Word on the street is that the Mets will have a new home uniform alternate next season. It seems like they are going to get rid of the classic pinstripes next season and replace them with a new set of classic pinstripes. The new ones are going to have a cream back drop, thin blue pinstripes (no black backdrop). What is nice about this possible uniform set is that they will be a shout out back to the Mets original uniforms except for two things:

1) The Mets uniforms were not cream color, believe it or not they were not cream, they were white.

2) Retro uniforms are great, I love them (because I love classic uniforms) but you have to go all the way to make them look right. That means if these are classic uniforms, they should not have the names on the back. Rumors suggest that they will have the names on the back of the jerseys.

In conclusion, I am really happy the Mets will focus on their classic pinstripe uniforms, becaue they are the best, if they are really going to do this right, they should be white and they should not have the names on their backs.

Over at Fan Huddle I have reviewed all of the Mets moves so far this off season.

Check it out.

It has barely been a week so far this off season and so far there have been four major trades. The first was Iwamura who was traded to Pirates. The trade wasn't so much as a surprise as Iwamura really didn't fit into the next step of plans for the Rays as they have some talent coming up and Iwamura wasn't working out. Iwamura though still has some promise in the majors so a trade made sense. The suprise though was that he went to the Pirates, who needed to assume a large chunk of his contract. While this omve is good for them, its questionable in terms of why would they take on this contract (especially with their history of not liking to spend money).

The next big move was Teahen (3B or OF) to the White Sox. The White Sox needed someone to play third base and all of the positions that Teahen plays are overcrowded in Kansas City. Onother OF type player was traded as the Marlins sent Hermida to the Red Sox this week. You can read my analysis of the trade over at Fan Huddle.

Finally, Hardy was traded to the Twins for Gomez. In terms for the Twins, this move will be great if Hardy can play like how he used to. Personally, for the Twins, I do not like this trade becuase I like Gomez as a player a lot more than Hardy. Gomez is still developing his bat skills but he is starting to show that he can be a good fast player. His play is starting to remind me a lot of Castillo in the sense that he can slap the ball all over the place and has the speed to make things happen on the base paths. His speed is also an asset in the OF. So I am a bit puzzled by this trade, but thats also because I am biased since I'm a Gomez fan.

Over at Fan Huddle, I wrote about my reactions to the Hermida trade from the Marlins to the Red Sox and why it impacts the Mets.

Over at Fan Huddle, I just posted an article about who the Mets should get if they had to pick either one of John Lackey or Matt Holliday.

To save you the suspense, I picked John Lackey. Why? Read the article.

Remember that time we had our AAA team down in New Orleans which didn't really make any sense. And remember that time that their uniforms were terrible, and a city with that much history and should deserve a little more. Well according to milb.com, that has finally happened:



(Image From Milb.com)

Now this is classy. This is nice. This is what they should have had the entire time. Not talking about the color scheme (which is odd, because it is Rays colors and they are a Marlins team, whatever) the physical design looks nice and is something to be proud of.

Good Job Zephyrs, this is a good move.

Over at Fan Huddle, I just wrote an article about a disturbing situation that occurred this week.

In a report by Peter Gammons, it has become unclear who the real GM is. He states that it really is Jeff Wilpon, with Minaya more as a puppet to accept criticism for bad decisions.

This could do a lot of damage. Read the full article and join the discussion.

Over at Fan Huddle, I just wrote a quick article about the Mets players in the AFL yesterday, including Ike Davis's big day. Here's a quick summary of the stats:

Davis 4-6, 2 2B, GS, 6 RBI
Duda 2-5
Tejada 2-5

Also, Mejia starts today. Check out the link for some commentary on these performances.

First, read this story.

This story raises up the tradition of keeping homerun balls and giving them back. As the article states, the first really famous situation of this was Marris's 61st where Roger wanted the fan to keep it. These situations always boil down to who is the nicer person. Is the fan going to say that I really respect your career and I  am going to let you have your milestone back. Or, is the player going to say that I really respect your support, and realize that once that ball leaves the yard it is the fan's property, that I am giving literally to the fans.

While that debate could range on, it is clear, so clear, that the real problem here is the Phillies office skills. Most of the time when either the player doesn't step up (who in my opinion should always offer to) or if the fan doesn't step up, then the fan and the player start a barganing process for the ball. What the Phillies did here was wrong. They took the ball, told the girl she was going to get it back, and then gave her a different ball. Generally, when a fan gives up the ball, they get autographed balls, bats, pictures with the players and chance to meet them. This didn't happen here!

