Seamheads: El juego casi perfecto de Tom Seaver (Tom Seavers’ Almost Perfect Game)

(just in case you really, really don’t want to remember...)

Seaver también rememora que mientras calentaba el brazo sintió una rigidez en el hombro que se mantuvo los dos primeros innings. Con los dos lanzamientos iniciales de Ken Holtzman, los Mets se fueron arriba 1-0 mediante triple de Tommie Agee y doble de Bobby Pfiel. En el segundo marcaron otras 2, Seaver remolcó una con un doble. En el séptimo Cleon Jones la sacó del parque para poner el juego 4-0. Sus impresiones sobre el aislamiento que trata de realizar el pitcher para neutralizar la tensión del juego, explican como a medida que avanza un juego sin hits, la situación se dificulta cada vez. En las tribunas estaban su esposa Nancy y su padre, quién había viajado desde la costa occidental. Había 60000 personas en Shea Stadium, la primera vez que Seaver lanzaba ante tanto público.

Luego que Seaver dominara a Hundley con rolling al montículo. Me senté en la cama y estiré el oído hacia el radio, toda la tensión se desdibujó cuando el narrador dijo”… es una línea de hit de Jimmy Qualls hacia el centerfield, se acabó el perfecto, se acabó el juego sin hits. Tom Seaver mira hacia el cielo, se va detrás del montículo….” Aún sentado en la cama escuché como terminó el juego dominando a Willie Smith y Don Kessinger con elevados inofensivos.

Seaver regresa al dugout y nota que Nancy tiene lágrimas en los ojos. “¿Por qué estás llorando? Ganamos 4-0”.

NYT: Jack Clark Takes Jabs at Mets of Mid-’80s (RR)

More like a Carlos Monzon crushing jab to the face…

As it turns out, the old feuds continue to simmer. Jack Clark, the cleanup hitter on those St. Louis teams, called those Mets a bunch of cheats and showboats Tuesday in an interview on KTRS-AM radio, which broadcasts Cardinals games.

Clark told McGraw Milhaven, the morning host at the station, that the mutual hatred ran so deep that he purposely snubbed the Mets when they played together in All-Star Games.

“I wanted to let them know I wasn’t glad to be there with them and their teammate, didn’t want to be on any team or be a teammate with them, and we were going to battle,” said Clark, who provides commentary on some Cardinals games and manages the Springfield Sliders, a summer collegiate league team in Illinois.

Clark took particular aim at Gary Carter, the Mets’ catcher in those years, saying that he “talked his way more into the Hall of Fame than deserving it.” Carter, he said, craved the spotlight, which was “pretty sickening and disgusting to everybody else.”

Thanks to Can’t Stop the Bleeding.

SNY: Berg: “Some prospects fail, so it’s time to trade every prospect”

Berg with his latest “Items of note"…

Sock Alexis: There have been a lot of recent rumblings about the Mets’ pursuit of Alex Alexis Rios. It’s an interesting move in that Rios would theoretically only cost money, at least according to the rumor. But lest we forget, money is worth something, and Rios is due to earn an absolute ton of it over the next five years. He’s not a terrible player and it’s not my money, so I understand the temptation to say sure, bring him in. But since Rios’ stats are trending downward and the Mets still have finite resources, I’m just not sure he’d be the best pickup—even if it’s only for cash.

It could work out. After all, Rios is still only 28 and could theoretically return to the All-Star form he showed in 2006 and 2007 that earned him his huge deal. On the other hand, there’s an equally good chance that three years from now, Mets fans could be scratching their heads and wondering why they were so eager to bail out J.P. Ricciardi by taking on a player with an albatross of a contract and red flags on the back of his baseball card.

John Franco blasts the Mets for a lack of leadership, too much individuality

Mike Silva riffing on Bart Hubbach’s Sirius Twitter jitter…

Harsh words for the Mets today from John Franco: “There’s no leadership there. They’re not having fun and everybody’s on their own page.”

