213 Miles From Shea

The Mets travel to St. Louis tonight as Jacob deGrom takes on the Cardinals. The Mets last played at 11 AM on Tuesday in a game that was lackluster at best for the Mets. The next night, clouds moved over DC pretty much exactly at game time and dumped on Navy Yards. In normal DC fashion (or at least what fans sitting around me explained as normal), the Nationals didn’t postpone the game until a little after 9 PM although it was clear the rain was going to continue throughout the night. Thus, the Mets circumvented the three game sweep by not playing the 3rd game.

Jacob deGrom is 8-3 over 16 games and 104.0 innings this year with a 3.55 ERA, 3.63 ERA and 1.221 WHIP. Jacob is also in the midst of a great stretch where he is 4-0 in as many games over 32.0 innings allowing only 4 runs, 3 earned while striking out 31 and posting a 0.84 ERA and holding opponents to a .139 batting average. Last year Jacob picked up the loss in one start against the Cardinals after allowing 12 hits and 3 walks over 4.2 innings to St. Louis over 4.2 innings. The Cardinals have the following numbers against him:

• Carpenter 2-9, HR
• Grichuk 2-5, 2B, HR, BB
• Molina 2-5, 2B, BB
• Martinez 1-4
• Gyorko 1-3
• Piscott 2-3, HR

Carlos Martinez is 6-7 over 17 games pitching 111.1 innings with a 3.15 ERA, 3.54 FIP and 1.123 WHIP. Martinez over the last three years has been one of the most consistent pitchers for the Cardinals, especially through the lens of similar stats. That being said, he’s coming off one of his worst starts of the season against the Nationals where he allowed 5 runs over 5.0 innings where he allowed 7 hits and 4 walks. He was 2-0 in as many starts against the Mets last year allowing only 3 runs over 13.0 innings that included 9 hits and 7 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Bruce 2-16, 2B, HR, 3 BB
• Granderson 2-11, 2 BB
• Cespedes 3-9, 2B, HR, BB, 1.178 OPS
• Reyes 2-10
• Fuda 3-7, 2B, BB
• Cabrera 2-4, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

April 13th was a rare night in Miami where the roof was open and it was wonderful.

Snapped this photo in Miami on 4/13/17.

The Mets followed up their close, heartbreaking game on Monday night with an ugly, one sided affair yesterday morning. They will look steal one against the Nationals with Jacob deGrom on the mound. A couple of weeks ago the Mets were in a similar situation where they dropped the first 3 games in a 4 game set against the Nationals and it was Jacob deGrom who bailed them out.

On the season deGrom is 8-3 over 16 games and 104.0 innings with a 3.55 ERA, 3.62 FIP and 1.221 WHIP. Jacob is also in the midst of a great stretch where he is 4-0 in as many games over 32.0 innings allowing only 4 runs, 3 earned while striking out 31 and posting a 0.84 ERA and holding opponents to a .139 batting average. One of those starts was against the Nationals where he held them to 1 run, not earned over 8.0 innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks. The Nationals have the following numbers against deGrom:

• Harper 9-24, 2 2B, HR, 5 BB
• Rendon 0-16, 4 BB, 5 K
• Zimmerman 5-16, 2 HR, 6 K
• Taylor 0-14, BB, 7 K
• Wieters 3-12, HR
• Murphy 3-9
• Lind 1-5, BB

The Mets bats will get a crack at Tanner Roark who is 6-6 over 17 games and 95.2 innings this season with a 5.27 ERA, 4.40 FIP and 1.484 WHIP. In his last four starts he has allowed 22 ER in 16.2 innings over 28 hits and 11 walks. He has an 11.88 ERA over this stretch and batters are hitting .378 against him with a .453 OBP and 1.021 OPS. In his one start against the Mets this year he held the Mets to 3 runs over 6.2 innings allowing 7 hits and 3 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Granderson 9-27, 4 2B, HR, 3 BB
• Duda 4-16, 2B
• Bruce 2-14, 3 BB
• R Rivera 4-16, 2B, BB
• Cespedes 2-13, 2B, 2 BB
• d’Arnaud 1-13, 2 BB
• Flores 2-10, 2B
• Reyes 1-8, 2 BB
• Cabrera 2-8, 2B, BB

Let’s Go Mets!

May 20th was a great night for baseball. Nice sky above the field. Nice fans around the seats.

We are continuing with the sky over Citi Field theme again today. Happy 4th!

