When Pedro Martinez exited his July 12 start against the Rockies after four innings, the Mets were quick to downplay his injury, which Martinez said was tightness in his shoulder as a result of compensating for a groin injury. Manager Jerry Manuel said there was “no doubt” Martinez would make his next scheduled start, which would have been this past Sunday.

But Martinez did not make that Sunday start, nor is he starting Tuesday against the Phillies, which had been the announced fallback position. The Mets have been increasingly quiet on the Martinez front, though he did receive a cortisone shot—not in his shoulder, nor in his groin, but in his hip.  read more »

Once the Mets traded four prospects to obtain Johan Santana this past offseason, the team had more or less cleared out its farm system of attractive prospects, with one notable exception in Fernando Martinez.

So in this June’s draft, New York knew it had to take players that could make quick work of the minor leagues.

The Mets had three of the first 33 picks, and selected first baseman Ike Davis, shortstop Reese Havens, and pitcher Brad Holt. All three played in the Brooklyn Cyclones’ 5-4 loss Saturday night to the Staten Island Yankees. But so far, only Holt has displayed abilities that hint at a fast trip through the minor league system.  read more »

It is not surprising that Billy Wagner pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to save New York’s 10-8 victory over Cincinnati Thursday night. After all, since coming to the Mets, Wagner has been one of the most automatic closers in baseball, converting 87 percent of his save opportunities. To put that in perspective, just under 60 percent of all save opportunities were converted in the National League in 2008’s first half.

But Wagner seems to have his greatest difficulty in games with either higher stakes, or even higher perceived stakes, as he showed Tuesday night, allowing the tying run in the eighth inning of the All Star Game.  read more »

While the streaking Mets actively shop for a corner outfielder to replace the injured Moises Alou and Ryan Church prior to baseball’s July 31 trading deadline, 19-year-old Fernando Martinez, who can be either the long-term solution in the outfield, or the bait for the team’s short-term answer, showcased his talents at the Futures Game Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Martinez had one hit in two at-bats on Sunday, and as he has done since signing with the Mets, excelled against players more experienced and older than he is. But with a number of injuries limiting him to just 791 professional at-bats, even a team that promotes as aggressively as the Mets has to be reticent about throwing Martinez into the midst of a pennant race.  read more »

A day game after a night game is normally the province of a baseball team’s backup catcher. Why, then, was Brian Schneider, the man Omar Minaya described as his “regular catcher” when the Mets acquired him this winter, in the starting lineup for the July 10 day game against the Giants?

It’s because Ramon Castro, whose strong bat has been a big part of New York’s recent success, had played the night before—a far more regular occurrence since Jerry Manuel took over as manager from Willie Randolph.

“It does feel better to be playing more,” the 32-year-old Castro said as he put on his uniform in front of his locker Thursday afternoon, prior to New York’s game against the San Francisco Giants.  read more »

The Mets did a lot of heavy lifting on their recent road trip, amassing a 5-3 record against the National League East-leading Phillies and the wild-card-leading Cardinals.

The success of the road trip, punctuated by three straight wins in Philadelphia, catapulted New York into the thick of the National League playoff race. The Mets further solidified these gains with a pair of shutout victories Tuesday and Wednesday against the Giants, and they now stand just 1.5 games out of first place in their division, and just 3.5 games behind St. Louis for the wild card.

But how successful the Mets are down the stretch will be determined in large part by the team’s success on and off the field between now and the end of July.  read more »

Oliver Perez is an enigma.

While many pitchers have displayed inconsistency, Perez’s highs and lows are remarkable, not just from game to game, but season to season.

There are endless theories for Perez’s problems, ranging from the mechanical to the psychological, and many prescriptions to solve them.

He showed encouraging signs Sunday against the Yankees, striking out eight and walking none over seven innings, but he’s been so inconsistent that it’s hard to know if it was meaningful progress or just another blip. The one thread running through Perez’s numbers appears to be a simple one—if he throws even a decent amount of strikes, he will be successful.  read more »

Monday night’s 7-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals will be particularly disappointing to fans of the New York Mets, particularly if it provides a harbinger for how the Mets play over the next week.

With another three games against the Cardinals, who lead the National League wild-card race, followed by four with the Phillies, who lead the National League East, the Mets will be facing two teams that stand between them and a playoff berth.

A strong week would likely put New York squarely in the middle of the wild-card chase, and could catapult them into the division lead. But a poor week could leave New York on the outer reaches of the playoff picture; long shots for October play.  read more »

It’s only been eight games. But Jerry Manuel has made it clear that he has a very different plan to manage the Mets than his predecessor, Willie Randolph. These changes range from the tactical to the philosophical, with some tone changes thrown in for good measure.

The most famous of these changes so far has been Manuel’s freewheeling press conferences with reporters, including jokingly threatening to “cut” Jose Reyes (and not as in releasing him) over an on-field tantrum, and referring to the vocally negative feedback from some Mets fans as potentially helpful “fertilizer” at Shea Stadium.

Manuel’s tactical adjustments—the things that actually relate to baseball—have gotten much less notice.  read more »

With Moises Alou on the disabled list, Mets manager Jerry Manuel has said that the team needs to plan as if he isn’t coming back. And Trot Nixon, who has started in left field eight times since the Mets acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks (where he had been playing for Arizona’s AAA club) on June 15, wants to put himself squarely at the center of those plans.

So far, the results haven’t come for the longtime Red Sox standout, whose season line stands at .148/.281/.296. But Nixon, who New York acquired in part for his seemingly endless hustle, said he isn’t pressing.  read more »