Mets and Nats draw this weekend’s Bottom of the Barrel Series honors
Bringing up the rear of the NL East and nearly 70 games below .500 between the two of them, this weekend’s worst baseball will be in New York where the Mets host the Nats.
You know things are going bad for your team when your own MLB.com site celebrates the fact your squad has mathematically eliminated the possibility of a 100-loss season. Such were the words of writer Anthony DiComo earlier this morning when he penned, “One hundred losses are mathematically out of the question, but 90-something is within reach.”
From 2005-08, Mets fans only thought they had suffered through bad times when some tough luck and plain ol' September collapses quashed their hopes. But after living through the 2009 season, backers of New York's other team have truly lived through the worst of times.
GM Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel are lamenting the injuries that feel on this team this year, and there’s no denying the team has suffered more than its fair share. But even given a major player or two being injured, teams with payrolls this high – About $140 million before any bonuses or deferred money is paid – should be able to weather the storm better than what the Mets have done.
I understand it’s been more than a couple of key injuries. Still, I don't care how much your payroll is, don’t give a damn about any injuries and have no sympathy for the Wilpon Family being swindled by that Madoff crook, no team has an excuse for playing as poorly as the Mets right now. When you go through a 14-33 stretch like New York has since the first game of a doubleheader in Colorado on July 30, you simply suck.
Speaking of sucking, no team does it better than the Washington Nationals who lead the majors with 96 losses on the season. With this trip to New York, the Nats finish up a nine-game road trip that started off fine taking two of three from the Fish in Miami before being swept in Philadelphia after Cole Hamels handcuffed them on Thursday night. The Phillies also dropped Washington twice in DC the previous week.
In the battle between the two NL East teams that suck this year, the Mets are 8-4 in the 12 previous meetings between the two. New York travels to Washington 10 days from now for their final road series of the campaign before their year and Houston's come to a merciful end at City Field in Queens the last weekend of the regular season schedule.
New York faced a lengthy delay before last night's game with the Braves, ultimately losing 7-3 in Atlanta as the surging Braves finished off the series sweep. The defeat was the fifth-straight for the Mets and the second straight game to be delayed by at least two hours due to rain in the ATL area. Figure it wasn’t much before sunrise this morning when the team got into LaGuardia following the red-eye home, so there’s really no telling what shape the team will turn up in for tonight’s game.
Yet someone has to win the game and the series. For this game itself, the Under 9 is the only thing that looks appealing. As for the series, who the hell knows? We’re talking about two teams that win less than 39% of their games combined, so picking either to win two in a three-game stretch is nothing but a coin flip. And if I’m basically flipping coins, I don’t want to pay the -150, -155 the Mets are getting as series favorites.
STARTING PITCHERS
Game 1, Fri, Sep 18, 7:10 p.m. (ET): J.D. Martin (7-4, 4.29) vs. Mike Pelfrey (15-13, 5.09)
Game 2: Sat, Sep 19, 1:10 p.m.: John Lannan (12-18, 4.08) vs. Tim Redding (4-10, 5.52)
Game 3: Sun, Sep 20, 1:10 p.m.: Garrett Mock (4-8, 5.89) vs. John Maine (6-6, 4.45)
WEATHER
At least it’s shaping up to be a fairly nice weekend in Queens. There will be sweatshirts and jackets in the crowd for the Friday evening when the game starts around 70ºF and drops to the upper-50s from there. Winds are forecast out of the NW at about 10-12 MPH (in from left field across to 1B). First-pitch temps for the Saturday and Sunday afternoon games should be in the upper-60s, low-70s with lots of sunshine
Bringing up the rear of the NL East and nearly 70 games below .500 between the two of them, this weekend’s worst baseball will be in New York where the Mets host the Nats.
You know things are going bad for your team when your own MLB.com site celebrates the fact your squad has mathematically eliminated the possibility of a 100-loss season. Such were the words of writer Anthony DiComo earlier this morning when he penned, “One hundred losses are mathematically out of the question, but 90-something is within reach.”
From 2005-08, Mets fans only thought they had suffered through bad times when some tough luck and plain ol' September collapses quashed their hopes. But after living through the 2009 season, backers of New York's other team have truly lived through the worst of times.
GM Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel are lamenting the injuries that feel on this team this year, and there’s no denying the team has suffered more than its fair share. But even given a major player or two being injured, teams with payrolls this high – About $140 million before any bonuses or deferred money is paid – should be able to weather the storm better than what the Mets have done.
I understand it’s been more than a couple of key injuries. Still, I don't care how much your payroll is, don’t give a damn about any injuries and have no sympathy for the Wilpon Family being swindled by that Madoff crook, no team has an excuse for playing as poorly as the Mets right now. When you go through a 14-33 stretch like New York has since the first game of a doubleheader in Colorado on July 30, you simply suck.
Speaking of sucking, no team does it better than the Washington Nationals who lead the majors with 96 losses on the season. With this trip to New York, the Nats finish up a nine-game road trip that started off fine taking two of three from the Fish in Miami before being swept in Philadelphia after Cole Hamels handcuffed them on Thursday night. The Phillies also dropped Washington twice in DC the previous week.
In the battle between the two NL East teams that suck this year, the Mets are 8-4 in the 12 previous meetings between the two. New York travels to Washington 10 days from now for their final road series of the campaign before their year and Houston's come to a merciful end at City Field in Queens the last weekend of the regular season schedule.
New York faced a lengthy delay before last night's game with the Braves, ultimately losing 7-3 in Atlanta as the surging Braves finished off the series sweep. The defeat was the fifth-straight for the Mets and the second straight game to be delayed by at least two hours due to rain in the ATL area. Figure it wasn’t much before sunrise this morning when the team got into LaGuardia following the red-eye home, so there’s really no telling what shape the team will turn up in for tonight’s game.
Yet someone has to win the game and the series. For this game itself, the Under 9 is the only thing that looks appealing. As for the series, who the hell knows? We’re talking about two teams that win less than 39% of their games combined, so picking either to win two in a three-game stretch is nothing but a coin flip. And if I’m basically flipping coins, I don’t want to pay the -150, -155 the Mets are getting as series favorites.
STARTING PITCHERS
Game 1, Fri, Sep 18, 7:10 p.m. (ET): J.D. Martin (7-4, 4.29) vs. Mike Pelfrey (15-13, 5.09)
Game 2: Sat, Sep 19, 1:10 p.m.: John Lannan (12-18, 4.08) vs. Tim Redding (4-10, 5.52)
Game 3: Sun, Sep 20, 1:10 p.m.: Garrett Mock (4-8, 5.89) vs. John Maine (6-6, 4.45)
WEATHER
At least it’s shaping up to be a fairly nice weekend in Queens. There will be sweatshirts and jackets in the crowd for the Friday evening when the game starts around 70ºF and drops to the upper-50s from there. Winds are forecast out of the NW at about 10-12 MPH (in from left field across to 1B). First-pitch temps for the Saturday and Sunday afternoon games should be in the upper-60s, low-70s with lots of sunshine