This is my first crack at the changes the Mets need to make in order to be successful for the entire season next year. With this entry, I am going to try to contain my comments and opinions only on the bullpen, because that will be the area of the Mets that will look very different next year. Now there are several problems with the pen. The first is the lack of a closer. Could Billy Wagner helped down the stretch? It wouldn't have hurt but there were a lot of games that were lost in the eighth inning. That brings us two problem number two, the Mets need a setup man.Going along with that, lets call it problem 2.5, the Mets need a bullpen with definite roles. There were more roles with Manuel than Randolph, but that went downt he toilet when Wagner went out with injury. The third problem with the pen is that there are two many Minaya guys in there, we need new Minaya guys.

With Problem 1, the solution that makes the most sense is K-Rod or Fuentes. Now K-Rod might be too expensive for the Mets, but the Mets really need that to be a big goal in the offseason. Let that be the prime signing of the offseason. If not, then the Mets will have to try through trade.

The reason Problem 1 needs to be sovled by Free Agency, is becauese the Problem 2 needs to be solved via trade. What the Mets trade chips are probably the older guys in the pen we need to get rid of. At this point in the offseason, I am not sure who will be available. This will probably be more clear come December. With that, Problem 2.5, is role assignment. Felciano was so good in 2006 because he has Bradford. Solution there is we have Smith as a right hander, so make him that role. Don't leave Feliciano out for the whole inning, thats when he gets burned.

Problem 3 is pretty simple, in the pen, the only people that should be back without a doubt are Feliciano, Smith and Stokes. When it comes to players like Parnell and pitchers like him, they will have to go through the hoops again. They will have to go to Spring Training and earn their spot in the pen. The reason being is that some of them, like Parnell, have great stuff, and they shouldn't be rushed through the system. Now about Minaya's guys. In 06, Minaya brought in a bunch of guys who ended up doing a good job. The problem is we are now attached to them. These Minaya guys, including ones that were around before Minaya, but now he's attached to them, have to go. These are pitchers like Schoenwies, Heilman, Sanchez, etc. We gotta go back out there, find those gems like we did back then, these guys are cheap, and they are good. Lets do it again.

I normally save the schedule previews until January or February, but I wanted to do this one now because the Mets have my favorite Interleague Schedule. For the most part, the Interleague Schedules try to pit one division against another division (except in 2007 when the Mets had to face all of the 2006 AL playoff teams), anyway, this year we are back to playing the AL East, which is by far my favorite. (I would go as far as say that it should be each division vs their counterpart every year, it allows "rivarlies" and fixes some of the issues like the Mets facing the Yankees twice and the other teams in the NL East facing them 0 times). Anyway here is the Mets tentative Interleague Schedule:
     May 22-24 @ Boston
     June 12-14 @ New York Yankess
     June 16-18 @ Baltimore
     June 19-21 vs Tampa Bay
     June 26-28 vs New York Yankees
Work pending, I will be at all of the games at Baltimore. It is a great time to see the Mets at Camden Yards, and to wear the Orange and Blue at the Yard. The part of the schedule that I found interesting is that the Mets are back in Fenway, they were in Fenway last time, so it didn't flip. The Orioles I know where at Shea last time, so they flipped locations. And the first two AL teams to play in Citi will be the Rays and the Yankees.
Another interesting note here is that the Mets are playing the Yankees twice in June. We usually play the Yankees once in May and once in June, so it will be different this year. This should be fun interleague set this year.

Well with that loss the Mets have played their last game at Shea Stadium. We have a lot to look at and talk about, but for now, I think its only appropriate to step back and appreciate the good times we had at Shea. Its time too admire those great World Champion Teams, to admire the team that brought hope and smiles back to New York City and America after 9/11. Its time to remember that Shea.

In a few days, its time to look at the bullpen issues, the games that might have cost us a shot, but right now, lets just remember the bulky stadium that brought us good times and bad times, that have put us on many an emotional rollercoaster, and the stadium that has meant so much to each of us in our lives.

Its also time to start rooting for the Brewers again and hope they can pull a Rockies from last year and a sweep the Phils.

