Please, join me as I throw a handful of dirt on the coffin of Jordany Valdespin’s career as a New York Met.

The one I used to call El Dramático for his ability to spark rallies and hit long home runs is getting playing time for one reason: he’s being shopped. Don’t expect him to be with the Mets past the trade deadline.

I’ve been a staunch defender of Valdespin since the Mets’ first intrasquad game. He had the tools to be a starter in 2013. He still has the tools. Whatever the case, it just hasn’t come together.

There are a plethora of reasons why Valdespin’s days are numbered. He’s batting .207/.264/..328 on the season with a 24/6 K/BB ratio and 4-for-7 in stolen base attempts. He’s 3-for-23 with five strikeouts and no walks since taking over the second base and leadoff duties. Additionally, he’s not playing well defensively and the positions he does play are better suited by other players on this year’s team (Juan Lagares and Daniel Murphy). The list goes on longer than his pimped out dingers. Even though his latest audition isn’t going well, I expect he’ll be sent somewhere for cash or packaged in a trade with some farm arms.

Saturday’s game was a microcosm of how he’s performed since receiving more playing time: a few defensive miscues and little offense. He threw a ball over Jonathon Niese’s head, something you’d see in a Little League game…maybe. He also had two force outs at second that could have seriously injured him. When a second baseman makes a force at second, he normally shifts his momentum toward the outfield to avoid a hard slide. Valdespin just planted on the bag and got upended by Cody Ransom twice. He’s just not doing the fundamentals.

Things could have been done differently during Valdespin’s time as a Metropolitan. He was mismanaged by Terry Collins, he handled situations poorly and every negative was put under a microscope by the media, myself included.

It pains me to say, but he’s poisoning the team. Whether it’s his fault or not is moot. I believe he has a long career ahead of him, but it won’t be with the Mets. He’ll probably be one of the many who leaves the Mets and enjoys success in another venue. Some players just aren’t cut out to play under the magnifying glass in New York.

He could thrive in a platoon role in hitter-friendly parks like Coors Field or Great American Bandbox. Just don’t expect there to be many more Valdespin No. 1 jerseys produced in orange and blue.

What are your thoughts on Jordany Valdespin’s recent one-week audition at second base?

The Mets dropped their second straight against the Cubs in a 5-2 loss at Citi Field on Saturday. Cubs starter Scott Feldman had the Mets number and held them to just one run and retired the last 12 batters he faced in a row.

Jon Niese started for the Mets and pitched well enough to win, but clearly didn’t bring his “A” game today as he allowed two runs on six hits and four walks in 5.2 innings while striking out five. When Terry Collins came out to pull him after two outs in the sixth, he begrudgingly gave up the ball and was jawing all the way back to the dugout. Collins and Niese continued to argue in the dugout and the Mets southpaw wasn’t happy.

LaTroy Hawkins relieved Niese and pitched 1.1 hitless innings, but Scott Rice and Brandon Lyon allowed three more Cubs runs to score in the eighth innings on three walks and three hits.

Greg Burke came in for the ninth and was greeted by a single, a double and a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Juan Lagares then made a great diving catch that was wrongly ruled a trap by the first base ump. But somehow amid the confusion, the clueless Mets escaped the inning without any damage when Burke got the next two outs.

Offensively, the Mets got on the board in the fourth inning on a David Wright RBI double to score Daniel Murphy. In the bottom of the eighth inning the Mets made some more noise. After consecutive hits by Juan Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, an RBI single by Jordany Valdespin with one out would plate Lagares. But Murphy and Wright would go quietly after that to end the the threat.

In the bottom of the ninth, Marlon Byrd led off the inning with the Mets sixth hit of the game, and after a Duda infield popup, Justin Turner got to first on an error to bring up Buck with two on and one out. But Buck popped out and Cubs closer Kevin Gregg got Lagares to fly out to end the game.

Lagares is making the most of his playing time while Valdespin has not. There’s still no telling if Lagares will continue to hit after the league adjusts to him, but for now you have to play him everyday. Meanwhile, I’d say Spin is now 4-5 days away from being replaced on the roster by Wilmer Flores.

Lucas Duda now has just five hits in his last 37 at-bats and also tried to bunt his way on to lead off the fifth inning and it was all kinds of awful..

The Mets bullpen now ranks an MLB worst in Batting Average Against and Earned Run Average for the third year in a row, and as Gary Cohen pointed out they have the lowest strikeout rate in league as well.

Today’s game was a showcase of just how fundamentally flawed this team is. They are becoming almost unwatchable especially when Matt Harvey isn’t pitching.

The Mets are now at the lowest point of their season, losing ten of their last 12, and falling to 15 games under .500 for the season.

Jeremy Hefner will oppose Matt Garza and try to salvage the final game of the series on Sunday. First pitch is at 1:10 PM, and with that let me wish all you dads out there a Happy Father’s Day.

Usually at this time, the team is at least still somewhat relevant and playing somewhat exciting baseball.

But not this year.

Sure, there are some good things to look forward to with the big-league club, especially the much-anticipated debut of Zack Wheeler on Tuesday.

However, later on in the day Tuesday, the Mets’ short-season Single-A affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones, will open their 13th season in Coney Island.

I have been tabbed the Cyclones’ beat reporter for Mets Merized Online, and I’m excited for this opportunity to get to know the prospects who are way down on the farm.

Many of these guys are right out of high school and college and have a long road ahead of them. But they surely will be showing up each night with enthusiasm as they begin their baseball careers.

Just look at the Mets’ roster right now. Daniel Murphy, Bobby Parnell, Lucas Duda, Dillon Gee, Josh Satin, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Jordany Valdespin and Juan Lagares all were Brooklyn Cyclones. Not to mention some first baseman in the Mets’ farm system named Ike Davis.

I will be covering the majority of the home games this summer and will try to provide brief updates on road games. I will have player insights, and maybe I will try to develop a weekly spot with manager Rich Donnelly – a coach who has seen it all in his experience with baseball.

