Beltran's Reception

Open question: When Carlos Beltran steps to the plate for the first time tonight, what kind of reception do you expect him to receive?

Will he be welcomed like the difference-maker Mets fans were hoping he would be? Will he be remembered for coming back from injury last year when no one else did?

Or will it be something different?

Will his "elective" surgery, in January, loom large in the minds of the Citi Field faithful? Will fans draw causality between his return and the team's complete ineffectiveness since his return?

Mets fans have always had a complicated relationship with Beltran. There are any number of possible underlying reasons.

Could be because of reports that after securing his offer from the Mets, Beltran's team placed desperate calls to the Yankees saying he would join them for ~$19mm less.

Could be because of his dreadful first season in Flushing, or because he held the bat on his shoulders against Adam Wainwright in the NLCS after a brilliant 2006 campaign.

Or by this point, it could simply be that over the course of Beltran's long contract, the team has made the playoffs once, broken our hearts 2-3 times with season-ending defeats, and given us the completely dreadful year in '09.

Add on top of that the more than serviceable job Angel Pagan did in the first half filling in for him, and the fact that Beltran's return displaces a popular player in Jeff Francoeur, and you can see where the reception tonight could get ugly.

I tend to think Mets fans will focus more of their ire on Luis Castillo and Jason Bay, but I guess we'll see. Anyone taking bets?

- A.F.O.M.G.

How Does Ken Rosenthal Have a Broadcasting Job?

And why isn't this question asked more often?

Chris Berman? The guy's been a joke on Deadspin for years and his nicknaming and "back-back-back-back"-ing have been broadly ridiculed for years.

That guy who does the Yankee broadcasts (think it's their radio voice... you know, the guy with the abominable catch phrases a la "it's an A-Bomb! For A-Rod!")? I swear there are several times a season when they'll play his audio during a Mets broadcast and Gary will just laugh.

Joe Morgan? There was an entire website devoted to hating him.

For whatever reason, Ken Rosenthal seems to escape this kind of loathing at a mass audience level. I don't know how this is possible. His sideline commentary is rarely insightful, but worse than that are the pauses that punctuate his reports.

Here's what it's like:

"Guys (pause), I just spoke to Johan Santana (pause). He tells me (pause) that rather than forfeit the game (pause) the Mets have decided (pause) to lose in heartbreaking fashion (pause) once again."

Speech coaches tell you to take a breath rather than say "umm" when you're speaking publicly. Maybe that's the explanation. Either way, anyone who can't string two thoughts together without taking a break in between doesn't deserve to be on the air.

Maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm just spoiled by Gary, Keith, and Ron (and Kevin!). But I don't get how this man still has a job. Anyone with me on this? If not, can someone explain his appeal to me?

* * * * *

... And the Mets just lost on a walk-off home run. That's 12 walk-off losses for those keeping track.

And for those keeping track, we're back to 2 games over .500, 7 games out, with 6 days until the trade deadline.

Please god, don't let Omar do something stupid. Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo were enough.

- A.F.O.M.G.

On the Plus Side...

I can't remember the last time the Mets were this unbearable.

I remember earlier this year when the Mets completed the "shutout sweep" of the Phillies, some commentator (Will Leitch I think) noted how awful it would have been to be a Phillies fan those three games. Not only was the team losing, but because they never scored, their fans didn't have a single reason to cheer for 27 straight innings.

That's kind of what this recent run by the Mets has been like, only rather than lasting three games, we're past 10 now. They simply don't score, not in any meaningful amount anyway.

Ever since making the "best midseason acquisition possible" by activating Carlos Beltran from the disabled list, the offense has looked dreadful. You can't draw some sort of cause and effect between Beltran's return and the offensive woes, because the team was struggling going into the All Star Break, too.

But I wonder if there isn't an added bit of pressure on the team now that Beltran is back and all of a sudden they're "supposed" to win. All season long they were beating expectations. Now the expectations have been raised, and they look completely awful.

But for all the unbearableness of the Mets' recent slide, I submit to you that there are three positives about our current situation.

One, the pitching continues to be really, really good. All things being equal, if the Mets were going to go into a prolonged slump, I would be more concerned if it were on account of the pitching, rather than the hitting. I still believe the hitting will come around.

Two, if the team slides far enough out of contention, you have to hope that management will adopt a "first, do no harm" approach to the trade deadline.

I've said all year that 2010 is a "set 'em up" type season for 2011; a 2005 redux, if you will. We've seen our farm system produce promising talent this year; I'd hate to see us trade any of it away for a "savior" like Ted Lilly. Ted Lilly isn't a savior, folks, and there isn't another one out there now that Cliff Lee is in Texas.

Does none of that console you? Well there's always No. 3 on our list... if nothing else, at least the games are on the West Coast and most of us have the pleasure of sleeping through the pain.

