According to Tim Dierkes at MLB Trade Rumors, Scott Schoeneweis and Duaner Sanchez passed through waivers.  Once a player has passed through waivers, he can be traded after the July 31st deadline. 

For Sanchez, Dierkes writes, “His velocity is down 3.6 mph from ‘06.  Sanchez is under team control through ‘09.”

As for Schoeneweis he notes, “His strikeout rate is down, but so is his ERA.  Apparently no team wanted to risk taking on his contract - $3.6MM this year, $3.6MM in ‘09.”

I’m extremely surprised, neither of them have big contracts and both should have a use in any bullpen. 

Whenever something goes wrong with Aaron Heilman, Mets fans don’t like the scared look on his face.  Fans don’t like that he gave up the home run to Yadier Molina in the 2006 NLCS, and they don’t appreciate his mostly poor showings this year that have involved way too many home runs. 

I’m probably the last guy left that does, but somehow and for some reason I believe in Aaron Heilman and I’ll try to defend him here.  For some Heilman hate, read Rob Harding’s piece here on Hot Foot. 

First of all, Heilman has been over worked this season.  He’s thrown the third most games of any NL reliever.  Consistently getting worked so hard year after year has to take a toll on a player.  Manuel has to do a better job resting his relievers, probably by letting starters go a little deeper in games.  While Heilman’s imploded a few too many times and lost a few too many games for the team, much of it has just been bad timing combined with a heavy work load. 

We also tend to look for Heilman to be the scape goat for our general bullpen issues.  We never liked him from the beginning, as we expected him to be a top part of the rotation starter and after some failure (and some success) he was converted into a reliever.  We’ve never liked him because he gave up that home run to Molina, or because he always has a deer-in-headlights look on the mound.  But let’s take a look at our bullpen statistics in the month of July:

• In 16 innings, Heilman had a 4.41 ERA while striking out 21. 
• In 11.2 innings, Duaner Sanchez had a 3.86 ERA while striking out nine. 
• Joe Smith had a 5.25 ERA in 12 innings while striking out six. 
• Scott Schoeneweis had a 3.00 ERA in nine innings while striking out ten.   

Well, Duaner clearly cannot close because of his noted velocity issues lately.  Even though his numbers seemingly look good, it’s tough for his off speed pitches to look good when his fastball is barely scraping 86 MPH. 

Last month, Smith was worse than Heilman.  Plus, as a reliever Smith is really a role player.  While righties hit a meager .235 off of him in his career, lefties lick their chops against him with a .292 batting average career.  Smith also lacks the K-factor: the ability to strike people out.  Late in games and in many crucial spots, strikeouts are needed to calm the situation. 

Similar to Smith, Schoeneweis and Feliciano are really only specialists.  In general, they are much better vs. lefties.  Their pitching to righties shouldn’t be strictly forbidden, but they definitely should do so as minimally as possible. 

Sure, there are Eddie Kunz and Ruddy Lugo, but are we really ready to throw Kunz into the fire already?   

I’m not writing this trying to convince  you that Heilman should be our closer while Billy Wagner is out, because that is clearly illogical.  However, the “Never-pitch-Heilman-again-because-he-sucks-and-looks-grumpy-all-the-time” bandwagon is becoming too popular and I can’t resist disagreeing and thinking that he’s the scape goat for all of the bullpen’s struggles lately.   

Heilman has the ability to consistently strike hitters out, which others in the bullpen lack.  He should also be put carefully into situations, because this season lefties have hit extremely well against him (although that hasn’t been true most of his career).  For now, the Mets should treat the ninth inning just like any other inning where we use relievers, like the 6th, 7th and 8th.  Manuel should play the match ups and go with whichever reliever is right for the situation.  But don’t blindly hate on Heilman, please - he’s serviced us well for a while, he has earned some patience.     

Even though Aaron Heilman did his best to make it otherwise, the Mets beat the Padres by a score of 6-5 this afternoon.