I’m always open to suggestions about my coverage. Got a question for a prospect? Got a story idea? I’d love to hear about it. I will be checking the comments section of my stories frequently, so drop me a note and I’ll take care of the rest.

I hope you enjoy the coverage of the future Mets. It’s certainly a luxury to have a minor-league affiliate so close to the parent club.

And MCU Park is truly a great venue to watch a ballgame. After Hurricane Sandy, the Cyclones ripped up the damaged grass field and installed a beautiful FieldTurf surface. It will be interesting to see how this affects the game.

I’ll be bringing you all that and more this summer. Thank you in advance for following the Cyclones!

Sandy Alderson was a guest of Mike Francesa on WFAN on Monday afternoon and had a lot to say on a variety of topics which I summarized for you below. Before that, check out what John Harper of the Daily News had to say about Sandy’s latest version of “Cry Me A River”.

It was hard to tell if Sandy Alderson was baring his soul or throwing himself at the mercy of Mets fans during his WFAN interview with Mike Francesa on Monday…Alderson went so far as to describe his reaction to the 20-inning debacle on Saturday as “near-suicidal,” which made him sound more like a fan than a GM, but I doubt if it bought him much sympathy from the suffering masses. It’s tempting to say that a man who measures his every word so carefully would only admit to such an extreme emotion for PR purposes, but then again…

By the time the GM was finished assessing the current lack of talent on the roster, the task of turning the Mets into contenders by next year, in keeping with the Alderson blueprint, suddenly seemed like some fantasy.

It all sounded rather odd. I just hope it’s not a ploy to buy more time for this regime because whatever honeymoon Alderson has enjoyed, as the man hired to clean up the mess the Mets were in by the fall of 2010, is over this winter.

Yeah… Harper read my mind again… I didn’t buy Sandy’s last violin solo before the Winter Meetings when he told Francesa he was going to transform the roster, particularly the outfield, and put a contender on the field in 2013. He showed up with Duda, Cowgill and Byrd… Ahem…

I’m certainly not buying this latest concerto… His words are never met with action. They never have any real bite to them. Say what you want about Omar Minaya, but when he said he was committed to winning, he meant it. When he needed a center fielder he got Carlos Beltran, when he needed an ace he went after Johan, when he needed a righty bat he got Bay, etc. His choices didn’t always work out, but when he said he’d do something he went out and did it. I can respect that.

Sandy is different.

Everything always sounds staged and delivered with an impassioned plea for acceptance. He never makes me feel like things are getting better. Instead I’m always reminded of how bad things are and how he wishes they could be better… How awful the team is playing and how the players have all disappointed him… I mean give us some good news for once for crying out loud… Stop telling me how much my team sucks every six months…  Most of all, stop running to Francesa and using his soapbox twice a year, only to give us the same old sombering state of the team address.

Sandy’s a great guy… I think he’s personable, intelligent and I even enjoy his deadpan sense of humor… He’s a good guy… I’m just not buying what he’s selling and now it’s really getting old…

Sandy Alderson on WFAN with Mike Francesa

Winning vs Developing: Wins never become secondary and the reason is that none of us can stomach losses. We want to win games while we are developing players. The Players we need to evaluate will get some playing time and that’s evident with move we made on cutting Rick Ankiel. We felt that Kirk Nieuwenhuis needed to play here in the majors. And we also have to consider Wilmer Flores who we also want to see here at some point this season.

Josh Satin: Satin is a performer who has done everything we have asked of him. He’s a little older but definitely a solid player and he has earned this promotion. Whether he’s part of the future or not we will we’ll all find out because he is going to get that chance… And I hope he gets a good chance at first base.

When On Wheeler: Zack Wheeler will start on June 18. You could speculate and be fairly comfortable that you will see him pitch that day.

Montero and Leathersich: Yes we have considered having them skip Triple-A. Rafael Montero pitched very well in his spot start with Vegas and is in the middle of an impressive run. Very soon we’ll decide to either leave him at Double-A or promote him to Triple-A. If we opt to leave him at AA you can infer that we will skip Vegas and bring him straight to the majors when the time comes. Jack Leathersich doesn’t throw any harder than Edgin does, but he has more movement and deception. That said, he does walk people and that’s a big concern at this point. But there’s no reason either one can’t come straight to the majors from Double-A. Those are two guys we are very high on, but there’s a little bit of caution because we remember Edgin came straight from Double-A.

Puello and Suspension: Cesar Puello has a little bit of a history and while very young ranked as high of 4-5 among our top prospects. He has always been a five tool guy and this year he has put it all together. We put him on our 40 man roster to protect him and those 5 tools of his. He is definitely someone we have our eye on, but we’re not gonna bring him up based on a month of great performance. If we thought there was something imminent we’d be concerned (about a possible suspension), but at this point it’s not a consideration.

Is Terry Safe: Anytime you hit a rough patch people speculate about players and staff, but this is about player performance and I don’t believe our staff performance has been bad. If its a player issue, then thats on me. I’ve been in situations where we change hitting coaches every year but I honestly dont think thats our problem. Terry is working his butt off and we are not considering changing anything.

Offensive Approach: We have too many players who don’t approach our hitting philosophy the way they should be. What I mean by that is putting yourself into hitting counts. When you have a preponderance of players who don’t follow that approach it becomes infectious. Right now we have too many players like that.

Having Hands Tied: It simply is not accurate. Not at all. I have said it time and time again. There has always been a willingness by ownership to spend money to help improve the team… If I chose to.

On Ike Davis: With respect to Ike Davis, we went about it as long as we could. In retrospect we should have done it sooner. He needs to get away from the voices in his ear. Hopefully the hitting environment in Las Vegas will be the right environment to turn it around, and that goes for Mike Baxter too.

First Base: Terry will have three options. Daniel Murphy can move to first base and we can play Jordany Valdespin everyday at second base. A second option will be to play Josh Satin at first base and leave Murphy where he is. Third but not likely would be playing Lucas Duda at first. We’ve told Murphy about first base and he understands that if we do move him, we’re not looking to shift him to first base permanently. But basically if we move Murph it gives us a chance to evaluate Valdespin who we need to look at closely. We also thought about Wilmer Flores and maybe that’s a move that will come later. But we need to get a longer look at Valdy.

