Quick Update

sorry no Around The League today been busy..

Mets beat the Marlins 9-2 and while doing so crushed Dontrell Willis. Willis had to take one for the team as mitre only threw 16 pitches the game before. Wright extended his hitting streak to 25, and Carlos Beltran went deep. John Maine brought a no hitter into the 7th inning but Miggy after a pitch that looked like he went around on but didn't hit a liner to right field for a base hit. Maine's final line was 7 innings 2 ER 7 k's. 1.93 ERA

Tonight the Mets take on the Marlins again as Orlando Hernandez faces off against Rick Vanden Hurk.

Orlando Hernandez
is 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA on the season looking to rebound from a tuff start against the Nationals. Hernandez only has 2 career starts at Dolphin Stadium but he's made them count as he is 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA.

RHP Rick Vanden Hurk (0-0, 3.86 ERA) (mets.com)
The youngster from Holland will be making just his second Major League start. His first one, against the Brewers, was surprisingly good. He lasted 4 2/3 innings and allowed only one run before rain stopped play. He struck out five straight at one point. In two innings of relief against Atlanta, he wasn't so special, giving up two runs over 2 1/3 innings.

Paul Lo Duca won't be in tonights lineup after playing last night. Willie said Lo Duca was favoring the hand and wants to give him the night off and Castro a start.

Standings

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Atlanta	10	4	.714	-
NY Mets	9	4	.692	0.5
Florida	6	8	.429	4.0
Washington	5	11	.313	6.0
Philadelphia	4	10	.286	6.0

Rotoworld updates WHAT ARE THE PHILLIES THINKING?

In the beginning of the season all Phillies fan when comparing Brett Myers to Tom Glavine said Myers was better and would only get better.

Here's Phillies bright idea after 2? bad starts

"The Phillies have decided to make Brett Myers into a setup man to make room for Jon Lieber in the rotation. He'll work in the seventh and eighth, as well as close when Tom Gordon is not available.

Incredible. This is perhaps the biggest overreaction to a lousy start that we've ever witnessed. Myers earned the Opening Day start for the Phillies after back-to-back fine seasons and had a great spring. He was coming off back-to-back poor starts, but he had struck out 19 in 15 1/3 innings"

"Jon Lieber is moving into the Philadelphia rotation, displacing Brett Myers.

Lieber finished last year with a 4.93 ERA in 27 starts. He's probably better than that, but his fantasy value still figures to be pretty limited, and if the Phillies aren't careful with him, they might get him hurt again."

Now this makes no sense to me.. The Philles are taking their ace out of the rotation to put him in the pen? Now how is a guy who has been a successful starter during his career going to act to be putting put in the pen for a 37 year old? My guess look for Myers to be traded soon.


Mets

"Paul Lo Duca is in the starting lineup for Wednesday's game against the Marlins.

Lo Duca left Tuesday's game with a bruised right index finger."

Surprised thought he would at least take one day off

Marlins

"Marlins placed outfielder Alejandro De Aza on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 16, with a sprained right ankle."


"Marlins placed RHP Jorge Julio on the 15-day disabled list with a right calf strain."

Just tell the guy he isn't good enough to pitch on your team don't go making up fake injuries.

"Marlins recalled RHP Lee Gardner from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Gardner gets recalled after six days because of Jorge Julio's "injury." He'll work in middle relief and in a setup role."

"Marlins recalled outfielder Eric Reed from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Reed was hitting .130/.149/.196 in 46 at-bats for Albuquerque. The Marlins will probably keep using Cody Ross and Alfredo Amezaga in center, with Reed serving as a defensive replacement."

Glavine gets #293 ATL

Mets beat the Phillies in the first and only game of the series 8 to 1.

As I expected the Mets came ready to play and Alou went deep.

Tom Glavine started the game and won his 293rd game of his career. Glavine walked a lot of batters again, and had to work out of trouble but pitched good overall going 6 innings giving up 6 hits and 1 ER. 2.70 ERA

Moises Alou was 2 for 3 last night with his first and second homerun of the season. Alou has been hitting the ball hard all season and it was just a matter of time before some of these balls started going out. Alou had 3 RBI's on the night and is now batting .341 on the season

Carlos Beltran was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI's and also stole 2 bases on the night.

