Bobby Parnell delivers, literally!

After the latest meltdown on Wednesday I wrote:

Collins seems reluctant to use Parnell in certain situations. Perhaps he knows something the rest of us do not. Otherwise, his use — or non-use — of Parnell is baffling.

On Tuesday I speculated on whom should be the closer if Francisco is removed:

Parnell has been pitching well this season, but it can’t be forgotten that he was given the chance to close last season and could not handle the job. Collins seems wary of bringing Parnell into games in super-tight situations… I think Collins wants to move slowly with Parnell, inching him closer to save situations. He likely is not ready yet.

On Thursday Collins explained his handling of Parnell, and I was thinking along the correct lines.

“With what Bobby went through last fall, I’m gonna try to avoid that and let him build up to that closer role,” Collins told ESPNNewYork.com before the game. “He’s got closer stuff. I don’t want the failure side — he’s already had it once. He had some tough times last summer.”

Collins continued. “He’s pitching very, very well in the situation he’s in. And we’re gonna gradually ease him into some different situations. We’re gonna probably give him some different opportunities, to pitch deeper into games, later in the games, ’cause he’s earned that. He’s certainly earned that.”

Collins made good on that promise on Thursday, giving Parnell the eighth inning of a tied game, while using Jon Rauch, who usually gets the eighth inning, in the seventh. Parnell came through with a scoreless frame.

“He’s taken such a large step forward, I don’t wanna have him take a big step back just yet,” Collins said.

David Wright connects during Thursday's win against Reds

Starter R.A. Dickey allowed a solo home run to Joey Votto off the facade in right field in the fourth to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.

Dickey opened the fifth by hitting one batter and walking the next. Ryan Hanigan followed with a double to center to score one run. A sacrifice fly made it 3-0 and then Mike Nickeas, who had a hard time all game handling the knuckleball, let one get past him to extend the Reds lead to 4-0.

The Mets offense finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Andres Torres singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. David Wright walked and with two outs Lucas Duda hit a double to right to cut the deficit in half, 4-2.

Dickey pitched his way out of big trouble in the sixth, thanks mostly to Daniel Murphy. Dickey allowed a single and a double to leave runners on second and third with no outs. Jay Bruce hit a pop fly into foul territory that Murphy caught over his shoulder. He wheeled around and fired home, nailing Joey Votto who was trying to tag up. Dickey then got the third out on a grounder. Murphy’s defense at second is really coming along, to the point where he really is not a liability out there.

The Mets chased Reds starter May Latos in the bottom of the sixth after he walked Ike Davis and allowed a single to Ronny Cedeno. Mike Nickeas was then called on to sacrifice bunt (ugh!) but third baseman Todd Frazier dropped the ball for an error to load the bases with no outs. Mike Baxter pinch hit for Dickey and lofted a sacrifice fly to left to make it 4-3. Torres and Kirk Nieuwenhuis could not extend the rally.

The Mets had a tall task in the seventh — try to score against Aroldis Chapman, who had not allowed a run all season. Not any more. The Mets staged a nearly identical inning to the sixth. Wright led off with a walk, Lucas Duda followed with a single and an error on a Murphy fly to center left the bases loaded with no outs. Justin Turner — pinch hitting for Davis — hit a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game at four. Cedeno struck out, pinch hitter Scott Hairston walked to load the bases again but Mike Baxter struck out.

When was the last time you saw nearly identical back-to-back innings like this?!

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In the eighth Rob Johnson laid down a perfect bunt for a hit and Wright followed with a double to deep center to score Johnson and give the Mets their first lead of the afternoon. Wright was on base five times — two hits and three walks. He is batting .411 with a .513 on-base percentage. He came home on a Turner bloop single for a crucial insurance run to make the score 6-4. Cedeno made sure the shaky bullpen could  not blow this one — he slammed his first home run as a Met, a three-run shot to make it a 9-4 game.