I bet professional sportswriters dream for days like today. The last regular season game at Shea Stadium will be one played with fire and brimstone as the Mets are on the line for the postseason. Win and then we see what the Brewers do, lose and then we have to pray. There are so many things going on, so many emotions and they will all be heading to Flushing tomorrow. Will it be the last game at Shea? Will there be many more this season? It all comes down to this. 161 games down to one game and then possibly another game. Taking the mound on this historic day for the fish will be Olsen, and he will be dueling the always on the edge of seat Perez.

Olsen, 8-11, has pitched 195.2 innings and has an ERA of 4.23. He will most likely tommorow reach the 200 innings in a season plateu for the first time in his career. In his last five games he has a 2-3 record, 30.1 innings, and an ERA 4.45. In his last start against the Mets he lasted 6.1 innings and allowed 6 runs. In 2008 against Mets, he has seen them 4 times, has a record of 0-3, pitched 22 innings, and has had an ERA of 6.95. Here are some Mets stats against Olsen:
     Reyes 14-32, 4 2B, 3B, HR
     Beltran 12-27, 3 2B, 3 HR, 5 BB
     Wright 9-29, 4 2B, 3 HR
     Evans 6-10, 2B, HR
     Ramon Martinez 3-6
The Mets can hit him. Look at those numbers. The Mets offense has not been here the last two days, but it was here the couple of games before that. The Mets have not faced a pitcher that they have experience against yet this series against the Marlins but that changes tommorow. They have seen him, they know him, and now they need to act.

Perez, 10-7, has been really rocky as of late. On the season he has pitched 188.2 innings, and has an ERA of 4.25. In his last five, he is 1-0 over 27.1 innigns and an ERA of 6.26. That being said, 6 games ago, he faced the Marlins and lasted 6 innings, alllowed 3 hits, 2 R, 1 earned run, 5 BB and 4. On the season against the fish, he has faced them 5 times already and is 3-0. He has pitched 31 innings and has a cool ERA of 2.03 with 16 BB and 32 K's.
     Ramierez 8-30
     Ross 9-25, 2 2B, 3B, 3 HR
     Willingham 7-20, 2B, 3 HR
     Uggla 6-26, 2 2B
The main thing for Perez is for him to keep the walks to the mininum. When he does that he, he is fine. He has been doing that against the Fish this year with 2 K's per BB. If he does that, then he will be successful. Last time against the fish, he walked a lot, but he was able to get through it. In 2006, the Mets called on Perez to lead them in the all important Game 7 of the NLCS. He was in the middle of a terrible, terrible year. He came out that night and he was on fire and he was brilliant. He can do that again. He needs to do that tommorow. Lets Go Mets! Lets Make the Playoffs!

Johan had an amazing day today. A career day. He has pitched in a lot of situations this year where the Mets have needed him to win, and he has, but none as big as today. He was coming off of a great outing on short rest where he allowed 2 runs over 8 innings and had the highest pitch count in his career at 125 pitches. He then went out today and with the orders of we need a win, he just went out and decided to do the entire game today. If you look at the stats, it was an amazing game. He went 9 innings allowing only 3 hits, 3 walks and then struck out 9.

When you take his performance in this game, and then compound it with what this game meant for the Mets, this is why he is an ace and why he is considered one of the games best pitchers. It is very easy to imagine that if some of his game leads were not lost by the pen, that he could have been a 20 game winner very easily this year. Also, his ERA for the season is an amazing 2.53. He dropped his ERA .11 today, which is incredible at this point in the season.

He allowed the Mets to live another day, and now we need to take that gift and run with it tommorow.

BaseballChannel.TV is a an internet channel ran by MLB and usually broadcasts their reviews/previews and commentaries of Baseball but today, starting at 7:30 and going all the way to late tomorrow, they will be showing great historic games at Shea Stadium to remember the stadium as part of MLB.com's Farewell Shea Stadium.

