WHAT'S NEW IN 2009

Perhaps a bit overdue, but I've been so absorbed with the Mets opening up Citi Field that I haven't talked much about what other teams are celebrating in 2009.

There's not as much as there was last year, when teams like the Giants and Dodgers were celebrating 50 years out west, and the Diamondbacks their 10-year anniversary. But a couple of teams have occasions to recognize.

Other than the two stadiums opening in New York, the biggest deal going on in baseball might be in Kansas City, where they are celebrating their 40th year as a franchise as well as the renovation of Kaufman Stadium. I'll have more on the renovation in a minute. But I also wanted to note that the Astros are wearing a patch celebrating 10 seasons at Minute Maid Park (nee Enron). I absolutely can not believe that park has been around ten years. I feel like all of these new ones were just built. Safeco Field is also celebrating 10 years this year, though it opened after the All Star break. And Pac Bell (now AT&T Park) also opened around the same time....I just feel like there's no way these parks can be 10+ years old. Time flies.

Anway, back to Kaufman Stadium. This park might just be the reason I want to visit all of these out-of-town ballparks. Growing up, I used to think there was nothing cooler than the fountains in Kansas City. (Still haven't been, incidentally.) The park got even more beautiful a few years back when they did away with the turf and put in natural grass. And now they've done a full renovation where the park looks very different - more like the new throwback parks, but it still kept a lot of its own charm.
(That's the way it looked the past few years on the left, renovated on the right. I couldn't find any really good pictures of the newer park...click to enlarge.)

Finally, there is one other significant difference that I have seen these past couple of weeks around the Majors - The Ballpark in Arlington (another new ballpark that is over a decade old) has its own new wrinkle: Its high wall in left field is now fronted by a "collapsable" scoreboard.
(Again, this was the best I could do for pictures.) It's a chain-link type fence, with the scoreboard images projected on there, and it absorbs impact. I think that's different from the one they have at the Rogers Centre in Toronto - I think this one wobbles more - I think the one in Toronto is sturdier.

Anyway, check it out if you get the chance - I love all of these little changes from year to year across the majors.

ANALYSIS THROUGH TWENTY WEEKS

MOST IMPRESSIVE: Not really impressive, because it's what the Mets were supposed to do coming into this past week, but they cleaned up against Washington and Pittsburgh to take over first place. With a lead in Monday's game, the Mets could end the day 2-and-a-half up on Philadelphia. The Mets always said they were through the tough part of their schedule - they didn't have to go west again, while the Phillies just completed a 2-5 west coast swing. Things don't get too much tougher for the Mets this week, with Atlanta and Houston coming to New York - but both of those teams have given the Mets fits in the recent past.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: I haven't spent much time writing about Daniel Murphy, but what a breath of fresh air. Besides the fact that he's 17-for-41 (.415 avg.) since being called up, he's been doing everything right. I put him in "Surprise" rather than "Impressive" only because I didn't hear a mention of him before he was called up. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention....but you'd have thought I would have heard something. FYI - he spent most of the year at Binghamton (AA), playing third base. And perhaps that's why he wasn't talked about very much - because he's behind David Wright on the organizational depth chart. But he's made a seamless transition to the outfield and solved the Mets' outfield problems. Good job all through the Mets organization for making that work.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: There's no reason I should fear a comeback by the other team (especially when it's the Pirates) when the Mets take a 7-1 lead into the 9th inning...but because of the bullpen, I do. They hit that hot streak right around the All Star Break, and it looked like everything was better...but it's even worse now, without Billy Wagner, than it was at any point of the season. Problem is, people talk like all the problems will be solved when Wagner comes back - I still don't see him coming through in clutch situations.

