The New York Mets take down the Atlanta Braves 7-5

The New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon.  The game took place at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, Florida and the final score was 7-5.  Sean Gilmartin started for the MEts and pitched three scoreless innings, most of the bullpen pitched well.  Alejandro De Aza led the offense with a couple of hits and an RBI. 

Gilmartin pitched three innings giving up four hits and he struck out two.  Stolmy Pimentel pitched two innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout, Chasen Bradford pitched an inning giving up six hits and four runs and Akeel Morris pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout.  Jim Henderson pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Addison Reed pitched a perfect inning. 

De Aza had two hits and an RBI, Yoenis Cespedes had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Marc Krauss drew a walk.  Lucas Duda had a hit, Neil Walker had a hit and Michael Conforto had a hit.  Ty Kelly drew a walk, Johnny Monell had an RBI and drew two walks and Raywilly Gomez had a hit.  Travis Taijeron had two hits and two RBI, Danny Muno drew a walk and De Aza and Walker each hit a double.  The Mets were 4-14 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.  Johnson committed an error. 

In the first Cespedes hit an RBI single to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  In the second De Aza hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 Mets and Cespedes reached on a force attempt fielding error to make it a 3-0 game.  In the fifth Monell had an RBI walk to push the lead to 4-0 and Taijeron hit a two run single to give the Mets a 6-0 lead.  In the sixth Hector Olivera hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 6-1 and Jace Peterson grounded into a forceout to score another run.  Rio Ruiz had an RBI single and Willians Astudillo hit an RBI single to cut it to 6-4 all in the sixth inning.  In the seventh Olivera hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 6-5.  Gomez hit an RBI single in the seventh to push the lead to 7-5 and that was the final score. 

The Mets are now 2-1-1 and will play a split squad on Monday afternoon.  They will play at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida against the St. Louis Cardinals and at home against the Detroit Tigers. 

New York Mets defeat the Houston Astros 3-1

The New York Mets defeated the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon.  The game took place at Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee, Florida and the final score was 3-1 Mets.  The Mets pitching for the most part was really good and Matt Reynolds, Dominic Smith and Eric Campbell each had two hits to lead the offense. 

Robert Gsellman pitched two innings giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout, Antonio Bastardo pitched an inning walking a batter and Josh Smoker pitched an inning picking up two strikeouts.  Zach Thornton pitched an inning walking a batter and striking out a batter, Seth Lugo pitched two innings giving up a walk and striking out two batters.  Jeff Walters pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and walking a batter and Hansel Robles pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two walks and he struck out four batters. 

Ty Kelly had a hit, Kyle Johnson drew a walk and Ruben Tejada drew a walk.  Reynolds had two hits, Michael Conforto had an RBI and Stefan Sabol had an RBI.  Travis d'Arnaud had a hit, Smith had two hits and drew a walk and Wilmer Flores had a hit.  Kevin Plawecki had a hit, Nevin Ashley had a hit and Campbell had two hits and drew a walk.  Dilson Herrera had a hit and an RBI, Kelly, Campbell and Plawecki each hit a double.  Herrera hit a triple and the Mets were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.  Reynolds had a stolen base and Campbell was caught stealing, Conforto and Ashley each committed an error.  Bastardo had a pickoff. 

In the first Colin Moran hit an RBI single to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.  In the fifth Herrera hit an RBI triple to tie the game at one.  Conforto hit a sac fly also in the fifth to give the Mets a 2-1 lead and in the ninth Sabol hit a sac fly to increase the lead to 3-1 which would be the final score.  The Mets record is 1-1-1 in the early grapefruit league and they will take on the Atlanta Braves at Tradition Field on Sunday afternoon.   

The New York Mets and Miami Marlins play to a 4-4 tie

The New York Mets and Miami Marlins tied 4-4 on Friday afternoon at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, Florida.  Logan Verrett got the start for the Mets and pitched ok in his two innings of work.  The Mets bullpen guys pitched pretty well and Dilson Herrera led the offense with a couple of hits and an RBI. 

Verrett pitched two innings giving up two hits and two runs with one of them being earned.  Akeel Morris pitched an inning giving up a hit, Addison Reed pitched  an inning giving up a walk and Jerry Blevins pitched an inning giving up two hits and an unearned run.  Jim Henderson pitched a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts, Duane Below pitched an inning giving up two hits and striking out two and Chasen Bradford pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.  Buddy Carlyle pitched an inning giving up three hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout. 

Juan Lagares had a hit, Wilmer Flores drew a walk and Neil Walker had a hit.  Herrera had two hits and an RBI, Travis d'Arnaud drew a walk and Alejandro De Aza had a hit.  Travis Taijeron had a hit, T.J. Rivera had a hit and an RBI and Ty Kelly had a hit and an RBI.  Taijeron hit a triple and Herrera hit a homerun.  The Mets were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.  Lucas Duda and Asdrubal Cabrera each committed an error.  Marc Krauss had an outfield assist. 

