Kuzul

The Mets currently sit at 31-27, three games out of first place in the NL East and three games back in the Wild Card race. With just less than two-thirds of the season left, the Mets are going to need to make some things happen if they want to make the playoffs.

1)    Carlos Beltran Needs to Return Before/At the All-Star Break

Carlos Beltran had been an important part of the Mets lineup for the past five seasons. The Mets are clearly missing his production in the middle of the order. While Jason Bay, Angel Pagan, and Jeff Francoeur have been good this year, none of them has shown the elite power than Beltran has.

Beltran would instantly give the Mets another run producer. Having Beltran return would also allow the Mets to platoon Pagan and Francoeur in right field. Francoeur is a notoriously streaky hitter and this option would allow the Mets to avoid some of his terrible cold streaks.

2)    John Maine Returns to Form after Recovering From his Injury

John Maine is a very important piece to the back end of the Mets rotation. Maine struggled significantly during the early parts of this season. He saw his walk rate rise from 4.2 BB/9 in ’09 to 5.7 BB/9 this season. One positive this far from Maine’s starts has been that he has posted a career best 8.8 K/9. If John can straighten things out and maintain this high strikeout rate, then he can once again post a low 4.00 ERA, if not better. This would stabilize the back end of the Mets rotation.

3)    Acquire a Middle of the Rotation Starter

The Mets already have two top of the rotation starters in Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey. However, they do not have a true number three starter. The Mets should look into a few different pitchers. Javier Vazquez appears to have recovered from his early struggles and would not be very expensive. He has had a lot of success in the National League and would be an interesting option.

However, it is hard to believe that the Yankees will trade him if they are still in contention. A name that has not been mentioned but would be a good pickup for the Mets is…(view the rest at www.mrmetsdaily.com)

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After losing an historic game to the Nationals on Wednesday night, the Mets will try to rebound to close the roadtrip up on a high note with John Maine on the bump.

In his last start on Saturday at the Marlins, Maine walked the first three batters of the game on 12 pitches. He went on to allow six runs on seven hits with five walks in five innings of work.

Prior to that, he was pitching quite well, not allowing more than three earned runs in five consecutive starts. With the Mets lack of rotation depth right now, with Oliver Perez and Jon Niese out for different reasons, Maine has to pitch solidly. Besides him, they only go two-deep with Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey, so Maine has to pitch like a third starter.

He’ll go up against Nationals rookie right-hander Luis Atilano, whom he matched up with 10 days ago on May 10. In that game, both pitchers pitched well but Atilano got the best of Maine, not allowing a run in 5 1/3 innings.

The Mets have not only had trouble with Atilano, but with all pitchers this season. Yesterday, they got shut down for the most part by Livan Hernandez for the second time this season and have struggled against Nationals pitching all season long.

The question is, as it is for every game, how will the Mets’ lineup look? Jerry Manuel has used different lineups the entire roadtrip, as not one has remained the same for consecutive games.

Last night, he didn’t play David Wright and moved Ike Davis up to cleanup with Angel Pagan batting fifth. Jerry Manuel will most likely have Wright back in the lineup for tonight’s game and has stated that he’d like 3-4-5 to be Wright-Davis-Bay.

It frankly doesn’t make a difference right now as the lineup will continue to struggle without production out of Reyes, Wright, and Bay. Jose Reyes went 0-for-4 last night and made an out in four different ways—foul out, fly out, pop out, and line out.

The Mets are in a must-win situation right now. If they lose this game, they will go back home off a 1-7 roadtrip. Whether the Mets win or lose this game, the question must be asked. How much longer does Jerry Manuel have?

If the Mets lose two or three to the Yankees over the weekend, would the Wilpons’ fire him on Monday, being they’d be in a 2-9 or worse stretch, and the Mets have an off-day in New York on Monday with the Phillies coming to town?

Who knows, but they can avoid that question with a couple of wins starting tonight.