Mike Pelfrey logged another quality start, allowing only two runs in six and two thirds innings of work.  It was a little strange seeing Manuel take Pelfrey out in the seventh given that he had just registered a double play ball, and the bullpen is shaky given that closer Billy Wagner was just put on the DL. 

The Mets bullpen successfully bridged the gap to the ninth without allowing a hit, but Aaron Heilman suffered from some bad luck and then gave up a bomb.  Argenis Reyes and Carlos Beltran (mostly Reyes), misplayed a pop-up that they ruled a hit even though it shouldve easily been caught.  That made it 1st and 2nd with no outs, and Heilman got a hard ground ball to David Wright who was able to get the out at second but they were barely unable to turn two.  Heilman then gave up a three run blast to make the game 6-5.  However, Joe Smith then recorded a quick out, followed by Scott Schoenweis who threw one pitch to Brian Giles for the save.   

Offensively, the Mets scored their first four runs off the bat of Fernando Tatis who hit two HRs to the pleasure of the Shea Stadium crowd, who demanded a curtain call after the second.  Then the Mets rookies taught the big club a lesson in something they hadn’t been doing lately: tacking on insurance runs, which proved to be completely necessary.  With the Mets up 4-2, Dan Murphy hit a long double to left center scoring Argenis Reyes.  In the bottom of the 8th, with Carlos Beltran on 1st, Nick Evans doubled to left center.  Then Jody Gerut and Tad Iguchi both misplayed the ball, allowing Beltran to score and Evans to advance to third. 

For a full box score, go over to ESPN. 

The Mets play the Padres in game two of this three game series with Pedro Martinez taking on Cha Seung Baek. 

The Mets take on the Padres for a three game series at home with Mike Pelfrey taking on Chris Young.  The game has a 7:10 PM first pitch and can be seen on SNY.

Keys to the game:

• Help J-Rey.  Jose Reyes has been mashing lately especially in the last series vs. Houston.  However, the rest of the team failed to produce and they only scored seven runs in the three game series despite the great production from Reyes.  The Mets lineup has to figure out how to manufacture runs against a poor Padres team. 
• Prove We Don’t Need Billy.  Prior to tonight’s game, Billy Wagner was placed on the DL with a hurt forearm.  Ruddy Lugo was called up from AAA, and before the game manager Jerry Manuel suggested a number of pitchers can be used at the end of the game, but most likely Aaron Heilman.  Wagner has blown seven saves this year, and Manuel really just has to treat the 9th like any other inning - play the match ups and chose what pitcher is right for the moment. 

For a full lineup, head over to John Delcos’s blog at the Journal News, where you’ll see that Dan Murphy is playing LF and batting 2nd. 

For in-game banter, complaining and conversation head over to chat at the Hot Foot Bleachers. 

Win…please…   

According to RotoWorld, the Rockies have called up RHP Steven Register.  This year the Mets drafted Register as a part of the Rule V draft, but he did not make the team in spring training.  Because he did not make the team, he was returned to the Rockies who have been using him as a closer for their AAA affiliate the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. 

Register has a 3.28 ERA with 16 saves in 48 appearances this season for the Sky Sox. 

Gee, do I miss him.  It was so cruel of the Mets management to draft him, and allow Mets fans to grow so attached to him before ripping him away by not adding him to the major league roster. 

I had already imagined myself saying to friends, “He Register-ed another hold” or, “He Register-ed another K.”

I already had my Steven Register uniform and t-shirt. 

I kid, I kid.  Steven, we hardly knew you but best of luck. 

Hat tip to Jake Ewald for the news.     

After a needed off-day today, the Mets have 23 straight games without a rest.  That’s three weeks of baseball without a chance for the team to catch their breath, or for relievers to rest their arms.  Without a doubt, it will put a strain on the team. 

On the bright side, 14 of the games are at home, while the nine road games aren’t far at all - Washington, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  Also, of the 23 games the Mets have in the next 23 days, only five of those games are against teams that are above .500 - the Florida Marlins who they play at home beginning on Friday and two games against the Phillies to end the trip. 

