The New York Mets completed a rain shortened series with the New York Yankees on Sunday night with an 11-2 win.  However, one can only guess what the score might have been if not for an awful call by the umpires in the fourth inning.  The Mets had scored three runs off of Yankee starter Chien-Ming Wang when Carlos Delgado came to the plate.  Delgado hit a shot to left field that struck the foul pole and bounced into the crowd, third base umpire Mike Reilly called it a homerun; however first base umpire Alfonso Marquez said it was a foul ball, and after the umpires gathered to discuss it, the call was reversed by home plate umpire Bob Davidson.  Replays on the telecast showed that the ball was clearly a homerun, and when television cameras caught up with the guy who was sitting next to the foul pole and had possession of the “foul” ball, there was a black scuff mark on the ball and a white scuff mark on the foul pole.  Lucky for those umpires that Delgado went on to hit a RBI single and that those two runs did not cost them a victory.

I was concerned that that call not going the Mets way was going to be a problem.  I thought for sure the Mets would end up losing the game 6-5 and that call would really make or break the game.  But, the Mets went back to work and really did what they had to do to win the game.  Seven of the nine Mets starters all had a hit, David Wright and Jose Reyes each had two hits, Reyes hit a homerun, his second of the series and fourth of the season.  However, the best thing that came out of that blown call debacle was that Willie Randolph actually got fired up.  He went out to argue the call with the umpires, when play resumed, Randolph must have continued jawing from the dugout because ESPN’s microphones picked up the shouts of home plate umpire Bob Davidson yelling “Shut up Willie!”  Although Davidson did not eject Randolph, bench coach Jerry Manuel who really got into with the umpires, was thrown out of the game.

Oliver Perez did a great job on Sunday night.  It looked like he might get into trouble in the bottom of the fourth when after the excitement in the top half of the inning, Perez gave up a lead off single to Derek Jeter and then a two run shot to Hideki Matsui to make it 4-2.  It looked like Perez might lose it in that fourth inning, but he composed himself and went 7 2/3, walked only two, gave up two earned runs on three hits, and struck out five.  Other than that one inning, Perez pitched really well.  He gave the Mets exactly what they needed, going deep in the game and preserving the win.   He is really going to be a big key to the Mets success down the road if they are going to go anywhere this year, and it was good to see him get it together instead of going into complete meltdown mode.

This was a great weekend to be a Mets fan.  The Mets finally played the way you expect them to, as a team they were great.  Ryan Church continues to make a name for himself.  His defense is really good, and he also has put up great offensive numbers, hitting his ninth homerun of the season last night; Church is now hitting .307 with 9 homeruns, 32 RBI.  I just hope that the Mets can capitalize on this momentum and play tough; they are now in second place, just one game out of first and tied in the loss column with the Marlins.  This upcoming road trip could be a big challenge; they’ve got four games in Atlanta and three in Denver against the Rockies.  After the trip, the Marlins come to town for three and then the Mets close out May with three against the Dodgers.  The Mets could really make some headway here in these next 13 games.  It would be great for them to open the up division a bit and put some distance between them and .500.   

The Mets have an off day on Sunday, and open a series with a double header against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.  First pitch for game one is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.  The Mets will finally face Tom Glavine who will pitch the first game of the double header; he will be opposed by John Maine.  Claudio Vargas coming off a great start against the Washington Nationals, will start the 7:10 p.m. nightcap for the Mets.

Mets Blog    

The New York Mets beat the New York Yankees 7-4 on Saturday.  This was a good win for the Mets especially after their horrible series against the Washington Nationals.  The Mets dropped three of four to the Nats and have been playing uninspired baseball.  Comments made by closer Billy Wagner after Thursday’s loss caused a lot of Mets’ discussions, callers flooded the airwaves of sports talk radio, and Mets stories filled the pages of the New York newspapers.  It seems that Carlos Delgado and Wagner have cleared the air and apparently the two met privately on Friday to discuss Wagner’s comments.  After that meeting, the Mets had a team meeting and although the specifics of that gathering have not been disclosed, you get the sense that the Mets cleared the air as a team and are ready to get back to baseball. 

