The day in minor league baseball

AAA: The day after top minor league outfield prospect Delmon Young threw a bat at a AAA umpire Lastings Milledge took the field as the new top outfield prospect in minor league baseball. With Delmon Young suspended indefinitley and Jeremy Hermida in the bigs for good Milledge can now be considered the best outfield prospect in baseball. Tonight Milledge, and his .400 batting average, had to go up against top Phillies prospect, Cole Hamels, however Milledge, and the rest of the Norfolk Tides were not very succesful. Milledge went 0-3 and drew yet another walk and his vastly improved walk rate has astounded me this season. Milledge drew a total of 33 walks last season between A and AA, while he has already drawn 15 walks this year in about 1/6 of the games. Chris Basak and Victor Diaz had the only three hits for the Tides, while Yusaku Iriki pitched five innings, allowed four runs, and struck out eight.

AA: The B-Mets had the night off today.

High A: The St. Lucie Mets went up against former Mets top prospect, Gaby Hernandez. Hernandez was involved in the Paul LoDuca trade, and this was his first start against his former team. Michael Devaney opposed Hernandez, however Devaney did not have his best stuff. The 24 year old pitched only four innings and allowed eight runs, six earned raising his era from 1.32 to 4.08. Mike Carp was the offensive hero for the Mets, as he went 2-5 with three rbis. The numbers one (Coles), two(Coronado), and three(Concepcion) hitters all scored one run in the game.
Also, every hitter for the Mets, save Coronado, struck out at least once, includng Jesus Flores who struck out three times. Shawn Bowman also struck out once and he has seemingly struck out in every game this season.

Low A: Left handed prospect, and potential break-out star, Jonathan Niese took the mound for the Hagerstown Suns in tonight's game. Niese went five innings, allowed only one run, and struck out six improving his record to 3-0 and lowering his era to 2.95. Josh Appell followed Niese in relief and pitched 3.1 shutout innings, striking out an impressive seven. The offense didn't muster many runs, but the two they did muster were enough. 17 year old Fernando Martinez led off for the game and went 2-4, raising his average to .333. Martinez was also picked off in the first. Elvis Cruz had the two rbi's for the Suns on an rbi double.

Note- You can stay updated on all minor league news at FlushingHardball, written by yours truly, Noah, and a few other freelance writers.

True Fans to report minor leagues on off days

I have decided that since off days usually are filled with not much news, and mainly quotes I have realized how to fill those dreadful off days. From now on I will right minor league recaps on off days, and report about the top Met prospects. Also, from time to time I will make minor league reports on the weekend, recapping the week in minor league Met baseball.

This is not only to provide some more information than some other blogs, but this is also to promote commenting by the readers, so if you guys get the chance please do comment.

