213 Miles From Shea

The only player I may take more pictures of than Granderson is Scooter. Picture is from 7/9/17.

The Mets beat the Nationals last night! Now the Mets look to split the series today, assuming they lose both games on Sunday. Anyway for a second straight game yesterday the Mets lost a key player of their offense early to injury, this time it was Cespedes. The Mets they rode out a stellar start by Jacob deGrom. This afternoon Robert Gsellman will look to feed off that magic as he faces Gio Gonzalez.

Gsellman is 5-5 over 19 games, 16 starts and 87.2 innings with a 5.65 ERA, 5.02 FIP and 1.551 WHIP. Gsellman is coming off his best start since June 10th. Last time out he held the Diamondbacks to 1 run off 5 hits and a walk in 6.1 innings of work. His last start against the Nationals was pretty terrible as he allowed 7 runs off 11 hits and 2 walks in 5.0 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against Robert:

• Murphy 5-8, 3B
• Rendon 3-7, 2 2B
• Zimmerman 4-7, BB
• Taylor 1-3, HR
• Wieters 1-3, 2B

The Mets bats draw Gio Gonzalez in the midst of his best season (by ERA) of his career. He is 12-5 over 25 starts and 162.0 innings with a 2.39 ERA, 3.80 FIP and 1.117 WHIP. It’s actually amazing that his FIP is higher than it has been since his third season pitching yet his ERA is so low. In his last four starts he has allowed 2 runs, 1 earned over 27.2 innings with 15 hits and 7 walks while striking out 23. His ERA is a 0.33 and opponents are getting on base at .229 clip. He is at his best right now. He has also been successful against the Mets this year allowing 3 runs over 13.1 innings from only 7 hits and 3 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Lagares 15-40, 3 2B, 3B, HR, BB
• Cabrera 7-29, BB
• Flores 2-20, 2 BB
• d’Arnaud 3-16, 3 2B, BB
• Cespedes 🙁 7-13, 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB (1.677 OPS)
• Plawecki 0-5
• Gsellman 0-1

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets head down to DC. Maybe some time away from home will help the squad out as they try to find themselves after poor series against the Yankees, Marlins and Diamondbacks. In theme with 2017 the Mets lost more than the game yesterday as Michael Conforto dislocated his shoulder swinging at the plate. It stinks but the show must go on and Nimmo had a tremendous day at the plate.

Jacob deGrom will try to get back on the right track tonight. He is 13-7 over 25 games and 165.0 innings with a 3.49 ERA, 3.62 FIP and 1.176 WHIP. In his last two starts he has allowed 10 ER over 13.2 innings and 19 hits with only 2 walks, striking out 12.  He is 2-1 in as many starts this season tossing 20.2 innings against the Nationals posting an ERA of 2.61. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

• Rendon 0-16, 4 BB, 5 K
• Zimmerman 5-16, 2 HR, 6 K
• Kendrick 2-16
• Taylor 0-14, BB, 7 K
• Wieters 3-12
• Murphy 3-9
• Lind 1-5, BB

The young Mets bats will get a turn against A.J. Cole who is 1-3 in his first four major league starts this year in 22.0 innings with a 5.32 ERA, 5.63 FIP and 1.591 WHIP. His best start of the season was back in May where he allowed 1 run over 6.0 innings. Since coming back in August he’s allowed 12 runs over 16.0 innings which is a 6.75 ERA and opponents are getting on base at a .361 clip. Last year he faced the Mets twice, once where he held the Mets to 1 run off 3 hits in 6.0 innings and then against where he allowed 3 runs off 9 hits in 5.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Cabrera 4-5, 2 2B, HR, BB
• Cespedes 1-6
• Flores 0-2, BB

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day was taken on 7/11/17 of Alfonzo and Medina of the Cyclones pregame in Mahoning Valley.

Today is another one of those “liberty” with “Picture” as we look at a video of Connor O’Neil pitching. The right-hander is out of Cal State Northridge and drafted by the Mets in the 7th round.

Connor O’Neil, Mets 2017 7th pick, pitching for the @BKCyclones pic.twitter.com/SwaGMaJMLS

— 213 Miles From Shea (@213MFS) July 12, 2017

The Mets look to split the series with the Diamondbacks this afternoon as the Mets and Diamondbacks play an early afternoon game in Queens. Last night was a night for the young members of the team as Rosario, Dom Smith and Flexen carried the Mets to victory. While the jury is still out on the projection and role for Flexen in the future, Smith and Rosario flashed what has been long hoped by Mets fans. Lets’s hope they keep it going.

