-He’s pitched a good game and he’s pitched a poor one. The Mets are hoping Jon Niese has another good one in him and the first one wasn’t a fluke. It looks as if he’ll go Saturday. It’s not official, but he seems to have the inside track over Brandon Knight or Nelson Figueroa. Who would you go with?

-If tonight gets rained out, the Mets will have a day-night doubleheader Saturday. Assuming, of course, the weather holds up. There’s no guarantee of that, either.

-Brian Schneider didn’t play last night because of soreness in his back. He can only benefit if tonight gets rained out. No word of his status if they do play.

-Damion Easley said last night he should be available to play in the field tonight. Sorry. Right now, I’m sticking with Ramon Martinez.

-The Daily News’ Peter Botte reports Dwight Gooden will be at the closing ceremonies Sunday.

Posted under New York Mets

The Mets blew 29 save opportunities so far this season, and with them, perhaps a chance at the playoffs. Adding a top notch closer such as Francisco Rodriguez would improve the bullpen, but not put it over the top.

Billy Wagner blew seven save opportunities, but even worse was the bridge leading up to him. It was more than just a bad season.

Here’s how I see the pen:

-Billy Wagner: Won’t pitch for the Mets again. No brainer. However, he will get paid $11 million by them, and that will inhibit what they do this winter. I don’t see them paying both Wagner and Rodriguez.

-Aaron Heilman: They’ve resisted trading him the past two winters. They should pull the trigger if they get an offer this time. Heilman wants to start and since the Mets won’t give him that opportunity, they should try to get what they can. If they wanted to give Heilman a chance at being the fifth starter, I’d entertain it because it is clear this bullpen thing isn’t working out.

-Scott Schoeneweis: I can’t believe they gave him three years. (I mistakenly said he was done after this year. He’s signed through 2009).

-Joe Smith: Has his moments, both good and bad. Will be brought back.

-Pedro Feliciano: I’ve always been cool on him for some reason, even when he’s pitched well. I think they’ll bring him back.

-Luis Ayala: He saved a few games. Big deal. I don’t see him as the answer at closer. I do see him coming back.

-Carlos Muniz: Wouldn’t miss him.

-Ricardo Rincon: Ditto.

-Duaner Sanchez: He doesn’t have his fastball anymore. Certainly not a set-up man or closer type anymore. Not a loss if they don’t bring him back.

-Brian Stokes: More good appearances than bad. I’d like to see him back.

-Nelson Figueroa: Feel good story early this season. Very hittable.

-Brandon Knight: Pitched decently. Long man?

-Bobby Parnell: Can bring the heat. Let’s see what he can do in spring training.

Posted under New York Mets

It is too late in the season to say “they won, that’s good.”

They had better win from here on out if they expect to see October. They did what they were supposed to do, which is beat an inferior team to keep pace in a pennant race. No kudos for that.

I wrote yesterday the offense needed to wake up to support Brandon Knight, which is what happened. Knight didn’t pitch badly, but needing seven relievers to close the deal is not a good sign.

A lot of heat directed at David Wright last night, but relax, he’ll be fine. You can tell watching him at the plate that he’s trying too hard. I believe Wright is too good a player to get consumed by the pressure. He will break out of it.

Posted under New York Mets

It has come to this for the Mets. Brandon Knight has been called upon to pull the Mets out of their funk. It has been three straight losses, so you can’t really call it a collapse. But, it has also been four losses in five games, so you tell me.

The bullpen crashed and burned Sunday, Pedro Martinez showed heart alone wasn’t enough Monday, and Monday and Tuesday the offense went into hibernation mode. Each of the past four losses carries a reminder from how they collapsed last September.

The Mets are asking a lot from Knight tonight. This has to be a game where the offense tees off, but there’s been no signs of that lately.

Posted under New York Mets

Finally, Daniel Murphy is back in the lineup, batting second and playing left field in place of the injured Fernando Tatis. Murphy has been a spark plug since he joined the Mets when the team was in Houston last month. His numbers have been good, but he’s seen limited time since Ryan Church’s return.

Argenis Reyes is playing in place of Luis Castillo.

Here’s the lineup:

METS

SS Jose Reyes
LF Daniel Murphy
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Ryan Church
2B Argenis Reyes
C Brian Schneider
RH Brandon Knight

Posted under New York Mets

Aaron Heilman wants to be a starter and the Mets needed a starter for tonight. They came up with Brandon Knight.

Why not finally give Heilman his shot?

Well, for one thing, he hasn’t proven he can get hitters out in one inning, much less five or six. He’s only thrown 1 1/3 innings this month. Obviously, Jerry Manuel has no faith in him, and consequently, Heilman has no faith in himself.

Heilman struggled much of this season and he had one chance to piece together his fragile confidence, and that was when Billy Wagner went down. Manuel gave Heilman a chance to close a game and he blew it. Manuel then pulled the plug on Heilman in the closer role.

You want to crush whatever confidence he had left, and that’s the way to do it.

Anyway, Heilman was good in his role for the Mets, but he never seemed to recover from giving up the homer to Molina in the 2006 NLCS. He said all the right things, but something was missing.

The Mets resisted dealing Heilman the past two winters, but I don’t see that this time around. If they are offered a package they’ll bite. They have to.

Posted under New York Mets

So much for team meetings.

As you can plainly see, it’s more than just the bullpen. Yeah, 27 blown saves says a lot, but so does ranking 11th in the league hitting with runners in scoring position. Of course, last night, they didn’t get many runners in scoring position at all.

They still control their own destiny with the wild card, but one more loss can take care of that. That’s what Brandon Knight is there for tonight.

Posted under New York Mets

Sorry for the late post. The boys try to wrap up their series on an up note this afternoon against the Braves. Damn that split yesterday. They let the Santana game get away. The sweep would have been sweet, but they came back strong which was a real positive sign. Losing like that, then coming back with a rookie, could have made for an ugly day.

A couple of notes:

-Damion Easley aggravated his right quad yesterday and underwent a MRI. We should know the results during the game. It doesn’t look like he’ll be available for the first couple of days of the Washington series.

-Look for Brandon Knight to start Wednesday in Washington.

Here is the Met lineup:

SS Jose Reyes
LF Daniel Murphy
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Ryan Church
2B Luis Castillo
C Brian Schneider
LH Oliver Perez

Looking forward to talking with you throughout the game.-JD

Posted under New York Mets