Added Franco to Sirius XM: “Something’s not right there. Hopefully they’ll get it right soon [or] it’s going to be a long summer.

Interesting that this comes out just a few days after Jerry Manuel was clamoring for offensive help through the press. We all know that Franco works for the organization and is friendly with ownership. Could he be communicating the perspective of Jeff Wilpon and company? Quite frankly, this type of situation is more a reflection on the manager than management. It makes you wonder how safe Jerry Manuel’s job is. The problem is that Mets ownership remains more concerned with playing corporate politics (badly) than building a well run organization. Any manager that replaces Manuel (Bobby V?) will have the same issues.

Flushing University: Reality Sets In

Consider this when talking about the Mets prospects for July, assuming they make no major moves over the course of the next few weeks. Reyes says it is unlikely he will be back before the All-Star break, and you have rehab games to consider, while Delgado almost certainly won’t return until after the trading deadline. So the Mets could very well miss both of them for all of next month.

In the base case scenario, Beltran will come back right after the All-Star Break. This means he will miss a little less than half (42%). During June, he missed 36% of the action. That month, the Mets were outscored 140-105; over a 162 game season, this amounts to 64 wins. Worst case, Beltran misses the entire month plus. In the nine games he has been absent thus far, the Mets have been outscored 43-32, amounting to 56 wins. Ultimately, were talking in the vicinity of 9-10 wins in July.

Unless Omar and co. does something big, the Mets are a bad, well below .500 team, and as the sample size increases, the results will bear that essential truth out.

WFAN: Eddie Coleman: Enough Is Enough

Weeeee! This contains more seepage than Eddie C’s favorite stool at McGurgitate’s Inn!

Jerry Manuel had seen enough. He had just watched his rag-tag crew of survivors lose their fifth straight game while falling down, kicking the ball around and ultimately not executing at the plate, in the field or on the mound. So he closed the clubhouse doors for a good 30 minutes after the Mets’ 39th loss which put them two games under .500 - and spoke. From the heart. And hopefully reached the hearts of his players, who need to play with a little more heart right now.

Manuel would not reveal much, but he did state the key - “It was to tell them that we have enough. We have enough in here to do what we need to get done. Let’s get it done.” Manuel believes if his team plays the game consistently, competing in the right way, executing the little things - it gives them a chance to win. Manuel went on to say - “I just don’t want us to feel sorry for ourselves. That’s the bottom line. It’s hard not to because of the losses. That’s what we’re based on - wins and losses. You have to check that negativity at the door. Sometimes that seeps in and you have to address it. Because when that seeps in, individualism seeps in, and we can ill afford that as a group the way we are designed right now.” Manuel wanted his team to understand this - “We just need to make sure that we’re all on board with what we’re trying to accomplish, and don’t get separated from that. Period.”

...All players will take the team bus on Wednesday morning and travel to Miller Park en masse to show togetherness and hopefully turn over a new leaf moving forward. All for one - and all aboard.

Amazin’ Avenue: UZR Hates The Mets Outfield

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee
It’s that million dollar bosch

The Mets have the 2nd worst Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) in baseball, at -20.1 runs.  Only the embarrassing Nationals measure out worse.  This number jumps off the page because the Omar Minaya Mets have been strong defensively.  They were worth +27.1, +6.8, and +9.8 defensive runs in 2008, 2007, and 2006, respectively. Team ERA outperformed team FIP in each of these seasons, consistent with a team that plays above average defense.  We’ve seen that UZR correlates decently with FIP-ERA.  Based on how poorly UZR rates Mets defense this year, one would expect team ERA to underperform team FIP.  This is not the case, as ERA is once again better than FIP by 0.11.  Compare to the Nationals, whose ERA is worse than their FIP by 0.52.  It’s always prudent to seek another opinion on defense statistics, so I looked at plus/minus (+/-) and Revised Zone Rating (RZR) to maybe figure out what the heck is going on here.