And while we're on the topic - the Mets pulled the trigger on the Luis Ayala deal. (I commented on this deal when it looked dead last week.) It will cost them Anderson Hernandez, who didn't look like he had what it takes to be a major leaguer, so it might not end up being too costly, but I don't love the move. It's an extra arm out there, though, so I guess that can't hurt.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: I know he's having a decent season, but I just wish Carlos Beltran was more explosive. He's hitting .272, with 17 homers and 82 RBI. I mean, that's OK - he'll finish with 25 homers and 100 RBI, probably...but I want him to be doing 30+ homers and 110+ RBI every year...plus hitting .300. He's overpaid. That's the bottom line. And I will continue to be disappointed in him because of his salary, unless he puts up exorbitant numbers.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: I feel like the St. Louis Cardinals have gotten by this season on smoke and mirrors. They've fallen back a bit (7-and-a-half games behind the Cubs, but only 2 behind the wild card-leading Brewers) - but they're still good enough to be leading the East or West divisions. Their bullpen is a disaster, they don't have a tremendous lineup, they have injuries to key players - but they're having a great season.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: I know I spend a lot of time in this part every two weeks talking about the Tampa Bay Rays, but they deserve it. But the biggest surprise for them is that they're getting production from Rocco Baldelli, which is a nice story. He's suffered from a weird fatigue that no one's really sure about, I guess, but his career was in jeopardy. It's nice that he's come back, and it's also nice that he comes back at a time for the Rays when they're getting decimated by injuries - so he could play a key role in this big season they're having.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: The Seattle Mariners are having an awful season, and it doesn't look like things are going to get better out there anytime soon. They want to break up the team, but I guess their asking price for their players is too much, and teams are unwilling to deal with them. That can't do too much for team chemistry...and it can't really help a team improve.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Tom Glavine is back on the DL, and may face career-ending surgery. I still hold a grudge against Glavine for the disaster that was the final game of last season, but I never wish injury on someone. What this makes me think, though, is that maybe he was hiding something that was more serious than he knew. Because he really hasn't been the same Tom Glavine since. And the Braves have to be disappointed that he's given them nothing this year...as so many of their players have.

SEASON OVER

I know it's only the end of June. I know there's still plenty of time to turn it around.

I also know that I may be late in realizing this - but the Mets are not winners. They're going nowhere this season.

They have the wrong people making the decisions, they're making the wrong decisions, and the way they are currently constituted, they are going nowhere this season.

The exclamation point on this realization came Monday night when the Mets got their hats handed to them by the Seattle Mariners - the worst team in baseball - on their home field.

The Mariners coming to town should be an automatic sweep. They're 3,000 miles from home. They're awful. If anyone has gone through more turmoil than the Mets this year, it's the Mariners, who lost both their manager and general manager in a matter of weeks. If you're the Mets, you're thinking, "Jeez, we have it pretty bad, but here comes Seattle. Those poor Mariners. We're low, but they're lower." But then you have to go out there and murder them. Kick them while they're down.

What do the Mets do? With their best pitcher on the mound, they lose. Their best player makes a key error, extending the second inning, with the bases loaded, for the opposing pitcher. Who proceeds to hit a grand slam. And then that pitcher (the Mariners' best) gets hurt in the fifth inning, meaning the Mets have four innings to get to the bullpen of the worst team in baseball, and they can't score more than a run.

That's a disaster.

You want to fire people? You don't wait until the middle of the night after a win across the country. You wait until you lose two straight to the worst team in baseball on your own field. Then you start firing people. Break up the team....I'm sick of these guys.

ANALYSIS THROUGH TWELVE WEEKS

I guess with the collision of the end of school and the tenth week of the season, I plum forgot about this bi-weekly entry. But it's back, probably through the end of the season. "Impressive" is a loose term these days with the Mets.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: How about the fact that the Mets were able to pick up Trot Nixon - a heretofore unmentioned fact on the blog, other than in the comments by the Southern Bureau when I was away last weekend. Nixon was tearing it up in Triple-A for the Diamondbacks, and although he's hitting just .190 so far with the Mets, it's a very good pickup - the Mets need more of his type of player on their team.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: The fact that the Mets are just 3 and a half games out, and at an even .500 right now is pretty surprising. It gives some hope for the rest of the season - almost like they have a chance to start fresh from this point on.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE/BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: The whole organization gets a demerit in this analysis - both as least impressive and biggest disappointment. The firing of Willie Randolph was a disaster, it turned the Mets into a laughing stock...they were already losing, they didn't need insult added to injury...but that's what happened. I've gone into plenty about how the firing was botched, so I'll leave it where it is.

