7.7.09

On his last two outings, Stokes has thrown about 40 pitches for .2 and 1.2 innings, with Schneider and Santos catching respectively.  That’s a lot of pitches, particularly for a guy who gave this blog its name.  So I went to the mlb.tv archives and watched those innings again.  

First of all, the Dodgers are fantastic hitters.  This isn’t an excuse.  It’s just a fact.  They were making great contact with Stokes’s fastball but failed to drive it for runs.  The bad news is that this means that Stokes’s pitches were pretty predictable (not surprising, since 99% of them were fastballs).  The good news is that he varied the speed and location just enough to make them a little wily.  Watch Manny Ramirez’s body language during last night’s AB against Stokes.  He’s was visibly annoyed that he could anticipate each pitch but not get more than little pieces of it.  It came down to stamina, with Brian “Rubber Arm” Stokes increasing and decreasing the velocity of his fastball just enough to undermine contact and Manny “I Could Do This All Day” Ramirez nonchalantly swinging away.  If this were Wimbledon, Stokes would be Roddick to Ramirez’s Federer.  That should tell you how that AB concluded (hint: walk).

Other thoughts:  too many fastballs!  Maybe Stokes wasn’t feeling the change-up but I wanted to see a little more variety, more strategic use of his off-speed pitches.  The seventh inning did not start well (Hudson HBP and a Kemp walk) but things started to click, in part I would argue, because Santos and Stokes started communicating. The result: three strike outs in a row.   

Another thing:  I suspect that more attention is given to starters and working out game plans for starting pitching, but when your bullpen has basically become a “reliever by committee” operation maybe it’s time to rethink roles and responsibilities. Stokes has been issuing a lot of walks, an increasing problem for Mets relievers. Maybe they are overworked, but  I’m also starting to wonder if our imploding starting rotation is taking attention away from the bullpen in terms of coaching and practice time.  This is something I want to learn more about–who works with the pitchers and what do they work on?  Are starters and relievers generally coached separately?  Lately, there has been such a disparity between starting and relief performances (in general, bad starts, good relief) that I’m starting to wonder what is going on.

In fact, I was curious just how much work the Mets bullpen has been doing, so I put together some numbers.  This is no fancy statistic.  Basically, I added up the number of innings completed by starters to find the starting innings average for the Mets and subtracted by 9 (although some games have gone into extra innings).  I did this for the past 35 appearances (including last night), in other words for June and July.  The trend is not surprising:

Innings Pitched:

           Starters      Relievers

35 appearances:                  5.46            3.54

Past 10 appearances:         5.26            3.47

Past 5 appearances:           4.84            4.16

That last number is disquieting.  On one of the Mets blogs that I read (I can’t remember now which one), the issue of Putz’s and Wagner’s imminent returns came up and the question was asked if we need three closers (in other words, who would we send down).  If these numbers, particularly the last one, continue to hold, we will most definitely need three closers–to end the fifth inning, if not the fourth.

I understand that it is unconventional and, probably, perverse to have two teams. I think that if I had grown-up with baseball, I would have settled on one team early on. Most likely, I would have inherited my team affiliation from a parent, as my husband did, and remained steadfastly monogamous. But I came to baseball in my mid-twenties, and from the beginning, I’ve tried to follow my own instincts. It’s probably not incidental that my favorite Mets player, Brian Stokes, played for the Rays. Maybe it was the convergence of Stokes joining the Mets in 2008 and the Rays having a stellar season. I’ve tried not to rationalize how I ended up with two favorite teams but I think that there is a connection. The Rays as a team, and Stokes as an individual player, stand out for their tenacity, a quality that I strive to have in my own life. Stokes has said that when he pitches, he imagines that the count is 0-0. Every pitch is its own battle. The Rays play with that spirit. I also love the “agony and ecstasy” of being a Mets fan. Both the players and fans wear their hearts on their sleeves. There’s no cynicism in this relationship, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. That being said, I figured that there wasn’t much of a conflict of interest because the Mets and Rays belong to different leagues. Unfortunately, this year’s Interleague schedule and line-up conspired against me. The Rays played a three-game series against the Mets at Citi Field. It was pretty excruciating.

