213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to make it two in a row today and take the opener of the series as they welcome the Reds to town. Yesterday the Mets avoided a sweep thanks to a stellar performance by Steven Matz who dominated all day. His only mistake was a 2-run homer in the 7th inning that tied the game and the bats bailed him out immediately tacking on a run in the bottom of the 7th and two runs in the 8th. Then Lugo came in and struck out the side and Diaz had a 1-2-3 9th to close the door.

Zack Wheeler gets the start for the Amazin’s today. He’s 2-2 over 5 starts and 29.2 innings with a 4.85 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.348 WHIP and 82 ERA+. He is coming off of an amazing start where he shutout the Phillies over 7.0 innings while striking out 11 and provided most of the early offense in that game. Overall in his last three starts he has a 2.25 ERA over 20.0 innings with 24 K’s. Wheeler made one start against the Reds last year holding them to 1 run off 4 hits and 3 walks over 6.0 innings. The reads have the following numbers against him:

• Derek Dietrich 4-18, 3B, 2 BB, 10 K
• Alex Wood 0-5, 3 K
• Tanner Roark 1-4, 2 K
• Matt Kemp 1-3, K
• Jose Peraza 1-2, BB
• Yasiel Puig 1-3, K
• Joey Votto 1-3, 2 K

The Mets get a look at the new Reds pitcher, but old foe, Tanner Roark who was traded to the Reds this off-season and is having his best season since 2016. In 5 starts and 25.0 innings he has posted a 3.24 ERA, 3.81 FIP, 1.600 WHIP and 140 ERA+. Without reading too much into his game logs, I imagine his high WHIP is leading to lots of pitches thrown and early exits despite effective performance. In his last three starts he has tossed 15.2 innings with 14 K’s and 6 BB’s while posting a 1.72 ERA (despite opponents hitting .271 against him). Tanner started against the Mets 5 times last year pitching 30.0 innings allowing 13 runs leading to a 3.90 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Michael Conforto 4-23, 2 2B, HR, 4 BB, 7 K
• Juan Lagares 3-17, 2 2B, BB, 3 K
• Todd Frazier 2-11, HR, 6 BB, 3 K
• Amed Rosario 3-13, 3B, HR, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-9, HR, 3 K
• Robinson Cano 3-6, 2B
• Zack Wheeler 1-5, 2B, 3 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-6, HR, K
• Wilson Ramos 2-6

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to avoid a sweep today against the Brewers after dropping last night’s game despite coming back late. Again for the Mets starting pitching was a problem and again for the Mets a key member of their bullpen exasperated an issue ultimately putting the game out of their grasp. On the positive side of things, Edwin Diaz continued his dominating season striking out the side in his only inning of work, Alonso hit his 9th homer of the season and Amed hit his second.

The Mets turn to Matz today to help turn things around. On the season he is 2-1 over 5 starts and 22.1 innings with a 4.03 ERA, 5.01 FIP, 1.209 WHIP and 99 ERA+. He is coming off of a strong start where he held the Phillies to 1 run over 6.0 innings from 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. He was effective in two games against the Brewers last year holding them to 4 runs, 3 earned over 11.1 innings from 7 hits and 5 walks. The Brewers have the following numbers against Matz:

• Christian Yelich 4-16, K
• Hernan Perez 2-11, HR
• Ryan Braun 3-8, 2B, HR
• Lorenzo Cain 2-7, 2 BB
• Zach Davies 1-5
• Jesus Aguilar 1-4, 2B
• Gio Gonzalez 0-3

The Baseball Gods have a tremendous sense of humor. The two teams in the running for Gio’s services when he became a free agent last week were the Mets and the Brewers but the Mets ultimately passed on Gio. The official reason was something like the Mets see Gio as only a marginal upgrade over Vargas (and if you do a quick search on that phrase on twitter you’ll be inundated with stats that prove otherwise). So Gio’s first major league start in 2019 is against the team that passed him up. Last year he split time with the Nationals and Brewers tossing 27 games over 145.2 innings with a 4.21 ERA, 4.16 FIP, 1.444 WHIP and 100 ERA+. Specifically with the Brewers he started 5 games, 25.1 innings with a 2.13 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 0.947 WHIP and 196 ERA+. He was quite good against the Mets last year holding the Amazin’s to 4 runs in 17.2 innings despite allowing 21 hits and 5 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Juan Lagares 19-46, 3 2B, 3B, HR, 3 BB, 7 K
• Todd Frazier 4-19, 2 2B, 2 BB, 9 K
• Travis d’Arnaud 4-19, 3 2B, BB, 4 K
• Robinson Cano 1-12, 2 BB, 5 K
• Amed Rosario 2-11, 2B, 2 K
• Keon Broxton 1-6, 2 BB
• Michael Conforto 0-3, BB
• Jeff McNeil 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

