Mike's Mets

I didn't make it very far into this game before packing it in last night. After that horrible sixth inning, I set the DVR to record the rest of the game and hit the sheets. I had a feeling Pedro was due to have a bad game, and it was obvious from the first inning last night that he didn't have all his weapons. While that game was drifting away in the sixth inning, I couldn't help but reflect on how much more important it made Soler's start from the night before.

Some of the bloggers who commented on last night's game:

Jason from Faith and Fear in Flushing
Shari from from Take the "7" Train
Metstradamus
Dan from LoneStar Mets
Matt from MetsBlog

For what it's worth, here are some of the thoughts I had while watching the first six innings:

Figure Floyd won't play today, and it seems unlikely Reyes will, either. Now I'm hearing that Beltran may not. Someone is going to have to go on the DL if this is the case. The Mets did this so much last year, playing severely short-handed. Playing 3 guys down on a tough road trip is not a recipe for success. If Beltran can play that changes things somewhat, but if Floyd is going to miss more than a day or two the team might do better to bring someone else up.

Even before his miscues last night, I was worried that playing Jose Valentin every day at second base would overexpose him. He's hot at the plate right now, but I don't think he's a very good hitter. Give him a couple of hundred at-bats and he might look good, give him more than that and I think not. He'll hit a slump sooner or later where he'll be striking out a lot, and his defense isn't going to carry him. If the Mets have given up on Matsui as a starter they need to clear the roster spot and get someone that can help at 2B part time.

I feel the same about Endy Chavez. I like him in a part-time role, but, thanks to injuries, we're seeing way too much of him.

For a guy that didn't hit a ton of homers in the minors, Lastings Milledge is coming up and trying to pull everything like he is Cliff Floyd or Carlos Delgado. I don't know if that's really his style or if he's just really pressing, but he's virtually getting himself out on pitches outside. Just like the breaking pitches he was seeing every pitch for his first few days in the majors, they'll keep pitching him outside until he proves he can got the other way with them instead of waiving at them.

I liked Heath Bell last year. I thought he was a competitor who wasn't afraid to pitch, and could help this team out of the bullpen. I never bought into the silly Baseball Prospectus line that he was the second best reliever on the club. I was willing to chalk up his early struggles to nervousness, but he's one of the most hittable relief pitchers I've ever seen. One of the things I bought into from the Baseball Prospectus opinion was the Bell was unlucky last year in the high batting average against him of balls actually put into play. When the only pitch a guy can throw for strikes is a straight fastball, it's not a fluke that he gives up an excessive amount of hits. Perhaps the Mets were smarter than I gave them credit for when they didn't give Bell a real shot at making the club this spring.

Box Score

NY Sports Day: It takes a village to raise a Milledge
Joe McDonald reports that even the locker space assigned to Lastings Milledge is significant in the team's plan to help the rookie adjust to life in the big leagues.

The Metropolitans: The New Mets
Mike from The Metropolitans has a look at the Mets draft picks from yesterday.

Can't Stop The Bleeding: An interesting look at one of yesterday's picks
This is pretty funny, as Can't Stop The Bleeding points us to the MySpace page of Mets sixth round draft pick Scott Schafer. At least he seems to be exited about being drafted by the Mets.

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