213 Miles From Shea

The Mets return home tonight after a road trip with an odd last 6 games. They won three games in a row and looked like things were starting to turn around. Then they lost the last three games, despite the offense going on overdrive for two of the games. It’s been frustrating to say the least and if you think the Mets still have a shot, there were things to grab on to the last 6 days, if you think the Mets should start over there were things to talk about from the last 6 days. Now the Mets gets the Dodgers, probably with Utley and maybe with Kershaw at some point.

Tonight Wheeler will start for the Mets. he is 2-5 over 13 games and 74.2 innings with a 4.82 ERA, 3.80 FIP, 1.393 WHIP and 78 ERA+. He rebounded in his last start against the Diamondbacks holding them to 2 runs off 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. So far in June he has posted a 3.65 ERA in 4 starts, mostly hurt by one outing where he allowed 6 runs over 5.2 innings that wasn’t exactly all his fault. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Wheeler:

• Utley 4-15, 2B, HR, BB
• Grandal 2-6, HR
• Wood 0-4
• Bellinger 2-2, 2 HR
• Taylor 1-2
• Turner 2-2, HR
• Pederson 0-1

The Mets bats will look to bring the excitement home against Alex Wood who is 2-5 over 14 starts and 74.2 innings with a 4.22 ERA, 3.30 FIP, 1.179 WHIP, 91 ERA+. He is coming off a stronger start against the Giants where he held them to 1 run over 5.2 innings. In his previous two starts he allowed 10 runs, 8 earned over 6.2 innings from 14 hits and 3 walks. In 2016 he allowed 2 runs, 1 earned over 6.1 innings against the Mets while striking out 9. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Flores 5-14, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB
• Frazier 1-6, 2B
• Cabrera 2-6, 2B
• Mesoraco 1-6, HR
• Wheeler 0-4, 2 K
• Bautista 0-3
• Confortion 0-3
• Reyes 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!

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For a second straight day the Mets bats showed up in Colorado but couldn’t dig the team out of the hole left by the starting pitcher. Last night the Mets bats worked early and late but ultimately could not overcome Lugo’s start and then Gsellman’s inning of relief as the two of them allowed 9 runs, 6 earned in 4.0 innings. On the positive, Mesoraco continued to heat up as did Dom Smith who recorded three hits on the night including a triple.

The Mets will turn to Steven Matz to help the Mets escape Colorado with a series split. He is 3-4 over 13 games and 65.1 innings this year with a 3.31 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 1.240 WHIP, and a 115 ERA+. He is coming off a string start against the Diamondbacks where he allowed 1 run over 6.2 innings and since May 5th he has had a 2.47 ERA in 8 starts, 43.2 innings of work. That May 5th start was against the Rockies where he held them to 1 run over 6.0 innings from 3 hits and a walk, a game the Mets lost 2-0. The Rockies have the following numbers against Matz:

• Blackmon 6-11, 2 2B, BB
• Arendado 3-11, 3 HR
• Castro 4-9, HR
• LeMahieu 4-7, 2B
• Story 3-7, 2B, BB
• Gonzalez 1-7, 2B
• Desmond 1-4

The Mets bats draw Kyle Freeland who is 6-6 over 14 games and 85.1 innings with a 3.59 ERA, 3.89 FIP, 1.242 WHIP and 130 ERA+. He is coming off a good start against Texas where he allowed 2 runs from 8 hits and a walk in 7.0 innings. In his last five starts he has allowed 15 earned runs in 31.1 innings, a 4.31 ERA. Before his last start on June 16th, his last time pitching 7.0 innings was against the Mets on May 6th where he allowed 2 runs over 7. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Frazier 0-4, BB
• Bruce 0-4, 2 K
• Cabrera 1-4
• Flores 0-2, BB
• Conforto 0-2, 2 K
• Mesoraco 1-2
• Nimmo 0-2, 2 K
• Rosario 0-2

Let’s Go Mets!

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Seth Lugo looks to rebound tonight against the Rockies!

