David Wright, 3B

MMO Player of the Week!

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, the Mets go ahead and prove us wrong. Although it’s a long shot to say that anybody was expecting to win a series against the best team in baseball (and the way this team was playing, against the Cubs), hopes were not high coming into the week. The streaky defense and simply atrocious offense were barely able to scrape out two wins in six games played. In an otherwise depressing week, one man stood out above the rest: our Player Of The Week, David Wright!

Wright sparked his offensive resurgence with a double and a homer in the Mets’ 5-1 win against Shelby Miller on Wednesday. He proceeded to single three times the following day, walk and single another three times on Friday, walk and double on Saturday and double once more on Sunday. A player getting this many hits was almost an alien concept to us; until we remembered who was getting them. He’s a 6-time all star for a reason and this week did nothing but remind us of that. His collective 10 hits gives him a phenomenal line of .529/.600/.824 for the week and a line of .297/.390/.491 on the year. Wright has been the only player contributing anything to this horrid offense as of late. It’s quite frustrating to see him waste his talents in a lineup that offers no protection around him. Thankfully, he’ll be around for 7 more years to come.

HONORABLE MENTION:

How could we forget Matt Harvey? The young stud had another great start, yielding only 5 hits and one run while striking out 7. His only mistake (yes, he can make mistakes) came on a hanging breaking ball that Matt Carpenter took full advantage of, smacking a line drive past the diving Marlon Byrd and resulting in an RBI triple. Harvey settled down after that and did not let another run cross the plate. Unfortunately for him, the lack of offense and ugly bullpen pitching undeservedly handed Harvey his first loss of the season. Hey, at least it wasn’t another no decision… right?

*Stats taken into consideration are from 6/9 – 6/15 and will run from Sunday – Saturday going ahead…

Matt Harvey has become the new Johan Santana of the Mets, and that is not in reference to his skills or his emergence into the staff’s ace.

Harvey has been lights out all season long, and should have at least ten wins under his belt. However despite his 2.04 ERA, Matt Harvey sits at 5-1 on the year, that one loss coming last night after he allowed just a lone run over seven frames, and could have gone longer.

Although injuries hampered the majority of Santana’s New York career, when he was on the mound for the Mets, he rarely had a great deal of run support. Following his inaugural season in Flushing, his record was a mediocre 30-27 while posting a 3.49 ERA. He failed to win more than 13 games in a season over that stretch from ’09-’12 and for the most part, pitched much better than what his record showed.

The same goes for Matt Harvey in 2013. After the first five weeks of the season in which the Mets young fireballer received an average of seven runs per game of support, Harvey had suffered eight no decisions in his last nine starts before taking the first loss of his 2013 season. Despite going a minimum seven frames ten times this year, he has but five wins and one loss to show for it.

For a hard-nosed player like Harvey, winning is the only acceptable outcome, and to take the loss–especially when he didn’t deserve it–is a devastating blow.

“I needed to put up seven zeros” Harvey told Bob Klapisch of Newsday, and he’s right, he needed to, but he shouldn’t have had to. Harvey limited the best offense team in the National League to just one run, and the Mets failed to match that against a pitcher who had a career ERA over seven against the Amazin’s going into the game.

The offense needs to step up and put some runs on the board for their aces. They failed Johan Santana for the majority of his career when he gave them literally everything he had with every pitch. Harvey has the same mentality in that he leaves everything on the field, he will pitch to the best of his ability until his arm falls off. That type of loyalty, commitment and heart is being wasted when the Mets lineup goes out there and fails to get the guy a single run.

The Mets future rotation is going to have a number of bright young talents in it centered around Niese, Wheeler and Harvey, but their lineup is going to need help, and a lot of it.

Just as disheartening as it is to see the losses pile up for the team, it is just that much worse to see Matt Harvey sit at 5-1 when we know he deserves to be 12-0.

In an article that was highly critical of the New York Mets, Bob Raissman of the Daily News pondered how challenging it must be for SNY to broadcast Mets games and still keep the viewers from tuning out.

With no end to the Mets’ ineptitude and misery in sight, their broadcasters are the only entertaining element left. They won’t be able to stop the ratings from tanking, no set of voices can do that, but they can hold what is left of the shrinking audience by pounding away at the horror show reality the Mets will be dealing with indefinitely.

Mets fans have options. They can stop going to Citi Field, which they have already done in droves. And they can stop watching Mets games on SNY or listening on WFAN. The broadcasters don’t have a choice. They not only get paid to watch this garbage, they must find a way to honestly describe it.

Wow, that’s a bit rough. Raissman also warns the Mets voices to not even try attaching false hope to Sandy Alderson’s recent moves because “that would be a con job.”

He adamantly insists that now is the time to dispense with the platitudes and to tell fans what they really think of the job Alderson is doing. “The fans need to know,” he writes.

Read the full article here.

It sounds to me like Raissman is a man with an ax to grind, and while I can totally understand his obvious outrage, he’s choosing a very unprofessional way of going about this. I would expect better from a longtime journalist as him.

Updated by Satish Ram at 7:45 PM:

Adam Rubin is reporting that first baseman Josh Satin, center fielder Collin Cowgill and lefthanded reliever Josh Edgin will be promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas to replace Ike Davis, Mike Baxter and Robert Carson who were all optioned to Triple-A after today’s 8-4 loss to the Marlins.

Satin will be added to the 40-man roster to fill the empty spot left when Rick Ankiel was released yesterday.

That means within the last 24 hours, Satin, Cowgill, Edgin and Nieuwenhuis were all added to the MLB roster.

Let’s go youth movement!

Thoughts from Joe D.

No surprise here. As I speculated earlier there was no chance that anyone was coming from Double-A Binghamton and that these three were your likely suspects.

Of the three, the only one I look forward to watching is Josh Satin who I’ve been calling for since mid-April. I can assure you he will outproduce Ike Davis simply because he’s a more disciplined hitter than Ike was and he knows how to get on base.

I don’t foresee much success for Cowgill or Edgin unfortunately, and I’m not sure any of this will change anything or have a significant impact on the standings.

Original Post

Sandy Alderson has announced that the Mets have optioned Ike Davis, Mike Baxter and Robert Carson to Triple-A Las Vegas following today’s brutal 8-4 loss to the Marlins.