Wilmer Flores: Flores is absolutely a prospect but what is his position? He’s got limited range, but we can live with that at second base because he does everything else at second base well. He has a good arm, is a good fielder and can turn the double play. He’s only 22. I wouldn’t preclude him from getting promoted sometime this season.

Outfield Plan: Short term we have to admit that Marlon Byrd is one of the few players we have producing. Cutting his playing time doesn’t make a whole lot of sense right now. In center field expect to see a somewhat even distribution of playing time between Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Juan Lagares. We need to find out about both of them We will see a more balanced allocation of playing time. We’ll also see what role Collin Cowgill will serve with his versatility to pinch run, bat off bench, etc.

Losing To Marlins: Losing to the Marlins was deeply frustrating… Watching your team go 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position can make you feel suicidal. We have to move forward, make whatever changes we feel are important, and keep our eye on what we’re trying to achieve. Losing to the Marlins was tough for us to take though, it was tough for the fans to take…

Patience is running thin with everyone from fans to players to Terry Collins. As I said when this whole dog and pony show first started in the fall of 2010, “I hope Alderson realizes this is New York and he better have something to show the fan base by the end of 2013. He’s got three years.” Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,….

Well, after last night’s debacle and the recent stretch in general, I would say that hope is on life support and if nothing improves before the end of June, the chord will be pulled.

With that being said, the timing was right for the Mets to shake things up and shake them up they did. In almost one fell swoop Ike Davis, Rick Ankiel, Mike Baxter and Robert Carson were sent packing.

My biggest issue right now with the Mets is how the playing time was being distributed. While I agreed with cutting Ankiel to make room for Kirk Nieuwenhuis, I don’t agree with having Jordany Valdespin and Juan Lagares spending so much time on the bench. We need to see what they can do.

Lagares has hit decently over the past couple of games and defensively he has flashed the leather and a strong arm. Valdespin has had a few clutch moments and is toolsy, but still very raw. How do you polish up a player like that? You play him. So either send him down to Triple-A where he can play everyday or commit to starting him 4-5 times a week and continue to develop him. Maybe the best move for now is a demotion at least until we have more clarity after possibly trading Marlon Byrd at the deadline.

Apparently, Collins is starting to see the light as he claimed that Valdespin will start to get more playing time on Sunday, but we’ve heard him makes such claims before.

I hope that this time Collins means it, and not just with Spin, but with all the youngsters that now also include Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Josh Satin in addition to Spin and Lagares.

Heading into next season, the front office needs to identify what pieces need to be acquired and which current players can supplement our team’s core that for now includes Matt Harvey, David Wright and possibly one or two others.

Thoughts from Joe D.

Albin raises a big issue…

My biggest fear is that Terry Collins is only concerned with saving his job, and in his mind that means winning as many games as he can to keep the season relevant. Wrong approach… Realistically, he should be using the rest of this season to determine which players, if any, can serve a useful role in 2014 either as a core player or as a bridge until other prospects are ready to take over.

That he doesn’t get that is a big problem. That him and the front office still think it’s about winning games this season, is a huge problem. Listening to Collins and Sandy Alderson talk about results yesterday tells me they don’t have their priorities in order.

2013 is not about results. If it were, then shame on Sandy Alderson for the way he handled the offseason – he gets a big Fail. This season is about development and evaluating players. At some point they have to stop half-assing this rebuild process. The sooner they can do that, the faster this team can become relevant again.

The Miami Marlins scratched out a run in the top of the 20th inning to break the 1-1 deadlock and beat the Mets 2-1 at Citi Field tonight.

Matt Harvey started for the Mets and was solid for seven innings until he was removed with what the team initially diagnosed as “lower back tightness.”  The righthander gets his fourth straight no-decision after allowing just one run on six hits with no walks and six strikeouts. The Marlins’ only run off Harvey came in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Chris Coghlan.

Shaun Marcum was just as solid despite getting tagged with the loss. The veteran tossed seven scoreless innings of relief before tiring in his eighth inning of work and allowing the Marlins to score the game-winner. he allowed five hits, walked none and struck out seven. It was the longest relief stint from a Met reliever in 30 years.

The bullpen as a whole was outstanding with Brandon Lyon, Bobby Parnell, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Rice, Greg Burke, and David Aardsma combining for five scoreless innings of relief.

The only Mets run came in the second inning when Juan Lagares drove in Ike Davis with an RBI single. Lagares  in the second inning. After that there was nothing but a whole lot of awful offensively…

The Mets were a franchise worst 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position and left 22 men on base. They had plenty of chances to score the go-ahead and squandered prime opportunities the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings.

The good news? Rick Ankiel has been designated for assignment, more on that in an update by my wingman Satish…

The Mets and Marlins will hook up again tomorrow as Jon Niese (3-5, 4.40) will face Tom Koehler (0-4, 3.70) at 1:10 pm in the Sunday finale.

If losing in nine innings to the Marlins is unacceptable, then losing in 20 is [expletive deleted].

— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) June 8, 2013

The only thing that will keep the Miami Marlins from losing more games than the 1962 New York Mets is the 2013 New York Mets. #Ducks

— Mets Merized Online (@MetsMerized) June 8, 2013

The New York Mets pounded out a season high 15 hits to beat the Washington Nationals by the score of 10-1 tonight at Nationals Park. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Mets who last won against the Yankees in the Subway Series oh so long ago.

Marlon Byrd walloped two home runs, his seventh and eight longballs off the season. David Wright added another homer to give him eight for the year. Incidentally, Byrd now has 28 RBI in just 141 at-bats this season. Pretty remarkable when you consider Wright has only four more ribbies, but in 62 more at-bats.

Backup catcher Anthony Recker had a big night going 2-for-3 including a bases-loaded, two-run single in the fifth with two outs. I wouldn’t mind seeing what the 29-year old Recker could do with some more playing time.

