The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Tuesday night in extra innings.  On a night when one would expect the story to be about Johan Santana, Tuesday was all about the Mets offense.  The Pirates tied the game in the top of the ninth, taking it to extra innings.  David Wright came through for the Mets.  After going 0-4 on the night, Wright came up in the bottom of the eleventh with the bases loaded, hit the first pitch to right, and it just stayed fair;  Endy Chavez scored from third and like that the Mets won 5-4 to make it three in a row. 

The Mets got on the board in the fourth on a two run homer by Ryan Church.  In the fifth, the Mets looked poised to have a big inning.  Endy Chavez led off with a single and would score on a Jose Reyes triple.  Luis Castillo would walk, and Reyes scored on an error by second baseman Freddy Sanchez.  Sanchez’s error allowed David Wright to reach base and Carlos Beltran walked to load the bases.  The Pirates changed pitchers and Damaso Marte settled in striking out both Ryan Church and Carlos Delgado to end the Mets’ threat.  If you saw the game, you would know that it was a questionable called third strike on Church, who actually jumped up and down and had a few choice words for the home plate umpire. 

Things are looking up for the Mets at the top of the order. Jose Reyes was on base six times tonight going 3-3.  He had two singles, a triple, and three walks, one of them intentional which came in the eleventh.   In the first inning, Reyes was caught stealing for the third time this season; however, in the seventh inning, after drawing his second walk of the night, he stole second making him 6 of 9 on the season.  In the ninth, he led off with a walk and looked like he might set the table for the Mets come back, but the Mets were unable to capitalize and the game went into extra innings.

 Johan Santana started for the Mets.  Santana struggled a bit, pitching 5 2/3 giving up two runs on two hits, three walks and seven strike outs.  The two runs Santana gave up came on solo home runs.  Santana would not factor in the decision as the Mets bull pen gave up a run in the eight and in the ninth taking the game into extra innings. 

Pedro Feliciano came in to the game in a big spot with the bases loaded in the sixth and got Adam LaRoche to pop out ending the inning.  Duaner Sanchez entered the eight and struggled for the first time after coming back to the Mets, he gave up two hits, two walks, and walked in a run.  Mets fans are hoping it was the cold weather that contributed to Sanchez’s struggle, because after seeing the way Aaron Heilman pitched in the seventh, we are all eager for Sanchez to work his way back to being a dominate setup man for Billy Wagner. 

Wagner gave up his first run of the season, it was unearned as Jose Reyes had an error on a bad throw to first that Delgado could not make a play on, the runner would move up on a past ball and score on a base hit to tie the game at four.  Wagner worked a scoreless tenth. 

After watching Santana give up two home runs and then load the bases in the sixth it got me thinking, Is Santana the best pitcher in baseball?  Is he even the best pitcher in the National league?  That is a valid question when you consider what Brandon Webb has done for the Diamond Backs and what Jake Peavey has accomplished in San Diego.  While Santana does lead the league in strikeouts to walks ratio, we haven’t really seen dominance from him yet.  In fairness, it is still very early in the season, and the Mets haven’t played in many warm weather games.  Again tonight the temperature at game time was in the low 50’s.  Look, I am in no way saying that Santana stinks, what I am merely pointing out is that he hasn’t been dominant.  Being labeled as the best pitcher in baseball, and being the highest paid pitcher in baseball comes with a lot of expectations.

It should be noted that when Carlos Delgado came to bat in the second inning of Tuesday night’s game, the crowd cheered for him.  Delgado went 0-4 on the night leaving three men on base.  The news on Moises Alou is good.  The MRI test results showed that there was no major damage to Alou’s ankle.  The question really is when Alou will be activated.  The Mets clearing a roster spot for him hinges on the prognosis of catcher Brian Schneider who is still in the hospital receiving treatment for a staph infection in his thumb.  If Schneider is unable to play and heads to the DL, Alou will take his roster spot, if Schneider is cleared to play, then the Mets will likely remove back up catcher Gustavo Molina from the active roster.  

 Mets Blog

The New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates were postponed Monday due to the rain; the  game has been rescheduled for August 11th.  First pitch Tuesday is set for 7:10.  Because there is no game to recap, I thought we should take the opportunity to discuss some other aspects of the Mets, namely Carlos Delgado. 

Carlos Delgado told New York reporters that he did not come out for a curtain call on Sunday as Mets fans cheered for him because he did nothing worthy of a curtain call.  Funny Carlos, the Mets fans saw it other wise.  How about the fact that you have been killing the Mets in the line up?  The fans were trying to show you some love, buddy.  I hope for you that you are out of your funk because if you have another slump this season, I’m pretty sure that Mets fans will be even more unpleasant to you. 