Jose Reyes nothing new 2 for 4 a walk and a stolen base now hitting .327 on the year with a .431 OBP

David Wright extended his hitting streak to 24 games but Wright up with the bases loaded struck out against Geary with a horrible swing on the outside Slider.

Carlos Delgado looks awful at the plate after an 0 for 4 last night with 3 k's he's now hitting .224 on the season. In his older age Delgado has become a streaky hitter and he showed that last year, I just hope it's the cold weather and going to Florida will get him started.

The Phillies just don't look like they want to be on the field. They are known for slow starts but they look awful out there and it doesn't seem like anyone cares.

BIG STORY
The big story for the Mets was catcher Paul Lo Duca having to come out of the game after the 4th inning because of a foul tip hit off of his right hand. Lo Duca's x-rays came back negative but after being checked again the doctor told him he had a fracture on his hand.

Lo Duca is day-to-day and Ramon Castro will start in his place today. Castro was 2 for 2 after coming in for Lo Duca and had 2 RBI's.

The Braves beat those pesky Nationals 6 to 4.

John Smoltz again started for the braves against the Nationals this time he pitched 6 innings and gave up 4 R just 2 ER while striking out 2. ERA 3.12

Rafeal Soriano finally had an easy outing pitching 1.2 innings giving up nothing while striking out 2.

Bob Wickman closed the game for the Braves and now has 4 on the season without giving up a run.

Chipper Jones has found his swing he went deep again last night for his 4th homerun of the year.

Kelly Johnson had a big day at the plate going 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored.


Jerome Williams started the game for the Nationals went 5 innings and gave up 4 ER. 0-3 5.62 ERA on the year

Chris Snelling was 2 for 3 with a tripple and an RBI on the day

Nationals were trying for their 3rd straight win.

Florida lost to Houston 6 to 1

Starter Sergio Mitre had to leave after throwing just 13 pitches due to a torn callous on his pitching hand.

Jorge Julio is just awful and again blew another game for the Marlins this time coming in the 3rd inning he gave up 5 ER in an inning of work.

Hanley Ramirez was 2 for 4 with his second homerun of the season.

For The Astros

Roy Oswalt pitched on three days rest and did just fine going 6 and 1 third inning giving up just 1 run while striking out 7. Oswalt out to a quick start is now 3-0 with a 2.89 ERA

Carlos Lee had another big day and is just eating up NL EAST pitching Lee was 3 for 4 with a homerun and 4 RBI. Now hitting .340 on the season

Standings

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Atlanta	9	4	.692	-
NY Mets	8	4	.667	0.5
Florida	6	7	.462	3.0
Washington	4	10	.286	5.5
Philadelphia	3	9	.250	5.5

Carlos Gomez watch

Gomez had just 1 hit in 4 at bats but drove in 2 runs yesterday and is now hitting .404 on the season

Also in this game 23 year old lefty

Jason Vargas threw 6 innings giving up just 1 run while striking out 5. He is now 2-0 on the season with a 1.50 ERA

A lot of people are saying the trade for Vargas was a bad trade because hey Owens has a 0.00 ERA and Lindstrom is pitching well while Vargas and Bostick are in AAA. I think it was a great trade that will pay off. I believe if Jason Vargas after the first half of the year in AAA is something like 2.8 ERA he will have a lot of value. 23 year old lefty who's slider and change up are plus pitches and has a 92-93 MPH fastball. If Valentin isn't having a good year by that point I think the Mets could look towards the Twins. The Twins have 2B prospect Alexi Casilla who they are very high on and ironically the player he is compared to is the guy patrolling 2B for the Twins right now Luis Castillo. The Twins rotation without Liriano isn't very deep and I think with Castillo being a free agent after the year a trade with Vargas could go down for Castillo. Omar likes Castillo and tried to get him last time he was a FA and what Omar wants OMAR GETS.

Tonight the Mets start a 2 game series with Florida in FLORIDA which has the players very happy that they don't have to play in the cold.

John Maine starts the game for the Mets and is 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA he was a little shaky last time out walking hitters but got out of trouble. Maine only has 1 career start against the Marlins which he lost and also has a 4.99 ERA on the road in his career.

