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5/22/24

Tom Brennan - Losing Is As Losing Does, And Other Great Mets Stuff


“It’s like I told Lieutenant Dan, Losing Is As Losing Does”

That’s what Forrest Gump told me about the Mets. 

Dude is profound huh?

Mets? Lost 7-6. This ain’t horseshoes, Mets dudes, “close” don’t count. 

Unless it’s close wins. 

Now??

Just 13.5 games behind Philly several days before Memorial Day. Sweet.

So…they send down Jose “the Ace” Butto, who was brilliant for Syracuse on Tuesday, on the same night as Doogie Houser pitched bravely, heroically…and terribly…for the NYMs as he got tattooed once again. 

Speaking of 28-16 Syracuse, which has been on “super ultra scorch win-win-win mode”, 2B/3B Luke Ritter is almost up to .280, not to mention 20 HRs in 356 AAA at bats this year and last, so why not call him up? 

Nearly a .400 OBP this season, and 25 RBIs in 131 at bats. 

Why not? No, really. What are the Mets gonna do with him, lose worse? 

Give Ritter a MLB shot for working so darned hard. Send down brett baty.


WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY WITH MY GUY VIENTOS?

Mark went 2 for 4 in Cleveland with a HR and no Ks. Hitting .360. 

Chip on shoulder.  

Big one. 

Better player than that homesick guy Lindor, I tell ya. 

He of the “7.7 years of remaining $34 MM Per Yr” is at .198. Do the math.

.360 minus .198 = .162, advantage to Vientos the Younger.


What else? Oh yeah, the minors:

Thet promoted Nolan McLean fast to AA and he goes 2 for 4, RBI, no Ks.

- I like that guy. A lot. What can’t he do? Heckuva pitcher, too.

Jonah Tong?

He was again “Tong Terrific” for Brooklyn tonight. 6 IP, 1 run, 8 Ks. Already better than Bowser Houser. Call him up. Let’s have a Tong Night in Queens.

Spiraling St Lucie comes from behind late to finally win. Thank heaven for those unearned runs to assist in securing a W.

Binghamton? 6-5 win.  My Other Guy, Paul Gervase, comes off the IL after 4 weeks and throws a perfect 9th, fanning two. He had somewhere to go, so he threw 9 pitches, 7 for strikes. Tall Paul can do it all, y’all.

And Brandon Sproat, which rhymes with G.O.A.T? 7 strong innings lots of strikes, 9 Ks. 8th pro start. Better than the Bowser.

Lastly, the FCL Mets win again, and yet another of my guys, 17 year old Jeremy Rodriguez, goes 2 for 5, which for him almost qualifies as a bad night. A modest .381/.480/.548. 

He will replace Lindor by the time he is 20. You heard it first here. Maybe earlier, in late 2025. 

Why not? 18 is a wonderful age. AT 18, I was driving my 40 HP, 1964 VW Beetle, avoiding hills, and life was GOOD.


MACK IS PRESCIENT

I saw this headline on Audacy.com:

“The Mets are dangerously close to forcing David Stearns to blow it all up.”

Mack said that, almost word for word, a few days ago. A higher plain.


LASTLY, MORE EVIDENCE ON THE FENCES?

Read this in the NY Post: 

Jeff McNeil, who went 2-for-4 with a homer, owns an .812 OPS on the road this season. McNeil’s OPS at Citi Field is (.363 points LOWER at) .449.”

“No, no, Tom, please stop your badgering…Citi dimensions are fine. Perfect.”


Be blessed, folks. Each new day you’re “winning”. Give thanks.

20 comments:

  1. I do believe Baty will be sent down soon. But I don't think they'll bring Ritter up. My guess it'll be Iglesias to fill the middle infielder reserve role, which he should of had since opening day, in my opinion

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  2. Jon, I agree. I was saying it facetiously about Ritter, but he just keeps improving, and maybe it won’t be facetious in a few months. He hit .160 in Syracuse in part of 2022, I thought he was toast. He skipped the toast and went to work. Dramatically better production.

