Mets Send Misch to the Hill Looking for the "W": Line Up

Tonight the Mets are sending Pat Misch to the hill against the Marlins.  Here's the line up courtesy of the Mets on twitter:
Reyes-SS
Pagan-LF
Beltran-CF
Wright-3B
Davis-1B
Francoeur-RF
Thole-C
Tejada-2B
Misch-P
By the way, I know people are still down on Frenchy, and I totally get it.  But I think if the team has any run left in the tank this season, it's going to rely on Frenchy because from what I saw of F-Mart on his last go-around, he's not ready yet.  Either way...
Let's go Mets.  Give the fans one last run for the hell of it...

Mets (Eventually) Defeat Astros 3-2 in 14 Innings

Last night the Mets had a lead going into the bottom of the eighth, but they couldn't win the game until the 14th on a sacrifice fly from Ike Davis.  They went on to win the game 3-2 (box score).

Dickey was great again last night, but he MAY have been left in the game a little longer than he should have been.  I have no issue with giving Dickey the ball in the eighth, but after he gave up a run he probably should NOT have gone back out for the ninth.  I guess without K-Rod taking Dickey out of the game was a tougher decision to make, BUT, if I were Jerry I would have made a decision to go with my closer BEFORE it was too late.

At the plate, the Mets put together a two-run seventh with back-to-back doubles from Ruben Tejada and R.A. Dickey followed by an eventual RBI groundout by Pagan.  Then the Mets missed a bunch of opportunities with runners in scoring position, until the 14th inning where they would eventually capitalize.  After a walk of Reyes, a sacrifice bunt and a steal of third, Chacin issued two consecutive walks to load the bases.  Then Ike Davis stepped to the plate and delivered the game winning sac fly.

Tonight the Mets go for the series win at 8:05, sending Pat Misch to the hill against Bud Norris...

Misch Clears Waiver, Goes to Buffalo

As I first heard on rotoworld.com, it looks like Pat Misch has cleared waivers and will end up back with the Mets.

It's nice to have Misch back considering the current state of the Mets pitching staff in general, which is shaping up to be Santana, Feliciano, K-Rod and a bunch of question marks.  I'm sure Takahashi, Figueroa and Maine will be fine, but they are all question marks at the current time, along with the obvious question marks: Perez, Pelfrey, Igarashi, etc.

I like the idea of getting that depth back, as Misch could be an important for the Mets either as a spot starter or lefty out of the 'pen, should someone else falter early.

Exciting Afternoon So Far

According to Metsblog, and my eyes, Murphy left today's game against the Cardinals after an apparent ankle injury...and Alex Cora left the game after being hit by a pitch...awesome.  Hope they're ok...

Pat Misch was put on waivers according to Rich Coutinho on twitter...Not so sure I understand this move because I think if the Mets are considering another lefty in Valdez, in order to allow Feliciano to be considered in the set-up role, why aren't they considering Misch instead...

Also of note so far today, both Perez and Santana got hit hard...sweet...fun day so far.

Good thing the season doesn't start for another 6 days...

Bullpen Picture Starting to Clear Up

In an article for MLB.com, Mets beat reporter, Marty Noble answers a bunch of questions about the Mets bullpen, bench situation, Mike Lowell and starters.

To me, the bullpen questions yielded the biggest information exchange in this article.  First Noble seems to think that Figueroa and Takahashi are in, while Parnell will probably go down to the minors.  Noble says, "My sense of it is Figueroa serves as the staff saver, Parnell goes to Triple-A to work on offspeed pitches. Takahashi serves as the other left-handed pitcher in the 'pen."

Noble also seems to think that Pat Misch will not make the team and the Mets will try to sneak him back under-the-radar.  Noble says, "The likely course of action will be to wait until the last moment to outright Misch in hopes that other clubs won't have room for him either. Then they can store him at Triple-A until a need develops."  Sounds like a good plan, and with Feliciano and Takahashi looking good, I don't know there is a need for a third lefty in the 'pen.

Also Rich Coutinho, on twitter, is saying that according to Adam Rubin, it is likely that Parnell and Green will both be sent down to start the season.  Well, it's nice to know competition ACTUALLY exists this spring and no one is getting grand-fathered in.  Parnell, I don't think was awful this spring, but Green was.  At the end of the day they both were out-performed and deserve to be sent to triple-A...

Figgy Looks to be Bullpen Bound, Takahashi as well: Who's Left Out?

So according to Marty Noble on mlb.com, here, it's starting to look like Nelson Figueroa will be on the Mets opening day roster, coming out of the bullpen.  Noble says, "Two people among the club's decision-makers indicated as much before the Mets engaged the Marlins here Friday, before Figueroa, deployed as a starter, provided the kind of performance that makes staff-savers necessary." 

So it looks like Figueroa was counted in, as long as his performance against the Marlins yesterday didn't kill his chances.  It's not easy to go into every outting thinking you need to be perfect, so maybe the Mets will cut Figgy some slack, for once, and give him what he's earned this spring, a spot pn the team. 

