Playing Pepper: Nine Mets bloggers preview the 2016 season

How will the Mets do this year? Who will be the breakout player? I was one of the participants in Playing Pepper, an annual survey of bloggers from each team from Daniel Shoptaw of Cardinals blog C70 at the Bat. Other questions involved evaluating the offseason and which team we enjoyed beating the most.

I went with 93 wins and first place in the NL East. Most, but not all, of the other  bloggers also predicted another division title.

See all of our predictions and observations at Playing Pepper: New York Mets.

Ruben Tejada: From postseason inspiration to victim of Mets' cheapness

We'll always have Ruben Tejada walking onto the field on a broken leg with his Mets-themed cane to help inspire the Mets to the World Series. But we won't have infield depth with Asdrubal Cabrera on the DL and David Wright not having played in a game yet because the Mets apparently think that shedding Tejada's $3M salary is more important, now that the Mets have placed Tejada on waivers. If he is not claimed, the Mets are expected to release Tejada 15 days before the start of the season to get out of paying him all but 30 days worth of his salary (about half a million).
(Update: Tejada went unclaimed and was just released.)

While Wilmer Flores can fill in for Cabrera, the backup for Wright could be none other than Eric Campbell, who started 39 games for the Mets at third last year. For the year, Campbell hit .197 and helped the Mets to the worst hitting attack in the league in the first half of the season. He also made eight errors at third.
 
I had hoped that the days of the Eric Campbells and John Mayberry Jrs. were over. That the Mets would no longer have such a pathetic bench that last season's deadline trades for backups Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson were hailed as game-changers because they were actually major league-caliber.

Maybe Matt Reynolds or someone else from the farm system is ready to step up. Maybe Wright is going to be fine and Cabrera will not be out long. But even if the Mets genuinely feel they do not need Tejada, they need to get some value out of him. The Cardinals apparently do not want to take on that contract. But did the Mets offer to pay some or all of Tejada's salary? I assume not.

Dumping players with some value for nothing is bad business. The Mets did not need Jon Niese and wanted to shed his salary, but they were able to turn Niese into Neil Walker.

But when Dillon Gee fell out of favor, he ended up getting released. Now Gee could make the Kansas City bullpen, which last year was only the best in baseball.

Tejada may not seem that valuable now, but Justin Turner seemed like no great loss when the Mets parted ways with him, and wouldn't it be nice to have him shoring up the infield right about now, or at least to have gotten something back for him.

Now the Cardinals can pick Tejada up on the cheap if they are so inclined to help fill the void left by Jhonny Peralta's injury.  I just hope St. Louis does not end up edging the Mets out of the postseason by a couple of games as a result.

Subway Series, spring style

The Mets were in World Series form in their first 2016 meeting with the Yankees today.  Unfortunately, by that I mean they blew the lead in the ninth inning, which they did yesterday as well. It's only spring training, and closer Jeurys Familia was not involved, but it would have been nice to beat the Yankees instead of settling for a 4-4 tie.

The Mets led, 4-2, going into the ninth, but Antonio Bastardo gave up solo homers to Kyle Higashioka and Sebastian Valle. I was hoping John Sterling would be caught off guard and have to struggle to come up with a home run call for Higashioka, but he probably just said something like "Kyle hit it a mile." (Sorry, Squawker Lisa, Valle's name is pronounced "vye-yay," so he couldn't say, "He hit that one to the Valle of the dolls!)

The Mets went with most of the starters (everyone but David Wright and Michael Conforto), while the Yankees sat most of their starters and top prospects. Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley did play, but the cleanup hitter was Dustin Ackley.  The thin lineup did manage five hits off Jacob deGrom in three innings.

Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Cespedes each had two hits for the Mets, who did not score off starter Ivan Nova, who went three innings, but then put up four runs (two earned) off James Kaprielian.

One bright note for the Yankees was that none of their current players endorsed Donald Trump (as far as I know).

The game saw an appearance by Cesar Puello, who was considered one of the Mets' top prospects a few years ago. But Puello was suspended 50 games as a result of the Biogenesis scandal and his prospects faded after that. The Mets released him last year.  And now he's back - as a Yankee.

This marks the second time a onetime top Mets prospect ended up with the Yankees and a Biogenesis suspension. The Yankees acquired Fernando Martinez in 2013, just before his suspension. 

Bastardo was also suspended as a result of Biogenesis.

But Biogenesis seems like a long time ago, and now the Yankees are giving A-Rod his own Bat Day.

*

During the offseason, Mets executive Paul DePodesta left the NL champs for, of all places, the Cleveland Browns. Today was the first day of NFL free agency, and Cleveland's decisions left many scratching their heads. The Browns allowed several top players to leave, but somehow held on to Johnny Manziel. As ESPN notes:

So a team assembles the most unorthodox front office in recent NFL memory, and you're surprised/hysterical/dubious when it doesn't make conventional moves at the outset of free agency?

Have fun in the NFL, Paul!

Utleygate

So Chase Utley's dirty slide inspires a major rule change, but MLB can't bring itself to uphold Utley's measly two-game suspension. As the Daily News's Anthony McCarron writes, "you can pretty much circle May 9 as the date when Utley will get the real penalty for the dirty slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg last October." That's the day the Mets and Dodgers meet for the first time this season. As Squawker Lisa would say, get your popcorn ready!

At least I hope it's May 9, or whenever Utley first steps up to the plate against the Mets. Not a rerun of the season and a half it took to get any sort of retaliation against Roger Clemens after his 2000 roid rage. And all most people remember about that is Shawn Estes throwing behind Clemens, and not Estes and Mike Piazza homering off of Clemens in that June 15, 2002 game.

For what it's worth, the Mets' failure to respond against Clemens in a timely and appropriate fashion coincided with the team sinking from the 2000 pennant into years of losing. But with pitchers like Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard, the 2016 Mets figure to write a different story.

Let me emphasize that I am not rooting for Utley to get hurt or for the Mets to throw at his head. I just want the Met pitchers to let Utley know that they were not happy about what happened and, new rules or not, here's what happens if you try it again.

Coincidentally, May 9 is also the day Aroldis Chapman is eligible to be reinstated from his suspension. Looks like a potentially big baseball day around here!

Meanwhile, Jennry Mejia, banned for life, claims he's the victim of an MLB witch hunt. Mejia admits he failed his first drug test, but disputes the next two failed tests, claiming that MLB faked the third failed test after he appealed the second one. The Times notes that two of the tests found evidence of boldenone, a steroid used in horse racing. Lisa, I think I know what you would have to say about whether Mejia's allegations have any validity - neigh!

