Ramon Martinez latest casualty

Ramon Martinez, who got the start at shortstop, had to leave the game after sliding into home plate in the fourth inning.

As I was watching, I saw Martinez look at his hand after he slid home, scoring the Mets first run.  As he walked to the Mets dugout, his left pinky was sticking out the side of his hand.

Martinez stumbled into home and his hand hit the dirt awkwardly.  My guess: He dislocated it.  The finger was sticking out sideways on his left hand.  That looked like a dislocation to me and hopefully isn’t broken.

Update – 8:44 p.m.: Confirmed as a dislocated left pinky. 

He was replaced in the game by Wilson Valdez.

With Carlos Beltran out of uniform, the Mets now only have recently-activated Alex Cora, Daniel Murphy and Brian Schneider on the bench.  Talk about playing short.

Also, with Jose Reyes expected back Friday, what do the Mets do here?  If they put Martinez on the DL, they’ll have to call someone up for two days or play very short on the bench.

Mets Game Chat: NYM @ PIT [Game 2]

Join in for another wonderful game chat with fellow Mets fans.

(Chat removed, as usual.)

Lineups for game two against the Buccos

Carlos Beltran sits once more as he’s still suffering from the ill effects of a stomach virus.  Thankfully, it’s not the swine flu, as one of the SNY producers was sent home with the flu.

1. Luis Castillo – 2B
2. Fernando Martinez – LF
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Gary Sheffield – RF
5. Fernando Tatis – 1B
6. Omir Santos – C
7. Ramon Martinez – SS
8. Jeremy Reed – CF
9. Johan Santana – LHP

Oink.

Hate the black unis? Join a movement and help fight cancer at the same time

This seems to be one of the hottest topics on any Mets blog: the black uniforms.  Now you can join a group of fellow fans who want to see the blue and orange donned more often and fight cancer at the same time.

What is this? Blue, Orange, and Pink: an effort by Mets fans, in conjunction with the American Cancer Society, to get the New York Mets to return to their traditional uniform colors and fight breast cancer at the same time.

How does it work? If you're looking to join the cause, click the "Join Our Team" button right above this. Fill out your information (you are not required to make a donation when you join) including your e-mail address. From that point on, every time the Mets wear blue and orange caps at home, with either pinstripes or white uniforms, or blue and orange caps with gray uniforms away, you will be asked to donate $1 to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, a subsidiary of the American Cancer Society. The American Cancer Society minimum for donations is $5, so you will receive an e-mail every fifth game that Mets wear blue and orange, asking you to come to the page and make a donation. All of the money we raise, as well as all of the money you personally donate, will be tracked on this website.

Click here to read more and join the team to donate to the cause.

Conan plays some old time baseball

In honor of Conan O’Brien’s successful first show of The Tonight Show last night, here is Conan’s (and mine) favorite bit from Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

In it, he ventures out to Long Island to play some baseball, 1864 style.

Twitter Poll: What to call the outfield wall in LF?

Citi Field has a 16-foot high black wall in leftfield.  I’m sure you’ve seen it by now.

We all know the Mets fascination with playing “Sweet Caroline” during the 7th inning, though recently it’s been replaced by “Meet the Mets.”  To avoid the Mets naming the black wall “The Black Monster” after “The Green Monster” in Fenway Park, I asked my Twitter followers for their own nickname for the outfield wall.

Here are their responses…

Coopz22 said: The Black Hole?

chrisbirckhead said: Big.. Black.. Always in the way.. immovable? Has to be the Mo Vaughn

MissBethAnn said:Exactly what I was thinking. RT @chrisbirckhead: Big.. Black.. Always in the way.. immovable? Has to be the Mo Vaughn

FMauceri said: It's not black. It's soot.

metstoday said: "The Soot Monster"

metstoday also said: "Shamsky's Rampart"

metgirl4ever said: the Black Force Field...(or is that a bit on the lame side)

EsaGirl said: I like it RT @metgirl4ever: the Black Force Field...