Juan Lagares finally got a start and it came against a righthanded pitcher. He debunked Terry Collins‘ theory that he’s a platoon player by responding with three hits on the night. According to my research this would mean a three week benching by Collins beginning tomorrow.

Every player in the starting lineup had at least one hit and the Mets were 6-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

On to the pitching…

Dillon Gee made a strong case to stay in the rotation and delivered his second straight solid start  for the Mets allowing just one run and scattering nine hits while striking out seven. Don’t be alarmed by the hits as Gee did what I wish all Mets pitchers would do with a lead and that is pound the zone and don’t worry about the hitter making contact. The young righthander improved his record to 4-6 with a 5.20 ERA. It’s the first time this season he’s won back-to-back starts.

Greg Burke and Robert Carson both pitched a scoreless inning each out of the bullpen.

A dominating and very satisfying victory for the Metsies and a happy recap to go with it.

Shaun Marcum (0-6, 5.71 ERA) will oppose Gio Gonzalez (3-3, 3.64 ERA) in Thursday’s 7:05 PM rubber match. Come on Mets! You can do this!

Last Saturday, Terry Collins told reporters that he would start giving center fielder Juan Lagares some starts against righthanded pitching. Three games and three righthanded starting pitchers later, Lagares still sits idly on the bench.

Instead, Collins keeps going with Rick Ankiel, who has now seen his batting average fall to .194 and is 1-for-his-last-31. The 34-year old has found the perfect manager in Collins, who is intent on sticking with veterans – even bad ones like Ankiel – over a promising younger player with upside.

When asked at what point it would become counterproductive for Lagares to remain in the majors while playing so sparingly, Collins responded:

“We’ve already reached it and passed that point. In a perfect world, Juan Lagares would be in the lineup somewhere. If not here, then certainly in Triple-A.”

Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Lagares is a world-beater. But how can you call up the 24-year old and then have him languishing on the bench? How does that benefit the kid or the team?

If this was how it was going to be then I would have rather just kept Collin Cowgill up here and let him be the one wasting away on the bench.

Lagares was having a great season and had a team high .347 batting average for Triple-A Las Vegas before the Mets front office interrupted.

If this is an example of the much-ballyhooed renewed focus on player development I think we’re in trouble.

(Photo by Gordon Donovan)

Following the Mets’ embarrassing 11-6 loss to the Marlins on Sunday to cap a sweep at the hands of the team widely branded the worst in the league, reporter Adam Rubin tweeted a sage assessment, to wit:

“Mets brass should spend off-day contemplating whether they want to be a 100-loss team with prospects gaining experience or vets annoying fans.”

For a team that is clearly not built to contend this season, it makes absolutely no sense to waste the opportunity to develop players from their system and instead apportion playing time to aging role players who, at best, may provide bench strength in the future but provide little value to the franchise as regulars. As exhilarating as the sweep of the “pseudo” Yankees may have been, it should be regarded merely as a high point in what is almost assuredly a “developmental” season, to be kind, and a “lost” season to be less so.  As much of the expanded roster of the Mets has been apportioned to players at the transition point between “prospect” and “suspect,” it would certainly seem to make more sense to play them at the major league level and at least get a better sense of whether or not they have anything to offer for the long run than to leave them at AAA while a group of, well, re-treads are trotted out to do their best.

The most obvious example of this is the present Met outfield. I do not question the hustle or professionalism of players like Marlon Byrd or Rick Ankiel, but it is abundantly clear that by giving the majority of starts to them in an effort to remain competitive, Terry Collins and the rest of the Met organization are retarding the progress of the younger outfielders on the roster.

The rationale behind bringing Juan Lagares up to spend the vast majority of his time on the bench is apparently linked to his vaunted defensive ability. Yet, if there is no greater design on this season (like, let’s say, winning a playoff spot), what value is there to letting his skills stagnate by not playing regularly? Surely the team would do better to provide major league exposure and experience to its younger players like Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Lagares than to its veteran fill-ins. Even running erratic but somewhat unknown quantities like Collin Cowgill and Andrew Brown out to see what they-can do with a few hundred at-bats would probably be worth more from an organizational perspective than letting them put up inflated numbers in the PCL. Clearly the team as presently comprised is not delivering offensively at anything close to a truly competitive level, so what is there to lose by letting the younger guys have a shot at it? I for one would gladly put up with a load of strikeouts, missed cutoff men, and other developmental flaws in team play if I thought there was something to be gained for the longer-term good of the franchise.

If the Mets as an organization can have the courage to accept that the “placeholder” strategy currently in place is not worth continuing, they can re-tool with pieces already in the organization and likely lose little in the way of on-field success but gain significantly in terms of developmental progress.  This could have a beneficial effect on the overall system as well, opening slots for up and coming players and possibly accelerating their timeline to the majors.  The strategy that was implemented for the 2013 season is understandable, based on what we all know and suspect about the team’s budget, but adopting one that more fully embraces “the future now, “ rather than a makeshift construct designed to buy time until more prospects are deemed ready makes far more sense at this point. I say enough of the pretense of respectability. Let’s let it all hang out and see what the younger guys can do.

With center field prospect Matt den Dekker still a long way from returning from the DL (read more here), and Rick Ankiel now hitting only .218 with a .286 on-base for the Mets, Terry Collins will look to give rookie Juan Lagares some extended play.

Lagares has been languishing on the bench since being promoted, but Collins is resolved to change that and will start playing the toolsy centerfielder against righthanded pitching.

“We’ve got to start taking a look at Juan against right-handed pitching,” the manager said after Saturday’s game. “We’ve got to put him out there and make sure he understands what he has to do to play here. He is part of a young bench that’s going to be the future here.”

The Mets were trying to platoon Lagares with Ankiel, but with the team exclusively facing right-handed pitching this series and in Washington, Collins said he may bend and start Lagares against a righty to get him playing time, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.

For weeks I’ve wondered why the Mets promoted Lagares only to have him sit mostly on the bench instead of further developing by playing everyday at Triple-A Las Vegas.