No matter how you feel about who did the right thing, it is safe to say that the Phillies PR department really botched this one.

Hey Readers!

Have you heard of Fan Huddle? Its a new website that features over 200 writers that are writing for every major sport and every team. Well I am the representative writing for the New York Mets. Its a new place and I am starting to get accustomed to it. Anyway, my writing will be split between here and there. Whenever I write something over there, I'll make it known here.

Anyway, here is my article about why we should still play Dan Murphy everyday.

Thanks for all of the support
-Elliot Teichman

When switching from Shea to Citi one of the bigger selling points was the Mets were going to transfer from playing in a stadium to playing in a ballpark. That means baseball is the sport that will be played on the Citi Field green.

Oops.

On November 4th the UFL comes to town to play the first ever UFL game in New York. If you haven't heard of the UFL, which most likely you haven't, its a 4 team development league for football. I am really fuzzy on the details, but I know the teams are New York, Florida, Las Vegas and California. California and Vegas played last night. This is a great blog to read, if you like to read complaints about things, because he just rips into the UFL.

Anyway, Citi Field will be a football stadium tomorrow.

Its hard to say though that it actually will be a football stadium considering in last night's game, people who actually watched the game said it looked practically empty.

UPDATE:
Wrong Date of game in the original article, so I changed it.

The Mets finish up the 2009 baseball season today as they play they the Houston Astros. While we all have strong feelings about this team, and as a group, have gone through a lot this year, it is always hard to write the last game preview post of the season. Even though we stumbled this season, we still played (something that resembled) baseball, and now we are about to go through the winter without seeing the Mets take the field till late January, play something of a game until March and not play real game until April. In that respect, I'm sad to see the season end as I'm sure many of you are too (I'll be writing more on this later today). Anyway, the Mets have the opportunity to end the seaosn on a very strong note by sweeping the Houston Astros (I believe its possible, this past weekend my high school just ended a 53 game losing streak, so anything is possible). Figueroa will be getting the start against Lopez.

Figueroa is 2-8 on the season with a 4.70 ERA over 61.1 innings of work. In his last three games he is 0-3 over 18.0 innings with a 5.00 ERA however, if you only look at his last 2 games he is 0-2 over 13.0 innings with a 2.77 ERA. So the last two times on the mound Nelson has been getting it done. Here are some stats the Astros have on him:
     Blum 1-13
     Berkman 2-10
     Boone 3-8
     Tejada 0-2
     Keppinger 0-2
To win though he will need something that has not been happening for him in his last several outings, and that is he will need the Mets to score him some runs.

The Mets bats get to face another rookie starting pitcher today and this time its Lopez. Lopez is 0-1 on the season over 14.1 innings and has a 9.42 ERA. This will be his second major league start where last time he lasted 3.2 innings and allowed 5 ER. As a reliever so far he has pitched 10.2 innings and has allowed 10 ER. As you probably have guessed, since he came up on August 28th of this year, no Mets have any batting history in the majors against him. The Mets bats though have been clicking the last few games and all they need is just one more game, and then they get the winter. Lets Go Mets! Finish off 2009 strong! Sweep the Astros!

The Mes continue their final series of 2009 with the Astros. Last night was an all around solid game for the Mets, one that we can look to build off of for 2010. For me, it was punctuated with the pinch hit homer of the player on this team that has worked the hardest, and is seemingly being written out for next season before Spring Training (in other words I still believe in Murphy). Anyway, the Mets hope to continue to finish this seaosn on a good note with the enigma of Misch vs Bazardo today.

Misch is 2-4 on the season with a 4.33 ERA over 54.0 innings. In his last three games he is 1-2 over 15.1 innings and a 7.04 ERA. Those numbers would have so much worse if it wasn't for his last outing, a 9 inning shutout (yes, he is the only Mets pitcher to do that this year). Basically he went from 1.1 innings with 8 runs to 9 innings with no runs. Incredible. Anyway here are some Astros stats against him:
     Keppinger 1-5
     Blum 2-4, 2 2B
     Matsui 1-4
     Berkman 1-3
Think of it almost as instant karma for the Mets. They go from playing in Washington, where the Nats fans got to see a ton of ex Nationals in the series and now the Mets fans get to see a good amount of ex Mets in this series (some more liked than others).

