Daily Roundup- Monday, May 11th

Playoff games, reaction from one of the worst officiated games, and the Mets just keep on winning.

First of course the locals. Joba Chamberlain has always been blasted for his antics on the field but John Harper says that perhaps the attitude he brings, is a welcome addition to a team that lacks it.

The biggest difference that I can see between the Yankees and the Sox is personality. The Yankees have none. Like their biggest star, A-Rod, they seem so mechanical and so stiff that its difficult for anyone to believe that they hang out with each other. Now, that may not seem like it should matter when you’re paying half this roster over 100 million dollars, but team chemistry is a huge part of the success any team will have. When you root for the guy next to you, it just seems like everything is going well.
Listening to the BS Report with Sean Casey, he mentioned how the Red Sox were always having dinner with one another and hanging out and even if you can’t measure it, these things play into success of a team somehow.
I can’t say that I care at all whether he pumps his fist or not. I think it’s just how a player feels at that particular moment and not in any way do I feel like he’s trying to show up the other team. Its this whole B.S. old school mentality that remains in baseball where you can’t celebrate and you can’t feel anything because that’s not how the older guys would do it. If anything that this present age has taught us, this is not your daddy’s or grand daddy’s baseball. It’s a completely different animal and should be played under different house rules. Don’t get me wrong though, some things should always be kept but this whole you can’t celebrate idea is complete crock.


Meanwhile Bill Madden writes about that other team in New York that seemingly has found every way to lose in previous years, is now finding ways to win which is a new old idea in Flushing Queens.

New York sports fans fickle? No! Its weird how this town works but at the same time its not. Simply put, when your successful you’re the toast, when you’re not, you are front page fodder. The way the Mets have been winning is simple. Starters have gone 6 innings, and the bullpen has taken over.
Its been a while so I have to give you my thoughts on the bullpen which was the biggest headache for any Met fan. I love Bobby Parnell. Out of everyone, I have the most hope for this guy. He throws fastballs all day and gets ground ball outs. He isn’t scared of pitching to contact which as a reliever the Mets have not had. The mindset of the Mets has always been to dance on the edge and live there too. It’s a sucker’s mentality and the wrong one when you’re in the bullpen. The bullpen’s job is to force outs and trust your defense. The closer has to have the overwhelming stuff to get strike outs, but the set up men just need to have good ground ball ratios to force the team to hit the ball and put it into play so the defense can make a play. As long as you have some strong power arms pitching, you can win ball games. I love K-Rod. The guy has no fear when it comes to the ninth inning and it showed when he held ground even when Carlos Delgado dropped a ball that should’ve ended the game in Atlanta last week. Usually that meant a loss for the Mets especially when you consider that Chipper Jones came up but K-Rod never scared (which is how a closer should be) got him to pop up to end the game. He pitched four straight games because he knew his team needed him to close the door on the Braves and Phillies, the Mets two biggest rivals.
J.J. Putz has his off days but its very rare and I can live with that. He is a good set up man. Sean Green needs to get into a groove and he has gone into a rut. Where is Brian Stokes? The guy throws mid-90’s and needs to see the light of day in these games but they keep him as their long man which is good but he’s one of your better arms and I don’t understand why Jerry won’t go to him. Pedro Feliciano with a lighter workload seems to have things coming together for him. Like I’ve been saying, the biggest problem for the Mets bullpen last year was that they were all in the wrong slot and thus it messed everything up. Now, you’ve got guys pushed back into more comfortable roles which frees up so much for everyone.


The hottest ball player in New York might be Carlos Beltran but if you had to pick second place it would have to be David Wright. But if you had to pick the third, it would be Johnny Damon who pops up in every Yankee highlight on Sportscenter nowadays, getting huge hits and leading his team in home runs and more important offensive categories. Mike Vaccaro speaks on the confident slugger.

With Alex Rodriguez back, the thinking would be that Damon’s bat would only be helped but he’s not hitting around A-Rod so it doesn’t benefit him. I think Damon has just come up at the right time and as ball players most often say when they are on the right track, they are just seeing the ball really well. Then I guess, they weren’t seeing the ball and if that’s the case shouldn’t they see an optometrist about that? I hate baseball metaphors.


Wallace Matthews is happy that the Mets have learned how to beat the losers too.

I hate agreeing with this guy because he just seems like a grouch but its true. The Mets have never been able to translate the intensity that they show against Atlanta or the Phillies to the Nationals and teams like the Pirates who they let beat them. I was even skeptical of them winning yesterday because it is such a typical recipe for a loss for the Mets. They’ve won a few so they have to have a let down game but the Mets kept the foot on the throats of the enemy and found a way to win. The last two seasons they have lost the division and missed out on the playoffs on the last day by one game. In New York you think about your last game but what about actually remembering to beat teams you should be beating in June and July who you let beat you. Those losses come back to haunt you far worse than putting all that pressure on you and playing against a team that has nothing left to play for.
The Mets have set themselves up every year and this year if they don’t want that same scenario in September, they need to finish off teams like the Pirates and do clean sweeps. Keep the foot on the pedal fellas.


More aftermath from the Manny debacle. He met with Frank McCourt, owner of the Dodgers, and the owner suggested strongly (see: demanded) that he speak to his teammates.

I wouldn’t say Manny needs help. He’s screwed and we all know it because no matter what, his entire career is in question. Speaking to his teammates is an especially critical thing that he might have to do to prove good will to his employers that he means what he said in his apology. Too many times we don’t hold these guys accountable for mistakes they made. I’m not saying he should stand outside of Dodger stadium with a sign around his neck saying I’m a steroid user, but speaking to his teammates, most of whom are on the right side of 30 and a few who are on the right side of 25, can go a long way to helping to make these young home grown Dodgers better individuals than Manny can ever hope to be.
Not only did he let down the community of baseball and the Los Angeles community that openly accepted an openly lazy player who openly tanked on his team to leave, he let down the young players who looked up to Manny. Speaking to them about steroids will be critical and must be done in order for the healing process to begin.