Mets baseball blog

Yes they are booing David Wright

 For the longest time, Mets fans spared the rod with David Wright. Everyone else, up and down the lineup, up and down the roster, has heard the scorn plenty. There's been contempt for the Carloses, Beltran and Delgado. Luis Castillo and Jose Reyes did time turning DPs in the doghouse. Even Johan Santana was famously greeted with boos last April, his first home game at Shea Stadium.

It was always different with Wright. His early speed and his numbers and the fact that the city took to him so quickly provided him mostly with safe harbor even as things turned ugly for everyone else the past two years. Yes, there was talk -- constant, obsessive talk -- about his production with men on base, in clutch situations, in pressurized positions. Continue

Bullpen blows game for Johan

Jerry Manuel sent a clear message about which backup catcher he would prefer to keep when Brian Schneider returns from the disabled list. Of course, did it matter who served as first mate on the Titanic?

Late-game drama - and, no, that's not referring to the Mets loading the bases with two out in the ninth - worsened a wedge between Ramon Castro and his manager and the Mets wasted another solid performance by Johan Santana in a 4-3 home loss to Florida Wednesday. Continue

Mets show little fight after bullpen gives up lead

The blueprint constructed by Omar Minaya for the final three innings got tripped up before J.J. Putz or K Rod had a chance to reach the mound.

Summoned to protect a one-run lead, Sean Green surrendered a three-run homer to Jorge Cantu in a four-run seventh inning as the Marlins snapped a seven-game losing streak and retained first place with a 7-4 win over the Mets.

The Mets (9-11), who again failed to reach .500, had been 7-0 when leading after six innings - a significant upgrade over last season's 73-13 mark, thanks to a revamped relief corps. The Mets' bullpen ERA still leads the NL at 3.05. Continue

Maine pitches more than 5 innings, Mets win

Omir Santos went deep with a grand slam. John Maine went deep into the game. Deep enough to satisfy Jerry Manuel anyway. And the Mets, despite their April warts, moved within two games of first place with a 7-1 win over the Marlins Monday at Citi Field.

It wasn't all good news. The Mets (9-10) did lose Carlos Delgado (hip) and Luis Castillo (back spasms) to injuries. They also survived another outfield misadventure, this one by Gray Sheffield.

The free-falling Marlins (11-8) lost their seventh straight game and saw their division lead sliced to a half-game over Philadelphia. Continue

Perez becoming cruel joke for Met fans

Jerry Manuel threatened changes after this turn through the rotation if the starting pitching didn't improve. What now, skip?

Oliver Perez was charged with seven runs and his bloated ERA swelled to 9.31 as the Mets lost to the Nationals, 8-1, Sunday afternoon. Perez failed to complete the fifth inning for the third time in four starts. He served up homers to Jesus Flores and Austin Kearns - Flores' after Daniel Murphy's latest misadventure in left field. Perez has allowed 39 baserunners in 19.1 innings. Continue

Mets defeat self-destructive Nats 8-2

Maybe Johan Santana's doggedness finally rubbed off on another member of the Mets' starting rotation.

Or maybe the Nationals are just a putrid opponent right now.

Either way, Mike Pelfrey rediscovered his trademark sinker in his return to the rotation following a one-start absence due to forearm tendinitis, pitching the Mets to their second straight win, 8-2, Saturday at Citi Field.

Pelfrey had concurred Friday with Jerry Manuel's assessment that the four starters aside from Johan Santana need to pick up their performances or risk losing their spots in the starting rotation. And the lanky righthander was up to that challenge in his first start since April 13 against San Diego, allowing two runs on six hits and inducing one groundball after another over 5 2/3 strong innings. Continue

Santana fans 10 in win over Nats

Once every five days, the Mets are worry-free.

At least Johan Santana makes most of those concerns go away for a few hours.

The lefty ace won't pitch again until Wednesday, but Santana provided another sigh of relief Friday night with his latest lights-out performance in the Mets' slump-stopping 4-3 victory over the lowly Nationals at Citi Field.

Santana's ERA actually ticked upward to 0.70 because he allowed one run - a solo homer to ex-Yankee Nick Johnson - on six hits, while striking out 10 over six innings.

"Every time I am out there, what comes to my mind is we were out (of the playoffs) by one game last year, so you have to try to win every game," Santana said. "After losing four games in a row, you want to stop everything right there and I knew I would have to do something to make that happen." Continue

Mets swept by Cards

The controversy over the $400-million naming rights for Citi Field must feel like the good old days to the Mets right now. That lasted for only a few weeks before AIG came along.

No, the Mets have much bigger problems, and none of them is as easily solved as asking for a federal bailout. Jerry Manuel shuffled his lineup Thursday to inject some life into his sleepwalking team and it produced the same sickening result.

Much of that has to do with the person on the mound. Other than Johan Santana, the Mets have a collection of batting tees in their rotation, and Thursday it was Livan Hernandez's turn to be pummeled.

Hernandez failed to make it through the fifth inning and surrendered a pair of long home runs to Albert Pujols as the Mets lost to the Cardinals, 12-8, at Busch Stadium. It was the Mets' fourth consecutive loss and marked the first time they have been swept in a three-game series here since 2004. Continue

Same old listless Mets

John Maine and Oliver Perez both won 15 games two years ago. Now, they're both question marks.

The Mets are sputtering as a result. And Jerry Manuel plans to shake up his lineup for Thursday's matinee, trying to get a spark and avoid getting swept.

A night after Perez failed to complete the fifth inning, Maine also stumbled, and the Mets lost to the Cardinals, 5-2, at Busch Stadium.

Maine and Perez have combined for a 7.63 ERA, with the Mets having lost five of their six starts. As a result, for the third time in three outings this season, fifth starter Livan Hernandez takes the mound after a loss when he opposes Kyle Lohse this afternoon. Continue

Bad News Mets flop vs Cardinals

Novice left fielder Daniel Murphy fell down when he should've stayed up. Veteran Carlos Beltran stayed up when he should've gotten down. And the Mets lost a game they should've won.

A comedy of miscues in the eighth inning sent the Mets to a dismal 6-4 loss to the Cardinals Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.

Murphy, whose drop of a fly ball in Miami during the season-opening trip led to two unearned runs and cost Johan Santana a victory, this time misplayed Brendan Ryan's leadoff liner into a triple in the eighth. Ryan scored the tiebreaking run on Rick Ankiel's double off J,J, Putz as the Mets blew a four-run lead. Continue