Both the Cubs and Mets are looking for consistency. The Cubs can't seem to find a rhythm; they'll win a couple in a row but then lose a couple in a row. Meanwhile, the Mets cannot win a series; they are now 0-8-2 in their last 10 series and have a notorious habit of winning the getaway game of a series after dropping the first two. While of course the Mets are long gone from the race; the Cubs are still hanging on by a thread. According to the ESPN Playoff Percentage; the Cubs have approximately a 2% chance since they are 6 back of the Wild Card. This weekend also marks the homecoming of two players. One who will certainly be roundly cheered (David Wright) and the other certainly roundly booed (Aaron Heilman).


Pitching Matchups for the Series:

Friday- Carlos Zambrano (7-6 3.91 ERA) vs. Bobby Parnell (3-7 5.81 ERA)
-Zambrano's last start (L 1-4 to NYM): 3.1 IP, 4R (3ER), 11H, 0BB, 3K
Career vs. NYM: 4-2 with 4.00 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and .250BAA in 9 appearances (8 starts)
Road this season: 5-2 with 3.17 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and .246BAA in 11 appearances (all starts
-Parnell's last start (L 4-11 to CHC): 4.2 IP, 8ER, 9H, 2BB, 2K
Career vs. CHC: 0-1 with 10.57 ERA, 1.83 WHIP and .344BAA in 3 appearances (1 start)
Home this season: 2-5 with 5.80 ERA, 1.56 WHIP and .271BAA in 32 appearances (3 starts)

Saturday- Rich Harden (8-8 4.19 ERA) vs. Nelson Figueroa (2-3 4.50 ERA)
-Harden's last start (L 3-5 to HOU): 5IP, 5ER, 5H, 6BB, 9K
Career vs. NYM: 0-0 with 2.57 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and .091BAA in 2 appearances (1 start)
Road this season: 5-2 with 2.02 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and .201 BAA in 10 appearances (all starts)
-Figueroa's last start (W 4-1 to CHC): 7IP, 1ER, 6H, 2BB, 10K
Career vs. CHC: 1-4 with 3.79 ERA, 1.51 WHIP and .259BAA in 10 appearances (5 starts)
Home this season: 1-2 with 6.87 ERA, 2.02 WHIP and .383BAA in 7 appearances (2 starts)

Sunday- Randy Wells (10-7 2.90 ERA) vs. Mike Pelfrey (9-10 5.03 ERA)
-Wells' last start (W 4-1 to HOU): 6.2IP, 1R (0ER), 7H, 2BB, 4K
Has never faced the Mets in his career.
Road this season: 4-3 with 2.67 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and .244BAA in 10 appearances (all starts)
-Pelfrey's last start (L 3-8 to COL): 4IP, 7R (6ER), 6H, 5BB, 4K
Has never faced the Cubs in his career.
Home this season: 5-3 with 3.80 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and .272BAA in 14 appearances (all starts)

Can Parnell hold on to his role as starter after three consecutive disasters? Can Pelfrey respond to the challege Manuel has set forth for him and step it up? Can Figueroa continue his hot streak? Can the Mets play role of spoiler and effectively end any hope of the Cubs making the playoffs? Stay tuned.
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There are a number of viable candidates for today's ass of the day...or even ass of the past two days. Matt Wise, Aaron Heilman, Willie's fat trap, Yunel Escobar's Knee, Alou's Calf...etc. You get the point. I'm done honoring Heilman with ass of the day.  He gets the lifetime ass-chievement award. It's pathetic. The fact that Alou strained his calf muscle by merely breathing and is not optimistic about should be our first clue that 2008 is turning into a very cruel joke.

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Before I even get into this non-sense, I want to go back to Monday's 10-4 loss to the last place Washington Nationals. The expectations were high for the Mets to take at least 3 out of 4 from the pathetic Nats. However, the tables were turned, and the Mets dropped 3 of 4 instead and fell to a mere 20-19. Then we saw the New York media once again calling for Willie's job, pointing out that the Mets have been just a .500 ball club since last May, resurrecting the the epic collapse... again. Some serious questions were surrounding this team's troubles.

Then, the drama began following Thursday's 1-0 loss at the end of Billy Wagner's post game interview with the press...

“Can somebody tell me why the (bleep) the closer being interviewed and I didn’t even play, while they’re over there not getting interviewed? I get it, they’re gone. (Bleeping) shocker.”

In all honesty, I don't see how could any Mets fan could disagree with Wagner on this one. We've all seen the Mets lackluster play this season, and for any of these so called "team leaders" to be missing in action after dropping 3 out of 4 to the Nats is unacceptable.

