Amazin' Avenue

Open Thread: Mets vs. Reds, 5/16/12

2012-05-16T22:35:07Z

Johan Santana

#57 / Pitcher / New York Mets

Height: 6-0

Weight: 210

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Mar 13, 1979

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2012 - Johan Santana	1-2	7	7	0	0	0	0	37.0	31	14	12	2	12	41	2.92	1.16

Mike Leake

#44 / Pitcher / Cincinnati Reds

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Nov 12, 1987

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2012 - Mike Leake	0-5	6	6	0	0	0	0	31.2	40	28	25	6	11	16	7.11	1.61

Mets' lineup:

1. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF
2. Mike Baxter, LF
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Lucas Duda, RF
5. Daniel Murphy, 2B
6. Ike Davis, 1B
7. Justin Turner, SS
8. Mike Nickeas, C
9. Johan Santana, P

Reds' lineup:

1. Zack Cozart, SS
2. Drew Stubbs, CF
3. Joey Votto, 1B
4. Brandon Phillips, 2B
5. Chris Heisey, RF
6. Ryan Ludwick, LF
7. Todd Frazier, 3B
8. Devin Mesoraco, C
9. Mike Leake, P

Five For Five: A Mets/Reds Series Preview With RijoSaboCaseyWKRP Of "Red Reporter"

2012-05-16T20:00:15Z

The Cincinnati Reds are coming into town for a pair of games beginning tonight and that means it's time for another edition of Amazin' Avenue's Five For Five series preview. The Reds sit in second place in the NL Central at 18-17, two and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. I checked in with RijoSaboCaseyWKRP, manager of SB Nation's Reds Blog "Red Reporter" and this is what he had to say about the team:
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SS: Coming off of a disappointing 2011, the Reds are sitting at 18-17 and they came into 2012 with some higher expectations after an offseason facelift that saw them bring in Mat Latos, Sean Marshall and Ryan Madson and re-sign Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips to long-term contracts. Through the first month and a half, what would you say has been the biggest success story and what has been the biggest disappointment?

RR: The players you might expect to be really good - Votto, Bruce, Cueto and Chapman - have been REALLY good. While no one expected Chapman to be this dominant, he's also a pitcher with disgustingly filthy stuff working in a set-up role. Chapman might be the best pitching talent on the team, but compared to expectations, the biggest success story might be Bronson Arroyo or Logan Ondrusek. Arroyo is coming off a season where he nearly set the modern record for starting pitcher HR-rate, but has been staying away from the long-ball this season (by his standards). His breaking balls look crisp and his trick bag of pitches has been Poppins-esque. He has the lowest BB-rate in the NL and the highest SO/BB. Ondrusek, meanwhile, has thrown 15.1 scoreless innings.

The biggest disappointment before the season even started was the Ryan Madson signing you mentioned. It was a great bargain, but he ended up sidelined for the season before even throwing a spring training pitch. Thirty-five games in, I'd say half of the regular starting offense has been disappointing. Phillips might have the biggest gap between performance and expectations, but he's been playing hurt.

SS: Scott Rolen has had an excellent career but he had an underwhelming year in 2011 and was off to another poor start with the bat in 2012 before going down with a shoulder injury. How are the Reds planning on filling third base while Rolen is out and does this look like the end of the line for his career?

RR: Todd Frazier should be soaking up most of Rolen's starts. Frazier has been in limbo - both between positions and levels - for a while, so it's easy to forget he was BA Top 50 overall prior to 2010 and the Reds #1 prospect for a while, at least before the Chapman signing. I'm still not sure how well Frazier is going to pick it at 3B, but his bat has been a pleasant surprise so far.

It's entirely possible we've seen the last of Rolen for the season. By my count, this season was his third major comeback from surgery on his left soulder. While I think it's still a remote possibility that his career is over forever by virtue of the fact that he probably doesn't want to go out this way, he could easily decide (or be convinced by the white coats) that it's no longer advisable to play professional baseball. Still, nothing reported (yet) suggests he's headed for surgery or planning to shut it down for the year.

