COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

MARLINS 2 METS 1 When Johan Santana pitches for the Mets , it usually means that the Mets have their best opportunity to come away with a victory. Well, thanks to a defensive miscue by left fielder Daniel Murphy, and a masterful performance by Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson, the Mets lost any hope of winning for Santana on this Easter Sunday. In the second inning, with Jeremy Hermida on first, Cody Ross skied the ball deep to left. Murphy had the ball in his sights on the warning track, but instead of securing the ball with both hands, the left fielder decided to catch the ball with his glove, causing the ball to bounce out and strike the ground. Hermida raced home to score the game's first run. With the way Johnson was pitching, it became increasingly obvious that 1-0 was about all that the ace of the Florida Marlins needed. He held the Mets hitless for the game's first five innings and never even broke a sweat under the bright Florida sunshine. The only time the Mets ...

Congratulations Omar Minaya! Your lack of effort to get the Mets some legitimate starting pitching has put the team in such a huge hole, one can only wonder if they will ever get out of it. The men competing for the Mets number five spot in the rotation have all failed miserably to distinguish themselves. Livan Hernandez has a 4.70 ERA in three games, Jon Niese has a 9.00 ERA in two games, Freddy Garcia has a 20.25 ERA in two games, and Tim Redding had a 135.135 ERA in just a third of inning in a game against the University of Michigan. That's right the University of Michigan!! Also, keep in mind that Johan Santana is recovering from a weird elbow injury, Mike Pelfrey has a knee problem, and John Maine is recovering from an arm injury from last season. The Mets are in big trouble, but they could have fixed it long ago. I may sound like a broken record, but the Mets low balled Derek Lowe on a initial three year $36 million contract. Lowe wanted an extra year, yet the Mets were unwil...

Spring Training is supposed to be a time for some good ole' team bonding and team chemistry. Players get reacquainted with each other, share old stories, share new stories, hang out and prepare for the monotony of 162 games in six long months. That is why players go down to Florida and Arizona in mid-February and stay there until April 1. It's all about preperation, timing and execution. If a team fails miserably during the regular season, or if the team appears divided in the clubhouse, many point to the strategies of the manager during spring training as the main culprit. For the New York Mets, they are a team out of excuses, yet they keep trying to make them. In this year's installment of the World Baseball Classic, the Mets are the most depleted team in camp this spring, having shiped off a league leading 16 players to the idiotic contest. Gone are Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Pedro Feliciano, Francisco Rodriguez, J.J. Putz, Oliver Perez, Alex Cora and Da...

Throughout the month of March Cohen's Corner will preview all 30 major leauge clubs as the season inches closer to opening day, April 6. Today, we start locally, with the New York Mets. For each of the past two seasons the Mets have had to look back into the eyes of their tearful fans and say nothing but, "I am sorry." Such an excuse is not good enough for a club that was at one time a game away from a World Series berth in 2006, and oh, so close to two more division titles in 2007 and 2008. After the 2007 season, the culprit was the starting rotation, prompting the Mets to add Johan Santana in the off-season. Santana was great, going 16-7 and proving to be a true work horse whenever he stepped onto the mound. However, one may argue that Santana could have easily been 22-3 in 2008, if it were not for a terrible bullpen. In 2008, the bullpen was the excuse, and the Mets went out and tried to fix it, adding two closers, Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz and ridding themselv...

The last thing the Mets need in 2009 is an serious injury, especially when Johan Santana is involved. Santana has yet to pitch in a pre-season game this year due to discomfort in his elbow. Today, it was revealed that Santana is suffering from an irritated triceps tendon that is causing the lefty to feel pain. Santana will throw on the side tomorrow, and if he continues to feel discomfort, the Mets could send him back to New York for further tests. If all goes well, then Santana will pitch in a live game by mid-March. The Mets failed to get a more established starter this off-season since their prime target Derek Lowe signed a four year deal with the Atlanta Braves. If Santana should miss any time in the regular season, the Mets are in trouble.

METS 9 ORIOLES 3 For much of the off-season, fans and media have called for the head of Mets second baseman Luis Castillo. No one was happy with the effort the former all star put forth in 2008, batting .245 with three homers and just 28 RBIs. Castillo failed to give the Mets the nessecary stats for a number two hitter behind Jose Reyes. Once camp started two weeks ago, Jerry Manuel confrimed that he would like to see Castillo bat leadoff this season, with Reyes either as the number two or three hitter. The idea: put more responsiblity in the hands of Castillo to see if he could perform. Well, in the Mets pre-season opener, Castillo performed. The second baseman went 2 for 3 with four RBIs in the Mets 9-3 victory against the Balitmore Orioles. In the second inning, with one out and the bases loaded, Castillo slapped a single up the middle to drive in two runs to give New York a 2-1 advantage. Ryan Church, who has also gone under the microsope this spring after his return from two seri...

