Benjamin Grimm

Voting for the games played in Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday nights will close on Friday morning, some time after 10 a.m. Schaefer POTG 8/24/15 - Mets 16, Phillies 7 Schaefer POTG 8/25/15 - Mets 6, Phillies 5

I used to know who the Phillies were, but that's a pretty unfamiliar looking lineup. I appreciate that Ryan Howard is getting the day off.

Oh, and the Mets are now guaranteed to wake up in first place on September 2. The goal, of course, is to push that to October 4.

Baseball Prospectus: Mets odds to win the division has jumped to 92.9%, wild card odds drop to 0.1%. Mets ranking among first-place teams, odds for winning World Series: Astros 15.5% Blue Jays 15.2% Dodgers 14.9% Cardinals 10.5% Royals 9.5% METS 9.2%

Why would they even have been manufactured in the first place?

Sounds good to me! Have him report to Queens on Tuesday.

I agree. And Terry will have more "someone elses" to choose from five days from now. And for what it's worth, I'm not saying that Alex Torres was all that great, but wasn't he better than Eric O'Flaherty? Is he still an option, or is he out of the organization?

Great! We're stuck having to root for that ill-educated douchebag! Pennant races make strange bedfellows.

Clippard 1 Colon 4.7 Conforto 0.4 Cuddyer 2.3 Granderson 0.4 Murphy 0.6 Uribe 0.6

Sean Gilmartin's a lefty. He had a long outing on Monday so he's probably been unavailable for the last couple of days, but he should be able to pitch again soon. If not today, then I'd think tomorrow.

Yesterday was a very good day in the quest for the division title. Mets beat the Phillies, Nationals lose to the Padres. The magic number drops from 33 to 31, and the NHOP drops from .440 to .425. DateMets RecordNationals RecordMets LeadMagic NumberGames RemainingNHOPAugust 356-5054-501571140.500August 457-5055-501561120.500August 558-5055-512541100.491August 658-5056-511.5541090.495August 759-5056-522.5521070.486August 859-5157-521.5521050.495August 959-5257-531.5511030.495August 1060-5258-531.5501010.495August 1161-5258-542.548990.485August 1262-5258-553.546970.474August 1363-5258-564.544950.463August 1463-5358-574.543930.462August 1563-5458-584.542910.462August 1663-5558-594.541890.461August 1763-5558-594.541890.461August 1864-5559-594.540870.460August 1964-5660-593.540850.471August 2064-5660-60439840.464August 2165-5660-61537820.451August 2266-5661-61536800.450August 2367-5662-61535780.449August 2468-5662-615.534770.442August 2569-5663-615.533750.440August 2670-5663-626.531730.425

Well, they should at least pack him in mothballs for the next five games and only use him in lopsided games. And apparently, a six-run lead isn't lopsided enough.

Yoenis Céspedes the other day became the third Mets player to score a perfect 6.0 in Schaefer voting* and the second this season. (Steven Matz earned 6 points for his June 28 start.) Prior to this season, the only previous recorded instance was Jon Niese, on August 27, 2013. SCHAEFER METS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK, 2015 Week ending April 11, 2015: Travis d'Arnaud, 4.86 points. Week ending April 18, 2015: Lucas Duda, 8.80 points. Week ending April 25, 2015: Matt Harvey, 6.45 points. Week ending May 2, 2015: Daniel Murphy, 8.63 points. Week ending May 9, 2015: Bartolo Colon, 4.92 points. Week ending May 16, 2015: Wilmer Flores, 6.25 points. Week ending May 23, 2015: Noah Syndergaard, 5.95 points. Week ending May 30, 2015: Lucas Duda, 7.14 points. Week ending June 6, 2015: Bartolo Colon, 8.43 points. Week ending June 13, 2015: Jacob deGrom, 8.08 points. Week ending June 20, 2015: Matt Harvey, 4.94 points. Week ending June 27, 2015: Matt Harvey, 7.52 points. Week ending July 4, 2015: Steven Matz, 6.00 points. Week ending July 11, 2015: Jacob deGrom, 5.82 points. Week ending July 18, 2015: Kirk Nieuwenhuis, 6.08 points. Week ending July 25, 2015: Bartolo Colon, 5.15 points. Week ending August 1, 2015: Lucas Duda, 12.32 points. Week ending August 8, 2015: Curtis Granderson, 7.28 points. Week ending August 15, 2015: Daniel Murphy, 5.64 points. Week ending August 22, 2015: Yoenis Céspedes, 6.34 points.

I think they should give Ryan Howard a couple of days off. Next week too.

Anthony Martino had an article in the Daily News today about how the Mets have a whole new attitude from what they had in late July, just before Sandy made the Uribe/Johnson trade. I like the point made above about Conforto. It's great that he's getting his growing pains in now. By next April, if he has a starting job (and he likely will) he'll be all the more ready for it. I'm glad the Mets have Clippard. And Gilmartin too. I expect we'll see Dario Alvarez next week too. And Verrett can enhance the bullpen for a little while before his next start. Good point about Wilmer and the switching between second and shortstop. If you treat players like they're little children, then they'll expect to be treated like little children.

Yeah, this game could be trouble. Bartolo does have some good days. We have to hope that this will be one of them.

Cespedes 2 Clippard 0.5 Cuddyer 2 d'Arnaud 0.7 Familia 1.3 Robles 1.5 Syndergaard 2

He should've tried that.

Yesterday the Mets won and the Nationals kept pace. The division lead remains at 5.5 games, one day closer to the end of the season. Magic number drops from 34 to 33. NHOP drops from .442 to .440. Baseball Prospectus increases the Mets division odds slightly, up to 88.8 per cent. Wild card odds remain at 0.2 per cent. World Championship odds drop from 9.2 per cent to 8.8 per cent. Mets ranking among first-place teams: Dodgers 14.8% Astros 14.5% Blue Jays 14.4% Cardinals 10.4% Royals 10.0% METS 8.8% DateMets RecordNationals RecordMets LeadMagic NumberGames RemainingNHOPAugust 356-5054-501571140.500August 457-5055-501561120.500August 558-5055-512541100.491August 658-5056-511.5541090.495August 759-5056-522.5521070.486August 859-5157-521.5521050.495August 959-5257-531.5511030.495August 1060-5258-531.5501010.495August 1161-5258-542.548990.485August 1262-5258-553.546970.474August 1363-5258-564.544950.463August 1463-5358-574.543930.462August 1563-5458-584.542910.462August 1663-5558-594.541890.461August 1763-5558-594.541890.461August 1864-5559-594.540870.460August 1964-5660-593.540850.471August 2064-5660-60439840.464August 2165-5660-61537820.451August 2266-5661-61536800.450August 2367-5662-61535780.449August 2468-5662-615.534770.442August 2569-5663-615.533750.440

I can't imagine him starting a postseason game, unless there's a spate of injuries. If there's to be a six-man rotation in September, I'd prefer to see it as deGrom, Harvey, Niese, Syndergaard, Matz, and Verrett. Bartolo gives an occasional good start, but too many bad ones. I think he's pitched himself out of the rotation.

Only six more games until the rosters expand, which will give Terry more flexibility, as I'm pretty sure they'll add a few relievers. I think the most rested guy in the bullpen at the moment is probably Carlos Torres? If Bartolo doesn't go seven innings (and I suspect he won't) I think we may need to squeeze two innings out of Carlos.

He can be a lazy fielder too. Hopefully he can avoid making a costly blunder for the next two months.