Best Outing Of Spring For Perez

The Mets got back to their winning ways toady by defeating the Orioles 6-2 in Port St.Lucie. Oliver Perez started for the Mets and was opposed by the new #1 for Baltimore, Jeremy Guthrie. New York had the majority of their starters in the game, but still were without second basemen Luis Castillo.

• Perez threw 4 innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits while striking out one
• Jose Reyes collected his first triple and his first stole base of this spring
• Angel Pagan came up huge again with a pinch hit 2-run homer in the 7th inning. Pagan leads the league in hits with 18 this spring
• Delgado went 0-3 today making him 0-5 with 5 k's since his hip injury
• Wagner and Heilman both threw scoreless innings following Perez in the 5th & 6th inning

The Mets and Mike Pelfrey will travel to Jupiter on Thursday to take on the Cardinals and Braden Looper

It's nice to see the Mets get back on the winning track after a few games with Boston. Two great signs from this game for me. One, Angel Pagan continues to show the coaches he deserves to start in left field on opening day. I watched this kid play 3 games in person and i like him. He is very athletic and runs very well to add to the team speed. I still wouldn't mind another insurance guy like Thames (he can still backup Delgado) but only if its for a guy like Schoenweis. The 2nd thing is that the main bullpen arms are doing well this spring. It's nice to those guys putting last years collapse behind them. The alarming thing to me is the two Carlos's. Not so much Beltran because he is making some contact, but Delgado is not doing much at the plate. He is 0-5 with 5 strikeouts since coming back from the hip injury, and with him coming off a year like last year it's starting to scare me that he is breaking down. I can only pray for two more weeks with no more injuries.

NL East Rivalry Ends In Extra Innings

The Braves traveled down from Orlando to PSL to take on the Mets. Atlanta didn't bring to many regulars and the Mets had a lineup mixed with starters and bench players.

• Mike Pelfrey made his second start of the spring and continued his hot start. Pelfrey went 3 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up 2 hits and one was a infield single. Pelfrey has yet to give up any runs this spring and is starting strong like last spring.
• Angel Pagan is fighting hard this spring to win a job on the 25 man roster. Pagan added a single in the 2nd inning, giving him 8 hits already this spring..
• Billy Wagner relieved Pelfrey in the 4th inning giving up 1 run in an innings worth of work.
• In the 10th inning back up shortstop Ruben Tejada hit game winning double that drove in Michel Abreu who was filling in for Delgado who is still out with his sore right hip.

Alright so the Mets are on a minor roll here playing mostly with their bench players, which is a good sign. The health of the Mets are still a little of a concern with Beltran, Chavez, Easley, Castillo,Valentin and El Duque not seeing any action yet this spring. Not to mentioned the list of players who are facing injuries from playing this spring: Delgado, Church, Anderson, Schneider and Gotay who went down with an injured ankle on Sunday.

On the bright side though, I can't be any happier with the start of Mike Pelfrey. i know he started this way last spring and then got destroyed in his first few starts in the regular season but this is a great sign especially with El Duque struggling to get back on the mound.