Easley sat tonight, with a tendenitis related soreness in his right knee.  Easley has been playing with some pain since the end of May, and sat today rather than try to play the outfield with the soreness.

I feel like we should be playing some sort of Mets Injury Bingo.  Thats Easley, right knee.  Easley, right knee.

Jose Valentin went 1 for 3 with a homerun in his most recent game down in St Lucie, while playing for six innings.

Sounds like good news, though I'm not sure if they plan to keep him down there till he's ready, or if he'll spend some time in the higher level minors as a way to move up slower rather than jump straight from 'extended spring training' to Shea. The buzz is though that his mustache is already operating at All Star level form.

Adam Rubin at the Daily News is reporting Pedro will indeed throw from the mound tommorow.  This will be the first time this has happened since last season.

This has been your Pedro Martinez injury update of the week.

Anthony DiComa over at mlb.com asks the question: with some of the injured Mets likely to return soon, who will be sent down?  DiComa feels Carlos Gomez will go first, then Ben Johnson.

I'm not entirely sold on Alou being the first one back, but as DiComa points out Gotay is doing well, which makes him being sent down when Stache returns less likely. I think regardless of who returns first of Stache, Green and Alou, Gomez will go down first.  As the young guy who got called up more because the guys ahead of him was hurt, he needs to be playing more.  He's got good speed, and shows signs of potential, but its hard to argue that he's ready.  I doubt they'd send Newhan down, but it'd be nice for him to go before Johnson, or at the very least before Gotay.  Assuming shipping Newhan to AAA isn't an option I think the ideal order of sending down would be Gomez first, then Johnson, then Gotay, regardless of order of returning Mets.

Speaking of which, I think we'll see Stache first, then Green, and Alou last. Just a gut feeling, I have no medical background (short of some shoulder injuries), inside information, or justification. I could very well be wrong. In which case, I'll pretend this post never happened.

Alou's return will most likely be pushed back. He felt some soreness after running in the outfield yesterday and will be getting another exam from his doctor.

Just because you replaced Cliff Floyd, doesn't mean you need to be hurt as much as Cliff Floyd.

There's still no time table on Beltran's return.  He's day to day and will be back whenever he tells Willie he feels good enough to play. 

I feel comfortable with the defense of an Endy, Gomez, Johnson outfield. Even with the lesser experience (I think any one of our normal outfielders has more years than the three of them combined), they have the speed to make up for it, though we'll still see the occasional bad idea play from Gomez. Its more the offense. Gomez is almost 1 for 20 after his successful pinch hit yesterday.  Endy is doing alright, but seemed to be cold for a bit there. And considering they're replacing the three guys who were the most consistent this year.


That all being said,  for the most part they've proved able to come through when needed. Plus we still have the bats of  Wright, Reyes, Delgado , LoDuca.   Beltran's also shown that he only sits when he has to.  He seems to be a pretty stoic guy.  If he's doing well, he's quiet. And if he's a little sore, he's quiet then too,  and seems to play through it. So if Beltran says he needs another day, I think thats the sort of thing  we can trust. This isn't one of those Met teams from the  Bad Times,  these guys  seem willing to do  whats best for the team. So if Beltran is out again today its probably safe to assume he really needs one more to get back into playing shape.

David Wright has been scratched from tonights game, with back spasms.  Julio Franco will play 3rd. 

We need to invest in bubble wrap, and just cover everyone in it post game.

The good news, we're not the only NL East team with some injury problems.  The Braves have placed third baseman Larry Jones on the DL with a bruised hand. AAA Richman player Yunel Escobar will take his spot on the roster.

Pedro Martinez is scheduled to throw off the mound for the first time early next week. He's been doing long toss but hasn't thrown from the mound since last season.

By law, there must be at least four Pedro updates a month.

Jose Valentin went 0 for 4 in a make beleive extended spring training game yesterday.

I assume it takes more than one game to shake off the cobwebs of not swinging the that for a few weeks. Though how long exactly can we call it extended spring training? It is June afterall. Its already beach season.

