Is there such things as Intangibles..

There are many people who are saying the Mets are missing something, but it's not a specific pitcher or position player. Those fans who feel something is missing have many different names for "it"; swagger, grit, determination, feistiness, will, competitiveness, heart, guts, clutch, and chemistry are just a few of the terms used for that special "it" that's missing....

Others say, hogwash; baseball is a skill sport and when a team is struggling it's either a matter of the talent level or execution. These fans believe that bad teams are bad because they are inferior to the teams they are playing or their players simply aren't preforming up to their capabilities.

Growing up my favorite player was Pete Rose, Mr. Charlie Hustle himself, so I think you can probably guess where I stand.

I'll say this in about the last two games, when the Mets fell behind in the first game by four and the second by two, to me they appeared to be a defeated team and had no chance of coming back. Now, maybe that was me over reading their body language and projecting my own negative concerns onto them or maybe the biggest component this team is missing are those intangibles. Jerry Manuel seemed to be in agreement that this team gives up and doesn't comeback when they fall behind.

The Mets head to Philly for a weekend series, by the end of the weekend the Phillies have the potential to be in first place. The Phillies can be in first place, despite their rotation having the worst ERA in the league by having the most comeback wins, so far this season ( 9 of their 11 wins are comebacks). So if it's the intangibles that are missing for the Mets then it would be those same intangibles that are helping the Phils overcome their pitching woes....

The New York Times has an article on the Phillies, for a Mets fan, it's a hard read but it's also a must read, especially for those who don't believe in the intangibles. For me, it's hard to stomach that all the things I would love to characterize my team as, are attached to my hated rival and all the characteristic I loath in professional athletes are being attached to my team. I can live with a team that runs through walls and loses, I can't live with a team that quits......

Shane Victorino described the optimistic feeling in the Phillies' dugout as “a sense.” The players do not share any specific words or special handshakes if the Phillies
are trailing. But Victorino said they do share the belief that the beginning of a comeback is one pitch away. source NY Times

Wily Mo strong debut

It's quite remarkable that the Mets', AAA affiliate in Buffalo is going through the exact same struggles as the parent club. The Bison lost today's game 1-0, Rochester finally got to starter Nelson Figueroa in the seventh inning. Figgy completed seven innings in which he allowed one run on four hits and no walks.

The Mets added two offensive players with significant major league experience to the Bison's rosters. Mike Lamb played third base and had a hit, while Wily Mo Pena appeared in his first game as the DH and had two hits in four plate appearances....

Full box score...

Some more numbers to look at.....

As the first month of the 2009 season ends, with a two game losing streak to division rival Florida and our first nine win month since 2004, we're forced on a day off, to look at this club that we thought was a playoff team and discuss what's wrong.

I don't down play the impact the starting rotation is having on this team, I simply feel that the offense is having much more of an impact and is a bigger concern then the rotation. Santana is a stud, Pelfrey and Maine are coming around, and the fifth starters spot is always going to be weak. The rotation's biggest concern, as it always has been is Oliver Perez.

There is a great debate over which area is more troubling, the rotation or the offense. I believe it to be the offense but here are some interesting numbers, for you to decide for yourself.

I'm not minimizing how bad the rotation has been, it's ranked 14th in the league with an ERA of 5.09 and has only provided 7 quality starts ( 35%). The rotation has allowed 70 runs ( 65 earned ) and BAA is .255. The league average for ERA is 4.65, so the rotation is well over an acceptable rate and they are compounding things by not getting deep into games....

As advertised, the bullpen is the best in the league, they have the best ERA 3.22 (next best is 3.50) and are converting 80 percent of their chances, so far this season. They've allowed 27 runs and batters are hitting .254.

What this tells me, is that (for the most part) if the Mets are trailing in a game, it happens early, so they have numerous chances to catch up and they have the comfort of knowing that if they give the pen a lead, on most nights, their going to win.

Thanks to the numbers that the pen has put up, overall the pitching staff doesn't have a horrible ranking. The entire pitching staff is ranked 9th in the NL and has an ERA of 4.41 which is better then the league average. For a little perspective, the Phillies are dead last in team ERA with 5.63; but have two more wins, swept Florida and are a game out of first.

A lead of three or less is considered a hold or save opportunity because it's reasonable to believe that a team should be able to score three runs in any given inning. So by the numbers we know that in most games the Mets have multiple opportunities to comeback in a game, because it's the rotation giving up most of the runs not the pen. How big are the leads I'm expecting the offense to over come; in the 13 losses, 10 of them are by three runs or less ( five 1 run losses, three 2 run and two 3 run), two were by four runs and only one was a blow out of seven runs. Basically in 10 games that the Mets have lost they had every opportunity to win the game, despite a poor showing by the rotation and have been unable to comeback. What makes it even more frustrating is that the Mets had early leads in eight of their losses and after the rotation gave back the lead, no matter how small they lost.

At first glance you wouldn't think the Mets would have difficulty scoring, they have the third best team batting average and OBP in the National league, with a combined total BA of .282 and .362 OBP. But after that, the numbers begin to drop off significantly, the team is dead last in extra base hits and home runs. They are 11th in RBI's with 87 which is well below the league average at 93. Their .411 Slg. Pct. is ninth in the league and they are seventh with runs scored ( team has scored 96 runs while the pitching staff has allowed 97).

With runners on base the batting average drops to .266 ( ranked 7th), scoring position .252 ( ranked 8th ), two out RISP .271 ( ranked 5th ) and bases loaded the Mets drop all the way down to 13th with a .179 BA. As far as their slugging percentage during all of these situations, it's basically about the same, around the 10 th best and .390, however; in bases loaded situations while it's still ranked tenth, just as the rest of the league dips so do the Mets with a .321 Slg. pct.

Back to the point about what is the most critical concern of this team, most can agree that the rotation hasn't been great but aside from one blow-out the score has been close. It also seems that the pen, in general, isn't giving up runs, so the offense has multiple opportunities to make comebacks against small leads. With the third best batting average in the league, how is it possible for a team to lose 10 games by three runs or less ?

The Mets offense is failing to produce, during critical situations which I believe to be the direct cause of their losing record. The team is hitting .300 innings 1-6 but when it counts in the last three innings their BA drops to a mere .240.

Every single offensive statistic drops later in games and the more pressure that is put on the team. Matt Cerrone of Metsblog posted about the team under achieving in which he says the team has left 173 runners on base and are 0-7 in the last game of a series.

Castillo not 100%

The Mets expect Carlos Delgado back to start the Phillies series on Friday night but may still be missing their starting second basemen. The right side of the infield missed the last two games of the Florida series with what amounted to nagging injuries.

From what I understand Delgado will have to deal with his hip until he retires or decides to have surgery, at this point I'm worried, since he's been a Met he has had two very bad slumps both of which could be attributed to nagging injuries (wrist/hip) that he tried to play through. Delgado is a big man with a lot of moving parts, at his age, if anything doesn't feel right he loses bat speed and is susceptible to good pitching.

A month ago many would have bet that Alex Cora would be the starting second baseman to start May, but the numbers would have been much less to bet that Castillo would be missed. Now, don't get me wrong Cora is playing solid defense and he's made the most of his plate appearances but Castillo is back to being that pesky player he was notorious for in Minnesota and Florida.

It sounds like the back spasms that sidelined Castillo the last two games will prevent him from at least starting the series in the line-up....

"I feel better," Castillo said, holding the right side of his back. "But I don't feel 100 percent." source MLB.com

This is about the offense...

Aside from changing a couple faces, the mood of this picture could describe the mood of the 2009 Mets through April, the only difference is, the picture is Sept. of 2007.

I was always told the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, So why do the Mets keep sending out the same group of position players and expecting different results.

I don't believe Mets fans are over reacting or jumping the gun, because they're not responding soley to April of 2009 but to a group of players who have been under preforming in the same manner since Sept. 2007.

See, I have a bone of contention and while I'd rather be wrong on this one, because it would mean that the Mets were winning, it does give me some solace during this miserable stretch for my team, that I was right. I was peppered all off-season by other fans who said, fix the pen and were a playoff team, the offense was fine, it scored the second most runs in the National League.

I never felt the offense was fine, and while I agreed the pen was our biggest liability last year, the offense had multiple opportunities to save the pen and failed to bail them out. I've also wondered if the pen wasn't constantly playing in one run games early in the season (2008) maybe they wouldn't have burned out down the stretch....

