Fernandomania

We're doomed, and other musings of a transplanted Mets fan

2009-07-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Never have I used this phrase in a less sarcastic tone. The sky literally is falling on the 2009 Mets. And it's causing me, the most die hard of fans to turn apathetic.

I'd rather watch reruns of the King of Queens than this Mets team. I'd rather watch the movie Cheaper by the Dozen. I'd rather watch Sex and the City...no, that's not right I'd NEVER watch Sex in the City, but my point is, I can't make myself care about this team anymore than I do about television reruns. At least those have an ending. This season is crawling along so drearily it doesn't seem it will ever finish.

This Mets team makes me so sick, so aggravated, it's actually ruining my fantasy baseball seasons as well. I just don't even want to think about baseball sometimes. It's disheartening to say the least.

So how did we get here? How did a season that had so much promise in December unravel before we even hit the All-Star Break?

One injury at a time.

I can't even remember which came first, Reyes or Delgado, but does it matter? They both went down, then Putz did, then Beltran did and suddenly David Wright was left wondering if he was being Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher. ("Am I in Buffalo?")

Of all of them, Delgado appears to be the biggest injury of the bunch. Not only was the guy a rock in the clubhouse, but he may have been the only guy on the team that could get one out of the graveyard known as Citi Field.

So now, five games before the All-Star Break, the team, no the franchise, is at a crossroads. Buy or sell. Fight or give in? If last night's 8-0 drubbing is any indication, if 0 runs scored in the last 21 innings say anything, if a sweep in Philly could talk, they would all say: Wave the white flag Omar.

But the worst part about all this is, if we magically flip the switch today and turn from buyers to sellers, what do we have to offer a contender. Our offense is putrid. Our pitching staff, erratic. Our bullpen overworked.

Omar: Brian Schneider is available, ya know what I'm sayin?
(Dial Tone)
Omar: Hello? How about Livan! He's remade himself, it has nothing to do with the ballpark.
(Dial Tone)
Omar: Gary Sheffield, he's a team player!
(Dial Tone)

You get the point. So who do you trade?

The suggestions of moving David Wright are asinine. You can not trade David Wright. He's a Matinee Idol. He's reason enough for thousands of people to come out to the game or turn on SNY. There's no way you get the value of what he is worth to this franchise back in a trade, Hes the only player that gives we the fans even a glimmer of hope right now. So trading David Wright is not an option.

Santana and K-Rod have to be off the table as well. These are core pieces of the team that you'd never get enough value for.

I wouldn't argue against trading Reyes, but his injury complicates things. Ditto Delgado and Beltran.

I think Omar can and should get something for Ryan Church. The guy is not long for this team, it's been that way since Daniel Murphy was given his job in the spring. He's a young, productive player and could actually bring back something in return. Let's face it. If the 2010 outfield is to have Beltran and F-Mart, Church can't be that 3rd outfielder. This offseason Omar is gonna have to put all of his efforts into bringing Matt Holiday to Flushing. So Church is expendable, especially if we're waving the white flag.

Get whatever you can for Livan and Schenider, Sean Green and Brain Stokes. See if anybody will take Castillo's contract if we eat most of it. Sell high on Nick Evans or Daniel Murphy if anyone is interested, but hang on to them if you can't get any value.

Move F-Mart to whichever corner you plan on having him play alongside Beltran next year and under no circumstances do you let him get used to center. Let him make mistakes in left and right. Now is a time to learn. Call up Cory Sullivan and put him in center for the time being. Play Sheff in the other corner 4 days a week and play Jeremy Reed there the rest of the week.

Santos becomes the starting catcher, let's see what he's made of. Bring up Josh Thole in September and let him start, see what he's got. Whichever one of Evans and Murphy is still standing plays first. If you can move Castillo, start Cora at second and try like hell to get a young SS in one of the trades. Seriously contemplate the end of the Reyes era in the offseason, but only if you can get a player with the same kind of potential in return. Don't give up on Jose if it's not worth it.

Bring up Jonathan Niese and let him fail like Pelfrey did. It's the only way he can eventually succeed here. Send Johan Santana and Ollie Perez off on a retreat to find the real Oliver Perez. For what he's making, Johan needs to be more than just a guy that goes out there and pitches every five days for this team. It's on him to be the leader of this pitching staff and that starts with working to help get Ollie right. The potential is in there. We've seen it. Something has to give.

Let John Maine's shoulder heal. COMPLETELY. Give it as much time as it needs. Then get him to sit down with Ron Darling and Tom Seaver and try to work through his own mental issues.

