Please forgive me, Jeff Francouer

 

I play Fantasy Baseball. In our league, Jeff Francouer was available. He had hit in the first 10 games for the Mets this season.He was batting .457 with 3 homers and 7 RBI. He had 6 multiple hit games and was on a tear.

Then, I picked him up and put him in my lineup.

His first game in my lineup was Saturday’s 20-inning game against the Cardinals. He went 0 for 7 and dropped his BA from .457 to .381 in one day. In fact, since he has been in my lineup, he hasn’t gotten a hit yet. He is hitless in his last 4 games and is now batting .302.

I’m sorry, Jeff, but it’s all my fault! Please forgive me! And please, get a hit tonight.

BTW, I drafted Pelfrey but decided to drop him before the season because he had such a horrible spring. Currently, Big Pelf is 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA, 16 strikeouts and just for good measure, 1 save. You’re welcome, Mike!

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

Derek Jeter

 

Monday night, I had dinner with my brother-in-law and we reminisced about a Yankee game we went to many years ago. On Sunday, he had gone to the new Yankee Stadium with a group from his job. He mentioned that you can purchase all kinds of memorabilia from Charley Steiner Collectibles being sold at the stadium. He said we should have kept the ticket stub from that day many years ago because it was an important day in Yankee history. Derek Jeter had come to New York.

As Mister Peabody would say, “Sherman, let’s set the Wayback Machine to June 2, 1995. That’s where we’ll find Derek Jeter playing his first game in Yankee Stadium.”

It was a cool June Friday evening. We had 4 tickets in the upper deck in right field for the game between the Yankees and the California Angels. It was the beginning of a long home stand for the Yankees after returning from the west coast. Jeter had been called up and played 3 games in Seattle before making his home debut. He replaced Tony Fernandez who was put on the DL. He was 3 for 11 with 1 RBI in Seattle but in his home debut, he was 0 for 3. He was sent back to the minors on June 13 and played 2 other games in a September call-up. He played a total of 15 games that year and batted .250 with 0 homers and 7 RBI.

In 1996, Jeter played in all 162 games, batted .314, won the AL Rookie of the Year award, and won the first of his 5 World Series Championships. And, the rest, they say, is history.

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

As we enter week 3

 

I haven’t blogged for a week because I didn’t want to continue bashing the Mets. So, I laid low and now I’m calling for the firing of Jerry Manuel. As a manager, he’s not as bad as Art Howe, but he’s not nearly as good as Bobby Valentine.

Mets should fire him and Omar Minaya. It’s time for a change. Mets fans no longer think this team can win. Everyday, we look for signs of life but there is none.

They won the 20-inning game in spite of themselves. The Cardinals gave up using 2 position players as pitchers in the final 3 innings and all the Mets could manage was 2 runs. How bad is that!!

Ike Davis debuts tonight for the Mets and the fans are going gaga. He’s hitting great in AAA. But, this is the big leagues. We’ll see. But, at this point, it doesn’t look like the Mets are going to vacate the cellar this year unless they fire Manuel.

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

Week 1 recap.

 

The first week of the baseball season is behind us and here are a few observations:

I don’t want to beat a dead horse but closing games has been horrendous. Trevor Hoffman has a huge banner in centerfield with the number of career saves. It reads 593. He may never get to 600. After blowing a game Friday night, Hoffman blew another one on National TV, last night. Pujols and Holliday went back-to-back with 2 outs to tie the game. Fortunately for Hoffman and the Brewers, they won it in the bottom of the 9th.

The Mets are overrated. They are much worse then they look.

The Astros are worse than the Mets

Roy Halliday is awesome and maybe unbeatable.

The Giants are looking good

Week two should be even better.

Closers are Supposed to Close

 

Before Tony LaRussa created the “Closer” position in baseball, really good relief pitchers would come out of the bullpen to get outs and preserve leads. But, that usually meant pitching more than one inning. The good ones would pitch 2 or 3 innings and usually came into a game with runners on base and the game on the line. Nowadays, this position is reserved for the 9th inning. The “Closer” will come in with a 1,2 or 3-run lead and be asked to get the last 3 outs. Surely, there is some pressure  but they enter the game with nobody on and nobody out.

Yesterday, three such “Closers” were asked to “close” the game for their teams. These three failed and failed miserably. In all three cases, their failure, in the only spot they are asked to pitch- their only role on the team, led to their team’s defeat.

Un-Closer #1 – Mike Gonzalez. Gonzalez opened top of the 9th by walking Edwin Encarnacion and throwing a wild pitch, followed by Travis Snider's double that tied the game at 6. Snider advanced to third on John McDonald's bunt, and Jose Bautista's sacrifice fly put the Blue Jays on top. It was his second blown save in 4 games. Aside to every team: if the Braves are willing to part with a pitcher, rest assured he’s a bum. See Mike Gonzalez and Javier Vasquez and previously, Tom Glavine. Toronto at Baltimore, April 9, 2010

Un-Closer #2 – Billy Wagner. Trying to preserve a 2-run lead in the ninth and a brilliant pitching performance by Tim Hudson, Wagner gave up a 2-run homer to Edgar Renteria and the Braves lost 5-4 in 13 innings. Aside to the Braves: Never take anyone who pitched for the Mets. See Billy Wagner and previously, Tom Glavine. Atlanta at San Francisco, April 9,2010

Un-Closer #3 – Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman has 593 career saves. But, last night, a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run homer by Nick Stavinoha, (Who?), beats Hoffman and the Brewers 5-4.St. Louis at Milwaukee, April 9, 2010

Closers will drive the best fans crazy. You can’t live with them but in this day, you can’t win without them. You just hope they succeed much more than they fail.

