6/20/16

HEY, IT'S ONLY 3 GAMES, RIGHT? by Tom Brennan

HEY, IT'S ONLY 3 GAMES, RIGHT?  by Tom Brennan

With the parent club in Queens embarrassing itself mightily while being at times gutless, witless, and hapless offensively, I went searching for offense.  I looked southward towards Brooklyn...I should have looks in Vegas (.293) instead.

After a brief, solid offensive start, the 2015 Brooklyn Cyclones' offense was...well, pretty offensive if you are a lover of offense. I get offended easily, and so am quite familiar with offenses.  I hope what I write here won't offend you.  Frankly, if you are, I'll be offended.

The 2015 squad ended up hitting .220 with a mere 26 homers in 76 games.

Well, that was Ruthian compared to the first 3 games of 2016. The 2015 hitters should have been Cloned, I guess.

Seven hits in 20 innings in a first game yawner. Then a 10 inning loss where the Cyclones were unable to scrounge up a hit.   No hitter!!

Then game 3, where a late inning 2 run explosion keyed by 3 singles allowed the Brooklynites to climb to 5 hits in total for the night.  Seven hits over 39 innings. Sweet.

The composite of that has been a 12 for 123 (.098) team start, leaving me longing for last year's .220 boys.  Emmanuel Zabala has led the 2016 squad with 3 for 13, including its sole homer. It was EZ's 2nd career shot in 591 at bats.  Brandon Brosher lifted the team average, going 2 for 12 (.167) with 7 Ks over the first 3 contests.

As almost always seems to be the case, when one looks for a silver lining, it is usually found in the METS farm's pitching staff.  The Gonzalez boys (Merandy and Harol) started 2 of the first 3 tilts and allowed only 1 run in a combined 10.1 IP, with 13 Ks. Several relief pitchers acquitted themselves well also. Three games in, a team 1.41 ERA. NICE.

Three games does not a season make, but a question Brooklynites and Mets fans could ask is, "can any of dese here hitters play dis here game?"  73 games to go, we will find out.

Next time, bring bats. The ones without doughnut holes in them.

11 comments:

Hobie said...

Where is Desmond Lindsay (not on Bklyn roster)? Still hurt from beaning in ST?

Hobie said...

also. KP starts in 2 days. Still no roster posted?

Tom Brennan said...

Hobie, I will look into it. My guess on Lindsay is they want him at Kingsport, which is a favorable place to hit. We need him to succeed. Hitting in a line up of a non-hitters seems a rough challenge.

I would certainly hope he is healthy at this point - that was 3 months ago.

Reese Kaplan said...

Ah, the lack of hitting makes me recall the famous interview with Ty Cobb on that subject:

Louis Prima: With all the great players playing ball right now, how well do you think you would do against today's pitchers?

Ty Cobb: Well, I figure against today's pitchers I'd only probably hit about .290

Louis Prima: .290? Well that's amazing, because you batted over .400 a... a whole bunch of times. Now tell us all, we'd all like to know, why do you think you'd only hit .290?

Ty Cobb: Well, I'm 72 fucking years old you ignorant son of a bitch.

I'm fairly confident that the Mets couldn't do any worse with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron in the lineup today.

Tom Brennan said...

Reese, LOL. And Cobb could be exhumed today and still improve the offens...plus take out Chase Utley surgically, with middle fingers at full mast.

Unknown said...

Good one Reese. Problem with the "we're in the same spot as last year" approach is another Cespedes type trade is not in the cards as we don't have the prospects and trading Wheeler would seem to be a desperate move and any team that would want him would want additional pieces. Anyone have a comment on the Metblog post about Brandon Drury? Very interested in TC's comments about making roster moves....we should know soon enough.

Tom Brennan said...

Reese knows it means Ruben Tejada can't be very far away.

Tom Brennan said...

Ruben is with SFG now in minors....1 for 12.

Reese Kaplan said...

How many ABs did our illustrious Skipper give him? Senility is a terrible thing.

Reese Kaplan said...

How many ABs did our illustrious Skipper give him? Senility is a terrible thing.

Tom Brennan said...

Brooklyn's game 4 was exciting. 6-6 going into the 17th, opponent scores 4, but in the bottom half, 3 Cyclone singles and 4th guy gets on too, but they could only manage 3 runs to lose 10-9. Hitting was still sparse until the 17th, as the BCs had only 9 hits the first 16 innings. But the team average jumped to .136 thanks to their 4 hit 17th inning, and maybe the Mendoza line is not too far off.

23rd round pick this year, and quick signer 2B Nick Sergakis, is 6 for 14 after getting on base 5 times last night. Rest of the team is hitting .110. Hey, but they've scored 12 runs in going 1-3. Batavia in 4 games has scored just 4, while hitting .148.

Teams as a whole in NY Penn League have played 56 games and hit just 15 homers; 6 teams have none. Wheaties have been ordered for all, which may help boost their homer totals.