Get Well Soon

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I look forward to Bannister being able to rejoin the rotation. He seemed to be constantly flirting with disaster, but most times he was able to get out of trouble without too much damage done. In hs short time, he was more reliable than Lima, Gonzalez, Soler, or Maine have proven to be. His return would not only add depth to the rotation, but I think he represents a step up in quality as well.

[Centerfield]

Pedro feeling "better".

http://www.nypost.com/sports/mets/pedros_feeling_better_mets_fred_kerber.htm

I don't see how this is much of a decision. 10.5 game lead...shut him down until after the ASB. Give that toe a rest while the hip heals.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

There's no doubt in my mind that Pedro will take a break through the ASB. If healthy, he'd have to make the trip to Pittsburgh and we know he doesn't wanna do that.

And really, it kinda sucks, but I guess it's OK with me if that's what we need to get a 100% Pedro.

[Gwreck]

Reyes out Friday, still the pinky finger.

Pedro's probably going to skip his first start back, as previously reported. That could push his first start back as far as Monday, 7/24 vs. Chicago (which would be almost a month between starts).

[Centerfield]

Pedro's missing another start? That's not a good sign.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

With a 12-game lead, I'm all for giving Pedro all the rest he needs.

His next important start will be in October. If he has to rest for another two months, that'll be fine.

[soupcan]

More on Bannister from today's New York Times

July 14, 2006

Mets� Bannister: Forgotten, but Not Gone
By IRA BERKOW

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., July 12 � It looked lonely on the ball field. Under an overcast morning sky, with a wind picking up that swayed the nearby palm trees and portended rain, a man alone � a man who had seemingly and suddenly fallen off the baseball map � threw from the mound.

Brian Bannister wore a Mets cap, a blue short-sleeve shirt, gray knee-length shorts with a Mets insignia and thigh-high black socks. He threw to a masked catcher in a batting cage. A coach stood in the batter�s box without a bat. A radar gun was off to the side of the cage. No one else was on the field at the Mets� spring-training complex.


Brian Bannister, who has a 2-0 record and a
2.89 earned run average in five starts, has
not pitched for the Mets since he was injured
running the bases in a game against the
Giants on April 26

�Fastball away,� called the coach, Steve Merriman.

Pop. �Excellent,� Merriman said. The radar gun posted 86 miles an hour.

�Cutter right there,� Merriman motioned to the inside, having moved from the right side of the batter�s box to the left.

Pop. �Good, repeat it,� he said.

Bannister nodded, wound up and fired again.

�Bingo!� Merriman said, ending the session after 40 scheduled pitches, as the sky grew darker.

Bannister is the bright 25-year-old, right-handed rookie pitcher who, with an outstanding spring training, unexpectedly cracked the Mets� starting rotation. But less than a month into the season, he was back here for rehabilitation. At first, it was to heal a pulled hamstring muscle in his right leg, an injury sustained while running the bases in San Francisco in a game against the Giants on April 26. Later it was to overcome a problem with sciatic nerve tissue that had formed around the hamstring when his muscles atrophied in his thigh.

While Bannister was gone, the Mets built a huge lead in the National League East and found themselves touted as a potential World Series team. None of it, of course, had to do with Bannister, who was out of sight, out of mind in Port. St. Lucie. Now, after nearly three months away, he may actually be getting closer to returning.

�His explosiveness is coming back,� said Merriman, who has been working with Bannister since his injury. �He has a big-league mentality. He hasn�t gotten depressed. He knows how to make adjustments in the physics and biomechanics of his body, tremendous attributes for a big-league pitcher.��

On Saturday, Bannister, who was an academic all-American when he pitched for Southern California and has developed a photography business in his hometown of Phoenix, will pitch five innings in a simulated game with the Mets� Class A Port St. Lucie team. If all goes well, he plans to start a game next week.

At that point, New York could actually come into focus again. The Mets, for all their success this season, have had to continually improvise a starting rotation, and a healthy Bannister would be a welcome option.

