Mets Merized Online

This post was updated from an original post today.

Brian Costa of the Star-Ledger writes that Carlos Beltran arrived to camp this afternoon and that he walked with no noticeable limp when he entered the clubhouse and went into the trainer’s room, where Omar Minaya joined him a few minutes later. Adam Rubin added that Beltran was on a stationary bike with no pain the day after the surgery and had no pain. Who knows… Maybe Beltran could make a much earlier return than the late May/early June that was originally reported.

*After my original post, I came across some comments from Carlos Beltran today who spoke to reporters about his knee, rehab, and hard feelings.

“I’m right on schedule,” Beltran said. “I’m not ahead of schedule because I don’t feel like my knee right now is too stable. I wish I could run. But right now I don’t feel like that. I feel like if I run, something wrong is going to happen, because the quad is not stable, the hamstrings are not stable. Once I strengthen those areas, I think everything else is going to fall in place and it’s going to be feeling good. But right now I’m really positive. I’m very happy with the outcome. I’m looking forward to continue to strengthen the quad and strengthen the knee and make it to the point where I can go out and run. That will be the biggest test – being able to run and do baseball activity pain free.”

“No, I didn’t have hard feelings. You know, it took me a while because I’m a human being, of course, and I’m a person who has feelings. It took me like a week for me to forget everything and focus on what is important for me. What is important for me right now is just to be with the team, be ready, and being able to play.”

Jon Heyman of SI.com tweeted that Jerry Manuel is not kidding, and that Jose Reyes will be batting third until Carlos Beltran returns from the disabled list. Apparently it’s not even up for a debate, so pencil him in. I don’t really care where Jose Reyes bats for the first 20 days of a 162 day season, as long as he’s healthy, back to form, and smiling.

Jerry Manuel got bloggers attention when he said that on Sunday that there will be a “wide-open competition” between Gary Matthews Jr. and Angel Pagan for the starting center field job until Carlos Beltran returns. Huh, excuse me, what did he just say? It gets better, Manuel also said that if Matthews wins the centerfield job, he will bat in the leadoff spot. Now this is exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking I was hoping to see from Manuel this season. No wait a minute, what am I saying? Is it me or is Angel Pagan starting to get the Ryan Church treatment?

Question for all of you – Do you prefer these recap style posts on Mets rumblings, or do you rather each report to be it’s own blog post? Thanks MMO’ers.

Like a wounded prizefighter hoping to get one last chance at the title, the Mets fought their way through a difficult 2009 season.  They kept getting pushed aside, beaten down and left for dead.  The season might have ended much earlier than Mets fans expected (like July), but at least the Mets gave the hearty fans in attendance for this final series at Citi Field something to smile about.

Nelson Figueroa’s best pitching performance in a Mets uniform and Angel Pagan’s perfect day at the plate helped the Mets finish the season on an up note.  Today’s 4-0 victory completed a sweep of the equally disappointing Houston Astros and helped the Mets avoid their first under 70-win season since 2003, although it might have been somewhat appropriate had the Mets finished the season with 69 wins as one final (unwanted) tribute to the ‘69 Mets.

On a beautiful day at Citi Field, Nelson Figueroa took the hill and was masterful from start to finish.  In pitching his first career complete-game shutout, Figgy allowed only four hits and did not walk a batter.  He also struck out seven Astros while throwing 113 pitches.

Angel Pagan was equally impressive, going 4-for-4 with a single, two doubles and a triple.  The four-hit game boosted his average to .306.  He also showed his tender side when he politely brought the ball to Astros’ catcher Humberto Quintero as he slid across home plate with one of the two runs he scored on the day.  (see photo below for Pagan’s peace offering to Quintero)

Not to be forgotten was the three hit day by catcher Josh Thole.  His two singles and one double raised his average to .321 after his September call-up.  He showed that he could hit the ball to all fields and made good contact, as shown by his low strikeout total (only five strikeouts in 53 at-bats).

With the victory, the Mets finished the season with a 70-92 record.  Truth be told, even without all the injuries, this team was probably not going to compete with the Phillies for the division title.  However, if they could just bottle up the good pitching and hitting from this weekend series against the Astros, perhaps 2010 can serve up a few more happy recaps.

