Bleacher Report - Articles by How Bout Them Mets

Dodgers Make First Trip to Citi Field

How Bout Them Mets — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:11:08 -0400

Now is not a good time to be a Mets fan. Injuries to three key everyday players have left the Mets with what looks like a AAA lineup that can’t score any runs. The possible return of Oliver Perez this week sounds like nails scratching on a chalkboard. Oh yeah, and the team with the best record in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, come to town for a three-game set starting Tuesday.

The LA Dodgers, simply put, are the best. They are the best when their best player is on the field, and still the best when he isn’t. The Dodgers held the best record in baseball, 21-8 before Manny Ramirez was suspended 50 games for violating MLB’s steroid policy. They were the best team in the NL without him (only the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays held better marks then the Dodgers 29-21 record), and now are back to old form upon his return.

The key for this team is not just Manny. A very well rounded lineup featuring speed at the top (Rafael Furcal, Orlando Hudson), power in he middle (Ramirez, Eithier, Kemp, Loney), and contact hitters at the bottom (Blake, Martin) has been the glue.

The pitching staff, led by ace Chad Billingsly, and the next Sandy Koufax, Clayton Kershaw, has been dominant as well, combining for a 3.57 ERA.

Player to watch: Manny Ramirez, left field. Ramirez’s impact on the game has been undeniable. He brought the Red Sox two championships and now looks primed to bring the Dodgers their first title since 1988. This season, Manny is hitting .333 with seven home runs and 21 RBI in just 98 at-bats and despite missing 50 games due to suspension, he is tied for seventh in the NL with eight intentional walks. Any team is instantly a contender and probably one of the best in baseball with him in the lineup.

The Mets on the on the other hand are coming off a sweep at the hands of the rival Phillies, pushing them four games back of the division lead, in which we scored a grand total of three runs. Does anything more have to be said? The Dodgers are clearly the class of the NL and might be the best team in baseball while the Mets have become the hapless mutts. Look for the Dodgers to take two out of three and make Mets fans even more miserable then they already are.

The pitching matchups and game times are as follows:

Tuesday, July 7, 7:10 pm

Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw (5-5 3.49 ERA)

Mets: Mike Pelfrey (6-3 4.26 ERA)

Wednesday, July 8, 7:10 pm

Dodgers: Hiroki Kuroda (3-4 3.91 ERA)

Mets: Oliver Perez (1-2 9.97 ERA)

Thursday, July 9th, 7:10pm

Dodgers: Randy Wolf (3-3 3.49 ERA)

Mets: Livan Hernandez (5-4 4.56 ERA)

-Harlan Green-Taub

How Bout That Week: Midseason Awards

How Bout Them Mets — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:54:07 -0400

Saturday was the midway point of the season so I figured now would be as good a time as any to give out my midseason awards.

AL MVP

1. Torii Hunter, Angels: Hunter, always known more for his defensive skill (as evidenced by the eight Gold Gloves he’s won) then his offensive prowess, is enjoying a career year. Hunter, who has never hit above .287, is hitting .304 with a team leading 17 home runs and 63 RBI. His numbers may not be the best in the league, but without the career year from Hunter, there is now way the Angels sit tied for first.

2. Joe Mauer, Twins: Never in history has a catcher put up the offensive numbers that Joe Mauer has attained so far this season. The slugging catcher was hitting as high as .429 on June 16th, and .400 on June 21st. He’s the only catcher to ever win the AL batting title, and this year looks like it’ll be number three. The praise he has received for handling the Twins pitching staff has been even greater.

3. Jason Bay, Red Sox: How good is the Manny trade looking for Theo Epstien now? Bay has hit 16 of his 19 home runs with men on base which has led to his league leading 70 RBI. He’s learned to play the treacherous Green Monster like a magician, but the .260 batting average could be a tad higher.

AL Cy Young

Greinke keeps having an excellent Cy Young Caliber season as his ERA sits at 2.00

1. Zack Grienke, Royals: He’s tied for the league lead in wins with 10. He held a 0.84 era through ten starts, a level not seen since 1968 when Bob Gibson’s era hovered around 1.00 the whole season. He also leads the league in complete games with 5, shutouts with 2, and his K/BB ratio is an astounding 6.33/1.

2. Roy Halladay, Blue Jays: Seen by many as the best right-handed pitcher in baseball, Doc has failed to disappoint. Despite missing nearly two weeks with a groin injury, Halladay is still tied for the AL lead in wins with 10. He’s also on pace to pitch more then 225 innings for the fourth straight year.

3. Mark Buerhle, White Sox: The dependent work horse is enjoying what looks like it could be a career year at 30. He’s 8-2 with a 3.09 ERA and has kept the inconsistent White Sox in the thick of a tight AL Central race.

AL Rookie of the Year

1. Ricky Romero, Blue Jays: He had a 24-inning scoreless streak snapped today, but picked up the victory over the Yankees anyway. With the win, Romero improved to 7-3 and has been the only other consistent starter in the Blue Jays rotation. This was once the guy the Blue Jays were ripped for taking ahead of Troy Tulowitzki, now he looks like the next Johan Santana.

2. Elvis Andrus, Rangers: We knew the 20-year-old shortstop could get it done defensively, but the offensive numbers have been a nice surprise. He’s hitting .267 with 16 stolen bases, and rounds out a powerful Rangers lineup.

3. Rick Porcello, Tigers: The Tigers clearly got the steal of the 2007 draft when they drafted Porcello with the 26th pick. The 20-year-old is 8-6 with a 4.14 ERA but has yet to top seven innings pitched in any of his starts.

AL Manager of the Year

Ron Washington, Rangers: The Rangers are currently tied for first in the tight AL West no thanks to the management of Washington. The Rangers have not made the playoffs since 1999, but could be on their way their this season.

NL MVP

1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals: A no brainer here. Pujols is flatout the best hitter in baseball as evidenced by his pursuit of the triple crown this year. He’s third in the NL in average (.336), first in home runs (31), and first in RBI (82)

2. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins: The star shortstop has made the transition to the three-hole seamlessly, and recently put together a 10-game RBI streak. No thanks to Ramirez, the Marlins find themselves in the thick of the NL East race.

3. Raul Ibanez, Phillies: Arguably the best free-agent signing, Ibanez was tearing the cover off the ball before hitting the sidelines the last few weeks with a groin injury. Despite missing time, he still leads the Phillies in home runs with 22 and average at .312, and is second in rbi’s with 59.

NL Cy Young

Last years NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is proving his case to win it for a second year in a row.

1. Tim Lincecum, Giants: Another no brainer. Lincecum is currently carrying a 23 inning scoreless streak and has gone at least 6 innings in every start since April 18th. He leads the NL in innings pitched (121), strikeouts (141), and strikeouts per nine innings (10.5). Why the Giants haven’t locked this guy up long term is a mystery to many.

2. Josh Johnson, Marlins: An absolute workhorse with arguably the best stuff in the NL. Has recorded decisions in just 8 of 17 starts but is 7-1 in those 8 decisions. 2.76 ERA is sparkling and has routinely hit 95+ mph in the seventh inning on.

3. Dan Haren, Diamondbacks: The 8-5 record is very misleading. Haren has been rock solid for the last place D’backs and leads the NL with a 2.16 ERA.

NL Rookie of the Year

1. Colby Rasmus, Cardinals: The former Little League World Series participant is getting it done at the big league level. After a slow start he has started to pick up the slack in centerfield for Tony la Russa hitting .282 with 10 home runs and 32 RBI.

2. Tommy Hanson, Braves: Since getting the call-up in early June, Hanson has been dominant to the tune of a 4-0 record. In the tight four-team race in the NL East, Hanson could wind up making the difference.

3. Casey McGhee: Brewers: As we saw last week when we faced the Brew Crew, McGhee can absolutely rake. Plugged in at second base after Rickie Weeks went down for the season, McGhee has responded by hitting .343 with 6 home runs and 27 RBI.

Manager of the Year

Joe Torre, Dodgers: shouldn’t the manager of the team with the best record in baseball get some recognition? Well here it is. Torre is continuing to prove that those years in New York weren’t always a product of great players. Someone had to manage them.

-Harlan Green-Taub

Subway Series Part Two

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:58:57 -0400

Two weeks ago today, the Mets endured one of the toughest regular season losses in franchise history when Luis Castillo dropped a pop-up with two outs, allowing the tying and winning runs to score in the ninth inning for the Yankees.

Everyone was wondering how the team, but more specifically, Castillo would respond.

Since that fateful night in the Bronx, the Mets are playing .500 baseball (6-6), but took 3-of-4 against the Cardinals to put themselves just half a game behind the first place Phillies.

Castillo has responded even better. He has yet to make an error since the drop and is hitting .323 (11 for 34) in that span, raising his season average to .284. The Mets are now 33-26 when Castillo starts, and 4-8 when he doesn’t.

The Yankees, on the other hand, are struggling. Before taking the last two games of a three game set against the Braves, the Yankees had lost 6-of-9, including 2-of-3 against the Marlins and lowly Nationals.

The problem? Before last night’s game against the Braves, the Yankees $275 Million man, Alex Rodriguez had gone three for his last 27. That’s a whopping .111 batting average.

As I wrote in my weekly column this past week, if the Yankees are going to contend in the best division in baseball (the AL East), they need Rodriguez to turn it around fast.

As evidenced last night, the Yankees win when A-Rod hits. Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with four RBI and the Yankees won 11-7.

That being said, the Yankees still find themselves four full games back of the division-leading Red Sox.

Player to Watch: C.C. Sabathia, SP.

Sabathia strained his left bicep and had to leave his last start against the Marlins early. He will make the start tonight in the series opener.

We’ve seen Sabathia struggle at times this season without an announced injury. It will be interesting to see how he responds tonight with the Yankees looking for anything that could be hampering his motion.

The Subway series is usually the Interleague series to watch, and this weekend should be no different.

