213 Miles From Shea

Maybe the Mets just need a change of scenery right now. For the second game in a row the Mets got a great start from their starting pitcher but could not translate it into a win with a cold offense. Yesterday the Mets went up 2-0 quick and a few winnings later it became 2-2 which it stayed for the majority of the game until the Rockies were able to pull away late and sweep the Mets. Now the Mets will travel to the Reds and hopefully find themselves.

Originally Jacob deGrom was supposed to make his scheduled start tonight but the Mets announced yesterday that deGrom was going to the DL to rest up his hyperextended elbow. It was a mystery for most of the day who would start instead and in the evening the Mets announced that P.J. Conlon, their prospect out of Ireland, will make his major league debut. Conlon is the first player from the Columbia Fireflies organization to make his major league debut and he had a Non-Roster invite to Mets camp in 2017 and 2018. In Vegas this year he has a 6.75 ERA over 5 games and 24.0 innings. The year before in Binghamton he had a 3.38 ERA in 28 games, 22 starts and 136.0 innings. At 213 Miles From Shea we have a deeper preview of him here from this past winter.

The Mets bats will try to find something positive to work with from Homer Bailey who is 0-4 over 7 games and 39.1 innings with a 4.81 ERA, 5.68 FIP, 1.246 WHIP and 83 ERA+. In his last three starts he has allowed 12 runs off 20 hits and 4 walks in 15.2 innings, a 6.89 ERA. He faced the Mets twice last year. The first time he was effective allowing only 2 runs off 4 hits and a walk in 6.0 innings. He lost the game 2-0. The next time he allowed 5 runs over 6.0 innings from 6 hits and 3 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Gonzalez 11-25, 2 2B, 6 HR, BB
• Cabera 5-15, 2B, 2 BB
• Reyes 2-10, 2B
• Cespedes 1-6
• Nimmo 1-5
• Plawecki 2-6, 2B, HR
• Lagares 0-5
• Flores 1-3, 2B
• Frazier 1-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets need some good news today in the worst way. On Friday, after a horrible first inning by Wheeler, the Mets almost came back but fell short. Yesterday the Mets got one of the best starts of the season from Steven Matz, but the bats couldn’t string hits together and the Mets ended up scattering 6 hits and some walks but didn’t score at all, falling 2-0.

Today Noah Syndergaard looks to put the Mets back on track. He’s 2-1 over 7 games and 40.2 innings with a 3.10 ERA, 2.30 FIP (which is close to his 2.29 mark which led the league in 2016), 1.131 WHIP and 124 ERA+. He’s coming off a not Thor-like start against the Braves were he allowed 10 hits and a walk leading to 3 runs over 6.0 innings with only 3 K’s. The last time he faced the Rockies was the last game in July of 2016 where he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, over 6.0 innings. The Rockies got 6 hits and 2 walks walks that day and struck out 6 times. It was also Mike Piazza bobble-head day. The Rockies have the following numbers against Syndergaard:

• Desmond 2-7, BB, 4 K
• Blackmon 1-5, 2B, BB
• Gonzalez 1-6, 2B
• LeMahieu 1-5, HR
• Arenado 1-3, HR
• Dahl 2-3, 2B
• Parra 1-3

The Mets bats will try to wake up against Kyle Freeland today who is 1-4 over 6 games and 34.0 innings with a 4.24 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 1.265 WHIP and 108 ERA+. He faced the Mets in Queens last year where he pitched 3.0 innings of almost perfect, clean relief walking one batter and that’s it. The Mets have the following numbers against Freeland:

• Frazier 0-2, BB
• Gonzalez 2-2
• Lobaton 0-2
• Bruce 0-1
• Cabera 0-1
• Cespedes 0-1
• Conforto 0-1
• Reyes 0-1

Let’s Go Mets!

Late last night I thought the Mets would finally give the Mets some relief from a sad, disappointing day. For a couple of innings, it looked like the Mets were going to make an incredible comeback and for 30 minutes baseball was fun again, not a twisting, painful journey through a nostalgia of hopes. The day started out with the Mets DFA’ing Harvey, ending an era of braggadocio confidence Mets fans had through 2015. Then Wheeler got off to a horrible start last night but somehow lasted 6.0 innings. The Mets bats couldn’t completely dig out of the hole and now the Mets will turn to Steven Matz.