Tomorrow’s game will start 182 days from now when the 2010 season opens up at Citi Field on April 5.  Thanks to all the readers for making this season tolerable with all your comments and support.  I leave you with a short poem.  Happy recaps to all and to all a good night!

Two years ago in the season finale

The Mets fell short with nary a rally

When we Shea’d goodbye in 2008

The Marlins returned to seal the Mets’ fate

It’s been a year since Shea was razed to the ground

But with playoff hopes gone, no choke could be found

At least this year’s finale produced not a weep

As Angel and Nelson came through for the sweep!

The Mets finish up the 2009 baseball season today as they play they the Houston Astros. While we all have strong feelings about this team, and as a group, have gone through a lot this year, it is always hard to write the last game preview post of the season. Even though we stumbled this season, we still played (something that resembled) baseball, and now we are about to go through the winter without seeing the Mets take the field till late January, play something of a game until March and not play real game until April. In that respect, I’m sad to see the season end as I’m sure many of you are too (I’ll be writing more on this later today). Anyway, the Mets have the opportunity to end the season on a very strong note by sweeping the Houston Astros (I believe its possible, this past weekend my high school just ended a 53 game losing streak, so anything is possible). Figueroa will be getting the start against Lopez.

Figueroa is 2-8 on the season with a 4.70 ERA over 61.1 innings of work. In his last three games he is 0-3 over 18.0 innings with a 5.00 ERA however, if you only look at his last 2 games he is 0-2 over 13.0 innings with a 2.77 ERA. So the last two times on the mound Nelson has been getting it done. Here are some stats the Astros have on him:

• Blum 1-13
• Berkman 2-10
• Boone 3-8
• Tejada 0-2
• Keppinger 0-2

To win though he will need something that has not been happening for him in his last several outings, and that is he will need the Mets to score him some runs.

The Mets bats get to face another rookie starting pitcher today and this time its Lopez. Lopez is 0-1 on the season over 14.1 innings and has a 9.42 ERA. This will be his second major league start where last time he lasted 3.2 innings and allowed 5 ER. As a reliever so far he has pitched 10.2 innings and has allowed 10 ER. As you probably have guessed, since he came up on August 28th of this year, no Mets have any batting history in the majors against him. The Mets bats though have been clicking the last few games and all they need is just one more game, and then they get the winter. Lets Go Mets! Finish off 2009 strong! Sweep the Astros!

Check 213 Miles From Shea!

It may have rained at Citi Field today, but Pat Misch still found a way to twinkle through the raindrops as he pitched five effective innings to help defeat the Astros by the final score of 5-1.

Following his first career complete game shutout on Sunday against the Marlins, Misch won his second consecutive decision.  Before rain put an abrupt end to his workday, Misch had thrown only 61 pitches entering the sixth inning.  He gave up one run and five hits while walking no one.

Following Friday night’s 14-hit outburst against Wandy Rodriguez and the Astros’ bullpen, the Mets banged out another ten hits on Saturday against Yorman Bazardo and his band of merry men. This barrage included multi-hit efforts by Daniel Murphy, Fernando Tatis and Josh Thole.  Although the Mets did not hit any home runs today, half of their hits went for extra bases (four doubles and one triple).

David Wright and Carlos Beltran were not in the starting lineup as Jerry Manuel wanted to give Wright a break and Beltran was feeling ill.  Manuel did expect to pencil both of them into Sunday’s starting lineup.  The Mets did not need their services today as their replacements, Fernando Tatis and Cory Sullivan, (Angel Pagan moved from left field to center field to play in Beltran’s stead) combined to go 3-for-7 with three runs scored, two runs batted in and two stolen bases.

The Mets were clinging to a 2-1 lead as the rain began to fall sporadically by the third inning.  Needing to play 4½ innings to make the game official, Misch carved his way through the Astros lineup quickly and effectively.  After the game became official when Miguel Tejada grounded out to Luis Castillo to end the top of the fifth inning, the rain began falling in earnest.  However, before the umpires decided they couldn’t swim, they allowed the bottom of the fifth inning to be completed.  The Mets added two insurance runs on a two-run single by Fernando Tatis.  The timely hit gave the Mets a 4-1 lead and brought the grounds crew out to cover the field.