Frank Francisco came on to finish up the game. Jon Rauch and Bobby Parnell deserve a lot of credit for throwing scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth to keep the game close.

Mets win 9-4 to go 2-2 on this abbreviated homestand. Now it is off to Toronto to begin interleague play.

Following a second straight game in which he served up a home run, the Mets sent out this simple tweet Wednesday night:

Carrasco appeared in four games over the past week since coming back from the disabled list, allowing a run in three of those games, pitching to a 7.36 ERA. That should not come  as a surprise — his ERA last season was a whopping 6.02, a season in which he spent half the year in the minors.

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Even Carrasco said he deserves to be dumped.

“I’ve struggled here,” Carrasco told  ESPNNewYork.com in the understatement of the year. “It was pretty self-explanatory. I would have done the same thing if I was the GM.”

Carrasco can be comforted by the fact that he will continue to collect his $1.2 million salary for this season, the last year of a two-year, $2.4 million contract Sandy Alderson thought was a good idea to give him. At least Alderson admitted his mistake and released him instead of leaving him on the roster (cough cough Omar Minaya/Oliver Perez cough cough).

Ike Davis doubles in a run in the 6th

Johan Santana gave up a run in the third, but the Mets answered right back in the bottom of the inning — Lucas Duda with the RBI single to tie the game at one.

Duda, who had three hits on the night, led off the sixth inning with a single. Daniel Murphy hit a ground shot to first that Joey Votto was able to snag. Instead of trying to get to first, he threw wildly to second almost from his back, resulting in runners on second and third. Ike Davis doubled to right to score Duda to break the tie and move Murphy to third. Then for the second time in three games the Mets pulled off a suicide squeeze — Mike Nickeas laying down the perfect bunt to run the score to 3-1.

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Santana allowed a Todd Frazier solo home run in the seventh to cut the lead to 3-2. After a single and a sacrifice Santana was removed from the game. He allowed the two runs and struck out five in 6.2 innings. Bobby Parnell came on to get the final out on a strikeout.

But for some reason Terry Collins did not leave Parnell in the game. Jon Rauch started the eighth and gave up two singles and a double as the Reds tied the game at three. After finally getting an out Collins brought in Tim Byrdak to face lefty pinch-hitter Jay Bruce. Bruce hit a long fly to right that would have been a home run in Cincinnati. Instead it was a sacrifice fly at Citi Field, but still it gave the Reds a 4-3 lead.

Then Collins made the worst possible decision he could make — he brought Carrasco into a major league game. He proceeded to serve-up Frazier’s second home run on the night, this one a two run job, to extend the lead to 6-3.

Rauch has really been up and down for the past couple of weeks while Parnell has been excellent. Collins seems reluctant to use Parnell in certain situations. Perhaps he knows something the rest of us do not. Otherwise, his use — or non-use — of Parnell is baffling. And his use of Carrasco is just inexcusable. Can’t Sandy Alderson just admit his mistake and release Carrasco, putting us all out of our misery?

The Mets let another winnable game slip through their fingers, 6-3.

Citi Field, home to the 2013 All-Star Game

“Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Selig, it’s a great honor for everyone at the Mets to host the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field,” Fred Wilpon said at a news conference. “Mets fans and all people in the New York tri-state area and beyond will have the opportunity to take part in the events that Major League Baseball will bring to New York.”

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“Next year’s All-Star Game is going to demonstrate once again that there’s no place like New York for world-class sporting events,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Major League Baseball clearly recognizes this, since they’re bringing the All-Star Game back to New York for the second time in just five years.”

That was the year the game was held at old Yankee Stadium during the final season of the ballpark. I always thought Shea should have been incorporated into that celebration, perhaps holding the Home Run Derby there. Shea was never on the level as Yankee Stadium of course, but still, it was around for 45 years and was home to some classic baseball moments.

In any case, the Mets get their honor now. The game is tentatively scheduled for July 16, 2013.

