It never comes easy for the Mets my friends, even when our ace Matt Harvey is on the mound. But the good news is that as the curtain closed on first act of Super Tuesday, the Mets defeated those annoying Braves by the score of 4-3 today at Turner Field.

Harvey flirted with history today, taking a no-hitter all the way into the seventh inning, but alas it wasn’t meant to be as Jason Heyward broke it up with a squibbler to the mound that Harvey fielded and flipped to first base where Lucas Duda was nowhere to be found. Damn it!

Still, the Mets’ prized righthander got out of the seventh with the shutout intact and the Mets up 2-0 Yes, let me repeat that – the Mets up 2-0.

The Mets added two more runs in the top of the eighth to hand Harvey a comfortable lead, but as I said in my opening sentence, nothing comes easy for this team.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Braves came roaring back to load the bases with nobody out, sending Harvey to the showers with the game hanging in the balance. LaTroy Hawkins came in to relieve and was greeted by a two-run single by Jordan Schafer, then in came Scott Rice who allowed another run to score on Jason Heyward RBI double. Geesh… Thankfully, closer Bobby Parnell struck out Chris Johnson to preserve the now one-run lead.

Harvey picked up the win to improve to 6-1 and struck out a career-high 13 batters. Parnell would pitch a clean ninth to pick up his first save of the month and tenth of the season.

The Mets scored first in the third inning on an RBI single by Marlon Byrd and then John Buck hit his 11th homer of the season in the fourth for the Mets second run. The insurance runs in the eighth came on a bases loaded walk by Jordany Valdespin and a sac fly by Omar Quintanilla.

I actually have a special treat for all of you, as Ed Leyro will be covering Zack Wheeler‘s debut and recap later tonight, as the final act of Super Tuesday gets set to begin at 7:10 PM. Wheeler will be opposed by lefthander Paul Maholm (7-5, 3.65 ERA) for the Braves.

The New York Mets came back from a three run deficit in the ninth to beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 after a dramatic walk-off three run blast by Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

Things didn’t start off so good for the Mets as poor Jeremy Hefner was once again the victim of shoddy defense (2 errors) and no run support – a recurring theme now for the 27-year-old righthander. Hefner allowed just one earned run in the first and scattered six hits before being pulled for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth. He struck out five and walked one in 5.0 innings, and lowered his ERA to 3.95 for the season – second only to Matt Harvey in the rotation.

What a comedy of errors for the Mets in the fifth as a David Wright throwing error followed by a Daniel Murphy throwing error allowed tw unearned runs to score. I though Terry Collins was going to puke – he looked pretty nauseous to me.

Carlos Torres made his Mets debut with two sharp innings in relief of Hefner, and David Aardsma followed up with a 1-2-3 eighth. Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect ninth and got the surprise win.

The Mets were just invisible on offense today against Matt Garza who absolutely owned them. The veteran righthander kept backing them off the plate throughout the entire game, pitching them inside and then getting them out on the outside corner. In seven innings he held the Mets to just three hits.

Here come the Mets…

With the Mets down to their last three outs, ol’ reliable Marlon Byrd, led off the ninth with his 11th home run of the season off reliever Carlos Marmol to get things started. A rattled Marmol then walked Lucas Duda and allowed a John Buck single to put the tying runs on base with nobody out.

After a successful bunt by Omar Quintanilla, up came the slumping Kirk Nieuwenhuis and BAM! Kirk crushes a slider over the right field wall and into the Pepsi Porch for a dramatic walk-off home run and an exciting 4-3 Father’s Day victory for the Mets… Wow!

If you had blinked, you would have missed the show because it all happened so fast.  Watch it again…

So the Mets were able to salvage the final game and avoid the sweep. Now they head to Atlanta for a big five game series that will have Dillon Gee starting things off on Monday night at 7:05 PM followed by Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler on Super Tuesday.

Great win… Lets Go Mets!

The Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets by the score of 6-3 tonight at Citi Field. The loss dropped the Mets to 14 games under .500 for the first time this season.

Shaun Marcum was in trouble early and struggled with his command, giving up a run in the first and then four more in the second. His record falls to 0-8. All told Marcum allowed a total of six runs on seven hits and a walk in 5.2 innings pitched while striking out four. His ERA is now up to an unsightly 5.43 for the season. I still say he should be bounced from the rotation and not Gee or Hefner. But what do I know…

The bullpen did a good job again… Dave Aardsma relieved Marcum and retired all four batters he faced striking out two. Josh Edgin allowed two hits in the eighth, but stranded both runners, and Greg Burke pitched a clean ninth.

Daniel Murphy drove in the first two runs for the Mets and went 2-for-5 with a run scored. David Wright had a great night at the plate with three hits and a walk, but erred on the basepaths in the seventh when he was thrown out trying to reach third on a Lucas Duda single and was out by a mile on the throw by left fielder Alfonso Soriano. And boy what a drama SNY is making out of it… Gee thanks, guys…

John Buck went 0-for-4 to drop his batting average to .218, and Jordany Valdespin went 0-for-3 and struck out twice in the leadoff spot.

That’s all I got for you… I’m just waiting for Super Tuesday…

Jon Niese (3-5, 4.24).will go tomorrow against Scott Feldman (5-5, 3.22) in a 1:10 PM start. Zoom, zoom…

Well, this is sort of becoming the norm now, isn’t it? You can almost predict exactly what’s going to happen. Matt Harvey goes out, pitches his heart out, and somehow gets cheated out of a win. As much as we all hoped for that streak to break today, the Mets offense was not up to the task of handling Adam Wainwright. The Mets were shut down through the first seven innings by Wainwright, only posing a threat in the fourth with two outs. Lucas Duda, however, flew out to end the threat.

