213 Miles From Shea

Originally the Mets were going to send out Noah Syndergaard yesterday, and skip Robert Gsellman in the rotation. Then the Mets changed their minds and had Gsellman start anyway who promptly gave up 5 first inning runs as the Mets lost the game 8-2. Then we were supposed to get an interesting match up today in the day time as R.A. Dickey will face off against Noah Syndergaard. The Mets traded R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays with Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas for Travis d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard and prospect Wuilmer Becerra. However this is the 2017 Mets and late scratches are abundant, so instead we will get, for a second straight time, a surprise Harvey Day.

Matt Harvey is 2-0 over 4 starts and 25.1 innings with a 2.84 ERA. As stated earlier, his last start was a surprise start as he moved up one day to cover for deGrom who had a stiff neck. Harvey tossed 7.0 innings that day, his longest outing of the year, allowing 3 runs and 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 2. Harvey’s first start this season was against the Braves where he held them to 3 hits and 2 runs with no walks and 4 strikeouts over 6.0 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Harvey:

• Freeman 3-21
• Markakis 4-15, 2B
• Phillips 3-14, 2 2B
• Inciarte 3-12, 2B
• Garcia 2-11
• Peterson 3-10, 2 2B
• Kemp 3-9, 3 HR
• Flowers 0-5
• Suzuki 0-7
• Swanson 0-3

R. A. Dickey is 1-2 over 3 starts and 18.2 innings of work this season posting a 3.86 ERA. His first start of the season was rough allowing 9 hits and 6 runs, 3 earned, to the Pirates. Since then he has allowed 5 runs over 13.0 innings. He faced the Mets back in 2015 where he picked up a win after holding the Mets to 1 run over 7.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Dickey:

• Granderson 5-29, 2 2B
• Reyes 4-26
• Cabrera 6-18, 2B, 3B, 2 HR
• Cespedes 6-22, 2 2B, 3B, HR
• Walker 2-14
• Bruce 5-13, 2 2B, HR
• R Rivera 1-7
• Duda 1-3, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

Well, let’s try that again. The Mets and the Braves were rained out last night, thankfully, rather than doing a double header today, which if it was a 4/7 single admission double header would have meant the Mets playing 3 games in 24 hours, the make up is in September. Anyway, thanks to the rain the Mets will skip Gsellman and we will instead get a rematch of Opening Day.

Noah is 1-1 over 4 starts and 26.0 innings this year with a 1.73 ERA while allowing 9 runs, 5 earned, no walks and 30 strikeouts. He is coming off of his worst start of the season where he allowed 7 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned over 7.0 innings against the Phillies despite having a season high in strikeouts at 10. On Opening Day against the Braves he pitched 6.0 scoreless innings scattering 5 hits while striking out 7. The Braves have the following numbers against him:

• Kemp 1-14
• Phillips 4-12
• Markakis 3-9
• Freeman 5-9, 2B, 3B, HR
• Peterson 1-4
• Inciarte 1-5
• Garcia 0-5
• Swanson 3-5

The Mets bats draw the Braves ace in Julio Teheran who is 1-1 over 4 starts and 23.0 innings this year with a 3.52 ERA. His numbers don’t tell the whole story though because he’s coming off by far his worst start of the season where he allowed 7 ER over 4.0 innings to the Nationals. Prior to that, he had a 0.95 ERA over his first three starts and didn’t allow any earned runs over his first two starts including 6 shutout innings against the Mets on Opening Day. The Mets have the following numbers against Julio:

• Granderson 7-29, 2B, 2 HR, 7 BB
• Duda 7-25, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Bruce 3-21, 2 HR
• d’Arnaud 2-20
• Walker 2-20
• Flores 3-19, HR
• Lagares 3-17
• Reyes 2-16
• Cabrera 6-15, 2 2B
• Cespedes 3-15
• Plawecki 0-5
• Conforto 1-3
• Rene Rivera 0-2

(Mets pitchers Syndergaard and deGrom each have a hit off of Teheran)

Let’s Go Mets!

Mets Photo of the Day: Juan Lagares (Taken: 4/23/17) pic.twitter.com/fVLWKav9iz

— 213 Miles From Shea (@213MFS) April 26, 2017

Please follow @213MFS for more!

The Mets try to start the journey of righting the ship tonight against the Braves. This past weekend was filled with B/C style rosters due to injuries, defensive miscues and lack luster bats. The Mets followed up what has been almost 10 days of searching for bright spots with an off-day so hopefully they come back today rested and ready to rumble.

