The Mets lost their fifth of six games and are sinking fast before the non-waiver trading deadline. They couldn’t get anything going tonight and didn’t score their only run of the game until the ninth inning. They were lucky to score 1 run with only 3 hits in the game. Carlos Beltran didn’t play again which was blamed on the flu. But he’s missed three straight games now. You have to wonder if they’re holding him out before the deadline to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.
Chris Capuano had another decent start going 7.2 innings and giving up 4 runs. He gave up 3 in the third inning but was pretty sharp other than that.
The Mets did a job on the Phillies yesterday during the Fox game of the week. Of course, Ken Rosenthal from Fox Sports had his say on the Mets trade market. Everything seems to be focusing on Carlos Beltran right now. In the video below, Rosenthal says that Beltran won’t be with the Mets for much longer and that the Mets are willing to pick up the majority of his $6M salary that’s left this season to get top prospects back.
Rosenthal says that the Giants, Indians, Tigers, Red Sox, and Phillies have interest in Beltran. We’ve heard before that Beltran may be willing to waive his full no-trade clause to go to a contender. He even met with Scott Boras last week when the Mets were in LA to talk about trade scenarios.
At this point, the Mets are 11 games behind the Phillies for the division and 7.5 games behind the Braves for the wild card. And there are four teams ahead of them for the wild card. Playoff chances are fairly unlikely so it would make sense, if the Mets can’t close ground on the Braves in the next week and a half, to trade Beltran and raise the white flag on the 2011 season.
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).
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.
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?
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.
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.
The Mets Report 