This was supposed to be the beginning of an easy, breezy weekend at home. The Mets were hosting one of MLB’s worst offensive ballclubs — and one that was further decimated by injuries to the few legitimate MLBers on their roster. To boot, the starting pitcher facing them had been released earlier in the year by a team whose staff is below average. However, this “easy” series did not begin as expected — much the opposite, in fact.

Mets Game Notes

Sloppy game, both literally and figuratively, for both sides. Wet conditions caused slipping, wild throws, and other oddities. Some miscues, though, could not be blamed on the weather — such as missed tags, poor slides, bad baserunning, misplayed balls, brain farts, and a steadfast refusal to keep runners close to first base.

The mistakes on the Mets’ side began with the decision to bat Ronny Cedeno leadoff. Really?

The scouting report on Jeremy Hefner was that he was a strike-thrower. Naturally, his first three pitches of the game were balls — almost certainly an indication of nervous excitement, as he didn’t throw another ball until the third inning. However, in that third — and immediately after the rain delay — the Padres pounded four doubles in the frame, plating four runs. You have to like the way Hefner attacks the strike zone, and that he can throw all of his pitches for strikes consistently, but as seen in that third inning, it is possible to throw too many strikes. Unusual, but possible. Still, I’d rather see too many strikes than too many balls.

If Hefner threw from a three-quarters angle instead of straight over the top, he’d be the spit and image (or spitting image, if you prefer) of Orel Hershiser. Hefner also might get a little more movement on the ball with such an angle — perhaps enough to make it slightly less hittable.

Eric Stults is not a great pitcher. But, he is a great-hitting pitcher. He is also a terrible bunter, as displayed in this game. Yet, Padres manager Bud Black inexplicably called on Stults to bunt time after time with runners on base — and he failed miserably. Does Black not realize that Stults might have been one of the best four hitters in his lineup? Just because it’s a pitcher at the plate doesn’t mean he can’t hit and the bunt call is automatic.

David Wright boosted his batting average back over .400 with a 3-for-5 day that included a double, a homerun, and two RBI.

Meanwhile, Andres Torres busted out of his slump with a single, jacking his average up to within eight points of the Mendoza Line.

Also seeing better results at the plate was Ike Davis, who rapped a two-run single in a pinch-hitting appearance. Maybe he can start pulling himself out of the ditch.

Manny Acosta was his usual terrible self, though he did strike out four in two innings. I’m beginning to wonder if inducing swings and misses is perhaps an overvalued asset; Oliver Perez, after all, is #8 all-time — yes, ALL-TIME — in K/9.

Unfortunately, rookie Robert Carson followed Acosta — literally and figuratively. Carson pitched after Acosta, and nearly as poorly. Like Hefner, Carson simply threw too many hittable pitches.

After seeing the Mets struggle to take two out of three from the lowly Pirates, and then watching the Padres trounce them, I really have to wonder how the Mets are over .500. Smoke and mirrors? Sheer luck? Voodoo?

Next Mets Game

Game two of this four-game set begins at 7:10 p.m. on Friday night. Dillon Gee faces Anthony Bass.

Based on that collection of opponents, we’ll have a good idea of what kind of team these Mets really are by the end of June.

What do you think? Is it vital that the Mets take at least three from the Padres this weekend — both to build their confidence and also beef up their won-loss record as they head into that tough stretch? Or does it not make a difference? In contrast, what if the Mets lose three (or four) to San Diego — can we expect them to fare well against more talented opponents? Or am I making too much of this? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Rusty Staub's doppleganger

In honor of his bobblehead day on May 26th, the Mets Media Relations department was kind enough to hold a conference call between the great Rusty Staub and several Mets bloggers.  Rusty was very nice and accomodating.  A range of subjects was covered, from his career, to today’s players, to grilling tips.

Here’s a sampling:

On Pinch Hitting

Rusty kept an eye on the game, and prepared for his late-inning turn at bat. He liked to keep his body temperature up.  He’d run up and down the runway – anything to keep from coming in cold.

He described his approach at the plate in pinch-hit situations as “controlled agression.”  ”When I went up, the game was on the line,” he said.

On Being Gary Carter’s Teammate with the Expos and Mets

“Gary never lost that enthusiasm and drive,” Rusty said of Carter.  From his early days with the Expos to his latter days with the Mets, Rusty said Carter kept that enthusiasm throughout his career.  Rusty recalled what a huge piece of the puzzle Carter was when he came to the Mets in a trade prior to the 1985 season.

On His Popularity in Montreal and New York

Rusty was asked why he thought he was so popular in Montreal and New York.  ”First of all, you have to play well,” Rusty said.  If you don’t play well, you’re not going to be popular.  He said he never thought of himself as being above the fans.  And in Montreal, his attempts to learn French didn’t hurt!  While he said he was never fluent, the fans appreciated his effort.

On Similarities Between Today’s Mets and His Early ’80s Team

Rusty said comparisons between eras are very difficult.

He did say that the “belittlement” of the Mets before the season was “beyond belief,” and that Mets fans should be proud of the start their team has had so far.

On Playing for Davey Johnson

He recalled that those teams had a total lack of discipline, and could have won more championships than they did, but “he [Johnson] was very very good” on the field.  He was his own guy, and had his own style.  Rusty said he is happy that Johnson has another shot in the big leagues, and sounded impressed with how the Nationals were playing under Davey’s guidance.

On Making His MLB Debut at Age 19

Rusty said he wasn’t overmatched at the plate, but he was overmatched by day-to-day life in the majors.  He said he made some mistakes, but those made him stronger.

He added some advice for today’s players: Don’t listen to the media, and “work your ass off.”  Rusty said some guys get complacent when they start making major league money.

On the Toughest LHP and RHP He Ever Faced

“I always said, if I started a team,” Rusty said, “it would be with Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson.”

On Ike Davis

“Ike is messed up in his head,” Rusty said, “it’s beyond comprehension.”  Rusty suggested that Ike slow it down, be quieter at the plate – cut down on his hand movements.

“He’s gonna get out of this thing,” he said, even if it means taking a couple of weeks in the minors, something Rusty said he did himself, and it wasn’t easy.  He also suggested studying himself when he is going well, so he can see what he is doing well and why.

On the 1973 Season

“It was a tough season,” he said.  A bunch of guys got hurt, and he himself said his hands were in terrible pain every day.  So much so, that the team gave him 3 days off in August.  ”A well placed cortisone shot can be effective,” he said.  And during his time off, he got 4 shots in his left hand, and 3 in his right.  When he came back, he was “astounded by the pop in his hands.”

Rusty went on to say that with pitchers like Seaver, Koosman, “and George Stone was pitching terrific,” he felt they were still in it in late August.

On Grilling

“Concentrate,” Rusty said.  You don’t have to stand over the grill all the time, but don’t burn anything.  As far as cooking burgers is concerned, Rusty advocates high heat.

