Diamondbacks vs. Mets (7/30-8/1): Series Preview

While the buzz around baseball this weekend will be who’s going where, where others have already gone, which teams helped themselves, and which teams are now in trouble, there will also be actual games played. The Mets will be playing three of them against the lowly Diamondbacks, although do I really have the right to call them “lowly” since they swept the Mets just last week?

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Tags: Aaron Heilman, Barry Enright, Dan Haren, Diamondbacks, Edwin Jackson, Hisanori Takahashi, Ian Kennedy, Jon Niese, Mets, Mike Pelfrey, Rodrgio Lopez, Roy Oswalt

As Trade Deadline Approaches, are Mets Buyers or Sellers?

Note to all Major-League baseballs teams: if you are looking for a textbook guide on how to take yourself out of a division race and a wild card race simultaneously, all in the course of 11 days, just analyze the Mets’ recent road trip to the West Coast. It’s a prime example of how to go from contenders to pretenders.

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Tags: Hisanori Takahashi, Luis Castillo, New York Mets, Oliver Perez, R.A. Dickey

Mets Suffering From Dementor Effect

The current West Coast road trip started out rough for the Mets and just continues to look bleak and dreadful. Going into Friday’s game against the Dodgers, the Mets are 1-7 after the All-Star break and have scored just 15 runs over the course of those 8 games. They are the coldest team in baseball coming out for the second half with a team batting average of .188. They are listless, uninspired and have this look like they have just returned from the dead and walking the earth aimlessly.

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Tags: Carlos Beltran, david Wright, New York Mets

SP Trends vs. ARI (Pelfrey, Dickey, Niese)

The Mets were swept for the first time since mid-may as they fell to the Diamondbacks late Wednesday night in a 14 inning affair.  This sweep has caused a stir among Met fans as the calls for the firing of the manager are as loud as the calls for Omar to make an impact trade.  Mike Pelfrey was awful on Monday, but R.A. Dickey and Jonathon Niese continued their success.

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Tags: Jonathon Niese, Mike Pelfrey, R.A. Dickey

Mets at Dodgers (6/22-6/25): Series Preview

While things seem to be falling apart in Metsland, the team rolls into the City of Angels to face a team that might actually be in an even worse predicament. Like the Mets, the Dodgers are only 1-6 since the All-Star Break. They’re ownership is going through a bitter divorce settlement that handcuffs them financially and they now have to deal with suspensions to Clayton Kershaw, Joe Torre, and the oh-so-important bnch coach Bob Schaefer.

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Tags: Bob Schaefer, Clayton Kershaw, Fernando Nieve, Hiroki Kuroda, Hisanori Takahashi, James McDonald, Joe Torre, Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, RA Dickey, Vincente Padilla

Mets Need Pelfrey to Get Back on Track–and Soon

Is there anybody else besides me that’s a little concerned about Mike Pelfrey? Just a little? C’mon admit it. Well, if you’re not, maybe you should be. Have you noticed of late that Pelfrey’s outings are starting to look a lot like…dare I say…Oliver Perez’s outings. Ouch.! OK, maybe that was a little mean and unfair, but not completely off base. Let’s look at some of these ugly stats. For those faint of heart, hold onto your loved ones.

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Tags: Mike Pelfrey, New York Mets, Oliver Perez

Mets Look for Pitching as Trade Deadline Approaches

These are busy days for general managers as they scramble looking to make the best trades that will solidify their teams for a post reason run before the July 31st trade deadline. Phone calls are being made, emails and being sent and general managers and owners have a firm grip on their Blackberry’s.

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Tags: Brett Myers, Dan Haren, Hisanori Takahashi, Jake Westbrook, Johan Santana, New York Mets, R.A. Dickey, Roy Oswalt, Ted Lilly

SP Trends vs. SF (Dickey, Niese, Takahashi, Santana)

Though the Mets were only able to take 1 game from the Giants, the starters were not the ones to blame.  Hisanori Takahashi was beat up as he made a spot start for Mike Pelfrey, but the hitting was missing in action as they only scored 7 runs in 4 games.  Look for the Mets bats to rebound against the Diamondbacks as the starting pitching continues to impress.

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Tags: Hisanori Takahashi, Johan Santana, Jonathon Niese, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, R.A. Dickey

Mets at Giants (7/15-7/18): Series Preview

The Mets kick off the second half with an 11 game west coast road trip, beginning tonight with a four game series with the San Francisco Giants. Of course, the big news is the return of Carlos Beltran. Though nobody expects him to be the Carlos Beltran of old right away, this is a good time to bring him back. Not only has the Mets offense been struggling of late, but Beltran has a career line of .290/.374/.430 in his career against the Giants.

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Grading the Mets First-Half Hitting

With the All-Star break upon us, I thought it might be a good idea to look back at the first half performances of the Mets and hand out some appropriate grades. Today, I’m concentrating on the hitting and will grade the pitching in another post. This grading system is entirely subjective and I’ve tried to offer a little bit of commentary as to my perspective. But by all means, you are more than welcome to “argue” whether you think I was too generous or too hard in the comment section below.

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Tags: Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, david Wright, Ike Davis, Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, New York Mets Streak, Rod Barajas