Maybe He can help the Mets

This image was sent to me by John Helferich.  He says he found it a few days ago in New York City.

The Mets need all the help they can get at this point.

Game Recap: Cardinals 12 – Mets 8

On a day the bats decided to show up to the park, the pitching just wasn’t there.

The Cardinals (11-5) beat the Mets (6-9) by a score of 12-8.

The Mini Recap

The teams pounded out 31 hits between them.  Livan Hernandez only lasted 4 1-3 innings, allowing seven earned runs while on the mound.  Sean Green didn’t fare much better, allowing five earned runs in two innings of work.

Carlos Beltran went 3-5 on the day with a double and a home run, driving in three runs.  Ryan Church also connected for a two-run home run.  Alex Cora and Fernando Tatis each picked up their first hits of the season.

For the full recap, head over to Baseball Digest.

The worst home run call ever

Take a listen to this home run call by the St. Louis broadcasters.  This is after Ryan Church’s two-run home run in the seventh inning. 

Yes, the game was 11-3 at the time, but still…

Maybe it just wasn’t my cup of tea.  How do you feel?

SNY to CC games starting May 1

According to Neil Best, who has been spearheading the media push to get SNY to add closed captioning, just announced that the network will begin adding captioning to games on May 1.

From Best:

Effective May 1 (when the Mets visit the Phillies), SNY plans to offer closed captioning - for Mets games only.

It is a belated move three-plus seasons after the network launched, and it would have been nice to have all programming captioned.

But it is much better than nothing, and will serve as a bridge to March 16, 2010, when FCC rules will require the network to be all-captioned.

I know many people who will be very happy to read this news.

Lineup shakedown

The Mets have been struggling to score runs, plating eight over the last three games combined.  So today, as promised, Jerry Manuel has decided to shake up the lineup.  He has replaced three of the starting eight (thought it’s a day game after a night game, so Luis Castillo and Ramon Castro likely wouldn’t have started anyway) and switched Carlos Beltran and David Wright in the lineup.

1. Jose Reyes – SS
2. Alex Cora – 2B
3. Carlos Beltran – CF
4. Carlos Delgado – 1B
5. David Wright – 3B
6. Gary Sheffield – LF
7. Ryan Church – RF
8. Omir Santos – C
9. Livan Hernandez – RHP

Who knows if this will help or work at all, but it’s worth a shot.  It can’t get much worse, right?

Baseball Digest: A ring comes to Citi

Please head over to Baseball Digest to read a story I wrote about a couple getting engaged with the help of a FanWalk brick at Citi Field.

Click here to read the story.

Twitter Poll: What’s worse: Mets bats or Mets arms?

After another night of sloppy pitching and lack of hitting, I asked my Twitter followers what was worse about the Mets: the bats or the arms?

Here are their responses…

• wendy93639 said: pitching
• letsgoduke said: bats
• pjdempsey said: bats with RISP. Pitching hasn't been horrible as far as runs allowed goes.
• Section518 said: Bats. Pitchers (outside of Johan) have been bad or shaky, but this offense can pick them up. But they haven't. Yet.
• PaulsRandomStuf said: The Mets starting pitching, other than Santana, is a disaster. The hitters will eventually get it together (I hope).
• acesigma said: A billion left on base so far? Batting. No question.
• Retire31 said: how about timely hitting AND timely pitching.
• MetsNY81 said: You can make a strong argument for both.. but i'll go with bats.
• lvadgal said: gotta go with the bats as if they were hitting runs would score and that helps the pitchers.
• darknova306 said: Pitching. We know the bats will come around, but Maine looks toasted, Ollie is worse than ever and who knows about Pelf's arm
• gmo418 said: Hitting, 100+ men left on base . Cant drive in runs. Its sad. Hopefully Mets can get healthy on the Nats this weekend.
• jessicarubin said: Bats.. The pitching has been inconsistent but it could be much worse (*cough*chien-ming wang*cough*) - a few hits would = win
• samtpage said: They're both good. I'm serious.

Interesting array of answers.  Bats came out as the “winner” but pitching had a strong contingent behind it.

Not on Twitter?  Hit the comments to toss in your 2¢ about which problem facing the Mets is worse.

Follow me on Twitter to participate
in the next Twitter Poll!

Game Recap: Cardinals 5 – Mets 2

What’s left to say?

The Cardinals (10-5) beat the Mets (6-8) by a score of 5-2.

The Mini Recap

John Maine struggled throughout the game, letting up seven hits and five earned runs in five 2-3 innings of work.  The bullpen kept the Cardinal quiet, but the Mets bats just weren’t there.

The team picked up on in the third on a Daniel Murphy RBI single and tacked on another in the ninth on a Carlos Beltran RBI double.

If you watched this game, you just knew the Mets weren’t going to win.  They had a tie in the third, but from there the Cardinals just took over the game.  They made Joel Piniero look like Cy Young.

For the full recap, head over to Baseball Digest.

Source: Figueroa flees for free agency

Nelson Figueroa has refused his assignment to Triple-A Buffalo and filed for free agency, according to a source who has asked to remain anonymous.

Figueroa was designated for assignment after his quality start on Sunday.  He cleared waivers and Figueroa has a day to decide to report to the Mets affiliate in Buffalo or file for free agency.

The source has said that Figueroa has chosen to opt for free agency over returning to the Mets organization.

And who can blame him?  The Mets did not treat him well after he turned in a good start for them.  They cut him loose and brought on Casey Fossum in a messy roster shuffle.

I wish the best to Figueroa and his family.  He was a great guy and did everything the Mets asked of him.

Lineup stays the same

After a messy game last night, I was shocked to see the lineup stay as is for tonight’s game.

1. Jose Reyes – SS
2. Daniel Murphy – LF
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Carlos Delgado – 1B
5. Carlos Beltran – CF
6. Ryan Church – RF
7. Ramon Castro – C
8. Luis Castillo – 2B
9. John Maine – RHP

No live blog tonight, but feel free to hit the comments to discuss the game.