213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and Nationals played the first game of their highly anticipated series last night with the Mets taking the first game the way they’ve been winning all year: strong pitching and homers. Granderson smacked a homer on the first pitch in the game and Conforto added a second solo homer in the third inning. Besides that, the game was all Syndergaard. Tonight Colon will look to keep that going as the Mets go for game two.

Colon is 3-2 over 8 games and 7 starts over 43.1 innings with a 3.53 ERA. He’s coming off his worst start of the season allowing 5 ER over 5.0 innings. Last year he was 1-0 over 2 games, 1 start against the Nationals going 7.0 innings allowing 1 ER and striking out 9 Nationals. Six of those innings happened during his Opening Day start, one of those innings happened in the last game of the season when he was transitioning to the pen. The Nationals have the following numbers against Colon:

• Revere 8-21, 2B
• Harper 3-13, HR
• Ramos 2-14, 2B
• Rendon 4-13, HR
• Werth 4-9, 2 2B
• Taylor 2-9, 2B
• Zimmerman 1-5
• Gio Gonzalez 1-4, HR

Gio is 2-1 over 7 starts this season with a sparkling 1.93 ERA over 42.0 innings of work. Gonzalez has only had one bad start on the season allowing 5 ER over 5.0 innings against the Cubs on May 7th, and rebounded with 5.0 innings allowing 2 runs, none earned against Miami on the 13th. He has allowed 13 runs to 9 earned. He’s only reached 7.0 innings once this year. He was 2-0 in 4 starts against the Mets last year logging 23.2 innings with an 1.14 ERA and 26 K’s. The Mets have the following numbers vs Gio:

• Granderson 4-30, 2B, HR
• Lagares 10-26, 3 2B, 3B, HR
• Wright 6-21, 2B, 3B, HR
• Duda 3-19, 2B
• Cabrera 2-17
• Campbell 2-15
• Cespedes 2-4
• De Aza 2-3, 2 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Nationals will finally play each other this season! The Mets are coming off of a rough road trip that started off fine with splits against the Padres and the Dodgers but ended by being swept by the Rockies. Meanwhile, the Mets slide has coincided with a rise with the Phillies and the Marlins and now the top four teams in the division are incredibly tight. The Mets can cause some additional chaos with a strong series with the Nationals.

Noah Syndergaard will start it off for the Amazins. He’s 3-2 over 7 starts over 46.1 innings this year with a 2.53 ERA. In his last two starts he has allowed 12 hits and 4 ER over 14.0 innings striking out 11 batters and posting a 2.57 ERA. Last year Noah was 1-0 0ver 3 starts against the Nationals logging 20.0 innings with a 1.80 ERA and 23 K’s. The Nationals have the following numbers against Thor:

• Harper 3-9
• Rendon 3-7, 2B, HR
• Lobaton 1-6
• Robinson 1-5, HR
• Taylor 1-6
• Werth 0-6
• Espinosa 0-4

The Mets bats will get a tough assignment in Max Scherzer to start off the series. He’s 4-2 over 8 starts and 52.0 innings with a 4.15 ERA. Important note, he does lead the league in homers allowed at 11. He’s coming off of the best start of the season where he pitched a complete game striking out 20 batters allowing 2 solo homers. That start was preceded by a start where he allowed 7 ER over 5.0 innings and 4 homers. The Mets never really quite figured him out last year going 1-2 over 4 starts over 29.2 innings with a 1.82 ERA and 41 K’s. The Mets have the following numbers against Max:

• De Aza 12-46, 2 2B, HR
• Cabrera 12-45, 4 2B, HR
• Granderson 7-26, 3 2B, HR
• Cespedes 7-15, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR
• Walker 3-9, 2 HR
• Wright 0-9
• Lagares 1-8
• Duda 2-8
• Conforto 1-6,HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets will try to savage a game in Colorado this afternoon behind Jacob deGrom before finally heading home. Jacob is 3-1 over 5 starts on the season and 29.2 innings of work while posting a 2.12 ERA. In his last start in LA, responded from his worst start on the season by going 7.0 innings allowing 2 ER, no walks and striking out 4. Last year deGrom made one start against the Rockies holding them scoreless over 7.0 innings and striking out 10 batters. The Rockies have the following numbers against Jacob:

• Parra 1-9, HR
• Reynolds, 0-9
• Arenado 1-6, 2B
• Blackmon 0-6
• LeMahieu 1-6, 2B
• Gonzalez 0-2

The Mets bats will get a look at Tyler Chatwood who missed all of 2015 and has returned in 2016 with a 4-3 record over 7 starts and 43.2 innings with an ERA of 3.09. Its been a while since he faced the Mets. The last time they matched up was back in 2013 allowing 1 ER over 6.0 innings with 4 hits, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers against Chatwood:

• Cabrera 1-4, HR, 2 BB
• Granderson 1-3, HR
• Lagares 1-3
• Rivera 0-2
• Wright 1-2
• Duda 0-1

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets dropped the opener in Colorado last night behind another underwhelming Matt Harvey start. While he has a few days to figure out what is happening, we turn to Logan Verrett, making a spot start for Steven Matz. Logan Verrett is 3-0 over 10 games and 2 starts this year pitching in 21.1 innings with a 1.27 ERA. His two starts he made on 4/13 and 4/16 were great pitching 12.0 innings, holding opponents to 9 hits, 3 walks while striking out 10. Last year he made a start against the Rockies pitching 8.0 innings holding them to only 1 run! The Rockies have the following numbers against Logan:

• Blackmon 1-3
• Arenado 1-3
• Descalso 0-3
• Garneau 0-2
• Gonzalez 1-3, HR
• LeMahieu 1-3

Eddie Butler is 1-1 over 3 games, 2 starts this season pitching 14.0 innings with a 3.86 ERA. Last year Butler made 16 starts logging 79.1 innings posting an ERA of 5.90 with a 3-10 record. He made one start against the Mets last year and it was brutal. He allowed 6 ER over 7 hits in 4.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Eddie:

• Cespedes 1-3, 2B
• Granderson 1-2, HR
• Conforto 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets ended up splitting a four game series for the second series in a row yesterday as the Mets fell to the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw, who once again dominated the Mets shutting them out. The Mets will look to get their bats back on the right track in friendly Coors Field against another team that has been fond of the long ball early on this season in the Rockies.

Matt Harvey looked liked a different pitcher in his last start. He had late movement on his pitches which lead to his first double digit strikeout game of the year. Overall on the season he is 3-4 over 7 starts pitching 40.0 innings with a 4.50 ERA. In his last four starts he has logged 22.2 innings with a 3.57 ERA. His one start against the Rockies last year was brilliant as he shut them out over 8.0 innings holding them to only 4 hits, no walks and recorded 4 strikeouts. The Rockies have the following numbers against Harvey:

• Blackmon 1-10
• LeMahieu 1-8
• Arenado 2-6
• Gonzalez 0-6
• Parra 0-3
• Paulsen 1-3, 2B

Jon Gray is 0-1 over 4 starts and 21.2 innings this year with a 5.40 ERA. He was called up for 9 starts last year where he logged 40.2 innings recording a 5.53 ERA and this year he was called up on April 22nd. His numbers this season are interesting. He allowed 11 ER over 8.2 innings in his first two starts of the season and 2 ER over 13.0 innings in his second two starts. His first two starts are at home, his second two starts were at San Diego and San Francisco. Two of his starts were against the Mets where he allowed 8 ER over 7.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Gray:

• Cespedes 2-5, 3B, HR
• Duda 1-5
• Granderson 1-5
• Walker 1-4
• Conforto 0-2
• Flores 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The calendar might have said “Wednesday” yesterday but it might as well be “Thorsday”. Syndergaard was the entire Mets team last night allowing 2 ER over 8.0 innings of work striking out 2 AND driving in all 4 Mets runs on two homers. The Mets are now in a position to take the four game set with the Dodgers as long as they can get through Clayton Kershaw tonight, something they needed to do twice in the post-season.