Here is the lineup:
7:30 Tom Seaver Day
8:00 1999 NLCS Game 5 (Robin Ventura's Grand Slam Single)
Midnight 1986 World Series Game 6 ('Nuff said)
3:30 am 1999 NLDS (Pratts Walkoff shot)
6:30 am 1986 World Series Game 7
9:00 am Mike Piazza's Greatest Homer (First Game after September 11th)
Noon MLB PreGame Show for Marlins @ Shea
1:00 Live Lookin's of the Game and MLB's Postgame show
Postgame: 1969 Game 5 (First World Championship)

Should be a great lineup, its just at awkward times. So if you are up late tonight, there is some good stuff to watch online.

Today is the most important game of the year. If the Mets want a chance at the postseason, they must win today. This is a back against the wall, we need outside help as well, situation. So we need a win and then pray for a Brewers loss. Rightfully so, Santana will be taking the mound today in this very important day. The Marlins will be sending up Nolasco today, in an attempt to stop the Mets from the postseason.

Santana, 15-7, came up big last time we needed him to win, and now we need him again. He has pitched 225.1 innings pitched this season with 197 K's and a 2.64 ERA. If he gets at least three strikeouts today, he will reach 200 strikeouts for the fifth season in a row. In his last five starts, he is 3-0 with 35.1 innings pitched, 10 BB, 38 K and a 2.29 ERA. Against Florida this year, he is 2-0 in as many starts with 14 innings pitched with a 3.21 ERA, 4 BB, 15 K. Here are some Marlin stats against the Santana:
     Gonzalez 2-12
     Ramierez 2-9
     Uggla 1-10
     Jacobs 1-8
Santana needs to be Santana today. That being said, he needs to hope the bullpen doesn't do a normal blow up today, and needs to hope for some run support.

The Mets will need to score runs today and the first person tha will attempt to stand in their way is Nolasco. He is 15-7, with 205.1 innigns pitched and a 3.55 ERA on the season. In his last five games, he is 2-0, 33.2 IP, 3.21 ERA, 4 BB, 29 K. He has seen the Mets a lot this year pitching against them in 5 games, 4 starts, 26.2 innings pitched, a 1-1 record and a 3.71 ERA. Here are teh Mets stats against him:
     Beltran 7-20, HR
     Reyes 10-22, 3B, 2 HR
     Wright 10-22, 3 2B, 3 HR
     Delgado 6-19, HR
     Murphy 3-6
This is a big game for the offense, and they need to be on today. Lets hope they can do that. Lets Go Mets! Keep the Postseason hope alive!.

With Shea winding down, I thought I would share my favorite memory at the Shea. For a while, I didn't know if I would share this story, because its very personal, but I decided that I should share it, or at least write it down. If you have read this blog for a while now, you have probably caught on that I grew up outside of Baltimore City and now live outside of Washington DC. So how am I am Mets fan? Well my entire family is from the New York and North Jersey area, so it became the bloodlines of the family, especially on my Mom's side to be a Mets fan and a big part of it was my older cousin, David.

I wasn't always into sports but my cousin David is a huge reason why I am today. He was the biggest sports fan in the family and he would always talk to me about the Mets, and eventually got me my first Mets Jersey (Mike Piazza). The first time I went to Shea was with my cousin David (and my Mom, Dad, etc) and it was a really great day (Mets lost 10-2, but still it was a day I will never forget).

David passed alway in early November 2006 from a rare disease that he was battling for a very long time, he was sick with it the first time I went to Shea. It was a huge loss, and it really can't be expressed in words how much he meant to the entire family and myself. I don't have any siblings, and he was my big brother. Whenever I have been to Shea since then, I have a ton of memories of that day, and many days I have shared with him, that rush back to me. So for me, Shea is a place where I have connected some of the most important things in my life, to one physical location.

I still think about David every day, and while I'm happy to see a new ballfield open up across the street, I will be sad to see Shea close. I was only able to go there once with David, but it was one of the best days of my life. If he was alive today, he would be excited about Citi, as he always talked about how horrible of a stadium physically Shea is, but with all of the great memories there, that everyone has, every Mets fan, it really is a special place.

The Mets start up their last regular season series tonight at Shea Stadium against the Marlins, who want to play spoiler. Tonight will pit Pelfrey against Volstad. Like I said early today, this is the start of the Pre-Post Season 2008. With the emotions riding high for the last series at Shea and the postseason hopes, this will the be the first of several games that we will remember for a while.

