Word is Jerry Manuel is saying “no” to John Maine and won’t let him pitch again this season. Manuel said his conscience won’t let him use Maine, who will undergo shoulder surgery on his right shoulder.

The doctors said Maine can’t reinjure himself, but they really don’t know. Should Maine try to overcompensate with his delivery, it could place stress somewhere else. That’s what the doctors ARE NOT taking into consideration.

That Manuel won’t risk Maine’s health with the season being on the line, and consequently possibly his job, shows his integrity. He’s doing the right thing.

Pedro Martinez is starting what could be his last game for the Mets tonight if they don’t get into the playoffs.

Should they somehow squeeze their way in, I can still see Manuel giving Martinez the ball by citing his experience.

That said, I don’t have faith that experience will last long then, or tonight. Not with these numbers: In his last three starts, Martinez has worked 16 innings and given up 14 earned runs on 24 hits and eight walks.

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

The Mets are putting an awful lot of pressure on Mike Pelfrey tonight in DC. He’s been the Mets’ most improved player all year and they are depending on him to turn things around tonight. He’s proven he can throw a strong seven, but the offense has to take over tonight.

And, they have to score a bunch of runs IMO because I have no faith in whomever comes out of the pen after Pelfrey.

Here’s the lineup, and nice to see Argenis Reyes is in it:

SS Jose Reyes
RF Ryan Church
3B Carlos Beltran
1B Carlos Delgado
LF Fernando Tatis
2B Argenis Reyes
C Brian Schneider
RH Mike Pelfrey

Team meeting today. Yawn. Just shut up and play.

Posted under New York Mets

Ouch! Last night was bad on so many levels. Last night was a 2007 flashback. Here’s my thinking on arguably one of the worst losses of the season.

1. Championship caliber teams don’t lose to teams like the Washington Nationals down the stretch. Not after last season, anyway.

2. Pedro Martinez pitched better than I thought he would, but you can’t let Anderson Hernandez beat you.

3. Technically, the bullpen didn’t lose the game, but I have no faith in Duaner Sanchez, a future ex-Met.

4. Where’s the offense?

Just bad in so many ways.

Posted under New York Mets

Jerry Manuel has been saying his faith in Pedro Martinez is in his experience, and that his “stuff,” is as good as it is going to get. That’s around 88, not a lot to be encouraged about.

In his last three starts Martinez has worked 15 innings, and given up 13 runs on 21 hits. Two of those starts have been Met losses to Philadelphia.

Overall, Martinez has given up 10 homers in his last eight starts. That’s not just rust.

Martinez hasn’t been giving the Mets innings, either. You can look for the Mets to go heavy into bullpen tonight, which, of course, is not comforting.

 

Posted under New York Mets