213 Miles From Shea

Stitched together photos showing the night sky changing throughout the game from the Big Apple Reserve on 5/9/17.

Last year the Mets had a rough three game series in Milwaukee where they one the first game and then dropped the next two. The Mets are having another terrible series in Wisconsin and they look to savage the third game of the series today. Last night Terry went into full “let’s just try things” mode once the game got away from the Mets including putting Reyes in center (Mets had 4 CF’s last night) and T.J. in left.

Jacob deGrom will try to put the Mets train back on the tracks. On the season he is 2-1 over 7 games and 42.2 innings with a 3.80 ERA, 3.35 FIP and 1.336 WHIP. His season trends continue of putting up huge strikeout numbers (4 games in double digits) but still allowing a lot of runs. Last year he allowed 4 runs and 5 hits over 5.0 innings in a no decision start against the Brewers who have the following numbers against him:

• Peralta 0-3
• Peres 1-3, 2B
• Shaw 0-2, BB
• Villar 2-3, 2B

The Mets bats will get a chance at Wily Peralta who isn’t off to the best start posting a 4-2 record over 7 games and 35.2 innings with a 5.30 ERA, 5.24 FIP, and 1.514 WHIP (although his WHIP is exactly what it has been the last few seasons). In his last four starts he has tossed 18.2 innings with a 7.71 ERA. He was 1-1 over two games with the Mets allowing 11 hits and 3 walks in 10.2 innings leading to 6 runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Wily:

• Bruce 4-23, HR, BB
• Walker 4-18, 2B, HR, 2 BB
• Granderson 8-14, 2 2B, 3B, 3 HR, BB
• Duda 4-11, 2 2B, BB
• Flores 1-8
• Conforto 2-6, HR
• R Rivera 0-5
• Cabrera 2-5, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

Below is a panoramic of the view from the Big Apple Reserve after Conforto hit a homer on 5/9/17

The Mets dropped the first game of the series to the Brewers last night thanks to a lack luster start from Matt Harvey. That’s alright though as the Mets have today’s game to get back on the right track with Robert Gsellman.

Robert Gsellman is 2-2 over 7 games and 6 starts with a 6.54 ERA over 31.2 innings while posting a 4.87 FIP and 1.642 WHIP. Gsellman’s last start was an improvement over his previous two which were torrid. Last time out he allowed 3 runs over 8 hits and no walks in 5.0 innings of work. This will be Gsellman’s first time facing the Brewers and he has never faced anyone on the Brewers roster when they were members of other teams.

The Mets bats draw Zach Davies today who is 302 over 7 starts this year with a 5.60 ERA, 4.84 FIP, and 1.755 WHIP. So on the season numbers, Davies has been similar to Gsellman with a large difference between ERA and FIP and a rather high WHIP (Davis previous two seasons WHIP capped at 1.249). Unlike Gsellman, Davis has been much better of late. In his last three starts he has tossed 15.2 innings with a 2.30 ERA (his ERA was 8.24 through the first four games of the season). Last year he went 1-0 in two games against the Mets allowing 5 runs, 4 earned and 8 hits over 11.1 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Davies:

• Jay Bruce 1-8, HR, BB
• Granderson 1-6, HR
• Walker 0-5, BB
• Plawecki 0-4
• Conforto 1-2, 2B, BB
• Reynolds 0-3
• Cabrera 1-2
• Flores 0-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets were so close to sweeping the Giants on Wednesday afternoon, but Familia blew the save in the 9th and the Mets rally in the 9th couldn’t make up for it. While that’s a tough pill to swallow, especially with the 1.5 days off between that game and now, the Mets did win another series and if they keep taking 2 out of 3, they’ll be in good shape for the rest of the season.

Tonight Matt Harvey will make his first start. He was supposed to be the pitcher last Sunday, but the Mets suspended him and you are reading this on a Mets website, so there is really no strong reason to keep telling this part of the story in this article. You’ll probably hear it ad nauseam during the broadcast tonight anyway. Harvey is 2-2 over 6 starts this season posting a 5.14 ERA, 5.75 FIP and 1.286 WHIP over 35.0 innings of work. One of Harvey’s effective starts last year was against Brewers where he held them to 1 run and 2 hits over 6.0 innings. The Brewers have the following numbers against Harvey:

• Braun 0-3
• Villar 1-3

Seriously. That’s it.

