213 Miles From Shea

Last night was a quintessential Mets night. The Mets had the lead going into the 9th inning and they ended up losing the game in the 10th inning. Many members of the Mets pen are still to on pace for a ridiculous high amount of appearances and they just seem to be running out of gas at this point. On the positive side, both d’Arnaud and Duda had a great night, and the Mets will need all members of the lineup on overdrive until the bullpen can get out of this phase they are in.

Hoping to help the bullpen get some rest tonight is Matt Harvey who is 3-3 over 9 starts and 50.1 innings with a 5.36 ERA, 6.05 FIP and 1.470 WHIP. To put this in perspective, in 2013, he led the league in FIP at 2.01 and his current FIP is nearly double his career numbers. His WHIP is 0.3 points higher than his career number and is nearly identical to last year. He’s coming off a short, but better start where he allowed 3 hits and 4 walks that led to only 2 runs in 5.0 innings, the first time since April 11th, he allowed only 2 runs. The Pirates have the following numbers against him:

• Stewart 0-6
• McCutchen 2-4, HR
• Polanco 1-4, 3B
• Freese 1-3
• Harrison 2-3, 2B
• Mercer 0-3

The Pirates will sent Tyler Glasnow who is 2-3 over 9 starts and 40.1 innings with a 6.69 ERA, 5.31 FIP and 1.934 WHIP. Last year he posted a 4.24 ERA, 4.26 FIP and 1.500 WHIP in 7 games, 4 starts for a total of 23.1 innings. He has been better of late allowing only 4 ER (6 runs total) in his last two starts and 11.0 innings with 10 K’s. Tonight will be his first start against the Mets and his first time facing anyone on the Mets roster in a major league game.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Piazza theme continues here on Mets Picture of the Day. Today’s picture was taken on 7/29/16 at the start of Piazza weekend and the start of what would be a spectacular sky all game long. The Mets played poorly that night, so at least this was nice to look at.

Last weekend of summer? Better spend each day at Citi Field. #MeetTheMatz #PiazzaWeekend #PiazzaStock

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Jul 29, 2016 at 5:00pm PDT

For maybe the first time all season, the Mets had a game last night like they drew it up in Spring Training. The Mets offense was on overdrive behind Neil Walker who continued his May turn up month knocking in two homers and recording 4 RBI’s and Duda smacked two doubles. On the mound deGrom was dominant  over 8.1 innings allowing only 6 hit sand a walk while striking out 10. Hopefully the Mets can do it again tonight as they try to get their season rolling.

Wheeler is 3-2 over 8 starts and 43.1 innings posting a 3.74 ERA, 4.20 FIP and a 1.292 WHIP. In his last four official starts (remember there was a non-start in this time too that was good, but rained out), Wheeler is 2-0 over 21.2 innings with 19 K’s and a 2.08 ERA. He has never faced the Pirates before and the only Pirate who has seen him in a major league game is Jaso who is 2-4 with a double and a walk.

The Mets bats draw Gerrit Cole who is 2-5 over 10 starts and 61.2 innings with at 3.36 ERA, 3.91 FIP, and 1.119 WHIP. By ERA standards he is off to a normal season and his WHIP has returned to his career number after it was way above normal last year. His FIP though is nearly a full run higher than his career average. He is coming off of his worst start since Opening Day where he allowed 5 runs and 10 hits over 4.2 innings. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2015 where he recorded a win over 8.1 innings where he allowed 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 10 (coincidentally – Cole’s pitching line for this game is nearly identical to deGrom’s line from last night). The Mets have the following numbers against Cole:

• Bruce 5-17, 2 2B, 2 BB
• Granderson 1-6, BB
• Duda 1-6
• R Rivera 0-4, BB
• Flores 1-3
• Lagares 1-3
• Reyes 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day is a style of picture I’ve become slightly obsessed with making at sporting events, stitching pictures of the sky together as the game unfolds. This one was taken on the Eve of the Piazza retirement ceremony, 7/29/16. Enjoy!

Tonight at the @Mets game. #nikonvision

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Jul 29, 2016 at 6:09pm PDT

The Mets have had a frustrating past two days where they lost two games against a glorified Triple A team, which speaks volumes about our team as well. Last night the Mets made a late move to start Montero instead of deGrom due to the rain, but the game ended up happening anyway and the Mets ended up losing. At least it allows the Mets to skip Milone’s spot in the rotation this weekend without needing to tax the pen or tap Las Vegas again.

Jacob deGrom is 3-1 over 9 starts and 55.2 innings with a 3.56 ERA, 3.23 FIP and 1.311 WHIP. He is coming off of his best start of the season where he allowed 4 hits and 3 walks over 7.0 innings while striking out 9. Last year he made back to back starts against the Padres going 0-2 allowing 5 runs off 12 hits and 1 walk in 12.0 innings of work while striking out 18 batters. The Pirates have the following numbers against deGrom:

• McCutchen 3-11, BB
• Mercer 3-11
• Jaso 1-9, 2B
• Harrison 1-8
• Stewart 2-4
• Nicasio 1-2
• Marinez 0-1

Chad Kuhl is 1-4 this season over 9 starts and 40.0 innings with a 5.85 ERA, 3.78 FIP and 1.600 WHIP. He had two bad starts in a row in May totaling 10 runs over 9.0 innings with 16 hits and 3 walks. He rebounded in his last start allowing only 1 hit and 2 walks over 5.0 innings of work and no runs (by far his best start of the season). This has pretty much been Kuhl’s season. He lasts between 4-5 innings (reaching 6 or 6+ twice, both near the start of April) and he’s generally right around average. He also has games when he completely blows up. Chad has never faced the Mets or anyone on the Mets roster.

