They're back—sort of

As discouraged as I was in my last post, I kind of knew as a Met fan that this would happen; although I still was aware of the fact that the Mets always play to the level of the poorer teams, particularly this season.

John Maine returned last week on Wednesday, pitching 5 innings of shutout baseball, allowing only one hit to go along with 6 strikeouts and 4 walks.

In his start Monday afternoon, he gave us Met fans a sense of stability once again as he was effective in his second start since coming off of the DL. This time around, he went 5 innings for a consecutive time and allowed 2 hits with 3 strikeouts and a walk. He left the game with the Metropolitans leading 2-0 before that notorious bullpen threw it away. What a surprise right?

In any event, it’s good to see the team have their regular starters in tact. In the six-game winning streak, that of course ended yesterday, the Mets' starters went a combined 6-0 and allowed only 7 runs in 41.2 innings of work. Johan Santana also pitched brilliantly on Sunday in going the distance for the complete game shutout.

Hitting-wise, the Mets are getting by as they should be. They played the worst team in baseball in the Washington Nationals and a Pittsburgh Pirates team that is 13 games under .500. They averaged 5.7 runs a game in those two series respectively. Again good numbers, but they should be that way.

A thought of concern for Mets fans is Billy Wagner. Like I have said, this closer-by-committee thing is irking me. It never works anyway, and these guys aren’t even coming close to making it happen. In any event, Wagner was supposed to be activated yesterday, but apparently, he still isn’t ready after not feeling 100 percent after a bullpen toss on Saturday. The Mets brass has also not been specific as to when he will return making me even more concerned.

On the trade front, the Mets acquired right-handed reliever Luis Ayala from the Washington Nationals in exchange for minor league shortstop Anderson Hernandez. Ayala has the most losses for a reliever this season (ironically Aaron Heilman has the second most) and has a 5.77 ERA. If pitching coach Danny Warthen can restore his confidence, this is nothing more than a stopgap solution for the ever-problematic bullpen. Hernandez was a decent fielder, but he couldn’t hit if he had a million bucks in a briefcase dangling in front of him.

I’ll conclude with a little schedule talk. The Braves come into Shea with their beleaguered rotation that has lost the likes of John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, and Tom Glavine to major injuries and Mets' fans will get a first-hand glimpse of that below-average rotation starting tonight. Jo-Jo Reyes (3-9 5.33 ERA) faces Oliver Perez (9-7 3.91 ERA) today, followed by Jair Jurrjens (11-8 3.15 ERA) against Mike Pelfrey (11-8 3.91 ERA), and Mike Hampton (2-1 6.92 ERA) battles Pedro Martinez (4-3 4.96 ERA) in the finale.

The Houston Astros will follow Atlanta in a four-game set as the Mets certainly will have revenge on their minds after getting swept in three at Houston a couple of weeks ago.

It appears to be an easy road for the Mets this week, but in New York sports there are never any guarantees, especially with this squad.

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New Hudson Line feature: Mets blog by Luca Messina

Please join me in welcoming our newest contributor to the Hudson Line, Luca Messina. Luca is currently a senior at Florida International University, where he's studying to become a radio broadcaster. Luca spent the last six months as an intern with Sid Rosenberg, and I think you'll find his writing and opinions really smooth and crisp. He hopes to become a play-by-play announcer in baseball—and he definitely has the skills for it.

His blog, which will cover the New York Mets, is called Brasi's Blog (taking from Luca Brasi from the Godfather movies). The first installment is below. Welcome to the Hudson Line, Luca.

 

Interesting week in Metsland

 

What a week for Mets fans! What a week! Geez, the team came to Miami riding high and in first place and they returned home to see themselves three games back. Disappointing yet the norm for the Mets. Good news is that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that “light” comes in the form of an easy upcoming schedule.

 

After this three game set with the lowly Padres, the Mets entertain the Marlins for three games followed by a road trip with stops in Washington and Pittsburgh. What does this all mean? It means that the Mets need to get down to business and win the games that they are supposed to win; this is something that they have failed to do all season. They how up for the big series and then play to the levels of the poorer teams (think the Nationals series at Shea in mid may and the four game set at San Diego in early June). Besides the series’ against the Marlins and Phillies, the rest of August has the Mets playing teams that are all under the .500 mark.

 

Despite the easy schedule, the team has two critical players injured although they are expected to make their return from the DL on time and those players are starter John Maine and closer Billy Wagner.

 

My take? John Maine’s production has waned from last year although he has still had some decent outings. At the end of the day, this injury’s consequences are only the team needing a starter for one game and that game is Saturday against the Marlins.

 

Billy Wagner was an All-Star this year but I get nervous every single time he takes the mound. What’s even worse is the fact that Jerry Manuel announced before the start of the Padres series that Aaron Heilman will be the interim closer! All I have to say about that is…….oh man. In fact in his first appearance with the temporary title, he gave up three runs in a just a third of an inning’s work. Thank God Billy is going to be ok because a closer-by-committee never works and I can guarantee you that it wouldn’t work for this team either.

 

I like what I have seen from the young kids from the minors like Daniel Murphy (what a catch last Saturday), Nick Evans and Eddie Kunz. Kunz, the Oregon State product, was a 2007 First Round Draft Selection for the Mets and some see him as the successor to Wagner once his contract expires. While these guys weren’t expected to see time this year, they have made contributions that have offered some hope. Manuel particularly likes Murphy and Evans as he decided that the two will platoon in left field and Fernando Tatis will move over to right while Ryan Church continues his attempt to rejoin the team at perfect health.

 

The Phillies and Marlins,particularly the Marlins, do not want to go away. Although the Metropolitans won their first game against the Padres and the Fish defeated the Phillies to cut the Mets margin to two games, the team has to seriously start hitting consistently and continue to have their starters pitch the way they have been pitching (see Johan Santana & Mike Pelfrey). If not, I don’t care how easy their schedule is, their deficit will increase by the day.