Dontrell Willis determined not to get out in a slow start like last has had 3 great starts in a row. Willis is 3-0 with a 3.32 ERA. Against the Mets in his career Willis does everything hit pitch play defense. What do the numbers say? In his career Willis is 11-2 against the Mets with a 2.02 ERA in 16 starts. Willis also has 3 homeruns and 8 RBI against the Mets.

No more predictions because really I would just predict the Mets to win every game

Called it :)

Called that Moises Alou would hit a homerun in the post before this.. :)
2-0 Mets top second


Moises Alou goes deep AGAIN!
Mets now lead 4-1

My prediction was Mets 5-1 and Alou would go deep lets see what happens.. Game Recap and Around the NL EAST to come later.

Around the NL EAST and your 4/17 updates

Well we know the Mets and Phillies got rained out but lets see how Atlanta, Washington and Florida did last night.

Washington played the Braves AGAIN

This time the Nationals beat the Braves and young lefty Chuck James 5 to 1.

Chuck James started the game for the Braves and got the lost pitching 5 innings giving up 3 ER. ERA for the season 2.25

Former Met Tyler Yates gave up 2 runs in relief in just 1/3 of an inning. Yates now has a 6.75 ERA

Scott Thorman came in the game as a replacement for Jack Wilsonand had the Braves only RBI of the game.

Bobby Cox had this to say about the game..

"We had six runners on in the first two innings, and that's a lot of runners not to score one," said Braves manager Bobby Cox. "We just couldn't get [hits] at the right time."

Matt Chico started the game for the Nationals and pitched good enough to get a win. Chico went 5 innings giving up 5 walks and 4 hits but only allowed 1 ER. 5.27 ERA on the season.

Dimitri Young had a big night at the plate going 3 for 4 including a double and 2 RBI

Ryan Zimmeran had 2 hits of his own and an RBI as he try's to get on a roll after his slow start.

The Nationals bullpen in the game that consisted of Rivera Rauch and Cordero pitched 4 scoreless innings giving up just 1 hit while striking out 3 to close out the game.

Florida lost the Houston Astros 4 to 3 last night as the Marlins bullpen blew another game.

Anibal Sanchez started the game for the Marlins and though he walked 6 batters he got out of jam after jam and ended up giving up just 1 run in 5 innings of work.

Former Met Matt Lindstrom came into the game in relief and gave his first earned runs of the season as he gave up 2 runs in his 1 inning of work.

Marlins search for a new closer game to Kevin Gregg but Gregg's first day as a closer didn't go to well as he gave up 2 walks and 2 hits which led to a walk off hit by Morgan Ensberg with the bases loaded.

Hanley Ramirez was 2 for 4 with a tripple as he was thrown out going for an inside the park homerun.

Joe Borchard was 2 for 4 with an RBI raising his average to .270 on the season

Standings

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Atlanta	8	4	.667	-
NY Mets	7	4	.636	0.5
Florida	6	6	.500	2.0
Washington	4	9	.308	4.5
Philadelphia	3	8	.273	4.5

Carlos Gomez watch until Gomez's average dips below .330

Last night Gomez had another huge night at the plate and also showed some plate discipline

Gomez was 3 for 3 with a tripple a run scored and 2 WALKS!
Now hitting .419 on the year


Tonights pitching matchup brought to you by
www.metsfever.blogspot.com

Tom Glavine (2-1, 3.12)
Glavine was about as good as he could be in frigid New York temperatures on Thursday, giving up three runs in a six-inning performance against Philadelphia. He recovered from a rocky start to record career win No. 292, despite walking three in the first inning and serving up two home runs to Phillies leadoff man Jimmy Rollins.

Freddy Garcia (0-0, 0.00)
Garcia makes his long-awaited Phillies debut. The right-hander had a delayed start to his regular season because of soreness in his right biceps. In his only career start against the Mets, Garcia allowed one run on six hits in a complete-game victory, striking out seven.

~my prediction Garcia has a ruff first start off the DL and the Mets after 2 rain delays are ready to play. Score Mets 7 Phillies 3

Moises Alou will go deep~

What does Rick Peterson think about off days?

