Last night the Marlins stopped the Mets winning streak at 5 games and in a rough fashion. The Marlins were leading the whole game until the Mets made a comeback and took the lead late. The Marlins then scored a run due to an error (runner got on base from the error) in the bottom of the 8th and then blew the save and lead in the bottom of the ninth.

Not to oversell the meaning of this game, which is easy to do, today’s game was going to be a test of heart for the Mets. The Mets have showed a lot of heart, especially with coming back in games, but the Mets have had a habit this year of getting on small slides. It is easy to conceive the idea that they way the Mets lost last night’s game could cause a slide.

Instead the Mets came out swinging. The team just racked up hit after hit after hit today. Wright even improved his BA over .400 for the season.

What the Mets really showed today is fundamentals as they ran the bases extremely well. Bouncing back after games like last night, good hitting, good pitching and at the core, good fundamentals is what gets teams to the playoffs at the end of the year.

The Mets are quickly approaching the deadline to be considered a “real” contender (end of May), and they are doing so pushing all the right buttons. LGM2012!

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The Mets and Marlins play game two today as the Mets try to come back after last night’s loss. Yesterday the Mets were down early, fought back, got the lead, but then the Marlins came back and eventually took the game. The Mets will look beyond that as R.A. Dickey takes on Ricky Nolasco.

Dickey is 4-1 on the season with a 3.76 ERA over 38.1 innings of work. He is 2-0 over his last three starts totaling 21.0 innings with an ERA of 2.14 and 17 strikeouts. He faced Miami once this season as he picked up a win after 7.0 innings of work allowing only 1 ER with 7 strikeouts. The Marlins have the following numbers against the Marlins:

Infante 12-25, 2B, 2 HR
Sanchez 6-18, 4 2B, HR
Ramirez 6-18, 3 2B
Morrison 3-14, 2B
Bonifacio 2-13
Stanton 1-10
Reyes 0-9

The Mets will get another look at Ricky Nolasco in 2012. So far he is 4-0 with a 2.72 ERA over 39.2 innings of work. In his last three starts he has pitched 21.1 innings of work with a 2-0 record and an 1.69 ERA. The only start he didn’t win in that stretch was one against the Mets where he pitched really well (7.0 innings, 1 ER) but was saddled with the lost. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Wright 22-60, 4 2B, 6 HR
Murphy 6-20, 2 2B
Davis 3-14, 2 2B
Torres 3-9, 2 2B
Duda 0-9
Hairston 2-6, HR

Let’s Go Mets! Check 213 Miles From Shea!

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The Mets are making their first trip down to South Beach to check out the new home of the Miami Marlins. This time last week, the Mets were on the decline, and the Marlins were on the rise. Since then, the Mets have put themselves on a five game winning streak and the Marlins have still played good ball. The Mets will be sending out Santana tonight as Buehrle gets his second start of the season.

Johan Santana is fresh off of his first win of the season with a 1-2 record over 31.0 innings with a 2.61 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 19.2 innings with an ERA of 1.83. One of those starts was against the Marlins where he pitched 6.2 innings allowing one earned run, striking out 11 batters. The Marlins have the following numbers against Santana:

Infante 8-42
Ramirez 3-23
Buck 4-18, 3B
Bonifacio 2-15
Kearns 2-15, 2B

The Mets will get another shot at Mark Buehrle tonight who is 2-4 on the season with a 2.83 ERA over 41.1 innings. His last start was a complete game against the Padres where he allowed one earned run. In his first start of the season against the Mets, he picked up the loss as he allowed 2 ER over 7 innings. The Mets have the following number Mark:

Torres 1-4
Davis 0-3
Duda 1-3
Hairston 1-2
Wright 1-3, HR

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The Mets go for the sweep tonight in Philly! In each of the last two games, the Mets have had come back victories, both with a ton of 2-run RBI’s and good relief. As we all know, those are three major pieces to winning baseball teams. Anyway the Mets will be sending out Dillon Gee tonight to make it 5 straight as the Mets take on Cliff Lee.

