213 Miles From Shea

Sorry about the major delay in this post, wasnt feeling too good. Anyway, if spring training games could be amazing and get the blood flowing, this was it. The starting pitching was drool worthy, the long ball was out there, as that race for 25 just keeps getting more and more interesting.

So lets start with pitching. Oliver Perez was Oliver Perez. Not 2006 Oliver Perez, he was 2004 Oliver Perez. He pitched 5 innings. Allowed only 3 hits, did not allow any runs, and had 9 strikouts. 9 STRIKEOUTS…thats awesome. No walks either

Man, that is a dream come true.

The game went to Feliciano and Smith next. Felicano had a perfect inning with a strikeout. Smith threw a no-hit inning, one walk, and two strikouts.

I like Smith, I like Burgos, but i think that only one will make the team at first, and that will probably be Burgos because of expierence.

Showenies was next with 1 inning, 1 hit, 2 walks, and 2 strikouts.

Who needs Bradford and Oliver and Hernandez when you have Burgos, Smith, Showenwies and others

Wagner had a rough inning, giving up a run.

So it was time to see heart attack Wagner.

Now for the bats:

The Mets had a total of 9 hits with Reyes, Castro, Beltran, Green, LoDuca, Valetin, Milledge and Newhan all getting hits.

Shawn Green and Castro both launched long balls, as Milledge had a stolen base

Green will start. Newhan will be on the 25, that leaves milledge out most likely.

Alou and Delgado are both injury prone. If Alou goes down, i see Milledge or Johnson taking his place, if Delgado goes down, i see Green and Franco splitting time at first and either Milledge or Johnson  joining the team

Soler reportingly has signed with the pirates, more on that later

Well, let your hearts bleed for the birds. The orioles have to forget about former Met, Kris Benson, pitching this year. He was rehabbing for a chance to come back this year and avoid surgury but, his rehab hit a snag and now he has to have surgury.

Why be sad for the birds? Well their replacement is Steve Trachsel…enough said. Being an Oriole fan myself, this is something that I am not looking foward to.

I'd rather the Orioles pick up Soler now and hope for some Mazzone magic.

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<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Lets look back at what the Bergen Record predicted would happen in the 06. Also head over to Daily Baseball for new news

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4 of 5 say Yanks in first, other said blue jays

4 of 5 say Braves in first, other says mets

3 of the 4 that didn’t say Mets in first, say wildcard

One actually said Mets over Dodgers in the NLDS, another say Mets over Giants, other 2 say Mets lose to Cards in the NLDS

Those who moved the Mets on, have them losing to the Cards in the NLCS

None predict Cards as a winner for the whole thing

Closest any say to 97 wins for the Mets is 94

One predicts Carlos Beltran as NL surprise player

Lets look back at what the Bergen Record predicted would happen in the 06. Also head over to Daily Baseball for new news   4" data-image="" data-button="">

Offense, Offense, where art thou offense?

So today was another loss, 2-0

Lets start with the offense, this should be short. Beltran had a double…Alou had a hit…Wright had a hit…Diflice had two hits…wow…So that was it.

Pitching wise, not bad, there were two pitchers.

First off was Maine. Allowed 3 hits, and had 4 strikeouts over four innings. The one hit that was trouble was the homerun in the first inning.

That is the one thing that worries me the most about Maine. His big problem last year was the long ball…he could work out of trouble last year, but he had this thing is that he would pitch a ball on a silver platter.

Next was Pelfry. He also went four innings, had 2 strikouts, 6 hits, and allowed one run.

For both Maine and Pelfry, this brings their spring ERA to 1.00…Pelfry has now pitched 9 innings in spring…I still like Pelfry as number 5…my feeling is that with the bullpen that the Mets have, they should but a pitch limit on Pelfry, so he doesnt tire out fast during the season

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For today's General Baseball news which includes Javy Lopez, Eric Gagne, Jason Isranghouser, Chipper Jones, and Andy Pettite

WOOOOO HOOOOOO

Finally, a meaningless win from the AB squad! The Mets beat the Indians by the score of 6-5 today.

Lets start by breaking down todays bats. Shawn Green Homered…Wait, SHAWN GREEN HOMERED…maybe he really did find out was wrong with swing, because he is hitting above .150 now

In all seirousness, he is starting to get closer to where he was at somepoint last year. I like Green, well the Green of the past, so i am really pulling for him

O and a guy by the name of Jose Reyes…well he homered as well. And it was nice.

The old Mets Speed was on today too, four players stole bases. Chavez, Milledge, Gomez and Reyes all stole bases…causing the uneasyness on the bases.

Speaking of Milledge, 1-2 today, with that SB, a walk and really starting to make a case for that 25 spot, his stock is on the rise.

