Mike Friere - Music To My Ears!

It is still VERY early in the Mickey Callaway era, but I have to say that I am impressed with how he is handling himself to date.  Several of his statements during interviews have been directly related to things that I have been wishing for the past few seasons.

The first statement was encouraging his pitchers to “own the inside part of the plate” and it was echoed by our new pitching coach as well.  They even went so far as to encourage Noah Syndergaard to be more aggressive with this philosophy and he followed that up by drilling one of our own players during live batting practice!   I am not saying we need to injure our own, but the overriding theme is a positive development.  The first step in a culture change starts with the mindset of the player(s) and an aggressive mentality is a good thing.

I am tired of watching players like Bryce Harper lean out over the plate and dominate the pitcher/batter encounter.  That needs to end and the team needs to start getting some respect back from the opposition.

Earlier today (Monday), our manager went on the record and stated that he was unhappy with the recent sloppy play in the field and that the players needed to tighten things up.  He didn’t casually suggest the idea, but addressed the issue by stating that better fundamentals “are going to start happening”.  I imagine that if the sloppiness continues, that MC will find players that can execute his mandate.  Players should not feel comfortable due to "veteran status” and everyone on the rosters should feel as though they have to earn their spot every day.

Good fundamental baseball influences both sides of the ledger, meaning “run suppression” and “run creation”.   

For example, “run suppression” involves effective pitching (limiting baserunners, minimizing mistake pitches), along with good defense (catching the baseball, throwing to the proper base).  This is especially true when your team is built around pitching and your ballpark is one of the bigger yards in the league. 

It makes me physically ill when I watch a pitcher labor through a four inning start, throwing a ton of pitches and constantly trying to wriggle out of trouble. You know, something like a walk, an error and then a three run bomb, as opposed to a solo shot with two outs.

Proper fundamentals also extend to “run creation”, which includes things like effective at bats (patience, pitch selection, situational hitting) and good base running techniques (taking the extra base when possible, the occasional stolen base and scoring runs when given the chance).  How many times has this team failed to get a runner over, or even worse, looked impotent with a runner at third with less then two outs?   When you aren’t an offensive juggernaut, you HAVE to capitalize on your opportunities and win a majority of your close ballgames.

When I think of good fundamental baseball teams, I envision the San Francisco Giants (or at least the versions that won championships in the recent past).  They were a pitching dominant team that played good fundamental baseball on a consistent basis.  They didn’t give their opponent “extra outs” and they put runners on base, moved them over and scored runs when given the chance.

Or, in a much more painful way, I also think of the 2015 Kansas City Royals who won a championship at our expense.  Without dredging up too much of the past, when you think of that match up, which team was more fundamentally sound?

I think that is what MC is trying to create in Queens, because that's how the Cleveland Indians played the last few years.  Lean on your pitching staff and consistently score runs in a variety of ways while not giving away winnable games with mental mistakes and sloppy play. It may take a season or two, but if he is able to get the Mets focused on those goals, I like our chances to return to relevance.