In an article for ESPN.com, Jerry Crasnick reports that OF Jordan Schafer, a top prospect in the Atlanta Braves system, was suspended 50 games for HGH use.

Schafer, 21, is currently playing for the Braves AA affiliate in Mississippi.  Baseball America ranked him number 25 on their list of the top 100 minor league players.

Even though this happened to the Braves, its tough to take joy from this.  You hate to see a promising young kid mess up his future with PED’s.    

Happy Opening Day Part Deux!

Today is the final Opening Day at Shea Stadium after 44 years of memories.

The Mets (2-3) battle the Phillies (3-4) in the first game of what should be a great year-long battle for the NL East. Today’s lineups are courtesy of John Delcos at his blog for The Journal News.

The Phillies:

• SS Rollins
• CF Victorino
• 2B Utley
• 1B Howard
• LF Burrell
• RF Werth
• 3B Feliz
• C Ruiz
• P Moyer

The Mets:

• SS Reyes
• 2B Castillo
• 3B Wright
• CF Beltran
• 1B Delgado
• LF Pagan
• RF Church
• C Schneider
• P Perez

Oliver Perez will start today, after a brilliant 6 shutout inning performance last Wednesday in Florida. Jaime Moyer will start for the Phillies. Moyer lasted only 3 2/3 innings in his first start.

Catch the game starting at 1:10pm on SNY. Pregame ceremonies start at 12:30 where the Mets will honor the late William Shea and his family. As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers, to chat about the game and any fun new ways we can taunt Jimmy Rollins.

In a great column for The Star Ledger, Dan Graziano profiles David Wright’s comments about last week’s “60 Minutes” piece featuring legendary baseball statistician, Bill James.

James, when asked which player he would pick if he could pick any player in baseball to play on his team, chose Wright. 

Fittingly, Wright was humble in his response:

Obviously it’s nice to be thought of in that manner by somebody who’s been around the game that long and is that respected,” Wright said. “But I feel somewhat undeserving. There’s a lot of guys out there that you could pick, and I don’t feel like I’m the answer to that question.”

Well this is just David being David, so to speak.  No sense in preaching his good qualities in this space, but just another example of what a class-act he is.  You can complain about injuries and poor trades all day, but then take time to appreciate the fact that we have a player of his caliber who has a great attitude, work ethic, and can keep his ego in check. 

Within his blog for Newsday, David Lennon offers a friendly remark towards notorious Met-hater Wallace Matthews.

Lennon writes:

Hold up. That must have been an imposter sitting next to me last night in the press box because this touching ode to Oliver Perez doesn’t read like the Wally Matthews I know. Maybe all of your heartfelt e-mails are finally getting to him. By next Tuesday’s Shea opener, he’ll probably be wearing a Mets cap and a Santana jersey.

The Matthews article can be viewed at Newsday.

Who are you, and what have you done with the Wallace Matthews we all hate and, well, hate some more. Kidding aside, a very nice piece by Matthews. I can’t believe I just wrote that last sentence.

With all the commotion surrounding Pedro Martinez and his injured hamstring, there is still a game to be played tonight.

The Mets (1-1) and the Marlins (1-1) square off in the finale of this 3 game series. Lineups for tonight’s game are courtesy of John Delcos from his blog for the Journal News

The Mets:

• SS Reyes
• 2B Castillo
• 3B Wright
• CF Beltran
• 1B Delgado
• LF Pagan
• RF Church
• C Schneider
• P Perez

The Marlins:

• SS Ramirez
• 2B Uggla
• 1B Jacobs
• LF Willingham
• 3B Cantu
• CF Ross
• RF Carroll
• C Hoover
• P Miller

Oliver Perez will start for the Mets and Andrew Miller will make his first start for the Marlins since coming over from Detroit in the Cabrera-Willis trade.

Catch the game shortly after 7pm on SNY. As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to chat about the game, Pedro and announce your candidacy for the Mets 5th starter.

While we wait for the results of Pedro’s MRI today, Adam Rubin reports in his blog for The Daily News that Brian Stokes has cleared waivers and will head to AAA New Orleans.

Stokes, who lost out for the final bullpen spot to Joe Smith, is expected to be part of the Zephyrs rotation.

7.07 era last year in Tampa’s pen.  Not a shock that no one picked him up.  Now that I’ve distracted you for two minutes, you can go back to waiting for the Pedro update.    

The Mets lost to the Marlins tonight by a score of 5-4 in 10 innings. For a full box score, go here.

Tonight’s big story was Pedro Martinez, who had to leave the game in the 4th inning with a hamstring injury. Before that, he surrendered 4 runs on 4 hits with a walk and a strikeout. Matt Wise gets the loss after surrendering a walk-off HR to Robert Andino after striking out the first 2 batters in the 10th.

Brian Schneider was 3-for-4 tonight with an rbi. Angel Pagan continues to be hot, going 1-for-3 with 2 rbi.