Carlos Beltran is scheduled for an MRI on his knee today.

If we have to throw one of our bloggers into a volcano or something to appease the Injury Gods, then I'm willing to make that sacrafice.  There's like 10 of us here at the Foot, they can have anyone but Sidd. What were teh odds though, Green, Alou and Beltran all at once? Did someone break a mirror by dropping it on a black cat? Or drink Jobu's rum? You think Omar feels like Llyod Bridges in Airplane getting all these injury reports.  Sitting at his desk, gets the call that Beltran's down now too…feeling like he picked the wrong week to quit sniffling glue.

Cards catcher Yadier Molina is on the DL.  He suffered a fractured left wrist and is expected to be out up to six weeks. Its another in a series of blows to the Cards, which including losing Carpenter who's been out since losing to the Mets. 

Earlier today the Mets sent Shawn Green to the DL.  He had broken a little bone in his foot after hitting a foul ball into it back during the Marlins series.  AAA outfielder Ben Johnson will take his spot. Johnson has actually been with the team since Sunday's game, but arrived too late to be activated.  Johnson was hitting .282 in NO, but was just starting to heat back up after spending some time on the minor league DL, hitting .308 with 12 hits over his last 10 starts.

The word is, Ben Johnson is with the Mets. After Gomez got hurt, word went to the Zephyrs in Omaha, and Johnson got ready to ship out.  But Johnson doesn't have a private jet, he didn't join the team till immediately. The Mets more than survived, winning by three with Green, Gomez and Lo Duca all sitting out. This however, isn't something they can keep up.

Lo Duca was scheduled to be off anyway, and should easily be back in the lineup come Tuesday. So that brings us to the others: Green and Gomez.  Both are scheduled for tests once they're back in NY, no word on if that will happen tomorrow's or if the holiday will stall it till Tuesday.  Either way, Green has a broken bone and is in a boot, meaning its almost certain he's out Tuesday. Barring a secret mutant healing ability. Alou has admitted he's not 100%, so he won't be back to swap out.  So that puts more than anything else the big question mark on Gomez.

Gomez says he's feeling better, and the SNY guys said he looked to be moving better today. If he can play Tuesday, that lets the Mets try to skate by w/o DLing Green if they think he can be healthy by weeks end. It'll be tighter, they'll be short a bench player with Green hurt but active. But should tests indicate otherwise, the mets will have no choice: at least one of the two will need to go on the DL.  Even if Gomez thinks he'll be up by Wednesday, can the mets take that risk? They'd have to be willing to throw caution in the wind, and hope no one else gets hurt. They'd have to assume Ollie will go long, and not suffer one of his meltdowns that results in a 3rd inning pull. In a close game they might even have to put Glavine in to put down a sacrifice bunt.

With the off day tommorow, barring bad test results on both, I don't expect to see any moves made. So till then we have to sit and wait and see if there's a move.  At least Ben Johnson gets to see the sites of NY during memorial day.

Gary Cohen on the SNY broadcast is reporting that Carlos Gomez suffered a hamstring injury. Gomez left the game after his first at bat, limping after being called out on infield RBI that replies indicated he had actually beaten out.

If it is a serious injury it could be a bad blow to the Mets, with Alou out, Green likely to hit the DL, and Lastings on the minor league DL.  The most likely callup should one happen, would be Ben Johnson, who has fully recovered from his injury incurred while diving to make a play.

Shawn Green fractured a bone in his foot after hitting it with a foul ball in the fifth inning.  He is currently listed as day to day.  Green had one hit last night, and reached on an error in the 9th. He scored on a single by Reyes.

Over at his Lohud blog, Delcos is reporting that Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez will indeed be activated for tommorow's game.  Vargas will be the most likely  arm sent down to AAA.

So the question remains: is Duque in form, or will it be a rocky start? Though considering you're swapping him with Vargas, as long as he's at what he was at an average night so far, its still going to be an improvement.