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The Mets defeated the Nationals by the score of 7 to 3 in Viera, Fla. today.
- Oliver Perez allowed just two hits and one run while striking out five of 17 batters in five innings of work.
- Fernando Martinez hit two doubles, drove in two runs and struck out twice in four at-bats.
- Both Joe Smith and Duaner Sanchez gave up two hits and one run in one inning, while Ricardo Rincon and Joselo Diaz each pitched a scoreless inning.
- Jose Reyes and David Wright each had two hits.
- Brady Clark was 2 for 3, raising his average to .302.
- The Mets had 11 hits, hit in to two double plays and made two fielding errors.
For a complete boxscore, go to MLB.com.
Lastings Milledge and Paul Lo Duca did not play in today’s game, though they did talk to reporters earlier in the day.
To hear from Lo Duca and Milledge, check out blogs from the Daily News, Newsday and the Star-Ledger.
Does anyone know if Clark has continued to work on 1B at camp? He could be a very valuable addition to the lineup. I would tend to keep him over Pagan, if Endy and Gotay are healthy, if Clark can play 1B.
Why?
Never mind. I take it back.
Obviously nice to see OP pitch a good game too. Cross fingers that they stay healthy!
Odd, but right now, it seems like the rotation will be the backbone of the team, and one of the best in the league. But a few months ago, it was a train wreck, and practically guaranteed the mets would finish in the cellar! At least is seemed that way from what the “experts” were saying.
Just as nice is seeing DW and Jose both starting to pick up the pace. If Carlosx2 get healthy by 3/31, and Castillo is back, the offense should be OK.
Oh, it will be nice to have a catcher, but it might be fun to see Cancel and Cassanova behind the dish!
Clark just might be playing his way into a starting gig. Probably want to have Pagan too, at least to open the season.
Leave Duque in Fla, and carry an extra bench player until they need a 5th starter. That will give the walking wounded time to prove they are healthey, and if they keep pagan anc Clark, Beltran can also get some extra rest.
besides, but 4/12, someone else will probably be hurt! Is there anyone new left, or will some of the formerly wounded have to go for a 2nd stint (or 3rd or 4th for Mr. Delgado!)
What do you mean the experts “were” saying. Kruk is still saying that the Mets will finish in 3rd because of their weak pitching.
Seriously though, I agree with you 100%. If Santana, Pedro, Maine and Perez all stay healthy, there is no reason to expect anything less than 15-20 wins each. This could be not only the best 1-4 this year, but one of the best in the last 10 or so years (Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Neagle ?) That’s about all I can think of off the top of my head that can compare.
The 90s Brave rotation is vastly superior to our rotation. There is no comparison there. We have Santana in his prime. They had Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz in there prime. One of the best staffs in the history of baseball.
Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have said the only one that can compare but the only one that was better. Still, I can’t think of any other staff from about 1999 on (the last 9 years) that is better.
you cant think of a pitching staff since 99 that has been better than the 08 Mets?
When the A’s had their big 3…at the time…they were much better, yes, dont argue, all 3 were better than Maine and a possible not 100% Pedro, and 2 of them won cy youngs so they had seasons as good as Johan.
how bout the 07 red sox rotation? or the 05 white sox, who i think had 4 complete games in a row in the playoffs?
Notice I didnt say “staff” but thats because the Mets pen right now is: Wagner, Heilman, feliciano, show, sosa with most likely wise & jose smith…so basically we traded wise for mota, and we had one of the worst pens in the majors last year…apparently Matt Wise is amazing
Guys, the mets have one of the top 5 or 6 pitching staffs in all of baseball, maybe even top 3, maybe even 1….but cmon with this nonsense that “experts” called us soft before Johan…and that it was unfair and we are amazing, this staff without Johan is not in the top 10, so the experts were right and now the Mets are good, dont get all bent outta shape cause other teams are good too ….
Umm . . . NO MO, where is Duaner Sanchez in your calculation? Certainly he’ll be in the Mets’ pen!
No Mo, you are way off. first of all, Johan is head and shoulders above any ace in the last 10 years. Pedro, Maine, and Ollie are better than Mulder, Hudson, Lilly from the A’s and whatever starters you think were great from the w sox.
