Kuzul

Just about everything went right for the Mets last night as their offense carried them for nine runs and starter Jon Niese was brilliant during a seven inning performance that kept the Mets atop first place.

The Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning when David Wright hit a two-run home run and two batters later Jeff Francoeur hit a solo shot. Rod Barajas hit his first homer of the season to put the Mets up 4-1 in the fifth. The Mets then broke it open with a four-run seventh where they seemingly got contributions from everybody.

The entire time Niese stayed ahead of batters and struck out seven. The bullpen finished the job with two scoreless innings.

Notes

Angel Pagan went 3-for-5 with a run and 2 RBI.

Luis Castillo went 0-for-5. Jose Reyes went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

Jason Bay went 1-for-5 with a run scored.

David Wright went 1-for-4 with a run scored and 2 RBI’s, all came on his home run.

Ike Davis went 0-for-3 with a walk.

Jeff Francoeur went 1-for-2 with 2 runs, an RBI, and a stolen base.

Rod Barajas went 3-for-4 with 3 runs, 3 RBI, and a pair of home runs.

Jon Niese’s line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.

Jenrry Mejia and Manny Acosta eached pitched an inning. Their line: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.

Francoeur was hit with a pitch in the seventh inning and removed from the game.

Thoughts

Like I wrote yesterday, this was a big game for the Mets. They are going up against Roy Halladay for the first time since he was traded to the Phillies. They have Mike Pelfrey , who has been phenomenal this season, going up against him so they certainly can win that game, but now all they have to do is split the next two games to take the series.

This game also showed that the Mets, and the rest of the NL East for that matter, shouldn’t just concede this division to the Phillies, they have problems of their own.

This lineup can beat the Mets opening day lineup’s butt. Even though they are mostly the same players, they look entirely different.

Why is Jenrry Mejia in the majors if he is just a mop-up guy?

Line of the Day

Extra base hits: 8. The Mets had eight extra-base hits. For so much of the season we have been wondering where their power went. They found it last night.

Quote

“We fed off each other,” Francoeur said. “The first (seven hits) were extra-base hits, and we were kidding around saying, ‘The first person who hits a single, we were going to fine 50 bucks.”’

Up Next

The Mets will look for at least a split of the next two games to win the series and stay in first place.

Saturday, May 1: RHP Mike Pelfrey (4-0, 0..69) @ RHP Roy Halladay (4-1, 1.80)
Sunday, May 2: LHP Johan Santana (3-1, 2.08) @ LHP Jamie Moyer (2-2, 5.25)

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated, Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran hopes to start running in a week. If this is true, that would mean the Mets are anywhere from five to seven weeks away from their center fielder returning.

Although this certainly could be wishful thinking, since the news is coming from Heyman we know that the source is likely Beltran’s agent Scott Boras. So this should be pretty close to first hand information. Boras has a shady reputation, but there is no real reason to lie or mislead in this instance.

If it’s true, it is certainly great news for the Mets. Angel Pagan, the center fielder who has taken on most of the duties in Beltran’s absence, has done a decent job, but is clearly no starter.

Having Beltran back in the lineup instantly makes it a lot deeper.

Let’s look at seven weeks for Beltran’s return as nothing has progressed quickly so far. That puts his return at the middle of June. The Mets are in first place now, but that is because they have been unsustainably hot and the Phillies have been pretty bad at the same time. If the Mets can hang in there for the next seven weeks, that should give them more than enough time to make a post season run.

If the Mets do manage to hang in there with the Phils until July and general manager Omar Minaya manages to get this team a solid pitcher through a trade ,it’s even possible that the Mets could challenge for the division.

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Daniel Murphy has been out for the entire season so far with a sprained right knee, but he is getting closer to returning to Flushing as he is currently down in Port St. Lucie hitting in the batting cages, according to Andy Martino of the NY Daily News .

The problem is, the Mets don’t need Murphy the way they once did since the emergence of first baseman Ike Davis . So the question now becomes, what are the Mets going to do once Murphy returns?

The three options are put him on the bench and DFA Frank Catalanotto, bench him and DFA Gary Matthews Jr., or start him at second base. Let’s take a look at these options more in depth.

Let’s look at the stats of Matthews and Catalanotto to see which of the first two scenarios is the better one (they would probably DFA one even if Murphy’s role is a starter’s role):

Matthews’ Stats: 14 G, 30 AB, 6 R, 5 H, 2 2B, 5 BB, 14 K, 1 SB, .167 AVG, .286 OBP, .233 SLG, .519. OPS. OPS+ over last three years: 78

Catalanotto’s stats: 18 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K, .167 AVG, .211 OBP, .222 SLG, .433 OPS. OPS+ over last three years: 92

Both players are the same age, 36, neither are doing well offensively, and neither are standouts defensively. Catalanotto has a slight edge in OPS+ over the last three years, but Matthews probably gets the edge because he can also fill in at center field on occasion. Catalanotto really provides nothing defensively that Murphy doesn’t already. Because of the center field issue, Catalanotto is probably the one who gets DFA’d.