The Mets hero, Bartolo Colon, returns to the mound tonight, one start removed from his historic homer, the shot heard around the universe. On the season he is 3-1 over 7 games, 6 starts and 38.1 innings with a 2.82 ERA. His last start was a bit more human than his previous, allowing 3 ER over 6.2 innings. In fact, he’s allowed exactly 3 ER in 3 of his last 4 starts. Last year in the regular season he tossed an absolute gem against the Dodgers, but still lost, allowing 1 ER over 8.0 innings. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Bartolo:

• Crawford 6-36, 2 2B
• Gonzalez 12-25, 2 2B, 3 HR
• Kendrick 3-25
• Utley 7-17, 2 2B
• Turner 0-9, 3 K
• Puig 0-7, 3 K

The Mets draw the ace, Clayton Kershaw, who is 4-1 on the season over 7 starts with a 2.04 ERA over a league leading 53.0 innings and a league leading 64 K’s. He has recorded double digit strikeouts in each of his last four starts that ranged from amazing to bad (1 ER over 8, 5 ER over 7, nothing over 9, 2 over 7). He was 1-0 in the regular season against the Mets last year over two starts allowing only 1 ER over 16.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Clayton:

• Wright 3-18, 2B
• Granderson 3-16
• Duda 2-15
• Walker 1-9
• Cespedes 19
• Flores 3-9
• Lagares 1-9

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets road trip marches on tonight (as does my streak of not watching games during the week, thank you time zones). Yesterday the Mets got a solid start from Jacob deGrom but the Mets couldn’t hold on to the tie in the 9th and Robles allowed the walk-off run. Tonight the Mets will get a tough challenge in Kenta Maeda while the Mets sound out Noah Syndergaard.

Syndergaard is 2-2 over 6 starts and 38.1 innings with a 2.58 ERA while striking out 49 batters. In his last three starts he’s 0-2 over 18.1 innings with a 4.42 ERA and 20 K’s, but his last start was the best of the three allowing 2 ER over 6.0 innings. Last year in on regular season start against the Dodgers he allowed 1 ER and 2 hits over 6.0 innings while striking out 6. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Thor:

• Gonalez 1-6, HR
• Kendrick 1-7
• Turner 2-6, 2 2B
• Grandal 0-4
• Seager 0-4
• Utley 1-4
• Crawford 0-3

The Mets are drawing rookie Kenta Maeda who is 3-1 over 6 starts and 38.0 innings of work with an ERA of 1.66. In his last two starts he has tossed 12.2 innings with an 0-1 record while posting a 4.26 ERA. Before those two starts, Maeda had a 0.36 ERA over 4 starts. This will be the firs time Kenta faces the Mets or anyone on the Mets roster.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Dodgers are set to play the second game of the set tonight, fresh off a Mets win last night! The headline of the game yesterday was Matz wins 5th straight. After that deplorable start at the beginning of the season, he has found his groove. The bullpen was able to put together 3 shutout innings with Familia’s 10th save of the season, 3rd in 3 days. On the offense side of the ball: more of the same. Granderson and Plawecki hit homers on the night while Cespedes had another RBI. Tonight deGrom looks to keep it going against Alex Wood.

Jacob deGrom is 3-1 over 4 starts and 22.2 innings with 5 walks and 16 K’s with a 1.99 ERA. His last start was his most human of the season allowing 3 ER over 5.0 innings and 8 hits against the Padres. Last year he had a tremendous start against the Dodgers, shutting them out over 7.2 ER allowing only 2 hits, walking 2, while recording 8 strikeouts. The Dodgers have the following numbers against deGrom:

• Gonzalez 4-14, 2 HR
• Utley 3-11
• Turner 5-11, 3 2B
• Kendrick 1-9
• Pederson 0-6, 3 K
• Crawford 0-6
• Grandal 0-5
• Puig 1-6, HR
• Seager 2-6, 2B

