The Rockies (8-11) come to Shea as they face the Mets for the first time this season.  John Maine takes the mound, and has yet to face the Rockies. Ever. Maine is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA.  He pitched incredible well last time up, keeping the game hittless till the 7th.  The Rockies, in general, have faired poorly at Shea, having won only one of their last 14 visits. Maine will face off against Bucholtz, who's 1-0 with a 5.68 ERA.  A high ERA against a Beltran and Reyes that have been hitting well lately is probably not the most reassuring thing for the Rockies staff. 

The lineup:

SS Reyes
C LoDuca
CF Beltran
1B Delgado
3B Wright
LF Alou
RF Green
2B Valentin
P Maine

Different day, same lineup.  Wright has gone hitless since ending his streak, dropping his average to .273.  Other Mets have continues to thrive though, with four of our starting eight still hitting over 300.  Despite going hitless yesterday, Beltran still the pack with .373, and has almost hit for the cycle twice (one hit shy both times) in the last week. Stache hit a grandslam off Rockie start Bucholtz last season.  Ex Met and current Rockie  Kaz Matsui is still out with back spasms,  an area that has kept him on and off  the DL since his time as a Met. 

Game time is 7:10, and can be caught on SNY or WFAN.  As always, head on by the Bleachers to talk the game, Mets baseball, and your NL Player of the week.

Another chapter in the Mets Braves rivalry as the Braves come to Shea for a 3 game series.  Mike Pelfrey makes his second start, getting a no decision in his first start of the year that had its ups and downs. He pitched himself into some trouble, got help from the Mets D, and lasted just over five innings.  He enters tonight with a 3.18 ERA.  He'll be facing Tim Hudson, who's been solid this season. Hudson's at 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA. The Mets bats will need to continue to perform as they did the last few games to keep Pelfrey in this tonight.

The lineup:

SS Reyes
C Lo Duca
CF Beltran
1B Delgado
3B Wright
LF Alou
RF Green
2B Valentin
P Pelfrey

They're getting the band back together. Lo Duca rejoins the lineup to once again give us our standard eight in their rightful spots in the field and in the batting order. Five of our everyday players enter tonights game batting over .300, with Alou leading the pack at .367.  Beltran has been heating up though, going 4 for 6 last night including a homerun and two doubles.  Reyes, Wright and Green join them in the over 300 club, with Valentin just outside with a .298 BA as the icing on his highly defensive skilled cake. The Stache has now gone 115 innings without an error, while adding 40 put outs and 50 assists. He's also participated in 16 of the 23 Met double plays. His, as well as the rest of the Mets, Defense will be key in tonights game, especially if Hudson continues to dominate hitters.

Game time is 7:10, and can be caught on SNY and WFAN.  Assuming we have no problems tonight, head on over to the Bleachers to chat Mets baseball, the game,

After a loss yesterday, the Mets look to bounce back and take the series with a win tonight. Tom Glavine takes the mound.  His start against the Braves was quick, lasting only 4 innings, during which he gave up two earned runs on four hits, to bring his ERA to 2.38. 

The Lineup:

SS Reyes
C Lo Duca
CF Beltran
1BDelgado
3B Wright
LF Alou
RF Green
2B Easley
P Glavine

Jose Valentin has the day off, giving Easley his first Met start.  Easley has appeared just once so far this season, making one at bat in which he did nothing remarkable. Though Easley was the last man on the 25 man roster to make an appearance in game this season, he is the second to fill in as a starter (Castro filled in once for Lo Duca).

Lo Duca and Reyes lead the team with a .333 BA. Carlos Delgado has done well in past face offs with philly pitcher Moyer, batting .456 with 15 RBI's.  He's currently battign .316 with 8 RBI's for the season.

The game is broadcast on SNY, WFAN, and as always, come on by the Bleachers to talk Mets baseball, what Lo Duc is doing for his birthday, and everything else Mets.

The second game of the home opening series, as the Phills play the Mets.  Oliver Perez makes his second start of the year for the Mets, hoping to have yet another strong outing.  He took the win in his last performance, and currently has a 1.29 ERA with 7 innings pitched.  David Wright looks to make this the 20th game in a row his hit in, and Jose Reyes has reached safely every game so far.