The pitching matchups and game times are as follows:

Friday, June 26^th, 7:10 pm

Yankees: C.C. Sabathia (6-4 3.71 era)

Mets: Mike Pelfrey (5-2 4.74 era)

Saturday, June 27^th, 7:10 pm

Yankees: A.J Burnett (5-4 4.24 era)

Mets: Tim Redding (1-2 6.08 era)

Sunday, June 28^th, 8:10 pm

Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang (0-6 11.20 era)

Mets: Livan Hernandez (5-2 4.05 era)

A few side notes:

Alex Rodriguez, who was supposed to sit one game a week leading up to the All-Star game, will start in all three games this weekend.

John Maine and Oliver Perez are set to make rehab starts for the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets A-club.

Carlos Delgado picked up a bat Wednesday for the first time since having hip surgery in May.

The Yankees lead the all-time series 39-30, the Mets, however, have a one-game advantage over the last three seasons (8-7)

-Harlan Green-Taub

How Bout That Week!?!?

How Bout Them Mets — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:18:55 -0400

The baseball season has finally kicked into high gear as we’ve officially entered the summer months.

There are still no clear favorites in either league, with the exception of the Dodgers who have opened up an eight-game lead in the NL west. Certain players who have dominated MVP voting in the past have failed to live up to expectations this season.

Is Papi Back?

Sox fans have longed to hear it, David “Big Papi” Ortiz looks like he’s finally back.

Papi homered again on Father’s Day, raising his season total to six. Ortiz is starting to look more comfortable at the plate and took both of his home runs to left field, something we saw him do a lot in 2005 and 2006, the two best seasons of his career.

The last 16 months have been tough on Boston’s folk hero. Ortiz, who heroically carried Boston to the 2004 World Championship, the Red Sox first title in 86 years.

He labored through his worst season as a Red Sox in 2008. Ortiz missed 60 games with a wrist injury and despite cranking 23 home runs, he struggled offensively, hitting just .264.

This season did not start any better. Ortiz hit just .230 in April with just 12 RBI. May did not go any better. Papi hit only .143 with 1 home run and six RBI.

June has been much better to Ortiz. Papi is hitting .308 with five home runs and 12 RBI, helping the Red Sox extend their lead in the AL East to four games.

Much like it’s been in the past, the Red Sox win when Ortiz performs. Ortiz is hitting a respectable .270 with six HRs and 25 RBI in games the Red Sox have won. When the Sox lose, Ortiz is hitting a measly .124 (11 for 89), with no home runs and only five RBI.

A-Rod Struggling

Like Big Papi, Alex Rodriguez has endured a rough 10-month stretch.

The highest paid player, and arguably the best player in the game, failed to take the Yankees to the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

For all the reasons that the tabloids and newspapers gave for the Yankees failures, no one seemed to point the figure at Rodriguez, a rarity for the New York papers.

After enjoying a great first half in which he hit .312 with 19 home runs and 53 RBI, Rodriguez put up pretty average numbers in the second half.The Yankees third baseman hit .290 with 16 home runs and 50 RBI, and struck out 59 times in 231 at-bats.

In August and September, crunch time in the Pennant race, Rodriguez grounded into 12 double plays, and hit just .258 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI, not numbers you would expect for someone who is routinely in the MVP conversation.

This season obviously did not start any better. First came the admission of steroid use, then the hip surgery that kept him out for five weeks, then the pitch tipping scandal.

Once he hit the field for game action though, many assumed he would be fine, and after hitting a home run on his first swing back, it looked like it he would be.

In the 39 games since however, Rodriguez is hitting just .213 with nine home runs and 28 RBI, not exactly mammoth numbers.

The result, Rodriguez was benched for two games this weekend and will sit out at least one game a week in the three weeks leading up to the All-Star game.

This is not how it was supposed to be for Rodriguez. Hip surgery is not something you can come back from and play everyday as evidenced by Rodriguez’s struggles.

The original plan was to have Rodriguez sit one game a week, not play everyday like he has. Good move by Yankees brass to force Rodriguez to sit and make sure he’s healthy for the Pennant race. As we saw last year, the Yankees struggle when A-Rod struggles and they need him at 100% for the stretch run.

Other Quick Thoughts

Think the Rays are regretting trading Edwin Jackson? Jackson is 6'4" with a 2.39 ERA while Tampa’s fifth starters, Andy Sonnanstine and Jeff Niemman, are a combined 11-11 with a 5.44 ERA.

What a performance by Ryan Howard Saturday night. Howard, sick in the hospital with flu-like symptoms, got to the ballpark in time to smash a game tying three-run home run in the ninth inning in a 6-5 Phillies loss.

After losing eight of 12, the Mets sit at 34-33, just one game ahead of the third-place Florida Marlins. Seven teams in the National League, the Phillies, Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, and Rockies, hold better records then the Mets. Things might stay the same for a while with Carlos Beltran just placed on the 15-day DL.

Speaking of the Rockies, they are now 16-5 since hiring Jim Tracy.

Albert Pujols sure loves playing in Kansas City. Pujols, who played high school and college ball in the area, hit three more home runs this weekend and now has 12 in 27 games at Kauffman Stadium.

The Cubs enjoyed back-to-back walk-wins on Friday and Saturday, the latter coming off a wild pitch from former ace Kerry Wood. Wood, who left in the offeason to become the Cleveland Indians closer, had to be hoping for a better return.

Nice job by Manny Acta and the Washington Nationals taking two of three from the Yankees in New York this week. It probably saved Acta his job for now.

Now onto the weekly awards:

AL Player of the Week: B.J. Upton, CF, Tampa Bay Rays.

Upton enjoyed a fabulous week, including hitting an absolute bomb to seal the Rays 10-6 victory against the Mets yesterday. Upton hit .429 (12 for 28), with 2 home runs, and 9 rbi’s.

AL Pitcher of the Week: Felix Hernandez, SP, Seattle Mariners.

Hernandez carried a 20-inning scoreless streak into the eighth inning of Sunday’s game against the D’backs before Mark Reynolds took him deep to put Arizona ahead 2-1. In his other start this past week, Hernandez tossed a complete game, two-hit shutout against the Padres.

NL Player of the Week: Ryan Braun, LF, Milwaukee Brewers.

Braun continued his surge into the MVP conversation with another great week. Against the Indians on Monday, Braun went 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBI. For the week, Braun hit .385 (10 for 26) with two home runs, eight RBI, and 10 runs scored.

NL Pitcher of the Week: Chris Carpenter, SP, St. Louis Cardinals.

Carpenter was masterful against the Royals on Saturday night. Carpenter allowed just one run and three hits over 7 2/3 innings, while getting the win. Carpenter lowered his ERA to 1.53 and is scheduled to make his next start Thursday against the Mets, when he’ll face off against Johan Santana.

-Harlan Green-Taub

Harlan Green-Taub can be reached at crashman@nyc.rr.com

Series Preview: Central-Leading Cardinals Come To Citi Field

How Bout Them Mets — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:06:03 -0400

When Mets fans think about the St. Louis Cardinals, the first flashback is to Game Seven of the 2006 National League Championship Series. Yadier Molina has given the Cardinals a lead. Adam Wainwright is on the mound throwing un-hittable curveballs in the ninth inning, and Carlos Beltran is frozen at the plate as strike three is called.

fixThe Cardinals went on to defeat the heavily-favored Detroit Tigers, while Mets fans saw their season end sooner than they thought.

The 2009 incarnation of the team is one that is fairly complete and arguably better than the 2006 version.

Their offense is led by the best hitter playing the game today, Albert Pujols. He’s continued his remarkable consistentcy into this season, batting .329 with 26 home runs and 68 RBI. Ryan Ludwick is only hitting .241 but is providing some power with 10 home runs and 36 RBI.

The rest of the offense does not stand out, but they’ve quietly pieced together support for their big hitters. Skip Schumacher, Yadier Molina, and Brenden Ryan in his platoon with Tyler Greene are having very nice seasons at the plate.

The Mets will miss Adam Wainwright this time around, as the only starter they won’t face in the four-game set. That is a fortuitous break, as Wainwright is the current ace of the staff. Chris Carpenter is having a resurgence after an injury-riddled start and newcomer Brendan Thompson is having some early success as a starter.

On the other side of the coin, the Mets continue to get decimated more and more by injury. Carlos Beltran will hit the 15-day disabled list, a report confirmed on Daily News Live at 5:00 p.m.

Winning only three of their last 10 games, the Mets are in the middle of a very difficult part of their schedule. Without Beltran, Fernando Martinez returns to the majors in an effort to replace Beltran’s gold glove-caliber defense. It is clear the pitching will have to step up and throw some solid performances.

Tim Redding gets the series going tonight at 7:10 p.m. against Todd Wellemeyer. Wellemeyer is struggling the most out of all the Cardinals starters, so consider tonight’s game a must-win for the Mets.

Livan Hernandez will face Joel Piniero on Tuesday night. Piniero, despite his losing record, is pitching pretty well. Livan’s last start was very good, and he has been excellent for the most part this year.

Fernando Nieve has been an extremely pleasant and needed surprise for the Mets. He will get the call in the third game on Wednesday night against youngster Brendan Thompson. Thompson made a few appearances in May as a reliever but returned to the majors on June 2 as a starter.

The fourth and final game will feature a matchup of great pitchers, as Johan Santana squares off with Chris Carpenter. Santana has had an off month, save for his last performance where some bad luck and a rain delay handed him his second-straight loss. Carpenter has been nothing short of dominant since his return from injury.

Every win counts for the Mets to stay alive in the National League East race and fortunately, the Phillies have also been struggling lately. They, too, have been hit with the injury bug, losing Raul Ibanez and Brad Lidge. Every game is important until the Mets can regain some semblance of health.

Enjoy the series.

-M.K.

Mark Krulish is a contributor to howboutthemmets.com and can be reached at arwing26@gmail.com

Carlos Beltran to DL; Mets make more moves

How Bout Them Mets — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:31:41 -0400

The New York Mets have placed OF Carlos Beltran on the DL today with a bone bruise in his right knee. GM Omar Minaya said that the bruise is getting bigger and bigger due to it being bone on bone.