I wish I could give you a recap of last night’s game more personal than analyzing a box score, but the Mets made the bizarre decision to force last night’s game in rather than doing a split admission double header today, so the game started around 10 pm. My best guess is the Mets were worried about (financially motivated by) the stress on their infrastructure having a game in the ballpark that would let out tomorrow at the same time people would be queing up for the Noah Syndergaard bobblehead. Anyway the Mets stunk it up last night with the bright spots being McNeil, Cano and Nimmo all collecting two hits in the game. deGrom struggled and then Oswalt struggled after and then 7 innings went by the the Mets allowing 9 runs.

Hopefully today is much better as Syndergaard is pitching (I don’t remember the last time that a pitcher started on their bobblehead day, that’s nifty). He’s 1-2 over his 5 starts this season in 29.0 innings leading to a 5.90 ERA, 2.94 FIP, 1.276 WHIP and 66 ERA+. It’s interesting how the peripheral stats are all telling a different story for Syndergaard, it suggests at minimum a return to his mean performance soon. In two starts against the Brewers last year he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned over 11.1 innings with a 2.38 ERA. The Brewers have the following numbers against him:

• Christian Yelich 3-17, 2B, 6 K
• Lorenzo Cain 3-13, BB, 4 K
• Yasmani Grandal 1-8, hR, BB, 3 K
• Ryan Braun 1-6, 2 K
• Mike Moustakas 1-6, K
• Travis Shaw 2-5, HR
• Jesus Sguilar 1-4, 2 K

The Mets bats will get a look at Brandon Woodruff tonight who is 2-1 over 5 starts and 26.1 innings with a 5.81 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.481 WHIP and a 76 ERA+. He’s coming off of his worst start of the season where he allowed 5 runs from 7 hits and 3 walks over 5.2 innings which was on the heals of his best start of the season where he allowed 2 runs over 5.2 innings. He has never faced the Mets before and the only batter on the Mets who has seen him in a major league game is Wilson Ramos who is 1-3.

Let’s Go Mets!

Happy deGrom day! Finally! The Mets get their ace back tonight as they take on the Brewers in Queens. The off day yesterday was still filled with Mets news as the league decided to suspend Rhame for throwing at Rhys, even though it is still debatable if he even threw at Rhys and Rhame had a perfect, deescalating reaction to Rhys’ slow trot around the bases (something like – if I make a better pitch then he doesn’t get to do that). Hopefully this is the end of this non-controversy.

Anyway, Jacob is back! Jacob is 2-2 over 4 games and 22.0 innings with a 3.68 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 1.273 WHIP and 107 ERA+. He missed the Brewers completely last year and in 2017 did not fare well against them allowing 11 runs off 16 hits and 6 walks in 10.0 innings. The Brewers have the following numbers against Jacob:

• Christian Yelich 14-32, 2 2B, 2 BB, 6 K
• Yasmani Grandal 3-18, 2B, BB, 4 K
• Ryan Braun 0-10, BB, 3 K
• Hernan Perez 3-9, 2 2B
• Travis Shaw 3-7, 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Eric Thames 3-5, 2B, HR, BB, 2 K
• Jesus Aguilar 1-3, 2B
• Lorenzo Cain 0-3
• Mike Moustakas 1-2, BB

The Mets bats after disappearing on Wednesday night will try to find themselves tonight against Chase Anderson who is 2-0 in 6 games and 1 start tossing 15.0 innings with a 3.00 ERA, 4.51 FIP, 1.133 WHIP and 150 ERA+. His last time out was his first start and it was a good one holding the Dodgers scoreless and to 1 hit over 5.0 innings. Chase started against the Mets twice last season allowing 6 runs over 10.0 innings from 9 hits and 5 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against Chase:

• Michael Conforto 2-9, 2 HR, BB, 3 K
• Todd Frazier 0-10, BB, 4 K
• Juan Lagares 3-5, HR
• Brandon Nimmo 1-2, HR, BB, K
• Amed Rosario 1-3
• Robinson Cano 0-1

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets go for the sweep tonight before the off-day against Philly! Last night the Mets fired on all cylinders as they beat the Phillies 9-0. Through the first 5 innings, the game was the Zack Wheeler show as he recorded 11 strikeouts, had 2 hits including a homer and a double and recorded 3 RBI, or 3 of the Mets 4 runs. Then in the 6th Todd Frazier hit a Grand Slam that put the game away for the Mets. Last night’s win means that no matter what happens tonight, the Mets will at least tie their season record against the Phillies.

