The Boostrap Mets

Sunday's game should have been a loss. In fact last year I would have guaranteed a loss when the Mets found themselves down 5-0 after Takahashi gave up his second homer of the game to Cody Ross. But what a difference a year makes.

This team has a "pull 'em up by the bootstrap" mentality. They fight. They claw. They don't give up. Sure Freddy Gonzalez's questionable moves, namely the short leash he gave Ricky Nolasco, helped open the doors for a Mets rally but the guys still had to put the ball in play.

Everyone in the lineup contributed to this comeback, save for Reyes. Franceour had the clutch home run of the year tying the game at 6, but Wright, Ike, Barajas, Cora, Bay and Pagan all had a hand in this W. The 8th inning was a microcosm of what a difference the 2010 season is from 2009. Pagan leads off with a single. Pagan runs on a 2-2 pitch to Bay which Bay slaps for a single allowing Pagan to move to third. Davis hits into a DP but Pagan scores.

Go ahead run. Game winning run.

Sure Pray Rod and his arsenal of theatrics made the 9th inning more than interesting, but in the end it's a W in the books and a revenge sweep of the Fish.

The best part is Pelfrey pitches the next game and for the first time in a long time I have confidence that a streak will continue.

Link: Tale of Three Mets Players

Came across this great post from NY Sports Dog, where he analyzes the swing patterns and strikeout ratios of David Wright, Jeff Franceour and Luis Castillo.

You think you know where the problem pitches are for Wright and Frenchie, but the scatter charts shown here just cement the despair that is this pair's strikeout woes.

Great post and NY Sports Dog is a great guy to follow on Twitter as well.

I'll Take My Mets With a Side of Grit

This is not your ordinary Mets team. The softness, nonchalant type of play that we've seen in years past is not present on this team. Wonder if it has anything to do with a missing center fielder? Hmmm, but in any case I'm loving the grit and intensity I've seen from this team over the past two weeks.

Running into walls, stretching doubles into triples,  and retaliating bean balls are all a sampling of the things we're seeing from this club that you couldn't have found with a fine tooth comb last year.

And it's not just veterans either. Ike Davis is jumping over railings to catch foul balls. Jon Niese is digging deep to get the most powerful lineup in the NL out while runners are on base. Mejia isn't backing down from the likes of Utley and Howard. But the key to the Mets grit is a guy named Frenchie.

Jeff Franceour is the epitome of what is great about baseball. The guy makes right field one of the most feared positions when he's out there. Did you see Jayson Werth pull a Scooby Doo skid stop in the 2nd inning when he thought he had a double? As soon as he saw Franceour had the ball it was like he saw a ghost and scrambled back to first on all fours.

Sure Franceour strikes out a lot. He swings at bad pitches too much. But this is the guy I want on my team because of his unbelievable hustle, his desire to win, and his rocket of an arm that keeps base runners at bay.

Grit. It's not an adjective used of the Mets, but this team is gritty. I love it. Let's go beat Halladay today.