Evans is up!

Reports show that the Mets will promote Nick Evans from AA Binghamton to replace Anderson on the Mets 25–man roster. Evans is batting .292 with eight doubles, eight HR, 31 RBI and 32 strike outs in 45 games.

I'm glad he is getting called up but I also would like to see Dan Murphy get a call with his .339 batting average

Mets Sweep Shortened Series; Onto Atlanta

The Mets beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium last night by a score of 11-2.

For a boxscore, click here.

Great win...great series...offensive explosion, with a combination of good pitching? WHERE HAS THAT BEEN ALL YEAR!? I joke, but seriously...where has it been...

Oliver Perez did not seem to look too good early on, because he was out of rhythm and doing all those herky-jerky ollie things that he does, but found a way to get it done, and by get it done, i mean SHUT THEM DOWN...

Delgado's ball, which was initially ruled a home run, was then ruled foul by the umpiring crew, which was the wrong call...i initially, my first thought was 'damn, now he is going to strike out' but Carlos has been swinging the bat really well, and got an rbi single later in the at-bat, so way to prevail Carlos...

On the call, which was clearly the wrong ruling, Willie Randolph went out to argue the call and was CLEARLY steamed at the call...later, he was told to 'shut up' by the home plate umpire, and then Willie's bench coach, Jerry Manuel, was ejected for chirping from the dugout...

nice job Jerry, way to fire the team up, because the inning continued and the mets were up 4 runs by the time the Yanks came to bat again...

Jose homered for the second straight game, and doubled as well, so maybe he is starting to get going...Ryan Church is still locked in at the plate, belting a home run to dead center, in which Jon Miller described it as 'hit into REGGIE JACKSON territory'...and i thought that was funny...

Way to go guys, we needed this with a HUGE 4 game series coming up, and so we need to go into Atlanta and take at least two games (by my standards, 3 of 4)...

TCB

Update: Parnel and Niese

Bobby Parnel may have started the season pitching extremely poorly but now he is red hot. In his last start Parnel got the win after going 7 strong innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits. Parnel has received wins in all of his last 3 starts. His era might be a 5.27 but his last 3 starts might be an indication that he is on the fast track to the big leagues.

Jon Niese has had a good season with some high and low points. He has an era of 3.15 with 35 strikeouts, 16 more than Parnell. But in 2 of his last 3 games he has given up 4+ runs.

Vargas over Bostick

Claudio Vargas will make his Mets debut tonight. Vargas was 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in two starts for New Orleans. In 11.0 innings, he allowed 13 hits, six runs, earned, with one walk and 11 strikeouts. In Claudio's last start, on May 8th, he hurled 7.0 shutout innings vs. Fresno, surrendering four hits, no walks with seven strikeouts. He also made one start for St. Lucie (A) of the Florida State League. In that outing, he worked 5.0 innings, permitted three hits, two runs, one earned, with no walks and six strikeouts. Vargas, 29, was signed to a minor league contract by the New York Mets on April 10th. Claudio was released by Milwaukee on March 25th earlier this spring. The 6-4, 238-pounder was 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA in five spring training starts before he was released. In 18.2 innings, he allowed 17 hits, eight runs, earned, with six walks and 10 strikeouts. Opponents hit .238 against him.

Though, I was hoping the Mets would give Adam Bostick a chance. The 25 year old lefty is 2-1 with a 3.83 era, 26 strikeouts in 8 starts (9 games). Last season Adam was 6-7 with a 5.66 era, 91 strikeouts, and 45 walks in 21 games (20 starts, 97 innings), Bostick had a strong fall and winter. He pitched in the Arizona Fall League going 2-0, with a 2.74 era, 23 strikeouts in 6 games.The Mets acquired left-hander Adam Bostick along with lefty Jason Vargas in November of 2006 in exchange for right-handed relievers Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom. Bostick is a pretty average pitcher but I like him and would like to see him get a chance this year with the Mets if he continues to pitch well.

News:

The New York Mets announced yesterday that they have selected the contracts of right handed pitcher Claudio Vargas and infielder/outfielder Fernando Tatis from New Orleans (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League, activated right handed pitcher Matt Wise from the 15-Day Disabled List, designated right handed pitchers Jorge Sosa and Nelson Figueroa for release or assignment and placed outfielder Angel Pagan on the 15-Day Disabled List, with a left shoulder contusion. In addition, catcher Raul Casanova cleared waivers and will be assigned to New Orleans.

Mets Bust Slump with Offensive Explosion, End West Coast Trip With a Bang

The Mets finished their West Coast swing with a bang yesterday, stomping the Dodgers 12-1 in Los Angeles.

For a Box score, click here.

John Maine looked great, and kept the Dodgers off balance all afternoon, he gets a game ball...Maine had a great spring, and then struggled his first few starts, but has had two or three very good starts in a row, and is shaping up to the be pitcher we all know he can be...

About time the offense started fluctuating, especially Luis Castillo, who was 2-4, with a walk, 2 rbi's and a run scored, hopefully this will get him going, because it would great if the Willie had the option of moving Ryan Church into an rbi spot, like 6th, right behind Moises Alou, which would allow the Mets to move Carlos Delgado, who had the afternoon off, down into the 7 hole...

It was also great to Marlon Anderson break out of his season long slump, with 2 hits, a rbi and a run scored...the Mets need him to be raking like he was last season off the bench, because he is so vital in the late innings...