How stupid is it that reporters have to ask the closer questions about why the team is struggling, when not only did Wagner not even play in the game, but the pitching staff and the bullpen which you could say Wagner is the leader of did its job during the series. Just in case anyone's forgotten, Wagner has given up only 9 hits in 17 innings this season, and has still yet to allow a run. Wagner is far from responsible for the Mets woeful play.

A lot of fingers were pointed at Carlos Delgado, who Wagner was most likely referring to in his comments. Certainly Delgado with his .230 batting average, .310 OBP, only 5 home runs and 19 RBIs has contributed to the Mets sub-par play, but the truth is most of our guys haven't been earning their paychecks.

Reyes' OBP is only .332, and thats including the Yankee series where he played well. Carlos Beltran is only hitting .250 with only 3 home runs, and let's not even talk about Luis Castillo who can't hit the ball out of the infield. We're hitting only .257 with runners in scoring position, and we simply cannot win unless Reyes gets on base.

Our team leaders in innings pitched in relief have been Aaron Heilman and Jorge Sosa who have pitched to a 5.82 and 7.06 ERA respectively. Whereas our guys who have been lights out; Wagner, Feliciano, Smith and even Schoeneweis, have been used in limited roles like lefty-lefty or righty-righty matchups. Thank god Sosa got DFA'd the other day to make room for Wise.

So tell me why was Billy Wagner wrong in what he said? When was the last time you heard an explanation from Reyes or Beltran or Sosa after they sucked it up on the field?

Thankfully Willie called a team meeting over this non-sense prior to the Yankee series, and seemed to smooth it out and get everyone's heads screwed on straight again. And like Keith Hernandez said, it was good that someone got this out there in the open rather than let it fester for the whole season.

Hopefully the mets winning both games of the Yankee Series has put this issue to bed, and maybe the mets will turn the corner in the coming weeks.
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Aaron Heilman is really trying to be quite the stud these days. He's managed to rack up 2 Ass of the Day awards in a week. Really quite the accomplishment. The sight of Heilman jogging in from the bullpen makes me physically nauscous now. And Co-Ass of the Day award goes to Willie Randolph who just looks like a complete ass trying to manage this bullpen.

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I have been missing in action for a while so I apologize.  What I will not apologize for is this post. I try to not let my personal opinions allow my daily picks for this column.  But let's be serious. The obvious cannot be avoided much longer.

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So when we last spoke, I called out not only the Mets line up, but the Mets bullpen to step it up in this week of games against the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies. A week later, it seems that my challenge was answered by David Wright and company, as the Mets just completed an impressive week of baseball that included a sweep of Washington and a series victory against Philadelphia.

On Tuesday night Mike Pelfrey took the mound on yet another Jackie Robinson Night at Shea (and yes that was said in a negative way). I'm just going to make a quick public service announcement about Jackie Robinson, that I know some of my fellow bloggers share with me. Jackie Robinson was a great player, he was a great American for his contributions to not only baseball and society, and he was a great BROOKLYN DODGER. Listen I am a fan of history, and the Brooklyn Dodgers for that matter, but it seems with the pending opening of Citi Field, Mr. Wilpon is kind of forgetting that we are the NEW YORK METS. My point being, it would be nice to see some more Mets history invovled with not only this ballpark, but the organization in general. Instead of celebrating the last season at Shea with another Robinson Night, let's have a Seaver Night, or a 1969 Night, or something Mets related. I mean, we are the Mets for God's sake, not the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Now back to Tuesday's game. Ladies and gentlemen can we have a standing ovation for Mike Pelfrey please? Where has this Pelfrey been all of the past two seasons. I mean seven shut out innings from him was just what the doctor ordered on Tuesday night. That was the type of start the Mets needed, and the 6-0 victory was the game the Mets needed to kick off the new week. Pelfrey is starting to earn the respect that I so have wanted to give him for the longest time. Even though he didn't pitch as well on Sunday night against the Phillies, he still got himself out of some tough jams. Can you really fault the man for getting burned by the best second baseman in the league. I'm critical, but not that critical.

After a come-from-behind win on Saturday, the Mets and Nationals played themselves a half marathon of a baseball game on Thursday night. Just to put things in perspective, I was already at my third bar of the night once the Mets finally "pushed" across the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning at Shea. Trailing 2-1 in the eighth inning, Carlos Delgado did something correct for the first time all season by pushing across Ryan Church to tie the game. In the 14 inning it wasn't even a heroic RBI base hit, but a wild pitch by Washington's Joel Hanrahan that ended the game. The Washington reliever, already in the midst of a sloppy inning let one get away allowing Damion Easley to score the winning run.