Pelfrey is trying to be the second pitcher on the Mets staff to reach 200 innings pitched in the regular season. He is 12-1- with a 3.70 ERA and on the season he has 194.2 innings pitched. Over his last five he is 0-2, has pitched 31.2 innings and has a 3.69 ERA. He has struggled against the Marlins this year (4 G, 0-3, 19.1 innings pitched, 7.91 ERA) but in his last start agaisnt them, he was able to push all of that out of his head and pitched 6.2 innings, allow 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 BB and 5 K. Here are their stats against him:
     Ramierez 2-20, HR
     Jacobs 7-17, 3 2B
     Uggla 7-16, 4 2B
     Hermida 3-11, 3B, 4 BB
He has to control them. he was able to do it last time, he just has to do it again. We have seen Pelfrey grow this year, and now it is time to see if he can step it up in a big game.

On the Marlins' side of the rubber, they have Volstad, 5-4 starting and making his 14 appearence (13 starts) over 78.1 IP and 3.10 ERA. In his last five games he has been very good with a 1-1 record over 28.1 innings ptiched and a 2.54 ERA. In one start against the Mets this year, he went 6.1 innings, allowed one run, allowed 3 walks and struck out 5. The Marlins would eventually lose that ballgame. Here are some limited Mets numbers against him, because this is Volstad's rookie season:
     Beltran 1-2, RBI
     Castillo 1-3
     Reyes 1-3
     Wright 1-3
The Mets have to build off of last night, as the Daily News said it, they had a "Never Shea Die" attitude last night as when they had runners on and 2 outs, they got those 2 tieing runs across the plate. The fought back. Now they need to do that again tonight and keep winning. Lets Go Mets! Fry the Fish!

Baseball is a long season. It starts in April, this year at the end of March, and goes all the way to October just get a shot of playing another month to become World Champions. Each teams play 162 games to determine the 8 "best" teams. Well for three teams, the Phillies, the Brewers, and our New York Mets, there are two spots still open after 158 games and they all have a shot at getting those remaining playoff spots. You can almost say that this whole week has been like the playoffs for the Mets. The next three days are basically the playoffs, you really can't debate either way because if the Mets win out then they are at least guarenteed a one game playoff if everyone wins out.

The downside is that the Mets might have the hardest situation out of all teams. The Marlins are better than the Nationals, and the Marlins love to play spoiler. The Cubs are going to start resting up for the postseason. Now, I don't know how far that will go because Lou is not a lay down type of guy, but they more than likely will not play their hardest. So the Mets have to do this on their own again. Pelfrey is goin to have to be on target, Santana is going to have to be Santana. With Saturday, who knows either Niese are or Knight will have pull an amazin start out of the bag or it might be a bunch of pitchers doing that.

Its time. Its the Pre-Post Season 2008. Do you want momentum in the actualy Playoffs? Well this is where to get that momentum. Who will we play? Will we play? None of those questions can be answered until this weekend is played. Lets do this! Lets Go Mets!

After last nights, tough tough loss, the Mets will try to bounce back against the Cubs statistical ace on the staff, Rich Harden. Harden has been amazing this year, and is having an all around career year. The Mets are tied at the top of the Wild Card now so, believe it or not, we are just sharing the driver seat, now we just have to keep sharing and eventually we can kick the other driver out.

Harden, 10-2, has a 2.03 ERA this season. In his last five starts, he is 3-0, with a 1.50 ERA. He pitched a scoreless inning against the Mets last year and only a few Mets have ever seen them. Here are thstats of those who have:
     Delgado 1-7, HR
     Beltran 1-5
What we have to hope for in this situation is the Mets have so much energy from last night, border line anger, is that they come out and start scoring early and they don't look back. We don't know what we are going to get out Pedro anymore, so the offense is really gonna have to push hard.

