The Cincinnati Reds (25-18) shutout the New York Mets (17-25) by the score of 4-0 tonight at a sparsely crowded Citi Field. Left-hander Jon Niese started for the Mets and and after getting the first two outs in the first inning he allowed a hit and a pair of walks to load the bases. Niese had a chance to come out of the inning unscathed and induced a hard grounder to third for what should have been [...]

Starting Lineup Daniel Murphy – 2B Mike Baxter – RF David Wright – 3B Lucas Duda – LF Rick Ankiel – CF John Buck – C Ike Davis – 1B Ruben Tejada – SS Jon Niese – LHP Game Notes The Mets signed reliever David Aardsma to a minor league deal. Aardsma didn’t make the Yankees’ roster out of spring training and opted out of his deal with Miami after not getting promoted within a [...]

It doesn’t matter that Daniel Murphy hit the game-winning homer Sunday afternoon, or that he’s the Mets’ hottest hitter, he should be in the leadoff spot going forward for the Mets. Because of Murphy’s high on-base percentage, batting him leadoff is something I have advocated, and I’m glad Terry Collins was thinking outside the box enough to make the move. “He gets on base, because he can hit,’’ Collins told ESPN.com. “And, when he’s swinging good, he can get [...]

I am as optimistic as anyone wants to be when you think that the Mets can turn this ship around, put together a run that can make this team worth watching again. When you go through years of not much promise, you just hope that maybe, just maybe this year could be different. I thought that in the first two weeks of the season when we had a good start and then just as fast [...]

Updated Post 1:44 PM MLB Trade Rumors just posted something that would add to the debate on Choo as a potential acquisition for the Mets in 2014. I also updated the original post to indicate that Choo’s best position is right-field. Of course, as with most free agents, Choo’s next contract will cover post-prime years, perhaps age 31-35.  With Boras doing the negotiating, we can’t rule out a sixth year or a salary in the [...]

AGBAYANI: THE METS’ “BENNY-FACTOR” SLAMS THE CUBS Did you ever notice that certain players that have toiled in the minors for a while tend to exhibit surges in production when they finally get a crack at the big time? It’s as if they had those hits stockpiled for the Show and can’t wait to get them out of their systems once fortune and the front office permits. So it seemed to be with Benny Agbayani, [...]

ALDERSON DOING METS A DISSERVICE IN STAYING WITH DAVIS Perhaps Sandy Alderson knew of Andrew Brown’s strained oblique when he said there was nothing imminent about sending Ike Davis to the minor leagues. Assuming he did not, it is puzzling as to why he’s in no hurry to ship out his struggling first baseman. Eventually, Alderson said, “everything comes to a head at some point,’’ but evidently it is not hitting .156 two months into [...]

Starting Lineup Daniel Murphy 2B Rick Ankiel CF David Wright 3B Lucas Duda LF Marlon Byrd RF Ike Davis 1B John Buck C Ruben Tejada SS Shaun Marcum SP Game Notes Bobby Parnell has three wins and four saves this month. Parnell has hurled 8.0 scoreless frames in May and is tied for the major league lead among all relievers with four wins and is seventh in the NL with a 0.93 ERA (min. 17.0 innings). Parnell is unscored upon in 17 of his [...]

Terry Collins will go to home plate tomorrow with the line-up card and likely get booed. Surely, he’ll hear it when he makes a pitching change. It won’t be fair, but we know few things in baseball aren’t fair.Collins doesn’t have a contract beyond this season, and his lame duck status rises to the surface when the Mets go into a tailspin, as they did last week when they lost a season-high six straight games, and [...]

We are pleased to welcome die-hard Met fans Chris Wendelken & Erika Jenson Smith to the MMO team. Chris and Jenson will take a lighthearted look at the New York Mets each Monday in their Mets Weekly videos which will be featured exclusively on Metsmerized. Win or lose, the two of them do a nice job of quickly recapping the week that was for the Mets in their own unique and entertaining style. We know you’ll enjoy [...]

Lefty reliever Scott Rice tossed two scoreless innings to pick up the win against the Cubs on Sunday. It was his major league-leading 25th appearance of the season. Rice lowered his ERA to 3.05, and is now on pace for 99 appearances. That would surpass Pedro Feliciano‘s franchise mark of 92 games in 2010 and rank second all-time to Mike Marshall‘s 106 appearances for the Dodgers in 1974. That is one heck of a workload to say the least, and [...]