Continue reading »]]>

The Mets head to Pittsburgh to play a 3-game series against the Pirates at PNC Park.  Game 1 will be tonight, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm. The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN660AM.  Be sure to follow @MetsWFAN, @dailystache and @Meriwyn as well.

That lineup…WOW.

Starting pitchers Johan Santana and Erik Bedard have something in common.  Together, they are a combined 3-7 for their teams due solely to lack of run support.  Johan’s track record at PNC Park however may provide some much needed relief for Santana.  He has a 1.80 ERA in Pittsburgh and has held the Pirates to a .176 average.  On the flip side, Erik Bedard hasn’t pitched against the Mets since 2006, and David Wright is the only current Met that has ever faced him.

Part of the Pirates problems is that CF Andrew McCutcheon has been the only one swinging the bat thusfar, much like the Mets with David Wright providing most of the offense as of late.  Speaking of Wright, yesterday he surpassed Jose Reyes on the Mets all-time hit list, moving him into second place behind Ed Kranepool.

The Mets’ starting rotation took yet another serious hit with the news that Miguel Batista (who started out pitching another gem yesterday) would be placed on the DL today with lower back issues.  He says he is feeling better, but he will still most likely miss his next start.

Mets Lineup

Torres, CF - Turner, 2B - Wright, 3B - Hairston, LF - Duda, RF - Rottino, 1B - Cedeno, SS - Nickeas, C - Santana, SP

Pirates Lineup

Tabata, LF - Harrison, RF - McCutcheon, CF - Alvarez, 3B - Walker, 2B - McGehee, 1B - Barmes, SS - McKenry, C - Bedard, SP

Pitching Matchup

NYM: Johan Santana (1-2, 2.89 ERA).  Santana has pitched beautifully so far this year, but  due to lack of run support, he has wound up with no-decisions in 4 out of 5 of his starts. In 5 of his 8 starts, he’s held the opposition to 2 runs or fewer.

PIT:  Erik Bedard (2-5, 3.07 ERA).  No stranger to the injury bug, Bedard has recently been battling back spasms, but did OK against Washington in his last outing keeping the Nats scoreless until allowing consecutive 2- out home runs in the 6th inning.

Stache Keys to the Game(s)

• Forget about the blowouts in Toronto.
• The bullpen is in dire need of help, hopefully Mejia can add some stability.
• Ike Davis better find his groove soon, or he’s facing time in AAA.

May 21st  in Mets History

Happy Birthday to Hank Webb and Tom Martin!

LET’S GO METS!!

Continue reading »]]>

A day after being thrown at second base in yesterday's game, Mike Baxter went 3-for-4 with an RBI on Sunday

The New York Mets salvaged the third game of a three-game interleague series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon defeating the home team by a score of 6-5. The Mets took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and didn’t look back from there.

The Mets jumped on the board first as designated hitter Andres Torres drew a walk as home plate umpire Wally Bell gave the calls to the favor of the batter instead of young starter Henderson Alvarez. Mike Baxter who got the start for the second straight day capitalized with a double to right centerfield to put two runners in scoring position with David Wright coming up. The unofficial-official captain followed with a double of his own up the middle to plate two runs. Two batters later Kirk Nieuwenhuis “doubled” after Colby Rasmus made a diving catch that popped out of the glove as he came to a stop to bring home Wright.

With a 3-0 lead, Dillion Gee took the mound for the Mets and started in similar fashion to Jon Niese on Friday night as Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar reached based then got Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion on strikeouts. This time Gee got catcher JP Arencibia to retire the Blue Jays in the bottom of the first.

Ronny Cedeno got things started with a base hit in the top of the second and was moved over to third on a pair of groundouts. Mike Baxter then laced a ball over the glove of a diving Ben Francisco and made it all the way to third base with a run-scoring triple into rightfield.

After two of the first three batters reached via walk in the bottom of the third, rookie sensation who’s spent less than a week in the big leagues Yan Gomes singled through the left side to scratch across Toronto’s first run. Johnson and Escobar grounded out to end the inning and send the game to the third with the Mets up 4-1.

Jose Bautista cut the lead in half with a solo home run just inside the leftfield foul pole just above the 328 mark in the corner. Gee got the next three batters out with ease to hold the Blue Jays at bay to send the game to the fourth inning.

