The newest Met, Rick Ankiel, couldn’t hold onto Ty Wigginton’s sinking line drive for a double. Wigginton then scored from second on an infield hit off pitcher Scott Rice. Matt Holliday followed with a two-run homer, and just like that it was over and the Mets had their fourth straight loss, 6-3, at St. Louis to fall seven games below .500.

ON THE MOUND: Jeremy Hefner had his third straight quality start, giving up three runs in six innings. Hefner retired the last ten hitters he faced. Even so, the Mets are now 0-7 when he starts. … Rice and Scott Atchison combined to give up three runs on five hits.

AT THE PLATE: The Mets had four hits, three from Daniel Murphy. … Ten more strikeouts by Mets hitters, surprisingly, none by Ike Davis or Lucas Duda.

METS MATTERS: Reliever Frank Francisco has a mild strain of the flexor pronator in his right elbow. He will be shut down for 72 hours before he resumes throwing. … Outfielder Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Ankiel.

THEY SAID IT:  “We aren’t scoring. I told him he got us to where we needed to be.’’ – Manager Terry Collins on Hefner’s performance.

BY THE NUMBERS: 12: Number of times in their last 16 games the Mets scored three runs or less.

ON DECK: Dillon Gee (2-4), Shaun Marcum (0-3) and Jonathan Niese (2-4) will be the Mets’ next three starters in this series against John Gast (0-0), Shelby Miller (5-2) and Adam Wainwright (5-2) for the Cardinals.

Here’s a couple of shots Matt sent in from the press box at Target Field. Looks like he has a great view…

Bases Loaded For John Buck…

Is that Kevin Burkhardt roaming around in the upper deck?

Matt tells me he’ll bring a regular digital camera for the Saturday and Sunday games…

Starting Lineup

1. Jordany Valdespin CF
2. Daniel Murphy 2B
3. David Wright 3B
4. Ike Davis 1B
5. John Buck C
6. Lucas Duda DH
7. Marlon Byrd RF
8. Mike Baxter LF
9. Ruben Tejada SS

Jon Niese LHP

Game Notes

The Mets went 8-7 in Interleague play in 2012. The Mets are .500 or better in 11 of their 16 seasons of Interleague play, and are 135-127 all-time in Interleague play. The 135 wins are the fourth-most among National League teams.

The Mets have signed LHP Sean Henn to a minor league contract. Henn has not appeared in a Major League game since 2009 when he went a combined 0-3 with a 7.53 ERA in 20 relief appearances with the Twins and Orioles.

David Wright has 89 career RBI vs. the American League, tied with Mike Piazza for the most in team history. The 89 Interleague RBI are the ninth-most among any major leaguer since 2005, the first season Wright played an Interleague game. He has 19 career Interleague home runs, nine behind Piazza (28) for the most in club history.

Jonathon Niese has thrown 6.0 or more innings in his last 22 consecutive starts, the longest current streak in the major leagues. The streak is also the longest by a Mets pitcher since Tom Glavine went 27 starts from July 15, 2005-June 3, 2006 lasting 6.0 or more innings.

Has hit a home run in three straight games (April 8- present) for the first time in his career. Buck has five home runs through the team’s first nine games, tied for the second-most in franchise history with Darryl Strawberry (5 home runs in nine games in 1987) and Jeff Kent (5 home runs in nine games in 1994). Dave Kingman holds the team mark with seven home runs in New York’s first nine games in 1976.

In New York’s five wins, Mets starting pitchers have posted a 2.03 ERA (seven earned runs/31.0 innings). In the club’s four losses, the starters have combined for a 6.87 ERA (14
earned runs/18.1 innings).

The Mets bullpen has hurled 16.2 innings in their last four games. During that span, the pen has allowed four earned runs (2.16 ERA). Overall, the Mets pen is 2-0 with a 3.34 ERA (11 earned runs/29.2 innings). The ERA is 7th in the National League.

