The Mets play their third consecutive home game as they take on the Washington Nationals from Tradition Field. The lineup for today’s game is courtesy of Lisa Kennelly at her blog for the Star Ledger.

The Mets:

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

Former Met Paul Lo Duca will be in the lineup today making his Spring Training debut for the Nationals. Lastings Milledge will not.

Pedro Martinez will go to the mound today for his second start of the spring. The Mets look for 5 innings out of him and will follow him up with Pedro Feliciano, Matt Wise and The Show.

Game time is shortly after 1pm and can be viewed live on SNY. As always, head over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to chat about the game and how your NCAA brackets are going.

Lets Go Pedro!

Head over to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News for a great Q&A with Mets pitching prospect Stephen Clyne.

A third round pick in the 2007 draft, Clyne is slated to be the closer this season for the St. Lucie Mets.  Last season he went 1-1 with a 2.05 ERA and 8 saves for the Brooklyn Cyclones.

Great stuff as always from Rubin.  Interesting to read about a guy who isn’t on everyones radar just yet.  Best of luck to you Stephen.  

The Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles tonight by a score of 7-0. For a full recap, go here.

Johan Santana showed us why we traded for him by throwing 6 shutout innings.  He was dominant throughout, surrendering only 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 7.  Dirty Sanchez and Wagner pitched scoreless innings in relief.

Santana is a pretty good pitcher, but you know what, he likes to hit as well.  Santana lined a double to right-center and later scored.  Jose Reyes was 2-for-2 with an rbi and a walk.  Fernando Tatis and Gustavo Molina each hit 2 run doubles in the 8th.

Pedro Martinez makes his second start of the spring tomorrow against the Nationals.  Matt Wise, Feliciano and The Show are all expected to pitch as well.

I knew we got this guy for a reason.  I thought it was a good idea from the beginning.  Lets hope we can get another good outing from Petey tomorrow to distract us from the fact that our position players are quite fragile.  

The Mets beat the Indians tonight by a score of 3-1. They are now 14-7-1 this spring. For a full box score, go here.

John Maine continued his strong spring, and struck out 7 Cleveland hitters tonight while showing off his much improved changeup. Maine pitched 5 2/3 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 1 walk. The Show, Heilman and Wagner each pitched scoreless innings in relief.

Raul Casanova had the big day at the plate going 2-for-3 with an rbi. Fernando Martinez also had an rbi in his only at bat. Ruben Gotay, in his first appearance back from an ankle injury, struck out in his only at bat.

The Mets will play their second consecutive night home game tomorrow versus the Orioles. Johan Santana is the scheduled starter and Duaner Sanchez is also slated to pitch.

Well its good to see Casanova get a few hits because he may end up seeing some time in Queens this season. No word yet on whether Brian Schneider will play tomorrow night.

The Mets take on the Indians tonight, in a rare Spring Training night game from Tradition Field. Game time is shorty after 7pm and can be viewed on SNY. Tonight’s lineup is courtesy of John Delcos at his blog.

Mets:

• SS Reyes
• 2B Castillo
• 3B Wright
• CF Beltran
• 1B Easley
• RF Church
• C Casanova
• LF Pagan
• P Maine

John Maine starts for the Mets tonight opposite Aaron Laffey for the Indians.

As always, head over to the Hot Foot Bleachers, to chat throughout the game.

The Mets defeated the Nationals today by a score of 7-3.  For a full box score, go to MLB.com.

Oliver Perez had a great outing, giving up only one unearned run on 2 hits.  He also walked none and struck out 5 through 5 innings.  Joe Smith and Duaner Sanchez each gave up one run in one inning of work. 

Jose Reyes went 2-for-3 with 2 SB and a run scored.  David Wright went 2-or-3 as well, with 2 rbi.  Fernando Tatis went 0-for-5 in his first game this spring.  Ryan Church went hitless in 4 at bats with a walk in his return from maternity leave.     

Tommorow is an off day.  The Mets play Cleveland on Wednesday from Tradition Field.    

The Mets defeated the Marlins today by a score of 8-2. For a full box score, go to MLB.com.

Another great outing by John Maine, who gave up no runs for the second consecutive start. Maine surrendered just 3 hits through 5 innings of work, striking out 6 and walking 1. The Show, Steven Register and Rudy Lugo each pitched scoreless innings.

Carlos Delgado recorded his first hit since coming back from injury, going 1-for-4. Carlos Beltran started in CF for the second straight game and went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double. Robinson Cancel and Anderson Hernandez added 2 rbi each.

The Mets come home to St. Lucie to face the Cardinals tommorow. Luis Castillo is expected to make his first start of the spring at second. Johan Santana is scheduled to start.