This option is another close one. Murphy, who has no experience at second base in the majors, is certainly not going to be better there than Luis Castillo . It’s hard to tell which one is the better offensive player. Castillo struggles with consistency and Murphy really hasn’t been in the majors long enough to be able to accurately gauge what to expect.

In Murphy’s first year he put up a 129 OPS+ in 131 at-bats, but he showed last season that that’s not realistic with a 95 OPS+ in 508 at-bats. He’s still young though (25), so you have to think that he could slightly improve on last year’s numbers.

Castillo has been a solid player for the Mets this year, especially after getting past some early-season leg issues. His OPS is .764 during his last 49 at-bats. His OPS+ over the last three years, though, has been just 90.

What may end up being the Mets’ best option is to use Murphy in both roles, at second base part-time and off the bench as a pinch hitter. Since Murphy doesn’t have a lot of experience at second, they can slowly work him in as he gains experience. Meanwhile, he can spend half of his time coming off the bench, providing depth that way.

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A week-and-a-half ago, nobody thought that the Mets would be the team in first place when they went up against the Phillies this weekend, but it’s true. The Mets have been winning at a better pace than the Phillies lately despite the fact that it is the Phils who are generally regarded to have the better lineup and rotation.

So what chance do the Mets have of coming out of this series maintaining possession of first place?

Well that depends on how Jon Niese pitches tonight. I say that because the Mets are going up against Roy Halladay tomorrow for the first time since the ace pitcher has been wearing a red uniform. They’ll have the good fortune of sending Mike Pelfrey , who has been their best pitcher so far this season, up against him; however a win against Halladay can never be assumed.

Likewise, the Phillies are going to have a tough time of it on Sunday thanks to Johan Santana , who has been downright filthy aside from one bad start against Washington. Making things better for the Mets, they will be going against the struggling, 47-year-old Jamie Moyer.

So realistically the Mets might be expected to lose Saturday, but win Sunday. That makes tonight’s game the one that could swing this series.

So it is up to Jon Niese. He has been effectively lately, but has not been able to go deep into games and has, probably more than any other Mets starter, been helped by making three starts at home. His 1.86 WHIP could be a sign of impending doom.

So the Mets can come out of this series still in first place with a big night from Jon Niese tonight. Can he show he can be successful on the road? And in Philadelphia no less? We’ll see tonight.

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Mets manager Jerry Manuel moved Jose Reyes from his typical leadoff spot into the no. 3 hole in the lineup six games ago, and since then the Mets have not lost a game going a perfect 6-0.

How much of that is due to Reyes? Well here are some of his numbers: 6 G, 22 AB, 7 R, 6 H, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 3 SO, 2 SB, .273 BA, .333 OBP, .409 SLG, .742 OPS.

So he hasn’t exactly been on fire, but he has contributed nearly to his career averages. Seven runs in six games is pretty impressive, but only one RBI from the three spot is pretty tough to take. Although the RBI probably say more about the hitters hitting in front of him, usually the pitcher’s spot, Angel Pagan, and Luis Castillo.

Speaking of Castillo, he may have had more to do with the Mets recent surge than Reyes. Here are his numbers: 8 G, 26 AB, 3 R, 8 H, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 5 BB, 1 SO, 2 SB, .308 BA, .419 OBP, .385 SLG, .804 OPS.

Meanwhile, Pagan has been struggling as the team’s leadoff hitter. Here are his stats: 6 G, 23 AB, 5 R, 4 H, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 5 SO, 1 SB, .174 BA, .269 OBP, .261 SLG, .530 OPS.

These are small sample sizes, but at this point it looks like the Mets have the worst of the three leading off and the best of the three batting second.

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R.A. Dickey pitched a one-hit shutout for the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. He gave up a hit to the first batter and then retired the next 27 in a row.

After the first batter, Dickey pitched a perfect game, and only needed 90 pitches to do it.

“I felt like I could throw another nine (innings) right now and have the same result,” Dickey said. “That’s a good feeling.”

I’ve actually written about Dickey a few times recently because he has been pitching so well and economically lately. Here are his numbers: 3-1, 2.33 ERA, 38.2 IP, 5 GS, 2 CG, 1 SO, 22 K, 5 BB.

The reason why he might be helpful is because the Mets bullpen has been one of the most taxed in all of baseball. Mets relievers have thrown 82.1 innings and only the Pirates bullpen has thrown more.

With his efficiency, Dickey could help eat up some innings. The ‘pen has been a strength so far, but if these pitchers don’t get a rest soon they will eventually break down and become a weakness.

The thing is right now nobody is going to come out of the Mets rotation. Both Oliver Perez and John Maine are in danger of being taken out, but it hasn’t come to that. Hopefully they either keep it together, start going deeper into ball games or Dickey is able to keep his knuckleball together until he is needed.

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