Pedro has been terrible in his last five starts. He has lost three straight decisions and his ERA over the five games was 7.00. His season ERA at five and a half. We have to hope that the Ace inside of him awakens tonight, and that he can help keep the Mets pushing towards October.
      Soriano 7-43, 3 2B
      Johnson 4-20, 3B, HR
      Edmonds 3-13, HR
These numbers look good. Lets hope this is what we see tonight. Lets Go Mets! Keep pushing!

Last night was great because it was just what the Doctor ordered, a win with a great pitching performance. Last night was why the Mets got Santana and he really did a number on the Cubs via pitching and via hitting. At the end of the night, we saw Wright get a huge hit with the bases loaded, Reyes get his 200th hit of the season, and the Bullpen closing out the game (although it wasn't a clean inning pitched by far).

The importance of this go beyond the stats, and the personal achievements made by many players last night. The importance trickles all the way to the media. Have you looked at MLB.com today? The past week its had logos and graphs all over the place about how bad the Mets are and drawing simularities to the collaspe of 2007. Today? None of that, they had a picture of Reyes up there and they were talking about Santana's Thunder and Reyes Lightning. They were talking about the shrinking lead of the Phillies. What about ESPN? They switched their focus now to Maine, and how he might come back. They started talking about how the Mets should start to set up for the postseason. This is beyond frustrating because the Media literally just blows in the wind. Its not a new thing, they have been doing it for ages, but its just frustrating. Anyway, it felt good to wake up today and feel a weight lifted off because I no longer have to fear turing on the TV or going on to the web and see some gross misinterpretation of the Mets season blasted everywhere. Lets continue to show these guys up. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets play the third game in their tough series with the Cubs tonight as they take on their ace, Carlos Zamrbrano. Last night, the Mets snapped their 3 game losing streak, held on to their spot in the Wild Card and moved within 1.5 games of the Phillies, and only one back in the lost column. This season is going to be a wild ride down to the very end and it continues tonight.

Perez, 10-7, will take the ball for the Mets tonight. In his last time out, he was effective but still did not get the win. On the season he has thrown 184.1 innings and has an ERA of 4.10. In his last five, he is 1-0 with 29 innings pitched and has a 4.66 ERA. If you look at his last two games, he has no decisions but has a 3.46 ERA over 13 innings. His stats over the last five are inflated by a terrible start at Washington where he gave up 7 runs over 3.1 innigns pitched. Here is what the Cubs can do against him, historically:
    Lee 2-11, HR
    Ramirez 4-11
    Soriano 2-10
    DeRosa 3-6, 2 2B
Perez has been great at times, he has been bad at times and now we need him just like we needed Santana last night to help us get to the postseason. A great start by him will do the Mets a lto fo good so the bullpen can stay rested and only have to pitch when they have too.

Zambrano has been interesting over the last five games. On the season he is 14-7 (going into this game just like our Ace, Santana last night did), and has pitched 184 innings (just like Perez, who he is facing tonight), and has an ERA of 3.77 (a little worse than Pelfrey's). Why all these comparisons? Zambrano, a great pitcher, is not as scary as his persona makes him out to be. At times he is lights out, Cy Young type of pitcher, like when he faced the Mets earlier this year and allowed only one run over 7 innings, but at times he is very hittable. He is also unhittable, like his no hitter two starts ago. In his last five games he is 2-1 over 27 innings and has an ERA of 6.00. During that time he had a no hitter, but he also followed it up by lasting 1.2 innings and allowing 8 runs. Before his no hitter, he had a bad start too. So, while he has past experience agaisnt the Mets, the batters cannot be afraid of him, and need to charge him because they can hit him, they can score a lot of runs off of him. Here are some Mets stats against him:
     Delgado 4-16, HR
     Chavez 6-19, 2B, 3B, HR
     Beltran 1-13
     Castillo 6-12, 7 BB
     Wright 2-13
     Schnieder 4-13, 2 2B
The Mets can hit him. The Mets can't hit him. Thats the way the stats look all the way down the page. When you look at Zambrano's stats, he's great, he's not great, and it goes like that all the way down the page. The Mets can do this tonight. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!

The Mets will try to right the ship tonight by relying on their ace, Johan Santana. It should be an interesting matchup tonight as Santana and Marshall, starter for the Cubs, both have not faced their opponent since 2006. We all know that both teams have different lineups between now and then. Its a big night for the Mets as they need to hold onto the postseason.