As Lisa noted, Subway Squawkers recently celebrated our tenth anniversary. During that time, we have generally steered clear of politics, but it's a strange and troubling political time, so I'm glad Lisa went off topic Saturday with  #NeverTrump: Donald Trump for president? That joke isn't funny anymore.

Oscar-inspired rides for Yoenis Cespedes

Yoenis Cespedes has made a spectacular entrance at Met camp every day this week in vehicles ranging from a  three-wheel Polaris Slingshot to a Lamborghini Aventador. How can he continue to top himself? With the Academy Awards coming up this weekend, here are some possibilities from this year's nominated films.

Gigahorse from 'Mad Max: Fury Road'

Ideally with Chase Utley strapped to the front.

Rover from 'The Martian'

When Cespedes comes up with a runner on base, Met fans all over the world
will be rooting for the slugger to "bring him home."

Millennium Falcon from 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' 

If one franchise can return to glory days not seen since the 1980s...

 Bear from 'The Revenant'

If Cespedes can tame a grizzly bear, taking care of the Cubs should be no problem.


Train of Thought from 'Inside Out'

When Cespedes re-signed, Met fans' emotions switched from Sadness to Joy.

I am quoted in the New York Post about the Yankees' new fan-UNfriendly ticket policy

What would Judge Judy say
about the Yankees' new ticket policy?

I am in today's New York Post! Click here to read the article, and read on to see how this happened.

I was sitting at my desk in my office in the big city yesterday afternoon when my cell phone rang with "Unknown" on the Caller ID. I very cautiously answered the phone. It turns out that David K. Li of the New York Post wanted to talk to me. My very first, totally primal, reaction when he introduced himself was to think, What the heck did I do to get the Post's attention? Did I do something wacky after my 10-mile race in single-degree weather that warranted a Post story?

The reporter then explained the purpose of his call. He had seen my Squawk about the Yankees' new ticket policy, which is being spun as helping fans against fraud (even though hard-stock tickets can also be counterfeit), when it's really about increasing the Yankees' bottom line by killing the use of StubHub. In fact, the initial stories in the mainstream media spun the team's pablum about this ticket fraud non-issue. (Incidentally, I saw somebody say on Twitter yesterday afternoon: "Amazing how the Yankees are experiencing so much fraud with print at home tickets, but no other franchises are." Exactly!)

So I gave Li my spiel against the new policy: how the team likes the free market, until fans use the free market to get cheap tickets. Then all of a sudden, the team wants price floors so that the ticket prices don't go below a certain level.  I talked about how I never had a problem with free agents and even teams making money, per se, but that the flip side was that fans should be able to use that same free market to buy and sell tickets at whatever prices the market will bear. And at any rate, the Yankees already made money the first time they sold the tickets. Why did they insist on getting a cut with the second time the tickets were sold, especially when it would hurt their own fan base?

I also pointed out that it will also hurt fans' flexibility in buying tickets. No longer will they be able to go to StubHub and get a deal on the day of the game. And how the team was so shortsighted on this decision. Because not only will they not get those fans into the ballpark, but that they will not get those fans' money from them buying food, drinks, and souvenirs. We also talked about how this new policy would hurt ticket sellers, too. Most of whom are season ticket holders just looking to get some of their money back for games they can't attend.

Anyhow, Li wrote up a great story that made the Post's website last night, and that will be in Thursday's paper. The article correctly points out how much this will negatively affect the average fan. I am quoted several times in the piece, including the kicker at the end. Which, if you know anything about journalism, is a great place to be!

But the Yankees are still trying to spin this as somehow helping the fans. From the article (emphasis added):

“Mobile is the most convenient, accessible, efficient and safe way to provide tickets,” said Yankees spokeswoman Alice McGillion. “Yankees fans are extremely happy, this is what they wanted. The only unhappy people are the ticket brokers and ticket speculators.”

Listen up, Alice McGillion. If you honestly think that Yankee fans "are extremely happy" over this new policy, you need to get your head out of your you know what. As I always say, don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining!

While some Yankee fans may have welcomed the mobile option, nobody was saying to themselves, "Gee, what I really want is for the team to take away my flexbility in being able to buy a cheap ticket at the last minute." Or "Gee, I really want to help the Yankees and Ticketmaster make even more money." And, Ms. McGillion, most of the people selling tickets -- and buying tickets -- are your most dedicated, hardcore fans. How do you think this move is going to sell in your fan base?

This is one of the many things odious about the Hal Steinbrenner regime. Since he was born on third base, but thinks he hit a triple, he doesn't have a clue how bad these quotes sound from the team's PR person (!), especially when they are sandwiched next to quotes from actual fans. And because Prince Hal is so worried about looking like his father, he does the opposite of George in so many ways, including never seeming to fire anybody nor wanting accountability in anything. Then again, I guess the front office is doing his bidding in squeezing every last drop out of the fans, the way his big innovation for this winter was to have the Yankees be the only team not to sign a free agent. At least it used to be that we knew the high ticket prices were going to getting the best players. Not anymore.

And, as I wrote in the blog the other day (also, thanks to Mets Police for highlighting it in their blog), and also told the Post reporter, the Mets' Spring Training Sendoff that Squawker Jon and I attended on Monday was very disorganized. But I appreciated that they tried to do something nice for their fans. (Incidentally, Jon and I each got an emailed apology from the Mets yesterday for the logistical problems at the event -- and a voucher for two free field-level tickets for Monday-Thursday games through June of this year. Can you imagine the Yankees ever doing that?)

I have written in this blog about how the Yankees' ticket sales are declining, while the Mets are increasing. So does the Yankee organization think that screwing over their own fans is the way to arrest this trend? And it's one thing for the team to have the arrogance of doing whatever it wants when they were winning world championship after world championship, and were the top team in town. But, unfortunately, the team's front office still has that arrogance, even in a time when their crosstown rivals are actually putting a better product on -- and off -- the field. This is the time people in Yankeeland ought to be looking long and hard at innovative ways to get their fans to keep on coming to games. Not alienating them yet again.

You know, I've been a Yankee fan since I was 10 years old. I will remain a Yankees fan for the rest of my life. But gee, it would be nice if some of this passion was reciprocated. Or at least if the organization didn't pee on me and my fellow Yankee fans' legs and tell us it's raining!

Pitchers, catchers, and a new top team in town

It's finally time for pitchers and catchers, when it's so good to see baseball back that I put aside my grumbling that, as usual, ESPN ranks one New York team #2 and the other New York team #17.

Wait a minute - it's the Mets coming in at #2 while the Yankees are at #17! Play ball!

There's such a buzz around the Mets that Squawker Lisa even waited with me for two hours in 20-degree weather and snow coming down to get vouchers for Met tickets!

Thousands of people came out on a wintry day to get those tickets. And despite long lines and disorganization, people waited patiently in the cold for a chance to see the defending National League champion New York Mets.

