Coming into the season, the Mets starting rotation was of question. One of the big questions, was Mike Pelfrey, who was pitching well, before going down to injury. Ever since then the Mets have been struggling to fill that fifth spot of the rotation. They tried Chris Schwinden for two starts, who pitched a total of eight innings going 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA. Since then the Mets used  40 year old Miguel Batista on Tuesday, who pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs in a Mets win. Mets manager Terry Collins has said that Batista will get at least one more start. With Chris Young at least a couple of weeks away before returning from injury, who is the pitcher to fill the fifth spot?

Meet Jeremy Hefner. Hefner was called for one game in late April, and pitched three innings in that game, pitching three innings, giving up three hits and a walk.  Hefner, who is currently at AAA Buffalo, has started six games and is 3-1 with a 1.77 ERA.  Hefner, 26, has pitched a total of 40 2/3 innings in those six starts, averaging about 6 2/3 innings per start. Furthermore, Hefner, has pitched a 0.910 WHIP, with 1.3 BB/9. While Hefner only has 5.1 K/9, Hefner throws strikes, doesn't walk people, and keeps the ball on the ground with a 39.5 GB% as well as a 3.00 GB/FB ratio.

So with Miguel Batista pitching mediocre, and Chris Young at least a couple of weeks away, why not give Jeremy Hefner a look?

So it's ten games into the season, and the Mets are 7-3, 0.5 games out of the division lead. Not many people, if any would have predicted this. The Mets have won every first game of the series so far. So, what are the Mets doing right to be successful? What can we expect to see for the rest of the 152 games of the season? As to a baseball game, there are two main keys, the pitching, and the offense.

Firstly, pitching well. Overall, the pitching staff, has pitched to a 2.43 ERA, second in the NL. Johan Santana has been great, while getting virtually no run support, R.A. Dickey has continued his success, Jon Niese has been nothing short of remarkable, Mike Pelfrey has shown signs of returning to his 2010 form, and Dillon Gee, pitched a gem last night in Atlanta. They have given up approximately 8.3 hits per nine innings, or, less than a hit per inning, while sustaining only 3.6 walks per nine innings, leading to a 1.32 WHIP. Of those 8.3 hits per nine innings mentioned above, only 0.4 of those are home runs.  Furthermore, the pitching staff has thrown strikes 62% of the time, hardly below the league average at 63%. The looking strike percentage is 29%, just above the league average of 28%. The swinging strike percentage is 29%, also just above the league average at 28%.  Those stats tell us what is necessary for pitchers to be successful. Not give up many hits, keep the ball in the ballpark, and keep runners off the bases, all the while getting only 3.8 runs of run support per game. If the pitching staff can sustain these numbers, the Mets should be successful.

Secondly, productive hitting. Starting at the top of the lineup, Ruben Tejada, has a league leading six doubles so far. In the ten games so far, Tejada, who took over as the leadoff hitter the second game of the season, has seen about 4.76 pitches per at bat, allowing the hitters behind him to analyze the pitcher. David Wright, is hitting a blistering .542. Josh Thole is hitting .375. The Mets as a team have a batting average of only .248(seventh in the league), but have .327 OBP (fifth in the league), a .404 slugging percentage (also fifth in the league), leading to a .731 OPS (obviously fifth in the league). So while the Mets aren't hitting all that often, when there not hitting, there getting on base by some other form, and when they are hitting they are tting extra base hits. Let me explain further, the Mets home run percentage, is 3%, 0.8% better than the league average at 2.2%. Their walk percentage is 10.4%, nearly two percentage points better than the league average at 8.6%. Their extra base hit percentage is 7.6% percent, a half point better than the league average at 7.1%. This is all the while Jason Bay, Lucas Duda, and Ike Davis are hitting a combined 18-104, or a combined .173. Josh Thole won't hit .375 for the season, and David Wright won't hit anything close to .542. But they should both hit over .300, and Duda, Davis, and Bay, will hit better than they have so far. So while some of this isn't sustainable, overall it could be, as long as the Mets continue working counts, and hitting the ball well.