“The opportunity is we can take a couple of our young guys and we can get a couple extra bullpen [sessions]. Things we worked on all through spring training, we have a couple extra sessions…Quite frankly, besides Tommy, I think everyone can benefit from this.”

~Remember Perez is not pitching until Saturday thats what 3 bullpen sessions? Now what would you say if Perez has no walks next time out?

From USA today Glavine on his last start vs Philly

''I was rushing in my delivery and rushing to try to make pitches,'' said Glavine, who earned his 292nd career win. ''After the second inning, when I threw my warmup pitches in the third inning, I kind of tried to make a little conscious adjustment and it felt good. It felt like my pitches were a little bit better during the warmup and just tried to go with it, and it seemed to work.''

4/16/07

With the two rain-outs in a row The Mets are making some changes with the starting rotation.

Tom Glavine, Tuesday
John Maine, Wednesday
Orlando Hernandez, Thursday
Mike Pelfrey, Friday
Oliver Perez, Saturday

Glavine jumps over everyone, while duque jumps over Pelfrey who jumps over Perez. I guess Rick Peterson wants some more bullpen sessions with Perez before they let him get back out there.


Carlos Gomez is tearing it up in AAA he made baseball america's first hot sheet

#9 "No sense in waiting until the second half this year. The precocious Gomez is hitting .375/.405/.575 and leads the PCL with six doubles and six triples."

Yeah lets not forget Gomez has 6 steals and 5 RBI.

Gomez has a bright future, and it could be batting second behind Jose Reyes. Though right now with Gomez's plate discipline it doesn't seem like Gomez would be a good #2 hitter. Gomez said something like "If you don't swing then you can't hit" last year so I don't think he would be taking pitches for Reyes to run on. #7 hitter ?

What does this mean for Lastings Milledge who is struggling right now in AAA? The Mets could just keep Milledge in the minors then in 2008 have an outfield of Milledge Beltran Gomez. Or like many people think The Mets could trade Milledge at the all-star break for a starting pitcher. Here are some things to think about for all of you who want to trade for a starting pitcher..

Pedro Martinez is ahead of schedule and is set to return right after the all-star break? 20 pounds of muscle. Thats like gaining a #2 starter at the break without trading away anyone.

Maine Perez Pelfrey if these guys are giving you the solid pitching you need why do you need to trade for someone? and really if Pedro is going to come back healthy you only need 2 of the 3 to work out.

But lets say the Mets trade for a starting pitcher. Lets just throw out Haren, I'm not saying he's the guy the Mets will trade for but he's a good example because he won't be a FA for a while.

Looking ahead to 2008 if you trade for someone these are your possible starting pitchers..

Pedro Martinez
Dan Haren
John Maine
Oliver Perez
Mike Pelfrey
Orlando Hernandez (2 year deal)
Philip Humber
Jason Vargas

Now in a perfect world the Mets convince Hernandez to retire, or go to the bullpen. But look at that you have 9 starting pitchers for 5 spots. You have to give Pedro and Haren a spot. Now if Perez Maine and Pelfrey all have good years those are your next 3 spots. But then are you going to let Humber rot in the minors? are you going to trade him then if somebody goes down your left with nothing? same thing as Vargas.. and wait Tom Glavine hasn't decided if this is his last season..

I think you just go with the starters you have and hope Pedro comes back strong for a playoff push.

The Mets should be happy they have these kind of problems. Delios Guerra should be ready by 2009 :)

The Mets have another problem with the future of the outfield another great problem to have but what do you do?

Carlos Beltran 29 years old right now, by the time F-Mart is ready in 2009 he will be 31-32 years old still in his prime.

Carlos Gomez a Jose Reyes in the outfield? more power? how can you trade that away?

Lastings Milledge 20+ homerun guy who can hit for a good average play great defense and steal you some bases

Fernando Martinez in AA at age 18 #24? prospect in all of baseball predicts to be the next great hitter in the league.

What do you do? How long do you wait to trade a guy? Switch F-Mart to 1st base? but then what about possible FA Mark Texeira (SP?) is a free agent.. What about 1B prospect Mike Carp that Mets MLB coaches love.. what do you do? again a great problem to have but will have to be addressed sooner or later.