Dillon Gee is 2-2 on the season with a 4.50 ERA over 5 starts and 32.0 innings. He is 1-0 in his last two starts with a 3.46 ERA. It was ugly last season when Gee took on the Phillies as he allowed 15 runs, 14 earned and 17 hits over 11.1 innings of work. The Phillies have the following numbers against Gee:

Victorino 2-7, 3B
Pence 1-6
Mayberry 1-6, HR
Polanco 1-6
Ruiz 1-5, 2B

Cliff Lee is 0-1 this season over 3 games with a 1.96 ERA over 23.0 innings. This will be Cliff Lee’s first return since injury, as he is making a start for the first time since April 18th. His second start of the season was against the Mets as he allowed 4 ER over 7 innings of work, where he picked up his only loss of the season. The Mets have the following numbers against Lee:

Hairston 2-14, HR
Turner 0-8
Torres 3-6, 2B
Wright 2-7
Davis 0-6
Murphy 2-6, 2 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

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The Mets ended Roy Halladay’s 8 game winning streak against the Mets last night as David Wright was able to get a timely hit, the bullpen kept the Mets in the game, and Valdespin hit a pinch hit homer. Miguel Batista will look to keep the Mets winning ways tonight as he takes on the Phillies and Joe Blanton.

Batista gets start number 2 on the season as he fills in for Pelfrey and as the team awaits for Chris Young. On the season, Batista is 0-1 with an ERA with a 6.92. He made one start this season against the Giants this year and it was awful as he allowed 6 ER over 3.2 innings. This year he has logged .1 innings against the Phillies allowing an earned run. Last season he pitched 0.2 innings, allowing 3 ER. The Phillies have the following numbers against Batista:

Polanco 12-35, 3 2B
Pierre 5-22
Rollins 11-20, 2B, 2 3B, HR
Wigginton 4-13, 2B
Nix 0-9

The Mets will get their first look at Joe Blanton this season who is 3-3 with a 2.83 ERA. He had a 3.81 ERA through his first five starts of the season, and is coming off of his best start of the season, a complete game shutout of the Braves. Last season he had two no decisions in as many starts against the Mets where he pitched 6.1 innings, allowing 11 hits and 7 ER. The Mets have the following numbers on Blanton:

Wright 6-23, 3 2B
Davis 5-11, 2 2B
Hairston 3-6, 2B
Torres 1-3, HR
Duda 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!

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After sliding four games, the Mets jumped back onto their winning ways over the last two days and they look to continue that tonight as they go down to Philly. This is the second time this year the Mets will be going down to Philly, and this time the Mets are drawing aces on their trip down 95. Tonight Jon Niese will get the start for the Mets as he takes on Roy Halladay.

Niese is 2-1 on the season with a 4.08 ERA over 28.2 innings of work. Jon is coming off of his worst start of the season where he allowed 5 ER over 3.0 innings against Houston. In his first four starts of the season he had an ERA of 2.81, including a 6.2 inning, 0 ER outing against the Phillies earlier this season. The Phillies have the following numbers against Niese:

Polanco 10-24, 4 2B
Rollins 5-19
Victorino 5-18, HR
Mayberry 5-17, 2 2B, HR
Pence 2-14
Ruiz 5-14

The Mets will get their first look at Halladay this season who is 3-2 with a 3.40 ERA. Roy is also coming off of his worst start of the season where he allowed 8 ER in 5.1 innings of work against Atlanta. Before that he had an ERA of 1.95 in five starts this season. He pitched 22.0 innings against the Mets last season over 3 starts, winning all three starts with an ERA of 0.41. The Mets have the following numbers against Roy:

Wright 3-21, 2B, 3B
Davis 4-19, 2B
Thole 7-16, 2B
Torres 3-13
Hairston 2-8
Murphy 1-6

Let’s Go Mets!

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The Mets will finally face a pitcher who isn’t a rookie today, however Trevor Cahil has never faced the Mets in his career, but more on that later. R.A. Dickey will get the start for the Mets today. He is 3-1 on the season with a 4.45 ERA over 30.1 innings and 5 starts. In his last two starts he has allowed 4 ER over 13.0 innings with 13 strikeouts. Last time he faced Arizona was back in 2009 where he allowed 3 ER over 7.0 innings. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Dickey:

Overbay 1-14
Kubel 3-5, HR
Upton 1-4, HR
Parra 1-2, 3B
Blanco 0-2

The Mets face a third straight starting a pitcher who has never faced the Mets in a career start. Trevor Cahil is 2-2 over 5 games this season and 31.0 innings with a 3.13 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 18.1 innings with a 4.42 ERA. Last season he pitched 207.2 innings for Arizona with a 4.16 ERA over a season leading 34 games started. The only Met who has ever faced him is Andres Torres, who is 2-9.

Let’s Go Mets!

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The Mets dropped their forth game in a row yesterday as the Diamondbacks clawed out a comeback win against the Amazin’s in Queens. In today’s game the Mets look to rebound with Johan Santana on the mound as he takes on Patrick Corbin of the Diamondbacks, the second rookie in a row the Mets will face.

