I wrote last week Matt Harvey could pitch against Stephen Strasburg in the first game of the Washington series, and depending on possible postponements it could still pan out that way.

The Mets will have the back end of their rotation in the first three games of the Colorado series, with Dillon Gee, Aaron Laffey and Jeremy starting in the Coors Field bandbox. Who doesn’t believe the bullpen will get a lot of work?

Jon Niese is scheduled to start Thursday afternoon, where the temperatures could be in the teens.

It’s hard to hit in the cold, but might be more difficult to pitch as the ball is difficult to grip and the pitchers’ command is usually off.

In looking at the Rockies series, there are several things in addition to the Mets’ bullpen we should be curious in seeing:

* There’s the sizzling John Buck, who needed yesterday’s day off. Buck is the first player in history with 19 RBI in his first ten games with a new team. Buck is also one of four players with 19 RBI in his team’s first ten games, joining Lou Gehrig (1927 Yankees), Manny Ramirez (1999 Indians) and Chris Davis (this year’s Orioles).

Buck’s streak of homers in four straight games was snapped, but his six homers is more than Mets catchers hit last year (five).

* Marlon Byrd went deep yesterday to give the Mets a franchise-record 11 straight games with a homer to start a season. It’s the longest since the Rays homered in 12 straight in 2007.

* Whether Jordany Valdespin hits leadoff tonight. Despite their winning record, the Mets have not found a consistent leadoff hitter among the four they have used. Like him or not, Valdespin does generate a buzz.

* How long will Ike Davis’ slump last? He’s hitting .128 with a .244 on-base and .205 slugging percentage.  Coors Field was built to end slumps. Of all Davis’ poor numbers, 12 strikeouts and just five hits might be the most stunning.

* Will Daniel Murphy continue to sizzle? He’s hitting .381 with hits in seven of his last eight games. Murphy has 16 hits, with eight going for extra bases. He has a .413 on-base percentage and .690 slugging percentage.

* Will David Wright get his first homer? Coors Field has always been kind to Wright. He is a lifetime .385 hitter with a .461 on-base percentage, eight homers and 33 RBI in 29 games in the Rocky Mountains. In comparison, he has 14 homers and 35 RBI in 74 games at Turner Field, and seven homers and 41 RBI in 58 games at the Marlins’ old park.

The Mets return home Friday to start a three-game series with the suddenly vulnerable Nationals this weekend.

A sheet of notebook paper, with the words, “Know your place, Rook … signed, your teammates,” was taped over Lastings Milledge’s locker in the Mets’ clubhouse in old RFK Stadium. This, in the late summer in 2006.

The Mets were en route to the playoffs and a veteran laden team was rubbed the wrong way by Milledge’s brashness and arrogance. Then-manager Willie Randolph – who reprimanded Milledge several times that summer – ripped down the sign, but knew he hadn’t ripped away the problem.

The Mets labeled it a misunderstanding, and Randolph called Lastings Milledge “a good kid,’’ but this clearly was not a misunderstanding with a teammate. It was the accumulation of several incidents that rankled several teammates.

This one-time cant-miss prospect was seeing his stock go down and his odds of scratching out a major league career was now just a game of chance like playing online slots.

Milledge burst upon the Mets, hitting over .300, was dazzling on the bases and showed a strong arm. He was going to be the next “fill in the blank.’’ Willie Mays? Roberto Clemente?

However, things quickly cooled after his first career homer, when on his way to the outfield he high-fived fans down the right field line in Shea Stadium. Randolph sensed how the Giants seethed in their dugout, especially since he saw some of his own players do the same.

Randolph reprimanded Milledge on the unwritten laws in baseball, but it didn’t take. There were ground balls he didn’t run out and times he didn’t hustle in the outfield. He was flash with the jewelry swinging wildly on the field, but in the clubhouse he often sat buried in his locker wearing headphones or playing a video game.

He came off as sullen and angry and clearly couldn’t be bothered by getting to know his teammates. Or, a baseball legend for that matter. During spring training then-GM Omar Minaya brought Milledge to the Nationals dugout to meet Frank Robinson, but Milledge was came off as being in-different.