Stopper Johan Santana took the mound for the Mets, his start had been pushed back one day so that he could pitch the first game of the Subway Series, however because of Friday’s rain out, Santana took the mound on Saturday with extra rest and it showed, Santana struggled early, walking lead off hitter Johnny Damon to start the bottom of the first, the second guy to come to the plate was Met killer Derek Jeter who hit a home run to left field and with that it looked like as if it would be the Yankees day, the Mets were down 2-0 and Santana had yet to record an out.  Santana was not sharp but managed to get out of the first inning with out giving up anything else and also pitched a scoreless second.  With the score still 2-0 in the bottom of the third, the game turned in the Mets favor.  Johnny Damon lead of with a single, Bobby Abreu hit a long double to right fielder Ryan Church, he cut the ball off in the gap and the Mets executed a perfect relay play, Church hit cut off man Luis Castillo who threw to catcher Brian Schneider, Schneider did a perfect job of blocking the plate, Damon who was trying to score from first was thrown out at the plate and the Yankees would not score again until Jason Giambi hit a home run in the bottom of the seventh.  But at that moment, something changed and you could feel the momentum swing in the Mets favor.  Santana settled in and as the game went on he got better and better, he did give up three homeruns; two of them were solo homers but Santana pitched deep into the game going 7 2/3 giving up 7 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks and 5 strike outs.  In the bottom of the eighth Billy Wagner had a chance to put up or shut up and did just that, he recorded a four out save, although the bottom of the ninth might have been a little more exciting than one might have liked, Wagner finished it out and the Mets won the first game of the series.    

Andy Pettitte pitched for the Yankees and in the first two innings looked unhittable, in fact, in the first two innings Pettitte had already recorded five strike outs.  To their credit, Mets batters hung in and had some good at bats, in the top of the fourth the Mets would take the lead and not look back.  Ryan Church lead off the inning with a single to center, David Wright got credit for a single when he hit a ball to center that that Jeter lost in the sun and was unable to make a play on, Carlos Beltran followed that up with a singled to left fielder Johnny Damon.  Ryan Church took advantage of Damon’s lack of arm strength and scored from second on the play.  Andy Pettitte then walked Moises Alou to load the bases; Carlos Delgado popped up and Damon Easley was called out on strikes but with two out Pettitte walked Brian Schneider which also walked in the tying run.  Luis Castillo came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit what basically amounted to a swinging bunt that looked as if it might go foul, however it stayed fair and neither Pettitte nor third baseman Alberto Gonzalez could make a play on it, everyone was safe and the third run of the inning crossed the plate. 

The Mets scored three more runs in the top of the seventh off reliever Kyle Farnsworth.  Farnsworth has been to the Yankees what Aaron Heilman has been to the Mets, and today, he did not disappoint.  Jose Reyes hit his third homerun of the season in the top of the seventh off of Farnsworth who then walked Church and gave up a homer to David Wright to give the Mets a 6-3 lead.  The Mets would tag on one more run in the top of the ninth off Joba Chamberlain, Carlos Beltran hit a tripled on a line drive to left and scored on a two out single by Carlos Delgado.  

All in all it was a much better performance by the Mets.  Who knows with these guys.  Maybe all the controversy this past week with the awful series against the Nationals and the angst in the clubhouse actually did bring them together as a team.  For me as a Mets fan, it always is hard when this series comes around and the Mets aren’t playing well.  However, hanging in the game to win instead of quitting when they were down which we have seen so many times is a good sign, winning this series might be what the Mets need.  There was a renewed sense of excitement in the dugout today, and the TV cameras caught it more than once, it was almost a flashback to last season when the team actually seemed to be having fun.  