The Mets will have to deal iwth Bazardo today who is 1-2 on the seaosn witha  8.34 ERA over 27.1 innings pitched. In his last three games he has a 7.53 ERA and a 1-1 record. The only Met batting record I could find this morning was Wright who is 2-2 lifetime against Bazardo. Hopefully the Mets offense comes out like it did yesterday. Lets Go Mets!

After dropping two straight to the Nats, the Mets and the Nationals play again in a game featuring Redding vs Lannan. This afternoon's game is the last one in the season for the Nationals at home, so that would be what the Mets will be playing for (if you really have to justify it). Today is more of a treat (in a wierd way) for the Nationals fans in a wierd way as they get to see a former National in Redding. The real treat for them though has been Lannan. Now he has a 3.96 ERA on the season, but against the Mets this year he has been lights out with a 0.36 ERA and 2 complete games. Seriously, this guy has our number.

The lineup today:
Pagan
Hernandez
Wright
Beltran
Francoeur
Tatis
Santos
Valdez
Redding

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Nationals!

The Mets and the Braves play again tonight as the Mets try to win one. Last night's game was a pretty good description of how games usually go for the Mets as they went up early, fell back, actually got the lead back (a rarity) and then lost it again, playing poor baseball at the end of the game. In other words, a pretty frustrating game. Tonight could be another frustrating game as the Mets have to deal with Jurrjens who has been just awesome against the Mets this season (1.83 ERA over 3 games with 2 wins). The Mets will counter that tonight with Nelson Figueroa who has been putting up nice numbers over the last three games as he has an ERA over 3.44 during that stretch.

If you need a reason to watch tongiht, make it Josh Thole. He makes contact, a lot of contact. He is still hitting over .400 with the Mets and he is a bright spot on a team that has pretty much be dark and gloomy all season. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Braves!

The Mets try to rebound after last nights shoutout loss against the Braves as they play another one tonight. This game will feature Parnell vs Lowe. We all know the story with Parnell. He was good. Then he was Bad. Then He was real bad. Then he had a good game, followed by a bad game. So that is where we are now. On the season he is 3-8 over 78.2 innings with a 5.49 ERA. Two starts ago he went 7.0 innings and allowed no runs. Last game he lasted only five innings and allowed 5 ER. In his last three games he is 0-2 over 16.2 innings and 13 ER. Against the Braves this year he has pitched 7.0 innings and has allowed 11 runs, 9 earned. Here are some Braves stats:
     Escobar 2-5
     Infante 3-5
     Anderson 1-3
     Chipper 1-2

On the other side the Mets get Lowe he is 14-9 on the year with a 4.47 ERA over 177 innings and in his last three games he is 2-1 over 18.1 innings and has a 4.42 ERA. Against the Mets this season he is 1-1 and has pitched 16.1 innings but has also allowed 13 ER. Here are some Mets stats against him:
     Beltran 4-26
     Francoeur 4-20, HR
     Wright 5-11
     Reed 4-10

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and the Braves meet tonight in a game that marks the first time ever that the Mets will see Tommy Hanson pitch. This rookie of the Braves has been highly touted and has had success so far this season as he boasts a 9-3 record over 101.2 innings pitched and has a 2.83 ERA. In his last three games he is 0-1 over 15.0 innings and has a 1.20 ERA. There is only one Met who has hit against him and that would be Hernandez who is 1-3. However, Francoeur was on the team when Hanson was first called up, so maybe he knows the inside scoop.

For the Mets, they will send Misch to the mound with his 1-2 record, 3.26 ERA over 38.2 innings. He was really rolling untill his last start where he allowed 5 ER over 6 innings, which didn't even hurt his stats that much over the last three games where he is now 1-1 over 20.0 innings with a 3.66 ERA. This is a big start for him now though as he looks to show that he can rebound. Success now keeps him in the running for a rotation spot next Spring. Against the Braves this year he has pitched 3.0 innings in 3 games and has allowed 2 ER. Here are some Braves stats against him:
    Church 0-2
    Escobar 1-3, 2B
    McCann 1-3
    McLouth 1-2
Lets Go Mets! Beat the Braves!

The Mets and the Philly play two today where these games will determine if this series is split, or if the Phillies will win it, or if the Mets win it. If the Phillies win both games today then the Mets will have been officially mathmatically eliminated this season. Yesterday it looked like the Phils were going to win (after the Mets got an early lead) but the Mets showed heart and they battled back to get the win, thanks David Wright's 6 RBI's, 4 coming off of two Homers late in the game.

