[JimMorrison]

New York Mets (6-6) vs Philadelphia Phillies (4-8) - April 22, 1963

A weird one game series here in Philly starts off the week. We will see them again in a couple of weeks, but it is still a weird setup. The Phillies started off the season at 0-8 but then took four straight games at home against St. Louis and look to be much improved coming into this game. 62’ MVP Dick Allen has looked like the same player, hitting .378 with three homers already but the rest of the lineup looks mediocre besides him.

NYM 12 PHI 4 - In Willie Smith’s second start, he looked much better (9 IP, 3 ER, 9 H, 3 K) and our offense continued to mash after last game’s nine runs in Milwaukee. Don Zimmer was great as he got two hits and three runs in this one, and WIllie Smith also contributed with his bat, going 3-4 with a two run shot. It’s insanely valuable to have Smith go all nine AND go 3-4 in the same game, this two-way experiment looks genius early on here.

New York Mets (7-6) vs Chicago Cubs (5-9) - April 24-25, 1963

We continue our week long road trip at Wrigley Field for two games as we play a pretty mediocre Cubs team. At one point last week, the Cubs were on a six-game losing streak and looked like one of the worst teams in baseball, but since Saturday they’ve been 2-2 and have settled down a bit. 3B Ron Santo looks to be the true star in Chicago after they traded away Ernie Banks to us in ‘62 and he’s been good so far this season. (136 OPS+, .281 AVG) Should be a fun two game set and I am hoping Ernie Banks can mash in his return to Chicago.

NYM 4 CHC 5 (14) - A brutal 14 inning game here as 1B Lou Brock hit a solo shot off Ken Mackenzie to win this one for the Cubs. Washburn again played really well in his nine inning start and has really shown to be a really reliable arm for us. Despite the loss, Frank Thomas had a fantastic day at the plate, going 4-6 with four singles and a run. Problem for us was we got 11 hits here but only one double and no other extra base hits. We need some actual power to win these close games.

NYM 2 CHC 4 - Another rough loss as SP Bob Buhl outpitched Al Jackson in this one and gave them the big win. Joe Morgan hit a big triple to bring the first run home in the third and Frank Thomas added another, but we blew the lead in the sixth off a two run double from SS Jimmy Stewart and two other RBI singles.


New York Mets (7-8) vs Pittsburgh Pirates (6-8) - April 26-28, 1963
The Pirates have been pretty mediocre to start this season and have not been the same great team that won the World Series back in 1960. The true story for them this season has been 23-year-old LF Wille Stargell, who has finally broken out after limited time in ‘62. (.250 AVG, 141 OPS+) We have struggled so far this week and I am hoping we can show that we are closer to some of these below average teams than I had thought coming into the season...


NYM 2 PIT 3 - Another close loss as C Smoky Burgess hit a two run double off Dick Donovan to walk this one off. Don Larsen pitched incredibly for almost eight innings and Labine came in to close out the eighth for Larsen. With a 2-1 lead for some inexplicable reason, our manager put Dick Donovan out in the ninth to close the game instead of just sticking with Labine. Donovan’s struggles have been seriously bad and his ERA jumped to 27.00 after today's blown save. Just an immensely frustrating decision. Both Ernie Banks and Richie Ashburn had nice games for the Mets today, both going 3-5 with 3 singles each.

NYM 4 PIT 2 - Man Willie Smith has been ridiculous! A complete game for Willie allowing only five hits and two runs as we finally get one back. An Ernie Banks RBI double in the third and a two run single from Frank Thomas gave us the lead and Smith just held it down, giving our bullpen some much needed rest.

NYM 2 PIT 5 - Pittsburgh SP Bob Veale just completely had us today as he pitched a complete game giving up one earned run and two runs total. We did have a 2-0 lead heading into the seventh but Arroyo fell apart after a really solid six innings here. SP Veale helped with his bat, hitting a two RBI single and Bob Bailey and Don Clendeno had back to back EBI singles as well as we completely blew this one.

Thoughts: Another 2-4 week sends us down the NL standings to 8-10 and 7th place. I am lucky that St. Louis, Philly and Houston have all been pretty bad and that we are still holding on here. I definitely thought we’d be worse through our first 18 games but I still feel like we had opportunities to win even a couple more games.

Our rotation has been pretty solid and can actually stay in games pretty long. except Arroyo which I expected coming into the year. Washburn, Larsen, Willie Smith and Arroyo have all been pretty great and are above average pitchers so far in the league. The real disappointment so far has been Al Jackson who just cannot stop giving up hits. Last year he pitched a ton of innings for us and while he wasn’t good, he was good enough to where those innings were still valuable. Now he’s sporting a 5.54 ERA and just cannot get guys out. Since his great first start against the Cardinals, he’s given up at least four runs in his last three starts. He just needs to be better here...

Catcher Hobiue Landrith has struggled for us too and rookie catcher Jerry Grote has been completely outhitting him early on. Banks and Ashburn have still been subpar hitters thus far but Banks at least looks to be turning it around, hitting 9-24 with four RBIs this week.

Our schedule next week gets brutal as we come back home to the Polo Grounds for two against the LA Dodgers, two more against our expansion counterparts in Houston and then a big four game set at home against the defending champion SF Giants where we play a doubleheader on Sunday. I’m sure that this week of eight games in seven days will really help us out here...