Mets win, despite a couple of negative moments

Game Overview:
Starter: Brian Bannister took the mound today, and for the second time this season his walk rate was actually respectable. However, unfortunately Bannister was not able to complete his outing, as he left the game in the top of the sixth inning, rounding third base on a Kazuo Matsui double. Bannister's injury has been described as a strained hamstring, which can mean an assortment of things. Braves starter, Horacio Ramirez, had a similar injury on April 6th, and he has yet to pitch in his second game of the season. Bannister pitched five innings, walked two batters, and allowed seven hits in what could of been a much better start. Bannister had retired seven hitters in a row, and seemed to be settling into a groove before the injury. Hopefully, the injury does not keep Bannister out for an extended period of time, but it all depends on the severity of the injury. Bannister will be re-evaluated tommorow in Atlanta, and the best case scenario is probably what happened with Victor Zambrano earlier in the season. Zambrano's start was pushed back from Wednesday to Sunday which does not seem likely in Bannister's situation. Although, it is debatable whether Zambrano's hammy is the reason why he has pitched so bad recently.
Bullpen: Aaron Heilman looked awesome in his first inning of relief, striking out two of the three batters he faced. However, in the seventh inning Heilman allowed one run on two hits and a walk. In the ninth Sandman entered the game, and if David "Wrong" Wright hadn't made a throwing error (his fifth error of the season) Wagner would of been able to earn the save and end the game through nine innings.
However, Wright did make an error allowing Omar Vizquel to score, and allowing Barry Bonds walk to the plate as a pinch hitter. Bonds preceded to a hit a dramatic two run home run, tying the game. Wagner was given his second blown save of the season, despite not allowing any runs. Wagner did look good despite allowing the three un-earned runs, as he threw his hardest pitch of the season at 99 MPH.
Offense: Jose Reyes reached base four times, and recorded two hits to raise his average to .242. Reyes also stole two bases to increase his NL lead in steals (10). Matsui doubled once causing the afforementioned Brian bannister injury. However, it did appear as if Bannister tweaked the Hammy running to second on his double, so you Matsui haters out there cannot blame Matsui for Bannister's injury. Carlos Delgado also continued to put up MVP calibur numbers, as he went 2-4 with two walks and a home run, raising his average to .337. Castro and Chavez both had three hits and scored two runs, and Castro's average raised to an impressive .429. Wright's slump continued, as he went 1-6 with an rbi double, however he did leave six men on base. Cliff Floyd also continued his season long slump, going 0-4 with two walks. Speaking of Floyd, I don't mean to brag, but I did call his home run last night. Ok, I'm done tooting my own horn. Lastly, Bannister's bat is impressing me, and he know has three doubles on the season, the same total as Cliff Floyd.

Pelfrey promoted

According to Howie Rose Mike Pelfrey was promoted to AA Binghamton tonight after throwing six innings of two run ball last night. Pelfrey will make his first AA start of the season on Saturday.

Looks like the Mets are atually putting a player on the "fast track" to the majors. I really feel Pelfrey will be up this year, and I hope I am right.

Trachsel looks to get Mets back on Trach

The Mets have lost five of seven, and there seems to be havoc in Mets nation. Many fans I've talked to you, including my own teachers, are getting a bit worried that the Mets' early season success was a fluke and came only against weak teams. The Giants are not the best team in the NL, however they are a solid team, and with a Giant victory and a Mets loss the two teams could have equal records. However, Steve Trachsel will look to end the skid and shut down the Giants, just like his first start last season:
Notes:
1) Last year in Steve Trachsel's first start of the season he pitched eight shutout innings, allowed merely two hits, struck out six, and walked two.
2) During his career Trachsel's favorite team to pitch to is the Giants. Against the Giants in his career Trachsel owns the best era (minnimum five starts) at 2.57, and a 9-4 record in 126 innings pitched.
3) Jose Vizcaino has had the best Giant success against Trachsel. In 27 at bats the second baseman/utillity infielder owns a .370 batting average, but only two extra base hits.
4) Barry Bonds also has good success against Trachsel. Bonds holds a .290 batting average with two home runs and three doubles against Trachsel in 41 career at bats.
5) Moises Alou owns modest success against Trachsel, in 40 at bats. Alou owns a .275 average with five doubles, however he has never hit a home run.
6) In eight career starts against the Mets Jamey Wright holds a, umm, bad track (or should I say Trach?) record against the Mets. He has a 5.81 era, but he has only lost twice.
7) Wright has a career era of 5.09, therefore the struggling Mets lineup should have success tonight.
8) The only Met who has had success against Wright, and has played more than a game or two against him is Paul LoDuca. LoDuca has had more than success against Wright, so far in his career he has owned him. In nine at bats LoDuca owns four hits, good for a .444 average.
9) The only other Met with more than a game or two against Wright, and will be playing tonight (Beltran also has 10 at bats) is Cliff Floyd. However, Floyd's struggles may not come to an end tonight. Ironically Floyd's season average is worse than the average he has against Wright, which is .214. with 2 home runs.
10) Armando Benitez, the Giants closer, has only pitched in two games this season, and he has yet to allow a run. Is anyone else hoping it's 2-0 going into the ninth and the Mets score like 15 runs or something crazy off of Benitez. Alas that is only a pipe dream.