(All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs)

Mets Game #139, Road #73
New York Mets NL East – 3rd Place – (68-70) Road (38-34) – Last Ten (8-2)
@	Sun Life Stadium
Florida Marlins NL East – 5th Place – (62-77) Home (27-42) – Last Ten (4-6)

Pitching Match-Up

Mets Lineup

Marlins Lineup

Team Rankings

Team Leaders

Tidbits of Interest

• Mets at a Glance – The Mets have won eight of their last 10 games…New York is 10-13 in its last 23 games and 22-25 since the All-Star break.
• Series History - The Mets won their first series of the year at Florida and in the process snapped their seven-game losing streak at Sun Life Stadium.
• Road Games – The Mets won their first series of the year at Florida and in the process snapped their seven-game losing streak at Sun Life Stadium.
• Labor Day – The Mets are 23-31 all-time on Labor Day
• Sun Life Stadium – The Mets will play their final series ever at Sun Life Stadium…Next year the Marlins will open a new ballpark…The Mets are 72-71 all-time at Sun Life Stadium, also known as Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium and Land Shark Stadium…New York posted its best record at Sun Life in 2007 when they went 8-1…The Mets were 0-6 at Sun Life in 2010…Among all Mets, Jose Reyes has played the most game at the facility (58)…David Wright has the most hits (72) and is second in RBI (41), one behind Carlos Beltran…On the pitching side, Al Leiter owns the most wins in a Mets uniform at Sun Life (5)…Johan Santana owns the lowest ERA in this building (0.86 ERA – two earned runs/21.0 innings) and Armando Benitez, John Franco and Billy Wagner are tied for first with six saves…..The Mets first ever game at Sun Life Stadium was on June 29, 1993…New York scored three runs in the eighth highlighted by a two-run home run by Jeff Kent and another run in the 12th on a sacrifice fly by Tim Bogar to win, 10-9…Dave Telgheder was the winning pitcher…Jae Seo, David Weathers and Armando Benitez combined to throw a one-hitter in a 5-0 win on June 17, 2003…Jose Vizcaino went 5-5 on September 23, 1995 at Florida…Robin Ventura hit two home runs and drove in a franchise record six runs at Sun Life Stadium on June 28, 1999.
• Additional Coaches – Buffalo Bisons Manager Tim Teufel will join the Mets coaching staff on September 9 and will remain with the club through September 18…Binghamton Manager Wally Backman will join the Mets on September 20 and will be with the team the remainder of the year…Minor League Hitting Coordinator Lamar Johnson will assist the major league club from September 9-15…Buffalo pitching coach Ricky Bones will join the Mets on September 16 and work with the staff through September 25.
• Team Rankings – New York ranks second in the NL and seventh in the majors with a .265 batting average…The Mets rank second in the NL and sixth in the majors with a .335 on-base percentage…The Mets are fifth in the majors with 262 doubles, fourth in the majors with 476 walks and eighth with a .267 batting average with runners in scoring position…The Mets lead the majors with 1,061 runners left on base.
• Home Runs – The Mets hit one home run yesterday (Lucas Duda)…New York has six home runs over its last three games after not hitting a home run during their six-game homestand…New York has hit at least one home run in each of their last five road games (nine total).
• Jose Reyes – Did not play yesterday and has at least one hit in all six games since returning from the Disabled List…Reyes is second in the National League with a .333 batting average…Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun is first (.335)…The Mets have never had a batting champion in team history…Reyes also leads the majors with 16 triples and is fourth in the National League with 35 stolen bases…He is also tied for eighth with 84 runs scored…Reyes is one triple shy of 100 for his career.
• David Wright – Extended his hitting streak to eight games yesterday..He has five RBI over his last four games and is batting .485 (16-33) with five doubles, two home runs and nine RBI over his last nine contests.
• Lucas Duda – Drove in a run in his fifth straight game on Sunday and has two home runs in his last three games…Five of Duda’s nine home runs have either tied the game or given the Mets a lead…Duda has 15 RBI over his last 14 games…He is batting .326 (47-144) since the All-Star break, ranking ninth in the NL…His .405 on-base percentage since the break is eighth in the NL and he has 32 RBI during that same span, tied for the 11th-most in the NL.

   

  METS ROOKIE MOST SECOND-HALF HR/RBI
  Player	Year	HR		Player	Year	RBI
  Darryl Strawberry	1983	18		Carl Everett	1995	45
  David Wright	2004	14		Steve Henderson	1977	46
  Mike Jacobs	2005	11		Darryl Strawberry	1983	46
  Greg Jefferies	1989	11		David Wright	2004	40
  Ryan Thompson	1993	11		Jason Phillips	2004	36
  Lucas Duda	2011	9		Jay Payton	2000	35
  Jeromy Burnitz	1993	9		Lucas Duda	2011	32
  Carl Everett	1995	9		Ike Davis	2010	31
  John Miller	1972	9		Ty Wigginton	2003	30
  Jay Payton	2000	9		Greg Jefferies	1989	29

   

