213 Miles From Shea

Today’s picture of the day comes from a game in Bristol, TN as the Kingsport Mets took on the Bristol Pirates. Anthony Dirocie is at the plate.

The Mets conclude their single admission double header with Seth Lugo vs Max Fried. Lugo is 6-5 over 17 games and 16 starts in 91.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA, 4.13 FIP and 1.434 WHIP. His FIP is finally below his FIP from last year, which was 4.33. This is in part due to his last start where he pitched 5.0 innings and allowed 1 run off 4 hits and a walk, which was a nice rebound from his previous start of 3.0 innings where he allowed 8 runs, 7 earned. He hasn’t faced the Braves since his first start of the season back in June where he allowed 1 run over 7.0 innings with 6 hits and 2 walks. The Braves have the following numbers against Lugo:

• Inciarte 2-6, BB
• Kemp 2-5, BB
• Markakis 3-6
• Swanson 0-4
• Adams 0-3
• Camargo 0-3
• Flowers 1-2, 2B
• Freeman 1-2, BB
• Garcia 1-3, 2B
• Peterson 0-1

The Mets bats draw Max Fried making just his 3 major league start. He has pitched in 7 game so far this season totaling 16.1 innings with a 4.41 ERA, 5.97 FIP and 1.653 WHIP. In the minors this season he was 2-11 between AA and AAA starting 21 games and 92.2 innings with a 5.54 ERA and 1.446 WHIP. His first major league start was good as he allowed 1 run over 5.0 innings from 4 hits and three walks. In his last start he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned over 3.2 innings from 6 hits and a walk. After that he pitched in relief against the Mets holding a clean inning with two strikeouts (Evans and Nimmo, Aoki recorded an out as well).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets start their last series at Citi Field tonight as the Braves come in for a double header to start the series. The Mets are coming off of a loss yesterday where the Mets bats just couldn’t get through the Nationals pitching staff and lost 3-2 behind a double digit strikeout day for Jacob deGrom, becoming the first pitcher this season for the Mets to cross the 200 inning threshold.

Chris Flexen starts for the Mets for the first time since the start of the month. Chris is 3-4 over 12 games and 8 starts over 41.2 innings with a 7.13 ERA, 6.87 FIP and 1.992 WHIP. In his last start he allowed 7 runs over 4.0 innings from 9 its and 2 walks. Since then he has pitched 5.0 innings out of the pen allowing only 1 run and 3 hits. This will be Chris’ first start against the Braves.

The Mets bats draw Lucas Sims who is 2-5 over 12 games and 8 starts in 49.0 innings (similar numbers to Flexen) with a 5.14 ERA, 5.05 FIP and 1.408 WHIP. Sims’ last start was his return to the rotation since the start of September as well. At the start of September he allowed 7 runs over 3.0 innings from 6 hits and 4 walks. Last time out he allowed 1 run from 3 hits and 2 walks in 5.0 innings. He faced the Mets earlier this season and allowed 2 runs over 2.0 innings with 3 hits and a walk. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Aoki 1-1, 2B
• Cabrera 0-1
• Cecchini 1-1
• d’Arnaud 0-1
• Lagares 0-1
• Nimmo 0-0, BB
• Rosario 0-1
• Smith 1-1, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s Picture of the Day was The 7 Line’s march to the game in St. Louis.

The Mets and Nationals wrap up their three game series in Queens with a rubber match this afternoon. The Mets had a come from behind victory on Friday night erasing a 6-1 deficit to win 7-6. The Nationals had an extra innings come from behind victory last night overcoming an early 3-0 hole winning 4-3. The Mets got an awesome inning from Syndergaard last night and a good inning from Harvey before he fell apart and allowed 3 runs.

Now its up to Jacob deGrom to close out the season on a positive note and he fights the flu. He is 15-9 in 30 games and 195.1 innings with a 3.55 ERA, 3.55 FIP and 1.198 WHIP. He is coming off a strong start of 7.0 innings allowing 1 run in 5 hits and 2 walks. The last time he allowed only 1 run in an outing was against the Nationals in August where he held them to 1 run over 7.2 innings with 5 hits and only 1 walk while striking out 10. The Nationals have the following numbers against deGrom:

• Rendon 0-16, 4 BB, 5 K
• Taylor 0-17, 1 BB, 10 K
• Zimmerman 5-16, 2 HR, 6 K
• Kendrick 2-17
• Werth 1-15, 2 BB, 5 K
• Turner 4-12, 2B, BB
• Murphy 3-12
• Wieters 3-12, HR

The Mets draw Max Scherzer who is 15-6 in 29 games and 191.1 innings with a 2.59 ER, 2.94 FIP and 0.915 WHIP. He leads the league in strikeouts (253), in WHIP and H/9 (5.7). He is coming off a strong rebound start from his last one. In the rebound he allowed 2 runs over 7.0 innings, in the two starts before that he allowed 11 runs over 12.0 innings. Earlier this season he allowed 8 runs in 14.0 innings in back to back starts against the Mets and then he faced the Mets again in June and allowed 1 run in 8.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers on Max:

• Cabrera 14-61, 4 2B, HR, 3 BB
• Reyes 9-26, 2B, HR, BB
• d’Arnaud 3-15, 3B, 7 K
• Flores 0-14, BB
• Aoki 2-9, 2 BB
• Lagares 1-11, BB
• Plawecki 2-12, 4 K
• Nimmo 1-5
• deGrom 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

Video I captured from Ricardo Cespedes striking out against Danny Salazar in July.