And according to David Waldstein, in this article on Hisanori Takahashi, here, it looks like he's in as well.  Waldstein says, "According to two people in baseball with knowledge of the Mets’ plans, Takahashi has made the team barring a disaster in Saturday’s start or some unforeseen trade. But he will almost certainly be a reliever when the team breaks camp, not a starter, because the team has all but named Jon Niese its No. 5 starter."

So there we have it.  Looks like Figgy and Takahashi are in, which makes it seem to me, that  at least one of Parnell, Green and Nieve are out.  Assume that K-Rod, Feliciano and Igarashi are locks.  Apparently Takahashi and Figgy are now in as well.  Add those 5 to the starters, and there are only potential two spots left on a 12 man staff.  That leaves Mejia, Misch, Green, Parnell, Calero and Nieve for two spots.  With the way Misch has been pitching and the idea that the Mets don't necessarily see Takahashi as a lefty specialist, that is an option.  Then there is Calero who's been pitching well, but not as much as Green, Nieve and Parnell.

So my prediction, should the Mets decided to carry 12 pitchers, is that Nieve and Misch will be in, while Calero gets more work in Florida and waits in the wings.  Green and Parnell will probably get sent down or traded.  While the Mets will do the right thing and Mejia will probably be sent down to be a starter at Binghamton.  So that would leave my projected bullpen as, Figgy, Feliciano, Igarashi, Takahashi, K-Rod, Misch and Nieve.  Thats a nice bunch of arms, but also a group of guys who are slightly out of place.  Outside of K-Rod, Feliciano and Igarashi the rest of that group is starters who couldn't cut it.  I'm slightly concerned about that.  But no one ever said you needed to be a reliever to be good at relief pitching.

I am still very intrigued with the potential of how this bullpen will shape up, especially with these reports that Takahashi and Figgy are probably included.  Those two guys have earned it, but the question remains, who else does the team think earned it this spring.  

Twinks Down Mets, Santana

The Mets fell to the Twins this afternoon at Tradition Field 7-3 and it wasn't pretty (box score)...

Johan Santana got hit again...hard.  Santana 3 and 1/3 innings while giving up 9 hits, 5 runs, and two homers.  That's not a good line at all.  Then Sean Green came in and gave up a run of his own in 2/3 of an inning on 2 hits.  As for the rest of the pitchers, Misch and Parnell worked two scoreless a piece, while Mejia gave up a run in his only inning of work.

At the plate Omir Santos went deep and Tejada drove in a run while going 2-5 on the day.

Overall this wasn't a good day for the Mets.  Sean Green has got to go.  He's proving that whatever he did in Seattle two years ago was the fluke. 

And although I'm not concerned...yet...if Santana throws another dud his next time out I'l start getting worried.  Could be bad...

Mets Win 6-5: Ike Doubles, Takahashi K's 6, Francouer Has a Gun, and Omir Is Hitting

Alright here's a quick summary of what was important about the Mets 6-5 victory over the Nationals today:

Oliver Perez got hit, hard.  I didn't like seeing that, but I was encouraged that he was around the plate the whole time.  My only concern now is that somehow he's lost stuff by focusing on "pounding the zone", I guess only time will tell on that one.

There were some good things to take from today's game:

Takahashi looked awesome.  In his debut he went 3 innings, giving up just one hit and striking out six.  A very similar performance to the one Figueroa put up the other day.  The only difference being that Figueroa faced a tougher line-up (This sentence is dedicated to an anonymous comment on a previous post of him, who felt I didn't give Figgy enough cred for his performance against the Birds.  I hope that makes ammends).  Pat Misch also had a pretty nice outing, giving up 3 hits in 3 innings while striking out 3.  Very consistent from Misch, who I like more and more as days go by...

Jeff Francouer gunned out Pete Orr and Kevin Mench trying to score.  Very impressive stuff, I love his arm.
Also, Ike Davis doubled again.  I'm starting to fall in love with him, and might consider getting two jerseys.  Jeff Francouer and Ike Davis...

BUT, the highlight of the game was Omir Santos' inside-the-park grandslam, which if Willy Taveras wasn't a moron would have been a two-run double.  For those of you who didn't see it, Santos hit a grounder down the third base line that found its way under a fence, but Taveras instead of putting his hands up tried to dig it out allowing the play to continue.  In general he was very timid about trying to get the ball, almost seeming undecided as to what to do, and that was what allowed Santos to score.

To Santos' credit he's been hitting so far this spring, which makes him a nice asset for the Mets should they decide to move him later this spring.  Which I think is the right move, considering the glut of catchers the Mets have.  It might give him an opportunity to play somewhere else, while allowing the Mets to move on in their development of catchers...

Overall, it was a pretty nice game for the Mets, I just wish I could have said the same about Ollie...