Mets recall OF Fernando Martinez and pitchers Elmer Dessens, Pat Misch from Triple-A Buffalo. Ken Takahashi optioned to Buffalo. Mets IF Wilson Valdez was also designated for assignment.

According to Bart Hubbuch via his Twitter account, the New York Mets have released OF Wily Mo Pena and C Javier Valentin from their Triple-A club the Buffalo Bisons.

Pena would have given the Mets a decent bat coming off the bench if he was called up. One must wonder why these two moves were made, especially after two minor league deals the past 2 weeks to acquire depth.

State of the Mets

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:56:09 -0400

There is so much to say, and so little time to say it today Mets fans.

K-Rod’s blown save last night, Castillo’s drop, the injury bug, and Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel's leadership should have the Mets out of the East race; and yet we are only three games out.

Pretty impressive for this team, or is it?

Using the word “control” when describing Manuel and Minaya is a huge over statement. Honestly, if this team had a general manager that knew how to construct a team and a manager that knew how to get the most out of his players than I totally believe this team would be five to six games up, in first place right now, even with the injury bug.

Over the past couple of weeks Minaya has gone out and acquired Wilson Valdez, Javier Castillo, and Arturo Lopez. What is up with this guy? Does he honestly believe that calling any of these three up to the big leagues will help the Mets stay in second place or better yet, take back first place, it wont.

And what is up with Manuel and his fascination with always ripping a part the confidence of Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church, two guys that have been extremely consistent as of late? Playing Ramon Martinez day in and day out as he made error after error was not bad enough wasn't it? This character needs to go.

I’ve made the comparison many times this past week whether it was on Real Sports Talk with Kenrick Thomas or our own show Sunday Night Mets, but the difference between the Mets of nine years ago and the Mets of today totally lies on the shoulders of the general manager and manager.

In 2000, when the Mets made the World Series, you had a general manager in Steve Phillips who did not make the correct decisions all the time, but made some great ones. When Rey Ordonez went down, he didn’t call anyone up or talk a good game, he went out and acquired Mike Bordick from the Baltimore Orioles for three guys that would never amount to anything and Melvin Mora who would definitely look good in the orange and blue right now. He brought in guys like Joe McEwing, Todd Zeile, and Lenny Harris to give the Mets one of the deepest benches in the National League.

If you want to compare Alex Cora, Valdez, and Jeremy Reed to McEwing, Zeile and Harris than well, I feel really bad for you.

But the Mets had the right guy in the dugout to get the most out of these players, in Bobby Valentine, a guy who should never have been let go from the New York Mets in the first place, and especially not for Art Howe.

Valentine told his players either to put up or shut up and they played hard every day/night for their skipper. He was the leader in the locker room and in the dugout that not only the players respected, but who they loved to play for.

His contract is up in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Pacific League in November, so you know very well who the Mets fans want back in their dug out at Citi Field come 2010. That’s right, the man, the myth, the legendy, Mr. Bobby Valentine himself. Make it happen Fred Wilpon, only you have the power to give the fans and your team what it wants, needs, and deserves.

Shawn Estes: Former Met Retires

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:27:40 -0400

Former Major League pitcher Shawn Estes has retired today.

Estes was acquired in 2001 from the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo and infielder Desi Relaford. In one season with the Mets, Estes went 4-9 with a 4.55 ERA. His best year came in 1997 when he won 19 games with the Giants while pitching his way to a 3.18 ERA. Although Estes never regained that great form in his career again, he went on to win 101 games.

Estes left the Mets when the team traded him to the Cincinatti Reds in a package that netted them left handed reliever Pedro Feliciano. Feliciano is now one of the best pitchers out of the bullpen for the Mets today.

Struggling Mets Welcome Surging Rays to Town

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:03:30 -0400

Jerry Manuel’s Mets, losers of six of nine, are coming off a tough loss Thursday night at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles. This week they welcome an even tougher AL East opponent, the defending champs of the division, the Tampa Bay Rays.

Gone are the days when teams circled the dates they played the Rays as must win games against a struggling franchise. Ever since the Rays dropped the Devil from their name, they have risen from the depths of baseball to become one of the more model franchises in the game.

Mostly due to an inconsistent starting rotation and bullpen, the defending American League champions sit at 35-33, six games back of the division leading Red Sox. But don’t let the record fool you, the Rays are second in run differential this season (at 1.1 runs per game), trailing only the best team in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are outscoring opponents by 1.3 runs per game.

Player to watch: Ben Zobrist, 2B. Zobrist, who last year served as the ultimate utility man, has settled down at second base in the wake of Akinori Iwamura’s season ending knee injury. Boy has he failed to disappoint. Zobrist is hitting .307 with 14 home runs and 41 RBI’s, and has provided solid lineup protection for sluggers Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria.

This series, with the Mets recent struggles accompanied by the Rays recent revival, should make for one of the more interesting Interleague series of the weekend.

The pitching matchups and game times are as follows:

Friday, June 19th, 7:10 PM

Rays: Andy Sonnanstine (5-6 6.65 era)

Mets: Fernando Nieve (1-0 2.08 era)

Saturday, June 20th, 4:10 PM

Rays: James Shields (5-5 3.52 era)

Mets: Johan Santana (8-4 3.29 era)

Sunday, June 21st, 1:10 PM

Rays: Jeff Niemann (6-4 4.21 era)

Mets: Mike Pelfrey (5-2 4.56 era)

A few side notes. On the bright side, Mets fans won’t have to come face to face with Scott Kazmir, who is dealing with quad strain and is rehabbing at Class A Charlotte. The Mets lead the all-time series against the Rays, 7-5.

-Harlan Green-Taub

New York Mets Still Looking for First NL MVP Winner

How Bout Them Mets — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:18:29 -0400

Team Has Come Close Only Three Times in Its History

The New York Mets are now in their 48th season of existence and although they’ve had some great moments and great players, they still have never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter in their uniform. That is a well-known fact.

There is one other fact that is not so well known, though: They still have never had one of their players named the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

The MVP is the one individual trophy that no Met has ever grasped. They’ve won Cy Youngs, Rookie of the Year awards, and Gold Gloves but never the prestigious MVP.

In fact, they’ve come close (second) only three times in 47 seasons:

1984

Ryne Sandberg, Chicago—326 votes; Keith Hernandez, New York—195 votes.

Sandberg is a Hall-of-Famer now, but back then he was just coming into his own. He was the centerpiece of the Cubs’ resurgence from fifth to first in 1984.

Keith Hernandez was a former MVP winner (1979) who came to New York begrudgingly in a trade the year before and dragged the Mets kicking and screaming to a 90-win season.

Their numbers weren’t all that different. Sandberg hit .314 with 19 HRs and 84 RBIs. Hernandez hit .311 with 15 HRs and 94 RBIs. Both won Gold Gloves at their respective positions.

Sandberg was a runaway winner since the Cubs bested the Mets by six and a half games in the NL East in 1984.

1988

Kirk Gibson, Los Angeles—272 votes; Darryl Strawberry, New York—236 votes; Kevin McReynolds, New York—162 votes.

Kirk Gibson surprisingly upset the Mets’ big two even though his regular-season numbers were not very MVP-like (25 HRs, 76 RBI, .290 BA).

As it turned out, Gibson would end up validating his MVP status by ripping two big HRs against the Mets in the NLCS and then by taking Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley deep in Game One of the World Series—perhaps the greatest walk-off home run in baseball history.

In 1988, Strawberry finally was showing the world what he could do. He was having that “monster year” he kept promising. In just one more at-bat than Gibson, he hit 39 HRs and drove in 101 runs. His low average average may be what hurt him (.269).

What also hurt Strawberry was the strong season by his teammate, Kevin Mc Reynolds, who stole some votes away from him. The right-handed hitting McReynolds was just the compliment the Mets needed to brace the the left-handed bat of Strawberry. McReynolds batted .288 with 27 HRs and 99 RBIs in 1988.

Conventional thought was that the Mets were more of a complete team than the Dodgers and neither Straw nor McReynolds were as valuable to the Mets as Gibson was to the Dodgers.

1969

Willie McCovey, San Francisco—265 votes; Tom Seaver, New York—243 votes.

The Mets were all the rage in 1969 and Seaver’s 25-7 record with 208 Ks and a 2.21 ERA was a big reason why. The Mets won 100 ballgames, the most in the National League in 1969.

The San Francisco Giants finished second by three games to Hank Aaron’s Atlanta Braves in the NL West. McCovey had a real “monster season” in 1969. In the era of the pitcher, “Stretch’ whacked 45 dingers and drove in 126 runs while batting .320.

In a close vote, the writers chose the hitter over the pitcher. No one knew it at the time that this would be the closest the Mets would ever come to winning the MVP to this date.