I wasn't one of the "trade the core" bloggers but I was one that felt the core needed an addition, specifically a veteran leader who was also a clutch hitter. I have felt all along that it was critical for the Mets to sign another offensive player, whether it was Manny, Hudson, Dunn, Ibanez or any of the other names bantered about. It was an absolute mistake to rely on the leadership of this team, that for the second year in a row missed the playoffs by one game and this time it was only by a two run deficit. Instead they tried to sell fans on the idea that fixing the pen would solve all our problems and allowing an out of position rookie to play where they should have signed a veteran leader would be fine...

Well the pen has been fine and a month into the season we're three games below 500. Today's game was a rare day when one of our big reliever's had a bad outing and gave up two runs, a one run deficit with three innings to go shouldn't be that hard to over come. We shouldn't be expecting relievers, even guys like J.J. Putz to be perfect or as good as they are they may burn out as well.

The Mets can blame their record directly on the offense, the same offense I was told not to worry about, that it would be fine because it scored the second most runs in the NL. To me it does look the same as last year but in all the bad ways; in it's inability to get clutch hits, score add on runs, middle inning runs and generate rallies that produce come from behind wins.

While many will see the two runs allowed by J.J. as the cause of today's loss, I see 14 runners left on base, 1-11 with RISP, no two out RBIs and 13 runners left in scoring position with two outs by eight different batters. J.J.'s outing was unusual but the offenses was consistent with this entire month, most of last season and Sept. of 2007. The Mets offense had a hot streak the first half of 2007 and directly after Jerry took over, but otherwise this is the same offense that just keeps treading water hoping for 2-1 wins.......

Is Castro on his way out...

There were rumors this off-season that Ramon Castro was being heavily shopped, but that the Mets couldn't find a taker for the back-up catcher. Just prior to spring training it was reported that the reason Castro was shopped, was because they had offered him the starting job, in 2007 and Castro seemed more comfortable as a back-up.

On a team that is highly criticized for it's lack of fire, being a content player is not going to be considered an asset and when that player gets off to a .233 start, he might find himself looking for work. The only thing that might save Castro is the fact that the Mets owe him just under 3 MM for the season and have been reluctant to lose any money in player contracts this year....

If anyone thought Jerry's love fest for Omir Santos was lip service to a young player, they better re-think that idea, Manuel pinch hit for Castro with Santos in the bottom of the 9th with two outs, down by a run and bases loaded. The risk didn't work out but the message was definitely sent; players who over achieve, work hard and give it there all will be getting the chances. Manuel may have lost Castro, but something has to be done to wake this team up....

The Mets say that Santos calls a good game, the pitchers like throwing to him and he is quiet behind the plate. I found that being a quiet catcher means that they don't move around a lot and frame pitches well. After Manuel's ultimatum to the rotation; Pelfrey, Maine and Hernandez all had decent outings with Santos behind the plate....

Offensively Santos has been very hot to start his Mets career, he had a six game hitting streak in his first six starts. He's hitting .269 with a .500 slugging percentage that includes a grand slam, triple and a double.

The Mets don't have to make a decision immediately as Schneider is still recovering from his back and calf injuries.

Jerry Manuel defended his odd move to pinch-hit a cold Omir Santos for Ramon Castro in the ninth inning of today's 4-3 loss to the Marlins, saying he felt Santos was better suited to face hard-throwing closer Matt Lindstrom. source NY Post

Delgado still hurting

Carlos Delgado's hip is still sore, Omar Minaya revealed that Delgado received a cortisone shot in the hip and will miss his third straight game. It doesn't sound as if it's anything serious and only a matter of time before he returns to the line-up. Some believe that Delgado's hip can be attributed to his awful slump through the first half of last year, while the slugger himself denied injury, it's been reported in the past that eventually the hip will need surgery. Hopefully, he makes it through this year and it has no ill effects on his swing....

Omar Minaya said Carlos Delgado has received a cortisone shot in his inflamed right hip, and the ailing first baseman is expected to miss his third straight game today. source NY Post

End of the Garcia era...

I had such high hopes for Freddy Garcia, he had won a championship and was such a workhorse throughout his career, until his injuries in 2006. Even if he couldn't get back to where he was with the White Sox, I figured he would be better then most of our fifth starters we've had over the last few years....

Freddy came to camp proclaiming that he was fully recovered and even said, if he was healthy he wouldn't accept designation to the minors. Well, Garcia never proved his health in spring training, he never re-gained his velocity and was beat up throughout camp.

Even after spring training, I thought maybe if he rehabbed he would be a nice addition to the team at mid-season.

But after spending time in extended spring training, when Garcia pitched against AAA hitters he struggled. It must have been clear that he had nothing left, after last night's game Freddy contemplated retirement, the Mets saved him the decision by releasing him, to make room for Figgy....

We told you that Freddy Garcia was contemplating retirement. Well, the Mets have expedited his exit by releasing him. The Mets added Nelson Figueroa and Wily Mo Pena to Triple-A Buffalo's roster, with Figueroa due to start Tuesday night. source Daily News

Manuel Poised to Make a Big Decision?

As seen on NY Mets Global

Tonight’s lineup will feature Fernando Tatis batting second and playing second, Gary Sheffield in left batting sixth, and Omir Santos catching and batting eighth. With Brian Schneider expected back this Sunday, Manuel appears to be giving Santos as many opportunities as possible to prove that he, and not Castro belongs on the club. With the Mets having looked to deal Castro all winter, his struggles at and behind the plate this year, and the recent release of Marlon Anderson it appears entirely possible that Santos and not Castro will be the Mets backup catcher when Schneider returns.

Additionally, with Tatis and Sheffield getting additional playing time as of late, it begs the question whether Manuel is looking to go with a 4 man bench.

Manuel has already used his bullpen more than he would like, and has not ruled out the possibility of adding another arm out there. Even this early in the season the Mets have already give auditions to Nelson Figueroa, Casey Fossum, and have Ken Takahahi joining the club tonight. Tim Redding is expected to be ready to join the club in the next couple weeks, and there certainly has been enough out there about the possibility of Maine or Perez going to the pen. So it appears that Manuel is putting himself in a position to make the most informed decision of who he will be able to count on in the pen and the starting rotation.

As for Tatis and Sheffield, they certainly provide the Mets with some pop of the bench. Sheffield has struggled so far at the plate batting just .138. So we have to ask the question, are the next few days Gary’s last chance? Is Tatis’ playing time at second base his chance to prove he can handle the infield duties of Alex Cora?

If the Mets were to go to a 4 man bench they would have to decide between Sheffield or Cora. Jeremy Reed has proven he can handle the bat in big situations, and his glove is just way to important as a defensive replacement with Daniel Murphy’s continued struggles. A backup catcher is a given, so that leaves just Tatis, Sheffield, and Cora on the bench.

Tatis proved himself last year as a dependable bat, and so far is hitting .250 in a limited number of at bats; however his ability to play both the infield and the outfield is invaluable, especially with a short bench.

Cora’s offense is certainly the weakest of the bunch, and is around solely for his defensive ability on the infield, so if Tatis can handle first, second, and third, as a serviceable backup then Cora is expendable.

Sheffield lastly is a hitter, simple as that. If he can’t hit, then there is no reason to carry him.

So the question, is Manuel positioning himself to make some very crucial decisions? Or is this just a wacky Monday lineup?

Is David Wright in the worst slump of his career...

How can a guy hitting .288 be considered in a slump ?

When your name is David Wright and your the face of a franchise, in one of the biggest baseball cities in America, your expected to do a lot more then hit for a decent average.

There is an expectation level placed on Wright that is based on his own accomplishments, Wright has been incredibly consistent, not just over his career but even within a given season.

Throughout his career, during any portion of a season Wright could be penciled in for his career averages: BA .309, OBP .389, Slg. .529 and OPS .918....

After being that consistent, to see his numbers dramatically drop is alarming for most Mets fans.

He currently has a batting average of .288 with a .394 slugging percentage, .390 OBP and .794 OPS, but even those numbers only tell half the story...

The Mets have the third best batting average, as a team, in the National League, so players are getting on base but those base runners aren't being driven in, as evident by the team being seventh in runs scored.