At it's full potential, Santana, Pelfrey, Maine, Perez and Niese is a stellar rotation. Having that in place allows Omar to focus on the offense this winter.

Leave K-Rod as the closer (obviously) and pencil Parnell into the 8th. Show some faith in Bobby. Tell him the role is his and make him work to keep it. We need to see what we have in him as well. Outside of Feliciano, the rest of the bullpen should be a revolving door between Flushing and Buffalo, even Binghamton to some extent. Everyone should get a chance. If you pitch well, you stick. If not, the Heath Bell AAA express awaits you.

See what Jerry can get out of this group, but his act is getting tired. Explore the possibilities and ramifications of bringing Bobby Valentine back to manage. Remember that he went to the World Series in 2000 with an outfield of Jay Payton, Benny Agbayani and Timo Perez. Imagine what the guy could do with real live talent.

Most importantly, don't rush anyone back from the DL and be honest with the fan base. Band-Aids don't work. We see right through them. We understand that no one can possibly account for this many injuries to the core of the team, but we also don't appreciate being lied to. Tell us what's really going on and for the love of god, please get a new training staff, this one is cooked.

Ticket sales will drop as they should and always will when the team underachieves, but the true fans will not abandon the team if they believe that the entire franchise from top to bottom is trying as hard as they can and doing whatever they can to put the best product on the field. We know the difference between trying and "trying" and the last four games, they haven't even been "trying." That's not the type of baseball ANY fan wants to watch.

It's not rebuilding, it's retooling.

F-Mart scores winning run as Mets fry the Fish

2009-06-01T07:46:00.001-07:00

Fernando Martinez is doing his best to make Mets fans forget his boneheaded blunder from Wednesday night.

AP Photo from Newsday

On Sunday, Fernando was 1-3 and lined an opposite field double to left field, scoring Gary Sheffield, then came around to score what ended up being the winning run, on a double by Omir Santos as the Mets defeated the Marlins 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

In the New York Post, Fred Kerber penned another F-Mart story:

"I just tried to hit through the ball. So I hit the ball to the other way, to the middle, just [to] make it happen," said Martinez, who rapped a shot into the left-field corner for an RBI double during the Mets' 3-2 victory yesterday at Citi Field -- this coming one day after he had the first two hits of his major league career.

And Martinez appreciated Manuel showing such confidence in his bat.

"That's great. I played the last two games, I'm getting more comfortable at home plate," said Martinez, who promptly rode home with what eventually proved to be the decisive run on a double by Omir Santos. "[Saturday] two hits and today, one. So you know, it's just relax at the plate."

F-Mart's double was preceded by a bunt from Daniel Murphy that moved Sheffield to second, putting F-Mart to the test with a runner in scoring position, a test Fernando passed.

"Fernando, I treat him like a guy who has the potential to be a good hitter at the major league level, even though he's 20," Jerry Manuel told Kerber. "Very encouraging," Manuel said. "He is young but he seems to have the ability to make adjustments in the at-bat. They'll throw him a changeup, and he'll look real bad. But even in that at-bat if he gets that pitch again, he puts a decent swing on it."

WORKING IN THE FIELD
Fernando continues to show improvement on a daily basis, but also has shown enough flaws to give Manuel the opportunity to start working on some things, as quoted by Anthony McCarron of the Daily News:

"I think as a young player, and I talked with Razor Shines about this, I think what we have to work with Fernando is running to a spot and then decelerating. It almost looks like he's kind of cruising and then accelerating. And maybe as he gets comfortable here in the ballpark and knows the intricacies of the ballpark, he might be able to do that. But it almost appears that he's running carefully rather than boom, making a burst to the ball and then kind of relaxing.

"As a 20-year-old guy that has played all the different positions but has not played in this type of setting, in this type of hype to a stadium, it's a little different. The wind plays different tricks on you, and so forth and so forth. But the good thing is as an outfielder, it looks as though he has soft hands. As an outfielder, it looks as though he's rhythmic in running to the ball"

Manuel also acknowledges that with Fernando, as with any young player, there will be plenty of challenges:

"Obviously there's going to be a lot of things that he's going to be growing," Manuel said. "And a lot of that growth is going to be painful for us….I believe that he'll continue to get better on a daily basis, so hopefully we see that."

CHANCE TO GROW...GROWS
While F-Mart has seen a majority of the playing time since his call-up, it's mostly been thanks to injuries and ailments to centerfielder Carlos Beltran.

