TORONTO (AP) The most efficient player to take the mound for the New York Mets on Friday night was the guy who spent most of his night catching pitches, not throwing them.

J.P. Arencibia and Rajai Davis each hit two home runs, Yan Gomes hit his first career homer and the Toronto Blue Jays routed the Mets 14-5.

Trailing by nine runs, the Mets gave their weary bullpen a break by turning to catcher Rob Johnson to work the eighth inning. Johnson produced New York‘s only three-up, three down inning of the night, striking out Eric Thames to end it.

”He went out there and threw it over,” manager Terry Collins said.

Todd Zeile was the previous Mets position player to take the mound, doing so July 26, 2004, at Montreal.

Johnson, who last pitched regularly in high school, said he’s thrown the odd bullpen and side session over the years to keep himself ready for an occasion like this.

With the game getting out of hand, Collins decided to move Johnson from out behind the plate as the two chatted during a mound visit.

”He came out to the mound when we made a pitching change, I think it was in the sixth,” Johnson said. ”He said ‘We might have to have you pitch the eighth. Can you do that?’ I said ‘Yeah.”’

Johnson, who said he threw a fastball, cutter and curve, shook off catcher Mike Nickeas at one point. He needed just four pitches to retire Arencibia and Ben Francisco on infield pop ups before fanning Thames on an 87 mph fastball, the fastest of his 10 pitches.

Arencibia’s three-run home run in the first off Jon Niese (2-2) brought the left-hander’s modest nine-inning scoreless streak to an end.

Ricky Romero (5-1) was the beneficiary of Toronto’s power surge, winning for the first time in three starts. The left-hander allowed one run and three hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out six.

Four relievers handled the last three innings for the Blue Jays.

Arencibia went 3 for 5 with a career-high six RBIs, adding a two-run single in the sixth, as Toronto won its third straight. Toronto’s catcher has homered in three straight games for the first time.

”I’m a guy that drives in runs,” Arencibia said. ”To drive in six and get that cushion for your pitcher out there is big.”

”It was an outstanding offensive night tonight,” Toronto manager John Farrell said.

Scott Hairston hit a three-run homer for New York, which has lost four of five.

Daniel Murphy walked and scored on Johnson’s RBI groundout in the second but Toronto answered when Gomes, promoted from Triple-A Thursday, opened the bottom half with a homer to left-center.

The Blue Jays tacked on a fifth run when Kelly Johnson walked, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Jose Bautista.

Toronto chased Niese with a two-homer third. Arencibia led off with a shot to center, his seventh, giving him his first multihomer game this season and the fourth of his career. The light-hitting Davis piled on with a two-run drive that bounced off the top of the wall and into the left field bullpen.

Niese, who is winless in five starts, worked three innings and matched a career-worst by allowing eight runs. He also set a new low by surrendering three homers among his eight hits. Niese, who fell to 0-2 with a 9.53 ERA in four night starts, walked two and struck out six.

”Oh man, just a rough one,” Niese said. ”It seemed like every pitch I threw that they hit, they just barreled it up and got it up and it just flew out.”

Davis widened Toronto’s lead with a no-doubt drive to left off Manny Acosta in the fifth, his first career multihomer game.

The Blue Jays weren’t done, adding four more in the sixth. Arencibia greeted reliever Ramon Ramirez with a two-run single, Thames singled home a run and Gomes capped it with a sacrifice fly.

”When you don’t pitch in a game like this, it gets ugly,” Collins said.

New York scored four in the eighth on Murphy’s RBI groundout and Hairston’s two-out homer, his third.

Mets third baseman David Wright, who came in leading the major leagues with a .411 batting average, reached on a bloop double in the first, flied out to the warning track in the third and bounced back to the mound in the sixth, dropping his average to .409.

Wright, who started despite flulike symptoms, was removed from the game in the bottom of the sixth, with Ronny Cedeno moving to third and Jordany Valdespin taking over at shortstop.

Collins said before the game that Wright would get the day off Saturday, and might start at DH Sunday.

