Losing Road trip Rations and return home to New York

David Wright wearing the Mets' alternate colors (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Citi Field with Shea Stadium's Home Run Apple (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wendy Adair
Contributor/Editor

Well the Mets are headed home to face the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates to Citi Field this week after an off day tomorrow.

This past weekend they split the two game series with the Braves, the game that was supposed to be played last night was rained out and will be made up in June.

In Miami earlier in the week, the Mets lost two of three to the Marlins, on Monday night the Mets lost on a sacrifice fly in the 15th inning, denying Matt Harvey of a well earned win.

On Tuesday, a missed tag call by the third base umpire played a pivotal role in the loss, the 6th game in a row that the Mets came up short.  David Wright shocked just about everyone when he argued vehemently and Terry Collins came out to argue, but the call stood and allowed the inevitable game tying run to be safe when it was clear that Wright tagged the baserunner who overslid the base.

David Wright sat out Monday's game because of neck stiffness but played the remainder of the road trip and has now homered in three straight game.Wright did make a pinch hit appearance in the 13th inning on Monday night and struck out looking, therefore, along with Daniel Murphy and Reuben Tejada, has appeared in all the Mets games this season.

Ike Davis continues his struggles and is now hitting .172 with 16 hits, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 12 walks, and 32 strikeouts.

The past 10 days have been a true test for this team to match up with their division rivals and its clear that they are struggling incredibly right now, but hopefully home cooking this next week against an AL team and NL Central team will help them gain confidence for the coming few weeks.

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Mets choke on their Home Cooking this past week

Spring Training - Tradition Field - Jonathan Niese (Photo credit: wallyg)

Wendy Adair
Editor/Contributor

As the Mets are starting their road trip to Miami and Atlanta this next week, all we can say is that they could not get out of town fast enough, they lost five of six games this past week at home.

The Los Angeles Dodgers took two of three from the first series and the one game that the Mets did manage to win was on a Jordany Valdespin walk off Grand Slam. 

This afternoon the Philadelphia Phillies just completed their sweep of the Mets.  When you only have three hits in a game, like the Mets did today, there will be very few victories unless they are all Home Runs.  David Wright drove in Ruben Tejada with an RBI single in the first inning, that was it, the rest of the game showed no offensive prowess by the Mets hitters.

All around, this team has not played fundamentally sound baseball, they are making too many errors and their bullpen has been overutilized and poorly managed by Terry Collins.  One thing that has been a bright spot is the team's hustle, they are taking the extra bases whenever possible and this has the opposing pitchers and infielders on constant alert.

In order to prevent further damage to their standings in the NL East, the Mets MUST win at least four of the next six games against the Marlins and the Braves.  While the Marlins are about equal to the Mets in talent, the Braves have been blowing everyone away, especially the Upton Brothers.

Here is to some great road rations this coming week, Lets Go Mets, get it together, fans are actually starting to not even care about this team, they are way past frustration. 

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New York Mets vs Washington Nationals: Rapid Fire Series Preview Interview

Frank Gray
MM Editor

The last week has been very cold and very frustrating for the New York Mets. With three days of postponed games, a double header that they were swept in and a fourth game not even played, the Mets are happy to return home to thaw out.

That is the good news. The bad news is they face off with Washington Nationals and their dominant pitching staff all weekend. The Mets need to forget the past week and be equal to the task if they are to get back on track.

To help us put this upcoming series into proper perspective, we turn to our friends at "Centerfield Gate". We asked this wonderful Nationals blog our five questions. Here's what they had to say.



MM- What is the biggest news story for your team entering this series?

CG- The biggest news for Nats fans is the puzzlingly poor fielding play of Ryan Zimmerman. The normally steady Zimmerman has been unsteady, and Nats fans are waiting for him to turn himself around. Is his shoulder injured -- or is he just going through an early season fielding slump. This series will answer that question.


MM- Who is the one pitcher due to break out in this series?

CG- Gio Gonzalez has been inconsistent, and this from a hurler who defines consistency. He needs a good outing against the Mets, and a good year for the Nationals to win the NL East,


MM- Who should the Mets be afraid to face right now and why?

CG- That's easy: Jordan Zimmermann. In an up-and-down early going, everyone on the Nationals has seemed to have an off day. Not Zimmermann: he's been lights out,


MM- Who on the Mets are your fans most interested in seeing and why?

CG- Hmmm. Well, I don't know about Nats fans, but I want to see Matt Harvey. He's the one young thrower on the Mets that will define the New Yorkers in the years ahead. And every time I see him, I think 'God, I wish we had him',


MM- What are your predictions for this series and why?

CG- The Nationals are struggling and the Mets are rebuilding, but were playing well. I think the Nationals will take the series, but they won't be as dominating as pre-season pundits predicted.



