A new daily feature that will keep you fully briefed on the current state of the Mets. One post with all you need to know until tomorrow.
Domestic Affairs
Now that the Dominican Republic has been eliminated from the WBC, shortstop Jose Reyes and left fielder Fernando Tatis are flying back to St. Lucie and will be in uniform on Saturday. Reyes actually did all he could to make his team win by drawing a walk and scoring a run to put DR ahead 1-0 in the top of the 11th inning, but the Netherlands scored two in the bottom half of the inning and won the game.
Matthew Cerrone has a great video in which he interviews Mets prospects Brad Holt, Ike Davis, Reese Havens and Dylan Owen. Like a fine wine, Matt continues to get better with age and this latest video proves it.
Johan Santana makes his long anticipated spring training debut tonight when he takes the mound against the pesky Florida Marlins in St. Lucie. Santana continues to insist that he will pitch on Opening Day, so maybe now that he finally gets a start the media will stop pestering him about it and stop making us fans worry so much. Bart Hubbuch of the NY Post… I’m talking to you!
K-Rod got the save last night as Venezuela beat the United States 5-3 in the World Baseball Classic. His setup man J.J. Putz shut up the doubters when he hit 95 MPH on the radar gun and said he’s still building his velocity and isn’t really crank it it up just yet. Nice!
“I feel pretty rusty” is what Mike Pelfrey said yesterday after his side session on Wednesday. He also said the stiffness in his left leg has not completely faded, but insisted he’ll pitch Saturday against the Nationals.He believes that another two days of treatment will take care of it.
Outfielder Angel Pagan had successful arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone chip from his right elbow. He is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks. Marlon Anderson looks like a good bet that he’ll make the team.
Lefthander Jon Niese, is considered by many to be a longshot to make the rotation, but in my opinion he has done more to win the job than anyone else. Yesterday he pitched four hitless innings against Mets minor leaguers and his fastball was clocked at 88-90 mph. John Franco has been working with him on his changeup which looked much improved yesterday.
Foreign Relations
Jonathan Papelbon called Manny Ramirez a cancer in an interview that will be released in the latest edition of Esquire Magazine.
C.C. Sabathia was tagged for five runs yesterday in 1 2/3 innings against the Tigers. The performance was characterized by Craig Carton of WFAN as follows: “That fat bastard looked terrible out there.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers have suddenly become interested in Pedro Martinez, and a homecoming may be in the works. Pedro began his career with the Dodgers who then traded him to the Expos for Delino Deshields. Ouch!
