Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels left Thursday’s series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers after being struck in the shoulder by a line drive. One pitch after giving up a two-run homer to Ryan Braun in the fourth inning, Prince Fielder laced an infield single that hit Hamels in the front of his left shoulder. Trainers immediately tended to Hamels, who left the game with what the team called a left shoulder contusion. He was replaced by [...]

The Mets simply do not get it. After all the uproar in the media about how Citi Field seems more like a fitting tribute to the Brooklyn Dodgers as opposed to the New York Mets, the front office had an opportunity to alleviate some of those concerns and chose not to. George Willis of the NY Post explains: WHEN Dwight “Doc” Gooden attended the Mets’ Opening Day ceremonies at Citi Field last week, he stopped [...]

As reported in the NY Post, former Mets relief pitcher Ambiorix Burgos is going to the pen – not the bullpen – after he was sentenced today to nine months behind bars for beating his girlfriend in a Queens hotel. Burgos, 24, was convicted in Queens supreme court last month of the September 2008 assault after the woman had tried to leave their room to go register her young daughter for school. “I’m not that [...]

As reported by mlb.com, the Nationals optioned center fielder Lastings Milledge to Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday. The club has not announced a corresponding move. Milledge is off to a slow start, batting .167 (4-for-24) with one RBI, while playing mediocre defense in center. The team had warned Milledge about a possible demotion since Opening Day. Members of the organization were upset that Milledge was late for a meeting held by manager Manny Acta the day [...]

Here are just a few of things the Mets and New York have planned for tonight’s Home Opener at Citi Field. 1. The Empire State Building will be lit up in honor of the Mets tonight and feature the team colors, blue and orange, to mark the special occasion. Look for the awesome spectacle to begin just before game time and last until midnight. (heck yeah!) 2. Two of our all time greatest Mets will throw [...]

I was just reading an interesting article by David Lennon of Newsday on his blog. Lennon seems all fired up about comments that were made by Jerry Manuel and Dan Warthen who both said they were encouraged by Ollie’s last start. I was kind of surprised yesterday to hear both manager Jerry Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen say they were “encouraged” by Oliver Perez’s 4 1/3-inning stint in an 8-6 loss to the Reds. [...]

Today before the game, Jerry Manuel said that Frankie Rodriguez would get the day off after a tough workload in last nights game. J.J. Putz will be called on to close the game if necessary. I’m thinking that Putz will pick up about 10 saves this season. Luis Castillo is sitting this one out, and Alex Cora makes his first start of the season at second base. Jerry Manuel is open to trying Fernando Tatis [...]

A hospital official says Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart has died in a hit-and-run car crash after a game. University of California, Irvine Medical Center spokesman John Murray says Adenhart died Thursday morning after undergoing surgery. Officials said the 22-year-old Adenhart was one of three people killed in the crash early Thursday after pitching in a loss against the Oakland Athletics. The driver of a minivan ran a red light in Fullerton and hit [...]

The Mets bullpen is the talk of the town after yesterdays opening day performance. They were also the opening story on ESPN’s Baseball tonight and MLB Network’s MLB Tonight. I can definitely get used to more of this! Was it just me or did Ryan Church look extremely motivated yesterday? I mean extremely motivated! The best part was that remarkable diving catch and getting up to fire a bullet to double up the runner for [...]