Marty Noble of MLB.com writes about Mike Pelfrey’s possible demotion and his reaction:

“I know I pitched well enough to win two of those games,” he said. “I had a no-hitter going in one. But I’ve been disappointed with the others. I haven’t pitched well. I know that. That’s why I hate the game right now. It’s miserable. I’m miserable. I haven’t been able to command my pitches. When I do, I win. But it just isn’t there.”

Ed Ryan of Mets Fever lobbies for Tony Armas Jr. to be promoted. Armas has been pitching great for the New Orleans Zephyr’s, Ryan writes:

Tony Armas Jr. is absolutely dominating AAA…Armas deserves a start and then could be moved into the pen as a true long-man. Last night Tony Armas went seven innings in which he allowed one run on six hits, no walks while striking out seven his ERA is at 2.23.

Anthony Rieber of Newsday’s The Final Score points us towards a newspaper columnist ( Pete Colaizzo of the Poughkeepsie Journal ) that actually wants Willie Randolph to remain as Mets manager and this is before yesterday’s win.

SI.com’s Jon Heyman tells us that Mets brass wonder if Aaron Heilman is “tightening up in tough situations” since his stuff is still very good. Heyman also writes a bit about Gary Carter lobbying for Willie’s job and Keith Hernandez’ reaction.

The folks over at the blog formerly known as Mets Geek received a lot of attention because of their name change to Rays Geek. Hot Foot’s own Anthony De Rosa wrote about it here. But according to the USA TODAY not all the attention has been positive:

“We were starting to get death threats from Rays fans that they hadn’t won since we switched the banner,” Eric Simon of Rays Geek said.

Mets manager Willie Randolph stated that the team has yet to pick a pitcher to make the start against Washington on Wednesday and that they’ll probably call up a minor leaguer.

Among the options include Brian Stokes, Adam Bostick, Tony Armas Jr. and Claudio Vargas.

Stokes pitched on Friday, which would put him in line to make a Wednesday start. He has been very up and down in his last few starts. In his May 4th start, he couldn’t make it through two batters, giving up six earned runs. His start this past Friday was much better, with Stokes going 8.1 innings, giving up just four hits and one earned run for the 3-1 win.

Bostick is 2-1 with a 3.89 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 39.1 innings pitched (8 starts).

Armas Jr. is 1-3 in seven starts with a 3.02 ERA in 28 strikeouts. Armas last pitched last Tuesday, going six innings and giving up three earned runs.

Finally, Claudio Vargas, who signed on with the team just over one month ago, is 1-1 in two starts with a 4.91 ERA for the Zephyrs. Vargas last pitched Thursday, May 8th.

In a surprise move, the AP is reporting that the Nationals have cut SP John Patterson.  After being the Nats opening day starter last year, Patterson only pitched in seven games due to injury.  However, after being seemingly healthy this spring, he was supposed to be in contention for a rotation spot this year.

Yet, after being knocked up for six runs in four innings in his last start, the Nats decided to move in a younger direction.

This really surprised me, and if he is willing to sign a minor-league deal I’d sign him in a heart beat.  He is talented and I’d rather have him fill in than Tony Armas Jr.

It appears that Joe Smith will have to prove he deserves to be part of the Mets bullpen last year after he struggled through a dead arm period in the later part of last season. On Mets.com, Mary Noble discusses Joe Smith’s chances of starting the season with the big league club.

Noble talks about how new Met Ryan Church had firsthand experience with Smiths late season decline.

Their shared experience began — and ended — in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 17. A 1-1 pitch from Smith in the seventh inning became a pinch-hit two-run home run by Church and another unsightly episode in the Mets’ slippery-slope September slide.

Smith had faced the Nationals three times previously, faced eight batters, struck out four and allowed one to reach base. Those appearances happened in April, and the difference between April and Sept. 17, according to Church was “about six or seven miles an hour.”

Smith will have a tougher time making the team with Duaner Sanchez and Matt Wise in the mix. Sanchez, Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, Pedro Feliciano and Jorge Sosa are are all most likely penciled in already. Smith, Wise, Ruddy Lugo, Juan Padilla, Brian Stokes and Tony Armas Jr. will fight it out for the likely seventh and final spot.

Fernando Tatis and Tony Armas are both still waiting on their visas to be straightened out so that they can join the team in Port St Lucie.

Tatis is extremely unlikely to find his way to the 40 man roster, though by remaining with the Mets organization it makes it his longest stretch with one club since he was a Montreal Expo in 2003.  Armas probably has a better chance of seeing Shea, but more in a situation that involves the type of injury depletion that brought us starts by Jose Lima and Jeremi Gonzalez.

According to Mets Blog, the Mets have signed former Expos and Nationals SP Tony Armas Jr. to a minor league deal.

Can’t hurt, we know how things can go wrong. We had Brian Lawrence starting for us down the stretch last year and we all know how that worked out.

Also for the New York Post, Steve Serby does a Q&A with Johan Santana. Interestingly, Serby asks:

Q: Are you a left-handed Pedro Martinez?

A: I got a lot of things from him. I wouldn’t say I’m Pedro Martinez, a left-handed version, I’m Johan Santana. But I have learned a lot from him. The way he approaches the game, the way he handles the game, and the attitude he has.

Real solid interview. In-depth and shows you a bunch about Johan’s character and personality. My favorite is a few times during the interview it has a ‘Q’ when there is actually no question, just Serby commenting on something. You’d think they mightt proooof eDitt tHat.