In extremely sporadic play, Lagares is batting just .146 in just 48 at-bats. He was batting .346/.378/.551 at Triple-A before his promotion, and before that he batted .304/.347/.470 in 661 at-bats with Double-A Binghamton.

The 24-year old International signee was originally a shortstop before being converted to center field where scouts and Las Vegas manager Wally Backman have said he’s a better defender than Matt den Dekker.

Collin Cowgill did just that; he hit .303/.378/.591 in 66 spring training at-bats, and earned the honor of being the starting center fielder on opening day. Kirk Nieuwenhuis struggled to an awful .086/.220/.086 spring line, but his defense helped him to earn a roster spot. The organization hoped he’d find the magic in his bat from the first half of 2012. So far, neither one of them have performed well, and their slumps have followed them from the majors back down to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Cory Vaughn and Cesar Puello are having strong starts to 2013 for the Binghamton Mets. Since they’re still in Double-A, Mets fans probably won’t see them until at least September. For right now, Cowgill and Nieuwenhuis are the two best options the organization has when it comes to trying to find production in the outfield (along with Andrew Brown).

Cowgill carried his success from Port St. Lucie up north to Flushing for opening day against the San Diego Padres, going 2-for-5 with a grand slam, double, and four RBIs. From there, it went downhill, and found himself hitting .157/.173/.294 through 51 at-bats before getting demoted to Triple-A.

It didn’t take as long for Nieuwenhuis to get sent packing to fix his swing; he was demoted in favor of rookie Juan Lagares after hitting .125/.176/.188 in 13 games (16 ABs).

With both of them getting sent to Las Vegas to get back on track, 51s manager Wally Backman said they would each get significant playing time, and share duties in center field. Mets fans were hoping their bats would show some form of life in order to help the big league team, but it hasn’t happened yet. Here’s the results so far since getting sent down:

• Collin Cowgill - .219/.306/.406, 3 HR, 10 RBI in 64 AB
• kirk Nieuwenhuis - .198/.303/.349, 3 HR, 6 RBI in 86 AB

Needless to say, what they’ve done upon arriving to Vegas won’t help them to get a call back up to the Show anytime soon. It’s very discouraging to watch them continue struggling because they take one step forward and two steps back. In watching them play recently, they’ll put together a nice at-bat, ending in a hard-hit ball. Just when I think they turned the corner on offense, their following at-bat says the opposite.

Soon, Matt den Dekker will return to action after breaking his wrist in spring training. While he didn’t show much at the plate in spring training either, he’s someone the Mets haven’t tried yet in the outfield. If Cowgill and Nieuwenhuis continue their current lack of production, den Dekker will eventually leapfrog them on his way to the majors.

I’m a fan of both Cowgill and Nieuwenhuis, and it’s frustrating to watch them have such a tough time getting into a groove at the plate. They each play the game the way it should be played: hard. There is still time for them to turn things around and get their careers back on track. The opportunity to get back to the majors and play well enough to find a role on the team (whether it’s in the starting lineup or on the bench) is still available.

However, with players Vaughn, Puello, and den Dekker getting closer to being ready for their chance in the spotlight, time is running out. At the end of the day, the Mets are trying to figure out who has a future with the organization. The above three prospects still have one with New York, but if the two incumbent Vegas outfielders don’t show consistent signs of life soon, they will be on the outside looking in.

For the best coverage of the Mets Minors, there’s only one place to go…

Juan Lagares and Daniel Murphy homered to pick up Dillon Gee, and the bullpen came up with a superb effort with four perfect innings to give the Mets a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs Sunday at Wrigley Field. The victory gave the Mets their first series victory since they beat Washington, April 19-21, at Citi Field.

RECORD: 17-24, 4^th NL East

ON THE MOUND: Dillon Gee gave up three runs on eight hits in five innings for the no-decision. … Scott Rice was superb in relief retiring six straight hitters. … The Mets also received a strong one-out showing from Greg Burke and Bobby Parnell worked the ninth for his sixth save. … The Mets’ bullpen retired 12 straight hitters.

AT THE PLATE: Inserted in the leadoff spot, Murphy hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth. … Lagares hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the seventh. He had two hits in the game. … The Mets had six hits in the game and struck out seven times.

BY THE NUMBERS: 15-for-29: Murphy’s hot streak.

THEY SAID IT: “Everything comes to a head at some point.’’ – GM Sandy Alderson when asked if there was a limit to Ike Davis’ slump after saying sending him so

ON DECK: Shaun Marcum is scheduled to open the Mets’ three-game series against Cincinnati, beginning Monday at Citi Field.

The early season struggles of Ike Davis have been well-documented. Following his second four-strikeout game of the season yesterday against the St. Louis Cardinals, he’s now hitting an awful .157/.245/.268 in 127 at-bats. That line is hard to look at, but it gets even harder when you realize it only includes four home runs, nine RBIs, and 45 strikeouts.

I’ve been in favor of sending Ike down to the minors for a couple weeks now because it’s been painful to watch how lost he is at the plate. I understand that in order for him to bust out of this slump, he has to play. While some think the best solution is for him to figure it out in the big leagues, I just can’t watch it anymore.

I’ve been watching a handful of Las Vegas 51s games these last two weeks, and I’ve been impressed with the performance of Josh Satin and Zach Lutz at the plate. The PCL may favor the hitters (as we’ve seen with the call-ups of Juan Lagares and Andrew Brown), but the approach throughout their at-bats has been sound. Satin is currently hitting .297/.412/.478 with five homers and 20 RBIs. More importantly, he’s collected 10 doubles in 37 games. I would love to see Satin get a chance instead of Ike right now, but it’s would be difficult since he’s not currently on the 40-man roster.

A guy who is on the 40-man that is hitting right now is Zach Lutz. The corner infielder is hitting .260/.340/.407 with four homers and 20 RBIs. Those numbers aren’t exactly eye-popping, but he’s currently riding a seven-game hitting streak. Over the last week, he’s hitting .444 with three homers, seven RBIs, and two doubles.