“At some point you just have to say to yourself this is not in his best interest,” Sandy Alderson said about Davis’ demotion. “I was one of his biggest supporters. I just felt at some point we’ve got to get him out of here. Hopefully he’ll be back in a short period of time. But he needs to go there. He needs to be able to play every day. He needs to be able to work on his swing without worrying necessarily about the outcome. We think it’s in his best interest.”

“It’s tough to sit through 30 innings and score not even a handful of runs,” Alderson said. “It’s been frustrating for everybody. I’m sure it’s frustrating for the fans, too. But we’ve got an off-day tomorrow and we’ve got to pick it up on Tuesday.”

Corresponding moves are expected to all come from Triple-A Las Vegas, but will not be announced until Monday. If true that means no Jack leathersich or Robert Carson.

David Wright (courtesy of ESPN New York) added this:

“When you’re struggling the way we’re struggling, changes come — whether you like it or not,” Wright said. “That’s the name of the game. I think what every player, what every front office, what every coach strives for is consistency. But you can’t have consistency when you are a dozen or so games under .500.”

“You keep getting asked about the Marlins and teams you should beat,” Wright said. “I think I said it the other day: Teams are probably looking at us that way, where you’ve got to come in here and beat us. So we can’t look at any other team that way.”

This team is an absolute joke right now. This should have been done a month ago when the season was still relevant, not now when they are floundering and playing worse baseball than the Miami Marlins – if that is at all possible.

These moves come a day after Rick Ankiel was released and let’s call this what it is – an act of desperation by the front office..

Davis has been in a season-long funk that has suffocated the offense and sucked the life out of it. He will not be replaced at first base by Lucas Duda or Justin Turner – so look for Josh Satin to get the call.

This could also open the door for Wilmer Flores, but unless he’s given an everyday job, I doubt it. Look for either Andrew Brown or Collin Cowgill to replace Baxter. Both players have already disappointed this season with the Mets forcing their own demotions to Triple-A, but lets face it folks – the cupboard is bare.

Will Josh Edgin replace Carson? Probably, but he’s had a rough go of it in Binghamton and Vegas since being demoted himself. Edgin was one of the first relievers to get axed from Sandy’s 2013 bullpen.

This team sucks right now… We’ve gone from bad to worse… They can’t do anything right…

I will keep updating this post with more of my thoughts throughout the night…

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

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

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

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

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

Original Post 6/3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mets have just two legitimate major league hitters in their lineup; David Wright and Daniel Murphy. When the two of them are hot and the Mets get a good pitching performance, the odds are pretty good that they will gut out a win and perhaps even reel off a five game winning streak.

But when the two of them combine to go 0-for-8 don’t hold your breath waiting for something good to happen. The odds are the Mets will lose, just ask Matt Harvey, Jeremy Hefner and Shaun Marcum as each of them can attest to that.

“We’ve been struggling offensively for a while,” Collins said. “The Yankees series, Murph and David were red hot. You looked up and they were always on base. And it made it a little easier. So we’re not doing that right now. We’re looking to get some other people going. It just seems like if we get somebody on, we don’t capitalize on it.”

You want to see something sad? Check out this positional breakdown of the Mets offense this season, courtesy of our friends at Baseball Reference:

How pathetic is that?

Remember when all we needed offensively was a second baseman and a new left fielder?

In a post yesterday, I pointed out a couple of disturbing trends this season.

• Mets batters are hitting .217 when leading off an inning. Mets leadoff hitters are batting just .198 this season with a .528 OPS. With No. 8 hitters batting .174 and the No. 9 spot batting .191 those are three dead spots in a row in the lineup.
• With the Mets approach of trying to see more pitches during their at-bats, the results so far haven’t been very encouraging. They are batting .190 in three ball counts, .148 in two strike counts and .183 on full counts.

Something is not working. Something is not clicking. Last week I called for the Mets to fire Dave Hudgens. I normally don’t put much stock in the impact of a hitting coach, but in Hudgens’ case I have to make an exception. As I’ve said before, he doesn’t have one success story that he can cite since taking over as the Mets hitting coach. Not one. As a matter of fact, most of the players under his tutelage have regressed – many of them mightily.

Every single Met broadcast on SNY now spends a minimum of 15-20 minutes each game analyzing, dissecting and blabbering about this offensive philosophy from top to bottom. Personally, I’m as tired of hearing and reading about it as I am writing about it. Way too much is being made about something that doesn’t seem to have had any positive impact on this team. Again, look at that chart. And please spare me the small sample size as this team’s offense has been on a downward slope since 2010.

This one size fits all approach isn’t working. In my opinion each player is different and this philosophy of trying to fit round pegs into square holes hasn’t reaped anything remotely resembling a positive development. Newer isn’t always better, just ask the folks at Coca Cola.

As it stands right now, it’s getting to the point where the 2005- 2008 seasons are beginning to look like the good old days. Now that’s not a good sign, is it?

Starting Lineup

Game Notes

The Mets have won three games in a row for the second time this year. New York won three straight from April 6-8. The Mets won their second straight one-run game and improved to 8-8 in one-run decisions after starting the year 1-6 in such games. The last time the Mets won back-to-back games vs. the Yankees was when they won three straight from May 22-June 18, 2010.

Lucas Duda collected his second career walk-off RBI last night. Duda joined Matt Franco (July 10, 1999), David Wright (May 19, 2006) and Jason Bay (July 3, 2011) as Mets who have had walk-off hits against the Yankees. Duda’s other walk-off hit came on August 8, 2011 vs. San Diego. It was the Mets fifth walk-off win this year. New York’s five walk-off wins are tied for the second-most in the majors with Cleveland and Seattle. San Francisco is first with seven. The Mets had six walk-off victories in 2012.

New York’s last six wins at home have come in its final at-bat, the longest streak in team history. The Mets had five straight home wins in their final at-bat from May 13-June 2, 1989. The last major league team with six straight home victories in its last at-bat was the Cleveland Indians, April 29-May 20, 2011. Overall, New York has eight last at-bat wins, tied for the fifth-most in the majors this year.

The Mets are 5-1 this year in Interleague play. They were 8-7 vs. the AL last season. The Mets are 140-128 all time in Interleague play. The 140 wins are the fourth-most among NL clubs.

The Mets are 8-12 on the road this year. Daniel Murphy ranks third in the NL with a .386 batting average on the road while David Wright is sixth with a .359 mark.

Over the last seven games, Mets starters have posted a 2.98 ERA (15 earned runs/45.1 innings). Overall, Mets starters have a 4.34 ERA, ranking 22nd in the majors. Tonight’s starter Jeremy Hefner has recorded a 3.89 ERA (16 earned runs/37.0 innings) over his last six starts. Five of his nine starts have been quality starts.

For the second straight night vs. the Yankees, David Wright tied the game. On Monday, he hit a solo home run in the seventh inning. Last night, he had an RBI single in the ninth. Wright is hitting .310 (9-29) with two home runs and five RBI in close and late situations this year.

Daniel Murphy has at least one hit in 13 of his last 16 games, batting .397 (25-63) with two home runs and nine RBI over that clip. Murphy collected his 16th double last night and is tied for second in the NL this season. Since the start of 2012 season, he has 56 doubles, the second-most in the NL.

Matt Harvey fanned 10 batters last night, his third double-digit strikeout game this season. The three double-digit strikeout games are the most in the NL and it was Harvey’s fifth career game with 10 or more strikeouts in 21 starts. The only Mets pitcher with more such outings in his first 21 games was Dwight Gooden, who had eight.

Brandon Nimmo went 0-for-5 Tuesday with Savannah, in his first game since April 29. Nimmo, the organization’s 2011 first-round pick, had dealt with a bruised hand and then a back issue. In a drought spanning the absence, Nimmo is now hitless in his last 25 at-bats. But because of a torrid start with the Gnats, Nimmo nonetheless is hitting .305.

Game Preview

The Mets go for four in a row and a season series victory against the Yankees tonight as the Mets travel East on the 7 and North on the 4 to the Bronx tonight. For a third game in a row last night, the Mets received excellent starting pitching and the offense didn’t come around until the bullpen did, just doing enough to get the win. Last night, it was Harvey with the excellent start and the offense did nada until the 9th when they were able to squeeze out two runs for the win. Tonight Jeremy Hefner gets the nod as he goes up against David Phelps.

Jeremy Hefner is 0-5 on the season over 10 games and 9 starts while pitching 51.0 innings with a 4.76 ERA. He pitched good enough to win last time out allowing 2 ER over 6 innings while striking out 7 but then the Mets happened and that went away. Last year he logged one scoreless inning against the Yankees striking out one batter. Since he only worked one inning, and the Yankees are full of injuries, there is no one on the active roster for the Yankees that he has faced.

The Mets bats look to breakout against David Phelps tonight who is 3-2 this season over 11 games, 5 starts while pitching 50.0 innings with a 3.96 ERA. May has been the only month that he has started, and as a starter he is 2-1 over 33.0 innings with a 3.27 ERA. He has never faced the Mets and has never faced any batters on the Mets roster.

Because of Murphy’s high on-base percentage, batting him leadoff is something I have advocated, and I’m glad Terry Collins was thinking outside the box enough to make the move.

“He gets on base, because he can hit,’’ Collins told ESPN.com. “And, when he’s swinging good, he can get some walks. We’ve got to get some people on ahead of David [Wright]. That’s for sure.’’Notice how Collins didn’t mention getting on base ahead of Ike Davis, but I guess he couldn’t say that with a straight face.

Murphy is the seventh Met to hit leadoff this young season, and of the previous six, is there one who you can note with conviction that will be here next year?

Ruben Tejada (12 times), Jordany Valdespin(10), Mike Baxter (eight), Collin Cowgill (seven),Justin Turner (two) and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (one) have all appeared without much success at the top or the order. Mets leadoff hitters have hit a major league low .179 with a 29^th ranked .238 on-base percentage.

Collins was non-committal on how long he’ll use Murphy leading off, but considering he’s a .300 hitter with a .337 on-base percentage, he doesn’t have better options.

With their leadoff hitters and Davis, the Mets have two slots in the batting order hitting less than .200, and overall they have four positions in their regular lineup hitting below .240.

Collins thought about Murphy hitting first during spring training, but then he had to come up with a center fielder and decide what to do with Tejada. Meanwhile, Murphy, because of his willingness to take a pitch, also seemed suited to hitting second.

“I thought about it in spring training, to be honest, whether or not to lead Murph off,’’ Collins said. “We’ll just see how it goes. It might be something we’ve certainly got to consider as we get deeper into the season, because he can hit.

“He gets on base. If he does that, certainly we’ve got to keep our options open with Murph being the leadoff hitter.’’

Murphy hitting first seems the way to go for now, but slotting him there doesn’t alleviate all of Collins’ concerns. Rick Ankiel can be an answer defensively in center field, but the outfield remains subpar.

The Mets now need a No. 2 hitter, but because Tejada insists on hitting fly balls, he’s not an ideal fit there.

Let’s face it, currently Murphy and Wright are the only hitters in the lineup who are reliable.

Starting Lineup

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

Game Notes

Bobby Parnell has three wins and four saves this month. Parnell has hurled 8.0 scoreless frames in May and is tied for the major league lead among all relievers with four wins and is seventh in the NL with a 0.93 ERA (min. 17.0 innings). Parnell is unscored upon in 17 of his 19 appearances.

New York’s bullpen retired all 12 batters they faced yesterday as Sc tt Rice earned his second win and Bobby Parnell notched his sixth save. Overall, the Mets bullpen has a 4.77 ERA, ranking 29th in the majors.

The Mets batted second baseman Daniel Murphy into the leadoff spot on Sunday in hopes that he could spark the team’s offense. Murphy hit a go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning to secure a 4-3 victory and series win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Murphy is now 14-for-28 over his last seven games and has an eight-game hitting streak.

Juan Lagares hit a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh inning in the Mets’ 4-3 win over the Cubs on Sunday. It was his first major league home run and thanks to the age-old tradition at Wrigley Field of throwing opposing home run balls back to the field, Lagares got to keep his souvenir thanks to a quick-thinking Daniel Murphy who had the ball retrieved and taken to the Mets clubhouse.

Lefty reliever Scott Rice tossed two scoreless innings to pick up the win against the Cubs. It was his major league-leading 25th appearance. Rice lowered his ERA to 3.05, and is on pace for 99 appearances. That would surpass Pedro Feliciano‘s franchise mark of 92 games in 2010 and rank second all-time to Mike Marshall‘s 106 appearances for the Dodgers in 1974.

Highly regarded pitching prospect Rafael Montero has been promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas, apparently for a Monday spot start on his normal day to pitch. Binghamton manager Pedro Lopez told the Press & Sun-Bulletin that Montero is only expected to remain with the 51s for one start, then return to Double-A.

Game Preview

The Mets continue their tour against NL Central Teams, this time at Citi Field as the Mets open up their series with the Reds. THe Mets, who recently lost 6 games in a row, now have won 3 out of their last 4 and could use this week to build off of that. Tonight Shaun Marcum will get the nod as he goes up against Johnny Cueto.

Shaun Marcum is 0-4 on the season with a 6.75 ERA over 21.1 innings of work. His last start was the best of the season so far as he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.2 innings of work. Last year he allowed one earned runs over 6.0 innings of work while striking out 7 batters against the Reds who have the following numbers against him:

Paul 3-12, 2B
Phillips 0-12, 3 K
Votto 5-9, HR
Bruce 2-8, HR
Choo 2-9, 3B

The Mets bats will try to do some damage against Johnny Cueto who is 1-0 this season over three starts and 17.1 innings with a 2.60 ERA. This will be Cueto’s first start since mid-April due to oblique issues. Last year he made one star against the Mets where he allowed 1 earned run over 7 innings of work allowing 6 hits and striking out 8 Mets. The Mets have the following numbers against Johnny:

Wright 5-17, HR
Ankiel 7-16, 2B, HR
Byrd 6-11, 2B
Murphy 2-7
Davis 2-6
Turner 2-3, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

Left field has always been used as a kind of defensive dumping ground for many teams trying to find a way to get a bat in the lineup.  Not requiring the arm strength considered de rigueur for Right, and less daunting in the presence of a fleet centerfielder, it is often a place for players whose offense demands playing time, but are not “natural” outfielders and have been blocked from a preferred position by a regular or superior defender.

Even good glovemen have been known to regard the territory with disdain: following his trade to the Texas Rangers, Lee Mazzilli reacted to being shifted from center to left to accommodate Rangers’ rookie George Wright by referring to his new spot in the outfield as “an idiot’s position.” Surely an overly harsh judgment, but objectively, it is accepted baseball wisdom that players with less speed, weaker throwing arms, and generally questionable glove skills are best relegated to the “low glamor” pasture to best hide their defensive shortcomings. All of this is assuming, of course, that their bats will provide sufficient thump to offset the inevitable consequences of their less-than-stellar glove work.

The Mets have certainly tried their fair share of square pegs in that particular round hole. After acquiring Mike Piazza, an attempt was made to shift the suddenly superfluous Todd Hundley to left. It didn’t end well. And we all still have the memories of Daniel Murphy’s adventures there fresh in our minds. Hopefully, his apparently successful adaptation to second base will help them fade soon.

Now we have the Dude. After appearing primarily in RF last season, Lucas has been shifted across the field to replace the departed Jason Bay, a player whose offensive woes notwithstanding, provided average to, at times, above average defense. But Bay’s glove could not carry his bat, and the Mets clearly expect much more in terms of offense from Duda.

Interestingly, it is not as if Duda is playing an unfamiliar position (even though it might appear that way), having logged 296 games in LF while in the minors. He spent considerable time in the outfield during his collegiate career as well although he seems to have been primarily a first-sacker during his early days at USC. Regardless, it has been his power potential as reflected by his imposing stature as well as the occasionally notable outburst of big flies in his minor league career (e.g. a run of 5 consecutive games with a homer during his 2010 campaign with Buffalo) that have led Mets management to install him in LF and hope for the best.

The tutelage of Mets outfield coach Tom Goodwin and careful positioning may combine to neutralize some of the more glaring holes in the Dude’s game, although if the play involving Rob Brantley’s drive to the left-field corner during the Marlin game on April 7 is any indication, there is plenty more work to be done. He does have a good arm, having pitched and served as the closer on his high school team.

So, the question remains as to what course of action would be best for Mets management to follow given the various scenarios that could develop with Duda’s career. On the one hand, he is a relatively young (27) controllable player (2 years from arbitration eligibility and 5 from free agency) that has shown flashes of power, probably the scarcest resource in the Met system. On the other hand, with his size and relative lack of foot speed, he profiles more closely as a first baseman, a spot likely currently occupied by Ike Davis. Accordingly, I foresee one of four possible scenarios developing:

1. His bat develops as the team hopes, and he becomes a consistent 25-30 HR and 100 RBI threat whose game-breaking ability outweighs his mediocre defensive metrics. He remains in LF as long as feasible.
2. His bat develops as the team hopes, etc., and he becomes a valuable trade chip, perhaps to a team in the AL where he can DH or to a team in either league with a vacancy at 1B. The resultant return being either a “true” outfielder with comparable offensive skills, a “true” outfielder with complimentary offensive skills (i.e. speed, high OBP), or a package of high minor level talent to help plug various positions (e.g. outfield, bullpen).
3. His bat develops as the team hopes, etc. and the team finds a better trade match for Ike Davis who is dealt for the resources described previously and Duda is installed at 1B.
4. His bat continues to tease but he does not take the next step to that of a consistent power threat fast enough, at which point his defense becomes truly problematic.  Team management is then left with a choice of using him as a role player or getting what they can for him in the trade market.

I can envision his development taking the favorable path. He has shown a good eye at the plate, although his patience has at times been criticized as a lack of properly channeled aggression by some. He has exhibited a reasonable ability to hit left handers in his career, albeit with somewhat reduced power. He is at the age where many players enter their time of greatest production.

What sets great lineups apart from merely good ones are what follow the four hole and gives the batting order “length.” When Travis d’Arnaud arrives, he likely projects as a number five hitter, keeping the preferred left/right alternation in place behind Davis, assuming Davis gets his act together. If Duda can fill the slot of the sixth place hitter consistently (there’s that word again), the Mets should have excellent run production.

As the first six weeks of the season wraps up, Duda has seen his stats across the board decline sharply. In April he was among the league leaders with a .436 OBP and .978 OPS while batting mostly sixth or seventh in the lineup.

However, when May rolled around, Terry Collins began batting Duda in the cleanup and five spot and the results so far have been disastrous. In 13 games this month, Duda has a .119/.191/.357 batting line in 49 at-bats which have all but erased the gains he made in April. He does have eight home runs and a very respectable .355 on-base, but somehow he leaves you wanting more. He’s become quite the enigma. It’s still early in the season, and it’s not like the Mets have any better options at the ready, but he needs to start showing some aggression and start swinging and making contact with some of those strikes that just seem to pass him by.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ankiel is a good outfielder, even though during his debut with the Mets, he dropped a ball. But, I will give it to him for going all out and diving for the ball, and the fact that he didn’t have his own glove because he had to have it shipped, so it wasn’t available for him to play with. So far he is hitless in two games with two strikeouts.

I know we don’t have anyone on the team that can be the power boost that we need right now, but it feels like Terry Collins hasn’t even given most of the guys like Lagares and Valdespin real time to audition.  Will Ankiel be the player that we need?  Will he turn his mediocre season around and turn back the clock to 2008 when he batted .285 with 25 HR and 71 RBI?

Even anything near those numbers will be what the doctor ordered for the Mets.  But his 37 strikeouts in 65 at bats will not help the Mets. Was there a better option for the Mets out there? Should they have given him a guaranteed major league deal off the bat?  I am not stating Ankiel won’t play hard for his new team, but just wondering if there might have been a better option. Of course, I hope Ankiel proves me wrong and plays a high a level.

I begin to wonder what this will mean for players like Mike Baxter and Jordany Valdespin. If they’ll end up relegated to pinch hitting duty, you can only have so many bench players related to left-handed pinch hitting on a team. Furthermore, if Baxter continues to share right field with Marlon Byrd, where does that leave JV1 specfically? Now I don’t have any inside information on that, but if Ankiel can put up the numbers that the Mets expect and play decent defense, then someone may just be expendable.

The offense has been struggling mightily as of late, not scoring more than five runs in a game since May 3rd, and a change in personnel with some fresh blood might shake a few things up. Unfortunately, it could just be a ruse where we will end up seeing more of the same. I don’t have a solution to our problem, and I’m not sure if Ankiel is the answer, but I definitely hope things don’t get any worse.

Rafael Montero Looks Intimidating (Photo by MMO Contributor Gordon Donovan)

The Dominator took to the mound for the Binghamton Mets tonight, in temperatures that made it seem more like an April night in the upstate New York city, than a night in the middle of May. Rafael Montero stood on the mound, with his glove in front of his face, so the batter could only see a pair of eyes staring in, and his mouth breathing steam like a locomotive.

He didn’t shut down Akron like he has shut down teams in the past — he gave up eight hits and two runs over six innings, but what he did on the mound tonight was still very impressive.

Montero was working quickly again tonight, which on a night where the temperature was in the mid-40s, was a blessing to the defenders. The last thing a guy playing defense wants to do on a cold night is stand around — everything stiffens up and your feet and toes go numb. Montero stuck with his fastball for the majority of the night, which could have also been attributed to the cold. The only reason for throwing so many fastballs tonight would be because he couldn’t get a good grip or feel for his off-speed pitches.

As I stated earlier, Montero did give up eight hits. However, when you take into account that he was throwing mostly fastballs, and he is always around the strike zone, the opposition is going to tag you for some hits unless you mix in some off speed stuff or throw 97 mph. This was also Montero’s third time facing Akron, which could have played a part in giving up the eight hits. Once a team sees a pitcher a few times, it can get get a little easier when hitting, not that Akron did much damage anyway. But the eight hits are the only negative thing that can be said about Montero’s start. It was the second-most hits he has given up in a game this year (gave up ten hits on May 1). And he was still pretty darn impressive even though he did surrender the eight hits.

Montero threw a total of 98 pitches, 66 of them were strikes. He struck out six Akron hitters and walked none. He now has 48 strikeouts on the year, and only 6 walks. That’s good for an 8:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Montero isn’t going to give any teams free runs, but because of the type of pitcher he is, he isn’t going to hold many teams scoreless. Not for the time being anyway. If he can live on the corners, he may be the type of guy that eventually develops into a shutout threat every time he takes the hill. He is always around the strike zone, which could be good and bad for him all at the same time. When he is nipping the black, Montero dominates. However, even when he doesn’t, he still keeps the opposing hitters off balance enough to put his offense in a position to win games. They may get some hits, but Montero forces the opposing team to earn every run that crosses that plate — nothing is easy. That is what I really like about him.

Final Stat Line: 6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Photo courtesy of MMO contributor Gordon Donovan.

Starting Lineup

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

Game Notes

The Mets signed Rick Ankiel and is in the lineup starting in centerfield tonight and batting seventh. Ankiel, 33, was released by the Astros last week after hitting .194 with a .231 OBP in 25 games. Ankiel hit five home runs and drove in 11, but struck out 35 times in 65 plate appearances and walked only three times. Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A Vegas to make room for him on the roster.

The Mets are 5-8 on the road this year, including winning two of their last three road contests. The Mets are 1-3 in one-run games on the road this year and are 3-2 in the first game of a series on the road.

New York dropped a 3-2 decision to the Pirates yesterday. The loss snapped the Mets three-game winning streak in one-run games. The Mets are 4-7 in one-run decisions this year after going 20-22 in 2012.

The Mets have scored three or fewer runs in six straight games and in 11 of their last 15 games. Overall, the Mets are averaging 4.44 runs per game, the fifth-most in the NL and the 13th-most in the majors. They are hitting .175 (7-40) with RISP over their last six games and are fifth in the NL and 13th in the majors with a .259 (68-263) batting average with RISP.

Over their last ten games, Mets starting pitchers are 1-5 with 5.81 ERA. Overall, New York starters are 8-15 with a 4.35 ERA, which ranks 21st in the majors.

Lucas Duda hit his eighth home run of the season yesterday It was Duda’s 33rd game in 2013. The outfielder didn’t reach eight home runs until his 50th game last season. Duda is tied for sixth in
the National League with 21 walks.

David Wright is hitting .313 (10-32) with three home runs this month. The Mets third baseman is tied for seventh in the NL with a .340 batting average vs. righthanders. He is third in the NL with a .417 on-base percentage and tied for second with 25 walks.

Game Preview

It would be best to imagine the last several days didn’t happen. Really.

After winning the opener on Thursday night, the Mets then dropped three straight to Bucs thanks to a variety of reasons, but mainly the offense. Because the baseball gods by nature are cruel, the Mets will now take their anemic bats to some of the best pitching in the National League. If you have been watching the broadcasts this past weekend, then you already know the Mets will be paired up against righties for the vast majority of the upcoming week, therefore yesterday’s line up is probably what we can expect. Tonight Jeremy Hefner gets the start against Lance Lynn.

Hefner hasn’t been as bad as you might assume. On the season he is 0-4 (ouch) but has a 4.63 ERA over 35.0 innings. In his last three starts, he has a 3.00 ERA over 21.0 innings, mostly due to allowing 4 ER over 6 last time out. Recently it has just been bad luck Jeremy as things slightly break against him out there. Hefner has never faced the Cardinals and the only batter he has seen on the team is Ty Wigginton who is 2-4 with a homer against him.

The Mets draw Lance Lynn who is 5-1 over 7 games with a 2.72 ERA over 43.o innings. The season started out rough for him but in his last 4 games he has pitched 28.0 innings with a 1.29 ERA. Last season he was 0-1 over 5.1 innings against the Mets where he allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 1-5
Duda 0-3
Wright 1-3, 2B
Byrd 0-3
Davis 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

With Twitter, Facebook and blogs – both mainstream and otherwise – available throughout the 24/7/365 news cycle, it’s impossible to not transfer that meme to those that cover and watch sports.  On Saturday, Jordany Valdespin took one to the forearm a day after he embarrassingly celebrated a home run during a Pirates blowout win.  What resulted was talk about the validity of Pittsburgh’s Bryan Morris‘ actions, and how the Valdespin’s teammates reacted. Instead of continuing this news “filler,” let me set everyone straight as to what the deal is with Valdespin.

First, Jordany Valdespin is nothing more than a backup player. He isn’t the future, nor is he a clone of Jose Reyes, the answer in the outfield or infield, or some sort of energizer for a slumping offense. He possesses poor plate discipline and is an average defender, at best, at any position. His career MILB on-base percentage was .330. In the big leagues he’s shown even less of a penchant to get on-base with his .287 clip. Even worse, he doesn’t come across as a hard worker or someone that possesses a big league baseball IQ. There is nothing with Valdespin’s process that screams big league starter, much less star. I have my doubts he will stick around since he seems unable to endear himself to any clubhouse throughout his career.

This is not about race. The players dislike Valdespin because of who he is. Think it’s just his current teammates? After a game-winning grand-slam against the Dodgers, former B-Mets reliever Erik Turgeon took to Twitter and shared these nuggets:

“Valdespin with a walk off home run. If you need me I will be in the bathroom throwing up! I have Zero respect for that piece of s***”

“If your shocked that, then you don’t kno bout all that! Happy for the mets wish someone deserving got the hit like Lagares!”

“Tough for me to get Valdespin out when I’m on the same team as him don’t ya think?”

“Evidence ask your favorite guy in the organization who there least favorite guy is”

Who cares what a retired minor league reliever says, right? What about his current teammates, none who seemed upset or enraged that he was plunked on Saturday. There was furor about how John Buck conducted the pie celebration after that very same grand slam. When I asked Buck about it last week his response with a coy smile was telling: “A big walk-off home run deserves a big pie to the face.”

Read from that what you will, but contrite, at least in my opinion, is not the word to use when describing Buck’s comments. Remember, this is the same guy that was suspended in the minors for an undisclosed incident (some speculation is that it was for a Ruben Rivera-type action, read into that what you will), and again this past offseason during winter ball. There is too much smoke around Valdespin’s fire.

On a good team Valdespin provides speed and power off the bench. Those are characteristics that do make him valuable. His clownish behavior is probably overshadowing that right now, making the story more about him than the team. This will be tolerated when someone like R.A. Dickey is winning Cy Young Awards, but rarely so with a borderline big league player. Valdespin embarrassed the Mets this weekend. Take those blue and orange sunglasses off and see what the opponents do to another bad team celebrating a meaningless home run. It reminds me of how the Nationals used to be when they had Anderson Hernandez, Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes: Bad attitude, clownish behavior and, worst of all, a lot of losses.

The shame of it all is Valdespin does have some raw talent. If he took the time to learn from those around him, and put the effort into improving, perhaps there would be hope for better days ahead. Right now, you can’t even get him to take extra batting practice. He consistently never shows up to such events, which is almost sacrilegious on a team that is hitting so poorly; even more damning for a wet behind the ears rookie.

If I were the Mets I would move on from Valdespin ASAP. You probably don’t want to release him as he is too good to be put on the waiver wire. Perhaps there is a minor deal that Alderson can spring for an outfielder. Not a starter or star, but someone that is a bench player, but is a starter on this team due to circumstances. Maybe another team looks at Valdespin’s talent and thinks they can “steal” a future contributor. You never know what you can get if you ask.

Sandy Alderson needs to set the tone and show the club that professionalism and behavior matters to this organization. Ridding the clubhouse of Valdespin won’t turnaround this lost season, but it will be addition by subtraction. You are not losing anything on the field as those late-game home runs are bound to run dry as he makes his way around the league.

I am sure this opinion will stir up debate, however I doubt it’s worth the time.

Those that contribute the least spray the most champagne; they also take up the most space when it comes to the news.

The draft is slowly creeping up on us, and is now less than a month away. It’s do or die time for scouts, and for some draft hopefuls, coming down to the wire to show that they deserve a shot to call baseball their profession. On June 6, everyone is expecting the Houston Astros to take Stanford Pitcher, Mark Appel, with the first pick in the draft. After that, it’s really anyone’s guess.

The Mets have four picks in the first three rounds this year (11, 48, 76, 84). There are numerous draft strategies that teams use — drafting for organizational need, drafting players in premiere positions, taking best player available — many factors come in to play when looking at players to draft. The Mets have been said to be targeting college bats this season. This is a sound strategy, because the organization is overflowing with pitching talent, but it lacks offensive punch.

The fastest way to boost the offense is by selecting players that are still young, yet have been playing against top notch talent in college. College hitters should have a shorter route to the show, and be able to help out the big league team faster than high school players. Selecting polished hitters seems to be working out for the Mets, after seeing the early success of Kevin Plawecki, Jayce Boyd and Matt Reynolds.

With that in mind, here’s a look at the players the Mets should be taking a long look at when they are on the clock with their top pick:

Round 1: Pick 11 

Hunter Renfroe is said to be the pick here, mainly because the Mets are said to be targeting college bats. But a high schooler named Austin Meadows has more upside, and the Mets can probably get him with the No. 11 pick. Meadows is big and fast — 6 feet 3 inches tall, 200 pounds, and runs the 60 yard dash in 6.3 seconds. He’s physically mature for his age, and should fill out even more as he develops over the next few years.

Meadows a left-handed batter with a short and compact swing. The swing can get long at times, but his bat speed can make up for it when it does. He doesn’t load much, but has some lift which will produce the long ball. He shows ridiculous and effortless raw power, and good plate discipline. His pitch recognition is advanced for his age. He is a solid defender, and whether or not teams think he can stick in center field will determine if he is a top ten pick or not.

The Mets should go with Meadows due to the incredible upside. He’s said to be a quick learner and has good aptitude for the game. He projects to be a middle of the order hitter and has All-Star potential. He should be there at No. 11 for the Mets, and if he is, they would be foolish to pass.

If the Mets feel the absolute need to go with a college bat in round one, then the man they want is Austin Wilson. The Stanford outfielder stands in at 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 245 pounds. Don’t let the weight scare you, he’s extremely athletic for his size. He runs a 6.7 in the 60 yard dash, which is also solid speed for his size. He has a plus arm and is a solid defender. He is also said to have excellent character and work ethic.

He was previously drafted out of high school in 2010, but turned down the opportunity to play in the Cardinals organization to go play for the Cardinal in Stanford. He was labeled as an extremely raw talent coming out of high school, but his time at Stanford has helped him develop his game, although he still isn’t a finished product. He has good plate discipline and excellent power that could generate some moon shots.

If the Mets go with either Austin, it would be a solid pick. Both players have top-ten-pick potential, so for the Mets to get them at No. 11 would be a steal. If the Mets had their choice of the two, they would probably go with Wilson, considering he is a college bat. But since Wilson isn’t as polished as most college hitters, if Meadows is on the board, I don’t see how they pass on him. Either way, they both would be solid additions to the Mets organization.

Among the highs and lows to already come out of the first month of this season, the continued improvement of Daniel Murphy has certainly been one of the brighter spots to this point so far.

Playing out of his natural position, Murphy has slowly made the proper adjustments on both sides of the diamond. After being jostled all over both the infield and outfield, Murphy has finally found himself a home at second base with the Mets while also improving significantly with the bat. I caught up with Murphy at Citi Field yesterday and he spoke with me about his strides so far this season.

“I didn’t get a whole lot of work in Spring Training since I was injured” said Murphy regarding his defense. “But I think that having more time there has made me become more consistent, more comfortable, and has given me a better understanding of how to position myself and how much time I have.”

Another Met playing out of his original position is Lucas Duda. What has lacked with his .239 batting average he has made up for in his power and improved ability to get on base. After being sent to Buffalo following an extremely poor first half of 2012, Duda came back showing more plate discipline and emerging as an overall better hitter. Murphy says he has been impressed with how Duda has performed this year.

“He’s been awesome.” said Murphy. “I think Justin Turner said yesterday that ‘Duda really knows how to grind out an AB’ and I have not seen him give many at-bats away this year. That’s kind of a goal we have as an offense personally to not give at-bats away, and he’s been locked in and done a great job of getting on base.”

All the while, Duda has not only had to learn to adjust with the bat, but also with the glove as he learns on the job patrolling left field at Citi. As he has done, Murphy sees the similarities in both of their defensive improvements.

“The same thing as I have at second.” said Murphy. “He’s become more comfortable, he’s starting to understand how to position himself and to read swings. What he’s doing is not easy. It’s very difficult to go from the infield to the outfield and I think he’s done a great job.”

Murphy can relate to attempting to make the transition from the infield to the outfield, although he knows that their results have varied significantly.

“He’s doing better than I did.”

Although the situations are similar, Murphy understands why Duda wouldn’t ask him for advice about making such a transition after his failed outfield experiment.

“No, I don’t know if I’d have anything good to give him.” said Murphy, when asked if Duda has come to him about the transition from infield to outfield. “Try to be as relaxed as you can. Tom Goodwin has done an awesome job with him and a great job with positioning him. I think he does a good job of picking the brain of Marlon Byrd.”

Although the outfield did not work out for Murph, it seems to be suiting Duda in 2013. Murphy in turn has found his niche at second. Both came up with the Mets as talented bats that needed a position other than the corner infield and through several trials and tribulations have both found where they belong for the New York Mets.

I want to thank Daniel Murphy for taking some time during batting practice to speak with me. He’s a terrific guy who really adds a lot to the clubhouse and chemistry of the team. You can see how his teammates respect him as a leader as well as a productive player and integral part of the everyday lineup.

It’s not alarming the Mets couldn’t do anything against Hudson, but what should be a source of concern is Niese, who was hit hard in his fourth straight start – all lost by the Mets – and this one by the score of 9-4 against a division rival.

Manager Terry Collins said Niese was too strong and overthrew his pitches, leading to his lack of control. Collins gave his pitcher an out, but Niese didn’t take it, saying he can’t afford to have games like this.

“He just had no feel today”, Collins said. “It’s been seven days since he pitched and he was a little strong. He didn’t have good command.”

Niese gave up seven runs, all of them earned, on seven hits and six walks in four innings, and has been rocked for 14 runs in his last four starts totaling 19 innings, but wanted to put this start in particular behind him.

“Today is one of those outings that I just want to forget about,” Niese said after the game. “I walked way too many guys. It’s embarrassing.”

One of those games was April 23, when he took a hard comebacker off his right ankle and lasted just 2.1 innings. With Saturday’s rainout and today’s off day, the four innings worked by the bullpen shouldn’t be too taxing.

Another pitcher who will have seven days between starts, will be Tuesday’s starter Matt Harvey. The hope is that he won’t be “too strong” as Collins said about Niese. That’s assuming you buy into that theory.

When you live on the West Coast, sometimes you have to listen to the other team’s broadcast. It can be excruciating. When your team starts winning, especially in clutch fashion, there’s nothing better.

That’s what happened to me while listening to the Braves announcers last night. When the Braves made a move, the Mets had an answer. Clutch offense was the theme of the game.

Evan Gattis hit a home run off Brandon Lyon and Mets fans released a digital sigh throughout the Twittersphere. They had read this ending before.

Then David Wright summoned his inner Walt Whitman and had fans singing, “O Captain! My Captain!” Wright hit a clutch 464-foot home run off Craig Kimbrel that tied the game at five in the 9th. Bobby Parnell bailed out Lyon after Lyon gave up a leadoff double in the bottom half of the frame and the Mets went into extras unscathed. The Mets have played seven innings of extra-inning baseball in the last four games.

Lucas Duda and Marlon Byrd went down consecutively and the top of the 10th looked all but over. Then El Dramático stepped to the plate…

Jordany Valdespin worked a walk to get on with two outs in the 10th. Then he stole second and furiously clapped his hands before calling for time. The spark was created. He had attempted to steal third, which had some viewers scratching their heads. Michael Baron wasn’t too impressed with Valdespin’s enthusiasm over Twitter.

It’s a good thing JV1 wasn’t thrown out at third for the last out in the 10th inning before Tejada got a chance to swing the bat, btw #Mets

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) May 4, 2013

I had assured him that El Dramático had the base stolen, but Mr. Baron still wasn’t having it.

@pacific_theme Look, its a bad play. And, if he gets a bad jump and gets nailed, you’re singing a different tune.

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) May 4, 2013

You’re right, but he did get a good jump and that’s why he went for it. Leave my tune singing out of it!

While fielding more questions, Baron at least tried to be positive. So, whatever, I guess.

@sonufrock he backs it up with his play. So, whatever, I guess.

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) May 4, 2013

The flair was in full effect.

Mike Baxter and Ruben Tejada followed up with a walk and a base hit to drive home Valdespin for a 6-5 lead. Valdespin, who leads the league in style points in the early part of the season, slid into home plate head first. I don’t know why. It was brought to my attention that on-deck hitter Daniel Murphy instructed him to, but it was fantastic nonetheless. Murphy followed things up with a much-needed insurance run and Jeurys Familia shut the door for his first career save.

It was a good game for the Mets and it sent a message that they haven’t given up yet even if the media and fans have. John Buck hit another home run and his stock is skyrocketing. He now has 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. Duda and Byrd also went yard and the Mets tallied four long balls in the 7-5 victory. I even have to give it up to Terry Collins for a couple savvy managerial decisions in this one. Even if it only happens twice a day, you still have to point out when I dead clock is right. As for the ubiquitous why-isn’t-Valdespin-starting-every-day question? I don’t know. We could be watching El Dramático start rallies like that in the 1st inning three or four times a week, but for whatever reason, we’re not. I’ve given up on coming up with a legitimate explanation because there really isn’t one anymore.

All I know is Jonathon Niese and Matt Harvey are back on the mound, which gives the Mets a good shot at taking the series on the road.

What are your thoughts on last night’s game?

 Starting Lineups

Game Notes

• The Mets’ losing streak has reached six games after the club failed to protect a one-run lead with three outs remaining for a second straight day at Marlins Park. It matches their longest losing streak of the 2012 season. They are now in fourth place in the NL East, just two games ahead of the last place Marlins.They are 1-6 in one-run decisions this season and have dropped five straight one-run games.
• Adam Rubin reports that Collins is giving serious consideration to getting Justin Turner into the lineup as an outfielder. Collins opted to leave Turner out of the lineup today rather than have his first taste of the outfield come in a spacious ballpark with tricky outfield walls. Wow… Looks like this might happen.
• Terry Collins is pissed. ”I’m pissed off. I’m extremely pissed off,” the Mets manager said after last night’s game. “They’re playing as hard as they can. Everyone’s is struggling with the way things are going. We have to fight through it. This is what the game is about. You have to act like a man, you have to act like a pro and get out here and get ready to play tomorrow.”
• Rubin also says that Collins may be toeing the party line when he said that he is pleased with the Mets’ approach at the plate, despite the recent futility. The Mets have scored three or fewer runs in eight of their past 12 games.

Game Preview

The Mets try to put this Marlins series out of its misery this afternoon as they play the get away game / salvage game today. Even though there was a terrible call last night at third base in 9th inning that cost Hefner his gem of a game, the real blame of the game falls on offense. The bats have fallen completely silent to the point that during this losing streak everyone in the lineup is under-performing. Here’s hoping last night was enough of a fire to spark this offense, which is as spark-able as wet wood right now. Dillon Gee gets the start today vs Wade LeBlanc.

Dillon Gee is 1-4 this season over 5 starts with a 5.96 ERA over 25.2 innings. He is starting to look like a better pitcher. He had a scoreless outing two starts ago and last time out he was cruising with the exception of one inning. He hasn’t faced the Marlins since 2011, back then he was 1-0 over 2 games while allowing 4 ER over 11.0 innings. The Marlins have the following numbers against Gee:

Polanco 2-12
Pierre 2-6
Dobbs 1-3, HR
Stanton 1-5, HR

Wade LeBlanc looks to keep the Mets bats depressed. On the season, Wade is 0-4 over 5 games with a 6.20 ERA over 24.2 innings of work. In his last three games, he’s allowed 13 ER over 13.2 innings. Last year he was pretty good against the Mets allowing 3 runs, 2 earned over 11 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Wade:

Wright 6-10, HR
Tejada 1-7
Murphy 4-8, HR
Davis 3-7, HR
Buck 0-3
Duda 2-3

Lets Go Mets! (Please, just win)