Alex Wood is 1-3 over 6 starts and 33.0 innings with a 5.18 ERA. Alex has had two great starts this season, and 4 opposite of great starts. Against the Padres and Diamondbacks he pitched 14.0 innings allowing 2 ER. Against everyone else he has pitched between 4-5 innings allowing 3-5 earned runs and 5-6 runs total. Last year he went 0-1 against the Mets in two games allowing 7 earned runs, 8 total over 13.0 innings while striking out 13 (Mets drawing 7 walks). The Mets have the following numbers against Wood:

• Lagares 5-20, 2 2B, HR
• Duda 2-11
• Flores 4-11, 2 2B, HR
• Granderson 1-10, HR
• Wright 3-7
• Cabrera 2-3, 2B
• Rivera 2-3
• Cespedes 1-1, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets completed the split of a 4 game set with the Padres yesterday before heading into LA tonight. Yesterday Matt Harvey recorded his first double-digit strikeout game of the year while the Mets actually scored a few runs without a homer (but also added a Cespedes shot for good measure). For the first time since the NLDS, the Mets will play the Dodgers where Utley is still playing. However, Tejada is no longer with the Mets, and Mattingly, who fanned the flames, is also no longer with the team, so we’ll see what happens.

Steven Matz is 4-1 over 5 starts this season and 28.2 innings with a 2.83 ERA while walking 7 and striking out 30. This is amazing considering his first start of the season. In his last four starts he’s 4-0 over 27.0 innings with a 0.67 ERA (2 ER) with 29 K’s. In the regular season last year, Matz faced the Dodgers once, holding them scoreless over 6.0 innings allowing 2 walks and 2 hits while striking out 8. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Matz:

• Hernandez 2-6
• Kendrick 1-6
• Turner 1-5, 2B
• Puig 0-5
• Ellis 2-4
• Gonzalez 1-3
• Seager 0-2

The Mets will get to face former Steven Matz – Scott Kazmir (shamelessly stolen from the WOR booth), who is 2-2 over 6 games and 31.2 innings with a 5.68 ERA. His best start was his first one where he pitched 6.0 scoreless innings. Since then he has had a 7.01 ERA over 25.2 innings over 5 games and only one quality start over that stretch. He hasn’t faced the Mets since 2014 where he pitched against the Amazin’s twice going 1-1 over 9.0 innings allowing 8 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Scott:

• Cabrera 2-17, 2B
• Granderson 3-11, 3B, HR
• Cespedes 0-6
• Rivera 2-7
• Campbell 2-5, 2B
• De Aza 3-5
• Wright 2-5, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

Honestly, I’m not sure why the Mets are playing today. I’m really unsure of why anyone is playing today. Bartolo Colon hit his first major league career homer last night and as far as I’m concerned, baseball is over. It had a good run. The impossible was achieved and there’s no true reason to keep playing the games from this point out. But if baseball has to continue, it might as well be on Harvey day.

Matt Harvey will look to put his season back on the right track tonight as he takes on the Padres. On the season he is 2-4 over 6 games and 34.0 innings with a 4.76 ERA while striking out 25. He’s been a tick better in his last three games pitching 16.2 innings with 16 K’s with a 3.78 ERA. The last time he faced the Padres was back in 2013 where he picked up a win over two games allowing 2 ER over 13.0 innings while recording 16 K’s. The Padres have the following numbers against Harvey:

• Jay 1-5
• Kemp 1-3, HR
• Ramirez 0-3
• Cashner 0-1

Cashner is 2-2 this season over 6 starts and 29.2 innings with a 4.85 ERA while recording 27 K’s. In his last two starts he has logged 8.2 innings of work allowing 9 runs, 6 earned with 7 walks and 8 K’s. Last year he was 0-1 in two games against the Mets allowing 13 runs, 10 earned in 10.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Andrew:

• Walker 2-10, 2 2B
• Duda 2-8, 2 2B
• Granderson 2-9, 2B, HR
• Wright 1-7, HR
• De Aza 1-4
• Lagares 2-4, 3B
• Plawecki 1-5

Let’s Go Mets!