Overall, the Mets have recorded a 3.53 ERA (31 earned runs/79.0 innings), ranking third in the NL and seventh in the majors.

Game Preview

The Mets travel to Minnesota tonight to start their first interleague game of the season. Some of you may be asking yourself, “Hey, why are we playing an interleague game so early”. To those of you, “HAVEN’T YOU BEEN PAYING ATTENTION! GEEZ..”

The Astros joined the American League this year making each league have 15 teams thus making the wild card system for fair in terms of chance of getting one. Having 15 in each league forces two teams to always be locked in an interleague series. Anyway, the Mets might be playing in the American League tonight but will see an old foe as they take on Vance Worley behind Jonathan Niese.

Niese is off to a good start this year going 1-0 in his first two games pitching a total of 12.2 innings allowing 3 earned runs, 4 total. In that stretch he has 12 hits and 4 walks while striking out 9 batters. He has faced the Twins once where he picked up the win throwing 6 shutout innings of baseball allowing 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4. The Twins have the following numbers against Niese:

Carroll 3-5
Willingham 2-5, HR
Worley 1-6
Mauer 0-2

The Mets batters going from facing the Phillies to an ex-Philly in Vance Worley who is 0-1 this season over two starts. During that time has pitched 11.0 innings allowing a league leading 18 hits, 8 runs (7 earned), and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts. Last season he was 6-9 over 23 starts and 133.0 innings with a 4.20 ERA. He was 0-2 against the Mets last season over 3 games where he allowed 14 ER over 14.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Vance:

Murphy 10-15, 2B, 3B (Seriously, that’s 2 hits per 3 AB’s)
Tejada 7-17, 2B
Wright 4-15, HR
Duda 5-10, 2B, HR
Davis 1-9
Turner 4-10, 2 2B
Baxter 1-3, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

Check 213 Miles From Shea!

At one point, Hale brought up the possibility of signing Ike Davis to an extension and buying out his arbitration years, similar to the extension the Mets completed last spring with left-hander Jonathon Niese.

“We’re always looking at our young players to see if it makes sense, both from their standpoint and ours, to do complete something on a longterm basis,” Alderson said.

“Ike Davis is coming off a big second half last year, showed up to camp in great shape and in great spirits, and we see him taking on a bigger leadership role in the clubhouse right behind Captain America – David Wright.”

“Any kind of an extension has to fit for us and it has to fit for the player. So it’s something we’ll keep an eye on. Sometimes the player is not interested, and sometimes the agent is not interested. It’s one of those things that has to work for both sides.”

We’ve discussed this topic a few times already this offseason, and back on January 22, I wrote the following regarding Ike Davis and the possibility of extending him:

Now that the Mets have avoided arbitration with Davis and both sides have agreed on a one-year deal worth $3.2 million dollars, the plot thickens somewhat.

Davis gets a hefty raise from the $500K he earned last season. It’s the first step to a four year process that will take his salary to the $15 million dollar a year range by 2016.

Even the $7-8 million dollars he most likely will earn in 2014 sounds like a tough nut to crack for a team who hasn’t doled out that much cash annually in a new contract to a player in many years, not counting their franchise player David Wright who just cashed in for $142 million through 2020. In fact, Jason Bay was the last of the Mohicans.

So will the Mets open their wallets and pay Ike Davis at a level commensurate with what other first basemen of his caliber get paid?

That’s tough to say and I remain skeptical. I don’t think it will happen. Niese signed a deal that averaged about $5 million a season for the next five years. It will take a lot more than that to get Davis to sign any extension.

As I’ve said before, I have yet to see any evidence that this front office will ever pay any player not named Wright at current market value levels. It’s simply not in their DNA.

I could be off base here, but I challenge the front office to go ahead and prove me wrong. In fact, I’d welcome it in Ike’s case.

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 time to master.“I have to get my curveball over,” Niese said. “I couldn’t get my curve-ball over for strikes. My change-up is getting a lot better, but it’s not where I want. I need to build off this. Usually my change-up is always the last pitch. … I like where my arm strength is and I like how the ball is coming out of my hand.”

