Dillon Gee News

Allow me to preface this with the following: regardless of how well both Jonathon Niese and Shaun Marcum perform for the remainder of the season, I don't expect the Mets to completely erase the damage they've done to their record and have a miraculous run.

In this city of Cardinals, Mets manager Terry Collins committed the cardinal sin.

Not all is dreadful in the Mets' universe. The organization had a rare cause to celebrate Wednesday - amid the team's recent putrid play - when tests revealed stud pitching prospect Zack Wheeler has no structural damage to his right shoulder or in that vicinity.

Robert Carson allowed four earned runs and two home runs in only two innings of work, although Greg Burke and Brandon Lyon combined for two innings of scoreless relief.

Jeff Innis: 10-20 11. Joe Smith: 9-5 12. Matt Harvey: 7-5 12. Dave Telgheder: 7-5 Now you get an idea of how rare it is for Harvey, a 2010 first-round pick, to show up in a Mets uniform looking like an actual ace.

St. Louis Cardinals' Carlos Beltran hits a three-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Tuesday, May 14, 2013, in St.

MLB Team Report - New York Mets - INSIDE PITCH The New York Mets agreed to a contract with free agent outfielder Rick Ankiel on Monday, and he started in center and batted seventh in a 6-3 loss to the St.

The New York Mets lineup on Monday had five left-handed hitters in their eight true batters.

The Mets started the season 7-4. Since then, they've gone 7-16. After today's loss to Pittsburgh dropped their record to 14-20, they found themselves a season low six games under .500. As Terry Collins pointed out in his postgame press conference, the Mets' starting pitching and offense has been woeful lately.

Whether real or imagined, the problems which beset Zack Wheeler appear to be behind him now.

The Mets have recalled sidearming right-handed relief pitcher Greg Burke and placed fellow right-handed relief pitcher Jeurys Familia on the disabled list to make room for him.

Except for the games Matt Harvey pitches - and those are wonderful days and evenings indeed, even when he doesn't have his best stuff - the Mets have fallen out of relevance.

The Mets beat the Pirates in the first game of a four-game series on a walkoff single by Mike Baxter.

The Mets are averaging 4.70 runs per game, the third-most in the NL and the eighth-most in the majors.

Jeff Locke vs. Dillon Gee Schide guessed the Mariners score and weltytowngang guessed the Bucs score to open the week's scoring on Tuesday.

MLB Team Report - Pittsburgh Pirates - INSIDE PITCH The circumstances could be ripe Saturday for Russell Martin to make his first major-league appearance in the outfield.

The Mets recorded their second shutout of the season, and improved to 3-2 in extra innings with last night's 1-0 win.

Fantasy baseball owners in need of starting pitching help need to check out Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jason Vargas who is available on the waiver wire in most leagues.

This is the White Sox first trip to Flushing. The Mets have hosted every other American League team at least once The Good: The Mets are 2-0 this year in Interleague play after beating the Twins twice in Minnesota.

In case you haven't caught on yet, the above are some of the preseason predictions from the ESPN "experts" regarding what the Mets' final record would be in 2013, what place they would finish in, and whether they'd reach the postseason.