Last weekend, New York Mets home favorite, Nelson Figueroa, had his number retired by his alma mater baseball team over at Brandeis University.

He was there to attend the baseball alumni game. There was a private ceremony afterwards to have it retired.

The college paper, The Justice, had it all covered.

Here’s what Figgy had to say about the honor:

It’s just an exciting time right now. To be honored in this fashion, it’s hard to put into words what it means.

But for someone who’s going to see that jersey number retired, and ask why, and hear the story behind it, it’s going to be something that forever lives on at Brandeis and hopefully inspire[s] some future dreamers.

To say Figueroa has had a great end-of-year is an understatement. At the beginning of the year it was bumpy after being in the minors, put on waivers, leaves the Mets and comes back at his own will. I would have told the Mets where to go.

Figueroa had other plans in mind. I’m sure his thoughts were along the lines of proving everybody wrong in this organization. He did just that.

He made it to the AAA All-Star game, came back to the majors, pitched as a starter and kicked butt starting eight games and ending the season with a 3.22 ERA. Figgy even got the endorsement of Jeff Wilpon when Wilpon said Figueroa was his favorite player to watch.

Did I mention he got the Most Valuable Pitcher award for the minor league team? Yeah! He is just that awesome.

His best game? The last game of the season against the Houston Astros.

Head over to The Justice to read the full article. Ian Cutler did an awesome job.

Congratulations to Nelson Figueroa! You earned it. Now maybe the Mets can learn a thing or two about retiring jersey’s of your most beloved players.

Hello! As you know, I have been branching out lately away from my Mike Pelfrey collection. Am I still a huge fan of pelf? YEAH! But after a horrid season, and I have almost every card of him, things have really slowed down around here, and I mean really. The season is now over and the TTM scene should slow to a crawl and I need something to occupy myself over the winter! Besides watching soccer! But just giving you all a heads up, I will probably update my trade page and also post my “wants” on this post here! Chek it out!:

Mike Pelfrey (any card I dont have, see the Collection page)

Daniel Murphy

Bobby Parnell

Jon Niese

Jeff Francouer

Nelson Figueroa

and Josh Thole if he has any cards

If you got anything good, please comment! Ill get back to you quickly!

THANKS!

Mets 4 Astros 0

Finally, it’s over.

The worst Mets season since Art Howe “lit up a room” has come to a close — and the team finished with a bang.

The Mets swept the ’stros behind the spectacular pitching of Nelson Figueroa, who pitched the best game of his MLB career — a four-hit, no-walk, seven-strikeout, complete-game shutout.

Angel Pagan was the offensive star of the game, scoring two runs and nearly hitting for the cycle from the leadoff spot.

Notes

Figgy was ultra sharp, throwing 76 strikes out of his 113 pitches. His curveball had excellent 12-6 bite and he had great command of both his sinking fastball and change-up low in the strike zone. This performance capped what was a fairly impressive, if mostly winless, September, and he may have pitched himself into an MLB contract for 2010. With better offensive support and a little luck he might have had four or five more wins, and been 8-3 instead of 3-8. Heck, if he had the Phillies hitting behind him he might’ve been 10-1.

Funny that it took 156 games for a Met to throw a complete-game shutout, and a second one was thrown in game 162 — and neither were tossed by Johan Santana, and both were accomplished by men no one would have ever guessed back in April.

Sad that although the Mets finished the season with a three-game sweep at home, it wasn’t enough to bring happiness. It was kind of melancholy — not unlike the music of the 1970s. We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun …

Luis Castillo gave himself up all day. He had a sac bunt, a sac fly, and he bounced a grounder to the right side to move Angel Pagan to third with none out prior to David Wright driving Pagan home with a long fly.

Pagan finished with a flourish, going 4-for-4 with a triple and two doubles to end the year at .306. He was unconscious all day — to him the ball must have looked like a basketball coming out of the pitcher’s hand.

Jeremy Reed made his first start since Halley’s Comet was last seen, and walked three times.

Josh Thole looked good at the plate, punching the ball all over the field and collecting three hits (he was five for his last six on the season). Gotta love a guy who fights through long at-bats and gets the bat on the ball — in that respect he reminds me of David Eckstein.