Lugo’s last time out was one of his first, worst outings of the season. Overall he is 2-2 over 24 game sand 3 starts in 50.2 innings with a 2.49 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 0.947 WHIP and 153 ERA+. In Arizona he allowed 5 runs from 8 hits and a walk in 5.0 innings while striking out 2 and allowing 2 homers. Against the Rockies earlier this season, he held them scoreless over 3.0 innings with 1 hit, 1 walk and 3 K’s. The Rockies have the following numbers against Lugo:

• Blackmon 2-6, 2B, 3B
• Arenado 2-4, 2B
• Gonzalez 0-5, 2 K
• Story 1-5, 2B
• LeMahieu 2-3
• Parra 0-2, BB
• Wolters 0-2, 2 BB
• Desmond 1-2

Chad Bettis gets the start tonight. He is 5-1 over 14 games and 81.1 innings with a 4.65 ERA, 4.98 FIP, 1.291 WHIP, 100 ERA+. He is in a terrible stretch right now allowing exactly 5 runs in each of his last 4 starts leading to an ERA of 8.44 over 21.1 innings. In total he has allowed 20 runs from 28 hits and 5 walks including 8 homers ballooning his ERA from 3.30 to 4.65. His last great start, when his ERA on the season was 2.05, was against the Mets where he allowed no runs from 6 hits in 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Bruce 4-7, 2 2B, HR
• Flores 1-5
• Nimmo 1-5
• Cabrera 2-4
• Cespedes 0-3
• Conforto 0-3
• Frazier 0-2
• Nido 0-3
• Rosario 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

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The Mets and Rockies play game two tonight as Jason Vargas gets the start. Vargas got a spot start over the weekend as Steven Matz got bumped back due to a blister. On the season Vargas is 2-5 over 8 games and 35.1 innings with a 7.39 ERA, 5.58 FIP, 1.698 WHIP, 52 ERA+. In his last three starts he has tossed 15.0 innings with a 3.00 ERA, his worst one being his last outing allowing 3 runs over 5.0 innings, so maybe he is starting to calm down. The Rockies have the following numbers against him:

• Iannetta 5-13, 2B, 2 HR, BB, 5 K
• Gonzalez 1-5
• Arenado 1-3, 2B
• Blacmon 0-3
• Parra 0-3
• LeMahieu 0-1

For the Rockies, German Marquez gets the start tonight. He is 4-7 over 14 game sand 73.2 innings with a 5.13 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.480 WHIP and 90 ERA+. June has been incredibly rough for German who has allowed 15 runs over 16.0 innings from 20 hits and 6 walks leading to a 8.44 ERA and an opponent OBP of .356 / OPS of 1.013. Before this stretch he was doing well allowing 4 ER over 19.0 innings dropping his ERA from 5.35 to 4.21. He had a good start against the Mets at the start of May allowed 2 runs off 6 hits and no walks while striking out 8. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Bruce 1-6
• Cabrera 2-6, HR
• Cesepdes 2-6, HR
• Conforto 0-6, 5 K
• Frazier 1-6, 2B
• Rosario 1-5, 3B
• Kelly 1-3
• Reyes 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!

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The Mets were great on their 11-1 run to start the season because it never felt the team was out of the game. Their starting pitching during that stretch ranged from average to bad but the offense kept them in games and they would fight back late. Yesterday, the offense felt like that again as the Mets were able to overcome being down 1-3 and win 5-3 thanks to homers in the ninth inning from Nimmo and Cabrera, the former who is in the midst of a breakout season and the latter who needed it to come out of a slump. Now the Mets will look to make it three wins in a row against the Rockies tonight.

Jacob deGrom is 4-2 over 14 games and 87.1 innings with an ERA of 1.55 (league leading), 1.98 FIP, 1.008 WHIP and 244 ERA+ (league leading). He had a dominating performance again his last time out, pitching 7.0 innings allowing 1 run, but the Mets bats were completely silent. In his last 10 starts in 62.1 innings he has posted a 0.87 ERA with 83 strikeouts. He faced the Rockies in Queens last year holding them to 2 runs, 1 earned over 8.0 innings allowing 4 hit sand a walk while striking out 11. The Rockies have the following numbers against him:

• Desmond 5-16, HR, BB, 7 K
• Blackmon 2-15, 2B, BB
• LeMahieu 2-13, 2B, 2 BB, 7 K
• Parra 2-15, 2B
• Arenado, 2-14, 2B
• Gonzalez 3-10, 2B, HR
• Story 1-8

