The John Delcos New York Mets Report Featuring Mets' commentary, analysis and news.

Game #90 at Giants

Jon Niese stopper?

That’s the way it’s going to have to be tonight at San Francisco as Niese (6-3, 3.61) tries to pull the Mets out of their July funk.

After a boom in June that saw the Mets go 11 games over .500 and pull within a game of Braves, they are 4-7 for July to find themselves five games behind during a very precarious part of their schedule as this is the second game of a season-high 11-game road trip.

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Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

REYES: On the shelf.

Maybe this time they are getting it right.

Better late than never, but the Mets say they are now shutting down Jose Reyes until he’s able to swing pain free from both sides of the plate. The decision came as the outcome of last night’s pre-game circus that first had Reyes in the lineup, and then scratched with the news he’ll be put on the shelf.

The ringmaster of the circus, of course, is Jerry Manuel, who has irresponsibly bungled this from the outset.

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Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

REYES: Needs to come back only when he's ready.

The second half begins with Jose Reyes’ strained oblique a pertinent question, and all because the Mets foolishly tried to rush him back into the lineup.

After treating his thyroid issue with kid gloves, Jerry Manuel did the opposite with Reyes, letting him bat right-handed against righty pitching.

Reyes still can’t bat left-handed with confidence and the Mets should dismiss any thoughts of him playing tomorrow night at San Francisco.

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Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Game #81 at Nationals

They couldn’t be any more opposite, RA Dickey and Stephen Strasburg.

One, Dickey, is a 35-year-old knuckleballer hanging on to his career with grit, guile and perseverance.  The other, Strasburg, is the rookie phenom, who despite a handful of starts in his young career already has some clamoring for him to be on the National League All-Star team.

Imagine, less than 40 career innings and already they are lobbying for him to be an All-Star. It shouldn’t happen, but you never know.

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Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Jose Reyes remains questionable for tonight’s game with the Washington Nationals with stiffness in his lower back.

The Mets might be off the rug tonight in Washington, but if Jerry Manuel holds to form of sitting a player the day after he’s removed from a game by injury – or in this case, from pre-game batting practice – then Reyes will sit.

And, he should.

REYES: Give him another day.

Reyes isn’t porcelain china, but he’s extraordinarily valuable to this team and should be protected.  The Mets made remarkable strides in June and would risk taking a step back if Reyes were to aggravate this injury and go on one of those prolonged “he’s ready, he’s not ready,’’ situations.

Presumably, this isn’t a serious injury and another day or two shouldn’t hurt. The last thing the Mets need is to push Reyes unnecessarily and risk losing him.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Jose Reyes was scratched from tonight’s game with stiffness in his lower back. Reyes clutched his back during batting practice and left the field.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Game #71 vs. Tigers

When things looked bleak for the Mets about a month ago, with three of their starters out of the rotation, the Mets brought up knuckleballer R.A. Dickey from Triple-A Buffalo to make a spot start.

He hasn’t left the rotation since, and it’s not hard to imagine where the Mets would be without in 5-0 record and 2.82 ERA.

Tonight he’ll be vying to become the first Mets starter to win his first six decisions with the team, and the first Met to go 6-0 since Mike Pelfrey in 2008.

Dickey was on the ropes in his last start at Cleveland, but was able to make an in-inning adjustment to hold on for the victory.

The adjustment came at the suggestion of pitching coach Dan Warthen, who told Dickey to light a fire under the butterfly.

“I had runners on second and third and he came out and encouraged me to throw the hard one,’’ Dickey said.  “It’s about 4, 5 mph harder than my comfort-zone knuckler. It was a good step in my evolution, learning to adjust in-game.’’

It’s a risky adjustment for a knuckleballer to make because there’s always the possibility the extra push could force the pitch to spin out into a slow fat batting practice fastball.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Game #58 vs. Padres

A strikeout machine for much of this season, David Wright enters tonight’s game against the San Diego Padres on a big-time tear, with 13 hits in his last 25 at-bats – most of them scalded.

During that span Wright only struck out four times, three of them last Wednesday at San Diego. He did not strike out during the Florida series.

Wright said he was all over the place earlier this season, but has become more selective over the past week not chasing the sliders away. He’s also been quicker with the bat and getting to the inside fastball.

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Posted under Chat Rooms, Chat Rooms/2010