The rubber match of this series will be tomorrow night as Oliver Perez will start versus Andrew Miller.

Not exactly the start we were looking for out of Pedro. His health was an obvious concern for us this season, but to happen right out of the gate is very concerning. We’ll know more after he gets back to New York and has an MRI.

Happy Opening Day!

After 6 months of waiting, it’s finally here.  2007 is behind us and we’re all looking ahead to blue skies and endless possibilities for the upcoming season.

The Mets begin their campaign on the road to take on the Florida Marlins. 

The Lineup:

• SS Reyes
• 2B Castillo
• 3B Wright
• CF Beltran
• 1B Delgado
• LF Pagan
• RF Church
• C Schneider
• P Santana

Johan Santana makes his much anticipated debut for the Mets today.  Mark Hendrickson will start for the Marlins.   

Catch the game starting at 4:10pm on SNY.  As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to chat during the game. 

This is it.  The wait is finally over.  No more time for talk or speculation.  Time to play.

It may be cold and rainy here in New York, but its warm and sunny in Miami where the Mets are set to open their season in just a few hours.

So cut class, leave work early, do whatever you need to do to be by the TV at 4:00pm to rejoice with Mets fans as Johan Santana begins his reign for the orange and blue.

In his latest article for ESPN.com, the always incomparable Rob Neyer compiles his list of the top 50 major leaguers over the next 5 years. And who, you may ask, is at the top of that list? Number 5 in your programs, number 1 in your hearts, our very own David Wright.

Neyer states:

Great hitter, good fielder, fine baserunner … and last year, at 24, he was the best player in the National League.

Also appearing on the list:  Newly acquired Johan Santana coming in at number 5.  Jose Reyes, fittingly, at number 7 and Carlos Beltran at number 26.

Great piece by Neyer, who has never been shy about his affection for Wright.  Surprised Beltran made the list given his age and health problems.  Also would’ve liked to have seen John Maine on the list, but i suppose he’ll need at least another good season to know last year was not a fluke.  

The Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles today by a score of 1-0.  For a full recap, go here. 

John Maine was spectacular today, tossing 6 innings of one hit ball.  Maine walked 1 and struck out 7 while lowering his spring era to 1.85.  Joe Smith and Nelson Figueroa followed, throwing 1 2/3 and 1 1/3 innings respectively.  

Luis Castillo went 2-for-3 and drove in the game’s only run.  The Mets only recorded 3 hits with Ryan Church grabbing the other one.     

The Mets come home to take on the Braves tomorrow.  Jon Niese will throw against Tim Hudson. 

Talk about your pitchers duels.  Maine continues to shine this spring.  Lets hope he can keep this up come April. 

The Mets travel to Ft. Lauderdale to take on the Orioles in Spring Training action. The lineup is courtesy of David Lennon’s blog for Newsday.

Mets:

• SS Reyes
• 2B Castillo
• 3B Wright
• 1B Easley
• DH Anderson
• LF Tatis
• RF Church
• CF Clark
• C Schneider

John Maine will take the mound for the Mets. He will look to add on to his already impressive spring. In 5 starts this spring, Maine has surrendered only 16 hits over 19.1 IP with an era of 2.33

Catch the game on MLB.tv if you have it. If not, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers and chat about what you think is going on and why i thought Fernando Tatis was Fernando Vina.

The Mets lost to the Cleveland Indians today by a score of 5-2.   The game was called after 7 innings due to rain.  For a full recap, go here.

Oliver Perez struggled today, leaving pitches up in the zone and surrendering 4 HRs.  Perez finished with 5 runs on 7 hits, while striking out 6 and walking 2 in 5 innings.  Joe Smith (Happy Birthday) and Nelson Figueroa followed with scoreless innings.

Carlos Beltran went 1-for-3 at the plate and hit his first home run of the spring.  Brian Schneider went 0-for-2 in his first game back.  Fernando Tatis added the other rbi.

Orlando Hernandez will make his Grapefruit League debut tomorrow when the Mets take on the Cardinals.  Mike Pelfrey is also slated to pitch as the two pitchers battle it out for the fifth starter spot, live on SNY.

Bad day for Ollie but thats what we can expect from him.  Some days he’s looks like an ace, others, not so much.  All eyes on El Duque tomorrow with just about a week left until opening day.   

The Mets travel to Winter Haven, Fla. to take on the Cleveland Indians today in Spring Training action. Today’s lineup is courtesy of David Lennon’s blog for Newsday.

Mets:

• 2B Castillo
• LF Clark
• CF Beltran
• 1B Delgado
• SS Easley
• RF Church
• 3B Tatis
• C Schneider
• DH Abreu

Oliver Perez will start for the Mets today. Cliff Lee gets the nod for the Indians. Joe Smith will be celebrating his 24th birthday with a relief appearance.

Catch the game starting at 1:05pm on the radio on WFAN or at MLB.tv. As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to chat about the game and the return of Brian Schneider.