Another Series Win

Sports overall, but especially baseball, are great because there are always games to be played, always a way to right the ship when things seem just a bit off.  Only a week ago, the Mets were about to have a double header swept away from them by the San Francisco Giants, evening their record at .500 on the year.

But after yesterday's gut check victory, the fifth in six games, the Mets record is four games on the plus side and the team is only a game behind Atlanta and Washington near the top of the NL East.  Heading into the season, many of the 'experts' claimed the month of April would be a pretty difficult month for New York because of the five divisional series they had scheduled plus a visit from the Giants.  Well, regardless how tonight's game goes, the Mets will finish April over .500.

Yesterday's game for New York had a lot of hits.  Ike Davis put up three hits on the afternoon, including the game winning RBI single.  Ruben Tejada also followed suit with three hits, collecting 10 in the series.  David Wright put up two more well Josh Thole connected on his first home run of the season.

There seems to be the feeling that this Mets club wants to get on a bit of an extended streak.  For the most part, the pitching has been there for them most of the season.  It's been the lack of runs that's slowed them down at times.  But the offense used their trip to Colorado to correct that.  Davis is beginning to find his swing.  Lucas Duda has shortened his stroke the past week and looks more comfortable at the plate.  Nothing seems to big for the kids either as Tejada, Daniel Murphy, Thole, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis are all contributing to the offensive effort.

Rough Outing

That's a statement thats true for everything but the offense in last night's game. Rookie starter Chris Schwinden struggled in his first start of the season, but it was mainly due to throwing errors.

Committing four throwing errors in one inning will mess up every teams chance of winning a ball game. That became evident last night as the Rockies put up 11 runs in the fifth inning alone, 18 total.

Sloppy play and giving extra outs to professional teams will haunt any team every time.

The offense came out strong on the road trip, putting up nine runs in the effort. Scott Hairston was the man of the night, recording the Mets first cycle since 2006.

They get back at it tonight with Dillon Gee taking the ball.

Behnd the Mask

One great story early on this season, even if it is kept quiet for the most part, has been the play of catcher Josh Thole.

Thole's entering his second season as starting catcher but was doing so with a bit of a short leash.  When he entered the majors near the end of 2010, Thole was a contact hitter.  He was able to slap the ball the other way and was good at working deep counts.  However as last season came and went, Thole was not the same hitter.  He struggled offensively for most of the season, unable to maintain a high, or even overly respectable, average.

So far 2012 has been a great bounce back year for the backstop.  Thole is tied with David Wright for the highest batting average on the team at .362.  Going into tonight's game at Colorado, Thole is carrying a nine game hitting streak.  He has been a steady presence at the bottom of the Mets lineup which is very important because it'll allow the team a good chance to clear the pitcher's spot and turn over the order.

Very early in the season indeed, but a start the Mets wanted to see.

How Sweep It Is!

The Mets were able to take care of business this afternoon, coming from behind again to finish off the sweep of the Marlins.  This is the second sweep of a division rival for the Mets this season.

Once again, great starting pitching took most of the headlines today.  Jon Niese was awesome for the Mets, following in the week footsteps of Johan Santana and RA Dickey.  He allowed two runs over seven innings.

But he was not able to get the win since the Mets offense was pretty stagnant for most of the afternoon.  They scratched out a run in the first inning but then entered the bottom of the ninth with only that run to show.  Miami pitchers continued their wild trend as Heath Bell walked three Mets before Justin 'Ginger Power!' Turner stepped up to the plate.  Turned had the at bat of the season, working 14 pitches from the Marlins closer before finally being walked himself to push in the tying run.

That set the stage for rookie Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who had already collected a triple and a single.  Nieuwenhuis continued his impressive big league stint with a rope to the right field and his first walk off hit.

To make things even sweeter... Jose Reyes laid up another goose egg and finished his Return to New York series 1 for 12.

Congratulations

Last night David Wright moved into first place for the most RBIs in Mets history with 735.  His go ahead two run home run moved him past Darryl Strawberry.

This is definitely the brightest moment in the short season for the Mets, and for Wright personally.  And throughout the rest of the season, Wright will continue to walk the political line and say how he does not care about individual performances and records, that he just wants to see this organization win.

But this is something he should relish.  He has been through a lot with this club.  The ups and the downs.  Both as a team and for him as a player.  He began his career on fire, an all-star, the toast of New York City.  But then losing began to set in.  Then the injuries.  And now Wright will constantly be bothered about his contract and his future with the Mets.

