213 Miles From Shea

In the middle of the less than good news about Wright, Byrdak, Hairston, Torres and Herrera, there is Johan Santana who pitched 2.2 innings allowing 2 hits, a run (none earned), walked one and struck out 2. Johan cruised through the first two innings allowing just one hit. At the end of the second, there was a question if he would come out again due to the rain, but he did and left for pretty much the same reason in the third. He succeeded behind shaky defense that eventually led to the bases being loaded (and it was his relief that caused the run on his record).

Rauch didn’t have a good game yesterday. No way around it. It seemed like something was off with his mechanics as Warthen went out to talk to him after two pitches.

Finally, Loewen continues to impress as the teams option in CF. It is well known that the Mets are dealing with injury problems and depth out in Center and while Loewen isn’t a natural CF’er, he is playing his way onto this team with his bat.

Over the last two days the Mets have split two Spring Training Games. The main story over the last two games would be Harvey who was fantastic on Friday. Before his latest start, he was informed he would be starting the year off in the minors. In a performance where he got to show his work without having to try too hard he pitched 2 innings allowing no hits, no runs, and no walks while striking out 1. Another pitcher who showed additional success in yesterday’s game would be Parnell as he continued to build on his positive Spring, basically cementing his role in the pen.

In the last two days the Mets starting pitchers have been “eh”. Gee allowed 2 earned runs in 3 innings while Dickey allowed 5 ER in the same amount. The offense yesterday outside of Davis was also the same, just “eh”. The offense on Friday was also the same.

Over the next week the Mets are looking for the return of Duda to the lineup, Beato to the pen and hopefully Wright by the end of the week.

Pelfrey struggled in the Mets 5-4 loss to the Marlins yesterday afternoon. On the positive side, he pitched 2.2 innings, which was longer than any previous Mets pitcher (probably due to his time in the intrasquad games last weekend) but in the process he allowed 4 ER. Since it was just the first Spring Training start of the season, I’m not too concerned about the outcome, (especially since I couldn’t see the game, so I couldn’t see his pitch selection), but if this continues, I’ll be slightly but not seriously concerned.

Rauch, after having a mediocre debut, pitched two scoreless innings where he allowed no hits, no walks, no runs while striking out 2.

On the other side of the ball,the only major notes came from Lucas May, making a push to be the back up catcher, went 2-3 with a double in yesterday’s game and Adam Loewen went 1-4 hitting the Mets second homer of the Spring. Loewen is now hitting .375 this Spring as he makes his case to be the bench player for the Mets if Hairston has to miss significant time.

The Mets improved their spring record to 2-2 this afternoon as the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins 7-0. The two biggest stars for the Mets today would be Jon Niese and Justin Turner. Niese, making his first spring start, tossed two innings, allowing no hits, no runs, walking one and striking out 2. Very sharp first outing for Jon.

Turner is trying to prove himself on the bench and more importantly, make the case for more AB’s in the season. He went 3-3 today, including blasting the first Met home run of the Spring Season. He also had 3 RBI’s.

Other Mets also had a notable day:

• Thole 2-3, RBI, R, BB, 2B
• Nickeas 2-3, R, RBI
• Parnell, who needs a strong spring to make the team in a prominent role, had a scoreless inning of work, no hits and a strikeout
• Ramon Ramirez, a pick up in the Pagan trade, logged 1.2 innings allowing 2 hits and a walk and striking out 3 K
• James, Acosta and Olson all had scoreless outings.

All in all, this was a good day for the Mets. They scored runs and prevented the Marlins from doing the same. It was the first game this season that a lot of people had a good day, and very few had a terrible day.

The most important story of the day is Santana. Johan finally returned to the mound against an opposing team today, and he did more than he had to do. The Mets booth said it right last night that all he had to do today was to pitch and compete. He didn’t need success, he just had to get the ball over the plate. After a lead off walk, Santana induced a double play ball and then waltzed through 2 frames where he allowed no hits and no runs. The real test will be how he feels tomorrow and how his arm reacts as he throws more pitches, more innings and a greater variety of pitches. Right now, Santana is exactly where he needs to be, and for a team that needs some positive news, this was just fantastic.