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  3. What more does Vientos have to do right. I need someone to tell me why he wasn't DHing to start the season till JD was ready a month missed. O.K. lets see him in the starting lineup today right Carlos no excuse's. I guess this next week agains't the now hot Giants and Dodgers will settle the "lets blow it up" argument once and for all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I kinda feel that Vientos will play full time first base next season and Mauricio will play third

      As for Baty, if he strikes out any more he will surpass my strike out record of tring to reach third base with Mary Jean Graziano

      Delete
  4. More reason for a Mack-led detonation:

    Brook Raley has opted to undergo an elbow operation that will likely end his season, manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday. As a result, a team already navigating its share of trouble must face the rest of the year without a potent bullpen weapon.

    Remarkably, Nate Lavender would have been extremely well-positioned to fill that spot, but he’s a Met, and therefore needed his own season-ending surgery.

    Is Bryce Montes de Oca getting ready?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I assume this the last we see of Raley. Sad. Wanted him back in 2025

      As for lefty relievers, the need for the Mets to consider converting Lucchese to a reliever grows every day

      Delete
  5. Bad news? Verlander started injured in 2024, needs 140 innings to vest on his $35 million option, and is up to 34 innings. Hard to imagine he doesn’t get to 140. 35 million reasons to get there.

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  6. As usual, when a team gets off to a bad start, the giveuppers come out of the woodwork as surely as the ants and termites do every Spring.
    Unlike all you "yoots" here, and I include Tom and Mack in that age group, I still vividly recall the Summer of 1951

    At this point in the season, my beloved Dodgers were coasting to a huge lead while the hated (by me) Giants were buried in the basement.

    Even as late as mid-August, my "Bums" were a comfortable 13.5 games ahead of the Giants , who had moved up to 2nd place.

    What followed was a "disaster" if you were a Dodgers fan, or "The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff" if you rooted for the other guys.

    My point, if you haven't already guessed it, is that while the believers end up very frustrated and disappointed if the slow start becomes an awful season, the giveuppers can become the "I knew it all along" crowd.

    Even at my advanced age, I have learned to be patient, because as a great philosopher once said, It ain't over till it's over ".

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    Replies
    1. You site one exception as the rule?

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    2. Not the rule, just an illustration. If we lose hope, why bother being a fan?

      Remember, no great comeback has ever happened, or will ever happen, without a a terrible start. You can't climb out of a hole unless you're in one.
      I will never surrender.

      Till it's over.

      Delete
  7. Mack, tome, high batter whiffs are always a RED ALERT. At least with Mary Jean, you went down swinging.

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  8. Bill, the problem is history. I can think of 3 Mets surges…1969, 1973, and 2015. That’s it. Many more collapses.

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  9. Last time I checked, history is over. If history counted, Verlander and Scherzer would've led us to the WS last year, and Pete would've led the league in HRs while hitting .250+.
    And we would've surrendered when the Germans bomber Pearl Harbor.

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  10. Custer had a string of lemonade stands in the upper Midwest. They closed one by one, and they finally got Custer’s last stand too.

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  11. Yes, I remember when the Krauts bombed Pearl Harbor.

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  12. Ray and Bill. Two historians.

    I remember once watching some show in the 50s Kohls, can you name this person or something like that? A guy came on and they had to ask him questions to it turned out that he was a Civil War veteran. It’s really something to think about a Civil War veteran mentally being on TV but watching TV.

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  13. Another loss to the Guardians and of course Gimenez had the killer shot so we have officially started the June swoon as I guess they figured lets get it over with now. By this time next week it will be over.

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  14. Using Toms Forrest Gump analogy maybe a box of chocolates might help we just need to pick the right one.

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  15. Hang in to fellow Met fans...blessings to Mr. B and all the commenters!

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