If Raul Casanova or Robinson Cancel or Ramon Castro gain anymore weight when they catch they will block out the advertisements on the fence behind them. And since the umps like to position themselves between the catcher and hitter they may find a compromise position behind the pitcher as in softball.
With those three in the clubhouse I wonder if any of the other players partake of the pre and post game spreads. Those three human vacuum cleaners probably consume every morsel before any of the other players can reach around those three for even one bite. I don’t know if Willie stresses physical fitness or not (I don’t have access to the clubhouse and from some of the descriptions I have read here the clubhouse is tighter than the Nixon Whitehouse) but based on these three I would have to say probably not. If they gain anymore weight the Mets will have to hire a paleontologist to treat them.
I would agree, pagan seems very similar to endy to me… even though he can also hit from the right side. i think brady might be a better right handed off the bench option, especially if he can play 1B.
milledge is going to be good. very good.
the mets starting pitching is looking healthy and throwing strikes. that’s the formula for the team this year. excellent starting pitching set up a bullpen that benefits fronm the loss of sele and mota and a hopefully limited role for no-show.
the offense will be behind the braves and phils. a big year from reyes, wright, and beltran will be enough with strong pitching and their very good defense up the middle.
good points. Plus, if the SP stays strong, it is much less likely they go off on a long losing streak. Also helps rest the pen.
Better talent in the pen (7 guys that all deserve to be there, and have a role) + SP that routinely goes deep into games = a better shot at a dominant pen that won’t die at the end of the year.
And hopefully a few strong arms in AAA waiting to come up if the need reinforcements (Kunz, Rustich, Collazo, Smith etc.)
i read through that and i agree except I still won’t allow my self an opinion on milledge until he proves himself
and the offense will be behind the braves and phils???
If the braves lose chipper…they have tex…but i mean, tehy have a young escobar who could be great, some ok outfielders…tex and a good hitting catcher..
how are we so behind that?
the phils and braves have scored more runs than the mets in each of the last 3 years. the phils offense is clearly better. the braves offense is slightly better unless delgado has a big year.
that’s a fair approach with milledge. just giving my opinion based on his minor league #’s and seeing him play so far
How many away runs have the Phils scored? Last year it was very close.
I’m on no big hurry to say the Phils offense is clearly better – we have to see how Werth adjusts to extra playing time, and how they cope with an automatic out at 3B.
The Braves’ offense has similar injury question marks to ours. They’re probably a little more dependent on Chipper & Kotsay to produce than we are on Delgado & Alou, although they’ll probably get more games out of their two than we do from ours.
The Phils’ offense is similar to ours in that there is a big fall off after the big three. Pat Burrell might be better than Delgado at this point, but are Victorino, Ruiz, Feliz, and Jenkins demonstrably better than Church, Alou/Pagan/Chavez, Schneider, Castillo? Perhaps by a bit, but the gulf between our offense and theirs isn’t even close to being as deep as it is between our pitching and theirs. I actually like the Braves’ offense a bit better than the Phils, but they have almost as many questions in their starting rotation.
the phils offense was and is clearly better. it wasn’t close last year. phils were +88 runs
if you took 88 runs from the mets they’d be in the bottom 4 teams instead of the top 4
The Phils only scored 5 more runs on the road, where park factors are close to eliminated. The offenses were close last year.
in that case the phils pitching was just as good as the mets since it was .37 different era on the road
however, having watched the teams it was pretty clear that the mets offense was terrible other than a couple of weeks in sept and the phils were very good all year. pitching failed them most of the year though the road numbers don’t show that
or you could look at it this way:
Home runs scored:
Phillies 450
Mets : 367
Away :
Phillies 442
Mets: 437
The offenses are MUCH closer than your letting on bro
YES, the phillies are better, but it was close…if you take CBP out of the mix
“the phils offense is clearly better.”
that’s all i said. and it’s true.
i also said the mets starting pitching is excellent and will help an improved bullpen. some try to be objective and not just say the mets are the best team ever. ever!
A team doesn’t win with just offense. If you wan;’t to compare JUST offense, then I’ll give you a little leeway. However, a teams offense cannot be judged soley on runs scored. And without be judged on a level playing field (that is in the same park) it is really difficult to compare two teams with vastly different home ball parks.
