Mack – Thoughts on 3-16 Lucy Game

-Jon Niese was a perfect 1-2-3 in the 1^st inning, hitting 87-89… local scout had him at 90… bad second inning… 4 of first 5 batter gets on… Cards wind up scoring two runs… then… Niese is removed after two innings with an elbow issue. The Mets decide quickly to send him to New York for an MRI and no one panics. We’ll all have to wait and see the results.

        Obviously, there is a good chance Niese will start the season on the DL. Dice-K seemed to have the SP5 locked up and this should be the opportunity that Jenrry Mejia was looking for.

        Other SP5 options are Carlos Torres, Rafael Montero, Jacob degrom and, frankly, John Lannan.

        (FWIW… Niese was asked and he didn’t think it was serious…)

        Buddy Carlyle (thought he played in the Bronx) gave up the tying run in the 5^th…

        Kyle Farnsworth was all over the place… two walks, two strikeouts, but no runs given up in 1.2-IP, ending in the 6^th…

        It was nice to see Greg Peavey get an inning… it seems to me that the only chance Peavey has of becoming a Met someday is through the bullpen, but you almost wish the guy would be DFA’d so he could find himself a better future with another organization.

        Vic Black gets one more time (maybe his last) to pitch himself back into the 2014 Mets pen… starts off the 8^th giving up three hits in a row (1-R, 7.20)… double play saved his arse (6.00).

        Randy Fontanez, another someday hopeful member of the pen, mopped up in the 9^th.

-Mets scoring…  Daniel Murphy scores from third on a balk… It was especially good to see Murphy go 3-3 in his first three at-bats. He needed the work…

Cory Vaughn hits a two-run homer which, I’m sure, he’ll be talking about all spring… but he wasn’t over, singling in two more in the 5th… plus had three hit or the day.

-The Ruben Tejada saga continues… he had his fourth error in spring training and went hitless in four at-bats (1-K, .091). He was replaced after five innings and there simply is nothing more to say about this situation. It’s absolutely pathetic. I’m not sure at this point if Tejada will be mentally capable of coming back from this. We just may have another Anderson Hernandez on our hands.

        I’ll make a guess… none of the ‘usual suspects’ we’ve been writing about are going to wind up a Met. All these teams are going to hang the Mets out to dry. However, the future 2014 shortstop… at least for the first half of the season… is still on some roster and will be until the final cuts of the pre-season.

        Ruben Tejada will be released on March 30^th.

This situation cries out as a last minute fill in who is capable of playing good defense and hitting in the .200-.225 range. Period.

At the same time, look for the Mets to elevate their focus on teaching Wilmer Flores how to play this position well enough to take over at some point in the season.

Additionally, more time and energy will be spent with Wilfredo Tovar and Matt Reynolds (.500) within the system to giddy-up their minor league days and step to the plate before it’s time for either Gavin Cecchini or Dilson Herrera.

And lastly, the Mets will re-visit this position next off-season during the Hot Stove season.

Just my guess.

Excellent 10-4 win, but a suck day due to Niese, Black, and Tejada.