Mack Morning Report – 5-23-15 – Mid May Madness

Good morning.

I received a phone call today (Wednesday) from my brother-in-law Jim to check on my health. Jim is one of many ex-Mets fan fanatics that no longer hang on every pitch this team throws. There was a time that we would have long, detailed conversations about this team, and its system and Wednesday’s call included a question asking me what was Noah Syndergaard like. See, Jim just doesn’t live and die on this team.

My brother Bob also falls in this category. He fell so off the grid that he actually became a Yankees fan. Most of these ex-fanatics left during the transition from Omar Minaya to Sandy Alderson, coupled with the whole Bernie Madoff mess. Instead of the players, the ownership and financials became the headlines and team management was forced to replace their ex-high paid superstars with team controlled rookies.

Jim asked me if I was excited about the Mets this year. Frankly, it was the first time anyone had asked me that and, coming off the Jon Niese drubbing, well, it wasn’t an easy question to answer.

Still, I thought for a few seconds before answering and then said “hell yeah… when was the last time we were in a pennant race in the middle of May?”

This was, of course, before Bartolo Colon took the mound on Wednesday for his third bad outing in a row (9.96-ERA in his last three games). Is the lack of offense and shabby defense starting to get to the Mets pitchers or is this just a series against 
baseball's best offensive team? 

Also, is it starting to get to me, both as a fan and a writer?

We had fun watching this team in April and it definitely isn’t fun right now, but the season is far from over. We knew going in here that the three divisional winners at the end of the season were going to be the Nationals, the Dodgers, and the Cardinals.

I put up the Wild Card Race (on the right column of the site) a little early this year because I had a funny feeling that the ‘first place’ Mets were heading in that direction; however, I can tell you one thing… only the Nationals have been piling up victories past the divisions leaders.

I don't think any of us expected to see the vast difference in the Chicago Cubs. I have never seen a more talented, young infield and it's hard for me to imagine that the mash unit we call the Mets is going to finish this season with less loses than this team.

Sandy Alderson can tell reporters every day that he’s not going to look outside this organization for the answer to the current problems, but someone needs to sit him down and make sure he takes a good look at what’s going on out on the field. The team isn’t hitting. The defense is deplorable. The team management decisions are questionable at best, the bullpen is both overworked and becoming overexposed. And the rotation, is becoming questionable at the back end. Nothing seems to working right now and saying that everything will be okay when David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud return just isn’t hacking it anymore.


Lastly, I guess I've spent too much time off line lately sitting in hospital waiting rooms. When did the Mets announce they were going to a six-man rotation? Is this something Matt Harvey signed off on? Is this based on some kind of 'who's the next to go down' lottery?

Boy, I hope they know what they are doing. Having six starters does nothing for the relievers and just takes one more slot away from the 25-man bench.