It's Not Just The Failure To Hit With The Bases Loaded

Much has been said about the Mets' failure to produce with the bases loaded this season. After all, the team is hitting .182 (6-for-33) with the bags full. By contrast, the rest of the National League is hitting .294 in those situations. But this is not the only favorable hitting situation that the Mets have failed in repeatedly this season. In fact, the Mets have become quite adept at being inept.

David K. Wright doing what he does best.

Anytime a team has a runner on third base and less than two outs, the odds of scoring that run are obviously very good, as it can score without the benefit of a base hit. However, the Mets seem to have not received that memo. With a runner on third and less than two outs, the Mets are hitting a paltry .196 (11-for-56) with 34 RBI (10 sacrifice flies). They have struck out 17 times in these situations and have yet to hit a home run.

Even scarier is that the Mets have not hit a home run all season with a runner on third base. Of their 28 home runs, 15 have been of the solo variety, five have come with a man on first, five have been hit with a man on second, and the other three (all three-run homers) were blasted with men on first and second. Mets players have come to bat 150 times this season with a man on third base and have yet to hit a ball out of the ballpark. How many hits have they gotten in those 150 plate appearances? A measly 21, with only eight extra-base hits. They have struck out 31 times against only 18 walks in those situations. But wait, there's more.

In the late innings, when good teams are able to put together rallies to prevail in tight games, the Mets' bats go to sleep. Over the first six innings this season, the Mets have actually been quite respectable, hitting .265. They also have a .335 on-base percentage and a .419 slugging percentage from innings 1 through 6. However, over the final three innings, it's a completely different story (.201/.300/.325). Why is this so shocking? Because a starting pitcher usually contributes to lowering the batting avg./OBP/slugging pct. of his team during the first six innings of a ballgame. His spot is often taken by a pinch-hitter over the final three innings, a pinch-hitter who can usually be counted on to be a more productive hitter than the pitcher he's replacing in the batting order.

Of course, pinch-hitting has not been the Mets' forté this season, as substitutes have combined to hit .172 (16-for-93), have reached base at a .235 clip, and are slugging .258. Players such as Willie Harris, Scott Hairston and Chin-Lung Hu have yet the put the word "hitting" in pinch-hitting, as they have come off the bench to strike out 31 times while drawing only six walks.

This has become too familiar a sight at Citi Field this season.

So what does a first place team do with the bases loaded and some of the other situations discussed here? The Philadelphia Phillies have hit .300 (12-for-40) with the bags full this season. With runners on third base and less than two outs, they're hitting .299 with 50 RBI. They have 35 hits with runners on third base, including three home runs. And for all those who say "all they do is hit home runs", let it be known that as of today, both the Phillies and the Mets have hit exactly 28 home runs.

Yeah. That's what a first place team does at the plate when presented with favorable hitting situations. They don't strand runners on base. They move guys around. They make productive outs. They draw walks. They don't strike out, pop out or hit into inning-ending double plays. Last place teams do that. That's where the Mets are right now, and that's where they're going to stay if they don't start recognizing what needs to be done at the plate.

Mets "Catch" A Break By Signing Willie Harris

Willie Harris. The name alone is enough to make Mets fans sick to their stomachs. For years, he has been a constant thorn in the Mets' collective sides. Whether making a highlight reel catch in a late inning pressure situation or delivering a key base hit, Harris has been directly responsible for a number of Met losses since 2007.

Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we announce that Willie Harris will not be making any rally-killing catches or producing timely hits against the Mets in 2011. No, he did not retire from baseball to walk the Earth (you know, like Caine in Kung Fu). Willie Harris is now property of the New York Mets.

According to ESPNNewYork.com, the man who played the outfield against the Mets like a modern-day Garry Maddox, will now be doing so for his former enemies. Willie Harris has signed a minor league deal with the Mets and will be invited to Spring Training. He is a clear favorite to become the club's fourth outfielder, providing excellent defense and versatility not seen in the Mets' outfield since the days of Endy Chavez at Shea Stadium.

Harris first became a nemesis to the Mets in 2007, when as a member of the Atlanta Braves, he robbed Carlos Delgado of a potential game-tying home run in the ninth inning. The catch allowed the Braves to hold on to the lead in a game they eventually won 7-6. It was one of many "what might have been" games for the Mets in their infamous 2007 season.