SS: Flame-throwing lefty Aroldis Chapman has been absolutely dominant so far out of the Reds’ bullpen and I recall there was talk of moving him into the rotation last offseason. Is that still part of the plan with Chapman and do you think it’ll ever happen in the near future?

RR: I hope it happens as soon as possible. We even made a hashtag about it ( #LetHimStart). However, the Reds don't have any urgent need to overhaul the rotation (although Mike Leake has been awful). Since the bullpen has been excellent and the rotation plenty good enough, I suspect they'll want to leave well enough alone for now. The plan was for Chapman to resume starting this season, at least until the Madson injury. I think Jocketty et al realize, both from a baseball operations and ticket sales standpoint, that they need to plug him into the rotation VERY soon. Some of his 2 inning outings suggest they're hedging.

SS: For the last year or so, Devin Mesoraco has been rated as one of the top catching prospects in the game but to this point, he’s lost a lot of plate appearances to veteran Ryan Hanigan. How do Reds fans feel about Mesoraco sitting on the bench so much and do you think Dusty Baker will give him the opportunity to play more at some point?

RR: I think they've handled him just fine so far. It's worth remembering that Hanigan is no slouch: he's been in the organization a long time - he knows the pitching staff, he's honed his craft. And he gets on base. There's no indication Mesoraco can match Hanigan yet in doing catcher things: calling a game, working hand-in-glove with starters, nailing runners. To boot, Hanigan has been outhitting him. He's learning on the job and hopefully will gradually get a more even share of playing time. He's going to be special. Johnny Bench told us so.

SS: Joey Votto has developed into one of the finest hitters in the game and he signed a well-deserved long-term deal last month to stay in Cincinnati, likely for the rest of his career. What are your thoughts on the deal and how it may affect the Reds down the road?

RR: I think I put most of my thoughts on the contract here, but FanGraphs summed it up nicely: "At some point in the next 12 years, Joey Votto will stop being worth $20 million per year. If he's worth $30 million per year for a number of seasons up to that point, though, the Reds won't care."

In average annual value, it's a good contract (less AAV than Ryan Braun, Adrian Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, Joe Mauer). Depending on how salary and dollar inflation goes, it could be a very good contract in those terms. With as clear eyes (and full heart) as I can muster, I know that signing a player for a total of 12 years until he's 39 is bad idea. The back-end of the contract could be brutal. If the Reds have the revenue-sharing and future boost from a renegotiated TV deal (I don't see how they could make ), it shouldn't hamstring the payroll even at its costliest.

The franchise success that he's absolutely essential to over the next several seasons could make it worthwhile. And that's all before considering the benefits of having your best player stay with the team for life.

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Another big thanks goes out to RijoSaboCaseyWKRP of Red Reporter! Tonight's pitching matchup will feature Johan Santana on the mound for the Mets and he'll face off against struggling righty Mike Leake.

Revisiting the Mets' Long and Winding Road to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game

2012-05-16T19:00:06Z

Forgive me if I hold the applause for the announcement that the Mets will host the 2013 MLB All-Star Game at Citi Field.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm excited in as much as All-Star baseball is still better than no baseball at all. Still, this news has been forthcoming for so long than any lingering suspense in the hearts of Mets fans must be completely contrived. So you're saying the Mets will host the 84th Midsummer Classic in 14 months' time? How quaint. I still won't believe it until I'm officially shut out from being able to buy tickets because of the presumably large demand.

The New York Post's Kevin Kernan said the Mets would get the All-Star Game three years ago. Jon Heyman declared over 16 months ago that the Mets getting the Midsummer Classic was a done deal. Hell, even Fred Wilpon himself expected last February that the Mets would get the game. The only thing that could make the news shocking is if we learn in the coming days that the Mets hadn't actually started to prepare to host it.

Still, does the first occurrence of All-Star festivities in Flushing since 1964 mean anything? Should we feel slighted that it took so long?

Out of curiousity, I took a gander at how long it took for Major League Baseball to award every All-Star Game since 2005. Why 2005? Because that was the first All-Star Game awarded after the 2002 debacle that coerced MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to change how the league plays the game.

