The Mets extended their win streak to 9 with a 7-0 win over the Rockies.  The Phillies won yesterday so the Mets knew going in to play last night that they would not be in first place at the all star break, but the Marlins lost and so the Mets take sole possession of second place.   

Mike Pelfrey was amazing last night.  I can’t believe it is the same guy.  For a second consecutive start he did not allow any walks.  He worked eight scoreless innings allowing just six hits and striking out five.  Pelfrey also got some help from his defense last night as the Rockies grounded into three double plays.   

The Mets took an early lead on a Carlos Beltran three run homer in the bottom of the first.  That was Beltran’s second three run homer in six games.  The Mets scored again the second inning on an RBI single by Jose Reyes.  In the fourth inning, Fernando Tatis and Ramon Castro got aboard with singles and would advance into scoring position by a Mike Pelfrey sac bunt, Tatis would score on a sac fly by Nick Evans.  In the bottom of the fifth, Carlos Delgado hit his 17^th homer of the season, a two run blast that almost hit the scoreboard in right center field.  

Carlos Delgado is in a good grove right now.  Given how he stared the season, I would not have thought that the Mets would have been able to get as much out of him as they have thus far.  Delgado now has his average up to .248.  In the month of July in his 49 at bats he is hitting .376 with 3 homers and 7 RBI. 

There has been a lot of talk about the Mets acquiring Raul Ibanez from the Seattle Mariners.  Ibanez is a 35 year old left fielder, whom I believe is in his last year of his contract with Seattle; because of this the Mets think they can get him for little in return.  Ibanez is a career .284 hitter and has spent his time American League having played for both the Mariners and the Royals.  This year in 95 games he is hitting .273 with 11 homeruns, 55 RBI and 1 stolen base.    

The Mets are close to having Angel Pagan back, he is currently completing his rehab stint with the Brooklyn Cyclones.  Ryan Church played catch and did some work in the cages at Shea yesterday, it is thought that he is making progress and if things stay that way he could begin a rehab assignment as early as this week.  Jerry Manual did say in his post game remarks that he would like to get Church some at bats (in a rehab start) before making a decision about his return to the Mets.  Church is eligible to return from the DL on July 21^st. 

One last note on injuries, Jerry Manual insisted that when Luis Castillo returns from the DL next week he will not have the starting second base job waiting for him.  Manual who has a penchant for staying with the hot hand says that he feels they are getting good production out of Argenis Reyes and Damion Easley.  According to the New York Post, when Manual was asked about the status of Castillo when he returns from the DL he replied, “When the time comes, we’ll make a decision on that and see how it fits…We’re really playing well at that position - I mean, very well. It’s going to be a tough one.” 

If anyone caught the futures game yesterday, they would have had a glimpse of what is to come for the Mets.  Fernando Martinez played great and created a lot of buzz.  He was 1-2 with a single in yesterday’s game.  This season Martinez is with Double A Binghamton and is hitting .294 with four homers and 21 RBIs in 52 games.  Martinez, who turns 20 in October, was the fourth youngest player in yesterday’s contest.  The comments about him were that he is a gifted athlete with a beautiful swing.  Martinez says he believe he will play with the Mets sometime this season.  I for one would love to see it!   

The Mets are playing so well that I hate that the all star break is here, you hate to break up a good thing.  The positive to this is that they open up in Cincinnati knowing that they really have a chance to be at the top of the division with the Marlins and Phillies playing each other.  More than ever after seeing what the Mets have done this far, that saying, that is why they play the games, comes to mind.  If you would have asked me two weeks ago, I was fairly certain that the Mets would finish either 3^rd or 4^th in the division with a record somewhere around .500.  But, after seeing what they have done these past few weeks we’ve finally seen the team we’ve been looking for since last year after the all star break.  I don’t know what will happen, but I do know there is a lot to look forward to in the second half!   

LET’S GO METS! 