I know as a Mets fan I tend to get mad and complain and be hypercritical of the Mets play and of some of things manager Willie Randolph says and does.  But the truth of the matter is, I love the Mets, I love this team.  By and large, they are my guys, some I like more than others, but at the end of the day-they are still my team and my guys.  We just want them to win.  We want them to play better, and let me tell you, we want them to beat the Yankees. 

The Subway Series will wrap up tonight on Sunday Night Baseball.  First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 pm.  The Mets will face Yankee ace Chien-Ming Wang and Oliver Perez will pitch for the Mets.  Perez has had some good games against the Yankees, I just hope we see a good Oliver Perez tonight. 

Mets Blog

The New York Mets wrapped up a four game series with the Washington Nationals, losing the final game 1-0, and dropping three of four.  Met’s starter Mike Pelfrey pitched a gem; he had a no hitter going through six, but in the top of the seventh Aaron Boone singled to right to break up Pelfrey’s no-hit bid.  I hope we see more of this Mike Pelfrey, he pitched great going, 7 2/3 giving up just three hits, one earned run, three walks, and four strike outs.  Too bad the Mets offense was no where to be seen.

The Mets got just five hits yesterday and have been pathetic at the plate the entire series-and pretty much the entire season.  David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Ryan Church, Ramon Castro all had 0-fers yesterday.  Wright’s average is down to .268.  And when the Mets did get on base, they apparently forgot how to run the bases.  In the eight inning, Jose Reyes lead off with an infield hit, Luis Castillo came up to bunt which was supposed to move Reyes to second and would have except  Reyes’ aggressive nature got him in trouble, he noticed that no one was covering third and decided to try and take two bases on the sac bunt, however, Aaron Boone threw a perfect strike to Christian Guzman who beat Reyes in a footrace to the bag and like that Reyes was tagged out at third base for the second out of the inning.

Here is my question though, what was Willie Randolph doing?  Why is Castillo bunting there?  Isn’t Reyes supposed to get a chance to actually steal a base?  Isn’t that what he does?  Then once he steals second then maybe bunt him over to third?  You know from watching Mets games, when Reyes in on first with the threat of a steal, it puts a lot of pressure on an opposing pitcher.  Randolph jumped the gun there, he has to let it play out; he has said more than once that he thinks Castillo is still there best two hole hitter, so then let him do his thing Willie.  Seriously, I know it was a tight game, I know the Mets needed to win, but it all seemed to not make sense.  Maybe you can tell that there is a sense of urgency and that everything is not all ok, like Randolph likes to make it sound.  It is getting a little late in the season to say that it is still early.  The Mets have been terrible.  Not just this season, but dating back to the end of last year.  In fact, in a whole calendar year, the Mets are a .500 team.  And we all know with the money they have spent and with the talent on this team, they are way under achieving. 

I think we are starting to get some insight into the dynamics of the Mets Clubhouse.  Billy Wagner pretty much put it out there yesterday when he made comments to the New York newspaper reporters and reiteratied his point again on his weekly radio spot, his point was that everyone has to be held accountable, and that he is sick of the other guys not holding up their end of the bargain.  It seems he was talking about the Carloses.  Rarely do either Beltran or Delgado answer questions, however yesterday, Carlos Beltran was available to the press and did answer some questions, but more often than not, guys like David Wright and Billy Wagner are left to answer for their teammates.  Paul LoDuca said basically the same thing last year, but it turned into a problem because his comments came across as racist, he said some thing to the affect of, talk to those guys over there, they speak English.  But like Wagner and Wright this year, last year LoDuca was often the go to guy for quotes because other guys didn’t make themselves available to the press. 

The fact is, the guys who have a lot to do with how poorly the team is playing right now, don’t seem to want to be accountable.  Even Aaron Heilman, who is a head case and who just stinks right now, even he answers questions after he has a terrible outing.  Now I am not a huge Heilman fan right now, but I respect the fact that he stood in there and answered questions about why he stinks!

