Atlanta Braves: (62-46; Leader) The Braves took two of three from the Mets and beat Tim Lincecum and the Giants last night. The Braves will continue their series with the Giants this weekend. The Braves will retire Tom Glavine’s number 47 tonight. Philadelphia Phillies: (60-48; -2) The Phillies placed Ryan Howard on the DL and haven’t missed a beat. They’ve won four in a row, including a sweep of the Florida Marlins. Florida Marlins: (53-55; [...]

AAA International League: Buffalo 7/6/0, Columbus 5/13/1 cf Ezequiel Carrera 2 for 4, 2b, RBI, K, .321 ———- cf Kirk Nieuwenhuis 0 for 5, 3 Ks, .111 2b Justin Turner 2 for 4, run, 2b (24), BB, .303 lf Lucas Duda 1 for 3, 2 runs, HR (14; walkoff) 2 RBI (40), 2 BBs, .312 (.312/.376/.665/1.040, 53 for 170, 28 runs, 14 2b, 2 3b, 14 HR, 40 RBI, 16/34 BB/K in AAA) 1b Nick [...]

I’m a writer who is partial to pitchers – first was Sandy Koufax and the current is Johan Santana. I don’t have any reason for my choices or maybe it’s just that most of these guys strive for perfection from themselves – hoping that the rest of the team is paying attention. Some pitchers rule the mound and defy you to make a move toward them — that was Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Pedro Martinez [...]

Michael Salfino of SNY.tv wrote an interesting article yesterday on the Mets former number one prospect, Fernando Martinez. In it he chronicles the decline of F-Mart’s prospect status over the years, but is not yet ready to count him out. Since 2007, he’s moved down on Baseball America’s Top 100 list from the 20th to 30th to 77th position. Now, according an e-mail from BA editor Jim Callis, he’s off the list. All this has [...]

In light of this past week’s horrific disappointments, I would like to dedicate my next couple of articles outlining some things that I consider “Mets Myths”.  I hate to say it, but even when this team looked great in June, the following fears have lingered, and I now feel like they can no longer be avoided. The sooner the Mets organization comes to grips with these epiphanies (I kid), the sooner we can get back [...]

Almost as predictable as the Mets falling short in the wins column these days is the projected fall-out that occurs after each loss.  Every beat writer or sports news outlet is trying to find the scapegoat.  I find that laughable, since I believe Jerry Manuel, Howard Johnson or Omar Minaya are symptoms of a larger problem. I can’t believe that letting any of those guys go will help in the short or long term, except [...]

AAA International League: Buffalo 11/11/1, Columbus 4/11/1 The Bisons used 2 in the 7th to close to within 4-2, then exploded for a 9 run 8th to take the lead and simultaneously put the game away. Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a double and walk in his AAA debut, while Justin Turner, Lucas Duda and Luis Hernandez had multi hit games. Nick Evans took the only 0-fer. The Bisons had 11 hits and a 4/8 BB/K ratio, [...]

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, the Mets’ reign of error is set to continue into 2011. Fred Wilpon will retain Omar Minaya for the 2011 season.  The team’s principal owner, Fred Wilpon, on Thursday said he is planning to stick with general manager Omar Minaya beyond this year, despite the threat of a second straight losing season. Wilpon, in East Hartford, Conn., to help announce a new partnership between SNY and [...]

While taking a look at Mike Pelfrey’s overall 2010 stats this morning, I came across some interesting data as I compared him to the other starters in the Mets rotation. I compiled the following chart on Baseball Reference, so that you could see who fits where in several different pitching categories among the Mets’ top four starters. Pos   W L W-L% ERA GS IP H ER BB SO WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB SP Johan Santana* [...]

Today is as good a time as any to start checking out which players down on the farm, may or may not be ready to help the Mets in 2011 and beyond. There’s no better way to do that, then by checking in with one of the best in the business, John Sickels, of MinorLeagueBall.com. John reviews the Mets Top 20 Prospects list that he originally posted back in January. Based on John’s comments, I decided to [...]