Sunday, May 13, 2012

Bullpen Leaves A Lot To Be Desired

Frank Francisco is awful. Manny Acosta is even worse.

Francisco can blame the umpire all he wants, but at the end of the day, he blew it. He blew Sunday's game against the Marlins, as well as Friday's game, and blew the Mets' chance to sweep Miami.

The ump didn't give up a triple to Emilio Bonifacio and a single to Greg Dobbs.

When Francisco argued with the home plate umpire, and eventually got himself ejected, SNY announcer Gary Cohen wondered if Francisco would land himself a suspension.

I doubt it, but may I suggest a 128 game suspension?

I have zero confidence in Francisco when he enters a game. I haven't felt this way since the days of Armando Benitez.

The fact that Terry Collins told reporters after Sunday's game that he would address the closer situation on Monday suggests to me that he is about done with Francisco's nonsense.

As for Acosta, I don't even know where to start. Someone explain to me why he is even on this team. I can't figure it out.

Give this team their props. They fight back day after day and put themselves in positions to win. What's the point of all that though if you go to the bullpen and they ruin it?

At this point, I'm not sure who would be the ideal choice to take over as closer. We may be seeing a closer by committee situation taking place soon.

David Wright Is Impressing This Critic

I'm not a big David Wright fan. I never have been. Don't ask me why, because I don't know.

It's hard not to be impressed by Wright at the moment though.

Since I can't keep up with what the Saber Nerds consider a "good stat," I'll just give you his whole line.


He leads the National League in batting average (.402) and on-base percentage (.489).

There's only one man who has had a hotter start to the season as a Met, and that was Cleon Jones who hit .411 in his first 50 games of the 1969 season.

In Saturday's start against the Marlins, Wright went 4-6 with three RBIs. Not too shabby for a guy who still has a fractured right pinky.

It's also hard not to notice that the apparent confidence he has at the plate right now is carrying over to the field.

To date, his fielding percentage is .986, and he has committed just one error. His throws the past few games have been spot on.

I don't expect Wright to maintain any of these stats. He's bound to go into a slump at some point. It's just the  nature of the game.

Even Wright feels that his dominance at the plate won't continue.

Can .400 continue for Wright? 
"I'm going to be honest with you," the third baseman replied as he prepared to depart Marlins Park on Saturday. "No."
How does Wright feels looking at the stadium scoreboard and seeing .402? 
"It feels like it's May," Wright replied. "There's a long way to go. Those are unrealistic goals."

Let's hope for the Mets' sake that these numbers do continue. Let's face it, whether you like him or not, if Wright is playing well, the Mets are playing well.