Not to be repetitive, but I feel like writing that again: National League defending champion New York Mets!

For much of the postseason, the Mets looked like they would be content with being a small-market team that managed to make the World Series one time. Tampa Bay was the model small-market franchise for awhile, but that one World Series appearance in 2008 seems like a long time ago. Then the Mets found a way to bring Yoenis Cespedes back. Think ESPN would have had the Mets at #2 without Cespedes?

The last time the Mets were good, they choked down the stretch in 2007 and 2008 while the hated Phillies went on to five straight division titles, two pennants, and one championship.  Now it's the Mets' current main rival, the Washington Nationals, that have to deal with the "choke: label:

Will new skipper Dusty Baker let the Nationals, um, choke again in 2016?

The Mets have players like Cespedes, who took less money to come back to New York, where he finished 13th in MVP voting despite only being on the Mets for two months. While the Nationals have the player who won the MVP, Bryce Harper, they also still have the teammate who tried to choke Harper in the dugout, Jonathan Papelbon.

Optimism in February for the Mets vs. trying to get excited over signing Alejandro De Aza? Sign me up!

Behind enemy lines: My afternoon at the Mets' spring training sendoff

Jon and Lisa,before we were completely frozen.

It wasn't enough that I nearly froze my tuchis off yesterday running in a 10-mile race in single degree temperatures. (Click here to read my race report.) Then I spent another two hours today in the cold -- and snow -- trying to get free Mets tickets. Maybe the cold destroyed my brain cells or something. What the heck was I thinking?

Let me explain. I'm kind of known for being a maven on finding ways to have fun in New York City without spending a lot of money. So when I saw that the Mets were doing a Spring Training Sendoff (the team's version of the Boston Red Sox' Truck Day) on Presidents' Day, I figured it would be a fun thing for Squawker Jon and me to do on my day off. This free event at Citi Field was advertised as offering the following, according to the email the Mets sent out about the day:

• All fans will receive a voucher for two (2) free tickets to a select April home game 
• Tour the Press Conference Room, Mets Clubhouse and Dugout 
• 1969 Met Ed Kranepool will be signing autographs on the Mets Plaza starting at 12 noon 
• Opportunity to participate in a raffle to win 3 day/2 night all expenses paid trip to Spring Training in Port St. Lucie, FL and other great autographed prizes

Jon looking very pleased
with himself.

Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Met were going to be there for photo ops. And again, this was all going to be for free. So I figured, let's go see what's what. At the very least, we'll each get two free tickets to Mets games out of it, and since Jon and I attend several Mets games together a year, this would save us some money. So as per the Mets' request that attendees RSVP, I did so for Jon and me.
 
We headed to Queens separately this morning. I arrived around 11:50 a.m. for the noon event, and Jon got there a few minutes later. I was thinking that the very cold weather, with snow in the forecast, might keep people away. No such luck. The place was a madhouse. They were already out of the tote bags they were handing out *before* the event officially began!

I had heard afterwards from fellow baseball blogger Michael Ganci at the Daily Stache that the team supposedly only expected 500 people, but there were over 6,000 fans there. At least! New York 1 said over 6,500 RSVPed. And that doesn't count the fans who couldn't find a place to park, or got stuck in traffic and gave up.

Just a few of the many people at the sendoff.

Anyhow, I think the Mets' organization's heart was in the right place in wanting to do something for the fans (something my Yankees did NOT do, unless you count having a $150 event with Brian Cashman last week as a fan-friendly event!) So I don't want to trash them, especially since I was a "guest" of sorts in the Mets' house. But this Citi Field event was extremely disorganized. There were a ton of lines, and it was hard to know which line was for which thing. There was a line for the stadium tour, and one for the tickets, one for the inflatable bouncy stuff, and one for the Dunkin Donuts stand. And the lines all seemed to interconnect with each other. Then there were people gathered around the DJ stand, waiting to see if they won the raffle. It was a hot mess. Fortunately, the Mets have some pretty good-natured fans, because things could have gotten ugly. Luckily, almost everybody was well-behaved and pleasant, even when they were frustrated with the lines.

We got on the ticket line, which extended all the way to the parking lot, and waited for two solid hours. And it was COLD! Because the line moved so slowly, it felt just as cold, if not colder, than it did in the race I ran yesterday. We were shuffling like penguins by the end, because our toes were completely frozen!

While we were waiting, I briefly got off the line to see what was what at the Dunkin' Donuts stand (hey, desperate times call for desperate measures!) By that point they had run out of donuts -- thanks in no small part to fans I saw walking away with three or four donuts at once! Bad fans! (They were the exception to the rule of the decency of most fans there.) And by the time we were able to get coffee, it had been out for too long and was undrinkable, in my opinion. (Jon drank his, though.) Also, there were no visible restrooms, which was not good planning.

The DJ at the event said that the Mets were giving away t-shirts as well as ticket vouchers. But by the time we got to the head of the line, both things were gone. So team employees were taking people's email addresses and promised to send them tickets. Apparently, they were doing so on laptops, and it was only when we were finally at the head of the line that somebody thought of walking around with notepads and taking people's email addresses. Like I said, extremely disorganized.

Me thawing out at lunch.
Notice that my nose is still red.

Jon and I were about frozen solid by the time we gave a Mets' employee our email addresses. And we left the event, rather than try to get to see the tours of the ballpark. (Good thing, as it turned out, as they only let so many people in.)

My hands were so cold (even with gloves) that I had a heck of a time opening my bag afterwards to get my Metrocard out! It took me forever to feel warm. I didn't feel back to normal until we went for lunch at Urbanspace Vanderbilt -- this is a new food court near Grand Central Terminal. Freaky thing -- when we got off the 7 train, we saw that there was no power for much of Grand Central! Kind of eerie.

Now that I am cozy and warm at home, I can look back at the day as fun in its own way. Whenever Squawker Jon and I meet up, we always have lots of laughs! Good times! And hopefully, we'll get our ticket vouchers soon. We did get magnetic schedules for our trouble as well.

But I've had it with the cold. Can we end winter already? I'm done with it! Thanks.

Did Sandy Alderson throw shade at the Yankees?

Today's New York Post has a great interview with New York Mets' GM Sandy Alderson. Steve Serby talks to Alderson about his battle with cancer, what to expect from the Mets in 2016, and the buzz that the Mets' had in second half of last year. There were two other things that I found of interest. The first was him comparing his job in baseball to running -- more on that in a sec.

