Mets Lifer Expectations for 2008

Opening day is only a week away and somewhere in Japan right now people are getting ready for the first MLB game in the far east. It's an exciting time of year where every team still has a chance at winning the pennant.

The Mets are full of high hopes, and I for one expect to see a lot of those hopes and dreams come true. Here are my expectations for 2008.

1. Jose Reyes will increase his OBP by at least 50 points
Jose Reyes is no longer a young player. He's a veteran and he needs to start proving he's a leader on this team, not by his dugout behavior but with his on field play. He needs to show patience at the plate. Get a few more walks under his belt, and for crying out loud quit trying to swing for the fences. I expect we'll see Reyes take more pitches and stop uppercutting as much as he did last year. If Reyes increases his OBP by 50 points this year, I expect that to translate into at least 10 more wins in 2008.

2. The Mets will have three 15 game winners.
Santana, Perez, & Maine should all win 15 games this year. Surprised I didn't say Pedro? I expect Pedro to miss some starts but these three guys should get at least 35 starts this season. I'm expecting closer to 18-20 wins for Santana, but I think Oliver Perez & John Maine will be able to build on their success last year. I just keep thinking about Maine's performance against the Marlins the second to last game of last season and I see a ton of potential for him this season.

3. David Wright will compete for the NL MVP.
I'm expecting this to happen every year for the next 8 years. Call me an optimist.

4. The Mets will play for a World Series.
Ok, if this does not come true, two things will happen. First, Willie Randolph will be fired. Second, Omar Minaya will be on monster.com too. Sure injuries will happen, and players will have slumps but this team should win 100 games. Period. No excuses. The starting rotation is the best it's been in almost 20 years. The bullpen has some question marks but in Wagner, Heilman and a healthy Sanchez you've got a great 7th, 8th & 9th inning pitcher. Our first four in the lineup are arguably the best in the majors. And our bench has some good depth to it (although I'd like another right handed bat before August rolls around).

The Mets don't need to just redeem themselves from 2007, they need to take back the World Series trophy. It's been too long and we're too good to let it elude us yet again.

Those are my expectations for the 2008 Mets. Let's play ball.

Time To Heal, Literally

Looks like Carlos Beltran's knees, John Maine's hip and Jason Vargas' elbow are all being tended to in this report from the New York Times.

All are expected to recover before spring training. Whew, what would we do if Jason Vargas wasn't at 100%.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

I really thought John Maine was going to do it. A 13 strikeout, one hit effort through 7 2/3 was just what the Mets needed. Possibly the weakest hit in baseball broke up Maine's no hit bid and the Shea faithful showed their appreciation calling Maine back out of the dugout for a curtain call.

But outside of Maine's magical performance was the fact that the Mets erupted for 13 runs AND showed some fire. I'm glad Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo got a little feisty causing the benches to empty twice. And that's the most energy I've ever seen Mike DiFelice show as he went after some of the Marlins players. Even Rick Peterson wanted to mix things up.

It's too bad this happened in game #161. We could have used this at any time this past week.

Now it's up to Glavine tomorrow and a little divine intervention to help the Nationals. Hope lives on for one more day.

A Festivus Miracle: Mets Win, Phillies Lose

This Mets team is stuck in some kind of funk. After storming back to take a 6-3 lead, Aaron Heilman single-handedly blows it. But then Mr. MVP David Wright knocks in the go ahead run.

And the strangest sight to behold was Aaron Sele coming in for 3 pitches and being replaced by Scott Blowenweiss who knotches the save. This game had more turns than the Mets made errors.

By the way, these errors have got to stop. This is bush league baseball in the field that we're seeing this past week. An extra hour of infield practice is in order for tomorrow morning.

I was pleased to see John Maine have more control over his pitches than he has in his past 4 starts. He looked good early on and struck out more batters than I think he has all year.

Those pesky Nationals come to Shea tomorrow. Magic number is 5 folks. 5 very, very long games away. But it's within reach.

The Pain and Sufferring Continues

Let me say that I really feel for Ruben Gotay. With 2 outs and runners on the corners, this 25 year old was asked to save the Mets from despair. I had confidence he could do it, but it was a tough spot for a rookie. Not to mention he was going up against one of the great Met Killers of this current era.

I thought he had him when he went 3-0, but it eventually led to a strike out. It was obvious that Gotay was upset with himself and that he thought he let his team down. He was the last player to leave the dugout, and I have to give Willie Randolph credit that he hung around and went up to Gotay to try and get the kid to understand it's not his fault. Randolph smacked him on the rear and walked with him into the clubhouse.

This would be a touching story if it wasn't smack in the middle of the greatest collapse of the 21st century. The Mets bats were not to blame tonight. You score 8 runs in a game you should win it. Maine was just not there tonight. Not sure where he was, but the man who I argued should be on the All Star team looks like he's lost out there.

Sure Blowenweiss came in and gave up what would be the deciding run, but at that point the damage was done. Of course the Phillies keep on producing miracle runs and we're only up 1.5 games.

Last night you would have thought it was game 6 of the world series the way I was waiting on every pitch the Mets threw and every swing they took. This is painful folks. And another kid is going to be asked to step up tonight in Mike Pelfrey.

Say your prayers people. And by the way is it just me or is Ronnie Belliard all of a sudden a Met Killer?

Ya Gotta Believe (Again)

It's so hard right now, but I reminded myself that it was just a few weeks ago that I wrote this post telling Mets fans that we gotta believe.

I've lost a bit of faith, but I've got to keep hope. What else do we have?

Ya gotta believe Maine is going to pitch like it's the playoffs tonight. Ya gotta believe that Lo Duca will be out for blood. Ya gotta believe that David Wright is embarrassed and wants to prove that he is the MVP. Ya gotta believe that Jose Reyes knows he has to get out of this slump. Ya gotta believe Luis Castillo will be slapping a base hit even if his knees fall off.

Ya gotta believe we haven't been through this roller coaster of a season to lose it now. Ya gotta believe this team wants to and knows it has to turn it around right now.

Ya gotta believe.

Walks Kill John Maine

Where's John Maine and what have you done with him?

The ace of the staff in the first half of the season has disappeared. Instead John Maine has turned into a young Al Leiter struggling to keep his pitch count down in the early innings. Last night, Maine went to a 3-2 count with the first 3 batters of the game. Tough way to start.

Maine has also been plagued with home runs in his last couple of starts. This usually happens when his fastball doesn't tail up and ends up being a meatball right down the middle of the plate.

It's weird because against some batters he looks stellar or gets to an 0-2 count and then the batter gets a hit. I'm not sure if it's confidence that Maine is lacking or if it's mechanical, but I hope he figures it out. (quickly, please)

Maine's line last night wasn't horrible (5.2 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits) but it's far from stellar. And with the bullpen being the way it is we need John Maine to go deep into games in September.

Mets 8 Twins 1

Finally some runs! After smacking 15 hits for 8 runs, the Mets get a "W". Carlos Delgado busted out with a home run, Carlos Beltran hit the ball real hard and had a rope double, Reyes had 3 hits. The big key tonight were the 2 out, RBI hits that were virtually non-exisistant over the last two weeks. Those 2-out hits were the signature of the team last year and it was nice to see them back to form tonight.

John Maine, now 7-4, was impressive once again, throwing 7 shut out innings to lower his ERA to 2.90. Both Maine and Perez should be considered for the All-Star game as they can easily have 10 victories a piece.