In the second inning Destin Hood hit a two run homerun to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.  In the fifth Christian Yelich reached on a fielding error and a run scored to push the lead to 3-0 Marlins.  In the bottom of the fifth Rivera hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-1.  Kelly hit an RBI single to make it a 3-2 game and in the bottom of the seventh the Mets tied the game at three on a strikeout and then when the ball was thrown to first the run scored.  In the ninth Kenny Wilson hit an RBI single to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead.  In the bottom of the ninth Herrera hit an inside-the-park homerun to tie the game at four and that is how the game ended.  The Mets are now 0-1-1 in the grapefruit league and will play the Houston Astros Saturday afternoon in Kissimmee, Florida. 

New York Yankees defeat the Detroit Tigers in a wild game

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 10-9 in a wild first exhibition game of the season.  Luis Severino started for the Yankees and did not have a good outing.  He retired the first four batters and then it just fell completely apart.  The Yankees offense was led by Starlin Castro and Austin Romine who each had a couple of hits and an RBI. 

Severino pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and vie runs with two walks and a couple of strikeouts.  Nick Rumbelow pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with two strikeouts, Tyler Cloyd pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout and Mark Montgomery pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.  Olson pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and two walks with a strikeout, Johnny Barbato pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and he struck out two and Nick Goody pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs. 

Didi Gregorius had an RBI, Jorge Mateo had a hit and Castro had two hits and an RBI.  Brian McCann had a hit, Romine had two hits and an RBI and Mark Teixeira drew a walk.  Chris Parmelee had a hit, Aaron Hicks had a hit and an RBI and Dustin Fowler had a hit and an RBI.  Dustin Ackley had a hit and two RBI, Ben Gamel drew a walk and Lane Adams had a hit and an RBI.  Donovan Solano had a hit, Deibinson Romero had a hit and an RBI and McCann, Ackley, Solano, Castro, Adams and Romine each hit a double.  Mateo hit a triple and the Yankees were 7-15 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Gamel had an outfield assist. 

In the second inning Mike Aviles had an RBI walk giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.  In the second Bryan Holaday hit a grand slam to give Detroit a 5-0 lead.  In the third inning Detroit extended their lead to 6-0 on a Miguel Gonzalez RBI single.  Ian Kinsler hit a solo homerun in the fourth to make it 7-0 Detroit and then the Yankees started making their comeback.  In the bottom of the fourth Hicks hit an RBI single and Ackley hit a two run double to cut the lead to 7-3.  In the fifth Gregorius had an RBI groundout to cut the lead to 7-4 and Castro hit an RBI double to make it a 7-5 game.  In the sixth Adams hit an RBI double to cut the lead to 7-6 and then the game was tied on a Romero RBI single.  In the seventh Fowler hit an RBI groundout to give the Yankees their first lead at 8-7.  In the ninth Steven Moya hit a two run homerun to make it 9-8.  In the bottom of the ninth Romine hit an RBI single to tie the game at nine and then Fowler reached on a fielding error and a run scored to give the Yankees a 10-9 win. 

New York Mets Training Camp News and Notes

It has been pretty uneventful overall as Yoenis Cespedes daily car choice is the big story around the Mets.  The Mets will begin their grapefruit league schedule on Thursday.  Hall Of Famer Mike Piazza arrived in Mets camp on Sunday and will stick around a few days.  Zach Wheeler threw off a mound for the first time since his Tommy John surgery over the weekend. 

The Mets have announced their pitchers for the first couple of spring training games.  They will be Rafael Montero on Thursday and Logan Verrett on Friday.  The Mets will also play an intrasquad game tomorrow and Sean Gilmartin and Robert Gsellman will start in that game. 

Terry Collins said Eric Campbell has a legit change to make the club because of his versatility and Wilmer Flores will be getting exposure at both first and third base as it looks like he can be a super utility player for the Mets.  To go along with that, there is a chance that Ruben Tejada may not make the 25 man roster coming out of spring. 

Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen said that pitcher Matt Harvey has the potential to be the best pitcher in baseball.  I am not sure if that is exactly breaking news as I think most feel very highly about him as long as he is healthy. 

Curtis Granderson left the ballpark on Monday due to an eye issue the Daily News was reporting.  He was wearing glasses in the morning and went to the doctors for a diagnosis.  The Mets manager said he could be dealing with pinkeye but the team isn't sure yet.  Stay tuned for more news on this on Tuesday. 

Matt Harvey is looking good early in camp and poised for a big season it appears. 

