Wags Nets Two, But Who?

Word on the street is that the Mets will get two AA prospects from the Red Sox now that Billy Wagner has agreed to the trade. That alone is enough to keep hope alive as the Sox have a load of talent right now in AA, but again, that both guys will come from AA is just rumor.

Previously I had written that the one player the Mets should pursue from the Red Sox was Anthony Rizzo, but from the sounds of it, Rizzo will not be one of the two as he is in High A ball.

Another name being bandied about is pitcher Felix Doubront, who has very, very good stuff but has not excelled in his development in the way that says, "can't miss." He is in AA and would immediately upgrade our farm system.

So we'll be left to wonder--at least for a little while, on who from this list the Mets get in return.

Pitchers
#	Name	Pos	Bat	Thw	Ht	Wt	DOB	Status	MLB 40-man
	Travis Beazley	P	R	R	6' 0"	175	06-17-1983	7-day DL	No
13	Bryson Cox	P	R	R	6' 4"	205	08-10-1984	Active	No
28	Andrew Dobies	P	L	L	6' 1"	180	04-20-1983	Active	No
25	Felix Doubront	P	L	L	6' 2"	165	10-23-1987	Active	Yes
18	Kason Gabbard	P	L	L	6' 3"	200	04-08-1982	7-day DL	No
19	Tommy Hottovy	P	L	L	6' 1"	195	07-09-1981	Active	No
35	Kris Johnson	P	L	L	6' 4"	170	10-14-1984	Active	No
34	Ryne Lawson	P	L	R	6' 2"	180	06-21-1985	Active	No
26	Richard Lentz	P	R	R	6' 2"	210	08-06-1984	Active	No
18	Derrick Loop	P	R	L	6' 3"	220	12-11-1983	Active	No
45	Blake Maxwell	P	R	R	6' 5"	255	08-01-1984	Active	No
33	Ryne Miller	P	R	R	6' 4"	230	09-25-1985	Active	No
39	Jarod Plummer	P	R	R	6' 5"	200	01-27-1984	7-day DL	No
36	Chris Province	P	R	R	6' 3"	220	01-20-1985	Active	No
15	Chad Rhoades	P	R	R	5' 10"	175	03-10-1983	Active	No

Catchers
#	Name	Pos	Bat	Thw	Ht	Wt	DOB	Status	MLB 40-man
30	Juan Apodaca	C	R	R	5' 11"	180	07-15-1986	Active	No
23	Luis Exposito	C	R	R	6' 3"	210	01-20-1987	Active	No

Infielders
#	Name	Pos	Bat	Thw	Ht	Wt	DOB	Status	MLB 40-man
21	Lars Anderson	1B	L	L	6' 4"	215	09-25-1987	Active	No
40	Jorge Jimenez	3B	L	R	6' 1"	210	09-12-1984	Active	No
2	Ryan Khoury	2B	R	R	5' 10"	180	03-19-1984	Active	No
5	Yamaico Navarro	SS	R	R	5' 11"	170	10-31-1987	Active	No
37	Jon Still	DH	R	R	6' 2"	210	11-16-1984	Active	No
17	Iggy Suarez	2B	R	R	5' 11"	165	05-03-1981	Active	No

Outfielders
#	Name	Pos	Bat	Thw	Ht	Wt	DOB	Status	MLB 40-man
31	Reid Engel	RF	L	R	6' 3"	190	05-07-1987	7-day DL	No
32	Ryan Kalish	LF	L	L	6' 1"	205	03-28-1988	Active	No
43	Daniel Nava	RF	S	L	5' 10"	200	02-22-1983	Active	No
44	Jason Place	LF	R	R	6' 3"	205	05-08-1988	Active	No
12	Matt Sheely	RF	R	R	5' 9"	160	08-30-1986	Active	No

Good Morning Mets (Mike Pelfrey) Fans! 9 is Fine!

What a display of pitching from our young ace in the making--8 innings of no-run baseball that can be described in one word: Dominating.

He has now won his last 6 starts in a row.

Every pitch was working, he was hitting 95-97 on the radar gun, and no one looked comfortable against him in the box. The Mets didn't field a ball in the air until the last out of the 6th inning....Pelfrey was that good.

He has taken the city by storm, and the Shea faithful rewarded him with ovation after ovation and chants of "Pel-Frey" as he finished the 8th inning before walking off to applause not seen around here since Dwight Gooden made Flushing his own personal cheering section.

