are battling with no closer, an awful bullpen and without one of their top three starters. Not easy.
3. Any questions about how much the bullpen has affected the team can be answered in an article by Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus, found here on SI.com. Jaffe points out that the Mets have plenty to be positive about, including a productive offense, good starting pitching and a reliable defense. He then makes clear -- with data to back it up -- how much the bullpen has undermined the team's success. Not that we needed the fancy numbers to prove it, but it's nice to know that it's not just perception -- it is reality.
4. I'm a Mets fan. I feel the pain like everyone else. But what I don't understand is that last year, during The Collapse, Shea Stadium was filled with so much negative energy that it was a disadvantage to the team. Could you blame the fans? Maybe not, but I draw the line at booing your own club. Talk about counterproductive.
So here we are a year later. The Mets are not only in the thick of a pennant race, but the final homestand of the season is also the final homestand EVER at Shea. You would think the fans would go out of their way to be positive, to cheer, to avoid the negative. To not act like spoiled brats. But by all accounts there are still plenty of fans who don't understand how home-field advantage works.
Do us a favor: Stay home and yell into your pillow.
Labels: Baseball Prospectus, bullpen, fans, Phillies
posted by Gaspo @ 10:18 AM
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