Next Mets Game

The Mets host the Marlins on April 5th, 2010 — because of course the weather will be much nicer in Flushing than Miami that day. Johan Santana is penciled in to start against Josh Johnson (keep your eraser handy). First pitch is 1:10 PM.

Hello! So I decided to check out one last Mets game before the season was over! I picked a good day to go!

So it was really cold, and It was raining on the way to Citi Field (Not a good sign). Seemed like It was gonna be a real bad time… So I entered Citi Field at about 4:45 and ran to my usual left field spot. there were NO fans there. Less than 500 People atleast (which isnt much at all) And the players that were in LF were Brian Stokes, Tobi Stoner, and Sheffield. Stokes who is usually a very fan friendly guy, didnt really acknowledge me or throw many Baseballs into the stands as he usually does. (maybe he finally recognized my face as the “autograph junkie”)  So I was in LF for about 30 min and It was a huge waste of time. I decided to Migrate to the huge flock of people near the Right Field photo box almost near 1st base. It was about 5:00 and the Mets had about half an hour left of BP. I was yellin at Tatis and Murphy at first base (two of my favorites) and when I yelled, the group of autograph Kids and adults looked at me like I was crazy.

Daniel Murphy out at First Base

So after snapping photos and tryin to get some BP baseballs for 30 min. The Mets players started to walk in. Nobody came over to sign, until Pat Misch came out of nowhere! All I had on me was a bunch of cards (no misch) and a ROMLB (15 dollar ball) and I really didnt want to waste a clean expensive ball on a player of Misch’s caliber, but I didnt have to worry about that because he didnt sign for me….(although I would have just had him sign the ball anyway) Heres some shots of him signing for other people:

Pat Misch

Then one of the greatest autograph signers on the Mets, Nelson Figueroa, made his way out to the crowd! Now I didnt get nelson’s auto last time, but I came prepared this time with 2 of his 1997 rookie cards to try to get signed! Figgy was very nice and talked with the fans. When he got to me, I handed him my 2 cards and he laughed when he saw them. He called Jeremy Reed over and said ” Ay Reed! Wanna have a good laugh?” Figgy then showed Jeremy Reed the old pictures on the cards of himself! Reed was cracking up and so was Nelson. I said “those are pretty old huh?” and Nelson goes “yup! my first ones!” Heres a scan of the Figueroa cards and a picture of him signing:

Figgy shares a laugh with Jeremy Reed

Since Jeremy Reed was over by me, He started signing too! I had absolutely nothing to get signed by Jeremy so I just ended up gettin the ball signed (Im happy with my decision in the end). Reed was very cool, I said hello, and he said “hows it goin”. He seemed really happy to be signing, I love it when players are like that! He kindly signed the baseball and I said thanks and he said “no problem!”  Heres a picture of Jeremy Reed Laughin about something while he was signing my Baseball:

Jeremy Reed Laughing and signing

Then the fourth Mets player that came by was rookie catcher, Josh Thole. Ive seen him play a couple of times this year and I like what I see so far! So I didnt have any cards of Josh (heck, there ARE no cards of him yet!) So I gave him the Jeremy Reed signed ball to sign. It came out nice and Josh was very nice about signing too! While he was signing, I asked him If he could take a picture with me( Ive never asked any ballplayers at games for a picture before) and he didn’t say anything. So I wasn’t sure if he heard me, so I asked again, and he said nothing. Then after he returned my signed ball, he put his arm on my shoulders posing for a picture! COOL! I asked another fan to take the picture for me, and I got my first picture with a player at a game! I then said thank you so much Josh! And he was very nice, and said no problem! Josh continued to sign for another 5 or so minutes until he started to slow down a little. I saw a kid with a silver sharpie next to me and asked him if I could borrow it to get my black/blue fitted Mets hat signed. The kid said sure, and Josh came right over to me and signed my hat! (another first! My first autographed hat! LOOKS GREAT!) Heres a couple of pictures of Josh signing, and the ball with him and Reed on it:

Josh Thole

Thole is on the top and the other one is Reed

Now heres the picture of me and Josh, (we both look pretty bad here, I guess I make dumb faces when I get excited..)