Finally, he arrived in the clubhouse in Philadelphia an hour before a day game. Although it was early, the veterans made it in on time. David Wright had enough when Milledge strolled in with sunglasses and an iPod as if he owned the place and told him this wasn’t acceptable.

Wright wouldn’t belabor the issue Opening Day, only managing to say “seniority is big in this game,’’ which is the politically-correct translation for Milledge hadn’t earned his stripes.

Milledge popped into my consciousness today when I learned it was his 28^th birthday, an age when he should be in the prime of his career. Instead, Milledge is one of hundreds of baseball prospects given the label of “can’t miss, but eventually did.’’

Seven years ago – the career lifetime of a select few – the Mets had three prized outfield prospects in Milledge, Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez. One by one they arrived, fizzled to the point of exasperation and were traded. Not one of them hustled like journeyman outfielder Collin Cowgill.

After turning down several proposals for Manny Ramirez, the Mets eventually traded Milledge to Washington as part of a trade that brought Ryan Church – he of the concussion fiasco – and catcher Brian Schneider. Milledge had his coffee to go with Washington, then Pittsburgh and finally the White Sox before heading to Japan. Milledge had his head-scratching moments in each place, but basically stopped hitting.

At 28, Milledge is still young. It’s about discipline in Japan and if Milledge comes back with a changed attitude perhaps he’ll get another chance. It’s a long way to Japan, and perhaps an even longer route back to the major leagues.

The organization from top to bottom seem to be throwing each other under the bus to preserve themselves.  Last winter we all know that Manny Ramirez was a free agent.  Before it was revealed that Manny used performance enhancing drugs there was a lot of people who wanted Manny to be part of the Mets.  Omar Minaya we all know had been trying to get Manny to become a member of this team since he became the general manager.  Last year we all found out that the Wilpons were one of the many clients Bernie Madoff cheated out of millions of dollars, but they insisted that Madoff’s lack of a soul had nothing to do with the New York Mets.  In January of this year Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said the following regarding Manny Ramirez to Bloomberg.com.

“Mets GM Omar Minaya has not brought the idea to ownership because the baseball staff is not interested in Manny.”

Wilpon not citing a cash flow problem all but threw Omar Minaya and the baseball staff under the bus because as per usual the Wilpon’s refused to admit that there was a problem.

Fast forward to Spring Training and Johan Santana developed some sort of injury in his pitching arm.  There was miscommunication from the start on the exact injury and the severity of the injury.  Dan Warthen was concerned, the trainers were but Santana went out of his way to tell the press that nothing was wrong when other were saying that there was a problem.  Once again there is a lack of communication in this organization.

Santana’s injury was just the start of the Mets feeding misinformation within the organization.  The medical staff and Omar told Delgado that his injury was day to day and that he would be in pain throughout the season, but that he would be able to perform.  Two weeks later and Delgado is having perhaps season ending surgery on his hip.  Jose Reyes goes down next and Jerry Manuel tells us that the training staff has assured him that Reyes is day to day, but Reyes has not played in over month.  Last week Carlos Beltran went down and was placed on the disabled list in what is being called a bone bruise on his knee.  Omar, Jerry and the training staff insist it is only an injury that would heal in 2 weeks.  Beltran has said otherwise, in fact he has gone to Colorado on his own to see one of the best knee surgeons in the country because he believes the injury is worse than what the Mets have told him.

With 3/4 of the core down the Mets are struggling to stay alive in the National League East.  Omar refuses to make a deal, he would rather sit and wait for the guys to heal and then try and catch up to the Phillies.  Reports came yesterday that veteran Mets players are begging Omar to add some depth to this lineup.  The manager also seems to recognize that a bat needs to be added to this team and quick.  Jerry in his post game show has all but begged for Omar to add a bat on Sunday night after the Yanks swept the Mets in their home ballpark.  Last night in his post game show he said about the under .500 team:

“We’re a below-average team — period”

The manager is lashing out at the GM for not doing enough with the team struggling, the team is under-performing and the Mets seem to be coming apart before our eyes.  Departments are not talking to each other and misinformation is being put out into the public and this is causing more harm than good.  The organzation as whole is guilty of this from the owners all the way down to the minor leagues.  This didn’t get a lot of press but the Mets had 3 minor league players suspended last week for the use of PED’s. 