The game also got a little chippy/chirpy last night in the 9th inning which will be something to watch for today. The Phillies were already upset about the bad umpiring from Monday night, which led to Harper being ejected and then Arrieta making comments about Harper being ejected. In the 9th inning last night, Rhame almost hit Hoskins, who took it as he was being thrown at on purpose. Benches cleared but stayed towards the dugout. Important to note: the Mets were winning 9-0, had no reason to throw at Rhys and Rhame notoriously has control issues. Ball 4 to Hoskins could also be interpreted as Rhame throwing at Rhys (if you’re a Phillies fan or Hoskins). To everyone else it looked like Rhame still demonstrating a lack of control. Maybe this is a non-issue that the Phillies use to band together tonight.

For the Mets, they send out Jason Vargas who’s a bonding moment for fans and teammates in different ways. Over 10.1 innings, 4 games and 3 starts this year he has a 9.58 ERA, 7.75 FIP, 2.323 WHIP and a 42 ERA+. His last start was a step forward – allowing 1 run over 4.0 innings against the Cardinals that lowered his ERA from 14.21 to 9.58. He did average, which is good, in his one start against the Phillies last year holding them to 2 runs over 5.1 innings. The Phillies have the following numbers against him:

• Bryce Harper 0-5, BB
• Cesar Hernandez 1-3
• Rhys Hoskins 1-3
• Scott Kingery 1-2, 2B
• J.T. Realmuto 0-2
• Nick Williams 0-2
• Maikel Franco 0-1
• Andrew McCutchen 0-1

The Mets bats will get their first look at Vince Velasquez who over his first 4 games and 3 starts this year has found his stuff compared to previous years. Last year in 31 games and 30 starts, 146.2 innings, he had a 4.85 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 1.343 WHIP and 86 ERA+. This year in 17.2 innings he has a 2.55 ERA, 4.18 FIP, 0.962 WHIP and 179 ERA+. Last year he faced the Mets twice and allowed 5 runs from 9 hits and 2 walks over 10.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Velasquez:

• Michael Conforto 6-12, 3 HR, 3 BB, 2 K
• Travis d’Arnaud 1-10, 3 K
• Amed Rosario 2-5, 3B
• Robinson Cano 0-2, 2 BB
• Jeff McNeil 2-3
• Dominic Smith 1-3, 2B
• Todd Frazier 0-1
• Brandon Nimmo 1-1, 2B, BB
• Wilson Ramos 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

After what felt like a week of being out of step, the Mets were in-sync last night after a two-hour rain delay and will try to take game two of the series against the Phillies today in the battle of the Zachs/Zacks. Last night the Mets functioned as they were designed to. Matz was strong over 6.0 innings and then Lugo, Familia and Diaz each had a strong inning behind him. For a team that has been struggling with pitching of all kinds the last couple of weeks, it was a welcomed sign.

Tonight it’s Wheeler’s turn to get back on the right track. On the season he has tossed 22.2 innings over 4 starts posting a 6.35 ERA, 4.72 FIP, 1.544 WHIP and 63 ERA+. His last two starts have been a step in the right direction, posting a 3.46 ERA over 13.0 innings. His last start was the first of the season against the Phillies where he allowed 3 runs over 7.0 innings from 5 hits and 3 walks but also two homers. The Phillies have the following numbers against him:

• Bryce Harper 5-28, HR, 4 BB, 11 K
• Cesar Hernandez 8-16, HR, BB, 4 K
• Odubel Herrera 2-13, HR, 2 BB, 5 K
• Maikel Franco 1-9, HR, 2 BB
• J.T. Realmuto 5-11, 2B, 2 K
• Rhys Hoskins 1-9, BB, 3 K
• Andrew McCutchen 2-9, 2B, HR, BB, K
• Scott Kingery 1-6, HR, 2 K