NOTES: New York’s Ike Davis, who is stuck in a 1 for 19 slump, was held out of the starting lineup. … Wright’s double in the first was his 1,300th career hit, tying him with Jose Reyes for second on New York’s all-time list. … Mets OF Jason Bay (fractured rib) ran and threw in the outfield before the game but is not expected to resume full batting practice until next week. … Davis had not homered since June 1, 2011 against Cleveland. … Mets LHP Robert Carson made his major league debut, pitching one scoreless inning. … New York minor league 2B Daniel Muno has been suspended 50 games by MLB after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

TORONTO – J.P Arencibia and Rajai Davis each hit two home runs to lead Toronto‘s power surge Friday as the Blue Jays demolished the New York Mets 14-5 to open their 2012 interleague schedule.

Yan Gomes, with the first of his career, also went deep and Jays ace Ricky Romero bounced back from his first loss of the season with a strong outing over six innings as Toronto won its third straight.

Arencibia blasted a three-run shot in the bottom of the first and added a solo homer in third to give him seven on the season. The Jays catcher finished the night 3-for-5 with a career-high six RBIs.

Davis hit two-run homers in the third and fifth innings for his first long balls of the season. It was also the first multi-home run game of his career.

The Jays (22-17) got to Mets starter Jon Niese early and often. After Kelly Johnson walked and Yunel Escobar singled to right in the bottom of the first, Niese stuck out Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. But Arencibia stepped up and lined a 2-0 fastball to left for a 3-0 lead.

New York (21-18) got one run back in the second but Gomes, making his second start since being called up from triple-A Las Vegas, lined the first pitch from Niese in the bottom of the inning into the first row in left-centre for the first home run of his career.

The 24-year-old Brazilian clapped his hands together as he touched home plate to give Toronto a 4-1 lead. Later in the inning, Johnson walked, stole second and scored on a Bautista single to left.

Arencibia led off the third with a home run to centre field before Davis added his first of the season with Eric Thames aboard on a ball that bounced off the top of the left-field fence and over to make it 8-1.

Niese completed the inning but didn’t come out for the fourth, giving up eight runs on eight hits while striking out six and walking four.

Davis added his second homer of the night to left off Mets reliever Manny Acosta with Gomes aboard in the bottom of the fifth to stretch Toronto’s lead to 10-1.

Arencibia came up with the bases loaded against New York’s Ramon Ramirez in the sixth and delivered an RBI single to centre that scored Escobar and Bautista. Thames then joined the party with an RBI single that scored Encarnacion, and Gomes added a sacrifice fly to score Arencibia and make it 14-1.

Romero, who gave up one earned run on three hits while striking out six and walking four, had some command issues at times. A leadoff walk to Daniel Murphy and a double by Scott Hairston in the second put runners at second and third with none out.

After Romero induced a popout by Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Murphy scored on a Rob Johnson groundout to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-1.

Romero, who issued leadoff walks in three of his six innings of work, also got out a jam with runners at first and second in the fourth, getting Rob Johnson to hit into a forceout at third.

The Toronto left-hander had walked five batters in each of his last two outings, including Sunday’s 4-1 loss Minnesota.

Carlos Villaneuva pitched a scoreless seventh for the Jays, but Evan Crawford got into trouble in the eighth before leaving with an undisclosed injury. Luis Perez gave up one run on a bases loaded fielder’s choice to Murphy and Hairston belted a three-run shot to right to cut the Toronto lead to 14-5.

Rob Johnson, who started at catcher for the Mets, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning for New York.

Notes: Mets third baseman David Wright, who was replaced in the field in the sixth inning, went 1-for-3 to see his major-league batting average dip two points to .409. … Arencibia has three home runs in his last two games. … Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie sat out the second game of his four-game suspension for throwing his batting helmet that bounced up and hit umpire Bill Miller on Wednesday night. Lawrie initially appealed the ban, but began serving the suspension on Thursday night, a 4-1 Toronto victory over the New York Yankees. … The Blue Jays improved to 124-142 all-time in interleague play, while the Mets dropped to 127-121 against American League opponents. … New York still hold a 14-5 advantage over Toronto in interleague play. … Former Jays relievers Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch returned to Rogers Centre. The pair signed with the Mets as free agents in the off-season. … Attendance was 26,712.

For the last two days, the Toronto Blue Jays have been my second-favorite Major League baseball team behind the New York Mets. But that’s about to change, at least until Monday.