Baxter picked up his third hit of the afternoon with a single to the opposite field followed by Wright singling while behind in the count to put runners on first and second. Duda reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Wright and put runners at the corners, and was followed by Daniel Murphy who singled up the middle to bring home Baxter to give the Mets a three run lead back. Nieuwenhuis walked to load the bases, and Ike Davis hit a chop that came up on Johnson at second base and allowed Duda to score to put the Mets up 6-2.

Find out how the Mets hold onto their their lead after the jump.

After Escobar reached on a fielding error by Cedeno, the Mets played some nifty plays behind Gee to get him out of the inning. First Bautista hit one right up the middle but Murphy was positioned well and turned the unconventional 4-4-3 double play, then Cedeno redeemed himself with a throw that skipped off the FieldTurf in Toronto that was scooped by Davis to retire the side.

Both teams went down with ease in the sixth inning as the Mets faced Luis Perez who set down New York 1-2-3, followed by Gee’s sixth inning of work which saw him work around a leadoff single from Arencibia. On the third out of the inning Murphy intended to take the short route to retire the baserunner, but instead changed his mind mid-way through and threw the ball across his body to first to end the inning.

Gee hit Yan Gomes to start off the bottom of the seventh, but got the next two batters to bring up Bautista with a runner on second. Bautista singled through the shift to bring home Gomes which also chased Gee from the game to bring on Bobby Parnell. Encarnacion grounded out to end the inning to send the game to the eighth.

Davis doubled to Rajai Davis in right field and moved up to third base on a passed ball, on a wild pitch later in the at bat Davis scampered for the plate but was tagged out as Arencibia threw the ball back to the plate to Carlos Villanueva covering. Cedeno and catcher Rob Johnson followed up with back-to-back singles. Two batters later Baxter walked to load the bases but Wright struck out swining to end the threat.

Arencibia who made the nice play in the top of the inning, started things off with a double in the bottom of the eighth and came around with a second consecutive double off the bat of Eric Thames to trim the lead to two. A pair of batters later Colby Rasmus broke his 0-for-20 slump with a base hit up the middle to score Thames to make the score 6-5, Gomes came up and struck out on a 101 MPH or 162.5 KMH pitch for the second out. Tim Byrdak came on to face Kelly Johnson and got him to fly out to Duda to hold the Blue Jays’ bats in check.

The Mets had a two-on, one-out scenario in the top of the ninth but neither pinch-hitter Scott Hairston nor Ronny Cedeno could do anything as both batters struck out. Frank Francisco came on for the bottom of the inning and walked Escobar, followed by Bautista poking one through the big hole on the right side to put the first two runners on. Encarnacion struck out swinging, as did Arencibia after him for the second out of the inning. Thames came up and Francisco got him swinging to end the ballgame and salvage the third game of the series for the Mets.

Game Ball: Mike Baxter, was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle hit the ball hard every time it was put in play. He was walked in front of David Wright in the top of the eigth but Wright struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Baxter still only has one home run on his Major League record book which came last season with the Mets.

The Mets will hop on a plane with their Pierogi suits on which aren’t as fashionable as the hockey jersies and will make their way to Pittsburgh for a three game set with the Pirates at beautiful PNC Park. Johan Santana will return to the hill as he faces off with another left-hander in Erik Bedard.

Continue reading »]]>

Better bring a catcher's mask and goalie pads of you plan on hanging out on the Shea Bridge during the Homer Run Hitting Contest during All-Star Game festivities. Photo courtesy of Citi2Shea.wordpress.com

According to multiple sources, MLB commissioner Bud Selig and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will announce tomorrow that the 2013 MLB All-Star game will be held at Citi Field.  It’s about time that not only MLB, but the rest of the world will see that there is more going on at Citi Field than just Ponzi schemes and trips to the disabled list.

The last time the New York Mets hosted an All-Star game was way back in 1964, the first year of the “state-of-the-art” (I know you are giggling) Shea Stadium.  In that game, Phillies outfielder Johnny Callison hit a walk-off home run to give the NL a 7-4 win.  That was the last time an All-Star game has ended with a walk-off homer.

With the Mets turning the corner after the Bernie Madoff mess, they are now able to focus on the positives that are happening on the field. As stated in an earlier post here on TSB, the Mets are NOT a bad team.  They are actually 5 games over .500 and only 2 games out of first place.  Granted, it’s only May 14th, but there weren’t too many fans or “experts” who believed that this would even be possible this early into the season.

