Tuesday’s Mets News: Roster Moves
Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post reported that the Mets made a bunch of roster moves today in their Mets Blog. The Mets activated Matt Wise, and they purchased the contracts of Claudio Vargas and Fernando Tatis from Triple-A New Orleans. To make room on the roster, the Mets designated Jorge Sosa and Nelson Figueroa Jr. for assignment and put Angel Pagan on the DL.
Mets.com:
Highlights aplenty, but no win in end - Marty Noble summarized last night’s game between the Nationals and the Mets.
Mets play on until Pedro’s return - Marty Noble put together a pregame analysis for tonight’s game between the Nationals and the Mets.
Alou psyched about Cathedral trip - Marty Noble found out that Moises Alou is pumped up about playing at Yankee Stadium this weekend because he never played there before.
Castillo sits with quadriceps injury - Marty Noble reported that a strained left quadricep muscle kept Luis Castillo out of the lineup last night against the Nationals.
Mailbag: How are Mets doing so far? - Marty Noble answers questions posed by Mets fans’.
Education is power - Howard Kussoy pointed out that some Mets players are taking part in a program called ‘School is Amazing’ around the city.
Newsday:
Nationals get under Figueroa’s skin in Mets loss - Anthony Rieber also summarized last night’s Nationals-Mets game.
Ex-Met Milledge always at center of controversy - Lastings Milledge had a pretty good game last night, and Erik Boland tells us all about it.
Looks like Mets’ Santana will start Subway Series
THIS DAY AT THE OLD BALLPARK - Newsday lets us know what happened at Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium on May 13th of another year.
New York Daily News:
Photos: Surfing the Mets tours Citi Field
After Mets’ loss, Nelson Figueroa calls Nationals ‘bunch of softball girls’ - Adam Rubin summarized last night’s game between the Nationals and the Mets.
Sideshow takes over in latest act of Shea circus - Filip Bondy described the situation where the Nationals were singing in the dugout last night. It really upset Figgy.
Say it ain’t so on Joe Smith - Sean Brennan offers a few suggestions for the Mets to make regarding their pitching dilemma.
Pedro Martinez is starting to show progress - Adam Rubin tells us what the Mets have Pedro Martinez doing down in Port St. Lucie.
New York Post:
‘FIGUER’ HATER - Mike Puma revealed what Nelson Figueroa Jr. had to say about the Nationals after last night’s game.
PITCH & MOAN - Mark Hale found out that Pedro is frustrated about having to rehab and not being on the team.
PEDRO PREPARED FOR SIMULATED GAME
New York Times:
Only Applause for Mets Comes From Nationals
Santana Receives an Extra Day of Rest and a Date With the Yankees
The Star-Ledger:
Mets drop Figueroa, Sosa in flurry of moves
Will they clap for John Maine?
Pitcher chides cheers - Colin Stephenson also examined the Mets pitching options.
Valentine’s success well-documented - Lisa Kennelly also wrote an aritcle about the three NYU students that made a documentary about Bobby Valentine titled, “The Zen of Bobby V”.
Last night’s game got postponed so the Reds and the Mets are playing a double header today. The Mets stomped the Reds in the early game, and the night game begins at 7:30 p.m. Hopefully, we’ll get to witness another whoopin’ tonight. Mike Pelfrey is supposed to face Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo used to be the Reds’ ace, but his 1-4 record in ‘08 wouldn’t show us any evidence of that. Pelfrey started out the year pitching well, but tailed off lately. If he doesn’t have a good outing, then possibly the offense can put up double digits again.
For one day, the Metropolitans were able to put it all together. They came home from their west coast trip with a 3-3 record. The Mets are sporting a 17-15 record now. Kinda boring, huh? It seems like they are always around .500. My expectations of the ‘08 season are dwindling because they aren’t showing me anything special. Something isn’t right with the team, and it doesn’t make sense because I thought they had a shot at winning the World Series a month ago.
Tonight, Nelson Figueroa (2-1) will toe the rubber for the Mets. He will face Hiroki Kuroda of the Dodgers and has a 1-2 record. If the Mets are going to win this series, Figueroa has to come through. Also, John Maine is going to face the Dodgers’ ace, Brad Penny, tomorrow night. I was hoping the Mets would win the first two, but that’s not possible anymore. We’ll have to wait and see if the Mets can come home with a succesful road trip.
Sadly, the Mets are hosting their final Opening Day at Shea Stadium against the Phillies. All of the offseason Mets-Phillies hype has gotten me waiting for this series for a long time. I’m thrilled that it’s finally here. Below, you will find what the media has to say about the final Opening Day at Shea.
The final home opener at Shea Stadium will take place tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. The game will be aired on SNY. Who better to come to Flushing for the final home opener than the Phillies? The NL East has long been dominated by the Braves, but the Mets ended the Braves reign of the division in 2006. Prior to the 2007 season, Jimmy Rollins declared the Phillies as the “team to beat”. After an epic collapse by the Mets, it turned out that Rollins was correct. Prior to the 2008 season, Carlos Beltran declared the Mets as the “team to beat”. Now that the Braves have been out of the mix for two years and the Mets and the Phillies are the new sheriffs in town, why not make this divisional rivalry better by having the Mets host the Phillies for the final home opener at Shea? After both teams talked trash all offseason, let’s see what they can do on the field in ‘08.
Even with Johan Santana on our side and one less Jones on their side, the Mets still couldn’t beat the Braves. Everytime I watch Smoltz pitch against the Mets, I don’t understand how more people don’t think this guy is the best pitcher in baseball over the past two decades. All he does is put up goose eggs each inning. The Metropolitans are 0-2 in the first series against the Braves, and in Atlanta. That’s not a good start against division rivals have been labeled as legit contenders this year. Since ‘06, the Amazins’ have actually won series at Turner Field where they haven’t in years past. The Mets must continue to have success down there or the Braves will regain that edge they’ve had at home since Turner Field was built. It is imperative that the Metropolitans win each of the three series against the Phillies, the Brewers, and the Nationals to get back on track. Obviously beating the NL East teams are more important than beating the NL Central teams, but the Amazins’ need to dominate the NL.