Sloppy was the only way to describe the game, but if there is one positive we can draw from it, that would be the bullpen. Six Mets relievers threw seven scoreless innings to keep the Mets in the game. The bullpen in general looked pretty damn solid this week. Billy Wagner looks dominant as usual (along with his awesome wad of dip), we welcomed back Duaner Sanchez, and Aaron Heilman has seemed to settle down. Once again Joe Smith is having another solid start to the season, we can only hope he keeps it up for the whole entire season this year.

So after making waste of Washington it was off to Philadelphia for another round with the Phillies. Johan Santana made yet another important start in this young season as him and Phillies ace Cole Hamels met up for a highly anticipated Friday night showdown. Seven innings later Santana had struck out 10 Phillies and only gave up 3 runs as he led the Mets to a critical 6-4 victory, extending their winning streak to four games. Oliver Perez had himself another great start on Saturday, but in typical Mets fashion the bullpen went and made things interesting. After Scott Schoeneweis and Smith each gave up a run, Billy Wagner put the meat of the Phillies line up in their place and the Mets walked out with a 4-2 victory. Sunday night as I stated ealier Chase Utley made Mike Pelfrey look normal for the first time this season. Utley drove all of the Phillies first four runs. A solo home run in the first and a three run job in the fifth. The Mets made it interesting by tieing it up in the sixth, but the long ball was our downfall all night as Pedro Feliz hit the go ahead home run to give the Phillies a 5-4 win and end our hopes of a sweep in Philly.

This week was exactly what the Mets needed. Jose Reyes has returned to classic Jose form, Wags looks good, Wright is awesome, and even Beltran is starting to come alive. With road games against the Cubs and Nationals, and a three games series back at Shea against the Braves, it has been the perfect time for the Mets to wake up. If the Mets can win two at Wrigley, it would be a huge momentum push coming into the huge Atlanta series this upcoming weekend. Once again I would like to think that we will steamroll the Nats. All-in-all the Mets get a solid A for their efforts this week, and hopefully the effort they have put forth will continue this week.

P.S. As much as I hate to say it, well done to the New York Rangers. I still hate you though.
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Another week, another wrap up, and another round of question marks regarding the 2008 New York Mets. After getting our hopes up with an impressive series against the Phillies, the Mets took another giant step backwards with a horrendous series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Mets opened up the last season at Shea Stadium in true New York Mets fashion on Tuesday, as the bullpen blew a great game for Oliver Perez. Perez threw another 5 2/3 scoreless innings for the home team, but in the end it was the classic Mets bullpen giving us another classic result. Scott Schoeneweis was the main culprit along with support from his always reliable cast of Jorge Sosa (who I guess doesn't need days off anymore), and Aaron Heilman. The Mets bounced back nicely on Wednesday though, as Mike Pelfrey helped stop a three game skid in pitching five strong innings. Pelfrey and stopper...hmmmmm. Just when things were looking good Heilman (who not surprisingly is my Dave Mlicki Award Winner of the week), nearly blows a great outing by John Maine. Well he blew Maine's chances at a win, but at the same time he was bailed out by this weeks Ed Kranepool Award winner, Angel Pagan. I love this kid. He is starting to reach levels that only the Teenage Hitting Machine has seen when it comes to young New York Mets outfielders. In case any of you Mets fans have been living under a rock this past week, Pagan is now batting .385 with 10 RBI for the season. Moises who???? Mr. Pagan delivered a game winning RBI on Thursday giving us the first series of the year against the hated Phillies. Things were just starting to look somewhat good...

And then Milwaukee rolled into town on Friday night. At first this series was shaping up to look great. The Mets as team, for the first time since the Marlins series looked great collectively. Heilman was awesome out of the pen, as were his teammates Joe Smith and Billy Wagner (and his awesome wad of dip). Nelson Figueroa gave us a ton of hope in his assignment to replace Pedro Martinez. Figueroa gave up a mere two hits and struck out six, while giving up two earned in six innings of work as the Mets looked pretty impressive at Shea on a rainy Friday night. Then Saturday hit and the wheels started to fall off. Someone needs to take David Wright onto the field before games and just have him work on throwing the ball to first. I applaud Carlos Delgado for mastering the sweep tag manauever that has become all too common in Mets games this season. The good news about Wright is that he is hitting the ball well. The bad news is, no one seems to be able to hit the ball well in clutch situations; including D-Dubs. For instance, Sunday's game. The Mets tallied 14 hits and seven runs in this game...and lost. They also grounded into five consecutive inning ending double plays. The bullpen also had a rough go at it, capping off a shaky two days of pitching that included Johan Santana giving up three home runs in his losing effort on Saturday.