Mets Blog

On the day that David Wright was name as an all star, the Mets took the opening game of the series against the Rockies with a 2-1 win.  New York now has a seven game win streak.  The last time the Mets were able to win seven in a row was August of 2006.   

Oliver Perez wasn’t exactly the “good” Ollie; he was more like walk a lot and then try and pitch out of trouble Ollie.  Perez did start the seventh inning but after the first two hitters got on base he was pulled from the game.  He walked six in six innings and struck out seven.  The only run Perez gave up was a homer to Brad Hawpe.  As a staff the Mets pitchers walked a total of 9 Rockies.  Luckily for the Mets, the Rockies left the bases loaded in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. 

Pedro Feliciano got the win and Billy Wagner got the save.  But the credit really goes to Aaron Heilman.  Heilman entered the game in the sixth inning with no out, Jeff Baker was on second and Brad Hawpe was on first, Jayson Nix advanced the runner with a sac bunt, and then Heilman walked pinch hitter Seth Smith before getting Willie Taveras and Clint Barmes to strike out and end the Rockies threat.  Heilman has really come around and has been very successful in his recent outings; it seems that he has added a third pitch, a slider, which has made his change up more effective.  He has been able to keep the ball down and by doing that it has kept the ball in play.   

Damion Easley was Friday night’s hero, with two outs and the game tied at one in the bottom of the eighth, Easley hit a homerun to make the score 2-1, and the Mets would win by that score.  It was pretty funny though, if you were watching the Mets telecast here in NY right before Easley hit the homerun Gary Cohen was talking about how Easley has hit some big homeruns in big spots, and right after that Easley homered.  Cohen said, “I called it!”  When Taylor Buchholz entered the game, they also said, “Buchholz has only allowed two homers this season…”  This time it worked in the Mets favor, but I always hate it when the commentators give a stat like that because it seems that on the very next pitch the guy gives up a homer.  

The Mets remain 1.5 games out of first as the Phillies seem to be hot again winning three straight.  The Marlins have also continued their winning ways and are tied for second with the Mets.    

Pedro Martinez will start on Saturday afternoon and  he will be opposed by Rockies’  starter Ubaldo Jimenez.  Jimenez was the same pitcher that out dueled Martinez when the Mets visited Coors field in late June.  Actually, it wasn’t much of a contest that was the game where Pedro was cruising along and then just imploded giving up six runs in a inning.  Anyway, lets hope that isn’t the case on Saturday afternoon.  Game time is scheduled for 3:55 p.m.  Lets Go Mets!   

 Mets Blog

Can you actually give Billy Wagner credit for a save last night?  I guess when you see official scoring you realize how absurd some of this stuff really is.  The guy almost blew the game, yet got credit for his 20^th save of the season.  What are the Mets going to do about this guy?  No one fears him, as a fan I don’t trust him in a big spot; actually, I don’t trust him at all.  And, it wasn’t just his pitching that was bad last night, on the error by Carlos Beltran on the throw to David Wright in the bottom of the ninth-where was Billy Wagner?  I can tell you he wasn’t backing up third.  First, yes, Beltran should not have made that throw, and since he did, Wright needed to knock it down, but even still Wagner needed to back up the play.  All weekend long, Keith Hernandez has been been talking about fundamentals (fundies as Keith calls them)-I guess Billy forgot both of fielding and pitching “fundies” last night.

So, with really no thanks to Wagner the Mets did pull out a win and are now over .500 for the first time since June 5, and are just 2.5 games out of first place.  There are two things I must say about the game.  1-that was NOT a homerun by Ryan Howard-and how is it that we are seeing so many of these blown calls on homeruns, we’ve seen two in Mets games this year, are the Umps trying to get instant replay?  And 2-The Mets could learn a few things from the Phillies, the Mets pitching let the Phillies chip away at that lead.  The Phillies did something last night that we have not seen the Mets do, and that is they never considered themselves out of the game.  Pedro Martinez looked much better last night, in 5 1/3 innings of work, he allowed two runs, both of which were homeruns, one by Chase Utley and here’s a surprise, one by Pat Burrell.  Pedro also walked three and struck out six.  Also, that ball park is awful, I can’t believe how balls just fly out of there, you almost shouldn’t even count the homeruns that are hit in that park, especially the bullsh*t ones that are nothing more than fly balls.

