Blogging Mets

Coming into Sunday’s game, the Braves had won the past 22 games that Kris Medlin has started, dating back to 2010. Make that 23, now an all-time record, as the Braves topped the Mets 6-2.

Jenrry Mejia got the start Sunday against Braves.

The Braves got on the board first. With two on in the second David Ross smashed a three-run homer off Jenrry Mejia to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.

In the third inning Ruben Tejada reached on an infield single. He moved to second on a wild pitch and with two outs Justin Turner hit a grounder that should have ended the inning. However Freddie Freeman’s toss to first was wide and Tejada scored on the error to make it 3-1.

By the way, Turner was starting at third for David Wright, who got hit in the groin area Saturday night.

The Braves made it 4-1 in the fifth on doubles by Michael Bourn and Jason Heyward.

Collin McHugh came on in relief in the sixth and he promptly plunked Dan Uggla on the top of the helmet. He scored on a triple by Andrelton Simmons to make it 5-1. Simmons scored on a single to extend the lead to 6-1.

The Mets added a run in the ninth to lose 6-2. Now onto Miami for the final series of the season.

The Mets saw their three-game winning streak snapped Saturday in Atlanta, going down 2-0.

Scott Hairston has a word for the umpire after striking on Saturday against Braves.

The Braves scored a first inning run on a Martin Prado double, a wild pitch by Chris Young and a ground out.

Prado doubled again in the fifth, this time with a runner on second to give the Braves a 2-0 lead.

Braves starter Mike Minor stymied the Mets. He was lifted with one out in the seventh following a David Wright ground rule double. It was only the third hit Minor allowed. Wright moved to third on a balk with two outs but Lucas Duda struck out to end the inning.

Young pitched well, going six innings, allowing the two runs on seven hits with just one walk and six strikeouts. He finishes the season with a record of 4-9 with a 4.15 ERA in 20 starts. It was likely his last appearance in a Mets uniform — I would be stunned if he was back in 2013. The couple of million dollars it would cost to resign him would be better spent elsewhere.

The Mets threatened in the ninth against Craig Kimbrel. Ruben Tejada reached base on an error, and with one out Wright was hit by a pitch. But pinch hitter Ike Davis struck out, and so did Duda, and that was that.

Mets lose 2-0.

Tom Seaver returned to the Mets for the 1983 season. He would be lost following the season after the Mets failed to protect him and the White Sox selected him from the free agent compensation pool. The Mets apparently didn’t think anyone would take a 39-year-old pitcher, so they didn’t bother to protect him. When it became clear that Chicago would take him, the Mets offered other players, but the Sox were intent on taking Seaver.

Seaver pitched well for Chicago, going 33-28 with a 3.67 ERA over two and a half seasons. He also won his 300th game in a White Sox uniform.

In any case, this is just a long way of introducing video of Tom Seaver appearing on Kiner’s Korner after his first game back with the Mets:

Jonathon Niese made his final start of the 2012 season Friday night, and he made sure it was one he can remember all winter, throwing a gem against the Braves.

Lucas Duda with the 3-run homer against the Braves.

The Braves reached Niese in the fourth when Freddie Freeman homered to right to make it a 1-0 game.

Tim Hudson was just as good as Niese, until the seventh inning, that is. Daniel Murphy led off with a double. David Wright hit a sinking liner to right — Andrew Heyward made a great diving catch for the first out. Murphy tagged up and advanced to third. Ike Davis was intentionally walked and Scott Hairston struck out. Lucas Duda then came through with a three-run shot to right to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. Duda has 15 home runs on the season.

Niese went seven innings, allowing one run on four hits. He finishes the season with record of 13-9 and a 3.40 ERA, career bests. Perhaps more importantly, he finished the season healthy and pitching strongly for the first time in his career. He made great strides this season; hopefully he can continue in 2013.

Bobby Parnell came on to nail down the save, his second save in two games.

Mets win 3-1, their sixth win in the past seven games.

People seem to be missing the point on Melky Cabrera and his removal from the race for National League batting champion. Several times on Mets broadcasts Gary Cohen has said MLB is setting a “dangerous precedent.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Melky Cabrera won’t be a tainted batting champ.

To recap, Cabrera was suspended 50 games —  the rest of the regular season and then some — after testing positive for PEDs. At the time he had 501 plate appearances. That’s one short of the necessary total needed to qualify for the batting title.

There is a rule that says if a player falls short of the minimum, hitless at bats are given to him until he reaches 502. If he is still the leader when those at bats are calculated, then he is the champ (we’ll discuss in a moment how ridiculous this rule is).

After several weeks of hang-wringing over the possibility of having a tainted batting champ, Cabrera requested that the rule not be applied in his case, and both the league and the players union agreed.

Cohen and others say this is the equivalent of such organizations as the NCAA, the Olympics and the bicycling folks which retroactively take away victories if violations or positive drug tests are later revealed. This is not true.

