Santana: Patience earns Ace

Patience is a wonderful thing and not something often experienced in New York Sports.  Winning a world championship is the hardest accomplishment in sports and it often takes years to win, and even decades in between champagne dances.  Us Mets fans have had it tough having to watch the crosstown Yankees win championships and divison titles and then losing to the mighty bronx bombers in the 2000 Subway series.  It has been difficult to be patient especially in light of getting so close in 2006 and collapsing last September.  But I don't want to bring you down.  This is not a time to be sad.  It's a time to celebrate as the Mets were patient and patience won out and we were able to obtain ace pitcher, Johan Santana! 

In the time we shall now call BS (Before Santana), the Mets pitching rotation looked weak.  Now in the era of AS (After Santana) what was once weak is now the best pitching staff in the National League!  Santana makes us that good - all we need is our prayers of health to be answered.  

I'm amazed that the Mets were able to obtain Santana from the Twins with only having to give up a few unproven players.  Patience my friends!  Patience.  Oh yeah - that and luck.  Had the Mets hadn't made the deal on February 1st, Santana may be wearing a Redsox uniform in light of the news that Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will be forced to miss much of the season due to a rotator cuff problem.  Funny how things work out isn't it?

So pitchers and catchers report in a week or so the count down to the new 2008 Mets baseball season won't be far behind.  I'm really looking forward for the season to start - I have very little patience in that regard.  C'mon guys...lets play ball! 

 

Forgiving Glavine & Mets Collapse

I have been pleading for patience and forgiveness the last several months in the wake of the collapse of the 2007 Mets.  Much venom has spilled from the lips of Mets fans, especially in regard to one, Tom Glavine.  So I write this not out of defense of but in hopes that with a new baseball season on the horizon, forgiveness can be embraced in the spirit of a new beginning.  That's not to say that I haven't also been guilty of focussing on negatives and holding grudges.  We're all human and we all do it to some extent. 

For example, I spewed a similar venom towards one Wayne Garrett back in 1973 for ending the world series.  For years it was my most indelible baseball memory.  I had just come home from a family vacation, ran into the house to watch the final inning.  Garrett had been a decent infielder, and had solidifed third base for the Mets.  He even hit 16 homeruns that season - big numbers for the Mets in those days.  I had my heart in my mouth as I watched him hit a weak pop up that landed in the glove of A's shortstop, Bert Campaneris.   I suppose I forgave him after a few years - but it took years.  I was only 12 in 1973, so it took years to learn the intricacies of the game and to understand that the Mets simply were lucky to have been in the World Series that year.  They had some good players - especially the pitching led by Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, and McGraw.  But the team was riddled with injuries and depended on lesser role players  that season.  They even had Willie Mays - but he was less than a shadow of his former glory at that point.  We had gotten incredibly hot and lucky at the end of August through Septermber.  Perhaps we just ran out of karma.  Garrett played over his head and with heart.  And that's the best you can ask for.

In my assessment, The 2007 Mets were a great team on paper, but lacked heart, drive and pitching depth to win the title.  Allstars Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes slumped terribly.  Reyes seemed to playing in a haze.  More importantly, the Mets simply were not playing like reigning division champions.  They could not fend off the advances of the Phillies.  In the 3 series' the Mets played by against the Phillies down the stretch,  we got sweeped - that is when we lost the pennant!  The mark of a good team is how well they play their division rivals.  For all their celebratory antics,  They lacked the ability to lay down the hammer on the division.  Especially as we allowed ourselves to be outplayed by the Nationals in the last 2 series' we played against them.  I've had a difficult time blaming it all on Tom Glavine's awful performance against the Nationals on the last day of the season.  It was dreadful, but it was more like the straw that broke the camels back rather than what caused the break. 

A major problem the Mets had in 2007, is how pitching is used in the game today.  Starting Pitchers are not expected to pitch past the 6th inning and a greater reliance on the bullpen has hurt the game.  In 2006, Willie Randolph was incredibly lucky as the Mets had a great relief staff.  This is very rare, and as the relief corps in 2007 were less talened, it made the weakness of our starting ptiching - and how they are prepared, more visible. 

Tom Seaver, has mentioned many times while discussing pitching that back in the day, a starting pitcher - especially an ace, had a goal to ptich a 9 inning shutout.  Failing that, he labored to pitch as deep and effictively into the game as possible to avoid strain on the bullpen.  In today's game, the starter's goal seems to be 6 innings.  Unfortunately and especially in the latter half the 2007 season, 4 or 5 innings was the maximum any starter worked.  Almost as if they were looking over their shoulder from the 4th inning on - waiting to be relieved.  I realize that down the stretch the Mets had alot of pressure to avoid their collapse.  But had the pitchers been taught to emulate Seaver, the Mets may have been in a better position to play in the post season. 

I will miss Tom Glavine's leadership in 2008.  I had always been a fan of his dating back to when he and John Smoltz led the Braves out from being basement dwellers and into perennial pennant winners.  I appreciated the work he did 2006 overcoming his fiinger injury and pitching some big games down the stretch and in the playoffs.  I'm proud that he pitched his 300th career victory in a Mets uniform.  He is a Hall of Famer.  He gave of his heart to the Mets - he just didn't have anything left in the tank that fateful day. But like Garrett did some 34 years earlier, Tommy Glavine gave of his heart and I thank him for that. 

It's time to let go of disappointment.  The Mets have a big job ahead of them. I believe they will stand up to the challenge and return to the form of 2006.  It's time to become believers again that "next year" is now!