Triple-A New Orleans RHP Claudio Vargas was scratched from his start today, suggesting the Mets may opt to purchase his contract and have him start tomorrow at Shea for the Mets against the Nationals.

…at this point, it may just make sense to sit back and see how the Mets shuffle this roster around…

…if vargas is promoted, and Matt Wise is added, and if Luis Castillo is headed to the disabled list, which is more and more likely by the minute, there’s going to be all sorts of transactions coming down the pike, and all sorts of speculation to go along with it – ranging from whether Joe Smith will be demoted, to Jorge Sosa and Nelson Figueroa being dfa’d…

…Update…1:41 pm…

According to Adam Rubin at his blog for the Daily News, Figueroa and Sosa could be in ‘trouble,’ while Smith could be staying.

Rubin also reports on the future of Castillo, Fernando Tatis and Angel Pagan, who could be heading to the disabled list.

During the SNY telecast of last night’s Mets game, Kevin Burkhardt spoke about Scott Schoeneweis‘ torn tendon, inferring that the injury may have had something to do with his poor 2007 numbers. It was further suggested that Schoneweis was undeservedly booed by fans for his poor performances — and perhaps he should have been lauded for pitching through the injury.

I’m not for booing anyone, but have to disagree with supporting Schoeneweis for pitching on a bad leg. The injury severely affected his performance — to the detriment of the team.

With Pedro Feliciano pitching well in 2007, Schoeneweis was expendable. His role could have been filled by another arm in the organization — or J.C. Romero, who was released on June 19. Imagine how 2007 might have turned out if Romero (1.50 ERA vs. Mets in 10 games) was in New York and not Philadelphia?

On Thursday, Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling will broadcast the Mets vs. Nationals game from near the last row of the upper deck at Shea Stadium to revisit where Cohen had watched many a game while growing up.

…i think this is such a great, and original idea…when i first heard this i didn’t believe it, but i’ll definitely be watching to see what goes right, and what goes wrong…overall it should be a lot of fun, but keith will need to bring a lot of tootsie pops to appease the shea masses…

According to Mark Hale of the New York Post, Orlando Hernandez, who is still rehabbing from a strained tendon in his foot, threw without a boot for a second straight day in Port St. Lucie, and could throw off the mound within a week.

When asked about a possible return to the Mets, El Duque replied:

“I try to come back in two weeks, three weeks, when I feel good, I’ll be back.”

…el who-que…i wish him the best, but i’ll believe it when i see it…

According to Adam Rubin at his blog for the Daily News, the Mets have decided to send down Joe Smith on Wednesday to make room for either Adam Bostick or Willie Collazo, who will start Wednesday – and only Wednesday – for the Mets.

…as rubin points out, the goal is to use a pitcher from the 40–man roster…whereas Claudio Vargas, like Jorge Sosa, would have to be passed through waivers if the team wants to return him to the minor leagues following the start…

Rubin also reports that Matt Wise will be activated from the disabled list on Thursday, “once the spot starter is returned to New Orleans.”

Ted Berg, of SNY.tv thinks the Mets should just demote Sosa, and risk losing him, writing: “The only rationale the Mets could have for keeping Sosa around is the fear he could flee to free agency or be claimed by another team if he is waived. But at this point, how many Major League teams are clamoring for a reliever with a 7.06 ERA?”

For more, check out Rubin’s report in the Daily News, where he quotes Billy Wagner on the decision to demote Smith.

…added to by Matthew Cerrone…

…this is absurd…Willie Randolph is having a hard enough time managing his bullpen, now he’s being forced to go at it without smith, who has been his best reliever not named wagner…all for sosa, who is due to earn $2 million on the year…unreal…

…i hope this is temporary, in that they recall smith as soon as Wednesday’s starter is no longer needed, which would mean putting a player like Luis Castillo on the disabled list to make room for smith or Matt Wise…

…it’s just so difficult to understand when a team is unwilling to field the best 25–man roster possible…

… added to by Joe Janish …

… if the Mets are so bent on keeping Sosa around, wouldn’t it make more sense to demote Nelson Figueroa? Figueroa would have to remain in AAA for ten days, but his turn won’t come up again until May 24th … then you demote the spot starter on Thursday and activate Wise in his place … plus Figueroa gets a start with New Orleans to stay sharp … unless the Mets are worried that Figueroa won’t pass through waivers on the way down …

The seventh-, eighth- and ninth-place hitters were 2 for 2 with two walks, a sacrifice, a hit by pitch and two RBI hits against Nelson Figueroa last night.

