Daniel Murphy had four hits and Jon Niese pitched a gem as the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 to salvage the final game of the series and avoid the four-game sweep. The Mets got on the board in the third when Jordany Valdespin ignited a two-run rally with a perfect drag bunt in the third and then scored when the red-hot Murphy lined double to score Spin and then came around [...]

The legend of Mike Baxter continues to grow as he came through in the clutch for the Mets yet again on Thursday night, with his second walk-off hit in three games! This was a low scoring affair for the Mets due to Dillon Gee dancing out of trouble in each of his first five innings on the mound tonight, without allowing a run through them. He started the sixth for the Mets and allowed two [...]

When you glance at this morning’s Mets pitching leaders, you see two names that belong in Matt Harvey and Bobby Parnell. Each of them have been nothing short of phenomenal in their roles of closer and staff ace. But just below them is a name nobody expected much from this season – that is unless you read my preseason feature on Scott Rice – the 31-year old rookie who has become a cult figure here on [...]

Despite the incredible effort by Jeremy Hefner on Tuesday night, the Mets were unable to get just three more outs as a ninth inning meltdown capped off by a Brandon Lyon wild pitch handed the Marlins their second straight walk-off victory against the Amazin’s and their first series win of the season. Surprisingly enough, the Mets have become quite used to the demoralizing oddity known as the walk-off wild pitch. In fact, last night was the [...]

Updated on 5/1 Bob Klapisch of The Record, mirrors my post from Monday that the Terry Collins watch has begun: The countdown on Terry Collins began on the first day of pitchers and catchers and nothing so far has made it any easier to believe he’ll be back with the Mets in 2014. Of course, Collins has handled his lame-duck status with grace and maturity — he’s an honest guy, good with people — but [...]

After yesterday’s 2-1 ninth inning loss, David Wright didn’t blame the bad call at third base and instead pointed the finger of blame for the loss on himself and the rest of the offense. “Sometimes the calls go your way. Sometimes they don’t. What we need to do a better job of is offensively going out there and scoring more runs. We can’t expect to win games 1-0. Offensively we need to do a better [...]

Wow, that one hurt. What a punch in the gut… The Miami Marlins came back in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Mets 2-1 in stunning fashion as the winning run scored on a Brandon Lyon wild pitch. The loss is the sixth straight defeat for the Mets, matching their longest losing streak of the 2012 season and it’s only April 30. I feel more worse about Jeremy Hefner being denied the win, than [...]

I couldn’t help but get somewhat annoyed when MetsBlog posted that reliever Brandon Lyon is currently cashing in on some large monthly incentive bonus checks. His contract stipulates that Lyon is to receive roster bonuses of $100,000-$125,000 roughly once a month. The 34-year-old righty who signed a  a guaranteed $750,000 deal with the Mets before the season, received his first $100K bonus check by making the Opening Day roster. But then this morning, Lyon took in his second check, [...]

Updated 3/22 I wanted to share Adam Rubin’s projected Opening Day roster which is not too dissimilar to what I projected. Rotation: Jon Niese, Shaun Marcum, Matt Harvey, Dillon Gee and Jeremy Hefner. Bullpen: Bobby Parnell, Brandon Lyon, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Atchison, Josh Edgin, Pedro Feliciano and Greg Burke. Infield: Ike Davis, Justin Turner, David Wright, Ruben Tejada and John Buck. Outfield: Lucas Duda, Collin Cowgill and Jordany Valdespin. Bench: Marlon Byrd, Mike Baxter, Anthony Recker, Omar Quintanilla [...]

It is too soon to say much definitive about Terry Collins’ 2013 Mets other than it has the makings of a long year. Twice yesterday afternoon, the frustrated Mets’ manager answered seemingly innocuous questions about his roster with a curt, “It is March 8.’’ PARNELL CLOSING IN: One silver thread out of Friday’s 3-2 loss to Detroit was reliever Bobby Parnell, who pitched a 1-2-3 sixth as he’s settling in to the closer job with Frank [...]

This time, Terry Collins knew what Johan Santana was doing and seemingly both are on the same page, even though the left-hander was mum today on both his throwing and the death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. After mugging with several friends on the Venezuelan WBC team, Santana long-tossed in the outfield, and followed that with several pitches off the mound from where he fielded bunts. The timetable is a bullpen session, then batting practice and possibly pitching in [...]