The Jays (21-18) were busy sweeping the New York Yankees in a two-game series on Wednesday and Thursday. I really enjoyed rooting for slugger Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, especially since he’s on my fantasy baseball team, as they pummeled the Yankees. Now I’m afraid they might do the same to the Mets, who visit Toronto for a three-game interleague series starting on Friday, May 18.

The Mets (21-17) come in to the series having split a pair of games with the Cincinnati Reds to finish a four-game home stand at 2-2. Now they take the show on the road north of the border in a series that should test New York’s pitchers and hitters.

The Mets will face the Jays’ top three pitchers in Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Henderson Alvarez. Those three are a combined 12-6 and both Morrow and Alvarez have ERAs under 2.63. Another ominous sign for the Mets is that Bautista is starting to heat up. He has homered five times in the last seven games after hitting just one long ball in the first 23 games of the season. Plus, Encarnacion is off to a career-best start at the plate with 13 home runs and 34 RBI.

On the bright side, rising star Brett Lawrie will sit out this weekend, as he’ll be serving the final three games of a four-game suspension for hitting an umpire with his batting helmet. Plus, David Wright is the hottest hitter in baseball right now with a .411 batting average and .513 on-base percentage; both stats are tops in the Major Leagues. Unfortunately, Ike Davis is stuck in an early-season slump and Jason Bay and Ruben Tejada remain on the disabled list. Oh yeah, lately the bullpen has been trash, too.

It should be an entertaining series, but the New York will be fortunate to win two games. Keep in mind, though, the Mets will send Jonathon Niese, Miguel Batista and Dillon Gee to the hill against the Jays. That’s the same trio that started in Philadelphia earlier this month when the Mets swept the Phillies.

Adam Martini is a freelance sportswriter who grew up in Queens, N.Y. with a view of Shea Stadium from his bedroom window. He spent many nights in the upper deck at Shea rooting for the Mets. You can follow him on Twitter @PegCitySports.

Sources

Noey Kupchan, “Mets-Blue Jays Preview,” Yahoo! Sports.

The Official Site of the New York Mets.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because MLB did not reveal the purpose of the news conference at Citi Hall with baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, Mets owner Fred Wilpon and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Baseball decided at least four years ago that the Mets would host the game at the ballpark, which opened in 2009, but held off an announcement until it reaching agreements with the city.

The Mets last hosted the All-Stars in 1964, the year Shea Stadium opened. The game was last in New York in 2008, the final season of old Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK (AP) Major League Baseball is finally getting around to announcing the New York Mets will host the 2013 All-Star game at Citi Field.

MLB scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at City Hall with baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, Mets owner Fred Wilpon and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. A person familiar with the planning, speaking Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the purpose was not announced, said it was to make the All-Star announcement,

Baseball decided at least four years ago that the Mets would host the game at the ballpark, which opened in 2009, but held off an announcement until it reaching agreements with the city and agencies for All-Star services and related events, such as the FanFest.

The Mets last hosted the All-Stars in 1964, the year Shea Stadium opened. The game was last in New York in 2008, the final season of old Yankee Stadium.

Kansas City is host of this year’s game, and the 2014 game is expected to be played at Minneapolis’ Target Field.

Miami and Washington, D.C., appear to be the leading contenders for the two games that follow.

Because the league that wins the All-Star game gets home-field advantage for the World Series, approval of the players’ association may be required for the NL to host in consecutive years.

The New York Mets defeated the punchless Fielder-less Milwaukee Brewers (May 14) 3-1 at soggy Citifield, once again rebounding after a brutal loss, and two out of three dismal late-game collapses.

The one invariable in those painful defeats was Frank Francisco, the Mets current closer, who has an ERA close to 9.00 after surrendering another run in the ninth inning and invitingly placing multiple runners on base in what seemed like one more effort to sabotage his team’s young season success. That’s a run an inning, by the way.

Nothing against Francisco, mind you, but Met manager Terry Collins must have been in a coma after the weekend series with the Miami Marlins, and incapable of rendering rational decisions. The sight of Francisco on the mound against the Brewers was shocking. His post-game reasoning was poised, on the surface, but really only managerial drivel. He doesn’t want to make rash decisions based on a couple of games. He was brought here to be the closer, so we can’t give up on him yet. We can’t simply audition other bullpen guys, because what happens if they don’t succeed? Blah, blah, blah. What nonsense.