Wright needs to continue to smash the baseball all over the park, keep extending this record and work on breaking others.  Make the front office realize what type of colossal mistake it would be to let the man of the franchise get away.  The money will come for Wright, regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, but needs to force the Mets hand and make them pay him.

Congratulations to #5.  Job well done.  Well deserved.

A Cure

Winning ball games does a lot to help one's perception.  Going into last night's game, the Mets were a bit of a mess, all across the board.

But a 2-1 win, a win over a division rival at that, will make things look a bit brighter for the time being.  In the middle of snapping a two game losing streak was the ace, Johan Santana.  Pitching just shy of seven innings, Santana allowed only one run (in the seventh) while striking out 11 Marlins.  He looked every bit the Santana from 2008-2010 and not the man we saw get yanked early in Atlanta last week.  He did his job.  He's the number one guy in this rotation and the first person everyone looks to in order to stop the bleeding.  After last night, consider the bandage on.

Chalk up the dead offense to some fantastic pitching from Marlins starter Josh Johnson.  The first Mets run didn't even come off a base hit.  Instead four straight walks, from four different pitchers, plated the tying run for New York.  But in struggling times, take a run any way you can get it.

Take a win, anyway.

Public Enemy #1

Tonight marks the return of Jose Reyes to Citi Field.  As a Miami Marlin.


There are quite a bit of people who do not seem to be overly saddened, anger, pissed, annoyed with Reyes and how his free agency situation took place this winter.  People will say that it's the Mets fault since they didn't even offer Reyes a contract.  That he was a goner no matter what.


And ya know what, that may be true.  But this is the Marlins.  Division rival.  Long time pain in the ass to the Mets.


I am not happy at all to see Reyes.  If I were lucky enough to be at Citi Field at all over the next three days, I would boo Reyes.  I would boo the Marlins.  I don't want him to succeed at all.  I am saddened to see a career Met leave.  I am angry he went to a division rival.  I am pissed the Mets are giving him a small video tribute today.  I am annoyed with the Mets over the last two weeks.


Let's go Johan.  Show him what's up.  Keep him off base.

Ah Crap

And in matter of minutes, it's another one.  Word coming from Citi Field is that Mike Pelfrey has now also ended up on the Disabled List with elbowing swelling.

No word on who will take his place in the rotation, but early word is it will not be neither of their two Triple-A propects; Matt Harvey nor Jeurys Familia.

Anytime an elbow is the reason for a pitcher to head to the DL, the immediate thought is Tommy John surgery, effectively finishing Pelfrey's 2012 season.  Hopefully word will come down sooner than later, just so we fans know what to expect.

If this ends up being a long term injury, it's only a matter of time before either Harvey or Familia end up in the bigs.  If it's only two or three turns through the rotation and then Pelfrey returns, it may not be worth bringing either of them up yet.

Bay Injury

So the first major player on the Mets landed on the DL this afternoon (sorry, I don't count Ronny Cedeno as a major player), as Jason Bay will be out the next few weeks with a dislocated rib.

As much as this should hurt the Mets, it probably won't.  As been the case for the first two years, Bay hasn't been lighting it up for the Mets offensively so his bat out of the lineup can potentially be a positive.

For the time being, it'll probably mean a combination of Mike Baxter and Scott Hairston in left field, but that can change soon.  When Andres Torres come off the DL, left field can become the home for Kirk Nieuwenhuis.  Another possibility is to shift Nieuwenhuis to left sooner than later and play Jordany Valdespin in center field; one of three positions he has played in the minors.

Or the Mets can do something completely head scratching because, well, they're the Mets.

Horrible

All the good vibes and positive attitude that emulated from Citi Field over the first week of the season are officially gone.  Instead, the place is filled with negative thoughts and fulfillment of the poor off-season expectations.

The Mets fell to .500 for the first time this season yesterday, having the double header swept away from them by the Giants.  In very poor fashion.  The Mets could not pitch.  The Mets could not hit.  All around disappointing, disgusting, frustrating, and saddening.

What had been a staple for the team over the first few weeks of the season imploded yesterday.  Both Miguel Batista and Dillon Gee allowed multiple first inning runs against an amazing pitching team and the Mets offense wasn't able to respond in the slightest.

And it is finally time to admit that the Mets lineup has a lot of problems.  Last season, although there wasn't much power, the Mets were second in the National League in batting average.  They were able to slap together enough singles and doubles to get the job done.  This year they have fallen to the middle of the pack in batting average and near the bottom in runs scored.

Ike Davis can't hit the broad side of a barn.  Same goes for Lucas Duda.  Jason Bay is a consistent, frustrating question mark.  Look what happens to this team when both David Wright and Daniel Murphy cool off.  Nothing happens.  Can't generate runs.  Can't manufacture excitement.