With Beltran seemingly on the mend, it seemed like only a matter of time before the team had an outfield glut with Beltran, F-Mart, Gary Sheffield and Angel Pagan.

But Pagan may have made Jerry Manuel's lineup card a lot easier to fill out when he pulled up lame chasing after a fly ball on Sunday afternoon. Pagan left the game with what is being called a right groin injury, and Manuel believes he'll be out for a while.

Pagan has been raking prior to the injury, with eight hits in his last 21 at bats, four runs scored and two RBI over a five game hitting streak. So the Mets, for the second straight season, will be sorry to see his production go.

But when Beltran returns from his stomach virus, the outfield should be set with he in center, F-Mart in right and Gary Sheffield in left. That is, until Ryan Church returns...

Fernando gets off the schnide

2009-05-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

New York Post Photo

Despite being the last man standing at the plate on a check swing third strike in the Mets' 7-3 loss to the Marlins this afternoon, F-Mart had a coming out party of sorts on Saturday after a few tough days at Citi Field.

Fernando was 2-5 with his first two career hits, including an RBI double, and showed he was getting used to right field at Citi Field with some strong defensive plays, in the New York loss.

F-Mart smacked his first career hit with two outs in the third, off Josh Johnson. After the single right back up the box, Martinez moved to second on a wild pitch by Josh Johnson., but was stranded.

Martinez came up again the 5th and lined a Johnson offering past a a diving Hanley Ramirez into the left-center field gap. As Luis Castillo came around to score, Fernando showed off his wheels, racing into second ahead of the throw from Cody Ross who had cut the ball off in the gap.

In the Daily News, Michael Obernauer chronicles Fernando's first week in the bigs including a quote from F-Mart on his first hit:

"My first hit in the major leagues, that's something unbelievable for me," Martinez said, whose parents were in the stands Saturday. He said he felt relieved to get that first hit out of the way: "Today I feel more comfortable at home plate."

Fred Kerber of the New York Post also followed F-Mart through his big day:

"This is one of those few times when a player can feel excited after a loss and not incur the wrath of a manager, teammates and the entire city.

After all, it's not every day a 20-year-old comes away with his first major league hit -- actually, his first two hits. So Mets stud outfield prospect Fernando Martinez could be forgiven for his excited state after the Mets went belly-up, 7-3, to the Marlins and Josh Johnson yesterday at Citi Field."

Quoted in Newsday, veteran teammate Gary Sheffield was on board with that sentiment and added some compliments for F-Mart:

"He's supposed to be happy," Sheffield said. "He got his first hit. He deserves to be happy. Hopefully, that's one, or two, of many."

"I think once he gets command of hitting the breaking ball, he's going to be an outstanding player for years to come," Sheffield said. "Being on this stage is a lot harder, and he's impressed me. He has that calm demeanor. He learns real fast."

Fernando's second hit, the hustle double, was Martinez's first career extra base hit and it was a welcome sight after Fernando's big blunder on Wednesday night.

F-MART BOOED
After an uneven debut on Tuesday night, Fernando drew the ire of Mets fans on Wednesday when he showed a lack of hustle and made a careless mistake on a pop-up.

Fernando stepped up in the sixth inning of the Mets 7-4 win with Ramon Castro standing at second and nobody out. The Met had just retaken the lead on a replay reviewed home run to right by Daniel Murphy. Castro followed with a double bringing F-Mart to the plate with a chance to add to the lead.

F-Mart worked a 3-1 count before popping a Ron Villone pop up straight up in the air. F-Mart stood at the plate, expecting the ball to fall in foul territory. But the ball landed fair off the chest of Nationals catcher Wil Nieves and Villone picked it up and fired to first for the out as Martinez stood baffled.

A chorus of boos rained down from the Citi faithful as they watched the prized prospect commit a cardinal sin of baseball players. When Martinez came up again in the 7th he was once again soundly booed and promptly flew out.

After the game, F-Mart apologized to Jerry Manuel and his teammates and head this to say to reporters, as quoted by Th e New York Post:

"I just feel bad," Martinez said. "I'm sorry to the fans; they roasted me today, but I promise that will not happen again."

MANUEL LEAVES FERNANDO IN...
Jerry Manuel said he did not pull his rightfielder because he felt the fan response was a strong enough punishment, as quoted in the Newark Star-Ledger:

"From what I know of him, that's not a part of his behavior not to run," Manuel said. "It was a mistake, but I don't see that as a part of his behavior as a player."