Omar Minaya, the Mets� general manager, said a return by Bannister to the starting rotation by Aug. 1 was a distinct possibility. �He�s a young pitcher who we like a lot,� Minaya said. �If all goes as planned, he�ll have two or three starts in the minor leagues in the coming weeks and then be ready for the big leagues.�

Which is good news to Bannister, who had a 2-0 record and a 2.89 earned run average in his five, sometimes high-wire, starts for the Mets in April.

�It�s hard being here, very hard, being down here for so long,�� he said. �You get only one rookie season, and I hate spending most of it so far away. And this team has a special chemistry that money can�t buy. I went back to New York a few weeks ago to get my thigh checked again with doctors, and I visited the clubhouse. The guys kidded me about when I was coming back. And they had thrown all their extra stuff in my locker. It was funny. It was great. It�s tough missing out on all that.�

The rehab life in Port St. Lucie is not a particularly compelling one. Bannister, who is here with his wife, Megan, comes to the ballpark at about 8:30 a.m., and after workouts and deep-thigh massages, is gone by lunchtime. �You can only eat at Chili�s or Outback so many times,� he said. �And we have an unlimited membership to Blockbuster. We�ve rented so many films that they�ve got to be losing money on us.�

He said that he also watches as much baseball on television as he can. �I want to stay involved,� he said.

�You know, we came here for spring training on Feb. 11, and I wasn�t sure of making the team, though I had confidence in my ability,�� Bannister said. �And then I made it, and we moved to New York, and we lived in a Ramada Inn near Shea Stadium until we found an apartment in Long Island City, where some other players live. And we were scheduled to move in May 1. But then we had to come down here and we�re paying rent on that apartment as we speak. We still haven�t unpacked our suitcases. Basically, it�s been a five-month road trip.�

Hamstring injuries are known to be frustrating; Jos� Reyes�s unending hamstring problems in 2004 drove the Mets to distraction and helped lead to the installation of a new medical staff. But when Bannister first hurt himself, it did not seem that serious.

�But it was a nagging, nagging thing,� Bannister recalled Wednesday, sitting under the dugout roof of the field as rain fell. �I could throw just fine, but it bothered me when I had to run any distance. I couldn�t go off the mound to field a bunt without hobbling. I couldn�t run the bases. I wouldn�t be able to score on a sacrifice fly.�

He was so eager to return to play, however, that he made a mistake in hurrying his recovery. He pitched in a Class AAA game and unfortunately did more damage. Back to rehab.

Bannister sees some of his long stay here as a blessing. �I had nothing else to do but work on my pitching,� he said. He added that he had developed �a new curveball and a new changeup,� having learned them from Pedro Mart�nez and Tom Glavine. He said he was also �leaner and in better shape� than when he began spring training. �I weighed 215 then,�� he said. �I�m down to 208 now.� He added: �I�ve only thrown 28 innings this season. When I come back, I�ll be as fresh as I was in spring training. I know I�m better now than I was then.�

The rain stopped. Bannister said he would be going to Blockbuster, but was not sure what movie he was going to rent. And what was the last one he saw?

�Mary Poppins,� he said. �That shows how bored we are.�

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Mary Poppins?

I definitely see a Piazza-style press conference in Bannister's future.

It will be good to have him healthy again. He may never be a top-notch starter, but as the article said, the Mets need options, and the more healthy starters they have to choose from, the better off they'll be.

Again, it's all about the postseason. Right now I see the playoff rotation as being Martinez, Glavine, Trachsel, and Hernandez. And that might be good enough. But if a Pelfrey or a Bannister is able to eclipse Hernandez, and allow Orlando to be a Pat Mahomes in the bullpen, that that's fine too.

[Willets Point]

Anything that pushes Lima down on the depth chart is good.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Wow, look at the post counts for me and Willetts. I'm at 9,926 and he's at 9,988. We could both become Tom Seaver today, especially if I'm able to participate in the IGT. (I had been planning to watch the SNY telecast on Extra Innings, but now I see that ESPN is carrying the game. ESPN will cause the SNY to be blacked out. If ESPN decides not to telecast the game in my market, I'll be screwed.)

