St. Louis owns the Mets in spring training

Cardinals 10 13 1
METS 3 4 3

Yet another loss to the dreaded Cardinals. They have dominated the Mets all spring, outscoring them 42-16. They clobbered Johan Santana for four runs in five innings. On the bright side, he did strike out five batters. Even Cards’ starter Adam Wainwright got into the swing of things as well getting a hit off him, helping out his own cause. Definitely not something you want to see two weeks before the season starts.

The bullpen wasn’t much help as Ricardo Rincon gave up four runs, four hits and only recorded one out.

Offensive Notes: Carlos Delgado hit one out of the park. Finally a plus on Delgado’s end, who is hitting .143 in the spring. It was his first of the spring. One can guess his hip is still bothering him.

Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com

Bottom Rotation of Mets have mixed results

I apologize for the delay. I bet you've noticed no posts going up for about a week. So I'm going to do a little recap of what has happened since my last outing on this blog:

Orioles 2 6 1
METS 6 7 0



Oliver Perez, my main man! looking sharp out there! The pitcher from the south of the border had a extended spring outing as they let him pitch four innings giving up one run and getting a K to fill out that spring stat sheet a bit. The run came in the first as Orioles Leftfielder Jay Gibbons doubled in a run. Perez would not give up a hit until the final inning of his start. To sum up in one word: Impressive!

At the plate, Angel Pagan sat up from the bench and probably said to himself "I think I should help the team by doing something productive." Well, he sure did as he hit a two run homer in the 7th to help put away the O's.

METS 5 13 2
Cardinals 6 15 0

This is sad. The Mets have not won a game against the Cards in exhibition play. But who is really the true winner here? Mike Pelfrey out performed his opponent on the mound Braden Looper as he only gave up six hits in 4.2 innings of work. Pelfrey also gave up a run and struck out one. Good outing. I really see him being in that fifth spot right now. If he can only perform like this when push comes to shove.

Endy! Endy! Endy! is what we Met fans are waiting to hear at Shea. Chavez gave a little preview of what he can do on the field hitting a two run double and two singles to go 3 for 4 on the day. JO-se, Jose, Jose, Jose, JO-se, JO-se! Another chant waiting to be said. Reyes hit two singles and scored twice in this game.

METS 8 13 1
Marlins 2 8 2



What it means to be Maine! John Maine dominated the first five innings as they roll past the fish 8-2. He struck out a half-dozen batters and only walked one. With this performance, he looks like the ace of his staff. It shows the depth of the rotation when the third starter pitches lights out.

At this point, the Mets can use any help at catcher. With Brian Schneider out with that hammy injury, Robinson Cancel is forced to step up during this pre-season. He has delivered. Cancel went 3 for 4 with a pair of RBI's. Could he be the long term solution as a backstop? who knows?

Pictures Courtesy of ESPN.com

Pagan Continues his Hitting ways, Mets Fall 4-3

METS 3 7 0
Boston 4 9 1



In a day where the backups were out on the field, The Puerto Rican wonder Angel Pagan hit a triple to knock in two runs for the Mets, but were denied a victory by the Bo-Sox twice in one week (1-1 tie on Monday). Pagan has to make the team at this point as he is still batting .415 for the pre-season, setting the tone for what could possibly his breakout year.



On the mound, no-name pitcher Nelson Figueroa got roughed up a bit. In three innings, he gave up four runs and had only one K. I'm going to be logical and say that there's nothing special here. I remember one day he came in relief earlier in the spring and Pedro was his unofficial pitching coach during the game. Although he has a 3.86 ERA, this guy still needs to sharpen up his tools before he offiicially plays with the big boys.

Pictures Courtesy of ESPN.com

Santana Shines Again

Boston 1 5 0
METS 1 5 2
10 Innings

Well nothing new here, just the same old same old. Mets tie up with the world champion Red Sox in spring training action, give it up for them.

Johan Santana pitched a gem through four innings giving up a run and fanning four batters. He has already convinced me that he is ready and it can give a Met fan get goosebumps. This guy is earning every penny of that 150 million dollar deal.

I hate to say it but the Mets got lucky on Monday. A ground out from Reyes scored Pagan to tie up the game. There was no real offense until that 7th inning sacrifice. It could be that their a bit fatigued as they have played 19 of the last 20 days. Even though they have so many players at Port St. Lucie, they are training for the start of the season....

Yet again, i could be fooling myself as Jon Lester, struck out five from Flushing. Good sign for them, bad for the Mets.