The Mets bullpen did not help much last night, Tony Armas Jr.,yeah, I know he is a “starter”, anyway, he gave up three earned runs in and inning and a third, and Aaron Heilman who pitched well the night before, didn’t pitch so well last night, he did have four strikeouts though, the biggest one was the Pat Burrell strikeout in the bottom of the seventh.  However, he is also the guy who gave up the two run homer to a guy who is mired in a 2-40 (well now 3-41) slump.  And, we’ve already been through the Billy Wagner outing, so I’ll leave it at that. 

The Mets were facing Adam Eaton who in his career has never had a loss to the Mets, but the Mets took it to him pretty hard early on scoring 8 runs in the first three innings.  The Mets had 17 hits Brian Schneider is the only one Met without a hit.  Even Pedro Martinez had a hit last night. David Wright was 2-5 with four RBI, hitting a homerun and a double.  Jose Reyes 2-4 with two runs scored and a stole base.  The bench guys continued their hot streak last night, Fernando Tatis was 3-4 and Damion Easley was 3-5.   

When the Mets left on this road trip, I said I would have liked for them to go 6-2, and thought realistically they would end up 4-4, but after Friday night’s debacle, I was worried that they wouldn’t even finish there.  However, the Mets complete the road trip 5-3 taking 3-4 from the Phillies.  This road trip and the fact that the Mets are now just 2.5 our with six to go before the all star break is bring a little life and excitement back to watching the Mets. 

The Phillies and the Marlins are the two teams ahead of the Mets so, as of today, the schedules for the Marlins and Philles before the all star break are as follows: Marlins have two more games with the Padres, and then four against the Dodgers and the Phillies play three with St. Luis and three with Arizona.  I guess that means that at least for this week, I am a Mets fan and a fan of any team playing the Phillies and the Marlins!  (Oh no!  That means I am actually rooting for the Cardinals!)

The Mets open a three game series with the San Francisco Giants-so if you see Chris “Mad Dog” Russo out at Shea-make sure to give him a hard time.  Giants will have Tim Lincecum on the mound and the Mets will throw Mike Pelfrey.  Game time is set for 7:10 p.m.    

Mets Blog

The Mets are the only team in Major League Baseball, when trailing by two runs that has not come back to win the game.  So, when they went down 4-0 in the first inning, it seemed like it was going to be another long night for Mets’ fans. 

Pedro Martinez was awful.  In five innings, he allowed 5 earned runs off 7 hits, two of those hits were homeruns, but he walked only one (so at least the Cardinals had to earn their way on base).  Pedro gave up four runs in the first inning.  Aaron Miles and Skip Schumaker both singled to set the table for the Cardinals, Schumaker would score on Rick Ankiel’s single to center.  Troy Glaus hit his 12^th homerun of the season to make it 4-0.  The 47 minute rain delay that Pedro called a “blessing” might have been just that as when play resumed, Pedro pitched more aggressively and allowed just one more run, a homerun to Rick Ankiel. 

It wasn’t just Martinez that labored on the mound last night.  After a great job by Mets hitters to take the lead 7-5 in the top of the seventh, Aaron Heilman entered the game in the bottom of the eighth and hit a batter, he would leave the game at the point and be replaced by Pedro Feliciano who threw one pitch to Chris Duncan that he sent over the fence in right field to tie the game at 7.  In the bottom of the ninth Carlos Muniz gave up a walk off homer to Troy Glaus, and the Cardinals won 8-7.   

