213 Miles From Shea

The Mets were so close to sweeping the Giants on Wednesday afternoon, but Familia blew the save in the 9th and the Mets rally in the 9th couldn’t make up for it. While that’s a tough pill to swallow, especially with the 1.5 days off between that game and now, the Mets did win another series and if they keep taking 2 out of 3, they’ll be in good shape for the rest of the season.

Tonight Matt Harvey will make his first start. He was supposed to be the pitcher last Sunday, but the Mets suspended him and you are reading this on a Mets website, so there is really no strong reason to keep telling this part of the story in this article. You’ll probably hear it ad nauseam during the broadcast tonight anyway. Harvey is 2-2 over 6 starts this season posting a 5.14 ERA, 5.75 FIP and 1.286 WHIP over 35.0 innings of work. One of Harvey’s effective starts last year was against Brewers where he held them to 1 run and 2 hits over 6.0 innings. The Brewers have the following numbers against Harvey:

• Braun 0-3
• Villar 1-3

Seriously. That’s it.

The Mets bats will get a look at Matt Garza who is 1-0 over 3 starts this year and 17.2 innings with a 2.55 ERA, 3.30 FIP and a 1.189 WHIP. Garza missed the Mets in 2016, but in 2015 he made one start against the Mets where he allowed 10 hits and 10 runs over 3.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Garza:

• Bruce 12-33, 4 2B, 3 HR, 5 BB, .447 OBP
• Granderson 9-30, 4 2B, HR, 2 BB, .33 OBP
• Walker 4-21, 5 BB, .346 OBP
• Cabrera 2-8, 2 HR
• Reyes 2-7
• Lagares 1-6
• Flores 2-5, HR
• deGrom 2-2
• Plawecki 0-1, BB

Let’s Go Mets!

The Jackie Robinson Rotunda has, in my opinion, iconic metal workings.

Photo taken 5/9/17

Citi Field showing its best Ebbets Field side at night. Picture take on 5/9/17

The Mets will try to do something that has been elusive the last couple of weeks: complete the sweep. The Mets beat the Giants last night 6-1 on a night where they were firing on all cylinders. They took another series and made it back to 500. However, the trend in recent weeks, especially on day games, has been to lose drastically on the last game of the series and have something awful happen off the field. So here’s hoping that the Mets can break out of that funk too.

To help them with this cause the front office has brought in today’s starter, Tommy Milone! Milone is 1-0 this season for the Brewers over 6 games and 3 starts pitching 21.0 innings posting a 6.43 ERA, 5.48 FIP and 1.476 WHIP. Before last season he generally ranged in the high 3, low 4 ERA range. Last season he struggled in only 69.1 innings posting a 5.71 ERA, 5.54 FIP and 1.529 WHIP. As a starter this year, the most he was able to pitch was 5.0 innings, so expect the Mets to go to the pen early today and be pleasantly surprised if that’s not the case.  The Giants have the following numbers against Tommy:

• Morse 3-7, 2 2B, HR
• Pence 4-6, HR
• Gillaspie 2-3, 2B
• Posey 1-3
• Hundley 0-2

The Mets will take a crack at Matt Cain today who is off to his best start since 2014. He is 2-1 over 6 games and 30.2 innings with a 4.70 ERA, 4.17 FIP, and a 1.565 WHIP. His numbers this season are greatly inflated by his last start. Before his last start he had a 2.30 ERA (and had a streak of 4 games and 23.0 innings with a 1.17 ERA). Last time out he allowed 10 hits and 6 walks leading to 9 runs to the Reds over 3.1 innings. He picked up the loss in one game against the Mets last year where the Mets got 7 hits and 6 runs off him in 6.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Matt:

• Bruce 11-23, 3 2B, HR
• Reyes 10-22, 2 2B, 2 3B, HR
• Walker 3-13
• Granderson 2-7, 3B
• Cabrera 0-5
• R Rivera 1-5
• Flores 1-5, HR
• Conforto 3-3, 2B, HR
• Lagares 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

Last night was a clear night for baseball and Conforto homers. I sat with The 7 Line in section 140 and snapped this photo around the 4th of 5th inning. Curtis Granderson is in center.

Photo taken 5/9/17

The Mets look to continue the magic from last night as they play the Giants in game two of the series. Yesterday the Mets won on a walk-off from Neil Walker breaking a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the ninth. When you a play a team like the Giants, who also cannot get out of their own way, wins are a must.