Being a Mets fan, I cant wait to see the buzz around the stadium and franchise next summer.  Would I love to sit in the Pepsi Porch next summer?  Absolutely.  Would I love to mill around on the Shea Bridge?  You betcha!  But as we all know, the regular die-hard fan won’t be able to afford that ticket.  A $40 ticket on the Pepsi Porch will for sure run in the $150-$200 range.  But you know what?  Maybe it’s just better off sitting at home and watching on TV.

The Pepsi Porch at Citi Field will be one hot ticket next summer. Photo courtesy of Metsseatingchart.com

These days, the best part of the whole thing is the Home Run hitting contest.  If somehow Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, or David Wright are in the contest, I’ll break the bank for a ticket, but that’s probably it.  The game has truly become a bore and it’s no fun watching fringe players having good years, possibly decide wether or not the Mets have home field advantage in the World Series.

I hope next year that the Mets fans stuff the ballot boxes like other cities fans do.  David Wright should be the leading vote getter and if he’s not, shame on Mets fans.  Make a statement and have Johan Santana represent the New York Metropolitans.  Hell, give Jose Reyes the middle finger and vote Ruben Tejada the starting shortstop.

Here’s to the New York Mets and turning to the page to baseball.  Not “money” ball.

Continue reading »]]>

This afternoon at Citi Field, RA Dickey and the Mets look to take the  rubber game of  this three game series.  Yesterday afternoon, Johan Santana finally get his first win of the season, and first in 611 days.  Although he didn’t have he best stuff, Johan gave a solid 7 innings of 3 run ball, to move to 1-2 on the season.  Daniel Murphy had an excellent day at the plate, going 4-4.  It was nice to see the bullpen finally preserve a lead instead of blowing one.  Bobby Parnell and Frank Francisco pitched scoreless 8th and 9th innings to preserve the 4-3 victory.

Today’s game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN AM 660 at 1pm

Starting Lineups (via Metsblog.com)

On The Mound

R.A. Dickey (3-1, 4.45 ERA) will get the call today for the Amazin’s.  Once again Dicky had a fantastic knuckle ball working in his last start in “Yoozdin”, but as in his previous starts, he was a victim of one bad pitch.  Dickey had a no-hitter broken up in the 6th inning, and a few pitches later, a bad knuckler was deposited into the LF stands.  ”But I had no business not going into the eighth or ninth with the stuff I had (Monday),” Dickey told the Mets’ official website. “It was just unfortunate that I gave up some runs and had to come out of the game, because I was only at (77) pitches and I felt fantastic.”  R.A. is 2-0 this year at Citi, with a 2.08 ERA.

Trevor Cahill (2-2 3.13 ERA) will oppose Dickey today for the Diamondbacks.  In his last start, Cahill threw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in Tuesday’s 5-1 victory over Washington. Cahill struck out 5 and walked 1 after giving up 12 walks in his first four outings.  ”That’s the best he’s thrown for us,” manager Kirk Gibson told the Diamondbacks’ official website. “Much more into the zone, commanding the zone early and often, and when you can do that, you can get early swings, and he got some early outs and kept his pitch count down.”  Andres Torres is the only Met who has ever faced Cahill.  He’s 2-for-9 with 2 doubles.

Continue reading »]]>

Ike Davis is beginning to show signs of life again, and for opposing teams...that's not good.

The New York Mets held a 4-0 lead heading to the bottom of the eighth, but a grand slam from the Rockies tied the game sending it to extras two innings later. The Mets got a one run lead once again, but another homerun tied it for the second time. New York got the lead back in the top of the 11th and held on to take two of three from Colorado in their weekend series in the Mile High City.

The Mets started off with a bang sending nine batters to the plate in the top of the first inning against ageless wonder Jamie Moyer. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Ruben Tejada started off with back to back singles, and two batters later David Wright double to left field to bring them around. Lucas Duda reached with a walk and Scott Hairston broke a career 0-for-9 against Moyer with an RBI single to open up a 3-0 lead.

Opposing Moyer was another left hander in Mets’ ace Johan Santana who worked around a two out single to the opposite field taken by Carlos Gonzalez. Santana got out of the inning and retired the next three in the bottom of the second as well.

In the top of the third Hairston reached on a one out single, before Ike Davis collected his second hit of the game and pulled his first double of the season down the right field line. Josh Thole struck out for the second straight time before Moyer got his counterpart to strikeout, needing 75 pitches to get out of the first three innings.

