The 1-2 Nationals take on the 1-2 Mets tonight. The Nationals got their first win of the season yesterday after getting blown out the first two games this season against Philly. Yesterday they had a convincing lead until the Phillies roared back. The Nats won yesterday thanks to a bloop double from Zimmerman off of Figueroa.
Pelfrey will get the start for the Amazin's as he looks to rebound from last season's campaign. In 2009 he was 10-12 over 184.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA. Against the Nationals last season he was 1-2 over 4 games and 26.2 innings with a 4.05 ERA (6 BB, 9 K). The Nationals have been able to get a lot of hits off of Big Pelf (career wise):
Dunn 3-18, 2B, HR
Guzman 6-21, 2B
Willingham 7-17, 2B, 3B, HR
Nieves 2-11
Desmond 3-6, 2 2B, HR
Overall, those numbers look pretty grim. There are three keys for Pelfrey in this game (and yes, they are very general, but very important). 1) Keep runners off the bases. 2) Keep the Ball in the Park. 3) If he gets into trouble, he needs to be able to stop the bleeding.
The Mets will face Mock in tonight's game. Last year Mock had a 3-10 record over 91.1 innings and had a 5.62 ERA. Against the Mets, Mock was 0-1 over two games (one start) last season pitching 8 innings and allowing 4 runs. The Mets have been able to put up these numbers on Mock over the years:
Castillo 3-4, 2B
Wright 1-6
Pagan 3-4
The Mets offense really clicked in the first game of the season. In the second game, the offense was able to get on base and score runs, but it didn't feel as productive as the first game did. Last night, the Mets offense did very little (1 runs, 7 hits, 0 walks). Tonight they need to come back to life and score some runs on this Nationals pitching staff that gave up a lot of runs to the Phillies over the last three games. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Nationals!