...The disparity between UZR and RZR regarding outfielders once again stands out.  R.J. Anderson noted at Fangraphs that UZR is still using Shea Stadium park factors for its calculations.  He proposed that this might be having an effect on Carlos Beltran’s poor UZR this season, but ultimately decided that such a small sample isn’t enough to make any conclusions.  Still, the 4 players who have played the most outfield innings for the Mets this season all rate worse per UZR than +/-.  It would be useful if a home/away UZR breakdown was available at Fangraphs, but it isn’t (yet).  Also useful would be an analysis of these stats for all team’s outfields to provide some context, but teamwide +/- data is not readily available.

Defense stats are inexact but always improving.  I agree with R.J. that less than half a season’s data is not much to go on either.  However, it might be wise to take Mets OF UZR with an even larger grain of salt than usual, atleast until Citi Field park factors are used in its calculation.

OC Register: Chone Smith Can See The Future

Forget Miss Clio… Call CHONE now!

SAM MILLER/OCR: Before I go to some players outperforming or underperforming projections, though, this is quoting you… you were asked which Angel could collapse, which would break out: “If I have to pick one maybe Howie Kendrick. I’m worried about the injuries and inability to lay off the slider outside stalling his development. With his lack of patience, he has to hit .300 to be an asset, .270 would be a disaster. … Weaver will take the step forward to become an ace, like Lackey, Santana, and Saunders have before him. My projections see him as the equal to Lackey and Santana.” You’re a witch!!!

Chone Smith: That looks pretty good. But I take no pleasure in Kendrick’s struggles.

SAM MILLER/OCR: Do you think our projections will get any better, or have we reached the limit of what we can feed into them?
Chone Smith: I thought they had reached some kind of limit, and actually hoped that I’d have a stable system so I could focus on other projects, but there is a lot more I can do. David Wright has taught me that in the past week. (Editor’s note: Wright has an unheard of batting average on balls in play this year, so he’s hitting for high average despite setting new personal highs in strikeouts and lows in home runs.)

The developer of the CHONE projection system, Sean Smith, on his way to fame and fortune. Or at least fame.

BREAKING: Surgery for Carlos Beltran?

Colorado? Steadman? Is Beltran gonna be holed up at Ow Farm?

In a ominous-sounding move, Mets New York Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran flew to Vail, Colo., today for a second opinion on his ailing right knee from the inventor of microfracture surgery.

The Mets confirmed that Beltran was in Colorado to have the knee checked out by Dr. Richard Steadman, the surgeon who devised microfracture surgery in the 1990s to mimic missing cartilage.

Beltran has been on the disabled list since last Monday with what the Mets described as a bone bruise in his knee. If Beltran ends up having microfracture surgery, he would miss the rest of the season, at the least.

The surgery, which involves drilling holes in the knee so that blood and bone marrow clot to form new cartilage, has been done on numerous NFL and NBA players.

SNY: Megdal: Like Dutch, Mets tilt at windmills

More like East Phlegmish…

During Sunday night’s game, it was impossible to believe the closeness of the score—just what I felt watching the WBC tilt in March. I felt myself pulling back from the action occasionally, checking out the mismatch in various ways.

There was the indisputable ineptitude of the offense, which included four players with an OPS above .700, two of whom were Brian Schnieder and Luis Castillo. Neither of those two can credibly be called offensive threats.

There was an outfield cobbled together out of a converted infielder (Fernando Tatis), a 20-year-old rookie (Fernando Martinez) and a natural designated hitter (Gary Sheffield). The infield consisted of David Wright, a shortstop without range in Alex Cora, a decent second baseman in Castillo and a first baseman without the skills or decision-making required for the position yet in Daniel Murphy.

Still, the Mets gamely hung in, helped by the pitching of Chien-Ming Wang, who throws more high pitches than any sinker/slider pitcher I’ve seen, and Robinson Cano, whose career line of .302/.334/.470 falls to .236/.250/.337 with the bases loaded. And they say A-Rod can’t hit in the clutch.

But unlike the Dutch, the Mets have not just found magical ways to win, but excruciating ways to lose as well. With such a short-handed team, Francisco Rodriguez’ bases-loaded walk to Mariano Rivera provided not just an insurance run, but a death blow to their chances.

