Daily Archives: August 22, 2009
The Mets (57-65) continue their four-game series with the Phillies (69-50) in Citi Field tonight, with JA Happ (9-2, 2.66 ERA) taking on Tim Redding (1-4, 6.53).
The Mets will honor the 40th anniversary of their 1969 World Championship tonight with a pre-game, on-field celebration, most likely pushing tonight’s start time to at least 7:30 pm.
Angel Pagan will hit leadoff tonight, followed in order by Luis Castillo, Gary Sheffield in left field, Jeff Francoeur in right, Fernando Tatis at third base, Daniel Murphy, Omir Santos behind the plate, and Wilson Valdez at short.
Happ is 2-0 with a 1.19 ERA in his last three starts. The Mets scored four runs on six hits, including two home runs, against Happ in June.
Phillies 1B Ryan Howard is batting .370 with six HR and 20 RBI during his last 12 games, but is just 3 for 24 with 10 strikeouts for his career against Redding.
Redding allowed three runs in seven innings against the Phillies during a start earlier this season.
Update, 4:44 pm:
The Mets removed infielder Andy Green from the 25-man roster, and replaced him with RHP Pat Misch, who has been promoted from Triple-A Buffalo.
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JJ Putz tossed 19 pitches in a simulated game today in Citi Field.
Jerry Manuel told reporters Putz threw his split-finger, and had a lot of life on his pitches.
Manuel said Putz will next pitch in a minor-league rehab game for Single-A Brooklyn on Monday, and could join the Mets in Colorado around Sept. 1.
Similarly, Manuel said David Wright is ‘on track,’ he’s doing ‘extremely well,’ and could also return from the DL around Sept. 1.
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Jerry Manuel said yesterday he doesn’t expect Jose Reyes to return to the Mets this season.
“I am kind of working on the assumption he won’t be back,” Manuel said.
…from what i understand, reyes has been pretty idle for the last week or so… and, furthermore, the team, and some players on the team, are not happy about it… the buzz from Citi Field suggests much of jose’s delay might be in his head, not his leg, in that he might be gun-shy to push it for fear of making things work…
…i can’t say i blame him, given how much he struggled with leg injuries earlier in his career… and, while, today, given the standings, he should take it slow… i seriously hope this was not the case back in May…
Tagged News |“The Red Sox were awarded a waiver claim on Billy Wagner on Friday, according to two major-league sources,” writes Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.
Yesterday, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com said if the 
Mets want to get a decent prospect in return for Wagner, they will likely need to pay most of the $3.5 million left on his contract.
However, according to Rosenthal, “The Mets will be reluctant to include money in a deal.”
That said, Rosenthal cites a rival executive as saying the Red Sox will be motivated to give up ‘real prospects,’ in a deal for Wagner.
The Mets and Red Sox have until Tuesday, 1 pm, to work out a deal.
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In a post to Mets Fans Forever, Will Sommer asks if you will still be disappointed in 2009 if the Mets are able to play spoilers, and knock a team like the Marlins out of the post-season race.
According to Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing, “Pedro Martinez shouldn’t be wearing a jersey that says Phillies across his chest. It should just say Pedro.”
In the New York Post, Jay Greenberg explains why it is it is giant mistake to keep Gary Sheffield on the Mets.
Mets Single-A 1B Kirk Nieuwenhuis was ranked second this week on the Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet.
The 22–year-old Nieuwenhuis leads the Florida State League in home runs, extra-base hits and runs scored.
The Staten Island Little Leaguers won their first game in the Little World Series, which you can read more about at the New York Times.
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