Score Prediction (line is even):
Giants 4 Mets 7 (lineup starts to hit against the weak pitcher in Wright)
WP- Darren Oliver
LP- Jamey Wright
H- Jorge Julio
SV- Billy Wagner

Game Play Prediction:
1) Billy Wagner will pitch tonight no matter the score.
2) Jose Reyes has a breakout game
3) Floyd hits a home run
4) The starters will combine for 11 innings
5) Barry Bonds has a multi-hit game, as the Mets realize it's better to pitch to him

Confused...How should I continue

I have been a bit bored recently in recapping some of the games, mainly because i'm recapping something that everyone else has probably seen live, and you guys can also read the recaps elsewhere (mets.com, etc.). Therefore, I have created a poll that will tell me where I should progress with the blog, material wise of course. So please vote and let me know what you think, I'll let it run for a few days. Thanks for your cooperation.

What do you want this site to be
	Game Previews and Game Overviews (current)
	Just Game Previews
	Game Previews and Minor League Recaps
	Just Minor League Recaps
	Just Game Overviews
	Other, say in comments
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Preview: Glavine goes for win number two

I'm back from Florida, and I would like to send out my sincerest apologies for the lack of posts. Noah didn't have the time to add anymore posts, as he went to Boston but I'm here now until the first week of July when I go to Puerto Rico. Anyway, according to some Sportscenter highlights and a few phone calls from some fellow Mets fans the Mets are off to a pretty decent start, to say the least. However, I am pretty lucky to be able to see Tom Glavine pitch tonight, hopefully he'll welcome me back to New York in style:
Pitchers:
Chris Capuano (1-1) vs. Tom Glavine (1-0)
Game Preview:
1) Chris Capuano has had great success against almost all of the Met hitters in limited time. Paul LoDuca has had the most at bats against him, 10, and he has yet to reach base against the lefty.
2) Carlos Delgado has been red hot this season, but Capuano may put his flame out tonight, that is if Delgado is in the lineup. Delgado is 0-7 with 5 strikeouts in his career against Capuano. Willie Randolph may know Delgado's numbers, and I expect him to play the right handed Julio Franco instead. I expect the lineup to be a bit different tonight.
3) Even Xavier Nady, who is known to dominate left-handers, struggles against Capuano. In fact, he is almost worse than Delgado. In 6 at bats against Capuano Nady does not have a hit and has struck out 4 times.

4) Carlos Beltran owns the most success out of any Met, against Capuano. In 6 plate appearences Beltran has 2 hits, 1 double, and 1 walk.
5) Last season against the Mets Chris Capuano pitched 7 innings, allowed 3 runs, and struck out 6.
6) Last season against the Brewers Tom Glavine struggled, in 6 innnings he allowed 4 earned runs, and an atrocious 11 hits.
7) Tom Glavine has had mixed results against the Brewer's hitters. Geoff jenkins has had good success against Glavine, hitting .318 in 22 at bats.
8) Centerfielder, Brady Clark, has also had good success against Glavine. In 13 at bats the right hander is hitting .385 against Glavine.
9) On the other hand, Carlos Lee, an MVP contender, has only hit in 6 at bats against Glavine.
10) Third baseman, Corey Koskie, has put up the same numbers (as Carlos Lee) against Glavine. In 6 at bats he owns only 1 hit. Therefore we may see Bill Hall play third base tonight, as he has a .500 batting average against Glavine, in 4 at bats.

Score Prediction:
Brewers 1 Mets 2-I feel this will be a pitchers duel, but I am relativley fearful that this score may be reversed, with the Mets losing.
WP- Tom Glavine
LP- Derrick Turnbow
H- Aaron Heilman
SV- Billy Wagner

Game Play Predictions:
1) Carlos Beltran will have at least two hits.
2) Glavine and Capuano will pitch a combined 14 innings, at least.
3) The starting pitcher will get the win.
4) There will be a single digit in combined hits for tonights game.
5) Wright will either score a run or have an rbi tonight.