*This didn't get much play over the weekend, but it might get mentioned more today (Monday) as the weekend recaps are done on the talk shows - the Mets hired Wayne Krivsky as assistant to the GM, or some title like that. That officially puts the heat on Omar Minaya. Krivsky was fired earlier this year by the Cincinnati Reds - but he didn't do a terrible job building up that team...so I think the Mets fully expect their next GM to be Wayne Krivsky...unless Minaya does something to save his job.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: Home dominance by the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. The best teams in baseball win at home. The Cubs are 32-8, the Sox are 29-9.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Somewhat surprisingly, even though they are nowhere near as dominant at home (22-18 at home, 24-12 on the road), the Los Angeles Angels have the second-best winning percentage in baseball (barely better than Boston), and lead the American League West.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: The Arizona Diamondbacks specifically, but the National League West in general, have been pretty terrible. The Diamondbacks, after starting the season 20-8, are now just two games over .500, at 39-37. That means they're barely better than the Mets (although you've heard a lot less negativity surrounding the D-Backs), but the second-best team in their division is the Dodgers, at 35-40.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: I didn't pick them to win the division, as a lot of folks did, but I did expect better from the Seattle Mariners this year. They fired their manager last week after a season in which all they've done is be the worst team in baseball so far. The Mets host Seattle for three beginning Monday night. This would be a good time for a Mets sweep.

GOOD IDEA

I have to hand it to the New York Daily News - great move getting Willie Randolph to write his account of how his firing went down for Friday's paper. Just a great idea, and Randolph handled it well, coming across very classy in the article. Although, he did include this, which makes you think he was leaving some things unsaid:

I stood up and shook his [Omar Minaya's] hand, told him I wished him and the team well. Then he handed me an envelope, a little parting gift, and told me to make sure I reviewed it with my agent, Ron Shapiro.

It was a copy of my Met contract that basically says I better not say anything detrimental about the team, or I might jeopardize the rest of the money I have coming to me.

So I guess that brings an eventful week off-the-field for the Mets to an end. Maybe things will start turning around on the field now. I will say this - last year, things went downhill for the Mets after they played the Rockies...and the Rockies went on a tear (a tear that didn't end until the World Series). The Rockies swept the Mets in Colorado July 2, 3, and 4 last year by scores of 6-2, 11-3, and 17-7. So maybe this year a trip to Colorado will do wonders for the Mets. Who knows...I guess I'm still clinging to some optimism.

-And why shouldn't I - so far I'm having a great summer vacation. I decided this is the summer I'm going to take pre-emptive steps against Alzheimer's and do the crossword everyday. One week in, and today, Friday, June 20th, I completed my first crossword puzzle in recent memory. So that's exciting.

-The Mariners fired John McLaren, a move that comes as no surprise for a team that has done even less than the Mets this year. The Blue Jays, though, fired John Gibbons, which I didn't see coming. I have to say, though, that the Blue Jays must be a frustrating team to root for. I wrote about this recently (in one of those bi-weekly updates that I have forgotten about recently - I'll get back to that on Monday) - they just haven't been scoring runs for their pitchers, who have been great. And they see the Rays keeping pace with the Red Sox, and they must be thinking, "Why not us?". The American League East is a strong division. Anyway, Cito Gaston is back in charge in Toronto - it's like 1992 all over again!

PREVIEW: AL WEST

For the first time in I don't know how many years, I haven't bought a baseball preview magazine. I peeked through it the last time I was in the supermarket, and the one I picked up didn't even have the Johan Santana deal. So I figure, why bother? And I also figure, why don't I just write my own. So this week I'll quickly preview each of the divisions, culminating in my playoff picks and my award winners. Today we look at the American League West.

The Seattle Mariners got better. The Oakland A's got worse. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim stayed at about the same level they've been at recently. And the Texas Rangers may have done just enough to scoot past Oakland and out of last place.

The A's are in rough shape. They're like the Twins will be this year - they've gotten rid of anyone capable of making an impact this year, and whereas in past years they've been able to survive it, this year, they're going to suffer because of it. They're destined for last place. Want proof - look at their outfield and tell me who you've heard of.

Not far behind (or not far ahead in the standings, I guess), though, are the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are kind of talented. On paper, they look like a good team. But they don't win games against teams in their division, and they haven't done much to get better than last year. And last year they were in last place. Milton Bradley should do wonders for that clubhouse, incidentally. That might be fun to keep an eye on.

The race will be between Seattle and Los Angeles.

Seattle will be very good. Unfortunately for them, there will be four or five teams in the American League that will end up being slightly better, so they will be on the outside looking in come playoff time. I like the Erik Bedard deal for Seattle - but I think it will pay off next year. I think Bedard has a year of adjusting, and the Mariners are 2009 West division champs.

The reason it's not this year is because the Angels stayed good, and might even be better this year than their division-winning performance last year. They're like the opposite of the Rangers - they win the games they're supposed to...and, well, they're good. The West will be a two-horse race for much of the season, but I expect Los Angeles to pull away about mid-September: