As the Knicks were getting pasted in Indianapolis, the Mets did their part to put New York sports fans in a gloomy mood in tonight’s 10-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the Mets’ fifth straight loss to drop them to eight games under .500. Since Jordany Valdespin’s tenth-inning grand slam, April 24, beat the Dodgers to go to 10-9, the Mets have gone 4-13.

ON THE MOUND: The Mets needed innings from Dillon Gee, or more to the point, effective innings. Instead, the Cardinals got to him for six runs through three innings. … Robert Carson gave up a three-run homer to Carlos Beltran. He also gave up a homer to John Jay.AT THE PLATE: So much for the decision to go with Ike Davis and Lucas Duda back-to-back in the batting order. Terry Collins attributed his move to the match-up against John Gast, who was making his first start. Didn’t he know Gast would be pitching tonight? More importantly, this juggling of Davis – because of an unproven pitcher such as Gast – speaks loudly of Collins’ confidence in Davis. … John Buck prevented total embarrassment with a RBI single. … Marlon Byrd hit a two-run homer.

OLD ACQUAINTANCES: Carlos Beltran was a one-man wrecking drew offensively and defensively for the Cardinals. In addition to a couple of nice plays in right field, the former Met Gold Glove All Star went 3-for-5 at the plate incuding the back-breaking three-run homer, four RBI and two runs scored.

WHEELER INJURED: Zack Wheeler will come to New York to have his right clavicle examined. After three straight strong starts, Wheeler complained of soreness in the area. He’s expected to miss at least one start.

BY THE NUMBERS: 6: Homers given up by Carson in 8.1 innings.

THEY SAID IT: “We’ve gone through a bad streak and it’s two weeks long. … We have to play better. We have to coach better. We have to manage better.’’ – Collins on this miserable stretch.

ON DECK: Shaun Marcum (0-3) will start against Shelby Miller (5-2) on Wednesday.

When you glance at this morning’s Mets pitching leaders, you see two names that belong in Matt Harvey and Bobby Parnell. Each of them have been nothing short of phenomenal in their roles of closer and staff ace. But just below them is a name nobody expected much from this season – that is unless you read my preseason feature on Scott Rice – the 31-year old rookie who has become a cult figure here on MMO.

The left-handed reliever has performed at a level unseen by a southpaw since Perpetual Pedro was in his prime during the Omar Minaya legacy.

Rice has been a Godsend in the bullpen both for his effectiveness and reliability, but more than that he’s been the bullpen’s most durable reliever, leading the team with 16 appearances and 14.2 innings pitched. For a Mets bullpen that is ranked 29th in the majors with a 5.09 ERA, Rice along with Parnell have given the team their all and have been the most steadfast performers in an otherwise ill-performing bullpen.

Gone already are Greg Burke, Josh Edgin and Aaron Laffey. Brandon Lyon and Robert Carson may soon be the next to go. Jeurys Familia who I felt earned a job out of Spring Training, is finally here and so far the early results have been encouraging.

But getting back to Rice, Mike Kerwick of The Record had a great profile of him this morning on NJ.com. He goes back to his formative years and gives some more backstory to what has already been one of the better storylines to this Mets season.

“He’s been terrific,” said Mets manager Terry Collins. “Extremely durable. When you talk to him, this is what he’s been waiting for his whole life, this opportunity.”

Kerwick shares a fascinating story about Rice that only furthers my respect for this unique player who toiled in the minors for 14 years before finally making his major league debut this season with the Mets. Most players would have quit and hung up their spikes after eight or nine years, but Rice remained determined and set on making it to the majors against all odds.

Rice bounced around – five major league organizations, 18 minor league teams – before he finally caught on with the Mets last month. He threw his first major league pitch on April 1, almost 14 years after he was drafted.

In the darkest moments of those 14 years, Rice would place calls to his father. Dennis knew a thing or two about watching a baseball dream implode. Rice’s father blew out his shoulder years ago, back when he was a middle infielder for the University of Southern California.

“He’s the main reason why I kept playing,” Rice said. “At times I hated it. But he kept pushing me, telling me, ‘Hey, you’ve got to get out there, you’ve got to keep doing this, you’ve got to keep doing that. You’ve got to make these phone calls to teams.’

Rice was very instrumental in the 7-6 win against the Marlins that put an end to the team’s six-game losing streak, the longest such streak in two seasons.

With the Mets barely holding on to their one-run lead, Collins turned to Rice to get a critical out with the tying run on third in the eighth inning. Rice came in and induced an inning-ending grounder from the pesky leadoff hitter, Juan Pierre. Once again, Rice rose to the occasion without breaking a sweat.

“He’s been very, very good,” Collins said. “He realizes when he keeps the ball down and throws strikes, he gets ground balls. So far we’ve caught them.”

There haven’t been too many great bright spots to the Mets’ season thus far, but Scott Rice is certainly one of them, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

The New York Mets lost their second straight game to the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 9-4 this afternoon at Citi Field. The loss drops them to 10-12 and they have lost eight of their last eleven games.

Shaun Marcum (0-1, 6.75) made his Mets debut and lasted just four innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. He tossed 71 pitches, 44 for strikes, and was charged with a wild pitch. Marcum’s fastball never eclipsed 85 mph. He’ll need to do better than that next time out if the Mets are to make any noise the rest of this season.

The bullpen was called on to pitch five innings and first up was Robert Carson who was absolutely torched by the Phillies. The lefthander allowed five runs in the fifth inning including two home runs by Domonic Brown and John Mayberry. LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Rice each tossed a pair of scoreless innings. Rice has been very effective out of the pen for the Mets. But nevertheless, they now have worst bullpen in the majors with a 5.28 ERA.

Offensively, David Wright had two hits and an RBI, and catcher John Buck hit his eighth home run of the season in the ninth. He now has 23 RBI this season and only Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez have had more in the month of April since 1920. Good company.

The other runs came on a sac fly by Ike Davis and Jordany Valdespin drove in the Mets’ first run with a double in the second.

The Mets have lost three in a row, and four of their last five games against the Phillies this season. They’ll look to salvage the final game of the series with Jon Niese going up against Cole Hamels at 1:10 PM on Sunday.

As I expected, the Mets have demoted Josh Edgin to Double-A Binghamton to clear a roster spot for Shaun Marcum.

I even speculated that he should go to Binghamton which is where he ends up.

We’ll see him again, I’m sure…

Updated on 4/26

I got an interesting email from Kevin (K Maxx) this morning who asked, “if Terry Collins is so concerned about Josh Edging being overworked, why does he keep overworking him?”

I did a quick check and was shocked to see that Edgin made 75 appearances last season between the Mets and the minors. That would have placed him tenth in the NL.

The 75 appearances was the largest workload of his pro career and more than a 50% increase from his previous high of 49 appearances.

So far this season, Edgin has appeared in 10 of the first 20 games and is on pace for 81 appearances.

K Maxx may have a point.

Original Post 4/24

What happened to the Josh Edgin who came up and immediately became one of the more reliable and dominant relievers out of our bullpen last year?

As if his his 10.80 ERA and 1.97 WHIP in 10 appearances wasn’t bad enough, I took a quick glance at his splits and it really showed me how bad things really have gotten for Edgin since last season.

• Versus LH Batters – 368

• Versus RH Batters – .333

Those batting averages against are just plain awful to look at and clearly a sign that something is amiss. He no longer exudes the confidence he once did and his entire demeanor on the mound has done a complete 180. This is not the same intimidating and effective force we saw in 2012. It’s as if he was replicated by one of those giant seapods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

Good God, what’s happened to Josh Edgin?

Edgin burst onto the scene sporting a fastball with that had great late life and came in at 93-95 mph. The velocity and the movement are just not there anymore. His slider, which was so effective last season, is now “big and sloppy and flat”, according to Bobby Ojeda.

Terry Collins had a lot to say about Edgin after the game, and to say he’s very concerned is an understatement.

“One of the things I’m a little concerned about is that last year Josh Edgin made a lot of appearances. He also warmed up in the bullpen a lot of times and then didn’t come into the game. That also puts a lot of stress on your arm. Edgin pitched a lot last season and I’m afraid his arm isn’t responding well. I’m a little concerned that’s what we’re facing right now with Edgin.”

“I’ve had pitchers in the past where after their first full season the arm doesn’t respond well. I think that’s what’s happening. We’re going to talk to him and work with him tomorrow and try to see how we can get him back to what he was.”

You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling.

Collins was visibly frustrated while talking about Edgin and it sounded to me like his patience may be running out on his young southpaw.

“Command is everything when you’re in the major leagues,” Collins said. “Right now Edgin needs to do what got him here if he wants to stay here.”

When the Mets announced that they were calling up Robert Carson, you may remember I thought Edgin was as good as gone. Instead the Mets decided to part with Greg Burke. That was surprising to me. Now I see no other solution than to send Edgin to Triple-A Vegas or even Double-A Binghamton to recharge his batteries and get some of that confidence he once had back.

Edgin has lost his edge

In the top of the third inning, a comebacker struck Niese on his leg sending him to the ground writhing in pain. Niese sat down in the dirt along the first base line and grimaced as the Mets trainer helped him to his feet after a minute or so and exited the field. X-rays were negative and Niese left with a bruise. The Mets said he was day to day.