Now for the pitching

Vargas 2 ER on 3 IP…def. not #5

Bugos had a great redemption today by going 2 innings, no runs, 2 hits, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts…Which 22 year old will go to the pen

Humber did ok today, allowing 1 run over 2 innings

Next up is the Tigers, followed on Thursday by the BoSox

This headline just blew me away. I seriously thought that with a bit more time, the Mets could really help Soler and he could become a force in late 08 or 09…anyway here is the story

The basic line is since signing with the Mets in 2004, (he did not play till 2006), he didnt impress. He started off good, and had some average to above average starts, and then went below average and did not impress in the minors. Furthermore, he did not impress in spring.

In one way, now he can become a starter for another team that desperatly needs a starter and can give up the spot for him

I feel that he still has potential, he just needs to turn it around

Sigh….another loss…but in postive news, the Mets STARTERS tied it up in the eigth inning, and then Adkins blew it in the bot of the eigth

Well Gets into the pitching first today:

In that battle for spot 5, Chan Ho Park struck out 6 over 3.1…too bad he also had 4 ER

I get the feeling that the front office would like Park to mature fast enough to have him at least the first part of the season, so they dont have to rush Pelfry. However, Pelfry is putting up numbers…which should allow Humber some time to develop…I do worry about giving Pelfry 170+ innings in a season

Soler, 1.2 with 2 ER…made his case for 25 spot close to impossible now

What people need to remeber about Soler is that he defected in 2003…but his first season of pro ball in America (or anywhere besides Cuba after 03) was in 2006. That means he did no pitch 04 and 05, so its gonna take some time for him to get back to the promise that he has. I think with another season down in AAA, he could develop nicely for 08.

Wagner had a perfect inning. Feliciano got into trouble early with a walk and a hit, but then had 2 strikouts on the way of throwing a scoreless inning.

Now for the Bats…

Reyes with 2-4 with a triple and 2 RBI…he would have had a homer if it wasnt for the Nats catching it on the way out of the ball park

Jose Jose Jose Jose……

DWright turned on the average today going 3-3

Most important to me, Milledge went 3-4 with 2 RBI today

And the race for right field gets interesting

As Johnson, in his one AB, had a hit and scored a run

And that race gets more interesting

And Newhan in his one AB, had a hit, scored a run, and had a RBI

And that race is getting really interesting

You know that book I always quote for Stats and rankings, well this was last years, its interesting to see what they got right, and what they got horribly wrong

Sporting News Preview 2006 Big Book

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Power Ranking, Mets 3^rd NL

Four Analysts Said that Leyland and the Tigers was the worst Managerial Move

One Analyst said that Carlos Beltran was the most Overrated Player

Out of Eight Analysts, only 2 said the Mets would win the East, 6 said the Braves.

Four said Mets in Wild Card (Both who said Mets in the east, said Braves in the wild card)

3 Had the Mets in the NLCS, Once being beat by the Cubs, and then 2 saying the Mets over the Braves and Cards

2 Had the Mets losing in the World Series

In the overall Power Poll, The Mets were ninth

For the actually Ranking Portion:

Mets 2^nd in the NL East

Jose Reyes 7.7

Paul Lo Duca 7.9

Carlos Beltran 9.0

Carlos Delgado 8.6

David Wright 8.4

Cliff Floyd 8.1

Xavier Nady 5.7

Kazuo Matsui 6.0

Rankings for other Mets 07 starters

Jose Valtine  NR

Moises Alou 8.0

Shawn Green 7.2

No win, but no loss…so its good i guess. The end score was 5-5 thru 11 innings.

Todays offense was a big part of the story for me. First off, Delgado was finally back in the lineup. He went 1-3 today (single) but just being in the lineup was great.

Beltran and Wright both had a big day. Beltran was 1-4 today, but his one hit was a 2-run shot off former Met, Petit. David Wright, who was in the 2 spot today, went 1-2, with 2 walks, and a solo shot of Petit.

Castro continued his refound offense skills by going 1-3 with a double today (nice to know that we have a back up catcher who can actually hit) Sierra also had his 5th RBI today.

Jose Reyes, had an unusual calm day at the plate going 1-4, but he also had his fifth steal of the season,

Seems like the team is starting to get the rust of the winter off.

Glavin allowed 2 earned runs over 4 innings, and 4 runs overall, there was a lot of shotty defense out there in the second inning, and probably if this game was played two months from today, it would have been scoreless.

Scott Schowneis went for 1.2 innings today, and had 0 ER, there was a run tho from bad defense again. He also had a strikeout

In the battle for the 22 yearold in the pen, Smith had an inning of work today where he allowed no hits, no runs, no walks and had 2 strikeouts

Niiiiiiice

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