After coming off a successful first outing of the Spring, Pedro Martinez looks to make an equally impressive showing today against the Nationals. While facing the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, Martinez went four innings, striking out 4 batters without yielding a run. Although Pedro is not the Pedro of old, he was able to get his fastball as high as 91 mph, which was a welcomed sight to Mets fans.

But today, may be the most important day of the Spring for Martinez. Mets fans will be on the edge of their seats hoping and praying that Pedro will be able to make two dominant starts back to back. After seeing how well Johan Santana pitched last night, you know Pedro will be looking to come back with a vengeance tonight, to prove that he will not be upstaged by his counterpart.

If all goes well this afternoon coupled with the recent performances by Santana, the Mets may be able to get some serious momentum rolling at just the right time.

The Islanders Website is reporting that franchise goalie Rick DiPietro will undergo season ending hip surgery. This is the second time in a year that DiPietro will be having this procedure performed. The team however does not expect DiPietro to miss any time after this season and foresee him being ready for next years training camp.

I guess when it rains, it pours. This latest injury is only the tip of the iceberg for an Islanders team that has watched it season go down in flames. With half of the Soundtigers team already on the Island, a top 3 draft pick is looking very likely.

The long anticipated arrival of Kyle Okposo at Nassau Coliseum has finally arrived. Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Islanders fans will have the opportunity to be the first to see the highly touted prospect in an Islanders jersey.

Not since goalie Rick DiPietro was drafted has an Islanders rookie had so much hype. But ever since arriving in Bridgeport, Okposo has lived up to chatter. Okposo has tallied 24 points(8 goals and 16 assists) in 29 games. Kyle is a playmaking forward who is hard to move off the puck. He is also very creative, performing some plays that are out of the ordinary. His most famous of these plays is this one. Greg Logan of Newsdayasked defenseman Matt Spillerabout Okposo’s talent for moving the puck:

“For sure, he can make those passes you think some guys can’t make,” Spiller said. “It’s pretty fun watching him.”

The Islanders drafted Okposo with the 7th overall pick in the 2006 draft after having a stellar season with the Des Moines Buccaneers …

Rumors are running wild about a possible trade between the Red Sox and the Mets. What is being brought up is a swap involving Mets outfielder Angel Pagan for Sox outfielder Coco Crisp.

The Mets are in need of an outfielder after the recent injury to Moises Alou, sidelining him 4-6 weeks.

Crisp could instantly make the Mets outfield one of the best defensive groups in the league. In 2005 with the Indians, Crisp had his most productive offensive season hitting 16 homeruns with 69 RBI and a .300 batting average. He would also bring more speed to an already fast lineup. But Crisp, it seems, has forgotten how to hit the ball the past 2 years in Boston. He has averaged 7 homeruns, 48 RBI and a .266 batting average.

Pagan has shown great hustle and drive during Spring Training thus far but has never figured out how to put it all together in the Majors. In a small sample size Pagan has hit for a .255 average, which is why the Cubs were willing …

Well to be honest, there is not too many reasons to watch our beloved Islanders. They are not the fastest team or the most physical or the most exciting to watch. They do not have a superstar forward to draw fans in and lets face it, the Coliseum is not the greatest arena you will ever step into. But have faith fellow Isles fans, here are a few reasons why we all need to keep watching:

Rick DiPietro- For better or worse, DiPietro will be entertaining night in and night out. No offense to Billy Smith or any other goalies the Islanders have had but DiPietro is the most naturally gifted goalie this team has ever had between the pipes. He is the franchise player and seems to put on a show every game. If it wasn’t for such a porous defense around him, DP would find himself in the running for the Vezina Trophy every year.

The Kids- Blake Comeau leads a corps group of Islanders youngsters that fans have become accustomed to watching. …

Last night’s 4-1 loss against the hated New York Rangers only reminded Islanders fans of what we already knew: We need a playmaking forward.

The Islanders have one of the best goalie tandems in hockey with Rick DiPietro and Wade Dubielewicz, but you cannot rely on your goaltenders as heavily as the Isles do. The Islanders have given up the 5th most shots in the league but DiPietro has given up the 6th fewest goals. A goalie can only do so much to help their team win. The glaring weakness on this team is the lack of offense. Up until last week the Islanders were the only team in hockey without a 20 goal scorer. The team is 29th in scoring. Couple that with the amount of shots they give up and it’s not a recipe for success.  

At certain points in a season, teams need a forward to carry the load for a while. Evgeni Malkin has done it for the Pens this year, as well as Alex Ovechkin for the Caps. The Isles simply do not have …

The Islanders find themselves in a little conundrum. Who should coach Ted Nolan put between the pipes tonight, to face the New York Rangers?

