On Deck- September 1- Mets at Brewers [Game 1]

New York Mets (76-61 Road: 35-36) at Milwaukee Brewers (80-56 Home:41-24) 2:05pm

Johan Santana (12-7 2.70) vs. Ben Sheets (12-7 3.05)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: We’ve got a premium pitching match up in Milwaukee today. The Mets are starting a three game series against the Brew Crew before a day off Thursday and the Phillies at Shea over the weekend. Currently the Brewers are the wild card leaders in the NL. It’s an important series against a team that the Mets may see again in October.

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Pedro Gets Win as Mets Top Marlins 6-2

The Mets got a good start from Pedro and three home runs off Scott Olsen for the win today. The Mets take the series from the fish and are guaranteed to stay in first place for another day.

Pedro went 6 innings giving up two runs, both in the first inning. He seems to give up so many runs in the first inning that I’m surprised we haven’t heard any talk about changing his warm up routine. It’s tough to start every game that Pedro pitches losing after the first inning.

The bullpen was okay today as we collectively held our breath from the seventh inning on. Brian Stokes did the closing today and gave up two hits in the inning. But he was bailed out by Jose Reyes snaring a sharp line drive to end the game.

Nick Evans got his first big league homer, going back to back with David Wright in the third inning. Wright was on the ball today going 3 for 5.

The Phillies are still playing in Chicago now so the lead is 1.5 games at the time of this post.

Box score

Mets September Call- Ups Preliminary List

The LoHud Mets blog posted a list from Assistant GM Tony Bernazard of the minor leaguers that will be in Milwaukee tomorrow. The list is:

Jon Niese- LHP

Bobby Parnell- RHP

Al Reyes- RHP

Argenis Reyes– 2B

Ricardo Rincon- LHP

Marlon Anderson– OF

Gustavo Molina- C

Ramon Martinez- INF

Carlos Muniz- RHP

My understanding is that Argenis Reyes can’t play for at least 10 days after he was optioned to New Orleans.

Jon Niese will start Tuesday in Milwaukee.

Bernazard confirmed that uber-prospect Fernando Martinez won’t be part of the September call-ups. I don’t know what to make of that. They need to see if Martinez can handle left field next season and now’s the time to do that. Moises Alou won’t be here and there’s no reason not to see what Martinez can do at this level. It’s a big mistake if they don’t give him some playing time.

Mets and Marlins Empty Benches But Avoid Brawl

Cody Ross got hit by Mike Pelfrey in the arm during the second inning last night and didn’t like it. You could clearly hear him yell “God damn it!” during the broadcast and you could see him yelling “F*ck you!” at Pelfrey as he walked to first base.

The benches cleared and Mike Jacobs was the only player being restrained from going after someone. During the next few innings you could see Ross yelling at Pelfrey from the Marlins bench.

It didn’t look like Pelfrey was trying to hit Ross. My take is that Ross was trying to get the Marlins fired up after their devastating ninth inning loss on Friday night when Carlos Beltran hit a grand slam off Kevin Gregg. What was your take?

On Deck- August 31- Mets at Marlins [Game 3]

New York Mets (75-61 Road: 34-36) at Florida Marlins (69-67 Home:36-32) 1:10pm

Pedro Martinez (4-3 5.22) vs. Scott Olsen (6-8 4.19)

TV: CW11   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets and Marlins play the rubber game of the series this afternoon before the Mets leave for Milwaukee. Martinez has pitched poorly in his last two starts. Olsen hasn’t won a game for the Marlins since July 19th.

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Mets Bullpen Fails Again; Marlins Win 4-3

Aaron Heilman blew up again in the ninth inning. He led off the inning by walking Hanley Ramirez, who went to second on a sacrifice, and went to third on a wild pitch. Cantu and Jacobs were intentionally walked,and Josh Willingham was given a walk-off walk on an inside pitch on 3-1. It was another miserable failure late in the game.

The good news is that Mike Pelfrey had another very good start, going 6.2 innings and giving up 2 runs. He ran out of gas in the sixth and seventh innings though. But that could be expected coming off two consecutive complete games late in the season.

Duaner Sanchez gave up a game tying homer to Jacobs in the eighth. He really looks like he has nothing anymore. The shoulder injuries have completely robbed him of his velocity and effectiveness.

As usual, all of the Mets offense came in the first three innings on a David Wright two-run homer in the first and a Luis Castillo RBI single in the third.

The Mets lead is down to one game with a Phillies win in Chicago.

Box score

On Deck- August 30- Mets at Marlins [Game 2]

New York Mets (75-60 Road: 34-35) at Florida Marlins (68-67 Home:35-32) 7:10pm

Mike Pelfrey (13-8 3.70) vs. Ricky Nolasco (13-7 3.62)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: Excellent pitching match up tonight. The Mets send young gun Pelfrey to the mount coming off two straight complete game wins. Nolasco has been pitching really well too including a two-hit shutout against the Giants on August 19th.

Click “Live Game Chat” at the top of the page to chat during the game with Mets fans.