This is talking without future draft picks that can turn out, and guys in the minors that can break out at any time.

Around The League to come later..

Leave your thoughts on what the mets should do for now and for the future.

Mets game rained out AGAIN

According to Metsblog the Mets and Phillies have been rained out.

Tom Glavine 7 days rest? will the Mets do that?

Ill be back later with more updates.

Mets split series with Nationals

Because of the heavy rain the Mets and Nationals won't be able to play the next game in the series. The Mets won the first game against the Nationals, and then lost the second. I really can't believe the Mets lost a game to the Nationals these are games you must win, and the division could come down to who had a better record against the Nationals.

The Mets hitting made the Nationals pitching look like cy-youngs.

Now with the rain out you would have to wonder if the Mets will skip Maine or Perez in the rotation to keep Glavine on regular rest.

I think you have to let Perez get right back out there after his horrible start. I would let Maine pitch to, Glavine can handle an extra day rest it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Sorry for the non updates been busy. I usually don't update much on weekends

Heres the National League East standings

Team	W	L		GB
Atlanta	8	3		-
NY Mets	7	4		1.0
Florida	6	5		2.0
Philadelphia	3	8		5.0
Washington	3	9		5.5

Mets now go to Philly for 2 then to Florida for 2 then home for 3 with Atlanta. Big games in the division.

The Braves after beating Florida today go to play the Nationals again for 2 then go home to play the Cubs for 2 before going to shea.

The Phillies start a 2 game series with The Mets then get Washington for 2 stay on the road and play the Reds for 3 after that they have a makeup game with Houston before getting to play the Nationals for 3.

Phillies have the easiest upcoming schedule, and The Mets have the hardest.

Glavine gets win number 292 ATL

The Mets beat the Phillies yesterday 5 to 3. In the beginning it seemed these two 40+ year old pitchers were in for an early exit walking batters early, but both Glavine and Moyer got out of early trouble and pitched well.

Tom Glavine started the game for the Mets and I really can not believe he went 6 innings after the first and second inning he had. Glavine looked like Oliver Perez out there early on but after walking 3 batters in the first inning did not walk a batter for the next 5 innings. All Glavine's runs were due to two homeruns by Jimmy Rollins. His final line was 6 innings 4 hits 3 ER 3 walks. ERA for the season 3.12

Jose Reyes is on fire. Reyes had 2 more clutch RBI'S yesterday giving him 11 already this season. Reyes on the season is now batting a .351

Moises Alou was 3 for 4 yesterday with an RBI, and finally some of these hard hit balls he is hitting are starting to drop. (.343 average)

David Wright kept alive his 21 game hitting streak with a triple on a ball he hit deep to right field last night.

Joe Smith has not been fazed by the change from spring training to the regular season, Smith has now thrown 6 scoreless innings this year and striking out 5 while doing so. Smith's slider is one of the nastiest pitches if seen from such a young kid all I want to say is a reliever never wins the rookie of the year award but I really think this kid could have a chance.

Scott Schoeneweis looked solid last night and was able to pitch a complete 8th inning giving Heilman an extra day off.

Billy Wagner made it a little interesting as usually but didn't give up a run, and got his second save of the season.


The Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves yesterday, yes the Nationals beat the Braves. The Nationals and Phillies are now tied in wins.

John Smoltz started the game for Atlanta and got the loss though pitching 8 innings giving up just 2 runs.

The Braves had only 2 hits all night and those hits came from Chipper and Andruw Jones.

Jason Bergmann finally gave The Nationals a chance to win pitching 6 scoreless innings while striking out 8 to cool down the hot Braves.

Chad Cordero made it interesting by getting the bases loaded in the 9th but eventually got Brian McCann to strike out to end the game.

Ronnie Belliard is making it a mission to make teams second guess not signing him this off-season. If you remember nobody signed Ronnie Belliard until the Nationals came to him this spring with a minor league offer. Belliard with an RBI last night is now hitting .406 on the year

The Marlins were off yesterday.


Today the Mets will start a 3 game series with the Nationals at home as youngster Mike Pelfrey got the call up today and will make his first start of the season.


