Game 1  Mets 7 Phillies 4 The Mets took an early lead on a Daniel Murphy HR in the first and never looked back. Chan Ho Park started for Phillies and looked like he should have retired four years ago.  The real story was Mike Pelfrey who pitched better than his line indicated.  He only went 5 1/3 giving up 3 earned but it’s deceiving.  He had a minor meltdown in the 3^rd giving up all 3 runs but threw the ball well otherwise.  What you need to look for with Pelfrey is groundballs. His groundball to flyball ratio tonite was 2-1.  10 grounders to 5 balls in the air.  That shows you he’s got good stuff that particular game.  Mike also knocked in 2 runs with a sac fly and a single.

Game 2  Phillies 6 Mets 5 (10 innings) This is a game the Mets could have/should have won. In spite of the dreadful performance by Ollie Perez the Mets had a one run lead in the sixth but the Phils tied it on a HR by Raul Ibanez. This guys hitting like he’s Ty Cobb re-incarnate.  Pedro Feliciano gave up HR’s to Ibanez and Utley in the two games. Now Pedro’s job is to get lefty’s out, if he’s not doing that, well…. In fairness to Feliciano, giving up a HR in this bandbox is not hard to do.  Murphy hit two HR’s here, if that don’t tell you something, I don’t what will.  MLB should look into what a joke this place is.  No wonder the Phillies have three MVP candidates, all stats are inflated playing 81 games in this whiffle ball stadium.  The Mets battled today though. After Perez had them behind the eight ball early I thought they were in trouble with Jamie Moyer on the hill for Philadelphia.  But the Mets chipped away and went ahead in the sixth on back to back HR’s by Murphy and Castro and a single from Castillo which scored Alex Cora.  Let me take a moment to say how impressed I am with Cora.  What a heady, fundamentally sound player. A great addition.  The Phils tied it on the aforementioned HR by Ibanez in the bottom of the inning.  The Mets almost took the lead back in the eighth but Jason Werth threw out Omir Santos at the plate.  JJ Putz looked as good as I’ve seen him so far tossing a scoreless eighth and ninth.  Sean Green came in for the tenth (Was Rodriguez unavailable?) and promptly became the pitching version of Rick Ankiel.  A slow roller down to third for an infield hit seemed to unnerve Green.  Two walks and a hit batter and it was the Mets walking off losers of a game they could have taken.

Game 3 Rained Out..No make up announced yet. 

What to do with Ollie Perez?  On Saturday after his brutal performance (9.97 ERA for the season) Ollie said he was embarrassed and would accept a minor league assignment to work on his pitching or lack thereof.  By Sunday he had though better of this and had cooled to the idea.  But now, all of a sudden, according to him his knee hurts and has been hurting since spring training.  Hmmmm.  Can you say DL?  Kinda like Wang of the crosstown evil empire.  He went on the DL and is working it out in the Yanks minor league facility in Tampa.  Ollie is only 1/3 as bad as Wang was.  Wang’s ERA is, like, 34.50 or something.  Ollie’s giving up 24 less runs per game than that.  But what’s the difference if you accept a minor league assignment or go on the DL and go work out at the minor league facility? Perception?  Whatever lets these high strung prima donnas sleep at night I guess.

Game 1 Mets 4 Nationals Johan Santana was great again. Santana gave up only a 6^th inning HR to Nick Johnson while striking out 10. Mets scored single runs in the 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th and 8^th innings to get Johan his third win. Jesus Flores homered in the ninth off K-Rod to make it close. Uh..with our stellar catchers, how did we let Flores get away? 

Game 2  Mets 8 Nationals 2 Three errors and five walks by the visitors helped the Mets win going away.  Carlos Beltran had three hits and Ryan Church knocked in three to pace the Amazin’s attack. Mike Pelfrey was much better in his return from tendonitis in his forearm. I knew only one other guy who developed tendonitis in his forearm but that was from…uh, nevermind.