F-Mart reportedly stopped by Jerry Manuel's office several times to apologize for his blunder.

Mets GM Omar Minaya stood behind his manager's decision to leave Fernando in, as he told the Boomer and Carton show Thursday morning on WFAN:

"First of all, the kid has always run hard, and things are gonna happen like that when you bring up kids from the minor leagues, kids that are 20 years old.
"He's 20 years old, he hasn't gotten a hit. The bottom line is, the kid drew a blank."
"Don't get me wrong. You read a person the riot act if it's a pattern," Minaya said. "To do something once, a mistake, you just don't develop young players by reading them the riot act any time they make a mistake."

In Newsday, Jim Baumbach looked at the incident as isolated and believes Mets fans will keep Fernando in line:

"For Martinez, the boos he heard Wednesday night were the fans' way of saying, don't ever do that again. And the bet here is he got the message."

Also in Newsday, David Lennon recommends that Martinez take a cue from teammate Daniel Murphy:

"On the same night Martinzez was thrown out by 40 feet on Nieves' drop, Murphy, battling for his major-league life, went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and a career-best five RBIs to key the Mets' 7-4 victory over the Nationals. Two months into the season, Murphy already is down to his last chance, and he's clinging to a piece of the first-base job by his fingernails.

Effort? Manuel said he gave Murphy two days off leading up to that game because he was working too hard. Too much time in the cages, too much batting practice, too much looking at video."

...THEN BENCHES HIM
Fernando rode the pine in the Mets 2-1 extra-inning win over the Marlins on Friday night and flew out to center as a pinch hitter in the 9th. But Manuel said it was more to keep Angel Pagan in the lineup with Carlos Beltran returning, than it was to punish Martinez for his mistake, as quoted in the NY Post:
Fernando watches Friday Night's game/Newsday photo

"Obviously the reception he got made him realize, 'Hey, this is serious,' " Manuel said. "This is a place where hustle and those type of things are big, so for me to pile on at that time, it wasn't the right time.

"I don't think you'll ever see him not run a ball out [again]. I do think he will win the crowd. He's got some obstacles he's dealing with now. He's dealing with the opposing team and he's dealing with his own crowd."

FERNANDO FACTS

The Mets picked up their first loss since FernandoMania began with Saturday's 7-3 defeat.
F-Mart raised his average to .154 with his two hits on Saturday. He is 2-13.
Fernando has driven in two runs since being called up and has struck out three times.
After batting 6th in his debut, Fernando batted 7th on Wednesday and 2nd today.

The Mets take on the Marlins in the rubber game of a three game series and will look to finish another strong homestand this afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.

NY Papers swept up in FernandoMania

2009-05-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

This morning's papers have plenty of F-Mart coverage after his debut last night at Citi Field.

In the New York Post, Mark Hale gets the perspective of two minor league teammates of Fernando's, Tim Redding and Bobby Parnell:

Bobby Parnell played with Fernando Martinez at three different minor league stops. There was Binghamton, there was St. Lucie and there was Hagerstown. He saw Martinez compete at multiple levels.

"I felt like he was able to keep up," Parnell said yesterday.

He's got a lot to learn," said Tim Redding, who pitched two games for Buffalo this year.
"But he's got the skills to be here. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here."

New York Post Graphic

At Newsday, columnist Jim Baubach got what he wished for in his Tuesday morning column:

"There's no perfect formula as to when a major-league team should call up its top prospect, and that's before you consider Martinez's extreme youth and the fact that New York isn't the easiest city to play in.

But with Ryan Church nursing a hamstring strain and Carlos Beltran revealing after last night's game that he is going for an MRI today on his right knee, the Mets need a healthy body who can play every day. So why not use this opportunity to call up Martinez and give him a two-week taste of big-league life?

"Is he ready?" Omar Minaya asked, repeating the question.

"He's getting close to being ready. Sometimes you wish a guy to be there longer because he is having a good year and he needs to play. But he will be one of the options if we were to consider making a move."

The move was made and F-Mart made his long-awaited major league debut, going 0-3, while picking up his first RBI on a fielder's choice. Despite going hitless, Martinez had a night to remember as quoted by Brian Costa of the Newark Star-Ledger:

"That was unbelievable for me," Martinez said. "I waited all my life for that moment. That's great. It's like, 'That's my life,' right now."

Costa also quotes Mets GM Omar Minaya, who says that while F-Mart is up, he'll be on the field:

"As I said before, we were not going to bring up a young kid unless he was going to get adequate playing time," general manager Omar Minaya said. "What does that mean? That's going to be" up to manager Jerry Manuel. "But he's not going to be up here and be a bench player for a long period of time."