Calcaterra—Yankees and Mets fans are unimaginative

Freakonomics author Stephen Dubner was at the Mets-Yankees game last night, and he wonders why Yankees and Mets fans are so darn economically inefficient when it comes to their cheers and taunts:

A pattern quickly emerged. The many Yankees fans regularly broke into their thunderous cheer: “Let’s go Yankees!” (clap-clap-clap-clap … clap-clap). If you are a Yankees fan (we are; but we do not hate the Mets), this was a sign of what might be called prideful hubris, or maybe hubristic pride: we can come into your stadium and rock it very, very hard.

How’d the Mets fans respond? Succinctly. In the space where the Yankees fans did their rhythmic clapping, Mets fans shouted “Yankees suck!” . . .This pattern was repeated all night. What surprised me is that neither side found a way to improve their effort. I kept waiting for the Yankees fans to fill in their clapping with some chanting that couldn’t be hijacked by the Mets fans, and I kept waiting for the Mets fans to either be proactive in their chanting or to move beyond “Yankees suck!” But neither side budged . . . I fear not that we are teaching our children to be coarse but that we are teaching them to be uncreative and unskilled in the use of game theory.

I can think of no greater indictment of the new expensive ballparks in New York than the fact that they have priced out one of the greatest forces of nature in the universe: verbally abusive, yet incredibly clever New York baseball fans.

Marchman: I got a case of Pabst and Steve Phillips is on the tube

Marchman...Out For Blood!

As I’ve written before, Steve Phillips’ announcing schtick doesn’t outrage me, but it’s induced more than the odd eye roll from this direction, and I’ll be taking a drink every time he claims David Wright isn’t having a good year, every time he blames Omar Minaya for guys like Jose Reyes getting hurt, every time he tells some inane story about Fred Wilpon, every time he intimates he’d be doing a better job running the Mets than the people who are actually doing so, every time he puts the team’s failure to be doing better than two games out down to clubhouse problems/atmospherics rather than the shortstop, first baseman, center fielder, no. 2 and no. 3 starters and top setup man being hurt, and chugging if he mentions Mo Vaughn or Jeromy Burnitz. My liver will check in later.

Bucs Dugout: We Don’t Need Lastings Milledge

When he came up in 2006, a Mets fan – or a paid hack i LM’s entourage – produced the website http://milledgefacts.blogspot.com which included, among others facts about LM ....

1. Lastings Milledge isn’t a 5 tool player. Lastings Milledge has more than 100 tools, many of which are unknown to most baseball scouts.

4. Lastings Milledge doesn’t hit 8th. Those seven other guys are just warming up the pitcher for the first real at bat of the game.

27. Lastings Milledge beat Jose Reyes in a race running backwards.

96. Lastings Milledge is his own species. His biological name is “Homerun Rakings.”

Milledge proceeded to hit .241 (with a .689 OPS) with only 4 home runs. He apparently so annoyed his teammates that a “Know your place, rook” message was left on his locker. He was late for a game in Philly.  He improved slightly in 2007, but was still traded, even though the Mets need some youth and speed in their outfield to go along with the youth, speed, and power they have with David Wright and Jose Reyes.

Matthews: ‘Fans’ split Citi with Mets crashing

or...Aftermathews: “Goin’ Home”

The injury-depleted Mets may not have given up on their season yet, but their fans certainly have given up on them.

By the time the ninth inning started, the only fans left in the park wore the colors of the visiting team.

Certainly, the hour was getting late and it was a work night. But the price of tickets at this, the second-most expensive ballpark in the world only because it shares a world with Yankee Stadium, seemed to ensure that just about everyone who paid his or her way in would stick around for the ultimate resolution.

Not so. By the time the Mets had squandered what would be their third and final threat of the game, just about everyone who had come specifically to see them had either left the park or was in the process of leaving.

Leaving the game at that point was like walking out on Hank Aaron while he was chasing Babe Ruth, or splitting on the Rolling Stones before the encore.