Eventually, all of the players went inside and were done signing. I watched the Astros do their BP for an hour and didnt get anything, but I was very happy with the awesome Mets autographs I got!

The auctual game was great too! Maine pitched a great one, two of my favorite players hit homeruns (Francouer, Murphy) and the Mets crushed the Stros, 7-1! Good day, good day…

Braves 3 Mets 1

The Mets were down by only a run for most of this game — in fact they were winning for a few minutes — but there was never a point where I felt, “hey, they have a chance to win”. I simply sat in front of the TV and waited for them to lose. Sad.

Nelson Figueroa was very good, but not good enough to earn a win. He allowed two runs on two hits and three walks in a seven-inning, 126-pitch effort.

Unfortunately for Figgy, Atlanta’s Jair Jurrjens was just a little bit better, allowing only one run on five hits and three walks through seven-innings and 94 pitches.

The Braves added an insurance run against Frankie Fantastik, who may have thrown a scoreless inning if Carlos Beltran had been playing a deeper centerfield on Yunel Escobar’s double — or if Angel Pagan had been playing more shallow in left on Adam LaRoche’s single that scored Escobar. Or maybe if Omir Santos could have caught the ball before it was hit. Certainly, it wasn’t Frankie’s fault.

Notes

Figgy has had his rough outings, but he’s also proven he can hold his own as a starting pitcher at the MLB level. I would like to see him return in 2010 as a swing man / spot starter. He may not wow the sabermetricians with his stats but he gets the most out of ability and finds a way to compete. That is inspiring, can rub off on teammates, and is a value that can’t be measured with a calculator.

Last night I noticed Brian Stokes with a little extra rotation. Tonight my eyes saw Sean Green going just a little more underhand. To me it seemed Green was closer to 6 o’clock / 5:30 as opposed to his more 3:30 / 4 o’clock angle. Are my eyes deceiving me lately, or am I seeing actual mechanical changes?

If Green IS in fact going more “down under”, I would think that’s a good thing. The closer he gets to Chad Bradford-like underhand, the less stress there is on the arm — which in turn would allow him to pitch more frequently without a loss in effectiveness. Assuming, of course, that he can pitch as effectively at such an angle.

Brooks Conrad made a pinch-hitting appearance for the Braves. His name makes me think of a 1950s character actor.

Gary Cohen reported that Alex Cora had successful surgery on his other thumb, then further suggested that the Mets “need to see more of him next year”. Huh? Even if he returns — which in itself is a longshot — I don’t believe we want to see any MORE of Alex Cora in 2010. He’s a bench player, which means if we see more of him, it also means one (or more than one) of the starters is on the DL for a significant period of time. I get Cohen’s point — that Cora is supposedly a great clubhouse guy and a veteran leader — but we don’t want to see any more of him than we saw in 2009. Less, preferably.

Next Mets Game

The final game of the series occurs at 7:10 PM on Wednesday night. Mike Pelfrey faces Tim Hudson, who will be making his fifth MLB start since returning from Tommy John surgery.

Cubs 5 Mets 3

So much for the winning streak.

Nelson Figueroa was rocked for four runs on seven hits in six innings, and the Mets offense couldn’t unravel the mystery of Rich Harden, as the Flushing nine was beaten for the first time since Wednesday in Colorado.

Notes

Figgy wasn’t all that bad, and he struck out 8, but two of his mistakes left the ballpark. Allowing four runs in six innings is about par for the course for a #5 starter.

Rookie sensation Josh Thole rapped another two singles. His swing reminds me of a cross between Pete Rose and Rod Carew. No passed balls and no wild pitches allowed behind the plate; he caught a fairly solid game.

Cory Sullivan knocked one over the fence for the second time in as many days. If he keeps up this rate he could wind up leading the Mets in homers before the end of the month.

The Mets struck out a remarkable 13 times — including 10 whiffs in the first 5 innings against Harden. This is not normal — the Mets are the hardest team to strike out in the NL.

Some of the hometown crowd was thrilled to see Aaron Heilman allow a run, two hits, and a wild pitch in his Citi Field debut. At least some people had something to cheer about.

