Mets John Maine Has Shoulder Surgery

The Mets put out a press release that John Maine underwent successful shoulder surgery to remove a lesion from the back of his right shoulder. Maine is expected to make a full recovery and be ready in time for spring training.

Great news for the Mets here. Maine is one of the most valuable players the Mets have because of his talent, age, and the amount of time he’s under the Mets control before free agency.

One of the things I liked the most about Jerry Manuel was his reluctance to use Maine at the end of the season, even when the bullpen couldn’t get anyone out. It would’ve been a shame if Manuel used Maine and he ended up hurting his career because of it. You can’t fool around with a young pitcher having shoulder problems. That showed real class by Manuel to potentially sacrifice his job security to do what’s best for Maine’s career and the Mets long term plans.

Audio: Omar Minaya Sums Up The Mets Season

Mets GM Omar Minaya joins WFAN’s Mike Francesa to talk about the bitter disappointment of losing a shot at the playoffs in the last game of the season for the second year in a row. He discusses moves that he might have made at the trade deadline to shore up this team. And he talks about the potential to bring Jerry Manuel back again.

WFAN Audio

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Mets Manuel Likely To Return

The word is there could be an announcement as early as Tuesday that Jerry Manuel will be signed to a contract to continue as the Mets manager. I have no problem with that. He had a .591 winning percentage over 93 games this season, a sizable sample. Over a full season that translates to 96 wins. You can’t beat that.

That said, I’m extremely disappointed that the Mets got to the precipise again and couldn’t make it over the top. And that’s with Manuel at the helm. He did take over a team that was dead and gave them some life. So Manuel started out pretty deep in the hole. I don’t consider injuries as a factor for the Mets this season because every team has injuries.

If it was my decision, I’d do some due diligence to see if Keith Hernandez was willing to take the managerial job. If not, I’d work on signing Jerry Manuel to a two or three year deal.

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Shea Stadium: End Of An Era

The Mets season ended meekly yesterday and making that ending especially bitter is the end of Shea Stadium. Soon to become a parking lot for the flashy new Citi Field, Shea’s run of 45 years is over.

The Mets did a nice job of inviting back 45 players that impacted the franchise after the last game of the season. In hindsight, they probably should have done it a few days earlier. It was anticlimactic celebrating the Mets history fifteen minutes after the devastating loss to end the 2008 season.

As much as I’m looking forward to Citi Field, I have to admit to reminiscing with everyone I know that’s a Mets fan about Shea Stadium memories. And there have been many. I’m sure that you’ve done that too. So we’ll give Shea it’s due, two World Series championships and countless memories for Mets fans. I think my favorite was going to Game 1 of the ’86 World Series.

We have to keep moving forward and Shea had become the worst stadium in Major League Baseball since RFK went to the grave. It was time for Shea to go, and based on the way the 2008 season ended, it’s time to start making new memories. Winning memories.

Marlins End Mets Season Again With 4-2 Win

It’s hard to believe that this team couldn’t generate any juice from Johan Santana’s performance yesterday. But the Mets just couldn’t get any offense going after scoring two runs in the sixth inning.

Oliver Perez did a decent job giving up only two runs over 5.1 innings. The killer was Scott Schoenweiss and Luis Ayala giving up back to back homers to Helms and Uggla in the eighth inning. That capped the win for the Marlins.

Shea Stadium goes out sadly with the Milwaukee Brewers sealing the Wild Card spot with a win today.

Box score

Report: Q&A With Johan Santana

The Post’s Steve Serby has a great Q&A with Johan Santana today. It’s perfect timing for this interview with Santana after his incredible effort yesterday to propel the Mets back into a tie for the NL Wild Card lead with the Brewers. The Shea crowd was thunderously supporting Santana and his interview with Serby shows why he deserves our support.

Read it for yourself but here’s a little taste of what it’s all about:

Q: Your message for Met fans?

A: Be positive and leave all the negativity away. I would say that we’ll have the right guys to make it happen all the way . . . and then once the regular season is over with, and we make it to the playoffs, you’re going to see a very, very intense team going out there trying to make it all the way.