The value of a closer is nearly indeterminate. Clearly, though, they are most important on teams that have a chance to succeed, to compete for divisions or wild cards. On terrible teams, they are useless. The best example, of course, is Mariano Rivera, who rarely gave back a game the New York Yankees had won. Jonathan Papelbon, during his halcyon days with the Boston Red Sox is another example, and heck, there are dozens more. The closer is different than any other player on a major league team. If Ike Davis struggles, perhaps the guy behind him gets hot. A middle inning reliever struggles, he’s yanked pronto. A starter is pitching dreadfully, he’s only influencing one game every five days.

The Mets have low expectations for this year, to be sure, but right now, they’re exceeding them. They don’t have time to salve Francisco’s delicate psyche and wait for him to turn it around. By then, and partly because of his performance, the Mets might be delivering on those low expectations.

Glenn Vallach has been a New York Mets fan since foolishly abandoning the mighty Yankees in his youth after Mickey Mantle retired. Since the fond, fleeting memories of the Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee years, he sits quietly yearning for a fraction of the success enjoyed annually by the team that inhabits the borough in which I was born…waiting and hoping…waiting and hoping.

Sources:

• · Yahoo! Sports New York Mets page
• · Yahoo! Sports Frank Francisco page
• · Yahoo! Sports Ike Davis page
• · Yahoo! Sports Milwaukee Brewers page
• · Mike Fitzpatrick, The Associated Press, Batista, Francisco pitch Mets past Brewers 3-1

41-year-old righty Miguel Batista got crafty, got energized, dug down deep and saved his rotation spot with a fine effort on May 14 that included seven innings of four-hit ball.

“I think if it was somebody other than Miguel Batista, but I’ll bet you he can tell you that this is not the first time in his career that he knows that someone, that guys were waiting to get healthy,” New York Mets manager Terry Collins said in an MLB.com report, referring to the fact that the pitcher knows there are at least three other athletes bearing down on his job. “Miguel Batista has pitched way too long in this league, in both these leagues, with all the experience that he has.”

Despite Batista’s fine effort, the Mets’ rotation is about to get quite crowded with Chris Young slated to return by the end of the month, and several up-and-coming prospects lighting up the radar gun at the Triple-A level with the Buffalo Bisons.

According to a Rotoworld.com report on May 12, Chris Young will make one more appearance with High-A St. Lucie before being promoted to Triple-A Buffalo.

He’s the top arm slated to replace Batista as the No. 5 man in the Mets’ rotation, but that timetable would likely give the 41-year-old at least two more starts before he’s ready for the Major Leagues.

If Batista struggles the next time out, perhaps the Mets will take a look at using Jeremy Hefner for one spot start.

Hefner has been tearing it up at Triple-A Buffalo, as he tallied a 1.77 ERA in six starts. He appears to be Major League ready, so he’s worth taking a look at for at least one start before Young’s return.

Other crown jewels in the Mets’ system are still developing slowly but surely, as Matt Harvey has a 4.29 ERA in eight starts and Jeurys Familia follows close behind with a 4.06 ERA also in eight starts.

You don’t want to rush these guys up too quick to disrupt their development, so the likely choice of the three for one spot start before Young’s return would have to be Hefner.

The only other legitimate option for the fifth rotation spot appears to be Jenrry Mejia, who allowed one run over six innings on May 14 in his second start with High-A St. Lucie.

The problem is Mejia is that he still has to make two more minor league starts before an evaluation to determine if he should get a promotion to the major league rotation, and Chris Young will likely be ready to go by that point.

I think the Mets also aren’t quite sure whether they want to make Mejia a starter or use him out of the bullpen.

Personally, I would like to see what we have in Hefner for one or two spot starts, as we already know what Batista brings to the table.

What should the New York Mets do about the No. 5 spot in their starting rotation? Let me know in the comments.

Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Mets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

According to a Yahoo! Sports report, Frank Francisco is on the brink of losing his job as New York Mets closer.

A handful of notable MLB closers were demoted to seventh and eighth inning roles earlier this season, but Francisco survived by battling through some rocky outings to notch five of his eight saves before the calendar turned to May.

Francisco’s recent woes may help him become the latest pitcher to join the ranks of baseball’s list of deposed closers, which includes surprises like Heath Bell, Carlos Marmol, Jordan Walden, Hector Santiago and Francisco Cordero.