The Mets bats draw Tyler Anderson who is 4-1 over 14 starts and 74.1 innings with a 4.48 ERA, 4.55 FIP, 1.305 WHIP and 103 ERA+. He is coming off strong back to back starts where he has allowed 3 runs over 14.0 innings. In the 16.1 innings over three starts before that he allowed 13 runs. He faced the Mets back in 2016 allowing 1 run over 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Cabrera 1-3
• Flores 1-3
• deGrom 0-2

Let’s Go Mets!

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The Mets won a game! AND THE METS SCORED MORE THAN 3 RUNS! The Mets beat the Diamondbacks 5-1 yesterday, mostly due to Conforto and Matz. Conforto hit a 3-run homer to make the game 3-0 and later added in another RBI while Matz allowed only 1 run. The Mets will look to build on this today behind Wheeler and win two games in a row for the first time in 33 years.

Wheeler is 2-5 over 12 games and 68.2 innings with a 4.98 ERA, 4.00 FIP, .1442 WHIP and 76 ERA+. He is coming off a start in Atlanta where everything fell apart in the 6th inning. His like reads 8 hits, 6 runs over 5.2 but everything happened in the 6th as the Mets defense, Wheeler and the bullpen just imploded. He faced the Diamondbacks last year in Arizona allowing only 1 run over 6.0 innings from 7 hits and a walk. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against him:

• Goldchmidt 3-12, 2B, BB
• Owings 4-9, 2B
• Mathis 1-7
• Pollock 0-5
• Ahmed 0-3
• Lamb 2-3, HR

The Mets will get a look at the new Arizona Diamondback, Clay Buchholz who is 1-1 over 5 starts and 28.0 innings this year allowing 11 runs, 10 earned. His numbers are greatly impacted by his last outing where he allowed 6 runs, 5 earned over 4.0 innings raising his ERA to 3.21, it was a 1.88 before that start. His season debut was against the Mets where he allowed 1 run over 5.0 innings hold the Mets to 2 hits and a walk. The Mets have the following numbers against Clay:

• Bautista 14-61, 3 2B, HR, 9 BB
• Reyes 9-34, 2B, 3B, 4 BB
• Cabrera 8-16, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB
• Frazier 1-4, HR
• Conforto 0-2
• Flores 1-2, 2B
• Rosario 1-2, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

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On the positive side, the Mets have scored 3 runs in each of their last two games. On the not positive side: just about everything else. Nothing really went right in the box score for the Mets last night as they got a rare poor performance from a starter, a just average performance from the bullpen and the bats still struggled. At least Dom Smith showed the Mets some life at first base with a double and his first homer of the season.

Steven Matz gets the start today after being bumped back two days with a blister. Matz is 2-4 over 12 games and 58.2 innings this year with a 3.53 ERA, 5.33 FIP, 1.261 WHIP and 108 ERA+. He’s coming off an average start against the Yankees where he allowed 3 runs in 6.0 innings off 5 hits and 4 walks, including 2 homers. Since May 5th he has tossed 37.0 innings across 7 games with a 2.68 ERA with his two worst starts being the one last Saturday and one against the Diamondbacks. When he faced Arizona in Queens, he allowed 4 runs over 4.0 innings from 6 hits and a walk. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Steven:

• Goldschmidt 2-5, 2 HR
• Mathis 2-5, HR
• Murphy 2-5, HR
• Owings 0-4
• Lamb 0-3
• Ahmed 1-2 2B

The Mets bats will get a look at Patrick Corbin today who is 6-2 over 14 games and 87.0 innings with a 3.21 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 1.000 WHIP and 133 ERA+. His two worst starts of the season have come within the last 18 or so days. On May 30th he allowed 6 runs over 6.0 innings against the Reds and then on June 11th he allowed 5 runs over 5.1 against the Pirates (these starts sandwiched a good start). Before his start against the Reds he had a season ERA of 2.47. He also faced the Mets earlier this year where he held them to 2 ER over 5.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Corbin:

• Bruce 3-17, HR, 3 BB, 8 K
• Flores 4-15
• Frazier 4-13, 2B, HR, BB
• Reyes 7-13, 3 2B, BB
• Mesoraco 2-11, 2B
• Cabera 1-5
• Conforto 2-4, BB
• Rosario 1-5

Let’s Go Mets!