The lineup, courtesy of mlb.com

SS Reyes

C Lo Duca

CF Beltran

1B Delgado

3B Wright

LF Alou

RF Green

2B Valentin
P Perez

Same old same old as far as lineups.  Beltran and Reyes remain at top with RBI's, and after his performance monday, Paul Lo Duca now leads the the starters with a .385 BA, followed closely by Green with .370.

Game time is…well in four minutes.  Watch on SNY. Listen on WFAN. And as always, stop on by the Hot Foot Bleachers, tonight and everynight, to talk Mets baseball, your sole fond Richard Hidalgo memory, and your favorite at bat music.

After a day of rest, during which everyone else kicked the season off, the Mets and Cards play game 2 of their series in St Louis.  El Duque takes the mound for the Mets.  After being sidelined with neck problems, El Duque started the spring slow but finished strong. This is his first regular season game vs the Cards.  He'll be facing the Cards Kip Wells.  The lineup, courtesy of John Delcos at LoHud:

SS Reyes

C Lo Duca

CF Beltran

1B Delgado

3B Wright

LF Alou

RF Green

2B Valentin

P Hernandez

All the starters, in their normal spots, both in the order and in the field. Everyone seemed to get off to a decent start both at the plate and defensively, hopefully we'll see more of the same tonight.  The game is broadcast on SNY, can be listened to on WFAN, and talked about in the Bleachers, where we chat the game tonight and everynight here at the Foot. Gametime is 8:10.

As we hit the final stretch, today also marks our final split squad game of the preseason.  The A team will be hosting Baltimore and Chan Ho Park gets the nod on the mound, presumable because it will make it easier for the Mets brass to watch him as they get ready to finalize the roster.  Yesterdays solid performance by El Duque probably changes somethings, and makes those of us (me for starters) calling for his placement on the DL to start the season look a bit foolish.  The lineup for the A team (and yes, I know there's no first baseman), courtesy of John Delcos

SS Reyes

3B Wright

CF Beltran

LF Alou

C Duca

RF Green

DH Franco

2B Valentin

RHP Park

Delgado is still in Puerto Rico, having left yesterday morning to be with his wife, who went into labor.  I would assume either Franco is actually playing 1B, or its being covered by Carp or Newhan. No word yet though. I'll be back with that info, and hopefully the lineup for the B team playing in Jupiter and led by John Maine as soon as it becomes available.  Meanwhile, come on by the Bleachers today and everyday where we talk Mets baseball, as we too get into inseason chatting shape.

followup

Courtesy of mlb.com, the lineup for the B team game in Jupiter, vs the Marlins.

RF Milledge
3B Newhan
CF Johnson
C Castro
1B Carp
LF Ambres
2B Gotay
SS Hernendez
P Maine

With that solved, its probably safe to assume that Franco is playing 1B rather than DHing, being that the most likely other 1B candidates (Newhan and Carp) are both playing in the B game.

The Mets return to Fenway Park, where 20 years ago they faced the Red Sox in their celebrated 1986 World Series. It is quite surreal to find the Mets here again, and with Pedro pitching for the Mets tomorrow and Roger Clemens still pitching over in Houston. Its even more surreal to find both teams on top of the baseball world again, and a real possiblity of them meeting each other for a World Series rematch.

It will be a first experience for many players such as Jose Reyes and David Wright to experience Fenway and it will be exciting to see how they play in front of an electric Boston crowd. The subplots go on and on, Pedro's return, 1986, the return of the 1986 Boston Red Sox, the Mets and Red Sox both on top of the East in their respective leagues, oh and theres a game to be played here tonight. Lets take a look…

Tonight the Mets will bring Alay Soler (2-1, 3.32) who makes his seventh career start.
He has posted a 0.56 ERA in winning both road starts,
including a two-hit shutout at Arizona on June 10.

The Red Sox will send rookie Jon Lester (2-0, 2.76 ERA) to the mound. The left-hander gave up one run
and three hits with 10 strikeouts over six innings in a 9-3 win over
Washington on Wednesday. That followed up a six-inning, one-run effort
in a 4-1 victory at Atlanta on June 16, the 22-year-old pitcher's first
career win.

This is the first time these two rookie pitchers have ever faced the Mets and Red Sox.