“We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. But I should be able to throw a bullpen and make my next start,” Niese said.

“I’m glad it’s not as bad as what it could have been,” he added. “Everything kind of locked up down there. I couldn’t move my toes. It was kind of scary at first.”

The Mets scored twice in the third after Clayton Kershaw retired the first two batters. Robert Carson, who took over for Niese, walked in his first big league plate appearance and set up RBI singles by Daniel Murphy and David Wright. But that would be all the scoring for the Mets who had just had four hits, all singles, on the night.

The Dodgers put the game away in the eighth inning after reliever Josh Edgin was tagged for two runs on two singles and two doubles.

One Mets bright spot was when Juan Lagares made his big league debut during a double switch in the fifth inning. The center fielder was promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the day and flied out to the warning track against Kershaw in his first at-bat.

Then Lagares singled his next time up for his first big league hit. ”When I got to the dugout all of my teammates said congratulations. That, for me, feels good,” he said.

Right-hander Matt Harvey will try to snap the Dodgers’ five game winning streak at Citi Field tonight at 7:10 PM. We’ll be live blogging the game from the press box at Citi and hope you’ll join us.

Baseball is such a great sport. There is something for everyone, offense, defense, strategy, statistics, history and pitching. I’ll take a well pitched game over a slugfest any day. When you look at the Washington Nationals starting rotation, you just got to love what you see: Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez (one of my favorites), Jordan Zimmermann, and Dan Haren. This is a team with the potential go on a super long winning streak. Looking at this series, we knew Friday night’s Stephen Strasburg vs. Matt Harvey game was going to memorable, then looking at Saturday & Sunday, the Nats had the edge in the pitching match-up. But the Mets were better, taking two of three which is why you have to play the games. Nobody ever wins anything on paper. Here are the 3 & 3 from the series.

Matt-tastic: On Friday night Matt Harvey was yet again spot on, raising his record to 4-0. Harvey gave up one run, and struck out seven, in 7.0 innings of work, besting Stephen Strasburg. The atmosphere at Citi Field was electric on Friday with the fans chanting “Harvey’s Better!” You got to love it. I said it before and it bears repeating – Matt Harvey’s starts are Must See TV.

Duda & Davis Duplicate Dingers: Lucas Duda and Ike Davis both went yard in Friday night’s win not once, but twice! It makes you want to dream about how awesome life would be if they just did that on a more regular basis. Especially Davis who is still struggling and whiffed three times the very next day.

Gee Gets An “A”: In the last 3&3 we got on Dillon Gee, so we’re more than happy to bump him up here, for his great start on Sunday afternoon. When the Mets needed a guy step up, Dillon did just that, tossing 5.2 shutout innings in the Mets 2-0 win over the Nats. Keep up the good work Dillon.

Another Laff-able Outing: Aaron Laffey, we hardly knew ye  After blowing the Mets lead on Saturday afternoon after coming out of the bullpen, the Mets finally had enough of Laffey and designated him for assignment. The Mets recalled Robert Carson to replace him and we hope he proves to be an upgrade. As we mentioned last time out, Laffey has looked overmatched during his short tenure with the Mets. Good luck to him.

No Washington Leadership: Not our elected officials, but on the field for the Nats. Watching Gio Gonzalez struggle Saturday afternoon, I kept waiting for one of the infielders to talk to him, and try to calm him down. It didn’t happen. The great 1986 team that Davey Johnson managed had two on-field leaders with Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter. In recent times we’ve seen David Wright go to the mound and get on big Mike Pelfrey and even Jon Niese. I just don’t understand why Adam LaRoche didn’t try to break the funk Gonzales was in. It worked out great for the Mets though.

Dodger Danger: A struggling L.A. Dodger team comes into Citi Field this week. It seems to me that struggling teams get healthy fast against the Mets. Let’s hope that’s not the case this time. Here’s to seeing the Mets kick the Dodgers while they are down.

It was a great weekend series for the Mets, taking two of three, especially after being swept in Denver. Until next time, Lets Go Mets!!!

A day after publishing my post calling for the promotion of Collin McHugh to the Mets (which you can read below), I took some flack the following day when he had a less than stellar outing for Triple-A Las Vegas against Colorado Springs.

Original Post 4/21

Laffey or McHugh? Laffey or McHugh? Laffey or McHugh? Remember when I wrote that as a caption to the picture on the left back in March?

When you scan the organizational leaders in pitching only two names predominantly appear across every major statistical category; Rafael Montero, who has been chronicled very heavily here on MMO, and then there is Collin McHugh.