The offense had a much better game on Wednesday.  When they fell behind 4-0 in the first; I figured we’d see them play like they usually do when they fall that far behind that early.  However, the Mets really battled to get some things going offensively.  As a team, the Mets still left 10 guys on base, but they did get 15 hits and everyone in the line up except Endy Chavez and the pitcher had at least one hit.  Jose Reyes was 3-5 David Wright was 3-4 with a walk, and an RIB.  Damion Easley had a great night; he went 3-4 with 3 RBI.  Ryan Church had two more hits last night, but did have some trouble with runners on base as he stranded three.  Carlos Beltran also got a hit last night, but he left four runners on base.

This is what happens; the Mets can’t get everyone on the same page at the same time.  The offense did their part last night, the pitching did not.  And while the effort was there from the offensive and position play standpoint-what happened to the bullpen?  It is just a pathetic display.  You can’t even say it was a better loss for this team-because it wasn’t they were winning at one point. 

On thing is for sure, as much as I hate the Cardinals-and I HATE the Cardinals, they play some good ball.  They run hard, take the extra base, stay in games.  This is something we have not seen from the Mets.  They don’t play hard, they don’t keep their heads in games, and Mets are far from mentally tough.  So, the best the Mets can hope for here is a split.  Which means they would leave St. Luis two games under .500 and in relatively the same place they are now 4.5 games (or so) back. 

The earliest Moise Alou would be back is Monday in Philly but his return is more likely to happen Tuesday when the Mets return to Shea to take on the Giants.  Because of rain in Florida, Alou has not had the opportunity to get in his rehab starts.  The Mets have moved him to Binghamton hoping he will get some play up there before bringing him back to the team. 

First pitch is scheduled for 8:15 p.m.  Mike Plefrey will pitch for the Mets and the Cardinals will counter with Mitchell Boggs. 

Mets Blog

The Mets topped the Cards on Tuesday night 7-4.  A combination of some lineup changes and a spot start by Tony Armas Jr. did the trick for the Mets as they bounced back from the disappointing opening game of this series. 

Armas made his first start in the bigs since September 10^th of last year when he was with the Pirates.  In his six innings of work he allowed four runs on eight hits, while walking just one and striking out three.  He was no where near dominant but did pitch well enough to keep the Mets in the game.  He struggled a bit in the first, giving up a double to Aaron Miles and then a long homerun to Rick Ankiel.  In the second inning, Yadier Molina lead off the inning with a single to center, he would advance to second on a sac bunt by the pitcher, and score on a double by Skip Schumaker.  Armas also struggled some in the sixth inning; Troy Glaus doubled to lead off the inning, and would take third a single to right by Chris Duncan.  Glaus would score on a sac fly by Molina that was caught by Ryan Church in foul territory. 

The Mets finally found some offense last night; Jerry Manual made some changes to the line up, putting Ryan Church in the fifth spot, and dropping Delgado to the sixth hole.  Brian Schneider got a night off as Ramon Castro did the catching.  Damion Easley took Luis Castillo’s spot at second, hitting behind Delgado.  The changes seemed to benefit everyone as Church and Delgado were a combined 5-8.  Church also had an RBI and scored two runs.  David Wright had a great night at the plate too; he was 3-4 with an RBI, a homer and a walk.  Carlos Beltran continues to struggle; he is now in a 3 for 29 slump dating back to the Seattle series. 

Who can figure these guys out?  One thing is for sure though, when you sit down and turn the game on, you never know what you are going to get.  The Mets fell behind early, which usually means they are mentally out of the game and just go through the motions until their nine innings of torture are over.  Last night, that wasn’t the case.  They fought back, and actually chased Todd Wellemeyer out of the game after five, taking advantage of the fact that he wasn’t pitching well.  The Mets still left seven guys on base last night, but they did get two two out RBI hits by both Castro and Wright, and that is something that the Mets have not done with any consistency.  Not that they have done anything with any consistency. 