Had Cabrera reached the 502 plate appearances, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. He would be the batting champ, albeit a tainted one. End of story.

MLB is not taking anything away from Melky Cabrera. All the league is doing is not enforcing an asinine rule. If the minimum is 502, then the minimum is 502. If you can add things to get players to the minimum, why have a minimum at all? I suspect the league will do away with this flawed rule for good after the season.

If Cabrera had the 502 and the MLB took the batting title away, then that would be precedent-setting. Those other sports take things away after they are accomplished, which makes no sense at all. Those sporting events happened; now they are telling is they did not.

There are many people who want to void Barry Bonds’s home run record because he allegedly hit much of them while using PEDs. That would be a travesty. Those home runs happened, and if MLB was not bright enough to catch Bonds at the time, there is nothing it can do afterwards.

Taking something away and not adding something to someone’s totals are two very different things.

R.A. Dickey won his 20th game on Thursday, and I will go out on a limb and say that he also clinched the Cy Young Award.

R.A. Dickey tips cap after leaving game en route to 20th win.

Yes, Gio Gonzalez also won on Thursday, his 21st win. They each have one start left, and I say that regardless of what happens (unless Dickey allows something like 10 runs in one innings and his ERA skyrockets, which is extremely unlikely), Dickey will win it.

Let’s say Dickey loses and ends up 20-7 and Gonzalez wins and finishes 22-8. Dickey will still be either first or second in ERA and strikeouts . He currently leads Clayton Kershaw by 11 strikeouts with 222 and trails Kershaw in ERA 2.68-2.69. He will also be the leader in complete games and shutouts, as well as innings pitched — likely around 30 more innings than Gonzalez. Voters seem to put a lot of importance on innings pitched. I think Dickey’s performance in those other categories will give him the edge over Gonzalez.

Add in the fact that these days voters don’t care much about wins (with which I disagree, but whatever), and everything seems to be pointing towards an R.A. Dickey victory.

Dickey also has the great story that almost everyone wants to see end with him holding a Cy Young Award. I predict that happy ending.

R.A. Dickey won his 20th game of the season Thursday afternoon, becoming the first Mets pitcher to reach that milestone in 22 years. But in typical Mets fashion there was some ninth inning bullpen drama before Dickey could pop the champagne.

Travis Snider makes sensational catch to rob Mike Baxter of homer.

Dickey fell behind early. Garrett Jones led off the second inning with a double to left that Scott Hairston could not reach. One out later Travis Snider singled in front of Hairston to put runners on first and third. It is not fair to say that Hairston should have caught the balls, but a better fielder would have had a chance. Rod Barajas hit a ground rule double to right to score Jones to make it 1-0. With runners on second and third  Jordy Mercer hit a slow roller to David Wright. He wanted to go home, but Josh Thole did not give Wright a target so the run scored to make it 2-0. He had to go to first but Mercer beat the throw. Dickey was able to get the final two outs on strikeouts.

Ike Davis got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning with a solo blast to right. It was Davis’s 31st home run of the year. Later in the inning it looked like Mike Baxter would tie the score with a solo homer of his own, but Snider climbed the right field wall to bring the ball back in. He was able to get his spike into the chain link part of the fence and get high enough to make an incredible catch.

Barajas made it 3-1 with a long home run to left field in the fourth inning.

Daniel Murphy and Wright opened the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with no outs. Davis hit a foul pop-up for the first out, but Scott Hairston was able to single to right to score Murphy to make it a 3-2 game. With runners on first and second Baxter grounded out to the first baseman, with Jones not going for a possible inning-ending double play. So runners were on second and third with two outs, but Josh Thole grounded out meekly to end the inning.

Andres Torres led off the fifth with a walk. After Dickey struck out, Ruben Tejada singled to put runners on first and second. Murphy singled up the middle to score Torres to tie the game at three. Wright then came up huge, driving a ball over the wall in right-center. The three-run homer made it 6-3.

After throwing 111 pitches through seven innings, Dickey surprisingly was allowed to stay in the game, leading off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single. He was erased on a ground out and went back to the dugout to rest up for the eighth inning.

Dickey was lifted with two outs in the eighth after walking a batter. Barajas launched Jon Rauch’s first pitch high and deep to left-center and every Mets fan held their collective breath until it came down safely in Torres’s glove to end the inning.

Dickey was hittable during his 7.2 innings, allowing the three runs on eight hits, but he did strike out a career high-tying 13 Pirates as well. Dickey regained the lead in strikeouts with 222, 11 more than Clayton Kershaw. His ERA edged up a bit to 2.69, now second to Kershaw’s 2.68.

Rauch walked the lead off batter in the ninth and with one out allowed a home run to Alex Presley to cut the lead to 6-5 game. Bobby Parnell came on got the final two outs to nail down Dickey’s 20th win.

