Mets baseball blog

Amazin' grace

The Mets have as sumed many per sonas across the years, some of them laughable, some of them loveable. This one is laudable. They do not own the rich history of their baseball neighbors, the Yankees. They have spent too many seasons acting as an organization like kid brothers, pining for what they don't have.

But what they do have is legacy of the highest order. They are the spiritual descendants of the Dodgers and the Giants, inheriting the DNA of the two National League clubs who were quickest to embrace the demolition of the color barrier six decades ago. They are the ones who hired the first African-American manager in New York City, the ones who empowered Omar Minaya. Continue

El Duque brings back high leg kick

Orlando Hernandez's big leg kick is creeping back. But even with a quality pitching line against the Orioles Friday, the initial reaction seemed to suggest that El Duque could use more time building arm strength for the season.

If Hernandez starts the season on the disabled list, Mike Pelfrey would open as the fifth starter, and his first turn would be opposite Tom Glavine next Saturday in Atlanta. Pelfrey also would get the call six days later against the Brewers at Shea, since El Duque wouldn't be eligible to be activated until April 13. Continue

John Maine locks up spot in rotation

John Maine will have to wait until the second series, in Atlanta, to take the mound. But he's the No. 4 starter in title only. Maine's stellar spring continued when he blanked the Orioles for six innings Monday while surrendering just one hit - a third-inning single to Nick Markakis - in the Mets' 1-0 win.

Maine had lost a 10-inning scoreless streak in his last outing when he gave up a first-inning homer to Cleveland's Jason Michaels, but he now has a better streak building: 10-2/3 scoreless innings. He also owns a 1.78 Grapefruit League ERA. "You want to pitch well, but the bottom line is you're getting ready for the season," Maine said. Continue

Trying to make case for 5th spot, El Duque and Mike Pelfrey get ripped

The bunion-toed war-horse or the unproven underachiever? That's the fifth-starter choice the Mets will make this week. And miserable showings from both Sunday did little to inspire confidence in either option: Orlando Hernandez or Mike Pelfrey.

"As a whole, you wish it would have been a better day," GM Omar Minaya said after watching the revamped El Duque allow five runs in three innings, then Pelfrey allow eight runs in 4-1/3 innings in the Mets' 14-4 loss to the Cardinals. Continue

Ollie taken downtown by Indians

Oliver Perez looked more like the Pirates castoff he was two years ago than a big arbitration winner yesterday. In a worrisome outing for the young left-hander so close to the regular season, Perez was blasted for four home runs by the Indians during a five-inning stint in the Mets New York Mets ' 5-2, rain-shortened loss.

Perez struck out six but walked two and gave up five earned runs, all of them courtesy of shots that left Chain of Lakes Park in a hurry. Victor Martinez went deep in the second, then Asdrubal Cabrera, Casey Blake and Ben Francisco teed off on Perez in a four-run fourth by the Tribe that turned the game into a blowout. The shots by Blake and Francisco were back-to-back. Continue

It'a time to register

Don't be fooled by the big-market status or the NL's richest payroll. The Mets are just as willing as the Pirates and Royals of the world to work baseball's nooks and crannies for pitching talent. Steve Register is proof of that.

A Rule 5 Draft addition from the Rockies who inexplicably never got a chance in Colorado, Register is on the cusp of finding a middle-relief spot in the Mets' bullpen this season. "I don't think I've earned anything yet, but the fact that I'm still here and we're almost to Opening Day has to be a good sign," said the 24-year-old right hander, a former third-round pick by the Rockies. Continue

Dominant Maine mows down Indians

The season can't start soon enough for John Maine . The Mets New York Mets ' young right-hander continued to dominate Grapefruit League competition last night, stifling the Indians for 5 2/3 innings before reaching his pitch limit in a 3-1 victory. "I'm ready to go," Maine said after throwing 97 pitches, striking out seven and scattering three hits after a first-inning homer by Jason Michaels. "I'm bored of Port St. Lucie."

Michaels' blast ended a 10-inning scoreless streak by Maine over his previous three starts, but that was the only rough patch as Maine lowered his spring ERA to 2.33 - lowest of any Mets starter with more than one appearance. Continue

Lo Duca, Milledge still have issues with Mets

Whether or not the Mets consider the Nationals a threat in the NL East this season, they definitely have made two new enemies in the D.C. clubhouse, where Paul Lo Duca and Lastings Milledge seem to be closer now than they ever were in New York.

