The Mets beat the Washington Nationals 6-0 tonight.

• Mike Pelfrey was brilliant, allowing no runs and only five hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out two and 65 of his 100 pitches were strikes.
• Jose Reyes began the game with a spark, hitting for a single, double, triple in that order in his first three at-bats.  He failed to hit for the cycle, although he singled again in his fourth at-bat.
• David Wright was 3-4 with a 2 2Bs and a 2-run HR to start the game. He scored two runs and had five RBIs, and now has 15 on the season.
• Carlos Beltran was 1-4 with an RBI.
• Ryan Church batted 2nd, behind Jose Reyes while Luis Castillo batted 8th. 
• Duaner Sanchez pitched the ninth for the Mets, striking out one and allowing one hit.

Game ball definitely goes to Mike Pelfrey who had a fabulous outing.  He was in control the whole time and never got out of control.  He was phenomenal.

Reyes had a fantastic game, but his hammy doesn’t seem 100% yet.  If he was hustling the whole way, that 3B could’ve been an inside the park HR, and he was caught stealing in the first inning.  Take your time Jose it’s a long season.  It was also nice hearing fans chant the ‘Jose-Jose-Jose-Jose’ rather than it being blasted over the loud speakers.

Nice to see Wright getting back into the groove of things, a HR and a 2B, plus another hard hit ball to his former high school team-mate Ryan Zimmerman.

Aaron Heilman still doesn’t look like himself, but I still trust him with the ball in his hands…call me crazy. He got out of the 8th unscathed, but it was scary.

Awesome to see Duaner back in a real game again, he can be such a lift to this team.  Plus his goggles are pretty boss.  Also amazing to see how emotional he was after the game in the post-game interview, behind those goggles I swear I saw tears.

Finally, I told all my friends today it was a guaranteed win because I wore my Mets tube socks today.  Make fun of tube socks all you want, but they get it done for our Mets.  Everybody then asks, why I don’t wear them everyday and you simply have to understand that you cannot abuse the power of the Mets tube socks.  Might’ve been a bit early too early to bring them out, but this was a nice win and I don’t regret it.

By the way, Luis Castillo should bat ninth. 

A few notes from Willie Randolph’s weekly Mike and The Mad Dog call…

• Nelson Figueroa is on standby and Willie indicated that he would likely take Pedro Martinez’s place if he is DL’ed which Willie also said is most likely.
• Oliver Perez should be the home opener starter the way things are lining up.
• With off-days they may be able to get through without needing to replace Pedro, but Figueroa is the likely starter if they do need one.
• On Oliver Perez : “I thought he had a decent spring. He had some issues with his arm slot at times. I think Ollie is oblivious from everything that goes around him”
• Willie considered putting Raul Casanova in tonight for Ryan Schneider to give him some rest but Schneider talked him out of it.
• Said Ryan Church needs to show him more from a left-handed standpoint, but he has a “beautiful” swing and just needs to get into a “nice little rhythm”
• Mike Pelfrey was “lights out” in the bullpen but has to transfer that to the game. “I think this kid is gonna be fine. His sinker is so powerful. I think this kid is gonna win some games for us”
• On John Maine : “When you look at John you can see him coming into his own. He was in the best shape of anyone in camp. He is starting to really feel himself. He got a little swagger going.”
• On last nights game : “I keep telling our guys to stay through the middle and taking small bites. Be patient. Last night we had that kid on the ropes but we took some overaggressive hacks”
• On Ruben Gotay and Brady Clark : “Gotay really is one dimensional. Gotay doesn’t play the outfield, he doesn’t play the corners. I like Gotay a lot but he didn’t fit into this team. I think Clark right now is a better bat off the bench. Clark can get on base, he can walk, he will scrap and battle. With the left handed dominance in our line up we need a Clark in there to give us an at bat.”
• On the bullpen : “A guy who could be a sleeper for us, even though he gave up the home run last night is Wise, he has a great change up, maybe the best on our staff. He struck two guys out and then he hung a change up there. Sanchez coming back, getting him in the loop is gonna help. I think he will be back towards the end of April.”
• On the Marlins : “We need to get some payback on some people and this is one of the teams.”
• On carrying “The Collapse” : “No, I put my finger on the pulse of this team early on. Everyone let it go, spring training. We understand where we been but we don’t dwell on it. We got some serious payback coming. They know what they have to do and they want to rectify it this year”

John Delcos reports that Ryan Church’s wife Tina has given birth to their son, Mason Alexander. Congratulations to the Churches!

The Marlins whooped Mike Pelfrey today, who gave up seven earned runs in 3.1 innings, ending the Mets six-game win streak.