Despite pitching under the same exact conditions as Zack Wheeler for Triple-A Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League, Terry Collins need not make any excuses for McHugh as he did for Wheeler yesterday:

“Wheeler’s got good enough stuff. If he pounds the zone, he’ll get people out. All the walks…That’s a red flag. I don’t want to see walks from those guys. I told Zack in the spring, ‘ You’re going to pitch in a tough place.’ I was in that league for 12 years. I know how hard [it] is to pitch in, but good pitchers have done well because they threw strikes. I’d rather see 10 hits — that I can understand. But six walks, he’s better than that.’

Wheeler’s 4.93 ERA is more of an indication of his lack of readiness than the result of pitching in the PCL. His 1.71 WHIP shows a big problem and the league is batting .287 against him. He’s not just walking a lot of batters, he’s allowing far too many hits and far too many runs to cross the plate.

Meanwhile, his teammate Collin McHugh goes out every fifth day in the same park and facing the same exact conditions, but leads the league with an 0.51 ERA. McHugh is holding batters to a .217 average to lead the team, and his 1.06 WHIP also leads the 51s.

I noticed that this morning, the folks at CaptainObvious.com are now talking about McHugh, only two and a half weeks after I first said McHugh should have been the fifth starter all along and not Aaron Laffey. I’ve called for his promotion five times in the last week and a half alone. Welcome to the party guys, better late than never.

In a perfect world, McHugh should have been in the Mets rotation all along had the Mets gone with my pre-season projections. I also had Cory Mazzoni in the Vegas rotation, and Jake deGrom at Binghamton. None of that happened, but it’s all starting to come into play now. Things are slowly falling into place.

As I’ve maintained all along, everything we saw from covering Wheeler extensively while at Mets spring camp to covering two of his first four starts in Vegas all pointed to the same conclusion. It disputed everything the scouts were saying, but we saw a pitcher who is not major league ready.

What we saw was a great fastball with 98 mph velocity and late movement. We saw two great secondary offerings that we also considered plus pitches. We saw a changeup that was average, but with three plus pitches it didn’t really matter. This kid has some great stuff – a truly amazing collection of plus-plus pitches.

What we didn’t see was a confident demeanor on the mound. What we didn’t see was the ability to bear down with runners on base. What we didn’t see was an ability to throw any of his pitches with some semblance of command. There wasn’t even a hint of it. I would go as far as saying that Wheeler has no clue as to where the ball will go once it leaves his grip. None.

Our conclusion, or I should say my conclusion, as not all MMO Minor League analysts share my opinion, is that Wheeler is still a raw talent who still needs a lot of work and refinement. I feel that he would likely benefit from a full season in Triple-A. I get the feeling that Sandy Alderson feels the same exact way based on what he’s said publicly and privately.

Enter Collin McHugh.

This talented right-hander is everything that Wheeler is not. First and foremost he has that bulldog mentality we already see in Matt Harvey. Confidence is the biggest difference between Harvey and Wheeler. Harvey has always shown it at every level, while Wheeler has not.

McHugh doesn’t have any one pitch that can even compare with Wheeler, but he’s no slouch and has two plus pitches of his own. Both his four-seamer and two-seamer average about 90-93 mph in velocity range. However, it’s the two-seamer that is by far his most effective fastball due to it’s great deceptive late sink and we’re talking about almost a one foot drop. (Not kidding) Not only does he miss a lot of bats with the two-seamer, but even when they make contact, it’s usually a grounder.

His slider is effective against righthanded hitters, but his best pitch of all is his 12-6 curveball. That’s his weapon of mass destruction. It’s tough to hit and comes in looking like his heater.

What’s most important to note here, is that unlike Wheeler, McHugh can command each of his pitches with surgical precision. He’s not afraid to challenge hitters when he has to, and he usually wins those battles. He is a control artist and has a superb 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio. This is what the Mets need most in their rotation right now; someone who is not afraid to pitch to contact and can pound the strike zone. McHugh should be able to fill that role quite nicely.

As for Jeremy Hefner, well, he’s been a disappointment. I had high hopes for him and often called him a sleeper this past offseason. The fact is that he simply does not measure up and even for the backend of a poor rotation as the Mets have, he offers very little value. It appears I may have misjudged what he can bring to the table.

But right now it’s time for the Mets to right a wrong and give McHugh the rotation spot he should have gotten in the first place. Aaron Laffey has already been designated for assignment to make room for Robert Carson. Shaun Marcum will be activated next week and presumably make his first start of the season.

I’m saying let’s go full tilt and start the next series with a rotation of Matt Harvey, Jon Niese, Shaun Marcum, Dillon Gee and Collin McHugh.