The Mets will get their first 2019 look at Zach Eflin tonight who is 2-2 over 4 starts and 22.0 innings with a 3.68 ERA, 4.77 FIP, 1.364 WHIP and 93 ERA+. In his first two starts of the season he was dominant allowing only 1 run over 12.0 innings, then he allowed 6 runs off 10 hits in 4.0 innings against the Marlins. He had an average start his last time in Colorado allowing 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.0 innings. He faced the Mets 4 times last year allowing 13 runs over 19.2 innings (5.95 ERA) from 19 hits and 9 walks while striking out 23. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Michael Conforto 3-16, 2B, HR, BB, 4 K
• Amed Rosario 5-11, 3 2B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-7, 2B, 3B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-7, 2 BB
• Dominic Smith 1-6, BB
• Todd Frazier 2-4, HR, 2 K
• Robinson Cano 3-3, HR

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets return home tonight after dropping a series against the Phillies and the Cardinals only to face the Phillies again. Syndergaard struggled again yesterday allowing 6 runs, 4 earned over 5.0 innings and luckily for the Mets Gsellman came in and tossed 3.0 perfect innings not only to keep the Mets in the game but to save the bullpen. In addition to the Mets pitching woes, the Mets fielding woes continued with Rosario recording to errors on the day which puts him at 5 on the year.

The Mets offense yesterday came as four solo homers from Conforto, Alonso, Cano and Syndergaard furthering the narrative that 2019 is the year of the homer.

Stven Matz will look to put the Mets back on track. His last start was one to forget as a combination of just not having it + the defense behind him led to the Phillies scoring 8 runs in the first inning without recording an out. With the game now at Citi Field, this should be a little tougher for the Phillies to replicate. On the season, mainly due to that game, Matz has allowed 13 runs, 9 earned over 16.1 innings leading to a 4.96 ERA, 5.24 FIP, 1.347 WHIP and 82 ERA+. The Phillies have the following numbers against him:

• Bryce Harper 4-17, 2 2B, 3 BB, 3 K
• Cesar Hernandez 3-9, 5 BB, 2 K
• Rhys Hoskins 1-10, HR, 2 BB, K
• J.T. Realmuto 4-10, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Aaron Altherr 1-6, 2B, 2 BB
• Scott Kingery 4-8, 2 HR
• Maikel Franco 3-6, HR
• Odubel Herrera 1-5, BB
• Andrew McCutchen 2-5, BB

The Mets bats draw Jake Arrieta who last Wednesday tossed a stellar game against them holding the Mets to 2 runs over 8.0 innings from 6 hits and 2 walks. On the season he is 3-1 over 4 games and 28.0 innings with a 2.25 ERA, 4.70 FIP, 1.107 WHIP and 199 ERA+. The Mets have the following numbers against Jake:

• Robinson Cano 5-25, 2 2B, 4 BB, 5 K
• Todd Frazier 7-23, 2B, 2 HR, 8 K
• Michael Conforto 4-15, HR, 2 BB, 4 K
• Amed Rosario 0-10, K
• Travis d’Arnaud 3-9, BB
• Jeff McNeil 5-10, 2B
• Wilson Ramos 4-7, 2 BB
• Keon Broxton 0-9, 4 K
• Brandon Nimmo 2-7, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 1-4, K

Let’s Go Mets!

Yesterday just was not the day for the Mets. Chris Flexen looked good after the first inning and then everything fell apart as the Mets just got crushed. So now the Mets find themselves with an important rubber game. If they win today, they take the series and don’t drop the series after dropping the series against the Phillies. A loss today would push the Mets only 1 game above .500.

More important than that, the Mets bullpen needs a breather. Daniel Zamora was recalled to replace Chris Flexen and credit to Flexen for lasting as long as he did in yesterday’s game. Syndergaard has to do a lot today: lead this team and save the pen.

Through 4 starts this season Syndergaard has allowed 15 runs over 24.0 innings from 22 hits and 5 walks, a 5.63 ERA, 3.03 FIP, 1.125 WHIP and a 71 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed 9 runs over 12.0 innings. In two starts against the Cardinals last year he allowed 6 runs, 5 earned over 13.1 innings from 12 hits and 2 walks while striking out 17. The Cardinals have the following numbers against Syndergaard:

• Marcell Ozuna 4-20, HR, 7 K
• Paul Goldschmidt 3-11, BB, 4 K
• Dexter Fowler 1-11, BB, 5 K
• Matt Carpenter 2-10, 2B, 2 K
• Yadier Molina 3-10, 2B, HR, 2 K
• Kolten Wong 1-8, 2 K
• Jedd Gyorko 1-7, HR, 3 K
• Jose Martinez 3-6, HR
• Paul DeJong 3-5, 2B