Last night was a rough one for the Mets in our nation’s capital, but with an early start today they can put last night behind them. The Mets got an amazing start from Steven Matz, but the Nationals got one as well from Stephen Strasburg. The game was 0-0 going into the 8th when Michael Taylor hit a two run homer to put the Nationals ahead. Their bullpen exploded like usual and Curtis Granderson hit a two run homer to tie the game in the top of the 9th. But the Mets also have bullpen woes and could not lock it down in the bottom of the 9th and may have lost Cespedes to injury to boot.

Seth Lugo gets the early morning game for the Mets. He is 3-1 over 4 games and 25.1 innings this year with a 3.55 ERA, 4.41 FIP and 1.342 WHIP. He is coming off of a good start against Miami where he held the Marlins to 6 hits and 1 walk over 6.0 innings allowing 3 runs, only 2 earned. His second start this season was against the Nationals where he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned off 7 hits and 2 walks in 6.2 innings of work. The National have the following numbers against him:

• Rendon 1-6, BB
• Harper 1-7
• Murphy 2-7, 2B
• Zimmerman 1-6
• Lind 0-3
• Lobaton 2-2, HR, BB

The Mets bats will try to find themselves against Joe Ross who is 4-3 over 11 starts and 63.1 innings this year with a 5.12 ERA, 4.71 FIP and 1.453 WHIP. All three of those stats are at career highs for Joe. He is coming of back to back strong starts where he allowed a combined 3 runs over 13.2 innings with 11 hits and 4 walks. In his first start against the Mets this year he allowed 5 runs off 7 hits and a walk in 4.0 innings and earlier this month he allowed 4 runs, 2 earned, over 6.0 innings off 9 hits and a walk. The Mets have the following numbers against Joe:

• Granderson 3-15
• Flores 3-12
• Duda 4-6, 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB (2.611 OPS)
• Bruce 3-8, HR
• d’Arnaud 3-8
• deGrom 1-5, HR
• Reyes 1-7
• Cespedes 1-6
• TJ Rivera 3-5, 2B
• Cabrera 0-2, BB
• Nimmo 2-3

Let’s Go Mets

Why do the Mets have three different Home Run Derby Hats? Will Conforto wear a different one BP for the Derby, the Derby and BP before the game? Will he make a wardrobe change during the Derby? Maybe it’s to mimic the first few years of the Marlins existence where they had road grays and never donned them on the field.

A constant theme in my baseball pictures is the sky. I love how the sky, the most common backdrop for baseball plays with baseball imagery.

The Mets travel to DC tonight to start a series with the division leaders. Although the Mets lost yesterday, they have won 7 of their last 9 games, which is about what they were doing the last time they faced DC. Then the Nationals took 3 of 4 games from the Mets and then the Mets lost 4 more to the Dodgers, so it will be interesting to see what the Mets do today.

As an important programming note, the Mets are playing at 6:05 today, probably because they are playing at 11 AM tomorrow. On to the preview!

Steven Matz is 2-1 over 4 starts and 27.0 innings this year with a 2.67 ERA, 5.00 FIP and 1.074 WHIp. His FIP continues to be quite high compared to previous years (3.61, 3.39) but his WHIP is low (1.234, 1.209). Matz will face the Nationals today after his best start of the season where he held Miami to to 6 hits and a walk, no runs, over 7.0 innings. When he faced the Nationals earlier this season, he allowed 8 hits and no walks over 7.0 innings leading to 4 runs. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

• Murphy 3-9, 2B, HR
• Rendon 2-9, HR
• Taylor 3-8, HR, BB
• Harper 1-6, BB
• Zimmerman, 0-6
• Raburn 1-3
• Wieters 1-3, HR

The Mets bats will get a look at Strasburg tonight who is 9-2 over 16 starts and 102.2 innings with a 3.51 ERA, 3.10 FIP and 1.101 WHIP. His WHIP has been incredibly consistent over the last three season (1.107, 1.104, 1.101). June was a mixed bag for Stephen. He allowed 2 earned runs or less in 4 of 6 starts (although one start was over 5.1 innings) and he two starts where he allowed more than 5 earned runs. Against the Mets this year he has allowed 5 ER over 12.1 inings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Granderson 3-22, 7 BB (.136 BA, .345 OBP)
• Reyes 6-26, 2 2B, BB
• Duda 2-16, HR, 5 BB (.125 BA, .375 OBP)
• Bruce 8-19, 2B, HR
• d’Arnaud 4-13, HR, 2 BB
• Cespedes 7-12, 2B, BB (1.282 OPS)
• Cabrera 3-12, 2 HR
• R Rivera 0-5
• TJ Rivera 2-5, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!