NYMetsGrrl94 said: "this wall prevents jj putz from giving up even more runs"

dazed87 said: Replay Wall

patrickboegel said: The Abyss

fullnelson said: I think WFAN Howie Rose called the (Citi Field) Outfield Wall's, "The Great Wall of Flushing" (i.e. The Great Wall of China)

fscker said: The Black Monster, or is that Gary Sheffield? "Black Snake Moan" Because that's what the fans do because nothing goes over it

Mike_Peters said: how about "we ordered the wrong color" wall... all the original mock-ups contained blue wallshttp://tinyurl.com/n59hmx

And from the peanut gallery…

trekmetfan said: The wall is not that big, there's no need to name it.

qujustin said of the Marlins: Hey, we have the Teal Monster...Boston has the Green Monster...Black Monster sounds fin to me...or the Pepsi Monster!

dmoneymania said: Can we call the left field pole Kiner's Korner?

I’m all for calling it “The Mo Vaughn.”  That is just too perfect.  I christen that wall The Mo Vaughn.

Not on Twitter?  Hit the comments to toss in your nickname for the black wall in LF.

Follow me on Twitter (@TheRopolitans) to
participate in the next Twitter Poll!

Parnell in the sixth?

I usually tend to avoid playing Monday morning quarterback, but this move I must call attention to.

On Sunday afternoon, the Mets watched J.J. Putz struggle through the 8th inning.  He was eventually replaced by Bobby Parnell, who got out of the inning without giving up the lead.

Last night, Jerry Manuel called upon Parnell in the sixth inning.  Instead of saving one of the key pitchers for a later inning, Manuel tabbed Parnell to get out of a jam in relief of Livan Hernandez.

Of course, as is the Mets luck, this move came back to bite Manuel and his team.  Nursing a two run lead, the Mets turned to Putz with one out in the 8th inning after Pedro Feliciano gave up a leadoff double.

Putz faced five batters, allowing four hits and issuing a intentional walk.  Brian Stokes had to be summoned from the bullpen to finish out the inning.

With Putz’s struggles of late, why didn’t Manuel save Parnell for a more high-pressure spot?

Thankfully, Manuel seems to realize that he can’t trust Putz as much as he may like.

"I’ll probably have to see if the matchups really favor him, that type of thing," Manuel said. "I’ve got to find some success and then the confidence I’m sure will probably come back. I think that’ll be key for him and key for us. We need him. That’s how we are designed to map out the way we did tonight — to try to get to that point."

Though Putz is a former closer and seems to thrive on pressure, I’m sticking to my guns and maintaining that the Mets should pull him from the 8th inning role entirely.

Putz will not pitch tonight, so it should be interesting where or when he pitches again.

Manuel’s Musing for June 1

“The good thing is he threw strikes.”

-Jerry Manuel on J.J. Putz’s five-batter, four-run, no-out outing.

Game Recap: Pirates 8 – Mets 5

Handed away on a silver platter.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (23-28) beat the New York Mets (28-22) by a score of 8-5.

Livan Hernandez was good, not great.  He surrendered three runs in 5 2-3 innings, walking two and striking out five.  Hernandez gave up a two-run triple and an RBI groundout in the bottom of the fourth inning.

With the Mets clinging to a 5-3 lead (they were up 5-0 at one point) the 8th inning came along and everything came crashing down.  Pedro Feliciano started the inning, his second of work, and allowed a leadoff double. J.J. Putz came in with one out and allowed four straight hits, allowing three runs to score.

Something is obviously very wrong with Putz.  He tried to tinker with his arm in a bullpen session earlier in the day.  We all know the old adage about Rome, but his struggles have been grand and well chronicled.  Don’t be surprised if he’s on the DL tomorrow.

With the bases loaded, Brian Stokes came on after Putz failed to get an out after facing five batters and induced a ground ball to shortstop Wilson Valdez.  Instead of getting out of the inning with a double play, Valdez bobbled and dropped the ball, allowing a run to score and the bases to remain loaded.  A sacrifice fly to center field scored the Pirated 8th and final run.

Valdez picked up three RBIs on a run-scoring triple and two-run double. 

The offense didn’t get a hit from the 4th inning until the 9th inning.  They had an early 5-0 lead and watched it shrink, then slip away.  But the problem, more so, was the bullpen and the sieve that Putz has become.

Mets Game Chat: NYM @ PIT [Game 1]

Join in for another Mets game chat to talk baseball with some fellow fans.

(Chat removed, as usual.)