They begin this long stretch with three games against the Padres (43 - 69), who have the third worst record in baseball and have the second worst offense in baseball.  Perhaps the only factor that is keeping the Padres from having the worst record in baseball is ace Jake Peavy, who is 8-7 with a 2.59 ERA this season.  Luckily for the Mets, they don’t have to face Peavy. 

Following San Diego, comes the most difficult part of the stretch - playing the Marlins (59 - 53).  Given the team’s numbers and records so far this season, it should be a fairly even match up with an edge headed towards the Mets because it’s at Shea.  The Mets are 33-26 at home this season, compared to 26-27 on the road. 

Then, the Mets play Pittsburgh (51 - 60) at home for a game as a make-up game for a contest rained out in April.  They then play Washington (41 - 70) for three games on the road, who not so proudly sport the worst record in baseball. 

The Mets then have a quick flight to Pittsburgh where the Mets have the chance to play four games against the mediocre Pirates. 

Following that, the Mets return home to play three games against their long-time rival, the Atlanta Braves (51 - 60).  The Braves were sellers at the deadline, dealing star 1B Mark Teixeira to the Angels.  The Braves staff ace Tim Hudson also has heard the worst news a pitcher can here: Tommy John Surgery.  Hudson is visiting the always dreaded Dr. James Andrews to have the procedure done and will be out for at least a year of rehabilitation.  Despite the rivalry, this is a weak Braves team of which the Mets can take advantage. 

Nearing the end, the Mets have a four game series against the Astros (53 -57) at home.  The Astros are a below average team, and the Mets should come out with a chip on their shoulder following an embarrassing sweep this past weekend.  

Finally, the Mets play two games against the division leading Phillies (61 - 50), before a much needed day of rest. 

All in all, the mets have a long but extremely easy stretch coming up.  18 of the 23 games are against sub .500 teams.  This is an opportunity for the Mets to avenge some bad losses (yes, I’m talking about Houston), and to at least catch up to the Phillies if not pass them.  Too many times the Mets let lousy teams beat them, and if the Mets seriously want to contend they are going to have to learn how to take advantage of easy patches in the schedule when they can. 

Tonight on 60 Minutes, a segment aired with Morley Safer interviewing the father of Sabermetrics, Bill James.  

Among other things, James said the best player in the game is Albert Pujols, and the most underrated player is Chase Utley.  However, when asked if he could have anybody on his team, he answered, “David Wright, of the Mets.” 

Why?

James answered, “Because he does everything I like, and he’s very young.”

To watch the part of the segment where James answers this, watch below and zoom to 2:20 into the video:

This is part 2 of the segment.  To watch part 1, head over to youtube.   

The story of the afternoon for the Mets was leaving runners on base and boneheaded plays on the base paths.  The Mets had nine hits and failed to score a run.

In the first inning, Carlos Beltran was picked off first base with David Wright at the plate.  Wright ended up walking.  In the third inning, Robinson Cancel attempted to steal third with two outs and David Wright at the plate.  Cancel was caught, and made the final out of the inning at third base.

In the fourth, the Mets had the bases loaded with one out, and left all three runners stranded.  In the fifth the Mets loaded the bases again, only to leave all three runners left on base.

The Astros scored all four of their runs off Oliver Perez, who allowed four earned runs in six innings of duty.  Often when Ollie gives up runs it’s because he hurts himself by walking batters and throwing too many pitches.  This afternoon Ollie was just hittable, he did not walk any batters and only struck out three.

In his debut, Eddie Kunz looked extremely nervous.  While he only allowed one hit in his one inning of work, he made a throwing error on a play to first.  Scott Schoenweis and Carlos Muniz worked to pitch a scoreless eighth.

Yes, you read that correctly - the Mets bullpen gave up no runs this afternoon.

On this road trip against the Marlins and Astros, the Mets were 1-5.

Tomorrow, the Mets have a much needed off day and come back home Wednesday for a seven game home stand beginning with the Padres.