If the Mets were to make a move with Ike and actually send him down, Lutz should be the one getting a call. I really liked the call-up of Lagares, but was frustrated when he wasn’t inserted into the lineup consistently when he arrived. He was hitting .346/.378/.551 in Las Vegas prior to making his MLB debut, and I thought Terry Collins would try to ride that hot streak. If Lutz gets promoted, it would make sense for Collins to immediately insert him into the lineup to try and reap the benefits of his hot streak.

Collins said he’s committed to having Davis bat cleanup this weekend in Wrigley against the Chicago Cubs. If he doesn’t show any signs of life in his bat, a move needs to be made. Honestly, I don’t think the Mets will actually send Ike to the minors, but when he looks as lost as he has (especially yesterday), it’s tough getting excited when he walks to the plate in the middle of a rally.

In my game recap last night I mentioned the remarkable catch by Mets outfielder Juan Lagares as the highlight of the game.

Here is the video of that catch;

Opposing pitcher Jeanmar Gomez looked like he hit a sure-fire single against Mets starter Matt Harvey. But wow, what a grab.

Lagares hasn’t gotten it together yet at the plate, but he will. back in February I spoke highly of him and said he’d be a Met before the All Star break and that his defense was stellar. Even Terry Collins now admits he’s better than Matt den Dekker a fact we always maintained here.

In my Q&A with Paul DePodesta last Winter, I posted this:

• Mets are very high on Juan Lagares. When pressed why they haven’t produced a quality outfielder since Darryl Strawberry, they came back with Lagares and then added that they are impressed with his instincts at CF and are excited with his performance in Winter Ball, citing his bat and his 8% walk rate. They said Lagares could provide depth for Mets outfield this season.

When we ranked Juan Lagares No. 21 in our MMO Top Prospects in January, it came under some scrutiny and prompted this exchange:

TruthsaboutMurphy: He’s just not a good outfield prospect. He’s not fast enough for center and doesn’t have enough power for a corner outfield spot. Considering the options, he should not be on the top 25.

I told him he was wrong and that I base my opinions on intimate knowledge from my writers who have seen him up close and were all very impressed. We also base our opinions from speaking to various scouts, coaches and even the Mets VP of Player Development.

Lagares is legit with his glove, his speed and his bat. Hopefully, he will begin to show off the rest of his overall game and become an integral part of the Mets solution in the outfield.

PRETTY IN PINK?

The Mets were beaten by the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 3-2 this afternoon in front of a nicely packed Mother’s Day crowd at Citi Field.

Matt Harvey started and while he pitched good enough to win, he wasn’t at his best and he seemed to rely mostly on a variety of breaking balls and off-speed stuff rather than his usual 95-98 mph fastball. He tossed seven innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits, two walks and an uncharacteristically low four strikeouts. He is now winless in his last four starts. Despite Harvey not having his A-Game, a couple of clutch hits could have made the young right-hander 5-0.

Terry Collins unveiled his revamped lineup which was an epic failure today. In fact, the Mets offense has piled up 28 strikeouts in the last two games. After the game, Collins said that was “because his guys are trying to hit homers.”

Collins is committed the following four at the top of the lineup going forward and emphasized that “Ike Davis is our cleanup hitter, end of story.”

Ruben Tejada: 0-for-3

Daniel Murphy: 1-for-4

David Wright: 0-for-3

Ike Davis: 0-for-4

The math is ugly as they combined to go 1-for-14. Hope they do better tomorrow…

Mets were outscored 21-7 during the last three losses to the Pirates. Today they only mustered four hits including a home run from Lucas Duda, his eighth longball of the season. But get this… Eight home runs and only 12 RBI in 102 at-bats this season. Still, that’s better than Ike davis who has just 9 RBI in 110 at-bats with 39 strikeouts. When he struck out in his final at-bat, you could hear the boos as far away as Staten Island.

This team is not hitting and the Mets ranks 13th in the NL with a .234 batting average and last in the league with 264 hits. If Gary Cohen tells me one more time about how they rank 5th in On-Base Percentage and walks, I think I’m going to chuck my remote through the TV.

Daniel Murphy and John Buck have returned back to planet earth after orbiting around the planet for four week in April.

The bullpen was ineffective and Scott Rice took the loss. Bobby Parnell struggled through 1 1/3 innings allowing three baserunners. He might be unavailable tomorrow after throwing 30 pitches.

Defensively, Juan Lagares made this incredibly sick, sick, sick, catch in centerfield that had to be seen to be believed. It was the highlight of the game for the Mets. He dives forward with his outstretched glove, the ball bounces off the tip of it, and he refocuses and catches it again before it hit the ground. Wow…

This was a disastrous homestand for more reasons than one, and the Mets now find themselves at 14-20 and buried in fourth place in the NL East. They set sail for St. Louis to face the hottest and winningest team in baseball on Monday. The Cardinals have won nine of their last nine led by Carlos Beltran who leads the team with nine home runs and 23 RBI while posting a .308/.341/.558 batting line. Jeremy Hefner (0-4. 4.63 ERA) will oppose Lance Lynn (5-1, 2.72) and try to stop the bleeding.

UH OH, HERE COME THE MIGHTY METS…

Mom’s Day Starting Lineup

1. Ruben Tejada – SS
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. Lucas Duda – LF
6. John Buck – C
7. Mike Baxter – RF
8. Juan Lagares – CF
9. Matt Harvey – RHP

Game Notes

In three of his first 17 career games, Matt Harvey has allowed one hit and thrown at least 7.0 innings…That is the most such games in the major leagues since 1916…Five other pitchers (Anibal Sanchez, Chris Nabholz, Mat Latos, Wally Bunker and Vida Blue) had two such starts in their first 17 career games.

The Mets have recalled RHP Greg Burke from Triple-A Las Vegas and have placed RHP Jeurys Familia on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis, the team announced. Familia will report to the Mets facility in Port St. Lucie to begin rehabilitation.

