Author Archives: Matthew Cerrone

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Mets RHP prospect Matt Harvey recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts, while allowing three runs on four hits over six innings for Triple-A Buffalo last night.

“I threw two pitches that caught too much of the plate, but after that, I settled in,” Harvey said after the game, according to MiLB.com. “After that first inning, I was able to get ahead with off-speed stuff. I was able to get my changeups in there and I was just able to trust my stuff and attack the zone and work ahead.”

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Matthew Cerrone: The thing I like seeing in his boxscore is that he let up two solo home runs in the first inning, but then rebounded to throw three straight scoreless. The buzz from Buffalo is that he’s doing a better job keeping the ball down and keeping hitters off balance with his off-speed pitches. I still think he’s not likely to be promoted until at least late June, and at least not until Chris Young gets back and shows what he’s capable of on a big-league mound. Personally, I’m fine with that. Harvey is special, but he needs to be consistent, refined and in command to succeed, so I’m all for him getting every bit of seasoning that he needs. However, I imagine those drum beats from fans and media will start getting louder sooner than that…

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Harvey is fifth in the International League with 49 strikeouts. He has a 4.31 ERA in nine starts.

The Mets and Nationals lost last night, while the Phillies, Braves and Marlins won.

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To read more about last night’s debacle, check out this post on MetsBlog, as well as beat reports from MLB.com, the Wall Street Journal, Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, ESPN, Newsday, the Daily News and New York Post.

The Mets continue their three-game series with the Blue Jays tomorrow in Toronto at 1:07 pm, withMiguel Batista (1-1, 4.26) facing Brandon Morrow (4-2, 2.22).

Following tonight’s ugly loss, Terry Collins frustratingly told reporters:

Jon Niese, who allowed four runs tonight:

“I don’t know why with his stuff he’s had such a tough start. Maybe we need to change his pre-game stuff? … Again, a guy with his kind of stuff, to have the type of problems he’s shown lately in the early innings, I don’t why. There’s way too much plate, his ball is in the hitting zone, they’re just squaring him up way to easily. … We went through all of the reports, we watched all the video, we are certainly prepared for what they do, we just have to make better pitches. … I mean, you can’t put the ball in the hitting area against a team who has dangerous hitters. And, just because you get trough Batista and Encarnacion, it doesn’t mean other guys can’t do damage. It’s a matter of staying focused.”

Robert Carson, who made his big-league debut by pitching a scoreless inning:

“I was glad to get him in the game. You saw that good arm that he’s got. Now it’s just a matter of the command, and getting comfortable and confident that he can throw his pitches for strikes.”

The Mets (21-18) lost to the Blue Jays (22-18) by the score 14-5 tonight in Toronto.

To get a full recap and boxscore, click here for SNY’s in-game live.

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Matthew Cerrone: So, Rob Johnson – yes, the back-up catcher – throws a 1-2-3 inning (including a strike out). Yet, Niese, who has made more than 70 big-league starts, gets knocked around the ballpark like he was pitching batting practice. I’ll tell ya, ya gotta love baseball. Niese tried to use that cutter tonight, instead of his curve ball, and each pitch seemed to be left over the plate… and Arencibia, among others, just teed off on it. It was embarrassing… just brutal. He needs to ditch that cutter. It just isn’t working for him. Worse, he made no adjustment in the second and third inning, at which point the game got totally out of hand.

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The Mets continue their three-game series with the Blue Jays tomorrow in Toronto at 1:07 pm, with Miguel Batista (1-1, 4.26) facing Brandon Morrow (4-2, 2.22).

W.B. Mason Post Game Extra:

SNY will commemorate this year’s Mets 50th anniversary by unveiling the Mets All Time Team presented by Citi on June 17 at the 92Y in Manhattan at 8pm.

The Mets All Time Team presented by Citi will air June 21 at 8:00 pm ET on SNY.

This once-in-a-lifetime event will feature many of the organization’s top players, including Tom Seaver, Keith Hernandez and more.

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Matthew Cerrone: The idea is that they’ll be naming one person as the best player from the organization to ever suit up at that position.

Three weeks ago, 80 percent of voters told me Mike Piazza was the best Mets catcher ever. Similarly, 87 percent said Keith Hernandez was the team’s best ever first baseman; 80 percent proclaimed Edgardo Alfonzo as the team’s best second baseman; and 80 percent said Jose Reyes was the best shortstop.

I guess I never stopped to think about it, but third base is no different. I mean, it’s David Wright in a landslide, which means the entire infield is more or less a no-brainer. Right?

The Mets, Braves and Phillies won yesterday, while the Marlins and Nationals lost.

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To read more about yesterday’s win against the Reds, check out this post on MetsBlog, as well as beat reports from MLB.com, the Wall Street Journal, Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, ESPN, Newsday, the Daily News and New York Post.

The Mets head to Toronto to open a three-game series with the Blue Jays tonight at the Rogers Centre, with Jon Niese facing Ricky Romero at 7:07 pm.

Lucas Duda collected three hits last night.

In his 20 games, Duda is batting .338 with a .419 OBP, one HR, 13 RBI and two doubles.

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