Mets defeat Marlins but have more bad injury News

The New York Mets defeated the Florida Marlins 6-3 this afternoon. Nelson Figueroa pitched 3 scoreless innings giving up 3 hits and striking out 3. Raul Valdez and Hisanori Takahashi pitched a scoreless inning in relif. Jenrry Mejia pitched 2 innings giving up a run but only because of a dropped ball in center by Angel Pagan. David Wright hit another homerun and Mike Jacobs hit 2 doubles. Jason Bay and Chris Carter also hit homeruns. Jeff Francouer was hitless and is only hitting 208 on the spring. The big news of the day was that Daniel Murphy is out 2-6 weeks with a sprained knee. This opens the door for Mike Jacobs who was maybe on his way out but will be the starting first baseman now. Jerry Manuel also announced his rotation for the first week and it is Johan Santana followed by John Maine, Jon Niese, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez. I don't think it matters to much how you put it because it is basically Santana and then hope the rest of the games. I don't think you can feel good at all about this rotation. Jon Niese may be good but the other starters are showing a lot of questions. Perez is what he is and Maine hasn't been healthy in a long time and when he is, he is basically a 5 inning pitcher anyway. Mike Pelfrey is the guy who really needs to step up but has looked bad this spring. Jon Heyman of SI.com is reporting that Jose Reyes will not be with the Mets on Opening Day. If this is true he will miss the first 5 games, the Mets want to be cautious with him according to Heyman. He will not start in any grapefruit league games either then and will keep working in the minor league games. I guess we will see how this plays out the next couple of days.

The Day in Tampa

There really wasn't a whole lot of news coming out of Yankees camp today. Brian Cashman did indicate that Marcus Thames have a opt out of his contract if he doesn't make the team so basically him and Jaime Hoffman are in the same position. If Hoffman doesn't make the team he has to be offered back to the Dodgers due to him being a Rule 5 pick. If thames doesn't make it he can become a free agent. Joe Girardi stated that he would have a team bonding exercise on Tuesday but wouldn't say what it was yet. He also said he knows who will start Wednesdays Grapefruit league opener and will announce that tomorrow. Joe Girardi said that he will put both Gardner and Granderson in left and center during the exhibition games. He said he knows they can both handle center but wants to see if they can handle left. Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte will each throw a bullpen on Monday which will be their first one. Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain both threw batting practice today. Hughes threw 29 pitches getting 6 swings. Joba threw 30 pitches and got 7 swings. Chad Jennings of the Journal News said he probably would say Chamberlain had the better commnad. You really can't find out much from these sessions, during the games is when you find out a lot. Joba and Phil are both taking this competition as fun, they are friends and were joking about it today. If you want to hear some audio of them visit the http://yankees.lhblogs.com/ which is the Lohud Yankees Blog by Chad Jennings and Sam Borden. A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez and Wilken De La Rosa all threw bullpens today. The other pitchers who threw live batting practice other then Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes were Boone Logan, Dustin Mosely, Edwar Ramirez and Mark Melancon. The other group consisted of Kei Igawa, Zach McAllister, Ivan Nova, Kevin Whelan, Hector Noesi, Jeremy Bleich and D.J. Mitchell. There was still no sign of Chan Ho Park, maybe he will arrive tomorrow.

Yankees Win Theeeee Yankees Win

The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 in their grapefruit league opener today. Dave Robertson loaded the bases in the ninth but escaped. Arod had a 2 run HR and 2 walks. The only pitcher to give up a run was Jose Veras who had a rough day with 2 walks, a hit and giving up a run. Arod said the crowd didn't bother him and that he hopes they bring the same people to fenway. I will be back later with some more notes from the game.

Catching Up With Yankees News

The Pitchers for today were as follows: Melancon,Tomko,Hacker,Brackman,De La Rosa,Claggett,Jackson. The other group was: Hughes,Wang,Sabathia,Marte,Aceves,Ramirez CC was talking to some of the beat writers today and informed them that he is a Oakland Raiders fan. He played tight end in high school and was recruited by UCLA and Cal but was going to go to Hawaii because they were willing to let him play both baseball and football. "Then I got picked in the first round," he said. Mark Melancon was very impressive today according to Peter Abraham of the Journal News and http://yankees.lhblogs.com. He watched him pitch today to Derek Jeter,Robbie Cano, Austin Jackson and Austine Romine. He said his fastball was as advertised, he also threw five curveballs with 4 of them being strikes, its a big curve. He threw 30 pitches in all. The Yankees were very careful with him last year coming off of Tommy John surgery but he is now ready to be unleashed. I really think he has a good chance of making it out of spring training and if not he will be up by the end of the year, this kid has the tools and the makeup and may be the closer post MO.v Edwar Ramirez cut short his bullpen today due to a sore right shoulder. If this is seious at all which is too early to say then guys like Melancon and Robertson are going to have a really good chance at making it. The Grapefruit league begins on Wednesday for the Yankees and the pitchers for the first four games are set up as follows: Wednesday-Brett Tomko, Thursday-Phil Hughes,Friday-Ian Kennedy,Saturday-Joba Chamberlain. The main pitchers will be held back until late next week. Jorge Posada really liked what he saw from Melancon. He said his fastball had a late cut and that was what was leading to the swing and misses today. Posada also liked his curveball. He also said that Eric Hacker is a guy to keep an eye on, he throws 95 and its easy, very impressive. Derek Jeter has some hamstring soreness, it doesn't appear to be a big deal. I wouldn't worry about anything like this at this point, it really is no big deal, a lot of these muscles are being used now like they haven't been in a while.