Atta boy.

Mets take the series in Pittsburgh with an early afternoon victory.

Mets Game Notes

Jonathon Niese rebounded from his worst outing of the year (maybe his career) with perhaps his best outing of the year. He pitched into the eighth inning — 7 2/3 innings to be exact — and allowed just one run on five hits and two walks. What was unusual was the number of ground balls he induced — a season-high 13 — and the contrastingly low number of fly balls (5).

Also of note: MetsToday reader “Dave” emailed me the following info prior to the ballgame:

SAMPLE SIZE ALERT! Niese during day games: 4 G 0.935 WHIP 2.75 SO/BB
0.489 OPS 1 HR. Niese during night games: 4 G 2.059 WHIP 1.70 SO/BB
1.074 OPS 7 HR. Interestingly his K/9 actually goes UP at night, but so do his walks. It will all likely even out over the course of the season, but I love little quirks like this in baseball.

Niese’s daytime numbers improved over the above with this latest performance. Does it mean anything? Not sure, but it’s worth watching. The K/9 going up at night doesn’t surprise me too much, as it’s probably slightly more difficult for hitters to see under the lights. Why the walks go up, though, is another story.

On offense, Ike Davis finally connected with a hard base hit that didn’t look like an accident. But it was pulled into right field, so not sure if it’s an indication of anything.

Two hits, a run scored, and an RBI from Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Is it time to make him the everyday center fielder for at least the short term, or what? It would seem to me that Andres Torres has played himself out of the starting lineup, for the time being anyway.

David Wright‘s slump continues; he was only one for four. As a result, what we all feared happened: his average fell below .400. It’s time to dump him before his stock plummets too far.

Next Mets Game

The Mets return home to play a four-game set against the San Diego Padres. Game one begins at 7:10 p.m. on Thursday night. The pitching matchup is Jeremy Hefner vs. Eric Stults.

When two offensively challenged teams face each other, the level of drama of a game and its outcome are often dependent on the number and type of mistakes made. This game fit that condition.

Mets Game Notes

Was this a well-pitched game? Kind of. Or was it a game that had the perception of being well-pitched because of the ineptitude of the batters? Hmm … that is up to subjective interpretation — and yours is encouraged in the comments.

R.A. Dickey‘s dancing knuckleball kept the over-zealous Buc batters in fits. Likewise, Mets hitters accomplished little against an array of fastballs and off-speed pitches served by James McDonald. Both pitchers are reliable starters with the potential to occasionally hurl brilliant outings. On this night, both pitchers brought their typical, solid-yet-unspectacular stuff and walked away with brilliant results. I mean this in no disrespect to either pitcher, both of whom I hold high respect. Rather, in my humble opinion, both pitchers succeeded more as a function of futile hitting than of outstanding pitching. Do you agree?

Further, I wonder if this game would still be playing as a 1-1 tie if not for the multiple mistakes made in the field by both sides — a few of which were not identified as errors by the official scorer, but were miscues nonetheless.

From a less ambivalent, and more positive perspective: nice to see Frank Francisco finish the game with a clean inning.

On a negative note: what is going on with David Wright? He’s mired in his worst slump of the year — he hasn’t had a hit in FIVE AT-BATS! Is it time to panic? Should Wright be studying video? Is he unprepared? Does an adjustment need to be made? What the heck is Dave Hudgens getting paid to do, if not to help David out of this? If this already prolonged dry spell goes any longer, there is a distinct possibility that Wright’s average will drop BELOW .400. I hope he works out of this funk quickly!

OK, you know I’m being facetious about Wright (right?). But on a more serious note, Ike Davis is officially awful. He needs to go down to the minors — maybe as low as Port St. Lucie — to work things out.

Kudos to Terry Collins for moving James McDonald off the mound and into the outfield when Collins was farm director for the Dodgers. By retarding his development as a pitcher for two years, Collins was integral in assuring that McDonald was not spectacular enough to completely dominate the Mets in this ballgame. Sometimes it takes a while, but eventually, decisions made with minor leaguers eventually pay off.

Following with that point, I am impressed with McDonald’s development over the past year. This time last year, I wondered if McDonald was ever going to put it together; in many ways, and perhaps because of their shared Dodgers background, McDonald reminded me of eternal enigma Edwin Jackson. But it seems as though McDonald has become more consistent with his command, and his focus and confidence has improved. I don’t expect him to be a Cy Young candidate, but as mentioned earlier, he does now appear to be a reliable MLB starter — something you couldn’t say about him in 2011.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Pirates finish up the series on Wednesday afternoon with a ballgame that begins at 12:35 p.m. Jonathon Niese faces Charlie Morton.

When you score four runs early against the Pirates, the game is pretty much in the bag. After all, the Bucs are averaging under three runs scored per game, and “The Lumber Company” is specializing in balsa wood toothpicks these days.

But, there’s one way that poor offensive clubs score runs: when they are given more than three outs in an inning.

Mets Game Notes

The Mets had this game won, but unfortunately, there’s a rule in MLB that stipulates your starting nine play the field. The Mets made three errors, and the third turned out to be the game-changer.

In this game, against this woeful offensive team, Johan Santana performance could be described as “good,” or at least, decent. But I bet Johan would be the first one to tell you that he pitched poorly.

Johan’s command on all pitches was inconsistent, and in particular, his location on his fastball was usually too high. But he had the benefit of facing a pitcher and three men who would barely qualify as adequate AAA hitters. Those who should have hit him — Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen, and Pedro Alvarez — did, and the two who had a modicum of possibility of doing so (Neil Walker, Casey McGehee), didn’t.

McGehee, by the way, appears very different from his career year with the Brewers. He looks tight and tense in his batting stance; I remember him being a little loosey-goosey and relaxed at the plate. Now, he’s squeezing the bat handle as if he’s trying to turn it to sawdust.

Good clue that the Pirates are terrible hitters? Santana had thrown only 76 pitches entering the sixth inning. That’s 13 pitches per inning, which is ridiculously low.

I see truly awful hitters like this and wonder how Vladimir Guerrero, Johnny Damon, J.D. Drew, and Edgar Renteria were unemployed on Opening Day. Heck, if I’m the Pirates I’d have considered Livan Hernandez and Jason Jennings for their bats rather than their arms. Similarly, Jason Marquis has been cut loose, and he can hit better than half of the Bucs starting lineup.

The fact that Erik Bedard has a job in MLB reinforces my faith that baseball GMs are idiots. My wife is a National League fan, so she had never seen Bedard before, and asked me who he was. Describing him was an interesting and somewhat enlightening exercise, because when it comes right down to it, Bedard is not much more than an eternal enigma — or is it, an eternal tease? Bedard has always been a guy with “filthy stuff” who — other than one 40-game stretch from 2008 to 2009 — has never been healthy enough to come anywhere close to fulfilling his potential. Yet, because of that brief flash of dominance, teams will give him one opportunity after another, truly believing that there is a chance they’ll catch lightning in a bottle. See: Oliver Perez, Rich Harden, Mark Prior, etc., etc. It’s fascinating, isn’t it? A guy can be physically only a shred of what he was (and I mean that both figuratively and literally), but because he had success once, there will always be someone, somewhere, willing to believe it can happen again. History trumps logic.

