Boo Hudgens!

So, on Monday, after another disastrous loss.  The Mets released losing pitcher Jose Valverde and Hitting coach Dave Hudgens.  Much of the talk about Valverde centered on why it took so long to pull the plug.  I was not going to talk about Hudgens.  In my last post, I had mentioned that the Mets hitting was actually getting better.

Hudgens got to me when he mentioned the "booing" of the fans.  My snark reaction was that he was fired because Ike Davis is now batting .295 with Pittsburgh, and it looked like a rebuke of Hudgens.  I didn't really believe that.  Here is the thing about that booing.  If these players aren't hitting because they are getting booed, then why weren't they hitting when they weren't getting booed?

Granderson and Chris Young were good signings this off-season.  Most fans were excited about this team.  I don't know how many bought into Sandy Alderson's goal of 90 wins, but they should be competitive.  So we did not boo Grandy or C.Y. to start the year.  It was only after they had gone several weeks hitting around the .200 mark that the Boo Birds appeared.  Birds fly south for the winter and never return before May.

It's not as bad as it looks

Okay, so today's loss makes our performance in the opener yesterday look competent.  Yes, we're losing games at home to losing teams.  However, things could be worse.  A few weeks ago, a story in the New York Times remarked that we were on pace to win 91 games, and just the other day, that same paper said we were headed for another losing season.

There really is good news.  Our starting pitching has been very good.  We've been hitting more of late.  While it is true that we've left a ton of players on base lately, you can't do that unless you are getting on base in the first place.  Five double plays in a 9 inning game may have tied a record, but that proves it's an aberration.  You need to have hitting before you get clutch hitting.

It may look ugly right now, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing a swan emerge.