Have nice weekends, everyone.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Our Worst Fears Realized?

Not exactly the triumphant return we all envisioned for Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and the rest of the gang last night, was it?

Mets fans had any number of reasons to be excited about Beltran's return, but for most of us there was another corner of our minds that harbored concern. The team had been playing well, who could know whether would Beltran disrupt the roster's balance or the team's chemistry?

Through five games with Beltran back the team looks terrible. I'm not trying to imply any direct causality, because it's such a small sample size still and it could be nothing more than the team going through a funk.

But if it continues, will we look back to the All Star Break and ask if Beltran's return was the turning point of the season, and not in a good way?

It's not that Beltran isn't a uniquely talented player -- he is. It's what Kevin Costner's character said in "Bull Durham": you don't fuck with a winning streak.

Now granted the Mets sputtered into the All Star Break, but in the aggregate they had a very successful first half. They outperformed just about everyone's expectations. To my mind, you don't fuck with a team that's outperforming; you just try to ride that wave as long as you can.

Maybe the Mets did that. Maybe they were playing above themselves all along and they needed reinforcements.

But maybe they didn't. Maybe that mix of guys really had something special. Maybe it was a feeling that they had been disrespected; maybe it was people telling them they couldn't win without Beltran... then Beltran comes back and that espirit de corps no longer applies.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just frustrated by the past five games, but the team looks off right now. Could be just a funk, or it could be that something good has been disrupted, albeit through the very best of intentions (and, in fairness, every ounce of conventional wisdom -- if you have a Carlos Beltran you play him).

But still, I can't help but wonder.

- A.F.O.M.G.

And We're On Our Way, Ooooh, Somewhere... Nine Keys to the Second Half

The second half of the season starts tonight, and if you're anything like me, more than anything else you're happy that there are important questions to ask about the Mets at this point in the season.

I didn't think the Mets would be as bad as they were in 2009, but I also never thought they'd enjoy the level of success they've seen thus far in 2010. I predicted a wholly mediocre .500 plus/minus three wins.

That prediction went out the window when the Mets started pitching the lights out. You've all read on other sites (or more likely, observed with your own eyes) about who was responsible for the turnaround in that area, so I won't recap it here.

Suffice it to say, if the Mets are going to remain in contention, they need guys like Jon Niese and R.A. Dickey to keep performing. They need Johan Santana to continue his renaissance. They need Mike Pelfrey to get his groove back.

And they need a fifth starter. No offense to Hisanori Takahashi, who more often than not has done a good job with his turn in the rotation, but he adds the most value to this team out of the bullpen.

Longtime readers know how much I sweated Darren Oliver as the long man out of the 'pen in 2006; Takahashi's the first guy we've had who matches that level of production, who takes deficits and holds them where they are, rather than letting them spiral out of control.

So key number 1 to the second half of the season? Get another arm for the rotation. We don't need a savior; Ted Lilly, if reasonably priced, would be fine.

Key number 2 is to have Carlos Beltran return as the productive player we'd gotten used to all those years.

Key number 3 is for Jason Bay to get his groove back. We haven't seen a disappearing act like this since David Wright 2009; or perhaps the better comparison is Beltran in 2005. Either way, his lack of production has been stunning. We've read all year about his streaks, about how all of a sudden he'll go on a run of hitting 16 home runs in two months. Let's hope we've just been sitting on dry powder all this time.

Key number 4 is for the team to get more consistent on the road. We're six games under .500 away from Citi Field -- that ain't gonna cut it.

Key number 5 is for the team to get its groove back at home. Going 2-4 against the Reds and Braves in our final six home games ain't gonna cut it either.

Key number 6 is for Wright and Angel Pagan to keep producing the way they have. These guys were co-MVPs of the team in the first half, and if we're going to make a run at the playoffs we need them to keep humming along.

Key number 7 is all about No. 7, Jose Reyes. Say all you want about Wright, Pagan and Pelfrey, but the Mets' season really turned around when Reyes started producing again. Then he got hurt, again, and the team stumbled... again. Sit him as long as you need to in the short term. We need him to be himself, and when's he not 100%, he's not that guy.

Key number 8 is we need Francisco Rodriguez to lock up more of his saves and we need someone (Bobby Parnell) to make the eighth inning their own.

And the final key, key number 9, is we need the fans to keep showing up at Citi Field. From both a moral and financial support perspective, this team needs people at the ballpark. Do your part, people.

* * * * *

From where I sit today I honestly don't know what to expect. I don't think the Braves are as good as they've played, and I don't think the Phillies are as middling as they've played (but it's possible they've just got me shook; their pitching is pretty poor after Halladay).

A year or two ago I entitled my midseason post "Halfway There, Going Nowhere". That's not the case this season. We're going somewhere, it's just, with so many variables heading into the second half, it's difficult to know where it'll all lead.