There was absolute electricity (and a TON of noise) in the air at Shea, and Big Pelf responded to the moment by finishing in style. His curtain called was very well deserved...there seems to be a real mutual admiration society building between Big Mike and the Mets fans.

"I saw Lastings Milledge get a curtain call. It's something I always wanted to do. It was awesome. They started chanting, [Ramon] Castro looked at me, said 'Get out there.' I wasn't going to say no."

"He's been dominant against any team we play," the aforementioned Castro said of Pelfrey, who is 6-0 with a 2.56 ERA in this personal six-game winning streak.

"The few guys that made it to first [base] said this guy's absolutely nasty," Carlos Delgado said with a smile.

Over his last 9 starts (since his last loss) his stats are incredible: 6-0, 59.2 innings, 53 hits, 41 Ks, 21 BBs, 15 Earned Runs, 2.26 ERA, 1.239 WHIP, and, most importantly, the Mets are 8-1 over that span.

And he is getting better--let's look at his last three starts:

3-0, 22 IP, 14 H, 1 ER, 16 K, 2 BB, 0.41 ERA and a Cy Young-like 0.727 WHIP.

"I don't think I knew what to do, otherwise I would've taken advantage of it," Pelfrey said about the fans demand for a curtain call. "That felt awesome when they started chanting. I just looked around and needed one guy to say boom and I'm gone."

The Mets are now 51-44 and a half game back of the Phils in the NL East. It is only a matter of time before they put the competition in the rearview mirror and become the chased vice the chaser.

Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado combined for 900 feet of homeruns and 5 RBIs. Beltran's blast came in the first inning and the Mets never looked back. Delgado's blast was an absolute moon shot that had Jon Miller of ESPN positively delirious.

Jose Reyes, you know, the guy who is not an All-Star, drove in a run for the 5th consecutive game.

How good is Reyes in 2008? Well, he is the first player EVER to have more than 20 doubles, 10 triples, 10 homeruns and 30 stolen bases before the break.

Joe Smith, the other 24 year old pitcher on the team, closed out the 9th in fine fashion to continue the bullpen's scoreless streak, now at 19 2/3 innings on this homestand.

On the year Smith has a minuscule 1.070 WHIP. Moreover, MLB is batting .206 against him with a .294 OBP, .324 slg %, and a .618 OPS.

So here we are, at the break, with the Mets playing like the best team in baseball. They are 17-9 under "interim" manager Jerry Manuel, and all the signs for a great second half are there.

The schedule is favorable, Ryan Church is due back on Saturday, the team is playing loose and confident, and we are seeing our young players step up in a big way, while our older players are having the years we thought they'd have. Guys who we thought would be role players are pulling their weight and then some. A special kudos to Carlos Delgado for turning his season around and becoming the boomer in the middle we need, and to Damion Easley for being a solid professional who gives 110% on every play while coming up with key hit after key hit. Senor Titties? We love ya!

I could go on and on...Heilman, Castro, Schoeney, P2, Happy Endy, Johan, Schneider, Maine, etc....they are all doing their job and much more.

Mets Magic!

Enjoy your coffee my friends...you've earned it.

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Colorado (39-57)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
N.Y. Mets (51-44) «	3	1	0	1	2	0	0	0	x	7	11	0

Players of the Game

New York M. Pelfrey IP 8.0 H 6 ER 0 BB 0 K 5

New York C. Beltran AB 4 R 1 H 3 HR 1 RBI 3

New York Mets
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jose B. Reyes, SS	3	0	1	1	1	0	1	.302
Nick Evans, LF	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	.226
David Wright, 3B	3	1	0	0	1	0	4	.282
Carlos Beltran, CF	4	1	3	3	0	1	0	.268
Damion Easley, 2B	4	1	0	0	0	1	2	.286
Carlos Delgado, 1B	4	1	1	2	0	1	1	.248
Fernando Tatis, RF	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	.292
Ramon A. Castro, C	4	1	2	0	0	1	0	.286
Mike Pelfrey, SP	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.125
Totals	30	7	11	7	2	4	8
BATTING
HR - C Beltran (15); C Delgado (17)
RBI - J Reyes (43); N Evans (3); C Beltran 3 (66); C Delgado 2 (52)
SF - N Evans (1)
S - M Pelfrey 2 (6)

New York Mets
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mike Pelfrey (W,8-6)	8.0	6	0	0	0	5	0	3.64
Joe Smith	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2.97

Whither Castillo?

OK Mets fans, let me ask you this very simple, yet complex, question:

"Are the Mets a better team with Luis Castillo OUT of the lineup?"