Willie Randolph, on such situations, while talking to reporters after last night’s game:

“You just hate those two-out walks…When you get down to it, as a staff we’ve done a poor job of getting through those late seventh, eighth and ninth hitters. It’s so important to put those guys away. A lot of times it has been with two outs. A lot of times it’s been when you have to make a pitch and they walk to keep the inning going. You have to do a better job of navigating through those waters…We’ve got to do a better job of finishing up that part of the game…We’ve got to do better there.”

During last night’s post game show, SNY’s Harold Reynolds said:

“You always try to look through a lineup and have outs in the lineup that you have to get, that are designated outs. In the National League, the eight hitter and the pitcher cannot extend rallies. As I look at this game tonight, it was two-out walks and two-out hits and the bottom of the order, that’s a recipe to lose. You wonder how the Nationals score 10 runs, the bottom of the order and two outs hits and walks and you’re gonna lose all night long.”

…figgy just didn’t have it from the get-go…walks kill, and any rally the mets tried to muster died once he or sosa took the mound in the top part of the inning…

Last night, Lastings Milledge played his fourth game at Shea Stadium as a member of the Washington Nationals, and was 1-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI.

Milledge, on playing against the Mets:

“It’s good to come out here and do some damage here, don’t get me wrong. But I plan on coming out and doing damage every game, not only in New York. I’m trying to do damage everywhere I go…They can boo me, I don’t care. I want to see how loud they can boo me. I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me, so it’s funny. As they say, you must be doing something right if they boo you.”

…that’s right l-millz, fan the flames…

Nelson Figueroa allowed five hits and six runs, four earned, while blowing three seperate one-run leads.

Figueroa told reporters that the cold, damp weather did not impact his ability to grip and throw the ball adding…

“At times it seemed like every pitch wouldn’t work. I literally tried to throw balls down the middle just to let them hit it. When they did, they fouled off six or seven pitches in a row…My pitch counts have been climbing…You’ve got to make that one pitch to get that one out.”

Figueroa, on the Nationals, who were singing, chanting and cheering against the Mets from their dugout, during last night’ game:

“They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls. I’m a professional, just like anybody else. I take huge offense to that. If that’s what a last-place team needs to do to fire themselves up, so be it. I think you need to show a little bit more class, a little bit more professionalism. They won tonight, but again, in the long run, they are who they are…Even for the manager and the coaching staff to let that stuff carry on, it’s truly unprofessional. That’s why they are who they are.”

Milledge, regarding Figueroa’s comments…

“Well, what were we supposed to do? We’re not supposed to cater to anybody on the opposing team. We’re not going to cater to him or anybody else. We’ve been down the last couple of days and we wanted to get something going, and if he doesn’t like it, then he’s got to deal with it. Anybody don’t like it, they just have to deal with it.”

Reporters did not ask Randolph about the cheerleading.

…i was at the game but was informed of the elijah-dukes-led ‘cheerleading’ via phone call…i can’t speak to the classiness of the taunts, but it doesn’t seem very professional from afar…i do know that the people in the picnic area where i was were yelling some horrible things to Lastings Milledge for the whole entire game, several fans even got thrown out because of it…

…i have no problem with taunting other teams’ players, but it’s not like milledge traded himself…the trade seems to have worked out in the mets’ favor so i’m obviously happy about that…but, and i may be in the minority here, i didn’t dislike lastings, so personally, i just don’t get the hostility…

To watch SNY.tv’s exclusive Post Game Extra, hosted by Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez, including hilights and quotes from last night’s loss to the Nationals, click play below:

The Mets (19–17) lost to the Nationals (16–23) by the score of 10 to 4 tonight in Shea Stadium.

For a full recap and box score, check out SNY.tv.

Is today September 24, 2007? If not, it sure feels like it.

Nelson Figueroa’s night started out well with a clean first inning strike out tow, but it went down hill from their. Figgy’s wildness was his downfall tonight - walking five which contributed to six runs in his five innings pitched. He got out of jams in the second, third and fourth innings allowing one run in each, but it caught up with him in the fifth when he allowed three runs to cross the plate, two of which came on a RBI double from Lastings Milledge.

You could also see he was clearly annoyed by the Elijah Dukes’ led little league cheers coming from the Nationals dugout in the third and fourth innings. And he should have been. I’m not sure what to make of it, but it’s clearly not something that belongs in a major league dugout.