Logic exercise: David Wright is to Mets as Andrew McCutchen is to Pirates.

What the HECK was Neil Walker doing bunting in the fourth inning with a man on second, no outs, and down by 2? Has anyone informed him that he is one of only four players in the entire lineup who qualify as MLB hitters — and the other three had already hit? Walker is one of my favorite young players in baseball, but man, that was a truly knucklehead move.

In contrast, Clint Barmes appeared to be the only Buc actively looking change-up first against Johan — though it didn’t help him. He had the right approach, but couldn’t execute.

By the way, when Johan walked Barmes in the fourth, it was only the second time all season that Barmes drew a walk. Wow.

The Pirates had a big opportunity to break open the game in the fourth inning, when they scored two runs and then loaded the bases with one out. The rally was killed by the aforementioned numnut bunt by Walker and, later, a routine double-play grounder. Lightning doesn’t strike twice in Pittsburgh.

In the 8th, with the score tied, none out, Kirk Nieuwenhuis on first, and big Jared Hughes on the mound, Terry Collins called on Ronny Cedeno to bunt. Baffling decision, considering that a) Cedeno was swinging the bat well all evening and b) Hughes was slow and lumbering to the plate, suggesting that Kirk would have been able to steal second base fairly easily. Thanks to a groundout by Cedeno followed by a wild pitch, Kirk found his way to 3B with one out, but still, the process was flawed.

Also baffling to see Mike Nickeas hitting with the game on the line in the 8th and Daniel Murphy sitting on the bench. If it was because Rob Johnson was unavailable to catch multiple innings, then why was Vinny Rottino removed from the game?

During the postgame press conference, Collins explained that Rottino was not very experienced at first base, and that’s why Davis replaced him there and moved Rottino to left field. For the record, Rottino has played 164 games at 1B in the minors, recording over 1250 chances at the position. Just sayin’.

Though, it can be argued that Rottino may not have reached base as Kirk had in his place.

I just noticed that Andres Torres has an OBP of around .340 despite a batting average below .200. That’s quite a feat.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Pirates play again on Tuesday evening at 7:05 p.m. in Pittsburgh. R.A. Dickey faces James McDonald.

Marte in last year's Future's Game.

On Friday, the Mets Media Relations department was kind enough to hold a conference call between Mets bloggers and B-Mets Jefry Marte and Collin McHugh.  Both players are off to prodigious starts for Binghamton.  Marte was named Mets minor league hitter of the month.  He’s hitting .326/.389/.442.  McHugh, the Mets minor league pitcher of the month, has a 4-2 record with a 2.05 ERA, and a K/BB ratio of 2.80.

During the conference call, they graciously answered one question apiece from each blogger.  Here were my questions:

MetsToday: Obviously you’ve made a smooth transition to AA, but what are the greatest differences you’ve found between A ball and AA, as far as the level of competition?

Marte: It’s the same game.  I try to stay focused, get good pitches to hit, and be confident in my approach at the plate.  Also, the umpire’s strikezones are better in AA, allowing me to get more consistent pitches to hit.

MetsToday: I’m not only a fan of yours as a pitcher, but also as a blogger.  What do your teammates think of your blog?

McHugh: I don’t think they know about my blog.  But I enjoy writing, especially on the road.  It’s a good outlet for my thoughts and perspectives.  Writing is something I’d like to do after my career is over, however many years down the line that is.

McHugh delivers.

Among other questions to Marte, he was asked what it was like to play third base in the Mets organization, knowing that David Wright may have the postition secured for many years into the future (about those contract talks…).  Marte said he will keep focusing on his game in the minors, and would be willing to change positions, or do whatever the Mets want him to, if and when he reaches the big club.

Throughout the call, Marte emphasized his approach at the plate and having confidence.  Marte spoke through a translator, but sounds like he’s focused on his game.

McHugh was asked if he felt the need to work harder to gain name recognition, like other players in the organization, such as Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, and Jeurys Familia.  He said he has respect for those pitchers, and doesn’t feel slighted.  He likes playing with the current starting rotation in Binghamton, because they challenge each other, and they win ballgames.  He feels that winning is part of their development.

McHugh is very articulate which would make him a good fit for a big media market like New York.  He’s also a good writer, but hopefully, his primary career will take place on the mound for many years to come.

Per Adam Rubin of ESPN-NY:

“There is nothing etched in stone,” Collins said with respect to minors consideration for Davis. “We will never, never say something is not going to happen. What we’re trying to do is make sure is we wring the rag dry. And that’s why, coming into this road trip, we said, ‘Look, here’s some pretty good opportunities.’ This is a pretty good hitting park. Pittsburgh is a pretty good hitting park. We’ve got right-handers, right-handers, right-handers coming up. Let’s just see if we can get him going.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Davis said Sunday morning. “I’m going to play here until something happens. … I really can’t answer questions about that until something happens. I’m not sent down yet, so I don’t know what to tell you.

“I feel fine. I’ve hit some balls hard, just never found a hole.

As Rubin points out earlier in that article, two other slugging first basemen have been demoted recently: Gaby Sanchez of the Marlins and Toronto’s Adam Lind. So, if Davis is sent down as well, it’s not unprecedented, and shouldn’t be shocking.

Looking at the bigger picture, sending Ike to the minors might be a good thing for the Mets over the short-term, considering the way Mike Baxter and Scott Hairston have been swinging the bat lately. With Ike in the minors, the Mets can move Lucas Duda to 1B and give both Baxter and Hairston at-bats while they’re hot. Such a move would also improve the Mets’ outfield defense.

For the long term, sending Ike down might be exactly what he needs to get out of his funk and back on track to being the Mets first baseman of the present and future. There are a few elements at play here. First and foremost, Ike missed nearly an entire season of baseball, and it’s difficult for a hitter to get back in the groove after so much time away. It’s particularly difficult for a hitter who has a long stride, big swing, and lots of moving parts — as Ike does. Timing is everything for Ike, and his is way off — and has been since the beginning of spring training.

The longer Ike struggles, the deeper he digs into a hole, and the harder it is to emerge from it. After a while, a slumping hitter starts taking his thoughts to the field, and may not be as focused on defense. Further, he starts questioning his ability, and without confidence it’s impossible to hit big-league pitching. Finally, there is knowing that you’re hurting your team, and you start to press. We saw this on Sunday afternoon with Ike’s aggressiveness on the bases. It was great that he was hustling and able to stretch a single into a double, and then took third on a wild pitch. But when he went rushing home on the second wild pitch, that was Ike making a decision based on wanting to make a contribution to the team, rather than on smart baseball.