Yes he gets on base at a nice clip and has good baserunning skills....that is a given. Does he hit enough is quite another thing.

IMO, Castillo back to second base is the right move IF he hits 8th in the order.

The Mets best lineup is still...

Reyes
Church
DW
Beltran
Delgado
Alou
Schneider/Castro
Castillo
P

The guys playing now are getting it done which is great, but sustaining that for the next few months is a tall order.

We need our stars back.

Ryan Church to the Disabled List

The bad news, 3 weeks after he was concussed, the Mets have placed Ryan Church on the 15–day disabled list.

Moises Alou takes his place on the roster.

The good news? The transaction is retroactive to last Friday, so he can come back on June 20th.

Of course, that is supposing his symptoms go away.

BTW, NY Sports Dog sponsors Ryan Church on Baseball-Reference.com.

Get well soon!

David Wright Continues to Struggle vs Righty's

David Wright's left/righty splits are, for lack of a better term, horrible. DW has been getting a pass this year with some decent overall statistics, but if you are searching for the "stats within the stats", then look no further than this for one of the reasons the Mets offense has struggled in 2008.

Splt

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

SB

CS

AVG

OBP

SLG

OPS

vs. Left	48	10	22	7	1	3	12	9		6	5	2	.458	.552	.833	1.385
vs. Right	140	19	30	7	0	6	24	21		29	2	2	.214	.315	.393	.708

Omar Meeting with Willie Today

Image via WikipediaAs we said this morning, tonight could be the end of Willie Randolph's time at the helm of the Mets.

Omar Minaya is in Colorado rather "unexpectantly."

It's tough to get anyone to say anything on record or off, but we're trying.

Will Willie Randolph be fired? The tea leaves say yes.

Momentum Swept Away: Willie Randolph May be Fired Today

In a series where everything was right in front of the Mets for the taking, they did the opposite and gave away the momentum and post team meeting energy they built over the weekend.

Pitchers didn't pitch; hitters were in consistent; fielding miscues abounded; baserunning errors cost them runs.

And now what? Have the Mets hit rock bottom in 2008, or is the worst yet to come?

At sub-.500, on the road, with health concerns still tearing away at the fabric of the team, we all sit and wonder what the future holds?

One thing is certain: the Mets need to make a change at the top, and whether that is the right or wrong move isn't really the subject for debate any longer, it is simply reality.

Willie Randolph could be fired as quickly as today--in fact I expect it to happen.

My gut says Jerry Manuel is named interim manager this afternoon, and then the team can go about and try to pick up the pieces for 2008.

It should never have come to this.

National League
East	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	East	Cent	West	Streak	L10
Florida Marlins	27	19	.587	--	16-11	11-8	12-5	9-8	5-4	Won 3	5-5
Atlanta Braves	26	21	.553	1.5	20-5	6-16	13-12	5-5	6-3	Won 5	7-3
Philadelphia Phillies	27	22	.551	1.5	13-11	14-11	7-8	10-6	9-6	Won 3	6-4
New York Mets	22	23	.489	4.5	12-9	10-14	13-14	4-6	3-3	Lost 4	3-7
Washington Nationals	20	28	.417	8.0	11-13	9-15	13-19	6-7	0-0	Lost 2	5-5
Central	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	East	Cent	West	Streak	L10
Chicago Cubs	28	19	.596	--	19-8	9-11	4-4	17-13	7-2	Lost 2	6-4
St. Louis Cardinals	28	21	.571	1.0	17-10	11-11	3-0	14-12	9-8	Won 1	5-5
Houston Astros	27	22	.551	2.0	13-8	14-14	5-5	10-7	11-8	Lost 1	5-5
Pittsburgh Pirates	22	25	.468	6.0	13-10	9-15	10-11	8-12	4-2	Won 1	4-6
Milwaukee Brewers	22	25	.468	6.0	11-9	11-16	4-7	14-13	4-2	Lost 1	4-6
Cincinnati Reds	21	27	.438	7.5	14-9	7-18	6-7	7-13	5-7	Lost 4	6-4
West	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	East	Cent	West	Streak	L10
Arizona Diamondbacks	28	19	.596	--	19-8	9-11	3-7	3-6	20-5	Lost 3	5-5
Los Angeles Dodgers	25	21	.543	2.5	14-9	11-12	5-4	8-6	11-9	Won 3	6-4
San Francisco Giants	19	29	.396	9.5	11-15	8-14	3-3	6-14	10-9	Won 2	3-7
Colorado Rockies	18	29	.383	10.0	10-13	8-16	3-2	6-6	7-20	Lost 2	3-7
San Diego Padres	18	31	.367	11.0	10-12	8-19	2-7	6-8	9-14	Won 1	4-6

The Mets Crystal Ball of Momentum

I love momentum and really feel like the Mets have "it" right now. So what does the crystal ball of momentum show us?