Standings

Team	W	L		GB
Atlanta	7	2		-
NY Mets	6	3		1.0
Florida	5	4		2.0
Philadelphia	2	7		5.0
Washington	2	8		5.5

Interesting Notes

Fernando Martinez's homerun the other day in AA was in the 8th inning of a tie game off of a left handed specialist.

The Indians gave a 3 year deal to Jake Westbrook so I guess you could cross him off the list of possible mid-season trades to the Mets.

The Phillies the team to "Beat" have the same amount of wins as The Washington Nationals who are expected to lose 120 games this year.

Lastings Milledge was sent down today to make room for Mike Pelfrey. Milledge had only 3 at bats during his time in the majors and will go down to AAA and start every game in either left or center field.

Juan Padilla to undergo surgery

UPDATE
J.B. Cox had a different type of surgery, and rotoworld says Juan Padilla could still come back later this season and help out the Mets.
~I still think he's done for the season he's thrown what 1 inning that was during spring in whats going to be by the time he should be back in 2 years. See you in spring training Juan.

From Mets press release
"The New York Mets announced today that right-handed pitcher Juan Padilla will undergo surgery on his right elbow tomorrow to repair a partial tear of his flexor tendon. The operation will be performed at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan."

Well not much to say except this is blow to the bullpen because he was expected back soon to take some of the load off of Heilman. Yankees minor leaguer J.B. Cox just had the same surgery and he will be out for 8 months so don't expect Padilla back any time soon. How many more days until Mota is off suspension?

Mets lose an UGLY game to the Phillies also ATL

Mets lost to the Phillies 5 to 2, before the game started the thoughts were Perez is going to prove again he is a different pitcher, and that the Mets were going to show why Adam Eaton is overpaid. We get into the game and its the complete opposite

Oliver Perez started the game for The Mets and after cruising through the first couple of batters Perez just fell apart. Perez walked 7!!! during the 3rd inning and was taken out after hitting Barajas on a 2-2 pitch with the bases loaded. Perez's final line was 2.2 innings 1 hit 7 walks and 3 ER.

Aaron Sele came in the game for long relief and really did a great job keeping the Mets in the game. Sele saved the bullpen from being overused by pitching 4.1 innings giving up 2 runs.

Jose Reyes was the only Met hitter with 2 hits, and also the only Met hitter to drive in a run off of Adam Eaton. Reyes is now batting .333 on the season

David Wright going 1 for 3 on Wednesday kept his 20 game hitting streak in tact.

Adam Eaton started the game for the Phillies and pitched great as he silenced this Met offense. Eaton pitched 7 innings giving up just 4 hits 2 earned runs while striking out 5. ERA 6.94

Adam Rowand had a good night at the plate going 2 for 3 with 2 RBI's.

~Perez was just horrible tonight but I had some questions on pitch selection, it didn't seem Perez was shaking Lo Duca off but 2ce that I saw with the bases loaded 2 strikes while Perez had no control at all Lo Duca called a slider which 1nce was ball 4 and the other time hit the batter which was Perez's final batter of the game. I don't see why you would throw a slider in that situation even though the hitter is looking fastball Perez couldn't throw a strike, and I just thought it was a bad job by Lo Duca calling those pitches. Whats scary is if Perez would of just got that last hitter out he would of only gave up 2 runs while giving up 7 WALKS and maybe could of went out there and found himself and you never know with Perez he could of got on track and pitched 2 more innings.

~David Wright kept his 20 game hitting streak alive but he looks awful at the plate. Wright's at bat usually goes like this; Fastball taken right down the middle Strike 1. Changeup low swung at strike 2. A couple of pitches taken 2-2. Slider outside that he swings at 90% of the time for strike 3. Sometimes you just wish you could talk to the player just be like GET A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE PLATE DON'T TAKE THE FIRST PITCH FASTBALL IT'S THE BEST PITCH YOUR GOING TO GET WITH 2 STRIKES YOUR GOING TO GET THE SLIDER LOOK TO GO THE OTHER WAY. You would expect Rick Down or Wright would see this in video maybe they do but Wright is going to have to fix it quick because he's a huge part of this offense especially against lefty's which the Mets will be facing today in Jamey Moyer.