Matt Harvey, predictably so, was incredible again. He tossed seven innings of one-run ball while striking out seven batters. His only real show of weakness was in the third, when he allowed a two-out triple to Matt Carpenter, who lined one just out of the reach of a diving Marlon Byrd. LaTroy Hawkins did Harvey no favors either, as he allowed an RBI single to Allen Craig in the eighth to widen the margin to 2-0. The run was charged to Scott Rice, who left a runner on base when he was removed in favor of Hawkins.

That became a huge issue for the Mets, as Byrd tried to make up for earlier by slamming a solo home run in the ninth, but it was a case of too little, too late. John Buck was left stranded on second by Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Josh Satin.

Thus. Matt Harvey was saddled with the loss and his record fell to 5 – 1 with eight no-decisions. …Eight.

A New York player will captain both Home Run Derby teams during this year’s All-Star week. David Wright will captain the National League while Robinson Cano will look to lead the American League to it’s fourth-straight title.

Wright, who hasn’t participated in the Derby since 2006, will select three additional players from the National League to complete his squad. Wright currently sits tied for 27th in the National League in home runs with eight. He’s tied for third on the Mets with Marlon Byrd behind Lucas Duda (10) and John Buck (11).

This marks the first official hometown representative for the Mets for the All-Star activities at Citi Field.

A Mets Player has not won the Home Run Derby since Daryl Strawberry shared the award with Angles first baseman Wally Joyner in 1986 in The Astrodome.

Thoughts from Joe D.

Wright currently ranks second in All-Star voting at third base, behind San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval, and needs your votes start the All-Star Game at Citi Field.

Lets do what we can to see Wright overtake Sandoval so that he can rightfully be the starting third baseman for the NL. He is ahead of Sandoval is just about ever offensive category and as a defender he blows the chubby hobbit away.

Vote for David Wright now at cast your 35 votes at Mets.com. We have until Thursday, July 4, at 11:59 p.m. ET to get this done. Come on Met fans… Lets Do This!

PLEASE DON’T LET THIS GUY BEAT DAVID WRIGHT…

The second National League All-Star update has been released and six-time All-Star David Wright is losing even more ground to Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants for starting third baseman.

With 1,473,381 votes, Wright now trails Sandoval by over 200,000 votes almost doubling the gap from the first ASG voting release a week ago.

Of course with attendance and interest waning at Citi Field, and the San Francisco Giants continuing to sellout almost every home game, the only shot Wright has at being selected as a starter would be through an aggressive online get out the vote campaign. But so far that doesn’t seem to be working.

Daniel Murphy has picked up some slack and moved up to the 5th spot among NL second basemen, but it’s unlikely he’ll even get close to the runaway leader Brando Phillips of the Reds.

John Buck remains third among catchers and has no chance to catch Buster Posey who is the leading the National League with 1,961,861 votes.

Former Met Carlos Beltran has made his way into the top three in the outfield and trails only Justin Upton and Bryce Harper.

You can vote for Wright, Murphy and the rest of your favorite Mets by clicking on the following banner…

Now that the All Star game will be held at Citi Field this season, the hope is that more Mets players will be represented at the home field, but with the state the Mets are in at this point, there is no guarantee that that will happen. There is a chance that the fans will vote in David Wright as the starting third basemen and he only trails Pablo Sandoval by 127,176 votes.. With a little more than a month away from the game, Wright still may be able to land on the team as a reserve, but starting would be his preference especially with the game being at Citi Field.

John Buck can possibly join David Wright on the All Star team because he leads all NL catchers with 11 HR and 35 RBIs, but if you are looking at his other stats, his batting average is not typically considered all star material especially at .219. Buck has received 523,843 and his currently third in the voting, but highly unlikely that he will gain enough votes to surpass Buster Posey who has 1,275,956.

With regards to the Pitchers, at 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA, and 89 K’s, Matt Harvey was looking as a great potential to start for the Mets but he has not won a start since May 17 and prior to that he last won on April 19th. It isn’t anything that he has done wrong; just the typical Mets lack of run support or timely hits. If Harvey had a better hitting squad, it’s safe to say he might be at least 10-0 by now. That may sound crazy, but if you look at his numbers, he hasn’t allowed more than 4 runs in a game so far this season. Harvey does have a great chance to be on the roster on July 16th, and it would be a nice feather in his cap if he started. But that decision will ultimately rest with Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

At this point in the season I do not see any other Mets players that warrant an All Star nod at Citi Field, and if I am wrong, that will mean that the team turned things around and are playing great baseball. That may be too much to wish for, but you never know. So we just wait and see and hope that with the Mid Season Classic in our stadium, that we will be able to root on more men in orange and blue then originally thought. I know I am dreaming, but I have still about a month and a half before I really need to wake up.

Through the first month or so of the season, John Buck was a revelation for the New York Mets. A throw in for the deal and a salary dump on the part of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Dickey deal, the original plan for Buck was to be a stopgap until top-prospect Travis d’Arnaud was ready to take the reins at home plate in Flushing.

What the Mets didn’t plan for was their blue-chip prospect taking a foul ball off his foot and landing him in a boot for six weeks. Luckily enough, Buck was on fire, ranking among the league leaders in multiple offensive categories while also working well with the young pitching staff.

Through May 3rd, Buck had ten homers and 29 RBIs, on a pace for an astonishing 65 dingers and 188 runs batted in. Since then however, the 32-year old Wyoming native’s numbers have gone into a free fall.

Through May 3rd, Buck had a .905 OPS. Since then, his figures have been comparable to those of Ike Davis. His OPS has plummeted to an abysmal .498 with just one home run and six runs driven in. Over the past month, Buck has batted a mere .176 and slugged only .235 while striking out 30 times, the same number of punch outs as Davis over that time.

