213 Miles From Shea

The Mets woes on sweep day continued in their last game as they quickly fell behind the Angels 5-0 in the first inning, and didn’t score a run until the Angels put up 9. There was a sliver of hope in the 6th, when the Mets closed the game to 9-5, but Robles blew up again and the Mets ended up losing the game 12-5. This is tolerable as long as the Mets continue the slog of winning two out of 3 with a couple of sweeps thrown in (albeit challenging). And that is the stage that the Padres come to.

Matt Harvey gets the start for the Mets tonight and he is 2-3 ver 8 games and 45.1 innings with a 5.56 ERA, 6.41 FIP and a 1.478 WHIP. After three terrible starts in a row where Harvey allowed 17 runs over 14.2 innings, Harvey bounced back a bit with a below-average start allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks in 5.1 innings. Last year he held the Padres to 4 hits and 2 walks leading to 2 runs over 6.0 innings. The Padres have the following numbers against the Padres:

• Aybar 2-9, 2 BB
• d’Arnaud 1-3, 2B
• Myers 0-3
• Chacin 0-2
• Richard 0-1

The Mets bats draw Jhoulys Chacin who is 4-3 over 9 starts and 52.2 innings with a 4.61 ERA, 4.27 FIP and 1.253 WHIP. His numbers are down from last year wher ehe was posting a 4.81 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 1.444 WHIP (to put this in perspective, he has a career 3.98 ERA and 4.06 FIP). His last three starts have been pretty good totaling 18.2 innings with 5 runs, a 2.41 ERA. He made one start against the Mets last year where he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned over 6 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Walker 3-13, 2 2B, 2 BB
• Duda 2-5, 2 HR, 3 BB
• Granderson 2-6, 3 BB
• Lagares 3-9, 2B
• Bruce 2-7, 2B, BB
• Conforto 2-5, BB
• Flores 3-5, 2B, BB
• R Rivera 1-2, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the Day was taken on 7/29/16, the day before the Mets retired Mike Piazza’s number. If the picture looks familiar, I used it to make the header for this page!

Missing @mets #LGM

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Dec 1, 2016 at 7:30pm PST

Today’s picture of the day comes from 9/25/2016, the last regular season home game last year with the savior for the month of September, Robert Gsellman.

@mets @robgsellman

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Jan 24, 2017 at 6:33pm PST

One of my favorite days of the off-season is the Queens Baseball Convention. This photo was take on 1/28/17 and I hope you recognize some super familiar, friendly faces in Mets history here.

Another Queens Baseball Convention! Always great to see my summer family in the winter, this time with Art Shamsky, Bobby Valentine and Tim Teufel!

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Jan 28, 2017 at 2:31pm PST

The Mets go for the sweep of the Angels today after that long, long game last night. To speed up yesterday’s affair for you: Mets took an early lead, 4-0 over several inning against the Angels. Zack ran out of steam mid-way through the game, started an inning recording no outs and two runs came in. The Mets got insurance runs int he 8th making it 7-2. Then the Mets bullpen imploded in the top of the 9th making the game 7-5 and making the half of the frame last 26 minutes.

Tommy Milone makes his third start as a Met today, and his season numbers don’t make sense to look at yet for the Mets. He’s been quite different in his two games. In his first game he allowed 6 hits and 2 walks leading to 2 runs over 5.0 innings. Then in his second game he allowed 6 hits and 3 walks leading to 5 runs in 5.2 innings. Last year hea llowed 4 runs over 8 hits and a walk in 6.0 innings against the Angels, who have the following numbers against him:

• Pujols 11-25, 7 2B, HR, 2 BB, 1.321 OPS
• Trout 5-24, 3 2B, HR, 3 BB
• Calhoun 4-9, HR, 2 BB, 1.323 OPS
• Cron 0-8, 2 BB
• Revere 1-7
• Maybin 1-4
• Espinosa 0-3
• Simmons 0-2

The Mets bats draw Jesse Chavez who finds himself as a starter for the first time since pitching for the Athletics in 2015. On the season he is 3-5 over 9 games, 8 starts and 49.0 innings with a 4.22 ERA, 4.58 FIP, and a 1.224 WHIP. He’s been better of late pitching 19.0 innings over his last three games with a 3.79 ERA. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2014 where he pitched 2.0 innings in relief allowing 3 hits and 3 walks leading to a run. The Mets have the following numbers against him.