But split they did, and left their team, and its new home, in the hands of their bitterest rivals.

Catalano: Mets: Desperate Times Call for Desperate Trade

And Cud Cuddyer is the answer?

The Mets should try to trade for Michael Cuddyer by offering the Twins SS prospect Wilmer Flores.

Michael Cuddyer, when healthy, is a solid RF, with a good arm and, more importantly from the Mets prospective, power. While he can play a number of positions, RF is where he is best suited—he has had season of 18 and 19 assists from RF, and can handle the new CitiField well. As of this writing, Cuddyer is slugging .514, or what would be 2nd on the Mets squad behind the injured Beltran. Also, he has an OPS of .878, which would place him 4rd behind Wright and Beltran and the soon to be injured Sheffield.

The Twins have a glut of outfielders—and trading Cuddyer could clear space for other able players. Right now, the Twins are breaking in young outfielders Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez (of the Mets farm system), both young and talented and who need time to grow. The Twins also have Jason Kubel and Denard Span—productive players both as Kubel is slugging .558 and Span is batting .287 with 12 stolen bases.

Cockcroft: Citi Field is costing the New York Mets—and their opponents—home runs in 2009

It’s a musgraveyard for flyballs!

According to Rybarczyk, the most significant change in ballpark effect by the Mets’ switching from Shea Stadium to Citi Field this season has been in terms of home-run production. In the first 37 games of Citi Field’s existence, the Mets and their opponents have been “robbed” of a combined 36 home runs that might have cleared the fences at Shea. Compare that to only two home runs—both hit by fellow fantasy first-rounder Chase Utley of the Phillies—hit at the Mets’ new home that would not have been round-trippers at Shea, and you’re talking a staggering difference in ballpark factors.

So what’s causing such a dramatic effect? Rybarczyk illustrates the vast difference in outfield dimensions between Shea and Citi Field in the diagram to the right. But it’s more than that. As he adds: “Keep in mind that the fences at Citi Field are considerably taller than those at Shea Stadium, and that for a typical home run ball, each additional foot of fence height is equivalent to moving the same height fence back by 0.84 feet. So, the 16-foot fence in left field at Citi Field is not only much deeper than the left-field fence at Shea Stadium, it is 8 feet taller, which equates to about another 6 feet of distance.”

Pinstripe Alley: Concerning the Mets

Interview with Eric Simon from Amazin’ Avenue...including a grission drop!

Give me your honest opinion of Jerry Manuel.

He seems like a nice guy. Very affable, particularly with the New York media. He wears emo glasses, which are something of a trend these days.

On the field, he’s a so-so manager at best. He bunts far too often with his position players, he regularly makes baffling bullpen decisions, has an interesting approach to lineup construction, and occasionally gets himself into trouble by needlessly micromanaging in-game situations. Most frustrating, though, is that he’s stubborn and closed-minded to a fault, completely eschewing “statistical numbers” as he calls them, preferring to manage “from the gut”. I’m not one to advocate managing entirely by the numbers, but to be so embarrassingly obstinate as to ignore valuable reams of relevant information because they don’t factor in edge, heart or grission is horrifyingly pernicious to the ultimate goal of winning baseball games.

SNY: Salfino: Evans, Nieve provide unexpected boost

So does a six-pack of Kamangi le Jaerock...but not everybody is rushing out to buy it.

The annoying thing about the Mets when it comes to player development is that they seem to have no respect for prospect pedigree as determined by their own scouts. Murphy had a very short leash this year, especially considering the baggage of manning a new position and the very obvious role bad luck played in his performance. Are the Mets similarly going to fall so easily out of love with Fernando Martinez because he failed to produce as a 20-year-old getting his first taste of The Show?

Nieve shocked me by throwing 94 mph in that first start against the Yankees but he quickly lost his velocity in that game. Still, averaging 92.4 is nothing to sneeze at—only 20 qualifying starters do better. 92.4 is exactly what Joba Chamberlain is averaging (please don’t tell that to Mike Francesa or he’ll go on an hours-long, Diet Coke-fueled rant).

