>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>OPERATION WRIGHT !

One thing we really need, not just now but at any time, is a healthy David Wright on the field playing baseball. The end of last season and the start of this one has me a bit concerned. I think career wise Wright has a lot left in the tank, but I could be wrong. There are indications that he might be winding down. We have to assume he's past his prime performance years but does that mean he's done? I don't know. I certainly hope not.

DAVID WRIGHT 2015 INJURY TRACKING CHART

So lets take a focused look at David Wrights past injuries, and from here on out Mets Fantasy Cards will track Davids injuries and progress through the long season.


____________PAST INJURIES____________

The first time Wright ever hit the disabled list (D.L.) it was a very scary incident that put him there. On August 15, 2009, Wright suffered a concussion when he was hit in the head with a 93 mph fastball by San Francisco Giants hurler Matt Cain. The Mets third baseman was diagnosed with post-concussion symptoms and was placed on the disabled list.










Dave's home run total dropped to 10, while his RBI total fell to 72, after hitting 33 home runs and 124 RBIs the previous season. After the head shot this was a major source of concern, but David bounced back finishing the 2010 season with a .283 batting average, .354 on-base percentage, 29 home runs, 103 RBIs, 69 walks, and 19 stolen bases. It took a long time before Wright stopped bailing out regularly on curve-balls and far inside pitches after that, but eventually he did.

In 2011 Wright had another rather shocking injury, one that he tried to play though. On May 16, after a sluggish start and undergoing examination by team doctors, it was announced Wright had a stress fracture in his lower back. The injury (caused by a diving tag) forced him to spend over two months on the disabled list. His production numbers in 2011 took a dip even though while on the field Davids stats were still respectable aside from the sub-par batting average. In only 102 games Wright finished the season batting .254, with a .345 on-base percentage, 14 home runs, 61 RBIs, 52 walks, and 13 stolen bases.

2012 April 11, Wright fractured his right pinkie while diving into first base on a pick-off attempt. He only missed three games.

 In 2013 Captain America was shut down near the end of the World Baseball Classic due to soreness in his rib area. This did not effect his MLB season.

  On August 3, 2013, Wright was placed on the 15-day disabled list a day after he strained his right hamstring.

On September hit in the head by an 86 mph changeup. Wright was beaned by Johnny Hellweg with two outs in the third inning of the New York Mets' 4-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers and had to leave the game.

 David passed all concussion tests and did not have to go on the disabled list.

Wright's 2014 performance declined from previous years. He hit at a .269 clip, his lowest batting average since the 2011 injury shortened his season. Wright's .269/.324/.374 slash line was attributed to a recurring shoulder injury. Early in the season, he sustained a left rotator cuff contusion which slowed his offensive production and hurt his defense. Wright finished the year with a career-low eight home runs and committed 15 errors, tied for most on the team.

_________________________2015 INJURIES______________________



On April 14, 2015, Wright suffered a strained right hamstring while stealing second base. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Wright was batting .333 with one HR and four RBIs in eight games at the time.

While on the D.L. Wright developed lower back pain causing a setback and his time on the D.L. has been extended.

Operation Wright will track the Captains injuries in 2015. 

The ones listed in red are existing injuries, the blue are injuries sustained this season. We had expected David would be back this weekend, but the lower back problem has shut him down while medication does it's part.

DAVID WRIGHT 2015 INJURY TRACKING CHART

as of May 9, 2015

Let's hope that when Wright returns, hopefully by next weekend, that we will not have to see this injury tracking chart again. We can't afford to be without David Wright again this season.

 _____________________________________________________________

I'd like to send former Mets player & coach/scout/ organizational guy Al Jackson a BIG get well soon as he recuperates down in Florida from a stroke he suffered last week. As long as I have known the New York Mets Al Jackson has been a member of the organization. He was an original Met who gave his prime years to the team. In the early 60's, on any other team, Al would have been a 20 game winning All Star pitcher. Don't question it!