How the Mets Have Fared in MVP Voting 1962-2008

Year   Total   Mets Players Receiving votes
1964   1         Ron Hunt—25th place
1967   2   Tom Seaver—22nd, Tommy Davis, 26th
1968   1         Jerry Kooosman—13th
1968   4         Seaver—2nd, Tommie Agee—6th
Cleon Jones—7th, Koosman—23rd
1970   4   Donn Clendennon—13th, Agee—19th
Bud Harrelson—20th, Seaver—29th
1971   2   Seaver 9th, Harrelson—22nd
1972   3    Seaver, Tug McGraw, Rusty Staub (tie 25th)
1973   3         Seaver—8th, McGraw—15th, Harrelson -29th
1975   3   Seaver—9th, Staub 14th, Dave Kingman 19th
1976   2         Koosman—14th, Kingman—18th
1983   2         Jesse Orosco—17th, Keith Hernandez—21st
1984   2         Hernandez—2nd, Dwight Gooden—15th
1985   3         Gooden—4th, Gary Carter—6th, Hernandez—8th
1986   6         Carter—3rd, Hernandez -4th, Ray Knight—14th
Roger McDowell—17th, Lenny Dykstra—19th
Bob Ojeda—21st
1987   2         Darryl Strawberry—6th, Howard Johnson—10th
1988   4         Strawberry—2nd, Kevin McReynolds—3rd
David Cone—10th, Randy Myers—16th
1989   1   Howard Johnson—5th
1990   2         Strawberry—3rd, Gooden—14th
1991   1         Howard Johnson—5th
1994   2         John Franco—20th, Bret Saberhagen—22nd
1996   2         Todd Hundley—19th, Lance Johnson—19th
1997   1         Edgardo Alfonso—13th
1998   1         John Olerud—12th
1999   3         Robin Ventura—6th, Mike Piazza—7th
Alfonso—8th
2000   2         Piazza—3rd, Alfonso—15th
2001   1         Piazza—13th
2005   4         David Wright—19th, Cliff Floyd—26th
Jose Reyes—30th
2006   4         Carlos Beltran – 4th, Reyes—7th, Wright—9th
Carlos Delgado—12th
2007   3         Wright—4th, Reyes—16th, Beltran—20th
2008   5         Wright—7th, Delgado—9th, Johan Santana—14th
Beltran—21st, Reyes—24th

Mets Nearly Edge O's in Tight Ninth

How Bout Them Mets — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:43:38 -0400

Well, not even the walk-through wins turn out to be a breeze.

The Mets scored six runs to the Orioles' two through nine, but of course, not without grave difficulty.

It seems like Bobby Parnell has come up human as of late.

After batters have been blown away by his 100 mph heat, the book is finally out on him. All of his fastballs have looked dead over the plate.

Don’t get all up in arms about how terrible you think he is now, because he’s still young and prone to making mistakes. Although, with the emergence of Sean Green’s efficiency in the seventh inning, the two may be swapping roles if Parnell can’t cooperate.

K-Rod cleaned up the mess Bobby Parnell left for him, but not without allowing two runs. He clinches save number 17 out of 18 opportunities

Yes, with K-Rod on the mound, you still feel pretty confident in this ballclub, especially up by four.

He walked two, but everyone's human.

If Adam Jones would have crushed a base hit, we’d be talking another story. But, Frankie comes through again, clinching his 17th save that should have been handed to him on Friday.

Why can’t this team win like any normal baseball team?

Gee, I don’t know and I wish I had an answer besides this is the New York Mets.

Maybe this team is a practical joke of the baseball G-d’s. As a distinct relative to the Brooklyn Dodgers, these type of hard luck wins are born and bred in New York’s history.

I assume you are a Met fan and know this, but did you know that being a Met fan does give you a higher rate of heart disease?

I don’t have numbers for this, it's just common knowledge.

Good to see a multi-hit game from Cora and Schneider. Of course, David Wright had one as well, but that’s no surprise. Along with Wright and Beltran, those under-acknowledged Mets continue to be huge in this team's success.

You don’t really expect much offense from them to begin with, but to see these guys begin to click could help in the long run. Schneider, around August last year, broke through with his bat. He had a few homers and drove in some runs at opportune times.

Now, not being an everyday player, Schneider’s production to this team has been forgotten. He’s not one of these guys with a giant fanbase and is under appreciated.

Watch him get hot all of a sudden and things could start to get lethal.

Check back tomorrow for more from HowBoutThemMets.com.

Tim Redding will try and pitch off of his last two outings which were superb. His opponent will be the 2-4 Koji Uehara.

Randy Sobel is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at Randy.Sobel@gmail.com.

New York Mets' David Wright and Carlos Beltran May Be Headed to All-Star Game

How Bout Them Mets — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:45:59 -0400

With everything else going on with the Mets and their injuries, one positive is coming as we near the end of this first half.

David Wright leads NL third basemen in votes, and Beltran is ranked high enough in the outfield category to have a good chance at making the team as well.

Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez may be joining Wright and Beltran in St Louis next month.

All four players have proved their worth to the Mets and to the National League, but many fans are concerned about them participating for fear of injury and/or lack of the rest that is usually needed during these three days in mid-July.

Beltran, Wright and Rodriguez all partipated in the WBC this past March and helped their respective teams tremendously.

Wright was kneed in the head and sustained a pretty severe toe injury but kept going, much to his credit, the Mets were extremely concerned but proud.

I think we as fans need to back our players who are selected to the All Star Game instead of worrying about them getting injured or not resting, because chances are, they would rather be playing than resting.

Voting ends in early July, so vote Beltran and Wright, and vote often, 25 times maximum.

How Bout That Week: The Mets' Jerry Manuel Needs to Go

How Bout Them Mets — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:29:14 -0400

After a week hiatus from the article because of finals, I’m officially finished with school for the summer and am back and better then ever. Maybe not better then ever, but you get the point. I’m back.

A few weeks ago I talked about the firing of Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, mainly because this once-impressive young franchise seemed to be getting older by the day with him at the helm. Only the Nationals held a worse record in the National League than the Rockies on May 29th, the day of Hurdle’s firing. The lineup looked lethargic and lacked the pop we became used to from teams that play at Coors Field. The pitching staff was horrid and was in bottom five in era in the Majors.

Enter the apparent savior, Jim Tracy. After winning his first two games and losing the next four, Tracy has guided the Rockies to 11 straight wins, eight of which came on the road. The winning streak is tied for the longest in franchise history, when Hurdle guided the team to 11 straight wins as part of that remarkable comeback at the end of the 2007 season.

What has Tracy done to right the Rockies' ship? For starters, he benched All-Star third baseman Garret Atkins, who is hitting a putrid .204, in favor of the sure-handed Ian Stewart, who has been a step up offensively as well. Stewart received NL Player of the Week honors two weeks ago when he batted .435 with four home runs and an NL-leading 12 RBI.

Tracy also moved struggling shortstop Troy Tulowitzki out of the two hole and down to the sixth spot in the order. Tulo looks more comfortable lower in the order and after hitting .226 through May, the budding star is hitting .313 with three home runs and 6 RBI in June.

Carried by the resurgent Todd Helton, the Rockies have averaged 6.6 runs per game during the winning streak while the pitching staff has yet to give up more than four.

The bad news? The Rockies are still one game below .500 and 10.5 games back behind the division leading Dodgers. They will look to keep it going this week as they finish off a nine-game home stand against the Rays and Pirates.

Be Wary of a Pitcher Taken #1 Overall

It was made official this past Thursday that San Diego State phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg was taken No. 1 Overall in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Washington Nationals. Some scouts have gone as far as calling Strasburg the most ready for the Majors amateur pitcher ever. That’s quite the compliment. You know about the triple-digit fastball and the three other pitches he throws with velocity and control.

The history of pitchers taken No. 1 overall is bleak at best. We saw what happened to Bryan Bullington. Bryan who you ask? Bullington, the No. 1 overall pick by the Pirates back in 2002 out of Ball State University, blew out his arm in the minors and never pitched for the Pirates. Brien Taylor, the Yankees No. 1 overall pick in 1991, hurt his pitching arm in a bar fight and never pitched in the majors.

Andy Benes, who was taken No. 1 overall in 1988 by the Padres, probably had the best career of any pitcher drafted first. Benes, who retired in 2002, finished with a career spent mostly with the Padres and Cardinals with a 151-139 record and a 3.97 ERA.

The best advice offered to Strasburg by former No. 1 picks was to take care of his arm and try not to do to much too soon. Nothing in baseball is more fragile than a young pitcher's arm, and we can only hope history doesn’t follow suit with Strasburg.

Time for a Change?

I usually like to keep the column as upbeat as possible and not talk about the Mets too much, because that’s what the rest of the site is for. With that said, something has to be said for the week those Mighty Mets just had.

We wont even go into yesterday’s 15-0 blowout loss, the second worst shutout loss in team history and the worst loss in subway series history. Johan Santana had a blister and torn nail on his pitching hand and clearly wasn’t himself. Meanwhile, A.J Burnett benefited from a questionable strike three call on Alex Cora that clearly changed the course of the game, and was able to get out of a no-out bases-loaded jam unscathed.

Wednesday and Thursday night, the Mets bullpen blew leads of 4-1, and 3-1 en route to losing 2 of 3 to the division leading Phillies.

That brings us to Friday night’s debacle that will be forever remembered in subway series history. Before Luis Castillo dropped a game-ending pop up that allowed the winning run to score, Jerry Manuel’s brilliant decision making cost the Mets yet another late lead.

Holding a 6-4 lead with one out in the sixth, Manuel decided to bring in the recently promoted John Switzer, who hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2007, to pitch to Hideki Matsui with two on. Livan Hernandez, who has been the second best Mets starter all season long, was taken out in favor of Switzer, who proceed to give up a go-ahead 3-run home run.

What was Manuel thinking to bring in a Triple-A pitcher in favor of a guy with 14+ seasons of major league experience? Was he thinking the lefty-lefty matchup would be to his benefit? Well, if Manuel did his research, he would find out that Matsui’s career average is .292 against both lefties and righties. In addition, why wouldn’t he bring in a lefty that has been throwing to major league hitters all season, namely Ken Takahashi or lefty specialist Pedro Feliciano?

Manuel continually shows no confidence in players he needs to show confidence in, i.e. Daniel Murphy. In the meantime, he’s playing Fernando Tatis, who doesn’t deserve to be playing right now. Yes he was the NL’s Most Improved player last season, but his swing looks longer and he is starting to show the signs of slowing down again at age 34.

Yet Manuel has stayed with him through thick and thin while benching the very capable 24-year old Daniel Murphy. Yes the same Daniel Murphy that the Mets proclaimed their first baseman of the future this spring.

Manuel has also gone so far to trash. Plain and simple, I like may Met fans, are fed up with Manuel’s cowardly tactics in the media and think it’s time for him to go.

The Mets' goal this season has to be to win the World Series, and with Manuel at the helm, it isn’t going to happen. If the Mets want to prove to their fans that they are committed to winning a championship, they will make the bold move to get rid of Manuel. As a caller pointed out on Sunday Night Mets last night, it took Willie Randolph three years to lose the faith of the players. It’s taken Jerry Manuel just over one.