Niese called pitching to the Venezuelan team, which includes Miguel Cabrera, Pablo Sandoval and Carlos Gonzalez as “humbling.”

“They have a good lineup,” Niese said. “They made me work. I made a couple of mistakes and they made me pay for them.”

Another thing Niese is getting acclimated to is pitching to veteran catcher John Buck. The first impression has been a good one.

“We have to work a lot more together,” Niese said. “He calls a great game.”

Manager Terry Collins said Niese will be the Opening Day starter if Johan Santana can’t go, which appears the likely scenario now.

“We all want it,”Niese said when asked if he coveted the assignment. “Who wouldn’t?”

Niese went 2.1 innings this afternoon and allowed four earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out one. Still some tweaking to do, but he’ll be fine.

I’ll be back with a wrap-up from St. Lucie later on. Hope you MMO readers are enjoying the additional coverage…

During an interview on WFAN with Mike Francesa, Terry Collins said that Jon Niese would get the Opening Day start if Johan Santana is not ready.

The manager still believes Santana has a chance to make the start, “It’s not doubtful,” Collins said. “If he’s not ready for Game 1, I think he’ll be ready for Game 4.”

Niese, 26, took a big step forward. He became reliable, proved to be durable, and most of all, he improved his performance significantly.

Hopefully Santana will be able to make that start, as we could use his veteran leadership. If not, we are in capable hands with Jonathan Niese.

Danny Frisella and Tug McGraw were in heated competition for fame and fortune from the outset of the 1972 season. The late Gil Hodges remembers both pitchers begging for their manager to pick them when he signaled to the bullpen. If Frisella was selected, and won the game, McGraw would give Frisella the “cold shoulder.” If McGraw got the nod (and won) Frisella would mimic the gesture.

There is no evidence whether or not the Mets clubhouse manager made an intentional effort to put Frisella and McGraw side-by-side in the locker room, but their adjoining lockers created more fun and competition. The two Mets pitchers would sometimes switch the locker nameplates to appear that the other won the game.

While Frisella and McGraw jockeyed for their manager’s affection, that same season a rookie named Jon Matlack was granted locker space between Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. Matlack was named 1972 Rookie of the Year, winning 15 of his 32 starts. He compiled 244 innings pitched, eight complete games and a skinny 2.32 ERA. Coincidence? Possibly. Seaver will tell you, for certain, it meant nothing then and means nothing now.

“Where you lockered really wasn’t that important,” Seaver told the New York Times in 2008. “It didn’t make any difference. Just your own little space; it could have been anywhere.”

For Seaver, locker space was irrelevant. It was a place – and space – where he took out his frustrations after a poor start. “When I make a mistake and beat myself with a bad pitch, then I get kicking mad and go after stools and water buckets,” Seaver told People Magazine.

Other times, Seaver used his locker as a prop. After getting off to a slow start in 1974, a Mets beat writer asked him if he had lost his fastball. Seaver paused, then started rummaging in his locker muttering, “Where are you, fastball? Are you in there somewhere?”

Seaver didn’t need sabermetrics to figure out the 1975 New York Mets were in for a long year. The Mets, a team renowned for their pitching stock, found themselves lacking. That spring, Seaver sat on a stool in front of his locker and looked up at the adjoining lockers. SEAVER. KOOSMAN, MATLACK.

Who are the rest of these guys? Seaver thought. “That’s Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Where are 4 and 5?” He rolled his eyes in frustration.

He knew, if something doesn’t change (and it didn’t), the Mets would not compete. The Mets were within four games of the lead in the National League East on September 1, 1975; then the bottom fell out on the season. They finished in third place 10 ½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Seaver’s real estate at Shea Stadium was the site where many of the organizations proudest moments were celebrated. He sprayed champagne over the heads of his teammates in 1969 from that “little space.” Seaver helped the Mets win another National League title from that hole in the wall. He encouraged and mentored Matlack, Jackson Todd, Bob Myrick, George Stone and many others within earshot.