Wright has hit in the third or fifth spot in the order, for every game to start the season, and in those primary RBI positions, for a line-up getting on base, he has only 6 RBIs in 66 plate appearances....

With the bases empty Wright is basically preforming as expected, hitting .345, OBP .441, Slg. .483 and OPS .924.

But with any type of pressure his numbers are dramatically down;
with runners on base his average is .243 ( .349/.329/.673),
RISP .208 ( .345/.333/.678),
two outs RISP .200 ( .294/.400/.694)
bases loaded .250 (.250/.250/.500) .

These situations account for 37 of his 66 plate appearances so far this year.

It appears that Wright, who was highly criticized this off-season by many none Mets fans for his lack of clutch hits, in the last week of the season, is pressing. Not only are his pressure situation batting numbers down but his strikeouts are significantly up. Wright has always been known for making good contact and having a great eye at the plate, however; so far this year he is amongst the league leaders in strike outs with twenty...

If all his numbers were down, I would agree that he didn't feel right at the plate, had an injury or was mechanically off, but with him hitting .345 with no one on and .243 or less with runners on, I have to believe it's mental.....

The bottom line is, he wanted to carry this team offensively and get them off to a fast start but he still hasn't gotten over incidents like leaving Murphy on third with no outs in the last week of the season. So far this season Wright's performance at the plate can be summed up in one word; Pressing......

So how do you fix a perennial All-star and potential Hall of Famer who is acting more like D-Rod then DW....

1. It's mechanical or physical leave it to Hojo to fix
2. Great hitters will work this out themselves, leave him alone
3. Give him a day or two off to relax and clear his head
4. Move him to the #2 spot to see more fastball and get him started
5. Move him to the bottom of the order to take the pressure off

Statistical numbers obtained from Yahoo Sports....

Takahashi up, Fossum Down...

After pitching 2.2 innings of mop-up work, Casey Fossum was designated for assignment. Fossum allowed two inherited runners and one of his own runs to score before settling down and pitching two scoreless innings. Fossum has made three appearances for the Mets and today was his first earned run. His down fall came because in two of the appearances he allowed inherited runners to score.

Fossum has spent most of his career as a starting pitcher and seemed to do fine starting an inning with the bases clear, however; he seemed to struggle as a reliever in cleaning up others' messes. With the state of the rotation, hopefully the veteran lefty makes it back to Buffalo because I'm betting were going to need spot starters.

To replace Fossum the Mets called up Ken Takahashi, the 40 y/o left hander is a veteran of the Japanese leagues. Takahashi has been both a starter and reliever throughout his career, coming off a very good season in Japan, he decided to take his chances in America.

I'm not sure what Omar sees in this guy, his career numbers are mediocre and most reports say he isn't that good, but Omar pursued him most of the off season and signed him when the Blue jays let him go. According to the scouting reports I read, he is a ground ball specialist against righties but is that rare lefty reliever who struggles against left handed hitters.

There is some speculation that Ollie's next start could be skipped and they could move him to the pen, but I can't see them using Takahashi as a spot starter.

As the Mets continue to mull over what to do with Oliver Perez, they did make one move after today's 8-1 loss to the Nationals. They designated Casey Fossum for assignment. Fossum allowed three hits and one run over 2 2/3 innings in relief of Perez. Team officials immediately gathered after the game to talk about their next roster move and that could involve skipping Perez's next turn before demoting him to the bullpen. source Newsday

Murphy- asset or liability...

Dan Murphy was at it again today, I've never seen a player fall down more times on routine fly balls then Murphy. The cynical fan will say that if Murphy catches the ball, Ollie doesn't implode, while the optimist, that's in Murph's corner will say Ollie was destine to implode anyway....

The bottom line is that Murphy is hitting .317 and the Mets are still losing games. Are the seven RBIs and 13 runs scored out weighing the runs he is costing the team. Would this team benefit more from a guy hitting .270-ish but was a solid defender, or is Murphy and his bat worth the runs he is costing the team in the field ?

On Saturday in the first inning he made an incredible catch and then threw to first for a double play, while I didn't expect him to instantly turn into a gold glover, I had hoped the play would give him the confidence to make the routine plays. However, several innings later he made a horrible play which cost the team a run, that went unnoticed since the game was already in hand.

Today, Murphy broke the wrong way on a ball and once again fell to the ground as the ball sailed past him and the hitter went from an easy out to an extra base hit. Later in the game on a routine base hit to left field, the runner scored from second, as Murphy again attempted a relay throw to Reyes which for the second time was unsuccessful in preventing the runner from scoring.

The book is out on Murphy's arm, even pitchers are scoring from second on anything hit to the left side. And every fly ball is an adventure, Manuel believes he's playing tight but if that's the case that double play should have loosened him up, instead the very next day he cost the team at least two runs. He is directly responsible for two of the teams first ten losses in less then 20 games, at that rate Murphy's fielding, if it doesn't improve will result in 16 losses for the season, can he improve that much in season and will his bat out weigh those losses...

Is a player hitting .317 who isn't an RBI producing machine worth the level of defensive liability that Murphy has become.......

What to do with Ollie...

Another start for Oliver Perez that produced the exact same results, in fact, Perez's starts have been carbon copies of each other. Perez showed flashes of the "Good Ollie" through the first two innings but once he was faced with any adversity he fell apart. In the end, Perez allowed seven runs in 4.1 innings.

Ollie in four starts has had one good outing against San Diego, where he pitched six innings and allowed one run, but the other three starts were very bad loses. Ollie in three starts hasn't gotten deep into the outings, which over taxes the pen and were the type of losses that demoralized the team, because the Mets had a lead and Ollie gave up big innings which took them completely out of the game.

Through four games Perez now has an ERA of 9.31 and hasn't made it out of the fifth in three of them. The two teams that have absolutely destroyed Perez are both bad teams ( Cincy/Washington), but before you say, well that's big game Ollie, he didn't have a quality start against first place St. Louis....

I know there has been some discussion that Perez's velocity is down but in my opinion this is all mental with Ollie. Even if his velocity is off, his secondary pitches are nasty enough that he could get by with a high 80's fastball. In each of Perez's losses, prior to him giving up a big inning something has flustered him; a ball four he thought was strike three, a hit he felt shouldn't have been given up like to the opposing pitcher or an error. Once his start begins to spiral downward, he is clearly unable to recover, and he begins walk batters and give up hits. In two of the games the opposition has scored more runs in an innings against Ollie, then the Mets have scored in most games....

Reportedly Perez has options but because he has five years of service he would have to accept a demotion to the minors leagues or could become a free agent and collect his 36 MM. I've been pretty supportive of Omar on most trades or deals, for the most part many of the ones that have turned out bad have been minor role players but picking Ollie over Lowe could be his worst as the Mets GM....

Redding getting ready...

Tim Redding move one step closer to returning to the major league club yesterday when he pitched four scoreless innings during extended spring training.

Redding had off-season toe surgery and after signing with the Mets he attempted to rush back, resulting in a shoulder issue from over compensating for the toe.

One of the telling signs that he was injured during spring training was that his velocity was significantly down. It's being reported that his velocity is back up to the low 90s which is a more important sign then keeping minor leaguer's scoreless.

Redding will more then likely make a start in Buffalo and is about 10 days away form returning.

When he returns it will put the team in a very precarious situation; who will go down or be cut ?

1. Bobby Parnell has options but has become one of Manuel's go to guys.


2. Brain Stokes has been filling the long man role and has been effective, he's out of options and there's no way he makes it through waivers, so trading out one long man for another seems out of the question.


3. The Mets really botched things when they brought up Casey Fossum, after looking so desperate to get a second lefty on the roster, will they really try to pass Fossum through waivers.


4. Maine is out of options but if he has another bad outing would they move him to the pen or DL him.


5. Ollie has options but has to accept assignment ( over five years service), if he looks like bad Ollie again would they strong arm him into the minors.


6. If Livan gets bombed he might get a quick hook as they exchange fifth starters.

My guess would be that Fossum will be the one to go and that Stokes will be used as a middle reliever, while they try to keep Redding's arm lengthened, as the long man, in case a starter needs to be replaced.

Tim Redding tossed four scoreless innings in an extended spring training game Saturday while registering 90-93 mph with his fastball. It's presumed Redding will make one start for Triple-A Buffalo late this week before being activated by the Mets in about 10 days. source Daily News

The Church Debate....

