NL East

In a move that should surprise no one, Major League Baseball announced today that Ubaldo Jimenez is the player of the week for the National League.

No one wants to be that guy.

No one wants to be the person who claims that a team lost because of an umpire or an official. It comes across as a petty excuse for a team not getting the job done.

Jerry Manuel needs to go.

Let me preface this by saying I will miss him dearly. His post-game sound bites are tremendously amusing. I feel this way because I am a Yankees fan who has to listen to Joe Girardi be his vague self everyday.

Manuel will be missed in that regard, but from a baseball standpoint he will not.

At around 8:30 last night I decided to move on to something else, as the Mets were heading into the 13th inning. I returned to that channel at around 10 PM and found the Mets were still playing in the 18th.

Who would have thought that the New York Mets pitching staff would be the strongest part of the team, while the hitting staff would be the weakest?

Saturday, April 17 against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Mets hitting staff was shut down until the top of the 19th inning when Jose Reyes scored a run on a sacrifice fly against a position player converted to pitcher during the game. All regular relievers were already used up in the Cardinals bullpen, and the only pitchers available were starters.

When was the last time a team cut their Opening Day cleanup hitter just 11 games into the season? Has that ever happened before?

If not, the New York Mets made history on Sunday.

Call it a panic move, call it a move out of desperation, or call it a move just to create some buzz, but the Mets have designated first baseman Mike Jacobs for assignment. In seven games, Jacobs hit .208 with one home run.

Saturday April 17th, 2010 turned out to be a great day of baseball.

After coaching my son's team in their final scrimmage before our season starts on the 19th, (Anthony Cappetta: 2-for-3, with two steals) my son and I sat down at 4pm eastern time, to watch the Mets take on the St. Louis Cardinals.

Despite the fact that the Mets have been a disappointment so far in this young season, even after their own manager proclaimed that the team needed to get off to a fast start, something about yesterday seemed different.

Ubaldo Jimenez's no-hitter against Braves was magical. The 20-inning affair between the Cardinals and Mets was just plum-crazy.

The Atlanta Braves are 10 games into the season, and they sit at 6-4 after winning their first game against the Rockies.

Here are some thoughts from the first week and a half of the year.

Martin Prado Keeps Hitting

Prado has been a hit machine thus far. At the beginning of the season, you could count me among those skeptical that Prado was as good as he showed us in 2009.