It's still early; hell, it's not even the last week of April.  But if these are signs to come for the rest of 2012, then it's going to be a very long year.  Winning cures almost everything.  Get back on the field tonight against the newly branded Miami Marlins and new nemesis Jose Reyes, get a W, and yesterday will be forgotten.

Very Frustrating

So Game 1 of today's double header isn't over yet, but it may as well have been over before it even started.  Due to the extra game, the Mets needed to find a spot starter for one of the games this week and they choose to go with Game 1 today.  And that starter was Miguel Batista.


Batista is 41 years old.  A career journeyman, at this time of the season, is the best that the Mets could come up for a start.  And that all falls on upper management.  The phrase 'you're only as strong as your weakest link' is a very common phrase in sports and it could not be more true today.


The Mets could have called up one of their Triple-A starters for a game.  Give a kid a cup of coffee and see what he has.  Show some potential.  Give the fans something to be excited about.  Give the team a chance to get a W on the day.


Instead they opted to play behind the 8-ball and make the offense play catch up; something extremely difficult to do against the tough pitching Giants.

Ugly Recap

So things seem to be coming back to normal for the Metropolitans.  Sloppy play and untimely hitting for an extended period of time.


Happened again this afternoon, blowing a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth and wasting an awesome effort from Mike Pelfrey.  Big Pelf was pulled after eight innings and 102 pitches, only giving up one run.  But the bullpen and a combination of Ruben Tejada and Kirk Nieuwenhuis let that three run lead slip away and forced the Mets to come up at the bottom of the inning.


Luckily they did a better job than last night.  Although it was a sloppy play which led to the winning run, the Mets were able to walk off as winners while snapping their three game losing streak.


If they continue to play with fire, over the long haul of the season, they will get burned more often that not.  The sloppiness and ugliness needs to get eliminated.  Quickly. 

Disappointment

Ugh.


That's the main feeling in my gut witnessing last night's loss.  The Mets returned home last night and fell in extra innings to the Giants, after trying it in the bottom of the ninth.


To me, this was a game to win.  The Mets best pitcher, Jon Niese, was on the mound against a team with a very weak offense.  On the mound for the Giants was Barry Zito, a lefty that the Mets have had success with in the past.  But all the Mets could muster against Zito was four hits, including two solo home runs.  Meanwhile Niese pitches well enough, but he picked up his first loss of the season as he allowed three runs to cross.


Going down a run in extra innings was discouraging but what was more upsetting was getting two runners on in the bottom of the 10th, only to have Jason Bay and Lucas Duda both fail to get across the tying run.


Power will be needed from this club, but base hits are also just as important and last night the Mets weren't able to get the timely hit.


Don't look now, but the Mets are only one game over .500 in a division where the other teams are beginning to warm up quickly.

Welcome Home

The Mets come back to Citi Field tonight after two series against division opponents.  Tonight they open up a four game set against the SF Giants before welcoming the newly branded Marlins into town.


Jon Niese, who's started the season 2-0 so far, is on the mound tonight and the Mets are in desperate need of a quality start.  In their last two games, both Johan Santana and RA Dickey struggled badly and the offense was behind the eight ball early on.


The Mets and their pitching staff needs to get back to theirs ways of the first two weeks.  Limiting base runners.  Striking out hitters.  Pitching quick to keep their rhythm in tact.  The bullpen must also keep it short and simple. An inning here, maybe two there.  Keep the arms fresh for the long haul.


They started the season with four wins at Citi Field, here's to going for win number five.

Oh Jeez

On an afternoon where the Mets offense was able to put up pretty decent numbers, the pitching laid an egg for a second day in a row.  RA Dickey wasn't able to make it through five innings today, giving up eight runs on eight hits, with three of those being home runs.

One would look to blame the rain for those numbers.  Around the second inning the skies opened up and Turner Field began to get wet.  Once this happened, Dickey wasn't able to get any knuckle on his knuckle ball.  Instead of dancing up and down, in and out, the ball seemed to just hang around the middle of the plate and the Braves hitters were welcomed to a feast.

What became extremely disheartening aspect was the six runs the bullpen gave up the rest of the way.  Bobby Parnell, Tim Byrdak, and Frank Francisco each give up two runs in loss.

Some bright spots were able to shine through however.  David Wright continued his terrific start with two more hits and three RBI.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis, batting leadoff first the first time, reached base three times and Ike Davis added two more hits, including his third home run.

If the starting pitching can put it back together, the Mets should have some success this week as they welcome in the weak offense of the San Francisco Giants.