Now onto some better news: My NL and AL players and pitchers of the week.

AL Player of the Week: Torii Hunter, CF, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Hunter continued his great start Saturday when he tattooed three home runs in three straight at-bats in a 9-1 win over the Padres. For the week Hunter hit .368 (7 for 19) with 4 home runs and 8 RBI.

AL Pitcher of the Week: Jose Contreras, SP, Chicago White Sox. It seems like it’s been forever since Jose Contreras was mentioned among the better starting pitchers in baseball. Contreras recorded 2 victories over the Tigers and Brewers, holding each team scoreless over 16 innings of work. Contreras allowed just 3 hits and struck out 11 in the span.

NL Player of the Week: Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B, San Diego Padres. Kouzmanoff hit .375 (9 for 24) with 2 home runs and 11 RBI. Kouzmanoff was batting just .228 in through May but turned a corner this past week with as many RBI as he recorded all last month.

NL Pitcher of the Week: Huston Street, Closer, Colorado Rockies. Street, another key to the Rockies 11-game winning streak, recorded 5 saves in as many chances. Street struck out eight in 4 2/3 innings in his five games of work.

Harlan Green-Taub is a contributor to How Bout Them Mets and can be reached at crashman@nyc.rr.com

Mets-Yankees: Mets Suffer Second-Worst Shutout Loss in Team History

How Bout Them Mets — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:11:18 -0400

If you didn’t watch today’s game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees, I envy you.

I am a baseball junkie, I love to just watch the game; Any two teams at any time.

However, today’s game was a painful one to sit through, and if it were not for the fact that it was a Mets game, the television would have been shut off after the fourth inning.

Sorry for the editorializing.

Johan Santana had his worst start of the season and perhaps his career, lasting just three innings and yielding nine earned runs. His fastball was slower than normal and he wasn’t as sharp as he normally is. But, before the Yankees nine-run bonanza in the fourth, there was some hope.

The Bombers took a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Some mistakes were made, such as Fernando Martinez badly missing his cut-off man, a play that could have ended the inning. Francisco Cervelli was caught between second and third and the correct throw would have gotten him.

But in the new Yankee Stadium, a four-run lead is nothing. And the Mets nearly made that the case.

Two walks and a hit loaded the bases in the top of the third inning and Burnett, all of the sudden staked to a 4-0 lead, began to look absolutely terrible. After running a full-count, the Yankees scored an extremely generous call when it was ruled Alex Cora had gone around on what looked to be ball four. Fernando Martinez then came up and ran a full count, but he too struck out swinging. Beltran then lined a shot to Derek Jeter at short and the inning was over.

That call on Cora completely changed the game, and a questionable call it was. But, from there on, there was little doubt about the outcome. The Yankees exploded in the fourth, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano both went yard to right field in the frame and Nick Swisher walked and scored twice in that inning.

13-0 at the end of four and the final five innings were spent going through the motions. Fortunately, for those Mets fans watching television, Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez kept things light and entertaining, sharing a few funny yarns to keep a good mood. For Mets fans actually attending the game, any baseball fans will would be tested in a game like this. It was that bad.

It’s a little disturbing that in the Mets two losses to the Yankees, they had A.J. Burnett on the ropes in one game and in the other, Joba Chamberlain walked the entire building. But, the Mets couldn’t make either bad performance stick. Burnett’s final numbers looked good, seven innings, four hits, four walks, eight strikeouts, but the Mets were on the verge of knocking him out of the box early.

Adding further to the quagmire that was this series, Francisco Rodriguez confronted Brian Bruney before the game about comments Bruney made to the media about Rodriguez, something you see a bit more often in the NHL. However, neither pitched in today’s game.

The Mets will try to regroup with a day off tomorrow and the head to Oriole Park at Camden Yards to face the Baltimore Orioles in a three-game set. Mike Pelfrey will be the first to take the mound against Jeremy Guthrie on Tuesday, June 16. First pitch will be at 7:05 PM.

Mark Krulish is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at arwing26@gmail.com

New York Mets Rebound from Friday Night's Debacle, Beat Yankees 6-2

How Bout Them Mets — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:04:06 -0400

Fernando Nieve tossed 6 2/3 effective innings in his first start as a Met, Omir Santos and Gary Sheffield added home runs and the Mets defeated the Yankees 6-2 at the new Yankee Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Nieve worked quickly all afternoon and never allowed the powerful Yankee bats to find their rhythm. The Houston Astros castoff mixed a 91-94 mph fastball, an 83-86 mph slider, and an 83-85 mph changeup to near perfection, giving up just four hits and two walks. He also struck out two.

Sean Green came on in relief of Nieve in the seventh after Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner hit back-to-back singles with two outs. After Derek Jeter's infield single drove in Cabrera, Green got Johnny Damon to ground out to Fernando Tatis at first to end the inning.

Green then pitched a perfect eighth before handing the ball over to closer Francisco Rodriguez who pitched a perfect ninth to seal the Mets Victory.

The Mets jumped on Yankees starter Andy Pettite early and never looked back. With two outs in the second inning, and Fernando Tatis on second, catcher Omir Santos hit a solid line drive to left centerfield that just cleared the fence to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

Alex Rodriguez responded in the bottom of the inning hitting a towering solo homerun to left that seemed to hang in the air forever to cut the Met lead in half. FOX analyst Tim McCarver said it was one of the highest home runs he had ever seen. Nieve settled down after that and held the Yankees scoreless for the next five innings.

The Mets added to their lead in the fifth. Carlos Beltran led off with a single and David Wright doubled to set up Gary Sheffield who singled to right to bring in Beltran.

Fernando Tatis then hit a double play ball but beat the throw from second baseman Robinson Cano. The fielders choice scored Wright to make it 4-1. After Ryan Church struck out, Santos hit a double over Brett Gardner’s head in center to score Tatis and push the Mets lead to 5-1.

Gary Sheffield added a solo home run in the seventh to make it 6-1 and put the game away for good.

The Mets rebounded very nicely from one of the toughest regular season defeats in franchise history. They blocked last nights’ game out of their heads and did not let it have any lingering effects on their play today.

Jerry Manuel’s bunch could very well have taken the first two games of this series but will have to settle for a rubber game tomorrow. The scheduled starters for the 1:05 game are Mets ace Johan Santana (8-3 2.39 era) while AJ Burnett (4-3 4.89 era) will go for the Yankees.

Harlan Green-Taub is a contributor to howboutthemmets.com

Gone but Not Forgotten: 10 Players We Have Lost in Sports

How Bout Them Mets — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:27:28 -0400

When tragedy strikes the world of sports, it always leaves an everlasting imprint in our lives. No matter if we cheered the player, booed the player or hated the player, we always respected the player. This slide show is so we never forget the guys we rooted for, the ones that could have been so great... but were stolen from us early in life. Never take for granted what you have, no matter how small or big it is, just be happy that we got to open our eyes today. Here is a list of players that left our world tragically way before it was there time to go.

Begin Slideshow

What's Stinks In Here? Oh, It's The New York Mets!

How Bout Them Mets — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:54:40 -0400

If Gil Hodges were alive tonight he’d be rolling in his grave.

Even Casey Stengel would have been dumbfounded if he were around to see the end of tonight’s game.

Luis Castillo can cure cancer, AIDS, stop global warming and save the auto industry but he will never be forgotten for his miscue in the Bandbox in the Bronx tonight.

God has a sick sense of humor. He wants to test the faith of Met fans by putting them through a plethora of unclearable hurdles. Met fans can only absorb so much punishment before they just collapse, which is becoming all too commonplace around here.

How bad do the Mets suck?

* So bad that they should let that idiot Baba-booey play 2B
* So bad that the FAA is going keep the geese around LaGuardia and start euthanizing Met players
* Where’s Joe Foy when you need him?
* The Mets make the Knicks look like the ‘27 Yankees
* I don’t care anymore, I’d rather do 20 years in a Turkish prison than watch another game

Usually the team collapses. Now everything’s collapsing. Players are going down to injury one-by-one leaving the masses to question, “Is there a doctor in the house?” I think the Mets’ team doctors are the cast from Scrubs. How appropos. What a bunch of quacks.

We had the Yankees beat! In Yankee Stadium! We beat Mariano Rivera!

Then we gave it away in a manner that not even Disney would dare attempt. Neither would Laurel and Hardy.

What’s next, Mets? What’s next?

First, Jerry’s gotta go. I’m done with this guy trying to explain away the inexplicable. He should get in the NY State Senate. He’d fit right in. Screw the public and then laugh about it.

Will the Wilpons have the balls—or brains—to bring back Bobby V?

It’s about time SOMETHING GOOD happened around here

My liver is about to have a blowout trying to drink away all of these pathetic losses. But as badly damaged and pummelled that organ has gotten this season, it is the Mets that are suffering from cirrhosis. It is them that is emanating that stenchy odor…..

(if this article appears to sound as if I am pissed—you read it correctly)

Drop Heard 'Round New York

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:43:54 -0400

There really isn’t much I can say about tonight’s heart breaking loss to the New York Yankees. Actually there really is a lot to say, but I won’t say it. Why do you ask? Because I am a fan of the New York Mets which means I am used to stuff like this happening.

What Omar Minaya does best, shrug his shoulders and wonder why he even makes the decisions that he makes.

First off, I do not blame Luis Castillo for that bone head play on the pop up. Actually, Castillo was smart to sign his name on the dotted line of that four-year, $25 million deal that our bone head general manager Omar Minaya presented to the injury prone Castillo.

Passing over the likes of David Eckstein last year and the hot hitting, superb defensive playing of Orlando Hudson this year makes Omar Minaya one of my two bums of the hour.

The second bum, you guessed it correct Mets fans, manager Jerry “Soul Glo” Manuel.

The non-stop idiocy of Manuel has most Mets' fans up in arms. The constant benching of hard-working Ryan Church and the patient hitting of Daniel Murphy in order to play the likes of Fernando Tatis really needs to stop. The pitching changes mid-game that leave us scratching our heads also must stop. What was the point of putting in recently promoted pitcher Jon Switzer in against Alex “Roids R Us” Rodriguez?