• Nick Evans – Has hit .341 (14-41) with seven runs scored, three doubles, one triple, three home runs and nine RBI over his last 11 games.
• Josh Satin – Made his first major league start yesterday and collected a single in his first major league at-bat off Livan Hernandez. 
• The Pen – Tossed 4.1 scoreless innings yesterday…The pen has permitted eight runs over their last 28.2 innings (2.51 ERA) dating back to August 24…Overall, the pen ranks 27th in the majors with a 4.23 ERA
• Starters – Over their last 10 games, Mets starters are 6-1 with a 3.56 ERA (24 earned runs/60.2 innings)…They have issued 20 walks and notched 47 strikeouts..
• Chris Capuano – In his last start, received a no-decision in a 3-2 win vs. Florida on August 31 at Citi Field…Pitched 5.0 innings and allowed two runs, earned, seven hits, and two walks…Also recorded four strikeouts and threw 99 pitches. 60 for strikes…He has recorded at least five strikeouts in 13 of his past 16 starts and 16 of 20.

Discuss the Game Live at Mets Paradise Forum!

Like always,

So now we're .500, and once again we're praising the team. Talk is beginning to swirl around about how we need to be buyers — buy buy buy. Since when was .500 competitive? We're 9.5 games out of first place in the NL East and 5 games out of the Wild Card. 

We're really not that competitive of a team, because we need to establish a path in the future. Fortunately, Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez are not part of our future, and it's time for Mets fans to get that through their heads. I understand we've suffered injuries, and we'll have Wright and Santana back near the All Star Break, but that doesn't mean we should suddenly be buyers. In fact, this is the same type of mentality we have held for the last 5 years, and it is exactly what has put us in this position. If the player is not in our future plans, then pack his bags and bring in somebody who will be a part of the future — it's that simple. 

Payroll is expected to be lowered to a maximum of $120M next year, from what Sandy Alderson has told us. So obviously, K-Rod and Beltran will not be a part of the roster, and it's time to get something back. Beltran has been solid this year, and I think a team like the Rangers or Angels could use a rental player for the last two months of the season. The Angels have lacked power to sustain their outstanding aces Dan Haren and Jered Weaver. Both of those teams have the financial flexibility to acquire Beltran and give up a solid prospect, so Beltran would fit into their situations perfectly, giving them a boost and playoff experience as well. He can DH, and still play well in RF. 

We've talked a lot about moneyball and when it will be implemented — but the thing is, I think it already has. Alderson used small money in a big market to acquire the likes of Chris Capuano, DJ Carrasco, and Justin Turner. His young players have stepped up — Dillon Gee, Jon Niese, Daniel Murphy, and Jason Pridie. This is exactly what we've wanted to see out of the Mets for a long time — small players with small contracts making a big impact. Kids from our farm system getting the call-up and proving something. Kids like Turner and Gee have that fire and tenacity that we haven't seen in the Mets since 2006. They have something to fight for, not to be paid for. Why try to buy, and add to payroll, when we can walk into next March with more young talent from our minor leagues auditioning for a chance to do the same — to prove they can create a spark, light up the fire and create a little magic? Should we worry about putting people in the seats, or winning games? If big name players like Prince Fielder are what it takes then I don't want to see them win — I'd rather see them struggle to put fans in the seats with a team of no-names who improve each and every year, building chemistry and all fighting for the same thing regardless of their payroll. Those fans that stick around will be the true die-hard fans, not the bandwagoners who suddenly love us because we paid $18M on one free agent. One month we talk about rebuilding, the next we talk about adding to what we have. We talk about what will make the roster better in the future, although that in no way includes Beltran and Rodriguez. They are not a part of our future. So let's stop flip flopping between Buy and Sell each year, and settle on sell. Let's have a clearance sale, and build for the future. The small man has helped us this year — please, don't turn your backs on them. 

NEW YORK – New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis, who has not appeared in a game since May 10 because of a left ankle injury, may require season-ending surgery in three weeks if he is unable to run at that point, general manager Sandy Alderson said.

Davis, who has been wearing a protective boot, was examined Wednesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. An MRI showed cartilage damage in addition to a bone bruise.

Alderson said Davis will now shed the boot to improve blood flow and try to run in three weeks, after giving more time for the cartilage to heal. If he is unable to comfortably run at that point, surgery will follow.

Alderson likened the procedure to microfracture surgery on the knee. That surgery involves making tiny cracks to increase blood flow and stimulate cartilage growth.

I feel pretty bad for not seeing this coming. The stupid injuries and our inability to properly treat them over the past years is atrocious, and yet I sat here like everyone else just assumed it was a sore twisted ankle and Ike would be back in 2-3 weeks. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice and …. I'm just an idiot.