Oh well, at least they gave the Sox a run for the money.

PICTURES COURTESY OF ESPN.COM

Maine Shuts down 'stros

Astros 0 3 1
METS 3 7 0




John Maine did his thing on the mound has he held the Houston Astros to no hits and three strikeouts over four innings. An impressive outing for the third man in the rotation. Here's hoping this is a sneak preview of the season. This is kinda ironic since I didn't see what he accomplished until after I wrote about the No-hitter possibility. Who knows? maybe it will be Maine. Heck at least they get their first.



The Lumber was handled by Jose Reyes who hit a liner to right center field that just cleared the fence. That was all that was needed, really. Reyes does flash some power from time to time, but i don't think he's going to repeat the 17 home runs from the 2006 season. He's going to be more of a base stealing threat if anything.

Andersen Hernandez also had a stand-out performance by driving in a run and stealing a base. I think it's not likely since Damion Easley, Jose Valentin and Ruben Gotay are all fighting for the same position he has. He would be a great defensive addition to any team and with his improving bat, he could be a lead off caliber batter.

Pics credited to ESPN.com and AP

WHAT IF: Johan Santana Pitches a No-Hitter

OK, so if you don't know lets brush up on a little history lesson, shall we?

The New York Mets are the oldest team to never have a no-hitter. We are are joined by a cast of other expansion teams including the Tampa Bay Rays, Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres..... Ahhh! (Link)

It gets even more frustrating for those fans out there and albeit even the owners. Two of the former pitchers to pitch for the orange and blue pitched in pinstripes to record their no-no..David Cone and Dwight Gooden.

The most notable ex-Met to throw a no-hitter list includes Nolan Ryan who pitched seven...SEVEN over his career AND HE WAS A MET! (Link) And we can't forget about Tom Seaver. (This is just frustraiting just writing about it.)

Now my question...is Johan Santana the chosen one? Does he have the ability to throw the first no hitter of the franchise?

First off, I believe he was brought here to dominate the league and eventually lead the Mets to their first world series win since 86'. I do not think he was brought here for the no-hitter. But does he have the numbers to prove that he can put doughnuts on the board?

Lets look at his stamina, the amount of complete games he has pitched. He has had at least one the last four years.

The next step, he's gotta dominate enough to shut them out. He's had four of them over his career and one from last year so he's on a steady pace...so far.

The WHIP or Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched can play a role as well. In case you dont know, the WHIP combines both base on balls and hits against the pitcher to give a picture of how batter fair against him. According to Docsports.com, a WHIP of 1.00 or below is exceptional . Guess who has been hovering around that line in the last four years as a twin? yes, indeed! Last year, Santana's WHIP was 1.07, which was slightly higher than the perfect one he pitched the year before that.

In conclusion, I will predict that the ace of the staff will indeed pitch a no-hitter before his contract is up. The fact that he is pitching against 8 hitters and a pitcher just improves his chances. Other factors such as defense and umpire calls will have to play out itself.

Met fans and Santana fans alike, we could be witnessing history as Number 57 takes the mound in the very near future.

Here's a little hope for those still dreaming out there. (Warning: video game footage, not real in any shape or form)

Pictures and video credited to:

Art.com

ESPN.com

MLB.com

Youtube.com : antdogs82

Mets Beat Indians with Subs

METS 8 12 1
Indians 6 12 2

If you know who are Olmedo Saenz and Robinson Cancel, you should be nominated for fan of the year. Saenz does have too much experience to be in the same sentence as the rookie, but lets be frank, they are not going to be in the opening day lineup. They are role players the Mets have picked up. But it sure didn't look like that on Friday.

Saenz went 2 for 4 with a double and a home run. He's going to be a probability for the benchwarming committee. He may be decent, but unless there is a big injury that happens at first (don't fall apart Delgado), he's not going to get much playing time, probably 50 games to give the regulars a day off once in a while. Cancel, a rookie surely not going to make the roster with a .222 average, mimicked the veteran by hitting a double and home run as well.

Courtesy of espn.com

Unfortunately, whenever there is a good side, there is also a bad side. Oliver Perez is starting to look like a blunt knife cutting meat, he just cant get the job done. He gave up 6 runs, three of them earned in three innings...definitely not a good sign. I think every Met fan out there would just hope that he just had a bad outing.


Have to give a round of applause for the bullpen. No runs given up after Perez left. They recorded 5 strikeouts to seal the deal.