Game 1:
John Maine returns to the mound in game for the first time since June 6th. On the season he is 5-4 with a 4.52 ERA over 61.2 innings. In his last game he lasted 4.0 innings and allowed 7 ER. During the 2008 season, he pitched against the Phillies 3 times with a 1-0 record over 18.2 innings pitched and a 3.38 ERA. Here are some Phillies stats against him:
    Utley 7-22, 2 2B, HR
    Howard 5-23, 2 HR
    Rollins 4-25, 3 2B
    Victorino 6-19, HR
    Ibanez 0-3

The Mets in this game will get to see Kendrick make his first start this year. Last year he was an assest for the Phillies. On the season he is 0-1 over 5.1 innings and 3 ER and 4 games pitched. Last year he also pitched three games against the Mets going 0-1 over 13.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA. Here are some stats the Mets have against him:
    Beltran 3-10, HR
    Francoeur 6-17
    Wright 2-10
    Sullivan 4-5
    Pagan 1-2, 2B


Game 2:
In the second game, Redding gets the call for the Mets. On the season he is 2-5 over 95.0 innings and has a 5.70 ERA. He is 1-1 over 18.1 innings and has a 4.42 ERA over his last three games. Last year against the Phils he got two no decisions over 12.0 innings of work and had a 2.25 ERA. Here are some Phillies stats against him:
     Rollins 6-38
     Howard 3-26
     Utley 10-22, 2 2B, 2 HR
     Victorino 6-20
     Feliz 7-20

The Mets will get to see Pedro for the second time this year in the second game of the day. He is 4-0 with a 3.64 ERA over 29.2 innings and in his last three he is 2-0 over 15.2 innings and a 2.30 ERA. In the first game this year against the Mets he got the win after 6.0 innings of work and allowing 4 ER (you may remember this game as the one Perez killed in the first inning allowing 6 ER on 2/3 of one inning, or you may remember this game as the one where the Mets hit into an unassisted triple play to end the game. I'll remember this game as my first game at Citi Field). Anyway here are some Mets stats against him:
    Francoeur 5-28, 2 2B, 3B, HR
    Castillo 6-18
    Beltran 4-13
    Murphy 1-3, 2B
    Pagan 2-3, 2 HR (one of the inside the park variety)

The Mets and Phillies go to the National TV scene for the second game of this series as the Mets try to win this game after losing last night. The Amazin's send out Pelfrey who has been struggling as of late except for his last start where he made a statement and just had a really good game. On the season he is 10-10 with a 4.83 ERA over 158.1 innings pitched. In his last three games he is 1-2 over 17.2 innings where he allowed 12 ER, 11 BB and 11 K. Against the Phils this year he has pitched 4 games to the tune of a 3-0 reocrd over 24.1 IP with a 3.70 ERA. Here are some Phillies stats against Big Pelf:
    Howard 8-20, 4 BB, 2B, HR
    Utley 6-20, 2B, 3 HR
    Rollins 4-19, HR
    Werth 5-16
    Ruiz 1-11


The Mets bats will have to contend with Moyer who is 12-9, with a 4.98 ERA over 142.2 innings. Moyer is also the reason why  probably won't watch at least the beggining of the game. Everytime the Phillies play on some national broadcast, especially FOX, and Moyer is starting, the discussion starts with, and continues for about 30 minutes, about how old Moyer is and how he has reinvented himself, so and so forth, which would be fine normally, except they talk about this every time, and I am tired of hearing it. Anyway in his last three games he is 1-0 over 13.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA. Against the Mets this year he is 1-1 over 4 games over 20.1 innings and a 7.08 ERA. Here are some Mets stats against him:
     Beltran 14-61, 4 2B, HR
     Wright 19-44, 4 2B, 3 HR
     Castillo 7-23, 4 2B
     Francoeur 8-27, 2B
     Murphy 1-1, HR, 2 BB
Lets Go Mets! Beat the Phills!

The Mets take on the Phils tonight and they will do it with this lineup:
Pagan
Castillo
Wright
Francoeur
Tatis
Evans
Santos
Valdez
Figueroa

And the Phils have this lineup:
Rollins
Victorino
Utley
Howard
Ibanez
Werth
Feliz
Ruiz
Hamels

Hey look, Evans is playing tonight! Lets Go Mets!