After making us wait (by us, I mean me and the other thousand or so fans who are also Mets-ochists) through a 2 hour and 20 minute rain delay for a meaningless game to resume, the Mets gave us a special treat.  Fans were allowed to move down into the field level seats for the final four innings of the game.

Unfortunately, not much action happened after that.  The Mets did add another run in the seventh inning when Fernando Tatis hit a two-out double off the left field wall.  This was followed by an RBI single by catcher Josh Thole.  The latter hit gave the Mets a 5-1 lead.

After two Astros reached base in the top of the ninth inning,  Francisco Rodriguez was called upon to get the last out.  It was Frankie’s first appearance since his colossal meltdown on Wednesday in Washington.  This time, the results were much better as he got speedster Michael Bourn to fly out to Jeff Francoeur to end the game for his 35th save.

Pat Misch will probably not be in the starting rotation in 2010, but his last two starts have showed that he can be a serviceable fill-in should one of the Mets’ regular starters get hurt (Johan Santana), become ineffective (John Maine) or both (Oliver Perez).  It was a nice finish for Misch in the next-to-last game of the season.

Tomorrow’s season finale will not have everything on the line as the previous two seasons did.  That means the Mets might actually win the game.  Nelson Figueroa will face the Astros’ Wilton Lopez at 1:10 PM.  It’s almost time to say “th-th-that’s all, folks” to the 2009 season.  Hopefully, the Mets can go out with a sweep of the Houston Astros.

Useless stat of the day (because useless seems to go with the Mets this season): When Jose Thole tripled in the fourth inning, it was the Mets’ 48th triple of the season, setting a new franchise record.  The previous high of 47 was achieved by the 1978 and 1996 teams.  Why is this a useless stat?  Because the 1978 Mets finished the season with a 66-96 record and the 1996 team went 71-91.  It should come as no surprise that this Mets team will finish with a similar record to those triple-happy teams.

The Mets finally played some solid baseball and beat the Houston Astros 7-1 Friday night in the opener of their final series of the season.

John Maine (7-6) made his final start of the season and delivered one of his best performances in two years. He pitched seven solid innings and allowed just one run on five hits, and he didn’t walk a batter while striking out seven. It was just what the Mets needed at a time when there are so many questions about next season’s rotation. The start also marked the first time in 15 starts this season, that Maine was able to last through the seventh inning.

“It gives us a lot of hope,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “I haven’t seen his slider that good since he’s come back, and his fastball had late life. Very encouraging for all of us.”

Bobby Parnell and Sean Green finished the game in relief of Maine with two scoreless innings.

Offensively, Jeff Francoeur led the attack with three hits including a towering two run homer that broke the 1-1 tie and put the Mets in front for good in the sixth inning. For Francoeur, it was his 15th homerun of the season which leads all Mets batters.

Daniel Murphy also delivered a pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning, and David Wright had an RBI double among his three hits on the evening. For Murphy, it was his team leading 12th homer.

Omir Santos, Fernando Tatis and Angel Pagan each had two of the Mets’ 14 hits against the ‘Stros and Nick Evans hit New York’s 47th triple of the season in the seventh inning, tying the franchise record set in 1978 and equaled in 1996.

With only two games left to the season, the Mets will send Pat Misch to the mound this afternoon who will be searching for his second consecutive solid outing. You may remember that Misch pitched a complete game shutout against the Marlins his last time out.

Here’s to the Mets finishing strong…

The Mets conclude their season with a three game series against the Houston Astros.  For over a month, I have just been waiting for this horrendous season to end.  Come Monday though, I will anxiously waiting for next spring.  I will spend the playoffs rooting for whoever plays the Phillies or Yankees.  I will spend the rest of the winter watching the three other major sports – but nothing will compare to my love for baseball, particularly Mets baseball.

Unlike the previous two years, there is not much interesting to see in these final games.  Of the many questions to be answered in the offseason, John Maine’s future with the Mets is key.  He will make his final start on Friday, and show how his recovery is going.  Other then that, not much really stands out as meaningful – most of the team is on the disabled list, and other questions won’t be answered in the final three games.  It would be nice for David Wright to smack a couple homeruns, and for K-Rod to strike out the side for a save this weekend.

