The surging Mets will try to take the four game series tonight as they finish the four game set with the Dodgers on ESPN. Johan Santana will be going for his 100th career tonight (the same day that Nolan Ryan did it as well). The Dodgers tonight will be sending out Kuroda, one of their offseason pickups from Japan.
Kuroda this season is 2-4 over 11 games and 68.1 innings pitched. During that time he has posted an ERA of 3.29. However, in his last four games, he has a record of 1-2 over 27.1 innings pitched, he has posted an ERA of 2.30 (10 BB and 15 K). So recently, he has been hitting his stride, which of course is always unsettling because the Mets generally do not do well with rookie pitchers, and one starting to get hot gets me a little nervous. In the first seven games of the season, he was 1-2, over 41.0 innings and posted an ERA of 3.95. Here are some other Kuroda splits:
Right-handed Batters: .248 BA
Left-handed Batters: .254 BA
Home 5 G, 1-0, 30.0 IP, 3.90 ERA
Away 6 G, 1-4, 38.1 IP, 2.82 ERA
Hopefully the Mets will be able to see the ball well from Kuroda and do some damage tonight.
Santana has done well in his last six decisions, winning five of them. Over the last 8 games, he has been 5-1 with 53.1 IP and an ERA of 3.54. In his first three games this season, he was 1-2, 20.2 IP and posted an ERA of 3.05. He really should be 2-1 in that first three game set. One of those losses was that duel with Smoltz that, if I wasn't a Mets fan, say was a very good game. Anyway, the last time Santana pitched against the Dodgers, he was very good. He beat them over 7 innings allowing 2 hits, no runs, three walks and struck out 9. Here are some Dodger stats against Santana:
Pierre 1-4
Kemp 0-3
Kent 0-2
Martin 0-2
Martin and Kemp were young last time they faced Santana, but hopefully they will have the same results tonight.
Lets Go Mets!