Game 3 Nationals 8  Mets 1 Oliver Perez reverts to form giving up 7 earned in 4 1/3. Manuel says Perez will get one more start in the Phillie series before a decision is made on his immediate future. Ollie is now sportin’ a 9.31 ERA. Nice work if you can get it for $12 million per. Jesus Flores homered again. He was 5 for 8, 3 runs scored, 5 RBI and 2 HR’s in the two games he played. Think he might get up a little more against the team that let him go?

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Game 1: Cardinals 6 Mets 4  Another poor outting by the overpaid Oliver Perez.  Perez pitched 4.2 innings allowing four earned runs on six hits.  He walked five and stuck out four.  I know that Perez has good numbers against the Phillies, Braves and Yankees, and yes, those are big games for the Mets-games the fans really want to win, but if Perez can’t pitch to the teams in between those series, then he is useless to the Mets.  Really though, the Mets had this one and again, scored early and the bats died late.  Also, I’d like to stop hearing how the Mets should have signed Derek Lowe-I really believe that he didn’t want to pitch in New York; the only problem now is that the Mets will have to contend with him in their division-and it seems that Lowe is the only good thing the Braves have going for them at this point in the season.  This is also a game that Daniel Murphy would like to forget; terrible base running and even worse fielding did not really make this one of Dan’s best days.  I know the kid is playing out of position and at the beginning of the season, I felt the Mets were hoping that Castillo would get off to a good start so that they might have the possibility of moving him by or before the trade deadline and actually moving Murphy to second base, there is no indication that the Mets are going to do that it is merely wishful thinking on my part!  You can now point to two games that poor defense by Murphy has cost the Mets a win-I’d like to not have to hold my breath every time a ball is hit in his direction, it has become quite an adventure out there in left these days! 

Game 2: Cardinals 5 Mets 2 Oh look, more of the same.  Putrid pitching by John Maine put the Mets in a hole early, Maine gave up one in the first, two in the third and two in the fourth inning.  Maine walked five while only striking out two.  Again, the Mets left 11 guys on base;  Carlos Beltran continued to swing a hot bat, but David Wright seems to night be able to do anything at the plate when there is a guy on base-if the Mets are going to do anything, Wright has got to pick it up at the plate.

Game 3: Cardinals 12 Mets 8  Guess what happend in this game?  Oh-right, more awful pitching, more guys left on base, 20 to be exact.  Albert Pujols punished mets pitchers by hitting two homers (but what Cardinal didn’t get a hit?).  Not only did Livian struggle but Sean Green, who has been less than impressive stunk too.  The best thing about this game is, it was the last of the three game series which means the Mets return home to start a three game series with the Nationals.  Not that that will be a given for the Mets as they’ve had trouble with the Nats in recent years. 

Mike Pelfrey will return to the rotation on Saturday after resting a strained forearm-I can’t even predict what we’ll see.  There is talk that Mike Pelfrey (and possibly Oliver Perez) could be sent down if they don’t perfom well.  I’m sure it is just talk because what other options do they have? 

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Game 1: Mets 5 Brewers 4 Highlighted by Gary Sheffield’s 500^th HR the Mets were able to come from behind to edge the Brewers. Livian Hernandez looked good thru 5 innings but lost it in the 6^th. You could see it coming too. Jerry Manuel left Livian in there a bit too long and he surrendered a 3 run homer to Ryan Braun leaving the Mets on the short side of a 4-3 deficit. Sheffield took care of that with a pinch hit HR to tie it in the 7^th. It was a good AB by Sheff too. Fouled off quite a few pitches before getting one on the inside half that he deposited in the left field stands. The Mets won it in the bottom of the ninth when an infield hit from Castillo scored Carlos Delgado from third. 