Santana, 14-7, got the win his last time out and his 14th was a long time coming, as the bullpen continued to lose it after he would leave the game. On the season he has pitched 217.1 innings pitched and his season ERA is 2.65, his best in several years. In his last five games he is 2-0 and has 33.1 innings pitched. He has walked 11 and struck out 34 during that time his ERA is 2.70. In his start against the Cubs in 2006, he got the win in 8 innings, allowed one earned run on 5 hits, a walk and 6 K's. Here are the Cubs numbers against Santana:
     Reed Johnson 10-19, 2B, HR
     Soriano 0-6
     DeRosa 1-6
     Ramierez 0-4
The Mets need Santana more than ever tonight. Lets hope the offense can back him up.

Marshall, 3-4 has appeared in 31 games this year but has only been a starter in 6 of those games. He has pitched 59.2 innings and has a season ERA of 3.62. His starter record is 1-4 and his starter ERA is 4.24. He hasn't started since September 7th and his last 4 games and during that time he started 2 games. He was 0-1 over 13.2 innings and a 3.95 ERA during that time. In 2006 vs the Mets, his rookie season, he lasted 5.1 innings, allowed 5 earned, and 7 total runs. Here are some stats:
     Beltran 0-3
     Delgado 1-3
     Wright 1-3
Wright has been hitting well the last few days and he and the rest of the Mets offense will need to wake up and fight against the Cubs today because not only is this a possible NLDS preview, it is our road to the NLDS. We must win right now in order to make it to the NLDS. The time is now and the Mets still have their playoff destiny in their hands. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets kick off the final regular season homestand at Shea Stadium tonight as they take on the NL Central 2008 Champions, the Chicago Cubs. Emotions will be on a high this week between the the Wild Card and Division races as the Mets try to hold onto the postseason, the looming end of Shea Stadium is also near, and it is sure to be a week that will bring out memories of fond times at our once gray and now blue home. Tonight's matchup pits Jason Marquis against Jon Niese.

Marquis, 10-9, has a 4.39 ERA this year and has been good. He has been what he was expected to be for the Cubs. His past five starts he has been better than good with a 2-2 record and a 3.19 ERA while throwing 16 walks and 19 K's. He hasn't face the Mets this season but faced them twice last year with an 0-1 record, and 9 earned runs  over 10.1 innings (7.84 ERA). The Mets will hope to capitalize on their past success:
    Castillo 9-22, 2B, 3 BB
    Reyes 7-24
    Wright 6-20, HR
    Beltran 2-17, HR
    Delgado 5-9, 2B, HR
    Schneider 1-17
The trend suggests that the Mets in their past have been able to see the ball really well off of him, or don't have a clue on how to hit him. All the Mets have to do is buckle down, get those runs, and keep the pressure off of the bullpen.

Niese, off of an amazing start, will be taking the mound for the Mets again. His debut was very shaky, 3 innings, 7 hits, 5 ER, 4 BB and 2 K and it was against the Brewers. He got his nerves out and pitched 8 shutout innings, 6 hits, 2 BB, and 7 K's at Shea Stadium against the Braves last week. Lets hope the home field continues to help him out as he takes on the Braves tonight. Niese, if you are unfamiliar with him, is very young, 21, and throws a great curveball that really breaks. He will be facing one of the toughest, if not the toughest, lineups tonight, so it should be interesting to watch as he handles them. When he pitches, even in a pennant race, thoughts of next spring and next year go through the mind. What will his future bring? First, lets hope for a win against the Cubs. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to take the series and get back in the win column this afternoon as they will call on the Big Pelf to lead them as he has done this season. The Braves, playing spoiler, will ask Parr to stop the Mets mission today. Its time for the Mets to show the world their will power that we know they have.