Right now, Ike’s issue is physical: he needs to find his timing. However, it’s being compounded and extended by the mental and emotional strain that comes with continued struggle over length of time. It probably best to be in somewhere in Upstate New York (or Florida), away from the daily stress of the media and the feeling of burdening his teammates, working out his issues. Away from it all, he can focus on getting his swing right, and nothing else.

Here’s my feeling: if Ike doesn’t break out with a few good at-bats and solid line drives in Pittsburgh, then he’ll be demoted. And that will be the right decision. After playing the Pirates, the Mets return to Flushing, where Ike is hitting .065. It makes no sense to put him into the Citi Field environment while he’s slumping badly. Get him down somewhere else — even if it’s Port St. Lucie — to get himself straight. My bet is he’ll return to MLB mashing within a few weeks.

What do you think? Should the Mets demote Ike Davis to the minors to work things out? Why or why not? And if they do, how should the lineup be reconfigured as a result?

Mets salvage series with Sunday’s victory — despite needing Frank Francisco to preserve a one-run lead.

Mets Game Notes

Dillon Gee executed the game plan that Jonathon Niese couldn’t in game one: stay away from the righthanded hitters with off-speed breaking pitches and change-ups, but mix in just enough fastballs inside to keep them honest. The game plan worked, as Gee allowed only two runs in 6 2/3 IP.

Henderson Alvarez usually has really strong command of decent stuff. He reminds me a little of former Yankees hurler Ramiro Mendoza, in that he relies almost exclusively on a hard, heavy sinker that he can — when he’s going well — spot effectively and consistently on both quadrants of the lower strike zone. When he’s not going well, though, his stuff isn’t electric enough to get the swings and misses to squeeze out of jams.

Further, unlike Ramiro Mendoza, Alvarez is a bit immature, doesn’t keep his cool, and allows others to see his emotions. That got him into big trouble in the first inning, as he openly reacted to balls three and four to leadoff hitter Andres Torres. Both were close pitches and could have gone either way, but after Alvarez showed his displeasure with ball three, the home plate umpire was not going to give him the next close pitch — it’s similar to umpires calling close ones on Ike Davis. To compound the situation, Alvarez then let those calls and the walk affect his focus for the rest of the inning, and the Mets took advantage by taking a three-run lead to begin the ballgame. Lesson to the kiddies: you can’t control the umpire, so shake off bad calls, focus on what you can control, and stay in the moment rather than dwell on the past.

The first time around the order, I found it curious to see several of the slugging Blue Jays hitters take a number of what looked like very hittable fastballs over the middle of the plate from Gee. I suppose they were gathering information, because the second time around the order, those same hitters were more aggressive, and swinging at the fastball — in particular, Jose Bautista, who launched a big fly that barely made it over the left field wall.

Shame on Colby Rasmus for not running hard out of the box on a routine grounder to Ike Davis in the fourth. Ike knocked the ball down and it rolled a few feet away, but since Rasmus didn’t start running hard until he saw the bobble, there was plenty of time to get him out. In contrast, kudos to Kelly Johnson, who ran hard out of the box on a liner to centerfield that Kirk Nieuwenhuis bobbled, allowing Johnson to make it to second base. Similar kudos to Mike Baxter, who stretched a single into a double in the initial inning.

Speaking of Baxter, now he’s blistering the ball as a starter. Nice to see, and begs the question: will he get more starts going forward? With Ike struggling, you have to wonder if it makes sense to move Lucas Duda to 1B and give Baxter a shot in one of the outfield corners.

The Blue Jays’ game plan against David Wright seemed to be to pound him inside. It didn’t work. Wright simply stood his ground and got a bit quicker, drilling baseballs into left field.

Daniel Murphy had a clutch RBI single in the fifth, but for past few games he seems to be flying open and waving at pitches with one hand. Even on that RBI single, his top hand was off the bat at the point of contact. Murphy is hitting over .320 so it’s hard to be too critical, but I can say confidently that he’s not strong enough to hit homeruns with only one hand.

Though Bobby Parnell was touched for two runs in the 8th, I didn’t think he pitched all that poorly. The Jays went down and hit a few tough pitches below the strike zone, and sometimes you have to tip your cap. I liked seeing Parnell respond by throwing his heat on both sides of the plate and then above the zone when he got ahead with two strikes — the 98-99 MPH fastball is his strength, and that’s what he should go to in times of trouble.

Did I mention Frank Francisco yet? His save was most improbable, especially after beginning the inning by walking Yunel Escobar. Jose Bautista followed by poking a ball through the hole where Daniel Murphy was supposed to be had he not been to the left of 2B for the shift. Somehow, Francisco managed to throw fastballs over the middle of the plate past the next three hitters, striking out all three swinging, while every Mets fan sat on the edge of their seat.

With the starting pitching and potentially explosive offense the Blue Jays displayed, I can see how they’re ahead of the mighty Yankees and Red Sox right now in the standings. At the same time, I can see those bats going ice cold, making it difficult to score runs and win ballgames. What’s scary to me is that the Jays looked this good even with star youngster Brett Lawrie on the bench (due to suspension), former starting first baseman Adam Lind in the minors because of a horrendous slump, and Colby Rasmus mired in a similarly terrible slump. If their young position players play the way they’re expected, and those young pitchers continue to improve, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

Next Mets Game

The Mets start a three-game series in Pittsburgh on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. Johan Santana goes to the mound against Erik Bedard.

Mets lose today to Morrow as well as yesterday.

Mets Game Notes

Brandon Morrow was absolutely dominating; if this is how he looks all the time then he’s a superstar in the making. Imagine if the Mariners held on to him, and paired him with King Felix – wow. Like Ricky Romero in game one, Morrow established and controlled the tempo and rhythm, and peppered all four quadrants of the strike zone with hard running fastballs. He mixed in a nasty, hard-breaking curve and similarly filthy slider that rarely finished above the dirt but started at the knees. He was consistently around 92 MPH on his fastball the entire game, then in the 8th against Justin Turner he reached back for a little extra and cranked one by Turner that was clocked at 97 MPH. Generally you don’t see starters increasing their velocity that late in the game, but Morrow never showed any sign of tiring.

Rookie hurler Jeremy Hefner was sparkling in emergency relief of Miguel Batista, who left the game with back issues. Hefner kept his fastball down, and showed some nasty breaking pitches. His command was a little spotty on the curves and sliders, but they had impressive vertical, late break. His fastball doesn’t have too much movement, but he kept it around the knees and it had a bit of sink.

After a hot start, Andres Torres is crashing to the ground — both on offense and defense. His error in the fifth set up the two Blue Jays runs, and at bat he’s not as patient as he was originally, and he’s hitting everything in the air.