Probable Starters

Friday: Wandy Rodriguez (14-11, 2.97) @ John Maine (6-6, 4.72)
Saturday: Wilton Lopez (0-0, 8.44) @ Pat Misch (2-4, 4.71)
Sunday: Yorman Bazardo (1-2, 8.23) @ Nelson Figueroa (2-8, 4.70)

Prediction

Mets take series two games to one

Conclusions 2009

-Brian Schneider should probably retire; Omir Santos was a nice surprise this year at times but at best he should be a backup;  Josh Thole is close, but not ready for the major leagues.
-Luis Castillo is still capable of contributing, even starting if the lineup around him is very good.
-A team needs more then one backup infielder capable of fielding the shortstop position.
-Daniel Murphy does not hit enough to play everyday at first base – but I feel he could be a valuable utility guy.
-The Jeff Francoeur trade will prove valuable next year
-Angel Pagan is a very nice fourth outfielder.
-Players I don’t want to see back next year: Tim Redding, Brian Schneider, Sean Green, Ramon Martinez, Cory Sullivan

Mets fans should be used to these types of games in 2009. If there is anything we’ve learned as fans this season it is to expect the unexpected. Francisco Rodriguez gave up 5 runs in the ninth inning on a bases loaded walk to Adam Dunn and a Grand Slam to Justin Maxwell to give the Nationals a victory in their last home game of 2009.

I’m not sure if K-Rod is a victim of not getting much work in the second half or if there is something wrong physically with him, but he seems off. He can not control his pitches right now and has me terrified every time he comes in in a close game. It is something worth watching for next season because if the Mets want to be playing in games that matter next season they are going to need him.

Lost in the Rodriguez debacle was a solid start from Tim Redding. Redding went 6 innings and gave up 1 run on 4 hits. Redding passed the ball off to Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano and Sean Green who were able to bridge the gap to K-Rod.

Redding may be earning himself a fifth starter role on the team next year. At the very least he should be brought in for a competition in the spring.

The Mets offense got things started in the top half of the second inning when Fernando Tatis hit a sacrifice fly to Elijah Dukes. Omir Santos continued the rally with a base hit to give the Mets the early 2-0 lead. The Mets got their other runs on a 6th inning RBI single by Carlos Beltran and a ninth inning RBI single by Santos.

All in all it was another tough loss in a season full of them. I’m sure the entire team can’t wait until the offseason. Sunday can’t come soon enough.

The Mets start their final series of the year on Friday night against the Astros at 7:10 EST.

Editor’s Note: Drew Costello originally wrote this for Mets Fans Forever

It feels great to be back again after being sidelined for almost a week with a nasty flu and no internet service as well. However, it doesn’t feel all that good analyzing another ugly loss for the Mets, this time at the hands of the surging Nationals who won their second straight against the Mets. The Mets have made losing an art form. I’ll make this recap short yet not so sweet…

Mike Pelfrey started the game and was somewhat solid when you look at it in 2009 Mets terms. Pelfrey gave up just three runs on eight hits in seven innings, which classifies as a gem coming from the Mets rotation. It was vintage Pelfrey, a couple of ill-fated mental lapses sandwiched in between a few perfect innings. All three runs came in the fifth inning, with the big blow a two-run homer by shortstop Ian Desmond. It was a sinker that didn’t sink, otherwise known as a flat as a pancake fastball.

The Mets handed the victory to the Nats in the bottom of the eighth inning when Anderson Hernandez, who just came into the game to replace Wilson Valdez, made a costly throwing error which gave the Nats runners on first and second. The runner on second came around to score as Luis Castillo followed up with a throwing error of his own giving the Nationals the 4-3 lead.

Angel Pagan led the hit parade with two singles, a double, two runs scored and an RBI. As the season winds down, Pagan has shown no signs of slowing down and continues to make a strong case for the everyday leftfield job.

David Wright had a couple of hits, but was robbed of a third hit thanks to Elijah Dukes who made a spectacular grab of a deep drive to end the game with the tying run on first. Game over.

Speaking of Wright, I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on his lack of hustle last week. Shame on you David! I never expected an act like that from you. Have Omar, Jerry and the Mets broken your spirit too? Well that’s too bad! You, my friend, are getting paid millions to play the game, so play the game hard and play the game well.