It is great to have Ryan Church back in the line up.  I think it is a boost that the Mets really need.  He has picked up right where he left off, in the three games since his return, he is 5 for 12.  The Mets have really missed his bat.  I am getting giddy thinking about the return of Moises Alou though.  If the Mets heat up and play well the rest of this series and play well in Philly, they could come home in first place.  Gee-I sound almost optimistic.  I know, I’ll probably have to eat my words tomorrow. 

Pedro Martinez is scheduled to pitch for the Mets.  We are hopping to see a better Pedro tonight as he has determined that the problem in his last two starts (or there about) is that he has been tipping his pitches.  The Cardinals will have Joel Pineiro on the hill; Pineiro is 2-4 with a 4.33 era.  First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m.

Mets Blog

The New York Mets lost to the Seattle Mariners 5-2 when Johan Santana gave up a grand slam to Mariners’ pitcher Felix Hernandez in the second inning and the Mets never recovered.  That of course was the first homerun ever hit by a Mariners pitcher and it was the 14^th homerun Santana has given up so far this season.

This is getting old.  The Mets stink and I’m tired of watching it.  Comments after the game by Mets’ players basically said that Hernandez’s homerun was a fluke, and it was, but it cost the Mets the game.  The Mets keep finding ways to lose; they are a team that no one is afraid of.  Basically if your team jumps out to a lead, you’ll win, the Mets give up pretty early on if they are down by more than a run or two.  But even still, if you don’t score early then just wait for the bullpen, someone there is likely to serve one up.  This team is a mess. 

The Mets got just four hits last night and scored two runs, but the first run didn’t come until the fifth inning when the Mets were down 5-0.  That first run was a result of a lead off double by Carlos Beltran, he stole third and then scored on a wild pitch by Hernandez.  It was an exciting play at the plate, as Beltran never hesitated and the ball didn’t get far from the catcher.  Felix Hernandez was hurt on that play; he was standing on home plate when Beltran slid in and would leave the game with a sprained ankle.  Good job by Beltran there ( his aggressive play that is, not that he took Hernandez out of the game because that didn’t actually help the Mets) I’d like to see more of that from him, his aggressiveness on the base path was something that has been missing from his game for a long time. 

In the ninth inning the Mets looked as if they might have a little something going, Jose Reyes singled to center to lead off the inning but, Luis Castillo singled to short and Reyes was erased at second, Castillo would advance to second on a walk issued to David Wright.  Carlos Beltran who has been in a good groove hit a single to center scoring Castillo and moving Wright to second.  Carlos Delgado stuck out swinging and Damion Easley would be out on a called third strike.

So it has been a week since Willie Randolph was fired and the talk is still there.  Of course, the Mets haven’t exactly helped themselves by losing the way they did in Colorado on Saturday and again last night.  And in fact, unless the Mets start winning and really winning, the talk won’t fade.  And it doesn’t help matters that Jerry Manual called the Mets fans fertilizer (although that is a new one) or that her referred to Jose Reyes as a woman.  But hey, if you are Manual why not do what you want to do, what’s the worst that can happen? 

Last night the Mets had a chance to help themselves.  The Phillies’ lead has dwindled to one game; the Mets were sitting in third place three back, with Atlanta a game behind them.  Both the Marlins and Phillies were off last night and the Braves lost.  But instead of gaining ground, today the Mets are four back and one game under .500.   

The Mets are headed into a very tough place in their schedule.  When they wrap up the series with the Mariners they play four against the Yankees, they then go to St. Louis for three, are in Philadelphia for four before returning home to play the Giants and Rockies before the All Star break.  I don’t even want to think about what can happen in that stretch. 

First pitch for Tuesday night is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.  Oliver Perez will go for the Mets and the Mariners will counter with R.A. Dickey. 

Mets Blog

Now there is a win that the New York Mets can really build off of.  They battled back and scored one run in the ninth inning and then another one in the tenth inning as they beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 in ten innings of action.  Huge win for the team and hopefully it will give them some good confidence.