The Mets are 1-7 when the backend of our rotation starts, and 7-1 when Harvey and Niese start. We need to change that 1-7 record and Marcum alone won’t do that.

We need McHugh to be a part of the equation and solution.

After Matt Harvey and Rafael Montero, McHugh has been the most effective starting pitcher in the entire Mets organization.

A plane ticket from Vegas to LaGuardia is only $153. Let’s do this thing.

The Mets have announced that they have recalled LHP Robert Carson from Triple-A Las Vegas.

Carson, 24, is 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in eight appearances with Triple-A Las Vegas and has allowed two hits, two walks, while striking out seven in 7.2 innings pitched.

To make room on the active roster for Carson, the Mets have designated LHP Aaron Laffey for assignment.

In four appearances and two starts for the Mets, Laffey had a 7.20 ERA, allowing eight earned runs on 16 hits with four walks and nine strikeouts in ten innings.

The 40-man roster now stands at 39.

Original Post 4/21 at 1:00 AM

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, left-hand reliever Robert Carson, who was beaten out by fellow lefty Scott Rice for a bullpen spot at the end of spring training, is due to join the Mets, a baseball source told him.

Carson, 24, is 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in eight appearances with Triple-A Las Vegas and has allowed two hits, two walks, while striking out seven in 7.2 innings pitched.

Rubin did not mention who could be cut from the active roster, but earlier today Joe D. speculated that Carson was primed for a promotion and identified Josh Edgin as a primary candidate for demotion as well as Greg Burke. Both have struggled out of the bullpen this season.

Rafael Montero is fast approaching a promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas Tops Colorado Springs 10-6
• Binghamton Shuts Out New Hampshire 3-0
• St. Lucie Edges Fort Myers 6-5
• Savannah Tops Lakewood 6-4

Prospect Pipeline

• Brandon Nimmo had another triple last night and reached base three times (two walks). Let’s face it, if Nimmo isn’t getting on base as much as he is (.520 OBP), then Jayce Boyd and Kevin Plawecki wouldn’t be having as good of years as they currently are. I didn’t research it, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that 50% or more of Plawecki’s and Boyd’s RBI came from driving in Nimmo this season. Nimmo is the prime example of how having a solid lead off and No. 2 hitter in the lineup are the keys to the success of a team’s offense as a whole.
• Catcher Juan Centeno, who was called up from Double-A Binghamton to replace the injured Travis d’Arnaud, had an impressive Triple-A debut. Centeno went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a run scored, and also did a nice job behind the plate blocking a couple of pitches in the dirt. (Joe D.)
• Shortstop Phillip Evans was pulled from the game after not running out an infield popup. Gnats’ manager Luis Rojas explained that he had no tolerance for a lack of hustle and gave Evans an earful after the game. (Joe D.)
• Savannah first baseman Jayce Boyd had three hits and drove in four runs as the Sand Gnats defeated Lakewood 6-4 on Saturday. The hot-hitting Boyd is batting .367/.473/.532 in 16 games with 16 RBI this season. (Joe D.)
• Newly signed ex-Yankee Sean Henn made his Mets debut at Triple-A Las Vegas in relief on Saturday night. The left-hander allowed three hits and an earned run in two-thirds of an inning. (Joe D.)
• Sports Media Watchdog caught up with Brandon Nimmo who talked about his hot start. “We’re just going to keep going with this and keep having fun,” said Nimmo. He also praised the organization’s coaching staff for always having something helpful to say when he needed to hear it. “I’m not a major-leaguer yet, but even then, I’ll work on being more consistent, both physically and mentally.” By the way, Sports Media Watchdog is owned by Mike Silva, formerly of New York Baseball Digest. A sharp guy who knows what he’s talking about. (Joe D.)
• How many more games does Rafael Montero have to dominate before he gets the call to Las Vegas? Then how many games will he have to dominate before reaching Citi Field? Because as we learned yesterday, “all he does is dominate.” I’m trademarking that phrase, and going to make a fortune on t-shirts. Seriously though, the kid has a solid fastball, a sharp slider, he’s working on a change up (which is usually the last pitch to develop for young pitchers), and he has complete control over the strike zone — he’s going to be a good one.
• Juan Lagares is slowly proving that he is ready for big league action. He’s been hitting lead off for Las Vegas and he is batting .356, with two home runs and a .390 OBP. The last time I checked the Mets could still use some outfield help and a leadoff man…what’s the hold up?
• Domingo Tapia seems like he has completely bounced back from his start on April 11, where he didn’t make it out of the first inning. Even with that anomaly, his stats are still ridiculous this year — in 19.2 innings of work, he has an ERA of 2.29, and 18 strike outs to seven walks. Now take into account that four of those walks came in the game where he only pitched .2 of an inning. So in his other 19 innings of work he’s only allowed two earned runs, three walks and struck out 17 batters…wow.
• I’ve been preaching it for months — T.J. Rivera is for real. All he does is hit wherever he goes. The native New Yorker from the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx seems determined to make the long journey from undrafted free-agent to Citi Field. We are all rooting for you T.J.!