You can sum up Jorge Sosa’s night in one word: Yuck! Sosa allowed four runs on four hits and two walks. It’s the fourth time this season he has allowed four or more runs in an appearance that has lasted less than two innings. If the Mets decide to option Joe Smith to the minors rather than DFA Sosa it will be a mistake. Sosa deserves to be on this team as much as I deserve a fork in the eye.

Speaking of Smith, he struck out the side in impressive fashion in the top of the eighth. Smith deserves to be here, not Sosa.

Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner each threw a scoreless inning, as well.

Hey, Moises Alou, I love the hussle, but dude, you’re scaring me with the head first slides. Take it easy, buddy. Take. It. Easy.

I know it was a cold, damp, windy evening, hell even Mex looked as if he was ready to shovel his drive way, but wow, where was the crowd tonight?

Speaking of the crowd, I know Carlos Delgado struggled in the field and at the plate tonight going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, but their was simply no reason for the Shea faithful to boo him tonight. Delgado has played well recently and came into the game with a nine-game hitting streak pushing his average from .198 to .236. Unreal and uncalled for.

On the bright side tonight, Alou, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Damion Easley had good offensive nights, and they attempted a late game comeback loading the bases in the eighth, but it wasn’t to be as couldn’t come up with the big hit. However, it wasn’t the bats that let them down, it was the Mets pitching, namely Figueroa and Sosa.

Seriously, did we time warp to the last week in September?

Still waiting for this team to take off and reel off a decent size winning streak, perhaps one will start tomorrow.

According to the Associated Press, Pedro Martinez will throw a simulated game against minor leaguers Wednesday, though he nor the team would speculate on a date for his return.

…i swear i have written that before…

…flat ground…bullpen session…simulated game…repeat…

…i really miss pedro…and want to see him back pitching for this team…not just for the wins, but for the entertainment…

The Game:

Weather-permitting, the Mets (19-16) will begin their four-game series versus the Nationals (15-23) tonight at Shea Stadium, starting at 7:10 pm.

The Lineup:

• SS Jose Reyes
• RF Ryan Church
• 3B David Wright
• CF Carlos Beltran
• LF Moises Alou
• 1B Carlos Delgado
• 2B Damion Easley
• C Brian Schneider
• P Nelson Figueroa

The Pitchers:

RHP Nelson Figueroa (2-2, 4.81 ERA) toes the rubber for the Mets. In his last start on May 6, Figueroa earned a loss allowing five runs on eight hits while walking four and striking out three over 5.0 IP. Opponents are hitting .164 (9-for-55) in Figueroa’s first time through the lineup. In his last and only career start versus the Nationals on April 17, Figueroa allowed two runs on two hits and two walks and striking out six over 7.0 IP earning a no-decision.
LHP Odalis Perez (0-3, 3.43 ERA) takes the hill for the Nationals. Perez received a no-decision in his last start on May 7 versus the Astros allowing three tuns on five hits while walking two and striking out three over 5.0 IP. Perez has allowed three earned runs or less in seven of his eight starts this season. Perez is 4-6 with a 3.93 ERA in 17 career games, 10 starts, versus the Mets.

Notes:

Moises Alou is batting .368 (7-for-19) and his reached base in all six games since returning from the disabled list. He is batting .375 (6-for-16) with 1 2B and 1 RBI in his career versus Perez.

Carlos Beltran is batting .455 (5-for-11) with 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR and 8 RBI during the Mets current homestand.

The Mets are 12-7 (4-1 against the Nationals) versus the National League East this season.

Lastings Milledge is batting .154 with 2 2B in his last four games.

Wil Nieves is 11-for-31 (.419) in his last 12 games. He is batting .292 (7-for-24) versus right-handed pitching this season.

The Nationals are 4-14 when their opponent scores first, but 11-8 when hey score first.

How To Catch It:

Tonight’s game can be seen locally on SNY and heard locally on WFAN.

The Bleachers:

For a live chat, head over to The Hot Foot Bleachers.

…enjoy, and as always, Let’s Go Mets…

As the Daily News first suggested this morning, Mike Pelfrey recently told ESPN 1050 that he will start on Thursday, which means Johan Santana will start on Friday against the Yankees.

…as some pointed out to me today, this would mean santana will miss pitching the following week against the Braves, who, by the way, play in the NL East…however, as a reader points out in the comments section, that does not appear to be the case…santana’s normal rest should end up landing him on the final game against atlanta…