Mets fans get killed here local on sport talk radio and in the newspapers for booing this Mets team-and while I’m not really one for booing I understand.  This is what is it, and this is New York.  These guys make a lot of money, they have a strong fan base, and they get a lot of media attention, but some how they don’t want to be accountable.  I think they have really fragile egos, and I think the Carloses are the biggest of the babies.  Enough is enough and if these guys don’t get this figured out soon, Willie Randolph is going to be standing on an unemployment line-and I’m starting to think that might not be a bad place for him right now. 

The Mets start a three game series with the last place New York Yankees tonight.  Johan Santana will pitch for the Mets and the Yankees will send Darrell Rasner to the mound.  Game time is set for 7:05 pm.  

Mets Blog

The New York Mets outhit the Washington Nationals by two hits but they were no where close to that on the scoreboard as they lost 10-4 on Monday night.  Mets pitchers allowed the Nationals to score in all but three innings in the game.

Nelson Figueroa started the game and threw five innings while giving up five hits and six runs.  Figueroa took the loss as his record dropped to 2-3 on the season.  Jorge Sosa came in to pitcher after Figueroa and he gave up another four runs in the game in only one inning of action.  Duaner Sanchez, Joe Smith, and Billy Wagner all threw one inning each and did not allow one run.  Good job by those there pitchers.

Damion Easley and David Wright both hit solo home runs in the game.  Easley also had a rbi single to finish the game with two rbi.  Carlos Beltran also had a rbi single in the first inning for the Mets.

The Mets are now three full games out of first place behind the Florida Marlins.  Can the Mets rebound and win the next four games against the Nationals?  I see them winning two, but losing one more.

Mets Blog

The New York Mets completed a three games series against the Los Angels Dodgers on Wednesday in dramatic fashion that could only be found in Hollywood.  After losing the first two games of the series, a struggling Mets offense pounded out 12 runs on 13 hits.  After sitting out with flu like symptoms Tuesday, Carlos Beltran was back in the line up.  Because both Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou had the day off, Luis Castillo was moved back into the two spot.  Ryan Church hit fifth in the order and had a great day going 3-4, with one RBI with two singles and a homerun.  The Mets continued their dominance against Dodger’s starter Brad Penny; he would leave the game after going 4 2/3 giving up 10 earned runs.    

Even thought the offense came through, the leading man for the Mets was starter John Maine.  Maine went 8 1/3 innings giving up just four hits, one run, while recording four strikeouts and just two walks.  This was the John Maine that the Mets have been waiting to see.  I felt bad for Maine when he left the game in the ninth, as he is always really hard on himself, and you could see his disappointment in not pitching a complete game.  However, he gave the Mets more than they could have hoped for yesterday.  His amazing day allowed the Mets to finish their 3-3 road trip on a high note; keeping their record over .500 and also allowed the bull pen to get some rest.    

Ryan Church continues to be a bright spot on this Mets team.  He is the type of ball player every team needs.  He plays hard in the field; he has got a strong accurate arm and also has a lot of range in right field.  He so far has over come the preseason conversations about his ability to hit lefty pitching and for the Mets leads the team in average, hitting .328 and is second only to David Wright in almost every other offensive category.  That is why I was disappointed to hear Willie Randolph on Wednesday’s pregame radio interview basically take a swipe at Church that I thought was unwarranted.  In Tuesday night’s game, Church hit into a double play, and Randolph basically said Church has to have a better approach, he said as a team they need to do a better job in that spot, but it sounded like a clear jab at Church.  And while I agree with Randolph , because I can tell you there have been plenty of times I’m in front of the TV cursing a guy for not having a good approach at the plate in a big spot, that knock on Church just wasn’t fair.  He is one of two guys who have carried this team, I thought this one time he deserved a pass.  Apparently Randolph has a reputation for protecting his veterans, and I get that, especially because I get the distinct feeling that he is worried about upsetting the Carloses, however-don’t do it at Church’s expense. 

