Luis Castillo 2B
Cory Sullivan LF
David Wright 3B
Carlos Beltran CF
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Josh Thole C
Anderson Hernandez SS
Pat Misch (1-2, 3.86 ERA) P

The Mets have not done a very good job of playing the spoiler, but they will try again against the Braves tonight and rookie Tommy Hanson, who is having an excellent year with nine wins and an ERA under 3.

FLUSHING, N.Y., September 15, 2009 – The New York Mets today released their preliminary schedule for the 2010 season. The Mets will open their 2010 season at Citi Field Monday, April 5 when they host the Florida Marlins at 1:10 p.m.

The opening homestand continues April 7-8 vs. Florida before the Washington Nationals come to Citi Field for a weekend series, April 9-11. The Mets first road trip is April 13-18 when the club travels to Colorado and St. Louis. The Mets return for a 10-game homestand April 19-28 vs. the Cubs, Braves and Dodgers.

The New York Yankees come to Citi Field May 21-23 and the Philadelphia Phillies’ first visit to New York is May 25-27.

During Interleague play, the Mets will host the Detroit Tigers June 22-24 and the Minnesota Twins June 25-27.

Starting times for Mets home games at Citi Field will be 7:10 p.m. for night games and 1:10 p.m. for day games with the exceptions of Thursday, July 29 vs. St. Louis and August 12 vs. Colorado at 12:10 p.m. The 2010 schedule is subject to change, including all Saturday and Sunday games, which are subject to Major League Baseball’s national broadcast agreements with FOX and ESPN.

The Mets will play the Yankees in the Bronx June 18-20 and round out their Interleague schedule with trips to Baltimore June 11-13 and Cleveland June 15-17.

The 2010 Mets schedule concludes with a seven-game homestand September 27-October 3 when the Milwaukee Brewers come to town for a four-game series followed by a three-game series vs. the Nationals.

Check out the preliminary schedule here: 2010 Mets Schedule

Angel Pagan CF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Fernando Tatis 1B
Nick Evans LF
Omir Santos C
Wilson Valdez SS
Nelson Figueroa (2-4, 4.74 ERA) P

The Mets try to continue their dominance against Phillies starter Cole Hamels, who is 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA in two starts against the Mets this season. Hamels’ opponent, Figueroa, tries to forget about his last outing agains the Cubs when he allowed four runs. It’s Figgy’s first-ever start against the team he once played for in 2001.

Carlos Beltran is conspicuously out of the lineup after getting the day off yesterday. Jerry Manuel previously had said he would use Beltran for a couple of days and then give him a day off, but he didn’t mention anything about two days in a row.

After having won their first series since July against the Cubs, the Mets got swept by the Marlins at home. Just when you think they might have a nice little run, they not only get swept but they lose by nine runs.

The Mets couldn’t reel in the Florida Marlins last night as they got swept by the fish for the first time since 2004. It was also the first sweep of the Mets by a National League team at Citi Field.

The Mets are hardly the spoilers the Marlins have been over the past two years, but they will get another crack at it when the two teams meet in Miami at the end of the month.

On the injury front, the New York Post is reporting Gary Sheffield could be close to returning to the field soon and don’t count Carlos Delgado out of returning to the Mets next season if his price is right and the team needs a big bat.

In totally unrelated news, the Citi Field streaker is banned from the park for life.

Angel Pagan CF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Fernando Tatis 1B
Nick Evans LF
Omir Santos C
Anderson Hernandez SS
Bobby Parnell (3-7, 5.25 ERA) P

True to his word, Jerry Manuel is sitting Carlos Beltran tonight. He had said that he’ll probably sit Beltran at least once a week and even as much as once a series. That doesn’t mean he won’t be called in for pinch-hitting duties.

Parnell takes the mound, but he’s going to have to pitch better than his predecessors in order for the Mets not to be swept at home for the first time by a National League team. The hot Marlins hitting crew has knocked four home runs in the first two games of the series. Can Parnell put out the fire or just stoke it more?

Pat Misch did not fare nearly as well as his last outing, allowing five earned runs and two home runs. It was the second straight game in which the Mets starting pitcher allowed two home runs.

The pair Misch gave up were more devastating, however. The first one put the Mets in a four-run hole in the first inning. When you’re playing small ball to get runs like the Mets are right now, that’s a daunting hole to climb out of.

Meanwhile, Jose Reyes is hoping he can return for some winter ball in the Dominican Republic. Jerry Manuel also said there is a slight chance Carlos Delgado could make it back before the end of the season.

Manuel also talked about how the Mets’ lack of offensive power this year might change the makeup of the team in 2010, putting more emphasis on speed to accommodate the cavernous Citi Field.

Angel Pagan LF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Carlos Beltran CF
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Josh Thole C
Pat Misch (1-1, 3.25 ERA) P

Misch tries to get his second straight big league win as he faces the Marlins’ Ricky Nolasco. He allowed only two runs, but both of them were homers. Misch can’t allow that happen to a Marlins team that won last night’s game with two, two-run shots.

The lineup is the same, but the Mets hope to get more offensive production from it. Wright through Thole should prove a tougher challenge than they did last night.

