A few weeks ago I took a baseball roadtrip down to Miami to see the Mets play on the road and I made a pit stop in Columbia to see the Fireflies…and to break up the drive from Newark to Miami.
Spirit Communications Park where the Fireflies play may be one of the nicest parks I’ve been to, I’ll write up about it later but it is brand new and well built. Picture taken on 4/12/17.
For the second weekend in a row, the Mets have won 2 of 3 and managed to do enough on the field and off the field on the losing game to make fans forget about the wins in the previous games. Yesterday the Mets announced a couple of hours before the game that they had suspended Matt Harvey without pay for three days. Adam Wilk was flown in and promptly gave up some long, long homers to Stanton as the Marlins rolled the Mets. What the Mets do get today is a reprieve, finally, from playing the NL East as they open up “National League Play”. If you have been watching this team since Spring Training, then you are probably intimately familiar with the Marlins and Nationals now who played the Mets every other day in March before every other series in April.
Jacob deGrom will get the start tonight. He is 2-1 over 6 games and 36.2 innings of work with a 3.68 ERA, 3.09 FIP and 1.364 WHIP. He is coming off of his roughest start of the year where he allowed 5 runs over 8 hits and 5 walks during 5.0 innings of work against the Braves. He was 1-1 in as many starts last year against the Giants who tallied 15 hits, 11 runs, 8 earned over 11.0 innings. The Giants have the following numbers against Jacob:
The Mets draw Matt Moore who is 1-4 over 6 games and 33.1 innings this year with a 6.75 ERA, 5.44 FIP and 1.560 WHIP. He has had two great starts this year (1 run over 8 innings, second start of the season, 1 run over 7.0 innings, two starts ago) and that’s been it. He is coming off of his worst start of the season like Jacob, except Matt lated 3.1 innings allowing 6 hits and 5 walks that led to 9 runs. He picked up a loss in his only start against the Mets last season where he allowed 5 hits and 3 runs over 5.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Let’s Go Mets!
Today’s picture of the day comes from the warm up’s at St. Lucie after a few thunderstorms rolled through the area. Picture Taken 4/14.
On 4/22, there were plenty of stormy clouds over Citi Field. So I took a lot photos of them because the game was cold, damp, and not heading in a positive direction. Enjoy!
The Mets like to flip the script. After a heart-wrenching series in Miami a couple of weeks ago where the Mets dropped 3 of 4, and then a tremendous slide for the Mets, the team has reversed their fortunes over the last week and now they find themselves one game away from being back to 500 and sweeping the Marlins. The injuries are still piling up for the Amazin’s but they’ve been fighting through it as they dropped 11 runs last night.
You know who would love some of that run support? Today’s starter, Matt Harvey, who notoriously receives little run support. Matt Harvey is 2-2 over 6 starts and 35.0 innings with a 5.14 ERA, 5.78 FIP and a 1.286 WHIP. His last two starts against the Braves have been atrocious with 12 ER and 13 hits over 9.2 innings. His only start against the Marlins this year has been fine where he allowed 2 runs, 1 earned over 7 hits and 6.0 innings. The Marlins have the following numbers against Harvey:
The Mets bats draw Jose Urena for his first start of the season. This season he has pitched 6 games and 15.1 innings allowing 4 runs with a 2.35 ERA, 4.28 FIP and an 1.370 WHIP. As a starter last year he was 3-8 over 12 starts and 63.1 innings with a 5.68 ERA and 1.326 WHIP. Jose has logged 4.0 innings of work this season against the Mets allowing 3 hits and a run. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Let’s Go Mets!
What a win! The Mets were down 6-1 at one point in last night’s game and they came back to win 8-7 as the Mets survived their first Montero start of the season. Now the Mets will look to build on that momentum as they take on the Marlins for game two of the series.
