I came across an interesting post by Jerry Vrentas of the Star-Ledger who reveals that Omar Minaya has been consulting frequently with a sabermetric guru before making a trade or player acquisition. Meet Ben Baumer, who serves as the Mets’ official Statistical Analyst, Baumer has been serving the Mets in this role for the last seven seasons going back to Jim Duquette who hired him. (You mean there was someone else to blame for that ill-fated Victor [...]

We all know about the on again, off again musings of Jerry Manuel with regards to batting Jose Reyes third in the lineup, a move that Reyes is strongly opposed to. In fact, Manuel had planned on unveiling Reyes in the third spot during the Cardinals series last weekend, but backed off after Reyes began chirping to the media. Well according to a report by Adam Rubin, Reyes batting third is back on again and it [...]

From this point on I’ll be focusing on two kinds of blogs. The first and most important will be the upcoming series preview. I’ve never done a series preview before; I toiled with game previews while our buddy Elliot was away last summer. So stick with me, if I’m brutal at the start, just think of me as the Mets middle of the order. (Getting off to a slow start)   The second obviously is [...]

Philadelphia Phillies: (10-5; Leader) The Phillies took two out of three from the Atlanta Braves. However, they did lose JA Happ to the DL with a strained flexor in his left arm. JC Romero was activated, while Nelson Figueroa will take his spot in the rotation. The Phillies begin a six-game west coast road trip with three in Arizona. Florida Marlins: (9-7; -1.5) The Florida Marlins dropped two of three to the Houston Astros, and [...]

So here we are fifteen games into the season with a 7-9 record and finally winning our first series of the season against the Cubs. Optimists (a club of which I was a charter member) are still under the impression that the season is still in hand and that only minor changes are needed right now. While others who love the Mets equally feel that major changes are needed. My take is that although the season is still [...]

Hey Mets fans… we finally did it… our New York Mets not only notched a solid 5-2 win against the Chicago Cubs, but in doing so they won their first series of the young season after losing their first four. Game Notes Johan Santana had to rely on being crafty and pitching smart tonight as he got into and out of jams all night long. He’s still not the Johan of old, but did hit 90 [...]

Songs of the Night: Linkin Park – Bleed it Out, Faint, New Divide AAA International League: Buffalo 12/15/1, Rochester 3/9/3 Dillon Gee wasn’t as sharp today as he was in his first two starts, and he still only allowed 2 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings, and picked up his 3rd win. Bobby Parnell pitched very well tonight, as well, with 3 innings of 1 hit shutout relief. The Bisons offense hammered out 15 [...]

I read a great quote from a scout in the latest edition of Jayson Stark’s Rumblings & Grumblings on ESPN.com. “You know, baseball needs the Mets to be good,” one scout said. “Baseball is more fun when the Mets are good and that rivalry between them and the Phillies is cooking. But this just isn’t a real good team. If you look past Santana, and Pelfrey the way he’s pitched so far, you see where [...]

Who would have thought, a disappointing start to the 2010 season would have Mets fans ranting about anything but starting pitching. Mike Pelfrey has been lights out thus far posting a 0.86 era in 21 IP. Johan Santana seems to have achieved 2006 euphoria; and aside from some inopportune home runs, the bullpen and Japanese born product of the Nippon Professional Baseball League, Ryota Igarashi has really shown strong stuff in his set-up role for [...]

On a night where the Mets bats were nowhere to be found, Oliver Perez pitched 5 minimally effective innings, but the bullpen surrendered 6 runs in 9-3 loss to Cubs. Game Notes Oliver Perez went out and gave it all he had, going five innings, giving up three runs, two earned, on eight hits. Ollie seemed to have decent control, by his standards walking three and striking out four. This was the second straight “Quality” [...]

For those of you who didn’t get a chance to watch tonight’s game against the Cubs — you have to watch this amazing catch by Ike Davis diving into the dugout. There wasn’t much to cheer about in tonight’s 9-3 loss to the Cubs, but this play was something to behold. Here it is… Now that’s the way to play first base! Isn’t funny how the two most amazing plays by a first baseman this [...]