Ricardo Cespedes striking out against Danny Salazar pic.twitter.com/5ZmGkGL9DF

— 213 Miles From Shea (@213MFS) July 11, 2017

A lot going on so let’s jump into it! Last night the Mets showed fight and beat back the Nationals. The Mets got a difficult start from Gsellman who allowed 6 runs, 5 earned over 5.0 innings. But the bullpen closed the door behind him and the bats came alive to give the Mets a 7-6 win. Travis d’Arnaud led the Mets with two homers and Aoki added three hits of his own (plus Lagares went 2-4).

Tonight Noah Syndegaard makes his first start since April 30th where he tore his lat. He will pitch only one inning and will then be replaced with Matt Harvey. That final start of his season was against the Nationals as he was charged with 5 runs in 1.1 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against Syndergaard:

• Rendon 7-20, 2B, HR, BB
• Werth 3-19, 2 BB
• Murphy 3-13, 2 2B, BB
• Kendtrick 1-12
• Zimmerman 3-12, 2 2B
• Turner 1-8
• Lobaton 1-6

After an inning of Noah, we get the Dark Knight. He is 5-6 over 17 starts and 84.2 innings with a 6.59 ERA, 6.15 FIP and 1.665 WHIP. He is coming off a terrible start where he allowed 7 runs from 12 hits and 2 walks in 4.0 innings of work. In his last two starts he has allowed 12 runs and 19 hits in 7.1 innings and he has allowed 4 runs or more in four of his last five starts. The only time he faced the Nationals this year was a good one in April where he allowed 3 runs from 4 hits and 2 walks in 7.0 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

• Werth 5-24, 2B
• Zimmerman 6-23, 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB
• Rendon 9-21, 2B, 3B, HR
• Taylor 4-18, 2B
• Kendrick 2-11
• Lobaton 2-10, HR

The Mets bats will try to get at Stephen Strasburg who is having an excellent season, his best in years, possibly the best in his career. He is 14-4 over 26 games and 162.2 innings with a 2.60 ERA, 2.78 FIP (league leading) and 1.027 WHIP. In his last five starts he has allowed 1 run over 35.0 innings, an ERA of 0.26 with a .167 opponent batting average. He is 1-1 against the Mets this season over 3 games and 19.1 innings allowing 5 runs on 14 hits with a 2.33 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Reyes 7-29, 2 2B, BB
• d’Arnaud 4-16, HR, 2 BB
• Cabrera 3-14, 2 HR
• Lagares 2-14
• Flores 2-12, 2B
• Plawecki 1-6, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets warming up in St. Louis!

The Mets return for their final homestand of the 2017 season against the Nationals, a series that had much different implications when we looked at the calendar at the start of the season. Anyway, it has been a tough week for the Mets and hopefully they can do something positive against Edwin Jackson tonight.

Robert Gsellman gets the nod tonight. He is 7-7 over 23 games and 20 starts over 108.2 innings with a 5.22 ERA, 4.92 FIP and 1.528 WHIP. Gsellman is coming off a strong start where he allowed one run, not earned, over 7.0 innings with only three strikeouts. In his last start against the Nationals he allowed 6 runs, 2 earned over 4.0 innings come from 9 hits. The Nationals have the following numbers against Robert:

• Rendon 5-10, 3 2B
• Turner 2-9
• Murphy 5=8, 3B
• Zimmerman 4-7
• Werth 1-6
• Wieters 1-6, 2B
• Taylor 3-5, HR

The Mets bats draw Edwin Jackson who is 5-6 this season over 14 games and 11 starts pitching 65.1 innings with a 4.96 ERA, 6.38 FIP and 1.515 ERA. His numbers are a bit better when you focus on the 11 starts he made with the Nationals where his ERA is 4.77, FIP is 6.09 and WHIP is 1.392. He is coming off one his worst starts of the season where he allowed 7 runs over 2.1 innings with 6 hits and 2 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Cabrera 5-28, 3 2B, HR
• Aoki 4-22, 2B, 2 BB
• Reyes 3-14
• Lagares 1-3, 3B
• Flores 1-2

Lets Go Mets!

Today’s Picture of the Day is a Ricardo Cespedes at bat as the Cyclones played a game in Oho. Pitching is MLBer Danny Salazar.