Around The League

The Braves beat the Nationals AGAIN 8-3 and the Braves now improved to a division best 7-1.

young Chuck James took the ball for the Braves and shut down the Nationals offense (who can't) for his second win of the season as he pitched 6 innings giving up no runs while striking out 5.

Chipper Jones hit his first homerun of the year and had 2 RBI's.

Andruw Jones hit his second homerun of the year and drove in 3 RBI's

~The Braves just have an easy schedule in April after this series with the Nationals they go to face the struggling Marlins for 3 then go back and play the Nationals 2 more times.

The Marlins finished that rain delayed extra inning game with Brewers and lost in 13 3 to 2.

~I already did a wrap of this game before the delay so ill just do what happend in extras~

Renyel Pinto surrendered an RBI single to Prince Fielder which was the game winner.

The Marlins then lost a second game to the Brewers 5 to 2.

Sergio Mitre took the ball for the Marlins and got his second loss of the season pitching 6 innings giving up 10 hits and 4 ER. ERA now 4.09

Miguel Cabrera went deep in the 4th inning for his 4th homerun of the season. He's now hitting .406 on the season.

Joe Borchard also went deep for his first homerun of the season.

NL EAST STANDINGS

East	W	L	PCT	GB
Atlanta	7	1	.875	-
New York	5	3	.625	2.0
Florida	5	4	.556	2.5
Philadelphia	2	6	.250	5.0
Washington	1	8	.111	6.5

Around The NL EAST April 10th

The Braves blew out the Washington Nationals 8 to nothing last night and improved to a major league best 8 and 1.

Tim Hudson took the mound for the Braves last night and showed more good signs that this will be a break out year for him.
Hudson pitched 7 scoreless innings giving up just 3 hits and struck out 7. Hudson's ERA for the season 0.67.

Andruw Jones finally hit his first homerun of the year coming in the 4th inning off of Washington pitcher Chico.

Jeff Francoeur had a huge night at the plate going 2 for 5 with a homerun and 5 RBI

~Lets remember people this is the Washington Nationals who will lose more then 100 games this season shouldn't be a surprise Atlanta is having their way with them.

The Marlins had a terrific game with the Brewers in a game that went to extra innings and then got rained out. There wasn't much offense this game as the Marlins only had 6 hits in 10 innings.

Former Met Mike Jacobs seems to be having a turn around season and last night was 1 for 4 with an RBI. He's now hitting .367 on the season.

Former Met Jorge Julio blew another save for the Marlins pitching in the 9th inning gave up 2 walks a hit which led to an Earned Run and a blow save.

~It now seems that Matt Lindstrom (former Met) or Henry Owens (former Met) could take over the closer role for Florida.

In news around the NL EAST
from rotoworld.com
"Mike Hampton had successful surgery to fix the torn flexor tendon in his elbow on Tuesday.

Hampton will miss the remainder of the season, but should be fully recovered in time for the 2008 season."

Thats a big blow to the Braves. That rotation now features a pitcher in Mark Redman who didn't get a contract to mid spring and Kyle Davies who has good stuff but had what a 15 ERA last year?

The Mets, and Phillies were both off yesterday (duh they are playing each other) and will be playing today as Oliver Perez takes the mound against over paid Adam Eaton.

Standings
W L GB

Atlanta	6	1	.857	-
New York Florida	5	2	.714	1.0
Philadelphia	1	6	.143	5.0
Washington	1	7	.125	5.5

Back!!!

I'm back from vacation today and will start to update again. Sorry for the non-updates.

What I missed


The Mets are now 5-2 a 1/2 game behind the braves for 1st place, and tied with The Marlins for 2nd.

The Phillies are tied for last place with The Washington Nationals at 1-6 and their bullpen is just horrible.

The Mets went to Atlanta and lost 2 out of 3 games. They could of easily won all 3 games but lost 2 games because of bad play.

After The Mets beat Mark Redman, Tom Glavine faced off against John Smoltz. Then in the 6th inning in a tie game a routine fly ball was hit to Shawn Green which he dropped and a run scored. Then another fly ball was hit to him and he didn't set up correctly to throw and another run scored. If he would of made the catch on the routine fly ball only 1 run would of scored and could of been a totally different game.