The Mets bats will get a look at Matt Garza who is 1-0 over 3 starts this year and 17.2 innings with a 2.55 ERA, 3.30 FIP and a 1.189 WHIP. Garza missed the Mets in 2016, but in 2015 he made one start against the Mets where he allowed 10 hits and 10 runs over 3.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Garza:

• Bruce 12-33, 4 2B, 3 HR, 5 BB, .447 OBP
• Granderson 9-30, 4 2B, HR, 2 BB, .33 OBP
• Walker 4-21, 5 BB, .346 OBP
• Cabrera 2-8, 2 HR
• Reyes 2-7
• Lagares 1-6
• Flores 2-5, HR
• deGrom 2-2
• Plawecki 0-1, BB

Let’s Go Mets!

The Jackie Robinson Rotunda has, in my opinion, iconic metal workings.

Photo taken 5/9/17

Citi Field showing its best Ebbets Field side at night. Picture take on 5/9/17

The Mets will try to do something that has been elusive the last couple of weeks: complete the sweep. The Mets beat the Giants last night 6-1 on a night where they were firing on all cylinders. They took another series and made it back to 500. However, the trend in recent weeks, especially on day games, has been to lose drastically on the last game of the series and have something awful happen off the field. So here’s hoping that the Mets can break out of that funk too.

To help them with this cause the front office has brought in today’s starter, Tommy Milone! Milone is 1-0 this season for the Brewers over 6 games and 3 starts pitching 21.0 innings posting a 6.43 ERA, 5.48 FIP and 1.476 WHIP. Before last season he generally ranged in the high 3, low 4 ERA range. Last season he struggled in only 69.1 innings posting a 5.71 ERA, 5.54 FIP and 1.529 WHIP. As a starter this year, the most he was able to pitch was 5.0 innings, so expect the Mets to go to the pen early today and be pleasantly surprised if that’s not the case.  The Giants have the following numbers against Tommy:

• Morse 3-7, 2 2B, HR
• Pence 4-6, HR
• Gillaspie 2-3, 2B
• Posey 1-3
• Hundley 0-2

The Mets will take a crack at Matt Cain today who is off to his best start since 2014. He is 2-1 over 6 games and 30.2 innings with a 4.70 ERA, 4.17 FIP, and a 1.565 WHIP. His numbers this season are greatly inflated by his last start. Before his last start he had a 2.30 ERA (and had a streak of 4 games and 23.0 innings with a 1.17 ERA). Last time out he allowed 10 hits and 6 walks leading to 9 runs to the Reds over 3.1 innings. He picked up the loss in one game against the Mets last year where the Mets got 7 hits and 6 runs off him in 6.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Matt:

• Bruce 11-23, 3 2B, HR
• Reyes 10-22, 2 2B, 2 3B, HR
• Walker 3-13
• Granderson 2-7, 3B
• Cabrera 0-5
• R Rivera 1-5
• Flores 1-5, HR
• Conforto 3-3, 2B, HR
• Lagares 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

Last night was a clear night for baseball and Conforto homers. I sat with The 7 Line in section 140 and snapped this photo around the 4th of 5th inning. Curtis Granderson is in center.

Photo taken 5/9/17

The Mets look to continue the magic from last night as they play the Giants in game two of the series. Yesterday the Mets won on a walk-off from Neil Walker breaking a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the ninth. When you a play a team like the Giants, who also cannot get out of their own way, wins are a must.

Zack Wheeler gets the nod for the Mets today. On the season he is 1-2 over 5 starts and 26.1 innings with a 4.78 ERA. Officially, he is coming off of a confusing outing where he allowed only 2 runs, 1 earned over 4.2 innings in Washington on April 29th but also walked 4 batters and had to face several additional batters thanks to the Mets defense. He pitched a few labor filled innings Atlanta last week where he held the Braves to a run but the rain washed the game away before it was official, so it’s like it never happened. Back in 2014 he was 0-1 in as many starts against the Giants allowing 6 hits and 4 runs over 3.2 innings. The Giants have the following numbers against him:

• Pence 0-5
• Belt 1-4
• Posey 0-6
• Gillaspie 0-2
• Morse 0-2
• Ruggiano 0-1

The Mets bats will get a look at Jeff Samardzija who is in his 2nd season with the Giants. He is 0-4 over 6 starts and 39.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA. Jeff has been better of late coming off his best performance of the season last time allowing 1 run, not earned, over 8.0 innings with no walks and 11 K’s. In his last two starts he has allowed 4 runs, only 2 earned over 15.0 innings with 16 K’s. He was 0-1 in as many starts against the Mets last year despite holding them to 3 hits and 2 runs over 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Jeff:

• Bruce 9-37, 5 2B, 3 BB
• Walker 5-28, 3B, 2 HR, 3 BB
• Reyes 4-18, 2B, HR, 2 BB
• Granderson 3-7, 2B
• Cabrera 0-6
• Flores 0-2
• R Rivera 0-2

Let’s Go Mets!