These guys are such cry babies!  Should Mets fans boo as much as they do?  Maybe not.  But let’s not forget that Carlos Delgado was a big part of what happened at the end of last season.  Mets fans buy tickets to watch their team, and while some argue that paying admission does not give you the right to boo-others would argue that booing is part of the game. Fans are not telling Delgado that they hate him, they are telling him that they expect more.  Unlike Delgado, most of us do not have millions of dollars lying around, when folks come out to the ball park, they spend a lot of money to do so, and it should be noted to dear Carlos, that without those folks that boo–and CHEER you, you wouldn’t have the opportunity to rake in the dough!  So next time Mets fans want to show you some love-return their affections. 

What Delgado fails to realize is that the New York fans welcomed him with open arms when he came to New York via the trade with the Marlins.  We remember that the Mets tried to bring him to New York via free agency when he left Toronto.  Instead, he said some really uncomplimentary things about New York and then signed a big contract with the Florida Marlins.  Things didn’t quite work for him there so he found himself in New York via a trade.  Mets fans gave Carlos the benefit of the doubt because after all, it was a partnership.  With the Mets, Delgado had a chance to showcase his talents on a big stage.  In return, with Mike Piazza leaving via free agency, the Mets found that big bat replacement in the heart of the order to hit behind Carlos Beltran.  At the time it was unknown what David Wright would accomplish so  the Mets felt that Delgado was the best option.  Mets fans were ecstatic, and felt that Delgado was the key they needed to get them to the play offs and beyond.  

So I have to say, I am really not too sympathetic to a guy who is a little senstive to the crowd booing.  It’s part of the game, it is part of playing in New York.  For players, New York can be the best stage, win in this town and you’re a king-ask Derek Jeter. 

Mets Blog

The New York Mets closed out a weekend series with the Atlanta Braves winning 6-3.  The Mets caught a break as red hot hitter Chipper Jones sat out for a second straight game.  The real story was the Mets offense. 

On a cold day at Shea Stadium, the Mets bats seemed to warm up.  Jose Reyes had been in a 1-25 funk, his batting average falling to .237 with a .265 OBP.  He snapped that when he lead off the first with a double.  He would finish the day with 1-3 with a walk and two strike outs.  Reyes is the catalyst to the Mets offensive production.  Getting Reyes on base seems to be one key to getting the other hitters going.  All in all the Mets would collect 12 hits, 6 of which were for extra bases.  Raul Cassanova (2), Carlos Delgado (2), and David Wright (1) would all record RBI in the win.  

Saturday Mets hitters chased starter Tim Hudson from the game early.  Sunday the Mets did the same to John Smoltz who left the game in the fourth inning.  Having yet allowed a homer this season, Smoltz gave up two in his four innings.  Catcher Raul Cassanova hit a two run shot in the second and Carlos Delgado hit a solo homer to left field in the third.  When Delgado goes the other way good things are sure to follow, as was the case when he hit his second home run of the game in the seventh.  It was a shot to right center that hit half way up the scoreboard.  Delgado had been hearing boos from the Mets fans and refused to come out for a curtain call after he hit his second homer of the day.  The way Delgado has been struggling you would think he would want to bank a little good will with the Mets fans.

New York native Nelson Figueroa took the mound for the Mets.  He was cruising along until the sixth inning when he ran out of steam.  He left the game having pitched 5 1/3 giving up three runs on three hits with three strike outs and three walks.  Joe Smith would enter the game as his replacement and allowed one of the inherited runners to score.  Scott Schoeneweis pitched a scoreless seventh and Pedro Feliciano tossed a scoreless eight.  Feliciano was the eight inning guy because manager Willie Randolph wanted to give Duaner Sanchez a break after pitching back to back games.  Billy Wagner allowed his first hit of the season to Matt Diaz with one out in the ninth, however he retired the next two batters to end the game and record his sixth save of the season. 

It was reported that Moises Alou was close to joining the team.  However, after twisting his ankle in a rehab start, Alou will now be in New York for an MRI because there is concern that his sprain is actually a fracture. If that is the case, the bat the Mets have waiting on is far from joining the line up. 

On Monday the Mets begin a three game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Mets Ace Johan Santana (3-2) is scheduled to start.  He will be opposed by pitcher Ian Snell (2-1).   