The Mets have an off day on Thursday and will begin a three game series with the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. 

Mets Blog

The New York Mets lost to the Los Angels Dodgers 5-4 on Tuesday.  Nelsen Figueroa started the game for the Mets.  While he had a mediocre outing, he did pitch well enough to keep the Mets in the game.  Figueroa pitched five innings, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits, and one homerun, while walking four and striking out three.  Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, and Pedro Feliciano all pitched in relief and all put up zeros across the board. 

Figueroa gave up an inside the park homerun that scored the tying and go ahead runs in the bottom of the fifth.  Blake DeWitt hit a line drive that Ryan Church went back on, Church hit the wall and appeared to be dazed for a moment, he told reporters that he thought the ball had gone out and instead, when he realized that the umpire was signaling that in fact they ball was still in play, it was too late to recover, both Russell Martin and DeWitt would score. After the inning was over, Church actually apologized to Figueroa, putting the blame for the loss of the lead (and the game) on himself. 

Early on the Mets had a 4-1 lead, and after chasing starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda from the game, seemed as if they were in control.  Ryan Church hit a solo homer in the first inning making the score 1-0.  In the second, the Mets would add on two more.  In the third, the Mets scored their fourth, and final run on a double steal.  With Brian Schneider at the plate, Angel Pagan on first and Moises Alou on third, Pagan stole second, drawing a throw from Dodger’s catcher Russell Martin, which allowed Alou to steal home, both runners were safe and the Mets had a 4-1 lead.   

That 4-1 lead would not be safe.  While you could argue that Figueroa did not have a quality start, if you watched the game or even read the box score, the real problem with the Mets was and continues to be the struggling offense.  The Mets were 2-14 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday night and as a team, left 13 guys on base.  David Wright was 0-4 with 3 strike outs and was the only Met to not record a hit in the game.  Wright’s average has fallen to .265.  There are only two Mets who have .300 or better batting averages and that is Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. 

The Mets are getting killed in the middle of the line up Carlos Beltran’s average is a horrendous .219 and Carlos Delgado’s average is .216-which is actually exciting when you consider a few weeks ago he was hitting .180.  Not only are their averages awful-the RBI guys have a combined 29 RBI-Beltran 13, Delgado 16.  Wow Beltran 13-hitting in the clean up spot?  Just for reference, Jose Reyes, has 14 RBI.  The team leader is David Wright with 26.  You tell me, who is not pulling their weight around here?   

My new favorite Met is Ryan Church.  Coming in to the season there was so much speculation that he would not hit well, can’t hit lefties, yada, yada, yada…Church right now leads the team in average, .314, has the second most RBI (23) and has the second most homeruns on the team (5).  The only Met that Church is second to in these categories is David Wright. 

Carlos Beltran was scratched from Tuesday nights game with flu like symptoms.  It was unclear whether he will be back in the line up for Wednesday’s game.  The Mets will play the final game of the series on Wednesday, with a 3:30 (EST) start.  John Maine will pitch for the Mets and Brad Penny will be on the mound for the Dodgers. After an off day Thursday, they will open a three game series with the Cincinnati Reds.

 Mets Blog

The New York Mets took on the Los Angels Dodgers Monday night, losing 5-1.   Oliver Perez took the mound for the Mets in the hopes of erasing from our memories that awful game he pitched Wednesday afternoon against the Pirates.  Early on it looked like Oliver picked up where he left off as Rafael Furcal took an 0-2 pitch over the wall in left center, and like that the Dodgers were on the board.  The second hitter, Juan Pierre singled then stole second and would score on a line drive single to center, after that Perez settled in to get the third out and end the inning with the Mets losing 2-0.  However, he actually pitched pretty well until the fifth inning when he gave up a solo homer to Blake DeWitt and then with two out, Perez walked  Juan Pierre and Matt Kemp came to the plate and hit his third homer of the season making the score 5-1. 