Speaking of Santana. Get off his back. Does anyone really think he is going to go 65-0. Let him get his bad starts out of the way now, because they are going to happen every now and again. Point is the man gives us a chance to win day in and day out. End of story.

So my weekly progress report on the Metropolitans is an overall C+. The only reason we get the plus is because of the fact that we beat the Phillies in a series and ended that horrific losing streak against them. The bullpen was horrible this week minus Friday nights game. The starting pitching was awesome against Philadelphia, and then not so good against Milwaukee. The good thing about that is the guys who pitched poorly (Santana and Perez's Sunday start) are the guys who we most expect to bounce back in a big way in their next starts. Pelfrey and Figueroa having great outings was an awesome sign this week. The line up is still hit or miss. There are days when all hits seems to go our way, and then there are days when I feel we couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a beach ball. I don't know if it's the HGH wearing off, but Delgado needs to wake up. Wright and Carlos Beltran are putting up soid numbers, but they need to hit more in the clutch; especially with Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo both nursing injuries. I don't know what Ryan Church and Pagan have been eating, but they both need to keep at it. They are both picking up a lot of slack that is being missed by Reyes and Delgado right now.

Looking ahead to this week, the Mets have what should be a gimme series against the Washington Nationals to close out their homestand. The Nationals win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday marked their first win in nine games. This is the type of series where the Mets need to work out any last kinks, because a series with the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park awaits this weekend (which I look forward to seeing a lot Mets fans there, I will be looking to go to the game on Saturday if I don't acquire tickets to Game Five of the Devils/Rangers series).

All games of the Washington series will be broadcast on SNY and start at 7:10 PM. For the Phillies series, Friday's game will be on CW11 and will start at 7:05 PM. Saturday's game will air on FOX and start at 3:55 PM. Sunday's game is the ESPN Game of the Week, and will start 8:05 PM. For those of you in the Washington area you can catch the games on MASN, and for those of you in the Philly market (this guy) Friday's game can be viewed on CSN.

Looking forward to another week of Mets baseball...and playoff hockey LET'S GO DEVILS!!!!!
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Some nights it's time to drop the funny business.  Thank god the Mets won that game tonight. For the sake of Carlos Beltran & Aaron Heilman...it's a good damn thing they won that game.

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The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. It was the second straight defeat at the hands of their division foes as the Mets fell below .500 for the first time this season.

It was over when: Mark Teixeria killed the Mets twice, first with this homer in the bottom of the eighth and then with his glove in the top of the ninth. I have a feeling that I'm gonna start to hate this guy very quickly.

Good: This Johan Santana kid is pretty good. Santana gave up one run over seven strong innings but was the hard-luck loser as the offense and Aaron Heilman gave him absolutely zero support. For the second consecutive game, though, the Mets refused to go down without a fight. They brought home a run (finally) in the top of the ninth and had the tying run on first when Brian Schneider hit a bullet down the first base side. Unfortunately, Mark Teixeira made a fantastic play, stopping the ball and making the flip to Soriano to end the game.

Bad: I already mentioned them both. The offense was dead for eight innings and by the time they showed up, Heilman had already given a two-run homer to Teixeira the inning before. You have your ace on the hill and you don't manage to give him a single freakin' run? Maybe the Mets wanted to give Santana a reminder of his days in Minnesota. Right now, Santana is the best 1-1 pitcher in baseball.

Ugly: Reyes: 0-4. Castillo: 0-4. Wright: 0-2, 2 SO, 2 BB at least. Beltran: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 SO including a pathetic at-bat in the top of the ninth in which he didn't take the bat off his shoulder once. Hey Carlos; I'll stop riding you when you start to earn your ridiculous paycheck. Oh yeah, Delgado went 2-4 today but he also left three men on base. I'll just sum all of this up. The Mets sucked at the plate for 8+ innings today. Yeah, they were facing John Smoltz today but Blaine Boyer, Will Ohman and Peter Moylan all held the Mets scoreless today. Are you kidding me?

Overall: Thankfully, I missed over half of this game. Once again, the Braves were the better team and they deserved to win. The bats better show up against the Phils this week. Performances like this at Shea will not sit well with the home fans, boys. Then again, playing like this in Atlanta angers me just as much. If we're going to be excited when the Mets beat up on the AAA-quality Florida Marlins, we have to be annoyed when they play like a Little League team against the Braves.

Grade: D. Which is sad because Johan Santana deserved better.
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The New York Mets won yet another Opening Day contest, defeating the Florida Marlins 7-2.

Good: Where to start? Johan Santana pitched like an ace, giving up two runs and striking out eight in seven strong innings. David Wright began his 2008 MVP campaign by going 2-4 with a walk and 3 RBI. All of Wright's RBI came on a two-out base hit int he fourth. Jose Reyes also came through with a clutch two-out base hit that brought home a run. You have to like how Aaron Heilman looked in the ninth, as well. Heilman sat the Marlins down in order, striking out two in the process.