The Mets are a league-best 25-13 on the road and have won 10 of their
last 11 away from Shea Stadium. They're hitting .320 and have outscored
opponents 86-42 in those games

The Red Sox are 11-1 in interleague play this season have won 20 of their last 22 games against the NL.

New York holds an 8-7 advantage over Boston in interleague play.

The Mets aren't the only road warriors in this thunderdome in Flushing tonight. The Reds had come off their worst 10-game homestand (2-8) since 1950 to defeat the Mets last night for the first game of
its seven-game trip. The Reds had run up an eight-game winning
streak, seven on the road, and breifly held onto first place in
the NL Central on June 8, but they now trail first-place St. Louis by
five games. The Reds road record is second only to the Met's 23-12 mark.

Elizardo Ramirez takes the mound for the Reds. He allowed five hits and struck out a
career-high 10 in eight innings, but did not receive a decision in the
Reds' 3-0 11-inning win over Milwaukee on Wednesday.

The Mets batted .267 in its first 64 games, but is batting just .224
(35-for-156) in its last five, with Jose Reyes accounting for
nine of those hits. Reyes is batting .500 (15-for-30) with six doubles and 10 runs scored during a seven-game hitting streak.

Steve Trachsel looks to win his third straight decision for the first time in three years.

Trachsel (4-4, 4.81) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings
of a 5-4 win over Philadelphia on Thursday. He has not won three
straight decisions since winning four in a row from Aug. 7-23, 2003.

Trachsel is 8-4 with a 5.29 ERA in 17 career starts against the Reds, but has not faced them since July 27, 2003.

Check out the mothership, Metsblog.com, for tonights preGame.

To join your fellow Mets fans and Foot Freaks, go to HotFoot’s Bleachers … or, to access the chat room through IRC, go to server name irc.echo34.com and channel #metsblog…

The Mets return tonight a little bleary-eyed after a marathon 16 inning victory last night. The Mets bullpen is hoping Alay Soler is able to impress in his major league debut and allow them to rest their arms a bit. The Mets used every pitcher in their bullpen and were close to going to Thursday's starter, Jeremi Gonzales until Carlos Beltran crushed a ball to right, making that a moot point.

Soler is a 26-year-old Cuban defector. He was 3-0 with a 1.51 ERA this season, pitching for Binghamton. Soler defected from Cuba in November 2003 and signed a three-year
contract with the Mets worth $2.8 million in August 2004. He was 10-4
with a 2.01 ERA in 18 games for the Cuban national team in 2003.

Jon Lieber (3-5, 5.81), has replaced Cole Hamels after the Philly phenom cited soreness
in the back of his left shoulder while throwing in the outfield Tuesday.

In his last start, Lieber gave up five runs and seven hits, including three homers in
five innings, losing 5-3 to Boston. He is 5-5 with a 4.23 ERA in 17
appearances, including 13 starts, against New York.

Jose Reyes has a spectacular record against Lieber, 10-13 (.769). Carlos Delgado has a torrid record against Lieber as well, 10-19 (.526) with 3 home runs. Cliff Floyd has fared well against Leiber, 18-52 (.346) with a homer.

Valentin gets the start with Nady nursing a sore back. Ramon Castro, fellow cuban, will catch Soler with Lo Duca catching all 16 innings of last nights game. Woodward starts in place of Kaz Matsui.

Tonight a much improved Mets team takes on the Yankees with a shot to earn even more respect after getting off to a great start this season. The Yankees (23-16) lead the all-time series 29-19. However, the Mets
(24-16) won four of the six meetings in 2004 and split the series last
season.

The Mets backend of the rotation has been in shambles but the Yankees are a mash unit themselves. Bubba Crosby left the game with a strained right hamstring. Gary
Sheffield (left wrist and hand) and Hideki Matsui (broken left wrist)
are already on the disabled list, and manager Joe Torre said Crosby
could land there, depending on how he feels Friday. Torre also announced on Mike and The Mad Dog just moments ago that they found bone chips in above Carl Pavano's elbow and he could be shut down for the season depending on the results of his trip to Dr. Anderson.  The Yankees have dropped three of five and have 17 errors in their last 11 games.