Stat Line of the Day

Rafael Montero: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 6 K

Transactions/Injuries

• According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, left-hand reliever Robert Carson is due to join the Mets, a baseball source told him. MMO’s Joe D. is projects that Josh Edgin could be heading to Triple-A Vegas to make room for Carson on the Mets roster.
• Rehabbing Frank Francisco threw an inning of scoreless relief in the eighth inning, in his second outing with St. Lucie. That’s two scoreless innings for Francisco since getting back into real game action..

Quote of the Day

Rudy Terrasas on Matt Harvey: “My first impression was that this was a big, strong kid who was built for innings. And then when you saw what came out of his hand, you put it all together and thought, boy this is a pretty good-looking pitcher. He had a plus fastball and plus secondary pitches. The good ones are going to be more polished, and that was the case with Matt. The other thing that impressed me was Matt’s demeanor on the mound. He didn’t let anything bother him; he had a game plan, and he stuck with it.”

Photo of the Day

Brandon Nimmo?! Brandon Nimmo?! Wait until they get a load of me…

Las Vegas 3, Sacramento 2

Carlos Torres gave the team five solid innings and held the River Rats to two runs on the night while striking out ten batters. He allowed eight base runners on seven hits and a walk. Torres left the game down 2-0, but the bullpen shut the door after that allowing the 51s to come back and win the game. Adam Kolarek, Greg Peavey, and Robert Carson combined for four shutout innings.

Offensively, the 51s were quiet until the seventh inning when their bats finally came alive. Wilmer Flores led off the inning with a walk and Zach Lutz singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Omar Quintanilla doubled to right field to plate the first run, and Brian Bixler tied it moments later when he hit a sharp grounder to third, which caused an errant throw as he hustled down the line. Omar Quintanilla was the hero of the night, as he won the game with a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Game Note: There is some concern over Travis d’Arnaud after he was pinch-hit for by Landon Powell in the sixth inning. D’Arnaud was pulled from the game after taking a pitch off his ankle while behind the plate. He finished the inning, but was replaced at the bottom of the sixth. We will continue to monitor this situation and update you as soon as we learn more. It could be nothing and just precautionary.

Key Stats

• Omar Quintanilla: 2-for-4, 2 RBI
• Wilmer Flores: 1-for-3, R, BB
• Brian Bixler: 2-for-4, RBI
• Zach Lutz: 2-for-4, R
• Carlos Torres: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 10 K, 1 BB

Las Vegas 14, Fresno 3

The 51s bats were in full force, putting the game out of reach by the first inning with a five-spot.

—

Collin McHugh had a great outing today, going seven innings and allowing four hits while being charged with two unearned runs. He walked nobody and struck out five. McHugh had the offense behind him for the duration of the game so it was just a matter of not imploding and he did more than that. Jeurys Familia pitched the eighth inning and gave up two hits while striking out one. Robert Carson pitched the ninth and allowed one run on one hit and a walk.

Offensively, the 51s were firing on all cylinders. There were crooked numbers across the board as the first three innings yielded five, four, and three runs respectively. Vegas put across two more in the sixth, but after the first inning explosion, all of the rest was just insurance. Only one player (Omar Quintanilla) did not manage a hit. You could blame it on the PCL, but only two home runs were actually hit today. Some shoddy defense did, however, aid Vegas Thursday night.

Key Stats:

Juan Lagares – 3-for-6, HR, RBI, 2 R
Travis d’Arnaud – 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 3 R, K
Zach Lutz – 2-for-5, HR, R, 5 RBI (Grand Slam)
Collin McHugh – 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R (0 ER), 6 K, 0 BB

The Mets have until Tuesday to make a decision on whether to add Pedro Feliciano, LaTroy Hawkins and Tim Byrdak to the 25 man roster.

According to the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, the Mets must inform each player by Tuesday if they intend to carry them on the major league roster. The alternatives are that either will be assigned to the minors and receive $100,000 or they will be released.

It will be interesting to see if the Mets decide to keep Feliciano, who has not seen his velocity improve one bit and he hasn’t been able to get his fastball past 80-82 mph. In eight appearances this spring, Feliciano has a 2.08 ERA spanning 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and one walk., but the big concern is his velocity which won’t cut it in the majors.