A Weekend's (Happy) Recap

Jordan's on vacation and has honored me with the privilege of updating his blog while he soaks in the sun -- leaving me in cold, miserable New York. I'm Noah, from FlushingHardball.com, by the way. At least I now have something to watch...

Friday: Mets stay on Trach (boy, I hate MLB.com puns). A game full of positives indeed, none greater than the performance of our beleagured third (?) starter: one run, three hits, six strikeouts, six innings, five minutes between pitches.

Can't forget Jose -- he put up a 3-for-5 line with a stolen base. What's most impressive so far with Reyes is his ability to see pitches -- Dr. Henderson must've slid a good tip or two through Jose's ears on waiting for his pitch, something Ricky did so well himself.

And David Wright continued his torrid start, notching a 2-for-3 line, including one of the more magnificent home runs I've seen at Shea in a long time -- a 470-foot bomb that cleared the Pepsi Picnic Area in left field.

The Mets were 3-1, but 2005 Cy Young runner-up Dontrelle Willis loomed.

Or did he...

Saturday: Rainout! The New York area could've used a little rain, I suppose. The rainout scrambled the rotation -- most notably, poor Victor Zambrano will be pushed back to Thursday. In Sunday's SNY pregame, Zambrano stated how ready he was to go, only to be pushed back again.

Fans, hold your hands up as if you were immitating a balance or scale. Pretend one hand has a future Hall-of-Fame pitcher with two Cy Young awards and countless other accolades. Then, pretend the other hand has a mediocre pitcher who walks the ballpark and looks like he wants to cry whenever he's on the mound. Now, fans, tell me -- who gets priority? Thanks.

The lauded lefty pitching matchup -- Glavine vs. D-Train -- would take place a day late.

Sunday: The numbers are -- or were -- quite gaudy. 8-1 record. 1.85 ERA. No, I'm not predicting Pedro's All-Star Break numbers. Those were Dontrelle Willis's numbers against the Mets prior to Sunday's match. We finally beat him last year, when he became the first Marlin to win 20 games and finished second to Chris Carpenter in NL Cy Young voting. It was time to face the quirky Bay Area native again, this time in 2006, a year in which the Mets are infinitely better and the Marlins are infinetly worse.

For a while, it looked like that didn't matter. We didn't derail nothing -- Dontrelle was lights out. Through five, he had shut us down. Thankfully, Glavine matched him with equal zeroes until the fifth, when Josh Willingham's (at least he helps my fantasy team) double scored two and gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead.

Then, David came through again. A 2-run triple that just slipped under Jeremy Hermida's diving glove. Fifth straight game with a RBI.

In to hold the tie came Duaner Sanchez -- a far cry from the misery that is Jorge Julio, indeed. Two scoreless innings, on both ends. Dontrelle pitched into the eighth as well.

Enter Sandman. Wagner strolled -- well, ran -- out of the pen to the noted song. Fans at Shea could hear Mike Francessa weeping profusely while throwing various kitchen utensils as Wagner mocked His Lord Mariano Rivera. A Jose Reyes error is all that could've prolonged the inning -- Wagner, still without his premium fastball, sat down the Marlins and handed the game over to the meat of the Mets lineup, with LoDuca, Beltran, and Delgado due up.

A Beltran walk and Delgado double later, David came through once again. Sacrifice fly. Game over. This once again ends the debate -- Wright is the best hitter on the team, and those MVP chants could be warranted come September. David must be part of destiny for the Mets -- an answer to Derek Jeter, and the man to bring the Mets to the promise land.

We're 4-1, guys! Best start since '98! Already two games up on the 3-4 Braves, who lost half of their infield in Larry (exclaimed, because his knee and ankle injuries may keep him out for a prolonged period) and Marcus Giles yesterday.