Game 2: Mets 1 Brewers 0 This is what is going to be known as a “chalkboard” game from here on out. As in “this is how we draw it up on the chalkboard”. Santana goes 7 strong (more on Johan later), Putz in the 8^th and Frankie Rodriguez in the 9^th for the save. This is how we envisioned it isn’t it? The Mets scored the only run of the game in the 7^th on a walk to Castro, an error by Weeks trying to take the throw at first on a sac bunt by Cora, and a hot shot by Reyes. And I mean a HOT SHOT. After Omir Santos made it to third on the error (he was pinch running for Castro. How often do you see a catcher pinch run? But I could run faster than Castro.) But back to Reyes, he knocked the glove off Villanueva’s hand. Seriously. I’m not kidding. He hit a liner back to the box that ripped the glove of his hand. The Brewers got a force at second but the only run of the game had already scored. Santana has now given up one, that’s right, one earned run in three starts. ERA…0.46. Yet, he’s only 2-1. But when Johan is on the mound its must see T.V.

Game 3: Brewers 4  Mets 2 The Mets were like 2 for a million with runners in scoring position leaving a thousand guys on base. Suppan pitched well enough to win and Todd Coffey got an eight out save. Don’t see that too often anymore. Coffey was able to wiggle out of bases loaded, one out, jams in the 7^th and 8^th. He got double plays both times. Both on hard hit shots by Delgado and Santos. Sometimes you hit ‘em right at ‘em. This leaves the Mets hitting .236 with RISP so far this year. Twelve games is not a lot so far but this seems to be a continuation from last year. Let’s hope not. 

But are twelve games enough to get a read? Let’s see, 6-6. Hitting? Eh. Bullpen? Great, lowest ERA in the majors so far. Starters? Santana and Hernandez are good; Maine, Pelfrey and Ollie are erratic. Didn’t we know that already?

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The mets dropped another series, this time to the Pods, to start the season at 4-5. 

Game 1 – Padres 6 Mets 5 Mike Pelfrey looked shaky (Now we know it’s forearm tendonitis) again.  David Wright brought the Amazins’ back with a three blast but bad outfield “D’ costs the mets for second game in a row. After Daniel Murphy staggered around like a drunk under a fly ball in Miami, Ryan Church turned the wrong way and had a long drive go off his glove for a three base error.  It was hardly a routine play but this IS the majors after all.  This proved to be the deciding play as this runner scored the go ahead run.  I know the guys are still getting use to their new surroundings, but as a team they have made eight errors.  Jerry Manual mentioned that he would like for the Mets to play better defense.  Gee..thanks Skip!

Game 2- Mets 7 Padres 2 Shoddy play by the Friars led to a victory by the home team. The Mets scored 4 runs in the 7^th to break open a close game. This may have been the WORST inning I’ve seen a big league team play in quite some time.  Four runs on no hits. Yeah, I know, Luis Castillo was credited with a hit.  Really?  Bitch, please.  Walks, errant throws around the bases, wild pitches.  Jose Reyes scored from first and he was only tryin’  to steal second.  Solid game for Ollie.  Good job by Manual for getting him outta there on a high note. 

Game 3—Padres 6 Mets 5 John Maine was bad. End of story.  After being staked to a 3 run lead on a long (449ft) HR by Carlos Delgado in the first, maine gave up 5 in the third and one more in the fifth.  Time after time Maine gets a guy down 0-2 or 1-2 and can’t put him away. He’s GOT to develop another pitch.  Fastball up and slider low and away is not cutting it anymore. SD’s LF Headley went 4-4 and was down in the count each time. The difference between elite pitchers and journeymen was on display clearly last night.  Jake Peavy gave up Delgado’s HR then shut the door.  Time after time the Mets had runners in scoring position but Peavy got big outs when it counted.  This is something I’ve noticed Santana does as well. Buckle down with runners on and get out of it.

I think what is most frustrating is the Mets let guys like Heath Bell and Duaner Sanchez shut them out like that.  I know the Mets as a team have said all kinds of stuff about last season and growing as a team and moving on; but really the Mets didn’t have much life in these three games and I do think we are getting close to the point where we might have to start to worry.  The staring pitching has stunk early (with the exception of Johan) and the Mets are still lacking those big hits with runners in scoring position.  The Brewers come to town for three-maybe that will spark something in the Mets when they get to see their old friend Willie Randolph.