Steven Matz, experiencing back stiffness, will make his start tonight. He is 1-2 over 5 games and 21.2 innings with a 4.98 ERA, 5.43 FIP, 1.292 WHIP, 78 ERA+. He is coming off his worst start of the season 10 days ago where he allowed 7 runs, 3 earned, over 3.1 innings from 5 hits and 2 walks against the Cardinals. Steven’s worst start of last season came against the Rockies in Queens where he allowed 7 runs from 9 hits and 1 walk while only recording 3 outs. Later in the season he had another poor start against the Rockies, but much better than his previous start, where he allowed 3 runs from 6 hits and 2 walks over 5.0 innings. The Rockies have the following numbers against Matz:

• Blackmon 5-8, 2 2B, BB
• Castro 4-9, HR
• Arenado 2-8, 2 HR
• LeMahieu 4-7, 2B
• Story 3-6, 2B
• Gonzalez 1-5, 2B
• Parra 1-3

The Mets bats will get a look at Chad Bettis who is currently performing much better than any of his career numbers. Over 6 years he has a 4.80 ERA, 1.442 WHIP, 98 ERA+. This season he has a 2.43 ERA, 1.054 WHIP and 187 ERA+ over 6 starts. April 23rd was his worst start of the season where he allowed 4 runs over 5.0 innings but he rebounded in his last start allowing 2 runs over 7.0 innings. The last time he faced the Mets was at the end of July in 2016 where he allowed 3 runs over 6.0 innings from 5 hits and 2 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against Bettis:

• Gonzalez 2-14, 2B
• Flores 0-4
• Bruce 2-4, 2B, HR
• Conforto 0-3
• Lagares 2-3, 2B, 3B
• Nimmo 1-2
• Cabera 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

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:

• Desmond 5-17, 2B, HR, 2 BB
• Parra 3-8, BB
• Arenado 0-2, BB
• Blacmon 2-3
• LeMahieu 0-1, BB

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:

• Bruce 0-3
• Cabrera 1-3
• Cespedes 1-3, HR
• Conforto 0-3
• Frazier 1-3, 2B
• Reyes 0-3
• Rosario 1-3, 3B

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:

• Suzuki 8-38, 3 BB, 6 K
• Markakis 5-28, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 7 K
• Flowers 1-7, HR
• Flaherty 3-6, HR

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:

• Bruce 7-31, 2 2B, 2 HE, 4 BB, 6 K
• Cabrera 8-26, 2 2B, 2 BB
• Reyes 6-26, 2 3B, 2 BB
• Lobaton 7-23, 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB
• Flores 3-21, HR
• Gonzalez 5-21, 2B, HR, 3 BB
• Cespedes 4-21, 9 K
• Lagares 4-21, 4 K
• Frazier 3-17, 2B, HR
• Conforto 4-15, HR
• Nimmo 0-1, 2 BB
• Rosario 0-3

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:

• Freeman 8-31, 2 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 9 K
• Markakis 7-25, HR, BB
• Inciarte 5-21, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
• Flowers 3-7
• Swanson 2-6, 3 BB, 3 K
• Albies 0-5, BB
• Suzuki 0-5

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:

• Cabrera 5-12, 2B
• Reyes 1-9, 3 K
• Lagares 0-7, BB, 3 K
• Cespedes 0-5, BB, 2 K
• Conforto 0-3, 2 BB
• Flores 4-6
• Nimmo 0-6
• Bruce 1-3, 2B
• Frazier 0-2
• Nido 1-2
• Rosario 2-2, 2 2B

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:

• Markakis 4-12, 2B, BB
• Freeman 5-12, 2B, 3B, HR, 3 K
• Inciarte 2-8, BB
• Swanson 4-8
• Flowers 1-3
• Albies 1-3, HR
• Flaherty 2-2, 2B

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:

• Cabrera 5-12, 2B
• Reyes 1-9, 3 K
• Lagares 0-7, BB, 3 K
• Cespedes 0-5, BB, 2 K
• Conforto 0-3, 2 BB
• Flores 4-6
• Nimmo 0-6
• Bruce 1-3, 2B
• Frazier 0-2
• Nido 1-2
• Rosario 2-2, 2 2B

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:

• Headley 3-8, 2B
• Galvis 1-6
• Hosmer 0-2
• Ellis 0-2
• Ross 1-2

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:

• Cespedes 0-2
• Gonzalez 0-2
• Cabrera 1-1
• Nimmo 0-0, BB

Lets Go Mets!