Looking back, the two players were more alike in their Mets experiences than either one knew at the time. Lo Duca was no favorite of the front office, for both his inflammatory comments and extracurricular activities. Milledge often found himself under the same type of scrutiny, except that he irritated many of his teammates, too. Continue

Amazin' staff has another Maine man

John Maine's 15-win season last year is looking like anything but a fluke. The young right-hander gave the Mets another terrific outing yesterday, scattering three hits and striking out six in five scoreless innings of an eventual 8-2 Grapefruit League victory over the Marlins. Maine, who walked one, has now pitched 10 consecutive scoreless innings and has allowed just one earned run in his past three spring starts. Yesterday's outing lowered his ERA to 2.63. Continue

Carlos Beltran tries legs in center

Before a pair of team buses left Port St. Lucie at 9:15a.m., Willie Randolph approached Carlos Beltran in the Mets clubhouse at Tradition Field, informing him that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa did not intend for the teams to use a DH in Thursday's Grapefruit League game.

Beltran got on the bus anyway. He then played four innings in center field, his first time patrolling there in a game since getting both knees surgically cleaned Oct. 3. Continue

Confidence man

Rick Peterson sensed John Maine was fighting his confidence, yet again, and so he sat Maine down in the Budweiser Hot Seat. No, really, this is what he did, or at least the Mets ' version of the ESPN gimmick. This was about midseason last year at Shea Stadium, and the Mets pitching coach told Maine to act as if he were sitting in the hot seat.

Peterson then wrote pitchers' names on a blackboard along with their stats and asked Maine to describe their place in a rotation. Jake Peavy. Top of the rotation starter. John Smoltz. Top of the rotation starter. Tim Hudson. Top of the rotation starter. Then Peterson wrote Maine's name and numbers, and the righty paused. Peterson pointed out that the numbers were similar. "Why can't this be you?" he asked. "Why can't you be a top of the rotation starter? Continue

Fifth spot for Mets? Duque confident; Pelfrey hit

Once again, the No. 5 spot in the rotation was under the microscope yesterday as Orlando Hernandez and Mike Pelfrey both took the mound in very different situations.

Hernandez, the favorite, spent another morning trying to adjust to his revamped delivery and pitched what was supposed to be a simulated game - with no hitters. That made the session a little short on tangible results, other than seeing Hernandez flip through his repertoire of breaking pitches and show more velocity on his fastball than he had previously. Continue

Oliver gets roughed up again

Did the big pay day go to Oliver Perez's head? The Mets New York Mets won their sixth Grapefruit League game in a row yesterday, rallying for an 8-6 win over the Indians in Winter Haven, but it wasn't because of their starting pitcher.

Fresh off a surprising $6.5 million arbitration victory last month, Perez threw even worse in his second outing than he did in a dreadful spring debut last Sunday against the Dodgers. The left-hander walked two, allowed six runs (three earned) on six hits and didn't even complete his scheduled three-inning workload. Continue

Underachieving Mets aren't boasting anymore

Last year, the Mets were so confident about assuming their rightful place atop the baseball world, they adopted the marketing slogan "Your Season Has Come." The slogan was presumptuous at best, arrogant and irritating at worst. And by the time the 2007 Mets completed the most ignominious regular-season collapse in the history of sports, it had become an embarrassment.

So this year, wisely, the Mets' marketing department has put a kibosh on the slogan factory. Or, at least, they aren't telling us yet what the official theme of the 2008 season will be. Continue

Perez gets hit hard in first start

Oliver Perez became the latest member of the Mets ' Slow Starters Club yesterday. The 26-year-old left-hander, fresh off a surprising $6.5 million arbitration verdict, was knocked around by the Dodgers in a two-inning Grapefruit League debut before the Mets rallied for a 6-5 victory.

Like fellow rotation members Johan Santana and John Maine before him, Perez was tagged early and often his first time out. The Dodgers touched Perez for three earned runs - all in the first inning - and five hits overall. Perez, a 15-game winner last season, blamed the rough start on poor placement of his fastball. He also didn't get much help from a shaky defense filled with minor-leaguers and backups due to the Mets' blizzard of injuries. Continue

Pelfrey poppin'

When it comes to the Mets New York Mets choosing a No. 5 starter, consider yesterday a bit of foreshadowing. While an ailing Orlando Hernandez was continuing his painfully slow pace back in Port St. Lucie, challenger Mike Pelfrey was here mowing down a Tigers lineup filled with All-Stars in the Mets' Grapefruit League opener.