Damion Easley hit the game winning home run in the top of the tenth inning to give the Mets the lead.  Prior to the home run, David Wright singled in Jose Reyes to tie the game at 4-4 in the top of the ninth inning.  Wright and Easley came up huge for the Mets!

Wright led the Mets at the plate with two rbi while Easley, Marlon Anderson, and Carlos Delgado all had one rbi each.  Delgado’s rbi came off a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Duaner Sanchez ended up getting the victory and is now 3-0 on the season.  Billy Wagner shut the door on the Angles in the bottom of the tenth inning to record his 16th save of the season.  Mets starting pitcher Oliver Perez pitched six inning while allowing nine his and four runs to get the no decision.

The Mets and Angels will play once again on Thursday.  The winner will win the series and it could be a huge step for the Mets if they can come away with the victory.

Mets Blog

A new manager, the same outcome that most Mets fans have come accustomed to this season.  Jerry Manuel’s first game as interim manager of the Mets didn’t go as he had hoped as the Mets were beaten by the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 on Tuesday night.  It was supposed to be a big pitchers duel between John Lackey and Johan Santana but Lackey got the best of the Mets while Santana gave up three early runs.

Santana gave up three runs in the first inning as the Mets fell behind early in the game.  An error in the first by Carlos Delgado helped the Angels in the first inning but Santana was still having problems without that error.  Santana ended up throwing six innings and giving up eight hits and five runs (four earned).  Jeff Mathis took Santana deep in the sixth inning as well.

Aaron Heilman and Claudio Vargas both pitched one inning in relief. Heilman pitched a scoreless seventh inning but Vargas gave up a run in the eighth inning on a infield single.

The one run for the Mets came in the first inning when David Wright grounded into a double play that scored Damion Easley.  Easley was pitch running for Jose Reyes who left the game in the first inning with some tightness in his left hamstring.  Hopefully Reyes won’t be out too long but you never know with a hammy.

Mets Blog

The New York Mets wrapped up their three game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon.  The Mets lost the rubber game of the series 5-4 in 10 innings.

Johan Santana started the game and put up probably his best performance so far in a Mets uniform.  He looked sharp, giving up just three hits, and three walks in seven innings of work while striking out 10-that’s right 10!  Of course, the bull pen tried to blow it for him.  Joe Smith came in to pitch the eighth and worked just 2/3 of a inning giving up two walks and two hits and allowing to runs to score.  Scott Schoeneweis came in to record the last out of the inning and preserve the Mets lead.

The Mets scored first in the second inning on a home run by Ramon Castro.  The second run of the game came off an RBI double by David Wright in the bottom of the third.  In the bottom of the 7^th with Dan Harren out of the game, the Mets added two runs.  Damion Easley was hit by a pitch, and Ramon Castro hit a long fly ball to center that was misplayed by Chris Young, Easley would advance to third on the double.  Both Castro and Easly would score on an RBI single to center off the bat of Fernando Tatis.  Jose Reyes hit a double that advanced Tatis to third, Endy Chavez drew a walk and with one out and the bases loaded, Edgar Gonzalez came in to the game-he would get David Wright to hit a pop up in foul territory on the first base side that was caught by Conner Jackson.  He would have to face Carlos Beltran again, but this time Gonzalez won the battle when Carlos flied out to centerfield to end the inning.  Stranding those runners would come back to haunt the Mets because our buddy Billy Wagner would blow another one. 

