Although hardly mentioned by the incompetent Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on ESPN, Mets ace Johan Santana won his 100th career game on Sunday night against the Dodgers. His career record is now 100-47. According to the Elias Sports Bureau...

Only four other active (or disabled) pitchers had fewer than 50 losses at the time of their 100th career win: Mike Mussina (100-43), Tim Hudson (100-45), Roy Oswalt (100-47) and Pedro Martinez (100-49).

Congrats Johan! Read More...

Summary only...

Sometimes baseball is a weird game. After dropping 7 of their previous 8, the Mets finally looked like a Major League Baseball team the last 3 games, taking the last 2 out of 3 from the Marlins, and winning tonight against the Dodgers.

I was fortunate enough to score last minute tickets to Tuesday's game, and decided to go in the hopes of trying to get this team's luck turned around. I have to say for the first time this season, the Mets and their fans actually looked like they were in the game.

Since the dog days of summer of last year when the Mets suddenly became a sub-par .500 team, the players have just been going through the motions, the fans have been quiet in their seats, and the excitement of 2006 seemed dead and buried. However we saw flashed of that excitement these last three days at Shea.

Could it be the resurgence of Jose Reyes has finally kicked in? Was Fernando Tatis really all this team has been missing? Can it be the bullpen which has been brilliant the last few days? Or is it the orange suit jacket being donned by Mets VP of Media Relations Jay Horowitz?

Whatever the reason, the excitement is back in Queens, the Mets just need to take that excitement and translate it into some wins so they can get back in this race for the NL East.
Read More...

Summary only...

One of the greatest players in Mets history officially announced his retirement today. Mike Piazza, the face of the franchise from 1998 to 2005 and the player who led the Mets to the World Series in 2000 has called it a career.

Piazza is a sure-fire first ballot hall of famer, the only question that lingers is will he go into the Hall of Fame as a Met or as a Dodger.

As a biased Mets fan there really is no question in my mind that he should go in as a met. Piazza himself has said that he would prefer to go in as a Met, and although the Hall no longer allows the players to decide what cap they wear, I find it almost ridiculous that anyone would even suggest he wear a dodgers hat.

First and foremost, he played longer in New York, that alone is usually the deciding factor for the hall. Piazza played 7 full seasons in New York from 1999-2005, and played most of 1998 with the Mets as well. He only played 5 full seasons in Los Angeles.

Second, his statistics show clearly that he had a better career in New York than Los Angeles.

Team	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BA
Los Angeles	726	2707	443	896	177	563	.331
New York	972	3478	532	1028	220	655	.296

Third, He led the Mets to the NLCS in 1999 and to the World Series in 2000. He didn't play all that well in the two first round playoff sweeps the dodgers experienced in 1995 and 1996.

Fourth, Piazza was the unquestionably the leader of the Mets for 8 Seasons.

Fifth, he is probably the second best player in Mets history, whereas he's more like the 10th best player in Dodger's history.

Sixth, the Mets got robbed with the other great hitting catcher in their franchise's history when the hall decided to give Gary Carter an Expos hat because he had played more seasons in Montreal.

While all of these are good reasons for Piazza to go into the hall as a Met, the reason is far deeper than statistics or time played, or playoff achievements. Mike Piazza should go into the Hall of Fame as a Met because most people when they think of Mike Piazza, they think of him with the Mets, and when they think of the Mets of the late 90s early 2000s they think of Mike Piazza.

If Mike Piazza ends up going into the Hall of Fame wearing a Dodgers cap, it will be an atrocity for Mets fans, whereas if he goes in as a Met, it wont be that big of a deal for Dodger fans because they should expect that.
Read More...

Summary only...

By Reuben Mitrani

The worst thing happening for the game of baseball is the big market to small market divide, a problem that is affecting baseball far more negatively than steroids. While steroids is a problem that by a casual observer cannot always be noticed (sometimes it is even ignored), the divide between larger market teams such as the New York Yankees; New York Mets; Boston Red Sox; and Los Angeles Dodgers, and smaller market teams such as the Baltimore Orioles; Minnesota Twins; or Oakland Athletics cannot be overlooked.

The game of baseball has become so rich and the players are looking for a larger piece of the pie. This sounds fine, but the best players are beginning to require contracts so large that no small market teams can possibly afford them. This causes teams like the Twins, Orioles, or Athletics to trade away their talent before it comes time to pay the big bucks. This is seen in this winter's four biggest trades; Miquel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers for 6 prospects; Dan Haren to the D-Backs for a bundle of prospects; Johan Santana to the Mets for four prospects; and the soon be finalized Erik Bedard trade to the Mariners for prospects. The teams trading these players away cannot afford to pay them, and this creates a severe divide in opportunity for the teams with less money.

Major League Baseballl needs to do something about this problem. While I am not insinuating that they should install a salary cap, perhaps they should put a cap on maximum player contracts. The Player's Union would never agree to this though, leaving immediate options bleak for small market teams.

I am not saying that the Mets should not have paid Johan Santana, nor that the Yankees have paid Alex Rodriguez, I am simply recognizing that there is a problem in the game of baseball that is going seemingly unnoticed and some sort of attention needs to be given to it. As Mets fans, we are fortunate enough to be on the winning side of this problem, but that means that there is all the more reason to help raise awareness towards a solution. If the Mets win the National League East and the World Series this year, will Braves and Phillies fans use our far superior budget as an excuse? Maybe. Is it unfair for the Mets to take advantage of their superior resources? No. Is it fair for the Twins to have to allow their best two players to leave this season because of a lack of sufficient funds? Absolutely not.

This problem could possibly be solved by increasing the luxury tax in baseball. This and further increases in revenue sharing, would help to level the playing field in baseball. Until the owners agree on such terms, this problem in baseball will not go away and may possibly get worse with even bigger budget free agents hitting open-market next winter.

Read More...

Summary only...

The game between the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, August 26 is now scheduled to start at 8:05 p.m. ET to accommodate ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball broadcast.

Tickets showing the original start time of 1:10 p.m. ET for the August 26 game should still be used for admission.

What's the big deal you may be asking yourself? Well, every year the Mets hold a very special promotion for kids ages 12 and under. This popular promotion allows them to run the bases at Shea, like their favorite baseball players. Thousands of kids look forward to this event each year and now because of the switch in times, the event has been canceled.

Shame on you ESPN, I hope the ratings are worth it! Read More...

Summary only...

The Mets completed the 3 game sweep of the Nationals at RFK stadium by beating the Nationals by a score of 8-2. The Mets outscored the Nationals 21-8 during the series.

The Mets' bats continue to produce as this was the 8th straight game in which the Mets had scored at least 5 runs, and their 5th straight game of scoring at least 6 runs.

The Mets went 5-1 on the 6 game road trip to Pittsburgh and Washington, which helped them extend their lead over the Phillies and Braves to 4.5 and 5.5 games respectively.

Last week, I had said that the Mets would need to win at least 6 of the 9 games against the "second rate teams" (the Marlins, Pirates, and Nationals). The Mets accomplished that goal, and have now opened up a bit of a lead in the NL East.

However, the road from here is difficult, over the course of the next 4 series, the Mets will face the Padres, Dodgers, Phillies, and Braves; all of whom are contenders looking to make a playoff run.

LAST NOTE: Congratulations Global New York Mets for this the 100th post on the Blog, may there be hundreds more Read More...

Summary only...