Las Vegas 12, Tacoma 13  The night did not look promising for Zack Wheeler as the first two hitters led off the game with back-to-back doubles, and before you could blink, the 51s were down 1-0. Wheeler settled down after that and retired the next three batters in order, including two strikeouts. Wheeler cruised through the next three innings, as he did not allow a hit and surrendered just one walk. In the fifth inning, Wheeler’s [...]

Most baseball pundits cast off the Mets’ outfield as being the worst in the league heading into the season. On paper, maybe that is correct, but based on performance, the Mets outfield hasn’t been all that bad. Lucas Duda has looked good offensively, Marlon Byrd has had some big hits, Mike Baxter gives all-out effort every time he’s on the field, and Jordany Valdespin proved last night what a great asset he is to the [...]

Last night, in the Mets 7-2 loss to the Dodgers, Juan Lagares entered the game in the top of the fifth inning to play center field as part of a double-switch – officially marking his major league debut. Lagares led off in the bottom half of the fifth with a hard hit fly to the warning track in left field against Dodgers’ ace LHP Clayton Kershaw. In his next at-bat, Lagares singled against left-hander Paco Rodriguez in [...]

I thought about the first three spots in the Mets lineup. While the two and three holes seem locked by Daniel Murphy and David Wright respectively, the leadoff spot has been somewhat of a revolving door. Here is the list of starts in the leadoff spot with Murphy and Wright at No. 2 and 3: Collin Cowgill – 6 Jordany Valdespin – 6 Mike Baxter – 1 Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 1 Justin Turner – 1 [...]

After losing the first game of their doubleheader with the Colorado Rockies 8-4, it looked as though the Mets might pull out a win in the finale after taking a commanding 8-1 lead through the top of the fifth. But it all fell apart as the blunders, errors and shoddy pitching saw the Rockies mount a shocking 10th inning 9-8 comeback victory to send the Mets reeling and gingerly walking back to the comfort of [...]

According to this tweet by Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Mets may have something cooking with the Texas Rangers who are seeking to move outfielder Julio Borbon. Borbon, 27, was designated for assignment last week and the Rangers have until this afternoon to trade him or place him on irrevocable waivers. He has a slash of .283/.324/.358 over parts of four years in the majors. Last season, Borbon hit .304/.349/.433 with 23 doubles, eight triples, 10 [...]

Aside from Marlon Byrd, who is batting .269 on the young season, the rest of the Mets outfielders are all in a big rut at the plate. Worst among them is Oakland A’s import Collin Cowgill who is batting .130 after another 0-for-4 showing last night against left-hander Cliff Lee. Cowgill, who was initially proclaimed the everyday center fielder before the season began, has now been relegated to a platoon role against southpaws only and [...]

Yesterday, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reported that the Mets decided to send Omar Quintanilla to Triple-A Vegas to start the season so they could minimize the risk of losing him to waivers early in the season. Quintanilla is not currently on the 40-man roster. Collins said the Mets were wary of carrying Quintanilla out of spring training in part because if they ever needed to free a spot on the major league roster and Quintanilla was the [...]

Six games into the season and the Mets have used three different leadoff hitters. Evidently, there are answers to be found. One who should get a longer look is Mike Baxter, who started Saturday and reached base three times on two hits and a walk. A lead off hitter needs to get on base, and if not then take the count as deep as possible to give the following hitters a chance to learn what they [...]