Perez did a better job in this outing.  He numbers may not exactly tell the story, he pitched six innings, giving up six hits, five earned runs, two walks, three strike outs and three homeruns.  But, instead of totally falling apart in the first inning when things did not go well, he settled in and really kept the Mets in the game early.   Also, he took a line drive right off the stomach, that I was sure would knock him out of the game, but he didn’t seem fazed by that and went on to pitch six innings.  All in all I thought it was a better performance than his last outing although, that is not saying much.  The thing about Perez is that he has all kinds of talent, but he is a total head case.  The Mets are going to need to get Perez’s head in the game and get him ready to pitch, they are not playing well right and with a struggling offense, the pitching staff needs to pick up the slack. 

The offensive woes continue to plague the Mets.  Last night Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Ryan Church were 0-10.  Carlos Beltran was the only Met to have a multi-hit game going 2-4 and scoring the Mets lone run.  Luis Castillo is awful, the way he swings from the left side of the plate is nothing short of ugly.  A little over a week ago, it looked as if he was about to heat up, but  has really trailed off.  He left four guys on base last night, going 0-3 with a walk.  I guess he doesn’t like the eight spot too much. 

The Mets still have yet to live up to their potential.  Then again, maybe this is what they are.  Nothing seems to click at the same time.  They might get some offense, but then get terrible pitching or, they get great starting pitching and the bull pen blows it.  The Mets need to put a good winning streak together.  Yes, the Mets did have a five game win streak earlier in April.  When the Mets looked as if their backs were against the wall, they took two out of three from the Braves, but split the rain shortened series with the Pirates before taking two out of three from the Diamondbacks.  However, Mets need to have one of those great streches where they play dominate baseball and win something like 8 of 10. 

As a Mets fan, there really hasn’t been much excitement outiside of the day that the Mets signed Johan Santan.  Is it too early in the season to say, oh the Mets are in trouble or is it too late in the season to say, its too early? 

The New York Mets concluded a three game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, beating Arizona 5-2.  The Mets took two of three against the National League’s top team, continuing their winning ways in Arizona.  The Mets are now 15-2 in their last 17 games at Chase Field. 

Johan Santana took the mound for the Mets and he was opposed by pitcher Dan Haren.  The Mets really needed a strong outing from their ace, and although it wasn’t his best showing, Santana really gutted it out and kept the Mets in the game.  Santana threw 112 pitches in his six innings of work, giving up six hits but only one run, recording eight strikeouts; he did have four walks, two of them intentional and threw three wild pitches.  He left with at 2-1 lead, but would not figure in the decision as Joe Smith gave up a run in the seventh. 

In the third inning with one on and two out, Jose Reyes hit a line drive RBI single, and the Mets would take a 1-0 lead.  David Wright lead off the fourth inning with a homerun that traveled well over 376 sign for the Mets second run of the game.  With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, it looked like the Diamondback’s would take the lead when the first hitter of the inning, Chris Burke bunted the ball to pitcher Pedro Feliciano, Feliciano field the ball making an errant throw to first,  allowing Burke to advance.  Instead of just taking second base on the error, Burke tired to advance to third and breaking one of the cardinal rules of baseball, was thrown out at third on an amazing throw from right fielder Ryan Church.  Feliciano then gave up a single to pinch hitter Micha Owings (yes, the pitcher Micha Owings), however replays showed that Owings was actually out at first base.  Willie Randolph came out to argue the call, although it might have been nice if Randolph actually argued with the umpire.  At this point, the Mets would make a pitching change and Jorge Sosa would enter the game retiring both of the hitters he faced to end the inning.       

