Mets O’Day Claimed On Waivers; Appears Incognito

Texas Rangers (baseball)
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Darren O’Day has had an interesting week. He was waived by the Mets on Sunday to make room for Nelson Figueroa on the roster. O’Day was then claimed by the Texas Rangers from waivers and had to report to Toronto for the Rangers series with the Blue Jays.

According to MLB.com, O’Day appeared in his firt game wearing the unirform of Kason Gabbard. Apparently, he was home in Florida when he got the call from his agent that he was claimed off waivers. He flew to Toronto to meet up with the team and was told to go directly from the airport to the Rogers Centre where the Rangers were in the middle of a game. Then, he actually got into the game. But because this happened so fast the Rangers didn’t have a uniform ready for him.

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Cardinals 5- Mets 2 April 22, 2009

42209Starting pitching was the name of this game. John Maine wasn’t very good again and Joel Piniero was excellent. Piniero got into the ninth inning before being pulled after David Wright‘s leadoff double. He ended up giving up only six hits and two runs.

Maine walked five and gave up seven hits over 5.2 innings. And he very well could have been pulled before that. He had runners on in almost every inning. His velocity looks good but his control was terrible.

The only bright spot of the game was Carlos Beltran was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. His average is up to .385 for the season.

The Mets are down 0-2 in this three game series and try to avoid the sweep tomorrow.

Box score

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Audio: Mets Manager Jerry Manuel Interview April 22, 2009

WFAN logoJerry Manuel calls in from St. Louis to the WFAN Mike Francesa show. He talks for about 20 minutes on the main topics of the day that Mets fans have been complaining about: Daniel Murphy’s fielding problems, the corner outfielders, and the starting pitchers. He also addresses the baserunning problems that the Mets had last night in St. Louis. Listen below.

Jerry Manuel audio

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Game Preview: Mets at Cardinals [Game 14] April 22, 2009

St. Louis Cardinals logoNew York Mets (6-7 Road: 3-4) at St. Louis Cardinals (9-5 Home: 6-2) 8:15 pm

John Maine (0-1 7.20) vs. Joel Piniero (2-0 5.40)

TV: ESPN Radio:  WFAN

What to watch: Hopefully, the Mets got all of the bumbling and stumbling they did last night out of their system. Maine hasn’t gone more than 5 innings yet and got ripped by the Padres in his last start. Piniero didn’t pitch well in his last start in Arizona but got a win. It’s time for the Mets to stop underachieving and start playing solid baseball.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!

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Mets Figueroa Clears Waivers

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Many of us were surprised that the Mets designated Nelson Figueroa for assignment after having a quality start on Sunday. The start came as a spot start in place of Mike Pelfrey who’s been suffering from some minor forearm tendinitis.

The Daily News reports that Figueroa has cleared waivers today so he can return to Triple-A Buffalo. He was placed on waivers so the Mets could add Casey Fossum to the roster as a second lefty in the bullpen. If Fossum keeps pitching the way he did last night we should see Figueroa back with the big league team soon.

There were some rumors that the Los Angeles Angels were looking at claiming Figueroa off waivers.

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Mets Daniel Murphy Experiment Should End Now

Daniel MurphyI like Daniel Murphy and I believe that he has the potential to be a solid, if not good, major league player for a long time. He’s a hard worker and a good guy that the Mets organization really likes. And I like that too.

Daniel Murphy is not a major league left fielder. It’s as simple as that. Even when he doesn’t get charged with an error, he has misplayed balls like the two last night in St. Louis.

The fact is that Murphy has a decent bat, but it isn’t good enough to carry his poor defense. He’s clearly playing out of position and I respect that he’s giving it his all. But the Mets need to end the embarrassment that Murphy is suffering on a daily basis in the field.

Murphy shouldn’t be learning on the job at the major league level. There are 24 other players on the team and millions of fans that need to get past the last two seasons of gut-wrenching loses. We can’t have our season hinge on his learning curve in the field. The Mets sub-.500 season thus far isn’t all his fault. I’m not saying that it is. But he’s the only one on the team that has no business being out on the field. You don’t have to be a major league scout or talent evaluator to know that.

The correct course of action is for the Mets to give Murphy time at Triple-A Buffalo to hone his outfield skills until he’s ready for this level of play, if he ever will be. And he may not ever be ready. But we shouldn’t have to find that out with the big club.

Option Murphy to Buffalo now and spare us the disappointment in him. The embarrassment that he’s been suffering over the last two weeks may even stunt his growth as a player. He has to know that he’s letting the rest  of the team down, not to mention the fans.

Cory Sullivan and Fernando Martinez are waiting in the wings at Buffalo. Gary Sheffield and Jeremy Reed appear to be capable outfielders right now. Maglio Ordonez and Matt Holliday will likely be available via trade before the deadline in July if things aren’t working out with the existing cast of characters. There are a lot of options here for the Mets. The Murphy experiment should end now for everyone’s benefit.

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