Let's keep the good vibes going.

Preview: Pedro's first start of 2006

Tonight Pedro Martinez will make his first start of the season, after throwing mearely 7 innings the entire spring. John Kruk believes that Pedro should be fine, mainly because he is Pedro. To me Pedro's first few starts do not have to be typical Pedro, as I would accept 5 innings and 2 earned runs for tonight's game, mainly because I consider April to be the test on Pedro and how his toe will feel. Hopefully, it holds up for the rest of his contract.

Preview:
1) Pedro's success against the National's hitters is interesting, as some of the hitters hit him well, while others can't hit a lick off of Pedro's pitches. Jose Guillen has owned Pedro in 31 at bats Guillen has 13 hits, good enough for a .419 batting average. In 6 at bats last year against Pedro Guillen had 5 hits.
2) Nick Johnson is looking to build off of his three run home run last night off of Brian Bannister, and his track record against Pedro suggests that he will. Johnson has a .350 batting average against Martinez in 21 at bats.
3) Royce Clayton has the most career at bats against Pedro, much to Clayton's dismay. In 38 at bats against Martinez, Clayton has merely a .211 batting average.
4) Alfonso Soriano has also struggled against Pedro, going only 6-37 which is good (or bad) for a .167 average.
5) The Nationals number two hitter, Jose Vidro, has also struggled against Pedro's pitches. In 14 at bats Vidro owns a .214 batting average against the Mets ace.
6) Carlos Delgado hit his first home run of the season last night, and he may hit another one tonight. Delgado has owned the National's starter, Ramon Ortiz, in 27 at bats. Delgado has 4 home runs and 11 hits, good for a .407 average.
7) In Ramon Ortiz's only start against the Mets last year he pitched 7 innings of 2 run ball, despite losing the game.
8) In 13 innings against the Nationals last year Pedro allowed only 3 earned runs.
9) Last year in Pedro's first start he struck out 12 hitters.
10) Pedro is Ramon Ortiz's idol.

Game Prediction:
Nationals 5 Mets 9
WP- Darren Oliver
LP- Jayson Bergmann (Mets touch up bullpen)

Stat Prediction:
1) Delgado will have at least 2 hits
2) Beltran will have at least 1 hit
3) There will be at least three home runs in the game
4) Pedro will go at least 5 innings
5) Ramon Ortiz will have a better night than Pedro

Reaction: Julio a Day Later

Mets fans have been going wild today about how they never want to see Jorge Julio on their mound again, unless it's in mopup duty. Billy Wagner may be a bit happy that the focus is more on Julio than himself. After all it was Wagner who gave up the home run to tie the game in the ninth inning forcing the game into extra innings. However, luckily for Wagner the fans are taking the loss out on Jorge Julio. The second Julio was traded here most fans hated him already due to his inflatted 5.90 era in 2005. Kris Benson was a relativley popular player, and therefore most fans were against Julio. Those feelings became even worse when writers and bloggers began to compare Julio to Armando Benitez, a man on Metsradamus' hall of hate. And those feelings became even worse when Julio showed up in Spring Training looking like, as Gotham Baseball's Mark Healey put it,

Perhaps if he didn't come into camp looking like he spent the winter winning pie-eating contests, I'd have some sympathy...but I don't...

Well, the inevitable happened on Wednesday, Julio warmed up and pitched an inning for the Mets, and few can claim they had worse debuts for the Mets.