Ike Davis will bat cleanup Sunday. Davis hasn’t hit there since April 19 and has been hitting out of the No. 7 spot lately. Manager Terry Collins said he wants to put his run producers at the top of the lineup. This comes after a bit of an outburst by Davis after yesterday’s game vowing to ditch the Mets philosophy and hit a first pitch fastball whenever he pleases.

Reliever Frank Francisco is headed to the Binghamton Mets as part of his injury rehab. Francisco should be activated this week.

Numerous Mets will use Louisville Slugger pink bats along with pink batting gloves, cleats and sweatbands today as Major League Baseball honors Mother’s Day and raises awareness and money for breast cancer research. Every team across the league will also use commemorative pink stitched Rawlings baseballs. The game used items will be auctioned off on mlb.com with proceeds going towards MLB charities in support of breast cancer.

Nicole Malato, from Toms River, NJ will be the Mets’ honorary bat girl. Malato was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, 2011. She will take the lineup card out to home plate with Mets Manager Terry Collins. In addition, an all-female military color guard will be on hand for the National Anthem and the Mets will feature Mother’s Day vignettes on CitiVision.

Game Preview

In a common theme this year, Matt Harvey finds himself playing the role of stopper today as he tries to put the Mets back on a winning path. Yesterday the Mets dropped another game to the Bucs due to bad pitching from Niese and another lackluster day at the plate. At least it was Banner Day though. Against Harvey will be Jeanmar Gomez.

Matt had an unbelievable game last time out allowing only hit over 9 shutout innings while striking out 12 batters. Sadly, the Mets couldn’t score any runs, so he was saddled with the no decision. On the season he is 4-0 with a 1.28 ERA while striking out 58 batters of 49.1 innings of work. He has a 0.63 ERA in his last two starts while striking out 19 over 14.1. He has never faced the Pirates and has never faced anyone on the Pirates roster.

The Mets bats look to get things moving for Harvey day as they go up against Gomez who is 2-0 this season over 7 games, 2 starts and 22.2 innings of work with a 2.38 ERA. As a starter, he has pitched 9.0 innings allowing 2 ER and striking out 8 batters. Last season for the Indians he was 5-8 with a 5.96 ERA over 90.2 innings. He has never faced the Mets but has faced Buck, who is 0-3 against him.

Let’s Go Mets!

That shot of Lucas Duda entering the dugout after a solo homerun in the second inning of the game was tonight’s highlight as the Mets were defeated by the Chicago White Sox by the score of 6-3.

What a difference between the energy in last nights game compared to this one which had all the excitement of a wake.

Jeremy Hefner started and to be honest, he pitched better than what you’ll see in his pitching line. Even terry Collins said after the game that he left him in as long as he did because they weren’t really hitting him hard and he was just very unlucky tonight. Hefner allowed four earned runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out five. One of those runs came on a leadoff home run by Alejandro De Aza.

Meanwhile, Chicago White Sox starter Jake Peavy was unstoppable and the Mets couldn’t touch him aside from the Duda homerun. He pitched into the seventh and held the Mets to just two hits after that.

The Mets almost made a game out of it in the eighth when they got the tying run to the plate, Andrew Brown and Lucas Duda struck out with two men on base. They scored a run in the ninth and again got the tying run to the plate, but this time Juan Lagares struck out to strand two runners to end the game.

The Mets begin a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night at 7:10 PM. Dillon Gee (2-4, 6.16) will be on the mound for the Mets, opposed by lefty Jeff Locke (3-1, 3.21).

Look at that scoreboard and count all of them zeroes!

What an amazing game tonight by the ace of the staff Matt Harvey who tossed nine scoreless innings tonight as the Mets beat the Chicago White Sox by the score of 1-0 on a tenth inning walk-off double by pinch hitter Mike Baxter.

The Mets phenom took a perfect game into the seventh inning until Alex Rios hit a grounder deep in the hole to Ruben Tejada who turned fired to first, but not in time as Rios beat the throw by half a step. Damn it!

Still, it was just another dominating performance in what has been a season full of them for Matt Harvey. The young right-hander struck out a career high twelve batters on the night and was absolutely electric.

The Mets offense was silenced most of the night by White Sox starter and Newark, New Jersey native Hector Santiago who was matching zeroes with Harvey and going toe to toe with him.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the tenth that the Mets broke through after a walk by Ike Davis who was then sacrificed to second on a perfect bunt by the rookie, Juan Lagares.

Terry Collins called on Mike Baxter to pinch hit and he quickly laced the ball into the right field corner as Ike Davis raced home and scored the winning run.

It was one of those games that you were happy to not have missed and hopefully all of you were tuned in and as amped up as I was. This one gave me goosebumps!

The Mets wrap up their short two game series tomorrow evening at 7:10 PM with Jeremy Hefner on the mound.

While it is conjecture Wright might have done something to aggravate his condition, the question can’t help be asked. Seriously, is winning a game in April worth losing Wright for a period of time? That’s the perception today and considering the Mets’ history in handling injuries, it is warranted.

The Mets played fast and loose with injuries to Carlos Beltran, Ryan Church, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana and Wright in the past several times only to have it come back to bite them. Perhaps I am being an alarmist, but following the Mets does that to a person.

“I would say it’s better now than it was when I woke up this morning, which is a good thing,’’ Wright told reporters in Miami after the Mets’ 15-inning loss to the Marlins. “So I think the treatment that I got on it during the day helped and was beneficial. I’ll wake up tomorrow and see how it feels. I’d like to play as soon as possible, so we’ll see.’’

That the Mets used Wright when they didn’t have to only indicates the panic mode the team – and manager Terry Collins? – must be in with their losing streak now at five.

The Mets’ heretofore lousy bullpen blew two leads last night. Sure, it is semantics to say Shaun Marcum is a reliever, but he was used in that role. First Bobby Parnell, who had been the Mets’ only reliable reliever, and then Marcum.

Blame the pen if you want, but the Mets went 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 26 runners.

Compounding matters, the Mets not only wasted numerous opportunities to win the game, but squandered a Matt Harvey outing, one in which he threw 121 pitches to boot.