ASG Date	Award Date	Host Team	Notice
2005	August 2003	Detroit Tigers	23 Months
2006	July 2004	Pittsburgh Pirates	24 Months
2007	February 2005	San Francisco Giants	29 Months
2008	January 2007	New York Yankees	17 Months
2009	January 2007	St. Louis Cardinals	29 Months
2010	May 2008	Los Angeles Angels	26 Months
2011	April 2009	Arizona Diamondbacks	27 Months
2012	June 2010	Kansas City Royals	25 Months
2013	May 2012	New York Mets	14 Months

And by and large, MLB kept up appearances by issuing the game with over two years' notice to each host team - except the Mets... and the Yankees, who likely had to navigate the same bureaucratic morass that the Mets faced in getting the 2013 edition. One would presume the Yankees had more support given that the 2008 All-Star Game absolutely, positively needed to take place in the final year of Yankee Stadium, but hey - let's give the devil his due.

So no reason to feel slighted? Well, maybe a small one. That's because three teams - the Pirates, Astros and Angels - have held it three times since Shea Stadium served as the midsummer venue in 1964, while 13 others - the Yankees, White Sox, Cardinals, Reds, Tigers, Phillies, Brewers, Giants, Twins, Braves, Padres, Mariners and Royals - will have held it twice in that same span. (Speaking of the Royals, they suffered the second-longest All Star drought before getting the 2012 game.)

Even Washington, D.C. has held an All-Star Game (1969) more recently than the Mets despite the city going without professional baseball for over three decades. Oh, and if you think that leaves the Nationals high and dry, remember that the Montreal Expos hosted it in 1982 - and that Selig is considering either the nation's capital or Miami for the 2015 game.

This never-ending story gets a happy ending, but not because Mayor Bloomberg posed for the photos with Mr. Met and Selig at City Hall on Wednesday morning. Instead, it's because I'm a little more comfortable with what fans around baseball will see when the national spotlight focuses on Flushing next summer. The Madoff scandal is behind us. We can't make any assumptions about the 2012 Mets after seeing the team fall flat after the All Star break every year since 2009, but we can say that the brain trust running the team appears to have things heading in the right direction. There's the David Wright contract controversy, but that could be resolved one way or another by then.

If I'm excited, it's because I'm growing more comfortable with being able to boast about the hosts in 2013. I didn't think that was possible when the Post "broke" the story back in 2009. Now I'm only left wondering if the walls at Citi Field are in far enough to make for a halfway decent Home Run Derby...

Mets vs. Reds: Saber-stat Series Preview

2012-05-16T18:00:37Z

click to embiggen

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Graphic Guide: League average is scaled to 100. Scores higher than 100 indicate performance better than league average, less than 100 indicates performance worse than league average regardless of whether the statistic is related to run scoring or run prevention. The lone exception is ERA-, where lower is better.

Statistics with an asterisk have been park adjusted using FanGraph's park factors. All statistics have been adjusted for each team's respective league.

Run Scoring

RS/G: Runs Scored per Game

wRC+: Weighted Runs Created Plus

OBP: On-base Percentage

ISO: Isolated Power

BB/K: Ratio of Walks to Strikeouts

BABIP: Batting Average on Balls in Play

HR/FB: Home run to Fly Ball Ratio

Runs Allowed

RA/G: Runs Against per Game

ERA-: Earned Run Average Minus

SIERA: Skill-Interactive Earned Run Average

GB/FB: Ratio of Ground balls to Fly balls

K/BB: Strikeouts to Walk Ratio

BABIP: Batting Average on Balls in Play

HR/FB: Home run to Fly Ball Ratio

SD%: Shutdown Percentage ([SD/(SD+MD)])

Mets to Host 2013 MLB All-Star Game

2012-05-16T17:20:40Z

One way or another, we can now breathe easier in knowing that there will be All Stars at Citi Field next season.

Major League Baseball confirmed Wednesday morning that our New York Mets will host the 2013 MLB All-Star Game in Flushing next July. The announcement took place at City Hall on Wednesday morning as Mr. Met conceded the microphone to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig among other baseball dignitaries to confirm what's long been speculated as the preferred venue for next year's Midsummer Classic.