Robert Gsellman gets the start for the Mets. On the season he is 0-1 over 17.2 innings with a 5.09 ERA allowing 18 hits, 14 runs, 10 earned while walking 6 and striking out 20. He’s coming off probably his best start of the season where he held the Phillies to 3 ER over 7.0 innings while walking 1 and striking out 7. He faced the Braves earlier this year on opening day where he allowed 2 hits, no runs and no walks while striking out 1 in an inning of relief. The Braves have the following numbers against Gsellman:

• Freeman 2-6
• Kemp 3-6, 2B, HR
• Garcia 3-6, 2B
• Inciarte 1-5
• Makakis 1-6
• Flowers 1-5
• Peterson 1-4, 2B
• Swanson 2-3

The Mets bats draw the Braves ace in Julio Teheran who is 1-1 over 4 starts and 23.0 innings this year with a 3.52 ERA. His numbers don’t tell the whole story though because he’s coming off by far his worst start of the season where he allowed 7 ER over 4.0 innings to the Nationals. Prior to that, he had a 0.95 ERA over his first three starts and didn’t allow any earned runs over his first two starts including 6 shutout innings against the Mets on Opening Day. The Mets have the following numbers against Julio:

• Granderson 7-29, 2B, 2 HR, 7 BB
• Duda 7-25, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Bruce 3-21, 2 HR
• d’Arnaud 2-20
• Walker 2-20
• Flores 3-19, HR
• Lagares 3-17
• Reyes 2-16
• Cabrera 6-15, 2 2B
• Cespedes 3-15
• Plawecki 0-5
• Conforto 1-3
• Rene Rivera 0-2

(Mets pitchers Syndergaard and deGrom each have a hit off of Teheran)

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets need a win in the worst way. Yesterday the pitching staff gave the Mets what they needed, holding the Nationals to only 3 runs, but with the bats the Mets ran out on the field, it felt like 10 runs and the Mets could only muster one run. If you think the Mets can’t buy a hit, you’re right. For the second time this season there was a concern about the Mets being no hit (despite a 30 pitch opening frame by Gio Gonzalez) and the Mets had multiple players in the lineups hitting below .150.

The Mets will rely on Zack Wheeler tonight who is 1-1 over 3 starts and 14.2 innings and 9 earned runs. He is coming off his best outing of the season where he allowed only 1 ER over 4 hits in 5.0 innings while walking 2 and striking out 7. He hasn’t faced the Nationals since 2014 and in 2014 Washington was his kryptonite. He went 1-4 over as many starts in 27.2 innings with a 5.86 ERA. The Nationals have the following numbers against Zack:

• Werth 7-21, 2 2B, HR
• Eaton 0-3
• Harper 3-13, HR
• Lobaton 3-5
• Rendon 5-16
• Zimmerman 5-13, 2 HR

The Mets bats will get the tall task of breaking out against Max Scherzer who is 2-1 over 3 games and 19.2 innings with a 1.37 ERA. He was 2-1 in as many games against the Mets last year allowing 3 runs, 2 earned over 20.2 innings with a 0.87 ERA and 29 K’s. The Mets have the following numbers against Max:

• Cabrera 13-54, 4 2B, HR
• Granderson 9-30, 3 2B, 2 HR
• Cespedes 7-20, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR
• Walker 3-17, 2 HR
• Reyes 5-17, 2B
• Bruce 3-7, 3B, HR
• Conforto 2-8, 2 HR
• d’Arnaud 1-8, 3B
• Lagares 1-8
• Plawecki 2-9
• R Rivera 1-9

Let’s Go Mets!

This has been a rough week for the Mets. The Amazin’s lost another game in extra innings last night and the team is depleted with injuries. A bench is starting to coalesce as more than a physical bench as the Duda and Flores were moved to the 10-day DL to bring in healthy players. The major story line from yesterday was deGrom being scratched with a stiff neck and Harvey stepping in to pitch effectively out of rhythm.

So let’s try this again with deGrom. Jacob has yet to earn a decision this year over three starts and 19.0 innings allowing only 4 ER (1.89 ERA) while walking 4 and striking out 22. Jacob didn’t face the Nationals at all in 2016 but in 2015 he went 2-2 over 6 starts and 34.1 innings with a 2.88 ERA while walking 9 and striking out 14. The Nationals have the following numbers against deGrom:

• Harper 7-18, 2 2B, HR
• Werth 1-12, 3 K
• Eaton 0-3
• Zimmerman 3-8, HR

The Mets bats will try to break out some breathing room for the pitching staff today against Gio Gonzalez. Gio is 1-0 over three starts allowing only 3 earned runs, 5 total over 20.1 innings this year while walking 5 and striking out 15. He is coming off his first 4+ ERA (4.57 to be specific) since the second part of his rookie year way back in 2009. He was 2-1 over 3 games against the Mets last year allowing 19 hits and 10 runs over 17.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Gonzalez:

• Granderson 5-37, 2B, HR
• Cabrera 6-26
• Bruce 3-18, 3 2B, 7 K
• Walker 3-13, HR
• Reyes 6-13, 2B, 2 HR
• Cespedes 6-10, 2 HR
• R Rivera 1-2
• Plawecki 0-5

Let’s Go Mets!

Sorry all! I wrote the game preview earlier and it disappeared from the site. Anyway it was wrong as it had deGrom pitching and now it is Harvey.

Please head over to Metsmerized Online to read my game preview.