You take out a storied vet in Livan Hernandez who has the patience of a man staring into the sun for a guy who just came up from the Buffalo Bisons of Triple-A. Bad move Jerry. But this isn’t the first time you made a brain-rattling pitching move mid game. Actually, you have done it a lot this season.

Tonight’s loss isn’t on the head of Luis Castillo in my book, it’s on the backwards management of Manuel and the supposed baseball know how of Minaya.

Where the hell is Frank Cashen and Bobby Valentine when you need them?

It’s up to you to make the next decision Mr. Fred Wilpon.

Jonathan Ragus is a contributor to How Bout Them Mets!?. He can be reached at info@howboutthemmets.com

Another Man Down

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:10:15 -0400

The New York Mets placed right-hander John Maine on the 15-day disabled list Thursday night with weakness in his shoulder, shelving another one of their key players.

The move was made retroactive to Sunday, a day after Maine was tagged for seven runs and six hits over a season-low four-plus innings in New York’s 7-1 loss at the woeful Washington Nationals.

“It’s nothing serious,” he said. “My shoulder is just fatigued. It’s dead.”

General manager Omar Minaya said team doctors examined Maine on Thursday and found “fatigue in his shoulder and some shoulder weakness.”

“I can’t give you a timetable on him because it’s going to be a rehab situation,” Minaya said after New York lost 6-3 Thursday to the Philadelphia Phillies in 10 innings. “It may need to be rest and it could be some type of exercise to strengthen the shoulder.”

Maine joins fellow starter Oliver Perez (right knee tendinitis), slugger Carlos Delgado (right hip) and speedster Jose Reyes (right calf) on the Mets’ crowded DL. Key reliever J.J. Putz also is out after elbow surgery.

New York had said before the game that Maine would get an extra day of rest before his next outing, with Livan Hernandez moving up to start the Subway Series opener Friday night against the New York Yankees. The Mets were off Monday, so Hernandez will be working on regular rest.

Minaya said he is looking at several possibilities for Saturday’s start.

Manager Jerry Manuel said before Thursday’s game he was unaware of Maine’s shoulder problem, saying he thought his difficult start against Washington stemmed largely from a stomach flu that swept through the clubhouse recently.

“There was no indication to me that was a serious issue for him,” Manuel said before the loss against the Phillies. “We’ll watch him carefully because he is coming off of surgery.”

Maine was 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA in his last seven starts before the shaky outing against Washington. He is 5-4 with a 4.52 ERA in 11 starts on the year.

Maine had surgery Sept. 30 to shave a bone spur in his right shoulder, and struggled with his mechanics in the spring.

“I’ve been full-go throwing since basically December. It’s telling me to back off a little bit,” Maine said before the loss to the Phillies.

Mets Lose Game in Extra Innings

How Bout Them Mets — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:30:12 -0400

More than a few Mets fans have hoped that the generous dimensions of the new Citi Field would help electrify the bats of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. So far, that has not been the case.

Utley’s second long ball of the game put the Phillies ahead 5-4 in the top of the 11th inning to draw the three-game series even and turn tomorrow’s event into a rubber match.

However, the fourth inning began with some promise that quickly evaporated.

With a one-all game in the fourth, the Mets began to hammer World Series MVP Cole Hamels with a carousel of base hits.

The scoring began with pitcher Mike Pelfrey at the plate. The bases were loaded and Pelfrey poked a shin-high fastball down the right field line for his second hit of the game, scoring David Wright. Luis Castillo and Alex Cora followed in similar fashion to plate Ryan Church and Omir Santos.

Carlos Beltran then hit a ground ball to third base that was turned for a double play. Beltran actually beat the throw rather easily, which should have continued the inning. Instead he was out, and the Phillies narrowly escaped more damage.

However, that does not absolve the Mets from blowing a late lead.

It began when Pelfrey pitched into trouble in the seventh. He had started to lose his composure the previous inning during an exchange with Utley while he was at the plate. It continued into the seventh when the Phillies' first three hitters all reached on singles. At that point, Pelfrey was pulled in favor of Sean Green, who allowed all three of those runs to score and tie the game.

The Mets left at least two men on in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Despite the team entering the game with a .282 average with runners in scoring position, leaving runners on has actually been a big problem for most of the season.

Wright nearly won it in the tenth. With Fernando Martinez at first, Wright sent a line shot to right field where Jayson Werth was playing. Werth took a big gamble going for the diving catch and probably should not have done so. However, the gamble paid off, and Werth made a spectacular stab to end the inning.

The second pitch Utley saw in the 11th from Bobby Parnell was launched over the right field wall for the win.

The series rubber match will feature 45-year-old Jamie Moyer vs. Tim Redding, who is still figuring himself out on the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM.

Mark Krulish is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at arwing26@gmail.com

Black Magic Man: Johan Santana Provides Fire for Rivalry Battle

How Bout Them Mets — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:19:09 -0400

In the short term life span of Citi Field, the brand new Flushing home had yet to witness the electricity that Met fans ignited Shea with. There would be no fans aimlessly walking around the beautiful park tonight. 45,000 sat in their seats to witness one of baseball hottest rivalries along with the hottest pitcher, Johan Santana.

When the first pitch was thrown, the crowd let out a mighty roar that fueled the blood of Santana and his ship crew. With the Phillies ahead three games in the division, the ace knew what was on the line.

Once again, he was spectacular. It didn’t matter that he struck out just two batters, he brought his A-Game and put the team on his shoulders with three mighty tools of the trade. His arm, his glove, and his bat.

Santana racked up out after out by way of the pop up. Feisty Philly hitters were getting under his nasty change and filthy fastball and it helped Santana shut them down through the first three. After Carlos Beltran homered to enhance a 1-0 lead to 3-0 by the fourth, Santana ran into trouble by way of the long ball.

Two of the best home run hitters in the major leagues gave Santana back-to-back trouble. With two out, Ryan Howard hit his 18th of the season. Raul Ibanez would follow immediately after with his 20th. The long balls cut the Met lead to 3-2.

Santana gave up the lead in the sixth after Jimmy Rollins homered with one on. Johan left the field that inning not dejected, but revengeful. After Tatis was out at the plate due to a controversial call, the Mets looked to rally back with one out. Omir Santos would hit safely to get on base putting two aboard for Johan.

Originally designing a sacrifice bunt two advance the runners, the Phillies had the wheel play in motion. With two strikes against Johan, he bluffed the bunt and drove a hanging slider down the line in right field. Ryan Church scored from second and that tied it.

Two of Santana’s mighty tools in use so far. This gave way for Alex Cora to drive home Santos with two out and the lead was handed right back to the Metropolitans.

With only 74 pitches under his belt, Santana was sent back out in the seventh to keep it rolling. With one out, Eric Bruntlett walked. Here comes tool No. 3. A rocket hot shot lined by Shane Victorino found the glove of Santana. Over to first he threw and the double play ended the inning.

The offense wasn’t finished giving their starter some insurance. Ryan Church who hadn’t homered since April lifted a bomb to dead center. That was the first home run in Citi Field history to land on the home run apple. The Mets had a bit more breathing room against of the NL’s best offensive teams.

Santana returned for the eighth and why not? He wasn’t overpowering, but his presence alone makes a huge difference. It wouldn’t last long as the first batter Chase Utley became the fourth man to homer off him.

Reluctant, Santana was taken out, but left to an enormous standing ovation from the Citi faithful. Pedro Feliciano pitched in relief, threw four pitches for three outs. The lead was still safe for the team to take home.

K-Rod came out in the ninth and performed wonderfully yet again as he clinched save number 16 of the season, and that was all she wrote.

Huge win for this team. You have to admire that this team has been playing uninspired baseball the last three weeks but they knew what was at stake this time. They showed heart, desire, and a determination to win. Santana on the mound made a huge difference, but every single player made an impact.

David Wright homered on his first at-bat. It was his first in exactly 100 appearances. Carlos Beltran provided a power shot, Ryan Church went deep as well. This team found a way to win by the dramatics, and who better to do it against then Philadelphia.

After all the agonizing misery that Met fans have endured due to the size of this teams disabled roster, Met fans can finally wipe the sweat from their brow. If this team can manage further victories just like this one, you can expect inspired baseball to excite the Big Apple.

Randy Sobel is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at Randy.Sobel@gmail.com.

The 2009 New York Mets:The Inconsistency of Consistency

How Bout Them Mets — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:20:33 -0400

Here are your 2009 New York Mets!

Leading off, the short stop…Wilson Valdez?

If that had been announced on opening day, it would have set a record for most confused fans in a ballpark. Some people are still in a quandary over who these new additions really are. Since most of them aren’t creating a Benny Agbayani-type impact, it may be tough to make an adjustment to some of these new faces.

It seems like the Mets present a brand spanking new lineup to the field everyday.

One day, Alex Cora will bat lead-off, with Murphy playing first base and batting fifth, Fernando Martinez batting seventh in either left or right field (usually switching within mid-game), and somewhere plugged in is either Omir Santos or Brian Schneider.

The next day, Fernando Martinez will bat second and play the opposite corner outfield position he did the following game. Santos and Schneider will be switched again, and Tatis will be put somewhere randomly in the lineup (including clean-up).

After a 2-of-4 road trip against two teams sitting well below .500, the Mets need to rediscover an identity.

For starters, they have Ryan Church back in the lineup to play right field everyday. The kind of player Church is, is exactly what they miss.

He’s a perfect six-spot guy in the lineup to bat behind David Wright. Church greeted himself back into the lineup doubling in a run in his first at-bat back from injuring his hamstring.

All the pitches Wright won’t receive, Church will. We’ve seen Church get on smoking hot streaks. The potential for him to be beneficial is certainly existent. Now it needs to become imminent.

The rest of the Mets lineup has been a toss up.