The second was this exchange. When asked, "Are you driven to take the next step and win one?," he responded:

"Yeah, one is sort of driven to get back, but it’s not that easy to do. Kansas City did it, and some teams have done it. I don’t know that any team has gone to the World Series three years in a row since the A’s did it in ’88, ’89, ’90. It’s tough to do. It’s tougher to do now because you have more layers of competition. You’ve got the wild card, and then the division series and then the league series before you get to the World Series. Back in those late ’80s, you only played a league championship series and that was it."

Hmmm. There is one team that not just made it to the World Series three years in a row (actually four years in a row) since the A's in the 80s. And this team won three years in a row, when Oakland only won one title in those three years. And finally, this team won in the wild card era. And that team would be...drum roll please...the 1998/1999/2000/2001 New York Yankees!

Did Alderson simply forget the Yankees? Is he throwing shade at his team's crosstown rivals? I don't know. But this simply amuses me for some strange reason! Heh.

* * *

About the running reference: Alderson said he has "been a runner for a long time" and has run several marathons. He told Serby:

"What you realize like in a long-distance race is that there are these stress points that you hit where you really want to quit. You just want to stop. But if you get through them, then the stress dissipates, and you go on for a while longer until you get to another point where it gets stressful — it might be a hill, it might just be distance, it could be anything. But if you do that a couple of times, you realize that, 'I can get through this.' And so, over time, you do get through them and you get through those points with less stress than you originally experienced not having done it before. 

"And so, in some ways, that’s the way I approach baseball, the team, the season, is that you have to be aware that those difficult points will arise, and you have to be prepared to deal with them. But they’re manageable, and you’ll get through them. But you can’t be paralyzed by the stress or the losses or the difficulties."

He is dead on in this comparison. I did a 10-mile race yesterday that ebbed and flowed, to say the least. You can read my report about this epic race here. I am resurrecting my personal Swan Squawking blog to put things that don't really neatly "fit" in the Squawkers, and that is one of the articles I have published there.

Mets finally stop pulling snow job with return of Cespedes

We've been hearing how close the Mets are to overcoming any financial concerns for years now. First it was getting rid of Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez and not re-signing Jose Reyes. A couple of years later, it was the expiring contracts of Johan Santana and Jason Bay. Finally, it was increasing revenue by getting to the postseason.  But while even the Kansas City Royals raised their payroll to $130M, the Mets were content with no major signings and a below-average payroll of 115M.

And then the Mets finally put their money where their mouths have been.

Without Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets would not have made the World Series last year. If you're not going to sign him, you need to find another way to make up the lost offense. Before yesterday, all the Mets had done was reshuffle their infield, and for the outfield, add Alejandro de Aza. 

In 2015, de Aza had seven HR and 35 RBI in 325 at bats while playing for three teams. Cespedes hit 17 HR with 44 RBI in 230 AB after joining the Mets. For the season, he hit 35 HR with 105 RBI and a .291 BA for the Mets and Tigers. That might have been a career year - or it might have been a star player from Cuba reaching his potential in his fourth season in MLB at age 29.  It's worth a three-year deal to find out which one it is.

Kudos to Sandy Alderson and the Mets front office for apparently getting Cespedes to leave a lot of money on the table. Kudos to Mets ownership for finally getting the payroll back towards where it was the last time the team was good. And kudos to local columnists and fans for putting on the pressure to get something done.

Now the Mets have gone from a team in danger of reverting to mediocrity - Fangraphs had just projected them to win 83 games in 2016 - back to a playoff contender. The revamped Cubs still look formidable, but at least the Nationals won't have Cespedes and Daniel Murphy flanking Bryce Harper in their lineup.

On the day of the biggest local blizzard in years, the Mets finally stopped trying to pull their financial snow job.

Mike Piazza and the days when the Mets reached for the stars

  

Mike Piazza reached the pinnacle of the baseball world this week when was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. On Friday, I had the opportunity to be there when Piazza stood at the pinnacle of New York, on the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, talking about what makes the Big Apple so special to him.

Piazza found it "euphoric" to be "back here in New York as a Hall of Famer, the way people just honor you, hearing the 'way to go Mikeys' when you’re walking around. It’s a lot of fun."

He praised the "passion of the fans" in New York, noting that, "as a player, you can choose, it can really be a lot of pressure – some guys don’t respond well to it, or you can use it as a catalyst to get better, and for me it was the latter. I was blessed to do that."

Met fans were blessed that management traded for Piazza during the 1998 season, eventually jump-starting their offense. Then the Mets gave Piazza a big contract after the season even though they already had someone at his position (Todd Hundley). Within two seasons, the Piazza-led Mets were in the World Series.

In 2015, Sandy Alderson made a midseason trade for Yoenis Cespedes, eventually jump-starting their offense. At the end of the season, the Mets were in the World Series. But if Cespedes ends up in the Hall of Fame, it doesn't look as if he'll be wearing a Mets cap.

There may be valid reasons to avoid giving Yoenis Cespedes a long-term deal, but spare me the excuse that the Mets have no room in the corner outfield. Even if Curtis Granderson and Michael Conforto perform as hoped, (which is no sure thing given that Granderson turns 35 in March and Conforto has just a few weeks of MLB experience, during which he was primarily a platoon player) Granderson's contract has just two years to run, so the Mets will soon need to fill a void regardless.

I'm glad Alderson is doing better, but I don't want to hear him say that the Mets are spending again because their payroll has gone up $35 million since 2014 when their payroll dropped $50 million just two years before that.

What would the traditionalists say
about using a bat as a selfie stick?

This has been a special year for the Mets - a trip to the World Series and a trip to Cooperstown for a player who considers himself first and foremost a New York Met. Seeing Piazza in person and hearing him praise teammates John Franco and Al Leiter made me nostalgic for 2000, a year I generally try to forget because of how it ended.

I've been a lot more able to appreciate 2015, since the Mets' success was so unexpected and it didn't end with a loss to the Yankees. But it would be nice to experience another world championship at some point, and unless 2016 Mets management starts acting more like the 1998 version, it may be a long time before we see another title - or another Hall of Famer in a Mets cap.

Paul DePodesta would rather work for the Cleveland Browns than the New York Mets

The Jets ripped my heart out yet again Sunday, but at least I could take solace in the fact that I was not a fan of the Cleveland Browns. As ESPN notes, in a little over three years, crazy owner Jimmy Haslam will have had four coaches, four GMs and three team presidents/CEOs. What NFL executive in his or her right mind would want to work in such an environment? Apparently none, since Cleveland's latest hire is none other than the Mets' Paul DePodesta.

At first glance, it seems insane to leave a team that just made the World Series for a team in another sport that last won a title during the early days of Beatlemania. A team whose troubled quarterback reportedly put on a disguise to party in Vegas last weekend when he was supposed to be recovering from a concussion. Maybe DePodesta wants to be the next Theo Epstein, who brought a championship to the title-starved Red Sox and is well on his way to doing it again with the Cubs. Maybe he thought he was going to the Cleveland Cavaliers. More likely, before too long it will be DePodesta who will feel like wearing a disguise.