Pelfrey, 13-10, has pitched 188.2 innings for the Amazin's this year and has an ERA of 3.67. His last loss was a tough one to take as he allowed only one run in 7 innings against the Nationals, and the Mets ended up losing 1-0. In his last five games he is 1-2 with 34.2 innings ptiched and a 2.86 ERA. Against Atlanta this year, he has 3 games and a 1-2 record, 18.1 innings pitched and an ERA of 6.87. This ERA dropped a lot after his last game against Atlanta. He used to have an ERA of 10+ in his first two starts against them this year but on August 20th he pitched a complete game and allowed only 3 runs. Here are their numbers against Pelf:
     McCann 6-15, 4 2B
     Francoeur 4-13
     Kotchman, Prado 0-6
     Johnson 3-12, HR
He can control this lineup, he showed us last time that he could. So if he does it again, he can put the Mets in the position to win. This is also a big start for him because potentially, between this start and his next, he could over 200 innings pitched this year. He really has grown a lot.

Parr, the pitcher for the Braves, is a new to the majors. He has had three starts so far this year and is 1-0 in 16.1 innings pitched and a 2.20 ERA. In his first two starts he allowed no runs over 6 innings in both games. Things got bad for him in his last start which was against Philly. They roughed him up for 4 runs over 4.1 innings but had a nice 10 hits against him. The Mets have to do damage against him as well. They had a real anemic offense last night after a great one on Friday night. If the offense is there, the Mets can win this. Lets Go Mets!

Why should these last couple of weeks be easy on the heart?

The Mets lost tonight as you probably already know and the Phillies won. The key thing is when we are a half game back, we are tied in the loss column, when the Phillies are a half game back, they are a full game back in the loss column. With that little fact, the Mets just have to win, because if they keep winning, and the Phillies keep winning, they will end up tied and the Mets have the season advantage against the Phils.

Anyway the runs all fall on Pedro tonight. He gave up 4 runs over 6 innings for an ineffective outing. He also hit a double and his 2 RBI's were the only Mets runs. I'm sure this has happened before in baseball history, but statistically, this is an anomally. There were a few bright spots tonight. First is Mets' prospect Parnell had another good outing, and so did Schowenwies as the bullpen was effective. The other hightlight goes to Wright who hit his 42nd double, which is the third time he has done that in the Majors, which is his season high for that category. His next one this season will set a new season record for him.

The thing that is not getting me down about this loss is that the Mets have more chances ahead of them. Someone pointed out in the form of a comment on Mets Merized Online, the site I simulpost the game previews on, that its more of a "collapse" or a disappointment if the Phils don't make the postseason, since they had a 7.5 game lead on the Mets in July. I would be disappointed if the Mets don't get the division, but things are so close right now that anything can happen.

The Mets will try to hold onto first place today as they take on the Braves for the second game in a three game set. The Mets will be sending out the popular, but struggling, Pedro, while the Braves will be sending out the surprising, but recently struggling, Campillo to the mound today. Did you wake up with that good feeling your stomach today? I know I did, its that feeling after a big win, lets hope that feeling comes back with a win tonight.

Pedro, 5-5, has pitched 97 innings this season, so hopefully he breaks the 100 inning plane today. His season ERA is 5.47 and that really shows his struggles this year. He either struggles early or late, more Early than anything else, but beneath that it seems liek he's ready to shed all of this off (and he has had games where he has done that this year). In his last five games he is 1-2 with 28 innings ptiched, 9 walks, 22 K's and has an ERA of 6.75. His one game against ATL this year led to a No Decision after 7 innings pitched and 4 Earned Runs, backed with a walk and 6 K's. The Braves have done this against Pedro:
      Jones 9-47, 2B, 3 HR, 10 K, .191 BA
      Francoeur 3-22, 2 2B, HR, .136 BA
      McCann 4-18, 2 2B, HR
      Johnson 1-8
      Escobar 3-4, 2B, HR
The numbers are pretty self explanatory. He has had a lot of past success agianst this lineup, but their young guys like Escobar really know how to see and hit the ball from Pedro. With Pedro, the key is to not allow hits. I know that sounds obvious, but if people are not on base, there is no damage control. He's a hall of famer, so he knows how to do this.