 These Mets pitching leaders cards don't reflect the kind of pitcher that Jackson was. He pitched on the worst Mets teams from 1962 to 1966. In addition to his 43 wins as a Met, Jackson's franchise record of 10 shutouts was broken by none other than Tom Seaver. 

Two of them (July 27, 1962 and October 2, 1964) were 1-0 wins over Bob Gibson—the Mets' first two victories over the future Hall-of-Famer and the only two times the Mets defeated him between 1962 and 1966. He threw a one-hitter on June 22, 1962 against the Houston Colt .45s, the first in Metroplolitan history. 

After his 1966 season Jackson was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Boyer.

______________________________________________________________

Due to an aggravated groin Dillon Gee will miss at least a start(update:15 day DL). Good thing David Wright has not suffered any groin injuries, because it would be awkward trying to add that kind of detail to Wrights Injury Tracking Chart. 

Pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard will debut for New York on Tuesday night.

MFC will create a Noah card to celebrate the occasion.

____________________________________________________

All David Wright & Al Jackson information is from their Wiki pages.

METS WIN 11 IN A ROW!

New Yorks winning streak came to an end Friday night. But not before it tied a franchise record. It wasn't going to last forever, and what a great streak it was. I've experienced many a Metropolitan winning streak but this one was something special. It was like everything that had gone wrong the last 7 years had gone right. Taking advantage of all opposition miscues, answering back and coming back regularly. Great hitting, pitching, and some really nice fielding. 

Even when thrown big painful monkey wrenches like David Wright running into the D.L., Travis d'Arnaud and Jerry Blevens both suffering broken bones in the same inning of the same game, the team marched on. Very enjoyable to see some great baseball for a nice stretch. Well, maybe it wasn't all great baseball but it was a stretch of winning, the likes we have not seen for a long time.

I have made a few "Winning Streak" cards to commemorate this fun run. These were selected using the players Schaefer Mets Player Of The Game points accumulated in all 11 games.

This cool throwback tradition, a tribute to days gone by (& beer), is in it's 11th year and hosted at The Crane Pool Forum after each and every game. The points are tabulated and then put on display at the Ultimate Mets Database, becoming part of Mets historical record. If you haven't joined the CPF and voted, you should. The more the merrier!

We'll start from the bottom and work our way up through the honors.

Honorable mention: Eric Campbell.
I can't call him best player off the bench because he came up just to fill in for David Wright at third. And he's done a great job.

The best player off the bench was Rubin Tejada. He scored twice as many Schaefer Points as any other bench player. Mayberry was second in points. Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a HORRIBLE point total, the lowest of any non-pitcher who was on the bench for the entire streak (and filled in, as did Tejada).

Even though he missed the last four games of the streak Jerry Blevins wins the Streak Award for Excellence in regular bullpen duty. That's how good he was pitching before his arm was broken.





Honorable mention: The next penman in points was Alex Torres, who wears the odd hat. I like the bumper cap. Carlos Torres and Buddy Carlyle were almost tied for third place in the voting.

The Schaefer Streak Award for best starting pitcher goes to Bartolo Colon. I'm not gonna say anything funny. No girth jokes. He did a fantastic job during the streak. The fact that he had one more start than the other starting pitchers helped him, of course. deGrom wasn't too far behind and he only pitched in two streak games. He could have made it three Friday night, but that's the way the ball bounces.

Lucas "THE LUMBERJACK" Duda was far and away the leading Schaefer Streak point producer of all regular players. Wilmer Flores and Michael Cuddyer were both distant 2nd & 3rd. Both Lucas and Colon led their respective categories by a nice chunk. Juan Lagares scored Schaefer points in all but one of the 11 games, the first one on the road.

And so Bartolo Colon and Lucas Duda win the pitching and player Schaefer Streak Awards.

Schaefer Streak M.V.P.