Current Mets record: 22-19 (OK, thanks Yanks)
Road Trip prognosis: 5-2 (good!)
Post Road Trip record: 27-21 (pretty good!)

We get Pedro back after the road trip. (awesome!)

Mets play .600 ball the rest of the season. (damn good!)

Result: 95.4 wins (so 95 or 96 wins)

Good enough to win the division and go make some noise.

Or the Mets could get swept by the Braves....

Then again I also predicted Butch Huskey would be a perennial all-star, so what do I know?

Stat of the Day: David Wright's Righty Struggles

DW is really scuffling against righthander's this year:

Split	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs. Left	43	7	20	7	1	2	11	8	0	4	3	2	.465	.549	.814	1.363
vs. Right	111	15	23	6	0	6	23	21	0	25	2	2	.207	.331	.423	.754

It's something to keep an eye on as the season continues, especially since he bat .311 against righty's last year and .361 against lefty's.

For his complete splits click here.

It's Not the Weather....Maybe.

We've all heard the weather theory as it pertains to the Mets, you know the one: "The Mets are an old team, so they have trouble playing in the cold."

I decided to do a snapshot analysis of the weather in 2008, specifically temperature, and see how the Mets fared.


On the left side of the chart is the temperature scale, and the blue line represents the game time temperature.

On the right side is the runs scored scale, and the red line indicates how many runs the Mets scored.

Bottom line:

• In Mets wins, the average temperature was 66.07 degrees.
• In Mets losses it was 63.17 degrees.
• This year the Mets have averaged 4.74 runs per game.
• In Wins they have averaged 5.93 runs per game.
• In losses they have averaged 3.25 runs per game.
• In games below 60 degrees, they have averaged 4.8 runs per game.
• In games above 70 degrees they have averaged 6.35
• In games below 60 degrees the Mets have a 7-3 record.
• In gamed above 70 degrees the Mets have a 5-3 record.

My thoughts? It is a very small sample size, but the Mets do put up more runs in warmer weather. That said, their record is actually better in the colder games.

I am going to follow this trend all season and add in some variables, so stay tuned.

Good Morning Mets Fans!

And a very good morning it is.

The Mets did their job against the Diamondbacks, going to Phoenix and winning 2 of 3 from the hottest team in baseball. The ultra-talented, and young, Diamondbacks certainly look like the real deal, with great starting pitching, a hustling attitude, and enough offense to make them a legitimate contender.

But the Mets flexed their muscles and did exactly what they had to do against the snakes.

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

W: J. Sosa (4-1) L: C. Qualls (0-2) S: B. Wagner (7) HR: NYM - D. Wright (6) ARI - None

Recap/Box · GameCenter

In what was one of the more intriguing pitching matchups of the young season, neither the Diamondbacks Dan Haren nor the Mets Johan Santana had their 1A stuff, but both were reasonably effective.

When both starters exited after 6, Santana had a skinny 2-1 lead on the strength of a David Wright homerun in the 4th, and it was "game on".

Joe Smith relieved Santana in the 7th and quickly got two outs, but the DBacks pieced together a run to tie the game.

In the 8th Pedro Feliciano came in and the game became exciting. Chris Burke led off the inning and dropped a bunt that Feliciano fielded and threw wildly past first base.

Burke began running in earnest for his destination--third base, while the game Ryan Church hustled like a madman after the errant Feliciano throw. Church grabbed the ball and fired a bullet to David Wright, who snared it and, in one sweeping motion, dove at Burke to nail him with about one inch to spare.

It was a game changer that seemed to sap the life out of the Diamondbacks. A professional, major league play that we haven't seen in rightfield for some time.

"He's got a great arm, but for him to get to the ball as quickly as he did with a lot of room out there, he didn't have a chance to set his feet and get a nice crow-hop like he normally would," Wright said. "To get to the ball quickly, release it quickly and have that much on it, it's pretty impressive. We all know he has a strong arm, but he didn't have a lot of time."

"The biggest thing is just getting a grip of it and letting it go," Church said. "Just basically chuck it."

As the Bergen Record said, Church has been the most valuable player on the team through the first month, with his bat and his arm.

