Kuzul

Watching Mets' closer Frank Francisco pitch is like playing Russian Roulette. On the one hand, he can fire bullets right past hitters.On the other, he can blow a lead and make you want to blow your own brains out.Doubts about Francisco's closing ability have been common all season. It's not so much that he blows saves. He's got 18 saves on the season, and 3 blown saves.But, every outing is an adventure.Look at his 17th save of the season, for example. Francisco preserved the Mets' lead as they beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3. Looks good on paper.Here's the reality. Francisco saved his own skin as much as the game. The Mets went into the ninth leading 4-2. Francisco faced seven batters, threw 33 pitches—closers who throw more than 20 pitches an inning are usually in trouble—gave up two hits, two walks and an earned run before getting the third out.That's ...

Imagine you're at work, and your boss walks up to you and says, "You look like you could use a day off. In fact, take two days off. Relax. Watch a couple of ballgames."Sounds great to most of us. Sounds like the voice of doom to a Major League baseball player, especially one who's the starter at his position.New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy has heard that voice, and it likely spells doom for his starting role.Perhaps the most telling indication that Murphy's job is on the line came in the Mets' sweep of the Baltimore Orioles a couple of weeks back. The O's are having their best season in dog years, and the Mets wanted their front line players in the lineup.It speaks volumes that manager Terry Collins sat Murphy for two of those three games.It wasn't a matter of pitching matchups. Murphy and Jordany Valdespin, who spelled ...

The New York Mets have done surprisingly well so far this season, and as June nears, there are whispers of a playoff run.They have the tools at the plate. David Wright has an all-multiverse batting average of .373, and the Mets have been pleasantly surprised by the output of Mike Baxter, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Daniel Murphy and others once considered little more than fill-ins.Props also go to the starting pitchers. Any lingering concerns about Johan Santana's surgically repaired shoulder were erased in his complete game shutout of the San Diego Padres last week. R.A. Dickey is having an All-Star season.Props are also due to closer Frank Francisco—for his last few outings, anyway. A change in his bullpen sessions has improved his pitching tremendously after a very shaky start to the season. At one point, his ERA was above 8.00 and he was consistently throwing more than 20 pitches an inning. That ...

The Mets reached a dubious milestone on Friday night against the Miami Marlins. A first-inning triple by Jose Reyes thwarted the possibility of a no-hitter for the 8,000th time in Mets history.The no no-no's streak is surprising not just for its 50-year span. The Mets have had any number of pitchers capable of blanking an opponent for nine innings.In fact, seven pitchers have thrown no-hitters after leaving the Mets, according to NoNoHitters.com, a website that keeps a running update of the Mets' futility. Another 10 came to the Mets with no-hitters under their belts.Nolan Ryan, of course, posted seven no-hitters in his post-Mets career. Tom Seaver threw one for the Cincinnati Reds in 1978, the season following his departure from New York. Dwight Gooden and David Cone added further insult by pitching no-hitters for the Yankees.Hideo Nomo and Mike Scott also chalked up no-hitters after leaving the Mets. The most ...

Jose Reyes returned to CitiField Tuesday night for the first time since he sold his considerable shortstop talents to the Miami Marlins. He heard more boos than cheers, and he continued to struggle at the plate.His replacement, Rubén Tejada, had a boo-worthy night himself. He struck out three times and failed to execute a sacrifice in the last of the 8th with the score tied at 1. The Mets ended up scoring in the inning and won the game, 2-1.Going into the 2012 season, the Mets knew that Tejada was not going to be another Reyes. He's not as speedy and he's not likely to overtake Reyes as National League batting champ. Tejada is, however, off to a much better start at the plate than Reyes, who went hitless in four at-bats Tuesday night. His batting average dropped to an astonishing .215. His slow start aside, losing a player of ...

Mike Pelfrey's name popped up in the trade rumor mill even before spring training began. After a couple of horrendous outings for the Mets, the question wasn't so much about Pelfrey as trade bait. It was more about whether Mets manager Terry Collins would fish or cut bait.Pelfrey started in horrendous fashion. The 28-year-old right-hander gave up 20 runs in his first four spring starts. Still, he remained optimistic.“Every spring training I’ve had, I don’t know if I’ve had a good one,” Pelfrey said after being tagged for eight runs by the Houston Astros. “So it doesn’t necessarily concern me that much, but at the end of the day, I threw 80 pitches. I feel good."But the front office didn't. Collins went to Pelfrey with a warning: The brass is not impressed. There was talk that he would be released before Opening Day if he didn't step up.Pelfrey ...

David Wright sounded optimistic after his first spring training game on Monday.“I feel good,” he told reporters after his four innings of play. “I feel healthy. I got a chance to dive around a little bit, run the bases a little bit, see some pitches, get some at-bats. Now it’s just a matter of getting reps.”That isn't a small matter.The Mets third baseman sat out most of the spring recovering from a torn abdominal muscle. Now he's got just two weeks to get ready for Opening Day.For a player of Wright's caliber, that's not too much to expect. But there are other factors that are likely to slow Wright's progress.Here are five reasons why Wright may not have the right stuff in April.Begin Slideshow