Bad: Not much. Santana gave up a two-run home run, something that Mets fans may just have to get used to. Face it. Johan gives up the long ball. The bullpen created a Maalox moment in the eighth but didn't give up a run thanks to Jorge Sosa.

Ugly: Carlos Delgado and Brian Schneider. Neither had a hit on Opening Day but it really didn't matter. It's always nice when you have to be picky in this portion of the post.

Overall: This is what you like to see. Strong starting pitching, two-out base hits that drive runs home and a bullpen that doesn't give anything up. Every Mets fan is happy with this contest and it's especially nice to beat the Marlins after the final series of the '07 season.

Grade: A
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Last week, six Mets filled for salary arbitration, including Oliver Perez, Pedro Feliciano, Jorge Sosa, Ryan Church, Endy Chavez and Aaron Heilman.

According to MLB rules, a player with more than 3 but less than 6 years of major league service, may file for salary arbitration.

In the arbitration process, both the player and the team submits a proposed contract amount, and an independent arbitrator chooses one number or the other based on what they believe is most "fair" given comparable wages among players with similar ability and service time. In most cases, the process never even gets to the arbitrator, as the team and the player will usually compromise on a new contract.

The Mets and RHP Aaron Heilman avoided the arbitration process last Friday when they agreed to a 1 year, 1.2 million dollar contract for 2008.

Similarly, Tuesday, the Mets avoided arbitration with OF Endy Chavez, by agreeing to a two year 3.85 million dollar contract.

Deals for the other four players will probably be coming in the next week or two. The Mets have not had a player go to arbitration since David Cone in 1992.
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A few weeks ago over at the facebook group I asked the question; what should the Mets do if we don't acquire another starting pitcher this off season? My solution to this potential problem was to resurrect an old idea; one which would allow the Mets to solidify the rotation with a young veteran pitcher and strengthen the bullpen with two proven relievers, all without having to sacrifice the farm... IMPOSSIBLE you say?

START HEILMAN!!!!!
(you read correctly)

Heilman can be the 5th starter behind Pedro, El Duque, Maine and Perez, and Mike Pelfrey can fill in for ElDuque if and when he finds himself on the DL.

Now here's the key to this plan...

Then, we turn around and trade prospects for established relievers, who can be had for much less than established starters.

My suggestion was the trade Phillip Humber, Mike Carp and Kevin Mulvey to the Nationals for Chad Cordero and Jon Rauch. However some other trade or combination of trades should be able to accomplish a similar goal, which in this case is to acquire two proven relievers for a few prospects not named Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez or Mike Pelfrey.

BUT WAIT... Heilman is too valuable to the bullpen... I've always hated that statement, probably because it tries to argue that relief pitching is more important that starting pitching, which, is a ridiculous argument to begin with, if that were true, how do you explain Carlos Silva making more than Billy Wagner in 2008? Although that one boggles my mind as well.

Heilman's importance to the bullpen is certainly outweighed by his potential importance to the rotation. Moving Heilman to the rotation not only strengthens the rotation, but it also allows the Mets to strengthen the bullpen as well. If the rotation is completed with Heilman, the Mets' prospects can be traded towards strengthening the bullpen, not to mention it will allow them to put Pelfrey in the bullpen as well.

WELL... putting Heilman in the rotation doesn't solve the rotation's problems... Well I agree partially, having Heilman in there isn't equal to having Johan Santana in there, but with the Twins asking for Jose Reyes... I say having Ruben Gotay at short isn't exactly equal to having Reyes either. Let's assume for the moment that we are unable to land an ace by spring training, why should we have Mike Pelfrey and Phillip Humber competing for the 5th spot, and have Heilman trapped in the bullpen when instead we could have an improved bullpen (by trading Humber, Mulvey and Carp), and have Mike Pelfrey and Aaron Heilman compete for the 5th spot? Heilman is certainly a better option than Humber, who has a grand total of 9 career innings pitched in the major leagues. Heilman is a much better pitcher now than he was when he first came up 5 years ago, and up until he was first moved to the bullpen in 2005 he had been a starting pitcher his entire career. His fastball and change up are above average, and he has one of the best change ups in the game, so, someone tell me why don't we do this?
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A number of sources are reporting that the Mets are close to a deal that would send Phillip Humber, Aaron Heilman, Ryan Church, and possibly Kevin Mulvey to the Orioles for starting pitcher Erik Bedard.

Meanwhile, over at Metsblog Matt Cerrone is reporting that the deal may involve a third team and Orioles' SS Miguel Tejada. This report is unconfirmed as well.