Similarly, Kirk Nieuwenhuis continues to swing and miss; though his defense remains stellar.

We heard all about Jose Bautista‘s booming bat, but what about that howitzer of an arm? While it’s true Yunel Escobar never tagged Mike Baxter, that throw was still impressive — as was a similar one earlier in the game that nearly nailed Lucas Duda.

Duda and Baxter had two of the Mets three hits on the day; the other one was struck by Ronny Cedeno.

Not much else to say — Morrow was tremendous, spinning a three-hit shutout.

Next Mets Game

The Mets will try to avoid a sweep on Sunday by sending Dillon Gee to the hill against Henderson Alvarez. Game time is 1:07 p.m.

Jonathon Niese and the New York Mets were given a very rude introduction to baseball as it’s played in the AL Beast.

Mets Game Notes

On the bright side — if you can call it that — you can’t blame this game on the bullpen.

There’s no way around it: Jonathan Niese was pummeled. Are the Blue Jays hitters that good? Is Niese that bad? Was it a combination of another bad night for Niese and a great night for Toronto? Did it have something to do with the metric system or feeling the weather in Celsius?

Niese’s line looked like this: 3 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 4 HR, 77 pitches (44 strikes). If we want to stay positive, we can focus on the strikeouts and say he struck out 18 batters per nine innings. Unfortunately there are all of those other ugly numbers.

Why was Niese hit so hard? Pretty simple: his fastball and cutter were more or less the same speed, were flat, and fairly indiscernible. And Niese continues the same habit we’ve been talking about here for the past three years — when he throws the cutter too often, Niese’s arm angle drops, his fingers slip to the side of the ball, and as a result everything flattens out and he can’t get the proper angle and release point on his curveball, so that becomes a hanger that screams “hit me!” Unlike the last three years, someone else finally recognized the same thing — Bobby Ojeda, who discussed it during the postgame.

Another thing Ojeda brought up that I agree with: Niese should have pulled a Junior Senior and made a batter or two “move his feet” after that first inning. What that means is pounding a few fastballs a few inches inside, to make sure batters understand that they can’t get too comfortable in the box. But Niese never once threw a pitch inside, and as a result the Jays sat back and launched — they were so loose they looked like they were taking batting practice.

Niese had a look of fear on his face from the first frame. I wonder if he’s dealing with some kind of a physical issue, or if he simply didn’t feel good about his stuff.

It looked to me like Niese was slowing down his motion just a bit when he threw his curveball. If that was seen by the Blue Jays, it might explain at least a tiny bit of his shellacking. But, he threw so few deuces I doubt it made that much of a difference. Bottom line is that he was leaving flat, fat pitches over the middle of the plate.

I do wonder if the Blue Jays knew what was coming, either due to Niese tipping pitches or by some other way, for two reasons. First, they were waaaaaay too comfortable at the plate, as mentioned previously. The second clue came in the second inning when Jose Bautista — of all people — stole third base on a curveball in the dirt. Somewhat fishy to see the not-really-quick Bautista taking off for third with two out. If he knew a curve was going to be thrown, then he knew he had a good chance to make it; he didn’t get a great jump, and if Niese had thrown a fastball there, Bautista likely would have been thrown out. Clue number three was seeing Rajai Davis (again, of all people) swinging from his heels in every at-bat, and blasting two homers. Something to think about.

Meantime, as well as the Jays were pounding Niese, the Mets were contrastingly stymied by Ricky Romero. Romero wasn’t doing anything tricky — he pretty much just pounded the strike zone with fastballs. He had good rhythm and tempo, which is usually easy to have when you have a big lead. Though his main weapon was the fastball, he spotted it at all four corners of the strike zone effectively and with decent “run.” Nothing special, nothing tricky — just bam, bam, bam, up, down, in, out.

J.P. Arancibia’s first homerun traveled about 450 feet / 137 meters / 83 Altuves / .25 CN Towers.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a rough night. Strange thing I observed: he was chasing balls chest-high and above, and letting low strikes go right by. From what I’ve seen of him thus far, it appears as though Kirk is a “low ball hitter” — so why was this happening? I’m going to chalk it up to a bad night but will be keeping an eye on him.

On the bright side, Scott Hairston hit a homer and a double, driving in three runs. That’s what Hairston does — when he hits, he hits the ball far.

Also on the bright side was the performance of new bullpen addition Rob Johnson, who spun a perfect eighth. It would have been really impressive if he pulled a Bugs Bunny and both pitched and caught simultaneously, but I guess by the eighth inning he was too tired to pull that off. Maybe next time.

SinC. Johnson is a catcher (when he’s not on the mound), I wonder if Mike Nickeas let him call his own game?

Johnson actually looked pretty good; he threw a nice, sinking, 87-MPH fastball that ran on the inside edge of the plate and mixed in a lollipop curve. Better than anything I saw of D.J. Carrasco over the past two years. Johnson induced two quick popups and struck out

Nearly as impressive was the MLB debut of Robert Carson, who walked one in a 21-pitch, 10-strike, scoreless seventh. No doubt he had some jitters so we won’t judge him just yet.

Interestingly, the Blue Jays walked eight Mets. Usually when you see that high a number, the team that issued the walks loses the game.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Blue Jays do it again at 1:07 p.m. Toronto time on Saturday afternoon. Miguel Batista brings his voodoo kit to the mound against Brandon Morrow.

Blogging about it…these guys:

• MMO has pictures from the Mets latest “themed” road trip, as every Mets player dressed in hockey jerseys on their way to the home of the Leafs (Shouldn’t it be “Leaves?”).
• ESPN NY Blog breaks down the white hot start of David Wright.
• Patrick Flood wonders if Bobby Parnell is closer material.
• On the Black has his own thoughts about the Mets closer situation.
• B-Met Collin McHugh writes about a bat dog he saw in New Hampshire (Collin writes a great blog about his experiences in the minor leagues).
• Rising Apple suggests combining to wrongs to set interleague play right.

So keep checking out Mets Today for full Mets coverage, eh?

The final score belies what this game was.

Mets Game Notes

For seven innings, this was a tight, fairly low-scoring ballgame. Then came the eighth, when the Mets exploded for five runs after chipping away for three straight innings.

R.A. Dickey‘s knuckler was dancing, and he hung around long enough to keep the Mets in the game but not long enough to earn a win. The sportswriters call it a “quality start.” Seeing the action on his knuckleball, it was a little surprising that the Reds scored four runs (three earned) off of him.

For once, the Mets won the battle of the bullpens. Heck, even Frank Francisco pitched a full inning without allowing an opponent to cross the plate. Though, he did allow two baserunners in his one inning of work.

If you weren’t sure how wildly the knuckleball was dancing, you could have taken a cue from Mike Nickeas, who had a very hard time getting his glove on the ball for much of the afternoon.

