Ex Met "Phenom" sent to the minors

Lastings Milledge, the highly touted Mets prospect apparently could not cut it for the lowly Washington Nationals. Milledge like most Mets prospects was hyped to become the next big thing (Paul Wilson=Tom Seaver, Alex Escobar=Ken Griffey Jr, etc). Most Mets officials saw Milledge as being the next Manny Ramirez. Lastings was hitting just .167 and had made some crucial errors in the field leading to his demotion to triple A. Accoring to MLB network, Milledge had also been having some off the field issues which should come as no surprise and was showing up to meetings late, hmm that never happened when he was in NY. I must applaud Omar Minaya for recognizing failure before it was too late and making a very solid trade when he did. Ryan Church has proved to be a much better fielder than Milledge for now as well as a much better hitter...for now. He has also been a solid citizen both on and off the field and you can't put a price on that. Whether or not Lastings Milledge grows up and matures into the player that the Mets thought he would remains to be seen, but I personally am happy not to have this headache on the Mets ballclub.

Mets lose a tough one

Stranded runners and missed opportunities led to the Mets demise this evening as they were defeated by the Marlins 5-4. The Mets left 14 runners on base and could not come up with a big hit until Jeremy Reed's pinch hit rbi single in the 9th that tied the game up.

John Maine pitched well in his 1st start of the year yielding 2runs on 2 hits in 5 innings. The 2 hits were solo home runs by Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla. The bullpen gave up the other 3 runs. Darren O'Day was called on in the 9th to push the game to extra innings but gave up a line drive game winning single to Jorge Cantu. Cantu did the job with the glove as well, robbing Carlos Delgado of a double down the line in the 9th.

Carlos Beltran continued to stay hot with a 3 for 5 night including a solo jack. Ryan Church is showing no indication that he'll lose his job to Gary Sheffield. He went 3 for 4 to keep his batting average at a sizzling .533.

Next Up: Livan Hernandez vs Ricky Nolasco, 6pm Dolphins Stadium

Prediction

The Mets will lose 2 out of 3 this weekend in Florida. The 1 game they do win will be Sunday with Johan on the mound.

The Mets have played the Marlins well the past 2 years.... except in September.... during the final week of the season. This Marlins are a very dangerous team because of their pitching staff and some shortstop named Ramirez.

They can put a quality arm on the mound every day. Few teams in baseball can do that. If each of their starters can stay healthy, this is a team that can sneak up on the rest of the National League while everyone is picking the Mets or Phillies to take the division.

Follow the pattern: The Marlins won the World Series in 1997 and 2003. 6 years have passed. You do the math. Realistically though, both of those teams had much more talent than this years team.

O.P.... O Boy...

The Mets for the 3rd day in a row staked their starting pitcher to a lead. For the 2nd day in a row though, their starting pitcher gave it back. Oliver Perez, who breezed through the 1st 2 innings, ran into a wall in the 3rd, as he struggled to find the strike zone. Joey Votto made him pay with a 3run blast. The Reds tacked on another run to go up 4-3 in the in the 3rd.

The Mets knotted it up in the 5th, but just like earlier, Perez gave the runs right back. When all was said and done, OP's line showed 4 1/3 IP, 8 ER 7K's and the always killer 5 walks.

6 runs is enough to win a ball game. When a team gives its pitcher a lead, that pitcher has to come back in the other half of the inning and shut the opposition down. Olly simply could not do that. Perez's ugly performances in spring training and his conditioning have been well-documented. I believe his next 2 starts are pivotal. If he doesn't show signs of improvement, the Mets may be forced to pull a Traschel and send Olly to the minors or extended spring training.

After giving in to his ubsurd contract demands due to a dry free agent market, the Mets are in a tough situation. They have little pitching depth in the organization and do not want to commit anymore significant money to a risky pitching option like Pedro Martinez.


Next up: John Maine vs Annibal Sanchez in Florida, Friday Night 7:10pm

Game 2, Win 2

Pelfrey made us nervous, the bullpen made us sweat, the offense did its job. In a game that took nearly 4 hours to complete, the Mets topped the Reds 9-7. Mike Pelfrey was all over the place in the 1st inning, throwing 44 pitches. He gave up a 3-run bomb to young stud Joey Votto. A 4-6-3 doubleplay was botched on a bad throw by Reyes to Delgado, resulting in a 4th run in the inning.

Pelfrey was able to settle in and scratch out 5 innings. The offense gave him an early lift with a mammoth homerun by Delgado to RCF in the top of the 1st. The 2 Carloses carried the load tonight combining to go 4 for 9 with 6 rbi and. Brian Schneider smoked a 2rbi double that at the time, broke the game open. A 3rd run scored on the play as Jay Bruce stumbled in RF and the ball rolled to the wall. The 9-4 lead looked to be safe.

After Pelfrey was relieved in the 6th, Parnell pitched a scoreless inning. Runs were given up in the 7th and 8th. K-Rod allowed both the tying and winning runs to reach base in the 9th as he struggled with his control. He fell behind 2 & 0 on 5 batters in a row. In the end, with the bases loaded, he got Laynce Nix to fly out to to the warning track where Carlos Beltran squeezed the final out.

Next up: Olly Perez vs Bronson Arroyo, tomorrow 12:30pm... hold onto your hats.

Mets Move Tickets For More Games To Costlier Tiers This Season

The Mets this season at Citi Field "not only raised ticket prices 8.6[%], they also moved more games to costlier tiers," according to Ken Belson of the N.Y. TIMES. The Mets had "only 17 gold games" when the tier system was introduced in '03, but "now there are 30." This season "nearly two-thirds of the Mets' 81 home contests are classified as silver, gold or platinum games," though "as recently as 2005, only 44[%] of the team's home games were in these tiers." The number of games in the bronze and value categories also have "fallen to 28, from 43." Mets Senior VP/Marketing & Communications David Newman said that the "tier inflation was based on the team's improvement in the standings over the past few years and the high demand to see the new ballpark, which has more amenities than Shea Stadium yet 15,000 fewer seats." Belson notes the Mets have "more tiers than any other team and have fiddled with them more from season to season." As the recession "deepens, the Mets are going against the trend," but the price increases "do not seem to be hurting sales." Newman said that the team is "on pace to sell twice as many individual game tickets this season compared with last year, when accounting for the smaller ballpark" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/8).

Madoff Securities Attorney Looking to sell company's Mets season tickets

Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities attorney Irving Picard yesterday asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court for permission to sell the company's two Mets season tickets in the Delta Club Gold section behind home plate at Citi Field. The tickets range from $225-525 per game, and Picard intends to sell them for April games "individually to the highest bidder," with the remaining tickets "sold in a group in an online auction." Details were released today on Picard's website.

I'm sure all you loyal Queens Daily Diamond supporters are going to anti-up for Uncle Bernie!