 Mets Blog

The New York Mets bounced back Saturday beating the Atlanta Braves 4-3.  Early on it seemed it might be a long day for the Mets when starter John Maine gave up a two out walk and then surrendered an RBI double to Mark Teixeira, however Maine settled in and pitched 5 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks.  Maine recorded a season high 7 strike outs earning his second win of the season. 

The Mets came back from two runs down finally getting some offensive production chasing Braves starter Tim Hudson out of the game in just the third inning.  David Wright snapped a 0-19 slump collecting two hits.  Carlos Beltran hit a double and had 2 RBI in the game.  Ryan Church and Carlos Delgado also each recorded an RBI.  While the Mets did have some offensive success, they still left 8 men on base.  However, it is worth noting that Carlos Delgado had a couple of good at bats-just missing a home run early in the game. 

Aaron Heilman continues to struggle, he pitched one inning giving up two hits and one earned run.  Billy Wagner got his fifth save of the season and has yet to surrender a run.  Catcher Brian Schneider continues to be hospitalized with an infected left thumb.  Moises Alou is still day to day, but it seems he is getting close to joining the team.

The Mets and Braves face off in the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon Mets will send Nelson Figueroa (1-1) to the hill and the Braves will counter with John Smoltz (3-1).  

Mets Blog

The New York Mets returned to Shea Stadium to take on the Atlanta Braves for the first of three games.  After a rain shortened series in Atlanta earlier this month where the Mets lost both games by a combined score of 14-6; the Mets needed to take this opportunity and make a statement to the Braves, while putting some distance between the two in the standings.  It was the Braves who made the statement winning 6-3.   

Starter Mike Pelfrey struggled early and often.  In the first inning he walked three Braves and gave up one hit; he got himself out of a bases loaded jam and limited the damage to just one run.  It wasn’t until the fifth that Pelfrey finally retired a hitter who lead of the inning getting Chipper Jones to ground out.  In the sixth, Pelfrey gave up a two run shot to Kelly Johnson, the Braves would stay on top for good.  Jose Reyes recorded an error for a second straight night when his throw on a routine grounder pulled first baseman Marlon Anderson off the bag.  Pelfrey would leave the game at that point going 51/3, giving up 5 runs on 5 hits, he walked four and struck out one; he was was replaced by Scott Schoeneweis who finished the inning with out giving up another run. 

The Mets scored all three of their runs in the third inning when Braves starter Jair Jurrjens gave up three runs on two hits (the only two hits the Mets would record on the night) and four consecutive walks.  In the midst of all this, Braves manager Bobby Cox was thrown out of the game for the 136th time in his career after coming out of the dugout to argue with umpire Tim McClelland.  In the seventh, the Mets looked like they would rally when Will Ohman gave up back to back walks to Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo  who both failed to produce with RISP.  On the night the Mets stranded 5 runners. 

Marlon Anderson played first base giving Carlos Delgado a much needed night off, Delgado struck out when he pinch hit in the ninth.  Brian Schneider is expected to be in the hospital until Sunday.  

The Mets continue to struggle in all facets of the game playing shoddy defense, getting poor pitching, and not swinging the bat well at all.  There is much talk in New York about the return of Moises Alou to the lineup, however if the Mets are going to remain competitive in the division they are going to need Jose Reyes to get on base and the bats of Delgado, Beltran and Wright as well.  The next two games against the Braves are critical, the pitching match ups favor the Braves and it doesn’t help that the Met’s bats are dead.  Mets fans have a lot to be worried about. 

Mets Blog 

The New York Mets closed out their two game series against the Washington Nations with a 10-5 loss on Thursday night, going 3-4 on the road trip.  The Mets looked like they had rebounded from a three game losing streaking after winning the first game of the series, but starter Oliver Perez struggled and did not make it out of the fifth.  Perez pitched 5.2 innings, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits while recording 4 walks and 3 strikeouts. Aaron Heilman came in and gave up a walk, a grand slam, and two singles before striking out Austin Kearns to end the inning.  Jorge Sosa did not fair much better giving up 3 runs; however because of an error by Jose Reyes, his third on the season, only one of those runs was earned. 

Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Church, Marlon Anderson, Oliver Perez each had one RBI. Anderson’s and Beltran’s RBI coming off homeruns.  The Mets had a total of 11 hits, leaving 9 guys on base.  The heart of the order was a combined 3 for 17, with both Wright and Delgado going 0-4.  Delgado’s batting average has dropped to .198. 

The Mets started to rally in the ninth when Marlon Anderson hit a pinch hit home run and Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo reached on singles but, John Rauch settled in and retired the next three hitters in order to end the game.  