The simple answer is to give him some rest and throw Anthony Recker in the lineup until Buck gets back in the swing of things. The problem is, Recker isn’t a solid replacement option on either side of the diamond. By midseason, Buck was supposed to be the backup to d’Arnaud, and with that plan on hold, the Mets are now very thin at the catching position outside their slumping backstop in Buck.

Hopefully Buck can turn things around at the plate soon, and get that incredible power we saw in April back into his swing, because the Mets offense is suffering without it.

It’s a closer battle at third base, where Pablo Sandoval leads David Wright, 1,094,475 votes to 967,299. Sandoval toppled Wright last year as you may remember which prompted Mets general manager Sandy Alderson to go on Twitter to voice his displeasure with fans.

John Buck is the only other Met player who appears in the top five for voting at any position, ranking third behind Buster Posey and Yadier Molina. The Giants catcher is again pacing the All Star balloting, receiving over 1.2 million votes so far.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy will select the pitching as is customary, and there’s little doubt that Matt Harvey will be among his selections.

Considering the sparse attendance at Citi Field these days, the Mets’ best chance of getting Wright or any other Mets selected would be through voting online.

Do your part by clicking the banner and casting your 25 votes…

I just wanted to add some new comments David Wright made to Newsday regarding his recent slump that has seen him go 10-for-his-last-49 at the plate with just one home run and two RBI, dropping his average to .277 for the season.

“I’m maybe trying to do a little too much and trying to make some things happen. I can’t be going up there and getting myself out or swinging at pitcher’s pitches early in the count because that’s counterproductive.”

Wright has been brutal at the plate without a doubt, but that record-deal he signed in the offseason will only magnify things even more from now until 2020 when his deal expires.

As a team the Mets are batting .227 which ranks 14th in the NL, a mere percentage point ahead of the Marlins.

But as I mentioned yesterday, if you were the opposing pitcher and saw John Buck or Lucas Duda batting cleanup would you give Wright anything good to hit?

Original Post 6/3

Third baseman David Wright didn’t run and hide after the Miami Marlins completed their three game sweep of the Mets this weekend. Instead, the team captain stood by his locker and took the heat of what was an embarrassing three game set in South Florida.

Wright didn’t mince any words on Sunday and suggested that the Mets could be just as bad a team as the Marlins, and possibly worse.

“We don’t have much room to talk ourselves,” Wright told reporters after the game on Sunday. “Talking about, ‘We should beat this team, we should beat that team.’ There’s probably a lot of teams saying that about us right now.”

“They were struggling just as bad, if not worse, offensively than we were. And they came in and just beat us up pretty good. All in all, not a good series.”

On Saturday, Wright also levied some criticism on the team and said that no savior was coming to help them.

“This is what we have to work with, so we are going to have to figure it out,” Wright said. “There is no magic potion, there’s no offensive savior that is going to come and get us out of this thing. It’s up to us to work our way out of it.”

Wright, who is 1-for-his-last-15, spoke about his slump and acknowledged that he might be trying to do too much.

“I got to go up there and start being better and maybe taking some walks. I am swinging at some pitches I normally wouldn’t swing at and getting myself out a little bit. I keep preaching that the offense is kind of run on getting on base and taking your walks and I am not doing that right now.”

There’s a great deal more that’s wrong with this team than David Wright. When he signed that record-breaking, eight year, $142 million dollar deal, I was adamant that the front office needed to back him up with a legit bat to protect him in the lineup or this could spell doom.

Like he’s done so many times before, Wright is trying to compensate for a porous offense and trying to get the Mets back into the game with one swing of the bat. I can’t fault him for trying. However, I can fault a front office who should have known and seen this coming after observing Wright for two seasons.

How do you invest over $140 million dollars on one player, and then do nothing to protect that investment?

If the top priority last off-season was to sign Wright to an extension, then the second priority should have been to sign a big bat to protect him in the lineup. Wright’s never been one to carry a team, but protect him in the lineup and he’ll give you some eye-popping production.

In stunning fashion, Dillon Gee and the New York Mets beat the New York Yankees by the score of 3-1 tonight at Yankee Stadium to complete their first ever Subway Series sweep.

Wow, what a performance by Dillon Gee who pitched the game of his life tonight against the Yankees. The righthander held the Bronx Bombers to just one run on four hits, walked none, and struck out a career high 12 batters in 7.1 innings pitched. It was the best game I ever saw Gee throw. His fastball was biting, his changeup was getting it done, and his command was impeccable as he owned both sides of the plate. He pitched a heck of game…

The Mets scored their first two runs on another Marlon Byrd home run, his sixth of the season, a two-run bomb in the second off Yankees rookie Vidal Nuno. Their third run came in the eighth inning on an inifield single by John Buck to drive in a run.

Scott Rice finished up in the eighth and Bobby Parnell was smoking in the ninth to pick up his ninth save of the season.

This was such a great series all around for the Mets. Their starting rotation has put together a string of five consecutive phenomenal pitching performances, which is what has driven this five-game winning streak. It’s been incredible and fun to watch them pitch like this and we can only hope this continues.

Tomorrow the Mets head to Florida for a weekend series against the Miami Marlins. Shaun Marcum, who started this winning streak, will take the mound and oppose Jacob Turner who is making his MLB debut.

WE SWEPT THE DAMNED YANKEES, YO!!!

LETS GO METS!!!

I’ve run out of superlatives to describe how incredible Matt Harvey is. After every start he gives me more to love about him. Last night, it was three things; how he battled Robinson Cano, how he reacted after giving up that run off a changeup, and how he was the first Met out of the dugout to congratulate Lucas Duda and David Wright.

“Even if I don’t get the win, we’re winning as a team,” Harvey said. “That’s the biggest thing. Obviously I wish I could take the run back that I gave up. But the two runs that we got in the ninth is all that matters.”

We’ve waited far too long for a homegrown pitcher with this kind of drive, intensity and warrior-like mentality. Is there any among you who would disagree that he should be 9-0 right now?