David Wright & Terry Collins discuss incident in dugout: Photo courtesy Daily News

In case you missed the game, in the top of the seventh D.J. Carrasco hit Ryan Braun. It did not seem intentional, but it did follow a Rickie Weeks homer, so Carrasco was ejected from the game.

When it was Wright’s turn to hit in the bottom of the inning, Jordany Valdespin was sent to the plate instead. Wright was outraged; TV cameras showed Wright yelling at Collins, then storming down into the tunnel. He came back and was seen talking to Collins.

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The Mets broadcasters speculated that Collins made the move to protect Wright from possible retaliation. Well, they were right.

Here’s what Collins said after the game, according to Mets Blog:

“In my opinion, why I took him out of the game, he wasn’t getting hurt. I’m not accusing anybody of the possibility of retaliation, but I don’t blame the umpires for doing what they did, and I don’t blame the other team for any perception they had of what happened. But, I’ve got news for you, in this game there are unwritten rules, and one of them is “you hit my guy, I’m hitting your guy.” They’re not hitting my guy tonight. I’m not exposing him to being hit.”

Collins said Wright wanted to stay in the game and take the possible hit.

“As he always does, he said he would take it for the team,” Collins said. “I told him I am not going to do that. We are not in a position to have him take one for the team and miss a week or three days or two days. I’m not letting that happen.”

Collins also took out Daniel Murphy, who is also red-hot and could have been a possible target for retaliation.

After the game Wright said he has no problem with Collins.

“Terry and I have no issues. I respect him and I love playing for him,” Wright said. “I’m not a manager. His job is to do what he thinks is best for the team now and in the long run and he did that. I have no problem with that, I respect it 100 percent.”

Travis Ishikawa after his 2nd homer of the night

Dillon Gee allowed two runs in the second and then another one in the fifth on a home run by Travis Ishikawa as the Brewers built a 3-0 lead. They broke it open in the sixth — three singles made it 4-0 and then Ishikawa slammed a three-run home run to stretch the lead to 7-0.

And that was it for Gee — 5.1 innings, seven runs allowed as his ERA ballooned to 5.65.

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D.J. Carrasco served up a solo shot to Rickie Weeks in the seventh to make it 8-0, and then he promptly hit Ryan Braun with an inside fastball. Home plate umpire Gary Darling just as promptly ejected Carrasco from the game. While it is always good to see Carrasco not in a game, that was nonsense. There was no way he hit Braun on purpose. Carrasco is just coming back from injury and is trying to show he belongs on the big league roster. He needs to pitch in games to do that. Just a bad call by Darling.

Then in something of an odd move, Terry Collins pinch hit for David Wright (as well as Daniel Murphy) in the bottom of the seventh. The Mets broadcasting team speculated that it was to protect them from possible retaliation for the Braun plunking. Wright was visibly upset about it in the dugout, and was seen having an animated conversation with his manager.

Meantime the Mets bats could not touch Brewers starter Zack Greinke. They managed no runs and only five hits off him in seven innings.

On the plus side, Wright had two of those hits and is now batting .408. He has a nine-game hitting streak. Murphy also had a hit — he has an 11-game hitting streak.

The Mets lose 8-0.

Frank Francisco following Monday's shaky save

Collins said he spoke to Francisco prior to the game and told him it’s still his job.

“It’s, ‘Look, I trust you. I believe in you,’” Collins said before the game. “Let’s see if this works with what we talked about today, and we’ll make decisions as we go.”

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Many writers and fans have already made that decision, saying Francisco should be pulled. Everyone is offering their own solutions. They include:

– Jon Rauch. Rauch would be the logical answer. He has previous closer experience, and even replaced the closer in Toronto for a stretch last season when that closer struggled. His name? Frank Francisco.

However Rauch is anything but automatic. He was cruising along until a couple of weeks ago when he hit a rough patch. In his last six appearances he has alternated between good and bad — giving up runs and not giving up runs. He pitched a flawless eighth inning on Sunday. At this point, though, he seems to be a better option than Francisco.

