Pedro's Down; Wright and Beltran are starting Hot...

So by now we've all seen it. Pedro was getting hit, he looks like he tries to be too fine on a pitch and he comes away from it grabbing his butt and leg. Well, he'll be out a couple weeks at least (I assume), and now we're looking at El Duque and Pelfrey in the rotation. There's some chatter about Claudio Vargas. I got to watch Claudio a lot over the years and especially during his time in Arizona. He's a solid pitcher but nothing special. If when El Duque comes back, he's anything like he was most of last year, I say go with Duque. But that's still a ways off. So for the first couple weeks, most teams don't need a fifth starter. The Mets though don't have a lot of off days to start the season.

I guess we'll see. There's nothing more we can do that wait and see.

The way the rotation is shaking out, it looks like it might be Oliver Perez for the home opener. I wouldn't mind that at all. I've never seen Oliver Perez live and in person. That should be fun. I guess it depends on how they treat Pedro's spot in the rotation. I don't imagine that they'd start their stop-gap starting pitcher solution for the home opener. I suppose you could pitch Santana on extra rest, but I don't think you want to screw with his rhythm. Again, I guess we'll see.

I actually just read something that suggested Jorge Sosa for the open spot in the rotation. Sosa did an excellent job as a fill in last year. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't use him. I don't think he's got the stuff - he throws 90% sliders - for an extended stay in the rotation. But that slider is good enough to get him through most line-ups twice or three times. Sosa out there for 5 or 6 innings should be a good sight better than a lot of other options.

How about David Wright and Carlos Beltran to start this season? Crazy hot. Wright was a MACHINE tonight and Beltran wasn't far behind. Wright hit the homer and so did Beltran but the umps took it away from him. It was clearly over the wall on the replay, but whatever.

Hooray for baseball!