It’s very sad that Harvey has to practically pitch a shutout for any real chance to earn a win. His team has seen fit to score just eleven runs for him in his last eight starts. It’s a pathetic display of just how bad this team really is. The flaws are too many in this ill-conceived roster that has six of their eight regular position players are batting under .250 led by John Buck (.219), Ruben Tejada (.205) and Ike Davis (.152).

When Harvey flung his glove against the railing when he returned to the dugout after giving up that run in the sixth, I shared his frustration. He knew he had to be perfect to have any chance of winning that game and if not for that improbable comeback, he would have suffered his first loss of the season. An undeserving loss at that.

“It was a bad pitch. I should have thrown him a fastball,” Harvey said. “I didn’t think it was a bad changeup. But as soon as I let it go, it was one of those I wished I could take back. I could kind of tell when I released it that he was waiting for it. I got a piece of the glove on it, and wish I had stuck it up a little quicker.”

It was the second time this season that Harvey struck out 10 or more, walked none, pitched seven innings and limited the opponent to two runs or fewer and failed to get a win, the last time was on May 7.

It’s sad that he has nothing to show for two dominating performances like that and sadder still that in three offseasons, not one position player has been added to the MLB roster to remedy an otherwise dire situation. Not one.

Matt Harvey deserves better and it’s no wonder his agent Scott Boras shot down any talk of him ever signing a deal to buy out any of his arbitration or free agent years.

“I don’t think there’s any question that the reason a club offers a player guarantees when they don’t have to is they deem it to be beneficial to them — just by the nature that they offer them,” Boras said. “So if the club is doing something beneficial for the club, obviously most likely it’s not beneficial to the player.”

“They’re so starved position-player-wise, which is a problem, so they’ve got a lot of work to do in free agency.”

Starved is putting it mildly and when the time comes you can be sure Boras will have the team Harvey grew up rooting for in the Bronx as one of his main suitors when he becomes a free agent.

For now, just enjoy the time Harvey still has with us and hope Sandy Alderson gives him six more reasons to want to stay – all of them position players.

Harvey is a winner and hates to lose, this much is clear.

Starting Lineup

1. Daniel Murphy – 2B
2. Rick Ankiel – CF
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Lucas Duda – LF
5. John Buck – C
6. Marlon Byrd – RF
7. Ike Davis – 1B
8. Ruben Tejada – SS
9. Shaun Marcum – RHP

Game Notes

The Mets have lost eight straight games at Citi Field. With 12 losses in their past 15 games overall, the Mets have fallen 12 games under .500 at this early a date for the first time since 1993. Overall, the Mets are 9-17 at Citi Field this season. The .346 winning percentage at home is the third-worst mark in the majors.

Shaun Marcum ook the loss in the Mets’ 4-3 defeat to the Reds at Citi Field on May 20. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowed four runs, earned, and six hits. Struck out a season-high seven and walked one. Marcum has received a loss in his first five decisions, and five of his first six appearances with the Mets.

Dillon Gee has now gone five innings or fewer in five straight starts. He’s only topped six innings on one occasion this season. Opponents are hitting .225 against Gee during the first time through the order, but after that, they are batting a cumulative .392.

John Buck leads all major league catchers with 32 RBI and is tied with Toronto’s J.P. Arencibia with 11 home runs. The Mets catchers lead the majors with 12 home runs this year. Combined over the previous two years (2011-2012), they hit 11 home runs.

Lucas Duda extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine games with a single last night. Duda is batting .303 (10-33) during his run with three doubles. His previous best was a seven-game hitting streak done two previous times, last on June 16-24, 2012.

Mets outfielder Rick Ankiel has seven extra-base hits since joining the club on May 13. Daniel Murphy has at least one hit in 12 of his last 14 games and is hitting .446 with two homers and nine RBIs in that span.

Jeremy Hefner grew up in Moore, OK and attended Briarwood Elementary School, a school that was destroyed during the tornados last Monday. Hefner, who still has family in the area, is helping raise monies and awareness for
Lifechurch, a church he attends in the offseason and who had 71 members lose their homes. To make a donation you can visit www.lifechurch.tv.relief, 100 percent of what is given through “Relief and Restoration” goes directly towards the victims.

Mets relievers Jeurys Familia and Scott Atchison both started their rehab assignments with Single-A St. Lucie on Saturday and each pitched a scoreless inning with a strikeout.

Game Preview

The Mets and Braves finish off their series in the rare/annoying Sunday Night baseball game as the Mets look to avoid being swept. Yesterday the Mets ended up losing two games dropping their resumed baseball game by the score of 7-5 and then their actual baseball game by the score of 6-0. Tonight Shaun Marcum will take the mound as he goes up against Teheran.

Shaun Marcum is 0-5 this season with a 6.59 ERA over 27.1 innings of work. Two starts ago was his best of the season where he allowed only 2 ER over 6.2 innings of work, but in his last outing against the Reds he regressed back to typical Marcum allowing 4 ER over 6 innings of work. Earlier this season he faced the Braves where he allowed 3 ER over 4.1 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Shaun:

BJ Upton 8-23, 3 2B
Schafer 3-9, 2B
Chris Johnson 1-12
Uggla 1-10
J Upton 2-10

Julio Teheran is 3-1 this season over 8 starts with a 3.99 ERA over 49.2 innings of work. He is coming off of his best start of the season where he allowed 1 ER over 8.1 innings. Back in 2011 he logged 8.0 innings against the Mets allowing 5 ER, and the Mets have the following numbers against Julio:

Duda 1-4, 2B
Tejada, 0-4
Turner 1-3
Wright 1-2, HR

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets played their first suspended game since Aug. 6, 1986 tonight and after Atlanta scored two runs in the top of the tenth inning,  the Mets lost the game 7-5 to drop them 11 games under .500 for the season. Brandon Lyon allowed both Atlanta runs and took the loss.