Julio gave up 5 runs, 2 earned, in the tenth inning, getting only two men out. If you thought that Julio's 5.90 era was inflatted then don't look at Julio's player page. Matt LeCroy led off the tenth remarkably with an out, but Jose Vidro had a single to left field with one out, followed by a game changing Jose Guillen home run to left field. Julio then proceded to strike out Nick Johnson, however the ball got by Paul LoDuca, who also had a bad inning. Therefore, Johnson reached first base. After a swinging bunt by Marlon Byrd that caused LoDuca to throw wildly to second putting runners on first and third. Next up was Ryan Zimmerman who was in his first at bat after hitting the home run off of Wagner. Zimmerman, however did not get credit for the at bat, as he was intentionally walked to face to Royce Clayton, loading the bases. Clayton responded with a single up the middle scoring Zimmerman and Byrd. Finally, Damian Jackson doubled scoring Ryan Zimmerman. The Mets eventually lost the game 5-9 after scoring one run in the tenth off of Felix Rodriguez balk.

Normally I am more understanding when it comes to players underperforming during games, and this was no different for me, until this morning. I figured that Julio did strike out one batter, and would of had the third out of the inning had LoDuca thrown to first base, despite still giving up 2 runs. The 2 runs was almost overcome in the tenth, but a one run loss is different from a 4 run loss. This morning when I saw Julio's reaction I immediatley didn't understand his problem.

I wanted to be better…My first time here, pitching in this stadium, I don't know the mound, I don't know about nothing here…It's my first time and that's what happened.

No excuses Julio just say you messed up and hopefully it won't happen again, that's all. Do not make excuses, period. I still don't feel he should be exiled to the bullpen, as I still think he can have a relativley solid year, but he cannot continue to have 5 run innings.

Preview: Bannister set for debut, Wright looks to build on strong start

Tommorow night the Mets will take on 2005 breakout pitcher, John Patterson. Some fans and analysts would argue that Patterson is actually the team's ace, and it was only Livan Hernandez's tenuer that earned him a opening day start. Patterson, a former top prospect, had a breakout 2005 season with the Nationals pitching to a 3.13 era in 198.1 innings pitched. Patterson has a roller coaster of success against the Mets hitters, some have been succesful off of him, while others not so much:
1) In 19 career at bats David Wright owns a .316 batting average to go along with two home runs. Hopefully Wright can build off of his 2-4 opening day.
2) Paul LoDuca also owns success against Patterson, holding a .385 batting average in 13 at bats.
3) Carlos Beltran is the last Mets starter who has had success against Patterson. Beltran owns a .444 career batting average with 3 doubles in 9 at bats.
4) On the other side of the spectrum is Jose Reyes. Reyes owns merely a .211 batting average in 19 at bats against the National's starter.
5) Carlos Delgado also struggles against Patterson, hitting merely .222 against him in 9 at bats,
6) Cliff Floyd is the worst among the Mets starters, with a pedestrian .167 batting average against Patterson.
7) John Patterson held a 3.60 era against the Mets in 2005 in 4 starts.
8) Xavier Nady will look to build off of his 4-4 opening day and his past stats, although minute, suggest he will. In 3 career at bats Nady is 1-3 against Patterson.
9) This is Brian bannister's first career start in the majors.
10) Willie Randolph has a career record of 84-79.

My Prediction:
Nationals 6 Mets 7
WP- Jorge Julio
LP- Joey Eischen
H- Duaner Sanchez
SV- Billy Wagner

Some call it lucky, some call it a bad call, I call it 1-0

It's officially upon us. The season has begun, and it was quite a way to start off the 162 game season. With Alfonso Soriano on first base in the 7th inning, and Aaron Heilman on the mound, top prospect Ryan Zimmerman hit a double down the left field line. And one perfect Cliff Floyd relay throw, and one bouncer to homeplate by Jose Reyes later Soriano was out called out at the plate. Although, when watching the replay it was very clear that LoDuca dropped the ball, and that Soriano's hand touched the plate. However, despite the call made being wrong the play was more than remarkable due to all of the things that went the Mets way during the play. The first base umpire made the call, because the home plate umpire was covering third, therefore since the first base umpire comes from the right side of the field he was not able to see LoDuca drop the ball, because LoDuca's body was blocking his hands so the umpire couldn't see him drop the ball. Also, Soriano and apparently the Nationals bench was looking up at the umpire for the call, therefore he did not see LoDuca drop the ball. Lastly, Royce Clayton, the on deck hitter, was in a similar position to the umpire, because LoDuca's body blocked Clayton's vision from seeing the ball. Some newspapers and bloggers are calling the game a lucky win, but you are bound to great breaks throughout the season, and you are bound to have calls against you. Luckily, our break came on the right day.

