MEET THE METS - THE BENCH

The Mets bench in 2008 will look an awful lot like it did in 2007. In addition to Endy Chavez, there's Damion Easley, Ruben Gotay, Ramon Castro, and whoever else fills in that last role.

The backup catcher is Ramon Castro, and he could play a pivotal role. Paul Lo Duca missed a lot of time last year, and Castro proved his worth as an everyday player. While Castro is not an everyday player (I maintain he loses his effectiveness the more he plays - I just think he's more apt to wear down, and is more effective off the bench), he could be a short-to-long-term solution if Brian Schneider is hurting the Mets at the plate more than he's helping them in the field.

You might notice that there aren't many alternatives in the outfield for the Mets. I wrote about Endy Chavez yesterday, and he's a left-handed hitter, as is Ryan Church (the starter in right for now). There's no real right-handed bat off the bench for the Mets who can play the outfield. There's a possibility the last bench spot will go to Angel Pagan, who the Mets acquired in the off-season, and he's a switch-hitter. But there's also a real chance he'll be in the minors. There are non-roster invitees Ben Johnson or Brady Clark, but there's also a reason those guys are non-roster invitees. (Jose Valentin was also invited back, and though he's a switch-hitter, he won't be seeing time in the outfield...if he makes the team.)

The Mets are going to be giving Damion Easley plenty of time in the outfield this spring, and if I recall correctly, he played a little outfield last year. Primarily, though, Easley is a middle infielder. So is Ruben Gotay, and Gotay figures to be the backup shortstop, as Willie Randolph wants to get Jose Reyes more rest this season.

The easy solution to the outfield problem is twofold - 1) the people in the lineup who aren't Ryan Church produce, taking off some of the pressure that's on him to hit lefties. 2) Ryan Church hits lefties, and the issue is moot.

One more factor to watch is 19-year-old Fernando Martinez. He already predicted that he will be in the majors at some point this year (which would make him the youngest Met to make the pros since Dwight Gooden). But Martinez definitely factors into the Mets' plans for the future, and there is a chance we could see him at Shea even before September call-ups.

There are a lot of question marks surrounding the Mets bench. This is an issue that will need to be revisited as the regular season draws near, and the final spots on the team are awarded.

JOHN MAINE AT IT AGAIN

Mets 5, Diamondbacks 1 (through 7 innings)

I'm not going to make it until the end of this one. John Maine is headed for yet another Player of the Game nod, and Julio Franco and Paul Lo Duca have homered off of Randy Johnson.

This was very reminiscent of the Mets' success in Arizona last year, which jump-started them on one of their hottest runs of the season. Before Maine even took the mound, he had a lead, and it got bigger quickly as the Mets added on.

It's now the bottom of the eighth, and Ambiorix Burgos just gave up a 2-run homer. Endy Chavez might have hurt himself trying to bring the homer back, jumping at the wall. A double dose of bad news. It's now 5-3, Mets.

It's especially important that the Mets hold on and win this one, because it looks like Jorge Sosa will be getting Saturday's start against Brandon Webb. The Mets designated Chan Ho Park for assignment, by the way. Yay.

Chili's Johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: I'm just going to go ahead and give this to Maine right now - he can't lose the game, and he did it again for the Mets. 6 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk, 1 run, and 7 K's. His ERA - 1.37.



WHAT A STEAL!: Jose Reyes stole his 18th base. He was also caught stealing Friday night for the 5th time.


THURSDAY'S RESULT


TGIFriday's Johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: I can't believe Damion Easley has two before David Wright has one, but he's been clutch. With one out in the ninth, Mets trailing 4-3, Diamonbacks closer on, two Mets on base, Easley hit a homer to centerfield, giving the Mets a 6-4 lead. David Wright added career homer 69 (second of the season) later in the inning (another three run shot) and the Mets won, 9-4 (it must be Arizona). After I wrote on Thursday night, the 7th and 8th innings just blew by, so I stayed up for the 9th. Glad I did. I went to sleep before Wright's homer, though.


BEAT THE STREAK: Vladimir Guerrero has me at 11 games. Either it's time for me to shake my jinx, or Dave in Brighton's wish will come true. I'm taking Derek Jeter on Saturday - with the offense that was flashed in the Bronx Friday night, I need a piece of that action against Jeff Weaver on Saturday (Jeter was 0-for-6 - that means he'll bounce back, right?).

ENDY MAKES SURE METS' FIRST EXTRA-INNINGS GAME ISN'T A DRAG

Mets 2, Rockies 1 12 innings (NYM: 13-6, COL: 8-13)

By this time last year, the Mets had played about a dozen extra-innings games (slight exaggeration). Tuesday night, the Mets played their first extra innings game of 2007, and made staying up later than expected pay off.

In the bottom of the 12th inning, with runners on second and third and two out, Endy Chavez laid down a perfect drag bunt to bring home Shawn Green, and the Mets kept themselves a half-game in front of the Braves in the NL East with a 2-1, 12 inning win.

The dramatic win was set up by some drama in the 10th. After Billy Wagner had given up a run to the Rockies in the top of the 10th, Damion Easley hit a pinch-hit, 2-out, 2-strike home run to tie the game at 1, and force more extras.

The 12 innings (and the tenth inning comeback) nearly made you forget that Orlando Hernandez turned in an outstanding start in this game. El Duque went 7 innings without giving up a run, surrendering just 4 hits, walking two, while striking out 5. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh in one of many early failed Mets rallies. They blew a lot of chances to win this game early. But that's not to take anything away from Rockies starter Aaron Cook, who also went 7 scoreless innings.