Right-hander Jeremy Hefner initially started the game for the Mets 18 hours earlier and delivered a gutty performance, allowing just two runs on three hits in six solid innings of work. Hefner walked just two batters and struck out seven in his 94 pitch performance. I had a terrible feeling in my gut when Terry Collins decided to end Hefner’s night with the 3-2 lead and leave the last nine outs for the bullpen. And right on cue, the very first batter, Dan Uggla, launched a solo home run of LaTroy Hawkins to tie the game, leaving Hefner still searching for his first win of the season.

Hefner, the Moore, Oklahoma native, has had a hard time dealing with the tragedy in his hometown. The killer tornado flattened his former elementary school where several children were found dead. He really has pitched better than his 0-5 record would indicate, and it would have been nice to see his teammates gut out this win for him.

Hawkins and Scott Rice are starting to fade after extensive overuse by Terry Collins. Hawkins allowed a run, and Rice allowed a pair of Braves to cross the plate. The bullpen is about ready to completely implode. Why did Collins feel the need to give Hefner the hook while he was in a groove?

The Braves took a 5-3 lead in the eighth on a two-run single by pinch-hitter Evan Gattis. The Mets evened it in the bottom half against Varvaro, who struggled to get a good grip but threw a wild pitch that let the tying run score.

Ike Davis struck out four more times and is now 1-for-41 and batting a season low .143.

Daniel Murphy has three hits including his 15th double of the season to go with two runs scored and an RBI. Nobody in hotter right now.

David Wright has two hits and swiped his eleventh base of the season.

John Buck hit his 11th homer of the season and drove in two to give him a team leading 32 RBIs.

 Fielding a team that can win enough to hold back the onset of apathy in the fan base is a standard goal for a front office engaged in rebuild mode. Failing that, constructing a roster that features young, exciting players that provide the promise of greatness to come can compensate to a degree, an approach that has been used before during the “Bring Your Kids to See Our Kids” campaign of 1979 and again in 1983 when the slogan “Catch Our Rising Stars” was employed to communicate the same enticement.  It is possible that the law of averages alone will dictate a better level of performance by certain key players (guess who) and the team overall as the season progresses, but it will likely coincide with the arrival of Messrs. Wheeler and D’Arnaud. At that point, we may be looking at a roster that has undergone some significant changes.

In the last piece in which I speculated about Met trade possibilities, I concentrated on potential targets for the team to pursue by leveraging their apparent surplus of pitching prospects. Today I intend to look more closely at trade chips on the major league roster, probable suitors for their services, and some possible acquisition candidates. Some of this may represent examples of wishful thinking, but I have striven to keep things realistic.

BULLPEN: Seriously? Other than Bobby Parnell is anyone really going to want these guys? Well, contending teams are typically looking to shore up their relief corps with veteran arms, and capable left-handers are always a desirable commodity, so yes, I expect some interest to be shown in the Met Fire Brigade by at least a few teams. With “veteran” being a key word here, one should assume that the more senior members of the bullpen staff will be shopped and will generate a goodly amount of interest as long as they remain reasonably effective. LaTroy Hawkins, Brandon Lyon, Greg Burke, Scott Rice and the rehabbing Tim Byrdak all fit the bill of future marketable trade fodder, Rice’s “older rookie” status notwithstanding. Just about any contending team qualifies as a possible destination for these players, but those with the most obvious need at this point include Tampa Bay, whose bullpen is ranked one notch from the bottom in all of MLB despite their being only 4 games out of first at the time of this writing, and St. Louis, currently in first place in the NL Central but with a bullpen ranked fourth from last and only one tick higher than that of the Mets.

Relievers  are among the more transient assets in baseball (as Met fans can attest), so the payoff in trade is generally a prospect or two of less than stellar quality, with quantity often compensating for the relative lack of star potential. These players often come from AA and below, so I don’t foresee much in the way of quick fix material arriving in any hypothetical deal that could materialize. However, with the philosophy and track record of the Alderson team being what it is, we can expect that any return package obtained by New York will include at least one prospect that merits a flyer.

STARTING ROTATION: Not that the Mets have any to spare, but as starters  are at a premium at all times, you can’t rule out the possibility of someone making a good enough offer to pique the Sandman’s interest. The only candidates I can truly envision going in a deal of this nature would be Shaun Marcum, who would probably have at least a couple wins by now on a team with a decent offense, and  Jon Niese, whose youth, left-handedness, experience, highly affordable contract, and relatively successful track record make him a highly marketable chip. Clearly the team will not be looking to deal Harvey, and Gee’s inconsistency and injury history are not likely to interest many looking to arm up for a stretch drive.

Teams with the greatest need in this area include Baltimore, Oakland, San Francisco, and Colorado, all of which are either leading their divisions or in contention despite having starting staffs that rank lower than that of the Mets (thanks largely to Mr. Harvey), and other than the Rockies (who barely escape this distinction) are firmly in the lower 33% of MLB rotations. Trades of this type usually involve pitching going in both directions, where one team swaps inexperienced, often erratic arms full of promise for the hoped-for consistency and veteran mound presence that can help carry them to glory. Of course, teams also deal from strength, so, recognizing the Mets’ shortage of viable outfield options, it is probable that trade partners with a surplus in this area will come calling.

Baltimore’s highest rated prospect is pitcher Dylan Bundy, but both his injury status and outrageous potential pretty much exclude him from the picture. Their best AA pitcher, Kevin Gausman has already been promoted to the big club due to their desperation for starters. He’s a big hard-throwing righthander with a terrific K/BB ratio and any deal involving Niese would have to include him in my opinion. After the whole Wheeler/Beltran thing, Brian Sabean might not be as anxious to do a deal with the Mets so soon after, but outfielder Gary Brown is pretty well blocked by in their system by Angel Pagan so there appears to be a fit. Oakland’s top outfield prospect is Michael Choice, a corner outfielder with the kind of power bat the Mets crave. Colorado has Kyle Parker at AA, an outfielder who profiles similarly to Choice, but is probably at least two years away.