While it is great to get a huge win, let's not quite start signing hallelujah just yet, because if you look at the box score, you will notice a few things: Jose Reyes went 0-3, David Wright went 1-5 and Carlos Beltran went 1-5 as well...the offense as a whole was great, but that included bench players, like Raul Casanova, who was 2-4 with 2 rbi's and 2 runs scored, and Marlon going 2-5 as well...of course, Ryan Church continues to produce, going 3-4 with a HR...keep it up and soon we will be saying "Xavier who"?

All in all, good win, time to take on Cincinnati this weekend

TCB

Johnson Released

The Mets released Ben Johnson. The Mets traded John Adkins and Johnson for Pitcher Royce Ring and Pitcher Heath Bell. The Mets already released Adkins back in October.

I always thought Johnson was pretty good. The problem was he was injured literally the entire time while being in the Mets organization. At only 26 years old, Johnson played 89 games in 2 seasons for the Padres in 2005 and 2006. He batted .232 through 05/06. It would have been nice to see Johnson healthy and see if he could have improved, especially now with the lack of outfield depth in the Mets minor league system.

Article:

Over at the Daily News, Adam Rubin profiles Emmanuel Garcia, who is probably the Mets 2nd best second baseman prospect.

Garcia, signed in ‘04 as an undrafted free agent out of Collège Ahuntsic, said he’s trying to make adjustments to the better breaking pitches he’s now seeing in Double-A. He noted that playing in the Florida State League last year was the first time he participated on a full-season team, so he’s still learning. Because he’s batting first, second and seventh, he’s focusing on taking pitches and getting on base. Garcia actually hasn’t homered since Aug. 12, 2006 with Kingsport, although he has 82 steals in 1,042 minor-league at-bats.

Willie's Bad, Peterson's Bad, etc etc etc, ALL COMPLAINTS!

ENOUGH already! Everywhere you turn you hear "Willie needs to go, Peterson needs to go, blah blah blah"

ENOUGH!

It is still too early for changes that drastic to be made. Let us examine what is going on right now, and what has gone on over the past few years with Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson: Willie has won more games than he has lost, and by a considerable margin at that. Rick Peterson has done EVERYTHING he can, and has turned John Maine into a potential All-Star and Cy Young candidate-to-be, has taken Oliver Perez, and last year, did what he could with an erratic, wild, headcase of a pitcher, and turned him into a double-digit winner.

People, INCLUDING ME, bash Willie for his lack of intensity, and for his "it's OK, we'll get 'em tomorrow" attitude. Trust me, I hate it JUST as much as all of you do, and possibly even more. I am a player myself, and I like nothing more than when a manager shows some fire, and sticks up for a player on a bad call, gets in your face WHEN IT IS NECESSARY, and does what he can to get his team fired up. That being said, Willie just IS NOT THAT GUY. Which is a shame, because if he was, I feel his players would respond better to pressure, because they know that if and, lately, WHEN they fail, over and over again (I am talking to YOU Aaron Heilman, and I am talking to YOU Carlos Delgado) it will be "OK, no worries, get 'em later."

That is the wrong mind set to have your players in. Do you think a SINGLE player on the Cubs thinks that way? OF COURSE NOT! Why? Because Sweet Lou isn't afraid to make changes, and to say "ya know what? YOU AREN'T GETTING THE JOB DONE, TAKE A SEAT ON THE BENCH UNTIL YOU FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT DONE!"

Here is the problem: we do not have a manager like that. We just don't. I am not a Willie Randolph fanatic, and I am BARELY a supporter, but if you look around, what else do you have? The only other person who I would put in charge is Sandy Alomar. He has some fire, he knows the team, and I personally think it would work. Will that happen? Doubtful. Doubtful to say the least. Would I embrace the change? I might. But right now, with the team at 14-12, and half game out of first, I do not believe it is the time to make changes.

Yes this sounds like a condescending rant, with me changing my opinion frequently, but here is what it comes down to: I am acknowledging that Willie Randolph is not exactly what we need right now, but I also think that he is the best we have, and that things are not bad enough to make a change as drastic as firing the team's manager (that would be WAY to Steinbrenner-ish)

Two weeks from now, if this team is still 2 games above .500, I can make everyone who reads this blog a FORMAL guarantee that I will make another post.

And trust me, it will not be as nice as this one was.

Pellot Slow Start

I know it is early into the season, but you have to be disappointed with A St. Lucie second baseman Hector Pellot. Hector, who I think is the best second baseman prospect in the Mets system, is off and stumbling with a .165 average through 22 games; by the way he has 0 stolen bases. In 2006 he played poorly batting just .189. But last season he batted .274 in 114 games with 33 stolen bases for the Sand Gnats and finished up the season playing 6 games for St. Lucie batting .304 with 2 stolen bases. In 2007 he was honored as a SAL Mid-Season All-Star. He also batted .275 in the Hawaii Winter League.

I became quite fond of Pellot over the last year. He is only 21 years old and is a very raw player with a lot of developing left to do. I did expect him to get off to a better start this year though. I would keep an eye on not only his stolen bases, to see if he swipes as many bags as last year, and to see if his stolen base percentage improves. Last year he was just 66% (33/50) for Savannah, a very low percentage.

Church is not for me

Yes, Ryan Church is off to a very hot start. Yes, he is hitting .316 with 3 home runs and has 19 rbis. But, I just can not like him. As a huge Lastings Milledge fan I was heartbroken when they traded him away for what seemed like nothing. Schneider has been great with the rotation, though rarely healthy. And yes, Church has been tearing it up. It is so early I am just uncomfortable rooting for a guy that caused my favorite player to be traded away. I still want the Mets to win but I secretly root for Church to fail. I don’t know why but I just can not find a way to stop disliking church. It is so early into the trade I still feel like the Mets will get the raw end in the future.