Report: Mets Deal With Injuries, Swine Flu Scare
Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post is reporting today that SNY producer Dan Barr was sent back to New York and put in isolation while being evaluated for swine flu. With Carlos Beltran and John Maine already missing time due to the flu, this is a scary situation.
Beltran hasn’t played since he left Saturday’s game feeling ill. And Maine left his start on Sunday feeling ill with stomach problems as well. The Mets feel that both players are not at risk for swine flu.
Barr did travel on the team flight to Pittsburgh on Sunday, that’s when he started feeling sick. The Mets are so banged up right now that this is the last thing they need.
Maine stayed in New York to recover and flew to Pittsburgh today. I was surprised that Beltran wasn’t playing again today. The good news is that Alex Cora is back on the roster today. He replaced Angel Pagan who went on the disabled list yesterday with a strained groin.
Pirates 3 – Mets 1 June 2, 2009
The Mets lost their second straight to the lousy Pirates team. There just wasn’t much offense to support Johan Santana. But Zach Duke did a good job for the Pirates. Santana gave up 3 runs in 6 innings to raise his ERA to 2.00. He’s been victimized by a lack of support in most of his starts this season.
There wasn’t much offense to speak of tonight for the Mets. They only had 8 hits and three were by Jeremy Reed who was starting for Carlos Beltran again. Beltran is still too sick to play since he came out of Saturday’s game with the flu.
The only run for the Mets was scored by Ramon Martinez in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Luis Castillo. While sliding into home Martinez dislocated his pinky finger. He’s heading back to New York to get it looked at as the walking wounded total continues to increase.
Video: Highlights Mets-Pirates June 1, 2009
Pirates 8 – Mets 5 June 1, 2009
The story of this game is that the Mets were hitting and scoring early, but the bullpen blew the game in the eighth inning. It was reminiscent of a 2008 game. Livan Hernandez was back to his average self again going 5.2 innings and giving up 3 runs to raise his ERA to 4.33.
The Mets put up 5 runs in the first three inings and looked like they were on their way to a beat down of the Pirates. But they only got one hit after the third inning. We should’ve know it was a sign of trouble when the offense was led by Jeremy Reed and Wilson Valdez with 2 hits apiece.
J.J. Putz was awful again giving up 4 runs without getting an out on four straight hits. He was out early before the game working with Dan Warthen but it didn’t help at all. Supposedly, they’re trying to get him to stop tipping his pitches. They need to work on finding the velocity that he’s lost before the pitch tipping issue. He’s just been terrible.
The Pirates scrapped their way back from being down 5-0 in the third inning. This was a really ugly loss.
Link: Q&A Gary Sheffield
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The Posts Steve Serby does his Sunday Q&A with Gary Sheffield. It’s definitely worth a read. And Ihave to admit that when the Mets signed him I was concerned that he wouldn’t take to riding the bench more than he’s used to. But I’m glad to say that so far I’ve been wrong. Sheffield has a lot more left thanI thought he did. Kudos to Omar Minaya on that one.
Mets Reyes Heads To Port St. Lucie; Joins Perez, Cora
Jose Reyes will be joining Oliver Perez and Alex Cora in Port St. Lucie, FL tonight to continue his attempt to return from the disabled list due to tendinitis in his calf. The plan is for him to work out on Monday, play extended spring training games on Wednesday and Thursday, then meet up with the team in Washington on Friday. He’s eligible to come off the DL that day.
Perez is there because he pitched early in the week at Triple-A Buffalo but is still feeling the effects of tendinitis in his knee. So he returned to Florida to continue his rehab.
Cora is making a faster than expected recovery from the strained ligament in his thumb that landed him on the DL. He is going to give it a go without surgery and could join the team in Pittsburgh on Tuesday when he’s eligible to come off the DL.
The Mets could really use Reyes back as quickly as possible. This team is the walking wounded right now and the batting order is starting to read like the Buffalo Bisons starting lineup.
The Mets Report 