Besides the inning where Dan Graziano says the Mets will go after one of the Big Three [K-Rod, Brian Fuentes, or Kerry Wood], the Star-Ledger columnist says the rest of the Extreme Makeover: Bullpen Edition will consist of strikeout pitchers.

To quote:

“The Mets’ bullpen in 2008 was loaded with finesse pitchers who didn’t have swing-and-miss pitches. Billy Wagner was their only real strikeout reliever, and once he was gone it was a bunch of guys (Feliciano, Schoeneweis, Heilman, Smith, Ayala) who pitched to contact — often with disastrous results. That’s why they were so excited, late in the season, about the emergence of Brian Stokes, whose stuff was the kind of stuff that can be blown by hitters and generate strikeouts.”

Graziano mentions Brian Stokes, Eddie Kunz, and Bobby Parnell as the only holdovers.

Posted under New York Mets

Johan Santana came to New York with as much pressure on him as any other coming to this city. Santana more than did his job this afternoon, coming back on three days rest to throw 117 pitches in a 2-0 victory over the Florida Marlins to keep alive the Mets’ season for at least another day.

“I made up my mind I was going to do it,” Santana said of the complete-game shutout. He said the chanting of his name by the crowd motivated him and he was as proud of this effort as any in his career.

As to why he wanted the ball, he said, “there was no tomorrow.”

Well, thanks to Santana, there is for the Mets. If you were at Shea today, tell us what you saw. If you watched on TV, tell us what you thought.

Posted under New York Mets

With the Mets losing tonight, manager Jerry Manuel said Johan Santana would start Saturday against Florida on three days rest.

“I’m very concerned,” Manuel said. “We’ve put ourselves in a tough spot and we have nobody to blame for that but ourselves.”

Manuel said Santana told him he wanted to pitch on short rest on Thursday. Santana threw 125 pitches in his last start this week against the Cubs.

Should Sunday mean anything, Oliver Perez will pitch on three days rest in the season finale.

Posted under New York Mets

Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you don’t get any runs you’re not going to win. Nothing gets by be. You have to write it off as one of those things.

No game today, which gives Pedro Martinez an extra day of rest. It couldn’t hurt.

Frankly, I’m a little bit worried about Martinez. It’s just not there for him with his fastball. He says he doesn’t care about velocity, but if I can outrun the pitches to the plate there’s a problem.

Should the playoffs start tomorrow, would Martinez be in the rotation? Performance and his physical questions say no. His experience and the hope to lightning in a bottle says yes.

Posted under New York Mets