Mets waste strong effort by Perez

The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals this evening by the score of 4-3. Oliver Perez pitched brilliantly for 6 1/3 innings. He gave up 4 hits and 1 run with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. He had a 1-0 lead in the 7th and the bullpen gave it up. Raul Valdez gave up a grandslam in the 7th to give the Cardinals the 4-1 lead. The Mets did comeback in the 9th with a couple of runs but that was it. They wasted a strong effort out of Oliver Perez, the hitting once again just couldn't get it going. Jeff Francoeur was the only player to have multiple hits. I don't think the Mets offense is going to be a problem but so far on this young season it has been especially with runners in scoring position. The pitching has to be better but it was there tonight and they still lost the game. They will play game 2 of the 3 game series tomorrow afternoon. The game is at 4:10 with Johan Santana looking to bounce back from a rough outing last time out.

Mets lose in more then one way

The New York Mets were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon by the score of 9-4. Oliver Perez got the start and was dreadful again. He pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up 6 hits and 7 runs with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He allowed 3 homeruns in the game. Elmer Dessens pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings giving up 2 hits. Sean Green pitched 2 scoreless innings giving up a hit and he had a strikeout. Kiko Calero pitched 1 inning giving up 2 hits and a run, he did have 2 strikeouts. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless inning giving up a hit and he had a strikeout. Daniel Murphy was 2-2 with a walk. He left the game with a knee injury suffered during a rundown. Jason Bay hit his 3rd homerun of the spring although he played bad in the field. Rod Barajas, Omir Santos and Frank Catalanotto each had a hit. Alex Cora left the game after getting hit by a pitch. I don't have any injury updates yet. According to SNY the Mets have told Pat Misch that he will not be on the roster. Mike Jacobs will play in Murphys spot tomorrow against the Marlins. The Mets have claimed Manny Acosta from the Braves this afternoon. He is 5-7 in his career with a 3.55 era. I am guessing they will be looking at him for the 8th inning. Carlos Beltran took indoor batting today in Port St. Lucie. The Mets are still hopeful he will be back by mid may but there hasn't bee a definitive timetable yet.

Mets Split Squad is now one Game

The New York Mets game with the Washington Nationals in Viera has been cancelled due to rain. The game in Port St. Lucie is still on with the Marlins. Jon Niese will get the start. Oliver Perez will start tomorrow instead of today. Here is the lineup for todays game: Mets Lineup: Pagan(CF) Cora(SS) Wright(3B) Murphy(1B) Francoeur(RF) Matthews(LF) Blanco(C) Tejada(2B) Niese(P)

New York Mets Recap

The New York Mets defeated the Florida Marlins by the score of 5-2 in Jupiter tonight. Oliver Perez got the start and pitched pretty well. He went 4 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. He walked 1 and struck out 2. Ryota Igarashi pitched an inning giving up 1 hit and 1 walk. He also had 2 strikeouts. Francisco Rodriguez pitched an inning and got the win. He gave up 2 hits but no runs or walks. He didn't strike out a batter. Pedro Feliciano pitched 2/3 of an inning, giving up 2 hits and 0 runs. He had a strikeout. Hisanori Takahashi pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up 2 hits with a walk and strikeout. David Wright had a hit and Fernando Martinez had a hit and rbi. Jason Bay had 2 hits and 2 rbi. Jeff Francoeur had a hit and 2 rbi, Ruben Tejada and Alex Cora each had a hit. The Mets will take on the Twins tomorrow from Tradition Field. The game is at 1:10PM on SNY. Fernando Martinez continues to have a great spring. He is 15 for 27 with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homeruns and 11 rbi. Hisanori Takahashi has pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings this spring.

Mets win yesterday lose 2 games today

The New York Mets defeated the Detroit Tigers yesterday by the score of 9-1. Oliver Perez pitched 4 shutout innings which is a good sign. According to the NY Post today though he didn't pitch as good as it looks. There was a ball hit that would of been a 3 run homerun but the wind held it up and his velocity was in the low 90s. The Mets are trying to teach him less is more though and with him any progress is good. I would take it as a good sign right now. Jenrry Mejia pitched another scoreless inning. He did give up a run in the 8th though. The Mets also had 4 homeruns, Gary Matthews Jr., David Wright,Jason Bay and Daniel Murphy. Hisanori Takahashi had another good outing as he pitched 3 innings allowing 1 hit and he struck out 3. Luis Castillo had a rbi single. Jon Heyman says that of all the prospects Mejia has the best chance to go North with the team, I have a feeling they are going to make him the 8th inning guy. I think this would be a mistake rushing him like this. I think it is different in Florida then New York and he will find that out quickly. The Mets lost 2 games today to the Florida Marlins. They lost 7-0 and 5-1. Johan Santana threw 4 shutout innings today. R.A. Dickey allowed 4 runs but only 2 were earned. Nelson Figueroa had another scoreless inning in relief. He is having a very good spring. John Maine was terrible lasting 2/3 of an inning and giving up 5 runs. He also walked 3 but says that his shoulder feels fine. He may just need some time, he hasn't pitched really in a couple of years. Kiko Calero made his debut and pitched a scoreless inning. Luis Castillo had a couple of hit and Jason Bay had a hit. Castillo is having a strong spring and maybe last year wasn't a fluke and he will have another good year. Francoeur and Cora each had a hit. The Mets will be at home tomorrow to take the Cardinals at 1:10PM.

