Ryan Church will resume his baseball activities today by taking batting practice with the team in Florida. The plan is for him to play some rehab games in Port St. Lucie this week and get back to the team, and off the disabled list, next week against San Diego. He’s been recovering from post concussion syndrome and hasn’t played a game since July 5th.
Category: Roster
Pedro May Pitch For Mets Tonight
Image via WikipediaThe word from the Mets is that Pedro Martinez may pitch in relief for the Mets tonight against the Florida Marlins. He’s scheduled to re-join the team after being home in the Dominican Republic for his father Pablo’s funeral.
Pedro is still on the schedule to start Friday night in Houston. And the team will decide this afternoon whether he should do a bullpen session today or work in relief during the game.
Pedro last pitched on July 12th, going four innings against Colorado in a 3-0 win.
Mets Pitcher John Maine Leaves Game Injured
John Maine was pulled in the fifth inning tonight by manager Jerry Manuel after experiencing stiffness in his shoulder. Manuel told reporters after the game that pitching coach Dan Warthen told him that Maine’s shoulder was stiff.
Warthen told Manuel that he didn’t like what he saw in Maine’s mechanics in the fifth inning so Manuel went out with a trainer to talk to him. Maine asked to stay in the game and promptly gave up a homer to Marlins catcher John Baker. It was a fastball right down the pipe.
That was it for Maine’s night. He was pulled immediately. Manuel said after the game that Maine will fly back to New York to have his shoulder looked at by doctors. That will determine whether he can make his next scheduled start in Houston on Sunday. Manuel said that if there’s any pain at all Maine won’t pitch Sunday.
The Mets have to be extremely cautious with Maine. He’s a young, talented pitcher that isn’t making much money yet. That’s about the most valuable type of player a team can have. It was smart of Manuel not to take any chances with Maine’s health.
Video- Mets And Phillies Pitching
Fox Sports Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy talk about the Mets and Phillies pitching this season. They discuss the need for Mets pitchers to go deeper into games, which I agree with. I think that’s something that Jerry Manuel needs to do differently. He needs to trust that the starters can go to 110 or 120 pitches.
The Fox guys also talk about the Phillies acquisition of Joe Blanton.
Billy Wagner Is Day To Day With Shoulder Spasms
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeWFAN beat reporter Eddie Coleman just reported that Mets closer Billy Wagner is day to day with shoulder spasms. He had an MRI that didn’t reveal any structural problems with his left shoulder.
Coleman said that he believes that Wagner will be available to pitch tonight.
Great news for the Mets! Duaner Sanchez could handle closing but I’m much more comfortable with Wagner closing and Sanchez in the eighth inning, especially for this huge series against the Phillies.
Fire Joe Morgan Defends Johan Santana
Here’s a link to a great blog post by Fire Joe Morgan (one of my favorite blogs). The blog post is in response to Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rogers mid-season awards column. Talk about a tired idea. The mid-season awards are done by every sports writer on the planet it seems.
Anyway, Rogers give Johan Santana the award for “Worst Surprise, Player”. If you read this blog regularly, you know that I’ve supported Santana big time this season. That’s my disclaimer.
Fire JM does a great job of completely de-bunking Rogers’ argument for Santana as the worst surprise of the early season. Check it out.
Mets Injury News- Wagner, Church
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI’m sure that you saw Jerry Manuel go out to the mound yesterday with trainer Ray Ramirez to talk to Billy Wagner. Wagner appeared surprised that Manuel was there to see him. Apparently, Wagner had some tightness in his throwing shoulder while warming up yesterday. There have been contradictory reports about whether Wagner’s having an MRI today or not. The latest news is that he felt better on the plane last night and he’s only going to see a doctor today if he wakes up and feels any pain or stiffness.
Today’s the big pow wow for everyone involved in the Ryan Church head injury saga. There’s been word that there are some differing opinions among the medical people that he’s seen on how to handle the situation. Church wants to come off the disabled list tomorrow for the Phillies series. But the Mets are playing it cautiously (after not doing so originally). That gets up to today. Everyone involved in Church’s medical care regarding his post concussion syndrome/migraine problem is meeting to determine the course of action for him.
The Mets Report 