Mets and R.A. Dickey win, 6-5.

Following a start in which he allowed seven runs in exactly zero innings, Jeremy Hefner turned in a solid performance to beat the Pirates on a night that David Wright set the Mets record for hits.

The Mets jumped all over Jeff Locke in the third. With one out Ruben Tejada singled. He tried to steal second but Locke had him picked off, however the throw from first baseman Garrett Jones hit Tejada on the arm and Tejada was safe at second. Daniel Murphy singled to score Tejada. Wright hit a dribbler to Pedro Alvarez at third, who threw the ball over Jones’s head. Murphy scored to make it 2-0. Wright ended up at second and was credited with a hit — the 1419th of his career to break the all-time Mets record. Scott Hairston doubled to score Wright and Kelly Shoppach singled home Hairston to extend the Mets lead to 4-0.

The Mets added another run in the fourth. Andres Torres reached on an infield hit, Hefner sacrificed him to second, he stole third and then scored when Tejada hit a single through the drawn-in infield.

The Mets made it 6-0 in the sixth. Torres once again singled and was sacrificed to second. Tejada then drove him in with his fourth hit on the night.

Hefner threw seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out seven Pirates and walking one.

Mets win 6-0.

The last time the Mets won five games in a row was in early May. They could have done it again Tuesday night, but instead they lost to the Pirates.

Collin McHugh lasted just 1.1 innings against Pirates.

The Pirates jumped on Collin McHugh early. They loaded the bases with one out and Gaby Sanchez hit a little looper to center. Andres Torres charged in and it looked like he was going the make the catch on his knees but he just whiffed on it. A run came in but Torres was able to get a force out at second for the second out. Is it just me or does Torres not know how to play baseball? Anyway, Pedro Alvarez followed with a massive home run to left and suddenly it was 4-0.

The Mets got three of the runs back in the bottom of the inning. Ruben Tejada led off with a single. Justin Turner followed by launching a Wandy Rodriguez pitch into the Party City Deck to make it 4-2. David Wright then hit his 20th homer of the season to dead center field to cut the lead to 4-3. It was the first time all season the Mets have hit back-to-back home runs.

The Pirates continued to batter McHugh in the second. With runners on second and third Josh Harrison tripled to extend the lead to 6-3. After walking the next batter Terry Collins pulled McHugh from the game. Justin Hampson came on an induced a ground ball to Turner at second, but he bobbled the ball and a run scored, making it 7-3. A double play started by a nice play by Wright ended the inning.

McHugh’s final line was ugly — 1.1 innings pitched, seven runs allowed on five hits and three walks. Unfortunately, his impressive first start is looking more and more like an aberration.

Elvin Ramirez came on to pitch the fifth, and he was not good at all. He allowed a single and two walks to load the bases. Then he walked  another batter to force in a run to make it an 8-3 game. Ramirez settled down and got out of the inning without further damage.

Andres Torres doubled to lead off the seventh and scored when right fielder Garrett Jones bobbled Jordany Valdespin’s single, cutting the lead to 8-4. Valdespin stole second and Tejeda walked. Pinch hitter Daniel Murphy hit what should have been an inning-ending double play, but Alvarez tried to tag Valdespin on his way to third instead of throwing to second to get the out there. Valdespin was able to avoid the tag, so Alvarez had to settle for just the out at first. Wright then picked the perfect spot to get his 1418th hit to tie Ed Kranepool atop the all time Mets list — he singled to right to drive in two runs to make it 8-6.

Jon Rauch could not keep the game within reach, allowing a two-run homer to Jones to extend the lead to 10-6.

That was the final score. Winning streak over.

Those Mets fans looking forward to the day this off-season that the Mets admit their mistake with Jason Bay and release him will have a disappointing winter — a report says the Mets have no intention of cutting their failed former slugger.

Jason Bay is here to stay?

A team source tells the New York Post that there is “zero” chance the Mets will eat the $18 million Bay is owed for 2013.

“He’s a part of this team,” the source told the newspaper.

The Mets have shown a willingness to release players with big money left on their deals — witness Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo and their $18 million for 2011. But not with Bay, apparently.

This is a mistake. The Mets have given Bay more than enough chances; from a baseball standpoint, they just need to move on from him. They also need to do it to show the fans they are serious about building a winning team, money notwithstanding.

The only way this could work is if they go out and get another starting left fielder (actually, they need three new outfielders, but that’s besides the point) and leave Bay on the bench. This way, the Mets can move on, but also keep Bay with the hopes of getting something out of him as a pinch hitter and a late-innings defensive replacement. Bay is also seen as a positive influence in the clubhouse, and there is some value in that.

But really, the Mets should just release him. I think they fear he will turn his career around with another team while they are still paying the bulk of his contract. Bay has shown no indication that he can do that. And even if were to do that, there is no guarantee he would have done it in Flushing.

Let’s just move on.