4/9/10

Lineup for first against Nats

  1. Angel Pagan – CF
  2. Alex Cora – 2B
  3. David Wright – 3B
  4. Jason Bay – LF
  5. Mike Jacobs – 1B
  6. Jeff Francoeur – RF
  7. Rod Barajas – C
  8. Ruben Tejada – SS
  9. Mike Pelfrey – RHP

At least Jacobs isn’t batting cleanup.

Guess the Met [Solved!]

The rules are easy: I post a Mets player photo, but only reveal a tiny part of the image.  From there, your goal is to try and guess which player the photo is of.

No prizes, but pride and honor is on the line.

Here is today’s Guess the Met… Good luck!Who am I?

Who is this Met?  Post your answers in the comments!

Answer: This Met is… Gary Matthews Jr.!  Congrats if you got it right!!

And so it begins

Luis Castillo has a sore right calf and will sit out Friday’s game against the Nationals. Alex Cora will start at second base and Ruben Tejada will start at shortstop.

-Brian Costa

Castillo, who played 142 games last season, was one of the lone players to stay relatively uninjured last season.  But with a sore right calf, things are about to get interesting.

Maybe Ruben Tejada will be sticking around a little longer than originally thought.

Manuel’s Musing

Manuel's Musing “It's difficult in the course of 162 games to scratch and claw all the time.
You've got to have some power.”

-Jerry Manuel on the Mets

What happened to speed and defense?

Game Recap: Marlins 3 – Mets 1

Niese was nice.  Everything else, not so much.

The Good

Jon Niese turned in a decent start, allowing three earned runs in six innings of work.  He walked two and struck out three while surrendering eight hits.

The bullpen.  Ryota Igarashi, Hisanori Takahashi, Fernando Nieve and Pedro Feliciano combined for three innings of one-hit baseball.

Angel Pagan at the plate.  Pagan, in his first start, went 2-4 with a pair of singles.

Jeff Francoeur at the plate.  Frenchy drove in the Mets only run with a double in the fourth inning.

Ruben Tejada in the field.  He’s got a slick glove.  But we already knew that.

The Bad & Ugly

Pagan and Francoeur in the field.  Both players made gaffes in the field, as Pagan took some bad routes to balls and Francoeur gave up on a ball he expected to go foul.

No patience.  The Mets did not walk once.

Ducks on the pond.  The Mets left 7 men on base.

Game Ball

Niese

On Deck

The Mets and Washington Nationals face off for the first time tomorrow at 7 p.m.

4/8/10

Game Chat: FLA @ NYM [Game 3]

Join in and chat with your fellow fans!


Chat removed, as usual.

Lineup for rubber game

  1. Angel Pagan – CF
  2. Luis Castillo – 2B
  3. David Wright – 3B
  4. Jason Bay – LF
  5. Jeff Francoeur – RF
  6. Fernando Tatis – 1B
  7. Rod Barajas – C
  8. Ruben Tejada – SS
  9. Jon Niese – LHP

Welcome to the starting nine, Pagan, Tatis and Tejada.

Game Chat will be up at 6:45 p.m.

The Situation and The Wright [Video]

Two things: Why was there no fist pump exercise?  Where was Snooki?

Also: Carton!!

In pulling for Jon Niese

Go Jon Go!Taking the mound tonight for the Mets is Jon Niese.  He’s 23 and a lefty.  This excites me.

I was at Niese’s last start, August 5, 2009, and witnessed him go down in a heap as he tore his hamstring.  This saddened me.

But tonight, he’ll return to the mound as the Mets “No. 3” starter (The rotation order is stupid, see: TedQuarters).  More than any other player this season, I’ll be rooting the hardest for Niese.  Why’s that, you may ask?  Because he could be the future.

Yeah, I know.  Eight games and a 1.613 WHIP shouldn’t get a guy excited like this.  But he’s one of the young pitchers getting a chance in 2010.  He’s getting a chance to prove himself, to work at the MLB level and hopefully paving the way for some of the other young arms (including Jenrry Mejia) to take over the rotation over the next few years.

Niese, smushed nose and all, is easy to root for because everyone loves a homegrown prospect.  So join me in rooting just a little bit harder for Niese this season.  Let’s hope it’s a good one.

Link: Nelson Figueroa Sr.’s FanWalk brick will break your heart

Folk hero and newest Phillie Neslon Figueroa’s father has a brick on the Citi Field FanWalk.  If you weren’t upset about Figgy being cut, you will be now.

Head over to Metsie to check it out.  (Warning: Kleenex may be needed.)

And yes, I know Figueroa was a Quadruple-A type player and the Mets already have two long-relief-type guys in their bullpen, but it was hard not to root for Figgy.