Torres picked up right where he left off last night. He made an impressive debut yesterday and today he went 2-3, with a bases clearing triple. He is playing with hustle. This is the type of play that the Mets were hoping to get out of Pagan last season. I hope this is the real deal out of Torres.

The other big story of the day was Nimmo’s debut. In two appearances today, Nimmo walked and went 0-1 where he also scored a run.

Other notes:

• R.A. Dickey had a great spring debut with a 2 inning, no hits and 2 K line
• Familia struggled in his debut, allowing 4 ER in 1.2 innings of work.
• Rauch also struggled in his debut, allowing 2 ER in 1 inning of work
• Keeping with the theme, Schwinden had a messy start allowing 3 runs, 1 earned in 2 innings of work
• The entire Mets offense, with the exception of Josh Satin, struggled against the Astros today including 0-3 performances by Tejada, Flores and Murphy
• Fernando Martinez, now an Astro, also went 0-3 today

The Mets played their first Spring Training Game tonight which means its time to start tracking the players. The Mets came out of the gate literally running. They ran a lot tonight as they showed off speed on the base paths. Anyway let’s break down some performances:

Torres made a good impression in his first game, drawing a walk, getting a hit in one official AB, a stolen base and scoring a run off of a Murphy RBI hit. I’m not going to make my entire opinion about Torres off of one game, but this was a good way to start quieting his naysayers.

Rottino, who is a real outside shot of making this club, got off to a bad start tonight as he went 0-2 with two strikeouts. The main attribute that keeps Rottino relevant is the amount of positions he can play, including catcher. As it was for the offense, there wasn’t really much to write home about in this game.

The pitcher to watch in this game for the Mets was Harvey, because of who he is. Harvey had a great first inning. In his second inning, he got into a jam, but he was able to pitch his way out without allowing a run. In his two innings of work he allowed no hits, walked three batters and struck out one. He faced Harper in this game (Harper got the walk) and one has to think that this is the first of many times these two players will face each other at the “Major League Level” (if you can call it that in Spring).

The MVP of the game has to go to Keith Hernandez and the rest of the booth, who were all back to mid season form tonight. Some of the highlights include:

Gary: What did you do this winter?
Keith: I read all 7 Harry Potter books.

Keith: I’m surprised Kevin said Voldemort. He must not be named.

Keith: We may not believe in trickle down economics, but we believe in trickle down Santana

On the eve of the first Intrasquad game of the season, heading into the 31 games in March, the Mets battles are starting to take shape. For the most part the Mets roster is set, with a group of players that positions to lose. Here’s the break down:

Centerfield: Center is not so much a battle in spring as it will be later on in the season. Torres will have the position heading out of camp, but if he doesn’t perform at his top game, then Spring becomes really important for players like Captain Kirk and Matt Den Dekker. Both players, barring an amazing spring, will not break camp with the Mets but after April, when the Mets would get an extra year of team control, could break to get some major time in the major leagues. Eyes will be on these three players this Spring.

Bullpen: The Bullpen is always an area of competition in the spring. The players that will be in the pen are Francisco, Rauch and Ramirez. Byrdak will be in the pen, and I have a feeling Beato will also be there. That means for the rest of the pitchers, its open competition for the remaining spots, including Carrasco, Parnell, Acosta, Carson and others. The Mets will be looking specifically for a pitcher who could be the swingman from the rotation to the pen.

What is unique about this Spring is the bench spots are pretty much set, in that the players trying to push in are mainly prospects, who would benefit from consistent playing time in the minors in the first. Spring remains really important for these players because when the Mets have to call up players for depth, that is when the spring impressions come into play.

The battles this spring are really personally battles within the players. Are certain players going to return to either their old form or rise to the expectations of their development:

• Will Santana be effective and healthy?
• Will Ike bounce back with power?
• Will Bay keep September going?
• How will Duda develop?
• Can Murphy return with the same hitting ability?
• Will Wright fully come back this season?
• Will the rotation hold up? Is there any depth to step up?