It’s not that big of a deal to like individual players on other teams. For instance, I really enjoy watching Shane Victorino but I’m perfectly happy when the Phillies lose, as they did recently to the Rays. In fact, this is a great example of the “double happiness” that I experience when my favorite teams help each other out by crushing their respective enemies. Not to mention the thrill of game days when both teams win. But a Mets vs. Rays match-up is guaranteed to be bittersweet, and it was.

I arrived early to the rubber game of the series to watch the Rays batting practice. I wore my Mets jersey, to be clear. When the Rays pitchers came on the field, several walked over to Stokes and Switzer, their former teammates, and chatted amicably. Garza and Price warmed-up together and Abreu indulged several requests for balls and autographs. Next to me, a guy in Mets attire was calling for Price’s attention. I guess he got some looks because he quickly said “he’s on my fantasy team!” Several people, Rays and Mets fans alike, nodded understandingly. A Mets fan from Tampa asked for the French translation of “autograph.” I wanted to tell him that Lance Cormier isn’t French, but what did it matter? The congenial atmosphere allowed my affection for both teams to converge. I chose to savor it.

The series was tied at that point and while the game unfolded, I tried to enjoy being in the moment. Schneider’s gorgeous homerun in the 6th. Stokes and Switzer pitching clean innings against their former team. I cringed when the stadium booed Burrell, and embraced the paradox of cheering Upton’s HR while lamenting that it was off of Parnell’s fastball. By the end of the game, I was truly disappointed that the Mets did not win, but mostly I was relieved that this series was over. “What if they meet at the World Series?” my husband asked.

I hope that question remains rhetorical.

Jake Uhlenhopp made his major league umpiring debut at age 32 and worked third base in place of James Hoye, who was ill. Uhlenhopp didn’t get much advance notice, so he was already in full uniform when his flight from Arizona landed at LAX, according to an umpire’s room attendant. The game started with a three-man crew, and Uhlenhopp made his entrance in the middle of the second inning — 32 minutes after the first pitch.

Invisibility is key to an umpire’s work. Their job is to observe carefully, make prudent calls (ha!) and stay out of the way. That being said, since I watch a lot of Rays and Mets games, the umpires that often work these games are becoming a little more familiar. For instance, Ted Barrett #65. One of the announcers mentioned that Barrett was working towards his Ph.D, which I found interesting so I looked up some more info on him. I learned that he’s currently working towards a doctorate in Theology and often uses baseball as a point of reference in his ministry. On the field, he tries to apply a more Christian approach to his umpire duties, which he claims helps him keep him cool when managers are not. I saw him accidentally get hit in the face with a bat in one game. He smiled and shrugged it off. They call him the “Teddy Bear.”

Also called up this week was Dale Thayer, a journeyman currently playing for Triple-A Durham. Maybe it’s because of movies like Bull Durham or the character that Burt Lancaster plays in Field of Dreams, but there is something quite romantic about journeymen.

On the bright side, the bullpen was brilliant for the Mets. Bobby Parnell pitched a scoreless seventh, J.J. Putz worked around Martinez’s second error and a James Loney single to pitch a scoreless eighth. Sean Green was shaky, but managed to overcome his own error and general wildness to pitch a scoreless ninth.

And then what can you say about Brian Stokes? He was fantastic on Monday night. He pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth, and did his best to work through adversity in the eleventh. He made one mistake. The leadoff walk, but after that was perfect. Forcing a fly ball that should’ve been caught. Then, one batter later, getting Rafael Furcal to hit a short fly to left, too short to score the run, with the bases loaded and none out. Then, getting a grounder to Jeremy Reed, what should’ve been a double play ball. Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. (via redwhiteorangeandblue)

Stokes was unbelievably poised during the debacle of the 11th inning. You would think that in that situation another pitcher (ahem, Perez) would melt down having just walked the lead-off hitter. Stokes took a deep breath and kept going. So far, discussions on this game are casting blame elsewhere and that’s a relief. It’s so easy to pin it on the last pitcher (as the official scorer did). But if you want to see how a good pitcher deals with a jam, watch that last inning. Watch how Stokes directed his fastball like a whip to get the hits he needed. Too bad the field dropped the ball.

And I’m giving you a longing look
Every day, every day, every day I write the book

Chapter One we didn’t really get along
Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you
You said you’d stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six

And I’m giving you a longing look
Every day, every day, every day I write the book

The way you walk…

(“Every Day I Write the Book” by Elvis Costello)