The Mets draw young, Dakota Hudson for the series finale. This season he has pitched in 4 games, 3 starts totaling 13.1 innings allowing 10 runs, 9 earned from 21 hits and 10 walks posting a 6.08 ERA, 8.24 FIP, 2.325 WHIP, and a 70 ERA+. For Dakota, his first start was a mess, then he was fine for two outings and his last start was a mess, allowing 6 runs over 3.2 innings. He has never faced the Mets nor has he faced any Mets players while they were with other teams.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets survived a Vargas start yesterday and escaped with a win! Now they’ll have to push through a Chris Flexen start to string together a couple of wins. Vargas didn’t last incredibly long yesterday, but was able to hold the Cardinals to only 1 run. On the other side of the ball, Cano had a good game with three hits and Pete Alonso reached across the strike zone to defend it with 2-strikes and ended up launching the ball deep into center field.

Vargas only lasting 4 innings is a concern for today with Chris Flexen on the mound who under normal, spot-start circumstances (if there is such a thing) would ask him to go about 4-5 innings. This will put pressure on Syndergaard tomorrow to save the bullpen but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

This is Chris Flexen’s first start of 2019 and the first time we’ll see him in the majors since he lost a good chunk of weight. In Major League Spring Training this year he tossed 2.1 innings over 3 games and allowed only 1 hit while striking out 2. In Syracuse this year he has allowed 7 runs over 12.0 innings from 11 hits (due to 3 homers). As a plus side, his strikeouts are way up, recording 18 in his first two starts. He has never done that. Last year he pitched in 4 games and 6.1 innings allowing 13 runs, 9 earned and in 2017 he pitched in 14 games and 48.0 innings posting a 7.88 ERA. There are only two Cardinals who have seen Flexen before when they were members of other teams. Ozuna is 0-1 with 2 walks and Goldschmidt is 1-3 with a strikeout.

The Mets bats will look to make things easier for Flexen by putting up runs against Miles Mikolas. In his first four starts of the season eh has allowed 15 runs, 14 earned over 21.0 innings leading to a 6.00 ERA, 6.26 FIP, 1.381 WHIP and a 70 ERA+. He is coming off a tremendous year where he went 18-4 over 32 starts and 200.2 innings posting a 2.83 ERA, 3.28 FIP, 1.071 WHIP and a 137 ERA+. The last four stats are amazing considering he led the league in hits allowed at 186 but he only walked 29 batters. He has never faced the Mets but several players on the Mets roster have seen him. The problem is several of them are injured:

• Robinson Cano 1-3
• Yoenis Cespedes 1-3, 2B
• Jed Lowrie 0-2, BB
• Keon Broxton 0-2
• Todd Frazier 1-1, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have only played two games this season against teams not in the NL East, and they will more than double that amount after this weekend as they start a three game series with the Cardinals. The Mets are coming off a series loss to the Phillies in Philly. On Tuesday they were thumped on 14-3 and on Wednesday they lost 3-2 with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth.

Now the Mets turn to Jason Vargas to get them back on the right track. Originally, the Mets were going to skip him in the rotation but Jacob is dealing with strep, so here’s Jason. Yay. On the season he has allowed 10 runs over 6.1 innings leading to a 14.21 ERA, 8.16 FIP, 2.842 WHIP and 30 ERA+. The numbers are more stark if you get to the game by game level. After a good start on April 2nd, where he allowed 2 runs over 5.0 innings, he allowed 8 runs over 1.1 innings between an inning of a relief and a start where he could only get 1 out. The Cardinals have the following numbers against Jason:

• Matt Wieters 6-23, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Yadier Molina 5-11, 2B, HR, BB
• Dexter Fowler 3-8, 3 2B
• Matt Carpenter 5-5, 2B, BB
• Paul Goldschmidt 2-7, HR, 2 K

The Mets bats draw Adam Wainwright for the first game of the series. In his three starts this season he has tossed 16.0 innings with a 3.94 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 1.125 WHIP and 110 ERA+. Last year in a shortened season, Adam tossed 40.1 innings over 8 games with a 4.46 ERA, 4.28 FIP, 1.463 WHIP and a 88 ERA+. He missed the Mets in 2018 but in 2017 he pitched against the Mets twice holding them to 4 runs, 3 earned, over 12.1 innings from 11 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10. The Mets have the following numbers against Adam:

• Todd Frazier 7-25, 2 2B, HR, 3 BB, 4 K
• Keon Broxton 7-9, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, BB, K
• Travis d’Arnaud 2-9, BB
• Michael Conforto 1-5, HR, BB, K
• Wilson Ramos 1-4

Let’s Go Mets!