The bottom of the fourth saw Gonzalez lead off with a single for the Rox followed by a stolen base, Santana got the next three batters inlcuding striking out 41-year old Jason Giambi to end the inning. Hairston led off the top of the fifth with a rocket to third base that was stopped nicely by Chris Nelson that was scooped out of the dirt by Giambi on the other side of the diamond. Two batters later Thole got some redemption after striking out the first two times before lining a homerun over the right centerfield wall to increase the lead to 4-0.

Nelson doubled with one out off of Santana, followed by pinch-hitter Jonathan Herrera sending one deep into the left centerfield gap that Nieuwenhuis layed out for and robbed an extra base hit. Santana got the next batter on a comebacker to retired the side.

Tejada hit a one out single to start off the top of the sixth off of new pitcher Josh Roenicke, he became the first Met to collect 10 hits in a three game series since Edgardo Alfonzo did it back in the 2000 season also in Denver. Murphy however followed it up by grounding into a double play. Santana then worked around an error by Daniel Murphy who was playing deep in the hole at second and was unable to field the ball cleanly.

To lead off the seventh Wright walked but Roenicke got the next two batters while left-hander Rex Brothers came on to get Davis looking. Miguel Batista came on to pitch the bottom of the seventh and got two of the three batters he faced via strikeout. Meanwhile Brothers came back on in the eighth inning and struck out Thole, followed by pinch-hitter Zach Lutz to strike out as well, Nieuwenhuis got his second hit forcing the Rockies to bring on the right-hander Edgmer Escalona to face Tejada who reached on an error before getting Murphy looking.

–See How the Rockies Tied the Game the first time, and more after the break–

Right-hander Jon Rauch came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning and got former Met Marco Scutaro to fly out prior to Dexter Fowler getting a base knock up the middle and walking Gonzalez. Rauch got Troy Tulowitzki on a comebacker that moved up the runners, then walked Michael Cuddyer to load the bases. With Todd Helton announced as a pinch hitter the Mets went to lefty Tim Byrdak who allowed the pinch hit grand slam to Helton to tie the game at four. Bobby Parnell came on next and struck out Ramon Hernandez to send it to the ninth.

Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt came on in the tie game with no chance at a save and walked Wright to start off the inning, Duda grounded up moving Wright up to second who was running on the pitch. With Hairston up, Betancourt balked and moved Wright to third before Hairston struck out looking. Davis was up next and worked the count before lining out to Scutaro on a bullet, stranding Wright at third. Parnell meanwhile got the Rockies 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

The Rockies took out Betnacourt for Matt Belisle in the top of the 10th who got Thole to groundout, then pinch hitter Mike Baxter dunked in a single to reach base and later came all the way around when Nieuwenhuis doubled down the leftfield line. Mets’ closer Frank Francisco came on to seal the deal in the bottom of the 1oth and allowed a one out homerun to Gonzalez to tie the game that just cleared the tall fence in rightfield to even up the game. Tulowitzki reached on an infield single to Wright, and Cuddyer struck out swining to bring up Helton. The franchise first baseman walked, before getting Hernandez to pop up to Davis to send it to the 11th.

Wright and Duda singled off of Belisle with Duda’s hit moving Wright first to third. Hairston replaced Duda on the base paths with a groundout, followed by Davis poking a pitch through the left side to bring home Wright. Thole followed it up by grounding into a double play. Davis was pulled during the next inning as Murphy moved to first base while Jordany Valdespin came on at second base who doubleswitched to get Ramon Ramirez in to pitch. Ramirez got the first two easily and then faced Scutaro who launched one to deep leftfield that made the hearts in every Mets’ fan sink, thankfully for the Mets Coors Field was large enough to hold the ball as Hairston made the catch against the wall to end the game.

Game Ball: Ike Davis…slowly but surely he’s coming back. Today he went 3-for-6 at the plate with the go-ahead RBI in the top of the 11th. Johan Santana comes in for a close second after allowing no runs on a pair of hits in six innings while striking out five.

Up Next: The Mets fly down to Houston tonight and will meet up with their fellow 50-year old organization for the last time as National League foes. Earlier today the Reds defeated the Astros in Cincinnati and will throw Bud Norris against R.A. Dickey who will start the series for the Mets. Andres Torres will be activated from the 15-day DL while it is expected that Lutz will be sent back to Buffalo, after the catch Nieuwenhuis made in centerfield today there will be an outcry about Torres playing center but Nieuwenhuis can handle left just as well. First pitch tomorrow night is set to be thrown at 8:05 p.m.