POSITION PLAYERS: Before you start, even if there were any takers on Ike now, which is questionable, I’m not inclined to sell low on anyone. Anyway, I’m still looking for him to snap out of it. No, the real potential trade chips here are the veteran outfield bats of Marlon Byrd and the surprising Rick Ankiel (provided he keeps it up), along with the soon-to-be superfluous John Buck and the versatile Daniel Murphy. Of this group, Murph is probably the most valuable, being able to adequately man three infield positions and going through the occasional unconscious period at the plate where line drives materialize out of his bat seemingly at will. Speculation has already arisen that the Nationals could look to acquire him to replace the ineffective Danny Espinosa.  Knowing the Alderson approach, he would likely ask for Washington’s top outfield prospect Brian Goodwin, a five-tool CF currently at AA Harrisburg, but trades between division rivals are tricky and I’m not sure even Sandy could pry him away. A more realistic target would be AAA CF Eury Perez, a speedy leadoff type whose slot in the big club is held down by recent acquisition Denard Span.

Buck is attractive to teams for his veteran presence, defensive prowess, and occasional power, but I wouldn’t expect him to command a big return. Byrd and Ankiel profile as the type of players teams acquire to strengthen their benches for the stretch run, but again, the return on trades of this type are not likely to include anything of top-tier value. We will have to put our faith in the scouting ability of Alderson, DePodesta, et al to help insure that something useful comes back on this end of any deal.

The Mets are clearly in transition mode and changes are to be expected. Hopefully we can all glean some excitement from those shifts even if we have to wait longer for the eventual payoff. I just hope the wait isn’t too much longer.

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 the third out. However, David Wright committed his fourth error of the season as the ball went under his glove and through his legs allowing two runs to score. Niese was rattled after that and allowed another run to score before finally getting the third out to put the Reds up 3-0. All of the runs were unearned.

Niese threw 48 pitches in that wild first inning and it appeared he was heading for an early shower. But to his credit he gutted out five scoreless innings after that and wound up giving the Mets a very solid effort allowing just five hits and three walks in six innings while striking out seven. Niese took the loss, but saw his ERA improve to 4.80 for the season.

The Reds score their fourth and final run in the ninth when Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco greeted Collin McHugh with a home run to leadoff the inning.

Offensively, the Mets had nothing but blanks… Nothing but the same sorry, pitiful offense that has plagued the team all season. Reds starter Mike Leake hurled seven scoreless innings and allowed the Mets’ only three hits of the game – one each by Lucas Duda, John Buck and Daniel Murphy.

It’s getting pretty hard to watch this team and I thought Sandy Alderson would address that while he visited the with gary Cohen and Ron Darling in the third inning, but he was at a loss for words. He said he was going to continue to hang in there with Ike Davis a little longer, which is the last thing anyone of us wanted to hear. Davis batted seventh and went 0-for-three tonight and saw his batting average fall to .149 for the season. Pathetic.

The Mets will wrap up the series tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 PM when right-hander Matt Harvey (5-0, 1.55 ERA) takes on Mat Latos (4-0, 2.91 ERA) and tries to avoid the sweep.

With the way Ike Davis has been hitting lately, there has been a ton of talk has about sending the slumping lefty down to Triple-A to try and figure things out. With good reason, some are questioning whether or not Davis is the first baseman of the future anymore.

Everyone is chiming in on how to fix the situation. The fixes range from have Lucas Duda playing first base, to moving Daniel Murphy over to first base and calling Wilmer Flores up to play second base. That last option isn’t too bad of an idea, but I would have Jordany Valdespin play second base if I were to go that route — Flores isn’t ready for big league action yet.

The Ike Davis situation doesn’t seem like an easy fix, and the team may do a number of things to try solidify that first base position. If I have to give the Mets credit for anything, it’s that they definitely know how to get creative when positioning players defensively.

But what if Ike Davis isn’t the first baseman of the future? What if he gets sent down and still can’t figure it out? Who do we have on the farm that can potentially fill that void in the coming years? Here is a list of options the Mets have within the organization that could fill that void at first base:

2013 Options

Andrew Brown: Brown has been tearing the cover off the ball with Las Vegas this season. He has primarily been used in the outfield this season, but logged his first game at first base this past Friday night. He was called up for a couple of weeks already this season and played in six games, hitting .200 with one home run for the Mets.

Zach Lutz: Lutz is another option the Mets have, although he has played the majority of his games at third base this season for Las Vegas. Through 35 games this season, Lutz is hitting .260 with four home runs. Lutz is currently on the Mets’ 40-man roster.

Josh Satin: The starting first baseman for Las Vegas is having a very solid 2013 season. He’s batting .303 with six home runs in 38 games with Vegas. Satin would be equivalent offensively to having Daniel Murphy play first base, with slightly more pop.

A less likely option than the three listed above would be Travis d’Arnaud/John Buck. The fractured toe will delay this from happening, but one of the early plans that Terry Collins flirted with was having John Buck play some first base when d’Arnaud got called up to the show. I would love to see both of those guys playing first base to keep them both in the Mets lineup, and it would lessen the rigors of being an everyday major league catcher with them platooning at both positions. With all the injuries d’Arnaud has already suffered before even stepping foot onto a major league field, the Mets would be wise to consider a move like this.

2014 Options

Allan Dykstra: A former first round of the San Diego Padres, Dykstra is having a solid season with Double-A Binghamton this year. He’s a very patient hitter, and while he walks a lot, he also strikes out a bit due to getting into deep counts. This season he has 34 strikeouts in 33 games, but has also walked 26 times. His OBP has been over .400 the past two seasons, but the power numbers have been lacking during those same seasons. This is really his third look at Binghamton (2011, 2012, 2013), and his numbers have been pretty flat across the board except for power, where he has dipped.