The Mets have been waiting for that big two out, clutch hit and it finally came today, in the sixth inning of the game against the Nationals.

While the Mets were leading the game by a score of 5-2, most of those runs could be credited to the shabby Nationals defense, once again the Mets had left a small colony of men on base. Up until the sixth inning they were 3-10 with RISP and had stranded seven runners on base, David Wright and Carlos Beltran had combined to leave four runners in scoring position with two outs.

But in the sixth inning with the two on and two outs, Ryan Church hit a two RBI single that broke the game open, for Church it was his second hit of the afternoon and gave him three RBIs for the game.

Despite hitting .358 with a .528 Slugging percentage and a .443 on base percentage, which accompanies center field quality range and a cannon arm for a tough right corner at Citi Field, Church continues to have to prove himself.

Jerry Manuel seems to have focused most of his challenges directly at Church, whether it was Tatis or Sheffield it seems that Ryan has continually had to show his boss his value. While he doesn't appear to be the type that needs to be pushed, all he has done since spring training is produce.

It appears that even the media is entering the Church debate, as some are like me, wondering what this guy needs to do to earn a permanent position, others feel that Manuel is justified in not using Church as an everyday starter, not against lefties that is.......

all Church has done is hit. He went 2 for 4 with three RBI in the Mets' 8-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday, raising his average to .358. And his defense in the outfield has been mostly superb. Still, when asked if he would play Church every day now -- instead of benching him against left-handed starting pitchers in favor of Tatis or Sheffield, as was the case Friday -- Manuel basically said no. source NJ.com

In his one season-plus as a Met, Church can rightfully say he has given them everything they could ask for, and more than they had any right to expect. But only against righthanded pitching, his manager could counter. And unlike Church, he's got the numbers to back him up. source Newsday

Mets sign Lambo...

The Mets have signed Mike Lamb to a minor league deal, while in Houston Lamb was affectionately know as Lambo for his unusual batting stance/swing and his solid power numbers.

The 33 y/o left handed hitting corner infielder was let go by the Brewers out of spring training when he refused assignment to AAA. Throughout his career he has primarily been a third baseman but spent significant time at first base and sprinkled in a few games at second, catcher and the outfield.

He's has a lifetime BA of .277 with a slugging percentage of .417, his best seasons came in Houston. While with the Astros in 2004 he had a slugging percentage .511 and in 2006 his BA was .306. Last year he struggled with the Brewers hitting a mere .235 and as I said before didn't make it out of spring training with the team.

When the Mets signed their affiliation with the Bison's they committed to putting a winning product on the field and after Buffalo got off to it's worst start in team history, the Mets have brought in several veteran players.

I'm sure Omar hopes that Pena returns to the power threat he once was in Cincy and Buffalo is chanting Lambo when Mike Lamb comes to bat. Not only will that satisfy Buffalo but it will also give him so very interesting options with a struggling offense.

Also, ex-Astro Mike Lamb has signed with the organization, and presumably will team with Wily Mo Pena and Figueroa to try to reverse Triple-A Buffalo's woeful start while providing organizational depth. Lamb, 33, spent spring training with the Brewers. He hit a combined .235 with one homer and 32 RBI in 272 at-bats with Minnesota and Milwaukee last season. He's played 446 career major-league games at third base and 255 at first base. source Daily News

Figgy back in the organization

According to Adam Rubin of the Daily News, Nelson Figueroa has re-signed a minor league deal with the Mets. After being mistreated by management, Figueroa had opted for free agency once he cleared waivers. As the Mets rotation was falling apart Figgy was testing the free agent market, with Manuel threatening rotational changes it looks like the Mets give him the best opportunity of returning to the majors. I'm still glad that Figgy made a stand and I'm sure opting out was his way of sending Omar a message, but I'm also glad he's back in the mix....

As exclusively reported in the Daily News on Saturday, Nelson Figueroa has decided to re-sign with the organization after testing free agency by refusing a minor-league assignment earlier in the week. Apparently, sometimes the best opportunity is where they know and like you, even if he was abruptly designated for assignment to make room for a second lefty reliever, Casey Fossum, after Figueroa allowed three runs in six innings against the Brewers on Sunday. source Daily News

It shouldn't be this hard

Don't get me wrong, the Mets won and I'm very happy that they won, but that still doesn't hide the fact that there are some very glaring problems with this team.

If it wasn't for the brilliant pitching of Johan Santana, this team may not have won this game. We're not talking about losing to the red hot Padres or Cardinals, were talking about the worst team in the entire league. The Mets squeaked by with a one run win despite having 18 scoring opportunities.

The Mets positional players should be thanking Livan Hernandez for getting bombed on Thursday, because it took the focus off the offense and put it onto the rotation. But it was the Mets offense tonight that made this game much closer then it needed to be, they were 2 for 18 with RISP and left 13 runners on base.

Except for Luis Castillo, each and every player who came up with a runner in scoring position struggled at the plate. In the first three innings they had a runner on third with one out and the batter failed to even get a fly ball. In fact, Austin Kearns' poor fielding gave them one run and the game winner came on a bases loaded walk.

The Mets had 11 hits but only two players had two hits, Luis Castillo and Fernando Tatis. Six different players left a runner in scoring position with two outs and four of them left two runners in scoring position.

I'm not sure how to get them over this block, but as a fan of Frazer Crane maybe they should have a seat on the couch.....

Could Maine move to the pen....

On the heels of Jerry Manuel's proclamation that the Mets starting pitching needed to show him something in their next rotation, I began to take a look at what moves he could actually make and what would make sense.

First off, let me say that I think Manuel was challenging his players and not panicking in the least, and after seeing the same results since early spring training, I can't say I blame him. I'm sure since early March he has tried every possible method to get these guys to respond and nothing else has work, so maybe as a last resort he's trying a public challenge. Back to what Manuel could do if the pitchers don't/can't respond to the latest challenge.

Tim Redding is the best candidate we have for the rotation and he's about two starts away from being ready. At his best, Redding is a #4 starter and that's probably being generous.

Replacing Livan Hernandez is probably the easiest action to take but what impact will that truly have on the team and in actuality, until his last start he was the second best starter on the roster.

Oliver Perez is who he is ( the mistake was signing him over Lowe) and Ollie isn't going to be anymore consistent in the pen or if he's sent down for a month. Dan Warthen simply has to find a way to get him back to where he took him last July and if that means calling pitches from the dugout, so be it. Besides even with options a player over five years has to accept assignment and there's no way a Boras client is doing that, he'll take his 36MM and play for league min. elsewhere.

Mike Pelfrey has the best stuff and potential of everyone not named Santana or Rodriguez. The Mets need to decide whether he can pitch through his injuries or he should be shut down until he's absolutely 100%. Players are always going to ask for the ball, the organization in general needs to stop listening to them and make their own decision.

I think the player who would make the most sense being moved from the rotation into the pen, if someone has to be moved, is John Maine. Not only for the benefit of the team but also for Maine, coming off shoulder surgery I believe that Maine is experiencing shoulder fatigue which has contributed to his 7.47 ERA.

I've always thought that Maine might be better suited for the pen and now might be the perfect time to make that transition. Maine originally garnered Omar's attention when he lead the Independent league in strike outs with the Orioles AAA affiliate. His heavy, rising fastball can be a lethal strike out weapon when seen in-frequently, but when used regularly and mixed in with his off-speed pitches it becomes a foul ball machine and makes him a five inning pitcher.

His numbers this year seem to be indicative of my perception ( source of numbers Yahoo sports);

In the first 15 pitches of a game Maine has an ERA 0.00 with one hit, two strikeouts and one walk, which would be the range he's used as a reliever. From 16-30 pitches, which is where he starts to mix in more secondary pitches his ERA jumps to 6.75, so at this point in his start it appears he's probably in trouble and returns to more fastballs which results in an ERA of 4.50 from 31-45 pitches.

After 45 pitches I believe his shoulder is starting to fatigue as his ERA begins to rise dramatically. From 46- 60 pitches, his ERA is 9.00, 61-76 ERA 27.00 and 77-101 ERA 5.40. Again in a short stint when Maine sees the end of the start coming and tries to suck it up, he has an ERA 0.00 from 91-105 pitches. The one time he tried to push it into the sixth inning he recorded one out but gave up a run on a hit and a walk ( 106 or more pitches ERA 27.00).