The Mets bats were silent until the top of the ninth when Carlos Beltran led of the inning with a single to right.  Moises Alou hit what looked to be a sure double play ball, but because of the way the Diamondback’s defense was playing, ended up a single and moved Beltran to second.  The Mets would take the lead 3-2 when Beltran scored on a throwing error by Conner Jackson.  Brian Schneider laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, and with one out and runners on second and third, the Diamondbacks elected to intentionally walk Luis Castillo and go after pinch hitter Marlon Anderson; Anderson hit a bullet to right and another run scored.  Jose Reyes came to bat with the bases loaded, swung at the first pitch, and hit a sacrifice fly to make the game 5-2.  Billy Wagner would enter the game in the bottom or the ninth and on nine pitches, retired the side in order.    

All in all I thought this was a much better game for the Mets.  The players seemed to really play as a team today.  The guys played hard and fought back to win.  There was a desire and toughness to them that has been missing in many games this season.  It seemed that in their two blow out losses the Mets had just given up, but I thought today with the game tied having given up the lead late, the guys really came together and fought back to win.

Taking two out of three against the Diamondback’s was a must because the Mets now move on to Los Angels to take on a hot Dodger team, who up until they lost to the Colorado Rockies yesterday, were riding an eight game winning streak.  Oliver Perez will pitch for the Mets Monday night and has an opportunity to atone for his awful outing last time out against the Pirates.  The Dodger will throw Chad Billingsley who is 1-4 on the season with a 5.20 era. 

Mets Blog

After handing Micha Owings his first loss of the season, the Mets faced a 6-0 Brandon Webb on Saturday afternoon.  Knowing how good Webb is, as Mets fans we couldn’t expect that there would be much offense, and there wasn’t, at least, not for the Mets.  The Diamondbacks crushed the Mets 10-4; Brandon Webb earned his seventh win of the season. 

The Mets pitching was so bad on Saturday, that I can hardly find the words to describe it, which is a problem given that that is exactly what I am supposed to be doing.  The score is not really an indication of how bad the Mets pitching was.  The Diamondbacks scored 10 runs on 15 hits.  However, as a team, they left 11 guys on base.  Imagine what would have happened if the Diamondbacks got a few other key hits. 

Again, it wasn’t just one pitcher, as a staff walks were a problem.  Or I should say, throwing strikes was the problem.  Mike Pelfrey pitched only 5 innings.  He was awful, but luckily for him, the Diamondback’s helped him out of trouble a time or two.  Pelfrey would leave the game after the fifth inning because he had thrown his maximum number of pitches and was clearly laboring.  His final line: 5 innings, 9 hits, 5 Runs (all earned), one strike out, and 4 walks.   It wasn’t just Pelfrey who stunk, Heilman-awful, Schoeneweis, Sanchez-awful!  The Mets as a staff gave up a total of six walks; four of them belonged to Pelfrey.  Guys didn’t get ahead of hitters, Aaron Heilman hit two batters-although, I do have to give him some credit, with bases loaded in the seventh, he did get a big strike out to end the inning.  Duaner Sanchez gave up five earned runs on 4 hits.  The fact that the Mets can’t get a starter to go more than five or six innings has totally exposed the Mets bull pen, and if this keeps up, how can they expect that the relief pitchers can hold up in August?  

After the Mets disaster on Wednesday (and I’m not talking about the water main break at Shea Stadium) manager Willie Randolph said to the press here in New York, that in 162 games, a team is bound to have a stinker-I’m wondering now if for some reason I misread what he said, like did he go on to say that teams are bound to have some stinkers every other game?  Is it too early to be concerned?  The Mets have failed to play well and we are whole month into the season.  Is it too early to be worried that they haven’t and won’t get passed what happened last year in September?  I think for a lot of folks, the frustration about how the Mets are playing isn’t so much that the Mets are having a hard time to start the season; but it is about the Mets having not played well since last year in August.  

There are two good things to mention.  The first, Carlos Delgado hit another homerun, and has raised his average about 30 or so points in the past week, I hesitate to say it is a good sign, so I’ll just say, maybe there is hope.  The second good thing, Ryan Church!  Church is the ONLY guy on the team hitting .300 or better.  He is hitting .330 to be exact.  There was some concern that Church wouldn’t be able to hit off lefties, but Church it the lone bright spot in a struggling Mets offense.   