Reality Check

At least we know that Johan Santana will indeed make his next start.

Last night, Santana had the shortest outing of his career, not able to get out of the second inning.  He allowed four earned runs (six total) on four hits and for the first time in a very long time, did not strike out at least one batter in a game.  But Santana told everyone that his shoulder is fine and that last night had nothing to do with the arm.  He said it had everything to do not being able to locate his pitches and throwing to many pitches early on.

Games like this will happen, they happen to every pitcher at some point in the season.  The best news is again there is no issue with Johan's shoulder.  It was just a bad game.  The Mets will still be able to take the series with a victory this afternoon.

Jason Friggin Bay

So far in 2012, Jason Bay has not be the complete disaster many of the fans and media members think he has become.  Don't get me wrong, Bay isn't having a stellar start to the season either.  He isn't making people believe that he will finally earn his $16 million contract.

He is still batting under .200 on the season and strikes out almost 40% of the time.  But signs are there.  He's collected a hit in each of the past three games and two of them have been home runs.  Potentially more important, until that bat ever turns it around fully, is Bay's defense.  That was a question mark about him at the time of the signed contract, due to bad knees and a bad shoulder.  But the defense has always been a strong suit for Bay in New York.  His latest display was an over the wall, home run saving catch last night in Atlanta.

This may be the year Bay has a respectable season.  Or, maybe not. 

Ike's Big Stick

It took a while to happen.  An 0 for 18 stretch to open the season had many people, Ike Davis included, scratching theirs heads and wondering what was wrong with the Mets cleanup hitter.  He had punched one or two singles to snap his skid, but the power still wasn't there.

Sunday afternoon saw that power return as Davis hit a two run shot in the first inning in Philadelphia, the Mets only two runs of the afternoon.  Davis' swing and power may finally be here for good as he connected on another shot, this time a three run dinger, which gave the Mets the lead for good.

Over the course of the season, the Mets will desperately need Davis' bat to be a lethal weapon in the middle of the lineup.  With a lot of youth and not much experience throughout the order, there will be times when the offense can't get out of first gear.  David Wright can not do it alone, he'll need help.  That is where the big stick of Ike will come in handy.  Just a swing of the bat can change a game, and that's a fantastic tool to have in the middle of the order.

The Mets have opened their season with four straight series opening wins.  Once again their starting pitching has just about everything to do with it.  Dillon Gee picked up his first win of the season, going seven innings allowing only one run on four hits.  The Mets have received quality starts from their starters in every game so far this season.

Familar Foe

The Mets return to action tonight in their house of horrors, Turner Field in Atlanta.  Over the past 15 or so years the Mets have had nothing but nightmares down in Atlanta.  It seems that for the life of them, they could not win a game, let alone an actual series.

But tonight the Mets are coming in as the more confident team.  It was on a week and a half ago that the Mets finished off a three game sweep of the Braves to open their 2012 season.  The Mets starting rotation has been the biggest plus in the early going; second in the NL in ERA and near the top in strikeouts.

The batting order seems to be settling in finally.  Ike Davis has a mini two game hitting streak going, including his first home run of the season, to get his batting average over .100.  Lucas Duda seems to be warming up a tad as well and both David Wright and Jason Bay will be in the line up tonight, healthy enough from their finger woes.

The Braves are a hungry team and will be seeking some retribution at home this week against the Mets, but New York is playing good enough ball right now to win another series.

Pay The Man

Well 24 hours will certainly change one's outlook.  The black cloud was still lingering over the club Friday evening, but when Saturday rolled around, clear skies.


David Wright returned to the Mets lineup, deeming himself fit enough to throw the ball and to grip the bat.  In his first at bat since Monday, Wright sent the first pitch he saw deep to center field.  Clearing the wall by a long shot and clearing any doubters minds.  Wright added on two more hits during the game and that was a huge sign for the Mets.  Having their number three hitter in the lineup everyday makes the lineup so much longer and so much more lethal.  It's only a couple of games, but Wright is having a very strong start to season, batting over .600 with five RBI.  There is no question who the leader of the club is.
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Back to back starts and back to back solid outings for Jon Niese this season.  Niese once again took a shutout into the seventh inning and this time he was able to leave the game without giving up any earned runs.


Niese and RA Dickey have each had two very good starts early on and if this in the trend that will play out through the season, the Mets will be in good hands.  Neither of these men need to be aces, but both are extremely capable of quality starts each and every time they step on the mound.  And that's all the Mets can ask for right now.  As a team that so many thought would be nothing this year, having the chance to win each night because of their starting pitching is a huge crutch.