Zack Wheeler gets the nod for the Mets today. On the season he is 1-2 over 5 starts and 26.1 innings with a 4.78 ERA. Officially, he is coming off of a confusing outing where he allowed only 2 runs, 1 earned over 4.2 innings in Washington on April 29th but also walked 4 batters and had to face several additional batters thanks to the Mets defense. He pitched a few labor filled innings Atlanta last week where he held the Braves to a run but the rain washed the game away before it was official, so it’s like it never happened. Back in 2014 he was 0-1 in as many starts against the Giants allowing 6 hits and 4 runs over 3.2 innings. The Giants have the following numbers against him:

• Pence 0-5
• Belt 1-4
• Posey 0-6
• Gillaspie 0-2
• Morse 0-2
• Ruggiano 0-1

The Mets bats will get a look at Jeff Samardzija who is in his 2nd season with the Giants. He is 0-4 over 6 starts and 39.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA. Jeff has been better of late coming off his best performance of the season last time allowing 1 run, not earned, over 8.0 innings with no walks and 11 K’s. In his last two starts he has allowed 4 runs, only 2 earned over 15.0 innings with 16 K’s. He was 0-1 in as many starts against the Mets last year despite holding them to 3 hits and 2 runs over 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Jeff:

• Bruce 9-37, 5 2B, 3 BB
• Walker 5-28, 3B, 2 HR, 3 BB
• Reyes 4-18, 2B, HR, 2 BB
• Granderson 3-7, 2B
• Cabrera 0-6
• Flores 0-2
• R Rivera 0-2

Let’s Go Mets!

A few weeks ago I took a baseball roadtrip down to Miami to see the Mets play on the road and I made a pit stop in Columbia to see the Fireflies…and to break up the drive from Newark to Miami.

Spirit Communications Park where the Fireflies play may be one of the nicest parks I’ve been to, I’ll write up about it later but it is brand new and well built. Picture taken on 4/12/17.

For the second weekend in a row, the Mets have won 2 of 3 and managed to do enough on the field and off the field on the losing game to make fans forget about the wins in the previous games. Yesterday the Mets announced a couple of hours before the game that they had suspended Matt Harvey without pay for three days. Adam Wilk was flown in and promptly gave up some long, long homers to Stanton as the Marlins rolled the Mets. What the Mets do get today is a reprieve, finally, from playing the NL East as they open up “National League Play”. If you have been watching this team since Spring Training, then you are probably intimately familiar with the Marlins and Nationals now who played the Mets every other day in March before every other series in April.

Jacob deGrom will get the start tonight. He is 2-1 over 6 games and 36.2 innings of work with a 3.68 ERA, 3.09 FIP and 1.364 WHIP. He is coming off of his roughest start of the year where he allowed 5 runs over 8 hits and 5 walks during 5.0 innings of work against the Braves. He was 1-1 in as many starts last year against the Giants who tallied 15 hits, 11 runs, 8 earned over 11.0 innings. The Giants have the following numbers against Jacob:

• Belt 2-9, 3 BB
• Pence 4-11, 2B, BB
• Panik 1-8, 2B, BB
• Posey 1-8, BB
• Mores 0-6
• Nunez 3-3, 3B
• Ruggiano 0-2

The Mets draw Matt Moore who is 1-4 over 6 games and 33.1 innings this year with a 6.75 ERA, 5.44 FIP and 1.560 WHIP. He has had two great starts this year (1 run over 8 innings, second start of the season, 1 run over 7.0 innings, two starts ago) and that’s been it. He is coming off of his worst start of the season like Jacob, except Matt lated 3.1 innings allowing 6 hits and 5 walks that led to 9 runs. He picked up a loss in his only start against the Mets last season where he allowed 5 hits and 3 runs over 5.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Cabrera 3-10, BB
• Reyes 1-9, 2B, 3 BB
• Granderson 0-7, BB
• Flores 0-2
• Walker 0-1, BB

Let’s Go Mets!

Today’s picture of the day comes from the warm up’s at St. Lucie after a few thunderstorms rolled through the area. Picture Taken 4/14.

On 4/22, there were plenty of stormy clouds over Citi Field. So I took a lot photos of them because the game was cold, damp, and not heading in a positive direction. Enjoy!