Try to enjoy the ride.

- A.F.O.M.G.

End of an Era: The Boss (RIP)

As regular readers are aware, Mets Extra began life as a Yankee-hating website called Yankees 2000: Promote the Curse.

Back in the day, Y2K Godfather Sippy Momo used to dispense Yankee hate on the daily, with yours truly appearing periodically to fawn on the Mets.

Gradually, and for a number of reasons, things changed for this site; hating the Yankees was no longer the point, it was just something we wrote about periodically because, as Mets fans, hating the Yankees comes as naturally to us as hating Armando Benitez.

We still hate the Yankees, but we were saddened yesterday to learn of the death of George Steinbrenner.

As I've written before on the site, the Steinbrenner of my recollection was always more bark than bite. By the time I started really paying attention, his days of hiring and firing managers compulsively or sicking private detectives on his players were over.

He was still good at calling out players (i.e., calling Hideki Irabu a "Fat Pussy Toad") and still good at obnoxiously aggrandizing the Yankees, but honestly I can't remember a truly bad thing the guy ever did. I know he did some bad things, plenty of them from the sound of it, but that's not part of my direct memory of the man.

He was, in most essential respects, exactly what you'd want out of your team's owner: passionate, obsessed with winning, vocal about losing being unacceptable, forever willing to spend money to get the player the team needed. Any fanbase would take an owner like that.

There will be time to hate the Yankees tomorrow. For now, final respects to The Boss. It's quite a legacy he leaves.

* * * * *

Finally!

I'm five years out of college now. Before last night, the last time the National League had won an All-Star Game I was in Middle School.

It was great to see the senior circuit take it down, and I'm pumped that the World Series will kick-off at the National League park and give the NL team home field advantage.

Good showing by David Wright last night... but question, was he wearing the Mr. Magoo helmet? Actually it seemed that a bunch of players were wearing especially large helmets last night. Maybe that only makes sense in an exhibition.

Anyway, one more day without regular season baseball. We'll be back tomorrow with our keys to the second half.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Isiah's Comeback, the Derby, and the ASG

Hey team, gotta keep this one short and sweet.

In recent days there's been some talk that the big winner in the Knicks' lost effort to land LeBron was none other than Isiah Thomas.

The storyline gathered steam when Jim Dolan dispatched Thomas, theoretically a college basketball coach, to Akron, OH (what!!) in a last-ditch effort to court LeBron. Today the Daily News has a pretty compelling story about how the stars may be aligning for Isiah's big comeback.

All of which is tailor-made for one of those "Really?!?!" segments on Weekend Update.

Really, they want to bring back Isiah Thomas? Really? After, what, 10 straight losing seasons, having the least wins of any team in the last decade, leading the league in sexual harassment lawsuits, and being a general embarrassment? Really?!?!

If the Knicks bring LeBron back I'm done. I've lived in Brooklyn for three years now, long enough to credibly pull for the Nets if they ever end up moving. Besides, they got the Blueprint for Greatness, son!

* * * * *

The Home Run Derby... does anyone really care? I just can't get into it.

Maybe it's because the entire exercise demands sportscasting of the worst kind, but something about it just turns me off.

That said, I'm happy David Ortiz took it down, particularly on a day when we compared his career denouement to Johan's. Maybe Johan has a Cy Young left in him somewhere...

* * * * *

Perhaps the most amazing streak in sports is the American League's 14-straight triumphs in the All-Star Game (including one tie).

As a National League fan this streak is an embarrassment, and as a fan of a team with at least a chance of making the playoffs and playing in the World Series, for us the decision in the game counts this year.

So what do you say we do something tonight that no NL team has done since Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza (holler!), and Jeff Conine (former Met!) homered to lead the good guys to a 3-2 win over the AL.

That win, I've just read, snapped a 6-year winning streak by the American League. Maybe it just isn't meant to be.

- A.F.O.M.G.

The Ruler's Back

One thing sports fans and members of the media love to speculate about is when a formerly great player is finally over the hill or officially washed up.

There's a great article in the New Yorker this week about David Ortiz and the questioning he's faced the past two seasons. Earlier this year, Ortiz, everyone knew, was done. His bat was slow, his hands slower. There was talk he'd be released by June.

Zoom forward to the present and Ortiz is sitting on 18 home runs and 57 RBI at the break, on pace for 36 and 114, respectively. His OPS is a fearsome .945 (better than his career average of .923). Ortiz may not be the same guy he was from 2004-2007, but it turns out he's still a very capable hitter.

Over in Metsville we've had a similar set of questions surrounding one of our great players, Johan Santana. Santana faced questions every fifth day about whether he was still an ace pitcher, or still even the ace of his own staff given the ascendant Mike Pelfrey.