[Willets Point]

Is Seaver at 10000 or 11000?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Ten thousand. At 11,000 we become Joan Payson, or Lorn Brown, or M. Donald Grant, or whoever we choose.

[Gwreck]

Bringing this one back on topic...

Brian Bannister threw 79 pitches in a simulated game on Saturday. Early-mid August a possibility.

Jose Reyes probably back Tuesday.

[Guest cleonjones11]

Bannister actually tore his hamstring..maybe back at some point this season...Cliffy is back.Lastings we hardly new you..you're fired lol..Javier Vazquez Freddy Garcia?

[Guest cleonjones11]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Ten thousand. At 11,000 we become Joan Payson, or Lorn Brown, or M. Donald Grant, or whoever we choose.

Linda DeRoulet?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Cliffie's bat has gotten well. He now has a higher batting average than Delgado (Floyd .256 & Delgado.252) for the season. Quite an impressive turn around for Cliff, considering the abysmal start he had.

If the Mets ever get both Delgado and Floyd hitting well at the same time, to go along with Beltran and Wright, they would have a truly impressive line up. That the heart of the line up has never been hitting well all at the same time this year, yet they have been quite productive, has to be a scary thought for opponents.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Hopefully that synchronized hot streak you mention will occur in October.

[soupcan]

="cleonjones11"]Linda DeRoulet?

Lorinda.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Her name was "Lorinda" but I think she was sometimes called "Linda."

Is she a "person who is still alive"? I think she is.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]CHICAGO (AP) � Mets right-hander Pedro Martinez went to a hospital and needed an IV after developing a fever following Friday's game against the Cubs. Martinez returned to the team Saturday and was stretching in the outfield before the game at Wrigley Field. He's been on the disabled list since July 6 with an inflamed right hip. Martinez had been battling food poisoning from eating bad chicken over the All-Star break. After Friday's game, Martinez complained of a fever and was sent to Northwestern Memorial Hospital to receive fluids. While he was at the hospital, he had a CT scan to rule out any problems with his appendix. Martinez was released from the hospital Friday night. "Everything was clear and everything was fine," general manager Omar Minaya said Saturday. "It was precautionary more than anything else." Mets manager Willie Randolph said once Martinez felt better, he would likely throw a simulated game before returning, adding that any rehab work would be with the major league club. Martinez is 7-4 with a 3.45 ERA in 16 starts. "His arm feels great. It's unfortunate he had to go through the food poisoning deal," Randolph said.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Note to Omar - hire a food taster for Pedro.

[Gwreck]

If he's throwing a simulated game first, sure looks like John Maine will start Saturday.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Scarlett - "Note to Omar - hire a food taster for Pedro."

Just as long as it isn't Jaerock Lee, that fool will eat almost anything.

[Elster88]

] To gain the three pounds he lost from the illness he has battled the past few weeks, Pedro Martinez has put himself on a different sort of eating regimen. "Lots of ice cream," Martinez said, laughing. "It's the Julio Franco diet."

.....

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Pedro Is Hospitalized!

[Frayed Knot]

="ScarletKnight41"]Pedro Is Hospitalized!

Ummm, no.
From that same link (apparently updated)
"An earlier report that Martinez had checked himself into a hospital was a miscommunication. He was unable to pitch his bullpen session on Friday because of the heavy rain that fell throughout the afternoon. Martinez is scheduled to throw on Saturday, weather permitting, and will attempt a simulated game on Sunday. Mets brass confirmed that bullpen coach Guy Conti, not Martinez, felt ill before Friday's game and checked himself into a local hospital to undergo tests. "

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Well, that's better news than Pedro being the one in the hospital.

[Elster88]

Delgado?

[metirish]

I can't find any news except that he has a nasty bruise on his knee.

[Centerfield]

From ESPN:

The only downer for the Mets: First baseman Carlos Delgado left the game in the third after getting struck on the right knee with a pitch from Hudson. But X-rays were negative and he was day to day with a painful bruise.