Continue reading »]]>

This afternoon at 3:10 pm, the Mets try to take the rubber game of a three game series with the Rockies.  Lucas Duda’s home run and 4 RBI’s lead the Mets to a 7-5 victory.  Ruben Tejada followed up friday night’s 4 hit performance with 3 more hits, and is once again red-hot.  Dillon Gee survived 7 innings of 4 run ball to collect his 2nd win of the season.

Today Johan Santana (0-2 3.00 ERA) looks for his first win of the season and squares off against 87-year-old Jamie Moyer (1-2 2.28 ERA). Earlier in the season, Moyer became the oldest player ever to record a win in a MLB game.  I don’t know if that’s god, or if it just means that MLB is completely watered down.

Today’s game can be seen on WPIX and heard on WFAN 660 AM.

Mets Starting Lineup
1. CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis
2. SS Ruben Tejada
3. 2B Daniel Murphy
4. 3B David Wright
5. RF Lucas Duda
6. LF Scott Hairston
7. 1B Ike Davis
8. C Josh Thole
9 LHP Johan Santana

Who’s Hot?…Ruben Tejada and Lucas Duda.  In the first 2 games of the series, Ruben is 7 for 11 with 4 runs scored.  Over the last 6 games, Lucas Duda is 9 for 21 with a homer and 8 RBI’s.

Rockies Starting Lineup
1. 2B Marco Scutaro
2. CF Dexter Fowler
3. LF Carlos Gonzalez
4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. RF Michael Cuddyer
6. 1B Jason Giambi
7. C Ramon Hernandez
8. 3B Chris Nelson
9. LHP Jamie Moyer

Who’s Hot?…Carlos Gonzalez.  In his last 6 games, CarGo is hitting .320 with 3 HR and 11 RBI.

On The Mound

Johan Santana (0-2 3.00 ERA) is once again, going for his first win of the year. So far in Santana’s 18 innings pitched, the Mets have scored ZERO runs for him. I’m not joking, ZERO. It would be pretty nice for Johan to get some run support, eh boys? In his last start, Johan’s stuff was awesome. In 6 2/3 innings against the Marlins, Johan allowed only 3 hits while striking out 11. His changeup was noticeably slower than in previous starts. This gave the pitch a devastating downward movement at the end. This is especially important in a place like Colorado.

Jamie Moyer (1-2 2.28 ERA) is on the hill for the Rockies today and will be filling out an application for his AARP card in the dougout between innings. The 49-year-old Moyer has been real good so far for the Rockies in his first 4 starts. He hasn’t allowed more than 3 runs in any start, and the all time leader in home runs allowed, hasn’t served one up since his first start of the year.

Continue reading »]]>

Johan Santana was bumped from his scheduled start, which would have been tonight, with manager Terry Collins choosing instead to save him for Tuesday against the Marlins.  Collins wanted to keep the rotation as intact as he could, and by doing it this way, all he does is push everyone one day back.

The Mets and Giants will play a doubleheader today after being rained out at CitiField last night.  The first game, beginning at 4:10 pm EST can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN660AM.  The start time of second game (which is also the final game of this series) is TBA, but can also be broadcast on SNY.  I admit I’m not sure if WFAN660AM will broadcast the second game, or if they will cover the crucial New Jersey Devils hockey playoff game, since they must either win or go home tonight.  Let’s go Devils!!  Let’s hope the Rangers also pull through tonight as well.  But I digress…

The Mets are definitely a little outmatched on the pitching matchups, but with Tim Lincecum struggling mightily so far, it might not be as horrible as it looks on paper.  Also, Jordany Valdespin and Jeremy Hafner have been called up for tonight, so we’ll have to see where they fit in Terry’s plans for Game 2, if they play at all.

Does anyone else besides me still feel a bit sad seeing Angel Pagan playing on another team?  He may not be the greatest player out there, but I always liked him, and to see him hitting so well against the Mets and looking kinda angry while doing it, it makes me sad

All of you that were hoping to get your Tom Seaver bobblehead?  Come back on May 5th.