The last time a prominent member of the Mets organization left the team after a World Series appearance for a surprising destination, Mike Hampton claimed it was because of the school system.  Perhaps DePodesta will claim that he just wants to be closer to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

But what if DePodesta simply decided that the time was right to leave the Mets? That his marketability would never be higher after the 2015 World Series, because that was as far as this franchise was going to go? Maybe DePodesta saw a franchise still unwilling to spend and figured that there was no place for the Mets to go after last season's unexpected success than down. Every article about DePodesta talks about how smart he is, and he knows what is really going on behind the scenes, as opposed to people like me who continue to naively hold out hope that the Mets will upgrade their offense before the 2016 season starts.

In the meantime, let's see who the Mets pick to replace DePodesta. I just hope it's not John Idzik.

****

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance is holding a parallel vote for the Hall of Fame. Here are the players I voted for, in alphabetical order.

Jeff Bagwell
Ken Griffey Jr.
Trevor Hoffman
Edgar Martinez
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Curt Schilling
Alan Trammell

Unlike Squawker Lisa, whose ballot is here, I am not ready to support Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens. While Bonds would have been a Hall of Famer without steroids, it is far less clear with Clemens. At age 33 in 1996, Clemens had come off four straight mediocre years with the Red Sox, who were happy to let him leave. According to Baseball Reference, Clemens was statistically most similar in those years to Dwight Gooden. But while Gooden failed to realize his Hall potential, Clemens went on to four more Cy Young awards and 162 more wins with the help of his, uh, workout regimen.

What I find particularly galling is how many people refer to Bonds and Clemens as among the greatest players of all time. I concede it could be true with Bonds. Let's say he didn't do steroids and ended up with 625 homers instead of 762. Still pretty amazing.  But would a clean Clemens have topped 300 wins, let alone make it to 354?

With all the statistical analysis in baseball, it would be nice to see someone speculate on how Bonds and Clemens would have done without the juice before we start considering them for GOAT.

When I first heard about the Mike Piazza rumors, my reaction was to cover my ears and start yelling out nonsense syllables. Based on everything I've read and heard, I'm a lot more confident in giving the PED label to Bonds and Clemens than I am to Piazza and Jeff Bagwell. But I'm admittedly a biased Met fan.

And even if Clemens eventually gets in, at least let it not be alongside Piazza. Clemens has ruined enough special Piazza moments already.

Mike Mussina was a very good pitcher for many years, but he was never considered close to being the best pitcher in baseball, much less even on his own team. Mussina never won a Cy Young, finishing second once, and never finished higher than 19th in the MVP voting. 

Curt Schilling may have won far fewer games than Mussina did, but he was a more standout performer in his best years, particular in the postseason. Schilling also never won a Cy Young but finished second four times. He had two top-ten MVP finishes and finished 11th and 14th two other times.

Most of all, Schilling was sensational in the postseason, going 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and 0.968 WHIP. Schilling was the co-MVP of the 2001 World Series, with a 1.69 ERA and 0.656 WHIP in three starts. In the 2004 ALCS, Schilling and his bloody sock earned one of the most famous postseason wins ever.

I also voted for Alan Trammell, who, according to Jay Jaffe's JAWS analysis is more worthy of the Hall among shortstops than future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and current Hall of Famer Barry Larkin.

****

Squawker Lisa, I'm glad you resisted temptation when you saw the complete ballot -

Garret Anderson, Brad Ausmus, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Luis Castillo, Roger Clemens, David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds, Nomar Garciaparra, Troy Glaus, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark Grudzielanek, Mike Hampton, Trevor Hoffman, Jason Kendall, Jeff Kent, Mike Lowell, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Mike Mussina, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Lee Smith, Sammy Sosa, Mike Sweeney, Alan Trammell, Billy Wagner, Larry Walker, Randy Winn.

- and did not cast  a vote for Luis Castillo. You could have specified that his Hall plaque be sturdy enough that it would not break if he dropped it.

I'm also glad you did not vote for Billy Wagner, knowing that I would not be able to forgive his 16.88 ERA in the 2006 NLCS. But while Wagner's regular-season numbers are actually worthy of Hall consideration, his overall ERA in 14 postseason games was 10.03.

As for Hampton, at least his induction ceremony would make for a nice Colorado school trip.

Ben Zobrist, Michael Cuddyer and the phony big move

The Mets failed to get their top target, Ben Zobrist, and I'm almost relieved. Four years and $56 million seems a lot for a player who turns 35 next May whose days of double-digit homers and stolen bases are in the past. Getting Neil Walker for one year until Dilson Herrera is ready while shedding Jon Niese's salary is a better plan, since the Mets are now in better position to add the big bat they still need.

The big bat that nobody expects them to get.

I have to wonder if part of the Mets' interest in Zobrist was to attempt to refute the notion that they are unwilling to spend money to improve the team. Look, we signed a big free agent that lots of teams wanted! Zobrist is a good player, but he's more of a complementary piece than a game-changer. And $56 million is practically chump change in this free agent market - the top players available could end up getting four times as much.

Last year, the Mets raced to lock up free agent Michael Cuddyer. It looked like a dubious move at the time - Cuddyer was turning 36 and injuries had limited him to 49 games the previous year. After preaching prospects for several years, the Mets surrendered their top draft pick to sign Cuddyer.  But for $21 million, they could say they signed a free agent, even if his entire contract was less than a superstar makes in a year.

At best, Cuddyer could have been a starting point to a productive offseason, but the Mets' only other offseason signing was, wait for it, John Mayberry Jr.  I wish Sandy Alderson a speedy recovery and appreciate the fact that he delivered a pennant last year, but all of the praise he got for his midseason moves should not obscure the fact that the offense was in such bad shape last July because of the moves Alderson did not make the previous offseason.

So far, this offseason is going better than the last one. Adding Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera shores up the infield, while Niese was ticketed for the bullpen once Zack Wheeler returns. If the Mets re-sign Bartolo Colon, all that would be left to worry about would be another reliever and a big bat.

But until I see otherwise, it's hard not to wonder if this will be another wait-and-see-how-the-Mets are doing before opening the pursestrings at the trading deadline when you only have to pay for two months of the next Yoenis Cespedes and Tyler Clippard.

Cespedes has his issues, and I'm not saying he's worth any price. And the money being talked about for Jason Heyward is money you give a superstar, not a very good player who is not yet a superstar. But the Mets' offense was the worst in the league before they got Cespedes. Michael Conforto's first full season is unlikely to make up for the loss of Cespedes. A full year of David Wright at his peak would go a long way, but Wright is well past his peak and injury-prone. A full year of Travis d'Arnaud would be great, but d'Arnaud is very injury-prone as well. 