Whether it's short or long term, I believe Maine is the best suited starter for working out of the pen and while he's not been effective in the rotation, he could be a very good reliever. Maine was willing to move into the pen last year in September and has some limited experience in the pen when he was with Baltimore. Besides, the highest Tim Redding could be expected to effectively replace someone is Maine's #4 spot....

Hitting, Organizational epidemic, Buffalo too....

Just happened to take a peak at how Buffalo is doing and in reading a recap of the Bison's start to the season you would think that the writer was talking about the Mets. Buffalo is off to it's worse start in team history with a record of 2-11 and one of those wins took 15 innings. When Buffalo became the Mets AAA affiliate, the organization committed to putting a winning product on the field and not making it a haven for journeymen and aging veterans. I wonder how long it will take for relations to become strained, despite being a minor league town, Buffalo loves their team and wants to win. It sounds like there hoping Wily Mo Pena and Freddy Garcia can give the team a spark.....

The Mets worked hard to get free agents here, some with good resumes. They signed Jason Cooper at the Bisons' behest (but didn't activate him until last week). There's plenty of good pitching. But this team is in a total funk at the plate. Hot prospect Nick Evans is batting .102 and has one single -- one! -- so far. source Buffalo News

An eighth reliever ?

I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a team carrying 13 pitchers, sure, some teams will carry eight relievers to start a season while they only need four starters, but never five starters and eight relievers. Initially I thought it would simply be too many arms, at the sacrifice of a position player.

But if four of the Mets five starters can only go into the fifth inning then the Mets better protect their greatest asset, the pen. Not only does the pen need to be protected from over use but also over exposure, the more hitters see a reliever the more chance they have of beating him.

So where would the room for an extra reliever come from, in my eyes the team has three options; Gary Sheffield, Jeremy Reed and Dan Murphy.

Most people are pointing to Jeremy Reed and he is probably the player who would be reassigned if they brought up a reliever, but he wouldn't be my option. Reed is an above average defender with a decent arm which makes him essential late in games. If Reed gets enough at bats he may surprise many and show that he can hit, as a prospect he was better known for his bat then his glove.

If not Reed then most say the Gary Sheffield project should be over, but again that wouldn't be my option. I'd actually put Sheffield in the line-up as the left fielder and hope that the intimidation factor alone would benefit the hitters around him. In two weeks I would re-assess whether Gary had anything left.

The player I would demote is Dan Murphy, as I said the other day, the major leagues isn't the place for a one tool player to be learning a new position. Yes, he can hit at the major league level but Murphy is simply too much of a liability in the field. After his debacle on Tues. night many failed to mention/notice what happened on Wednesday. On a line drive to left field, the pitcher from second base challenged Murphy's arm to the plate and won. To Murph's credit he made a very good throw and Castro did a poor job covering the plate, but I've never heard of a pitcher challenging a fielders arm like that and he did beat the throw to the plate. Murphy's going to have to be a first baseman and he should be in Buffalo learning the position....

Manuel mentioned after the Mets' fourth straight loss that the club may be forced to add an eighth reliever, to guard against overworking the current bullpen with the starting pitchers not going deep enough into games. Adding an extra pitcher would be a difficult proposition source Daily News

Backup plans better start warming up......

The Mets starting rotation has been absolutely awful over the first two weeks of the season: Mike Pelfrey is fighting several minor injuries; Ollie, well, Ollie is Ollie, enough said; John Maine still looks tentative and Livan Hernandez finally looked like Livan Hernandez, today....

Of course I'm leaving out staff Ace and Cy Young Award winning pitcher Johan Santana, but he deserves to be separated from the rest. Unfortunately, Santana can only pitch every fifth day and still has to worry about the offense scoring enough runs and the defense not making costly errors, otherwise he's an automatic win...

The Mets first line of defense was Nelson Figueroa, who after pitching better then Maine and Ollie was designated for assignment, which he subsequently refused and is now gone.

Next up was Casey Fossum, but they decided to designate Figgy to make room Fossum as a LOOGY, despite saying all spring they didn't need a second lefty and Fossum pitching exceptionally well as a starter in Buffalo.

So for now it looks like the Mets best option is rookie lefty Jon Niese, who was hit pretty hard at the end of spring when the major league bats were coming into form and now he has an ERA over six in AAA.

Behind him are Dillion Gee and Brandon Knight, neither of which inspire confidence, for Gee, not yet anyway...

So where are those re-trends we signed, as depth, because it looks like we might need them. I'm not sure what they can provide or whether it will be any better then what we have, but both Freddy Garcia and Tim Redding are making their way back. Garcia pitched his first AAA game and allowed three runs in six innings. Redding is pitching in extended spring training and is looking at a return in mid May.

Major League veteran Freddy Garcia allowed three runs on five hits over six innings in his Bisons' debut Wednesday source MiLB

Tim Redding, on the DL with a right rotator cuff strain, pitched in an extended spring training game Monday. He’s scheduled to pitch in another game at that level this weekend. source Daily News

Good for Figgy, bad for Mets......

The only surprise is that Nelson Figueroa wasn't claimed off waivers, after his six innings of three run ball, in fact, Figgy should be our #2 starter (by performance) instead of being unemployed. I think the front office might need to take sensitivity classes, as they definitely botched this one and it simply isn't the right way to treat people.

For those who missed it; Nelson Figueroa was called up Sunday morning, made a solid start and was placed on waivers directly after the game. As anyone would be, he wasn't happy with his treatment and after clearing waivers opted for free agency. Great job burning a bridge, especially with the rotation in complete shambles.

There were so many other ways they could have handled the situation, but this was the easiest way and I think the organization was very arrogant in their handling of Figueroa.

Last year, Omar gave Figgy a shot after several years out of the majors and it appears he expected him to take whatever treatment he received, what Omar failed to realize was Figgy had already returned the favor by pitching well, when called upon.

I'm actually glad that Figgy didn't bow down to this organization and take that type of treatment, this organization has been rumored to be arrogant with certain players ( non-upper echelon)and it's nice to see someone stick up for themselves. To a truly good guy, I wish him good luck wherever he lands and it's too bad he's not still a Met.

Pitcher Nelson Figueroa has refused to report to Triple-A Buffalo, opting instead to leave the Mets and become a free agent. The Mets designated Figueroa for assignment after he started in place of Mike Pelfrey on Sunday. source NJ.com

Something's Wrong with Wright & the Mets

As seen on NY Mets Global

As young as this season is, it’s quickly becoming the same old story. Last nights loss to the Cards further exposed the young and inept core of the Mets rotation. Furthermore, the team can’t figure out a way to drive in base runners at pretty much any point in the game.

For a team that has 6 starters batting above .300, scoring 4 runs a game is just sad. Last night in his post game interview Jerry Mannuel said that he would be swapping Wright and Beltran in the lineup today, along with the usual day game after a night game substitutions.

Wright, even with his .305 batting average has been having a terrible early go at the plate this year. He’s on pace to strike out 185 times this year, 60% more than his career worst. Between his strikeouts and Citi field’s cavernous outfield it is about time for David to go back to the line drive hitter he was when he first came up. David will not hit 30 home runs again this year, and if all he does is try to he is going to see his average drop below .300 and drive in less than 100 for the first time in any full season.

O'Day Claimed by Texas

As seen on NY Mets Global

Newsday is reporting the Darren O’Day who was put on waivers last week by the Mets has been claimed by the Rangers. O’Day, who was designated for assignment to create room on the 25 man roster for Nelson Figueroa to start in place of Pelfrey.

Figueroa who was also sent through waivers after his start has cleared them and will report back to triple-A Buffalo. Casey Fossum had taken over the last spot of the bullpen for now, and gives the Mets another LHP in addition to Pedro Feliciano

Are the majors the right place to learn a position...

I understand when a player is so incredibly talented that a team must find a way to make him a starter even when there isn't room for him. Alfonso Soriano moving to left field in the majors comes to mind, but were talking about a player who is a multiple All-star and silver slugging award winner. Soriano, if not a five tool player is darn close and it's understandable how a team could live with his growing pains in a new position. It could also be expected that a player of Soriano's ilk wouldn't have many growing pains because his pure athleticism would compensate for his lack of experience.