Beyond David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Luis Castillo, no one seems to have a guaranteed spot. First base and shortstop have become the toughest roles to fill due to the injuries Delgado and Reyes have endured. When Reyes went down, Cora followed. Then the backup’s backup, Ramon Martinez went down due to injury. Thankfully it was the day Cora came back from his DL stint.

Since then, it’s been a game of shuffle board.

Cora and Valdez have been swapping bench seats on a nightly basis and it’s making some Met fans want to swap channels. The average fan gets turned off by constant lineup changes.

Take my father for instance. He knows the team pretty well, but he isn’t your typical Mets maniac. Because the Mets aren’t playing the same guys at the same positions, he’ll lose his interest in watching the contests.

Yeah, Jerry doesn’t set lineups to accommodate television ratings. But when the ratings plummet, it usually means something's wrong.

It’s hard for guys like Cora and Valdez, Murphy and Tatis, Santos and Schneider, and Martinez and Sheffield to get in a rhythm when they don’t play everyday. This also takes away from the bench player prowess. To be a bench player, you need to develop the mindset of one.

Right now, Jeremy Reed stands as the single everyday bench guy. Most of these guys mentioned above are bench players by trade or minor leaguers. They aren’t used to the mindset of going out and playing seven games in a week.

Instead of toying with eight players, use four of them as your mold. Put out the same eight field players everyday in the same lineup spot.

Let them learn what pitches they’ll see, batting behind who. From there, your mold solidifies, and hopefully works. If it doesn’t, then go back to the drawing board.

There’s plenty of baseball left to play, use that time to an advantage.

This is the time of year the players have formed bonds and learned each others body language on and off the field. When it’s tough for a player to remember whose out in right field, the chemistry is clearly vacant.

Chemistry wins ballgames, not batting lefties against righties and vice versa. Plain and simple. It’s chemistry. If you cannot develop the chemistry, then you won’t see wins to follow.

Try this lineup on for size as your everyday group. Maybe you switch the catcher spot on a day game after night game, but everything else should stay put.

1. Luis Castillo, 2B
2. Alex Cora, SS
3. Carlos Beltran, CF
4. Gary Sheffield, LF
5. David Wright, 3B
6. Ryan Church, RF
7. Omir Santos, C
8. Daniel Murphy, 1B
9. Ken Takahashi, P (Okay, maybe not.)

Randy Sobel is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at Randy.Sobel@gmail.com.

Met Fans Shouldn't Fear Phils, Yanks

How Bout Them Mets — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:24:33 -0400

To be a Met fan, you must be prepared for anything.

The Mets are baseball’s Bizarro Team. They win and lose games in inexplicable fashion and they do the exact opposite of what everyone expects them to do.

You can say they play up or down to the level of their opponent. They can look like bums against the second division teams and then a week later sweep the team with the best record in baseball.

Don’t ask me why this happens. Perhaps they read the newspapers, read about the significance of the game, and then play accordingly.

This week, the undermanned Mets play a three-game set against the first-place Phillies, then head up to the new Bandbox in the Bronx to play the Yankees.

Last year, the Mets went 11-7 against the eventual World Champs and 4-2 vs the Bombers. This year, the Mets are 3-1 against Philly, with the only loss a 6-5, 10-inning tooth extraction started by Oliver Perez.

I am predicting the Mets will win at least four of these next six games, if not more. They will look like contenders again until they go to Baltimore next week and get swept by the inept Orioles.

People will say “What is your logic behind this prediction?” and I will say what I always say.

THE METS AND LOGIC ARE TWO SEPARATE AND DISTINCT ELEMENTS AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET.

Enjoy the games.

Mets-Nationals: Livan Hernandez's Strong Start Backed by Early Offense

How Bout Them Mets — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:24:02 -0400

The Mets offense exploded in the first inning this afternoon, scoring five runs before Livan Hernandez even threw a pitch. Hernandez took the ball and ran with it, shutting out the Nationals over seven innings in a 6 -0 win at Nationals Park.

Rookie Fernando Martinez got the train rolling when he smoked a double to the deepest part of Nationals Park, which scored Alex Cora. Martinez moved to third on a groundout and David Wright walked.

Nationals starter Craig Stammen, who lacked control all afternoon, threw his first of two wild pitches while Wright was stealing second base. Martinez scored and made it 2-0.

Danny Murphy, who went 2-for-4, then singled in Wright and he was followed by a Ryan Church double. Brian Schneider’s sacrifice fly made it 4-0, and then Stammen threw his second wild pitch, allowing Church to score.

That was all before Livan Hernandez threw the first of his 116 pitches. Hernandez was strong once again, scattering four hits and four walks over his seven innings of work. He improved his record to 5-1 and dropped his ERA to 3.88 on the season.

It was a fairly quiet game from there on. The Mets quickly and efficiently dispatched of the Nationals in a two-hour and 48-minute game.

New York tacked on two more runs late in the game. Jesus Colome was the next pitcher in for the Nationals and he also threw two wild pitches in his two innings of work. Wright singled off Colome in the seventh to score Cora, who had swiped a base earlier in the inning.

Carlos Beltran added the last run in the ninth when he doubled in Martinez. Although he only went 1-for-5, Martinez was a part of the Mets' offensive success on this day.

Pedro Feliciano, Bobby Parnell, and Francisco Rodriguez combined to finish off the last two innings and salvage their series in the nation’s capitol.

It’s not what they hoped for, but the Mets can turn themselves around in the upcoming week when they head back to New York for a three-game series with their division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. Then, they will head across town to take on the Yankees in their brand new facility.

Mark Krulish is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at arwing26@gmail.com

Twin Killing: Double Plays Lead to New York Mets' Nightmare in Washington

How Bout Them Mets — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:18:38 -0400

It’s hard to tell what is more deflating: The Mets making an average pitcher look like Tom Seaver? Hitting into five double plays? Or, perhaps, simply getting pounded by Major League Baseball’s worst team?

It’s a difficult choice, they all look good, but one thing is certain. The Mets were awful in tonight’s 7-1 loss to the Nationals.

In three of the first four innings, the lead-off hitter reached base, only to be erased on a ground ball by the following batter. First it was Fernando Tatis, then Emil Brown, and then Wilson Valdez. The latter two being players who, in all likelihood, should not be in the majors.

Then there’s the bizarre double play in the fourth.

Luis Castillo walked for the second straight plate appearence to open the fourth. Emil Brown then hit a fly ball to Elijah Dukes in right field where Dukes attempted to make a sliding catch, but it was ruled a trap.

Castillo, as he was supposed to, held up between first and second looking to see if Dukes had made the catch. Brown, running hard, passed him by and was called out. Meanwhile, Nick Johnson who received the cut-off throw from Dukes, had the wherewithal to know there was still a force at second base. He threw over and Castillo was out.

After letting John Lannan off the hook several times, he eventually settled in and pitched very well. The same can’t be said for John Maine who gave up home runs to Dukes, Johnson and Adam Dunn. He was lifted after four innings of work.

For their part, Ken Takahashi and Fernando Nieve did their jobs well and kept the Nationals quiet in their combined four innings of work.

Nieve, the new man to the bullpen, looked sharp. While not terribly over-powering, he threw strikes, hit his spots well and worked efficiently.

The Mets lone run came in the eighth inning when Dukes flubbed a flare shot hit by Omir Santos. David Wright and Fernando Tatis had both previously reached on singles. The error allowed Wright to score.

Livan Herandez gets the call tomorrow and will need to be a stopper for the Mets, who have now lost four of their last five. The Nationals will counter with Craig Stammen. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM at Nationals Park. Second pitch, shortly after.

-M.K.

Mark Krulish is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at arwing26@gmail.com

New York Mets: Jerry Manuel Running Out Of Bodies, Answers

How Bout Them Mets — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:05:38 -0400

At this juncture, there are not many of us that would trade places with Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

His team has been decimated by freak injuries and lingering illnesses to the point where they are out of major league-level players. The lineup these days looks like one out of an early March split-squad game.

Manuel has lost his cleanup hitter (Carlos Delgado) for probably the season. His star shortstop (Jose Reyes) is out indefinitely with a calf strain and his best all-around player (Carlos Beltran) has been diagnosed with an unidentified strain of the flu, which has sent off all types of bells and whistles, considering Queens is Swine Flu Central.

Through it all, the Mets have somehow remained competitive, but now injuries to the replacements and the part-timers who have been thrust into the lineup are leaving the cupboard bare.

Outside of the big three that are out, starting rightfielder Ryan Church and his replacement, Angel Pagan, have both been placed on the disabled list. The Mets' current outfield consists of the very green Fernando Martinez, fifth OF Jeremy Reed and the hobbled, 40-something Gary Sheffield.

Those three, and the occasional Fernando Tatis or Daniel Murphy appearance, has worked fairly well, but the Mets are asking too much. They have lost two straight winnable games in Pittsburgh, and with no help on the horizon, they’re in danger of losing sight of the division lead.

Last night, Ramon Martinez, brought up to backup Reyes at shortstop, dislocated his pinky sliding into home. That leaves journeyman Wilson Valdez as the lone option at shortstop. Alex Cora is back from his stint on the DL, but it is unknown how his injured thumb will continue to hinder him.

Those are just the injuries. There are other issues the Mets have had to confront this season as well. They traded lethargic backup catcher Ramon Castro when starter Brian Schneinder returned from the DL last week. Castro told the team earlier in the year that he did not want to play every day.

Here is a quick rundown of the Mets by position and what may lie ahead:

Infield

At first base, Tatis and Murphy are both out of position and neither has shown they can hit consistently enough to play every day there. Second baseman Luis Castillo started off like a house on fire this season but has recently slowed down.

He’s healthy, so that’s good news. Third baseman David Wright is hitting .321, but only has three HRs and has 54 Ks in 50 games (ouch!). He has also left more men stranded than Shackleton.