Church has been a star for the Mets in all facets of his play. He is hitting .318 and the Mets are now 7-1 with him in the 2 hole in the lineup.

We reported earlier that Church is one of the more underrated outfielders in the game. He gets a great jump on the ball, has a rifle arm (he was a pitcher in college), and has a career .993 fielding percentage. He is now tied for the major league lead with four outfield assists and hasn't made an error all season.

Before the throw he also hustled in to grab a shallow bloop by Chris Young with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth inning and Santana struggling to get through the inning. That one, Church joked, "I had that all the way."

Still, he seemed surprised that anyone wanted to talk to him after the game.

"I guess it was huge because of the situation," he said. "Anytime you can help the team win a ballgame. That guy could have been on third with nobody out. Whatever helps, just chip in. I didn't get it done with the bat. Just do it with defense."

In the top of the 9th, with the DBacks on their heels, the Mets pounced. Carlos Beltran and Moises Alou singled to start the frame, then Carlos Delgado grounded to Jackson, who overthrew shortstop Augie Ojeda to allow Beltran to score.

"Any time a team makes mistakes on you, you make sure you make them pay for it," New York manager Willie Randolph said. "It was kind of a weird game. A few crazy things happened out there, but we scored early and late and got the job done."

New York went on to load the bases and get an RBI single by pinch hitter Marlon Anderson and an RBI sacrifice fly by Jose Reyes.

Billy Wagner came in to close with another perfect inning to give the Mets the win.

All in all a great game. The top of the lineup: Jose Reyes, Ryan Church and David Wright, continue to get it done. Willie Randolph, who likes a set lineup, seems to have fully come around on Church in the 2 hole and the results speak for themselves.

In other news, the NY Post comments on Rick Peterson's silence this year.

The Daily News has a nice piece on the return of Brian Schneider.

Here's an injury update on Ramon Castro, Matt Wise and Pedro Martinez.

Enjoy your coffee!

Mets FYI: Bases on Balls

Despite an up and down offensive start to 2008, the Mets are 3rd in the National League with 94 walks and 6th overall in MLB...we'll continue to keep an eye on it with our "Mets Walk Watch".

RK	TEAM	SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
1	St. Louis	139	123	6	14	11	5	69	11	5	0
2	Detroit	137	107	12	0	11	1	92	5	8	0
3	Chicago Cubs	153	103	13	13	18	9	67	12	6	0
4	Toronto	126	102	14	2	19	9	68	10	5	1
5	Oakland	162	101	7	4	8	2	80	1	9	0
6	NY Mets	136	100	3	9	20	7	74	15	7	0
7	Boston	153	96	10	8	18	4	82	6	9	0
8	Texas	160	91	10	7	12	2	86	9	9	0
9	Arizona	159	91	9	6	12	2	86	8	13	0
10	Philadelphia	162	89	10	9	10	4	71	10	4	0
RK	TEAM	SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
11	LA Dodgers	147	88	9	7	18	9	67	9	9	0
12	Cincinnati	134	87	2	6	11	8	58	12	6	0
13	Chicago Sox	126	86	10	5	3	3	50	2	5	0
14	Washington	153	85	12	3	6	6	50	7	7	0
15	Colorado	174	84	10	9	20	7	74	10	1	0
16	NY Yankees	133	81	7	7	10	4	71	6	5	0
17	Atlanta	123	81	0	7	6	1	86	11	6	0
18	San Diego	193	81	7	5	6	0	100	9	13	0
19	Seattle	113	80	2	11	14	7	67	6	13	0
20	Baltimore	134	78	6	6	21	8	72	4	8	0
RK	TEAM	SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
21	Cleveland	145	78	19	5	13	3	81	7	5	0
22	Tampa Bay	156	78	11	4	24	14	63	2	7	0
23	Pittsburgh	163	75	7	4	6	6	50	10	7	0
24	LA Angels	123	70	7	7	24	7	77	3	3	0
25	Milwaukee	164	69	13	8	15	7	68	12	8	0
26	Florida	192	69	6	9	16	2	89	12	4	0
27	Houston	140	67	6	3	24	6	80	4	7	0
28	Kansas City	144	62	3	3	14	10	58	4	5	0
29	San Francisco	174	61	4	5	24	9	73	9	7	0
30	Minnesota	146	46	1	4	22	6	79	4	5	0
LEAGUE AVERAGES		SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
American League		140	83	9	5	15	6	73	5	7	0
National League		157	85	7	7	14	6	73	10	7	0
Major League Baseball		149	84	8	6	15	6	73	8	7	0