Mat Latos has incredibly filthy stuff but a two-cent head. If he ever gets it together, watch out. Of course, that’s a big “if.” To me, he compares to where Curt Schilling was at a similar age: plenty of talent, but his mental approach and lack of emotional control prevent him from realizing his potential. It took a while for Schilling to figure it out, so there is hope for Latos.

No sign of David Wright slowing down; he actually improved his average to .411 and walked twice. Similarly, Daniel Murphy remains hot and Lucas Duda is in a groove.

Wright is so good he makes Joey Votto look human.

Ronny Cedeno? Really?

Next Mets Game

The Mets travel to Toronto for a three-game series. Interleague already? Meh. Game one begins at 7:07 EST / 7:07 Canadian time. Jonathon Niese goes against Ricky Romero.

The question of the night: why was D.J. Carrasco pitching for the Mets in the 8th inning of a one-run game?

Mets Game Notes

The easy answer to that question is, “because Carrasco was ejected the night before, forcing Ramon Ramirez to finish the ballgame.” But that’s not enough for me, because I want to know the thought process behind removing Tim Byrdak — who had thrown exactly one pitch and who has held RH batters to a .214 AVG?

Of course, by the time Carrasco allowed Toms River native Todd Frazier‘s homerun, the Mets were already down by one. But, after the homer, the momentum of the ballgame went all the way to the Reds and took all the air out of the Mets’ balloon. Down by one with six outs left is much different than down by three. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but when Frazier’s blast disappeared over the centerfield fence, the collective body language of the Mets was one of defeat. And this came one night after manager Terry Collins waved the white flag in the seventh inning of a 8-0 ballgame. Hey, it is what it is.

Strange, also, to see Bobby Parnell get the last out of the 7th, yet not return to start the 8th. Instead, Jon Rauch began the 8th and eventually was handed the loss.

Prior to that fateful 8th inning, this was an intriguing pitchers’ duel between two crafty soft-tossers. By the end of their respective evenings, Johan Santana and Mike Leake had very similar lines. Santana was just a hair better, going an extra two-thirds of an inning over Leake’s six, allowing one less hit to Leake’s seven, and giving up one less run to Leake’s three — and doing it with only two more pitches. Both hurlers relied on batters making poor contact and the execution of their fielders, and it was the Reds defense that led to two unearned runs that made the difference in the linescore.

But, the difference in the final score was yet again in the hands of the bullpens. And yet again, the Mets’ relief corps was not up to the task.

On a positive note, Lucas Duda went 3-for-4. I LOVED seeing him swing on a 3-0 count in the first frame, and hope to see more of that in the future.

Leake is a really good athlete, as witnessed by his baserunning in the third inning. Interesting tidbit: when both were playing for Arizona State, Leake would play 1B when Ike Davis pitched, and vice-versa. Leake is only the tenth person in the history of mankind to go straight to MLB from college — and the first since Xavier Nady.

Speaking of Ike, he hit a double off his former college teammate but is one for his last seventeen. Ouch.

There’s been a ton of buzz about young Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco, and can understand the excitement. He’s incredibly “quiet” behind the plate — in other words, he holds his stance and doesn’t move around very much — and does a great job of receiving pitches. Though, he usually catches the “back” of the ball, he manages to do so as well as is possible, with soft hands and without ridiculous “framing” movements. His setup and target make him a catcher that pitchers love to throw to. Though there were only two opportunities to see him throw to 2B, I liked what I saw of his footwork, exchange, overall quickness, body control, arm strength, and “line of fire” — the straightness of his throw. He’s not blessed with outstanding skills, but he puts everything together with great timing, balance, and control, has little wasted motion, and gets the ball to second base with a straight, true, tight four-seam rotation. Supposedly he has a good stick — which hasn’t yet come out this year — but even if that doesn’t develop as people expect, at the very least he’ll be a solid defensive backstop. I compare him to Brian Schneider at a similar age. Youngsters, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to watch Mesoraco and emulate some of his habits.

Mike Baxter finally got a start, hitting in the two hole, but went “only” one for four. His fate may be similar to that of Gates Brown.

No hits for David Wright, dropping his average to .402. He did get two walks, though, holding his OBP at .497.

In the small detail department, an interesting play by Joey Votto in the fourth inning: he tagged from first base on a fly ball to right field and faked going to second, drawing a throw from Lucas Duda. What that says to me is teams are hearing that Duda is shaky in the field, and it’s possible to force him into a mistake if you put a little pressure on him. The SNY crew didn’t say a peep about the move by Votto, but to me it spoke volumes about both Votto’s savvy and the scouting reports on Duda. Duda — a natural first baseman — is not yet comfortable as an outfielder and other teams know it, and are going to challenge him. It will be interesting to see how he reacts and develops in response.

Had Jay Bruce hit through the ball, and finished his swing high rather than cutting it off by rolling his top hand over immediately after contact and finishing low, his long sac fly would have gone over the fence. Kids: hit through the baseball, and get full extension AFTER hitting the ball to ensure that you are accelerating your hands at the point of contact.

Ryan Ludwick is on the Reds now? He and Austin Kearns are essentially the same person to me. Righthanded hitter who once showed an ability to slug the ball over the fence, and as a result will be given chances time after time. They pick up the mantle from Jason Lane.

Next Mets Game

The final game of the series begins at 1:10 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. The pitching matchup is R.A. Dickey vs. Mat Latos.

Today, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Mets owner Fred Wilpon announced that the  All-Star Game is coming to Citi Field on July 16, 2013.

It will mark the first time the ASG has come to Queens since Shea Stadium’s inaugural season in 1964.  In that game Johnny Callison hit a walk-off home run to give the National League a 7-4 victory.

“The Mets have been great; this is really a very, very happy day,” Selig said. “I know for the citizens of this great city and state, they will enjoy this immensely.”

Wilpon joked that he wished Selig would let him host the World Series at Citi as well.

So far, there is one entry for the free tickets to see the Mets and Reds tomorrow afternoon. ONE. Based on the lack of entries, I’m going to guess:

1. You’re unable to go to Flushing on a Thursday afternoon due to previous commitment (i.e., you work during the day, you’re in a hospital bed, you have a mani-pedi scheduled, etc.).

2. You haven’t had time yet to take or find a photo expressing your Mets fandom.

3. You can’t figure out how to post a photo to the MetsToday Facebook page.

4. You simply aren’t interested in watching the Mets and Reds engage in Our National Pastime at New York’s largest open-air restaurant.

Or, maybe you’re in the process of snapping that photo and getting it uploaded to the MetsToday Facebook page. In which case, you have until 7:00 p.m. EST tonight to execute.

Do you want to see a Major League Baseball Game featuring Canada’s greatest hitter of all-time (apologies to Larry Walker and Terry Puhl), for FREE? Then quickly, get a photo posted to the MetsToday Facebook page for a chance to win the tickets. At the time of this posting, you have a decent chance, since there’s only one other entry. Good luck!

