I had this at Citi Field, but I could have also had this at MCU Park in Brooklyn:
Ignore my shorts.
It’s hard not to love these rice balls filled with pesto, ragu, mac and cheese, etc. The sweeter, nutella filled one, dusted with cinnamon is popular but not my style.
Equally as fun: watching couples order them, one person eating half o them while the other is away, and the ensuing argument (like quite literally eat half, like leaving half a rice ball six time).
The Mets started yesterday off with good news: deGrom is going to play catch this weekend and will be monitored for his start on Monday. While we have been conditioned the last several years to not believe any good news about an injury, this resurrection of the Mets’ savior helped Mets forget about the last 12 hours of being a Mets fan. Then yesterday’s game happened. The bats were silent. Like almost no-hit silent. Vargas got lit up for a second straight start and the Mets got swept. It was pretty bad.
Now the Mets turn to Zack Wheeler to get the team back on the right track as they welcome the Rockies into town. Wheeler is 2-1 over 4 starts and 22.0 innings this year with a 4.09 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 1.318 WHIP and 94 ERA+. His last start was one of the better ones this season where he allowed 2 runs off 6 hits and 2 walks in 5.0 innings of work against the Padres in a game the Mets eventually won 14-2. Wheeler hasn’t faced the Rockies since a start at Colorado in 2014 where he allowed 7 runs, 4 earned over 4.0 innings from 6 hits and 2 walks. The Rockies have the following numbers on Zack:
The Mets bats will get a look at the young Rockies starter German Marquez who is making his 7th start on the season. So far he is 1-3 over 28.0 innings with a 5.14 ERA, 4.08 FIP, 1.571 WHIP and 89 ERA+. He is coming off one of his better starts of the season where he allowed 3 runs, 1 earned over 6.0 innings in Miami. This was preceded by one of his worst starts of the season where he allowed 6 runs over 3.1 innings to the Cubs (the Braves also hit him up for 7 runs in 4.2 innings on April 6th). He made one start against the Mets last year where he allowed 3 runs from 6 hits and 3 walks in 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers on German:
Let’s Go Mets!
Last night was just terrible for the Mets. Through 4 innings the Mets were breezing with deGrom on the mound, although the offense wasn’t doing anything. Then deGrom didn’t come out with an apparent injury, and later it was revealed that he had a hyperextended elbow AND THEN the Mets allowed 7 runs and lost 7-0.
The Mets will try to get some good news back, and first place back, with Jason Vargas on the mound, who is coming off a disastrous first start of the season where he allowed 9 runs over 3.2 innings from 2 homers, 9 total hits, and 3 walks while striking out 5. He has faced a few members of the Braves lineup, mostly when the players were with other ball clubs:
The Mets bats will get a look at Julio Teheran who caused the rotation shuffle earlier this week due to upper-back tightness. On the season he is 1-1 over 6 games and 30.0 innings posting a 4.50 ERA, 5.54 FIP, 1.400 WHIP and 127 ERA+. He is coming off a short start where he allowed 3 runs over 3.0 innings from 2 hits (including a homer). His best start of the season by far was against the Mets where he shut them out for 7.0 innings allowing 4 hits and a walk while striking out 6. The Mets have the following numbers against Julio:
Let’s Go Mets!
The Mets lost a tough game last night 3-2 as they fell to 1-3 on the season against the Braves. The Braves pushed Sean Newcomb back in the rotation a day, called up a kid making his major league debut against the Mets (and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, except you can’t because you’re reading this and this isn’t a conversation yet, see the game thread below for that) and baffled the Mets line up. The hero of the night for the Mets would be Cespedes who got three hits including a homer.
The Mets look to Jacob deGrom to make it all better. He’s 3-0 on the season over 6 starts and 39.1 innings with a 2.06 ERA, 2.33 FIP, 1.042 WHIP and 188 ERA+. In his last two starts he has thrown 14.1 innings of scoreless baseball allowing 9 hits and 5 walks while striking out 18. One of those starts was against the Braves where he held them to 4 hits over 7.0 innings while striking them out 10 times. The Braves have the following numbers against deGrom:
It was misleading earlier to say that Sean Newcomb was pushed back a day and that’s why Mike Soroka got the start yesterday. The Braves wanted to give Teheran an extra day of rest for his back and the best solution for the Braves right now was to have Soroka pitch, and his time to do so was yesterday, so Sean Newcomb got pushed back as well (not that he would complain about an extra day of rest).
In 5 starts this season Sean has pitched 27.2 innings with a 4.23 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 1.482 WHIP and 91 ERA+. He is coming off his second worst start of the season where he allowed 4 ER over 6.0 innings vs the Reds from 5 hits and 3 walks. In his one start against the Mets this year he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.0 innings while walking 3 and striking out 5. The Mets have the following numbers against Sean:
Let’s Go Mets!