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One of the best secrets at Citi Field in 2017 was the Bao Sandwiches in the season ticket holder lounge on the Promenade level:

I’m a 7 Line Ticket holder which does not have club access printed on the ticket so my success at getting inside was based on 1) how carefully guards looked at my ticket and 2) how good my argument skills were.

Anyway these were great. Everyone else in line was getting a full size batting helmet of wings and fries (which is also one of the best deals in the ballpark) but these were just fantastic.

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Another bad day for Mets baseball yesterday. The Mets made the decision yesterday to bump Steven Matz to Saturday due to a blister on his hand and had Jason Vargas pitch. On a scale of Vargas to deGrom, he wasn’t as bad as he has been at points this season, but also made some blistering decisions (like going after Goldschmidt in a 3-1 count high in the zone with a Vargas fastball) and although the Mets managed to score 3 runs, more than they usually do, they were playing an actual, professional baseball team, so that was not enough.

So the Mets turn to Set Lugo who is the only pitcher to start a Mets game where they won in recent history. He is 2-1 on the season over 23 game sand 2 starts in 45.2 innings of work posting a 1.77 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 0.854 WHIP and 214 ERA+. Against the Yankees on Sunday he held them scoreless allowing 2 hits and no walks while striking out 8 over 6.0 innings. He pitched two innings in relief against the Diamondbacks earlier this year allowing a hit and striking out two batters. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Seth:

• Dyson 1-3, K
• Jay 1-3, 2B
• Goldschmidt 1-2
• Mathis 1-2
• Owings 1-2
• Ahmed 0-1

The Mets bats will go up against Zack Godley tonight who is 6-5 over 13 games and 70.2 innings with 4.97 ERA, 4.60 FIP, 1.542 WHIP and 86 ERA+. Since May 23rd he’s been alternating between terrible and average leading to an ERA of 8.35 in 18.1 innings. Against the Mets earlier this year he allowed 3 runs, 1 earned, over 6.0 innings from 4 hits and 4 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Bruce 1-10, 3 BB
• Conforto 5-9
• Reyes 1-5
• Cabrera 0-6
• Nimmo 1-3, 2B, 3 BB
• Rosario 1-5
• Kelly 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

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The Mets have escaped to Arizona to clear their heads and battle the Diamondbacks. Yesterday the Mets wasted yet another gem by Jacob deGrom as the offense couldn’t push a single run across the plate and the team lost 2-0. Anyway, Steven Matz gets the start today.

Matz is 2-4 over 12 games and 58.2 innings this year with a 3.53 ERA, 5.33 FIP, 1.261 WHIP and 108 ERA+. He’s coming off an average start against the Yankees where he allowed 3 runs in 6.0 innings off 5 hits and 4 walks, including 2 homers. Since May 5th he has tossed 37.0 innings across 7 games with a 2.68 ERA with his two worst starts being the one last Saturday and one against the Diamondbacks. When he faced Arizona in Queens, he allowed 4 runs over 4.0 innings from 6 hits and a walk. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Steven:

• Goldschmidt 2-5, 2 HR
• Mathis 2-5, HR
• Murphy 2-5, HR
• Owings 0-4
• Lamb 0-3
• Ahmed 1-2 2B

The Mets bats will try to find themselves against Matt Koch, the owner of the rare infinite ERA in the 2017 season where he allowed 3 runs without recording an out. This year he has a 4-3 record over 11 games and 10 starts in 60.0 innings with a 4.20 ERA, 5.50 FIP, 1.217 WHIP and 102 ERA+. He is coming off of his second worse start of the season where he allowed 7 runs, 5 earned over 5.0 innings in Colorado. When you look at his pitching log overall this year he is either fantastic, or he completely implodes. There are only a few players on the Mets roster, healthy or not, who have seen Koch in a game:

• Cabrera 0-0, BB
• Cespedes 1-1
• Smith 1-1, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

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