– Bobby Parnell. Parnell has been pitching well this season, but it can’t be forgotten that he was given the chance to close last season and could not handle the job. Collins seems wary of bringing Parnell into games in super-tight situations, such as when he pulled Francisco on Sunday, instead going with unreliable Manny Acosta. I think Collins wants to move slowly with Parnell, inching him closer to save situations. He likely is not ready yet.

Ironically, if Parnell had seized the closer job last season, Francisco probably would not even be on the team.

– Closer by committee. This is just a bad idea that never seems to work. By all indications it appears that relievers need to know their roles. They like to know approximately when they will be brought into games. In a closer by committee situation no one knows what their exact role is. They could be called on at any moment. It is a recipe for disaster, as the Red Sox found out a couple of seasons ago when they tried it.

It looks like we are stuck with Francisco for now. However one more blown save could force Collins’s hand. Stay tuned.

Daniel Murphy scores on suicide squeeze

The shift-happy Brewers were done in by their own strategy in the first inning. A recent Sports Illustrated article highlighted how often teams are shifting their infields these days against players who pull balls. The Brewers are the leaders in the National League. They shifted 22 times in 2010 and then 170 times in 2011. This season they are on pace for 324. Well with two outs and a runner on second, the Brewers put a shift on against Daniel Murphy, who is not a dead pull hitter. And wouldn’t you know it — Murphy hit a ball right where the shortstop should have been playing. Instead of an inning-ending grounder it went into left for a run-scoring single to give the Mets the early lead.

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The Mets made it 2-0 in the sixth when Ronny Cedeno laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to score Murphy from third. Murphy had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. He’s now hitting .333.

They were the only two hits the Mets managed off Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo. He was done in by six walks in six innings.

Meanwhile Miguel Batista was tremendous, throwing seven shutout innings, striking out five while allowing just four hits and one walk.

The Mets added a huge run in the eighth on a huge Brewer error. David Wright, who had doubled, was on third with one out when Murphy hit a grounder to a drawn-in infield. The second baseman threw home and Wright got into a rundown. Wright was a dead duck until Aramis Ramirez dropped the ball trying to transfer it from his glove to his hand. Why it was in his glove in the first place is unknown. In any case, that made it 3-0.

And the Mets needed that cushion with a shaky Francisco, who blew two games in Miami, coming in for the save. He allowed a leadoff single to Ryan Braun, who promptly stole second. After a ground out, Braun scored on a single to left to cut the lead to 3-1. He walked Taylor Green to put the tying runs on base. Still, Terry Collins stuck with him. He went on to strike out Brooks Conrad, and then got George Kottaras to fly out to right.

The Mets survive 3-1. Despite coming through, Francisco did not inspire confidence. This will be a big story going forward.

David Wright makes play during Sunday's game against Marlins

The Wall Street Journal reports that according to a baseball official who has been “briefed on the Mets thinking,” the offer would come later this year, perhaps as early as the summer. The official said the Mets would make the offer before the winter because if they are unable to work out a deal, the team would explore trade options.

Sandy Alderson is said to be still assessing Wright’s worth, and no final decisions have been made about how much money or how many years to offer Wright.

Wright is set to earn $16 million next season and he would likely get a raise from that figure. As far as years, I can’t see the Mets going any more than six years. Such a contract would take him through his 36th birthday, and signing a player beyond that age is just dumb in the post-steroid era. In fact, I can see the Mets only going five years with options years based on Wright remaining healthy and productive. I predict a five-year, $90 million deal will get it done, which would represent something of a hometown discount. Wright could probably demand a bit more on the open market, but he apparently really wants to be a Met for life. And besides, $18 million per year is still a fair offer.

Alderson would not talk about the Mets plans, but he did say Wright absolutely, positively will not be traded during this season.

“I certainly do not foresee, under any circumstances, David being a topic of discussion at the trade deadline,” Alderson said.