New York Mets Game Recap

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals today in Port St. Lucie by the score of 6-5. Oliver Perez got the start and wasn't very good. He pitched 3 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 runs. He also had 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Hisanori Takahashi made his debut and pitched brilliantly, he went 3 innings giving up a hit, 0 runs and had 6 strikeouts. Pat Misch finished off the game pitching 3 innings giving up 3 hits, 0 runs and had 3 strikeouts. Ike Davis continued his hot spring with 1 hit in 1 at bat. The offensive star was Omir Santos who hit a inside the park grand slam. The outfielder fell down and that was how a catcher could achieve that plus it is spring training. Luis Castillo had a hit and David Wright had a hit and rbi. Jason Bay was 0 for 2 with a walk. He still has not got his first hit and I am sure he wants to get that out of the way soon. Chris Coste had a hit and Alex Cora had a hit and rbi. The Mets will travel to Jupiter to play the Marlins tomorrow afternoon at 1:05PM. The only news coming out of today was that Mike Pelfrey had a X-ray of his knee and it was negative. The Mets need good injury news as they still are waiting for Francisco Rodriguez to come back from pinkeye and are hoping for the best with Jose Reyes. Reyes will find out Wednesday what is going on with him and hopefully be back on Thursday. Carlos Beltran of course is out with a knee injury to at least May.

Down in Port St. Lucie

The New York Mets held their first official full squad workout today. Here are some of the highlights. The team had a meeting with the coaches this morning and then hit the field for the workout. The workout was focused on running the bases and defensive fundamentals. Johan Santana threw a side session and Oliver Perez, John Maine,Mike Pelfrey and Fernando Nieve all threw batting practice. Jerry Manuel talked about last year and how you have to move on. He said the team is more angry then embarrassed about last season but they have to put it behind them and move on. He said that K-rod has pink eye and is not with the team. Manuel spoke about David Wright and said he was impressed with his batting practice session today. Jerry Manuel said that Citi Field didn't have a negative impact on David Wrights power it was just one of those years. I don't buy that at all, I think he changed his swing because of the field and then got all out of whack and it just led to a down year. Jerry Manuel said he didn't get to see Oliver Perez bullpen but heard he was outstanding and this was his best yet. Jerry Manuel believes that Perez has made a concious effort to be mentally and physically ready this year. If you want to see some good pictures and some videos of the days events down in Port St. Lucie then go to http://metsblog.com This is Matthew Cerrones great Mets blog and he is down in Port St. Lucie with the team, he has videos and pictures and lots of good information so make sure you go and check it out.

New York Mets report to Camp

The New York Mets seem to be quiet a chatty bunch early on. Johan Santana met with the media today and when asked who the best pitcher in the NL East is he said Johan Santana. You have to remember that Roy Halladay is in the NL East now also. He also said that he expects the Mets to win the World Series just like David Wright had said yesterday. The Mets are coming off a terrible year which was preceded by 2 epic collapses to miss the playoffs. I wonder if this is a new attitude because of all the losing, they decided to be cocky and arrogant and maybe it will rub off on everyone. They have to remember the best way to get people to forget about the dissappointments is to win. They just have to get on the field and win ballgames and then no one will care about anything else. Johan Santana said that he spoke to Oliver Perez who is mentally prepared this year, he said he didn't have that last year. That is a big problem, to me this is your livlihood shouldn't you always be mentally prepared?? The Daily News has a video of Oliver Perez throwing a bullpen. Jose Reyes did a interview with Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. He said that he doesn't want to go anywhere and isn't thinking about his contract. He will earn 9 million this season and the Mets have a 11 million dollar option for next season. He said right now he just wants to go out on the field and do his job to help the team win. He said he wants to finish his career as a Met. Reyes is a huge key for the Mets this season, when he goes the team goes, he has to stay healthy and tone it down a little bit and produce. It looks like he will take on more of a leadership role this season which the team really needs.