For a second straight night, Carlos Delgado hit sixth in the order behind Ryan Church who occupied the fifth spot.  Church is swinging a hot bat right now hitting .354; this is a good sign as there was some concern about his offensive output coming into the season.   The Mets were without catcher Brian Schneider who is in a New York hospital to treat an infection in his left thumb.  Brady Clark was designated for assignment.  The Mets purchased the contract of catcher Gustavo Molina from Triple-A New Orleans.  

The Mets could be in for a long series against the Braves if they continue to play the way they did on this road trip. 

 Mets Blog

The New York Mets opened a two game series against the Washington Nationals looking to stop their losing streak at three.  The Mets did just that winning tonight behind ace Johan Santana 7-3.   Santana was stellar, throwing 97 pitches in 7 innings, he gave up 2 runs on 7 hits, 1 walk, and 4 strike outs, and he also had some success at the plate hitting two doubles on the night.  The Nationals two runs came on the only misstep by Santana when he left a fastball over the plate giving up a two run double to pitcher Tim Redding.  Interesting note, up to this point the eight inning had belonged to Aaron Heilman, he was replaced tonight by Duaner Sanchez who tossed a scoreless frame, is this a sign of things to come? 

Brian Schneider returned to the line up after sitting out the past three games with a sore forearm that he injured in the second game against the Phillies.  Manager Willie Randolph looked to shake things up and did that by moving Ryan Church into the five hole and dropping Carlos Delgado to sixth in the line up.   This move seemed to benefit Carlos Beltran as he was 2-3 with a walk, single, and double  

The excitement happened in the sixth when Carlos Beltran started the inning off with a single, and scored on a ball hit by Ryan Church, who moved to third on a throwing error by Ryan Zimmerman.  Church would come in to score on a single by Angel Pagan who stole both second and third and then scored on Schneider’s groundout.  The Mets scored two late on a long single by Ryan Church.

The Mets and the Nats wrap things up tomorrow night. 

 Mets Blog

The New York Mets are probably glad they were only in Chicago for two games as they got whooped up on both games against the Cubs.  On Tuesday, the Mets lost 8-1 to drop their season record to 10-9.  They had their chances and were in both games against the Cubs, but the Cubs used runs in the late innings to blow open the games.

Nelson Figueroa took the loss for the Mets as he tossed five innings of seven hit ball.  He did give up three runs however.  Joe Smith pitched in relief and gave up one earned run.  The worst performance on the mound for the Mets however came from Jorge Sosa who gave up a grand slam in the eigth inning.

The lone run for the Mets came in the sixth inning when Brady Clark grounded into a fielder choice and Carlos Beltran scored.  The Mets bats were just silent as they only had five hits the entire game.  Can’t win the game when you don’t swing the bat well.

Mets Blog

The New York Mets pick up their 8th loss of the season on Monday against the Chicago Cubs by a score of 7-1 putting them at 10-8 for the year.  Only able to get one run in the 6th inning the Mets struggled to get the big base hit all night long.  Grounding into four double plays sure didn’t help the Mets either.

John Maine started the game for the New York Mets throwing for six innings allowing five hits and two runs.  This loss put him at 1-2 for the year.  Duaner Sanchez, Aaron Heilman, and Jorge Sosa pitched the last two innings of the game.   Heilman gave up four earned runs and Sosa gave up one earned run.  What a terrible eigth inning for the Mets bullpen.

The only run for the Mets came in the sixth inning when Jose Reyes grounded into a double play with the bases loaded.  The Mets were only down 2-1 at that point, and that double play killed their rally.

The New York Mets will go up against the Cubs one more time this afternoon to see if they can come back after yesterday’s loss.

The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 on Sunday putting the Mets record at 10-7 for the year.  Letting the Phillies get 12 hits spread throughout the game, the Mets did their best and put nine hits on the board but still came up one run short for the loss.

Mike Pelfrey opened the night up for the Mets going five innings on the mound but gave up a staggering 10 hits and four runs in that time and only got two strikeouts.  Jorge Sosa, Pedro Feliciano,  and Joe Smith were brought in to pitch in relief but were not able to hold on for the win.  Feliciano took the loss as he gave up a run in the seventh inning.

It wasn’t a bad hitting night got the Mets as Jose Reyes got his second triple of the year.  Carlos Beltran led the Mets at the plate with two RBi while Luis Castillo and Ryan Church both had one RBI. 

On Monday the Mets will travel to Chicago to battle the Cubs on the road.  This will be a big game for the Mets as the Cubs are on a roll this year already leading the National League Central Standings.