Four Guys from Opening Day

Besides injured players and guys in our minor league system, there are four Mets from the 25-man Opening Day roster who are no longer with the team.

I thought it would be fun to update them all:

• Ramon Castro
  
• Ryan Church
  
• Marlon Anderson
• Darren O'Day
  

Let's start with Ramon--Shrek--the Man Mountain. A lot of folks were aghast at this move, proclaiming that we were letting the wrong guy go, and that keeping Santos on the big league roster was a mistake.

The jury may still be out for some, but it's hard to argue with production.

Castro has been abysmal as a White Sox. Yes, he did catch a Perfect Game, but his hitting has gone south in Chi-town. His non-Met stats:

6 for 44, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, .136 BA, .255 OBP, .273 Slg %

Omir Santos has been a solid player, albeit a limited one. He's never going to hit a ton, but he does pick his spots, especially in RBI situations. Santos has a .323 BA with RISP, and an OK .267 BA with 2 outs and RISP.

Ryan Church was a guy I hated to see go. That said, he really never fit in with this team. Had the team been healthy in 2009 I'm confident that Church would have put up a 15-20 HR, 80+ RBI season, with good peripherals.

Alas, it didn't happen, and the Mets sent him to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur.

Francoeur's been good with the Mets for the most part, and I'm part of the minority that wants to see him in rightfield next year. Though his OBP is still pitiful for a corner outfielder (.324), he is hitting a lot of linedrives and has 4 HRs and 19 RBIs in 25 games as a Met.

Church has battled elbow issues, but when he's been in there, he's produced nicely for the Braves, who are making a run at the Phillies. Church has 14 hits in 49 at-bats for the Braves with 2 HRs and 8 RBIs. He has drawn quite a few walks and has a .417 OBP and .449 Slg % for Atlanta.

Marlon Anderson has not played after being released by the Mets after only 4 games.

And that brings us to Darren O'Day. Who could have predicted the season he's having? Well, a few of us didn't want to see him go. The guy is 26 and has a lifetime 2.76 ERA in the minors....that wasn't an accident.

After appearing in 4 games for the Mets and surrendering zero runs, the Rangers picked him up and O'Day has not looked back.

He has appeared in 43 games for Texas and sports a sparkling 1.88 ERA with 36 Ks in 38.1 innings. Moreover he's holding righthanded hitters to a .170 batting average.

All in all not too bad. Church for Francoeur is a wash--letting Shrek go was the right thing to do, Marlon was gone before he started, and O'Day....well, good for him...he's a guy with a lot of talent that has made himself into a very valuable major league pitcher.

Flushing, We Have a Problem

I sat on the fence yesterday after the Gary Sheffield signing was announced--just thinking.

Sheffield was once a very good ballplayer, maybe even a great one. Normally news of signing a player of his stature would be welcome.

But Sheffield is, and always has been, a difficult player to have on your team. The Mets are his 8th team overall, and his 3rd in the last 4 years.

Gary Sheffield also has race issues. Remember when he accused Joe Torre of being a racist?

On his time with the Yankees and black players under Torre:

"They weren't treated like everybody else. I got called out in a couple of meetings that I thought were unfair," Sheffield told Kremer.

Sheffield later added: "He had a message to get across to the whole team, so he used me to get the message across." Sheffield said Torre didn't use the same method with white players.

"No ... I'd see a lot of white players get called in the office and treated like a man. That's the difference."

But if that wasn't enough, Sheffield also has problems with Latin-American and Hispanic players:

"I called it years ago. What I called is that you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out. … [It's about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do — being able to control them.

Where I'm from, you can't control us. These are the things my race demands. So, if you're equally good as this Latin player, guess who's going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys."

Now these issues are real, at least in Sheffield's pea-brained mind, and they will have an impact on the Mets.

Remember when George Foster was tossed out on his ass in 1986 for his comments and whining about racism?

If Sheffield doesn't get playing time, will it be because of the white guys manning the corner OF positions?

Will the semi-reserved professionals, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran, be tough enough to speak up and keep peace and harmony in the clubhouse should Sheffield start mouthing off?

Now it would be one thing is Sheffield brought a big-time bat with him or some other intangible the Mets were missing, but at this point in his career, he is all but finished.

He is at the bottom of the pack in terms of fielding ability, he can't throw, and his batting stats and bat speed are in a freefall.

Dare I even mention steroids here? What an amazing coincidence that Sheffield's numbers fell off the table as the steroid chatter heated up to the danger point. That's probably just coincidence though? (wink)

Everyone says, "Sheffield over Marlon Anderson", but that really isn't the case.

It's Sheffield taking at-bats from Ryan Church, possibly Carlos Delgado, and the young guys--Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans, who won't inject his youthful presence in Citi Field.