“I want to see the consistent velocity,” pitching coach Dan Warthen said. “I would like to see it a little faster (above 85 mph), but we’ll find out.

It could be the end of the road for Feliciano.

Hawkins, on the other hand, has clearly won a spot in the bullpen and has yet to allow a run this spring, while Byrdak, who is still rehabbing his left shoulder following surgery, will likely accept his minor league assignment.

If the Mets were to pass on Feliciano, it would most likely mean that one left-hander will emerge out of Robert Carson, Scott Rice and Aaron Laffey. Only Josh Edgin has already locked down a job among the southpaws in camp. The Mets have said they intend to go with two leftys in the bullpen.

I’m thinking they go with Aaron Laffey if only because in addition to being a second lefty, he can also serve as a long reliever or spot starter. Laffey has not allowed a run in 9.1 innings pitched this spring and has experience shifting from the rotation to the pen and back, for most of his career in the majors.

How they make room for all these additions to the 40 man roster will be another story, but here is my final updated bullpen projection of the spring:

1. Bobby Parnell - Closer 
2. Brandon Lyon - Setup
3. Scott Atchison - Middle
4. LaTroy Hawkins - Middle
5. Aaron Laffey - Long
6. Josh Edgin - Lefty Specialist
7. Greg Burke - Righty Specialist
   

Original Post 3/20

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, the Mets are going to have two left-handed relievers in the bullpen to begin the season.

I’ve been saying this would be the case before camp even started, and this confirms my speculation that Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia will be assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas within the next few days.

Josh Edgin, of course, is the lock, and the second spot will go to one of Pedro Feliciano, Robert Carson, or Scott Rice.

My money is on Feliciano and if he continues to improve there’s no chance he gets squeezed out by the other two.

Here’s what we’re looking at which really hasn’t changed much from what I’ve been projecting all along:

1. Bobby Parnell - Closer 
2. Brandon Lyon - Setup
3. Scott Atchison - Middle
4. LaTroy Hawkins - Middle
5. Josh Edgin - Middle
6. Greg Burke - Righty Specialist
7. Pedro Feliciano - Lefty Specialist

So, what do you think?

Do you see a better bullpen, a worse bullpen, or more of the same?

I’ve only been here a few days, but trust me on this one, after doing 20 some Spring Trainings the days are usually all alike. We’re usually in the clubhouse by 7:45 in the morning, sometimes earlier depending on where the game is that day.

The first thing most players do is head straight to a corner wall where the lineup is posted. Most guys know the night before if they’ll be playing, but it is a force of habit for many.

The Mets’ clubhouse has changed over the years. Once shamed about not honoring their past, photos of Mets’ alumni are plastered over the walls. Tom Seaver, Ed Kranepool, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, Mookie Wilson and Jerry Koosman.

Always fun to look at.

At one time the clubhouse was divided by a row of lockers split down the middle. They are all gone now creating a wide-open space where everybody can see everybody else. It creates a different atmosphere similar to that at Citi Field. The idea is to foster closeness where the players actually have to see and talk with each other.

There are a couple of televisions attached to columns at each end. Under one, Ike Davis, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Justin Turner sit and eat breakfast at a small circle table. There’s a fourth chair, and every day there’s a new body.

The lockers are divided by position with the position players at one end and pitchers at another. There is no designated area for lefty relievers only.

Gone are the days when the Latin players dominated the clubhouse with their joking and music, led by pitchers Pedro Martinez, Geremi Gonzalez and Jose Lima, while the American, and yes – caucasian players – often congregated in clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels’ office.

Samuels, you might remember, is gone after stealing thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia and gambling. He is not a pleasant topic of conversation.

Perhaps it was the chemistry of the personalities at the time – Lima was very loud – but there was a definite divide hard not to notice. Especially noticeable was the difference in how Martinez and Tom Glavine were treated. There seemed a preference for Martinez, although both could end up in Cooperstown.

It was definitely an uncomfortable setting despite the Mets’ honest efforts to embrace their Latin players.

It’s more integrated and comfortable this way. Rarely do you see guys with their heads buried in their lockers wearing headphones listening to music or playing video games. There is no divide and both sides play and hangout as one unit – one team.

The wide-open space is like an aquarium for the reporters.

In an aquarium you see the fish drift from spot to spot, nibble and move on. It’s that way for us. We drift to a player, talk awhile and go onto the next. Reporters working on a feature will naturally stay longer.

There’s an unwritten rule or sign of respect when another reporter is one-on-one with a player to stay away until he or she is done conversing. When two reporters from competing papers are around a player, then it is all right to join in.

Only when there is an obvious story, like a player coming off an injury, do we go en masse to that locker. Swarm, if you will.