The New York Mets have completed a one year minor league contract with the brother of former Met and Yankee Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, Livan Hernandez , the Daily News reported Saturday. Livan has been a target of GM Omar Minaya for a better part of the past two years through trade rumors, but now that Minaya gets his hands on a man who pitched for Minaya when the two were with the Montreal Expos in 2003 and 2004. Hernandez earned the reputation as a big game pitcher after leading the Florida Marlins to the 1997 World Series title in Game Seven against the Cleveland Indians. Hernandez is known as a versatile innings eater who usually gives his clubs 200 plus innings every season. The best season of Hernandez's career came back in 2000, when he was 17-11 with a 3.75 ERA with the San Francisco Giants. Hernandez has not pitched as well lately. In 2007, he was 11-11 with a 4.93 ERA with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Last season Herandez split time with the Minnesota Twins and ...

In response to a Wall Street Journal story that stated that Citi Group was looking into the idea of splitting from the Mets because of the company's recent bankruptcy and federal bailout problems; Citi came out today singing a different tune. Citi and the Mets will remain partners for the forceable future. In December, the Mets came out in defense of Citi after the bank tanked and laid off several employees. On Monday, Citi said that there would be no TARP capital used to finance the new ballpark. Last week, two U.S. Senators decided to stick their noses into the Mets business. Denis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) and Ted Poe (Republican, Texas) criticized the Mets for continuing their partnership with Citi and pushed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to move for the destruction of the partnership, creating this recent controversy. Citi Field is expected to open April 13. Whether the Mets will really keep the name remains to be seen.

After much debate and frustration, the New York Mets have finally re-signed lefty Oliver Perez to solidify the number four slot in the Mets starting rotation. The contract will pay Perez $36 million over three years. Perez is a strange case. He pitches extremely well against superior competition, i.e. Yankees, Braves, Phillies, Cardinals, but never pitches well against inferior opponents like the Marlins, and Nationals. Perez was 10-7 last year with a 4.22 ERA, striking out 180 batters in 194 innings.

Jerry Manuel did the Mets front office no favors when he went on SNY's Daily News Live program on Monday, and stated that he would love to have troubled slugger Manny Ramirez on the Mets in 2009. "I don't have a problem with people that produce in the form and fashion that Manny Ramirez produces," Manuel said on SNY. "We shouldn't spend that much time in the locker room anyway. "Our job is to be on the field, and Manny Ramirez has proven that he is probably one of the best right-handed hitters of our generation. To have a shot at managing him would be exciting for me. I've had Albert Belle, Frank Thomas, tremendous right-handed hitters. I would love to have the opportunity to watch Manny hit every day." This amounts to a disturbing quote from the Mets manager, considering that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon stated during the weekend that the Mets and GM Omar Minaya have no interest in acquiring the complex Ramirez. Granted Ramirez is a great talent, but...

A lot of people are going crazy about the fact that the Mets were able to obtain the rights to closers Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz, but the fact remains that the Mets really have done nothing to improve a club that has choked for two straight seasons. Instead of bringing in a proven winner like Derek Lowe to be the Mets number two starter, the Mets will bring in Tim Redding , who is one of the worst pitchers in baseball on a one year $2.25 million deal. Redding is a career 34-51 with an ERA of 4.92. Not exactly the kind of guy you want as the number four starter. To make matters worse the Mets are seriously considering bringing back Pedro Martinez, who is basically washed up after spending each of the last three years on the Mets disabled list. If the Mets fail to improve their rotation, forget about a choke in 2009, because the Mets won't even be competative enough to matter.

One of the most important concepts in building a winning team in any sport is chemistry. It is the one science that is the difference between winners and losers, and the New York Mets ought to know a lot about that. For the better part of the past two years, fans have heard rumors that the clubhouse had been divided among the players. For example, in 2007 Paul Lo Duca made an insulting comment about the Hispanic players in the room when he told the media that they, too, spoke English. Then last year, Billy Wagner wondered why the media kept interviewing him and proceeded to throw his Hispanic teammates, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes, under the bus, when he remarked, "Oh, gee, what a shock they are not here" in frustration that he had to answer for them. It is this divide that might have spelled doom for the Mets in both 2007 and 2008, and in 2009 Manager Jerry Manuel has to ... better yet ... must find a way to get these players to work together and develop c...

After the Scott Schoeneweis-for-Jason Marquis deal fell through on Thursday, the Mets turned around and ended up trading Schoeneweis, instead, to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league pitcher Conor Robertson and cash . The Mets had to get rid of Schoeneweis who had become a cancer in the Mets beleaguered bullpen, blowing big games and failing to hold onto the leads. Could the Mets have gotten more for Schoeneweis? Yes, they could have had Marquis if Chicago were willing to pay some of his salary, but that did not happen. It is not known what contribution, if any, Robertson will make in 2009. It doesn't matter because he could be included in a trade package for something better.