The Mets can’t afford to waste games pitched by Harvey and Jon Niese, but that’s what they’ve done the last two times through the rotation with them, winning only Harvey’s no-decision last Wednesday against the Dodgers.

While not as bad as it was for a month stretch last summer, the Mets’ offense is in tatters.

* Ike Davis struck out three more times last night and is on pace to fan 196 times this season. That’s more than once a game. He has more strikeouts (29) than walks (12) and hits (13) combined, and there are no signs of him breaking out of his funk.

* Speaking of funks, after hitting over .300 for most of April, Daniel Murphy is on a 5-for-31 slide (.161 average with only one walk in that span).

* Wright’s on-base percentage is up, but needs to produce more than two homers and 19 RBI.

* Overall, the Mets have scored just ten runs in their last five games, and on the season have scored four or fewer runs in 13 of 25 games. They are averaging 8.5 strikeouts per game.

Thoughts from Joe D.

I guess a five game losing streak is a great time to clear the air. If not now, then when? Is it too early? Sure it’s early. but what does that have to do with some of the bad decisions we’ve been getting recently from Terry Collins? Is there a stat that shows Collins is a better strategist in July than he is in April? Do managers have slumps like players? Or are they just good or God Awful? Excuse me for going with the latter in Terry’s case. Sorry, Skip…

To begin, I think the concept of of bringing in a defensive replacement is lost on him. He substituted Collin Cowgill for Juan Lagares on Sunday and then got burned when Cowgill got a late break, a bad read, and watched a Ryan Howard shot sail over his head for a two-run double. He went with Cowgill again last night against the Marlins and left the better defender Lagares on the bench. On cue, Cowgill misplayed another flyball that translated into a Marlins win come-from-behind win.

And what’s the fascination with career utility outfielder Mike Baxter who has now made defensive miscues in three consecutive games?

Does he know that that the goal of a defensive replacement is to put in the player best equipped to bump your defense and not one who does the complete opposite?

Is someone telling him he HAS to play Cowgill and Baxter? Is it a clause written into their contracts? Because I don’t quite get the fascination – especially for Cowgill. He should be the next outfielder the team cuts and has no use to this team at all - offensively and defensively.

Yesterday, I blasted Collins for how he mishandles the bullpen, is too quick with the hook on starting pitching and then has the nerve to complain about them not going deep during his press conference. Both Jon Niese and Shaun Marcum admitted they wanted to stay in the game and had plenty left in the tank.

This is what happens when you’re a lame duck manager. It’s like trying to get work done while your boss looks over your shoulder. You make more mistakes, you slip up in areas you were once good at, you lose focus. Collins used to have a defender in me, but he looks like a dead man walking to me now.

A robot would probably have put in Juan Lagares instead of Collin Cowgill in the late innings last night … That’s because robots are nothing if not logical. Robots don’t go on intuition or hunches, they don’t make bullpen decisions based on their gut … Their guts are wires and blinking lights and oil cans and stuff. Robots don’t have “favorites,” ever.

A robot would not have told Jeurys Familia to walk Solano on a 1 – 2 count. To a robot that would not compute, you’d probably start seeing smoke coming out of the robot’s ears and it’s head would start spinning around if it made a move like that.

A robot manager could also squirt Gatorade directly into players’ mouths and blast them  with super-cold frozen carbon dioxide vapor when it’s real hot out.

Another good thing about Robots is that they wouldn’t get snippy during the postgame press conference for being second guessed neither. A robot also wouldn’t snap at the guy from the New York Post for asking about the weird double switch. See sometimes you get the sense that Terry Collins pulls the double switch because he likes how it looks on a scorecard and makes people think he’s doing his job.

“Yeah, had to pull three double switches tonight, honey… Boy am I bushed.”

A robot would use the double switch only when there was a logical reason for one … like taking out Lucas Duda. A robot would never forget to take Lucas Duda out in the late innings, Lucas Duda’s defensive metrics would be hard wired into the robot’s circuitry, “no hard feelings Lucas … bmeep bmeep bmoop bmoop.” Also, a Robot wouldn’t refuse to play Valdespin because Valdespin is irritating and obnoxious. Robots don’t have feelings, a robot wouldn’t care if Valdespin beats his chest after a triple.

A robot manager could also wax the floor of the dugout during a game.

You could also train a gorilla to be manager. They’ve taught some gorillas to use hand signals you know, how hard could it be? You’d have to get him into a uniform of course … I’m sure a few of Dave Kingman’s old jerseys are still around somewhere. The gorilla could just signal for a bunt with David Wright up and no one on base … He wouldn’t even have to follow the game, you could teach the gorilla six or seven signs and have him randomly use them during the game. So he might call for a triple steal or pull his starter after only one inning. A gorilla also wouldn’t care if Valdespin beats his chest after a triple, he’d probably beat his chest in response. Not only would it be a big improvement over Terry Collins, it would be hugely entertaining, win-win! You might want to equip Hudgens with a deluxe pooper-scooper to take care of any “accidents,” if you go the gorilla route.

Or you could pay a fifth-grader to be the manager. They will often work for candy and gum, and they can be pretty smart, especially the ones who read books and stuff. If the kid yells at Tim McClelland because he fell asleep or maybe had a small stroke between pitches McClelland can’t eject him because the kid would be too young to go unsupervised. I know McClelland is slow to call balls and strikes but I swear there were times last night where he was waiting to see how the batter would react so he could call the opposite, just to screw with the hitters for being so unbelievably awful. I don’t blame him really.

A fifth-grader might even be able to get away with kicking the umpire in the shin. If a fifth grader were running things every baserunner would steal on every pitch. Hitters would swing at everything, the hit and run sign would always be on. Runners would steal home as soon as they got to third base, it would be pure chaos! (The awesome kind not the boring Ike Davis kind.) You could put Dan Warthen in charge of getting the kid cotton candy and hot dogs and bubble gum … the kid might need his own bullpen cart but it’s a small price really …