The Mets have been pushing 2016 season tickets since before last season ended. How would they feel if fans waited to spend money on the team until July 31 to see if they were in contention?

***

Update - just saw that the Cubs signed Heyward. So the Cubs have now added Zobrist, Heyward and John Lackey to a team that won 97 games last year and has young hitting talent to match the Mets' young pitching. It must be nice to root for a big-market team. 

Mets-Royals World Series Game 5: Do not go gentle into that Dark Knight

The Mets' season turned around when a player got emotional on the field when he thought he would have to leave the team. Last night, a player got emotional in the dugout when he thought he would have to leave the game. Unfortunately, Matt Harvey did not get the storybook ending Wilmer Flores got when he hit a walkoff homer two nights after thinking he had been traded. But the passion and determination of an outclassed Mets team to get to the World Series and put up a good fight against the Kansas City Royals made 2015 a memorable season.

Though the Mets went down in the series four games to one, the two teams were a lot more evenly matched than the final result would indicate. After all, the Mets had the lead in the ninth inning twice and the eight inning once in three of their losses. But when the other team comes back to win that many times, you have to acknowledge that they were the better team and more deserving of victory.

Dominant starting pitching backed by good hitting can get you to the World Series even if your defense is shaky, your bullpen is questionable, and your manager makes mistakes. But there's little margin for error against a team like the Royals, and even one of the most dominant pitching performances in Mets postseason history could not save them last night.

I liked the idea of Harvey coming out for the ninth, even though it went against his numbers showing that it was best to pull him after he had thrown 100 pitches. But at 102 pitches going into the ninth and a packed house screaming for Harvey, I have no problem with Terry Collins sending the Dark Knight out for the ninth. It also gave Harvey a chance to show once and for all that he really was willing to put Scott Boras' innings-limit circus behind him.

That said, once Harvey walked Lorenzo Cain on seven pitches, bringing his pitch total to 109, he should have been pulled. I am admittedly writing this in hindsight; at the time, I wanted Harvey to get another batter. But Collins' bullpen strategy fell apart the last few nights. He brought in Jeurys Familia Friday night in a 9-3 game to get him some work. But then he said he could not use Familia for two innings Saturday night because of the unnecessary Friday inning. And with numerous other options, Collins stuck with using Tyler Clippard as the bridge to Familia, only to see Clippard end up with the loss.

Using Familia in the Game 3 blowout was a way to enable him to regain his confidence. But maybe it was Collins who needed to regain his confidence after his bullpen moves backfired on Saturday, because he did not act decisive about what to do until after Harvey gave up the double to Eric Hosmer and another Royals comeback was underway.

Lucas Duda made a terrible throw to the plate to allow Hosmer to score the tying run, but David Wright cutting in front of Wilmer Flores to nab Salvador Perez' grounder probably also played an important role in the disastrous play. Had Flores made the play, Wright could have stayed closer to third base, making it harder for Hosmer to break for the plate.  And Flores, in better position than Wright and with a better arm, probably would have gotten the ball to Duda faster, so if Hosmer still ran, Duda would have had more time to throw home and maybe would not have rushed his throw.

Duda's bad throw meant that three of the Mets' four infielders had critical miscues in this series. In five games, Murphy and Wright were each charged with two errors and Duda was charged with one (not last night, when his bad throw was not ruled an error).  Only Flores, who was not even supposed to be the shortstop before Ruben Tejada got hurt, avoided an E next to his name.

Last night, the Mets got only four hits, and that was in 12 innings. On Saturday night, they got just six hits and in Game 2, only two hits. For the Series, the team hit just .193. It's hard to win a World Series with that little production.

Once the game went into extra innings and the Mets had to go deeper into their bullpen, it was hard to have much confidence, especially considering the way this Series had gone so far. A five-run twelfth by the Royals just emphasized that as close as this Series seemed at times with the Mets constantly getting late inning leads, the Royals were the superior team.

In 1984, the Mets won 90 games after years of losing, but it would be another two years before they made it to the World Series. In 2015, the Mets won 90 games after years of losing, and got to the World Series on their first try. Despite the way it ended, this season has to be considered a huge success overall.

And let's not forget who won the World Series the year after the Royals' last title in 1985. Wait till next year! Let's go Mets!

Mets-Royals World Series Game 4: Now Mets have their own Murphy the Goat

The Cubs are supposedly cursed because of a goat named Murphy was not allowed to remain at Game 4 of the 1945 World Series. Now another goat named Murphy in another World Series Game 4 has helped to doom the 2015 Mets.

Murphy was not the only goat, though. There are a lot of different names for groups of goats, such as herd and flock, but I'm going with tribe, because last night, all we needed was for Jeff Probst to say that the tribe has spoken, because the Mets are not going to be the sole survivor this year.

But while Bill Buckner was far from the only goat in 1986, his error on a ground ball was the lasting image, and Murphy is probably doomed to the same fate.  The image of Tyler Clippard walking two batters is just not as compelling. And neither is Terry Collins not going to the mound to take out Clippard after the first walk. Or Collins not leaving Bartolo Colon in to become the bridge to Jeurys Familia. Or Familia waiting in the bullpen rather than coming in for a six-out save.

But there is a clip from after the game of Collins saying that using Familia for a meaningless inning Friday night in a 9-3 game affected his availability for a six-out save. This is unforgivable. On Friday, we were told that Familia thrived on regular work and it was good to get him back on the horse after he blew the save in Game 1. And now the story changes.

Just as bad is using Clippard in the eighth inning because that's his usual spot, and he was great at it in August. But Clippard has been terrible after that, with a regular-season 6.14 ERA with four homers in 14.2 innings in September and October. Now he's given up runs in three of his eight postseason appearances, and Collins still thinks of him as his primary setup man.

Familia earned his goat horns when he gave up the game-tying homer in Game 1 and now he has two blown saves in the World Series. But while he did give up two hits in the eighth to allow the winning and fifth runs to score, the bigger culprits in the disastrous eighth inning have to be Murphy, Clippard and Collins.

Our tribe of goats would not be complete without Yoenis Cespedes, who may need his own section on the lowlight reel. Cespedes failed to appear when he was introduced before his first World Series game, then promptly muffed a fly ball that resulted in an inside-the-park home run. Last night, Cespedes somehow kicked a fly ball across the outfield. (I heard a radio caller this morning say that Cespedes was a three-sport athlete - baseball, soccer and golf.) Then Cespedes capped off last night's debacle by being doubled off first after he thought Lucas Duda's liner would hit the grass.

