Some team sports are more dependent on individual performances than others. Baseball, pitchers aside, is much more of a holistic endeavor than, say, watching LeBron James carry a “Who’s Who? No, Really, Who?” lineup to deep playoff runs in multiple seasons. But on certain nights, all roads lead through one player’s singular performance. For the […]
Category: Articles
The Call Up: Michael Conforto
(Editor’s Note: Welcome to an alternate-history version of Michael Conforto’s Mets career.) The Situation: It’s September 1, the time of year when rosters expand and fans get a look at some of the young, exciting players on the farm. And if the excitement of meaningful games in September isn’t enough for Mets fans, they will […]
See You In September!
September is upon us. The leaves are changing, the Mets are still on the edge of the playoff race, and major league teams can recall up to 40 players to the active roster. Four call-ups have already been confirmed by Betsy Helfand of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I brought out my Magic 8-Ball to predict […]
Conforto and Plawecki’s Late Summer Revival Tour
The old maxim, as it goes in baseball, is that you can’t trust what someone is doing in spring or September. There’s just too many variables that keep the context of the at-bats and games from their normal level of meaning. Or something like that. Whatever. When September actually rolls around this year (today!), the […]
Game recap August 31: Kelly Johnson saves the day, season, world
WHO WON: KELLY JOHNSON…and also the Mets WHAT HAPPENED, BARTOLO DOES HIS THING: Bartolo Colon was great Wednesday night in such a Bartolo Colon way. The big man didn’t blow it by many hitters, but that isn’t what he does at this stage of his career. Colon came out, gave the Mets seven strong innings […]
Asdrubal Cabrera Unleashes The War Elephants
Recently, I’ve been spending a bit too much time on baby-naming websites. I’m not expecting, nor do I have the dreaded Baby Fever, though one of the many pleasures of womanhood is that my mother calls weekly to “reassure” me that the family doesn’t care if I skip the nuptials and get knocked up, so […]
Game Recap August 30: Met Momentum
Executive Summary Behind Seth Lugo and Curtis Granderson, the Mets leapfrogged Miami in the Wild Card standings. Mets 7, Marlins 4. Discussion and Analysis A few short years ago, sabermetric Seth Lugo appreciation would consist of astonishment that a 26-year-old never-prospect with a 7.73 ERA in Triple-A could defy his Davenport Translation to post a 2.51 […]
A Sense Of Where The Mets Are
How many times has it happened to you? The Mets lift you up and then send you back crashing down to earth. That is the maddening way of this franchise, and anyone who’s been around for any appreciable stretch of times knows the feeling of those whims all too well. The highs feel dizzying, while […]
The NL Won’t Let The Mets Fade Away
It was not long ago that the Mets looked like a complete mess. They were under .500, falling fast in late August, and any hopes of a return to the postseason (let alone the World Series) seemed laughable. By most accounts, they should be clearing their golf schedules for October. However, the National League has […]
Game Recap August 29: Walks and a Walkoff
Executive Summary The starting pitchers combined to walk 10 batters. Yoenis Cespedes walked off in the tenth inning. Mets 2, Marlins 1. Discussion and Analysis Miami entered last night’s contest one game ahead of the Mets in the Wild Card standings, with the Marlins a game and a half behind St. Louis for the second spot […]