Kuzul

1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Luis Castillo, 2B
3. Angel Pagan, RF
4. David Wright, 3B
5. Carlos Beltran, CF
6. Ike Davis, 1B
7. Jason Bay, LF
8. Henry Blanco, C
9. Johan Santana, LHP

This is the Mets’ best chance to turn this slump around. Johan Santana is 2-0 with a 0.58 ERA in his last four starts.

This is a good lineup no matter what anybody says, and they should be able to score enough runs to win every time Santana starts.

Like this post? Want the latest Mets news and rumors? Subscribe to Flushing Baseball Daily via RSS Reader , by Email , Twitter , or Facebook . You can also follow this post’s author, Rob Abruzzese , on Twitter.

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After tonight’s loss against the Dodgers, the Mets designated Fernando Nieve for assignment. The Mets have not announced a replacement for Nieve, but it is believed they will call up Manny Acosta tomorrow. It should be interesting to see what the Mets do.

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Another loss. Another loss. Can the Mets win a game?

Hisanori Takahashi had a great start. He allowed two runs, one in the first and one in the seventh. He also allowed three hits. The Mets threatened early, having runners on the corners and one out, and also the bases loaded with two outs, but failed to score.

The Mets have not scored a run since Rod Barajas hit a home run against Arizona on Wednesday. No offense, really, for the Mets tonight. Hiroki Kuroda just beat them, plain and simple. The Mets couldn’t do a good job beating him. Not much to say.

W-Hiroki Kuroda (8-8)

L-Hisanori Takahashi (7-5)

S-Hong-Chih Kuo (S)

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Mets have not done well on this road trip, going 1-6 so far.  They head to Los Angeles after playing until after 2 a.m. last night in Arizona for a four-game set with the Dodgers.

They head into this series needing some wins right now. Gary Cohen was mentioning on SNY last night that these two teams are similar. They are both contenders, but they are starting to slip, and need wins to get back to where they need to be.

I must say, I predicted the exact lineup before it was posted with the knowledge Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran were getting the day off, and that Rod Barajas caught all 14 innings last night. Here is tonight’s lineup, with comments from me:

1. Jose Reyes – SS  Reyes went 1-for-6 last night, his only hit being a single that he got thrown out trying to extend into a double.

2. Angel Pagan – CF  Pagan had a big night last, night going 3-for-5 with a home run.

3. David Wright – 3B  Wright is reverting back to his old swing from earlier this season which is leaving the outside vulnerable. He went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts last night. Reyes and Wright were asked if they wanted tonight off, but both refused.

4. Ike Davis – 1B  Davis had a bad series in his home state of Arizona. Last night he even got double-switched out.

5. Jeff Francoeur – RF  Francoeur gets the start tonight with Beltran out of the lineup, causing Pagan to move over to center.

6. Chris Carter – LF  With the news last night that Bay and Beltran would sit today, it was obvious Carter was going to get a start.

7. Josh Thole – C  With Barajas catching all 14 innings last night, it was clear he wouldn’t catch today. The way Thole has played, it was pretty obvious he would get a start, especially considering he got a home run Tuesday night.

8. Luis Castillo – 2B  Castillo got the day off last night, but came in on the double switch that removed Davis.

9. Hisanori Takahashi – SP  Takahashi has not been a good asset for the starting rotation, and I am getting the feeling that unless he has an excellent start tonight, it will be his last start and then he will return to the bullpen.

Tonight’s starting pitching matchup will be: For the Mets, Hisanori Takahashi (7-4, 4.69 ERA) will face Hiroki Kuroda (7-8, 3.74) from the Dodgers. Tonight’s game starts at 10:10pm. Tonight’s game will be broadcast on SNY.

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Rumors flying around the New York Mets say they might trade Jeff Francoeur before the trade deadline next week.

Is that possible? Yes.

Is it likely? Knowing the Mets, probably not.

Francoeur lost the starting right fielder job to Angel Pagan when Carlos Beltran returned and now is the fourth outfielder.

Francoeur has been a starter since he was single digits in age. He obviously can’t be happy being on the bench now.

If the Mets do trade him, I would hope it would be for a good starting pitcher, such as Roy Oswalt . Chances are, Francoeur won’t be traded though.

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

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Well, I can’t say much. The Mets played terribly tonight, getting one hit over the last eight innings against the D-Backs bullpen. This is against a bullpen known for being the worst bullpen in the majors.

Aaron Heilman even went two perfect innings. Heilman! Oliver Perez almost lost it in the 13th, putting runners on first and second with no outs and second and third with one out.

The Mets ended up getting swept by the D-Backs (going past 2 a.m. to do so).

Rod Barajas hit a home run, his first since May 31 and 12th of the year. Angel Pagan got a home run in his second straight game. Alex Cora played some defense. Jose Reyes turned a nice 6-4 double play in the eighth with Bobby Parnell on the mound.

No Francisco Rodriguez. Chris Snyder got a pinch-hit, game-winning single off of Fernando Nieve in the 14th, scoring Justin Upton .

W-Blaine Boyer (2-2)

L-Fernando Nieve (2-4)

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Mets need help, in multiple aspects. Today, they made a move that improves one part of their roster, possibly.

Chad Cordero was signed by the Mets today, and will be sent to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, who had their contract as affiliate of the Mets extended today through 2012, for now.

Cordero is most known for closing out games for the Washington Nationals from 2005-07. He also closed for the Montreal Expos in ’03 and ’04 before the franchise moved to Washington.