The following season, Harris was a member of the Washington Nationals when he arrived at Shea Stadium for an afternoon tilt against the Mets. Mike Pelfrey carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but the Mets were putting up zeroes on the board as well.

Washington scored a run in the eighth inning to go up 1-0, which was the score when the Mets came up to bat in the ninth inning. After Carlos Beltran led off the inning with a single, Ryan Church sliced a ball down the left field line that had extra-base hit written all over it. Of course, left field is Willie Harris territory, and he made the spectacular diving catch to preserve the Nats' victory.


The fielding trifecta was made complete this past season, as Willie Harris brought his defensive skills over from Shea Stadium to Citi Field. On April 10, the Mets were rallying against the Nationals. They were down 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and had the bases loaded for April übermensch Rod Barajas. The Mets' catcher lined a ball to left field that looked like a game-winning base hit.

Um, no. I'll let the photo below describe what happened.


Despite the fact that Willie Harris is a career .159 batter against the Mets, he doesn't just put on his Mets-killer shoes on defense. On July 3, 2010, he helped defeat the Mets with the bat as well.

The Mets were ahead 5-3 going to the bottom of the ninth inning at Nationals Park. Francisco Rodriguez (in his pre-Frankie Knuckles days) was on the mound with one out and a runner on second base. Willie Harris came up to bat as the tying run.

No, he didn't hit a homer (D'oh!), but he did smoke a line drive single to right. He later came around to score the tying run in a game the Mets eventually lost 6-5.


So now Willie Harris is a Met, and stands a good chance to win the fourth outfielder's job out of Spring Training. The staff at Studious Metsimus is torn about how to react to this news. We'll now have to cheer Harris when he takes the field for the Mets after years of hating the ground he walked on.

Harris is hated even more in the Studious Metsimus offices because of one particular fact. We were present for all four games mentioned above, including the game in Washington where his bat did the talking.

Will we attend any games at Citi Field this year when Harris makes a spectacular play? We sure hope so. After all, he owes us for four years of dashed hopes. Of course, with our luck he'll probably do something like this (see photos below) when we see him in person.



Willie Harris is now property of the New York Mets. Maybe he'll be Citi Field's version of Endy Chavez. At the very least, he won't be breaking our hearts (hopefully) in the ninth inning of ballgames.

Mr. Harris, we hope you brought your "Catch-22" glove with you to Flushing. If not, the same fans that booed you when you wore the uniforms of the Braves and Nationals will do the same when you're in orange and blue.

We Believe In Comebacks, But Not Winning

The Mets are off to their worst start in 18 years. Not since 1992 have they begun the season with a 2-6 record. The team is in last place, five games behind the Phillies. The team's slogan for 2010, "We Believe In Comebacks", was supposed to be for the team coming back into contention after a miserable 2009 season.

Apparently, the team didn't read the fine print when they were informed of the new slogan. So far, the Mets have been able to come back from late-inning deficits, but have not finished the job.

Last Wednesday against the Marlins, the Mets erased a five-run seventh-inning deficit, turning a 6-1 deficit into a 6-6 game that went into extra innings. Unfortunately, Hisanori Takahashi gave up the go-ahead run in the tenth inning and the Mets fell to the Marlins by the final score of 7-6.

On Saturday, the Mets entered the ninth inning against Nationals' closer Matt Capps trailing by one run. Capps was not particularly effective, giving up a line drive single to Jose Reyes, followed by two walks. The Mets appeared poised to complete the comeback when Rod Barajas lined a frozen rope to left field. Of course, that's Willie Harris territory, meaning that the catch was made and the comeback was thwarted.

Now we get to last night's game. The Mets were already in last place and needed a victory to get back on track. They were trailing 5-3 going to the eighth inning, but scored a run in each of the last two frames to send the game into extra innings. Could the Mets finally complete a comeback, pulling out a much-needed victory at Coors Field?

I'll let the following set of pictures paint the picture of what happened on the fourth pitch from Jenrry Mejia to Rockies' catcher Chris Iannetta.



For the third time this year, the Mets appeared poised to come back from a deficit, snaring a victory from the jaws of defeat. Instead, all they snared was another heartbreaking loss. Had they completed each comeback, their record would be a much more attractive 5-3 instead of the dreadful 2-6 that's staring back at us from the newspaper.