On the pitching mound for the Braves today is Campillo who is 7-7 this seaso with a 3.79 ERA. In his last five games he is 0-1 with 23.2 innings pitched and a 6.46 ERA. Against the Mets this year he has pitched 3 games, 2 starts, to the tune of a 1-1 reocrd 11.2 innings pitched, 2 walks, 13 K's and a 2.31 ERA. The Mets scored all the runs this year against him in his last start where he lasted 3.2 innings, allowed 4 runs, 3 earned and 8 hits. If the Mets can do that again, they should be fine. They have to attack early, attack often, and most importantly, attack late:
      Reyes 2-6
      Beltran 0-4
     Church 2-5
     Delgado 1-5, 2B
     Wright 3-5, 2 HR
Wright was dialed in against him in his last start. He had two AB against him and watched both of his hits leave Shea Stadium for his 30th and 31st homers of the season. If he can lead an offensive charge today that would be great, if not as long as someone leads the charge, and as long as they score runs, things are going to go well. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Braves!

The end result is very, very good. The win today brought this team back in first, but they still need to fight their way and get a cushion now. There was good and bad like every game tonight, but it was so clear tonight that its really worth mentioning. The main thing that sticks in my mind was the errors tonight. This team has been so good defensively since the All Star break and in the last few games they have made a few major mistakes. A couple of nights ago in Washington, a Wright error put the Mets in a bad position in the bottom of the ninth. This game was close until the major break out int he eighth, and that was due to two unearned runs from errors. We gotta play good, smart baseball to win this division. That being said, the defense issues of the Braves eventually got us the win, with some excellent hitting tonight.

The Mets minor league players of the year, Evans and Murphy, both had big nights as Evans hit a big homer and Murphy hit a big double to help the team get that W. Also, Wright's 2 RBI were very important tonight. First, the 2-5 night was him breaking out of a slump, but his 2 RBI's bring his season total up to 116, which is tied with his season high he had in 2006. It looks like he will get a season hight in that department this year as well. His season high in doubles is 42, which he has had twice, (he has had 40 one other time as well) and tonight he got 41, so he has a shot of setting a season high in that as well. Its good to see the offense act alive for once and now with this win the Mets can hold their heads up high as they go for the next two and start to buckle down on this division.

On a Cubs note, since that series is looming, their elimiantion number is now 1, so when we play them they could very easily be in a very relaxed position.

The Mets start off a big series tonight against the Braves as they try to keep a playoff spot and take over the NL East. The Mets will be sending out Perez, who faced the Braves in his last start, to take on Jo-Jo Reyes of the Braves. With a series against the Cubs looming, winning this weekend is crucial.

Perez, 10-7 on the season, has already surpassed innings pitched from last year with 178.1 this season. His ERA is at 4.09 and he is looking to lower that tonight. In his last 5 games, he is 1-0 in 29.1 innings pitched and had a 4.91 ERA. His last game was against Atlanta where he lasted 7 innings, allowed 2 rens, walked 3 and struck out 8 and then saw his win taken away by the Mets pen. This season against Atlanta he has pitched 2 games with a 0-0 record over 13.1 innings and a 3.38 ERA. Here are the Braves against him:
     Jones 11-23, 2 2B, HR, 8 BB
     Francoeur 7-25, 2 2B, 2 HR
     McCann 4-19
     Johnson, Kotchman 0-12
Like always stay careful with Jones because he will get hits, he will get walks and he will find his way on base. His OBP is over .600 against Perez. The key for Perez, and he did this last time, is keep the walks to a minimal, less walks means less baserunners which translates into calmer innings.

The Mets will do battle against Jo-Jo Reyes today whe s 3-11 with a 5.50 ERA. In his last five games he is 0-1 over 24.1 innings pitched and has an ERA of 6.29. Against the Mets this year he has pitched two games losing one over 8 innings and a 6.75 ERA. The Mets have been able to put these numbers up against him:
   Reyes 1-3, HR, 2 BB
   Beltran 2-4
   Delgado 0-4
   Wright 1-3, HR
   Evans 2-3
The Mets will have to keep their offense that has scored on average 8 runs each of the last two games going during this series. Last weekend the offense wasn't there and with the bullpen caused two of the Mets losses. So if they hit, then they will win. Lets Go Mets. Beat the Braves!