John Maine vs. Washington (May 10)
Loss, 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 hits, 4 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR

Luis Atilano vs. New York (May 10)
Win, 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 5 hits, 2 BB, 5 SO

2010 season series (New York vs. Washington)
April 9: New York 8, Washington 2
April 10: Washington 4, New York 3
April 11: Washington 5, New York 2
May 10: Washington 3, New York 2
May 11: New York 8, Washington 6
May 12: Washington 6, New York 4
May 19: Washington 5, New York 3
Nationals lead series 5-2

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The New York Mets wasted a quality start last night in the loss to the Washington Nationals . The two teams entered the night tied for second place in the National League East .

John Maine took the mound for the Mets and put together a very nice outing. Maine went six strong innings for New York, giving up two runs on seven hits. The two runs came on back-to-back solo home runs by Adam Kennedy and Ryan Zimmerman in the third inning.

Maine walked four batters but struck out five in the no decision. Most would think if your pitcher holds the Nationals to two runs through six innings, you should win. Not the case last night, as the Mets lineup struggled to put anything together against Nationals rookie Luis Atilano. New York managed just five hits off Atilano in 5^1/3 innings.

The Mets would score a run in the seventh and a run on the ninth on a Angel Pagan solo homer but the rally would be short lived ending on a Jason Bay strike out. The Mets had 12 hits in the game, but left 11 runners on base. Seven of those runners were left in scoring position.

The Mets bench was rather unproductive once again. Gary Matthews Jr. and Frank Catalanotto   each had a pinch hit appearance in the game. Matthews Jr. , struck out when pinch hitting for pitcher Hisanori Takahaski and is now batting just .136 on the season. Catalanotto led off the ninth by pinch hitting for pitcher Jenrry Mejia. Catalanotto promptly grounded out for the first out.

Find out what roster move was made, visit Double G Sports .

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The news broke on January 19th of this year that Bengie Molina rejected a two year contract offer from the Mets to sign a one year deal with the San Francisco Giants.

I posted my thoughts about missing out on Molina here.  To summarize:

The Mets have continually displayed patience this off-season. They haven’t over-payed for anyone. They haven’t tied up tons of money for tons of years in an attempt to appease the disgruntled fan base.

Instead they’ve put their offers on the table, with a “go out and find a better offer” approach.

Molina wants a three year offer, the Mets offered him a year with a team option for a second. How a 35-year-old catcher can think he’s going to get a three year deal is beyond me, and apparently beyond the Mets.

Instead the Mets decided to go with two catchers, Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco, that would do more toward helping the pitching staff than helping the offense.

As it turns out, Barajas would do his part with the bat as well.

While he’s only hitting .231 out of the bottom of the Mets line up, he’s currently leading the team in home runs with seven and is third with 14 RBI.

Molina, while batting .333 on the season, has only hit two home runs while driving in nine.

Sure Barajas is a feast or famine type of hitter, but batting out of the eighth spot in the line up, home runs over batting average is something I’ll take any day of the week.

Last night, his solo home run in the top of the ninth proved to be the game-winning type, bailing out the over-used Fernando Nieve who gave up two solo home runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.

John Maine’s solid effort should not be overshadowed by Barajas’ heroics.

Maine threw six strong innings giving up two earned runs and striking out six. He left the game with a 4-2 lead, and pitched well enough to earn a win.

Maine’s season ERA has finally dropped below 6.0 as he seems to be flourishing while on the hot seat. I’d still like to see more than six innings from John at some point, but I think it’s safe to say he’ll never be the type of pitcher to give you eight innings.

Maine’s velocity, which used to top out at around 94 mph is significantly down meaning his swing and miss high fast ball is a lot harder to miss these days. Without the strike out pitch, batters extend at bats and Maine’s pitch count is regularly around 100 pitches after six innings.

It’s something he may be able to work out by developing some secondary pitches, but for now I’ll take six solid innings out of him, as the bullpen has been very successful for the most part.

The Mets try and salvage the road trip today at 12:35 as Jon Niese matches up against Johnny Cueto.

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