I don’t know when it began or even how it started. Perhaps the collapse, perhaps building Citi Field took too much attention and now the Mets are paying the price, perhaps the Madoff scandal has had more of a negative impact than the Wilpons would like to admit.  But something has happened to this organization since the end of 2006, and needs to be fixed and now. Otherwise there will be more times like this coming.

1B: National League- Albert Pujols. Pujols has almost doubled up Prince Fielder and will likely start in St. Louis. Pujols will and should win, but Joey Votto should be higher. Carlos Delgado is 4^th.

American League: Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis has had a productive season, even though he spent time on the DL, but he has an equalizer; the Boston fan base. To his credit though, he leads in OPS. Miguel Cabrera leads all 1B (and the American League) is batting avg. Carlos Pena leads the AL in HR. Justin Morneau is leading in RBI, and is having perhaps the best all around season. Mark Teixeira is close in stats and votes. Any of them are deserving, but it will likely be Youk or Tex.

2B: National League- Chase Utley. Brewer fans have jammed the ballots for 2^nd place Ricky Weeks (who is out for the season), but if you take out his votes, Utley has almost doubled up on 3^rd place Orlando Hudson. Luis Castillo is 5^th.

American League: Ian Kinsler. Kinsler is beating out his former Arizona St. teammate Dustin Pedroia, but Toronto’s Aaron Hill is having the best season among AL second basemen.

SS: National League- JJ Hardy. Okay, this is Milwaukee ballot stuffing in effect. Hardy leads Hanley Ramirez by 37,000 votes, the closest of any margin. Hanley will likely take it as voting goes on. Jose Reyes is 4^th.

American League: Derek Jeter. Jason Bartlett of the Rays is having a better season, but Jeter’s a Yankee.

3B: National League- David Wright. Wright leads Bill Hall (Brewer ballot stuffing), who leads Larry Jones, who leads Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman and Wright are having the two best years for 3B’s, but it will likely be Wright.

American League: Evan Longoria. Longoria is blowing all other AL third basemen out of the water, in stats and in voting.

Catcher: National League- Yadier Molina. Molina leads Jason Kendall of the Brewers. Yadier Molina isn’t even the best Molina, as Bengie of the Giants is having the best season. But he’s a Cardinal, so he will likely start.

American League: Joe Mauer. Mauer leads Victor Martinez, but Mauer has been nothing short of amazing since he returned from the DL. Mauer’s finally showing power to go with his high average.

Outfield: National League- Ryan Braun, Alfonso Soriano, and Carlos Beltran. The Ballot stuffin’ Brewers have three outfielders in the top seven. Raul Ibanez of the Phillies is 6^th. And the most notable story of the day is that Manny Ramirez is 4^th, 34,000 votes behind Beltran. It would be a hilarious disaster if Manny was voted in.

American League: Jason Bay, Josh Hamilton, and Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro has had a bad year, but he gets Japanese votes. Bay is deserving, but there are other outfielders having a better season than Hamilton, who spent time on the DL. Nick Markakis and Carl Crawford are 5^th and 6^th. Torii Hunter, who has been having a great season is 10^th. Also, Ken Griffey Jr., who is living off past popularity, is 1,000 votes behind Ichiro for 3^rd.

Voting ends July 2.

Trivia: Who was the first Met outfielder to be voted in as a starter in the All-Star game, and in what year?

Till Next Time

It was the same when Alex Rodriguez admitted he lied and that he did in fact use steroids.

When two big players such as A-Rod and Manny Ramirez get thrust into the performance enhancing drugs controversy, it’s going to become a tabloid-like, National Enquirer-esque sensation.

The rumors of PED use had already been tied to both these players for quite some time. Jose Canseco mentioned both Ramirez and A-Rod as being cheaters. As despicable a person as Canseco is, he’s shown a remarkable accuracy in singling out the offenders, so while yesterday’s news may have a shock to it, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

I wondered which players would really shock me if they were found to test positive for steroid use or PED’s…

The one name that immediately jumps out at me is Ken Griffey Jr.

I think if he were to fail a drug test, it would truly be the most shocking and surprising revelation of them all. He remains the most credible and trustworthy of all the recent additions to the 500 homerun club. He still maintains that wholesome youthfulness and enthusiasm  that endeared him to so many over the years.