All of these answers and more coming up this month?

In recent years, the Mets Farm System has been turning out a large crop of 1B/OF types. Players that have played both or have the ability to play both positions. One has been traded, and others have been shifted in their positions as they have been called up to the majors. The recent list includes:

• Ike Davis (Before becoming our starting 1B, he was also an OF prospect in college)
• Mike Carp (Traded in the three way trade for JJ Putz, is now considered a Fantasy Sleeper)
• Daniel Murphy (Really suited for 1B, also tried time in the OF, really a corner IF)
• Lucas Duda (Similar to Murphy, best suited for Corner IF, also considered a Fantasy Sleeper)
• Kirk Nieuwenhuis (Could make a break to the majors this year, similar player to the above)

The obvious star on this list is Davis, so let’s set him aside for the rest of this article.

Carp, Murphy, Duda and Nieuwenhuis all have incredible similarities. They all started to become prospects at similar time and they all were known for their hitting over their defense. Carp and Murphy broke first, followed by Captain Kirk and then Duda. Although people knock Murphy for his power, his power is somewhat similar to Carp’s and they both are just a step behind Duda and Captain Kirk.

It’s just odd how similar these four players are, and how they all came out of the same farm system. They all are slightly underrated, and the three that are currently in the majors are all considered Fantasy Sleepers this season.

The baseball media has started to view the Mets Farm system in a more positive light, especially with the talent building at the low single A levels, but if these four players start to produce this season in addition to Davis, it will show that the Mets had some hidden stars in the farm.

Over the better half of the last decade, the Mets have moved through several different versions of blue batting practice Jerseys. At the beginning of the century, the Mets were using these Orange BP uniforms. After a couple of seasons, the Mets switched, with the rest of the league, to new Blue uniforms, with double color underarm paneling. The next version of the uniform, last year’s model, got rid of the double panel and replaced it with a single color panel. That was ditched this year for a new basically solid blue uniform (which at this point is old news with the Mets practicing on the field).

There are two main changes to this years model. The print is in orange, not black, and the panel has been completely removed. It looks a lot like the very popular “Los Mets” uniforms from last season. It was rumored a while back that in 2013 the Mets would consider a Blue Alternate on the field, and this could be their way to test drive it.

There are two big differences between this uniform and the Blue Alternate. First is the material, as it is made with a BP material (although the difference in the BP uniforms and the actual uniforms has been getting less and less over the years, and really is only seen in the hats). The real difference is the cuts on the uniforms. The Blue BP, although one solid color, has all the same cuts as the multiple tone BP uniforms in other teams, thus why the back of the uniform looks a little awkward.

With the vast majority of teams in Florida now on the Florida West Coast, the Mets end up playing a lot more games against their neighbors: the Marlins, Nationals and Cardinals. It has been like this for a few years ever since the Orioles moved the West Coast and the Dodgers just moved flat out west. When I was in college, so last year, I used to watch a huge portion of Spring Training games. Because of that, and the team breakdown around the Mets, I ended up learning a lot about the Marlins, Nationals and Cardinals, as if they were my own team because of the amount of times I saw their minor league players play. Outside of those three teams, the next closest teams are the Astros and Braves in the middle of the state and the Tigers slightly more east. Everyone else is lined up on the East Coast. Here is a list of the amount of times the Mets play their opponents this Spring:

Cardinals – 6 games
Marlins – 5 games
Nationals – 5 games
Braves – 5 games
Astros – 4 games
Tigers – 4 games
Yankees – 2 games (at the end of Spring Training)

So in the course of a month, the Mets will play 31 games against 7 teams. At first I was really against this, because I like variety but I started to think about it and there are two major benefits here:
1) It mimics a real month in the season where the Mets would play about this many opponents
2) (And this is the real reason) Until more teams move to the West (since the Mets have a lease right now until 2023, so they are not going anywhere) this is the least taxing situation for the players bodies.

Teams in Florida that the Mets will not play at all this Spring:
– Blue Jays
– Phillies
– Pirates
– Orioles
– Rays
– Red Sox
– Twins