Whats the best way to rebound from a loss like last night? Play again and this time with the ace Johan Santana. The Mets and the Pirates will play the second game of a three game set where Santana will take on Duke. The Mets will be looking to go back to some fundamentals tonight like fielding a ball cleanly and getting the run over and in.
Santana is coming off of his most enigmatic start to date where he pitched 120 pitches in 6 innings where he also had a ton of strikeouts. This season he is 7-2 with a 1.77 ERA over 66.0 innings where he has only 20 BB on the season and has an amazing 86 K's. His last three games have included the roughest for him on the season where he still has won all three games where he has pitched 20.0 IP, a human 4.05 ERA, 7 BB and 26 K. Last year he pitched against the Pirates twice to a 1-0 record, 14.2 IP, 1.23 ERA, 3 BB, 14 K. Here are some Pirates stats against the Mets:
Monroe 8-38, 3 2B, 2 HR, 12 K
Sanchez 2-10, 2B
McLouth 1-6, HR
Wilson 2-7
Adam LaRoche 0-5
Hinske 0-5
The Pirates do not have much power. That being said defense is needed against them because they play scrappy, they manufacture runs and can build these strange rallies.Yesterday for example they scored their runs in bunches. The Mets have to prevent that from happening. Also, they need to not only score a bunch of runs at the start, but continunely do it the entire game.
To do that the Mets will have to battle Duke who is the duke of the Pirates pitching staff this year (that was a terrible attempt at a joke, I am so sorry). Anyway he is 5-4 on the season with a 2.75 ERA, pitched 72.0 IP. In his last three games he was 1-2, pitched 22.0 innings, 3.27 ERA, 6 BB and 14 K. He faced the Mets twice last year where he had a 0-1 record with 12.0 IP, 9 ER, BB and 5 K. Here are some stats the Mets have on the Duke of the Pirates:
Beltran 2-15, 2B
Wright 5-15, 2B, HR
Tatis 3-6
Castillo 1-1
The Mets have to score often and then with Santana and a healthy and effective bullpen, should be in a position to try to get the W in this game. Lets go Mets! Beat the Pirates!