Derrek Lee went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI, 3 runs, and 2 homeruns.

The boxscore claims the Mets had ten hits … I must’ve missed nine of them.

Next Mets Game

The rubber match will be played at 1:10 PM on Sunday. Mike Pelfrey pitches against Randy Wells.

Mets 4 Cubs 1

The Mets continue to impress by salvaging at least one win per series. If they can continue to win at least one out of every three, they are almost guaranteed to stay ahead of the cellar-dwelling Nationals. Keep fighting, men!

Though the season is over for most of the Mets fan base, it’s just beginning for Nelson Figueroa. He made the most of his opportunity in Chicago, pulling off perhaps the best start of his Major League career. Figgy struck out 10, walked 2, and allowed only 6 hits and 1 earned run in 7 innings.

Meanwhile, the Mets made mincemeat out of Carlos Zambrano, pummeling him for 4 runs and 11 hits in only 3 1/1 innings of work. Strangely enough, the Mets basically singled him to death — Anderson Hernandez’s run-scoring triple in the fourth was the only extra-base hit of the afternoon.

Brian Stokes pitched a perfect eighth and Frankie Fantastic earned his 28th save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

Notes

Figueroa also had an RBI single, scoring the fourth run of the ballgame.

Figgy became the only Mets pitcher not named Santana to strike out 10 in a game this season.

Former Cub Angel Pagan was 3-for-5 with a run scored and his 12th stolen base. Luis Castillo was the only other Met with more than one hit; he was 2-for-5 but struck out twice — unusual for him.

After Zambrano left the game, the Mets mustered only one hit the rest of the way against four Cub relievers.

Next Mets Game

The Mets get a well-deserved day off on Monday, then meet the Rockies in Colorado on Tuesday night. Mike Pelfrey starts for the Mets, no word yet on the Colorado hurler. Game time is 8:40 PM EST.

Where to begin? The Mets announced yesterday that Johan Santana’s 2009 season has come to an end. Assuming all goes well with his surgery to remove bone chips from his left elbow, the Mets ace will be back in time for the start of next year’s Spring Training. With all the injuries that have befallen on the Mets this year, this latest diagnosis of Santana could be considered the final straw, the last nail in the coffin, putting a team out of its misery, or beating a man when he’s down, whatever cliché you want to use – the Mets are officially done. You could even say they are overdone.

Since the departure of Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and John Maine, the Mets have been a model of inconsistency. In professional sports, baseball included, staying healthy throughout the course of a season is essential. The Mets and their fans have learned that lesson the hard way.

After last night’s 2-1 lost to the Florida Marlins at Land Shark Stadium, Mets manager Jerry Manuel proceeded to answer questions. He looked like a man who had just spent the night in an airport. A man whose travel plans had been delayed due to his flight being cancelled. When asked if last night’s starter, right-hander Nelson Figueroa, deserved another shot in the Mets rotation, Manuel nonchalantly said, “Yeah…why not.”

For the Mets, placing third baseman David Wright on the 15-day disabled list with a concussion could be viewed as a no-brainer. Deciding on whether or not to grant right-hander Livan Hernandez another start is something altogether different. After witnessing another disappointing outing last night against the San Francisco Giants, the Mets may want to think about it, again. On the bright side, Hernandez did manage to pitch into the fifth inning. But ultimately he surrendered eleven hits that led to six runs and ended up picking up his third straight loss.

In Livan’s last outing on August 11th against Arizona he allowed five runs on seven hits in just four innings. With that performance, Mets manager Jerry Manuel felt perhaps that Hernandez’ tenure with the Mets may have run its course. Manuel slept on it and arose from his slumber opting to give the veteran right-hander another chance. That next chance was last night. Funny thing is that this time around Manuel didn’t need extra time to think things through. Without any hesitation, he confirmed that Hernandez would take his turn in the rotation for the time being. And who could blame him? With Tim Redding giving up three runs in one inning of relief last night and Nelson Figueroa following suit, there aren’t that many options for this beleaguered skipper to consider.

