However, since July 1, Rodriguez has already blown three saves while earning just six, and he has compiled a 7.79 ERA over that stretch, including a 12.79 ERA so far in the month of August.

He allowed the game winning home run to Bengie Molina in the top of the tenth inning yesterday.

Rodriguez has been especially vulnerable to the home run, as he has allowed five already this season compared to four allowed all of last season.

…it seems that throughout the year Rodriguez hasn’t ever have the smoothest of outings…that said he seemed to have more velocity and life on his pitches early on, and combining that with guile he was able to put out his own fires…

…lately his fastball velocity has been down and too close to the speed of his breaking pitches…that could be attributed to fatigue but this was the same pitcher that saved 62 games in 67 chances last year…

Sports Illustrated

Francisco Rodriguez finished second with 12 percent of the vote.

The issue hits newsstands on Wednesday.

Rodriguez has saved 24 games in 27 chances this season for the Mets, while striking out 49 batters in 48 innings with a 2.06 ERA.

He had 45 saves on this date last season while pitching for the Angels

…i have to be honest, there are days when i forget he’s even on the roster, which speaks volumes about the season as a whole…

Rodriguez has pitched in just two of the team’s last seven games.

Lifetime, Wright is a four-time All-Star and is 4 for 12 with a home run and an RBI in mid-summer classics.

Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the National League, striking out one.

This was Rodriguez’s second All-Star appearance and fourth All-Star selection.

Johan Santana did not pitch in the game, and while Carlos Beltran was selected as a starter to the National League team, he did not attend the game due to his knee injury.

The four players going to the All-Star Game for the third-place Mets are the most for any team in the National League.

Santana told reporters that he will pitch in the All-Star Game if asked by Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, pointing out that the day the game is played will technically be the day he throws a bullpen session between starts.

David Wright said, regarding the game, according to the Daily News

“It’s obviously an incredible honor to be an All-Star… But… the All-Star Game is not something I’m focused on right now.  I’ll go there.  I’ll enjoy it.  I’ll have a good time.  And I’ll hopefully have some good experiences.  When it’s all said and done, we have to find a way to fix what’s going on here and turn this thing around.”

Speaking as a Mets fan…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Jerry Manuel knew that sending Rodriguez out for a second inning might jeopardize his availability for tonight, but Rodriguez asked Manuel to let him back out for the tenth, telling reporters:

“I’m the kind of guy if I make a mess, I clean it up. I felt really frustrated because I didn’t get the job done in the ninth.”

…i just hope that if he is available and needed that he can be effective…he has thrown 93 pitches since Sunday night which has become a lot for a starter, let alone a closer…

According to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post players normally arrive to visiting ballparks in taxi cabs, but Jerry Manuel ordered a “team-building exercise.”

Francisco Rodriguez told reporters that it “was a little weird” but “hopefully, that will bring us together and keep us together and start us playing in the right way. We win, so that means it’s a good thing.”

…i am not sure that this will necessarily translate into wins, but i do think that it is important that this group of players be brought together in some way since they had never played together before the injuries set in to the core group…

Jon Niese

The Mets are 8–22 in games when the opposition scores first.

However, they’ve outscored opponents 36–12 in the first inning during games at Citi Field, where the Mets are 22–14 this season.

The Mets have 51 RBI from their catchers this season, the most in the major leagues, according to Elias.

Francisco Rodriguez has allowed 11 of the 35 first-batters he has faced in an inning to reach base this season.

Jerry Manuel has used 50 different batting orders in 71 games.

To vote for this week’s Fan Confidence Rating, click here.

Lastly, I started a Facebook account for me and MetsBlog, here.

…a) hello, huff… i will say this: he has to know he’s being observed by Mets people, sort of like an audition, and i think it says a lot that he’s just playing his game, hitting, back-to-back walk-off hits, etc…

…b) the common talking point today seems to be: well, you can’t get all over K-Rod because he’s been so good this season… this is true… i buy this… no one loss is on a single person anyway…

Last night was the second-straight game Rodriguez walked in a run.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, courtesy of ESPN.com, he walked in a run only twice in his previous 150 appearances.

Rodriguez, talking to reporters after the game, said:

“Well, I’m a human being.  So, unfortunately days like this are going to happen.  Today, unfortunately, it happened to me.  I’ve just got to move on… It was an awful, awful outing and I didn’t get the job done… I’ve just got to be ready for tomorrow, make sure I get I get the save tomorrow.”

Rodriguez walked five batters in his last four appearances, but walked just five hitters in the 15 appearances before that.

“At some point, he’s not going to be perfect,” Jerry Manuel told reporters following the game .  “He had good arm strength.  The command just wasn’t quite what he wanted to be.  Every now and then that’s going to happen, even to a guy that’s as special as he’s been for us… He’s been able to walk that tightrope here occasionally.  Tonight it just didn’t happen his way.”

…he flirts with disaster a lot… not because he puts guys on base, but because he works out of the strike zone a lot… even when he has his best stuff… this is what helps him be successful, because when guys do make contact, he rarely gets hit hard… the last week or so, though, guys have been taking pitches, and they’re not even close, it seems, and so he’s walking a lot of hitters…

In a recap for Mets Today, Joe Janish writes, “I’ve decided to view Mets games in the same way I do college basketball — which is, don’t bother watching until the final minutes, when the game is ultimately decided.”

Rodriguez is 1–2 with 17 saves in 19 chances, with a 1.10 ERA in 32 innings pitched, during which opponents are batting .162 against him.

For more on Rodriguez’s outing, and last night’s loss, check out David Lennon’s report for Newsday, as well as Steve Popper’s in the Bergen Record.

…seriously, who cares… why exactly am i supposed to care what brian bruney thinks… i didn’t even know who he was until i read this article… this is the kind of manufactured nonsense that makes me read less and less of what is written by newspaper people… i mean, brian bruney… really…

Update, 12:10 p.m…

According to David Lennon on Twitter, “K-Rod and Bruney nearly came to blows and had to be separated during an argument in LF during BP.”

…this makes today’s game that much more interesting…

This season, Rodriguez is 16 for 16 in save opportunities, and has allowed just two earned runs in 27.2 innings, during which opponents have struck out 31 times and are hitting .152 against him.

Jerry Manuel, speaking about Rodriguez’s influence on the bullpen, while talking to reporters after the game:

“He is the piece, he is the guy, he doesn’t panic… Again, he just has tremendous instincts with great stuff, and it makes him so effective.  If something isn’t clicking that night, he has enough of an arsenal to find something else.”

…he was making me nervous last night, because he was throwing more off-speed pitch after off-speed pitch… i could be wrong, but i think he entered the game, and tossed two change-ups and a curve ball to start off Jimmy Rollins, who eventually hit a single… but, what do i know… i mean, clearly he has a plan, makes necessary adjustments and reads hitters as well as anyone… i joke around about him being an adventure, but i think it may be by design… i don’t think he gets enough credit for how smart he is out there…

He is 4 for 4 in save opportunities against the Phillies.