While the Phillies scored 892 runs last year as compared t0 804 for the Mets, they also gave up 821 Runs compared to the Mets 750.
The Mets’ pitching really fell apart at times last year, so it’s not unreasonable to say that, last year, the Phils pitching was not that much worse than ours.
in 19 games, the Phils scored how many runs against crappy mets pitching? and how many runs did the mets score against crappy phils pitching last year…
Please dont think it was our pitching alone that left us 1 games behind.
Texiera is a Free Agent- and his Agent is Boras- Think the Braves are gona pay 20 million per year for 7 years?
I think the Mets Should go after him- They can afford it next year- Delgado, Alou, Pedro (?) all coming off the books-
i think the issue is that 7-10 teams will be vying for tex’s services. it’s going to be a very tough market.
and of that 7-10, our Bronx neighbors will almost certainly be in the mix, with a wholle mid-market team’s worth of payroll coming off the books
Milledge is not going to be very good-
He will NEVER make an ALL STAR TEAM
He is NOT a good Outfielder (he dove for routine pop-ups bc of terrible jumps), He is not that fast/ terrible baserunning instincts (considering his billing as a 5-tool player)
He will not be better than Xavier Nady- Milledge is a 3rd outfielder on a below .500 team
LOL!!! Omar hopes so.
Right now, he’s batting .330 with 5 SBs.
Church & Sucky Schneider are hanging out down by the Mendoza line.
It ain’t looking good right now, but that’s why they call it Spring Training, right?!
and Pagan is batting nearly .400……doesn’t make him the next Ted Williams
milledge’s minor league #’s make nady, gomez, and pagan look like long island ducks all-stars.
Minors ain’t the majors buddy. And Milledge hasn’t proven anything in the Majors.
church or schneider will never make an allstar team either…they could couldnt even hold down everyday jobs on the worst team in the league….i just watched lmillz hit a 450 ft homer of bonderman and saw church’s hurrendous 0-4 performance yesterday.
I really REALLY dont want to start this line of conversation again, but I just wanna clear up a post I made late on Friday in regards to Milledge, simply cause it did not come across the way I wanted to. Whether anyone cares or not doesnt bother me, it was just something I wanted to clear up….for my own sake.
I do not think anyone that wears a 59/50 hat with a flat bill and the sticker on it is a thug. It was a poor choice of words. What I should have said is that anyone that refers to themself as a ‘Thug’ or a ‘Gangsta’, or thinks Tony Montana is a real life role model should seriously reasses their priorities in life. I have never met him, but he certainly seems to fall within that demographic. The same characters that took over Vegas last NBA All-Star game, and shot guns in the street. The ‘Pacman Jones’s’ of the world.
Just wanted to get that off of my chest.
now THAT was worth repeating.
ignorance is bliss. congratulations of your new found happiness. let’s get back to baseball
At least now I can’t take you for a complete jackass.
It was actually your reply that bothered me all weekend. You were right. I KNOW you realize my point had validity, it was just written in a haste and poorly reviewed.
Im not sure it was you that asked for examples, but I just got back from Vegas last week. I was talking to a bartender at NY, NY who was telling me that ‘posse’s’(or whatever you wanna call them) were grabbing waitresses, walking around with bottles of Remy Martin the casino, shooting guns on the street, and smoking green IN the casinos. In a word…THESE are the people I was referencing, and what I meant by ‘just act like a human.’ Jason Whitlock has cornered the market on discussing this, so I leave it to him from here on out….
Bygones be bygones…
Anybody with a 59/50 hat with a flat bill and sticker on it isn’t a thug…they just don’t know how to wear a baseball cap…
Milledge is garbage, and won’t amount to squat.
Oh, and F mart is looking pretty darned comfortable these days. Not like a barely 19 YO that only has about 500 minor league ABs (that right?) and none above AA.
I really hpe he can stay healthy and get a full year in. If he does, he will be in NY real soon.
It would be sweet to see him have a taste as a Sept. call up, and win the LF job outright for 2009.
With any luck, Omar won’t have much work to do next off season. 1 SP (if Pedro or OP leave), and a new 1B, and some spare parts for the bench.
I saw F-Mar in Kissimmee against the Astros yesterday afternoon. This kid is fast an looks good. He made some great plays in right field, going out for deep balls and coming in, diving for line drives.