But if you start at 94 and then finish at 90, is that much worse than maintaining 92-ish? I think so. But Nieve has defied that line of thinking.

Whenever someone has been successful, you can bet that you can find some good luck in his performance. Sure, Nieve has stranded 91.8 percent of baserunners (average is about 70 percent). He’s allowed a .181 average on balls in play (average is .300). But his fielding independent ERA (FIP) is 3.88, which I will take any day from a guy pulled off the scrap heap.

NY Daily News/Madden: The Mets they are thriving just by surviving obstacles

Just get to the break safe.

This is Jerry Manuel’s new message to his bedraggled but somehow buoyant Met troops. It’s kind of a variation of the old Charlie Dressen line when he managed the Dodgers in Brooklyn - “just keep it close, fellas, and I’ll think of something.”

“That might be the view he has,” said David Wright. “But I’m looking to win. I don’t put this uniform on just to survive or look to be average. That might be the big picture in the grand scheme of things, and the realistic view, but as a player, every time I put on the uniform I expect to win.”

Nevertheless, just surviving and being average has been good enough for the Mets and, as Manuel says, if they can just keep surviving as they have - however average that might be - well, who knows what great things they can accomplish when they’re finally whole?

That really is the headline, btw…

Carig: Keith Hernandez, Mark Teixeira and a question of range

Meh...I also heard Keith ragging on the fundamental theorem of calculus the other day.

Former Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez apparently isn’t overly impressed with the work of current Yankees first baseman and two-time Gold Glover Mark Teixeira. From Bob Raissman of the Daily News:

When asked Sunday (third inning, Rays-Mets) if any current first baseman reminded him of him, the SNY analyst said, “No ... I don’t think there’s really anyone outstanding out there.” It took awhile, but Gary Cohen finally brought up Mark Teixeira. Mex said he liked Tex but added: “Not a whole lot of range. Not smooth, but gets the job done.”

On the surface, Hernandez’s comments seem nothing more than an ode to bluster and ego, the type not uncommon to plenty of ex-players. But could there be something to Hernandez’s “not a whole lot of range” assertion?

Statistically, it appears so.

With a free agent payday looming last season, Teixeira posted his first above-average defensive numbers since 2004, while playing for the Braves and Angels. He posted a 10.6 ultimate zone rating, which takes into account how many runs a fielder is saving or costing his team when compared to the average fielder.

But in his first season as a Yankee, Teixeira’s UZR has fallen to a below average -.1.9.

Thanks to Tango.

Deep Left Field: La vida SABR

This is the funniest thing I ever heard Chris Dial say. “I am not a stat geek.”

This was back in the late nineties, sometime during the storied Braves-Mets clashes of that era. Maybe opening weekend. Maybe 1999. Sitting in the covered boxes of the Lexus Level at Turner Field, day game, long delay, waiting out the thunderstorms blowing through. Post-Piazza. Pre-Rocker. Right dab in the middle of Rey Ordonez.

What you have to understand about Dial is this. It’s all about Rey Ordonez. Ordonez is the Rubicon. Ordonez is the great white whale. Ordonez is his raison d’etre, his existential meaning, the very soundtrack of his life. Without Rey Ordonez, Chris Dial would not exist.

Amazin’ Avenue: Stop Talking About David Wright’s BABIP Like It’s An Achievment

Or as Wee Willie Keeler’s brother, Profumo used to say..."Hit em where they ain’t...####! THEY MOVED OVER!”

That’s why writers and broadcasters need to stop saying things like:

The Mets only hope that inflated mark of .460 has more to do with Wright being good than being lucky. -Britton

It’s luck.

The thing that Wright has been able to do this year that has made his BABIP soar, is adjust his swing so that he is producing more clean line drives as opposed to upper-cutting and hitting fly balls. -Bleacher Report

You made that up.

What that means is that Wright, for whatever reason, is hitting ‘em where they ain’t. It can’t hold up forever—or can it? -DiComo

No it can’t.