***For more from Centerfield Gate, please click here***

This Week in Mets History 1-14: King Kong, Tom Terrific and Pedro Martinez

Frank Gray
MM Editor

The New York Mets are finishing up a frigid and dismal road trip today in Colorado. With such cold moments from this series to remember, now seems as good of a time as any to warm ourselves up with warm memories from yeas past.

This week, we reminisce about Tom Seaver notching a historic win, Dave Kingman hitting a blast that should be consider breaking and entering, Pedro Martinez and Gary Sheffield reaching milestones on the same date,  David Wright leading the Mets to a home run derby in Philly and much more.


April 14, 1976 - The Mets visit the rival Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field. Mets RF Dave Kingman launches a home run that measured 530 ft. What was more impressive was that his moonshot hit a house! The house and the Cubs both survived, however, as they beat the Mets 6-5 that day.


April 17, 1964 - After two years in existence, the Mets have a home of their own. The team says goodbye to the Polo Grounds and hello to the sparkling new Shea Stadium. The first game in their new home drew 50,312 fans as the Mets hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates defeated the home team 4-3 as Willie Stargell becomes the first player to homer in Shea Stadium history.


April 17, 2006 - After years of dominating batters in Montreal and Boston, Pedro Martinez accumulates 200 career wins while playing for the Mets. At the time, he becomes only the 103rd MLB pitcher to record 200 wins. In front of 36,867 fans, the Mets defeat the Atlanta Braves 4-3.


April 17, 2009 - Being recently released by the Detroit Tigers, Gary Sheffield finds himself in Queens seeking the illusive 500th home run of his career. He finally finds it at Citi Field as a pinch hitter and as a Mets player. He becomes only the third player to homer as a teenager and as a 40 year old, joining Ty Cobb and former Mets great, Rusty Staub.


April 19, 2005 - The Mets have always had unique games in Philadelphia. A game on this date was  no different. The Mets blasted their way to a club record seven home runs. The barrage of long balls features Mike Piazza, Jose Reyes and Doug Mientkiewicz, among others, with David Wright sealing the deal with a grand slam in the seventh. The Mets crush the Phillies 16-4.


April 20, 1967 - It is said that every mighty tree begins as a seed. The same is true for great players. On his way to a Hall of Fame career, Tom Seaver recorded 311 wins in his Major League career. Most of them (198) were with the Mets. On this day, against the Chicago Cubs, he recorded his very first one. Seaver goes 7 2/3 while giving up only one run en route to career win number one.


April 20. 2006 - Just days after Pedro Martinez etches his name into the history books, Julio Franco gets his turn in the historical spotlight. The Mets are on the road in San Diego. Julio Franco launches a pinch hit home run as the Mets defeat the Padres 7-2.  Franco becomes the oldest player in MLB history to hit a home run at 47 years and 240 days old.

We still like Ike! Dont give up Mets fans, the season is still very young

Wendy Adair
Contributor

Ike Davis is off to another sluggish and non productive start and many fans are getting impatient.  While his hitting struggles are no doubt frustrating, the season is just over two weeks old and they have only played eleven games.

He is currently hitting .128 with 1 HR and 2 RBIs, combine that with 12 Ks and Mets fans are dreading his every at bat. April statistics are very misleading, so as long as they improve during May and June, I think most fans would be happy if he was hitting even .250 with 10 HR and 30 RBI's by mid-June.

What bothers me more than his production numbers is his arguing with the umpires when disputing the strike zone.

Yes, he is entitled to his emotions and opinions, but he is not doing himself or his teammates any favors by arguing so fiercely when he does not have the numbers to support his stance on the strike zone.  

Some players are notorious slow starters, but end up carrying the team during the dog days of July and August, so I would not give up hope on Ike this early in the season.

Ike, we still love you and believe  in you, please give us a reason to cheer for your second half again like last year.

New York Mets vs Colorado Rockies: Rapid Fire Series Preview Interview

Frank Gray
MM Editor

After the in-climate weather in Minnesota this past weekend, the Mets travel further west to Denver to take on the Colorado Rockies. Weather will be the biggest story in this series as well. Each game of the four game set comes with a chance of snow or rain. Hopefully, the baseball gods smile down upon these teams and allow the games to proceed as scheduled.

Should this happen, it will be an interesting series. Both teams are off to good starts and both have young talent that can be exciting to watch. With that said, we turn to our friend David Martin at Rockies Review for our Rapid Fire segment.



MM- What is the biggest news story for your team entering this series?  

DM- The biggest news story for the 2013 Colorado Rockies right now is their early season success. This is a team that some experts were predicting to lose well over 100 games. It is early, but the Rockies have gotten out of the gates quickly.

