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 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

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

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 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 

Outfielder Moises Alou will be out for the next four to six weeks after discovery he has a hernia.  Alou is to have surgery on the hernia Thursday.  He is going to have a long and boring four to six weeks as he can’t do anything baseball related the doctors are saying.

The injury to Alou could really open the door for Angel Pagan to crack the starting lineup.  Pagan has had a good spring training so far, so I think he could fit in nicely for Alou.

Mets Blog