It went downhill in a hurry for Francisco, who saw his 3.60 ERA on Apr. 18 jump to 7.71 after blowing a save on Apr. 29. His latest meltdown on May 13 – which bumped his bloated ERA to 8.56 – may have cost him the closer’s job.

Francisco had a mini temper tantrum after not getting the calls he wanted from umpire Todd Tichenor, as he stormed to the plate with his index finger waving in the air and his cap flailing in the wind.

“I thought I was hitting my spots really good, and I didn’t get a call,” Francisco said of his tirade, according to a WashingtonPost.com report.

Francisco may be suspended for the incident, and could potentially lose his job as Mets’ closer for the time being. Mets manager Terry Collins said he will address the closer’s situation on May 14.

After the Mets’ loss to the Marlins on May 13, MLB.com writer Anthony DiComo tweeted “Collins made no guarantees after the game. Says #Mets will address the closer situation tomorrow. Full story coming on http://Mets.com.”

In my view, the next guy in line for a shot in the closer’s role is Jon Rauch.

The 6-foot-11 righty has prior closing experience from his years with the Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays, and he’s been sharper than ever in 2012.

Despite his two blown saves this year with the Mets, Rauch has a 2.93 ERA with a sub-1.00 WHIP and allowed just five earned runs all season.

The only other legitimate option to take over the closer’s role is Bobby Parnell, and he failed to find success in that spot last year.

Parnell, now 27 years old, has been scorching hot of late, with a 0.00 ERA in 5.1 innings pitched in May. He has a 2.25 ERA this season, with just four runs allowed and 16 strikeouts.

If it were up to me, I would give Rauch the first crack at it just because of his vast experience as a closer. Parnell has better overall stats at this point of the season, but he seems to shine brightest as an eighth inning guy.

Should Jon Rauch get the nod over Bobby Parnell for the Mets’ closer role? Let me know in the comments.

Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Mets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

Sources

www.mlb.com, MLB, player and team stats

The #8000games8000memories hash tag that was briefly trending nationwide this week on Twitter was supposed to be a fun way to salute the most memorable highlights in New York Mets franchise history in the hours leading up to their 8,000th game since the 1962 season.

Unfortunately, most of the top memories posted by fans had to do with the fact that the team holds baseball’s longest streak without a no-hitter.

With its ace, Johan Santana, on the mound for the May 11 contest against the Miami Marlins, many fans got the feeling in their gut that game No. 8,000 would be the one where the Mets would finally end the streak for their first no-no in franchise history.

Santana and the Mets had no such luck, as the bid for the first Mets no-hitter ended just four pitches into Jose Reyes’ at-bat in his leadoff spot to open the game.

While there have been 35 one-hitters in team history, no one has notched a no-hitter. The #8000games8000memories hash tag gave fans a chance to reflect on that dubious stat, which dates back to the early 1960s.

On May 11, Jessica DeMattia (@jessicabrooke5) tweeted “Remember when we lost that no-hitter? #8000Games8000Memories #Mets.”

Besides the San Diego Padres, the Mets are the only team in baseball without a no-hitter in their history.

Several fans posted their memories of other ridiculous Mets low-lights in team history, including Luis Castillo‘s infamous dropped fly ball in a 2009 Subway Series game, Bret Saberhagen’s unforgettable incident where he sprayed bleach at reporters, and Vince Coleman’s bizarre incident in the early 1990s where he threw a lit firecracker into a crowd of people outside Dodger Stadium.

A tweet by @lovelyDreamerXo said “@Agrait16: Castillos dropped pop up vs the Yanks #8000Games8000Memories”omygoosh, I think I threw up that night!! #worstmoment.”

On May 11, Mets fan Paul Agrait seconded that remark with a tweet that said “Castillos dropped pop up vs the Yanks #8000Games8000Memories.”

In my view, the top memories that stuck with me through the Mets first 8,000 games in team history were Mike Piazza’s historic homer to lead the Mets past the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium in their first game back after 9/11/01, and Bill Buckner’s epic error in Game Six of the 1986 World Series.

What is your favorite memory of the New York Mets‘ first 8,000 games in team history? Let me know in the comments.

Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Mets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.