The Mets face Randy Johnson, who lost his second straight start on Sunday, allowing four runs
and eight hits - including two homers - in six innings of a 6-1 defeat
to Oakland. In his three starts at Shea, he has pitched well, from 2002-04, he has allowed two runs and 16 hits while striking out 37 in 23 1-3
innings. In a road start against the Mets last season, he was tagged
for four runs and 12 hits with only five strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings
during a 7-1 loss on May 21. Overall,  he is 6-4 with a 2.50 ERA in 12 career starts against the Mets.

The Mets will bring Jeremi Gonzalez (0-0, 5.40), who gave up three runs and five hits in
five innings of the Mets' 9-8 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on
Saturday, but did not receive a decision. Gonzalez is 1-2 with a 4.30 ERA in seven career appearances, including three starts, against the Yankees.

Carlos Beltran is 5-11 (.455) against Johnson. Kaz Matsui is 2-5 (.400) with a homer against him. David Wright is 3-9 (.333) and Jose Reyes is 3-10 (.300), Paul Lo Duca is batting .269 against him in 52 at-bats.

Jason Giambi is 2-5 (.400) with a homer against Gonzales. Johnny Damon is 2-9 (.222), Derek Jeter is 1-8 (.125) and Bernie Williams is 1-6 (.167).

Here are your starting lineups…

Yankees

1. Damon
2. Jeter
3. Giambi
4. ARod
5. Posada
6. Cano
7. Williams
8. Cabrera
9. Johnson

Mets

1. Reyes
2. Lo Duca
3. Beltran
4. Delgado
5. Wright
6. Floyd
7. Nady
8. Matsui
9. Gonzalez

To chat during the game, go to MetsBlog / Hot Foot Bleachers … or, to access the chat room through IRC, go to server name irc.echo34.com and channel #metsblog…

In what is likely (and hopefully) the last time the clown prince of baseball takes the mound for the Amazin's with Bannister due to return next week, the Mets get their last few moments of Lima time today in St. Louis.

Lima is 1-5 with a 6.52 ERA in 16 career appearances, including 11
starts, against the Cardinals - his highest ERA against any National
League team. He does however have one particularly memorable appearance in Cardinals lore, shutting out the Cardinals in Game 3 in the first round of the 2004 playoffs.

He faces Jason Marquis (4-4, 5.33), who recently snapped a four-start losing streak in which he had allowed 25 runs in 22 2-3 innings, allowing one run and three hits in seven innings of Saturday's 9-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Marquis is 4-3 with a 3.66 ERA in 16 career appearances, including nine starts, against the Mets.

Pujols has yet to get a hit against the Mets in the first two games of the series. David Wright had his second straight two-hit game for the Mets (24-15),
who have dropped six of nine. New York had scored 28 runs in its
previous four games.

Floyd is 8-21 against Marquis (.381) with two homers. Ramon Castro is likely to get a start in a day game after a night game, and he has hit particularly well against Marquis in a short sample. He is 8-5 (.625) with a walk and two home runs. Pujols is 6-16 (.375) with a homer against Lima. Edmonds is 7-22 (.318) with a homer.

The Mets are in St. Louis today after their worst stretch of baseball, and heading right into a lions den against a very good Cardinal team who are perched atop the NL Central. The centerpiece of this series is the aforementioned on this blog, Albert Pujols. In order for the Mets to take this series they will need to figure out a way to contain this ferocious beast of a slugger.

Scott Rolen and Juan Encarnacion have had success against Glavine as well batting .360 (18-50) and .353 (12-34) against him, respectively.

Glavine has won four straight starts and had thrown seven scoreless innings in each of his last two wins, until Philly scored 3 off him in his last win. He is 17-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 34 starts against the Cards lifetime.

The Cardinals have won seven of nine, and like the Mets lead their division by just one game, mostly due to the torrid run by the Phillies of 13 wins in their last 14 games. The Mets have lost five of their last seven. This is the first time the Mets have played in the new Busch Stadium. The Mets are just 2-11 in St Louis since 2002.

Jeff Suppan takes the mound for the Cards, he is 4-2 with a 4.58 ERA this year. In his five starts against the Mets he is 3-0 with a sparkling 1.55 ERA. He has no given up more than 2 runs against them. Suppan has not allowed more than 3 runs in winning his last four starts.

Jose Valentin has four homers and nine RBIs in 47 at-bats against Suppan, while Floyd is hitting .111 (2-for-18) against him. Lo Duca is 5-12 (.417) against him. Endy Chavez is 5-14 (.357) against him.