Duaner Sanchez was a bright spot, he pitched a perfect seventh inning, striking out one. He declared himself 97 percent of what he was in 2006.

Ryan Church came back in the first game since his concussion, going 2-for-2.

Brian Schneider went yard in his first at bat after missing a week with a hamstring injury. Damion Easley and Argenis Reyes also homered.

Jorge Sosa threw three scoreless in relief innings with the other half of the Mets split squad in Fort Lauderdale against the Orioles.

ESPN.com is reporting that Carlos Delgado has an impingement in his hip and will sit out a few days. As reported earlier, Ryan Church sustained a concussion and will also be out a few days.

Good news neither of these two are out a significant period of time..

SNY’s Gary Cohen is reporting that OF Ryan Church is going for X-Rays on his jaw after colliding with Marlon Anderson earlier this afternoon.

Cohen also said that “Church has no recollection of the collision”.

 Ouch that cannot be good.

Update 3:15

Church’s injury is being classified as a “concussion” and Anderson’s as a “contusion of the chest”.

1B Marlon Anderson and OF Ryan Church collided this afternoon during todays game and both left with injuries. Both players looked like they took a blow to the head and Anderson looked like he took an elbow to the chest. More news to come on the seriousness of their injuries.

 Update 2:35 SNY is reporting that Anderson looks to be ok, just an elbow to chest, and Church looks to be a little shaken after taking a hit to his head. Both players walked off the field under their own power and look to be ok .

According to SI.com, the New York Mets have agreed to a one-year, $2 million deal with outfielder Ryan Church.

Church, 29, was traded to the Mets along with catcher Brian Schneider in return for OF Lastings Milledge. He batted .272 with 15 homers, 70 RBIs and 43 doubles in 2007.

He can earn an additional $120,000 in performances bonuses: $50,000 for 450 plate appearances; $40,000 for 535 plate appearances and $30,000 for 550 plate appearances.

The Mets lone player remaining in arbitration is starting pitcher Oliver Perez.

On ESPN, AJ Mass breaks down the Mets from a fantasy baseball perspective.

While he breaks down everything thoroughly, notably he writes:

Top Sleeper: With all the star power in the Mets’ lineup, it’s easy to forget about the newly acquired Ryan Church. He hit only 15 home runs last season, but that came along with 43 doubles. While we just noted that Shea Stadium isn’t exactly great for power hitters, it has to be better than playing at RFK Stadium, where Church had been playing his home games. True, he has had some trouble in the past against lefties (.229 in 2007), but we prefer to focus on the career .340 batting average at Shea and think positively.

Must read for a breakdown of the Mets, and also a must read for fantasy baseball junkies like myself.  Hey, in our deep lineup, a guy like Church could really be a nice sleeper.

Well, that flew by quickly.

Taking a glance at the calendar, pitchers and catchers report in 45 days and we are a mere 57 days from the first Spring Training game, on February 26th against the University of Michigan.

Looking back at this off season so far, the Mets have made four significant changes.

The first is the loss of Tom Glavine. Glavine’s return to Atlanta will have a large effect on the Mets starting rotation. Currently he is replaced internally by placing Mike Pelfrey to the back of the rotation and moving everyone else, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Orlando Hernandez, up a slot with Pedro Martinez up top but with 2 months left, Omar may still look to add a pitcher via trade or free agency.

Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon have been mentioned recently as possible targets. Colon has received positive reviews of his performance in the Dominican Winter League. Omar Minaya famously moved mountains to get Colon while GM of the Expos. Garcia will not likely be ready to pitch until June. Interest in Kyle Lohse, Livan Hernandez, and Joe Blanton has cooled. The Mets remain a dark horse in the Johan Santana sweepstakes, but could surprise many as the Red Sox and Yankees appear involved only to ensure neither of them wins the rights to his services.

The second major change is replacing Paul Lo Duca with Brian Schneider. Lo Duca’s offense has regressed but he’s still a better hitter than Schneider. The upside with Schneider is his defense and ability to manage a pitching staff. It remains to be seen if this element will make up for his hitting deficiencies.

The third major change is the addition of Ryan Church in right field. Church should be an upgrade offensively for the Mets in right. He hits a ton of doubles, has decent power and he’s a proficient defensive outfielder.

Pedro, Maine and Perez make for a solid top end, but the Mets have question marks at the back end of their rotation. Mike Pelfrey has yet to prove he can be a productive major league pitcher, and will have much to prove to those who question his abilities. Orlando Hernandez has been outstanding when he is healthy, but his age and his fragility are a big concern.