• Reyes 2-8
• Bruce 2-4
• Duda 1-1, BB
• Granderson 0-2
• Flores 1-1

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets finally did it! They finally won a game! The Mets took the opener of the Angels series last night, ending their slide thanks to a strong outing from Jacob deGrom and just enough offense. Jacob held the Angels scoreless over 7 and the Mets scrapped together 3 runs, including another homer from Conforto. Today the Mets will look to keep it going and inch closer back to .500.

Wheeler is 2-2 over 7 games and 38.1 innings this year with a 3.76 ERA, 4.15 FIP and 1.226 WHIP. His last outing may have been his best on the season as he allowed 1 run over 7 hits and one walk in 6.0 innings of work. In his last three official starts he has tossed 16.2 innings allowing 4 runs, 3 earned: a 1.62 ERA. The Angels have the following numbers against Zack:

• Simmons 7-21, 2B, 3 BB
• Revere 2-10, 2B
• Espinosa 3-5, 2 2B
• Maldonado 0-3
• Valbuena 0-2, BB
• Maybin0-2
• Pennington 1-2
• Petit 0-1, BB

The Mets bats will get a look at Alex Meyer, the Twin turned Angel last season in the trade that brought Ricky Nolasco to the Angels and prospects to Minnesota. He is 2-1 over 4 starts this season over 19.1 innings and a 5.59 ERA, 4.53 FIP and 1.603 WHIP. Before coming up to the big league squad this year, he made 4 starts in the minors pitching 19.0 innings with a 6.16 ERA and 1.789 WHIP. Not surprisingly, a young Twin turned Angel doesn’t have much experience against anyone on the Mets roster. The only Met who has seen him is Jay Bruce who is 0-1.

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day comes from Harvey’s performance in Philly on 4/11/17, before the struggles on his season, and the Mets season, started.

The Dark Knight. Happy Harvey Day! #Roadtrip3 #ElliotTakesALongDrive

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Apr 11, 2017 at 4:37pm PDT

Things in Mets land are bad. The Mets were winless on the away trip and for a second time this season, it feels like they are in a tailspin. After the last tailspin, the Mets took the next four series and over the course of two weeks were able to get back to .500, when this spin started. Hopefully the Mets can start that process of rebuilding themselves back up tonight with Jacob deGrom on the mound.

Jacob will find himself playing stopper tonight. He’s 2-1 over 8 games and 48.2 innings with a 4.07 ERA, 3.39 FIP and 1.356 WHIP. In the month of May, he has now allowed 12 ER over 17.0 innings with 23 K’s. He missed the Angels the last time the Mets and Angels met in 2014 (his rookie season) but the Angels have some familiar names to the NL East that Jacob has faced before:

• Simmons 5-13, 2B, 2 BB
• Revere 1-12
• Espinosa 0-8, 5 K
• Maybin 0-6
• Valbeuna 2-3, 2B

The Mets bats will get to deal with an old foe in Ricky Nolasco who is 2-2 over 8 starts and 45.2 innings with a 4.34 ERA, 5.67 FIP and 1.292 WHIP. His last two starts have been pretty good with Ricky totaling 13.0 innings of work with 5 runs off of 10 hits and 4 walks and 14 K’s. The Mets have the following numbers against Nolasco:

• Reyes 18-53, 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 3 BB (.998 OPS)
• Bruce 5-18, 2B, 2 HR, BB (.982 OPS)
• Duda 2-15, 3 BB
• Walker 5-16, 2B, HR, 6 K
• Flores 1-3
• Lagares 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day comes from Columbia, SC on 4/12/17 as Harol Gonzalez (in the top 30 Mets prospects by Baseball America) tossed in the first inning. I can’t say enough nice things about the Columbia Fireflies. Great minor league experience.

Bonus: If you flip the picture you’ll get a shot of Tebow before he struck out.

After many hours, made it to Columbia, SC to see the Baby Mets! (Second picture is Tim Tebow before grounding out to third) #Roadtrip3 #ElliotTakesALongDrive #Fireflies #LetsGlow #LGM

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Apr 12, 2017 at 4:54pm PDT

Today’s picture of the day is from 4/13/17, of Robert Gsellman, prior to giving up a Grand Slam. That negative mojo aside, it was a beautiful night in Miami and the roof was open.

Made it! Seeing my boys in Miami tonight. Let's go Mets! #ElliotTakesALongDrive #Roadtrip3

A post shared by Elliot Lester (@eteich1100) on Apr 13, 2017 at 4:19pm PDT