Jeurys Familia was incredible during the streak. I hope this gives him that extra confidence that all closers need. He had nasty stuff and should continue to do so, streak or no streak.

Jeurys leads the majors with eight saves in eight opportunities, including a span of six saves in seven games to close the streak.

It is great to see Familia doing such a great job. If he becomes a consistent closer, which we will know for sure by the all star break, we are in great shape with the tail end of games.

Juan Lagares made the best catch of the winning streak.

 


Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Rubin Tejada were runner-ups.

________________________________________________________________

    So the New York Yankees, of all teams, ended the winning streak. 

I see no need to commemorate that, but it's worth a mention. Aside from one in the loss column it's inconsequential. The Phillies beat the Braves and the Marlins beat the Nationals. 

^The standings so far, after the  subway split.^

Interesting that Atlanta is looking so good and Miami is looking so bad. Well, it is early, as I keep hearing in relation to the Mets being in first place. It would be nice if Philadelphia became a thorn in the side of the rest of the division, as they have been to New York for many a year.

So far the subway series has been a split, with both teams pounding one another. 

The rubber match tomorrow night at 8pm on ESPN.

Voting for The Schaefer Met Player Of The Year opens shortly after the games conclusion. Have fun and continue a great Metropolitan tradition. 

Voting for the 2015 Schaefer Mets Player of the Year Award is hosted at the Crane Pool Forum. This will be the eleventh season that Crane Pool Forum members will be participating in Schaefer voting. The Schaefer Mets Player of the Year Award was established in the 1970's, and Schaefer points were awarded by Mets broadcasters Lindsey Nelson, Ralph Kiner, and Bob Murphy.

The award was re-established by the Crane Pool Forum in 2005. Third baseman David Wright has been the winner in six of the ten years of the revived prize. The other winners were Johan Santana in 2008, Jose Reyes in 2011, Daniel Murphy in 2013, and Lucas Duda in 2014.

A voting thread is opened in the forum at the conclusion of each regular season Mets game, according to CPF spokesmodel Benjamin Grimm. Voting generally stays open for two business days, after which the votes are tallied and the results are posted in the voting thread. In addition, says Grimm, each month a Schaefer Mets Player, Pitcher, Relief Pitcher, and Bench Player of the Month will be named.

Voters are asked to adhere to a specific format, which is outlined at

http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/6200/f9_t6278.shtml

Credits

The Schaefer Met Player Of The Game voters at The Crane Pool Forum

The Utimate Mets Database

Opening card photos by Ace photographer Sharon Chapman  & Ceetar The Optimistic Mets Fan

Other photographs courtesy of Zimbio

__________________________

This gal has a great arm.

________________________________________________________________

I Promised a Plawecki - 9 IN A ROW!

I went looking for a 1991 (Kevins year of birth) Topps rookie card for use with Plawecki and while looking I came across a 1989 Gregg Jefferies FUTURE CARD and thought, oh yea, it's got to be this border.

Not because of anything to do with the newest Mets catcher. I came to hate Greg Jefferies very early in his career. I'm not a big fan of the 1989 design although I did think the FUTURE STAR header was very cool. And looking at it now, I guess the nostalgia factor makes me like this design a little more now than when it came out. 'Lil bit. My big beef was no team logos.

But Jefferies card was #1 on mine and all my brothers want lists in 1989. They were in their early 20's and I had just hit thirty, but we all were back into baseball card collecting again big time. Mostly just Mets but the price of Goodens 85t rookie card did have us pulling all new rookies from other teams as well, and putting them aside. In 1985 this involved putting them in plastic pages or special holders, the first time I had ever done such a thing.

 The little peek we saw at the end of 1988 going into the post season had me thinking Gregg was the next Stan Musial. As a byproduct of my experience (of which I plan to write) getting Dwight Goodens 1985 Topps rookie card I went nuts with Gregg Jefferies rooks.  We went card hunting and I was spending more money buying packs than at any other point in my life. I must have had 50 of these Jefferies. There were rare variations where the Future Stars header was out of place. Had a small boat load of them. I had unopened cello packs with the Jefferies rook on top.

