fullcountpitch.com

By Gary Armida

On most nights, I am like any other red-blooded close to middle aged (damn, did I just say middle aged?) male. I have the clicker in my hand and I am channel surfing. Most times, I am surfing throughout the many different games on the tube. Last night was a different story. With most teams off and with so few intriguing matchups, I decided to stick to one game for the night. I vowed that I would even watch the commercials (that didn’t last-you’ll see later). The best matchup of the night was in Queens, New York as the New York Mets took on the Seattle Mariners. Now, the teams are disappointing, but the starting pitcher matchup was the story with Johan Santana taking the hill against King Felix Hernandez. The first few innings did not disappoint, but unfortunately Hernandez sprained his ankle as Carlo Beltran slid into him on a play at the plate. Even though I was robbed of seeing Hernandez make the Mets look silly for 7 or 8 innings, I did learn quite a bit by watching this game. Here are the five things I learned while watching the Mets-Mariners game.

Number 1: Johan is still good, but he’s lost a step

I don’t want to turn this into a “bash Johan” section, but if Mets fans were injected with some truth serum, they would admit that he is not quite the dominant pitcher he was in Minnesota. This is not the first game I’ve seen him throw this year, so it is not based off of this singular start. However, last night’s game epitomized that missing ingredient that once made Santana the best pitcher in the game. Last night, Santana continually worked in the low 90’s with his fastball while mixing in more changeups than ever before. The results were pretty good. He went 7 innings and gave up just one earned run. He only struck out four, but he mixed speeds well enough to keep the Mariners off balance for most of the game. He lowered his ERA to 2.93 on the season, but fell to a pedestrian 7-6.

Santana did continue a trend by giving up another homerun. This one was a grand slam to Felix Hernandez (yes, the King went deep). While even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, this gopher ball is indicative of Santana’s slight decline from dominance. Just two years ago, Hernandez would’ve been put away on three pitches. 

Santana has become more like a pitcher which is necessary for him to continue to be a top level starter. The days of pure domination, each and every time out, are over. However, Johan Santana is still one of the best pitchers in the game. He was clearly head and shoulders above everyone else two years ago. The same cannot be said today.

Number 2: I Had it Half Right

In the FCP season preview, Felix Hernandez was picked to be the American League Cy Young Award winner. This pick signified the belief that Hernandez would take his game to the next level and be that dominant force at the young age of 22. Yes, he’s in the middle of his fourth season and he’s just 22 years old. For the past two seasons, Hernandez has shown steady progress. This season, he has taken his game to that next level. Going into last night, Hernandez had thrown 103.1 innings, given up 95 hits, and struck out 91 batters to compile a 2.87 ERA. Before leaving last night’s game after being spiked by Carlos Beltran, Hernandez had dominated most of the Mets lineup.

The difference between Hernandez this season and the previous ones is the fact that he is pitching more. He mixed speeds and pitch location quite well. In previous years, he would fall in love with one pitch, try to blow every hitter away, or lose the strike zone. This would lead to that one bad inning. This year, he seems to have limited that.

The half right was the fact that I thought he would take another step towards assuming the title of
“Best Pitcher in Baseball”. The thing is that he won’t win the Cy Young Award this season because he won’t rack up enough wins playing for a horrendous Mariners’ offense.

Number 3: They’re still playing?

The fact that Carlos Delgado is still playing is no surprise. He is, however, a huge liability in the Mets lineup. The New York media, fans, and talk radio personalities have all been screaming this since the beginning of the season. I always try to look past that as New York tends to use hyperbole often when discussing the problems of the hometown athletes. In this instance, the mass of popular opinion is correct. With close to non-existent hand speed, Delgado can no longer consistently generate power. Delgado went 0-4 last night with a strikeout. His last at bat against another surprising veteran, Arthur Lee Rhodes, proved his ineptitude.

Rhodes, pitching in his 17^th year, still has a mid-90’s fastball, which was shocking in itself. For his career, he owns Delgado. In this crucial 9^th inning altercation, Rhodes blew a fastball right past Delgado to further ruin the Mets’ hopes if a comeback. The days of Delgado being an everyday player are gone. He can be productive in a platoon role so they could use a right handed first baseman to help boost production from first base. The problem is that there is not really anyone of substance available. They could wait until the Mariners release Richie Sexson and then they would have the worst platoon at first base ever.  

Number 4: Jerry Manuel is trying too hard.

I will be the first to admit that I didn’t know much about Jerry Manuel. I still don’t think he will land the permanent gig, but he does know his baseball. He seems to have the bullpen in a bit more order, giving some of the members a defined role. The players seem happy with that. His responses to baseball questions during the post game press conference are thoughtful, insightful, and full of baseball rationale. It’s actually refreshing to hear a manager discuss baseball strategy so freely.

The problem is that in less than a week on the job, he’s also uttered some very inane statements. He’s called his shortstop “she” (Bill Parcells would be proud), he’s called himself a gangster (or is it gangsta?), and he’s threatened to cut (literally) his shortstop on the field. If I were Jose Reyes, I would be having nightmares about Jerry Manuel.

Manuel is falling into the media trap of trying to give a good quote and trying to seem more open than the previous manager. It doesn’t work. So far, his comments have been outrageous, but pretty benign. He won’t be so lucky in a town with three major newspapers and two big talk radio stations. Manuel needs to just focus on the baseball and give those great baseball answers. If he can just do that, the media will be fine, fans will be happy, and controversies will stay away from Shea.

Number 5:  Carlos Beltran Gets a Bum Rap

Many in New York have labeled Carlos Beltran as a soft player who really doesn’t care about winning. It seems to be a case of a soft-spoken player with a history of minor injuries getting labeled when that doesn’t appear to be the case. Last night was a perfect example of this. It was Beltran who went 2-4 with a stolen base and a hard slide into home plate. It was also Beltran who drove in Luis Castillo in the 9^th to keep the Mets alive (until Delgado came up). For the season, Beltran is hitting .279/.379/.488 with 11 homeruns, 51 RBI, and 11 stolen bases.

The encouraging thing to Mets fans should be that Beltran is a notorious second half hitter with a career line of .291/.368/.524. Beltran often gets ignored because he is not as flashy as Jose Reyes or not as good with the media like David Wright. He is, however, a big cog to the Mets’ playoff chances. Factoring in the decline of Carlos Delgado, the lack of production from the catcher and second base spot, and the uncertainty in the corner outfield spots, Beltran’s importance is magnified. Thus far, he is performing quite well. Remember, don’t take a guy being soft spoken as a guy who doesn’t care. That’s not fair.

Bonus Thing I learned: SNY Needs New Programming

Because I usually flick during commercial breaks, I never really saw what SNY advertises. For some reason, they seem to be marketing two shows that look identical to each other, “Loudmouths” and “The Wheelhouse”. Both shows seem to feature a pair of “knowledgeable” sports guys squaring off and basically yelling at each other. Isn’t that P.T.I.? That’s just what the world needs, two rip offs with two lesser talented guys trying to imitate the originals. Yes, the sports fan loves to hear guys yelling at each other with very little in the way of facts. While one show features the great Brandon Tierney of ESPN radio, the rest of the personalities leave much to be desired. It was especially disappointing to see one host, Chris Carlin, being marketed as a loudmouth. If anyone has followed his career, one knows that he is far from a loudmouth. Don’t sell out Chris! So, because SNY chose to run the same ads for the first 6 innings, I had no choice but to surf the other channels.

SNY Network, here’s a proposition. Hire the FCP staff and we will give you a riveting half hour show filled with facts, humor, and no annoying yelling.  Well, maybe there would be a little yelling. After all, it is a sports show.