In Wright’s last 25 at-bats, he’s had two hits. The Mets have needed him this week, and he has not answered the call. OK, Yankee fans, here’s your chance…

I’m not going to lambaste Jose Reyes (apparently he’s paying a lot of my readers’ rents) anymore. The Mets need him back, focused and ready to lead. That’s all I’ll say…

What’s next: Willy Mo Pena. Yes, it has come to that.

Outfield

Without Beltran and Church, the outfield has lots of holes, although Reed has shown that he can play. Martinez is overmatched at the plate. Sheffield was not brought here to play everyday, and now we’re seeing why. Pagan, once again, came up, played well, and then got hurt. Murphy and Tatis should never play the outfield, if possible.

Beltran will be back this week. Church has never been the same since his double concussion last season. Martinez will be sent down as soon as this unit gets staffed up again—whenever that is. The team activated recently-acquired veteran Emil Brown, but if he had any value, he’d be on someone else’s roster right now.

What’s next: A trade, that’s what. Washington’s Adam Dunn and Oakland’s Matt Holliday are possibilities. Dunn is a whiffer who leaves legions on base, and he’s the last thing the Mets need considering the circumstances.

Holliday is a pending free agent who is represented by Scott Boras, plus the Mets would have to deal with A’s GM Billy Beane, who loves to fleece his former employer. Holliday has also been accused of being a Coors Field hitter, and one wonders how he would fare in spacious Citi Field.

Starting Pitching

Johan Santana is snake-bitten by a lack of run support. John Maine has come around, but now he has the flu. Livan Hernandez has pitched as advertised. Mike Pelfrey has stepped up after a shaky start. Tim Redding is here because Oliver Perez is on the DL. The two of them are just awful, by the way.

What’s next: Redding has to go. What a bum. Perez has a knee injury and his return is still way off, since the team just shut him down again. The minor league options aren’t very appealing, so a trade may not be out of the question.

Bullpen

Who is better than Francisco Rodriguez? Not J.J. Putz, that’s for sure. The pen is no longer the typhoid ward that sunk the Mets’ ship the past three years. The only familiar face is Pedro Feliciano, and he’s had to develop two more pitches in order to be retained.

What’s next: Bobby Parnell will soon be moved to the 8th inning role. Putz has a bone spur in his elbow. His sinker doesn’t sink, his slider doesn’t slide, and his fastball is flat. Parnell can hit 100 MPH on the Juggs gun, so make the switch and get Putz righted.

John Fennelly is a contributor to How Bout Them Mets!?.

Extra Inning Delight! David Wright's Double in Tenth Cements Win

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:16:35 -0400

There’s no such thing as a bad looking win. Although for most of this contest the Mets failed to look like a team deserving of praise. But the only thing that matters here is a point in the win column against a very beatable team.

Look at the overall box score of the game. You’ll see that David Wright went 4-5 with 2 RBI leading the Mets to win the first game of three in Washington. You could argue (as they did on the broadcast) that two of those plays were made by an absent minded defense. Both hits happened to be bloop hits that the outfield had a miserable time fielding. The only hit that mattered was his tenth inning double that ended the game.

David Wright has had many opportunities to cash in on big hit situations. For the most part he hasn’t come up quite clutch. His hard hit line drive double to right signifies the type of hits he’s expected of getting. For an all-star such and team leader such as himself, this moment should hopefully get him in a nice hitting groove again. This team desperately seeks it.

Besides Wright, the offense wasn’t all too impressive tonight. You can blame it on muggy weather being a factor, but they left ten runners on base in scoring position. Ten too many to be happy with. Bats need to get rolling, otherwise heads are gonna.

Tonight's save was K-Rod's 15th of the season in as many tries.

Thumbs up of the night goes to the Met bullpen who worked a solid 4 innings total. Through Stokes, Parnell, Green, and K-Rod, only two runners were allowed on the basepaths. The pen is showing no signs of slowing down since hearing the news that J.J. Putz will be gone for 8-10 weeks. Bobby Parnell easily fits in as the set-up man and he brings the same tenacity into the eighth that he did in the seventh.

Another big factor in the bullpen’s success is the emergence of Sean Green. After a hard luck month of April, Green was downgraded from his position of seventh inning man. It’s been rare that we see him as a fixture in games since then because his role has been predominantly in mop-up situations. Green has retired his last 14 batters he’s faced and looked superb in a 1-2-3 outing in the ninth tonight. He’s pitched well enough to earn him back the seventh inning, which makes the loss of Putz a little less stressful.

As for tonight’s starting pitching, Tim Redding was certainly acceptable. He allowed only one run and walked only two which are great signs of him returning back to form. His sign of greatness was when he forced a double play ball with the bases loaded in the fifth, coming out of that jam without giving up a run.

This kind of work is all you can ask for from your fifth starter. Not must every starter be brilliant, but be effective enough to keep a team battling. People may have Redding on a short leash, but remember it’s only his fourth start. His April is now turning into May and from where he stands, I think he’ll continue to be reliable every fifth day.

Tomorrow night John Maine returns to the mound, healthy and prepared. He left his stomach bug in Pittsburgh so you can throw away all the chatter of swine flu. He’s yet to reach the seven inning plateau this season, so he’ll be trying to aim high to keep his season rolling.

Randy Sobel is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at Randy.Sobel@gmail.com.

Putz and Reyes Out For Mets

How Bout Them Mets — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:04:31 -0400

The New York Mets announced that relief pitcher J.J. Putz will undergo surgery for a bone spur in his elbow. He will most likely miss the next eight to 12 weeks.

Putz started the season off strong, but began to lose consistency on his pitches through the last few weeks.

In 29 games, Putz has pitched himself to a 5.22 ERA with a record of 1-4. This is not what the Mets were expecting when they acquired Putz from the Seattle Mariners in a three-team deal in Dec. 2008.

To fill Putz's spot in the bullpen, the Mets called up Fernando Nieve from Triple-A Buffalo. Nieve was claimed off waivers from the Houston Astros earlier this year.

In more news, sources are saying that the Mets expect Jose Reyes to be out until the All Star break, a huge shot to the Mets plans of over-taking the Phillies in the NL East.

Who will the Mets grab to fill Reyes’ spot?

Most believe that Alex Cora can handle it well. On the other hand, some believe he will lose his consistency the more games he starts, and that he should be strictly a bench player.

Wilson Valdez, who was recently acquired, can't fit that role either.

The Mets have always been interested in David Eckstein (should the San Diego Padres put him on the trade block), and the Pittsburgh Pirates are still looking to get rid of SS Jack Wilson who could easily be had, if the Mets were to pick up all of his contract.

Other names that are out there are Mark DeRosa and Jhonny Peralta of the Cleveland Indians and free agent IF Mark Grudzielanek—he hasn’t played short stop in quite some time now, but he is a versatile veteran who can still help this ball club.

Remission Complete: Pirates Sweep Mets In Rain-Shortened Series

How Bout Them Mets — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:10:34 -0400

I entitled my preview of this series “Winning The Games You Are Supposed To Win” for a reason. The Mets were expected to take at least three of four from the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates team. They didn’t listen and, instead, were swept in a rain-shortened three game set.

The sweep was completed today with an 11-6 win for the Pirates at PNC Park in the debut of their prized prospect Andrew McCutchen.

Jason Jaramillo led the way for the Pirates with four RBIs and McCutchen went 2-for-4 with his first career RBI in the bottom of the seventh.

For the Mets starter Mike Pelfrey, it was one of the worst outings of his career. 3 2/3 innings, 9 hits and 9 runs (8 earned). He wasn’t sharp early, giving up six hits and four runs in his first inning of work. He seemed to settle down a bit over the next two, but, was rocked in the fourth for another four runs and his day was over quickly.

Initially, it looked like the Mets had brought the offensive fire power with them today, striking for three in the top of the second. Danny Murphy and Luis Castillo brought contributed RBI-singles while Alex Cora also doubled in a run.

They even had Gary Sheffield up with the bases loaded and two out, but he grounded back to the box and was thrown out by Ross Ohlendorf.

Ohlendorf was not exactly unhittable for the Pirates, but he was good enough to hold the Mets off. It was reliever Steven Jackson, with two shut out innings, who would score his first career decision and win.

Carlos Beltran doubled and homered in his return to the lineup after being hit with a stomach virus.

Six different Mets contributed RBIs in this game, but it was the pitching staff that could not hold up their end.

Although Sean Green came in and stabilized the middle innings, J.J. Putz, once again, was touched up for a couple of runs ballooning his ERA to 5.22. Although a comeback seemed unlikely, those two runs really put the icing on the cake for Pittsburgh and buried the Mets.

Putz does not look comfortable at all right now and it doesn’t appear fixing his mechanics has solved all of J.J.’s problems.

The Mets will try to regroup from this disappointing series and head to National Park in Washington, where, at press time, Randy Johnson is pitching for his 300th win.

The Mets have dominated the Nationals this year and it is safe to say they’ll need to bounce back and continue their great play over Washington.

-M.K.

Mark Krulish is a contributor to HowBoutThemMets.com and can be reached at arwing26@gmail.com

Carlos Beltran Undergoing Testing for Swine Flu

How Bout Them Mets — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:13:36 -0400

Met center fielder Carlos Beltran has been absent from the lineup since being taken out of this past Saturday’s game. It was stated that he may have reacted badly to a cortisone shot he was given for his ailing knee, causing stomach pains and vile excretions.

Now, a report has come out saying that an SNY employee was recently diagnosed with the media porking influenza, also known as Swine Flu. Since SNY employees are in continuous contact with the players, including flying together on the same charter planes, it may now be assumed that Carlos Beltran has come down with this sickness.

Beltran was unavailable for Tuesday night’s game against the Pirates, and was sent back to his hotel room to recover. Right now, there is no definitive answer as to whether or not Beltran has been diagnosed with this flu. However, testing is currently being done to find out what Beltran’s disease actually is.

Beltran isn’t the only member of the team to worry about. John Maine also left his start on Sunday due to a stomach ailment. No word on how he has been feeling, with his illness.

It’s more drama for the Mets to be smack in the middle of. How the team plans to cope with these issues, will be the main focus here.