Remember this is just speculation, but a deal does seem close. This would be a fabulous trade for the Mets if they can manage to get the 28 year old Bedard without giving up Mike Pelfrey, Carlos Gomez or Fernando Martinez.

This deal may go down tonight, tomorrow, the next day or maybe not at all. It is kinda hard to imagine the Orioles will do anything with Bedard until after the Twins decide what to do with Johan Santana. But be sure to keep checking back as we will have more information as this story unfolds.

UPDATE: The report that suggested Erik Bedard is on his way to the Mets is "false," according to one executive with the Mets. However, talks are ongoing.

Looks like we may have jumped the gun with this one... thanks to mlb-rumors for clarifying that earlier post.
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Over the weekend, the Orioles rejected the Mets' trade offer of outfield prospect Carlos Gomez, reliever Aaron Heilman and pitching prospect Philip Humber for Erik Bedard, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The Sun reports that Bedard has attracted a lot of attention in a trade market that also includes Johan Santana. But it remains unknown whether the Orioles will trade him and, according to a team source, several members of the organization remain opposed to parting with Bedard, who is two years away from free agency.

The Los Angeles Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners are among other teams that have expressed interest in the star lefty.The Yankees apparently view Bedard as a backup plan if they do not land Johan Santana, but its unlikely the Orioles would trade him within the division. One Orioles sportswriter suggested that Bedard could cost the Yankees Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Melky Cabrera.

The Orioles seem to prefer to retain their ace if a contract extension can be reached. However, with contract negotiations reportedly stalled, a trade is looking more and more likely. Orioles President Andy MacPhail told the Baltimore Sun last week that stalled contract talks won't "dramatically" affect the club's position on Bedard, and that talks could revive in the days ahead.

Bedard could be the solution to the Mets' starting pitching woes, but what would the price be? Apparently Bedard is not going to be cheap, and the Mets must be careful not to sell their whole future to land one player. Read More...

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A hot topic around the Mets blogosphere lately has been the recent inefficiency of the Mets Bullpen. Global NYM reader Jill writes...

The Mets will not make the pennant with the Bullpen the way it is. Besides, Wagner and Heilman the rest of them need to get more work. To lose last night's game which Glavine pitched great was a nightmare. When I saw Mota coming, I turned it off. I knew exactly how this would play out and it did. Every night it's the same thing, the parade of relief pitchers that come in and can't get the job done is getting old. I don't understand why Mota was brought in with after all of his last attempts the Mets have lost. Billy Wagner can pitch an extra inning. Tim McGraw used to and so did Jesse Orosco. If I see Mota again, I'm TURNING THE GAME OFF. He might be good one day, but not right now with September right around the corner. I hope in the Winter they can get some good relief pitchers.

I've been a defender of Mota since he returned from his suspension earlier this season, blaming his poor play on the lack of a spring training, but even now, I must agree, this guy is terrible, he never gets the big out when we need it, and is almost money in the bank for opposing hitters. Mota simply cannot get the job done.

I think Mota constantly coming in the games despite his horrendous pitching has been based on two factors. First, Manager Willie Randolph seems to have an endless confidence in Mota, as if Mota were a veteran that you know will bust out of this slump (sort of like why the Mets were never going to bench Delgado no matter how bad he played this season). Secondly, I think it has to do with the economics of baseball, Mota is making $1.8 Million this year, and is signed through next season for the rest of his $5 million contract. Bottom line, the Mets are paying Mota, so they have to play Mota. This would also explain why Mota is used more in big game spots rather than Pedro Feliciano or Aaron Heilman, despite the fact that Heilman and Feliciano have consistently dominated both righties and lefties, for the last two seasons.

The Mets bullpen needs some drastic change. With the rosters expanding Saturday, I don't expect the Mets to up and release Mota, but there needs to be a change in how the bullpen is used.

First, Pedro Feliciano is NOT, I repeat NOT a lefty specialist. Just because someone is left handed and has a small contract, it doesn't... automatically make them a lefty specialist. While lefties are batting an abysmally low .149 against Feliciano, Righties aren't doing much better, batting a mere .202. Ironically, thats the same BAA vs righties as Closer Billy Wagner and setup man Jorge Sosa, it's better than any of the Mets other relievers righty or lefty (minus Ambiorix Burgos who didn't have very many appearances), so how exactly did Feliciano even get this reputation for being a lefty specialist? Comparatively, Scott Shoeneweis who Willie brings in to face righties all the time has a BAA vs righties of .330. If anyone in that bullpen is a lefty specialist, it's Schoeneweis.