Well, this thing is a mess. Not nearly as much of one as the next team I’ll preview, though.

New York Mets Depth Chart – mlb.com

Francisco Rodriguez – RH (Closer)

Pedro Feliciano – LH (Set-up)

Brian Stokes – RH (Set-up)

Sean Green – RH (Mid-relief)

Tim Redding – RH (Long-relief)

Nelson Figueroa – RH (Long-relief)

Elmer Dessens – RH (Mid-relief)

Manager: Jerry Manuel

Pitching Coach: Dan Warthen

Bullpen Coach: Randy Niemann

Overview:

In order to attempt to correct the scapegoat of the Mets’ 2008 season, the bullpen, Omar Minaya signed Francisco Rodriguez to a 3-year, $36 million deal and traded a great deal of the farm for J.J. Putz. Putz–an incredibly injury-prone reliever–pitched 29 and 1/3 innings of 5+ ERA before going down with season-ending surgery. So basically, the Mets are now where they were in 2008 minus Billy Wagner plus Francisco Rodriguez. Rodriguez has been about as good as I expected him to be. Other people expected him to be amazing. I certainly didn’t. He’s pitched 54 innings with a 3.33 ERA, 53 K’s, 30 walks, a 1.30 WHIP, and has converted 26 of 31 saves. He’s tailed off recently, posting a 13.50 ERA in his last 6 appearances. Batters have touched him up for a 1.085 OPS in that span. Keep in mind he plays in probably the most pitcher-friendly ballpark in baseball. If I’m a Mets fan, I’m worried. If I’m the Mets FO, I’m probably looking at shutting him down soon. This season is meaningless and it looks like he may be developing an injury.

Pedro Feliciano was the sort of default closer last year after Wagner went down with Tommy John surgery. The Mets learned that they never want Pedro Feliciano to regularly pitch the 9th again. He started the 2008 season as a lefty specialist but his role was elevated throughout the season due to injuries and incompetence by his fellow relievers–eventually becoming the closer. He got his first save opportunity on August 12th–having already amassed 62 appearances with a 3.77 ERA. He proceeded to fade down the stretch retiring only 31 of the 49 batters he faced and posted a 5.23 ERA. People understandably attribute his struggles to his new role, though I wonder if something else is at play here. He led the league in appearances last year and I wonder if he was tired. He’s been good this year, posting a 2.87 ERA with a 42-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 47 innings. He currently leads the league in appearances, so I’m very interested to see if he fades down the stretch like he did last year. To this point, the usage pattern has been remarkably similar and this is about the point during last season that he started fading.

The bullpen is incredibly uninteresting after the first two members now that Parnell is in the rotation.

Brian Stokes is 29 years old and has totaled 170 and 1/3 MLB innings. When I see that, I just assume they aren’t good or they’re Cuban or Japanese. Stokes isn’t Cuban or Japanese, but he’s been fairly good this season, posting a 3.02 ERA in 50 and 2/3 innings. The rather pedestrian 32-to-25 strikeout-to-walk ratio suggests he’s rather lucky and his actual ability is a lot closer to his pre-2009 career ERA of 5.66. The delusion of Citi Field: a bad pitcher can post good numbers.

Sean Green, not much unlike Brian Stokes, is 30 years old and has totaled 203 and 2/3 MLB innings. Unlike Brian Stokes, he’s put up a horrible ERA this season–5.05 in 51 and 2/3 innings.  His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 42-to-20, so he’s sort of the anti-Stokes.  Decent K/BB, crappy ERA.  He’s a low-leverage type.

Tim Redding was awful as a starter, posting a 6.99 ERA in 9 starts, but has posted a 4.05 ERA in 11 appearances post-demotion to the bullpen.  His 12-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio suggests that despite his decent ERA, he is in fact in the correct role–mop up man.

Nelson Figueroa.  I really don’t know why the Mets keep him around.  You might as well let one of your kids, someone who will learn something and actually improve and figures to be part of your organization in the future, take his innings.  He’s got a 5.93 ERA in 13 and 2/3 innings.  Wasn’t any better last year.  Meaningless innings pitcher.