Derek Jeter is another player who would send shockwaves through baseball if he were ever caught.

What players would totally blow you away if they were caught using Performance Enhancing Drugs?

I’ll also be polling my Twitter followers today and I will share those results tonight.

a glycoprotein hormone produced in pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo soon after conception and later by the syncytiotrophoblast (part of the placenta). Its role is to prevent the disintegration of the corpus luteum of the ovary and thereby maintain progesterone production that is critical for a pregnancy in humans.

Now I’m not one to look into a players personal life but I don’t think Manny was using the drug for it’s intended use.  From the research I have done HCG is used primarily by steroid users when they come off of a cycle to get the production of testosterone started in their bodies again.

Manny is now the 2nd most high profile player to test positive for PED’s.  The first being New York Yankees 3rd Basemen Alex Rodriguez.  I’ll admit here and now that I wanted very much for the Mets to sign Manny Ramirez in the off-season.  I’ve been saying through this short season so far that the Mets should have signed Manny Ramirez to a contract.  It looks like the Mets did dodge a bullet here.  With everything else that is going on with this team, this was the last thing the Mets needed to happen to them.  Unfortunately while the Mets have dodged a bullet the Dodgers and more importantly Major League Baseball have not.

Some of the sports best players in recent years have tested or are highly suspected in using steroids or some other form of PED’s.  Manny Ramirez up until today I believe was a lock for the Hall-Of-Fame.  Players such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa at one time were also locks for Cooperstown but most likely won’t get voted into the hall now.  While these athletes are at fault for using roids and PED’s the blame also has to fall on Major League Baseball.

For years the home-run totals were getting higher, guys were getting bigger in their final years of playing than they were in their prime, pitchers were throwing harder than ever but Bed Selig ignored the problem until Congress got involved.  The Mitchell Report was conducted and a new drug policy was implemented to the approval of the Players Union.

The testing that major league baseball does is not enough.  They do not test for human growth hormone (HGH).  There is a blood test that could test for the use of HGH but MLB doesn’t use it.  MLB also does not test for masking agents that hide the use of steroids and PED’s.  Once again it’s a simple test but it’s not implemented.  The 50 game suspension in my opinion is not enough.  Manny will lose approximately 7.7 million dollars due to his suspension.  I believe that if players are still trying to get away with steroid use in this day and age when they are being tested then the penalty needs to be higher.  The penalty should be a suspension for one season.  I know the Players Union will never approve of this but this is the only way to ensure that these players will stop using.  You take away their salary for a year that will make them think twice before injecting PED’s into their bodies.  If it’s a players walk year they’ll be afraid of getting caught using PED’s.

Fans, writers, broadcasters, bloggers and everyone else who cares about the game will be talking about this for days on end.  In the end though the fact that Manny Ramirez, one of the best right handed hitters in the game tested positive for a PED will change nothing.  Until the drug policy is tougher these guys will continue to use PED’s.  They will use it to get higher numbers that will ensure more money.  They will use PED’s to heal from injuries and get their spots back.  They will use PED’s to cheat the game and the fans who watch and love this game.  They will break the records of guys who got those records using their ability, not PED’s.  If  MLB wants new records set by younger athletes to mean something they must make the changes to the drug policy.  If MLB wants fans to continue to show up to games and to watch their TV network something needs to change and that change must happen soon.

The suspension will cost Ramirez $7.7 million, or roughly 31% of his $25-million salary. Players in violation of baseball’s drug policy are not paid during suspensions.

Ramirez is expected to attribute the test results to medication received from a doctor for a personal medical issue, according to a source familiar with matter but not authorized to speak publicly.

The Dodgers informed triple-A outfielder Xavier Paul this morning that he was being promoted to Los Angeles.

Ramirez joins A-Rod as the two biggest stars who have been implicated with banned substances.

Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti and Manager Joe Torre said they were unaware of any failed test or pending suspension.

Ramirez leads the Dodgers in batting average (.348), on-base percentage (.492) and slugging percentage (.641), and he is tied for the team lead in home runs with six.

He signed a two-year, $45-million contract with the Dodgers in March, with the first year guaranteed at $25 million and the second year at his option at $20 million.

Could you imagine if the Mets had signed him?