The Mets start their second two game series tonight back home in Queens as they welcome Philly to check out the new digs for the first time tonight. Although there are a lot of similar scenarios from the last time the Mets played the Phillies over the weekend, there is a different feeling in the air as the Mets have one back to back games and now look to stretch the total to three for the first time this season. They will be facing Chan Ho Park again, and now the Phillies will have to face Santana, who Jimmy Rollins directly talked about during their victory celebration.
As you probably have heard by now, Santana is the NL Pitcher of the Month for April, which makes sense as he recorded a 1.10 ERA with 44 strikeouts as he put on a pitching clinic during each of his outings. On the season he has pitched 5 games and has a 3-1 record (and should be a 5-0 record). Last season against the Phils he was 2-0 over 5 games and a 36.1 IP with a 2.97 ERA with 6 BB and 32 K. Here are the numbers the Phillies have been able to put up on Santana:
Ibanez 12-34
Feliz 3-17
Rollins 1-17
Utley 3-18, HR
Howard 6-14, 2 HR
Victorino 1-12
Ibanez is quickly becoming one of my least favorite players to play against the Mets as he is having an excellent season for the Phils. The key for the Mets is for the the Mets too keep the offense in check from start to finsih. The Phils have a lot of comeback wins this year not because they have fight (which they do) but because the offense makes up for the pitching mistakes the pen makes. Yesterday they won 10-7, in a game where the Cards kept coming back up. So if the pitching holds them, then the Mets can win, presuming they take advantage of the Phils pitching and score runs.
Last time the Mets faced Park they had no problems scoring runs. In that game game the Mets scored 7 runs over 4.2 innings and over 8 hits. On the season he has one loss over 5 games and 4 starts, 21.0 IP and 20 ER. His BB to K ratio is 1 as he has 11 in each category. Prior to that last game against Park, the Mets have actually sturggled against Park throughout his carear, but they were able to put that aside last time, so lets hope they do that again tonight. Here are the Mets numbers against Park:
Beltran 5-15, 2B, HR
Castillo 4-15
Tatis 7-12, 2B, 2 HR
Delgado 3-5, 2 2B, HR
Wright 4-7, 2 2B
Murphy 1-3, HR
The Mets bats started to show life this season when they started playing the Phils. Lets hope they continue that as they looke to expand on the numbers above. One thng I am bracing my self to hear over and over agian is about that inning years ago where Tatis hit two grand slams agianst Park in one inning (and this is one of the things that I don't mind hearing a lot). The Mets recent power surge has been nice, but it will be even nicer if we can see the Mets bring that back to Queens. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Phils!