Their offensive firepower has been far greater than anyone expected. Their lineup, top to bottom, is very potent. They have scored the most runs in the National League West so far this season, and they have hit more home runs than any team as well. All of that has been done while only playing three games at Coors Field.


MM- Who is the one pitcher due to break out this series?

DM- I am not sure there is necessarily a pitcher who is due to break out this series. The Rockies pitching staff is the biggest question mark that this team faces. The starters set all sorts of records last season with their struggles.

There is talent there, Juan Nicasio, Jhoulys Chacin, Jorge De La Rosa and Jon Garland are all very good pitchers, however they are all coming off of injuries that essentially washed out their 2012 seasons, making them question marks for success in 2013. The majority of analysts suggest that the Rockies pitching staff is one of the worst in the league. However, their early season success might suggest otherwise.


MM- Who should the Mets be afraid to face and why?

DM- The national media would suggest that the Mets should be afraid to face Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki and not give any thought to anyone else in the Rockies lineup. If that happens, the Mets will be hurting. Dexter Fowler is having a baffling early season stretch where suddenly the leadoff hitter who has occasional pop is hitting balls into the upper deck at Petco Park.

Fowler is hitting .298 so far, notching six home runs and nine RBIs. The crazy thing about Fowler's success has been that he is doing it from the left side of the plate, a place where most Rockies fans were insisting was the weakest part of the switch-hitters game.


MM- Who on the Mets are your fans most interested in seeing and why?

DM- Rockies fans are going to have a unique Met that they are interested in seeing come to Coors Field. The citizens of Denver are a tight-knit group and they love to see one of their own succeed, therefore, everyone in Colorado is rooting for Kirk Nieuwenhuis to succeed.

Nieuwenhuis attended Denver Christian High School and grew up in the Denver area. His success in the big leagues makes him a hero to many in the area. Fans in Denver will be thrilled to see one of their own in the big leagues.


MM- What are your predictions for this series and why?  

DM- This series is extremely difficult to predict. The Mets and the Rockies have both been hitting the ball out of the park like crazy. However, as the Mets seem to be used to, the weather is going to be terrible.

Denver is expected to get four inches of snow on Monday morning, and the temperatures aren't going to get above 35 degrees for the entire series. That means that in all likelihood, at least one of the games will be postponed, and there could easily be a doubleheader involved somewhere. Playing baseball in cold weather always makes for a difficult prediction.

However, the Rockies are determined to turn Coors Field into a home field advantage again, something they haven't done well at the past few years. If the games are played as scheduled, I believe the Rockies will win three of four. If the weather becomes an issue, the series could easily be split.


***For more from Rockies Review, please click here***

Interleague play In April? In the Snow? Yes and the Mets bats heated up last night

Wendy Adair
Contributor

Well Mets fans., the season is not even two weeks old and we have already played a west coast team for the opening series and now the team is in Minnesota playing the Twins.

It is no secret that I am so against interleague play, and especially the DH, but I have to admit that I loved seeing the Mets romp the Twins  16-5 last night in cold and snowy Minneapolis.  I would rather have the season be shortened by 15-20 games each year and do away with interleague play, I am a firm believer in NL play and seeing the DH in effect for our team, especially in April, holds no appeal for me.

When interleague play normally takes place, in June, yes, sometimes the position players would benefit from only hitting and being able to rest and get off their feet for most of the game, but I do believe in pitchers helping their own causes with the bat.

I am very happy that the Mets and Yankees will meet four games this season compared to the usual six, it tends to get ridiculous with obnoxious Yankee fans who tend to be fair weathered and think that they do inferior teams a favor by letting them play in their stadium.

 In general they can be tough to take over the long season, but to be fair , there are some who are decent and respectful.  New York fans as a rule are very tough on their players, that is understood, but there is no reason to bash these athletes out of pure malice and jealousy in some cases.

Ok my rant is over, whew!!, thanks for listening, now on to the individual segment of this article.

John Buck has been more incredible than words can possibly describe with his production thus far, while no one can expect it to last forever, the Mets are riding him while he is red hot.

David Wright had a rare tough series in Philadelphia the middle of the week, ending the series 0 for 8, but  he rebounded last night with 3 hits and 4 RBIs, taking sole possession of the Mets Franchise Interleague Play RBI Leader with 93 in his career.

Jonathan Niese had a tough time with the cold weather but still gutted out 5 innings, so he is to be commended for that, the Mets will need solid contributions from him all season with the absence of Johan Santana.

Ike Davis continues to struggle, but it is clear that the Mets believe that he is a valuable member of the present and future team so for now they are riding things out waiting for him to start producing and driving in tons of runs.