Seriously, he did. Take a look (via @sbnation):

Beaurcratic silliness likely caused the delay in the announcement, as navigating New York City policies and procudures for this scale of event can drive the average person mad. One thing that did not cause concern for Selig was the Wilpons' dire financial straits in recent months.

From ESPN New York:

"I have great faith in the Wilpons and the family and I was very confident they would work things out, and they have. I had no trepidation at all," Selig said.

The announcement means that the Mets will host the All-Star Game for the first time since Shea Stadium's inaugural season in 1964. With the Kansas City Royals hosting the big game this summer, the Los Angeles Dodgers now take over the mantle as the team with the longest All Star drought after last hosting the game in 1980.

The game itself should also put an exclamation point on what will hopefully be a wild year in New York sports in 2013,with the Yankees being the Yankees, the Brooklyn Nets coming to fruition, revitalized local sports teams with the Knicks, Rangers and Devils, and WrestleMania XXIX coming to MetLife Stadium next April and Super Bowl XXLVIII taking place there at the end of the 2013 NFL season. (And, hey, Islanders tickets are still cheap.)

The official press release is after the jump for those of you who are into that sort of thing.

NEW YORK METS AWARDED THE 2013 ALL-STAR GAME
Mets Will Host Midsummer Classic for Second Time; Ninth for New York City

NEW YORK, NY - The New York Mets have been awarded Major League Baseball's 2013 All-Star Game and will host the 84th Midsummer Classic at Citi Field, Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today at a press conference at City Hall. Commissioner Selig was joined by the Mayor of New York, the Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg, and New York Mets Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Fred Wilpon.

The 2013 All-Star Game will mark the second time that the Mets, who are commemorating their 50th anniversary in 2012, will host the Midsummer Classic. Shea Stadium hosted the 1964 All-Star Game, a 7-4 National League victory that featured 21 participating Hall of Famers, including Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson, as well as MLB's Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations, Joe Torre. It will be the ninth All-Star Game in Baseball history to be played in New York City, which is the most of any host city.

Commissioner Selig said: "As we celebrate the franchise's golden anniversary this year, I am pleased to award the 2013 All-Star Game to the New York Mets and their loyal fans. We are delighted to bring the Midsummer Classic to Citi Field, a wonderful ballpark that has carried on the remarkable National League tradition in New York City. The Mets will be superb hosts to next summer's greatest sporting event."

"Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Selig, it's a great honor for everyone at the Mets to host the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field," Wilpon said. "Mets fans and all people in the New York tri-state area and beyond will have the opportunity to take part in the events that Major League Baseball will bring to New York."

"Next year's All-Star Game is going to demonstrate once again that there's no place like New York for world-class sporting events," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Major League Baseball clearly recognizes this, since they're bringing the All-Star Game back to New York for the second time in just five years."

The 84th All-Star Game is tentatively scheduled to be played at Citi Field on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.

Amazin' Avenue Pick 6 Contest: Win A FREE Pick 6 Shirt!

2012-05-16T16:00:47Z

As I alluded to last week, Pick 6 is steadily growing in popularity, and I encouraged everyone to begin honing their skills in advance of a forthcoming Pick 6 contest (possible slogan: This Time It Counts™). Well, Your Season Has Come™, because this week we're giving away a couple of free Pick 6 shirts to two winners from Amazin' Avenue.

The person with the most cumulative points this week (Monday, May 14 through Sunday, May 20) will be Winner #1.
The person with the highest single-game score this week will be Winner #2.

For a shot at #1 you're probably going to want to get your picks in every day. However, if you miss a game or two you'll still be able to win #2 since you only need one entry to possibly get the highest score of the week (though picking your 6 every day will certainly increase your chances of winning).