Pagan looked solid and hits the ball pretty hard…
was gameday right about the 25 or whatever pitches, all for strikes?
Nope, they weren’t recording individual pitches.
Every K showed up as 0-3, every walk as 4-0, every hit, groundout, flyout, or HBP showed up as 1st-pitch.
If F-Mart rakes at AA, I can see him getting a callup before September and I would be all for it. It would be like the Wright scenario where they brought him up after practically no time at AAA.
F-Mart has enough confidence that even if he struggles after being called up, it’s not going to ruin his confidence. It’s a really good sign that he is faring so well this spring against major league pitchers. I’d rather they lean on him and the other backups than go trade for another outfielder now.
Yea i cant wait to see this kid in shea. He looks very relaxed at the plate during ST. I wonder how he would handle ML pitching…hopefully we can know in september
He wold hit mistakes, look foolish against really good pitchers (and there aren’t that many of them!), chase some bad balls, and improve as he got more ABs.
Pretty much like most every other rookie when he first comes up!
I do think he could at least hold his own, and not be a complete offensive void.
And with another 400 Abs in the minors, he will be even more ready.
Who knows if he can be a “freak” like Pujols or Cabrera and mash right away at a young age, but you won’t know if you don’t try.
I would be very happy if he would come up late in the year and do something close to DW did when he first arrived. Or maybe Mike Vail, for you old timers.
I agree about the OFs. The mets, at least for now, have to assume that Alou will be back, and get his 90-100 games in. So, pagan/Clark/Easley/Anderson/Chavez can supply enough coverage for when he is out.
I’m sure Omar would pick up a better (or more permanent) replacement if one popped up cheap, but I doubt that is going to happen.
Of course, all bets are off if it turns out that Alou is done for the year at some point.
Why not FMart getting a chance at the big league level. Its similar to the Gomez situation last year with Alou going down, giving a young prospect a chance at the big league level with no pressure. Give the kid a taste and see what he can do.
I think F-Mart’s more ready than Gomez was, but at the same time, I think there’s a case to be made that Gomez’ trade value was slightly reduced by his ML time last year in that he struggled at the plate. Besides, I don’t think we’d have seen Gomez without the injury bug biting so hard.
Given the Gomez experience, I think the club’s going to be more conservative with Martinez, even though there’s probably less reason to be (given that we’re very unlikely to trade him so who cares what other clubs think?)
Thats my exact point, FMart is a bigger talent than Gomez is and was and is probably more ready than gomez was at this time to get a taste. I do not see a down side at letting the kid be up with the team for the first 15-20 games and getting some reps at the big league level.
If he was a year older and having this type of spring he would be a shoe in for making the team
I dont think bringing him up for the first 15-20 games will be a good idea, unless he is taking the place of someone on the DL.
The first 2 weeks of the season you need more middle releivers as pitchers do not go as deep into games.
Agreed, although from the noises the club’s making, either Alou + probably two others would have to go down hurt, or he’d have to hit .350 with a better-than-1.000 OPS in AAA for him to be called up before expanded rosters.
And right now, the first item is almost guaranteed, and the 2nd isn’t looking to far fetched.
Despite Wilie’s odd comments the other days, I think we’ll see Martinez sooner t han some think around here, for the primary reason that he’s out and out one of “Omar’s guys” and Omar and the organization has shown a penchant for promoting those guys quickly and featuring them prominently. We’ve seen that with Pelfrey and Joe Smith. We’ll likely see it with Kunz and Rustich. And on the flip-side, we saw Omar move quickly to dump guys like Heath Bell, Bannister and Lindstrom in favor of promoting some of his own draft picks or guys acquired by trade.
Before opening Pandor’s Box about Omar’s track record on trades and promotions, I’m just saying it would make sense that F-Mart will get adequate opportunity to prove himself and my guess it Alou gets hurt again, we’ll see F-Mart by the summer.
ALOU is only gona have 200-300 abs. If F-Mart hits in AAA he will be called up after the ALL-STAR BREAK- They will sneak him in one day-
Im glad we got rid of HUMBER- His name sucks. And how funny is it that we have a PAGAN and CHURCH in our Opening Day Lineup???