Robert Gsellman is 1-2 over 6 games and 5 starts this season with a 6.75 ERA over 26.2 innings. He is the midst of a bad stretch where he has allowed 11 runs and 16 hits over his 9.0 innings and his two starts this season against the Marlins haven’t been entirely stellar. His first time out he allowed 3 ER over 5.0 innings and then he allowed 8 runs, 4 earned in 4.2 innings. It is worth noting that the latter game was the 16 inning win. He allowed a grand slam in first inning, settled down, but didn’t have the world’s best defense behind him and his pitch count blew up. The Marlins have the following numbers against Gsellman:
The Mets bats will see Odrisamer Despaigne make his 2017 debut for the Marlins, who is replacing Chen in the rotation. Despaigne went 0-2 over 19 games and 30.1 innings last lseason between the Orioles and Marlins. He logged 1.1 innings against the Mets last year allowing 4 hits and 3 earned runs. For New Orleans this season, he has tossed 4 games and 17.2 innings with a 3.06 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. The Mets have the following numbers against Odrisamer:
Let’s Go Mets!
Today’s Mets picture of the Day is a stylized picture of Granderson and Bruce in the outfield to look like a water color painting. Picture taken on 4/29/17.
Assuming tonight’s game is played, the Mets really have some of the worse luck this season. What they desperately needed was a rainout last night, to bump Montero from the rotation this time around, save Wheeler’s Arm, and get some rest. Instead the Mets and Braves tried to play the game last night and things were looking ok for the Mets. They were winning 3-1 thanks to a Bruce homer and Wheeler was doing all right despite throwing a lot of pitches.
Then the rains picked up and the delay happened. The game got postponed, not yet official yet, so when the make-up is played, the Braves and the Mets will have to start from scratch. So to recap: the Mets had the lead, now they don’t. Bruce hit a homer, now he didn’t. Wheeler still started, it doesn’t count and he can’t pitch tonight. Hopefully the universe will swing back the other way and knock out tonight’s game, but if they don’t Montero is on deck.
Montero is slated to start the game tonight in a start to prove what he still has in the tank. He didn’t get off to a good start this year allowing 8 runs, 7 earned over 16 hits and 6.2 innings to start the season. He did however have two very good starts in Las Vegas allowing 4 hits and 2 earned runs over 10.1 innings. Against the Marlins this year he allowed 2 ER and 4 hits over 3.0 innings.
The Mets bats will get to deal with Tom Koehler who is 1-1 over 5 starts this season and 25.0 innings with a 5.40 ERA. In his last two starts he has allowed 12 hits and 6 ER over 10.0 innings of work while walking 3 and striking out 10. He is also one of the few Marlins pitchers yet to face the Mets this season. Last year he was 0-3 in as many starts against the Mets allowing 14 runs off 29 hits and 19.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Let’s Go Mets!
Today’s Picture of the Day was taken from The 7 Line’s Capital Roadtrip last weekend. We see Conforto staring into the infield in the bottom of the first. Photo taken 4/29/17
Well the Mets didn’t quite put a beating on the Braves last night like the Nationals did to the Mets over the weekend, but it was close. The Mets won by the score of 16-5 last night with the Mets breaking out with 20 hits. More amazingly, the Mets had 20 hits and 16 runs with 0 homers. Now the Mets have put themselves in a position to win the 4 game series tonight as Zack Wheeler takes on Jaime Garcia.
Wheeler is 1-2 on the season over 5 starts and 26.1 innings with a 4.78 ERA. Wheeler’s last start by the numbers may seem odd: 4.2 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 4 walks and 4 K’s. His last start was against Washington last Saturday and you may recall that last Saturday was HOT. Wheeler had strong moments in the outing but the walks ate up his pitch count and the Mets played pretty poor defense behind him making him record at least 3 extra outs. In short, Wheeler had to work his last time out. This will be his first time facing the Braves this season and the Braves have the following numbers against him:
The Mets bats will contend with Jaime Garcia today who is 1-1 over 5 starts and 29.1 innings with a 3.99 ERA. After a rocky start to the season, Garcia has settled down in his last three starts throwing exactly or about 6.0 innings in each start, allowing 3-5 hits, and exactly 2 runs in each. His season opener was against the Mets where he allowed 6 hits and 4 runs over 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Garcia:
Let’s Go Mets!