The face of the Islanders franchise, Rick DiPietro, has not played the last 4 days due to the death of his grandmother. But even before his leave of absence, the recent play of DiPietro has been anything but stellar. In his last 16 games DiPi has a 7-9 record and a sub par save percentage of .866. Add to that, he has also given up a minimum of 4 goals in 9 of those games.

On the other hand, Islanders folk hero Wade “Dubie” Dubielewicz has once again kept the Islanders hopes of making the playoffs alive. Dubie played like a man possessed in Tuesday nights win against the Rangers stopping 27 shots including 5 of 6 shots in the shootout. Unlike DiPietro, Dubie has played very well in his recent starts posting a 5-3 record and a .928 save percentage.

So do they go with, the face of …

According to MetsBlog.com, the Mets and Tigers are discussing a trade involving Mets reliever Jorge Sosa and Tigers utilityman Marcus Thames.

 My guess is that the Mets feel like they have enough arms in the bullpen that Sosa has become expendable. Either that or they realize that Willie Randolph burnt out Sosa like the end of a Red Auerbach cigar.

Thames would make a great partner to platoon Ryan Church with. The Mets have been looking for somebody to counter the weak hitting of Church against left handed pitching. Thames batted .310 against lefties last year while Church hit a dismal .229. Thames may also fill the role of the Mets backup first baseman if Carlos Delgado goes down with an injury.

I have a doozy of a question: What does 139 shots mean? You guessed it; the amount of shots the Islanders have had in their last 3 losses. But can you tell me how many goals they have scored on those 139 shots? No, you guessed too high. Again that’s too high. Go lower. Even lower than that. You’re almost there…. Correct, they have scored 3 goals! Thats an amazing rate of 1 goal per 46 shots.

The Islanders can be summed up into 1 player: Andy Hilbert. Hilbert will put forth as much as effort as any player on the ice for the duration of the game. He will get countless opportunities to score a goal, but he can never seem to put the puck in the back of the net. That is the Islanders. A team of hard workers and grinders but no legitimate playmakers.

The Islanders yesterday, made Florida Panthers goaltender Craig Anderson look like the second coming of Patrick Roy. Throwing 53 shots at the net, the Islanders came up with less than …

The Location: Port St.Lucie, Florida

The Time: 1:10 pm est

The Outcome: Mediocre

Today was the day, that Mets fans have been salivating over for since January 30th. Johan Santana’s Mets debut finally arrived in Port St. Lucie today against the Cardinals. Although it was only a Spring Training game, it was one of the most anticipated days in recent Mets history. To most Mets fan the score did not matter (the Mets lost 5-4), all that mattered was seeing Santana throw that elusive change-up he has made infamous.

Santana got through the first batter of the game using that change-up but then things came unraveled. Chris Duncan proceeded to hit a bloop single into left field, which was followed by a double by Albert Pujols. Santana was able to get the next batter to hit a ground ball to David Wright who threw Duncan out at home. But then, out of the depths of God knows where, stepped up dreaded power hitter (cue Darth Vadar music) Juan Gonzalez. Thats right, the Juan …

Lastings Milledge never felt as though he fit in, in the Mets clubhouse and was made to be the outcast of the team. Earlier this week, while speaking with John Donovan of SI.com, Milledge vented:

“A lot of veterans [on the Mets] didn’t like the way I play the game. They thought I didn’t respect it,” Milledge says later in the clubhouse. “But the vets here have no problem with me. They know I respect it. They know I work hard.”

And on his time in New York:

“I can’t go through anything worse than I went through in New York. It only gets better from here.”

I guess Milledge was not hoping to reconcile with his former ‘mates. Mets third baseman David Wright took exception to Lastings comments.

Via Newsdays David Lennon:

“Enough is enough,” David Wright said yesterday. “You’re a Washington National now. Don’t worry about what happened last year or the year before that. Just go out there and try to help the Nationals win.The veterans were never mean to him or …

Read More…

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So with the trade deadline ending soon…Oh wait, what? The deadline already passed? Are you sure?

So with the trade deadline ending on Tuesday, the Islanders did not add any pieces that help them, right now. Personally as a fan, I wanted the Islanders to be sellers and stockpile draft picks. I think most fans can agree that this team is not going to win Lord Stanley’s Cup. With players such as Ruslan Fedotenko and Miro Satan in the final year of their contracts, I was expecting to say “goodbye” to certain players and “hello” to draft picks. The Islanders did welcome some draft picks but the aforementioned players were not moved. GM Garth Snow did some tweaking. But before any trades were made the Islanders decided to lock up forwards Trent Hunter and Mike Comrie to a 5 year and 1 year deal respectively. Snow’s first trade of the day sent a 7th round draft pick to San Jose for stay-at-home defenseman Rob Davison. Snow then sent outlaw Chris Simon to an aptly named team, …