How about the fact that we have an ANGEL PAGAN
Alot of the time though the key prospects in systems are kept at the Double A level. Hitting at that level is just as impressive as hitting at Triple A and in either case your not facing major leaguers. Bring him up and lets see what he can do.
I’m correcting myself the key “young” prospects are kept at the double A level for development.
Is there any reason why they would not start FMart at Triple A. He seems like the type of prospect that would do well with better pitching…rather than crap that younger less talented at double a will throw up there….i also would like to see him develop some power before getting up here…
i’d like to see f-mart play well in the minors before he’s on the major league team. he hit .193 in high a ball. at double a last year he hit .271 with a .336 obs in limited ab’s without much power and run production.
he will likely be very good, but i’d give him at least one full year at triple a if not 1 and a half.
Don’t forget, both his minor league seasons have been interrupted by injuries.
He seems to have a very mature outlook, so there’s a good chance he will be the 2009 Mets’ starting leftfielder.
With the players we have in walk years this year, we’ll probably have a ‘rebuilding’ year next year, and we have Alou to replace. Given F-Mart’s work ethic and self-confidence, I don’t think it would hurt him if much if he struggled his first year. And it’s likely it won’t hurt the club either if that first year is 2009.
prediction f-mart…290-29hrs-101rbis at AA ball
Nah… he’s not going to be in AA long enough to put up those numbers. Plus, whilst he projects to develop into a 30HR guy, he’s not there yet.
I just wish we had a 1st base prospect in the minors that had some real power [ lucas duda might be that guy] though i havent heard a lot about him.
Duda’s very raw – his only minor-league season so far was in the short-season NYP league.
20 doubles, 3 triples & 4 HR in 234 AB isn’t bad for a 21-yo though.
Mike Carp was supposed to be that guy, but last year was a setback for him. Let’s see if he can stay healthy and get back on track this year.
Nick Evans is 21, and hit 15 homeruns and slugged .476, in A+. I don’t know where he’ll be this year, but it would be interesting if he could repeat those numbers in a higher level.
Gee, i thought 21 yr olds were destined for high class a ball!
lets just hope the mets 1st 3 picks in the draft are good ones!
great to see OP get a nice start in here. No way we need to see FMART here this year. For goodness sakes…have we not learned from the Pelfrey experiment and the Milledge and Gomez experiences. When we rush guys or rather “challenge” them at a higher level before they have really succeeded at the level they are at…we only weaken their stock and crush their confidence. Pelf has been a mess since being called up before he was ready with a second or third pitch worthy of the bigs. Millz and gomez stock plummeted since they barely produced at the big league level. Mills was closest to ready and got shipped out at .50 on the dollar more for the off the field stuff than on the field stuff.
Lets be patient with Niese and Pelfrey and Fmart and Lucas Duda and others. Let them develop where actual teaching happens in the minors as opposed to where they are needed to be more polished and performing…the big squad!
Maaaan….I dunno if anyone else is into jerseys(specifically game worn), but someone is selling the coolest ” Wear to’08 Mets games” one ever on ebay. Its a 1973 Bob Apodaca pinstriped #57 jersey, with no name on the back….absolutely beautiful….but Im slightly bigger than a size 42, and not in the mood to drop $200 right now….really really nice….
Is it almost time to go home?
The Mets should trade Brian Schneider and Ryan Church to the Nationals for Lastings Milledge and Paul LoDuca.
im in
For the record, Milledge is hitting .340 this spring next to Church’s .200.
I know, spring doesn’t matter… but what else do we have to judge things by?
Here’s hoping Lastings Milledge has a coming out party this year and plays to his potential instead of letting his mouth do the talking. As for Paulie – PED’s weren’t going to give you 10 more years of MLB ball. Now had the Mets offered arbitration, would he have rejected the offer? Because let’s say he did, the Mets would have 4 picks with the first 32 selections which is unprecedented. Either way, 3 picks – can’t complain. We’ll stockpile the minor league system provided they sign the players and draft smartly. The draft is really a crapshoot.
Here’s hoping that Milledge’s career goes into the tank so the Mets look like they made the right decision in trading him, and so that the people on this board will quit crying over that trade…
schneider and church will still blow anyway…..