The last game of the season and only one game of any real importance is left, Boston vs Baltimore to decide the AL East crown and the 2nd and 5th seeds. The Mets didn't wait around for Houston to beat Tampa Bay as we took care of business. Atlanta is happy as the Cards help capture the 2 seed for them.
The Mets won their last 7 games so I get to rest the beleaguered an extra day and a couple really need it. Trust me, Atlanta needed the 2 seed to rest. Now that things are wrapped up will they rest also?
Speaking of that 7 game win streak to finish the season, did I do something to help it along? The answer is yes but I don't understand it at all, about as understandable as bread falling butter side down, Murphy's law. All I did was switch the 4 and 5 hitters around, Peralta to the 4 slot and Gant to the 5th. What that did I have no clue whatsoever. All I know is after I did that, the Mets as a team scored 51 runs in those 7 games and only gave up 11. That is something we hadn't been doing, scoring runs. We also put in a stronger defense to rest some of the starters a little but I doubt that had much to do with it.
I really liked the defense this year, looking at the NL as whole it is a little skewed as the Reds and Giants led the way with less than 70 errors, everyone else had 81+. other than the Giants the rest of the playoff teams had between 88 and 94 errors. Cubs were the lowest with 86 and the Mets the highest at 94. The Mets had the best plus/minus ratio though, 82/8. Mexico City had the most plus plays of the playoff teams and also the most minus plays at 87/34. The Cubs had almost the fewest in plus plays at 55 but only had 11 minus plays. The Braves were the worst with a 38/30 leveling. Last year the Mets were in trouble because of stolen bases, no one ran on us this year of course we know why. Most of the playoff teams you can run against pretty easily.
Hitting is the optimal thing, as all the playoff teams were above the line in this area. Yeah the Mets were tied at 2nd place in hitting with three teams. That is unusual as we usually have a horrible average as a whole.
The Mets were first in pitching with all the playoff teams falling right behind except for the Cubs who just power their way in. The Mets had the most save opportunities at 75 but almost had the most blown saves at 23, still that looks on average considering. The big factor as a whole, the Mets only gave up 564 runs which is the fewest of anyone.
The Mets had to replace Omar Ordonez and Miguel Otanez at the beginning of the season. Just like Money Ball, we had to replace them as cheaply as possible. We went with Brutus Mora even though he was deemed a washout with Salem and LA. He paid big dividends for us at 3B and the plate. Osvaldo Reynoso also played a big part, just couldn't let a good lead-off hitter go else where for cheap even though we didn't need him. Which kinda brings us to a problem next year as we have three RF's and lead-off hitters on the team and only need two. John McInerney's days at playing an inept 2B are over and Jimmie Valentin will take over the spot in the field. That leaves some very expensive backups, but who to trade is the question.
Now for the question on the NL MVP:
Leo Rodney is ranked first with just cause. He is the Mets MVP hands down. The funny part he never hit before, remember I was always scratching my head about that. Don't know what caused him to do that but... So lets compare him to Pat Suzuki. Suzuki leads the NL in the long ball department, second in batting average and RBI's, third in OPS, first in hits and runs scored. Meanwhile Rodney's ratings don't actually compare that well to Suzuki in all reality. However, he only has 9 fewer home runs and isn't in a home run friendly park. 16 fewer RBIs, 12 fewer hits but what sets them apart is the fact Rodney also has 13 more doubles and 30 more walks making his OBP 30 points higher and OPS 7 points higher. To me their stats make them rather equal. Comparing them in defense is pretty much a wash as both are very good at their position.
Now you compare those to with Jair Bennett and it becomes more of a problem as I consider his numbers better than Suzuki. I will vote for Rodney just because he is a Met and put up awesome numbers but all three could be the MVP. BTW, Tyreace French will have better years ahead.
Look at the top 3 in the NL Cy Young, talk about tough choices. I might have to go with Nixon because he can go deeper into game, more innings and strike outs but it is a tough call.
Josh Coghlan for NL ROY because he with the right team and ball park.
The AL MVP is not that easy either as I like Donatello but how can you not like Posey's numbers in Oakland? Alvarez has some fantastic numbers also even though he is a DH.
Payton and Pose for the AL Cy Young is a hard distinction also.
Howard Shannon is an easy pick for AL ROY. Lou Thurman is a good choice also if it wasn't for the injury in his last start of the season.
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