Mets Lineup - Game 1
1. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF
2. Daniel Murphy, 2B
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Lucas Duda, RF
5. Ike Davis, 1B
6. Josh Thole, C
7. Ruben Tejada, SS
8. Mike Baxter, LF
9. Miguel Batista, SP

Mets Lineup - Game 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Dillon Gee, SP

Giants Lineup – Game 1
1. Angel Pagan, CF
2. Melky Cabrera, LF
3. Pablo Sandoval, 3B
4. Buster Posey, C
5. Nate Schierholtz, RF
6. Brandon Belt, 1B
7. Emmanuel Burriss, 2B
8. Brandon Crawford, SS
9. Tim Lincecum, SP

Giants Lineup - Game 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Madison Bumgarner, SP

Pitching Matchup – Game 1

NYM: Miguel Batista (0-0, 5.40 ERA).  Batista comes out of the bullpen to fill in for Johan Santana, who has been pushed back until tomorrow so he can open against the Marlins.  Batista last threw on April 18, but has not thrown more than 35 pitches in any outing this season.  This should be interesting, no?

SF:  Tim Lincecum (0-2, 10.54 ERA).  My Timmy Jim!  Sorry, but I love this guy.  His rocky start is enough to concern anyone, although the “experts” say he’ll come around.  His 10.54 ERA is the highest in the majors right now, and he has allowed 16 runs thusfar, the most for any three-game span in his career.

Pitching Matchup – Game 2

NYM: Dillon Gee (1-1, 2.92 ERA).  Dillon is coming off a great outing against the Braves, where he went 7 innings and limited the Braves to 1 run and 4 hits.

SF:  Madison Bumgarner (2-1, 3.63 ERA).  Madison has allowed just 3 runs over his last 2 outings.

Stache Keys to the Game(s)

• Don’t overtax the bullpen in Game 1.
• Miguel Batista will need to dig deep to go about 5-6 innings if he can.
• Hopefully moving Ike down in the batting order will motivate him.
• The Giants have made 19 errors in 14 games…capitalize on that.

April 23 in Mets History

Happy Birthday Warren Spahn, Duke Carmel, Jason Tyner and Henry Owens!
New York Mets traded Chico Fernandez and Bobby Catton to the Chicago White Sox for Charley Smith on April 23, 1964.

New York Mets claimed Jeff Kaiser on waivers from the Cincinnati Reds on April 23, 1993.

New York Mets signed free agent Gerald Williams on April 23, 2004.

LET’S GO METS!!

Continue reading »]]>

What was supposed to be a pitching matchup featuring Tim Lincecum of the Giants and Dillon Gee of the Mets won’t happen anytime today as the Mets-Giants game slated for 1:10 p.m. has been postponed for heavy rain in Queens this afternoon.

The game will be made up as a single admission doubleheader tomorrow afternoon that will start at 1:10 p.m. as opposed to the originally scheduled 4:10 start time.

Game one of tomorrow’s twinbill features Lincecum against Miguel Batista, followed by Gee and Madison Bumgarner in the night cap. For those of you bobblehead collectors, the Tom Seaver bobblehead giveaway is now on Saturday, May 5.

In the mean time, the Mets are taking advantage of this opportunity and giving Johan Santana an extra day of rest, Monday’s scheduled starter will now start the opener against Miami on Tuesday against Marlins’ ace Josh Johnson. The rest of the rotation pans out as R.A. Dickey against Mark Buehrle, followed by Jon Niese against Ricky Nolasco. The series in Denver against the Rockies starts off with Mike Pelfrey back on the hill after yesterday’s eight inning performance.

Continue reading »]]>

Lucas Duda, David Wright and Ike Davis will (hopefully) provide the power for the Mets lineup in 2012

In an offseason to forget, the New York Mets slashed payroll, begged people to come to Citi Field, lost Gary Carter to cancer, lost their best player to a division rival in free agency and settled a massive lawsuit.  Other than that, the Mets 2012 offseason was pretty boring.

So the only thing left for the “experts” and bloggers out there to decide was, how many games will the New York Mets win in 2012?  The most optimistic Mets fans that I had come across topped out at between 82-84 wins.  And almost all of them followed up that number with  ”if everything goes right”.  Most “realistic” Mets fans gave a number in the 72-77 range.  That was basically where I was.  I figured with Johan Santana looking healthy in Spring Training and a re-tooled bullpen, there was no reason to think that they couldn’t be basically where they were last year.