One of the Houston writers just entered the press-room and I asked him what was new. His response was: “The Astros … all of them.’’

The players are now stretching or hitting in the cages.

METS NOTES:

Jeremy Hefner, the first in line if Johan Santana opens the season on the disabled list will start today. Also scheduled are Brandon Lyon, Darin Gorski, Jeurys Familia, Bobby Parnell and Robert Carson. … Parnell will be working in back-to-back games for the first time. … Lucas Duda, who is struggling so far this spring, took extra hitting in the cage. … Travis d’Arnaud said he’s fine after taking a pitch on the elbow yesterday. … The Mets sent pitchers Cory Mazzoni and Rafael Montero, and catcher Juan Centeno to the minor league camp. … Nieuwenhuis is still day-to-day with a bruised left knee.

Here’s today’s lineup:

1. Marlon Byrd, RF
2. Justin Turner, 2B
3. Ike Davis, 1B
4. Lucas Duda, LF
5. John Buck, C
6. Matt den Dekker, CF
7. Anthony Recker, DH
8. Ruben Tejada, SS
9. Wilmer Flores, 3B

RHP Jeremy Hefner is starting.

Updated by HoJo on 2/24

Pedro Feliciano will be shut down for at least two weeks from baseball activity while he wears a heart monitor while the team doctors continue to monitor could be a potentially serious heart condition,

It’s not exactly clear if Feliciano has a hole in his heart or even if that’s the cause of his irregular heartbeat. The next two weeks will help doctors come to a more exact diagnosis of the problem.

“He has a heart condition that could possibly be very serious,” Terry Collins said. “That’s why while we are waiting for further results. He is not to be on the field.”

Feliciano, 36, was expected to be the second lefthanded reliever in the Mets bullpen this season along with sophomore Josh Edgin. But this situation could open things up for some of the other southpaws in camp like Scott Rice, Robert Carson and Aaron Laffey.

We’re all keeping Pedro in our thoughts and prayers with the hope that this is nothing serious and that he can get back on a mound again as soon as he can.

Original Post 2/23

Mets lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano is being shut down due to heart-related issues, according to Marc Carig of Newsday. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, says that there is a “small hole” near the outside of Feliciano’s heart, but it does not appear to be life threatening.

The southpaw does not believe the issue to be serious, but as a precaution he will be fitted for a heart monitor. A timetable for his return to baseball-related activities has not been determined at this time.

We will continue to update you as more information is released.

Jenrry Mejia pitched five solid innings on Sunday.

Jenrry Mejia is starting to settle back into the Buffalo rotation, and continued to do so quite nicely with a 9-3 victory Sunday over the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Mejia took the mound in the top of the first for just his third start since being plugged back into the Buffalo rotation. As a reliever this season, Mejia had a 5.48 ERA in 21.1 innings for Buffalo, prompting the Mets front office to make him a starter again.On Sunday, he made the Mets front office with a very solid performance.

The action got started, however in the bottom of the second, when the Bisons led off the scoring with two runs. The first one came on a failed pickoff attempt by Red Sox starter Zach Stewart, who threw the ball away and allowed Adam Loewen to score. A few batters later, Fred Lewis hit an RBI-single that plated Josh Satin and gave the Bisons a 2-0 lead. The next inning, it continued when Zach Steward once again had trouble, this time throwing a wild pitch and allowing Lucas Duda to go from second to third. Then, Zach Lutzcapitalized with a sacrifice fly, making it 3-0.

The only real trouble for the Bisons came in the top of the fifth, when Pawtucket scored two unearned runs off Jenrry Mejia, cutting the lead to just one run. Matt Tuiasosopo both made throwing errors in the inning. That would be all for Mejia on the night. He was very solid though and made it all the way through five innings, despite only throwing 70 pitches. He was charged with two unearned runs on six hits over five innings. He only walked one and struck out two.

In the next few innings, the Bisons capitalized on some huge mistakes by Pawtucket and opened up a huge lead. Thanks to a balk and a missed catch, Buffalo scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth, opening up an 8-2 advantage. From then on, it was up to the relief core to close the door. The only run the Bisons allowed in the late-game was charged to Robert Carson, who also gave up two hits. In the end, the Bisons went away with a 9-3 win.

Herd Rumblings: Mejia now has a 0.95 ERA in six starts with the Bisons this season, compared to his 5.48 ERA as a relief pitcher. In 12.1 innings since returning to the rotation, he has allowed only one earned run. On offense, the production was very spread out. Six Bisons had RBI, and six had base-hits. Lucas Duda was 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Josh Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with a home run. Jeurys Familia takes the mound at 7:05 tonight, looking to bounce back from  few bad starts against Pawtucket.