Looking back to last season and the playoff teams you saw a consistent theme--blend of youth and vets, with the young guys providing the energy and spark over the long grind that is the major league baseball season.

Tampa Bay, The Phils, Red Sox, Dodgers. Those teams played and felt younger than the Mets for most of the season. It was only after the Mets "got younger" with the callups of Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans, and even Argenis Reyes, that the team played their best ball.

But we didn't learn. Instead the Mets again are adding players past their prime at the expense of the youth movement that has been proven over and over to be the path to success.

So yes Mets fans, we have a problem.

Adding Gary Sheffield was absolutely the wrong thing to do here.

The Mets Bench: More Questions than Answers

Who makes the Mets bench in 2009?

With Angel Pagan under the knife, one more name has been eliminated from competition.

If you believe Marty Noble, it will be:

Fernando Tatis, Alex Cora, Ramon Castro, Marlon Anderson and a fourth outfielder, probably Jeremy Reed.

And what of Bobby Kielty and Nick Evans?

Both players have hit well this spring, with Evans coming on of late.

As MetsMinorLeague Blog writes:

Tuesday, in the Mets 5-5 tie with Washington, Nick Evans was 2-4, with a 2B, 3B, BB, and an RBI. Each of his last three hits have gone for extra bases including his slam on Monday. That modest power boost has raised his slugging percentage nearly .300 points in five AB.

I am not a fan of Marlon Anderson. He might look good now, but his 2008 season was horrible.

2008 Season Stats
SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	87	138	16	29	6	0	1	10	9	27	2	1	.210	.255	.275	.530
Career	1147	3200	392	849	174	20	63	371	227	470	71	24	.265	.314	.391	.705

I would much rather have Kielty or Evans if the Mets only carry five players. Of those two, Kielty makes the most sense in that he crushes lefthanded pitching (.881 lifetime OPS against LHP) and can provide relief for either Ryan Church or Carlos Delgado.

Should the Mets decide to go with six bench players, a case could be made for Marlon Anderson--the key words here are "could be"--Marlon looked done in 2008.

Moreover, Jose Reyes should once again play every day, so the only realistic non-starter infield at-bats the Mets need to plan for are at second base, and Alex Cora can amply fill that role.

Last year we needed power off the bench, not more Marlon Anderson.

Good Morning Mets Fans!

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that every mother thinks her baby is beautiful.

Some may call it ugly, some may call it beautiful...to most fans the Mets game yesterday was "pretty enough."

They split the series on the road against a Reds team that is 28-21 at home, and for the second time in the last few weeks battered around a Cy Young frontrunner.

Tim Lincecum and Edinson Volquez are 23-3 between them, and the Mets tattooed them both.

At a time of the season where every game means just a little bit more than the one that proceeded it, the Mets managed to come out on top in an extra-inning affair and re-gain a share of first-place in the suddenly ultra-tight NL East.

The Marlins took 2 of 3 from the slumping Phillies, and now a scant half game separates the top 3 teams.

National League East
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road	East	Cent.	West	L10	Strk
N.Y. Mets	53	46	.535	-	28-18	25-28	18-16	8-10	18-14	8-2	W 1
Philadelphia	53	46	.535	-	27-23	26-23	18-16	17-12	14-7	5-5	L 2
Florida	52	46	.531	½	28-21	24-25	21-15	11-10	15-11	7-3	W 2
Atlanta	46	52	.469	6½	31-20	15-32	17-21	9-16	12-8	5-5	L 2
Washington	38	61	.384	15	20-30	18-31	16-22	11-19	3-10	4-6	W 2

As all Mets fans know, the Phils come to Shea tomorrow night for a 3-game showdown that has Mets fans licking their lips in anticipation. The players know it, the coaches know it, and the fans know it--this is going to be a battle.

"It's going to be exciting because we always have a war with them," catcher Ramon Castro said. "We're tied now. We have to win at least two."

"It's a lot better than playing them in Philadelphia," closer Billy Wagner said. "I hope our fans are ready."

Yesterday's game featured a lot of offense, the long ball, semi-disappointing outings from two of the wunderkind starting pitchers in the NL, and some pretty bad defense.

On the defensive side of the ball Jose Reyes let one go right through the wickets, but that wasn't close to being the worst play of the game.

Ken Griffey, Jr hit a soft fly ball to left that Marlon Anderson apparently never got a bead on--he kind of aimlessly loped toward the stands as if chasing a foul ball he had no chance at. A moment later the ball dropped in fair territory, just a few feet away from him as he was looking into the stands along the foul line.

"I was pretty upset," Manuel said about Anderson's gaffe.

Anderson said he had trouble picking it back up after running in the general vicinity of the ball with his head down. "If I'd have seen it, I would have caught it," he said. "I dropped my head and ran trying to get to the spot, and once I looked up, I didn't see it. It almost hit me in the head."

