Lefthander Casey Fossum, who pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief on Sunday, has been DFA’d to make room for LHP and Japanese import Ken Takahashi.

Presumably, Fossum will pass through waivers without a taker and report back to AAA Buffalo. His sparkling 2.25 ERA belied the fact he allowed 3 of 8 inherited runners to score, and overall was underwhelming in his short stint with the Mets.

The Mets were hot on the trail of Takahashi as long ago as last November, but the Blue Jays were the first to sign him. The Jays were also the first team to release him, late in March, and the Mets pounced on the 40-year-old LOOGY. In 6 games with the Bisons, Takahashi threw 11 2/3 innings, allowing 10 hits, 6 walks, striking out 9, and posting a 0.77 ERA.

The ERA is nice, but those other numbers are a little discomforting.

The move was necessary, and makes a lot of sense, because Fossum likely would be unavailable until at least Tuesday or Wednesday, he won’t be claimed, and the Mets could use an extra arm in the bullpen — so why not promote another paint can to slap onto the wall? Clearly, they did not learn anything about their pitching options from the extended looks given in spring training.

Nationals 8 Mets 1

So much for the sweep.

Oliver Hyde gave up 7 earned runs on 9 hits and 3 walks, including 2 HR, in just 4 1/3 innings.

Whether it mattered, though, is up for discussion, as the Mets’ bats were quieted by rookie Justin Zimmerman, who struck out 5 and walked 2 in 5 1/3, allowing just one earned run. The lone Met run came via a triple off the bat of Carlos Delgado in the first inning.

Game Notes

The Mets collected a hit in each of the first six innings, but no more than one hit in any of them. They did not get a hit after the sixth.

In the third, Carlos Beltran did not slide on a steal attempt in which he was thrown out by several feet. I hope that was because he has a leg injury, and not because he quit on the play. I’d rather have an injured Beltran than one who plays the game in a manner it was NOT meant to be played.

The only thing I can think of is that there was a hit-and-run on, or Beltran thought that such a play was on, and then became disgusted when the batter (David Wright) didn’t swing. It didn’t look like Beltran got a great jump and it appeared as though he was looking in to the plate as if it were a hit and run play.

Strangely enough, the non-slide wasn’t addressed by the SNY booth in the following inning (the caught stealing was the third out of the third inning). There was some discussion about it on WFAN, with Howie Rose sternly criticizing Beltran. I thought for sure Keith Hernandez would similarly jump all over Beltran for that.

David Wright wore the golden sombrero this afternoon, striking out three times. He has been doing a lot of swining and missing lately, and Jerry Manuel suggested that his upper body is moving forward when he swings. It looks to me like Wright is swinging too early on most pitches, doing a lot of reaching — pretty much the same issue he has every early spring. As soon as he starts waiting back and letting the ball get deep, and sending the ball to right field, he’ll be fine. My guess is he’s pressing a bit with all the talk of the Mets’ lack of production with RISP.

Funny, the SNY announcers said that Manuel “likes the way Omir Santos frames pitches”. I hate the way Santos “frames” pitches — half the time he jerks his glove so much that close strikes are called balls. In fact his method of “framing” is similar to Ramon Castro’s. That type of glove movement might work in some little leagues, but in the bigs it simply annoys the heck out of umpires, who want a good view of the pitch.

Next Mets Game

The Mets open a three-game series against the Marlins beginning at 7:10 PM on Monday night. John Maine goes against Anibal Sanchez. The first place Fish were just swept by the Phillies — they dropped the first two games in heartbreaking fashion in the late innings, then were absolutely thrashed 13-2 this afternoon. They’re either really down or really ticked.

UPDATE (6:30pm): David Lennon of Newsday is reporting that Casey Fossum has been DFA’d… Thanks to mic for pointing this out in the comments section. In other news, the sun will come up tomorrow and every single one of us will eventually die… And Omar will probably DFA about six more long/middle/bad relievers before the All-Star break.

Also, Ted Berg of MetsBlog is reporting that Carlos Beltran didn’t slide because he thought he heard the sound of bat on the ball. That is either the worst excuse in the world or Beltran has forgotten what it sounds like when somebody gets a hit when he is on base. Carlos – you get paid enough to hire an undergrad journalism or film student to write better excuses for you.

On Thursday, Mets manager Jerry Manuel intimated that each of his starting pitchers not named Santana had one more chance to prove their worth in the rotation.

On Friday, when asked for more details regarding this ultimatum, Omar Minaya’s response was:

“Did Jerry just say that today?”

As David Lennon wrote, “Of course, Manuel says a lot of things that don’t actually end up happening.” — so perhaps Thursdays threat was an empty one. Last year, people conveniently forgot about many of Manuel’s “promises” (ex. his promise that the core regulars would get regular rest) — funny how a few losses can turn a buddha into a babbling buffoon.

I’m not sure what’s more disconcerting — the fact that Minaya and Manuel are clearly on different pages or that Manuel’s act is growing old so quickly.