The Magical Postseason

Once again, in blissful ignorance, ABA presents the Second Annual What If The Mets HADN'T Blown It Again fantasy playoffs.


Cautiously optimistic

Tonight the Mets will open in Chicago at 6:30.

Probable pitching matchups:

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 6:30 p.m @ Chicago M. Pelfrey (13-11) v Dempster (17-6)

Thursday, October 2, 2008 9:30 p.m @ Chicago J. Santana (16-7) v Zambrano (14-6)

Saturday, October 4, 2008 6:00 a.m. @ Shea Perez (10-7) v Harden (10-2)

Sunday, October 5, 2008 TBD @ Shea TBD v Lilly (17-9)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 TBD @ Chicago TBD v TBD

Experts are picking the Cubs in 4.

Tonight's rumoured lineup:

Reyes ss
Beltran cf
Delgado 1b
Wright 3b
Murphy lf
Martinez 2b
Church rf
Schneider c

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wake up! Wake up! ARe you going to watch these games?
2:01 PM
Anonymous said…
But seriously. Are you sick of Reyes? I would not trade him this year, but he is one of the dumbest players in the league. His talent is tremendous. But he fails to back up bases, loses concentration in the field, and worst of all, he swings at the first pitch toooooooooo much. There is one rule. If you swing at the first pitch, it has to be a grooved, get-it-over-for-a-strike fastball. Scores of times this year this guy went up and swung at pitch one when it was not even a strike. Exasperating behavior. No plan. And his base stealing---Wright is a better base stealer. Jose, as fast as he is, still is not smart enough to do what Wright, and a lot of base stealers do--pick the right pitch, and cheat. He constantly gets bad jumps. He was thrown out a ton of times this year, and sometimes by pretty mediocre throwers. One final point---that head first slide. Does he have to slide through the base at 90 mph? Wouldn't it make sense to dive a bit earlier and reach the base with his hands? He will break a finger at some point, or jam a shoulder or whatever. If he does not improve his plate discipline and play smarter, I think they should consider moving him next off season. More pet peeves at some future date.
2:09 PM
Anonymous said…
ooops. I missed tht top sentence about this being a fantasy. My bad.
3:20 PM
katherine said…
jaap, we read your blog to overcome our pain, not WALLOW in it! please.

But your fantasy scenario reminded me of something. Before we could make the postseason we would have had to play a game Monday against the Brewers. (The Onion had a satirical article a week ago announcing a "Choke-Off" game between the Mets and Brewers.)

One of the reasons I turned off the game in the 5th inning on Sunday, is that I heard that Pedro would pitch on Monday if necessary. I knew that would be a disaster, and not just a loss, but an excruciatingly painful, give-up-multiple-runs-in the-first-inning-and-never-recover kind of loss.

So I am almost glad to have been spared that. Pedro on short rest? Geuuhh.
4:27 PM
Jaap said…
reyes, jdon? is he still here? He wasn't cut yet? what are these people waiting for?
I advocated trading him back in '04when he was still Hamstring Jose as far as I was concerned. Maybe we should keep him until the trade deadline next season, get a quality player or two in return and let him choke for someone else's playoff run next September.
5:36 PM
Jaap said…
well Kathleen, there's no guarantee the Mets choke in this alternate universe, this spider hole from reality.
BTW, in this scenario, apologies that it was unexplained, the Brewers lost Sunday and Church's 2 run homer to tie it in the 9th was followed by a Schneider homer to win. No playoff and no Pedro required.
5:46 PM
Anonymous said…
My real point is that the argument that he is young and will get better is problematic. He wa sbetter 2 years ago at 23. He is NOT improving and no one in the organization will let anyone get in his face. I believe Omar has a "hands off Jose" policy. By now he should have improved on his pitch selection, particularly on first pitches. He should get much better jumps on steals. He does not use his head. Some guys get better because they get bigger and stronger. Most guys improve because they get smarter. No one seems inclined to force Jose to get smarter.
6:17 PM
Anonymous said…
As a matter of fact (and I know I am being long-winded) the softness of this Met team might emanate form the softness of its GM. We have no way of knowing, but I do not get the sense that the Mets lay down the law to anyone. By the way, has anyone heard anything about Ryan Church not liking New York or his teammates. I heard something to that effect on the radio but did not hear the source of the info.
6:22 PM
Jaap said…
I don't disagree about the softness of this franchise. The owner hired Howe b/c "he lit up" the hotel room in his understated manner, they judge Reyes' performance on his smile and they retain Manuel because he's an entertaining post game interview.
Baseball standards judged by some bizarre feel-good quirks is probably why there are no inspirational leaders on this team (bar Santana, who only stops the losing streaks, can't lead the winning streaks.) Like Charley Brown's "rats!" exclamation, stupid frustration at pointlessly repeating the same mistakes, here are your Mets. Its like the mgmt never recovered from the bad hangover of the 1993.
7:33 PM
katherine said…
I will defend jose: You two want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Led the league in triples - had 8 more than the next person.
Led the league in total hits.
Second in stolen bases.
Tied for 5th in runs scored.
17th in batting average, and his BA of 297 is 10 points higher than his career average, so don't say he's getting worse.

I was also about to brag that he led the league in CS, til I figured out what CS was.....
I concede your point there jdon, he should steal more judiciously.
11:09 PM
Anonymous said…
I am not arguing about his stats, Katherine. He has pretty good stats. But he is not improving. just because he is 25 does not automatically mean he will get better. He does not use his brain. The Mets do nothing to help him improve. Or if they do, it does not register. I simply made the claim that I am sick of watching him play dumbass baseball. Maybe he has no brain, or a very small one. If so, I think our chances of winning big are diminished. And I did not say we should trade him now. I said NEXT year. So there.(I am sticking my tongue out at you as I type this last part)
12:23 AM
Anonymous said…
I did it again. That was me.
12:23 AM
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