The Mets do believe in coming back. They've shown the ability to fight back from an early deficit on three occasions this year. However, if they want to remain relevant in the NL East race and not continue to be the laughing stock of baseball, they must add "We Believe In Winning" to the equation.

If the Mets don't learn how to pull out these tight ballgames soon, not only will their 2010 slogan seem silly, but the fans will stop believing in coming back...to Citi Field, that is.

The "K" In K-Rod Stands For Kick-Ass

After today's 5-2 loss to the Washington Nationals, I was going to write a blog about Johan Santana temporarily giving up his lead role in Johan Santana and The Four Rainouts to become an honorary Rainout.

Then my thoughts turned to writing about Josh Willingham one-upping Willy Taveras by driving in all five Washington runs one day after Taveras drove in all four runs scored by the Nationals in yesterday's 4-3 loss.

Instead, this is going to be a positive blog. I know it's hard to say anything positive about the Mets after completing a 2-4 homestand against the Marlins and Nationals, especially when they needed as many victories as possible heading into a tough road trip in Colorado and St. Louis against two of last season's National League playoff teams.

But something interesting happened in the ninth inning when Francisco Rodriguez faced Willie Harris. Harris came into the game in the eighth inning as part of a double switch for starting leftfielder Josh Willingham. With one out and no one on base in the ninth inning, Harris came up to bat. After a called first strike, the next pitch hit Willie Harris. Both benches emptied when K-Rod and Harris exchanged words near first base.

To this, I say... IT'S ABOUT ROOTIN' TOOTIN' TIME!

Willie Harris has been a defensive thorn in the Mets side. On Saturday, for the third time in four seasons, a spectacular defensive play by Harris cost the Mets a potential victory when he robbed Rod Barajas of a potential game-winning hit with the bases loaded and two outs.

Although K-Rod will never admit it for fear of a suspension, today's incident was more than likely a message sent to Harris that the Mets were not too pleased with his continued game-changing catches.

I'm glad Frankie didn't watch the Shawn Estes Instructional Video on how to hit batters (available on Betamax only). By giving Willie Harris a figurative kick in the @$$, perhaps the Nationals' outfielder will be a tad slower the next a Met hits a ball that he has to race for to catch. At the very least, Rodriguez showed that the Mets were fed up with the bad karma surrounding them and took it upon himself to take action.

Maybe this will fire up the Mets on their upcoming road trip. Maybe it'll make Willie Harris remember that his last name isn't Mays when he takes the field against the Mets. Whatever the case, it's about time that someone took the initiative to send a message to the Nationals that they were done with being beat up by a team that's supposedly inferior to them.

K-Rod, I tip my blue Mets cap to you. You have just become one of my favorite Mets. Let's hope other players take your lead and get fired up so that the team can kick the @$$e$ of the rest of the National League.

Joey's Soapbox: No More Mr. Nice Bear

You may know me as the cute half of the Studious Metsimus staff. I'm the roving reporter and the culinary expert of the staff. I write about all the fun aspects of being a Mets fan, like meeting players and eating chicken nachos at Citi Field.

But I was at Saturday's game against the Washington Nationals and witnessed many things that made my fur crawl. That's why the poofball hat is coming off. It's no more Mr. Nice Bear!


Willy Taveras

If you look up the word "slap hitter" in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of Willy Taveras. He makes Luis Castillo look like Albert Pujols (a permanently limping Albert Pujols). Before Saturday's game, Taveras had accumulated 2,609 at-bats in the major leagues and had only driven in 124 runs. To say Taveras is a good run-producer is like saying Ted Nugent is a good spokesman for PETA.

So what did Willy Taveras do against Oliver Perez and the Mets on Saturday? He drove in all four Washington runs! Needless to say, it was the first time in Taveras' career that he collected four RBI in one game.

Willy Taveras batted eighth for the Nationals during the matinee. In 2008, Taveras led the National League with 68 SB (breaking Jose Reyes' three-year reign as NL stolen base king). Why would a team bat a speedster in the eighth spot? BECAUSE HE CAN'T HIT! Taveras is like the modern day Willie Mays Hayes. All flash and dash, but no hits and grits. On Saturday, Taveras showed some grit and came through in two different RBI situations. Because Oliver Perez wasn't more careful with the man batting directly in front of the pitcher, he was burned by the one-dimensional Taveras.