However, I'm not sure that Dan Murphy fits into that formula. Murphy brings a very good bat to the table and that's about it, each time Murphy makes a mistake in the field or on the base path he is costing the team more then his .320 batting average is worth. Now I'm not going to fault him for batting second, a place Jerry Manuel appears dead set on using him, despite the decline in Reyes production on the bases and Murph's lack of speed. I keep hearing when Murphy makes an error that he's a young player learning a new position and not only have I been surprised by how bad his fielding, speed and arm are, but then I think that maybe maybe this isn't the level for a one tool player to be learning a new position. Not only is it costing the team but it's demoralizing the youngster and I wonder if he'd be better off learning left field under less pressure in AAA.

Now, the Mets will never demote him after passing on so many left fielders this off-season and promoting him as much as they did, but the right move for everybody involved, might be for Murphy to be playing in Buffalo.

Beltran's play, epitome of the problem...

If I had to sum up in one play, what's wrong with the New York Mets, it would be Carlos Beltran's play at the plate. No; I'm not one of those Beltran bashers, in fact, I think he's probably the best all-a-round player on the team.

Unfortunately, for Beltran, that one play serves as a perfect example, on so many levels, how a team with the best pen in the league and third best batting average, can be below 500. Before you say it must be the rotation, I agree that they haven't been impressive, but the most runs scored against them, so far this season is eight runs. There hasn't been any 11 run innings or complete lopsided blow outs, the most the Mets have lost by in any game is two runs.

Back to Beltran's play; for those of you who missed it, the score was tied at four, in the eighth inning with one out and Beltran on second base. The reliever on the mound, according to the announcers threw hard but was wild. Unlike the St. Louis hitters, who were patient at the plate and forced Ollie to throw strikes, Ramon Castro was swinging at the first pitch. Castro hit an easy fly ball to right field for an out, surprisingly, Beltran tagged and attempted to advance to third. The throw from the right fielder bounced off the third baseman's glove and not only was Beltran safe, but he took off for home plate. The ball caromed to the side of the pitcher's mound and it appeared that Beltran would easily score the go ahead run. At the last minute the third baseman recovered the ball and made a perfect throw to the plate, while Beltran was tagged out attempting to cross the plate standing.

There were so many fundamental mistakes made in this one play that it was absolutely incredible:

1. Ramon Castro exhibited the Mets failure to use scouting reports on a pitcher or ignoring the reports and pressing himself into an out. As fans we've seen too many Mets batters in the later innings of games fail to have quality at bats and begin to first pitch swing, swing for the fences and swing at pitches way out of the zone.


2. Beltran made such a heads up play going to third, but then he slightly delayed and still went for home, generally I was always told that if you delayed, you hold up because your going to get thrown out. Still Beltran would have been safe if he had slid, his excuse for not sliding was that he was looking at the ball and then was too close to the plate. Once the decision was made to run the only thing he should be looking at is the plate and sliding at home should be automatic, no matter how close he was ( which I don't understand, anyway).


3. Castillo was on deck, it's his responsibility to direct the runner into home plate and in this case he should have been frantically waving for Beltran to slide. So Castillo was the third player, in one play to fail to execute the absolute basic fundamentals of baseball, as he was nowhere to be found in the play.

Aside from the fundamentals, this play is the epitome of the Mets mentality. There was no way Beltran was barreling though the catcher and he probably didn't slide because of concern over getting hurt or hurting the catcher. I don't want anybody out there looking to hurt someone, but I do want to see some aggressive, fiery play. However; this is a group of nice guys and being aggressive or sacrificing themselves isn't their style. Every time they have a chance to put a team away or act aggressively to take a game over, they back off, which is why, win or lose every game is close. Honestly, I'm not sure if there's a Met who would barrel over the catcher to score the winning run. Worst of all, this just adds to the lore that this is a lackadaisical team, that would just walk into a tag out, at home plate, in the eighth inning of a tied game....

Once again, emotionally this was just another devastating play, in a long line of similar plays, over the last two years. How many times can we take being on the cusp of something positive, only to have it snatched away. It seems like were always looking for the tide to turn on this team and it just never seems to happen....

Hopefully, one of these embarrassing losses will fire them up and serve to awaken them from the malaise that's infected them since they met the Cards in 2006. For a team this talented so many things have to go wrong, for them to be this bad and just like Beltran's play, some many things have gone wrong.....

Fundamentally Flawed...

I might look back at this post tomorrow and feel that it was a bit strong and that I possibly over reacted, but this has always been an op/ed blog from a fan's point of view. I can't think of a better way to vent after an absolutely horrible loss, then to blog.

It seems that my two biggest concerns this off-season are coming to fruition; I was consistent that I felt the bullpen wasn't the only area that needed to be addressed.

I thought that only re-signing Ollie for the top of the rotation was a mistake and that if we were only signing one top end pitcher, we should have over paid for Derek Lowe because of the consistency he could provide. Not only is Ollie inconsistent but it now appears that he can't pitch with a lead. Where most pitchers turn it up a notch and close out the opposition, Ollie pitches tight, allowing the other team back into the game.

Now I was skeptical of just handing Dan Murphy the starting left field job to begin with for several reasons, and to be honest, Murphy has done nothing to change my mind. While Murphy has been hitting, his defense is much more of a liability then his bat is an assets. Murphy has single handedly lost two games in seven loses that accounts for approx. 35 % of the Mets losses. There's a reason Murphy was the only outfielder slipping on the turf tonight, and it was because on both plays he was breaking the wrong way on the ball and attempting to change directions. That's not even talking about his below average arm, where he cost the team a run when he tried to relay a throw to Reyes in a win over SD, or his lack of speed, which has cost the team on the bases. I also believe Reyes isn't comfortable with an unknown in, Murphy, batting behind him.

But I also think by giving Murphy the left field job, they failed to address the offense. This is the same offense that has underachieved for two years, left field was the spot on the team where they could have signed a middle of the order veteran leader with a winning record. Just as Ollie can't handle a lead, neither can this offense handle pressure. The Mets scored four runs by the fourth inning and then had only one hit the rest of the night. Those four runs were scored on 11 hits while the Cards scored the same amount of runs on six hits. While the Cards came in with a game plan of being patient at the plate and making Ollie throw strikes, once the Cards came back, the Mets looked like they were in panic mode.....

This team, for being so early out of spring training, completely lacks fundamentals; whether it's sliding at home, throwing to the proper base, using two hands on a catch, elevating for a fly ball, making contact, going deep in a pitch count, getting a bunt down or 100 other different basics that they are failing at...

My biggest concern is that this team looks like it's in Sept. collapse mode, and it's only April; they are absolutely finding ways to lose games. Once again tonight, they lost by two runs and only gave up six runs in all. So far this season, they have not lost by more then two runs and the most they've allowed is eight runs ( Ollie in Cincy). This below 500 record is on the offenses failure to come from behind and execute with RISP.

Jerry isn't without fault in this; why Luis Castillo isn't hitting second is beyond me, and why David Wright is still hitting third when he has five RBIs with a .300 BA, I can't figure out either. Shake up the line-up try something to get them out of this offensive malaise...

Angels looking at several of our pitchers......

This is why I said making the moves as the front office did made no sense, because it limited our control of the situation and basically left us with less options. Darren O'Day in my opinion was nothing special but at least a ground ball specialist, much like Chad Bradford or Joe Smith. Once you cut Sanchez to make room for him he immediately gained the value of Duaner as well as his own. Nelson Figueroa is a decent spot starter and more then likely better suited as a long reliever, by the third trip through the line-up the opposition figured him out. To pitch six solid innings and then be given your papers is an insult, even if he isn't claimed I wouldn't accept assignment. But the Mets pitching depth is now at the mercy of the waiver wire and more specifically the Angels. It's a long season and pitching depth is critical to a successful team, it seems way to early to burn through so many options. Anaheim is in need of pitching and are looking at both of our recent designated pitchers along with a former top prospect...

