Mike Stanton

Describes motivation process for creativity with emphasis on intrinsic motivation by Corey K Katir

1. In todayas Post I wrote this column about Johan Santanaas upbeat bullpen session.

Obviously there is a long way to go and a positive 20-minute pen in early March tells us nothing even about April. But it is better for Santana and the Mets if he is happy and healthy now as a step toward a potentially better tomorrow.

And, look, if you do what I do, you hope he is healthy, too. The most obvious reason is that you want to see the best players compete. But it goes beyond that, at least for me.

I spend a lot of time at ballparks and the games can begin to meld one into the next. What stops that from happening, to some degree, is watching players whose artistry rises above the norm. For example, with the Yankees, I look forward to watching Mariano Rivera pitch and Robinson Cano hit. They both have a grace and confidence about their work that makes it joyful to watch.

Santana, when right, has a maestro feel on the mound. He has the bearing of a great matador, regal and poised for the assignment. It is fun to watch how he goes about dissecting hitters when he has his tools and his health.

It is possible, maybe even probable, that the Mets will not be very good this year. There will not be a lot of reasons to be enthusiastic to go to Citi Field. But the Mets have a much better chance to surprise and be good if Santana is healthy and makes all of his starts. And, if the Mets are not good, then Santana would at least give a reason every five days to want to watch.

2. The Yankees say that David Robertson fell down a flight of stairs carrying boxes and now they are worried that his right mid-foot sprain is something that could sideline him for a while.

It is yet another reminder to how incredible Mariano Rivera is. It is not just that he has been great. He also has been durable, avoiding both serious on-field injury and the kind of off-field mishap that befell Robertson. At age 41 last year Rivera appeared in 64 games. That marked the 14th time in his career he topped 60.

That is a major league record. Mike Stanton did it 13 times, and Roberto Hernandez, Mike Myers, Lee Smith and Kent Tekulve did in 12 times each.

If Rivera appears in 60 more games this year, he would climb over 1,100 for his career. That would be 1,102 to be exact. At that point, only Jesse Orosco (1,252), Stanton (1,178) and John Franco (1,119) would have more.

3. Mike Pelfrey got knocked around in his spring debut and conceded he was terrible. Terry Collins said the righty could be forgiven considering the time of year and that he was mainly working on establishing just fastball accuracy to both sides of the plate.

But if Pelfreyas poor outing can be dismissed, here is what cannot: His need to be effective in 2012. And not just for the Mets, whose lack of rotation options behind their main five is stark. But for himself. If he is hoping ever to sign a significant long-term deal, he is going to need to show consistency and higher-end ability than he has with the Mets.

At this moment, he has the ignominy of being the only pitcher to have two of the 15 worst ERAs in Metsa history among those who qualified for the ERA title. In fact, he has two of the worst seven.

His 5.03 ERA in 2009 is the second-worst in team history, behind only the 5.55 Pete Smith produced in a 1994 season cut short by labor problems. And the 4.74 effort of last year is the seventh worst. Pelfrey has 146 starts as a Met and no one in team history has that many starts and near as bad a career ERA as his 4.40. Bobby Jones at 4.13 is next.

In five seasons as a Met, Pelfrey has been the model of inconsistency going bad year, good year, bad year, good year, bad year. It means he is due for something good this year. The Mets need it. And so does Pelfrey.

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