SNY: Berg: Multiple multimedia tidbits following Beltran DL news

Holy Passemetserie! The Pujols button!

Here comes that man again: Twice a year, Mets fans get to watch Albert Pujols play against their favorite team. That isn’t enough for me, so I pay for the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV to watch El Hombre in thrilling HD. I maintain that there should be some sort of alert for when Pujols is batting, and maybe a button you can push when that alert comes up that would take you directly to the Cardinals game. In other words, the DirecTV remote should be modified to look like this.

And if they’re installing that button, they might as well make an all-Pujols on-demand channel that features Pujols’ greatest moments, like that time he absolutely brutalized Brad Lidge. Plus maybe it can show Albert Pujols doing other stuff, too, like just buying groceries and mowing the lawn. I bet he does it all extremely well.

Anyway, it’s too soon to tell, but the best player in baseball might actually be getting better. At 29, Pujols is following the best year of his career with what’s shaping up to be the best year of his career. It’s a half-formed theory at best because Pujols’ most productive offensive season before 2008 came in 2003 and since he had what was, for him, a down year in 2007. But it’s fun to speculate because the idea of Pujols even having another level to take his game to is insane.

Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, trainer Ray Ramirez involved in car accident with firetruck

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

Injured shortstop Jose Reyes and Mets trainer Ray Ramirez were rear-ended by a firetruck on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge sometime Monday while driving to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan for a check-up visit, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said.

No one was injured in the accident, Horowitz said.

The Mets said nothing about the accident until starting pitcher Tim Redding unknowingly spilled the beans after Monday’s 6-4 win over St. Louis.

“I got here about 10 after 4 and a lot of things were going on,” Redding said. “Apparently a lot of things were going on all over the city. Our shortstop and our trainer, who’s been working his butt off to keep us on the field, got into an accident. Carlos was getting an MRI and being placed on the DL. And people were being moved, brought up and sent all over the place. So it was a whirlwind day.”

Rubin: It’s official: Carlos Beltran to DL

It’s official. Carlos Beltran has landed on the DL with right knee trouble.

An MRI showed a worsened bone bruise.

Fernando Martinez is returning. Pat Misch and Elmer Dessens also replace Ken Takahashi and Wilson Valdez. Beltran’s injury leaves only David Wright from the core of Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes and Beltran.

Thanks to Russlan: Season over?.

SNY: Megdal: A guide to the 2009 Mets bullpen

Yes...which will be guiding us to the official ironmen rally song.

Here is a brief primer on how Mets relievers should and should not be deployed:

...As for Pedro Feliciano, he can and should alternate with Parnell as a primary bridge to Rodriguez. With 2008’s struggles against righties now clearly a BABIP illusion, he is a fine choice for full innings. But as with anyone else, Feliciano can’t be overused as he has been to date. Of course, he can be utilized against specific lefties should the occasion warrant it. But if Parnell/Feliciano are alternating games as a rule, rather than both pitching in every contest, their effectiveness over the course of the season will only be enhanced.

Meanwhile, Jon Switzer needs to be the primary lefty specialist, the pitcher usually paired with Sean Green in any specialist-dominated inning. His early returns have been rough, but a pitcher probably shouldn’t be pigeon-holed on three innings of work-the same number of innings as Johan Santana threw against the Yankees. He’s always gotten lefties out in his career, and if the Mets aren’t playing the Phillies, he should be utilized in that role now.

You’d rather have Feliciano pitching to tough lefties. You’d also rather have Santana starting every game.

MLB: Britton: Wright producing despite strikeouts

“wright needs to start hitting Home runs again. his rbi total is low” (comments section pulling me innnnnnnnnnnn!)

David Wright is having an odd season.

Wright is the National League’s leading hitter with a .344 average entering Sunday’s finale with the Rays at Citi Field. But the third baseman has hit just four home runs and has struck out 69 times—the fourth most in the NL.

Strikeouts usually come with power, not with average. So what gives?