One month into the season and the National League East is not what national pundits thought it would be. The prevailing thought amount national commentators and outlets was the Washington Nationals were going to run the division, the Mets could have an outside shot at a Wild Card, the Braves and Phillies would struggle but are on the rise and the Marlins will just be bad.
There has always been an east coast bias for baseball. If Trout played for an East Coast team he would have an even more tremendous following than he does now. However this year may be an example of the I-95 corridor bias. Teams in the East, in the big cities get the coverage. Players like Freddie Freeman, or the great outfield the Marlins used to have (New York, St. Louis and Milwaukee), get ignored overall.
Heading into the season there was an interesting trend for local coverage of NL East teams. Pundits in New York were talking about the Mets getting at least the Wild Card. In Philly, it was about how the Phillies are dark horse team. In Atlanta, the focus was on a core of stars with a core of young players on the rise (think 2005 or 2006 Mets).
Now we are a month into the season with the Mets on top, the Braves 1.5 games behind them and the Phillies half a game behind the Braves. The Nationals are three games under .500 but they haven’t gotten healthy yet. Which team is for real?
New York Mets:
Positives: The bullpen for the Mets, outside of a few games, has been fantastic. It was a question mark coming into the season and has had an injury to a key piece most of the season with Anthony Swarzak. The starting rotation hasn’t gone deep into many games so this fantastic record the Mets have is due to the bullpen holding the door shut most days.
Negatives: Outside of deGrom and Syndergaard the rotation has been bad. Matz has lost his touch, Harvey still looks like last year Harvey’s, and Wheeler has slipped. In Vargas’s first start he allowed 9 runs.
Atlanta Braves
Positives: The offense that was supposed to be good last year, is good this year! Freeman is an MVP hiding in plain site. Albies has arrived. Swanson has arrived. Markakis is quietly putting together a strong offensive year.
Negatives: They need more consistency out of their rotation. Anibal is out on injury. If the back end of their rotation gets right and healthy and Teheran becomes the All-Star he used to be, they could be the real deal.
Philadelphia Phillies
Positives: After a dreadful start, the Phillies rebounded winning game after game finishing the month with a 16-11 record.
Negatives: No clue if they can keep this up. They have looked bad against the Braves and Mets. They are a step behind the Braves in both talent coming up and stars they have now. Out of the group, this is the team least likely to cause a ruckus for a prolonged period of time.
Washington Nationals
Positives: They still have Harper, they are only a few games below .500 and they should be getting healthy soon.
Negatives: At some point they will need to turn it around and if the Braves and Mets keep playing like they are, that’s a lot of ground to make up. On paper they still look the best and look the best at prolonged success this season.
The Mets finally return home after being away for 10 games (9 games, one was postponed)! At times, it was a frustrating road trip with late dropped games, gems by starters ruined by the bullpen, starters not starting, etc. But there were come back wins, surges of offense and the Mets still find themselves in first place. One month into the season the NL East has turned into a race between the Braves and the Mets and a good series by the Mets could put some day light between them, a good one by the Braves means they take first place.
Noah Syndergaard gets the nod for the Mets. He’s 2-0 over 6 starts and 34.2 innings with a 2.86 ERA, 2.18 FIP, 1.010 WHIP and 135 ERA+. He is coming off a strong start against the Cardinals where he allowed 2 runs, 1 earned over 7.1 innings while walking no one and striking out 7. His start before that was first of the year against the Braves where he allowed 3 runs over 6.0 innings from 7 hits and no walks while striking out 6. The Braves have the following numbers against Noah:
The Mets bats will get to see Sean Newcomb again. In 5 starts this season he has pitched 27.2 innings with a 4.23 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 1.482 WHIP and 91 ERA+. He is coming off his second worst start of the season where he allowed 4 ER over 6.0 innings vs the Reds from 5 hits and 3 walks. In his one start against the Mets this year he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.0 innings while walking 3 and striking out 5. The Mets have the following numbers against Sean:
Let’s Go Mets!
Yesterday did not go the way the Mets planned it in their head. Jason Vargas was supposed to be the steady, innings eater on the team. Not fantastic, but not terrible. The type of pitcher that if the team scored the average amount of runs they should in a game, the Mets should have a 50/50 chance of the winning the game. That wasn’t in the cards last night as the Padres lit up Vargas and now the Mets find themselves looking at Zack Wheeler to salvage the series win.