That was the start of Mike Pelfrey's "bad inning." After the Griffey double (hometown scoring), the Reds scored 3 more runs, one on a homerun by Encarnacion, and tied the game at 4. Up to that point Pelfrey had been cruising, only allowing 1 run on an Adam Dunn HR in the bandbox.

Brandon Phillips took Pelfrey deep in the 6th, but Pelfrey otherwise limited the damage and went 7 innings to keep his team in the game.

"I feel like I'm getting better," Pelfrey said. "I thought not pitching in nine days, my command was a little off, especially with the sinker. The sinker wasn't very good today. That's my out pitch. It just wasn't very good. Command wise, I was just a little off.

"It definitely wasn't a quality start, but I thought I kept the team in the game and the bottom line is we won." There was also some timely hitting by the Mets that led to the victory.

Carlos Delgado continues to rake. He was 3 for 4 on the day, drove in two runs, and is absolutely flying in July. He has 57 RBIs on the year and a very respectable .815 OPS. In July Carlos is hitting .397 with 10 RBIs to go along with a .707 slugging percentage.

Jose Reyes was a spark, going 4 for 6 and scoring 3 runs. Argenis Reyes acquitted himself well in the start and was in the middle of the 10th inning rally. Ramon Castro hit a big homerun, and Robinson Cancel started it all off in the 10th with a clutch double.

Duaner Sanchez pitched two innings of shutout ball to get the win, and Billy Wagner struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th to get the save.

Wagner, as we reported yesterday, suffered some tightness in his deltoid and will be examined today.

So bring on the Phils and let's have us a little bit of old-time NL East fun....Big Dog vs Big Dog, and there is only one fire hydrant.

Johan Santana vs newly acquired Joe Blanton kicks off the showdown at Shea, and Mets fans can't wait.

It's definitely an interesting time to be a Mets fan.

Enjoy your coffee!

Scoreboard
Final 10th	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
N.Y. Mets (53-46) «	1	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	7	14	2
Cincinnati (48-52)	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	5	6	1

Players of the Game

Cincinnati B. Phillips AB 4 R 2 H 2 HR 1 RBI 2

New York J. Reyes AB 6 R 3 H 4 HR 0 RBI 0

New York Mets
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jose Reyes, SS	6	3	4	0	0	1	0	.300
Argenis Reyes, 2B	5	0	1	0	0	1	2	.308
David Wright, 3B	2	1	0	1	3	0	3	.286
Carlos Beltran, CF	6	0	2	1	0	1	5	.271
Carlos Delgado, 1B	4	1	3	2	1	0	1	.261
Marlon Anderson, LF	3	0	1	0	0	1	4	.205
a- Fernando Tatis, PH-LF	1	0	0	0	2	1	2	.295
Ramon Castro, C	5	1	2	2	0	1	7	.289
Endy Chavez, RF	5	0	0	0	0	1	6	.255
Mike Pelfrey, P	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	.118
b- Damion Easley, PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.277
Duaner Sanchez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
c- Robinson Cancel, PH	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	.286
Billy Wagner, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	41	7	14	6	7	9
a-walked for Anderson in the 7th
b-struck out for Pelfrey in the 8th
c-doubled for Sanchez in the 10th
Batting
2B - Carlos Delgado (20, Volquez), Robinson Cancel (1, Bray)
3B - Jose Reyes (11, Volquez)
HR - Ramon Castro (4, Volquez)
SF - David Wright (7), Carlos Delgado (4)
RBI - David Wright (76), Carlos Beltran (68), Carlos Delgado 2 (57), Ramon Castro 2 (16)
2-OUT RBI - Ramon Castro 2 (12)
SB - Jose Reyes (33, 3rd base off Volquez/Bako), David Wright (12, 2nd base off Affeldt/Bako), Carlos Beltran (16, 2nd base off Cordero/Bako)
CS - Carlos Beltran (2, 3rd base by Cordero/Bako)
Team LOB - 14
Fielding
DP - Reyes-A. Reyes-Delgado, Reyes-A. Reyes-Delgado
E - Ramon Castro (3, Throwing), Jose Reyes (13, Misplayed grounder)

New York Mets
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mike Pelfrey	7	6	5	5	1	4	3	3.81
Duaner Sanchez (W,5-1)	2	0	0	0	1	2	0	3.32
Billy Wagner (S,24)	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	2.20
Pitches-Strikes - Mike Pelfrey 89-57, Duaner Sanchez 30-16, Billy Wagner 16-10
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Mike Pelfrey 8-8, Duaner Sanchez 2-2
Batters Faced - Mike Pelfrey 27, Duaner Sanchez 7, Billy Wagner 3

Good Morning Mets Fans!