Carlos Beltran came back in last night’s loss to the Marlins. He went 1-for-4 at the plate and just missed hitting a grand slam. He looked comfortable in the field, too.

His return also is giving Mets management a difficult decision in whom to send out to left field every day. Both Angel Pagan and Cory Sullivan have played well in the outfield. Pagan got the start last night and had two hits, including another triple. Sullivan has a .313 batting average in the past 11 games.

The game was pretty much over after the fifth inning. The Marlins hit two, two-run homers, and the Mets managed to eke out two of their own. By the sixth inning, the SNY-TV announcers Ron Darling, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez had left the booth to experiment with what they called the “Silent Sixth.” There was no commentary in the entire inning, just the natural sounds of the game.

That wasn’t the only difference in the booth last night. Ten-year-old Kyle Singh of Queens got the opportunity to be the play-by-play announcer in the bottom of the third inning. Looks like the Mets are pulling out all the stops in the final month of the season.

Angel Pagan LF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Carlos Beltran CF
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Josh Thole C
Anderson Hernandez SS
Tim Redding (2-4, 5.70 ERA) P

The Mets hope the return of Beltran’s bat to the lineup will give them some extra offensive firepower as they take on the Florida Marlins. Just the site of Beltran’s name after Wright’s is a welcome development. He’s being thrown right into the fire as he’s batting in the cleanup spot and playing center field. He says he’s fine but only game action will tell.

Both The New York Post and The Daily News are reporting that Carlos Beltran will likely take the field tonight as the Mets play the Marlins at 7:10 p.m. His willingness to start playing again even though the Mets are clearly out of any contention is welcome.

That leaves open the question of who sits in favor of Beltran. Will it be Angel Pagan, who has dutifully patrolled center field in Beltran’s absence, albeit with poor results at times? Or will it be Cory Sullivan who has really come into his own recently?

Either way, it’ll still be nice to see that extra bat in the lineup, even if it is a little slower and weaker than it used to be.

Brian Schneider has been mentoring new Mets catcher Josh Thole, who had a quick calll-up and only a few days to get used to all of the pitchers.

John Maine could make a start Saturday against the Phillies because it’s a double header. He pitched in a Minor League game Saturday and went four innings and allowed no runs.

The Mets are off on Labor Day, but they’ll take on the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night. Tim Redding takes the mound as they continue to try to play the role of spoiler, which they did successfully against the Chicago Cubs, whom they beat twice in their three-game series. It was the first series the Mets have won since the end of July.

Derrek Lee went deep twice and drove in three runs in his return to the lineup, leading Rich Harden and Chicago to a 5-3 victory over the Mets yesterday. Mets starter Nelson Figueroa, who allowed four runs, wasn’t quite as sharp as he had been in his last few outings.

Read the rest of the wrap-up.

Just three days after surgery on his left elbow to remove bone chips, Johan Santana jokingly said he’s ready to pitch in Tuesday’s game. That won’t happen, but Santana nonetheless is optimistic about being ready for Spring Training.

Meanwhile, Bobby Parnell pitched a gem last night, going seven innings, striking out seven and allowing no runs. The Mets’ bats came alive, too, with an offensive barrage in the eighth inning against the Cubs, who are clinging on to Wild Card hopes.

Read more.

It was the second straight Mets win, which hasn’t happened in awhile. They hope to keep it going today as Nelson Figueroa faces Rich Harden at 1:10 p.m.

Angel Pagan CF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur  RF
Cory Sullivan LF
Omir Santos C
Anderson Hernandez SS
Bobby Parnell (3-7, 5.80 ERA) P

Parnell tries to rebound against the Cubs who tagged him for eight runs in 4 2/3 innings in his last start. The experiment of Parnell as starter hasn’t gone well so far. His ERA is over 10 and he is 1-4 in five starts.

Today’s starter Pat Misch and new call-up Josh Thole barely had a chance to get to know each other before being thrown into the fire together in today’s game. They had a bullpen session a couple of days ago to try to get on the same page.

Other than a passed ball early in today’s game, they both seemed to settle in pretty nicely. Misch got his first Major League win as he pitched seven strong innings, only allowing back-to-back solo shots.

Thole, in his first Major League at-bat, hit a single and then stole second base. His mother could be heard whooping over the radio broadcast. He would get another hit, going 2-for-5 at the plate. Not bad for his first game in the bigs.

Thole’s hits were two of the 16 the Mets had today. Angel Pagan and David Wright were on fire with three hits each. Wright drove in three runs. Daniel Murphy drove in two more off a two-run homer in the ninth inning that ruined a save opportunity for Francisco Rodriguez.

Once again, the Mets showed how difficult it is to sweep a series. Even though they haven’t been winning many games lately, they have avoided sweeps to the Cubs, the Rockies, the Marlins, the Braves and Phillies. That means they’ve won just one game in every one of those series.

The last time they won more than a game in a series was against the Giants in the middle of August when they took two games out of four. Before that they won only one game per series dating back to the end of July when they couldn’t quite sweep the Rockies in a four-gamer. So, series against the Rockies have bookended a pretty bad stretch of baseball for the Mets. They earned just their 60th win of the season with today’s game.

Bobby Parnell faces Carlos Zambrano when the Mets play the Cubs at Citi Field on Friday night.