He pitched with the Seattle Mariners earlier this year, pitching in nine games and going 0-1 with a 6.52 ERA. Cordero was signed to a minor league deal.

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

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Time to ask other Mets fans on Twitter another question. This time it was:

Hey Mets fans, what is 1 thing you want the Mets to get before the trade deadline expires?

Got quite a few responses, so lets get right into it:

@TylerFlushingBB a winning streak.

http://twitter.com/heyyoeddie

Interesting thought, but I don’t know if they can implement it, especially on the road. To go right along with that comment:

@TylerFlushingBB 10 more wins #whatiwanttheMetstogetB4deadline

@TylerFlushingBB Oh yeah, no doubt. Actually, a SP who can consistently keep them in games would be great, letting Taka strengthen the pen.

http://twitter.com/YaGottaBKiddnMe

Again, an interesting thought. I’d love to see it, but I doubt they could implement it with most of the games on the road. I agree about getting a starting pitcher. I would love to get Roy Oswalt but I think that’s out of the Mets league.

@TylerFlushingBB Ill take anything, won’t believe Mets will trade until they do.

http://twitter.com/john_pielli

In all honesty, I doubt the Mets will make any trades either. They are on the brink of signing Chad Cordero but I think that’s all they’ll do before it passes.

@TylerFlushingBB new organizational philosophy

@TylerFlushingBB the specifics of what they do are not going to help. They are not a contender this year so no quick fix will help them

@TylerFlushingBB but they have a lot of pieces and a lot of talent. If they start planning for the long term they can build a contender

http://twitter.com/sabometrics

I thought this was quite the response. In response to them not being a contender, I think I have to disagree. They are still a contender if they start winning again, especially on the road. That has been their main problem this season. They do have a lot of pieces, but I don’t think long term rebuilding is the answer. I personally think a quick purge of unnecessary players (ie. Oliver Perez, Rod Barajas, John Maine) plus gaining a few more players would do the trick.

@TylerFlushingBB starting and relief pitching

http://twitter.com/Scientific_1

@TylerFlushingBB Starting Pitcher.

http://twitter.com/metsflu

@TylerFlushingBB the #Mets have to get another SP. Can’t rely on Takahashi/Ollie/Maine/Whoever.

If the #Mets can get another P I can live with Dickey as the 5th. Might as well ride it until he goes bad.

http://twitter.com/nym_fan

This has been a need for the Mets for multiple years. The only starter the Mets got was Johan Santana. The Mets need to get another starter for the rotation, and to dump Hisanori Takahashi back to the bullpen where he belongs. I agree, we can’t rely on Takahashi, Ollie or Maine for too much longer in the rotation. Takahashi has to go back to the pen where he does well, and we need another starter to solidify the rotation.

@TylerFlushingBB the decaying carcass of Jerry Manuel

http://twitter.com/lagranderusty

That’s a bit…drastic. I wouldn’t go THAT far, I would just say getting rid of him would work.

@michaelgbaron @TylerFlushingBB I’ll take this one…a win!

http://twitter.com/nickbegley

OK, before I continue on, time to do a quick thank you. Huge thanks to Michael Baron over at MetsPhotos.com and MetsBlog.com who retweeted my question to all of his follower on Twitter. Had it not been for him, I would not have gotten nearly as many responses as I received. Check out his Twitter at: http://twitter.com/michaelgbaron Now to my response. AMEN! I would love a win right here, as would the Mets I presume. Now a response from another person on Twitter to that response:

True, or at least a few runs RT @nickbegley: @michaelgbaron@TylerFlushingBB I’ll take this one…a win!

http://twitter.com/koosman3669

@TylerFlushingBB @michaelgbaron – A win.

http://twitter.com/KeithHasFundies

Well, we got 2 last night and the night before. Wouldn’t mind getting more than 2 runs tonight.

@lagranderusty @TylerFlushingBB@michaelgbaron fire Jerry Manuel, Castrate Minaya (oh wait that already happened) Fred Wilpon gets arrested.

@lagranderusty @TylerFlushingBB @michaelgbaronoh wait that was 3 things my bad, but they can all happen at the same time?

http://twitter.com/JoePontillo

Part 1 I agree with. Part 2, too much information. Part 3, would getting bought out work?

@danjwilets @TylerFlushingBB a starting pitcher. delete unused apps.

http://twitter.com/wilets

I don’t know how the first person in that response ties in, nor do I know how the unused apps ties in either. But a starting pitcher is a common theme here. It is a must, but will the Mets get one?

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

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Before Mike Pelfrey had even gotten an out, this game was doomed.

Pelfrey’s line from the first inning should tell you enough about how the game tonight went:

1.1 IP 7 H 6 ER 2BB 1SO through 67 pitches (51 of them being in the first inning).

The Mets full lineup was back together but that wasn’t nearly enough to account by poor pitching by the Mets, even after Pelfrey’s disaster, Fernando Nieve gave up five runs and Pedro Feliciano gave up another two.

Mark Reynolds had four RBI’s a home run and six Dimonadback hitters had multi-hit games.

The Mets lineup didn’t produce much, but had some run scoring chances, also Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo both had multi-hit games. Reyes had a RBI and so did Angel Pagan .

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As the Mets start a three-game series against the D-Backs, one thing is sure: Luis Castillo has returned. He has been activated from the disabled list, and Ruben Tejada has been demoted to make room. I, for one, am not happy about this. I consider Tejada to be a plus over Castillo. Neither can hit, but at least Tejada can field. Castillo is expected in tonight’s lineup.

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

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