Thursday Morning Applesauce: Mets not playoff bound, neither is Johan

The Mets lost yesterday to the lowly Nationals by a score of 2-0. It's really a shame to see a decent Mike Pelfrey start go to waste, but hopefully a few more of those will kill any non-tender talk the we'll inevitably hear from the MSM about Pelfrey. With the loss, the Mets have been mathematically eliminated from the postseason. With .500 starting to seem a pipedream, we may simply find ourselves jockeying for draft position in the final weeks of the regular season.

In case you're already looking ahead to next season, the 2012 schedule is now out. Hopefully we'll be a much improved side for next season, and hopefully we'll still be seeing Jose wearing a Mets uniform.

One player we'll likely be reunited with next season is Johan Santana. The team confirmed he will not pitch in the majors this season, and that he will not be making any more starts for the Sand Gnats either. I'm glad to see we're not rushing him back, as I think we saw plenty of what can go wrong with that approach in 2009.

Current Mets coach and 1986 legend Mookie Wilson has embarked on a new money making venture. He and '86 goat Bill Buckner have had a painting done together which they will be selling to make a few extra bucks. It seems strange to me that Buckner would agree to do this, but what do I know?

Howard Megdal takes a deeper look at Bobby Parnell. I think he was clearly confused when he titled the piece, as "who" is clearly Nick Evans. It's a good read regardless.

Also noting the general anonymity of Nick Evans yesterday was Ted Berg. Ted took the time to write a post comparing Met players to Taco Bell items.  

Around the NL East:

Phillies fans can rejoice today, as the club has clinched their 5th consecutive playoff appearance with a win over the Astros. When they are done rejoicing, they can come back to earth a little when they realize they still live in Philadelphia.

The Braves also managed to win, beating the last place Minnows by a score of 4-1.

Around MLB:

James linked this in the recap, but it's certainly worth a second link. Carlos Beltran sent fans fishing for career HR number 300 last night. Congratulations are in order for Carlos, it's too bad that the Giants won't be making the playoffs this season so he could have another run.

FanGraphs take a look at the recent comeback of Adam Loewen. His is another interesting story, as it's always fun watching players who began as pitchers become position players or vice versa.

MLB.com has an article pushing the merits of another wildcard in relation to the AL East. At this point it seems inevitable that it's going to happen, the question really seems only to be what type of format it will be and when it will begin.

Brewers fans have probably seen the writing on the wall about Prince Fielder for several seasons now. While it was all media speculation that he would be leaving up to this point, it seems Fielder himself believes he'll be playing elsewhere next year as well.

Former Met closer Francisco Rodriguez is unhappy with the way he's being used by the Brewers. I'd guess this discontent somewhat increases the odds the Brewers offer him arbitration, as he doesn't seem likely to welcome a return. In case you're interested in who else could net their teams a draft pick when they leave, the latest Elias ranking projections can be found here.

Finally, Joe Posnanski takes a deeper look at the modern use of the closer. While this is largely written due to the recent milestone of Mariano Rivera, it makes some interesting points about the overvaluing of the position. As always with Joe, this is well worth the time it takes to read.