Let’s Go Mets!

I’m blending the definition of picture of the day today to be a video! I took this on 7/30/16 as the Mets revealed the 31 at top of Citi. Enjoy!

Forever Piazza! Thanks for the Memories! #PiazzaStock #HappyNumberRetirementDay

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Jul 30, 2016 at 4:08pm PDT

Last night’s game was a microcosm of this season for the Mets. The Mets got out to a 5-1 lead, thanks to a bases clearing double by Wilmer Flores. Gsellman was good, but not great (a microcosm for our starting pitching) and was taken out of the game after 6 (another part of the microcosm). Terry then blew through several relievers relying more on lefty/righty matchups then recent performance (yet another part of the microcosm) working in a ton of players (yet again, another part). The Mets then loaded the bases down a run with no outs in the 9th and didn’t anything with it. Also Conforto got on a base a bunch during this game, a positive theme for the season.

Jacob deGrom will try to help the Mets forget about as he takes the mound to help the Mets take the series. He’s 3-1 over 9 starts and 55.2 innings this year with a 3.56 ERA, 3.23 FIP and 1.311 WHIP. He’s coming off of his best start of the season where he pitched 7.0 innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 walks with 9 strikeouts and no runs. He was 0-1 in two starts against the Padres last year allowing 11 hits and 2 walks in 12.0 innings leading to 4 runs and 11 K’s. The Padres have the following numbers against deGrom:

• Solarte 1-9, HR
• Myers 1-6, HR
• Aybar 0-4
• d’Arnaud 0-4
• Szczur 1-1

In a late afternoon announcement, near game time (a trend this year), the Mets have announced that Rafael Montero will be starting tonight due to weather concerns for deGrom. On the positive side, the Mets won’t have a situation (against the Padres, again thank you 2015) to send a pitcher BACK out to pitch after a rain delay that they need to keep healthy and the Mets won’t have a situation where a main piece of the starting rotation could possibly make a meaningless start. On the downside, it means we get the unpredictability (unreliability?) of Montero. Montero is 0-3 this year over 12 games and 1 start in 16.2 innings of work with a 8.10 ERA, 5.38 FIP and 2.520 WHIP. His last two seasons he has posted an above 2 WHIP which tells the story of Monetero. The only current Padre who has seen him in a game is Solarte, who is 1-2 with a homer and a walk.

The Mets bats will see Dinelson Lamet make his major league debut tonight. The 24 year old has spent the entire year so far in El Paso where he is 3-2 over 8 starts with a 3.23 ERA and a 1.333 WHIP over 39.0 innings. Last year he was 12-10 with a 3.36 ERA and 1.247 WHIP over 150.0 innings across three levels of minor league ball (advanced A, AA and AAA). He actually has moved pretty quickly since starting professional ball with the Padres (probably due to his age). He first pitched in the Dominican Summer league in 2014 at 21 years old and the next year moved to low A at Fort Wayne. The following year, last year, was when he skyrocketed through the system and now he’s making his debut in Queens.

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day I snapped during Piazza weekend last July (7/31/16). I sometimes get to games extremely early and this time I saw the Mets delivery popcorn around the concourse. Enjoy!

Popcorn Delivery!

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Jul 31, 2016 at 8:53am PDT

Last night the New York Michael Confortos New York Mets beat the Padres 9-3 thanks in large part to a gigantic 1st inning where Conforto started the game with a lead-off homer and at the end of the inning hit a 2-run single. He would later add another homer in the game as he continues to be the most exciting player in the Mets lineup. The Mets look to continue last night’s vibes against Jarred Cosart tonight against Robert Gsellman.

Gsellman is 2-3 over 10 games and 7 starts as he returns to the rotation with 38.2 innings of work, a 6.75 ERA, 4.56 FIP and a 1.733 WHIP. He left the rotation on May 13th after allowing 9 hits and 6 runs to the Brewers over 4.0 innings. Four days later he allowed 1 run in one inning of work against the Diamondbacks and then three days after that, he allowed no runs over 2.0 inning against the Angels (before the rest of the pen made that game scary). Not surprisingly considering Gsellman’s service time, he has not faced the Padres in his career or any one on the Padre’s roster in a major league game.

The Mets draw Jarred Cosart, formerly of the Miami Marlins and Houston Astros, who is 0-1 over 4 games and 3 starts this year totaling 13.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA, 3.78 FIP and 1.500 WHIP. Last year he pitched in two games against the Mets totaling 10.2 innings with 7 hits and 5 walks allowing 4 runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Cosart:

• Granderson 0-17, BB
• Flores 5-13, 2B, HR, 1.077 OPS
• Duda 3-8, 2 2B, 3 BB, 1.170 OPS
• Lagares 3-7, BB
• Bruce 1-5, BB
• Reyes 0-3, 3 BB
• Conforto 2-3, 2 2B, BB

Lets Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day comes from the Upper Deck Promenade at Citi Field during Syndergaard’s start on 7/31/16 on the last day of Piazza weekend.

Happy Thorsday / last day of summer / last day of Piazza weekend / final conclusion of #PiazzaStock #Mets

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Jul 31, 2016 at 10:51am PDT