To replace Jon Niese on the roster, the Mets have recalled Elmer Dessens from Triple-A Buffalo. Dessens last pitched for the Mets on July 19 before being designated for assignment. He then accepted an assignment to Buffalo.
He’s pitched in 9 games this season with the Mets to a 3.65 ERA. In 12.1 innings he’s given up 5 earned runs.
Expect Dessens to get the long man job with Tim Redding getting a spot start replacing Mike Pelfrey on Saturday in San Diego.
The Mets announced today that Mike Pelfrey left the team yesterday for his home in Kansas for the birth of his first child. Between this news and the season ending injury to Jon Niese, this really puts the Mets in a bind for starting pitching.
Pelfrey was scheduled to start against the Padres in San Diego on Saturday. With Nelson Figueroa pitching 4.1 innings yesterday, Tim Redding will probably get a start against the Padres.
Redding’s last start was July 2 against the Pirates when he gave up 5 runs in 2.1 innings, then lost his spot in the rotation.
The Mets did another deal with the struggling Washington Nationals today re-acquiring light-hitting infielder Anderson Hernandez. You probably recall that the Mets sent Hernandez to the Nationals about one year ago to complete the deal for Luis Ayala.
This season with the Nats he’s hitting .251| .310| .320 with 9 doubles, 1 homer and 23 RBI’s in 77 games.
The Mets sent Single-A second baseman Greg Veloz to the Nationals in return.
Clearly, this is a move intended as insurance for Luis Castillo‘s injury. This doesn’t bolster the team for a playoff run. Far from it. Hernandez is a live body that can play second base and that’s all.
New York Mets (51-56 Road: 29-25) at San Diego Padres (44-65 Home: 27-29) 10:05pm
Livan Hernandez (7-5 4.77) vs. Clayton Richard (4-3 4.47)
TV: SNY
What to watch: The Mets and Padres start up a four game series tonight at Petco Park. The Padres just lost two of three to the Braves in Atlanta. Richard has worked from the pen and started this year. His last three starts have been excellent only allowing 3 runs in 21.2 innings. Hernandez has made three solid starts in a row after struggling in early July. He’s allowed 7 runs in 20 innings in those starts.
Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!
All of the Mets beat writers are reporting that Jose Reyes had another MRI today in New York that revealed significant scar tissue and inflammation behind his right knee. He left Port St. Lucie, where he was rehabbing, because of pain in his leg. The plan is for him to stay in New York for physical therapy to break up the scar tissue and reduce the inflammation.
I’m starting to doubt that we’ll see Reyes back on the field again this year. I’m sure that he’d like to be able to finish the season with the team so he can go into next year without such a bad taste in his mouth. Reyes hasn’t played since May 20 and only played in 36 games this season.
Reports are coming out tonight that Jon Niese is gone for the season after leaving the game in the second inning today. His right hamstring tendon is completely torn from the bone, an ugly injury. All of us that saw the game today knew it was serious when he collapsed on the mound and couldn’t walk off the field.
He’ll have surgery and is expected to recover in time for 2010 spring training. What a shame for the 22 year-old who really seemed to have found himself since struggling early this season.
Jerry Manuel told the media in his post game press conference that the Mets are considering starting Bobby Parnell in Niese’s spot. That could get interesting considering how badly Parnell has struggled for much of this season.
You may have noticed some changes to the site today. I’ve had the same layout for more than a year and wanted to change things up a bit. The Mets should really try the same as well. There are some things that I’ve been doing with the site over the last year that just didn’t fit into the layout that I was using. So it was time for a change.
You’ll notice my Twitter and Facebook profiles are much more prominent now. That’s something that’s developed over the last year along with the site.
The site is also less complex now making it faster to load in your browser. That was a big priority for me. The sophistication of the previous layout didn’t lend itself to speed.
I hope you like the changes and it’s still somewhat in progress. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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