Speaking of prospects rising to their projections or falling, the Mets send out Rafael Montero tonight who has been interesting to watch as of late. He is 2-8 over 77.1 innings and 25 games with 11 starts. He has a 5.47 ERA, 4.48 FIP and 1.733 WHIP. In his last two starts he has allowed 3 runs over 12.0 innings with 11 its and 5 walks while striking out 11. That is also a WHIP of 1.333 which is much lower (albeit a small sample size) than his season struggles. The last time he faced the Diamondbacks he allowed a walk off homer without recording an out in the 11th inning. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against him:

• Goldschmidt 1-3, K
• Pollock 0-2, 2 K
• Herrman 1-1, HR

Robbie Ray is returning from the 10-Day DL for a concussion. On the season his 9-5 over 20 starts and 118.2 innings with a 3.11 ERA, 3.88 FIP and 1.230 WHIP. The last time he pitched was in July where he started off with two good starts and struggled against the Nationals. He was hit with a line drive in the 2nd inning against the Cardinals at the end of July. The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2015 where he allowed 6 hits over 5.0 innings with a walk and no runs. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Flores 2-8, K
• d’Arnaud 2-4, K
• Lagares 1-2
• Plawecki 0-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets lost again last night as their downward spiral continues, but in what has also become a theme, they did rally late. The Mets were losing 7-1 going into the 9th largely due to a poor start from Tommy Milone but the Amazin’s were able to scrap together 3 runs thanks in large part to a double by Smith and a triple by Rosario. The Mets will look to get back in the win column tonight behind Chris Flexen.

Chris Flexen is already making his 6th start of the season. Where has the time gone? I’m not really sure, I’ve lost all sense of time since mid-July, thank you Mets. Anyway he is 2-2 over 5 games and 22.0 innings with a 6.55 ERA, 7.27 FIP and 2.000 WHIP. In his last two starts however he has tossed 10.1 innings allowing 5 runs off 11 hits and 8 walks leading to an ERA of 4.35, which is trending in the right direction (however the OBP against him is still .396, so not good).

The Mets bats will get a look at Zack Godley who is 5-6 over 18 starts and 112.0 innings with a 3.13 ERA, 3.27 FIP and 1.089 WHIP. His FIP is a full run lower than his previous best and his WHIP is nearly .200 points lower than his previous season best. That being said, he’s coming off a rougher start where he allowed 4 runs off 9 hits and 2 walks in 5.1 innings, but still struck out 10. When he faced the Mets in May he held the Mets to 1 run and 1 hit (with 5 walks) in 6.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Conforto 0-3
• d’Arnaud 0-3
• Flores 0-1
• Reynolds 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day is Matt Winaker, infielder drafted out of Stanford in round 5 by the Mets this year taking an at bat as a Cyclone in Mahoning Valley. Picture from 7/11/17

The Mets dropped another game last night, this time to the Diamondbacks. Gsellman gave the Mets a fine start but the bats couldn’t get much done so the game went into extras where the bullpen gave in two runs (worth noting that the Mets bullpen has been excellent of late). Conforto hit his 27th homer of the season in the bottom half of the frame but it wasn’t enough as the Mets fell 3-2. Tonight Patrick Corbin of the Diamondbacks as Tommy Milone fills in for Steven Matz.

Tommy Milone returns the field in a Mets uniform. Previously he was 0-2 as a Met over 3 starts and 12.0 innings with a 10.50 ERA, 8.30 FIP and 2.167 WHIP. That’s a result of 19 hits and 7 walks leading to 15 runs, 14 earned. Before coming back with the Mets he went to Binghamton where he tossed 20.0 innings over 4 games with a 4.95 ERA. One of his three starts with the Mets was against the Diamondbacks where he allowed 5 runs off 6 hits and 3 walks in 5.2 innings of work. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Milone:

• Iannetta 5-14, 5 BB (.550 OBP)
• Martinez 5-16, 2B, HR, BB
• Mathis 3-10, 2B, BB
• Blanco2-5, BB
• Goldschmidt 2-5, HR, BB
• Marte 0-5
• Descalso 0-2, BB
• Drury 1-3, 2B

Patrick Corbin is 10-11 over 25 starts and 144.0 innings with a 4.25 ERA, 4.07 FIP and a 1.472 WHIP. Corbin has been on a tear in his last two starts allowing no runs and 9 hits with 2 walks in 15.1 innings including 8.2 shutout innings in his last start. He did face the Mets back in May where he allowed 4 runs off 9 hits and and a walk in 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Patrick:

• Lagares 2-12, 2B, HR
• Flores 3-9
• Plawecki 0-5
• Conforto 1-3, HR
• Reynolds 1-2, BB

Let’s Go Mets!

Granderson is one of my favorite players so I try to take at least one picture of him every game I go to. Here’s Grandy vs the Cards on 7/8/17.