Mets fall short of a comeback as they lose their third straight game to the Giants, 8-4. Hisanori Takahashi had a poor start for the Mets, while Ike Davis hit two long home runs, however, the Mets came up short in a ninth inning rally. With the loss, the Mets fall behind the Phillies in the NL East race to third place. Game Summary Hisanori Takahashi probably needs to be back in the bullpen where he has [...]

In today’s New York Post, Mike Puma reports that Jerry Manuel is desperate for another arm in his bullpen and that he plans to address the matter with GM Omar Minaya. “Manager Jerry Manuel planned to speak with team brass last night about the possibility of adding a seventh reliever, after the Mets emptied their bullpen yesterday in a 9-5 victory over the Nationals.” Whether you think Jerry Manuel has done a poor job of handling [...]

Hisanori Takahashi stepped into the Mets rotation and has been spectacular in his two starts, shutting down two explosive offenses in the Yankees and Phillies.  With six scoreless innings against the Yankees last Friday and six more against the Phillies on Wednesday, Takahashi lowered his ERA to 2.13, while upping his record to 4-1. The Japanese southpaw has been a Lefty Luthor to the Supermen wearing the jerseys of last year’s pennant winners.  More importantly, [...]

Last night, after the Mets shutout the Phillies 5-0, Jerry Manuel told reporters during his post game that Fernando Nieve will get the start on Saturday against the Brewers. According to Manuel, Nieve earned the nod and said that he deserves his shot because of how well he has performed this season and also because he performed well as a starter last season. Raul Valdes was the other possibility, but in my opinion, Manuel is making the right [...]

Only a month ago, the Mets bullpen was being looked at as a big strength for the team as they led the league in ERA, Batting Average Against, WHIP and even strikeouts. They have quickly sunk to the bottom in many of those categories as the season wore on due mostly to some bad bullpen management, pitch counts, and an ineffective starting rotation. Jenrry Mejia, the youngest player in the Majors when the season started, came [...]

R.A. Dickey made his first start as a Mets filling in for the recently DL’d Jon Niese and delivered a quality start, but the bullpen faltered and the Mets lost 5-3 to the Nationals Game Notes R.A. Dickey went out for his first Mets start, going a solid 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits with 4 walks and two strikeouts. His knuckleball was dancing around the plate, and getting some swings-and-misses. He [...]

Sure, we’re all thrilled that the Mets continued their Opening Day dominance on Monday with a win over the Marlins to start the 2010 season.  It was a very complete performance with Johan Santana, Fernando Nieve and K-Rod holding the Marlins to one run; and our hitters, starting with David Wright belting a first-inning two-run homer against our nemesis Josh Johnson, delivering enough runs to make it a rout.  Newcomers Jason Bay, Gary Matthews Jr. [...]

With all the talk about #2 through #4 of the rotation for the Amazins, the 5th spot is as up in the air as an Ike Davis homerun. There are arguably about three or four pitchers contending for the spot. After a tenuous 2009, a clear message is being sent to everyone not named Santana or Rodriguez on the pitching staff: The best pitchers get the spots. Pure and simple. Let’s take a look at the [...]

Adam Rubin of the Daily News, recently reported that the Mets will not have Bobby Parnell audition for a spot in the starting rotation, but that Fernando Nieve will figure into the battle for the fifth spot in the rotation behind Santana, Maine, Perez and Pelfrey. Jerry Manuel is very high on Nieve as is GM Omar Minaya, both of them have mentioned him as a pitcher we shouldn’t count out this season. We have profiled Fernando Nieve [...]

I know there are rumors flying around like crazy about pending free agent signings, and that the Mets are interested in the likes of Ben Sheets, Joel Pineiro and John Smoltz.  And while any of those guys are capable of stepping in and being, at the very least, our #4 starter, we should be prepared for the worst.  And that “worst” is the depth chart in our starting rotation as it stands today—Johan Santana, Mike [...]

You know, I can accept the fact that the injury bug has bitten our Mets hard this season, and that freak accidents have hurt, as has being beaned in the head by opposing pitchers.  We’ve learned to accept that we have average to below-average replacements and that the season was basically over before the all-star break.  Now we’re biding our time and waiting until next year, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t [...]