Wagner came in with a two run lead and with an opportunity to redeem himself from his disastrous outing in Wednesday night’s game.  Actually, Willie Randolph caught some heat for bringing him in after Pelfrey put a runner on to start the ninth.  See, apparently Billy can’t seem to get it up, (his intensity that is) to come into the game in the middle of an inning.  For Wagner, when he starts an inning he is 44-50 in save opportunities with a 2.05 ERA and has given up just six homeruns in those 88 innings.  That is a stark contrast when you compare Wagner’s numbers where he comes into a game in the middle of an inning; he is 3-6 in save chances with a 7.11 ERA, and has given up 3 homers in 6 1/3 innings.  I actually don’t think that Randolph made the wrong move.  Mike Pelfrey did not want to come out of the game and asked Randolph to leave him in.  Pelfrey pitched really well and deserved a shot at a complete game.  Billy Wagner needs to suck it up and do what has to be done.  I think that is especially true when you are the guy who has a lot to say to the media.  

So, I’m not sure then what his excuse was for giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in Thursday’s game.  He started the inning by walking the lead off man Miguel Montero, he then gave up a single to Stephen Drew, Chris Young doubled to left, scoring Montero, and allowing Drew to advance to third.  Augie Ojeda walked to load the bases, Orlando Hudson grounded to Jose Reyes who threw Drew out at the plate.  Connor Jackson hit a grounder to Jose Reyes, who flipped the ball to second base to get the force, but Drew would score and tie the game at four.  Wagner was able to strike out Mark Reynolds on a called third strike to end the inning, but the damage was done.  The Mets failed to score any runs in the bottom of the ninth and for a second straight game, the game went into extra innings.   

In the top of the tenth Aaron Heilman started the inning by giving up a double to Justin Upton, Jeff Salazar moved the runner to third on a sac bunt, and Upton would score on a sac fly by Miguel Montero.  The Mets could get nothing going offensively in the bottom of the ninth, Ramon Castro hit a popup in foul territory that was playable by Connor Jackson, Luis Castillo pinch hit for Heilman, getting aboard with a soft roller to second.  However, Chris Aguila hit into a double play to end the game. 

It can’t be lost on the Mets that as a team, they left 11 guys on base; the heart of the order being the biggest culprits, Wright stranded five, while Beltran stranded four.  They had opportunities and could not capitalize.  But today’s debacle belongs to the bullpen.  They were handed a four run lead and only had to hold it for three innings.  That is the problem though.  You can’t point to just one thing that is wrong with this team.  If you could then at least it could be fixed. When they get offense, and good starting pitching the bull pen stinks and so on.  This week it happens to be the bullpen, next week it will be the offense.   This team is a mess.  Whatever the case is, it is starting to look like a lost cause, and with that I am at a loss for words. 

The Mets start an interleague series with the Texas Rangers.  Oliver Perez will start for the Mets and he will be opposed by Scott Feldman.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. 

 Mets Blog 

The New York Mets coming off a terrible weekend opened a three game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday.  The Mets had John Maine on the mound and Moises Alou back in the lineup.  Early in the day, the Mets held a players only meeting behind closed doors where they discussed their goals for the rest of the season.  They all carried a sheet of paper that is their “blue print” for success.  Written on the paper were some motivational messages like, “team before self”, “We B4 I”, “We have time”.  The Mets plan was to go 62-38, finish with 92 wins and make the playoffs.  However, things didn’t exactly work out for the Mets and their little plan as they dropped the series opener 9-5 and put themselves in the midst of their second five game losing streak of the season.

The Diamondbacks scored first but the Mets came back in the bottom of the inning and scored three runs to take a 3-1 lead.  In the bottom of the second with a runner on base, David Wright hit his 12^th homerun of the season, giving the Mets a 5-1 lead.  That lead would not stay for long as Orland Hundson hit a two run homer in the top of the fifth to cut the Mets lead 5-3. 

John Maine left the game after five innings, giving up five hits, three earned runs, three walks and seven strikeouts; he left the game after five innings because he had thrown 101 pitches.  It has been the same old story for Maine, he leads the majors in the amount of pitches thrown, and he is 30^th in the league in the amount of innings pitched.  John ends up throwing too many pitches early and as a result does not go deep into games.  He doesn’t always make adjustments, or isn’t able to close out innings.  And Tuesday night was no different.