Here is yesterday's leaderboard:

Rank	Player	Points
1	tmu	77.8
2	Reg Dunlop	76.2
3	mlev811	48.7
4	CajoleJuice	48.2
5	bjk3047	46.7
6	isles732	44.0
7	IslesFanInNJ	44.0
8	Cmg8462	43.5
9	graves9	41.6
10	VivaPancakes	40.5

tmu edged out Reg Dunlop for the nightly crown. Here's the cumulative weekly leaderboard:

Rank	Player	Points
1	Reg Dunlop	94.4
2	tmu	92.6
3	bjk3047	88.5
4	hotspur	80.8
5	TikiUVA	79.6
6	CajoleJuice	77.7
7	Joveoak	71.9
8	Cmg8462	70.9
9	isles732	70.8
10	mlev811	70.1

Reg Dunlop and tmu flip spots on the weekly list alongside several other familiar names. Here are the top single-game scores of the week:

Rank	Player	Points
1	tmu	77.8
2	Reg Dunlop	76.2
3	tmmets29	69.9
4	hotspur	56.9
5	PeteJacuzzi	53.8

Entries for a given day are locked down as soon as the first game starts. The first game today is 6:35pm so go pick your 6 now so you won't forget! Once you've done so, post your 6 in the comments.

All entries are subject to the official rules, found here.

This Week In SNY, Part Two

2012-05-16T14:00:14Z

Here is part two of this week's TWISNY, continued from yesterday. The weekend series against the Marlins in Miami could probably fill its own post. Here we go.

Sunday, May 6th

National treasure Ralph Kiner made his regular season debut:

He was his usual charismatic self and dropped a memorable one-liner:

Ralph: Paul Revere was the first sign stealer.

If you have not already done so, please read (and share) "An Open Letter to the New York Mets Regarding Ralph Kiner on his 50th Anniversary with the Organization."

It was nice to see Rufio of Hook fame in attendance, rocking a tamed version of his trademark hairstyle.

Monday, May 7th

The SNY cameramen had some fun in Philadelphia, filming multiple Attack Of The 50-Foot [something]! 1950s-style B-movies:

Pretzel!

Spider!

Ticket!

Tuesday, May 8th

Here is the Phillies' best impression of a little league team, preserved forever (big thanks to AA'er sj10689 for this one):

Wednesday, May 9th

SNY trolled the hell out of Shane Victorino. Quick background: Victorino misplayed a soft line-drive by Andres Torres into a triple. It looked as glorious as it sounds:

Immediately following the play, this was the on-screen graphic:

Outstanding, SNY, outstanding. We'll get you a case of beer for that one.

Friday, May 11th

Let's check in with Kevin! Kevin hung out at "The Clevelander", the Marlins Park nightclub. However, no one wanted to sit next to him:

Here are a few other scenes from the club, which apparently remains open until 3 am nightly:

Saturday, May 12th

Nope.

Has anyone seen Marlins outfielder Kevin Mattison and former Mets reliever Dale Thayer in the same room?

These bird-flipping Marlins fans could probably use another year at charm school:

Let's get another look at that second fan. Maybe he's not such a bad guy.

Keep it classy, Marlins fans.

That's all for now. Thank you to the ever-vigilant Rob Castellano and Chris McShane this week. Send any tips or suggestions to ThisWeekInSNY@gmail.com. You will be credited if we run the material.

Dillon Gee Left The Gate Open Applesauce: Greinke Dominates Mets, Wright & Collins Argue And Make Up, Flushing To Get 2013 All-Star Game

2012-05-16T13:01:02Z

Meet the Mets

In case you've been living under a rock for the past few years, Zack Greinke is really good at throwing baseballs. Really good may even be an understatement. The Mets are good at hitting baseballs, watching baseballs and walking to first base but sometimes you run into an outstanding pitcher and that's what happened to the Mets on Tuesday night. They fell to the Brewers 8-0, resulting in a series split with the Brew Crew. Dillon Gee was...um, well...let's just say not nearly as good as Greinke and we'll leave it at that. First baseman Travis Ishikawa had a big day, delivering two home runs for the Brewers, putting the game firmly out of reach with the second. Offensively, the Mets did little against Greinke, who allowed just five hits while striking out seven. He toyed with the Mets batters, like a puppeteer pulling invisible strings connected to their bats. Oh well, it happens sometimes.

Choose Your Recap: MLB.com, ESPN NY, Daily News, Star-Ledger, Associated Press, NY Times

The Mets start a two-game set with the Reds tonight at 7:10 PM. Johan Santana heads to the hill and he'll take on Mike Leake.