Jayce Boyd: Boyd is a really polished college hitter that was drafted by the Mets in the sixth round of the 2012 draft out of Florida State University. Getting this guy in the sixth round was a steal. His approach to hitting screams major leagues. He’s not going to hit 40 home runs, but he has excellent gap-to-gap power, and he will flat out hit — Mark Grace type of player. This is my pick to be the Mets’ future first baseman. He hasn’t played above A-Ball yet, but what he’s doing is remarkable. This season for Savannah, Boyd is hitting .360, and has walked more times than he struck out (24BB/16K). I doubt Boyd will be with the Mets out of Spring Training next year, but keep your eye on him.

Catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud will need to remain in a walking boot for two more weeks without any weight-bearing activity, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.

Adam goes on to say that the determination was made after team doctor Struan Coleman examined d’Arnaud today at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

D’Arnaud, 24, avoided surgery to repair a non-displaced fracture in his left foot and was initially expected to miss eight weeks.

He was batting .250/.429/.472 in 49 at-bats for Las Vegas with one home run before suffering the injury on a foul ball off his left foot. But four weeks later and he still has not been cleared to put pressure on that foot.

“D’Arnaud experienced some tenderness to the touch in the area of the broken first metatarsal.”

With John Buck adequately producing for the Mets, there’s no urgency to rush D’Arnaud back. Regarded by many as the top catching prospect in the game, he probably wasn’t going to join the Mets until the second half anyway.

The Mets will play this one cautiously and make sure he is completely healed before any determination will be made regarding his rehab and beginning baseball activities.

There are many adjectives that are used in conjunction with the 86 Mets. Confidence. Arrogance. Swagger. Obnoxious. But they were good, damn good. And they knew it. That’s a far cry from the 2013 Mets.

However, it’s not just wins that count. It’s playing as a cohesive unit. It’s playing as, no pun intended, a TEAM. And that is something this club does not do. You don’t have to get along off the field. You don’t even have to like it each other. But when you’re on that field, you play as a team. You fight as a team. The Jordany Valdespin situation shows in glaring fashion how incredibly dysfunctional this “team” is.

The 86 club was a bawling and brawling brazen bunch of ballplayers chasing women and partying. But there were exceptions. For all intents and purposes, Gary Carter was an outcast. He was a family man, religious and clean-cut. Heck, the guy was so pure he did a commercial for Ivory soap. Mookie Wilson was one of the longest tenured players on that club. Yet, he graciously accepted becoming a platoon player with Lenny Dykstra. Or moving to left. But yet, they won. 108 times. The 4th highest win total in the last 50 years.

That club had issues. No doubt about it. Darryl referred to Wally Backman as a “(expletive) redneck.” In his 1985 book, “Bats,” Davey Johnson referred to Dykstra as “an ***hole kind of guy.” When they were posing for their team picture in the spring of 1987, Keith Hernandez and Strawberry came to blows about seating proximity to Davey. What is this, 3^rd grade? But yet, on the field, they pulled together.

After being chided with chants of “Daaaah—ril” in Fenway, Straw answered back. In the 8^th inning of Game 7, it was he who hit a towering blast off of Al Nipper that was the final nail in the Sox coffin. And then he strolled around the bases in probably the longest HR trot in history. Confidence. Swagger. The following spring Nipper beaned Darryl. And the dugouts promptly emptied. Who else but the Mets could get in a bench-clearing brawl in spring training? Straw was not overly popular with some of his teammates. But they immediately came to his defense. Why? Because that’s what teams do. That’s what winners do.

When Valdespin gets set-up by his manager to get plunked, what do the 2013 Mets do? They sit on their ass. And then rub salt in the wound by condoning the actions of the Pirates.

This is a team?

Baseball is filled with players that did not get along off the field. But yet, they pulled together and they won. The Oakland A’s of the early 70s bickered constantly. Yet, they won 3 straight World Series. Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent loathed each other. But they put their differences aside and gave their team 2 division titles and 1 pennant over 6 seasons. Ruth and Gehrig were polar opposites who disapproved of the other’s lifestyle. Yet, the Yankees of the 1920’s and 30’s seemed to do okay. And how about ‘The Bronx Zoo’ of the late 70’s. Those guys not only clashed off the field but on the field. And in the dugout on national TV. When Reggie Jackson wasn’t avoiding being punched by Billy Martin, he was getting into it with Thurman Munson. Talk about a dysfunctional mess! But yet, the Yankees won 5 divisions, 4 pennants and 2 World Series over a 6 year span.

The Mets, meanwhile, bicker amongst themselves. Then, go out and lose.

Did Valdespin act bush league by hitting that HR and then showboating on a very small scale? Did he act inappropriately for a rookie? Personally, I don’t give a damn. He’s a New York Met and as such he should be defended by his, pardon the pun, “team” mates. Terry Collins set him up to get beaned. I guess we should be thankful Collins allowed him to wear a batting helmet.

Had any other rookie done that they’d be praised for trying to light a spark on a team where no spark exists. Last season Bryce Harper played with arrogance rarely seen in a rookie. And although Valdespin is no Harper, I don’t recall Harper getting blowback from his teammates. He gets praised while Valdespin gets violently slammed in the face by John Buck. John Buck who is on his 4^th team in the last 5 years. John Buck who will be riding the pine once D’arnaud arrives. Can you imagine back-up catcher Ed Hearn violently slamming a pie into the face of Lenny Dykstra? I can’t either.