Shout out to “Big Pelf” – nice game, Mike.

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

There’s Hope on the Way

 

After losing 2 of 3 to the Marlins, the Mets look to rebound against one of the worst teams in recent memory, the Washington Nationals. Unfortunately, tonight’s game is a battle for last place in the NL East. Of course, it’s still early.

This is actually a big night for Mike Pelfrey. A good outing by “Big Pelf” will go a long way toward establishing his place as the second starter behind Santana.

But, there is hope on the way for the Mets. Jose Reyes is back in New York and will be reactivated from the DL for tomorrow’s game. Jose makes the team go. There is nothing nicer than to see Jose lead off with a single, steal second and score on a hit. I call it a “Reyes Run”.

He need you Jose!

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

Reality Check

 

All the hoopla over the Mets’ opening day win has settled down. The real season started last night and gave us fans a dose of reality.

• Reality Check #1 – No one expected the Mets to go undefeated.
• Reality Check #2 – John Maine did not pitch 5 strong innings. Four runs in five innings is bad.
• Reality Check #3 – Mejia is not ready for primetime. Spring Training is fun. This is real. The Mets kept him over Figueroa and now Figgy is pitching for a division opponent. Bad move.
• Reality Check #4 – It’s not like the Mets hit their way back into the game. The Marlins walked and balked home runs.
• Reality Check #5 – Just because you have 7 relief pitchers, it doesn’t mean you must use all of them everyday.

They teased us yesterday into thinking that they would somehow win that game only to fall short in the 10th. Just one or two keys hits would have made for a happier recap. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

Mets fans, can you say ‘long season’.

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

YES, Michael, there is an 8th inning pitcher

 

Watching a Yankee broadcast on YES is like sitting with your hands tied behind your back and hearing sharp nails screeching across a blackboard. Please STOP! The noise from the mouth of the announcers makes you want jump for the remote but you are so drawn to their stupidity.

While waiting for King Chamberlain to emerge as the 8th inning setup man for Rivera, Gerardi traipses 2 bums out until he finally brings in Joba and his now-debunked rules to get the last 2 outs.

Great job by Joba; terrible job by “Mary Kay” and the rest of talking noisemakers. Only on YES.

Back when pitchers were men, the team’s best reliever was the first one out of the bullpen and not the last one. Modern day baseball will soon have a 6th and 7th inning pitchers because 5 innings by a starter is consider a great outing. Geez! On July 2, 1963, Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal faced each other in a game at Candlestick Park between the Braves and the Giants. The Giants won the game 1-0 on a Willie Mays homerun in the bottom 16th inning. Both Spahn and Marichal pitched complete games. Over the last eight innings, Marichal held the Braves to two hits and retired 17 in a row at one stretch. Spahn finished the night having allowed nine hits and just the one, intentional, walk. He struck out two. Marichal gave up eight hits, walked four and struck out 10. Each threw more than 200 pitches, Marichal threw a staggering total of 227 pitches.

When are pitchers going to start being men again?

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

Mets Own Opening Day

 

For a team that won a World Series before it ever won an Opening Day game, the Mets seem to own opening day now. They won their 5th consecutive opening day game and are 32-9 over the last 41 years. How about that one!

A win is a win and this one looked pretty good giving Mets fans some hope for the coming year. But, we’ll see. Proceed with caution!

It was good to see David Wright homer. Let’s Go Mets!

Here are my NL picks: The Phillies are loaded. It’ll be hard to pick against them so I won’t but the Braves could emerge as a division winner. They’ll probably grab the Wild-Card as a retirement present for Bobby Cox. I give the edge in the West to the Rockies over the Dodgers. The Cardinals made the best off season move keeping Matt Holliday. Without Holliday, Pujols would have walked 200 times. This will keep Pujols’ walks to about 100-110. With 90 extra at-bats, Pujols should put up great numbers. The Cardinals win the Central easily and breeze into the NL Champs.

I like the Rays over the Cardinals in the World Series. But then, I thought the Mets would win it all last year.

For what it’s worth, that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

Yanks Sox open the season

 

The 2010 Baseball season began last night with a come-from-behind Red Sox win. The win was triggered by a 3-run Youkilis triple which sent CC Sabathia to the showers and exposed the weakest part of the Yankees which is their bullpen.

The YES announcers made a big deal about Joba Chamberlain getting the 8th inning role but they failed to mention that the 8th inning role belongs to the one who can “hold” the lead to Rivera. Pitching the 8th inning when your team is behind is not the same thing.

Here are my predictions for the 2010 AL race. The Yanks, Sox and Rays are probably the 3 best teams in the AL, but oddly enough, only one will make the playoffs. I see the Rays taking the division in an upset. The bigger upset will be the Yanks and Sox missing the playoffs because the White Sox and Twins will have better records and capture the Central Division and Wild Card, respectively. White Sox and Twins have 3 much weaker teams in their division and will get more wins overall. Yanks, Red Sox and Rays play each other too many times and will have more losses in the standings despite being better teams.The Rangers will give the Angels a good run and make things interesting but will fall just short and give the Angels another Western title.

The Rays will emerge as the AL Champs.

And that’s Bubba’s SportsEye View.

Mets in 2010

 

It looks like another long season for Mets fans.

Their starting pitching is almost non-existent and without Reyes, Beltran and Murphy for a while, their run-scoring will be stretched to the limit.

Can you say 4th place? Let’s hope the Nationals don’t improve.