It was nuts. And seeing that card brought back some great collecting memories and why I've chosen the 1989 Topps Future card border for Mr. Plawecki's mfc rookie card.

Tonight was Kevin Plawecki's MLB debut. I promised I'd make a rookie card for him. So here's Plawecki's mfc FS card.

So how about those Mets, huh? 9 in a row! No one can seem to do any wrong. Plawecki came up and stroked 2 hits and scored 2 runs in the win. Eric Campbell has been filling in for Wright admirably. The bullpen might be able to withstand the loss of Blevins. We move forward.

New York beat Fk'n Freddie Freeman & the Braves 7-1, no d'Arnaud, no Blevins, no problem. Curtis Granderson had a big game, driving in 4 with 3 hits from the lead off spot. Only batting .196, Grandy carries a nice .362 OBP thanks to his good eye at the plate. If he starts hitting, watch out. 

Jon Niese had a good night, giving up only four hits. He struck out five and walked four in his 2nd win. He has yet to lose a game.

Plawecki lined out in his first at-bat, a nice rip that Fk'n Freedie Freeman had to catch or eat. He caught it. The Mets rookie catcher grounded a single to left field for the first hit of his brand new major league career in New Yorks 5 run fifth.

In the sixth, Plawecki pounced on a pitch that bounced away from him and threw a screaming mee-mee to catch Andrelton Simmons at second base, displaying a damn good arm.

 Plawecki, singled and scored again in the 8th. Not a bad debut, kid. d'Arnaud who?

  

Good day for the Mets. Good day for the new kid in town. Good day for us.

 From Ben Walker, AP Baseball writer:

Plawecki, drafted by the Mets in 2012 from Purdue with a compensation pick they got for losing Jose Reyes to free agency, did more than fine in front of a rooting section that included his parents, his fiance, college and high school teammates and former coaches.

Mom Lynne and dad Jeff made the trip from Westfield, Indiana, in the morning. Watching her son, she said, it was easy to flash back in her mind ''to him as a 4-year-old boy, hitting balls in the driveway.''

The souvenir ball from Plawecki's first hit was in his locker, and headed to his parents.

 MetsExtra:  
 D'Arnaud took Plawecki out for dinner during Monday's day off, telling the 24-year-old minor leaguer that he was ready for the majors. D'Arnaud often talked to Plawecki during the game, offering encouragement.

RHP Dillon Gee (0-1) has made 48 straight starts of at least five innings dating to May 2013, the longest active streak in the majors. The team record is 50 by Dwight Gooden.

8 IN A ROW AND A MAJOR BLOW!

By the time I post this it is old news, but still bad news. Horrible news for the two players effected. News that would make Sandy Alderson wish he had hair he could pull out in big tufts like Larry Fine. He was prepared, but how prepared can you be? Losing two players to broken bones! In one game! IN THE SAME INNING!

Travis D'Arnaud was hotter than July. He should be back in June. Jerry Blevens, flawless lefty out of the pen, a move that was looking so brilliant, shot in his pitching arm. His return will be in the month d'Arnaud was hotter than. Last week David Wright (hamstring) goes on the D.L. a week into the season. We lost a starter in Zack Wheeler (Tommy John surgery) and our closer Jenry Mejia (due to stupidity).

These events could make Terry Collins hair a little whiter, if that's possible. 'lil bit.

 It made Metfan/comedian  Jim Breuer's bug his eyes out.

Again.

This would normally be the time we fans say, oh no, not again. Not to Jim's eyes, but to this drastic turn of events.

And we can say that, these are awful breaks for the team, but as I've said before, we are moving forward.

