Josh Thole News

From top to bottom, the National League East is the tightest division in baseball.

New York Mets starting pitcher R.A. Dickey acknowledges the crowd as he exits during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, May 27, 2012, at Citi Field in New York.

R.A. Dickey struck out 10 and reached double digits for strikeouts in consecutive games for the first time in his career and the New York Mets held the punchless San Diego Padres scoreless for the second straight day, 2-0 Sunday.

Vinny Rottino celebrates his first big league homer with Terry Collins, who decided to give journeyman his second start at first base on Saturday against Padres.

Former Rutgers star, Jack Egbert, has been called up by the New York Mets and will get a chance out of the bullpen.

The rehabbing Mets shortstop ran the bases yesterday in Florida, but it didn't go ideally.

Considering the Mets are missing three position players who would play on nearly an everyday basis, the team has done a good job staying afloat at the plate.

For the first time since May 27, 2010, Ronny Cedeno led off a game. The manager praised Cedeno for possessing a strong on-base percentage and for swinging the bat well.

Jeremy Hefner was off to a good start in the rain. He lost his grip after a long delay.

The Mets have reassured first baseman Ike Davis that he will remain in the major leagues while he fights through a season-long hitting slump.

The last Mets game that Josh Thole played in was May 7th at Philadelphia.A Since then, the Mets have gone 8-7, using the tandem of Mike Nickeas and Rob Johnson .A The Amazins were 16-13 when Thole was on the roster, so it's not as if there has been a tremendous win-loss difference, but the impact of Thole's absence is noticeable.

The New York Mets have been in desperate need of a No. 5 starter since Mike Pelfrey went down and is now in need of Tommy John surgery.

For a team in fourth place, the Mets have won quite a few divisional games . Part of that's necessity -- they've played more inter-divisional contests than the Nationals and Braves combined.

Extrapolate the Mets ' current record over a full season and the result is something like 86 wins.

He fiddles with his stances so often, he said before Tuesday night's game against the Pirates, that he can work himself into trouble.

The early part of the 2012 season has not gone well for Ike Davis . Following a very abbreviated 2011 campaign in which he posted a .391 wOBA in 149 plate appearances, Davis has been a liability with the bat through 147 plate appearances in 2012.

With just over one-fourth of the Major League Baseball season in the books, it may come as a surprise to some that the New York Mets are hanging tough in the National League East Division race.

Neil Walker scored on Clint Barmes' tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied against Johan Santana and the New York Mets for a 5-4 victory Monday night.

Neil Walker scored on Clint Barmes' tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied against Johan Santana and the New York Mets for a 5-4 victory Monday night.

Neil Walker scored on Clint Barmes' tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied against Johan Santana and the New York Mets for a 5-4 victory Monday night.