Three in a row, and there is a new energy at Shea.

Up and down the lineup everyone is contributing, and the "Super-Subs" have kicked it into a new gear.

Couple that with some stellar relief pitching and solid defense, and you have a team that is suddenly looking like the formidable powerhouse we thought they'd be coming into the season.

Are there still question marks? Of course. But there are also signs pointing to greatness.

We have seen the hump, and it appears to be in the rear view mirror.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
L.A. Dodgers	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	4	7	2
N.Y. Mets «	0	0	2	4	0	0	2	0	x	8	13	0

W: C. Vargas (2-2) L: B. Penny (5-6) HR: LA - J. Kent (5), B. Dewitt (5) NYM - D. Wright (10), D. Wright (11)

Recap/Box · GameCenter

Oh where to start? Hmmmm, did I hear David Wright? OK, will do.

David Wright hit two more home runs off Brad Penny....he owns him, I mean really owns him. If David wright yells "Bitch" in a restaurant in Alberta Canada, Brad Penny comes running with a wetnap.

DW and his adoring fans enjoyed the all-star's first multihomer game of the season. Brad Penny's master is now 11-for-19 (.579) with four home runs and five walks against the wetnap dispenser.

But DW was just one story on a night when the Mets looked terrific in all facets of the game.

The 1-5 batters, Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, combined for 11 hits and 3 walks. With that kind of production at the top the Mets produced 8 runs and were consistently putting men on base in each inning.

How nice was it to see Carlos Delgado go 2 for 4?

For those that watched the game, how about that bizarre 4th inning? At this point in the game the Mets had a 2-0 lead and Penny seemed to have settled down after giving up DW's 2-run bomb earlier in the game. The Mets had two outs and none on in the fourth when pitcher Claudio Vargas grounded out--OK, routine groundout, they threw him out at first, and SNY cut to commercial.

Just before they cut away I was wondering why Vargas didn't really run to first. Suddenly SNY comes back on, Vargas is at first, and Jose Reyes is at the plate!

Russell Martin was called for catcher's interference and Vargas was given first base. Jose Reyes promptly stroked a single, Luis Castillo hit an RBI double and Wright connected for his 11th homer and a 6-0 lead.

Wacky times come to Shea!

The Dodgers then came back with two home runs and it was 6-3 Mets. Jeff Kent hit one of the dingers, and it was an absolute blast....it cleared the stadium in left field....truly a monster shot.

Willie turned it over to the bullpen and we again saw good old fashioned mound domination.

Scott Schoeneweis, who is having a magical season, pitched 1.2 innings of perfect relief and lowered his season ERA to a sparkling 1.25. The Shea faithful rewarded his performance with a standing ovation that he richly deserved.

Joe Smith then came on for the final 4 outs, closing out the game in fine fashion with an on the black and down fastball that drew an emphatic "strike three" call from the ump.

A few shout outs:

Endy Chavez has the mojo right now. In the top of the first he made a sparkling catch and throw to nail Juan Pierre trying to score from third. Moreover, he also had an RBI hit and drew a patient walk. He looks fearless out there and really locked in right now. 6 for his last 13.

Endy is a ballplayer.

Brian Schneider is one old school son of a bitch. Does anyone block the plate the way he does anymore? He calls a great game, communicates with his pitchers during and between innings, has a cannon for an arm, and can hit a little too.

As a baseball fan for a few decades it warms my heart to see a throwback like Schneider playing the game the right way.

Jose Reyes looks loose and determined. He has now gotten on base in 29 consecutive games and has superb numbers for the month of May--numbers that I expect him to carry through for the remainder of the year.

The Reyes of 2006 is back....and better.

NY Daily News runs down last night's events.

Mets.com talks about the big win.

Ryan Church nears his return.

Delgado opposes a platoon....well, it may not be your choice.

OK my people, enjoy your coffee!

Nick Evans Called Up to the Mets

Young blood!

Nick Evans was promoted to the Mets from AA Binghamton to replace Marlon Anderson, who pulled a hamstring running to first base in last night's loss to the Rockies.

Evans is a 22 year old power hitting first baseman who is especially effective against left-handed pitching.

Year	Lg	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	R	BB	SO	AVG	OBP
2007	A	103	378	108	25	1	15	54	65	53	64	.286	.374
2008	AA	45	171	50	8	5	8	31	30	17	32	.292	.356

More on the Evans called up can be found here on New York Future Stars.

Tough Loss for Mets

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
N.Y. Mets	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	5	11	1
Washington «	0	0	0	0	3	4	3	0	x	10	13	1

W: M. O´Connor (1-0) L: O. Perez (2-1) HR: NYM - C. Beltran (2), M. Anderson (1) WAS - F. Lopez (1)

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