Then came Michael Kay.  The most notorious Mets hater out there.  For those who don’t know who he is, Kay is the lead play-by-play guy for the Yankees “YES” Network and 1050 ESPN Radio NY’s afternoon drive show.  If you thought that Mike Francesa liked to tweak the Mets fans, you should (or not) listen Kay.  Francesa likes to tease the Mets faithful here and there, but he generally isn’t too condescending about it.  Kay on the other hand is a blowhard Yankee lover (just like Francesa) who isn’t even the best guy on his own show.  That goes to his co-host, Don Lagreca.

So when Kay first tried his hand at Twitter, he quickly learned that the Mets twitter following is probably unmatched in the twitter universe.  As soon as he started making dumb comments about Mets, it was like chum being dropped in the water near a school of sharks.  In reply to a comment by @danXtanna, Kay penned this beauty:

“I mean, what do you want me to say? They will win anywhere from 55 to 60 games. I understand the situation but that’s reality”

55-60 games?  What is the logic behind that?  Kay even went on to defend the comment on the air for the next week.  Totally pathetic.

So with all those predictions, it’s been so far, so good for the Amazin’s.  Johan Santana started the season opener for the Mets and has only allowed one earned run in his first two starts (he on the hill tonight), with 13 k’s.  David Wright has started out on fire, going 13 for his first 24 with 2 HR and 5 RBI.  He even missed 3 games with a broken pinky, but it hasn’t stopped his hot bat.

But the real story has been the Mets starting pitching.  In their 10 starts this year, the starters have allowed only 15 earned runs.  That’s how you get off to a 7-3 record.  Santana (0.90 ERA), R.A. Dickey (2.08), Jonathon Niese (2.13), Dillon Gee (2.92) and Mike Pelfrey (3.09) have not only been keeping runners off base, but they have been striking them out.  The starting rotation has stuck out 56 batters in their 60 innings of work.

If the Mets can continue to get production from Ruben Tejada, who now occupies shortstop, and if Daniel Murphy can figure out how to catch the ball, there’s no reason why the Mets can’t be a .500 ball club.  (And Santana can’t get out of the 2nd inning tonight vs the Braves.  There you go Mets fans, I’ve jinxed the season already).

Keep thinking positive Mets fans, this team won’t be nearly as bad as some people think.

Continue reading »]]>

The Mets continue to add to their MLB-leading Opening Day record (now 33-18) with a 1-0 win today over the Atlanta Braves at a “new” CitiField.  After a mediocre spring, there were many questions surrounding this team, but let’s face it, when are there NOT?  Two BIG ones were answered today, those being the state of both ace Johan Santana and the Mets bullpen.

I realize it’s only one game and the Mets usually do well on Opening Day, but you have to be excited about the return of Johan, and even moreso about how well he did today.  Santana pitched 5 scoreless innings, and even after tiring a bit, losing a bit of control on his pitches AND getting himself out of a bases-loaded jam, he still managed to tell manager Terry Collins he wanted to go out for one more inning.  Terry came down on the side of caution though and told him he had done enough and had done well.

Many of us moaned and groaned when Sandy Alderson said he was focusing on rebuilding the bullpen, and also raised more than a few eyebrows on his additions.  Whatever trouble the pen had this spring seemed to vanish today as everyone came in and did their part beautifully.  Hats off in particular to lefty Tim Byrdak, who seems to have bounced back beautifully from knee surgery performed only weeks ago.  He came in today and fanned both Michael Bourn and Freddie Freeman to hold the Mets’ precious 1-0 lead.

Giving the Mets their only run today was none other than David Wright, who is also coming back from a troubled year he suffered with a stress fracture in his back, and add to that an abdominal muscle problem this spring.  Wright managed to not only give the Mets their only run and the win, but also drove in the first run (stateside, that is) of the 2012 MLB season.  Daniel Murphy and Josh Thole both contributed, going 2-4 and 2-3, respectively.

However, it wouldn’t be a Mets season without an early injury, right?  Leaving the game after re-re-re-injuring his calf muscle, Andres Torres is likely out for a couple of weeks at the very least.  Let’s all hope Torres makes it back sooner rather than later as he seems to be a promising baserunner, his being picked off at 1st today notwithstanding.

The tributes to “The Kid” Gary Carter today were touching and very well done.  I love the placing of his memorial patch on the outfield wall, right next to the Mets’ 50th Anniversary patch.  Very fitting indeed.

As I said, it’s only one game, but it’s hard not to be excited on Opening Day.  It’s a new year, and the Mets have a new look and seemingly new confidence.  Now if they can carry it 161 more games, we’ll be in business.