The New York Mets dropped their second game to the San Diego Padres 2-1 on Friday night.  The Mets offense was absent, as they went 1-5 with runners in scoring positions, leaving the bases loaded twice.  However, it should be noted that the Padres also made some great defensive plays that kept the Mets bats in check. 

Johan Santana started for the Mets last night, giving up seven hits over six innings, two runs, one earned, with five strike outs and only one walk.  However, it was Santana’s throwing error that lead to a run in the bottom of the sixth.  I know it is going to sound like I am bagging on Santana, but it seems like a few too many times we’ve seen him get the lead in one half of the inning and then come back in and give it up.  Granted, Santana got no help from his team’s offense last night, and I know everyone says he has always been better in the second half.  But, while he has been good, he isn’t a good as I thought he would be.  Sometimes I wonder if the expectations exceed what he is actually capable of accomplishing.  

The Mets lone run of the night came in the top of the sixth inning; it was Johan Santana who scored the run.  Santana reached base on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a base hit up the middle by Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo hit a single to right that would move the runners, with the bases loaded David Wright drove a fast ball to deep center field that Scott Hairston made an amazing play on, it was called a sac fly but that would have been a Grand Slam anywhere else.  The Mets would leave the bases loaded as Damion Easley grounded weakly to short to end the inning. 

On a side note, could Luis Castillo hustle, even a little bit?  He was embarrassed in the bottom of the first inning when he casually played a ground ball, the runner was hustling, he was not, and the runner was safe at first.  While it didn’t cost the Mets a run, it is frustrating to see a guy play like that, especially when you are stuck with the guy for at least two years. 

Ryan Church did not play again Friday night, and although he did not comment on why he was he wasn’t even available to pinch hit, someone from the Mets clubhouse mentioned that Church is still suffering from vertigo.  When Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen were talking about Chruch during the telecast, they mentioned that some thing isn’t right with Church and that you can tell when you talk to him that he isn’t himself.  The Mets are taking the approach that they have done the right thing here, but maybe it is time for Church to go on the DL and get him well, and back on track.  The Mets miss him in the line up, but he has to be healthy.

Losing these two games to the Padres is a bad job by the Mets.  The Padres are the worst team in the National League and on a weekend when the Braves and the Phillies are beating up on each other the Mets could really capitalize with some wins and improve their standing in the NL East.  Mets better get it together, because we know how quickly things take a nose dive for them. 

The Mets and Padres play again Saturday, first pitch is scheduled for 10:05 p.m.  Oliver Perez will pitch for the Mets; he is coming off a horrendous against the Giants, Perez managed to record only one out before he had to leave the game after giving up 6 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks.  Hopefully he’ll pitch a little better tonight because the Mets need to win this game.  The Padres will send Cha Seung Baek to the mound; he is 1-2 with a 5.60 era.    

Mets Blog

The New York Mets used a huge fifth inning where they scored eight runs to defeat the San Francisco Giants by the score of 9-6.  It was awesome to see Pedro Martinez back on the mound and even getting a couple of hits in the game!  It was good win for the Mets, who really need to string together four or five wins in a row.

Martinez tossed six innings and gave up seven hits and three runs to get his first win of the season.  Martinez also had two hits and an rbi at the plate.  Maybe he was working on his batting all this time he was on the disabled list lol.

Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano both threw scoreless innings after Pedro left the game but then the Mets called on Scott Schoeneweis who let three runs score and make the game a lot closer then it should have been.  Billy Wagner was able to record the last two outs of the game and pick up his 12th save.

Damion Easley was the big man at the plate for the Mets as he finished with three rbi while going 3-4.  While Easley had three rbi, it was six other Mets players that all chipped in with one rbi each.  Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Church, Carlos Delgado, and Martinez all had one rbi.  That is a lot of production up and down the lineup.

The Mets will play the Giants once again on Wednesday as they play an afternoon game out in San Francisco.  Mets Blog

The New York Mets in unlikely fashion beat the Florida Marlins 7-6 in a 12 inning game in which the Mets came from behind not once, but twice to win.  For a second game, Personal Relations Director Jay Horowitz donned a hideous orange jacket.  Horowitz first wore the jacket on Tuesday night, and it seems will have to wear it until the Mets lose, let’s hope he is wearing that jacket for a long time!  The jacket is a leftover from Jeromey Burnitz era and has often been worn by Pedro Martinez as a club house joke.  Well, the luck it has brought the Mets the last two nights isn’t a joke, for the second night in a row the Mets not only notched a win, but they actually looked better as a team.   

The Mets jumped out to an early lead against Marlin’s starter Scott Olson on Luis Castillo’s two run homer in the bottom of the first inning.  The Mets would tack on another run in the bottom of the fourth on a sac fly by Fernando Tatis.  In the bottom of the fifth Jose Reyes would extend the Mets lead with his seventh homerun of the season.  Reyes extended his hitting streak to 13 games, and has safely reached base in 28 consecutive games.   

The Mets had a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning when Oliver Perez seemed to just lose his concentration.  Although Perez had allowed two homeruns earlier in the evening he had been pitching well, but in the sixth inning with one out, Perez walked Wes Helms; Dan Uggla hit a ball that David Wright was unable to make a play on.  So, with two on and one out Cody Ross came to the plate with one homerun under his belt and on a 2-1 count Ross hit his second home run of the game, a line drive to left field, the Marlins would take the lead 5-4. 

At that point, we knew that the Mets were 1-19 when they trailed in the 6^th inning, however, unlike those other games, the Mets didn’t give up.  They got excellent pitching the rest of the way, and in the bottom of the ninth inning, Endy Chavez came to the plate pinch hitting for Ramon Castro and tied the game with homerun to right field sending the game into extra innings. 