On a side note, when Heath Bell came in to close the Mets down I couldn’t help but think how much he lookes like one of my favorite comics: 

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Game 2 Mets 8 Marlins 4. This game was closer than it needed to be.  Livan Hernandez made his Mets debut, he looked good. Hernandez pitched six and two thirds innings allowing two runs on six hits, he walked three and struck out four.  Darren O’Day worked a scoreless eight inning but ran into some trouble when David Wright made a throwing error in the bottom of the ninth, O’Day faced one more hitter before Frankie Rodriguez came in to finish out the game.  I don’t know what is up with David Wright; we’ve seen him do some nice work with the glove but for whatever reason he can’t seem to throw to first.  As far as offense goes, Jose Reyes was 2-5 with an RBI double and a two run homer.  What is even more amazing, Luis Castillo was 4-4 with one RBI and three runs scored, he started the night hitting .100 at the end of the game his average went up to .375 (gotta love what the early season can do for the batting average).  Jerry Manual told Castillo that he needs to be more aggressive at the plate and for at least one night that worked.  Oh-David Wright did have an RBI in the game, but it was off the brick that Dan Uggla uses as a glove, and it came when the game was 6-2. 

Game 3 Mets 1 Marlins 2. Not much to tell here.  Johan pitched his ass off; but Josh Johnson pitched better.  Johnson owns the Mets and now has a 5-0 record against the Mets.  The hitters couldn’t get much going; they finally scored a run in the top of the ninth inning but fell short when Ryan Church flied out to end the game.  The bigger part of all of this is that Daniel Murphy dropped a fly ball with two out in the second; one run to scored and then Ronnie Paulino hit a single to drive in the second unearned run.  The New York press is making a big deal because Johan commented after the game that the differences in the game was the error.  There has been a lot of back and forth about what Johan said, personally I read the quotes in the paper and watch the post game interview and my opinion is…his comments weren’t a big deal. 

The Padres come to town for three games and the opening of Citi Field. The Mets will have Pelfrey, Perez and Maine pitching against the Padres.

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Thursday: Mets 6 Reds 8  Oliver Perez took the loss, he worked just four and a third, allowing eight earned runs; he walked five and struck out seven.  And here is what I don’t get-really I don’t get it, he looked dominant early, he did strike out seven but then suddenly he just stinks-how does that happen?  And how is it that a guy who is as talented as he is just loses it in the middle of a game?  Every time he pitches like this-we, as Mets fans are going to be thinking about how we dropped the ball (so to speak) with Lowe.  The bullpen really kept the Mets in the game once Ollie was pulled, but the offense just didn’t come back.  The Mets scored first putting a three spot on the board in the third to take the lead and although the Mets didn’t throw in the towel after Ollie gave up eight, scoring one run in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, in the end they fell short. 

There was a Gary Sheffield sighting, he struck out as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning of yesterday’s game.  I’m not sure that Ryan Church has a lot to worry about at this point, his defense is outstanding-did you catch that play on Monday?  On top of that Church is hitting .455 with two doubles and two RBI.  I’m rooting for Church!  

Clearly, the Mets rotation is going to be a topic of conversation. They did little in the off season to address that situation. Pelfrey had a tough outing as did Perez. We know that they both have talent, but do they have guts? We’ll see what happens with Maine tonight. Obviously there are no worries with Santana. Hernandez is a work horse and has looked good this spring. Who cares how good the bullpen might be if our starters are going out there and giving up five or six runs a start. 

The Mets will fly east to Miami to start a three game series with the Marlins. John Maine will face off against Anibal Sanchez, game time is 7:10 p.m. 

Our thoughts go out to the family of Nick Adenhart and the Los Angles Angels of Anaheim. 

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