“I’ll be honest with you: I can’t figure it out,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “I really don’t have [an explanation].”

...Even Manuel and hitting coach Howard Johnson are confused.

“Sometimes I sit there and tell HoJo, ‘We are critiquing him, and we’re talking about the league’s leading hitter,’” Manuel said. “We’ve got to be careful in what we say and what we do, because we’re talking about the guy that’s leading the league in hitting. He is somewhat unorthodox, which gives us room to critique. But we could be very wrong in our critique. We have to kind of bear that for awhile.”

Murray Chass: NOT THE MAGNIFICENT METS

The Mets expect Maine to return to the rotation in 10 days to two weeks, and Minaya was cautiously optimistic about Perez (at left), who hasn’t pitched for the Mets since May 2.

“Perez finally had a good session yesterday,” Minaya said Friday. “He’s not ready now. It depends on how his knee responds. He’s on a cycle to pitch every five days. He threw well yesterday, 91, 92. That was good news.”

Minaya was not interested in getting into the sweepstakes for Pedro Martinez, who has been throwing for about half a dozen teams. The general manager, however, asked Cleveland about Cliff Lee, last year’s American League Cy Young award winner, but the Indians decided not to trade him.

In the meantime, while the Mets tread water awaiting the return of their injured starters, they need to figure out how to convert late-inning leads into victories. In the space of nine recent days, leading to the weekend, they lost four games which they led after the fifth inning.

The losses resulted from a combination of their relief pitchers giving up runs and their hitters shutting down and not producing late-inning add-on runs.

The Phillies, on the other hand, have demonstrated that they are a relentless and a resilient team, and even if the Mets remain in the race, they will have a difficult task in overcoming them.

WFAN: Rose: Interleague Play Is For The Birds

A couple of days old, but...Take it off the books!

Trust me, there was absolutely no juice last night at Camden Yards, unless some players are doing something they shouldn’t be doing. There was no buzz (there, is that better?), no energy, and seemingly no reason for being there. I’m telling you, these games are downright intrusive; an unnecessary interruption to the National League season. The Mets don’t care about the Orioles, the Orioles don’t care about the Mets, they’re not competing for the same thing, and yes, I would rather have more games against the Nationals, Diamondbacks and Pirates than I would against any team in the American League except, I suppose, the Yankees.

Six games against a team’s natural rival, if it even has one, is fine. Otherwise these games seem like an irrelevant waste of time.

When the St.Louis Cardinals come to Citi Field on Monday night it’s going to feel like Opening Day all over again.

SNY: Berg and Salfino: Should the Mets be patient or make immediate push?

Mike Salfino: Well, .333 baseball isn’t getting it done no matter how lacking the competition. J.J. Putz’s loss hasn’t been a factor really given how he pitched when he was active. John Maine was a major question mark this winter. Oliver Perez was awful when he was active, too. The absences of Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes are crushing, I agree. But if the Mets were a championship-caliber team with them, they should be .500 without them. Major moves are long overdue dating back to the winter. Minaya must fortify the weak rotation and get a hitter who can play second or first base and the outfield (or all three—Mark DeRosa). My solution for the rotation are guys who will cost you mostly money: Vicente Padilla, who touched 95 mph yesterday after about 100 pitches and, yes, Pedro Martinez.

Ted: Well, no, .333 baseball doesn’t get it done, but June is a pretty small sample as I’m sure we can both agree. And look what you’re saying—what difference does it make now how the team looked this winter? We both agreed then that the team needed another bat, and we were both accusing Omar Minaya of always fighting yesterday’s war. So should he operate now by thinking of what he should have done this offseason, or should the think of what the team needs moving forward? I just don’t see a rash move for DeRosa as making nearly the type of impact for the offense that the team needs. He’s a nice player, for sure, and maybe it does if he’s playing second base because Delgado is back, but that would mean Delgado was back. That won’t happen anyway because of Castillo’s contract, but even if it did, it’s not hard to argue that those DeRosa resources—whatever they may be—might be better spent on a starting pitcher superior to Padilla.