When you have a 7-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio and that doesn’t figure to improve all that much, you’re not a MLB pitcher.  Elmer Dessens is another one of the scrap heap types who the Mets should simply release.  It isn’t like he’s giving them quality innings.

Usage:

Who knows?  Francisco Rodriguez pitches the 9th.  Feliciano the 8th.  The rest of the relievers are pretty bad and the Mets just use them in set-up roles when they have nobody else to go to.  Because there isn’t much quality in this bullpen.  It started with K-Rod, Feliciano, Parnell, and Putz as a fairly potent back-end of the bullpen, but with Putz predictably out for the year and Parnell accommodating one of the rotation vacancies, there’s just a shell of a back-end of a bullpen there.  And when your front-end guys assume back-end roles and AAAA organizational filler pieces assume front-end roles, your bullpen starts to suck pretty fast.

Inactive Notables:

Billy Wagner – 60 day DL.  Tommy John.

J.J. Putz – 60 day DL.  Bone spur surgery.

Jonathan Niese had been competent if not spectacular in his first four starts for the New York Mets. He lasted just one and a third innings Wednesday before becoming the latest Met to succumb to the injury bug.

That was the bad news. On the bright side, the Mets managed to break their three-game losing streak, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 9 – 0 at Citi Field.

They were helped by big performances from the lineup and bullpen.  David Wright and Angel Pagan fueled a potent Mets offense Wednesday. Wright went 3 for 4, knocking an opposite-field, two-run homerun in the bottom of the first. Meanwhile, Pagan went 3 for 4, with an eighth-inning homerun and four RBIs overall. The Mets also got a fine game from Jeff Francoeur, who went 2 for 3 with a walk to help break a recent slump. Francoeur is now hitting .257. When he came to the Mets, he was hitting just .250.

The bullpen, meanwhile, was fantastic, pitching seven and a third shutout innings after Niese’s sudden departure. Nelson Figueroa pitched four and a third scoreless after a rough start Monday, and Bobby Parnell pitched three scoreless, marking his second consecutive nice outing following a blown save this weekend.

The Mets got more good news Wednesday with the return of Gary Sheffield. That being said, this really is a ragtag lineup. With Luis Castillo out as well, the Mets were forced to start Alex Cora at 2nd and Angel Berroa at short. Pagan was in center.

The Mets still have a lot of ground to make up. They are 10 back in the NL East and 8.5 back in the Wild Card.

Do I really even need to say it? Another man is hurt. Like the Mets can really afford it?

During today’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Jonathon Niese was hurt after a play at first base in the second inning. It gets worse. Of course it does! When trying to throw off the mound as a warm-up, he threw the pitch and crumpled down onto the mound writhing in pain.

Mets fans just shook their heads in not-so disbelief. With the way this season has been going, nothing shocks the fans anymore.

It gets worse still. Well duh! Why wouldn’t it? The Mets second most dominant pitcher was diagnosed with a tear in his right hamstring. Yes ladies and gentlemen, his season is over.

Our wonderful Niese, probably one of our favorite prospects next to Brad Holt, is going to have surgery. He will be ready for Spring Training. There’s something to think about and get excited. Niese will most certainly be in the rotation next year.

One man’s tragedy is another man’s success. Such was the case for Nelson Figueroa. After handing the game over to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, Figueroa sought out redemption. He knew this was his last chance to prove he belongs here. Well he did it quite well.

Figueroa came in to pitch out of the bullpen when Niese was taken off the field. Figueroa allowed zero runs in 4 1/3 innings giving him win number one.

It was a great performance by the Mets’ pitcher who keeps getting thrown between the big club and the minors. I have said in the past I am not sure if Figueroa is a starter. I see him more as a long man out of the bullpen. So far, he has proved that is exactly what he is.

So now you have to wonder if Tim Redding is going to be place back in the rotation. God help us if he is. Somebody will have to join the rotation. But who?

Niese, get well soon. We look forward to seeing you next year. You were one of the few bright spots of this 2009 season. Great job! See you in 2010.

Oh, did I mention Gary Sheffield left the game with discomfort in his hamstring once again. And he had a problem with not being in the game on Sunday. That was a good call by Jerry Manuel.