Month: July 2011

Preview: Phillies at Mets July 16, 2011

Philadelphia Phillies (58-34) at New York Mets (46-46) 4:10pm

Cole Hamels (11-4 2.32) vs. Jon Niese (8-7 3.88)

TV: FOX             Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Phillies will try to put another beat down on the Mets today on national TV, while the Mets struggle daily to stay relevant. Hamels is having the best season of his solid six year career. He has the lowest ERA, WHIP, and BAA of his career which adds up to a lot of wins. He’s got 11 wins already and only had 12 all of last season. And he does it in a hitter’s park, so the Mets will have their work cut out for them today at Citi Field.

Niese got hit for 2 runs in .1 innings in his first relief appearance in San Francisco before the break. But his pas three starts have been pretty good. He’s been solid and never really lets the Mets get completely out of the game. He’s been tough on lefties this year (.239 BAA) so that should help against the Phillies lineup. And his ERA at home (3.40) is almost a run less than it is on the road (4.37).

Mets Trade K-Rod to Brewers

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 05: Francisco Rodriguez #7...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

We’ve been speculating about it for months and it finally happened. The Mets were able to find a team to dump trade K-Rod to. He was quickly closing in on his $17.5 million vesting option for 2012 if he finished 55 games this season. The Mets couldn’t take a chance that the option would vest and they would be stuck with K-Rod at that price next season.

We also have to assume that the Brewers were not on K-Rod’s 10 team no trade list in his contract. The Brewers, in all likelihood, won’t use K-Rod to close games and chance that option vesting.

The Mets included cash ($5 million) in the deal to help defray K-Rod’s current $12 million salary for this season and the Mets will receive two players to be named later.

K-Rod spent two and a half years with the Mets but will be remembered for the ugly incident at Citi Field last year when he assaulted his girlfriend’s father in the stadium after a game. He was arrested and charged with assault and ended up suspended for the rest of the 2010 season.

I’m assuming that the Mets will use a closer by committee role for a while until someone in the bullpen establishes themselves. Most likely Bobby Parnell, Jason Isringhausen, and Pedro Beato will get a shot at closing.

This is also likely the start of a sale on high-priced players that the Mets will be doing over the next couple of weeks including Carlos Beltran and, possibly, Jose Reyes.

video: Mets Weekly Report – 2011 Mid-Season Awards

In this week’s edition of the Mets Weekly Report, Kerel Cooper of On The Black and I talk about where the Mets are at the mid-point of 2011. We also get into a discussion of the biggest surprises, both good and bad, for the Mets so far this season. We don’t agree on everything. So check out the video below and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Topics include who’s been the best pitcher and position player so far?

One of the points that Kerel and I differ on is the mid-season grade for Terry Collins. What grade would you give Collins for the job he’s done so far?

Video: Mets David Wright at MLB Fan Cave

NEW YORK - APRIL 13: David Wright #5 of the Ne...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Here’s some video from MLB shot at the fan cave with David Wright and Jim Breuer. They’re talking about getting heckled by fans and Wright gets into being heckled by Philly fans specifically. Then Breuer goes on a rant that’s pretty funny about fans trying to put Wright on the phone with someone.

MLB is really pushing this fan cave deal this year. They’re trying to get all of the star players that come through NYC to visit and shoot some video while they’re in town.

Check out the video. It’s pretty good.

Giants 4 – Mets 2 July 10, 2011

DENVER, CO - MAY 10: Starting pitcher Mike Pe...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The Mets lost the game and lose two of three in the series in San Francisco before the All-Star break. Mike Pelfrey had a solid start going 6 innings and allowing 2 runs. But he couldn’t match Matt Cain who threw 6 shutout innings. Jon Niese, in his first relief appearance, and D.J. Carrasco let the game get away in the seventh inning by allowing 2 more runs.

On offense, the Mets had 9 hits and 3 walks so they had some opportunities to score but couldn’t capitalize. They left 10 runners on base and Daniel Murphy left 3 runners in scoring position with 2 outs.

The Mets come back to New York for the break at one game over .500.

Box score

Video: Live Mets Fan Pre-Game Show July 10, 2011

Gulf Coast League Mets
Image via Wikipedia

Join me and Kerel Cooper of On The Black at 7pm tonight for the Sunday Night Mets pre-game show before the Mets and Giants play at 8pm. The show is for Mets fans to talk about what’s going on in tonight’s game and the team in general.

The show is completely interactive so we’ll be talking about the topics that you bring up and are most concerned about. So don’t just watch the pre-game show on TV, be a part of it!

You can watch the show right here and participate in the live chat. Or you can visit the Sunday Night Mets show page. We do the show every Sunday night at 7pm Eastern time.

http://www.ustream.tv/flash/viewer.swf
Video clips at Ustream

http://www.ustream.tv/socialstream/674620

Preview: Mets at Giants July 10, 2011

New York Mets (46-44) at San Francisco Giants (51-40) 8:05pm

Mike Pelfrey (5-7 4.64) vs. Matt Cain (7-5 3.22)

TV: ESPN             Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets and Giants play the rubber game of the series before the All-Star break on national TV tonight. Pelfrey has lost two of his last three starts but his last start in LA was solid throwing 6 shutout innings for a win. He’s started 5 games in his career against the Giants and has a 2-1 record with a 2.04 ERA.

The Giants have lost three of the last four games that Cain started. But he always seems to suffer from a lack of run support.  In his career at home (98 starts), he’s 37-32 with a 3.15 ERA.

Join me and Kerel Cooper of On The Black at 7pm tonight for a live streaming pre-game show on Ustream.