Cespedes, Murphy and Clippard are all going to be free agents. At different times, it looked as if all three should be re-signed. Now it's goodbye, Clippard and most likely goodbye Cespedes, whose head does not always appear to be in the game.  Granted, he is injured, though the circumstances of that injury are murky. But it just seems hard to commit long-term to him, especially at a huge salary.

We're still getting to know Cespedes, for better and worse, but we've known Murphy since 2008. You're not signing him for his fielding. But he's a good hitter, even if that home run streak was not typical, and if and when the Mets let Cespedes go, if they don't bring Murphy back they will need to find another second baseman who can hit. Howie Kendrick and, yes, Ben Zobrist are also free agents.

This has still been a great run and a great year. But it's a shame that the World Series has turned on errors by Murphy last night and David Wright in Game 1. The two Mets with the longest tenures. The two Mets whose numbers are worn by the most fans (according to my unscientific observations).  It's not over till it's over, but it's getting late early out there. Let's go Mets. 

Mets-Royals World Series Game 3: The Captain rights the ship

Before last night, David Wright was evoking memories of another captain who overstayed his welcome in the top part of the lineup. Then Wright showed how wrong those of us who doubted him were when he hit a two-run homer in his first home at bat in the World Series and later singled in two more runs to put Game 3 out of reach. The Mets' bats woke up to the tune of nine runs, and not a moment too soon. Now it's a Series again.

While Noah Syndergaard set the tone with his first pitch, high and inside, got twelve straight outs at one point, and worked out of a based-loaded jam in the sixth when he was already over 100 pitches, most of his final numbers - 6 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks - were comparably to Matt Harvey's in Game 1 - 6 innings, 3 earned runs, 5 hits, 2 walks.  Syndergaard struck out six to Harvey's two, had a lot more swings and misses, and of course threw that opening tone-setter, but it was the Met bats that made the most dramatic improvement from the first two games.

It's even debatable how much of a game-changer, much less a Series-changer, Syndergaard's first pitch was. The initial results were not good - by the second inning, Syndergaard had given up three runs and Jon Niese was warming up. One could have argued at that point that Syndergaard had angered the Royals. But then Syndergaard retired all nine batters he faced in the third, fourth and fifth on his way to twelve in a row. And while the performances of Harvey and Jacob deGrom in Game 2 raised speculation that the Mets' young pitchers were worn out from pitching deep into October, Syndergaard got his biggest out with the bases loaded in the sixth on his 104th pitch.

But debating on who was the biggest hero last night for the Mets is like arguing over which is the best doughnut at Dough. Both Thor and the Captain came through in a must-win situation. Curtis Granderson hit his second homer in three World Series games.

Along with moving Wright down in the order, I also wondered before the game if Michael Conforto should be benched and if Juan Uribe was really healthy enough to be on the roster. Then Conforto threw out Alex Gordon at third and drove in a run with an infield hit. And Uribe, in his first plate appearance in over a month, singled in a run and later scored. It was that kind of night.

After Game 2, the Mets looked dead. After Game 3, things look much better. The Mets have a rested Steven Matz going in Game 4 against Chris Young, who is pitching on three days rest after throwing over 50 pitches in relief in Game 1. And the Mets have that great Citi Field crowd behind them. Let's go Mets - and Matz!

Mets-Royals World Series Game 2 - deGrominated

Game 1 was bad enough, but Game 2 was even worse. At least the Mets could have and probably should have won Game 1. But the Mets were outplayed in every phase in Game 2. The hitting and pitching issues that surfaced in Game 1 look much worse now. And the Royals are halfway to the title.

After Game 1, I rationalized that Matt Harvey had pitched well enough for five innings before giving up the lead in the sixth. In Game 2, Jacob deGrom did not allow a hit until the fourth inning. After four, he had allowed no runs and one hit. But then it all fell apart for deGrom and the Mets. In the fifth inning, he allowed four earned runs on five hits. deGrom did not come out for the sixth. 

After two games, a trend looks to be developing. The Met starters can't strike out the Royals - just four Ks combined in 11 innings. And while the Mets needed to blow past innings limits just to get to the World Series, the starters now appear less able to go deep into games.

Starting pitching was supposed to be the big advantage for the Mets. Johnny Cueto allowed eight earned runs in two innings in his previous start and has been erratic since his trade to Kansas City. But Cueto held the Mets to just two hits and became the first American League pitcher to throw a complete game since Jack Morris in 1991.

Game 1 seemed to emphasize that the Royals would have their best chance to win once the games went to the bullpen. But the Royals were able to win Game 2 without using their bullpen at all, keeping them rested. 

It was inevitable that Daniel Murphy would cool off. But not only has nobody else stepped up, but it's become more evident that much of the Mets lineup has been lousy throughout the entire postseason. Wilmer Flores has a .669 OPS with no homers and no RBI. Yoenis Cespedes has an OPS of .631.Travis d'Arnaud OPS is .595, David Wright's is .540, and Michael Conforto, just 1-for-20, has a batting average of .050 and an OPS of .325.

A great Game 3 from Noah Syndergaard and a mediocre performance in Game 4 from Chris Young, who threw 53 pitches in Game 1, and this series could be tied. So there's still hope. But that hope is slipping away fast.

Mets-Royals World Series Game 1: Extra painful

There's not much worse than having your dominant closer give up the lead in the ninth inning of a World Series game. Unless he went in facing the 7-8-9 hitters. And the number 8 hitter smacked a 428-foot home run. And now that the game looked lost - a deflating homer, the game now to be decided by the middle relievers, a big disadvantage for the Mets - the teams continued to battle for five more innings before the Mets lost with the help of an error by the captain who had waited so long to get to the World Series.

This is a bad loss and potentially a fatal one. But let's not call David Wright and Jeurys Familia goats just yet. Wright has made several great plays in the field this postseason, including a leaping catch in yesterday's fourth inning. Familia's blown save was that much more disappointing because he's been so dominant in this postseason. Compare that to Armando Benitez, who blew the save in the last World Series Game 1 the Mets were in before yesterday. That postseason, Benitez had two saves and two blown saves. For his Mets career, he had three blown saves in six postseason chances. That's why he's remembered as a regular-season star who couldn't get it down in the postseason. Familia is now 5 of 6 in postseason save chances with an 0.82 ERA.

The Mets really seemed destined to win the game when Eric Hosmer, winner of the last two American League Gold Gloves at first base, allowed the go-ahead run to score when a ground ball got by him on a play that naturally brought up memories of Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series. If the Mets had gone on to win, the Royals would have been lamenting a loss due to one of their main strengths - defense - faltering at a critical moment. But one of the Mets' main strengths, Familia, returned the favor an inning later.