To lead with that is a downer but there's no way this should ruin the excitement of an amazin' 8 game winning streak. A very impressive best (10-3) record in all of Major League Baseball. But the other bad stuff did happen, and this is important, so it goes into the record.

____________________________________________________________

The 2nd Harvey Day of the year at Citi Field was another wacky game. I don't want to take a microscopic look at this game. Too depressing. But a little rundown:

Things were looking greater than great mid game. New York batters exploded for 7 runs!  Granderson started it with a bloop single to center and Rubin Tejada capped it  with a bases loaded  double. Dan Murphy tied it with a ground single to right. Juan Lagares extended his 7 game hitting streak with a single roped to right and gave the Mets the lead. Travis d'Arnaud had two hits and one RBI in the one inning! Trav drove in the 7th run that culminated the highest scoring inning for the Metsies since July, 2013.

 

 Matt Harvey up 7-1. Normal fans would consider this game as good as over. Mark it as a win. Be we Mets fans aren't normal. We can't be. We're too amazin'.

But we didn't know that The Dark Knight had risen ill that Harvey Day, and wasn't sure he could go.  He still came in and he took the mound. He didn't look Harvey sharp but even Matt Harvey less than 100% is...Matt Harvey. He pitched well until he began to run out of gas. The New York Ace was tapped for a run in the 2nd and again in the 6th, but in between he was rollin', retiring nine in a row going into the 6th.

In the 7th inning all the trouble started.Matt Harvey ran out of gas and our lefty specialist, Jerry Blevins, came on to bail him out. He probably would have done it too, but he was felled by an a wicked line drive to his pitching arm.

In the Mets half of the same inning Travis d'Arnaud was hit by a pitch in the right hand.
Unbelievable. Not only the same game, but the same inning. Damn.

Suddenly things were looking bluer than blue. Sadder than sad.

The Mets almost gave the game back to the Marlins but the pen did close it, and Familia picked up his 6th save. New York held on to win 7-6 and sweep the four game series from the F'kn Fish.

Gary Cohen,SNY: Since 1998 The Mets have only had two 4 game series sweeps at home. They swept four from the Rockies in 2003 at Shea and they swept four from the Pirates here in 2010, and that's it in the last 17 years.

 Gary, you were promoting the number 7 all day, and then there was the 7th inning. Just sayin'. Jinx!

For the first time in the teams history the Mets have started by going 7-0 at home.

 _________________________________________________________

Curtis Granderson sounded a little shocked yet upbeat after the win & loss:

"There's an off day to realize what's happened....

Once two guys get called up we'll keep moving and keep trying to play good baseball."

The two called up are catching prospect Kevin Plawicki and relief pitcher Hansel Robles. I will start a combo rookie card for them & post it as soon as they take the field.

 Terry Collins said something after the game that I really liked. I know he can be very RAH RAH cheery but what he said here was more than that. Talking about what a bad blow it was to lose both d'Arnaud & Blevins in one game, and how great it was to win 8 in a row, his words reverberated through my head and they came out here:

"It was a big hit. But we've got to enjoy today, we can't go home on a sour note, we've got to enjoy this. We've worked very hard."

He was talking in reference to his players. It also applied to us fans in the seats and at home on our couches. I'm with Terry. Let's enjoy this. Maybe by the end of the World Series this will be another of those amazin' tales in Mets history, the one where all kinds of shit went wrong and we won it all anyway.

Matt Harvey won his 3rd game to no loses. After the game he sounded more mature than usual.

Now if you slide out Matt Harveys name and put in Tom Seaver in this quote regarding the Mets injuries, it's like going back to 1972. Call it cliche if you want, I liked hearing this.

"For us, we had such a good spring training and good start to the season. For us, we can't let it effect us. We still have to go out there and give it our all every day and, unfortunately as it is we don't have those guys, we still have a season to play. We still have to win- go out there and compete and pick up where we left off."

They left off with the best record in Major League Baseball.