The Angels are looking for any pitching help they can find, and don't be surprised if they pick up a pitcher or two who recently was designated for assignment. Among the possibilities: Nationals righty Steven Shell and lefty Wil Ledezma, Mets righties Darren O'Day and Nelson Figueroa and Twins righty Philip Humber. source Fox Sports

Pena a good signing

I thought it would have been a good move for the Mets to acquire Wily Mo Pena from the Nationals when he was still under contact, so to get him on a minor league deal is a no lose situation in my opinion. Pena is a 27 y/o right handed power bat who can play left field and 1B. He is projected to be a much better offensive player then he's shown to this point in his career, which is attributed to being rushed to the majors at 20 y/o by the Reds and never fully developing as a hitter. Last year was the worst of his career when he attempted to play through shoulder pain, eventually he had surgery and the doctors were amazed that he could play at all. In the past I completed two post on Pena with more background on him and a brief bio, here and here....

The New York Mets today announced that they have signed outfielder Wily Mo Pena to a minor league contract. Pena will report to extended spring training in Port St. Lucie for a short time before joining Buffalo (AAA) of the International League. source Newsday

This org. can't stop itself, you dissed 'Doc'

I'm truly sickened by the treatment of Dwight Gooden over this whole signature thing. Gooden is just a few years older then me so in high school he was in his Mets glory days. The 86 team are legends to me so this is where this post comes from before you read it....

OK, I've been on record as one of the biggest supporters of the new stadium. My 15 pack is in the promenade section, in the so called obstructed view area and I absolutely love the park and my seats. For what I can afford these are much closer to the field then I could have expected in Shea for the same price and the small section of the field that I can't see ( down the line deep in the left field corner) is worth the proximity to the field. I don't feel ripped off in the least, nor did the guys ( strangers before hand) who bought the same package on either side of me. As far as how a new stadium could have such problems, I bought similar tickets last year to Citizen Bank for a Met game, not only were the stands steeper and further away but I couldn't see the right field corner from my seats. I think they have to compromise some sight lines to bring the fans closer to the field and it's well worth it to me....

As far as the field I could careless what color the walls are or the seats themselves, over all I felt it was a beautiful park....

With all that positive said it was lacking in feeling like a Mets stadium. It wasn't completely de-void of any reference to the past, there were the large canvas pictures on the ramp which did remind me of Shea but that was about it.

It sounds silly but the usher uniforms that looked liked they were borrowed from the Jets really bothered me, if there was an easier way to incorporate orange into the color scheme it would have been to buy 1,000 orange jackets.

I know there is now a plan to have a Mets Hall of fame in center field but there should have been something here to begin with, something that says this is the home of the Mets. It almost seems like the Wilpons wish they had purchased an expansion team and were starting from scratch.

I love the rotunda, it's a beautiful way to enter the stadium and I respect what Jackie Robinson has done for the sport and the country but we have done more for him then his former team. How about the William Shea Rotunda featuring the Jackie Robinson Memorial, while Jackie is responsible for how baseball is today Shea is responsible for the Mets and his name isn't mentioned even once that I'm aware of.

The Mets might not have the history that many teams have but it's our history and when I walked into Shea all of those memories came back of Seaver, Koosman, Kranepool, Strawberry, Hernandez, Carter, Knight, and Piazza to name a few. But that history isn't following the team to the new stadium by what appears to be the Wilpon's design. It really wouldn't take much, a few orange and blue stripes around the place, a couple celebratory photos of 69, 73, 86, 00, and 06; a few jersey's hanging from the rafters in the hallways. All items I've seen at the other new stadiums I've visited, I know the monuments, statues and plaques are coming but that seems to be do to fans outcry...

I say that this seems by design because of the organizations latest attempt to prevent Mets history from surfacing at the new stadium. If Tom Seaver is the franchise then Dwight Gooden was the chairmen of the board and anything positive he does for this team is sacred. Gooden at the request of the staff signed a wall at one of the restaurants and instead of immediately encasing the signature in Plexiglas the Mets painted over it. Then they had Jay Horowitz make a statement that basically ostracized Gooden for signing their precious wall.

From a fan that loves the place, please get a clue on this one you need to embrace the Mets history. I can live with all the other stuff but painting over Dwight Gooden's signature and basically publicly scolding him is really hard to deal with, it's DWIGHT 'DOC' GOODEN for crying out loud. After the photo line response to the signature you should have invited every friggen 69,73,86,00,06 Met you could find to sign your wall. You just went from the obstructed view public relations nightmare ( which I had no problem with) right into an even bigger public relations catastrophe....

"It's a brand new building, whether it's Doc or any other player, it wasn't meant to write all over the walls," Horwitz said. "We are going to do things to celebrate our history, but this wasn't the right way to get that started. If we allow this precedent, people will be writing all over the stadium."

"You'd think they'd want to connect to the '86 team as much as they can, and the '69 team, because those are the only times that they won (the World Series). Most stadiums you go to, even if they've never won anything, they have that. source Daily News

I'm not getting these roster moves....

This all starts with Mike Pelfrey's tendinitis, the Mets decided to skip his start to rest the arm which I thought was a smart move but from there I'm not sure about how they went about it. As far as starters go, once you decide to skip a start I always say put them on the DL . The DL is retroed back to there last start and it really only costs them a second start but it doesn't effect the rest of the roster.

The Mets decided to leave Pelfrey active and reassign someone else to make room for Nelson Figueroa. While I disagree with how they went about, if this was the route they wanted to go then why not send someone down who has options. Afterall, if Figgy is only up for the day the the player reassigned would be available again on Wenesday ( 3 days before recall). You re-assign Parnell on Saturday night he misses Sunday and Tuesday's game while being back for Wednesday and the only player you've risked is Figgy.

But the Mets decided to place Darren O'Day on rule five waivers and with the Angels pitching staff hurting I'm sure they'll take him back. Meanwhile, Pelfrey is useless on the bench and Figgy has now been placed on waivers. Let's not forget that O'Day cost Duaner Sanchez his roster spot. So in a matter of 24 hrs one move has essentially cost the team Sanchez, O'Day and Figueroa, who after today could recieve a waiver claim.

It's not done there the Mets re-assigned Figgy minutes after a solid start ( would you accept assignment even if you weren't claimed if they did this to you) to make room for Casey Fossum. I understand the Mets want a second lefty for St. Louis but they couldn't have thought of a more creative way to do it. Now Fossum is on the team for two weeks until Redding returns and he will have to go through waivers and accept assignment. By the time Redding returns, to skip Pelfrey's start may have lost them Sanchez, O'Day, Figueroa and Fossum...

Here's what would have made sense to me; DL Pelfrey bring up Figgy, keep Figgy for a second start and bring up Fossum in place of Parnell for the St. Louis series. If Fossum looks good as a second LOOGY ( if not waive him) then decide whether your willing to part with O'Day or the pen is good enough without Parnell temporarily. After Figgy's second start, let him go through waivers to make room for Redding, who if on schedule is the next to come off the DL. When Pelfrey is activated then you decide between O'Day, Fossum and Parnell...

Inevitably O'Day may have been sent back to the Angels and both Figgy and Fossum placed on waivers but by DLing Pelfrey and sending Parnell down for a few days they could have staggered it in such a manner that would have left themselves with many more options...

Eventually you have to admit there's a problem...

This is an I told you so that I wish I wasn't right on but to start the season, offensively this team is absolutely pathetic in pressure situations. For those who say it's early, that's true and they will have chances to turn things around. But this is not a new phenomenon, in fact they have been doing this since Sept. of 2007 except for when Jerry Manuel took over and all the expectations were lowered. Today was another perfect example of how this team beats themselves.

I don't think I've ever seen a team as a whole look this bad in scoring situations, the minute a runner was on second regardless of who was at bat they looked like a completely different hitter. David Wright who looked like he was praying for the ball to hit his bat hard, as he struck out and was a weak out three times in a row. Carlos Delgado with bases loaded and one out not even getting a fly ball, instead giving up a double paly to the pitcher. Or Fernando Tatis with no outs striking out on three pitches which was the same case for Ryan Church as a pinch hitter.

It almost seems mathamatically impossible for a team to have 12 hits which included two triples, and three doubles but only score two runs. But then you see that they were only 2-13 with RISP and Delgado, in the first inning was the only one able to drive in a run with two outs. Five different players left runners in scoring position with two outs and the Mets as a team left 10 on base.

With the line-up Jerry put on the field and Figgy pitching, if they lost I expected it to come from either poor defense or bad pitching but I never would have guessed the Mets being unable to come through in the clutch against Jeff Suppan or Coffey.