Wheeler is 1-1 over 3 games and 17.0 innings with 8 ER from 15 hits and 6 walks this year leading to a 4.24 ERA, 4.53 FIP, 1.235 WHIP and 92 ERA+. After his dominate first start, pitching 7.0 innings allowing 1 run, he was average in his next start allowing 3 over 6.0 and he was bad in his last start allowing 4 over 4.0. The last time he saw the Padres was back in 2014 where he allowed 5 runs off 14 hits and 4 walks in 11.0 innings while striking out 11. The Padres have the following numbers against him:
The Mets draw Bryan Mitchell who is 0-2 in 5 starts this year and 25.0 innings with a 5.76 ERA, 6.94 FIP, 1.880 WHIP and 117 ERA+. He has had one great start this year against the Astros where he shut them out in 5.2 innings. In his other games he has allowed 5 over 5.0, 3 over 3.0, 3 over 6.0 and 5 over 5.1. As a member of the Yankees last year, he allowed 4 runs off 3 hits against the Mets with a walk, while recording no outs. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Lets Go Mets!
In his last two starts, Jacob deGrom was masterful through 7 innings. Then in one start he kicked off the 8th inning a bad way and the bullpen had a historic meltdown. In the next start the bullpen had a meltdown on their own in the 8th inning. Last night broke the trend! Jacob dominated through 7.1 innings and the bullpen held the game together as the Mets took the opener in the series from the Padres.
Jason Vargas will finally make his Mets debut tonight after breaking his catching hand in Spring Training. Jason, signed to increase the depth of the Mets rotation, now becomes a critical piece as Harvey has landed himself in the bullpen and Matz and Wheeler are raising questions again. Last year, an All-Star season, Jason went 18-11 over 32 games and 179.2 innings posting a 4.16 ERA, 4.67 FIP, 1.330 WHIP and 109 ERA+. If he sounds familiar to you, like you swear you’ve seen him in the orange in blue, well first, you’re correct, and second, thanks for following the Mets for over 10 years! Vargas pitched 10.1 innings for the Mets in 2007 leading to 14 ER from 17 hits and 2 walks. He has made one career start in San Diego where he allowed 2 runs from 7 hits and 2 walks in 6.0 innings. The Padres have the following numbers against him:
The Mets bats will face Joey Lucchesi tonight for the first time. The rookie is 2-1 over 5 games and 26.2 innings with a 2.70 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.125 WHIP and 141 ERA+. He’s coming off his worst start of the season allowing 4 runs in 5.0 innings from 5 hits and 4 walks. His first start of the season also wasn’t the best, which combined with his ERA/FIP/WHIP numbers let you know how dominate he was in starts 2-4. Joey was 11-7 in 139.0 innings last year in the minors with a 2.20 ERA and 2.78 RAvg striking out 148 batters and walking only 33. He split the season in High A and AA. The Padres, seeing something the rest of the world was just starting to (he was a fringe top 100 prospect if that at the time) moved him to start the second game of the season this year.
Let’s Go Mets!
The Bristol (TN/VA) Pirates provided one of the best places I’ve ever seen a minor league baseball game at. Probably because the game was played with Blue Ridge Mountains as a back drop. Stunning.
When I went to the game, the local high school band was running the concession stand. I ordered the Crow’s Nest (get it? Bristol PIRATES?)
Essentially, it’s a walking taco featuring fritos and paper container rather the bag of chips itself. It’s also delicious.
The Mets luck with come back wins in extra innings was going to come to an end soon and soon decided to come yesterday. The Mets found themselves in a gem of a pitching match-up between Noah Syndergaard and Carlos Martinez. Both team’s bullpens faltered late in the game and the Mets and Cards played free baseball for the matinee crowd in St. Louis. After the Mets took the lead, they promptly gave it back up and game toiled along for a few more innings until it came to its inevitable end in the 13th. I think I speak for many people when I say: It’s a relief the Mets don’t match up again with the Cardinals for the rest of the regular season.
Anyway, the Mets head to the most perfect place in the United States tonight: San Diego. Jacob deGrom will get the start, he’s 2-0 over 5 starts and 32.0 innings with a 2.53 ERA, 2.35 FIP, 1.031 WHIP and a 154 ERA+. His last start may be his best as he allowed no runs off 4 hits and 2 walks in 7.0 innings with 10 K’s, his second game in a row with at least double digit strikeouts. Last year in San Diego Jacob held the Padres to 2 runs off 2 hit sand 5 hits over 8.0 innings with 8 K’s. The Padres have the following numbers against Jacob:
The Mets’ bats will see veteran Clayton Richard tonight who is 1-2 over 5 starts and 27.0 innings with a 5.67 ERA, 5.42 FIP, 1.630 WHIP and 68 ERA+. His first start was by far his best of the season where he went 7.0 innings allowing 1 run, he has a 7.20 ERA in 20.0 innings in his last four starts. Last season he was 8-15 over 32 starts pitching 197.1 innings with a 4.79 ERA, 4.23 FIP, 1.515 WHIP and 87 ERA+. He did lead the league last year in losses (15, although not the best stat), hits (240), and complete games (2, which I’m assuming a handful of pitchers had). Last year against the Mets he allowed 5 runs from 12 hits and 2 walks over 8.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Clayton:
Let’s Go Mets!