Second, The Mets have to bring back Joe Smith when rosters expand, and make him a more instrumental part of that bullpen. Most of us expect Smith to be on the playoff roster, there is no way he should not be on this team in favor of Guillermo Mota or Aaron Sele.

Third, If Sosa is going to be the setup man, use him as such, meaning he pitches the 8th inning, whenever the Mets have the lead. I don't want to see Sosa come in in the 6th inning to face one batter, then come out of the game, so we can see Shoeneweis in the 8th. Bullpens need to have routines. Based on how our starters do, the bullpen should be able to figure out who's going to come in before it happens. I'm sick of Willie randomly flipping a coin to decide who he's going to bring in all the time.

Fourth, I've been asking this for a while, and Gary Cohen said it last week. Is Aaron Sele even still on this team? The Mets got Sele to be the long man out of the bullpen, but when a mets starter gives up 5 runs in 3 innings, we seeing Jorge Sosa or Aaron Heilman warming up in the bullpen. If you're not going to use Sele EVER, why is he even taking up a spot on the roster, especially in a bullpen that has been worn out like the Mets. Not to mention, in the rare situation that Sele actually does come in the game, he can't get anyone out. since August 1st, Sele has made a grand total of 6 appearances,for a total of 8.1 innings, and in that time, allowed 14 hits 0 walks and 6 runs for a WHIP of 1.68, and an ERA of 6.75. So I ask again... Is Aaron Sele still a part of this team?

Unfortunately with Ambiorix Burgos having Tommy John Surgery, the Mets are short on bullpen options, unless they add some one (like minor league relievers Willie Collazo, Jon Adkins, or Steve Schmoll) to the 40 man roster before September 1st, the playoff bullpen roster will be limited to:

Billy Wagner
Jorge Sosa
Aaron Heilman
Pedro Feliciano
Scott Schoeneweis
Guillermo Mota
Aaron Sele
Joe Smith

The only other option would be to use a starting pitcher out of the bullpen; of course, this will be highly dependent on Pedro Martinez's performance in September. Read More...

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Over the last week, the Mets have played better baseball with the offense showing consistency and fight until the final strike. However, as its been the trend, one thing goes for the better, and one thing goes for the worse.

A very strong point of the 2006 team was the bullpen that picked up for the somewhat weak rotation. This year, the rotation is stronger, but the bullpen is weaker. If one of our starters last year were unable to go we all knew that the combination of Oliver in long relief, Bradford in the 6^th and 7^th inning, Heilman in the 8^th, and Wagner in the 9^th would would be powerful. However, this year if anyone besides Heilman (yes I am a Heilman fan, hes a 2^nd half pitcher), Wagner, or Feliciano comes in, we all hold our breath.

However, I am a firm believer that a super offense can bail out a bullpen. While the bullpen has blown games and the offense hasn’t been able to always bail them out, I believe even if the bullpen gives up 2 runs, the Mets can make a comeback. Also, since the offense shows fights, it eventually could trickle the momentum down to the bullpen. This wasnt always true throughout this season, but over the last 2 weeks this is something thats changed for the better.

So there you are Mets fans. While we all cringe on the bullpen at points that are crucial, our offense has what it takes to bail us out. It should be an interesting end of the season, to say the least.

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Howdy all! First off I would like to apologize for my absence this past week, as my computer stopped working last week. It is still in the process of getting fixed (much like the Mets lineup and bullpen). While gone I finally came up with a name for my weekly column though: Tuesday Two Cents with Jersey Dan. I hope you guys like it. Now off to the races.

The bullpen, yeah we got one, yeah it’s got issues; but like a Chevy it gets the job done, even if you have to tinker with it at bit. Everyone has quickly jumped on the Scott Schoeneweis bandwagon as of late. Have fun riding that wagon, because who knows how rough it will be, and who knows if it will crash or not. Let’s be realistic here, the man has shown up for two months this season, and was just despicable for the rest of the season. His ERA is still above five, and his WHIP is still above one and a half. There is no reason for us to get outlandishly excited over this recent stint of success. Let’s see where Schoeneweis is at the end of the month.

So the Schoeneweis train is full, and that is because everyone is starting to get off of the Wagner Wagon. What is everyone’s problem with Wags? He is having one of his best seasons ever (like I predicted at the beginning of the season), and has shown nothing but composure this season. Last week against Atlanta Wags loaded up the bases with none out, and Brian McCann coming up to the plate, followed by Andruw Jones. What followed was composure that only the best closers in the game show. Wagner throws great pitches and induces McCann to ground to David Wright who fires home for the force. Wagner then throws some more great pitches and gets Jones to ground into a game ending double play. If Wagner weren’t a great closer, the Mets most likely would have blown that lead. His 26 saves 1.58 ERA and 61 strikeouts can close ball games for my team any day of the week.