In Newsday, Anthony Reiber gets Jerry Manuel's perspective on the playing time:

"Fernando's going to get an opportunity to play," manager Jerry Manuel said. "I think it's important that he plays, so he can get an opportunity to get a feel for the major leagues. Once he gets that opportunity, he'll determine the rest of the playing time. The key thing here is still you have to win games."

The photo above is by Thomas A. Ferrara of Newsday, who got several great shots of Fernando's debut.

Finally, At Mets Blog, Matt Cerrone has the F-Mart quotes for the night:

His first at bat, and the ovation from the crowd:
“I tried to stay relaxed, and play my game. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll play better, hopefully I will have a couple of line drives and hits, and I’ll try to better everyday… To be here, to play in New York, to play for the Mets, to play for the people, that’s great. That’s unbelievable for me.”

Livan steals the show as Mets win Fernando's debut

2009-05-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

Fernando Martinez finally made his highly anticipated debut Tuesday night in Flushing, but it was two widely panned moves Omar Minaya made during the spring that won the day at Citi Field.

Livan Hernandez pitched nine stellar innings, picking up the first complete game by a Mets pitcher this season and Gary Sheffield launched a three-run home run for the second straight night as the Mets clinched a series win with a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals.

As for F-Mart, the rookie was held hitless in his major league debut, but drove in a run and received several raucous ovations as many Mets fans got their first look at the 20-year-old they'd heard so much about.

After striking out on an inside fastball in his first at bat, Fernando picked up his first career RBI on a fielder's choice ground out that scored Luis Castillo in the third. F-Mart beat out the return throw of a potential inning ending double play to allow Castillo to cross with the Mets third run.

In his third at bat, in the fifth, Martinez caught a pitch on the elbow and he would later strike out for the second time on a Kip Wells changeup in the 7th.

In carnivorous Citi Field's angular right field, Fernando had a rather uneventful night, tracking only a two fly balls without any difficulty. Christian Guzman did line a double over the rookie's head in the 8th, but it was well out of reach, one hopped the wall, and was quickly fielded in to second by F-Mart.

ON THE HILL
Hernandez gave the Mets bullpen a well deserved breather by scattering nine hits through 127 pitches for his fourth victory of the season. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer by Adam Dunn in the top of the 7th.

AT THE DISH
Sheffield's three run blast, a laser beam to left in the 7th, just cleared the high wall, in the same area as his reviewed homer on Monday night. The shot broke the game wide open, giving the Mets the 6-1 lead they would eventually take to the clubhouse.

F-Mart wasn't the only Fernando, or the only Martinez to drive in a run on Tuesday. Fernando Tatis and Ramon Martinez each registered RBI singles. Luis Castillo continued to pick up the slack for the DL'ed Jose Reyes at the top of the order with a hit, a pair of walks and two runs scored. David Wright, Sheffield and Angel Pagan each had two hits and a run scored.

NEXT UP - BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
The Mets have the opportunity to register their first sweep of the F-Mart era and just their second three game sweep of the season when they send Johan Santana to the rubber on Wednesday night. Santana will take on Jordan Zimmerman for the Nationals, giving Fernando his first look at his fellow rookie.

Zimmerman and F-Mart were both in the AA Eastern League last season when Fernando was in Binghamton and Zimmerman was with the Harrisburg Senators. I have not been able to track down whether the two have actually faced before.

First pitch is at 7:10.

Fernando drives in his first run

2009-05-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

With one out in the third inning of tonight's game, F-Mart scolded a grounder to first. Nick Johnson fielded the ball and fired to second, to try and start a double play, but F-Mart bolted down the line and beat the throw back to first by plenty, allowing Luis Castillo to score the Mets third run of the game.

F-mart struck out swinging in his first at bat and is currently 0-2 with an RBI.

Fernando Martinez has been recalled by the New York Mets!

2009-05-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

I've created this blog in line with Fernando Martinez's call-up to the New York Mets. I'll be blogging on many things Mets, but given that there are a multitude of Mets Blogs out there where you can get that kind of content, I will be focusing on the rise of Fernando.

I wish Blogger had a way for me to embed the song Fernando by Abba into this blog, because that would be amazing. If any one knows of a way to do that, please let me know.

I'll be tinkering with some things over the next few days, trying to get some images, work with the design, etc. Any feeback is appreciated greatly.

Lets go Mets and Let FernandoMania commence.