This isn't just one game, when is it ok to stop saying it's early and begin to say there's a problem here. I said all off-season that I was concerned with bringing back the same offense again because of how they preformed in clutch situations and all I heard was they scored the second most runs in the league they're fine. It certainly does look like the same offense and I'm certainly not confident they're getting the job done. Yesterday it took a perfect game to win and today they lost by two, the day before was a big offensive day when they scored five. When they lost two of three to the Padres it was because the Pads were a hot team, this weekend they faced a Brewer team that had three wins and barely won the series.

This team is averaging eight runners left on base per game and while they are third best in the NL in both BA (.278) and OBP (.365) they are ninth with RISP (.247) and 11th in Slg pct. ( .401).

Keilty on the DL

I thought Bobby Keilty was robbed out of spring training, of course I'm bias I always pick an underdog to root for in spring training and Keilty had the potential to be my first correct pick. But the Mets with a lefty heavy line-up chose to go with left handed hitting Marlon Anderson who was hitting a mere .220 instead of Keilty a righty hitting around .280. Of course, that became a moot point when the team signed Sheffield and after just over a week in AAA Keilty is on the shelf. So far I can't find the nature of the injury or the severity.....

Buffalo also announced that OF Bobby Kielty has been placed on the team's disabled list. source MiLB

Interesting line-up...

I wonder how Nelson Figeruoa feels right now as he looks down the line-up card. Figgy knew his call-up wasn't permanent but I'm sure he was hoping to stick around as the long man until Redding returned or audition for another team.

The odds are certainly stacked against him today, Figgy is a contact pitcher who has a very questionable defense behind him. Jerry has decided to give Luis Castillo and Ryan Church the day off, while replacing them with Fernando Tatis and Gary Sheffield. Tatis will be playing 2nd for the first time in his major league career, I do believe he played there in AAA with Norfolk in 2006 when he was just beginning his comeback. Carlos Beltran will be flanked by Dan Murphy and Gary Sheffield, I hope he has his running shoes on....

Fossum strong in Buffalo

Casey Fossum is a 31 y/o left handed pitcher who signed a minor league contract with the Mets in January. Fossum is a former #1 draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1999, he spent most of his career with the Sox and Rays but has had short stints with the Tigers, Pirates, Padres and D-Backs. He is a lifetime 40-53 with a 5.47 ERA , his best year was in 2002 for the Sox when he appeared in 43 games (100 innings), 12 starts with a record of 5-4 and an ERA of 3.46 with 101 strike outs and only 30 walks.

On March 21st he was reassigned to minor league camp after appearing in seven spring training games all as a reliever and posting an ERA of 6.55...


Since the start of Buffalo's season Casey has made two starts ( 11 innings) in which he's posted an ERA of 0.86 with a WHIP of 0.91. Of course, it's only two starts and in AAA but he's someone to keep an eye on. Lefties are classically late bloomers and he does have the pedigree along with a starters repertoire; fastball ( 88-92 mph), change-up and three curve balls ( overhand, three quarter and eephus).



Hat tip to Mack for pointing out Fossum's numbers in his daily Mack Attack...

Why not just DL Pelfrey

If the Mets had DLed Mike Pelfrey retro-active to his last start he would have only missed one additional start. The Mets were going to be looking for ways to shave innings off Pelfrey's season anyway after he almost double his major league work load last season. Placing Pelf on the DL would have allowed them to recall Figgy without effecting anyone on the staff. The team chose O'Day over Sanchez out of spring training and then in two weeks have turned around and essentially cut him. O'Day has been placed on rule five waivers and if not claimed there he will most likely return to the Angels...

The Mets officially have added Nelson Figueroa to the roster to take Sunday's start opposite Milwaukee Jeff Suppan. Sidearmer Darren O'Day will be placed on Rule 5 waivers to clear roster room. O'Day would need to be offered back to his former club, the Angels, if he clears. source Daily News

Thought's on the line-up & RISP

I was planning to watch the game today and write a post on how the Mets have pigeon holed themselves with Dan Murphy. In my opinion when a team consistently shows the same trend or flaw then an adjustment has to be made. Nothing drastic or permanent but something to shake things up a little and try to jolt them out of the funk they're in. Since the start of the season the line-in has been identical and it has also produced the same results which is leaving too many runners on base.

So my idea of an adjustment would be to change the line-up, move a couple guys around and possibly sit a player, not as a punishment but more to get fresh blood in the line-up. The problem is the only player who could be sat is Dan Murphy, but the Mets have promoted him all off-season and he's become such a fan favorite that I could see them being reluctant to make such a move.

Murphy's glove and arm are worse then even I expected and when he's hitting only .285 compared to the rest of the order he becomes vulnerable. Also Jose Reyes doesn't appear 100% comfortable playing his game behind Murphy and with Luis Castillo playing well it only becomes natural to move him back into the two hole. By sitting Murphy you can move Castillo up and insert fresh blood into the line-up. Just as I'm thinking I'll get killed for making a post like this, since Murphy is such a fan favorite that's exactly what they do....

I wouldn't have stopped there, David Wright is getting his hits and walks but they're generally coming during meaningless situations. It's clear that David is pressing in the clutch, as he's trying to carry the team on his back after the last two September's. I would take some of the pressure off David and reward Church for his second straight hot start to a season. Let Church hit third for a few games while dropping Wright into a nice quiet sixth spot behind Beltran and in front of Sheffield/Castro.

Gary Sheffield gets the start in left field on Saturday against the Brewers, with Daniel Murphy getting his first day off. Luis Castillo moves to the No. 2 hole as a result. source Daily News

Humber on waivers...

Former Mets top draft pick and prospect Philip Humber, who was part of the package for Johan Santana has been placed on waivers by the Twins. Humber's career was derailed by injuries in the Mets organization but that still didn't remove the prospect tag or positive scouting reports he received prior to being included in the trade. If rumors are true the Twins wanted Pelfrey but eventually settled for Humber, who was considered right behind Pelf on the depth charts. It appears that he will now fall into the category of guys like Paul Wilson and Bill Pulispher....

Twins designated RHP Philip Humber for assignment.
Humber had given up six runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings. Some team may want him as a swingman, but he doesn't appear to have a whole lot of upside at this point. source Rotoworld

Good for you Louie....

Lets talk about the positive things that happened tonight, the most obvious is that the Mets won their first game of the season after trailing through six and did it in walk off fashion....

Louis Castillo had the game winning hit; I'll say this again now that Castillo is looking like the Louie of old we're wasting his skills. His ability to bunt, directional contact hit, speed and patience at the plate are being wasted in the 8th spot. What better way could Louie return to New York then hitting .387 and a walk off hit....

Both Wright and Reyes showed signs of life as Reyes had three hits and Wright was on base four times. Delgado had the best situational hit of anyone on the team in a long time, going to the opposite field for a base hit to start the ninth. Castro's trying to prove me wrong with two hits in his first night as a starter.

The pen continues to be the best in the league as it held the opposition scoreless for four solid innings. As far as Livan goes if you get five innings of one run ball from your fifth starter then he's done his job, the only reason were looking for more from him is because starters 2-4 aren't getting past the fifth. The sixth was predictable and I wish the pen hadn't been used every night to where they felt they had to get another inning from Livan but still four runs from a fifth starter, I'll take it.....

My biggest concern continues to be situational hitting, this team had bases loaded three times and only came away with three runs, even in the ninth inning they almost stranded Delgado after a lead-off double. They just seem to play so tight with runners in scoring position, hopefully tonight's victory is what they needed to loosen them up....

Congrats Sheffield on 500....

What a way to hit your 500th homerun, scoring the game tying run late in a game as your first hit for your new team, in NY no less and with a full count.

Now when Sheffield was first signed I was very skeptical of the effect he would have on the team. But the more I read about his relationship with teammates ( Vs. management) and his comments that he understood the role he could serve at his advanced baseball age I warmed to the idea. I look at it this way now; as long as he knows he's a bench player and they like having him on the bench, then with each homerun his true impact is served for at least a month as a pinch hitter on the oppositions pitching decisions...


I noticed that Sheffield spent a long time speaking to Wright as they embraced after the homerun, longer then any other player. I wonder if Sheffield has seen Wright struggling in clutch situations and has decided to take him under his wing, if so there's no body better to teach an All-star slugger how to be cold hearted in the clutch...

The nine-time All-Star hit a full-count pitch an estimated 385 feet for his first hit and homer of the season for the New York Mets source NY Post