Kevin Mitchell was a rookie in 86. Does anyone think had Mitch been purposely beaned like that, the Mets would not have retaliated? Tell me Bobby Ojeda wouldn’t have had someone kissing the dirt the next inning. In 1969 Wayne Garrett was a rookie. Garrett was unassuming and quiet. But can you imagine Gil Hodges setting up Garrett to get beaned? I can’t either.

Why should we expect the 2013 Mets to fight the other teams in the NL when they don’t even fight for each other?

You can clearly see the dissension on this “team” by some of the quotes of Valdespin’s “team” mates.

Latroy Hawkins: “What, now we’re supposed to get into a fight for that?” First of all, I didn’t even know Hawkins was still in the majors until the Mets found him on the scrap heap. Secondly, to answer your question, Latroy, yes. Yes you are.

Marlon Byrd: “The Pirates did what you’re supposed to do. We would have done the same thing.” With all due respect, Marlon, I disagree. When was the last time the Mets protected one of their own and retaliated?

If the Mets are going to lose, at least lose with some dignity. Losing is one thing. Being a doormat is unacceptable.

And to David Wright, you’re the captain. Avoid the politically correct statements and settle this in the clubhouse. You’ve got that “C” on your jersey. Now act like a captain. I can’t imagine Keith or Gary or John Franco allowing this to fester. Isn’t it David who said, “You play for the name on the front of your jersey, not the one on your back.”

One vivid memory of 86 was the all-out bench-clearing brawl when Ray Knight decked Eric Davis in Cincinnati. Dugouts emptied…except for one player. Former Red George Foster sat on the bench and watched the Mets fight his old team. And although Foster was the 2^nd highest paid player on the team (and yes, an outcast even before), GM Frank Cashen had no problems immediately getting Foster out of New York. Why? He realized that Foster was not a team player.

Thank goodness Alderson was not the GM in 86. He would’ve kept Foster and gotten rid of Ray Knight.

And ask yourself this: What’s easier to imagine—a guy like Valdespin fitting in with the 86 Champions…or a guy like Keith Hernandez fitting in with the 2013 Mets?

So, to Valdespin, I say, hang in there. Your time here is probably limited. The fact that you’re exciting, try to light a spark and want to win, is clearly not in synch with the 2013 Mets. Management wants everyone to be nice and quiet. We don’t want to upset anyone else in the league.

Shhh. Heaven forbid someone gets mad at us. So, sit tight, Jordany. We’ll probably get rid of you like we did Beltran or Pagan. You know, two ex-Mets who escaped this madness. Two ex-Mets now wearing or pursuing World Series rings. Yes, World Series rings, something Terry  Collins can only view on Google Images.

Lately, it seems the only thing the Mets excel at is finding ways to lose.

Shaun Marcum had his first quality start as a Met, going 6.2 innings allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits while walking one and punching out three. He threw 96 pitches, 65 of which for strikes, however fell to 0-4 on the year in easily his best effort for the Amazin’s this season.

After matching goose eggs with the Cardinal’s young phenom Shelby MIller, things got rocky in the bottom of the fourth. With Matt Holliday on first and two out, Jon Jay roped a double to Mike Baxter in right that went to the wall. Seeing that he didn’t have a play on Holliday, who came around to score, Daniel Murphy threw to third and pinned Jay in a run down. Apparently giving up, Jay stood almost still in front of Wright for a routine play to tag him. Wright went to lay the tag on, but dropped the ball. As it skidded into the infield, Jay was able to safely make it to third base, costing Wright just his third error on the year. Tony Cruz would follow up with a knock to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

Looking overmatched at the plate, the offense was completely anemic against Miller who did not have his best stuff today. He held the Mets off the board through 5.2 frames before being relieved by Randy Choate for the last out of the sixth. In the seventh against Seth Maness, John Buck got himself on base with a one out single, setting the table Rick Ankiel. On the seventh pitch of the at bat with a full count, Ankiel took a 90mph sinker deep to center to tie up the ballgame at two. Maybe the Mets luck is finally starting to turn around right?

Wrong. In the bottom half of the frame, Marcum got the first two outs but got himself into trouble with runners on first and third. After which he was lifted for this year’s go-to lefty, Scott Rice. Rice came on to face the former-Met Ty Wigginton, and on the first-pitch of the at-bat, threw a breaking ball that careened off John Buck and to the backstop, scoring the lead run in Daniel Descalso.

After the end of the seventh, the life was sucked out of the Mets. Carlos Beltran walked to lead off the eighth. Matt Holliday grounded into what would be a routine double-play, but the throw from Murphy sailed into the home dugout, allowing him to go to second. Allen Craig would also be walked to create a nice opportunity for Yadier Molina, who came through with a base hit to drive in the insurance run and make it 4-2.

After the wild pitch from Rice, the offense showed little fight as they went down 1-2-3 in both the eighth and ninth to end the game.

John Buck had a nice day at the plate, but a horrible one on the basepaths as he was doubled off on a Ruben Tejada liner that was caught, then made a boneheaded steal attempt, resulting in the slow-footed backstop being picked off at second. That plus the key wild pitch, and it was overall a night to forget for Buck.

The offense continues to be ice cold. Ike Davis and Lucas Duda both had 0-fers in this game.

The Mets just aren’t playing good baseball, it is as simple as that. They are giving opposing teams extra outs with sloppy D and giving away at-bats with an inept lineup.

Two positives to take away from this one however was the encouraging start from Marcum, and the solid offensive effort by Rick Ankiel.

The Mets have now lost six-games in a row for the second time this season and are 8-18 in their last 26 games. They now have the third worst record in baseball at 14-23, nine games under .500. Only Houston and Miami are worse.

Jonathon Niese (2-4, 5.93 ERA) opposes right-hander Adam Wainwright (5-2, 2.30) in the series finale on Thursday at 1:45 PM. The Mets look to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals which last happened in 1982 when Keith Hernandez played for St. Louis.