The fourth change is in the bullpen. The Mets have sent Guillermo Mota packing, to the delight of pretty much all Mets fans, and will hopefully see Duaner Sanchez finally return. The Mets also added Matt Wise who was quite good until he struck Reds infielder Pedro Lopez in the face with a pitch. Wise apparently was shaken by the incident and his performance suffered, posting a 10.45 ERA in his final 16 outings. He brings an excellent K/BB ratio and a decent 6th inning arm to add to the Mets bullpen depth.

The Mets still have an outside change of landing Johan Santana. If Omar can pull that off, the Mets will have quite a formidable roster entering the 2008 campaign.

In an article for rotoworld, Matthew Pouliot breaks down all the trades that have happened this offseason.  This was written before Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis were sent to the Tigers, so that analysis is not included in the article.

He writes a lengthy amount regarding the Lastings Milledge for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider trade.  About Schneider he writes:

It’s a substantial price to pay, but the Mets are getting a better catcher here than they would have had in Yorvit Torrealba or Johnny Estrada, who seems set to be non-tendered. Still, we would have liked the pickup a lot more three years ago. Schneider deserved to win a Gold Glove or two in his prime, but he’s declined both defensively and offensively in the last two seasons.

About Church he writes:

Church will be treated as the third player in the deal, but he might prove more valuable to the Mets than Brian Schneider, either as the team’s primary right fielder or as an additional piece of trade bait. He’s not really GM Omar Minaya’s kind of player, so it’s always possible that he’ll be sent to another team in a deal for pitching.

There’s even more on the trade so go check it out.  Good article, even for the non-Mets trade analysis.  Great way to catch up and read some quick insight on all the trades if you’ve been too Mets focuesed lately. 

On his blog over at ESPN, Buster Olney questions the Mets decision to give up on Lastings Milledge this early, especially for so little in return.

He writes, “That kid has talent,” said one AL executive. “Eighteen months ago, his bat speed was being compared to that of Gary Sheffield, and that hasn’t changed. He’s only 22 years old. Even if you think he’s a pain in the [rear] now, there’s no reason why you can’t wait and see if his rough edges will get smoothed out.”

He also goes on to talk about the Mets acquisitions of Ryan Church and Brian Schneider in the trade saying, “The return they got — the older catcher, an extra outfielder [Ryan Church], those are not hard to find. But it is very hard to find someone with talent like Milledge.”

I would have to agree with what Olney is saying here. When this trade was first made my first thoughts were that the Mets were just getting chips to trade away for a front of the rotation starter, but this no longer seems to be the case. Omar seems to be satisfied going into the season with Church as the starting right fielder.

Now I understand the trade value of Milledge has fallen dramatically, but this would raise the question of why not running him out there this season to see if he can live up to his hype and get his trade value to where it once was. Hopefully Omar can prove all the critics wrong because In Omar We Trust…right?

Rob Neyer on ESPN writes that Ryan Church hits better numbers away from his home park, JFK, than Matt Holliday hits away from Coors. Neyer goes on to discuss Church’s trouble with left handed pitching.

On a related note, it’s been written that Church can’t hit lefties. Well, he’s not good against them. His career OPS against right-handed pitchers is 833 (.352 on-base, .481 slugging); against lefties, it’s 723 (.331/.392). But that platoon difference is nothing extraordinary. If you’ve got an extra righty-hitting outfielder with a decent glove, platooning him with Church isn’t the worst idea. But a platoon partner isn’t necessary. Church is perfectly capable of being an everyday outfielder for a championship team.

Jon Heyman on last night’s Mike’d Up, said the Mets may be looking for a right handed bad to complement Church. Heyman mentioned Xavier Nady as one player the Mets might be interested in making a move for.

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the Pittsburgh Pirates could look to trade former Mets outfielder Xavier Nady during the winter meetings. If the team cannot find a taker for Nady, they are considering non-tendering him before the Dec. 12 deadline to offer salary arbitration. That would allow him to become a free agent.

Nady, 29, hit .278 with 20 HRs and 78 RBIs for the Pirates last season playing the majority of time in right field. In 94 games in right field, Nady didn’t commit a single error and made four assists from the position. Nady’s lone error in the outfield came when he was forced to play centerfield due to an injury from another player.

The only scenario that could envision him returning to the Mets at all is a platoon in right field with Ryan Church. Nady is a career .320 hitter against lefties in 465 at-bats. Church is a career .275 hitter against right-handed hitters, compared to his .254 average against lefties. If there is any chance that he returns to Flushing, it would likely be as the starting RF against left-handed pitchers. The Padres are also reportedly in bringing him back to San Diego.