Opening Day has arrived!

It's finally here! Opening day is upon us, and hopefully the Mets will start off in a different fashion from last season. Although, I wouldn't mind a 6 inning 12 strikeout performance from Glavine. But, before the first pitch is thrown, or even before the first hamstring is stretched comes the anticipation, the excitement, and of course the game preview:

1) In 21 career at bats against Washington opening day starter, Livan Hernandez, Jose Reyes holds a .321 batting average. In addition to the batting average Reyes has 2 of his 15 career home runs against Hernandez.
2) Last season against the Nationals closer, Billy Wagner, had a .69 era with 6 saves in 13 innings pitched.
3) Tom Glavine also dominated the Nationals last season, pitching to a 2.25 era in 20 innings pitched.
4) In 22 career at bats against Livan Hernandez, David Wright holds a .364 batting average with 2 home runs and 7 RBI.
5) Paul LoDuca has had the most at bats against Hernandez in his career (51), and also has the most hits of any Mets against hernandez with 12, good for a .314 batting average.
6) Despite the fact that Hernandez hasn't been very succesful against the Mets' hitters, Tom Glavine has been very succesful against the Nationals hitters. In fact, the National's second baseman, Jose Vidro, holds merely a .229 career batting average against Glavine in 48 at bats.
7) The National's struggles against Glavine doesn't stop there. Brian Schneider, the National's catcher, holds merely a .167 batting average against Glavine in 24 at bats.
8) However, on the other side of the spectrum is Alfonso Soriano. Soriano has "owned" Glavine in his 9 career at bats, earning 5 hits off of Glavine, including one home run.
9) As for the Mets closer, Billy Wagner, he has been even more succesful against the National's hitters. In fact, the National's three hitter, Jose Guillen, holds a .118 batting average against Wagner in 17 at bats.
10) Lastly, Jose Vidro has struggled more against Wagner than against Glavine. Vidro holds a sorrowful .100 batting average against Wagner.

My Prediction for the game:
Mets 4 - Nationals 2
WP- Tom Glavine (6 innings pitched, 2 runs allowed, 4 K's, and 1 walk)
LP- Livan Hernandez (7 innings pitched, 3 runs allowed, 5 K's, and 2 walks)
H- Jorge Julio (pitched 7th inning, allowed one hit, no runs, and strikes out two) and Duaner Sanchez (pitched 8th inning, allows two hits, strikes out none, no runs allowed)
SV- Billy Wagner (pitched 9th inning, allows no hits, strikes out two, no runs scored, no walks)

Roster set finalized?

I have made an executive decision to stop posting game recaps, because it takes away from me posting about other news which in turn hurts the site. However, if it helps I will link to recaps.

It appears that Pedro Feliciano has made the team as the left handed reliever over Yusaku Iriki. Both Feliciano and Irki pitched last year in another country which is an interesting tidbit. I'm glad to see Feliciano make the team as I have always liked him, even when he struggles. However, that may be because of my success pitching with him in MVP Baseball 2005. But I digress. Feliciano's best year came in 2003 when he threw 48.1 innings in relief allowing only 18 earned runs, which was good enough for a 3.35 era. Ironically Feliciano held his opponents to a lower batting average in 2004 (.209) than in 2003 (.269), which shows me that he was improving despite what his era showed. I hope that Feliciano is the answer the Mets are looking for from a lefty in the bullpen, and if Feliciano can put up a half way decent season and the other relievers pitch to their potential then the Mets should have a very good to great bullpen.