The Mets got great pitching the rest of the way, Scott Schoeneweis put up 0’s.  Aaron Heilman who is suddenly the Renaissance man, was dominant in his two innings of work he didn’t give up a hit and had four strikeouts. After pitching the ninth inning on Tuesday night, Billy Wagner pitched in the 10^th  and recoreded two strikeouts.  Duaner Sanchez pitched the eleventh, and actually had an at bat in the bottom of the inning recording a sac bunt.  After leaving a runner is scoring position in the bottom of the 11^th the Mets looked as if they might be in trouble in the top of the 12th when Alfredo Amezaga took Sanchez deep, giving the Marlins the lead 6-5.  But, the Mets would not be deterred this time, with the heart of the order due up to lead off the bottom of the 12^th, David Wright walked to start  the inning and Carlos Beltran hit a single to left that advanced Wright to third.  Damion Easley came up and struck out swinging, up next was Fernando Tatis who was playing for the injured Ryan Church, and he came through for the Mets hitting a rocket down the left field line that allowed both Wright and Beltran to score and the Met to win the game. 

It was great to watch the guys celebrate the victory, the guys rushed out of the dugout to greet Wright, Beltran and Tatis, jumping and pounding on each other, it was great to see them celebrate.  The Mets have had a long arduous season thus far and you really got the feeling that as much as they were elated with the victory, getting a come from behind win like that in extra innings, at least for one night, got the monkey off their backs.  It was a great game and the Mets played well.  

The Mets got good news regarding Pedro Martinez and his first rehab start.  Pitching in Port St. Lucie, Pedro threw 82 pitches, 63 of which were strikes, he gave up 4 hits and two earned runs-everything came in the fourth inning in the 2-1 loss to Vero Beach.  Pedro is scheduled to pitch for the Mets Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants.

Mets got not so great news about Ryan Church. Church visited a neurologist after suffering ill affects from a concussion he sustained in a game against the Braves.  Church has been told that he must rest and he has to avoid light.  Church has also been instructed that he has to be symptom free for 48 hours before he can resume baseball activity. 

The Mets open up a series against the Los Angels, Brad Penny will pitch for the Dodger and the Mets will counter with Claudio Vargas.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.   

Mets Blog

The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins 5-3 on Tuesday night.  Johan Santana pitched well and the Mets scored just enough that they were able to hold on and get the win.  It was just the Mets second win in nine games, but it was a good one, and for at least one night this Met fan left the ball park happy. 

There was a shake up in the Mets line up last night, manager Willie Randolph said “Give me players that want to play,” and he put together a line up that was without Carlos Delgado.  I believe it was a good move by Randolph to bench Delgado on Tuesday night.  According to New York papers, it was Delgado’s occasional defensive indifference that played a role in Willie benching him.  Randolph said he told Delgado that he has to “pick it up” and that Delgado was not happy about what Randolph had to say.  Good job by Willie because as it turns out, it was all about the bench guys last night.  Fernando Tatis played right field going 2-3 with 2 RBI and a stolen base, Ramon Castro was 2-3 with 2 RBI, Damion Easley played first and 1-3 with an RBI that came on a sac fly in the first.  Both Tatis’ and Castro’s RBI came with two outs, something the Mets have trouble doing. 

Johan Santana was good again last night, giving the Mets what they needed, and was their stopper once again.  Santana pitched 7 innings, giving up 8 hits, three earned runs, two walks, and 7K’s   He did allowed a homerun to Cody Ross.  That was 12th homerun Santana has allowed this season, he gave up 10 all of last year.  Duaner Sanchez pitched a scoreless eighth and Billy Wagner retired the side in order in the ninth.  

All in all the Mets did play much better last night.  Maybe it was a clear sign to them that Carlos Delgado was sitting on the bench and that Nick Evans was playing the field, a contrast between an indifferent veteran and an eager rookie.  That is all us Mets fans are looking for, guys who want to play the game.  Yes, ok, we’d like some wins too, and last night we got one.  

The Mets and Marlins wrap up the rubber game of the series tonight.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.  Oliver Perez will pitch for the Mets and Scott Olson will throw for the Marlins.  

 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 escaped with a 3-2 win in fourteen innings against the Washington Nationals Thursday night.  Damion Easley scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the Mets the win.

Ryan Church and Carlos Delgado both had one RBI each for the Mets.

Jorge Sosa was the winning pitcher for the Mets as he improved his record to 2-1 on the season.  Nelson Figueroa had started the game for the Mets and pitched pretty good he just didn’t get any run support in the ballgame.  Figuerora pitched seven innings and only allowed three hits and two runs.  His one mistake was in the fourth inning when Nick Johnson hit a two-run home run off him.

The Mets were lucky to come away with the win against the Nationals.  I think if it would have been any other team other then the Nationals, the Mets would have been on the losing side.  What do you think?

Mets Blog

The New York Mets made the Philadelphia Phillies pay for their four errors as they scored six unearned runs on their way to a 8-2 victory.  The Mets did exactly what any team should do when the other team struggles to play defense.  Make them pay, and make them pay by scoring a lot of runs.

Mike Pelfrey picked up his first win of 2008 in the game.  Pelfrey lasted five innings and gave up five hits and two earned runs.  Jorge Sosa, Pedro Feliciano, and Carlos Muniz all pitched out of the bullen and pitched very good.

Angel Pagan led the Mets at the plate with two RBI’s.  Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Damion Easley all finished the game with one RBI each.

Mets Blog