I really think Maine is the x-factor in this rotation behind Santana and Pedro. Another year like he had last year would go along way to help this team go far in the post season. Beltran reported limited pain after his second day in the field, which is always a good thing. He expects to be close to 100% for opening day.

MLB.com spent a week exploring which teams are the best in 5 key categories. In today’s installment, Lyle Spencer notes which teams are the best on defense. The Mets top Spencer’s list, stating that the additions of Johan Santana and Ryan Church help an already efficient defense anchored by Jose Reyes and David Wright.

Church is absolutely an upgrade over Shawn Green last year and Santana adds another gold glove fielder to go along with Wright, Castillo and Beltran.  

The Mets are unfortunately not on TV today, so I was able to catch Billy Crystal’s at bat for the Yankees. Crystal, batting leadoff at DH, actually worked a full count against Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm before striking out. He did foul off the second pitch he saw.

More importantly, the Mets are currently leading the Cardinals 1-0 after 1, thanks to an rbi single by Carlos Beltran.

Slow news day indeed. Now Crystal can go back to planning City Slicker’s 3, or whatever horrible movie is next in line for him.

The Mets (9-5) travel to Jupiter, Fla. to take on the St. Louis Cardinals (5-9) in Grapefruit League action today. Lineups are courtesy of David Lennon’s blog for Newsday.

Mets

• Reyes (SS)
• Chavez (LF)
• Wright (3B)
• Beltran (CF)
• Delgado (1B)
• Church (RF)
• Casanova (C)
• Easley (2B)
• Pelfrey (P)

Mike Pelfrey gets the start today for the Mets. So far this spring, in 8.1 IP, Pelfrey has given up 10 hits and 7 runs. Former Met Braden Looper will pitch for the Cardinals. He will also bat 8th.

Catch the game on MLB.tv, starting at 1:10pm. As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to talk about the game and discuss your all-celebrity Mets team.

Adam Rubin, in his blog for The Daily News, gives a roundup of the morning’s events from camp before the Mets head to Jupiter to battle the Cardinals.

In it, Rubin notes that the Mets have made another round of cuts. This week’s cuts include 1B Michel Abreu as well as relievers Willie Collazo and Carlos Muniz. These players have been re-assigned to minor-league camp.

Rubin also notes that Carlos Beltran will travel with the team to Jupiter, and start in CF.

Another step in the right direction for Beltran and the Mets. No truth to the rumor that Jerry Seinfeld will bat leadoff today.

In his video blog for WFAN, Evan Roberts states that the Mets are the team to beat in the NL and declares them champions for the upcoming season.

Well not only is this insane, but it may be an absolute jinx.  I mean, it’s barely March.  While we are all certainly optimistic about the upcoming season, I didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to make a statement like that and videotape it.  If the Mets have a poor season, don’t think I wont remember this video Evan.     

The Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles today, by a score of 6-2.

Oliver Perez bounced back after two shaky starts by looking sharp through 4 innings, giving up just 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 1 with no walks. Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith and Ricardo Rincon each pitched scoreless innings in relief. Duaner Sanchez gave up the other Orioles run, on 2 hits in his inning of work.

At the dish, the big story today was Angel Pagan. Amidst trade rumors that would send him to Boston, Pagan went 1-for-2 including a long home run to right center in the seventh, his first of the spring. Jose Reyes went 1-for-3 with a triple, and Fernando Martinez promptly brought him home with a good opposite field single. Carlos Delgado continued to struggle in his second game back, going hitless in 3 at-bats with 2 strikeouts. In 2 games back this spring he is 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts. Carlos Beltran faired no better finishing 0-for-3 with a walk. Mets catching prospect Raul Casanova added a 2 rbi single in the 8th.

The Mets travel to Jupiter tomorrow to take on the St. Louis Cardinals.

Perez looked much better today, giving up only the one run on some good hitting by the O’s in the first. Luis Castillo was the subject of most of the game, due to a prank that included Castillo’s hat, gum and plastic cups. Castillo may travel with the team to Jupiter tomorrow or could wait until the Mets next home game on Saturday to finally get in a game.

Kat O’Brien, in an article for Newsday.com, reports of a bench clearing brawl in the spring training game between the Yankees and Rays today in St. Petersburg. The incident started when Yankees OF Shelley Duncan tried to stretch a single into a double, and barreled into Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura.

O’Brien states that this may be in retaliation for an incident on Saturday, when the Rays’ Evan Johnson collided at home plate with Yankees’ catcher Francisco Cervelli, breaking Cervelli’s wrist.

Photos of the brawl can be found here.

Well, it’s not everyday that you see a brawl in a spring training game. Who doesn’t love a good brawl? Needless to say, this should make for some nice drama, as these teams meet 18 times during the regular season.