Ramirez has gone a combined 3-1 with a 0.65 ERA between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Buffalo this season. He is unscored upon in 14 2/3 innings for Buffalo, having allowed just one walk and five hits while striking out 19 in 11 games.

The Mets have not announced any corresponding roster moves at this time.

In addition, Manny Acosta has been outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo.

As for who Thole could replace, Rob Johnson has done a good job with the bat since he was called up, Nickeas is a well respected figure, but outside of his Grand Slam last weekend, he hasn’t hit much at all. The question will be whether the Mets want the stronger defense of Nickeas at the expense of offense.

In addition, they have a league-worst 5.45 ERA, which is nearly a run worse than the Tigers, who have the second-worst bullpen ERA in baseball.

26 decisions is way too many to have at this stage in the season, but that’s an indication of how many runs have been allowed and how many leads have been blown. With the exception of Tim Byrdak – and maybe Bobby Parnell – nobody has been consistent since the first week of the season. It is unquestionably this team’s Achilles’ heel and it is failing them with regularity.

The most disappointing reliever has been Ramon Ramirez. Since his arrival, Terry Collins has continually cited Ramirez’s ability to get left-handed hitters throughout his career, which is true. However, as was the case yesterday, he hasn’t done so this year for the Mets. He also hasn’t shown good velocity and has centered most everything he has thrown. Ramirez’s history against left-handers has played a role in their unwillingness to keep a second left-handed reliever in the bullpen, but too many times the Mets have been burned by him this season.

Sending both Carrasco and Acosta out were easy decisions. However, the bullpen is still struggling. And, with Josh Edgin and Elvin Ramirez pitching well for Triple-A Buffalo, as Toby Hyde pointed out earlier, at some point the Mets are going to have to make some more difficult decisions on their 40-man roster to strengthen this area of weakness.

Simply put, the Mets cannot continue to lose games like they did last night – with in-house options potentially available to address that weakness (like Edgin, Ramirez, maybe Jenrry Mejia, etc.). It’s hard to ignore at this point…

Braves and Nationals: The Braves and Nationals are off today and will begin a three-game series Friday night.  Freddy Freeman received new glasses Wednesday night.  After missing four games with vision problems, he missed the cycle by a triple against the Cardinals. Even with the sweep by the Marlins, the Nationals went 5-4 on the just completed road trip. Bryce Harper was the start at the plate during these nine games, banging out 12 hits, including two triples and two home runs.

Phillies and Marlins: The Phillies are off tonight. They host the Marlins startin Friday.  Philadelphia remains in last place. But with a 6-2 record over their last eight games, they stand two games over .500, during which Ty Wigginton and Shane Victorino each drove in 10 runs. Ty is doing it with power, Shane with well timed hits. Meanwhile, the sweep of the Nationals put the Marlins a hair out of first place in the NL East. Their 21 wins in May fell one short of the expansion era record of 22 wins in the month, held by the 1976 Phillies (22-5) and the 2005 Padres (22-6).

To get other other links, new and rumor from around MLB, check out Baseball Musings.

Mejia is working his way back from reconstructive elbow surgery.

Given his performance Wednesday, I’d sure like to see the Mets keep him starting. However, they might well feel the bullpen demands immediate help, and again, given Wednesday’s results, that would be a hard case to argue against.

By the way, after Mejia departed, two guys who could well appear in the Mets’ bullpen in short order, Josh Edgin and Elvin Ramirez, each threw two scoreless, hitless innings. Ramirez fanned three and Edgin whiffed two. Ramirez’s Triple-A numbers are really, really good: 14.2 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 19 K. He’s got big league stuff, sitting 93-94 mph with the ability to dial it up harder, and a slider and a changeup. It’s time for Ramirez.

To read Toby’s take on yesterday’s minor league action, read Mets Minor League Blog.com.

“Ruiz was the one at-bat we had to get,” Terry Collins said after the game. “We let the one inning get away. There’s no question, we’ve got to make better pitches than that.”

Gee told reporters he wanted to finish the inning, adding: “Everyone has ups and downs, and tonight was just a down night for the bullpen.”

Gee took a no-decision, but improved his ERA to 4.69 for the season. Over his last three starts, Gee is 2-0 with a 2.79 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings.

In general, though, Gee has struggled with the command of his change-up this season. As a result of not having that in his arsenal, left-handers have hit .311 against him this season compared to .244 throughout his career. Last night, however, he was in complete control of that pitch - consistently keeping it 5 – 7 miles per hour slower than his fastball with tremendous horizontal movement both away and down to the left-handed hitter. If he can command that along with his two fastballs and slider, he can again become the pitcher who won eight in a row during the first half of last season.