The win was the first in the young career of Joe Smith, who gave the Mets two-thirds of an inning, retiring the two batters he faced. Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis also had scoreless outings in this one.

It should be noted that in the 11th inning, with the winning run at second, David Wright had a great at-bat. He managed to work a walk, but he fouled off a few pitches, and looked the most locked-in I've seen him look all year - sort of like David Wright last year. It made me wonder if there's been something else on Wright's mind all month - because Tuesday night was the first night I really felt he looked like himself. For what that's worth. He finished 2-for-4, with one strikeout.

The Mets and Rockies play an afternoon game on Wednesday, getaway day. Mike Pelfrey against Josh Fogg.

Extra Sugarfree Gum johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Damion Easley. Easy call here - without Easley, Endy never gets a chance. Can't do much better than one at-bat, one home run...and in a very important spot.



MONDAY NIGHT'S RESULT - Mets 6, Rockies 1

VALENTIN'S DAY - Jose Valentin earned johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game honors with a homer and 4 RBI. He was 1-for-2, scoring just once - he had a sacrifice fly in addition to a 3-run homer, single-handedly lifting the Mets to a 4-0 lead by the 4th inning.

John Maine benefitted from Valentin's outing, as well as Carlos Delgado's first home run of the season, improving to 3-0 on the season, and the Mets jumped back into first place, a half-game ahead of Atlanta.

I was a bit under the weather, sorry I didn't write. I'm feeling better Tuesday night, but I'm told this bug I have could last 7-10 days. Bad headache, coupled with a nauseous feeling. It may or may not include vomiting. It did for me.

TURNING TWO...HUNDRED: I've been thinking about this all season, since the Mets turned four double plays on Opening Night in St. Louis. I finally did the math tonight. I thought the Mets were on pace to set some sort of record for double plays turned in a season. They are, if my calculations are correct. They're on pace to turn more than 200 double plays right now - the team record is 171. So there's a new feature this year, and it's called "Turning Two...Hundred":
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: 2 SEASON TO DATE: 26 TEAM RECORD: 171

**OK, there's a problem here. The Mets' media guide has the team record at 171, done twice - in 1966 and 1983. But mlb.com says the 1999 Mets had 294 double plays - reasonable, since that was a great defensive team. But mlb.com also has every 1999 team as the top 30 in double plays all time. So I think something is wrong there. I need to straighten this out before we take Turning Two...Hundred too far off the ground. I also need to get the all-time record straightened out, too, because I'm having a hard time believing the 1999 Devil Rays turned almost 400 (although they probably allowed a lot of baserunners...)

SNY: I haven't commented on this yet this season, but Lee Mazzilli has been doing pre-and-post-game studio work for the Mets on SNY this season. I can't comment on his performance, because I usually don't watch the pre-and-post-game studio work. The past couple of days, I've caught a bit of the pre-game shows, and for some reason, Dave Gallagher is doing the job. I haven't been too impressed...but I'm more impressed that he has remained visible enough to actually have a high-profile job like this. Dave Gallagher - I hold a grudge against him because I think he was the first Met to wear number 8 after Gary Carter. He was one of the "ordinary guys" I always think of, too, when I think of the early-90's New York Mets...Bill Pecota, Jeff McKnight, Dave Gallagher. I seriously considered naming one of my fantasy teams after him, but went with Jeff McKnight, because I really do hold that number 8 thing against Gallagher, unfair though that may be.

STERLING: God forgive me for the following: So I was listening to a lot of WFAN in New York over the weekend (Thursday through Saturday, truth be told). On Thursday, driving down to New York, I got to hear a little of Joe Benigno's mid-day show - I enjoy listening to him. They were giving John Sterling crap because of his call of the previous day's home run by A-Rod...actually, maybe this was on Friday...I'm getting my days confused. Regardless, they were making fun of the call where Sterling was saying..."An Aaaaaa-Bomb, for Aaaaaa-Rod." Now, I think Sterling is a dope, and can't stand listening to a Yankees game on the radio. But on Saturday, Benigno had Sterling on his show, and was interviewing him, and I'll be darned if it wasn't a great interview. Sterling came across as intelligent and knowledgeable. I can't believe it - it almost made me change my opinion about him. But then I started to dislike him even more, because if he's that coherent in an interview, he should be enjoyable to listen to during a game.

Also on WFAN, on Friday (I confused my days in the above paragraph, I apologize...but I know Sterling was interviewed on Saturday, when Benigno was filling in for Russo, and I know I heard the following on Friday), Mike & the Mad Dog interviewed Theo Epstein heading into the Yankees-Red Sox series. It was a fantastic interview. Epstein was great, and when Chris Russo asked him about the Doug Mirabelli trade (for Cla [Russo actually pronounced it like it is spelled, instead of 'clay', which I thought was hilarious] Meredith and Josh Bard), Epstein was honest, and called it an awful trade for the Red Sox. He went on to say that the Red Sox will never be impatient again. The intelligence and honesty that Epstein showed in this interview made me remember why I liked listening to his press conferences when I was working in TV. And showed why the Red Sox are lucky he came back as general manager.

BEAT THE STREAK: I take personal responsibility for David Wright's 0-for-15 slump. It was all because I kept picking him for Beat the Streak. He finally got a hit Tuesday night, so he's off the hook. I have a one-gamer, and I go with Jimmy Rollins to tie my season high on Wednesday.