Tatis 2HR Leads Mets Over Padres 6-5

Mike Pelfrey did a nice job going 6.2 innings and giving up only two solo homers. And Fernando Tatis had a monster night with two home runs and 4 RBI’s which prompted a curtain call from the fans.

But the Mets struggled without Billy Wagner in the ninth.  Aaron Heilman gave up a hit, a walk, then a three run homer to bring the Pads within one run of tying the game. He was bailed out by Scott Schoenweiss but the ninth inning is going to be very tenuous for the next two weeks until Wagner gets back.

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Mets Will Play Evans- Murphy Platoon In Left Field

Mets manager Jerry Manuel announced yesterday that he was going with an all-rookie platoon in left field. Nick Evans and Daniel Murphy will split time in left while Fernando Tatis will become the everyday right fielder.

This is a real stop-gap situation until Ryan Church gets back from his post concussion syndrome problems that have plagued him for much of this season. Church may be back with the Mets within the next two weeks depending on his progress.

Manuel’s done as good a job as he can with the pieces he’s been given in the outfield. Endy Chavez has some skills but he’s not an everyday player. So the Mets have to go with players that are naturally infielders in the outfield corners for now. We’ll see defensive shortfalls like the game winning hit that Tatis couldn’t make a play on in Houston last night. Unfortunately, we’ll have to live with that for now.

Marlins Chill Hot Mets 7-3

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John Maine pitched 4.1 effective innings giving up one run on four hits and a walk. He also had six strikeouts. But he left the game in the fifth inning after experiencing shoulder stiffness.

The bullpen blew the game in the eighth inning when Joe Smith and Scott Schoenweiss were ineffective giving up five runs in the frame.

Once again, Fernando Tatis was hitting. He went 2 for 4 including a triple with 2 RBI’s. Damion Easley also went 2 for 4 in the game.

The big news was Maine’s injury and the unknown severity. Keep in mind that he’s had a dead arm and a cramped left forearm this season. Maine didn’t want to come out of the game but Jerry Manuel erred on the side of caution wisely. Maine is too valuable to the Mets because of his skill, age, and salary to take a chance on further injuring his shoulder in a July game against the Marlins.

Santana CG Leads Mets Over Cards 9-1

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The Mets jumped all over St. Louis Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse today, taking the rubber game of the series. The Mets finish their home stand going 4-2. Lohse was roughed up for seven runs over five innings. By contrast, Johan Santana went all nine innings giving up six hits and one walk for one run.

Santana had a run saved by Carlos Beltran making an outstanding catch over the center field wall on a bomb hit by Ryan Ludwick. Albert Pujols homered in the next at-bat for the Cards only run.

The Mets offense was led by David Wright and Fernando Tatis. Wright was 3 for 5 with a home run, and Tatis was 3 for 4 with a home run.

Pujols HR Drops Mets 10-8 in 14th Inning

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The game started ugly with Mets spot starter Brandon Knight giving up four runs in the first inning. He settled down to end up working five innings without giving up another run. More importantly, the Mets offense fought back to tie the game up several times. That’s a good sign for a team that sleep-walked through the first 2+ months of the season.

The comebacks weren’t enough to hold off Albert Pujols. He homered in the 14th inning off Aaron Heilman to win the game. But Heilman pitched three innings of relief on 58 pitches. The bullpen was spent and Heilman took the brunt of the workload in extras. You have to give him credit for that, even in a loss.

Several Mets had big offensive games. Jose Reyes went 4 for 8 with 2 2B and his 12th homer. Carlos Delgado went 2 for 6 with 2 HR’s. Fernando Tatis went 3 for 6 with a dramatic HR in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. It’s incredible how many big hits Tatis has had this season. He’s really got a penchant for getting hits in big spots.

The Phillies and Marlins both won so the Mets hold a one game lead in the NL East.

Mets Streak To 10 With Win Over Reds 10-8

It wasn’t pretty but the Mets got a win, mostly due to some late inning heroics by David Wright & Co. They needed some late inning help because Johan Santana didn’t give them any help early in the game. He only pitched four innings and gave up five runs. Cincinnati is a tough park to pitch in, but he needs to do better than that. Call me a Santana apologist but it had been eight days since he pitched in a game. The Mets should have tried to work him into a relief outing before the All-Star break. Hindsight is 20/20.

The Mets kept coming from behind to tie and take the lead in this one. That’s a great sign about this team! It’s still hard to believe that this is the same team that played the first couple months of the season.

Carlos Delgado, Fernando Tatis, and Wright all had huge home runs. Especially Wright with a two run job to tie the game in the ninth off Cincy closer Francisco Cordero. Then the hits kept coming in the ninth inning.

That’s a great way to win a game for the Mets. They would certainly like to see more from Santana and the bullpen seemed to backslide. But they’ve been so good leading up to the break it would be impossible to maintain the same level of performance. So having the offense take the load in this game was fantastic. Winning streak goes to ten games, the longest since 1991.

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Report: Mets To Promote From Within

Joel Sherman of the NY Post reports that Omar Minaya may pass on trades this month in favor of moving some of the Mets top prospects to the big leagues. Specifically, the Mets are thinking about moving Fernando Martinez into the outfield. Lefty Jon Niese could fit into the rotation and Bobby Parnell or Eddie Kunz may get work in the bullpen.

If Fernando Tatis and Endy Chavez cool off they could give Martinez a shot in left field. At 19 years old he has to play every day. If he’s not in the lineup every day, he shouldn’t be in the majors.

Apparently, the Rockies wanted Carlos Beltran in a trade for Matt Holliday so the Mets weren’t interested.