The next game The Mets had a 2-1 lead going into the 8th with Aaron Heilman pitching, usually a win but Heilman had a really bad game that cost The Mets the game.

But you can't complain with a 5-2 start and getting 5+ innings from your starters every time out.

Shawn Green has surprised everyone with his good hitting, and has pretty much nothing to worry about as it seems Milledge can't even get in a game.

Willie Randolph is making some really bad moves that are being covered up. On the bench you have right handed hitting Lastings Millege, and Damion Easley. We know Shawn Green are Jose Valentin are bad against lefty's so against Mark Redman who starts? Green and Valentin. Didn't see the point in that. And then again Mets have to face one of the best lefty's in the game in Cole Hamels and Willie again leaves Green and Valentin in the game. Though Valentin had a big hit it was later in the game when Hamels had left.

Then there was the biggest dumb move. In a 3-2 Mets lead after John Maine had been taken out Willie Randolph let Burgos pitch to Howard after Howard had just seen Burgos have a 12 pitch at bat with Utley. Felciano was ready in the pen but Willie kept Burgos in there. The outcome? 3 run homer from Howard.

But yesterday Willie was bailed out by the offense who went off in the bottom of the 8th inning. And of course with the bases loaded and 1 out a ball hit right to Jimmy Rollins and he can't handle it. The guy who doesn't shut his mouth makes the game losing play, and now his team is in last place.

Help from unexpected players #2 Joe Smith

Over at sportingnews.com this writer has Joe Smith as the #2 player who will help their team this year

Good teams -- the Mets and White Sox -- and bad teams -- the Nationals and Devil Rays -- could be getting some unexpected help this season from players arriving out of nowhere.

2. Joe Smith, RHP, Mets. This time last year, Smith was pitching for Wright State. The club's third-round pick in 2006, he graduated to the majors this spring by schooling hitters with his wicked sidearm delivery.

~I have a lot of faith in young Joe Smith, and I feel he will be with this club all year and make us all forget who Chad Bradford is. Smith will have to keep working for a spot as it's most likely between him and Burgos when Guerrmo Mota comes back from suspension. Before the season is over we will have seen Joe Smith be a right handed specialist, a middle relief pitcher, a setup man, and possibly used in Long Relief he can do anything.

OT
Just looking through The Nationals roster the other day I saw how bad that rotation is, and was thinking of a possible trade. Jason Vargas and Jon Adkins for Jon Rauch AKA the "Wookie"

The Mets could use a setup man to take some of the load off of Heilman, and Vargas is behind a load of pitchers to get a shot on this team. For The Nationals they get a 22 year old lefty who has had success in the majors before and would probably become their #2 starter. Also Vargas still has some years before free agency so it wouldn't cost The Nationals much.

Baseball America on Guerra

Well if you haven't noticed yet Guerra is one of my favorite prospects, and I can't wait to see him pitch.

It was all too easy for the 17-year-old Mets righthander in his first start for St. Lucie on Thursday, tossing five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out five.

Guerra doesn’t turn 18 for another two weeks, but the Mets saw three significant things change in spring training: a spike in fastball velocity, added depth to his breaking ball with the confidence to use throw it and the ability to repeat his delivery more consistently.

Guerra’s fastball was up to 94-95 mph in minor league camp, an increase of four-to-five miles an hour from where he was last season. He also worked hard on his curveball, which lagged behind his fastball and plus changeup, during the offseason.

He also apparently grew at least an inch.

“He’s up to 6-foot-6 now,” Mets vice president of player development Tony Bernazard said. “His body is getting there and he’s progressed a lot, not only with his stuff, but with his delivery and his work habits.”

Guerra was clocked consistently in the low 90s in the Mets rain-shortened 2-0 win against Vero Beach on Thursday and showed the same consistency with his breaking ball as he had during spring training.

“His arm speed is there with the changeup and it’s a plus pitch,” Bernazard said. “His curveball is coming along. It’s got good tilt and break to it now, and it’s where he can throw it for a strike. He’s using it more often now than he had before.

Thanks Baseball America for the update. Some people didn't believe Guerra was throwing mid 90's already so heres your proof. Get ready folks this kid is going to be the next big thing.

For all your minor league reports go to

www.metsprospecthub.blogspot.com