There was some interesting extracurricular activity that took place during the seventh inning of last night's game. D.J. Carrasco allowed a solo home run to Brewers 2B Rickie Weeks. On the very first pitch to the next batter Ryan Braun, Carrasco hit Braun in the arm, forcing Braun to first base and sending home plate umpire Gary Darling out to immediately eject Carrasco from the game. In the next half inning, Terry Collins pinch hit for David Wright, who was seen in the dugout yelling angrily at Collins for pulling him from the game. Not long after, Collins and Wright spoke with each other and made up and the two of them, along with Carrasco, spoke to the media about the situation. Collins said that he did not want Wright getting hit with a retaliation pitch, should the Brewers decide to throw one. Patrick Flood also penned an excellent breakdown of the inning's events.

Rumor has long had it that Citi Field would be host to the 2013 MLB All-Star game. Well, after a long waiting period, it looks like MLB will finally make it official today. The All-Star game is pretty beyond meaningless but it'll be fun to have it at the home stadium for once.

From the infirmary, Jason Bay was cleared to begin some baseball activities and it looks like he'll regain his starting job in left field upon his return in a couple of weeks. Yay? Josh Thole is still waiting for clearance but the good news is that he has not had any headaches since Friday. Finally, Jenrry Mejia and Chris Young are steadily working their way back to the big club and both could move up to AAA Buffalo very soon. Mejia's made two starts with the St. Lucie Mets and could get a look in the bullpen very soon, while Young's second was rained out last night. He'll pitch for St. Lucie today. Howard Megdal took a look at Mejia and Young's quest to become the team's fifth starter.

Mark Simon took an in-depth look at the Mets' defense so far this year, using defensive metrics from Baseball Info Solutions.

The 1962 episode of SNY's Mets Yearbook series will be broadcast for the first time on Thursday evening at 8 PM.

Toby Hyde spoke with Sand Gnats pitcher Jacob DeGrom, the Mets' 2010 9th rounder out of Stetson University. DeGrom sort of came out of nowhere a week ago after missing all of 2011 because of Tommy John surgery. His stuff looks to be legitimate, though, as according to Toby, he features a low to mid-90's fastball and some interesting offspeed stuff.

Around the NL East

Brian McCann hit a home run and the Braves offense knocked Johnny Cueto around, as Atlanta defeated the Reds 6-2 to move back into first place in the division.

The Braves move back into first because the Nationals lost today 6-1. Stephen Strasburg got smacked by the San Diego Padres. What? No, you didn't just hallucinate that. Apparently, some joker put Icy Hot in his jockstrap. Yeesh. Meanwhile, the Nationals have lost another catcher. Over the weekend, Wilson Ramos went down for the year with a torn ACL and his replacement, 23-year old Sandy Leon, left his big league debut after getting run over in an ugly home plate collision. It sounds like he has a high ankle sprain.

Cliff Lee allowed a run on five hits, while walking one and striking out ten Astros batters. Cliff Lee owns a 1.95 ERA and a 34/4 K/BB ratio this season. Cliff Lee also does not own a victory this year and today was no different, as the Phillies' LOLpen blew this one before Hunter Pence hit a solo home run to salvage a 4-3 victory. Bad news for the Phils, as righty Vance Worley will miss his scheduled start due to elbow soreness.

The Marlins beat the Pirates 6-2 behind the arm of Josh Johnson and a five-run fourth inning. Meanwhile, team president David Samson is talking again and says that the team has no interest in moving the Marlins Park fences in next year.

Around the Majors

The Angels shut out the A's 4-0 behind an excellent start from Ervin Santana and solid offensive days from Albert Pujols and Mike Trout. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save hitting coach Mickey Hatcher, who was relieved of his duties yesterday.

Josh Beckett tossed seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts, as the Red Sox beat the Mariners 5-0. I'm assuming there was no talk of Beckett's off-day golf games after this gem.

Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie was ejected after he slammed his helmet down on the ground in frustration. The helmet bounced off of the ground and hit the home plate umpire, so it wouldn't be a shock if Lawrie misses some time during the Mets' series with Toronto this weekend.

New Yankees closer David Robertson is headed to the DL with a strained oblique. Rafael Soriano will take over as the team's closer for now.