Working in unseasonably frigid temperatures, Pelfrey was terrific in a two-inning spring debut. The 6-foot-7 right-hander faced the minimum six batters, striking out one and allowing just one hit before giving way to Matt Wise with a 2-0 lead. Continue

Sanchez is relieved to be back

Since the Mets arrived for spring training, Duaner Sanchez has been described as more of a savior than a setup man, and that seems a little unfair for someone trying to return from a 17-month layoff. Is it really possible for a relief pitcher, even a talent like Sanchez, to be the key for a $140-million team looking to rebound from the worst collapse in baseball history? The Mets hope to find out, and in yesterday's intrasquad game, the early signs were very encouraging. Continue

John Maine is Mets' ace in the hole

Lost in the wreckage of last September's collapse was an afternoon of brilliant, clutch pitching that might just be a reason to believe the Mets will have the deepest and most dominant rotation in the National League. In other words: You know about Johan Santana. But just how good is John Maine?

"He can win 20," Billy Wagner says flatly. "Heck, he could have won 20 last year if the bullpen had helped a little more and he didn't let an inning get away from him here and there. Johnny just needs to believe he's that good, that he can be as good as guys like (Tom) Glavine, (Greg) Maddux and (John) Smoltz, because we've all seen how he can go out and dominate." Continue

Pleading the 5th

"El Duque" or "The Kid?" Who will occupy the fifth spot - veteran Orlando Hernandez or young right- hander Mike Pelfrey - ap pears to be the only question about the Mets' rotation as they open Grapefruit League play this week.

The combination of Cy Young win ners Johan Santana and Pedro Marti nez and 15-game winners John Maine and Oliver Perez gives the Mets peace of mind, but Pelfrey is determined to make the No. 5 role a horse race. "I want to make their decision difficult," the Mets' No. 1 pick from 2005 said yesterday. Based on Hernandez's career and Pelfrey's mostly nightmarish showing as a starter last year, when he lost his first seven decisions on the way to finishing 3-8, the Mets' choice seems clear. Continue

Beltran survives Santana fastball, but sidelined

Carlos Beltran already has a pair of two-inch scars to show for his offseason knee operations, and yesterday he displayed an ugly bruise on his left triceps, the result of a Johan Santana fastball

. Santana drilled him during his second session of pitching live batting practice, and Beltran was fortunate that he was able to flex his arm while pulling it close to his body. Had he not done so, Beltran said, the injury would have been much worse. Still, the purple welt showed the outline of the baseball's stitching and probably didn't feel very good. Continue

Pedro Martinez happy to take backseat to Johan Santana for opener

Before he has even thrown one of his signature changeups in a game, Johan Santana has had a remarkably uplifting effect on a franchise that spent the winter in therapy of sorts after last September's infamous collapse. With Santana aboard, wallflower Carlos Beltran is trash-talking the Phillies, conservative owner Fred Wilpon is publicly demanding October results from his team and media-indifferent manager Willie Randolph is trading friendly one-liners with reporters in his daily press conferences.

Disney World may be a couple of hours north of here, but it seems the Mets' spring training complex is the happiest place on Earth these days. Funny what a two-time Cy Young winner in his prime can do to brighten the outlook. Now Pedro Martinez, the ever-proud future Hall of Famer who still thinks of himself as a No. 1 starter, happily acknowledges that the Mets' new ace in town, Johan Santana, deserves that status, and he seems very willing to pass the baton. Continue

Johan Santana wows Mets hitters

There will be far bigger days, obviously, for Johan Santana and the Mets. But there is always something captivating about this spring training ritual of live batting practice, particularly when a star pitcher is throwing for the first time in his new uniform.

In this case, maybe there was something telling as well. It's no news flash that Santana is pretty good, no surprise that he impressed the hitters he faced with the deceptive arm speed of his heralded changeup, even though he was telling them when it was coming. Continue

Carlos Beltran takes second cut at Phils

The good news for the Mets is that as the rhetoric heats up, Carlos Beltran is not backpedaling from his uncharacteristic bit of bravado aimed at Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies last week.

In fact, the Quiet Man understands that he has put himself front and center in a rivalry that is beginning to percolate, and he seems to be embracing the idea. "I know probably when we go to Philly I'm going to hear a lot of things," Beltran said with a smile yesterday. "But that's all right, I'm not worried about that. Continue

Some Spring in their step

The Mets can't pin their September collapse last season on Moises Alou . The most miserable of months in 2007 for his teammates was the stuff of dreams for the Mets' seemingly ageless left fielder, who hit .402 while unleashing a club-record 30-game hit streak. Last September was such a personal lift - and the Mets' epic breakdown such gut-wrenching motivation - that the 41-year-old Alou now talks about retirement as something far into the future. Continue

Carlos Delgado vows to bounce back

Carlos Delgado would have been a postseason spectator even if Tom Glavine's final home game in Flushing hadn't been a dud. Dontrelle Willis assured that much when he drilled Delgado in the left hand in the first baseman's first at-bat that devastating Sunday afternoon against the Marlins, ending his season eight innings prematurely.

