Felz Stat of the Day

Number of HRs in 2018:

Greg Bird: 11

Luke Voit: 14

David Wright can't play baseball at a professional level anymore. Last night's appearance was symbolic.

"Understand this right off the bat: The fact that the Mets are so bad is what made David Wright Night possible in the first place.

Had the Mets not been mired in fourth-place in the NL East, headed for a second straight sub-.500 season and the 12^th in their last 14 without October baseball, and playing the even more pathetic Miami Marlins, there’s no way they would have penciled David Wright into the three-hole in their lineup or entrusted him with playing third base, even for a couple of innings."

Seems reasonable to me.

"The sad fact is that after the cruel tease of an 11-1 start, a cameo appearance by a once-great player in an inconsequential game is what will be remembered as the highlight of the Mets’ 2018 season. And, what passes for meaningful September baseball in Flushing these days.

The Mets could pile on all the sentiment they like, but the truth is that over the past six years, they failed David Wright even more egregiously than they have failed their masochistic fan base."

The Mets failed David Wright?


"After the 2012 season, when Wright batted .306 and finished sixth in the NL MVP voting, the Wilpons and GM Sandy Alderson convinced Wright to sign a seven-year, $138 million contract extension based on the contention that the future was bright for the Mets."

You could probably stop reading the article right now as 7-year/$138M is irrefutable proof that the Mets did not fail Wright.


"All Wright had to do, of course, was wait one more season and he might have scored $200 million as a free agent, perhaps with a team that truly had a future."

Or Wright could have gotten hurt and been unable to play baseball, leaving $138M on the table.

Also, the Mets made the World Series in 2015.

So it sounds like the Mets upheld their part of the bargain.


"In return, he became saddled on a team that has gone 475-495 since then, seen at least one of those promising arms, that of Matt Harvey, flame out due to injury and overindulgence, and most poignantly, unexpectedly reached a World Series only after Wright had already developed the spinal stenosis that would prematurely end his career."

By "on a team," you must mean "on the disabled list of a team."

"They were cheering what David Wright promised them when he committed himself to the Mets back in 2012.

The fact that the promise was broken was not David Wright’s fault. Turns out the Mets’ commitment to winning was never as strong as David Wright’s commitment to the Mets."

This narrative is untrue.

The Mets spent a lot of money on a lot of good players, they made the World Series three years ago, and they have stuck with most of their talented young arms to this day. Some of these investments haven't worked out, but that's how it always works.


I think insurance has covered most of Wright's salary due to injury ... but have you seen Wright's stats since his big free agent signing?

It's not Wright's fault that he got hurt, but he gave the Mets about one year's worth of cumulative production over the last six years.

Overrated, in my opinion.

"The answer begins with Gary. Ron calls Gary 'the greatest docent of Mets history,' but encyclopedic knowledge isn’t necessarily a virtue. What really matters is that he gets the difference between a perceptive detail and a useless piece of trivia.
  ...


Before most weeknight games, Gary arrives at the park between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. and sequesters himself in the booth, poring over piles of stats and scouting reports, none of which he really needs because he remembers everything. His voice is a classic broadcaster baritone, with far more range and texture and glee than your standard Fox Sports 1 drone. His home-run call — a simple unfussy 'It’s outta here!' — has this tingling rise to it; in big moments it soars up a note or two higher than you expect. In one tidy little aria before a Nats game in July, he marveled to me over the sweeping impact of 'the shift,' the game’s current bête noire, a tiny tweak in baseball’s pH — one middle infielder moving just 50 feet to the right or left, overloading one side with three gloves — that has disrupted a century of balance."

OK, I'm not going to pick apart the whole article ... but Gary Cohen is a constant stream of useless information ... and I'm not sure what the gripe is with Yankee announcers, who could not possible be more boring and mechanical than Gary Cohen.

Felz Stat of the Day

Gardner playoff stats:

Overall playoff: 121 AB, .215 BA.

WS: 10 AB, .000 BA.

Judge was 0-for-4 and the Yankees only scored 3 runs.

It's going to happen and I don't care.

The Yankees are not going to sweep the Red Sox anytime soon. Even if they do, they're not catching the Red Sox.

The Yankees are going to play the A's in the Wild Card game and I don't even care if it's a home game.

Like it or not, the reamining games are exhibition games where the goal is to get players sharp for the playoffs.

Expect to see a lot of Sonny Gray and Stephen Tarpley.

My opinion is their opinion.

"'That pennant race led to the manifestation of the wild-card system, which has been so great for baseball,' said Bud Selig, Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. 'When you win 103 games, you should be rewarded.'

Now, 25 years later, playing in their second new ballpark since that year, the Braves are poised to return to the postseason after a four-year absence with a 7 1/2 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. The Giants will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Maybe one day, they’ll meet again in the postseason, as they did  in 2010, but never again will they have the feeling of the summer of ’93. 

'Unfortunately, we won’t have that because of the fail-safe of the wild card scenario,’ Smoltz said. 'Every (team) in the league played the same schedule back then. Now, I personally don’t understand it? How can how you have a sport play 162 games and the schedules are not the same? It’s just mind-boggling to me.'

Says McGriff: 'Life ain’t fair now. The Rays have to play the Red Sox and Yankees 19 times, while Oakland plays them six times. So Oakland goes to the playoffs instead of Tampa because of the schedule? It’s not right.'"

I disagree with the, ahem, "Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball."

I agree with Smoltz and Mc Griff. Not that baseball has to be "fair," but the Wild Card has ruined pennant races.

Sluggish team wins 11-0.

"Sluggish" may be overstating it.

They had a full Stadium against Toronto in mid-September.

They also got their 91st win.

They are "sluggish" in the sense that their offense is almost entirely station-to-station, HR-or-K, all-or-nothing. It's fun when it works and "sluggish" when it doesn't.

The buzz will be strong in October if they advance. It's not hard to imagine with the return of Chapman and Judge, contributions from Didi and Sanchez, and peak performances by Happ and Tanaka.

There is no Hall of Fame for Friends.

But if there were?

You'd be unanimous First Ballot, sport!

Tanaka's home/road splits.

Home: 4-5, 4.03 ERA.

Road: 7-0, 3.31 ERA.

My conclusion is that the Yankees' best chance in the Wild Card game is to start Tanaka on the road in Oakland.

There's an Abbott and Costello routine in there somewhere.

Who's in left?

Field.

Yes, left field.

I already told you.

It's a fluid situation.

At some point, if the Yankees are going to advance in the playoffs, all of the pitchers in the starting rotation are going to have to start games.

All of these games are important, and the starting pitchers are going have to pitch well.

Rickey!

I saw Rickey play a minor league game with the Newark Bears. The guy just loves baseball.

Who cares?

It's amazing that we're still talking about this.

Even more amazing that Girardi is still talking about this.

Hey catcher, a little more catch and a little less err.

Look at the bright side ...

"It’s not the first time Sanchez’s defense has been questioned. With the two passed balls Wednesday night, the 25-year-old has 13 passed balls on the season, tied for the most in the major leagues with Martin Maldonado. The Astros’ catcher has 13 in 102 games this season, Sanchez has the same in 59 games.

With the two wild pitches, Yankees pitchers have thrown 37 wild pitches with Sanchez behind the plate."

If he was an NHL goalie, he would have a very good save percentage.