It’s not exactly the variety of a film festival when watching the Mets in spring training. It’s the Nationals, Braves, Marlins and Cardinals on a rotating basis. For the Mets in Port St. Lucie, it’s like watching the same episodes of Seinfeld over and over. After awhile, you know how “The Contest’’ will end. For a young guy like Matt Harvey working on a pitch, those teams don’t have to worry about the film as they can see him first [...]

The Mets had an absolute field-day this afternoon with an 11-0 romp over against the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Fla. Jonathon Niese got the start against Detroit and continues to roll, tossing four and two thirds innings of scoreless ball and allowing just one hit while walking four. Niese has yet to allow a run this Spring. It won’t be long until he ‘s officially tapped as the Opening Day starter. I sense a big [...]

Do not read into Zack Wheeler’s demotion that the Mets think Jenrry Mejia will replace Johan Santana on the roster and in the rotation. When I asked Terry Collins of his preparation plans for life without Santana to start the season, the name Jeremy Hefner was only one to pop out. And, without hesitation. Collin McHugh, who was also demoted to the minor league camp, made spot starts last year and could be in position again if something were to develop with Hefner.Mejia’s development [...]

A pair of Chicago Cubs centerfielders, Jimmy Qualls (1969) and Joe Wallis (1975), stole two of Tom Seaver’s early bids for a no-hitter. One year after being traded from New York to Cincinnati, Seaver threw a no-hitter for the Reds. Nolan Ryan never pitched a no-hitter – as a New York Met – but after being traded to the California Angels in 1971 he nudged Mets fans every couple years, throwing seven no-hitters. “Every time [...]

Here it was, the fifth inning and Terry Collins was sending out Matt Harvey again. With his pitch count down, Collins had sent Harvey out for the fourth and was doing it again. Harvey’s command was that good. “I was very impressed (by his pitch count),’’ Collins said. “If he’s going to pitch 215 innings, he’ll be getting deep into games and pitching to contact.’’A lot of things will have to click for that to happen, notably his change-up. [...]

When talking about Jon Niese… well that’s the thing. Niese isn’t often spoken about, particularly as a respected pitcher in the NL East, an esteem he deserves after his 2012 campaign. Granted yesterday’s outing in which the young southpaw gave up  four runs over 2 1/3 innings in Venezuela’s 14-10 routing of the Mets is not the Jonathon Niese that should be respected. That Niese is the Niese who hurled a one-hitter against the Padres in [...]

Andy Martino of the Daily News, asks a thought-provoking question in his column this morning: Would you have rather traded Jonathon Niese, instead of R.A. Dickey, to Toronto for Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard? Turns out that the Mets had that choice according to  Martino. While Niese faced Team Venezuela Wednesday in Port St. Lucie, two people with direct knowledge of last December’s deal told me that the Blue Jays were willing to send the [...]

Johan Santana will make his first Grapefruit League next Thursday, March 14, when the Mets play the Detroit Tigers, according to John Delcos of Metsmerized Online. That would leave three starts before the start to the season. Pitching coach Dan Warthen told Delcos that Santana is making progress after throwing a long-toss session on Monday and that notable gains have been made on velocity and arm strength. Terry Collins said that both he and Johan Santana are on the same [...]

It’s not the pitching line, but the feel of his pitches this time of year. “I felt good. My stuff was very good,” Jonathan Niese said after this afternoon’s 62-pitch outing against the Venezuelan WBC team. “I am not used to that kind of workload (this early in spring training). But, that’s a good thing.” Niese said getting his curveball over and mastering his change-up is what concerns him most. Both are feel pitches requiring [...]