Along with Buckner in 1986 and Benitez in 2000, the game also brought back memories of the 1969 World Series, when Tom Seaver gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Don Buford, in Game 1. And my friend Roger suggests that five-tool centerfielder Yoenis Cespedes' mishandling of the ball that Alcides Escobar hit that went for an inside-the-park homer was reminiscent of the 1973 World Series, when the ultimate five-tool centerfielder, Willie Mays, was struggling in the outfield at the end of his career.

Just before Cespedes and Michael Conforto mishandled Escobar's fly ball, Cespedes was a no-show for the pregame introductions. That may mean nothing and may be a coincidence. Perhaps he had an upset stomach and did not feel like sharing the details. But this is the player who suddenly came down with an injury in Game 4 of the NLCS and he's already gotten the benefit of the doubt that it had anything to do with him playing golf that day. And then he shows up on the bench in the ninth inning of Game 4 wearing a championship shirt and goggles. Even Ron Darling in the TBS broadcast booth began muttering about the baseball gods. Maybe the baseball gods were hovering over centerfield last night.

The Royals lived up to their billing as a team that keeps coming back. Matt Harvey has gotten a lot of criticism for reduced velocity and not throwing enough fastballs last night, but he had allowed just one run going into the sixth inning, and that run was the tainted inside-the-park homer. But the Royals rallied for two runs to tie the game in the sixth, and Harvey was done after 80 pitches.

The Mets lost the first two games in 1986, and did so at home, so tonight is not necessarily a must-win. But it's pretty close.

World Series Mets-Royals: Four wins to go!

29 years ago today, I sat in the upper deck at Shea Stadium as the Mets won Game 7 of the 1986 World Series. At the time, I thought it was the start of a dynasty. Instead, it's been the only title for the Mets in 46 seasons. And the only other time the Mets got to the World Series since then, it was something I tried to forget after the Mets lost the Yankees in five games. Now the Mets have a chance to create new memories, and spare Squawker Lisa from hearing so much about 1986.

I'm saying Mets in six because of their big advantage in starting pitching.  While the Met starters have been blowing people away, Royals starters have been shaky at best. Johnny Cueto allowed eight earned runs in just two innings in his last start in the ALCS. He also allowed four earned runs in his first start in the ALDS. Cueto pitched well in his other postseason start, beating the Astros in the deciding ALDS game five, but that's still two lousy starts out of three. Combine that with his regular-season ERA of 4.76 in 13 games as a Royal (after a 2.62 ERA in 19 game with the Reds) and one has to wonder if the injury-prone Cueto is hurt again.

Edinson Volquez also has two mediocre postseason starts sandwiched around one good one. Yordano Ventura has also had just one good postseason start this year.

The Royals were able to win two playoff series despite having a starters' ERA of 5.56 because they had a lower overall ERA in each series thanks to their 2.85 postseason ERA. In 41 innings, the Royals pen has 59 strikeouts.

Met starters need to significantly outpitch the Royal starters because the Mets don't want to let the bullpens decide these games. Wade Davis is even better than Jeurys Familia, and the Royals' setup men are much better than their Met counterparts.

On the hitting side, Daniel Murphy is not going to keep hitting a home run in every game, especially after a layoff, but the Mets have had others consistently step up during this postseason, especially when they are not facing an ace. But while the Royals hitting does not seem imposing, they seem to constantly find ways to win, as when Lorenzo Cain scored the game-winning run from first on a single in the final ALCS game.

The Mets would seem to have a good chance of putting a couple of games out of reach early against the Royals' starters. The Mets scored in the first inning in all four NLCS games, including three runs in Game 2 and four runs in Game 4. So even if the Royals' bullpen, great defense, low strikeout totals from their hitters and overall scrappy play could make most of the games tossups, the Met starters should provide the decisive edge to enable to Mets to win in six. Let's Go Mets!

NLCS Mets-Cubs Game 4: Who let the cicadas out?

In 1986, the Mets made the World Series for the first time in thirteen years. In 2000, the Mets made the World Series for the first time in fourteen years. And now the Mets are in the World Series for the first time in fifteen years. My friend and fellow Met fan Dina compared the Mets to cicadas and their 17-year (sometimes 13-year) life cycle. Indeed, today the whole town is, uh, buzzing - the Mets are in the World Series!

This is the tenth season of Subway Squawkers, and being a Met fan during the time has often been more comparable to a plague of locusts. Things looked promising when Subway Squawkers began in 2006 as part of the New York Daily News website. The Mets were coming off an 83-79 season. They won 97 games, only to be upset in the NLCS.

As disappointing as the end of the 2006 season was, it was largely downhill for Met fans in the following years.  Chokes in  September 2007 and 2008. And then things really got bad. Bernie Madoff. Luis Castillo. The Yankees go to the World Series and you're not even sure if you should root against them because they are playing the Phillies.

Even when the Mets had a chance to celebrate something, it was always short-lived. Jose Reyes wins a batting title but leaves the last game of the season in the first inning, sparking criticism from media and fans. (Personally, I thought Reyes got a raw deal here for all the criticism about him not "playing the game the right way," particularly with what would later happen with the player he beat out for the batting title, Ryan Braun.) And then it turned out to be Reyes' last game as a Met.

The Mets finally get a no-hitter, but Johan Santana throws 134 pitches and his career craters soon afterward.

R.A. Dickey becomes one of the most unexpected Cy Young award winners ever and is promptly traded away.

It seemed that whenever the Mets finally had someone to root for, he was soon off the team. When Dickey was traded, I wrote the following:

I hope Dickey proves all the doubters wrong. With Jose Reyes also joining the Blue Jays, I now have a new team to root for in the AL East.

That said, with the current state of the Mets' franchise, trading Dickey for the haul of prospects the Mets got could be the right move long-term. Citi Field could even become a more interesting place if the team appears to be building for the future instead of treading water and denying they are in rebuilding mode.

At that point, all I wanted was a little hope. Who would have thought that Travis d'Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard would be integral parts of a pennant winner within three years?

Now it's the Mets who are upsetting the 97-win team in the NLCS. Now it's the other team with the ludicrous fielding displays (I'd still take Kyle Schwarber's bat on my team, though). Now, instead of trading away a Cy Young winner, the Met mow down Cy Young candidates Zack Greinke, Clayton  Kershaw and Jake Arrieta. 

When Santana and his huge contract went down with a serious injury, he could not successfully come back.  When David Wright and his huge contract went down with a serious injury, he made it back in time for the homestretch and postseason.  In Game 4, Wright's leaping grab of a Starlin Castro liner with the bases loaded and none out in the fourth prevented the Cubs from getting back in the game.

Now, instead of having to wait a cicada life cycle for another Mets World Series, Met fans only have to wait a few days. Amazing!