The Mets and Phillies battle it out for the rubber game tonight! After losing the series opener, the Mets bounced back last night with a come from behind (twice!) victory. Gsellman was finally dealing but the Mets were in a 2-0 hole before Bruce made it 3-2. The bullpen promptly gave a run back but Bruce was able to tack on 2 more runs to it 5-3. The bullpen promptly gave back another run, but thankfully it was just one run and the Mets held on to a 5-4 lead. Fun note, Bruce is the third Mets player in history to have 5 RBIs in a game, and have all 5 RBIs be the only runs scored by the Mets (in a game they won). The other two are Todd Zeile and Carlos Beltran.

Noah Syndergaard gets the call today. He is 1-0 over 3 starts and 19.0 innings with a 0.95 ERA, no walks and 20 K’s on the young season. He was 2-0 in as many games last year against the Phillies pitching 14.0 innings allowing 7 hits and 2 runs while walking 4 and striking out 15. The Phillies have the following numbers on Syndergaard:

• Herrera 1-12
• Galvis 3-11, 2B, 2 HR, 3 K
• Franco 3-9
• Hernandez 1-6, 3 BB
• Rupp 1-9, 5 K
• Altherr 0-3

The Mets bats will get Aaron Nola who is 1-0 over two starts this season allowing 4 ER over 11.0 innings of work while walking 2 and striking out 13. He is coming off a 6-9 season over 20 starts and 111.0 innings with a 4.78 ERA. Nola managed to never start against the Mets in 2016, however in 2015 he had one start where he allowed 9 hits and 6 ER over 4.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Bruce 2-6
• Cespedes 1-3
• Granderson 1-3
• Conforto 1-2, HR
• d’Arnaud 1-2, 2B
• R Rivera 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets will try to put it back together tonight as they have now dropped 4 games in a row after winning 5 games in a row. Wheeler was excellent last night allowing a solo homer to Herrera  in the first and shutting the game down from that point on through 5 innings, striking out 7 Phillies. The Mets scored two in the bottom frame of the first, and then did nothing for the rest of the game. Adding to the misery of Reyes’ batting woes, he dropped a popup that would have been the last out in the 8th and the Phillies would capitalize on that mistake to score the tying run and eventually the winning runs in extra innings.

The Mets will turn to Robert Gsellman to save them tonight who is 0-1 over 3 games and 2 starts allowing 11 ER and 13 hits over 10.2 innings. I have been at both of his starts this year (and will not be going to his start tonight). He got off to a rough start in Miami allowing a granslam in the 1st inning, settled down but then still found a way to allow four more Miami runs after the Mets gave him a 7-4 lead. Last year he managed to face the Phillies in 3 starts, even though he was called up towards the end of hte season, and he went 2-1 allowing 5 ER over 19.0 innings while striking out 20. The Phillies have the following numbers against him:

• Altherr 1-7
• Franco 2-8
• Hernandez 2-9
• Herrera 1-7
• Galvis 3-8, 2B
• Joseph 1-3
• Rupp 2-2

The Mets bats will try to find themselves against Vince Velasquez who is 0-2 in as many starts this year allowing 9 ER over 9.0 innings and 10 hits while striking out 17. His last start was against the Mets and the Amazins were able to put up 5 ER over 5.0 innings and draw 4 walks. Our bats have the following numbers against Vince:

• Cabrera 4-9, 2B
• Cespedes 2-6, 2B, HR
• Conforto 4-7, 2 HR
• d’Arnaud 1-7 (He eats ice cream every night at midnight)
• Duda 1-8
• Granderson 0-4, 2 BB
• Walker 1-7

Let’s Go Mets!

It’s been a rough three last games for the Mets. After winning 5 in a row including a 16-inning marathon they lost 3 in a row all at the end of the game. Sometimes the best cure for that is an off-day to reset yourself and that’s what the Mets had yesterday. You know also makes an off-day work? Following it with a series against the Phillies.

Wheeler will be on the mound tomorrow, he’s 1-1 over as many starts with 9.2 innings of work allowing 8 ER this year. However, that’s heavily skewed. When he was taken out of the game in his last start, he allowed only 1 ER and loaded the bases. Robles promptly allowed a Grand Slam. That start was also against the Phillies, so Wheeler has a chance to get some early season revenge. The Phillies have the following numbers against Wheeler:

• Hernandez 3-5
• Blanco 1-2
• Herrera 0-2
• Kendrick 0-3
• Franco 0-2
• Galvis 0-2
• Joseph 1-2, 2B
• Rupp 0-2

The Mets bats draw rookie Zach Efflin who will be making his 2017 debut. Last year he went 3-5 over 11 starts in 63.1 innings. He posted a 5.54 ERA despite pitching two complete games, including a complete game shutout. Last year against the Mets he allowed 3 ER over 5 hits in 6.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Zach:

• Cabrera 0-3
• Cespedes 0-2, BB
• Granderson 1-2, BB
• Lagares 1-3, 3B
• Reyes 1-3, 2B
• Walker 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!