"It was a horrible end to a horrible year," Delgado said. "We came up a little short. But you know what? I wouldn't mind, if I had to, watching from the stands if we would have gone to the playoffs. I wasn't going to be selfish about that. I mean, it was tough the fact that we didn't make it and came up a little short." Continue

Hoping for relief

By the end of the morning, the rest of the Mets New York Mets pitchers had wandered back to the air-conditioned bliss of the clubhouse, or scattered off to the weight room, or marched off to one of the front fields to get their running in.

Now there was only Duaner Sanchez, alone in the farthest reaches of Tradition Field, where as many as 10 pitchers at a time can get their throwing in at any given time. Sanchez was the last man there, popping the glove of minor-league catcher Mike Nickeas. Rick Peterson watched intently, and so did Willie Randolph, Fred Wilpon and Omar Minaya. Continue

Going to Church

Ryan Church has the makings of a bad fit as the Mets New York Mets ' every-day right fielder. He has played just 41 games in right in his four-year big league career. He's a Southern California guy being thrown into the New York pressure cooker. Most of all, his woeful numbers against left-handed pitching practically beg for Church to be platooned. But the Mets have such a glaring need for a regular right fielder - not to mention a hunger to justify trading fan favorite Lastings Milledge - that Willie Randolph plans to let Church sink or swim this summer. Continue

For Mets, Brian Schneider might be biggest catch of the offseason

The presence of Johan Santana transcends everything in Mets camp, as one would only expect. The embarrassment of the epic September collapse has been replaced with a renewed swagger to the point where, of all people, shy and reserved Carlos Beltran felt compelled to hop upon a soapbox and declare to the world the Mets are the team to beat in the National League East this year.

And yet, as you meander around the Tradition Field complex where pitchers and catchers go through their ritualistic early spring throwing and fielding regimens, there is an underlying buzz about the other offseason acquisition that, in the big picture, may turn out to be almost as integral to the Mets' formula for success as Santana. This would be Brian Schneider, the 31-year-old catcher, generally acknowledged as one of the best handlers of pitchers in the game, whom GM Omar Minaya acquired from the Nationals back on Nov.30. Continue

Carlos calls it

All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran didn't exactly make a soft landing at Mets New York Mets camp yesterday.Beltran not only revealed that surgery on both knees last October will cause him to miss at least the first few games of spring training, he also boldly predicted the Mets will win the National League East this year. "This year, tell Jimmy Rollins we are the team to beat," Beltran said, referring to the Phillies' trash-talking MVP shortstop, who made the same boast about his team last spring and turned out to be correct. Continue

New ace Santana passes his first test in Florida

The Mets' first official workout for pitchers and catchers yesterday belonged to Johan Santana, who opened with a morning news conference, threw a bullpen session for the team's braintrust and then signed autographs for a few minutes on his way to the clubhouse.

As expected, all eyes were on the $137.5-million man, including those of owner Fred Wilpon, who watched him fire away to catcher Brian Schneider. When asked how he felt being viewed as the missing piece to a Mets championship, Santana shrugged. "They were looking for improvement," the two-time Cy Young winner said, "and they got some improvement." Continue

At camp, all eyes will be on Santana

The scars had begun to fade on their own. And they might have vanished without assistance in another four or five decades. Time takes its sweet time, doesn't it? But a World Series that involved neither New York franchise helped in that regard. And as it turned out, the afterglow of the Giants' improbable victory in the Super Bowl has been a well-timed distraction for a baseball team trying to heal.

Through it all, the Mets weren't hiding; they were fessin' up to the ignominy of their last game, the last week of their slippery-slope September, looking their detractors straight in the eye and saying, "Yep, we blew it." Continue

Mets ready to put collapse behind them

To say the Mets are anxious to arrive at Tradition Field this week for spring training is the understatement of the century. Only then will the long winter of their discontent finally be over. As for the questions about last September's brutal collapse, those are certain to follow the club to Port St. Lucie. Putting them to rest, unfortunately for the Mets, will take more time than the next six weeks.

"Right from the get-go, I think I can tell you that we need to be able to stay focused for 162 games," Carlos Delgado said last month. "I know it sounds like a cliche, but I think that's what happened. I don't want to say that we assumed we were going to win, but we didn't stay focused enough to continue to compete the way we were competing. Continue