Johan Santana is 0-2 on the season with a 2.25 ERA over 24.0 innings and 4 starts. In that 24.0 innings, he has walked 11 BB and 29 K. The last time he faced the Diamondbacks was back in 2008 where he pitched 13.0 innings over 2 games allowing only 1 ER with 7 BB and 18 K. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Santana:

Bloomquist 3-14
McDonald 1-13
Overbay 1-11
Blanco 1-8
Hill 1-9

The Mets bats will another shot a rookie tonight, this time Patrick Corbin. In his major league debut this year he pitched 5.2 innings allowing 3 ER over 8 hits with 3 BB and 6 K. He was 2-0 in AA this year over 4 starts and 27.0 innings with a 1.67 ERA with 25 K.  Last season he was 9-8 in 160.1 innings with an ERA of 4.21. The Mets bats will look to score more runs against Corbin as yesterday they were able to get to Wade only once.

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The Mets look to put their last series behind them when they came into Houston flat after a high energy series in Colorado. In the last series the Mets bats slipped off while the bullpen fell down into darkness. Dillon Gee will be taking on Wade Miley in tonight’s game.

Dillon Gee is 2-2 on the season with a 4.85 ERA over 26.0 innings of work with 23 strikeouts. His last start (7.0 IP, 4 R, 3 ER) was a good rebound from his previous start (6.2 IP, 7 ER). He made two starts against the Diamondbacks with a 1-1 record over 11.0 innings with a 4.91 ERA. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Gee:

Overbay 1-6
Roberts 1-6
Uptson 2-5, HR
Montero 1-5, HR
Parra 1-5

The Mets bats will get a crack at Wade Miley who is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.29 over 21.0 innings of work. Last season he made 7 starts for Arizona with a record of 4-2 over 40.0 innings with a 4.50 ERA. Wade has never made a start against the Mets, and has no batting record against any Mets player. For the Mets bats, Davis is finally starting to hit as he had a .333 BA over the  last road trip so hopefully he brings that back with him to Queens.

Let’s Go Mets!

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One of the main responsibilities of my job is to help my students think critically and help them think through problems in the world logically. A common topic that often comes up in class is when a student talks about an object that has, for a lack of a better word, bullshit properties. I then work with the student and we talk about all of the science that is in the object and how it doesn’t have any of those properties, etc.

Now, as a teacher, I don’t curse in class. I also get frustrated in a very loud manner when my children curse in class, so it is weird for me to type the word “bullshit” but when I saw what the Dodgers were giving away this month, I actually yelled “That’s BULLSHIT” at my laptop.

Let’s backtrack this story. On Sunday, 4/29 (actually when I wrote this article) I was working on all of the Team Promotion articles for May. At the end of each month, I open up Google Chrome and go through every major league team to see if any of them are giving away anything interesting that would be worth writing about. When I got to the Giants page, I saw that they were giving away those “Power” Necklaces that do nothing, however they called it a rope necklace. Nothing wrong with that.

Then I got to the Dodgers page, and they are giving away “Power Necklaces” and calling them “Power Necklaces”.  That’s when I lost it.

Power Necklaces and all of their other forms are basically pieces of metal and cloth that con-men try to sell to saps. Period. They don’t work. They don’t do anything. Before you write me an angry letter saying “but I FEEL BETTER when I wear it”, you are just experiencing the placebo effect.  For those of you who have a demonstration done at shopping mall, where the agents show you these necklaces give you balance, well I have bad news for you:

We clear now? All of the bracelets are frauds. There is no magical energy/resonance in your body / quantum whatever. It all sound scientific, but none of it is real. Try to trust me, I teach physics and I have degree in astrophysics. But if you don’t want to trust me, there are a lot of people a lot more qualified than me that support this claim that these are bullshit.

The reason they have a money back guarantee is that they need it. If they didn’t, you could sue them for false advertising and bring the entire operation down! They are selling you a necklace or bracelet for 20-50 bucks that does NOTHING.

Honestly, I believe a lot of you know that these are bull, and they don’t do anything. However we never speak up about it.

Obviously, children look up to athletes and a good amount of athletes wear these accessories (ie. Pedro Feliciano). We are doing a disservice to the science literacy of this country by calling these necklaces power necklaces, and then giving them to our children. Of course a good amount of our children will believe they restore balance to their bodies if we tell them they do because children trust us! This isn’t like telling a child about Santa Claus or that the necklace will make them shoot lasers out of their eyes. In a child’s mind, and too many adults, when we say these help with balance, that claim is completely plausible. As people responsible for the collective critical thinking ability as a species on Earth, we need to help children and adults think through these claims and see them for the scam that it is.

So shame on the Dodgers for perpetuating this. Thank you to the Giants for calling the giveaway what it is, just a rope necklace.

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