The Mets will try to salvage the last game of their series today at 4:35 PM, when Tim Redding faces fellow New York native, John Lannan.

Nats rookie Ross Detwiler recorded his first win going 6 innings and giving up 1 run on 7 hits and only 1 walk. Nelson Figueroa was the tough luck loser going 6 innings and giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and one walk.

It felt like the old days when the Mets could not beat a rookie pitcher to save their lives. Detwiler appeared to have good stuff and the Mets weak lineup was no match for them.

The Mets got their only run when Fernando Tatis singled home a run in the sixth inning. Other than that, Detwiler was in complete control and was able to get the victory when Mike Morse homered off of Figueroa in the bottom of the sixth. Morse’s homer ended up being the game winner.

It was difficult to watch the Mets struggle to score runs off of one of the worst teams in all of baseball. As a team the Mets had runners in scoring position in six different innings, and yet didn’t get one run to cross the plate. Even for this team that is bad. As Jon Heyman tweeted last night, “lengthen the season by 20 games, and the Mets would fall below the Nats.” Now that is just flat out embarrassing.

The good news is the season is almost over and we can soon turn our attention to how to fix what happened this year. Also keep this in mind, the Phillies are in the midst of a collapse. With their loss Monday the Braves are now only 4 GB. On September 21st the Phillies were leading the NL East by 8 games.

The Mets continue their series against the Nats when Mike Pelfrey takes on J.D Martin at 7:10 EST.

Editors Note: Drew Costello originally wrote this for Mets Fans Forever

The home team was playing their last game in their ballpark this season.  They were fighting for their playoff lives after losing the Friday opener before coming back to win the Saturday game.  It was a Mets-Marlins matchup.  Sound familiar?

Just as the Marlins took two out of three to keep the Mets out of the playoffs each of the last two years, the Mets got some payback today.  By taking the series against Florida, the Marlins were eliminated in the National League East race and are all but eliminated in the wild card race as well.

Pat Misch pitched the first complete game shutout by a Mets pitcher this season, retiring the last 13 batters he faced and Jeff Francoeur hit one out of the park (two-run homer) and kept one in the park (robbing Chris Coghlan of a potential shutout ending homer).  That combination helped the Mets to a 4-0 victory over the Marlins.

Things didn’t start off so well for Misch, but he kept getting out of jams that he created.  After wiggling his way out of a second and third, no-outs situation in the first inning, he continued to put men on base.  He gave up eight hits and three walks in the first five innings, but none of the baseunners scored.  It was a far cry from his previous outing Monday night against the Braves when he gave up eight runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Although Misch got the only run he needed when Josh Thole hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning, it wasn’t until Jeff Francoeur hit a two-run homer in the third inning that Misch got a little breathing room.  The home run was Francoeur’s 14th of the season and ninth as a Met.

After Francoeur reached home plate, Anderson Hernandez promised he’d hit one as well, eliciting a giggle from Jeff Francoeur (see photo above).  Channeling the spirits of Joe Namath and Mark Messier, Hernandez made good on his guarantee and homered in the fifth inning.  That blast gave the Mets a 4-0 lead.

Francoeur still had one last moment to upstage Hernandez and he did so in the bottom of the seventh inning when he robbed Chris Coghlan of a home run in front of the 385-foot sign in right field.  The Marlins players and their many dozens of fans couldn’t bear to watch as Jeff helped preserve the shutout for Misch.

However, the day truly belonged to Pat Misch.  He did not cave in when the Marlins kept putting men on base against him in the early innings and got stronger as the game progressed.  In doing so, he picked up his second victory of the season and helped the Mets put a huge dent in the Marlins’ fleeting playoff chances.

The Mets will now enter the last week of the season by opening their final road series against the Washington Nationals on Monday.  Nelson Figueroa will take the mound against Ross Detwiler in the 7:05 PM start.

The Mets might not be going to the big dance in October.  It looks like the team that prevented them from doing so in 2007 and 2008 will also not have a date to the baseball prom in 2009.  It may not erase the sting still felt by many Mets fans, but the Mets did exhibit a modicum of revenge this weekend against the Marlins.  It’s nice to have a feel-good moment every now and then.