Also, note to Willie Randolph-could you show us something?  A little emotion please?  Something!  While I understand that you are not a guy like Bobby Cox and that you’d like to conduct yourself more like the guys you worked with on the other side of town, but right now, you’re looking more like Art Howe instead of Joe Torre.    

The Mets had more hits in the first inning on Friday night than they did in the entire nine innings of the 13-1 loss to the Pirates on Wednesday beating the Diamond back 7-2.  It looked like the Mets might be in some trouble heading out west to take on the Arizona Diamond Backs.  There is no reprieve for the Mets in this series as they are scheduled to face the best pitching trio in baseball in Micha Owings, Brandon Webb and Dan Harren.   

Maybe it was because the roof was open, perhaps it was the fact that Ryan Church was hitting second, or could it be that just having Moises Alou back on the team made everyone feel better.  What ever it was, the Mets handed Micha Owings his first loss of the season, collecting 7 runs on 12 hits.   

The Mets took an early lead in the first inning when Jose Reyes smacked a triple off the wall and scored on a Ryan Church sacrifice fly.  David Wright singled up the middle, Carlos Beltran walked, Moises Alou and Carlos Delgado hit back to back singles before Raul Casanova and Luis Castillo were retired to end the innings.  The Mets are now 6-0 when Ryan Church hits in the two spot.  Obviously just having Church hit second will not win the game for the Mets but, this is a place where Church seems comfortable, and it worked again Friday.  Church was 2-5 with a double, homerun and three RBI and Jose Reyes was 4-5 with a single, double, and two triples, a stolen base, and three runs scored.  Reyes was just a homerun short of the cycle, and in the eighth, it looked as if he might have that home run.  He hit a rope to center field that went over the head of Chris Young, Reyes rounded second and looked like he had no intention of ever stopping at third, however, he was thrown out at the plate and given credit for a triple.  If Reyes had been safe, it would have been the first time a cycle was completed with an inside the park homerun since 1940.   

John Maine struggled with his control early again tonight.  He would finish the night pitching six innings, giving up six hits, two run, and six strikeouts.  And while he only had two walks, Maine again failed to go deep in the game because of an inflated pitch total that is a direct result of not finding the strike zone, and hitters working the count against him.  Maine has been a disappointment considering that all we heard how dominant he had been in spring training.  Mets fans were expecting great things.  I am guessing that part of Maine’s great spring was the fact that he wasn’t actually pitching to major league ready hitters.  The guys in the bigs have started to figure Maine out, he is getting fewer swings and misses on his signature high fastball.  Major League pitchers are making adjustments, it is time for Maine to do the same.  

I think it is pretty evident that the Mets pitching staff misses catcher Brian Schneider behind the plate. I am not knocking Casanova, but he is not Schneider.  When the Mets signed Brian Schneider, they knew they weren’t going to get a lot of offensive production out of him but the buzz on him is that he is a very good defensive catcher and he did a terrific job with the Nationals and Expos young pitching staffs.  Mike Pelfrey pitched really well on his last start before Schneider was injured and really credited Schneider with that performance, saying it was Schneider who encouraged him to be more aggressive.   

There are some rumblings in the rumor sections of the New York sports pages that Mets pitching coach Rick Pederson’s job could be in trouble, and rightfully so.  He failed to “fix” Victor Zambrano, he has done little to facilitate the maturity of Mike Pelfrey and the rest of the Mets’ pitching staff has struggled, namingly, Oliver Perez and Aaron Heilman.  In past years when the Mets weren’t hitting they had no problem firing the hitting coach-like last year when they fired hitting coach Rick Down.  Personally, I think Pederson is a snake oils salesman, you can see the guys flinch when he come out to the mound and does his signature hand on the shoulder move. 

Mets Blog