Mets engage in an ugly game that needs to be forgotten as soon as possible.

Mets Game Notes

The story of the night was the removal of David Wright in the bottom of the 7th, with the Mets down by 8 and right after D.J. Carrasco drilled Ryan Braun. Let’s dissect from several angles.

First, did Carrasco hit Braun purposely? Maybe, though he’d be an idiot to say so. If he did hit him on purpose, was it right? Well, it’s not that simple. A pitcher should never want to hurt a batter. But after a batter who is really comfortable and/or crowding the plate sends a pitch 450 feet, the very next batter should be “reminded” that it’s possible for the pitcher to make a mistake inside. That’s not to say the pitcher should hit a batter, but it does mean he should throw inside, so that the hitter doesn’t get too comfortable. There are many people who disagree with this philosophy, and that’s fine; it’s an old-school mentality that goes back to the days when pitchers had more of an advantage. A naturally occuring part of baseball is the element of fear, and Bud Selig has done everything to aggressively, selectively, and unnaturally remove this fear from the batter’s mind. In the end — and ironically — it makes the game more dangerous for the batter, but we’ve talked about that in the past and likely will discuss it again. Point is, I had no problem with Carrasco hitting Braun, assuming Carrasco’s goal was to establish the inside of the plate rather than maim Braun. Further, I had a tremendous problem with home plate umpire Gary Darling’s decision to toss Carrasco — though, at the same time, I know he had to in order to uphold Selig’s unnatural edict.

Now we move on the the removal of Wright. Was it the right move by Terry Collins? Tough to say. I understand why he did — it was a knee-jerk, panic reaction by a man who cannot under any circumstances afford to lose perhaps the hottest hitter in MLB right now. Why put him into a situation that has even an inkling of possibility of harm?

At the same time, the minute Gary Darling tossed Carrasco he removed the ability of any pitcher from either side to throw inside. If Zack Greinke so much as threw a pitch on the inside corner, he was facing a probable ejection. Why would he do that? With a shutout going and no one warming up in the bullpen, why would try to hit Wright, knowing full well that if he did, he’d get tossed? It would make zero sense. That said, Greinke most likely would have stayed middle-out to Wright — and given Wright a better chance to hit. The ballplayers aren’t stupid — they know when the umpire has completely changed the face of the game. Greinke was not going to go inside, Wright knew it, and he would have had something to hit.

Now, here’s another angle to the removal of Wright: it was Collins raising the white flag and admitting that the game was effectively over. If you weren’t sure, he confirmed it by removing Daniel Murphy as well. Again, I understand why he did what he did — in his mind, it wasn’t worth the risk. But, by taking out his two hottest hitters, he also told his ballclub that he didn’t expect them to come back from an 8-run deficit in the final three innings of the ballgame. I’m not so sure that’s the right message.

Yet one more element to keep in mind: because the Brewers didn’t have the opportunity to “take a shot” at Wright in retaliation for Braun’s plunking, this subject could still be on the table when the Mets and Brewers meet again. Granted, that won’t happen until mid-September, but it’s out there, and something to keep in mind four months from now. Toward Collins’ point, if Wright will be in harm’s way, better it be in September rather than right now. Oh wait, is that assuming that a September game will be meaningless? Oops.

Anyway, let’s discuss the game before that point — albeit it briefly, since there isn’t much good to say.

Dillon Gee struggled, to say the least. Seven earned runs on eight hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. On the bright side, he struck out four. Tough outing for Gee, especially considering that the Brewers offense looked so pitiful the night before. But we have to understand that Gee is who he is, and balance our expectations appropriately. He’s going to have days where his command is sharp, three pitches are working, and he pitches really well. When those days occur, we can’t get all lost in the moment and start comparing his stuff to aces, or expect him to be the next Tom Seaver. He’s Dillon Gee, a strong-minded, huge-hearted pitcher with limited god-given talent who overachieves. This makes him someone we love rooting for, and the moment he becomes something else — when expectations raise above that — he’ll be a disappointment. Gee is the David against the Goliaths, the Rocky Balboa of the pitcher’s mound — what’s so wrong with that?

Meanwhile, Zack Greinke was what he is — a very good pitcher. The Mets couldn’t do anything against him. Hey, it happens. Tip your cap.

Next Mets Game

The Mets stay home to host the Cincinnati Reds for another quick two-game set. Game one on Wednesday begins at 7:10 p.m. and pits Johan Santana vs. Mike Leake.

If you want a chance to win two free tickets to THURSDAY afternoon’s game (1:10 p.m start), post a photo on the MetsToday Facebook page.

One MetsToday reader will receive two tickets to this Thursday’s ballgame (May 17th), courtesy of the New York Mets. How will that one reader be chosen? It’s all about your image — literally.

Show me how badly you want to see the Reds and Mets by posting a photo that portrays what a great Mets fan you are. Maybe it’s you in orange and blue face paint. Maybe it’s your dog dressed in a Mets jersey. Maybe it’s a Chipper Jones bobblehead smashed into a thousand pieces.

Whatever it is, post it to the MetsToday Facebook page between now and 7:00 p.m. EST Wednesday (May 16, 2012). Then tell all your friends to go to your picture and “like” it. The picture with the most “likes” wins the two tickets. In the event of a tie, the MetsToday staff will pick the winner from a hat (or some similarly scientific method).

One rule: keep the photo family-friendly. If I deem a photo inappropriate it comes down.

FYI, game time on Thursday is 1:10 p.m.

What are you waiting for?
Snap a photo and post it to the MetsToday Facebook page (http://facebook.com/metstoday)!

There’s no way the Mets can lose this series. And we can thank a man with the power of voodoo. Who do? Miguel do.

Mets Game Notes

Yes, voodoo. I can find no other explanation for Miguel Batista‘s ability to pitch seven shutout innings. I realize he only allowed five baserunners but it felt like twice as many; I’m not sure why. He’s like a poor-man’s Livan Hernandez, except Livan used to put guys on base on purpose. I get that the 2012 Brewers bear no resemblance whatsoever to the hard-hitting 2011 version (or the 1982 Harvey’s Wallbangers version, for that matter), but wow, if they can’t hit Miguel Batista, who are they gonna hit? If I’m the Brewers hitting coach, I might start looking into some undetectable performance-enhancing … oh, never mind …

For me this was a really weird game to watch in terms of paying attention to the pitchers. Because on the one hand, Batista seemed to be getting into more trouble than he really was. Similarly, Yovani Gallardo — to me — was pitching horribly, yet somehow skated through six innings and allowed only two runs. I guess six walks can do that. Gallardo managed only 12 strikes in his first 26 pitches of the ballgame, and somehow finished with 61 strikes among his 109-pitch total.