So does anybody want to tell me what happened to Joe Smith? The man was lights out at the beginning of the season, and then sometime a little before the All Star Break he hit a brick wall that was more solid than a Mo Vaughn turkey sandwich. Hence Smith was sent down to AAA. Normally this wouldn’t bother me, but normally Guillermo Mota wouldn’t be a middle reliever on my baseball team. Let’s face it, off the juice Mota is garbage. If Smith can get back on track in New Orleans we can bring him back up and get Mota out of there.

Pedro Feliciano: Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Finally we get to the Met that everyone loves to hate: Aaron Heilman. This guy is having a career year, keeps us in games nine times out ten, usually cleans up the messes that Mota or Schoeneweis leave him, and yet we still ridicule him because of Game Seven of the 2006 NLCS. Get over it people, Heilman is a solid player, pitching in a role that he was thrown into last season. As far as I am concerned he has pitched very well since becoming our set up man and is the least of our bullpen worries.

Point being, this bullpen, if managed the right way can be just as good as Boston’s or any of the other top pens in the league. Now that Jorge Sosa is in the pen he will get a lot of work. Sosa, Feliciano, and Heilman looks like it could work out to be a great bullpen combo. If heaven allows it, and Schoeneweis continues to produce this bullpen could turn lethal. If Smith learns how to pitch again, we can get the steroid train out of there and have one of the best pens in the game. This last month and a half will make or break this pen, and make or break our chances of winning a third World Series.

Afterthoughts

Former New York Yankee shortstop and commentator Phil Rizzuto died today. Scooter was a legendary face to the game of baseball his whole life. He was one of the premier shortstops of his day, and his voice is among one of the most famous in baseball. His play-by-play was so exciting that he was used by Meat Loaf to do the “play-by-play” on his 1979 classic “Paradise By The Dashboard Light.” The Scooter will be missed.

While on hiatus last week, many Major League Baseball milestones were achieved.

Barry Bonds hit #756 last Tuesday. Thank God that is over, and the Giants won’t be on national television anymore this season

A-Rod hit #500 last week. I like A-Rod; he’s a great player that puts up with way too much garbage. I hope we get to see him hit many more home runs (just not for the Yankees).

Tommy Glavine wins #300. This seemed to take an eternity to Mets fans. What was pretty crazy about this win is that it took place in Wrigley Field, which opened in 1914, and only last Sunday saw it’s first 300 win milestone. Glavine is also the first Met to win 300 games while in a Met uniform. Glavine also could be the last pitcher to ever win 300 games, with these boneheaded pitch counts, and five man rotations and such. Congrats Tommy.

On a personal milestone note I must tip my cap to Cardinals OF Rick Ankiel. As much as I despise the Cardinals I cannot be happier for this guys success. If five years ago you were to tell me that Rick Ankiel would be an OF hitting home runs for St. Louis, I’d tell you take another shot of JD and keep dreaming. This is a great story for baseball, and I could not be happier for the guy.

Football is back, and the Giants are already driving me nuts. Six wins is a stretch for them. Thank God NASCAR goes until November.

Speaking of NASCAR, can somebody please instruct Dale Earnhardt’s crew on how to properly build an engine for a stock car? Four blown engines this season, and two in three weeks is just embarrassing.

That’s my two cents…Let’s Go Mets. Read More...

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As I mentioned yesterday in my post, Scott Schoeneweis has not been an effective reliever. I know the guy has a bad left leg and maybe some time on the disabled list would be good for him.

After Wagner and Mota effectively pitched their one inning each, our favorite reliever comes in and gives up a bomb to Brendan Ryan when he has 2 strikes on him. In his 2/3 of an inning, Schoeneweis gives up 2 hits 2 runs (1 ER) along with walking a guy. Horrible.

What bothers me the most is, its becoming a normal occurrence. Even though his previous 4 appearances were a bit better and he really has not had a blow up since June 7th, his ERA is still well over where it should be and us Mets fans know that the game is over when he comes in.

Well whats the solution then? Good question. What lefty reliever can we acquire to take this guys spot if we did let him go or even put him on the DL for a while? I do not know of any. We are stuck in the meantime.

Many of you may be thinking "Well what about Aaron Heilman?" While Heilman has been another favorite whipping boy (especially giving up the temporary go ahead run), may I remind everyone that when Duaner Sanchez went down after his cab incident (which I think we are still feeling sour for) Heilman filled in beautifully as an 8th inning guy.

So I think the verdict is still out on Heilman, but it looks like Schoeneweis better figure something out fast. We are all hoping his days are numbered as a Met.



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