Claudio Vargas was on the mound in relief with a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth, he walked the lead off man then retired Chris Snyder on a liner to left.  With one and and one on, Justin Upton was hit by a pitch, and a grounder by Jeff Salazar allowed the runners to advance a base; both would score on Augie Ojeda singler that just made it past the glove of a diving Carlos Delgado and rolled into right field.  Ojeda would take second on Endy Chavez’s throw to home, but was stranded there when Vargas retired Chris Young to end the inning.

There was some excitement when in the top of the seventh inning, the weather worsened and the Umps suspended play, Billy Wagner and Scott Schoeneweis came out of the bullpen to help the grounds crew secure the tarp on the field.  All I could think, as nice as it was that they helped out, I figured one of them would end up breaking a finger or spraining their ankle.  Luckily though, the tarp went down without injury and the Mets were on a rain delay for about an hour.  After the rain delay, Joe Smith gave up a homerun to Chris Snyder in the top of the eighth to give the Diamondbacks a 6-5 lead.  The Diamondbacks would hit two homers off Duaner Sanchez in the top of the ninth to make it 9-5.  It should be noted that when Rick Pederson visited the mound in the ninth and when Willie Randolph came to the mound to remove Sanchez from the game, they were both booed. 

As I mentioned before, Alou finally returned to the Mets line up after missing 18 games with a strained right calf.  The Mets are playing their 63^rd game of the season and Moises Alou has played in 15 of them. Judging by this, he should be hurt again by Saturday.  Seriously though, Alou hit the first pitch he saw and drove in two runs.  For the night Alou was 1-2 with 2 RBI.  After the rain delay, he was replaced by Damion Easley because of stiffness in his calf.  Marlon Anderson also came off the DL and pinch hit in the bottom of the seventh.      

 The Mets placed Ryan Church on the DL retroactive to last Friday.  It is thought that he should be able to join the team when they return to Colorado at the end of June.  This whole thing has been a mess and handled so poorly.  Church will not be allowed to resume any baseball activity until he is 100% symptom free, and according to Mets brass, they will make their decision solely on medical advice of Church’s neurologist.  Great, only took them three weeks to figure out what to do.  Consider this, Moises Alou had talked his way off the DL and into the starting line up last weekend during the Padres series, but the Mets waited until Tuesday to allow him to play because they wanted to be “cautious.”   I don’t know if that is an example that the Mets realize that Alou is made of glass or if they really just didn’t pay attention to what was happening with Church but you really have to do a better job than that.  If they had paid closer attention to Church’s condition, maybe he would not be going through this right now.       

Also, I know that it is still technically early, and that headed into play Tuesday night there were 100 games left in the season, but dating back to exactly on year ago the Mets are now 82-82.  There is no reason to believe that the Mets are going to pick it up any time soon and turn this around.  I love the fact that the manager Willie Randolph says that there are still 100 games left to play.  I am sick of hearing that there is a lot of baseball left to play.  What will the excuse be when there are only 81 games left in the season?  Is that still a lot of baseball left to play?  Or, how about last year with 17 games to play, was that a lot less baseball left to play?  Yes, so your point is that the Mets can turn this around.  Funny though, we were saying to ourselves in September there are only 17 games to go, the Mets can’t possibly blow this.  The Mets are not playing well now, they haven’t played well in a whole year, and the fact that it just keeps getting worse, isn’t lost on anyone.  People can clamor all they want about it isn’t Willies fault, or that there is still 100 games to go, but time is running out and the longer the Mets let this go, the harder it will be to over come.  If I was Willie I would be really annoyed by the fact that once the Mets had the lead then went on cruise control.  I don’t know if they have this false sense of security or maybe it is a sense of entitlement, whatever it is, they need to stay in the game, and play the whole game.   

The Mets continue the series with the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night, Mike Pelfrey will pitch for the Mets and the Diamondbacks will have Brandon Webb on the mound.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

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