Strike one!


Tyler Clippard

In 2007, the Mets were playing the Yankees in an interleague series at Shea Stadium. The Mets were coming off their first season since 1988 that they were playing baseball after the Yankees had played their final game. After taking the first two games of the series, Mets fans were poised for a sweep of the hated Yankees.

When the Yankees announced that Darrell Rasner would not be making his scheduled start because of a broken finger, Mets fans salivated at the thought that some no-name by the name of Tyler Clippard would be starting. (Yes, I know it's a contradiction to say he's a no-name and then name him, but is this blog called "Studious Metsimus Reader Soapbox"? No, it's called "Joey's Soapbox", so I don't want to hear anyone correcting me!)

Of course, the Yankee Clippard pitched beautifully in his first major league start, giving up only three hits over six innings and the Yankees avoided being swept by the Mets.

On Saturday, Clippard (who was voted by his high school classmates to be the one most likely to play Sloth in "The Goonies" remake) faced the Mets again, this time as a member of the Washington Nationals.

Clippard faced them in relief of starter John Lannan, after Lannan pitched five shaky innings. Maybe he used some of One-Eyed Willy's treasure, (this is different than One-Dimensional Willy, who was mentioned earlier. Pay attention, people. That was just another "Goonies" reference.) but Clippard was outstanding against the Mets once again, pitching three scoreless innings and striking out seven batters.

Perhaps Tyler should change his last name from Clippard to Klippard, because he seemed to corner the "K" market at Citi Field. No Met batter struck out during the first four innings. Then Sloth came into the game and made the Mets whiff early and often. As if Citi Field wasn't windy enough, the Mets' bats had to generate more wind from all the swinging and missing!

Strike two!


Willie Harris

Even a casual Mets fan should know who Willie Harris is. He is the outfielder's version of umpire Angel Hernandez, meaning he lives to screw the Mets. First, he made this game-saving catch as a member of the Atlanta Braves on August 9, 2007.

The ninth-inning shot hit by Carlos Delgado would have been a dramatic game-tying home run. Instead, it became a long out and helped preserve a 7-6 Braves victory. In a season where the Mets lost the division title (and the wild-card) on the final day of the season, any additional victory could have sent the Mets into the playoffs. Willie Harris' catch might have been just as crucial to dashing the Mets' postseason hopes as any of the million games they lost after the "17 games to go" point of the season.

Then on May 15, 2008, Willie Harris made this catch against the Mets, this time as a member of the Washington Nationals, but also at Shea.

The catch on a ball hit by Ryan Church helped preserve a 1-0 win by the Nationals, spoiling a brilliant effort by Mike Pelfrey, and led to Billy Wagner's infamous "you should be talking to those guys over there...oh, they're not here...big shock" post-game comments.

By the way, the Mets lost the wild card to the Brewers on the final day of the 2008 season. One more victory during the season, yada, yada, yada...you know where I'm going with this.

Fast forward to Saturday's game against the Nationals. Josh Willingham had started in left field for Washington and had failed to make this catch on a ball hit by David Wright.

Since Willingham is not known for his defense, Willie Harris was inserted into the game as a late-inning defensive replacement. In the ninth inning, the Mets loaded the bases with two outs. Up came Rod Barajas, who had hit two home runs against the Nationals in the series opener on Friday night.

This time, Barajas smoked a line drive to left field that Gary Cohen immediately called as a base hit on SNY. The only problem was that it wasn't. Willie Harris was in left field, not Josh Willingham. There's no need to post a picture of what happened. I think you already know.

Why do I hate Willie Harris more than the average Mets fan? Perhaps the photo below will explain it for me.

That's right. I was at all three games where Willie Harris snatched potential victories away from the Mets. There are no words for how I feel about Willie Harris. In fact, I will say nothing else about him other than...

Strike three!


I want to be a nice bear. My fans expect that from me. But sometimes the Mets make it impossible for me to keep the cuteness façade up. Saturday was one of those days.

My Studious Metsimus colleague tells me that I should remember that the 1986 Mets also started out with a 2-3 record before they turned it around and ended up winning 108 regular season games and the World Series. He might be right, but those Mets never had to face Willy Taveras, Tyler Clippard and Willie Harris.

All I know is that if the Mets continue to lose games they should win, Mr. Nice Bear might never come back. Be afraid, be very afraid.