In one respect Seaver is right; a locker isn’t important. There’s nothing glamorous about an athlete’s locker. It’s literally a hole in the wall. For the common man, a locker is a lot like an office cubicle, a place to store your personal effects while you go take care of business. But, location is valuable, sometimes educational.

“I learned an awful lot from having my locker room stuck between Koosman and Seaver,” said Matlack. “”It was a very, very good location to be in.”

Seaver’s locker was physically unique, well, maybe for its modesty. Former Mets beat writer Marty Noble described the space this way: “there was no locker to the immediate left, just a three-foot-wide panel. A trash can was placed there.” Seaver’s “little space” was nondescript. Seaver, himself, was so Seaver was so impervious to his surroundings that, to this day, he is unsure whether he had the now famous locker space his rookie year of 1967.

Over time, Seaver’s locker took on a life of its own. After he we traded in June 1977, Bud Harrelson asked if he could move in. Not happening, said Mets equipment manager Herb Norman. The locker would be assigned to Seaver’s successor, Pat Zachry.

Seaver returned home, and to his “little space” in 1983, then, Ron Darling assumed the space from 1984-1991, followed by David Cone (July 1991-August 1992), John Franco (1992-2003), Steve Trachsel (2004-2006) and Aaron Heilman (2007).

“That locker did have history; more than any other in that place,” said Franco. “Nobody made the kind of history here that Tom Seaver made. It doesn’t matter how long anyone had it, it was always Seaver’s.”

“It doesn’t matter [who preceded Seaver],” added Darling. “It’s his.”

In some ballparks, because of some professional athletes, lockers can become hallowed ground. When Lou Gehrig died, his locker was sealed and sent to Cooperstown. Before Shea Stadium was demolished after the 2008 season, Seaver’s locker was preserved and put on the block for a cool $41,000.

That’s some valuable real estate.

In 1984, the New York Mets were on the rise. Jesse Orosco and Doug Sisk anchored the Mets bullpen on the field, roommates off the field and lived out of adjoining lockers during the team’s championship run in the 80s.

“We’re just a couple of ordinary guys who get along, and have no professional jealousy,” said Sisk. “We’re both fairly serious, but we have different personalities. But we’re not rivals. You can’t be rivals. It won’t work.”

When it does work, the team benefits – at least that’s what Mets manager Terry Collins hopes will happen by placing Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey side-by-side in Port St. Lucie. Collins told the media he intentionally put Harvey, 23, and Wheeler, 22, at adjoining lockers to give Wheeler the opportunity to ask questions and “soak up” the experience like Harvey did last season.

“Having lockers next to each other, we’re both baseball players who have the same mindset,” said Harvey. “Getting along, I don’t think, is going to be very tough.”

Wheeler has prime real estate in Port St. Lucie. Like Harvey in 2012, he will receive a valuable education a lot by watching and listening. Harvey described the experience as “eye-opening.” Last spring he watched Johan Santana, R.A. Dickey, Jonathon Niese and Dillon Gee prepare for a major league baseball season.

“That’s something that I’ve never seen,” Harvey told ESPN.com. “Watching the preparation that those guys had in order to throw 200 innings … Sometimes it’s stepping back and realizing, ‘Hey, this is a long process. Throwing until the end of September is a long time from now.’”

Let’s be honest here, Harvey is still learning too. Collins hopes the location will be the seed to a long-term successful relationship between his two future stars.

Spring Training, which officially starts today, is always an intriguing place for reporters to take stock in how and where players are positioned. The nameplates begin to disappear as February turns to March and the minor league players are dispatched for reassignment. The last days of March mark the time for final cuts. The veteran invited to spring training is playing his heart out and biting their nails in one corner of the clubhouse while the fresh-faced 20-something is bouncing off the walls hoping this will be his year.

As Opening Day creeps closer, locker room real estate values will increase.