The argument on Johan really came down to two issues, one (somewhat) crazy and the other not so crazy. The somewhat crazy argument was all about his win totals, which were not good.

He had, of course, pitched brilliantly in a number of no-decisions, but that wasn't good enough. Ace pitchers are supposed to win, particularly when you're paying them $20 million per year.

That argument is mostly unfair but there's a part of me that sympathizes; it's out of Johan's control if the offense scores for him, but an ace is supposed to find a way to win (often by finishing what he starts). Johan rarely goes the distance; he's very un-Roy Halladay in that way.

In any event, the greater cause for concern was his diminishing velocity. More than anything else, the declining speed of his fastball, coupled with the implications that declining speed would have for his trademark change-up, made for a very troubling package.

But then all of a sudden he dropped his hands in an effort to stop tipping his pitches and sure enough he started to turn things around. He's reeled off three brilliant starts in a row (including a complete game shutout against the best offense in the NL), lowering his ERA to a team-best 2.98.

As the Mets went 2-4 against two of the best teams in the National League, the only victories came in Johan's starts.

Happily, it seems the obituaries on Johan were a bit premature.

- A.F.O.M.G.

That Decision Sucked

Honestly, I've always been a big LeBron fan, but count me as someone who's really disappointed in his decision to join the Miami Heat.

Granted, I would have been excited if he'd come to the Knicks, but in my heart of hearts I always wanted him back with the Cavs.

I have family out in a suburb of Akron, and I know how much they've always loved "our LeBron". For a variety of reasons they don't have him anymore. I'd buy his whole "I just want to win a championship" thing if the Cavs weren't a better team, but they had the best record in the NBA last year, so it's not like the idea of winning at home was a pipe dream.

That said, it also clearly wasn't all about the money for LeBron, who could have made more by staying in Cleveland.

On balance though it's just a disappointing decision for any sports fan. I put myself in that position: New York native, Mets fan all my life (I might have heard last night that LeBron went through a period where he was a Bulls fan), beloved in my hometown... if I'm in that position I stay with the Mets every time, and I think all other sports fans out there would too.

Which is why LeBron's move will really taint his legacy. In 2000, Alex Rodriguez made a similar move, choosing the money and private jets over playing for the team he grew up rooting for; to me, that's where the whole disconnect between A-Rod and baseball fans began.

Who wouldn't want to play for the team they rooted for? Why on earth not? It doesn't make sense to fans.

Now LeBron's in the same position, and I expect the near universal adoration he used to enjoy will be tainted from now on. It's a shame because he does seem like a good guy; on this one though I just think he made the wrong call.

* * * * *

Needless to say it's a big weekend for the Metsies. I'm going tomorrow with a big group which should be fun, assuming the weather holds up.

We have to win this series; we need to gain ground on the Braves, prove we can play with them, and go into the break with some momentum. Fortunately we have three of our top flight pitchers going.

Let's get after it.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Little LeBron Theory Courtesy of Sip

When LeBron goes back to Cleveland then here is how I think it all went down...

LeBron basically said: I cant leave Cleveland. It wouldnt be right (Basically every sports romantic's dream). And he said this month's ago.

But yet he still wanted to become LeBron James- Global Icon. Bigger than the World Cup, The market's down 10%, Obama...you name it.

His people call Chris Broussard and basically tell him: "You're working for us."

We are going to make you the guy that breaks every single story in basketball before anyone else can despite the fact that three weeks earlier 80% of the sports viewing public didnt know who you were.

And you- Chris Broussard- are gonna be the narrator of the "LeBron James Story- The Toughest Decision in the History of Sports"

You are gonna tell the world that I have to go to NY- The Fame, Chicago- the history/team, Miami- The Big Three and how it would be impossible to turn down any of those options. You are going to report that Lebron begged Chris Bosh to come to Cleveland, that a deal was in place but Bosh turned it down because Chris Bosh HATE SMALL TOWNS.

And then you are going to break the rumor that LeBron is leaving for Miami...For 48 hours the world speculates that LeBron is a villain- a selfish/jerk like all other pro athletes (icons instead of players...etc), and then...when it is impossible for him to go home/ He has three far superior options... LeBron does what.


He goes home.

LeBron James is such a good guy that he stayed in Cleveland despite their terrible team (Won 60 games the last years)/ the fact that no one would come to Cleveland/ and that he had three far superior options.

In doing all of this, Lebron is a great/loyal guy, who at the same time built his brand to be bigger than the world and returns to a 60 win team where none of the teams in his conference got all that much better than they were last year.

If this is how it all goes down, than the guy is a genius.

If he goes to Miami, then we aren't seeing too many more Rudy stories anytime soon.

Either way, Chris Broussard is the new voice of basketball- so he is happy.

Vaya,
Sip