Due to the refusal of both pitchers to throw strikes, this game was a snoozefest for the first few innings. Then it was just plain old boring. But Frank Francisco made sure we woke up by making it interesting in the ninth. His outings make me long for the days of Braden Looper. You know what, Braden? I take back all those awful things I thought (and screamed at the TV) when you were closing. You weren’t so bad after all.

David Wright had only one hit but continues to blister the ball. His season is reminding me of another one I remember a third baseman once had — George Brett in 1980. Seriously.

The Mets had only three hits all night, and the other two were courtesy of Hit Man Dan Murphy, who drove in one of the Mets’ runs and scored the other.

Speaking of Murphy’s score, it came on a perfectly executed squeeze. The Brewers demonstrated an imperfectly executed squeeze earlier in the game that resulted in an out. It’s not every day you see one squeeze, much less two in the same ballgame. Nice to see, but awful to see them fail, because the only way they fail is by terrible execution. Even if you execute poorly, you should still score a run because it’s a play that’s nearly impossible to defend against. In the Brewers’ case, both the runner on the third and the batter messed up royally — Taylor Green didn’t run hard from third as the pitch was delivered, and Cesar Izturis deadened the bunt right in front of home plate, which is the last thing you want to do. The squeeze play is the one situation where the hitter wants to bunt the ball HARD and force anyone other than the catcher to field it — the idea being that a runner will be able to cross home plate in the time it takes to pick up the ball, transfer it to the throwing hand, throw to the catcher, and the catcher make the tag. But since Green was tip-toeing down the line instead of breaking hard (as if it were a straight steal), he was a dead duck.

Not too much else to report on this game. The pitching from both sides was less than inspirational, and yet the hitting was similarly ineffective. This is what games after travel days look like in post-PEDs MLB. Now we understand why there are so many Mondays off.

Next Mets Game

If you read Sunday’s post then you know I was a day ahead on the schedule. In the series finale on Tuesday night, Dillon Gee faces Zack Greinke. Really, I mean it this time. Game time is 7:10 p.m.

Frank Francisco

The Chernobyl-style pitching of Mets closer Frank Francisco over the weekend had fans clamoring for the old days, when K-Rod, Billy Wagner, and John Franco used to waltz in from the bullpen and close out games with ease.

OK, maybe it didn’t happen exactly that way – every Mets closer has had his share of meltdowns, or just plain blown saves.  In fact, with closers, the tendency as a fan is to remember the heartbreaks and forget all the times they nailed down a victory.  Have the Mets ever had a closer that made us sit back, relax, and pencil in another W long before the third out of the 9^th was recorded?  Has anyone?  Even Mariano Rivera blows saves (see: 2001 World Series).

So, instead of dwelling on bad closers, let’s take a look at some of the good closers the Mets have had throughout the years.

Below is a list of the 5 best closers in Mets history.  But first, a brief history of Mets closers.

The save became an official statistic in 1969, but research into the past has estimated saves for pitchers long before then.

In 1962, the Mets saves leader was Roger Craig, who had a grand total of 4.  Of course, he also led the team in losses with 24, pitching as both a starter and reliever.

The first Mets to record double-digit saves were righties Ron Taylor and Cal Koonce in 1968.  The role of late-inning “ace relievers” was gaining importance, and the Mets started to have more games to save, thanks to youngsters like Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman.

Tug McGraw

Taylor became part of a righty-lefty tandem with Tug McGraw in the late-sixties and early seventies until he was replaced by Danny Frisella.  It didn’t take long for McGraw to seize the job permanently, and the first Mets closer, in the modern sense, was born.  Since then, the Mets closer role has evolved with that of the rest of the game.  By the 1990s, the role went from a multi-inning job to a 9^th inning job.

So without further ado, here are the top 5 Mets closers (very much open for debate in the comments section):

5. Armando Benitez – Benitez is best known for blowing some key saves, including Game 1 of the 2000 World Series against the Yankees (he gave up no more runs in two more appearances).  He also had a knack for blowing big saves during the regular season.  But Benitez racked up 160 saves in 5 years for the Mets.  In that time, he had a 2.70 ERA and struck out 456 batters in 347 innings.

4. Roger McDowell – McDowell was the rubber-armed half of the righty-lefty tandem that ruled the back end of the Mets bullpen in the mid-80s.  He went 14-9 in the championship year of 1986 with 22 saves.  Often used for multi-inning outings, he pitched a remarkable 128 innings in 75 games that year, and 5 scoreless innings in Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS.  Overall, he had 84 saves in 5 years with the Mets.  The most notable blemish on his record was a home run he surrendered to the Cardinals’ Terry Pendleton down the stretch in 1987.

3. Jesse Orosco –The other half of the mid-80s relief duo.  Orosco came up big in pressure situations in the playoffs, including the exhausting final 3 innings of Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS.   After coming over in the Jerry Koosman deal, he got a cup of coffee in 1979.  In 1983, he took over the lion’s share of closing duties from Neil Allen, who was part of a trade for Keith Hernandez at the deadline that year.  He finished his Mets career with 107 saves and a 2.73 ERA.  He was replaced by the hard-throwing lefty, Randy Myers, in 1988.  Orosco went on to pitch for various teams until 2003 – when he retired at 46 years old.

2. Tug McGraw - The left-handed screwballer began his major league career as a starter.  Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.  But he found his niche in the bullpen just in time for the miracle run of 1969.  Similar to Orosco and McDowell, he teamed up with Ron Taylor to form a formidable lefty-righty punch.  Tug pitched 3 games between the 1969 and 1973 playoffs, picking up 2 saves.  In the ’73 World Series, McGraw blew the save in Game 2, only to pitch three shutout innings to earn the win in extra frames.  When he displayed shoulder problems in 1974, the Mets traded him to Philadelphia for, among others, C John Stearns.  McGraw went on to have a successful career with the Phillies, helping them win the 1980 World Series.  He finished his Mets career with 85 saves.

1. John Franco – The Mets acquired Franco in a deal that sent Myers to the Cincinnati Reds before the 1990 season.  He went on to solidify the closer role for ten years, until passing the torch to Benitez in 1999.  Franco was steady, if unspectacular.  You knew what you would get: a sinking fastball and a changeup that had screwball action.  Every hitter knew it was coming, yet no one could lay off it.  His signature moment came in Game 2 of the the 2000 NLDS.  He came in to relieve Benitez and face Barry Bonds with ducks on the pond.  The Mets held a one-run lead in the bottom of the tenth.   With a 3-2 count, Franco threw a changeup that nicked the inside corner to end the game, and swing the momentum back to the Mets.  He is the Mets’ all-time leader in saves (276), and is to be inducted into the team’s hall of fame on June 3^rd.

Just a bit outside: Ron Taylor, Skip Lockwood, Neil Allen, Randy Myers, Billy Wagner, Francisco Rodriguez.